“Who Are We That We Could Hinder God” by Pastor Keith
Like the T-Shirt says: “This World is Full of Hope”
“God is bigger than our wildest dreams. God is infinitely more creative than we can comprehend. God is always able to do more than we can ask or imagine. God loves every person and the entire world more deeply than we know is possible. And the Spirit still moves in ways that surprise, confound, challenge, and delight us.” - From the Sermon on Easter 5
This past Sunday we heard a passage from Acts 11 about Peter’s experience of the Holy Spirit directing him to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles, a revolutionary moment that widened the circle of Jesus’ followers. In his report to the leaders in Jerusalem he says, “If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” I love that phrase: “who was I that I could hinder God?”
That is great question for us to be holding in our collective hearts this spring as we continue emerge from two years of COVID quarantines and shut downs: Who are we that we could hinder God?
I’m sure that some of you have questions about how we are recovering from the pandemic. It is obvious that attendance patterns have changed—in person attendance is lower than it used to be, although online worship is strong and in-person numbers grows every week. Our overall volunteer participation is lower at the moment primarily due to people’s general exhaustion from the last two years and because some folks took the opportunity to step back from long-held positions during COVID. Our Sunday School attendance is much lower, which I think is largely a reflection of how hard COVID has been on our kids and families. These trends are reflected in our giving patterns too. Studies from Hartford Seminary on Congregational Life and Christian Education show that we are not alone in this. The majority of congregations in the United States have experienced these very same challenges.
In every other respect, we are doing tremendously well coming out of COVID. Our Sunday morning worship is rich and joyful. Christie Evans has been a wonderful new addition to our band. Our worship planning is more collaborative than it has ever been. Confirmation classes and adult formation groups are doing very well. Kids music rehearsals on Tuesday nights are full of joy. Our staff and leaders are bursting with ideas and energy for how we meet a new set of post-COVID needs among our members and our community. Our adult small groups and educational groups have been deep and rich. We are learning to be a more inclusive church through the Reconciling in Christ process, and we introduced the new Ministry Discovery Tool to help us connect with church volunteer opportunities that fit our personality and passions. We are benefiting from a strong foundation in the office with our Business Manager, Lizanne Vernacchio, and our Digital Communication Specialist, Emily Bristel. We are seeing a surge of Sunday visitors and baptisms. And there is much, much more.
For my part, I leave our church every single day feeling incredibly hopeful, energized, and excited about what God has in store for us in this new time. Thanks to the dedicated work of our staff and leaders, we are primed for a burst of growth, creativity, and positive change.
Rather than worrying about how we will “get back to where we were,” we should be looking forward asking, “who are we that we could hinder God?” God’s Spirit is moving through us in remarkable ways—ways that we have only begun to recognize. We could not hinder it if we wanted to. Let’s hoist our sails, catch the wind, and navigate full speed ahead into the future God desires for us!