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Builders of the Church On this past Thursday night, all day Friday and half of Saturday, the clergy and lay representatives of the all of the 86 parishes of the Anglican Church in the Auckland Diocese – that’s from Cape Reinga to Coromandel, met in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity for the annual event known as our Diocesan Synod. Richard Gay and Lauris Crook are your synod representatives. A Synod, according to the dictionary is “a council or meeting of ecclesiastics”. Our Diocesan Synod meets each year to consider the life and mission of our wider Anglican Church. Each Synod commences with a Eucharist service, and this year we followed the theme of “The Builders of the Church in Aotearoa NZ and Polynesia”. This is the special theme set for the 1st of September. I have become rather attracted to this theme because it is a reminder that we are ALL builders of the Church! Those who came before us were builders of the church, and those who come after us will also be builders of the church. And despite the media attention which likes to say that the church is declining, there is quite good evidence that the Anglican Church, in fact, is growing. And we are Builders of the Church in our Day! According to last years statistics for the diocese, Baptisms are up, church attendance has grown by 14%, Communicants numbers are up, and there are also a good number of young people offering themselves for the ordained ministry. Sure, there are some Anglican churches where the picture isn’t quite so optimistic, but there are a good number of Anglican churches where the gospel is being proclaimed, parishioners are witnessing to the Living Lord in their daily lives, and the church is growing. In the past two weeks, on two sides of the vicarage property, alterations have commenced on two of our neighbors houses. In both cases, there needed to be some demolition work before the construction could begin. In one case a garage which stood in the way of the new additions had to be removed, and in the other case, a wall had to be removed. All of that involved changes, a letting go of what was no longer needed, and a preparation for the future. The same is true for us as the present day Builders of the Church. When the structures or styles of service or music or programmes no longer meet the current need, then we have to courageously let them go. And this is not something new for us today, either! Every generation has had to make changes and adapt to a changing world. I wonder if you have ever given much thought as to the huge changes which took place during the time of the Reformation. In England, services were all changed from Latin to English, for a start! When the gospel first came to NZ, a Constitution was written for the church which, unlike the Mother church in England, maintained its independence from the State. The Builders of the church, each in their own way, were doing what they believed God was calling them to do. The Builders of the church in our own day have likewise had to face some major changes and challenges. In the past forty years at Diocesan ‘synods, we have discussed and prayed and decided on matters as diverse as Church Union, Prayer Book revision, the remarriage of divorced people, the Ordination of Women, the Licensing of Lay Ministries and a new Constitution for the church, to name just a few. Each of these has brought about major changes in the life of the church. We have been part of that, and the church is being built up as a result. But not all the building takes place in high profile forums such as Church synods. Perhaps that’s the place where some of the most visible changes are seen to the external structure and organisation of the church, but there is a lot to making a building which is not all that visible, but which is nevertheless essential. Here in this parish I want to acknowledge the building which takes place at a much more grass roots level. Wherever parishioners are going about their tasks faithfully and lovingly, there the church is being built. When the flowers are being arranged, the church is being vacuumed and dusted, morning teas are being served , customers are being helped in the Op Shop, Sunday School and Bible in Schools classes are being taken, and a thousand other things happening - then the church is being built up. We may not see major changes when we each do our little part, but if it is being done lovingly and in the faith of Christ, it will be happening. When some of you take your turn at the Op shop, you are also contributing to the Building of the Church, when you give sacrificially, you are contributing to the building of the church, to the sharing of Christ’s love with others, and to the spreading of faith and hope and love in society. Sometimes we just need to be reminded that as followers of Jesus Christ, each seeking to grow in faith and hope and love, we are also taking our part and place as Builders of the Church in our Day and generation. When we each seek to put into practice the qualities and attitudes which Jesus described in the gospel reading – then we are building the church! Not with bricks and stones or timber, but with the eternal materials of faith and hope and love.
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