Repository of
Sermons
/ Calendar of Events /
Activities
Fifth Sunday of the
Epiphany
February 5, 2006
Sermon by Rev. Peggy Tuttle, Interim Rector
Readings
Murphy applied for an engineering position at an Irish firm based in
Dublin. An American applied for the same job and both applicants having
the same qualifications were asked to take a test by the Department
manager. Upon completion of the test both men only missed one of the
questions. The manager went to Murphy and said.
"Thank you for your interest, but we've decided to give the American
the job"
"And why would you be doing that? We both got nine questions correct.
This being Ireland and me being Irish I should get the job!"
"We have made our decisions not on the correct answers, but on the
question you missed."
"And just how would one incorrect answer be better than the other?"
"Simple, the American put down on question #5, "I don't know.", You put
down "Neither do I."
I must admit that there lot’s of things I don’t know but one thing I know for sure and that is the church is in God’s hands!
Two weeks ago I was in New York City where I attended meetings at the Episcopal Church Center, better known as “815” because of its address at 815 Second Avenue. The offices of many departments are housed there such as the Bishop for Chaplaincies, Church Deployment, Convocation of American Churches in Europe, Ministry Development, Black Ministries, Pastoral Development and Communications and Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations. Episcopal Relief and Development is located in that building, plus about ten Episcopal Church related agencies. And I have only scratched the surface. It is also the location of the Presiding Bishop’s Office.
When we arrived inside the front double glass doors I was caught up short as I found myself standing in the midst of scaffolding and blue plastic. The whole entrance was a cocoon of pipes joined together to form support for the walls and ceilings. To the left of the entrance, where the chapel once stood, the wall is covered with blue plastic sheeting and the same on the right where the bookstore once offered all kinds of treasures and temptations.
I was directed to a second floor conference room for my meetings where I stepped out of the elevator onto a floor where offices have been made new again. It was quite remarkable to observe the contrast of the entrance off the street and this floor where new workspaces have emerged offering daylight, fresh carpeting and a sense of new life in the church.
I was moved by the metaphor of these offices to the Episcopal Church in America. I feel we, too, are in a process of change. Something new is happening and right now I need to be patient and let the work proceed. Is the design of the offices at 815 what I would choose? Maybe I liked it the way it was before, so why change at all? It met my needs, isn’t that enough? I ask those same questions of the national church. Why must we be faced with change? I was just getting used to the way it was, and now we are threatened from all quarters. Everyone wants his or her own way, and that includes me!
This June will be the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, in Columbus, OH, where the next Presiding Bishop will be elected to represent our church in the Anglican Community. As you have certainly heard in the news, our membership in the Anglican Community is being threatened. It is an important convention in June.
The Episcopal Church is one of 38 autonomous churches in the Anglican Communion, which includes nearly 80 million members in 164 countries. How we continue to function in that community is “under construction.” Scaffolding is in place to hold the walls and ceiling in place. We just don’t know what the finished product is going to look like.
Well, that’s the state of the national church. Let’s take a look at the Diocese of Minnesota.
At the 148th Diocesan Convention in St. Paul last October, we celebrated three very important ministries:
-
The opening of St. Barnabas Youth Apartments, which is housed in what was once an abandoned hospital. It is now beautifully restored and providing shelter and community to young people who were literally out on the street.
-
Radical Hospitality at Holy Apostles Church, in St. Paul where literally hundreds of Hmong refugees joined the church all at once. It’s the story of a small congregation, struggling with low attendance and its very existence, which now is full at Sunday worship and out of space for Sunday School. "We have too many children," said the Rev. Bill Bulson, vicar of Holy Apostles, who addressed the Convention. Bulson, has preached entirely in Hmong, and reports that a group is now working to translate the Book of Common Prayer into Hmong.
-
Giving to Episcopal Relief and Development by this diocese – St. Paul’s included!
The Bishop reported that Minnesota Episcopalians have given more than $250,000 to Episcopal Relief and Development following the devastation of hurricanes of last summer.
Those three actions alone represent the church at work in the world! Regardless of our financial issues, our differences in theology, our approach to worship, our biblical interpretation, the Gospel is being lived out in our midst.
There is no doubt in my mind that at next year’s convention we will be celebrating the ministry that is going on at the Church of Gethsemane in Minneapolis with the Rev. Aron Kramer. And St. Paul’s has financially contributed and we continue to pray for the work being done in that community.
Now for the “State of St. Paul’s, Duluth, Minnesota.” Life is good and getting better. Your search committee has been hard at work on your behalf listening to the Holy Spirit directing them in their task of finding a new rector for this parish. It is almost completed.
-
The sound systems in the Church and Chapel have been dramatically improved.
-
The parish hall will soon be redecorated.
-
Little recurring improvements have taken place like new rugs at the doorway on the first and lower levels.
-
An Advent Wreath, a Paschal Candle and a new Gospel Book were purchased by the Altar Guild to enhance worship in the Chapel.
-
Three staff members undertook a week of training in the Church software, called the Shelby System.
-
The refrigerator in the kitchen was replaced by the funds from prior year’s basket auction.
It isn’t easy to separate the ministry of the church from the money of the church. We cannot do ministry without financial support and ministry is what “being church” is about. Obviously those who have gone before us felt the same, for all we have to do is look at the endowments left to the church; endowments for specific expenses. But endowments are not enough. It takes commitment of time, talent and treasure to live into our baptismal covenant and I am pleased to say that pledging is up! Good for you. Don’t stop now.
In today’s Gospel Jesus models God’s generosity in the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law and restoring her to her life of service. There is no greater fulfillment and purpose than in being a vessel, able to be used for God’s purposes and for the good of those around us.
God’s own compassion is evident in the details of Jesus’ healing ministry: his listening to and perceiving individuals’ needs, his touching, his admonitions to go forth, back into the world in a restored and healed condition. He embodied the power to heal at its most powerful levels, showing us forever in a human life that the main work of the church, of his extended Body, is that of connecting others (along with ourselves) to the power that God gives freely, as we have the faith to receive it.
A look at hands-on and hearts-in healing (or lack of such ministry) is one way to take the “temperature” of the church in its day-to-day life. When we reach out to the needs of our own community—acting locally; as well as thinking globally—responding to the needy in world disaster…we become part of this healing chain. We carry the loving, restorative power of Christ beyond our imagined borders and spread healing to amazing dimensions.
We are the hands of Christ at work in the world about us. We become Christ to each other.
Sources: Episcopal Church Center web site.
Synthesis, Fifth Sunday After Epiphany,
2006.