Rev. David Boyd

Back in the early 90's when I was still in Ontario, I joined an early attempt at getting people in the United Church networked. It was a clumsy bulletin-board system of internet networking, at least compared to today's wired and wireless world. We exchanged ideas online and participated in conversations. I remember well one of the conversations we had online in those early days. It was a conversation that is still happening today, about the future of the Church and about what it means to be disciples.

The conversation that I remember so well involved a discussion about building the Church, about creating successful programs, and about successful leadershipÑmany of the things that we are still talking about today. What I remember about that conversation is how rancorous it became. But more than that, I remember one Tad Mitsui, a minister in Lethbridge at the time, I believe. He had been in South Africa during the Apartheid years and had been expelled by the government for his activism. I remember very well the words that he spoke in the midst of our conversation: "We need to be careful for we are called to be faithful, not successful!"

That phrase has stuck with me. As Kootenay Presbytery, we repeated Tad's words when we were in the big debate about the use of the Carver model of governance with respect to BC Conference. I've used Tad's words in our presbytery when we get caught up in the numbers game. "We need more people in the pews. We need more young people. We need to improve our bottom line and balance our budgets." Worrying only about numbers can lead us into the temptation that success is everything. Faithfulness leads us to engage people in the places of pain, in the places of injustice, in the places of oppression, and in the places of brokenness.

In the story from Luke's gospel, we hear of Jesus' followers being sent out 2 by 2. They were to take nothing with them; they were to rely on the hospitality of the villagers. They were to preach the good news and heal the sick. They were to speak in the name of God, peace and blessing. This is a story of faithfulness rather than success. Jesus wasn't worried about building a following. He wasn't concerned about the success of the enterprise. He knew there would be some dust-shaking of sandals; he knew that some wouldn't hear the good news of blessing and healing. He knew that the good news wasn't a passive thing also—it wasn't at all the idea that if you build it, they will come; Jesus' vision was the opposite—take the message out to the people and enter into their pain and brokenness and speak words of healing and wholeness.

As I look back on our 15 years as Nelson United Church we have sought to be faithful and have struggled with the temptation to be successful. I think that this is a struggle that many of us in ministry face. As a congregation we spent the 1st couple of years consolidating our community, listening and speaking through the aftermath of the amalgamation of St. Paul's-Trinity and Fairview. There was pain and growth, struggle and love. Then we entered into a building program to modernise our church and to accommodate our growing congregation. Ten years ago, Christine joined us and we began some new programs of Outreach and community life. Over the 15 years we have participated in 3 refugee sponsorships, built a food cupboard that now stands on its own, created an inclusive marriage policy, and participated in a number of community ventures. We have continued to celebrate the gifts of hospitality and welcome, the gifts of community and love, the gifts that are each one of us gathered here. And I say, "Thank God for these gifts!"

And what I sense when we look ahead to the next 15 years is that God is calling us anew to take the good news of healing and love out into the world, or at least into our community, in new ways. How might we partner with other community groups and agencies? How might we share the good news of love, justice and healing with the world around us? How might we correct the misinterpretations that exist about Church and the Church's message? How, as a community of faith, can we live more simply in this world so that life can be celebrated in all its wondrous diversity and fullness? We have been richly blessed with a message and a power of love and life; we are called to share that message and that power with others in the world boldly and faithfully. And I sense, through the re-imagining work of our congregation and through uncertainties of this life, that God is calling us to use the gifts and talents that we possess—both collectively and individually—in sharing the message of love and healing in new ways.

As I think William Sloane Coffin said it better than I, let me leave you with his words from his book, Credo; he was a wonderful preacher in New York City at Riverside Church and he said these words,

"What is faith? Faith is being grasped by the power of love. Faith is recognizing that what makes God is infinite mercy, not infinite control; not power but love unending. Faith is recognizing that if at Christmas Jesus became like us, it was so that we might become more like him. We know what that means. Watching Jesus heal the sick, empower the poor, and confront the powerful, we see transparently the power of God at work. Watching Zaccheaus climb the tree a crook and come down a saint, watching Paul set out a hatchet man for the Pharisees and return a fool for Christ, we know that our lives too, can become channels for divine mercy to flow out to save the lost and the suffering." ¹