Sun. Jan. 5, 2014 (Henry Neufeld)

[Following on a creation care story led by worship leader Diane Ehling, that had the whole congregation involved in physically representing the life of a great tree - ed] our fellowship's moderator, Henry Neufeld, spoke on the theme of Membership. (Unfortunately, severe snow storms elsewhere meant that not all the people wishing to join us this Sunday could return to Vancouver in time, so new members will be received next Sunday.) It is interesting to ponder what membership means to people over the centuries. Jack Suderman, in Naming the Sheep, lists more than 90 images for the church in scripture (e.g., flock, salt, aroma, light, etc.) but no single image dominates others. One other image might be added today: 'picking up the fallen ones'. In PGIMF, membership is not all that important because we encourage anyone (member or not) to participate as fully as they can, as they feel comfortable doing. Since the New Testament mentions leadership six times--and servanthood more than 200 times, maybe "membership happens whenever we act like Jesus." As we moved into the year's first communion, Henry reminded us that Jesus ate with everyone, especially outsiders; everyone was expected to join in eating and drinking with him; and our eating and drinking of the elements symbolizes our act of commitment to following the teachings of Jesus. [JEK]

Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, January 5th, 2014 using your browser's preferred media player.