1 Peter 2.1-5,
+ Seven
years ago tomorrow—September 14, 2008—I sat down with the congregation of St.
Stephen’s to be interviewed to be their new Priest-in-Charge. On that Sunday,
for that congregational meeting, we had 25 people in church, which was just
above the Average Sunday Attendance of 24. Our church membership on that Sunday
in 2008 was 55 members. We actually have
well over the total membership number then this morning here in church.
At that meeting, I sat down to
answer questions about what I would do as Priest-in-Charge of St. Stephen’s. I
remember one of the questions I was asked was: “Do you call before you make a
visit or do you just show up?”
I said, “I always call and make an
appointment first.”
Which seemed to be the right answer.
At the end of the meeting, I then
asked the congregation a question. I asked, “If you agree to have me, what do
you want as a congregation? What are your goals?”
There was some very serious thought before
someone offered, “We want to grow.” And someone else added, “We want families.”
And someone else, “And children.”
And I said, “We all can do those
things together.”
Well, here we are, almost exactly
seven years later. Today is of course Dedication Sunday—this Sunday in which we
celebrate and remind ourselves who we are and where we’ve been. It’s also a
kind of a State of the Union today. It important to look at where we are right
now, at this time.
So, where are we, on this Dedication
Sunday in 2015? Well, in comparison to where we were seven years, we look at
the numbers: Our membership, as of today, with our 19 new members, two earlier new
members and a few people that have
172
(we were 153 last year)
And that was even with the loss of
four long-time members this year to death, as well as a few people who have been
added to the inactive list. Those we
lost to death this year were:
Rick Holbrook
Sharon Brekke
Pat Butler
and Georgia Patneaude
Those deaths were hard on all of
us. Coming as they did in rapid
succession—we lost both Sharon and Pat in one day—there was a moment of maybe
slight despair. The fact is, we are going
to lose parishioners to death, or to inactivity, or they will move away, or
whatever. But that is what being a
congregation means. Of course, numbers are
numbers. We can delight and rejoice in those numbers. We can proudly hold those numbers and gauge
where we are with those numbers.
But ultimately numbers and numbers.
Numbers change. Numbers are faceless and person-less ultimately. What matters
here is much more than numbers.
What matters here is what we do and
how we do it and why we do it. What matters here is what are we doing to make
this world better, to making the Kingdom of God more and more of a reality in
this world. It’s important for us on
this Dedication Sunday to be reminded of those things that make us a bit
different than other congregations. I
don’t mean that in a smug, self-congratulatory way. Celebrating our growth and all the things God
has granted to us does not allow us to be arrogant or full of ourselves. It is
a time to be humble and to humbly thank God for these many, wonderful
things. And it is important to examine ourselves in a
humble way, a way in which we all find ourselves grateful to God and to each
other for bringing us here, to this place, in this time and in this wonderful,
holy moment.
As followers
of Jesus, we have found something in this congregation that we haven’t
necessarily found elsewhere—at least in this particular way. For us, who call ourselves members of St.
Stephen’s, we know that something unique and wonderful is happening here and has
been happening for some time—fifty-nine years, in fact. And all we can do in the face of that
happening is give thank God and to continue to do what we are called to do as
followers of Jesus. And we do those things well.
For example, our radical hospitality
to those who come to us. Our amazing
sense of welcoming all people as beloved and accepted children of God within
this congregation—no matter who they are or what they are. Our commitment to service beyond these walls. Our commitment to the sacraments and to the
Word. Our strong sense that our
collective lives as followers of Jesus are centered on the celebration each
week of the Holy Eucharist and the hearing of the Word of God in scripture.
These are all things that make us
who we are as a congregation here at St. Stephen’s. And they are things that, together, are,
sadly, rare in many churches. This is
why people are finding us. This is why
people are seeking us out.
The Holy Spirit dwells here. I have
heard so many people who come in those doors say to me, “Yes, we feel it! We
feel that Spirit dwelling here.” That Spirit is here, permeating these pews,
these walls, but most of all, permeating us. That Spirit is here dwelling
within us.
As we all know—as we all strive and
continue to work to make the Kingdom of God a reality in our midst—it is not
easy to do anything we have done together as a congregation. It has
not been easy to get to this point in our collective lives here at St.
Stephen’s. There have been set-backs. There
have been trip-ups. There have been frustrations. But, that’s all part of the journey.
We, as followers of Jesus and more
specifically, as members of St. Stephen’s, are called here to be, in the words
of St. Peter from our epistle this morning, “living stones.” We are called to
be living stones—living stones that can be built into a true spiritual home, a
royal priesthood of not just believers but do-ers. We are called here at St. Stephen’s to
proclaim all that God has done for us here and in our lives. We, as living stones, are called to be building
up a new church. We are, by our very
existence, showing that something is about to change. The Church—capital C—the larger Church—is
changing.
That Church that was a close-minded
ivory tower of repressive views regarding such issues as misogyny and
homophobia and special privilege, is dying rapidly. And we all know it. We are all sensing it. God is letting us know that a Church built on
anything other than love and acceptance is not the Church of Christ.
Essentially that dying Church turned
away from the Gospel of Jesus. That
Church turned away from Jesus, who commanded his followers to love and love
radically and to accept and accept radically.
We are the prophets to the larger
Church. We are the ones who are saying,
THIS is the future of the Church. We are
the living stones building up that new Church.
Royce today in baptism is being
commissioned and called to be a living stone in the Church. All of us, by our
baptisms, were and are commissioned to do the same thing. We are called to be the Church—a Church in
which love and acceptance prevail. This
is the Church in which Jesus’ message of love and acceptance is held up and
lived out. This is the Church that is
striving pave the way for that Kingdom of God in which radical love and full-acceptance
reigns, to break through into our midst
It is not
easy to do. It is daunting. And it is frightening at times.
But those words of St. Peter are
ringing in our ears. You are God’s people. You are receiving mercy. And we are
turn are sharing that mercy with others.
So, let us be those living stones
building up a new and powerful church. Let us,
on this Dedication Sunday, do what we have been doing for 59 years. Let us embody that Jesus whom we follow. Let us continue to spread that Gospel of all-encompassing,
all-embracing love and acceptance in all we do here.
The future
for us is bright. It is unlimited. But we have to make it a reality. We have to strive forward. We have to labor on. We have to break down those barriers of
hatred, and fear and isolation and marginalization so that Christ’s Kingdom can
bloom in our midst.
We see it
happening, here at St. Stephen’s. We see
what the future of St. Stephen’s and the larger Church really is. We see it when
we live into that calling of Jesus.
So, let us be living, breathing,
strong stones. That is the future. And,
let me tell you, it is glorious.
Now, as we celebrate and move
forward into that future, I’d like to invite Royce and his family to come forward…
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