What a day!
Today was the last Sunday the congregation of St. Mark’s Presbyterian worshipped at the building at 80 High Street, Moose Jaw.
Needless to say it wasn’t the usual Easter Sunday service. That being said it was a very good Easter Sunday, at least in my view.
The sermon title was “What a day!” which is another of those ambiguous phrases where everything depends on which word is emphasized. It is used to describe a bad day and also a good day and for today it was both.
The community of faith that has called this building home for decades is moving to a different, smaller space, more suited to our current numbers. We will be renting the chapel of Zion United Church which is a wonderful example of churches working together. I don’t know how this will all work out but then . . . I have never known how anything will work out until it does. I have complete confidence in the people who make up the St. Mark’s congregation doing what it takes to make this work. I have complete confidence in the people of Zion United doing what it takes to make this work. I have complete confidence in the Holy Spirit continuing to provide her leading and empowering presence.
So how do I preach the final sermon for a building but not a community of faith? I know how to preach the final sermon for a congregation; I’ve done it twice. Those services were similar to funerals but today’s certainly was not. We are grateful to God for the building we have enjoyed and even loved all these years but in the end, the building was a place where the church met, not a church where people met.
I think I preached an appropriate sermon for the day but I would be delighted to hear what you think. Did I get it right? Did I mess it up? Let me know as you are inclined and able.
A note on the beginning of the sermon. It is quite abrupt and I was unable to fix it in post but the rest of it is as it should be.
Another note. There is no expectation that St. Mark’s will not continue to worship together, in a different place, for the foreseeable future. There is going to be one difference and that is we will have a new worship time, namely 0930 (or 9:30 a.m. for those of you who don’t like the 24-hour clock). This won’t make any difference to this blog and sermon post but if you join us by zoom, and we’d love it if you did, just look for the link on the home page, it will be at 9:30 a.m. CST (Yup Central Standard Time twelve months a year.)
“What a day!” St. Mark’s Presbyterian (to download, right-click and select “Save Link As . . .”)
Blessings,
