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Fifth Sunday in
Lent
March 13, 2005 Sermon
by Rev. Aron Kramer, Associate Rector
When I opened up these
scriptures and began to hear them and what they had to say I felt like I
had received a huge punch in the stomach. I felt just floored my heart
leaped to my throat and I had to swallow hard to get it back down. I
felt that way because I think they are supremely relevant to where we
are at as a faith community. The last several months have been hard;
they have been difficult, filled with questions and filled with anxiety.
I would even go so far as to say that we have been somewhat paralyzed
with fear, fear of what, we all could name different worries and
anxieties you have, but we definitely have been slowed at least in our
journey of faith with God and with each other.
We are the Israelites of this Old Testament reading was my first
thought. We are the ones whose bones are lying in that valley waiting to
receive breath, waiting to be put back together. We are all waiting for
someone to prophesy to us and bring us new life and breath. We may even
think that we have to wait until we hire a new rector, someone to lead
and guide us. But I want us all to remember what this Church is built
upon. I want us to remember the true foundation of who we are as a faith
community.
I have decided that Marriage Counseling has become the indicator of how
we are doing at maintaining the fundamentals and the foundation of who
we are. The other day I met with another young couple who said that
after attending several churches in Duluth they finally arrived at St.
Paul’s. They walked through the door and something happened to them,
something that had not happened at any of the churches they had visited.
Someone said hello to them. Someone welcomed them into this place, and
because of this they are now pledging members of this parish and if we
do well by them they will become strong leaders within this faith
community.
That session brought me great hope because I had thought that we were
close to death, close to the piles of bones Ezekiel was asked to
prophesy to. But hope seeped in and healed those initial feelings I had
when I read these readings. Hope because we are still doing something
good. We are still welcoming people into our midst. My fear is that that
is all we are doing, welcoming people into our midst not asking them to
join our faith community. Look at the kids who are here for TEC this
weekend. They have brought great energy and vitality to our worship and
to our praise of God even during this Lenten season. They have knit our
bones back together helped us to stand on our own two feet. We have
welcomed TEC for many years to St. Paul’s, we have opened our doors and
said come in take over and have fun. Because of our welcoming I know of
one young person who is planning on joining us for four years starting
this fall. My hope is that we will be able to say welcome, come and be a
full member of this community learning how to live and to lead as a
Christian. We are good at welcoming people but we are not so good and
incorporating them into our lives.
These last several months have been trying and exhausting, they have
been draining but you know what, Easter is right around the corner, Holy
Week is only one week away now, we have just about finished Lent and it
is now time for us to truly be transformed by God. Transformed by
Christ, it is time for us to reclaim the foundation that this Church was
built on, the foundation that allows us to by default welcoming people
into our midst. It is time to come to the understanding that this place
is a lay led parish. St. Paul’s needs a rector to provide vision and
guidance, but the passion of being a faith community, the importance of
living a Christian life, each one of you seated here today can exemplify
that as well as anyone in the world can. The foundation of this parish
is you, each of you gathered here today to celebrate and praise God. We
are the stones that God has used to build this place into the tremendous
presence it is and today those stones are falling apart. If not for TEC
I think we would be on the verge of falling to the ground in a heap of
bones. If not for the energy and life that the youth and adults who have
gathered here this weekend brought we would really be struggling I
believe. But they have arrived; God has breathed fresh life onto our
bodies and souls and given us a chance to reclaim who we are. We are not
a people who depend on money to survive. We are not a people who hoard
our resources and treasures and never give anything to the Church or
those in need. We are a people who love and care and celebrate being
children of God. We are a people who are filled with abundant hearts and
giving souls. We are a people of faith gathered together preaching the
Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. Our mission has nothing to do with
the walls that surround us; our mission has everything to do with the
people who are outside these walls as I speak.
So I ask you, who among you will prophesy to these bodies, who among you
will prophesy to each of us to bring life into these tired worn out
bodies of ours. The TEC community will be leaving today; they have done
their job of reminding us that Christ is present fully and alive walking
among us. Peggy and I cannot accomplish the job, we are merely priests
given the opportunity to walk with you for a brief time on your faith
journey. Our job is to offer insight and walk with you not so much lead
you. So I ask again, who among you will step forward to prophesy and
help us reclaim our heritage our foundation. Who among you will be
willing to shed your agendas, your own fears, your own passions even and
prophesy to us the challenge of living into God’s covenant with us, into
God’s mission for us; how we live into the ministry that Jesus has
called us to? Who among you has the courage to open your heart to
receive the breath of God and raise the dead? I hope your answer, each
of your answers is I am, because it is time to stop acting as if we are
separate, and it is time to come together. It is time to stop being
fearful of our own future and it is time to start building the future of
our children. It is time to stop worrying about whether we will have
enough money and start celebrating our ministry in the world. It is time
to stop being drained and exhausted by our anxiety of what will happen
with a new rector and it is time to start looking at how each of us can
lead this parish to new and brighter places.
Who among you is willing and courageous enough to enter into the passion
of our Lord and emerge transformed and changed, prepared to shed our
exhaustion and tiredness and embrace once again the foundation of this
Church, the foundation of God and Christ in the world?
I am going to close with a prayer that Archbishop Oscar Romero wrote.
Let us reflect:
As we live today, we are creating the church of tomorrow. We
accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise
that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the reign of God always lies beyond us. No statement says all that
could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings
perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes
the Church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives includes
everything.
This is what we are about. We plant the seed that one day will grow. We
water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We
cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing
that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be
incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity
for God’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We are workers, not expert builders; ministers not messiahs. We are
prophets of a future not our own. Amen.