Minister's Annual Report

 Oh a song must rise for the spirit to descend. Oh a song must rise once again.

Singing out God's praises and glory, the faithful voices blend,
Oh a song must rise for the spirit to descend.
(Refrain from Oh a Song Must Rise,#142 More Voices, Written by Paul Svenson)

It always amazes me how the song we lift up changes over the years. 2 years ago as I sat down to write my Annual Report submission we had just had 3 consecutive years of 5 figure deficits – each bigger than the last – and I had to make plain the fact that the congregation was on an unsustainable path. This spurred a lot of discussion and not a small amount of angst. By the end of 2023 we felt forced to make drastic decisions and even last year at this when there was much better news to share there was still a sense of “what do we need to do to ensure our survival as a congregation” in the air.

This year, unless things have changed greatly from the first draft I saw, our financial statements will show a 5 figure surplus. Between 2022 and 2024 expenses have gone up but still the bottom line has turned around by something like $40 000. Where we were lifting up a song of anxiety we can now lift up a song of praise and thanksgiving. I find myself thinking of line in the old Chumbawumba song Tubtumping: “I get knocked down...but I get up again”.

There are a few factors that have led to this turn around (a really successful 2024 Garage Sale, the addition of Card’s as a renter to name two) but the biggest reason is YOU. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the people who gather together, of the people who make this a welcoming place for others to gather a difference has been made. Not only have our Envelope Givings (which include PAR and e-transfers) gone up but the demographics of the congregation are starting to change. When I look out on a Sunday morning I see a different crowd then I saw 5 years ago. Growth gets measured in a variety of ways, and I believe St. Paul’s is growing as a congregation.

So a big THANK YOU to all of you who have made this happen. Thanks for the many many volunteer hours you have put in. Thanks for holding the congregation in thought and prayer. Thanks for showing up even on those -30 degree Sunday mornings. Thanks for your dedication to this community, this family of faith.

From every house of worship, in every faith and tongue,

a song must rise once again.
From the villages and cities a new song must be sung,
a song must rise for the spirit to descend.
(Oh a Song Must Rise, verse 3)

In 2025 the United Church of Canada turns 100 (and this congregation turns 114). Nationally we are definitely not the same church we were in 1925 (or in 1950, or 1975 or 2000...). Locally we are not the same church we were when we gathered at the Elks hall to celebrate our own centennial in 2011. What kind of church will we be in the future? What song will we lift up? As the Spirit descends where might it lead us?

The road ahead has its challenges. Locally and nationally the United Church is not the powerhouse it once was. We definitely need to be open to new ways of living int to God’s call to be the church. Personally I think that includes some more intentional engagement with the digital world even as we continue to maintain traditional physical “real world” connections. We will likely need to find new ways of funding ministry, new partnerships. In 1940 the committee that created the Statement of Faith reminded us of the need for each generation to find its own way of declaring what it believes. I think that each generation also needs to find the best way to be the church, the gathered family of God in a fashion that meets the needs and styles of the world in which it lives.

In the end we don’t know where exactly the Spirit will lead (or drag) us. The future is always in flux. But I firmly believe the Grande Prairie in particular, and Canada in general, needs the unique expression of faith we call the United Church of Canada. I continue to find truth in the confidence shared by a former Conference Executive Secretary almost 20 years ago. He shared his belief that the United Church was the best tool for sharing the Good News of God in Canada today. We are not what we once were, we are not what we once dreamed we could become. We are smaller (though not yet leaner, that is still a work in progress). But we are not gone. I close this with some words of hope from the Rankin Family:

... as sure as the sunrise
As sure as the sea
As sure as the wind in the trees
We rise again in the faces
Of our children
We rise again in the voices of our song...
And then we rise again

May we continue to lift up our songs. May we continue to let the Spirit lead us. May we continue to rise up as God’s people, sharing God’s words of hope, of love, of promise as we live into a transformed world where God’s Reign is indeed known on earth as it is in heaven.
Gord

Looking Ahead to February 23, 2025 -- 7th Sunday After Epiphany

The Scripture Reading this week is Luke 6:27-38

The Sermon title is Go Beyond.

Early Thoughts: When would you go the extra mile? What prompts you to do that little bit extra? Why would you do more than was asked or required?

There is a lot in these few verses from the Sermon on the Plain (or the Level Place) and all of it it pretty darn challenging. Over and over again Jesus challenges us to go beyond what we might consider normal expectations:

• love our enemies
• turn the other cheek
• give your shirt in addition to your coat
• lend without expecting it back
• don't judge others

The most logical piece in the whole passage seems to be the Golden Rule -- "Do to others as you would have them do to you." (which has equivalents in many other traditions) but even then I suspect most of us do that out of self-interest where Jesus would have us do it more because it honours the other person first.

Why does Jesus push us to go beyond what seems sensible? I think because we are called to live into a renewed earth and heaven. We are called to live as transformed people, living by the values of God's Reign instead of the values of a 'fallen' humanity (I do wrestle with the image of humanity as fallen but I have to admit it does seem to describe us in many ways). In those values extravagant love seems to be the guiding principle.

Still it goes against the grain. The instructions here seem to make us very vulnerable -- though the more I think about it the more I wonder if a willingness to be vulnerable is a big part of the transformation Jesus invites us into. Certainly they raise up a totally different set of values and priorities.

Throughout the Gospels Jesus offers us a challenge. Jesus consistently challenges us to be transformed, even (or perhaps especially) when it is uncomfortable. The world is changed when people choose to change the world. Going beyond the bare minimum, living out a different understanding of what is possible, being vulnerable for a higher purpose is a much more loving way to do that than using violence to force others to follow our path. A cynic might see Jesus calling us to be a doormat in these verse. But I think something more revolutionary is in the offing.

What will help us go beyond expectations and live into the new heaven and the new earth?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to February 16, 2025 -- 6th Sunday After Epiphany

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Psalm 1
• Luke 6:17-26

Source

The Sermon title is Blessed or Cursed?

Early Thoughts: Looking at the Luke passage, where do you find yourself? Which category describes you better -- the ones told the are blessed or the ones who are told to expect woes?

Source

Or looking at the Psalm...
Are you in the happy folk who meditate on and delight in the Law or are you in the second stanza? Are you a tree planted by the water, growing strong in the word of God or chaff to be blown away?

I think I know where we all want to be....

Living into God has called and formed us to be pushes us to ask those sorts of questions. It pushes us to be honest with ourselves even when it is uncomfortable.

Many of us in the United Church, most of us in Canada in general are not usually among the poor, the hungry, the hated and excluded -- the people promised blessings. In the big picture we are among the rich and comfortable. Often in our culture we end up taking advice from 'the wicked', from those who lead us into the primary sin of idolatry -- putting something other than God in the place of highest importance.

Does that mean we should be dreading the times of woe?

Nor necessarily. It does mean we need to take an honest look at where we fit in the ecosystem. Certainly where it comes to the categories in the Psalm we can make a choice. We can choose what we put in the place of highest importance. As for Luke's categories of blessing and woes, well we can choose how to use our wealth and privilege. In the end, I think those choices are the path that leads us away from woes and toward blessings.

Together let us lead each other to the path of blessing. Together let us plant ourselves in the streams of wisdom so we can grow strong and fruitful. Let us be ready to be different from the world around us, even pushed out to the margins, as long as we are being faithful to the God who made us in their image.

At the same time, maybe we should be ready for the possibility that there will be woes along the way...
--Gord

Looking Ahead to February 9, 2025 -- 5th Sunday After Epiphany

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Jeremiah 1:4-10 
• Isaiah 6:1-8 
• Luke 5:1-11

The Sermon title is Not ME!!!

Early Thoughts: Annual Meeting season can be dangerous. It is the time of year when Nominating Committees are out and about and recruiting. How will you r4espond when asked to take on a task?

Source

This week we have a set of call stories, where the Divine nominator taps someone and says "I want you". ANd in all three stories the person feels unworthy.

Jeremiah claims to be too young. Isaiah declares himself a man of unclean lips. Peter declares himself unworthy of even being in Jesus' presence even before the invitation is issued. In all three stories the invitee is told that they are indeed the right one for the task, so don't be afraid. God empowers the one God has called.

There is almost always a reason to try and avoid saying yes to an opportunity. We are too busy. We don't know what we are doing. We might mess it up. We don't have the skills/knowledge/ability. What might make us move from "you got the wrong person" to "Yes, I would be happy to do that"?

I think there are several answers to that question. Sometimes organization try to guilt people into "doing their part". That might work, though it is, in the end a very unhelpful approach. Much more helpful and empowering is to share why you think that person is suited for that particular task. Sometimes, maybe even often, we need help to see where our strengths might lie. Many people would not think of putting themselves forward until someone else says "you would be good at...". The other key part in recruiting, especially recruiting those who are unsure, is to remind them that they are not alone, they have support to complete the task.

GOd, it seems, is really good at recruitment and convincing the reluctant. Over and over again in Scripture God taps someone on the shoulder and they are reluctant to respond. Moses insisted he could not talk well enough. Jonah got on a boat headed the exact opposite direction. But over and over again God convinces the person to agree to the task.

When have you been invited to take on a new role and were sure they had the wrong person? What changed your mind? When and how have you coached someone else to move from "no way" to "I'll give it a try"?

I firmly believe that we live in a time when something will be asked of all of us. (Actually this is always true, I just think that given the political and economic climate right now this is a bit more urgent.) God needs more voices sharing a different view of the world, a different understanding of what is truly important, a different vision for how we work together. God needs loud voices reminding us that we are ALL God's beloved children, made in God's image, worthy of life and respect and love.

What might GOd have in mind for you? What risks might God invite you to take so that the Good News of hope and love, renewal and re-creation, can continue to spread around Grande Prairie, Alberta, the whole world that God loves so very much? How will each of us respond?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to February 2, 2025 -- Epiphany 4C

This being the first Sunday of the month we will be celebrating the Sacrament of Communion during worship. Those joining us via YouTube are invited to have brad and juice available so we can all eat and drink together.

The Scripture Reading this week is Luke 4:21-30

The Sermon title is How Dare You?!?

Source

Early Thoughts: Local Boy Makes Good! That is how this story actually starts but then it takes a pretty drastic turn as the crowd moves to toss Jesus off a cliff...

One might honestly ask why. Yes crowds can be fickle, but still what did he do to upset them so much?

In essence Jesus annoys them by reminding them that it is not all about them, not all about their people. Jesus tells them that God cares for people outside the camp.

It seems to me that people still find that message hard to hear and accept. Maybe it is even harder or worse to hear that challenge from someone we were sure was 'one of us'.

We often talk about this scene in the Nazareth synagogue as the launch point of Jesus' public ministry in Luke's Gospel. And in a way, as Luke writes his story, it is, this is the first detailed description that Luke gives us of Jesus' teaching and preaching but at the same time it is not. In verse 14-5 we are told that Jesus returned to Galilee and "began to teach in their synagogues", in verse   we read "When he came to Nazareth..." and in this week reading, verse 23, we have a reference to the things he did in Capernaum. Obviously Jesus has been at work in public ministry before this day in his hometown synagogue. Maybe he had a soft launch and this is the grand opening?

At any rate, by now news has started to spread about this Jesus from Nazareth and what he can do. There is a sense in this reading that the people were excited to see the local boy come home after making a name for himself out in the world. Surely if he did great things in Capernaum he would do great things here...right?  Maybe not. He seems to refuse to do them, though maybe he could not. Maybe the people there wanted to see him perform great deeds of power but the curse of familiarity made it hard for that to happen. Note that when he first finishes his proclamation the people say "Is this not Joseph's son?", sometimes people have trouble seeing you as more than the person they once knew--no matter how much they want to do so.

Indeed when both Matthew and Mark talk about Jesus being rejected by his homies (though they set it later in his ministry) they say that Jesus was unable to perform many miracles in Nazareth because of their unbelief. In all three accounts Jesus uses a line about prophets not being honored in their hometown. It is hard to go home sometimes.

In Luke however, Jesus goes an extra step. It almost as if he is either trying to irritate these people where he grew up, to ensure his rejection or maybe he knows where they need to be pushed. At any rate he reminds them of two stories from their faith history. Both Elijah and Elisha are special prophets in the faith story. They not only spoke truth to power but they also were miracle workers in their own right (the later prophets would speak God's Word to the people but not perform miracles). Jesus reminds his childhood friends and companions that Elijah and Elisha carried the power of God to outsiders, sometimes instead of healing or aiding the people of Israel who were close at hand. In response the people essentially run him out of town on a rail.

Here is what ChatGPT came up with

Many times we dearly want to think we are special, that we should get special treatment for some reason or another. When we are reminded that we are not as special as we think we are it can be hard to hear. I think this is part of what happens in Nazareth. It is not just that they are too familiar with Jesus (they watched him grow up after all) to accept him in a new role -- thought that may well be part of it. It is also that he dared to talk about the God whose mercy is wider than the lines humans draw between the 'in' and 'out' groups, the division of who is worthy of help and who is not.

I think we need that reminder at times as well. I think of the storm of controversy last week following the prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington when Bishop Budde asked leaders to be merciful to those who many push to the outside edges of society. I think of the many disparaging, even hateful, comments made about the people who live in the tent cities of Grande Prairie or Edmonton. I think of our tendency to ensure our people get their 'fair share' first and then decide how to divide what is left over.

Maybe we in the church need to be more daring. Maybe we need to be more vocal about challenging our leaders and ourselves to see the unended width and breadth of God's mercy. Maybe we need to take the chance of saying the unpopular things that nevertheless are the truth of the Gospel.

I just hope there is no cliff handy when we do it.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to January 26, 2025 -- 3rd Sunday After Epiphany

The Scripture Reading this week is 1 Corinthians 12:29-14:5.

The Sermon title is The Greatest Gift

Found on FB a while ago

Early Thoughts: Over the weekend a 50 year-old (though I thought it was 40-45 years old) song jumped into my head. The chorus says:

Oh oh, get that buzz

Love is the drug

I’m thinking of

Oh oh, can’t you see?

Love is the drug for me

The song has nothing to do with what Paul is talking about -- it is someone seeking physical encounters under the guise of love -- but the idea of seeing love as a drug, an addictive substance, and needing your next hit does I think speak to the importance of what Paul calls the "greatest of these".

This week we continue in Paul's discussion of gifts given through the Spirit. Last week in Bible study a couple of people looked at the end of chapter 12 and asked about what it meant to strive for the greater gifts. What is this more excellent way Paul speaks of? Time to answer that question.

Standing in the same line as Torah, Jewish Wisdom, and Jesus Paul affirms that the greatest gift is love. No matter how good you are at anything else, no matter what other gifts you might have, without love you are nothing. I suspect there may have been some people over the centuries who have found that a little humbling or off-putting. It means it doesn't matter how popular your, how rich you are, how many accolades you have received, what office(s) you have been elected to, how much power you have, how much you have sacrificed -- without love none of it matters. After all, all those other things will end someday. 

It seems we all need that reminder some days. In a world that has become so deeply divided and acrimonious, a world where 'what's in it for me' seems to be how we are told to make decisions, a world where we can often ask (as many have in the past) What about the love or Where is the love we need to be reminded about the greatest gift.

Paul challenges us to open ourselves to love. Paul challenges us to grow and mature in love. Paul challenges us to live in love, to act in love so that we can embrace who God has formed us to be, so that we can help the community grow in unity, in hope, in faith, and in love.

I am writing this piece on January 20th. As I type I believe that President Trump is giving his inauguration address (I am intentionally not listening). On both sides of the 49th parallel politics is taking an ugly turn. There are many voices demonizing 'others' as the cause of all our problems and sometimes it seems leaders are more interested in tribalism and picking fights than finding solutions where all benefit. Love is, I believe, an antidote to these tendencies. Love, not in a sappy sentimental romanticized version but in a scrappy, standing up for what is right, speaking truth to the world version is what we need in the world today.

Also found on FB

Today is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the US (And many people have commented that Trump being installed in office on the same day as Dr. King is honoured seems a big disconnect). Dr. King never called his followers to hate the other side. Dr. King was, after all, first a preacher who knew the Scripture story deeply. He knew that love was the prime virtue for life.

Paul challenges the Corinthians, and us, to seek a more excellent way. That more excellent way is the way of love. As John's Gospel reminds us, Jesus calls/commands us to love each other as we have been loved. Jesus tells us that this is how people will know that we are his followers -- that we have love for our neighbour.

The Greatest Gift. Love. It makes a difference in the world.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to January 19, 2025 -- 2nd Sunday After Epiphany

The Scripture Reading this week is 1 Corinthians 12:1-31

The Sermon title is What Is Your Gift?

Early Thoughts: We all have gifts. Sometimes we don't recognize them. Sometimes we don't give them the honour they deserve, and sometimes others do that to us.

The church in Corinth had issues. They were divided in factions, apparently along a variety of fracture lines. Paul spends much of this letter trying to get them to move past these divisions. One of the lines of division seems to be that some members of the community thought they were superior to others because they had the Spiritual Gift of speaking in tongues (or glossolalia to use the technical term). 

In response to that particular issue Paul spends chapters 12-14 talking about Gifts of the Spirit. Chapter 12 talks about the variety of gifts, and the fact that they are ALL needed and important. Chapter 13 is Paul at what I consider his finest with a discourse about the Greatest gift (we will look at that next week). Then the first 2/3 of chapter 14 is Paul specifically dealing with the gifts of speaking in togues and prophecy.

Paul lists a set of roles in the church, a set of gifts if you will. They are important roles in any faith community. I don't think they are the only gifts that God bestows upon people. Just as there are many more body parts than Paul lists in the second section of this chapter, there are many other gifts that go into the building of God's Beloved Community (a term that has been used for the church).

So what gift(s) do you bring into the community? Are we also guilty of seeing some gifts as superior to others?  Do we think some body parts are more important or attractive than others?

A community functions best when there are a variety of members, with a variety of strengths. As such it is incumbent on all of us to help raise up the gifts we see in the community. 

How have people helped you see where your gifts and strengths lie? How have you helped others see that in themselves?

I also think we need to recognize that different gifts/strengths are need in greater or lesser proportions at different times. As I remember hearing during the 'equal pay for work of equal value' debates 40 years ago: "if your plumbing is leaking the work of a plumber is far more valuable than the work of a typist". Over time all gifts are needed, at a specific time one may be needed more than another. That is not a statement of ultimate value.

In the same vein, though a bit of a different branch, I suggest that we as individuals have different gifts or strengths to offer in different seasons of our lives. Part of our task is to discern what season has past and what new season is beginning.

As a community we rely on the shared gifts we all bring to the table. As individuals wee need to claim what we bring (and be humble enough to admit what we don't bring) and we need to help others recognize what they bring. That is how a strong body is built.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to January 12, 2025 -- Baptism of Christ Sunday

One description of the Liturgical Year is that from Advent through to Easter we look at the life of Jesus and then from Easter to Advent we look at the life of the church/life of the faithful. I am not sure I fully agree with that breakdown because I think we do both things all year but in that model we find an explanation for this Sunday. Traditionally the first Sunday after Epiphany is set aside to mark the Baptism of Jesus, which Matthew Mark and Luke use as the launching point for his public ministry.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Acts 8:14-17
• Luke 3:21-22

The Sermon title is Spirit-Filled

Early Thoughts: What does it feel like? Being filled with/receiving the Holy Spirit, what does that mean to us?

Both the passages for this week make a clear tie between baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit. OR at least a complete baptism involves receiving the Holy Spirit as it appears that the people in Samaria had only had half a baptism before Peter and John showed up. For the early church it seems clear that part of becoming a child of God is baptism with water and the Spirit -- which in fact is what John the Baptist told folk to expect.

That, to me, is part of why we give families a baptismal candle. Fire/flame is an ancient symbol of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

But back to the key question --what does it mean? How can we tell if a person or a community is filled with the Spirit?

I don't think there is one way, one litmus test that answers that question. I think the in-dwelling of the Spirit in us as individuals and as communities shows up in a variety of ways (coincidentally, the next couple of weeks we will be reading from 1 Corinthians 12-14 where Paul talks about some of the gifts the Spirit gives). In A New Creed we talk about the God "who works in us and others by the Spirit". Being filled with the Holy Spirit helps us grow as disciples, as learners and followers of Jesus. It strengthens and emboldens us. The presence of the Spirit in our lives also serves to comfort us, to remind us we are not alone. Being Spirit-filled would, I think and hope, spread through every part of our lives. It would help us see the world differently. It would guide our actions and choices.

As a Baptized and Baptizing Community we are called to be Spirit-filled as individuals and as a collective. If we allow that to happen (sometimes we might fight against the leadings of the Spirit) it has the potential to change how we live.  Are we willing to take that chance, not knowing where it might lead us?
--Gord