Transcript
I speak in the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Well, indeed, it’s a great delight and a pleasure to be here this morning in St. John’s. Um, just to introduce myself, as those of you who don’t know, I am a retired Episcopal priest. I used to be the rector over there at Emmanuel, but, uh, long retired. But, uh, in that we’re short of clergy in the diocese, they keep on calling us. And, uh, and I come to St. John’s, uh, at 9:00 whenever I’m not on duty, but this past while it seems that’s been very rare, and that’s because, uh, we’re really short of clergy in the diocese, and almost every Sunday I’m serving in another parish. But it’s a special pleasure to be here in St. John’s, and I thank Lisa for inviting me here today.
By way of introduction, just let me say: last Sunday my wife and I were down in Florida, and, uh, when it came to the weekend I Googled the Episcopal church and found a Episcopal Church very close to where we were, and it’s called St. Nicholas Church, Pompano, beside Fort Lauderdale down there. And a large, large building, but the congregation was just about 70 or 80 odd, not all that large. And everything in the church went on pretty well as you expected, and we were just sort of, uh, on time; we just stepped in and the service was starting.
But right after the service I noticed these things. I was sitting on one side of the aisle, and after the service was finished this lady came from the other side of the aisle, came right over, and with a great lovely smile and warmth introduced herself and said, “You know, you’re visiting here, aren’t you?” And we said yes. “And well, welcome to our church. It’s lovely to have you.” And she introduced herself and chatted. Well, as we turned around, another man stepped forward and says, “Oh, oh, uh, I’m, my name is Mark. I want to welcome you to our church.” And he did his word of welcome and introducing, and then they invited us to go for, their having not just a coffee but more like a light lunch in.
So we followed the group over to the parish hall, and the gentleman who had read the lesson, he follows up and says, “My name is Charles. I saw you in the congregation. Welcome to our church.” And, uh, then we sat down at a table with our lunch and food items on a plate, and, uh, who comes down but the priest from the, who had been in the altar. He comes down and sits beside us, and to add to that, the senior warden comes down and sits at our table, all saying, you know, it was so lovely to have us, and welcome. And, you know, that was nicely done, and I haven’t portrayed it accurately, but it was properly and sensitively done. And I said to my wife as we left, “You know, if we were to move and live in that area, I would want to go to that church.”
You know, often in our tradition we have said, you know, the Episcopal Church may not be one of the most warm and welcoming of church bodies that there is. But, you know, we can do it, and, uh, that was a congregation that was doing it. They were expressing well welcome; they were doing hospitality well. I want to use that as a theme for this sermon this morning: the word welcome, hospitality. All right?
And I want to take the Gospel reading and give it a little bit of a turn. You know that story we had, that, that nervous young couple with their young child called Jesus. They had left Nazareth, and they were doing something that was very big for Jewish people to do. They had traveled all the way to Jerusalem, and now they’re in the temple presenting their child. This was a big moment. They were full of nerves. This teenage mother and this young carpenter were there, and they were just wondering how things would go. They brought their offering, a bird, was it? And there they present.
And what happens? Well, there’s this greeting committee. Yes, a welcoming committee. And the first one is called Simeon, and he greets them with so much of love and good will and blessings and affirmation and welcome. And as soon as he has done that, he doesn’t just drop it, but then right on cue comes this woman — and you see how the scriptures refer to the woman who is a prophet, Anna, a prophet woman, prophet — comes forward, and she follows up with all this greeting. And they really making a fuss of this child and this young couple. They are the welcoming committee in this instance, there in the temple in Jerusalem, welcoming Jesus, welcomeing him and focusing on him and blessing.
And the Gospel for today says of those young parents, it says, quote, “They were amazed at what had been said.” They were amazed. Ah, can you imagine going to a church and being welcomed so warmly that you can be amazed? You can be impressed, or, like I said, if I was living in that community, I’d want to go to that church. Well, they were showing attention, they were showing love, and they were welcomed.
Just incidental: today, uh, in the National Cathedral in Washington, it’s the official formal seating of our new Presiding Bishop, Bishop Sean Rowe. So officially he’s been welcomed to the National Cathedral there in Washington, and to his particular bishop seat, uh, in that cathedral today he’s been welcomed. And we understand from Bishop Rowe that he has some thoughts about how we might in the Episcopal Church — they’re even using the word restructuring — what we can do better in the Episcopal Church to reach out into the community and welcome people among us.
We, we are aware of in past couple of decades of, of numbers declining in Episcopal congregations. Uh, that’s right across the land. And so the concern been raised by Bishop Rowe and others: what can we do to be effective reaching out into the community and declaring a welcome to all out there in the community? That part of our work of hospitality. Well, the work of the church, you say, his mission in bringing people to tell them the good news of Jesus Christ.
I want to tell you this morning a story. Uh, the Sun, the Saturday prior to Christmas, there was the ordination service, uh, over there in St. Stephen’s Church in Norfolk, of, uh, Keith, um, now I forgotten his surname when I could to mention it, Jose. And he was been ordained a priest, uh, there the Saturday prior to Christmas. The one bit that I remember especially from that service was the guest preacher was Canon Willis from Church House. And in his sermon he told us about how he grew up in this little, what he called a mission church, chur. It was been established by a large congregation, it a little mission church, and they were trying to bring people together to establish a congregation.
And he told us about this pastor that they had, and this pastor would try and encourage them all to be part of the mission of that church, reaching out to that community. And that pastor had this phrase that he would quote every Sunday without a miss. Every Sunday he would quote this phrase to his small congregation, and here it is, quote: “Each one reach one, each one bring one, each one teach one.”
Well, as I listened to his sermon and he explained what those things would mean — you know, each of us do reach out, and each of us do meet people. And yes, if we had a special, uh, choir and organ special event with Deborah and our team, you know, we might invite a neighbor to come and experience that musical presentation. Or if a special luncheon in the parish hall, we can invite a neighbor. There’s a way in which each one can invite and bring one. And then thirdly, the each one can teach one. Well, by our manner, by our words, how we treat people, that is the indeed the way we teach others the Christian way.
So as I listened to Canon Willis, I thought, well, you know, we could call that quotation a mission statement. A mission statement. Now, every parish has a mission statement, and so too as St. John’s. It’s how we see ourselves as a church in the world. And so I can hear ringing in my ears is still those words: “Each one reach one, each one bring one, each one teach one.”
There’s a, a famous quote from a former Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, and he put it this way. He said, “The church is the only organization founded for the benefit of non-members.” Yes, we think, you know, the church is set up for us, and the old Archbishop said, said, “All, the church is the only organization established, founded for the benefit of non-members.” Our mission under Christ is to reach out and portray and pro proclaim in whatever way we can the good news of God’s love, that God loves us and calls us into fellowship with Jesus.
And, you know, that’s it, isn’t it? You know, I might say, you know, when I come to St. John’s there’ll be a couple of folk standing in the hallway there, and they will have a bulletin in the left hand, and they’ll reach out the right hand and shake hands and say, “Good morning, and welcome.” And that’s a great ministry, isn’t it? It’s a good ministry in every church. But, you know, it’s, it’s more than us welcoming. Who is doing the welcoming?
Well, you know the words Jesus said: “Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” It’s Jesus who’s extending the invitation, and Jesus is extending the welcome. “Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden.” Come and be refreshed, be renewed. It is Jesus who says, “Follow me, and I will make you to become fishers of people.” It is Jesus who says, “If anyone will come to me, I will in no wise cast out.” It is Jesus who welcomes the prodigal son. Yes, it is really Jesus who’s doing us welcome through us. And so we say we are his hands in the world. We are his eyes, observing the needs of the world. We are his lips, speaking the good news to others in the world by our manner of life. Yes, we are in the mission of Christ in the world, welcoming people.
Some of you will know about the little recent bit controversy of the bishop of Washington DC, Bishop Budde, who made a request of the president. And she cites in that, uh, the biblical, uh, command as we find it in the Book of Leviticus, to welcome the stranger that is in your midst. That’s the biblical mandate: welcome the stranger who is among you; welcome the stranger who is in your midst. Whether we do that work welcoming others in the name of Christ, let it be intentional, as we endeavor to serve and reach out caringly and sensitively and lovingly to us. That’s what this welcoming committee in the temple in Jerusalem did. Simeon and Anna, they embraced, they welcome, they affirmed, and they held up this young couple and their child. They were the welcoming committee.
So let me conclude my thoughts for you this morning by referring back to the ordination service, that theme that, uh, what I thought could be the, uh, mission statement by Canon Willis, when he said his pastor would teach them. Remember the words now; have you got the words yet? “Each one reach one, each one bring one, each one teach one.” May God give us the grace and the courage to do that day by day in our lives. Amen.