February 1, 2015: May God’s words alone be spoken, may God’s words alone be heard. Amen.
The past two days, I was attending our Diocesan Convention, along with our lay deputies Rick Fox and Bill Seeman, Elise Mitchell who served as a page, Len Roberts who was there as a postulant, our Dir. of Ops and Communication Jayne Murphy-Morris who was leading a North Porch workshop, and our Dir. of Family Ministries Candice Whitaker who was supporting CrossRoads Camp & Retreat Center. In other words, Christ Church was ALL OVER diocesan convention.
Diocesan Convention for me is a labor of love beforehand, as I work to produce videos that are shown there, and a joyous re-connection with so many people I love from all over the diocese. There are workshops, ecumenical gatherings, worship, and so very much more. And we will hear about convention after this service, as Rick and I not only talk about what we heard, but I will show a video that was shown there too. That said, we don’t have to mention the Episco-Disco or the Parichoi-Karaoke … for that we will just say “what happens in Parsippany, stays in Parsippany.”
What is God up to? That was the theme of this year’s Diocesan Convention yesterday and the day before.
What is God up to?
It is an interesting thing to consider, and a question that, as we talked about at convention, is often talked about in terms of what we do within the walls of our churches.
But the focus of this convention was about the workings of God already happening outside of our walls – with or without us.
In our gospel for today, it is said that “Jesus and his disciples went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught.” When the Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue…sooooo, what was he doing all those other days? Praying, yes. Teaching, yes. Healing, most definitely. Jesus didn’t box the workings of God to a few hours a week in a temple. Jesus was out in the world!
God was at work in the world, whether or not the people who attended the temple were a part of it…and God is still at work in the world, whether we are out there a part of it or not.
But, we should be… and we are.
These past two days, those attending convention heard about the workings of the Holy Spirit through churches in this diocese that were inspiring and challenging. Inspiring because they showed the powerful grace of God in the actions in the world of these congregations, and challenging – not because that work is difficult, but because it is a clarion call – a challenge – to step out of our churches, and into our neighborhoods.
Among the stories were…
- children whose parents are in prison being brought together into a drumming circle – and those children performed right there at convention – it was amazing!
- We heard of churches working against gun violence in our streets,
- Another working with neighborhood authorities to try to find a missing neighbor.
- A church responding to a suicide in a playground with a spontaneous public service of healing
- Another church engaged in blessings to go, while others participated in local Habitat for Humanity type of endeavors
And neighborhood is not solely a geographical thing, but as Christ taught us, our brothers and sisters are worldwide. And so we heard about
- A church that has built a relationship with school children in Afghanistan – connecting those young girls with their counterparts here in the US through letter writing
- And I spoke about work at a Cameroonian orphanage, one I have talked about before in the pulpit, and one that I am still working with to provide education, shelter, food, and safety in a world shattered by the AIDS epidemic.
What is God up to? A whole lot, to be sure.
Yet, we make a mistake if we think that God is only at work in the world when the church is involved. See, that is the thing – God is up to all sorts of wonderful things in the world…we just have to look around. And, as our convention speaker, the Rev. Alan Roxburgh talked about, “join with God in our neighborhoods.” But what does that really mean?
It means that we need to be Sunday to Saturday Christians. We need to get to know our neighbors, those next to where we live, work, or play, and those in places we don’t go. We need to listen to the Holy Spirit, and go where she leads us. We need to be Christians not only inside these doors, but at the local coffee shop, diner, supermarket, drugstore, dog park, bowling alley…everywhere.
We need to be a place that the community knows too. Think of it like you might a reporter – if you were to interview someone at…well, even as close as Bloomfield and Broad Street and ask…”what do you know about Christ Church,” the answer should be “wow, they are great neighbors,” and not “Who?” or “What?” And certainly not, “Oh, that church up there on the corner? I thought they were closed.”
It means all of those things. But one of the troubling things for me in this whole “missional” approach, which is what we have been hearing about for a few years now in church circles, is that it too often talks about going out of the church at the full exclusion of coming into the church – as though running a soup kitchen, or in our case, a nursery school, is what it means to be a church. Well folks, it isn’t. You don’t have to be a church to run either of those things, in fact – you don’t have to be Christian, or even a person of faith! That is where we get it wrong, but where our bishop and Alan Roxburgh at this year’s convention were getting it right.
Because both of them were clear – what happens here…what happens inside the church, is fundamental to what we do outside of the doors. In the gospels it is clear that Jesus understood that too. He took time to go to the temple, time to pray, time to himself for reconnecting with God for restoration in his ministry. And we must do that too.
As our bishop said in his address, “We are disciples of Christ – daring to engage the world and discover what God is up to. Grounded in scripture and rooted in prayer – and open to life-changing transformation.” It is here where we hear the scriptures, and are taught about them; and, it is also here where we pray together as a body of Christ, receiving blessings and absolution, and in the Eucharist, are given restoration for our journey to join God in the work out in the world.
So what does all that mean for us here at Christ Church? Well, in some ways, we are already joining God outside these doors, and will continue to do that – including in just two weeks when we once again go out into the streets to distribute ashes to as many people in our community as we can reach. And, we have joined with our bishop in his call to set aside a part of our outreach for investing in our neighborhoods, which we did in our 2015 budget. This is not for simply donating it, but for finding those places in our neighborhood where we might be able to, in some new way, invest in the work God is already doing – or create with God new ministries.
But it also means that we have even more work to do. Over this next year, we will work together as a parish to step boldly out of our doors, to get to know, really know, the people, businesses, community organizations, and all that makes up the neighborhoods we call home – Bloomfield and Glen Ridge. And to that end, in the next few months, we will be working together to identify ways in which we can as brothers and sisters in Christ, follow his example, and not only discover what God is up to in the world, but to join with God in that work. To be “disciples of Christ – daring to engage the world and discover what God is up to. Grounded in scripture and rooted in prayer – and open to life-changing transformation.”
If you thought 2014 was exciting – and it was –– well, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet! Because we are going to get up, get out, get going, and get blessed.
Amen.
[Sermons as written may not be as delivered on any given Sunday]Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
February 1, 2015
Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany
1st Reading – Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm 111
2nd Reading – 1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Gospel – Mark 1:21-28
