We have all these great people around us as examples. Their lives tell us what faith means. So we, too, should run the race that is before us and never quit. We should remove from our lives anything that would slow us down and the sin that so often makes us fall. We must never stop looking to Jesus. – Hebrews 12:1-2a

Sometimes there is a story that is so great you don’t want to wrap it up. You know, we’ve all had the experience: reading a novel we don’t want to be over; watching a mini-series we would love to see continue; gathering at a watch-party for the final episode of a television show we would like to go on forever (like M.A.S.H., or Friends, or Seinfeld, or – more recently – The Crown).

Well here at our church we have been enjoying such an event. It’s the year-long celebration of our 150 years as a worshiping community in Tarboro. Sure, the years will continue, to 151, then 175, on to 200 and more. But this particular celebration came to its climax – and conclusion – October 20 when we enjoyed The Big Party and our church was full to overflowing.

This week the committee, the Ministry Team that put together the series of events, met for one last wrap-it-all-up meeting and I was there to capture the moment, to immortalize the beautiful people, the creative energy, the hard work, the imagination, the organization and the solid Presbyterian faith that made it all happen.

So I want to recognize the work of the following faithful Saints (pictured left to right): Faye Price, Meredith Peters, Cindy Brittain, Nancy Whitehurst, Lori Drake and Leigh Moore.

And by “immortalize” I mean take a group photo. Of course it is easy to grab a good image when everyone is in as good spirits and as full of grace as the members of this team.

But here is what I want to emphasize this morning. While the six folk in the photograph may have done all the “make it happen” work, there are another several thousand HMPC members worthy of mention, both those from each of our 150 years and the more than 250 committed to worship and ministry today.

All the saints:

Because from the legendary “Three Anna’s” whose vision launched the church, through layers of history stretching from Reconstruction, to Jim Crow, to The Great War, to The Roaring Twenties, to The Great Depression, to World War Two, to the post-war Baby Boom era, through Civil Rights, embracing The Information Age, then a New Millenia and into the Modern Times we now inhabit… Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church has nurtured, inspired, encouraged, equipped and let loose into this world literally thousands upon thousands of Saints who make us who we are today.

If I could take a group photograph of all of those people it would carry so much faith and light and belief and grace and positive energy that their story would be irrepressible!

And that – “irrepressible” – is what I want our story, our witness, to be as we move forward as a community. We have such good news to share, so many challenges to engage, and such an amazing story not just to tell, but to live.

That is a good place to leave this post: Such an amazing story: not just to tell but to live.

Such an amazing story: not just to tell but to live.

So thanks to Cindy, to Faye, to Leigh, to Meredith, to Lori and to Nancy. And thank God for the glorious witness of the beautiful saints who have gone before us.

Amen and amen – DEREK