“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…”

• Hebrews 12:1

I keep on hearing their stories from you. No matter how long you’ve been a part of our collective church life, there are stories about those who have been a part of our churches’ lives. Those stories are about our congregations’ faithful members and friends who gave their time, energy, money, and prayers to help serve God and God’s people. Stories about the person who always seemed to say the right things at the right time. Stories about how the note someone wrote or how the phone call someone made transformed a painful moment into a meaningful one. Stories about a time the congregation struggled financially until that one gift or rallying cry. Stories about those who insisted on doing something that was right even in the face of risk. I could go on and on.

On my desk right now are two books. One was sitting on my shelf about the history of South Congregational, and another was passed on to me by Katherine Kennedy about the history of First. I started the book about First Church, well, first until it started to mention the creation of South Church. Then I started switching back and forth between the two to learn the different accounts and perspectives and more and more about the “Great Cloud of Witnesses” that got us to this moment. A couple of things have started to stand out.

The first is that the struggles of the people could be contemporary. Normal human stuff around disagreements, debates about resources, coming together to try something new, styles of worship and preaching, etc. If I were to take out some of the identifying details, it could seem as though I was talking about a conflict happening today at a church down the street or within our own congregation. It’s simply the ongoing story about humans being humans for better and for worse.

What also stands out is that the moments of greatest church vitality came not from these moments but from our congregational adaptivity to the state of the world. From the Revolutionary War to debates about federalism, to the abolition of slavery to war and peace, to economic growth and economic decline, to peace and war to the inclusion of all people no matter who they love, to women’s rights to immigrant rights, to hunger and poverty and whether our doors are truly open to anyone regardless of the criminal mistakes they made in their life. Not that these were simple choices at the moment. At the moment, there was the fear that the conflicts over these responses would tear our congregations apart, and, well, in a few instances, they did. However, taking the risk to respond to the realities of the times also led to congregational vitality. Our congregations had to risk death in order to find life.

Something that’s jumped out at me reading the text from Hebrews more than other times is the phrase “the race that is placed before us…” Other bible versions have similar translations. It’s not about the race we choose but the race that is placed before us. When I look back at our history, it was those moments when our spiritual ancestors set aside the sense of what was right, proper, and safe and looked at the race God placed before them that some they found a sort of vitality and life they couldn’t have previously imagined. It was at those moments that our ancestors in faith set aside the vision of what they wanted the church to be and visions of what the church had been and became the church God needed.

We are at one of those moments right now. People need homes (close to 600 in Berkshire County). People are hungry (the pantry is serving, on average, an additional 110 households every month, which now translates into around 1300 households every week, almost double the number since I started here). Addiction rates are skyrocketing. Mental health crises are increasing, and mental health services are stretched thin. Human-caused environmental degradation is clearly moving from theory to reality.  The possibility of civil war in our country is increasing while, at the same time, wars across the world are expanding. The flames of sectarian, racial, and economic conflict are being fanned by too many as the calls to win conflicts drown out the calls for peace.

God needs a church to say, “Enough.” God needs a church to continue to feed the hungry and advocate for a world where pantries aren’t needed. God needs a church that gives shelter and helps create a world where all find it. God needs a world where addicts can be welcomed, and systems that create addiction are challenged. God needs a church that deconstructs dehumanization of all kinds and, instead of hiding the sacredness of our humanity under a bushel, lifts it up on a hill for the world to see. As said in the words we have heard frequently in the book of Micah, God needs a church that does justice, acts of loving kindness, and walks humbly with God.

God needs a church like this. God needs churches like this, and we are fortunate to partner with many in our community and denomination with similar concerns. I know the thought of all of what might be done can be exhausting. The thought of not currently having the resources and time to follow through can be frightening. Taking these realities seriously takes deep faith and deep love, and I have been honored to work alongside all of you in this work over the last year and a half you’ve let me be your pastor. Every day is about what we’re called to do and working to discern whether we currently invest our time, resources, and energy correctly.

We are well into the race set before us and, in fact, began before us.  It may, in some ways, feel that the races that each of our churches have run so faithfully in are coming to an end. But what if, instead, we’re in more of a relay race where our reunited church is about to receive the same baton that was passed down to that “great cloud of witnesses” who came before us?

We might be tired now, but it’s not the time to stop. There may be moments we don’t feel as though we can take another step, but  I believe that the Holy Spirit of Resilience, like a wind at our back, is whispering in our ear, “Just a few more steps till your 2nd wind.”

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…” Perseverance, my Siblings in Christ. Perseverance.

So run, church, run. The handoff  is almost over, but the race is still before us. Run, church, run. God needs a church like the church we’re becoming. Run, church, run. We may decide on a name today, but what that name is is less important than what it will come to mean. Run, church, run. The path may not always be clear, but our steps will make it plain. Run, church, run. Embraced by Christ’s love and in community with one another, we will do justice, we will seek to practice loving-kindness, we will care for all creation, and we will walk humbly with God. Run, church, run. Run, church, run. Run, church, run. 

Amen.

(The final votes to reunify First Church of Christ and South Congregational Church happened after worship. We are, now, officially United Church of Christ, Pittsfield!)