On Mission
Reading and sermon preached by Reverend Carolyn Patierno
September 18th, 2005

From To Know As We Are Known:  Education as a Spiritual Journey, by Parker Palmer

The community is a check against my personal distortions.  …   Life in community is … a continual testing and refining of the fruits of love in my life.  Here, in relation to others, I can live out (or discover I am lacking) the peace and joy, the humility and [service] by which spiritual growth is measured.  The community is a discipline of mutual encouragement and mutual testing, keeping me both hopeful and honest about the love that seeks me, the love I seek to be. 

When I first started here at All Souls, the Board and I – along with council members – met with the new district executive.  This gathering is called a “start-up” and happens when a minister is first called to a congregation.  By that time, All Souls had been engaged in the long process of determining the congregation’s mission and vision.  Many of you were involved and may remember what that process was like.  Most organizations have a mission statement because a mission statement provides self-definition.  It determines how an organization – in our case, All Souls - strives to propel itself into the world.

At its best, a mission statement keeps the organization on course … helps the individuals who make up that organization keep their eyes on the prize. 

Doesn’t this sound like interesting stuff?  Wouldn’t you want to be part of a process that sets our course by first defining who we are?  If you are saying, “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in the hottest hell that you could persuade me into another mission / visioning ‘it’s going to be fun’ process for the rest of my days.” I assure you … you’re not alone.  I was sitting next to Paul Schaffer at that start-up four years ago.  I was sitting next to Paul when the matter of our mission was approached alas, without enough preparation or focus.  The conversation was unfortunate – and a disaster.  Paul said nothing.  I didn’t know Paul very well yet.  The group struggled.  I remember that someone cried.  And then, blessedly the day ended.   We got up to fold the chairs and Paul turned to me and blurted out, “I will never work on a mission statement ever again.”

Nothing is worse – and I’ve been to a lot of meetings in my life – nothing is worse than a clunky approach to creating a mission statement.  And so often it is just that:  clunky. 

Why is it so hard?  Why is it so hard to first define and then set out a mission for an organization?   Let’s consider this metaphorically.  The process is not so unlike setting out to “find ourselves.”  Sometimes that is an adventurous, interesting endeavor.  But most times, it’s a pretty tedious process of hit and miss.  And to boot, it’s often lonely.  We may find ourselves in the desert tempted by forces benevolent and malevolent both.  Not only that, for however challenging this process is for the seeker, oftentimes it is as heart wrenching for those who love and care for the seeker.   Take adolescence.  Choosing who one wants to be as an adult begins there.  It’s an exciting and brilliant time.  But let’s have a show of hands.  Who here would like to return to your 13th year? 

And then who would have believed it?  You’ve got to figure out who you are all over again when you’re 20 and 30 and 40 and 50 and on and on.  Life is pretty much an ongoing search for meaning and purpose, for self-awareness and definition.  Turns out, life is a never- ending coming of age.   I talk with people all the time… people who have come to a crossroad in their lives … a time when they ask themselves, “Who do I want to be?”  

Who do you want to be? 

We’ve all been through the long day and come out the other side somehow changed.   Like Paul said after that long day four years ago, we all say, “I never want to do this again.”  But we do.  Our lives are fluid.  Thank goodness. 

So, that’s my theory about why mission and visioning is hard. And to create a mission statement you have the added confusion of working with a group of people.  But the outcome is the brass ring.  The outcome is so helpful for we have a greater sense of identity and we know what we’re working toward. 

Many people came together over the course of several years to capture the essence of who we are as a congregation and the manner in which we propel ourselves into the wider world.   The following is the fruit of much soul searching and labor:

All Souls is a liberal religious congregation that nurtures lifelong spiritual development.  We covenant to create a welcoming, caring, justice seeking community within and beyond these walls.

Let’s all say it together with gusto. 

This is who we are.  This is how we propel ourselves into the world.  This is the idea that guides us.  This is our mission.  

To summarize:  We are a liberal religious congregation:  Liberal meaning that among us there is a willingness to evolve and change … religious meaning a commitment to who we bind ourselves to and the tradition we represent … lifelong spiritual development – as per our principle in which we covenant to support each other in a responsible search for truth and meaning. The congregation of All Souls supports each soul in that quest.  We have committed ourselves to a radical covenant of welcome and care knowing that each of these hinges on justice. So when each week I invite us into the passing of the peace by saying in effect, “hospitality is a central commitment of this congregation” I am harkening to our mission statement in which we define ourselves as creating a “welcoming and caring community.”  Not only that, we say that we believe that we must strive for all of these lofty goals within and beyond our walls.  

I am ever aware of this mission as I move through the ministry we share.  But sometime last spring and then in my contemplation and study this summer I began to wonder how close all of you feel to this mission.  I felt I wanted to remind you in case you had forgotten or have never been aware. Our mission needs to be the fire that burns in our bellies.  It is around our mission that we focus our passion for the religious life and sharing our gifts with our neighbors and indeed, the world.   Our mission is at the core of our good neighbor offering today … our mission drove our welcome to the Tibetan marchers this summer … our mission upholds our commitment to learning through our religious education ministry … our mission is what turned out more folks from All Souls than from any other congregation last Thursday night at the city’s annual interfaith service … and why our choir director is so aptly prepared to bring the music of the world to that experience and our choir the passion to sing out. 

I love our mission and it feels so right and great to be considering the matter of mission for this first sermon of a new season.  As we begin again, we are reminded of who we are and the vision of a congregation we continually strive to create. 

But our mission is also a reflection of each of us as individuals.  We are each held to the standard we set for ourselves as a congregation, after all.   Parker Palmer is an educator and Quaker.  He said the following about the role of the spiritual community: 

The community is a check against my personal distortions.  …   Life in community is … a continual testing and refining of the fruits of love in my life.  Here, in relation to others, I can live out (or discover I am lacking) the peace and joy, the humility and [service] by which spiritual growth is measured.  The community is a discipline of mutual encouragement and mutual testing, keeping me both hopeful and honest about the love that seeks me, the love I seek to be. 

I understand our mission statement as the discipline to which Parker refers.  We each and all of us find ourselves at one time or another tangled in our own personal distortions.  When we are in this place, we have this community to test and refine the fruits of love in our lives for it is in our relationship to others that we seek and are more likely to find peace.  The religious life is a discipline that when practiced, helps us to remain in the light of hope, honest about the love that seeks out each of us and as important, the love we seek to be. 

Unlike the mission statements developed and utilized at Pfizer … Electric Boat … L&M … the school where you teach … the State of CT … etc., etc., etc., the culture here at All Souls’ hinges on all of us aspiring to our mission each day of our lives in all of our interactions.  It doesn’t work if we paid attention to our mission on a Sunday morning only. 

Wrote church consultant, Michael Durall,

“Only through living out its mission and realizing its vision will a church become a community whose members grow in faith, hope, and charity.”  

There is evidence that All Souls is growing on all of these fronts.  But there is always room for more growth.  There must always be time set apart for each of us to focus on mission.  There will always be distractions.  But these cannot derail our dedicated commitment to create a congregation and indeed a world in which all are welcomed and treated with great care. 

Next week I’ll be talking about my sense of call.  These two sermons really serve as a series.  I will share how my own sense of call informs my ministry while contemplating with you the call you recognize as your own.

In the week ahead, hold our mission close to you as you live the welcoming, caring, and justice seeking life.  Keep hopeful and honest about the love that seeks you and the love you seek to be. 

Amen.

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