As a part of this time Gord will be taking one week of study leave to go on retreat. After his return he will share what that experience was like.
Just as a reminder, General Council is meeting this week in Thunder Bay. Keep up on what is being decided by visiting the UCCan website.
The Hymns this week are:
The Sermon will be based on the Ephesians reading and is titled God's Transformation -- How Can we become Imitators of God?
Early Thoughts: The first three times I read this passage I was left wondering what to do with it. Do I ignore it and preach about the upcoming meeting of General Council (which starts this Sunday)? Do I preach on one of the other passages? I simply didn't see what I could have to say about this one. But then I read it again and saw the way in.
This passage is a call to be transformed. It talks about putting away falsehood, about thieves giving up stealing, about putting away bitterness, anger, slander and malice. Then comes the real kicker. It calls us to be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love. Oh yeah, that sounds nice and easy doesn't it?
In her piece Imago Dei Jill Warner writes:
Imago Dei, Imago Dei,
Born in the Image of God are we.
Imago Dei, Imago Dei,
Called to compassion, born to be free.
How shall we live as images of God?
How best reflect the wonder of our maker?
Humbly we will walk, with mercy respond
And know the Essence of Love is always with us. Refrain
How shall we love the neighbour filled with greed?
How best respond to those consumed by hatred?
Look beyond the fear that keeps them from knowing
The Abundance of Love that's always with us. Refrain
©2004 Jill Kirsten Warner
How indeed do we live as images of God? How can we be imitators of God? By letting the Essence of Love flow into and change us. Being one of the people of God means allowing ourselves to be transformed, changed. It means remembering that we are created in God's Image and that we have a responsibility to live that out. That is what this passage is telling us.
It sounds hard doesn't it, to change our ways? But it is possible. That is the key, the important thing to remember, it IS possible. With the help of God it is possible to live as an imitator of God, to let God shine through all we are and all we do. The last verse of Imago Dei says:
Then shall we see the images of Christ.
Then shall we know that God is in our neighbour.
Humbly we will walk, with mercy respond
And know the Essence of Love is always with us. Refrain
©2004 Jill Kirsten Warner
There it is. It is possible. And when we start to live it out for ourselves we see God's imitators living around us too. And if we all start to do that, what a wonderful world that would be.
--Gord
IF any congregation members have ideas to feed into this discussion they are warmly welcomed by the Board. Please talk to Gord or one of the Board members. OR, if you prefer, you can put your thoughts in writing and give it to one of us or leave it on the offering plate.
The Hymns this week are:
The Sermon will be based on the Ephesians reading and is titled Growing in Faith -- Being Who We are Called to Be.
Early Thoughts: The life of faith is about growth. Only by opening ourselves to growth will we be able to do as the author requests in verse 1 of this passage I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Later, in verses 14 and 15 he writes: We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. The life of faith calls us to be open to grow and mature and develop.
Many times in my life I have heard church-people complain that things are changing too much. There is often a desire for the faith to literally be "the faith of our fathers" or at least to be the faith of our childhood Sunday School. At the same time there is, in many of the mainline churches at least, a feeling among church leadership that not enough study, not enough growth is happening. If faith development is seen as Sunday School, youth group and confirmation (and in many places that is seen as the tasks of the Christian Education Committee, Adult Bible Study is seen as being somehow different) then we never have the chance to mature in faith.
But of course we don't stop developing when we become adults. Our lives continue to change. New questions come up that don't always fit with the old answers. We need to continue to study our faith, to ask questions of it and about it. We need to keep growing.
Many places today talk about church growth. Most of them are talking about things like building size, number of bums in the pews, number of baptisms, amount raised for ministry (local and broader outreach). But in the end there is only one type of church growth that matters. That is the growth of individuals as children of God, growth in the depth of faith. Without that all the numbers can easily become a social club. Growing in quantity isn't the issue, growing in quality is. (And there is always the, very real, chance that a church which grows in quality will develop such exuberant Christians that they naturally draw others to come and see what all the excitement is about.)
We are all God's children. God's hope is that we will grow and develop as long as we draw breath. What does it mean for us to come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ (verse 13)? Howw are we pushing ourselves and our faith to deeper levels? What questions are dying to be answered in our souls? Let's talk about it, let's talk about how and where we need to grow. Then let's work together to find ways to make that happen.
As a part of this Sunday some potential ideas for adult Bible Study in the fall and winter will be raised for people to consider...
--Gord
For music we will be using the overhead (no hymn books at camp) and singing either a capella or to guitar accompaniment.
The Sermon will be What Happened at Camp?
The Hymns this week are:
The Sermon will be based on the Ephesians reading and is titled Walls that Divide -- No MORE!
Early Thoughts: One of the great gifts that Pauline theology has given us is a response to the divisive forces within the Christian church. I remember my New Testament Professor telling of a question asked when he was in seminary. "Was there ever a time when the church was undivided?" The answer: "Probably for the first few hours." In both the book of Acts and in Paul's letters we can see hints of the deep divisions that were rocking the early church. One of the most important at that time was the debate about circumcision and the admission of Gentiles to the church (which began as a subset of Judaism).
In response to these talks about division, Paul gives us wonderful passages like 1 Corinthians 12 (the one about the body parts needing each other) and Galatians 3:28 where he says that in Christ there is no Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. While this passage from Ephesians may not be as well known or as easily quoted (it really doesn't flow as easily as the body discussion in 1 Corinthians) it is just as good a description of how we are one in Christ.
In recent decades the United Church of Canada has been rocked with the fear (or the threat) of splitting. For a while in the late 20th century reports from General council meetings spoke of the deep anger between the two extremes of the church (there is a story of a bag of excrement being placed (dumped?) on the table of a conservative group by those who disagree and stories of those on the left of the church being accused of heresy and condemned to damnation). The tension still exists. A denomination our size has many sub-groups within it that need to find a way to work and live together.
This summer General Council meets to discuss and discern the future of the United Church of Canada. Discussion about direction setting can be difficult. There are proposals being made that will impact the budgets of congregations, sometimes heavily. It is time once again to remember that what divides us is not as important as what unites us. Ephesians 2:14 says :"For he [Christ] is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us." Christ is our uniting focus. Former moderator Walter Farquharson writes "Walls that divide are broken down; Christ is our unity! Chains that enslave are thrown aside; Christ is our liberty!" As we pray for those who will gather in Thunder Bay August 13-19, let us all remember our unity, our ability to agree to disagree and then join hands and heart in song and in prayer.
--Gord
