Today Rachel is taking her leave of us and walking in another direction. She has heard Jesus calling at the shore of the lake, she’s releasing her net, her positions here, her constant support at Trinity and going to serve God as Pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Hillsboro.
We feel a lot of
emotions and the main one is joy. As
Zebedee stood there in the boat left holding the nets, I am sure that he felt
joy. And he felt sadness and grief,
maybe some fear of what the future would bring for both himself and his sons
and a mixture of other emotions. Was
there something he wished he could have said before they left? Did he feel regret or embarrassment for being
the one left? Surely there was a mix of
emotions and there is for us today.
Thankfully, we have had more preparation time than Zebedee had. We’ve been walking this road with Rachel,
cheering her on as she first felt the call, as she studied and wrote her
essays, as she preached in our midst, challenging and blessing us. We’ve been praying for her and encouraging
her even as she encouraged us. And we’ve
been preparing in the office, passing her knowledge on to Scott as he takes on
the books, to Kaiden as he takes on Livestreaming, and various volunteers to
learn the office and online tasks. Tuesday
our new office Administrator Anson begins, thanks be to God. And still we cheer and grieve at the same
time and fear and hope and feel all mixed up.
I want to say how grateful I am to have had this year and a half with
Rachel, orienting me, telling me the truth, and really being a colleague in our
work here at Trinity and in the Gospel.
Jesus said,
“Repent, for the Kingdom of God has come near.”
Repent means turn around. The
word repent is usually used to tell people to shape up to avoid punishment. Jesus uses it here to call for a
re-orientation because of how close God is.
God is close in the person of Jesus, now calling Disciples in the
Gospel. Rachel is repenting and turning
around to her called to ordained ministry, because she has known how close God
is and some of that has come through you in this congregation. We at Trinity are repenting and turning
around in response to her call and her leaving us. As we turn, it is because the Kingdom of God
is a little bit closer, or because we’re becoming aware of how close it is in
this moment of grace and hope and fear and joy.
God is with us in this transition, in this shadowy valley where we can’t
really see very far ahead. God is with
Rachel. God is with Calvary. God is with Trinity. God is everywhere in between
God’s Kingdom is
coming near. Rachel has heard the call
by the lakeside and responded. We, too,
are called at that lakeshore by Jesus to follow him. Rachel will go and preach and teach and
lead. She will preside at communion and
baptize and make disciples. She will
fish for people. It isn’t just pastors
that do this though. All of you are also
called by Jesus to go fishing for people.
Jesus invites us to
gather people to God’s Kingdom. Rome
occupied the land where Jesus and the Disciples lived. God’s Kingdom coming near was a direct threat
to Rome. Jesus’ Kingdom meant that
someone else ruled and set the tone for the people who lived there. Rome demanded allegiance and wealth and land
and control and they did that by weapons and the sword and fear. Jesus was announcing the nearness of God’s
Kingdom and invited people. His fishing
was by healing, bringing hope, teaching, communicating with, giving gifts to,
and bringing truth and light.
Jesus went about
teaching and healing and we are invited to turn around and follow him on this
quest. We don’t use force or violence or
guilt. We heal and teach and feed and
visit and give. This is our fishing
equipment as we fish for people. I read
a facebook post by Jasmine who is our Stephanie over at Gethsemane, entitled
“How to catch one another and be community.
Pray for a church member, volunteer, give someone a ride, offer your
neighbor help, denounce racism, homophobia, transphobia, and sexism, pick up a
few pieces of trash, send a note of thanks.
These are ways we catch one another and our neighbors in our safety net
of friendship and grace.
We are doing God’s work just
as Rachel is and Rachel’s work is continuing in a different place in a
different role. We are still united in
the same work, following the same Savior Jesus Christ. We don’t need to differentiate—I go to
Trinity and I go to Calvary. No, we are
united, despite distance, in the same work, healing and teaching and feeding
and supporting, uplifting, and walking with God’s beloveds.
In some ways this is an
ending. This is an ending to having
Rachel with us, her laugh ringing through the halls of Trinity, her guidance
holding us steady, her insights being expressed. She grew up here and many of you can still
see that little girl and all the changes she experienced. So it is an ending.
In some ways this is a
beginning. Rachel is going to lead
another church. She will be able to use
her gifts in a new way and develop new ones.
She will be stretched and challenged and loved and she’ll learn things
she never expected, find herself strengthened by God, and she will look back on
her time here to consider what to do and how to approach different
situations. Her laugh will ring out in a
new place with new people. We will also
be stretched to learn and develop new gifts and to appreciate the ones we
already have. More might be expected of
us, so we step forward to serve God and support our church. It is a new beginning for Trinity, too.
In some ways this is a
continuation. Rachel ministered here and
she will minister at Calvary. She will
go to staff meetings, attend council meetings, pour over budgets, preach and
teach and pray and serve. This ministry
she is undertaking is a continuation of a relationship stretching back before human
kind was created, a relationship of blessing and hope, and it will go on long
after any of us walk this earth. It is a
mission bigger than any of us, so we all take our small role and God works
through us to turn us and to turn this world into one of love and justice and
peace.
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