Looking Forward to March 3, 2017 -- World Day of Prayer

Each year the Women's Interchurch Council of Canada, in conjunction with sister agencies in other countries, produces resources for the World Day of Prayer. Each year the service is prepared by women in one country and shared around the globe. This year's service comes from the Philippines.



For more about the World Day of Prayer and the Women's Interchurch Council look here:
http://www.wicc.org/world-day-of-prayer/history-prayer/ 

Co-ordination of the services is generally handled by the Women's groups of the sponsoring churches. In Grande Prairie the sponsoring churches are:
St. Paul's United
St. Joseph's Roman Catholic
Forbes Presbyterian
Christ Church Anglican
Trinity Lutheran
The Salvation Army
with the service rotating between the various buildings. This year it is St. Paul's turn to host. 

The Scripture Reading that has been chosen for the service this year is Matthew 20:1-16.

The topic question for the service is Am I Being Unfair to You?

Meditation Early Thoughts: It is a complaint almost every parent has heard "it's not FAIR!"

Maybe the siblings got a different number of chocolate chips in their cookie. Maybe one got something another didn't. Or maybe they got the same but one thought they deserved more than the other....

That appears to be the complaint in this story. Everyone get paid the same, whether they started work first thin in the morning or only spent the last hour of the day in the fields. On the surface it does not seem fair does it? Most often our understanding of fair compensation would say that the more you do, the more you get.

The landowner disagrees. The landowner points out that the early crew got paid exactly what had been agreed to at the beginning of the contract. If he chooses to be generous (or even overly generous) with those who joined in later in the day what of it?

It is Gospel language. It is the wisdom of God's Kingdom. It is not, in the end about being fair. It is, to be truthful, about being just.

Think of those "fairness" discussions we have with our children. Most often it appears that to be fair means to treat each other equally, to treat each individual the same. Kingdom logic, Godly wisdom, says that to be fair means treating each individual as they need. Take this for example:

In the case of our scripture story, fair means different. The agreed upon wage for a daily labourer was what they needed to eat for that day. Are you less in need of that simply because you were not one of the first chosen? What if you showed up late to the casual labour desk?

Fair means just means needs are being met. It is parabolic logic. It goes against everything we have been taught about fair pay.

But that is what God calls us to do, to be people of justice. Are we willing to upend our understanding of "fair" to ensure all have their needs met?
--Gord

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!

June Newsletter #2 -- UCCan at 90

June 10, 1925, the Mutual Street Arena in Toronto, representatives of the Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregationalist and Local Union Churches process in to begin a worship service. Something new is being born. Something called the United Church of Canada. (Yes we were born –or at least the delivery took place after years of incubation and labour– in a hockey arena, if nothing else that should cement our Canadian-ness.)

90 years later where are we? Where will we be for the centennial? Some might ask if we will be around for the centennial.

It has not always been easy being the United Church of Canada. Even as we were being birthed a legal battle was beginning with those Presbyterians who had decided to stay out of Union (a battle over the name of the Presbyterian church was not settled until 1939). There was a wondering if this grand experiment would work. Then there were debates over the ordination of women, over the New Curriculum, over sexuality. Add in the challenges that come with being a national body in a country with such diversity and a wide geography as Canada and there have been more than a few challenges along the way.

But let us look to the future (remembering that the future grows out of the present and the present is rooted in the past). Where are we now? Where are we headed?

To begin with a rather obvious statement, we are not the church that was formed in 1925, the church my grandparents became part of as children when the Presbyterian church in Simpson voted to join the new union. Nor are we the church of the 1950's, when my parents generation was growing up. Nor are we the church of my birth and childhood. We have changed. We have grown and contracted. We have challenged theological and social positions and moved to a new understanding of same. A few years ago then Moderator Peter Short spoke of the 3^rd generation of church leadership, my generation (which really means a 4^th generation is starting to come in as well). This 3^rd generation faces a world my grandparents would never have dreamed of – a world we in our childhood would scarcely believe if we want to tell the truth.

AS a result of all the changes over the last generation there is a lot of angst in this United (or Untied as the most common typo would suggest) Church of ours. We finally have been forced to admit that the structures that grew up over our first few decades will not work anymore. We have been forced to admit that the “Golden Age” of the 1950's might have been more an aberration than a future promise.

And so change is on the horizon. This summer the General Council will hear a series of proposals that will dismantle and rebuild the United Church we have known. And then we will start to figure out how to be the church in a new way. A smaller way. A (hopefully) cheaper way. A (again hopefully) more missional way focused on reaching out and sharing what we have to offer instead of assuming we have a place in people's hearts and minds.

Looking at statistics and reports from the church it would be easy to despair. It would be easy to say all is lost and start the palliative care. And in some places palliative care is the current option. But I continue to have hope.

God is still at work here. God is still stirring up hearts and souls. In the end the way we are the community of God is not important. We may like it. We may be invested in it. But in the end it is the fact taht we are the community of God that matters. WE may do it in very different ways, Our parents and grandparents might not even recognize it as the church they knew. But God is still calling us together. God is still challenging us to share the Good News of life hope and love.

I learned this week that the sermon text at that arena 90 years ago was “except a kernel of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”. What needs to die that we would continue to be fruitful as a congregation? As a denomination? As the gather residents of the Kingdom of God?

And, remembering that we are people who profess resurrection, who profess that “In life, in death, in life beyond death we are not alone” are we ready to let things die that we might have life and bear fruit?

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 Letter from the Presbytery Chair to the Presbytery

Brothers and Sisters,

Last Sunday I preached on the Trinity, so it seems only fitting that I begin my term as Chair of Northern Lights by greeting you in the name of the Triune God: 1-in-3/3-in-1; Parent, Child and Spirit; Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer; Love, Beloved and Lover.

In many Presbyteries the change to a new Chair is marked by a service of installation. I was looking at the liturgies used for those services and realized that in essence they are services of covenanting. As a new Chair takes office the Presbyters promise to support that person in prayer and practise (there is no mention of actually agreeing with the Chair all the time so we are safe there). At the same time the Chair promises to care for the People and Pastoral Charges in the Presbytery, to exercise leadership with wisdom, to abide by the polity of the United Church.

I like that idea. It reminds us that we are all in this together. It reminds us that we work together to make things happen in our life as a Presbytery. Given that the next few years could see a great deal of change in how we exist as the United Church, both within the bounds of Northern Lights Presbytery and nationwide, the reminder that we are all in this together is crucial. And so, as your Chair, I ask that you hold each other in prayer. Something that the local Ministerial Association in Grande Prairie has done is agree to pray for a different church each week. When I get time (?) I am going to draw up a schedule of our own as we hold our Pastoral Charges and our people in prayer. But to begin with, the Presbytery Executive is meeting next Tuesday, June 24, in Grande Prairie. Please pray that they would act with wisdom and vision and hope for the church.

One of the tasks of leadership in the church is to look ahead. Yes we often get mired in the everyday tasks of life but we also have to look ahead. And so I am looking ahead at our life together.

At our Executive meeting next week we will finalize the travel plans and discuss the agenda for our September meeting in Yellowknife. One of the gifts of this Presbytery meeting will be that time together when we are not discussing business, that time to share stories and just enjoy each other's company. At the same time, I know that these meetings ask for a lot of time from the rest of our lives. So I hope that Pastoral Charges can find folk who are willing and able to get to the meeting. I have a dream (well I have a few dreams, some more fanciful than others) that we will have a meeting where all the possible representatives from all the Pastoral Charges are present. Maybe Yellowknife will be that meeting????

Looking farther ahead I note that 2015 is a General Council year. The 42^nd General Council meeting will be held in Corner Brook Newfoundland and Labrador from August 8-15 2015. It is expected that this meeting will be asked to make decisions and act on recommendations and/or a proposal from the Comprehensive Review Task Group and so it will be a very important meeting for the United Church of Canada as we chart a way into the future. At our February meeting in Dawson Creek we will be nominating folk (1 Ministry Personnel and 1 Lay Person) to serve as Commissioners. Please consider if this is something you feel called to do for the church. If you want to know what it is like to be a commissioner there are several people who have gone before. Kathryn Baverstock and Bev Brazier were at the 41^st General Council in 2012.

And then there is our ongoing work of visioning within Northern Lights. Within our midst there is the need to do something new. Many years ago I heard Bruce Faurschou, then Executive Secretary of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario Conference, share his opinion that the United Church is the best tool for sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ (I can't find the exact quote but that is close). If Bruce is right, how are we sharing that Gospel here in Northern Lights Presbytery? And how will we continue to share it in new ways as our communities and our resources and our churches change?

Lots of stuff on our plate, especially since this is but a tasting given the amount of things happening in our various communities. But God is Good, We are not alone, Thanks be to God.

Blessings on your summer plans and looking forward to seeing you in September!

Peace/Shalom/Salaam/Paix

Gord Waldie

Chair of Northern Lights Presbytery

Or here is the video version:

May Newsletter Part 2

Wider Church Notes:

Presbytery: A couple of things to note. One is that the Presbytery has been having some intentional visioning discussions. Part of these discussions has been to encourage folks to think regionally, to consider how best to be the United Church presence not only in our home communities but in the Peace District as a whole. Part of that has been some “cluster” discussions. St. Paul's is in our central blob along with Spirit River, Beaverlodge-Wembley-Hythe, Clairmont, and Fairview. Time will tell what will come out of these discussions. The other note is that as of the beginning of June Gord will be the Chair of Northern Lights Presbytery.

General Council (National): At the last meeting of General Council (2012) the Commissioners authorized the creation of a Comprehensive Review Task Group. This group is charged with preparing a proposal for the next meeting (2015) to help the United Church survive and thrive into the future. To that end they have created a discussion paper that outlines a radically different way of being the church. The feedback they get on this discussion paper should guide them as they write their final report and proposal. The Presbytery Executive had a discussion about this work but I would like to hear from the congregation as well. The discussion paper (“Fishing on the Other Side”) can be found online at: http://www.united-church.ca/communications/news/general/140206. Folks are invited to gather in the Friendship Room on Wednesday May 21^st at 7 pm to learn more and discuss this question.

The Intro I Never Made...

At the Conference meeting this past weekend I was on tap to introduce one of the proposals (only fitting since I wrote the thing--I will post it once I am back in the office where I have it on the computer--EDIT, it is now here).  However other business took too long and so that particular proposal was one of the ones referred to the Executive for consideration.  Had I made the intro here is what it would have sounded like...

Good afternoon.  I am Gord Waldie, and while Paul may tell me that I live and move and have my being in God, in more practical terms I live and work and share my ministry with Northern Lights Presbytery, the congregation of St. Paul's United in Grande Prairie, and my wife and our 4 wonderful (if often challenging) children.  And it is that last piece that brings me to this microphone today.

But first I need to make a confession, because they say that confession is good for the soul -- and I am sure that at least one of the 2 people in this room who taught my first year Pastoral Care course at St. Andrew's told us we should encourage people to do things that are good for the soul.  I am, as many people in this room can attest, a Below Average Minister.  And in fact this is related to the proposal I am about to make, because to move from being Below Average, to Average, to (hopefully some day) Above Average means that you need support along the way.  [If you want to know why I am so sure I am Below Average, come visit me at the Business table and in exchange for a contribution to the M&S Fund I will tell you].

573 weeks ago this afternoon a group of us gathered here in Calgary for a worship service where then Conference President Stuart Jackson declared a group of us to be members of the Order of Ministry in the United Church of Canada.  For most of my time in ministry the United Church has been talking openly about the expressed reality that many ministry personnel feel isolated and unsupported and wondering how best to deal with that reality.  And many good suggestions have been made in those discussions.  But they have often missed a key piece.  If you want to support me as a minister then you need to also support my family.  And this brings us to the proposal (see I did get to it eventually).

To be honest, this is not my idea.  The seed of this idea was planted by my wife.  So if you like the idea please give her the credit. If you think forming a new committee is a bad idea, give me the blame.   But one day while we were watching TV Patty shared a vision of a retreat for clergy families.  This would be a time not only for clergy to gather but also clergy partners/spouses (I always think that should be spice, given what they add to our lives)/significant others and their children.  During the retreat there would be general community building and worship and relaxation and recreation activities.  But there would also be time for clergy to gather together and talk about whatever issues that they want to discuss, for clergy partners to do the same, and for children to do the same in some way.  Since that evening the idea has niggled in the back of my brain.  And this year I decided it was time for the next step.

To me the logical next step is to get a group of people together to discuss the feasibility and logistics of this type of event.  And so I am proposing that this Conference create an ad-hoc committee to determine if such a retreat is feasible and, if so, to plan out the where, when, how of running it.  This committee would then take their findings and/or plan to the Conference Executive for further action.

PS> here is the post where I first mused about this retreat idea