For Now, All We Have is the Present Moment

November 12, 2006

Commitment Sunday
Deuteronomy 8:7-18; Philippians 4:4-9; Mark 12:28-34
The Reverend Stephen P. Bauman

When just starting out in ministry, I was a man of some promise wrapped up in anxieties and colorful neuroses. Among the latter was a nervous habit of lint-picking. That is, sometimes, when in a new anxiety-producing situation, I had a tendency to pick lint off the person with whom I was speaking. It’s no use trying to understand such a thing. For the time being just go with me….

So, I had been assigned to my first pastoral appointment and I was meeting the chair of the Staff/Parish Relations Committee, the equivalent of a personnel committee in other organizations. This group had the responsibility of accepting or rejecting pastoral candidates on behalf of the congregation. In this case, I was meeting a somewhat odd-seeming woman who was wearing a black velvet jacket. Yes, of course, a veritable lint magnet.

We were speaking in relative close proximity of one another, standing face to face, when I unconsciously noticed a long hair – I’d say about eight inches – lying across her lapel. It’s important to me you understand that I didn’t really think about this, I just noticed it, and in my unconscious nervous state, reached over to pull it off. Unfortunately, it was attached to her lower left chin.

Yes, I know it seems bizarre in the extreme, but such was the situation on that occasion as I was speaking with the representative of my first congregation – pinching between my thumb and forefinger an eight-inch hair attached to her chin. As I held it aloft, she continued her chatter without missing a beat, neither looking down at my astonished embarrassment, or losing the gaze of my eyes.

I don’t remember how long I was fixed in that frozen, bizarre posture. I mean, what would you have done? After what seemed more than enough time, I simply laid the hair back down, gave it a soft brushing and our conversation continued. Nothing was ever said or acknowledged about this incident, and believe it or not, I was deemed acceptable enough to pastor that bewildered congregation. Although, the next time we met I noticed she had removed my temptation from her face.

You may think this story apocryphal, but I swear to you its true. And, I tell it every once in a while to keep my feet firmly planted on terra firma, lest I forget that under these robes beats the heart of neurotic. Although, I want you to know that I no longer have this compulsion, even when I’m nervous. Thank God! But as for that, I ended up having a wonderful time at that little church. Neuroses and all, we managed to build a loving community that loved God and neighbor.

And, from that momentous beginning, here I now stand before you. Interesting, isn’t it? At the very least, I hope that the twenty-somethings, nervous-about-the-future, might take heart at this story. No current situation, whether dire or simply unclear, paints the future in permanent colors for those who trust God.

But this story occurs to me for another reason today. This being Commitment Sunday, I got to thinking about who would be present. And I realized that it was just us. Just all of us who decided to show up this morning. It wouldn’t be some other group of persons, some other folks who would throw in and drop their pledge in the bowl. No, just all of us such as we are. We’d show up with all of our strengths and weaknesses, our compulsions and fears, as well as our hopes and dreams. We’d bring just ourselves here this morning and stand before God with open hearts.

And then, I thought how much I have come to deeply appreciate all of you. How much I value what we’ve been building here over the years. How far we’ve come. How fortunate we have been to have found one another. And what good work we’ve been assigned.

I recalled how another group of persons in another generation met for worship one block west of here, on the corner of Madison and 60th. And how, in the early part of the last century, they found common cause in advancing the kingdom as best they knew, which included visioning and then building this wonderful place. They had a sense of call which led them to commit themselves to establishing a presence in the city that would long outlast them and provide inspiration for countless generations to follow – that includes us.

They built a magnificent jewel box to the glory of God, in the heart of the city, in the heart of the world. They had an intuition about the future of New York City. There’s a sense in which they had an intuition about us.

They made their deal for this property in 1929, just a few months before the financial markets collapsed and spun our nation into the Great Depression. These faithful men and women were undaunted however, and, though the completion of their project took longer than they had first anticipated, their sacrificial commitment prevailed in the end. It was several years after World War II when the final dedication took place.

Eventually, as human organizations tend to wax and wane, the congregation went into a period of decline, but even then, faithful persons held the visionary ember for a new day. There’s just a handful left of those stalwart souls, but thank God for them. Then slowly, slowly, the fire was re-ignited. I can testify it was a process of one person, one family at a time for a number of years, who walked through the doors and were surprised to discover they had come home.

Almost twenty years later, here we are. All of us, nothing more, nothing less, than the heirs of the kingdom here in New York City, in the year 2006, and we have an intuition about the future as well. There’s no better harbinger of the future than the children who have just sung. Twenty years ago, not one child. Eighteen months ago, no children’s choir. Now, well, you saw for yourselves. Do you see the future and how it beckons us? Do you hear the call and grasp the opportunity?

We anticipate a program with 200 children and youth in the near future. We’ve baptized more infants this year than any three prior years combined. I can tell you for certain the city needs what we envision. Youth need what we envision. Families need what we envision. Our culture needs what we envision. It’s all part of our mission to love God above all things and our neighbors as ourselves.

That’s why what Jesus said in today’s gospel was the heart of the matter. Our forebears had the foresight to have that inscribed up there in our mosaics. That’s a message that stands for the ages. (Mark 12)

We love God very well at Christ Church. We find that worship is less an obligation than a sincere joy. Next week you will be pleased to honor God along with our musicians and orchestra as they sing a wonderful Gloria. You know what we manage to accomplish here by way of worshiping God, but imagine if we were really able to set free Steve Pilkington, the choir, all of our musicians and leaders of worship – to set them free to lead us in our praise and thanksgiving, in our honoring, confessing, forgiving, and loving. Wouldn’t that be a growing blessing for the city!

Imagine setting free Cathy Gilliard to partner with you in building a center for spiritual formation that addressed the spiritual needs of all ages, prodding and pressing us into deepening relationship with God and one another, building up the community of faith, challenged by the issues of the day and sending us into the world as agents of transformation.

Imagine setting free Javier Viera to partner with you in providing social, material and spiritual services to needful persons, crossing the boundaries of race, class and geography. Imagine establishing an empowerment zone in a New York City community that addressed issues like education, employment, housing, family support and spiritual transformation. And, living in a wondrous international city with a congregation representing well over 45 different nationalities and ethnicities, imagine being set free to establish robust linkages with communities in other parts of the world. And imagine being set free in our response to crises closer to home such as our work in Biloxi. Imagine our growing into a fellowship of leaders who aspire to nothing less than a full embodiment of loving God and neighbor. Every one of us, a leader. Every one of us a servant. Every one of us a lover. You can tell that if we’re captured by such a vision we would become a leadership organization – a servant leadership church. That would follow along as surely as the sun rises on a new day.

Leadership churches are engines of leadership generosity. For those who trust God most of all, that’s a no-brainer. Being generous is the automatic outcome of loving relationship. If we see the future unfolding with our children, we’ll provide the resources to set them free. If we see the future unfolding in setting free our worship, our learning and our service, in our ability to advance the cause of Christ, we’ll provide the resources. Why? Because the people of God understand the proper ordering of things.

They have heard words like those attributed to Moses addressing the Hebrews about to enter the promised land, a land that would bring them great prosperity. He said to them, “Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God…Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors.’” (Deut. 8)

This is an ancient, bedrock attribution; it’s the same sentiment that lies behind loving God above all things. This attribution sets us free – free to love, free to forgive, free to serve, free to live.

So you see the task that’s before us today. We have an opportunity to make tangible what we say we believe. It’s that simple, really. It’s quite an amazing cause and opportunity. There’s little else that’s more important when you stop to think about it.

Friends, you have done such good work thus far. Together, we have re-imagined and rebuilt the foundation of a servant leadership church. The future beckons. But the present moment is all we have for now.

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