Launch Sunday I Psalm 100
Mashpee May 4, 2008 Acts 1:4-16
“You Shall Be My Witnesses”
Most experts in the field of new church planting would agree that new churches should not Launch in late spring or early summer. Why? Because once the weather turns nice people start moving outdoors and when the school year ends, families go on vacation. They head to the mountains and to the beaches!
So I said to my Coach Jim Griffith: what if the new church is actually on the beach? What if your church is located in the heart of an area where people vacation? Jim smiled and said, “Then I think you might want to overlook the rule.”
Launching on Cape Cod
In fact, not only are we launching on Cape Cod, one of the places people go in the summer when they vacate the church pews, we are launching in marketplace that will come to life as we do! Next week, the Coffee Shop will be open and if you tell them when you head over there that you are from the church, you’ll get a 10% discount! Not bad!
In two weeks, more places will be open.
In three weeks, the entire marketplace will be open for business! That includes miniature golf which surrounds this building. Hopefully the more intense golfers will watch their tongues when they miss their shots because our doors and windows will be open!
Launching after Ascension Day
But not only is Launching in this setting in May a really neat thing to do, it is also a liturgically correct decision because last Thursday was Ascension Day! Ascension day – I can’t believe the timing!
Some of you look a little confused. That’s all right. The disciples were also a little confused when Jesus was lifted up into the clouds. After all, now that he was back from the dead, they expected him to get on with the Kingdom he had been talking about for three years!
But no! Jesus was leaving. You all know the phrase, “Elvis has left the building.” On Ascension Day, “Jesus has left the planet!”
So here are these confused, if not disillusioned, disciples nearly snapping their necks to see if Jesus will come back down. They can’t believe he is leaving them. Finally two guys in white robes have to tell them to move along, because it’s going to be some time before Jesus returns.
But, here’s the best part of why the Sunday after the Ascension of Jesus is such a great liturgical time to Launch our new church: it means that in our church year we are in a time of anticipation! The Holy Spirit is about to come on Pentecost which just happens to be next Sunday! We are in the season of anticipation of great things! How fitting! The disciples are forced to look ahead and we look ahead as well as we now transition from being a launch team to a congregation.
Just as the disciples experience this as a time of recollection shifting to a time of anticipation, we look back fondly on these last 16 months and we look forward to the continuing joy of growing a new church.
Next Sunday, the Holy Spirit arrives and on Mother’s Day! Wow, what a combination! That is really something to anticipate, but while we are waiting for that special day to arrive, let’s back up. In the spirit of the Disciples on Ascension Day, let’s do some of our own recollecting.
How Did We Get Here?
How did we end up all being here in this building on this first Sunday in May, 2008?
We are here today because many caring, loving, praying and supporting people have tried their very best to hear what our “God is Still Speaking” God has to say!
For me, it goes all the way back to the church that nurtured me in my childhood and that showed me that it is good for established churches to help grow new ones. From there it goes on to a long story of ministry of 37 years with a loving wife, children, now grandchildren and a whole lot of very patient parishioners in the many churches I have served
. But this is not about me. This is about you! God has called you here today to be part of this great event – the inception of a new church. God spoke to each of you here today in one way or another and inspired you to be part of this historic moment!
This has been an amazing 16 months!
Registering at Plymouth
I think about all the joy, the honest to goodness joy, we have had in growing this new church to this critical mass. I think about Diane and I attending a gathering of area UCC church representatives in Plymouth five days after I started my ministry in Plymouth:
The woman at the registration table looked very organized and efficient as we waited to sign in. Finally, we get up to the table.
“Which church?” she asked.
I said, “The Mashpee Congregational Church.”
She went up and down the list several times.
“Do we have a church in Mashpee?”
“You know,” I said, “actually I don’t think anyone preregistered us. This was a last minute decision to attend. In fact, our leadership was so excited about this event that the entire congregation (that would be Diane) decided to join me.”
“O dear,” the woman said, “We’re going to have to set up another room!”
As I pointed over to a corner: “Actually,” I said, “I see two chairs right over there. Those will do just fine!”
After the meeting was over, I realized that this was a great time to line up some preaching engagements since I didn’t yet have my own pulpit (I do now, thank you, David). So I went up to a colleague and suggested that he consider me coming to preach some Sunday. Knowing that we were quickly approaching Easter I offered up the suggestion that I would even come on a “low” Sunday, you know, like the one following Easter.
“Oh” he said, “you can come any time. All of our Sundays are low.”
I wasn’t quite sure what to say next!
So many fun, so many joy-filled moments to get us here to this point where we are holding our first-ever post ascension worship service!
Meeting the Dutsons
I think about February 7, 2007 when I went to visit Dan and Denise Dutson for the very first time. I had received a hot tip from a relative that Dan and Denise might be looking for a church. So, I made an appointment and went to visit them a few days later.
It took me about an hour to explain how it was that I was starting a new church in Mashpee. There was my story about Conference hopes and dreams and all that but it took Denise to close the deal. For those of you who do not know Denise, she is a realtor. She knows how to close deals! She had heard enough!
“So,” she asks, “how many people do you have so far?”
I couldn’t dance around the number anymore: “Two,” I said. “Me and my wife, Diane.”
“Well, now you have four. You have just doubled your congregation!”
“Wow” I thought. “I can’t wait to get home and tell Diane that the church just doubled in size in only one visit!”
Shortly after that we set a record to be envied by congregations around the world! We quadrupled our size in one week! We went from two to eight! Match that, Crystal Cathedral!
The Mashpee Commons Story Begins
I think back on the March 3 visit I made to the offices for Mashpee Commons when I had the pleasure of meeting John Renz. After speaking with him for about an hour or so of my hopes and dreams for a new church in Mashpee, I am on my way out of his office when we shake hands and he says to me, “Based on our conversation, I have put you on the top of my list.”
As soon as I get out of the office and start walking back to the car, I call Diane on our cell phone and tell her excited that John says that we are at the top of his list.
“John who?
“John Renz, a Vice President of Mashpee Commons. He says we are at the top of the list!”
“What list” she asks?
“I don’t know!” I said, “but I think it’s a good thing!”
“Did you ask him what the list was?”
“No! I figured he thought I should know what he was talking about! I don’t and it’s killing me!”
As many of you know, that was in fact a good thing. Discussions with the principals of Mashpee Commons have continued and we are beginning to flesh out a plan for future construction. In the meanwhile, what clearly caught the attention of the owners of the Commons right from the get-go, were three main items: first our mutual love for and commitment to New England architecture and what could be more New England than a Congregational meeting house; and, a local welcoming church that is committed to serving the community and to supporting the arts.
The joy of getting to this place and time.
Worshipping At West Yarmouth
I think of our Launch Team worshipping with our UCC brothers and sisters at the West Yarmouth Congregational Church on May 6, 2007 and receiving a love offering of over $1,000 as they celebrated the anniversary of full-time ministry.
The Sacrifice of Taking Up Golf
I think of the joy of taking up golf at the suggestion of my coach and the many times I have subsequently been called to be out on the links, aka, mission field.
Mashpee Baptist Church
I remember attending the service with some of our Team on June 3, 2007 at the Mashpee Baptist Church, the same day that Curtis Frye, Jr. is called to be their minister thinking how neat it was that Curtis is the great-great grandson of Blind Joe Amos who was the preacher that replaced Congregationalist Phineas Fish at the Indian Meetinghouse, Curtis being the first Wampanoag to serve in that capacity since that same great great grandfather.
Ten Churches Baking
I think back fondly and joyfully on our cookie booth at the July 6 Mashpee Fireworks and Family Picnic when we sold 2400 cookies made by “ten churches baking.” Some of you will recall that as we packaged the cookies, one of our hardworking Launch Team members let out a bit of a shriek when she discovered that the Tupperware container she was opening instead of containing fresh homemade cookies was actually filled with thawing chicken breasts!
I fondly recall our gatherings,
-our open houses
-our fifth Sundays in Edgartown, Dennis and North Falmouth, and the “church suppers” that followed!
-the Friday night dinners at the Boys and Girls Club
-our Christmas parade float and the 1,000 candy canes
-our Christmas eve candlelight service
-meeting Mike and Cathy on November 11
-The Dec. 6 gathering at Adrienne’s home when we announced the date and location for Launch!
-“The Twelve Days of Christmas” sung in new and bold ways!
January 17: the First Anniversary Dinner Celebration at the New Seabury Country Club.
The Easter Sunrise Service on Mashpee-Wakeby Pond.
So many great memories of the last 16 months. And through it all God has brought us together and grown His congregation to the point that we today begin holding weekly Sunday services.
The Upper Room
My friends in Christ and dear family members, we are gathered here the same reason the disciples gathered in that upper room the same day Jesus ascended into heaven: we are here to be witnesses to the resurrecting power of Jesus Christ. We, like them, believe that one day Jesus will return to usher in the Kingdom of God. But, we also know that as we witness to God’s redeeming love in Jesus Christ in this time and in our generation, we are somehow also incredibly part of the Kingdom that already has begun to make its entrance. This new church becomes one small piece of that entrance.
I want most sincerely to thank each and every one of you for coming this morning to share in this service to honor almighty God. We join the company of all the saints who have come before us to serve God’s great church as it minister to the needs of the world. This is a special moment. This is a powerful moment. This is a moment filled with promise and hope, for even in a land which was claimed for faith by the very Pilgrims of the Mayflower almost 400 years ago and who planted the very seeds of our democracy with its profound religious freedoms in churches throughout this Commonweath which number today well over 400, there is still room for a new church! Even on long established Cape Cod with churches like West Parish which was gathered before 1620 and First Congregational Church of Falmouth that is celebrating it 300th anniversary, there are still fresh new winds of the Spirit of God blowing. Indeed, God is still speaking and in the Town of Mashpee we have begun to listen in new ways.
May God bless you all on this marvelous day!
AMEN
