Sermons from Park Hill Congregational UCC Denver, Colorado Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] September 12, 2021 “God’s Accomplishments” Ephesians 2: 8-10 – Common English Bible 8 You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. 9 It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. 10 Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives. Deuteronomy 6: 10-12 – The Message When God, your God, ushers you into the land promised to you through your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you’re going to walk into large, bustling cities you didn’t build, well-furnished houses you didn’t buy, come upon wells you didn’t dig, vineyards and olive orchards you didn’t plant. When you take it all in and settle down, pleased and content, make sure you don’t forget how you got there—God brought you out of slavery in Egypt. Rev. Peter Raible simplifies this text: “We build on foundations we did not lay. We sit in the shade of trees we did not plant. We drink from wells we did not dig. We profit from persons we did not know. We are ever bound in community.” As I stand here today, I can see a great cloud of witnesses who built this church. Standing, as I once did in a pulpit seven steps above the congregation, I can see Gladys Harris right in front. Mrs. Peacock in the back over there. Joe and Amelia Lawrence, a few rows forward. Tom and Lucy Creighton on the other side. Sadie Connally in her pink fur coat near the front. Keith Meagher. Ann Rickert. Mick Stafford, Hal Wofford, and many more than I can name. 14 years in one place means witnessing the end of life for many good and faithful servants, our great cloud of witnesses. 14 years also means lots of births and baptisms – 28 baptisms to be exact, plus a few more baby dedications. Remember the fall of 2019, just before the pandemic? We had 8 baptisms in three months. In addition, 19 young people have gone through confirmation. All of whom then went to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, some multiple times. If you can believe it, 60 people from Park Hill have gone to Pine Ridge at least once. I have been especially grateful for the opportunity to be with young people as their lives are shaped by these immersion trips, especially Leah Johnson and Daniel Hartman-Strawn. After multiple trips to Pine Ridge, Daniel dropped out of college, spent two years on the reservation and then changed his major to attend law school so he could focus on Native issues. There are about eight middle school students right now who are eligible for confirmation. I will miss introducing them to Pine Ridge. Among our dearly departed saints is Guy Harris whose vision is manifested in the labyrinth. He wanted to provide a spiritual resource for neighbors who would never walk through the doors of a church but might find solace in their grief or wisdom in their discernment by walking the labyrinth. David Conger saw his vision to completion, including spending every day supervising the construction. Going to the quarry to pick the rocks. Going to the nursery to pick the plants. Speaking of David, just to be clear not among the dearly departed, getting to work with and learn from him was like being in a master class as he oversaw capital campaign projects all over the church. Among them, think of all the walls that were removed. Standing in the narthex now means that instead of a closet wall I can see Faye Hudson and July Waldren walk up the steps to choir practice on Sunday mornings. Before the capital campaign, a guest walking into the church during the week would have encountered a literal brick wall separating them from a friendly face, like Tammy’s, in the office. Before tearing down a wall to convert a coat closet into a kitchenette, coffee hour was served on a table in the back of the sanctuary. I can see Kate Goodspeed carrying water back and forth from the little half sink in the common room. As soon as the hospitality area was created, the number of people who stayed for fellowship after worship doubled. While some like Euell stop there before going into the sanctuary, walking straight to the coffee pot. This sanctuary illustrates one of the most dramatic changes of the past decade. A floor that shimmers with light coming through the colored glass. A hearing loop underneath. You may not know that when we replaced the floor, the pews were supposed to go back in. But on the first Sunday after construction started, Bob Lederer sat in the temporary chairs arranged in a circle and went home that afternoon to begin convincing people we should keep the pews out. He reasoned, the feeling of worship was so much more intimate now that we could see each other’s faces. In one of the fastest significant decisions any church has ever made, five weeks later we decided to permanently remove the pews and purchase these chairs. My sister Judy donated this table to create a center for the sanctuary around which we would gather. The change had an immediate impact on growth. Worship attendance instantly increased by 20% and never stopped growing because with all those walls gone and worship now in this configuration, suddenly our space was in sync with our theology. Visitors could feel it. And Sunday School grew too. There was one more important wall to remove. In late 2013 we were approached about becoming an overnight site for the Women’s Homelessness Initiative. I knew it was exactly what we needed to do, but could we gather enough volunteers to make it work? I’ll never forget telling Karen Collier. It was a January morning, and we were walking down the street with Temple Micah as they moved to Park Hill United Methodist. It was a sad day, an ending to our 37-year relationship sharing the building. But on the day of an ending, WHI at Park Hill was born because Karen agreed to be one of the coordinators, and soon came Karen Truesdell and then Linda Siderius too. We had 77 volunteers that first year; 94 the year before the pandemic. I have many fond memories of Tuesday afternoons making up the cots with Flodie Anderson, Blake and Sheila, Nancy and Kerri and a whole crew. So that one last wall. Between the kitchen and fellowship hall, there used to be a clear delineation between server and those served, but with that wall removed, guests were welcome to come and go into the kitchen. It also meant we could see Carol and Linda serving their roast beef every month, Marlene and Janet mixing salads, Sean and Claire serving rolls. I’m so grateful for the regular overnight angels like Beth and Pat and Bill and Eileen, without whom the whole program wouldn’t have worked. I did the overnight shift a couple of times and boy did it throw off my next day. I can’t name all 94 people but thank you, and Jayme Willie for that very memorable carnival fundraiser for WHI. My time here began with the creation of a long-range planning team – the Long Rangers, led by Larry Ricketts and Kate. That’s when we developed our mission and core values. We simplified our governance structure. We created our mission partner program, which in 10 years has resulted in a quarter of a million dollars for 40 non-profit groups. And we engaged in a difficult, and at times unpleasant, time of discernment about owning a building or sharing one with a neighboring congregation. The church was in serious need of some major attention. It was necessary to actually make a decision whether or not to stay because many lacked confidence that we could raise even $100,000. You realize, however, that in the end approximately $1 million has been spent on this building since 2013. In addition to gifts and pledges, Ray Allen wrote a grant to Energy Outreach Colorado that resulted in over $100,000 in efficiency upgrades throughout the building. Montessori expanded. We had special projects for the labyrinth, solar panels, sanctuary chairs, and front doors. There were special designated gifts for boiler pumps, narthex and common room furnishings, fellowship hall carpet. Most recently, of course, about $40,000 toward the equipment needed for Park Hill 2.0. And to top it off, with a hailstorm, God provided a new roof. Twice! All this money flowed in and through thanks to the diligent and meticulous record keeping of Carol Spensley and Beth Harris. And of course, everyone who so generously contributed. It’s important to note that those projects were not done simply to improve the building for our members. We spent those dollars so our building could be used for mission. We invited Knitting 4 Peace to use offices upstairs rent free. We started welcoming any group whose mission was racial justice to use our building for free. Among them, Black Lives Matter 5280, the Denver Justice Project, and Soul 2 Soul Sisters. Speaking of Soul to Soul, among the most important ministries of the past decade, we asked Revs. Dawn Riley Duval and Tawana Davis to lead our congregation through a six-month engagement on white privilege. 30 people’s lives were changed and prompted the creation of our Racial Justice Ministry. I’ll always remember it was 2016 because our Saturday morning session in November was immediately after the election and we spent much of our time together crying. And the next day, our sanctuary was flooded with members and neighbors frightened for our country. We prayed for the intervention of the Holy Spirit to save us from an apocalyptic nightmare. And what a roller coaster of four years we shared – a ride we’re still begging to disembark. In the end, however, as we lived into the mission and core values we set years before, we became clearer about our identity than ever before. We invited people to join us to build a world that is open, inclusive, just, and compassionate. And they did join us, eventually from around the country! 14 years ago, Park Hill was in pretty tough shape financially. We had $917 in savings and a $40,000 loan for beam repairs. Sound fiscal leadership over successive governance teams means that today we have over $233,000 in the bank, including a new legacy fund named for our first pastor, David Colwell. But we weren’t just conserving. In the middle of all that, we also expanded our staff with the addition of Terri as our Minister for Congregational Care, a paid Sunday School teacher and handyman. And later added Zeke as our stream team tech and Damian with digital ministry, following more than a year with Mindee on staff. We’re among the largest contributors to the Rocky Mountain Conference and of course our many mission partners. We grew our savings even as we invested $10,000 in something called a relational campaign. It’s been wonderful to witness and walk alongside our leadership teams who embraced God’s abundance instead of fear and the myth of scarcity. 75 people participated in that relational campaign with Jenny Whitcher. It propelled us into a pandemic response that resulted in the creation of numerous groups that not only helped us stay connected but grew the congregation in the midst of our separation. No amount of gratitude spoken will ever be sufficient for the way Billie, Jeremy, Terri, and Tammy (working remotely from Texas!) responded to the challenges of the past 18 months and counting. Last week we thanked Mindee for her outstanding role with worship and online ministry. And this week I add Bill McCarron and Mark Winkel to the list of people who have spent days on end at the church, among other things, Bill stringing wires through walls and floors to permanently equip the classrooms with Zoom, and Mark working experiments to always keep improving the quality of the online worship experience. There are so many more things I could share. I wonder what you would add. But I want to end with one more dearly departed saint, Jane Van Buskirk. Jane and Inez were among the very first people I met at Park Hill. We met on the Tuesday before my candidating weekend to plan worship. I asked if we could have communion and Jane responded, “oh, that sounds so lovely.” From my first hours at Park Hill, I was then privileged to be with Jane among her last hours on earth. Knowing she would soon die, I asked how she felt about what was coming next for her. With high pitched clarity she said, “I’m optimistic.” Death is stalking congregations around the country. It is a difficult time to be optimistic about the future of churches. But for those who are not afraid, that see crisis’ as opportunities, who take risks for justice and teach unconditional love; for churches who embrace that Black Lives Matter, who believe science is real, who will fight for women to have the right to determine their own fate… Well, for Park Hill I am optimistic. And now this bold ministry will continue with new leadership. So, as we have, keep building on this foundation for others to come, So they can sit in the shade of trees we planted. Drink from wells they did not dig. And profit from you and I; persons they did not know. Again, as Paul told the Ephesians, these are not things to be proud of. 10 Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned this to be our way of life. And to that calling we have tried to be faithful. Thank you for honoring me with the holy privilege and sacred responsibility of being your pastor and know that we are forever bound in a community that was, and is, and will continue to be.
1 Comment
Victoria Harris Monge
9/12/2021 10:25:34 am
Beautiful, David! Thank you so much.
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