Can I Get an Amen?!

Celebrating 100 years of God’s faithfulness
It is hard to put into words what our experience last night was like. University Presbyterian Church of Seattle had it’s Centennial Celebration, it’s 100th birthday party, and it was grand. 400 volunteers and 2,000 people had an all-church picnic on Saturday. Then yesterday, the whole church was decorated with a timeline of photos and events in Seattle and the church, chronicling the past century. Larson Hall (gym) had a huge feast and lots of fun things for kids and adults.

It was an amazing party, and though we will leave this year and perhaps never come back, the past decade here has been so rich, and I feel so grateful to have been here for such a time as this. Remembering God’s faithfulness to people in the past (a la Hebrews 11 and in our own church family) helps propel us forward trusting God with the future.

The music team put together a medley using the song Amazing Grace, but singing different tunes from an array of genres in the past century (big band jazz, blues, Elvis-esque rock and roll, the Police, etc.) It was so fun. And while we sang songs like: In Christ Alone, How Great is Our God and Great is Thy Faithfulness, I felt like a blanket of prayers of the saints of old was laying on top of us. I am not a very charismatic person, but this felt like palpable blessing.

It made me grateful for everyone who has prayed for me and contributed toward my growth, and it made me excited to do the same for others. Earl preached on the beginning of Hebrews 12 (what I like to call a home run passage- how can you not do well with that?!) and talked about how just as people were faithful to their callings in the past, we are to be in our generation as well. Some things we have control over in our lives, and some things we don’t; and we can use both (what we perceive as) advantages and disadvantages to better ourselves and the kingdom of God.

A story he told weeks ago, that has stuck with me, comes from Einstein’s new biography. He shared that when Einstein graduated from college, full of brilliance and ideas, he couldn’t get a job in research with any scientists. A friend of his offered him a post as a 3rd-grade junior assistant in a mailroom in Bern, Switzerland. It was there, in the midst of his disadvantageous situation, that he had the time, and wrote his theorems, for which he is now famous. Likewise, in our lives, things we may perceive as setbacks, disappointments, or irrelevant to our goals, may in fact be the best thing that could ever happen to us.

100 years ago, on the edge of a then small university campus, some people from another church believed God could make something from nothing, and paid it forward in faith. 5000 members today (and countless others that have been sent out around the nation and world) are the harvest of what those few planted. I pray that we in turn, will steward our lives in such a way that will bless the generations yet to come. Can I get an amen?!