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’
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.
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
