Christ Episcopal Church
November 23, 2013
Christ the King
Last Wednesday evening, we were privileged to host one of the events surrounding the 125th anniversary of the Bushnell home, now known as the Richards, Raff, and Dunbar Funeral Home. The home, which is just down the street from Christ Church, is a stunning piece of late 19th century architecture. The original owners of the home, Asa and Ellen Bushnell, were long time parishioners of this parish and once owned what we now call Hollenbeck House. So we were asked to host the event because of our historic ties to the Bushnells. Rather than use our worship space, which would seat more people, we used the Parish Hall. The Parish Hall building, which actually includes the Guild Room and kitchen on the same level with the Parish Hall, what was once a gymnasium and is now Christian Education space underneath the Parish Hall, and the choir room and sacristy on this level, was given by Ellen Bushnell in memory of her husband in 1906.
When Ellen Bushnell gave Christ Church a Parish Hall, she actually, although perhaps unintentionally, changed the identity of this parish. Christ Church had been founded in 1834 as a place for Christians to worship as Episcopalians-that is, with the customs and styles of the Church of England, minus any loyalty to the monarchy. The church started off in a small, frame building, then built a larger building, then in early 1870's build this glorious space. People gathered in this space to worship for about 30 years before there was a Parish Hall. But once there was a parish hall, people could gather here in new ways. Now the church could be a gathering place for education, meals, and other fellowship activities both for parishioners and for the community. A few of our parishioners remember when Christ Church used the Parish Hall to hosted an annual Christmas dinner for the Masonic Home, and in the great flu epidemic of the early 20th century the Parish Hall served as an infirmary for the sick. The gymnasium beneath the Parish Hall hosted scout troops and other activities. In the boom of the 1960's, there was need for even more space to gather people so the Education hallway was further developed and we gathered more intentionally for Christian Education. Eventually we would use the rooms in that hallway to host Interfaith Hospitality Network and gather people who were without homes or jobs to give them a place to sleep and food to eat. Once the East Entrance was added in 1989, people of all levels of physical ability could gather here for worship, fellowship, education, a support group, or whatever ministry was happening in the building. The practice of using Christ Church as a place to gather for more than worship began with Ellen Bushnell’s gift of the Parish Hall.
Today is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday before Advent begins. Christ the King Sunday is also our patronal feast day since we hold the name "Christ Church." We have no record that I know of that tells us why the name "Christ Church" was chosen, although we do know that the original name was "The Parish of All Souls." Names are important. They give us our identity as people and they give us our identity as institutions. What is the significance of carrying the name of the crucified and risen One?
Our reading from Jeremiah begins with the words "Woe to the shepherds who scatter and destroy the sheep of my pasture!," says the Lord." The passage ends with God’s promise of a king who will serve with justice and righteousness, who will bring together what has been scattered and heal what has been destroyed. As Christians, we believe Jesus is that promised king. When we read the gospels, we hear story after story in which Jesus gathered together those who had been scattered. The poor, the blind, the lame, the sick, all those that society scattered to the margins, Jesus brought to the center. Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, those despised by the world around them. Jesus told parables in which the people invited to the party could not make time to come, so people off the streets, the homeless and hungry, were gathered in their place. Jesus’ work did not earn him a popularity prize, as we hear in the gospel reading. For his efforts, we find Jesus on the cross this morning with a criminal on either side of him.
Even on the cross, Jesus is about the work of bringing the scattered together. The first words we hear from Jesus are "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." Forgiveness is the deepest form of gathering the scattered. Through forgiveness we are reconciled with those who are scattered from our lives. The last thing we hear Jesus say, to the criminal being crucified next to him, is "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise." Not even death can destroy Jesus’ work of gathering together the scattered. In John’s gospel, from which we do not hear this morning, Jesus says to the crowds "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." The work of Jesus and the work of the Risen Christ is to gather.
And so, as Christ Church, we gather. We gather to worship each week. We gather people every Wednesday at the Food Pantry. People who are working hard to break the bonds of addiction gather here on Saturday night. People gather here to listen to lectures, hear great music, be nurtured and fed, to grieve losses and celebrate joys. But gathering is about more than simply opening our doors. Jesus did not simply sit in a tent with a sign that said welcome. Jesus gathered by showing up in the places where people gathered-in the synagogue or at the Temple, by the lake, at a wedding, in a locked room in the midst of frightened disciples or along a dusty road. Jesus was out and about doing the active work of gathering.
Christ the King Sunday challenges us to live as a church that carries on the gospel work of gathering. Christ the King Sunday challenges us to be not only a welcoming and inclusive place for people to gather, but to actually do the work of gathering, bringing together all sorts and conditions of people to hear the Good News, know Jesus, and be fed together. Jesus challenges us to gather those who have been scattered, whether those who have given up on faith because they have experienced church as judgmental or exclusive, or those who have been scattered because the world has given up on them. When we are shepherds who work to gather people together, the Paradise Jesus promised the thief who was gathered with him on the cross comes just a little bit closer.
Amen.
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