Broadway Christian Church ·Columbia, Missouri

Morning Worship ·October 31, 2004

Prayer of the Day

Companion God, thank you for the guiding grace of your love and your son.  Stand with us at the crossroads of our lives as we make decisions for our todays and tomorrows.  Amen.

Scripture
Hebrews 11:1-3 and 12:1-2

The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living.  It’s our handle on what we can’t see.  The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.

By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see.

[Between the beginning of chapter 11 and the beginning of chapter 12, there is a long list of some of those ancestors who lived by faith, including Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses’ mother, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.  All of these lived by faith.]

Do you see what this means – all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on?  It means we’d better get on with it.  Strip down, start running – and never quit!  No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins.  Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in.  Study how he did it.  Because he never lost sight of where he was headed – that exhilarating finish in and with God.

Message
Standing at the Crossroads
Kim Ryan

We were gathered in my living room a couple of months ago.  It was Sunday afternoon.  There were ten of us – eight high-school and college-age young women – who, at their initiation, said, “We need to have a young-women’s retreat here at Broadway.”  We have the girls’ retreats, and we have the not-so-young-women’s retreat.  They wanted a young-women’s retreat, and I said, “Great!  Let’s get together.  Let’s plan that.”

They’re in my living room, and the first question I ask, “So, what do you think the theme of this retreat should be?”  There wasn’t a three-second pause before Katie Farr said, “I want it to be about decisioning.”

Decisioning.  And everyone else in the room agreed.  We didn’t have to brainstorm anymore.  They talked a bit about the heavy-duty decisions they were all facing.  Some of them were graduating from college soon, some from high school.  Some are just facing those general challenges of being a young adult in today’s society.

So that was it.  The retreat theme was going to be about decisioning.  They set about over the next few weeks creating that retreat which occurred on the first of October.  They developed that retreat around prayerful decisioning.  They included a time for conversation, an exploration of prayer, an hour-and-a-half of silence, a hike, and an evening devotional around the beautiful campfire there at Rickman Center under bright stars, and including s’mores.

And then the next morning, Sunday morning, Molly Frost, Katie Farr, and Hillary Overfelt led us in a closing worship time.  They read a poem they had chosen.  I was a bit surprised by it.  Here are these very sophisticated, very cool young women.  (They told me a the 8 o’clock service that I really shouldn’t call them “hip.”  It seemed like a good adjective.)  But here these young, vibrant, contemporary young women had chosen a poem written by a man born in 1874.  The poet was Robert Frost.  Do you know which poem they chose?  “The Road Not Taken.”  It was so beautifully relevant to what their weekend had been about, and it is so beautifully relevant for us as well.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ¾
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

It is, indeed, a timeless piece of work.  Who of us has not stood at that spot considering two roads diverging, looking as far as we possibly could into what lay down each of those roads, having to make a choice, stepping out in faith, and hope, and risk, and with some regret perhaps, knowing we won’t get to revisit that same place of that particular decisioning again?

You know, don’t you, that place of which the poem speaks – that crossroad?  Of course, you do.  Of course, I do.  Perhaps you’re standing at a crossroad this very day, making one of those big-life or smaller-life decisions.  It may be about school, or work, or a job change.  It might be about retirement, or facing an illness and the options that are spread out before you of which treatment to take.  It may be a decision toward hospice care, or you may be faced with other long-term health-care needs.  Do you stay in your home?  Do you make a change to better accommodate your needs or your family’s desires?  Or perhaps you or I stand at a crucial point in a relationship.  Just last night a couple stood right here in the crossroads of this sanctuary and made a huge commitment.

Those are tremendous commitments and decisions that we make, having to do with family and children.  There are decisions having to do with friendship, all of which have their beginnings and endings, their holding, their releasing, their staying, their leaving.

Crossroads, whatever they might be, are tender moments.  Aren’t they?  They are moments where we need to be grounded in prayer as we stand in that spot and consider those choices.  They are moments in which we need not stand alone.

Here at Broadway we are blessed with companions who can stand with us, and encourage us, and pray with us in those crossroad moments.  We have Stephen Ministers, and elders who are shepherds, and small groups, and life-focus seminars.  This coming Tuesday in not only Election Day, but it is also the day I chose, unintentionally, to be my Prayer Day.  Not a bad day to be a Prayer Day.  But it is a time when I invite you, if you’re at one of those crossroad places in your life, and you want me to be in prayer with you about that, just give me call, or send me an e-mail, and I will be in prayer with you about whatever decision is before you.

A “crossroad” is defined as a place where two roads meet – a community at an intersection, a crucial point.  Of course, as a nation, we are a community at an intersection.  We stand at a crucial point.  We’ve spent months looking down those roads of particular candidates, and platforms, and parties as far as we can see and dare to imagine.  Perhaps, like me, you’re trying to see past the undergrowth of the distractions of fear tactics, and propaganda, and poor taste, and political bad form in order to make a sound and conscientious decision.

Tuesday we will make a collective decision.  Meanwhile, the world waits and watches to see what the citizens of the United States of America will decide.  The very worst thing that could happen would be that only a few of us would show up at our polls to help make that decision.  Please vote on Tuesday.  Please prayerfully vote.  Please be a part of this very important right and duty and honor as a citizen of this country.

Broadway Christian Church is a community of faith at an intersection of at least two roads.  Sometimes it feels like we’re standing at an intersection of about 20 roads.  Nine years ago we built this sanctuary.  Five years ago we grew into three distinct and unique worship services.  Last year we built the parking lot and had a lot to do with a completely new road being put in. 

In anticipation of the crossroads at which we now stand, it’s a crucial point once again in the life of Broadway Christian Church.  And we are asking, “So, what’s next?  What’s our next faithful step?”

One of the earliest promises in Scripture was made to Father Abraham and Mother Sarah.  It is both a promise and a mandate.  It is a promise and a commandment: “You are blessed,” they are told, and we are told.  “You are blessed to be a blessing.”  Indeed, we are blessed here at Broadway Christian Church, and now the question for us is: “How else might we be a blessing for others?”

Could it be an even bolder and bigger involvement with Habitat for Humanity?  Could it be embracing the eight keys of discipleship we are currently considering these next couple of months?  Could it be a new building project creating additional sacred space and considering new technology to hold God’s blessing, not just for us, but also through us as we follow that mandate of being blessed to be a blessing.  These will be important and significant questions to be explored, and grounded in and through prayer, and careful consideration in the months ahead.

You know… sometimes crossroads are anticipated – like graduations, and weddings, and job choices, and elections, and building houses, and other sacred spaces.  Sometimes crossroads are not anticipated at all.  We’re traveling along and then we must stop and carefully consider.  So, now what?  Such an unanticipated crossroad has come into the life of Broadway Christian Church.  It is a crucial point.  It is such a crucial point that the place at which we now stand is almost a crisis.

There were warning signs along the way: “Rough Roads Ahead,” “Yield,” “Slow Down,” “Detour.”  But we were speeding along and hardly noticing.  Here is the crucial point at which we stand.  There is an extreme shortage of trained, qualified, spiritually-grounded, and spiritually-mature clergy leaders within our denomination, actually, within almost all main-line Protestant and Catholic denominations.  This shortage has already weakened our denomination and will continue to weaken the health and well being of our denomination.

Now, if you are a visitor here today, please excuse us while we air some of our denominational dirty laundry.  Excuse us while we talk about the elephant that is stomping around in our denominational living room.  You know about that elephant – the one you prefer to ignore.  The truth is Broadway Christian Church could ignore that elephant, because we don’t see ourselves at a crisis.  We’re not in crisis.  We’re a growing, healthy, vibrant congregation, and we have wonderfully gifted and marvelously mature ministers.  (Thank you for laughing.  It was going to be really sad if you didn’t.)

Just last night someone said, “You and Rick should do a workshop on how a senior minister and an associate minister can work together for 16 years.”  Well, I’m here to tell you.  We don’t need a workshop.  We just need to clone Rick Frost, because he is unbelievably one of the most healthy and wise ministers I know, and he lives and serves out of the deepest place of his relationship with Jesus Christ.  I am only fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve with him all those years.

We don’t have to pay attention to the elephant, because she hasn’t stepped on our toes much – yet.  However, Broadway Christian has been given an invitation and a request to consider being a part of the hope and the possible solution to this crisis among our clergy.  It is a crucial point in time.

Here is some background.  Over the past four years, an experiment has been taking place.  It is an experiment to try to discover how to encourage gifted and talented people entering ministry and how to halt the alarming statistic that 40 per cent of newly-ordained clergy leave congregational ministry within the first five years.  You heard me right.  Forty per cent leave congregational ministry within the first five years.  This experiment has been an attempt to slow down, to halt that unbelievable reality.  It’s much more than a statistic.  Due to the initiative, the vision, and the generous grants from the Lily Endowment, progress has been made.  We’re learning some things.  In the last couple of years, we’ve really made some significant strides in being able to identify what works and what helps.

The Disciples part of this endeavor has been called the Bethany Fellowships.  I’ve had the good fortune to be one of four leaders in this work, and we’re seeing some really exciting and promising results.  But, as you know, grants eventually end, and when they do, then the question must be asked, “So, now what?  What do we do to take this promising work into the future and help secure the future of our denomination?”

Well… Broadway has been asked to consider a commitment of $100,000 to be given over five years that would go into an endowment.  Other Disciple churches, of course, will be asked to consider contributing to this endowment effort.  But Broadway Christian Church and Community Christian Church in Kansas City have been asked to be two congregations to make a commitment of $100,000 over five years.

Sarah Griffith is a young woman ordained by this congregation.  She is beautifully gifted and wonderfully competent in ministry.  Sarah has stood at that crossroad following her ordination and moving into pastoral ministry.  By the grace of God, she is here with us today.  I asked her if she would speak to that experience with us.  I should say that Sarah was invited a year ago to be a participant in the Bethany Fellowship.

Sarah Griffith

Thank you, Kim.  It is good to be home.  Broadway, you are my church home.  I grew up here as a little girl.  I was confirmed here.  I was an acolyte.  I was in the children’s choir, and I went to Fairview Elementary School.  I went to West Junior High School, and Hickman High School.  And then, during college, I discerned a call to ministry, and Broadway Christian Church has supported me during that time.  Kim Ryan, Rick Frost, and all of you have been so supportive.  I was ordained here.  I kneeled at the foot of this cross two years ago this weekend, and I was ordained into ministry.

Last night my sister was married.  I am the youngest of five children, and my sister is the oldest.  She was married here last night.  There are three boys and two girls, so out of the five children, I’m the only one not married.

You may know Beulah Wilson, my grandmother.  She has ten grandchildren, and out of those ten grandchildren, I am the only one not married.  So, planning ahead, I knew this might come up when our family got together for the wedding.  I decided I would charge $5 each time a person made a reference to the fact I was not married.  But I also knew that I was ordained two years ago, and my ordination ceremony – some of you were here for that – was like a wedding for me.  I made a vow to God.  I made a promise to the Church, and so I somewhat jokingly say, but I do mean that I married Jesus.  I married God.  I married the Church.  I’m not choosing a life of celibacy.  I’m not saying that.  Nor am I saying that I won’t get married some day, but I did make a commitment, and it was here at Broadway Christian Church.  I’m eternally grateful to you for your support for that.

Just this last spring I was in Indianapolis at a gathering as part of the Bethany Fellowship.  We were asked to help out in some research.  They’re researching how we can encourage more young people to go into the ministry.  There were about 60 new ministers there.  They asked us, “What are some of the big reasons why a young person should go into ministry?”

We broke into some small groups for discussion.  We came back together after coming up with some good reasons why we should go into the ministry.  The number one reason was the dating opportunities, of course.  Actually and unfortunately, I learned that in college my senior year.  I knew I was going to Princeton Seminary.  I was out dancing with some of my girlfriends at a club, and a young man came up to me and asked if he could buy me something to drink.  I said, “Yes, I’d love to have a bottle of water, thank you.”  And he said, “So, what are you doing?”  And I said, “Well, next year I will start seminary.”  And he said, “Oh, you’re going to be a nun.”  Well, you can see how excellent the dating opportunities are for young clergy.

One of the big challenges as a young minister is loneliness.  I was asked earlier, “Why is ministry more lonely than other professions, other things that people do with their lives?”  I think the loneliness comes from our spiritual journey, and because I am gifted with that, it can be a lonely place.  It can be a very lonely place to be.

With the Bethany Fellows, it is a time for me to meet twice a year with other young, new clergy for prayer and for fellowship.  I get to see other young women who are single, and we can talk about how hard it is to date when you’re a minister.  We can talk about the challenges we face when we are still in our twenties and our congregations are in their fifties, sixties, seventies, and eighties.  They have a young pastor, and that can be very difficult for young ministers.

We also pray.  We spend a lot of time in prayer.  We have communion together, and one of the best parts is that I get to see Kim.  Right now, I live in Minneapolis, but twice a year I get together with Kim Ryan and other ministers for a time of support.  I get wonderful support in that group.  Broadway, you are being asked to help support with a financial gift this important gathering of young clergy.

One of my best friends from seminary – she’s in the Methodist Church – does not have this type of group.  Right now she’s starting to make plans to leave the church.  She does not have the kind of support I have with the Bethany Fellows.  I’m very sad that the church is losing her as a leader.

During seminary I also received a master’s degree in social work.  I’m a licensed social worker.  In all honesty, I have that on the back burner.  If I cannot make it in ministry, I know I can go into social work.  But I feel God is calling me to ministry in the church, and I want to follow that calling.  In order for me to do so, I believe Broadway is being called to support new ministers.  You’re being called to support us as we start in our ministry.  So, I ask you to prayerfully consider this gift that will make it possible for young ministers not to be discouraged, but to continue, and to be true to our calling to God.

Thank you.

Kim Ryan

Thank you to Sarah for her honesty and her transparency with us.  It’s been researched, and the number one reason people leave the ministry is loneliness.  Loneliness.

I was asked last week why I got involved with the Bethany Fellowship.  One reason was partly out of my own experience many years ago of having been a young minister.  Another was because I believe in this denomination.  I believe in who we are and the voice and the witness we have to make, not only to individuals who are seeking a relationship with Christ, but also within the Christian community and within the whole world where we have an important voice.  But the most important reason I said yes was because, truthfully, I was scared. 

I was asked to be on this leadership team when Broadway had spent two years looking for a second associate minister whom we never found.  There were no Sarah Griffiths on the horizon at that time.  We interviewed only two people in a two-year time period for this position.  One of them said, “This church is too good to be true.  No thank you.”  I was frightened by the lack of potential candidates, and I was frightened by the lack of imagination to consider what ministry in a congregation like this might be like.

You know… I guess we have been dancing with that elephant a little bit already ourselves.  So, I said “yes” for the sake of the denomination, but also for our sake, and for the future of Broadway Christian Church.

Now, I can’t begin to explain this morning all the details, all the hopes, all the challenges of the request that has come to us.  There is information available outside the sanctuary doors and in the fellowship hall.  There is written information about the request that has come to us and a fuller explanation of the Bethany Fellowship.  Our board will be considering this request for at least the next four months, and perhaps longer if we need to take longer.  Next Sunday, November 7, I will be offering some open sessions for conversation and questions, because it is so important we talk about and ask every necessary question as we carefully and prayerfully consider this.

For 16 years I have heard us talk about and talk around “big mission.”  We’ve talked about a “big mission” for Broadway that we haven’t quite been able to name.  It might have something to do with our land we’ve bought.  It might.  It might have something to do with our location right here between two apartment buildings and the numerous children who live in those buildings.  It might.  In the last few weeks I’ve been wondering if the “big mission” for which we’ve been waiting – or has been waiting for us – might not be this work through the Bethany Fellowship.

This is no minor crossroad before us.  We will try to look down all the roads as far as we can, and I trust us.  I trust us, and I trust God to help us make carefully and most responsibly the most spirit-led decision we can make.

We stand at a crucial point, and it feels like Holy Grail.  Whatever our crossroad situation today, be that personal, or national, or a community of faith, the Scripture rings true for us like timeless poetry.  The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God – this faith – is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living.  It’s our handle on what we can’t see.  The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, that great cloud of witnesses, and set them above the clouds.  By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word.  By faith, we see and trust what God is calling into existence in and through even us.

Amen.

Benediction

Alpha and Omega, you are always the same.  Help us to begin and end our days, hopes, and prayers with you.  Help us to rest in our faith, knowing how closely you hold us.  Thank you for the witness of those who’ve gone before us.  Write on our hearts a legacy of faithfulness.  Amen.