Sermon by Bishop Margaret G. Payne
at
“A Lifetime Achievement Celebration for Don and Janet
Johnson”
Service of Word and Prayer
Jeremiah 1:4-9
Philippians 4:4-9
John 1:35-42
Grace,
mercy and peace to you from God the Creator, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. Amen.
Have you heard about the two
TV antennas that met when they were placed on the same roof-top? It’s a
wonderful story – they fell in love and decided to get married. The ceremony
was just average … but the reception was terrific.
One of the gifts that Don
Johnson brought to the ministry of the New England Synod was an unusual
interpretation of the commands of scripture.
Apparently, he believed that
the meaning of
“Rejoice in the Lord always”
is that Christian leaders are
called to tell jokes regularly. So he did.
The story of the two TV
antennas happens to be my latest favorite,
but it is only one
of years and years worth of jokes.
Some of them were even
funny.
And the ones that weren’t,
reminded us that Christians who groan together bond just as well
as Christians who laugh and
rejoice together – just one of the many lessons
that we learned from D.Guy in the 35 years
that he gave to the enterprise
of outdoor ministry here in
Since I am a relative
newcomer
I do not have the store of memories that many of you have
and celebrate today.
But as soon as I began to learn
about
that God had bestowed a great
gift here in the work and witness
of Don Johnson. It was so clear that he has been God’s
instrument
in this place. Because he answered God’s call
and used his gifts to do God’s work
through outdoor ministries,
there has grown up an incredibly
effective and creative programs
that result in, without
question, the best outdoor ministry in the ELCA.
And God gave both Don and
Her years of love,
commitment and hard work, mostly behind the scenes –
attending to trillions of
details in the office,
waiting for Don to return from
his endless travels,
and … I shudder to think of this
responsibility …
listening to all those jokes
before Don told them –
all these ways of serving and
using her gifts have been a precious ministry among us.
The Old Testament lesson today
has set the stage for remembering
that God consecrates each one of us for a purpose in life –
even before our birth – calls us, and sends us into the world with a
mission.
After reading what God said
to Jeremiah about putting words into his mouth,
I
think it’s a little scary to ponder the possibility that it was God
who put the words to all those
jokes into Don’s mouth … but, you never know.
What we do know, is that God
continues to call and send people,
to equip them with gifts for
ministry,
and then fill them with the will
to live as instruments of the Holy Spirit.
So the Christian life is a
life of listening for God’s call,
discovering and developing the
gifts that God has given to us
and then finding ways to use
them for the sake of Jesus in the world.
The gospel lesson is the
story of another calling into ministry,
and also a reminder about the
importance of relationship in our lives of faith.
John the Baptist called out
and identified Jesus as “The Lamb of God” –
and because he did that, two
disciples followed Jesus,
and went home with him, and saw
and understood that he was the Messiah.
And then one of them,
Andrew, went to get his brother, Simon,
and brought him to Jesus –
that’s the way it should work.
We get to know what Jesus has to offer,
and we go and get others – even
family members – so that
they also can come to Jesus and
receive the life and healing that he gives.
Jesus already knew Andrew’s
brother – in the same way that God knew Jeremiah –
and called
him into a whole new identity for the sake of mission.
He
named him Cephas (Peter) which means “the rock” –
and Christ’s
church would be built on the foundation of the gifts of this disciple.
Peter was not the kind of
guy that you would think of as the founder of a new religion.
He was a fisherman – and had some significant weaknesses
when you think about it.
He was coarse, impulsive, sometimes slow to understand,
and he betrayed Jesus at the
hour of his death.
That does not seem like the
profile of a strong leader
but it reminds us of something
very important – God uses us despite our weaknesses.
We do not have to be perfect to be an important part of
God’s plan for the church.
There is a story about a
rock and the famous artist and sculptor, Michelangelo.
It is reported that one day
he was seen pushing a huge piece of rock down the street.
There was a neighbor who was sitting in front of his house, watching
him,
and he called to Michelangelo,
and asked him why he
was laboring so hard to get that
rock down the street and into his studio.
Michelangelo is reported to
have answered:
Because there is
an angel in this rock that wants to come out.
Now, without belaboring this
analogy too much,
and thinking of ourselves as
pieces of rock that God is pushing down the street
the truth is that each one of us
has potential to be shaped in a variety of ways.
We can let ourselves be
shaped by the world, which usually plays on our weaknesses,
or we can give ourselves to God,
to be shaped in the ways that
God wants us to be shaped,
so that our strengths and gifts
emerge more and more fully.
The paradox is – that the
more we give ourselves to God to shape us,
the more fully we will become
all that we could ever be.
We will be our most complete selves when we give
ourselves completely to God.
So one of the most important
parts of any journey of faith is the
discovery of the gifts that God
has given to us – hidden in the rock of our humanity,
and waiting to be shaped and
released into new life.
Every congregation should be
a place of the discovery of gifts for its members,
but
Through Don and other gifted leaders,
God has shaped
God gathers people there to
be touched by the beauty of creation,
warmed by the love of brothers
and sisters in faith,
strengthened and grown by Word
and Sacrament,
inspired by music,
and equipped for the journey of
discovering and developing gifts for ministry.
If it had never incubated
anything else,
And as it formed and grew,
it not only gave the gift of music
but that music and those gifts
have been used by God to feed hungry people.
Who could have imagined, but God, that young people
making music
could be shaped into a ministry
that awakens people to the
call to give money to end hunger
in the world?
A couple of weeks ago I did
some presentations at the synod assembly
in
and, lo, it came to pass, that some
Guys was there, also –
John and Dave and Knute
– full of musical gifts and enthusiasm.
It was great to see how they
share their gifts so widely,
and we even teamed up once. I got them to do a couple of numbers
as part of my presentation.
Bruce Springsteen may have
the E Street Band,
but I had a Bunch of Guys – and they
are a gift for the whole church.
and when we do that, we are
really struggling to uncover and use our gifts.
In fact, you could say,
that obedience and surrender to
God
comes from obedience and
surrender to our gifts
because God’s will is embedded
in our human lives –
it was in place for us before we
were born,
and we discover it as we go
about discovering the gifts we have been given.
This truth is stated in
another way in Ephesians;
For we are what he
has made us,
created in Christ Jesus for good works
which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
Together, in all kinds of
ministries,
the Holy Spirit is most alive
and active among us
when we are evoking one
another’s gifts,
naming them, developing them,
and supporting one another as we
take them into the world in God’s service.
When we see one another as
gifted people,
we are seeing one another as God
sees us.
And when we hold one another
accountable for the development of our gifts,
for removing all the fears and
barriers and hostilities that get in the way,
and opening the space to grow
and explore our calls,
then we are truly a community of
the Holy Spirit.
There is one final gift that
Don has given to
a reaffirmation of the
importance of continuing to listen for God’s call.
God keeps calling us
throughout our lives,
and continues to equip us for
risks and challenges,
and sometimes that call takes us
away from things that are comfortable and familiar.
Young people who discover
gifts and a lively faith at
are called into lives and ministries away from that place,
and Don, who has spent so much
time at
has now
been called to serve in a different setting.
All the years that he has
spent here has equipped him to do this new ministry –
to seek out and gather young
people to encourage them for ministry,
to make “connections” – to do
what God has equipped Don to do so well –
to reach out with joy and loving
attention to draw people into following Jesus.
This day of celebration is
just one small way to honor so many years of
Don
and Janet’s giving of themselves as instruments for
ministry.
But it lets them know
how grateful we are,
it
reminds us of the wonder of God’s work through one another,
and the ongoing call to give
ourselves fully to our own gifts and ministries.
My prayer for all of us this
day is that we continue to rejoice in the Lord always,
give thanks for all God’s gifts,
and continue to help one another
grow them and use them for the sake of
God’s kingdom of peace and justice.
Amen.