It is the tradition of the Pastor's Report to reflect on the year past. I want to break tradition with that and look ahead to the year before us. While there is much to celebrate in 2007 with new members, great Christian Education events, vital worship, new and revitalized Bible studies, wonderful fellowship, all of that can be dealt with in individual reports. I want to talk about our future.
I believe in the power of church. Of course I believe in the creative power of God, the saving power of Jesus, and the renewing power of the Holy Spirit, but I also believe in the power of being church. There is no other institution like the church in our society.
I believe in a place where you can sing in public regardless of your natural aptitude.
I believe in a place where you can mingle with the generations.
I believe in a place where you can sit down at a table over a cup of coffee and talk with a total stranger.
I believe in a place that is genuinely concerned with the plight of someone living hundreds or thousands of miles away.
I believe in a place where scripture is read and heard and studied and acted upon.
I believe in a place which values beauty and truth for their own sake and not simply for how we can profit from it.
I believe in a place where people are being perfected in love, not expected to be perfect already.
And United is and can continue to be that place. But we cannot be complacent. We cannot fall into the trap of being a preservation society. The mission of the church is not to preserve itself.
We are not here to preserve a building. The mission of the church is larger than that.
We are not here to preserve our way of worship. The mission of the church is larger than that.
We are not here to preserve our values and way of life. The mission of the church is larger than that.
We are not here to preserve our lives. The mission of the church is larger than that.
My hope for 2008 is that we will not simply exist, but that we will thrive. And I believe what will make us thrive is a renewed sense of mission. A nun was reflecting about the lack of new initiates and, taking the long view, she said that when this country was young and there were still untamed places we needed hospitals and universities and her order did that. Now that stage of the mission is over, so it's natural to be in decline.
I do not believe our mission is over, but it may be in flux. The church will not thrive on sentimental support. It will, at best, linger on in a half existence and victimized by low expectations.
So I'm going to ask some dangerous questions. What difference does United Church make? What difference can we make? What would you miss if our congregation disappeared tomorrow?
We need to be engaging these questions directly in the year to come. We cannot afford to drift because the honest truth is that complacency in our mission will mean that we will either have to radically reconsider our staffing resources or our physical resources or both because our current direction is not sustainable. We might be able to make it as we are for a few years. Maybe even ten. But not long term. And, personally, I want to leave our congregation better than I found it. I hope you do too.
So in the year ahead, expect to be challenged. Expect to give of yourself. Expect to think. Expect to be asked hard questions. Expect to be asked to sacrifice. And, most of all, expect joy.
May God bless us in our journey.