December 29, 2024
Today I visited Webber Street Christian Church, one of the
older congregations in Urbana. Like many, this one too has lost a lot of
people over the years, but still has its nice big building, decked out this morning
in pine branches and Christmas lights. Whereas some churches have been forced
to downsize, Webber Street has formed a mutually beneficial partnership with
the much larger CU Church which meets Sundays in the I Hotel. As I understand
it, the Webber Street people swap out office space in their roomy building in
exchange for one of the CUC pastors to come each Sunday to give the message.
The building is home to a second local congregation too. It’s wonderful that the
space is well used.
People entered shaking the rain off themselves this week. The
service began on the dot of time with the cheerful song “How Can I Keep from
Singing,” accompanied by keyboard, guitar and drums. A leader reported that $14,000
had been collected and given to four needy families in the area for Christmas.
Another gave God thanks for that and prayed for sick people in the congregation,
elders, and a troubled soul.
After that, a greeting time lasted longer than I’ve experienced
before (maybe ten minutes?) as people meandered about catching up with each
other. I didn’t try to circulate since I didn’t know anyone, but a half dozen came
to welcome me.
Today’s sermon was delivered by Hank Sanford. First he
showed a short video in which a doctor claimed that tightening one’s fist can
help the brain recall facts: left fist for right brain and right fist for left.
Hmm. Hank then told a couple of jokes and said we were a tough audience when
they didn’t get enough laughs. Hank is a lively speaker though, and he included a
lot of stories with his message,
Leave It. He explained that as we enter
the new year, there are things from the old that we need to let go of and leave
behind. His illustrations ranged from the “leave it” dog training command to
the Apostle Paul’s effort to forget those things which are behind--leave it (Philippians
3.13). Hank had examples from Tiger Woods' golf, Pigpen’s dust cloud,
his mom’s faithful service to the church (“No day off now; I have all heaven to
rest!”), getting punched in the eye by a girl in fifth grade, running a half
marathon, and Barney Fife’s single bullet. Whew! Good points made and then he
disappeared out the back door.
Next a big man in bib overalls got up to share follow-up
thoughts before leading us in taking communion. We’ve got to have our Ephesians
6 armor on, he said. “We are on the threshold of the rest of our lives.”
All prayers were closed with “and everyone said . . .” to
which the congregation agreed “amen!”
I went back out into the windy wet day but hadn’t walked far
when the Webber Street van pulled up and offered me a ride. Gratefully
accepted!
