Debra and I have now been with you at Second Congregational Church for some ten weeks. When our family and friends ask us about you as a congregation, the first words out of our mouths are words like these: “a warm, friendly, welcoming, faith-filled people who love each other and care deeply about serving their community.” Debra and I are blessed to be among you!
As I have gotten to know you, I’m amazed at the volunteer outreach work you do in the community. I’m also aware of the long hours our leadership devote to caring for this church, its worship, pastoral care, and administrative tasks. As I look out over the congregation on Sunday mornings and as I’m visiting more of our members in their homes, I’m struck by how much all of you love your church, love each other, and have a healthy unity that not all churches have. You remind me of a tapestry of many decorative designs and pictures woven together into one beautiful piece of art.
Weaving Our Lives Together
That image comes to mind because a few years ago in a church I served we did a project called “Weaving Our Lives Together.” We asked each member of the congregation to give a piece of cloth that was meaningful to them, and to tell why that piece of cloth was so meaningful. When the pieces came in, there were all kinds of fabric: colorful pieces of shirts, handkerchiefs, baby blankets, neckties, scarves, linen napkins, pieces of pennants, tartans, beach towels, Christmas fabrics, and more. Each piece from each household had a story and special memories.
I remember walking through the church parlor one afternoon when some of the women of our church first laid all those pieces of cloth on the table. There was no rhyme or reason to them. It looked to me like there had been an explosion in a textile factory. The women were standing around the table studying all that material. I thought to myself, “How are they ever going to bring all these scraps of cloth together into one thing? And what on earth will that look like?”
The day finally came when the ladies had pieced and sewn all the pieces of cloth together into a beautiful quilted tapestry. They did a magnificent job. We hung the tapestry on the wall in the back of the sanctuary. It represented our life together as a church. On a table beneath the tapestry we laid a little book with the words from each member or family telling why their piece of fabric was so meaningful to them.
As a church, we are many, but one
As Debra and I get to know all of you at Second Congregational Church, I’m reminded of that tapestry. All of you together are like a tapestry. The words of the apostle Paul come to mind: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ…. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Corinthians 12:12, 27).
Paul is speaking of the human body when he says, “Just as the body is one and has many members — feet, hands, ears, eyes — all with different functions — so we in the church are also many and have different functions.” Like the different parts of a human body, we differ in age, physical appearance, personality, skills, interests, and life experiences. We are all individually unique, but we are also one body. As a church, we are many, but one. We draw our life from God who is constantly at work among us to give us life, sustain us, and empower us in the work God calls us to do.
Yes, as Debra and I say, “You are a warm, friendly, welcoming, faith-filled people who love each other and care deeply about serving your community.” Like a beautiful tapestry, we are many, but one in Christ. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a tapestry hanging somewhere in our church with fabric from each of our households telling our stories? Just a thought….
Grace and peace,
Rev.Gary