/ Dedication Service
A Sermon by
Meghan Brown Saavendra
November 16, 2014
Let us pray. Holy God, may the words of my lips and the meditations of all of our hearts, be pleasing unto you. Amen.
Good afternoon. It is an honor and a privilege to be with you all today. As we gather in this beautiful building we express our confidence that God gives us a future with him. On this day we remember and celebrate our congregation’s history and also move forward into a new stage of life at Trinity, a present that is filled with new signs of hope and life for God’s ministry in this place. Today we dedicate this church to God's service and we dedicate ourselves also. We give thanks that God beckons us again and again to a life filled with hope, promise and new beginnings. As we dedicate this church and embark on this new stage of our journey, we declare to this community that the love of God never goes away.
What led us here was not a straight or easy path. Those from the congregation and across the Presbytery know that this has been a long and sometimes frustrating journey. It’s a story of a congregation who grew quickly and flourished, outgrowing their small white church on a hill and eagerly began plans to expand. Over the next decades Trinity would experience ups and downs, signs of hope and growth but also unfulfilled expectations and some decline. Over and over again promises to move forward on plans to sell the old church and begin building a new one would be cut short, providing this congregation with an extended rollercoaster ride of emotions. But in spite of the disappointment of being stuck a building that wasn’t big enough for all they wanted to do, Trinity remained faithful not only to their hopes of what the future would bring, but also to their ministry in the present. They continued to worship and serve, to learn and to grow in spite of their space’s limitations, a sure reminder that it’s not the building that makes a church, but the people and God’s presence among them. And so here we are today, as witnesses to the future that many dreamed for. Certainly, this is a story of a congregation’s patience and faith, perseverance and willingness to take risks. However, ultimately, this is more than a story about you or me, or even the congregation of Trinity, but a story of God’s fulfillment and promise in this community. For just as we welcome the faithful and expectant at communion to God’s table, rather than Trinity’s table or even a Presbyterian table, we must remember that this beautiful building is not our possession. That in spite of all the sweat equity we have put in, all the pride in “our church” and even the cornerstone that we dedicate today, this is the house of the Lord and we are its humble caretakers. So this is where we find ourselves, grateful inhabitants of this new church and I can tell you firsthand that God is doing a new thing here. I don’t know what it is, but there is something about a new building that brings about a fresh start for everything. Members who we hadn’t seen in years have returned, visitors are joining us for worship every week, and people who have been disconnected to their faith are giving it another chance. New beginnings bring possibilities for new life, renewed life and that also what we celebrate today.
I believe that these signs of new life and faith remind us that God is here. That the existence of this new church declares to this community that God is alive and active in this world and will not go away. We live in a time and a place in which it might be easy for God to just go away-to be out of sight, out of mind. That perhaps there is no more need for God in a time and place like this. That perhaps we have evolved and progressed as a society to no longer be in need of a higher power. When you look around this community of Kanata and Carp, it seems to be a place of peace and prosperity, growth and the good life. We’re on the outskirts of a community that has seen almost unlimited expansion, with homes, schools and shopping centers popping up almost daily. There are beautiful parks and wildlife, good schools and healthcare. We’re a mile away from a huge new outlet mall, which has brought jobs and stimulus to the economy, and whose parking lot is full to the brim with eager shoppers every day. It would seem to be a time of great wealth and promise for our community and that all is well. But we know the national and international news tells us otherwise. And if we look even just a little under the surface, we’ll find that there is great need right here in this community as well. Over 250 families rely on the Kanata Food Cupboard each month to feed themselves; Chrysallis House reports that there are dozens of women and children trying to escaping domestic violence every week in Western Ottawa alone; loneliness plagues the young and the old as we live apart from our families; our friends and loved ones suffer from mental health issues and we hear of people succumbing to suicide all the time; the more connected we become online the more alienated we become from people sitting right across from us; and we continue to realize that professional success and material wealth still leave us longing for more in life. I could go on and on. And it is in this place-with all the prosperity and the poverty, all the peace and the violence, all the good, the bad, the mundane and everything in between, that God chooses to be here with us. Caring for us, loving us. God has promised to be with us until the end of the ages, and when God makes a promise, he does not break that promise. And those who believe in him, we who call ourselves Christians, must make that promise real in our lives and in the lives of those around us. God doesn’t go away. We don't go away. The Church does not go away from need and suffering. The Church is there where people are lifted up but especially where people are bowed down. You and I must be there as the hands and feet of Jesus to offer God's compassion and God's promise to those who are broken, anxious and in pain. So when we say that today we dedicate ourselves to God's service, we are promising to be signs of God's faithfulness and mercy in the midst of a community that suffers and struggles as much as it succeeds and soars. It is for us to show in our words, in our lives, in our actions every single day, that same love of God, which does not go away.
This church reminds us that God is faithful and present, here in this place. But even as God is alive and present here in this church, we must remember that God’s Holy Spirit is also out there in the world, always looking for new places to come alive. John 16:13 tells us that “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” The Holy Spirit reveals the truth-about who God is and who we are as human beings. It’s the Spirit that gives power and relevancy to the church’s ministry and mission. It’s the voice to which we must listen as we seek ways to love and transform ourselves and our community. That truth reminds us that there is more to life than our iPads and big screen TVs, that we are more than our accomplishments and our shortcomings, that there really is a reason to live when life seems hopeless. The truth is that we are made in the image of God. That we are valued, loved, and forgiven in spite of our brokenness. That spirit also reveals that truth about who God is-that in Jesus we see what it is like to to be fully human- freely able to love and serve one another. That’s the truth about God and it’s also the truth about who are called to be.
Our Scripture in Acts describes the transformative conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch. The eunuch is on his way to Jerusalem when Philip encounters him on the road. He’s got the Scriptures open on his lap and he’s reading the book of Isaiah, he’s even on his way to the temple. But when Philip asks him if he can understand what he’s read, he says, “How can I, unless someone guides me.” Together, they read the passage and he comes to know the truth about God-that God so loved the world that he would humble himself to the point of death, giving his own life so that all of humanity could have new life in him. This is a God who suffered because of the extent of humanity’s brokenness, but still chooses to call us his own and to give his very life so that we will be saved. This is not a remote and distant God, but a God that is present in the need and the suffering, the brokenness and the despair, that we all face at one time or another. The eunuch was hungry to hear this message and he responds by asking to be baptized and then immediately setting out to share the good news. It was as if he was just waiting for someone like Philip to come along. This brief exchange proved life changing, as it unlocked the truth found in Scripture about God and the truth about himself. Rowan Williams writes that once the Eunuch heard about this new life he wanted to embrace it immediately. He goes back to Ethiopia refreshed, renewed, and ready to make a difference, sharing the good news, rejoicing, with all he meets. And that we too, we – we who've been baptized – we should feel something of that freshness and hope every time we hear the story of our redemption, every time we hear of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Today, as we dedicate our lives in the service of Jesus Christ, we thank God for his promise and faithfulness to us. Today, as we dedicate this church, let us promise that this place will be a sign of God’s presence in this community– a sign of life-giving truth that transforms peoples’ worlds and gives them hope, gives them the possibility of living new lives and transforming the society in which we live. May we commit to that mission with full and joyful hearts; May we commit to letting the Holy Spirit be seen in our actions and our very beings. For even as we invite the spirit to give life to this place, we remember that the spirit of God cannot be contained by any building-but that the spirit of God moves and lives and has its being throughout the world. So let’s commit to joining in the work of the spirit both in here at Trinity and out there in the world. Let us be willing and inspired to go out into the world wherever God calls us. For the God who is present and alive in here is also out there, actively transforming the world. May our desire to be a part of God’s transformative work be visible in the life and ministry of this church. And let us pray that the Holy Spirit may, as the Bible says, renew the face of the whole earth. Amen.