Spirit of the Living God Fall Fresh On Me! Congregation Repeats!
Jesus said, “Unbind him”! These two words sum up my ministry with congregations these
last five years and probably my ministry for the next 10-15 years. I am passionate about leading
congregations like St. Francis and the people in them, in ways that unbind you,
so that you may cherish and embrace the abundance that God has prepared for
you.
My first Sunday at St. Francis Church was September 2. Today is November 4. I have been with you for two
months. It has been an amazing
time for me to come to know you. I
know two thirds of you by name. I
would know more of you by name if the parish directory had more pictures and if
more parishioners wore their name badges.
Hint! Hint!! The parish directory and badges have made a huge difference
for me. I have made parish visits
to a quarter of the parish. I have
had significant conversations over breakfast and over lunch with
parishioners. I have witnessed
your joys, blessings, struggles, questions, anger and even, yes -- your
resistances. I am excited about
the abundance I have witnessed that you channel through who you are and as much
the abundance you may not recognize or yet name, but that I see.
Usually in my sermons I tell stories. Today I want to share with you three
metaphors. Metaphors are like
Christmas ornaments that when we look at them they provoke in us and amplify
for us powerful messages that otherwise would take many words to describe. The three ornaments I will share with
you today are – scripts, monkeys and saints. I will weave together scripts, monkeys and saints to
conclude with an invitation to each of you and the entire congregation.
We all have scripts, you know the tapes inside of our heads
that inform us as to what we ought to do or not do. Some scripts keep us safe and whole. Other scripts impede us from the full
experience of God’s love. Some
scripts impede us from deeper connections with each other. Some scripts hold us back from greater
intimacy with one another. To give
up some of our scripts takes risk.
Sometimes we have the privilege and courage to let go of our
scripts. At other times in our
life our friends and loved one may need to take away our scripts so that we may
experience true love, health and God’s grace.
A sermon is one example of a script. I thought I was being really clever
when I wrote my sermon a week before I went to Vancouver. When I was away the Spirit told me in
my prayer that I needed to preach a different Sunday sermon. I got home to Reno Friday night at
midnight and drove to Sacramento at Noon Saturday. I had no time to type up another script. I am tearing up my sermon in front of
you as a sign of the way we may need to dramatically let go of our own
scripts.
Last week as we were all dispersing Laura said to me thank
you for making eye contact with me as you preached. Growing up with a tremor in my hands I have learned to
depend on scripts to manage and even conceal my tremor. Yet these very same scripts sometimes
have impeded me from making necessary eye contact though I do try when I preach
from a script. It is just not the
same when you walk up and down the aisle and stop to pause and compassionately
look at members.
How have some of your scripts held you back from the full
experience of God’s grace and abundance?
What scripts might you give up?
This past week a clergy friend told me a wonderful
story. This clergywoman was one of
the youngest to be ordained in her diocese. She confided in me that shortly into her parish ministry she
ran out of her life experience stories.
She began to collect stories to tell in her sermons and this is one such
story. She told me about an
experiment with monkeys. The
context is a cage of monkeys, a ladder and at the top of the ladders five
lovely bananas. Several times a
day five monkeys ran up the ladder but before they could get there the other
monkeys sprayed them down off the ladder.
Monkeys kept trying and monkeys sprayed them down. The experimenters decided to take away
the water sprayer monkeys. It was
too late the monkeys stopped trying to go up the ladder. All the monkeys were deprived of the
rich fruit of the bananas.
Congregations are not monkeys, but we often do spray one
another as our scripts impede all of us from receiving the abundance available
but not accessible. You may have
had experience as a water sprayer or falling off the ladder. Priests are not an exception to this
experience. We like you spray and
fall off ladders. You are
fortunate as you now have a Priest-in-Charge who knows the way to stay on the
ladder and lead a congregation to its abundance. I will not fall off the ladder when I am sprayed no matter
how often or with how much pressure.
That is not a threat but just a fact of who I am and who I have become
as a centered leader. I have done
my work in order to stay centered on the ladder. I have had seven years of therapy, two years of conjoint
therapy and 35 years of spiritual direction.
On my first date with Stefani we agreed to do conjoint
therapy. We wanted to co-create a
new script not the one we received from our families. Our families blessed us in many ways, but like most families
there were some scripts that needed work.
In my family when my parents were angry at each other they stopped
talking to one another for days at a time. We learned from our therapist the way to maintain our bond
even when we are frustrated or angry with one another. The key is to assure each other of our
love. The alternative is not to
say anything that is divisive and in time we would create a false relationship
that is not too deep.
Congregations are the same. It may often feel like we don’t want to say something that
may disturb another or the dominant script, the way we have always done
it. We don’t want to be divisive
so we stay silent. Sometimes in
letting go of unhealthy scripts, others may experience us as divisive. There is a cost to this kind of
silence. Parishes die where the
scripts have crippled congregations into a stifling silence of action moving
towards the grace of abundance.
As you and I call each other into the full experience of
abundance we journey with one another.
I will lead you up the ladder to find the abundance you seek. At times during our shared journey you
will feel uncomfortable, scared and maybe even angry, but undeterred I will
still lead you to the abundance.
Today is All Saints Day. What does all this have to do with All Saints Day?
Growing up as a Roman Catholic I learned that one becomes a
saint when they have had at least and preferably two confirmed miracles. Miracles just get saint candidates into
the pool to be considered. There
are no guarantees as the Vatican committee on canonization continues to vet
these people. Roman Catholic
theology of saints is about perfection, theirs and ours. In our Anglican tradition saints are
referred to as holy women and men.
We do not expect miracles but we seek people who have lived exemplary
lives. In spite of our very
different theology of saints our book of Holy Women and Holy Men still have a
lot of priests, monks and bishops.
It took me time to find three ordinary men and women like you and
me.
A decade ago Archbishop Tutu visited a friend’s parish. He was to give a series of workshops
but he became violently ill. The
spouse of clergy leading the workshop series was a doctor. The Archbishop was brought to the
doctor’s office to be seen. Of
course the doctor had a full schedule.
The Archbishop did not demand immediate care, but sat patiently. The Archbishop left an impression on my
friends. I recall the way he was
described to me as a saint. I
sensed he was so much a saint that we were somehow off the hook. We are not off the hook. The Archbishop is truly an
ordinary man who lives in an exemplary way for us to emulate in our own lives.
I want to tell you about three other ordinary men and women
– Jonathan Daniels, Florence Nightengale and Frances Perkins. Jonathan was a seminarian. Florence was
a nurse. Francis was a lawyer and public servant. St. Francis Church has had a seminarian. God willing Janine will soon be a
priest. This parish is filled with
nurses. St. Francis has many
retired executives and the parish has had a deep political history with Fair
Oaks Village and the city of Sacramento.
Jonathan went to the seminary I went to in Cambridge, MA,
the Episcopal Divinity School. He
was a student during the civil rights protests in the sixties. One day in his prayer he felt called to
Selma and he went with several other companions. He crossed a picket line and was arrested. Jonathan crossed the picket line
because he was against the script that held that white people have privileges
that persons of color do not. He
and his companions were arrested.
They were released in hours, though his biographers have said that he
and his companions would have been safer in jail. In less than a few hours of their release they encountered
an angry person with a gun. The
gun was pointed at one of Jonathan companions. Jonathan stepped into the line of fire saving his
companion’s life. Jonathan was
part of our nation’s achievement of civil rights for all men and women
Florence Nightenghale was a nurse who felt called to help
people who were dying due to poor hygiene. Florence led the way to modern day nursing. Through her leadership and formation of
nurses deaths dramatically declined. She left her mark on nursing. Florence changed the script about women
in nursing and women as leaders in the health profession.
Francis Perkins was the first member of a presidential
cabinet. You recall the stir that
women priests had for The Episcopal Church and for this parish. Francis caused a stir in the halls of
power. She became passionate about
legal reforms and started an institute that she eventually gave to the church
as a gift before she died as her lasting legacy.
[As I told the story of Jonathan, Florence and Francis I
kept moving towards the back of the church. People did not immediately turn
towards the back, but eventually they did.]
Today is the first Sunday of November. Next month the first Sunday will be the
first Sunday of Advent. The
scripture for the first Sunday of Advent is always about our need to turn from
our old ways and our scripts to prepare the way of the Lord, the way of
abundance.
Jonathan, Florence and Francis pushed against the dominant
scripts of their time. It cost
Jonathan his life. We are not
certain of the costs for Florence and Francis but we can imagine the cost based
on our experiences of those who break ceilings in business and the church
today.
What scripts might you be called to change and be willing to
bear the costs?
What scripts does this congregation need to change in order
to embrace its abundance and new life?
We cannot attract enough new members to St. Francis Church
unless we first focus our efforts on our scripts that keep this congregation
from realizing its full abundance.
The abundance is right here.
We must do our work together. It is demanding work.
It is work that will make you uncomfortable and sometimes feel like
everything is falling apart. Yet I
will be there with you and lead you.
The abundance is here.
[Move back towards the front of the church to close.]
Scripts, monkeys and saints – I invite you to journey with
me as we try to stay on the ladder to reach the abundance that God has uniquely
prepared for this congregation.
There is much more to say, but for now I will stop.
God bless you!
