Karen Hollis | Nov 12, 2023
Stewardship 4: Celebration
Psalm 96
O sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvellous works among all the peoples.
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
he is to be revered above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Honour and majesty are before him;
strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering, and come into his courts.
Worship the Lord in holy splendour;
tremble before him, all the earth.
Acts 2:42-47 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be reflections of your word to us today, in Christ’s name we pray. Amen
First of all, I have thanks to express as we wrap up our Called to be the Church series. To the congregation, to all who gather on Sunday mornings, to all who participate in the life of the church, thank you for journeying with us as we explore the world of stewardship. To my understanding, this is the first time Comox United has walked through something we might call a Stewardship campaign. While those of us who have been around church for a long time expect that at some point we’ll dig into stewardship, this is a historical first for this congregation. So, thank you for journeying with us. Thank you for all you give of your time, your energy, gifts and skills, and your resources.
And thank you to the Stewardship Team: Alan Brown, Joanne Wiens, and Bev Sparks. Thank you for offering your particular gifts, experience, and wisdom in this area. Thank you for your time and your leadership, and the skillful way you led us through this process.
Called to be the Church comes at a particular place on the timeline of Comox United. Last year you all came through a long and challenging season of processing your shared grief over the loss of a former minister, navigating ever evolving configurations of ordered and lay leadership, due to illness, you navigated COVID and more. You’ve come through a time where congregation members really stepped up and collaborated to keep the church together. About a year and a half ago, you completed a visioning process, through which you identified the values that guide you as a community. . . and then you hired a new minister to lead in that effort. Collectively, you’ve done amazing, difficult, and important work to come to this place . . . and I hear that many of you are understandably pretty tired.
I also hear something else . . . I hear that there is new energy bubbling up in the congregation. People are excited about stuff, people are inspired by our values, you’re engaged with things like the Matthew Mystery Project, you’re are reconnecting after COVID shutdowns . . . things are happening . . . just don’t ask me to be on a committee or attend a meeting, right?
It is with this general backdrop that we wrap up our series: Called to be the Church. With our time, talent and treasure, we are invited to invest in this moment where it is important to honour the past, our journey to get here, be present here and now, and through our values and processes like strategic planning, look to the future with purpose and intentionally. As we discern our way forward, we are not starting from scratch, but in a story that is already unfolding.
The Jesus movement also started in this way, as a story already unfolding. Most of us have heard that after Jesus’ resurrection, all of Jesus’ followers were gathered in one place for the Jewish Festival of Weeks, otherwise known as Pentecost. Suddenly there was a great rush of wind and the Holy Spirit came down and rested on each of them like tongues of fire. They began speaking in many languages such that everyone observing this phenomenon could understand them. People were amazed and confused by what they were observing. Peter stood up and spoke words of the Jewish prophet Joel and of King David . . . he re-interpreted for them their own Jewish tradition and proclaimed Jesus as the messiah they have been waiting for. Many were inspired to turn their hearts and lives once again toward God and be baptized in Jesus’ name.
When we hear this story, we often interpret that these people are being converted from Judaism to Christianity, while historically, Christianity didn’t even exist yet. So, they are being converted within their own tradition: from one way of being Jewish to another way of being Jewish.1 Perhaps they hear the Good News of Jesus and respond, yes, that resonates! That’s how I want to live my Jewish faith! So, the movement grew . . . not separate from Judaism, but within it. The followers of Jesus lived in community. It made sense for them at that time to hold their property in common so they could more easily meet needs as they arose. They went to Temple and gathered in each other’s homes to share the stories of Jesus, to eat, pray, and celebrate communion together. Sound familiar? Their pattern of gathering echoes in our liturgy still today. The early followers of Jesus were holding in tension the past, present, and future: their well-established pattern of Jewish life, the power of Jesus in their midst, and openness to follow where Christ was leading.
This is more or less the work of our strategic planning process to look at this moment of tension between the past, present and future. Those taking on this work on behalf of the congregation are looking at how we’ve arrived at this moment, what is bubbling up among us, lifting up and naming the various qualities of our life together, wondering about our stuck places, asking where the important places are to put our energy, what support we need, and “in what areas of ministry are we exhausted?”
This work takes some energy . . . so we’re grateful when someone brings cookies. We’re grateful to everyone who participates in the life of the congregation. Without all of us . . . without everything we do and all the ways we give, there is no community. We’re it. And God made us for this. In community we experience connection, celebration, meaning making, heartbreak, frustration, love, growth, learning, all the stuff of life. In community we experience the Holy, the spirit of Christ, who meets us where we are, who meets us in the stories of Jesus, who, in the midst of our circumstances, reminds us of our choices, our opportunities, the available possibilities.
Christ illuminates for us the possible pathways for making our vision/values/longings a visible reality. I’ve talked about this several times over the past year – Jesus teaches us about possibilities. Here in this moment, when we’ve come so far, I invite you to consider . . . do you believe him?? Do you believe Jesus when he says, for example, loving one another is our most important job? That love creates possibilities? Can you imagine that this has something to do with you and your participation in this community? I ask because the way we come to this moment impacts how we navigate it. Imagination and belief – probably also some faith – are powerful tools for purposefully and intentionally walking into the future that we recognize is available to us. Imagination, belief, and faith, come together with congregational commitment, data and discernment to help us walk forward with confidence that we collectively have what we need to proceed in a good way, in alignment with God’s call for us, even if that specific call is not as clear now as it will become. This is the work we’re doing together and it is a reason to celebrate and give thanks for all of us who journey together; this is a reason to pause and give thanks . . . and eat cake!
