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This Weeks Message From Our Vicar:
Dear Friends,
This Sunday, someone other than your vicar will stand in the pulpit, and he won’t be on vacation. Dale Haight will proclaim the Word of God in sermon; later I will proclaim it in sacrament. This may be new for many of us, but it offers a glimpse of the health emerging among us.
Scripture never imagines the Holy Spirit giving every gift to one person. The Spirit equips the whole body with gifts of service, leadership, teaching, encouragement, and proclamation to strengthen the Church. Our ministry grows healthier as we recognize and nurture those gifts and receive what God gives through one another.
As I mentioned last Sunday, that conviction stands behind our preaching seminar later this month. Its purpose is neither pulpit coverage nor manufacturing preachers because I am tired of preaching. Sunday pulpits are not ecclesiastical open-mic nights. Far from it! Preaching is a ministry entrusted to the Church. It deserves care, preparation, and accountability, but it should not become the permanent possession of one person.
We want to identify people the Spirit is equipping and offer them formation, practice, feedback, supervision, and a path toward serving our community. We hope to form a team whose faithful voices help us hear the one Gospel more fully.
Each preacher brings experiences, questions, insights, and ways of seeing the world. When we fire on all cylinders, those differences enrich our unity and allow the Word of God to address us fully.
The congregation also has a ministry in this. We do not come merely to evaluate a sermon or compare preachers. We come ready to listen, trusting that the risen Jesus still speaks through Scripture, sacrament, and the gifts of his people.
The voice proclaiming the Gospel may change. The risen Jesus who gathers and addresses his Church does not.
Peace,
Joe
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