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Lay Preachers at St. Paul's
The Rev. Dr. Tim Vivian
Priest-in-Charge, St. Paul's Bakersfield
"Hi, my name is Stef and I am an alcoholic and an addict." Stef Donev, a long-time parishioner and Lay Eucharistic Minister, had begun his sermon on January 24th to mark January's Recovery Sunday.
"Hi, Stef!" the congregation roared back.
Thus began a not-atypical sermon and an often-typical Sunday at St. Paul's Bakersfield.
A good example of a necessity becoming not only a virtue, but also a sign of inclusivity and, yes, a billboard for evangelism and pedagogue for fostering spirituality.
Most in this Diocese know that Grace Episcopal (now St. Paul's) began from scratch in 2007 with twelve disciples (probably, at this distance, an apocryphal number, but one that's loaded with meaning!); we eventually moved from being a house church into the chapel of First Congregational Church, where we became "Church in a Box," since initially we had to bring and take away everything with us. After a lawsuit settled we moved to St. Paul's July 1st, 2013.
As a growing parish (now 200 members) with one, then two, part-time clergy, at Grace we quickly realized that democratization rather than hierarchy was not only a necessity but meshed perfectly with Grace/St. Paul's vision and modeling of inclusivity.
Thus in 2008, taking the words of St. Paul as our banner-"Now to each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. . . . All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and God gives them to each person" (1 Corinthians 12:7-12)-we started "Pentecost Preachers": one Sunday a month during the l-o-n-g season of greeny Pentecost, a lay person, using the Lectionary, would preach.
The response was overwhelmingly positive.
This year, with the departure of the Revs. Dr. Anne Benvenuti, Deacon Steve Karcher, Dr. Vern Hill, and Deb DeBoer, and with a part-time priest and occasional supply help from The Rev. Cindy Voien in Los Angeles, the very stained glass of St. Paul's cries out all the more for good lay preaching.
So, 10 lay preachers in 2016 are scheduled to preach 13 sermons.
Whether it's hearing a different perspective, seeing the unexpected in the pulpit, or just rejoicing over a Sunday without having to listen to clergy, the parishioners of St. Paul's continue to enthusiastically support our lay preachers and preaching, now seven years on.
Perhaps when one of them preaches, instead of flowers we should liturgically place in front of the pulpit a table with lemons and a nice big pitcher of lemonade to remind us, well, of all sorts of things.
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