|
 |
Sermon for July 19, 2009
Pastor Sara Kay Olson-Smith
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Texts: Jeremiah 23:1-6; Psalm 23; Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator and from Christ Jesus our Lord.
The other day I was driving down Greenbrook Road, and I saw one of the signs from St. Peter’s, directing folks to turn down Grove Street and make their way to “the welcome place.” First, I added the sign to my list of things that we need to think about in the coming months, but than I got a little sad. Perhaps just as you have, in those moments where you are confronted with the realities of our closing these doors in the coming months, I thought about the many people who have been welcomed into this community over the years. I felt the sorrow and deep regret for the ways we failed to live up to that welcome to others. And yet, I gave thanks for the ways, through the ministry and witness of this community, that people have been welcomed into the grace and mercy of Jesus. I started to wonder how might we think about that ministry of welcome which St. Peter’s has lived for so many years, and how it could be continued outside of this place...
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes about the ways in which Jesus’ ministry is a one of miraculous and transformative welcome into the grace of God and the people of God. God’s saving grace is not just for those who are part of the Jewish community, but for Gentiles, too. All people, in Christ, are welcome into the grace and goodness and life in God. Paul writes of how people experience the profound and transformative welcome of Jesus, even for people who have experienced discord and separation. There are those who were once far off, strangers and aliens, separated from God by their sinfulness and by whatever other distance was placed there. However, Jesus came and proclaimed peace, welcome and joy.
As Paul writes, “You are no longer strangers and aliens, by you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structures is joined together and grows into a temple. You are build together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.”
God has built us into a welcome place, made so by Jesus. Once we were all far off, broken apart, alone and distant, but through Jesus, we have been welcomed, forgiven and restored, made together into this community - a welcome place. Each of us is welcomed and transformed by the grace and mercy of God. Or maybe it might be better said, God has built us into a welcome people, made so by Jesus, our Cornerstone.
As we look at our history, the welcome of this welcome place has never really been about the bricks and mortar. The welcome of this welcome place has not only been about these beautiful windows which depict the story of Jesus. The welcome of this welcome place is not about these strong walls and light bulbs, even as they’ve been lovingly and faithfully changed and painted and cared for. The welcome of this welcome place has always been grounded in our Cornerstone, Jesus. The welcome of this welcome place has always been Jesus and the saints who bear his name. Jesus is our cornerstone, in whom we first found welcome and who brought each of us (and continues to bring each of us) from being strangers to being beloved, welcome members of this body of Christ. Each of us, through that welcome and mercy of Jesus, have become part of this welcome place. With Jesus as our cornerstone, and the foundation of these saints and prophets of this place, we have been built, not just as a welcome place, but as a welcome people - a welcome people, built together by God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness into a community of people who lived the welcome we first received. As Paul writes, “In Jesus the whole structure is joined together...built together into a dwelling place for God.”
We, with Jesus as our cornerstone, are a welcome people, made into a dwelling place for God. It’s amazing to think that we, crazy and broken and not quite so perfect, are made a dwelling place for God. And yet, this is the way that God chooses to live God’s welcome in the world. It is this way of being that you have lived. With Jesus as your cornerstone, this community has lived as a dwelling place which has housed the most vulnerable and needy in your ministry to persons without homes. With Jesus as your cornerstone, you have told the story of Jesus to countless children who have grown to live out that faith in ways we cannot even imagine. With Jesus as your cornerstone, you have shared and given yourselves away to many and supported God’s work all over the world. With Jesus as your cornerstone, you have courageously and faithfully made a hard decision to close these doors, which will give life to new ministries and new possibilities beyond our imagining. With Jesus as your cornerstone, you have begun to give yourselves away. With Jesus as your cornerstone, we get ready to go out to live in new ways of being welcome people – and to be welcomed. With Jesus as your cornerstone, you have been, and continue to be, a welcome people. With Jesus as a cornerstone your have done miraculous things!
And as we move forward in the coming weeks, as we dream and wonder, as we plan and prepare and grieve and shout and weep, and step into new beginnings, I pray that you continue to live as welcome people. Mostly, it is my prayer that you will always be returning to the one in whom we have welcome. We are a welcome people who are grounded in Jesus, our cornerstone, a welcome people who know this One who has made us, who were once far off, into sheep of God’s flock, lambs of God’s own redeeming. This is the center of our being welcome people - we have been welcomed, brought into God’s loving embrace.
I love these images of Jesus and the people in our Gospel reading. Jesus is like a magnet. The people are rushing all over the place to come to him, to hear him teach, to be fed by him, to receive rest and healing and mercy. They rush and run about, just to be with Jesus. Even those disciples, who have been out and about healing and teaching without even taking the time to stop and eat, have been called in by Jesus for a welcome, too - to sit and eat and learn. Jesus, like a magnet, calls us all back, to welcome us. (Sound familiar? Come back, to sit and eat and learn with Jesus. Sounds a bit like what we do every Sunday, isn’t it?) We are, as welcome people, first and foremost people who are welcomed, who are fed and nourished at this table, who listen and learn from the Word. We are given a Savior who draws us back, over and over again, to rest in him, to stay connected, to receive love which changes us. “Sit down, oh weary ones,” he says, “and let me feed you. Slow down you rushed ones, and find rest in me. Come to me, you lost and sorrowful ones, and you will be safe and held.” As welcome people, we are first and foremost people who have been welcomed, forgiven and healed, fed and nourished.
It is my prayer and my utmost confidence that wherever the Spirit leads each one of us in the coming months, we will continue to live this welcome way that we have known here. Even now, we are growing in our welcome, growing in our courage, growing in our faithfulness. Even now, we are being built up into dwelling places for God. You are, through your generosity and courage, your strength and honesty and faithfulness, making a witness to the power of what it means to be a people who have Jesus as your cornerstone. I trust that Jesus will continue to build you as welcome people, and we will each find healing and rest and opportunities to serve. And you will, in those places, bear witness to the welcome place and welcome people who God has used to change you.
I love, that at the end of our Gospel reading we hear of these people who are coming from all over to see Jesus, to receive healing, and listen to his words. We hear, “They begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak....” and of course, we remember the woman with the flow of blood who touched the fringe of Jesus cloak and was healed. Yet, I wonder, if it was her witness and her story that helped bring all those people to Jesus. She, whose life was turned upside down by the transformative goodness of Jesus, was telling everyone, “I just touched the fringe of his cloak and I was healed....” and told others and still others about this Jesus who changed her, who welcomed her, who brought her from being a stranger to being a dwelling place for God. With her words she called other people to Jesus. She was a welcome person by her witness. And countless others were changed, welcomed and healed by Jesus.
You, beloved ones, with Jesus as your cornerstone, have been welcome people. Like that woman, our lives have been turned upside down by the transformative goodness of Jesus. Like that woman, through our words and our actions we tell others about Jesus, who changed us, welcomed us, brought us from being a stranger to being a dwelling place for God. Through those words and actions, here in this welcome place and in whatever places we may find ourselves in the future, God will continue to built us up as welcome people. Like that woman, who touched the fringe of Jesus cloth, your witness will be known for generations, the welcome people who were welcomed first and who lived that welcome, in countless ways and in countless places. God has built us, and will continue to build us into welcome people, made so by Jesus, our Cornerstone.
Thanks be To God.
Amen.
|
