Petitcodiac Mennonite ChurchPastoral Reflections
on the 25th Anniversary Celebrations
by Pastor Werner De Jong
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" Those tremendous words of advice were written to the church at Philippi by the apostle Paul. Wise Paul knew that there is nothing as good for the human heart as to celebrate the goodness of God. Celebration flavours life with joy, and joy makes us strong.
Over the course of the past year our church took Paul's counsel to heart. We celebrated our 25th anniversary not once, but three times!!! I'm sure Paul would have been pleased. He was a hard worker and often hard pressed on every side, but he had a carefree spirit that gladly entered into and encouraged joyful festivity. And why not? For the God we serve is great in mercy and love, he is the Lord of life, and he is always faithful to his people!
We began our celebrations with a weekend of "remembering," when Mark and Mary Hurst led us to consider how God has moved in our midst in the past. Over and over again the Bible encourages us to do just that, for in looking back we are able to see how God has guided, nourished and supported us on our common faith journey. And indeed it was our repeated testimony that God has never left us alone, whether in good times or in bad times. We reminded ourselves that God has graciously given us the gift of one another, a caring community in which we gladly learn that we can cast our cares upon God. For through our mutual support, whether in laughter or in tears, we experience God's compassionate care for us.
(Photos of that weekend. Mark's sermon "Remember the Future")
Our remembering weekend was appropriately followed by a weekend of "rejoicing," highlighted by a most beautiful and moving song, written just for the occasion ( by Doreen Mierau, lyrics, and Judi Snowdon, music ), in which we thanked God for his love and faithfulness, and his eagerness to bless us. In my opinion, that song marked the very centre of our year-long festivities. For when the choir sang, all who were present, both singers and listeners, entered into the spirit of celebration at its highest. We were filled with joy and moved to tears as the truth of God's goodness rang as clearly in our hearts as it did in the jubilant, uplifting music that delighted our ears. The scene was then perfectly set for guest speaker Mary Mae Schwartzentruber to challenge us to live joyfully in the world, to be the "fragrance of Christ," to spread to others the love we know in Jesus. The merriment continued after the service with a potluck and a visit by two special clowns, who reminded us that our great God loves laughter and children, and who taught us that celebrating also means enjoying revelry and fun! Life is not only about practicalities! As Richard Foster writes, "It is an occupational hazard of devout folk to become stuffy bores. This should not be. Of all people, Christians should be the most free, alive, interesting. Celebration adds a note of gaiety, festivity, hilarity to our lives." I'm sure that our Lord, who loved to attend weddings and dinner parties, had a smile on his face bigger than that of the clowns when they appeared on the scene!
(Mark's Photos of the weekend. Mary Mae's Sermon Joy: Becoming Who We Are! and Earl's Reflections)
Our third weekend of celebration focussed on 'renewal.' Guest speakers Pauline Steinmann and Martha Burka encouraged us to dream about the future. And they did so in a way that made an excellent theological point concerning God's guidance, which certainly gave me food for thought. They asked us to relate the ways God has been moving among us to the ways God wants to move among us in the future. The main idea I see in that is this: that we should not make too sharp a break between the past and the future when it comes to God's guidance; rather, we should view time as a continuum, in which God constantly is preparing and calling us to do his will. Such thinking guards against the tendency to think that future guidance only involves God giving us an entirely new revelation. God can certainly do that. But how does God make us aware of his will for future ministries? Does it only occur at some point in the present or the future? Or could it be that God has already been at work in what we now call the past, preparing work for us to do in the future? This is the point I believe Pauline and Martha made, that we need to pay attention to where we have come from with God, in order to best know where God wants to take us. Think of a traveller following highway signs to Petitcodiac - soon as she drives by one sign it is in the past, but it has great significance regarding which road she will travel in the future! If she ignores the sign, or forgets about it, she won't know which way to take. She risks driving right by her exit, and then continuing to pray, "Lord, give me a sign!" In the same way, the church is well advised to remember and pay attention to God's past guidance, for it will help point the way to new roads to travel.
(Photos of the weekend and Pauline's sermon Stones that live and move ... Renewal for the Future.)
Taken together our three weekends were a joyful, reassuring celebration of God's presence with us - past, present and future. In the present we remember God's past faithfulness and rejoice and are encouraged to renew our commitment to walk together throughout our continuing journey of faith.
I'd like to conclude with the thought that when we rejoice and celebrate, we mirror the very heart of God. For God also rejoices and celebrates. Why does God do that? Because he loves to have us as his people! I leave you with the words of the prophet Zephaniah, who in speaking of the future of God's people also speaks about us: "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."