Sermon Title: "85, and Not Yet Retired!"
Date: June 20, 2010
Minister:  The Rev. Charles Ensley

Lesson:  Psalm 122

A week ago I caught a snippet of news on TV.  A woman 85 years old fulfilled a long-time dream and had just graduated from college.  She had difficulty hearing and getting around.  “But I have a good voice and a good mind,” she declared firmly, and she didn’t see any reason why she couldn’t find a job.

They say people are not necessarily retiring at 65 anymore, though by 85 a person could be slowing down a bit.  We’re generally not in as good as condition as at 35, 65, or even 75.  How about our church, now the same age as the 85-year-old college graduate who wants to find a job?

We could talk about the building itself.  There was no building yet on June 22, 1925 when this church was taken into the fellowship of the then Los Angeles Congregational Conference, and chartered two days later by the State of California.  Construction wasn’t started until December 1925, and that was to build what is presently the central core of our church plant:  the Concert Hall, chapel, offices and kitchen.  With plans for future construction of the church plant as it currently exists, the Neighborhood “Let’s Build a Church” publicity brochure in the mid-1920s stated, “In this day and age, no one would think of living in a community without a church.  The nearer the church, the better.  The church contributes to the well-being and happiness of the community.”

The church looked much the same from 1926 until 1936, the year the Rev. Milton G. Gabrielson was called here.  When he arrived, the church had 17 members, the roof leaked, and the mortgage was in foreclosure.  There was a man who had visions, dreams and possibilities as he surveyed the situation and ended up building all the rest we have today.  In 1936 the fledgling congregation moved from worshipping in the Concert Hall to the small chapel we now call Gabrielson Chapel.  By 1938 a balcony, narthex, new entrance to the chapel and a pastor’s study were added.  In 1942, the first floor of the Christian Education wing was completed, and in 1944 the back wall of the chapel was pushed back to the alley to create a chancel.  In 1946 the carillon tower and the upstairs offices were built, and by 1948 the second floor of the Christian Education wing was added.  In 1950, this sanctuary was completed, and in 1954 the Youth Center across the street was built.  Finally, our Sky Forest Retreat Center near Lake Arrowhead was built in 1970.  All of this building was accomplished during Rev. Gabrielson’s unprecedented 37 year ministry here.  During my pastorate here, we have remodeled, reconstructed, repainted, reroofed, “rewindowed”, relit, recarpeted and relandscaped nearly every square foot of our three buildings and grounds.

But is a church only about its building?  I think not.

On the back page of the bulletin, I listed the settled pastors of this church, beginning with that Harvard seminary student, George Gilchrist, sent out by the Los Angeles Congregational Conference in the summer of 1924 to see whether the newly-developing community of Belmont Shore could support a church.  All summer long he met with prospective members at the tract office at the corner of Second Street and Bay Shore Avenue, now the site of the Belmont Shore branch of the library.  Mr. Gilchrist organized Sunday School classes and, at the end of that summer, reported back to the Conference that there was indeed enough sentiment to build a Congregational church in this area.

After the church was formally chartered in 1925, land donated by the developer! (that doesn’t happen anymore) and a fund drive commenced, the Rev. Guy McCreery was the first called pastor that year.  The three stained glass windows over the entrance to the Gabrielson Chapel wing are given in his memory.  Over the next ten years, he was followed by the Revs. Wellington Pierce and John McDonald.  That’s three ministers in ten years.  In the ensuing 74 years, this church has been served by just three senior ministers:  Milton Gabrielson for 37, Kenneth Coates for 11, and myself for the past 23.  (Some lapses between ministers were served by interim ministers.)

But is a church only about its ministers?  I think not.

I still receive the monthly newsletter from the first church I served.  I have been gone from there since 1978, or 32 years.  I only recognize about five percent of the names.  But that is a good thing!  That means that those who have moved away, dropped out or died have been replaced by other active members.  And the members—you, the congregation, not the building or the minister—is what the church is really about.  We’re not celebrating our buildings being 85 years old today.  We’re celebrating 85 years worth of people being active in this congregation, both in these buildings, and in their outreach and service far beyond these walls.

I did a little research last week and found that 106 members of this congregation have died since I came here.  That does not include those who retired, moved away, joined another church, and later died.  I did not have the time to research how many have joined in these 23 years.  That number is huge, and includes confirmands, those still active, some who have moved away, transferred their membership elsewhere, dropped out, or died. 

Shortly after I came here and became acquainted with the workings of this particular congregation, I easily identified five families whom I called the “pillars of our church”, those who have been associated with the church since the 1940s:  the Fleeks, the Hayters, the Henrys, the Watts and the Williams.  These were folks who taught Sunday School and served as officers and were faithful worshippers and dedicated members throughout all the ups and downs, comings and goings of others.  Now, all these years later, I am left with three widows of the “pillars,” but I still consider them our pillars.  Two of them are present today:  Ruth Williams, who joined in 1947, and Esther Watts, who joined in 1954.

This church is blest to be located in the midst of a well-populated and popular residential area, and throughout past decades—as we continue to do so today—this congregation attracts members living primarily in Belmont Shore, Naples, Alamitos Heights and Belmont Heights.  Many of them have children, for the schools serving our surrounding area are both good and popular.  But we are just as blest to have a wide span of age groups as active participants, from the children and youth who go to Sunday School and Pilgrim Pines Church Camp, to Rev. Susie’s new 20s/30s group, young marrieds, families, empty-nesters, and retirees who may travel a lot, but haven’t yet deserted us!

This congregation is not just about themselves, this building, and what happens herein.  We reach out to others, and I have experienced our mission work increase to such a degree that two-thirds of our mission projects are done between Labor Day and Christmas, and hardly a Sunday goes by before the current project is finished that we are announcing the next one getting underway.  Some people doubtless think it is too much, but believe me, this is a sign of a very healthy  and vital church.

And this is as it should be.  As much as the Psalmist in the 122nd Psalm honored God and spoke of gladness when he entered into the house of the Lord, our relationship with Christ must compel us to be of service to him as well as worshipping God.  There’s a reason that over the doors into this sanctuary it says, “Enter to Worship,” and on the inside as you leave it says, “Depart to Serve.”  We should expect to find in our church an array of opportunities for Christian service to others, even if we may never know the names of those we help.

We are not merely celebrating the 85th anniversary of our buildings today, though they range in age from 85 years old—the Concert Hall, to 60 years old—this sanctuary, to 56 years old—the Isolda McDonald Youth Center.  In these spaces we have shared significant recognitions of life’s passages—births, baptisms, confirmations, weddings, anniversaries, memorial services.  In these spaces we have celebrated dozens of Palm Sundays, Easters, Pentecosts and Christmases.  In these spaces friendships spanning decades have been made, and you have supported one another in times of joy as well as times of sorrow.

Rather than a mere observance of our building’s age, we are celebrating today our 85 years of existence as a congregation, recognizing all those people who have been a part of that history, those who are presently here, and now, finishing this first decade of the 21st Century, by their presence and activity determining where we want to go in the future.

Unlike a wedding anniversary, where a couple reminisces about their shared life together over the past 10, 25, 40, 50 or even 60 years, a church anniversary for a vitally live church cannot be only a look backward to the past.  I don’t believe that is what our Savior would want us to do.  Christ calls us to be ever moving forward, honoring past traditions at the same time we modify those which will better serve him or us, and reaching out to those opportunities and needs known or to be made known to us in the future.  May Christ be our companion and guide in all the days ahead, as he has in all 85 years of this not-yet-retired congregation!