"Worship-Gathering to Worship"

So…

Many years ago now, the jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie came to the Paramount Theater in Middletown! 

I have always loved his music and his trumpet which has the bell bent up! 

He got up and introduced himself and said, “this place is so amazing I’d like to donate my whole salary tonight to the continued restoration effort” and after thunderous applause, said, “I would like to but I am married”.

Yep!

So, some of you may have heard that I am retiring in June. It’s time! 

For forty years I have held forth from this pulpit and l have lived a life intertwined with you all. 

In every way it has been a blessing. 

I have learned, and grown, made mistakes, and seen forgiveness at work. I come to learn the real joy of accepting into the family of the church folks much different than me. 

I have watched Sue and the kids grow in faith just as I have. And so, it is wonderfully hard to even consider moving on to a new place in our lives!

But as I said it is time.
There are things left undone in our family’s life, as well as in this church’s life that we need to do, but separately. 

I have mountains to scale and so do you all, but our paths now are going to be different.

God is planning to grow us all, and we will need to be praying for each other in these new adventures. The possibilities are amazing! But like any good adventure, there may be some parts that are scary!

What is the most amazing place you have ever been?

The Grand Canyon was pretty grand I must say. Yellowstone was so cool!

And I always loved Letchworth State Park, and Alleghany, and Niagara Falls, here in NY, as well as the Adirondacks. The big cities are amazing too, Washington, NYC, Boston, Seattle, and Toronto were all pretty amazing. 

And the two cruises we took in the Caribbean were pretty epic: Aruba, Curacao, San Juan, St. Thomas, Isla Roatan, Cozumel, and other ports including Miami, were delightful!

But the one that blew my mind – and I mean that sincerely - was Mount St. Helens. 

Designated as a National Monument, the immediate area of the volcanic eruption on May 18, 1980, has not been touched in four decades. 

The scene is terrifying, austere, and yet just so amazing.

So much destruction forty years ago, and yet there it is, without the touch of human hands, growing, first tiny plants, and tiny animals. And now you can see the forests beginning to grow once again.

In such a place, words of praise, songs of worship, and passages of scripture race through your head and heart as you behold with all your senses the majesty of God.

Worship bursting from your heart there all alone next to the volcano, or perhaps with a group of others, you see what God has done!

In that place worshipping on your own makes so much sense!

Taking just a moment to pray, to remember scriptures, to sing – perhaps just in your head - a favorite hymn helps to acknowledge the presence of God right before you.

But, to be clear, there is also something remarkably powerful in gathering with others for worship. 

To pray with others, to read and study the scriptures together, and to sing in a place where you know the others around you are singing too with their whole hearts.

Gathering to worship is good! And if we want to grow in faith, it is essential! 

For those joining us online, please know how excited we are that you are able to be with us in this unique way. Technology can be a pain sometimes, but this is so cool!

Here or there it doesn’t matter in what manner you worship. It doesn’t require fancy clothes, or fancy words, or a fancy attitude.  God really doesn’t much care. 

What God loves is an open heart ready to meet with him in the place where you are right now.

And for Sue and I this has been that place!

A place where we have been able to be together for the past forty years. A place where lots of folks have come with open hearts ready to spend quality time together with Jesus.

And worship is the key! It is a gift that keeps on giving! It’s the glue!

A time that cements the family of faith. A place where we together can envision our calling and then make plans to do and be what God has called us to do and be!

Will the future be strange and maybe even scary? Of course, but so was standing right next to a volcano that just forty years ago exploded! 

But would I give up the opportunity to stand on the side of that mountain? Never!

For in that place as in so many, I have worshipped. So, whatever is ahead, remember, in that place you and I will meet God. 

And prayers, songs, and words of scripture will be ours. Worship!

And all of it in Jesus’ name! Amen.