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Have you ever seen the Old First Church in Bennington, Vermont? Our Office Manager, Janet Aist, has seen it and she tells me that it is beautiful. While the church was founded in 1762, the building was constructed after the town became more settled. The building, still in use, is 200 years old this month.
To be a 200-year-old congregation is unusual, but to worship in a church that is housed in a 200-year-old sanctuary is extraordinary. Buildings and churches are sometimes fragile. For either to last so long is an accomplishment.
Rev. Scott Barton is the pastor of Old First Church. The church of 85 members worships in a building built for 650. When they celebrate the 200th Anniversary of their building today, August 13, Rev. Barton will ask his congregation to look ahead to the next 100 years. “Will we be a church or a museum?” is the question he will pose to those gathered to worship at Old First Church. It is a good question for a church to ask, especially one that is over 200 years old.
Speaking of getting old, I was at the YMCA one day this week and I witnessed something inspiring. There was an elderly gentleman in the locker room with a walker. Yes, he was using that lightweight aluminum device that provides more stability to walk than a cane or crutches, but not as much as a wheelchair. This man wanted so badly to exercise he was using a walker to get from his car to the locker room, from the locker room to the pool, from the pool to the shower, from the shower to the locker area… Well, you get the picture. He really wanted to be there.
He was using the locker right next to the one I was using. His walker and gym bag were parked in front of the door to my locker. I was late and in a hurry, but I did not care. Here was a human being setting a worthy example. He did not have to speak a word to tell me that life for him was not over, was not done, nor was it finished. He was determined to keep on living until he stopped, and he had no intention of stopping one moment early.
Last Sunday I witnessed something in our church that inspired me. At the end of each of our three morning worship services I watched you vote to call Brian Johnson to be our Pastor to Students. That was a bold step for us and we did it in a decisive manner.
I heard our church saying something last week. You may have heard the same thing. “We are alive and we are going to keep on living. Yes, we may be over 200 years old, but we choose church over museum. We choose living over dying. We choose to exercise the abundance of gifts with which God has so richly blessed us. God is working here among us. We join with God in doing this work. God is not finished and neither are we. God is not done and neither are we.
In fact, the fun is just beginning. God is alive and so are we. Let us share the joy of being loved by the living God with one another.
Joy and peace,
Ed
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