Willing and Stirred. Building and Becoming.

Celebration Sunday sermon
by Carrie Eikler
Exodus 35:20-29

Who here likes to sing?

Who loves to sing?

I like to sing, there's no doubt about it.

But if you had the choice between hearing me belt out a solo, or say, Marge or Cindy, or Jacob Lewellen sing a solo, you wouldn’t hurt my feelings if you choice one of the Lewellen’s.

And I'm not saying I'm a bad singer, I'm not. I have a decent, steady alto voice (emphasis on decent).

But I was humbled, as I stood next to Elesha Coffman last Sunday at choir practice.whoa. I mean, I can sing…but she can sing.

It was enough to make me want to lower my enthusiastic warbling and let her be the entire alto section

Singing is not my gift. It's more like a stocking stuffer--a nice bonus, but not what gets kids out of bed at 5 oclock on Christmas morning.

I sing because I like to. I'm in the choir because I'm willing. It's not my most favorite thing to do.

If you gave me the choice between choir practice and having the same people around a dinner table for a meal I cooked, I'd probably choose the meal. Sorry, Cindy, but there you have it.

I'm willing to sing in choir. I’m happy to do it.

Bring people around the table? That’s my passion. That’s what stirs my soul.

Willing and stirred.

Before the temple was built in Jerusalem, we have the wandering Hebrews, following Moses, taking their place of worship with them. The tabernacle…a mobile synagogue of sorts.

And the people are bringing their very best offerings…what their hearts were willing to give, but also, what their spirits were stirred to give.

Out of all the scriptural allusions about individuals bringing their gifts to the building up of the reign of God, this is my favorite. Because in a way, it’s not just about building, it’s about becoming the people of God.

It’s about making it beautiful, …a celebration…a stirring of souls
In your hands, you have chosen a beautiful object. For some reason you were drawn to it. Think of this as your gift, a symbol of what stirs you, what it is in this world makes your spirit find its home as you wander and navigate through life. Take a moment, and feel this gift that God has given you.
What stirs you?

[pause]
Call me a cynic, but I believe much of what is done in our congregation, and in many congregations, are done with willing hearts.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to have willing workers, or nothing would get done. But done with a spirit that is stirred?…I have a feeling that is done elsewhere.

I’d venture to guess that for many of you, your stirring is seen most clearly and passionately…somewhere else.

Not in the confines of this church building, or on leadership teams, or in meetings.

Maybe it is, but I would guess that if you looked at where you lived most passionately, excitedly…where you were stirred by God’s gifts, it is probably out in your everyday life, where you spend your free time (free time?), your hobbies, your activities…

Your spirits are probably stirred elsewhere

[pause]
And AMEN FOR THAT! Thank you, for offering your gifts to God in the world.
THANK YOU for stirring the spirit among your neighbors, or co-workers, or children, or friends.

THANK YOU for uncovering God out there where God has always been and meeting Christ in the messy and marvelous world, in the broken and blessed world. THANK YOU!
And we as a congregation, made up of diverse people have them as well. It can be a joy and a challenge to see what beautiful addition we might bring as an offering. And while we know we have gifts, it’s all too easy to measure our gift against the gift of other congregations, isn’t it. In the same way compare our individual gifts to others.

We’re not the biggest.

But we welcome the stranger.

You don’t see our church name on hip coffeeshops or billboards or leaflets handed out at parades.

But you do see our members involved in their communities doing the work of justice and peace and beauty.

We shy away from the word evangelism,

but we relish in the word outreach.

We get nervous about the word conversion,

but ponder the significance of transformation.

I don’t hear many of you talk about “personal relationship with Jesus ”
but I’ve seen you sit with each other in love while you struggle to understand how to be a disciple of Christ .

But above all, even if you are simply a willing participant in this church, I believe that this congregation feeds and encourages the stirrings of each of your souls, so you can be the church in the world. We give you strength for the journey.

And I hope that is why you give yourself to this congregation. Not because you are simply willing, but because you are reminded to attend to Christ in the world…in your own soul…to remind you that you are blessed.

Would you agree?

These are our gifts. This is what we bring to the building up of God’s kingdom, this is us becoming the people of God.

In his book, A Hidden Wholeness Parker Palmer speaks about farmers on the Great Plains who would tie a rope from their house to their barn at the first sight of a blizzard.

Occasionally people would freeze to death by simply going to their barns in the middle of a blizzard.

Believing they could find their way back to their homes in the whiteout of snow they would become stranded in their own backyards.

But if they had a rope, it would guide them safely in the midst of the swirling storm.

When I try to flesh out our gifts, have a visual of what we are becoming, it is this image that comes to me, most clearly.

God has made us, as a congregation, into a very good rope.

This rope which leads its members out into the storm and guides them back to the heart of God. That is the offering we bring.

All of us, with our different stirrings, and willing hearts, travel this rope to show God’s peace, love, and grace to a world a wash in a blizzard.

arker Palmer reflects on the importance of such a rope. It helps us catch sight of the soul, the heart of God.

He says, “When we catch sight of the soul, we can survive the blizzard without losing our hope or our way. When we catch sight of the soul, we can become healers in a wounded world—in the family, in the neighborhood, in the workplace—as we are called back to our “hidden wholeness” amid the storms.

As you offer your gifts to the world, we are the rope that helps you catch sight of your soul.

During our time of communion later in the service, you’ll have a chance to attach your gift to an actual rope: Making it beautiful, giving it color and texture, weaving it with your gifts.

Until that time, hold your gift throughout the service and pour into it your prayers, and your hope for our congregation as we hear stories and sing songs celebrating who we are as a congregation.

May God continue to bless us…and celebrate us…in the journey.

As we give thanks to the one who created us and blessed us. Alleluia and Amen.