Sermon, February 22, 2004
7 Epiphany, Year C
The Rev. Lowell E. Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Commissioning a Community of Hope
"Love is patient; love is kind... It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful... It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
Today we are celebrating the commissioning of two ministries of service and leadership in our parish -- the commissioning of a new chairperson for our Altar Guild and the commissioning of our first team of lay ministers in our new Community of Hope ministry.
One of those things we say over and over, but which bears repeating, is that we believe every member of St. Paul's has a ministry. God has given every person spiritual gifts to be exercised for the common good. Most of you have ministries that are primarily located in the world beyond the property of the church buildings and its programs. A few of you have ministries within the church. We encourage everyone to claim your ministry in the power of the gifts the Holy Spirit has given you. Our church staff's job is to enable your ministries -- to give you the authority, training, resources, and connections to do whatever God calls you to do.
Donna Daniels is inheriting from Debbi Mohler leadership for one of the important quiet ministries inside our parish. The Altar Guild cares for the preparation and clean-up for our worship. It is one of the behind-the-scenes jobs that is essential to our common life. And it has a particularly prayerful ethos to it. Most Altar Guild members will say it feels like a privilege to serve God this way.
It think that is the case whenever we find our true calling. Whenever we embrace the gifts and ministries God has given us, work becomes a privilege, and there is a deep sense of humble satisfaction that comes with doing something that feels right for us. In such a way, work becomes prayer in action.
The other commissioning we have is for the Community of Hope. Each person commissioned today has spent more than 40 hours doing training for this work. Community of Hope is a program which trains and supports people who wish to serve as pastoral visitors to institutions and individuals. They are trained to listen deeply and to bring support and caring to people in challenging situations. When the training is finished, they are qualified to serve as volunteer chaplains and visitors to nursing homes, prisons, health-care facilities and other institutions. They also are able to serve individuals who could use a kind ear or a gentle shoulder.
The spirituality of Community of Hope is based on the monastic rule of St. Benedict. That's one of the things that attracted us to this program. Benedictine spirituality is deep in the bones of the Anglican and Episcopal Church tradition. Benedict understood the practicalities of what it takes for people to live together, and he grounded his realistic acceptance of people in an inspiring vision of Christ's calling for us.
When Benedict talks about prayer, his first encouragement is to fidelity. Just show up. Don't let your mood or convenience influence your practice of prayer. The first priority is regularity. That's true for all relationships, isn't it. These lay visitors in our Community of Hope will take on the holy responsibility of fidelity. They will show up. Weekly, maybe; bi-weekly. They will come and visit people who need benevolent contact. They'll show up whether they feel chipper or not.
Benedict says that we grow spiritually by living together in community. He says when we live side by side, the rough edges of our defenses and pretensions are ground down by our constant interaction with people who are different from us, people who bug us, people with different opinions, personalities, and temperaments. Growth comes, he says, from accepting people as they are, not as we would like them to be.
Yet, within Benedict's Rule he refers to people who are stubborn and dull, undisciplined and restless, the careless and scatterbrained. Benedict was a realist. He understood the limits and flaws of human nature. But he insisted that spiritual progress comes as we make the effort to see Christ in each person, no matter how irritating or tiresome. That's what these ministers in the Community of Hope program have been learning about. They are promising to show up, to accept those whom they meet and to treat those persons as Christ. One of the best known of the Benedictine mottos is, "Let everyone be received as Christ." Wouldn't that be a good norm for us and for the hospitality of St. Paul's Church?
It is the punch line in the words we have today from Jesus and from Matthew's gospel. He imagines the king separating people like a shepherd separates sheep from goats. The blessed are surprised by their royal welcome. "When was it that we was you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?" ..."Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these..., you did it to me." -- "Let everyone be received as Christ!"
Today we will commission people to be Christ's hands and ears and voice, serving both within the church and outside it. They will promise to show up -- to do their work with fidelity, especially on the days when they don't feel like it. We will ask them to treat everything and everyone as holy -- the things of worship and the people of God's earth. We will ask them to take their places in community where our rough edges irritate each other and sand off our pretension and defenses. We will ask them to receive every person as Christ, and to serve their needs with hospitality and compassion. We will ask them to be realists who are committed to love, like Benedict accepting the stubborn and dull, the undisciplined and restless, the careless and scatterbrained. Recognizing each other's faults and our own. And vowing nonetheless to show up and to love. Realists, committed to love.
And how do we describe love? "Love is patient; love is kind... It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful... It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." Living that way can truly create a real Community of Hope. It's a call everyone in this room is commissioned to embrace.