Sermon Archive
Readings for 28 January 2007
The Forth Sunday After Epiphany
Year C
The word of the LORD came to me saying,
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." But the LORD said to me,
"Do not say, 'I am only a boy';
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you,
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
says the LORD."
Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."
Since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in them for building up the church.
Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unproductive. What should I do then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also; I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will sing praise with the mind also. Otherwise, if you say a blessing with the spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say the "Amen" to your thanksgiving, since the outsider does not know what you are saying? For you may give thanks well enough, but the other person is not built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you; nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be adults.
n the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus read from the book of the prophet Isaiah, and began to say, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'" And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath. They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority.
The Rev. Jack Zamboni
Since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in them for building up the church.”
For the past 16 years or so, I’ve given a Rector’s Address at the parish Annual Meeting on the state of the parish: looking back into the past year and forward into the coming one. This year, I’ve decided to follow the practice of some colleagues and make that address the sermon this morning. That way, those of you unable to make it the meeting will hear what I have to say, and those of you who do it make it to meeting will only have to listen to me once today! In any case, St. Paul has given me a wonderful text to work with: Since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in them for building up the church.
What does it mean to build up the Church? Some people who study congregations and how they function talk about how churches can be focused either on maintenance or mission. Here, maintenance is not just physical plant maintenance. It is all the stuff we do to keep the place the running: managing the institutional life of the church, taking care of buildings, paying the bills. This stuff is necessary, of course, -- necessary to our mission. But in itself it is not the purpose God calls us to. Yet because it is necessary, it is all too easy for congregations to spend too much of their energy on dealing with maintenance matters.
I have say that we at GraSP have in some ways been too focused on maintenance issues in this past year – and I include myself in that criticism. We’ve spent an awful lot of our time and energy organizing fundraisers, working on budget deficits and the like. All of that is necessary, but it has kept us from putting more of our efforts into what the Church is really for. We can do better at building up the Church for its real purpose– our mission.
That mission is summed up in our Baptismal Covenant: It includes our community life of worship, fellowship and pastoral care; forming people to be disciples of Jesus Christ in their daily lives in the world; proclaiming the Good News of Christ in what we say and do; serving Christ in our neighbors; striving for justice and peace for all people in God’s world.
I’ve said we can do better at living the Church’s mission – and we can. But I want also to take note of some of the ways we have been living our mission in the past year and to name some hopeful signs going forward into 2007. You will learn more about these and other aspects of parish life at the meeting itself and in our Report booklet.
Christian formation of our young people has been central to our mission for many years. In 2006, our Church School has continued that work under new leadership beginning this fall. Building on past involvement in serving people in need, the Church School has expanded its own mission work in the world through a Coat and Food drive this fall, as well as the Bags of Love project now underway. Our children are being formed for Christian mission not only in the classroom, but in how they are leading the rest of us in serving people in need in the world.
Vacation Bible School returned to GraSP this summer after a hiatus of several years. The Good News of Jesus Christ was proclaimed to kids from the parish and beyond the parish as they participated in a week of Bible stories and fun. A new GFS group for young women ages 14-21 was begun this fall aimed at helping them to live maturing Christian lives in a challenging world. These new and renewed programs and indeed part of our mission.
Our biggest hole in our ministry with young people this past year has been the lack of a regularly functioning youth group. I’m very pleased, therefore, to announce that Erin Cook (who also ably led VBS) and newly retired Fred Scholer have offered to take on leadership responsibility for youth ministry in the coming year. Kids and parents – keep your ears open for coming information about youth group restart!
Our work in Evangelism this year is more intentional than ever before. Alan Gellert notes in his Evangelism report that we can do better in the direct evangelism of inviting our unchurched friends and neighbors to come share our life in Christ – and he is right. But we continue to grow in welcoming visitors with a hospitality that reflects the welcoming love of Christ. We’ve developed a system for tracking and following up with visitors, and in the last 12 months we’ve held 3 welcome events to which about 40 newcomers have come. Just last Saturday night, 18 folks new to GraSP enjoyed dessert and fellowship with some of us who have been around here a bit longer – and there are at least 10 more recent attendees who weren’t able to be present that night. To all those new to the parish in the last year -- we’re glad you’re here, and we look forward to the ways you can build up this church for it’s the mission.
I want to take special note of one relative newcomer who today is taking an important step in her life in Christ and the Church. After a spiritual journey that has taken her many places, Dani Reed has found a home and welcome in the Episcopal Church and this parish. At the 8:00 Eucharist today she is being admitted as a Catechumen – the first formal step in her journey towards Baptism at the Easter Vigil. Please keep Dani in your prayers.
An Annual Meeting Address would not be complete without speaking of parish finances. Budgets, we might well think, are chiefly maintenance matters, except for those portions specifically designated for outreach work of one sort or another. But that’s not really true. The money we spend on staff, utilities, insurance, building maintenance and the like are what make possible our life of worship, fellowship and pastoral care that is part of our mission. More directly, the budget funds many of the programs I’ve spoken of: Church School, VBS, Youth Group and Evangelism.
By giving to the ministry of our Diocese through our Fair Share Asking, we join with Episcopalians in 160 congregation throughout New Jersey in the mission of the Church far beyond these walls. Our Diocesan Asking funds the ministry of our Bishop and his staff. It supports congregations in urban areas who are doing vital ministry with few financial resources of their own. It goes to the wider Episcopal Church budget and beyond to the worldwide Anglican Communion. And in both the Diocesan and Episcopal Church budgets, some of our money is used to fulfill the UN Millennium Development goals, aimed at reducing extreme poverty in the world in the next decade. I am very pleased that for the first time in a number of years the 2007 Budget includes our Full Fair Share Asking that is our participation in this mission of the wider Church. If you go the Diocesan Website you’ll see our name on the honor Roll of churches who Dare to Be Fair by giving their full Fair Share Asking.
As happens most years, the Vestry wrestled long and hard on how best to balance funding the budget for mission with the available financial resources. In response to the Stewardship Committee’s “Step Up” campaign, many of you increased your pledges for 2007. That helped the Vestry in this hard work, and for that I thank you. Still, even with increased pledges, increased endowment income and the carryover of some excess funds from 2006; and even after cutting as many expenses as the majority of the Vestry felt it could and remain responsible to our mission, the Budget was left with a shortfall of $7700 -- an effective deficit which you will see under a line called, “Close the Gap” in the Annual Meeting booklet.
I know of no one on the Vestry who was happy with this result, nor with the prospect of having to spend much of our energies in the coming year in seeking to close the gap again. The Vestry has already begun exploring new ways of raising the funds needed to fulfill our mission, but I wanted to do something more myself to get us off to a good start in meeting this challenge.
I decided, therefore, to speak to a small number of people – some on the Vestry, some not – whom I believed might be willing and able to give beyond what they had already planned to close the gap. I’m happy to have some very good news to report about this initiative: In the last week, a total of $4,000 has been committed to this need – over half of the total shortfall. Today, I invite any of you are willing and able to join those who have made these commitments. I know that many of you have stepped up your pledge this year, and I understand that some of you are not able to commit to anything more. That’s fine. But if you are able to give something more and would like to help finish closing the gap, I invite you to speak to me or a member of the Vestry, or simply to give what you can, marked for that purpose.
I’ve gone on long enough for a sermon or an Annual Meeting Address. But I can’t end without speaking of a gift that will build up the church for mission not only in the present but for many years to come. As many of you know Mary Burgess, a life-long member of Grace St. Paul’s, left her entire estate to the parish when she died this past spring. While the final value of the estate after expenses is not yet known, it will be well over $300,000. The Task Force that the Wardens and I appointed to plan for the disposition of the estate has been hard at work these last months. It recommended a plan which the Vestry then adopted for how to use the estate proceeds. I will leave a detailed description of that plan to Dave Hobson, Chair of the Burgess Task at the Meeting. I will just say now that it is a plan that deals with some needed maintenance matters, and more importantly, a plan that will further the mission to of the Church within and through Grace-St. Paul’s and in ways far beyond our walls for years to come.
Building up the Church for its mission: that is God’s call to us. We could have done better in the past year, but with God’s help, we did some things well. May God help us do even better in the year to come.
Amen
For past week's readings and sermons, please the archive of sermons