London Conference News

The 84th Annual Meeting of London Conference was held in Aylmer, ON this past weekend. President Bruce Cook presided over the meeting and its theme was "Sing Your Song of Faith" referring to a theological statement of faith recently adopted by The United Church of Canada.

Presentations were made about poverty reduction strategies, the Healing Fund, the incoming centralized payroll system, religious and political unrest in Israel's West Bank, and many new resources available for congregational use on a variety of topics.

The youth initiative against bottled water, which first surfaced a couple years ago, now has T-shirts bearing the slogan/logo: "Tap Water - Suck It Up!"

Business-wise, there were 7 proposals submitted for the Court's consideration:

1. establishing an Archive Capital Fund that would accumulate 2% of all Real Property (churches and manses) sold in London Conference. Such a measure prepares for 2015 when a new Archive facility will (likely) be needed. - CARRIED.
2. educate and increase awareness of the situation in Darfur. - Referred to Executive (I think, I'm not sure).
   
3. calling on the provincial government to improve and follow through on its Poverty Reduction Strategy - CARRIED.
   
4. calling on the federal and provincial government to sustain current programs that support Affordable Housing - CARRIED.
5. create a Church Structures Task Group to examine and review our current Conference/Presbytery governance structure - Referred to Executive.
6. ask the provincial government to provide a mandatory ethics course for all elementary schools - Defeated.
7. ask all Presbyteries and pastoral charges, and General Council Executive, to register concern and displeasure over uranium mining in Eastern Ontario - CARRIED.
   

Ten candidates for ministry were received into The United Church of Canada (7 ordained, 1 commissioned as a Diaconal Minister, 2 recognized as Lay Pastoral Ministers) on Saturday evening.

Susan Cameron was installed as President of Conference and introduced her theme for the year: "The Fabric of Prayer".

for June 1 - Matthew 7: 21-29

Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord", will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?" Then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers."

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!

Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

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What feelings, questions, thoughts and prompts to personal action arise from this scripture? What about hymn suggestions or ideas for Children's Time? Share them as Comments below or in an email, and help shape Sunday's worship service.

sermon excerpts: "The Ecology of Faith"

(Genesis 1:1 - 2:4a)
Here in the creation story is where God sets limits and boundaries. The Creator carves out a little space for our human existence in the formless void of the universe. Amid the swirling and storming dark chaos that was the nothing from which creation came, God speaks and there is light, land, and life.

That is the task of the church, carving out a sanctuary of love, care and acceptance in a world that is driven by appearance, status and frivolous measures of success. As a faith community, we support people on the frontline of life, parents, children, spouses, friends, neighbours; and in return we find that same support offered to us.

We know that the rest of the Genesis reading will fill the land with animals and people, with the final day set aside for Sabbath and rest. Included is a command to humanity to be fruitful and multiply, subdue the earth and have dominion over all life. It is the short-sighted pursuit of this verse that has put our world into the tenuous environmental situation that we find ourselves in.

... After receiving an honours degree in Environmental Biology, one of the first of its kind in the country, I’ve learned something that is both frightening and reassuring at the same time. The green movement, the environmental movement does not want to save the earth. I say this because the earth does not need saving. We do. It is a push to preserve our lifestyle in light of the degrading and declining integrity of the global ecosystem. It is a selfish and self-centred campaign.

We would all like to do things to help the environment: reduce, reuse and recycle. But we are unwilling to make radical lifestyle choices that would make dramatic and effective differences. We want to keep our personal automobiles, our air conditioning, our variety and supply of groceries. Our present environmental movement is preoccupied on finding a way to have our cake and eat it too.

Still, life will continue on this planet, of that I am sure. We know from the Genesis story that this will be the case. Now, as to whether or not it is human life, that is another question.

Ecosystem theory asserts that our actions have an effect and impact that go beyond our little corner of creation. One change to the habitat or diet of any species will ripple through the food chain until a new balance is achieved. This connectedness is mirrored in our faith. What we say and do as people of God echoes and ripples through the lives of others.

As we study nature and discover the intricate and unexpected connections between diverse plants and animals, we can draw parallels in our lives as a community of faith. It is the connections and links to one another that bring meaning and learning into our own experiences.

Our faith tradition tells of a life-giving power inserting a little order into the primordial chaos and confusion. In the shelter of these boundaries, we find some solid truths with which to ground our being: we are blessed and good, we are part of something bigger and greater than just ourselves, we are not alone. We live in God’s world. Thanks be to God.

for May 18: Genesis 1.1-2.4

Apologies for the delay in updates, it's been a busy set of days lately! For this Sunday, the scripture lesson is Genesis 1:1-2:4. Rather than posting it all here, you can click on the link to read again, God's creative power at work.

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What feelings, questions, thoughts and prompts to personal action arise from this scripture? What about hymn suggestions or ideas for Children's Time? Share them as Comments below or in an email, and help shape Sunday's worship service.

sermon excerpts: "Fire and Water: Faith in Formation"

(Acts 2: 1-21, John 7 : 37-39)
With baptisms at one church and not the other, I had prepared two slightly different sermons to suit the particularity of the respective situations. What follows is a hybrid version of this morning's messages:

Our readings this morning relate the traditional story of Pentecost, the rushing wind and tongues of fire filling the household enabling the disciples to speak every language on earth so that the gospel story might be told to new people. And earlier in the gospel story, Jesus is telling of lifegiving water that was the spirit. And the literalists reading the lessons for this Sunday scratch their heads and wonder, is the Spirit water or fire?

But we should know better than to try and limit or define the working of a holy presence into a simple symbol or image. The fullness of God’s goodness and grace defies description. So while the marvel of Pentecostal tongues of fire is a dramatic and evocative attention-grabber, we are still limited by the inability of words to capture the real meaning of faith in Christ.

It is not the fact that we can speak and describe our story with words and language that is the miracle of this day. It is the wonder that that God’s own self, the Holy Spirit rests upon us and within us. It is the fact that we speak and describe our story with spirit and energy. In this way, the church is born each time we share of ourselves.

Jesus in the gospel lesson is defending himself from some of his critics, suggesting that because the Holy Spirit had yet to arrive, people would not understand what he was talking about. In a crowded house in the middle of a crowded city, the promise of the spirit come has been fulfilled in a way that no one expected and with a purpose that should not have been a surprise.

What have we done with the spirit? We’ve boxed it up and tried to contain it in a box of the church. It is fairly safe to say that the institutionalization of the church has distracted us from the Holy Spirit’s call to purpose and passion expressed in our faith. The spiritual leaders of our denominations are more bureaucrats and politicians more than pastors and preachers. That sounds a lot harsher than I intended, but the fact is that we lose many gifted ministers to administrative positions because that is how the ladder of success is seen in the church.

At the heart of the matter, is the truth of Christ, God’s very self come to earth, continuing to guide and support us through our days in the form of the Holy Spirit. In Pentecost we see the Spirit equipping the disciples with the tools to share their passion and story with the wider world.

The only way the Spirit’s work could be done is if they left the building. They needed to get outside and among the people of the world, risking ridicule and physical harm, with hearts and tongues aflame offering news of lifegiving water. And if that’s a mixed metaphor, it confirms the fact that in a complicated world of conflict and pressure many different visions, images and stories need to be shared.

So we work within the knowledge that our faith continues to grow and refine. Our spirits are shaped and formed continually. At no point can we profess to have all the answers, to know everything. God, as Father and Mother of us all, assures us by spirit, family and faith community that we are not alone.

Back to It

I've returned from a week away at Princeton Theological Seminary engaging the question about what is the mission of the church in this day and age (specifically to youth ministry, but the ideas apply to the wider congregation).

It'll be a busy time with a couple mid-week worship services added in at Strathroy Middlesex General Hospital and Beattie Haven, a few meetings for the Session at Appin and baptism candidates, and London Conference's Annual Meeting coming up.

But I'm not complaining, it's great to be back. See you soon.

for May 11: Acts 2.1-8

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?"

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What feelings, questions, thoughts and prompts to personal action arise from this scripture? What about hymn suggestions or ideas for Children's Time? Share them as Comments below or in an email, and help shape Sunday's worship service.