Sermon – St. Jude’s Day - 2012

Text:  Jude 1-3, 17-25

Mission Statement

‘St. Jude’s is a Christ centred community growing in Faith, Hope and Love’

 Values

Inclusive – Welcoming all

Encouraging – Supporting one another

Inspirational – Diverse worship and learning in our faith

Community focussed – Reaching out and serving our neighbours.

The ‘Growing Congregations Committee’ has put together a mission statement, and this morning, on this St. Jude’s Day, I want to reflect theologically on that statement in light of the reading from Jude.

1)     St. Jude’s is a Christ Centred Community...

Let me begin with the first part of the mission statement: St. Jude’s is a Christ Centred Community. Jude begins his epistle with these words: Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James... (Jude 1). At the very beginning of his epistle Jude lets his readers know who he is and who he serves. Our mission statement attempts to do the same. We are St. Jude’s Church and we belong to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is at the very centre of what we do.  I see this working in a number of ways.

Firstly, the central message of the Christian Church is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is our very reason for being: our core business.

Secondly, it reminds us that, whilst there are many things that St. Jude’s Church does, Jesus Christ calls us back to keeping him at the centre of why we do what we do. On any given day I can be Chris centred or family centred, or parish or church centred, or centred on anything but Christ. Normal? Yes, of course, but the mission statement is there to remind you and me that we need to keep coming back to the centre.

Thirdly, St. Jude’s is a parish community made up of variety of people from different backgrounds with different theological and church persuasions. We have Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics, Charismatics and Traditionalists, Conservatives, Liberals, Post-Liberals, and people who are none of these. Christ the centre transcends all differences: theological or otherwise. Centre-Anglicanism has the grace and broadness to hold all these together.  We are an inclusive community that welcomes all!

2)     ... growing in faith, hope and love.

A hallmark of a mature Christian community is growth. It is a community that is comfortable with itself, and comfortable enough to accept others who may differ with it. St. Jude was writing to a Christian community that had been around for a while, yet it needed some encouragement. A church that says it is no need of encouragement is not a growing church, but a proud one.

Jude encourages them to build yourselves up on your most holy faith... (Jude 20). They are to be a growing Church built on the foundations of the faith. The faith once delivered to the Saints, Jude writes (Jude 3). By faith, Jude means the doctrinal core of the Christian message. As an Anglican Church we recite the creed and we are shaped by a liturgy that is profoundly Trinitarian and steeped in the traditions of the Church. We are also a Scriptural church. Our own individual interpretations of Scripture may vary, but scripture forms the foundations of our corporate worship and prayer life. Yet, at the same time, we are to be alive to the Holy Spirit and open to new possibilities. This is brought about by praying in the Holy Spirit (Jude 20). Therefore we are an ‘inspirational church with diverse worship and learning in our faith’.

However, in the Christian Church we also use the word faith in another way. Faith also means to trust: trusting in God who has redeemed us through  the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We trust God with the life of our church, which leads us to hope. Our faith is not a dead faith, but one that looks forward: look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life (Jude 21). It is too easy to dwell on the successes of the past and be fearful of the uncertainty of the future. Jude encourages his readers to look forward. Our Community focus - reaching out and serving our neighbours is born out of the hope that we have something good to offer. We are not the ‘end users of the Gospel’, as Brian McLaren (2004, P. 117) describes it.

Finally, Jude encourages his readers to have mercy on some who are wavering... We are in this Gospel business together! Sometimes, individually, we are strong in faith and other times we need encouragement and support: to build each other up. I need it and you need it. As a growing mature Christian community we are called to encourage each other and to support one another. At the same time, importantly, we need to make space for those who are not yet Christian or who are exploring the faith. We are to be an open Church, too.
As you can see our mission statement and values are bible based and theologically coherent. It is an inspirational document that can, under prayer and by God’s guidance, serve the parish well. It is short and punchy. We want to be able to write it on our minds and in our hearts. As the theologian Tony Kelly writes about the creed: ‘A blessed brevity and vividness had its place in the proclamation of ‘The Good News’ (Kelly 1996, P. 4). However, we want your thoughts and comments, so I commend this mission statement to your consideration.

Kelly, T 1996, The Creed by Heart, HarperCollinsReligious, Blackburn, Victoria.

McLaren, B.D 2004, A Generous Orthodoxy, Zondervan, Grand Rapids