Let us pray: Amidst the frenetic time which is life in this busy world, made even more busy in this season, we can understand O God, the desire to find just a little bit of quiet, a small smidgen of unscheduled time. May this story I tell be one that speaks not only of your promise of peace, but may it help us all to know you more clearly, follow you more nearly, love you more dearly. Amen.

Serena had loved her name from the moment she was old enough to reflect on it rather than simply respond to it. She often wondered what influence a name could have on a person, adding another level to the debate about nature and nurture. For example, she was a person who loved quiet time, and she was well known in her circle of friends for having a calm presence, unflappable some would say. People often said that that presence emanated out from her to those around. Her quite manner had a calming influence on the people in whatever circle she found herself in. So, in her musing about names, which happened somewhat frequently for her, so much was she enamoured with her own name, she wondered if similar things happened for others. How much did a name affect the personality of the person who bore it?

Some of those thoughts were flitting through her mind as she scrolled through the updates from her myriad friends on Facebook. There was one from her friend, David. He was telling all his friends about his upcoming Christmas trip home to see his parents. You could just sense the anticipation in his short message. David – beloved, yes that certainly said something about him. She'd met David's parents and you could just tell that he, their only child, from the way they regarded and treated him that he was beloved, and they were beloved by him.

It wasn't quite as clear with others of her friends, but there were hints and leanings. She also know that suggestion was an important element, creating a kind of chicken and egg situation. Did the personality of people match their names, or were expectations and perceptions just influenced by the name so that connections were more obvious. It was something that Serena pondered from time to time, always ending with the realization that there would never be an answer.

Serena continued to look through the Facebook updates, reading short posts from all over the place, but creating an overall impression of just how stressful this time of year was for most people. Not for Serena, the calm and quiet one. She didn't stress about Christmas. She loved it. Some of the best music. Some of the most generous attitudes - financially and in the way people treated each other. Of course, as a highly organised woman, she managed well because she was very methodical about her planning. Her shopping was done early, and her card and letter writing – such as they were in this day and age of electronic communication, meaning that it wasn't a huge chore any more but even so they were also done early. But even so, whenever her friends would complain about all the things they had to do and just how busy their calendars were, Serena would try to get the message across that there wasn't much point in getting stressed. Enjoy life, was her mantra – one that guided her own days, and one that she tried to pass on to the circle of friends and loved ones that surrounded her.

Serena loved the lead-up to Christmas, but by far the best, were Christmas Day and those that followed. Choral music on the radio, nothing scheduled to do, just whatever came about. Pleasant time with friends and family, turkey leftovers for lunch or supper, the warmth of her place as contrasted by the cold and glistening white of fallen snow outside.

Serena was not a church person. It was not part of her life at all, just as it had not been for her parents. Both sets of grandparents had been quite involved in church activities, but that was a long time ago. She remembered going to church with them when she was little and visiting, but other than those distant memories, the only time she had a entered a church in recent months was for the wedding of a friend.

There was a certain attraction to the place. She had arrived early and given the chance to look around a bit, had been interested in the clutter of a hallway bulletin board – announcing a number of opportunities for personal development and to help out with the financial success of the congregation by attending a fundraising event, some in the future, but a few in the past – demonstrating that the bulletin board was not high on the list of things to keep current. The bulletin board disturbed her general sense of calm, but even so, some of what she saw there was interesting, and she could see that given a yearning in her life that there might be something to attract her. The church sanctuary itself was a a contrast to the turmoil of the bulletin board. Pews that were shiny from years of sliding bums, and a dark finish that highlighted the woodgrain, giving a feeling of peace, meditation and communion with some inner thoughts. The area at the front was ringed by stained glass windows and you could get a sense of what was important to this congregation or the people who had donated the money for the windows. One window had Jesus surrounded by little children, indicating that at least at one time in the life of this church, that children were highly regarded and desired. Another window had a depiction of Jesus alone, looking to the sky with the glass showing a yellow ray lighting him from above. Not being schooled in the stories of Jesus, the scene did not remind her of anything in particular, but she was contented by the image, appealing to her own sense of calm and peace. Another window had the depiction of a shepherd cradling a sheep Other windows had their own stories and themes, but these three were the ones she particularly noticed.

No, Serena was not a church person, and that visit a few months ago despite her interest in some of the events and programs from the bulletin board and her attraction to at least three of the chancel windows, did nothing to make her want to attend.

Just the same, as her name and manner conveyed, Serena was a person who demonstrated the presence of spirit – a spirit of peace, a spirit of calm, a spirit of assurance that things could be good in the world, that relationships are important in our lives, that appreciation for beauty observed and beauty experienced are important for a good life.

Is there something missing in Serena's life? She wouldn't say so, but I wonder if we would. What values do we have as a congregation of people who gather in God's presence, to add to the lives of people like Serena? What would people gather from our bulletin boards – opportunities for personal development, opportunities to participate in fundraising, events that are going to happen as well as some that have passed? Would the things they see attract? What can be discerned about us from this place where we gather?

Serena spends time thinking about connections – connections made with the names that people have been given, connections made by observing the notices on a church bulletin board and the windows in a dark, introspection inviting, church sanctuary. Surely as a place where in worship at this time of year we talk about peace, we think about peace, we pray for peace, we sing about peace, we might have something positive to say in contradiction to a world that at times seems consumed by violence – among individuals, nations, groups. We might have something to add to discussions about peace and what it means to mark the birthday of Emmanuel, which of course means God with us. I wonder if Serena has any friends who go by that name, and what she thinks about it?

Thank God for people like Serena. Are we asking the wrong questions? Rather than asking if we have something to add to the lives of people like Serena, I wonder if Serena has something to add to our purpose as a congregation of God's people. This week I was at a meeting of the Alberta and Northwest Conference Executive and one of the things that we talked about at the meeting, even though it was not a specific item on the agenda, was the mission of the church. We are in the midst of what has been and continues to be a Listening Year for the future life of the conference and of course, by definition, the future life of congregations like ours that are part of the conference. It has become clear to me that there are many more people like Serena outside of the church than there are in the church. God is and always been One who invites us to take a walk outside of our walking, to frame questions in new ways, to look through different windows for the way God is calling. One of the old ways of interpreting mission is to think of ways to make the church more appealing, more relevant, more inviting, more purposeful in the lives of people who are not or have ever been a part of the community of faith that we know as a congregation. But I wonder, should we be looking not at what the church has to offer people like Serena, but rather what Serena, has to offer to us. What it would be like to mash-up the faithful who are living without the presence of the church in their lives, and the faithful who gather with the purpose to be in and acknowledge the presence of God in our lives. I wonder,... Amen.