August 25, 2019 Vital Congregation 6 St Andrew Church Rev. Anne McAnelly
11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade others; but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. 15 And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me face to face. 2 I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ himself, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I am saying this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice to see your morale and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
We did it! We made it through our sermon series on the seven Marks of Vital Congregations. Well today will be our final one- ecclesial health. That’s just a Greek work for church. So how healthy is St. Andrew? But before we address that, I want to recap what we have already learned.
- Lifelong Discipleship Formation means we are always growing in our faith and not simply attending church. Engaging with the Bible means we can deepen our faith and challenge the injustice of the day, while inviting Christ into all parts of our life.
- Intentional Authentic Evangelism means we see our story in God’s story, so we want to share it! Evangelism is not a task or a program rather it is a joy of being in relationship with Christ. So we welcome people where they are to share their story too.
- Outward Incarnational Focus – is Caring for people around us because God loves us so much as to be born in a stable and loves us even more now. God’s love empowers our service to our community and the least of these.
- Empowered Servant Leadership means we are all in this together. We are all called to be servants of Christ and we look for ways to make that happen. Does the church encourage and nurture leaders?
- Spirit Inspired Worship asks what’s meaningful in worship and are we open to God leading us into a new direction? Do we have a spiritual practice that helps to enliven our worship? Worship is not to entertain or gratify us, rather to be reverent towards God and bathed in God’s presence.
- Caring Relationships is based on our relationship with Christ that shapes how we relate, support and care for our church family. Church is more than a social club; it strengthens our connection to God and motivates our caring.
Whew, we have covered lots of ground. And soon all you will have an opportunity to share your thoughts about how we are doing as a church through a congregational survey. Our leadership and staff have already taken a separate survey. Both surveys assess these seven marks. I’ll send these into the national PCUSA data center for a report on how we are doing as a church. It will show us our strengths and areas for growth. Which leads us to ecclesial or church health. Church health can be defined by what we have or by what we lack.
When I first came to St. Andrew, I asked a long-time member who lives a good distance from our church, “What brought you to this church?” The answer. It is the healthiest church in the Presbytery. I think there is a great deal of truth in that. Especially when you think about what we do not have. We don’t have in-fighting or divisive parking lot committees or a handful of people who think they own the church. We do not have those things. We do not chew up the pastor or resent being part of Presbytery. And I can tell you there are congregations where that happens. But ecclesial health is more than the bad things we don’t have. It is about the good things we strive for. St. Andrew is a place where we share what we believe and trust that even if it is different than your beliefs, we are respectful to each other. That is a core value of our church.
Three things top the list for ecclesial health: prayer, stewardship and shared mission and core values. Discerning prayer invites God into everything we do and seeks God’s guidance in our decision-making process. I know I get to be reminded of that. I think as the pastor I need to lead, but the best leader is God through the Holy Spirit who will do thing I could never even dream of. So as we go through this process of discernment of who we are as the church I ask that you pray for our congregation to hear where God is leading.
Stewardship is the second point. Are we teaching the value of stewardship for your faith and the life of the church? Are we transparent in our finances and do you feel like you’re advancing the work of Christ through your giving? It asks if we teach stewardship year-round and I think we could grow in that area.
So here is my thought for the day. If you have ever been on a ship, you know what a ship’s steward is. Or if you have ever been on an airplane, you know what a steward or a stewardess is. I know we now call them flight attendants, but we all remember when they were called stewards. That person does not own the airplane or anything on the plane. The company owns everything, but he or she is entrusted with its care. That steward has been given the responsibility of taking the goods that belong to a higher authority and dispensing it to the people for their benefit. That is a steward—on an airplane or ship—and in the spiritual realm as well. (Sermons.com) You are a steward of this church and a steward of God’s blessings in your life.
Finally, do we share core values as a church and a clear mission statement? Our respect of each other’s differing beliefs is a core value. Being a welcoming and affirming congregation embracing the love shared between two people regardless of gender. God’s love is the foundation of our faith, rather than legalism to a single interpretation. Identifying and claiming more core values is a task we need to do. I’m not sure if we all know our mission statement so I want to share some of it with you. At St Andrew Presbyterian Church
“We see the Christian faith as a journey, not a possession, and as an adventure, not a dogma.
We seek to connect to Jesus Christ and to each other in God’s nurture and transforming love.
Together we joyfully worship our God, share the sacraments, and study God’s Word.”
As you will see as we will say our Mission Statement as an affirmation of faith, we then commit to supporting God’s peace and justice in the world. Our faith leads us to action!
As we wrap up this stage of reflection, we see things we would like to grow into, as we lean into God. Identify more core values, weave prayer into every aspect of our congregational life, offer strong stewardship teaching. When the elder and deacons met this week, we discussed enhancing our caring by highlighting deacons with their picture and neighborhoods in the newsletter. Simple things we can do to improve our church. But that might mean change, it might mean doing it differently. We take heart in Paul’s teaching, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see everything has become new! All this is from God” (5:17). I am excited how we, as stewards of this property, are sharing our campus with several groups; a preschool, a congregation and two women experiencing housing insecurity.
That we are learning new ways to do music in church, words on the screen, more instruments leading, added to our rich tradition. New things are afoot. God is active in our midst. I am hopeful!
Brian McLaren, one of my favorite Christian authors, writes about lives shaped by hope.
“To be alive is to desire, to hope and to dream and the Bible is a book about desires, hopes and dreams… Desires, hopes and dreams inspire action and that’s what makes them different from a wish. Wishing is a substitute for action. Wishing creates a kind of passive optimism that can paralyze people in a happy fog of complacency: “Everything is fine” they say. Why work, struggle, sacrifice or plan?” Things don’t normally turn out the way they wish. In contrast, our desires, hopes and dreams for the future guide us in how we act now. If a girl hopes to be a doctor someday, she’ll study hard and prepare for medical school. Hope for the future guides how to act now. Without action, it would be wishing, not hoping” (Seeking Aliveness, p. 100).
Hoping means action and that is what comes next after we do the surveys. We will make plans, struggle, work in ways of hope. I pray we are all stakeholders in this time of transformation. Moving from wishing to hoping in God. Amen.
