St. Stephen

 

December 26, 2020

 + I know.

 You’re wondering, why are we commemorating St. Stephen today?

 His feast day was yesterday, after all.

 It’s the First Sunday after Christmas.

 Usually on this Sunday, we hear the Gospel reading from the first chapter of John, which, as you may know, I love!!

 Usually this Sunday is a white Sunday—all the white paraments are usually up for this Sunday.

 But, today, everything’s red.

 Well, sometimes we can transfer feasts like this, especially when it’s a feast that honors a parish’s patron saint.

 So, we are celebrating St. Stephen for the very important reason that he is our patron saint of course.

 So, we transferred his feast from yesterday so we could all enjoy St. Stephen.

 After all, we very proudly bear his name.

 I’ll get into all of that in a moment.

 But, there’s another important reason we’re commemorating him today.

 We have transferred his feast from yesterday because I really do think it’s important to remind ourselves how important St. Stephen is to all of us.

 And…

 I would like to, at this time, officially open our 65^th year.

 I christen it, shall we say?

 Today, we officially begin our 65^th year as a congregation.

 This is something very important to commemorate.

 65 years of amazing ministry in the Diocese of North Dakota.

 Those first founders of church were a smart bunch.

 They were a prophetic bunch.

 Naming our church after St. Stephen was a smart thing.

 Of course, the reason they came to this name was because St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Casselton, ND had just closed in 1953.

 And we inherited many of their furnishings.

 But St. Stephen was a great saint for us to have as our patron.

 In the Orthodox and Roman traditions of the Church and even in our own "Anglo-Catholic tradition, the patron saint of a church is viewed as more than just a namesake.

 They are seen as special guardians of that parish. 

 And so, it is especially wonderful to celebrate a saint like St. Stephen, who is our guardian and who is, no doubt, present among us this morning, with that whole communion of saints, who is always present with us at worship.

 St. Stephen, of course, was the proto-martyr of the Church

 “Proto” is the important word here.

 Proto means, essentially, first.

 He was the first martyr of the Church.

 He was the first one to die for his open proclamation of  Christ.

 He also is considered a proto deacon in the church.

 That is important because of course this past year we celebrated our own proto-deacon.

 This past year, we celebrated the ordination of our first deacon in our congregation, Deacon John.

 And today he is wearing the red dalmatic in honor of St. Stephen.

 The dalmatic is a vestment that deacons wear.

 And often when we see paintings or icons of St. Stephen, he too is wearing a dalmatic, though he probably never actually wore one in real life

 St. Stephen is a special patron saint of deacons—and of all people who share a ministry of servitude to others.

 But St. Stephen is meaningful in other ways too.

 One of the things I really appreciate about him is the clear vision he gives us of heaven and what awaits us afterward.

 For most of us, heaven seems like a vague kind of thing—some cloudy other-world that awaits in the far reaches of existence.

 But through St. Stephen’s eyes, we have a very clear vision of what it is like.

 What does he see there?

 He sees the throne of God in majesty.

 And seated in honor and majesty at the right hand of God is Jesus.

 We see this same vision in the writings of the saint who’s actual feast day is today, St. John the Evangelist or St. John the Beloved.

 In his book of Revelation, he too gives us a very clear image of the same throne, with God seated there, and the Jesus as the Lamb at God’s right hand.

 I love that imagery.

 I love it because it all makes sense.

 And I love it because I too can see it.

 So, dear St. Stephen is more than just a proto-martyr and a patron of deacons.

 He is also a visionary and prophet.

 What better saint can we claim as our patron that St. Stephen?

 He was the first to do many things. 

 Just like we, as a congregation, have been the first in doing many things.

 St. Stephen, in his stance on a few issues, was not popular always obviously.

 There is a reason they dragged him out and stoned him.

 Well, neither are our opinions and our stances on some issues.

 The stance we have made for full and equal inclusion of women and LGBTQ+ people has been VITAL for us.

 And making the stance we have in the past and the reaction we have received from others, let me tell you, we can relate to St. Stephen.

 So, again, talk about a perfect saint for us.

 So it’s appropriate that this congregation that has been the first to do many things, is named after St. Stephen.

 When we look back at our 65 year history, just think for a moment about all those people who came through the doors of this church, have sat in these pews.

 Think about how many of those people who have come here after being hurt by the Church.

 Think about how many have come here who were frustrated with the Church.

 And more often than not, their relationship with God has suffered for it. 

 But have came here searching.

 Searching for true religion.

 Searching for a welcoming, open and inclusive community.

 I can say that I was one of those people.

 I came to St. Stephen’s in 2008 as a new but very Church-weary priest.

 I had already experienced some of the worst the Church can do to people.

 And I can say that if it hadn’t been for St. Stephen’s—if it hadn’t been for all of you—I’m not sure that I still be in the Church.

 I thank you all for that.  

 For me, St. Stephen’s personifies in many ways, what true religion is.

 The Church should be like a dinner to which everyone is invited. 

 And St. Stephen’s has always been the place that knows this one blunt fact: The only thing there is no room for in true religion is for those who cannot love each other.

 St. Stephen’s is a place very much like a family.

 We don’t always choose the people God has brought into our lives, but we always—ALWAYS—have to love them.

 So what is true religion?

 True religion begins and ends with love.

 We must love one another as God loves us.

 True religion begins with the realization that, first and foremost, God loves each and every one of us intimately.

 When we can look at that person who drives us crazy and see in that person, someone God loves wholly and completely, then our relationship with that person changes.

 We too are compelled to love that person as well. 

 Love is the beginning and end of true religion. 

 Certainly, St. Stephen’s has always been a place of love. 

 Love has never been a stranger here.

 Love has been offered to God not only on this altar, but among the pews and in the undercroft and in the entryway and in the parking lot. 

 And most importantly in the lives of our members out in the larger world.

 That love that God has commanded us to share has went out from here into all the world.

 We who are gathered here have been touched in one way or the other by the love that has emanated from this place and these people.

 We are the fortunate ones—the ones who have been transformed and changed by this love.

 We are the lucky ones who have—through our experiences at St. Stephen’s—been able to get a glimpse of true religion.

But our job now is not to cherish it and hold it close to our hearts.

Our job now is to turn around and to share this love with others, even isolated as we are by the pandemic.

Our job is take this love and reflect it for everyone to see.

So, in a very real sense, we, at St. Stephen’s, are doing what that first St. Stephen did. 

We have set the standard. 

We have embodied who and what St. Stephen the Martyr stood for.

Even when it was not popular.

Even when people felt it wasn’t time.

Even when people said, “wait. There’s no rush. Why do this now?”

We have stood up again and again for what we have felt is our mission to accept all people in love.

We have journeyed out at times into uncharted territory.

And most importantly, we have, by our love, by our compassion, by our acceptance of all, been a reflection of what the Church—capital C—is truly capable of.

This is how we begin our 65^th year.

We begin it by doing what we have always done.

We do it as St. Stephen’s did it—with our eyes firmly set on God, on Christ at God’s right hand, with our lips singing and praying, with our head held high, with love in heart, even if stones and rocks are falling around us.

We do so affirmed in our many ministries.

We do so, thankful for the ordained ministries of our new deacon who serves here.

We do so thankful or our continued place in the Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota and in the Episcopal Church.

We do so thankful for our uniquely Anglo-Catholic expression of Anglicanism here in Fargo and North Dakota.

It is an amazing time to be at St. Stephen’s, even if we’re not really AT St. Stephen’s right now.

Those poor founders of our church would only be amazed at what this congregation they envisioned in 1956 would one day be.

As we begin this 65^th year, let us do with gratitude to God and one another in our hearts.

Let us shake off the negativity and those nagging doubts that have plagued us.

And let us, like St. Stephen, be strong and firm in our faith in God and our convictions of serving others in love.

And may our God—that source of all love, that author and giver of all good things—continue to bless us with love and goodness.

May we continue to flourish and grow. 

And may we continue to venture bravely forward in  all that we continue to do here among us and throughout the world. 

Let us pray.

Holy and gracious God, when St. Stephen looked up, he saw you, seated in glory and majesty on your throne, with Jesus you Son seated at your right hand; we are grateful for Stephen and the vision he gives us of what awaits us in your Kingdom. Help us to embody St. Stephen’s spirit of strength and vision as we do the ministry you call us to do in this world, and let us, like him, come to that heavenly Kingdom that you have allowed us to see today. We ask this in Jesus’ holy Name. Amen.