From the Minister of Faith Formation

Dear Beloved of God,

When you do things from your soul,

you feel a river moving in you –

a joy.       Rumi

November, a harvest month during which we will celebrate All Saints Day, celebrate the baptism of the youngest in our church family, and turn our clocks back an hour.  Leaves of various shapes and colors, and pine needles will continue to fall blanketing lawns and walk ways, farmlands and landscapes will be readied for winter months, many will celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends or by making and serving meals to others, and we will pause and offer words of heartfelt gratitude for the many blessings we have been gifted with.  As this season of harvest gives way to December, we will prepare our hearts and minds for Advent and the themes of hope, peace, joy, and love.

For the past couple of months, I have spent quite a bit of time ruminating about mantles.  Not the type in our living spaces upon which we place items, the mantles we pick up and put on as well as the fabric they are made of.

As a scriptural metaphor, a mantle is a calling, ministry, and anointing of the Holy Spirit whom God graciously gives to all.  In the Hebrew  scriptures, prophets wore physical mantles as a symbol of their calling from God. (1Kings 19:13, 2Kings 2:8,1Samuel 15:27, Joshua 7:21, Ezra 9:5, Hebrews 1:12).  The prophet Elijah passed his mantle to his student Elisha. In the Christian scriptures, we learn that Jesus’ mantle was passed to him at his baptism, and one he eventually passed to his disciples.

Spiritual mantles are similarly described as a calling, gift, passion or ability.  Like many of you, I have worn several mantles throughout my personal and vocational life. Oldest child, friend, church school teacher, seminary student, wife, mother, minister of faith formation, spiritual companion, volunteer chaplain, and now grandmother are a few.  Some were heavy, some not so much, some passed on, and many picked up with anticipation, joy and love.  Reflecting further and wondering about the mantle of retirement, I was asked recently what the fabric, the substance of that symbolic mantle might be. In Colossians 3:12-14 we read that we are to clothe ourselves with:

As I am learning to sit with unknowing how all will unfold, I pray that each of those   qualities will make up the fabric of the mantle of retirement I will put on while  encompassing and being open to new pathways, possibilities, explorations previously put on hold, and more importantly that which God may be longing for me. I pray that the words and charges of Micah 6:8 “to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God” will be stitched into the fabric of the mantle.  I pray that they will be stitched into the  mantles that each of you as individuals and as a faith community will wear.  In addition to the fabric of our mantles, they are important components in the discernment process of the various and multiple mantles we all take and pass on throughout our lives.

A chant I often sing when walking meditatively, from the refrain of a hymn familiar to many of you (with one slight adaptation), is:

“Great is your faithfulness, great is your faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All I have needed your love has provided, Great is your faithfulness God, unto me.”

God is, God does, and God will.  Thanks be to God!

Blessings,

Deb

From the Senior Minister

Dear Edwards Church Community,

In her letter, Deb develops the image of the mantle, and I am reminded of the mantle of her     office, her role in the life of this church. The stoles that we wear on Sundays are, in fact, current forms of mantles signifying that we are what the United Church of Christ (UCC) calls “authorized ministers,” individuals who have the required education and training, and have been through a process of discernment and vetting conducted by groups of UCC churches to confirm our sense of call and our fitness for ministry.

Once admitted to authorized ministry, we agree to abide by the Ministerial Code of Ethics and the covenantal expectations of the ministries for which we are authorized. One aspect of those ethics and expectations is maintaining professional boundaries. For    ministers in a parish setting, this means that when we leave a church, we commit to avoiding contact with people in the church we are leaving until at least a year after the next “permanent” person in that role has begun their service. This requirement is designed to serve several purposes.

First, the congregation of the church will often become attached to the retiring or relocating minister and want to continue their relationship, especially with a minister as personable as Deb. However, it is also important for the church and its members to form relationships with a newly arriving minister. Accordingly, when a minister no longer serves in a setting, they remove themselves from it to give space for new relationships to form.

Second, the departing minister is departing for a reason, in Deb’s case retirement. She has devoted many years to ministry. Her siblings, children, and granddaughter are all in southeast Massachusetts. She has decided to move closer and spend more of her time with them. She will also explore what new forms her service to God and neighbor might take, other than parish ministry. I would not be surprised to see her serving as a faith   formation resource advising other UCC churches, as a spiritual companion, or as a hospice/hospital volunteer.

In this season of harvest, we can and should celebrate the sowing and cultivation Deb has done at Edwards since 2011. All of us, even if we are not directly aware of it, have benefitted from her example, her patient teaching, her leadership in worship, and her persistent advocacy for all who might be left on the margins, especially children and youth, but really people of every age. Edwards will be harvesting from her ministry here for years to come.

In this season of falling leaves, we can also be reminded to allow the seasons to occur within the church. An individual minister has served for you and among you, or as she might say, for God and among you, and I’d agree. As leaves let go and are let go from the trees they served, they fall to the ground and give of themselves to the next generation. What they leave behind keeps feeding the life of the tree and its environment into the future. Ministers come and go in congregations, and when we do our work well, we support the growth that God encourages in and from all of us.

The apostle Paul wrote to people he loved in  Corinth, regarding the relative roles he and another  pastoral leader played in their lives, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the growth.” (1 Cor. 3:6)  Deb has both planted and watered at Edwards. When she retires, one of our gifts to her should be giving her the space to savor retirement. God will take care of us, as we care for each other and the wider community.

In faith, with hope, for love,

Michael

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