Thoughts on New Members¹

Young new members. About 1975 Mary Lee and I were young new members to First Plymouth, Eric was six years old, Leanne about 3. We were managing to get along well in our place in the community though often overwhelmed by the challenges we faced in our previous church community. Finding First Plymouth brought us relief and a new church home for ourselves and our two children.

We felt welcomed by the church and its members, though we knew few of them at the time. Ann White made sure that I got Immediately involved with the ministry of the church – I was tapped to participate in the Christian Education Ministry where I spent three years planning the education program and getting to know the co-pastor, Jim White quite well.

Forty years later we are still committed to the church and its community. We have had our disappointments and misgivings about the path of the church and its activities. Perhaps from inertia, perhaps from the connections we have made with others in the church but most importantly through our growing understanding of Christ we have remained and remained active in a number of ways. I have served on a number of bodies of the church, been moderator and participated in the choir and music program. Over the years we have contributed both our talent and our treasure to keeping this church the community we believe it can and should be.

Labor Day Weekend of 2013, September 1 to be exact we attended service as members of the congregation, sitting with others in the pews, not in the chancel with the choir as is our usual seating for worship.

George drew together a thought provoking sermon on “Humility” – building from the lessons from the Bible to the actions of two people who lived and practiced the lesson: Frances Perkins and Martin Luther King, Jr. Frances and Martin were raised up as examples of individuals outside the power and social structure of their times. Frances Perkins was the first woman cabinet member; Martin Luther King, Jr., an unknown Negro minister. Both made important marks upon America, Frances as Secretary of Labor through the entirety of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s terms as President; Martin in a speech to the country and world on August 28, 1963 and in his leadership of the early Civil Rights activists.

Both came to their place in history from a firm grounding in faith and faith community from which they drew support and courage. As I listened to the words about their courage and action I was drawn to the young, new members helping to serve at First Plymouth today and to the many young, new families who came forward, with their children, to partake of Holy Communion. These young families and the new members who helped to serve today are the backbone of our community, these are the folks who will carry us forward.

As I watched these new faces I was challenged to support and encourage them to become active members of this beloved community. I was also reminded that others have joined and after a brief moment (so it seems to me) in the life of our church they have moved on or dropped away in their participation. Will these new young faces follow suit? What can we do to encourage them to hang in there as Mary Lee and I have done over the past forty years? How can we assure them that this is the church home for which they have been searching – one in which they may raise their children, expand their understanding of our role in the world, of the place of God’s love in our lives, in the lives of all? I want to be a part of the community that will provide them with the grounding, the hope and the courage to be the kind of folks who will make a difference in this world. I can only hope that we will be able to show them that path and help them along it as they grow in the love of Christ and all humanity.

This musing was originally written September 1, 2013 after a thought provoking sermon by George Anastos, Senior Minister at First Plymouth Congregational Church, UCC