Sermon for the Celebration of New Ministry of Mary Kate Wold;
September 13, 2011
The Church Pension Fund; at Christ Church, Tarrytown NY
Psalm 139:1-17; Psalm 23; Romans 8:28-39; John 6:28-40
by Rev. John W. Perry
We are told these days to expect less. We are told to expect less of government agencies and institutions that have watch over us. The trouble with expecting less is that once you start, it is hard to know where to stop. If we start by expecting less of an entity – any entity – that has some form of responsibility to us, then before long we’ll expect less of ourselves in our own responsibilities to others. We’ll expect less of each other; expect less of the church and its people. And then most tragically, we may even find ourselves expecting less of God – without being aware this is happening.
This is about you, of the Church Pension Fund. This is about possibilities for ministry in this world of diminishing expectations. This is about your vision of God. You have a particular charge: to help us clergy and the churches we serve, prepare for retirement and provide for us in retirement. We come to an enterprise, thinking it is about one thing. And then, often it turns out to be about something more, as well; often it turns out that God has something greater in mind. Something God wants to accomplish. Something perhaps having to do, with all those people who are learning to expect less.
For instance, you of the Church Pension Fund know about the concept of Sabbath. You teach it, when you speak with us at Planning for Tomorrow conferences. You want us to be grounded in this concept, for our upcoming retirements. This is most appropriate. But now look at what the Sabbath originally taught God’s people, way back when they were farmers and herders: that God would provide, even though work is not being done on this day. The real lesson, was to expect more of God – not less.
For another instance, there is the concept of stewardship; you teach this, when you encourage us to set aside resources for our retirements. Again, most appropriate. But now look at how we teach about stewardship: figure out what you can afford to give, and then take a risk – pledge a little more, and give it up front; and then look and see what happens. So the real lesson, is to expect more of God, not less. Expect that God will provide more than reason alone can account for. And, expect more of yourself.
To expect more of God, is a critically important thing to teach, these days. It is a holy thing. You, of the Church Pension Fund, are positioned to be leaders about this. You are positioned to set an example: to us, and through us, to others. And you already do so, by how you conduct your ministry. Please, continue teaching us to expect more. Be aware this is what you are doing; and, that this is of God.
Again, we come to an enterprise thinking it is about one thing. And then, it often turns out to be about something more, as well. Something having to do with God’s broader purposes. Let me give an illustration of this, having to do with our Gospel passage, where Jesus says, “Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.” We hear this, and naturally enough apply it to ourselves, seeking to hear reassurance that we indeed, will never be hungry. We think it is about us.
Some years ago, a priest named Debby Little was beginning a ministry to Boston’s homeless and dispossessed; she called it Common Cathedral. On Sundays, Debby loaded up a handcart with the things needed to celebrate the Eucharist, and set it up at a pedestrian crossing in Boston Common. A small congregation would gather round her in a semicircle: people from neighboring churches, from seminary, people from the streets. At communion time, Debby would make her way around, giving each of us a piece of the communion bread. She gave it with great joy, as though she indeed were passing on a thing, that gives life forever, as Jesus says in our Gospel. It was very powerful, and very moving.
But then Debby did something extraordinary. All around the perimeter of this crossing were many benches, with all sorts of people sitting around, hanging out on a Sunday morning. Reading newspapers. Talking with their friends. Or slouched over, sleeping it off with a bottle-shaped paper bag in their hand. And Debby, after communicating all of us in the semicircle, walked over to the benches, where she freely offered this bread from heaven, to all and sundry. Including the ones in tattered clothes who seemed oblivious, gently waking them. Some responded, and accepted the gift she offered, with gratitude and a smile.
We who stood around in the semicircle, got our eyes opened about those broader purposes of God. Our Sequence hymn says, “Thou spreadst a table in my sight.” While we had come there, focused more or less on our own issues, our heads were now being turned, to see the table indeed being spread in our sight – for all of God’s children. Things do have a way of turning out, to be about something more. Something greater, that God has in mind. God seems to want to extend things, outward.
Our enterprise this evening, is the Celebration of a New Ministry – of Mary Kate Wold, as President and CEO of the Church Pension Fund. On any such occasion, the person being installed in the new ministry is very much aware of the awesome challenges and responsibilities being thrust upon her. And so, on such occasions, the person being installed longs to hear words that reassure. That God will provide, and be with us, in the face of these challenges and responsibilities. That the resources God is providing, will be equal to the task. We long to hear, as Paul says in his letter to the Romans, that God does justify those whom God calls, that Christ does intercede for us. Mary Kate, and any of us entering a new ministry, come wanting to hear the Psalmist’s words directed to us, personally, that we have been searched out, and are known; that your hand, O God, will lead me, and your right hand, hold me fast.
And indeed, Mary Kate, these things are true, and real. Hear this now, and hear it throughout your ministry. God does know you. God does, lay God’s hand upon you. God will, lead you. You will receive, what you need to sustain you. Trust this. Be as convinced of this as Paul is, when he says, “In all these things, we are more than conquerors, through him who loved us.”
And at the same time, this Celebration of a New Ministry is of course also about something more than just this one person. It seems God always wants to extend things outward. In a short while, Bishop Lee will say a certain prayer for Mary Kate. This prayer is very specific; it asks God’s blessing upon her, and upon the staff, and upon the Board of Trustees, in your service together. So, Mary Kate, this is not just about you. You are not alone. Go around your semicircle, those gathered around you. Nurture them, with your considerable gifts – and ask sustenance of them, also.
You who are members of the Board, and you who are on the staff: this is about your service together, along with the one you have chosen to lead you. Organizations are complex things. Many varying needs and motivations lie within; many personalities, many agendas, many hopes and aspirations. Surely it is within God’s power, that all these be somehow used, in furtherance of what God wishes to accomplish. Center yourselves on this part of the Bishop’s prayer: “that all she does, and all the Church Pension Fund accomplishes, be to your glory, and the welfare of your people.”
I have a suggestion, for you Board members and staff. Ask her this question, if you have not done so already: “Mary Kate, what would you like to accomplish, at the Church Pension Fund – and, how can I help you accomplish it?” If you indeed believe God has guided you in your selection, then this question honors God, working through her, and through you all.
We come to an enterprise, thinking it is about one thing. And then, it often turns out to be about something more, as well. Something more, having to do with God’s purposes, with God’s sustaining providence for all.
I once had an extraordinary experience, of God’s providence. I had recently begun serving in my first church. This was not in my own sponsoring diocese – there were no jobs – but a church elsewhere was willing to call me, and another bishop was willing to accept me. Several months after I started work, the bishop invited me to lunch. The lunch went alright; there were a few things he wanted to talk to me about. Then we went to his office, where he asked about the debt I was carrying, from seminary. I told him, and it was considerable. Now remember I was not from his diocese; this bishop had no responsibilities for me whatsoever, in terms of my having come up for ordination. Indeed he had already been most gracious by welcoming me, an unknown, straight out of seminary. But now he was taking out his checkbook. He told me it was his policy, that no one from his diocese should begin ministry carrying that kind of debt. It did not matter, that I had not come up from his diocese. So right then and there, he wrote me a check for half my debt, and told me he would send a check for the remaining half in a month. And he did.
I was overwhelmed. My wife was with me; we looked at each other in astonishment. I had never imagined, let alone experienced, such incredible, life-changing generosity. In my letter of gratitude to him, I pledged I would manifest that same kind of generosity, in all my ministry. And I have striven to do so, to this day.
The point of my telling you about this, is that we do the things we do, to honor the gifts we have received. We do the things we do, in response to how we ourselves have experienced Christ. We honor these gifts, this experience, by passing it on. Passing on, the unbounded love and compassion and generosity, that we have experienced, in Jesus Christ.
You of the Church Pension Fund: While it is true that your charge has to do with preparing and providing for retirement, at the same time you are uniquely well positioned to teach us, inspire us, about honoring gifts by passing them on. You provide clergy – and now lay church workers as well – with financial security. But what you are really doing, is much broader, extending far beyond – to far more, of God’s children.
I came to my calling as a priest, in midlife. I had no real savings, no previous retirement holdings. Now, everything I know about you, is that you will be there, in spades, when I retire, to provide for me, in every way that you can. Do you see what you have thus taught me, about God? About God’s love and concern and sustaining providence, for me? How could I not honor that, by how I conduct my ministry? By passing it on. This is how bound up you are, in the very heart of the theological enterprise, in making God’s unbounded love and compassion and generosity, known in the world. What you have done, is to enable, sustain, and inspire, what I do, every day, in my parish ministry. This is how God, is using you.
I wonder if this might be part of your conscious mission. Because this is the effect, of what you already do. Please be aware of this; please have this perspective. Please let it inform all that you do, and all that you wish to do.
Mary Kate, this is what you are now, a part of. For this, I am most happy for you. For this, I am most proud of you. Go do it. Show everyone, who has ever been taught, to expect less. Show them a different vision; a Godly vision. God be with you. God be with us all. Amen.
