Equipping the Saints

Ephesians 4:1-16

New followers of Christ are being urged to do something new, something wild, something worthy of the gift of life, something that requires faith and something that builds up the body of Christ.  I would love to have seen peoples’ reactions when they read this letter.  It is like getting a note in the mail that says, “Dear friends, you aren’t dreaming big enough, you have to be the Body of Christ and nothing less.”  It is so big that we might dismiss simply because it seems impossible…the body of Christ.  We more easily turn to God, to the presence of the creating and loving God.  Speaking of God’s presence comes easily for most of us.  We can wax eloquent when it comes to speaking about what God is to us.  God is light in the darkness, good amidst even the shadows of death and loss.  God is on the wind, dancing on the waves, the agent of change that turns the leaves of autumn into the fluffy white of winter.  God is the spirit that pumps the heart of the egret and sprays with the spout of the whale.  God is the warming of our souls at the sight of a baby, at the churning of laughter at the Spirit of grace even in broken families.  But that my friends, is in some ways easy.  Of course God is all around us, but the more courageous claim and for most of us perhaps the most difficult claim is that God moves through us and uses us, uses our very hands to do God’s work.  Who among us rests easily at the command that we are to be God’s hands?  We are to be the very Body of Christ. 

It could be cast off as a mere euphemism, as an abstract metaphor referring to “doing good” for one another just because it is the right thing to do.  Recently I saw a newscast on the rise of volunturism, it is phrase used to describe the new phenomenon of people seeking philanthropic vacations.  It is basically a vacation that focuses on volunteering instead of relaxing on the beach in resorts staffed by people who aren’t paid enough, being fed more food than the locals get in a week and drinking mai tais and bottled water in a place where such things are only offered to the lucky few.  When asked why they opted for a trip to India teaching English to children in a rural village instead of the more typical honeymoon, one couple said, that it was the right thing to do, to give back to the world.  While such a response is true, it doesn’t fully include the Christian reason why we tend to one another, why we care for those who need it.  As Christians we love one another, care for another because God first loved us.  We love others and care for them because we are to be Christ’s hands in the world.  Christ’s hands in the world.  Not because it makes us feel good, although we are blessed indeed, not because it is the right thing to do, although as Christians it is, but because we are to be Christ’s hands in the world.  It is much messier.  It is a proclamation that somehow seems too fleshy, too close, and well too incarnational.  Yet the truth is, that is our call as Christians, as followers of Jesus.  We are to be Christ’s hands in the world.  You might be wondering what that means really, what difference does that make for you right now in Cotuit…  How are we in this congregation offering our hands to do Christ’s work of loving and healing?  Friends, this is the heart of our Stephen Ministry program and they are urging us to do something new, something wild, and something worthy of the gift of life, something that requires faith and something that builds up the body of Christ. 

I always wanted to minister with a congregation that took following Jesus seriously but like many of you I often find myself surprised when my prayers are answered.  One morning, I was praying in my office in Wellesley.  I rarely pray on my knees because it hurts; it makes me feel old, but I was on my knees.  It was winter and cold and I was praying about my search process.  The search process is long and wild.  It is exhausting and requires as much faith as a person can possibly muster.  It is profound and powerful.  I was praying on my knees and then the phone rang.  I thought I might not answer it because I was praying after all, but then it dawned on me that somehow my praying and the phone ringing might be related.  “Hello…” I said almost afraid that beams of light might shoot out of the receiver.  It was my friend and he was so enthusiastic about this little church on Cape Cod.  “Cape Cod!”  I said.  “Why would I want to go there?”  He went on and on about how he learned of this little church that had energy and strong laity…and it had a Stephen Ministry program.  A Stephen Ministry program?  The only thing I knew about Stephen was that he was the one stoned by a mob in the book of Acts.  Stephen was a bold follower of Christ and he had confronted the world, saying the things he felt came from God, even though he knew he would get in trouble for it and it cost him his life.  But the Stephen Ministry program is named after Stephen because he was the first lay person commissioned by the apostles to provide caring ministry to those in need.  Stephen was daring to be Christ’s hands in the world.

This ministry named after a bold follower who dared to live out our incarnational faith is the stuff of the kingdom.  Our Stephen Ministers are urging us to do something new, something wild, something worthy of the gift of life, something that requires faith and something that builds up the Body of Christ.  You might be surprised to learn that my ordination does not mean that I “do” ministry here.  My vows of ordination invite me to equip all of us to be ministers.  In fact many books about revitalizing church life and congregational growth, challenge congregations who claim that visiting is the sole responsibility of the pastor.  Visiting, they argue, caring for those in need in the congregation and in the wider community is the work of the congregation, of ministers, not just the pastor.  We are all called to be ministers.  We are called to share in the cost and joy of discipleship.  We are all called to love one another as God first loved us.  We are all called to walk with those in need.  This is what Stephen Ministry is about.  Stephen Ministers are Christian caregivers.  They are people who have been changed by the love of God in Jesus Christ and called, equipped and set out to tend to God’s beloved.  They are trained and supervised.  They pray together, they grow in faith together, they follow Christ together.  They are Christ’s hands in the world.  They can minister to members of this congregation and the whole community.  They visit the lonely, the grieving, the lost, and those in despair.  They are Christ’s hands in the world.  And as we celebrate their ministry among us and around us I can’t help but wonder if they might have something special figured out.  I can’t help but to wonder if our Stephen Ministers and Leaders might be some of the prophets among us, those who can see glimpses of what God has in mind for all of us, for every single one of us as a community of faith.  I wonder if our Stephen Ministers and Leaders are onto something- something about equipping the saints.  You see friends, I am but one person.  It is not possible for me to visit all those who need care, to send notes and cards, make phone calls and follow-up with all of God’s beloved who need it.  With the commitment and love of our Stephen Ministers, we are Christ’s hands together.  The Letter to the Ephesians does not say, that just some of us would do ministry, rather it says, “the gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…”And friends, guess what we are all saints, and we are called to be equipped to build up the body of Christ, we are all called to be Christ’s hands in the world.

With the commitment and love of our Stephen Ministers we are being faithful to God’s call to each of us; we are building up the body of Christ by daring to be Christ’s hands.  As these faithful have answered the call, I wonder where your heart is leading you.  Look at your hands, hold them up!  As Christians, we are committed to letting God use them.  Listen to these words from Theresa of Avila, “Christ has no body on earth now, but yours; no hands but yours, no feet but yours, Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion looks out into the world; yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good; Yours are the hands with which he is to bless now.”  Friends, our Stephen Ministers are leading us, for they have invited Christ to use their hands and I wonder what God has in mind for your hands.  God longs for this church to be the place where all of us are equipped to be ministers, as a church we are called to go about the work of equipping the saints, equipping the saints to be Christ’s hands in the world.  As we celebrate the hands of our Stephen Ministers, I wonder where God is calling your hands.  Amen.