Sent By Jesus to Preach,Teach and Heal: The Church's Mission to the Whole Person

Sermon at Diocesan Convention, Oct. 13, 2007
Bishop Anthony Poggo, Diocese of Kajo-Keji

Isaiah 2:2-4, Ephesians 2:13-22, Luke 10:1-9

It is my pleasure to speak to you this morning. I would like to thank Bishop Paul for inviting me to be present at this important Convention and also for asking me to speak at this Eucharist. The theme of our talk this morning is “For the Mission of the Church”. Let me begin by making some definitions.

What is Mission?
One of the definitions given by the Oxford Dictionary is “the work of teaching people about Christianity, especially in a foreign country”. The other definition is “particular work that you feel it is your duty to do”. I would like to see the concept of Mission in a much broader context than just teaching Christianity. It is teaching Christianity, living it and ministering in a holistic way or integral way i.e. meeting the needs of the body, soul and spirit.

In our Gospel reading, we read the story of how Jesus sent 72 people to go ahead of him into all the towns and places where he was about to go. He wanted them to be part of His mission to the world. He told them that although the harvest is plentiful, there are few workers, but that the Lord who is the Lord of the Harvest is the one who sends the workers. He sent them to preach, teach and heal, that is, to undertake the wholistic mission of meeting the spiritual and physical needs. .

In v. 4, he instructs them not to take any purse or bag. Theirs was to rely on Him. When we receive God’s call, we should answer His call. Our response should be “here I am send me”. The modern trend is that when we are hired to do a job, we negotiated what our remuneration is. As Christian workers this should not be the main reason why we do what we do. We should see it as our ministry to that Lord. He will provide us as we undertake it. Recently, I came to make this realisation that when God gives you a vision for a mission, he provides. When God is for a vision, i.e. if he is “pro” a vision. He will provide the provision, because he is “pro” the “vision” – hence the English word “provision”. Many of our pastors in the Diocese of Kajo-Keji have been volunteers for the last 20 years.

From vv. 5 to 6, Jesus says that the message preached should be the message of peace, the message of the Kingdom. In v. 7 He again says rely on the people who I am sending you to. Eat what they eat. According to v.9, the Preaching of the good news should also include the healing of the sick. This can happen through prayers or through ministry through medical field. When they came back, there was excitement. Jesus said they should rejoice that their names are written in heaven. We have been giving the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20. This is His mission through us; we are in a “co-mission” that is to say that we “co-workers” or working together with him.

Does the Mission of the Church include a Social Concern in Ministry?
As I mentioned before, I believe that the Mission of the Church should be to the whole person namely body, soul and spirit in other words meeting the spiritual and physical needs of the disciple. Hence Jesus sent his disciples to teach, heal and preach. When Jesus embarked on his ministry, he gave an address in Nazareth in Luke 4:18-19. This is what he said:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind to released the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour

This verse has been referred to as the Nazarene Manifesto. It is our manifesto as Christians. Luke 4:18 says that Jesus’ ministry was aimed not only at the spiritual need, but both physical and spiritual. Preaching of the good news should be holistic. You cannot go and preach the good news and leave the person to die due from lack of food.

During the war many places in Sudan experienced a real meaning to the Lord’s Prayer especially where we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread”. This is because it meant a lot as they prayed it in reality. In other parts of the world, this is not the case, as often one would have such bread in the fridge or nearest supermarket. James argues in his letter that our faith should be seen in our good work. This means that the mission of the Church should be a mission to the whole person.

The recent launch of the New Hope campaign is indeed one of the ways that the Diocese of Bethlehem is remaining true to the total mission of the Church. You wisely chose to assist the Diocese of Kajo-Keji as well as some parts of Pennsylvania where there are the poor. I appreciate the commitment of your Bishop and the entire Diocese in this worthwhile campaign. Indeed this will bring hope to a situation of hopelessness to a people who have known nothing but war and poverty. Related to this is ignorance and disease. I would like to assure you that this campaign will impact many lives and will bring change to many people.

Although the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) has been signed between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the National Congress Party, many people have not yet seen tangible fruits of this peace. Some of the protocols of the Agreement have not also been implemented. We appreciate that now we have peace, there is no fear from aerial bombardment; we also have freedom to travel anywhere in Southern Sudan, although we in Kajo-Keji still have to travel south through Uganda to go north to any part of Sudan.

The prophecy of Isaiah 2:4 where swords were converted into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks is not yet fulfilled in terms of the Southern Sudan context. In contrast to this, when a peace treaty was signed in Mozambique in 1992, they found out that the Mozambique was awash with guns and many landmines. The Christian Council of Mozambique then came up with a plan to exchange guns for sewing machines, ploughing instruments, bicycles and seed grain. The church there converted tools of war into useful tools, as we read in this passage.

For us in Southern Sudan, not all areas of Southern Sudan are enjoying the fruits of the agreement. This is due to the non-implementation of the all the terms of the CPA; the SPLM leader recently said that Southern Sudan could easily go back to war. Pray with us that the CPA is implemented.

Update on the CPA
The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the SPLM and the National Congress Party, has given hope to the people of Southern Sudan. Although many people have not yet seen tangible fruits of this peace, there is now freedom of movement, a functional government in Southern Sudan, some roads are being repaired, schools being rebuilt. In Kajo-Keji, we have seen some people constructing shops, houses, schools being built by some NGOs. The roads in Kajo-Keji are still among the challenges.

Having said that there are still many challenges to the CPA. This week we heard news from Juba that the SPLM has withdrawn from the Government of National Unity (GoNU). This means that the SPLM ministers and advisors will not participate in the government. Apart from the non implementation of the CPA, one of the issues cited is the right of the SPLM to reshuffle its members in government. Some of the aspects of the CPA that still need to be implemented include:

1. Lack of Transparency on the Exploitation and Sharing of Oil revenue.
The NCP has not been transparent on the actual income of the oil revenues. The CPA stipulates that 50% of the oil revenue from oil fields found in Southern Sudan should go to the Government of Southern Sudan. The income expected is less than what was anticipated. There is belief that this is not the correct revenue.

2. The North South Border:
The NCP has intentionally avoided implementing the CPA provisions on issues pertaining to the South – North border demarcation. This has implication on the right level of income from the oil revenue. Because the correct border has not been determined, it means that the GOSS is not getting a correct level of its oil revenue.

3. The Withdrawal of Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) from Southern Sudan.
According to the CPA, the Sudan Armed Forces should have redeployed its forces from the south by July 9th, 2007. While the majority of the SPLA have withdrawn from the North, this has not been reciprocated by SAF.

4. The Abyei Protocol
The NCP has refused to implement the Protocol on Abyei. It has also refused to implement the Abyei Boundary Commission (ABC) Report which was carefully and thoroughly researched and written by international and national experts.

5. Delay in formation & operationalisation of various Commissions of the CPA.
The NCP has been slow in the formation and operationalisation of a number of commissions and other institutions as stipulated by the CPA. These include the Census Commissions, the Civil service reform.

What is the way forward?
It is important for the international community to bring pressure to bear on the NCP. I call on you to urge your government to bring pressure on the National Congress Party to implement the whole of the CPA and not do it selectively.

The full implementation of CPA could be a blue print for settling the conflict in Darfur. The media and international attention on the conflict in Darfur has been at the expense of the implementation of the CPA.

The involvement of the church in reconciliation
In the reading from the book of Ephesians 2:13 we are reminded that Christ death on the Cross reconciled us to God. He made peace between God and us. He also reconciled believing Jews and believing Gentiles. It is because of his death that I am here and can indeed see you here, as my brothers and sisters in Christ and that is why you thought of New Hope campaign. In v.18 we read that it is because of this that we have access to the Father and making us members of this family. One of our Sudanese bishops says that we are all people of God but those who accept the Cross become children of God. That is why, in verse 19, we read that we are no longer foreigners and aliens but members of this household. Regardless of where you are, as long as you are a believer, you are a member of this household and this family of Christ.


I would like to encourage each one of you in this ministry of reconciliation. I would like to encourage you to undertake a wholistic ministry in your mission, meeting the physical and spiritual needs of the people. It is important that there is a balance made between the physical and spiritual needs of the people. You cannot do one without the other and claim to be doing the mission of the Church.

19th Sunday after Pentecost: Know Your Story

The Rev. Canon Anne E. Kitch

2 Timothy 1:1-14 Luke 17:5-10

Welcome to the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania! Do you know where you are? Do you know the story of Nativity? Are the names Packer, Sayre, and Linderman familiar to you? These are some of the names found on the memorial plaques along the walls of this Cathedral Church. So, let me tell you a story. It may be quite familiar to some of you, but here we go. Bethlehem was settled by the Moravians in the 1740s as a faith community with a missionary purpose. By the nineteenth century, it was also a popular summer spot for folks from New York City and Philadelphia. Among its attributes and favorite places of respite was the Sun Inn, then (and now) to be found on Main Street. Then came coal, canals and railroads.

When the coal fields of this region were discovered, transporting this commodity became an industry. A canal was opened up from Mauch Chunk to Easton to deliver coal. From Easton it was easily transported to Philadelphia and New York (if Mauch Chunk is not familiar to you, you may know it as Jim Thorpe; the town changed its name in 1954 to honor its famous hometown athlete). Enter Asa Packer, a familiar name around here, who knew a more efficient way to transport coal than by canal and built the railroad from Mauch Chunk to Easton the early 1850s. This Lehigh Valley Railroad was only the second such railroad in the United States. Robert Sayre was his chief engineer.

William Sayre, Sr., Robert’s father, and Asa Packer were friends and colleagues. In 1835, they were among the founders of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Mauch Chunk. Family friends had been gathering regularly in William Sayre’s living room for prayer and worship, and eventually a parish was formed. The life of the Sayre family continued to be centered in St. Mark’s and Mauch Chunk until mid century. In 1857 the Lehigh Valley Railroad was joined by North Pennsylvania Railroad just south of the Lehigh River making South Bethlehem a destination. Robert Sayre moved from Mauch Chunk to Bethlehem to manage the Leigh Valley Railroad and he soon succeeded Asa Packer as director of newly formed Bethlehem Iron Company. He built a beautiful home in South Bethlehem, overlooking the Lehigh River and the railroad. It is still there, across the street from us, now known as the Sayre Mansion Inn. Soon, like his parents before him, he gathered with friends and family in his home for regular worship. Records indicate that on June 16, 1861 the assistant priest from St. Mark’s came and held services. Robert’s brother, William Sayre, Jr., also moved to South Bethlehem and built his house (now the funeral home) across from his brother. In May of 1862, they and their friends met in Robert’s home and agreed to form a parish. Thus St. Mark’s in Jim Thorpe is the “Mother Church” of Nativity.

The parish began first with a church school of 52 students. William Sayre Jr. became the superintendent in the fall of 1862, a position he kept for 47 years until his death in 1909. He was loved by the children. Regular Sunday services began September 7th and have continued without a break to this day. The vestry was formally constituted on November 8, 1862 the official date of the start of the parish. First—education and youth ministry. Second—regular worship. Third—recognition and solidification of leadership. These were the building blocks of this parish. Services and Sunday school were held at the railroad station as parishioners sought to build a moderate chapel, and one that must include Sunday school rooms. The vestry bought an acre of land (this acre we are currently occupying) for $350. The corner stone was placed on August 6, 1864 and the first service in the church building was Christmas Day 1864.

The good people of Nativity didn’t stop there:
• in 1866 Lehigh University opened its doors, its president a member of this parish and Nativity’s first rector, Mr. Eliphalet Potter, the professor of Moral and Mental Philosophy and Christian Evidences (his brother Edward Potter was the architect of Nativity).
• 1868 Bishopthorpe School for Girls opened, founded by parishioners
• the folks of Nativity helped build Grace Church in Allentown
• they started a Sunday School on the North side of Bethlehem which became Trinity Church
• In 1873 St. Luke’s hospital opened, a dream of then rector the Rev. Cortlandt Whitehead
• Thus, by 1885 the moderate chapel they had built was no longer large enough and new construction began
Ruth May Sayre, daughter of Robert Sayre, was the first child baptized at Nativity. She married Robert Linderman and their daughter Ruth Evelyn was the first child baptized in the newly expanded church. You can read this in histories of Bethlehem or in our own parish publication, “One Hundred years of Nativity.” You can read it on the memorial plaques along these the walls. And I have only told the first chapter!

Now it may seem that this story of Nativity and its beginnings would more appropriately have been our Dean’s story to tell today. After all, he is the one who grew up at St. Mark’s Mauch Chunk/Jim Thorpe and played in the cemetery where all the Sayres are buried. But it is my story too, even though I only moved to Bethlehem 8 years ago. And although there are many here who can tell the story differently than I, and have a longer claim on it, it is now part of my life and I am part of it. We are all in its current this morning, even if you are visiting.

Knowing and telling our story is important. Episcopal priest Jerome Berryman, who directs the Center for the Theology of the Child in Texas, discovered the incredible power of storytelling working with troubled families. He was part of a counseling team treating families with suicidal children. They discovered that all the families had one thing in common; they didn’t tell stories. Not about how mom and dad met, not about where their family came from, not about births, deaths, vacations or anything. So they taught the families how to tell their stories. And once they did, the children stopped acting out and the families began to heal..

There is another reason why telling our story is important. Because that is how faith is passed on. Not one of us would be here if the story of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ was not passed on. And after all, how did Jesus teach the people about God’s love for them? He told stories. This is what is so important about Paul’s letter to Timothy, a beloved friend. It is a testimony to the power of passing on the faith. This is a letter to a second generation Christian. Paul writes to encourage Timothy to hold fast to his faith. Where did this faith come from? “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now I am sure lives in you. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you.” Faith is not something that is learned as much as it is absorbed. Faith is about our story, about relationships. There is research that shows that most adults who are faithful will point not to a church, but to a person who modeled that faith to them: a parent, a grandmother, a beloved uncle or godparent.

Now our faith story, any faith story, is not always easy to be a part of. This is because being part of God’s story of salvation is not so much about having faith, as it is about being faithful. This is what Jesus was getting at with the disciples. “Increase our faith!” they cry. If we only had more faith then we could…. You fill in the blank. Jesus’ response is that they do not need more. If your faith is only the size of a mustard seed, it is plenty. Because it is not about having a certain amount of faith, it is about being faithful. Another way to think about this: the opposite of faith is not doubt, but unfaith. What are we faithful to? Where do our loyalties lie? And it is when the going gets rough that our faith is tested. When disaster strikes, in our country, in our church, or in our personal lives, this is when we are called to be faithful. It is easy to have faith in our government when we agree with its policies. It is easy to have faith in our church when we are comfortable in our pews. It is easy to be faithful in our relationships when everything is going smoothly.

I am sure the story of the Sayre family and the beginning of Nativity was not as smooth as I told it. How was their faith tested? Like Timothy, I also have a grandmother and a mother who faithful (even Episcopalians) and they passed that faith on to me. I wonder how their faith was tested over the years. What brought them to their knees? What brought tears to their eyes? When were they about to walk away from it all? What kept them faithful? The disciples ask for more faith. But they do not need more; they need to exercise the faith they have. To remain steadfast and faithful even in the midst of trouble takes a dynamic faith.

Being faithful can be hard and painful. It’s like giving a gift. You know how a young child gives her little brother the gift she really wants, and then won’t let him play with it? You have to let go to truly give. I haven’t given it, if I want to control it. It is like giving our money to a cause, but then wanting to dictate how that money is used. I haven’t given it, if I want to control it. And this is like giving my life to God—I haven’t given it, if I want to control it. We have no control over how or when or in what way our faith is tested. Being faithful does not guarantee a life without stress. A dynamic faith is one that knows its story. A dynamic faith knows where it came from and is hopeful about where it is going. Ultimately, faith is about what and where God is calling me to be. Where is God calling you to be? This is the only question. And only you can answer it.

Amen

Copyright © 2007 by Anne E. Kitch

The 16th Sunday after Pentecost: Spiritual Dust Bunnies

The Rev. Canon Anne E. Kitch

Luke 15:1-10

Why do we call them “dust bunnies”? You know, those little balls of dust and dirt that gather under beds and in corners of most homes. Are they “dust bunnies” because they multiply like rabbits, or because they move so quickly that just when you think you are about to capture one it scurries further under the bed and eludes you. Wikipedia, the online dictionary, proffers this, “Dust bunnies (often one word, dustbunnies) are little clumps of fluff that form under furniture and in corners that are not cleaned regularly.” It says nothing about where the term comes from. My daughter reminds me that Wikipedia is not a reliable source. So, another source of information available is Dust Bunny Facts at www.durtbunnies.com, which tells us that dustbunnies have been around for centuries and are an “untouched resource of easy-care pets for our busy life styles. They have lived quietly along side us and have already been domesticated.” Further internet research reveals Dust Bunnies, Inc. in Irving, TX which provides housecleaning and janitorial services. You can find them at www.dustbunniesinc.net.

None of these sites gives us a clue as to the origin of the term, but they aptly describe (even humorously) the dust and dirt that collects in our everyday lives. There is always “stuff” that eludes even the most diligent of housekeepers. Furthermore, I am convinced that spiritual dust bunnies have invaded our souls as well, cluttering them with who knows what. And there are also all those small items that get lost amongst the dust, as if the dust bunnies keep them as treasures: lost pencils, lost game tokens, and lost coins.

When Jesus was questioned about the kind of company he kept—you may remember that many people were concerned about him hanging out with the poor, the least, the lonely, and the lost—in typical fashion, he tells a story. He describes a woman who loses one of ten coins. She lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches carefully until she finds it. Once she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together to celebrate. Right. When was the last time you threw a party after you finally found that missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle you couldn’t finish last winter? What an incredible story Jesus tells.

But sometimes what is lost is much more important than a missing puzzle piece. I believe we can be lost amongst the dust and darkness of our inner lives, in profound ways, but also in everyday ones. When have you been lost in the darkness and dust of your own house, of your everyday life? We cannot keep our spiritual lives clear of clutter at all times. What if we have a God who is a diligent woman bringing light into the dark places of our lives? What if we have a God who industriously sweeps away all the dirt and dust and then searches to bring us out into the open? What it, once we are found, we are also brought into the community to celebrate with friends and neighbors?

That is exactly the kind of God we are loved by, and knowing this brings us hope. Hope is something we can give as well. Our Diocese and our Bishop have made a commitment to bringing hope to others. In a moment we will hear in a letter from Bishop Paul about our New Hope Campaign. This effort reaches out to those who are lost in their everyday lives of struggle and poverty. The New Hope Campaign affords us the opportunity to bring light into their darkness and sweep away despair. It compels us to search diligently for whoever may be lost and, once we find them, to then bring them into community. Better yet, we can become a community together, surrounding one another as friends and neighbors so that we can all celebrate!

God may be the diligent woman who searches for what is lost, but perhaps we can be the light or the broom or the neighbors who rejoice. When we are poor, or least, or lonely, or lost, God searches for us diligently, leaving no corner unswept. And once we are found, God welcomes us into community with all of those whom God loves. Knowing a God like this fills us with hope. When those around us are poor, or least, or lonely, or lost, we can also bring them hope. New Hope. New friends. New life.
Amen.

Copyright © 2007 Anne E. Kitch

14th Sunday after Pentecost: Where is God in All This?

The Rev. Canon Anne E. Kitch

Jeremiah 2:4-13 Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16 Luke 14:1, 7-14

The water bottle is ubiquitous this time of year. You see them everywhere because drinking water is important—especially when it’s hot. There have been several days this past week when we have had to be careful of the heat. Drinking water is actually urgent when you are hot, or pregnant, or exercising. Yet drinking water is important all the time, even when not urgent. Still, it is amazingly easy to ignore water and our thirst for it.

I once volunteered to help with field day at the elementary school. My job was to handle the water station. I poured water from a cooler into tiny paper cups so that thirsty 1st and 2nd graders could come for a water break. But when they came, one looked at me, puzzled. “What’s this?”
“Water.”
“I don’t drink water.” I don’t drink water. Not, I don’t like water, or I don’t want water, or I’m not thirsty, but I don’t drink water. I just looked at her.
“Do you have any juice boxes?” she asked.
“No.”
She was not the only who refused. I pondered this. How could you not drink water? Had she and her family been lured into believing that juice boxes, full of sugar and false nutrients, could assuage her thirst? In so many instances we are lured into what seems easy or comforting or flavorful and ignore that we simply need water in order to survive. As we forget or forego the importance of water for our thirsty bodies, so we can easily forget God for our thirsty souls.

It is amazingly easy to ignore God--even for religious folks. Many people go days, even weeks or months without thinking twice about God. For some it is years or a life-time. Even those of us here today, who have made some public affirmation of some kind of faith, are not immune to God-forgetfulness. How easily do we set God far off? In heaven or in the future?

This is the cry of Jeremiah. Why do you not seek for God, he cries. Living and preaching God’s word 500 years before Jesus was born, Jeremiah was God’s chosen prophet to all the families of the House of Israel. “What wrong did your ancestors find in me,” God speaks through Jeremiah, “that they went far from me, and (not only that) went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?” Why did they not simply ask, “Where is the Lord?” This is the important question for Jeremiah to be asked at all time and at all places—where is God in all this. Because in asking the question, we set our attention toward God. When our eyes and heart are set on seeking God, we have already acknowledged God’s presence. We pay attention. We sense that God is near.

This is the question for us as people of faith to be asked at all times and in all places: where is God in all this? It is not a rhetorical question. It is a question of faith, because it assumes an answer. It is not whether God is present, but how God is present. The answer to “Where is God” will always be, “here.” It is the forgetfulness of the people that Jeremiah laments. Your ancestors did not say, “Where is God?” and the priests did not say, “Where is God?” They stopped asking the important question. Instead they forgot who they were. They went about their lives as if God were not. And worse than that, they tried to replace the sustenance of God with empty wells. They forgot to drink their water. “Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate…for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.”

I once had a water pitcher with a crack in it. I kept filling it and putting it in the refrigerator, but when I wanted a cold glass of water it never seemed full. I kept thinking that someone was drinking a lot of water. Somehow I didn’t take notice of the puddle of water that kept pooling at the bottom of the refrigerator. Even today we trust cracked theologies, false gods and faulty reasoning. We place our hope in systems of faith that simply do not work, that won’t hold water. We are lured into living day-to-day as if God is far off and as if heaven is in the future. This can lead us into the false notion that our life is about living well in order to get into heaven. Then we will meet God face to face. Since God is far off and in the future, there is no relationship now.

We couldn’t be more wrong. Jesus knew this. Jesus knew that the Sabbath was not about worshipping a God who was far off, not about keeping strict rules of worship in order to be honored and earn a special place at God’s banquet table in the after-life. The Sabbath was set aside to remember God’s great act of creation, to honor that creation and each one in it, to celebrate a relationship with God here and now. A life in Christ is not about how to get ourselves the best seat at the table—it is about inviting others to the table. Jesus enacts an ethic of radical hospitality as if we were in the Kingdom of God at the banquet table right now. As if it was true. As if God were present here and now.

Following in the footsteps of Jesus, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews reminds those first century followers of the way (and now 2000 years later reminds us) what God has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you!” Because God is here and now, God’s love is here and now. We are called to enact mutual love, show hospitality to strangers, remember those in prison, honor our marriage vows, keep our lives free from love of money, and be content with what we have because we are God’s beloved. Our lives as God’s beloved are not about working to earn ourselves a place in some far off Kingdom of God, but about working to create the Kingdom of God for others here and now.

When we stop asking, “Where is God?” we lull ourselves into believing we can live without water. We need to turn to God for living water. And we need to invite others to come along; or better yet, take the living water to them. We need to say again and again, “Where is God in all of this?” In times of desperation, where is God? In times of joy, where is God? In times of foggy indifference, where is God? Because there is no where or when, where God is not.
Amen.

Copyright © 2007 Anne E. Kitch

12th Sunday after Pentecost: Holy Fire

The Rev. Canon Anne E. Kitch
Isaiah 5:1-7 Hebrews 11:29-12:2 Luke 12:49-56

I wasn’t caught in the deluge on Friday afternoon, but my friend was. We were just finishing lunch in a downtown restaurant when someone mentioned that it had begun to thunder. My friend left immediately hoping to reach her parked car and close the windows before it started to rain. I stayed behind to finish a conversation. No one was really prepared for the cascade of wind and water as the storm hit. Although there had been warning signs, it seemed to come out of nowhere. The force with which it hit, even hail in some places, was certainly out of the norm for an August day in Pennsylvania. I certainly wasn’t expecting it. I had checked the weather report earlier because we were planning a picnic that night and even after that first onslaught I kept insisting it would clear in time for dinner.

Perhaps we had been lulled into the comfort zone that is late summer. Isolated thunder storm are expected, but not like this. Or perhaps it is because we are city dwellers that we don’t really expect a storm to catch us unawares and without shelter. A change in the weather can be an inconvenience. My friend was soaked, but unharmed. Yet there are times and places when being unprepared for a storm is a matter of life and death. Outdoor enthusiasts know this. Hikers, kayakers, and bikers know to read the signs. They respect weather and approach it with caution and wisdom. Now we all know how to read the signs: a change in wind, dark clouds overhead, a drop in air pressure. These could be significant. And the wise among you also know that despite all these signs, the weather is completely unpredictable as well. Storms come. If we are lulled by the summer sun, by our comfort zones, we will not be ready. Don’t underestimate the power of creation.

What about the rest of our lives? How well do we navigate the weather in our everyday lives? In our relationships? In our interactions with the world at large? In our faith? Do we read the signs? Do we remember not to underestimate the powers around us? Do we know what kind of a God we are dealing with? Jesus wondered--his strong words in the Gospel shock us, “I came to bring fire to the earth and how I wish it were already kindled!” Where is the good news in this? In today’s collect we honor Jesus as an example of godly life and we pray that God will help us follow in his blessed steps. But what kind of example is this? Calling down fire on the earth, bringing division rather than peace. What blessing is there in households divided? But what he speaks about is a matter of life and death.

Jesus has already set his face toward Jerusalem and has already turned the corner to the cross. He knows, even if his followers do not, that the heat is on. The crowds gathering around him now numbered in the thousands. He has been teaching about judgment and greed and the imperative to be rich toward God. He has told them not to be anxious about daily life, but to trust in God. He has said that where your treasure is there will your heart be also. He has counseled them to strive first for the Kingdom. These are comfortable words. But then it escalates. He warns them all to be prepared for the master coming at the unexpected hour. And then this—I came to bring fire to the earth!
Lest we get lulled by a quiet summer afternoon and a lovely lunch with friends, Jesus warns that there is a storm coming. Lest his followers believe that a few wise sayings about real treasure encompass the Gospel and Jesus’ work on earth, Jesus speaks of the fire to come and of his baptism to come. This is not the baptism performed by John in the River Jordan that began Jesus’ ministry, but the one that will complete the work that Jesus has begun. Do you remember John’s words when he baptized all who came to him, “I baptize you with water, but there is one coming after me and he will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire!” Jesus is that one and is ready to kindle the fire—a fire that will consume him. He will raise a storm that leads to his death on the cross. Because nothing less will save the world.

There are many storms that rage around us. We only need to read the headlines in the local paper to see the evidence of their wrath. As the prophet Isaiah cries out, “The Lord of hosts expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!” Sometimes it feels as if the evils of the world are creeping closer and closer to our front door. It seems that storm clouds of despair are looming. We can get lulled into the comfort zone and not act, hoping to stay protected. But it doesn’t work that way. We will not stay protected. For what happens in the world, happens to us. That is what it means to be part of the Body of Christ. We cannot simply divorce ourselves from the other members. No wonder Jesus spoke strong words! No wonder he cried to people to look around them and see the redemption that the world cried for, “Why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” Even if others didn’t, Jesus knew his work was matter of life and death for the entire world. He knew that even his closest followers had no idea about the power he would unleash: the power of the Holy Spirit, the power that began by dying on the cross.

I came to bring fire! We know something about fire and its power. We know that it burns, is destructive, dangerous, out of our control, hungry and devouring. But there is more. Do you know the story of the lodge pole pine? This evergreen is prolific out west. Like most evergreens, its seeds are contained in pine cones. But no matter how many of these cones fall to the ground, the seeds will not sprout. The cones are shut tight, glued together by resin. Certain seeds from the cone are only released when the resin is melted by intense heat: the heat of a forest fire. Do you recall the forest fires that destroyed much of Yellowstone Park 20 years ago? For most of the 20th century, the caretakers and national park managers fought all forest fires believing that fire suppression was good stewardship. They thought of any blaze only as a destructive force—one they could tame or at least temper. But in not allowing any blazes to burn, they created forests that were unhealthy, full of dead wood that became ready tinder for a huge and devastating fire. And then it turns out that forests have all sorts of adaptations for fires—like the lodge pole pine. In the midst of destruction, the seeds are preserved. New life comes forth. We have learned much about forest fires and how to fight them over the last 20 years. It turns out that in the economy of the forest, fires are necessary to ensure that healthy life continues.

This is what God’s fire can do in our lives. We cannot tame Jesus any more than we can avoid storms or control fires; nor would we want to. A tame, soft-spoken Jesus couldn’t save the world, wouldn’t bring us new life. What new life is there in you that has yet to be unleashed? What seeds lay hidden, lulled in a comfort zone that need to be awakened by God’s holy fire?

Copyright © 2007 by Anne E. Kitch

11th Sunday after Pentecost:Right Now

The Rev. Canon Cliff Carr

George went to the doctor for his annual checkup. When he returned home, his wife noticed that he seemed troubled and anxious. “What’s the matter dear,” she asked. “The doctor told me that I would have to take a pill every day for the rest of my life.”
“That’s not so bad,” she said – “there are a lot of people who have to do that…….” “Yes dear, I know that,” said George, “but the doctor only gave me 10 pills.”
It’s surprising how many people are afraid and worry about all kinds of things: fear of illness, fear of losing a job or friends, fear of the past or the future. In today’s Gospel Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, little flock…… do not give up hope - - have faith.”

The scripture scholars tell us that Luke was most likely writing for early believers living under the threat of persecution – Jesus speaks to their fears like a mother or father speaking to a frightened child in the middle of the night. “Don’t be afraid, little one……..” Christ encourages us to put our trust only in God, rather than in wealth or possessions - - or in anything else that does not have “foundations whose architect and builder is God.” He also calls his disciples to “roll up their sleeves,” – to be “dressed for action and have their lamps lit,” for there is work to be done. We who are the Church are called to be a people of service and action – those whose work is to bring light to the world and society where we are. The New Hope Campaign of the Diocese, which begins this fall, is clearly a response to this call of Jesus to be ready and willing to live God’s love in our time and place.

Lest we be worn out along the way, we are encouraged by the witness of the Abrahams and Sarahs of the past, as well as Christ’s own promise that He will surely return and seat His faithful ones at the heavenly banquet table and wait on them. Here at this Eucharist we have a foretaste of what that will be like. And as usual when dealing with Jesus, things are turned upside-down. For here at this table, we can “take a breather” – we can rest a minute from our labors and gather our strength. Here we can “recline at the table” in the mid-eastern fashion and be waited on and served by the Master. Jesus offers us Himself in His Holy Word and Spiritual Food. And we are fed and nourished as we look around at the other servants who have also come in from the fields of their own labors to join us in voicing praise and thanks to God.

With them we reach out with hungry hearts for the food that sustains us as we work for the Lord and try to be vigilant during our long wait for His return. In the Gospels the various “meal images” always point us to that final Banquet we will share when this period of work and diligence and temptation is finally over. What we do here week-by-week is only a partial sign of that Heavenly Banquet, making visible in faith what the Gospel promises. For at this table we gather, we “recline” in faith and receive what Jesus offers us - - His very self as our food and our forgiveness - - nourishment given to strengthen us to do the work given us to do.

Today’s readings may sound like those we might hear during Advent - - with talk of perseverance in trials, faithfulness in waiting, and hope in Christ’s return. But watchfulness isn’t just a part-time virtue, or a one-season practice. We should always be on the watch for the Lord in our daily lives. It could be that Christ will come into my life TODAY. That Christ constantly comes into my life, steadily inhabiting every moment and every chance – being there always to fill the random things of my life with meaning. It could be that Christ is in my life and I haven’t noticed, that I am so busy preparing for an unknown future event that I can’t see what’s happening right in front of my eyes. That’s certainly true about a lot of other things. Barbara Crafton, meditating on this passage suggests that most of us “try to borrow the future every day, to live either in it’s happiness or its horrors, when the only joys and sorrows we really have are the ones we have right now. Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid little flock.” Look at what fills your life right now – maybe there are nuggets of gold embedded in the homeliest of them.”

At the most unexpected times, and yes, even in surprising people and circumstances, Jesus knocks at the door of our lives and asks to be let in. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus in this celebration and in the coming days, and give him an entrance through the Word we have heard and the Holy Food we are about to receive. AMEN.

10th Sunday after Pentecost: Be Rich Toward God

The Rev. Canon Anne E. Kitch

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23 Colossians 3:1-11 Luke 12:13-21

Once upon a time, there were three princesses. They lived in a marvelous castle in a country of plenty and they had an abundance of everything: food, clothes, toys and games, friends, and parties. But they weren’t particularly happy. One morning they woke up and said, “We’re bored.” They decided there was only one thing to do—what any princess who has everything must do. They needed to go on a quest.

The first princess decided to go on a quest for justice. She thought, “I like it when things are fair. If I bring justice to the world, the world will be a better place.” So she went out and became a fine arbitrator. She sat on many councils and people sought her out to make difficult decisions. With her everything was always fair and square. She dispensed justice with strict adherence to the rules, never letting her feelings get in the way. But she was not happy.

The second princess decided to go on a quest for wisdom. She thought, “Wisdom is a worthy pursuit. If I become really wise, I can teach people how to make the world a better place.” So went out and found the wise sages of the world and learned from them. She visited the famous libraries of the world. She studied hard and became widely known for her wisdom. Students sought her out and she filled their heads with all the knowledge she had gained. And she was constantly filling her own head with more. But she worried continually about what she did not know. She had no joy in her teaching, nor did her students enjoy learning.

The third princess couldn’t make up her mind about what would be the best kind of quest, so she decided to set out and see what she might discover along the way. But before she even left the palace grounds, she was distracted by the sound of crying. She found a small child who had no shoes because a bully had taken them. She knew there was an abundance of shoes in the palace, so she went back and got some for the child. But before she could get back to her quest, she wanted to make sure the child was cared for. One thing led to another as she tried to ensure that he had food to eat, a safe place to live, and kind people to care for him. Along the way she played with him, and listened to him, and together they wondered about many things, until one day she realized that she had forgotten all about her quest. But it didn’t matter anymore because in caring for the child she discovered her heart was full of love. They didn’t always have what they wanted, things in their lives were not always just, and they didn’t always make the wisest choices. But they loved each other. They were often, if not always, content and happy.

A man comes to Jesus and demands that Jesus arbitrate for him with the family inheritance. Jesus warns him and those within hearing to watch out for all kinds of greed. He tells them his own “once upon a time”: the parable of the rich man who endeavored to store up all his abundance. He spent time tearing down old barns and building new ones so he could keep all that extra. Once he was done he was pleased, because he had so much he would never have to work again. But he never got to enjoy it, because that was the night he died. God called him a fool. Not because he had so much and not because he wanted to enjoy life. But because he assumed that having and holding into such abundance was what life was all about. Jesus warns we will also be foolish if we are not rich toward God.

What does it mean to be rich toward God? Think of rich as an adjective meaning full, sumptuous, deep, and lush. Rich food, rich fabric, rich soil. Be rich toward God. Rich visions, rich life, rich story. Be rich toward God. Rich laughter, rich longing, rich relationship. Be rich toward God. To be rich toward God necessarily means to be in relationship with God—to be in love with God. Life with God is life with love. If we are not rich toward God, we are only going through the motions. This is what the Teacher of Ecclesiastes means by saying all is vanity. One of the headlines from the front page of today’s New York Times reads, “The Millionaires Who Don’t Feel Rich” and continues, “a few million doesn’t get as far as it used to.” The article goes on to describe the lives of folks in their late forties and early fifties who are worth 1.3, to 5 to 10 million dollars. But they are not content. They continue to strive for more, because there is at least someone who has more than they do. They do not believe they have enough. They work long hours to get ahead.

All is vanity, says the Teacher. Whether it is work, or wisdom, or justice we seek, if it is without love, without God as its center, it is meaningless and we are left empty.
I wonder what our quest would be like if God were our vision—both the vision we see with and the vision we see, the life we seek. I wonder what our lives would look like, if God were our wisdom, if we were abundant not in possessions, but in love. I wonder.

Copyright © 2007 Anne E. Kitch

4th Sunday after Pentecost ~ Proper 7

June 24, 2007
The Ven. Richard I Cluett
1 Kings 19:1-4, 8-15a + Galatians 3:23-29 + Luke 8:26-39

Have you noticed that Jesus’ whole ministry is about bringing?

1. Bringing God’s reign into being,

2. Bringing people into an experience of God’s reign through teaching and praying and witnessing and by being an example of what God’s kingdom is like,

3. Bringing people to one another to show that in God’s reign, God’s kingdom, god’s realm, and God’s way, no one is to be left alone, no one is to be left out, no one has to go through life alone,

4. And bringing people to their rightful place in the kingdom community and to their rightful role – their job, their work, their vocation – in the ministry Jesus shares with all who believe.

In the fanciful gospel lesson this morning, the story of the man possessed by demons – so many demons they were legion and are so named (naming powers in the Mediterranean region was a way of gaining power of over other, demonic powers) – Jesus makes his point: In God’s kingdom there are no outcasts. No one is beyond the pale.

Don’t worry over the details of this story. Not every jot and tittle, not every word of this story is gospel truth, but the story does indeed tell a gospel truth. The telling is an elaborate enhancing of an exorcism story, but the gospel truth is here, real, and important.

In this part of Luke’s telling of the gospel story, Jesus is in the fullness of his ministry, at the heights of his powers, demonstrating what the reign of God can be, should be, and is. He is coming from the experience in the boat where he stilled the waves during the storm.

And so he steps ashore where he is greeted by a man who is deranged. This man has sunk so low he can sink no lower. He is in the most abject form of human estate. He has lost all: family, friends, wealth, home, even membership in human society. He wears no clothes. He has been locked out of the city. He lives among the tombs of the dead, sent away alone to be vulnerable to all the dangers of the wilderness – much as Jesus was sent into the wilderness after his baptism.

But for this man, there was no one ministering to him – no angels, no human being. He is alone, completely at the mercy of the heat and the cold and the rain and the snow, and at the mercy of wild animals, and at the mercy of bandits, and at the mercy of people who just like to torment the likes of him, and at the mercy of the dementia that eventually found him and claimed him. Bound by humans who feared him and bound by demons who possessed him.

He was at the mercy of powers that have no mercy. Cast out and utterly alone.

This story, at its heart, is what it is like to be totally alone and bereft; bereft of friends, colleagues, companions, family, and the love and care of any human being.

And then comes Jesus, bringing with him, the kingdom of God. The translation we use these days, the New Revised Standard Version, tells us that the man was healed by Jesus. A better translation, closer to the truth, is to say that the man was saved by Jesus. He was healed, but he was also saved and restored to the possibility of a full and fruitful life, lived in the midst of the community.

That is the nature of God, that is the nature of Jesus, that is the nature of the community that gathers in His name: to bring into relationship with God, with Jesus and with his community all who seek, all who ask, all who come.

As most of you know I have just returned from a visit to Kajo Keji in Sudan. One, and only one, of the many things that struck me there as it did on my first visit, was what life is like in the villages of southern Sudan. In each village, all are cared for, each person regardless of age, gender, status, health, ability, infirmity, or deformity. All are in and of the community, and have access to the resources, care and compassion of the community. No one is set outside the community.

Those who are crippled or disabled, those who are deformed, those who are deranged, those who are too elderly, those who are too great with child, those who are too young, those who are outrageous in their dress, those who are outrageous in their behavior, those who have left to work or to learn and have returned to live again among their people, those who are desperately ill, and those who are near death – all live inside the village compound and receive the love and care of the community.

It is not because of the primitive nature of their society or their culture, it is because of their being disciples of Jesus Christ living in God’s kingdom. This is how it is in the reign of God! They live in the kingdom of God here on earth, now..

There is another place where I have noticed this interesting, kingdom lifestyle being rather blatantly put into practice, in the community known as the Cathedral Church of the Nativity.

In the lifestyle of the children and youth of this cathedral community there are no outcasts. The kids welcome all kids.

The kids welcome shy kids, they welcome cool kids, they welcome smart kids, they welcome younger kids, they welcome older kids, they welcome new kids, they welcome back former kids, they welcome kids with a disability, they welcome kids who are jocks and kids who aren’t, they welcome quiet kids and they welcome noisy, rowdy kids, they welcome city kids, they welcome suburban kids, they welcome rich kids, they welcome poor kids, they welcome bookish kids, they welcome Ipod kids, they welcome funny kids, they welcome sad kids.

They even welcome an archidiaconal kid, along with grand-parent kids, other adult kids. They welcome each and every one who comes along.

They treat each as if all are equal before the throne of God – and so they are, and so are all people – equal before the throne of God and equal in the community of those who follow Jesus as Lord and Savior.

I wonder where they learned that? Could it have been learned here? (He asked rhetorically.) Yes, I have come to know in the last two years that they learned it here. And I think that like their teachers and parents and mentors here, they will live it out in all aspects of their lives.

And so my friends, here is the preacher standing in the pulpit to preach now a heartfelt farewell and thank-you – for all you have shared, all you have done and all you have given, for all you are.

You invited me to come in, and welcomed me, and trusted me to offer my best gifts and love. This time with you has enriched my life beyond measure. My spirit rejoices in you, in your life together and in the work that you do on God’s behalf and the welfare of God’s people. This cathedral family is blessed with people of deep devotion, strong faith, willing spirits, mighty gifts, and wonderful diversity. This cathedral family is blessed with a strong, gifted, creative and loving staff of ministers both lay and ordained. It has been a joy to work with people in leadership ministries in so many areas and to watch them grow in those ministries, taking increasing responsibility for the life, mission and ministry that is in through, of, and from this cathedral.

The man you have called as your new dean is a dear one to me, well known to me and loved by me. I could not be happier for you and Tony Pompa, and his family, that God has brought you together and I look forward to seeing the fruits of the kingdom that together you will bring for God.

And so, not good-by but farewell until another time, and my heartfelt thanks to you and to God for the life and ministry we have shared.

Trinity Sunday

The Right Rev. Paul V. Marshall
Bishop of Bethlehem
June 3, 2007
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 + Romans 5:1-5 + John 16:12-15

Sermons on the Trinity are supposed to be a little dry and incomprehensible, and I will try not to disappoint, although I am distracted from this ritual of obscure preaching by today’s reality.

That is, in a few minutes there will be baptisms, and young lives will be washed “in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” This would be a good day to ask why. “In the name of” means in ancient languages possession and relationship, sort of like leaving your dry cleaning in the name of Smith, or making reservations in the name of Jones. In baptism we belong to and live in relationship to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus is heard in the gospel passage today saying that it would take a while for his followers to digest everything he taught, and some things they just weren’t ready for. Sure enough, the Spirit led the church through the centuries to digest what it had seen and heard in the story. It took them about 350 years to get to major agreement that what has been revealed to us about God is … a mystery we can only struggle to describe but are invited to contemplate with wonder, love, and praise.

This shouldn’t surprise me, because I don’t know anybody, especially those I love the most, who doesn’t stay far beyond my ability to explain, dissect, or taxonomize. As I grow in relationship to people I learn more about them, but there is nobody whose internal life is completely transparent to me. In fact, to say, “I know all about you,” or worse, “I know what you’re thinking,” is probably the most arrogant thing a person can utter, and is destructive of relationships. It’s like saying that someone is fixed for all time, and that by understanding them I have mounted and stuffed on the wall over my mental fireplace.

We do it all the time. Let’s see, if I know you are a Capricorn, know your race and sex, your Myers-Briggs type, your eneagram, where you were born, your blood type, your political affiliation, your education and income, your neighborhood, and whether you root for the Phillies or Yankees—I don’t know you, but may think I do.

In our history with someone we love, in our most intimate moments with them, in working with them, suffering and rejoicing with them, we come to know them on many levels. From what they reveal and what we experience of them, we get enough hints about them to have a general picture and make a commitment. Certainly we come to understand people we love to some degree, but if you really love somebody, you have to do two things:

- 1 honor their uniqueness (they aren’t part of you), and

- 2 and this is the test, number two, you take great and unspeakable pleasure in just thinking about their mysterious otherness in which you to some degree commune but will never fathom.

If you think you have your beloved all figured out, you are missing a very great deal if life. When they cease to be a mystery, there’s little left to adore…or to attract.

So they didn’t come up with an impossible definition of God in order to show that they are theologians to frustrate us, or to subsidize the clover, triangle, or pretzel industry. From what scripture told them and from what they experienced, Ancient creeds (based on baptismal liturgies) express a general picture and made a commitment.

That took about 350 years, and they came down on the side of an explanation of our encounter with the triune God that invites adoration and contemplation rather than theological taxidermy. The Old Testament lesson encourages adoration and contemplation as a kind of joy, and that’s what I was working on in the children’s sermon today.

The complex talk of what developed in the church has several important functions for us. The most important is that it is one and the same God who creates, redeems and vivifies us. The history of the world, OUR HISTORY, is of one piece.

The second is that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, far from being stuffed and mounted like the utterly dependable and never-changing gods of the Greeks and Romans, are in a constant relationship, an eternal community, a kind of dance with each other. In fact a Greek word for “dance” is very close to the word for the constant embrace and community of the persons and has inspired some fruitful thinking..

A big part of what the church confesses about Father, Son, and Spirit is that they stay distinct but are one and live in dynamic community whose mission statement is the life of the world, our life.

To be baptized into that relationship is to be baptized into God’s eternal embrace and God’s eternal working for the life of the world. It is to be in relationship with a God whom we cannot fully understand, yet whom we understand enough to trust as the center of our living.

What does this look like on the ground?

The epistle pushes all this a step beyond and says that life baptized into this God gives peace; Paul’s Jewishness is showing when he uses that word for wholeness, reconciliation, and well-being. He goes on to say it touches glory.

Then he brags about the fact that if you follow the way of this God, you will suffer. Certainly he is right. Just letting the other “persons” in your life be distinct will make you suffer! Being a person of Jesus’s compassion and integrity will make you suffer! Being generous in a world that emphasizes self will make you suffer! Being faithful to your commitments and your standards will make you suffer. Being open to those undefined new ideas that Jesus half-scares us with in the Gospel will make us suffer. Witness to the gospel will make you suffer.

And St. Paul, who understood like nobody else what God had been up to on the cross, says taking that road less traveled, of embracing the very real but usually very small moments of pain that come with being faithful, will change us. Day by day.

Just as the triune God of Christians is not a photograph but a community, a dance, baptism plunges us into a life-long dance, and day by day we grow. If that has stopped in your life, this is one of those moments when your priests are here for you to help you struggle deeper into the baptismal reality.

And what’s in this for us?

St. Paul says that living this life builds character, and character is what makes the difference between people and louts. And character, he says, gives hope. I think that means walking through the world patient with the working of God’s plan, tuned to seeing it develop, and finding the mere consideration of God a blessing. That’s why the last prayer we pray over the newly baptized asks that they (and we) have “joy and wonder in all God’s works.”

Bottom line: Trinity talk is the invitation to live in relation with and adoration of the community that is at the heart of the universe, and to participate in the live of what and who we cannot master but in which we can certainly delight.

I apologize if my obscurity has not been perfect, but you will admit that I’ve tried.

Pentecost: A Great and Glorious Day

The Ven. Richard I Cluett
May 27, 2007
Genesis 11:1-9 + Acts 2:1-21 + John 14:8-27

Wouldn’t you have loved to have been there; to have been in Jerusalem that busy, urban center at the beginning of the Christian Era, at the beginning of the Christian Church? Walking those narrow streets, crowded with people from all over the known, and the unknown, world? “Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs…”

Eventually finding yourself in an open square filled with hundreds and hundreds of people, standing before a house where the followers of Jesus had gathered? “And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”

It would have been wild. It would have been crazy. It would have been chaotic, and maybe even a bit scary. You would have been amazed and astonished, and perhaps perplexed.

But for sure you would have known that something new and different and powerful and transformative for the world had taken place… and maybe even transformative for you, yourself. But you’re not sure, you don’t know what it means.

And then this powerful figure rises and stands above the crowds and tells you and all assembled what it means as he reminds you of the words of the prophet Joel,
“…I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.” It is the Lord’s great and glorious day.

And you remember the scripture “And all flesh shall see it together.” And you see it. You get it. You believe it. You know it.

You have a new and powerful sense of yourself as God’s child, so beloved by God that God’s Spirit would descend upon you. God’s blessing would be upon you.

And you resolve to build your life anew upon it. You want all people – you want the world – to see and know what God has done in Jesus of Nazareth and how God has empowered the people by the coming of the Holy Spirit. You want the world to be built anew upon it.

You want it for those you love, you want it for your family, you want it for your friends, you want it for those who are closest to you and yu want it for those who do not have it or know it or who live across the world. You want them to know this joy, you want them to receive this power, you want them to claim this purpose for their lives.

It is as if you are filled with new wine… filled to overflowing with God’s Holy Spirit and Power and you want it to flow out and over all those around you.

Oh my God! Oh My God!

And here we are today, two millennia later remembering how it was, way back there, back when God’s Spirit came so powerfully onto God’s people, came so powerfully into God’s world. And perhaps we wonder, What has happened? Where is that presence? Where is that power, today, in my life, in this world?

I want to say to you that “Today is Pentecost.” Today is the Day of the Lord. Today God’s Holy Spirit has come upon you. Today you are declared God’s beloved. Today you are to know that Jesus of Nazareth was born and lived and ministered and was crucified and was resurrected and has ascended to God’s right hand – for you and for the life of the world.

You have been called by name. You have been saved. You have been baptized by water and the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit has descended upon you and enriched your life already and empowered you – and sent you into God’s world which knows not God. Sent to God’s world which knows not God’s power. Sent to God’s world which knows not God’s presence. Sent to God’s world which knows not that Jesus has come to save the world. Sent to God’s world which knows not that life lived in Christ and in the power of the Spirit is a life filled with joy and purpose and power and fulfillment. Sent to God’s world, which God has created and knows and loves and will not abandon.

Today is Pentecost, a day to know anew God’s power and presence and purpose in our own lives and in the lives of those around us, indeed in the life of the world.

It is the Lord’s great and glorious day and you are God’s great and glorious child upon whom his spirit has come to rest. It is a day when everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Easter 7: Time for Prayer

The Rev. Canon Anne E. Kitch
John 17:20-26

Welcome to the in-between time! Next Sunday is the feast of Pentecost, the end of the great 50 days of Easter, when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. Last Thursday was the feast of the Ascension, 40 days after the resurrection of Jesus, when the disciples watched Jesus ascend into heaven. So today is the in-between time, the Sunday after the Ascension and before Pentecost. What do we do with those ten days when Jesus is not here and the gift of the Holy Spirit is not here yet either? What do we do with any in-between times? Times of transition. Times of uncertainty. Time of darkness. Well, one good idea is to pray. But how do we pray in the in-between times?

Recently in the Inquirers’ class I teach someone asked what exactly is prayer? We could answer, “conversation with God” as we often do. But if prayer is conversation, how do we handle it when God doesn’t seem to talk back? I have heard this question from practical seven-year olds and wise sixty-year old alike. So what is prayer? Rather than offering my own definition, I will trust wiser sources: a children’s book and the catechism. First our catechism. Found in the back of your prayer book, the catechism is a teaching. It is a summary of Christian doctrine in questions and answer form. Thus, finding the answer about prayer is simple. On p. 856 we find the question, “What is prayer?” And the answer: Prayer is responding to God by thought and by deeds with or without words. Responding to God encompasses so much more than conversation or dialogue. It can mean making music, singing or drawing a picture. It could be holding hands around the dinner table, watching a sunset or standing in silent awe at the peak of a mountain.

Our catechism goes on to outline principle kinds of prayer and you can read these for yourself. But I want to think of two in particular: adoration and oblation. Adoration is lifting up our hearts and minds to God. We tend most often to pray “help me!” or “thank you.” But what about a response to God that is pure adoration? What is our prayer is asking nothing but to enjoy God’s presence, to bask in God’s love and delight of us, and to give ourselves over to that glory? An oblation is an offering. A prayer of oblation is offering ourselves, our lives, our labor and our leisure, to God. For God. For God’s purposes.

I promise to get to the children’s book in a minute, but I want to think of these two kinds if prayer, adoration and oblation, as we look at Jesus’ prayer in this reading from John. What we have today is only the last third of a prayer that Jesus prayers over his disciples. After Jesus washes his disciples’ feet and explains to them again about his betrayal, death and resurrection, he prays for them, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your son so that the Son may glorify you.…” This prayer does many things. But among those I think it expresses adoration and oblation. Jesus sets himself in the presence of God’s glory and love and offers his life and service. He lifts up his heart and mind to be one with God. There is petition in this prayer as well, as Jesus prays on behalf of those who are with him, that they too may be one with God. He also prays on behalf of those who will come later, those who will believe because of the words of these disciples. So Jesus is praying on behalf of us as. Jesus desires his disciples, and us, to be one with him so that we may see ourselves in the presence of God’s grace and love.

This prayer draws us into the image of the Son dwelling with the Father, and in this ten day period between the Ascension and Pentecost, we are drawn into the mystery of the trinity as well. In this in-between time, we can offer prayers of adoration of this mystery and oblation. We can simply allow ourselves to be in awe. But do we have time for that? Episcopal priest and author Suzanne Guthrie asks this question, “We have so little time to contemplate these mysteries. We make so little time. Our culture, even in the church, values this kind of time in prayer so little. We dismiss wonder so ruthlessly. Who encourages simple, prayerful awe?” She goes on to invite us to pause in this in-between time. “Next week, we’ll celebrate the active struggle of life again in Pentecost and the call to go to the ends of the earth as messengers of the gospel. And before we are sent into the world, we will have to remember and understand deeply the implications of Jesus’ prayer that ‘they may all be one.’ But in this brief time, these ten days of Ascension, we are given the gift of waiting in reverence, love, joy, wonder. Even if we sit in adoration of the mystery of the Trinity only once a year, it is enough to remind us why we are so driven the rest of the time. Let us worship in the beauty of holiness.” ( quoted from an article in The Christian Century, May 16, 2001)


I did promise to share a children’s book with you. It’s a wonderful book called Granddad’s Prayers of the Earth by Douglas Wood. In the story, the grandfather shares with his grandson his love of God’s creation. He teaches the young boy about the prayers of the wind and streams and rocks and trees. He tells him about the wonderful variety of prayers of people as well. The boy asks his grandfather, “Are our prayers answered?” The wise man replies, “Most prayers are not really questions and if we listen very closely, a prayer is often its own answer. Like the tree and winds and waters, we pray because we are here. Not to change the world, but to change ourselves. Because it is when we change ourselves that the world is changed.”

In this in-between time, let us pray, remembering that prayer is our response to God by thought and by deed. Pray in adoration and oblation, allowing yourself to be drawn into the mystery of God. Pray in awe, taking the time to wait in wonder and reverence. Pray not to change the world, but to change ourselves, to become one with God and each other. Because it is when we change ourselves that we change the world. Amen.


Copyright © 2007 Anne E. Kitch

Easter 6: The Question is...

The Rev. Canon Anne E. Kitch
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5, John 5:1-9

Sometimes life is just about trying to survive. What do we need to survive?

Jesus comes to a pool that is known to have healing powers. There are many people there seeking to survive. They are hoping to be healed. One man has been in need of healing for thirty-eight years. Jesus asks this man, “Do you want to be made well?” Now, I ask you, just what kind of a question is that? Jesus didn’t ask, “Do you want me to make you well?” So what kind of a question is it? I think it is one of respect and one of invitation. Jesus doesn’t assume that he knows what the man wants or needs. Whether the man wants to be healed or not is a fair question. It is also a gift. One that offers the man, and us, the chance for introspection. What do we want? Perhaps we should ask ourselves this sometime.

The man’s response to Jesus’ question is an explanation of why healing is unavailable to him. “Sir,” (he doesn’t know who Jesus is) “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up and while I am struggling to get there, someone else gets there first.” This explanation is more easily understood with some traditional commentary. If you know this story from the King James translation of the bible, you may recall this as the pool of Bethesda. Some translations insert a verse about an angel of the Lord who used to come from time to time and trouble the waters of the pool. Once the water was rippling, the first person in was cured. Thus all the people hanging about the pool watching and waiting for that moment of miracle. (Many ancient copies of this gospel do not have that verse so modern scholars don’t include it).

So when Jesus asks the man if he wants to be healed the man explains why he is not yet healed—he simply can’t get to the water. Most likely he is lame, so when the water is stirring and the miracle about to be available, he cannot get to the water first. The healing offered there is not accessible to him. So he waits. He waits for healing. He has waited for a long time. Now before arriving at this pool, Jesus had met a woman at a well where he offers her living water. He tells her “the water that I will to anyone give will become a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” This water of life is hers for the asking. The man has been unable to reach the healing waters. But then comes Jesus, who has the water of life, who is salvation. Do you want to me made well?

This question is echoed centuries later in 1864 when Baptist preacher Robert Lowery writes what has become a well know hymn, “Shall We Gather at the River?” Lowry based his him on the text we heard read from Revelation today, this glorious image of the City of God, with the great river of life flowing from the throne of God. The writer of Revelation has been given a vision of the Holy Jerusalem, the heavenly city where all creation is complete. In this City of God, there is no need of a temple in which to worship God because God is completely present. There is no need for the sun, because God’s glory is the light that ushers in everlasting day. This light draws people form all nations to its uplifting and rejuvenating presence. And in this beautiful city, flowing from the throne of God is a great and beautiful river. The river of the water of life, which gives sustenance to the tree of life on either side. These trees bloom so abundantly, that they produce fruit each month, and a different fruit each time.

This glorious City of God is what revelation is about. This is what the end times are about. This vision of the great completion of creation is what we have to look forward to. And it is a place where we will find welcome. We have already been invited. Lowry wrote this hymn on a warm afternoon as this vision played in his head. He chose to start it with a question; what he calls “a quest­ion of Christ­ian in­quiry.” For Lowry this question is the basic question of faith: “Shall we ga­ther?” Like Jesus’ question to the lame man, it is an invitation. It is not a given—not a command.
Shall we gather at the river,
Where bright angel feet have trod,
With its crystal tide forever
Flowing by the throne of God?

Like Jesus’ question to the lame man, this too is an invitation to healing and to being made whole. But this time being made whole by is accomplished by taking our place in the City of God. It is an invitation to community, to take our place with the saints.

For Lowry the answer to this invitation is yes. Thus the chorus of his hymn:
Yes, we’ll gather at the river,
The beautiful, the beautiful river;
Gather with the saints at the river
That flows by the throne of God.

In the monastic tradition, a person who wishes to become part of a community makes a series of vows or commitments. Each of these vows is for a greater length of time. There is a six-month probationary period in which a person decides if monastic life is for them. Then he or she makes a commitment of one year. Then three years, and then final vows for life. When a person makes his or her first vow for the probation period, the question they are asked is “What do you desire?” When they make their life vow, the question they are asked is, “What do you desire?”

Do you want to be made well? Shall we gather? What do you desire? Each questions is a gift. For the seeking Christian, it begins with the question—not the answer. In the presence of Christ, healing and community are immediate. Healing is available…you have to decide you want it. Community is present…you just have to show up for it. We have a God who invites, not one who compels.

Do you want to be made well? Shall we gather at the river? What do you seek?


copyright © 2007 Anne E. Kitch

Easter 5: Here we are...

The Ven. Richard I Cluett
May 6, 2007
Acts 11:1-18 + Revelation 21:1-6 + John 13:31-35

So, here we are… Christians gathered in community in the name of Jesus Christ… planted, rooted, fed and nourished by the deep riches of God's grace. Here we are, the fruit of the labor of the likes of Peter and Paul, and countless other faithful, itinerant, missionary, evangelizing followers of Christ. Here we are, recipients of the faith and tradition and stewardship and fidelity of the generations who have preceded us in this cathedral parish.

Here we are… and in that truth there is both blessing and rub. Christians planted, rooted - together - stuck with each other - through thick and thin, good times and bad tough times, in for the long haul. And when the clashes come as they always do - between our faith and our culture, our belief and the world - when differing views and understandings come within the community itself - here we are with one another and here is where we are going to be - with one another. Brothers and sisters gathered by Christ into his community.

And what is the Gospel message from Jesus? “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should love one another. By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Pretty clear, isn't it? Not easy, but clear!

And if it is not clear enough for you, let me remind you that Jesus is giving this new commandment right after washing the feet of his disciples as he prepares to go to the Cross. That’s the nature of the love we are to share, exhibit, and live.

Do you know what keeps us from loving our neighbors, whether they are within the church or outside? Our neighbors do. They keep us from loving them. Don't you have to admit, in all truthfulness, that some of the people among whom you live and move and have your being are not very lovable, at least some of the time.

And furthermore, there seem to be very few possibilities of life in this day and time without conflict - without the clashing of differences. And if we continue speaking the truth, is it not true that there will always be conflicts whether they be between generations in a family, or between leaders and those being led; even between and among people with a common purpose, but with different views about how to move toward that purpose? Even in the Church?

Some questions for us who are in this Christian enterprise, in this particular community, for the long haul are: To what do we point with the testimony of our lives? What do our individual lives and our community life say about us? What are the signs of discipleship? Do the words and actions of our lives convict us before the world as disciples of that Jesus? Is there any place where we, individually or corporately, could be hindering God?

Jesus said that the sign of discipleship is the love shown to the world by his community of disciples. It is by this that people will know the nature of the Jesus whom we call Lord. It will tell the world plainly - if we love powerfully. Love ourselves, love one another, and even love those who are in the world but have not yet, heard, known, believed, or accepted the Gospel. The fundamental command is not that we agree, but that we love.

It is true that that even though there is not the possibility of living without conflict, there is the possibility of life without hostility. Conflict is inherent when more than one is gathered together; hostility is outside the life lived in the name of Jesus.

All of which is to suggest that the failure to love does not lie outside ourselves, but rather somewhere within us. And that, of course, is what makes this so hard.

Sometimes it is our insecurity that keeps us from living love. Where do we find the deep down security that will give us the confidence we need to live fully and to love fully? Here! It is precisely in Jesus Christ and in his community that we find the possibility of doing away with the need for self-protection.

It is true, what the Sergeant on that great old TV show, Hill Street Blues, said when he sent his squad out into the streets, “Be careful, you can get hurt out there.”

But there are other truths as well. Jesus has given us himself, the assurance of security, and each other. In the book "Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten", one of the learnings is “When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.”

But, some could, and do, say, “You know, there are some people that you just don't like. The vibes are bad. You know the saying, ‘I love people, its just Harry who gives me a pain.’ ”

For Peter, the issue was with Gentiles, people who thought, ate, and lived differently from the ways of the Jews. In our day and time and culture, it could be Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, illegal immigrants, gays and lesbians, poor people, aged people, any people who think, eat, or live differently from how we do, or with whom we just disagree.

It is true that those feelings exist, but it is also true that there are other feelings, other influences, other urges that work just as automatically, but for love. And it is here in the community of Jesus, in the common life, prayer, and work of the people of God. It is here that we are exposed to the possibility of being able to love the Jesus way. It is here that we will find others who also are willing to make the attempt with us - not in spite of who we are - but rather because of who we are.

As Barbara Crafton wrote this week, “Not that we won't make any mistakes. Not that we'll be sinless. Not that we'll agree on everything important. None of these will certify our discipleship. The imprint of our love for Jesus and his love for us will be shown in the way we treat one another.”

It is here that hostility, is unacceptable and declared to be sin. It is here that there is healing and forgiveness for the unwanted hostility that is in each of us. It is here where we find support and encouragement as we move out into the neighborhood, and the marketplace, and the home, and the workplace and the playground to seek and to do the will of God.

Because this is where we live, we know what needs to be done, we know the strategies to employ, we know the people who need the gospel of Jesus, we know we have each other, and Jesus has told us how important it is for the world to see and know the truth. Amen.

Easter 3: Taken

April 22, 2007
The Ven Richard I Cluett
Acts 9:1-6 + Revelaton 5:11-14 + John 21:1-19

This has been a week of death, pain, tragedy, terror, fear and heroism. At Virginia Tech, in colleges and universities, in towns and villages and cities, and in homes throughout this land and throughout the world where vulnerability, the fragility of life, and human powerlessness in the face of death have all been re-woven in horrific bold relief.

“Life is a crap-shoot,” I have heard it said this week. You never know when your number is up. Others said, “Life is like being a fish in a barrel, there’s no escape.” Even if you know, you can’t do anything about it.

As if they were saying, We are at the mercy of random chance. We are at the mercy of fickle fate. We are at the mercy of the powers of darkness. We are at the mercy of the forces of evil. We are at the mercy of the capricious ways, whims and wiles of the world.

We are at the mercy…

Lord have mercy…

The victims at Virginia Tech ranged in age from 18 to 76; they came from nine states, along with Puerto Rico, Egypt, India, Indonesia, and Romania. They were male and female, African-American, Asian, Middle Eastern and Caucasian. They were all people who began a day little knowing it would suddenly end their lives. True also for the victims of the Baghdad bombings this week – and every week.

Dear friend Barbara Crafton wrote through her own pain, Oh, beloved! Oh, dear and funny ones, serious young ones, confused and uncertain young ones and confident young ones -- may the holy angels lead you into paradise and may you be there, in some mysterious way, everything God intended you to be here! Oh, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers, grandmas and granddads! Oh, aunts and uncles and cousins and friends -- you all deserved so much better than this. *

In the memorial convocation Tuesday evening at Virginia Tech, Professor and poet Nikki Giovanni said: “We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning. … We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, … No one deserves a tragedy.”

Each of them, each victim of terror was taken where they had no thought of going, where they had no desire to go.

And in the gospel lesson, following breakfast on the beach Jesus tells Peter a hard truth, “Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” Eventually and finally that is true for each and every one of us.

The question of death and how to live with it comes to us as we see family and friends – and ourselves – age, face life threatening diseases, accidents, happenstance – being in the wrong place at the wrong time – and terminal illness. The fragility of life and our utter powerlessness in the face of death.

At such a time we need to remember lessons that we have learned from the experience and testimony of others – lessons that remind us of important realities:
1) life is a gift from God,
2) the importance of family, friends, and community, and
3) the place of God and faith in our lives.

The undeniable truth that life is a gift – a gift from God – is paramount in our faith. The fragility of life becomes clear as we deal with our own limitations. In the face of death we are powerless. We face the mystery of life as we taste the possibility of death. The “why” and the “how” and the “when”remain a mystery to the very end. Death brings us to the farthest reaches of human experience and understanding. It brings us to the very edge, closer to the mystery than ever before.

And so we must finally turn to God, and we must turn to each other.

In such a time, in this event we can rediscover the strength and wisdom held by family and friends. They can grace us with the insight of our deep need to belong to family and to community. It can remind us of the truth of belonging to God’s family and of the comfort and power of that relationship. That is precisely why as he was dying on the Cross Jesus commended his mother Mary and his beloved disciple to one another.

We are reminded of what is really important in life and what is trivial. It gives us a chance to rediscover and treasure the beauty, flawed as it might be, of family and friends, and to be patient with our own beauty. We rediscover anew our interdependence with others and the bonds of life we share.

Ultimately, the mystery of death offers the great lesson of the importance of God in our lives. When we cannot bear the unbearable, our refuge is in God. Where else can we turn except to the one who says, “Come to me all who bear heavy burdens and I will give you rest”?

It is like being welcomed into the hospitality of Jesus the Risen Christ as he welcomed those to breakfast on the shores of Galilee.

When the tomb was empty it radiated with the risen Christ. Whether our hearts are empty or full they, too, can radiate with the Risen Christ and the knowledge that both the ones we have loved and lost, and we ourselves are in the embrace of the loving God yesterday, today, tomorrow and for all time, no matter what.

*Worst Case Scenario, April 17, 2007
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Easter 2: Retracing our Steps

The Rev. Canon Anne E. Kitch

Acts 5:27-32, Revelation 1:4-8, John 20:19-31

A friend of mine wears a button that says, “I remember I walked into this room for a reason.” You know this thing that happens when we suddenly find ourselves standing in the middle of the living room and wondering what it was we intended to do. Some say that this is a symptom of aging, that as we age we forget more. Perhaps. But it seems to me that I have been retracing my steps for as long as I can remember. I am ever hopeful that if I walk the path again, or go back to where I started the thought process, my body will somehow remember what was so important. Remembering is important. Retracing our steps is not just a telling act of aging, but a necessary act of living more deeply. In her book The Desert Mothers: Spiritual Practices from the Women of the Wilderness, Episcopal priest Mary Earle writes that in the tradition of desert spirituality, “the primordial sin is the sin of forgetting—forgetting that God brings us into being and that each life is a treasure.”

Today we retrace our Easter steps. We hear the Easter story again, so that we can remember why we came into this room. It is still the day of the resurrection in this story from John’s Gospel. Mary Magdalene has encountered Christ at the empty tomb, but the other disciples have not. As they gather that evening, perhaps trying to make sense of what Mary has told them, Jesus is suddenly among them. He greets them with peace. He shows them his hands and side, demonstrating that the risen one still bears the wounds of his humanity and suffering. He commissions them all, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” He gives them strength for the journey, breathing the Holy Spirit on them, into them. But Thomas isn’t there. The others tell him later, “We have seen the Lord!” But he wants to see for himself.

Doubting Thomas. I often think we give Thomas a hard time, calling him the doubter. All he wants is to see the risen Christ. He wants to touch him and know this miracle is true. After all, everyone else got to; they didn’t have to believe without seeing. Wouldn’t you want to see for yourself? Wouldn’t you want to touch Christ and know this miracle in person? A week later, Thomas gets his chance. The community gathers again and this time Thomas is there. Christ comes again. Thomas sees and touches and believes. See, the moment at the tomb when Mary recognizes the risen Christ is a glorious one—but it is not the only moment of encounter. Mary first tells the others about it, and then they meet the risen Christ in the upper room. They too go out and tell what they have seen, and Thomas comes. From the very beginning the disciples have to rehearse it. They retrace their steps to remind themselves of the reality and significance of the resurrection. They gather again, tell the story again and eventually some of them will write it down.

Do you remember what Christ says after Thomas has seen him? Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have come to believe. That is us. Christ calls us blessed. Because we do not have that first-person, hands-on experience of the risen one—or do we? Who are we, this gathered community? Are we not the body of Christ? And when we gather each week, when we retrace our steps and remember and rehearse the story, we embody Christ for all who are searching. Do you remember what the writer of John’s gospel says at the end of telling the Easter story? “I am writing this so that you may come to believe. I am retracing my steps so that I can remember and tell you. I am retelling the story so that you can believe and that in believing you can have life.”

You may not think that you have this life in you. There are days when I am not sure what I believe and am certain I have nothing to offer anyone. So, you may feel abundantly full of new life today, or you may feel that you have nothing to offer anyone else. Nevertheless, people will find Christ here. People will experience new life here today because you are here. Because you have retraced your steps to here, others will experience the risen Christ. This is what we do when we gather each week. We are the body of Christ. We are here so that anyone who is searching for Christ can find that life here. Maybe it is someone who has never been here before, maybe it is someone who is always here. Remember, you came here for a reason. Remember, it is still Easter.

The push of Holy Week crescendos in the burst of glory that last week’s Easter celebration was. But that is not all. The fast of Lent was 40 days and the feast of Easter is even longer: the Great 50 Days we call it. It is a seven week long party and celebration. This is reflected in our liturgy: the Alleluias have been uncovered, the Paschal candle burns brightly and we dress the church in the white vestments of the resurrection. But perhaps this story gets too familiar, or old, or easy. What reminds us “Why did I walk into this room?” Why are we here now today? So we retrace our steps and retell the story. As we gathered today, the children flowered this cross to remember the new life that Christ offers and to remind us that the Easter celebration continues. And in just a few moments, our young people will help us all remember that God brings us into being, and each of us is a treasure.

All through Lent, the youth of this parish have been collecting for the Heifer Project, a ministry which provides livestock to families so they can provide a living for themselves. It is a ministry that gives life. Through the Heifer Project, you can send a hive of bees, a flock of chickens or even a heifer. The youth of this parish will bring forward their offerings today, and when the money is counted, they will gather together and choose what gift of life they can send to someone who needs life. They will share the new life they find in Easter with others. We remember that all are treasured by offering some of our treasure. But I tell you, the coins that will go into this ark up here are not the greatest treasure we will send from this congregation. We also send forth the treasure of our children’s hope and generosity which they offer so willingly. The first Heifer offering to be received came last night, as one of our teenagers made sure to bring it with her to Saturday’s service. She remembered.

We are gathered here today, but Thomas is not here. Someone is missing. Someone who may be here next week and needs to hear the story. Someone who needs to experience this community. Perhaps for the first time. Perhaps for the hundredth. That is a treasure that we can offer. That is the gift of life that we embody at this very moment. That is why we tell the story over and over again. We remind one another why we came into this room. This room of a glorious Cathedral. This room of love and community. This room of hope for a different way of life. Remember, you came into this room for a reason.

Copyright © 2007 Anne E. Kitch