Confirmation

This Sunday, May 5, at the 11:11 a.m. worship hour, several young teenagers will confirm their faith in Christ.  I hope you can be there.

Confirmation, perhaps, is the most important "witness" we can share in the company of the faithful.  It is at once a verbal testimony, a sharing of belief, a historic rite, and a personal confession that binds us together with the great cloud of witnesses.  Confirmation is not the last step of learning, but the first step of a life-long commitment to learning:  about God, our discipleship, and a life of faith.

This year, perhaps, I was least involved in the lives of these disciples.  But while I was not present for most of the classes, the retreats, the work days, the worship, and the fun . . . I know that Pastor Michelle, Andrew Attwood, Trevor Farmer, the mentors, and the parents were learning alongside these remakable kids.  Confirmation is one of the ministries we do best at Calvary--and if you don't believe that, ask one of these students what they have learned about Christ.  We have phenomenal teens at Calvary--and equally remarkable leadership and families!

My message to the confirmands, in particular, and to the congregation, in general, will be a simple one next weekend:  We are being sent.  Jesus, in fact, used that word a great deal in the gospels.  Jesus said that he had been sent by his heavenly Father.  He also told his disciples that he would send the Holy Spirit to be with us forever.  And the final instruction Christ gave his disciples was:  I am sending you into all the world. 

So we are sent.  Christ was sent.  And we follow Christ.  We are sent.

Now the question:  As you have confirmed your faith in Christ . . . where is Christ sending YOU?  Is it to a friend or neighbor in need?  Is it into some work?  Is God sending you to lead a ministry in your church?  Is God sending you blessings so you can be a blessing to others?  Is God sending you wealth so you can send more to God's work?  Is God sending you across the street?  Across the continent? 

Only you and God can answer the question.  But you are sent!

    

Pastoral Thoughts

In recent months I have been writing a series of essays about pastoral ministry--primarily from the perspective of a guy who has been preaching since he was nineteen and who has been engaged in the work, now, for over thirty years. Some of these essays have been published, or are forthcoming, in preaching and ministry magazines . . . and I'm still producing them.

Not that we need other thoughts about pastoral work.  There are many titles out there.  More than enough to fill most pastor's shelves.  But there is no doubt that pastoral ministry continues to evolve, as each generation adds new expectations, needs, hopes, demands, and difficulties to the ecclesiastical plate.

And as we continue to engage in our size-transitional work at Calvary, much of the conversation eventually comes round again to the role of pastor(s) in the congregation and, in our more lucid moments, reminds us that this role is, and has always been, adapting and morphing into new approaches and, well . . . transitions.

I believe the church in America is experiencing another such transition currently, and the role of pastor is changing yet again (while, of course, keeping the appearance and vestigial function of the old appendix and gall bladder).  Pastoral work is still about the gospel of Jesus, leading and comforting, challenging and envisioning . . . but there is no doubt many of the old methodologies will not work well in the new world.

I am aware of this even more as I do research on Calvary's past.  Reading the journals of the early pastors (the circuit riders) who established Calvary back in the late 1820's, I see that their lives were marked by many of the same charges:  preaching the gospel (good news!), creating a vision of God's future, organizing the church for ministry, and raising funds. 

Pastors still do all of these things (and much more), but the tools we use and the expectations of the church are now far more varied and broad.  Calvary is no where near the same congregation she was in 1828.  I am not Joseph Tarkington.  I do not ride a horse.  (Though I do drive a car that is just as sluggish and undependable as his borrowed mare.)

There are more than 120 pastors who have served Calvary over the years.  Most stayed a year or less.  But now we are engaged in a much different conversation as a people:  How are we doing God's work together as a congregation of 1000 members (and supporting ministry with time, talent and treasure) . . . and how committed are we to this work of God?

What do you think?   

House of Prayer

Recently I received a call from someone who wanted to know if I was connected to the "Retreat House and Work Center".  I suppose any church could be described as such . . . but I was intrigued.

After a bit of research, I did discover that there is, indeed, an "Outcelt Retreat House and Work Center" (though not certain about the location...and note spelling difference of my name).

I do find this description compelling, however.  Calvary can, at times, be a retreat center . . . a place where God's people come apart to pray together, to find an energizing center from which to go forth to serve.  And that's the second important ingredient of our faith, no less important than the first:  that we are to be a "work center". 

The church isn't a movement of God unless we move for God.   Movement implies labor.  Energy.  Commitment.  Work.

Indeed, we should pray before we move.  But we should move!  We should be moved to work for God. 

Where are you moving for God right now?  What is the work that you are doing that is crucial to God's work through Calvary?  What are you contributing?  What is it that cannot be accomplished unless YOU accomplish it?