Installation of Elders

Hebrews 11:1-3

 

        Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. Most people want more than that. Folks drawn to lottery tickets or vacations to Las Vegas justify their appetites with the expectation that against all odds, they will strike it rich. But few do. Yet here we sit, believing in a God we cannot see and in a story that defies all common sense.   God Became Human. REALLY? In real life the goal is upward mobility, not a step down.

        The good news is that we who are dreamers yearly elect rational elders to hold our feet to the fire when our heads and hearts tend to soar into the clouds. Today we celebrate the election of these stalwarts of rational thought. In your wisdom you have elected two lawyers, a counselor who specializes in drug and alcohol abuse and a recently retired emergency room nurse practitioner. These are folks who have lived in the real world. Try as we might we will not be able to pull the wool over their eyes with our irrational dreams and schemes. At least that is what we would like to believe. Let me introduce you to these good folks.

        Ann the Lawyer comes to us from Northern Virginia. Her reason for being part of a church is rather simple. Ann wants to rescue the world, one person at a time. She is a person clinging to God’s desire for justice and righteousness. Many of you got a taste of Ann’s obsession when she preached a couple of weeks ago. She wants to save every child that has been abused, every refugee that has been displaced and every family that has suffered a catastrophic loss. The scary part is she believes it is possible.

        John the Counselor is a hippie who holds the Bible in one hand and a copy of Yellow Submarine in the other.  He is convinced, All We Need is Love. John wants to take us outside the safe confines of this sanctuary and sit with folks over a cup of hard cider and discuss this intangible notion that God is love. He believes this universal truth overshadows any of our worn out dogmas. John wants us to kick our heels back and start conversations that begin with respecting what others think. He wants to explore new ways of engaging folks in this community God created.

        Leslie the nurse wants to heal folks, but this time she is taking the gloves off. She wants to get dirt under her finger nails. I observed this when I traveled with Leslie to Guatemala. No one worked harder with her hands and no one works harder with her head to evaluate our missions to other folks. Leslie joined the Hunger Committee at Presbytery. She is a vital member of the folks involved in Lovingston’s monthly food distribution. She is a founding member of the Garden Hose, a group that wants to create a community garden next to our wood pile. Leslie is driven by her head and heart. But she works with her hands.

        And finally there is our second lawyer.  Mary Dudley is a long time member of Rockfish but I suspect many of you hardly know her. She is really weird. She brings a hard boil egg to worship in case my sermon goes too long.  Truth is she would rather be working with the wood ministry team. She daily rides her bike on the Skyline Drive and occasionally camps out up there to get over her fear of bears. She goes to the nursing homes and stays with folks who don’t even know she's there just so they won’t be alone.  What she does best is think about life. As the session discovered last week she writes about good days and bad days and how God seems to be intricately involved in both. She doesn’t offer answers, just observations. She dares to say what many of us think but would not dare speak. She observes more in the ordinary that most of us imagine in the extraordinary.

        These are the folks you elected to be your new class of elders: A Dreamer, A Lover, An Activist, A Poet. I have only one question.               WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!!!!!!!!

The session is supposed to be a serious group where serious people think about serious problems. You seem to be suggesting this church is in the business of believing in the assurance of things hoped for and the convictions of things not seen. I guess that is what happens when you hang around folks who faithfully listen for the Holy Whispers of God. Perhaps this is why our Church is so amazing. You trust God, you trust each other, you laugh together, you cry together and you don’t mind getting a little dirt under your finger nails. Let us celebrate the Class of 2019 by having them come forward for their ordination and installation.