Christ Episcopal Church
March 22, 2015
5 Lent B
The evening of December 10, 2010 was a transformative moment for me. Our vestry had worked for over a year to bring the Dayton Gay Men' Chorus to Christ Church for their holiday concert, a first for Springfield in many ways. The vestry and I had been clear from the beginning of our conversation with the chorus that we wanted to host this group and we wanted to host them exceptionally well. Anything other than the finest hospitality would send a very bad message to the Chorus and to the community. After a year and a half of conversation and intense planning, the evening finally arrived. The church was packed and we could feel the energy in this space. Electricity was in the air. The music was glorious. You all more than rose to the occasion and we had greeters all over the building to welcome people and help them find whatever they might need. The reception was grand. But the piece that was transformative for me, and that both broke my heart and filled my heart with joy all at the same time was the number of people who came up to me after the concert, some with tears in their eyes, and said "This is the first time I have ever felt welcome in a church." I don't know what people came here expecting that night, and I think some people took a risk far bigger than I can imagine to set foot in a church. I had never understood the extent to which people believe they will not be welcome in a church. But that night, you offered the hospitality of Jesus to people who had never felt welcome before. And they felt welcome here.
Last spring, when my colleague Anne Reed and I were in England studying the ordination process there, we met Ben Norton, a priest who is creating faith communities outside the walls of the traditional church. Before Ben became a priest, he was a hair stylist. When Ben goes to a new community as a priest, the first thing he does is get a job one day a week at a hair salon. While he cuts people's hair, he listens to their stories, hears their hopes and fears, and is present to them in a way that allows them to talk. Most of these people have never set foot in a church, or have set foot in a church and have fled. After a few months of cutting hair and hearing people's stories, Ben knows what is on their hearts. He has heard where God is present in their lives, whether the people recognize God or not. Then Ben can create communities where people can come together and begin to see where God is working in their midst. Ben's work is based on the belief that people do experience God in their lives. Sometimes we just need help recognizing God's work. Ben is coming to Southern Ohio next month, and will be at Christ Church one evening. I encourage you to come and hear his stories about creating communities of faith where people experience the love of God and begin to recognize the places they experience God in their every day lives.
When the Greeks come to Philip this morning and say to him "Sir, we wish to see Jesus," I don't think they want to look at Jesus. I believe they want to experience Jesus, to engage Jesus. They want to experience this extraordinary person who has changed water into wine, fed the 5000, and raised Lazarus from the dead. Who wouldn't want to experience a person like that? But when Philip and Andrew tell Jesus of the Greek's request, Jesus' answer is a bit off-putting. Rather than welcome the Greeks, or suggest a more convenient time, Jesus says "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life." That is a rather complicated and confusing response to "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."
At this point in the gospel, Jesus does not have a lot of time to indulge curiosity seekers. If the Greeks, or anyone else for that matter, really want to experience Jesus, Jesus wants them to know that following him is not simply a matter of watching as water is changed into wine or as a person is raised from the dead. Following Jesus is about dying to self so that others may live. For Jesus, that meant death on the cross and resurrection-the grain dying so that much fruit can be born. For some of Jesus' followers, death will be the cost of discipleship and others will be moved by their faith to become followers themselves. But for most of us, dying to self is the daily discipline of taking a risk, putting ourselves aside, and stepping out in faith to show others the hospitality of Jesus, or setting self aside to truly listen to the hopes and fears of others, believing that, in Jesus, the grain has been scattered and fruit is just waiting to emerge.
In the passage from Jeremiah, we hear God say "I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. No longer will they teach one another, or say to each other "Know the Lord" for they shall all know me." God wants to be known. God wants to be experienced. Jesus showed us how to make God known by setting himself aside, by being willing to die to self so that all people might be drawn to him and much fruit might be born. In Jesus, the grain has been scattered. Jesus's words to the Greeks and Jesus' call to us is to set ourselves aside, be willing to take a risk, and give ourselves over to the task of looking and listening for where the grain has fallen in our midst so that others can recognize Jesus.
Amen.
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