Looking Ahead to the Service Marking the Closure of Nampa United Church-- September 13, 2015

During the service we will hear these Scripture Readings:

• Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
• Romans 8:35-39
• Isaiah 43:1-2, 19

The Reflection title is All Good Things...

Early Thoughts:  All things human have a life span.

ALL things.  Communities, families, businesses, churches.  They all have a life span.


That means they have a beginning and a middle, and an end.  There is a time.

Our challenge is to know how to recognize the time and respond with hope.  We celebrate that which has been, we name that there is a loss taking place, and we look for how God is with us in the beginnings, the middles and the ends.

Ecclesiastes reminds us that there is a time for every season and purpose.  An unpleasant truth perhaps, but still a truth.

Both Isaiah and Paul remind us that God is with us in the times of transition and change.  They remind us that God will not forsake us, that no matter how bad things may seem at times nothing separates us from God.  And then Isaiah challenges us to look for the new thing that God is doing.

We gather to mark the closing of a congregation.  As we gather we will be reminded of what has happened in that community of faith over the years. But we are always challenged to look forward with hope.  God is with us.  God is active.  These things do not change.  All human endeavours come to an end.  But God remains present and faithful.

Thanks be to God.
--Gord

For a Service of Church Closure

Call to Worship and Lighting of Christ Candle

In the beginning God said:

Let there be light.

In the beginning was the Word

and the Word was light to the world.

We light this candle to remind us of the light which has shone from the beginning,

the light which will shine beyond the end.

The God of Light has called us to this place,

to remember, to give thanks, to mark a time of transition.

Let us worship together...

Prayer of Approach

Eternal God;

God of our past, our present, our future, we open our hearts in worship.

Loving God;

who laughs with us and worries with us and weeps with us, we carry our fears and hopes and memories to this place.

God made known in Jesus the Christ;

we remember the story of faith, of death and resurrection, of hope that defies despair.

God of community;

we gather with friends and neighbours, sharing a common bond

God of the church;

we gather in this place to mark an ending, help us to remember that the church is more than this building, that the church continues in faithful lives lived in this community.

God of life and hope and promise;

be with us in this time of worship. And walk with us when we leave this place. Amen.

Prayer of Hope For the Future

God of endings and beginnings,

we trust that you walk on with us into the undiscovered future.

When Moses led the children of Israel into the wilderness.

You were there, helping them see hope. Be with us as we enter a time of change, leading us with hope.

When Jesus knew that it was time to challenge the old ways

You were there, sustaining him and his friends as the world was changed. As you were at the heart of his life and ministry may you be at the heart of our lives and ministry.

God of change, God who says “Behold, I am doing a new thing”

Lead us into the new thing, growing from the old, growing from you Living Word moving in our hearts.

These things we pray in the name of Jesus, our rock and redeemer, our teacher and guide, whose life, death and resurrection give us a path and a hope for the future and who taught his friends to pray saying...

Commissioning & Benediction

God is with us

As we remember what once was with joy and sadness

God will remain with us

As we name the ending of this congregation.

God will lead us forward

as we continue to live as faithful followers of Christ

as we seek God's justice

as we look for the Kingdom of God

as we walk in God's light

As you go forth from this place,

may the love of God who created and recreates us,

the strength of Jesus who redeems us,

and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit who strengthens us,

be with you today, tomorrow and everyday.

We are not alone. Thanks be to God!

Summer 2015 Letter to Northern Lights Presbytery

Brothers and Sisters:

Greetings in the name of the Threefold God!

I trust that you are all enjoying your (hot and dry) summer. Hopefully you will find time during this season to rest and be re-created. Hopefully you will also be re-awakened to a sense of what God is doing in our midst as we look toward the future.

As I sit here preparing for my own vacation time (36 hours away but who's counting) there are a couple of prayer concerns I thought I would share with you all.

The first is weather related. Yesterday morning Parkland County declared a state of emergency due to drought and grasshopper damage to crops. Several communities are starting to issue water-use advisories. Campfires are becoming a thing to save for another year, And for the last several days our news reports have been filled with reports about the wildfire danger and activity in BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan – wildfires that may only really be extinguished when the snow comes in October/November. As much as we may enjoy nice clear days on our vacations, let us also remember the desperate need for moisture, I ask all of you to pray for those whose lives are disrupted by drought and wildfire this summer.

Close to our lives as a faith community are the prayers we hold for General Council. Hard as it may be to believe (except perhaps for those wading through hundreds of pages in the workbook), in just a month and two days GC42 will have met, deliberated, and dispersed. As we know, the commissioners have been entrusted with a weighty topic in the report from the Comprehensive Review Task Group, along with many other pieces of business that is coming before them. We join with United Church folk across the country to hold them in prayer. And we trust that they will be open to the voice of God as they deliberate and discuss and decide.

If you go to the GC242 website (http://www.gc42.ca/) you can not only read the workbook but find out more about the Prayer Pilgrimage we have been invited to join in as the commissioners prepare for the meeting. Also the Moderator, the Right Rev. Gary Paterson has been posting an intriguing series of blog posts lately to get people thinking about what it means to be the church. Gary's blog is at http://www.garypaterson.ca/.

Then after the summer will come the fall. And the work of the church will continue. Our Fall meeting (September 25-27) this year will take us up to meet and visit with the folks of Hillcrest United Church in Fort Nelson. There is a possibility we will also schedule the Covenanting service between Northern Lights Presbytery, St. Luke's United Church in Fort St. John, and the Rev. Louise Hart on that same weekend. Watch for an e-mail from Martha with more information. At that meeting we will not only do our regular work but are hoping to hear some more about the Truth and Reconciliation process. And of course we are building in a substantial block of time to hear from Bev and Margaret-Anne about what happened in Corner Brook and to discuss what they share with us.

As I leave you to enjoy the rest of your summer, one small advertisement. The Banff Men's Conference this year is a month earlier than traditional. It will be the weekend before our Presbytery meeting. The theme this year is “Finding Kanata in our partnerships with indigenous people”. Information and registration forms can be found on their website http://banffmen.org/ and we will be back at the Banff Centre this year after being in Canmore in 2014. It would be nice to see a number of folks from this area in attendance (which reminds me that I have yet to register myself).

May you feel the creating and re-creating power of God flowing through and around you this summer. May you feel the loving presence of the Risen Christ guiding you. May the Spirit set a fire of hope and faith and possibility in your hearts and souls as we all strive to live together as followers of The Way.

See you in a couple of months!

Gord

Letter from the Presbytery Chair

Brothers and sisters,

Well this was supposed to be the time I wrote a letter for Easter. But it is also the time I need to write a letter around the Comprehensive Review Task Group Report. I wonder if combining them will work.

Well I will try anyhow!

We are entering the holiest of seasons. The three days of the Easter weekend are the reason the Christian faith exists. Sometimes we focus on Friday and execution and oppression. Sometimes we focus on Sunday and Life that conquers Death. But the reality is that this is the heart of our story. In the face of death and violence and the world's “NO!” God responds with a resounding “YES!!!!!”, as yes that continues to echo and reverberate 2000 years later.

And so as we continue to walk the road that leads to Palm Parade, Cross, and Empty Tomb I hope you keep your eyes and ears open for God's YES. It is easy to see the cross, to see the ways we in the world say no. But watch for the yes. Even if it is only hoped for, or glimpsed in a brief second it is there.

A moment ago I suggested that we focus on Friday or Sunday. And in our liturgy and our theology I think we do. But in truth I am not sure we live in either spot. I actually think that as people of faith we live, more often than not, on Saturday.

Saturday is the in-between time. The time of uncertainty. The time of waiting. We profess the hope of resurrection but we wait for “proof” that it will happen. And some years the Saturday feeling is stronger than others.

I think of my time in Atikokan, when the mills were both closed and the plan was that the government would mothball the coal-fired generating plant. We were living on Saturday, knowing so much loss and wondering if there would be new life.

And in the United Church today I think we are living on Saturday. Uncertain about the future. Still mourning a past that may only really exist in our memories. Hoping there is new life yet to be found.

Which brings me to the Comprehensive Review report....

Earlier this month the Comprehensive Review Task Group released their report and recommendations. If you have not already done so you can find the following at http://www.gc42.ca/comprehensive-review-report :

-- the report, containing the 6 recommendations

-- the proposals that are going before General Council

-- 10 backgrounder documents

also some YouTube videos:

-- an invitation to engage in the report

-- an introduction to Recommendation #3: the 3-Court Model

-- an introduction to Recommendation #4: the College of Ministers

-- an introduction to Recommendation #6: the Funding Model

and some other resources:
-- an FAQ document

-- a bulletin insert

-- a PowerPoint slideshow

I ask all of you to read the report and the proposals carefully and more than once.  They recommend a church that will look very different from the United Church that was formed 90 years ago.

As many of you will already know we are planned to have a special Presbytery meeting on April 18^th to discuss this report along with the proposed changes to Manse Fund guidelines (a copy of that document was e-mailed with the minutes from the February Presbytery meeting). At our Executive meeting this morning we decided that it was important that congregations have time to look at and discuss this report before that meeting. And so we decided to change the to April 25^th. This meeting was planned to happen in Spirit River for those who wish to attend in person but that church has a major fund-raiser that day so the in-person meeting is going to happen at St. Paul's United in Grande Prairie. Because it is costly and inconvenient for all Presbyters to travel to a one-day meeting we are also making arrangements for folk to attend electronically. Details about the timing and the technical contact info for this meeting will come at a later time. Because the more connections you have to a virtual meeting mean the more possibilities for a bad connection and because it is often helpful to have more people to gather with rather than being alone in a room staring at a screen I encourage folks in close proximity to each other to gather together for the meeting.

Between now and April 25^th I urge you to take time as congregations to look at the report. Some of you may want to create a Proposal to suggest changes to the recommendations. These Proposals can then be considered by Presbytery and passed on to the Conference meeting at the end of May. To aid in these congregational discussions in encourage you to look at the videos and other resources on the GC42 web-page (see address above). I also offer these questions as ways to spark discussion:

-- as you read each recommendation ask “what problem is this trying to solve?” “does it solve it?” “does it cause new problems?”

--how do you see yourself living in the church as it is pictured?

-- What, if anything, excited you about the report?

-- What, if anything, worried you in the report?

-- Is there anything for which you need more information?

-- Did the report overall, capture your imagination and excitement, or did it make you feel sad, angry or worried?

-- How will your life and church life change if the report is accepted in large part by the commissioners at GC42?

It is easy to read the CRTG report and proposals and become very angry, or very depressed, or both. There is a lot of loss that is going to happen in the next few years within the United Church. The reality is that whatever we as a denomination do with this report a lot of loss will happen anyway as we still need to gut massive amounts from the denominational budget. We can not be the church in the same way that we have been the church since 1925.

But we are an Easter people. We are those who hold a resurrection faith. There will be death and loss but there is also the promise of new life. Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24 English Standard Version). The structures of the United Church might die (or possibly collapse altogether) but the faith continues. Where and when will we find Easter in light of the CRTG report?

I look forward (with a bit of anxiety) to our discussion on April 25^th and all the discussions that will precede and will follow.

Yours in Christ,

Gord Waldie

I got Sarah to help me make a video:

Looking Forward to February 22, And also March 1....

I am preaching at Presbytery next Sunday.  But since the sermon will also work for our Annual Meeting Sunday, why not use it twice!

The Scripture Readings for this week are:

• Matthew 28:16-20
• Joshua 24:1-18

The sermon title is Why Are We Here?

Early Thoughts: A couple of weeks ago I posted a query on-line.  If you had to state the purpose of the church in a tweet (140 characters) what would you say?

In any organization we need to be clear about what our purpose is, what we are all about, what is our mission.  We need to know this in order to plan and live because everything we do needs to follow from our primary purpose/mission.

It is my fear that we in the United Church are no longer clear about our primary mission/purpose.  And so any attempt we make to change the trends that David Ewart ( the so-called 'prophet of doom') keeps pointing out (and note that one specific trend goes back to 1925--since then the UCCan has been shrinking as a percentage of the Canadian population) is going to amount to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic unless we rediscover, or discover anew for the first time, our primary purpose/mission both as a denomination and as individual congregations.

Our problem is not governance.  Well to be frank governance is an issue at all levels of the church.  But the problem will not be solved by rejigging how we operate.  Changing the committee structure doesn't invite more people to become a part of the community, or give them a reasons to stay (though sometimes not doing it might scare them off).  To bring new life into the church means knowing what we are all about and sharing that.

In the near future the Comprehensive Review Task Group will release its report (I think it is already written but is now being translated and prepared for release).  As I read the signs, this report will suggest a radical rejigging of how we as a denomination operate.  As in it will no longer be the denomination we have grown to know.  And I know we will all have opinions about what that report suggests.  But I have a hope.

My hope is that the report begins by stating boldly an understanding of the purpose and mission of the United Church of Canada.   This would be a bold thing -- I am not sure such a statement has been made for many many years.  But the rest of the report about HOW we are the church needs to rest on a statement of WHY we are the church.  Based on what the CRTG has released thus far during their work, I don't expect this to happen.  But I hope it does.

And even if it doesn't we all, as congregations and Presbyteries and Conferences, we all need to ask ourselves "why are we here?".  Then we can build from that foundation.  And in my experience a statement of mission needs to be short and memorable to be much good.  We can (and will) then expand more about what it means to us but we need to put it succinctly -- and succinct is not exactly what the UCCan is known for. 

So what would your tweet be?
--Gord

A Christmas Letter from the Chair of Presbytery

Brothers and Sisters:

I write this on the Saturday before Advent begins as there is a flurry of activity in the church putting up Christmas decorations. I guess I can no longer pretend that Christmas is months away and have to start getting more prepared.

We now enter one of (if not THE) the busiest months of the year, both in the church and in the world around us. And yet a month from now the fuss will be almost over for another year, in just over a month the decorations will be put away and the turkey will be made into soup. And maybe we will all have caught our breath again.

But in amidst the bustle of gift shopping and wrapping, the baking, the special events, the worship planning can we pause to find a moment (or a series of moments) to just experience the season? Can we stop and listen for angel song and look for the light of a strange new star?

That is my hope for all of us this season. My hope is that we can shut off the busy-ness and once again feel what it is like for God to break into our world. Because without that all the coloured lights and gaily wrapped gifts and plates of baking lose their meaning (except for chocolates—chocolates always have a meaningful place in life).

So I ask you today. How is Christ being born in your midst? Where is the Light of the World shining in the shadows of your communities?

I pray that we can all be open to see the Christ-child in places that we don't expect – because that is where we most often find God. I pray that in a world full of shadows, and here I remember my favourite Advent hymn (Tomorrow Christ is Coming, #27 in Voices United) which says “The world is full of darkness, again there is no room”, we will see the light shining. The light which shines in the darkness but the darkness can not overcome is coming into the world again. Do not be afraid, for this is news of great joy for all people. A child is born. A Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

Blessed Christmas to one and all!

Gord

Letter to the Ministry Personnel of Northern Lights Presbytery

To my friends and colleagues in Northern Lights Presbytery:

Did you know that October is Pastor Appreciation Month, (also known as Clergy Appreciation Month)?

I had never heard of such a thing until about 6 years ago when I got a card from the Clergy Support Network in celebration of it. Apparently it was started by Focus on the Family 20 years ago and has since been adopted by Hallmark as another reason to sell cards.

To tell you the truth I am of a mixed mind about Clergy/Pastor Appreciation Month. Mainly because I think the supposed need for such a month shows how poorly we do as faith communities of living the Gospel. If we lived our faith fully then we would not need to be reminded or have special times to say thank you to our clergy, to our volunteers, or to God.

But I am also a realist. And I know that sometimes we DO need to be reminded to show our appreciation to others, we do forget to say thank you. As I often say to couples during pre-marriage discussions, it isn't that we intend to take each other for granted, it is just that we fall into a routine and we forget, and it seems that we take each other for granted sometimes.

So as this month begins I wanted to take time to say thank you to all of you for all that you do. As we all know, ministry is a career with many blessings and also many burdens. There are long weeks full of difficult meetings, there are times we hear stories that break our hearts. Then there are the blessed moments where we are invited to share the deepest moments of others lives, where we experience the wonder of sharing deep discussions about life and meaning. Then there are the myriad “other duties as required” that we are not always sure anybody notices we did.

For all these things I say thank you. For the service in your local community, for the time spent on the work of the wider church, for the many ways you live out your faith day by day, for all the times you were sure no one even thought about saying it I say thank you. Each one of you is a gift to the church, a gift to your community. And trust me people notice. They may not say it enough, but people notice.

God bless you all as you live out your ministry!

And yes, Happy Pastor/Clergy Appreciation Month!!

Gord Waldie

Chair of Northern Lights Presbytery

Or here is the Video Version....

COvenanting Service

I have received the honour of being invited to preach at a covenanting service this coming Sunday.

The Scripture Readings for the service are:

• Jeremiah 29:11-14
• John 13:1-20

Early Thoughts:  What are we doing in this service?  What does it mean to look forward to a future of mutual worship, service, growth and life in faith? What does it mean to be the church in the world today?

It is my belief that the model of serving together is the most healthy, most helpful model for ministry today.  Not a minister serving a congregation.  NOt a leader and followers.  But serving and learning and growing toghether.  It is my belief that Jesus tried to model this in his ministry, at least some of the time.

On the night before his death, Jesus pauses to wash the feet of his closest friends.  Despite their lack of comfort, despite their confusion, despite their objections.  Jesus knows that this is a lesson they need to learn -- sometimes one leads from the front, sometimes one leads by serving, by taking on a role of subservience.

AS this new ministry begins you all are going to be trying to understand how you will be church together.  Everyone in a community of faith is a leader (for better or for worse) at times.  Everyone in a community of faith is a follower (for better or for worse) at times.  Everyone in a healthy community of faith needs to be willing to serve and to be served, to love and to be loved, to care for and be cared for.  This is the faith to which Jesus has called us.  This is the ministry to which Jesus has called us.

Leadership in the 21st Century is a bit of a strange animal.  Many of us wonder at times (often? most of the time?) what is being asked of us.  Are we asked to be the guru? the one in charge? the vision keeper? the vision setter? a companion on the road? the expert?  all of the above?  I think it is the last one at different times.  And once again this is what I see Jesus modelling in the Gospels.

God has called communities of faith together.  God has called certain people into leadership positions within these communities. God has, I sure hope, a plan for the growth of these communities (remembering that growth can mean a wide variety of things).  In order for God's hopes to come to fruition we need to embrace our roles within our faith communities.  We all lead, we all follow, we all companion.  We all serve--even those who sit and wait.

Presbytery Report Part 2

Saturday morning began with worship and then a workshop on the process of making Pastoral Oversight visits. These visits are a vital part of how we support and nurture the life of our Pastoral Charges. Given that between 14 and 18 visitors will be needed in 2011 it is hoped that this workshop will give Presbyters the confidence and knowledge to take part in this ministry. For more information on how these visits work you can find the Suggested Guidelines as a .pdf file on the Presbytery Website (http://northernlightspresbytery.org/).

Also on Saturday we heard updates from Peter Chynoweth (President of Conference) and a report from Lynn Maki (Conference Executive Secretary). Peter shared that a discussion is being held to determine whether or not a Conference Annual Meeting will be held in 2011. Hopefully a decision will be made on this issue at the Conference Executive Meeting in October. Peter also noted that some visioning work is happening within the Conference as well as some work around becoming an Affirming Conference. Referring back to the idea of a golden time of change, Lynn talked about the major changes that were discussed and approved at the May meeting of General Council Executive.

At this meeting of NLP we were blessed to have a presentation from Marie Wilson and Justice Murray Sinclair from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission dealing with the legacy of the Indian Residential Schools. Both of them spoke of how they personally have been touched by that legacy. They detailed what the Commission is, how it was formed out of the settlement agreement, and what it has been asked to do during it's five year mandate. Key issues they mentioned were: that this is a Canadian issue, not an aboriginal issue; that despite all that we have heard and done thus far, we are only at the beginning of a long long process; and that a huge piece of the needed work is in education. Marie pointed out that in all measure of societal malfunction aboriginal women and children are over-represented in Canada and that while Canada as a whole ranks 3rd worldwide in Quality of Life, the aboriginal community in Canada ranks 47th and such a discrepancy is part of our national shame – a term Justice Sinclair used to describe the whole Residential Schools history and legacy.

And of course what would a Presbytery meeting be without items of business. Here are some of the highlights from the Ministry Group and committee reports:
Nominating – Laurie Pals from Fairview was named as Stewardship & Mission Education Convenor
Living The Faith

• is looking at a Spring retreat around supporting music ministry in congregations using the resource “Singing Faith Alive”
• is committed to having a book display at the February Presbytery meeting
• is looking forward to the possibility of a conference youth event happening in Grande Prairie in the spring of 2012
• is looking into creating a lending library of resources within NLP

Finance and Assistance

• brought forward motions regarding Mission Support Grants to South Peace and Fort Nelson Pastoral charges. While both of these were wholehertedly supported there was some discussion of how these grants fit into the missional plan and priorities of the whole Presbytery. This latter issue will need more discussion.
• the Interim Budget for 2011 was presented. Based on the currently available information it includes a budgeted deficit of $7 800. The Presbytery portion of the budget works out to $26 per identifiable giver within NLP (add in the Conference Assessment and that number roughly doubles to $53 per identifiable giver)

Pastoral Relations

• welcomed 2 new ministry personnel to the Presbytery: Gord Waldie at St. Paul's United in Grande Prairie and Laura Machin at Hillcrest United in Fort Nelson.
• brought forward a motion to approve in principal a pilot project involving ministry resource sharing involving Peace River-Nampa, Grimshaw-Berwyn and Rev. Janice Walls
• the committee is asking Living the Faith to work out a way to provide worship resource support to congregations that are currently without ministry personnel.
• information was shared about work being done at the conference level regarding Overtime Guidelines and also guidelines regarding Licensed Lay Worship Leaders
• a clergy retreat is being planned, hopefully in conjunction with the February Presbytery

Education and Students

• shared that we have 2 students and 1 inquirer in the Presbytery at present.
• also listed and reaffirmed the 12 Licensed Lay Worship Leaders in NLP

Pastoral Oversight – reviewed the status of visits that are in process and in line to be done for 2010 and 2011

The meeting concluded Sunday morning with the handover of the Presbytery banner to St. Paul's United in Grande Prairie and then Presbyters joined the congregation of WUC for worship and lunch. Monday morning the long bus trip home began...

A great big THANK YOU goes to the folks of Whitehorse United Church. The consensus of Presbyters was that they were wonderful hosts. The food was great, with the local options (bison, elk, moose, salmon, sourdough pancakes...) making the experience truly memorable. And all the other little things that made the weekend run smoothly may not have been noticed but we know that they were there. Thanks again, and you may have set a standard other hosts will have a struggle to meet or beat.

PResbytery Report PArt 1

Well, we are here!

After 2 full days on the bus we pulled in to Whitehorse about 1.75 hours ago.

We left Grande Prairie in the rain about 9:30 yesterday, stopped in Fort St. John for lunch and ended the day's travel in Fort Nelson.  There the folks at Hillcrest United laid out a truly grand meal (3 meats!!!) for us.  Following supper we moved upstairs a covenanting service between Hillcrest United, Northern Lights Presbytery and Rev. Laura Machin (Laura was settled in Fort Nelson this summer).

This morning we started off bright and early at 7:30 and followed teh Alsaka highway to Whitehorse (14 hours later).  We were privileged to have one rider who is intimately acquainted with the route and offered to serve as a tour guide.  And would you believe that 2 Toblerone bars could raise over $100 for the Mission and Service Fund???

Tomorrow morning the meeting starts in earnest, I mean Whitehorse....