ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
March 12, 2022
So how do you celebrate 50 years as a church? Today, March 12, is the actual 50th Anniversary of Cypress Creek Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It was 50 years ago today that a handful of folks met at the home of Bill and Betty Ayers, and there they officially recognized themselves as a New Church. As I said at Betty’s Memorial Service just one week ago, “Starting a new church is not for the weak or the squeamish.” A New Church requires a mix of gifts among the launch team, yet since not every gift is found in every launch team, people wear multiple hats, often learning on the fly. No one has a short job description, and each of them ends with the words, “And whatever else needs to be done.” I can’t say it really changes much as a church grows older, but in those early years there is no playbook. Every New Church is a unique set of people in a very distinctive setting. As one new church pastor said to me, “You wake up every morning and ask yourself, ‘Will my improv look any more planned than it did yesterday?’” Church life is often wonderful chaos driven by a sacred vision of what it means to live God’s vision with the people we encounter each day. So to return to my initial question: How do we celebrate 50 years as a church? I think 50 years should be acknowledged, and it will be tomorrow at worship and with a luncheon. Yet it really is honored with a group of faithful people committing to do their best to see the mission of the church thrive for another year and another and another.
May our prayers and passion, our love for you and each other, and the strength we find in being together, be what has us living into another 50 years. We know you will be faithful to us, O God, and we will do our best to be faithful to you. Amen.
