Do Not Dwell on Dreams - Ezekiel 37:15-28 and John 17:20-26
North Ryde Uniting Church Sermon - 25 June 2023
On the occasion of the Uniting Church’s 46th Anniversary and the end of Uniting in Prayer, part of the Act2 Project
A wise Headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Albus Dumbledore, once said;
‘It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.’
This quote comes from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first book in the Harry Potter Series. In this scene, Harry is gazing into the Mirror of Erised, a magical mirror which shows the viewer their greatest desires. Harry, who’s been orphaned since the age of one, is gazing into the mirror and sees his parents. Dumbledore reminds him not to dwell on dreams of the past or things that never will be and rather encourages him to live.
I couldn’t help but think about this quote as I prepared for today and reflected on the Act2 process of the Uniting Church. Throughout this whole process I’ve found myself thinking about the past and history. How sometimes the past holds us back in the Church, as we vainly cling to the ways things were. But also, how the past might inspire us into the future as we think about the Church that we want to shape for the coming generations.
Act2 has been one of the biggest processes in the Uniting Church’s 46 years of history. It’s a process of review and renewal as we think about how we might shape the Uniting Church of the future, as we enter the ‘second act’ of our lives. It was born out of a growing awareness of the need for change and a process commissioned by the Assembly Standing Committee over the last few years. Then, last year at the Reconvened 16th Assembly, Act2 was formally initiated. It called upon the Church to review all aspects of how it operated and to think about the future direction of the Uniting Church.
After the resolution of the 16th Assembly a Steering Committee was formed and a Project Team was appointed. At the Assembly, I was asked by the National President to Second the motion and reiterate the importance of this process. Following the establishment of the Steering Committee I was asked by the Assembly General Secretary to serve on that committee and help steer the project, which I have done over the last year.
There are four areas of focus of Act2. They are:
· Local Communities of Faith
· National Identity
· Governance and Resourcing
· Theological Education and Culture
These four areas have guided the work of the Act2 Team and are some of the most crucial elements of the Uniting Church.
Over the first six months of this year, we have undertaken the most comprehensive exploration phase we’ve ever in the history of the Uniting Church. Throughout this phase every Congregation, Presbytery and Synod as well as a variety of Agencies have been contacted or consulted and through that we have got a comprehensive picture of the Uniting Church. It’s shown us, in great detail, the true reality of our Church across Australia. We’ve just come out of 26 days of Prayer called Uniting in Prayer and we are about to enter a Collective Discernment Phase where the whole of Church will begin to discern a way forward.
Over the last six months we’ve heard countless stories from across the Uniting Church, and these stories and learnings have formed the basis of the Act2 Report which will be launched next week. This report presents a stark picture of the Church. It shows a Church that is rapidly declining and struggling to meet its governance and regulatory requirements. It shows a Church that is irrevocably different to the Church at Union and a Church dealing with profound loss. There are, of course, amazing stories of hope in the midst of it all.
But at the heart of it is a picture of a denomination that has been complacent for too long. A Church that was content to ride the wave of prosperity that came into the Church at Union in the 1970s. A wave that sustained us through the 80s and into the 90s but by the dawn of the new millennium was beginning to crash. By the time we realised that the tides had changed it was too late and we found ourselves washed up on a beach where the sands had shifted under us.
Now we find ourselves trying to rebuild and transform. We must deal with the profound sense of loss and hurt, but we must also honour what has gone before in order to shape something new.
Time and time again, throughout the consultation process, we heard stories of pain, particularly from local congregations. And often it’s the same tropes, ‘it’s not like it used to be’, ‘we’re ageing’, ‘we’re shrinking’, ‘where are the young people’.
Our local congregations in the Uniting Church don’t look like they did a decade or two ago. But then neither does our communities. Perhaps we in the Church have just been slow to adapt.
Yes, there is a deep sense of loss and pain in acknowledging that. But also there is a hope in those stories too. As an historian, I’m often wrestling with how the past might inspire and shape the future. And it’s something I’ve turned to as I’ve explored the Act2 Process. Perhaps instead of focussing on the sense of loss when we look at the past, we might instead use it as inspiration for the future.
The same reality is true for this congregation. When I look around this Church it’s a very different place to the one that I was born into 30 years ago. There are many constants, but also profound change. And in recent years, when I’ve been here, my mind has often wandered, and I’ve seen visions and saints of the past.
I look over to the sound desk and I can almost hear Jeanette Loy, sitting in the pew that was there, singing the descant of O Come All Ye Faithful on Christmas morning. I can look to the front pews and see Joan Murray sitting on the Organ Side or Iris Blundell sitting on the Piano Side. I can hear John Groenewegen sitting next to me, praying the Lord’s Prayer in Dutch. My mind wanders further across the grounds, and I can see Alf Coomb, Betty and Pieter Wybenga sitting on the old futon in the Orana Room until just before Service started. I see a three-year-old Jono and Ellen chasing me around the paddock forcing me to wear a Bob the Builder hat. I can see the hive of activity on Fete Day or a Soup Luncheon. And I can see the constant presence of Carol, serving in the kitchen or giving sound wisdom in a meeting.
For many of us those are profound and poignant memories. But for others here today they are simply names of people you never knew and events you never saw. North Ryde has changed, and those images are images of the past. The Uniting Church has changed and lamenting that it isn’t what it used to be doesn’t solve anything.
Rather, we find ourselves in a moment in our denomination’s history where we have to ask ourselves who do we want to be into the future. How might our past shape the future of our Church?
Our readings for today are the readings that are set down in the Uniting Church’s lectionary to mark the Anniversary of the Uniting Church, which was on Thursday. They speak of God’s plea for unity and remind us of God’s constant presence in our lives.
The Old Testament reading comes from one of my favourite sections of the Prophets, Chapter 37 of Ezekiel. The vision of the Two Sticks immediately follows the, perhaps better known, vision of the Valley of Dry Bones. When taken together they provide a profound vision of hope and renewal after loss and destruction. Ezekiel writes during the period of the Babylonian Exile when most of the Jewish population have been removed from their homeland and taken to Babylon. They are feeling dislocated from home and their identity is lost. They don’t know how to be God’s people when they are removed from the land which God promised them. In the midst of this period, we have incredible writings from people like Ezekiel and Jeremiah as they are struggling to deal with the loss of their identity and mourn the loss of their past while also thinking about how they might shape a future that is very different to their past.
In that context, Ezekiel gives this amazing image in Chapter 37. It starts with the Valley of Dry Bones where God says to Ezekiel that these bones are like the destroyed tribes of Israel. God calls on Ezekiel to prophecy to the bones and through God’s breath and power the bones come to life and are stitched together. It’s a profound metaphor for the people of God. Where they were seemingly destroyed and dried up, with no hope of new life, God brings new life into them showing them that they will have a new and bright future.
Following this vision, Ezekiel provides another image about the new way for God’s people. In our reading for today Ezekiel is commanded to take two sticks and hold them together. Each stick represents each of the two kingdoms, that prior to the Exile had ruled over that land and who’s divisions and fighting had partly led to them being conquered by other Empires. Ezekiel is commanded to bring the stick representing the Northern Kingdom of Israel together with the stick representing the Southern Kingdom of Judea together to show the reunion of the divergent parts and reinforce that they will be ruled by the descendants of David, which had partly led to the schism in the first place. Here Ezekiel is visioning a bold future, a new future for the people of God, once again reunited under one ruler. A future that holds to the legacy and history of the past but builds a future that is very different to what came before.
For us in the Uniting Church these visions are a reminder that God is never done with us. That even when things seem bleak and when all we see is destruction or pain, God still has something for us. Our Gospel reading also reminds us of God’s constant presence and Christ’s ongoing prayer for our lives. We are, after all, people of the resurrection; life comes after death.
Over the next six months the whole of the Uniting Church will be undertaking collective discernment, exploring various options for the future of the Uniting Church. Some of the options ask us to be incredibly bold, to be willing to completely reshape the Church so that we can build something that is sustainable and life giving. We know that the Church of the future will look very different to the one of the past, it has to be. We simply can’t stay the way we have been.
Act2 has shown us that comfort and complacency has led us to decline.
For too long, we have sat back complacent with our little patch, not willing to change because it might cost us something personally. But all the while things have crumbled around us. Now we are forced to draw a line in the sand. Now we have to be bold once again so that we might have a Uniting Church of the future.
When we look at the writings leading into Union, or even look at the footage of the Inauguration Service of the Uniting Church at Sydney Town Hall, we see a progressive, forward-looking, bold Church. Yet somewhere along the lines we became complacent. We were content with what we had, comfortable with our full congregations and hearty bank balances. Then suddenly we turned around and they weren’t there anymore.
Act2 is a challenge to rouse us out of our complacency. To turn back to the bold vision of the past so that we might build something stronger for the future.
I wonder what that might look like for North Ryde. How is God calling this community out of its comfort and complacency and into the future.
Perhaps it might mean honouring the legacy of the saints of the past so that there is a Church of the future.
Perhaps it might mean reclaiming the vision of 1954 when people were bold enough to pitch a tent where the community could gather.
Perhaps it might mean claiming the prophetic voice of Jeanette or Jock to speak out issues that are important to the world.
Perhaps it might mean honouring the legacy of service and care that Carol showed to us by being a caring community.
We are at a tipping point as the Uniting Church. Complacency does not give us a future. How might we honour the proud legacy of the past so that we have a vibrant future.
God is not done with us yet.
Are we brave enough and bold enough to step into the new vision that God is calling us to?
Cover image is the Tent that was pitched in Cutler Parade, North Ryde in 1954 by the Congregational Church. This was the first gathering of the congregation on this site that went on to become North Ryde Uniting Church (https://nrcc.unitingchurch.org.au/our-history/)
