Labor of Love - Sermon Transcript

A sermon preached by Rev. Monica Frazier at First UMC, Dallas on September 1, 2024

Friends, I am Monica Frazier, the Associate Pastor for Congregational Care and Adult Ministries here at First United Methodist Church of Dallas. Today marks two months on the job for me; I started on July 1st. It has been such a gift to be here in this place that I've been watching from afar for a long time. I've had a bit of a bird's eye view over the United Methodist churches in this area because before becoming appointed in my first clergy role here at the church, I served on the staff of the North Texas Conference. We support United Methodist churches all across North Texas, so I received email newsletters from churches all over. I traveled around North Texas in churches - faraway places like Bogota, Honeygrove, and towns you've never heard of, as well as urban churches like this one - to tell stories of what God was doing through these wonderful churches. I've seen churches large and small and watched them move through different seasons.

I've had my eye on FirstChurch for a while because you have a rich and vibrant history and a reputation for leaning into your connection to the Dallas Arts District, celebrating all things that bring beauty into our world through art and music. This church is also really known for standing up for what's right, for justice, and promoting the common good, whether that's full inclusion for all people or shining a light on the epidemic of gun violence with the display on the corner of Ross and Harwood right now that hundreds of downtown folks are seeing every day. You have this experience of being a witness in the world, and I think God's positioned this church to be a change agent in the city of Dallas and in the broader United Methodist Church.

Maybe this church might even help us reclaim a bit of what it means to be Christian in America right now. Given our political landscape and all the needs in our world, it's become clear to me that there's endless capacity for the church to be a part of our lives. That's something that God's been working so hard to do, and this church is fertile ground for that. You have a legacy of multiple generations, all growing and serving together. In fact, last week, I got a little tour of the archives with Kelvin Myers, and if you haven't been down there yet, you should check it out. It's some amazing stuff that tells our history. Even when you did a groundbreaking, it was the oldest and youngest members with shovels in their hands. You have lived this multi-generational life for a long time.

Now, you have, in this moment, an energized and talented group of leaders who are stepping into new roles and helping map out a path forward for where we go from here. Our mission, vision, and strategy team has done some incredible work. They built on what y'all have already surfaced for who you are and then helped lay out who we want to be and helped us cast a vision for where God's leading us to go next. Then we wrapped up a powerful sermon series called “This Is Us,” where we looked at our new mission statement, and I hope you were as inspired as I was. Pastor Anthony and Pastor Mitchell did a great job unpacking this idea of what our mission is. If you haven't yet, watch the sermons on YouTube - a little plug for the media team there.

We're living into a mission that says, “Our call is to magnify God's love for all people by creating space for belonging, purpose, justice, and joy.” As I prayed about what God might say to us today and how we're called to live into that mission, now that we have this clearly articulated “what,” next comes the “how.” We need to put this kernel of truth about who we are into the fertile soil of this ground and nurture its growth. I started thinking about our shared work since it's Labor Day weekend. It's timely. Today, as we consider our shared work and how we put this mission and vision into action, God led me to this scripture from Paul's letter to the Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 3:6-9 (NRSVUE)

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and each will receive wages according to their own labor. For we are God’s coworkers, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

I am solidly Generation X. I know everybody thinks I'm way younger than I am, and I love that. I do no skincare, so it drives my wife crazy. Generation X, we are the original latchkey kids. We ran the streets, and we drank out of garden hoses, the whole thing. You can even buy a sweatshirt in the TikTok shop that says, “Generation X, raised on hose water and neglect.” I don't know if I ever felt neglected, but we were certainly a fiercely independent lot. We didn't know any other way to be. We are the reason that there was a PSA on TV at night in the 80s - “It's 10 p.m. Do you know where your children are?”

Independent has always been our MO. That's been what we are about in Gen X. Yet, I realize that no one is truly independent. We live interconnected lives, and my work is shared work. I tend to hold up my accomplishments or achievements and everything I've had the opportunity to do in life, all the fruits of my labor, and I often say, “I did that. I accomplished that.” While I won't usually say this part out loud, I like being thanked and acknowledged for what I do. I'm a two on the Enneagram, so being thanked is a thing we like. To point to something and say, “I accomplished that, I created that, I made that happen,” and be recognized for that - who doesn't love that? Now, hear me say this. I don't think there's anything wrong with taking pride in our work, taking pride in our family, and recognizing that we've contributed something good and holy to this world. But sometimes I forget that I didn't do this all by myself. I often get to reap the fruits of other people's labor, and my pride fools me into taking all the credit.

Folks always ask me why I wear this Tree of Life necklace. I usually say something poetic about how there's a Tree of Life in the book of Genesis, which is the first book of the Bible, and a Tree of Life in Revelations, which is the last book of the Bible, so the whole story of Scripture from beginning to end is a story of God's never-ending grace that flows from the Tree of Life, and how it's a great metaphor for our faith and blah, blah, blah. That's all true. But if I'm honest, I wear this because of this Scripture we read today. I constantly need reminders that I'm not solely responsible for the fruits of my labor, the fruits that I'm harvesting today. I can't define myself solely by what I produce. In a culture that tells us all too often, “You are what you produce,” this reminds me I'm not just what I produce. This tree reminds me that the seeds that I plant today, here in this place, will likely be harvested by someone else who comes after me, that I have a role to play as a coworker in God's garden, but God is the one who gives the growth. There will be a season for the next person to plant, water, and harvest.

This text exemplifies this tension for us. Paul says it's not about him or Apollos - it's all God's work. What we know about the church in question is that in Corinth - this vibrant, mercantile city in Greece - Paul set up the Christian community and stayed with them for about three years, then set sail to spread the gospel in another place. In the intervening years since then, some conflicts seem to have emerged. Can you imagine conflict in the church? Someone wrote to him as their father in faith and said, “Here's what's happening. What should we do?” What we now know as this book of the Bible was his response. We call this First Corinthians, but we think an earlier letter was lost to history.

We can deduce from this letter that there's some tension in the community, maybe a bit of jealousy, superiority, and maybe some feuding among the followers of Jesus. The Corinthians have divided themselves up into camps. Earlier in verse four, Paul calls them out for it, saying, “You say I belong to Paul, or I belong to Apollos.” He's saying, “Listen, y'all, we're all just God's servants, and you're putting your eggs in the wrong basket. You're putting your energy in the wrong place.” Down throughout the history of Christianity, we still wrestle with this problem. People start to set up camps, and instead of working together for the common good, we turn inward, and we put all our time, attention, and money into the things that we care about, and that alone. It's natural for us to set up silos and stay in our circles.

Today, God invites us to expand our thinking, get beyond our camps, and realize that at the end of the day, all that grows under our care is God's doing, and we are all in this together. Paul passed the baton to Apollos and others who continued to grow the Christian faith in that place. After Apollos, others came after him and used their own unique gifts to continue the work. We are a living testament that those batons passed from generation to generation were effective. These coworkers in the gospel did what was theirs to do and then passed the work on to others - that connection of generation to generation matters.

I read this great thing this past week about how this dynamic appears in nature. Ecosystems are almost always a patchwork of communities that exist at different successional stages, and along the edges of each of the patches are areas called ecotones. These areas are transitions, like where a forest meets a meadow, marsh, or swampland or where grasslands transition to desert. At times, these areas have a higher density of species than the surrounding areas, and some species unique to that ecotone aren't in either of the other areas. Ecologists call this the edge effect between these ecological communities that are particularly fertile and life-giving. They speak of the pregnancy of edges. Sometimes, you have to fact-check these things. You read something in a preaching commentary or a theology book and think, “Well, is that a goofy example somebody came up with or embellished, or is this real?” I texted my niece, who is a junior studying environmental science at UNT, and she said that's all true.

An ecotone - this meeting place between the zones - is fertile ground. The baton pass is vital, and this is where something powerful happens. The meeting place of successive generations is rich with possibility and new life, so wherever you find yourself in the ecosystem of our church, in the patchwork of communities in your neighborhood, or the baton passes in your work life, consider what God is asking you to pay attention to right now. Where is there promise and hope of new life springing forth? Pay attention and ask yourself what's yours to do. What is God calling you to plant, water, or harvest right now?

It's at the meeting point of two generations where this magic happens. A few weeks ago, Zone56 and Double-Aires had a joint Sunday school class, and it came about because Sam Barlow, who is with Double-Aires, and Brady McQueenie, our staff member who leads our ministry with fifth and sixth graders, started talking. As they formed a connection, they created space to connect across generations. So, we had a room filled with retirees and preteens eating donuts together and sharing life. How amazing is that? I'm hearing that Class Etc. wants in on the action, so I think our fifth and sixth graders might have a road show soon.

Like the ecotones, we may find new life and growth we haven't imagined when we come together across the generations. We're going to celebrate these connections and build on them. Our invitation this week is to live with eyes open to where God might be asking us to live more fully into our place in that interconnected chain from one generation to the next as we create space for belonging, purpose, justice, and joy. First United Methodist Church of Dallas has a firm foundation of faith and a prophetic witness in the city of Dallas, and I'm honored to be a part of it. We're coming up on 100 years in this building in 2026, and I can't wait to see what God will do in the next 100 years. Your energy and vision for our future inspire me and so many in the city. This work that we'll do is work we'll continue to do together. More and more people are finding their way here as new folks are hungry for belonging and ready to put roots down here. Each of you has a role in helping them find that fertile soil to grow.

As we look forward to creating space for those whose spiritual home is not in traditional worship and we plan for a soft launch of modern worship this fall, we want to create space for new people who haven't found us yet so they can find their spiritual home and worship here just as you have in this traditional space. As we prepare for that new day, we will cultivate rich soil for our community to grow. Instead of digging in our heels like the camps in our culture, we will dig into the shared soil of God's grace as we plant seeds that will grow to be more than we can ask or imagine. This is our shared work - cultivating space - and we need one another to do it well.

God has work for you to do in this great collaborative project to build the kind of church and world we hope for, to bring it closer to the kingdom of justice and peace that Jesus proclaimed. If you haven't found a place to plug in, please let us know how we can help. I'd love to have coffee or lunch and have that conversation. If you've been serving in one area of the church for a while and are ready for a change, Pastor Anthony would love to talk about a hat you would rather wear and how you can dig in. This is not just about you surviving but thriving, just as it's about the fertile soil and conditions for the growth of a thriving church. Thriving churches are built by thriving believers, so how can you not just survive but thrive? What nourishment do you need right now for that to be true for you? I'd love for us to have that conversation. If you're not seeing the growth in your life that you hoped for, maybe this is an opportunity to look at that and think, what will help you grow? Maybe it's time to begin a therapy journey or step into a recovery group. Maybe the Breathing Underwater book study that starts later this month is for you. Maybe you need to ask someone else to help you find nourishment to help you continue growing. This is a season for leaning on one another, for bearing witness in a divided world that we're indeed in this together. When we grow, we grow together.

In congregational care, we have these amazing teams of lay folks that help support our CC Young ministry and visiting ministry, our extended table - who will bring communion from this table this morning to those unable to gather with us - and our prayer team and card writing team. There's so much great work going on in congregational care. I'm also deeply aware of the need to support kids who are going through difficult adjustments at school, of the call to grieve with couples who are dealing with the heartbreak of infertility, and our commitment to this sandwich generation who are raising their kids while also dealing with aging parents. It's safe to say there are a lot of opportunities to extend Christ's love and care to our community and beyond. If you see a need, I want to hear about it. In this season of life, you might need to be the one receiving care. In another season of life, you'll be the one able to offer care. We have an opportunity in our culture to lead the way in showing an alternative to the culture that says, “Stuff it down, get over it, move on,” that we should just move through life as if nothing's wrong, as independently as possible, like Gen Xers.

We are an interdependent community of faith, and that's a witness to the world. We're called by God to water what others have planted and to plant seeds for the next generation to enjoy. We are co-creators with God, who brings all of it to life. We can lead the way by starting conversations with curiosity about one another. Let's spend more time where the generations meet, asking more questions and leading with curiosity. To our youth, take a deep breath and dig deep for some patience when we ask you how to do something on our phones or what a “glizzy” is. We're going to have a lot of questions, and I want y'all to be able to help us with all those things. I want you to help us understand more about what makes your generation tick so we can support you as you raise your voice to make positive changes in the world.

Our actions do matter. The way we approach our shared work matters. Our church and our world need each of you to do what's yours to do, just as I need to do what's mine to do. Each of us can do one small thing and play some small part in reshaping the world. Your gifts will find fertile soil when you share them. We must scatter seeds from open hands and open hearts. So, ask yourself what you might be called to do this season.

My wife Lolly and I are big Olympics fans, and I love the relay particularly. Whether in the pool or on the track, I love relay races. As I've been thinking about these words from Paul, I find it amazing how this church has been building on your shared work from generation to generation. When you think about a relay, if you'll notice, the second runner starts running before the first runner gets to her. They step in perfection - perfect sync, stride for stride - as the first runner reaches forward, the second runner reaches back, and there's the baton pass, this moment of connection. There's something magic that happens in that moment, to be sure. Those moments of connection on the track and in our lives matter. God's at work in that meeting place whenever we fall into step with one another and with the God who has called us to run our race with perseverance.

One of the great little profiles I saw during the Olympics was about Faith Kipyegon. She's a runner from Kenya and lives and trains at an Olympic village five days a week. A sign in the village said, “A community is a group of people who agree to grow together.” In a garden (if you don't have a black thumb like mine), you might be able to companion plant. Companion planting involves choosing two different plants to share the same soil and benefit from being in the same space. What does companion planting look like for us? It looks like your gifts and passions - you nurturing what you've been called to plant and me nurturing what I've been called to plant. These plants grow harmoniously and not at odds with one another. I can't let my Gen Xer pride turn this into a scarcity zero-sum game. We can share this soil we're planted in, this sun, this water, this sustenance. There is enough water for all of us. God is growing something beautiful through our shared work.

As we said in our affirmation of faith this morning, we believe in God who has created and is creating. God's work is not done, and neither is ours as co-creators. Now, as we come to this table to celebrate communion, we consider the seeds that were scattered, sown, harvested, and gathered into one loaf and the grapes gathered from the vine into one cup. Just as we come from all walks of life, we're gathered into one body of believers who share in this one loaf and this one cup of saving grace. May this meal remind us that we plant the seeds that others will water and harvest fruits others have grown before us. As we continue our shared work, God is at work in all of it. God is at work in and through us as we create the world we want to pass on to our children and grandchildren. Let's gather now around this table where there's truly room for all. Amen.