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WHAT IS A MINISTER?
by John T. Crestwell, Jr.

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. 

Let me say this, reach out to us.   Call Don—call me.  We want to do our jobs.  We live to do it.  It gives us meaning and purpose.  Now, for you to begin to reach out more, you cannot be so “grown-up” about it.  What am I talking about?  Well, you have to be sort of like Kennedy, my daughter.  As I wrote this sermon this week, she came to me on many occasions: “Daddy, I need some paper.  Daddy, JT’s bothering me.  Daddy, can I use your computer so I can go to Barbie.com?  Daddy, when can I have another ‘daddy day’?”   Now, is she worried that I’m busy or don’t want to hear about her concerns?  Does my little Boo Boo think I am going to say, “Get away from me” although she can be a lot to handle at times!  Kennedy knows her daddy will answer her and deal with her need, perhaps not always when she likes but eventually I will address the need.  I really believe a child wrote the words, “Ask and it shall be given”!  But somehow we adults forget the power of asking and reaching out as if it is beneath us.  I think we all must “seek the spirit of a child, the child who meets life naturally, the child who sings the world alive and greets the morning sun with glee.”  I think we all must “seek the freedom of the child, a child who loves instinctively, who lights our day with just a smile, and shines that light on all we see.”  Yes, we must all “seek the wonder of a child, a child who sees delightfully, now clowns in cloud, now gold in sun, imaginations true and free.  Children are real beyond all fears.  May I see.” May WE see!

Sometimes when you talk with your minister, we won’t have anything to say, we’ll just grunt a little bitJ. But I know this from my brief experience you will feel better just to have had a ministerial ear to hear your concern.  Sometimes we will need to cry together, to laugh together, to have a meal together, and to spend some time together because that’s what we all need. But again, you have to reach out to us because there are many members here and unless someone tells us there is an issue we don’t know.  Listen, don’t worry if the minister is busy or has many jobs or is working on this or that—reach out to us.  Haven’t you noticed we can conveniently get to the Redskins game or Duke game when need be?  Here’s another secret:  we are masters of managing time!

That’s all I have today with my first year minister sermonJ.  I want you to especially remember that a minister is a three-fold call.  We are preachers, we are teachers and we are visitors.  I hope that helps you in some way to understand the duties and responsibilities of a minister.   Let us continue to grow together in spirit and in truth.  Amen.

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