The Annual Meeting-6 Epiphany B

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
February 12, 2012

6 Epiphany B/Annual Meeting

One Sunday many years ago now, I saw an announcement in our bulletin that asked for 10 dozen cookies for the Kairos Prison Ministry. My assumption was that the 10 was a typo and that we really needed 100 dozen. Typically when we are asked to make cookies for a Kairos Prison Ministry team, we are asked to make 200 dozen cookies for the people in prison as a sign of God’s abundant love for them. .A mere 10 dozen would be a drop in the Kairos bucket.

But there was another totally unrelated reason why I knew a mere 10 dozen cookies would not work. Here at Christ Church, both then and now, when the call goes out for something outrageous like 200 dozen cookies for Kairos or for Christmas in July, we all know we all have help and we do. But something small like 10 dozen cookies...someone else will take care of that. This is a church where it is easier to do something big than it is to do something small, because when the task is big we all know we have to pitch in and make it happen. When the task is small, we tend to think someone else will take care of it.

So, we are a bit like Naaman in this morning’s story from 2 Kings. When Naaman is told by Elisha to go and wash in the Jordan 7 times, and he will be cleansed of his leprosy, Naaman becomes angry at the simplicity of the cure and stalks off. His servant runs after him and says "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was "Wash and be clean?" Naaman would have quickly done whatever difficult task Elisha had given him, but was insulted by the thought that simply washing in the Jordan would cure his leprosy.

At Christ Church, we have done some amazing things this year. We held our first Reading Camp for children going in to 3^rd grade who were behind in their reading skills. Reading Camp requires the effort of many people since, in addition to working with the children on their reading skills, we also provide two meals each day, take the children on field trips, and need people to purchase supplies, do laundry, provide security for the building, raise the money to pay for everything since Reading Camp is free, and do countless other things to make the week come together. We also hosted Springfield for the second annual Dayton Gay Men’s Chorus Christmas concert, which requires many people to usher and do all that is required to provide a reception for 200 people. Once again last year, we hosted the Neighborhood Fair where the entire neighborhood is invited for an afternoon of free rummage, food, games, and prizes. Many, many people are needed to provide the food, sort and set up a mind boggling amount of rummage, run the fair, clean up, and do the countless other tasks involved with providing hospitality to an unknown number of people who are deeply hungry for both food and a good time. When we are faced with a big challenge, we all know we all need to help in one way or another, and we do.

However, the day to day things are the back bone of this, and any, congregation. How easy it is to say "Someone else will be at church today," or "Someone else will pledge and support the church financially," or "Someone else will be Sheriff Woody, or serve on the vestry, or help with Sunday School, or sing in the choir, or prepare a meal for Interfaith Hospitality Network." This list goes on and on. The simple, small, day to day things are the things we all too often assume someone else will take care of.

Here’s where Naaman steps back into our lives. Naaman could take the quite simple step of washing in the river and being healed, or he could insist on some very difficult dramatic step and remain a leper. We can each take simple steps to make Christ Church an even stronger, more vibrant parish, or we can wait for another really big project to come along when we think we are really needed. In an era when church attendance is declining across mainline denominations, where revenues are dropping, and many churches are having to close their doors, we can think that church is all about the big events like Reading Camp, or the Neighborhood Fair, or Christmas and Easter. But the truth is that the real strength of any parish lies in the day to day ministry of the parish, not the grand and glorious ones that we are so good at.

So, I offer a few simple steps, tantamount to simply washing in the river, to make us an ever more vibrant parish in the city of Springfield and take us ever farther away from the abyss of decline.

First, I suggest that we live like people who really believe that the presence, participation, and giving of each one of us matters. In other words, end "someone else will do it" thinking. Remember that the body of Christ is made of many parts and each part has a unique role to play for the body to function.

Secondly, Jesus showed us how to welcome the stranger and he calls us to practice abundant hospitality. Welcome visitors. Call people we haven’t seen in a while. Invite people to coffee hour. Talk to people you don’t know. Invite new people to get involved in specific ministries. If each of us practices our piece of hospitality, we will be among the most welcoming, inviting and engaging churches in Springfield.

Lastly, while Jesus told the leper in this morning’s gospel lesson not to say anything to anyone about his healing, that was only because in Mark’s gospel, people will not understand who Jesus really is until after the resurrection. After the resurrection, the man at the tomb says to the disciples "Go, tell Peter and the disciples that Jesus has gone ahead of you to Galilee." "Go, tell." We live after the resurrection, so the command to us is to go, tell. Go, tell people what God is doing in this place. The only way the world will hear about what is going on at Christ Church is if we tell them and do not assume that someone else will do the telling.

That’s it. Perhaps this sounds a bit like Naaman being told that the cure for his leprosy is to simply wash in the Jordan River 7 times. He wanted something more difficult that seemed more worthy of his time. Give us something complicated and difficult to do, and we will do it well. But if we want to continue to grow and prosper, to paraphrase Paul in the reading from I Corinthians this morning, we’re going to have to run this race like we intend to win. On this Annual Meeting day, Naaman’s servant says to each of us "If the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he asked of you was to know that each one of us matters, practice abundant hospitality, and go, tell.’"

Amen.

5 Epiphany B 2012

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
February 5, 2012

5 Epiphany B

Every Wednesday afternoon at 1 o’clock, the door of the Christ Church Food Pantry opens for the crowd of people gathered under the porch of Hollenbeck House. Ever since last fall, the crowd has been growing larger and the need has been staggering. Our Food pantry does not take appointments so we never know how many people we will serve. Typically, the beginning of the month is very light, and the end of the month is very busy. These past few months, however, even the Wednesdays early in the month have seen a surge in the number of people needing food, and the grocery bill for the Food Pantry has grown in proportion to the increased need. Some weeks the cost of restocking the pantry for the following Wednesday is as high as $600 and we wonder if we will continue to have the money to operate. But the donations continue to come in and Wednesday after Wednesday our volunteers are able to fill grocery bags with three days worth of food for hungry person after hungry person. Some days there seems to be no end to the hunger in our community.

I wonder if Jesus felt overwhelmed this morning when the whole city of Capernaum gathered outside the door of the house where he was staying. The gospel tells us that Jesus cured many who were sick and cast out many demons that evening. But apparently there were many more than even Jesus could cure. We are told that the next morning, while the sky was still very dark, Jesus got up and went to a deserted place to pray. In the linear story line of the gospel, the last time Jesus went to a deserted place to pray, he was in the wilderness for 40 days and was tempted by Satan. We won’t hear that story until the first Sunday of Lent, but Jesus was actually in the wilderness just a few verses ago.

Part of the reason I wonder whether Jesus felt overwhelmed is the enormity of having the whole city show up on the door step wanting healing for themselves or their loved ones. The other reason I wonder is because of the darkness of his time alone. Jesus left while it was still very dark and went to a deserted place, a place that may well have reminded him of that recent time in the wilderness. Jesus had been confronted with tremendous human need. How was he to respond? What was he to do? He could go back to Capernaum and spend his whole ministry healing the people there and still not be finished. Or he could move on to other towns and villages. How was Jesus to respond to the overwhelming amount of human need at his doorstep?

While Jesus was praying, we are told that Simon and his companions hunted him down. The newly minted disciples did not merely go looking for Jesus. They hunted him down as if Jesus was some sort of prey. When the disciples found Jesus, they said "Everyone is search for you." Of course the people were searching for Jesus. There were desperate people in need of healing and they had seen and heard about Jesus’ power. The disciples had seen Jesus at work the day before, and they, too, knew what Jesus could do and what a successful ministry he could enjoy in Capernaum. But Jesus’ prayer time has strengthened him. The prophet Isaiah said "those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." So Jesus can now say "Let us go to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came to do."

Jesus’ mission is to proclaim the good news that the Kingdom of God has come near. Jesus does that, at least in part, by healing and casting out demons. The disciples want Jesus to go back to Capernaum and bask in his success, but Jesus knows that his mission is to keep moving and proclaim the gospel in new places. The gospel has been proclaimed in Capernaum so now Jesus needs to move on. So Jesus travels through out Galilee, proclaiming the message in the synagogues and casting out demons.

Springfield will always have more hungry people than we can feed, more children than we can tutor, more need than we can possibly ever meet. Most of us are not going to feed hungry people in Springfield this week and move on to another city or town next week. In the face of overwhelming need, the temptation may be to simply give up and wonder what good our little drop in the bucket of hunger relief can do, other than provide a temporary solution for a few people each week. However, Jesus offers us a different way to look at the outreach work we do that helps keep us from being overwhelmed.

Jesus reminds us this morning that our primary mission is to proclaim the good news. The apostle Paul seconds that when he reminds us in the reading from I Corinthians of our obligation to proclaim the gospel. To stay centered on that mission, we, like Jesus, need regular time for prayer so that our strength is renewed, for proclaiming the gospel is no less daunting a task than feeding the hungry. But our mission is not to feed every hungry person in Springfield, any more than Jesus’ mission was to heal every person in all of Capernaum. Our mission is, however, to proclaim the good news that the Kingdom of God has arrived by doing one church’s worth, no more and no less, to make sure that people do not go to bed at night hungry. If our primary goal is to feed every hungry person in Springfield, we will be overwhelmed by the need and disappointed by our failure. If our primary goal is to proclaim that the Kingdom of God has arrived, and to do so by distributing as much food as we can to as many people as we can, then we will not be overwhelmed because we will have accomplished the work we were given to do. Our mission is to proclaim with our lives that the Kingdom of God is at hand, and in doing so, the hungry will be fed, children will be tutored, and we will make a difference in the lives of the people living in this neighborhood.
Amen.

4 Epiphany B 2012

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
January 29, 2012

4 Epiphany B

Our son Slocomb spent a year living and working in Ecuador after he graduated from college. We found that the quickest, most effective means of international communication was the text message. For 20 cents, a message of up to 140 characters can be sent from a cell phone in Springfield, Ohio to a cell phone in Cuenca, Ecuador in a few brief seconds. For another 20 cents, a 140 character response could be received. One hundred and forty characters does not sound like a lot, but we were amazed by how much information could be shared in that amount of space. Since I am a mom, the text messages I initiated were usually a variation on "Are you okay?"or "Where are you?" And the response was usually something like "Traveling. No Internet. Home soon. Love you." Text messages Slocomb initiated said things like "bring cash when you come." The messages may not have provided any detail, but they got the basic message across. Photos would convey more information, and we would eventually hear the stories when we were together. Once we heard the stories, we would have the more complete picture of Slocomb’s experience in South America. But the text messages gave us the basic message that he was okay and gave us tantalizing clues about his adventures.

Mark’s gospel can read a bit like a series of text messages-tantalizing clues but not enough detail to fill out the story. Last week, we heard Jesus say "The Kingdom of God has come near," but we did not get a clear grasp of what the Kingdom of God is, other than that the good news of the Kingdom is so compelling that Simon, Andrew, James and John got out of their boats and followed Jesus leaving everything behind. This morning, we hear that Jesus entered the synagogue at Capernaum and taught. The people were astounded at Jesus’ teaching, for he taught as one with authority, but we are not told what Jesus taught. Wouldn’t you think that would be something important for us to know? The two verses that describe Jesus’ teaching in the synagogue would practically fit in one single text message!

The truth is, Mark has no intention of telling us what the good news is at this point in the gospel. While Mark’s gospel is written with an economy of words that can be frustrating, what the gospel is actually out to do is show us the good news. Since we don’t hear the content of Jesus’ teaching, we have to look at what Jesus does to figure out what Jesus is about. While we are told nothing about the content of Jesus’ teaching, we are told a nice bit about Jesus’ encounter with the man with an unclean spirit. We hear the questions the unclean spirit poses to Jesus. "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." And Jesus says "Be silent and come out of him." And the spirit convulses and departs from the man. Not surprisingly, we are told that Jesus’ fame begins to spread through out Galilee.

Now we have something to work with! From this story, we learn that Jesus engages people that other people, even people of faith, may avoid. We learn that Jesus has power over all that is broken within us. We learn that Jesus’ very words have power-we are not told that Jesus ever touched the man with an unclean spirit. We are told that, somehow, the unclean spirit knew exactly who Jesus was, even if we do not know yet what that means. And we are given a clue that this story is about to take off as Jesus’ fame spreads. In this gospel, Jesus’ actions tell us more about who Jesus is than Jesus’ words do.

In the reading from 1 Corinthians this morning, Paul also gives us some phrases worthy of text messaging. "Knowledge puffs up, but loves builds up." "No idol in the world really exists." "There is no God but one." These are true statements, just as "The kingdom of God has arrived" and "Jesus taught as one having authority" are true statements. Paul’s concern, however, is not that we memorize these as true statements, but that we know how to show them with our lives. In Paul’s case, there is the issue of food sacrificed to idols. How does a community live and eat together when some people believe that they cannot eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols, as most meat was in those days, and others understand that, since idols have no real existence, there is no problem with eating the meat that has been sacrificed to them. That particular issue is not our issue, but Paul’s real point is not about meat. Paul’s real point is how we live together in such a way that people around us experience "love builds up" and "no idol in the world really exists" and "there is no God but one." We may not worry about food that has been sacrificed to idols, but there are no lack of idols available for us to worship rather than God and there are no lack of issues to divide us if we let them.

Jesus came into Galilee and said "The Kingdom of God has come near," then spends the rest of his earthly life showing us what that means. Paul tells us that gospel "sound bites" are nice, but they are not enough. Our lives and our life together tell the real story. Both of these reading call us to think about the way in which our own lives tell the story of what we believe. The question is not whether we can distill our beliefs into a mere 140 character text message. The question is how someone else would describe our beliefs in 140 characters if the only evidence they have is our lives.
Amen.

3 Epiphany B 2012

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
January 22, 2012

3 Epiphany B

When I was a child, the first day of school each year was spent trying to figure out the teacher. My friends and I would analyze the teacher’s actions to try to determine what kind of teacher he or she would be. Homework on the first day was a bad sign. Letting us out early for recess was a good sign. Did the teacher seem to favor the boys or favor the girls? Or, even worse, did she seem to favor no one? What would happen if we forgot our lunch money, were late for school, left our homework at home, and on and on. Perhaps we were trying to read a bit much into those first few hours with a new teacher, but the reality is that we grown-ups do that all the time, too. My adult classmates and I did the exact same thing. By the end of the first class session, based on the syllabus and little other evidence, we had figured out whether the professor and the class would be impossibly difficult or simply impossible. As adults, we look at the very first inaugural actions of the president, whether of the United States or the company for which we work, to try to gain an understanding of what this person will be like. Those first words and actions set the tone for what is to follow.

This morning, we hear Jesus’ inaugural words and actions; the first words and actions of his public ministry in Galilee. Mark’s gospel moves very quickly, so in the first 13 verses of this gospel, which is the entire gospel prior to our reading this morning, we have seen John the Baptist baptizing in the Jordan River, watched him baptize Jesus is that river, and heard about Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan. Now Jesus comes into Galilee and proclaims the Good News of God, saying "The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news." Then Jesus calls Simon and Andrew, and James and John, who immediately put down what they are doing to follow Jesus.

What do these inaugural words and actions tell us about Jesus’ ministry?

Clearly, there is an urgency to Jesus’ work. The time is now. The Kingdom of God has arrived. Repent and believe. The message is short and to the point. We are not told what time is now. We are not told what the Kingdom of God is. And we are not told what to believe, other than in the Good News, whatever that might be. Jonah’s message was even more succinct and urgent in Nineveh this morning "Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" The urgency of Jonah’s message was so compelling that the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast. Later in the passage, when the King of Nineveh hears Jonah’s message, he extends the fasting and sackcloth to include not only all the people, but all the animals as well. I have visions of trying to convince our dog Fang to fast and wear sackcloth! The point of the story, however, is the complete and utter repentance of the entire city of Nineveh so that God would not destroy them. And, indeed, when God sees the actions of the Ninevites, God spared the city.

Even Paul’s message in I Corinthians reflects urgency this morning. "The appointed time has grown short," Paul writes. "The present form of the world is passing away." There is no need to marry, or mourn, or rejoice, or purchase for soon all things will pass away.

Like the Ninevites, Jesus’ first disciples respond to Jesus message and his call with quick action. Simon and Andrew dropped their nets and followed Jesus. James and John left their father Zebedee sitting in the boat with the hired hands and followed Jesus. Clearly we are to hear a message of urgency in Jesus’ words. But how are we to respond to that urgency?

On the one hand, Jesus words seem to impel us to do something. After all, the people of Nineveh fasted and put on sackcloth. Simon, Andrew, James and John gave up their livelihoods, their security, and presumably their families and followed Jesus.

On the other hand, we have the wonderful words of the psalm this morning. "For God alone my soul in silence waits." Where do those words fit into this sense of urgency? For God alone my soul in silence waits urgently? I don’t think so.

When Jesus calls Simon and Andrew away from their work catching fish, Jesus says to them "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." The older, more accurate but less inclusive translations have Jesus say "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." The difference between the translations is not simply one of inclusive language. Jesus is not giving people a new job description: now you will fish for people rather than fish. Jesus is giving people a new identity: now you are a new sort of fisherman. With a new identity will come new tasks. When we become get married, or become parents, or enter a new relationship or a new vocation, we get a new identity. With that new identity will certainly come new opportunities and new tasks. But the primary change is to who we are, not what we do. The same is true of becoming a follower of Jesus. Simon, Andrew, James and John, and you and I got new identities when we became followers of Jesus. The urgency is not about our new job descriptions as followers of Jesus. The urgency is about our new identity.

Nothing we can do will make the Kingdom of God arrive any more quickly. In fact, Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of God has already drawn near. Jesus calls us to be people who believe that. Be people who follow Jesus. Be the people Jesus calls us to be. And our lives as followers of Jesus will proclaim that the Kingdom of God has drawn near. For the future fullness of that Kingdom to arrive, our souls in silence wait.

Amen.