As the Stewardship Team thought about the theme for this year, many words were listed, but journey and gratitude kept coming up and eventually morphed into “An Unfolding Journey: A Season of Gratitude.” This community of faith is truly on a journey that is unfolding right before us – is this journey one we receive with gratitude?
The journey of First Pres Bethlehem has been 
a long one, and on the day we dedicate pledges the 151st year of this community of faith will come to its conclusion and the 152nd year will begin. Is this journey one we receive with gratitude?
Our journey began with a group of 21 people in 1875 sitting in a parlor deciding to become a community of faith. They took a leap of faith trusting that God’s breath would enliven them, that Christ would be their foundation and any bricks would come later. They didn’t know how their journey would unfold, but they had vision and they had trust that the Trinity – God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit – would be their guide, breathing life and spirit into them. Do we believe that they had gratitude for that gift?
Fast forward 151 years later and we are still on an unfolding journey – one that simultaneously fills us with hope and fear, trust and doubt, excitement and anxiety. There is loss, there is grief especially as the end of the year inches ever closer. But there is also energy and enthusiasm for what the future holds – that is evident in the Mission Study process and final report. How does gratitude come into play in this season? How do we journey together?
What might we learn from our Scripture lessons this morning? The author of the letter to these five persecuted early Christian communities is offering reassurance, are they not? Your foundation, your cornerstone is Christ! You are the living stones that built on the one true Living Stone breathes life into you – breathes faith and trust and love into you!
And, that foundation that you are building is a communal one – the community of faith is being fitted together by God into a unified structure making up a spiritual temple rather than a physical one. Look around you – you are being fitted together by God – you are made up of breath, not brick! Do you feel that? Are you grateful for that living stone breath?
Do we not say as one of our core values that we are Christ-centered: In everything we do, we strive to follow Jesus Christ faithfully through the authority and insight of God’s Word and Spirit, to imitate Christ in how we treat others. We are the small letter living stones building upon Christ as the big letter Living Stone. We follow Jesus as a community of faith built by breath, not brick.
Isn’t that what Paul is saying to the church in Corinth – our allegiance isn’t to a building or to any apostle. That is not our foundation – Christ is our foundation. The apostles are to be nurturing the seeds that God is planting in you – breathing life into you! You are building upon the foundation that is Christ as the cornerstone. You are God’s house, not the bricks that make up this building. You are spiritual temples of God – God is present in you! Only one foundation and that is Jesus Christ!
At a pivotal moment in the journey of First Pres, a hymn was sung called “Christ is our Cornerstone.” The first verse reads: Christ is our cornerstone; On him alone we build; With his true saints above The courts of Heav’n are filled: On His great love Our hopes we place Of present grace And joys above. We are Christ-centered – built by breath, not brick. Do you believe that? Does that knowledge fill you with gratitude?
The journey of this community of faith led us to create this Mission Statement:
To welcome an inclusive and joyful community of Christ’s followers into actively exploring how God’s gracious love gives meaning to our lives and faith, and inspires us to address the needs of our changing world. Through our learning, service, and grateful worship, God fills us with purpose, compassion, courage, and love.
We are Christ-followers, living stones, part of a growing foundation of love, faith, and trust that our unfolding journey will be fueled by the living breath of God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit. And when we are filled with doubt or anxiety or fear or even anger as this journey unfolds, will we remember that it is God’s breath that continues to build us, not bricks. Will we remember that we don’t journey alone but together as a community of faith guided by God? Look around you – this is your community of faith, built by breath, not brick. Is there gratitude in your heart for that?
God’s breath fills us with purpose, compassion, courage, and love. God’s breath accompanies us on this unfolding journey. God’s breath continues to build us as living stones and Christ-followers. God’s breath continues to build our foundation to be able to go out and address the needs of a changing world, to be a place of affirmation and belonging.
This community of faith is built by breath, not brick. Will we remember that and be grateful for that as this unknown journey continues to unfold? Will we trust that God walks the journey with us? Will we feel that life-giving breath whenever doubt, fear, anger or anxiety interrupts our day? Will we allow that life-giving breath to continue to grow us as Christ-followers? Will we be grateful for that life-giving breath?
My challenge for all of this in our season of stewardship is to keep a gratitude journal – jotting down things through the day that we are grateful for, noticing when God’s life-giving breath is filling us, seeing how we are the living stones making up a spiritual temple. Let’s try this gratitude practice and see where we are on Nov. 15 which is Pledge Sunday. You are living stones making up a spiritual temple and that temple is sacred. Remember that. Live that. Believe that. May it be so. Amen.