THE Center

Romans 12:3-8

Over the last year I have worked as a volunteer at THE Center. It is a horseback riding place that helps children with disabilities ride the horses as a form of therapy. Most weeks I spend about two hours in the morning doing whatever needs to be done. When I first began I spent my hours cleaning water troughs, scrubbing the muck, and then filling them, or scooping up the manure from the pens. After a few weeks, I was allowed to help with a few students. I learned the ropes by jumping in and doing it. I worked with a child who has severe Cerebral Palsy. He is unable to truly control his body. His head slumps and he only has minimal movement in his arms and legs because he lacks the strength. So when he rides the horse, he requires a person on each side to help hold him up, and to keep him on the horse. He also requires another person to lead the horse as he cannot control the reigns, and then there is also an instructor who facilitates the class.

As the weeks went by, I began working with other students as well, one with autism, a few others with mild cerebral palsy, and still others whose disabilities were not visibly identifiable. With time, I learned how to attend to muscle spasms, temper tantrums, and difficulties with thought process. When I don’t understand something, I have to ask. And sometimes, when I make a mistake, I get a friendly reminder, or even reprimand, from one of the other volunteers. I didn’t take offense at the corrections because I was there to help—and if that meant I needed to change the way I did things, then that was okay. I was there to help, yes. But I was also there to learn, to become a better volunteer in the process, to grow as a volunteer and make myself more useful and more valuable to the students at the center.

There is only a limited hierarchy. There is the boss—Sonya, and then there are 3 instructors. If they say something, it’s the rule. But then there are a whole host of volunteers—anywhere from 8-20 on a Saturday ranging in age from 8 or 9 to 60+. There are some volunteers with more horse knowledge, and some with more knowledge about the various disabilities. Many of the more knowledgeable folks are the young kids. They have been around horses for years, or they have worked at the THE center for years, and they know what to do and how to do it. It is not unusual for me to receive orders or instructions from someone 1/3 my age! And then there are other days where it feels like the blind leading the blind. Those are the days I am in charge of those cleaning stalls, or am the most knowledgeable volunteer around.

By the spring I had become a regular part of the Saturday routine. I worked with certain kids each week. People knew my name and generally knew my abilities. They plugged me in where they could use me. I felt comfortable there. Not only was I able to do something worthwhile, but I loved what I was doing AND I became one of the volunteers the instructors requested. They needed me. I no longer spent time cleaning stalls or water troughs. They wanted my help with the more important tasks. They requested my help for classes and asked about my absences when I had been out for a week. Then, with the busyness of the Lenten and Easter seasons, I was unable to be there for almost 2 months. I had informed them I would be out, lamenting my necessary absences, and promised I would be back as soon as I could.

Upon my return in late May, I was somewhat surprised that I wasn’t as important as I thought I had become. Other volunteers were being used to do the things I had been doing. Other people held up the kids, helped teach them, or monitored their improvements as they rode. Sure, the folks at THE Center still remembered me. They even welcomed me back with enthusiasm and they even still knew my name. But it was back to the pastures for me. Cleaning water troughs and shoveling manure. I was slightly miffed that I had been so easy to replace. I mean, I was important. They needed me. They requested me specifically for certain chores, and then in my absence, they found other people to do the same task. Thinking about it, this isn’t terribly surprising. What else would one expect? The show must go on. The students had not stopped coming and they still had the same needs when they rode. So whether I was there or not was not the most important factor. Sure, my presence had been missed, they had to train others to do those jobs, but I was not irreplaceable. What a blow to the ego!

So now what in the world does this have to do with you? Or with church? Or with the Bible? How do horses relate to our spiritual journey? As I thought about this situation, I saw many parallels to the Christian journey within the church. When we begin in the church we start with the simple things—we greet people, we bring a meal to a potluck, we say a prayer, or sing together with everyone else. We, hopefully, do the things that everyone else does. We just get our feet wet. We do the things that can’t really be screwed up, but that need to be done nevertheless. Then as we learn more skills, we may become a liturgist, a Sunday school teacher, a small group leader, a program coordinator, a committee chair, or anyone of the other tasks there are to do in the church. Sometimes we will take instruction from those who, by looks alone, would not pass as our “superior” but who obviously know more than we do. Other times, we will be the blind leading the blind, we don’t know much about prayer or about a bible verse, but we offer what we do know with the hopes of encouraging the growth of the other person.

And over time, we get better. We are able to do things that are more difficult. They give us more responsibility and more freedom. Sometimes our mentors are those younger than we are. We learn from those around us. They teach us lessons, they correct us when we do something wrong. They teach us new techniques, they remind us of the proper way to do things. By in large we are equal across the board. And yes, sometimes that will mean the blind leading the blind. Someone with only moderately more experience will be the one to teach us. But as some sage once said, you only have to be one step ahead of someone to lead them. It may be a child or youth who has had more exposure to the Bible or who understands the liturgical practices of Sunday worship.

Everything goes along fine as long as we are present and we try and better ourselves. But both of these things are necessary. You can’t leave out one or the other. We have to be present in order to learn, in order to improve ourselves, and to see the example of others and learn from them. We have to come to church. And then once we are here, we have to put forth the effort. We have to be open to critique for the betterment of the kingdom. I can’t be offended if someone guides me or corrects me. I am here to serve God, and if someone else sees that I have made a mistake or that there is a better way to do something, they should tell me. Maybe they will be younger than I, or have less experience in the church, but if they see something awry, out of love and Christian friendship, they should tell me. I should go to volunteer trainings, which in the church are better named servant of God trainings. If I were to go to THE Center and sit and watch everyone else, but didn’t do any work—I’d hardly learn anything and I wouldn’t be of any use to them. I need to invest myself in the work. It is the same in the church. If I just sit in a pew, but don’t invest myself, I hardly learn anything and I’m of no use. Our presence is valuable when we are participating in the work of the community.

Clearly, we can’t all be the boss, or the instructors for that matter, but we can all do something. Maybe it’ll be something that doesn’t seem all that important—cleaning water troughs and raking manure are not the finest jobs. They aren’t the jobs that everyone wants to do. But they are so important—if we don’t clean and fill water troughs—the horses get sick or they die of thirst—and the work can’t go on. So, even the most simple is important, it’s necessary. Every bit of work counts. We are all necessary in fulfilling the will of God. But we also can’t come to see ourselves as irreplaceable, as I saw myself for THE center. Yes, we are important and necessary—but the work must also continue—and if we aren’t there, the church is going to find someone else to do the work. And, maybe, when we come back after a time, they’ll send us to clean water troughs or rake manure—we begin again with the simple things, but the work we’ll do counts, and with time, they will use us to teach, guide, and help in other ways.

The work of THE Center is constant. Every day there is something to do. They let me decide how often I go. They always need volunteers, so if I go every day, they put me to work every day, and if I only go once a month, they still put me to work. But if I only go every once in awhile, they can’t rely on me. They don’t know what I can do, and they can’t put me with a student because the students, for their disabilities, need something firm, they need consistency so that they can improve. So the more often I go, the more I can do. All this is so similar to the church. Here we let you decide how often you want to come. You can come every day-there is always work to be done, or you can come just once a month—there will still be work to be done. But if we only see you every once in awhile, we don’t know what you can do, and for many ministries, we need to know that you will be here consistently to get the job done. So the more often you come, the more things you will be able to do.

“3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5 so wee, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members of one another. 6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.”

I hope you take away two things from this sermon—1) that we shouldn’t think of ourselves as better than we are; and 2) that we are each a part of the body—the work that we do is very important and the harder we work, the more we will improve and be able to do. God has called us, and God has gifted us, so that we might begin the work and it is our responsibility to put forth the effort, to learn, to attend the trainings, to accept the advice of the wise, and to try and further the Kingdom of God. Amen.