The Minister as a Star-Thrower

The Minister as a Star-Thrower
By William Powell Tuck, Professor of Preaching Ret.
Midlothian, VA

Note: This sermon was delivered on May 31, 2003, as the Commencement Address at The Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Virginia.

Several years ago a tramp comedian named Bilbo was a genius at pantomime. His audiences loved him. He always finished his act with a pair of oversized yellow shoes with big toes sticking out under the stage curtain. All the audience could see from behind the closed curtain was Bilbo`s big yellow shoes, with a spotlight shining on them. As long as the spotlight was on the shoes, the audience continued to applaud.

When Bilbo thought the audience had applauded long enough, he would step on stage in his stocking feet and take a bow. The audience realized that they had been fooled by him, and they loved it. Unfortunately, Bilbo`s life had a sad ending. He was booked at the Hammerstin`s Theater on 42nd Street and Broadway. It was the palace theater of its time. Bilbo opened on Monday and was never better. He had a heart condition but no one knew it. At the end of the performance, he stepped out of his shoes, as he had at every performance, but this time had a heart attack. The audience was wildly applauding his shoes but Bilbo never came back for his last bow. The star performer was dead.

Acknowledge Your Humanity

Although most clergy would not like to admit it, there is a star factor in ministry. Like Bilbo many ministers end up being performers in a spotlight before their congregations. Like the star comedian, some kill themselves in pushing too hard and in seeking applause. Unfortunately, too many ministers seek to be a "star" instead of following the high calling which brought them into ministry in the first place.

Many ministers are unwilling to acknowledge their own humanity. They have fallen into this "star" trap by yielding to a "God-complex." All of us suffer from the basic sin of pride that Reinhold Niebuhr calls our "God Almightiness . . . the effort to usurp the place of God." Some ministers seem to have taken second or third helpings of such a dish.

Congregations often put the minister on a pedestal and expect him or her to walk on water. Ministers themselves often assume that they are not supposed to be sick, express emotions, or have time for their family, or for themselves. This attitude often leads to burn out and to what I would call the "ministerial shooting star" syndrome.

At the annual church night at Hampton Baptist Church in Hampton, Virginia, where I am serving as Interim Pastor, I was asked to put on a superman shirt with a big S in the center under my shirt and coat and enter the congregation through a phone booth that had been placed on the stage. At the particular moment, as I was introduced as the Interim Pastor, I burst through the phone booth pulling my coat and shirt back to reveal the superman S in the middle of my chest and I yelled to the people, "I have come to save Hampton Baptist Church." The congregation broke out both in laughter and applause. This, of course, was all done in good fun, but unfortunately many churches really do expect their minister to be a superman or superwoman to save them from all of their problems, struggles, difficulties, and to answer all of their church problems.

But no minister can solve all of the church problems or challenges that are before them. No minister can be everywhere at once. Believe it or not, you cannot really walk on water. Every minister needs to have a reality check. We need to make the distinction between our role and reality. Our identity and our identification are not the same. We are ministers by calling and profession, but our identity is male or female, married or single, husband or wife, mother or father. We are not fully what others say we are or think we are. Our robes, stoles, and clerical garb do not fully define who we are internally. These trappings indicate who we are as ministers, but they do not remove from us our humanity, our emotions, feelings, instincts, and drives. The question looms within us, "Who is this I/me/he/she/you/they?" We are pulled in many directions. We are more than we think we are and yet less than we think we are.

All Christians Are Called To Minister

Ministry is not for a selected few star performers, but is a community of faith serving the One who is the Bright and Morning Star-Christ, the Light of the world. You and I are called, Paul says, "to help equip others in ministry to build up the body of Christ." As we share all of our gifts, whatever they are, we seek to minister in the name of Christ. Every single Christian in a congregation is a priest. Each has a ministry. All have gifts and there is a great diversity. No one expects the dean of a medical school or law school or seminary to do all of the work. He or she uses one`s own gifts and helps train and equip others to minister effectively. That is one of our leading roles as well, to equip all persons to serve Christ more effectively.

The Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C., affirms in their membership statement that the Church of Christ is the ship on which "there are no passengers, all are crew members." Every Christian needs to be engaged in ministry. If we are members of the Church of Christ, a member of any congregation, then we seek to find what our gift is and commit that gift in service for Christ. Karl Barth, the noted German theologian, wrote a number of years ago that within the church there are many different functions, but the preacher does not stand any higher than the elders, nor the bell ringers any lower than the professor of theology. Because there is no member of the church who is not the whole thing in his or her own place. There are differences of functions but each offers his or her gifts to Christ. And you offer your gifts, and as a minister you seek to equip others to utilize theirs.

Ministering Outside the Church Walls

There are many essential functions that need to be carried on within the church: worship, training, Bible study, equipping church members for ministry, comforting, celebrating, and others. But we need to be aware that we have been called to minister outside the walls of the church and not to remain merely within the church walls.

Bill Jones, that noted New York preacher, tells about a time when he was a small boy and visited his grandfather`s farm. He had grown up in the city and so was unaware of all that one needed to do on a farm. His grandfather got him up early and they went out and fed the chickens, milked the cows, fed the other animals, and after spending a lengthy period of time doing this, they came back to a bountiful breakfast. As a small lad, whose eyes were beaming with enthusiasm and excitement, Bill Jones said to his grandfather, "Granddaddy, we have really worked hard, haven`t we?" His grandfather looked back at him and said, "Son, what we have been doing are just the chores, the real work is out in the fields. That begins now."

Do not forget that Christ has called all of us to authentic evangelism. To share the good news of Christ with others in the world and to seek to minister to all of hurting humanity who are within the world around us. Many are looking for meaning, purpose, and hope. We need to share our faith through words and deeds unashamedly. Let the banner of your faith proudly wave in the winds of change and struggle that come all around you. Travel your journey of faith joyfully as you share your faith with Christ. Respect all religions and traditions. Acknowledge that every person has the right to religious faith or to deny it, but do not be ashamed of the Gospel that you proclaim. Proclaim it boldly with the assurance that the living Christ is with you.

As you continue to minister, always remember the importance of your family and friends. Have special times and ways of being present to them and with them. Don`t lose your family`s soul while ministering to others.

We Are Called To Serve

The One who is the Bright and Morning Star has called you and me to serve and not to be served. We are not performers, but servants. One of my favorite writers is Loren Eiseley, the anthropologist. I love one of his stories where he writes about walking along the beaches of Costabel. As he walked an hour before dawn, he could see flashlights gleaming in the distance along the shore. As he made his way around the altered edges of the cove, he saw a stooping figure moving along in the gloom or rain. On the sand he saw long-limbed star fish strewn everywhere as though the night sky had showered down. He noticed the figure of a man in front of him. He saw the man stoop down and fling an object beyond the breaking surf. Eiseley moved toward him to see what was happening.

In a pool of sand and silt he saw a starfish, its arms up stiffly. "It`s still alive," Eiseley ventured. "Yes," the man said. With a gentle movement he picked up the star, spun it over his head and flung it out into the sea. It sank into a burst of spume and the waters roared once more.

"It may live," the man said, "if the off shore pull is strong enough." "Do you collect," Eiseley asked the man? "Only like this," the man said softly gesturing, "and only for the living." He stooped again, oblivious of Eiseley`s curiosity, and skipped another star neatly across the water. "The stars," he said, "throw well. One can help them." Eiseley said, " I turned and as I neared the bend in the coast and saw him toss another star, skimming its skillfully far out over the revening tumultuous water for a moment in the changing light. The sower appeared magnified, as though casting larger stars upon some greater sea. He had, at any rate, the posture of a god. "He is a man," I considered, sharply bringing my thought to rest. "The star-thrower is a man, and death is running more fleet than he along every beachhead, every sea beach in the world."

Eiseley continues: "On a point of land, as though projecting into the domain beyond us, I found the star-thrower. In a sweet rain-swept warning, that great many hued rainbow still lurked and waved tentatively beyond him. Solemnly I sought and picked up a still-living star, spinning it far out into the waves. I spoke once briefly `I understand,` I said. `Call me another thrower.` Only then I allowed myself to think. He is not alone any longer. After us there can be others."

Eiseley`s account of the star-thrower reminds me that every minister is called to be a star-thrower. We are to reach out to help those who have been washed ashore in the currents of sin, depression, conflicts, hopelessness, and the endless other struggles of living. We reach out as a "wounded healer," as Henry Nowuen has reminded us. We are to assist, to care, to listen, to support, to love, give attention, give a shoulder on which a person can cry, give encouragement, offer tolerance, render comfort, guidance or whatever the need may call for.

As star-throwers we seek to serve. Last night at your banquet, you were each given a towel. This towel symbolizes that you are a servant. You are called to minister. When a minister puts a stole around his or her neck, that stole is a symbol of the towel. That was the original significance of the stole. It is the recognition that we are all servants. As Jesus said, "the greatest of all is the servant of all." He said, "He had come to minister and not to be ministered unto." And you and I have come to model and serve the One who is the greatest servant of all.

Our Learning Is Never Complete

As a star-thrower you are still en route educationally. I hate to break the news to you, but your education is not completed with your diploma today. You have a lifetime journey before you. No one ever arrives educationally. The pop theologian, Charles Schulz, in one of his comic strips depicts Lucy and Charlie Brown engaged in conversation about school. Lucy asks Charlie Brown, "Are you smarter this afternoon than you were this morning?" "Yes, Yes," Charlie Brown replies, "I think I am a little smarter." But are you a whole lot smarter?" she ask. "No," he responds, "Just a little smarter." "See?" Lucy exclaims. "See what?" Charlie Brown asks. Lucy then asserts, "There are serious flaws in our educational system!"

There are indeed many serious flaws in any educational endeavor. The biggest flaw of all, however, is to think that one has arrived educationally. It is a lifetime process. Paul says we are always reaching toward the maturity of faith and for deeper knowledge of Christ. The psalmist has reminded us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but this awe and mysterious encounter and relationship is a lifetime journey in which we are seeking to grow. "To think and to think hard," Hegel reminds us, "is a religious duty." William James asserts, "I like tender hearts but I also like tough minds." Down through history there have been great thinkers who have given their minds as well as their hearts in service to God and truth. Christians like Paul, Augustine, St. Teresa, Aquinas, Luther, Wesley and thousands of others have believed that to love God with all of one`s mind is not separate from what it means to be Christian. To be a believer is not divorced from being a "thinker." To love God with one`s entire mind is indeed a sacred duty.

Be Open To Truth

Our education is always in process. We are reaching toward "maturity" to measure ourselves by the stature of Jesus Christ, as Paul says in Ephesians 4:13. Continue to study, read, learn, observe. Sit, stand, walk, and run by the doorways of the past and present and listen to the voices that are whispering to you their continuous wisdom. Our minds, spirit, and soul are dead when we cease to hunger for more knowledge and insight about life and its meaning.

Remember that we are on a quest; we are voyagers, adventurers, seekers, and dreamers-like Joseph, and the Magi-seeking to follow the Star wherever it may lead. Walk near the edge of heresy as you seek truth. Be open, flexible, and unafraid of truth wherever it leads. Creeds, Affirmations of Faith, or Statements of Belief are only individual or group renderings where persons have attested to their faith in any given moment or age. Drink from their wells of inspiration but do not see these statements as binding, final, or inerrant. We follow a living Lord who goes before us to open new pathways, new insight, new truths, the One who gives a new birth and a new heaven. He is the Lord of the living not the dead, the future not the past.

We are all in the process of becoming, being, and learning. The true believers will want to live with God at our elbows, directing us to the next step, phase, direction, insight, and the challenge to realize that learning is ever before us and beyond us. When we reach toward Christian maturity, we sense that whether our study is religion, math, science, literature, medicine, psychology, physics or any other endeavor, we have not arrived. Something or Someone is ever pulling us toward the not yet realized.

Nurture Your Own Spiritual Life

As a star-thrower, a servant of the Bright and Morning Star, you will have to continue to nurture your own spiritual life. Open yourself through personal meditation and prayer to the numinous Other-the mysterious presence of God. No one ever reaches spiritual maturity. We always need to be open and continuously growing. How can anyone dare say that he or she has reached "the stature of Jesus Christ" and measure up to Him?

There is an old story about a woman who got religion at every revival meeting. She would be challenged to repent and exclaim, "Fill me, Lord, fill me!" But after hearing this for about twelve years, an older member of the congregation called out, "Don`t do it, Lord," she leaks!

But so do we all. No one is ever fully filled, spiritually. Remember to set aside a quiet place for reflection, Bible reading, and prayer. Read and meditate on the scriptures, the great devotional classics, and selected contemporary writings. Persons who have been meaningful to me have been Harry Emerson Fosdick, Leslie Weatherhead, C.S. Lewis, John Killinger, Elton Trueblood, Barbara Brown Taylor, and Joyce Rupp. Jot down your thoughts, prayers, ideas, questions or longings that are stimulated by your reading. In your praying, focus on God`s greatness, confess your sins, accept the forgiveness of God`s grace, and spend some time listening for God`s voice. You may do this in a quiet place at home or a walk in the park or the woods.

One of the persons who modeled the quest for intellectual and spiritual growth for me was John Baillie, the Scottish theologian and Principal of New College at the University of Edinburgh. In his study there were three objects that symbolized his faith and ministry. One was the desk on which he did his theological writing, the second was a chair where he did his reading, and the third was a cushion near a window and bookcase where he would kneel, meditate, and pray. This great theologian knew the importance of developing the inner life and never assumed that he did not need to spend quiet time in worship before God. Each of us has that same challenge.

Continue to Respond to God`s Call or Vision

Remember as a star-thrower, you must follow the Bright and Morning Star wherever it leads. Like Paul, "You do not want to be disobedient to your heavenly vision." You came into ministry out of a sense of call, a vision, a pull, an urge, and a drive that could not be satisfied without making a commitment. You are here because of that vision. Down through the centuries men and women have felt pulled toward God. They have climbed mountaintops, crossed deserts, sailed vast seas, have marched down familiar avenues at home, have taken strange routes in foreign lands, have struggled inwardly and followed lighted paths and agonized gropingly down dark ones to understand and to know the love of God. Paul`s vision gave him a faith that endured. Each of us needs to have a vision that will enable us to endure.

Have you ever thought what the world would be without vision? Everything that has come into existence has come because somebody had a dream or a vision. Columbus had a dream of a new world, and he set sail. Galileo had a vision of a new scientific approach. Edison had a dream that sound could travel over a wire and that electricity could produce light. Ford had a vision of a horseless carriage. The Wright brothers dreamed that men and women could fly. Von Braun believed and dreamed that men and women could go to the moon and beyond.

What would religion be without vision? Abraham followed his vision of God and went looking for a city without foundations. Moses saw God in a burning bush. Jacob wrestled with God at Peniel. Ezekiel had a vision of God at Cheban. Isaiah had a vision of God high and lifted up in the temple. Esther had a vision of how to save the nation Israel. Ruth had a vision of how to save her family. Elijah experienced God in the sound of gentle stillness in a mountain cave. Paul had a life changing vision on the Damascus Road. Augustine had a vision of "the city of God." Luther had a vision of a reformed church. Wesley had a vision of a church revived. Albert Schweitzer had a vision of reverence for all of life. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream that all men and women could be brothers and sisters together. Mother Teresa had a vision of the church`s concern for the poor and the outcast of society.

What would the church be without a vision? Without vision the church would cease to exist. It has been said, "Without vision, the people perish." Only when men and women dream dreams, see visions, formulate plans, follow stars and prophesy do we see real living. Christ has summoned us out complacency into adventure, from apathy to enthusiasm, from the settled to the pioneer, from safety to risk, from comfort to danger, from death to life. The singer in The Man of La Mancha has declared that we are "to be willing to march/into hell for a heavenly cause/. . . to reach the unreachable star."

So live with expectancy, wonder, mystery, hope, faith, and love as you follow that vision and star. Continue to go back, at least in your mind, to that meeting place where you were first surprised by God`s presence.

A number of years ago in England a man stood reading a plaque on a church door. It read: "Here God laid his hands on William Booth." The man stood there awhile looking at the plaque. Finally the custodian came over and said, "I`m sorry Mister, but it is time to close the church. You need to move on." The man said, "Give me just another moment, please."

"Okay," the custodian said, "Just another moment." The man read the plaque again. "Here God laid his hands on William Booth." The custodian suddenly realized that the man reading the plaque was William Booth himself, the founder of the Salvation Army. Then he heard Mr. Booth praying, "Oh God, do it again. Do it again!"

In some place, quiet or noisy, God laid the divine hand upon your life, and you committed your life to God. That is not the only time that God will touch your life. You need to pray, "Oh God, do it again and again."

Continue then on your journey of faith but come back and warm yourself again and again in the light of the Bright Morning Star so that you will know how to be a star-thrower.

Endnotes

[1] Reinhold Niebuhr, The Nature and Destiny of Man, (New York: Charles Scribner`s Sons, 1949), 179.
[2] Karl Barth, The Universal Church in God`s Design, quoted in the Realm of Redemption by Robert Nelson (Greenwich: The Seabury Press, 1951), 145.
[3] Loren Eiseley, The Unexpected Universe (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. 1969), 67 ff.
[4] "The Impossible Dream," The Man of La Mancha, Lyrics by Joe Darion, Cherry Lane Music (Greenwich, Connecticut, 1965).

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