Saugatuck: A Community of Christ
DATE: January 10, 2010
SCRIPTURE: Luke 3: 15-17; 21-22
I was very touched this past week when I read our Moderator's article in the current issue of The Herald. After reviewing some of the changes that have occurred in Westport over the last twenty years since he moved into town—things like the disappearance of movie theaters and cornfields, and the construction of hundreds of new homes—Michael writes, "Hard to believe how things change." Then he goes on to say, "I've been thinking the last couple of months about changes at Saugatuck over the last eight years." And then he lists some of the changes that have occurred during my tenure here. "Eight years ago," he writes, we were not an Open and Affirming Church . . . there [were] no Wednesday [vespers] . . . there was no Annual Youth Mission Trip . . . ." and so on. It's an impressive list that he's assembled, and while some of it may have come about because of my leadership, the reality is none of it would have happened without the hard work of so, so many of you!
I was especially struck, though, by how he chose to begin his list. "Eight years ago," he writes, "we had no Vision Statement." (The Herald, January 2010, 4). And he is right. There was no formal vision statement in the by-laws. It wasn't that the church didn't have vision—but it had not been clearly articulated. It hadn't been put down on paper and then used to help shape the future. But now it has. It's readily apparent on our bulletins and our website. Even on banners that we periodically hang in this very room. It is referenced in all sorts of materials that are used in the life of the church. It informs who we are, and who we hope to become: "A Community of Christ. Welcoming All People. Learning to Love and Serve, God and Neighbor." It has become foundational to our self-understanding.
All that said it seemed appropriate then for me, in these final weeks of serving as your Pastor, to offer a few words about each of the three elements of this statement. And so this morning, we begin with "A Community of Christ."
It is exceptionally fortuitous that our reflections on this part of the statement fall on this particular Sunday. For it is the day on which the church universal remembers and celebrates the Baptism of Jesus, and by extension, all baptisms. For baptism is the entry point, the way we are incorporated into Christian community, the church, the body of Christ. As one ecumenical document puts it: "Through baptism, Christians are brought into union with Christ, with each other and with the Church of every time and place. Our common baptism, which unites us to Christ in faith, is thus a basic bond of unity." (Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, 3)
I was so delighted when Mary Ellen asked if we could baptize her two children today. For doing so serves to remind us all of the ideal. It reminds us that we have been welcomed into a community that seeks to follow the way of Jesus by resisting oppression and evil, by showing love and justice, by witnessing to the work and word of Christ. In acknowledging that we are a community of Christ, we recognize that we're not just a social club. We don't get together just because we like each other, or have common interests like golf or sailing or quilt making, though that may be true as well. Rather we gather together as those who have known the transforming love of God. And we are called to mirror that love in our relationships with one another. As God has accepted us, so we are called to accept each other.
Elwood Betts has been a part of this community of Christ for over seventy years. And he understands well both the privileges and the responsibilities of membership. Several years ago, when he was seventy-six, Elwood served as a mentor to one of our confirmands. It's a role he has graciously taken on more than once! When mentors begin their work with a confirmands I ask them to write a letter introducing themselves to their young charges. That year Elwood penned a letter that perfectly captured the essence of what it means to be part of this community.
He recalled that someone had once written "A good deal is when it's good for everyone involved." He then went on to explain his understanding of mentorship. "My being asked to ‘mentor' you is a really good deal for me. I get to learn about real life today from someone who's living it, so I get to grow. I get to share with you what turned out to be important experiences in my life, from a time that's long gone. . . . Let's get started."
What follows is a heartfelt description of his faith journey. One filled with ups and downs, but always grounded in his relationship with Christ and Christ's church. He recounts his days in Sunday school, his raising sons who were confirmed here, his participation in a Grief Recovery Support Group when his first wife died, and his work on the Board of Missions. "This," he writes, "is the way Jesus showed us."
And so it is. For Jesus taught us over and over again that ultimately, we can't make it alone. He didn't go out into the world preaching and teaching and healing as a solo artist! He gathered a community around him. Men and women who could stand at his side and share with him in the important work he had been given. While not a Christian, the Dalai Lama reflects the same basic notion when he writes: "We human beings cannot survive alone . . . . Our own survival depends entirely on others." (Quoted by Joy Carol in Journeys of Courage, 9) We need God—and we need one another. I have things to share with you, and you have things to share with me. And together, we can make a difference.
Of course, it's not just about us. Our community has a greater purpose than simply being a support group—though we are indeed called to do just that. No we are called to provide an example—to shine a light in a world often shrouded in darkness. Theologian Eugene Wehrli puts it this way: "The church is to be . . . a model for the whole of society. When the world looks at the Church, it must get a vision for the world—a vision of community." (Images of Community, 3) Said another way, when folks from Westport and Weston and Norwalk and Fairfield look at Saugatuck they should see how God wants all people to live. Being a community of Christ is not only a wondrous gift, it is also a tremendous responsibility.
As I've been cleaning out my files, and packing up my office, I came across a magazine article I clipped out twenty years ago; it is a wonderful true story written by Michael Lindvall about a pastor who served at the time in a small Midwestern town.
Shortly before Thanksgiving the Midwestern pastor was approached by one of the elders of his congregation, a man named Angus. Angus informed him his son and daughter-in-law were coming from Spokane for Thanksgiving and they had a new baby. They didn't have a church of their own, and Angus wanted to know if the pastor would, in his words, "do the baby" on the following Sunday.
The pastor and Angus had a long conversation about baptism, and the pastor noted that baptism involves promises to raise the child in the church. Perhaps they would be best served by getting involved in a church in Spokane, and having the ceremony done there. Angus seemed to agree, somewhat grudgingly, but then, behind the scenes, approached the rest of the governing board and convinced them to vote unanimously to have the child baptized. So the pastor complied.
In their congregation there was a custom that when the pastor asked "who stands with this child?" members of the whole extended family would stand in support of the little one. There were lots of relatives who stood for Angus' grandson. A real show of support.
After the service, the pastor noticed a middle-aged woman sitting in the back pew, long after others had left. He'd seen her before, but he didn't know her name—she always slipped out before the benediction. So he went back to speak to her.
She told him her name was Mildred, and she thought the baptism had been lovely, and she wondered if her daughter Tina could bring her new baby to be baptized. The pastor encouraged her to have Tina and her husband call and set up an appointment to talk with him. The woman paused, and then, looking him in the eye, she said, "Tina's got no husband, she's just 18, and she was confirmed in this church four years ago. She used to come out for the Senior High Fellowship, but then she started to see this boy who was out of school . . . and then she got pregnant and decided to keep the baby and wants to have it baptized here in her own church, but she's nervous to come and talk to you, Reverend. She's named the baby . . . Jimmy."
The pastor met with Tina, and then took the request to the board. They approved—but only after a hard sell on his part. Clearly some were disturbed by Tina's marital status. In fact, Tina and Mildred were the child's only family.
It was the Sunday before Christmas when Jimmy was to be baptized. When that time in the service arrived, Tina shook as she walked with little Jimmy down the aisle to the font. The pastor finally came to the family support part of the liturgy, and looked right at Mildred as he asked, "Who stands with this child?" Lindvall writes in the pastor's voice: "She rose slowly, looking to either side, and then returned my smile. My eyes went back to the service book. I was just about to ask Tina the parent's [vows], when I became aware of movement in the pews. Angus . . . had stood up, his wife beside him. Then a couple of other elders stood. Then the sixth grade Sunday school teacher, then anew young couple in church, and soon, before my incredulous eyes, the whole church was standing up with little Jimmy." (Good Housekeeping, December 1990, 116; 118)
That, my friends, is what it means to be a community of Christ. We don't have to agree in all matters, we don't have to approve of one another's life circumstances, we don't even have to like one another, but we do have to love one another. We do have to stand in support of both the great and the small.
Here at Saugatuck, when we have been at our very best, that is precisely what we have done. We have risen up from our pews and taken our place as part of the community of Christ. Because, that is indeed the way Jesus showed us.
Amen.
John H. Danner