July 2025

What is a congregation?

Are we a business? Like McDonalds?
Sometimes we are like McDonalds- we offer a unique setting and product to the general
public. But our sales are measured with engaged people not dollars returned.
Are we a service organization? Like the Lions?
Sometimes we are like the Lions- we give charitably to community members
and endeavors. But our charity is in our identity not our charter.
Are we social services?
Some of our work together and of our staff take on the responsibilities of social
services. But we are not equipped to sustain or intervene perpetually.
Are we a social club?
Sometimes we are sociable and invite members to mixers and functions. But membership
is free and inclusive.
Are we a pub?
Sometimes we offer food and strong drink for price. But not on a regular basis.
Are we a bank?
Sometimes we hold sums of money which are invested in community assets, and loan
monies for projects. But we do not collect interest or commit usuary.
Are we a public service? Like the fire department?
Sometimes we respond in emergencies for the public benefit by offering shelter or
pastoral resources to those who call. But we don’t have the flashing lights.
Are we a library?
We hold a great many resources and publications for education and research purposes.
But we cannot possibly be the repository for all desirable knowledge.
Are we a school?
We have a great number of teachers among our number and we gather regularly for
lessons and education. But we’ve not the laboratories and studios for study and creation.
Are we a museum?
We hold a great number of artifacts, historical records, and personal narratives from the
past. But we are a ministry of the present not a time capsule of days gone by.

Sometimes we are all of these things and yet none of them entirely. We are a collection of people, whose various skills and vocations intersect in wild,
fascinating, sometimes challenging ways with the living out of God’s Word
called the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.
Always we are a loved and gathered assembly of people who seek to live in a just and righteous world. What we do is actively work to enact righteousness, goodness, peace and love in the world sorely needing to experience it in the name of Jesus Christ.
Anxiety builds in our community when we focus too much on the “sometimes” actions of the congregation and too little on the “always” identity of the congregation. The reason and the
need for the “sometimes” is a direct result of the “always.” In so long as we are at all times and place living in the identity that we have in Christ, as people of the divine, who are called to be in this place than we will continue Always in this place.
Be at peace beloved ones in the hot and cold of these summer months.
Pr. Erik