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Today's message for the moment is delivered by Reverend Dr. Bruce Willer-Thielman. Today's sermon is entitled "Of Tombstones and Milestones." The scripture reading of the morning is from the Gospel according to Mark, chapter 2. I begin the reading at the verse number 21. Jesus is speaking. "No one sews a piece of

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unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh skins." One Sabbath he was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to

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pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" And he said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him? How he entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for any but the priest to eat,

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and also gave it to those who were with him?" And he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." And may God bless to us and to our understanding this reading from his Word. Pray with me. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. The family's dog had developed an awful rash, and

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so they took the dog to the veterinarian. The vet said that the rash was so severe that the dog would have to be left there for regular treatment. "Well," they said, "the dog doesn't like to be left here." "Nevertheless," he said, "he must stay because he must be sprayed every hour on the hour, and you would not want this spray in your home." So they left the dog. And after the family was

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gone, the veterinarian lifted the dog very gently up onto the table and was examining the rash, and the telephone rang. And he turned to answer it, and as soon as the dog realized that the veterinarian was not looking, he decided to make his escape. And he jumped out the back window of the office into the parking lot behind. The vet saw this out of the corner of his eye and ran out

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the door, chasing the dog, trying to find it, looking under the cars and between the cars, and he couldn't find the dog. And he happened to notice the man walking down the sidewalk, and he said, "Friend, tell me, did you see an itchy pooch out here?" And the man looked at him and said, "I'm sorry. I can't tell one of those Japanese cards from another." "Well, I'll confess

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to you, I can't tell one of them from another either." They are gathering more and more, it seems, upon our highways, and they're but one expression of the very rapidly changing times in which we live. This is a changing world. Heraclitus said a long time ago that you cannot step into the same river twice. You may step into it once, but when you go to step into it again, the water into

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which you originally stepped has passed, and so it is a new river, a new body of water into which you are stepping. You can't step into the same river twice. Everything, he said, is always changing. But there are times when the current moves more swiftly than others, and this is certainly one of those times. Think about it for a moment. Our great-grandparents transported

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themselves in just the same way that the Israelites transported themselves when they came out of Egypt. That is, they either walked or they rode upon the back of some animal or they rode in a carriage which was being drawn by animals. That was just three generations ago. But today, we send astronauts into space traveling at 18,000 miles an hour. Do you remember when "made in

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Japan" meant junk? It certainly doesn't mean that anymore. It was prophesied a few years ago that Americans would move more and more into our cities and that our metropolitan areas would swell. But exactly the opposite is coming to the hand. We find families moving into rural towns, lower crime rates, property not so expensive, a better community value system with which their children

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can relate, better recreational activities. Not only that, but we discover that as people are moving into these small towns, more and more of them are running their own businesses out of their own homes. In the last six years, the number of businesses run out of private homes in this country has doubled. Now there are more than 21 million of them. And these homes, of course, out

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of which these businesses operate, are tied right into the vast communications network which is part of our tie. Computers, translators, transcribers, fax machines, television, fiber optics, it's possible for a person to do his work at home and transmit it all over fiber optics to his office, and he never has to go to the office at all. Who would have thought of this as little as a decade

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ago? Would you have believed 10 years ago that there would be more Muslims in this country today than there are Episcopalians? Would you believe that there would be 5 million Buddhists in America and that we now have Buddhist chaplains in the U.S. military? Would you believe that the first complete encyclopedia on Hinduism is presently being written, 21 volumes long, and it's being

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written and produced in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania? The television evangelists who were so popular just 10 years ago are now not popular at all. A recent survey has shown that 63% of our countrymen do not trust them. Would you have believed just a decade ago that 10% of our citizens would be involved in one expression or another of the New Age movement? Or would you have imagined that

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Allegheny County and the four counties surrounding it would lose more people in population in the last 10 years than any other metropolitan area in all of this country? Or that Allegheny County now has the oldest averaged-age citizen of any county in all of America except one, Dade County, Florida, which is made up almost entirely of retirees? Would you have believed that here,

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in what is called the heartland of Presbyterianism, where there are more Presbyterians than any other place in the country? Still, the number of Presbyterians is declining so rapidly that by the year 2015, that is, just 25 years from now, if the rate of decline continues, there will be no more Presbyterians in western Pennsylvania. Think of the swirl of events,

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the rapidly changing circumstances in which we live and move and have our being. Now, what does Christ say to such a changing world? Whenever you think about that, you must acknowledge, first of all, of course, that Jesus was himself an agent of change. His lifestyle was not the typical lifestyle of a first-century rabbi. He jolted Judaism again

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and again when he would say something like, "You have heard what has been said, but a new commandment give I unto you." That was an earth-shaking thing to be said in that time. That shattered all the religious customs of the day. Jesus took a faith and described it as a funeral and sought to bring out of it a faith which he described as a wedding feast. He said, "I bring

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to you a new covenant," and he told two parables that relate to change. Both of them are very short. He grew up in a low-income house in Nazareth, and there were no doubt many times that he saw his mother patching garments or patching pieces of family equipment because of their poverty. This was necessary. And it's out of this patching that he draws these parables.

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He says, first of all, "Which of you would put a new piece of cloth as a patch on an old garment? If you do that and the garment gets wet, the old garment, which has already shrunk, will not change. But that new piece of cloth, which has not yet been shrunk, it will shrink, and therefore it will tear itself away from the old garment, and you will have a greater rip than you had in the

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first place." Or he says, "Which of you would think of putting new wine into old wine skins?" In those days they kept wine in skins and not in bottles. Now new wine was always put into new skins because new skins were very elastic. They would stretch. And as the wine would ferment, it would emit gases, and these gases would build up pressure, and so you needed a skin that had some elasticity to it

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that would allow this process to go on. If you put that new wine into a parched, old, dried-out wine skin, then as it began to ferment and produce those gases, that old skin would not expand. It would instead explode, and you'd lose both the wine and the skin. No, Jesus says to his disciples, "We must learn to extend. We must learn to stretch. We must learn to accept that which goes on about

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us, the challenge of the changing times, and respond accordingly. New wine requires new skins." Now of course that was quite a hard word for some people in the first century to hear, just as it is a hard word for some Christians in the 20th century to hear. I read about a lady in Michigan who went to her church bazaar and bought a very beautiful piece of

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needlework on which the words appeared, "Prayer changes things," and she took it home and hung it up over the mantle in their family room. Three days later, she noticed it was gone. She said to her husband, "Did you take down that little plaque that I put up there?" He said, "Yes, I did." She said, "Don't you believe in prayer?" He said, "I certainly do believe in prayer,

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and I believe that prayer changes things, but I don't want things to change, so I took it down." Well, you know that type of person, the kind of person who wants no new garments, who wants no new wine, who wants no new skins. I remember when I was a boy going to the movies on Saturday afternoons. The shows were made up almost completely of cartoons and serials.

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You could come in at any time, it didn't make any difference, and be immediately involved just as you were the last time you were here. Well, there are a lot of people who want the church to be like that, always to be the same, so they can drop in at any time and find that nothing whatever has changed. They look upon the church more as a museum than as a launching pad. And interestingly

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enough, sociologists have demonstrated to us quite convincingly that the more rapidly change goes on outside the church, the more unchanging people within the church tend to become. The more swiftly the transformation, the transitionality of events outside the church, the more some people within the church want to keep things exactly as they have always been.

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This is in direct contradiction to what Jesus says. Jesus says new wine requires new skins. The changing church is the church that Christ calls for. And I think he calls for it in four different ways. First of all, Christ is seeking a church which has a heroic optimism. He says, "In the world you're going to have trouble, but be of good cheer, for I have

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overcome the world." Yes, things are moving swiftly. Yes, the rapidity leaves you in awe, and sometimes you are utterly confused as to which way to go. Do not be afraid, for I have overcome the world. Just go at it with all you've got and leave the rest to me. I used to love to watch Franco Harris when he ran in the backfield of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

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And you know, when they would hand him the ball, it would look as if he just tucked his head down and ran straight into that line as hard as he possibly could. But that's not what was happening at all. What was actually happening was this. They handed him that ball, and then Franco had to begin making instantaneous choices. Did he move to the left? Did he move to the right?

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Did he faint or did he continue to move in that direction? Did he slow down? Did he straight arm? Did he run faster? One decision after another. The changing scene in front of him required instantaneous response on his part. And he did it, of course, in a marvelous way. Well, that same mood or spirit is what Jesus seeks in the church. He says, "Be heroic. Be optimistic.

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Charge into that line, noting what's going on, making the moves and the adjustments, the changes that are necessary to score the TD. New wine requires new skins. And remember, you don't have to hold back, because I have overcome the world." The second thing that Jesus seeks is a church which has a healthy memory.

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You remember that beautiful place in the second letter of Paul to Timothy, in which he's talking to Timothy about how the young man became a disciple of Christ? And he reminds him that he learned his faith from his grandmother Lois and from his mother Eunice. And Paul speaks very highly of this. But immediately after he praises this, he goes on to say,

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"But now, Timothy, it is time for you to rekindle your faith, to shake off your timidity, and to move on in new ways." Paul is echoing what Christ says to the church. Christ says, "I did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it." That is, we don't have to look down on the past. We don't have to ridicule or reject the past.

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Not at all. We are to accept everything that is good in our tradition. But we are not to vote a straight ticket. We are not to be concerned only with yesterday. We are also to be concerned about today and tomorrow. Treasure tradition, but at the same time, don't miss the exhilaration of adventure.

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This is what brought Christ into opposition with the Pharisees. The Pharisees were so busy decorating the old tombs of their theology with more and more wreaths and ornaments, that Jesus finally said to them, "You have become like nothing more than sepulchers yourself. You are full of death because you are focused on the fossilized instead of the future."

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One of the things that this congregation has a great right to be proud about is the history of innovation which is part of this church's tradition. This is the first church in the city of Pittsburgh. The first people who gathered themselves together as a congregation

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gathered themselves together in this congregation. This is the church which went contrary to other Presbyterian churches in the area and hired as its minister a man named Samuel Barr who was a fugitive under the law because he was already in revolt against the King of England.

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But this church hired him. This is the church which started the University of Pittsburgh. This is the church that started Western Theological Seminary. This is the church that had the first weekly downtown service for businessmen.

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This is the church which, when other Presbyterian churches decided to leave the city, decided quite to the contrary to stay here. This is the church, the only church still in this county, which puts its worship services entirely upon television six times every week,

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giving people an opportunity to worship within a congregation within their own area. Now, when every single one of these changes or adjustments were being undertaken, there were people who opposed them, who were homesick for the way things used to be. But that did not hold this church back,

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because this church understands that a church is very much like a clock. It has one long hand that goes around the dial in an hour, and it has one short hand that goes around the dial in 12 hours. And you need both hands to get the correct time.

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In other words, you move slowly on the one hand, respecting and revering, remembering in a healthy way, the tradition which is yours. But at the same time, you move rapidly with regard to opportunities to confront change. You focus on the future.

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New wine demands new skins. And then Jesus is seeking also a church that is hungry for change. Jesus said, "You must be born again." Now, when a child is born, it immediately begins a process of change.

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We're fascinated, no matter how many times we see it, watching a little child adjust, discover his own hands and his feet, and that they work, and discovering his environment, and adventuring when he first is able to roll over and lift up his head,

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or begin to crawl across the room. All of these things are exciting to see. The idea of new birth carries with it the concept of growth, and of expansion, of new opportunities.

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And that's what Jesus is looking for in a church. You know, it is one of the great ironies of history that Christians, who are changed people, who have become new creatures, and have been made that way by the greatest changer in all of history, Jesus Christ,

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some Christians still are allergic to change. How can that be? Quite to the contrary, they are to be agents of change in the world, just as their Savior is.

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There's a man named Isaiah Karubi, who works at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, and he has developed a new chip, which he calls a "freshness chip." It's made out of engineered proteins and organic polymers.

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And they take this little chip, and they put one in every fish that is put out for sale. Now, as soon as that fish begins to turn, becomes no longer fresh,

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before even your nose can tell that, or your eyes can tell that, this little freshness chip changes color. So you only have to look at the chip to know whether that's a fresh fish or not. Churches ought to be fellowships in which every group and organization within the church

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has in it a freshness chip. And when they begin to turn, when things become stale, when there is no growth or new life or change, then it's time to throw it out.

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It's had its day, but now we move on. And please remember, when we move on, we do not have to always succeed in our moving. I had a man say to me once in California,

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"The church should never undertake a new program until it is sure that that program will succeed." And what I said to him, I'll say to you now. Go to the statistics of American baseball.

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Look up the name of the man who has the highest lifetime batting average of any baseball player in our national history. You'll find that the name of that man is Ty Cobb. His lifetime batting average was .367.

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That means that this man who got more hits on average than anyone else who's ever played the game of baseball only got a hit about three and a half out of every ten times that he came to bat. When we try something new, sometimes we're going to strike out.

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Sometimes we're going to ground out. Sometimes we're going to fly out. But we still keep coming to the plate because sometimes we're going to make hits and Jesus is hungry for a church

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that's making hits, that's adventuring, that's moving out. New wine requires new skins. And finally, Jesus is seeking a church which has a hallelujah commitment. Now, the church is having a hard time in America today.

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There are some places in the world where it's growing very rapidly. Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, South America, Russia, China. The church is making marvelous advances in some areas, but we're having some difficult days in this country today.

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How are we to respond to that? Jesus says, "The gates of hell will not be able finally to withstand the church." Now, I call that the hallelujah spirit. The word hallelujah means, you see, praise the Lord.

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I'm talking about the praise the Lord spirit. The motivation of a changing church is not selfish. It's not for its own pride's sake. It's not just to be novel and different.

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It's not even a matter of being obedient to Christ. It is a church that sees as its primary goal to glorify God. It wants to praise God in everything that it does. That's its motivation.

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And that's what I call the praise the Lord, the hallelujah spirit. Some remarkable things are being done in the church in this country today. Churches are moving into the media with great effect. Telemarketing has become a very important tool of evangelism.

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There are new focuses in Christian education. There's more accentuation on the spirit than the organizational aspects of the church. There is a movement toward small or cell group evangelism. There is a call to fly the flag of fellowship higher on the church's mast,

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reaching out to the many lonely people who are part of our world. This is the wave of the future. And Jesus seeks churches that catch that wave. This is one reason I'm very glad that the Pittsburgh Rhythm Machine is with us this morning.

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The music that they play, the hymns that you've been hearing, were written in the late 19th or the early years of the 20th century. They're old by present day standards. That's part of our tradition.

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And that music was developed down in the Southland. You heard them play just a few minutes ago, "Just a Closer Walk with Thee." And they started out very slowly because most of this music began with a small band leading a group of mourners to the cemetery.

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And so the music was played in a very mournful, in a very solemn, slow way. But then, after the burial, the procession turned around and started back into the city. And as it moved, the same tunes were picked up, but now they were picked up with a new beat and a new enthusiasm and a new drive.

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The focus was no longer on the funeral. It was on the future. We've taken some old music this morning, brought it into a church where it's never been this way before.

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The old being brought into a new context to do new things in a new day. Christ seeks a church that changes to meet the world. This Jesus, remember, is the one who said, "Behold, I make all things new."

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So some years ago, back at the time of our country's founding, an illiterate man in Philadelphia wanted to head for the frontier out here in the West. And he started to walk along what is now called the National Road or the National Pike. It's located just about 40 miles south of here, as most of you know.

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And as this man walked along, he saw periodically along the side of the road great slabs of stone on which some words had been carved. And being illiterate, he could not read these words. So he would stop in front of each one, and he would remove his hat and hold it over his heart,

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and he would bow his head, and he would think about the unfortunate dead. And then he would go on. Toward evening, a stranger observing him doing this said, "Why is it that you look so somber and sad?"

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"Oh," the man replied, "there are so many dead bodies buried along the sides of this road. Why, I've been stopped 15 times today to remember them." Whereupon the stranger said, "My friend, those are not tombstones. Those are milestones.

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You have been weeping over progress. We are not to be a whining church. We are to be a changing church, new skins for new wine. No weeping over tombstones, but reaching out toward new milestones.

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He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Pray with me. Our Father, we ask that thou would bless us and make us agents of the changing Christ in a changing world by proclaiming the old story in every new way that we can imagine.

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And by proclaiming it so, may we help to change people so that they become new creatures, for Jesus' sake and for their own. Amen.