Partners in ministry

…learn to do good;seek justice;rescue the oppressed;

defend the orphan;plead for the widow.

Isaiah 1:17

Dear Friends,

One way of summing up the main point of my message on Sunday is: Loving God IS loving others. In Sunday’s passage, the prophet Isaiah was communicating God’s Word that was berating the kingdom of Judah for being religious while not being about justice, compassion and righteous living. Those words remind us that being a Christian is not just about believing that Jesus was the Son of God but taking on being disciples of Jesus and seeking to live the way Jesus taught us. There is a trap we can fall into, though… Sometimes, we think that it is all up to us! Let me explain…

Sometimes when we take these words to heart about doing good, seeking justice, rescuing, defending and advocating, we immediately go to the place, We need to create a new ministry! Certainly, in the long history of Christianity, Christians have recognized needs in society and created new ministries. Hospitals, orphanages, food kitchens, accompanying ministries, and relief work are but just a few of the Christian-created ministries that arose from a need in society that faithful Christians recognized and--out of love for their neighbour--got in action on.

Today, many of these ministries are already in place. If we have tunnel vision and automatically feel like we need to start our own version of one of these ministries, then it can be a lot like trying to reinvent the wheel! In addition to not learning and benefitting from the expertise that others have gained, in some ways it seems to negate that the work they are doing is ministry. For example, if we wanted to try to help people who were sick and said, We don’t have a Lutheran hospital where people can go to get well and then set about trying to build a new hospital, that would seem a little bit silly!

Instead, if we “try on” that God is at work in all kinds of ways and that the people and groups that are in action in loving their neighbour are part of God’s work in the world, then there are plenty of groups and organizations that are doing “God’s work” and we can participate in this work by joining and supporting them. We can choose to relate to these groups as partners with us in ministry. That is why members of FLC have started volunteering for Inn from the Cold. When I look around for such partners, I find many even closer to home!

At FLC, we have Aspen Hill Montessori, Suzuki Talent Education Society, a Korean choir, scouts, Sport Ball, and other organizations that use our facilities. We can just relate to them as “tenants” and as a revenue source. I choose to relate to them as partners in ministry who help us provide children’s learning, music education, character building, physical health and teamwork for our neighbours in the community.

It is the fundamental reason why we are paying for the wood chips to cover the playground out back. This is the main outdoor play area for Aspen Hill Montessori (AHM). When it rains, it turns into one, great, big, mud pit! In order to provide a much better place for them to play, we have two dump truck loads of wood chips coming this Friday! On Saturday, AHM’s executive director, Chris, is rallying the parents to come in one-hour shifts and spread the wood chips. Now, they can probably get it all spread out without our help but it seems to me a great opportunity to literally rub shoulders with other parents who love their children and to work together on such a worthwhile project!

Now I know that Saturday is our congregational picnic (11-2 at Edworthy) but I am planning on getting to the church around 9am, helping spread wood chips, go to the picnic, and (probably) head back and see if they still need help. If you want to play this partnership game with me, then grab some gloves, a shovel, a rake, and even a wheelbarrow and come make some new friends on Saturday!

Peace,

Pastor Phil