Reflection by David for July 24, 2010

On Christine's "De-covenanting" with Nelson United Church

Let me begin this short sermon time by repeating a poem that Christine and I first learned when we did some team building back in March. I start with this poem because one of the difficult things that comes with being in ministry is that you sow seeds and don't always see the seeds bear fruit. This poem is about letting go of the need for success and trusting in the love of God to nurture seeds to new plants to bear fruit. This is the poem by Dawna Markova.

I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible;
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance,
to live
so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom,
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.

So often when clergy get together, not so much in my experience but from the experience of friends and colleagues in ministry, there can be a lot of rivalry. There can be the comparing of the numbers, of size, of programs, of busyness and so on. Some clergy, like any profession, look for signs of accomplishment to feel that their ministry in a congregation has been successful.

What Jesus suggests, though, an idea that Dawna Markova repeats in her poem, is that we are not about success and achievement. In ministry, weÑand I mean all of us in this community of faithÑare about faithfulness, about love, about compassion, about justice. The Commonwealth of Heaven, Jesus reminds us, is like a mustard seed or leavening when making breadÑgluten free, of courseÑor fine pearls or a treasure in a field. Jesus is speaking metaphorically about what we value rather than about what we achieve. And it is important to value one another and the love that we share rather than to be successful as a minister or as a congregation.

Part of the reason that we can't measure the achievement of success of the Commonwealth of God is that it is too unpredictable. God is unpredictable, the Spirit is unpredictable, ministry is unpredictable, life is unpredictable. Mustard seeds were very small and were like the many invasive plants that we have today growing around here. Farmers would not have been happy to find mustard seeds growing in their fields. The mustard seed is hard to see and blows where it will. The other parables mention things that are hard to see. Pearls are hard to find, but rewarding when you do. It is rare to find a treasure in a field, but a real boon if you do. Fishing can be hit and miss. Leavening is a mystery in terms of how it works.

In our world, at all times and ages, we want answers. We want to be able to draw boundaries around the Commonwealth of God. We want neat rows in which to sow the mustard seeds. We want an easy catch of fish, to know for sure that when we dive for pearls we will find some. We want to know beforehand that the field we are interested in will have a treasure in it.

But, as the popular song says in More Voices, "my love colours outside the lines, exploring paths that few could ever find; and takes me into places where I've never been before, and opens doors to worlds outside the line." (More Voices # 138) In the words of another hymn from Voices United that we're singing today, "When pain of the World surrounds us with darkness and despair; when searching just confounds us with false hopes everywhere. When lives are starved for meaning and destiny is bare, we are called to follow Jesus and let God's healing flow through us." (Voices United 598) Or let God's justice flow through us, or God's spirit or God's changes.

All of this is leading me to say that Christine has been good at, successful even!, in holding out this mystery as a good thing. Life's unpredictability is a gift not a curse, even though sometimes it feels like a curse. Christine has kept reminding us that even in the midst of uncertainty, despair, the dark of night, and outside of the boundaries, God's love is ever-present. God's presence is assured. Her favourite psalm is the one we read last week, Psalm 139: "Where can I flee from your Spirit? Where can I escape you, my God? If I flee to the farthest most points of the ocean, you are there. Even if I make my bed in the place of the dead, you are there, too!"

Christine takes this gift of ministry with her and leaves the seeds of love and compassion here for God and all of us to nurture and fertilize and help grow. And I say thank you for your ministry among and with us. And thank God for your gifts that you now take with you to Kimberley. To you and Jody, we say fare thee well and God be with you.

Amen.