09 July 2016

Sermon 24 January 2016 Luke 4:13-21 Epiphany III Year C


         In the Episcopal Church on the Sunday of the Annual Parish Meeting, the Rector, Vicar, or Priest-in-Charge some times uses his or her sermon to give a report on the state of the church. Included in that report is a recitation of facts. Things like average Sunday attendance for the previous year, pledges compared to previous years, special events of the past year, pastoral care given. You may have heard such things in the past, and you may hear them again in the future, but not today. Part of the reason is that information is available elsewhere in the Parish Parochial Report that each church sends to the Diocese and then to the National Episcopal Church. That document is available, once it is completed, for any parishioner to look at and ask questions. The other reason is I am during this interim time your spiritual leader. And odd though it may sound, I happen to believe spiritual leadership in the Christian Church is about preaching the Gospel.
         The other, and largest reason is that while facts can be important, they seldom tell the whole story of the church itself. Why? Because a church is much more than a building, or services held in that building, and how many times and how many people gather for which events.
         What might this have to do with our gathering today? The purpose of church governance, the job of the Vestry, is to set the vision of the church. We gather and then “call out” one another to the core purpose of the church. As you might imagine, a transitional or interim time is a time to rediscover our purpose.
The ways in which we have sustained Church of the Resurrection are no longer sustainable. We cannot continue to be a small club of people who enjoy one another.
We have also attempted to sustain ourselves with lots of projects and lots of busyness. It reminds me of a bumper strip I saw some time ago, “Jesus is coming. Look busy.” But a multiplicity of projects is no longer sustainable with the number of people we have here. We need to review our tendency to “major in the minor.”[1] Instead, we must focus our energy on passionate life-giving ministries that follow the Jesus way of service to others. We must look outward and continually ask the questions, how are our lives becoming living scripture for others?
The good news is all of you in your own unique ways are wonderful people who want to reach out to those in need. We want to reach out to those wanting to join a place to worship, to feel, and hear the Spirit moving.
We have a place and people who believe we have something so special others will want to join us. And that belief is right. What we have is special, palpable, and transferable outside these walls. What we will continue to learn during this transitional time is to forgive one another, to end blame seeking, and to rediscover the joy of sharing our faith with what we say with our mouths and what we do with our hands and hearts.
In Luke’s gospel, Jesus stood up to read in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. “The Spirit of the Lord God us upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[2]
Then Jesus sat down. Sitting down meant it was time for the sermon, or the interpretation of the scripture. Once he sat, he had only one sentence to say. “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”[3]
In the Christian Church these words of Jesus call us to become living scripture, to gather together and call one another to the core purpose of the church. These words of Jesus are words spoken then and now. They are words for us to hear and to heed. They are words of invitation and blessing. We are invited to do more than hear the good news. We are invited to become the good news. These are words for us to become as we rediscover the blessing of our purpose during this interim time at Resurrection.
So now, I would like you to join me in claiming our heritage as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, called to become the gospel for others. Please stand if you are able. Let us pray together the words Jesus spoke in the synagogue that remind us to gather and call one another to go from here and follow Jesus. Please repeat with me:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
We believe this. We will fulfill this together, with God’s help. AMEN.”
            

The Rev Nicolette Papanek
©2016




[1] The Rev Charles Morris, Ft Washington Collegiate Church, New York, NY.
[2] Luke 4:18-19 (NRSV)
[3] Luke 4:21b (NRSV)

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