“I Thank My God"             10/15/06        Philippians 1:3-11, 4:13

The year was 1975, when I did what many of us have done. I rode around the block a number of times before I entered the doors of MCC Pittsburgh. I had found a flyer at a local gay bar the evening before that talked about a new church… a church for people like me. So the next day I knew I had to go see what this was all about. I walked into the Martin Luther King, Jr. room at University and Cities Ministries, where MCC Pittsburgh was holding its second worship service. There were six of us present and I had come home. As the service continued along I knew in my heart I would be in this church the rest of my life.

I thank my God for that flyer. You never know when you pass out a church card, when you talk to someone about MCC, when you hang up a flyer for one of our events… who will see it.  You plant the seed and let God water it. And it will bloom… maybe next week, next month, next year.

I thank my God that I found a spiritual home, a community where I could be myself. Marilyn got me this stole that I wear every week “Free to Be". A community that accepts me just as I am, but more than celebrates the person I am, and the person I am always becoming. When you walk through the doors of this church you have the opportunity to shed the baggage of the past and claim your rightful seat at the banquet table of God. I learnt at a very early age the need to accept the people around me just as they are. I have always tried to treat all people as equals… the poor and the rich, the child and the elderly, people of all colors, people of all faiths.  I marvel each day in the God's wondrous creation - all of us. As Paul says in his letter to his beloved Philippian church "I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you." When I came down the stairs last evening at East Liberty Presbyterian Church with Marilyn and Sarah. I was in awe at the sight of all of you. My heart couldn't contain all the joy I felt. God has entrusted me with the very sacred journey of being your Pastor. I say journey instead of job, because we walk together as the people God has called MCC Pittsburgh. We are partners in the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. One of the things I love about MCC is that we believe in the priesthood of all believers. That means that we are each set apart, each gifted, each entrusted with God's presence to bring hope, to bring love, to bring wholeness to our world. I cherish you as the people God has entrusted into my care. We cherish one another as the people God has entrusted into our care. What an honor I feel to be your Pastor. I try to talk the talk in my sermons, and each day to walk the walk, live those words through my actions. And I pray as we do ministry together that each one of us is growing and becoming all that God wants us to be. I make mistakes and ask your forgiveness. You make mistakes and ask for forgiveness and we move on together. We have been entrusted with care of God's people. There is no more important call then to share the presence of God on this earth -moment by moment, person by person. The people that God sends into my life, the people God sends into your life come for a reason. To help us grow, to give us the opportunity to serve, to make God's love real in our world. I have been on journey for twenty years as the Pastor of MCC Pittsburgh and I know my work in not done by any means. I said when I accepted the call to become the Pastor of MCC Pittsburgh I would stay here till I retire. I don't expect that will happen for a long time yet, so we have lots of work to do. For as long as one person is struggling to know God's love, as long as one person doesn't feel welcome, as long as one person doesn't have enough food on the table, as long as one person is deprived of the justice they rightly deserve are call is not complete. But the One who began a good work in us will give us everything that we need for the journey ahead. I don't quite remember when I took Philippians 4:13 as my life's text, but it goes like this "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". What ever we can to face in life Christ gives us the strength. Illness, death, war, loneliness, injustice Christ gives us the strength to do what is needed. Many times our work feels like David going against the mighty Goliath, but we succeed through Christ's strength.

On this night I thank my God for each and every one of you… for the ways that you touch my life with God's presence… for your laughter, your love, your unique beauty and personality. I thank God for calling me to walk the journey with you as your Pastor. May our days ahead be filled with God's blessings.  The song that we are going to sing together "Here I Am, Lord" was the song I had sung at my ordination service into the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. It embodies for me the call to serve God's people and to always hold them in my heart. I ask you to make this song our prayer as we move into the future together.