Shake, Rattle and Roll
November 11, 2007
November 11, 2007
Rev. Susan Gilbert Zencka
Frame Memorial Presbyterian Church
Texts: Haggai 2:1-9; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
My parents moved last year from the house that they moved into in 1960, as I was entering kindergarten. Because of my father’s job, we lived away from that house for 5 years, and were moving back in as I entered my senior year of high school. One day right before we moved back, I was in the empty living room, and I stood next to the fireplace and was amazed at how small it had become. Why, when I was a little girl, I could barely reach the mantelpiece, now I could look down at it! When I was a little girl, it was a huge house. But of course, it’s the same house. We so often remember things with a fondness that renders them more marvelous than they actually were. Change is hard.
Haggai, in the passage we read this morning, seems to be making this same point – in talking about the rebuilt temple, he is asking “Who here saw it in all its glory before – does it not look to you as nothing now?” The people have come through a tough time – they are back from exile, and they seem stuck in a place of discontent and unhappiness. For so many years they had longed to come home, and now they have returned, and apparently you can’t go home again – the place just isn’t the same. “Take courage,” the prophet tells them, on God’s behalf, “God is here among us, God’s spirit abides with us.” And then the prophet says a remarkable thing: God is going to shake the heavens and the earth and the nations, and there will be more glory here than there has been before. God is going to shake things up. Wow. It’s hard to know whether to be scared or excited. Probably a little bit of both is about right. As I said, change is hard.
Now Haggai wasn’t the only one talking about shaking this morning – there was a whole lot of shaking going on in today’s readings. What’s shakin’ with Paul? Well, Paul is on an entirely different angle in his writings – Paul is talking about the end of the worrld and urging the Thessalonians to not be shaken by anyone telling them that the end is near, because it’s not. Don’t let people shake you with false teachings, says Paul. Don’t let other people shake you, he says, stand firm.
Both Haggai and Paul are talking about shaking, although in very different ways. Putting the two together, we should be expecting to be shaken by God, and we should not let ourselves be shaken by other people. That’s quite a combination. We should be open to being shaken by God, and we should stand firm, not letting ourselves be shaken by other people. I think a lot of us live just the other way a lot of the time. Other people shake us frequently – we let other people’s opinions shake our own view of ourselves.
After Fred Astaire's first screen test, the memo from the testing director of MGM dated- 1933, said "can't act. slightly bald! Can dance a little. Astaire kept the memo over his fireplace in his home in Beverly Hills. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor who said he had a lack of ideas. Dr. Seuss' first children's book was rejected by 23 publishers. The 24th- sold 6 million copies. Michael Jordan was cut from his first basket ball team. In 1902, the editor of the Atlantic Monthly returned the poems of a 28 year old poet with a note: our magazine has no room for your rigorous view. The poet's name? Robert Frost. What do these people have in common? They were all turned down. And… they didn’t let their own visions of who they were be shaken by someone else’s rejection.
The Hebrew people were looking at the Temple with disappointment in their eyes. It wasn’t measuring up to something they expected it to be. It wasn’t living up to their memories of what it should be. And they were feeling discouraged because they were feeling that their glory as a people was wrapped up in the Temple. When changes come, it can be hard if things don’t feel like they used to feel. The Hebrew people finally got the temple rebuilt, but it just didn’t feel the same. And the change shook them up. Change can shake us, and other people can shake us.
It is very easy to be shaken when we hear criticism. Over the last 6 weeks or so, I’ve heard criticism, and some of it, honestly, has shaken me a little. I’ve heard about a couple of people who are considering leaving the church – some because they say since I’ve come, the church is getting too religious (someone even described me as evangelical), and others because the worship isn’t religious enough. I’ve also heard complaints about things that I’ve done to change the church – I heard that I had changed communion to intinction and that it is too Catholic, and I heard that some people were upset because they heard that I had fired Kay. And I heard a complaint about too much talking about the environment in worship. And some people think that the idea of talking with potential elders and deacons about faith has come from me and that it is a theologically limiting idea.
And having heard all these concerns recently, I wanted to discuss some of them – not to defend myself, but to clear up a couple of misunderstandings, and also to clarify how things work in the Presbyterian Church.
In the Presbyterian Church, the minister has very little authority. The Session makes the decisions. In one branch of the Presbyterian Church, in fact, the minister was described as the “teaching elder” in contrast with the Session members who are known as “ruling elders”. The word “Presbyterian” comes from the Greek word “presbyter” which meant elder. The Presbyterian form of government is one in which elders make most of the decisions. The minister isn’t in charge, the congregation isn’t in charge. The congregation can decide to buy, sell or mortgage property, to call or fire the pastor, and what to pay the pastor. The elders make almost all the other decisions. Our Session is made up, usually, of 12 elders and a moderator, although our session is currently short one elder. I am the moderator. I am allowed to vote, but I am only one vote of 12. And I’m not allowed to make a motion. So I can’t even get something to be voted on unless someone else makes the motion.
What does a minister do? Our constitution describes the particular job of pastor this way: “The pastor is responsible for studying, teaching, and preaching the Word, for administering Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, for praying with and for the congregation.” The Book of Order also describes duties ministers share with elders in terms of leading the church, and duties ministers share with deacons in terms of caring for people. But the specific minister responsibilities are studying, teaching, preaching, sacraments and praying. The minister is also given specific responsibility for the following tasks: the selection of Scripture lessons, the preparation and preaching of the sermon, the prayers said for the people and the prayers said by the people (i.e, the liturgy), the hymns to be sung, and use of drama, dance and other art forms. That’s it. There are other decisions that the minister can make with the Session, with the worship committee, with the music director, but the decisions a minister alone can make are pretty limited. Even regarding the Sacraments – although the minister is responsible to administering baptism and communion, it is up to the Session to decide who can be baptized, and how communion is served, including how often.
The way decisions get made, in this church and other Presbyterian churches, is that the committees make recommendations to the Session, and the Session makes the final decision. So that, for example, in deciding how often we have communion and whether it should be intinction or in the pews, the Worship Committee discusses this and makes a recommendation to the Session, and the Session decides.
The Worship Committee has been recommending communion by intinction, which began here before I came, for a few reasons: (1) it takes less time, and (2) the communion trays are very heavy and hard to pass. I will say that I personally do prefer communion by intinction because that way I get contact with the members during communion. (As to the thought that it is too Catholic, I would like to point out that Catholics do not ever do communion by intinction – they take a wafer, and then drink from a common cup.) A while back the Worship Committee heard the concern that having common loaves for communion might be uncomfortable for people who are worried about germs, and so for several months at communion we have offered the choice between precut pieces of bread or taking from the common loaf. From time to time, the Worship Committee has discussed whether to have communion in the pews more often, but since no one had ever communicated a wish for that to the Worship Committee, they concluded that communion by intinction was working well for people. Interestingly, recently someone complained to the Nominating Committee about Susan changing communion to intinction, and Nominating Committee is passing that concern to Worship, but as I said, it’s not my decision – it’s the decision of Session and the Worship Committee, and communion by intinction was happening here before I came.
Likewise, I did not fire Kay. The Session, in discussing the staffing structure of the Church determined for a number of reasons, especially financial issues, that at the end of Kay’s contract year, they would not renew her employment. It was not my suggestion, it was not my decision. But I was part of the process in which the Session carefully and responsibly made the decision, and I support the Session’s action. The Personnel Committee and I conveyed that decision to Kay, so that she could have ten-and-a-half months to look for another position. She decided that she did not want to wait, and so gave a month’s notice. We asked her to reconsider, and she chose not to.
The Session is in charge of most decisions. I have immense respect and affection for the women and men who serve on Session – they are people of integrity who wrestle with their own sense of faith, the guidance of the denomination, and the needs of this congregation. In listening to one another, and to God, they make the decisions for Frame. This week, I did make a decision all by myself to skip the Passing of the Peace, but that will be discussed by the Worship Committee at its meeting this week, and then a recommendation will go to Session.
The Presbyterian Church nationally has raised the issue of talking with elders and deacons about faith, and doing more theological reflection together. They call this process examination, though the way our Session does this is a mutual examination, and a way for us all to reflect together. But that is something that has come from the denomination.
The way the Presbyterian Church runs is that the people who get involved make the decisions. So if you want to see things happening differently – get involved. Get onto a committee, share the work, share your ideas. And then your voice will be part of the conversation where the decisions are made. Our church is richer, and more vitalized when more people are participating. We are a community. And we show our commitment by our financial giving and by getting involved. Today we are celebrating the financial commitments that people are making for the coming year, by sharing a brunch together before and after church. But the church needs more than your money. The Nominating Committee is working very hard to try and find people who are willing to serve on committees. If you are interested in being part of the process, put a note in the offering, or call the church office, or call Brenda Breitner and Kitty Munck – they are the elders on nominating committee and they will be delighted to hear from folks who are interested in serving.
Having said all that, I’m quite sure that in some ways Frame feels different with me here, and I do want to take full responsibility for the decisions I make: the Bible readings, the sermon, the hymns we sing, and the prayers in worship. And of course it concerns me that some people feel that I am evangelical and too narrowly religious, while others feel that I do not talk enough about how to live a life of faith. My job, as I understand it, is to prayerfully reflect on the needs of this congregation, to discern how God is leading me to preach, and then to faithfully prepare a sermon that is what I understand God’s Word to this congregation to be. Of course I care about whether people will like it or not. But I try very hard not to be worrying about pleasing people, and instead to be seeking God’s guidance as to how to preach here. I should spend more time in prayer and study. Sometimes I get too busy with the other things that need doing – this week I had a Session meeting, a Presbytery meeting, and people to visit at St. Mike’s and Marshfield. I had meetings or appointments four evenings, and I tried to spend time with our new Office Manager. Still, I would like to spend more time in prayer and study as I prepare to lead worship. That’s the heart of my calling. So I will keep trying to spend more time in study and prayer, to inform and improve my preaching. And I will continue to preach as I feel God leading me.
And perhaps the way I preach will be too religious for some people, and not enough for others. I am a follower of Jesus Christ, and I preach from that perspective. And perhaps some of you will be challenged in ways that are invigorating, and others of you will not. The old adage about preaching is that it is supposed to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. And I will continue to be very glad to hear feedback from you all. I love this congregation, and preaching here is more challenging and more rewarding than it has been anywhere else. And I am glad to know that folks care about what goes on in our church. And none of us will always get our way – that’s just how life is in community. And change is hard, for you, and for me, and God is with us through all the changes life brings – the Creator of the Universe loves, calls and challenges each of us. And living in community, the beloved community of the church, is part of the challenge. I thank God for you, and for who we are together. Amen.
Rev. Susan Gilbert Zencka
Frame Memorial Presbyterian Church
Texts: Haggai 2:1-9; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
My parents moved last year from the house that they moved into in 1960, as I was entering kindergarten. Because of my father’s job, we lived away from that house for 5 years, and were moving back in as I entered my senior year of high school. One day right before we moved back, I was in the empty living room, and I stood next to the fireplace and was amazed at how small it had become. Why, when I was a little girl, I could barely reach the mantelpiece, now I could look down at it! When I was a little girl, it was a huge house. But of course, it’s the same house. We so often remember things with a fondness that renders them more marvelous than they actually were. Change is hard.
Haggai, in the passage we read this morning, seems to be making this same point – in talking about the rebuilt temple, he is asking “Who here saw it in all its glory before – does it not look to you as nothing now?” The people have come through a tough time – they are back from exile, and they seem stuck in a place of discontent and unhappiness. For so many years they had longed to come home, and now they have returned, and apparently you can’t go home again – the place just isn’t the same. “Take courage,” the prophet tells them, on God’s behalf, “God is here among us, God’s spirit abides with us.” And then the prophet says a remarkable thing: God is going to shake the heavens and the earth and the nations, and there will be more glory here than there has been before. God is going to shake things up. Wow. It’s hard to know whether to be scared or excited. Probably a little bit of both is about right. As I said, change is hard.
Now Haggai wasn’t the only one talking about shaking this morning – there was a whole lot of shaking going on in today’s readings. What’s shakin’ with Paul? Well, Paul is on an entirely different angle in his writings – Paul is talking about the end of the worrld and urging the Thessalonians to not be shaken by anyone telling them that the end is near, because it’s not. Don’t let people shake you with false teachings, says Paul. Don’t let other people shake you, he says, stand firm.
Both Haggai and Paul are talking about shaking, although in very different ways. Putting the two together, we should be expecting to be shaken by God, and we should not let ourselves be shaken by other people. That’s quite a combination. We should be open to being shaken by God, and we should stand firm, not letting ourselves be shaken by other people. I think a lot of us live just the other way a lot of the time. Other people shake us frequently – we let other people’s opinions shake our own view of ourselves.
After Fred Astaire's first screen test, the memo from the testing director of MGM dated- 1933, said "can't act. slightly bald! Can dance a little. Astaire kept the memo over his fireplace in his home in Beverly Hills. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor who said he had a lack of ideas. Dr. Seuss' first children's book was rejected by 23 publishers. The 24th- sold 6 million copies. Michael Jordan was cut from his first basket ball team. In 1902, the editor of the Atlantic Monthly returned the poems of a 28 year old poet with a note: our magazine has no room for your rigorous view. The poet's name? Robert Frost. What do these people have in common? They were all turned down. And… they didn’t let their own visions of who they were be shaken by someone else’s rejection.
The Hebrew people were looking at the Temple with disappointment in their eyes. It wasn’t measuring up to something they expected it to be. It wasn’t living up to their memories of what it should be. And they were feeling discouraged because they were feeling that their glory as a people was wrapped up in the Temple. When changes come, it can be hard if things don’t feel like they used to feel. The Hebrew people finally got the temple rebuilt, but it just didn’t feel the same. And the change shook them up. Change can shake us, and other people can shake us.
It is very easy to be shaken when we hear criticism. Over the last 6 weeks or so, I’ve heard criticism, and some of it, honestly, has shaken me a little. I’ve heard about a couple of people who are considering leaving the church – some because they say since I’ve come, the church is getting too religious (someone even described me as evangelical), and others because the worship isn’t religious enough. I’ve also heard complaints about things that I’ve done to change the church – I heard that I had changed communion to intinction and that it is too Catholic, and I heard that some people were upset because they heard that I had fired Kay. And I heard a complaint about too much talking about the environment in worship. And some people think that the idea of talking with potential elders and deacons about faith has come from me and that it is a theologically limiting idea.
And having heard all these concerns recently, I wanted to discuss some of them – not to defend myself, but to clear up a couple of misunderstandings, and also to clarify how things work in the Presbyterian Church.
In the Presbyterian Church, the minister has very little authority. The Session makes the decisions. In one branch of the Presbyterian Church, in fact, the minister was described as the “teaching elder” in contrast with the Session members who are known as “ruling elders”. The word “Presbyterian” comes from the Greek word “presbyter” which meant elder. The Presbyterian form of government is one in which elders make most of the decisions. The minister isn’t in charge, the congregation isn’t in charge. The congregation can decide to buy, sell or mortgage property, to call or fire the pastor, and what to pay the pastor. The elders make almost all the other decisions. Our Session is made up, usually, of 12 elders and a moderator, although our session is currently short one elder. I am the moderator. I am allowed to vote, but I am only one vote of 12. And I’m not allowed to make a motion. So I can’t even get something to be voted on unless someone else makes the motion.
What does a minister do? Our constitution describes the particular job of pastor this way: “The pastor is responsible for studying, teaching, and preaching the Word, for administering Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, for praying with and for the congregation.” The Book of Order also describes duties ministers share with elders in terms of leading the church, and duties ministers share with deacons in terms of caring for people. But the specific minister responsibilities are studying, teaching, preaching, sacraments and praying. The minister is also given specific responsibility for the following tasks: the selection of Scripture lessons, the preparation and preaching of the sermon, the prayers said for the people and the prayers said by the people (i.e, the liturgy), the hymns to be sung, and use of drama, dance and other art forms. That’s it. There are other decisions that the minister can make with the Session, with the worship committee, with the music director, but the decisions a minister alone can make are pretty limited. Even regarding the Sacraments – although the minister is responsible to administering baptism and communion, it is up to the Session to decide who can be baptized, and how communion is served, including how often.
The way decisions get made, in this church and other Presbyterian churches, is that the committees make recommendations to the Session, and the Session makes the final decision. So that, for example, in deciding how often we have communion and whether it should be intinction or in the pews, the Worship Committee discusses this and makes a recommendation to the Session, and the Session decides.
The Worship Committee has been recommending communion by intinction, which began here before I came, for a few reasons: (1) it takes less time, and (2) the communion trays are very heavy and hard to pass. I will say that I personally do prefer communion by intinction because that way I get contact with the members during communion. (As to the thought that it is too Catholic, I would like to point out that Catholics do not ever do communion by intinction – they take a wafer, and then drink from a common cup.) A while back the Worship Committee heard the concern that having common loaves for communion might be uncomfortable for people who are worried about germs, and so for several months at communion we have offered the choice between precut pieces of bread or taking from the common loaf. From time to time, the Worship Committee has discussed whether to have communion in the pews more often, but since no one had ever communicated a wish for that to the Worship Committee, they concluded that communion by intinction was working well for people. Interestingly, recently someone complained to the Nominating Committee about Susan changing communion to intinction, and Nominating Committee is passing that concern to Worship, but as I said, it’s not my decision – it’s the decision of Session and the Worship Committee, and communion by intinction was happening here before I came.
Likewise, I did not fire Kay. The Session, in discussing the staffing structure of the Church determined for a number of reasons, especially financial issues, that at the end of Kay’s contract year, they would not renew her employment. It was not my suggestion, it was not my decision. But I was part of the process in which the Session carefully and responsibly made the decision, and I support the Session’s action. The Personnel Committee and I conveyed that decision to Kay, so that she could have ten-and-a-half months to look for another position. She decided that she did not want to wait, and so gave a month’s notice. We asked her to reconsider, and she chose not to.
The Session is in charge of most decisions. I have immense respect and affection for the women and men who serve on Session – they are people of integrity who wrestle with their own sense of faith, the guidance of the denomination, and the needs of this congregation. In listening to one another, and to God, they make the decisions for Frame. This week, I did make a decision all by myself to skip the Passing of the Peace, but that will be discussed by the Worship Committee at its meeting this week, and then a recommendation will go to Session.
The Presbyterian Church nationally has raised the issue of talking with elders and deacons about faith, and doing more theological reflection together. They call this process examination, though the way our Session does this is a mutual examination, and a way for us all to reflect together. But that is something that has come from the denomination.
The way the Presbyterian Church runs is that the people who get involved make the decisions. So if you want to see things happening differently – get involved. Get onto a committee, share the work, share your ideas. And then your voice will be part of the conversation where the decisions are made. Our church is richer, and more vitalized when more people are participating. We are a community. And we show our commitment by our financial giving and by getting involved. Today we are celebrating the financial commitments that people are making for the coming year, by sharing a brunch together before and after church. But the church needs more than your money. The Nominating Committee is working very hard to try and find people who are willing to serve on committees. If you are interested in being part of the process, put a note in the offering, or call the church office, or call Brenda Breitner and Kitty Munck – they are the elders on nominating committee and they will be delighted to hear from folks who are interested in serving.
Having said all that, I’m quite sure that in some ways Frame feels different with me here, and I do want to take full responsibility for the decisions I make: the Bible readings, the sermon, the hymns we sing, and the prayers in worship. And of course it concerns me that some people feel that I am evangelical and too narrowly religious, while others feel that I do not talk enough about how to live a life of faith. My job, as I understand it, is to prayerfully reflect on the needs of this congregation, to discern how God is leading me to preach, and then to faithfully prepare a sermon that is what I understand God’s Word to this congregation to be. Of course I care about whether people will like it or not. But I try very hard not to be worrying about pleasing people, and instead to be seeking God’s guidance as to how to preach here. I should spend more time in prayer and study. Sometimes I get too busy with the other things that need doing – this week I had a Session meeting, a Presbytery meeting, and people to visit at St. Mike’s and Marshfield. I had meetings or appointments four evenings, and I tried to spend time with our new Office Manager. Still, I would like to spend more time in prayer and study as I prepare to lead worship. That’s the heart of my calling. So I will keep trying to spend more time in study and prayer, to inform and improve my preaching. And I will continue to preach as I feel God leading me.
And perhaps the way I preach will be too religious for some people, and not enough for others. I am a follower of Jesus Christ, and I preach from that perspective. And perhaps some of you will be challenged in ways that are invigorating, and others of you will not. The old adage about preaching is that it is supposed to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. And I will continue to be very glad to hear feedback from you all. I love this congregation, and preaching here is more challenging and more rewarding than it has been anywhere else. And I am glad to know that folks care about what goes on in our church. And none of us will always get our way – that’s just how life is in community. And change is hard, for you, and for me, and God is with us through all the changes life brings – the Creator of the Universe loves, calls and challenges each of us. And living in community, the beloved community of the church, is part of the challenge. I thank God for you, and for who we are together. Amen.