I’ve had the great fortune to be part of some magnificent congregations in my day. The Fifth Avenue Presbyterian under Tom Tewell in the late 90s, early 00s, and more recently with Paul Watermulder at First Presbyterian in Burlingame.
The most moving series of sermons Paul delivered was part of our church’s evolution to become “The Most Loving Place on Earth”. This is the title of a book that most of the active congregation read that was a parable of a church that lost its way through equating growth with success. The conflict point was when a long-time member, a fixture for 40 years but not a “joiner”, informed the pastor that she was transferring to a different church. In the rapid expansion of program offerings, the church had moved their long-standing senior bible study to a new night that she couldn’t make. In an epiphany the pastor realized how ego for growth had moved the mission to the “church” instead of the “congregation” and then the parable covers the path he took to right the ship.
Sermon #1 as part of this transformation began with 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. We’ve all heard it at weddings a couple of dozen times…”Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud…” but Paul added a twist. “Now read this verse all together from the bulletin, but instead of the word LOVE, insert you own name.” When we concluded he followed with “It seems weird doesn’t it. You’re thinking that a lot of what you said is ‘kind of’ true, sometimes ‘mostly’ true, but definitely not always true. I know a lot of you out there, and ‘mostly’ true might be generous for a couple of those phrases.”
Tingles. But then it got magical.
Over the next ten weeks, as part of the sermon, a member of our congregation stood and told their story as part of 1C13:4-7. Holy crap it was powerful. The first week was “Love is patient” and one of our members stood and talked about his teenage daughter with cerebral palsy and the 4-6 hours of hands on care it required of him every day, above and beyond providing for his family and being a good father to his two other children. “On the low side,” he shared, “I’ve spent about 25,000 hours in the direct hands on care of my daughter.”.
Burlpres was magnificent.