Our church is changing – again!  I did a little historical research and discovered that one hundred and forty two years ago there were just fifty people living in Ashland, and fourteen of them were Methodists! Ours was the first church in town, organized by "circuit riders" who traveled from Jacksonville on horseback to conduct small group "class meetings." Eva Fugitt read Psalm 90 just a few moments ago, a scripture which speaks of the power and the love of God that predated even the beautiful mountains that surround our valley. "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God," the Psalmist says, and concludes with this prayer: "Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands." The prayer of the Psalmist has been answered in Ashland. The Body of Christ, the work of so many faithful hands, has prospered indeed! The oft-quoted motto that graces the beautiful stained glass window at the front of our historic sanctuary reads: "They builded better than they knew." Those quaint, antiquated words have long captured the imagination of those who have worshiped here and provide the focus for what I’d like to share with you on this Sunday when, once again, we break ground for our church.

Our Gospel lesson is Martha's great confession of faith. Martha was a worker, a faithful woman with a servant's heart. She was probably a charter member of the United Methodist Women. She's most often remembered as the sister of Mary, and she's gotten kind of a bad rap because of the one time she complained that Mary was sitting around listening to Jesus preach while she was clearing the table and doing all the dishes without any help. [Luke 10:40]  Like every good Methodist, Martha knew that faith and works belong together.  In our passage this morning Martha's brother, Lazarus has died and Jesus reassures her by saying, "I am the resurrection and the life, and everyone who believes in me will never die."  He concludes by asking her, "Do you believe this?" To which Martha replies, "Yes, Lord, I believe . . ."

Jesus is asking us the same question this morning and the health and vitality, the very Body of Christ as it exists in Ashland depends on your answer. Our mothers and our fathers, our brothers and sisters in Christ down through the years have joined with Martha in both the hard work and the affirmation of their faith as they continually breathed new life into this church. We are here this morning to continue their work, to celebrate our belief, and affirm our faith in the Living Body of Christ this community has long known as the First United Methodist Church of Ashland.

The work and service ethic of those early pioneer Methodists is expressed in the fact that, even before they began construction of their first church building, when they were still meeting in private homes and public schools, they had seen a need and organized themselves to meet it. In 1854 they initiated plans to build the Ashland Academy right across the street, on the site of what is now Briscoe Elementary School. This academy evolved into the first public high school in the state of Oregon outside the Portland area, and led directly to the creation of the Ashland Normal School, now known as Southern Oregon University.

There's a quote from the Ashland Tidings, dating back to 1877.  By then Ashland's population had swollen to 300 people, 70 of whom were Methodists.  Those 70 people were involved in the last stages of their fund raising campaign to build the new church. The Tidings article has this quote: "An earnest effort is being made to complete the church building. The ladies have taken hold of the matter and purpose . . ." And the ladies got the job done. The church was finally completed, at a cost of $3,500!

 And now we’re breaking ground – again!  We’ve just completed the first part of this remodel, which appropriately enough was a new foundation under the sanctuary.  I shudder to think how many years overdue that foundation work was.  Many of you toured it before and after and will remember the old stump and a few strategically placed stones that supported the chancel area.  There used to be a chiseled canal for the stream that ran through the basement during the rainy season and, of course, you’ll remember the stories of the old baptistery down there. When I first came someone told me there was a trap door under the pulpit that could land preachers in the drink.  I later found out the baptistery wasn’t under the pulpit after all, but by that time I’d already developed the cautionary habit of preaching as far from the pulpit as possible.

It’s been a tremendous blessing for me to have Nevitt Smith serving as Pastor Emeritus during my years here.  The last groundbreaking we had around here was 20 years ago, when Nevitt shepherded another Building Committee through the construction of Wesley Hall.  Nevitt and I stand in a long line of pastors who have gone before us and are yet to come.  Each pastor is assigned a time in the divine scheme for planting, watering and care taking the vineyard of God's church in Ashland.

 It's a little scary to be an itinerant preacher and be moved from church to church, but there's a wonderful passage in Paul's First letter to the Corinthians, in which he writes: "Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose . . . for we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building." [1 Cor. 3:7].

We are all connected, for we're a part of God's United Methodist family, and I'll close with these words from Paul's letter to the Ephesians: “I pray that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.”  Amen.