Pride Sunday, All Parish Meeting Sunday

Scripture:

On this All-Parish Meeting Sunday, when we think about the mission and impact of our congregation, now and into the future, we hear from several voices throughout the Bible.

Let us open our ears, imaginations, and hearts and let these ancient words inspire our minds and souls today, as we contemplate God’s work in the life of this congregation.

From the prophet Joel, later quoted by Peter in the Book of Acts:

I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;

your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

    your old people shall dream dreams,

    and your young people shall see visions. (Joel 2:28)

As we contemplate our future, we hear from the prophet Habakkuk

Write the vision;

    make it plain on tablets,

    so that a runner may read it.

For there is still a vision for the appointed time.  (Habakkuk 2:2-3)

We remember the Jewish queen Esther, with the challenging choice of how to save her people while serving in a foreign regime.

Her cousin Mordecai warned her:

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish.

And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)

We remember how Jesus, after his resurrection, said farewell to his disciples

in the Gospel of Matthew:

God authorized and commanded me to commission you:

Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life,

marking them by baptism in the threefold name:

Parent, Child, and Holy Spirit.

Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you.

I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day,

right up to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 [The Message])

And we remember what the apostle Paul wrote to the churches of Ephesus, starting a new religious movement amid cultural hostility:

Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by their power at work within us. (Ephesians 3:20)