October 17, 1998
Coming Here
On my first day in my office over there, I couldn’t hear myself talking on the phone with Joy. Fire engines clanging and honking were going up Sacramento. I couldn’t believe I was finally here in SF! I can peer out this other window and see the Transamerican building against the deep blue sky, a landmark of SF known all over the world. I couldn’t believe that I was now in the office where James Chuck sat! I look around my desk and found residue of Gene Wright, Jeff Sharp, and James and thought what big shoes these pastors wore. I couldn’t believe that God has led you to grant me this opportunity to continue the legacy into the next millennium!
It seems that many people have wondered why Joy and I have returned to FCBC and SF. It comes down to one and only one answer: We believe God wants us here! Now, I wonder what it would be like if you didn’t call me to come. For some time, I have felt God was calling me to make a difference in the world. I took very seriously the words of “let not my will but your will be done.” When Joy was invited to come with me to spend some time in SF to see if this is a place where we might want to live, I was literally “over joy” when she felt the same message, “that against all the comforts and conveniences in Valley Forge, this is where God wants us to serve.” No obstacles will be too big to overcome as long as we have faith in God’s plan for us. And I can say, tonight, that this has been true since we’ve been in SF. And it is true for all of us.
Growing Disciples
When I was here 23 years ago, I was doing Christian education. During all the years I was with Educational Ministries, I continued to do Christian education. When I was out speaking in churches to raise funds for Christian education, I would say,
“Who taught the missionaries their Bible stories?”
“How many missionaries made their decisions for Christ at camps and conferences?”
“Where did pastors, Christian centers directors, hospital chaplains receive their training for their vocation?”
“How do most of us learn how to apply our faith in daily living?”
To all of these questions, the answer is Christian education. When we have strong Christian education programs, we are able
to nurture persons to know that they are children of God;
to develop persons to utilize their many God-given gifts for ministry, and
to empower persons to change the world.
Sunday church school, BYF, camps and conferences were all very important in my life. Through these programs, I was able to teach others the Bible stories that I learned, use the skills of leading and counseling that I received, and realized that even when I was “just a youth” I was making a difference in the lives of others in the world.
I want our church to continue the strong legacy of growing disciples. As key church leaders, you all can bear witness to the power of Christian education. Look around and see how God has shaped our lives for his purposes.
Reaching Chinatown & Beyond
When God works in us, it just doesn’t stop there. To have the heart of Christ in our lives only means that we have to give it away. You just can’t wait to share what you are feeling because Christ has made a difference in your life.
One of my favorite theologians was Walter Rauschenbusch. He was an American Baptist pastor of a German-American church in New York City. He preached that the Good News of Jesus Christ must make a difference in our society. The neighborhood around his church was so bad that it was called, “Hell’s Kitchen.” As he labored tirelessly, he welcomed the poor, the immigrants, the factory workers, the shopkeepers, the outcasts and the homeless into his church. Today, I see myself in such a place too. SF Chinatown is my “Hell’s Kitchen.”
Some people think about Chinatown and say,
“It’s so dirty.”
“There’s no parking.”
“It is so crowded.”
“I’m afraid of the homeless people hanging around.”
When I come to Chinatown to work, I say
“How can we help our neighborhood to be cleaner beginning with our own church home?”
“Can we invite everyone, members and visitors to park at St. Mary’s on Sunday if it is necessary?”
“This must be where the action is that’s why there’s so many people here!” “I want to be here too!”
Last week when I was arriving at the church, I noticed a man climbing on one of the small trees in front of our church. At first my reactions were:
“This man is trespassing!”
“He’s going to break the tree with his weight!”
“What is he doing up there?”
As I looked closer, he was storing his blanket and knapsack up in the tree. Safe from dogs, cats, street cleaners, and Baptist ministers, this homeless man was making his bed for the day to be able to return home later.
I have yet to meet “the man in the tree.” When he saw me looking at him storing his blanket and knapsack, his eyes looked away. I hope that my eyes did not convey judgment or disgust. And even if I do have the opportunity of meeting him, I’m not sure what I would say. But one thing is clear now, every time I come to work, I look up in the tree and when I see his blanket and knapsack, my ministry is not yet done.
I love this place. You must see early in the morning, the many grandmothers and grandfathers who still want to master more English, perhaps to speak with their grandchildren, climb these tall stairs to learn. When the fog lifts later in the morning, through these open windows, I can hear the children playing and laughing. They remind me of new families seeking for a church home. In the evenings, every room in this building is lit up, filled with young adults who have worked all day at their jobs and now
want to better themselves. What a great place! God is continuing to bring people not only to our doors but inside our church home.
When the planning team was considering where to have this dinner tonight, it was clear in my mind that we need to be here in our Fellowship Hall in Chinatown. We belong here!
Like the “man in the tree”, we have a ministry here that is not finished yet. Like the people in the Sunset district and other parts of the city, we have a ministry that is not finished yet.
Gold in Our Pockets
You might be asking yourselves, “Can this be done?” Or maybe, “What kind of crazy pastor have we called?”
In teaching the meaning of humility, Parker Palmer told this Hasidic tale:
“We need a coat with two pockets. In one pocket there is dust, and in the other
pocket there is gold. We need a coat with two pockets to remind us of who we
are.
But too many times, we as church leaders and members have emphasized the dusts that are not only in one pocket but in both pockets. Every place that we can catch a little dust, we fill it with dust!
My friends, there is also gold in our pockets! Our lives and our pockets are full with the glimmering Good News of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
No one person can make this happen. I know that I can’t do this by myself. I know that if all the pastors got together to work on this, we can’t do it by ourselves. We must capture this vision of growing disciples and reaching out to Chinatown together. Only then will we be able to gather all our Bible stories, our gifts and talents, our faith in the Almighty God, to make a difference in the world.
Closing
In closing, let me read the passage from Luke 4:18-19 when Jesus was reading the scroll of the prophet Isaiah,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
When is the year, the time that God has chosen? When will the Lord save his people?
I believe the time is now.
In Cokie Roberts’, We Are Our Mother’s Daughters, she writes about Dorothy Height who rallied support to have the YWCA integrated. Ms. Height remembered a stirring keynote address delivered by Dr. Benjamin Mays, then president of Morehouse College: “I hear you say that the time is not ripe. But the time is always ripe to do justice. And if you have a Christian purpose, if the time is not ripe, then it should be your purpose to ripen the time.”
The time is always ripe to do ministry and mission. From my corner office over there, I don’t always hear the clanging fire engines. I also hear the chimes of Old St. Mary’s every hour. It’s a constant reminder in my ears that the time is ripe to “grow disciples and win persons for Christ.” May we proclaim the coming years as acceptable to our Lord.