Survey Sunday! (8.C)

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

We’ve all heard that saying, from our coaches, bosses or teachers.

Today we hear it from the apostle Paul. He says “be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord.” In other words, hang on, stand fast, and keep up your good work.

 But his encouragement is no mere pep talk. St. Paul’s words come after he’s reminded us that we are not ordinary “winners,” but men and women who are victors over even death itself, sharers in the victory won by Jesus Christ.

If death has been defeated, what else can take us down?

That’s not a rhetorical question in these difficult times. Can scandals in the Church defeat us? Can shame and disappointment overpower our faith in God and in his Church? Can our own sins shake us so badly that we quit believing?

Paul gives an answer in his letter to the Romans, where he writes “If God is for us, who can be against us?” He concludes “I am convinced that neither death, nor life… nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

When the going gets tough, the Christian turns to Christ. As St. Peter said to Jesus when many other disciples turned away, “Lord, to whom can we go?”

Just before I left on holiday, we told you about our Member Engagement Survey—a tool developed by the Gallup organization to help measure the engagement of the members of our parish. While I was away, I considered whether we should postpone the survey in the face of the worldwide crisis in the Church.

Everyone I consulted by email said no. What better time than now, they told me, to plan for a strong future led by engaged and active members of our parish community? 

Their advice was pretty much what we heard St. Paul say in the second reading today: “be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord.”

The ME 25 survey is part of our effort to excel in the work of the Lord at Christ the Redeemer parish. So in a spirit of hope—and of gratitude for all God has already done for our parish—I would like to ask you to complete the short survey questionnaire now.

 

There are some limits that Gallup asks us to observe so that the information will be highly relevant to our own community. If you are a visitor or you are under 18, we can’t submit your survey. By all means take a copy, and even fill it out, but take the copy home—please do not submit it.

Your answers are confidential, so please answer honestly.  Don’t tell us what you think we want to hear. If a question is unclear, don’t ask your neighbour—just answer it the way you understand it best.

We will give you some time to complete the survey, and then the ministers of welcome will collect them from you. The surveys are in envelopes at the ends of each pew—would the folks at the end please pass out the pens and surveys now?

If you can’t finish in time, hang on to the survey and finish it after Mass.

* * *

I’m going to ask the ministers of welcome to collect the surveys now. I remind you that if you are a visitor or haven’t turned 18 that we’re asking you not to hand your survey in. We sure don’t mean to insult the younger teens, but Gallup is a professional organization that must have its reasons for this. And we try to listen to our young people in other ways.

Thank you for participating in the survey; it will give us crucial information to get going as a parish family that will "bear good fruit."