Enjoy one of the many great sermons from Sarah Hollar...
Rector’s Annual Meeting Address
December 2, 2007
This morning the Rector’s Annual Meeting Address consists of 4 parts. First, there is the traditional annual meeting joke. After a moment of contained hilarity, we’ll move to a discourse on the mission of the Church Universal. The character of our particular church will be examined next, and I’ll end with some notes on the challenges we face in the coming year.
So, to the joke: An atheist was walking through the woods. 'What majestic trees'! 'What powerful rivers'! 'What beautiful animals'! He said to himself. As he continued to walk, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. When he turned to look, he saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charging towards him. He ran as fast as he could. He looked over his shoulder & saw that the bear was closing in on him. He looked again, & the bear was even closer. He tripped & fell and when he rolled over, he saw that the bear was right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw & raising his right paw to strike him.
In that instant the Atheist cried out, 'Oh my God!' Time Stopped. The bear froze.
The forest was silent. As a bright light shone down upon the man, a voice came out of the sky. 'You deny my existence for all these years. You teach others I don't exist and even argue that creation was just a cosmic accident.' 'Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer'?
The atheist looked directly into the light, 'It would be hypocritical for me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps you could make the BEAR a Christian?' 'Very Well,' said the voice. The light went out. The sounds of the forest
resumed. And the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his
head & said: 'Dear Lord, bless this food, which I am about to receive, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.'
Holy Scripture and Church Tradition teach us that there are three things a person must do to be considered a Christian. Number one, God comes first in the Christian’s life. Before career, before spouse before parents, children, friends, pastimes, self fulfillment, before all these worthy relationships and commitments, pleasing God takes precedence. This is what the first and greatest commandment, “Love God with all your heart, soul and mind” really means.” Everything in the Christian’s life comes in second to pleasing God, responding to God, listening to and waiting on God. The second practice essential to the Christian identify is treating every human being with a basic level of respect. Christians are taught that all people are created in the image of God, which means that we all carry some of God’s traits within us. Therefore somewhere within the depths of every human soul there must reside an essential goodness. This initial spark of goodness may be dormant or neglected. It may have become perverted with rage or disappointment, but even our enemies carry God’s touch within them. And, all humanity is united by our shared created image. We come from the same source. So the commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” is the call to acknowledge our common kinship. In the best and worst of times, we are still joined to one another. We are brothers and sisters. We are all members of the family of God and so we’re called to treat one another with care.
Jesus gave us the final Christian requirement himself before he returned to his father. “Love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus loved his disciples and the crowds that pursued him, the people who didn’t know him, the soldiers who taunted him, and the Jewish leaders who betrayed him. He loved them in authentic self-sacrificing ways. He calls us to do the same if we intend to claim his name. Jesus says my followers must be willing to put the needs of another before their own. They’ll be asked to make this kind of sacrifice more than once. Putting God first, respecting the dignity of every human being, loving others, even strangers sacrificially are not easy practices. Being a Christian is hard work. There are no short cuts and no days off for good behavior. Every day we face the three challenges all over again. The rewards of the Christian life are extraordinary but they are not free. And God knows, Christ knows, the Holy Spirit knows we need help in staying the course.
Sooooo, Christ gave us the church! In place of his daily presence, in place of his sermons on the plain or the mount, in place of his bible studies led in friends’ homes, when Jesus returned to heaven, he left behind a wonderful, powerful, lavish gift. He left us a community to keep us focused on his ways. The mission of the church, the reason for its being is to help the followers of Jesus Christ keep their three directives:
Pleasing God comes first; treat all persons the way you would want to be treated in the same situation, give of yourself in self-sacrificing ways. The church draws together a community, a family of believers who work together on building up their Christian identity.
Supporting those who take on the Christian identity is the mission of the church, the Universal church, the church with a capital C. But each individual church has its own character, its own way for equipping its members. Every congregation has its unique essence. God calls some parishes together around their love for elaborate precisely executed worship. They find their way deeper into their faith through multiple weekday services, Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Choral Evensong. They have the gift of adoration and praise. God’s given some congregations the gift of social activism. The folk in these churches are ever mindful and energized by becoming the voice for the oppressed. They find causes to support and solutions for the most vulnerable. To some parishes, God calls people with a thirst for study. What best describes them is a commitment to learning more. They offer multiple bible classes and bring in theologians. They develop lecture series. Some congregations center on mercy. Their people are blessed with the gift of compassion so they reach out to their members and the world with acts of presence. They council and share. They sooth the sick, suffering
and dying. They help the traumatized and worried. They have broad pastoral skills.
And then, God creates congregations with the gift of hospitality. In parishes like St.
Mark’s, God draws together folk who have skills and an affinity for “welcome.” While other congregations pay top dollar to attend seminars and sessions on becoming a welcoming church, a few like this one employ the techniques naturally. People who pick St. Mark’s as their church home say they come and stay because of the friendliness, the genuine openness and acceptance they experience here. The long time members, the newcomers, the youth, the clergy and staff of St. Mark’s are not here by accident. God brought us here because we share a common intention. We believe hospitality is a cardinal virtue. We believe welcoming each other into our lives, putting forth the effort to know each other well is a good way to develop support for our faith lives. People do not come to St. Mark’s because of the abundant worship space and pristine amenities. They do not come for expansive recreational facilities. They don’t come for a cutting edge preschool or diverse course curriculum. Even staff members have compromised to be here. John Bailey accepted his position despite the limitations of our organ and the lack of male voices in the choir. Jane Holmes turned down four more lucrative offers to become our deacon. They came because of our commitment to welcome. They came because we encourage everyone who joins us to find their own place in the body and to express their sense of ministry as God inspires. We’re more interested in the gifts you bring than in making you fit our ways. People come to St. Mark’s because they appreciate our generosity of spirit and our genuine enthusiasm to have them join us in our Christian journey. Our welcome is why we are growing so fast. Our welcome, our hospitality is our great gift and our great challenge.
Today at St. Mark’s we have two congregations. No, I’m not referring to the 8:30 civilized folk and the 10:30 rowdies! I mean the long term congregation and the growing majority who have been here less than three years. The long term members came and stayed because they love the intimacy of St. Mark’s and for a long time they worked very very hard. They paid all the bills, they taught all the classes, they cooked all the hotdogs, and they polished all the brass. They are truly happy to see new folk but a part, a natural part of them worries that rapid expansive growth will change the dynamic of the place they love. And truth be told they are also feeling stretched. They can’t provide wine and wafers and toner and buns and vacation bible school supplies for a congregation growing by 30s and 40s and 50s. They can’t provide the leadership for multiple new initiatives. While they want new faces and ideas and hands in the mix, they don’t know who to ask or how to ask for help.
Our other congregation, the newbies are also happy to be here but they haven’t yet made the transition from “I go to St. Mark’s” to “St. Mark’s is my church.” When St. Mark’s becomes my church, I give for its growth and maintenance. I fund my own wine and wafers and I help pay for the nursery workers and the fuel oil. I recognize those 8 hours to prepare and teach the 4th grade class for 1 month is only 8 hours out of my life and I do this because others who are just as busy as I am are committing to doing other ministry for my good.
In 2008 our 1st challenge will be to assure our long term body that our character will not change with growth. God called us together because of our common appreciation of hospitality. The people he sends us now are of the same mind. We won’t lose; we can’t lose what is central to our being. We’ll continue to be intentional and mindful in our welcome and connection building. As we answer concerns about losing touch with one another, we’ll also need to encourage our long term folk to reach out again and again to bring new folk into leadership roles. Our second challenge will be to encourage the transition of our new members. As comfortable as the perimeter is when you first join a body, our structures are not sound enough to support this growing crowd. Cracking pews are just one indication of the issue. If we love the warm feeling and openness here, we all have to do our part to generate the heat. We need everyone contributing time and talent and treasury. We need lots of the newest folk saying, “Here I am, use me.” Don’t use me up, but call me. I expect to be a real part of the life and work at St. Mark’s. “Not some doing more but more doing some” will be our watchword again in 2008.
God has graciously blessed us at St. Mark’s with committed pillars of the church and with new vibrant friends. He obviously has grand plans for us and we are poised to do his work well. God’s called us together specifically, intentionally. In his will and wisdom he wants us functioning and growing as a healthy community. So what God has brought together in this body, let no one and nothing put asunder. Amen.
