Reconciling Dreams and Visions
1 Chronicles 15:16-21; 2 Corinthians 5:16-6:2; Romans 12
January 30, 2011
What is your ministry at Clarendon Presbyterian Church?
For years I’ve harbored this daydream vision of stepping to a pulpit, putting out a provocative question or observation and then just sitting down. Our regular, every Sunday note in the bulletin naming all the members as the ministers of the church prompted this one. What is your ministry?
A colleague for whom I have a great deal of respect recommends that pastors offer up their “dream sermon” or “state of the church” at least once a year. I don’t suppose that I am particularly unusual among pastors in having more dreams for the church than any one sermon can express. You want to know my dreams and visions for church? Well, do you have a week or two to talk about it?
But one simple dream is that at any point someone could stand up here, ask that question – what is your ministry at CPC – and everybody would have an answer that names their own part in the mission and ministry of this community.
One might say, “my ministry is hospitality” while another might say, “I help feed the hungry.” Someone else might say, “my ministry is educating our children” and another might say, “I lead parts of worship.”
“I provide care for our elderly to help them stay connected even though they can’t make it to worship.”
“I do outreach to the unchurched in the metro corridor.”
“My ministry is helping the people make a joyful noise in praising God.”
“I work for justice for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender folk in the church and the community.”
“My ministry is helping people develop their spiritual lives more fully.”
“My ministry is working to reduce gun violence in metro DC.”
“I do liturgical arts, so I guess I’m part of the ministry of beauty.”
There are, of course, many more ministries going on here than the ones I’ve named, but all of the ones I’ve named are happening.
As Paul put it to the church in Corinth and again to the one in Rome, together we are the body of Christ and individually members of it. We do not all have the same gifts, so we do not all offer the same ministry, but together we make up the whole body. The ministry that we share together is what Paul called “the ministry of reconciliation” and it involves being reconciled to one another and to God.
He spelled out what it looks like, too:
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
This is how we do what we do. That is how we do who we are. There is a deep congruency between the way we are together and the purposes for which we are together. Means and ends meet in Christ.
Not to go all Presbyterian on you or anything, but I believe that it’s fair to say that we are about “the great ends of the church,” as our Book of Order – the constitution of the Presbyterian Church – names these foundational purposes of the church. What are we here for? We are here to be the church, to do ministry. We are here:
To proclaim the gospel for the salvation of humankind;
To shelter, nurture and provide spiritual fellowship for the children of God;
To maintain divine worship;
To preserve the truth;
To promote social righteousness; and
To exhibit to the world the kingdom of God.
In a few minutes, when we gather downstairs for our annual meeting, we’ll talk about the ways we put flesh on these particular bones that support the body of Christ. We’ll talk about the ministry teams that structure our work, and I hope that each of you will see yourselves engaged and involved in some aspect of our common life and work.
My dreams for the church, for Clarendon Presbyterian Church, in the year of our Lord 2011, focus in on our common ministry, and were shaped to a great extent by the series of small group gatherings that we held last fall. More than 75 percent of our members participated in one of these. Frankly most of those who did not participate missed out because we did not get the last one scheduled soon enough and we ran into the holidays.
Several key things came out of those gatherings, and when we gather downstairs you will hear a little more about one in particular – the new music staff position that session approved that was developed in direct response to your hopes expressed through those gatherings.
One other key finding from those gatherings – and one that speaks directly to the dream I have for this community – was an oft-repeated desire to have more opportunities to be together in small groups. Our ministry – your ministry – in this congregation is directed by small groups that we call ministry teams. During the coming year we are going to work to make these groups more than mere planning groups, more than mere task forces, more than committees by another name. We want them to be the place where we go deeply into our faith and spiritual lives and into our life together, and then from that deep place of common faithfulness these same small groups become the place that we then go out into ministry, into our several callings that together we might be more fully the body of Christ.
My dream for the church is that we might, each of us, find our own calling in that ministry; that we might find in that calling some deep and profound hope, and that we might, each of us, be able to give an account of the hope that is within us. For when we share that hope with the world we not only cast a vision of a reconciled world, we begin to bring it to life right here, right now.
January 30, 2011
What is your ministry at Clarendon Presbyterian Church?
For years I’ve harbored this daydream vision of stepping to a pulpit, putting out a provocative question or observation and then just sitting down. Our regular, every Sunday note in the bulletin naming all the members as the ministers of the church prompted this one. What is your ministry?
A colleague for whom I have a great deal of respect recommends that pastors offer up their “dream sermon” or “state of the church” at least once a year. I don’t suppose that I am particularly unusual among pastors in having more dreams for the church than any one sermon can express. You want to know my dreams and visions for church? Well, do you have a week or two to talk about it?
But one simple dream is that at any point someone could stand up here, ask that question – what is your ministry at CPC – and everybody would have an answer that names their own part in the mission and ministry of this community.
One might say, “my ministry is hospitality” while another might say, “I help feed the hungry.” Someone else might say, “my ministry is educating our children” and another might say, “I lead parts of worship.”
“I provide care for our elderly to help them stay connected even though they can’t make it to worship.”
“I do outreach to the unchurched in the metro corridor.”
“My ministry is helping the people make a joyful noise in praising God.”
“I work for justice for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender folk in the church and the community.”
“My ministry is helping people develop their spiritual lives more fully.”
“My ministry is working to reduce gun violence in metro DC.”
“I do liturgical arts, so I guess I’m part of the ministry of beauty.”
There are, of course, many more ministries going on here than the ones I’ve named, but all of the ones I’ve named are happening.
As Paul put it to the church in Corinth and again to the one in Rome, together we are the body of Christ and individually members of it. We do not all have the same gifts, so we do not all offer the same ministry, but together we make up the whole body. The ministry that we share together is what Paul called “the ministry of reconciliation” and it involves being reconciled to one another and to God.
He spelled out what it looks like, too:
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
This is how we do what we do. That is how we do who we are. There is a deep congruency between the way we are together and the purposes for which we are together. Means and ends meet in Christ.
Not to go all Presbyterian on you or anything, but I believe that it’s fair to say that we are about “the great ends of the church,” as our Book of Order – the constitution of the Presbyterian Church – names these foundational purposes of the church. What are we here for? We are here to be the church, to do ministry. We are here:
To proclaim the gospel for the salvation of humankind;
To shelter, nurture and provide spiritual fellowship for the children of God;
To maintain divine worship;
To preserve the truth;
To promote social righteousness; and
To exhibit to the world the kingdom of God.
In a few minutes, when we gather downstairs for our annual meeting, we’ll talk about the ways we put flesh on these particular bones that support the body of Christ. We’ll talk about the ministry teams that structure our work, and I hope that each of you will see yourselves engaged and involved in some aspect of our common life and work.
My dreams for the church, for Clarendon Presbyterian Church, in the year of our Lord 2011, focus in on our common ministry, and were shaped to a great extent by the series of small group gatherings that we held last fall. More than 75 percent of our members participated in one of these. Frankly most of those who did not participate missed out because we did not get the last one scheduled soon enough and we ran into the holidays.
Several key things came out of those gatherings, and when we gather downstairs you will hear a little more about one in particular – the new music staff position that session approved that was developed in direct response to your hopes expressed through those gatherings.
One other key finding from those gatherings – and one that speaks directly to the dream I have for this community – was an oft-repeated desire to have more opportunities to be together in small groups. Our ministry – your ministry – in this congregation is directed by small groups that we call ministry teams. During the coming year we are going to work to make these groups more than mere planning groups, more than mere task forces, more than committees by another name. We want them to be the place where we go deeply into our faith and spiritual lives and into our life together, and then from that deep place of common faithfulness these same small groups become the place that we then go out into ministry, into our several callings that together we might be more fully the body of Christ.
My dream for the church is that we might, each of us, find our own calling in that ministry; that we might find in that calling some deep and profound hope, and that we might, each of us, be able to give an account of the hope that is within us. For when we share that hope with the world we not only cast a vision of a reconciled world, we begin to bring it to life right here, right now.
posted by David Ensign at
1:09 PM
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