Annual Meetings Here We Come!

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.

Over the past week, I have been blessed to be able to share in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  So often we get caught up in the various ways that we are different.  We look at our differences and see them as reasons to stay apart.  We look at our precious resources and we protect them as if by sharing them they will suddenly disappear.

Over the past week, we have been celebrating the ways in which our differences can make us stronger together.  We have been celebrating with each other, bringing our gifts together and sharing in each other’s worship.  We have been enriched by our differences and blessed by a greater recognition of our common goals.  We came together, not as the whole Body of Christ, but certainly a greater part of it than any one group of us can be alone.

It was certainly a hectic time for my first week here in the parish, but I give thanks for being blessed with this experience.

Today’s lesson from the first letter to the church in Corinth is part of Paul’s description of the Body of Christ and of spiritual gifts.  He talks about how members of the church come from all backgrounds. … Some are rich.  Some are poor.  Some are Greek.  Some are Jews.  Some are male.  Some are female. … But we are all members of the one body.  We are all members of Christ’s church through our baptism.

Just as we all come from different backgrounds, we all bring different skills, talents, and resources with us to Christ’s table.  We all contribute to the body of Christ and we all help shape the body of Christ.  With the loss of the gifts of any one of us, the body of Christ is reduced.  Without any one of us, the ability of the church to do God’s work is made smaller.

This is true not only in our greater Christian community, but also here in our parish and in our individual congregations.

Not only did I arrive just in time for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  Can anyone tell me what other hectic times are coming up?

Well, there’s Ash Wednesday through Easter coming upon us fast, but even before that we start our annual meetings.  They start next week.  EEK … or is that UGH!

Now is the time to think about what gifts we each we have to offer.  How we can be involved in God’s work through our church.  What resources of time, talent and treasure we have that we can return to God.  How involved we each want to be in the decision making of the church.  As I said earlier, when we share what we have, it doesn’t suddenly disappear.  That is part of the blessing of God’s abundance.  When we give what we have, we end up with more blessings that we can imagine.

Also as we enter into our time of annual meetings and approach the season of lent, it is a good time for us all to think about what we feel we are called to do together in this church and in this parish.  What are the ministries which are going well and just need our continued support?  What are the ministries that are in need of additional help?  What are the ministries that have fallen aside and need either to be grieved and let go with thanks to all who made them possible or given new life and new vision to carry into the future?  What are the ministries needed here in this parish which have been missing?  What is needed that we could provide?

I look forward to working with all of you to discover some of these answers and I’m sure you will bring me new questions that never occurred to me.  This week we started a journey together as a parish: to truly discover each other’s strengths and weaknesses, to help each other overcome that which must be overcome, to support each other in our various ministries, and to share the love of God that we see in Jesus Christ and in each other.

May we always seek the image of God in each other and in everyone that we meet.  And with God’s help, may we be a blessing to God and to each other.  Amen.

The Conversion of St. Paul (and hopefully of us all)

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.

Today we are not only celebrating our fifth and final service in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we are also celebrating the Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle.  I think this Holy Day is a fitting end to our week of exploring what it means to us to be united as Christians and with Christians throughout the world.

Usually when we hear the word conversion we think of a change from one type of thing to another type of thing.  We convert power from AC to DC.  We convert measurements from feet into meters or temperature from Fahrenheit to Celsius.  And we convert people from one religion to another or one denomination to another.  This type of converting is what I think of when I hear “conversion.”  Is it the same for you?

This is not what happened when Paul had his conversion.  Paul was a Jew who was very concerned about keeping his religion “pure.”  He was a “good guy” doing what he saw as God’s work.  He was going from place to place and rooting out this upstart Jewish sect that was causing schism.  He was a devout man protecting what he saw as holy.  As Glen said yesterday, he was completely sane or rational in his chosen work.

When Jesus came to Paul, Paul was converted.  Did he stop being a Jew?  No.  To the end of his days, Paul never stopped being a Jew.  What changed was not his religion.  It was his understanding of purity.  What Jesus showed Paul was that by keeping his religion pure, by keeping out “undesirable” elements, he was not making it stronger.  In fact, he was making it weaker.  Jesus opened his heart to the understanding that his God was not interested in caring only for the people of Judah.  Jesus brought the message that every single person on this earth is one of God’s chosen.  Every single person on this earth is God’s beloved.  Every single person on this earth is created in God’s image.  Every single person, whether we like them or not, whether we agree with their understanding of God or not, whether they even believe in God or not, shares this in common with us.  They are created in God’s own image.  And just as God loves them, so should we.

Thanks be to God.  Amen.

God is calling -- are you listening?

Ramblings from the Rector

With you is wisdom, she who knows your works and was present when you made the world; she understands what is pleasing in your sight and what is right according to your commandments. Send her forth from the holy heavens, and from the throne of your glory send her, that she may labor at my side, and that I may learn what is pleasing to you. For she knows and understands all things, and she will guide me wisely in my actions and guard me with her glory. (Wisdom 9:9-11 NRSV)

Do you remember when you were a child?  When you prayed for something and expected for it to happen?  I do.  Sometime between then and now, unfortunately, I grew up.  I came to understand that my prayers would not always be answered, or at least that’s how I saw it.  I started to look for my answers in other places.  When I first felt the call to the priesthood, I tried to look for answers in other places.  I searched online and read other accounts of their own calls.  I talked to friends who are priest (including a retired bishop) and asked them what to do.  They all sent me in the same direction – a direction that I had pretty much given up with my childhood.  – Listen to God!  This was something that I didn’t know how to do.  I understood how to pray, to give my thoughts and concerns to God, but I didn’t know how to listen for the response.  I mean, God talked to people in the old days but that time is past.  God works differently now.  God works only through mystery, not direct communication. – Wrong!!! – God still calls us.  Most of us have just forgotten how to pick up the phone!  I had forgotten how to listen.  Of all the things that I had to learn from the moment I felt God’s call to the end of my schooling at Vancouver School of Theology, this was the hardest, and at the same time the most simple.  Hearing God talking to you doesn’t take any special practice.  You don’t have to meditate or pray for long periods of time.  You don’t have to fast or cleanse yourself in any special way.  Although these things and many others help some people.  All you have to do is have faith.  Such a simple thing and yet so difficult.  You have to truly believe that God may be speaking to you at any moment.  You have to be ready to drop everything and listen.  And here’s the hardest part, you have to recognise God’s voice.  There is no easy way to tell you how to recognise God’s voice.  Everyone hears it in their own way.  I often hear it through nature, through the movement of leaves on a tree, the snow blowing across the road, the waves crashing on the shore.  The best advice I can give you about how to recognise god’s voice is to listen to the words of Psalm 46: “Be still and know that I am God.”  If you think you hear God’s voice, find a quiet place within and listen.  You will know God in your heart.

Goodbye

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you."

Matthew 17:19-20 NRSV

          Last year at this time this parish was faced with the very real possibility that the doors of the church would be closed sometime within the year.  With the increase in the cost of keeping our buildings open and the continued drop in the number of practicing Anglicans in our community, we were very close to being in financial crisis.  I am happy to say that this is no longer true.  This does not mean that the road forward will be easy.  This does not mean that the financial troubles of this parish are over.  But it does mean that the current crisis is past.

          How did this happen?  It happened because the two churches in this parish were able to come together, to work together for their common good.  It happened because you were able to look past the crisis to what you want for the future.  It happened because you had faith in yourselves, faith in each other, and faith in God.  It happened because you looked at this parish which God has placed in your care and you said to yourselves that it would not disappear on your watch.

          As you go forward into this new year you will be deciding your immediate future.  You will be asked what you see as the primary ministries of this parish.  You will be asked about your needs and the needs of this community.  You will be asked about your strengths and your weaknesses.  You will be asked to match those needs and ministries with the gifts that you are looking for in a new rector.

In years to come, you will continue to have financial challenges and you will face new challenges.  In the future, the next time things begin to look grim, I pray that you will be able to look back at 2012, at the challenges that we faced together, and that you will continue to have faith.  There is such strength in this community.  I am sure that when you look to each other and say “I believe” you will find the strength and the ability to face whatever challenges come your way.

          And above all else:  remember, this is the church that God has placed in YOUR CARE.  You have much to be proud of, but it will take the work and dedication of everyone to make it to gift that it could be for this community.

May we all face our challenges with grace and faith in the One who supports all of our efforts.