Today marks the start of the long Christian season that lies between Pentecost, which we celebrated last Sunday, and the start of Advent in late November. For some reason the church has never given this season a name other than “Ordinary Time” or “The Season After Pentecost”, but traditionally, this first Sunday of the new season after Pentecost celebrates the Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Now I know what you’re thinking: Gosh, what a great opportunity for Alan to explore the latest theological debates about the essence and nature of the Trinity, or perhaps he’ll outline the history of the concept of the Trinity going back to the earliest days of the Christian church.
However, I am going to give this wonderful opportunity a pass. I am actually much more interested in the concept of today being the start of a new season – a new beginning, as it were.
A new season is always a significant time. The start of fall for parents means back to school shopping. The start of winter used to mark the season of Christmas shopping, but according to Costco, that season starts in August.
So here we are at the start of this new Christian season. Earlier this week, the BC government announced the plan to gradually end the lockdown and social restrictions that have been in place. At some point in the next few months, if all goes well, we will see a return to in-person worship.
It probably comes as no surprise that during the lock-down, we at Comox United have seen fewer church activities. In a couple of weeks, Joyce Wagland, Robin Giles and I will be virtually attending the Annual Meeting of the our Regional Council, and I’m sure we will hear many of the same stories from other congregations.
The exciting thing for us as a congregation will be deciding what new things we want to do as we come back together again. When I worked at Niagara College in Ontario, the dean of our department would continually challenge us to conceive of and implement improvements to our programs, saying “If we’re not moving forward, we’re falling behind.”
In the same spirit, what new things can we as a church community do?
In a new time of raised awareness about systemic discrimination against the LGBTQ2S+ community and against Blacks, Indigenous people and people of colour, how can we as a congregation raise our profile as the only Affirming church in the Comox Valley, and indeed, the only Affirming church anywhere north of Parksville?
In a time of increased awareness about ecological stewardship, how can we as a congregation lead the Comox Valley in new programs, in education and in awareness?
How can we as a congregation, be leaders of social justice and reconciliation in our community?
We have been blessed with an enormously talented congregation representing a diversity of talents. As the apostle Paul wrote in his first letter to the church in Corinth, we have among us apostles, prophets, teachers, people performing mighty deeds, people with gifts of healing, people providing assistance to others, administrators, and those who speak various languages.
We are all prepared to get ready to move forward with our mission as a church as the lockdown ends. Or are we?
Several year ago, my father, a retired schoolteacher, died unexpectedly. A couple of days later, while tidying up his office, I turned on his computer and discovered he’d been working on a sermon. He, like Elaine and I, had been asked to lead worship at his church in the absence of the minister. The scripture reading he had chosen for his sermon was Matthew 25: verses 1-13, the same passage I read earlier. In this parable, Jesus tells his followers that the Kingdom of God will be like ten bridesmaids who took their oil lamps to an evening wedding feast. As was the custom of the day, the party couldn’t start until the bridegroom had arrived. However, he was unexpectedly delayed, and by the time he arrived, all of the bridesmaids’ lamps had run out of lamp oil. Five of the women had wisely brought extra lamp oil, and were able to join the feast immediately. The other five had to go back to town to buy more oil, and by the time they got back to the party, they found themselves locked out.
My father’s sermon focussed on the concept that the time to prepare for the Kingdom of Heaven is not that point in time when you need to get ready. No, the time to prepare for getting ready is now! He called it “getting ready to get ready.”
I like to think of our church community as a sailing ship, on a mission for God, guided by the compass of Jesus, powered by the wind of the Holy Spirit. We are crew of the ship, doing everything from running up the sails to swabbing the decks. Our captains are our ministers and our Church Board.
Over the past year of COVID restrictions, it feels like our ship has been at harbour. Not inactive – witness the recent “drive-by drop off” outreach event organized by our United Church Women and Social Justice Committee – but I think it is fair to say that we as a church have been less active since the end of in-person worship. Our ship has been at harbor.
But it is almost time to set sail again. As the famous saying goes, “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”
In the next weeks or months, we will be getting ready move back towards in-person worship. But before we set sail, we need to check that everything is in place. In the words of my father, we need to be getting ready to get ready.
Last week, members of our congregation received a document from the church office that listed all of the people who serve on various committees, and the one thing that stood out for Elaine and I was that there are some significant positions that have become vacant since we have gone into COVID lockdown: the chair and vice-chair of the board, the coordinator of the
Property Group, the coordinator of the Congregational Life Group, the coordinator of the Social Justice and Education Group.
Of course it’s easy to understand why – with no in person church services, and no in-person group meetings, members of our congregation likely have not realized that these vacancies exist.
But using the analogy of the sailing ship, these positions are significant captains of the S.S. Comox United.
If we want to be ready to return to the high seas with a sense of mission and purpose, we need to fill these positions now.
Will taking on one of these positions mean more work? Of course! Joyful, meaningful work that will have the full support of the congregation and ministers.
Involvement now at the start of this period of re-energizing and re-connection means new voices and new ideas
And new voices and new ideas add up to new energy, giving the S.S. Comox United the opportunity to travel to new exciting places.
If you are a part of our congregation, and have done good work for the church in the past, but you’ve taken the past year off because of COVID, now is the time to re-engage. If you are a new member of the congregation, or have been with us for a while but have not given some thought as to how you too can be a part of our mission, now is the time to consider how you can be a part of our mission.
You can find the church phone number and email address on the front page of our website at comoxunitedchurch.com Contact Lorna in the church office and let her know that you have gifts of time and talent to offer.
Today is the start of a new season at the church, a time of new possibilities, if we are willing to step forward and take up these challenges. It is a time of getting ready to get ready
In the words of Isaiah,
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"