It is an honor to be with you this morning. Thank you for the invitation.
It was Easter Sunday in 1960 or 1961. My older sister Pat was 13 or 14 years old. She got dressed up and walked the half city block to our neighborhood Anglican (Episcopal) Church, St. Barnabas. A few minutes later she came home in tears.
My father was a firefighter for the city of Winnipeg and he had just come off the night shift. He worked fire rescue in downtown Winnipeg, so little or no sleep was had on those nights. When he asked her what was wrong, she said that the man at church told her the church was full and there no room for her. My father took her by the hand and returned to the church. They walked in love that short distance to the church. In those days my dad was not a church going man but it was a neighborhood church and he knew the folks there.
The details of the conversation between my dad and the usher are lost amidst the family lore, but I imagine it went something like this. ‘Hi Jimmie.’ says the usher. My dad replies, ‘My daughter comes to church every Sunday and has done so for years. You can ask one of those folks (I am sure that was not the word he used) who attend only once or twice a year to leave and make room for her.’ My sister stayed for church. I am not sure if one of those “folks” was asked to leave or not.
Now look around. No, really, take a look around. Now imagine it is Easter Sunday and there is not one seat remaining. Some of you might remember those times when the pews and the collection plates were full. In those times our walk was downstream. WE went with the flow. WE went to church. WE brought our children to the church for baptism and Sunday School. Such is not the case these days. Our journey as the people of God in our time is different. It is at least across the current, and in some cases, upstream directly, against the culture of our time.
It is easy to long for the good old days and be discouraged. One recent estimate was that only one in five of those people who say they are Christian are in worship on any given Sunday. And that means that four out of five of those believers are not. Recently my regular morning scripture reading included a passage from the Gospel of Luke, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” (Luke 10.2) And that is good news, and a reason for optimism as we consider how we will journey with God, how we will walk in love with one another, and how we will invite others to join us. The harvest is plentiful.
The biblical story is the record of God’s action to call people into a covenant community. ‘I will be your God; and you will be my people. In the second creation story, life begins in a garden. The two humans had food, shelter, and companionship, all that was necessary for a good life. There was only on rule: ‘Do not eat the fruit of this one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or you will die.’ The knowledge of good and evil is something which God alone has. When they/we rejected God’s offer of salvation and chose to go their/our own way – choosing to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they are exiled from the garden. Yet God walks with them in the garden ‘at the time of the evening breeze.’ God’s steadfast love prevails, and God continues to stay in relationship.
When God calls a people of God’s own in the time of Abraham and Sarah, a covenant relationship is established with the promise of a land, an abundance of offspring, and a blessing. The blessing is not one of privilege, as we have often mistaken it to be. It is a blessing of responsibility. God’s people are to a blessing to ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH. And that is at the heart of our journey with God.
In these latter days God came to us, dwelt with us, in the person of Jesus who showed us in his life and teaching us how to walk in love with God the Creator and with one another. Jesus literally pitches his tent in our midst. He takes on our humanity and becomes the model of obedience. He overturns the sin in the garden and restores a right relationship between God and the people of God. He walks in love with the poor and the outcasts of his society. He breaks bread with them. He is a blessing to “all the families of the earth.’
In the first generation after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the apostle Paul writes to his friend and disciple Timothy encouraging him to pray for EVERYONE – for our leaders that we might live a quiet and peaceable life in godliness and dignity.
And then he announces a most incredible thing. God desires EVERYONE to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth. God desires EVERYONE to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth. And then Paul adds Jesus, himself human, gave himself as a ransom for ALL. He paid the price for human sin. The harvest is plentiful!
Today we read in Matthew’s gospel that Jesus warned his disciples, and he warns us, that the walk will not always be easy. Sometimes we may have to walk against the currents of the world in which we live, to stream upstream. “Seek first the kingdom of heaven,’ Jesus says. Trust that God is with us. Trust that God’s steadfast love will be us in our journey.
As you consider what portion of your wealth you will contribute to the work of ministry in this community, look around again. Your gift is for all those who gather here for worship. You are called to walk, to get up out of the pew, and do something. You are called perhaps to share in the ministry of the cathedral gardens, which I enjoyed watching on your Facebook page this past summer, or to join with Scott in his ministry to the poor and the homeless, or to talk to Joelle and be a mentor to those in the Gethsemane Youth Service Club. Or maybe you will have the courage to step forward with a ministry of your own.
The prophet Micah reminds us: “God has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6.8)
Your journey in love may begin with a short walk down the street to your local church. It may have twists and turns. Sometimes you may feel that you are in a dark valley. At other times it may be a mountain top experience. Whatever the case, you do not walk alone on your spiritual journey. That is the beauty of congregational life.
And now the rest of the story. Not long after that walk down the street on an Easter Sunday my father went to the priest and asked to be baptized, on a Sunday morning no less. A short time later he was confirmed by the bishop. He went on to be a faithful servant, giving generously of his time and talent, and I expect, of his income. And I like to think it all began with that simple journey on an Easter Sunday.
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