Sermons by Bishop Paul V. Marshall
Celebration of New Ministry at St. Peter's, Hazleton and St. James, Drifton, with their new Rector, Laurence Miller
May 16, 1998
[Romans 12:1-18; John 15:9-16]First, a few soundbites...
[If how you are being treated is the main thing on your mind, you will always be disappointed, so let the mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus...]
[We work hard at nurturing our fellowship because we understand that God has called us for a purpose, God has called us for the sake of the others. The minute we lose sight of that, we are on the wrong track, straying like lost sheep...]
[I've never figured out why adherents of Christianity, of all religions, get so upset when they discover sin in their midst...]
[Jesus did not die on the cross to show us how to get even with each other, but how "to triumph over every evil."]
******************* I think it is better that you know this before you go much further with your relationship with your new rector. I have made inquiries of his previous bishops and wardens, as well as checking the references he gave. I discovered that besides his wonderfully gentle, positive, and pleasant soul, besides his deep commitment to our Lord and the Church, Fr. Larry is, well, imperfect. I have discovered that he does in fact sin, following too much the devices and desires of his own heart.
This caused me some concern, so I started checking up on the people at St James' and St Peter's churches. I discovered that they have many fine qualities and genuine virtues, but besides all of this, from Wardens to the smallest acolytes, they too are imperfect, and even sin from time to time, straying from God's ways like lost sheep. Ah, I thought, a match made in heaven. No wonder it took so long for them to find each other.
Silliness aside, as is the case in every rector-parish relationship, there is no hope for lasting productivity in this your relationship unless there is mutual awareness that we come together in the church as forgiven and reconciled sinners whom the love of Jesus Christ has called from death to joyous and productive life. When that fundamental sister- and brotherhood in Christ is the context in which you work together, so much big trouble can be avoided and so much grace can flow through you to each other and to your communities.
I say all this because the epistle lesson Fr. Larry has chosen for today gives us no wiggle room in this regard. St. Paul is on fire in Romans: faith and life are so tightly intertwined in it as to be inseparable. So, as they say in the Orthodox church, "Wisdom! Attend!"
Paul begins our passage today by begging us, by the mercies of God, to understand the basic truth that our lives, not just our Sunday mornings, are to be enacted worship of God. Very simply put, how you treat your loved ones, how you behave at work and school, how you vote, how you deal with strangers, how you take care of your health and spend your money -- everything in life provides the opportunity to tell God what you think about him.
You realize, don't you, that this means that greatness is within everyone's reach -- just live your life for and with God, and for heaven's sake, let God help you through the tough spots.
St. Paul knew that what he was urging here would be so dismissable as sentimental religious hot air, so he gives some examples. He starts by reminding each of us not to think too highly of ourselves. I want to suggest that this means having, among other things, thicker skin.
No matter what people try to do in the church, there will be somebody who will try to get attention for themselves and divert attention from the common goal. Usually that happens by having hurt feelings, or feeling insulted or left out, and then making lots of noise waiting for other people to tend to your hurt feelings or dialing 911 for the sensitivity police.
I've never figured out why adherents of Christianity, of all religions, get so upset when they discover sin in their midst -- isn't sin what it's all about? So we need to say, perhaps sternly, to ourselves each morning: "Don't be surprised or hurt by other people's failings." In the first place, you may be wrong and they be in the right, but there is something more important at stake here, something about the core of our faith. Jesus did not die on the cross to show us how to get even with each other, but how "to triumph over every evil." Remember, Jesus' words on the cross were "Father, forgive them," not "boy, are they going to pay at the last judgment." After the resurrection, Jesus's words to the disciples, who after all, had denied or deserted him, were not, "Peter, is there anything at all that you can think of that you want to apologize to me for?" No, that would be ludicrous on the lips of a savior, and Jesus does say, simply, shalom, "Peace be with you."
You see the difference. Each of us can walk this planet as either a giver or a taker. If the main thing on your mind is how you are being treated, you are by that very fact, not following the Christ who was content to hand himself over to betrayal, degradation, and death. If how you are being treated is the main thing on your mind, you will always be disappointed, so let the mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.
That's the down side to his plan. Paul does go on in our epistle to another side: "Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good: love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor." If you need to hate, hate evil. I am taken by that last line, "outdo one another in showing honor." How would our churches be different if each and every member made it a personal and invariable principle not to leave the building on Sunday without thanking or encouraging at least one other member? It might be saying to an organist, usher, acolyte, coffee person, or even the rector, that you are helped by what they contributed that morning. It might as simple as saying to someone who comes every Sunday that you have been encouraged by their faithfulness.
Now here's the magic. What if we take that principle of showing honor into our lives at home and at work? It's amazing how people around us change with a little encouragement. <g>
I have a friend who was taught by her parents never to go to sleep at night without thanking God for at least five things that happened that day. Telling you this could be more religious hot air but for one thing: it works. My thankful friend is the most consistently cheerful, the most consistently hard-working, the most genuinely helpful person I have ever known. "Hold fast to what is good...outdo one another in showing honor."
In our gospel passage we hear the same message from the lips of the Savior. "Love one another as I have loved you." As He loved us in incarnation, cross and resurrection. As he loved us in giving himself as a servant. The passage goes on as Jesus promotes his associates from servants to friends, people who know what he is doing and have a part in the work, people who are to bear fruit.
Each in its own way, St James and St Peter's churches has work to do, work where Jesus is expecting tangible fruit to be borne. St Peter's has the myriad of challenges of being an urban church in a city that has seen a time of stress. St. James finds itself no longer an isolated country church, and needs to bear fruit by reaching out to all the people around it. Like Jesus Christ, each Christian, and each parish, must be there for others. We work hard at nurturing our fellowship because we understand that God has called us for a purpose, God has called us for the sake of the others. The minute we lose sight of that, we are on the wrong track, straying like lost sheep.
So the chief shepherd Jesus Christ keeps calling us back to the path he has laid out. He does that in many ways and through many people, but today we are mindful that he does that through the ministry of rectors who serve as prophets to direct us and as priests to comfort and strengthen us. The tools of that ministry are word and sacrament, presence and counsel, and holy example. I would not be here today, let alone preaching, if I did not believe that you have recognized and found in your new priest the kind of person who will be an excellent friend, brother, example, and pastor to the people of your two churches.
Let's do him a favor, then. In a very few minutes Fr. Larry will kneel down and dedicate himself to your service, body, soul, and spirit in the words of a very old and very moving prayer. Let's set the context of that moving moment by saying a prayer of our own that commits us to a partnership with him. It is number 62 on page 833; would you stand and turn to it, please. Page 833.
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us so love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that are born to eternal life. Amen.
With those words on our lips we offer Father Larry a welcome that means a commitment of lives lived to God's glory and for the life of the world.
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