7/6/03
Sent Out In Jesus' Name - Mark 6:1-13
Our gospel lesson today, which comes from the lectionary, a selection of scriptures for each Sunday in the Christian year, couldn't seem better suited than for our first Sunday together, my first Sunday as pastor here at St. Paul's. This gospel story from Mark is, in fact, about new beginnings, about new ministries. It is a story of Jesus sending out the disciples to work, to spread the Good News that God is here. Jesus had called the twelve, and he had taught and trained them. Now, it was time for them to journey out, into the towns and villages, to teach and to heal in Christ's example.
It is a much similar situation, that you as the congregation, and I as your pastor, find ourselves in today. For you, the journey so far has included a long time of ministry with Rev. Relyea. For some time you've known of his retirement, and you've begun preparing for the change in leadership, getting ready for this next part of the journey. For me, the journey has meant schooling and seminary, examining and re-examining my call to ministry, and knowing, too, that this day, this Sunday, was fast approaching. And suddenly, in a blink of the eye, we find ourselves here, standing at the beginning of a new path, ready, like the disciples, to be sent out into ministry.
I'm sure all of you are wondering what this part of the journey of faith will be like. How will we get along as pastor and congregation? What will change and what will stay the same? I, like you, wonder how this ministry will unfold. I confess that I come with doubts and hesitations about what my ministry will look like. But I also come to you with confidence; confidence that I have been called by God to be a pastor, confidence that I have even been called to this very place, that God's hand is at work in the matching of me and this congregation.
The road ahead of us may be unknown to us - we can count on obstacles and struggles, just as we can count on joys and blessings. But we must remember that we do not set out alone and unprepared. Christ sent out his disciples two by two, and he sent them out with authority. We, too, do not go our journeys of ministry alone, but as a team - a team of laity and clergy, a team of children, youth, and adults, a team of men and women, a team of people with a variety of gifts and graces to be used in ministry.
My own faith journey has been a long and rewarding one. I had grown up with the understanding that we were all called to be in ministry - it was just a matter of figuring out what ministry we were called to. As a long time camper at Aldersgate, I first thought I was being called to camping ministry. I always felt so connected to God in nature, and what better way to get that rush of excitement from camp than to make it a year-round endeavor by pursuing it as a career? I worked a summer on staff at Aldersgate, and I enjoyed my time immensely, but I began to feel that I was missing something, like I hadn't quite gotten it right. What was it about camp, anyway, that was so important to me?
Eventually I realized it was the people - the campers - that I loved about camp more than anything else. So I had to listen again for God's call, and see what my new understanding meant. I redirected myself toward youth ministry. I started attending workshops, I began looking at colleges that offered youth ministry majors. I felt like I had found my calling for sure this time - I really knew what God wanted from me!
But God constantly surprises us, reforming our best laid plans, and remolding our best intentions. When it came time to search for colleges, I just couldn't find one that fit me. Mid way through my senior year of high school, I had only applied to one school, and I left the visit to that school in tears, realizing it was not meant for me. I was panicked and confused. Where should I go? Why wasn't it working out? My pastor at the time, Rev. Bruce Webster, casually mentioned to me a United Methodist college called Ohio Wesleyan University. I applied and signed up to attend.
From there, so many things began to change for me, doors opened, and my vision of where God was calling me became somewhat clearer. Ohio Wesleyan didn't have a youth ministry major, but it did have a major called pre-theology. I'd never heard of such a major before - it combined history, philosophy, psychology, religion, and more, all as preparation for seminary. It suddenly sounded perfect to me. At the same time, my pastor offered me a full scholarship to attend a conference for United Methodist young people considering ordained ministry called Exploration. Somebody was trying to tell me something. I attended the conference, and signed up for the pre-theology major, and things started falling into place. Finally, I felt like I had figured out where God was calling me to be. Pastoral ministry - caring for and living in a congregation - this was the path God was luring me toward, and finally, a path that I was ready and willing to venture down.
From my time at Ohio Wesleyan to this place, standing here before you on my first Sunday as pastor of a church, so many things have happened. I have had wonderful educational experiences; I have fully enjoyed my time and my training in seminary. I have traveled, and I have worked in different ministry settings. I've been through the process with leaders of the conference of exploring, confirming, articulating, and deepening my sense of calling. And now, it is time to set out on this journey. Like the disciples, I stand ready to be sent out, to do the work of ministry in a world that badly needs to hear a message of Good News.
But I don't stand alone. I stand with you. You all have your faith stories to share, as I have mine. Perhaps you have not been called to pastoral ministry, but you have still been called. Each of us has been called by God to be in ministry. Each has gifts and graces, and each of us has a responsibility to use our gifts, to be in ministry, to explore how and where God is calling us. Perhaps we can relate all too easily to the disciples. They didn't know exactly where they were going, and they had no tangible items to carry with them for comfort and help. We, too, do not know exactly what path we will be journeying together. And we do not have anything tangible to help us - there is no rule book for new pastor and new congregations. There are no directions for what to do first and what to do second. We have to create the journey together, decide together where to go, what to do, and how to live together. But what the disciples did have, we also have. They were called by Christ to be in ministry, and so are we. They were loved by God and precious to God, and so, too, are we loved and precious. They were given intangible gifts, gifts of relating to people, gifts of sharing, gifts of authority to help them do their work, and so are we. We have gifts among us of music and drama, preaching, teaching, healing, visiting, listening, organizing, and more. We may feel afraid and unsure, but we are not as unprepared as we might think. God has equipped us for this journey, even as God has set out work for us to do.
I'd like to close by sharing words from a hymn with you, a hymn that we often used to close our chapel services at seminary. Let them be words of encouragement and strength to you, as we begin our journey together: Sent out in Jesus' name, our hands are ready now to make the earth the place, in which the kingdom comes. The angels cannot change a world of hurt and pain into a world of love, of justice and of peace. The task is ours to do, to set it really free. O help us to obey, and carry out your will. *** Let us go together, to carry out God's will and work in the world. Amen.