October 26, 2014: May God’s words alone be spoken, may God’s words alone be heard. Amen.

Well, here we are again. If you have been in church these past few weeks, then you know that Jesus has had a series of challenges with the temple authorities. And again, like last week, we hear words so very familiar to us that they have become as ingrained in our Christian DNA, as they are to our Jewish neighbors. That we are, above all else (or perhaps, as a summation of all else) are to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and love our neighbor as ourselves.

But, do we really understand…do we really comprehend the impact of this seemingly simple message? And, how do we live it out? Now, a few months ago, I was singing in this pulpit, and you along with me, “All you need is love,” by the Beatles, right? Well, I think the Beatles were right about that, but in a sort of trivial way.

You see, it is all about love, but – what kind of love, and how do we get there – how do we come to love – and…who do we love? For that matter – what is love. What exactly was Jesus talking about? The Pharisees seemed to know that he had answered wisely – do we?

So, to quote another song, “Let’s talk about love.” Or at least, let’s talk about what Jesus was meaning here. When Jesus tells us to love everyone it would be natural to talk about the way we carry God’s love out into the world as a way of loving God and neighbor. And that’ s true, and we do a lot of that at Christ
Church. But, I think there is more to what Jesus is saying than that.

Jesus isn’t telling us to love only neighbor, but first and foremost – God. But how?

Well, how does anyone love, really. Through action.

Love is more about action, than it is about feelings. What we do is what counts. Now, that may seem strange, but think about it. How do we know someone loves us? It is by action, right? Someone can tell us they love us, but if that isn’t backed up by how they interact with us, then it is not love. Again, fairly obvious. The same is true here.

Love is an action verb. And Jesus tells us that we are to love God with “all our hear t, all our soul, and all our mind.” How do we do that? It isn’t like we can send up roses to God, right?

Well,maybe.

See, I think it is a lot like the love your neighbor thing…we live into it, and then we feel it. Or, put another way: “Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi” “The phrase in Latin literally means the law of prayer (“the way we worship”) is the law of belief (“what we believe”), is the law of our life (“how we live”). How we worship reflects what we believe and determines how we will live our lives…or, in the Anglican tradition – through the act of worship we come to know and love God. The word “liturgy” actually means the “work” of the faithful.Worship reveals what we truly believe and how we view ourselves in relationship to God, one another and the world into which we are sent to carry forward the […] mission of Jesus Christ.”1 Our worship, here in Christ Church isn’t just something we do when there isn’t anything better to do on a Sunday, or when the weather is nice. Well, at least it shouldn’t be. It is something that forms who we are, and helps us to live into the love we are called to express to our neighbors and to God.

But, worship is far more than that. See, I think we sometimes overlook the importance of our liturgy. It is more than the work of the faithful, or perhaps, more comes out of that work than we might realize. There really is something to those “pew aerobics” Robin Williams talked about in his top 10 reasons to be an Episcopalian. In our Western society, there is really no other time when we bow – save maybe the porcelain throne when we are sick or when taking a curtain call on stage. Heck, we don’t even like to sit quietly. A study reported on NPR recently said that Americans would rather get an electric shock than have to sit for a long period in silence with their own thoughts.

Don’t get me wrong, many of us pray – entering into a conversation with God. But often that conversation is a lot of talking, not listening, right? Dear God, thank you for this or that, and please do this or that other thing.Amen. Of course prayer, as we know, is not limited to worship on Sundays. But, I am actually talking about our liturgy here…where else in our lives does a janitor and a CEO kneel or stand side by side – equal before God? Where else do we reverence the sacred? Where else to we sing love songs out loud? Worship takes us out of the everyday, the barrage of texts, emails, and phone calls, to a different sort of space. This space. A space where we are not told of the latest Hollywood scandal, or cheer for sports stars that earn enough money to feed a small nation, or wear ourselves out trying to do six things at once. Here – we kneel, we bow, we sit in quiet, we pray, we listen, we sing, and all of it is worship. All of it is loving God, even if we don’t always feel it – through worship, we learn to love God. We learn to step out of our everyday lives focused on ourselves, an into a world focused on something greater than ourselves.

Here we take love of God from the abstract to the real.

What do I mean by that? Well, there are many who will say that they experience God in ways other than a place of worship with a community of faith. And I certainly hope that is true for all of us, because God is everywhere. But, I also know of more than a few friends who tell me they believe in God, but that they don’t need organized religion to worship and appreciate God. Ok, I say, but when I ask them how often they pause in their lives to spend time showing God love, or when or where do they stop what they are doing and give God their full attention, I usually get a blankstare. Thetruthis,ifwedon’tsetasidetimeforsomething, we usually won’t do it. I play golf, and I have loads of friends who call themselves Christians who play golf on Sunday mornings. Now, I can tell you that I do a whole lot of praying on the golf course – if you ever saw me play, you would know why. But, I wouldn’t call any of that loving God, nor would I even try to say that my time on the course, even while appreciating the beauty of
nature shared with people I care very much about, is focused on God. It is focused on trying to get that stupid white ball into that ridiculously tiny hole.

See, we all know that someone can say they love us, but if they never give us their full attention, really listening to us, giving us their time, then their actions make their words of love meaningless. Why do we think God needs or wants anything less than what we expect for ourselves? Why do we think we can talk about loving God, but not give God much time or effort?

Love is not something we can multi-task well. Love in the abstract is love in the head, but not the heart. To love someone or something…to really love…that requires heart….. and love, while a many splendid thing, is not an abstract thing. Love is somethingexpressedinaction. Thatiswhyworshipisimportant, because in the act of worship, we love in the real, in the heart, not
the head or the abstract. We give our ourselves in love of God as

Christ says – body, mind and spirit. When we come here, we not only say we love God, but we act in that love in a very real and concrete way. We walk the talk of our faith in God. We bow, sing, and give of our time and treasure as acts of love for the One who loves us unconditionally and for all time.

And on Sundays here we give our children a sacred space to grow in love where it isn’t about who is wearing what clothes, or whether one is a gamer, a jock, a nerd, or a cheerleader. We inherently teach them that life is not about all the tasks – homework, soccer games, swim team practice, or college applications – it isn’t about texting, gaming, or the latest Netflix download. Theylearnthatitisn’taboutkeepingallthatisours, but giving of ourselves and our piggybanks to something greater. All of us, adults and children alike, learn that it is about loving God and neighbor, and loving self. It is the pause that refreshes our souls, and gives our children a safe home for their lives – no matter where they go.

It seem a small thing to do for all of that – 2 hours on a Sunday (including commuting or coffee hour). Less than it takes to watch a movie.

Now, this isn’t the only place one can live out their faith, nor is the Christian church the only place to gather together to express our love of God, neighbor and self, or to nurture children in all of that too. But for us, this church, Christ Church, is where we have chosen to be as a community of faith. And on Sunday morning, this is a wonderful place to be to be sure – a place filled with love of God and neighbor. But what we experience here – right now – in this service – doesn’t just happen on its own. I don’t have a magic wand I pull out like Harry Potter, or the ability to twitch my nose a bit like Bewitched, and all of this comes together. For that
matter, there is far more to being Christ Church, this church, than what happens here on a Sunday morning.

[Rapid Fire] Monday – Friday, Jean Bannon, our Nursery School Director arrives at 7am to prepare for our staff and our children – all 101 of them, the gym equipment (hidden away for Sundays) is hauled out again to cover the parish hall floor, and Celina, the Asst. Dir. stays until well after 6pm to ensure the last of our charges is picked up by their family. In the evenings, our sexton, Don, checks all entrances and exits twice – at 6pm and then later, to be sure all is secured for the night. FromTuesday when the parish office opens through to Friday, the bulletin for the week is put together, the Sunday Paper too. Count sheets from the Sunday collection is entered into our Accounts, pastoral calls are made to hospitals and homes, the bulletin and paper are reviewed, edited and printed, there are meetings of the vestry, or the finance committee, or the stewardship committee, or of the rector/sexton/and the contractor of the week – Verizon, PSEG, the Stone Mason, the plumber, or the roof guy. Our rector meets in Diocesan Council, or with the bishop and the rest of the General Convention deputies, or in countless other meetings. There are two other worship services during the week – both on Wednesday – often led by lay people, and loads of other folks who call to use the church – and after all of it, our sextons clean and prepare for the next day. Just last month we had 3 funerals and a wedding, all of which meant meetings with families, printing of additional bulletins, hiring of supply organists, changing of altar linens from green to white to green again, and so much more. And we haven’t even gotten to the specific preparations of this space for Sunday, have we. Thursday night our choir and Director of Music practices the anthems, hymns, and Psalms. This is in addition to the Music Director and the Rector planning months worth of liturgy ahead of time (ask us about Advent, Epiphany and Lent – we can tell you). On Saturdays, volunteers come to fold the Sunday Paper (it doesn’t come out of the printer like that), stuff them into bulletins, and set them out for Sunday. Others set the chalices wine and bread out for use, ensure the candles all have enough oil, the sextons put out the coffee hour tables, coffee is set up for Sunday, and the entire place is cleaned. Sunday morning, the rector arrives by 7:30am for the 8am service, the Worship Asst. vests, and the first service is held. After that, Bill and the choir practice while the acolytes get their instructions for the day, get vested, and light the candles. The ushers get instructions of the day, and pass out the bulletins – greeting everyone who enters the door. The altar guild cleans up from the 8am service. After the this service, the chalices, cruets, and other items used in the service are cleaned, and put away. The money is counted, checks copied, and the deposit made, the coffee hour is cleaned up. And then the rector prepares for the Last Chance Mass at 6pm. After that Mass, the sextons clean the space, check to be sure everything is locked, and the cycle begins again on Monday morning. And what does all that cost? Well for any given Sunday service – just the services mind you, not all the rest, it can cost us about $2,000 – between salaries, paper, toner, electricity for the lights, the organ, and the sound system, heat and snow removal (in the winter), toilet paper and cleaning supplies, and so much more it would take awhile to list.

And that is only an average week – and only what I can squeeze in here in this sermon. In other words, it is a lot of acts of love that makes Christ Church the place where we grow in faith, serve our neighbors, and create community – to be the place where we love God with all our heart, mind and soul.

I would like the following to stand: anyone who has ever served on the altar guild, the vestry, the choir, as warden, as treasurer, on the finance committee, as a lay worship leader, as a lay eucharistic visitor, has helped clean or garden the grounds, an usher, lector, or acolyte, as a Sunday school teacher or youth group leader, in the men’s group, women’s group, hosted coffee hour, helped with bulletins, or anything in the office…I want you all to stand up. Come on – stand up!

Thank you! It is through your actions that all of us are able to be here today.

Next Sunday on All Saints, a high holy day of the church we will bring forward to the altar our pledges – our statements of commitment to this – our parish home. Pledges are transformative! There is a difference between pledging and giving. It is the difference between dating and marriage when it comes to love, and we all know there is a big difference between the two. One is commitment to love in the abstract. And I am asking you to show commitment to love in real action. By making a pledge
of your time and your treasure.

“`You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Now is the time for the real, not the abstract.

Now is the time for action, not words.

Now is the time for giving to God for all that God has given to us.

Now is the time to love.

Amen.

[The sermon as written may not be as delivered on any given Sunday]

The Rev. Diana Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
October 26 2014
Pent 20, Proper 25 – Year A – Track 1
Hebrew – Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
Christian – 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Gospel – Matthew 22:34-46