C.S. Lewis once said, “Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back, everything is different.” He could have been talking about St Luke’s.

What we are today, reflected in both the celebrations of the weekend, including the liturgy of this service, is largely a result of small incremental changes, often led by elders and ministers, and often in response to changes in our wider society and world. St Luke’s, like the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is not a fixed unchanging package passed down from one generation to the next but an evolving process of interaction, analysis, adaptation, and change.

What churches do today – in services and activities, who they attract or don’t, their standing in society and engagement - is very different from even 20 years ago, let alone 150 years ago.

Our Order of Service this morning, for example, like on most Sundays, is a snapshot of our values, our priorities, and our understanding of the Gospel in relation to today’s context. It is not the minister(me) imposing my beliefs. It is rather this moment’s expression of the evolving faith and mission of St Luke’s, influenced by many ministers, elders, and musicians over the decades.

What you see today is the result of small shifts over time – for example McDowell 1937-59 (initiating responsorial prayers), Gilkison 1960-1973 (passing the peace, multiple participants in leading worship), Quigley1977-87 (candles, inclusive language), and Clark 1988-2012 (the influence of Iona, the wild goose, colourful stoles, the paschal candle, and more candles). Maybe my main contribution has been in continuing with the evolution of our liturgical language, like normalizing non-theist prayers, and continuing St Luke’s divergence from the male-stream of Presbyterianism in this land. My point in this very brief historical foray is that each minister has built on the liturgies of what’s gone before. And what’s gone before, as is normative in our Presbyterian ways, has been discussed, argued about, affirmed, sometimes voted on, in Sessions, Parish Councils, and community meetings.

Our liturgy though has a close relationship with our theology. And again the theological direction of the parish has had a long incremental evolution with community engagement, mission projects, ecumenism, championing of justice issues (like women in leadership and ministry, like Queer (i.e. LGBTIQA+)leadership and relationships), the influence of Lloyd Geering, non-theism, and the progressive Westar Institute, and, especially in the last decade, the influence of tikanga Māori and eco-theologies. And again these did not start in the days of Cardy, or Clark, but the genesis of our theology’s evolution goes way back. And again this was not the ministers acting alone, but a great crowd of parishioners have championed the theological direction, and the inclusive justice priorities arising from and shaping the theology. And many of that crowd were quite formidable!

Then the theology of St Luke’s has been informed and expressed in part through what we now call the Community Centre. The buildings of St Luke’s have always been here not just to serve the needs of members or potential members but the wider community of Remuera-Newmarket and our city of Auckland. The sports groups mentioned in our prayers - netball, hockey, gymnastics, and tennis – were not just for members. Or the facilities designed with returned servicemen in mind. Or the first the Community Centre. They were to meet the needs of people regardless of faith and background.

Yet, while keeping the needs of our wider community in mind, the buildings and activities of St Luke’s have had a focus that reflects our values. There has long been an emphasis on counselling and mental/psychological health generally. There has long been an emphasis on education, nowadays focused, though not solely, on matters of justice, inclusivity, and the environment. There has long been an emphasis on empowerment, reflected for example in our relationship with Restorative Justice, and on the principles of community development. We not only want to help those who are suffering in our world, or know about the causes of such suffering, but we want to change our world. Whether that be working with Te Ohu on issues of housing, or support for Aotearoa being a multi-faith society, or joining with groups that advocate radical change for the sake of the environment.

St Luke’s will continue to evolve and change. Recently we have begun a process called Vision150 in order to both envision and enact a future that is sustainable and life-giving, organizationally and financially. Towards that future we will be engaging an entrepreneurial encourager who will aid us to try any and every idea, and probably disturb some sacred cows in so doing. It’s about building on our strengths. In the Vision150 process it became clear that we are committed to staying on this site at 130 Remuera Road, committed to cooperation and maybe a long-term future with neighbouring parishes, committed to being a Centre for the Common Good (or whatever wording we might agree on), and committed to continuing the liturgical, theological, and community-facing ministries built from our past and developed into the present.

This is the direction of the good ship St Luke’s. An old ship solidly built, tried and tested in various climes, reliant on the skills of us all, sails, deck, and rigging adapted and set to the conditions, and empowered by the winds of goodwill, faith, and hope. It is this ‘ship, this ‘community of faith’, that today we celebrate.

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