Did you come, and do you think others come, to see the burning bush; to take their sandals off and stand on holy ground? As far as we know, only Moses was able to encounter God in this way. And his story was told and re-told and finally written down, so that generations after, so that our generation, could hear and tell the story and pass it on. That we know the God of Moses, that we know the God who said "I have observed the misery of my people…; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them" is enough. We come to this holy place seeking God. For like our ancestors, we too encounter misery and enslavement in this life, we too cry out at times as we are burdened, we too know suffering—each of us with different sorrows, yet each of us the same—and in our "crying out" we hope that there is a God who hears and we hope there is a God who will act to deliver us. In fact, over the years in this holy place, we have encountered the God who spoke to Moses, the God who chooses to come down and deliver his people.

Also, through this place, with greater or lesser fervor, we have chosen to act as the hands of this God who chooses to deliver his people; we have chosen to feed the hungry, just as God desires (as in FIND on Monday morning). We have chosen to offer relief from illness (all our members who work in the healthcare field as professionals and volunteers, all our members who lift their heart, voice, and hands in intercessory prayer, all our members who carry communion to the homebound). We offer our time and talent to help a child to read (our faculty and staff at St. Margaret’s School, all our members who work in education as professionals and volunteers, like our members who work in Tools for Tomorrow). We, who have tasted the power of God to deliver us, have chosen to share this wonder, this grace, with others. And over the years, people have come. We have come. We have stayed. Having encountered God’s saving action we want to pass it on.

The Psalmist cried out, "O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a barren and dry land where there is no water." Our music, the soul-stirring music created by John Wright, the Adult Choir, the Chamber Singers, the Middle School Choir, the Mastersingers, and even the Minisingers, lifts our hearts and eyes to seek God. We are inspired to tears of both sorrow and joy as the music reaches us, touches us, moves us, and as we join in singing. And over the years people have come to be touched by the music; perhaps you have come to be inspired, to be cleansed, to be refreshed, by the music. Perhaps you have stayed because the music touches your soul.

As individuals and collectively as the People of God at St. Margaret’s we have come to understand, to know, in the very depth of our being, the truth of Paul’s words, "God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it." Over the years, especially in times of trial, people have come to St. Margaret’s to be reassured that God is faithful. People have come to find those who endured trials, to find those who have walked with the God who is faithful, and to find those who will walk with them through the time of their trial, even through the "valley of the shadow of death." People have come to St. Margaret’s over the years to be with you, people who know that God is faithful, no matter what. Perhaps you came in your time of trial. Perhaps you have stayed in order to share what you know about God.

Looking back, we have a rich history. By the grace and power of God working in us we created many reasons for people to come and see, many reasons for people to stay.

In 1992 Brad Hall articulated a 5-point vision for our future. In his St. Margaret’s Day Sermon of 1992, Brad challenged us to:

1. Provide spirit-filled, Christ-centered, uplifting worship

2. Expand and deepen our weekday programs

3. Continue building: install a world-class organ, build a parish day school

4. Develop and fund more Outreach programs and ministries

5. Further develop our working staff

Under his leadership and filled with the Holy Spirit we lived into that vision for the glory of God.

In 1998 Robert Certain, in his St. Margaret’s Day Sermon, accepted and built upon this vision. He said:

• We would build on the foundation set in 1992—"build our heart as a caring, compassionate incarnation of Christ on earth."

• Wanting to be known as "the church that cares" we would expand our efforts to reach out and serve our neighbors

• With the new organ built, we would continue to provide spirit-filled, Christ-centered, uplifting worship

• Together we would continue to grow in spiritual depth and Christian commitment in our study, worship, and works of service

• He wanted us to "Focus on evangelism among the growing number of young adults and families moving into the Palm Desert area" (We would provide a Nursery for families and a meeting space for teens.)

• We would make sure that Pastoral Care expands and grows stronger as the "heart and soul of a strong Christian Body."

• He would continue to encourage year round stewardship and, with God’s help, develop a heart for planned giving to endow this parish for generations to come

• He invited us to follow the lead of St. Margaret and all the saints and serve others in the church and beyond the church with the same heart and mind as Jesus Christ

Under his leadership and filled with the Holy Spirit we once again responded and lived into that vision for the glory of God.

Today, this vision handed on to us by God’s faithful ministers, and lived by you—God’s faithful people—is still exciting, demanding, challenging, and God’s call to us.

Over the last several weeks, you may have the impression that I am only interested in money, that St. Margaret’s sole issue is money. Not true. I must talk about it and we must face the issue, because it is the pointy (sharp stick) end of our trial as a family. A trial in which we will find God to be faithful, as the Apostle proclaims; we will find God able to "provide the way out so that [we] may be able to endure [this trial]."

In 2007 people come to St. Margaret’s (we come to St. Margaret’s), not because we have a balanced budget, not because we are debt free, not because we have a brilliant accounting system nor an unusual and spectacular capital campaign; we come because:

• we encounter the living God, the God of Moses and the burning bush,

• we encounter the God of the Psalmist; a God who desires our company as much as we desire his,

• we encounter the God of Paul, the God who is faithful,

• we encounter God in this holy place and in these our neighbors, God’s holy people,

• we come because we find God here—and we are refreshed.

The reason I am here, the reason I continue to work so hard to bring others here and to support you who worship and study and work here, is to encounter the God of Moses, the God of the Psalmist, the God who changed Paul’s life, the God who sent his only Son to "take our human nature to live and die as one of us" that we might be saved.

God has touched my life here, through you. God has called to me here, as surely as he called to Moses through the burning bush; God has conversed with me here through the prayers, through the readings shared, through the homilies spoken, through the music played and sung, through the studies, through the many, many volunteers, who likewise have experienced the living God and who serve in big ways and small to make God known in our time and in our place.

Why do people come to St. Margaret’s? Why did you come here? What keeps you here? Why do you continue to offer your time, your talent, and your treasure to God through this holy place?

Suppose we are the fig tree in the parable of today’s Gospel. Suppose God, our heavenly Father, is the owner who comes looking for fruit. Imagine.

If we are the tree, I tell you we have been attended to by the gardener—who I imagine to be the Holy Spirit. We have fruit in abundance. We are here because of the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

As I talk with you individually and as I consider all of us together I can see the power of the Holy Spirit at work. And so can others. And, I pray, so can you. Unlike the tree that simply grows and bears fruit, we can determine by the strength of our willingness to invite the Spirit in, to grow this way or that, to bear a little fruit or to bear much fruit as we allow the Spirit to work in us. The fruit of this tree is magnificent.

I’m telling you by God’s power working in us we HAVE BEEN ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH MUCH, MUCH MORE, THAN ANYTHING WE HAVE ASKED OR IMAGINED. By God’s power working in us we DO GIVE GLORY TO GOD IN HIS CHURCH AND IN CHRIST JESUS. By God’s power working in us we GIVE GLORY TO GOD TODAY, AND WE WILL GIVE GLORY TO GOD TOMORROW AND FOR GENERATIONS TO COME. (Amen.)

I am so proud to be part of this journey we are on. I am so proud of you. And God is only just beginning. The best is yet to come. Amen.