I had a great experience last night with the youth of our church.  I was invited to join the United Methodist Youth Fellowship for a “Meet the New Pastor” program.  The first part of the program was set aside for the youth to ask me questions on any topic. Our youth directors, Scott and Lisa, were ready to jump in with some pre-planned questions if we were  met with total silence – questions like “What is your favorite pizza?” 

We didn’t need them.  The youth immediately jumped in and asked some very deep and thoughtful questions.  “How do you write your sermons?”  “Do you ever have doubts about God?”  “How do you deal with others of different faith traditions or who don’t believe in God at all?”  No questions about my pizza preference at all !  It was very encouraging to hear how articulate and nuanced the questions were from our youth.  That should give all of us adults a dose of much-needed hope for the church!          

The second part of the program was the challenge.  The youth were invited to randomly throw out different words that I would have to include in my sermon this week (Oct 11th).  The suggestions included words like “Jello”, but only five made the final cut (”Jello” was not one of them).  I’m not going to reveal the five words yet; you will have to listen to the sermon and figure them out yourself.   It won’t be easy, but I’ll work them in somehow.  It’s the least I can do for such a bright group of youth.

I’ve been working a lot this past week on plans for our 50th Anniversary celebration here at Aldersgate UMC, especially on the worship service to be held on October 18th at 10:30 am.   It’s going to be quite a celebration – trumpets, handbells, choirs, dancers, and more.  Bishop Mary Ann  Swenson will be in attendance as well as the Conference Lay Leader (Ken Ellis), District Superintendent (Mark Ulrickson) and at least ten returning  clergy who have served over the years. There are still a lot of details to work out, but its coming along.

But what does it mean to be 50 years old as a congregation?  In particular, what does it mean to celebrate a Jubilee? I looked up the reference to Jubilee in the Bible and disovered its orgin in the Book of Leviticus 25:8-22.  We don’t often refer to the third book of the Torah in our scriptures, but it is part of our canon and an important reminder about our roots as the church.

Building on the concept of sabbath,  a Jubilee is declared every 50th year after seven Sabbaths of years (7 x 7 = 49).  At the beginning of the 50th year, liberty was proclaimed throughout the land for all of Israel’s inhabitants.  In particular, every Israelite was commanded to return to their ancestral land and clan.  If the land had been sold or indebted, it was to be returned to the original owners.  If the person returning to their clan had become an indentured servant, they were granted their freedom.  In other words, anything that indebted one person to another was eliminated, so that each could begin with a clean slate. 

Living in a society based on private ownership, this concept of Jubilee seems unfeasible.  But there is a theologcial message inferred in this economic liberation:  God is the ultimate owner and giver of life, land and blessings.  Celebrating the Jubilee year is a tangible reminder that the earth and all that is in it is God’s, and it is meant to be shared with all.

I certainly think this holds true for the church as well.  Each congregation in the Body of Christ is a community of faith held in trust for one another.  We do not “own” the church in our time, just as those charter members in 1959 did not “own” it in their day.  We are called to be good stewards of what  has been handed down to us over the past fifty years so that we may hand it down it down to our children and grandchildren in the next fifty years.  When you think about it in those terms, our Jubilee celebration is as much about looking forward to our shared future as it is about celebrating our past.

One of my English teachers from high school taught me that the most important sentence of any literary work is the first sentence.  That puts a lot of pressure on the writer and I am experiencing that myself with this first post.  So I decided to go with something that seems to have worked in the past - the opening lines of Genesis:  “In the beginning…”

It really is an excellent opening line when you think about it.  It  speaks to how God has been at work – creating – since the beginning of time.  As we read the stories that follow, we witness how God has continued to work in the lives of all types of people:  Abraham & Sarah, Isaac & Rebecca, Jacob & Rachel, Moses  & Miriam, on and on through time.   That opening line was so good that the writer of the Gospel of John used it again to begin the story about Jesus and the church.

I want to continue that conversation about how God is present in our lives today.  Although our culture is dramatically different than when that opening line was first inscribed,  our search for and understanding of God continues.  We are now part of that story that continues to unfold.  This is the place where I hope we can help each other understand our place in the greater narrative of life.

“In the beginning…”  Let’s start to fill in the rest.