This sermon was preached by Dan Harper at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva, Illinois, on Saturday, March 21, and Sunday, March 22. As usual, the sermon below is a reading text. The actual sermon as preached contained ad libs, interjections, and other improvisation. Sermon copyright (c) 2005 Daniel Harper.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This sermon was preached many years ago, when I was an interim associate minister. The congregation who heard this sermon is now a completely different congregation. I post this congregation here, because it’s an example of one kind of sermon that interim ministers used to preach.
How many of you remember that old comedy routine about Noah? Noah is just hanging out in his rec room, taking it easy when he hears this strange voice. “I want you to build an ark,” says the voice.
In a voice tinged with sarcasm, disbelief, and a certain amount of confusion and maybe wonder, Noah responds, “Right! What’s an ark?”
Even though I can’t tell it like Bill Cosby, this comedy routine is still funny because it tells about an experience we’ve all had: you’re just living out your life, going along with your regular routine, when suddenly, out of nowhere, something tells you to stop what you’re doing and start doing something else: –build an ark. But you don’t know what an ark is! Doesn’t matter, you’re supposed to do it anyway; and when you get done building the ark, fill it full of animals. How on earth are you supposed to fill it full of animals? This is impossible!
Before you know it, you find yourself with an ark full of animals. It was bad enough that you were supposed to build the ark when you didn’t even know what a cubit was, but now you’ve done it, and you find there are complications you hadn’t even dreamed of. At some point, says Bill Cosby, you’re ready to burn down the whole ark and head off to Florida for a vacation. You’re just about to go, when it starts to rain….
Just a little sprinkle, but it’s definitely raining. And it’s not stopping. This is going to be one of those rain storms that goes on for forty days and forty nights. All of a sudden, building that ark seems like a pretty good idea….
A couple of years ago, this congregation was like Noah. This congregation was spinning merrily along, when you started hearing whispers that maybe it was time to start doing things a little differently. There were no voices claiming to be God. But you started noticing that your senior minister was looking a little frazzled — that was one whisper. A group of people started saying they wanted to change the way religious education was done — that was another whisper. Your district executive pointed out some systems dynamics (whatever that means) you might want to address — that was another whisper. Then all of a sudden, your long-time Director of Religious Education leaves, and you find yourself afloat on flood waters in a rickety old ark.
As Bill Cosby tells it, Noah had to manage the ark all by himself. But in this modern day and age, we have consultants. That, my friends, is what an interim minister really is. We interim ministers are consultants who come on board and help you figure out how to sail your ark towards dry ground.
To you, it may have seemed you were afloat in a vast uncharted ocean. But as your ark consultant, I brought along maps and charts. I didn’t tell you where to sail, but the charts made it obvious. First, you’d want to head in the direction of “Coming to Terms with Your History,” which turned out to be filled with turbulence, eddies, and squalls. Remember that?
Second, you’d want to sail through the sea of “Discovering a New Identity.” You did that, and that’s where we are right now — a relatively calm patch of water where everyone on the ark has a chance to reflect on who and what this congregation is.
And here we are, about halfway from where the flood waters started to rise, and about halfway to the final landing place on dry ground once again. Halfway there. Halfway done with the voyage.
It has not been an easy voyage — it has been challenging, inspiring, often fun — but not easy. Back last fall when you were coming to terms with your history, we had a number of small conflicts. That was not easy! — not in a congregation which has traditionally avoided conflict rather than dealing with it head on. We found out that people had very different understandings of the recent history of this congregation. No, coming to terms with your history was not always easy.
Nor was it easy to try to discover a new identity. We human beings do not like change. Why can’t we keep the old identity of this congregation? people wanted to know. Because everything has changed around us. It’s no use pretending that everything is still the same, when you suddenly find yourself in an ark floating on flood waters, and the giraffes need to be fed (where did giraffes come from?!). That kind of thing makes it quite clear that this congregation is discovering a new identity.
You had two main choices for a new identity. You could have decided to shrink back down to about a hundred and fifty members, accepted the financial implications, maybe sold off Pioneer House again in order to make it possible, probably had to find a new minister because Lindsay would have gone crazy if she had to go back to a small church. Instead, it looks to me as if you have decided to finish growing into a middle-sized church, a program-sized church.
You’re halfway there already. So far the advantages are obvious. You get to have another minister. Raising money is easier. Worship services are more dynamic. And it’s easier to find new lay leaders to help run the church. Admittedly, you’re only halfway there, and we keep finding lots of little habits that have to change, because in a program-sized church you have to do everything differently.
For example: — the clipboards.
I remember the first worship service I attended here, almost a year ago, when I was out visiting you for the first time. I heard lots of announcements at the beginning of the worship service, and it seemed to me that every announcement ended with the mysterious statement, “Sign up at the clipboard!” What clipboard? I didn’t see any clipboards! I wondered: What in heaven’s name were people talking about?
A year later, I still haven’t figured out the clipboard thing. When I ask old-timers, they say, “Oh, it’s easy, the clipboards are either on that little wall next to the pulpit, or sometimes they used to get passed around in the congregation during the sermon, or maybe they’re in clipboard central.” I still haven’t figured out where “Clipboard Central” is.
The funny thing is, I also hear people complaining. “No one signs up on the clipboards,” they say. I believe there’s a connection here. If you don’t know where clipboards are, and if you come to church in order to worship, chances are pretty good you won’t sign up for anything on a clipboard.
The clipboards are just one small example of how everything is changing. The clipboards worked pretty well when this was a small church. Now that you are a program-sized church, you will find better ways of doing things. And this is why I say you’re only halfway there. You have enough people to be a program-sized church, but this congregation still small church habits. It is not easy to change these habits — but you’re about halfway there.
You’re going to face some more big changes next year. I expect the next big change will be changes in leadership. Here again, it’s worth learning from the complaints we hear. I hear lots of old-timers, people who have been in this congregation for many years, complaining that they feel tired, or burned out. I also hear new members complaining that it is hard to get involved. When you were a small church, everyone knew everyone else, and when you needed new leaders you just picked someone you knew to take over for you. Now that you’re a mid-sized church, you will develop an open, well-publicized process for finding new lay leaders.
I expect that in the coming six or seven months, you will see many new lay leaders taking on new roles within this congregation. I expect there will be conflicts as the old leaders gets cranky when the new leaders don’t do things exactly the same way we’ve always done things here. And I expect that you will find yourselves forced to do church business in new and uncomfortable ways pretty much across the board. I expect you will witness power struggles, and I also expect there will be hurt feelings now and then.
Fortunately, you will have a new interim minister to help you through this process. She will help you manage this change. She will help the new members find their voice. She will help the old-timers come to terms with all the changes. Much of her work will be pastoral, helping heal any hurts that arise. Some of her work will be prophetic, when she reminds this congregation that you are covenanted together in love.
As new leaders step into place, I expect you will face another big change, but this will be a fun change. At the moment, this congregation is largely isolated from the wider Unitarian Universalist movement. In large part, this congregation does not take part in fun and fellowship of district trainings, and regional workshops, and denominational meetings. Beginning no later than next fall, I expect this congregation will rediscover the wider world of Unitarian Universalism, and I expect you will find this to be great fun. It’s fun getting to know other Unitarian Universalists! Here again, your interim minister will help you out. But already, some of you are going to district meetings, and making connections with other congregations, and going to Unitarian Universalist summer camps. So renewing your connections with the wider Unitarian Universalist movement should be fun and easy.
And finally, you will find yourself making commitments to new directions in ministry. By this time next spring, I fully expect you will have voted to call a permanent second minister. You will have to do a good deal of preparation leading up to that vote, and that preparation has already begun. You have selected a search committee, and the search committee has already begun figuring out what kind of a permanent second minister you are going to want. They will develop surveys, and hold meetings, and talk with lots of people, and within a few months you will clarify what kind of second minister you want, and you will begin to look for him or her. By this time next year, you will have found that new associate minister, and you will then be done with your interim tasks.
Within a year, you will be done with your interim tasks. If you want to continue with the Noah story, the flood will have dried up, the earth will be green and fair, and you will be starting a whole new chapter in your life as a congregation.
Before I end, I have a few last words for you — a few last preachy things I want to say while I have this pulpit.
First: you are an amazing group of people, and I hope you will learn to tell others exactly why you are such a good congregation — you’re pretty good at identifying your weaknesses; now it’s time to learn to identify your strengths.
Second: you have an amazing building — you have been good at identifying the weaknesses of your building; now it’s time to learn to identify its strengths, and to use those strengths.
Third: don’t forget that you really like children and youth — because you do whether you admit it or not.
Finally: I believe you leave two words unspoken in your covenant. Each week, this congregation says, “We have associated ourselves together….” But each week, this congregation acts as if the covenant reads, “We have associated ourselves together in love.” If you remember nothing else I’ve said after I leave, remember that you always leave two words unspoken in your covenant.
You’re halfway there. Have fun next year as you finish up, and get all the way there.