If you want shade today, when was the best time to plant a tree? Twenty years ago, right? When is the second-best time? Today! Today! What has that got to do with anything? If we want to reverse the decline of this congregation and transform it into a thriving community of faith, when was the best time to start? (Wait for an answer) Probably 20 years ago. And when is the second-best time? 😉 Today! Today.

As I said in my opening remarks, this week we are focusing on mission, generosity and discernment. As I pondered what I was going to say today, I added another reading, one from Amos 5

21 I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24 But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

21 I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

Pretty disturbing words to people who gather each week to worship together and as one who spends a great deal of time preparing for and leading worship aren’t they? This is when and why it is important to study the history and context of the times in which these texts were written. And to look at how current events and context affect worship today.

Amos was preaching to people who had all the correct forms of worship, but did not let it inform their living. It did not shape them into people who showed justice and mercy and compassion for the most vulnerable in society. For those of you who think that talk of politics and social injustice have no place in the church, the Bible is full of that kind of talk. The root word of politics is polis, meaning the affairs of the city, basically how are we going to live together. Something like our Behavioural Covenant… it’s how we have agreed to behave with one another.

So what are we do with this reading that sounds so harsh to our ears? As I sat with it, read it over and over, listened to a couple of podcasts about it and also wrestled with it with a couple of colleagues AND drew upon my knowledge of other biblical texts, this is where I landed.

Amos also writes,

14 Seek good and not evil,
that you may live;
and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,
just as you have said.
15 Hate evil and love good,
and establish justice in the gate;

Seek good… establish justice… that you may LIVE!

When we undertook the Listening Circles, the Core Values exercise and then a further look at the Listening Circles data along with some demographic information about our neighbourhood, it became apparent that there are thousands of opportunities just outside our doors that are just waiting for a healing hand and heart.

And I know you folks care… it’s demonstrated in how you volunteer at the Food Bank, it’s demonstrated in the funds you supply for Margaret House, and the socks you threw at me and the financial support for Gaza crisis. And it’s apparent in how you show up each week for worship… to be nourished by the word of God.

But you know what, for so many people today, Sunday morning simply doesn’t work. There are thousands of people outside our doors who are seeking something… community… a sense that they are loved… acceptance… We are being asked to care in a different, perhaps additional ways… to create relationships with those outside these church walls. Not relationships of charity, but partnerships. Our wellbeing is connected to the wellbeing of the community outside these walls!

Let’s listen to these words from 2 Corinthians 9: 6-8

6 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not regretfully or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.8 And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.

We are blessed with resources that many churches don’t have. I chair the Future Directions Committee for the region and sometimes we are dealing with churches that are literally falling down, have less than 10 people left and have no money. So don’t tell me we don’t have enough! We have all kinds of resources! And resources are meant to be used for ministry, not hoarded.

Our of the Listening Circles, came the glimmer of a couple of ideas.. ideas that will need your prayerful support. One is for a contemplative/social justice type of monthly gathering in conjunction with a couple of other United Churches… the other is something for seniors in our area… that I’m going to speak to more fully in our Stories of Mission time.

Each one of you will have a part to play, listen to these words from Paul’s letter to the Romans 12: 4-8:

4 For as in one body we have many members and not all the members have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.
6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the encourager, in encouragement; the giver, in sincerity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

Now, I know that some of you are going to say that you are too old, or too set in your ways or too something else to do anything to help heal the world. Scripture has lots of examples of people saying to God, NOT ME! If your health or age doesn’t enable you to actively participate, please participate by praying for those who are more active.The ministry of prayer is vital and important… the power of prayer to uphold and support those who are more active cannot be overstated. If you are too set in your ways, please get out of the way of those who aren’t. God is present in these new things. And they may not work… we don’t know, but we are going to try.

Let’s get back to those couple of verses that I found so jarring to my ears and perhaps to yours as well:

21 I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

Here is the word of hope for us in this. Worship is the inhalation of God’s spirit in order to enliven us to be part of God’s healing work in the world. And then, inspired by that worship, we are exhaled into our communities, enlivened to be part of God’s healing work in the world. It’s not either worship or healing work, its both! Without worship, without a connection to the sacred and something bigger than ourselves, we can be overcome by the immensity of the world’s problems. This communal experience we have, at its finest, can inspire, conspire, motivate etc. Without being part of God’s healing work in the world, our worship is vain and self glorious and is not pleasing to God. It’s no different than breathing. Inhale, exhale. They are both vital for life. Can we exist by only inhaling? No? Can we exist by only exhaling? Again no! It’s the relationship between the two that is important. So, let us worship and work…Let us live out our Core Values Statement: United by Faith… Strengthened by Friendship… Building a Community of Love and Justice…

To end, we are going to do one of the spiritual practices that that we learned in the Thriving Churches group. I invite you to stand… and you want to give yourselves some space..

Embrace yourself as if giving yourself a big hug with your head down. Take a couple of breaths as you imagine your heart protected. Now stretch your arms up with your palms raised as high as possible and look up. Hold for a couple of breaths. You are now opening your heart space to the universe. Repeat a few times. When you feel out of balance between personal concerns and global concerns, this can help you to connect between the two. (Prue Harris in Thriving Churches: Urban and Rural Success Stories)

Thank be to go for the challenge and the opportunity, amen.

© Catherine MacDonald

Amos 5: 21-24
Romans 12: 4-8
2 Corinthians 9: 6-8
April 28, 2024 – SJ