SUNDAY MESSAGE
My deepest
hope for you, the congregation and leadership of First Church, all of
the time, but
As the prayer/song
we just shared says: Deep
within, I the Lord your God will plant a new spirit within you – and
become your strength. Notice what this prayer doesn’t
say – such is
one time tested path to real spiritual wisdom, you know – listening to the via negativa – what isn’t said. And this prayer song taken from the prophet
Jeremiah doesn’t say that God will give us more work to do, it doesn’t
say that the new spirit written on our hearts will leave the work of justice
and compassion up to us alone and it doesn’t say that we have to figure
it all out all by ourselves all at once.
Rather the
promise is that if we return – that is, change our direction and come
back into community and trust – God will become our strength. The Spirit of the Lord will both spiritually
and physically refresh us from the inside out – and hope will be restored
within and among us.
When I asked
Church Council to join me in applying for a Lily Foundation grant so that I
might take a sabbatical for the first time in my ministry, the old ghosts of
previous sabbaticals decided to pay us a visit and inform our conversation that
night. The good and holy ghosts said out loud that First Church had a proud and
long honored history of pastoral sabbaticals. Indeed, I was reminded that my contract
made provision for sabbatical rest as a part of an extensive, venerated tradition.
In the same
room with those holy ghosts, however, were some other spirits – the spirit of
fear and frustration, the spirit of anxiety and fatigue - for no sooner had our sabbatical tradition
been articulated and celebrated than the stories began.
And the
stories I heard that night – and have heard often in the two years we’ve been
working and planning for this experience – included two broad themes that
helped me understand why THIS
sabbatical had to be different:
First I heard people speak of
cherishing the pastor who left them behind for study and renewal.
This included both my immediate predecessor as well as those who
preceded him. There was unanimity in the room about how important sabbatical
time was for both clergy and spouse – and there was not one iota of resentment
present at all. But in the very next breath, I how tiring it was for the lay
leadership to be without the settled pastor for an extended season. I heard strong
and respected souls speak of their own frustration and anxiety: we
were holding on by our fingernails was the chorus repeated over and over that
first night. Not because it
wasn’t the right thing to do, but rather because when the preacher is away some
people stopped attending Sunday worship. Others quit contributing to the
financial well-being of the church. A few had to shoulder the burden that often
falls upon the pastor to carry. And a
few others decided that with the pastor away, it was time for the church mice
to play. Believe me when I tell you, there were holy ghosts in the room that
night along with some spirits of fear and frustration.
Second, after we listened to what
the spirits of the past had to tell us, I also heard our leadership say that
they wanted and needed this time of sabbatical to be different. Now, when people tell stories
there are always multiple levels of truth, right? There is the obvious literal
narrative, there are the emotions just below the surface, there are value
judgments implied but rarely made explicit and there is a hidden hope that
needs to be teased out into the light if a new experience is going to become
reality. Two stories shared that night are illustrative. The first had to do
with the marching orders that the pastor gave to the congregation – things to
be addressed, worked on and accomplished while he was away – and as it was
told, these marching orders were extensive. No one said just what was supposed
to happen – and to this day I still don’t know the details – just that it was
decreed that during this sabbatical the congregation needed to do some serious
work. The second had to do with how
little of that work actually took place while the pastor was away. There was a
lot of nervous laughter about this – and a bit of frustration, too – because it
was clear that there was some disappointment involved after the sabbaticals
were over.
Now I tell
you these stories not to disparage or denigrate anyone involved in the
past. I have too much respect for all involved to be that shallow or
small-minded. No, I recall these
experiential stories of First Church around sabbatical to make a point the
Lilly Foundation insisted upon in our grant application. THIS sabbatical experience is to be shared. It is NOT the
pastor going away for a time of rest and renewal – although that is essential
and believe me that will happen – rather this is to be a time when the
congregation also
participates in a season of rest and renewal, too. Those who
awarded us nearly $50,000 were quick to quote St. Paul in his letter to the
Romans:
Do NOT conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but rather be
transformed by the renewal of your minds. (Romans 12) So from the outset, there was not simply an
implementation team for the pastor’s sabbatical, there was a planning
team that spent more than a year talking, writing, discerning, challenging and
finally applying for a shared sabbatical grant.
Conceptually this sabbatical has
been planned cooperatively.
So let me
outline for you the three broad areas that you are invited to participate in –
and
+ First, starting May 1 and running
through the middle of September, our music director, Carlton Maaia II, will
move into a full time ministry. He will be the source of
continuity during my absence. And he will be working to make sure three things
happen: 1) Worship continues to be
creative and rich. 2) Our planned jazz for the journey trips to Tanglewood
are satisfying. And 3) that a variety of experiential learning about jazz,
music and liturgy takes place throughout the summer.
Now let me speak specifically
about the Tanglewood trips: we have two trips planned –
and sign-up sheets for them both – and each concert has been under-written by
the Lilly Grant. If you can pay for yourself, or a portion of the ticket, that
‘s great; but if you cannot, there is to be no barrier to your participation. Just
sign up – and away we go. Each Sunday before the concert, Carlton will hold a “preview”
event during which the artist’s music will be introduced, various insights
given and questions answered. For example,
Diana Krall is touring to promote a new collection of songs that come from the
NEW American songbook born of the 60s and 70s.
She is taking tunes like “California Dreamin’” and others and reinterpreting
them much like the jazz artists of the 40s and 50s did with Broadway show
tunes. So, there will be some preparation – then the concert – followed by a
debriefing and discussion the following Sunday after worship. The same thing
will happen for the Wynton Marsalis show in July. This part of the sabbatical is about fun –
about being open to new insights in a gentle and relaxed way – and about taking
in the beauty of God’s creation, too.
+ Second, during the first three
Sundays in May we will have some guest preachers. And if you are here you will
experience three new insights about how the Holy Spirit is calling us into the
deeper work of inter-faith and ecumenical relationships both in Pittsfield and
abroad. The first preacher is Joyce Sohl
from the Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville, TN. She coordin-ates the jazz liturgy experience
that Cartlon continues to resource – a new way of doing jazz vespers – designed
for people of all or no faith traditions. The second week Fr. John Salatino,
the presiding priest at St. Mark’s Roman Catholic Church will bring the message
– and I am thrilled to be making this connection with our Catholic sisters and
brothers. And for the third week of May, my friend and colleague, Rabbi David
Weiner of Knesset Israel will be in the pulpit – or wherever he chooses to
speak from. To me his presence
symbolizes an important part of the sabbatical:
being open to what the spirit of God is saying in the real world
regardless of our spiritual tradition.
+ And third, from Pentecost Sunday
– or Memorial Day – through Labor Day my friend and colleague Bob Kyte will be
here to lead worship and support our pastoral ministries. Some of you know Bob from when he was the
pastor in either Lenox or in Dalton. He and his wife, Stefie, love the
Berkshires – and love First Church – and will bring that love and long history
of pastoral sensitivity to you during my absence.
THAT is the
heart of the congregation’s sabbatical: No marching orders – no expectations
save showing up – and no demands and no tests, ok? This is to be a time NOT to start new
programs or make new demands on our interim staff, but rather to rest and let
the Spirit speak to you from deep within.
In the gospel reading from St. Matthew, some of the disciples of Jesus
were angry when a woman crashed the men-only party in the house of Simon the
Leper and poured an alabaster jar of perfumed oil over the Lord’s head.
“We could have
used the proceeds of that oil to care for the poor,” some complained. To which
Jesus replied: My friends, you will ALWAYS have
time and need to care for the poor and broken.
But you must also learn to take time out for rest and renewal. As an Orthodox Jew, Jesus celebrated
Sabbath in his soul. Which is why he went on to say about the woman: Wherever
my story is told, what she has done for me will be told in remembrance of her. Did you hear that? Did you get it? There is an essential place
in the ministry of Jesus for compassion AND Sabbath rest – action and beauty –
engagement and extended retreat. This is
to be our time for beauty and
rest and Sabbath. For when we are rested
and awakened to God’s beauty even in the midst of pain and suffering, then we,
too can live as those who share mercy not mere religion.
The
prophetic poet of Israel’s exile, Isaiah, said that once upon a time he
believed that God’s will was best done by rigidly enforcing certain rules and
rituals. It brought order and certitude to his life. But after his time in exile, after living
through suffering and fear, he had a change of heart and came to sense that the
essence of Torah was Sabbath: blessed
is the one who keeps Sabbath, not profaning it, who holds it fast and honors it
with their whole being. Like Jesus he never stop being an Orthodox Jew
after exile – he kept and maintained his commitment to holy living by observing
the Law for the rest of his life – but he had a new realization: from deep within the sacred wisdom of Sabbath
nourishes our ability to share both justice and compassion.
And we know
this because once Isaiah had excluded foreigners and eunuchs from his welcome
circle, but now – after exile - he senses that God is calling all the outcasts to the mountain
of shalom: for now the house of the Lord
shall be called a house of prayer for ALL people saith the Lord God who gathers
up the outcasts of Israel. There will
never be a time when we don’t have work to do – the poor and outcast will
always be among us – but without trusting and resting in God’s Sabbath
promise we will probably miss our
deepest calling. So take a moment now to
practice resting as we share this hauntingly beautiful song “Sanctuary.”
I wanted to hear this one last time before we departed – and I think it
captures the essence of God’s Sabbath promise to us all…
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