Three is a very fine number. It is the first odd prime number. We perceive white light in the three hues of red, green, and blue. Genetic information is encoded in DNA and RNA using a triplet codon system. The galaxy is comprised of three main morphological classifications: ellipticals, spirals and lenticulars. Anthropologist Georges Dumezil divides prehistoric Indo-European society into three classes: priests, warriors, and commoners. (I know my prehistoric class!) Old South is in its third century and ministering from our third building. Christians worship the triune God: Creator, Christ and Spirit.
Three is a very fine number, indeed: beautiful, useful and organic.
So I am pleased to report that we have recently achieved THREE name-badge boards. Three! Because two are no longer sufficient to accommodate the names of this growing congregation. Our beautiful riot of names, from Abbot to Zinkus, now stretch luxuriously across three hand-made, mahogany badge boards (thank you Jeff Makholm for your time and handiwork).
This triad of badge boards is sign and symbol of Old South's growth, strength, joy and love. We are an outlier. We are beating the odds. While the vast majority of progressive, welcoming Christian churches are in decline, we are rising. We are getting bigger and better. We are growing in spirit, in mission and ministry, in numbers, babies (welcome Emily Margaret Maliel, born just yesterday and Cole William Nelson born on August 19th!) and visitors, in worship services and opportunities for service and formation.
Thursday evening at Jazz Worship and on Sunday at First Worship and Festival Worship we celebrate the triad of adventures that comprise our Vision for the 21st Century: 1) Sanctuary in the City, 2) Faith at the Crossroads, and 3) Christians in Formation. We celebrate this vast and valiant Vision as we break bread at our all-church breakfast, as we bless our children's backpacks as well as school supplies for those in need; as we sing wildly, pray deeply, hear poignant and funny stories from our members, laugh and cry at images of faith-in-action and, most importantly, linger in the presence of the Triune God: the God who frees the enslaved and loves the unlovely.
Everything is at stake here: the way we live, the good we do, the hope we inspire, the forgiveness we permit ourselves, the courage to risk, the strength to love, the promise of justice ... this counter-cultural Christian witness is at stake. Nothing less.
Listen! The Triune God is calling us into relationship, into the holy and irresistible trinity of faith, hope and love. Let us begin. Again.