sermon

First Church . . . was a thriving church; a model church; the church that other churches pointed to saying, “they must be doing something right.” For First Church had had a boom in membership the past few years. It was in an area with lots of new homes being built and lots of people moving in; it attracted all the community and corporate leaders, the so-called “winners” of the area; people were all dressed perfectly, looked good, and smiled at each other all the time. It was the place to be on Sunday morning if you wanted to be regarded as classy and conscientious and cool. First Church had programs appealing to every age group and interest; it had talented and entertaining leaders for all its activities. Everyone was happy with First Church. First Church was doing so well, in fact, that it was outgrowing its building: it was hard to get a seat on Sunday morning, even with two services, and parking was a major headache. Finally the inevitable question had to be faced: is it time to build a bigger church building? […]