Last Tuesday, I was honoured to be part of the group that received a donation of over $1100 from FATE for our clothing cupboard. The owner of this local business was quick to acknowledge the individual who had donated store gift cards to raffle off and the generosity of her customers who participated in the fundraiser. One of the winners of the gift cards donated the funds back for use in the clothing cupboard! This contribution will be a big help in ensuring the clothing cupboard has the resources needed to serve those to whom we minister.
Tod Bolsinger’s “Conoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory” provides a reminder that each congregation is a ‘witnessing community’, a particular embodiment of the invitation from Jesus: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn 20:2). This book further states that each congregation has a unique and apostolic mission to fulfill.
Those who contributed so generously to FATE’s fundraiser seem to recognise that the clothing cupboard is a vital aspect of our particular apostolic mission. This ministry not only responds to human need with loving service, through it, we also challenge and inspire others to contribute and support those who need clothing. In the clothing cupboard, we provide opportunities for others to show love for neighbours.
Paul says to the Corinthians, Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. He was talking about the conflict around whether or not food sacrificed to idols could be eaten. Still, the metaphor holds today. People pay attention to what we do. They make note of our priorities and how we treat others. This informs their perspectives on us, on the Church, and on God. Indeed, we may be the only Bible some people ever read. The ways we choose to embody our faith matters.
It is this reality that has shaped and informed some of our practices. In fact, you could say that, in the first year of our current 3-year plan, we focused our energy and resources on building our ‘brand’, communicating to the wider community in intentional ways who we are and what we believe. We have doubled down on our desire to serve as a community hub. The Essex Rotary, Guiding Groups, the Essex Community Concert Band, and Windsor-Essex Community Arts Program all call St. Paul’s home. Vendors from our markets have a Facebook group where they remain in touch and support one another.
We hosted a plant exchange in the spring, and have participated in advocacy alongside others in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community at their invitation. Those from Community Living are gratefully welcomed when they participate in worship, at pasta dinner, or any other event. In all that we do, we seek to proclaim a message of inclusion and care for our neighbours. This is all part of our unique and apostolic mission – to embody the Baptismal ideal of respecting the dignity of every human being and valuing the gifts each person offers to share. We know we are better with so many diverse people sharing their gifts!
We have acknowledged that our unique and apostolic mission includes the ideal that we are a ‘witnessing community’ whose actions embody the ideal that love builds up. The contribution from FATE is only one example of how the wider community recognises this attitude and mission. The tickets to today’s hockey game, the thank you card at the entry, the ways in which we are contacted when someone wants to make a contribution to help those in need, those who have reached out to us for support and advocacy, all of these signs help us to know that God is working in and through us to proclaim a message of love to our region.
This work is not always easy. We have some challenges ahead. We can trust that it is worth it because we believe that message that loves builds up.
Love builds up. God’s love especially builds up, giving us what we need to do the work God asks us to do. We have experienced this in our ministry so far. What comes next is up to us. What will our priorities be over the course of this year as we seek to live into the mission to which God is calling us? What is needed for us to continue to walk together in this work? How will we seek to continually proclaim God’s love for the piece of God’s creation entrusted to us?
Love builds up. May we, in our efforts as a community of faith, embrace and embody this truth. This we pray as we sing: The Kingdom of God is the Queerest of Nations