Genesis 28.10-17; 1 Peter 2.1-5,9-11
+ We’ve been doing this a lot lately in our sermons. We have been
traveling around a lot through time. We went back a few months ago to 1974, to
1964. Well, today, we need to go back too. We’re going back to a bit more
stable time—a more innocent time. Our
trip is taking us back 58 years.
It is Sunday morning, September 9,
1956. On this particular Sunday in 1956,
it was truly a different American. The country was caught up in Elvis-mania. In fact, that very night Elvis would appear on
the Ed Sullivan Show—“coast to coast with your favorite host.” The number one
song in the country was “Que Sera Sera” by Doris Day. The number one book in the country that
morning was Peyton Place by Grace
Metalious. One of the top movies was The Bad Seed withNancy Kelly and Patty McCormack.
It was based on a play by Maxwell Anderson, who was from Jamestown, ND.
1956 was an election year. The
current president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, would be going up against the
Democratic hopeful, Adlai Stevenson, who would lose that November.
But on this morning, the congregation of St. Stephen’s was
officially dedicated. According to the
records, there were 51 people at that service. It we think hard enough, we can
almost imagine how people looked in church that morning. The women in hats and skirts, the men in suits
and ties. And no doubt it felt like something was truly beginning.
By the end of that year, there would
be 51 communicants (39 of whom came from the Cathedral) and a total of 94
baptized members listed. By 1958, there
were 144 baptized members and 45 families and by Jan. 1, 1960, there were a
whopping 214 members with 60 families.
Over the years, those numbers just kept going up. Within ten years, in 1968, the membership
reached its number of 243 members.
Now, the story of St. Stephen’s is fascinating. In these almost 60 years, there have been ebbs
and there have been flows. And
throughout those 58 years this seemingly small congregation has been the first
do many wonderful things.
+ The first woman Senior Warden in the
Diocese.
+ The first woman priest to serve a congregation in the diocese.
+ The first congregation in the diocese to openly and unabashedly
welcome gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
+ The first to establish a chapter of the Episcopal Peace
Fellowship.
+ The first to have a labyrinth.
Of course, there were hard time too. I have heard with great sadness the stories of
what is called the “Exodus out” in the 1980s. It is sad to look through the parish records
and see those numbers drop and dribble away for various reason throughout the
1980s.
But, here are, back in our own day. Here we are on this glorious morning in
September of 2014. Here we are, 58 years
into our ministry to the Church and the world. And we have a lot of celebrate this morning. I’ve
had to catch myself a few times over these last few years so I do not fall into
the trap of taking for granted what God has given us here at St. Stephen’s.
Just six years ago, in 2008, our membership was 55 members, which
had remained pretty steady for about ten years previously. But this year, we
can rejoice in the fact that we have more members here than we did in
1958. But we are more than just any of
those things. We are more than just
membership numbers. We are more than
just an Average Sunday Attendance (which really has been good, by the way). We are a congregation that makes a difference.
Now, I know some people have joked
about my so-called “cheerleading” of St. Stephen’s. But I take my job as cheerleader seriously. I have no problems with boasting about what
God has done here. I have no qualms
about boasting about what all of us are doing here at St. Stephen’s.
In our wonderful reading this morning
from St. Peter, we find him saying,
“Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.”
When we look around us this morning, as we celebrate 58 years of
ebb and flow in our congregation, we realize that truly we are on the receiving
end of a good amount of mercy. We
realize that mercy from God has descended upon us in this moment. And it is a glorious thing. And, as
unbelievable as it might seem at times, we cannot take it for granted. We must use this opportunity we have been
given. We realize that it is not enough to
receive mercy. We must, in turn, give
mercy. And we have done that here.
Now, I know some of us get a little
uncomfortable when words like “liberal” or “progressive” are used to describe
us. But, I think we should embrace our “progressive” title. Progressive for us
means embodying mercy. When we look around us at other congregations, we
realize we have something special here.
I hear stories again and again (and
all of you have too) of churches that judge, that alienate, that become so
caught up in rules and dogmas and following the smallest interpretation of the
word of scripture, that they ride rough shod over others. Many of us were members of those churches
before we came to St. Stephen’s. Many of us came here with our bruises, with
our scars from those churches. Many of us came from those churches in which
they forgot that the Church is not an exclusive country club for the elite few
who all look alike, but rather a glorious and wonderful meal at which everyone—no
matter who they are or what they or what they’ve done—are welcome.
I think we have done that very well
here at St. Stephen’s. To those other churches, we might look like some ship of
fools. But to God we are what the Kingdom will be like one day. If you want a
glimpse of what awaits us, just look around as this morning. This is that
place.
Here, mercy dwells. Mercy, as we all know, is elusive. We can’t pin it down. But we know it when it comes to us. And we know how to be merciful to others.
The way we properly and truly celebrate 58 years of St. Stephen’s
ministry to the Church and the world is by giving thanks for the mercy we have
received and are receiving at this moment. And we turn around and share that mercy with
others. That’s what we’ve been doing
here at St. Stephen’s from that very beginning way back in 1956.
We, this morning, are being called to echo what St. Peter said to
us in our reading this morning. We, God’s own people, are being called to
“proclaim
the mighty acts of [God] who called
[us] out of
darkness into [that] marvelous light.”
We proclaim these mighty acts by our own acts. We proclaim God’s acts through mercy, through
ministry, through service to others, through the worship we give here and the
outreach we do from here.
I love being the cheerleader for St. Stephen’s. Because it’s so easy to do. God is doing wonderful things here through
each of us. Each of us is the conduit
through which God’s mercy and love is being manifested.
In our collect for this morning, we prayed to God that “all who
seek you here [may] find you, and be filled with your joy and peace…” That
prayer is being answered in our very midst today. And although it may seem unbelievable at
times, this is truly how God works in our midst. God works in our midst by allowing us to be
that place in which God is found, a place in which joy and peace and mercy
dwell.
So, let us continue to receive God’s mercy and, in turn, give
God’s mercy to others. Let us be a place
in which mercy dwells. Because when we
do we will find ourselves, along with those who come to us, echoing the words from
our reading from St. Peter this morning,
“once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.”
No comments:
Post a Comment