"Why Do We Need Each Other?"

Sermon preached by John C. Hall on November 4, 2007

Why do we need each other? That’s an easy one to answer. We need each other because we’re made to need each other.  We’re social creatures. We get lonely.  We need friends.  We need people who care about us. We need people who will listen to us, and at least pretend they understand us.  Very often they do understand us, because we have a lot in common.  Our struggles and loneliness aren’t so unique. We need people who won’t put us down. 

And we need to feel useful, and be useful, to others. Have you ever noticed, when you’re on the road and can’t find your destination, how people love to give directions? When you ask for directions, you put that person in a superior position. You’re saying “You know something that I don’t.” Sometimes people are so eager to give directions that they give them even when they don’t know what the directions are. This is my excuse for not asking for directions more often. Watch out for people who say “turn right” while pointing left.

People need to help other people, and the church gives us a way to do that.  Just by being here on Sunday morning, you do that. We need to have a place in the world. We need to see familiar faces. We need to find refuge and comfort when life gets us down. I remember how suddenly disoriented and off-balance I felt when my mother died, even though her death came as a blessing when it finally came. And when I was away for her funeral, it was so comforting just to think about First Church, even though I was a thousand miles away.

Two weeks ago, Susanne Fusso said something in her Stewardship Moment that was very powerful. She said, “Every Sunday morning we are here, and anyone can walk through those doors, no matter who they may be, and find human fellowship, human warmth, and human sympathy. The government doesn’t instruct us to do this, no one pays us to do this, but we do it.  And that is the miracle of our church.”

Without a church, we can feel very lost. But churches come in many forms.  Those men who meet every morning at the donut shop – that’s their church.

What I’m going to say now is a little bizarre, even bordering on inappropriate, but there’s a country western song I’ve heard on the radio that caught my ear.  “I Love This Bar.”  I’m not crazy about bars. I’m not recommending them. I’m a one-beer guy. I don’t eat buffalo wings. A few nachos — okay. But here are a few lines from that song.

We got cowboys, we got truckers, broken-hearted fools and suckers
And we got hustlers, we got fighters, early birds and all-nighters
And the veterans talk about their battle scars
Hmm, I love this bar.

It’s a dangerous thing to say, but a bar is actually like a church in some ways.  It’s like the old TV sitcom “Cheers” about a bar in Boston. 

There are rituals and familiar faces.  People sit in their favorite pew. Some come early, some stay late. You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. Your attendance is appreciated. Sinners are welcome. There’s a loose dress code.  Casual, but not too casual.  No shirt, no shoes, no service.

There’s usually music. Many church hymns are tunes of old drinking songs put to new lyrics. Martin Luther was famous for this. In both places, a church and a bar, the hope is that you feel better when you leave then when you came in.  I don’t want to press the analogy too far.  We do serve grape juice instead of alcoholic wine, for good reasons.

But we all need a “watering hole” of some kind. An oasis. We need familiar faces.  We need people who are happy to see us. Not all people feel a need a church in the conventional sense, but we all need a church in some sense. 

I hope many of you will write something down on one of these subjects, or all of these subjects that we’ve considered over the past four weeks. The sermons are being posted on the website and on the office display racks so you can refresh your memory about the questions.

Maybe you’d like to comment on the church-bar comparison.  Is that a useless or harmful thing to say, or is it illuminating in some way?

Or, you can write about this.  Was there a time when you needed the church? Was there a time when the church saved you from worry, or despair, or loneliness, or shame? How does the church change your perspective and your life? 

Is there some group here at First Church that is your “church within a church”?

You can write about any of these things. You can write anonymously if you want. I think we need to hear from each other on these questions. We will share your responses in some way yet to be determined.  At the very least, I’ll put them into a large document, or series of documents corresponding to the sermons.  This could lead to some lay sermons, or Second Hour programs.  We’ll see what we get.

But thinking about these questions, and writing about them, this is a way we can bless each other.  That’s what we’re supposed to do.