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As you have probably noticed, Hilary and I are usually in a rush before our church’s worship services.  We have a lot of people to talk to and things to do at the last minute.  A few weeks ago, when I finally sat down in the back of the sanctuary and took a deep breath, I sat next to a little boy who asked me to read him a book.  Happy for the distraction, I read the book out loud to him.  The book was a board book, a simple book designed for pre-readers.  Each page was dominated by a picture and had a single word on it.  The book was about how even though we gather inside a building we call a “church,” in reality, the people who gather here are the church.   We don’t need to gather in a building that resembles Pleasantville; instead, we could gather in any other kind of building or place and we would still be the church.  This concept was difficult for the little boy to understand.  A wise teacher said to the little boy, “Even if we went out into the woods and sang hymns and worshiped God, we would still be the church.”  Hearing this, the boy understood that the people are the church, not the building we worship in.  In our reading from Matthew we hear Jesus say that whenever two or three people gather in his name, Jesus is among them.   Any gathering of the people gathered here this morning, in these walls or out of these walls, will be Pleasantville Church.

This point was brought home to me last week.  On the first Wednesday of the month, a group of local UCC pastors gathers at St. Luke’s in Dublin for a meal and to hear from one of the other pastors about special projects or interests they are focusing on in their churches.  This month, we heard from Butch Kuykendall, the senior pastor of Zwingli UCC in Souderton.  As you may recall, this summer the majority of Zwingli’s building was destroyed in a fire.  Butch told us that the church will probably not be able to worship in their “church” building for another two years.  Despite a fire destroying their building, the people of Zwingli have continued meeting for their regular activities and have maintained the church’s programs.  Zwingli has even taken in several new members over the last few months, even though their building is gone.  Zwingli has regular gatherings in many other places around Souderton.  They worship and have their nursery school at the Indian Valley Boys & Girls Club, they held last summer’s Vacation Bible school at a local Mennonite church, they have their vocal and bell choirs practices at local Lutheran churches, their confirmation class gathers at another church, they have meetings at people’s houses or the local senior center, and the church offices are now in a former bank building.  Despite facing hardship and the destruction of their building, Zwingli is an example of the church being much more than the building where we gather.  st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }

          On the other hand, one of the things Pastor Kuckendall said to the gathered pastors is that it is a lot easier being a church when you have a permanent, physical place to gather.  Fortunately for us at Pleasantville, we are not in the midst of a crisis like the people of Zwingli.  Their plight reminds us of how important it is to remember we will be a church despite where we gather.  We will be Pleasantville when we worship in this sanctuary and we will be Pleasantville when we worship in our new sanctuary.  The rebuilding effort Zwingli is undertaking reminds us that we must take every step we can to strengthen our church, both by strengthening our physical plant and strengthening our membership.  This month at Pleasantville, we are highlighting the stewardship needs for our congregation.  Each week, we have been hearing from  a different member of our congregation about the joy they have received from being part of Pleasantville church.  We have the opportunity over these weeks in November to consider the impact the people of Pleasantville church have made on our lives and we will given the opportunity to make a promise to financially support the work of this congregation for the next year.  The emphasis of our stewardship campaign is not only financial but also asks members to increase their gifts of time and talents to our church.  We have heard from our stewardship speakers of our calling to be people who make a difference the world.  We have heard examples of ways members of Pleasantville have impacted the lives of others and we are called upon to be the kinds of people who make a positive impact on the people we interact with in our lives.   There are two very important things we do as members of this church: we worship our God and we support each other.  Everything we do as a church body is derived from these two actions which are shaped by the Greatest Commandment: we show our love for God by worshipping God together and we show our love for our neighbor by being loving towards the other members of our church.

          In my brief time as a minister at Pleasantville, I have witnessed and heard about the ways members of this congregation support each other, and in turn, reach out to care for the wider community and world together.  I have visited sick members of our church and heard that other members of the church had been to see them.  I have participated in our casserole making ministry and then heard wonderful things from people who were the recipients of the casseroles.  I have participated in the monthly gatherings of the Red Shirt Brigade and have seen the impact our ad-hock brigade has made on both our own members and other people who live in our community.   I have talked to young people who have told me about the impact youth leaders, Sunday school teachers, and ministers have made on their faith.   At Pleasantville we bear witness to the reality that the church is made up of the people.  As the church, we care for each other and care for our God.

          Margaret Sawyer, the Associate Pastor at Zwingli, told us about her children’s sermon the Sunday after Zwingli’s fire.  She talked tothe kids about the traditional children’s rhyme, “Here is the church, here is the steeple.” When Margaret opened her hands to open the doors and show all the people, she turned the rhyme on its head and said, “Open the doors and see the real church = the people!”  As the people who are the church, we have an important job.  We must care for each other and for our God.  By we doing  our work and truly reaching other to each other, we will in turn reap the benefit of having the other people of our church care for us.  This is a wonderful thing.  Thanks be to God that we are the church.  Amen.