Proper 19B

September 13, 2009
The Rev. Susan J. Latimer

God has a wonderful way of reminding us that we are all connected.

This past week I was re-connected with a colleague whom I met a year ago April. We met that April in Colorado at a congregational development workshop, and we were both in a time of transition. Chris was about to leave his parish work in the Diocese of Colorado, where he ministered in a parish that was made up of mostly immigrant people.

He had just been called to the ministry of overseeing the Jubilee ministries for the entire Episcopal Church, and was about to move to New York.

I had just interviewed here at St. John’s and was waiting to see what would come of our discernment. A month later I would receive the call to be your Rector.

Chris travelled to West Virginia this week to visit some of the Jubilee ministries in West Virginia and take part in the Mountain Grace Conference this weekend. Thursday he visited Manna Meal at St. John’s. Some of you remember that St. John’s was designated a Jubilee Center in 1985, for the partnership with Manna Meal and Covenant House.

Since it has been almost 25 years since St. John’s became a Jubilee Center, it may be helpful for us to remember just what that designation represents. But first I will turn to the Gospel. I will come back to this crucial part of our identity and mission.

Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers,
let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
For those who want to save their life will lose it,
and those who lose their life for my sake….will save it”.

Here is perhaps the greatest paradox of our faith.

We must deny ourselves in order to find our true selves, the selves that God intends us to become.

We must lose our life in order to save it.

What in the world does this mean?

We cannot talk about our life of faith without talking about the cost of discipleship. Life with, and in, God’s love promises us the greatest gifts of all – joy, peace, community, support in adversity, and a sense of living a meaningful life. But this does not come without a cost.

God makes claims upon us – Christ makes claims upon us – The Gospel makes claims upon us – as individuals, and as members of this particular congregation, St. John’s.

I want to explore with you some ways that this Gospel paradox can and has been lived out, enfleshed, incarnated, in this congregation.

In the 1970’s, St. John’s opened its doors to the community and started the feeding ministry which would become Manna Meal. Some of you were here then, and you know that the beginnings of this ministry were not without cost. You had to give up the comfort of the known for the unknown.

You had to give up a sense of safety and security and comfort in order to welcome the poorest of the poor within these walls. Suddenly, things were different in the building. The carpets were soiled. Things were stolen from the church. You were forced to encounter the “other” in the flesh – some people who did not bathe regularly, who were mentally ill, who were active addicts.

Even more importantly, you were, perhaps, forced to look at the poor in a different way – not as abstractions or issues, but as people. You saw that some of these folks were very much like you, and that only by accident of birth and circumstance were they in abject poverty.

You began to know some of them by name, and to think about them, worry about them, pray for them. You began to know that you were connected to them in a very powerful way.

This, according to my friend Chris, is the essence of Jubilee ministry – that we walk alongside the poor in their struggles, because God would have us do so. When we walk alongside the poor, we learn that we can never solve all of their problems – that we cannot solve things by money alone. When we walk alongside the poor we learn that what is really needed is for us to be with them in their suffering, to help them with basic human needs, to advocate for justice, and allow ourselves to be transformed by God in the process.

And so 30 some years ago, the doors were opened, the poor welcomed, and the Gospel began to be lived out here at St. John’s in a new way - despite the difficulties, despite the cost.

Some number of parishioners were unable or unwilling to live through these changes, and they left for other places of worship.

“ For those who want to save their life will lose it,
and those who lose their life for my sake….will save it”.

These thirty some years later, God is still calling us to sacrifice. God still has claims upon us, as individuals, and as a congregation.

God calls us to a life of sacrificial giving.

It is not easy, but it is the doorway into abundant life with God.

As your Rector, I offer now what I discern to be God’s call to this congregation, at this point in our history.

St. John’s is unique in our Diocese. We are the most (openly) diverse in matters of human sexuality, the most welcoming parish for lgbt folks.

We have one of the largest buildings, and we house the largest feeding program. There is no official cathedral in the Diocese, but I like to think of St. John’s as the best of what a cathedral can be:

• a place of open doors, vibrant worship, and a superb choir
• a spiritual home for all people
• a hub of community life – a place where people of all ages are nurtured and challenged and formed for ministry in Christ’s name.

We have the opportunity to be a witness to the Diocese and the National Church – to show that an Episcopal parish which emphasizes inclusion and social justice can grow and thrive, even in this economy. We have the opportunity to show that a vibrant children and youth program can exist alongside offerings for singles and those without children, alongside a welcoming parish for lgbt folks, and the largest feeding program in the Diocese.

All of this, however, is not possible without a move toward sacrificial giving on the part of many, if not most, of the Saints of John.

In order to move forward into the future into which God calls us, we need significantly more resources – more money – more volunteers - more people who are willing to answer God’s call for sacrificial giving.

Our pledging this year simply does not support our ministry needs.

“If any want to become my followers,
let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me …”

Wendy Wright, in her book Sacred Dwelling, A Spirituality of Family Life, speaks to the practice of radical simplicity to which Christians are called:

When we are inordinately in love with our possessions, we become blind to loving God. When our time is consumed in getting more things, we have no time for others. When we are so attached to what we have that we are given over to protecting it and maintaining it, we lose both the freedom to serve where there is need and the vision to see beyond our own possessiveness. (125 ).

In other words, when we focus on holding on tightly to ourselves, to our money, to our possessions - holding on with clenched fists, we will remain slaves to that money and those possessions.

If, however, we find a way to give generously, even sacrificially, we can find ourselves freed from all that binds us, freed to live the abundant life that God is always calling us into.

There is a cost to discipleship. I have shared with you what I discern that cost to be for us as individuals and families who make up this congregation, at this time in our life together. Ultimately, however, the decision is between you and God.

Only you can know what God may be calling you to sacrifice.

You alone have the responsibility to answer that call.

But as God continually reminds us that we are all connected, so our individual choices will have an impact on the future ministry of this parish.