a sermon preached at the final Sunday of our Intentional Interim Ministry at Osoyoos-Oliver... and the final Sunday of the two-point Pastoral Charge. As of July 1st, Oliver United Church and Osoyoos United Church will each be single-point charges.
In the fall of 2024, Shannon shared a metaphor that we have kept coming back to throughout our Intentional Interim time together: a Backpack. Each Sunday since then we’ve seen the backpack on-screen, and the Oliver and Osoyoos sanctuaries have each had a hiking stick up front as a tangible reminder of the journey we are on.
In our mountain years, a backpack was an important
companion. There, we learned that there
were certain essentials to bring along on just about any hike: Water,
sunscreen, Bear Spray, something to sit upon, extra layers of clothing, a First
Aid Kit, Binoculars, and a phone/camera.
This is WAY more stuff than Jesus instructed his first 12
disciples, and the next round of 72 disciples, to take with them as they went
off two-by two to carry Jesus’ message of the Good News and the gifts of
healing. Jesus told them to only take a walking stick and the shirt on their
back- no food or money or bag or even sandals. He told them to accept the
hospitality of one household in each town - and if they were not welcomed and
their message not heard, to just turn around, shake the dust from their feet
and move on to the next community.
In the desert cultures of the Middle East in Jesus’ day,
and up to today in the remaining Bedouin communities, the requirement of
hospitality is binding, no matter who shows up at your door. Jesus instructed his disciples to expect and
accept that life-saving hospitality. Jesus knew that in the acceptance of
hospitality, both the host and the one receiving the gift of hospitality would
have their hearts opened. A relationship of trust and kindness would provide a
foundation for the Good News and healing to be shared and received.
What I take in my backpack for a hike, frankly, does not expect
that I will depend on the kindness and hospitality of strangers: it contains
the items to help me cope if I were to become lost, or if the weather changes,
or if I develop blisters. At the
beginning of our time together 22 months ago, we considered what might come
with us, not in a hiking pack, but in an Intentional Interim Ministry backpack.
So today we review how these tools have been used as we have worked on the Five
Focus Points of IIM.
As we considered your Heritage, a mirror – to help
you see yourselves but also to see what was behind you – and a magnifying glass
for closer investigation – assisted our work.
So did our field guide for the journey, the Bible. We heard the stories
of the earliest days, when the ditch was just being built, of the pioneer
ministers here riding a bike up and down the valley, doing services at Osoyoos
and OK Falls with a final service in Oliver, where the Manse was. We heard about the painful split in 1990,
when a sizeable number of people, upset by the Church’s decisions about human
sexuality and other implications of progressive theology left both the Oliver
and Osoyoos congregations to form their own Church on Black Sage Road, and
friends: while that happened before many of you got here, never forget that each
of these congregations is the remnant of those who did not leave. Whether you know it or not, that gives you
credibility as you reach out to LGBTQ folks who are seeking a spiritual home.
There were so many conversations full of energy and
direction as new possibilities emerged that will shape the new Mission of
each congregation. The Mirror signifies
how you saw your reaction to the realities of today, a candle of hope shed
light and hope in the midst of so many changes, and a compass symbolizes the necessary
information that helped you identify new directions. These tools will continue to help you stay
the course as you experiment with new ways: with new partnerships here in
Osoyoos, with a whole new building in Oliver as you join the people at St.
Edward’s Anglican who are eager to receive you with hospitality and love. In both places, fortunately, you understand
ministry as a way to engage the community around you, not just something you do
to address your own needs, and that will lead you to find ways to utilize the
people and resources and facilities at your disposal to meet needs, share love,
and be the body of Christ.
In the Interim Ministry backpack, as well as a hiking pack,
provisions to help you keep going are essential: water, snacks, clothing to
layer up or layer down. As we consider the gifts and tasks of Leadership
we admit that the work here often tends to fall on the same shoulders, and
you’ll need to watch out for that: there’s only so much that having a sip of
water and a snack and layering up and layering down can do, when what you
really need is a partner to help with the task at hand. Still, we have had those things in our
backpack and we’ve also had a map: at
the Annual meetings, delving into your stewardship trends, both financial and
human, gave encouragement that there is indeed a pathway ahead of each of these
congregations, the road has not come to an end.
Yes, we’re aging and no, there’s not as many of us as there used to be,
but you have more than one source of income and more than that: you have a sense that God isn’t done with you
yet. And in our backpack we have a
wonderful multi-tool—sort of a combination of a Swiss army knife and compass
and light and telescope, and that reminds us of the necessity of knowing the
wide variety of available resources, and the adaptability (and humility) to be
willing to work with trusted partners beyond our little congregations, who can
help you exert Christ’s ministry of welcome in these towns.
And this ties into the tools of Connection- to the
community and larger church. We again, begin with our Biblical field guide,
reminding us of the two-by-two connection-making of the first disciples, and we
also have in our pack a First Aid Kit and a cell phone. This past Monday in
Oliver we had a remarkable (and lengthy) meeting, a mixed group of in-person
and online, local and Regional, Anglican and United, at which we went through
the draft agreement between St. Edward’s Anglican and Oliver United
line-by-line. Present with us were both
the Anglican Bishop, Lynne McNaughton, and our United Church Executive
Minister, Treena Duncan, along with Doug Goodwin, who was for many years the
Executive Secretary of BC Conference.
When we put together the work we had done locally, and the profound
support and experience of these representatives of the wider Church, it was so
encouraging, and I hope you feel that sense of support from our United Church
Region in Osoyoos as well. When we
presented the final report of the Transition Team to the Region, it was
received enthusiastically and if you need help navigating the next parts of the
journey – or, at times, a tensor for a twisted ankle or a band-aid after a
scrape – use that phone in your backpack, send an email, make a phone call, the
folks at the PMRC region want these ministries to work and are there to help:
folks like Kathy Davies, Shauna Getz, and Lori Megley-Best. And don’t forget that while you will no longer
be a two-point charge, there is a United Church congregation just 20 km away on
Highway 97, friends you know, who can lend a hand when needed.
To get a glimpse of the Future—we imagine the use of
binoculars, a flashlight, a smartphone to look things up, and, of course, our
field guide – the Bible - to see future
possibilities. You’ve considered a
variety of options, have identified callings for Osoyoos United Church and
Oliver United Church that are unique to your local situations, the Holy Spirit
has shone a light on what is working and what is not. And we know how much you are looking forward
to have your own half-time ministers come to each town to support that future work. The search process is just beginning, of
putting the word out there and, God willing, having just the right person come
to each Church as your called or appointed minister, but please remember the
work you put into discerning the path God has set before you, and the
importance of your prayerful and tangible support of
what comes next.
The journey requires fun that nourishes! Both
congregations are blessed with skilled, robust music leadership from pianists
who love what they do, and your excellent worship slide presentations on the TV
screen invite everyone to join in. There is a sense of camaraderie here, and I
know you
will have fun with Steve Hershey and Laura Turnbull and
Donald Schmidt on Sundays over the next six months as your ministry search
proceeds.
And finally- are the hiking pole and walking stick.
For twenty-two months we found our way together, with God, on a journey that
has needed wisdom and trust and creativity, a journey that required study and
honesty and whatever energy we could muster.
If you remember back to Sunday, September 15, 2024, when we
first packed our hiking pack, the scripture image we used then was the Exodus:
a journey into the unknown, with God who would guide and lead and protect. This morning we read not of arrival at the
promised land, an image accompanied by a fair bit of baggage, but rather the
directions on what to do as you arrive at the new place God has for you: a
ritual of generosity, humility and gratitude.
As a word of advice, periodically – let’s say, every seven days – pause
to give thanks for the community and the work that God has given you, people of
the United Church congregations in Osoyoos and Oliver, no longer as a two-point
charge but as separate communities of faith. Your work is a gift, enacted by
your with eyes and ears, hands and hearts wide open to the people around
you. Your journey has not ended, and now
you will need to continue your walk along this path that has emerged, and
Shannon and I will take our walking sticks and find the journey God has in
front of us.
With thanks, with joy, with companions on the journey: may
the blessings we know in God, Creator, Christ and Spirit, go with us all. Amen.
© 2026 Osoyoos-Oliver United Church Pastoral Charge, Rev
Shannon Mang and Rev Greg Wooley.
