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we are gathered on a Sunday morning to worship. We’re taught that where two or three are
This is an exciting day for our Presbytery. The Presbytery starts churches in the PCUSA.
This week I went back and looked at the timeline for establishing this congregation. It was
February 2004 that the Church Development Team appointed a visioning group to look at how
the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area can start new churches. That was the first of hundreds of
meetings that have helped lead to this first Sunday morning worship service. Many people in our
past have dreamed about this day. You are the fulfillment of this dream.
This day is exciting for me because this is the first time I get to preach a sermon for you
on a Sunday morning. Since the middle of August I’ve been on a preaching and speaking tour at
different Presbyterian churches on Sunday mornings. Eleven times I went out to share the story
of Chain of Lakes Church and to share thoughts about Church Development. I’ve really enjoyed
this preaching/speaking tour. But I want to preach for you—the people of Chain of Lakes. This
We at Chain of Lakes are going to be a powerful church, one that makes a tremendous
impact on the world. I want to make sure you hear what I said. We at Chain of Lakes are going
to be a powerful church, one that makes a tremendous impact on the world. After hearing me
say that, you might think, “Paul that’s a bold statement.” I agree. I made that statement because
I believe it in the core in my being. You might wonder, “How can I make such a bold
statement?” God has called us into being. If you have some time, sit down with John Ivers and
ask him all that took place for our church just to be approved by our Presbytery. Only God and
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the persistence of many cold have caused this day to happen. It’s the call and the working of
I realize that we might not see this power and impact today. At Chain of Lakes we have
about 25 families on our directory; we are about ___ people gathered today for worship. Though
we can’t see the future we can have confidence that we will be a powerful church who makes a
At the Cedar Lake 7 concert this past Tuesday one of the singers of the group encouraged
us at Chain of Lakes to be full of faith, patience, and persistence. These are wonderful values to
keep in front of us. Our task as a community involves having faith, being patient, and persisting
so that we become a powerful church who makes a tremendous impact on the world.
As individuals our life of faith is a journey—a journey where we are always becoming
the people God desires us to be. It’s an on-going process. We never reach the final destination
on earth because here on earth we are always becoming. We mentioned this in our Purpose
the world.” Our task as individuals is to continue to become the people God desires for us to be.
Love is the most important value that we carry with us on this journey of becoming. The
success of our journey is determined by love. The Scriptures are very clear about this.
We can see the priority of love in the second Scripture that Lisa read. We shared part of
this Scripture on a bookmark in your bulletin. I would encourage you to get it out. I’m very
excited to share this bookmark with you. I was just touched by this reading from Philippians.
This could be a Scripture that we frequently go back to in our church. I want to encourage you
to keep this bookmark in a special place. Put it in your Bible. If you need a Bible I’ll give one
I want to take a risk and encourage you to memorize this Scripture this week.
Memorizing Scripture is an excellent practice of faith. I tried it this week. Let’s see if I can do
it.
This passage comes from a letter called Philippians. Philippians is in the New Testament.
It was written by a man named Paul—we call him the apostle Paul. The New Testament is made
up of three sections. The first section is the four gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke & John; the
second section is Acts—which we think of as history; the third section is the letters—they
actually make up the largest section of the New Testament. Many—not all—of the letters were
Paul was a new church development pastor. In the 1st century, he would travel to a town,
spend time with people, and establish a church. Then he would leave the community. Later on
he would often write letters to these churches. After Paul died these letters were often read in
churches. Eventually the church recognized some of these letters as sacred Scripture.
What’s remarkable about this book of Philippians is Paul wrote the letter while he was
sitting in jail. He wrote this letter not knowing if he was going to live or die. He was under a
death sentence
Let me ask you a very simple question. When I preach sometimes I’ll ask rhetorical
questions. Sometimes I’ll ask questions where I want you to response to the question. For this
question I would like you to share some responses. It’s an easy question. The question is this:
If you were sitting in jail not knowing if you were going to live or die, what emotions would you
You know what emotion comes forth most in this letter of the Philippians—joy. The
word joy appears five times in four chapters. Joy so infuses this letter that some people describe
I hope this is intriguing to you. It’s a bit bewildering, isn’t it? Paul was in jail; he didn’t
know whether he would live or die; the emotions we would expect from him are ____. But
You see, Paul had something inside of him. What he had is what I want all of us to have.
What he had is something I want to have. What he had is what I want my daughter and family to
have. What he had is what I want our congregation to share with the community.
The natural question, of course, is what did Paul have to be full so full of joy while sitting
in jail?
Let me respond to this question by sharing a story from the concert the Cedar Lake 7
gave for us. One of the men in the group shared his faith story; it was his process of becoming. I
don’t even remember the man’s name. When we get our video projection going, we can directly
share stories like his. He shared that ten years ago he and his wife recognized that something
was missing in their life. They weren’t going to church and their 5-year old daughter wasn’t
baptized. So they went out searching for something. They started going to churches. One day
they went to Bryn Mawr Presyterian Church. Though the church was very small, the
congregation reached out to him in love. He and his family found something there.
Now it is ten years later and he is singing in the Cedar Lake 7, this Men’s Gospel Choir
that makes CD’s and sings all over the Twin Cities area. His daughter is now 15 years old and
has been baptized. Here he was this past Tuesday night at the Lino Lakes Senior Center sharing
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his faith with us. Look at where he is compared to ten years ago. Wow! He’s becoming the
As I listened to his story this past Tuesday night I thought how his story is so familiar to
many people’s stories that I have heard over the past eight and a half months. One of the reasons
I love my job so much is I so enjoy listening to people’s stories. I could spend my entire day
Since this past February I’ve heard many stories. I’ve learned quite a lot about this
I’m guessing all of us know what I mean—many of us are living the suburban lifestyle.
If someone asks us how we are doing, the word we most likely share is “busy.” Suburban
lifestyle—we probably have a home, it’s a home that that we’ve always wanted. We’re probably
stretched to make a payment on that home. If we have kids, our kids are ____? They’re busy.
They’re busy because we as their parents put them in the good programs that the suburbs offer.
The suburban lifestyle is a good lifestyle. I’m living the Suburban lifestyle. But this
lifestyle can’t give us everything. It can’t give us what Paul had. This lifestyle might give us
satisfaction, but I don’t think it can give us joy. I don’t think it can give us the peace that passes
all understanding. I don’t think our lifestyle can give us the capacity to hope no matter what is
What Paul had can’t be found in the suburbs. It can be found in church; it’s found in here
Could we respond with joy if we didn’t know if we would live or die? If we were beaten
with rods like Paul was could we sing praises to God? I think we can. But we can’t if our well-
This week the newspapers carried a story of what can happen when the suburban life-
style goes terribly wrong. Did you read about the Tom Petters case this week? I never knew
much about Tom Petters until his story broke a year ago. I can’t say that I followed his trial that
closely. His story is fascinating. Here was a man who enjoyed the best of what the suburbs
offered. He pulled himself up by his boot straps and created this empire. He was a man who by
suburban standards had it all—money, drive, looks, family, positions on corporate boards, a
Except—it was a fraud. Paul was in prison—full of joy. Tom Petters is going to go
“And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and
full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that on the day of Christ …
Paul had this love. It was overflowing. This love overflowed no matter what
I want you to have this love. I’m willing to commit the rest of my work life to Chain of
Lakes Church to help people experience this love. This is what I want for you, this is what I
want for myself, this is what I want for my family. This love will overflow out of us more and
more and more and more. That deep within our spirits we will find contentment, serenity, and
This is the dream—that God’s love will overflow. How do we get there. Let me wrap up
A metaphor that is helpful for me is one of a well. Imagine that our spirit is a well.
When we were baptized our well was infused with water, with grace, love. We never have to
It’s really easy for this water in our spirit to grow stale. Think of what happens when
water doesn’t move; when it sits in a dark place. It gets moldy and murky and smelly.
God doesn’t force this water to come out of us. God encourages us, partners with us.
Our task is to let the water—which is already in our spirits—overflow. Let it overflow. Not
You’ll hear me say often that worship is the most important ministry of the church. You
might wonder, “what does it mean to be involved in a church?” Being involved means we
worship—every week. Unless we’re sick of course. I will ask you to worship every Sunday; if
you’re out of town I encourage you to find a place to worship. This is the basic commitment of
I realize there will be days that we won’t want to worship. It’s easier to stay home.
Come anyways. I realize there will be days that we might have to work on a Sunday morning. I
would encourage you to ask your boss to give you Sunday off. I realize that your kids might
have an activity on a Sunday morning. I would encourage you to tell the group that Sunday
The reason that worship is so important is worship is the best way for this water to
overflow. When we’re connected to a community, when we sense God’s presence, when we
When we miss a Sunday the water in our spirit grows stale. How long does it take for
I want to close with a challenge. In your bulletin is two index cards. On the cards I want
you to write one thing you can do this week to let this love overflow. What can you do this week
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to let. Obviously I can’t tell you how you can let you let this love overflow out of you. I can
give some ideas. Maybe you can pray for ten minutes every day; maybe you can read the book
of Philippians; maybe you carry this book mark with you and share it with a friend; maybe you
can commit to coming to worship every Sunday; maybe you can volunteer to ring bells at the
Salvation army. This week I went into a Cub Food. A woman was ringing the bell and singing
Christmas carols. That was love overflowing. You might have some ideas of your own.
This is what we’re going to do. As Amy is playing music write down one thing you can
do this week to let this love overflow. Write this one thing down on both cards. After she is
done playing we’re all going to gather around the Communion table. We’ll put one of the cards
on the table and keep one for ourselves. Then I’ll share a prayer over our cards and we’ll all say
This is who we’re going to be at Chain of Lakes Church. We’re called to be an authentic,
Christian community where strangers become friends, friends become disciples, and disciples
impact the world. A place where joyful love is a foundational value of our community. A place
where people find what’s missing in the suburban lifestyle. A play where love overflows.