Today is a special day in our worship year at First Church. Today we honor the laity – the body of our congregation without which there would be no church. As members of First Church we express the many gifts in our congregation, and we affirm, as Paul does in his letter to the Corinthians, that those gifts are given to us for the common good.

When I look around the Meetinghouse today, I am filled with appreciation for the many gifts in our congregation. Gifts of music, gifts of artistic ability, gifts of hospitality, gifts of articulate speech. This congregation is truly blessed with a rich diversity of gifts. In our Congregational tradition, we the congregation are the church. We are all ministers here.

Today I want to call our attention to the lay leaders in our congregation. In this church, as in most others, we do select leaders, and our choice of lay leaders says a lot about our congregation. I will say this at the outset: for me the most important task of our lay leaders is that they identify gifts in the congregation and that they invite people with those gifts to contribute them.

Today it’s my turn to speak from the pulpit but really I am just the latest in a long line of lay preachers at First Church. In conversations during the past year, I have asked my predecessors this question: with a congregation filled with loyal and devoted followers and a staff of brilliant and dedicated ministers, what is the role of the lay leader and what does it feel like to be one?

I view lay leadership very broadly. Very simply, you are a lay leader if you have accepted someone’s invitation to serve the church in a specific role for a particular period of time. Just as it is stewardship season, now is the time of year when many of us are asked to consider giving some of our talents to the church. During our time as members here at First Church, most of us have been or will be asked to serve as a lay leader. Here are some of my reflections.

First I think our leaders are called to serve. There are countless tasks that face the church in carrying out its mission and meeting its commitments to the community. It is important that our leaders set an example. So our lay leaders organize workers for First Church Gardeners for the Hungry. We organize fundraising activities for communities struck by disaster. We teach church school. We sell gently used second hand clothing at the Rummage Room. We stand with bereaved families at memorial services. We call and write notes to members in the hospital. We organize Stewardship campaigns to fund our church’s activities and mission. We create the financial budgets that will guide the church throughout the year. We allocate funds raised through our Lenten Offering or through the Rummage Room. We help our Director of Music to plan musical offerings throughout the year. Earlier this year I was asked to describe for a fourth grade class just what the deacons do. I took off my jacket, rolled up my sleeves, and said the first responsibility of a deacon is to help – no matter what the need. A leader is called to serve, knowing that, as our Senior Pastor David Young put it recently in a sermon, "God’s nature is revealed to us in our servanthood," and I would add that God’s nature is revealed to others when they see leaders respond to the call to help.

There is a practical aspect to a large organization like First Church, and that is that not every member of the congregation can be, or wants to be, a leader. So another important role of a group of leaders is to represent the congregation as a whole. When there is an important decision to be made, such as a budget to be created, or a pastor search initiated, the congregation has a right to expect that a group of leaders, being as a whole representative of the congregation, will act in the best interest of the congregation. For the congregation, there is I think a sense of relief in this. In his series of sermons recently, David identified several "Images and Identities" for the People of God: seekers and searchers, harkeners and heralds, servants and slaves, followers and fishers. Our leadership groups ought to fairly represent each of these images and identities in the way that the congregation naturally does.

Sometimes in difficult circumstances for the church, we ask lay leaders to help us decide the right path to follow. This is the role of discernment, and it requires wisdom. A leader articulates for us: this is the way we will proceed in deciding this matter. Our church bylaws are an extraordinarily useful set of principles that have guided our church since they were first adopted in 1931, but even though they have been revised or amended sixteen times since then, they do not foresee every circumstance. One of my predecessors in this pulpit served several years ago on a committee that was charged to define the church’s policies on baptism and communion. As it turned out, there are some guidelines that had been issued by our predecessors and by our denomination in regard to baptism and communion. But in other areas there were no guidelines. My friend said the committee had to use its own judgment in order to recommend certain policies. There are other situations in which we have asked our leaders to discern for us, for example, as we considered whether to declare our congregation open and affirming. The policies we develop, and the words we use to describe them, are important. Our church, says David, has a message to share and it is in discerning that our lay leadership gives voice to the words that express that message.

Our lay leaders are also called to be shepherds. We are all familiar with the metaphor that the congregation is a flock of sheep. The prophet Isaiah said, "We like sheep have gone astray". Jesus saw the lost crowds and referred to them a sheep without a shepherd. We need a shepherd, or pastor, to guide us to shelter. Jesus Christ said, follow me. And we, like sheep, follow. Jesus called his followers to do God’s work on earth. And we turn to our leaders, and most of all to Jesus, for guidance in doing that work. Jesus calls us to be his sheep. And we need Jesus as our shepherd. The disciple Peter, referring to lay leaders, said "I exhort the elders among you . . . shepherd the flock of God . . . proving to be examples to the flock." I looked up the word "pastor" in the American Heritage Dictionary. The first definition is "A Christian minister or priest having spiritual charge over a congregation or other group". The second definition is "A layperson having spiritual charge over a person or group." It varies from denomination to denomination, but typically lay leaders have a part in ministry.

Our lay leaders shepherd the congregation in a trusting partnership with our pastors. For example, in partnership with our ministers the trustees act as stewards of funds contributed by the congregation, and the deacons visit members of the congregation who for one reason or another are not able to participate fully in the life of the church. Lay leaders assist the pastor in distributing the bread and cup at the Communion. They are also present at baptisms, not only to represent the congregation but also to sanctify those milestones in a person’s spiritual life.

Sometimes our leaders shepherd one member at a time. One former leader at First Church described to me the challenge of working with a very opinionated individual whose pronouncements dominated every committee meeting. This leader met privately with the man to get a better idea of what was bothering him. Then, he asked that they pray together and afterward he asked the man if at the next committee meeting he would offer a prayer for the group. Grateful for the understanding shown him by the leader and for the opportunity to formulate his thoughts in prayer, the man offered a lovely prayer and never again disrupted the committee.

Part of our shepherding role is to guarantee that the congregation has a place to worship, and that there is a worship service, and so in a trusting partnership we support our ministers in providing worship opportunities to the congregation. A First Church minister once told me told me that according to custom, if none of the pastors was available to preach on a given Sunday, the Senior Deacon was responsible for delivering the sermon. I don’t know for sure if that is true, but I do know that this year I have prayed for the good health of our pastors!

Let me pause here for a moment and say the circumstances in the church vary from year to year and they can have a powerful influence on the kind of leadership we expect from lay leaders. Lay leadership can take a variety of forms. Some leaders head up committees. Others guide pastor searches. Still others help to channel our desire for justice and compassion into action. Just as there are many gifts, there are many kinds of leadership. Some leaders come into their leadership roles in times of stability. Others lead us through times of transition and turmoil. Whether we take full advantage of their gifts depends in part on the circumstances in the church during that person’s tenure.

I am not suggesting that a lay leader is always right! Remember playing the game, "Follow the leader"? Whatever the leader did, whether it was walking backwards, jumping over a hedge, skipping, or hopping on one foot, the rest of the group had to imitate him or her. It can be dangerous! One of the things I learned about sheep is that even though leaders do emerge from the flock at times, it’s not always wise to follow them because they are not always trustworthy. The so-called Judas sheep, for example, is an animal with a strong natural influence over the herd, and it is chosen to lead the rest of the flock into the slaughterhouse. The bellwether is a neutered male sheep that wears a bell and leads the flock to new pastures. Sometimes the bellwether is just greedy and goes for a patch of ground where it will enjoy the tastiest greens. A wise shepherd sometimes lets the bellwether charge on ahead, then diverts the rest of the flock into pastures where there is enough for all the sheep to eat their fill.

Leading feels risky for the leader. Being a lay leader sometimes means sticking your neck out and being challenged by the rest of the congregation for it. One First Church member told me that years ago as a committee member he had written a letter critical of one of the pastors. Even at the time he knew he was taking a risk by doing that. The letter was widely circulated and he was criticized for writing it. He felt that he had, in effect, removed himself for consideration as a senior officer of the church, and in fact, he was never asked. And usually our tenure as lay leader is over before we know it, and we can feel at loose ends when it’s over. It’s hard for a person who has served in a central role in the church when his or her services are no longer required. It feels good to be needed – we all like that -- and it’s difficult when that need is filled by someone else.

But serving as lay leader can give tremendous joy. For me, more than anything else, that joy comes from recognizing the gifts in the laity and asking those who are blessed with those gifts to share them.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians that there are varieties of gifts. A leader recognizes our gifts and celebrates them. People refer to being tapped for a leadership role. Perhaps that refers to the old practice of choosing someone by tapping him or her on the shoulder. But we also "tap", or help give expression to, resources that they possess, like a tree farmer taps a maple tree for the sap that will produce maple syrup. In a sermon from this pulpit a few years ago, one of my predecessors spoke of joining First Church, then shortly afterward being asked by the then Senior Deacon, "Well, are you going to sing in the choir or teach Sunday school?" He was tapped and he went on to teach Sunday school for sixteen years.

It’s great to be asked to serve, even if you have to decline for one reason or another. There is something tremendously affirming about being recognized for our gifts. It is a gift to be tapped; to have our gifts celebrated. In talking with members of our congregation who have served in a leading role at some point in their membership at First Church, they often express gratitude for the affirmation they received in that role. No one will serve unless they are asked. Sometimes people are waiting to be asked, waiting to be invited to the table.

I have a brown notebook that I bring with me to church meetings. I used to bring it on Sundays to jot down a reminder of one kind or another until one of my good friends in the congregation said to me, "Careful with that notebook. People might think you are going to ask them to volunteer for something." So I stopped bringing it and learned to make do with a pen and a folded bulletin. As lay leaders, we need to be willing to ask others to give their gifts, to hear them if they say this is not the time, and finally, to trust them to carry on the work that has already been entrusted to us.

First Church has been blessed by generations of lay leaders. One of the most important things they have done is to recognize the light that shines in every member of our congregation. Paraphrasing Paul: we do not lose heart. What we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord. We are the servants. God said, "let light shine out of darkness" and put that light in our hearts to lead the way for others. It is not about us – it is about what we can pass on to others.

This painting by Deborah Bonnell is a view of First Church as seen from Binney Park. We were talking about the painting the other day and it reminded me of one of my favorite trees on the church property – the black walnut in the parking lot. Years ago my Uncle Howard and my Aunt Edna came to Greenwich from Wisconsin for our son Tim’s baptism. When we walked through the parking lot, Howard exclaimed "what a beautiful black walnut!" I’d never noticed the tree before, but there was a special meaning in that tree for him. He had retired from school teaching some twenty years before and as his new occupation he had chosen tree farming. He planted a tree farm of green ash and black walnut. He told me because these are slow growing trees he and his wife would never see the final results of their efforts, but he took great joy in the certainty that he could trust his children and grandchildren to care for the forty acre woods. Now whenever I see the black walnut in the parking lot I think of my Uncle Howard, but also the members at First Church that planted and pruned and cared for that tree over the years.

I’d like to close with a quote from the great theologian Reinhold Niebuhr that puts our individual contributions in a Christian perspective.

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope.

Nothing which is true, or beautiful, or good, makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we must be saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however virtuous, could be accomplished alone; therefore, we must be saved by love.

No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our own standpoint; therefore, we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness. Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History

Let us pray:

Dear God, as we celebrate today the gifts of the laity of First Church help us remember to offer nurture and support to our lay leaders that they may recognize the light that shines in each of our hearts. May our leaders help direct that light so that in the work of this church we behold the face of your son Jesus Christ.

Amen.