Sermon (June 21/Oak Grove UMC Church Closing Worship) “We Are the Church!” by Rev. Robert McDowell

June 21, 2026

Oak Grove UMC

    Church buildings are special places. I think of all the memories that you might be thinking about as we hold this final worship service here at Oak Grove United Methodist Church.

     So many memories. Hymn sings, weddings, funerals, baptisms, Holy Week services, kneeling here at the chancel railing to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion, the receiving of new members, names and faces of pastors that have come and gone (some pretty good and maybe some, not so good) but all called by God to shepherd this congregation over the many years of its long history.

     So many memories. Favorite pews. Hanging of the Greens including the decorating of our tall Christmas tree, lighting of our Advent Candles, the hosting of graduation and anniversary celebrations, church potlucks and fundraisers, repairing the roof, recentering the walls, draping the outside cross with Lent and Easter cloths, cutting the grass, trimming the bushes, caring for the cemetery.

     So many memories. Even just being here these past three years, I know where y’all like to sit and what your favorite hymns are. I know who likes to assist with Holy Communion, and who will most likely light the altar candles. So many memories.

     Church buildings are special places. The church is a special place.

     Speaking of which, I made a huge rookie mistake as a pastor during my first church appointment many years ago. I wanted the people to sit closer to the front since we were so spread out, so I came up with the brilliant idea to rope off the back 2 or 3 pews one Sunday morning without consulting anybody about it, hoping that being closer together would be something we would all appreciate.

     Wrong! What I didn’t realize was that the widow who sat back in the corner of the last pew loved sitting there because that’s where she and her husband sat together for many years before he died. It was like his spirit was right there with her and I was taking that away from her.

     Others liked the back pew because they wanted to be able to see as much of the sanctuary as possible during the service or to be able to notice any visitors so that they would be able to get up and greet them and help them find a bulletin. OK, there were two or three people who sat back there because they just wanted to make it to the restaurant early, but God loves them too!

     I learned my lesson from that huge rookie mistake. Respect the building. Respect the history of each church building you serve. And this is what we are doing today. Respecting all the good that this building and the people who have worshipped here represent.

     I get it. My home church in south central, Pennsylvania will always have a special place in my heart. I was baptized, confirmed and married in that church building. Preached my first sermon there, too.

     Whenever I visit there which I did a little over a month ago, I always walk over to the baptismal font, the same font from which I was baptized when I was only 9 months old. That font represents the beginning of my faith journey and how the people and the ministries of that church helped me to grow in what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

     I wouldn’t be here today in this church building if it wasn’t for that church building located in Stewartstown, Pennsylvania. But I also know that my faith would not be what it is today if God would not have led me to other church buildings and loving congregations throughout my pastoral ministry like Lima Grace, Quincy, Findlay St. Andrew’s, Toledo Zion, Xenia Faith Community, Lancaster First, Athens First, Beulah, and Oak Grove United Methodist Churches.

     Like the hymn says, “I am the church. You are the church. We are the church together.” The church is so much more than the bricks and mortar, but we can always be forever grateful that God gave us this spiritual home that we call Oak Grove United Methodist Church.

     A little later in this service, we will be participating in a litany of thanksgiving in which we will give thanks to God for the many ways this place has been a blessing not only to us but also to the people who came before us. Thank you, God for this place which has been an incredible blessing to us and to so many people over these past 180 years. We are so grateful!

     Yes, today is a day to thank God for this building and these grounds, but it is also a day of new beginnings. Many of you have heard me say that the benediction just might be the most important part of any worship service because it always reminds us that we are never to leave this place without receiving a blessing from God to go forth and live out our faith beyond these church walls.

     I can’t imagine a worship service where after the last hymn we just say, “good-bye.” The benediction is much more than a mere, “good-bye.” It’s where God sends us forth… No, actually gives us marching orders to be God’s people wherever God sends us.

     Over these past several weeks, I’ve been praying for each of us, including me, to be open to where the Holy Spirit will be leading us in this time of transition. I’ve been praying for each one of us to say with our closing hymn chorus, “I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart. I will go, Lord, if you lead me.”

     And that’s the good news of our faith. We can go forth from this place because the Lord will lead us.

     This crossroads that we are facing today reminds me of the story I shared with you a just a couple of weeks ago on Pentecost Sunday about an elderly saint I knew in one of my churches. During a pastoral visit with her one day, she taught me something very important about being led by the Holy Spirit especially during times of transition in our lives.

     She told me that after her husband had died, her life totally changed for her. They had a long and wonderful marriage, and they had done everything together. 

     Whenever they drove somewhere, he was always the one behind the steering wheel driving them places. Now, she was the one behind that steering wheel. She said, "Every time that I got behind the steering wheel, I would say a little prayer to God.” "Well, Lord, it’s just you and me now. I know you are with me. I need you to guide and direct me in the way I should go.”

     This elderly saint offers us a wonderful image about what it means to allow God to lead us especially in times of transition. Sometimes, we think that we are the only ones behind that steering wheel, but God is right there with us.

 

     Our Gospel reading comes from a long section in the Gospel of John which is known as Jesus’ Last Discourse with his disciples. It begins at the end of chapter 13 and goes all the way to the end of chapter 16. Jesus spends all of this time comforting his disciples to help them prepare for when he would be leaving them. Soon, Jesus will die on the cross, rise to new life on Easter, and then ascend into heaven 40 days later.

     And so, Jesus is preparing the disciples for this major transition they will be facing. Without this Last Discourse here in John’s Gospel, I wonder what the disciples might have done. Would they have gone back to being fishermen and tax collectors? Would they just slowly forget about those three years with Jesus and just move on with their lives? “Well, it was nice while it lasted but just wasn’t meant to be.”

     But Jesus tells the disciples here in John, chapter 14 that even after he leaves them, what they had started will be far from over. Jesus will still be with them because he will be sending them the Holy Spirit to guide them, to empower them, and to equip them to continue to be his faithful disciples.

     And after explaining all of this to them, Jesus then offers them this benediction, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

     That’s John 14:27, Jesus’ benediction and one that he offers us today as we face this transition of closing the Oak Grove United Methodist Church. But we also know that the Risen Christ will continue to be with us through the power of the Holy Spirit leading and guiding us forward.

     Kind of like that elderly saint who would pray, “Well, Lord. It’s just you and me now. I know that you are with me. I need you to guide and direct me in the way I should go.”

     Yes, we are an Easter people, but we are also a Pentecost people, a people who are guided by the Holy Spirit and comforted in knowing that we’re not the only ones behind that steering wheel.

     What’s the last verse of that song?

    “At Pentecost some people received the Holy Spirit and told the Good News through the world to all who would hear it. I am the church. You are the church. We are the church together. All who follow Jesus all around the world! Yes, we’re the church together.”

     And the first verse.

     “The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people. I am the church. You are the church. We are the church together. All who follow Jesus all around the world! Yes, we’re the church together.”

     Come, Holy Spirit, come and send us forth from this place thankful for the Oak Grove United Methodist Church but also hopeful for where you will lead us next.

In Loving Memory of Fred Craddock - Meeting God In the Ordinary

Fred Craddock who recently passed away was a preaching genius. I was first introduced to his preaching style through my seminary homiletics class back in the 1980's. We used his new text book at that time, Preaching for the course. I was drawn to the powerful impact that narrative preaching can have on the congregation and on the preacher who is delivering it.

I met Dr. Craddock after my seminary years when he came to Dayton, Ohio to lead a preaching worship. Even though he has been known to be one of the top preachers in the country, he is one of the most unassuming people you can possibly meet. Small in stature, soft voice, grandfatherly tenderness, this man who was getting up in years at the time of that preaching workshop still could capture your attention with his masterful storytelling style and quick wit.

During a break at the workshop, I went up and asked him who some of his favorite preachers have been. Fred just smiled back at me and said, "The best preachers are the ones who know their congregations."

I should have known that someone who was known for their use of storytelling would give an answer like that. By giving me this response, he was reminding me that God is at work in the faith stories of the people and situations in our local congregations and community where we serve.

Fred Craddock has helped me to be a better listener and to be more alert to how God is at work in our familiar surroundings. If I'm only looking for the big and dramatic sermon illustrations that happened to people a long time ago, I will fail to see how God is doing equally incredible things through ordinary situations and experiences.

Here is one of my favorite Fred Craddock sermon illustrations. True to Craddock's style, it's a story that hits close to home.

"My mother took us to church and Sunday school; my father didn’t go. He complained about Sunday dinner being later when she came home. Sometimes the preacher would call, and my father would say, "I know what the church wants. Church doesn’t care about me. Church wants another name, another pledge, another name, and another pledge. Right? Isn’t that the name of the game? Another name, another pledge." That’s what he always said.

Sometimes we’d have a revival. Pastor would bring the evangelist and say to the evangelist, "There’s one now, sic him, get him, get him," and my father would say the same thing. Every time, my mother in the kitchen, always nervous, in fear of flaring tempers, of somebody being hurt. And always my father said, "The church doesn’t care about me. The church wants another name and another pledge." I guess I heard it a thousand times.

One time he didn’t say it. He was in the veteran’s hospital, and he was down to 73 pounds. They’d taken out his throat, and he said, "It’s too late." They put in a metal tube, and X-rays burned him to pieces. I flew in to see him. He couldn’t speak, couldn’t eat. I looked around the room, potted plants and cut flowers on all the windowsills, a stack of cards twenty inches deep beside his bed. And even that tray where they put food, if you can eat, on that was a flower. And all the flowers beside the bed, every card, every blossom, were from persons or groups from the church.

He saw me read a card. He could not speak, so he took a Kleenex box and wrote on the side of it a line from Shakespeare. If he had not written this line, I would not tell you this story. He wrote: "In this harsh world, draw your breath in pain to tell my story."

I said, "What is your story, Daddy?"

And he wrote, "I was wrong." 

Fred B. Craddock, Craddock Stories, Mike Graves and Richard F. Ward, eds., Chalice Press, 2001, p. 14.

Sermon (December 4) "Christmas Around the World: Mexico" By Rev. Cheryl Foulk

       As we begin this second week of Advent, our Christian friends in Mexico are also counting the days until Christmas. They are preparing  in much warmer surroundings.

High of 79 today in Monterrey, Mexico!

        I would like to share with you about a colder place and time.  In the winter of 1979, a friend and I were traveling back from Dallas ,Texas to Lexington Ky. We were seminary students and had been at a conference at Southern Methodist University. Somewhere in Arkansas, we were in the midst of a heavy snow storm. We went as far as we could but the interstate was closed. We were in a small town with no motel.

        As I remember, we called the the local UM Church to see if they knew someone who could take us in. A young school teacher in a small house volunteered to be our hostess. We along with some additional students camped out at her house. She made a huge pot of chili and we found shelter on that bitterly cold day. We played board games and talked  until sometime the next day when the road reopened. I don't remember her name but I certainly remember her kindness and willingness to take in folks that she had never seen before.

       I would imagine that we have all been in situations where we needed someone's help. Think of the times when you have been  welcomed. Maybe it was when you were helped  to fix a flat tire, or someone gave you a ride to the doctor,or lent you some money until pay day. Somehow these persons extended an attitude of welcome and  a  helping hand.

       The Las Posadas tradition (which is part of our service today )began when the Spanish missionaries told the story of Jesus birth in Bethlehem to the native people of Mexico. The  remembrance of Mary and Joseph traveling and needing a place of shelter developed into a 9 day event where groups of pilgrims search nightly for a home that will allow them to enter.   If the participants are allowed inside, there will be a festival of prayer and  carols and fiesta.

     We remember that it was after Jesus' birth that Mary and Joseph and their small son had to flee for a safe place because Jesus life was in danger. They made their way  from Judea all the way to Egypt where they were strangers and had to depend upon those around them  to offer hospitality and help. They were refugees far away from home.

     In our lives, we find ourselves in both roles. Sometimes we receive help from others, and sometimes we are there to give help to those in need. In the Old Testament there is a Scripture where God  reminds the people of Israel to  treat the stranger with kindness:

 “When a  stranger resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. . . Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God. “

      I once worked with a woman named Grace who was a nurse. I appreciated her friendship because I was new in that town. During our breaks, we talked  and she told me of her life. She was Japanese American  and had grown up in California. During WWII ,as a little girl, she and her family had to leave their home to go to one of the U.S. government  internment camps for persons of Japanese background. She told me how frightening it was to leave everything they had, and not know how long they would be gone, or what would be there when they returned. Even though they were American citizens, they were required to go to the camps. She and her family lived in barracks until the end of the war.  

        When Grace and I worked together, I became sick and missed several days of work. Of all my coworkers, Grace was the one who found my apartment, and delivered homemade chicken soup which aided in my recovery. May be she did this  because she was a nurse, or maybe it was because her name was Grace, but it probably was because she knew what it was like to be looked at as a stranger, to be in trouble, to depend upon someone else. Grace lived out her faith as she cared intentionally for those around her.

        We are in midst of the Advent season where we are  reflecting on God's gift of Jesus to our world and what that means for our lives. It is a season of  great hospitality. We gather together for Christmas events  and dinners. We have special parties in our organizations We draw names and buy gifts for friends and family. It is a time of year where we express our love for one another.

We send cards and  try to be thoughtful to those we care about. It is a great season of giving. How large can our circle of care reach? Are there limits to the love and welcome that we can give?

         In the marketplaces and in homes , preparations are also being made in Mexico for Christmas.  In worship services in the Methodist Churches there, people will be singing carols and remembering the story of Jesus birth.  One of the newest Methodist churches in the Oriental Conference in Mexico is Templo Alleluya. Besides gathering for worship, the Templo Alleluya Church has a daily feeding program for children and  hopes to also start a school  for the neighborhood.

        Templo Alleluya is located in a area of shacks built along a railroad track  in Piedras Negras,a  border town across from Eagle Pass,Texas.   The assigned minister,Pastor Hector ,wasn't sure if the church could survive in this place with limited water and electricity. The church however survives and ministers among and with the people there. Pastor Hector and his wife Berta  saw the great needs of the neighborhood, especially hunger. He and his family prayed that there would be enough food to satisfy the hunger of the people who came to his church.

      “One day, we had no food, but we came across some bags on the side of the road..and they were full of bread.” Pastor Hector recalls. “There were enough for every person in the church. We found out (that day) that God was in charge of the food!”

     Repeatedly they have been amazed at the way God has provided.

      I think that it is also true  that God is in charge of  Advent and Christmas!

When we make our lists of all that needs to be done, leave room for what God wishes to include on that list.  Let's begin each day with the prayer that we will be  ready to

receive and welcome those who may be in need of friendship, of support, of help.

It may be the server at your table, the cashier at the store, the new neighbor down the street, a co worker you don't know very well, the person who is very different from you.

        A friend of mine who is a pastor was telling this story of what happened to him on a Christmas Eve. He was working late at the church trying to get every thing prepared for the 7:00 service. It was 5:30 and he still had things to do. There was a knock at his office door. A young couple were there along with their baby. The couple were heading for West Virginia; they had enough money for gas and a meal, but they needed diapers.

     My friend was frustrated by this interruption. He really did not want to have to deal with a  baby on Christmas Eve!  And then the realization came to him: isn't that what Christmas Eve was all about ? A new born in need far from home. Opportunities to offer hospitality don't always come at a convenient time or place or according to our schedules. They come in God's timing.

      Leave room on your lists for the opportunities that God will give you this Advent.

Remember the times when you have needed grace, forgiveness, compassion, and how God has met those needs. What a privilege that we can also treat someone else as a cherished guest!

     There will always be people in need of welcoming. The world yearns for cups of cold water, for acts of kindness,for interest instead of indifference, for looks of understanding instead of disgust. This Advent let the Las Posadas be reflected in our lives as we make room for others!

     James 2:14-18  The Message

     17Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is  nonsense?

     18I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department."

     Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.

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