Tunnels and Bridges

First, my heartfelt thanks for the especially warm welcome you extended to me last Sunday. Everyone has been so kind and friendly and it has helped me to begin to feel at home among you already. I thank all who spiffed up my office, and who prepared the reception, and all those whose efforts I don’t even know about.  I am touched, and feel privileged to be part of such a caring community. Thank you!

I also thought, with so much focus on “me” that it quite appropriate and delightful that one our young people, when asked by Pastor Jeff, what is new? answered “the flowers.”   Kind of puts things into perspective, doesn’t it? Out of the mouths of babes…for ministry is never about one person, but all of us, blooming together.

Please join me in prayer: May these words find resonance in your gathered people, Gracious God, and the meditations of all of our hearts renew our spirits, in Christ’s name we pray, amen.

Often, when we begin a project, take a new job, make a change of some kind, there is a combination of some anticipation and anxiety, mixed together with the sense of rightness of the new.   In such circumstances, it is not uncommon for folks to worry about living up to the challenge, whatever the new situation might be. College freshmen wonder about being able to do a higher level of academic work. A person gets a promotion, is happy for the raise in pay, and still might be concerned about how to make the new grade. Or one gets a grant, and then comes to realize that it means that now the promised experiment will have to be run, to live up to the terms of the application.

When I first was ordained, and to some extent whenever I have begun to work in a new church, I become concerned about what to say to a congregation. Will I have words to preach? I shared this concern once with my husband, Patrick, and he said—without missing a beat—don’t worry, honey, you’ve been preaching to me all these years. To which I replied, yes, but I hope I have more success with the congregation than I’ve had with you.

Success in ministry of course, is not about results, outcomes and meeting specific goals as much as it is about connection with God. And our gospel today gives it to us straight: Jesus says: I am the vine, you are the branches. Without me, you can do nothing.

In these important farewell discourses, we hear the essence of success in ministry, in life, and in faith: stay connected to God in Christ, and then we will bear much fruit. Without this connection, we simply will not, although we might   look quite busy.

Over the last 18 months, when I was the Interim Associate minister at First Church in Guilford, as I drove from my home in Orange to the Guilford green, my daily routine was to travel over the Q  Bridge, back and forth every day. I watched the new parallel Q bridge rise in construction, and grew to dislike the 95/91 interchange which always seemed to back up just when I was in a hurry. The Q was a daily companion, and pathway to my ministry in that community. 

Now that I have come to be with you here in Hamden, by commute takes me north on route 15 to the Dixwell Avenueexit. So I have traded the Q Bridge for the West Rock Tunnel. This change in my drive has made me aware of the differences between bridges and tunnels. Interestingly, I also see some connections between bridges and tunnels and   interim and acting pastorates.

       A bridge is built in open air. On a basic level, it takes you over water or some break in the land, and you can see the view around you and where you are going. Bridges go from somewhere to somewhere, unless of course you live in Alaskawhere they built a bridge to nowhere. But I digress.

Bridges are somewhat like interim ministry, and interim ministry is by definition, a bridge. And this you have experienced with Pastor Brenda. Built into the deal is the end of the job, the other side of the river. You can see the destination, the goal of the trip, even if it takes a while to get there. For an interim is by definition a bridge between two settled pastorates. The job of interim is to make a smooth transition on each side, to ride over that bridge.  And then to leave.

An acting position, especially in the case of my role as your acting associate pastor, has a different model. It is not unlike being in a tunnel. Its relatively dark and we don’t know exactly where we are going, and we have to go through it to see where we will come out on the other side. More precisely, it is like digging a tunnel for the first time, because in an established tunnel, we do know what to expect. When I drive through West Rock, I don’t doubt that I will arrive in Hamden.

As we begin working together in the months to come, we don’t know if and how the work will continue. As you know, I have been hired to help the leadership of the Church figure out how to configure the role of the associate minister in this congregation, as well as to do some of the pastoral work as a colleague with Pastor Jeff. 

       We cannot decide ahead of time what this new associate’s job will look like,  nor who will hold it. We don’t know the answer to many questions and we have to keep on digging until we have a satisfactory answer. As in a tunnel, we will work in some obscurity, and find out the answer together.

It is true that there is good hope that we will find a way to continue, but its not a given. It is good to set these terms straight at the beginning, so that we can work together in a transparent manner. And lest this all sounds too somber, I’d like to share with you another image of a tunnel that I drove through once, in ZionCanyonin Utah.

Perhaps some of you know this tunnel built in the early 20^th century as a feat of engineering through a harsh landscape and a high mountain rock. The tunnel is special because it has windows. Part of the rock was blasted out so that when you drive through, it is the natural light from outside which comes in through the break in the rock. So even though you are traveling in an enclosed and dark space, there is a brightness coming through.

I’d like to think that our time together is like this: digging through, yes but with graceful openings to a future place. And a work which can be enjoyable, a trip together to discover what is the best for Spring Glen Church, which is already a vibrant and happy community which simply needs a helping hand in knowing how to best organize its ministries and pastoral roles.

       It is for that reason that I look forward to our time together, as long as it lasts. My goal is not to settle among you unless that is the right fit for both of us. And so we can relax in the process, knowing that we do not dig alone but with God as our helper. And that there are sure to be windows in our tunnel.

       One of which is our visioning meeting after our service today, which can help bring some clarity to the task. I urge you to come and add your voice to the conversation.

Our text this morning signals to us what is important in our work together.  Jesus states: I am the vine, you are the branches, apart from me you can do nothing. These words are part of the last instructions that Jesus gives his disciples, just before the end of his life. And so they are important words coming from the evangelist John to us. They are spoken at the last supper, like the final goodbyes from someone who is going away for a long time and wants to be sure that we understand what is really important to remember. Parting words, which do last.

John’s gospel is saturated with vivid images, none more so than this vine and branches one. We are rooted to God through Christ and we take our nourishment, indeed our very life as disciples from this connection.

There is a certain simplicity about this text, which makes it stick in our minds. We can hold onto it in memory without difficulty. If we were to draw a vine, or picture it, or go out to a garden or vineyard, we would see that each branch is connected to the main stem and draws its nutrients from it. If we cut a branch off, or if it breaks off, it will die, because it cannot be fed by the vine. This is simple, vivid, accurate horticulturally, and…. True of our faith as well. If we are cut off from God, we cannot receive the nutrients of faith, which flow freely when we are connected. That flow freely, this is the key. We don’t have to force it but be present and receive what God wants to give us through Christ.

And in this sense, these words function both as a bridge and a tunnel.

They are a bridge because they weave us together and carry us over to God. They remind us that the criteria for success have to do with faithfulness and not our own goals. And they bridge us from the creating God to the incarnating Lord to the Spirit living now  among us. With grace that flows freely to us.

And these words dig a tunnel into our hearts and minds, taking us to a deeper level of faith. Tunnel words, to take us through dark hollows of difficulty, and help us get through to the proverbial light, at the end, which is always there, God being present and active. 

Bridge words—tunnel words. 

So too is our communion table a bridging place that carries us over and tunnels us more deeply into faith.  

As we come to the table this morning,  perhaps we need to leave behind some things that stand in our way of being our fullest self, and that keeps us on a far shore away from God. Maybe it is  despair, or indifference, alienation, or anger. Or another affilictive emotion or memory. And yet we want to reach across to the other side to find forgiveness and peace. And in the words and the prayers and the eating and drinking, we find that God bridges us to new life and new perspectives, and we can rejoice in thanksgiving.

And the table deepens our commitment, pulling us through the darkness to a place of light, where we hear the words “this is my body, given for you, this is the cup of blessing poured out for you..”  and we know that we have come through to a new place, of wholeness and new life.

Whatever roads we travel together, these months ahead, whatever bridges we cross or tunnels we dig, may we do it connected to our Lord. As the scripture reminds, us and we are well to remember, success will come from faithfulness to Christ, to being part of the community, as branch is to vine, for without that connection we can do nothing, and with it, everything that we need to do, will be done.

So as we begin our time together let us thank God for tunnels and bridges, vines and branches, and the connections of all these to each other, and to Christ.

Amen