The Park's Got Talent

Do you know that churches have stories? They do. Congregations carry in their collective memory, the major events of their history. Those events help give a congregation its identity – it tells them and others who they are. Often they are referred to as “watershed” events, because they act as a turning point, a crucial dividing line for the church….

wa·ter·shed

Pronunciation: \wȯ-tər-shed

Function: noun

Date: 1803

1 a : divide 2a b : a region or area bounded peripherally by a divide and draining ultimately to a particular watercourse or body of water
2 : a crucial dividing point, line, or factor : turning point

— watershed adjective

Dear Friends,

We had guests visiting in worship on February 7 who were there because our family was here from Virginia. My sister’s friend since junior high drove Sunday morning from Hickory Corners, Michigan with her husband and daughter, for a brief reunion with Karey and her family. To find Wyoming Park and the details about worship, Kim visited our web site. Afterwards Kim spoke about her first impression of Wyoming Park –our web site. Her words were striking, “You sure do have a lot of things going. You have lots of groups, and service projects.”

In that remark, Kim was telling our story.

I believe that Saturday, February 6 will stand as a watershed event. Something crucial happened in the ramping up, the preparation and the production of “The Park’s Got Talent – a Spaghetti Dinner and Variety Show for Missions”.

It wasn’t the meal, delicious and plentiful though it was.

It wasn’t the emphasis on missions. We have been mission-minded throughout our 98-year history, and in fact Wyoming Park United Brethren Church was founded as a “mission outpost” by another congregation in 1912. Since then every major building project (1914, 1952, 1958 and 2002) was in response of a desire to serve the neighborhood better. You can read about this in the minutes of meetings at “The Park” as early as 1912.

It wasn’t even the celebration of the extraordinary gifts that God has given this congregation through our people. This too, we have always known.

No…it was something more than these, and it all came together in Kim’s remark. “You have lots of groups and service projects.”

Kim – an outsider to our church until worship on February 7 – was able to see our story from afar, that small group life and service to God and others are the hallmarks of our life together.

Worship is critical of course. It pulls us together weekly to celebrate God’s goodness and look for inspiration to lead us into the next week, or new direction, or a new life.

But more than worship, our congregation exists to connect our people to God, to one another and to the world.

This watershed event – “The Park’s Got Talent” was one example of who we are. It mirrors for us and those who see us, a glimpse of God’s hope and dream for this church. It is both an example of our vision, and an example of how we carry it out.

In years ahead, members can tell their friends how our congregation emphasizes mission in service to our neighbors: Kids Hope USA, Habitat for Humanity, South End Community Outreach Ministries, the Wyoming Park Home Renewal Team, and Cass Community United Methodist Church and Social Services.

They will tell their children they are the Church right now, like Andrew and Sarah Pyper who charmed us with a magic show.

They will tell how Nick Stanford sang and played above the challenges that most of us will never face, and who lives life to the fullest in spite of visual impairment.

They will smile about groups that crooned oldies but goodies and David’s Harp masked as jungle animals, and Tricia, Nicole and Jessie crying over the “Leader of the Pack”. They will remember Trevor and Christina who “Don’t Stop Believing”; they will roar when they think of Dave, Dan and Steve – those hilarious “Men in Tights”! They will giggle over the antics of our fun-loving MC, Robert Eckert, whose brain is so big it can bend an arrow!

And of course, they will talk about the delicious spaghetti dinner prepared by Cindy Lavengood and friends and the Silent Auction engineered by Judy Johnson that capped off the fund raiser to raise the proceeds over $1000!

And the best is this: While they tell this story, they will be remembering that it wasn’t about us. It was about pulling our people together to show God’s care for neighbors.

There is our story, right there. This watershed moment crystallized our life together, our vision and our hope for the future.

Once we dwelt upon rough days in our past, and we may see more ahead. But when those days come, this congregation will be different than we were. Once, we weren’t sure who we were. We played the victim when difficulties led to fractures; we licked our wounds and blamed events and people for our plight. We moaned, “If only there were enough people and enough money to be what we know deep down we can be.”

But February 7 we changed our tune and said, “Enough.” On February 7, 2010 the turning point came, a crucial dividing point, a line.

From now on, when someone asks about Wyoming Park, a witness will say, “that’s the church that has enough resources, enough enthusiasm, enough vision, enough gifts, to accomplish enough of whatever they believe God is leading us to accomplish. They do it through lots of groups and service projects.”

The vision needs “legs” now. It needs to be spelled out in detail. We need a mission statement that says how we intend to keep the vision alive – how we will be what we say we are.

Think about this story. This spring, I would like a small group to assume the responsibility for drafting a vision statement that says clearly who we are. The next step is then to outline the things we will do faithfully to make sure the vision stays alive. That will be our mission.

From then on, everything we do, every ministry we try, every outreach that we choose for service will be aligned with our vision and our mission. Let’s get started. It's watershed time.

Bill