Everyone – How we go from here?
26 Nov 2023
Miak Siew
Today’s sermon is how we go from here.
No, it is not a grammatical error. I did intend the question to be How we go from here, and not where we go from here. This sermon is as much the closing sermon of “EVERYONE” series, as it is the sermon charting the way for 2024.
So for those of you who are new to us, this sermon is a bit of an anomaly. I am not going to dive much into exposition of Bible passages today. Today is more like a review of 2023 and a look ahead into 2024 and a prequel to the Annual general meeting this afternoon.
After 20 years – I think we do have some idea where we are heading. We know we have a special calling God has placed on us.
Last week, David said –
FCC fulfils a vital role in Christianity in Singapore.
a. A safe place for LGBTQ Christians to worship without needing to suppress or hide their orientation or gender identity
b. A place for progressive Christians to be able to explore different kinds of theologies and questions in a non-judgmental environment.
c. A prophetic religious voice at a national level to show that not all Christians think the same, to call out social injustice and marginalisation
d. A place of deeper understanding, learning from, and working together with other faiths
e. Ministry to those largely ignored by society – T Shelter, People living with HIV, Mentally ill
This Sunday is the last Sunday of the liturgical year – next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent – which is the start of a new liturgical year. Today is also the Sunday in between Transgender Day of Remembrance and World AIDS Day.
In the past we would have special services commemorating these 2 days. We do that to recognize that there is still injustice, there is still discrimination – towards PLHIV and towards transgender persons. There is still work to do – more than just holding special service.
We have PLHIV and transgender persons in our community – and I hope that they do feel that we have lived up to FREE – “First realise everyone’s equal.” I hope they feel safe and welcome here just like everyone else. Because sometimes church is the place where we feel most unsafe – where we feel judged, and we feel shamed. We aren’t perfect – but I hope we have made progress through the years.
This afternoon, we are holding our AGM. It is part of the “How” we go from here. I really want to encourage you to attend because then you will understand our church structure, and how we are run, and know you have a stake in this community too.
Every year, we send out a survey – and there are 3 questions where the results surprised me.
One is “The other members are committed to spiritual growth.” While in 2022, we improved 18.5% from 2021, this year the result is a -19.4% from 2022.
So I am curious and want to find out – “What does being committed to spiritual growth mean to you?”
I ask because “spiritual growth” is quite vague. It is very likely that we would have different ways of defining spiritual growth.
And so, I asked ChatGPT.
Spiritual growth refers to the development and deepening of one’s spiritual or inner life. It involves the exploration and understanding of personal beliefs, values, and purpose, often leading to an increased sense of connection with something greater than oneself. This journey may include practices such as meditation, prayer, self-reflection, and the pursuit of wisdom, ultimately aiming for a more profound sense of meaning and fulfillment in life.
“exploration and understanding of personal beliefs, values and purpose leading to an increased sense of connection with something greater than oneself.”
**Where are you at, on a scale of 1-5, where 1 is poor and 5 is excellent, on your personal “sense of meaning and fulfillment in life?”
And so this is where we are at – and hopefully through 2024, we can move the needle in a positive direction.
I have to alert to you though – and we have spoken about this before prior to Covid – that church is like a gym. You cannot grow spiritually unless you put in effort. You cannot just go to the gym and expect your muscles to grow.
But it also requires the right kind of exercises. Spiritual growth requires inner work – because it has to do with our inner life.
And many of us struggle to do inner work because we have been running away from our inner life – some of us have experiences that have hurt us, some of us are unwilling to see that we made mistakes, we have done wrong, we have sinned.
When Jesus taught us “this is how you should pray,” we are meant not just to recite the Lord’s prayer, but use it as a means to look at our inner life. “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us” is an invitation to do the inner work.
We want to invite you to not treat church as a hospital or clinic where you come only when you have problems or are in need of something. We want to invite you not to treat church like a social club where you come to make friends.
We want to invite you to become part of this community, this family where we are walking each other towards growth and wholeness in Christ. We want you to treat this like a gym.
And also – treat Pauline and myself like gym instructors. You don’t go to gym instructors when you have issues – you go to gym instructors when you have some goals – it may be aesthetic, it may be fitness.
Of course we don’t have the capacity to walk with every single one – which is why this year we have spiritual companions for our leaders, and hopefully we can equip our leaders to also walk with other members.
Now, the other question from the survey that jumped out is “As a member of FCC, I know what is expected of me.” It is a decline of 27.2% from 2022.
In my conversations with some folks, i hear that our approach “always by invitation, never by coercion” may be the cause of this, people may feel they don’t know what is expected of them.
I used to say, when you come to feel you belong, you would know what to do. And I used to give the example of picking up dirty cups and putting them in the sink because when one moves from feeling like a guest, to feeling like a part of the family being at home, one will automatically do that.
Well, I have learned that that’s my assumption, and that assumption may not be helpful. When I am at a close friend’s house, I would help wash up – but when I feel I am a guest, I don’t – because to some people, a guest washing up is an insult to the host.
Brene Brown says “being clear is being kind” and being clear on what we expect from folks would clear a lot of misunderstanding and unnecessary frustrations.
In our membership form, we have set out several expectations :
will regularly participate in FCC services and FCC’s community life;
will attend FCC as my primary church;
will make regular financial contributions as best I can.
David talked about money and giving last week, so I will not dive into that. I do want to talk about participation in Sunday service and community life.
Participation in the Sunday service can be, like for many of those who stepped up and serve, being on the production ministry, welcome ministry, or the worship team. But it is also just being here on Sunday. Do not underestimate what that means.
I think this hybrid thing is a boon. We have many people who cannot physically join us now be part of our community. But watching the service online isn’t the same as being here.
Being in community and seeing each other in person is important. And sometimes when someone is going through a bad patch, it is those who are present who mediate the presence of God and minister to them. We come to church, not just for ourselves, but for each other.
I want to lift up all the different ACE (after church events) we have had since we opened up after COVID. Thank you everyone who stepped up and offered your time and your love and your skills so that we have ways to socialize and reasons to come physically to church. Last week, the ornament making ACE was cancelled because of a lack of signups. I think the organisers put in a lot of effort to get the materials and even had a “dry run” in their cell group.
Looking into 2024, we want to think about how we run ACE, and how to curate it in a way that aligns with our objectives to build community and also with individuals’ objectives of spiritual growth.
Next year, the theme is “Selah” a year of renewal.
Selah is a word used 74 times in the Hebrew Bible. Its etymology and precise meaning are unknown, though various interpretations are given. It is probably either a liturgical-musical mark or an instruction on the reading of the text, with the meaning of “stop and listen.”
We want to pause, stop and listen, as we seek renewal of identity, culture, purpose, community and well-being.
We are deliberately slowing down – especially for Pauline and myself. That would mean we require you all to step up.
For some of you, to lead.
For some of you, to serve.
We already have some plans in place – so come this afternoon to find out more.
As we move into 2024 and beyond – we need everyone on board, sharing the same values, understanding what we mean by following Christ, and on the one hand learning, on the other living out what we learned.
That’s what spiritual growth means –
Spiritual growth refers to the development and deepening of one’s spiritual or inner life. It involves the exploration and understanding of personal beliefs, values, and purpose, often leading to an increased sense of connection with something greater than oneself.
I am taking a break and back for Christmas, and I will be preaching again on New Year’s Eve. And I want you to do some homework. I want to invite you to think about in the next few weeks.
If you feel that you are not growing spiritually, then my invitation for you is to ask “what have I been doing to grow spiritually in 2023?”
Inner work – prayer / distract ourselves from what God is prompting us to work on
