Growing into our Spirit-inspired identity as individual believers and as a family of faith.

This is so much more than “becoming a member of the church.”  Within our community of faith, ‘becoming’ has everything to do with the dynamic process of learning and growing together, encouraging each other to be actively involved in one’s own unique faith journey, and affirming how valuable everyone’s personal spiritual development is to our true identity as a church.  At OUC, we take becoming seriously.

Sermon 3:  BECOMING THE FAITH COMMUNITY GOD IMAGINES US TO BE or TRUSTING THAT SOMETHING WONDERFUL IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN

August 28, 2016

I love reading and reflecting on the Bible.  It’s one of the genuine blessings of the past 40 years of my life and work; and I’ve come to trust the Spirit’s power to breathe wisdom and inspiration into every passage on which we focus as a community of faith.  I’ve also come to appreciate that what God may reveal through these human expressions of our faith in Christ is not always obvious, and often surprising – the wider we open our hearts and minds, the deeper and broader the possibilities become, to find God’s goodness for our everyday living.  It’s one of the ways we become the people God imagines us to be.

Over all these years, one of my favourite Bible readings is Ephesians 3:14-21, and I humbly choose it to focus this concluding reflection with you.  I read it from the Good News Translation, which first captured my attention in the 1980’s and made me realize that this was a prayer for every faith family, in every place and generation, like OUC, who follows Jesus as our brother, and who trusts that together we are children of a loving God.  It’s a prayer for us today as we imagine growing into our tomorrow.

                314 For this reason I fall on my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth receives its true name. 16 I ask God from the wealth of his glory to give you power through the Spirit to be strong in your inner selves, 17 and I pray that Christ will make his home in your hearts through faith.

                I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love, 18 so that you, together with all God’s people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ’s love. 19 Yes, may you come to know this love—although it can never be fully known—and so be completely filled with the very nature of God.

                        20 To God who by means of his power working in us is able to do so much more than we can ever ask for, or even think of: 21 to God be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever! Amen.

This is my prayer for you today.

So I couldn’t decide on a title for this final sermon … I had two ideas but I just couldn’t decide.  Seems like a heck of time to become indecisive, don’t you think?  Anyway, I couldn’t decide; so I thought I’d preach both and you can decide which one you want to listen to.

Here’s the first:  Becoming the faith community God imagines us to be.

Over the past 5 years we have been identifying ourselves to each other and to the wider neighbourhood as a faith community shaped by these spiritual values:  BELIEVING. BELONGING. BECOMING.  We say that we believe by trusting God, having confidence in God’s faithfulness, and relying on God’s goodness as we grow in faith.  We profess that we belong by living in meaningful relationships with other followers of Jesus as partners of a dynamic faith community.  And we claim that by God’s design, we continually become by growing into our Spirit-inspired identity as individual believers, yes, but and as a family of faith as well.  Today we’re focussing on BECOMING.

In a conversation yesterday with my two sisters about becoming, Sharon observed it’s like what dog-people say (I see some of you nodding out there): “be the person y...