For my Two Penn’orth this month I am publishing
an edited version of my sermon from last
Sunday, March 2, for the launch of our Vision 2020
It
feels the right time for to me to stand here this morning, and speak to you
about vision, a vision to develop our parish, moving us forward in many
different ways. It is exciting for everyone.
When
a church stands still it inevitably means one thing in the end, and that is
decline. Around the diocese many parishes are losing full-time ministers or
sharing their priest with other churches. Not so here, thank goodness, but we
cannot afford to take our eye off the ball.
Our
mission must always be to move forward and outward. We must fully heed the
warning of Jeremiah ‘Where there is no vision the people perish’. In recent
times it's fair to say that the parish has been blessed and many good things
have happened. New initiatives have been started; more people have been
attending our services on a regular basis – all good, encouraging signs of the
kingdom. However we have some way yet to go and we are very much at the
beginning of a journey.
Clearly
we must be proactive. The away-day for our Parochial Church Council was the beginning of working out
the parish vision for the future. We are now following this up with a short
questionnaire which will be found at the back of church for everyone to take
away and return. It is vitally important that we all pull together in one
direction communicating and collaborating to plan for the future. We are not
always going to agree but we must be willing to pray for a vision that is
always joining in with what God is doing rather than what we want.
Change is inevitable but I can’t
stress enough that, as a church and as the body of Christ, we must work
together for the growing of God’s Kingdom in this place. It is essential that
we work together and communicate well to build a strong church which will reach
out into the community and not be an isolated group worshipping in this
building because that is what we have always done.
We are the body of Christ, we are born of the one
Spirit, Our duty is to be disciples, taking his word out and showing the love
of Christ in our community.
It is one thing to have vision, but without clear
communication, vision will never become reality. Until we have understood our
vision well enough to articulate it for ourselves, we cannot be expected to
pursue it with any passion and that is my intention, to challenge everyone to
pursue this vision with a passion that will grow this church and reach out wider
encompassing new people and new areas of mission.
That has got to be exciting for all of us. We are
reminded by scripture in Matthew 18:19
where it says, “Again I tell you, that if two of you on Earth agree about
anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in Heaven.”
We need to work together as one pulling in the same
direction to achieve our aims and our initiatives, trusting in God by offering
our prayers of thanksgiving and love for all in our church and community.
Our first reading this morning, from Acts, says, “Keep
watch over yourselves and all the flock of which we are overseers. Be shepherds
of the church of God which he bought with his own blood.”
It can’t be much clearer than that when Paul was
saying his farewells to the elders of the early church in Ephesus. He was
empowering them to stay focused on Jesus the saviour, to stay true, and not wander
from their responsibilities of growing the church of Christ.
God does give us directions for everything relating
to our spiritual lives. Whether that is evangelism, baptism, the Lord’s Supper,
tithing, witnessing or worshipping, God has given us a plan. We are called to
follow his plan and have success. Ignore it and we can’t help but fail.
He has also made available to us all that we need
in this life, food, shelter, inward peace, power for service, whatever, it’s
all available to us. How do we obtain these things? It has to be through faith
and trust. Faith is looking to God for help and not doing it in our own
strength.
It is for our hands to reach out to receive God’s
gifts and provisions. Faith is resting on the Lord for the fulfilment of his
promises. I am reminded of the funeral this week of Kin. His faith was
immeasurable. He had total trust in his Saviour. I am asking you and me to have
that same faith in our vision to look outside the box to trust.
Our
Gospel reading relates Jesus speaking to Peter about faith and using the fig
tree as an example. It is one of the most difficult passages of the Bible and
many commentators have different views. But we today can maybe see the fig tree
as a warning that if we don’t follow the path that God has set before us then
we will never bear fruit.
The only way we can do that is let go of any
bitterness and understand that what God really wants more than anything else is
for us to stand before him with a willing heart ready to be nourished by his
word; and that our lives reflect the fruits of faith.
So for now we must take an upward path with our
whole focus on the working out of a vision that is not ours alone but the vision
that God has ordained for us. We must join in with him, whatever the cost, even
if it means taking on a new role, even if it means taking more of our time and
energy, because, when we honour God, it will realise our vision. God demands
much. Let me finish with the final lines from a much-loved hymn:
Love so amazing, so
divine,
Demands my soul, my
life, my all.
Your friend,
Rev’d Paul
Sunday before
Lent 2014
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