January 30, 2011
Annual Meeting
1 Corinthians 1.18-31; Matthew 5.1-12
+ Someone in this church this morning was accused recently of the grievous sin of hubris. Now for those of you who might not be able to pinpoint an exact definition of hubris, let me share with you this definition: According to the World English Dictionary, hubris is defined as:
1. pride or arrogance
2. (in Greek tragedy) an excess of ambition, pride, etc, ultimately causing the transgressor's ruin
It comes from the Greek word hybris which means "wanton violence, insolence, outrage," originally "presumption toward the gods."
Now, with that definition in mind, it might not come as any surprise to you that the person who was accused of hubris was, of course, yours truly. A parishioner at another Episcopal congregation in this town accused me of it after I posted some comments recently extolling the growth and the renewal going on here at St. Stephen’s For some reason, those same comments caused me to be singled out in another way. For some reason—in all honesty and seriousness, it is completely beyond me how it even came about—those same comments caused people in that congregation to believe that I was somehow “campaigning” to be the next Dean of the Cathedral. In fact, I heard, it was even brought up at their most recent Chapter meeting.
As flattered as I probably should be that people think I’m so ambitious, self-assured and upwardly mobile—so full of hubris—when I was informed of that accusation, I wasted no time in writing and sending a response to the Chapter members of the Cathedral. My response was this, verbatim:
“I assure everyone that…I do not, under any circumstances, have any intention of even being considered as the next Dean of the Cathedral…”
I then added:
“I would further like to assure every one that I am very content at St. Stephen’s and am very pleased with the ministry they—and I—are doing there…”
And, I am.
Today, of course, is our Annual Meeting. And my sermon on Annual Meeting Sunday is a sort “State of the Union” address. I think it is particularly appropriate that we also hear Paul this morning. No doubt some people accused Paul once or twice of hubris.
This morning, Paul quotes the prophet Jeremiah. Paul’s quote, that we heard today, is, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” The actual quote from Jeremiah is this,
“…let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord; I act with steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I take delight, says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9.24).
Boasting for us, as good North Dakotans for the most part, is not something we like to do. Boasting for us means being prideful. But, certainly armed with these scriptures, holding them close, we realize we can boast. We can boast, because we are not boasting in ourselves. We are not boasting because we think we did any of these, nor that we are better than anyone else. We boast because God has done these things. We boast because we know that God does act with steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth and we boast because we are simply trying be the conduits through which God can continue to act in such a way. We boast in the fact that the work God has called us to do here at St. Stephen’s is the work of steadfast love, justice and righteousness. We boast because we are able to recognize the blessings of God in our midst.
In addition to all that I added in the annual report—for some reason, my statistics for the last four years didn’t make it into the report—we rejoice. And in those statistics, we see the blessing.
And as we rejoice in these "in house blessings” we rejoice too in ministries we do beyond these walls, as we strive to be conduits of God’s steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the community. We rejoice when we find ourselves added as a welcoming congregation on the FM Pride website. This of course ties in perfectly to our very proud designation as an Integrity partner congregation and in our identity as a welcome and loving place for all Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered people. We are now the only Episcopal congregation in Fargo who is designated as such and who proudly and unashamedly do so. And, from the comments I have heard and from the inquiries I have received, people are responding.
As the wider Anglican Communion rages over the issue of full-inclusion of GLBT people, as young gay people suffer all around the world, the like Ugandan Gay rights activist David Kato Kisule, who was brutally murdered this past week in Uganda, we here at St. Stephen’s are a place of peace and solace in the midst of that raging storm.
And certainly peace and justice also are our rallying cries. As more and more of us become members of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, as our own Peace Pole in the churchyard proclaims to all, we are committed to the peace of Christ, in ourselves and toward each other.
“Blessed are the peacemakers,” Jesus tells us today in our Gospel reading, “for they will be called children of God.”
And we reach out.
In addition to helping out locally with the Salvation Army and Churches United for the Homeless, we are also helping young African students in the East African Missions or in helping provide medical care to Guatemala. We are at St. Stephen’s are reaching far beyond our seemingly small boundaries here on this quiet street in the north part of Fargo.
And we continue to be a place of spiritual renewal. Twice a week, we gather to celebrate the Eucharist—that unifying action in which we celebrate and share the Body and Blood of Jesus. We also gather regularly, either individually or collectively, during the week for prayer. And others too are drawn to us for the spiritual benefits they receive here. Whether it be Sunday morning Mass, the Wednesday night Mass or the labyrinth or any of the other spiritual opportunities we supply here, people are encountering God here at St. Stephen’s And God is drawing people here for that encounter.
This seemingly little congregation in north Fargo continues to be a force to be reckoned with—in our city, in our Diocese, in our country and in the world.
But like any State of the Union address, I have to say this as well. We do still have much more to do. We have not even begun to exhaust the resources we have here in this congregation. There is still much potential. There are still many opportunities for growth here. We still have much ministry to do.
And God is calling us. God is pushing us. God is moving us to proclaim the Good News of Jesus and to further the Kingdom of God in our very midst.
It is a great time to be here at St. Stephen’s. As you have heard me say many, many times, things are “popping.” And this outpouring of the Holy Spirit’s love and grace in our congregation should be bringing smiles to our faces and joy to our hearts.
But it should also be bringing a jolt of energy to our feet and hands. It is not the time to sit back complacently and revel in these blessings. It is time to share them. It is time to get up and make sure those channels of the Spirit of Jesus into our midst remain open and flowing. It is time to make sure that the flow of the Holy Spirit’s life and love through the conduit of this congregation to others remains unhindered and free. We proclaim things not because we are bragging. We are not rejoicing in the failure of any one else or any other congregation.
I personally am grieved deeply over the problems other congregations are dealing with at this moment and my heart goes out to them. And in my joking about the accusation of hubris, I do not mean to make light of the serious situations elsewhere. I share these things only because I celebrate them. I share these things because it long past due for us at St. Stephen’s to rejoice and celebrate in all that is happening here.
We, on this Annual Meeting Sunday, should be celebrating. We should be boasting, in the proper way of boasting, in all that we are doing for God. And we should be boasting in all that God is doing for us here at St. Stephen’s.
Despite the somewhat arrogant attitude people elsewhere seem to think I have, despite the pompous character others think I carry about within me, I certainly can not claim the credit for the successes, the renewal and the growth here at St. Stephen’s. The successes here at St. Stephen’s are not a result of anything any one single person here is doing. The successes here at St. Stephen’s are a result of we all are doing together.
We are all working hard. We are all stepping up to the plate and making this place a place of holiness, of renewal, of radical hospitality to those who needs radical hospitality. We together are making this a place in which God’s presence and love can dwell and from which it can emanate.
So, my fellow ministers here at St. Stephen’s, let us rejoice. Let us celebrate. And let us together give thanks to God who is present among us this morning. Let us give to thanks God, who has come to us as a Spirit of steadfast love. Let us rejoice in the God who is present with us in Jesus, whose Body and Blood we will share at this altar. And let us celebrate the God who is present in us as a Holy People, blessed and renewed and commissioned to go out to share this blessing and renewal.
+ Someone in this church this morning was accused recently of the grievous sin of hubris. Now for those of you who might not be able to pinpoint an exact definition of hubris, let me share with you this definition: According to the World English Dictionary, hubris is defined as:
1. pride or arrogance
2. (in Greek tragedy) an excess of ambition, pride, etc, ultimately causing the transgressor's ruin
It comes from the Greek word hybris which means "wanton violence, insolence, outrage," originally "presumption toward the gods."
Now, with that definition in mind, it might not come as any surprise to you that the person who was accused of hubris was, of course, yours truly. A parishioner at another Episcopal congregation in this town accused me of it after I posted some comments recently extolling the growth and the renewal going on here at St. Stephen’s For some reason, those same comments caused me to be singled out in another way. For some reason—in all honesty and seriousness, it is completely beyond me how it even came about—those same comments caused people in that congregation to believe that I was somehow “campaigning” to be the next Dean of the Cathedral. In fact, I heard, it was even brought up at their most recent Chapter meeting.
As flattered as I probably should be that people think I’m so ambitious, self-assured and upwardly mobile—so full of hubris—when I was informed of that accusation, I wasted no time in writing and sending a response to the Chapter members of the Cathedral. My response was this, verbatim:
“I assure everyone that…I do not, under any circumstances, have any intention of even being considered as the next Dean of the Cathedral…”
I then added:
“I would further like to assure every one that I am very content at St. Stephen’s and am very pleased with the ministry they—and I—are doing there…”
And, I am.
Today, of course, is our Annual Meeting. And my sermon on Annual Meeting Sunday is a sort “State of the Union” address. I think it is particularly appropriate that we also hear Paul this morning. No doubt some people accused Paul once or twice of hubris.
This morning, Paul quotes the prophet Jeremiah. Paul’s quote, that we heard today, is, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” The actual quote from Jeremiah is this,
“…let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord; I act with steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I take delight, says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9.24).
Boasting for us, as good North Dakotans for the most part, is not something we like to do. Boasting for us means being prideful. But, certainly armed with these scriptures, holding them close, we realize we can boast. We can boast, because we are not boasting in ourselves. We are not boasting because we think we did any of these, nor that we are better than anyone else. We boast because God has done these things. We boast because we know that God does act with steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth and we boast because we are simply trying be the conduits through which God can continue to act in such a way. We boast in the fact that the work God has called us to do here at St. Stephen’s is the work of steadfast love, justice and righteousness. We boast because we are able to recognize the blessings of God in our midst.
In addition to all that I added in the annual report—for some reason, my statistics for the last four years didn’t make it into the report—we rejoice. And in those statistics, we see the blessing.
And as we rejoice in these "in house blessings” we rejoice too in ministries we do beyond these walls, as we strive to be conduits of God’s steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the community. We rejoice when we find ourselves added as a welcoming congregation on the FM Pride website. This of course ties in perfectly to our very proud designation as an Integrity partner congregation and in our identity as a welcome and loving place for all Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered people. We are now the only Episcopal congregation in Fargo who is designated as such and who proudly and unashamedly do so. And, from the comments I have heard and from the inquiries I have received, people are responding.
As the wider Anglican Communion rages over the issue of full-inclusion of GLBT people, as young gay people suffer all around the world, the like Ugandan Gay rights activist David Kato Kisule, who was brutally murdered this past week in Uganda, we here at St. Stephen’s are a place of peace and solace in the midst of that raging storm.
And certainly peace and justice also are our rallying cries. As more and more of us become members of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, as our own Peace Pole in the churchyard proclaims to all, we are committed to the peace of Christ, in ourselves and toward each other.
“Blessed are the peacemakers,” Jesus tells us today in our Gospel reading, “for they will be called children of God.”
And we reach out.
In addition to helping out locally with the Salvation Army and Churches United for the Homeless, we are also helping young African students in the East African Missions or in helping provide medical care to Guatemala. We are at St. Stephen’s are reaching far beyond our seemingly small boundaries here on this quiet street in the north part of Fargo.
And we continue to be a place of spiritual renewal. Twice a week, we gather to celebrate the Eucharist—that unifying action in which we celebrate and share the Body and Blood of Jesus. We also gather regularly, either individually or collectively, during the week for prayer. And others too are drawn to us for the spiritual benefits they receive here. Whether it be Sunday morning Mass, the Wednesday night Mass or the labyrinth or any of the other spiritual opportunities we supply here, people are encountering God here at St. Stephen’s And God is drawing people here for that encounter.
This seemingly little congregation in north Fargo continues to be a force to be reckoned with—in our city, in our Diocese, in our country and in the world.
But like any State of the Union address, I have to say this as well. We do still have much more to do. We have not even begun to exhaust the resources we have here in this congregation. There is still much potential. There are still many opportunities for growth here. We still have much ministry to do.
And God is calling us. God is pushing us. God is moving us to proclaim the Good News of Jesus and to further the Kingdom of God in our very midst.
It is a great time to be here at St. Stephen’s. As you have heard me say many, many times, things are “popping.” And this outpouring of the Holy Spirit’s love and grace in our congregation should be bringing smiles to our faces and joy to our hearts.
But it should also be bringing a jolt of energy to our feet and hands. It is not the time to sit back complacently and revel in these blessings. It is time to share them. It is time to get up and make sure those channels of the Spirit of Jesus into our midst remain open and flowing. It is time to make sure that the flow of the Holy Spirit’s life and love through the conduit of this congregation to others remains unhindered and free. We proclaim things not because we are bragging. We are not rejoicing in the failure of any one else or any other congregation.
I personally am grieved deeply over the problems other congregations are dealing with at this moment and my heart goes out to them. And in my joking about the accusation of hubris, I do not mean to make light of the serious situations elsewhere. I share these things only because I celebrate them. I share these things because it long past due for us at St. Stephen’s to rejoice and celebrate in all that is happening here.
We, on this Annual Meeting Sunday, should be celebrating. We should be boasting, in the proper way of boasting, in all that we are doing for God. And we should be boasting in all that God is doing for us here at St. Stephen’s.
Despite the somewhat arrogant attitude people elsewhere seem to think I have, despite the pompous character others think I carry about within me, I certainly can not claim the credit for the successes, the renewal and the growth here at St. Stephen’s. The successes here at St. Stephen’s are not a result of anything any one single person here is doing. The successes here at St. Stephen’s are a result of we all are doing together.
We are all working hard. We are all stepping up to the plate and making this place a place of holiness, of renewal, of radical hospitality to those who needs radical hospitality. We together are making this a place in which God’s presence and love can dwell and from which it can emanate.
So, my fellow ministers here at St. Stephen’s, let us rejoice. Let us celebrate. And let us together give thanks to God who is present among us this morning. Let us give to thanks God, who has come to us as a Spirit of steadfast love. Let us rejoice in the God who is present with us in Jesus, whose Body and Blood we will share at this altar. And let us celebrate the God who is present in us as a Holy People, blessed and renewed and commissioned to go out to share this blessing and renewal.
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