To Inspire and To
Respond
Song of Solomon 2:8-13, Springtime Rhapsody
8 The voice of my beloved!
Look, he comes,
leaping
upon the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a
gazelle
or a young stag. Look, there he stands behind our wall,
gazing in at
the windows,
looking through the lattice.
10 My beloved speaks and
says to me:
‘Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away;
11 for now
the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. 12 The flowers
appear on the earth;
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the
turtle-dove
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree puts forth its
figs,
and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my
love, my fair one,
and come away.
One: This is the Word of God, for us, the people of God.
All: Thanks be to
God.
Today,
as I stand before you, I do so with shyness and anticipation. The feeling I
have is very similar to the butterflies and hope that one feels before a first
date. And, truly, there is much in our meeting today that feels as though we
are the partners in an arranged marriage. That is why this text speaks so well
to us today, as it is a text that is rarely heard outside of the wedding
liturgy. It’s sensual and evocative. It is the voice of a woman who is
anticipating her beloved returning to her, and her voice reveals both her love
and hope for the future. This text captures, in many ways, my own feelings
about being here. The United Methodist appointment system is a strange and
beautiful thing, and it has given me and my family the great gift of coming
here to serve.
I
feel it is appropriate to tell you how I got here, a transplant from Atlanta
who has shown up in your pulpit in Laguna Beach, so you can know my story since
I have come to know yours. My husband, Matt, has been coming here for nearly 25
years to visit his brother, John. This has been a place of refuge, a place of
beauty, a place of learning and always a place of great joy. When Matt and I
met during our first year of seminary, among the first things he invited me to
do was visit here with him. So, in June of 2001, I booked a ticket to John
Wayne International Airport and joined him for a two week vacation. We spent
our time those two weeks exploring all of southern California. John and Mark,
my now brothers-in-law, were gracious and generous, taking us to the Mission at
San Juan Capistrano, the zoo in San Diego, for sushi in LA. However, I will
never forget the first time I laid eyes on the Laguna Beach UMC sign. We were
heading to the grocery store as it caught my eye. I joked with Matt, “Well,
that wouldn’t be a bad place to serve!”
Almost
exactly 13 years later, here I am. I almost cannot believe it. We have visited
many times in the last decade. We were here in 2004 when I was pregnant with
Jackson and my nephews were coming to make their permanent home with John and
Mark. Sloan still totes around binoculars that we bought for Cooper in Dana
Point in 2008. I have worshipped at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church on numerous
occasions and we have always kept Laguna Beach on our short list of places we’d
love to live.
You
should also know that I have been serving as an associate minister at a
marvelous church in midtown Atlanta. Saint Mark is located on Peachtree Street,
just 3 blocks north of the Fox Theater where “Gone With the Wind” premiered. It
has had a long, rich tradition as the “bellwether” church in north Georgia.
Saint Mark embodies the “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors” slogan
completely, and was revived in the early 1990s when they made the conscious
decision to actively minister to the folks in the neighborhood, namely the
homeless population and the gay men moving into Midtown. That year, during the
Pride Parade which marched right in front of the church, our members – little
old ladies and a few young families – handed out slips of paper that said,
simply, “You are welcome here.” Across the street sat Atlanta First Baptist,
who hired armed guards on horseback to protect the protestors holding up
hateful signs. One of our members is famous for saying, "What were they afraid we were going to do? Break in and redecorate?!" The following Sunday, 30 new people showed up. By the end of the
year, their membership had tripled. By the end of the decade, they had 2000
people on their roster, mostly from the GLBT community, who would drive for
miles on end to worship in a place where they knew they were welcomed, loved
and cherished, just as God had first loved them.
I
tell you this because serving at Saint Mark shaped me in a particular way.
Serving in a community where even the most basic of human rights couldn’t be
taken for granted caused me to be a fighter for social justice, a preacher of
liberation and a pastor of the brokenhearted. God has called me, now and
always, to be a voice for the voiceless, and I understand that serving a church
that strives to be inclusive in all ways is the core of my calling.
Eight
months ago, my husband received some terrible news. While I was serving at
Saint Mark, he had been working as an instructor of preaching at a seminary just
outside of Atlanta. We learned in December that his contract wasn’t going to be
renewed, and it was a gut-punch of devastation that we hadn’t expected. Our
home was there, our children’s schools were there, our projected future was
there, and the illusion of stability was erased in one horrible afternoon. So,
we talked and prayed. Matt had moved to Atlanta for me, so it was up to him to
make the next move. He told me that he’s always wanted to live near his
brother. So, I sent an e-mail.
What
happened next underscores my belief in God’s providence. In our fear and
uncertainty, we made a radical choic to do something completely new. I
contacted John Farley, the district superintendent, and told him we were
considering a move to the Laguna Beach area. I told him I was an ordained
elder, and sent him a copy of my bio from the Saint Mark website, carefully
adding the words, “ministry for and with the LGBTQ community” as one of my
specialized areas of ministry. In the most marvelous turn of events, he wrote
me back almost immediately. He told me when we spoke that he had a church “in
the Laguna Beach area” that may need a pastor. It was an idea. It was a hope.
In a remarkable turn of events, we were the mutual answers to one another’s
prayers.
On
April 4, I got a call from John Farley letting me know that Bishop CarcaƱo had
officially appointed me as the Senior Minister at Laguna Beach UMC. Three weeks later, I flew here to meet with
the SPRC, and we got a chance to know one another and to celebrate this
surprising marriage that we had both been anticipating and longing for.
On
this, our first Sunday together, I want you to know one thing. You
are my beloved. Sisters and brothers, I have been praying for you since the
first day I learned of this possibility. Over the last few months, I have
learned your story, heard of your successes and disappointments. I have
listened intently to your dreams for what is next. I have researched this
community, the work you are doing to support the homeless, to reach out to your
neighbors, to build up the Body of Christ through service and compassion. My
heart, as John Wesley said, has been strangely warmed, because I believe that
your dreams are my dreams.
Our
text this morning, which is one that is rarely read because it is sensual and
passionate and tended to make the Puritans uncomfortable, highlights the
absolute joy that two people can share when being united after separation. The
voice we hear in this text speaks with unabashed desire as she imagines her
beloved saying to her, “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the
winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth and
the time of singing has come.” This emotional place is where I hope we find
ourselves, as partners in a relationship blessed by God’s providence. This
season, for you and for me, has brought challenges and trials, but now we can
watch and see what the rains will produce. The flowers of our prayers and
discernment through the winter are, literally, blooming right before our eyes.
Now,
if I were to imply that I leaping over mountains and bounding over hills is how
we arrived here this week, I would be wildly misleading you. A cross-country
move is hardly elegant or rapid. It was anything but gazelle-like. In fact, we
can only see ourselves in this text to the extent that it is a foggy view of
our hopes and dreams for our ministry together. We are imperfect creatures, you
and me, and we will love imperfectly. But this shall not stop us from trying
every day to be better together.
If you consider that this text is often used in weddings, you can see the beauty of the romantic love that is so evident between the couple in the text. You know as well as I do that the initial passion that fuels a relationship often tempers over time. But this has not impeded the desire for us to proclaim vows to one another before God and these witnesses. Consider the outrageous promises we make during in the marriage vows: to love and to cherish for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. Truly, all it took was being the one to hand-wash the dishes one time too many in our first year of marriage before I started reconsidering what I’d done. I love my husband to the ends of the earth and beyond, but I really, really hate washing dishes. And yet, I grew to live into these vows. We learned to adjust our expectations and meet one another in the middle. We supported each other in difficult times and have loved every single joyous moment that we’ve shared. It took time, it took patience. And, it took what every pastor has preached at every wedding under the sun: God’s love for each of us as individuals and as a married couple, as well as the support of our whole community. Ultimately, this text, as well as our ministry together, is not about us. It’s not about the couple, or gazelles, or stags or you or me. It’s not even about Laguna Beach United Methodist Church. This text, and our work together is now and will always be about God. It is about God’s love for us. It is about our response to God’s love. It is our job to embody that love through worship, sharing the sacraments, service, and by welcoming people of every status, gender, orientation, age, nation and ability.
If you consider that this text is often used in weddings, you can see the beauty of the romantic love that is so evident between the couple in the text. You know as well as I do that the initial passion that fuels a relationship often tempers over time. But this has not impeded the desire for us to proclaim vows to one another before God and these witnesses. Consider the outrageous promises we make during in the marriage vows: to love and to cherish for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. Truly, all it took was being the one to hand-wash the dishes one time too many in our first year of marriage before I started reconsidering what I’d done. I love my husband to the ends of the earth and beyond, but I really, really hate washing dishes. And yet, I grew to live into these vows. We learned to adjust our expectations and meet one another in the middle. We supported each other in difficult times and have loved every single joyous moment that we’ve shared. It took time, it took patience. And, it took what every pastor has preached at every wedding under the sun: God’s love for each of us as individuals and as a married couple, as well as the support of our whole community. Ultimately, this text, as well as our ministry together, is not about us. It’s not about the couple, or gazelles, or stags or you or me. It’s not even about Laguna Beach United Methodist Church. This text, and our work together is now and will always be about God. It is about God’s love for us. It is about our response to God’s love. It is our job to embody that love through worship, sharing the sacraments, service, and by welcoming people of every status, gender, orientation, age, nation and ability.
So,
today, I hope that we can have our own exchange of vows as we begin our work
together. These are the vows from the wedding liturgy, and even if it seems a
little strange to say them in such a setting, I believe they set the tone for
what it is we will do together. If you will repeat after me:
In
the name of God, I take you to be my partner in ministry,
To
join with you and to share all that is to come,
To
give and to receive, to speak and to listen,
To
inspire and to respond,
And
in all our life together
To
make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world,
Your
people shall be my people,
Your God, my God,
Your God, my God,
As
long as our ministry shall last.
I do pray that our Honeymoon lasts
a very, very long time. I pray that we can be gracious and forgiving and
hopeful and productive. I pray that we enliven our faith and worship with joy.
I know that the Holy Spirit is here with us, to guide us on our next steps, and
I rejoice that it is Christ who has prepared for us a reception at the heavenly
banquet, which we will celebrate here at this table.
Arise,
my love, my fair one and come away. For the winter is past and the rain is over
and gone. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. May all of
God’s people say, AMEN.
2 comments:
Mandy, the sermon was beautiful, really giving us a true picture of your ministry and your future hopes for each and every person of this congregation! Much love, Pamela & Amanda
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