2018.1.7 “How Shall Our Garden Grow?” Rev. Laura Bogle Foothills UU Fellowship
Readings:
Connections
are Made Slowly by Marge Piercy (#568
in Singing the Living Tradition)
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.
Mark 4:3-8
“Listen. What do you make of this? A farmer
planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road and birds
ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots,
so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as
it came up, it was strangled among the weeds and nothing came of it. Some fell
on good earth and came up with a flourish, producing a harvest exceeding his
wildest dreams.
+++++++++++++++++++
Context
for those who are new: the congregation voted last month to enter into call
exploration process, to consider whether to call me as your settled
minister. This sermon is a response to
that vote.
It
was perhaps dangerous to agree to preach this sermon, on my vision of ministry with
you all, during the month when our worship theme is “resistance!” Hopefully you all are not here to resist what
I have to say today.
While I’m not preaching directly on the theme of resistance today – here’s one
connection I will make—I see the purpose of our congregational life in these
times is to resist cultural and social pressures that separate us, that keep us
lonely, that keep us hopeless and despairing, that keep us only talking to
people in the same income bracket or the same educational status or the same
race or the same age as ourselves, and to resist pressures that keep us
disconnected from what is most important and precious in our hearts and
souls. We resist those cultural
pressures is by practicing living a different way of Love and connection in
this community.
As
your part-time, consulting, minister the last 5 years I have been privileged to
be with you as we seek to deepen and expand the ways we practice that kind of
Love. Back in October I preached a
sermon that was really a Love Letter to all of you as this congregation enters
its 10th year as a chartered congregation of the UUA. I reflected on where this congregation has
been, and where we have been together. That sermon is posted on my blog if you
want to go check it out.
One
of the things that I’ve experienced in the last 5 years with you is a
back-and-forth spiraling deepening of investment and trust. As you have welcomed me and invested in me
and trusted me, I have been able to deepen my own investment and trust; and
vice versa. I have learned from this
process so far that the relationship between a minister and the congregation
they serve is a dynamic one; it is never
only one thing for very long. It is core
to my theological perspective that I am only who I am because of the
relationships I am embedded in. And so
in a very real way, I am not the same minister who joined you 5 years ago. For one thing, I have more kids! But I am the kind of minister I am today in
large part because of you.
And
so, what I have to share with you today is out of the best that I have to
offer, today, knowing that it is just
part of an ongoing conversation among us.
I
want to thank and acknowledge the folks who have sent in specific questions for
me. It is interesting and notable to me
that most of the questions submitted have in some way to do with organizational structure, authority,
tradition, power, decision-making, and growth. I will begin
I hope to answer some of these questions today, though because I am a preacher
it will be through metaphor. And I want
to note, that there’s much more that could and probably should be said – and I
want to set aside additional time for those conversations.
We,
together, are considering entering into a more permanent and longer-term
relationship—one that is open-ended and based in a covenant with one another.
Very
often marriage is the metaphor used
for this kind of relationship between minister and congregation. You might have heard that if you were here
for my colleague Jake Morrill’s sermon on called ministry last month.
That’s
a rich metaphor and there’s lots that is helpful there; the spiritual practice of growing in love and
intimacy through committed and equitable partnership, through the good times
and the bad times.
But
it’s not the first one I depend on—perhaps because as someone who for a long
time didn’t have the right to marry the woman I love, the word marriage has
been a bit fraught for me.
Another
colleague of mine, who spent years as a labor and delivery nurse before
becoming a minister, says the minister is like a midwife—doing hard work supporting
and coaching the congregation to give birth, but not doing the actual labor of
giving birth. I like this metaphor, too,
because it reminds us that the work of the congregation is not in the end the
minister’s work; that indeed, the congregation does not belong to the minister. In our tradition the congregation belongs to
itself, and it is only the congregation
that can decide to enter into special relationships with a minister. It is the congregation
which must decide where and how it will bring new life into this world. The minister is there as guide, as supporter,
as inspirer, as knowledge-bringer.
But,
this metaphor is also not the first one I lean on.
The
metaphor I want to open up today is that of ministry as organic gardening. Perhaps this works for me because I grew up
in a family with a big garden. And,
while I am no master gardener, I try to continue that practice of growing some
food every year.
To
be in ministry—whether ordained or lay ministry-- is to be cultivating earth,
planting seeds, nurturing life, harvesting and feeding others, following the
seasons, recognizing the fallow seasons as crucial for the next year’s crop. It requires being attuned to the ecology of the
whole. It is about organic growing.
I
often get asked “Is your church growing?”
By which people usually mean, do you have more members than you had last
year? And sometimes, I have asked you
all, do you really want to grow, and how? Congregational consultant Loren Meade, in
his book More than Numbers: the Ways
Churches Grow outlines 3 other ways
that church grow besides simply growing in the number of attendees or
members.
He
talks about maturational growth, incarnational
growth, and organic growth--All different kinds of growth that aren’t
directly about how many people are on the membership roll.
To
be only focused on numerical growth to the exclusion of these other kinds of
growth would lead, I think, to seeds being planted in shallow or rocky soil; and
an inability to take hold and really produce a harvest.
Maturational
growth—which is maturing in spirit and wisdom; becoming more of who you
and
we are meant to be; growing in faith across the lifespan spectrum from children
through elders.
Using
the metaphor of ministry as gardening, we might think about maturational growth
as the practice of tilling and feeding the soil; preparing our souls to receive
seed, so that when some are scattered they don’t sprout too quickly and die,
they don’t get eaten by the birds, they don’t get strangled in the weeds—but we
can receive them and allow them to take strong root.
Incarnational
growth—which is growing outward—putting our faith into practice in the
world; embodying our values more effectively and living our mission.
Using
the metaphor of ministry as gardening, we might ask the question “Who does our
crop feed?” How are we using our plot of
ground and our resources to feed others—not just ourselves? That is, how are we sharing our harvest?
Finally, he talks about organic
growth—or, organizational growth, and that’s what I want to spend a little bit
more time on today.
Marge
Piercy reminds us that ecological connections are made slowly – that we don’t
always see what is happening underneath our feet, or see the effects of our
actions in one season. Healthy organizational
development is a lot like this. A few
lessons I learn for our congregation, reflecting on organic gardening practices:
#1
Any organic gardener or farmer I know has to
take a long view – thinking about the long-term health of the soil, for
instance, so doing things like planting cover crops to replenish nutrients, and
sometimes letting the ground lie fallow to rest.
àIn congregational life and leadership, we could do the
same. Remembering that we each will have
seasons of growth and activity, and seasons of rest and replenishment. I want to see us build that into the
organizational culture of our congregation, so that we are not burning out our
volunteers or our leaders. That means
building strong functioning teams where the work can be shared among us.
#2
Taking the long view also means not
using toxic tools even it might get you a better harvest this season,
because you know in the long run pesticides are going to wreak havoc on the larger
ecosystem.
àIn
congregational life and ministry, for me this means that process and
relationship matters just as much if not more than the product or harvest in
one season. It may take longer, but if I
want to grow sustainably I have to take into account the long term effects of
my actions. For us, this highlights the
importance of taking the time to have real conversation and build real
connections. To really listen to each
other, even when we disagree. This is
where our congregational covenant is so important and guides our work with one
another. As your minister, I see one of
my primary jobs is to help us hold that covenant together; to help us make that
covenant real. As a human being, just
like you, I know that I myself don’t always live up to everything that covenant
says. In a longer term relationship with
one another we are going to have lots of opportunity to call each other, with
love, back into covenant and right relationship. We do this for the health of the whole
ecosystem, and our own spiritual integrity.
#3
Organic gardeners are not monoculture
planters—only growing one thing. In organic
gardening there is a concept of complementary
or companion planting. It’s the idea that one kind of plant next to another
actually helps the other to grow. Having
a diversity of plants helps them all to thrive together. Think about the old Native practice of
planting squash, beans, and corn together—the Three Sisters. The corn emerges first, and provides a stalk
for the bean vine to reach up when it comes up next. Later the wide leaves of the squash provides
some shelter and shade at the roots, holding in moisture and keeping the weeds
at bay.
àWe are also not a monoculture here, thank God. How
boring would that be? We can all thrive
better when we welcome the unique gifts we each have to bring.
Native
American ecologist Robin Wall Kimmerer writes, “The way of the Three Sisters
reminds me of one of the basic teachings of our people. The most important thing each of us can know
is our unique gift and how to use it in the world. Individuality is cherished, and nurtured,
because, in order for the whole to flourish, each of us has to be strong in who
we are and carry our gifts with conviction, so they can be shared with
others. Being among the sisters provides
a visible manifestation of what a community can become when its members
understand and share their gifts. …The
gifts of each are more fully expressed when they are nurtured together than
alone. In ripe ears and swelling fruit,
they counsel us that all gifts are multiplied in relationship. This is how the world keeps going.”
è From an organizational structure perspective, this
means we make room for each of us to
give the gift we have to give, and to make that easier and more
transparent. This is a growing edge for any small congregation—to fully welcome
and integrate newcomers and to communicate well how to get more deeply involved.
This is something that we have to continue to work at, together.
è The metaphor of companion planting in a garden also
helps me think about roles and
boundaries in a congregation in a non-hierarchical way. The more clear we are about whose job is
whose, the more beautiful our garden can be.
The more clear we are about whose job is whose, the more fruitful we can
be, together. As your called minister I
will be invested by the congregation with a particular sphere of authority, to
lead the spiritual and worship life of this congregation, and to lead us in ministry
to one another and the world. In the same way the congregation invests the
Board with the power to play a particular role of governance, to do a
particular job in the garden. Its not
the same job as the minister, but we must be in collaborative complementary
relationship in order to grow well.
All of that authority
is given by and is accountable ultimately to the power of the congregation. The process of
deciding whether to call me as your minister provides a good opportunity to get
deeper clarity about our roles.
#5
Organic gardeners have to practice a
certain kind of discernment. This
time of year I love looking through this beautiful seed catalog I get, and
making big long lists of things I want to plant in the spring. The dream is so beautiful! And then I remember: oh yes, I only have
these 4 little raised beds in the back yard, I’m going to have to make some
choices here! I have to ask, what might
actually grow here? What do I most want
to grow this year? Can I add another
garden bed and adequately take care of it?
My hope in my ministry with you, is that we will grow in our ability to
practice this kind of discernment, together,
so that as a community we make good decisions and feel we are moving together in
a mission-focused way.
For
instance, I get asked often these days whether I want us to have our own
building. I can tell you that I am
excited that we feel full here on Sunday mornings and that I think we need to be thinking creatively about how
we make more room for all of us and what we want to do. I can tell you that I personally am excited
about the visions that were cast at our leadership gathering back in September
when so many people individually shared variations on a theme—the idea of a
space in the future that we share with other good work and organizations in our
community, consistent with our mission. Again,
I go back to the metaphor of organic growth, and thinking about long-term
sustainability. What do we really need,
and when, and why? How do our values
guide us in the use of our resources? As
your minister I am here to both cast my own vision, but also to listen and to
companion us all in a process together.
The two are not mutually exclusive.
Gardening
or farming is a risky business. You must
invest a huge amount early in the season, not knowing whether the harvest will
be good. You never control all the
variables – there might be a drought or a disease. There might be seasons when the whole crop is
lost. Or you might end up with way more
tomatoes than you know what to do with. But
does that mean not planting at all in the next season? No. We
rely on each other and the Spirit of Life that is greater than anyone of us, to
have the faith to keep planting. Each
attempt at sowing seed is an act of faith, and an opportunity to pay attention
and to learn.
May
we together, in the words of Marge Piercy,
“Weave
real connections, create real nodes, build real houses.
Live
a life you can endure: make love that is loving.
…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.”
May
we live our short lives on this Earth growing more Love, serving Justice, and
creating Beauty.
May
it be so, and Amen.
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