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.