Ranking church functions,

I hear that in New Hampshire this month some voters get to use a new system of selecting candidates.  Instead of picking one, they get to rank the different candidates on the ballot.  It’s an interesting concept for change.

That got me thinking: what if we were to rank ourselves as a congregation in terms of not who’s our choice, but what’s important? Wouldn’t that be a novel idea?

You see, there are many ways to evaluate congregations and these evaluations borrow a lot from research and theory about organizational behavior.  There is “systems theory “for congregations. There is Vital Congregation, a team approach that Rola is involved with nationally for the Presbyterian Church USA.  It consider the seven markers of the healthy congregation. There is the Mission Insite angle Chelsea introduced us to which is demographics based.  Then there are methods such as Pneumatrix which are helpful especially congregations that want to figure our where they are headed.   There was even our simple Parkview exploration group process about four years ago that yielded a stronger understanding of our future as an intercultural, intergenerational and interactional community. Each approach has its benefits.

I wound up thinking about three functions of a congregation in their benefit for the members of the congregational community.  They each have a food dimension (very Parkview don’t you think?!). First, there is the social function where food has a vital role of assuring the cohesion of the congregation as a belonging group. Second, we have the spiritual nurture and nourishment function.  There the food dimension is the communion table.  Third, we can see the outreach and service function (with fundraising of service and charitable organizations) where the food dimension is the feeding of others who have less than we.  Now I am assuming that all of you at Parkview consider all three of these functions as significant.  But here is my question: what if we were to ask you to rank each of them? How would you rate them: would the social be first, would the spiritual nurture and nourishment, or would the outreach and service be? And what would be second? How large each of the three groups of number ones would be could be an indicator of where you are going to be in the decade or so ahead.

Friends, just last week was Reformation Sunday.  In our tradition we have the saying “Semper Reformandum,” “always reforming.”  A congregation like ours can never be static. It cannot afford to get pleased with itself.  It must always seek to be more vital and engaged.  So a good question perhaps is:” to keep reforming, where do our priorities lie?” This is related to two questions: “ in this moment in time, what does our community, our state, our country and our world need us to be  and how is God calling us here? May God bless our ministry. See you in church. Aart

A Christmas wish list,

Dear friends.

I remember a popular Christmas song covered by, among others, Amy Grant and Natalie Cole entitled “My grown-up Christmas list (written by David Foster, Linda-Thompson-Jenner, Amy Grant) : ”No more lives torn apart, that wars would never start  Everyone would have a friend, that right would always win and love would never end. This is my grown-up Christmas wish.” If you were to look deep inside of yourself, friends what would your Christmas wish be?  I think it would have nothing to do with packages and possessions, but with new meaningful experiences and with health and above all with time spent in the presence of those you love as well as their deepest well-being.

What are the Christmas wishes of the former inhabitants of towns called Paradise CA or Mexico Beach Fl? Ours pale in comparison to the magnitude of their wish: to go back in time and snatch their former life from the embers and the broken glass. What are the Christmas wishes of the people who roam our streets, whatever they may be we rarely manage to meet them adequately, for their lives are so complicated.  Not to speak of the suffering of refugees and war victims we cannot get even our heads around. As the song continues: “But heaven surely knows that packages and bows can never heal a hurting human soul.”

Friends, congregations have wish lists too: more of active people of certain age groups, a return to some imagined golden times in their history,  padded bank accounts, a perfectly maintained building. But wise members of church communities know that the faith that propels us to our spiritual home and the people that draw us back to the the familiar church gathering places are what’s essential.  Never mind that the gutters leak and something always needs fixing. Those things always seem to get done in good time.

As your pastor I can say that my deepest wish for you as a congregation in this season of anticipation and light is that you will be a community that does not lose track of the promise of the Christ, that can pace itself in His service, that always stays in motion toward truer ways of being the Church and maintains health in your relationships which will sustain you in the decades to come. May the light that comes in darkness this season illuminate your lives.  I wish you a meaningful Christmas and a blessed New Year. May God continue to bless this ministry. See you in church. Aart