With You Always -
The Rev. Dr. Anthony
J. Godlefski, Pastor
John 21: 1-19
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, good morning. This morning I would like to tell you what I learned in confirmation class, because even as I went about teaching our young folks, there was something very important they taught me, too. I'd like to share that with you this morning.
This confirmation class brought alive for me a special scripture in which Jesus said, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of you." It was a Wednesday afternoon. I came in to teach the confirmation class. And let me tell you, I was feeling down. I was feeling dragged out and tired and a little bit upset and depressed. But it was time to teach. So I came in to the class.
And here was the class of students, sitting in place and ready to go. We had a prayer, and we lit our class candle. We went around the piano and we sang. Then we read from the Bible and we talked about it, and we talked about God and Jesus. And I found something interesting happening: the farther along we got into the class, the better I felt. So by the time the class was over and I was driving home, I was feeling terrific. As I paused in my driveway to think about that, I thought, "Wait a minute. What happened here? Why was it that I could feel so low at the beginning of this experience and feel so terrific now?"
And the answer is this: the Holy Spirit was there. Jesus was there. Those children helped me answer and come to grips with a very important question. When does church happen? Friends, church happens when the family of God gathers and calls upon the name of the Lord. Amen? That's when church happens. That's when the Holy Spirit enters into us as a community.
You know, we can all pray individually. We must and we do. God blesses us. But church is something extra special. Church is something extra wonderful. It's when you get together with other Christians, whether you know them well or whether you don't know them at all, but you have something in common. And that is that you call upon the name of the Lord.
Maybe you sing and read from the Bible. Maybe you pray and study. Or maybe somebody preaches. But whatever happens when the community gathers, that's where church is. That's where we hold Christ in common. So, to my dear confirmation class, I say thank you for teaching me that important lesson. Thank you for being the church. Thank you for being the place where I could experience the Holy Spirit in that day.
May it be so for you, all the time. May you come back to church Sunday after Sunday and experience the blessing of God, the presence of the Holy Spirit, and that special uplift that can only come from going to church and worshipping the Lord as a gathered family.
Thank you, and God bless you. God loves you, and I do, too. Amen.