Reflections on "Building Bridges" Ezekiel 37: 1-14

Sermon probably did not do justice the chapter in Unbinding Your Heart or Ezekiel 37.  I did think the author had some useful information for us in this chapter, but I needed more.

Interesting incident:  A visitor left and told me one of your younger members had come back and introduced herself to the woman.  I thought that was nice.  Then, the younger member told me the sermon had "spoken" to her, and she had gone back to introduce herself to a visitor to make sure the visitor was welcomed.  Sort of interesting to get an immediate response to a sermon.

“Building Bridges” April 10 2011; FPC, Troy; Unbinding Your Heart Lenten series, 2011; Ezekiel 37: 1-14

Introduction: Unbinding Your Heart – how is your church doing?

Move 1: Discusses logistics

a. Pyramid of people with whom to connect

1. At the bottom of the pyramid are the easiest group of people with whom you can share and invite; at the top are the most difficult.

2. Bottom are kids – sleepover; invite a neighborhood kid to VBS

3. Top of the pyramid – unchurched people who are not like us.

b. Nursery

1. Clean and safe.

2. I hope visitors and members with kids find our nursery a safe and clean environment.

3. I remember when I first arrived here, before the renovation and new building, you had to enter a maze of turns to find the nursery. If you found your way to the sanctuary, good luck finding your way back to the nursery an hour later!

4. I remember commenting to the Session at some point that anyone who joined with nursery age kids must really want to be a part of this congregation, otherwise they would not risk trying to find the nursery each week (unless the idea of losing the kids seemed appealing!).

100. Name tags

1. Okay, the author does not mention name tags, but you know how I feel about name tags.

2. I do not like wearing name tags, but when you wear them, you extend hospitality to those visiting among us and to those among us whose memories may not be as good as they used to be.

Move 2: Barriers

a. not intentional – not a sign

b. Words we use.

100. Liturgy

1. We sing the Doxology, Gloria Patri, recite the Lord's Prayer, Apostles' Creed.

2. familiar words to those of us who grew up on them.

3. A reminder that you are an outsider if you do not know them.

4. That's why we usually print them in the worship folder.

5. But there is still a disconnect when you are having to read or sing the words from the worship folder and everyone else seems to know it by heart.

500. Sense of family

1. High value among our members.

2. Imagine the moments immediately following worship. You look down the pew and see so and so who you haven't caught up with in a couple of weeks. You quickly scoot down the pew, ask about the doctor's visit, catch up on your families, and then leave, reminded again about how wonderful your church family is.

3. but, no one turns to greet the visitor sitting on the pew behind you. She leaves feeling left out and alone. She does not experience family.

Move 3: Bridges over our barriers.

a. Try to come one week to church with the viewpoint of a visitor.

1. what do you do that if you'd never done before would be challenging?
2. What words do you hear that you only know because you have been here lots of time?
   
   
   b. Relational

1. Recurring theme.
2. Logistics do not make up for the relational.

c. Nursery – good thing about the nursery being at the end of the maze – people had to ask how to get back, or observant members had to help visitors find the nursery and get back after worship.

1. Clean and safe nursery is important.

2. someone extending herself to visitors – more important.
   
   
   c. church in TX.

1. Woman shared her story of why her family joined.
2. They arrived to visit this Presbyterian Church that they'd heard about to find themselves greeted by a church under construction.
3. They stood in the parking lot with their two children facing orange, plastic fencing in every direction.
4. AS she told the story, they were not sure they could even visit.
5. Along comes a high schooler. He apparently saw their perplexed look and stopped and asked, “Can I help you get somewhere?”
6. He then guided them through the maze of construction to the entrance that was open (he knew, of course, the secret to getting into the church)
7. He then escorted them to the area where the kids Church school classes met and found someone to get the kids to the appropriate spot.
8. Then, he showed the parents where the sanctuary was as he took them to where the adults me.
9. So why did they join? The woman says she and her husband figured that any church that would raise kids to take care of visitors like the kids they met, that was the church they wanted to join.

c. Relationships trump logistics.

Move 4: finished the chapter on logistics and found myself feeling like it was not enough.

a. As I reflected on that dissatisfaction this week, I was led to the passage we read in Ezekiel.

1. Powerful story of Ezekiel being brought into the desert valley that was full of dry bones.
2. The Lord asks, Ezekiel – “Mortal, can these bones live?”
3. It hit me – yes, logistics are important, yes, relationships are really important; but what is most important is sharing that which is life-giving to you. Sharing that which is life-giving to the church.

4. what brings our dry bones to life?

5. Knowing the presence of God and being filled with the breath of God. That gives us life.

b. So in addition to the logistics, add the question – where have you found the life-giving presence of God?

1. If you have experienced the life-giving breath of God in the support you experienced in this community of faith. Invite others to experience that.

2. If your work in mission – Breakfast Club, Partners in Hope, Food Pantry, Mission trip – if you have been involved in those things and had a life-giving experience, invite someone to join you the next time.

3. If you have faced a difficult time and discovered hope and God's presence as you gathered here in this community of faith, invite others to join us.

Conclusion: A new blog, Jan Edmiston, authors a blog entitled “A Church for Starving Artists.” Awhile back, she posted an entry which began this way, “In the past seven days, “I’ve…thrown a couple of parties, taken a quick trip to the beach, pondered with multiple friends All Things Church, and realized that I (simplistically) divide the Christian world into two distinct groups: real and not real.

Examples:

Real: Jesus

Not Real: Much of what comes with Jesus

Real: People who gather on Sunday mornings looking for life to be different

Not Real: Pretending life is perfect so that people will believe that I am a Successful Christian.”

www.achurchforstarvingartists.com ; sermon by Lib McGregor Simmons, 6/28/09

what have you experienced that is real and life-giving?

Share that.

Amen.