"Casey White is part of  Tabor's Vision Team"

My name is Casey White, and I am a lifetime member of Mount Tabor. During this Lenten season we have been focusing on God’s gracious gift of resilience, resilience in ourselves, the resilience of the people of Los Zapotes, the resilience of people within our congregation who have faced life challenges and the resilience that comes through the support of others. Stephanie so beautifully illustrated how resilience is a story of lights extinguished and new lights shining through the darkness. Tonight, I am going to talk about God’s gracious gift of resilience as it relates to our congregation.

Resilience is defined as successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences. It’s the mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility to adjust to external and internal demands. If there ever was a definition that fit Mount Tabor it would be that. I have often heard Tabor described as the “little engine that could”. In its 116-year history it’s been the resilience of its people through the grace of God that finds us still proclaiming and living God’s word in the heart of the city. I often ask people what brought them to Mount Tabor and what keeps them here. What brought me to Tabor were my parents, in a stroller, 67 years ago. Didn’t have much choice in the matter. What has kept me at Tabor has been its spirit of welcoming, adapting, and listening to a God that continues to say “I’m not done with you yet Mt. Tabor! I still have big plans for you”.

Has Tabor changed at all in those 67 years that I’ve been around? Absolutely! Changing demographics, cultural norms, social upheaval, and oh yeah, that little pandemic thing have all forced Mt. Tabor to heed God’s voice when God, through the Holy Spirit, comes in our darkest moments and reminds us that “I still have big plans for you Mt. Tabor. I’m not done with you yet”.

Changing demographics have challenged us to reassess what our mission is here in the heart of the city.  What once was a church of large families – remember when the norm was to have 4 or 5 kids? (I was looking through an old church directory and was amazed at all of the families that had 4 or more kids) – that church with large families and a Sunday School of over 100 kids meeting in any space we could find, is no more. Our large membership was the impetus for moving from our original building in the avenues to where we are now. That was a leap of faith by a congregation that was committed to being God’s presence in the heart of the city. The flight to the suburbs, a shrinking membership, what had been working before no longer working, no longer that “traditional” congregation that we were in the 50’s and 60’s have all tested Tabor’s resilience.

Membership has fluctuated greatly over the years. There have been many times that we really struggled in meeting our budget to the point where bills would go unpaid. Twice in my memory the synod at that time threatened to shut us down. We were on mission support and they no longer viewed us as viable. Pastor Auer who was here from 1980 through 1988 recounts how the synod sent him here to basically close down Mount Tabor. God had other plans! It was in those moments that Tabor’s spirit of resilience rose to the occasion. Closing down was not an option. “Not on our watch” was the rallying cry. God was calling us to step out of our comfort zone, to reassess who we are and how could we address the needs of a changing neighborhood and a changing congregation. At one point we were actually approached by a developer who wanted to purchase our property for a commercial development. Given the state of our finances at the time it would have been tempting to take the offer and flee to the suburbs, but God had other plans. God was reminding us that we are in this neighborhood for good (both meanings of that word).

Given who we are as a congregation we looked at the demographics of our neighborhood, who are our neighbors, what are their needs. What is the makeup of our congregation. It was certainly not a church made up of large families. How best could we use our building for the good of our neighborhood and how best could we serve the changing face of our congregation? Out of these kinds of discernments came – a day care preschool in our basement run by Dannie Gavros that served upwards of 30 children from the immediate area; a ministry for seniors, the OAKS program; partnerships with Crossroads Urban Center, St. Vincent De Paul, and the Utah Food Bank, partnerships that continue to this day; opening our building to community groups such as City Art, 12 Step groups, and an after school tutoring program; partnering with Lutheran Campus Ministry at the U of U – some of you may remember Jean McCreery the campus minister who was an active member of Mt. Tabor; adding a building addition to better serve those with disabilities; refocusing on our strengths of innovative worship, strong preaching and an amazing music ministry, strengths that continue to this day. While it’s always nice to see these kinds of efforts result in membership growth which it did to a degree including Chris and Jenny Jensen who were introduced to Tabor through City Art as well as others who were drawn here because of our commitment to social ministry, our primary goal was to best meet the needs of a changing community and the changing faces of our congregation. Did you know that we were the first Lutheran congregation in Utah to become a Reconciling in Christ Congregation because we wanted to create a safe space where people could be who God created them to be. This was in the 90’s folks. It was many years before there were any other RIC congregations in Utah. There have been many who have been drawn to Tabor because of our Reconciling in Christ commitment.

Mount Tabor has indeed had its ups and downs. Membership has fluctuated multiple times over the years but with God’s enduring grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, Mount Tabor continues to heed God’s call – “I still have big plans for you. I’m not done with you yet”. Think about the pandemic. Talk about needing resilience in the face of adversity. All of a sudden, we were faced with having to do church in a way we have never done it before. And here we are with state-of-the-art live streaming reaching people we may have never reached before and now having folks back in the pews. Thanks be to God! What a testament of resilience. God still has big plans for us as we move into Tabor’s future, whatever that future may look like. We listen to each other, we discern through the Holy Spirit how best to serve each other and how best to serve our community. That is the spirit of Mount Tabor, a spirit of resilience and progress. God is not done with us yet!

Gracious God, thank you for the legacy left by all those who have gone before us in this congregation, a legacy of resilience. Help us to honor that legacy as we boldly go where no Lutheran congregation has gone before. Amen.