The following was Rev. Angie’s charge to Rev. Paul Eknes-Tucker, the new pastor at our sister church Pilgrim UCC, on the occasion of his installation service Sunday, October 4th, 2015 in Birmingham, Alabama.

I charge you to love wastefully.

Cast seeds of love everywhere

Without thought of where they land,

Without worry about whether

Under the dark earth

They are beginning to sprout

Or whether they will bear fruit.

 

It is not your job to bring fruit from a seed,

That is God’s work.

 

Your work is to sow the seeds

Of wanton, prodigal love

In the hearts of your people

And to remember that

All people

are your people.

Your work is to love the unloveable,

To embrace the untouchable,

To open your doors

To the refugee and the immigrant,

To the felon and the sex worker,

The schizophrenic and the thief.

 

Your work is to love even those parts of yourself

That you don’t even want to face

So that you can love

Those parts of humanity

That none of us want to face.

 

I charge you to lead boldly.

Lead your people in the ways of Jesus. and

Follow your people

When you see them

Walking in the ways of Jesus,

And remember that all people

Are your people.

 

Lead as Jesus led;

By feeding the hungry,

Welcoming the outcast,

Loving those who are victims of evil

And even those who collaborate with evil,

Speaking and living the truth

As best you can know it.

 

Lead as a shepherd leads

From behind your flock,

And be willing to leave your flock untended

And to venture into danger and uncertainty

To find and bring back God’s lost sheep.

 

I charge you to learn continually.

Learn from the ruins and the monuments of your experience,

Learn from the sufferings and triumphs of your people,

And remember that all people

Are your people.

 

Listen to your dreams,

Listen to your people,

Listen to the groans of all of God’s creation,

Listen to your head and your heart and your gut,

 

Listen,

And watch,

And walk,

And feel;

Take it all in.

 

God is still speaking.

God has yet much more light to shine.

 

Never forget

That God walks with you

Through it all.

-Rev. Angie Wright, October 4, 2015