"A Time To Soar"

Isaiah 40:28-31
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
30Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
31but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.

INTRODUCTION:

A story I read sometime back is about a boy who spent the summer in the country with his grandfather. One day when they were out in the field they found a small strange bird. Ernie, as they named him, was taken home to show to grandma. In order to give Ernie a good home he was placed with a mother hen and her brood of chicks. Grandpa had a sneaking suspicion what kind of a bird they were boarding but he kept the secret to himself. Ernie was an Eaglet. Pretty soon Ernie was larger than the other birds on the farm. One sunny afternoon mother eagle spied Ernie the Eaglet eating corn down on the farm with some strange looking white birds. Mother eagle soared around and around. She soared lower and lower and suddenly she called out with her mother eagle call. Eaglet Ernie listened, paused, and he spread his wings. Then suddenly he began to fly and then Ernie began to soar in response to the call of his mother.

Eaglet Ernie had within him the life of his mother, an eagle. He heard the eagle call and responded. Those chicks also heard the call. But they only gave a little "CHIRP," a slight jump and then returned to eating corn. For Eaglet Ernie, eating corn was transient. His calling, his purpose in life was higher than that. He listened to and heeded that call. And his wings took him high into the sky where the air was pure and he experienced life with his mother and the other eagles. He also experienced a freedom never realized before.

I. GOD'S CALL:

Have you noticed, there's sort of an eagle theme running through all of this? I think this story is sort of a parable of our Church. In the past year we have discovered God's call. We have listened to the voice of the one calling us to rise and to soar. We have listened and we have spread our wings. And we have begun to fly. God HAS raised us up on eagle's wings.

I also know that it hasn't been easy. We've had our struggles along the way. It would have been easier to just jump a little in reaction to the call like the chicks and go on eating corn. It would have been easier and safer and a whole lot less challenging. But we heard God's call to rise and take wing and we found it so compelling to we couldn't ignore it. We listened. We responded by taking wing. We flew. And discovered that God was the wind beneath our wings.

II. WE ARE FLYING:

The call continues because God doesn't want us to JUST fly. Chickens and turkeys can just fly but they are basically ground birds. Chickadees and sparrows can fly but they use their flight just to get from one place to another. But eagles. . . Eagles soar. They spread their wings and soar on the wind.

That is what God is calling us to do. We have spread our wings and we have taken flight both financially and spiritually in our Church. Our weekly giving has increased by an average of $1149.00. That's a %19 percent increase. Above that, we have pledged an additional $557, 263.18 in response to God's call to build. The Finance Committee has worked hard and despite normal increases, this year's budget will be equal to last year's.

We have heard God's call. We have responded. We have taken wing. And we are beginning to soar. We have one of the strongest youth ministries in the District. Our music ministry is busting at the seams with both children and adults. There are 14 choirs in which Children, Youth and Adults can participate.

We are reaching out to those in need both through our everyday efforts and through specialized ministries like the Rebecca Ministry, Adopt-a-Family, the Women's Shelter, Arlington Night Shelter, the Loaves and Fishes Ministry or Slab ministry as they call it on the street. We are also reaching out to strengthen families within our own congregation through family ministries events.

We offer two Disciple Bible Study groups. Joe's Baby Boomer Bible Study starts again on Tuesday. In the future, when we have more space for larger meetings, we will be offering other Bible Study opportunities as well. Our Sunday School is growing despite our sojourn in the wilderness of the Moose Lodge. We have an active United Methodist Women's group with three circles. I could go on and on about the growth. Everyone in this congregation should be proud of where we are. We have listened to God's call and responded. We have taken wing and are flying.

CONCLUSION:

The challenge for us is not to give up and get lax. Our challenge is to keep up the good work; to keep growing in our faith; to keep growing in our giving and our levels of commitment. Our challenge is to keep listening to God's call so that we can empower and carry out God's ministry through our participation and support. As we give, both in time and financially, we empower and enable both our ministries and our dreams for ministry to be carried out.

Someone wrote: "There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots; the other is wings."

The same could be said for the Church. Our roots are in Christ. And our stewardship gives us wings. When we are good stewards of our time, talents and resources then we give wings to the ministry of our Church. When we are faithful, we are lifted up on eagle's wings and our ministries are lifted up as well. Through our faithfulness, we give the Church and it's various ministry teams and leaders the Freedom To Soar. That's what this year's Stewardship Campaign is about. Continuing on, allowing God to strengthen us so that we might have deep roots in our faith. And allowing God to lift us up on eagle's wings, so that we might Soar.

We begin our campaign with the Lord's Supper. Commitment Sunday will conclude with the Lord's Supper. Come to the Lord's Table. Listen to God's call and experience God's love in your life. Be fed and be filled. Be lifted up on eagle's wings and know that you are held in the palm of God's hand.

This is the Word of the Lord for this day.
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1. Pastor's Story File, April 1985, Submitted by Maribel Kraybill, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.