Congratulations! You’re a Minister

W hen one of our congregations ordains a new minister, the new minister is often given a stole. The stole is a symbol of the minister’s new role. When I was ordained here in this sanctuary six years ago, I was presented with a stole made by Carmon Slater. Many who attended signed the back of it. JUC has ordained a number of ministers over the years, including me, Todd, Nadine Swahnberg and Keith. An ordination is a big event in the life of a minister. I will always remember my ordination day and I will always treasure the stole I was given.

The origins of stoles is not entirely clear. I poked around on the internet and learned that stoles have been around at least since the sixth century and probably longer. Frankly, I had misgivings about wearing a stole the first few times I did it. It felt like high church; I associated a stole with lots of candles and incense and pipe organs and bishops. Indeed, in my brief looking on the internet I learned that there have been rules in the Catholic tradition about who wears what kind of stole and how. Deacons can wear one over one shoulder and there are arcane rules about how priests are to wear stoles as opposed to bishops and archbishops. At first I decided to wear a stole for a very practical reason: it indicates to newcomers that I am a minister.

But who is a minister, here? Ah, now there is a fascinating issue. What does it mean to “do ministry”? Who are our ministers, anyway? In the case of someone like me it is pretty simple: it is someone who goes to seminary, jumps through all the qualifying hoops of internships and exams, is certified by the Ministerial Fellowship Committee and is called by a congregation. The traditional parish minister has familiar duties: preaching, performing marriages, officiating at memorial services (and, of course, going to thousands of meetings). Yet we have ordained ministers who are not traditional parish ministers. Todd Strickland is a parish minister whose duties are mostly in life-span religious education and pastoral care. Nadine Swahnberg is seminary trained and a fellowshipped (meaning she has successfully gone before the Ministerial Fellowship Committee) community minister. But Nadine is not part of our paid staff; she has a private practice as a pastoral counselor. Nathan Woodliff-Stanley is a parish minister serving as our minister for social responsibility. Keith Arnold is a music minister, ordained by this congregation, but not a seminary graduate.

And then, of course, there is you. In a very real and important sense, you are all ministers, too. We are fond of talking about our shared ministry in this congregation. When I first thought about this service, I had this wild idea of getting someone to make hundreds of little stoles to pass out. (I didn’t get any volunteers. In fact, I distinctly recall seeing a bunch of those “Let it be—he’ll get over it” looks.)

OK. Maybe the ideal of passing out little stoles is a little frivolous. And maybe not. There are deeply serious and fundamental issues here. What is ministry? More to the point, what is our ministry together? What does it mean to share it? How are we going to decide who does what in our shared ministry? In the early Christian church the priest who wore the stole was someone who stood between the people and God; someone who administered sacraments; someone appointed by the bishop. Our liberal religious tradition rejected that priestly view of a minister appointed by a bishop and representing the almighty. Our congregations choose their ministers. Only a congregation can ordain a minister. In our Unitarian Universalist tradition we think of ministry as something very different.

I think we should demystify the whole notion of ministry. Ministry is what we do to live out our highest aspirations and our deepest values. Ministry is everything we do to create our ideal of a blessed community. Our ministry is what we do together to bring compassion, kindness, community and justice to our lives. Ministry, for me, is all about our acts of love, about how we try to make our ideals into reality.

Because our ministry is all about our working together to create lives that are faithful to our ideals, how we live out our ministry is as important as what we do. If I volunteer to help with a fellowship dinner, this is good. If I do it bitterly, out of a sense of duty, and when I come I am crabby and uncooperative, it does not do much to contribute to our lives together. Conversely, if I come in a true spirit of sharing, if I contribute my labor out of a spirit of generosity and caring, then my presence is a gift to those around me. In that case my work is a significant act of ministry.

So if ministry is what we do to live out our dreams and values, if everything you and I do to be faithful to what we love most deeply is ministry, then each one shares in the ministry of this church. In this sense, each one of us is a minister. Congratulations! You’re a minister.

Our new mission statement talks about three areas of our ministry: we nurture our community, we grow our faith, and we serve the world.

Let’s take a quick look at these three areas.

The first area is about all the things we do to make this church community a place that helps us grow spiritually, that supports us when we need help, that makes this a true religious home. Nurturing our spiritual home means coming together for worship. It includes such things as religious education for our children, classes on everything from theology to simple living, making music together, our small groups called chalice circles, helping to support members of our religious family who need help. Nurturing our religious home includes stuff very much like our households: taking care of the landscaping, sharing meals together, making sure the coffee is ready, helping mail the newsletter. It just goes on and on.

Growing our faith is our second area. This is not about proselytizing, it is about sharing what we love. This involves all the work of the membership committee. Perhaps more importantly, it involves how each one of us treats the guests and visitors who come into our church every week.

Our third area of ministry is serving the world. We have always been a congregation that seeks to serve and change the world around us. In the last few years, especially after the visionary leadership of interim minister Dick Gilbert, our efforts have expanded. Our list of activities includes helping build Habitat for Humanity houses, supporting the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee’s work for human rights, helping house homeless families here, support for the Interfaith Alliance, environmental advocacy, and more. We raised more than $30,000 to help with recovery after the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

A quick look at our activities in a given week or month is daunting. Sometimes four or five groups are meeting simultaneously on a given evening.

As I look at our overall ministry, I am filled with pride. When I try to imagine our ministry without all you do to share in it, I am filled with dismay. Imagine what we would have to stop doing if only the paid staff, only the ordained ministers, did the ministry of this church.

We would have no choir and none of the other musicians from the congregation who enrich our services. We would have no religious education classes on Sunday morning, for we would have no teachers. No one from the congregation would light the chalice. We would have no nursery for babies. We would have no chalice circles, no fellowship dinners, no JUC Live performances, no meals for the sick or rides for the homebound.

Without shared ministry we would not help the homeless. We would not support the human rights work of the UU Service Committee. Almost all our social action and social witness would instantly disappear.

Imagine JUC without vital, motivated, energetic, generous shared ministry. It would be awful. It wouldn’t be JUC. None of us would want any part of it.

Just as important, if you and I do not give of our selves we stunt our own growth. This is one of the great truths, and great paradoxes, of human existence: when we lose our selves in service, we find our true selves. When we give of our selves, our lives are enriched and transformed. When you and I focus just on our own needs, when we enter into relationships like consumers looking out just for our own interests, our needs are never met. Think of the most self-centered, most egotistical, person you know. Is that person’s life rich and meaningful? Would you want to trade places? Of course not. Now think of the most generous and kind and loving person you know. That person is almost certainly happy. The generous and kind person has a network of wonderful friendships and finds his or her life rich and meaningful. Someone once said that we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. It is so true.

Each of us needs to be involved in our shared ministry, not because the church needs people to do tasks, but because you and I are not whole and will not be whole until we connect with a purpose that transcends our selves. Narcissism is ultimately self destructive. Faithfulness to a noble purpose and compassion for others saves us from emptiness. Ministry saves us! Your ministry will save you; my ministry will save me. We cannot be whole until we can give. We make a life by what we give.

The real question before each of us today is not whether we should be ministers. Each of us has something vital to give. Each of us needs to give. The real question is what kind of minister you and I will be. The real question is this: what is your true ministry?

Your true ministry, my true ministry, exists where our passion and the world’s needs come together. No one is served if you or I do something we hate doing out of a distorted sense of duty. Neither is anyone served if I insist on doing something for which I have no talent or for which there is no need. Just because I love to sing does not mean it is part of my ministry. If I need to sing a solo, I should sing in the shower—when no one is home.

There are all kinds of ways to be a minister. The volunteers who worked so hard on the landscaping have helped to create a lovely and welcoming place for us all. That matters. That is ministry. The people making coffee and serving as ushers this morning are making a difference. That is ministry. When you do something that contributes, that expresses the best of who you are, and that feeds your soul, you help to make ours a richer life. That is ministry.

We need to give from deep within our selves. That does not mean that we should limit ourselves to what we are comfortable doing. Sometimes you and I need to stretch our selves, to take on a new challenge. For example, in today’s order of service there is a survey about leadership. Maybe leadership is not your strength. Or maybe it is and you have been reticent about taking a larger role. Give it some thought. Maybe it is time to stretch yourself a bit. Every leader in the world started out with no experience. What is your ministry?

In our church we place a lot of effort on helping each other find that wonderful place where passion and need meet. Dea Brayden is our volunteer coordinator. Yes, she needs you to sign up to help make coffee and usher from time to time. More importantly, she wants to help you find your ministry here.

We have a quiet, but very important, committee called the committee on ministry. Bob Drew, who did our chalice lighting, is on that committee. So is Linda Ropes, who did our reading today. The committee also includes Paula Reed, Beth Fennell, David Douglass and Chet Cromwell. This group focuses on keeping tabs on how our varied ministries are doing. They do the annual pulse of the congregation survey and run focus groups and talk to lots of people. They would love to hear your ideas and concerns. I and Todd meet with them every month.

I began today with recalling how new ministers are given stoles. I talked about my idea of passing out little stoles to each of you this morning. You know what? You are already a minister. You really are. You have an invisible stole. You wear your invisible stole every time you come here. Your contribution is essential to our ministry.

Imagine for a moment putting that invisible stole on. Pick it up slowly. Put it over your head. Congratulations! You are a minister! It is quite a feeling, isn’t it.

Now, what are you going to do with your ministry? What, indeed, are you going to do?

I can’t wait to find out. Congratulations. You’re a minister. Put on that stole. There is so very much ministry to do. Let’s get to work!

Amen.