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Westminster Presbyterian Church
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THANKS!
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
I Thes. 5: 18
My goal this morning is to simply say thanks to you all for the sheer privilege of serving WPC for the past two years, for the treasure of so many friends Pat and I have had the honor to make in what at one time seemed like a long time, but in retrospect seems now like a very short time. I'd like to share with you, in kind of an anecdotal way some of the great memories both Pat and I are taking with us.
But, while this is my last Sunday with you, I am acutely aware that this is also our stewardship commitment Sunday. To put it another way, to quote our President elect, this is all not about me, but about you. I don't know of any better reason or rationale for giving than as an expression of gratitude, a way of saying thanks. I've been studying the gorgeous quilt which you will see sometime this morning on the far wall of the Fellowship Hall, a quilt which offers hundreds of reasons why members of WPC are grateful for this church: being a family, the youth group, the church school classes, the worship services, the music, our mission to Durham and the world, and many more. What a great theme for this year's stewardship program, "We are the church." We are the church grateful for all it means to so many of us. The economy may not be good, but our gratitude is great, and so I'm confident our finances will be sound. To put this all in Biblical terms, quoting Paul, "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
Let me share with you just a few of the thousand reasons I am thankful to you. Maybe I should begin with the search committee itself, for Holly Schmidt, Beth Maxwell, Bill Scott, and the chair of the committee, Doug Elvers. I remember when Doug first called us in Florida, and having described the situation, I asked Doug how long the previous minister had been here. I'm not sure if this by now is apocryphal or not, but as I recall, Doug answered, "a while." When I asked Doug to define a while, he said "a little over 32 years." I don't think I said this to Doug over the phone, but I remember thinking, "this guy must think I'm out of my mind." But one thing led to another, and I remember Pat saying to me, "Jack, this call is so strong, I'm afraid not to take this church."
I would also like to say a sincere word of thanks to Haywood. I know you did this big time 2 and 1/2 years ago, but I would like to publicly acknowledge the imprint this man has made on this church which will last for decades, an imprint which of course can be summed up in the words, "What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." In hundreds of different way I've seen this flesh itself out here; with Bill Hatch and Bill Burig arriving here on Sunday mornings an hour before I got here at 7:30, to clean up and fold cots after folks from IHN stayed in our facilities for a week. Or cooking 25 boxes of Lasagna to feed the hungry people in downtown Durham; or Haywood himself popping in my office talking abut finding other ministers in town to assist him teach a course at Duke on mission, other ministers who to quote Haywood almost accurately, "give a rap about what's going on beyond their own church walls." Haywood used another word for "rap."
I enjoyed working with Paul while it lasted. After I was approved by the Search Committee and the Staff, not necessarily in that order, I said to Paul, "Now Ransford, if I come here, I want you to promise me one thing, that you will not leave here until I do." So we made that little covenant. After his stroke, I said to him, "You certainly go to great lengths to get out of a promise." I enjoyed chatting with him in his office, or in what he called his other office, namely, the garage. Times with Paul and Sally at their Montreat home, with Tully, Sophie Marion, and Sarah Wolf all on the front porch talking spirited theology, if you know what I mean, were a treasure.
We are taking with us the sense of having been fed and inspired with Monica at the organ. Every Sunday was and is an inspiration. I remember saying to Paul when he and I were both up here early on, "I would come to this church if for no other reason than the music," to which Paul said, "Some do." A hearty thank you to the choir, the brass, other instrumentalists, and a music program that is unexcelled. I preached once here on the theme, "When Music Is Prayer," and because of the quality of music here, the theme of that sermon is a conviction of my heart.
The length and breath of the educational program here is mind boggling. In two years I still have not figured out how Nancy Rozak, and her team of qualified Christian educator supporters, puts it all together. I'm taking with me the voices of little kids who, in the courtyard, at Celebration on Wednesday mornings, on the churchyard playground, or walking in the hallways of the Mission Center after Sunday School classes, walk up to me and pop into my office and say, "Hi Jack." Like Will Dozier, popping into my office one Sunday morning after Sunday School, looking at this plaque I have on the wall with a framed article from a newspaper that was given to me, and Will saying, "Hey Jack, this is a great plaque." I asked him why he thought so much of that article, and he said, "Because it was published on my birthday!" You've got to love a kid like that! I'm taking with me discussion from a spirited Sunday School class, where adults have said how much they appreciated the fact that we use the lectionary for both sermons and church school curriculum, and how one feeds the other. I'm taking with me the art of playing Pontius Pilate, which Nancy roped me into after Paul did it for so many years. I remember the first time I did that, got all dressed up as Pontius Pilate, sat out there on the bench next to the Fellowship Hall, in what I thought was a pretty good disguise, and one of the kids came up to me and said, "Hey, you're not Paul."
When Paul could no longer handle the Youth Program, which worried me, as with the question, “Where on earth do we find a replacement for Paul?” When it became clear that Rebecca was interested in that portion of Paul's position, my thought was, this is a dream come true. The kids all know her and love her. Actually, I sat in on a pre-mission trip meeting with all the youth, and expected Paul to be running the meeting, pointing out all the things the youth could do, should do, should not do. I was dumbfounded to sit there and hear Rebecca lay all this out. Paul just sat back and watched, which is to his credit, that he enlisted volunteers to head up the program. But I think that was the year they all went to Mexico and Paul forgot to bring money. It all worked out well, and we are so glad to have Rebecca heading up the youth program.
There is one last person I want to say thanks for, and that is Betty. I know of no church anywhere, and I've served a lot of them, where an Associate Pastor has been so instrumental, and so formative, in the total program of the church, and even thought she has denied this, I call her "the glue that holds the whole program together." Betty is a person that has her opinions, in case you haven't noticed that. Nancy and Betty are two peas in a pod, thankfully for their mutual ministry here at Westminster. During my first month here I was just chatting with Nancy in my office about the staff in general, and about Betty, Nancy declared, "You will always know where she stands." I think I declared something like, "I guess I've already figured that out." But this is an astounding attribute of a person for whom "honesty" is a singular virtue. I guess this is why, in Betty's recent fall, she sprained her ankle in one leg and fractured her knee cap in two places on the other leg, and when she called me about it on Saturday before the following Sunday and said, "I don't have a leg to stand on." My immediate thought was, "That sure does not sound like Betty." For her work in Pastoral Care, and in addition just doing all the things that an Associate Pastor does, I say thank you.
I have one more thank you, and that is to the PNC, for bringing Chris Tuttle here. And I would like to share with you in closing my personal reason for offering this thank you, and I think you may find this "it's a small world observation" interesting. Pat and I served First Presbyterian Church in DeLand, FL, for seven years, in central Florida, the church just across the street from Stetson University. The Session voted to hire an Associate Pastor, who would have to have the skills to relate not only to the Senior Citizens of the church, but to the youth and the college students who growingly were attending our congregation. An extended search brought us a recent graduate from Princeton Seminary, who name was John McCall. We immediately hit it off. I loved him. For five of my seven years there, we worked hand in glove in the service of DeLand and the church. In fact, in later meetings with John, in public he would say "Jack was the best Senior Minister I ever had." In fact, I was the only Senior Minister he ever had. After his five years with us in DeLand, he was called to the Black Mountain Presbyterian Church in Black Mountain, NC, just as you enter Montreat. This is a world famous church, where they have over 40 retired ministers and missionaries, all who live in Black Mountain so they can attend conferences and events at Montreat. When John told me where he was going, I told him, "Let me give you one piece of advice. Don't ever ask for a critique of your Sunday sermon, because you are going to get more mail on Monday morning than you ever wanted."
John transformed that church. He was a loved and beloved pastor, if for no other reason than just his own integrity. Well, attending that church were the parents of a young boy named Chris Tuttle, whose father had moved to Black Mountain because he was employed as Director of Program at Montreat. Chris grew up under the tutelage and leadership of John McCall.
When I first met Chris over lunch at the request of the PNC, Chris' first question was, "Did you ever serve a church in DeLand, FL, with a guy named John McCall?" When I answered "of course," and Chris said "I want you to know that I have no end of love, admiration, and respect for John, and everything I am and believe has something to do with this pastor who was my pastor," I almost fell apart."
You see, I now have this further, on-going connection with you, and, if you will, a kind of vested personal interest in your celebration of Chris' "advent" here. Forgive me for this, but I helped train the guy, who trained the guy, whom you have called to be your next pastor!
Chris and Carrie are going to love you, and you will very soon come to love them. He will be an outstanding success here. He has had some great mentors. The PNC has done an outstanding job. The future of WPC is as bright as it can be.
So, as the rock bottom basis for our stewardship, and as the ground for all the beginnings and endings that are the hallmark of life, but in the Christian Church, triumphant beginnings and endings, here is the best wisdom on the whole subject, "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
To put it all in one word, "Thanks!"
Amen.