Our Presence Makes a Difference

As a member of just about any group – whether it is a sports team, a community group or United Methodist Church there is the hope and expectation that when you commit yourself to being a member, you will attend their gatherings, practice and play every game, and work together to support the group.  If you are a member of a football team the idea of not being present for a game is inconceivable!  The team needs you right!  If you are a firefighter and a call comes in that there is a house on fire, you drop what you are doing and go to fight the fire.

As a member of the United Methodist Church we make a commitment to support our church with our presence.

You might think that you aren’t missed if you are not here but I want you to know you are.  Have you ever been here on a snowy wintery Sunday morning when only 25 of us are gathered here for worship?  Oh we still worship and we still feel the presence of God with us but when we sing or as we pray there such a different feeling because too many people are missing.  To use the famous quote from the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire says, “You complete us.”

Yes, you are missed in worship but you are also missed when you don’t attend Bible Study, Choir Practice, a committee meeting, a fund raiser, Youth Group, Sunday school, or any other gathering.  When we all worship and work together we become closer and more like family…God’s family to be specific.

The other side of this is I believe being present here and being sure to join in worship and other gatherings helps us to grow in our knowledge and love of God and Jesus our Savior.  It also helps us to learn more and understand how the Holy Spirit is at work in us.  I know many people who have faith in God and believe in Jesus Christ but yet they want to worship and live separate from the church.  Well, I will not argue that anyone can believe in such a manner but I have found it is so much easier to walk this journey of life with others who also believe and who will be by my side to celebrate with me and to help me through the tough times.

Does our presence make a difference?  Before closing today, I want us to think about something…

Today is All Saints’ Day and in a few minutes we are going to be remembering those who have passed from this life into their eternal life.  We will be naming those who have died in the last year but there will also be a time when you will have a chance to light a candle for a saint who touched your life in a special way.  I wonder, as we think about any of these saints, we will recognize that their presence in our lives made a difference?  Of course it did.  We remember these saints because they made an impact on our lives in some way or another.   Do you ever wonder if one day, a long time from now, someone will light a candle in memory of you?  Will someone remember you and give thanks for your presence in their life?

Living out our promise to support our church with our presence can and does make a big difference.  Let me end today with a short illustration that you may have heard before but it makes the point of this message in a powerful way….

 A Solitary Ember

As a pastor of a church was looking over the congregation one Sunday he realized that Joe was missing again.  Joe had not been in church for more than a month now and that was not like him.  Joe, had been an active church member for many years but now seemed to be consistently absent. One cold winter evening that next week the pastor knocked at Joe’s door.  The pastor and Joe had developed a good friendship over the years and so Joe welcomed the pastor in to sit with him next to the fire and enjoy the quiet atmosphere.

As they watched the wood burn in the fireplace, the minister mentioned he had noticed Joe’s absence from church. Joe candidly confessed that he had decided he was just as well off without the church as with it.

The minister didn’t say a word, but he rose from his seat and using tongs from the rack, reached into the fire, pulled out a flaming ember, and laid it down by itself on the hearth. He sat back down having said nothing.

Both men sat in silence and watched the glowing ember lose its glow and turn slowly into a crusty, black lump. After some moments of thoughtful silence, the man turned to his pastor and said, “I get the message, my friend, I see what you mean; I’ll be back next Sunday.” And he was.

You see, my friends, we need our church family to keep us strong.  We are called to share the Light with a dark and cold world.  When we are separated from the fiery family of God our light soon goes out and simply become part of the darkness.

Remember the words from Hebrews 10:24-25 “Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works; not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh.”