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This is the last sermon delivered by our Interim Pastor, Dr. Paul F. Soderquist. We will again post sermons when we have called a new pastor.
Sermon: The Last Thing
Scripture: Jeremiah 29:10-14 For surely I know the plans I have for you...
Romans 12:9-13 Serve the Lord, rejoice in hope ...
Theme: God’s Presence in Endings
Date: November 12, 2006
Rev. Dr. Paul F. Soderquist, Interim Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, St. Cloud MN 56301
For surely I know the plans I have for you,
says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm,
to give you a future with hope.
Today marks a very special place along our journey of faith together. The road widens here, and branches off into two lanes. You'll go one way, and now I will go another. Thank you for loving with Christ's own love.
Prepared to Journey On
It has been a brief journey together -- just fourteen months. But this has just been a portion of your in-between journey. Since David Reiter left in February 2002, you had Interim Pastor Bob Burdette with you, and then Sated Supply Stacey Steck. I came here in September 2005. These have been good months. These have been productive months. You did some heavy lifting along the way. Family relationships, including church family relationships, are holy ground, and so we must treasure them, and proceed gently.
I believe you are better prepared for the selection and arrival of the Designated Pastor. Fourteen months ago, Presbytery asked me to address the dependencies on the Pastor you have developed here. I am leaving you slightly earlier than what the interim model suggests. Normally, an interim pastor stays until the next person has been selected. By leaving slightly early, the strings of dependency are further cut. That’s OK. It’s OK for you to have guest speakers here for a while. While the position of Pastor is gapped, let there be no jostling for position or power. The only position anyone should be jostling for is “last of all and servant of all.” Let us outdo one another, not in power or privilege, but in acts of kindness and humility.
While I have been with you, you have begun to grasp anew that everything doesn’t depend on the Pastor. You have ministries that continue, whether or not you have a Pastor present. Very little depends on the Pastor, really. I have little power. I don’t vote on a thing around here, as a rule. I’m not even a member of the congregation -- I’m a member of the presbytery. A Pastor has little authority. All a Pastor has, really, is some influence in the pulpit, and a life of service and sacrifice. As Presbyterians, we don’t have to develop a dependency on a Pastor. Instead, let us all be dependent on Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, and together serve Him. I believe you have grown deeper in the things of God. You are amazingly resilient in the strong places, and you bear marks of healing in the broken places. Through it all, my constant message has been that God is with you, the sacred presence of the Lord guides you, there’s nothing to be worried or anxious about, really, and God’s presence with you by faith makes all the difference. At the end of today’s sermon, we’re going to pray a prayer along those lines, a prayer from the historic treasury of church prayers, the Prayer of Teresa of Avila.
A Divine Itinerary
And what I want you to understand and claim now is God's providential hand over you. Seven centuries before Christ, Jeremiah prophesied to Judah and Jerusalem of their coming time in exile, in slavery, in darkness of political and religious and social oppression. They were about to be hauled away by their captors. But God said through Jeremiah,
I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord,
plans for your welfare and not for harm ...
Jeremiah spoke those words of comfort to the people of his day, saying not to worry, the Lord was watching over them for good. And Jeremiah speaks to us today. You have been through transition and change and a period of uncertainty. It has sometimes felt uncomfortable and unsettling, but now you should expect God has plans for you, plans that will take shape, plans for your welfare, and not for harm, plans to give you a future with hope. I believe you have reason to sense the certainty of God's providential hand over you, over all you are and all you do, both as a church family and in your own individual families. Oh, God has plans for you. I’m proud of you who stayed here, who stuck it out. After enduring the hard times, soon you will get to enjoy the better times and the thrill of having your new Designated Pastor here.
This is time to look ahead. With the Apostle Paul, writer of the letter to the Romans, we claim these words to “… rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer …” Hope is always something related to the future. We do not hope for things in the past. We know the things of the past. But as we look to the future, we can choose to have hope, not despair. You who have stuck it out here through the tough times have been, as Paul wrote, “… patient in suffering … ” and I think all of you have demonstrated yourselves to be people who “… persevere in prayer.” Where would we be today without prayer? Where would we be without the Lord on our side.
I like the words of Robert Jones in his book Prayers for Puppies, Aging Autos, and Sleepless Nights (1990, Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, KY):
Bless you (God) for the sparkle of sun through the branches of the poplar tree
that grows no matter what I do or do not do.
Bless you (God) for clouds on the horizon and the rising, murky river.
Speak to me and overcome my anxiousness about this kind of day,
and help me notice whatever new intention I may be turning to.
God has new intentions for you. The Christian life is all about choosing to be in partnership with God, to move beyond anxiousness toward whatever newness God has in store for you. You and I can choose to see the new intentions of God happening all around us. Though there have been clouds -- Look! A silver lining! God has plans and they’re taking shape. Today, let us all claim Jeremiah's vision. Let us claim anew God's plans for us, God's vision and God's hope for us. We are loved by the God of all providence and grace!
The Next Step
Let me say this. When the time comes, don’t expect to see in your Designated Pastor the same leadership I have provided you. Every leader has a style, and the style of your next pastor will surely be unique, just as my style is unique to me. Give this next relationship time. Ride gently. Love your next pastor and family, unconditionally, and pray for them, as you have done for me and my family, just as I am sure they will be praying for you.
Because my ministry with you now comes to an end, I need to say good-bye to you. It is a firm good-bye. I will always cherish you. I love you. But now it is time for me to leave you. While my wife was not often here, she did come, and it was only the distance that kept her from coming regularly. We remember you in our prayers. I cannot forget the good times here, but I will not be returning for services, weddings, baptisms, and the like. Ministry here now is going to be in the hands of another shepherd God will send you. As I go, I will carry with me many, many fond memories and cherished thoughts of you here at First Presbyterian Church.
Praying Through Transition
I invite you now to find in your bulletin the prayer of Teresa of Avila, a 16th Century Spanish Christian mystic who passed along a prayer to calm the soul in changing times. You can take this prayer home with you today, put it in your Bible, or tape it on your refrigerator as a morning prayer, or put it in your vehicle for prayer while on the road. In any case, I invite you to pause and take a breathe at the end of each phrase. Let us pray together, slowly.
Let nothing disturb you,
nothing frighten you;
All things are passing;
God never changes;
Patient endurance
attains all things;
Whoever possesses God
Lacks nothing;
God alone is sufficient.
Thank you. And now, let us bring this relationship to a close. I invite you to join me in a Farewell Litany found I the bulletin. Also, representing the session, is _________ and representing the presbytery, Martin Oines.
[Farewell Litany]
JEREMIAH 29:10-14
10 For thus says the LORD: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I
visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For
surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for
harm, to give you a future with hope. 12 Then when you call upon me and come and pray
to me, I will hear you. 13 When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with
all your heart, 14 I will let you find me, says the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and
gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD,
and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
ROMANS 12:9-13
9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another
with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be
ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering,
persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to
strangers.