Now What? a sermon by the Reverend Dr. Susan Veronica Rak preached on 1 May 2016 First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, a Unitarian Universalist congregation Howard Thurman wrote a reflection that I and other ministers use at the winter holidays. It's called "The Work of Christmas" and reminds us that after the festivities of the holiday - the giving of many gifts and feasts all to celebrate a miraculous birth, the work of carrying out Jesus' message remains to us. When the song of the angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and princes are home, When the shepherds are back with their flock, The work of Christmas begins "The Work of Christmas" in The Mood of Christmas & Other Celebrations (1985) It made me think of a congregation waking up to the aftermath of a successful search to face - dare I say - the dullness or ordinariness of church life after a successful Candidating Week and call. So I wrote a kind of takeoff: The Work of Ministry - after the call, before the settlement (inspired by The Work of Christmas" by Howard Thurman) When the song of the choir is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the candidate minister is home, When the search committee is back with the flock, The work of a new ministry begins, building on what was, looking to what might yet be: To find the lost, To heal the broken, to bring a word of promise and possibility to the people. To feed hungry souls to release the bonds of distrust and hatred - pastoring and preaching and prophecy carried out day-to-day, hour after hour. This continuing work of ministry is ours to do. I imagine you heard a lot of wonderful things during Candidating week - words of hope and encouragement from your new Minister; questioning words and comments of support from each other. And I'm sure there were wonderings and "what if's" as well. It may be that you are feeling those subtle yet unmistakable shifting plates, unsettling movements, changes and transformations felt or imagined, where do we stand now? May 2016 Page! 1 of 6! Reverend Dr. Susan Veronica Rak
For as much as you and Rev. Abbey have checked each other out, there is still that "magnificent hunch" at the center of it all - that almost magical chemistry that emerges in a good match, a successful Search. But like all such comings together, there is that moment when reality sinks in. The "now what?" question emerges. It will be three long months before Rev. Abbey arrives to serve as your minister. What do you do in the meantime? Do you sit back and rest on your hard-won laurels, assuming to return to action in the fall? Hardly. You all did so much work to bring you to this point... investing time and treasure and talent in the search, engaging in self-reflection and out-ward thinking. Much of what has been said and done in these nineteen months has been aspirational, created in a time of ambiguity, seeds planted in the rich loam of hope, nurtured in both anxiety and confidence. Along with this call comes questions and worries. You have succeeded in finding a great minister. It will be up to you to prove worthy of each other. You have seen potential in Rev. Abbey. She has expressed great hope and confidence in you. She has felt called to be your minister. And you have seen fit to offer her a call in return. What does that call mean? In some religious traditions, a call is a summon from on high - sometimes a bolt of lightening that throws you off your path - like Saul of the road to Damascus... blinding, a voice from the sky... calling you to this great task. And you say yes - and your sight is restored... even your name is changed. You are changed - transformed. So this call may not be that dramatic. But the change is coming - it may already be here. Hope is alive, and expectations abound. And there will be a reality check needed. But wait - I am not here to rain on your parade... I want to encourage you to prepare for this new call be ready for those transformations - the big, amazing ones and the small, subtle transformations - and know your part in them. The "mission" of this congregation, as created in some of this transitional ministry work, is : Called by our history and Unitarian Universalist values, First Unitarian Church is an inclusive community, rooted in its urban home, reaching to build acceptance, creating an environment that encourages religious growth and spiritual strength, and fostering justice and peace here and in the wider world. There are easier things to be than a Unitarian Universalist urban church. You know this already. But you are calling a minister who is ready and eager to commit to such a ministry with you. Yet it is not hers alone to do. She said it herself If you choose to call me as your minister, we will be in this together. If you want me to do it all, you should not call me. This is the shared ministry we've talked about so much. And now is when you begin to make those commitments to this ministry so that come August you are ready to begin this May 2016 Page! 2 of 6! Reverend Dr. Susan Veronica Rak
ministry together. Rev. Abbey sees your potential and is committing to an urban ministry with you. Some of this may be grounded in who you say you are. Some is informed by what is here and the confidence in the people she has met. And some may be tied into the historical significance of this congregation. It will be up to you to live up to that potential. Yes, Rev. Abbey is wonderful, but she does not walk on water. It is possible that she could have chosen an easier path, perhaps a better-paying position in a larger congregation. Perhaps. And if that was the case, you are all the more blessed. Yet you have made this decision, and are ready to move forward. Rev. Abbey brings many gifts and is amazingly talented for someone relatively new to ordained ministry. So part of the "Now What" is to temper some expectations and projections you might consciously or unconsciously put upon her. True collaboration means you will listen, respect her expertise and support whatever endeavors you all agree to undertake. Go with the flow as things change around you, for they will. Step into the stream and as the waters swirl around your ankles, be grateful for the community of linked arms and hands that will stead you in this crossing. And as excited as you are to have Rev. Abbey be among you, give her the space and time to settle in. Respect the person and the life she has crafted for herself... and the life she will create here. It will not be the same or look like the life I created here... nor will it be the same as any previous ministers' - whether it be choice of dwelling or neighborhood or type of recreational pursuits or manner of cultural life. Make space for this to unfold as you begin to grow deeper in relationship as congregation and minister. You are hungry for a new ministry, a new connection and deep feeling - what some might call spirituality and religion. You are anxious to get started you want the real work to begin. But the real work of church has been happening all along. You ve been a church in transition for a long time maybe it feels like forever to you and you re chomping at the bit to get started for real. And may I be so bold to suggest that you ratchet it back just a little make the space for a new ministry, for Rev. Abbey s arrival and her own transition to life in her new city. The work you are doing, the church you are nurturing and building in these next few months is the one you are all waiting for you, Rev. Abbey and all those potential souls yet to come though these doors. There is no magic potion to fix all that might ail a congregation. No particular formula that will suddenly increase the number of people here or improve the quantity of volunteers stepping forward to assist with tasks. But that is the work you will need to do, starting now. You have likely learned from whatever mistakes and misjudgments made in the past - errors, misconceptions, reactions. You will have patience as you grow together. Any confusion and inertia that has plagued this congregation for generations, on and off again, should not get in the way of this ministry you will create, together. High hopes have been raised during candidating week... a new beginning is at hand. A few months away, May 2016 Page! 3 of! 6 Reverend Dr. Susan Veronica Rak
perhaps but now is the time to make your house ready, to look to the future with hope and encouragement and confidence... and perhaps with a realistic eye to reasonable expectations time to let go of all the complaints and heal the regrets of the past. Opportunity and growth will mean change - but you've gotten more accustomed to this over the past three years, i dare say. And you can see that change, while not always exactly you what you wanted, brings new openings, opportunity for something new to break in... So I think it's time for the Rabbi's Gift story it s one of my favorites that speaks to us about community - and about each individual s part in making it happen - is told by M. Scott Peck in his book The Different Drum: Community-Making and Peace. Although First Unitarian Church is not the ailing monastery in this story, there remains an element of truth in making tis analogy The Rabbi's Gift Once there was a monastery that had fallen on hard times. It had once been a thriving center for learning and prayer, and people would come there from all over to pray and work. The monks were learned and kind. But for a variety of reasons political, social, economic people stopped coming and no new monks joined, and the abbey dwindled to just a few aging monks. Clearly, it was a dying order. The abbot was concerned and had heard that in the next town there was a very wise rabbi who had helped many people. So he took his problem to the Rabbi, who welcomed him warmly. The two men sat and talked, cried together over their problems, and read their hold scriptures. When the abbot was about to leave, they embraced, and the abbot said, I appreciate this time we spent together, but I have failed in my purpose for coming. Is there nothing you can tell me, no advice you can give, that would help me save my dying order? The rabbi was sorry, he had nothing more to tell him, except this one thing. The Messiah is one of you, he said. The abbot pondered this and when he returned to the monastery, he told the anxious monks that the rabbi did not offer much help, but he did offer this one cryptic, puzzling bit of information, he said that the Messiah is one of us. In the days and weeks and months that followed, the old monks pondered the rabbi s words: The messiah is one of us? One of us monks here at the abbey? If that is so, which one? Do you suppose he meant the abbot? Yes, yes, that must be so. Father Abbot has been our leader for years; he is wise. On the other hand, he could have meant brother Thomas. Certainly Thomas he is a holy man, a man of light. Certainly he could have not meant Brother Eldred! Eldred gets crotchety at times. But come to think of it, even though he is a thorn in people s sides, Eldred is virtually always right. Maybe the Messiah is Brother Eldred! But surely he did not mean Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, a real nobody. But then again, he has this gift of always being there, almost mysteriously, right when you need him. He just appears at your side. Maybe Phillip is the Messiah. May 2016 Page! 4 of 6! Reverend Dr. Susan Veronica Rak
And it couldn t be Brother Ambrose, the cook who spends more time among the pots and pans than among the brothers! But then again, each day we sit down to nourishing and delicious meals and wonderful breads, all carefully prepared. Perhaps it is Brother Ambrose. Of course the rabbi did not mean me. He couldn t possibly have meant me. I m just an ordinary person. Yet, suppose he did? Suppose I am the Messiah? O God, not me I can t! As the monks contemplated the rabbi s statement in this way, they began to behave very differently. They treated each other with respect, kindness and generosity, in the off chance that any one of their brothers was the Messiah. And each monk, sensing that vague feeling that he himself might be the Messiah, began to carefully focus on the performance of his duties and prayers, doing the best job possible in each of their daily tasks. The monastery slowly began to change; it came alive once more. There was a forest that surrounded the abbey where people would often come for hikes and picnics. For years, the abbey had gone unnoticed in its run-down condition. But now, people were drawn to its humble but fine buildings, its beautiful gardens. Some said they felt a spirit of peace and wisdom that drew them closer. People began spending time at the monastery, praying and learning from the monks. Young men [and in my own take on the story, women] came and joined the order, beginning a new generation of life in the abbey. Like the monks, we sometimes get discouraged and may not see what we can really do at first. But when we share a vision of what might be possible, however we name it, and then begin to act on that, we build something lasting and marvelous to behold. And here I quote Rev. Abbey from her sermon to you last week: We are all broken and imperfect humans. This faith is not yet everything we would wish it to be. But everything is broken and imperfect. Nothing is yet what we would wish it to be. And all that are broken are also beautiful. All that is imperfect is also holy. And though we are not all that we would wish, we are enough. We have all that we need to become all that we hope for. Reading Fault Line by Robert Walsh (from Noisy Stones: A Meditation Manual, Skinner House Books, 1992 Did you ever think there might be a fault line passing underneath your living room: A place in which your life is lived in meeting and in separating, wondering and telling, unaware that just beneath you is the unseen seam of great plates that strain through time? And that your life, May 2016 Page! 5 of! 6 Reverend Dr. Susan Veronica Rak
already spilling over the brim, could be invaded, sent off in a new direction, turned aside by forces you were warned about but not prepared for? Shelves could be spilled out, the level floor set at an angle in some seconds shaking. You would have to take your losses, do whatever must be done next. When the great plates slip and the earth shivers and the flaw is seen to lie in what you trusted most, look not to more solidity, to weighty slabs of concrete poured or strength of cantilevered beam to save the fractured order. Trust more the tensile strands of love that bend and stretch to hold you in the web of life that s often torn but always healing. There s your strength. The shifting plates, the restive earth, your room, your precious life, they all proceed from love, the ground on which we walk together. May 2016 Page! 6 of! 6 Reverend Dr. Susan Veronica Rak