Rev. Debbie Cato
Ephesians 3:14-21
Fairfield Community
Church
January 30, 2022
Let us Pray: Holy God, humble us and open us to your life-giving Word. As we hear your Word read and proclaimed today, may our hearts and minds be open to the Spirit’s moving and Jesus’ teaching. Amen.
How Do
You Imagine Our Church?
Now I’m
going to read the same passage again but from Eugene Peterson’s The Message
Bible: Listen again for the Word of the
Lord:
14-19 My response is to get down on my
knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and
earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a
glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and
invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll
be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of
Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the
depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
20-21 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine
or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around
but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
Glory to
God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!
God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine
or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around
but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
Powerful words. The Holy Spirit is with us in our own situation
when we are
doing ministry. God’s promise is valid. We can count on it. The Holy Spirit can transform, revitalize, and renew. We can believe it. We can trust that this is true.
The question is, do you believe that God is at work in this
church? Do we believe that the Holy Spirit
is at work through each of us in this church, ready to transform and revitalize
and renew us into a new creation in this community? How do you imagine our church? Do we trust that we have a God of abundance,
and that God has a future for us right here in Fairfield, Washington?
You see, how we see ourselves, the words we think of when we think
of this
church, that’s what we are likely to be. Just like your self-talk becomes who you are, how you see yourself, how you respond to things that happen in your life, how your respond to people in your life, is just like how you see and think about this church becomes who we are.
I understand you are tired.
I get that you have been through a lot.
I know that you have been discouraged for quite some time. The transition of Pastor Paul leaving was
very hard on you. I do not want to
minimize that. Many of you grieved the
loss of a beloved pastor. That’s very
hard. Then you had an interim who came
and some of you struggled to adjust to her leadership. That is understandable. Then Covid hit. The church closed and went virtual. That has been hard on every church in this
country. But I know it was very hard on
this church. This church that’s all
about relationships could not meet together.
During all this your pastor nominating committee was praying and trying to find your new pastor.
That process went on a very long time.
The committee and you, the congregation, became hopeless. Would you find someone? Would the church
survive?
Finally, the church began meeting in person again – albeit wearing
masks, but at least you could meet in person.
Many people did not return. Attendance
is smaller. More grief. More fear.
All summer you had pulpit supply and the PNC was still searching. Would you find a pastor? Would the church survive?
I’m here to tell you.
Yes! The church will
survive. We must trust that we have a
God of abundance and God has a future for us.
A future that is more full and far richer than we can imagine. We must believe – I believe because I see it. I see that God is at work. The Holy Spirit is at work through us and
through this church.
We must change our mindset and reground ourselves in the story of
our faith. This church that many, many
years ago started the food bank that is now thriving and feeding hundreds of
families throughout this community every week.
This church that started the preschool that serves 14 children every Tuesday,
Wednesday, and Thursday, shaping their minds and hearts in the
early stages of their lives. This church that the community considers “their church” even when they never step through the doors of the church.
It's time to change our mindset from survival mode to
thriving. It’s time to stop wondering if
we will still be here in 2 years or five years and believe that worship a God
of abundance. It’s time to believe what scripture
tells us - that God can do anything, — far more than you could ever imagine or
guess or request in your wildest dreams! This is God’s church, and His
Spirit is at work! It’s time we live
into that and leave the pain and stress of the last few years behind.
Marci, KayDee and I are attending a
series of online workshops through the ELCA called Re-Boot: A Journey of
Transformation, Revitalization and Renewal. There are over 450 churches from 35
states and Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands participating. There is not a
church in the country – large or small like us that is not in a state of transformation,
revitalization, and renewal. We are not alone! Every church is in a state of having to re-envision
themselves. Reinvent how they do
church. How God is calling them to be
His body. That is incredibly encouraging!
So far we have heard amazing
stories of churches as small as we are doing incredible mission in their
communities. A church of 25 people saw a
need to
provide food for their community. They started a small food pantry. It has grown to serve over a thousand people a week! The pastor said that as long as they focus on their mission, God has met their need. As long as they don’t worry about where the money or resources are going to come from to meet the need; as long as they focus on doing the work in the community, the resources and money they need have appeared. God provides for them. The promise of Scripture is true. God can do anything, — far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!
We heard other stories just like this. One church leader said “we moved from
venting to inventing.” From venting to inventing. We like that! Another said. “we listened to the neighborhood. We opened a lemonade stand outside our church and just served free lemonade and talked and got to know people that
stopped for lemonade. We learned a lot about our neighbors and the neighborhood and what their needs were just by making friends and listening.” Another said. “we listened to our food pantry volunteers and found out how else we could serve the community.”
A pastor of a church our size said, “the more you risk; the more
you trust that God will provide, the more you will see ministry open in places
and ways that you never imagined possible.”
This is so encouraging! It’s
so exciting! It allows us to
imagine! To be creative! To try simple things. To listen to what our neighbors are saying. To what people at the food bank are
saying. Preschool parents. To listen to the Holy Spirit. Nothing is off
the table. I am so excited! I hope you are too.
Here’s the thing. I can’t
do it alone. Even if I could, it’s not
healthy for a church. We need to do it
together. In concert with the Holy Spirit
leading us of course. Yes, Covid will
limit us. It may slow us down, but there
are still lots of things we can do.
Pray for the church. Pray
about how you can be a part of moving forward.
Pray about how you think about this church. How do you imagine this church? What kind of a future do you imagine Fairfield
Community Church to have?
14-19 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
doing ministry. God’s promise is valid. We can count on it. The Holy Spirit can transform, revitalize, and renew. We can believe it. We can trust that this is true.
church, that’s what we are likely to be. Just like your self-talk becomes who you are, how you see yourself, how you respond to things that happen in your life, how your respond to people in your life, is just like how you see and think about this church becomes who we are.
early stages of their lives. This church that the community considers “their church” even when they never step through the doors of the church.
provide food for their community. They started a small food pantry. It has grown to serve over a thousand people a week! The pastor said that as long as they focus on their mission, God has met their need. As long as they don’t worry about where the money or resources are going to come from to meet the need; as long as they focus on doing the work in the community, the resources and money they need have appeared. God provides for them. The promise of Scripture is true. God can do anything, — far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!
venting to inventing.” From venting to inventing. We like that! Another said. “we listened to the neighborhood. We opened a lemonade stand outside our church and just served free lemonade and talked and got to know people that
stopped for lemonade. We learned a lot about our neighbors and the neighborhood and what their needs were just by making friends and listening.” Another said. “we listened to our food pantry volunteers and found out how else we could serve the community.”
14-19 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment