CHAPTER 1

Discovering Gifts

Relationship and Identity

(Can be used during the seasons of Christmas and Epiphany)

Can you imagine a bright, sunny Sunday morning and that wonderful moment when afamily is gathered at the front of the church, surrounded by godparents,neighbors, friends, and well wishers, to have their child baptized? The hopesand dreams of this family, along with those of the entire gathered community,are centered on the one little person, possibly dressed in some gossamer, frillyoutfit, handed down, from generation to generation. The water is poured over thechild's head, and then holy oil is pressed on the child's forehead. "You aremarked as Christ's own forever!" a cheery priest proclaims and the entiregathering is alive with applause, music, and congratulations. This is a joyfulmoment in the life of every church. It can be a time of great welcome, deepeningof relationships, and expanding of our common identity. Too often it is anisolated occasion without much connection.

The same group of people, who pledged to help raise this child in the faith andin community, might well have to struggle to understand the faith they havereceived and may never truly understand how to share their faith journey. Theymay never understand Christ's mission in that particular community. They mayfeel unequipped to do so. The parents may never have knowledge of God's uniquecall to them or their family within that community. The parents themselves mightfeel inadequate to the task. We are called to be Christ's own forever, topossess a unique identity in, and relationship to Jesus Christ, and yet we oftenfeel unable to tell our story as it relates to the Jesus story. This dilemma isparticularly true among congregations that are small or isolated; congregationsthat may have declined due to economic hardships; churches founded to respond tospecific racial or cultural situations in very different times. The true storyof the people, of the community, might never be heard by this child or by thechild's family. Many church communities are fractured by the changes they haveundergone and have become discouraged, feeling that their best days of ministryare behind them.

This book is for the leadership of any congregation that has experienced thefracturing and hardships that make it very difficult to envision growth andvitality for their church. This book is for anyone struggling with how torespond to God's call in their special community—and for those who are wrestlingto find themselves and their community in the larger story of the Christianfaith. My goal is to remind communities that God has called each of us intoexistence and called us for an incredible purpose. This book is meant toencourage individuals and congregations to discover what that purpose is withintheir particular place and community. It is designed to invite growth throughdiscovering and using the gifts each community has been given by God. Whether,as a community, you are small or isolated, different or distressed, there ismore that God would have you do, right where you are planted. You have a storyto tell and there are people desperate to be touched and welcomed to that uniqueplace where you find yourselves.

Unique

First, let me explain what I mean by a unique congregation or community. As abishop in the Episcopal Church, I have had the joy of being in many, manychurches across the dioceses I have served. I was once in a very small, ruralcongregation for an evening meeting. This was a congregation that was oftendescribed by outsiders and diocesan leaders as one of our "dying parishes." WhenI arrived, rain was coming down in torrents. The senior warden wanted me to seethe sanctuary of the church before we moved to the meeting. I wasn't sure why hewas so insistent, but I reluctantly went along with him, in the rain, across thegrass lawn from the little building that served as a parish hall to the one-story wooden structure, barely visible from the road. He took me inside to achurch that could seat about seventy people at full capacity. And then he slowlywalked me around the church, touching each and every pew and pointing out pulpitand lectern, the crosses and the windows. He told me the name of every personwho had carved each pew, and their relationship to a present member of thecongregation. For him, these were not objects or things, but rather the symbolsof a living faith passed on from a previous generation. In the pews lived thestories of freed field slaves, of women, men, and children, their sorrows andjoys and the faith that he had inherited from them all. In the simple objects ofthat humble space, great deeds of faithfulness and God's promise and commitmentwere made very real. His stories wove the bigger story of our faith in Christ.

This tiny congregation, which might seem dreary or doomed to outsiders, wasalive and vibrant with ministry and outreach. Despite their limited numbers, thepeople of the congregation provided opportunities and training for many childrenin their community and have set up a computer lab, teaching children and adultshow to use the internet and other online resources. All of the computers wererescued from businesses that were upgrading their technology. They take childrenand young adults on trips to do outreach for others. They are passionate andcommitted to the education and empowerment of their community, and so have foundways to be a vital force for the life of their whole area.

Every congregation, every building, every community has a unique and oftenchallenging life. Every congregation is unique, and people have come therebecause they have found solace, compassion, and a home in Jesus among the peoplegathered. Like the little congregation I just described, many small churches(whether rural or urban) might seem troubled or even dying to outsiders. But tothose who have been ministered to, or those who have found a home among thosewho were once strangers, that church is at the heart of their lives and theirhopes for the future. It is our human struggle and our faith in Christ all woventogether in the mystery of God's love and presence with us.

This book, I hope, will provide encouragement and suggest some ways forward togrowth, using the unique symbols, stories, and strength that are the people ofGod in your unique place. It will help tell the story of the faith that has beeninherited and help find ways to use that strength to serve a present,reconfigured community.

Relationship

Throughout this book, I will be emphasizing the importance of relationship. As aNative American woman (Cherokee), I was raised to understand that I was relatedto a very large human family and an even larger created cosmos. Native peoplespeak of all of our relations to describe not only the human family, but...