Romans 12: 1-13
Reading 3-8
3 For
by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of
yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober
judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has
assigned.
4 For
as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have
the same function,
5 so
we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are
members one of another.
6 We
have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy,
in proportion to faith;
7 ministry,
in ministering; the teacher, in teaching;
8 the
exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in
diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
Laity Sunday is a day set aside to
recognize and honor the roll of the laity in the life of the church.
Who are the laity? All of us who are not ordained for ministry are
the laity or lay members of the church. To celebrate Laity Sunday
is to recognize that the work of the church, local, regional and
global, could not be carried out without our dedication and work.
Each of us, when we joined a local
congregation of the United Methodist Church, whether by baptism,
confirmation or reception into a church, made a vow. Every time a new
person is joined to our congregation, we renew our vow. We promise
to “faithfully participate in the ministries of the church by our
prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service and our witness.”
This vow clearly spells out our
responsibilities as lay members of the church community. This vow is
at the heart of what makes our Christian, Methodist Church community
different than the social and civic groups in which we participate.
We are a community of covenant because our vow is a covenant promise
and brings us into covenant relationships.
Just what does it mean that we have
entered into a covenant relationship. A covenant can be a legal term
or can mean a solemn promise. But in a religious context covenant has
a deeper meaning. First, a covenant is a promise or agreement made by
God with a specific individual, such as Abraham or Moses, or with a
community, such as with the children of Israel. It is a agreement,
not between equals, but a promise that God makes to us. And God keeps
his promises. The term covenant is also used to refer to an agreement
between members of a congregation to work together according to the
precepts of their religion. Our vows of membership are both. In our
baptism and confirmation, God made a covenant with us individually.
When we join a local congregation, we enter into a covenant with the
other members of the church.
Let’s review the covenant we have
made with Trinity United Methodist Church. We have promised to
faithfully support the ministries of this church in five ways.
1st, by our prayers. This is at once
the easiest and most difficult of the promises-at least for me.
Prayer is a discipline that every one of us – young and old, strong
and infirm, healthy or not – can practice every day – if we will.
The time we spend in prayer – or lack or prayer – is reflected in
our daily lives. Prayer lifts our hearts and minds to God, to express
our needs and joys to Him. But he already knows our hearts and
needs, so why is our prayer necessary. It puts us in a position to
hear God’s message for us, his will for our lives – individually
and as part of our covenant community.
2nd, by our presence.
Participating regularly in worship, in Sunday School in Bible Study
in fellowship, enables us to grow in spiritual knowledge and
discipleship. We must be present in order to become part of the
community. Not everyone can or wants to be a leader, but we call all
do our part by being an active participant.
3rd, by our gifts. When we
refer to gifts, the first thing we think of is money. And it is
important for us to give generously of our financial resources. The
work of the church depends on it. We are able to worship in this
beautiful sanctuary, with excellent music resources because of the
generosity of member of this congregation both past and present. We
have the services of a dedicated staff because of on-going faithful
giving. We are not expected to give equally, but according to our
means.
Our gifts also include our personal
talents. According to our scripture these gifts “differ according
to the grace given to us.” These gifts include ministry, teaching,
encouraging, leading, giving and compassionate caring. Each of us has
a gift to be discovered and shared. And everyone’s gift is vital to
the ministry of our church.
Recognition of our gift and our
willingness to use it lead to the next element in our covenant vow –
service. You know, when God graces us with a gift, he expects us to
use it. He doesn’t ask that we be perfected in our gift first, but
that we be willing to put our gifts to use in service to his kingdom.
Remember the parable of the talents. Of course, in the context of
that story, a talent was a sum of money, but we can also interpret
the parable in the modern-day context of using our talent, not hiding
our gift under a bushel, so to speak.
This is a very appropriate time in the
church year to be thinking about our service. Not only because today
is Laity Sunday, but also because we are in the midst of preparing
for Charge Conference. Charge Conference – that terminology
confused me when I first became a Methodist.
In Methodist parlance, a charge is a
local church and a conference is a meeting in which the church
members confer with one another and agree on the leadership and
ministries of the church. Many of you are involved in the preparation
for Charge Conference which is coming up on November 5. Some of you
may be preparing a report on past or proposed ministries. The Lay
Leadership committee has been asking people to serve on the various
boards and committees which carry out the business and ministries of
the church.
You see, it is not just the pastor and
staff who do the work of the church. although pastoral leadership is
critical, it is the lay members, serving, using their gifts that
makes the church a vital ministry.
The members of the administrative
board, along with the chairperson, oversee the programs and business
of the church and make final decisions about the allocation of funds
and programs. The trustees are responsible for oversite of the
properties. They advise the administrative board, prioritizing needs
for upgrades and repairs and seeing that these are carried out. The
finance committee reviews the financial status and tells the
administrative board what we can afford to do and how we can remain
both faithful to our ministry and financially solvent. They have had
a challenging task the last couple of years.
Then we have a variety of work areas
whose chairpersons, along with staff, make up the council on
Ministries or Parish Planning committee. These work areas include
Music, Worship, Mission, Evangelism, Congregational Care, Children,
Youth and Senior Ministry. The Pastor/Staff Relations committees
functions as the HR department in dealing with personnel matters.
If you are asked to serve on one of
these boards or committees, I hope you will say yes. If you have
already said yes, Thank You. Someone believes in the value of your
gift and your ability. If you are willing to serve, but haven’t
been asked yet, let someone know. Don’t be shy. Don’t bury your
talent. Remember, the saying that God loves a cheerful giver and that
includes your gift of yourself as well as your money. So tell the
pastor, or Amy, or Loy or someone. We need every gift of service.
The last element in our vow is to
witness. I think this was added when the Book of Discipline was
revised in 2008. To witness is to share our faith with others, to
share our joy of the fellowship that is Trinity with others. Our best
tool for growing our church is our witness in the community about
what Trinity means to us. We also witness as we serve the community,
in organizations such as Good Samaritan Center, Boys & Girls
Club, Iva’s Place, and in our civic and work-based organizations.
We witness when we let others know what motivates our service.
All of these elements of our covenant
vow – prayer, presence, gifts, service and witness – work
together to help us grow in our faith and help us and our church grow
in ministry and service. These are our solemn responsibilities as lay
members of the church. Solemn responsibilities that also bring us
abundant joy as we fulfill them.
In closing, I invite your to join me in
renewing our vows of membership. Please turn to page 38 in the hymnal
and join me if you will.
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