If you ask a group of children a question in Sunday School and no one knows the answer, there is a 75% chance that someone will holler out ‘Jesus’, certain there’s at least a decent chance that Jesus isn’t the entirely wrong answer, even if it isn’t exactly what the teacher is looking for.
So when I ask you what your favorite book is, some of you who were once that kid hollering “Jesus” in Sunday School are going to want to say “The Bible”! Because what good Christian doesn’t love that one?
But really, I’m asking you to consider it. Think about one of your favorite books, one that kept you up all night reading, brought you to tears or changed the way you see the world. A recent favorite of mine personally was “The Women” by Kristin Hannah. If you’re not a book person, just pretend for a moment for the sake of my point here.
Now I’m going to ask you a very serious question, one that, if you answer aloud and my father overhears you, may change the future trajectory of your relationship. Does your favorite book have dog-eared pages? Are you one of those heathens who thinks the best way to mark your spot in a book is by irreversibly damaging the delicate pages by bending and creasing them like some sort of monster?!
I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you just don’t know better. Perhaps you didn’t have a father who impressed upon you from a very young age that book pages were NOT to be creased under any circumstances. Find a bookmark, for goodness sakes! Even an old receipt stuffed into your wallet will do to mark the page until you return to it.
So if you hear nothing else I say this morning, hear this: if ever my father lends you a book from his substantial library, you would do well to return it with the pages’ crisp and unbent, just as you received them. Other modifications to a book don’t ruffle his feathers as much; you can write in a book, highlight if you must. Even an occasional coffee stain here and there is understandable. But no dog-eared pages, not with the pastor you have called.
And calling a pastor is no simple task, is it? I have watched my father go through the process on more than one occasion; written questions, phone calls & zoom interviews, meeting in person for the first time. And now I have also been a minister on staff at a church while we have undertaken the search process for a pastor. It is a sacred, vulnerable, beautiful & difficult process, both parties hoping, praying, discerning & dreaming of a future together that may or may not come to fruition.
Well now here you both are, congregation & pastor, at the precipice of this new relationship together. Taking the first tentative steps into unknown territory, both hoping you’ve made a wise choice.
The Scripture we read today is what I would like to offer this morning as your “dog-eared” page of the Bible as you enter into this covenant together. It is one I hope you will return to again & again, for various reasons. Return to it when you celebrate this covenant you make today as pastor & church, as well as when you find it difficult to maintain. I hope that the words will wear themselves into your hearts such that you can recall them without effort, reminding you of your covenant not just with your pastor today, but also with this faith community and with God.
Paul writes that we should live a life worthy of the calling we have received. We often limit the word “calling” to apply primarily to pastors who feel called by God to serve the church. But God has placed a calling on each of our lives, and a calling even more specifically as it relates to your place in this church. Where is God calling you to use your gifts in this place? How is God calling you to uplift & further the mission of Vineville Baptist Church? It is a high bar, to live a life worthy of God’s calling in our lives. We will fall short, perhaps more often than not, my father included. He is no more capable of fulfilling his calling than you are, and no less prone to fatigue, overwhelm, or stress. The beauty of a church community is filling in these gaps for one another, the times when we are a little more or less capable of rising to the occasion.
And herein lies the wonderful news about Christ; we try to live lives worth of our calling not to EARN or GAIN merit with God, but out of gratitude. We don’t walk worthy so that God will love us, but because he loves us so freely from the start. Who we already are as God’s children is in fact the foundation of our worthiness. Thank goodness it’s not the other way around. So as we seek to live worthy of our callings, we do so with grace & encouragement for those around us trying to do the same.
Paul continues with these further instructions; be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Another translation of this verse is one I like even better; it reads “put up with one another in love.” Because that’s what life together feels like sometimes, isn’t it? Putting up with one another in love. It is interesting to me here that Paul uses words like these for our instruction; be humble, be patient, bear with one another. It’s almost as though he could foresee that the church would struggle with the very opposite of these things; pridefulness, impatience, conflict.
Paul does us a favor here in setting us up for success, letting us know that the road ahead may not always be paved with peace, love & joy. Paul did some of his writing from prison, so we can be certain he was aware of this truth. Humility, patience, and putting up with one another; although these words are less flowery than others Paul could have chosen like kindness & friendship, they remind us that doing life together as God’s people is wonderful but is not without its sharp edges. We will inevitably bump up against one another with our beliefs about the best ways to be God’s people together.
Finally, Paul gives perhaps the most important & challenging guidance. Make every effort to keep the unity of Spirit through the bond of peace, he writes. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. “Unity” is an ideal frequently tossed about but rarely embodied in the world around us. There are more stumbling blocks to unity than I could ever name in the time allotted to us this morning.
To call unity our goal in 2025 is to commit to swimming upstream against a very strong current. We will need strength & endurance that only God can provide. Here today, for this moment, in this very room, we are united in Christ. Hold onto that each time you enter this place, doing your best to leave the division at the door, for it will try to follow you in. Unity as a church is a worthwhile goal no matter the cost, as it forces us to prioritize our single most important common ground; our identity as God’s beloved children.
The Scripture I almost chose for this morning is one of my dog-eared pages of the Bible, if I were the type to dog-ear my favorite pages. It is found in Mark chapter 10, when James & John ask Jesus if they could be the ones who sit at his right & left hand in glory. Jesus gives a reply here which I think is fitting for an installation Sunday; he replies “you don’t know what you are asking for.” Now I know, this seems a little foreboding, that’s why I didn’t use it as my main text. Didn’t want to be sending the message “buckle up, you’ve hired him & you’re in for it now!”. But I do think there is truth to be found here that applies to us both in our everyday lives as Christ-followers as well as on this particular day as you enter into covenant relationship.
And that is that you do not know what is ahead of you. We do not know what God will ask of us in our lifetime as faithful followers. We do not know what God will ask of Vineville Baptist Church during my father’s time as your pastor. So on this day of covenanting, you nor my father can promise an easy road. In fact, you can probably count on both successes & failures, moments of joy & deep gladness as well as sorrow & perhaps even anger. Such is the reality of people living together in authentic community. What you CAN offer to one another on this covenant day are some of the things Paul invites us to in our Scripture. To do your best to live worthy of your calling. To exercise those hard-to-reach muscles of humility, patience, and putting up with one another in love. To strive for unity in this family of faith because of our common identity in Christ, though our differences are sure to be many.
Of the multitude of books in my dad’s library, a great number are written by author & theologian Frederick Buechner. Buechner has a pretty well-known quote that says, “the place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.
I like to think that is what’s happening here today. As congregation and pastor, your deep needs and gladness are meeting together. Two callings are becoming one shared. And though I know I am biased to say the least, I think you’ve called a really, really good one.