When we hit the 50’s and 60’s , it’s most often a time in which we look at what we
have accomplished in the past and look to what our legacy will be for our children
and grandchildren. What will we leave behind as memories or memorials to our time
on earth? What are we planning for our future in terms of retirement? The CBC
created a panel of “experts” who talked about how people prepare for their futures.
Most indicated they had done nothing, just relying on the CPP contributions. The
experts indicated that a large percentage of Canadians would rely on their children
for financial support. In fact some were already educating their children today so that their children would be able to help sustain them financially in the future. The consensus of the experts was that coasting through to retirement was not a healthy option; that the work needed to be done all along the journey.

I wonder if this applies to our congregations as well. You have BECOME a congregation at birth or constitutionally. You have TURNED 30 and grown into a congregation with full time ministry, a building, committees, cell groups, etc. It’s a heyday moment- PUSHING 40 is reminder that it is hard work to maintain a vibrant faith community but, hey, if you can REACH 50, it’s a milestone to celebrate, and more so if you can MAKE IT TO 60.

The question to ask is, during those “active times” was the congregation just coasting through the glory days? Was the congregation breathing or were the moments, the AH-HA moments of God’s Spirit infected into the community and leading people to experience faith active in love? Was the ministry more than about the building, the facilities, a beautiful sanctuary, or was it about ministry to and with and for people?

When we start looking at ministry as PUSHING or REACHING or MAKING IT, then I wonder if we have lost the activity that is important to God. Is it then about making milestones, just coasting, or is it about making a difference in people’s lives? Do we hit 100 and feel like we have completed a couple of marathons, only to be out of breath and unable to do ministry that IS important for our communities?

I know what I feel like when I sit at my desk and complete paperwork- agreements, letters, follow up to conversations, reports on what has happened in the past, etc. rather than looking to possibilities in the future and what God has in mind for our synod and our church. Those are the moments which take life away rather than be life-giving sometimes.

Theologian Martin Borg uses the image of “thinning the veil” when he reflects on the mystery of God, the veil that surrounds God. I like this image because it also reflects an understanding of AH-HA moments in which the Spirit moves us and speaks to us so that the veil between us and God is thinned and God is revealed anew to us.

In the coming months as a new year settles in, perhaps this is time to look to the future. Will it be about God’s activity in your faith community, the AH-HA moments, or will it be about struggling to stay alive, to coast through the glory days? Does the congregation have the will to listen to the Spirit’s call to do something different? Perhaps it will be a time in which a “thinning of the veil” will reveal a new way to look at ministry in our congregations and perhaps it will mean we are not just “pushing and reaching and making it”, we are living it and it is God giving new and renewed life to our ministries.