"Remember and Go"

This church, these people, this place provided a foundation for my faith that I have continued to rely and build on.  I am sure that sentiment is echoed by many others, who over the last seventy-five years have come to know the unconditional love of God in Jesus Christ through the ministry of Village Chapel Presbyterian Church.

Frank Mansell III

March 23, 2025

Matthew 28: 16-20; Jeremiah 29: 10-14

It is a great joy and pleasure to be with you today for this wonderful celebration.  I was deeply honored when Todd called me last year to invite me to preach for this special occasion, and I wish to thank him, Amy, and the Session for their graciousness in asking me to be here.

If you ever want to put things into perspective – aka feel old – just be asked to speak at an organization’s anniversary celebration!  I turned 53-years-old last month, which means that 80% of my life has been connected in some way to Village Chapel Presbyterian Church.  I was eleven when we moved to Charleston and Dad became your pastor.  He served in that role for 23 more years until his retirement in 2006.  Many, many memories flood my mind as I reflect on how this congregation has made an indelible mark on my life.

I remember sitting in that first pew as a junior high student, with a couple of other buddies, and we were cutting up during worship as junior high boys are wont to do.  I was a church orphan in those days, with Mom singing in the choir and Dad leading worship.  That particular day, as we were cutting up during the sermon, I suddenly realized the background noise had stopped.  I looked up and my father had stopped preaching, just looking at us.  I didn’t dare look in the choir, because I knew Mom’s look would have been worse.  Dad never said anything to us – just stopped and waited.  We slouched in the pew as far down as we could go, and he resumed his sermon without further interruption.  That was one of the quietest Sunday lunches at our house.  But nothing had to be said – and you better believe it never happened again!

I remember the day lightning struck the education building and caused a fire.  Dad was the only one here that afternoon, and when asked by the local news media what he was thinking when the lightning struck, in his typical fashion he said, “Well, I thought I’d better get out of the building.”  The fire and water damage left the fellowship hall and education building unusable for nine months, but thankfully the firefighters were able to keep the sanctuary safe, and we never missed a Sunday worship service in this space.  We all learned very quickly that the church is more than just a building, and we found adaptive ways to carry on amid such adversity.  That fire was a turning point for our family, as well, as instead of following through on an in-person interview with another church out-of-state, Mom and Dad decided to stay and help lead the church through that challenging time – a decision which bore much fruit for the next eighteen years.

I remember ski trips and weekend retreats with the youth group and the Presbytery of West Virginia Youth Council.  I remember while in college, being taken to my first NASCAR race by Howard and Patti Salisbury at Darlington Speedway.  I remember being supported in a multitude of ways by this church when I discerned a call to ministry; Todd sent me a copy of a note I had written in 1996 to the church thanking so many who came to the presbytery meeting when I became a candidate.  I remember gathering in this space over 26 years ago when I was ordained as a minister of Word and Sacrament.

I remember the church celebrating its 50th-anniversary, and so many coming together to build a home with Habitat for Humanity.  I remember our daughters, Erin and Heather, experiencing this church’s love whenever they would visit their grandparents.  I remember the remarkable celebration this church gave for my parents in 2006, and the look on their faces when they walked out of the sanctuary and were met with a new VW Beetle, a gift from you in recognition of the 1971 Beetle they drove here in back in 1983 – and on which I learned how to drive.  I remember the deep friendships and love that continued to be shared even after Dad’s retirement, while they chose to attend Kanawha United so that Todd and the church could have a healthy and undistracted beginning to your ministry together.

And yes, I remember that cold day in January 2018 when we assembled in this space to celebrate my father’s life, having died only three months after being diagnosed with leukemia.  It was overwhelming, to say the least, to see this space completely full of people who have meant so much to us and whose lives Dad touched in his years of discipleship.

This church, these people, this place provided a foundation for my faith that I have continued to rely and build on.  I am sure that sentiment is echoed by many others, who over the last seventy-five years have come to know the unconditional love of God in Jesus Christ through the ministry of Village Chapel Presbyterian Church.

Anniversaries are wonderful times to look back and give thanks for all God has done in our lives.  I am sure that you share many of those same sentiments: respect for those who preceded us in faith; joy in those moments of great celebration; sadness for those who are now saints of the Church Triumphant; thankfulness for our connection to a community of faith that has left an indelible mark on our lives.

One of the temptations of anniversaries, though, is to spend all of our time looking back.  Or worse, we are always comparing ourselves today to how things once were.  It’s so easy to do, isn’t it?  “Boy, it sure was great back in the day when we had so many kids running around this place.”  “Wow, I wish people would come through those doors the way they used to.”  “If things could only be like they were before . . .”  Anniversaries are wonderful opportunities to give thanks for God’s love in our past, but they also must be opportunities to look ahead to what God will do next.

In our Old Testament lesson today, God speaks through the prophet Jeremiah and says, “For surely I know the plans I have for you . . . plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (29:11).  That is at the heart of our faith, is it not?  That we trust and believe in a benevolent, loving God, who does not wish us harm but yearns with hope for a future filled with good and health for all of God’s children.  Whether in times that are good or times that are hard, God nevertheless is always there, leading us into a future that is filled with hope.

We are called to celebrate and be informed by our past.  And we are called to be open to the newness which God is doing – in communities, in organizations, and yes, in the church.  As people of faith, we are reassured of the future God has promised us in hope.  And our lives must reflect that assurance.  If we are only looking back, wishing life was how it once was, we are not attuned to how God might be pointing us in a new direction for that hopeful future.

In our New Testament lesson, we hear Jesus holding both the past and the future together.  In the Great Commission, Jesus commands his disciples to look forward with hope.  And it’s not just believing all that he has taught them, but to go and tell others this good news.  “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (28:18-19).  In other words, don’t just sit on this gift you have received – the gift of faith.  Go and share it so that it might grow and spread throughout the world.

But he also says, “Remember, I am with you always to the end of the age.”  Remember how God has been with you in the past.  Remember all God has done through the life of Jesus Christ.  Remember that you are not alone as you go forth from this place to serve.  “Remember that I am with you always to the end of the age.”  Remember – and go.

Last year, the church I serve in Raleigh – Western Boulevard Presbyterian Church – also celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary.  Just like here, our sanctuary has stained glass windows, and in the chancel is a window with a quote from John 13: “I am among you as one who serves.”  It is from the account of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet the night before he is crucified.  As part of our church’s celebration, I shared the following words from Rev. Ed Byers, from the sermon he preached when that sanctuary was dedicated:

Our chancel window symbolizes for us what we believe about God, loving and self-giving, and who we are and what God calls us to do.  The window reveals the love of God in Jesus Christ, the purpose of his coming, the calling unto himself a people who would continue the work of God in his world . . . If we do not have at all times in all places the spirit of service, we cannot belong among those who call themselves followers of the lowly Nazarene.

Let us, his people of today, not make the same mistake of James, John, and Peter who, on the Mount of Transfiguration, wanted to build a Sanctuary of retreat from the world.  Jesus cannot be locked up in our Sanctuary.  He can be found in the valley of human need – where people are hungry, sick of body and of soul, naked, in prison, without family or friends . . .  Where God leads we will follow as together we continue to build temples of the Holy Spirit which is our reasonable service (“Saved to Serve,” Rev. Edgar Byers, June 5, 1977, Western Boulevard Presbyterian Church, Raleigh, NC).

Seventy-five years ago, the saints who went before us heard a call from God to go and make disciples in Kanawha City, to not only provide a space to gather, but also to share God’s love with others in this neighborhood and community.  Thousands upon thousands have received that gift of faith through the time, energy, and love of disciples of Christ in this congregation.  We have been the beneficiaries of their faithfulness, providing us a foundation on which to build our lives of faith.

What are we doing now that will provide that foundation of faith for the generations that follow us?  What new thing is God calling us to do in order to make disciples in Christ’s name?  Where are we seeking our Lord today – in the safe spaces of our comfort, or in the valleys of human need of hunger, prison, homelessness, and loneliness?

We can never replicate the past.  We are called to remember and give thanks for God’s presence in the past, but we are not called to do things the way they have always been done.  That course of action relies too heavily on ourselves, and does not exhibit the trust we are called to have in God.  God calls us to a future filled with hope, and when we take those faithful risks, those leaps of faith, we do so remembering that our Lord is with us always – always – until the end of the age.

As we look forward to a future filled with hope, may we go and find Jesus in the valleys of human need.  As we embark on the next 75 years of Christ’s Church in this place, may we be open to the new thing God might do in and through us as disciples of Jesus Christ.  As we go from this place today, may we welcome all as God has welcomed us in Jesus Christ.  Remember, God is with us always in Jesus Christ.  Now go, tell others of this good news, so they might share that gift with all the world.

Thanks be to God.  Amen.