Scripture Readings: 2 Corinthians 2:14-15 and 3:1-6 (GNT)
…Thanks be to God! For in union with Christ we are always led by God as prisoners in Christ’s victory procession. God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance. 15 For we are like a sweet-smelling incense offered by Christ to God, which spreads among those who are being saved and those who are being lost.
…Does this sound as if we were again boasting about ourselves? Could it be that, like some other people, we need letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are the letter we have, written on our hearts for everyone to know and read. 3It is clear that Christ himself wrote this letter and sent it by us. It is written, not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, and not on stone tablets but on human hearts.
4 We say this because we have confidence in God through Christ. 5 There is nothing in us that allows us to claim that we are capable of doing this work. The capacity we have comes from God; 6it is {God} who made us capable of serving the new covenant, which consists not of a written law but of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.
Sermon
- Two significant things are happening for Lyndale this September:
- One is that your church’s profile is FINALLY about finished.
- The Transition Team has been working on this over 2 years,
- It will next be reviewed by our Conference staff
- And then the Stewardship Council
- And then your Search team will convene and prepare to launch it and begin accepting profiles from candidates
- I know this is taking much longer than you would have liked
- But I like to think that, even when there are delays in the search process, there is some great match out there and only God knows the timing of that!
- A church profile involves a long process that many of you helped with:
- You did Talking Circles and conducted a broad Hartford survey
- The Team collected data, ran a draft by you and then re-worked it
- And between the lines there was a lot of soul searching about who you used to be, who you are now, and who God wants you to be moving forward.
- In the profile, you want to be honest, but you also want to “sell yourself”.
- It’s your church’s resume, with its letters of recommendation;
- So you put on your best face for candidates
- But also to reveal not just things you have done, but the effect you’ve had on the community you serve in ministry
- And candidates are doing the same thing for you as they write their profiles
- Still, no matter how carefully a church or pastor profile is written, it cannot perfectly reflect who you are;
- The goal is to intrigue someone and get them in the door to meet you
- Then see if the Holy Spirit lights up your encounter and makes a good match
- I pray and trust that will happen for Lyndale at the right time
- The other big thing happening this month is that Karn is leaving us;
- I’m sure that, just like churches and pastoral candidates, she also had to produce a resume and letters of recommendation that helped her new employer see her experience and character
- Writing a resume is a good and hard exercise!
- To lay out your own gifts and experience,
- To be confident enough to say, “I’ve done this. I know about that.”
- To go to people you know and ask, “Will you be a reference for me?”
- I can only imagine all the experiences in these 16 years at Lyndale Karn could put into her resume
- What would YOU put in Karn’s resume?
- Compassionate caregiver AND financial record keeping,
- she puts the “fun” in fundraising,
- And that’s not counting her experience before she got here: running a food business, raising children, doing advocacy work in the community
- But no matter how long her resume might have been, it would not accurately reflect what she is capable of, the fullness of who she really is
- The only way to know that is to enter a relationship with her and see what God makes happen!
- Today we’re praying that her next relationship with a congregation will flourish like the one here has;
- What is God making happen between us in this relationship we call ministry?
- That is the question Paul raises when he writes to the Corinthians in the early church
- He lays out earlier in this letter some of the hardships he and the Church have been through;
- But then celebrates how the Church has enjoyed some success and growth
- He says the Church’s people have become like a “sweet fragrance” that can be whiffed and followed to learn about the Good News.
- Paul is proud of what he and the other disciples have accomplished
- But he also knows the proof is in the pudding!
- The effect we have on the world is shown not just by doing tasks, but by how we build relationships and impact the people we engage with
- So Paul says, in effect, it’s not what I’ve done or what the apostles have done;
- it’s who we are, as a faith community, that writes our letter of recommendation, our resume, to the world!
- The Corinthians themselves were Paul’s evidence that something good was happening in this ministry and real lives were being impacted
- And that it’s through Christ’s power, not just our effort, that good things have happened.
- Bringing this message home to Lyndale, it could be said that YOU are Karn’s letter of recommendation. You are her resume.
- You are a piece of evidence that she has done something meaningful here
- Not you personally, although I know she has affected some of you very personally
- But I mean you as the culture of Lyndale;
- She has become your institutional memory through so many changes
- She’s been a stable presence as pastors come and go
- A connection point between members of Lyndale and the ministry of CSJ
- Your chief financial steward
- She was a caregiving leader before and during Covid through Befrienders
- The one who had to be flexible and find new gifts in herself through all those changes,
- Through the Don Portwood years, the Ashley years, the Rebecca and Joann and Gail years…so that you could enjoy some stability
- Most of all, she has been the big heart on the other end of the line when you called or emailed
- She is both pragmatic and idealistic,
- I’ve enjoyed it when I would present Karn with a new idea, and she might say, “Well…we haven’t done it that way in the past…
- But then, a moment or even a day later, she might add: but maybe we could!”
- (As an interim, those were sweet words for me to hear!)
- Karn’s influence has been like a sweet fragrance infused through your community
- And I know other church leaders, both clergy and lay, have left behind that perfume of their presence among you.
- I know losing a beloved helper/staff member/friend is painful,
- you will grieve, and there will be growing pains as we get through the next few weeks, covering all the administrative stuff and finding someone new (who will smell different!)
- But I also ask you today to be happy for Karn; she’s on a new adventure!
- And, just as she is embarking on a new adventure, you, Lyndale are too!
- As I look at your profile (and you will get to see it in a short time, I hope) I can see how you, also have spread a wonderful fragrance in the community your ministry has touched.
- But the only way for a candidate to really know you is to come and meet you and hear a call to enter a relationship with you.
- To find trust in more than just your own ability and resumes and experience
- But to trust that the living God will guide you through an uncertain time
- To accept these changes and disruptions as an opportunity for God to do a new thing
- And to celebrate and unite with all the partners and power God sends your way so you don’t have to do it alone.
- Take some time today to thank Karn for everything she has been for you
- And to thank God for leading you this far together
- And calling you both in a good new direction
- Each of you carrying the sweet fragrance of each other’s influence over these past 16 years.
- And be grateful!
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