Sermon Title: For the Future of Our Church   

Sermon delivered by Marlene Mintz on the Conference Sunday, June 1, 2008

Matthew 7:21-29

7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

7:22 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?'

7:23 Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.'

7:24 "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.

7:25 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.

7:26 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.

7:27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell--and great was its fall!"

7:28 Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching,

7:29 for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

For the Future of Our Church

We are the body of Christ, and we, as church and as individual, are part of this body. This weekend is the annual meeting of the Toronto Conference. The Conference Annual Meeting has three components: the Church’s business, educational events, and celebration of ministry. Our church is small in size, but I am so proud that our church contributed a lot to the Conference through Hannah and our minister John, who served as Conference president a few years ago. And today, there is a special celebration of ministry, for which Hannah Lee of our church is involved as part of the planning team.

In the celebration of ministry, one of the things we do is to celebrate the past: what we have done and have been doing. But I believe that it has a more significant component of the “future.” Let me explain. If the church will disappear tomorrow, do you think we can celebrate our ministry? The answer is clear: No Future, No Celebration.

Today’s Gospel reading talks about celebration: what to celebrate and  how to celebrate. This story comes after the Sermon on the Mount, after Jesus’ time of joy and time of trial. What grabs our attention is that he ends with a harsh judgmental tone. Jesus warns the people that it is never enough to simply listen. Jesus wants to make sure that these listeners should act upon them. He begins his preaching with this statement: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

What Jesus points to is “only the one who does.” And what Jesus emphasizes is that “who does the will of God.” Jesus speaks the will of God in many occasions: in his teaching of how to pray; in his prayer at Gethsemane, and many other occasions. When we consider this teaching through the life and teaching of Jesus, we can answer “why God’s will should be done” and “what happens when God’s will is done.”

Both questions can be answered by the word “change.” We know well that God’s creation in the first chapter in Genesis is all about change with the power of God’s Spirit: from darkness to light, from barren land to farming land. Finally, God’s creation ends with blessing, “Be fruitful and multiply.” In the Bible, change as creation always comes with God’s life-giving Spirit. So we can say that there is no creation without change, and there is no creation without the work of the Holy Spirit.  

Since I have joined in DPUC thirty some years ago, we have experienced so many changes: changes of our neighbourhood, changes of our church members and activities, and changes even in myself – which our minister John recognized as gaining of inner beauty. I believe several of us share the same experience.

Since my childhood, in the world, there have been so many changes: inventions of the digital camera, the microwave, DVD players, the internet, cell phones. I cannot name them all. All these affected our customs, lifestyles, roles of women and children and the differently abled in the world, historic events, styles of worship, the role of the church, etc.  

Some of these changes have been good things that have helped to make our lives easier. Other changes we mourn such as good old Christmas traditions like caroling around the neighbourhood, and vibrant Sunday schools. Some changes we welcome, such as the internet and cell phones. Some changes we fear, like deadly nuclear weapons. Most of these changes we have no control over, though.

Whatever they are, people don’t like change in general. But the world changes and people cannot survive without change. I remember someone once said, “The only one who appreciates change is a baby with a dirty diaper.” Maybe it is true. But this comment is worth pondering how we will venture into the changing future.  

Do we fear change? Do we promote change?  Change means loss of control, loss of our good old habits. Change means saying goodbye. Change means entering into uncertainty. Change means letting go. Change is never easy. Having said this, are we still wanting to change?

We don’t have to answer all these questions. What is crucial to us is the question of the Holy Spirit, whether our change is directed by the Holy Spirit or selfish desire.  

During the last twenty some years we have experienced some change. Whatever we realized or not, the number of Sunday worship attendance and stewardship have declined. We experience the loss of youth, the loss of being a place of importance in our society. In this situation, we fear any possible loss of our identity as the Church of Christ. It is time that we should ask where was the Holy Spirit when these changes were made.

There are also lots of good news through our changes. We thank God that we are persistently reaching out to our neighbouring community. This is our conviction that we respond faithfully to God’s urgent call. We appreciate that we are gaining more diversity in culture and race. We are in the process of the conference restructuring which is now in the final stage. These are also the occasions where we have to ask where the Holy Spirit is leading us to.

In this life situation, how we approach these changes is the key to our future faith journey as the body of Christ, DPUC. In this our time of change, what we need to do first is prayer: pray to God for God’s Spirit to lead us, to guide us and to empower us. Through the Holy Spirit, we can plan positively and act confidently. This is what Jesus means by saying, “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heave.”

Our passion is not from ourselves, but it is the gift of God and blessing from God. Our persistence is not from ourselves, but it is the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Our zeal for reaching out to our neighbourhood, and to the ends of the world is not from ourselves, but through Jesus Christ who holds our hands in our times of difficulties, and who was crucified and is risen.

When I look back on my faith journey with DPUC, I can confidently say that “God has been with us and with me. We are not alone.”  I have been working for the church and for the community with all my heart. Now I feel that I have to start a whole new journey with the prayer of Jesus, “Not my will, but thy will be done.”  I hope we will journey together for the future of our church with our prayer together, “Not my will, but thy will be done.”

On this conference Sunday, I would like to remind you of the mission of DPUC: We proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to our community. We will provide people of all races and ages with the opportunity to worship and to reach out to one another and the world in faith and fellowship. May this mission continue to the end of the age with the life-giving Spirit of God.

In this our journey together, I am confident that we will hear Jesus saying, “You are the ones who do the will of my Father in heaven.” Hearing this word of affirmation is God’s most precious blessing for all of us.

Thanks be to God. Amen.