Yesterday was my last Sunday at Dunningville.
Wow, it seems like such a short sentence marking the end of 10 years of ministry here. It has been an interesting month, as I’ve worked on wrapping up my time at Dunningville Reformed and looking toward a new beginning in Pultneyville.
It seems natural, as something comes to an end, to look back and do some reflection, and I imagine there will be much of that in the coming months, but over the past weeks, my thoughts have focused on what I felt I wanted/needed to say before leaving. In seminary I was taught (and actually learned this particular lesson!) that one shouldn’t introduce something new in the final moments of a sermon. That advice seemed appropriate in the final weeks of ministry as well. If I haven’t said it in 10 year, it must not have been that important to me, right?! So, I’ve spent the last two weeks reviewing seven major themes that have underpinned my teaching and preaching over the past ten years. 10 years of teaching and preaching in 2 sermons!
Notably, I didn’t spend a lot of time talking about any of them; these are things I’ve taught and preached regularly – even more, they’ve been the explicit assumptions behind much of my teaching and preaching. The past two Sundays were only review.
These themes are, in many ways, my definition of “church” and my understanding of “Christian.” Too many people believe that a “church” is a merely a group of semi-like-minded individuals who happen to meet at the same place at the same time to reinforce their same-ness. That leads to the lived belief that “Christians” are simply those individuals who make up the in-group. While those definitions may make for a “nice” group of people who gather around preference, a church is something else.
Several online friends have asked about these past two sermons, so I thought I’d post my points here (sorry, no manuscript for these two Sundays). If you’d like to download the handout I gave everyone, you can do it here(.pdf).
What I Hope to Leave Behind
Faithfulness:
faithful living is the most biblical understanding of evangelism
Elders and Deacons:
God has charged them to lead humbly, and
God has equally charged the congregation follow faithfully
Justice:
(even if those needs are self-inflicted);
God especially expects us to care for and protect those who cannot care for or protect themselves
Integration:
it must be everything in them
The Word of God in Proclamation and Sacrament:
is preached in conjunction with the regular
celebration of the sacraments
Mystical Union:
The Body of Christ:
each of us is to live in community, to care for one another,
to use our gifts, skills and resources to glorify God and
to promote the priorities of God’s Kingdom for all people
The final note, of course, is that…
The only question is whether or not it will happen by intent.
Grace and Peace,
`tim
