Holy Currencies: Time, Place and Gracious Leadership
Mark 10:42-45, Hebrews 10:23-25
October 30, 2022
Emmanuel Baptist Church; Rev. Kathy Donley
Note: A recording of the worship service in which this sermon was preached may be found here: https://youtu.be/kaUveMQ_t0Q
About sixteen years ago, I was a pastor without a church. I had resigned from the church I was serving and didn’t get another job. We continued to live in the same town, but I had no work to do out in the public world. I lost my vocation and my worshipping community and almost all my social relationships all at the same time. We started attending a church across town. There we found a weekly Sunday School class. It was a rag-tag group of parents and single adults, of people barely making ends meet and high income households. The group included both a psychiatrist and a person with active schizophrenia – and no, they were not in a doctor/patient relationship. That weekly class become a lifeline for me and not only for me. One man, who was in the midst of a painful divorce said to me “this is the best part of my whole week.”
We who are church people may take for granted the privilege of gathering with our faith community every week.
But if we do so, we risk undervaluing the currencies of time and place that flow through our ministry. We risk “neglecting to meet together” and therefore losing opportunities to provoke one another to love and good deeds. The currency of time and place is so foundational that we may not give it much thought until something changes, as it did in 2020 when we suddenly could not gather in person on a weekly basis. Or when the boilers fail or the tower starts leaking and we wonder how long this building can continue to shelter us.
The currency of place refers to the property and the building from which we operate. The currency of time refers to all the paid and volunteer time that staff and members offer to the church in ministry.
Like that man in the midst of divorce, like me as a newly unemployed person, new people often come to us in the midst of some life crisis. Because we maintain a regular time and place to meet, they can seek companionship and support among us, without needing to disclose anything about their current situation until they choose. And of course, long time members also show up to give and receive mutual support, to engage in worship, and to serve in a variety of ministries. The currency of time and place extends beyond us to folks we will never meet like the senior citizens who benefit from the lobbying of Statewide Senior Action or those who find employment through the services of Pathstone or the hundreds of households who visit the food pantry every week. Renting our building to non-profits is one of the ways that we seek to maximize the currency of this place.
Today, we reach end of our focus on holy currencies. In 2009, Eric H.F. Law, an Episcopal priest and educator, was working with a variety of churches. Over half were struggling with financial concerns, which might have been no surprise during the precarious economy of the times. But other congregations didn’t seem to have those sustainability concerns. They had energy and were attracting new members. These churches often described their ministry as “missional,” which meant their focus was outward, not just on their own members and their congregation’s survival. They directed time and attention to developing people rather than programs. They were clear about being authentic and relational, and sharing authority. The struggling churches wanted some of that; they didn’t want to worry about money.
At first Law was at a loss on how to help with money issues. He was not an economist, nor accountant, nor stewardship officer.[1] But looking closely at what he did know, he saw that even in tough economic times and with very little seed money, his consulting business – the Kaleidoscope Institute - had increased its annual budget by 700% over 4 years. Without charging set fees, they had graciously received contributions at whatever rate individuals or church organizations felt they could pay in exchange for leadership training and resources. Law noticed that other currencies were being exchanged to create abundance: gracious leadership, wellness, relationship, truth, time and place, as well as money. He named it a Cycle of Blessings.
You may jump into this cycle at any point. You may remember that as we began this month, I shared the story of my colleague who formed the S’more Club out of a deep need for sustaining relationships. The currency of relationship begins with our primary relationship to Jesus and his command that we love one another. The currency of truth flows from healthy relationships where there is enough trust to share experiences that may differ from the dominant narrative. That kind of truth-telling supports wellness because naming injustice and hurtful realities may result in reconciliation, healing and forgiveness. Wellness has to do with deliberate restorative practices like sabbath and it flows into our practices around money. Money pays for the upkeep on this building so that we may gather at given times. Money also pays for staff salaries as well as for opportunities to strengthen the gracious leadership of our lay folks and the cycle of blessings spins again.
Jesus’ most clear understanding of leadership may be summed up in the few verses we heard from Mark’s gospel. He was on his way to Jerusalem for the last time when James and John pulled him aside to ask a favor. When Jesus arrives, when he becomes a celebrity, when he has the power they think he deserves, they want first dibs on the places of honor beside him. They seem to think that Jesus is just going to take over the customary ways of leading. He is going to become king or president or CEO and put his people in place. The only difference will be that the good guys, i.e. the Jesus team, will be in charge.
But Jesus says it doesn’t work like that. Real leaders are those who serve like Jesus does. If you read carefully, you might get the impression that even in heaven, Jesus is going to be on the wait staff. The good seats are not his to give. He doesn’t even have one himself. Even in the fullness of his glory, he will be asking “May I help you? Shall I bring another chair or put another leaf in the table so that everyone can be served.”
Barbara Brown Taylor says that Jesus “is not pretending to be a servant until the time comes for him to whip off his disguise and climb onto his throne; he is a servant through and through.”[2]
“Gracious leadership, in imitation of Jesus, is true service for the good of all. It has to do with building relationships and empowering others. It is about love and humility and curiosity before judgment.”[3] It is about using the skills and tools and processes to build gracious environments for mutually respectful relationships where the truth can be spoken and heard. It is also about sharing authority and being willing to follow another’s lead. “A leader does not lead all the time; neither does the follower always follow.”[4] A teacher is sometimes a learner and learners often also have something to teach.”
Most of you know that Dr. Ralph Elliott died last Sunday. Dr. Elliott was pastor here in the late 60’s and early 70’s. He was a leader in many ways, someone who held to his convictions despite public opposition. Many of you have spoken to me about his pastoral presence and his care for you. His funeral was led by Elmo and Cheryl, two pastors that he mentored. Both of them served as associate pastors during his time at North Shore Baptist Church in Chicago. Elmo said that North Shore was his first place of service after seminary and that he learned much from Ralph. Cheryl spoke about Ralph’s empowering of her as he advocated for women in ministry, which was not so common in those days. She also shared a story of an incident where she asked for a Sunday off to be with family. At first Ralph declined, saying that she was needed in worship that day, but then two days later, he called her back and said that he had put his work above family too often and that she was right to order her life differently. He gave her the time off. Sometimes a learner is a teacher. Gracious leaders have the humility to change their minds.
This summer, I met a young adult from another Christian tradition in another country. In her home country, there is a great respect for the wisdom of elders and people are not ordained until they have served for a long time. In her tradition, only ordained persons may preside at communion or perform baptisms. And so, the tradition about leadership place limits on the ways that she can serve. She says that there are many people in remote areas who wish to be baptized, but those who are authorized to baptize are older and not well enough to travel into those places. Some are waiting two years or more for someone to come and baptize them. Meanwhile, young leaders who could more easily make the difficult journey to those remote areas would love to be of service, but are not allowed. As an outsider, I hesitate to question this practice, but she is challenging her tradition from within.
I mention it because it makes me wonder what obstacles we may be putting in the way of some who would serve among us, obstacles of privilege or tradition which are hard for us to recognize. I want to think about that with you.
I also want to affirm the gracious leadership of so many here at Emmanuel. We are blessed with folks who serve graciously with humility in a multitude of ways, often in behind-the-scenes ways that are essential to our well-being but for which there is no public recognition. This weekend, Emmanuel’s servant leaders made possible Joy’s visit with us. Joy’s presence led to a series of truth-telling events. Some of you have participated or will participate in a group where you are invited to share your experience with Emmanuel in the past, your engagement in our present and your wonderings about the future. You have already or will speak your truth in those sessions.
On Friday, various community leaders participated in similar sessions about the Albany. They spoke truth about homelessness, the needs of young people and seniors, about mental health and hunger, about a housing crisis and people’s yearning for a place to be themselves in relationship to God.
These events depend on the circulation of the currency of truth and of relationship – our relationships with one another and with individuals and organizations beyond the church. Our goal in these conversations is to articulate the mission and ministry that God is calling us to in this time, so that we will experience wellness as the holy currencies flow and circulate within and among us – and so that we may continue to experience and share with others the abundance of life and fullness of joy that God desires for us. Thanks be to God.
[1] Eric H.F. Law, Holy Currencies: Six Blessings for Sustainable Missional Ministries (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2013), p. 2
[2] Barbara Brown Taylor, “The Trickle-Up Effect” in Bread of Angels (Boston: Cowley Publications, 1997), p.44.
[3] Lynn Carman Bodden in her sermon Answering the Call delivered at First Reformed Church, Schenectady, NY on June 26, 2022
[4] Holy Currencies, p. 94