What can I say: anyone and everyone that is a church attendee is a lay minister. We all have our talents and we all contribute in some form to our home church. And so, we are all lay ministers. This weekend was illuminating and inspiring as well as uplifting. Dr. Scott Bader-Saye was an excellent speaker talking about the post-Christendom church and what adventures await us going forward. There are many reasons why the church has changed and it is up to us to move forward through these times fraught with fear and hope for the future of the church. There were times during the weekend where we came together to pray: Evening Prayer, Compline, Morning Prayer, and Holy Eucharist. We were in communion with each other and nature. We sang acapella and in harmony with each other. Truly a beautiful time.
To summarize the entire weekend, I would have to quote Ephesians 4:1-16, 25-32:
“I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. …The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love….”
This was the final bible passage that Dr. Scott Bader-Saye had us contemplate. We welcome everyone to our church no matter his or her race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or religion. We are Beloved Community.—Susan Borchert, Sr. Warden.
We had a hospital visit from a lay couple from St. Barnabas last week. We usually face hospitalizations alone because we are not “from here” and not able to attend church. But there was the embodied Church at a moment my spouse and I really needed it. Thank you!