July 4, 2010
Luke 10.1-11, 16-20
+ You often hear me talking about how much I enjoy being a priest. Probably you’re sick of me talking about how much I enjoy being a priest. That’s all right. I really don’t mind. But I really do enjoy doing it. I enjoy the pastoral work I do. I really enjoy celebrating at the liturgies of our church—especially the Eucharist, which, as you know, is the center of my life and of all of our lives here at St. Stephen’s Ever since I was first called the priesthood when I was the ripe old age of thirteen, I just knew this is what I was meant to do.
However, I often hear from people in the larger Church that when it comes to ministry, it is assumed it is solely my job to be the minister. People understandably believe that the “ordained ministry” and ministry in general are the same thing. Certainly ordained ministry comes out of ministry in general, but ministry is what all of us as Christians are called to do. All of us who are following Jesus and striving to live out our Baptismal Covenant and who are heeding Jesus’ command to love God and love one another are doing ministry.
Now, lately in the last few sermons I have been having you take a look at some of those forgotten recesses of the Book of Common Prayer. One area I always like to encourage people to look at when they are having questions about the Episcopal Church or about Christianity in general is the Catechism, found in the back of the book. There you will find, on page 855, this very provocative question:
“Who are the ministers of the Church?”
The answer: “The Ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests and deacons.”
Notice what comes first. Not bishops, not priests, not deacons, but lay persons.
The next question the Catechism asks is” What is the ministry of the laity?”
The answer: “The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.”
Finally, the final question is: “What is the duty of all Christians?”
“The duty of all Christians,” the Catechism tells us, “is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray, and give for the spread of the kingdom of God.”
So, as you can see, ministry is not just about those of who wear funny dog collars and dress up in vestments and process in and out of church. All of us are called to ministry. In my years of ministry—both as a lay person and later as an ordained priest—I have come across many interesting personalities who have taught me about true Christian ministry.
By their personality and example, by their exuberance and joy for living, they motivate us and light a fire under us to go out and spread the Kingdom. I have known several of these people in my life and I have always been excited by them. I am thankful to God when these people come into my life. After all, we have also met those people in the Church who drive us crazy and make us want to run screaming from the Church. Who knows, I might be one of those people for you.
As wonderful as those people are who truly are touched by God with a winning personality, I have also been amazed by the sense of humility many of these people have. More often than not, I have been surprised to discover that those who are truly blessed by God with the gift of ministry are the ones who are least aware they have this gift.
One of those people I knew was Bishop John Thornton, former Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Idaho. When Bishop Thornton served as the Sabbatical Dean at the Cathedral several years ago, I have to admit I was wary of him. Those people who have a larger-than-life personality and reputation oftentimes make me a bit cautious. And Bishop Thornton’s reputation certainly preceded him. According to those who knew him and loved him, the Bishop could do no wrong. That, of course, was a glaring red light to me since I had not yet met a Bishop who could do no wrong. But as I got to know him, as I worked long and hard beside him, I came realized that people were right about Bishop Thornton. He was blessed by God in ways I don’t think I can fully articulate even now. He taught me in simple ways about true ministry when I knew him. He taught me much through the example of his own long years of experience and he was also ready to share with me those examples in his life in which he failed miserably in what he did.
Bishop John and I bonded in a very real and meaningful way during his time at the Cathedral and I am the better person, a better priest and a better minister of God for having known him. I remember one situation in particular in which I had been asked to bless a house. The reason for the house blessing was because the people who lived in the house claimed they were having supernatural experiences there. They truly believed there was a ghost or ghosts living with them in the house, which was manifesting itself through slamming doors, voices and the sounds of footsteps. Now to be honest, I did not want to bless this house for these reasons.
In frustration, I went Bishop John and I laid it out on the line for him. I said, “Bishop, I don’t want to be a part of this. I’m not an exorcist. What good am I going to do these people in this situation?”
The Bishop looked at me very sternly, but with a twinkle in his eye, and said, “Who cares what you believe.”
I was shocked, uncharacteristically, into silence. He then went on: “If those people think they have a ghost and they are coming to you asking you to bless their house, then you go there and for the time that you are in that house, you believe that there is a ghost in that house.
“You do your duty and you bless that house and you walk alongside those people for that time that you’re with them and be their priest, their pastor, their friend and, if need be, their exorcist. Be whatever they need you to be.”
I can tell you that this has been, by far, the best advice I ever received from a Bishop or priest or a lay person in my entire life and it has been advice that has been very helpful to me many times and in many other situations throughout my ministry.
Having said that, I am still very uncomfortable with the cults of personality that exist in the Church. I have known too many church leaders who have directly or indirectly made it clear to me that it was because of them—because their winning personality—that a particular parish flourished. It’s an unfortunate trap leaders in the Church fall into when they believe that a parish’s success depends on them and their own abilities of ministry—and, mind you, I am not just talking about priests here. And lay leaders in the Church have fallen into this trap as well.
Maybe to some extent it’s true. But it still makes me wary. We are dealing with similar personalities in today’s Gospel. The seventy that Jesus chose and sent out came back amazed by the gift of blessing God had granted to them and their personality. They exclaim” Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” But Jesus—in that way that Jesus does—puts them in their place. He tells them, “do not rejoice in these gifts, but rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.” Or to be more blunt, he is saying rejoice not in yourselves and the things you can do with God’s help, but rejoice rather in God.
As the great Anglican theologian Reginald Fuller (who, I have been told by those how knew him, also had one of those amazing personalities) says, “It is Christ’s mission and message, not ours.”
The burden of bringing about the Kingdom of God shouldn’t be solely the individual responsibly of any one of us. Imagine that stress in having to bring that about. Bringing the Kingdom of God into our midst is the responsibility of all of us together. It is the responsibility of those who have the personality to bring people on board and it is the responsibility of those of us who do not have that winning personality.
For those of us who do not have that kind of personality, it is our responsibility to bring the Kingdom about in our own ways. We do so simply by living out our Christian commitment. We do so by loving God and loving each other as God loves us in whatever way we can in our lives.
Bringing the Kingdom of God about in our midst involves more than just preaching from a pulpit or attending church on Sunday. It means living it out in our actions as well. It means living out our faith in our every day life. It means loving God and each other as completely as we can. It means using whatever gifts we have received from God to bring the Kingdom a bit closer.
These gifts—of our personality, of our vision of the world around us, of our convictions and beliefs on certain issues—are what we can use. It means not letting our personalities—no matter how magnetic and appealing they might be—to get in the way of Christ. The Church does not exists for own our personal use. The Church exists for Christ. The Church is ideally the conduit through which the Kingdom of God comes into our midst. The Church is our way of coming alongside Christ in his ministry to the world. In a very real sense, the Church is our way to be the hands, the feet, the voice, the compassion, the love of Christ to this world and to each other.
Hopefully, in doing that, we receive some consolation ourselves. Hopefully in doing that, we in turn receive the compassion and love of Christ in our own lives as well. But if we are here purely for our own well-being and not for the well-being of others, than it is does become only about us and not about Christ. And in those moments, we are sounding very much like those 70 who come back to Jesus exclaiming, “look at what we have done!”
The message of today’s Gospel is that it must always be about Christ. It must always be about helping that Kingdom of Christ break through into this selfish world of huge egos. It means realizing that when we are not doing it for Christ, we have lost track of what we’re doing.
So, be the hands, the feet, the voice, the compassion and the love of Christ in the world around you. Like those 70, be amazed at what you can do in Christ’s name. But more importantly rejoice! Rejoice in the fact that your name is written in heaven.
Luke 10.1-11, 16-20
+ You often hear me talking about how much I enjoy being a priest. Probably you’re sick of me talking about how much I enjoy being a priest. That’s all right. I really don’t mind. But I really do enjoy doing it. I enjoy the pastoral work I do. I really enjoy celebrating at the liturgies of our church—especially the Eucharist, which, as you know, is the center of my life and of all of our lives here at St. Stephen’s Ever since I was first called the priesthood when I was the ripe old age of thirteen, I just knew this is what I was meant to do.
However, I often hear from people in the larger Church that when it comes to ministry, it is assumed it is solely my job to be the minister. People understandably believe that the “ordained ministry” and ministry in general are the same thing. Certainly ordained ministry comes out of ministry in general, but ministry is what all of us as Christians are called to do. All of us who are following Jesus and striving to live out our Baptismal Covenant and who are heeding Jesus’ command to love God and love one another are doing ministry.
Now, lately in the last few sermons I have been having you take a look at some of those forgotten recesses of the Book of Common Prayer. One area I always like to encourage people to look at when they are having questions about the Episcopal Church or about Christianity in general is the Catechism, found in the back of the book. There you will find, on page 855, this very provocative question:
“Who are the ministers of the Church?”
The answer: “The Ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests and deacons.”
Notice what comes first. Not bishops, not priests, not deacons, but lay persons.
The next question the Catechism asks is” What is the ministry of the laity?”
The answer: “The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.”
Finally, the final question is: “What is the duty of all Christians?”
“The duty of all Christians,” the Catechism tells us, “is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray, and give for the spread of the kingdom of God.”
So, as you can see, ministry is not just about those of who wear funny dog collars and dress up in vestments and process in and out of church. All of us are called to ministry. In my years of ministry—both as a lay person and later as an ordained priest—I have come across many interesting personalities who have taught me about true Christian ministry.
By their personality and example, by their exuberance and joy for living, they motivate us and light a fire under us to go out and spread the Kingdom. I have known several of these people in my life and I have always been excited by them. I am thankful to God when these people come into my life. After all, we have also met those people in the Church who drive us crazy and make us want to run screaming from the Church. Who knows, I might be one of those people for you.
As wonderful as those people are who truly are touched by God with a winning personality, I have also been amazed by the sense of humility many of these people have. More often than not, I have been surprised to discover that those who are truly blessed by God with the gift of ministry are the ones who are least aware they have this gift.
One of those people I knew was Bishop John Thornton, former Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Idaho. When Bishop Thornton served as the Sabbatical Dean at the Cathedral several years ago, I have to admit I was wary of him. Those people who have a larger-than-life personality and reputation oftentimes make me a bit cautious. And Bishop Thornton’s reputation certainly preceded him. According to those who knew him and loved him, the Bishop could do no wrong. That, of course, was a glaring red light to me since I had not yet met a Bishop who could do no wrong. But as I got to know him, as I worked long and hard beside him, I came realized that people were right about Bishop Thornton. He was blessed by God in ways I don’t think I can fully articulate even now. He taught me in simple ways about true ministry when I knew him. He taught me much through the example of his own long years of experience and he was also ready to share with me those examples in his life in which he failed miserably in what he did.
Bishop John and I bonded in a very real and meaningful way during his time at the Cathedral and I am the better person, a better priest and a better minister of God for having known him. I remember one situation in particular in which I had been asked to bless a house. The reason for the house blessing was because the people who lived in the house claimed they were having supernatural experiences there. They truly believed there was a ghost or ghosts living with them in the house, which was manifesting itself through slamming doors, voices and the sounds of footsteps. Now to be honest, I did not want to bless this house for these reasons.
In frustration, I went Bishop John and I laid it out on the line for him. I said, “Bishop, I don’t want to be a part of this. I’m not an exorcist. What good am I going to do these people in this situation?”
The Bishop looked at me very sternly, but with a twinkle in his eye, and said, “Who cares what you believe.”
I was shocked, uncharacteristically, into silence. He then went on: “If those people think they have a ghost and they are coming to you asking you to bless their house, then you go there and for the time that you are in that house, you believe that there is a ghost in that house.
“You do your duty and you bless that house and you walk alongside those people for that time that you’re with them and be their priest, their pastor, their friend and, if need be, their exorcist. Be whatever they need you to be.”
I can tell you that this has been, by far, the best advice I ever received from a Bishop or priest or a lay person in my entire life and it has been advice that has been very helpful to me many times and in many other situations throughout my ministry.
Having said that, I am still very uncomfortable with the cults of personality that exist in the Church. I have known too many church leaders who have directly or indirectly made it clear to me that it was because of them—because their winning personality—that a particular parish flourished. It’s an unfortunate trap leaders in the Church fall into when they believe that a parish’s success depends on them and their own abilities of ministry—and, mind you, I am not just talking about priests here. And lay leaders in the Church have fallen into this trap as well.
Maybe to some extent it’s true. But it still makes me wary. We are dealing with similar personalities in today’s Gospel. The seventy that Jesus chose and sent out came back amazed by the gift of blessing God had granted to them and their personality. They exclaim” Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” But Jesus—in that way that Jesus does—puts them in their place. He tells them, “do not rejoice in these gifts, but rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.” Or to be more blunt, he is saying rejoice not in yourselves and the things you can do with God’s help, but rejoice rather in God.
As the great Anglican theologian Reginald Fuller (who, I have been told by those how knew him, also had one of those amazing personalities) says, “It is Christ’s mission and message, not ours.”
The burden of bringing about the Kingdom of God shouldn’t be solely the individual responsibly of any one of us. Imagine that stress in having to bring that about. Bringing the Kingdom of God into our midst is the responsibility of all of us together. It is the responsibility of those who have the personality to bring people on board and it is the responsibility of those of us who do not have that winning personality.
For those of us who do not have that kind of personality, it is our responsibility to bring the Kingdom about in our own ways. We do so simply by living out our Christian commitment. We do so by loving God and loving each other as God loves us in whatever way we can in our lives.
Bringing the Kingdom of God about in our midst involves more than just preaching from a pulpit or attending church on Sunday. It means living it out in our actions as well. It means living out our faith in our every day life. It means loving God and each other as completely as we can. It means using whatever gifts we have received from God to bring the Kingdom a bit closer.
These gifts—of our personality, of our vision of the world around us, of our convictions and beliefs on certain issues—are what we can use. It means not letting our personalities—no matter how magnetic and appealing they might be—to get in the way of Christ. The Church does not exists for own our personal use. The Church exists for Christ. The Church is ideally the conduit through which the Kingdom of God comes into our midst. The Church is our way of coming alongside Christ in his ministry to the world. In a very real sense, the Church is our way to be the hands, the feet, the voice, the compassion, the love of Christ to this world and to each other.
Hopefully, in doing that, we receive some consolation ourselves. Hopefully in doing that, we in turn receive the compassion and love of Christ in our own lives as well. But if we are here purely for our own well-being and not for the well-being of others, than it is does become only about us and not about Christ. And in those moments, we are sounding very much like those 70 who come back to Jesus exclaiming, “look at what we have done!”
The message of today’s Gospel is that it must always be about Christ. It must always be about helping that Kingdom of Christ break through into this selfish world of huge egos. It means realizing that when we are not doing it for Christ, we have lost track of what we’re doing.
So, be the hands, the feet, the voice, the compassion and the love of Christ in the world around you. Like those 70, be amazed at what you can do in Christ’s name. But more importantly rejoice! Rejoice in the fact that your name is written in heaven.
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