"For He Had Great Possessions"

Since today is the annual meeting of the congregation and corporation I intend to speak about our life together this last year. We have been so busy in our mission and ministry is it possible that we may have missed time with God?

As a congregation we are a collection of adults, children and youth, some new to the faith and some with many years of faithful living. We have as many different expectations and experiences with the church as there are members, yet nearly all of us engaged in some productive way in Pinnacle to a greater or lesser extent.

We’ll celebrate our eighteenth anniversary this year – old enough to vote in the next election. Childhood and adolescence have zipped by so very fast!

When we first met in 1989 Pinnacle Peak and Scottsdale Roads were two–lane traffic with a cattle guard on the west side of Scottsdale Road on Pinnacle Peak. No Safeway mini–mall; no Troon North; no AJ's, No Desert Mountain, No Tierra Verde, No DC Ranch, No Greyhawk or Pinnacle Peak elementary schools, certainly no Starbucks! (And far fewer cars!)

Starting in October of 1989 a handful of people worshipped in Troon in the Glenn Moor Clubhouse (a real estate office) behind a guard gate. A Sunday School met on the shuffle board court and tennis court next to the clubhouse. It was not unusual to look for rattle snakes under the shade of the wheels of one’s car when we left the clubhouse as there were only a handful of houses in the area.

Two years later in November, 1991 we were chartered with 109 members (about forty are left) and began to dream of a building on the property of Pima Road. It took a couple of years but we broke ground on Palm Sunday in ‘93 and held our first service in the Chapel on March 31, ‘94 under a temporary certificate of occupancy, for the final touches had not been completed. Now, 13 years later we are a congregation of 1300 members, 15 more acres, (monthly mortgage payments of over $31,000) and an entire campus designed to be a sanctuary away from the glitz and busyness of north Scottsdale.

In 2006 we have developed into a congregation seeking to be the body of Christ through worship, education, and outreach, the central thrust of our mission statement. It’s not unusual that our weekly worship includes one or more of these components of ministry. A couple of weeks ago all three were present!

An important highlight continues to be growth in membership (116 new members last year). Such growth has occurred with the leading of God’s spirit, with people coming to us with longings for new friends and a thirst for God. At the same time we lost 105 through a natural attrition of mobility, deaths, and folks drifting away, some of whom joined but never assimilated or engaged. For years we were the only church in a five mile radius. Now, like the local pizza parlor, many new ones are opening. Growth now calls for more intentionality on the part of each entity of the church.

Friends, our wonderful ministry of music often first attracts people to Pinnacle Presbyterian Church. It ministers to their needs as well as ours. Indeed, let’s speak of music.

Under the leadership of Brent and Marilyn Hylton we are blessed with an outstanding ministry of music. Graded choirs/hand bell programs, Kyra Rugen leading youth choirs all combine to teach children great spiritual music as well as discipline and music skills. When the chancel choir sings to God our lives are blessed. I am particularly grateful to the choir members for their presence in both hours of worship. It takes extra commitment, extra time, and extra energy, but the worship is more vital with their presence.

Our ministry of music is not only a blessing for our congregation but for the community with the dynamic concert series. Many people in the larger community, although not official members of our congregation, consider Pinnacle their church home as a result of concert attendance. When a crisis occurs in their life, typically, the pastoral staff receives a call for help.

Our life together is further enhanced by the presence of the children and youth at the 9:30 a.m. worship hour. The children energize the service, and usually provide an element of surprise for the minister leading the time with children.

Many, many persons share the responsibility for weekly worship and are to be appreciated, from the clergy to program staff to the Session worship committee to the ladies who weekly collate and stuff bulletins.

With the presence of the Rev. Mac Schafer we are blessed with a person of spiritual sensitivity, knowledge, energy, and passion for outreach. And, I know that many of you join me to be pleased that we have the Rev. Fran Park on our staff. His years of experience and wisdom are real assets for our whole church. Both men have developed quite a following of people for whom they connect in a special way.

Our blessings are surely not limited to worship.

We are deeply blessed with our Children’s Ministry directed by Shelly Core. Shelly has transitioned from part time in the commercial world to full time in Children’s Ministry. With Shelly’s guidance I recall the many terrific special programs this year – VBS, Christmas and Easter – the work of hundreds of volunteers and helpers. You make it happen! Very special times for all folks across three and four generations.

The education ministry the past year has seen the Junior/Senior High youth program come together under Molly Rosenberg who has provided excellent interim direction. Molly provides terrific leadership for our ministry with youth. They meet weekly, have engaged in service projects, led us in worship, and have enjoyed retreats. I’m pleased to tell you that the APNC will soon announce that we have unanimously agreed on a candidate for Associate Pastor for Youth and their families. This person will graduate from Princeton Seminary in May and God willing, will join us this summer. You’ll soon hear much more about our mutual excitement for a new venture with youth ministry.

Education has not stopped with youth. We have one of the most vital adult education programs of any Presbyterian Church nationwide. I don't know many churches that have such a vital adult ed program, and a Theological Center. In the early life of our congregation persons have developed a much deeper knowledge of the scriptures and the meaning of faith.

A special tip of our hat to Gena Brown who has faithfully taught a class for women over the last several years, and to Bill Kirk who has provided caring leadership on timely topics. Fran Park leads two adult classes each Wednesday, Mac teaches several adult classes, and I meet with a group of men bi–weekly who are challenged by contemporary authors.

This past week Mac, Fran, Brent, Marilyn and I sat around a table to discuss coordination of all the program opportunities offered over the course of a year so that our gourmet offerings won’t force you to have to choose between one and the other.

Behind the scene is a support staff led by Toby Spessard, Business Manager. I could talk hours about our indebtedness to them for our ministry.

Friends, we are also richly blessed in service to the community as well.

Under the capable leadership of Sabrina Ball and a board of 12 persons the Preschool is a “blue–ribbon” preschool for 170 children known for its quality and caring, nurturing atmosphere. The school receives recommendations from pediatricians as well as local elementary school officials. In short, the preschool is an enormous accomplishment of which we can be proud. As you walk from the preschool across the campus to the administrative area you are aware of all the diverse ways we serve the community:

We provide facilities for AA and Al–Anon meetings each week;

several homeowners’ associations use our rooms;

We are a voting location for the neighborhood precinct. And we serve in multiple ways beyond the local neighborhood.

The Session’s Mission committee continues to seek new opportunities for us to engage in service of others from Alaska to Mexico and many points in between.

In a less dramatic but no less important ministry is the prayer chain. The prayer chain may be the most important ministry among us. Prayer is power. The Prayer Chain is a ministry quietly provided with loving care and compassion. It is a ministry of our Deacons who are reaching out to the congregation with loving care.

In the past year many of us have felt the pain of grief and anxiety over the war with Iraq. Members of our own church family are deployed in this war. Some have lost loved ones in the war. Cap Dean, one of our elders, has safely returned from a year serving as the Mayor of Baghdad. The war has triggered a time of deep spiritual and emotional stress for people, and has caused many of us to seek a sense of reconciliation with God and one another.

I am convinced that the darkness of the days of grief and anxiety is given a light through the reconciling Spirit of Christ. God’s reconciling Spirit is the glue to hold us together in our ministry to the neighborhood and beyond, and gives us hope.

Like the man in the gospel story, we, too have many possessions. Not just the land, and magnificent buildings, as impressive as they are, but

• We are in possession of a terrific team of leaders;

• We are in possession of a generous congregation of givers;

• We are in possession of a spirit of cooperation and collaboration among one another.

When I completed my doctorate degree in 1976, Billy Maddox, my mentor, who knows me very well, gave me a large wood block painting by Robert Hodgell, now deceased. It hangs in my office. There are two characters in it. One could be a minister, or a president of a college, or hospital, or retirement center, who is holding a big institutional building in his hands, and has a look of shock on his face.

The other is a Christ figure with his hand held gently out. The look on the face of the minister/president/administrator is one of shock and dismay. There is no doubt he is thinking, “You want what?!? I’m busy! Can’t you see I have this huge church to administer?!?” And the Christ figure has a sad, longing look on his face. The painting is entitled, He had great possessions. We, too, have many possessions, including all our many and diverse activities.

As we move into 2007 with a sense of accomplishment, healthy pride, and satisfaction in a “job well done” last year, let us pause, and step back from the possession of activities we label, church, and listen to the Psalm which reminds us, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

“Be still and know I am God” is an invitation to pause in the pace of activities which can frustrate fullness of life with God, and our neighbor.

Indeed, Be still, and know that I am God is more than an invitation to put on the brakes and decelerate the pace of our activities. It is an invitation to an inner quieting of whatever tension troubles the mind and heart.

The Psalmist invites us in quiet stillness to be poised to affirm the sovereign presence of God, and the “irreducible sacredness of the vulnerable neighbor.” (John S., Mogabhab, Weavings, January/February, 2007) Beneath the surface of expensive cars, palatial houses and private clubs of the neighborhood are much vulnerability, loneliness, and a longing for God.

Stillness weaves its way through the scriptures from the creation story to the crucifixion like a prelude to the next movement in God’s symphony of salvation. In all of our gatherings let us take time to become quiet in God’s presence. In the words of a prayer,

“Give us the inner listening

That is a way in itself

And the oldest thirst there is.”

May this inner listening draw us deeper into the arms of God, and inspire us to serve with the love and grace of Jesus Christ. Amen.