"The Dance of Ministry"

A Sermon by
The Reverend Bill Clark

"Do you want do dance?" When was the last time you were asked that question? When was the last time so one walked up to you and said, "Hey, do you wanna dance?" Not that I mean to be taking inventory here of your social calendars. Not that I am attempting to fill up my sadly soured selection on my dance card. But rather only to suggest that we don't ask that question anymore; do you want to dance, it is not part of today's vernacular.

I can recall asking that very question, numerous times at varying soc hops (remember those) CCD dances or junior and senior proms. My favorites were the CCD dances at St. Peter's. The sister's of St. Peter's would routinely walk around the dance floor, tap us on the shoulders, separate us a bit and say, "Now remember to leave room for the Holy Spirit."

I always wanted to respond, "But sister, I didn't ask the Holy Spirit to dance, I asked Cheryl." Actually what I really wanted to say was, "I didn't ask the Holy Spirit and I asked Cheryl because I have a crush on her brother Alex and I can't ask him to dance." But of course I didn't say either.

Do you wanna dance?

And who remembers learning how to dance? The only dancing lessons I recall was when I learned the fine art of two-stepping. It was back in Provincetown when two-stepping was popular. The lessons were given outside on a huge pool deck. You were told to form two lines facing one another. One line led. The other followed. I learned to follow. The teacher instructed the leaders to step forward to the beat ...slow...slow quick, quick...slow and the followers to step backwards to the same count. Now I only learned to follow. And I always had to count.

They taught you outside on this long deck. So you would practice going back and forth across the deck together. Once you had the basic steps down you were free to go onto the dance floor.

Now there were some basic problems with these instructions. First of all you only learned one way, to lead or to follow. I can still only follow in two-stepping to this day. And second, on the dance floor couples go around the floor in a circular motion. We were taught to go back and forth. Navigating the circular movements was a challenge!

To say the least, all of this made for some interesting dance steps out on the floor. And every Friday night this one club offered two-stepping. It was there I was actually asked to dance. Now you have to remember in two-stepping I only know how to follow. I cannot lead, at all. And I still have to do, what I call the two-stepping mantra, slow, slow, quick, quick slow. So this one time I was asked to dance and we proceed out to the dance floor, and now we are two gay men, who were both taught to follow so we both raise our arms expecting the other to lead. Always an issue in gay two-stepping circles, who will lead and who will follow. It's a cultural thing.

So he decides to lead and we begin and I am counting to myself and he starts to talk! I mean talk. I cannot talk, count and dance all at the same time. Finally with my one word answers, you live here, YES. What's your name? Bill. He catches on. Are you counting? Yes!! Yes, I am and I can't count, dance and talk all together. We eventually muddle through the dance and it ends.

The lesson here being one must be ready and willing to participate in the dance only when one is ready. And I think preparing for the dance of ministry maybe easier than some of these two-stepping challenges.

You see, I think that members, friends and visitors to our congregations need to be asked, do you want to dance. Yet perhaps prior to entering the dance of ministry they need to be asked what their wants, needs and desire are in coming to our church communities.

Now ministry and dance have much in common. For they both are about relationships, movement and communication. Time magazine stated that "Dance is the only art of which we ourselves are the stuff of which it is made." I would add that ministry is the dance of which we ourselves are the stuff of which it is made.

Jack Mendelsohn reminds us to do the work of ministry is too simply, and I choose that word purposely, it is to simply participate in the lives of humans. "Ministry," he says, "is the engagement in the kind of relationships and advocacies that make persons of people, people that imagine, anticipate and empower the soul." Ministry is about this very kind of relationship. A relationship that is a dance. The dance of ministry is a dance of empowerment.

Think back to when you first decided to search for a church community. The reasons may vary from person to person and there are reasons people come to a church. You don't just wake on a Sunday morning and by circumstance find yourself sitting in a congregational community. There are reasons people come through the doors. Some come searching. Others come questioning. Some come for social involvement. Others come for spiritual renewal. Some come for their children. Others come for themselves. Yet people come, I would say, not to observe life, but people come to actively participate in the lives of humans. Kenneth Callahan, in his book, Effective Church Leadership, writes:

"People come to a church longing for, yearning for, hoping for a sense of roots, place, belonging, sharing and caring. People come to a church in our time with a search for community, not committee."

By participation, I wish to make it clear, I do not mean committees. There is a cartoon we often hear about titled; the new members worst nightmare. There is an elderly man speaking to a young couple new to the church. The couple looks at a huge bulletin board listing all the congregation's committees. At the top is enshrined; "Our Committees Need You!"

The old man says, "Most people are on nine or ten committees, but since you are new I'm sure folks will understand if you only join six or seven. The funniest part of the cartoon is the list of committees themselves; Finance Committee, Investment Committee, Board of Trustees, and it goes on Thermostat Control Committee, Committee for More Comfortable Pews, Committee for the Promotion of Committees, Plant Watering Committee and the Pigeon Control Committee.

This of course is a tongue in cheek cartoon and yet there is a hint of truism to its humor. And the reality remains that any congregational community does indeed have a list of committees. And the reality is our committees need you. Herein lies the tension to the dance. Do you want to dance? NO!!

Rather than asking new people about committees, Phillips offers a new paradigm that we ask people what are your values, what are your gifts, what do you see as your spiritual tasks as you enter a congregational community. What are the areas for your personal growth and development that brings you here? The dance of ministry then becomes as Mendelsohn describes it "The restoration of the inward quality of life."

Restoring our inward connections gives life a substance and sustenance. In this way all of life is ministry. In this way participation in a congregational community is not about what ministry programs the church offers. Rather it is what ministry gifts can I offer. In this way any church or new member orientation is not centered on the adult enrichment programs the church lists, but what talents, visions, values its members may offer that can be a ministry to the church. In this way any participation into the lives of humans is a participation in ones own spiritual development.

An example, say you found yourself participating in the membership ministry programs of this church. Now imagine at any gathering you were encouraged to articulate your spiritual task as a part of your ministry. And imagine that as your participation became more involved you felt supported in how your own spiritual tasks were developing. There was time for the development of your inward qualities as you went about doing the ministry you felt called to do. Some how the "work" of the church would become the spiritual work of each and every individual. The church or congregation becomes like a retreat center for you to widen, deepen, restore and rejuvenate the interior quality of life. In this way, according to Roy Phillips, "our churches must be a place set apart where laypeople go to find support and challenge in their personal paths and plans for spiritual development."

This then is a whole new dance of ministry. The dance thus becomes not a ministerial led lindy, where the minister sets the pace and pattern of the steps, rather the dance becomes an inward movement of melodies where you identify your spiritual tasks and set about responding to your ministry as you are moved to do so.

Once again the requirement is for you to claim your partner in this dance of ministry. What made you decide to become involved in this church community? This UU church community, where it states in our mission, that we are a spiritual community....." This is not an academic community where we gather solely to learn of other world religions. We are a spiritual community. And the fruit of the spirit, according to Galatians 5:22-23, "is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, self-control." Use these perhaps as a guide line to help identify your spiritual task as you move to this dance of ministry. Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, self-control. How can these fruits of the spirit be applied to your own spiritual growth and development? How can these particular fruits of the spirit help to restore an interior quality to your life?

In the past I have often stated at our New UU classes and new member orientations that I want folks to wait until they get spiritually filled up before they decide to participate in the life of this congregation. Well I have changed my mind. Do not wait and get filled up. Wait until you can identify your spiritual tasks, what are the fruits of spirit you wish to work on to restore and rejuvenate the interior quality of your life?

For example, let say someone says I need to work on finding more joy out of life. Great! What would having more joy look like to you? How would you know if it was there? What would change in your life if joy were an everyday part of your being? Use these opportunities in the dance of ministry for personal growth and development. Use any times in meetings to have others check in and support one anothers spiritual tasks development. In this way all the "work" of the church, those meeting times when you really just want to plow through it and get home, can be times of restoration to the interior quality of your everyday life. In this way life, becomes your ministry.

I invite you to ask yourself, how do you hope to develop spiritually? What are the fruits of the spirit you need, want to, hope to work upon? (love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, selfcontrol) What is your spiritual task, in being a part of this church community? And when you have identified the task, then allow your ministry to become a part of that answer.

Now, my friends, we have many ways to participate in the lives of people here at First Parish. There are numerous forms of ministry. All offer opportunities for growth and development. Today at coffee hour as part of, what has been called our activities fair, there will be listings of ministry offerings that I invite and encourage you to look over after the service. I invite you to use these opportunities for participation in the life of this church. Participation as ministry to enhance your own spiritual growth and development. Allow the relationships you will develop with the people involved in these various ministries to support and nurturer your own spiritual growth. If there is something that speaks to you, take the paper and let me know or contact the person on the list.

I only ask that you take these on as a sense of personal ministry. It is a ministry you are doing. The response is a movement of yes, a movement that begins from deep in here, a movement of YES, I do want to dance. Yes, I do want to dance this dance of ministry.

Blessed Be.