“The church is in decline,” so shared the Rev. Donald Schell, co-founder of St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. These are not typical words to hear at the induction of a new priest, and yet these were the words we heard as many gathered to celebrate a new chapter in the ministry at St. Luke’s, Ottawa, and the induction of the Rev. Gregor Sneddon.
Rev. Schell, now president of San Francisco-based consulting group All Saints Company shared that “The Episcopal Church is on the edge of the precipice you’ve already fallen off.” Awkward silence filled the church. These were not the words of hope we had expected to hear.
And yet they were, perhaps, the right words for this moment. They were, perhaps the right words for a parish seeking to renew its ministry. They were perhaps the right words for each of us there that night, as we deal with the realities of our current cultural context – one in which the church does not find itself at the centre.
“This is not Gregor’s ministry,” Schell declared, “this is ours.” Before any of us could shrug off any shred of responsibility, Schell reinforced his point, “If it’s not us,” he said, “it’s no-one.”
If it’s not us, it’s no-one.
Each of us has a part. Each of us has been set apart to participate in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Each of us has been set apart to engage in mission and ministry. Each of us, with our varied and particular gifts, are a part of this body, and are called to share the good news that we have received in Jesus Christ with all whom we meet.
Perhaps we find this uncomfortable. And yet, contrary to the threads of moralistic therapeutic deism that permeate our culture, Jesus did not humble himself, take on flesh and head to Calvary that we might feel good about ourselves. He has called us on a journey and a mission, as part of a movement that has this nasty habit of turning everything upside down.
As a part of Christ’s body, we too are called to seek the good of others before we seek our own. We too are called to proclaim and to embody this upside-down mustard seed kingdom as we love God with heart, soul, mind and strength. As we seek daily to love our neighbours as ourselves.
If it’s not us, it’s no-one.
This is our call. It’s difficult. It requires much of us. And it will transform us as we continually open ourselves to the God who was, and who is, and who is to come.
We, created in God’s own image, are alive at an exciting time in the world’s history. The world into which we are called to proclaim and embody the gospel is changing at a rapid rate. It is into this world that we are called to translate the gospel anew into our local dialects and cultures and communities. We need only step out the door to do so.
Our call – yours and mine – plays out in so many ways. It plays out in our day-to-day lives, at school or work, or at home. In relationships with all we encounter. And in the midst of all of this, Jesus calls us to die to ourselves.
If it’s not us, it’s no-one.
Thinking on Rev. Schell’s sermon, it became clear to me: without life there is no death; without death there is no resurrection. If there is pruning that needs be done, may it be to God’s glory. If the church is in decline, and if this is the context into which we are called to minister, so be it.
What are the things we need to die to? May we die to them, for Christ’s sake, for it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
