Hope In All You're Sharing Together

Romans 5:1–2 NRSV

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

Paul’s Purpose Here

DEAN, PRESIDENT AND PROFESSOR OF NEW TESTAMENT AT THE SEMINARY OF THE SOUTHWEST, DR CYNTHIA BRIGGS KITTRIDGE HAS NAMED WHAT SHE BELIEVES THE APOSTLE PAUL IS UP TO HERE IN THE 5th CHAPTER OF HIS MAGNUM OPUS LETTER, HIS LETTER TO THE ROMANS........DR KITTRIDGE PROPOSES:

Romans 5:1-5 marks a major transition in Paul’s letter to the Romans from faith to hope.

The post baptismal life is expanded in Romans 5:1-8:39 That life can be described as the “overlap of the ages” (Byrne) between the inauguration of the blessings of Christ’s victory and their complete fulfillment when the faithful share the glory of God.

BELOVEDS, IF I HAD A DIME FOR ALL THE TIMES SOMEONE IN THEIR WELL MEANING WAY HAS CONFUSED THE CELEBRATION OF WHAT WE’RE HERE FOR TODAY, FOR JOSH RUMPLE’S INSTALLATION.......NOT JOSH RUMPLE’S INAUGURATION.......PERHAPS I’D ALREADY HAVE THAT BEACH HOUSE ON CATALINA ISLAND.....WITH TUX WEARING DRINK SERVERS....AND GOOSE FEATHERED PILLOWS ON THE BEDS....SO OFTEN WE’RE NAMING SERVICES LIKE THIS AS NEW BEGINNINGS .....TIMES WHEN A BOND IS BLESSED....AND BELVOEDS....BLESSED BE THE TIES THAT BIND TODAY....AMEN?

THANK YOU TO OUR CONFERENCE WIDE COMMITTEE ON MINISTRY AND THE DECISION TO MOVE TOWARDS MAKING THESE SERVICES COVENANTING SERVICES WHERE WE CELEBRATE THE COVENANT BETWEEN THIS ONCOMING ASSOCIATE PASTOR AND FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AND HIS ORDINATION TO CHRISTIAN MINISTRY TODAY.....AND CELEBRATING THIS COVENANT MEANS WE’RE CELEBRATING PROMISES....PEOPLE AND PASTOR PROMISES....

WE CELEBRATE THIS FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UCC PASTORAL TEAM STRENGTHENED, BOLSTERED AND BROADENED BETWEEN SENIOR PASTOR REVEREND LEANN BRYCE AND REVEREND JOSH RUMPLE.......AND FOR RACHEL AND FINLEY, BELOVEDS....TONIGHT, WHEN YOU GET HOME THERE WILL BE A REVEREND IN THE HOUSE.....HALLELUJAH!!!

IN THIS POST BAPTISMAL LIFE WE SHARE, BELOVEDS, OUR COMING TOGETHER FOR THIS OCCASION MEANS WE’RE CELEBRATING SOMETHING ELSE THAT’S SPECIAL AND MUST BE NAMED THIS EVENING......THIS EVENING WE’RE CELEBRATING HOPE, HOPE IN THE WAYS ONE OF OUR GREAT PROTESTANT SAINTS NAMED IT.....REVEREND WILLIAM SLOANE COFFIN, THE LONG-TIME CHAPLAIN AT YALE AND PASTOR AT RIVERSIDE CHURCH IN NYC IN THE LATE 70’s & 80’s ONCE SAID:

“Hope is a state of mind independent of the state of the world. If your heart's full of hope, you can be persistent when you can't be optimistic. You can keep the faith despite the evidence, knowing that only in so doing has the evidence any chance of changing. So while I'm not optimistic, I'm always very hopeful.”

― William Sloane Coffin

YOUR UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST FAMILY HAS DRAWN HOPE FROM YOU FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST COLORADO SPRINGS, DURING THIS HISTORIC YEAR OF YOUR 150th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION......FOR ON TOP OF VARIETY SHOWS, INTERVIEW VIDEOS, HISTORICAL RE-ENACTMENTS OF 1874, YOUR SILVER THREADS LUNCHEON, OUTDOOR WORSHIP AND BLOCK PARTY, ALL CHURCH PICNIC IN THE MEADOW AND SO MUCH MORE.......IN THIS 150th ANNIVERSARY YEAR LET THE RECORD SHOW YOU’RE ALSO COVENANTING WITH JOSH RUMPLE.....ORDAINING HIM IN THIS BEAUTIFUL SANCTUARY....AND MAKING MEMORIES FOR JOSH AND HIS FAMILY THAT WILL LAST IN HIS GENERATION AND IN RUMPLE GENERATIONS TO COME.......

AND THIS HOPE YOU’RE SHARING WITH OUR BELOVED ROCKY MOUNTAIN CONFERENCE DURING THIS IMPORTANT TIME IS GROUNDED IN ALL YOU’RE SHARING TOGETHER.....CONSIDER FOR A MOMENT:

YOUR JOURNEY WITH JOSH RUMPLE BEGAN DURING THE MINISTRY HERE OF REV DR DON LONGBOTTOM....AND IN 2020 WHEN JOSH BEGAN WITH YOU......JOSH AND CHRISTIAN MINISTERS EVERYWHERE, WE WERE ALL DRAWING ON OUR INNER GENIUS TO SERVE THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST....YOU KNOW, THE INNER GENIUS BORN OF CHURCH BUILDINGS CLOSING DOWN AS WE WORRIED ABOUT AND FOUGHT A WORLDWIDE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.....INNER GENIUS BORN OF LEADING THE YOUTH MINISTRIES WHILE NOT MEETING IN PERSON, LEARNING HOW TO DO PROGRAMS ON YOUTUBE VIDEOS AND ANY ONLINE TRAININGS WE COULD GET OUR HANDS ON......INNER GENIUS BORN OF SLEEPLESS NIGHTS FIGURING OUT HOW TO GET PARENT CONSENT FORMS OUT AND BACK AND HOW TO DO OUTDOOR PROGRAMMING WHEN A TIME CAME THAT WE COULD......INNER GENIUS BORN OF POLITICIANS, WELL, I MEAN A CERTAIN ONE WHO CLAIMED IT WOULD ALL BE OVER BY EASTER.......AND MAYBE WE COULD USE BLEACH IN NEW AND CREATIVE WAYS AND NOT JUST IN OUR LAUNDRY.......

YOUR JOURNEY WITH JOSH RUMPLE CONTINUED WITH JOSH LEADING CONFIRMATION CLASSES AND SERVICE TRIPS CALLING ON HIS INNER TOUR DIRECTOR....YOU KNOW HIS INNER PETER HILLARY, THE CLIMBER OF MOUNT EVEREST WHO FIRST CLIMBED MOUNT EVEREST IN 1990 IN DEDICATION TO HIS DAD SIR EDMUND HILLARY WHO MADE THE FIRST ASCENT OF EVEREST WITH TENZING NORGAY.......WHEN LEADING YOUTHS TO FAR FLUNG PLACES LIKE ALAMOSA COLORADO, YOU SEE.....YOU BRING NOTES FOR POSSIBLE COUNSELING SESSIONS, FIRST AID KIT #1, #2 and #3 JUST IN CASE OF EMERGENCIES, YOU BRING YOUR POSITIVE SMILE AND ATTITUDE AND THE PRAYERS OF YOUR FIRST CONGO COMMUNITY BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN OUT ON THOSE SERVICE TRIPS, BELOVEDS.....AND YOUR JOSH RUMPLE SURELY BROUGHT GAS TANKER AMOUNTS OF SHEER COURAGE ON THOSE TRIPS BECAUSE HE KNEW THEN AND HE KNOWS NOW THERE’S NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN DELIVERING YOUR PRECIOUS ONES TO THEIR TRIP DESTINATION AND BACK HOME SAFELY AND IN TACT......AMEN

YOUR JOURNEY WITH JOSH RUMPLE CONTINUED AS HE CHANNELED HIS INNER ANDERSON COOPER IN 2023 AS PART OF THE TEAM OF OUTSTANDING INTERVIEWERS FOR YOUR 150th ANNIVERSARY VIDEOS.....HIS COOL, EASY WAY OF HEARING ANSWERS TO PREPARED QUESTIONS AND PIVOTING TO ISSUES THAT HELPED INTERVIEWEES GO DEEPER…LIKE ELI HAUBER AND SYLVIE ROBINSON....IT IS CLEAR ON THOSE VIDEOS THAT JOSH HAS ENJOYED SEEING GREAT INTERVIEWS ON TV AND APPRECIATED THE OPPORTUNITY TO GIVE GOD GLORY WITH HIS DOSE OF HOLY LISTENING AND TENDER RESPONSE......

HOLY LISTENING AND TENDER RESPONSE THAT PREPARED HIM FOR ADDING PASTORAL CARE TO HIS SET OF PRIESTLY, CHURCH DUTIES IN 2023 TOO......WHEN JOSH BEGAN HOSPITAL, IN HOME AND HOSPICE VISITS AND SUCH EXTENDING THE CARE OF THIS WONDERFUL PASTORAL STAFF LED BY REVEREND BRYCE........

WE ALL DRAW HOPE FROM ALL YOU’RE SHARING TOGETHER WITH JOSH FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UCC FAMILY WHEN WE PAUSE TO CONSIDER THAT IN JOSH’S YEARS OF SERVICE TO YOU SO FAR.....IT IS JOSH’S SPOUSE AND YOUR ONLINE INTERNET EXPERT & DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND TECHNOLOGY RACHEL RUMPLE WHO SHARED HOW GRATEFUL THE RUMPLES ARE TO BE TAKEN CARE OF BY AND IN THIS CHURCH FAMILY......

THAT LOVE THAT BELIES A BEAUTIFUL STATEMENT LIKE THAT SAYS TO ME....YOU’RE ALREADY ACTING IN COVENANT WITH ONE ANOTHER IN ALL THAT YOU’RE SHARING ALREADY.......

SO YES, SOME NEW THINGS BEGIN TODAY FOR SURE.....JOSH OFFICIALLY BECOMES REVEREND JOSH RUMPLE.....YOUR FAMILY WILL SURELY TELL THE STORIES OF TODAY BACK IN YOUR HOMETOWN IN OHIO, MY FRIEND.....YOUR TITLE WILL CHANGE ON THE STATIONERY OF THE CHURCH AND YOU’LL OFFICIALLY BE THE ASSOCIATE PASTOR AROUND HERE, AS YOU WALK THESE HALLS AND CONTINUE SERVICE TO IMPORTANT ECUMENICAL ORGANIZATIONS IN TOWN LIKE THE B-YOU LGBTQIA+ COLLECTIVE AND THE SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS WHERE YOU’LL BE CALLED ON TO GIVE A PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIAN WITNESS NOW AND THEN......

BUT JOSH, TODAY MY CHARGE TO YOU AND HOPE FOR YOU IS THAT YOU WILL KEEP GROWING HERE IN THIS MINISTRY AS YOU SERVE, THAT YOU’LL PURPOSEFULLY KEEP DEEPENING THE LOVE OF YOUR SPOUSE AND THE RAISING OF YOUR SON, YOUNG FINLEY.....KNOWING THAT ONE DAY, SOMEONE WILL INTERVIEW FINLEY JUST LIKE YOU INTERVIEWED ELI......AND WHEN THEY ASK OF SOME OF HIS SEMINAL EXPERIENCES IN THIS CHURCH, WHEN THEY ASK ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIPS HE’LL REMEMBER FROM HIS HOME CHURCH.....FINLEY WILL HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY THAT THE INTERVIEWER THAT THE INTERVIEWER WILL HAVE A PAD FULL OF NOTES AND THE KIND OF WARMTH OF RESPONSE…I’VE SEEN IN YOU, MY INDIANA WESLEYAN BROTHER...

TODAY, I JOIN WITH ALL THESE OTHER PREACHERS, PASTORS, CHAPLAINS FOLKS OF FAITH STRIVING TO MAKE A HOLY WITNESS SOMEWHERE, SOMEHOW IN BLESSING YOU AND YOUR PATH, FOR A LONG, HAPPY, FRUITFUL, NOURISHING, GROWING AND GIFTING MINISTRY IN THIS PLACE…IN THE HERE AND NOW AND FOR MANY YEARS TO COME....I’M SO PROUD OF YOU MAKING IT TO THIS MOMENT OF BLESSING AND ANONTING OF THE WHOLE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

TODAY IS THE STORY OF A COVENANT BETWEEN PASTOR RUMPLE AND THE PEOPLE OF FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UCC COLORADO SPRINGS…RENEWED, AND PERHAPS EVEN.....RE-BEGUN ON THE ROCK ON WHICH WE STAND, THE SOLID ROCK OF JESUS CHRIST WHERE ALL OTHER GROUND IS SINKING SAND......SO KEEP ON HOPING MY FRIEND, AND KEEP ON SHARING TOO........

CHRIST BLESS AND KEEP YOU IN EVERY DAY, MINUTE AND MOMENT OF YOUR MINISTRY HERE....AND IN ALL THE WAYS AND PLACES YOUR MINISTRY AND THE GOOD LORD TAKES YOU.....

THE APOSTLE PAUL PUT IT THIS WAY:

Romans 5:1–2 NRSV

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.