April 26, 2026 · Rev. Derek van Gulden · Psalm 133; 1 Corinthians 12:25-26; Mark 12:28-35
In a last sermon before retiring, Rev. Derek van Gulden tells of a congregation that lost its building to fire and found itself again in an old Grange hall, where sunlight on a worn stone floor became a living mosaic. The Old Sloop is one too: everyone who gathers, all different, together reflecting the image of God.
Transcript
Readings for today. Thank you, Jack, for sharing those beautiful words of God with us. People of God, would you join me in a moment of prayer? Gracious and holy God, this morning I ask you to move the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts by your love, and help each of us this day not be the instrument of our own or anyone else's oppression, but to be an instrument of peace in every breath and every step, in every moment of every day. May it be so. Amen.
So I was going to use Conboy as my sermon today. But what I want to talk to you is about living mosaics. Now, I brought an example of mosaic. This is a mosaic made with broken Chinese teacups made by my friend Whitney when I headed off to seminary. Now mosaics are used to teach. If you go and see them, they are beautiful patterns. One of the places in this country is good to go to is the National Cathedral. Amazing mosaics all over the place. If you traveled in the world, you see mosaics made by different things.
But I want to tell you a story. About a different type of mosaic. And as all stories that I tell, a good part of it is true about seventy six percent. But storytellers, that's where we sit.
So I want to take you to a scene. It's the first weekend in November, and there's people sitting out in lawn chairs on the lawn in front of well. Cellar hole. You know what a cellar hole is? It's usually the only thing firefighters can save sometimes in certain situations. They were sitting close to the cellar hole. It looked like a big cellar hole. And they were having worship like always. Tearful. Sad. And I happened to be there. Total unplanned thing. And.
At the end, the pastor stood up and said. I'm glad you all came today. Just because our church building burnt down? Doesn't mean we are no longer a church, a community. And I'm glad we could meet here on the front lawn. That's always been so beautiful. But it's the first weekend of November and we know it's going to snow sometime over the next week, so we need to figure out where to meet. And some people said, well, we can meet in different houses. But the congregation seemed to have grown overnight since the fire. It tripled in size and they thought, and an older couple stood up and said, what about the Grange Hall? Some people said, oh, is it still standing? Other people said, what's a Grange hall? And so this couple said, we will go to the town manager after this and find out if we could use it, because it is still standing. And we will meet there on Wednesday night and we'll get directions.
For those of you who don't know where it is now, the Grange Hall was not far out of the village, but it hadn't been used in thirty or forty years and nature had started to overtake it. And Wednesday at noon, those who weren't working met there. And their first thought was really. It's like things growing all over it. And the old man said, yes, but the roof is straight, the windows are not broken. I have the key. It was one of those big skeleton keys. And he opened the door and they walked in, and though it was around noon, it was really dark inside and he had asked a few people to bring their Coleman lanterns from camping because they couldn't see in the windows or see out. And when they lit the lanterns standing in the middle of the Grange Hall, which was just a big room with a potbelly stove about three quarters of the way down to the back, a beautiful pile of already split, really dry wood because it's been there for thirty or forty years.
The light came up and they noticed that the walls were covered. And one young gentleman who had skipped school, he was in high school said, are these tapestries that they used to hang in castles to make it warmer? And somebody said, no, they're quilts, old quilts, but quite beautiful. Why are they on the wall? And the older couple said to keep the draught out, to keep it warm. Wasn't that unusual? And these covered the windows as well because they were pretty drafty.
And so they started to clean up. Some people worked outside cutting all the the brush that was around it, they mowed the well, they didn't mow the lawn because there wasn't grass and they didn't touch the quilts because November was coming. They had cleaned the stove. The firefighters, the local firefighters had come and made sure the chimney was okay. And that Sunday they had their first worship. Coleman lanterns lit and they worshiped. They found the old chairs that were there, and they put them in a circle. And at the end they all said, Amen. And we are blessed. And they continue to worship there.
And really quickly they said, well, what about our ministries? We can do them. Wednesday night potluck. Sound familiar? Every Wednesday, Saturday, they had dances for anybody. Sunday, of course they worshipped. They also continued what they did, especially in the fall, going around and helping older people or those who need it, clean up their yards for winter time.
And this went on through the winter and word got out. There's this Grange Church, a Grange Church church in the Little Grange Hall. And it was growing. People from the community that never had come before started to come. They came for potluck. They came to the dances. They came Sunday morning. Some of the community programs started coming and working out of their Meals on Wheels. Outreach to anybody in need. And it was thriving.
But they kept trying to think of a name for themselves and who they were. In May. Late May, because it's up north, they decided it's time to take down the quilts because they didn't really need them anymore. They hadn't been using the stove. And so Sunday after worship, they got ladders and they started to take the quilts down. And the sun came in for the first time. Now, the floor in this Grange Hall was actually slate in some places. It was granite a lot around, and the building was so old that the stone floors were almost polished by all the feet that went over it. And the dancing and the light came through and it hit the floor, and it bounced up and made everything sparkle.
And one young boy said to his grandfather, what is that? He said. Those are living stones. God has blessed us with. And then everybody stopped and looked, and the pastor said, no, this is a living mosaic. Look how the sun is shining off of all your faces. But if we turn to the other side, the mosaic changes just as beautifully. And when we include the floor and the windows, it becomes this beautiful living mosaic. That was brought about by love and brought about by each person bringing the gifts that they have together. Just as Scripture said, one part needs the other parts.
Now I've seen that happen again right here. Does anybody remember twenty thirteen when the windows were taken out? No one remembers. Do you remember Bill? They were taken out in March, I believe, and their storm windows there. But they put up plastic and you you couldn't really see well. And the windows went away to this amazing place that historically restored them. If you look, the glass is the wavy glass from back then. Eighteen oh four and that Sunday that we came back to church and the windows were back. It was beautiful. It was bright and the sun came through.
And here once again, a living mosaic came out of nowhere, a living mosaic just like the one at the church in the Grange that took every single individual, Everybody different. Everybody. The spitting image of God. Everybody that came from so many different walks of life and different ways of living and praying and different faiths to make this amazing mosaic. Because diversity is so important. And community is so important.
And does anybody remember that day? Was I the only one in church? You may not have known it. Notice I have the advantage of standing up here and seeing all of you. But it was a true mosaic. Not made out of teacups or glass or anything else made in your image. Together, Together. When we gather, we are all the image of God beaming back at us all. Everything that you bring with you. It is amazing and it changes every time people are here today. It's not quite as sunny as yesterday, but it's still sunny.
When we have concerts in here like we did the other night, the other night, a living mosaic. That is a celebration of a community that creates it. So the celebration of the living mosaic here that ever changes and moves is the celebration that is known locally as the old sloop. Wherever you sail together, it is a living, breathing, moving Mosaic that teaches people because that's what they were for. Stained glass windows and mosaics in the early church taught people parts of Scripture, taught people the way that God made them to live. It doesn't mean people always pay attention to it. We know that.
But think of that right now. If I had you all turn that way, the mosaic would change. If we turned off the lights, it would be different. Every time we're together in community as diverse as it can be, wherever you are. A living mosaic for all to see. It's a living, breathing entity. Always changing, sometimes staying the same.
That's my story today, and I'm sticking with it. Amen.