The Rev. Neale L. Miller

“This Silent Witness Second Edition”

Rededication Service---January 27, 2008

Texts: Joshua 24:1-18/Acts 10:34-48

              “Standing here in this beautiful house of worship which represents the material fulfillment of a dream which took hold of the imagination of this congregation a good many years ago, I find my heart filled with gratitude to God for the privilege of having had some small part, along with so many of you, in this splendid enduring enterprise.”  So began the sermon preached at the dedication of this sanctuary on May 22, 1960 by the Reverend Ray Riddle, Jr., this congregation’s pastor at the time. Entitled “This Silent Witness,” Ray Riddle’s scriptural text for the occasion was the eighth chapter of I Kings, King Solomon’s dedication of the Jerusalem temple.

              A magnificent event that temple dedication surely was, by comparison, at least, with the ceremonies surrounding the 1960 dedication that took place here. Scripture tells us that “Solomon offered as sacrifices of well-being to the Lord twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep.” It is important to understand, of course, that Solomon had a much larger budget to work with than the good folks back in 1960, or the present congregation today.  Be that as it may, I have no doubt that our predecessor congregation of 1960 did their dedication in the grand style, with Ray Riddle preaching the kind of inspired and eloquent sermon such an occasion requires.

              “This Silent Witness.”  A professor of mine who taught us preaching issued a challenge to all his students to compose our sermon titles with care.  The sermon title, he admonished us, and “admonish” is not an overly strong characterization, [the sermon title he admonished us] should be one to pique the interest of the person reading it on the church message board outside the church, or in the newspaper, [pique the interest sufficiently] that that person might be encouraged to show up for worship on Sunday morning to hear what that sermon was about.  Though we may well live in an age where people no longer pay much attention to church message boards or the newspaper’s religion page, I for one still appreciate the effort a colleague commits to crafting a good title.

              Ray Riddle composed a wonderful title for his dedication sermon.  A title, I would add, that actually reflected the content of the sermon.  If you have listened to a certain number of sermons you know that they do not always deliver what the titles advertise. That definitely was not the case with “This Silent Witness.”

              Speaking very personally, Ray Riddle, offered in just two sentences in the third paragraph of his sermon, a beautiful summary of the statement he wished to make on that dedication day.  And so he declared, “This building, to me at least, is a ‘silent witness’ to certain of the fundamentals of my faith. It is a witness without words; no sound is heard, and yet certain aspects of the structure [and contents] speak somehow to the deep places of my heart and remind me of God and of my relationship to Him.”

               This building has maintained its “silent witness” without interruption from that day in May of 1960 to this day in January 2008.  And I do mean without interruption. The building may have been uninhabitable for months owing to the hurricane of August 2005, but the Holy Spirit maintained a vigil here, appropriately, “a witness without words.”   

              “A witness without words,” is how Ray Riddle characterized this space and the various furnishings that occupy it. As the sermon progressed, Rev. Riddle directed the congregation’s attention to the ceiling and the stained glass windows, the pulpit, the baptismal font, the communion table, and the cross, eloquently depicting the thoughts and emotions each of those items evoked in him. 

              This silent witness still speaks through the cross, the windows, the new pulpit, communion table, baptismal font, and the other furnishings that give this worship space its special character. This silent witness continues to forge connections between us and the God it was built and dedicated to honor. In the wake of the storm, however, think of this as “Silent Witness---Second Edition.”

              Many of you who are present today partnered with us in bringing this Second Edition into being.  A list of our partners in the endeavor can be found at the back of the bulletin.  However, I will risk giving offense to some by singling out a few, who in my judgment deserve special commendation for efforts that made today possible, trusting that God’s grace may repair any breech my omissions of the names of certain individuals, churches, or agencies, may inadvertently create.

            John Robinson, representing Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the interagency taskforce established to oversee restoration efforts in Greater New Orleans, and the greater Presbyterian Church at large, has been a committed partner in what you see accomplished in this building and the Weekday School.  Alan Cutter, our presbytery executive, who felt a call to come to South Louisiana in the wake of the storm, has been a strong advocate for our congregation during the long restoration process.  Our sister congregation, St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church, made the acquisition of this pulpit, communion table, and baptismal font possible.  The Reverend Craig Rule and elder Paul Talarico represent the Presbytery of the Palisades in New Jersey who have made this church and weekday school mission priorities.

              Lakeview elder, Roy Perrin, one of the few members of this church who worshiped here when the sanctuary was dedicated in 1960, gave tireless effort to the restoration of these facilities, while elder Tom Sproles, matched that dedication with his efforts in the restoration of our weekday school. 

              Jean Marie Peacock, our associate pastor before and immediately after the storm, made great efforts to help our congregation get on our feet in those taxing first few months after the storm. Dale Davis, the director of our Weekday School, was tenacious in her efforts to restore the school to operation after the hurricane, overseeing arrangements for temporary operation in two different churches, while thoroughly involving herself in all efforts to bring the school back home.

              Amelie Welman, our administrative assistant at Lakeview, has been the “go-to” person in virtually all areas of our restoration. There was not a single area of the restoration process in which she was not engaged.  The church owes Amelie a major debt of gratitude for efforts over and above anything the congregation might justifiably have expected.    

              “This Silent Witness---Second Edition.”  The purpose for which we have assembled today is not the “first edition” dedication of the sanctuary in May, 1960, but the second edition rededication of the church and Weekday school to God in January, 2008.  Not to dedicate, but to rededicate we have come. 

                Rededication is to be distinguished from dedication, for we are redoing something that has already been done.  This is not 1960, with congregation and guests occupying the space for the first time. This is 2008 and the circumstances that gave rise to our being here is not the vision of a congregation to create a house of worship, but an event in nature that challenged us to recreate physical plant and ministry. 

                  We are rededicating today.  When I began to plan for this service I immediately discovered that there are few resources available for services of rededication.  I know such services have been done, but probably not with enough frequency to merit the creation of special resources. Even Google failed to provide any leads.

                 As I pondered what I might say on this occasion I sought out Ray Riddle’s dedication sermon, a sermon I had read year’s earlier; a sermon I have appreciated greatly.  Following his lead, I looked at Scriptures that treated dedication, yet for one reason or another none of those biblical texts really spoke to the circumstances in which the congregation finds ourselves today, not in my judgment at least. 

                   It was about then that my thoughts took me in a different direction.  I began to think of the two sacraments we in the Presbyterian Church observe, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. If baptism constitutes the dedicating of a life to the Lord, often administered to infants whose parents make a profession of faith on their behalf, then rededication is the act through which the child or young adult makes his or her own personal, public profession of faith.  Likewise, Holy Communion is an act of rededication. When we gather at the Lord’s Table we do so as members of Christ’s church who in partaking of bread and cup rededicate ourselves to living the selfless life Christ modeled.

                  One might say that rededication is the very substance of our life under God, even apart from the table or the baptismal font.  Is not rededication the substance of worship, of prayer, the creeds, and the hymns we sing?

                When Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to celebrate the conquest of the Promised Land, he charged the people of Israel to remember the mighty deeds God had performed in their midst. He reminded them of facts, substantial facts, they should already have known.  He reminded them that God was faithful, ever responsive to the cry of his people. The conquest of the Promised Land was marked by a service of rededication, the children of Israel vowing to serve God, and God alone.

               Rededication.  Peter, whom Jesus appointed for a special role as his confidant and chief of staff, was staunch in his convictions that the Good News Jesus came to earth to proclaim was meant for the ears of Jews alone, until God, with help from a certain Gentile centurion, Cornelius, challenged him to think again.  Through a God-inspired vision he rededicated his life, and the mission of the Church, to reaching out in Jesus’ name to all people.

Life under God is but a series of rededications where you and I are challenged to reassess and realign our lives after the example of Christ, the incarnate son of God. But as important as they may be, it is not these individual reassessments and realignments that are the focus of our primary concern today.        

                The inspiration for this particular service of rededication emerged out of a conviction widely held in this congregation that we have been beneficiaries of generosity and grace we will never begin to repay. We are rededicating to show off facilities of which we are very proud, facilities many of you helped restore and furnish. We are rededicating to offer hospitality to those who have made the effort to cross city, state, and country to be with us on this special occasion. But more important than that, we are rededicating on behalf of the Church at large, the Body of Christ, to witness to the extraordinary things that can happen where Christians commit to being the Body of Christ.

                 Shortly after the storm a minister from Pennsylvania phoned me.  To this day I do not know who he was, or how he got hold of my cell phone number.  Assuring me that the congregation and I were in his prayers, he went on to say that the tragedy that struck greater New Orleans and the Gulf Coast was giving the Church [big C, greater church] an opportunity to be the Church. I can assure you that I, and all members of this church, what have gladly taken a pass on that opportunity.  However, that was not to be.

                  This laboratory of opportunity, church and weekday school, has been open for the last two and one half years after the storm. Personally speaking I have learned many things, and many of our members who returned to New Orleans after the storm, have learned many things we didn’t know about the church of Jesus Christ, might never have learned about the Church, had the storm not occurred. Mission and outreach today represent much more to us than mere line items in the church budget, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, is for us no longer merely another agency  in the church’s relief network, Women’s Birthday Offering, is no longer merely one of the several special offerings the church promotes each year. Mission, outreach, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, Women’s birthday offering, represent much more to this pastor and congregation than they did before the storm because we have met the people, and experienced the passion of those who have invested themselves in mission, outreach, the work of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and Women’s Birthday outreach ministry.

                    We have made a connection with people we would have otherwise not met, people like Paul Talarico from New Jersey, Lynette Adelson from San Bernardino, California, Becky Lanier from Monroe, Louisiana, John Robinson from Louisville, Kentucky, and Burke Johnson from Venice Florida, each one of whom is deeply committed to the Lord’s work, and has befriended this congregation greatly. Those last pages of your booklet present the names of many, many others who have shared that commitment. 

                  Lakeview Presbyterian Church is rededicating today, rededicating on behalf of the church, rededicating on behalf of all of you, for what we have here is not Lakeview Presbyterian Church’s work, it is the church’s work, its Christ’s work, and as I look out and around I salute all of you, who in making your contribution to that work, have helped turn this piece of God’s earth into sacred space.

                 I covet the prayers of everyone present today that this sacred space may be a launch point for sacred work, that the lessons learned about Church and ministry during the restoration process of this facility and day school may embolden our congregation to be for this community and city the not so silent witness God is calling us to be. AMEN