People of Hope:
More than Romeo & Juliet or Macbeth, I love Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130.
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
I love this sonnet because, though Shakespeare writes of his beloved, he acknowledges her imperfections. He does not try to elevate her flaws. He does not pretend or tell white lies. He sees her as she is and believes her — truly — beautiful.
I think of this sonnet when I consider the call process Esperanza has now entered. On Sunday, Sept. 10, we will elect a slate of call committee members. Once elected, the call committee will meet with our transition coach from the synod, Pastor Pat Reed, who will walk with the call committee through the process of gathering questions, interviewing pastoral candidates, and discerning candidates’ call — or not — to Esperanza.
Spoiler: No pastoral candidate will be perfect. Every candidate will have flaws and imperfections.
Of course, I know we all know this, but I suspect that we might still expect perfection. We might expect a candidate who instantly learns everyone’s names, is skilled at every pastoral task we think is important, and can read our minds — so that we don’t have to articulate what we need or raise any concerns in a healthy, assertive way. But the reality is that no pastor is perfect — just as no one is perfect. Fortunately, their lack of perfection will be no match for what God can do through them and in them.
When I was in the call process with Grace Lutheran Church, I had two phone and Skype interviews prior to actually flying to Phoenix for the in-person call committee interview, council interview, social events, and Sunday morning worship leadership. The reason for the extended interview process was that the call committee wasn’t sure if I was the right candidate. Maybe two years after I started at Grace, a member of the call committee came to my office to confess something. She said she needed my forgiveness.
“When we voted on whether or not to submit your name to the council to extend you the call, I voted no,” she said. “We had so many problems, and I thought you were too young to help us solve them.” I told her: “You were right!” I was young, and I only had four years of pastoral experience. But I was called by God to serve Grace Lutheran Church. And when a pastor is called by God to a community, God does things through them and in them that make it possible for them to do what is needed — even if, on the surface, they aren’t the candidate who makes the most sense.
As we begin discerning in earnest who God has called to serve as the next pastor of Esperanza, I invite you to pray. To open your hearts. To trust that God is calling someone to lead this community. To let go of preconceived ideas of who that person is. I myself have been in the spot where I am trying to discern who God is calling to serve in a role, and I have caught myself trying to hire back basically the same person who left the role. Ha! A new servant leader will bring new, different gifts, and if they are called by God to lead this community, they will be equipped by God to lead this community.
These days, I meditate on Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 as I consider who God may be calling to serve Esperanza, and I pray for this community that we would be open to the darkhorse candidate who may be exactly the person God has called and equipped to lead Esperanza into the future God has for us.
With anticipation,
Pastor Sarah