Mid-Week Message - May 13

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be always with you!

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to travel to Halifax for a couple of nights. I had a meeting on Friday of the Pine Hill Divinity College board (this is the United Church of Canada part of the Atlantic School of Theology), and I stayed for AST's convocation on Saturday.

I got to be part of the convocation service. It is always held at a church (there is no space on the AST campus big enough to host it), and it always rotates between a United Church, an Anglican Church, and a Roman Catholic Church (the three founding denominations of the Atlantic School of Theology). This year, we were at All Saints, the Anglican Cathedral in downtown Halifax - a beautiful spacious stone building.

My role in the service was minor - I got to be part of the grand procession in at the beginning of the service, and then I had been invited to present the diplomas to the students graduating with their Diploma in Theological Studies. (I taught one of their courses last year.) So I had lots of time to observe and reflect from my seat in one of the choir stalls.

When people think about AST, people usually think about future ministers graduating with their Master of Divinity, but there were so many people graduating with other degrees, diplomas, and certificates.  Some students did a Master of Arts in Theology and Religion. There is a new Bachelor of Theology program and the first BTh students graduated this year. There is a Diploma in New Evangelization, a specialized diploma for Roman Catholic lay people. There is a Diploma in Theological Studies. There is a Certificate in Stewardship.

It was beautiful to see so many people from so many different backgrounds, graduating with so many different educational achievements, called by God to serve the church in so many different ways.

I sometimes hear a lament around the church (and I'm talking about the wider church here, and not our specific churches) about how there are so few ministers in the church these days, and why isn't God calling more people into ministry in the church. I even heard a similar lament on the weekend from one of my colleagues - how will the church continue to function when there are so few ministers these days.

But I tend to take a different perspective. Maybe it's because I'm an optimist, but I truly believe that God isn't done with the church yet. I think that the church of the future is going to be very different than the church of the past or even the church of right now, but I truly believe, with every fiber of my being, that the church belongs to God and that God has plans for us.

And so instead of lamenting the current state of things, what if we could free our imaginations to dream of what might be?  What might a vibrant church 20 years from now look like?

I would be delighted to serve a church (again, I'm talking about the wider church, not making any observations or commentary about our local churches) where the lay members of the church are equipped and empowered to do the ministry of the church, and where the paid accountable minister's role is in coordinating the ministry rather than always doing all of the ministry.

I looked around that convocation service on Saturday, at all of the graduates, and thought to myself, this is church, and these are our ministers. Even though only a small fraction of the graduates will be ordained, all of the people receiving their degrees and certificates and diplomas are ministers. God's ministry truly is the ministry of all people, and that graduation gathering was a microcosm of the whole church.

And there was joy, and the people sang and danced and prayed!

(All of this feeds in to my upcoming doctoral work. I am going to be asking the question, what do lay-led congregations need from the wider church in order to be equipped, empowered, and supported to be a vibrant church?)

Anyways, moving on to announcements this week!

• Worship on Sunday will be at 9:15 at Summerville and 11:15 at Westfield and on Facebook Live. This week, we will read the story about Jesus's ascension - 40 days after his resurrection (and 10 days before Pentecost), Jesus rose up to heaven and left his disciples behind staring up at the sky. (There is some... strange... artwork associated with this story - click here to see one of my favourites with Jesus's feet dangling down from a cloud.) Our scripture reading will be Acts 1:6-14.

• Bible Study - I am going to be on Study Leave for the next two weeks, which means that there will be no bible study until June - we will resume on Wednesday June 3. I exciting bible study news, this morning, we finished reading the story arc of the Old Testament, a project that we started, to the best of my memory, in January 2022. In June, we will be looking at a couple of the books that don't fit in to the main story arc (e.g. Esther, Daniel), and I'm open to suggestions to where we might go in September. (I've heard from the group that they would like to spend some time in the New Testament after so many years wandering through the Old Testament - the book of Romans is one suggestion currently on the table.)

• Shredding Fundraiser - the day is drawing closer! On Saturday May 23, there will be a big industrial shredder in the parking lot at Westfield United Church from 9am to 1pm. In exchange for a freewill offering to the church, you can shred as many bags or boxes of material as you would like. Thanks to local realtor, Paige Danaher, the rental cost has been fully covered, which means that all of the money that is collected will go directly to the work of the church. Spread the word! Individuals and businesses are very welcome! We'll even have volunteers on site to help lift your boxes/bags from your car! (On Monday, I was talking to someone from Portland United Church who had heard about this, and she wanted to make sure that she had the right day and time as she had stuff to shred. Word is getting out.)

• Hold Me, Rock Me - Westfield United Church Choir Concert - the last concert in this year's concert series is coming up on Thursday June 4 at 7pm. Admission is by showing your series subscription ticket, or $30 at the door. I know that I'm biased as I am a member of the choir, but I truly think that this concert is going to be excellent. It is all gospel music - some a capella, some accompanied, some upbeat, some slower, all of it music that will touch your heart. (And so many earworms for me!)

• Watercolour Workshop - a reminder of the workshop coming up this Saturday, May 16, from 10-12 as a fundraiser for the Harvest Garden. You can get the details by clicking here.

• Wesley United Church (Browns Flat) Final Service - many of you have heard that Wesley United Church in Browns Flat is closing, and they will be having a final service in the building on Sunday May 31 at 2pm. Here at Two Rivers, we are their closest United Church neighbours, and we are invited to join them at that service, as we celebrate all of the ministry that happened in that place over the generations.

• Westfield Church Keys - a reminder that our Board of Stewards are compiling a list of who has a church key. If you have one (even if your name is already on a list of keyholders somewhere), please email Daniel in the church office at wuc@nb.sympatico.ca to let him know.

• Study Leave - as I mentioned earlier, I am going to be on Study Leave for the next two weeks, headed to Toronto to do the first course for my Doctor of Ministry program (Fittingly, my first course will the The Theology of Ministry!) I will be here this Sunday, but then away from May 18-31. Session has arranged for pulpit supply, and one of my colleagues is available in case of any pastoral emergencies while I am away. If you need to be in touch with the minister, you can call Margaret Stackhouse at 506-xxx-xxxx and she will connect you. Also - there won't be a mid-week message next week or the week after, so you'll be hearing from me next in June!

Thank You Corner - this week's "thank you" goes out to Gwen and Sarah, our intrepid youth and Sunday School leaders over at Long Reach. Last Saturday night, they hosted a sleepover at the church - they had 15 youth in the evening, with 11 spending the night at the church and participating in worship in the morning. (I'm still waiting to hear about the ghost that was spotted at one point...) Thank you, Gwen and Sarah, for sharing your time and talents to allow the young people in our church to build memories like this!

For a closing thought this week, I want to share a short video of a talk done by one of my cousins (so this is a bit of a brag alert too!). Jenn is a psychiatrist in Hamilton (Ontario) who works in addictions, and this spring she was invited to be a speaker at an event hosted by the magazine The Walrus about opioid addictions. There were 7 speakers, and each speaker was only given 7 minutes. Jenn was the first speaker of the evening, and she was there to give an introduction to addictions - the what and the why - as well as how addictions can be treated. Given that May is Mental Health Month, and given that addictions have impacted so many of our families either directly or indirectly, I thought that this video might be of interest to you, even if you aren't related to the speaker! It's only 7 minutes long, but she crams a lot of information into those 7 minutes. I know that I watched it more than once to take in everything that she says. You can watch it by clicking here.

Blessings to you and yours, today and always! Kate.

Rev. Kate Jones Two Rivers Pastoral Charge (506) 757-2201 (office) (506) 343-1307 (mobile) www.tworiverspastoralcharge.com

Pronouns:  she/her/hers

"Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law?"Jesus replied, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: "You must love your neighbour as you love yourself." (Matthew 22:36-39)