Three points comprise our sermon today that I'll share upfront. They are one: holy unions are intended to last a lifetime; two, we are called not to take sure and measured baby steps, but great leaps of faith; and finally, we are in the business of God and businesses that do not grow, die.

Let's begin with the first point. According to Jesus, holy unions or marriage is meant to last a lifetime. Now there's a great old song called "Love and Marriage" with lyrics that say love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage. Of course, there's more to the union of marriage than a horse, buggy and wagon wheels, but the Pharisees didn't see this. Rather, these religious leaders view divorce as a legal issue, not a spiritual one. Here in our lesson today, their goal is to trap Jesus so that he, like his cousin John, would be put to death by King Herod.

Jesus would not be trapped, however.  Instead, Jesus uses the Pharisees' questions to review God's intended purpose for marriage. Remember, women at the time are essentially considered property. As such, marriage and a handwritten divorce were regarded as transactions similar to buying and selling property.

Today, while men and women have more equality in that either a husband or a wife can divorce in the time it takes for most of us to climb up a ladder and get the leaves out of our gutters, Jesus, as we've heard, says that divorce is not God's ideal; instead, God wants married people to consider marriage permanent. Clearly he says couples should enter marriage without the option of divorce.

That said, we know divorce is sometimes necessary. Physical safety and the well-being of children are two examples when divorce is necessary. Yet note this. When Jesus says a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, he clearly gives God's ideal for marriage. A man leaving his parents and joining his wife is scripture found twice in Genesis, and Jesus, quoting here the first book of our Bible, gives the sanctity of marriage a priority over Moses' permission for divorce.

Ultimately, Jesus is saying that divorce is wrong because it severs a holy union. There are exceptions according to what Jesus says in Matthew 5:32 and 19:9, but Jesus' message here, (and again here's point one in your sermon notes) is that unions that are holy are intended—beyond a shadow of a doubt—to last a lifetime.   

Today, in light of holy unions and communion that we celebrate as part of our Heritage Sunday celebration that aligns with World Wide Communion Sunday, let's talk about holy unions in a broader context. Specifically, kids, confirmands, and all those children of God Jesus talks about at the end of our reading today (children, regardless of age who come forward), let's talk about the state of our union here at First Congregational-UCC. Let's focus on how we are holy joined to our God who loves, guides, and directs us, and, secondly, how we are holy joined to one another.

First, we are committed to the teachings of God through his son, Jesus. Now a skeptic from afar or even here in the pew today may question this, but a skeptic cannot argue that this church has been under our one congregational name since its founding days in the year 1800. For nearly two hundred and ten years people have been gathering here. By foot, that horse-drawn wagon we talked about or by means of one of those new-fangled automobiles, people for nearly 21 decades have climbed this sloping hill out front here to face God, their beliefs, and their relationships with one another.  From prosperity to poverty and every financial situation in between, through wars both foreign and domestic, from the technology of gas powered lights to nuclear powered submarines and space crafts, this church and its people have been here.

This isn't romanticized. Real struggles have come through these doors. Real tears that have fallen may still dampen the seat in which you're sitting, but in loss and in joy the relationship—the holy union—between the people of this church and our God has stood—and does still stand—the test of time.

Several years ago, NBC Today host Matt Lauer, having been married only a few weeks, said this of holy unions: they aren't for wimps. No, relationships take work.

Don't believe me? Churches close. Many churches in our county and our own UCC conference barely limp along and will, in fact, die within the next five years.  These closings are real and tragic and are so far from here, why? Why? Because we follow God. And following God means that sometimes we have to make hard choices and sacrifices in that holy union with God, and in that holy union with each other. And those choices and those sacrifices lead to our second point today, and that is, when forging and continuing a holy union, when being yoked or tied together in a Christian bond, we are called not to take sure and measured baby steps; we are called to take great leaps of faith.

Our forefathers and mothers understood this. We come into Harford and see the steeple, but at one time, only those with faith saw this steeple because the steeple was only there in their hearts. It was only there in their minds, and in their future. They saw what some of us do today: religious space that isn't yet here. And unlike some of us, they weren't cowards. They didn't cry about finances. Instead, it was faith with giant steps that built this church.

And it is faith with giant steps that can continue to build this church.

Let me explain it this way. Our forefathers and mothers had what our seniors have, and what these 50-plus year members have are two key words that I'll share in a moment.

Earlier this past week, I visited or spoke with five of our own super seniors who, if we added all their ages together, would total—and I'm serious—all their ages combined totals 453 years. And all of these seniors have hearts of gold, minds as sharp as this 42-inch plasma TV over here, and positive outlooks not on the past, but on the future. And their positive outlooks are just their future, but on our future as a church. They are people who live their lives the way God intended. They understand a commitment to Christ, and, hell and high water, and they've all seen both, they value that holy union.

What do these and other successful seniors have that we all need to learn from on a day that looks at our union as a church with such deep heritage? There are two 'A's these folks would share: acceptance and adaptability.

Today, and in the communion time to come, do two things. Accept. Accept more fully the holy union Christ makes available to you through his life, his death, and his resurrection. Forge that bond more deeply. Name that union as more sacred, and secondly, adapt. Take on our responsibility not gingerly, but with giant steps, giant steps that will cause you to grow, assimilate, incorporate, integrate, and include. Take giant steps that enable you to realize that this is a day of commitment, and of necessary change.

We talked a moment ago about churches dying and closing. And a church is a like a business. Actually, a church is a business in that it provides a service of love, education, and both spiritual direction and shelter from the bad storms in life. And before we close, I want to take you in a direction that a sermon of mine hasn't gone into since I took the pulpit, and I've been sharing sermons here since the summer of 2007.  It's this. It's the place of business.

Now with my own father on earth and now my spiritual father, Jesus Christ, in heaven, I come from the world of business. And in business, there is this principal. And it's our third and final point this morning. Studies show that businesses that don't grow, die.

Businesses that don't expand, businesses that, unlike our spirited, savvy, glass not half but completely full seniors, don't accept and adapt to new and changing circumstances and situations, die. What's it going to be for you? Lisa and I sang a song called Remember Me. And so as you and this church face the future, as you realize Jesus' ideal of a holy union between yourself and this church is one that requires leaps of faith, and since you know that if you, like a business, don't grow you will die, how will you be remembered?

Do not die. Instead, follow good advice from those still with us along with those that, from the past, cheer us on from beyond these blue walls. Accept. Adapt.