09/29/2024 ~ Proper 21 ~ Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22; Psalm 124; Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29; Psalm 19:7-14; James 5:13-20; Mark 9:38-50 ~ VIDEO LIVE STREAM ON

VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1015379205

Leadership Part II

“…Moses answered, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? If only all the people of God were prophets! If Yahweh would bestow the Spirit on them all!’” — Numbers 11:29.

I think I’ve said this privately to some people here but not from the pulpit. If I have said it from the pulpit I apologize but it is worth repeating. (Slight pause.)

When I engage in pre-marital counseling— I’ve done that a number of times— I ask a very basic question. ‘When does the marriage happen?’

I’m happy to report no couple has ever given me an answer like: “Didn’t we tell you? The marriage will be Saturday, October the 5th at 2:00 o’clock.”

The real answer is both not simple and very obvious. Marriage happens when the covenant commitment is made among— note, that’s among, meaning three parties— marriage happens when the covenant commitment is made among two people who are getting married and God. That is a three way covenant.

A covenant commitment might happen some time before the ceremony or might not happen for months, years. But it’s unlikely to happen as the ceremony is unfolding.

Do note: pastors in America act as agents of the state at the ceremony, at weddings. In terms of the law I often tell people they are about to enter the wild, wacky, wonderful, strange world of American contract law. So from a legal perspective marriage, the ceremony, is about a contract.

But from a faith standpoint marriage is about covenant. To be clear, covenant is not a contract. It never was.

Yes, rituals of passage are important markers. So to say the marriage happens when the commitment to covenant becomes realized does not diminish the ceremony.

So what’s the ceremony really about other than a contract? Here’s my take: the ceremony is about gathering family and friends and inviting their blessing and the blessing of God.

Therefore, to ask when the marriage happens and say it’s about covenant commitment among the two people and God is to uncover a very complex concept. Why? Well, let’s ask what is covenant and, therefore, a covenant commitment really about? (Slight pause.)

Yes, covenant is a commitment. It is a commitment to growth— growth in learning, in engagement, in spirit, in wisdom, in love. A Christian marriage it is a commitment before God, with God, through God, in companionship with God and with another person. Striving to grow should be a given.

But that raises many questions. What happens when one person in a covenant in some way— mentally, physically— is not able to grow? What happens when one person in a covenant in some way simply refuses to grow?

You’ll be relieved to know I’m not going to tackle those questions since my comments might last a couple hours. The aspect of covenant I want to consider is not about we humans but I want to ask the question ‘Where is God in a covenant?’ (Slight pause.)

These words are found in the work known as Numbers: “…Moses answered, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? If only all the people of God were prophets! If Yahweh would bestow the Spirit on them all!’” (Slight pause.)

The Israelites think of Moses as their leader. Why not? Moses is charismatic, gifted, filled with the Spirit, speaks with God, speaks for God to the community, intercedes with God on behalf of the people. Leadership is embedded the story of Moses and especially in this story.

But what happens? There are complaints. Then at the end of today’s reading the complainers say people other than those assigned to prophesy are being prophetic.

Now, over time and through the leadership of Moses this community has had a formation experience in both the Exodus and the Sinai events. But now this community has entered a different phase— a wilderness phase, a wilderness… experience.

And so when, where and perhaps even why does this conflict, this complaining happen? It happens in the wilderness. Could it be the charisma of Moses has lost some of its gleam? Yes, time does that. But perhaps the people are also puzzled, confused, lost. It is wilderness.

Questions are raised: where are we going? What was done wrong? Who got us here? Whose fault is this? Who is in charge? And who allowed these upstarts to prophesy? Let’s… find… someone… to… blame.

Moses is a convenient target. Even Moses complains. But Moses complains to God— God— the only one to whom anyone should complain.

Let’s come back to the question, ‘Where is God in the covenant?’— I want to suggest in complaining to God Moses has it right. Moses complains but then Moses also listened to God. What has Moses heard? (Slight pause.)

Moses has heard from God that God is present, there, real— that God seeks to be present, there, real to everyone and for everyone. And this God who is there for everyone seeks covenant. (Slight pause.) What does this say to us?

I think it says we need to be like Moses. We need to listen to and for God. We need to be confident God is there for all of us, present to all of us, with all of us.

Please note: I am not and have not addressed results. Indeed, the Israelites are still in the wilderness. The land of promise is not yet in sight. But being confident God is there— present to us, with us, is not the same as having an expectation about results. It’s simply being in the moment, living in the moment with God.

And living in the moment is what Moses did and to place to where Moses strives to lead the people. That is, in fact, what leadership in a community of faith really means. Leadership is not about figuring out what program or planning is needed and what any expectations attendant to planing and programing will be.

Leadership in a community of faith is about asking a key question: to where is God calling the entire community of faith? Let me be clear. I am not bad-mouthing programs or planning. I am saying if leadership fails to ask to where is God calling the community of faith, programs and planning will… not… matter.

Why won’t they matter? Programs, planning may turn out to be very successful in human terms. But we need to ask ‘does that human success fulfill being in covenant with God?’ To often we confuse human success with the where God might be leading us— often two different things. (Slight pause.)

This is a quote from Óscar Romero, Catholic Archbishop in El Salvador, who was assassinated while celebrating Mass. “A church that does not provoke any crisis, preach a Gospel that unsettles, proclaims a Word that fails to get under anyone’s skin, a Word that fails to touch the real brokenness of the society in which it is being proclaimed, what kind of Gospel is that church preaching?” (Slight pause.)

I think Romero had it right. God always calls the community of faith to be provocative, unsettling in our society and among the congregation God has gathered.

Equally, I think this reading tells us something very important. Leaders, no matter how charismatic, can only take a community so far. Ideally, in a church, a congregation, the whole community of faith needs to be involved, needs to have a voice. (Slight pause.)

That brings up two points. First, it is the work of every person in the community of faith to listen for and listen to God. Equally, it is the work of every person in the community of faith to understand the covenant God offers means God is there for us, present to us, with us. (Slight pause.)

So, for what are we listening? Before programs and planning are considered every person in the community of faith should be listening for the covenant of God Who calls us to be committed to covenant growth— growth in learning, growth in engagement, growth in the spirit, growth in wisdom, growth in love.

As Archbishop Romero suggested, our work is to preach the Gospel. From what I hear the Gospel provokes, unsettles, gets under the skin, identifies the brokenness in society. Why can we say society has been broken? Why can we describe society that way? Tell me, has human society ever been a place where everyone feels loved, wanted, protected, encouraged to grow? (Slight pause.)

The call of the Gospel is clear. Everyone should feel loved, wanted, protected, encouraged to grow. That happens when the whole community is committed to covenant— committed to growth in learning, in engagement, in the spirit, in wisdom, in love. When that does happen then the whole community becomes committed to leading within the walls of this Meeting House and beyond the walls of this Meeting House. Amen.

09/29/2024
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “Now I know this is going to ask you to shuffle some paper back and forth because you have to come back to the hymn but please do me a favor, turn to the Call to Worship in the bulletin and find the sentence which reads, ‘Let the Glory of God abide in this place. It’s the last sentence in the Call to Worship. You will notice the word Glory is capitalized. That is not a typographical error. The word glory appears many times in the Hebrew Scriptures. The underlying Hebrew word is Kabod. Kabod indicates the real presence of God is being addressed and that’s why Glory is capitalized there. Kabod— the real presence of God is with us. So indeed, as a congregation, as a community of faith, let us commit to covenant growth and recognize the reality of the real presence of God.”

BENEDICTION: We are called to care in a world which can be uncaring, commissioned as lovers among some who may offer back indifference. Know this: God is with us in all our days. So, let us go forth knowing that the grace of God is deeper than our imagination, the strength of Christ is stronger than our need and the communion of the Holy Spirit is richer than all our togetherness. May God guide and sustain us today and in all our tomorrows. Amen.