Theological Conference Sermon: Anxious Times

It was indeed a gift to be able to gather with rostered and professional church leaders at our recent RMS Theological Conference under the theme "Gifted to Grow".  We had wonderful speakers that invited us to ponder anew where the Spirit is calling us as church, and what it means to model a life actually rooted in the very grace of God we proclaim.  We were inspired by song and silence, conversation and fellowship, worship and prayer.  We are deeply grateful for Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, who graciously provided the space and volunteers that allowed us to move our Conference from flood-impacted Estes Park at very short notice.  Below is my sermon from our closing worship.

Mark 4:26-33     +     26 September 2013     +     Bishop Jim Gonia

My brothers and sisters in Christ:  grace, mercy and peace be with you, from our God who is Love and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Carrie Newcomer sings at the 2013
RMS Theological Conference.
(photo by Dale Horkey)

“Grant me, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things but to love things heavenly …”  Sound familiar?  Those are the opening words of the prayer we used multiple times this week as we prayed the hours.  Did you happen to notice those words this week?  I certainly did.  Maybe it’s because we live in anxious times, or because recent events – the floods here and tragedies elsewhere – have made life even more anxious.  Maybe it’s because we live in a reality where there’s always so much more to do than there is time to accomplish it.  I’m not immune:  as much as I want to lean into this sacred time and space of worship, I’ll admit that my hands are just itching to get to work on all those email that have been piling up these last few days! 

I suspect the real reason this prayer about anxiety over earthly things caught my attention is because of my own anxiety over your anxiety – especially in light of this theme:  Gifted to Grow – whose great idea was that?!  As I’ve visited with any number of you, I kept hearing stories these past few days of how hard it is to feel like your ministry is thriving in situations where those butts and bucks continue to be in decline – or the support you need from the leadership of your congregation or ministry just isn’t there.  The anxiety comes when we all realize that if we continue to face the losses in attendance and resources that we’re experiencing, if we can’t work with our leadership to address the kind of change needed to move ahead, then it’s not only the future of our church that’s at stake – it our jobs, our livelihoods.  It’s kind of hard to focus on being gifted to grow when you’re working as hard as you can and you can’t even seem to break even.

Enter today’s text – this first odd little parable found only in Mark, which happens to be one of my favorites.  Now depending on where you’re at, you may hear this as law – or you may hear this as gospel.  O great paradox … perhaps it’s both at the same time.  The story speaks of one who scatters seed in the field – we’ve heard that before – but here’s the twist – this time it appears that we’re the sower, we’re the planter.   We plant the seed and then we sleep and rise night and day  … and lo and behold – it grows!  We know not how.  We know not how!  But at least we have the smarts to gather the harvest once the fruit is ripe.

What does this mean?  It seems pretty clear to me.  My beloved in Christ:  there is nothing you can do to make growth happen.  You can scatter the seeds in your congregation or ministry, and you can help gather the harvest if and when it comes, but the growth part – that is out of your control. 

There it is – it’s that simple.   There is nothing you can do to make your ministry grow.  The same is true for me:  Bishop Jim, there’s nothing you can do to make growth in this synod take place. 

Like I said – this is either really good news or really bad news.  It’s bad news for those of us who have been working our tails off with the sowing and planting.  If you’re like me you’re convinced that with just a little more time, a little more effort dedicated to the task, the growth we long for will take place – right?

Interestingly enough, the contrary is true as well.  There’s nothing you can do to prevent growth in your ministry or congregation.  True, you can be pretty inept at the planting or tending – we all have the capacity to muck things up quite a bit … but at the end of the day, even our ineffectiveness doesn’t necessarily keep growth from happening.  Because growth is not our business – it’s God’s.  It is the realm of the Holy Spirit. 

I’m not saying we don’t have our parts to play – but I am saying that growth itself is not in your control or mine.  That may frustrate you to hear – at the end of the day, I hope it frees you.

Let me share two quick stories.  The first is all too familiar.  One of the most gifted pastors I knew in this synod, who now serves elsewhere, received a call at one of our smaller congregations that was struggling to survive.  If anyone could turn it around, this person could.  And they tried – they used every possible idea they could imagine to bring that place to life, to bring new life.  And for a while it seemed like things would make it … but over time the entrenched ways of being took hold again and when this pastor finally left to take a new call, someone was brought in to accompany this congregation to its close.  All the effort in the world on the part of this pastor did not result in growth.

Story two:  after graduating from college my first job was to serve as a youth director.  I came to serve a church that had an explosion of Southeast Asian youth and their families.  The pastor who served that congregation had been called several years earlier to accompany this aging congregation in its final years.  It wasn’t a question of IF it would die, just when.  Not long after he arrived, suddenly, there was this influx of new folks, not in dribbles but in masses.  And let me say this as gently as I can:  this pastor was not gifted in cross-cultural ministry.  This was not the first person you would have chosen for facilitating growth of a Southeast Asian population amid an aging Anglo congregation.  And yet despite his lack of preparation for this particular ministry, growth took place.  And in took place in big ways.  In fact, that amazing growth in the early 1980’s led this congregation over time to become one of the most diverse and dynamics congregations, even today. 

So there you have it – noble effort leading to no growth.  No effort resulting in phenomenal growth.  It doesn’t make sense.  It doesn’t seem fair.  Why do we even try?  Why can’t God put growth in our control?

It’s a good thing we’re not stopping there.  We have this second parable – the parable of the mustard seed in which this seemingly unimpressive, unimportant seed contains within it the capacity for producing amazing fruits.  What is required of the seed?  Only to offer itself freely, so that that from the inherent giftedness contained within, the miracle of growth might take place, and fruits beyond our wildest imaginings might be produced.  Turns out that growth happens when we allow God to draw forth the inherent gifts that are needed at any particular moment for the sake of an outcome that is beyond our imagining.

But what about that pastor whose noble and relentless efforts failed to produce “growth” in the congregation … there weren’t any fruits there – the congregation died!  Wait!  What did we hear from Tammy last Tuesday about healing?  “Healing includes death among the blessed outcomes of care.”  What is true for individuals is also true for congregations:  death is a blessed and acceptable outcome of care for a congregation.  The gifts of that pastor offered in love for the sake of the congregation didn’t produce exponential growth, but it doesn’t mean there wasn’t growth.  In the face of blessed death, there is all kinds of growth:  growth in depth, growth in connectivity, growth in gratitude for all that has been, growth in mystery and wonder for how God accompanies us even in such moments.  And at the end of the day, the death of that congregation meant life and new growth for any number of other ministries. 

My beloved, growth itself – the kind of growth the offering of our gifts produces – is not ours to control.  Our call is to offer our gifts, to help draw forth the gifts of our congregations and ministries ,so that the God of growth may surprise us with an outcome beyond our wildest imaginings.

And what about that pastor and his congregation that grew so unexpectedly despite his lack of specific gifts for the task?  It turns out that one of that pastor’s gifts, the mustard seed he could offer, was the ability to recognize that his own skills didn’t match the context.  Which is why he enlisted others who did have the skills sets that God could use as tools for the sake of growing a community in which the most unlikely of neighbors – old Norwegian white haired ladies and young Cambodian kids right off the “boat” could all find a place at the table together.   That was the real growth, you see – not the numbers of folks who showed up but that fact that this rather closed self-identified congregation had its boundaries stretched in such a way that the Spirit produced a community that could gather around a table where everybody really did have a place … where everyone was able to catch a glimpse of what the kingdom of God actually looks like on this side of eternity!

So my beloved – take heart in the fact that growth is not your business!  Because it’s not: it’s God’s.  Trust the gifts you’ve been given – offer them again this day without attachment to the kinds of fruits God may choose to produce from them – it may surprise you indeed.  Take heart in the fact that no gift given and offered is ever wasted in God’s economy.  Be ready to be surprised by what God’s growth looks like.

And as we now gather at this table, where there is a place for all, where Christ says “I am here, I am now”, may we – those gifted by God to grow – join in prayer:

“Grant that we, Lord, may not be anxious about earthly things, but love things heavenly.   And even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  AMEN