Happy 80th Birthday, Mom!

Excerpt from my August 16 sermon, "The United Methodist Way - The Via Media" at First United Methodist Church, Lancaster, Ohio:

Let me close by sharing why I’m a United Methodist.

In 1950, my parents came back to their new home in Pennsylvania from their honeymoon trip to Florida. And when they got back, my mom asked my dad, “Which church are we going to attend this Sunday?”

My mom, assumed that my dad would say the answer she wanted to hear which was her church, the Presbyterian Church. But my dad didn’t hesitate. He immediately said, “Well of course, we’ll be going to my church, the Methodist church.”

Now, I don’t think that story will ever make it in the book, “Chicken Soup for the Soul.” It doesn’t really tug at your heart, does it? On one level, it’s true, though. The reason I’m United Methodist is because my dad decided before I was even born that he and my mom would start attending his church. And by the way, for the record, I love Presbyterians. Some of my best friends are Presbyterian!

So let me give you the more important reason why I’m a United Methodist. And this is just a recent example among many others I could give.

About this time last year, a friend of mine who’s a pastor, invited my church and several of the surrounding United Methodist churches to participate in a research program that was being conducted by United Methodist Communications, the media arm of our denomination.

They wanted to know what impact the media phrase, “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors” was having on various churches around the country. So I said, “Sure, what will this research program involve?” And by the way, if you think about it, that advertising phrase is really just accentuating our Via Media approach to faith, where we’re willing to listen to all sides and perspectives. “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors.”

Well, this thing ended up being a very tedious project, because as the local coordinator for this, I had to track down the Sunday School and worship attendance figures for fifteen surrounding United Methodist Churches, including my own, over a two month period. I also needed to make sure that each church was putting the “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors” slogan on their front church signs. That was also part of the survey project.

I remember during the first week or two, wishing that I had never said yes to this project. Do you know what’s it’s like to try to track down fifteen churches with information over several weeks?

And on top of that, I was skeptical that an advertising slogan would have that much of an impact in increasing our Sunday School and worship attendance figures.

But anyway, I went about tracking down this information week after week, grumbling every step of the way, thinking to myself, “Why am I even doing this? This is such a waste of my time.”

During the middle of this project, I have a staff meeting at church and I asked the other pastor about a funeral he recently conducted. The local funeral home had a family who didn’t have any church affiliation and the family had requested one of our pastors to officiate for their loved one who had passed away.

So I asked him why this family was very specific in wanting a pastor from our church to conduct the funeral. Any my associate pastor said, “They chose our church because of the message you put on our church sign recently that says, ‘Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors.’ When they saw our sign message when they were driving by our church, they told the funeral director that this was the kind of church they were looking for. A church that welcomes all people.”

Thank God it’s more than just a slogan.
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