Prayer of the Week - Pentecost 3

Beloved Parishioners,

The Church of the Messiah is grouped with ten other neighboring parishes into something called a "Deanery." The clergy from each Deanery get together about once a month to discuss common concerns, hear about things going on at a Diocesan level, and gossip. This month's meeting of the Eglinton Deanery (where we belong) presented me with a stark reality: in the eyes of the diocese we are a "blue parish."

You see, the Diocese has assessed every parish in terms of it's strategic value and viability and given it a colour to correspond. Green parishes are "sustainable." Yellow are "static." Red is reserved for places that receive the dreaded "unsustainable" stamp. Our parish, however, is blue. On the official diocesan assessment scale blue means "God Only Knows." (Yes, they actually say "God Only Knows.") It seems our parish has fallen into that vague category of places that are beyond prediction. We have sailed off the map. Our situation is simply too complex, too fluid, to predict our future.

This is good news, actually. I was concerned that decades of falling attendance combined with our proximity to other healthy parishes would earn us the dreaded "red" status. That would make it difficult to get grants and other assistance from the Diocese. The strategic plan of the Diocese is to withdraw support from places judged "unsustainable" and invest it in up-and-coming parishes. But apparently there is enough potential here to offset the negatives. They haven't made up their minds about us.

Changing our colour to "green" will require some big changes of the kind that we have begun together. It will mean shifting the congregation's mindset away from maintenance towards mission. It will also mean becoming more attuned to the spiritual needs of our neighborhood. And yet these changes are entirely possible for us. We have the people and the resources to create a place of love and transformation in the city.

On the heals of last week's "don't worry" Gospel, this week our Lord spurs us to Kingdom-building action: "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock" (Matthew 7:24). The two things are connected: we proceed from a liberating confidence in God's providence to questing for Kingdom-come and righteousness. Join us in this work!

Lord God of Heaven and Earth, all things come from you. We thank you for sustaining our lives and providing all things we need. Inspire us, we pray, to continue your work in the world, building the Kingdom of God in all righteousness and Godly love. Give us courage to imagine and to explore and strength to plant and to build. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.

-t