Knox United Church, Kenora, Ontario Sunday August 5th, am at First Baptist Church Kenora Text: Ephesians 4:1-16

Transcription

1 Knox United Church, Kenora, Ontario Sunday August 5th, am at First Baptist Church Kenora Text: Ephesians 4: Sermon: Being Church: building one another up in love Meg Illman-White Ephesians 4:1-6 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ s gift. Therefore it is said, When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people. (When it says, He ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended[a] into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 14 We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body s growth in building itself up in love. This has been quite a week for Knox. Construction has finally begun and we ll be living around that for some time. So much has happened. Right now heads are spinning, things are changing and all our well laid plans and hard work seems to have come to a halt! I have great trust that our team will work this bump out in a reasonable way with KDSB and contractors. We understand now that we will have to give up some things in order to facilitate safe and speedy construction. In the meantime I am so grateful that we have a fully accessible building to worship in here at First. That is important to us all! We also have a chance to deepen relationships with our neighbours. And we have a construction company with ambitious deadlines who are digging into the work with diligence. For me this relocation brings us to more important questions: What is this congregation made of? To whom do we belong? What grounds and anchors us? What is it that makes us truly who we are? What is our unique calling to which we are called as a congregation? What hymn or song comes to mind when I ask these questions? For me it was one I haven t sung for a long long time dear God who loves all 1

2 humankind: ends with the lines: speak through the earthquake, wind and fire, O still small voice of calm. How will Knox continue to be the church, to worship, to pray, to care, to learn, to grow, to contribute during this earthquake, wind and fire Will we continue to be nurtured by the still small voice of God? Our passage from Ephesians reflects on the life of the fledgeling community in Ephesus. Some believe this letter is from Paul, some believe it s another writer using Paul s name. Regardless it is a letter of instruction to an early Christian community - still forming identity, still learning about Jesus day after day as they gathered in worship, in prayer, service, study, giving and in Koinonia. Koinonia means - belonging to one another, sharing all things in common, gathering in love, faith, and encouragement. That is the essence of koinonia. The letter to the Ephesians seeks to build them up - it says: lead a life worthy of the calling to which you were called; with humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One of the aspects of Koinonia was that the early church was finding space for Jews and Gentiles (Jews and everyone else) to be equally valued members - there was suddenly a wide open vision, a vision of inclusivity, and a yearning to form beloved community with strangers and friends. Knox - Beloved Church - our teachings from the early Christian community remind us despite the bumps of construction: we did our discernment well. The congregation said yes to this madness we see unfolding across the street because we as a collective felt called to the vision of a place of safety for all. Now it is ours to lead a life worthy of the calling to which we were called ; with humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The test of a congregation s call to follow and to be witnesses to the power of Love, to be Spirit people, doesn t come from the good and easy and comfortable times. It doesn t come from everything going well without hitch. The sign and symbol of who we are to the community comes in how we handle the rough patches, how we treat one 2

3 another, how we continue to do the work to which we are called. We enter this struggle knowing the strength and resilience of this community in struggles past. These as much as the good times are what forms us. The test of love and Koinonia grows from struggle, displacement and challenge and change. And so our work in these weeks ahead will be to dive deep into our Christian teachings and practices, our songs and our stories, our gathering around the table, our blessing of one another, and to lean into one another, our neighbours and the God in whom and through whom we live and move and have our being. We have community! We are not alone! This has been a week of understanding that Koinonia is also the love and support of the community for that calling to which we have been called. What grace! Last Saturday I called Gord to ask about a worship space and he said: yes! lets try this and how else can we help?!! There are spaces for our kids they don t mind us keeping some of our stuff here for a bit and its kind of neat to see Knox people hanging out on the steps of First Baptist. I know we d do the same for them! We called Len to suggest he find a back up location for LOW concert series, and that is done with Len s usual grace! Cathy called Germaine to relocate AA and he called her back from Jamaica!!!! I arrived on Rob and Craig s doorstep in need of a quiet place for an hour and they not only found me one but offered me some temporary office space, a garden to relocate a wedding to. There won t be a pipe organ (well you never KNOW what Ruth can pull off!) but I think they won t have a pipe organ!) but they will have a really lovely space to celebrate their love and a good story to tell their children and grandchildren. In an from Jim Duggan I had this message: Sorry to hear about the difficulties and would like to be a good neighbour Neighbours are being neighbours, and this is an opportunity we usually don t have to experience the love and support of sister churches. Who knows what creative things will be birthed as we step out of our comfort zone, as we step away from being autonomous and allow ourselves to be cared for? Who knows what trust might build and what new opportunities will present Churches are so accustomed to being independent Perhaps a truer and broader Koinonia will emerge! It is already! The grace of God has been abundant this past few days. 3

4 It is in these times that our love for one another is tested, we may find ourselves grumbling and complaining and imagining the worst in each other and being downright unhappy that our place has been disrupted! It happens to me when I m over tired, or stressed or unwell But it is in these times that we learn again that we do not walk alone and that we are not called to walk alone. Ephesians 4 reminds us that there is another way: to grow in love for one another, always working to see the variety of gifts in our midst, to encourage those gifts and to find ways of moving forward together Each of us is part of the body - each of us has gifts to offer, contributions to make, specific knowledge and experience. And so there is more happening: We have hired Sarah Pyzer as our Youth and Young Families lead. Sarah brings a wealth of ability and strengths and curiosity and creativity to this role. She will begin this week in preparation for September. She welcomes the limitations because with those she sees the yet unknown possibilities! A small group of people from Knox are meeting and developing a plan for this fall - together we will behold some of the questions that I have listed and more. We will gather in study. We will reflect together and as Knox always does - we will have fun doing it! Knox leadership is finding its way and we are a congregation with a lot of depth, humour, patience, wisdom and understanding. We continue to pray for one another and for this world that feels like Mercury is always in retrograde. And as we pray, may our prayers move us to help - to visit, to call, to offer the support and love and gifts we can, to be community, to be in Koinonia with one another and with those caught in the earthquakes, wind and fire of life. We are on a journey. Yesterday Cheryl Kinney Matheson reminded me that one of the 7 stages of Journey (Pilgrimage) is Labyrinth. For those who have walked labyrinth, you know that you start your walk towards the centre (destination). For a while you walk close to the centre but suddenly the path turns and you head out, far from the centre and walking away from the destination, and not even able to see it at times. And yet we walk on, trusting in the One who is at the centre, who holds us, who knows us through and through and 4

5 who gifts us with the calling to which we are called and the community of support, the gift of Koinonia and the work of building one another up in love. Song: We are one in the Spirit 5