Second Presbyterian Church
Roanoke, Virginia
April 6, 2008
“Something Wonderful”
Philippians 2:1-11
George C. Anderson
1If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
7 but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8 he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
This past week, something wonderful happened at Second Presbyterian Church… something wonderful, and something different. This congregation became a unique school of learning for newly ordained ministers. How unique? Dr. Ken McFayden, the Director of Continuing Education at Union/PSCE, says that he has never seen anything like it done anywhere else.
I want to use my time this morning to tell you about because, frankly, I’m exhausted and I didn’t have the mental energy to think about anything else.
The second reason I am going to tell you about it is because it is worth telling. We were a part of something important this past week. If we never do this again, it would have been worth it because of how the participants felt strengthened and encouraged in their ministries.
Yet, we are going to do this again. Another symposium is planned to take place here at Second Presbyterian Church next year. I want you to know what happened because I think we have been given a significant opportunity to serve the larger church.
I will offer a few key areas about why I think the symposium was important and talk about them:
1. A Humble and Gracious Spirit
The key to understanding the incarnation is in understanding that when Jesus came among us as Lord, he did so as a servant. Paul put it this way: though he was in the form of God, he did not think equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, becoming a servant among us, giving himself over to us even to the point of the cross. He sacrificed the highest glory for the sake of humble service to others, and therein likes the highest glory.
On Tuesday night, Bill Klein encouraged the newly ordained ministers to engage in a ministry that would honor such a Lord. He urged them to give themselves over to the churches they serve rather than to ministerial advancement. Dr. Klein’s advice seconded the guidance offered by Greg Jones and Kevin Armstrong in the book the participants were required to read. In Resurrecting Excellence, Jones and Armstrong called for excellence in ministry, but of a cruciform nature. By that, they meant sacrificing careerism for servant ministry, and seeking excellence in bearing witness to the cross both in what one says and how one serves. It is an excellence born of forgiveness and grace.
It was important for Ken, Ed and I, the event-long leaders, to let the participants know that we were not there to be authoritative know-it-alls. If we were to come across that way, the learning value of the experience would have been greatly diminished. We made it clear that we were there to share from our experience, but that we had much to learn from them. The participants appreciated the offering of a mentor relationship rather than a teacher-student relationship.
We leaders appreciated receiving the same gracious humility from them. No one who came tried to dominate the discussion or show off how much they already knew, I think we had an ideal “first class” of Trent Scholars because of that. They were hungry for what we had to offer, respectfully listening, and asking good questions.
2. An Experience of Praxis
A running joke throughout the event was the use of fake words that expressed two things combined. We talked about sometimes needing to “incentivize” others, as in compelling incentive in others. Another was “complementarity,” which means… I forget what it means exactly. Well, “praxis” is a real word. It means putting theory into practice.
The days were jam packed. This program was not for the faint at heart. At the end of each day, the participants were too tired to read the books they brought to read or write the sermons they wanted to preach today. But, when all was said and done, the participants wanted more, not less. They learned a lot of good theory in seminary, and they were grateful for guidance as to how to put theory into practice.
3. A Hospitable Congregation
The staff here tried to give these ministers a balanced view of this congregation. We really did, because they could learn us much from our mistakes, struggles and weaknesses as they could from our strengths and successes. Despite our efforts though, I’m afraid that they do not have a balanced view at all. How could they? You amazed them on two fronts.
First, you amazed them with your fellowship. They were welcomed into the homes of the Binghams, Shepherds, Gerald Carter, Nancy Gray and David Maxson. They were welcomed to a luncheon hosted by Bill and Barbara Lemon. They mixed and mingled with you during Meet and Greet. They attended Sunday School classes with you and later quoted your Sunday School teachers. They attended Sunday worship with you, heard Brian Blount preach, and so loved the baptism that some have vowed to change how they do baptisms back home. They also shared lunch with you after church and dinner/fellowship with you on Tuesday night.
Second, you were amazing through the leadership some of you offered. One of the lessons we wanted them to take away from their experience here is that there is a wealth of resources available in their own communities if they will only draw upon them. Laypeople have skills and wisdom can be very helpful to ministers. We demonstrated that by having laypersons offer insights from their own fields.
For instance, these ministers are going to be overseeing staff. Seminary doesn’t train them to do that, so they appreciated Jason Bingham telling them about hiring staff, supporting staff, and “relocating” staff.
From time to time, these ministers are going to be put in the position of having to talk to church members and ask for money. None of them went into the ministry to do that, and they are uncomfortable doing it. Nancy Gray, our president of Hollins University, helped them deal with their discomfort about this and gave good guidance on how to go about doing it, and why it is important to the cause of Christ that it be done.
These ministers’ seminaries did not offer classes on budgets, restricted funds, fund raisers and the job of the treasurer. Joe Miller talked to them as a church treasurer as to what a session and congregation need to know about finances, and Phil Boggs gave advice on financial tracking, reporting, interpreting, and oversight
There are legal issues connected to church life and a seminary is not a law school. David Paxton, gave them a “Read World” seminar that was sobering . . . and because it was sobering, it was both helpful and hopeful.
In the final evaluation, the participants had a few “Don’t you dares.” One of their “Don’t you dares,” was “Don’t you dare move the event out of a congregation. Another was “Don’t you dare drop laypeople from teaching responsibilities.”
Also, in their evaluation, the participants talked about Tuesday night, how impressed they were with how free our congregation is to laugh together and be so open in the affection shown between them and the retired ministers who spoke. It amazed them that David Henry, Eade Anderson and Bill Klein could stand before a congregation with whom they have had a significant relationship and be vulnerable and honest enough to share what they wished they had known earlier.
So, like I said before, Gerald, Nancy, Phil, the lay leaders, and I tried to be honest and not over-sell the congregation, but it didn’t work. Your humble attempts to be of best service to them actually inspired greater respect. Perhaps the nicest compliment they could pay was deciding they wanted to meet again, and seeing if it is possible to meet back here at Second Presbyterian Church.
Finally, I want to tell you about my “brought to tears” moment. At the last worship service, one of the participants, Vickie Poole, stood up to offer a prayer before Jack Haberer was to preach. In her beautifully crafted prayer, she gave thanks for the wonderful hospitality of this church, how you as a congregation embraced them and helped them feel at home, and filled empty places.
But that is not what did it.
She prayed for Ken, Ed and me by name, giving thanks for our investing ourselves in them, and doing our very best to equip and encourage them for ministry.
I deeply appreciated that, but that is not what did it either.
She prayed for each of the participants by name, asking God to bless their ministries and shine through them.
That is my prayer for them too, but that is not what did it, either.
What brought tears to my eyes is that for Vickie Poole, John and Kittye Susan Trent were not just names pasted to a fund or attached to a symposium. She gave thanks to God for Susan’s life and John’s vision in leaving the bequest for the program. So many of you know how tragic it was when the widower, John, lost Susan, his only daughter, and then felt so alone and lost his final years. Having built his estate for Susan’s care, when she died he was at a loss as to what to do. The only thing he knew to do was to entrust his estate to you, this congregation, asking that we do for others what he could no longer do for her, provide opportunities for education…, specifically theological education. And out of an act of hope that sprang from a deep well of sadness, there came the experience of the symposium for which there is so much reason to believe that ministries will benefit (and remember, the symposium is not the only thing the Trent Fund is accomplishing). I hope that in some sense, John, who is now in the company of the saints, will join with us at the feast of the saints in giving thanks for what God’s grace can make of the cross, what a beautiful witness to the Gospel can be made in response to a tragedy.