First Congregational Church of Evanston, IL

July 9, 2006, 5^thSunday after Pentecost

ii Corinthians 121:2-10

Rev. Dr James E. Roghair

SENT WITH AUTHORITY

Mark 6: 1-13

He left that place and came to his home town, and his disciples followed him. 2On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, ‘Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 3Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?’ And they took offence at him. 4Then Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honor, except in their home town, and among their own kin, and in their own house.’ 5And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ 12So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

“Well,” someone said, “Let’s get to the church and see who this new minister is. An Interim Pastor ... I wonder what that means?”

And one answered, “Interim huh? I wonder what he will do. They say he comes from Evanston, but I never met him before.”

But someone else said, “Interim? Haven’t we had enough interim since Ted left in January? Isn’t it really time to get on with it? When is our search committee going to get started?”

And another said: “Well I hope he doesn’t change anything, I like my church just as it is! Thank you.”

But yet another said, “Well, I hope he changes a lot of things, I’m tired of the things the way they are.”

And the conversation continues...

A few of you interviewed me. I met some of you at a Wednesday evening meal and some at the Ministry Council. We are beginning to get to know each other a little.

Some have heard by the grapevine from others. Surely, some of what they said is true – probably not all of it. I truly hope that I won’t be a disappointment to those of you who have high expectations. To all I ask your patience and forbearance. I feel greatly honored to be here as your Interim Pastor. I follow one of my distinguished colleagues – actually more than one. I have known Ted Miller for a number of years, and have met Nan Conser in the last couple of years. I look forward to filling their shoes.

I come to you as an Interim Pastor. That means that I am intentionally doing in-between kind of work. I am not just ‘looking for a real job!’ I am not scouting out your church as a possible new called position. For the past 6 years I have been intentionally working with churches in transition. I am deeply honored to be at First Congregational Church and look forward to a good time here in Evanston.

Moving In

For several weeks, now, I’ve been moving in to what you have called ‘Ted’s office.’ It is now my office. I’ve done it in stages because this church is near my home, and the last church I served was 30 miles away. So, I’ve been carrying in all my stuff (You know – we all have stuff – too much stuff!) a little at a time.

My stuff identifies who I am. And if you come by my office, you will probably want to ask about some of it. My frogs – why do I have so many frogs in my office? The little John Deere tractor – 1939 model A – what does it mean? The small print of Harvey Dunn’s large painting The Prairie is My Garden what does it mean?

And the drawing by a colleague and friend in Oak Park, and 2 paintings by a friend in Waukegan, and an elaborate Eskimo wall hanging given me in Oak Park. The special crosses that hang on the wall and the newspaper listing of Soviet era deaths in Siberia. Why do I bring all this baggage?

Traveling Light

Jesus had been rejected by his home town. They knew about him and they couldn’t imagine what he would have to say to them – being their carpenter and all. So Jesus gathered up his disciples and sent them out to the surrounding villages with a message of something new – healing the sick, casting out the evil spirits, inviting people to repent and accept God’s forgiveness, new life.

But these disciples weren’t to carry much baggage: No extra money. No extra clothes. No extra food. Whatever they needed would be supplied.

I wonder if I could learn to travel light. We all have trouble. Even in the last couple of weeks as I went to Oregon to help cut down my parents’ stuff as they have moved into assisted living, I carried my own baggage. I took my laptop computer to check the emails, of course. I took my cell phone to keep connected, of course. And I took the unique electric cords to plug these things in. And extra clothes, and my shaving kit, etc. We all carry a lot of stuff when we go anywhere.

We, also, carry a lot of experiential and emotional stuff. Who we are is much defined by the experiences we have had – the baggage we carry. So, I want to follow Jesus’ challenge to the disciples to travel light, but I admit that I come with a lot of history – just as each of you do – and just as your congregation does.

What Baggage Do I Bring?

What is in the baggage that I bring? That’s a fair question. So, today, I’ll do something that I won’t do often – that is talk about myself. We need to trust one another as we begin to work together. So, first of all I am a child of God – like you – one who receives the gifts of God’s grace day by day. I am one who tries always to live a thankful and faithful life.

I was born on the banks of the Missouri River and went to a tiny grade school on the edge of the wheat fields and cattle ranches of Western South Dakota. A tiny Congregation of the Reformed Church of America was the center of my family’s life, and a call to ministry came early.

We moved to Oregon and joined the Presbyterian Church and I graduated from McMinnville High School. I was an English Major at the church-related Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington. Then I was off to Princeton Theological Seminary in NJ during a most tumultuous times – 1965-9. I met my first wife, Willa, there and I was soon drawn into unfamiliar territory – the issue of the church’s openness to women in ministry. It dominated our life together for many years.

A year of seminary internship changed my life in another direction. Not only were we married (something that always changes your life) – but we were the first white couple to get married in an Afro-American church in Burke County Georgia. Learning to live in the presence of the 1960's segregation in rural Georgia – we spent the weekend of Martin Luther King’s death in the home of family friends of Dr. and Mrs. King.

When I came back north, I was a different person – my passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ was colored by new experiences and understandings of justice which I had learned from my minority friends. The 26 years of our marriage, we were companions in the struggle for justice for both women and minorities.

I have worked in several different churches: One a small city in Pennsylvania; then in a small town in Indiana. Then a long period in an Afro-American inner city mission of Cincinnati Presbytery and a few years in inner city Newark, New Jersey. Then we plunged into Arctic Alaska where we worked as co-pastors, in a large 350-member IZupiaq Eskimo church in Barrow, and in several of the tiny churches in outlying villages. I found delightful people and a deep spiritual life among the Native Americans.

After Willa died in Alaska, Elizabeth and I got together and were married. She was newly widowed – living in Pennsylvania. She had served in several financial positions in the New York/New Jersey/ Philadelphia area including New Jersey state government.

Shortly after we were married, we came to Evanston. From here, I served as pastor of Second Presbyterian in Chicago’s racially changing South Loop, then as Interim Pastor at an old sister church to this one, First United Church of Oak Park (now both UCC and Presbyterian). Then First Congregational UCC of Waukegan, another old sister church to this one. In Waukegan I was plunged into the struggle for compassion and justice for other groups. I performed two holy unions for Lesbian couples, and helped the congregation lead in Lake County’s celebration of World AIDS Day.

For the past 2 years I have been in the Old German Lutheran church, now Salem UCC in Oak Lawn – a wholly different branch of the UCC – one of the churches that started Evangelical Health Care which eventually became Advocate Health Care.

Throughout my sojourn in the UCC, I have continued to maintain my clergy membership in the Presbytery of Chicago. I have for many years served on the Presbytery Hunger Mission Team and have recently been active on the Response Team trying to prevent and to help pick after pastoral sexual malpractice. I did not choose this activity, but in my interim work, it has sought me out. And so I have been drawn into yet another issue of justice – caring for accusers and the accused.

In 10 days I will celebrate (at least take note of 37 years of ordained ministry. I don’t know how many sermons I’ve preached, how many babies I’ve baptized, how many marriages or blessings I’ve performed, how many funerals I’ve conducted. I have worked in many different places and among many different kinds of people. But each church has been precious to me, and I cherish their memories.

It is exciting to be in interim ministry. I move in and out of churches in transition, trying to be of assistance for the moment and then moving on. Because of this transient work, my wife Elizabeth has chosen to have a permanent church home. She sings in the choir, and is an elder in the Winnetka Presbyterian Church, but sometimes she will be here and David Lornson has asked her to sing for worship here next week. You will get to know her.

Elizabeth has recently begun work as the Director of Gift Planning for Northwestern University – having worked for the Charitable Foundation of Advocate Health for a number of years.

Someone Close but with Differing Experience

I know your moderator Kathy Koestring has suggested in the newsletter that it was special to find your interim pastor so near your church. (It will be great to walk to work.) But I note the problem Jesus had with his home town, according to today’s reading! Actually Evanston is not my home town – although I have lived here for 10 ½ years. And more importantly, I am not Jesus! As I mentioned, Jesus taught his disciples to travel light. I try to travel light, but I am carrying stuff from my experiences. And I hope that the things I have learned will help me serve among you. The passion for racial justice that I gained in the Afro-American and Native American communities; the concern for the hungry and the poor who are everywhere; the passion for gender equality in church and community; justice for neighbors and friends and of different sexual orientations; and hope for those with HIV/AIDS; and in all of it, I have grown to be most concerned for the church’s truth-telling and integrity. People should be able to trust church leaders, and if they are not trustworthy, the church should stand with the who are hurt.

An Interim Pastor?

I have signed a one-year covenant with the Ministry Council of this church to be your interim pastor. It could be that the council decides that the issues we have to work through, and the search process will take longer than one year. I will serve longer if it seems right. But under no circumstances will I become a permanent called pastor here.

I appreciate, respect and enjoy the focus and challenge of interim ministry. I think you will, too. What a privilege for me, to work with a church at a time of uncertainty. To help you move forward – to examine God’s call into the future.

The means of preparing for the future are many. But they include helping the church get in touch with its history – and I know that First Congregational has a long and distinguished history. I want to learn that history – and as you help me learn it, I hope you will share it with one another – thinking about what your history means, about how God has been working in this history, and where God will be leading you in the future.

Another piece we will do together is to say “good-by” to your last pastor – I know it has been half a year already. And yet Ted was back for a memorial service yesterday – something planned long before my contract was even discussed. But Ted is not physically here – and for the next year I will be working with you on those memorial services.

Ted’s leaving was a shock for some of you, but as your vice moderator Joe Page has indicated in the newsletter, you have flourished during this time. You will come to know the church apart from Ted.

A big thing I will attempt to assist you to do is to discover a new identity for this church – taking into account its history and its commitments. What is the unique mission of First Congregational? What are the ministries and missions you are called to? How does your life style make you strong? What changes will strengthen your outreach and witness? We will work together to discover that uniqueness, so you will be clear about the sort of new pastoral leadership you need.

We will talk about your denominational relationship. What uniqueness does being a Congregational church bring? Where can that uniqueness best be reflected? Will it continue to be in the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches? What does the United Church of Christ offer you, and what do you offer it? Interim pastors routinely seek to strengthen denominational ties, and this issue may be an interesting challenge for this church. I will be pleased to be included in your discussions, but I do not have a personal agenda for your outcome.

Finally as you anticipate new permanent pastoral leadership, you can hope and expect new leadership to arise within the congregation. Is your new congregational structure helping to strengthen the leadership of the congregation? How do you balance making room for new leaders with the faithfulness of those who have been doing the same thing in the church since the time of the Old Testament? We will be working on those things.

I am excited to be with you, and I can’t wait to start talking to you and getting to know you.

Lindbergh’s Achievement

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh announced he was going to try to fly across the Atlantic Ocean by airplane, solo. No one had ever attempted to fly over the Atlantic by airplane before. When word reached Lindbergh's hometown of Little Falls, Minnesota, a [home-towner] remarked, "No man will ever fly all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. And if someone does, it won't be anyone from Little Falls!"

"Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown," said Jesus (Mark 6:4 NRSV). Jesus experienced homegrown, home-town rejection himself. The Nazarenes were living the truth of that old Latin proverb, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” (Emphasis www.csspub.com)