SERMON ~ 11/19/2017 ~ Installation Service of Rev. Allen Armstrong, Pastor, Sherburne, United Church of Christ ~ “The Call”

11/19/2017 ~ Installation Service of Rev. Allen Armstrong, Pastor, Sherburne, United Church of Christ.

A READING FROM THE TANAKH IN THE SECTION KNOWN AS THE TORAH —        Deuteronomy 6:1-9 [ILV]

INTRODUCTION:
Many scholars say there is but one commandment in Scripture and it is the starting point of all Scripture.  That one commandment is the so called great commandment— the Shema.  We find that commandment in this passage from the Torah in the work known as Deuteronomy.  I shall be reading from the Inclusive Language Version, a translation based on the Jerusalem Bible.

[1] Here, then, are the statutes, the ordinances, the commandments, the decrees— Yahweh, our God, charged me to teach you.  Observe them so that you may enter into the land Yahweh, the God of your ancestors gives to you and that you are about to cross into and occupy.  [2] If you and your children and the children of your children revere Yahweh, your God, all the days of your life and if you keep the statutes, the ordinances, the commandments, the decrees I lay before you, your days may be long.  [3] Hear, listen therefore, O Israel, and observe carefully, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may increase your numbers greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.

[4] Hear, O Israel:
    Yahweh, our God,
        Yahweh alone, is one.
[5] You are to love Yahweh, our God
            with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
    and with all your strength.
[6] Let these words
                that I command today
            be written in your heart.
[7] Recite them,
            teach them diligently
        to your children
repeat them constantly
    when you are at home
and when you are walking
            down a road,
    when you lie down at night
and when you get up in the morning.
[8] Tie them on your hand
                    as a reminder;
            fix them as an emblem
                    on your forehead;
[9] write them on the doorposts
                        of your house
                and on your gates.

Here ends this reading from Scripture.

The Call

“Hear, O Israel: / Yahweh, our God, / Yahweh alone, is one. / You are to love Yahweh, our God / with all your heart, / and with all your soul, / and with all your strength.” —  Deuteronomy 6:4-5.

First things first: congratulations to the Rev. Mr. Armstrong and to the Sherburne United Church of Christ.  Second things second: sometimes a preacher needs to speak after an outstanding choir anthem or great testimony given by a parishioner.  When that happens the preacher at least thinks and probably should say, “That is a tough act to follow.”

Since the Rev. Dr. Marsha Williams will be the next one in this pulpit, I need to say, “That is a tough act to precede.”  Also, and just so I say this out loud, the very fact that Marsha is representing the Conference and I and others represent the Association should inform us about covenant and the church gathered.

And yes, we all have our roots in the local church.  But church— and the word church does not mean a building— this is a meeting house— the word church means people.  My point is the real definition of the very word ‘church’ is different than common usage would have it.  (Slight pause.)

Now, despite the fact that I have served a church in this Association and in this valley for 22 years, probably most of you do not know too much my background.  So, that’s where I want to start and then I shall add something about what is often referred to as a call, or as clergy often and quite inappropriately refer to it: “my call.”  (Slight pause.)

I grew up in the Roman Catholic tradition.  With a name like Joseph Francis Connolly, Jr. that is hard to hide.  In my 20s I shifted, became an Episcopalian.  When I was 40 I saw the light.  I shifted again and became a Congregationalist when I joined First Parish Church, United Church of Christ, Brunswick, Maine.

Forever, or at least since I was 20, people had been telling me I needed to be a pastor.  I did not believe them.  In fact, once I asked an Episcopal Priest friend what the call felt like.  This Priest said, “Oh, it felt terrible.  I cried for hours.”  I said, “Great.  That’s not me!”

And so I had joined the Brunswick church.  On the wall in the coffer hour room there was a Bangor Seminary poster with postcards attached.

Send us a card and we’ll send you information was the deal.  So I sent a card.  There is nothing wrong with having information.  After being on their mailing list for about a year they sent me a letter asking, ‘did I want to stay on the list?’

Feeling guilty I wrote back a long letter saying ‘yes, leave me on the list and no, I am not going to seminary right now.’  What did the seminary do?  They sent me back a catalogue.   I have no idea how ‘no’ translates into ‘here’s a catalogue’ but it did.

I got the catalogue in the mail on a Friday and on Saturday my wife had to be away.  So, since I was bored, I decided to bore myself some more and read the catalogue.

And, as I sat reading it, I started to cry.  Have you ever read a Seminary catalogue?  I was reading a Seminary catalogue filled with course descriptions— beyond boring— and I was crying.  And I remembered what my Episcopal Priest said about what the call felt like.  “Oh, it felt terrible.  I cried for hours.”  (Slight pause.)

We find these words in Deuteronomy: “Hear, O Israel: / Yahweh, our God, / Yahweh alone, is one. / You are to love Yahweh, our God / with all your heart, / and with all your soul, / and with all your strength.”  (Slight pause.)

When I hold Confirmation sessions at the Norwich Church one of the things I present are three short videos on discernment by Michael Himes, a Jesuit, a Professor of Theology at Boston College.  Himes gives these talks to incoming Freshmen at BC, so these talks do not address a call to ministry.  They addresses our call in life.

The presentation is called “Three Key Questions.”  These are the questions: ‘Is whatever it is you are considering to be a call on your life, for your life, a source of joy?’  ‘Is this something that taps into your talents, gifts in the fullest way?’  ‘Last, will those around you affirm the call and do you have the courage to respond?’  (Slight pause.)

Earlier I said we clergy often inappropriately refer to the what we do as “my call.”  “My call” is inappropriate because it is not “my call.”

You see, that last question Himes tackles is key and it applies not just to church, not just to clergy, but to bankers, car mechanics, doctors, to plumbers, etc., etc., etc.  “Will those around you affirm the call and do you have the courage to respond?”  Any call is, at least in part, the call of those around us to us.  It is the call of the community.  (Slight pause.)

We Americans like to talk about the opening words Declaration of Independence, the words about being created equal and the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.  However, the closing words of the Declaration I believe are both pivotal and foundational in making freedom a reality.

These are those words (quote:) “...for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”  We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

I don’t know about you, but what that sounds like to me— this mutual support— is covenant.  We, the church, the church here gathered, the church when it gathers locally, the church when it gathers as the Association, the church when it gathers as the Conference, the church when it gathers as the National Setting, are in covenant.  And perhaps we need to mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor.

Or perhaps what we really need to do is to listen to the words from Deuteronomy: “Hear, O Israel:”— no.  No— let’s try that again.  “Hear, O Sherburne / Yahweh, our God, / Yahweh alone, is one. / You are to love Yahweh, our God / with all your heart, / and with all your soul, / and with all your strength.”

You see, the question the great commandment raises for me is ‘do we in the United Church of Christ— and not just Allen but all of us— do we in the United Church of Christ have the courage to respond to the call of the community as we discern the call of God on the life of the community and on our lives?’  Amen.

Sherburne United Church of Christ, Installation of Allen Armstrong
11/19/2017