Back To Church

Once again Sparling is participating in the "Back To Church" campaign.  From the campaign website, the following has been said:

What is Back to Church Sunday? 

It is the single largest annual community outreach in North America, sharing the simple message and mission of inviting everyone Back To Church. The campaign empowers churches and church members with the tools they need to welcome their neighbors, friends and loved ones back to church, while providing the unchurched with an easy way to find a welcoming church in their community.

"82% of the unchurched are at least somewhat likely to attend church if invited"
–Dr. Thom Rainer, The Unchurched Next Door

 So....on Sunday September 16th, bring a friend to Sparling and help us celebrate "Back to Church" with as much enthusiasm as we celebrate "Back to School"!!

Why back to church?  Check this video out...

And if you are not sure how to invite someone back to church...check out this video...

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An Easter People - An Easter Church

Dear friends in the Risen Lord.

On the first Easter morning the sorrowing women come to anoint the body of Jesus and are greeted with the astonishing words of the angel:  “Why do you search for the Living One among the dead?  He is not here.  He has been raised up” (Luke 24:5-6).  This marvelous “good news” has echoed up and down the generations proclaimed in and through the works of Christ’s body, the Church.  It is for this very reason that the Church, which is the people of God, does not exist for itself.  The Church exists to proclaim this message of the angel through its very life and work.  Thus we do not proclaim: “Hallelujah - through his cross and resurrection Jesus has saved ME” but rather proclaim “Hallelujah – through his cross and resurrection Jesus has brought life to the world”. 

In his book, “Surprised by Hope”, author N.T. Wright speaks about the events of Holy week and the meaning of the resurrection.  He states: 

“It is the story of God’s kingdom being launched on earth as in heaven, generating a new state of affairs in which the power of evil has been decisively defeated, the new creation has been decisively launched and Jesus’ followers have been commissioned and equipped to put that victory and that inaugurated new world into practice.  Atonement, redemption and salvation are what happen on the way because engaging in this work demands that people themselves be rescued from the powers that enslave the world in order that they can in turn be rescuers.”  (Surprised By Hope pg. 204)

In other words, to be an Easter people, indeed to be an Easter Church, we must follow the way of the cross and if we want to benefit from Jesus’ saving death we must participate in what he began that first Easter - the renewal of the world. 

Friends, every act of love, gratitude, kindness, charity, and justice is participation in this renewal.  In all the ways that we actively seek justice and resist evil (as our Creed says so eloquently) we can be assured that these actions will find their way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation that God began that first Easter morning.  This is the hope and real promise of Easter.  This Easter my prayer for Sparling is that the Lord en-flame our hearts that we might be moved to be an Easter people and in turn, an Easter Church.

Rev. Scott R. MacAuley, B.A., M.Div.

Pastor,  Sparling United Church 

SPARLING 2012: A KAIROS YEAR

Dear Friends,

First, let me say “Happy New Year”.  It is my hope that 2012 will be a year of Kairos for all of us at Sparling United and indeed throughout the Inkster community to which we are called to serve as the Church, that is, the people of God. 

Kairos is an ancient Greek word meaning the right or opportune moment.  The ancient Greeks had two words for time:  Chronos and Kairos.  Chronos referred to chronological time, seconds passing away to minutes, passing away to hours, days, weeks, years, decades and so on.  Kairos referred to time in between – a moment of time that is not fixed or defined in which something special happens. 

Ancient philosophers used the word kairos to indicate a kind of learned wisdom where one was able to take advantage of changing circumstances.  The great teacher/philosopher Aristotle used the word kairos to mean the “time and space” where a speaker was able to take advantage of the context in which he/she was speaking and deliver a profoundly convincing argument. 

New Testament writers like Mark and Paul use kairos to mean the “appointed time in the purposes of God” – that is to say, the time when God acts.  Consider Mark chapter 1 verse 15 where Jesus says: “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (NRSV). 

And so, I think it would be fair to say that as people of faith we can understand kairos to be decisive moments of divinely inspired change within the regular passage of days and years. The Old Testament story of the Exodus is a kairos moment when God’s purposes for Israel intersect with their time and place, leading them out of slavery and to the Promised Land.   The Gospel narrative of the incarnation is a kairos moment as it was the right or opportune moment when God’s purposes for the world intersect with the lives of a young woman and her future husband, creating a home for the one who would be called Messiah.  The marriage of two lovers, the birth of a baby, and the burial of a loved one are all examples of kairos moments in our lives.  We might say they are moments of great meaning. 

In a more cosmic context, we can see kairos intersecting with chromos all throughout history.  These are all the right or opportune moments when God is decisively at work in and through the people of God.  Here we speak of such moments as the death and resurrection of Jesus, Pentecost, the conversion of Saul on the road to Tarsus, the Reformation, and today’s reality of the emerging church.  The condemnation of human rights violations by Archbishop Romero was a kairos moment; the publication of Gustavo Gutierrez’s book “A Theology of Liberation” was a kairos moment; and more recently, the  “occupy” movement, which represents a portion of the voice of the 99%, has been a kairos moment.  Truly, whenever the Gospel is proclaimed, hearts are changed, and human dignity is upheld, these are kairos moments – they are appointed times in the purposes of God. 

With all of this as background, it is my hope that Sparling United Church will embrace 2012 as a year of Kairos – a year of appointed time in which God’s purposes for the Inkster community will be fulfilled through our work and prayer.  Something is happening in the Church and many believe the Church is living into one of its greatest moments – a revolutionary time of newness which will be characterized by radical community.  What this is to look like or how it is to come about is mystery but our participation is non-negotiable. 

The world Jesus was born into was not that much unlike our own.  North Korea is in a climate of change; the European economic crisis is leading to political instability; refugees continue to flee their homes; climate change is more than evident; the developing world is halted by the economic interests of the developed world and the Middle East continues to remain unsettled.  Hard questions go unanswered by politicians and daily we see images of people dying at the hands of war, famine and disaster. The world of Jesus’ day was riddled with instability and threat also and yet that was a kairos moment. 

Albert Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.  Why then are governments, faith communities, and individuals continuing to do the same thing over and over again?  Yes 2012 can be a year of kairos for us at Sparling and indeed for the community of Inkster. We can embrace this year of kairos by articulating our core values and beliefs as a faith community; responding to the needs of the community we serve; building up the gifts of our members; discerning how to use our human, physical and financial resources; and energizing our spirits through worship, study, community and prayer.

Let 2012 be a Kairos year and together we can create an unprecedented opportunity to respond to God’s will for our church and our community – an appointed time when the purposes of God can be fulfilled!

QUESTIONS TO PONDER IN THIS KAIROS YEAR OF 2012

 1.        Where do we experience God in our faith community?

2.         Where do we experience God in the Inkster community?

3.         Is God issuing Sparling a challenge to decisive action?  What is that action?

4.         Where or to whom does God draw closest in the Inkster community? Why?

5.         How is God issuing Sparling a challenge to decisive action?

6.         If God is a God of love, justice and liberation, who or what is in need of love, justice and liberation in the Inkster community?  What can Sparling do to respond?

7.         How can we bring the Gospel into the public square?

8.         What does it mean for Sparling and for the Inkster community to make the theological statement that “God is on the side of the poor, the oppressed and the exploited.”?

9.         What is God calling you to do?

           

Sparling Newsletter Now Online!

Sparling is moving forward into the technological age.  You can now read our latest E-Newsletter by simply clicking on the following link.  Our E-Newsletter is now entitled "Sparling Speaks Out" and contains various articles on various topics by a range of authors.  Put your thinking cap on and Enjoy!!

Click on the following link to view the newsletter

Sparling Speaks Out

LITURGY AND ADVENT

In short, we understand the word "liturgy" to mean the worship service, but in fact, it is much more than that.  The word "liturgy" originally meant a "public work on behalf of the people".  In Christian tradition it has come to mean the "work of the people" participating in the "work of God".  Liturgy then, refers not only to the celebration of worship, but also the proclamation of the Gospel and the living of a charitable life.

Through the witness of sacred Scripture, we see both the work of God and the work of the people present in both testaments.    God calls Abraham and enters into a covenant with him so that through Abraham a family of faith may be formed so that through their work the work of God in the redemption of the world may be fulfilled.  In his book, Justification, author N.T. Wright states: "God, the creator, called Abraham, so that through his family he, God, could rescue the world from its plight".  Wright speaks of this as God's "single purpose" - a plan "through Israel for the world".  Israel longed for a Messiah who would restore right relationship between humanity, creation and God.  In analyzing the writings of St. Paul, Wright concludes that what "Israel had longed for God to do for it and for the world, God had done for Jesus, bringing him through death and into the life of the age to come."  The implications of this are that from a covenant perspective, God's promises to Abraham had been fulfilled and from the eschatological perspective (future hope and fulfillment of God's plan begun in Jesus), the new world order had begun (but is not yet complete).

For Christians, the liturgical year (Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and Ordinary Time) mark the central themes of God's work among God's people while the liturgy is an active participation of God's people in the work of God.  The liturgy celebrates the fact that God has been faithful to the covenant with Abraham in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and proclaims the new age begun in Jesus that God will bring to fulfillment in the future and our participation in the process of bringing it to fulfillment.

All of this forms the "mystery of Christ" which we proclaim and celebrate in liturgy.  To accomplish so great a work, Christ is always present in the Church and in the liturgical celebrations of the Church.  The liturgy does not contain ALL of the actions of the Church, but it is the source from which the people of God are nourished to participate in God's work and it is the pinnacle toward which the activity of the people of God is directed.  Liturgy is therefore an encounter between Christ and the people of God.  The reading of Scripture, signs and symbols, words and actions, singing and music, preaching and sacraments all point to Christ who himself is the  meaning of all these things.

The season of Advent begins on November 27th.  Advent comes from the Latin "adventum" which means waiting.  Throughout this four week period the Church, the people of God, waits for the celebration of Christmas.  This waiting is marked by both a remembrance of the waiting of the Hebrew people for the birth of the Messiah and an anticipated hope of the return of Jesus at the end of this new age that God began in the resurrection.  For this reason, throughout the liturgical season of Advent we will re-read and relive the great events of salvation history in our Sunday liturgy in our own time and space. May our Advent celebrations - our Advent liturgies - our Advent "work" be a time of devout and joyful expectation.

BACK TO SCHOOL...BACK TO CHURCH

Did you know that while 82% of people say they don't go to church because they've never been invited only 2% or regular church attendees invite other people to church? That means 98% of us never extend an invitation to others.  Did you also know that most people who drop out of church haven't lost their faith in God, they simply fell out of the habit of churchgoing.  Some moved or had a change in life circumstances or they simply drifted away.  Most often life became too busy.  This means many people are open to returning to church.

I encourage you to click on the following link and watch the video....then invite someone to church this fall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NK1RsItAAs

A THEOLOGY FOR SUMMER

It’s summer time – go enjoy the cottage; try your hand at sailing; take many refreshing swims in the lake and don’t be afraid to kick back and enjoy your favourite sunny spot (or shaded spot) donning your best straw hat complete with designer sunglasses, Capri’s or clam diggers and a big tall glass of ice tea.  Most importantly….don’t feel guilty about it.  Why?  You ask!  Because you’re practicing theology! 

Say what??? How am I practicing theology by lazing about and enjoying the summer?  You are practicing theology because you are embracing leisure time and believe it or not there is a theology of leisure! (Well…actually there is a theology for just about anything…but hear me out). 

We often speak of theology as “faith seeking understanding”.  Just as God created work to focus the creative powers of humanity, formed in God’s image, so too, God created leisure to be a part of our weekly routine.  Remember that seventh day in the book of Genesis – the one God called Sabbath – the one God blessed and made holy.  It’s about leisure; rest; rejuvenation of the human spirit.

In his work, “Towards a Theology of Leisure”, author Graham Neville states that “the intention of Christian theology is to examine and reflect on the whole of human experience in the light of Christian revelation”.  Since leisure is a part of the human experience, there must  be a place for theological reflection on the experience of human leisure.  German theologian and philosopher,  Josef Pieper (1904-1997)said that the “soul of leisure lies in celebration”.  Celebration is the point at which 3 very important aspects of leisure merge – effortlessness, calm and relaxation.  There was probably a time where you and I might have thought of leisure as a kind of “sloth” or mere idleness.  Remember the old adage: “idle hands are the work of the devil?”  Well…apparently not! Pieper says that “leisure is superior to all and every function of the human person”.  If we accept this, then leisure becomes something mysterious and deeply related to worship.  Work is a kind of action, while leisure is a kind of time – something Pieper says is a preparation or “internship for eternity”. 

But how do we use our leisure time so that it doesn’t become sloth or idleness?  Well…we use it to reflect on the wonder of God and God’s creation – to lift our hearts in praise and worship.  Pope Gregory the Great (540AD – 604AD), better known as the “Father of Christian Worship” said that “the contemplative life (quiet, prayerful solitude) is a foretaste of the coming rest.” The coming rest is the rest of Paradise and if there is any link between the contemplative life and the leisure of our Manitoba summers, then our leisure should be occupied with things that offer a foretaste of heaven – what could do this better than enjoying God’s creation – the warm sun on our backs; the beauty of the trees in full leaf; the aroma of flowers in full bloom and the refreshing taste of an ice cold refreshment.

Yes…enjoy your summer because this Sabbath leisure time is a necessary accompaniment to work – a time for recovery of strength and renewal of spirit so that in the fall….we can pick up the work of the Gospel once again.