Sometimes the bravest person I know is the farmer, who after a year where the land has flooded or the crops rotted on the field or withered away from a heat wave or burned down in a grass fire, looks at the seed catalogue and goes to the local UFA or wherever one buys seeds for, and picks out the crop that they think will do best on the land this summer. And whether it’s a farmer who rents a bunch of properties or the person with a flower pot in the back yard, when we pick up our seeds and plan to stick them in the ground, we are being courageously hopeful. Whether it’s sunflowers in solidarity with Ukraine, planted with prayers and hopes, or those impossibly tiny carrot seeds or acres and acres of wheat and canola, the seeds go in the ground as a sign of courageous hope. This Sunday, which is sometimes also called Rogation Sunday, was a time to ponder the mystery at the heart of life where a seemingly lifeless seed can turn into a green thing capable of feeding many people.
Jesus
has been planting seeds of faith, fertilizing them with stories, examples and
encouragement, but he knows that just by living by example, he being a role
model for everyone is not enough to help his disciples get through the rough
times ahead. The words he has planted,
to the best of his ability, is to show people a different way of thinking about
God and discipleship. A way of
courageous love and daring hope. A way that breaks down fear and leads to
flourishing
Last
week there was a gathering of ministers on line with the Moderator Carmen
Lansdowne. It was the second last gathering of the (Re)Generate program, a
pilot project that brought 31 clergy from across Canada together to learn about
the nuances of leadership in our current Canadian Culture. Affectionately known as “The Blazing
Walnuts”, they have studied everything from accounting and sustainability to
strategic planning and flourishing faith.
This session was focussed on presenting their ‘capstone projects’, the
work each person put together with a team of consulting community and
congregational members to focus on one particular experiment that could be
implemented for the community in which they were involved. 31 experiments designed to help the United
Church of Canada be playful, creative, hopeful and adventurous.
One
project developed a very detailed, concrete plan for growth for the next 10
years, to capitalize on what was already working and build the momentum that
was already starting to be present. He quoted, “Cities that are growing have no
time to plan. Cities that aren’t growing have all the time in the world. The important point is to use the time to be
ready for when the growth happens.” Another minister got a grant to hire a
public relations firm and developed a series of tictoc videos and social media
ads to share their mission statement and were starting to see the uptake in
interest in their congregation. There was a lively video produced for the
Maritime region showing the importance of United Church camps and staying
connected to the congregations that help sponsor them. Someone started a dinner church to talk about
faith in a casual setting that outsiders might feel welcome to come to. One growing congregation built clever
‘belonging bags’ that welcomed repeat visitors with a personalized gift and invitation
to meet members of the council. Another
congregation has doubled their attendance in the last three years and put in
place a detailed plan to be more intentional in their supporting new people to
becoming long-time members. Someone else explored the delicate challenges
around helping people living in poverty to feel that they were fully
contributing members of the congregation without being merely a person who
needed charity. Several congregations explored growing intercultural,
multilingual churches and the surprising subtle racism that rose up. As Carmen was told at a World Council of
Churches gathering that Christianity is the fastest growing faith in the world
at this time, and the norm is a service that is a time of socializing as well
as worship, and that it's normal for people to chat with their neighbors while
the service is going on. There were lots of projects around children, how to
welcome them, how to do all ages worship, and even an app for games and
stories! Sanctuary Star Hunt According
to research, retaining children in church as they transition to adults requires
them to feel personally connected to a minimum of 5 adults!
One
minister in rural Saskatchewan talked about practising hope aggressively and
how her little town congregation was expanding since Covid. Another talked
about the intersection of faith and the Climate crisis and the need for clergy
to learn how to preach about it in biblically faithful ways.
One
person even put together a stand up routine that she will be presenting at a
comedy festival this summer, which is both hilarious, biblical and evangelical,
and promotes the United Church as being very different than the assumptions and
steotypes that many Canadians might have.
Another is organizing a trip to Zimbabwe with people 16 and up, which
will be an opportunity to build relationships and long-term cultural
exchange. This has brought new youth and
new families to the church too.
I presented on the FAB collab and the workshops I had been doing, which was
well received. Much encouragement was
given for continuing the project and the workshops despite the cancellations
and delays. There was even some
suggestion of making the workshops available to the broader church. The ministers requested to make art projects
like the wooden dice like we made in the “Who is Jesus” workshop when the
ministers gather for the last workshop with the Moderator in June!
Jesus
said that he would send the spirit to help guide us through our challenging
times. He wanted us to live with audacious hope, and to live
with courage. “Peace I leave with you;
my peace I give to you. I do not give you the kind of peace the world gives. Do
not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” Easier said than done, of course.
But
when we turn to God for guidance, when we practice deep spirituality and bold
discipleship and daring justice, when we lean into living by flourishing
practices, we will find the seeds of courage and hope and peace abiding with us
as we work together. Who knows what will
grow from those seeds? We can’t do it
alone, we can only do it together. Thank
God for sending the Spirit to be with us so we are not alone, we do live in
God’s beautiful world. In life, in
death, in life beyond death, God is with us, we are not alone. Thanks be to God! Amen.
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