Why We’re A Teaching Church

There is a little poem by Christopher Logue that Roberta Nelson quotes in her article. It describes in a few sentences the relationship we all share in being a teaching church—“Come to the edge.” It’s too high. “Come to the edge”. We might fall. COME TO THE EDGE. And they came, and she pushed them, And they flew.”

Congregations and interns are engaged in the process A. Powell Davies, well-known minister of All Souls’ church in Washington, D.C., often described as “growing a soul.” To grow a soul, we have to go to the edge of the nest and see the possibilities that lie beyond our reach. Sometimes the intern requires a shove in the right direction. At other times, the intern is the one to give one great big nudge. Either way, both parties are transformed by the interaction.

People often seem confused about the process of becoming a Unitarian Universalist minister. Let me tell you about those steps so you can gain a deeper appreciation of how important this church is to an intern’s professional development.

Aspirants attend theological school and are registered with the Unitarian Universalist Association. The aspirants meet with the Regional Subcommittee on Candidacy (known as the RSCC) for an interview. Our minister, Fred Muir, sits on one of those panels and often refers to the important work this committee does to help aspirants discern their potential for ministry. If all goes well with the RSCC, the person becomes a candidate.

Unitarian Universalists take all the usual courses, but we also serve as chaplains in a clinical setting like a hospital or Hospice. Internships vary in length from six to twelve months full time or two consecutive years for a part time internship. Before the final year of seminary, the candidate is usually ready to meet with the Ministerial Fellowship Committee or MFC. Upon passing the MFC interview, the candidate receives preliminary fellowship as a minister with our Association. The person is then cleared to look for a settled ministry in a parish, religious education or community setting dependent upon their primary interest.

In September, Margie Allen, the fifth intern minister, will arrive. You will get to know her well throughout the next year. Also this summer, I will go before the MFC, finish my last year at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. and continue on the road to ministry.

You can see how crucial an internship is to the student. Perhaps, you have not thought about the spiritual role associated with being a teaching church and that is what I want to focus on today.

Rev. Nelson refers to teachers as spiritual guides in the second reading. All of us are guides and mentors to one another as we attempt to “grow our souls.” The roles of parent and child often overlap like the roles between teacher and student. Most parents admit they learn as much, if not more, from their children. Children bring a fresh perspective and innocence to the mysteries of life. They encounter the world anew every day and breathe new life into us as we benefit from the lessons they bring.

Yet children need a safe environment in which to spread their wings and take flight. They need encouragement to jump out of the nest, but they also need an experienced spiritual guide to show them how to navigate in some tricky situations.

Interns, likewise, offer the church a fresh perspective. We come from other churches where things are done differently. Interns also need to know what the congregation experienced before and what strivings are uppermost in individual and collective hearts and minds. Sometimes, the intern minister acts as the teacher. Most of the time, the congregation teaches the intern what it means to serve as minister in a community involved in the spiritual work of “growing souls”.

Interns upset the metaphorical “apple cart” occasionally. If I shift the order of service around, some one will ask if I forgot something. Sometimes, I might forget, but usually I intended to shift the order. As Fred often told me, try new things and take risks. Since we are in a mutual partnership, change in one place also creates a reaction elsewhere. That again, is a part of how we “grow a soul” together—interacting and dialoguing with one another.

My final report to the intern committee answered a question that one of the co-chairs, Becki Sander, asked me repeatedly. She would say she knew what I did here, but wanted to know what I was learning. I’d like to share some of my answers with you. This church has provided me with a warm, safe learning environment from the moment I came here. Though I am not your called minister, I have grown in my potential as a minister because of our unwritten covenant to work together in this teaching church. I am humbled by the sacred trust you have given me since day 1. That is a gift you gave me, that you offer all your interns. I hope you will never underestimate the great spiritual work that you do in having intern ministers. As a teaching church, you feed the intern and yourselves, but also our Unitarian Universalist Association of churches, and the wider community interns will serve.

And you share your minister. Everyone knows the many gifts Fred brings to this church. I assure you that he is one of the most well respected ministers in our Association. He mentors the interns here each year, but he also serves ministers in preliminary fellowship, and other seasoned ministers in forming safe congregations, partner churches, and social justice programs in their congregations. I say this not to flatter Fred, but to inspire you to continue to share his many gifts with the Unitarian Universalist Association and the work of our movement throughout the world. Few churches commit to being teaching churches every year. Fewer still want their minister to share his or her gifts with others beyond their congregation’s doors. There is nothing wrong with this perspective. But in this church’s collective wisdom, you have allowed your minister to serve you and the wider calling of Unitarian Universalism. That is no small thing. There are many of us who are grateful to you and to Fred for your generous spirit.

You have also given me the opportunity to practice what I preach. I think about what we have all gone through this past year. The first weeks of my ministry here included the pain of September 11^th. We cried and worshiped together; we talked about our hopes and fears and found solace in our covenant to be together as a community of faith. Though this was an unusual year because of the attacks, it proved how this church provides a haven to the larger community. There is so much more work to do. I hope that interns will always share in the process of community building with you.

And so many of our beloved community members died this past year. You let me into your hearts—your days of grief and your times of celebration. And I learned firsthand about the interwoven nature of birth and death. I witnessed children born into this community. I was privileged to conduct four child dedications and I will officiate at the fifth this afternoon. As the intern minister, I also officiated at twelve weddings and unions and three memorial services. I always knew as a social worker before and theoretically as a student minister, that it was important to celebrate rites of passage. I could not know until this internship how much it really means to be present in the nodal events of community life—to provide a ministerial presence in all those passages and to all those people.

Rabbi Ed Friedman wrote a book called Generation to Generation. He talks about the importance of clergy members being authentic and clear with their parishioners, their families and themselves. This church has taught me a lot about being “present” with each person in the moment. Even when I have a lengthy list of things to do and many other things running around in my head, I try to practice the art of being “present”. It is a practice for teachers and students alike and it continues throughout our lifetimes.

There is one more lesson teaching churches provide—the lesson of expressing gratitude and thanksgiving. The Intern Committee works almost entirely behind the scenes. This committee met monthly with me to provide feedback and constructive criticism. Members of this committee are a diverse group—representing different ages, racial backgrounds, sexual orientations and participating in various functions in the church. I would like to acknowledge them today. If you are here, please stand—Mike Dennis, Joanna Gawell, Maureen Lamb, Jim Langston, Henry Ledbetter, co-chair Becki Sander, Bob Slawson, and co-chair Bob Taylor. I thank them as a group and as individuals for serving as spiritual guides and representing this church so well during this past year.

Teaching church members spread seeds quietly, with a challenge or a word of encouragement to those they mentor. Yet, the seeds you sow are deep ones. So, I ask you to turn in your hymnals to my favorite Responsive Reading # 568, Connections are Made Slowly by Marge Piercy. It was used at the first student retreat I ever attended. It is about the work we do together as a teaching church.

“Connections are made slowly, sometimes they grow underground.

You cannot tell always by looking what is happening.

More than half a tree is spread out in the soil under your feet.

Penetrate quietly as the earthworm that blows no trumpet.

Fight persistently as the creeper that brings down the tree.

Spread like the squash plant that overruns the garden.

Gnaw in the dark and use the sun to make sugar.

Weave real connections, create real nodes, build real houses.

Live a life you can endure: make love that is loving.

Keep tangling and interweaving and taking more in, a thicket and bramble wilderness to the outside but to us interconnected with rabbit runs and burrows and lairs.

Live as if you like yourself, and it may happen:

Reach out, keep reaching out, keep bringing in.

This is how we are going to live for a long time: not always

For every gardener knows that after the digging, after the planting, after the long season of tending and growth, the harvest comes.

As Frederick May Eliot said, may we realize the countless opportunities we have to “kindle souls”. May we ever grow our souls. May the seeds we plant and nurture, come to fruition and enrich all of our lives. May it be so. Amen and blessings be.

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