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| Photo Credit: Stuart Pike on Flickr.com |
Today is Vestry Sunday so, in keeping with
our tradition, I will now give my charge to Vestry rather than a regular sermon
that you would hear on most Sundays.
I still do like to draw something from the
Sunday lessons though when I do this. There is usually something serendipitous
about the readings on a Vestry Sunday, no matter the date we set it.
The Gospel reading from Matthew is a
continuation of the Sermon on the Mount coming to a climax of sorts as Jesus
says the words, “Be perfect, therefore, as you heavenly Father is perfect.”
Wow, what a commandment to follow. Is this
even possible, we might ask? Can we really be perfect? Does Jesus expect that
of us? Should we even try?
There are two temptations here: One is to
simply give up with this. Just say, “Jesus is just telling us this to point out
how impossible that is and we should just give up trying and, instead, just
turn to Jesus knowing, in his infinite mercy, we will be forgiven.
The other temptation here is to think that
we are actually capable, on our own, to actually be perfect, and to understand
that if we are anything less than that, then we are unworthy – even cast out.
And not only this, but to demand it of everyone else and to judge their
worthiness as well.
I think it is important for us to
understand that the Greek word in the Gospel which is translated as “Perfect”
here is the word, “Telos” This Greek word mean less moral perfection, than it
means reaching the intended outcome. As homiletics professor David Lose writes,
“The telos of an arrow shot by an archer is to reach its target. The telos of a
peach tree is to yield peaches. Which means that we might translate this
passage more loosely to mean, “Be the person and community God created you to
be, just as God is the One God is supposed to be.”” Endquote.
So when we look at it this way this seems
less of a command of Jesus than a promise.
Jesus is telling us as individuals, and us
as a Church to be what God has planned for us to be. God sees promise in you,
in us. And Jesus is telling us to keep discerning what God’s purpose is for us
and follow through on that purpose.
This idea of discerning God’s will can seem
very daunting, but we do have the scriptures to guide us, and given today’s
reading we know that much of God’s purpose for us is to not return violence for
violence or evil for evil. Our purpose is not to perpetuate negativity and
violence and fear – even if this seems to be the way of so much of the world
right now. No, our promise is in being agents of change, of meeting evil with
good, violence with peaceful resistance and even hate with love.
Remember Martin Luther King’s words: “Darkness
cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate:
only love can do that.”
So how do we practice this, God’s promise
in us? How can we be change agents in a world that so desperately needs change?
We must press on in living the Gospel of Jesus in our lives: as individuals and
as a Church.
There are so many things which are
happening here and which I have seen developing in the 8.5 years that I have
been here.
St. Luke’s is a vibrant community with
people of faith who are deeply committed to making their faith determine their
actions, and make changes for good in our community.
I
will not give an exhaustive list (we would be here all day), but these are some
of the things which I especially wanted to mention which have happened over the
last year which indicate to me that this is a community of faith:
We continued with our very successful
Downtown Community Lunch program which is a combined effort of four Churches
which we host the 1st, 3rd and 5th Wednesdays
from September to June. Many of our own
people volunteer for this lunch which served 1386 meals over 2016.
Our Food For Life program served more
people than ever and we added a very successful program which provided stocking
stuffers just before Christmas to over 70 families, thanks to the generosity of
parishioners.
We continued to participate in the
Christmas Dinner programs with East Plains United Church on Christmas Day.
We sent another team down to El Hogar this
year, and followed Erika Skafel’s progress as she continued for another year in
mission there, and we continued to support the Madagascar Mission and Mary
Sherwood’s work there along with the dedicated staff of the two orphanage
centres there.
There are many other outreach projects, but
a common theme among them all is partnership. Many Churches come together to
feed the hungry. Group “A” donates things for the children of El Hogar and a
parishioner in her 90s crocheted 70 pocket crosses as stocking stuffers for the
clients of Food For Life. One of our Pastoral Care volunteers pianists plays
not only for Senior’s Home Communions, but also for the Downtown Community
Lunch program.
Why do all these partnerships happen? The
answer is because all these activities are guided by people following the
message of the Gospel: and Jesus’ prime message: Love God, love your neighbor
as yourself.
All of our regular Worship happened, of
course, but we also added seasonal evensongs which were met by enthusiastic
attenders, as well as a very meaningful Tenebrae service, which we will be
offering Holy Wednesday this year as well.
Small groups continued to happen, including
3 bible studies every week, centering prayer and several book studies led by
Marjorie Latimer. Knitting and needlepoint and quilting groups continued
Pastoral Care activities happened, of course:
bereavement support groups, home communion, hospital visiting, prayer shawl
ministry.
More partnerships happen in all of this.
The prayer shawl ministry now provides a white prayer shawl with a special
prayer for the babies who are baptized, as well as the regular shawls to sick
the dying and bereaved. Love your neighbor as yourself. The people for whom the
intercessors pray in Sunday worship are also prayed for by the men’s prayer
group each Saturday.
A joyful event for the parish was the
welcoming, finally, of the Syrian Family who we sponsored, in partnership with
others in the community. Many of you were able to meet them at a coffee hour
one Sunday and were charmed by the enthusiasm and joy of those four children
and their parents.
As I say, these are just some of the many
things which have gone on here over the last year that show our love for our
neighbor. In a world beset with hate, fear and distrust, we choose Jesus’
revolutionary way of love, faith and great hope.
We have also faced challenges. We completed
our new roof for the Church on budget and are well on our way toward paying off
what we borrowed from our memorial funds. A small but might Capital projects
committee made that happen and now is turning its eyes to improving our
kitchen, given all the things that we are now using it for.
Last year we formed a new Committee, proposed on the floor of Vestry, called the
Membership Committee to try to face our challenge of shrinking membership and
especially address the dearth of younger parishioners: millenials and their
families. Under the chairmanship of Bryan Cox, this group has conducted two
surveys: the Natural Church Development Survey, plus telephone, and sometimes
face-to-face meetings. We are planning to conduct focus groups for more
in-depth conversation and the members of the group are attending other Churches
as ecclesiastical spies to get more information about what we might be able to
adopt here.
We faced a very challenging year
financially, though the Stewardship Committee has worked very hard and has
helped us be very successful in our Raise the Roof Campaign, this challenging
financial year had the Executive working very hard with many extra meetings and
late nights struggling with discerning our way forward. We, along with the
Stewardship Committee kept the congregation well informed about this great
challenge, in the end giving bi-weekly updates on how givings were going. We
were very grateful to all who gave a 13th month of givings to help
us, but in the end we realized that it would not be enough.
Declining membership is part of the
picture, and increasing it will definitely be a great part of the solution, but
that doesn’t happen overnight. We all need to work together to help bring more
people into this amazing parish.
It was not only the 2016 financial year,
but much more so, looking ahead to 2017
and 2018, the executive realized what several parishioners had been saying over
the year as our request for more givings continued throughout the Fall. We have
been living beyond our means. We also heard loudly and clearly: we’ve got to
stop asking more and more frequently for money.
The significant shortfall for 2016 and even
more significant projected shortfall for 2017 clearly showed that we couldn’t
solve this through photocopying less or changing lightbulbs less frequently.
The most significant part of the budget is salaries, and we would have to do
some cutting there. The most significant part of salaries was clergy salaries
and we would have to do some cutting there. All lay positions have had some
reduced hours for 2016, but we also had to drop from 2.5 clergy complement to
2.
When looking at who to cut we had to look
at function and needs going forward, as well as what has happened in the
immediate past. When I arrived in this Parish 8.5 years ago there really was a
remarkable enigma about St. Luke’s. It was a parish almost 3 times the size of
my last parish, which had probably less than 1/3 the children in it. That’s a
factor of 9 times difference!
We decided 6 years ago to hire Elliott as a
full-time Youth and Family ministry director, knowing that it wasn’t a
full-time job, yet, but that the job was to build it into a fulltime job. We
were basically stepping out in faith and hiring before the curve. The curve
didn’t really happen. After three years, e had to move him to half and half
Family-and-youth and pastoral work. Still no curve. After six years we have
given this a double or triple measure of the old college try.
Elliott’s greatest gifts are with children
and youth. He’s magic with them! We’ve all seen him in this role. But somehow
we don’t seem to be a parish (at least right now) that is responding to that in
the way we had hoped.
Do not make the mistake of thinking that we
are giving up on children and youth in this place. But we are going to need the
help of volunteers in this year and going forward. My hope is that after this
transitional year we will be able to hire a part-time layperson in 2018 to help
us move forward, along with volunteer help. Children and youth are part of our
future going forward and we will not let go of that.
I appreciate all that Elliott has done in
ministry over these six years and I know that it is entirely an understatement
to say that he will be greatly missed. My great hope is that his considerable
gifts with children and youth will shine brightly as he finds his ministry in
another place where it will all come together.
I want to express my great appreciation for
all the staff here at St. Luke’s. To Elliott Siteman for whom we will pray in
the months going forward (for his family as well.)
To Holly Klemmensen, Sheila Plant and
Carole Langlotz who make my life so much easier as we work shoulder to shoulder
in pastoral care and liturgical ministry. Great thanks to Jennifer Goodine, for
the many times when her gift of music has quickened my spirit and made me glad.
Special great thanks and homage (to borrow
a phrase from Stuart MacLean) to our long-suffering Parish Administrators,
Chris Hughes and Sandra Tiernay and their volunteers receptionists, Jackie
Maver, Marilyn Barnes and Elizabeth Flett as well as to our bookkeeper, Carol
Pryluta. I can never be grateful enough for Ray Payne and his work in keeping
our buildings in working order. Special thanks to Jody Balint who in a few
short weeks has already made a difference to our work.
Special appreciation go to our Parish
Executive: Tim Tiernay, Cecilia Taylor-Clare, Colina Magee, Bob Osborne and
Chris Miller. We have worked hard all year and we have worked as a team. We
have faced the challenges and made the toughest decisions together, knowing
that we have the responsibility for the health of the Parish into the future,
and for the mission of Christ in this place. I look forward to also working
with Veronica Richards-Miller and (if you elect or acclaim him) David Beck in
the next Executive.
I am ever thankful as well to my
long-suffering wife, Katherine and our daughter Louisa who support me every day
of my life and allow me to serve this parish to the best of my ability.
I can’t even begin to mention all of the
volunteers who are living up to the promise God has placed in them. In Worship,
Outreach, Parish Life, Pastoral Care, Finance, Property and Christian Formation
you give this place its specialness.
The members of parish council and
especially our outgoing secretary, Donalda Walker have been great assets to the
leadership of this parish.
We have a future. God sees promise in us as
a community. It won’t always be easy. When was anything really good just easy?
But it will be good – or at least full of
goodness. God sees promise in you as well. Let us, together, discern how we can
live into God’s great purpose for us. Discern your place in all of this. Amen.
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