Christian communities have always struggled to discern what it is God wants for them. Past of being a community that follows Christ while continuing to live in an ever-changing world means constantly asking God, “Where to next?” God has never intended for the Christian church to exist in a frozen state, unchanging. That would be a dead church. Christ’s church is living, and we know that all living things grow and change and respond to the environment around them, and then eventually die in order for something else to grow. And so the Christian church also grows and changes and responds and even dies in order for something new to grow. But always in God. We always do these things in God, and never on our own. And so we are always asking, “What next, God? What is your plan for us next?”
Because God does have a plan for the church, and for each congregation in particular. God has a plan for St. John, even if we can’t see what it is yet. Psalm 139, that wonderful psalm about how God has known us from before we were even born, says, “In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.” God knows all of our days, as individuals and as a congregation. God has formed all the days of this congregation from before it even started. God has a plan for St. John.
So, what is it? What is God’s plan for St. John? Ah, well, that’s the trick, right? We don’t know yet. We might each have our own thoughts and wishes for what happens next in the life of this congregation, but our thoughts and wishes are not the same as God’s thoughts and wishes. We might know exactly what we would do, but that is not always what God plans for us to do. We don’t know yet if what we want and what God wants are the same thing.
But God will tell us. God has already told us some of God’s plan for us, at least insofar as we are part of the larger church. God calls St. John, as a body of Christians, and as a member of the larger body of Christ, to testify to the power of God in raising Christ from the dead. We are called to live out a congregational life that demonstrates our faith that we are not afraid of death because our God has the power of life over death. We are called to give glory to God in all things, whether it is death or new life. These are the calls that God issues to every Christian body and to every congregation, and so we know that God is calling us to do these things.
But what about specifically? What is God calling this congregation to do? Well, we don’t know yet, but I can assure you that we will. God will reveal God’s plan to us. Our God may be mysterious, and certain things about the world may always remain a divine mystery, but God promises to reveal God’s plan to God’s people. In the first reading from Deuteronomy, we hear that God will raise up for the people prophets, who will tell the people what God’s will is, and point out when they have gone astray from that will. God’s will for the people of Israel is not hidden, but revealed. In the Gospel reading from Mark, we hear that Jesus goes into the synagogue to read from the Scriptures and to interpret God’s word for the people, “with authority,” so that they, too, would know God’s plan for them. God’s will for the Jewish people of Jesus’ time is not hidden, but revealed. And in the second reading from 1 Corinthians, we have Paul helping the people to understand what it is God wants for them, as the congregation in Corinth. God’s will for the very first church is revealed. Throughout the story of our life as God’s people in Christ, we see time and time again that God reveals God’s plan to us.
And so today, beginning with our annual meeting, we are going to enter a time of seeking out what God’s will for St. John is. We are going to take time, as a congregation, to ask questions, and to pray, and to seek out God’s plan for what is next. And God will tell us.
Of course, the question always arises - how will we know that it is God’s voice we are hearing? I said earlier that we each have our own thoughts and desires for what St. John should do next, and sometimes our own opinions can be so strong that they can drown out the divine voice speaking to us. So how can we tell whether we are hearing God’s voice or our own? How do we ensure that we are following God, and not ourselves?
Well, God gives us tools to test whether we are hearing God’s voice or our own. The first tool that God gives us is whether we are alone or together in what we hear. God does not give conflicting calls to one congregation. God does not say to one person, “St. John should keep going the way it is,” and to another person, “St. John should close.” God says the same thing to every person. And so we test the voices we are hearing by seeing if they agree. We hear this in the background to the reading this morning from Deuteronomy. Moses tells the people that God will send a prophet to tell them God’s truth, but in the background is the notion that there is actually a group of prophets. There are several of them, in different places, that God tells God’s truth to, and if one of them is saying something different from the others, you must examine that one very carefully, to see if what that the one is saying is true or not. Because God does not give conflicting calls to one group of people. So we test, and it’s a test that takes some time, because individuals do not all recognize God’s voice at the same speed, but we test - is the sense of God’s plan for St. John the same for everyone?
The second test is whether the voice we are hearing and the plan for what’s next that’s emerging is a voice and a plan that points to God, and not to ourselves. You see, we do not exist as a church for ourselves, whether we are talking about a congregation or a denomination or even Christianity in general. We do not exist so that the world can look at us and say, “wow, what a group of Christians.” We exist so that the world can look at us and say, “Wow, God is really working among these people.” We exist so that those who see us are immediately directed to look at God. Congregations are like road signs that point to what God has done in Christ. We aren’t the destination. We’re just the arrows directing people where to look. And often, what that means, is that we look nothing like what the world thinks success looks like. God calls us to turn away from anything that might make the world think that we are great because of our own efforts, instead of because of God. That means that we test any plan that encourages worldly markers of success and power to see if it demonstrates that God is strong where we are weak. We test to see if the plan points to God’s work, and not our own.
The third test we can use to determine whether it is our own voices talking or God’s voice, is to see whether what we think we’re hearing corresponds with God’s call to the world-wide church to act in love for the weakest in the community. Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians this morning was very clear, “Love builds up.” The apostle Paul is explicit, and he emphasizes this with every congregation he writes to: God’s will and plan for all Christian communities, including this one, is that we act in love to strengthen those who are weakest in faith. We do not act to strengthen ourselves. As Christians, God calls us always, always, to act for others. God calls St. John, as a Christian congregation, always, always, to act for others and not ourselves. And so we test any voice that comes before us, we test any proposal for what God wants us to do next, with the question, will this serve us? Or will this serve those who are weakest among us? Does the next step for St. John serve only ourselves, or does it serve the poor and marginalized and weak? Does it demonstrate only love for ourselves? Or does it show how much we love those whom God favours - those whom the world does not love?
And keep in mind that the weak we are called to serve in love may be the weak within this congregation, but it may also be the weak in this community, or even in the wider Lutheran church. Again, we have to test what we think God is calling St. John to do with the question: how does it strengthen others? How does it strengthen other congregations? If a plan comes forth that draws away from other congregations and leads to them weakening, then it’s not God’s plan. Any plan that strengthens St. John at the cost of someone else is only something that we want - it’s not something that God wants.
I have no doubt that this congregation is ultimately committed to following wherever God calls. I know that when God’s plan for St. John becomes clear, you will do what must be done to carry it out. The Holy Spirit has moved through this congregation for years, and will continue moving among you. But I also know that it will be a difficult task to discern God’s will for this congregation, because we will all have to sort out between what we are telling ourselves that we hope and what God is telling us. There is a distinct possibility that what we want and what God wants for St. John are not the same thing. That being said, this is not a time to despair or to lose hope. We know that God’s voice will become clear to us, as we hear that voice together, point always to God over ourselves, and seek to act in love towards those who are weak among us. This is a time to move forward in openness and prayer, and to trust that God wills all good for those who follow Christ. As we will sing in our closing hymn today, “Lead me, guide me, along the way. For if you lead me, I’ll not stray.” ... God will lead us and we will follow. Thanks be to God, Amen.
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