This morning, I was tempted to share with you a long litany of the lives that have been changed as a result of God’s working through this church, through the church. Make no mistake, that litany was a long one. There are many wonderful stories of testimony, of courageous action in the name of Christ, of the life-giving power of God manifest in our midst. Praising our WIHN efforts, our children’s ministry, our scouting program, our Sunday School. All of those beacons of light, reflections of the divine in our midst. I was trying my best to follow the form of this letter of 1 John:
"Concerning that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen and with our hands we have touched, which we have looked at an now proclaim"
But I think If that was the sermon I would have preached, we would have missed the point. 1 John talks about God’s light, and an awareness of our own sin as being necessary for true fellowship and complete joy.
So, it seems to me that a better, more glorious sermon, a sermon that is true to the spirit of 1 John, would be to discuss our shortcomings. The things that set the alarms off from within. An acknowledgement that we’re not there yet – we’re not even close.
"Concerning that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen and with our hands we have touched, which we have looked at an now proclaim"
But I think If that was the sermon I would have preached, we would have missed the point. 1 John talks about God’s light, and an awareness of our own sin as being necessary for true fellowship and complete joy.
So, it seems to me that a better, more glorious sermon, a sermon that is true to the spirit of 1 John, would be to discuss our shortcomings. The things that set the alarms off from within. An acknowledgement that we’re not there yet – we’re not even close.
This fellowship – it’s made up of people with rough edges. The people who have been here for awhile know the rough spots we’ve been through. While most folks come here dressed up, all the folks here are up to their eyeballs in sin. Not all of us cheat on our taxes, very few of us (I hope) are murderers or serial killers, the great majority of us really do try to honor our fathers and mothers, but when you shine God’s light into the deep recesses of our hearts, it’s not very pretty. We’re all the same in that regard. Different sins, same sinful nature. We all stand in need of mercy before God. And yet, some here are the recipients of complete joy. Honest fellowship. The ones who experience this peace, this joy, this unity, they get what brother 1 John is telling us – we’re not perfect. We need Jesus. Now get out there and find some other folks who need to hear that or who already live it.
I close with this illustration. I’ve got two kinds of materials here. I want to make something strong. Something that will hold up under pressure. Something that will weather the storms of life. Here’s one material – a plastic Easter Egg. It’s shiny – smooth – put together. Quite nicely. It’s very pretty to look at. But if you want to make something out of it that will last, well, good luck. 
Here’s another material – a rough jagged stone. Dirty. Rough edges. Who knows where it’s been. But look at how well it fits together. Imagine 3 or 4 hundred of these stacked together – and you’ve got yourself by the grace of God – something that lasts. On Christ the solid rock we stand – all other ground is sinking sand. Brothers and sisters, I share with you what I have seen and heard and touched – concerning the word of life – that we may have true fellowship with the one who is before all things and with one another, and that our joy may be complete. Amen.
(Stone Wall picture from North Wales Picture Library, Paul Mattock)http://www.northwalespicturelibrary.co.uk/Landscape%20folder/pages/stone%20wall(toned)%20copy.html
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