Excerpts from Pastor Karen’s Sermon on October 28th
“So,” asks Jesus of the blindman, Bartimaeus, “what do you want me to do for you?” Does Bartimaeus say “I don’t know”? Did he say, “I don’t care”? Or how about, “Your call – do whatever you want.” Not on a bet! He says, “My teacher, let me see again.”
And Jesus did. (See Mk 10:46-52)
What do you need? What do you want? Where do you want to get to? How do you want to go? Those are the questions that God asks us every day. Sadly, too often we are not listening… or, perhaps, we just don’t know the answers… or believe that God can really help.
But, boy, do we want to be asked. Asked the big questions – what we need, what we want, where we’re going, how we want to get there… as individuals and as a congregation.
That’s what we hoped to do for each other at the SCC Summit on October 21 – ask the big questions. I was thrilled to see such a substantial and engaged turnout. This is such important work. Thank you.
By my read, we identified the four areas that most merit our energy, creativity, and prayer: Ministry to children and youth topped the “Leader Board.” Number two was worship as the center of our lives together.
Three and four are both ministries in their own right AND critical tools for the work we seek to do. In no particular order, they are Communications and Stewardship.
The strong and shared outcry to renew, restore and revitalize our ministry to children, youth and families makes my heart sing. Your intensity about making it happen is a huge relief to me… so long as it actually comes with hands – lots of hands — to help with the hard-but-oh-so-rewarding work of crafting the program, staffing the program and attracting the people it will serve in ways we can support and sustain going forward.
That, in conjunction with the inclusive, expansive, potentially multi-faceted jewel of life-giving, heart-soothing, spirit-soaring worship — and the related desire to deepen our relationships with one another and those whom we would welcome into the church family — will go a long way toward our ultimate goal: to renew, restore and revitalize the whole congregation. Music is clearly a huge part of that. And me. And, even more, YOU… and those who will join you in those pews.
It is going to take our creativity, patience, commitment and sacrifice to grow and nurture those twin ministries. They are complementary components of a well-balanced, healthy church. They also compete for the time, talent and treasure we have at our disposal. Particularly now, in the construction or re-construction phase.
This is an amazing church and you inspire an impressive commitment from everyone who’s stepped up to the plate. But there is a limit to what you can do with a shoestring and a string of already-more-than-fully-engaged folks who have only so many faithful fingers to shove in the leaks in the dike. Some things were bound to give… and they did.
But it’s not permanent. God is renewing and restoring God’s creation every day, in every way. We can get in on that, too.
We clearly want to. Our challenge is “How.” And, as we wrestled with a bit last week, “Why.”
Ministry is a mutual work of recognition and empowerment. We are the bearers of blessings. God provides. And God endows us with graces and gifts that we find in ourselves and lift up in one another to accomplish the work at hand.
We are already well along in asking ourselves what we want to do, where we want to go and what we want to accomplish. We’ve got this. But not alone. We need each other. And we need God.
Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”
Bartimaeus had an answer. Do we?
See you in church!
Pastor Karen