KEYNOTE ADDRESS FOR 2004 SYNOD – STATE OF THE DISTRICT CHURCH

I am here this evening to declare that the state of our district is good. But like all that is labeled good, if you take a microscope to it, one can find imperfections. I choose not to take a microscope to our ministry and mission. Instead, I choose to see the broader picture. And when I do that, I see that we have an excellent cadre of clergy, a wonderful array of facilities, a dedicated corps of laity. I see ministries in which our Chief Elder has led us to care for battered women and children in downtown Lancaster; I see a renewed commitment to do all we can to fight the scourge of HIV/Aids in Africa and Central America as well as here at home; I see folks going the second mile in caring for new Moravians in Sikonge, Tanzania; I see ministries centering around 12-step programs; I see Cursillo ministries deepening and freshening the faith of folks who have long been a part of our church; I see new methods of teaching in Sunday Schools; I see a continuing and widening ministry to homeless folks in NYC; I see youth being challenged to play steel drums rather than hanging on street corners; I see worship centering on the message of the Good News of God’s grace for all people rather than the condemnation of people for whom Christ died; I see congregations offering their excess land for garden plots for their neighbors; I see church folks leading movements to educationally leave no child behind; I see small cadres of folks bringing the gospel to inner cities such as we find in Frederick, MD; I see food pantries located across our district; I see ministries by, with, and to our elderly folks in Lititz and Nazareth and all around our district; I see inviting facilities and new construction and renovation taking place in every area of our district, whether it be Moravian Village in Bethlehem or First Church in New York City or a new addition at Fry’s Valley, OH. As to finances, our investments took a significant hit during this period but they weathered the storm and our financial picture at the end of 2003 is only about 7% off of what it was at the end of 1999. But even more significantly, 30 of our 54 congregations in 2000 were on reduced/negotiated quotas – this year, that number is down to 23. That represents a 13% increase in the number of congregations submitting their full fair share and, thus, helps to take an increased burden off of the full share congregations.

Just two years ago, there were nine pastoral vacancies in our district. As we open synod of 2004, the only vacancy that exists in the Eastern district is the half-time vacancy at Fry’s Valley, Ohio, which is presently being served week to week by a retired United Methodist pastor. And this is something that is good news – at least for me personally because a significant portion of my time during these two years of service as your district president has been spent working with Joint Boards in the call process, or in filling the pulpit on Sundays at some of the congregations without pastoral leadership, or in traveling to accomplish those tasks.

However, I am aware that the world is still filled with imperfections. We still have battered women and children, even men. We still have the scourge of HIV/Aids around the world. We still have addictions that seem to grab far too many people. We still have homeless folks in our cities. We still have a drug culture that nabs far too many of our young people. We still have inequalities in our educational systems. We still have situations where our facilities are not real inviting. We still have too many people thinking Gospel means “bad news” rather than “good news.” We are sometimes still hindered by a shortage of funds even though, according to some politicians, there are more funds in the pockets of individuals within our district today than there were at the time of our 2000 Synod. And the reality is that we still have 23 congregations who are on reduced/negotiated quotas.

So the state of our district is really quite healthy. Much of that is due to the fact that, at the Synod of 2000, we elected boards and committees to carry on the vision of caring, sharing, and daring which that Synod inspired. I want to take thank all those who were elected at that synod and who served during this inter-synodal period. The church, and especially this district, thanks you for your dedication.

Okay – that is the past. Now, what about what is before us? What is God calling us to do during this next four-year inter-synodal period? Since we last met in a district synod, the world has changed. America has changed. The role of faith has changed. Our district is a part of all of that – we are a part of the world, we are a part of the nations of Canada and the US, and we certainly are a part of faith, specifically of the Christian faith. September 11 called upon all of us to adjust our thinking, to deal with a vulnerability that we had never known before, to examine that which is important to us, to renew ties with those we love.

If our faith is to mean anything to us, it will have to give us strength to meet this new world. And I am here to tell you that faith, as a gift from God, can meet the challenges of this new world.

It has been the nature of my work that I very seldom get to worship with the family of faith in which I hold my membership. However, on Pentecost Sunday I was finally able to worship in my home congregation and my pastor pointed out how the Day of Pentecost was a turning point in the life of the church as, in a very unique way, the gospel was spoken and made available in a language that was made understandable for the hearer. All who gathered there that day heard the message in their own language and were literally included in the circle. He then pointed out how we Christians sometimes use our religious language to embody shame and guilt and fear – a language that is very hard to understand if we, indeed, follow the Christ who brought us God’s grace. There are some who use code words and catch phrases – who speak of certain wonderful, Biblical concepts and then say that unless you experience Christ in a prescribed fashion that adheres to their interpretation of those concepts, you are not acceptable. Again this is a language that is hard to understand. There are languages of religion today that take on political overtones. Are you “liberal left” or “conservative right” – where do you stand on a particular political issue – all this does is develop walls of suspicion and mistrust and division – again a language that is so different from the language of unity, forgiveness, and understanding that Jesus brought. These are unknown languages when it comes to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Languages that chastise, criticize, condemn, alienate, judge unfairly are not languages that I understand to be a part of the gospel of Christ. The whole point of the Pentecost story in Acts 2 is that the multiplicity of languages spoken there on the day of Pentecost was not a means to keep folks outside the circle but rather to include all.

You see, I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of the 21^st Century has a great challenge from the negative effects of extremism. We have all seen that extremism is no virtue, whether it be extremism that denies rights to women or extremism that denies rights to those who believe differently; whether it be extremism that terrorizes through bombs or extremism that terrorizes through a killing of the spirit; whether it be extremism that says a woman’s face is to be kept covered or extremism that says ones politics is to be kept under wraps unless it is a political viewpoint that agrees with their view.

That is not the kind of faith that is a gift from God and it is not the kind of faith of which I speak when I say that faith is a gift from God. That is a misuse of God’s gifts. At the same time – make no mistake – our faith is to be seen by others. Jesus talked about not burying our talents, about not hiding our light under a bushel basket, about searching for the lost, about sowing seeds in good soil, about going into the world and making a difference. My predecessor often used a basket to challenge us and he would talk about that basket at Synod and literally force us to get out of the basket and into the world. He would remind us that, as the disciples of Christ, we need to let our faith shine in the works that we do. That is also what the theme of this Synod is all about – “Our All to Give, Our Faith to Live.”

Friends, this message is one that does not change. But as we continue to remove the basket from covering our faith, I would add another symbol to our mix. It is the symbol of the fork. It is an old story that has been told over and over again – it is the story of the woman who called her pastor to make funeral preparations because she did not want such preparations to fall upon her family when she died. They went over the hymns to be used, the lebenslauf that was to be written, the liturgy to be prayed – all the various mechanics of the service. And then, at the last, she made one more request. She said, “Pastor, please see to it that I have a fork in my hand as my friends and family come to pay their respects.” When her pastor quizzed her further, she replied, “Well, I have loved our church suppers. I love going out to eat. But the thing I like best when I eat a meal is the moment when the dishes are cleared from the table and I await the dessert. I hang on to my fork because the best is yet to come. The fork reminds me that the best is yet to come and I want to remind my friends and family when they see me in my casket that I am now enjoying that best that is yet to come for all of them.”

If we wanted to concentrate on all that is wrong with the world, we could find many things to discuss. If we wanted to concentrate on all that is wrong with our nation, we could find many things to discuss. If we wanted to concentrate on all that is wrong in the church – in our church – we could find things to discuss. Likewise, we can find all kinds of things to applaud – in our world, in our nation, and in our church. One of the gifts of this synod to every congregation is a book prepared by our planning committee, called “Sharing Successes.” One copy of this book will be given to every congregation before this synod ends. It tells of the good things that are happening in many of our congregations and I challenge you to make sure that book makes it around your congregation. Gather ideas for the mission and ministry of your church from the successes others have enjoyed. Perhaps we can keep such a collating of success stories going, even beyond the days of synod.

However, I am choosing this evening to have us conclude this opening portion of our 2004 synod by pointing to the future – pointing to that which is yet to come. It seems to me that the state of the church rests upon that which is our vision, that to which and for which we are searching and looking. You know, I hear folks talk about the good old days with a desire to somehow return to those days. Yeh, I remember the good old days – in the world, in the church. I was reminded of those days a few weeks ago when I traveled to the Canadian District Synod and visited my parents graves at the Heimtal Moravian Church Cemetery in South Edmonton and saw the old outhouses still standing there in the backyard of that church – the church that provided for me the spark for the faith that I came to adopt. You see, I am old enough to remember the days without plumbing, especially those days when I had to go to the outhouse in the middle of winter. I am old enough to remember the days without electricity and our only entertainment on the farm there in Western Canada was huddling around the wood stove and the kerosene lamp and listening to the old crystal radio on Friday evenings to Gillette’s Friday night fights and on Saturdays to Esso’s Hockey Night in Canada. I am old enough to remember that a 300-mile trip was at least a two-day adventure in the old Model-A – and often included having to change a flat tire on the way. I remember the days when all of us in that congregation were of the same color and were even all of the same political party and none of us had any appreciation for a culture or even a thought beyond our own narrow limits and we feared anything and everything about those people and those ideas that were different from our own. So – when people talk about the good old days, I know what they are talking about. The problem is that some folks seem to conveniently forget a part of the good old days. No, I really don’t want to go back. I want to go forward.

At this synod, the Synod of 2004, let it be said that we are determined to step into the future ready to give our all to a faith that is to be lived. Let this Synod be the catalyst for a renewed church. Let it be a time when we assert a bold vision. The Provincial Synod of 2002 called us to Vision 20/20. I would have us, in this district synod, make that also our vision. It is my privilege to be able to report to this synod that two of our congregations have voted to come on board with this vision in an exciting way by looking into the possibility of daughtering a new congregation. The New Dawn congregation in Toronto has voted to look into the possibility of beginning a new Moravian congregation in the Mississauga/Oakville area of the Greater Toronto area. The Rev. Kent Trievel has accepted a 3-month appointment to explore that possibility and to prepare a plan for ministry for the new effort and Brother Winston Josiah has accepted the appointment as his Administrative Assistant. Both of those individuals are going to be a little late in coming to this synod because both of them are currently attending what is called a new church planters boot camp in Lancaster. They will not arrive here until tomorrow evening. The Dover, OH, congregation has voted to explore the potential for a daughter congregation in their area of Eastern Ohio sometime over the next couple of years. I am also aware of one other congregation that has begun preliminary discussions about daughtering a new congregation and also of a cluster of our pastors that has discussed the possibility of beginning a new church in their area. These are exciting times, folks! Twenty new churches across our Province by the year 2020! I used to think of that as a nice goal and gave it verbal support – something like motherhood and apple pie. Not now! Friends – twenty may be too limiting.

We claim to be the followers of the Christ. In doing that, it seems to me that we then take upon ourselves certain responsibilities. As I read the biblical record of the person I have chosen to follow, the record of Jesus of Nazareth, I am struck by the very simple message that is given there for me. Basically, Jesus gathered a few folks around himself and he had them walk the countryside with him as he loved them and taught them and “faithed” them. And, in the end, he said to them, “this is what I want you to do. I want you to love my people. I want you to teach my people to love and have respect for all of God’s creatures. I want you to love them into faith.” And the record seems to indicate that he says our call is to love and to teach and to respect even those who differ from us – those who differ in habit, those who differ in nationality, those who differ in cultural identity, those who differ in racial makeup, those who differ in theology, those who differ in sexual orientation, those who differ in political viewpoint, even those who differ in faith. Quite frankly, I find no other way to reconcile the Sermon on the Mount that Matthew says was the hallmark at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry with the Great Commission that Matthew says concluded that ministry than to state it that way.

But, the question is – where do we begin to sing the Lord’s song, and what are the contemporary lyrics? The answers surely are not easy but I believe strongly that the answers will have to come from churches that have a passionate experience of the living Christ and from churches who immerse themselves in the culture and the people around them.

You see, we cannot live apart from the culture in which we find ourselves. Churches cannot simply be a tourist attraction. We cannot be, as so many congregations think of themselves, simply a group of prayer circles and Bible study groups that aren’t involved and have no impact on the culture around them. We, in mainline Christianity, have failed to make clear the real claim of Christ. You know – we are supposed to be the bride of Christ. The trouble is – we have so often become a celibate bride. We have allowed the passion to go out of our love affair with the bridegroom.

Friends – we Moravians are positioned to offer a marvelous alternative to the Grand Inquisitor model of Christian thought that is so prevalent in religious circles today. The message that we have is more than able to be a balm in Gilead. So why do we put it under our bushel baskets? Why do we cover it up with insider jargon? Why are we cowed into silence and passionless Christianity? Why do we allow the void to be filled by shallow, religious glitz, which tends to make of Christianity a guilt-laden and judgmental way of life? It is exciting to see that our Dover and New Dawn congregations are passionate enough about their faith that they are willing to step forward into new areas with their gospel. And what is that gospel which we share?

Again, look at the people into which Jesus immersed himself. There is scant evidence that he or his disciples grew up in cohesive families that routinely spent time in prayer, Bible Study, and worship. Jesus ran afoul of traditional religious training. He rejected his family and lived an itinerant, communal life, supported, perhaps by some wealthy women. So much for the icon of male leadership in the family! So much for family values as expressed by those who think following Jesus has to make us all fit the same mold so that we all look like the nuclear families so frequently hailed as the ideal for the faithful.

Mainline Protestantism – Moravianism – must make clear the real claim of Christ. Indeed, the only reason why Jesus has been remembered over the centuries is because God chose to raise Jesus from the dead. Jesus lives, and women and men in many diverse cultures and settings have seen him. Their hearts have been set on fire to proclaim that Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried, and then, because of God’s mighty, singular act, Jesus was seen by some women preparing for a funeral and then by a host of others – then and now. This is the message of the gathered people who are at once the visible body of Christ and also the witnesses to the living presence of Jesus. If Jesus was raised, we who follow his way of love and radical obedience to God will be raised also.

How do we carry out this ministry that has been entrusted to us? There is no one way. What is crucial is not to lose the core message of faith. At the heart of the reform of the church in every age is an experience with Christ which leads to personal – and social – transformation. Mainline churches became mainline because women and men who experienced Jesus witnessed to others by who they were and dared to love people. This led them to build hospitals, colleges, orphanages, and all kinds of institutions. This led them to provide agricultural expertise. And this should lead us to relate with deep respect to the Palestinian in the donut shop down the street, to the Pakistani taxi driver, to the Iraqi shopkeeper, to the Indian doctor, to the Vietnamese waiter, to the Native American shaman, and yes, even to the point of throwing a birthday party for the young lady of the evening who wanders into the coffee shop where you find yourself at 2 am because you are in a strange city in a different time zone and you cannot get to sleep – the famous illustration told by Tony Campola. Our ancestors spread the gospel through all kinds of courageous, uplifting deeds that stemmed from faith in a living Lord and spoke to what was happening in the culture around them. Likewise, a follower of Jesus today cannot be in ministry to and within any culture without making the body of Christ flesh and blood within it.

In other words, going into the world with the gospel means being in the worlds to which we go. For instance, one does not go into Russia and spread evangelical fervor in the name of Jesus as if the Orthodox Church has no part in the body of Christ. One does not go into Iraq to witness to Christ as though Christ has no regard for the followers of Mohammed. One does not witness on a street corner in an American city without regard for the cultural and social fabric in which the ministry exists. Rather than trying to capture “vital ministry” by just gathering within the four walls of the church building to pray and to make sugar cakes, churches had better be involved in homeless shelters, food pantries, and child care. The “vital ministry” happens when we move out from our prayer circles into the areas of need. Yes, prayer is important and it is important to gather together in prayer. Yes, fellowship with others in the family is important and sharing meals and lovefeasts together is important. But it dare not stop there. If we are in love with Jesus, we had better be in love with all whom Jesus loves.

Our mission is summed up best by the lawyer who answered his own question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” with the words, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.” Our theme is basically a take-off on that summarization. Our all to give – our faith to live. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.” So – the state of the church – yes it is good but it can get a lot better and our calling is to help usher in that which is better. Save your fork – the best is yet to come – and you and I are called to be witnesses to that fact. And you and I are called to show to the world by how we live and by who we are that we are willing to give our all in the living out of our faith. What a great privilege we have. During the next three days, let us establish a vision that cannot be mistaken. The current month’s newsletter of the Lehigh County Conference of Churches has a statement that caught my eye – “miracles are more about our vision capability than about any physical transformation.” What is your vision capability? Much of that will depend upon how willing you are to give your all through a faith that is lived.