METRICS AND MOMENTS: NOW YOU ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST

ANNUAL REPORT SERMON 2009

A sermon delivered by the Rev. Dr. Thomas D. Wintle, Senior Minister of The First Parish Church in Weston, Massachusetts, on the morning of the annual congregational meeting, February 1, 2009.

The scripture readings were Psalm 15 and I Corinthians 12:12-13:8

“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it”

(I Corinthians 12:27)

I

We chose “authority” as our worship theme for February primarily because this is the month of our annual congregational meeting. There are only three polities, three ways to govern religious congregations: episcopal, where bishops govern the churches; presbyterian, where a group of people exercise the authority of a bishop; and congregational, where the congregation governs itself. The Puritans who founded the parish churches of the Massachusetts Bay Colony insisted upon congregational authority: no bishops, no denominational hierarchies, can tell us what to do. “Supream & Lordly power over all the churches upon earth,” said the Puritans in the Cambridge Platform of 1648, “doth only belong unto Jesus Christ.”

We also chose authority because it is one of the most important theological questions you have to answer. We may reject authoritarian religions, but what is authoritative for you in religious matters? What sources speak with authority? Whose voice do we recognize as valid? You may remember that the theme picture for February shows a bearded prophet-looking fellow being whispered to by a young woman: it is actually Rembrandt’s St Matthew, and the young woman would be Sophia, the Greek term for Holy Wisdom.

We will be talking about authority all month, and this morning’s sermon, as is my custom, is my annual report to the congregation. It is a day to un-self-consciously talk about who we are as a church.

II

The Standing Committee, your governing board under the capable leadership of Russell Brackett, has decided that we need metrics, measurements, of how we are doing. So we are going to create a “dashboard”: that will show at a glance how we are doing, from year to year, in regard to attendance at church and church school, how many baptisms and weddings and funerals (or, as we call them in the trade: hatchings, matchings and dispatchings). We’ll track the number of new members, the number of adult education events and participants. We’ve always tracked financials, so that will be included. About the only countable measure we will not track is YOUR individual attendance record – some things are none of the Standing Committee’s business!

(But, have no doubt, God is keeping track! I am reminded of the elderly parishioner who told me “Every time I pass a church, I stop in and pay a visit, ‘cause when I’m carried in feet-first, I don’t want him to say ‘who is it?’”)

I’m all for collecting metrics, yet you and I both know that church is not numbers but people. Last year I offered a definition of the purposes of church based on the three main reasons people go to church. People may use different words, but it pretty much boils down to this: to get closer to God, to transform our imperfect lives, and to make the world better. That is what church is all about . . . and, you know, you cannot count or number-crunch those.

As I’ve thought about this, I realized that for me the church year is marked by images, moments. Here are some:

– seeing our student intern Kelly Cummins standing at the lectern in her new Army National Guard 2nd lieutenant’s uniform;

– Christmas Day when 25 parishioners served dinner at the Bristol Lodge soup kitchen in Waltham, and it was a sit-down dinner, not the usual cafeteria line;

– the Quiet Christmas service, in the chapel on a Wednesday night, when people lit candles and said the names of loved ones who would not be at their Christmas tables for the first time;

– Sara Brote’s third grade class making a record 39 sandwiches for Bristol Lodge in one class session;

– the Sunday morning when I was replacing the envelopes in the pew racks, and getting a little annoyed at the envelopes kids had scribbled on, until I saw the one with the words “I (heart) church”

– the email we received from “Brad” in North Carolina who was surfing our website and was moved to write: “God bless you all. I want to say you all are blessed to live at a good church like the one you have. I am 27 years old, and I am [a] teacher in the public schools of North Carolina. . . . Thanks for saving my mind and my marriage!” The latter led Betsy Gibson to wonder just which Web pages he had visited!

– the wonderful passion of our 16 pilgrims to our partner church in Torda, who after their return stormed a Standing Committee meeting and got the creation of a new Partner Church Committee;

– shortly after Andrew Wyeth died last month, a parishioner told me how she met him at a reception in Boston, told him about our two N.C. Wyeth paintings in the parish hall, and he so wanted to see them that she drove him to Weston that very day;

– we are facing hard economic times (if you know anyone who lost their job, do tell them about our First Parish Networkers who meet every Tuesday morning at 8 o’clock). I can give you two metrics that are very important: first, your stewardship contributions went over the budget goal, and we ended the year with a $33,000 surplus; and second, your “sharing the offering” one Sunday a month produced an additional $4,286.19 in outreach contributions to agencies helping the needy. Your church thanks you for your generosity.

– A final visual image: the Sunday when I watched two ushers, husband and wife, after taking the plates forward, returned to their seats holding hands!

I think one of the most important developments in the church in the past year or two is this: there has been an extraordinary growth in lay leadership of adult education programs. It’s really quite remarkable. I recruited 14 of you to speak at our Last Lectures series: they were fascinating, and very well-attended (we have metrics). This has continued this year with the Healthy Living series. This is a wonderful congregation.

One of the most useful developments for me is that, inspired by the First Parish Networkers practice of working on their 30-second “elevator speeches” about their work, I came to a new clarity about the role of a Senior Minister. It goes like this. The classic definition of a minister’s work is to be a prophet (speaking the word of God), a priest (leading worship), and a pastor (caring for people’s spiritual well-being). The role of a Senior Minister builds on that: the prophet’s role is to provide the theological grounding for the church, to cast the vision of the church’s purpose; the priestly role is to be the primary leader of worship, thereby providing the spiritual juice to seek the vision; and the pastoral role is to be a primary provider of pastoral care, but also to be chief of staff, which in both cases has to do with bringing people to the table, the right people to the right tables, encouraging and mentoring. This has been helpful to me in deciding how to allocate my time.

One part of the Senior Minister’s role is to thank people, publicly, on behalf of the whole church.

This year I want to thank someone who works behind the scenes but whose work is seen by all of us. The committee roster says that Gordon Whitman is chair of the Facilities Committee. But the reality is that Gordon is our facilities manager. He knows every contractor, every fixer of furnaces, the right electrician, finds the right engineer so the beams don’t fall down on your heads. This place has never been in better shape. For your devotion, your expertise, and for the sheer amount of time you have given, Gordon Whitman: your church thanks you.

III

Now, back to scripture. You are the Body of Christ. This has at least two meanings. One is that Christ has no hands on this earth but our hands, no feet but ours, his work must be ours in seeking the Kingdom of God, something of heaven on earth. The second is that we are called to eat at his table, speak his words, know his teachings and stories so well that they become part of us and we begin to think like him and to act like him. St. Paul gave that long talk about the parts of human body working together, urging that so also the body of Christ needs to work together (there was trouble in Corinth). After that long section, he speaks of showing us a more excellent way, and he launches into that famous love chapter of I Corinthians 13. It’s often read at weddings, but it’s really about the church, how we are to be with and for one another: love is patient, kind, not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude, does not insist on its own way, not irritable or resentful, rejoices in the truth.

My friends, when you are the church, you are the Body of Christ. It is no small task, but one of life-changing and life-saving proportions. You are the body of Christ when you love one another. You are the Body of Christ when you hold hands walking down the aisle.

That is the authority we need to hear, obey, and follow.