Usually sermons from this pulpit start with scripture and move to our situation. Today I am
reversing that sequence. I will talk first about our present setting, our identity, some
Woodbrook assets and liabilities, and then move into today's lesson from Acts 2. God
willing, this approach will be a positive impact on us on this day of Pentecost when our
theme is missions.
IDENTITY AND LIMITATIONS
If we wanted to do so, we could make a case, or even an excuse, that this church has done
fairly well, given our limitations.
- No educational building - 1961-1969 (8 years)
- No sanctuary - 1969 - 1997 (22 years)
- No narthex - during the current construction - the heart of the church, as Steve Meador
called it other day, noting how important that space is to our fellowship.
It's tough "doing church" without adequate facilities for education, worship and fellowship.
Corrections are in progress in these areas of our identity.
Instead of...
no educational building,
no sanctuary,
no narthex,
on this day of Pentecost and henceforth let the word be, "No excuses!" We will soon have
the tools to live out our identity. Jesus said, "To whom much is given, much will be
required; of those to whom people commit much, they will demand the more." (Luke 12: 48)
No excuses but great expectations!
MISSIONS IDENTITY
If worship, education and fellowship are keys to our identity, another equally important area
is missions. Let me give you a walk through some of local Baptist history. On the 200th
anniversary of the beginning of the Baptist work in Baltimore Mrs. Rosalind Levering wrote
a carefully researched history of Baptists (Baltimore Baptists, 1773/1973 [Lutherville,
Maryland: Baltimore Baptist Association] 1973, 209 pp.)
A. Eutaw Place and Woodbrook
In Part II Mrs. Levering gives brief histories of each church in Baltimore Baptist
Association. She devoted most space not to the oldest church, nor to the largest church, nor
to the wealthiest church. Most churches are covered in a few paragraphs; a handful receive
almost a page. But one church receives almost a page and half of coverage. One church is
described as "unique in the affections of the denomination; everyone has always loved this
church," she writes. Five of the seven paragraphs devoted to this church deal with its
mission activity. There is no doubt that to speak of the Eutaw Place/Woodbrook Baptist
Church means that one speaks of missions.
"...in home and foreign missions (the church) has been of great assistance to the state and to
the Southern Baptist Convention." (Op. cit., p. 147)
She lists the seven churches sponsored by Eutaw Place:
Shiloh which merged with Grace
Fuller Memorial, which eventually died, but whose property was sold for the Church Extension Society who used the money to help the Middle River Baptist Church get
started;
the first Immanuel which merged with Seventh;
North Avenue which became McCormick Memorial and was absorbed by University Baptist Church;
Liberty Heights which merged with First Baptist Church;
Patterson Park
University Baptist Church, colonized in much the same way as Eutaw Place had been started by Seventh Baptist Church. (Op. cit., p. 148)
Mrs. Levering lists 18 missionaries who went out from Eutaw Place. Earlier in the book she
mentions two others, Dr. and Mrs. Peter Lee (Op. cit., p. 135). In the last 25 years since
Mrs. Levering's book was published there have been four foreign missionaries to go from us
(the Sorleys to Africa and the Williams to India) and 19 to serve here with the General
Mission Board of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware and its agencies and
affiliates:
in campus ministry, these four: Gene Bolin, Bill Butler, Bobby Waddail, and Ron Brown;
in journalism, three editors and an associate, Gene Puckett, Larry High, Bob Allen, and
Pam Parry;
with Baptist Family and Children's Services, Terry-Thomas Primer and Linda Fowler;
as executive director, Ken Lyle;
in historical preservation, Maryan Brown;
at the Baptist Home, Randy Fowler;
in chaplaincy, Carole Jackson Cochran and Ann Williams;
in Associational Christian Social Ministries, Jack VandenHengel;
in language ministry, Jim Lewis;- in Christian education, Mary Kathryn Black;
in children's missions education, Kay Richardson.
Back to Mrs. Levering - she records 13 ministers who went out from Eutaw Place in the first
100 years. In the last 25 years there have been four more: Ann Asper Wilson, David
Denham, Terry-Thomas Primer, and now Sonya Park-Taylor, a student at Princeton
Theological Seminary.
She speaks also of Miss Annie Armstrong, first Executive Secretary of the Woman's
Missionary Union, Auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention, and of her first two
successors, Edith Campbell Crane and Kathleen Mallory, also members of Eutaw Place. She
speaks of Miss Marjorie Allen, former state secretary of the Woman's Missionary Union.
Mrs. Levering has a section on 30 families who took an active lead in Baltimore Baptist life.
Of these, twelve have connections with this church - all because of missions involvement.
(Armstrong, Carver, Cook, Edmonds, Gressitt, Keyser, Levering, Long, Matthews,
Robinson, Tyler, and Woods) (Op. cit., pp. 188-202)
She could have written much more:
how our first pastor, Richard Fuller, helped found the Southern Baptist Convention, and as a member of the committee which drafted its Constitution, shaped its identity as a
missionary organization;
how Fuller served as SBC president during the Civil War and from Baltimore administered a provisional Foreign Mission Board to support the missionaries;
how Joshua Levering helped found the Layman's Missionary Movement which became the Baptist Brotherhood, the male equivalent to Miss Annie's WMU.
The history bears witness not only to the early days when Eutaw Place was the city's most
fashionable address. Mrs. Levering reports half a century of effective inner city ministry
and of the fortuitous if not providential sale of the building on Eutaw Place to the City
Temple Baptist Church. This great church has been able to brings its gifts, energies and
resources to ministry in that setting while Eutaw Place was able to relocate where our gifts
could be used most effectively. (Op. cit., p. 148)
In short, the move in 1969 was for missions - we moved for mission in this setting; our
move opened the way for mission by City Temple in that setting. Coming and going, the
word was missions.
At the risk of succumbing to cliches, let me say, "That was then, and this is now." And as
for now, "there is good news and bad news" in our missions activity. First the good news.
B. Good News
The workers in children's missions have done good work with the activities led in extended
session. Their leader, Jamie Burnett, has recognized her workers this morning. Add
your personal thanks to them and to her.
The Missions Committee has disbursed funds from the special missions line item in the budget for "over and above" missions giving.
The Friday ESOL program (led by Kathryn Dooley and Marylynn Roberts) and the Sunday
School class (taught by Marylynn) go forward teaching English to speakers of other
languages.
William Chin leads a Cantonese Bible study each Monday, carrying on a missions activity which began in the 1880's at Eutaw Place;
We pray on Wednesdays for missionaries on their birthdays, another worthy custom.
We keep in touch with a missionary family who went to the mission field straight from Woodbrook and our neighborhood, Dr. and Mrs. David Sorley, serving now in
Kenya, ministering to youth with AIDS;
Many individuals have been involved in missions activities on a personal basis, quietly serving on various missions fronts, e.g., the Wongs in a soup kitchen. Our Missions
Tree on the south wall of the sanctuary will report your activities and your responses
to the Missions Committee's challenge to give as many minutes in service between
today and Pentecost 1998 as there are bricks in the new building (62,000!);
Rachael Tanner's report of her missions trip to Zimbabwe raises our consciousness of
possible missions involvement there.
C. Bad News
That's the good news; here's the bad.
In spite of gallant efforts and heroic sacrifices the Sparks Mission did not survive;
In recent years we have not been as active as we should have been in missions education for adults.
In recent years giving to missions through the seasonal offerings has declined. Goal setting, promotion, seasons of prayer have not happened.
D. The Best News
The best news is that a correction is in progress. Today the Missions Committee is
sponsoring a Missions Fair at 4:30 p.m., a chance for you to discover opportunities for
missionary activity, an occasion to note on the missions tree what we are doing and what we
are committing ourselves to doing, an opportunity to learn from a wise and fair missions
scholar about options in missions support.
But....we are tired, overworked, overscheduled, overextended, overcommitted. I have said
that, heard that, and take that seriously. But there is something else that needs to be said
and taken seriously.Today is Pentecost, the day when God's Spirit breathes fresh energy and vision into his
church. New visions, new energies, new priorities come from the Spirit.
BREATHING LIFE INTO A ROCK
In Genesis 2: 7, the Spirit of God breathed life into dust and created a human being. In Acts
2: 1-4 the Spirit of God breathed into a rock and created the church. (William H. Willimon,
Acts [Atlanta: John Knox Press] 1988, pp. 32-33)
A gifted Baptist preacher named Brian Harbour identified three groups in church (I have
added a fourth, No. 2 below). They are the plus-plus group, the minus-plus group, the plus-minus group, and the minus-minus group:
(1) ++ = I can do it - you can do it - let's do it
(2) -+ = I can't do it - you take care of it for me
(3) +- = I can do it - you can't do it - get out of my way so I can do it
(4) -- = I can't do it - you can't do it - why are we even thinking about doing it?
(Harbour,(Brian L. Harbour, Acts - Living Expectantly [Nashville: Broadman Press] 1990, p.
30)
Look within yourself and ask yourself, "into which group do I fall?" On Pentecost God can
breath new life into us, whatever our plus or minus factor. On Pentecost God can give us
fresh vision. On Pentecost in the power of God's Spirit we can say, "I can do it; you can do
it; let's do it!"
G. Avery Lee wrote of four diseases which may strike a church. The Holy Spirit can cure
any of the following:
sleeping sickness
falling asleep in the midst of possibilities
cirrhosis of the giver
money malady which limits ministry; the main symptom is to look first to ways to cut
budget and ministry and instead of looking first at ways to increase one's own giving
hardening of the hearteries
loss of compassion and concern; the first impulse is to make sure no one gets
anything he or she doesn't deserve, instead of making sure that no one gets
overlooked even if someone undeserving may be included
spiritual myopia
lack of vision of long-term possibilities for ministry (adapted from Harbour, op. cit.,
p. 119)
Look within yourself and ask yourself, "with which of these diseases am I suffering?" On
Pentecost God can heal us. On Pentecost God can give us fresh vision. On Pentecost in the
power of God's Spirit we can get over sleeping sickness, cirrhosis of the giver, hardening of
the hearteries, and spiritual myopia. God can breath new life into us.
THE WAY OF THE PENTECOST
All this talk about Pentecost and the Spirit comes from Acts 2, which shows us the way of
Pentecost, the way of the Spirit, the way the Spirit created new life, the way to new energy,
new action, the way of mission.
On Pentecost we must not permit ourselves to get sidetracked by the many curious and
challenging aspects of the day: speaking in unknown tongues or foreign languages, wind and
fire - real or symbolic, and the charge that the early church was communistic in its approach
to property.
Let's get Pentecost straight:
Pentecost is not so much unknown tongues or foreign languages as it is a powerful message
which gets through.
Pentecost is not so much a debate over whether the wind and fire were real or symbolic, as
it is a power which transforms.
Pentecost is not so much an economic system of common ownership, as it is the power to empty self and share.
Positively stated, Pentecost is the giving of the Spirit, the Spirit of God;
the same Spirit Jesus embodied and promised, the Spirit who would come to teach and bring
to remembrance all Jesus had said (John 14: 26);
the Spirit not of bondage again to fear, but the Spirit who enables us to address God intimately as a Father (Romans 8: 15);
the Spirit not of timidity, but of love, power and self-discipline (II Timothy 1: 7);
the Spirit who gives us the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5: 23)
In Acts 2 at Pentecost it all begins to come together for the men and women who had lived
with Jesus and seen in him the abundant life, who had followed him as the Good Shepherd,
and who had discerned in him the most glad and generous heart ever encountered.
Jesus had been killed - they felt responsibility - "he died for us," they confessed.
What was to become of them?
They could huddle together in a sub-culture of fear, anger and self-pity. They could go
home. They could go back to work. Or something could happen that would make it all come
together for them.
In those days after Jesus was killed, he kept coming in on them unexpectedly, alive,
empowering them with his Spirit and entrusting them with his mission. And Pentecost was
to be the climax, where memories converged into meaning by the power of the Spirit. And
they had so many memories to breath new life into them. What was it he had said?"Go into all the world..." (Matthew 28: 19)
"Feed my sheep..." (John 21: 15)
"Receive the Holy Spirit...be my witnesses..." (Acts 1: 8)
This Jesus, who was among them, had said, "I am come that you may have life and may
have it more abundantly." (John 10: 10) He was indeed among them, a very lively presence.
He had said, "Because I live, you shall live also," (John 14: 19) and on Pentecost the Spirit
breathed new life into those weary, frightened people.
How many memories came flooding back when they broke the bread, when they shared with
glad and generous hearts! They remembered and began to live out of the powerful presence
of...
- the One who came that they might have life and have it more abundantly,
- the One who said, "Because I live, you shall live also,"
- the One who said, "I am the Light of the world,"
- the One who said, "I am the Good Shepherd."
CONVERGENCE AND POWER
What a memory! What a presence! What a hope!
Their past, their present, and their future all came together when the Spirit came upon them
in a transforming moment of convergence and power.
Woodbrook, in a few weeks we will be worshipping under a new roof, a roof whose lines of
convergence meet above the place where we celebrate every major rite of passage in our
lives:
- the coming together of all those godly forces which enable us to make our first public
Christian commitments,
- the convergence of all those godly forces which bring a couple together in marriage,
- the convergence of all those godly forces which will shape the life of a newborn child who
is dedicated with a family,
- the place where our earthly remains rest for a time when others will give thanks for our
lives when they are completed.
This point of architectural convergence not only involves our rites of passage. It is also at
the point where the pulpit and communion table are placed, where "the word is spoken, and
the bread is broken." From God's word and the Lord's Supper we receive power.
The architectural symbolism of convergence and empowerment is very much the substance of
what Pentecost and the Holy Spirit are all about.
CONCLUSION (8:30 a.m. service, using words from hymns sung at that service)
So come, Holy Spirit, and in this glad hour, Thou, who almighty art, Now rule in every
heart, and ne'er from us depart, Spirit of power.
Come, Holy Spirit, descend upon our hearts...through all our pulses move, make us to love
you as we ought to love. Come, Holy Spirit, take the dimness of our souls away.
Come, Holy Spirit, and fill us with one holy passion, filling us until our hearts are an altar,
and your love is the flame. Amen. (Baptist Hymanl, Wesley Forbis, editor [Nasvhille:
Convention Press] 1991, anon., "Come, Thou Almighty King," No. 247; George Croly,
"Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart," No. 245)
CONCLUSION (11:00 a.m. service, using words from hymns sung at that service)
So come, Holy Spirit, calling and free, come to stir us from placidness, blow through your
people on the rush of the wind, call from tomorrow that our women see visions and our men
clear their eyes; with bold new decisions, may your people arise.
Come, Holy Spirit, aim your breath with steady power on your church this day, this hour;
Raise, renew the life we've lost, Spirit God of Pentecost.
Come, Holy Spirit, breathe and blow upon our days Till our lives, our deeds and ways speak
that tongue which every land By your grace shall understand. Amen. (Ruth C. DUck and
Michael G. Bausch, editors, Everflowing Streams [New York: Pilgrim Press] 1989, Jim
Manley, "Spirit," No. 45; Melva W. Costen, chairperson, Presbyterian Hymnal [Louisville:
Westminster/John Knox Press] 1990, Thomas H. Troeger, "Wind Who Makes All Winds
That Blow," No. 131)
