Sunday, December 5, 2010
The Reverend Angela Ying
Bethany United Church of Christ
6230 Beacon Avenue South, Seattle WA 98108
At the corner of Beacon and Graham

Given to a packed, overflowing sanctuary following speakers:

King County Councilmember, District #2, Larry Gossett
Rabbi Jim Mirel, Temple B’nai Torah
Michael Ramos, Church Council of Greater Seattle
Dustin Washington, People’s Institute
Judy Chen, Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Linda and Tony Robinson, former Senior Minister of Plymouth Congregational Church, Seattle
Brandon Duran, Pacific Northwest Conference
Dorothy Bell, former Beacon Avenue United Church of Christ member in her nineties who named the new church, Bethany

What do you want to hear on this our Tenth Anniversary?

What do you need to hear?

Do I share with you that God is love and that you are born in love, by love, for love — yet with the freedom not to love.

Do I share with you the deep gratitude I have for each of you who chooses to be on this journey of faith – where God’s manna (daily bread) is for all and God’s mercy (and forgiveness) is for all.

Do I share with you that what Jesus has faith in is what we are to have faith in.

What Jesus says “Amen!” to, we are called, as Christians, to say “Amen!” to, whether we feel like it or not.

Do I share with you that God’s Holy Spirit is pouring out in the world like a tap 24/7 and each of us is a bucket. The bucket is overflowing but not full because we have rocks — fear, jealousy, greed, violence, insecurity, complacency — in our bucket. And only with love and courage in community, can we dare to remove each rock, so that we can be full of God’s Spirit.

We do not have to make the Spirit blow — we only have to, as God created, open our wings!

Do I share with you that when we started this journey in December of 2000, I was told by people who did not know me and had never set foot in Bethany that, we would not survive. Yet, unlike four other United Church of Christ churches that started at the same time we opened and have since closed — against all odds, Bethany Church, is still here.

Do I share with you that amidst the deep joy and grace, it has not been easy and that when we started I did not have any gray hair – nor did I need reading glasses!

Do I share with you that in our first ten humble years we have been a pastor-centered church and it is now time — yes, to grow up and be a ministry-centered church — just in time for our teenage years!

We will make mistakes, drive each other in circles at times and push the boundaries, but it is all part of the developmental process of being a healthy church. So stop beating yourself up! We can get through this with God’s help …

Do I share with you that after ten amazing years a part of me thinks you need a new pastor — seriously — and the other part of me thinks and is inspired about Speight Jenkins of the Seattle Opera and Rabbi Jim Mirel of Temple B’nai Torah who, in greater Seattle, know it takes time to build a strong foundation and a loving community — and thus have stayed to lead for 25 years (O, God!), amidst great ups and downs, joys and disappointments — to make it work.

Do I share with you the real pain and struggle of seeing people you love come and go, be born and die, and yet, as a community — we are constantly called to let go, in order to move forward.

Do I share with you that in my family, my dear partner and I have a tween, a beautiful tween and she, just as every Bethany infant, child, tween and youth needs love, discipline and direction. And that I have hope in our children and youth ministries director, John Hardt, someone who I see can love them, walk with them, teach them the ways of God — if we give him a chance, a real chance in this complex world, as you gave me a chance ten years ago when I was his age.

Do I share with you that what started with one pastor and with one chorister, named Don Jenkins, I think Bethany has by far perhaps some of the finest and talented musicians of God’s people around!

Do I share with you that when I weep, my parents, as any loving parents, weep ten times, and that to have them in this congregation, says something very special about you — because my two sisters remind me, it cannot be just because of my sermons!

And now, what I want to share with you is this:

Ten years ago, when seven people sat in the Olivet Room and did a national search looking far and wide for the founding pastor of Bethany, they asked the question — “so why would you want this position?”

To which I whispered as Moses told God: “I don’t.”

That probably should have ended the interview right then and there but it didn’t because of what happened next — God told me to tell them — “if God builds a Bethany Church — and it is multi-racial, multi-cultural, intergenerational and open and affirming for all the people — why you and I would get a glimpse of the kin-dom.”

And O, to get a glimpse of God’s kin-dom here on earth — does not happen every day! Why, some folks are silly enough to wait until they die to see the kin-dom of heaven when it is right here on earth.

O, to get a glimpse of God’s kin-dom on earth — people of different races, classes, ages, sexual orientations, backgrounds and cultures all have to be in the same place at one time — and that does not happen by accident.

O, to get a glimpse of God’s kin-dom on earth — people have to put their differences aside and find what they have in common — their humanity — their ability to be human — their gift to love and be loved, to forgive and be forgiven.

O, to get a glimpse of God’s kin-dom on earth — people have to live as kin-dom people, where justice is love distributed.

O, to get a glimpse of God’s kin-dom on earth — people have to believe it is possible.

To believe in a mustard seed. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that creatures come and make their homes in its branches.

To bring people together for ministry, as a woman took and mixed yeast with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened and all of it is raised up.

To see, as a merchant in search of fine pearls, on finding one pearl of great value — the commitment to have a vision and stick to it, not letting distractions cloud the vision and keep us from seeing the value of our shared vision.

O, to get a glimpse of God’s kin-dom on earth – people have to know that things do not always turn out as planned. As the one who gave a wedding banquet, but the people would not come.

So, rather than blame or get desperate to win over those people who refuse to come — the community goes pro-active and goes out into the streets and invites everyone you can find to the wedding banquet.

That’s getting a glimpse of God’s kin-dom. A new heaven and a new earth.

And here is the thing — sometimes, all we get is a glimpse….

And look around. Take a close look at your neighbor. Here at Bethany this very morning, we have been given a glimpse of the kin-dom of God.

And yet, Life is short. If we take what has been given to us as a great gift from God for granted – a gift given with the help of Plymouth, the Pacific Northwest Conference, the national United Church of Christ, all of the community and ecumenical partners we have, and all the interfaith partners we have —- if we, as Bethany Church in these next ten years do not work together, to continue to be change agents of peace — even the glimpse will fade and grow dim.

As you and I gather this day to celebrate and give thanks for our first ten amazing yet humble years, let us be laborers in the vineyard of God who is so generous and so loving — we do not have time to quarrel and compare who is loved more, for God is love and you are born in love, by love, for love.

For by God’s love —just this glimpse of the kin-dom of God on earth is enough to sustain us through the next ten years.

Imagine what God has in store for Bethany in the next ten if we don’t cloud our vision with everything that is not of God, and instead, keep focused on our vision — O, getting a glimpse of the kin-dom of God here, right here on earth!

It will not be an easy task – no one said it would be.

It is a way of life. So, be not afraid.

Thank you, Bethany Church!
Thank you, friends and community partners in the wider community!
Thank you, Mom and Dad!
Thank you, dear John and Anne Elizabeth!
Happy Tenth Anniversary Bethany United Church of Christ!
I Love You!

Thanks be to God!