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By John T. Crestwell, Jr.
September 18, 2005
I shared with Rev. Don my
sermon title for this morning and he said, “That’s a good topic for
a first-year minister.” I didn’t ask him what that meant but I think
he was trying to say that this sort of message is good for a new
minister because it gives them—it give me the opportunity to sort of
lay out my beliefs—my systematic theology of what a minister is and
what ministry means to me—what you can expect of me and what I
expect of you as we enter into covenant together.
As I began doing my research this week, I first thought I would go
to very successful ministers and ministries and see how they define
what a minister is. Perhaps I could make some calls or read about
very successful UU ministers past and present… This was my first
thought. But upon further reflection, I discovered that this was one
of those moments when it wasn’t what momma or daddy or ministers
past and present felt but what does John Crestwell feel a minister
is?
Well, John Crestwell decided to go to his good friend Webster—you
know--the dictionary. Perhaps this would help get the journey of
writing this sermon started…
Webster said that the word minister is a Latin word meaning
“servant” or “attendant”. Of course, my first thought was, well I
guess I’ll be bringing tea coffee with my visits? J
But then I thought on this deeper, realizing that being of service
is a good thing. Yesterday, I witnessed a bunch of folk attending to
the service of their church. As you can see as you look around,
windows are shining, the grass is cut, the landscaping looks very
landscaped, the minister’s study looks like a study instead of a
multi-purpose room; the stage has miraculously shrunk; we have
rearranged the seating; the stage where I’m standing is different;
and the choir is now stage left… That’s a lot of service in one day!
Amen. We are preparing for next Sunday at 5pm and of course I CAN’T
WAIT!
But these committed people are an example of what a minister is and
does. Yes, a minister is a servant. He or she has to do the “dirty
work” sometimes… But we are servants, not in the sense of doing
chores (although I did my share of cleaning yesterday—and have the
allergies to prove it) rather, a minister is called to serve his or
her congregation in three ways… We are called to preach, to teach,
and to visit.
To preach - A minister serves the church as the voice of the
congregation. He or she is the local leader of the tribe, so to
speak, and the minister relays the concerns of the congregation to
its members and when necessary to the district or denomination or to
the community at large. He or she takes the vision and mission the
church has and helps all those involved to stay on course—to stay
focused on the ultimate goal. If the church has no vision, the
minister assists in formulating one as “where there is no vision the
people perish.” Now, it is not the minister’s job to be in every
aspect, every nook and cranny of the vision or the church’s
organization, rather he or she is simply a mouth-piece to the
congregation that they should remember the covenant or agreement
they made--to follow their vision, especially when it is easy to get
bogged down in many particulars. So the minister as preacher must
stand on his or her soap box and say over and over, “Be focused, be
deliberate, and be determined and you will fulfill your dream!”
The minister’s job is not to preach on all of the feel-good topics
(they have their place), but to also preach on those things that
push and prod and agitate and nudge so that the members have a sense
of what living up the tenants of the faith and to their vision
really means. For no real faith or vision comes without some price,
some pain, some needed growth; and so, the minister as preacher,
reminds the members of this fact.
I have also learned that the preacher must speak truth to power as
they see it. In seminary my professor called it “Prophetic
preaching”. That is, your words speak to what is real in the world
today. It’s what Walter Rauschenbusch called the “Social Gospel”
where your words are not about the “by & by” that “heaven-ology”;
it’s not about something that could happen 100 or 1000 years from
now, or about how to relax or keep your blood pressure down. But a
real, authentic and prophetic word talks about feeding the hungry,
clothing the naked; it preaches that we must make the world aware of
a narcissistic capitalism, it speaks to us saying that we must speak
out against the injustices that are ever-present in our world. And
so, the preacher as servant is indeed servant of the members but
more than that he or she is a servant of humanity. You see, the call
to be a minister comes long before a congregation accepts the person
as their minister. The first call to serve comes from within. It is
that personal message from the Universe that says to the minister,
“Are you willing to stand up for justice and freedom; are you
willing to die for what you believe?” And the truly called minister
can answer: “Yes, I am willing, here I am, use me, even me. I will
hold the people in my heart.” Therefore, a minister is called to
serve as preacher and the message brought comes from the vision of
the church but also from the call that is on the heart of the
minister.
The minister is also called to teach. I can hear you saying “teach
what? I’m a Unitarian, I know everything already.” I’m sure you do…
The best illustration of this can be found in a book I’m reading The
Laughing Jesus—a new book by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, two neo-gnostics
who conclude that original Christianity was gnostic including the
Apostle Paul. Their book talks about how there was an Initiator who
took Initiates through many rituals to help them discover the real
meaning of life. The Gnostics believed the stories in the Bible were
not meant to be taken literal—none of them. In fact, they are all
metaphorical; the stories are allegorical myths that point back to
us.
Ultimately, baptism and resurrection and communion meant you
must die and be reborn to the real you, heaven and hell, represent
states of thought or consciousness (you’ve heard me preach on this
recently). But, the point is the Initiator acted as facilitator to
help point the way so that the Initiate found his or her own path;
and he was careful they not look at his finger, less they lose their
focus by forgetting that the master they sought was the master
within. One other point is that when you reach “gnosis” (we get the
word diagnosis from this ancient term). It means “knowing”— you
know, you’ve figured life out. Well once you achieve gnosis, you
know what you know and supposedly this realization makes you see
that life is fleeting and sick in need of many physicians; and so
the inner call comes to you and it says, “Live to give. Live to
serve. Become an Initiator and open other people’s minds, so they
too can do the same to others.” That makes my point for me this
morning. You see, a minister, as a teacher, is the Initiator, the
spiritual guide, pointing the finger at you helping to remind you of
the greatness within. We are facilitators that lead you to becoming
the best you—you can become; to help you see very clearly that you
are the “master of your fate and the captain of your soul.” The goal
for us is that we will help create committed members who begin their
own ministries whether in the church or somewhere else. The greatest
thing a minister would ever want to see is an entire church that is
lay-inspired and lay-empowered; a ministry centered church when
helping people materially and spiritually are the only concerns of
the members.
Lastly, a minister is a visitor. This is true in two ways. The
minister is not necessarily a long-term member of a church. Because
of their personal vision and depending on many circumstances,
ministers come and go. Now, I hope to be with you a good long while
but life, indeed, is fleeting so we will take it one day a time. I
know that I am a temporary steward and that we ministers are
pilgrims on our own journey. So when I see members and ministers
leave, it reminds me that we are a family but we ministers and
members come and go. It is a fact in ministry. It is a fact of life.
WE ARE ALL VISITORS. That’s why the vision is vital. When the
church has a vision—the fire in its belly, the torch naturally
passes to the next person, minister or member, who is willing to
serve. The work continues to get done.
Beyond the temporary nature of church-life, ministers are visitors
of members in the church. This is a very crucial aspect of ministry
but comes with an interesting twist… You see, we earn the title
Reverend. We get our degree, get through all of the paperwork, get a
church to ordain us and “poof” we are Reverend. But to become
someone’s minister is different. To become the person folk call when
they are hurting and down or happy and excited, that is something
else. The church can call you as their minister but that does not
mean you are THEIR minister. People make you THEIR minister. Let me
let you in on a little secret: Ministers love being YOUR minister if
you give us a chance! We ego trip off of it you know. It’s like a
good glass of wine. We want to believe we are making a difference
in your life so when you call and say, “I need to sit down and talk
with you…” or “Can we have a brief conversation?” we feel our
three-fold ministry is complete. Unfortunately this is the hardest
part for many church-folk because many of you think you are
actualized Gnostic Initiators already and so you can’t let it be
seen that you have this need or that hurt that needs a ministerial
touch. Listen, we all have issues, whether you are the Dali Lama
or…I don’t know…Arnold on “Different Strokes”, we all have things we
need to get off our chest.
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