Moderator's Address
Part VII
The Task of the Local Church;
The Ability to Nurture People
It cannot, however, just be the review group. Every local church has a
place in this process of renewal. Our faith is about drawing people out,
whether as individuals or as communities. Those who have been to Florence
will almost certainly have seen Michelangelo's David – one of the greatest
sculptures ever created. It stands at the end of the gallery and as you
approach it you pass six or eight unfinished sculptures. In every case the
figure appears to be emerging from the rock as though it had always been
there and was simply waiting to be released. For me those figures were
almost more moving, more evocative, more exciting than the completed
masterpiece. They spoke to me of incompleteness, of striving, yet of
enormous potential.
So it is with the people of God. The local church can be a place where
individuals and a community find the shape willed by the creator. It can be
a place of love, a place of honesty, a place that accepts the seeker, a
place that shares faith and doubt, a people committed to justice and peace.
The church is where people celebrate their faith, work together in the
preparation of worship, so time-consuming, so nerve-wracking and so much
more rewarding!
The church is about people living authentically, about being genuine and
not just being religious. A place where it is not regarded as a weakness to
be vulnerable. Jesus reached out to the mystery of God in peoples’ lives. He
was never coercive. Nor should we be. It’s not our job to change people – we
can leave that to God.
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Highlights
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Read a summary of Clare Short's keynote speech, given
on Monday evening.
Read Alasdair Pratt's address to Assembly, 'Exile or Exodus?'
A summary is available
here
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