Grace-filled Community

"Graciousness is a beautiful gift. It’s meant to be cherished. It’s an incredibly strong and powerful gift, more durable than any rock or mountain on earth because it comes from God. Yet it is also very fragile and can easily be shattered by carelessness because it is at the mercy of our humanness."

Sermon from Oct. 3, 2010

2 Timothy 1:1-14

I was remembering back to eight and a half years ago when I received an information package about this congregation before applying to be your minister. I’d never been to Turner Valley or Black Diamond, had only found you on a map. The package came by courier. I laid it out on the kitchen table to read.

My parents came by to visit and my Dad picked up the information. As he read, he started to chuckle. My father is one of those people who laughs out loud. The congregational description was simple but showed an ability of a spirit-filled people to laugh at themselves.

Within this delightful package was the annual report from 2001. We had not yet closed the Black Diamond Church so there was this catchy ministry phrase:

“One Church: Two worship sights (sic).”

Did you catch the grammar problem here? Site vs. Sight. Yes, but this wasn’t a big issue. We’re only human. We make mistakes. It’s God who is perfect. There is much grace in this Community of Faith.

Grace-filled community was re-enforced for me upon my arrival. My furniture arrived around 10 in the evening, a day ahead of schedule and I’m just driving into town. Folks stayed with me while the furniture was unloaded – long past midnight -- and found me a bed to sleep in – even though they had to get up early for work the next day.

In our worship together – mistakes would happen. Sometimes it was the minister, sometimes it was someone else. No one was bothered. People just shrugged their shoulders. These things happen. We’re here to worship God, to praise God together. That’s what really matters.

I remember one woman who was with us for a few years until moving back to the Maritimes. She was a great cook, used to working in church kitchens. What amazed her was that people here gave her full reign of the kitchen as a new person. There are no locked cupboards of dishes or pans that couldn’t be touched, no lengthy rules of what NOT to do. She was welcomed into that kitchen as if it was hers. It was grace-filled Church. The church belongs to everyone.

Important values here of a Grace-filled Christian community: Acceptance, welcoming, love, grace. Mistakes happen, glitches in the system happen. We’re only human. Shrug it off -- It’s God’s who’s perfect. Let’s get on with being the people of God. Graciousness.

Paul’s words about Timothy come to mind as I think of this gracious community: “I thank God as I remember you always in my prayers night and day…I remember the sincere faith you have, the kind of faith that your grandmother…. and your mother …..also had. I am sure that you have it also. For this reason I remind you to keep alive the gift that God gave you …For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid; instead, his Spirit fills us with power, love and self-control. Do not be ashamed, then of witnessing for our Lord.”

Faithful, gracious servants. That’s who you are.

One of many of you who comes to mind is Mearle. Mearle died this past spring in Winnipeg, where she’d moved in 2008 to be closer to family when she got sick. This was a photo taken in the November 2008 when she was back for a short visit, probably the last time many of us saw her.

When our youngest was born, Merle gave Joel and I this poem that she had her daughter-in-law put onto leather. I love that Merle took the time to do this. Merle had umpteen verses and sayings memorized in her head that she could spout out at any given time, always the most appropriate time.

“No Child of Mine”

I used to say, before the Stork had fluttered by,

Will ever throw a temper fit,

Or bite or scrach (sic) or whine or hit.

Or keep his bottle till he’s three –

Or worship cowboys on TV

Or act in short, like other kids

Who make their parents flip thier (sic) lids”….

“Heaven’s No!”

But along with the patter of little feet,

Go a couple of million words to eat.

What I cherish the most are the spelling mistakes in it. Those spelling mistakes are why I continue to cherish this wall hanging. We’re only human, we make mistakes but that doesn’t diminish our capacity to offer love and to be God’s Church.

At times, Mearle could find a humorous way to disagree. I once preached a sermon on euthanasia. I was passionately against euthanasia after a former parishioner in a previous church took her life by assisted suicide and the person who assisted her was acquitted.

Later, Mearle took great delight in telling me about a conversation that transpired during quilting the week following. In the spirit of open communication, she used names. Mearle said: “So and so said: ‘What a morbid topic for a sermon’. I (Mearle) told her I thought it was an important topic for a sermon but I disagree with Shelley."

In other words, Merle disagreed with my anti-euthanasia opinion.

It was many, many months later, that Mearle’s husband, Jim, took his own life after years of suffering from depression. The family had tried to prevent it. He left the house in the early hours while others were sleeping.

One Sunday in the time after Jim’s death, Mearle left church quickly and only stopping to grumble at me at the door. We had used a little ditty from the Sunday School curriculum and Mearle said the grammar in the song was atrocious. Then she stomped out the door.

As minister, I knew Mearle must be at a particularly difficult time of grieving and to go see her.

I wasn’t used to Merle grumping at me about little, piddly things – and the badly written three-line song was certainly small. I went to see Mearle.

You need to expect as minister that pastoral conversations are respected in confidence. So I will just say two things I think Mearle would be OK with me sharing.

Merle said she wished there had been legal guidelines around assisted-suicide in our country at the time of Jim’s death, as there are in other countries. At least then, Jim, the man she loved, wouldn’t have died alone. Mearle had known she could respectfully disagree with me months earlier and be heard and she knew I would hear her again. And I couldn’t help but agree with her.

Secondly, the three-line song….we did talk about it. Not at great length. It didn’t warrant it. But I did refer to the wall hanging she’d given me, the spelling mistakes within it and how much I cherish it and why.

AND…we’ve never used that piddly song with bad grammar in worship again.

I remember one of Mearle’s last Sunday’s in Church. As she was getting sick, she had good weeks and bad weeks. I’d preached a sermon being a character from the Bible and had worn bare feet. Afterwards, Merle came up to me with a twinkle in her eye and said: “I never knew your toes wiggle as you preach!”

Now, in another church someone might have complained that the minister WAS in bare feet. Or they might have complained that the minister didn’t preaching properly because her body wasn’t entirely still and those wiggling toes were distracting.

Instead, Mearle was so connected with her God that she picked up the joy in my toes. Because, the truth is, there are times that I am so happy that we are worshipping God here together, that I would like to dance. But only my toes can wiggle.

Gracious community, faith-filled community. Loving and accepting community.

This graciousness is an important, intrinsic value of our congregation. It’s a beautiful gift. It’s meant to be cherished. It’s an incredibly strong and powerful gift, more durable than any rock or mountain on earth because it comes from God. Yet it is also very fragile and can easily be shattered by carelessness because it is at the mercy of our humanness.

This is what Paul refers to in 2^nd Timothy as “self control”. We have the ability to be aware of our behaviour and how it affects others.

When our youngest was a baby and our eldest was 13 or 14, he observed that when the baby cried for a long time, soon everyone in the family was grumpy. He was right. And it was up to the adults in the situation to try to act with self control and sometimes we missed the mark.

Churches are like families. The mood of one or a few can affect the many.

Sometimes people have good reason for their grumpiness. Sometimes they do not – we just happen to be the proverbial cat they’ve chosen to kick that day. Whether we have good reason for our grumpiness or not, in neither case are we justified in taking it out on someone else.

But as Christians we think we are supposed to be nice so we simply listen to the grumpiness or try to fix it for them. Again and then again. But you see, Jesus wasn’t nice. He was kind. There’s a difference. Being nice can lead to being a door mat. Being kind is what Jesus did. He reminded people that they were on a spiritual path following God that intrinsically involved being gracious and grace-filled, forgiving and loving.

Now to just use a concrete example. Over the last few years we’ve moved to using Power point. It means most people don’t need to have a printed order of service in front of them. We’re reducing our use of paper. Now, some people want a piece of paper in their hand – that’s OK. Gracious community. Before I went on sabbatical, we made four copies at the back that people could ask for. Most often there was one or two copies still at the back after the service. During the summer, some people feared that there wouldn’t be someone to run the computer so orders of service were made for everyone. But it’s Fall, there will be someone here to run the Power point. Karen returned to making four copies but there was confusion so she now makes eight copies.

So…let’s say for instance – you come one Sunday and you’re the ninth person in the door. The greeter has merrily been handing out orders of service to the first eight people, none of whom said, ‘I don’t need this.’ You’re number nine and you don’t get an order. You are ticked. You had a legitimate right to one of those eight bulletins. So how are you going to respond?

May I suggest that God is not calling you to respond by glaring across the sanctuary at the minister like she is the root of all evil.

Rather, I think God is saying here’s an opportunity to ask ourselves: “How might I be gracious in this situation?” Perhaps I can look around the room and see who has a printed order of service and go sit by them. We’re a church. They’ll share. Or….I can ask to borrow it and make a copy in the office. Someone might help me use that simple copier.

Paul writes: “I remind you to keep alive the gift that God gave you …For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid; instead, his Spirit fills us with power, love and self-control. Do not be ashamed, then of witnessing for our Lord.”

This graciousness of our church is a beautiful gift to be cherished because it is powerfully from God’s Spirit. Yet it’s fragile because it is at the mercy of our humanness.

We witness to our faith by being a Grace-filled Christian community: Acceptance, welcoming, love, grace. Mistakes happen. Glitches in the system happen. We’re only human. Shrug it off – It’s God who’s perfect. Let’s get on with being the people of God. God’s graciousness is something so many people in our wider community need.