Dear friends in Christ,

A couple of days ago, we celebrated the major feast of Saint Luke the Evangelist. Sometimes he is known as Saint Luke the Physician. I love the way the collect for the day ties together the themes of healing and evangelism:

Almighty God, who inspired your servant Luke the physician to set forth in the Gospel the love and healing power of your Son: Graciously continue in your Church this love and power to heal, to the praise and glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

I wonder if we would think of evangelism differently if we thought of it as a way of sharing the “love and healing power” of Jesus Christ. That’s certainly more compelling than inviting people to church so we can have a few more committee members or pledge units! Too often we confuse our internal need for institutional survival with the world’s need to hear the healing and freeing Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the church, and it’s critical for the mission of the church that its institutions be healthy. But the structures of the church are a means, not an end. Our mission is to make disciples of all nations. Making disciples means offering the Gospel of Jesus Christ that offers people true healing, freedom, wholeness, and salvation.

Our world sometimes seems overrun with chaos, fear, greed, and violence. What if we were out there more often to share a different way? What if we followed Saint Luke’s example and offered the Gospel as healing? What if we told everyone that we live in a world that is ultimately governed by grace, mercy, hope, and love?

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

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Dear friends in Christ,

This Sunday brings another challenging Gospel reading from Mark. This time, Jesus is talking with his disciples about status and role. Who is called to what role? Who is important? As usual, his disciples don’t get it right.

I find the ineptness of the disciples strangely comforting. It makes me feel a bit more at ease about my own frequent ineptness as a follower of Jesus, and it also gives some comfort when I see the church so often get it wrong.

But, also, the Gospel is clearly a summons to do better. Jesus has a clear message to impart, and it’s a message that’s tough for many of us. “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Jesus’ disciples have been jockeying for position and prestige, which is exactly the wrong thing to do. Instead, they should be quick to yield position and jettison prestige. After all, the way of Jesus is a servant ministry.

We live in a culture where the myth of the self-made person dominates. People are told to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. The cultural message often says, those who have less simply need to try harder. But that’s all messed up, and it’s certainly not what Jesus teaches and demands of his followers.

Jesus says we should be quick to give away our power and status. Let someone else have the good seats, the best job, the favorable deal. Point the spotlight at another. Those who have more power and more status need to work harder to give it away.

Are you a servant? Can you give away power and privilege? How about your church? Are there ways your congregation can be a servant community, offering resources to others without expectation of reward?

My experience is that it’s easy for us individual Christians to rationalize the power and status we keep. And it’s effortless for churches to do the same. But, like Jesus’ disciples, we sometimes need to listen to the voice of God or the call of a prophet to pay attention.

I do know this. When I manage to get it right, giving things away feels a lot better than keeping them. The life abundant that Jesus offers all of us paradoxically arrives when we are quick to serve and slow to acquire.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

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Dear friends in Christ,

Today is one of the great red-letter days in the church calendar, the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels. Sometimes this feast day is called Michaelmas, since we are meant to celebrate Holy Eucharist (the Mass) on this day.

This feast day celebrates not only Saint Michael the Archangel, but all the angels and archangels. Unfortunately, many of us suffer from an impoverished understanding of angels. In a world where we are presented with angels as things to adorn pillows and to appear on cheesy art, we forget that angels are not really sweet baby-like creatures.

The scriptures make it clear that angels are often terrifying. There’s a reason the scriptures tell us that many of their conversations with humans begin with “Be not afraid.” Not only are angels themselves frightening, but they often bring messages from God to humanity that also could be scary.

So what do these somewhat terrifying creatures have to do with us in the year 2021? I for one am profoundly grateful for Saint Michael and the whole company of angels. Michael is a warrior for good, someone who rights wrong and seeks justice.

One of the great hymns for today’s feast day is “Christ the fair glory” (listen to St. Thomas Fifth Avenue singing it). The second verse invokes Saint Michael.

Send thine archangel Michael to our succor; / peace-maker blessed, may he banish from us / striving and hatred, so that for the peaceful / all things may prosper.

There is a battle going on in our world today, good versus evil. If you don’t believe me, look at your favorite news website. Fortunately, angels are warriors for good.

As we say every Sunday, we are joined in our worship with angels and archangels. The heavenly host cares about us and our world, and it isn’t just in worship that angels do their work. Aren’t you glad we have Saint Michael and all the angels interceding on our behalf?

A blessed Michaelmas to one and all.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

Image credit: Icon of St. Michael the Archangel. 14th century, Byzantine. Via Wikimedia Commons.

More from our ministry:

Coming next week, on Spirituals and Justice: Face to the Rising Sun

On intercession of the saints and other forms of prayer: Seek and You Will Find

Learn more about angels: Angels of the Bible

Related course from ChurchNext: Meditating on Angels

Dear friends in Christ,

Today marks the beginning of autumn. I don’t know about you, but it hardly feels that way to me. Just yesterday we were sweltering with summer weather in Cincinnati. And most of my beloved autumn rituals aren’t happening because of the pandemic.

I’ve spoken with a lot of clergy lately, and it seems like just about every church is out of sorts. Normally, this time of year finds the launch of a program year with new classes and programs and the return of people who may have been away for the summer. There’s often a buzz of positive energy.

My sense is that I’m not alone in feeling that this autumn is strange. Some people might be missing the “usual” activities of this time of year. Others might think too much is happening, and we should step back. And almost everyone I know is tired, exhausted even.

So what are we to do? It’s easy to say that we should let go of our expectations, but it’s hard to live that way.

Perhaps what we can do is find the few signposts of autumn that we enjoy and cling to those. Maybe your church is offering a Bible study this fall again, but it’s online instead of in-person. Is it possible to enjoy it for what it is? There are plenty of other examples.

I’m not here to tell anyone how to feel! But if I can offer encouragement or consolation, I hope I can do that.

You’re not alone if you struggle with life in this moment. And, at the same time, it’s a worthy practice to find positive glimmers of hope.

Now more than ever, I find prayer and scripture study to be incredibly life-sustaining. Perhaps you’ll join your church’s morning prayer group, or read Forward Day by Day, or try out the Forward Movement daily office podcasts.

Blessings to you. We’ll get through this. After all, Jesus has promised to be with us until the end of the age. THAT we can always count on.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

More from our ministry:

From Grow Christians: In the Middle

From Grow Christians: Transforming Our Back to School Fears

From RenewalWorks: Blessed are those who mourn

Spend the program year with Forward Movement: Learn more!

Dear friends in Christ,

Last week in Forward Today, I wrote about the opportunity we have as a church through this time of disruption to refocus our mission on making disciples.

Even a week ago, I thought we were mostly headed out of our pandemic crisis, but increasing case numbers – coupled with continued low vaccination numbers – suggest that the pandemic may be approaching another peak, unless our public health response and vaccination rates change.

There are plenty of places on the internet who offer commentary on the pandemic, so I won’t say more. But I do want to say a few things about what it means for disciple-making within the church.

Lately I’ve spent a lot of time speaking with lay leaders and clergy in the church. Several patterns emerge consistently.

Parents of school-age children are exhausted. Many adults are stepping away from ministries or volunteering in the church. Attendance numbers for in-person services have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, even in places where case numbers have been quite low.

I suppose it’s obvious to say, but we need to give up on the idea of returning to a pre-pandemic church. As I suggested last week, I’m quite sure we shouldn’t want to go back. We have the opportunity to chart a new, more vibrant future for the church.

So what do we do about exhausted and more distant leaders? Certainly I hope we begin with empathy, prayer, and compassionate care.

If you are an exhausted person who can’t muster the energy to be part of your church in the way you were two years ago, it’s OK. Rest. Even Jesus needed time for refreshment and prayer, so take the time you need. The church depends on Christ alone; the church will carry on as you rest.

If you are a church leader, the same advice about rest applies to you, too! But also, there’s a gift in all this. If people won’t sign up to continue some ministry or other, maybe that’s the sign it’s time to let that ministry go. If Sunday School doesn’t look like it did in 2018, that’s OK. Maybe it’s time to think about a new way to engage people of all ages in Christian learning and formation. And it doesn’t have to be figured out this month!

I guess what I’m saying is that if your church and your church’s people aren’t “back to normal” that’s perfectly fine. Rest. Be well. Re-examine. Realize that the start of the program year in September isn’t a hard deadline for anything. In God’s time, the church will do what it needs to do.

I really believe that. Our task is to cooperate with the Spirit’s guiding, but also we are human. We won’t always get it right, and we need times of rest. All of the chaos of our church is a detour on our journey of following Jesus, but we can still continue on the way.

If Forward Movement can support you, let us know. We offer lots of resources, and I hope you know that we are praying for the church and the world every day. We’re grateful for your prayers, too.

Blessings, friends.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

More from our ministry:

New online course from ChurchNext: Walking the Labyrinth, with Mel Soriano

From Grow Christians, our family blog: Sealed with the Holy Spirit

Reading suggestion: The Path: A Journey Through the Bible