Ephesians 6: 1-20
Finally! The
passage for our reflection today begins with finally! “Finally” Paul says, “put on the whole armor of God so that
you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” In fact, twice he deplores the new
Christians to put on the whole armor of God. He must know all too well that living as Christians will not
be easy and so he ‘kicks it up a notch’ in this concluding chapter of Ephesians
that we have used for reflection these last few weeks.
In his summation of the letter, Paul resorts to using
militaristic language and images to bring home his point. He employs language that reflects to
his readers an overarching reminder that they are living under the menacing
Roman Empire, which wasn’t very nice and downright barbaric at times with all
those crucifixions. It is likely
that they would see Roman soldiers, dressed in their regalia of armor on a
daily basis roaming the streets, guarding public places, dining in local
eateries. So he draws from his
local context through which people can relate.
The unusual twist that Paul makes is that he demilitarizes the
parts of the armor, the belt, the breastplate, the shield, the helmet and assigns
to them good and decent values: truth, righteousness and faith because God
embodies justice, peace and life. Let us now hear the words of the 6th chapter
of Ephesians….
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength
of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle
is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take
up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil
day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth
around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for
your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of
these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming
arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and
the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and
supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for
all the saints. Pray also for me,
so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness
the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in
chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.
These are good
words for congregations, good words to live by, and good words to aspire to
always, no matter where you are in congregational life. Good words for pastors too!
I’m not going to
talk too much about that scripture today because you and I are at a liminal moment
in our lives as pastor and congregation, that is we are at the threshold. And I
want to acknowledge that. It is a
space where we are neither here nor there, but we are in a transition. Like crossing from one room to the next
there is this space where you are in both rooms at once and neither room. It is a space that is pregnant with
possibility; of letting go of the past, and engaging fully the future. WE are in a liminal space today.
I came here as
your interim minister in a snowy January of 2013 and then, on a beautiful
autumnal day in September of 2014; I became your Sr. Redevelopment Pastor. Although we did a whole lot of
redevelopment, between you and me, I really did feel more as if I were your
settled pastor. You welcomed me
into your lives, held me accountable when I needed it (as I did you!!!) and our
roots grew deep in mutual honor and respect, love and grace.
But yet, interim
and redevelopment ministry has a beginning and an end. It is finite. It is hoped that the work in between is fruitful,
revitalizing, spiritually energizing and that it would be a period of
growth. I believe that we have
achieved all that and much more.
And so, my work really is done!
There is a
wonderful children’s movie called ‘Nanny McPhee’. It’s about a nanny who
comes to take care of a slew of horrid little children. Nanny herself, had
warts on her face, was very unkempt looking at the beginning and was overly
strict to the point of being downright mean. Now don’t make the
connection that you were horrid children. You were not! And don’t
go thinking that I had warts. I did not (or not many!)
So as the movie
progresses the children become well behaved and each time they do something
nice, or begin to be good little children, a wart magically disappears off of
Nanny’s face.
Throughout the
movie there is something beautiful that happens to all of them. With
patience, understanding, searching, and a whole lot of love they become
beautiful together. The transformation is magnificent. The children
are good and Nanny is presentable without warts. Of course, when this happens, then it is time for Nanny to
take her leave.
But the best line
in the movie is one that Nanny utters when she comes to live with the family,
she say’s, “When you need me, but
do not want me, then I must stay.
When you want me, but no longer need me, then I have to go.”
You no longer need
me, so I have to go. There are so
many plusses to my specialized ministry, but saying goodbye is not one of
them. However that’s what we will do today because you no longer need the
type of ministry that I can provide for you. What I’ve realized about myself as a pastor is that I’m a
sprinter, not a marathon runner in ministry. Tod was a marathon runner.
We’ve done some fine
work together over these 5 and a half years. We’ve weathered some significant
storms literally, and we’ve laughed, cried, prayed, worshipped, married,
buried, studied, sang, and ate together.
My goals, when I came here, were to calm everyone down and to steady a
shaky boat when Tod left. You were
pretty anxious whether you know it or not. I sought to lead you through a process of discovery and
unearth you from pretty some fairly stagnant waters.
I endeavored to
instill hope, and to help you envision a path to your future. I prayed to love you as a congregation
of dedicated people who try very hard to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I prayed hard to just love you, which
I’ve come to do.
We have so much to
be thankful to God for as a pastor and congregation. Blessing upon blessing God has given us the ability to forge
ahead with confidence in these years.
I am proud that you have become Open and Affirming, I am proud that you
have developed a sense for a strong faith formation mission, I am proud that
you have redeveloped your governance to suit the needs of the people in this
ever changing landscape of ministry.
You’ve done significant work!
Good on you!
You are not the
same congregation that I addressed from in this pulpit in 2013, far from
it. You are lighter, you are fun
loving, you are much more mission minded and gospel focused. Remember always that the Lord is YOUR
shepherd and you’ll do just fine.
I thank God and give God all of the glory for who you are as God’s
beloved.
And I thank God
for your care and concern, for your reception of my ministry and my
family. I thank God for my
children and their spouses, John and Danielle, Dan and Laura, Tina and Andy and
my beloved little grandson Beau.
And, of course for my brother Richard and his wife Susan. Thank you for putting up with my crazy
schedules and for sometimes having to take a back seat to my work. Forgive me.
And I thank my
ministry team for their friendship and dedication, a talented staff to work
alongside of. Esther, Bryan,
Susan, Stacey, Ron, Nancy, Laura and newbie Victoria. I thank you.
But you no longer need me, I recognize
that. And it’s not because I need
to be needed, it’s because you are ready to launch! In fact you have
launched. You are some of the
strongest lay leaders that I have encountered. That’s the bittersweet nature of this type of ministry. You are ready to embark on a new
journey that will be exciting and fruitful with a new pastor in the pulpit, a
different pastor who will bring his or her own experience, his or her own love
of God, his or her unique call to ministry to bear here at Orange
Congregational. You are ready to
embark upon ministry with a marathoner!!!
And you see, that makes me really happy. I feel, leaving here, that I have done
my best to honor God and to be the pastor that you needed me to be at this time
in the life of Orange Congregational.
We are severing our relationship on very good and gracious terms knowing
that the best is yet to come for the both of us.
Be open to the endless and exciting
possibilities of how you will move forward, God called you into existence in
1810 and God will safely see you into the future. It is a marathon of grace, gratitude, love and forgiveness.
So I want to leave you with a charge, or maybe a
couple-three to be exact-since this is the last time that I will address you as
your pastor and in a position of authority under God.
The first charge I leave you is challenging but
essential. I charge you to always
be about the work of Christ, that is why we are here and that is why men and
women discern a call to ministry, because we want to be about the work and
ministry of Christ. It is for no
other reason that the church exists.
We’re not a country club or a social service agency, or a hierarchical
vessel to pour out our power hungry selves. We are here solely to witness to the strength and salvation
of God through Jesus Christ.
Please, always remember that, if you stray too far from that it will
lead you onto rocky terrain.
Your second charge is to pray. Pray often. Pray always. Your new bridge pastor and future
settled pastor are human and will, at times, need your prayers of support, your
prayers of love, your prayers of compassion. The demands of a congregation upon their pastor can be
great. Be gentle, be loving, be
forgiving, be kind as I have experienced you to be.
And your third charge is to be a beacon of hope
in this community. Our world needs
hope, this community needs hope.
Not that we are in a bad way, but the demands of life are huge and
people need a place of complete acceptance and unconditional love. You can be that place for people, you
can be that non-judgmental haven for people to experience God when the rest of
the world is saying something else, when the rest of the world is condemning
rather than commending. Shun no
one and let the community know it explicitly.
I actually do have one more charge for you. A fourth one, I lied. A preacher’s got to preach when she’s
got something to say!
Right before the sermon we sang one of my most
beloved hymns. “Won’t You Let Me
Be Your Servant.”? And yes all you
naysayers it’s from the New Century Hymnal!!! So many phrases, bring me to the point of tears, ‘let me be
as Christ to you,’ ‘we are pilgrims on a journey, we are travelers on the road,
we are here to help each other go the mile and bear the load,’
‘I will hold the Christ light for you in the
shadow of your fear……...it’s that Christ light that keeps flaming up in my
heart and mind. The Christ light
of unconditional love. The Christ
light of unquenchable justice. The
Christ light of forgiveness and sheer joy. I will hold the Christ light for you as I embark on a new
journey knowing that you are embarking on a journey too and holding the Christ
light for me.
My dear friends, I love you and will miss
you. A lot. But I leave here knowing that I have
lost my warts and you are the best that you can be. Together we have honored and loved our Lord, Jesus Christ
and that’s what it’s all about.
Rejoice fully in the pastor to come who will be ready
and willing to be here for the marathon, who will love you in all of life’s
circumstances, and who loves God with all of his or her heart.
And let all of the people say, Amen!
Rev. Suzanne Wagner
