 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
October 21, 2007
II Timothy 3:14- 4:5
The Rev. David A. Davis
“Ministry Fully Carried Out”In my first years of ministry as a young solo pastor of a 130 member congregation just off the Atlantic City Expressway not far from Camden, I had a few older, wiser pastors who gave me advice along the way; some of it personal, some of it professional. Ed Schalk just died about a month ago. He was retired before I was ordained. Ed talked to me about taking days off and saving for retirement and clergy income tax. Bob Sanders over here at the seminary, he told me to concentrate on good sermons and loving the members of your congregation. “Everything else will fall into place”, he said. Sam Apple served for thirty years for the Presbyterian Church in Camden. He gave me advice for how to handle the requests for money, and food, and bus fare that came when people stopped at the office, or at the manse which was right next to the church there off the main street in the center of town. “Never give money; give groceries, food vouchers, make an arrangement at the diner for hot meals billed to the church, befriend the gas station guys so you can pay them later if someone needs a tank of gas.” It was essential advice for me back then, all of it coming from the pastors who had the experience of pastoral ministry etched in their weathered faces. Like the Apostle Paul, writing to Timothy.
“Paul, and apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved child.” That’s how this short letter of Second Timothy begins. And what follows is advice, words of wisdom, lessons learned, both personal and professional. “Be strong in the grace that is in Jesus Christ….It is the farmer who does the work who ought to have the first share of the crops….Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by God, a worker who has no need to be ashamed…..Avoid profane chatter, for it will lead people into more and more impiety….Have nothing to do with stupid and senseless controversies, you know that they breed quarrels….proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching.”
From the veteran to the rookie, from the pro to the amateur, from father to son, knowledge passed on from one generation to the next. Yet, II Timothy and its place here in the New Testament, with it’s spot here in the canon of the scripture, it has to be more than just listening in on Timothy’s tutorial on Christian ministry. More than a little red book of lessons from an old golf pro to the next generation, more than a collection of “things our fathers taught us”, more than Tuesdays with Morrie. II Timothy, it must be more than “Fridays with Paul!” For in all of the mystery of God’s revelation, and in holding to the theological affirmation that God still speaks, and by claiming a total dependence upon God’s grace, and having seen before that the Holy Spirit is at work in our discernment and engagement of scripture, we believe that God has a word here. More than just Paul and Timothy, more than a primer for ministers just starting out, more than a collection of snippets of advice for you and for me like those that we pick up from Ann Landers, Dear Abby, and Miss Manners, we believe that God has a word, a word for the church, a word for Nassau Presbyterian Church, here and now.
To the faithful at Nassau Church, October 2007….I'n the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of Christ’s appearing and God’s kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message, be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.”
“Itching ears.” “Accumulating for themselves teachers to suit their own desires.” Preacher. Congregation . I guess we should worry if you agree with everything I say. It’s counter-intuitive in terms of job security; preaching that doesn’t simply aim to sooth your itching ears, preaching that doesn’t just try to draw a crowd. It’s hard for pastors like me who have more than their share of that unhealthy gene that causes you to avoid conflict and want to be liked. But if the gospel proclamation in this community of faith always seems to suit, if our preaching life together is one big hug, one chapter after another in Christian self-help, than I guess we aren’t being faithful to God’s call on our lives. If there isn’t some dissonance, if I am only looking to please you, if most days you don’t feel challenged, or you aren’t moved to question something I say, if you find yourself drawn here Sunday after Sunday because we think the same, believe the same, vote the same, if I only preach a gospel to which you only say “yes” and “amen” then we may be missing the mark, or falling short, or at least missing an opportunity when it comes to carrying out the mission of God in this place and at this time, when it comes to living in the presence of God , in the presence of Christ Jesus.
The Word of the Lord, from II Timothy, an Epistle of the New Testament, near the end of the canon established by the tradition, guided by the Holy Spirit, interpreted and read as a gift of grace, to the beloved church, to the community of faith that is Nassau Presbyterian Church, to the Body of Christ in this place, at this time, the hands and feet of Christ himself in the world: “As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.” Be sober, be constant, be steady, keep your head in the game, always attend to the call to ministry, never take it for granted, don’t just coast.
Endure suffering. Live through the afflictions. Acknowledge the challenges. Rise to the occasion. In good times and in bad, when celebrating and when weeping, on days when you flourish and on the nights when you just try to survive, when you come here to rejoice and when you come here to mourn. Do the work of an evangelist. Preach the Gospel. Proclaim the Good News. In word. In deed. In action. In life. In worship. In education. In youth group. In welcoming. In praying. In outreach. In witnessing to the faith. In working for justice. In yearning for righteousness. When baptizing your babies, and teaching your children, and commissioning your leaders, and visiting your sick, and burying your dead, preach the gospel. Proclaim the Good News. For Christ has Risen! He has Risen Indeed!
And carry out your ministry fully. Fully. Fully. As in fully charged, with cups overflowing, with energy uncontained, with strong and powerful voice. Fully. On all cylinders, with all parts in motion, equipped for every good work. Aware of untapped potential. Dreaming of ministry roads not yet traveled. Matching gifts from above with needs on the ground. Fully. With hearts and minds full of the gifts that God has given. With eyes full of the variety of ways those very gifts can be used to the glory of God. With spirits full of determination that this congregation, that this community of faith will shatter the trends of the limping mainline church and rise above the disagreements that threaten the Presbyterian Church (USA), that Nassau Church will be so full of life and ministry in the name of Christ, that it will spill over, out the doors, and down the street. Bursting at the seams, not just with people but bursting at the seams in our witness in our collective proclamation of the Gospel, for that is our life. Ministry fully carried out. As in fully funded, and fully supported, and fully prayed over, and daringly, faith-fully lived out here and now, right here and now in this very place, with nowhere to build and no where to park! Fully. Fully. As in “Christ dwelling in your hearts through faith; that you being rooted and grounded in love, may have the power to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3).
We have a new associate executive in the Presbytery of New Brunswick. His name his Greg Alpert. Greg’s job description includes working with congregational redevelopment. He has been looking at the statistics, mostly those of worship attendance at the more than forty Presbyterian churches here in central New Jersey. There are only six churches that have experienced that kind of growth in the last five years. For many of those churches, they’re just trying to survive. And according to Greg, the growth here at Nassau has more than offset the overall decline in the presbytery. Presbytery worship attendance shows a net growth because of you. There is a new member class meeting this morning. Counting last spring’s confirmation class, this is the fourth class in a row that will have more than 25 new members. God is not calling Nassau Church to survive. God is calling Nassau Church to carry out your ministry fully!
A colleague of mine is relatively new in his role as head of staff at one of our sister churches here in the Northeast. He pointed out to a group of us how much you can learn about a church by how it talks about its budget, how it talks about money. Their church budget is 4 million dollars, twice what ours is here. “What’s remarkable”, he said, “is that they have a 4 million dollars worth of resources for ministry and all they talk about is the $120,000 deficit over the last two years.” He is trying to get them to focus on the fullness of ministry rather than the deficits.
A five year snapshot of our budgets and our giving patterns reveals steady, moderate increase. 3% to 4%. Nassau is a financially stable ministry right now; consistent on both the revenue and the expense side of things. We’ve worked hard on administrative oversight and sound policies when it comes to the resources entrusted to us. 3 to 4 percent. We’re keeping up, really. But the truth is, God is calling us to do more. Ministry fully carried out is more than ministry that’s just keeping up. With the blessings and the resources and opportunities God has set before us, I believe God expects more from this congregation, from Nassau Presbyterian Church, October 2007.
Three or four years ago on the church mission trip to Guatemala, we visited a tiny village up in the highlands. It was village of women and children. They had organized and left a group of men who had been mistreating them and not supporting them. From the Princeton-Paramos Partnership, we were able to give them money for a diesel powered corn grinder. They had been spending hours grinding the corn with stones just to feed their children. With the machine grinder, they could take care of that necessity in minutes, thus freeing up time for other opportunities to make money and support one another. At that time we also gave six women in the village a grant of about 1800 q. (the total was about $2,000). It was an exercise in micro-lending to help them start some kind of business (chickens, handwork, something). It turns out they bought some cows.
Several years later, just this last summer, we were invited by the matriarchs back to the village. I assumed we were just going to be shown that the diesel grinder still worked. While the doctors were seeing children in the little village church, we were asked to come over to a meeting. All the women were gathered, maybe twenty or so. Younger women, the next generation as it were, they drew names from a hat. Six women were chosen. And then one at a time, each older woman presented a wad of bills, 1800q to the next businesswomen in the village. They reached in to their traditional Mayan dress, and pulled out small purses that they carried close to their heart, and they shared their blessing, returned the investment, passed it on.
It is not very often that one gets the chance to watch a parable unfold before your very eyes. The blessings, the resources, and opportunities for Nassau Presbyterian Church, we hold them close to our hearts, don’t we. So people of God, the church here and now, the Body of Christ for the world, what parable are we living now?
“As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.”
Property of Nassau Presbyterian Church
Contact the church to obtain reprint permission