July 3, 2005
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| Lessons
Learned on Leave: As many of you know, my sabbatical project was titled, “From Inertia to Invigoration…” My goal was to study congregations that had moved from doing business as usual to doing extraordinary ministry. I wanted to know what helped a congregation to grow, and I wanted to learn as much as I could and then share it with you so that together, we can with the help of God, continue to transform this church. So I visited with members and pastors of six congregations that have had significant growth over time, or that have experienced significant transformation or transition in recent years. I wanted to know what excited people about their congregation’s ministries, and why they chose to worship where they did. It was a great learning adventure to be able to get away and see ministry from a new perspective. What I learned was not so much new information, but rather I learned some things again, and today I want to share the first thing I learned. This first lesson is central to all the other lessons I learned. Here it is: transforming churches let Jesus Christ be praised. Transformation is about God’s will and the Holy Spirit working in us, and I thank God that we have this reminder from Paul, in which he reminds the Corinthians then, and us now, that if we will offer what we have to God with open hearts and willing spirits, in all of the ways we care, we will be blessed and Jesus will be praised. From the boisterous praise of 1200 worshipers at Greater Cleveland Avenue Christian Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to the quiet, formal liturgy of Trinity Episcopal Church, down the street from here. There may be differences in how congregations do social action, and education, in how the preachers preach, and how the choirs sing, some were glorious, and others made a joyful noise, there may be differences in how many of the congregations I visited are conducting their capital campaigns. Even then, those congregations are raising millions of dollars to make sure they have the space that will enable their ministries. In every congregation I visited, transformation is happening as Jesus Christ is praised. Scholars believe that chapters 12 and 13 of I Corinthians were part of Paul’s response to a letter he received in which people complained that some people were flaunting spiritual gifts as if they had invented them themselves. “My gifts are better than yours, my tongue speaking is better than your hospitality, and it is way better than your gift of collecting clothes for the poor. Paul writes to tell them that such thinking belongs to another time, when they did not know Christ, and they did not know God as the giver of every spiritual gift. Their attitude goes back to a time when the people at the church in Corinth thought that every good thing about them was of their own making, so they did not honor the gifts God had given them. It is not so, Paul says. “You are vessels for what God in Jesus Christ has poured into you and it all comes from the same Holy Spirit, the same living Lord, and the same creating God. Listen, it’s not about you! It is not about us! It is about God acting through us to help us bring good news to a world hell bent on killing itself. Paul reminds us that we are touched in the deepest parts of our spirits in different ways and we begin to make a difference in the world when we discover those gifts in us and begin to use those gifts, and perform those services, and engage in those activities that show the world that what we do is in response to God moving in us. I have seen churches respond to God. I have seen pastors and people who let Jesus Christ be praised. So I praise God for Mt. Zion Congregational United Church of Christ, and Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ in Cleveland. Mt. Zion is renewing its style of worship as it moves from one service to two, and by the way, they have some of the best organized deacons I have seen anywhere. I have their manual, and will be sharing it with our deacons. Fifteen years ago, Pilgrim Congregational Church had a large underused building and a worshiping community of thirty. They decided that there were two options in front of them. They could die gracefully, or they could do something different. They chose to do something different, and they began by calling a pastor who helped them see that they were not dying, they just needed to live differently. Today, their building is used seven days most weeks, they are engaged in transforming ministries, and they are a worshiping congregation of about 500. I will tell you how God moved them to become a transforming congregation next week. Compton Heights Christian Church in St. Louis has a worshiping community of 40 to 50 with enough money in the bank to survive for two more years. They plan to be around longer than that and have named their transformation project “Compton Rising” taking as their model the legendary the Phoenix that when it is consumed finds a way to rise to renewed life from its own ashes. They are determined to offer ministry as long as God leads them to do so and since they believe God has yet more ministry for them to do, they are a living church. Union Avenue Christian Church, also in St. Louis is a congregation averaging about 115 on Sunday morning, that sits as we do, in the midst of great wealth and great poverty; the congregation has voted several times to stay where they are, and they have discovered that theirs is a building perfect for the arts. So they host art exhibits throughout the year, and they are the site of a summer time opera company. All through the year they care for their congregation and community with a parish nurse; they are excited about their pastor’s leadership, and they are being transformed. Saint Andrew Christian Church in Olathe, Kansas has a building that reflects its relationship with the people of El Higural, a mountaintop village in El Salvador. Their building looks like a Latin American cathedral. They have declared, and they put it on everything they produce, including their coffee cups, that they are about, “seeking God, creating community, and practicing justice”. I was amazed that they articulate their values using words nearly identical to ours as we are about spirituality, friendship, and justice. Saint Andrew lives out its core values through Café Salvador, their monthly concert and coffee house, to which the community is invited with money raised in the café, supports their outreach ministries. Loudon Avenue Christian Church in Roanoke, Virginia has a parish nurse and a tremendous health ministry. It began when the pastor began working with a woman in the last stages of AIDS. It has developed over the last fifteen years into a 300 member community of faith that regularly educates its members and its neighbors on the relationship between healthy bodies and healthy spirits. Ask me about the men’s health weekend I attended while I was there. Jesus Christ is praised at National City Christian Church in Washington, DC as that congregation offers ministry and works to be reconciled after the painful departure of their pastor. Mission and ministry continue even as they discern their needs for pastoral leadership. We have much to learn and we have much to teach and Jesus is praised in all of it. They know what we know, that it is Jesus Christ who is praised as we let ourselves be transformed by his love for us and our love for him. As we prepare to celebrate Independence Day tomorrow, it is important for us to remember that we are free to celebrate and praise God. It is what Christians are called to do, and it is part of the heritage we celebrate, not because we are the only faithful people in the world, but because we praise God as we live in the liberty and grace that God has given to us. It is not a gift to be received lightly. There are some bold responsibilities that come with this gift. That is why it is good for us to recall that in 1630, the Puritan pastor John Winthrop reminded the first American colonists of the responsibility their faith had given them: “For we must consider that we shall be a City upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause God to withdraw from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world, we shall open the mouths of our enemies to speak evil of the ways of God and of all who profess God”. Jesus calls us to be that city on a hill (Matthew 5.14b), not because we hold the only hill in town, nor because of the way we vote or whether we consider ourselves blue or red state people. The truth is that we are Jesus’ people, and Jesus calls us to be visible and faithful in the world. He makes this great summons to us: “Come to me all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden in light (Matt. 11.28-30)”. What kind of yoke? Remember that “a yoke was a wooden instrument that yoked two oxen together and made of them a team. In this word Jesus may be saying: ‘Become my yoke mate, and learn how to pull the load by working beside me and watching how I do it. The heavy labor will seem lighter when you allow me to help you with it” (Interpretation series. Matthew. Douglas RA Hare. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1993, p.129). We yoke ourselves to him when we feed the hungry, care for the poor and the oppressed, the sick and imprisoned, and are concerned for the souls of our brothers and sisters. God has given us gifts and service and energy to be God’s church in this place. You know that already. Knowing it helped you to use your gifts in my absence and it will help us put our gifts together from now on. These gifts and graces God has given to us free us up to be who we are, to celebrate our differences even as we praise God together. We can find hope and joy, healing and wholeness and transformation in the name of the one God has sent to us. Find food for your soul and grace and peace in your life in Jesus Christ. Put on the yoke of Jesus Christ, let’s continue to work in this place, and let’s live the Christ given truth we know praising God as we come to know God, value our friendships, and become doers of justice. If we will bring to our core values the best that is in us, no matter how great or how small to the task of being Christ’s people in this place, Jesus Christ will be praised, we will be encouraged, we will tell the good news we know, invite people to join us and growth will come. Why? Because people are drawn to what feeds their spirits, they want to be where they can feel the impact of God and of God’s people, where the church of Jesus Christ is alive and glad to be in the service of God’s beloved son and our savior. I had a great, learning time while I was on sabbatical, and I know where my church membership would be if I lived in the places I visited. But, I praise the living Christ that I live here and that my membership and my commitment is here, and my call is to pray with you, nurture and work with you, and challenge you and be challenged by you to make Broad Street Christian Church a spirit filled, friendship filled, justice filled place. Let’s agree after this Sabbath time for me and for you that we are rested and ready, and we are going to keep doing the great things God has gifted us to do. And as we do, may this declaration be ever on our lips and in our hearts, proclaimed without reservation, let Jesus Christ be praised. Praise be to Christ indeed. Amen. Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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Broad
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