MUMC Sermon-06/11/06

And so here we are. This is a surreal moment I’m not sure I have adequately anticipated. I didn’t sleep well last night and so subconsciously I was aware of this moment, but for the most part I haven’t been able to wrap my brain or emotions around its reality. We all know that denial or avoidance is often an easier pill to swallow than the truth.

Yet the liturgy, and particularly the scriptures, has a way of disciplining the preacher and reminding him or her of the point of this day. Today is not primarily about farewells, or nostalgic feelings; today is the Lord’s Day and we are here to worship God. We have come to offer God the praise that is rightfully God’s and to give thanks for the many ways in which we have been blessed. Friends, we have much to praise God for and much for which to be thankful.

Today I praise God and am thankful for the gift of this church and for the work I’ve shared here with you. It’s changed me, and I believe it’s changed me for the better. Your love, your support, your challenge, your questions have changed me and made me stronger and more aware, more passionate, more authentic, and for that I give deep thanks. You’ve helped me become a better pastor, a better preacher, and better lover of God and neighbor. You’ve traveled the world with me, and together we encountered people and places that changed us and caused us to see our lives and the world differently. You’ve shared the most intimate moments of your lives with me: life and death, marriage and divorce, joy and pain, baptism and confirmation, and simple, beautiful meals around tables filled with love and friendship. You’ve welcomed my family as your own and words cannot adequately express the gratitude that wells up within.

Today I praise God and am thankful for the privilege of having shared good work with Jennifer; a better colleague and friend and even pastor I could not have had. I’ve watched her grow into a powerful leader for the sake of God and you are so fortunate to keep her and to share her future ministry. I thank God for Tom, for his genuine love of God and for how much he cares about the work we share. Believe it or not it’s very unique among my experience of church musicians. Tom brings grace and beauty wherever he is, and that is borne of a deep, authentic faith and I thank him for sharing it with me and with each of us.

Today I praise God and am thankful for Sandy, Joe and Anner, three people who have made my life possible by sharing the work of ministry here with me in very subtle, yet excellent ways. These staff members are often quiet, rarely visible, and yet we all depend on them doing their work and doing it faithfully. It is they who enable us to get on with the work of loving God and neighbor and I praise God for their faithfulness and their perseverance.

In essence we have all been changed as a result of our relationships in this place. And isn’t that the way it should be? Shouldn’t we be changed, transformed even, as a result of our time and relationships here? I know you too have discovered something here that you couldn’t have imagined or planned. You’ve told me so. Your life is deeper, more authentic, more complete because of what you’ve found here. The worship of God and the love of neighbor as experienced here has been transforming. And hopefully, if we’ve done our job well, you’ve also discovered here a calling; a calling to a particular way of life; a calling to become a particular kind of person; a calling to respond to a particular God who loves you and the world around you.

And that is why we worship God. Our worship is nothing short of our straining to hear what God is calling us to do. We come longing for an encounter with the divine, an encounter that will direct us, inspire us, challenge us, and even change us. That is exactly what is taking place in our Old Testament lesson which Jeanne read earlier. It’s a description of worship, in which Isaiah is having a sublime, mystical experience of being in the presence of God. And in that experience Isaiah concludes that God is calling him to do something. God asks, “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?” Isaiah responds by saying, “Here am I; send me!”

That’s why we’re here. That is the point of this day and every day we gather for worship. We seek to experience God and hope that experience gives us direction to live meaningful lives. For me that has meant saying “send me” and thus my work and ministry will now take place in a different context and with different people. Yet, the work of this church goes on more robustly than ever before. I wish each of you could have been present this past week at the meetings of the church Leadership Council and the Board of Trustees. You would have found the spirit of enthusiasm and purpose and passion contagious. There was a focus and determination for strong, purposeful ministry that filled the room, with deeply committed, visionary people determined to answer the call of God. I was mostly quiet throughout the meetings, but I was mindful of the wonderful people who carry on the work of God in this place. And I couldn’t help but think that God’s question to Isaiah is being asked here more intensely than ever: “Whom shall I send? Who will live out my holy purposes here? Who will be my witnesses here? Who will love my people here? Who will go from here to every corner of the world to offer the love and hope I extend? Who from here will counter the cynicism and apathy of the world? Who here will be my agents of peace in a world of war? Who here will be the face of compassion, mercy and love? Who here will care for the poor and the stranger? Who here will show my people a more excellent way? Whom shall I send and who will go for us?”

Is it you? I’ll tell you something, you are the one being called to this life and work. I am but one example of the transforming power of your love and care.

If I had planned better, I would love to have left as a gift for you some beautiful image of the words of Paul we read earlier. And I would have them hung in the lower church parlor so as to frame everything that happens there: coffee hour, study, church business, community gatherings and occasionally worship. I would have left them there to remind us all of the high calling to which we respond, and as an aspiration of what as a people we might become. Friends, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable; if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things...and the God of peace will be with you.”

Amen.