Identity
/O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. - this Sunday’s collect
Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the door, see all the people!
I often come across scripture verses or prayers that seem to pretty much sum things up. This collect seems to sum up what it means to be a church. The church is:
where we learn the commandments of God and the teachings of Jesus
where we rely on God’s help to discern our call
where we call upon the Holy Spirit to give us the grace we need to carry it out
where we practice wholehearted devotion to God
and where we practice being in community together with pure affection.
This is who we are as a body. We are God’s children, God’s cells, God’s messengers. While we may engage in a variety of activities, some of which can be similar to what you might find in a school, a social service agency, a social justice organization or a club, only religious congregations or organizations claim their inspiration for doing everything is our faith in God. In fact, everything we do in church we do to serve God. In a church, we acknowledge that we are fueled by the sacraments and guided by our faith in every single thing we do together.
There are many reasons people come to church. Probably as many as there are people in church! But although we are all individuals, we are one body in church. There are also many things to manage in an organization that seem little related to faith - getting tasks accomplished, making ends meet, repairing broken stuff. But even nuts and bolts issues like these are meant to be taken on with faithful intention and with loving collaboration and cooperation. Everything we do needs to support the mission God calls us into, whether that is our prayer and worship, or repairing a leaky faucet. Whether it’s reaching out to others with communion or preparing for an annual audit.
Our vestry will be faced with many big decisions in the months and years ahead. There will be some decisions to be made that will be obvious, and there will also be decisions that are difficult to make, as in this time of rapid change, some decisions will seem risky and unfamiliar. That’s when we need to go back to our identity as a church and listen for God’s call to us to move forward in faith. Whether they are decisions about the maintenance and improvement of our buildings, about our budget, use of our endowment, staffing, etc, none of which sound particularly spiritual, we are called to steward them in light of Christ’s teachings, with trust in God, with the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, with love for God and neighbor and with respect and love for one another.
I ask your prayers for our church leaders at St. James, not only on the vestry, but on other teams and committees, or for those who are starting creative ministries and who bring us all more opportunities to love and serve God together. And I invite anyone who is interested in sharing or participating or creating new faithful endeavors to find another person or two who are also enthusiastic about your idea, choose a date to start and invite the church to join you!
