“Open the Doors and Here Are the People!”

October 28, 2007

Scripture Reading:  Joel 2:23-32

Rev. Dr. Carol  L. Kerr

 Blue Point Congregational Church

Today, Glen, Debbie, Audra, Lonnie, Jen, Tricia… you have made a decision.  You have decided to join with the Spirit moving through and among us at the Blue Point Church, United Church of Christ, and become members. 

So I decided to reveal to you in this sermon what I think joining the church is all about.  It is something I shared with my son, Gavin, when he got confirmed.  Maybe some of you remember it.   It is something that I will share with anyone who asks me why Christianity at all?  Ready? This is what is it all about…. Listen up everyone!

 (Go to center of chancel.)

 Here is the church.  Here is the steeple.  Open the doors and here are the people!

(Have everyone try it.  Return to pulpit.)

At first it might not knock your socks off as the most profound thing I could come up with.  I can just imagine one of your friends saying, “Oh you joined the Blue Point church, what is it like?”  And you responding…  Here is the church.  Here is the steeple.  Open the doors and here are the people!  Say what?!

But, the more I think about it, I really like this nursery rhyme jingle.  I like the climax where it goes…  .  Open the doors and here are the people!   This is where it gets great.  …here are the people!  It is all about the people.  It has a no questions asked approach to all those  people who are through the doors and under the steeple.  It doesn’t go

-Here is the church.  Here is the steeple.  Open the doors and here are the most holy people.

-Here is the church.  Here is the steeple.  Open the doors and here are the ones who have attained enlightenment.

-Here is the church.  Here is the steeple.  Open the doors and here are the brightest people.

-Here is the church.  Here is the steeple.  Open the doors and here and the best athletes.

-Here is the church. Here is the steeple.  Open the doors and here are the one’s with straight A’s.

-Here is the church. Here is the steeple.  Open the doors and these kinds of sinners are on the left, and the other kind of sinners are on the right.  And those who are without sin sit in front. 

It simply says, Here is the church.  Here is the steeple.  Open the doors and here are the people!  In the church everyone is accepted just the way they are. 

A funny coincidence happened today – new member Sunday.  I picked this day way back in the middle of the summer because it seemed to be a good time for it – not too close to the beginning of the church year – not to close to Christmas or Thanksgiving or Stewardship Sunday.  The coincidence is that on this Sunday the Old Testament lectionary is a passage from the book of Joel that is quoted in the New Testament by the apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost.  So what?  The day of Pentecost is the day the church started.  Jesus had been crucified.  They had witnessed the resurrected Christ.  Then Jesus ascended to heaven.   After that the disciples were all gathered in one place.   They were keeping to themselves.  Just sitting around wondering what to do next.  Suddenly there came the sound like a rush of violent wind from heaven.  It filled the entire house.  It was the Holy Spirit.  It divided into tongues of flames and rested on each one of them.  Filled with the Holy Spirit they began to speak in other languages.  Crowds began to gather to listen to them.  Some thought they were drunk.  But, Peter stood up and said “…we are not drunk…No, this is what is spoken through the prophet Joel:  ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit.’”

On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came among the disciples and moved them from their safe enclosed place.  It made them go out and open the gospel to all people coming from all over the world, speaking many different languages, and having many different cultures.  The day of Pentecost broke open the church to all the people everywhere.

Have you noticed that when we do the nursery rhyme Here is the church.  Here is the steeple.  Open the doors and here are the people. - the walls of the church fall away.  There are no walls in the end.  Just like on the day of Pentecost there were no barriers to the Holy Spirit working among the people.  The church is the people.  It is you.  It is me.  It is not the building.  It is not the institution.  It is the Holy Spirit firing up our souls and empowering us to reach out to the people of the world. 

There is another thing I like about this rhyme – the hands that are doing them.  After you say the rhyme Here is the church.  Here is the steeple.  Open the doors and here are the people.  There is a moment when you end up just looking at your own two hands.  There is meaning to this.  The fate of the church is in the hands of the one who is saying the rhyme.  It is in our hands.  And today, it is your hands.  The church, the people, is no longer an abstraction.  It is us.  We are the same church that started out on the fateful day of Pentecost with Peter and the disciples 2,000 years ago.  Their hands have passed it down to our hands.  The stories, the memories, the spirit, the mission – they passed it all down to us.  It is in our hands now.  We decide how we are going to shape it, make it grow, do its work and then pass it on to the hands of others.  Each one of us has something to contribute as important as any of the greatest saints.  Adults, kids, boys, women, men, old, young.  It doesn’t matter, you make a difference.  It is up to you to continue to make the church, make the steeple and open the doors to all the people. 

The United Church of Christ has a motto, Never place a period where God has placed a comma.  God is still speaking through us as the Holy Spirit works in us.  As such you can become a hero for Christ.  How?  Rev.  Martin Luther King, once wrote:  Everybody can be great.  Because anybody can serve.  You don’t’ have to have a college degree to serve.  You don’t’ have to make your subject and your vert agree to serve.  You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve.  You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve.  You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve.  You only need a heart full of grace.  A soul generated by love. 

Here is the church.  Here is the steeple.   Open the doors and here are the people.  These hands that we are left with are not only our hands.  These hands are also the hands of God, which are holding all the people in the church, and holding up the whole church.  On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down from heaven like tongues of flames upon the heads of the disciples.  It gave them the ability to proclaim the gospel in many different languages.  However, there is one universal language that the Holy Spirit gives to us.  It is the language of love. 

There is a true story I once heard:  A young man was on a train in Michigan heading home.  A minister happened to be sitting next to him.  The young man was very nervous.  He kept fidgeting.  He rubbed his hair.  He would get up and down.  Sometimes his eyes would fill with tears.  Finally, the minister said, “Son, I am sorry, but I can’t help noticing that you look very upset.  Is there anything I can help you with?”  Then the young man told him that he had left home 3 years earlier.  He had had a fight with his parents.  He left one day.  He didn’t tell them where he was going.  Finally, he was ready to see them again.  He wanted to see them.  He wanted to make amends.  Only he didn’t know fi they wanted to see him.  So he had written them a card.  He told them that he was going to be taking this exact train at this exact time.  If they were willing to meet him.  He asked that they would hang one white rag on the branch of the tree in their yard which you could see from the train as you were rounding the bend into town.  If he saw a white rag he would know that they wanted to talk to him.  He would get off the train. If he didn’t see the rag, well, he would stay on the train and just keep going.

The town was just a few miles ahead and the young man said, “Reverend, I just can’t bear to look.  Could you look for me?  What if there is nothing on the tree branch?’  The Reverend sais, “Sure son, I’ll look for you.” 

Well the train came up to the bend.  The young man closed his eyes.  He couldn’t hear to think.  And the minister watched as they rounded the bend.  Then he said, “Son, son, open your eyes and look!”  The young man looked.  From every branch, every window, every bush of the house a white rag had been hung.  The yard was filled with white rags. 

Here is the church.  Here is the steeple.  Open the doors and here are the people.   The hands that hold the people are the hands of God.  That is what Jesus was trying to teach us about this extravagant love of God.   The hands of God hold everyone and excludes no one.  That is why I love this rhyme.  It is all about the people being held in the hands of God.  The yard of heaven is filled with white rags just around the bend waiting for each and every one of us. 

So when you are sitting around in church fiddling with your hands, do this.  Remember what it means.  1)  No walls and just people no matter what you are like.  2) The church is in your hands as you reach out to the world.  3)The church is in God’s hands as God holds us all with infinite grace and love.