Christ Episcopal Church
November 17, 2013
28 Proper C
Some four or five years ago, a small group of 6-8 Christ Church folk set off on a path to bring Reading Camp to Christ Church. Reading Camp would be a new ministry that fit with our core values of outreach, education, hospitality, and worship. The process of learning, developing, and planning for this new ministry took about two years, and in 2011 we offered a free one week Reading Camp to children who had finished third grade and were about a year behind in their reading. Reading Camp was an amazing experience of the Body of Christ at work at Christ Church. Different people used their skills to shop, plan and make meals, organize field trips and recruit chaperones, plan the curriculum for the reading stations, recruit children, decorate, and create a library. For two summers, we gave a small group of children a fabulous week that enhanced their reading skills and taught them to love reading. We were justifiably proud of this program which made a real difference in the lives of the children we served. Last year, however, the Ohio legislature passed the Third Grade guarantee, which requires children to pass the third grade reading portion of the Ohio Achievement Assessment before going on to 4th grade. Since a very large number of Springfield children were at risk of failing, Springfield City Schools developed a summer program to benefit the exact population we had served. So, we let go of Reading Camp, at least for the time being.
At about the same time as we launched our Reading Camp at Christ Church, we were also invited to host the Dayton Gay Men’s Chorus for their first concert outside of Dayton. To make a long story short, this parish, you, rallied around this opportunity and many people worked to offer both Springfield and the Chorus the finest possible hospitality. People offered to usher, greet, organize a reception, bake cookies and make appetizers, set up, clean up, and all the things involved in welcoming 200 people into this space. We were energized by that work, which was a significant ministry of outreach and hospitality. Our Sunday attendance went up significantly, not so much because new people began to come, but because we were excited and proud of what we were doing at Christ Church and we came to church more often. After three highly successful years, we have literally worked ourselves out of a job. The Chorus would like a larger venue so this year we will co-host with Faith United Methodist Church in their facility.
Over the past 4 years, these two events have been a part of who we are at Christ Church as we lived into what we value. Now, through no fault or failure of our own, indeed in one case because of our success, we no longer host either of these ministries. With ears open to what new thing God might be calling us to, we hear God say this morning "For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating." These soaring words are spoken to a people in great distress. God’s people have returned from exile in Babylon and are trying to rebuild their lives in what was once the prosperous Promised Land. Now, however, infant mortality is high, food and housing are scarce, employment is in short supply. God promises a time when there will be a new beginning for everyone. The people’s transgressions will be forgotten and Jerusalem will be restored like a new Eden. "No more shall there be in Jerusalem an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime....they shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit...." says God. God calls the people to expect that time when God will make all things new.
Jesus is also concerned with the end time this morning. Jesus tells the disciples that the time will come when not one of the Temple stones will be left upon another. All will be thrown down. Jesus is talking about that same end time that we heard about in the reading from Isaiah. The people are still waiting for God to come and make all things new. So the disciples ask Jesus with great expectation-when will this be and what will be the sign that this is about to take place? Jesus answer is not exactly reassuring. There will be wars and earthquakes, famines and plagues, dreadful portents and great signs from heavens. I much prefer Isaiah’s version, myself! But the promise is still the same-neither war, nor earthquake, nor famine, nor plagues, nor any other disaster will have the final word. God’s promise will have the final word in God’s good time.
Well, God’s people have been waiting for a few thousand years now. The Church still believes that time moves toward an end when all creation will be reconciled with God. Every week in the Nicene Creed we say "He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end." And despite any individual skepticism we might have, the Church holds fast to this promise.
But the reading from 2 Thessalonians cautions us against believing that God will only do a new thing at the end of time. Some of the Thessalonians are sitting idly as they wait for God to act at the end time, and they are chastised for their idleness. The words from Isaiah that we said/sang in place of the psalm this morning tell us clearly that God acts in the present. "Surely it is God who saves me. I will trust in God and not be afraid. For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense...." All in the present tense. God and Scripture both call us to see where God is at work in the present, making a new heaven and a new earth, metaphorically if not literally. Our task as a congregation over the next months will be to discern where God is at work in our midst now, and how God is calling us to be part of a new creation, where, as we hear in Isaiah, everyone lives out a full life, food and housing are plentiful, employment opportunities are available, and peace shall reign. As many of you have already heard, during the early spring beginning February 10, I will be on sabbatical. Part of the reason for a sabbatical is for refreshment and renewal, but part of the reason is also to take time away to get a better view of the big picture and what new work God might be calling us to as a congregation. But the sabbatical is not just about my being away. The sabbatical is also a time of renewal for the congregation as you have the opportunity to do that same work of praying, reflecting, and discerning as you think about what we do well as a congregation, what we might do better, what we need to let go of, and what new thing God might be doing in our midst. The vestry is in the process of calling the Rev. John Johanssen, one of the best sabbatical interims in the church, to be at Christ Church while I am away. John has been a parish priest for many years in churches small, medium, and large. John loves congregations and loves the work of congregational development, particularly for churches that are healthy and not in crisis. Most importantly, John is someone I trust to be your priest while I am away. And I trust that when I return on the Sunday after Easter, between us we will have many new ideas for the future and renewed energy to bring those ideas to fruition.
Every week we proclaim together "Christ has died. Christ is Risen. Christ will come again." Our readings this morning point us both to that time when Christ will return in glory, and to way in which Christ dwells among us now, pointing us to God’s new creation in our midst. Christ will come again. And again. And again. And again. The real question is not when. The question is where. Where will we meet the Risen Christ and what work will we do together?
Amen.
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