You Are the Church

Hi, friends, and welcome to the Weekly Dulin Podcast, a brief weekly reflection from Dulin United Methodist Church in Falls Church. Here, we take time to think together about faith, community, and what it means to live as disciples of Jesus in today's world.

Hey, Dulin Church. It's me, James Henry, your pastor. And it's good to be with you on this week. We're in the Easter season, but the week after Easter. We had a big we obviously had a big celebration on Easter, the Easter egg hunt the day before that.

Good Friday celebration with seven wonderful voices from the congregation sharing their thoughts. And then an intercongregational United Methodist gathering for Maundy Thursday with foot washing and communion. You know, it's the big time. There are two big times of the year for us Christians. There are lots of big times.

The biggest times for us, of course, are Christmas and Easter. The times that we celebrate the big feast days of the Christian year. And I love them. And I love celebrating them. But one of the things that I think gets overlooked in the midst of both Christmas and Easter, but I was particularly aware at the Easter season, is how many hands go into making these things happen, these events happen?

How many people were involved? For instance, in the Maundy Thursday service between coordinating with four pastors who are always an adventure to coordinate with, several different choirs working together to sing an anthem together and also lead the music, the various pieces that went into setting up the sanctuary and getting it ready, and all of the ushers and the like who made it possible for us to share in that event. On Good Friday, seven unique voices lay people from within our congregation at Dulin who all shared a thought about one of the seven last words of Jesus. And they were powerful, moving thoughts. And they all brought them to us as a gift.

I thought about the middle school aged youth and older youth, high school youth as well, who were engaged and involved in the Easter egg hunt. The families who took candy and empty plastic eggs home and filled them up made it possible, all the families that showed up, for our volunteer Easter bunny, for the adults that helped lead. And then again on Easter Sunday, I was so moved to see all the people in the choir, the four brass players who were all part of our dueling congregation, the bell ringers who came forward, including a young volunteer who is one of is a piano student of Donna's. And then all of the ushers who made sure there were extra chairs for people to be seated, the folks who joined in in making communion happen, moving around the children's time, all of those pieces, all of those children, all of those participants who were a part of that, There are so many pieces that go into the everyday working of our work together as a church. And people who are behind the scenes making things happen, people who are sort of unsung heroes.

How many times do we name all of our volunteer ESL teachers who teach English as a second language at Dulin? And not to mention what a wonderful staff we have at Dulin. I'm so thankful for Katie, for Roxanna, for Donna and the music program. They're all a part of making this so between all of our volunteers, our servant leaders at Dulin, and then also some select staff members as well, we work together to make things happen. And that is what the church is.

The church is not one person. It's not just a preacher who gets to stand up on a Sunday and give a message. All the things that went into making a Sunday happen, particularly an Easter Sunday, but any given Sunday, are so many hands, so many feet, so many voices, so many volunteer hours that are involved in making church what it is. And so as your pastor, I want to say a word of thanks to those people, the unsung heroes. I don't want to begin naming them by name because if I did, I would be certain to leave some folks out because there are so many of you.

For the people who are involved in rebuilding together, for the people who prepare for our ministry of hope and who then show up on Sunday morning to help continue preparing and making the food that we give out to our neighbors in Falls Church. All of that is made possible by you. You are involved in our ministries. It might be through the way you give. It might be through the way you pray.

It might be through the way you serve. All of those ways. You know, way back in the fall when I was still relatively I'm still relatively new here at Dulin. But back in the fall, did a series about the membership vows that we take to support the church with our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. And you all are doing that.

But I just wanted to take that moment. You you see those high point moments where 200 folks plus, and we had over 200 for Easter. You see all those folks and you forget that in order for all those folks to come there, there had to be people who set up. People who set everything and got it ready, who practiced playing the bells, singing the songs, playing on their brass instruments. The tech team who tirelessly week after week, a variety of folks who work behind the desk on a Sunday and all of our special services to make sure that the stream goes out so people who are watching online can see.

You see, this may sound like it's just a thank you moment that I'm sharing. But beyond that, it's an invitation for us to recognize each one of us that we're a part of what the church does. Some of it is directly contributory to what happens in the worship building, in the Dulin Building itself. But so much of what makes you the church is what you're doing in your communities, in the places you work, in the places you shop, in the playful that you encounter. Wherever you are, whenever you are, being kind, being open, being loving, practicing your faith, praying for the church, but praying for the world in which we live, serving in all the capacities you do.

You are making a difference. You are the church. You are the church. So my dear Dulin friends who listen to the podcast, who watch the Dulin moment, who attend or watch our worship experience, we are thankful for you. We are thankful for what you do, for how you do it, for your open heart in giving of yourself, your time, your money, your effort to make this world a different kind of place.

You are truly taking seriously that our mission is to help people become disciples of Jesus for the transformation of the world. As people become disciples and their lives are changed, they change the world just by being themselves, by being the followers that they are. And that's you. So not so much a topic today as a recognition that we're all in this together. We make the difference.

You make the difference. And no matter how big or small your part may feel to you in participating in the life of Dulin United Methodist Church. You matter and your contribution, your self giving, your hiding Easter eggs, filling Easter eggs, talking to children, listening to children, teaching a Sunday school class, teaching an English as second language class, preparing for the Ministry of Hope or Appalachia Service Project or any of the things that we do at Dulin. And I'm sure I've missed some because there are so many. You make a difference.

Thanks for being Dulin Church. It is an honor to serve with you. It is a pleasure to serve with you. So thanks for being you. And just remember all the cool things that happened on Easter and the beauty of it all, it was a team effort.

Whenever you see Dulin stand its tallest, it's because they're a team of people making it so. So thanks. See you next time.