Looking Ahead to March 3, 2024 -- 3rd Sunday of Lent

 All are reminded that our Annual Congregational Meeting will take place following worship this Sunday. Lunch will be provided.

The Scripture Readings this week are taken from a suggestion in Discipleship Is Stewardship a United Church Stewardship Resource.  They are:

• 2 Corinthians 9:1-15
• Luke 19:1-10

The Sermon title is Life Changing Thankfulness

Early Thoughts: What happens at that dinner?

There are a variety of opinions on what is happening in the story of Zacchaeus. Some ponder if he was the short one or if Jesus was so short the crowd covered him up. Some ponder why Zacchaeus was so determined to see this Jesus. And then there is the end of the story.

Is Zacchaeus professing "I am not so bad, I already do these things"? Or is he so transformed by the encounter with Jesus that he is starting a whole new way of being? I have read both interpretations but I lean to the latter,

 I think we are seeing a moment of transformation, the sort of transformation that comes from having an encounter with the Living God. And as I re-read the story I think that part of that transformation is driven by gratitude.

As a tax collector Zacchaeus would be seen as an outcast by the rest of society. He was in league with those who exploited the population. There is every chance that he is rich because he is good at gaming the system and his wealth is not exactly morally acquired. By going to Zacchaeus' house for a meal (inviting himself if we want to be blunt about it) Jesus is naming Zacchaeus as a member of God's community,  as a son of Abraham. I think that this being welcomed back into community opens up his heart. His response is based on gratitude for what Jesus, the Word-Made-Flesh, is proclaiming about him.

How do we respond to an encounter with the Living God? Are we filled with gratitude? Are we driven to change our lives? DO we respond with generosity? Is that what makes us a cheerful giver, giving as we have made up our mind, not regretfully or under compulsion?

--Gord

Looking Ahead to February 25, 2024 -- Lent 2B

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Genesis 17:1-27
• Mark 8:34-37

The Sermon title is Promises with a Price

Early Thoughts: What price might you be willing to pay? What might seem too much to ask?

Abram/Abraham is once again reminded of the promise and God makes a covenant. This sign of this covenant is that Abraham and all the males of his household (meaning Ishmael [born of the slave woman Hagar] and slaves and servants since the promised son [Isaac] has yet to arrive). The male who is not circumcised will not be a party to the covenant, will not be a member of the household. The male who is not circumcised will not be a part of God's Chosen People.

The promise comes with a price.

Then we have Jesus. Peter and company have been invited into a new way of being, they have been invited into the company of the Kingdom. Jesus is sharing the promise of a renewed world. Peter has just professed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Chosen One of God. In response Jesus  predicts his death and rebukes Peter for questioning that. Now Jesus tells his friends that to follow Jesus means being willing to give up their lives.

The promise comes with a price.

What price are you willing to pay to be a part of the promise?

WE are invited to be a part of God's beloved community. We are invited to be heirs to the promises of abundant life and hope and love. But there may be a cost associated with that invitation. One of the hymns in More Voices (one we sang earlier this year) talks about different invitations to follow Jesus and includes the line "lives will never be the same again". That could be a promise, it could be a threat, it certainly suggests there is a price to be paid.

Following The Way of Jesus means to follow a different path than the rest of the world. IT might not cost our lives in terms of hanging on a cross but it will come at a cost. IT pushes us to "deny our very selves", to have a different set of priorities.

What price are you willing to pay to be a part of the promise?

--Gord

Looking Ahead to February 18, 2024 -- Lent 1B

This Sunday we begin the season of Lent and our journey toward cross and tomb.

The Scripture reading this week is Genesis 8:20-9:17 (we will also be using Psalm 25 as our Prayer for Grace)

The Sermon title is Promises Made

Early Thoughts: We are people bound together by promises and covenants. We are people bound to God by promises and covenants.

There is a lot that can be said about rainbows, both from a scientific and a metaphorical/symbolic point of view. This article is just one example, there are lots of others. Humans have used rainbows as a way to talk about many different things within different cultural settings. In recent North American history two that stand out are Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition and the Pride flag.

However in the Scriptures shared between Judaism and Christianity the rainbow is first and foremost a sign of God's promise. After the flood God repents over the destruction and promises to never do that again. The rainbow serves to remind humanity, and God, of that promise.

This covenant, one of many we find in Scripture, is mainly God making promises to humanity. There are few things being asked of humanity in return. Humans are again, as they were in the Creation story a few chapters earlier, given permission to eat of the flora and fauna of the world -- in fact here there are no limitations, Jewish kosher laws will come later. All that is called for from humans in this passage is to be careful about the spilling of blood. (I wonder how blood sausage/black pudding fits with this limitation?)

What does it tell us to be reminded that God has pledged never to cause such mass destruction again (I have always noted God says nothing about preventing humans from causing mass destruction)? What does it say about God that God, knowing that humanity will continue to miss the mark, is in it for the long haul?

More importantly, how could or should we respond to this promise? Will we say that we can do whatever we want or will we be humbled? 

Next time you see the bow in the clouds will you think of God's promise to not destroy the earth? Will you be reminded of the God who is in it for the long haul?
--Gord

Annual Report

I have to confess something. I really dislike writing this report every year. I often wonder what to say, what needs to be said. Do we look behind at the year that was or the year that is just starting? This year is even more confounding. Given the discussions of our present and future what needs to be said?

Luckily there is one thing that is constant, one thing that needs to be said every year. Thank you.

This congregation would not function, would not even exist without the generous contributions of so many people. Because so many of you have given time and money we have a ministry in Grande Prairie. Elsewhere in this booklet people have made lists of some of the jobs that have been done to make our community work in 2023. Thank you to all of you. Your time is valuable and you all have other places where you could spend it.

The same goes for money. We all have a long list of things that our money could be spent on. This year you have been wonderfully generous. Envelope revenue (which includes Sunday envelopes, PAR and E-transfers) were up just over 8.6% over 2022. And it shows. In 2022 we had a deficit of over $31 000. This year we had a deficit of under $2 400, which is less than 1% of total expenses. I call that pretty close to a balanced budget for 2023. This is something to celebrate! In fact, we took in more money in 2023 than we did in 2020, the year we got roughly $23 000 in COVID related government grants.

On top of that we were able to share about $14 000 with the wider community through our Local Outreach Fund. I have said it before and I will say it again. St. Paul’s is a wonderfully generous community and Grande Prairie is a better place for it. Thank you for making that statement so true.

I am sure many of us have highlights from the past year, things that stand out. The Affirming celebration is one of those for me. That and the discussions I have had with people who have made it clear how important it was to them that we took on that journey. St. Paul’s holds a special space in the Grande Prairie faith community. In the same way I look back on the Advent season and the effusive thanks we got from our partner agencies for the gifts we share with them through our Christmas campaign. Again I say that Grande Prairie is a better, stronger place because St. Paul’s has made a difference – because your gifts of time, treasure and love have made a difference. Thank you.

Now I move to harder things. I noted above that we essentially balanced the budget in 2023 and that is a wonderful thing. However it is the exception. From 2019 to 2022 (the only years I have easy access to as I sit at my desk) we ran deficits ranging from $9300 to $31 000. I include 2020 in that because without the $23 000 in government grants we would have had a 5 figure deficit that year instead of a surplus. That can’t continue. We need more money, more people, more energy. So what is the path ahead?

There are lots of reasons to give into the crisis and look for quick fixes to the budget problem. I encourage us not to do that. Crisis thinking often leads us into poorer solutions that can cause unplanned for negative results. The book I am currently reading talks about getting out of the crisis of decline and into the crisis of God’s action (I am waiting to see exactly what they mean by that). What is God doing in our midst that we can join in with? What is God up to in Grande Prairie, at St. Paul’s in particular, that this faith community can take part in? What is the ministry of St. Paul’s at this point in its history?

Many years ago Pete Townshend wrote these words:

Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?

I know I have been harping on this sort of question for many years. But unless we know who we are we will never fully know what our purpose and ministry is. Not who we were and what our ministry was, which is often where those conversations end up going, but who we are and what our ministry is now.

The way forward will lie in admitting that we are not who we once were. The way forward will be to celebrate the gifts that we have to offer, that we are currently offering, and build from there. The way forward will involve hard decisions. Each option will have positive and negative repercussions. The way forward will not be a “flip the switch and all will be well” thing (what in life ever is). But here is the Good News.

We are not alone. We are a community of faith, called together by the Source of Life. God has walked with people on this site overlooking Bear Creek since Alexander Forbes first planted a stake saying “Presbyterian Church”. God has led us here and God will lead us forward. The road to this point has not always been comfortable or smooth. The road ahead will have some bumps, maybe even some motion sickness. But let’s open our eyes, ears, and souls to sense where God is calling us forward. Let us live not in the crisis of decline, which is depressing and scary, but rather in the crisis of God’s action, which may be exhilarating and scary. Together we will find the way to live out our Mission Statement:

Through Faith, we walk on the path Jesus set for us.
The people of St. Paul’s Belong...Believe...Love...Listen...Lead

What will 2024 bring? What will these pages talk about in a year’s time? We can only wait and see.

Yours in Christ,
Gord Waldie

Looking Ahead to February 11, 2024 -- Transfiguration Sunday

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• 2 Kings 2:1-12
• 2 Corinthians 4:1-7

The Sermon title is What Do You See?

Sunday's stole?

Early Thoughts: Of all the courses taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry I think I would most want to take Transfiguration. Transfiguration changes what we see. Or maybe it changes how we see?

Commonly on Transfiguration Sunday we read about Jesus on the mountain top with Peter, James, and John. This story pushes the disciples, and through them us, to see Jesus in a new, different way. There is a lot to talk about there. But it is not the only place in Scripture that we can be pushed to see things differently.

What/how we see is largely shaped by where we stand -- physically, mentally, philosophically, emotionally. Elisha has to be in the right physical mental and emotional place to see what God reveals as Elijah is taken up in the whirlwind. But because God is with him he can see through his grief and loss. He sees the event differently than the other prophets who stop on the other side of the river.

If we are to see clearly what God is doing in the world we need to see differently. We need to cast aside the veil that the world places over our sight. Or maybe more appropriately we need to let God pull aside the veil that we might be clinging to. Sometimes we are the ones that get in the way of seeing clearly.

In the end we have to see differently. We have to see past the whirlwind or the clay jars.. We only do that when God helps us.

Maybe then the tea cup will turn into a rat. Or the professor into a cat. Or the water into rum.
--Gord