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| Independence Mayor Bonita Davis signs the Proclamation naming Sunday, May 4, 2014 as St. James' Day. |
This weekend was the culmination of the yearlong celebration
of the 150th anniversary of the church building which houses St James’ Episcopal Church in Independence. I was with them in September as the people filled and
dedicated a time capsule to be buried in the foundations of the Church. The
spot was close to where they had found a time capsule from one hundred fifty years
ago. Throughout the year, the people of St James put on a church-wide display
of their history for the community, complimenting their growing ministry of
presence within their town.
For years, St James had fallen on hard times. Numbers were
very small, and often services were taken by clergy and lay leaders who would
come regularly from Christ Church Cedar Rapids, or Trinity Iowa City.
The names of as many of them as could be found were offered to God in
thanksgiving during the litany of thanksgiving in the celebration on Sunday. I
remember the annual pledge of the congregation would be $25, a sign that the
congregation felt that it was barely surviving. It was significant, I thought,
that the teaching session on Saturday afternoon was on the subject of
“reframing hope”. Certainly I was teaching within a community that was a living
example of attempting to do just that. Ten years ago, I don’t think we could
have imagined that the mayor would be visiting St James on May 3, 2014, and in
honor of their 150 years of ministry, be declaring May 4, 2014, as “St. James
Episcopal Church Day” in Independence!
This successful revival has been led by Deacon Sue Ann
Raymond, who returned to Independence to spend Thanksgiving with her family and
heard God’s call to leave Colorado and come home. Soon, her energetic efforts
at lifting up the church’s profile in the town were being supported by new
leadership in the congregation, especially by Senior Warden Marilyn Basquin.
And, Sean Burke, a priest who teaches biblical studies at Luther College in
Decorah, joined the congregation. In turn, Sean brought a young graduate of
Luther, Steven Lieberherr. For my part, I invited Tom and Sara Early, who are
now preparing to go to Sewanee for ordination formation in August, to make
their church home there.
The wonderful hospitality both for the clergy lunch on
Saturday and for the Sunday celebration was but an example of what the
community of Independence enjoys every Friday on what is now known as “Hot Dog
Friday.” It is good to see more long-standing members and leaders revitalized
by the presence of the new. The basement of the church now houses a walk-in
clothes store with its own access to the street, which is professionally managed
and presented. The Church has also teamed up with the large community
congregation that takes up the whole block one street over from St James in
some shared ministries. Rather than be overwhelmed by the close proximity of
such a Church (whose popularity often make our own congregations feel small and
forgotten and gives cause for collective low self-esteem), St James has sought
to partner with their neighbors, knowing that they provide a different way of
presenting and being Jesus for the population. Theirs is a complimentary
partnership in Christ.
Saturday was also my 64th birthday. If I worried
that someone would still need me and feed me, I had no such fear. On Saturday
night members of the congregation took me out for a birthday dinner, where I
learned about feeding chickens and cow herding and calling from very worldly-wise
eight and eleven year-olds, who were our torch bearers the next day (and sold
me two dozen eggs).
Reframing hope was the appropriate theme for the weekend.
The people of St James have been seeking to do this these past few years. In
one sense, it is a congregation that has held on through some difficult times
waiting for the kind of new leadership that has come among them and through
whom God has sparked some new life. Placing the capsule into the foundation to
be discovered in another hundred years is another action of hope. Growing into
the name of their town of Independence, and learning a leadership which is not
dependent on one or two, but can reach into the next generation and into the
community beyond the current congregation, is how that hope will be realized.
It was a wonderful way to spend one’s birthday, and yet another experience that
underscores how much we need to share and learn from one another.
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| From left: the Rev. Kate Campbell, the Rev. Sarah Lopez,the Rev. Elizabeth Popplewell, the Rev. Dr. Sean D. Burke, the Right Rev. Alan Scarfe, Bishop, the Rev. Chuck Lane, the Rev. Ruth Ratliff, the Rev. Liane Nichols, the Rev. Maureen Doherty and the Rev. Sue Ann Raymond. |
Sermon at St James Episcopal Church, Independence—4 May 2014
The Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Los Angeles, Mary Glasspool, asked the House of Bishops in March if we had one
story from Scripture to tell that conveyed the essence of the Gospel, what
would it be? For her it was our Gospel reading today from Luke, and the two men
on the road to Emmaus. I wonder what yours might be? I could go with this one.
It talks about the events in Jerusalem culminating in the
crucifixion of Jesus. They speak of the hopes and anticipated promises of those
who had been following Jesus like these two men, and even mention the rumors of
the resurrection which they clearly did not believe. In many ways, as they tell
their story to Jesus, we are learning more about them than we do the stranger
who has joined them: their hopes, and their tragic disappointment, their
permeating sadness and the grief which overwhelmed them and resisted any
fanciful testimony about a resurrection appearance.
It is not difficult to see ourselves through their eyes. At
points in our lives we have been where they are, or at some point we will be.
And it is only then that the stranger begins to weigh in on their situation,
and we start learning something about this inquisitive companion.
He points out things beyond the facts. He reframes their
conversation within the context of a new way of looking at the Hebrew
tradition. Starting from Moses, he signals the clues to a new presence within
the Holy texts—texts with which we are more familiar because down the centuries
we have been taught to see Scripture through this new perspective. Think of
Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness, or the familiar words of Isaiah 53, or Psalm 22: He is asking, “Are you
sure that is what was really happening?” And yet, all along the way, there is
no self-revelation, nor any challenging of their incredulity about their
unbelief about the revelation. Jesus placed Himself at the mercy of their
reciprocal inquisitiveness, and their hospitality as the day came to its end.
And his patience was rewarded.
The weight of intrigue and interest had shifted—from their
sorrow and preoccupations to the stranger’s intriguing narrative, insight, and
yes, possibly his person. Maybe they thought this man speaks with authority and
not like the scribes and the Pharisees, and where had they heard that said
before and about whom?
They were ready for further conversation—and so it happened—but
again at the pace of their own capacity for insight. They recognized Him at the
breaking of the bread, and He left them wanting more.
Jesus asked questions first. He came alongside them. He
asked about their conversation and allowed them to talk out their sorrow and
their profound disappointment and confusion. He was unreactive to their initial
surly attitude—“Where have you been these past few days? Are you the only one
not to know what has gone on?” they asked. Ironically he was center stage for
the whole event. He knew it in his bones and stricken flesh. He had experienced
it all first hand. Yet he never became defensive. He refused to turn the
conversation to become about Him. His focus was on them; until he felt that
they were ready for a lesson in interpreting prophecy!
Then his expertise began to show itself, and because He had
listened to them, they were now ready to listen to Him, even to the point where
they began to feel their own hearts burn with an unclear longing and
recognition as He talked.
This is a rare glimpse of Jesus as an evangelist. We might
compare it to John 4,
and his encounter with the woman at the well. His success stems from His
willingness to be about the other person rather than tell them about Himself or
even be seeking to tell them what he knows.
Is it possible that until we learn to care more about people
beyond our church walls than we care about telling our own stories, we will
always miss out on the invitation into people’s homes, or on receiving the
invitation to “stay with us?” Isn’t it really what you are seeking to do when
you host people for hot dog Fridays? And maybe we need to settle as Jesus did
for when the opportunity comes to be invited to their homes—rather than be
overly eager to offer ours. This is how Jesus prepared someone for conversion—for
a new perspective on life.
What evokes from people the question from Acts of the
Apostles: What then should we do? When we listen to you we felt a longing for
something different, something more. You shift our sense of ourselves and give
us hope that there’s something else to how to see and live our lives. What then
should we do?
Only then do we respond about being turned around, going in
a different direction, about baptism that demonstrates that, about being
forgiven and restored with a new Spirit who pours perfect love into our hearts.
Bishop Glasspool chose a good passage. It really does say it
all. Above all it reveals Jesus the Evangelist. As such He shows us that
sharing good news is first about showing interest in people; paying attention
to their story; making room for their story and to how they are feeling about
it; keeping quiet and giving yourself to listening; learning through the
process to care more deeply for them. It
is after you have honored a person with listening that you might receive the right
to speak. Then you can speak your truth as you understand God to reveal it, and
you wait for the invitation to stay around, and to be asked, “What then should
we do?”
Let us make this passage our prayer, and see what roads and
among what strangers God will lead us.
Amen
