Gathered. Transformed. Sent.

Dear Friends in Valhalla Parish— 

Last week I wrote you on the eve of our Diocesan Synod. I am pleased to report that this year's Synod gathering was fruitful. Good decisions were made to update our Canons (the laws that govern the Diocese), to explore opportunities to meet more frequently, and to ensure that our diocesan governance and staffing structure best serves the mission of the church. There was lively debate, and opportunity to connect. Somehow—while not ideal—the technology made it possible to gather so that we might be transformed by our encounter with Holy Spirit, and to be sent into the world to participate in God's mission.  

Gathered. Transformed. Sent. In so many ways that's what church is about. We gather—not for the sake of gathering—but to be transformed by our encounters with God and one another.

We gather, but it doesn't stop there. In Christian Community we learn the unhurried rhythms of grace. We learn to transform conflict to peace. In these life-giving encounters, God sets us free from shame and from fear as we learn to embrace our full humanity and that of each other. We come to see each other (and our selves) as God's beloved. 

Acknowledging that God calls us beloved, and that we are enough, we are sent into the world. We are sent as individuals and as a community into the civic sphere, into family life, into political life, and yes into church life—into all of our relationships—to be agents of God's reconciling love. That is who we are. It is who we are becoming. And this is the life that we ought, as Christians, to be about. 

With Pentecost around the corner, it seems as good a time as any to think about the implications of being a people Gathered, Transformed, and Sent.

That is what happens at Pentecost. The disciples are huddled and uncertain. They don't know what's coming next, except that Jesus has promised them something called Holy Spirit. And so we gather—in our weekly prayer services, in our Tuesday coffee hour, in Parish Council, on work days. We carry the weight and joy of the world with us, seeking something. Seeking connection with God, with one another. Seeking simply to be. 

As we move forward as a parish community, these are the things to which we turn our attention and our energy. How are we to be the people of God in this time and place? How are we to adapt to the shifting waves of culture and pandemic, to the ways in which our community has changed, and is changing? This week I heard someone describe participation in God's mission not as driving a car, but as riding a wave. He used the image of surfing. I for one have never been surfing, but I do know this. You can't control the waves. You can't control the waves but you can learn to ride them. 

That, I think, is what we need to learn to do in this time and place. Together. God has placed a beloved community in Valhalla. In New Denver. In Castlegar. God has sent us to this place. 

As we gather in the days ahead, may we seek and open ourselves to God's transformation. And may we, as we are transformed, pay attention to the places and relationships where God is calling us to bear witness to hope. Hope in the darkness. Hope in the light. Hope in our relationships. Hope in our communities. The hope that we have in Christ, and in the work that Christ is doing in and through this parish community. 

Every Blessing, 

Andrew Stephens-Rennie
Valhalla Parish Missioner