Introducing Stephen Harper (the Dr. NOT the former PM)

I was on holidays last week. I hung out with my children as they enjoyed their school Spring Break. Sunday's service was led by our two fabulous music staff, Karen and Donna (for a review of what the message was about, please see below).

I understand that there was a bit of excitement at the beginning of the service when Scot Middleton, Chair of the Board, made the announcement that Stephen Harper would be joining the staff team. After the service, I received a text message from a congregation member who told me that the funniest reaction to the announcement was from someone thinking it the Stephen Harper starting work at SVUC was the former Prime Minister of Canada - there was gasp and possibly some muttering under the breath until Dr. Stephen Harper, NOT former PM Stephen Harper, stood up. Followed by, 'oh, thank goodness, I almost had a heart attack!'

Stephen has a Doctorate of Ministry from Golden Gate Seminary in San Francisco, CA. The process of becoming an Order of Ministry goes beyond educational requirements. So,  despite having a doctorate, as a Candidate for Ministry Stephen has needed to do some other types of ministry training as well as become familiar with the polity and theology of the United Church of Canada in order to become an ordained minister with the church.

In order to be ordained in 2018, Stephen has to meet some final expectations. As it happens, the two staff positions created by the JNAC will help him meet these requirements. So, beginning this week, Stephen will fill the roles of Coordinator for Children & Youth Ministry and Coordinator for Welcoming. Stephen will work 3/4 time until September, at which time and assuming all things go as planned, SVUC will become a formal education learning site and he will begin working full time until April 2018.

In becoming a learning site, Symons Valley UC will bear the responsibility of assisting Stephen in meeting his needs in order to be ordained in May 2018. We will need to provide him with a support group consisting of lay people, opportunities for preaching & worship-leadership and pastoral care coverage and participating in outreach activities. Stephen also needs to visit other United Churches for Sunday worship so that he can experience a variety of worship experiences.

With the addition of Stephen to the SVUC staff team, the recommendations of the JNAC have been fulfilled. Essie, Kathy, Ashley, Donna, Karen and I are very excited to have Stephen join us in serving the congregation of SVUC. We are looking forward to working with him on programming, worship, and congregational growth over the next year.

Sunday Review (John 3:1-17)

The scripture reading for this 5th Sunday in Lent, Jesus is questioned by Nicodemus who acknowledges that the power of God is with Jesus. However Nicodemus does not understand what sets apart Jesus and his teaching from the other pious and law-abiding religious leaders. How is it that Jesus has the authority of God to heal and perform miracles without seeming to follow each and every law, while the Pharisees and other rabbis do not?

For the message time, the congregation viewed a video featuring the theologian Rob Bell. Rob is a former evangelical pastor who was the founder of Mars Hill Bible Church, one of the fastest-growing churches in the States. He stepped down from leadership at Mars Hill after his book, Love Wins, was published. Love Wins speaks to how the conservative faith community’s focus on hell, personal salvation and being chosen to go to heaven upon death is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus' message of love, peace, forgiveness and joy that our world desperately needs to hear.

The video, called Sunday, Rob speaks about religious leaders and teachers who are spiritually dead because they give more consideration is given to the appearance of faith, piety and devotion than giving God their whole heart.

Jesus speaks to Nicodemus of being born again – dying to the old way of thinking and believing and being born again, with eyes wide open to the truth of heavenly things being possible here on earth through the love that was Jesus, given by God to show the world that only love can make change in the uncertainty and fear of the world. Jesus was doing his best to share his knowledge of God’s love but the Pharisees could not see that it was only through love could the world be healed. Rob points out that the attitude of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day exists still to this day. Not just in our leaders but also so-called followers of Christ who may honour God with their lips but whose remain hearts hard to injustice, cruelty, marginalization directed towards God’s humanity and God’s creation. God does not want empty promises. God wants our whole hearts. To live, not for some heavenly reward, but to be the love that God made manifest in Jesus, to be God’s love on earth, in our here and now.