2 John : My dear congregation...
May 18, 2014 | Anita Retzlaff

"My dear congregation, I, your pastor, love you in very truth." What an opening line!  Is it OK if I use it too?  I mulled over this greeting that opens the letter of 2 John and felt a very close affinity to what the writer expresses.  I too want to say to you, my friends and fellow travelers, that I do love you - if that doesn't sound too presumptuous.  The relationship of pastor and congregation is one that is granted over time and not everyone would care to call me "their" pastor.  And I recognize that when I talk about you all as "my" congregation it is not as a possession but as a deep friendship and relationship that we share in faith and trust.

I want to build on that mutual faith and trust this morning continuing on, from my perspective, in the spirit of the elder, the pastor, who writes this short letter. In it he encourages his community of friends to abide with each other, remain firmly planted, loving each other and conducting their lives in love.  But he dares to challenge them as well. There are threats lurking in the shadows, threats that can undo the bonds of love that have formed.  Some of their community are "getting so progressive in their thinking that they are walking out on the teachings of Jesus" and thus turning their backs on God.

The pastor gives instruction to exclude and deny hospitality to the people whom he sees as trouble-makers.  This is grave and harsh judgment but there is a lot at stake here. A division has developed pitting new Christians against each other. Some are claiming that Jesus was never human.  The implications of saying that Jesus was not a human being is that his appearance then was solely supernatural so he did not really suffer or sacrifice anything; that it was a God far-off showing up briefly to sway the minds and hearts of people who would never be the wiser. Therefore love need not be the basic charter and commandment of life because The Divine calls all the shots and it doesn't matter what humans do.  This was the "progressive" thinking that threatened to undo the fledgling Christian congregation.

That is the story behind our scripture for this morning.  It contains both encouragement and challenge: ingredients that every Christian community needs in order to discern the Truth and nurture a living faith. This morning I hope to offer the same - encouragement in a time of challenge, maybe even threat.  What I put before us this morning comes from the stack of papers on my desk. As I looked through the things that I am working on I realized that these papers and notes and articles are the markers of the work that we are doing as a congregation together.  These are the issues and the ministries that we face at Nutana Park in 2014.  I offer encouragement to you all for the amazing community that you are together and to propose some areas of challenge; challenge that can make us stronger or can threaten to divide.

So here is my "State of the Union Address" if you will….  On the larger scale, the big picture of the Christian community, especially in North America, is being challenged to follow Jesus and let go of religion. That is exactly the situation of the 2 John letter. The pastor/writer addresses the very real danger of losing sight of Jesus and slipping back into old religious ruts.  “Religion” as I use the term here refers to the ways in which we build up habits and structures and expectations that begin to take on a life of their own without any real connection to us living the love that Jesus came to teach.  We have denominations that number in the thousands around the world, church hierarchies (even our little Mennonite ones) that are losing connection to the life of discipleship in 2014. We live in a world and in a society around us that no longer sees the church as doing anything important except taking care of itself.  That was never our intention as a church community – to be self-serving and self-absorbed.

So I have quoted to you the words and work of people like Bruxy Cavey and John Bell.  Bruxy Cavey is the Teaching Pastor of The Meeting House, a church network based in Oakville, Ontario that has at least 18 satellite sites and multiple small groups that have grown from these.  Bruxy says, "when you see Jesus without the religious baggage we have put around him, you'll find someone undeniably life-changing and worth following....we need to reject the lens given to us by religion...and become a community who opens our Bibles regularly with fresh eyes and re-live the accounts of those who first followed Jesus." [taken from the website www.themeetinghouse.com]  Or John Bell who says, "Let some things die: we believe in resurrection... all healthy organisms change.... we are the Body/ the Corpus of Christ not the Corpse of Christ."

Be not discouraged!  Be encouraged because the world needs us however we need to raise our heads and look long and far, we need to open our hearts and take in the needs of people around us and we need to follow Jesus by doing what we say we believe he taught. That doesn’t mean we can all sign up for an MDS assignment or MCC position.  We aren’t all called in that direction; some of us are.  The biggest thing that each one of us can do is to open our hearts to people and situations that may be unfamiliar to us.  Making peace in our world and loving others often begins with an attitude adjustment. Working hard at letting go of long held prejudice, and comfortable religion are major challenges for all of us!

The world is captivated by the words and challenges of the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis.  He is a perfect example of someone who is trying to do away with religion in favour of following Jesus. Isn’t that ironic! He says, “I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.” [Evangelii Gaudium] or how about this?  “A church closed in on its past, a church concerned only with its little rules, customs and attitudes is a church that betrays its identity.” [Prairie Messenger, October 23, 2013, p. 2]  Very cool!  We have partners in the gospel and encouragement from rather unexpected quarters.

And so to add to that encouragement from our Roman Catholic friends I offer a powerful witness from our own tradition in the words of Menno Simons: “True evangelical faith cannot lie dormant. It clothes the naked, it feeds the hungry, it comforts the sorrowful, it shelters the destitute, it serves those that harm it, it binds up that which is wounded, it has become all things to all people.”

Let’s bring this global challenge a little closer to home.  The organization of our own denomination must change and is changing in spite of us.  Mennonite Church Canada is going to look different in a few years. If our national church doesn’t do some proactive work to change things it will eventually die a slow and suffocating death. No one wants that.  So, let us not be afraid.  Actually, we are faced with monumental and necessary shifts all around us.  Look at the TransformUs process on our university campus or the changes that are taking place at Bethany Manor.  We all have our own opinions on what should or should not happen in these situations but we probably all agree that some things do need to change.  In fact John Bell asked us this question: “What change came with applause?”  And the second question: “After a time, which change would you want to reverse?” 

We have a discernment process through Mennonite Church Canada that has been going on now, for five years named, “Being a Faithful Church.”  It was recognized that much of what divides us as a Mennonite body is the differing ways in which we interpret scripture so, there have been scripture studies set up to which groups and congregations can respond.  After five years and a lot of conversation, especially about scripture and sexuality, some trends are now evident. Among the trends sited the first one offered is this: “In spite of congregations not being able to reach consensus, responses stated a deep desire for unity and that challenges of same-sex relations should not cause divisions at congregational, Area or National church levels.” 

For me this is evidence that we are willing to love each other first and foremost and then try to find a safe place where we can agree to disagree.  Other denominations have been ripped wide open, gutted and hobbled by the adversarial fights over same sex relationships.  I hope and pray that our larger church body will not give in to that kind of acrimony.  We have been through it before, most recently, with stand-offs over divorce and re-marriage and women in ministry. The cycle continues…. Hear again the encouragement from 2 John: “…permit me a reminder friends, and this is not a new commandment but simply a repetition of our original and basic charter: that we love each other.  Love means following his commandments, and his unifying commandment is that you conduct your lives in love. This is the first thing you heard, and nothing has changed.” (4-6)

Here we are.  It is May 18, 2014.  Where from here? Next year this congregation will celebrate its 50th anniversary.  Half a century has come and gone in the life of this fellowship; many loved ones and friends have come and gone as well.  Our world has changed significantly in five decades and so have the details of our mission. 50 years ago there were two active women’s groups in this church; the Women’s Missionary Society and the Ruth Mission Society – the latter made up of the younger women.  Today this younger group is now an older group; what was the older group is long gone and there is no young group to carry on the tradition. Things have changed. So, now in 2014 the Ruth Mission Society is re-working its organizational structure so that fellowship can continue for its members who are not 45 years old anymore.  It is different and it is good!  That is the thing; healthy change facilitates life!

The Board of Deacons has been working within a 5 year discernment path which we refer to as our Visionary Intentions – there are 8 of them. We use these to help guide us into the future adopting the changes we need to make in order to remain true to God’s call and Jesus’ teaching.  In that we are right in line with the sentiments of 2 John.  We want to be faithful and lively!  We hope to face our challenges without fear. Sunday School, Venture Club and Youth programs will no doubt undergo further change in the next months.  Our children are occupied with all kinds of other activities during the week so it will be up to this congregation to find ways in which to make our Sunday morning worship experience an all-inclusive event and an inspiration. Most of us attend worship less regularly than we did 10 years ago because we are involved in a myriad of opportunities in the community. We travel more than we used to and take advantage of all kinds of connections that are new and engaging.  Much has changed. 

We will adapt and thrive – if we don’t lose sight of the goal: loving and caring for each other and our community.  This includes our First Nations neighbours. Last weekend we had a wonderful opportunity to hear Steve Heinrichs and Adrian Jacobs share some First Nations history and talk about ways in which we can continue to journey together; settlers and host people, Mennonites and aboriginal peoples. 

My dear congregation, we have work to do together. Let us continue to challenge each other: to connect our faith with responses that fit our circumstances and the needs around us.  Let us continue to pray together, sing and eat together, rejoice together and mourn together, praise and give thanks as one body. For this is God’s desire for us that we stand united, even in our differences, to proclaim to the world that love is our calling.  “Let grace, mercy, and peace be with us in truth and love from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, Son of the Father.” AMEN