September 8, 2013

          Fritz Perls, the founder of a school of psychotherapy known as Gestalt therapy, was once asked what being a therapist entailed.   He answered with an analogy that life is a matter of crossing a wide river, by jumping from stone to stone.   His job as a therapist, he said, was to help people decide which stone to jump toward and to find the courage within to do so.

          That story has stayed with me since the first time I heard it several years ago and I think it sums up what much of what our worship is about today.   This image of life as an adventure of crossing a river by jumping from one stone to another, is a rich image symbolically for us all to learn from.   It is an analogy that applies universally to all of God’s children.   And to those of us who declare that Jesus is our Savior, we live out the days of our lives, not only sorting out which stone to jump to next, but to do that by also answering the central question of our faith, the question that Jesus asks of the disciples at Caesarea Phillip, “Who do you say that I am?”

          The journey begins in baptism, which for most of us, involved our parents carrying us into church, and making promises on our behalf.   As those promises are affirmed and as the baptismal waters flow, we jump from one rock to another.    Eventually the day comes, when we make those promises our own at the ritual of confirmation, when the faith once declared for us by others becomes our own, and at least in the matters of faith, we jump for the first time by ourselves to another rock.

          With that leap of faith, each one of us becomes the author of our own life.   Hard lessons follow, as young believers begin to sort out the differences for the faithful between being the author of your own life and being the authority of your own life.   The faithful straddle what is at times a fine line between being authoring one’s life and living under the authority of God in a life of discipleship.

          Crossing the river of life, we are never alone.   No matter which direction you look, you’re bound to see others also crossing.   Some are struggling; others seem to be crossing without any difficulty.    But part of the gift of being in a community of faith is drawing on the wisdom of others.   Look around.  Others among us have walked this way and they can point out which are the stable rocks to safely jump onto, and which are the unstable ones.   As well as which are the rocks, which appear to be solid, but which are really covered with a slight sheen, making them very, very slippery and hard to land upon safely and rest on.

          While the goal of crossing the river is to get across without getting wet, you and I both know there are those times, those places, those special friends we meet on life’s journey, who convince us to jump in.    Sometimes to see if the water is really as deep as others say, or as cold, or as fast running.   And the wisdom of life is sometimes hard earned.   But with God’s grace, we all find our way across the river.

          There are significant rocks that lay ahead of us, no matter when in history, we start to cross.   There is a rock that represents doubt and the deep questions which arise from the dark night of the soul that all of us have known or will know.   When we lament as so many of the Psalmists do about our need for God.

          There is a rock you find yourself on only after the death in this life of someone special to you.   A rock where you will know the humbling power of grief in your life.   A place where you will realize that eventually for all of us, there comes that time when Easter becomes the greatest of Christian holidays, because in the mystery and promise of that day comes the hope we each need to get through the toughest of times.

          There is the rock of career decisions, where one decides just how God is calling you to use your gifts in the ways in which you can find a meaningful life, and in your own way, build up the kingdom of God.

          There will be that day when you find yourself on a rock with someone special, someone you’ll want to stay with forever.   Someone who you’ll eventually learn to jump the rocks of the future together.

          And then there will be that rock where one learns the lessons of parenthood.  The rock of parenthood is that rock from which one learns what it takes to jump to other rocks with a child in your arms for years to come.   A rock from which one knows great joys, challenges, heartaches and peace.

          As I said earlier, it is one thing to live the days of your life, to cross the river that lay ahead of you, as a child of God and quite another to cross it as a person of faith.    The person of faith crosses the river, not just in pursuit of a safe and easy way to get to the other side, but also in the pursuit of answering the question, “Who do I say Jesus Christ is?”   It’s a question that each of answers every day of our lives.

          As I begin to get to know more and more of you a bit better each day, it’s apparent that we are a community of seekers who are in many different places in our efforts to cross the river.   But I hope we are united in making Jesus’ question our question, each and every day of our lives—“who do I say Jesus Christ is?”   Every one of us blessed by birth and nurtured in faith has been entrusted by God with a variety of gifts and talents.   We have been blessed by God to know and glory in the beauty and wonder of the creation entrusted to us.    To care for it like a parent cares for their children.   And God calls us, reminds us, challenges us, over and over, to find the ways to use the resources of our lives and the gifts of our lives to craft our respective ministries.

          God calls all of us to ministry.   Every one of you has the power and potential to do ministry for God.   We’ve just blessed and commissioned those called to teach in our Sunday school.  Some in the church have been called and ordained to ministries of Word and sacrament, but every person of faith is called to ministry in the name of Jesus Christ.

          As many of you know, among the Society of Friends, the Quakers, there are no ordained ministers.   Someone once remarked to a Quaker, “Hey, I hear you got rid of all those ordained minsters.    To which the Quaker responded, “No, we did away with the laity.”   (Copenhaver, To Begin at the Beginning, p. 94)

          Ministry is not something to which a select few are hired by a church to do.   Ministry is something we all share in and have a part in.   It is something we each are empowered and summoned by God to do in any number of ways.   Ministry in the name of Jesus Christ is evolving, as the Spirit filled and creative among us, find new ways to proclaim the good news of God’s healing and redeeming love to a broken and sinful world.

          In the months to come, much of the ministry we will share in will be very familiar.   There are firmly established and well organized programs—education, outreach, and witness—that will continue to be part of our shared effort to answer Jesus’ question in the living of our lives.   But there will also be times when we charter new ground, face new challenges, and find our way together into a new shared future. 

          And if we are honest, we acknowledge that we begin this new program year with some special challenges ahead of us.  As a church family, we have passed through a time of great struggle in recent months.   For some in our community, including some gathered here today, the time of challenges is ongoing.   It has been a time of tough decisions, heartfelt prayer, leaps of faith and days of great uncertainty for many.    Your pastors and our church leadership are both mindful of and seeking how best to be responsive in this.   We know well that some are eager for a fresh start and for others, this remains an unsettled time.  In the days to come, let us work together, to discern just how best to find ways to finish that which remains for some still unfinished, and move together to a common ground on which to move ahead. 

          I know that for some, continuing to jump the rocks with the church family here at Spring Glen UCC, remains a question.    I, and others, will do what we can to respond to your questions and concerns.   But through it all, my hope is that the call to be part of the Spring Glen church family, with our great history of community, outreach and witness, will for us all be a high calling.   But I am well aware and respectful that each person needs to come to that sense of shared purpose on their own.

          We are soon to begin this year’s stewardship campaign.   I know that for many, these have been and continue to be, trying times economically.   Recent years have been challenging times in our nation’s economy that have impacted us all.  But if we wish to continue to have the programs and mission outreach that we are known for, and to continually and responsibly maintain our church home and grounds, we must all come together to support the budget of our church.   In answering the questions of stewardship in our lives, we each respond to Christ’s question as we choose how we will respond to the ongoing blessings of God by returning a portion through our efforts at committed giving.

          But as always, we would be wise to remember that stewardship is about much more than just our financial pledges.    As a church family, we are blessed with abundant opportunities to share gifts of time and our talents in the many outreach, education, and service efforts that are offered through our programs here.  Service on the committees and in our shared efforts at being people of faith is critical in our efforts to hear God’s word and be the body of Christ, alive in the world at service to others.  

          Crossing the river of life is an adventure.   And God willing, the river is wide, as wide as we can hope it will be.   But do not deceive yourself.  That day is coming for us all, when we will each find ourselves one step from the other side, the end of our journey.

          God willing, that day is some time off for us all, but on that day, each of us will look back at where we have come from.   You’ll see the ways which were wonderful and joy-filled.   You’ll see the rocks from where you parted company from family and friends, and you will remember anew both the hurt and the hope-filled promises of those days.

          There is a wisdom one only gets on that next to the last rock.   I have not gained it, but I have been with those who have, and know that it too will be mine someday.   And part of the wisdom of that day comes with the realization that, #1, you never could have made it across alone, and #2, you in fact were never alone.   We cross the river of life with the spirit of the living Christ in our heart and the collected wisdom of our ancestors deep within our bones and the strands of DNA that make up every living cell.

          On that day, I hope for you, as I hope for myself, that each of us can look back at the rocks we have set foot upon and know a sense of peace within, that our lives have been lived not only seeking to answer Jesus’ question, but lived in a way that has deepened our sense of meaning and purpose in life and that in some ways, we have made a difference for the better in the living of others and throughout the world.