Let us pray: O God, may these moments be ones spent in your presence, and may these words not hinder that desire. Amen.

    If you spend any amount of time in church circles, you will have heard these two conversations any number of times. Certainly that’s true to my experience.

    The first one goes like this. It starts with a discussion about church attendance. Someone will make a comment about the importance of a church programme that appeals to children because after all “children are the future of the church”. This statement no sooner gets made than you will hear the rejoinder, often coming from the mouth of a child or youth - “children are the present too”. Of course, both statements are true, but first let me tell you about the second conversation, and yes, it’s related to the first.

    The second conversation is about mission - be it congregational or personal. I can’t identify it quite as specifically with words as the first conversation, but let me try to capture the essence of it for you. It revolves around goals and objectives. “Where are we going as a congregation” might be the kind of question you hear in the midst of this kind of conversation. It’s the kind of question that results in visioning workshops, strategic planning meetings and mission statement sessions. It’s a little more difficult to describe in terms of personal mission, but I’ve heard it here as well. The key question is around the difference between “being” and “doing”. Another way to put it is to describe the difference in terms of an experience. “Being” is about letting an experience happen, while “doing” is about making an experience happen. Once again, there is truth, if you can describe it that way, in both situations.

    Both conversations are about the present and the future. This is pretty clear in the “children in the church” conversation. If we as a church are to have a future, then it is absolutely true that that future includes the present day children. But as you heard, and as someone seems always ready to point out, it is also about the present. It’s not just about who we want to become it’s also about who we are. Likewise with the “being” and “doing” discussion. “Being” is about an experience in the present. “Who are we?, and “What’s going on in this moment?” are the kinds of questions that invite people into that frame of mind. “Doing” is about creating a place in the future. “Where do we want to go?” and “What do we want to accomplish?” are this side’s kind of questions.

    They are also baptism questions. Is baptism about doing or being? Are Noah and Dashiel the future of the church, or are they the present? Once again the answer is both/and not either/or. Of course they are the future, but they are also the present. They are here now, just as all the children are part of who we are.

    One thing that the Emerging Spirit programme has pointed out quite clearly, is that for whatever reason, there is a whole generation that may have been part of the church in the past, and a whole generation of people who have questions like others in other age groups, but who have decided that the present church as we know it is not the place where those questions can find an answer. David Giuliano, as I quoted him last week from his letter accompanying the wondercafe.ca material, is quite correct. The Emerging Spirit programme will not leave us unchanged as a church. Emerging Spirit is definitely a programme from the “doing” side of the equation, and undoubtedly it will leave some of us in the “being” state of existence uncomfortable. If we like things the way they are - regardless of how dismal the attendance trends might have us looking - then it is likely that our “being” will be disrupted in some way, shape or form.

    But in a sense that does not adequately describe the “being” side of the discussion. Being is not about maintaining the status quo. It’s different than that. It’s the “being” described by the familiar words of the introit this morning. Be at peace and simply be. Basking in the presence of God is one way that I imagine it. The people in the contemplative prayer group can understand this. It’s about just “being”. Let go and let God may be one way you’ve heard it described. It might even be a much needed mantra for our contemporary lives. It’s also about a vision of the church as a community. We simply are what we are. We delight in each other’s presence. We find joy and meaning in each other’s company. We are the church that we are. A few weeks ago when Elaine and I met to discuss the series of meditations that we offered in response to the congregational retreat we touched on some of this ourselves. We talked about strategies for discovering the gifts in this congregation, and you’ve heard about that conversation in various ways over the past few weeks. However, during that discussion, we also touched on some of this “being” and “doing” stuff. I asked, admittedly a bit facetiously, if the Stewart family had a “mission statement”. I didn’t expect them to have one. We don’t have one, but I do know at least one family that has their mission statement attached to their refrigerator. The point I was trying to make, and as much for myself as for anyone else, is that simply “being”. Being a family, being a congregation, being human, is okay. Not only is it okay, it is how we live a large part of our lives. That brings me back to baptism. Whenever we have a baptism preparation session I mention my own original discomfort with one of the understandings of baptism - namely that it is the entry of someone into the Christian community. Surely, my reasoning goes, is that such a decision should be the choice of the person involved. There are segments among the Christian community who hold that point of view. They practice what is called “believer’s baptism” and therefore you have to be of a certain age before baptism can occur, because according to the particular faith understanding of those denominations, a young child cannot make the kinds of decisions required. But we practice infant baptism. So the decision is made on behalf of the child by the parents. This course of events was mirrored in our first reading today, when Hannah, as a response to the promise that she would finally, after many years of being unable, bear a child. She dedicated her future child as a nazirite, a member of the priestly class of people. We all know that Samuel did become just such a person, but I have to admit that I squirm a little when I read about Hannah’s decision made on behalf of her yet to be conceived child. The other side of the coin when it comes to baptism, and for me this is ultimately the convincing argument in favour of infant baptism is that membership in the body of Christ is not something that is lived out in a particular way. Just as we all bring our many and various gifts to the Christian community, so do different ages and stages of people and faith expression. Young children may not be able to express their faith in terms of doctrinal adherence to the commonly understood tenets of the Christian faith, (if any of us can!), but it would be wrong to say that they aren’t believers. In fact Jesus is well known for taking a child into the midst of his followers as an example of what it means to have faith. Of course, the story of Samuel whose birth was foreshadowed this morning, is the primary example for us of the importance of not putting age restrictions on whom God chooses. Anyone who has witnessed what happens here on a Sunday morning will know that the time is well named as “Learning with Children”. Children are the church, as much as anyone else. Children are also the future of the church. The church is about being - being a community, being who we are. The church is also about doing - doing better at making the community strong and more inclusive - Dancing in the circle as the Junior Choir sang - a circle that is strong, yet ready to welcome others.

    A “being” church and a “doing” church do not have to be separate identities. In fact, I believe that well rounded, active, healthy congregations are both - just like well rounded, active, healthy people. “Being” and “doing” are sides of the same coin. Our gospel reading closed this morning on an enigmatic note. Something big is going to happen. Beware, Jesus seemed to say, of those who don’t dream big enough. Children, the present, the future, an Emerging Spirit, an Emerging Christian Way, “being” the church, and “doing” as the church are all signs of things to come. They, like the rock and mortar buildings that so impressed the disciples are nothing compared to what the real church - the being church, the doing church, the church of the present and the church of the future can be. Hmmm..... Amen.