The State of the Church

The State of the Church

Rev. Dr. Tom Sorenson, Pastor

October 11, 2015

Scripture: Isaiah 43: 18-21

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O God, our strength and our redeemer. Amen

I don’t know about you, but I can hardly believe it. Tomorrow, October 12, 2015, is the one year anniversary of the first time I was here with you preaching and leading worship. One year ago I’m sure none of us thought that I would end up as your pastor. I guess maybe the thought had occurred to me that I might apply, but everything I thought I knew, namely, stories I’d heard from Ed Meyer up at my church in Monroe, told me that this church and I were no kind of a match. I thought maybe this church was so split and so conflicted that I’d want nothing to do with it. Kris had called me the previous August to ask if I might be willing to do pulpit supply for one Sunday. She knew I was only ¼ time at Monroe Congregational UCC, so maybe I’d be available. As I recall, my first response to her was “Kris, I’d have thought that I was the last person in the world Maltby would want to hear from.” She assured me that that wasn’t the case, I thought perhaps because she was desperate to get people for Sunday mornings during that time when this church had no pastor. She wanted me for a Sunday in September, but I wasn’t available; so October 12 became my first Sunday here with you.

Things kind of snowballed after that. I preached here twice in November, all through Advent, and all but one of the Sundays in January of this year. You voted to call me as your pastor on January 25. Now here we are, one full year since I first appeared up here in your chancel. Who knew? The Holy Spirit perhaps, but not much of anyone else. We are actually celebrating another anniversary around this time of the year too. Elsie tells me that the official founding date of this church is October 4, 1903. We missed that date last Sunday, so we’ll note it today. In light of those two anniversaries, of my first time here with you and of the founding of this church, let me share some reflections on where First Congregational Church of Maltby has been, where we have come to, and perhaps where the Holy Spirit may be calling us.

From its creation in 1903 this church has been a church in the Congregationalist tradition. That means several things of course. It means that the church lives in the Reformed or Calvinist side of Christian Protestantism. That fact has consequences for how we understand the Sacraments among other things, but that’s not the most important think about Congregationalism for us. Here’s one thing that is more important: First Congregational of Maltby is and always has been completely autonomous. The people of this church have always made their own decisions about their faith and about their life together. You still do. As is true of any church in the Congregationalist tradition some of the decisions you have made are good, some of them have, frankly, been quite bad.

Many of you know more about this church’s recent past than I do. I’ve heard a lot about it, but some of you lived it. So forgive me if I don’t get it completely right. This congregation of God’s people have come through some rough times in recent years. You had at least one pastor who, whatever pastoral gifts he may have had, was no kind of Congregationalist, making decisions on his own that were not his to make according to Congregationalist polity. You had a pastor, the same one actually, who wasn’t always exactly honest or ethical with this congregation. You had a lot of division between people in the congregation with different views of the Christian faith. Significant numbers of people have left the church in recent years. You have had an intentional interim pastor, and you have had times with no pastor. You have had times with lots of children in the congregation, and you have had times with no children in the congregation. You’ve been through a lot, and you’re still here. Thanks be to God.

When I first met you one year ago you were a small congregation made up mostly of older folks. I quickly got the sense that you didn’t quite know who you are as a Christian congregation. You didn’t know where the Holy Spirit was calling you, and by saying that I don’t mean to say that we’ve got it figured out yet. More about that anon. You wanted this church not just to survive but to grow and thrive, and you weren’t at all sure about how to make that happen. And I don’t mean to suggest that we have that one figured out yet either. I had a sense that perhaps this church was on the brink of something new, but none of us yet knew what that new something would be. One thing that I was pleased to learn was that you are financially healthy. That financial health is due in part to what you all give to the church, but it also results in significant ways from rental income from the parsonage and the fact that you have only a half time pastor whose compensation package, frankly, isn’t even quite a decent half time package. I’m not complaining here, just hoping that you all fully understand the state of your church’s finances.

We’ve come some distance since I first appeared before you. Most significantly, I think, we have new folks worshipping with us and talking about joining. We have children among us. Thanks be to God! We have new adults with energy and, I at least hope, a growing commitment to the church and participation in her life. We have a pastor-parish relations committee that you didn’t have when I started. We have a music group that wasn’t functioning when I started. We have an adult discussion forum that meets each Sunday before worship that you didn’t have when I started. These things are all signs of new life in this congregation. Again, thanks be to God!

We have had some losses, and we need to acknowledge that reality as we acknowledge the more positive aspects of our recent life together. Not everyone who was here when you voted on me could accept me as pastor because their Christianity is so much different from mine. I regret those losses; yet it is absolutely true that no church is for everyone, and no pastor is for everyone. I pray that those who have left us find a spiritual home that feeds them and brings them life. I have heard comments that suggest that we have on-going problems. I’m not entirely sure what some of you think those problems are, and I encourage those of you who find unhealthy things about us to come talk to me about what you’re experiencing here. That’s the only way we’ll be able to address problems and deal with them in a healthy way.

You’ve been through a lot. We’ve been through a bit together. I trust that our time together is still in its early stages. Now I want to talk a bit about what lies ahead. That’s why I chose that passage from Isaiah (which was actually my wife Jane’s suggestion) for this morning’s service. There the prophet that scholars call not Isaiah but Second Isaiah reports these words of God: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” God is always doing a new thing. God is never static. God is never motionless, except maybe on the Sabbath. God is always present in the world working softly and peacefully behind the scenes urging God’s people forward to newness of life and to fuller faithfulness to God’s ways. I am convinced that God is doing a new thing with us too. I mean, just think about it. It had never once occurred to me before about a year ago that I would or could ever end up as the pastor of this church. I doubt that it had ever occurred to any of you that that guy you may have heard of or even met who was pastor of that Open and Affirming UCC church up in Monroe would ever end up as your pastor. It had never occurred to me that I would ever serve any church other than a UCC church. Indeed, it had never occurred to me that I would ever serve any church other than Monroe Congregational UCC. My sensing a call to be your pastor was God doing a new thing. You deciding to take a chance on me as your pastor was God doing a new thing. God’s new thing with us is under way. Thanks be to God!

Thanks be to God, yes—but. With me there’s always a “but,” isn’t there. God’s new thing is under way with us, but just what exactly is that new thing? What is its shape? What is its content? Is it simply enabling this church to continue to live as it has in the past? Perhaps. I guess a church not dying can be a kind of new thing. Yet some of you may have heard me say this before. There are what we in the professional ministry biz call “the seven last words of a dying church.” Those seven words are “We’ve never done it that way before.” We’ve never done it that way before. It is the response pastors most commonly get from church people when they suggest doing something new. For reasons I’ve frankly never quite understood, churches tend to be quite conservative in at least one way. They resist change. They like to do things the way they’ve always done them. People, including church people, like to stick with what they find familiar and comfortable. So do I, for that matter. Yet the professionals who know what they’re talking about will all tell you this: No institution can remain static for long. Institutions, including churches, are always changing; and if they think they aren’t changing that just means that they don’t know that they are dying. That’s as true of churches as it is of any other institution. That’s as true of this church as it is of any other church. Clinging to an experienced current reality really isn’t an option for them or for us. Going back to an imagined past most certainly isn’t an option for them or for us. That’s just how it is with churches. That’s just how it is with us.

In some ways I wish I could tell you directly what the new thing is that God is doing with us, but I can’t. More importantly, even if I could, discerning what that new thing is isn’t primarily my job. It is your job. It is our job together. God is doing a new thing. Perhaps we don’t yet perceive it. That’s OK. Perceiving what God is doing is never as easy as we’d like it to be. God doesn’t do any new thing without people who do good discernment and who make good commitments. That’s what we need to do together. Are you up for it? I hope so. Amen.