“A Sermon for Recommitment Sunday” by Marjory Zoet Bankson
Ooctober 19, 2014
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Just a few minutes ago, we stood in a circle – so we could see each other – and celebrated recommitment as Seekers for the 39th time. Recommitment to Seekers has happened on the third Sunday of October each year since 1976, as an opportunity to step into the circle of belonging, believing, knowing, that we are part of a living body of Christ.
In the gospel reading for today, the Herodians, followers of Herod Antipas and his family, are trying the trap Jesus. If he says that it is lawful to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor, he would be acknowledging the emperor’s divine right to rule – and their power and authority over the Jews. And if he says it is not lawful for the Jews to pay taxes, Jesus could be accused of disloyalty or fomenting rebellion, which was punishable by death.
Like a wisdom teacher or zen master, Jesus stops them cold with a question of his own. “Whose picture is on this coin?” he says. Then he poses his own conundrum: “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God, what belongs to God.”
In those days, Caesar had the power to take whatever he wanted, so in one sense, everything in the physical realm “belonged” to the emperor. But Jesus was speaking to Jewish rulers who also worshiped the God of Moses and Abraham, the One who had brought them out of Egypt. Jesus knew they kept the Ten Commandments, which said they would have no other gods before God. Jesus was also pointing to a different understanding of power – one based on equality and inclusion rather than fear and extraction. He refused the tantalizing trap of either/or thinking.
From the time of Jesus, the church was meant to bear witness to this alternative reality. And on this recommitment Sunday, I want to share a little of our own history – so you know something of the DNA in this particular body of Christ.
In 1976, Church of the Saviour was 30 years old when Gordon Cosby called for the formation of small churches out of the single body he was then leading. Fred Taylor and Sonya Dyer began talking about their dreams for a different kind of church – one that would include every part of life as a field for mission. One that would address many different kinds of injustice. Here is what their initial call said:
(Read from Stalking the Spirit, p. 152)
During the first decade, which I see as the pastoral period, Fred and Sonya tried to develop a core group of what we now call stewards, who identified themselves as Seekers. All of the initial stewards had been formed by Church of the Saviour, so they belonged to many different mission groups now scattered among the other churches, and they were used to hearing Gordon preach every Sunday. There were no mission groups within Seekers at the beginning.
At first, Fred preached almost every Sunday and Sonya was the liturgist. I think that Sonya’s prayer language was formative for us. She kept her eyes on that radical inclusiveness of Jesus while Fred held up the need for social justice in the city. In the first five years, the number of stewards dropped from 18 at the beginning, down to 11 in 1982, but there were a number of young families attracted by our commitment to include children and the mood was hopeful. Fred and Sonya held the container of worship while new life flowed in.
Organizational Period, 1987-2000
In 1989, in response to Pat’s urging, we also made a specific addition to our call which reflected the paragraph which had been cut out earlier: We desire and welcome participation in Seekers of women and men of every race and sexual orientation.
As the decision-making body, stewards also decided to offer membership to anyone who wanted to be intentional about their spiritual growth through Seekers. We kept the more demanding commitment for stewards and recognized a growing sense of ministry in daily life. Stewards led the way by giving nearly 75% of our contributed income and deepening our spiritual roots through a monthly peer-group of Spirit Guides.
During that period, all of the stewards at Seekers were automatically also members of Church of the Saviour. Then, in 1995, Gordon Cosby asked each of the nine little C of S churches to incorporate separately – and so we did that. It felt like being kicked out of the nest! In reality, Church of the Saviour thus became an association of churches which owned the headquarters building on Massachusetts Avenue, where Seekers was then worshiping, and Dayspring Farm, which we still own together.
Seekers Church was the only one of the emergent churches still meeting at the headquarters building, and we could see the handwriting on the wall: one day we would have to move when that building was sold. As a whole congregation of members and stewards, we began the agonizing work of looking for a new place to worship, to meet, and to be. Nobody dreamed it would take ten years between the decision to incorporate and our arrival in this place, to plant our roots here on the northern side of Washington, DC.
Relational Period, 2001 to now…
In the year 2000, we bought this building and said good-bye to Sonya and Manning Dyer, as they moved to North Carolina. The number of stewards grew to a peak of 26 members – as though to gird ourselves for the struggle of moving, paying for the renovation, and evoking new leadership without Sonya. In retrospect, the timing of Sonya’s departure was probably healthy for us, because it made space for new voices to emerge – however shaky that seemed at the time.
Buying this building had taken every penny that we saved for a new space. We wondered whether we could raise enough money from ourselves, without borrowing from a bank, to do the renovation. We knew that we would need participation from everyone and indeed, when loans and gifts were solicited for the renovation, 40 different people responded with loan offers – meaning that nearly everybody would have a long-term stake in the new building. And among stewards, we recognized the need for a different kind of leadership, as we shifted our talk from “ministry team” to “staff” to the current understanding of a “servant leadership team.”
And now, after a decade in this place, at 276 Carroll Street, we are a different body of Christ. There are four new mission groups to supplement the four that came from the old location. We have a new Servant Leadership Team that includes Brenda and Trish. And we will soon welcome Vince Shepherd and Judy Lantz into the circle of stewards, which will bring the committed core group to 15 – nearly what we started with.
Yes, we live in a political realm that demands taxes, statutes and laws, but we also live in a different reality – one that we have freely chosen because it can free us from the fears that come with our culture of individualism.
Recommitment is a way of saying “Yes” to God’s gift of new life in Christ.
Amen.