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
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