Sermon - The Rev. Leah D. Schade
Reformation Lutheran Church, Media, PA
August 30, 2009 - Final Sunday
Texts:  Ecclesiastes 3:1-7, 7:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28; John 17:1-23

(Sung:)  “Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes.  I’m afraid it’s time for goodbye again.”

That’s a line from a Billy Joel song that has been playing in my head over the past five months.  Earlier this year it became clear that things had fallen into place for me to enter the PhD program at the Lutheran Seminary at Philadelphia.  And as happy as that made me, it also meant that I had to begin saying goodbye to all of you.  There is a time for everything, the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us.  Now is the time to say goodbye.

In preparation for this moment, I’ve been reading books about how to end a pastoral ministry in a healthy way.  In one book I read that a grace-filled end to a pastoral relationship can help both the pastor and parishioners learn from and affirm their journeys together.  It also allows them to have full closure so that they can each enter into the next chapter of their respective journeys.  Saying goodbyes are important because as we experience the inevitable fear, exhilaration, vulnerability and sadness that comes with such goodbyes, it also opens us up to experience the grace of God through Jesus Christ in a new way. 

Because no one knew better what it means to say goodbye than Jesus.  This text that I read from the Gospel of John is the prayer that Jesus prayed to God on behalf of his disciples on the night before he would be taken from them.  This is the gospel reading I had for my ordination service - which some of you attended with me at my home congregation in York, Pa.  At the time I read it as a inauguration prayer, and it worked well.  But it’s now nearly ten years later, I return to this text with different eyes, at a different stage in my life and ministry.   And as I read this passage, three Greek words stand out for me:  heis, apostello, agape,  - the word for “one”, the word for “sent,” and the word for “love.”

It was love that brought them together.  God’s love for Jesus, Jesus’ and his disciples’ love for each other, and God’s love for the whole world.  It was love that brought me to this congregation.  A love for God’s gift of music which I have with the harp, and which you have and support through the Leibig Fund.  And it is our mutual love of God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, which has bonded us to each other in this past decade.  

Love is what enabled Jesus and his disciples to carry out their amazing, miraculous ministry, the likes of which the world had never before seen.  But it will also be love that leads Jesus to make the ultimate sacrifice and show these disciples and all who hear the story, that God’s love is stronger than all evil, all violence, all death.  We, too, bear witness to that miraculous, sacrificial love in the ministry that we have carried out over these years.

It is love that sent each disciple out into the world to share the news of this love of God. In Greek, the word is “apostello”.  It’s the root of the word “apostles” - the sent ones.  We, too, are being sent out.  You will continue to be sent out to your neighbors, your co-workers, your family members, friends, your hairdresser, your plumber, anyone who hungers to experience this life-changing love of God through Jesus Christ.  I am being sent to further my education in the study of homiletics and ecotheology so that, hopefully, one day I will help to train future pastors to preach creatively and with conviction, helping congregations to do the kinds of ministry we have done here. We are all being sent to share what we have learned in this bible, what we have experienced through our agape, what we have witnessed God being able to do through our ministry together.

And yet there can be no doubt that an ending is coming. Which is why Jesus reminds them that even though they will be separated by time, distance and the inevitability of change, they will still be united by being one in God.  This is what will happen with us.  After the tears have dried and the dust has settled, I have no doubt that God will enable us to experience the oneness in God, even when the rest of the world around us feels fractured, scattered and lost.  When we are reading the bible, living and enacting our agape, baptizing another saint into the family, and gathering at this table, we are one with Christ and thus with God. We will continue to see God at work in us and through us to make Christ known, share our love, be one in each other and in God, and sent out to the world to share all of this.

For me, it will be at the communion table when I remember this oneness most vividly.  When I come to the table, no matter where I am, I will be joining all of you at your table, no matter how separated we are by time or space.  I will be remembering all the times when we shared this meal together.  Especially today, my last time to do this with you as your pastor.  I think that will be the most difficult part of this day for me, handing the bread to each of you, the bread of Christ’s body which he handed to his disciples in their final meal together.  I may only be able to whisper those words, “For you,” through my tears, but you’ll know that I speak them with Christ’s love for you in my heart.

I wish I would have had more time.  I wish I would have had the chance to start a new ministry for our young people at college.  Or put a team together to look at starting a new and different kind of worship service.  I wish I had the chance to teach another lay preaching class.  I wish I would be here to watch the babies I baptized sitting on their parent’s laps in Small Stars, and see them go into Sunday School, teach them about their First Communion, sit with them in the ROCK Room and marvel together about wonders of Wawa while teaching them in Confirmation class.

I wish I could be here for the meetings . . . no, really!  I know most people dislike meetings, and I do admit that it will be nice to have my evenings free for my family.  But meetings are where ministry happens.  I liked being with a group of people committed to a certain area of church life and mission, being of like mind, brainstorming different ideas, checking in on where things are, planning what will happen next.   Many pastors dread meetings, but I can honestly say that I always looked forward to them - Christian Education, Ecoministry, Confirmation Guides, Youth Ministry, Council Meetings, and staff meetings.  And this staff has been the most healthy and fun to work with.  We really enjoy each other and can share laughter as well as our frustrations in life and work.

And there is no one with whom I have shared more in this ministry than Pastor Smoose.  Ten years ago, when I was considering the possibility of serving as a seminary intern here, I spoke with some of his former interns and field ed students.  They all said the same thing.  He loves the Lord and the Church.  But he never, ever stops.  And I thought to myself, “Bring it on.”

For most pastors, this is a lonely profession.  There is no one who can understand what a pastor’s life and work is like except for another pastor.  So it has been such a gift to be able to do this ministry together with him.  I believe it is no accident that our paths intersected and that we have been able to create this wonderful ministry together.  It has been such a good match in so many ways.  We have this synergy and great interplay when it comes to scheming about program ministries and sermon series, and Holy Humor Sundays.  I have learned so much from him, and we have learned so much from each other.  I can’t even fathom what it will be like for each of us to go on without our partner in crime.  It’s like Wayne without Garth.  Jake without Elwood.  Batman without Robin.  All I can say is, this chapter may be coming to a close.  But the legends will live on!

I will also miss my visits to our homebound members, sharing scripture and the Eucharist with them, connecting their life to the life of the church.   I will miss sitting and talking with someone in need of pastoral guidance or feedback, looking at a life challenge together and feeling The Holy Spirit work through both of us to give us a new perspective.  I will miss standing at the bedside holding hands with family members around one who will soon be taken into God’s eternal care.  And I will miss the worship services where we celebrate the life of a faithful saint,
entrusting them to heaven’s embrace.  These are all holy moments - holy ground.  And it has been the greatest honor and sacred joy of my life that you all have opened your hearts, homes and holy moments to me as one of your pastors.

I wish my children could be here to continue on their faith stepping stones.  I wish Benjamin could be banging away at the drums in ROCK Stars.  I wish Rachel could continue singing with Kidz Praize.  Rachel and I have talked a great deal about how much this church has meant to her – all her friends in Sunday School, her teachers, her many surrogate grandparents.  She wanted me to tell you all how much she will miss you, and how much she has loved you.  (She has made a drawing for all of you to see in the Choir Room – I encourage you to go down and look at it after the service.)

Both Jim and I have been so appreciative of the care you have shown to our growing family.  From the baby shower six years ago, to the babysitting provided by so many of you, to the meals after I gave birth, and just the acceptance and love with which you have embraced us.  And I have to tell you that it has been my husband who has enabled me to do this ministry.  He has made so many sacrifices so that I could answer the call to ministry, serve in this church, and now follow a new call to the ministry of education.  Many of God’s most faithful servants labor behind the scenes where no one notices their dedication and hard work.  Jim is one of those servants.  There wouldn’t be a Pastor Schade without a Husband Jim, a Daddy Schade, and I give thanks to God everyday for keeping our marriage strong and healthy through this very demanding time in our lives. 

As intentional as I’ve tried to be about the closure of my ministry, it still did not happen as I had wished.  There were so many people I wished I could have visited.  I wish I could have had the time to write a note or a card to the countless individuals who have touched my ministry and my life and my family.  I wanted to be able to say, “Thank You,” in a much more personal way.

I can only hope and pray that you will each understand how greatly I have appreciated and admired your faith, your dedication, your caring, and your willingness to engage in the Christian life with me.  I am so proud of you - what you do for each other, what you do for your own
individual faith journeys, what you do for our surrounding community, and what you do for people you don’t even know halfway around the world.  I will be bragging about this congregation for the rest of my life, giving thanks to God for inspiring you to the great ministry I know you’ll continue in the future.  I’ll be lifting you up in prayer, and holding you up as an example of what is possible when a gathering of Christians steps forward and says, “Here I Am, Lord.”  Amen.