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It Takes a Whole Community
- Date: Fri, Aug 6, 2010
- Author: Paul Forman
It takes a whole community to run a church. As I sat listening to the questions and answers during the meetings between the congregation and the pastoral search committee, I was reminded of how many people are involved in the running of a church besides the ordained clergy. The larger the church is, the greater variety of skills which are needed.
Hands, feet, shoulders, ears, voices, minds, skills, talents and time—the body of Christ which needs each limb and aspect to be whole. Each part must be healthy and freely given or shared in a cooperative and focused manner. The Cheshire Cat said in effect to Alice, ”If you don’t know where you are going, you are likely to end up there,” but, I ask, “How will you know when you have arrived?”
I joined your journey last March as a bridge or a pilot pastor to cross an unknown gap of time. We are at last arriving at the end of this leg of the journey. We have a strong sense of where we want to go and now a leader who we believe will walk beside us on our way there. Arrival also means departure as the journey does not end. A new chapter begins. New adventures await. The work of being who God needs us to be continues.
Those on the next leg of the journey will be many who lived and worked through the transition joined by some who used the interim for other activities and increased by new folk attracted to the congregation’s excitement and new leadership. The new chapter will not be a reprise of the past or a return to the good old days. The last words of a dying church are “this is how we have always done it.” How it is done will be a way that comes from the new body of Christ formed with its new limbs and organs and resources. It will be a good way even if it is a different way. This is true, not only for the congregation, but for its new leadership. New staff will not just do things that they have done before nor the way they have always done it. They too will be experiencing new demands on their skills. We are called to be faithful in the present where God is at work creating the future. A glance in the rear view mirror will keep us apprised of lessons learned from the past but our focus must be looking ahead and each one bringing their current abilities and resources to keep the body of Christ alive and vital.
Congratulations! You have come to the river and taken the plunge.
Exciting things are ahead. Are you ready?
These are the scripture readings in the Revised Common Lectionary for the forthcoming Sunday:
Isaiah 1:1
1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Isaiah 1:10-20
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
12 “When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
13 Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17 learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow's cause.
18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be eaten by the sword;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Psalm 50:1-8
God Himself Is Judge
A Psalm of Asaph.
50:1 The Mighty One, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.
3 Our God comes; he does not keep silence;
before him is a devouring fire,
around him a mighty tempest.
4 He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
6 The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge! Selah
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
Psalm 50:22-23
22 “Mark this, then, you who forget God,
lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!
23 The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
to one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!”
Hebrews 11:1-3
By Faith
11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
Hebrews 11:8-16
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
Luke 12:32-40
32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
You Must Be Ready
35 “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
