People with a Purpose

Joshua 24:1-15

Grace to you and Peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

All the people are gathered there at Shechem, the holy mountain, the leaders, the elders, and all the people.  They are gathered there to present themselves to God.  Make and offering.  Worship, Thank God for bringing them to this point in their story.  Gathered much like we are gathered here today.  Gathered as People with a Purpose by God, for God, with God.  Understanding ourselves as part of God’s Sacred Story.  God’s holy People.

·        God started this church June 1, 1984 by gathering us together in the conference room at Crabapple’s restaurant…making us into the Body of Christ right here in Sturbridge!

·        On March 3, 1985, God led sixty-six persons to commit to the Membership Charter of Bethlehem Lutheran Church. The charter reads, in part:



We come together as a community that publicly and joyfully

confesses the reality of Jesus the Christ.

We willfully and gladly accept the responsibility that such public announcement carries and commit ourselves to the task of its fulfillment.

…We believe that Bethlehem Lutheran Church shall go forth

actively engaged in this mighty task empowered by the Holy Spirit

in this place and all places, at this time and at all times.

·        From the beginning, God provided gifts to birth this congregation.  God gave us a cross, hymnals and a recorded musical accompaniment through Zion Lutheran in Oxford.

·        God used the various expressions of the Lutheran church to pay for our worship resources, and to care for the needs of our mission developers and pastors and made it possible to apply for a charter as a congregation in June 1985.

·        God grew the small group quickly to 35 or more and God provided us with a place to worship at a diorama called “Bethlehem in Sturbridge” owned by George Duqette.  From here the name Bethlehem Lutheran Church was adopted.  God provided other locations too as we found our way, a small church in Brimfield, Kitty Cline’s "Barn."

·          In 1993 God gave us a house on Simpson St!  This became the parsonage and church offices.

·        God gave us incredible ecumenical relationships!  For the first 15 years, many congregations in the area hosted us for our annual meetings and other events.

·        In 1994 God inspired our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters to walk alongside us in covenant - the first ever covenant between a Catholic Church and a Lutheran Church in New England, signed by Father Donald Espinosa and Pastor Mary Barnes (Iverson).  God gave us a worshipping home in their historic building for 12 years while we planned our own ministry outpost – and God gave us ministry to do together, most significantly the Southbridge Interfaith Hospitality Network (SIHN) – where we began providing hospitality to our brothers and sisters in need of homes.

·        In 1994 God used Klaus Tittel to craft the cross behind me out of the old pews from Saint Anne's.  It testifies to us that we would not be here with the Cross of Christ – without God’s work to partner us with St. Anne’s and so many other congregations – without God’s inspiration of us towards sharing generously for God’s work here at 345 Main Street!

·        Through ups and downs and twists and turns of changing pastors, and financial challenges, God built this building.  Right here.

·        God used us to build this building – and our beloved family members: Bob Piehl, Kitty Cline, Wolf Fuchs, Bill MacDonald, Paul Merritt, Mike Shocik.

·        God pushed us to seek wisdom and understanding of our call here.  God challenged us to a life in service to him and a building in service to him.  With each challenge we have encountered, we became stronger in our faith.

·        In 2002 we dedicated this building and re-dedicated ourselves and all our work to God’s purposes.

·        God used this building to serve SIHN families.

·        God used our hands to cook food for SIHN and for our community.

·        God used our resources to bring about Grace House, a local shelter.  And God worked, even when Grace House struggled, to inspire in us a love for those who do not have homes.

·        In 2012 God called us into a new mission identity. God decided to use our fundraising efforts and turn them into ministry providing affordable clothes.

·        God used Saint John Paul II Parish and their flea market to make clothing ministry happen, through us!  God used the TJX Corporation to turn our clothing sale tables into Bethlehem’s Closet.

·        God used US to clothe the naked.

·        God inspired us to a new Mission: to Welcome all through the light of Christ by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and being a place of shelter.

·        In 2015-16 God used Karen Bodamer and a partnership with Holy Trinity Episcopal church to plant a community garden to grow our mission!

·        God has inspired this church.  God has given this congregation the desire, the longing, to work together in ministry for the good of all.  Just a few more of the people God used are Irene Lee, Barbara Jensen and Melany Gronski, to whom God gave the love for children and for forming their faith.  And they did it mightily!

o   Faith Formation at every age.

·        God gave this congregation Carol DeBeradinis, a faithful servant in leading music for 14 years, voluntarily.

·        God gave this congregation Ginger Piehl, a sacrificial servant in administration for 12+ years, voluntarily.

·        God gave this congregation many other wonderful musicians, faith formers, leaders, stewards and pastors.  If you will stay for several hours, I will be happy to name many of them and their specific gifts for you.

·        God gave this congregation and place, a calling, a passion, a love for Christ… God has given this congregation Everything we have!  Every. Single. Thing.

·        And God continues to give, and will give us a renewed mission this day.  A renewed covenant, just as God did with the people at Joshua’s hand.



Now, if we are faithful to Joshua, we have reviewed this history.  We understand that our gifts and resources are entirely a gift of God.  And not just that.  God give us all these things FOR A PURPOSE.

God gives us all these astounding blessings so that we might bless the world.  So that we might life as People with a Purpose, with transformed hearts and minds, conformed to God’s will and God’s ways.

And so, Joshua the prophet asks us the age-old question.  It resounds from the valleys and hills of our lives and our story.  It bounces off our blessings and multiplies with echos across all our experience.

Who will you serve?

Choose this day.

“Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”



Choose, says Joshua.

And we have a major advantage over Joshua.  We already know that we have already been saved.  While Joshua posed an ultimatum, we look at this scripture with our Christ-lenses on and know… Oh… God is going to save them.  God already has saved them.  And God will save them again and again and again.

And you.  And me.  God has saved us.

And we are part of this story.

We are in this story.

We ARE these people with a purpose.

For we too have been blessed, just like them.

We too are God’s beloved who have been chosen to bless the world.

We too are bound up in this community of people – the community that attributes absolutely every good thing to God.  The community who lives differently from everyone around us.  We are a covenanting today to build a community that serves the Lord.

This is the covenant we live under: God will save us.  And we will serve God’s purposes.

There is no half-hearted, oh, that’s such a nice story – and I can be a nice person sometimes so sure, I’ll put my name on the list… No.

You have to give up those other gods.  There is no worshipping the almighty dollar or political power or at the altar of busy-ness if you commit to God.

This covenant is about showing up.  It is about doing the work. The work God has for us to do right here and right now.

The work of serving at Bethlehem’s Closet, or fully utilizing our community gardens.  The work of engaging with the community, intentionally building relationships  - for we must know one another to know what kind of powerful Work God is up to among us!  The work of showing up at newcomer dinners to welcome and to be welcomed.  The work of showing up to bless your animals, like Victor and Aly did last week, so that the community folks that show up will see there is a church here that cares for them and their lives!  The work of Loving our Neighbor!

So, will you join Joshua?

I will. 

For me, and my family, we will serve the Lord.

Not perfectly, but we will give ourselves over for God to use.  Just like the saints at Bethlehem have for 38 years.  Just like the saints of the church have for 2000 years.  Just like the Hebrew people have for millennia.

Come, discover your spiritual gifts today.  And pray this week about how God is right here, ready to use you, your gifts, and all your resources to bless the world.

Amen.