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Emmanuel-Vision
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 21st October 2007
Revd. Matthew Vernon
Rather than preach about the Bible readings, this morning I'm going to talk about our vision for Emmanuel Church.
This is part of a process over the next few weeks.
We'll have a discussion sermon at the beginning of November
and then a workshop on a Saturday towards the end of November.
Reflecting on what kind of church Emmanuel should be.
Thinking about where we want Emmanuel to head in the future.
Vision and Mission statements are ubiquitous nowadays.
Every corporation and business has one and many churches do.
I'm not desperate that we have one, though one might come out of our discussions.
Disney's mission statement was written in the 1940s, and it's still the same:
"To make people happy".
I googled "HSBC Vision statement" and got a few things I didn't expect:
HSBC - Herrin Second Baptist Church
"Our church has a vision of ministering to all people groups through the inerrant, infallible Word of God. We target groups such as seniors, youth, and children to encourage them to grow in the Word."
Not quite what I have in mind for Emmanuel.
Malaysian Cricket Association – sponsored by HSBC
"Promote & develop the game of cricket in Malaysia…"
HSBC Amanah
This is the Islamic banking arm of HSBC.
Amanah is Arabic for trust.
"HSBC has a rich tradition of community banking, and HSBC Amanah was established to serve the particular financial needs of Muslim communities."
John Menear is the Vicar of St. Andrew's Church on Nathan Road.
He was speaking at a clergy meeting a couple of weeks ago about the vision of St. Andrews.
They are thinking carefully about their church at the moment.
Their new vision statement: "to become like Jesus".
Being an evangelical, John supported this with a range of good Bible texts.
But I thought becoming like Jesus is something all Christians would agree with:
whether evangelical or catholic, liberal or conservative…
John told us that St. Andrew's are asking some hard questions:
why do people come to St. Andrew's?
It might just because of the address –
its in a convenient place, public transport is good and their a lots of restaurants to go to after church.
What does God want for St. Andrew's in its unique place and history, with its unique people and at this time?
John hopes that when visitors come to St. Andrew's they will meet people who are like Jesus. They will meet regular members of the congregation and they will see Jesus in them.
"To become like Jesus"
I used to think Jesus was Swedish.
When I was a child I imagined Jesus had blonde hair and blue eyes.
Or that he looked European, at least.
I also thought of Jesus as meek and mild, never getting angry and usually cuddling a precious little lamb or bunny rabbit.
My image of Jesus is rather different now.
I'm less worried about what he looked like and more interested in how he was a radical person.
Jesus chose a peaceful mission.
Unlike other so called messiahs had led armed uprisings;
and unlike the Romans occupying the Holy Land at the time were far from peaceful.
Jesus challenged the authorities – he mixed with women, tax-collectors, prostitutes and the sick – people the authorities said were far from God.
Jesus taught that people could have direct, personal access to God.
They did not need to go through the complicated, exclusive religious practice of the time.
This reminds me of the bishop who once said,
"Wherever Jesus went there was a revolution. Wherever I go people serve tea!"
Jesus chose a tax-collector as one of his disciples - Matthew.
And his close friend, Mary Magdalene may have been a prostitute.
Jesus was concerned for the individuals that most people rejected and despised.
Jesus broke down the boundaries of society and social conventions by mixing with such people.
Thinking like this, the church is not so much full of people like Jesus, not a training ground for Saints and apostles, but a haven for sinners, the disturbed and the inadequate.
Can hardly preach today without mentioning Bishop Gene Robinson who is in Hong Kong this weekend.
Bishop Gene is the first publicly gay man to be consecrated as an Anglican Bishop.
He's the Bishop of New Hampshire in the US.
This evening Bishop Gene will speak on "God's Inclusive Love".
Jesus showed deep compassion and solidarity with people whose way of life was subject to disapproval.
In his time it was tax collectors and prostitutes.
I'm not this first to suggest that today Jesus would stand alongside people who are persecuted for their sexuality.
Persecuted by the religious authorities; branded by the Church as perverts and sinners.
There's a range of things to discuss around what's good about Emmanuel and what would you change about Emmanuel.
At the workshop in November we'll use some material called "The Healthy Churches Handbook".
It describes seven marks of healthy churches and invites you to score your church as weak or strong in those areas.
The seven marks include
"seeks to find out what God wants rather than our own preferences",
"builds community rather than functioning as a club or religious organisation",
"makes room for others – inclusive rather than exclusive".
One of the hard questions is how inclusive are we?
I'm thinking of all the young families here.
It's wonderful to have so many.
Mine is one of them.
Many churches would give their teeth to have our families.
But I wonder how do single people experience Emmanuel?
How do couples without children feel when they come here?
We'll think more about these things in the coming weeks.
Monday, 15th October, was the day in the church calendar we remember St. Teresa of Avila.
Some well know words are attributed to her:
Christ has no body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He looks
compassion on this world
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
It's a good place to start when thinking about our vision for Emmanuel.
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