United Church of Christ (national site)
When I taught college classes, I learned that the best way to get students’ attention was to number the items I was lecturing about. So I used that tactic to share my dreams for the future life of the congregation.
The Church of Our Dreams
Psalm 42; Romans 12:9-18; Luke 5:36-39
At some meeting or another, you may have heard me talk about “the church of my dreams.” That’s the church where things run smoothly, priorities are set and kept, volunteers are delighted to offer their talents, and the stewardship drive is always successful.
But for the last 12 ¾ years I have served not “the church of my dreams,” but this church.
Nonetheless, as I head into my last week as your Minister, I still have dreams for this church. So this morning I am going to offer a “charge” to this church – a list of things that I hope you will do and be in the future. My list is not quite as elegant and poetic as the one St. Paul wrote in the letter to the Romans; to make it easier, there is a handout. Here’s what I hope you will do:
- Come to church. I know, it won’t be the same without me. More importantly, it won’t be the same without you. During this time of transition, through the Interim period, and into the tenure of the next Minister, the church needs everyone. And whatever has brought you to church in the first place is still a need in your life – you still need to express gratitude and praise for God, you still need to explore the scriptures, you still need to hear a word of forgiveness, you still need to share words of caring and hope. So come to church.
- Give money to the church. If you already pledge to the church, dig down and give a little more. If you don’t pledge, call the church tomorrow and ask Elaine to send you a pledge form. Your commitment to the church will feed your own spirit as well as support the ministries and programs that you value. At the very least, you all need to contribute $3480—which is the amount that my pledge would have been for the rest of this year. That’s $580 a month.
- Give money away. Some of the finest hours of this church have come when we have – together – given money away. The obvious examples are the $20,000 checks we gave to Health Finders and to Permanent Supportive Housing, and the $10,000 to the UCC seminaries – all gifts during our Sesquicentennial celebration. But there are dozens of smaller, equally meaningful examples: the Sunday School children’s fund raisers for the Heifer Project, the Mission Trip youth raising money for the PALS program in Alamosa, New Mexico, the small (but significant) gifts to our now-ordained members when they were in seminary. We are at our best when we are at our most generous. Keep doing it.
- Say Thank You, Often and Earnestly. Our generosity grows most verdantly out of grateful hearts, and we can cultivate those grateful hearts by thanking one another. There are never too many gestures of appreciation, too many thank-you notes, or too frequent recognitions of those who serve faithfully and well.
- Don’t forget that you are an Open and Affirming Congregation. I want to say this in two ways. Part A: remember that our faith (and our advertising) calls us to welcome people wherever they are on life’s journeys; please keep doing that. Some of the most remarkable stories of transformation and spiritual growth have happened to people who you might not expect to have come here in the first place. Part B: remember that we have a special vocation to welcome and affirm members of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender communities. Our commitment to equality is so strong that we easily forget that there is much work left to be done to assure that GLBT people, and their covenanted relationships, are treated fairly and with dignity. Until there is no harassment or bullying in schools, until there is no stigma for same-sex couples at Prom, until the Minister signs marriage licenses for all the couples who make vows of love and fidelity – until then, there is a lot of work to do as an Open & Affirming Church.
- Trust your leaders. The people who volunteer their time to oversee the work of the church need your encouragement, your prayers, and your trust. Assume that they know what they are doing; they usually do. Do not assume that your opinion is wiser, more faithful, or practical than theirs unless you have actually studied the problem, done the research, evaluated the options, and consulted with others.
- Make Room for Beginners and Amateurs. The church needs to be a place where people can try new things, develop their talents, and make mistakes. Watch our musicians for good models: Theo, Chris, Bob, and Janet not only make room for beginners, they help those first efforts to be authentic contributions to our worship and our other programs. Go and do likewise.
- Come to church on Wednesdays. The WFFF program that was initiated last year was a smashing success. It brought people together to share meals, learn new things, and make connections. Do something to help this program continue: offer to help in the kitchen, help pay to hire a cook, read stories or play games, get to know someone you never knew before.
- Put up Banners. This one is personal. I love our worship space and deeply appreciate the handsome makeover that celebrated our sesquicentennial. But I also really miss the dramatic changes that we used to make for the seasons of the church year – banners, hanging swaths of fabric, and the like. I hope you will look at the sanctuary and imagine ways that the space could be periodically transformed to enhance our worship.
- Figure Out what it means to be Congregational in the Twenty-First Century. First, let me remind you that being “congregational” does not mean that every member participates in every decision. Being “congregational” has meant, in the past, a belief that God works in and speaks to every gathering of the faithful: every local church, every conference, every part of the national setting, and so on. Our task is to discern what ministries God is calling us to, and what ways of organizing and resourcing those ministries is most likely to be faithful and effective. I am pretty sure that those ways are not only the ones we have been using for the past 50 or 60 years, and I hope you will take seriously the task of finding ways for the church to be nimbler, more responsive, and more focused on what is truly important than we have been in the past. Get new wineskins, people.
- Allow yourselves time to grieve during the coming period of transition. My retirement is a bittersweet moment for the congregation and for many of you individually. And in the natural grieving that will be present in the next few weeks it will be important not to let the bitter overtake the sweet. Part of the normal process of grieving is to experience not only sadness, but also anger, confusion, lethargy, irritation, and impatience. It is awfully easy for these natural responses to develop into conflicts, resentments, or dysfunctions of various kinds. I hope that will not happen here. I hope you will trust your leaders (see # 6!) and your Interim Minister, and that you will treat one another with patience and understanding. One of the best ways you can show your appreciation for my ministry is not getting into a fight as soon as I leave.
- And finally: Lighten Up. We who care deeply for God’s world can easily be drawn into despair, worry, or just plain over-earnestness. We who aspire to compassion sometimes forget that compassion is not just about sadness and suffering, but also about joy and healing. The Gospel of John puts it this way: What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. [John 1:3b-5] We are people of the light, and we ought to live and work and worship together in ways that the light is visible to everyone who watches us. So I hope you will play more, laugh more, sing more silly songs, and let your light shine.
You will notice that I haven’t said anything about strategic planning, capital fund raising, governance reorganization, or air conditioning; I’ll leave those for my successor. But while you are working on all those things, I hope you will remember these 12 dreams that I offer today, dreams for the health and vitality of this wonderful company of God’s people.
Amen.
Prayer for June 20, 2010
Almighty and everlasting God, creator of all things seen and unseen, hear now our silent prayers, as we open our hearts to you in the sacred quietness.
God of faith and hope, we bring before you our prayers for those we have named this morning – we especially remember … Bring to each of them the gifts of mercy and grace that are most needed, according to your wisdom and love.
Holy One, we pray this morning for all the people who have been fathers to us, both men and women – those who sired us, those who raised us, those who loved, challenged, and corrected us.
We are grateful to you, our divine parent, for all of the people who have stepped into our lives to bring your love to us in human form. We thank you for the faith and fortitude they have shown, for the sacrifices and compromises they have made on our behalf, and for lessons they have taught us. Bless each of these, and fill them with the knowledge of the ways that they have contributed to our lives.
We acknowledge with special compassion those people whose care for us was limited by their own shortcomings and by the events and complications of their own lives. Bless them for their loving intentions, and give us loving hearts to receive their gifts gratefully, even as we also acknowledge our disappointment or loss.
We thank you, too, Gracious God, for the opportunity to offer nurture, encouragement, and mentoring to others. Help us all – men and women, old and young – to demonstrate the best of what fathering is: love, discipline, hope, and health. Forgive us when we fall short of these ideals, and give us persistence and patience to continue these relationships.
In a world where men’s work is often disrespected, underpaid, unrecognized, and devalued, we ask your particular blessing on the men who serve you and others faithfully, and on the women who respect, reward, recognize, and value them.
All these things we pray in the name of the one who honored his own father and invited men into the ministry of the church, even Jesus the Christ, and we pray together now in the words that he taught us …
First offered (with other pronouns!) on Mother’s Day, May 13, 2007 and on Father’s day in 2007 & 2008
