By the time you are reading this, we’re past the Labor Day holiday. Summer
is winding down, and we’re looking forward to our Homestead and Dorton
Joint Fall Picnic. Cumberland Mountain State Park is a quiet gem located
right here beside us. And it is a wonderful place for our two churches to get
together for a time of fellowship and worship.
That said, my sermon for the picnic worship service speaks of unity. In
Psalm 133:1-3, the psalmist shares with us three things about living
together in unity. 1) It tells us about the goodness of living together in unity.
2) It tells us the source of living together in unity. And 3) It tells us the
blessing of living together in unity.
I use that scriptural reference to speak of how wonderful the worship and
working relationship is between our two churches. As a Methodist pastor for
the past 27 years, I have served multiple churches together at the same
time. Two different times during that period, I’ve served three churches
simultaneously. In both instances, before my arrival, the pastor had split the
sermons up, so that he was not preaching to all three churches every
Sunday. As I recall, two of the churches had preaching on the first and third
Sundays. The other church had preaching on the second and fourth
Sundays. Frankly, I can’t recall what a fifth Sunday service looked like. This
model, while quite Methodist in its format, caused quite a bit of
consternation and friction. Anyway, upon my arrival, we started having
service every Sunday. So, I preached three times on Sunday morning. I say
this, not to disparage the pastors who preceded me, but rather to tell you it
was pretty much normal on those days.
However, I noticed very quickly after changing the format to “every Sunday”
preaching, that the mood and demeanor of the churches as a whole, vastly
improved. They got much more enjoyment out of gathering together for
worship and fellowship.
That brings me back to Homestead and Dorton. If memory serves me
correctly, Homestead and Dorton came together as a charge back in 2016.
We arrived at the very beginning of 2019, some two and half years after the
merger took place. What I noticed almost immediately was how well the two
churches worked together. The food pantry is a wonderful example. Our
Homestead food pantry volunteers will quickly tell you that the food pantry,
as it is currently, could not be done without the help of our sister church
volunteers.
All of this reminds me of what the psalmist was saying about dwelling
together in unity. Let’s keep up the good work with our relationship. When
one of the churches has a special event, such as the upcoming Dorton
revival in October, let’s be sure to be active participants. That’s just one of
the ways that we can continue to show our love and respect for one another.
For God gives his blessing where believers live together in unity. Yes, it
truly is good and pleasant!