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What Have We Learned? (40 days of Community) By Rev. Murray Spackman, Vicar Sunday 23rd Sept, 2007 Psalm 77:11-15 Mtt.25:31-40 When our children were quite small, and Dianne or I couldn’t remember something very well, they would often say that “ we had a short remember”. And as we get older, we come to the conclusion that our rememberer just keeps getting shorter. And because of that, we put in place special monuments, set aside special days , attend to particular occasions so that we wont forget. In our church calendar, for example, we have special days set aside to remember those who have given us an example by their godly lives. Last Friday was St. Matthews day when we remember again his life of faith and discipleship. Our Holy Communion Service this morning is a tangible reminder to us, yet again, that Jesus died on the cross for us. In the Thursday morning prayers of the N.Z. Prayer Book there is a beautiful prayer in which we pray that “ we may both remember and reveal your presence”. Remembering is an important aspect of the Christian life. So, in the bible, we find many references where we are encouraged to look back, and to actively remember and recall the things which God has done. Psalm 77, our Old Testament reading today says, “I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord. I will remember your wonders of old. I will meditate on all your work, and muse on your mighty deeds.” During the past 6 weeks, - many of you ( about 170 ) have been involved in the Parish Programme entitled “40 Days of Community”, - and that’s not including our Sunday School children and Youth ministry groups – which add up to about another 100, who took up the challenge and became involved. And that was not a small commitment.: - For the adults and youth - It involved a daily devotional reading, from the book “Better Together” it involved attending church each Sunday ( and many made a special commitment to that); it involved being part of a weekly small group meeting it involved memorizing, or attempting to memorise a verse of scripture each week. it included becoming involved in some outreach/ serving ministry, helping others and it involved reviewing ones own commitment and participation in the life of the parish. Now that that programme and journey has come to an end, with our wonderful Celebration Sunday Breakfast last week,( about 200 sat down to breakfast) - and many of us, especially in the leadership group, are just coming up for air, I thought it would be helpful for us to look back over the past six weeks, and Remember, and ask , “Well! - What have we learned? ” What is it that we can look back on and remember and reflect on how God has been at work in our lives? Has it been helpful for us individually and as a parish? Have we moved forward or have we gone backwards? Now even if you haven’t been involved in 40 Days of Community, but you’ve been coming to church on some or most of those Sunday’s, you would have picked up something around the five themes which 40 Days of Community is built on. So lets look at each of these in turn and see what we have learnt. Firstly , what did we learn about WORSHIPPING TOGETHER? Well, we learned a couple of things – or perhaps were reminded of them, and the first is the truth of the words of Jesus, that wherever two or three are gathered together, He is there in the midst of us. (Mtt18:20) We learned that worship can take place anywhere you’ve got two or three people together. And some of you experienced God’s presence for the first time in a small group - as you prayed and worshipped together. The other thing we learned about worship together is that worship is meant to be a Celebration. Now celebrate, in the dictionary, means “to have or show happiness: to show happiness that something good or special has happened, by doing such things as eating and drinking together or playing music.” In other words – to enjoy yourselves. And we learned that worship should be enjoyable. Rick Warren said that worship is to be a Festival, not a Funeral! Why should we celebrate? Because God is a great God, and when we understand and express how great he is, in worship, then it also shrinks our problems. We began our worship this morning with a song which expressed our worship – with the words “God is Good – we sing and shout it; God is good , we celebrate!” That’s worship!- Joyfully expressing our love and appreciation for God. And worship is a lot more fun with other people, than just by yourself. There’s no question about it, - Worship is Better Together! 2. What did we learn about FELLOWSHIP TOGETHER? Well, we learned that we belong to each other and that we need each other. Paul says “Since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other and each of us needs all the others.” Rom.12:5. We learned this truth time and time again, that God never intended us to go through life alone. Regardless of our marital status, each of us needs a spiritual family that’s going to be there in the tough times. You might remember the sermon Charmaine preached the other week, where she used the illustration of the giant redwood trees. They don’t have very deep roots but they are the biggest trees on the planet because they grow in groves and they interconnect their roots together, and they hold each other up in the storms and the winds and fires of life. The redwood trees never grow alone. They wouldn’t last two minutes in a storm! And so we need each other and we belong to each other. We are Better Together! – and that’s Fellowship. 3. What did we learn about GROWING TOGETHER ? Well, we learned that in order to GROW , you have to participate. That’s probably the first rule in education, isn’t it? You learn by doing! You don’t grow just by going to Bible studies. Its by putting it into practice that you grow! The Bible says, “Be doers of the Word,.” And many people in the church grew because they hosted a group for the first time; or they attended a group for the first time; or for the first time they started reading and thinking about their daily devotional , or they served in a small group project or got involved in church ministry for the first time. ( Hands up if you did something for the first time !!!) And the result was, that you grew! You grew by being connected with other members of the body, and as you grew, you were and are becoming more like Jesus. So we learned about worship; we learned about Fellowship, and we learned about Growing together. 4. What did we learn about SERVING TOGETHER? Well, we learned two very important truths: #1 that we all need to be served; and #2 That we all need to serve one-another. We learned that we are part of God’s family, and God’s family need to look after one another – we need to serve others. And many of you looked around and said – what can we do for other members of God’s family – and you saw needs , and you went out of your way to help meet those needs. We learned how to serve one another. At the Ministry Fair we had the opportunity to see the needs of the parish and some of you who weren’t previously serving in any capacity put your names down to help, and to serve. And that was great. So we learnt about Serving better together . Thank you to the Hosts, and the small group Leaders who served during 40 Days of Community. And then 5. What did we learn about REACHING OUT TOGETHER? I think this was one area which will have changed many peoples lives for ever! , and given them a totally new experience. I know that some of you went to the Auckland City Mission drop-in centre in Hobson street and served some of the street people as they came in for a meal; you chatted with them, joked with them and generally made them feel welcomed and cared for. Other parishioners became involved in more local ministry and mission projects. And from what I’ve heard you all gained far more from that experience of reaching out than you ever gave. When it comes down to the wire, the test of Christianity is not what you say you believe. The test of Christianity is how you treat other people. That’s what the gospel reading this morning was about – about feeding the hungry, healing the sick, visiting the lonely – in other words – caring for others. So what do we do next, now that 40 Days of Community is over? Well the Bible is very clear about that. There are some things which we must do!
So, Keep on your meeting together, keep on doing what you have been doing, as you have striven to fulfill God’s five purposes for your lives, and keep on praying for and supporting those in leadership. Thank you for your participation in 40 Days of Community – its been a wonderful and fantastic journey together! . Lets now move ahead remembering God’s goodness and grace to us in these past days and looking ahead to the assurance of his presence in the days to come.. Let us pray. Dear Father , we thank you so much for all you’ve done for us in our lives. Thank you for life itself. Thank you that you created us. You saved us. You have given us a purpose. You’ve guaranteed us a home in heaven. We wouldn’t have anything without you, so today we express our thanks to you for you, and we thank you for each other, for our church family. Thank you that we can have a small part together as we worship together and serve together and share and grow in fellowship together. And so we offer you our sincere thanks by saying - whatever you want to do with our lives, we are yours! We thank you in Jesus name. Amen. |
