March 28, 2004 - Rev. Bill Barnes, "A Hunger for Being Blessed"

It's very appropriate that my sermon topic would fall in the parameters of our Lenten theme this season - a hunger - and this morning, a hunger to be blessed, for truly I have been blessed. Almost 18 years of ministry here in this church family. And the last several months have been rather strange moments of reflection and joy, as I'll be packing one box or I'll be going through the files of an old ministry. And I'll look at the names and people that were involved. It's just amazing, the memories that my life's been filled with. I'll run across minutes from when we began the "Mothers and More" ministry. Or some new ideas we had creatively in Youth Ministry. Or when we started Family Ministry and had to spend months defining what is a family. The 6:00 p.m. service with its faithful praise team that would gather every week to critique the service and look forward to what could be for the next week. The band and the faithful people who were involved in that service will always, always be in my heart. The Nursery School Board and its evolution over the years and the joy of being a part of a nursery school that has such a great impact on this community. Children's Ministry with its many, many changes and styles and the bedrock of a community of faith that want to care for its children.

And as these memories flood over me, they just go on and on - Deacons Board, Stephen's Ministry, Singles Program, the Men's Ministry, and then later, Deacons Congregational Life,
a creative adaptation of Deacons. And always the programs simply are a vehicle to remember people and the connections of people: the committee members, the Sunday School teachers, the Youth sponsors, the Elders and Deacons who faithfully executed their offices out of love for the people. Sometimes it's been difficult; sometimes it's been joyous. This is a celebrated family. But all the work of God's kingdom is not always easy or fun, and people serve faithfully. As Charles Shields use to say, "It's everyday garden variety people who make up the church." And that's true. I kept reminding myself of that as I faced the daunting task of preaching my last sermon here. What would I say to these dearly loved sisters and brothers?

And everywhere this ministry is touched by and promoted by and produced by an amazing staff of dedicated people, some of whom you know and see and some you don't know. Our custodial staff do their job well and with cheer and joy. Our office staff are amazing people - it's a little microcosm family within a family. And they serve and love. If you know Suzie, she is the one who knows everything about this church. When the pastors forget a name, they go to Suzie. "Do you remember when this happened?" Suzie remembers, then critiques our work. Georgia, who watches faithfully, like a hawk, over the church's finances, and does it with the most amazing grace of anyone I've ever known. It is simply a joy to serve with such amazing people.

I think of all the people who work on program staff - our coordinator to Mission, Nancy, who stands like a prophet among us. She's always reminding us that Mission is about relationship, not about giving money to poor people. And she works at getting us to connect with the world individually as people. Melinda, who's kind of my cohort, has helped develop the Young At Heart Ministry, which has been such a joy, and she is so faithful in watching over the Congregational Life Board and making sure that people are ministered to. Jaye, as she works with new members and looks after the lay ministry of the church. And this incredible list of Children's Ministry Directors that I've gotten an opportunity to work with, from Pam, to Barbara, Carole, Lee, Becky, Serena, Marcy, Robin, Heather and now Regan. What a team of women who have helped to guide and shape the program with the help of hundreds of volunteers who teach our kids.

And in Youth Ministry, directors I've gotten to serve with like Rob, Carl (who is like a son to me), Linsay, and Wynn. I think Nadj is probably the best junior high Sunday School teacher of all time. She's amazing. You should go up sometime - sneak out of here, go up and sit in the back of junior high. She's an incredible teacher and very faithful. And now Dustin. A great team of people who help our Youth to go through the transition period between childhood and adulthood.

And an unbelievable assortment of pastoral staff that has been my blessing to be a part of, like Bill McNabb, who is probably one of the easiest and most humorous and most charismatic speakers I've ever known. Lynn Cheyney, who has poise and grace, is an excellent communicator of the gospel and Allen T. Newman, who keeps on retiring! - (I think this is five now, right?!) - only to look for new creative ways that he can use the gifts he has for God. I asked him to be a part of this service today, because he is the oldest teenager in this church, and he demonstrated it. But his sage wisdom and his faithfulness and the way he loves God and God's people has been such an inspiration to me. And I thank him for that. I can remember times when we were going through our difficult years, and he said, "Hey, I'm a Baptist. You guys aren't going through anything! I'll show you some real trouble!"

Kikanza Nuri Robbins came to this church already a gifted, talented educator. She came to do a church retreat for us, and she stuck around. She stayed and got involved in our congregation, decided that she wanted to use her many talents to serve God, went back to seminary and is now a colleague. I asked her to be a part of this service, because several months ago when I had breakfast with her and told her about my leaving, she said, "I will pray for you." And every once in a while she'll send me an e-mail, and it just says, "I'm praying, I'm praying, I'm praying, I'm praying, I'm praying," and it's a delight that she's here with us this morning. Thank you. Sue Fisher has served as an intern here, and with Allen and Kikanza, helped me regularly to preach the evening service.

And everywhere my ministry has been touched by my mentor and friend, Charles Shields. He was an amazing man who cared deeply about people. "Always," he said, "keep the people first." But he also cared about results. If you knew Charles, he was never a person to say how things were-he was always saying how things could be. So no matter what the situation, he would look at how things were and say how could they be, because he always kept the people in mind. He said, "Programs are only valuable as they serve people." And I truly, truly have been blessed by that ministry.

And now as Steve Lien has come as our pastor, sometimes singing in the sermon and bringing his artistic talent and his joyful expression of God's love. And Dee Cooper has most recently joined our team. This team continues to be strong and vibrant and will go into the future in some great ways, affecting all of our lives. And all I can say at the end of that is, "Thank you, Charles, thank you, staff, thank you, BPC members who have become my friends, who have become the potter that has helped God to mold me."

It occurred to me as I was trying to figure out what to preach about, what to say on my last day, that after almost 18 years, it would be difficult. Two weeks ago, Wynn, our junior high leader, was here on this platform with our staff, and he led the staff in a devotional based on the Book of Daniel. He was so eloquent as he talked about his childhood, growing up in this church and how he was a shy and introverted kid who didn't know his place, but it was through the community of faith that drew him out and drew his gifts out and brought forth his leadership. And then he read to us from Daniel, how Daniel was cast into the lion's den, because of his integrity and courage, and as he faced the lion's den, Wynn said, "I, too, have things to face, things that continue to need courage." And then he had us all stand up, and he told us all to clench our fists, and he said, "As you clench your fist, now I want you to reach out to those around you and hug them." He said, "You can't do it very well, can you? You can't shake hands very well with a clenched fist." He said, "I need the constant reminder of Daniel, that only as I open my hands and trust God that God can continue to use me." I was amazed by how he's grown as a communicator and a minister of the gospel. But I was even more amazed at how he led through his weakness, saying, "I still need this."

We still need to be reminded as the body. And I said, "Wynn, I think I'm going to preach on that for my sermon." But then as I was thinking about it, it seemed to me it's not so much only this church that has formed me, but rather it was God who placed me here for ministry 18 years ago, and has been molding me and each one of you since we were in our parents' womb, as the potter molds the clay.

So I'd invite you to turn with me in your pew Bibles to page 911, the book of Jeremiah, chapter 18, beginning with verse 1:

"The Lord said to me [Jeremiah says], 'Go down to the potter's
house, where I will give you my message.' So I went there,
and saw the potter working at his wheel. And whenever the
piece of pottery turned imperfect, he would take the clay
and make it into something else. And then the Lord said
to me, 'Don't I have the right to do with you people of Israel
what the potter does with the clay? You are in my hands
just as the clay is in the potter's hands. If at any time I say
that I am going to uproot, break down or destroy any
nation or kingdom, but then the nation turns from its evil,
I will not do what I said I would. On the other hand, if I say
that I am going to plant or build up any nation or kingdom
but then that nation disobeys and does evil, I will not do
what I said I would. Now then tell the people of Judah and
of Jerusalem that I am making plans against them and
getting ready to punish them. Tell them to stop living sinful
lives, to change their ways and the things that they are
doing.'"

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Will you join me in prayer?

Lord God, I pray right now that you would take the words of my mouth, the meditations of our hearts together. You are the potter, we are the clay. Help us to hear what you would have us hear, for we pray in your name. Amen.

A few brief observations on this passage. The first is you'd need to know what Jeremiah was experiencing. Seven centuries before the birth of Christ, the center of every town was the potter's house. You see, before there were Ziploc bags and Tupperware, we needed things to carry things in. And so the potter created the pots that enabled the people to live. It would be as if they were gathering at a small town barbershop or the gas station to share the latest news, because everybody needed pottery. It was a part of everybody's life. In fact, Eugene Peterson in Run With the Horses, says, "Do you realize how significant pottery is? The invention of pottery set off a revolution. Before pottery, there were only wandering tribes following herds of animals going from one food supply to another forced here by drought and there by famine. There was no time to develop anything; no leisure to reflect on anything. It was hand-to-mouth existence, day-to-day survival. But the invention of pottery made it possible to store and to carry. Then it was possible to stay in a place for a while, because grain could be stored for the next winter's meal and water carried. And then cooking could be done and merchandise transported, and the invention of pottery signaled a revolution, and the revolution was called 'civilization'."

So when Jeremiah was called to the potter's house, he was called to a central place, to the place of everyday life, to the place of necessities and he was told to observe. He said, "As you observe, I, God, will give you the message."

Jeremiah was an artist, as is Sue Keane. Sue Keane is just one of the many, many talented artists in this church. It's amazing to watch her work as she throws and molds these pots, these bases, these bowls into beautiful workmanship. Isn't it interesting that Jeremiah always got a message from God but that it always involved the visual? It always involved taking something. That's an artist's job-to take something we see everyday and yet to bring it to us in a brand new way, to show us sides that we've never thought of. And that's the way it was with the potter's wheel for Jeremiah.

The image of the potter is not a safe image of God. Sometimes we can become so touchy-feely in faith that we think of God as just a gentle good idea. He's okay for now, but not necessarily having the power. When you look at the power that Sue has over these pots, you realize that there is a sovereign God that has control and strength. But also, even though this God is not a domesticated God, and in the passage tells us that God will do what God will do, it seems by the very image that Jeremiah presents, that the clay itself has some part. It says in the scripture that the vessel that the potter was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hands.

Now we know the imperfections of life, don't we? I mean, all of our clay is imperfect. I think that is what draws us to church-our knowledge that we need something more, something that is beyond us, that we're not complete in and of ourselves, that our imperfections need some force to shape and mold. The imperfections of our life that allow us to leak, the failure of proportions that make our lives wobbly, unstable, undependable. Jeremiah had other words for it-he called it sin, rebellion, self-will, wandering. But he never had such a striking image as this image.

I mean, maybe like you, there are times in my ministry here and in my life in general where I've not liked the fact that I'm on the potter's wheel. And I've wanted to get off. I mean, there are times when I've prayed for something and it wouldn't happen, and I'd think, "What good is it to be on this potter's wheel anyway? Maybe I can do better on my own?" But picture what would happen if that clay jumps off that wheel. Let's just picture it in our minds, Sue, okay?! Yeah! I saw more wheels turning than that potter's wheel right there! What is true is that off the wheel the clay just sits there like a lump. Oh, it will harden, but it won't be useful.

Another interesting observation about pottery -the pottery is beautiful. Each one of you here is a beautiful piece of pottery, hand-molded, shape-crafted. But in Jeremiah's day, unlike our day, we buy beautiful pieces of pottery and then put them up on a shelf. In Jeremiah's day, the beautiful pottery reminded people of whose pottery it was, and it always remained useful. It served a purpose. You have been individually molded and crafted; as no two pieces of Sue's pottery are exactly alike, no two people are exactly alike. Each has been given special gifts, but each has been called to serve a purpose. It's an important reminder for us that God calls us to something beyond, beyond our own power, beyond our own abilities.

Interesting that God, as related in the 18th chapter, when Jeremiah now is an adult and has for years prophesied to the people of Judah about turning their backs on their sin and being the useful tools that God has called them to be, that God would bring him to the potter's house. Because the very first encounter that Jeremiah had with God, back in chapter 1, when he was a teenager, were with these words of God: "I formed you in your mother's womb, and before that time, I knew you." Jeremiah Chapter 1, verse 5.

The word "formed," yakzar in Hebrew, is also the name of the house in which Jeremiah was called. It was the Yakzar house, the potter's house, for the potter is the one that forms. And I only think that we can really understand this visual image if we have experienced it in our lives. Over the past 17 ½ years, time and time again, I've been able to reflect on how my ministry has been shaped , molded and formed by my sisters and brothers who get together to argue, to love, to celebrate, to cry, to hold, to weep with one another.

At the end of the 8:00 a.m. service, I asked Dee, Kikanza and Steve if they'd give me some feedback. Kikanza said, "Don't hold back!" Because at the end of last service, I didn't say how difficult it is to say goodbye. She said, "You need to say that." It will be difficult to say goodbye, but I say goodbye because there is a Potter who is shaping each one of us, and He is calling me to new usefulness somewhere, somehow, and is calling each one of you and the church collectively to usefulness.

It's interesting that whenever the Old Testament images are given, they're not given to an individual. What Jeremiah is talking about-being shaped-is the nation of Israel. But implicit in that is that each person has to stay on the wheel for the nation of Israel to do its work. And so the individuals are important. And as I say goodbye, it's just with joy in my heart for a whole bunch of memories and a whole bunch of excitement, as my prayers will continue to look for what BPC is going to be doing in this community and in this world, because I'll always be a part of you, and you will always be a part of me.

Let's pray.

Lord God, I do thank you that we are on your wheel, and that as we participate and allow ourselves to be shaped, and as we reflect on how we have been touched by you, made more beautiful, made more useful, as we rub off on one another, God, continue to use us to be your people. And Jesus, as we are molded under the pressure of your community, as we are molded by you who offered your life on the cross, we are blessed. Amen.

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