Do you remember when we traveled with
Abraham and Sarah and Lot
from Ur of the Chaldees
and God led us to a new land
called Canaan?

Do you remember when we were slaves in Egypt
and they whipped us and starved us
and made us build their pyramids?
God raised up Moses and led us out of slavery
into the wilderness.

Do remember when Joshua
led us out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land,
a land flowing with milk and honey?
Surely God was with us then.

Do you remember our great kings,
Saul and David and Solomon
and how God blessed us and made us a great nation?

Do you remember when the Babylonians came
and carried us away into captivity.
We sat by the rivers and wept?
No songs came to our lips then
and we thought God had abandoned us.
Yet, after many years,
God made a straight, level path
leading us back to Israel.

Do you remember the day Jesus was baptized?
When he came up out of the water,
the heavens opened,
we heard God’s voice.
The Spirit descended from above
resting on his shoulders.

Do you remember when we were standing with John that day
and Jesus walked by?
John declared,
“Behold, the Lamb of God.”
Andrew and one of the disciples followed him.

Do you remember traveling with Jesus
from one end of the country to the other
as he preached and taught and healed with power.
Surely he was the Messiah.

Do you remember that night
when we gathered in the upper room,
Jesus and the disciples,
and we ate together?
Jesus took his robe off,
knelt down with a bowl of water and washed our feet
telling us we were to be servants of others.
After that he prayed for us
Like, maybe he wasn’t going to be around much longer.

And do you remember
the next day Jesus was arrested,
put on trial and later
crucified in the most horrible way?
We buried him and thought we had lost him
forever.

Do you remember when on the first day of the week,
Mary went to the tomb and it was empty.
Peter and the other disciple also saw that the body was gone.


Jesus appeared to Mary,
then to the twelve disciples.
When we were all gathered together,
he breathed on us and gave us the Holy Spirit.


We saw Jesus again,
when we were out fishing with Peter that day.
Jesus was standing on the shore.
He invited us to come and have breakfast with him.
Jesus called us to follow him into the world.


Do you remember that morning long ago,
the day we call Pentecost,
when the Spirit of Jesus sent us out
into the streets of Jerusalem.
We preached to the people
who had come from near and far for the Holy Days.
Three thousand people believed that day.
We baptized them and they went home and told others
about Jesus.

Do you remember traveling with
Paul and Peter and Timothy
and the other women and men who spread the faith,
the good news of Jesus
throughout the middle East, North Africa,
Europe and other places?
God was at work in and through them.

Do you remember many years later
the great migrations from
Europe and Asia, Africa and the Americas
that brought so many people to this new land.
Many of them were Christians
who brought their faith to this country.

My father’s family traveled here four generations ago
from northern Germany and France.
Some of my mother’s ancestors were even pilgrims
on the ship Mayflower.
God watched over them as they battled the Atlantic storms
landing at Plymouth.

Do you remember when your family came to Texas
settling in this fair town of Grand Prairie?
It was grand out here on the prairie, wasn’t it?
Surely God led you here with the other hardy pioneers
looking for new opportunities and a better place to live and worship.

Do you remember when Garrett Van Meter Millar
moved his family here in 1895.
He would ride his horse into Dallas
every Sunday to attend First Presbyterian Church.

And do you remember how the Holy Spirit
lit a spark in this community
and a group of faithful Christians gathered together
forming a Presbyterian church in February of 1907?

Do you remember when you first heard about Jesus,
when you were baptized,
when you went through confirmation class,
when you joined this church?
God was calling to you.

Do you remember the faithful elders and deacons,
the Sunday School teachers and youth group leaders,
the pastors,
the women and men who gave so much of their lives
to raise you up in the faith,
to make you strong in Christ
and make his church, this church
what it is today?
God was working in and through these good people.

They were pilgrims, all of them.
God called them out of this world,
set them aside, made them holy for God’s purposes.
God gathered them together
forming them into a community of sojourners.

These sojourners, these pilgrims,
beginning way back with Abraham,
have traveled many miles across the ages
with God in their midst,
seeking their true homeland.

They knew that they did not belong to this world,
but traveled, instead, toward the city of God.
Their home was in the kingdom of God.

And in their journeys
they learned to trust God.
Indeed, their journey was a sign of
their faith and obedience to God.

As they walked the path laid before them,
they were nourished and sustained along the way
by the promises of God along the way.

Through Jesus Christ
we have been made members of
this same pilgrim community.
We travel with the saints that have come before us.
We travel with each other,
companions in The Way,
a community of sojourners.

God has made us God’s people,
Christ has made us his disciples,
salt of the earth,
a light to the world.
It is we that carry the message of the Kingdom.
and that is the reason for our journey together,
to bring a message of true hope to the world.
We know where we have been
over these past thousands of years,
over this past one hundred years
that we celebrate today.

Where we will go in the coming years
only God knows,
but God has set before us a vision,
a better country, a homeland, a heavenly city,
that has strong foundations,
a city built by God.

In this city,
God’s love, God’s peace, God’s justice rule.
There is no hunger, no poverty, no death or no tears.
We carry these values with us as we travel,
walking with one another
and through the power of Christ
giving people a glimpse of God’s kingdom now.

As we travel forward from this day,
into tomorrow and the next day,
sometimes together and sometimes apart,
we remain God’s community,
a pilgrim people,
following in the footsteps of our pioneer,
Jesus Christ.

Singing aloud in one voice,
sharing the good news,
gathering in more disciples as we go,
we will be sustained and nurtured,
as were those before us,
by the promises of God.

Blessings and peace be with you in the journey.

Praise be to God.
Amen.

“A pilgrim people”

Deuteronomy 26:3-11, Hebrews 11:8-16, John 1:35-42

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