Sermon given by Rev. Sophia Lyons, January 7, 2024.
I have so been looking forward to this day. To return home to you, for that is how I see this. For in the two years that I served as your Intern Minister, I believe we cultivated, together, a shared sense of home and soul and belonging against the backdrop of the pandemic and complete social upheaval. What a time that was…
So what a joy it was to be asked by Rev. Frank to preach today. And more specifically, to be asked to preach about Shared Ministry, which is not just near and dear to me and my ministry, but is at the heart of our faith–who we are, how we are, and, most importantly, who and how we hope to be, as Unitarian Universalists.
Before I go any further, I want to dispel some myths about it. Sharing in the ministry of the church is so much more than everyone pulling their weight so that we can “get the job done.” Shared ministry is not about being better worker bees. If this were the case, we would call this “Shared Work.”
Ministry, as I see it, is a sacred call to the service and care of souls. And when we apply this understanding to the ‘work’ of church, and instead view it as the ‘ministry’ of the church–then how we encounter the thing, how we do the thing, and, most importantly, who is called to the thing–differently. I am going to say more about our precious and particular gifts in a moment. Sharing in these ministries–these sacred calls to the service and care of souls–affirms that no one person, and yes, this includes clergy and our religious leaders, can possibly do it alone. This is an outdated model of leadership and life that is not only impossible, but inhumane–to be it all and do it all.
Our Unitarian Universalist faith believes in sacred call and ministry, or the care of souls, as being something every blessed human being has to cultivate, offer and the recipient of; that this blessed reciprocity is each and every one of our birthrights. Shared Ministry, this exchange of soul care, at its best, is a way of life that offers us: depth, value, relatedness, heart, personal substance, deep meaning-making, healing and the knowing that YES, all that we are and do is sacred, precious, and worth fighting for–for ourselves and for our fellows.
This definition offers us a powerful measuring stick to apply to what we say yes to, the ministries we engage in, and how we, ourselves, ask for and receive ministry, soul care, in community.
Practically speaking in the life of a church, Shared Ministry is the continuous practice of CENTERING IN YOUR GIFTS. That’s what it’s all about. Centering in your gifts.
And what I’m about to share comes from the wisdom and teachings of Meck Groot, who recently retired from her role as a regional UU lead and consultant and has companioned countless congregations in the work of visioning, reconciliation, and healing over the years. She, like me, also places Shared Ministry at the heart of her ministry and this faith. So, know that some of this is born from the giftedness of Meck:
What does it mean to center in your gifts? It begins by taking your genius seriously. Yes. Your genius. Something you do so naturally you might not even think of it as your gift. Of course, there are the obvious talents. For example, people who sing or play music like angels. Those who organize events, balance budgets, or chair committees as easily as a duck swims. Those who are magic-makers with kids and youth. Those who are social justice warriors or can bring a reading to life in worship like no other. This congregation’s life and longevity–it’s ability to offer belonging, purpose, meaning and value –depend on some of these obvious gifts. These gifts are worthy and glorious. And me-oh-my you have them in abundance.
But there are other gifts here too. The unidentified gifts. The hidden talents. For example, there are people with a gift for deep listening. And those who encourage others quietly from the sidelines. Those who know how to make people feel at home and at ease. Those who bring humor and spark insight. Those who are genius at saying NO.
In this virtual sanctuary right now are both recognized and unrecognized glory. Each of you have treasures within you. And those treasures are hoping you will bring them forth. Not ALL of these glories–remember? That’s impossible and inhumane. The particular treasures that are yours to give, and that you love giving. And isn’t this what church is for? To borrow the words from our Romero Prayer, isn’t this what we are all about?
I would say that the free and generous exchange of our gifts, rooted in sacred call and soul, is a basic human longing and need. As Meck so beautifully says, “…No one gets a greater sense of their inherent value and place in a community–no greater sense of their worth and dignity–than when their gifts are nurtured, affirmed, and received in community. When this happens, we all–both givers and receivers–experience belonging, purpose, meaning and value.” And friends, these are the things of spiritual transformation and collective healing and liberation. This is the dream of Shared Ministry. This is the dream of church. You, good people of UUCH, know this well.
And there’s more! If you arrive to this place, or find yourself at a stage in your life, where you can’t identify your gifts, or you don’t know what they are anymore–It’s the responsibility of the community to help you with this. It is the responsibility of the community to support you to deliver those gifts. It is the responsibility of the community to ensure those gifts are received–within or beyond the congregation. This, and I hope you hear this, moves us away from being a church of I, and towards a church of WE. And this, my friends is radical and counter-cultural, and I know we UU’s like being radical and counter-cultural!
And this same principle applies to those who give and give and give, and whose body and soul are exhausted, risking those blessed gifts being snuffed: It’s the responsibility of the community to help with this. It is the responsibility of the community to support you in safeguarding your gifts. It is the responsibility of the community to gift YOU with rest and care and tenderness. SOUL. Again, this moves us away from being a church of I, and towards an interdependent liberational church of WE.
And listen, Centering in your gifts does not mean you don’t ever have to do things you don’t feel like doing. This has become another myth about Shared Ministry.
As Meck Groot says, “Even great painters need to clean their brushes! Dishes still need washing and trash needs taking out. So, take your turn.” And give someone else a turn too! “Do the maintenance tasks that allow your gifts, and the gifts of others, to flourish and flow. Take your turn.” Give someone else a turn. And even better…if no one wants a turn, let it go. Let it go.
When you are centered in your gifts and sharing in your ministries, taking your turn and giving others turns, letting things go: You will tap into joy. You will feel spiritually deepened. You will feel connected. And this joy and spiritual deepening and connected-ness will spark resilience and wonder and presence and hope and healing.
Now so much of this aspirational. You might compare it to building Beloved Community, or living our principles…there isn’t a final destination in this. It’s a guiding light. It’s a guiding light in tilted times that are requiring us to think differently about how we tend to our souls and the souls of others; how we dismantle oppressive systems and thinking that keep us toiling and grinding alone so as to feel that we have some kind of value. Yes, our churches can function like this too. I can function like this.
I am now in my 3rd year of ministry at the First Parish of Watertown, and I often find myself trying to be the pastor that is everywhere. I’ve got that pesky voice in my head that sometimes thinks that my value as their minister is correlated to how much I can do, without help and without complaint. Many of us in Watertown also fall prey to thinking that everything is urgent and needs doing now–at the cost of our sanity, at the cost of our body’s health, at the cost of tearing at the sanctity of our sacred giftedness.
The aspiration of Shared Ministry, and I am so grateful our larger faith is centering this as an urgent call, offers an antidote to this kind of inhumane, untenable thinking, and expectation of our leaders, our clergy and religious educators, whose value is so often measured by how much they can do and suffer without complaint. Sharing in the care of each other in free and equal exchange, Shared Ministry, says who you are and HOW you are, matters.
And here’s where I tell you that I, at first, laughed when Rev. Frank asked me to come preach about this to you. Because I feel, deep in my heart, that I’m simply boinging back what YOU gifted me with. This congregation taught me, and your stunning minister continues to teach me, about what the caring and touching of souls, the centering of blessed, precious gifts, looks and feels like in sacred community.
These are seeds that you planted in me, that I have carried forward earnestly. Earnestly. I sense that we–you and I–will never fully grasp the transformative power and impact that this beautiful exchange of gifts, your giftedness and mine, has and is and will make manifest in the world. We will never fully grasp it, but I take it seriously, and am so grateful to you for it.
This is what’s at the heart of The Romero Prayer, which Clare so giftedly read to us earlier. Let’s revisit some of it:
“…This is what we are about.
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that will rise far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it well. It may be incomplete
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest…
We are…ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.”
Thank YOU for teaching me about this. Thank you for sharing your resplendent ministries and prophetic pastorings with me. Your depth of heart and soul and care. Thank you being seed-planters and foundation layers and yeast cultivators. Thank you for centering YOUR gifts in this hopeful, radical faith called Unitarian Universalism. Where we dream of a Shared World, a place of WE, and a new counter cultural way of being in community that tends to this thing called being human and humane; of soul. What we’re all about…
May it be so, thank you, and Amen.