I remember an old comedian telling a story of preacher in an African American church one Sunday morning. He said to the congregation, “Let the church walk brothers and sisters.” They responded, “Yes preacher, let the church walk.” He raised the pitch of his voice a little higher and said, “And let the church run, let this church run.” And again the congregation responded with a little bit more excitement, “Yes preacher, let the church run.”  

He ratcheted up the enthusiasm a notch or two and said, “Oh brothers and sisters, let the church fly. Let this church fly.” “Yes preacher, yes, let it fly.” Finally when all the intensity he could muster and with a very shrill voice he said, “Let the church soar brothers and sisters, let the church soar.” And they responded, “Oh brother preacher, let it soar.” 

Then the preacher said, “Now, it will surely take lots of money – lots and lots of money – to help make this church soar.” Where upon the congregation replied, “Let the church walk, brother pastor, let the church walk.” 

We have lived through a lot of soaring events the years here. We have lived through a lot of visions in this place. The Bible says in the book of Proverbs, “Where there is no vision the people perish.” The writer might well have also said, “Where there is a wrong vision the people perish even more quickly.” But said positively, what he means is that vision lights up a faith community. The capacity to dream lights up a church. You are a people who respond to worthy dreams. You are a people who like to dream big dreams for God. 

Early on in my ministry here we had a lot of inreach visions. These are visions that strengthen the inner life of the congregation. In September of 1987 we began the use of a brand new pipe organ here in the sanctuary. (Can you believe that it will be 20 years this September since that organ was first installed and used?) We spent some time and money replacing the infrastructure of this church. Furnaces and other systems were wearing out and needed to be replaced. In 1994 we took a bold leap of faith to build a Christian Life Center, a music wing and new classrooms.  

We had some outreach as well. We supported some missionaries, we were strong supporters of South Hills Interfaith Ministry and we took special offerings for outreach at Christmas and Easter each year. 

But after awhile a notable shift took place. The shift brought with it some risks. We engaged in more outreach. We began reaching farther and deeper into our world.  

We always sent youth work teams to some part of the country, but now we are sending adult work teams to West Virginia, North Carolina and Mississippi. We began sending youth on Missions of Peace to China, India, Africa (this year will be Cuba). Two summers ago we sent a huge combination of youth and adult work teams to Jamaica. That was probably one of the most daring trips we have ever pursued. We began to take seriously the AIDS crisis in Africa. Lately, we have done a hospital revitalization in a developing world. We picked Nyadire, Zimbabwe. We put a medical doctor in place. That effort has grown into something we call the “Nyadire connection.” There are three doctors on site. There is a fine nursing school, and a growing supply of medical equipment. The orphanage has taken on new power and meaning and the little church in Nyadire is doing well. Tom Funka has preached there. We have a large group of people hoping to go to Nyadire in 2008. We have a commitment there for the foreseeable future. 

Today, I want to lay before you one more vision. This one is a bit closer to home. This is a significant vision that also entails some risk. It will mean an investment of time and money and energy. I want to talk with you about a new church start in Homestead Boro about 8 miles from here. It will be called the 8^th Avenue Faith Community (United Methodist). It will be housed at the first building at the Homestead end of the High Level Bridge. 

The start up pastor will be Keith Kaufold. Keith is a member of Christ Church. He expects to be appointed there by the Bishop this summer. He will serve as a certified candidate for ministry. Keith will also join John Shaver here next weekend for our worship services. 

There is much work to be done in preparation. There is much work to be done to have it ready by August 15. I have seen the site. I am beginning to be infected by the vision.  

I want to lay before you a wonderful text that I have used before in other settings. This one is from Isaiah.

            Enlarge the site of your tent, and let the curtains of

            Your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back;

            Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.

                                                                        (Isaiah 54:2) 

That text is a word to the church. It is a word to this church. Each time we read the scripture in worship we say, “Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church” In these ancient words of Isaiah, the Spirit of God is speaking to us. 

We are to enlarge our tent. We are to stretch it out. We are to not hold back. We are to lengthen our cords and strengthen our stakes. We have done that with Nydaire. We have done that with the Gulf Coast of the United States. We have done it in Jamaica. We have done it other places. Now we will do it 8 miles away in Homestead. 

Ashley Hale once said, “Not 1 church in 100 has any notion of its power.” We can do this and we can do it well. 

What can I tell you about this effort? 

A LOT OF SUPPORT 

First of all, I can tell you that this effort has a lot of support. Our Bishop has met with Keith Kaufold several times. Keith has as clear a call as I have ever known in this regard. Our Pittsburgh District Superintendent, Don Scandrol is on board. The Annual Conference priority “Believe Again” is giving serious consideration to significant funding. The United Methodist Church Union is behind it. 

But we at Christ Church are the catalyst. Momentum is building. Your gifts and work will be the seed money. From that seed money more resources will flow. 

A WORTHY VISION 

Secondly, I can tell you this is a worthy vision. This community of faith will be multi ethnic, multi cultural, and multi racial. Homestead is 42% White and 51% African American, 7% are of other racial groups. There is a lot of poverty there. 26% of all adults (23% of all households) are below the poverty line. That is a higher percentage than the U.S. average. 

This is a vision in keeping with Jesus’ own vision, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach good news to the poor.” 

It is located in an excellent visible location. It is the very first building that you see when you come across the Homestead High Level Bridge. It is a good piece of property. We have the option to lease the space, to purchase the entire building or to lease the space with the option to buy. The lease will be about $700 a month. We could purchase it for $250,000 and lease it back to two small businesses there currently housed in other parts of the building. Where will God lead us on this?  

The ministry at 8^th Avenue is filled with imagination. It will be a place for small group disciple formation. It will be a place for racial forums. They hope to have an open mike night for youth reading poetry, singing music and doing skits. Saturday night dinners will be held for families, single parents always including devotions with the meal. It will be a place for Intercessory prayer meeting and healing ministries. Sunday worship may not take place weekly at first, but it will begin on Sunday afternoons at 4 p.m. with communion. There will ministry training for laity in the Homestead area. 

Albert Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” This is a site where imagination is at work. And it is reverent imagination. 

I came across a text in the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes recently. The text says, “Dreams come with many cares,” (5:30)

Yes, they do, but this is a dream built on reverent imagination. 

OUR ROLE? 

So what is our role in all of this? Some key leaders are already on board for the renovations. Our Junior High Youth will go in early next month do some painting and other work.  

But we need an offering. I am asking of you an offering of at least $50,000 by September 1 of this year. 

Two weeks from today you can make your intentions known. I ask you to give as much as you can on June 2-3 and then give a second amount no later than September 1 of this year. 

I think that we can do this. I think we can do more than this. But $50,000 is the minimum that I am asking. Some of you have a real heart for this and will exercise your gift of giving. Some of you can give several thousand dollars. Some of you can give several hundred. Some of you can only give a smaller amount. But this is our start up gift in response to God’s claim upon us. 

Sources of the giving may vary widely. There is a church somewhere that was taking a special offering for a new building. The saloon owner, who happened to be a member of the church jumped up and said, “I want to give $5,000 to the building fund.” The preacher thought for a moment and said, “Well, thank you very much sir, but as badly as we need the money, I just can’t accept it from the saloon owner.” From the back of the room came a voice that said, “Oh go ahead and take it Reverend. It is our money anyway.” 

This is creative giving for a very worthy vision. 

I remember the story of East Liberty Presbyterian church near the city. That church made a decision to build in 1930 – right after the stock market crash of 1929. Someone said at the time, “Whatever difficulties the depression may have presented to the nation. East Liberty Church represents an American congregation in its most confident moment. 

I would like to echo that quotation to say this, “Whatever the difficulties our economy may present in 2007, this effort in Homestead represents a United Methodist congregation in Bethel Park in a God-confident moment. 

My role in all of this will be obviously limited. It will be pretty much confined to a “Launch”. A colleague said to me not long ago. “I want to spend my last months in ministry casting toward the future, not living in the past.” My sentiments, exactly. Elaine and I will participate in this with you. 

This is a tent-stretching exercise and a wonderful vision for us. This is investment confidence in God’s work. 

Some health clubs have stretching and strengthening  for older adults. I’ll be getting on board with one of those soon. What I am talking about this morning is a stretching and strengthening exercise for this church at almost 58 years of age. 

Remember the lines from the song, The Rose, “It’s the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance. It’s the dream afraid of waking that never takes a chance” Let’s take a chance and dance next month. 

Hear once more the words of the Old Testament prophet, “Enlarge the site of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.” 

When Abraham Lincoln was president he would go occasionally to a Wednesday evening preaching service at the New York Avenue Presbyterian church in Washington, D.C. He and an aide would sit in the preacher’s study with the door adjar to listen to the sermon.  

One Wednesday evening as they walked back to the White House, the aide said to Lincoln, “What did you think of the sermon tonight, Mr. Lincoln?” “Well, the content was excellent.” He said, Dr. Gurley spoke with great eloquence. He put a lot of work into that sermon.” 

“Then you thought it was a great sermon, Mr. President?” 

“No, I didn’t say that.” 

“But, Sir, you said it was an excellent sermon.” 

“No, I sad the content was excellent. I said it was spoken with eloquence. But Dr. Gurley forgot one important matter.” 

“What was that?” 

“The preacher forgot to ask us to do something great.” 

I guess that I am asking you to do something great in the next few weeks. We will observe Pentecost on June 2-3 here. Pentecost is the Birthday of the church. We will celebrate Pentecost here at Christ Church by helping to birth a new church. You and I will help to launch the 8^th Avenue Faith Community in Homestead Boro, Pennsylvania.