We celebrate Part II of the 90^th anniversary of the dedication of this lovely sanctuary building today, a sacred space; a place to meet God; a place to worship and grow in faith. On September 11 we marked Part I by referring to excepts from the dedicatory sermon, which Dr. Ernest Thompson preached on June 27, 1915. Today, also, is "Reformation Sunday," that day on which we remember Martin Luther nailing the 95 theses onto the door of the castle in Wittenburg, Germany, October 31, 1517, a date that many single out as prominent in the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation.

Martin Luther had rediscovered the gospel in the Epistle to the Romans. God saves us by God’s grace revealed to us in Jesus Christ, and not by any virtue on our part. He was intent on making the great Christian tradition come alive again, after the dark ages in the Medieval Church. As we celebrate the rich heritage, which God has given to us in the use of this grand sanctuary for ninety years, let us like Luther assert as our goal to make the Christian tradition come alive in this place for this and succeeding generations.

To consider how the Biblical passages direct us to do this very thing is the purpose of the sermon.

We could be bold to paraphrase his statement without changing its meaning by saying, "How a community interprets its history is the single most important element in determining its future." That is what we are about here this morning, is it not? Are we not gathered to remember and interpret our tradition as Christ’s people in this sanctuary for ninety plus years now? We do so with joyful and grateful hearts, but we must do so with circumspection and care, also.

William Faulkner once said, "The past is never dead. It is not even past." (The Sword of Constantine, The Church and the Jews, quoted on page 62) Therein lies a challenge for us, when we seek to make a tradition come alive. We may be tempted to so hold onto the past that we ignore the changes that have occurred around us in the broader culture, socially, politically, and religiously. In other words, it is the act of memory, cultivated in the present, in which past and future meet. And so, as the members of First Presbyterian Church of Charleston, WV we face what Martin Luther faced, to a lesser degree, but still in just as dramatic a fashion. We are called by God to interpret our rich past today, in the present, in such a way as to make our traditions of faith come alive for the coming days, if you will, for the next ninety years in this special place.

Biblical scholars tell us that the ritual statement made by the Jewish pilgrim, when he brought the first fruits of his labors to the priest is one of the oldest strands of material in the Bible. In it the pilgrim demonstrates for us a primary way that we can so remember our past as to make it come alive now and always. Notice. He is painfully honest about his past.

We have a tendency to romanticize the past. All of us do this. We do it in our family stories. We do it when we brag about our ancestors. We do it when we tell our children about how we performed once upon a time long ago, hoping to inspire and motivate them. Perhaps this effort is a little like two elderly gentlemen, who were visiting on a park bench. One of them said longingly, "Well, things surely aren’t like they used to be." His companion, perhaps a bit more realistic responded, "No, they are not. And, they never were."

The Jewish pilgrim, who brought the first fruits of his labors to the priest probably was not enthusiastic about remembering that his ancestors were menial slaves of a foreign nation. Were it left to him in his better moments he would have likely preferred to tell the stories of how Joshua led the people of Israel mightily in the conquest of the promised land. There would have been the tales of romance and intrigue by which the Israelites overcame their more numerous enemies by cleverness and quick witted planning. Yes, he could have gone back in his history and chosen many stories that were easier to retell than the one about how his parents were wandering nomads and slaves.

Let us not forget. "How a community remembers its past is the single most important element in determining its future."

The pilgrim was asked to recite the painful parts of his history, and not only the glorious memories of conquest and dominion. When we tell our story, we might take a note from the page of the ancient confession of this Jewish ancestor of ours. While moments of glory delight us and make us proud for others in the wider community to notice, the moments where we were challenged and forced to stretch ourselves might hold more true promise in making the Christian tradition come alive in the present and in the future. At least, this is the word from this ancient account.

How then will we remember our heritage? What in it made us grow as disciples of Jesus Christ? What in it pushed us to the limit? What in it left us saying, "Only by the grace of God, were we able to accomplish what we did?"

A primary way we can remember our past so that it will help us make the present and the future come alive with faith and action is to do so with integrity and circumspection. It may be the difficult times, more than the good times, that hold the key for us.

When the pilgrim came to the priest with his first fruits, he recalled that his ancestors were wandering aliens. Further, he celebrated this ritual moment by intentionally joining hands with present day aliens, who were in the sacred place at the same time. (See verse 11: "There you together with the priests and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.") Most significantly, however, he acknowledged that the primary actor in his history was not any one of his ancestors, as great as Moses and Joshua and Samuel and David had been. The primary actor was God alone.

He said, "The Lord swore to give the land to our ancestors." It was a divine intention that this man’s life would be secured in a safe and prosperous land. He said, also, "The Lord God of our ancestors brought us out of Egypt with an outstretched hand and gave us this land." God was the actor, who made all the difference in the history of the people.

Now, if we are listening, we hear that it was not giant figures in our past that made the traditions, which we celebrate today, great in the past. It was God alone. The best of the leaders in our church’s past understood this, and they grasped the truth that they and we are vessels through which God, the primary actor in our history, has worked.

When the resident alien came to remember his heritage, in the presence of actual aliens of that day and in the presence of the priests, he did not only recite an ancient creedal statement. He came bearing his gifts. The gifts were not just any gifts, either. They were his "first fruits."

A man in our congregation gave me some tomato plants in the late spring of this year. I planted them, and Sue fertilized them. We plucked off the suckers. Then we waited for what seemed a very long time for the first of the green tomatoes to turn pink and then bright red. Now, throughout the summer we have given our neighbor next door some of our tomatoes. But, I am here to tell you that I did not give her the first tomatoes off those plants. They were long waited upon, and I wanted to taste the fruit first.

That, of course, is a trivial illustration of what was a much larger act in ancient times, and an act which can be significant for us today. First fruits, both literally and figuratively, require more of us than gifts we give as an after thought.

What made the tradition of Israel come alive for centuries after its entry into the promised land was its giving of its first fruits. It is one thing to tell a story. It is another to tell a story and give the offering that is appropriate to that story. Heritage does not live without the investment of the people who claim it. What will you give and what will I give that will be appropriate to the heritage represented by this 90-year-old sanctuary building?

Jesus was critical of religious leaders who forgot this truth. He said, "Woe to you, when you substitute the traditions of the elders for the word of God." We, no less than those whom Jesus criticized, are susceptible to trying to tell the story of our past without understanding that the word of God requires us to give literally our first fruits in order to make the past live again, and again, and again.

An elder of this church came up to me, following the town meeting we held last Sunday to discuss financial challenges we face with our upcoming pledges to the 2006 Mission Budget and for repairs to this old, historic sanctuary building. He said, "I am going to look you right in the eyes to tell you this." Then, he proceeded to say, "This congregation has been living beyond its means for the past several years." He said, "30% of our annual budget is paid out of the trust funds of this church, and not from our yearly pledges, and that is living beyond our means." He added forcefully, "Until we acknowledge this and give to pay for our annual operating budget, we are not going to succeed."

I looked directly back into the eyes of that elder and said, "For heaven’s sake, why did you not say that in the town meeting?" Well, I have said it today, and while I would have preferred for you to hear that from the elder like I did, I think it is timely to tell you what he said. It is timely because of the Bible teachings for today. We cannot expect that our rich traditions at First Presbyterian Church are going to come alive in the present and future, until we, like the ancient Jew in today’s passage, bring our "first fruits" to contribute to that present and future.

My friends you and I can contribute to the ongoing traditions of this church by our giving. Yes, I mean money, as well as time and talents. We have "Commitment Sunday" two weeks from today, November 13. Let us pledge that day. As your officers study carefully the best funding sources for the repairs of this very building, pray for them God’s wisdom. They will ask you to vote on their recommendations before you are asked to give toward the repair project.

The way we choose to recall our heritage will have everything to do with how we make it come alive today and tomorrow. It will help first to remember the painful and challenging parts of our past, because God has most likely been more at work in those times than in the easier times. It will help us secondly to remember that God has been the primary actor in our past, and God will be the primary actor in our future. Thirdly and at last, we can best insure the translation of the past into the future by the ways we contribute today of our very selves.

To God alone be the glory, now and forever. Amen.