The mission of this church is to create and nurture disciples to share our journey to know and to love Jesus Christ. It is a simple, yet powerful phrase containing three calls to action; create, nurture, and share. This is intentional, for to be a Christian is not to be passive, but active. Christianity is something that you do. Create, nurture, share; these actions have been the mission of the church from the very beginning. That is what the apostles did as they built the church and shared the good news with the world. They
are the church’s attempt to live into Jesus’s great commission to preach the gospel to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
When I spoke with you last year at this time, I talked about the notion of our church as a base camp; a place of refreshment, education and encouragement to prepare each disciple for their mission and ministry. Throughout 2019, we have been exactly that. We have provided a place for disciples to pray, to study, and to explore their faith through action and contemplation. At the annual meeting you will read a great deal about our accomplishments this past year. We welcomed fellow travelers, shared our
resources, and encouraged them on their journey. In this way, we work to create and nurture disciples, and invite them to share our journey to know and love Jesus Christ.
We have spent the last few years preparing for our mission. We have held discernment workshops, education forums, fellowship events, and worked together to reach out to the community. These experiences have helped us be that warm and welcoming place where we create and nurture disciples. Through our collective efforts, this church base camp is fully stocked and waiting to help disciples on their journey. But we must also be mindful of one thing; we too are disciples. We are also on a journey, and we need to
remember that while we are called to help others, we must also help ourselves on our own journey to know and love Jesus Christ. We must become engaged.
I am calling 2020 the year of ENGAGEMENT. We have prepared, we have studied, we have discerned. Now is the time for us to engage in the ministries to which God is calling us. Engage, like create, nurture and share, is an action word. It is something that you do. So, this year I urge you to engage your ministry; claim it and become active.
Make no mistake; we are even now doing this in a variety of ways. Many folks have already claimed their ministry and are actively engaged. But as I approach the beginning of my 5 th year as your priest, I still get a sense that some are waiting. Waiting for permission; waiting for clarity of their gifts; waiting for life to slow down so they can find the time to become involved. To those waiting for permission; you have it. If you need to hear it from me, you just heard it; you have permission. To those waiting for clarity; you likely already have that too. We usually know what our gifts are; but tend to minimize them, to feel we really aren’t equipped. Believe me MBS, you are. But for those who truly feel that they don’t know their gifts, a discernment class is a great place to start, and we will offer one this spring. To those waiting for life to slow down, well, you know that isn’t going to happen, so don’t let that get in your way. Engage in a ministry; find a way to get involved. We have more than 60 ministries at Epiphany, and there is a partial listing included with your bulletin this week. There is bound to be one that fits your gifts and your calling. But if there isn’t, don’t let that limit
you. If we don’t have a ministry that works for you, let’s start one. The artisan’s guild and the daughters of the king chapter both came about because someone felt a calling to a ministry we didn’t already have, and now we do.
Last week’s gospel has Jesus inviting us to Come and See. Note that, just like our mission statement, these are both action words. Jesus calls us to act, not to stand still. In fact, the gospel is an invitation to action. There is no place in the gospel where Jesus tells us to “stand still and do exactly what you have always done”. We are called to act, to step out boldly in faith.
If you are called to outreach, Family Promise is coming up soon. This is an excellent way to engage others by feeding them, or just showing Christian kindness and love.
If you are called to care for others; we will soon be holding a pastoral care training course. This will equip and encourage us to engage in caring for others in hospitals, nursing homes, and when life becomes a challenge.
Perhaps you are called to care for the base camp, to stock and maintain this place of refreshment and encouragement to others. That too is a ministry.
Whatever it is, claim your ministry and engage in it. Don’t be afraid to try something and fail. Don’t be afraid to engage and then disengage if you find that ministry is not for you. The only way to fail is to not even try.
For when you engage in ministry, you not only feed yourself spiritually. You become a visible witness to others of God’s action in the world, and in so doing, you are encouraging others to claim their own ministry. You are showing that you too aim to create, nurture and share. There is a mutuality about it that has fed God’s people and built the church for the last 2,000 years.
Our mission is to create and nurture disciples to share our journey to know and to love Jesus Christ. There is nothing left to say, except (with apologies to Captain Picard) Engage!