NOVEMBER

What a spectacular high note for our Congregation going into “400 Years of Presbyterian Witness”. Once again, we make history as our Congregation make plans to install a new minister, the Rev David J. Irvine, B.Sc., M.Div. with the promise of many great returns for all.

The coming of a new minister reminds me of the following story –

The new minister stood at the church door greeting the members as they left the Sunday morning service. Most of the people were very generous telling the new minister how much they liked his message, except for one man who said, “That was a very dull and boring sermon.”

A few minutes later, the same man again appeared in line and said, “I don’t think you did much preparation for your message.”

Once again, the man appeared, this time muttering, “You really blew it. You didn’t have a thing to say.”

Finally, the minister could stand it no longer. He went to one of the elders and inquired about the man.

“Oh, don’t let that guy bother you,” said the elder. “He’s a little slow. All he does is go around repeating whatever he hears other people saying.”

As we prepare and plan to install a new minister, this is not about him alone. This is about us. What kind of church will we become together with this leader? What unimagined possibilities will spring from this coming together of minister and congregation?

The act of installing a minister is nothing more - and nothing less - than the act of blessing a ministry, in full anticipation of a new era in the congregation’s history, which will reach a little farther than the rest, building upon a foundation which was laid long ago but which stands securely and decisively today.

As we enter into a covenant with one another - as congregation and minister – may we be “A Church which seeks to see everyone in our community live in Christ and grow in Christ in every aspect of our lives”(Mission Statement). This covenant is not just between minister and congregation alone, but it is also a covenant with the living tradition of our Presbyterian faith and the commanding power of life and love, which we may not name but which we can never escape. A covenant is no mere contract but rather a considered pledge of the heart to be together in community, through good times and bad, that a great purpose may be achieved - one which goes beyond that very community itself.

May we re-dedicate ourselves to the service of God, to the welfare of the Church for whom Jesus is coming back and the glory of God’s name in this place.

Here is a prayer that you might like to pray:

 
Lord, thank you for dying for me and for making it possible for me to be right with God and free and full of joy and purpose and love. Forgive me for the ways in the past I’ve got distracted, and I offer you myself today again for you to be my Saviour and for me to be your son or your daughter because truly from my heart I want to tell you that with all my faults I do love you more than all of these.

For Jesus Christ’s sake.

Amen.

Jim Reaney