3 Things Every New Rector Brings to a Church, Part 1

Every church has a new rector sooner or later. Some go through this transition more often than others. Regardless of how or why it happens, the coming of a new rector is an invitation. It’s an invitation, actually, primarily from God, to discover in a new way what God has called the church to be and what it is that they are called to become.

This is true because any rector worth their salt brings a new vision. A new rector brings a new understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus and an Episcopalian. A new rector brings an interest and a hope to discover not only what God has done here in the past but also an opportunity to be able to think together in the light of what God has done and what the Scriptures teach about what God is asking of this church now.

Fresh Beginning

In other words, this really is an opportunity for a kind of fresh beginning, built upon the very best of the past, and moving forward, in essence, in a new era, in a new step, that God would have for the life of his congregation. 

In other words, God has not called the new rector to maintain as much as God has called the new rector to create the opportunity for a fresh beginning. An opportunity to be able to discover in a holy way, what it means to be a follower of Jesus, what it means to be Christian, what it means to be parishioners in the Diocese of Central Florida (or wherever you worship). That’s the new vista that has in fact opened up. 

Common Vision

Both in the Old Testament lesson of Moses encountering God in the burning bush (Ex. 3:1-15) and in the Gospel reading (Matt. 16:21-29s) where Peter is, in fact, upbraided severely for having a very wrong idea of what Jesus was to do, we see God creating what we might today call a “reset.” 

For Moses, the reset involved first of all, his view of who God was. I don’t know what Moses knew about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You see, as you may recall, he was raised in Pharaoh’s household. And that means what he would have known is the adoration of the sun god and the panoply of heaven, exhibiting the extraordinary polytheism that was in Egypt at the time.

It would only have been after he got into the wilderness and began to hear new stories that he may not have heard before, about what made the new understanding about God actually what it was, not polytheistic, but one. In other words, the contrast could not have been greater, which is why you hear in the lesson, God speaking very specifically: “Who am I? I’m the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” In other words, “I am the God of your ancestors, and I’m calling you to do something for your people.”

Moses never expected that to be the case. And so what you see all through the exodus story, not just here, is that God in essence has to tutor us about who God is. And as a result, God is teaching us what actually is possible, what God can do in the life of an individual and what God’s plan was for the nation of Israel. 

Again, Moses had never heard these stories before. We don’t know, but what we see is God in essence creating for Moses a new understanding of who God was. And out of that, a new possibility for what God was calling Moses to do, and what was to happen in the people of Israel.

The same for Peter, you see, remember, if you look at the vision of what the Old Testament teaches, who is the man blessed by God? The one who lives to see his children’s children. One who enjoys prosperity and the fruit of the land. One who is spoken well of by his neighbors and his friends. Anything other than that brings questions about “‘Were you actually experiencing God’s favor?” if those things aren’t true for you. “Who sinned, Oh Lord, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2).  You see, if there were bad things happening, in the mindset of the day, that had everything to do with the idea that somehow God was against you. 

And yet, here is Jesus talking to his disciples, that what’s going to happen to him, Messiah, Son of God, is that he is in fact going to be arrested, crucified on a cross and rise again from the dead. Even though Jesus had spoken to this point once, it takes a while for it to sink in. And finally, when Peter grasps what Jesus is describing, he thinks, “It can’t be true.” There was no room in Peter to be able to understand that. 

So no wonder Jesus pivots. We have the sense that Peter is pleading with Jesus. Finally, Jesus turns, faces, Peter, and notice what he says—something we would consider shockingly unkind: “Get behind me, Satan,” he says. “You are a stumbling block to me, for you’re setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things” (Matt. 16:23).

In other words, Jesus is saying, in the strongest possible terms, that an understanding of God that does not line up with what we see in the life, death and resurrection and the teachings of Jesus is not from God at all. And any church must have a common understanding, a common vision, before it can truly move forward as the body of Christ.

In part 2 of this post, we’ll learn about the common love and the common mission each church must also share.

Do you believe God has given your church a common vision? Share this blog and your response on Twitter. Please include my username, @revgregbrewer. 

(This post is an adaption of Bishop Brewer’s sermon for Aug. 30, 2020, at St. David’s-by-the-Sea, Cocoa Beach.)

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.