Let us pray: “Come Holy Spirit and kindle in us the fire of your love. Take our minds and think through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our souls and set them on fire.” Amen
Today, we will look at the beginnings of the church through the readings of both the Ascension and today’s Gospel on John. With these passages, we might discover how this church on its 177th anniversary might extend its community and how we can be more purposeful in our church life.
We have just completed the Ascension of Christ on Thursday May 9, 40 days after the Resurrection. The readings from that day are from Luke.
The ascension occurs in a worship setting. Luke ends his Gospel as it began: “in the temple” (v. 53). In the opening of Luke we see Zachariah carrying out his priestly duties. This places the entire Gospel within the framework of a worshipful response to God.
Why is this important? Jesus’ ministry on earth has ended as of the ascension; the era of the Church and its mission on his behalf is about to begin. Luke’s Gospel was very much concerned to relate the Christ becoming flesh, the incarnation, to the work of God throughout Israel’s history.
This new community is the church- not just for one people, Jewish, not just for one country, Israel, but for all. Luke is more intent on focusing on the reason for the existence of this community, in giving it purpose and identity as the God-commissioned people in the world. The Holy Spirit will be with them, as God promised through the prophet Joel, providing a source of energy, pushing us to recognize Christ in the here and now. The Holy Spirit is the teacher after Jesus helping the disciples to remember what Jesus has said, and to understand the true significance of Jesus’ words and deeds.
Ascension Day is not a call to look up and watch Jesus slipping away. It is to trust that Christ’s promise is down here, in and around us. He is looking down, leading us and fulfilling us . It is a day to renew our commitment to being stewards and embody Christ’s ongoing mission here on earth, in and through the ordinary. We need to look around. Where is our ministry going?
And we need to feel the joy the disciples felt about the ongoing ever so real presence of Jesus after his death. Jesus revealing the face of God. And God isn’t through with us.
The John Gospel that we just heard is part of the “highly priestly prayer” of Jesus and provides the foundation for our ministry. This selection appears out of sequence with the Ascension. It is 6+ weeks earlier, just after the Last Supper. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, when Jesus prays before his arrest, he is in Gethsemane, and he prays alone. In John, when Jesus prays, the disciples are within earshot. It is a prayer that looks to the future for a community of believers. We need to build our future in a group. He now prays for the Church of all times. He looks beyond those who follow him now, to those who will come to believe through their witness.
So, what is this church of all times? There are 3 characteristics:
1. This future is about relationship – Jesus and God. Jesus was God’s envoy and ambassador. His life is to be seen as an offer of relationship, a hand stretched out from God. We say St. Peter’s is “Christ centered”
The reign of God coming on earth is echoed in the work of the Son who completes the work given him by the Father and will be carried forward by those disciples who remain "in the world" to implement the work of Jesus. This relationship is the foundation of all others
2. The relationship is not any kind of relationship; it is one characterized by love
Jesus asks for unity and love between those given to him and the Father, "so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (John 17:21). Jesus’ prayer reminds us that our unity, our “oneness” is to be a sign to the world of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ. This unity is not uniformity – true unity demands diversity as Paul teaches in Corinthians.
Loving Jesus implies obeying him. This is not uniformity but a freely voluntary participation essential to John’s vision. It is closer to holding, paying attention to and protecting Jesus word. It is redemptive. St. Augustine long ago said that what God was doing in Jesus was making us again fully human.
Ultimately we do this in community. In the incarnation in John 14:1 Jesus came and pitched his tent besides us and moved into our neighborhood. Jesus commands that we serve one another – just as Jesus washed his disciples feet, helped the poor, ate with sinners, tended to the sick so he expects us to serve each other. To become a part of Christ is to become a part of the community; a part of the one.
The results of loving Jesus and keeping his word are that The Father will love that one. The Father and Son will come to that one. The Father and Son will make a dwelling with that one
3. We must continue this relationship of love through developing this community. It must be visible, direct and have meaning.
Jesus prays that his apostles will continue the work he began to make God known. There are 3 essential teachings: (a) how and how much God loved the world, (b) that the cross reveals Christ’s glory, and (c) how eager Jesus is that all "may be with me where I am" (John 17:24). He will shortly be led away to His trial and execution. After His ascension He will no longer physically walk among His people, until they are reunited with Him. It is for this reunion that our Lord prayed.
The idea of developing community is seen in the Acts 16:16-34 lesson that we did not read today. Paul and Silas encounter a girl with the gift of divination. They liberate the girl from her enslavement to the men who are exploiting her for her gift. Paul’s and Silas’ are eventually imprisoned for "robbing" the exploiters. Upon entering the prison Paul and Silas extend pastoral care to their fellow prisoners through prayers of hope and hymns to God. And then when the earthquake shook them all free they did not run, protecting even the life of the jailer. And it was through their life-witness that the jailer believed and was moved to live his life in faith, was baptized, and offered selfless and grateful hospitality understanding his own inextricable integration with others. As a result of Paul’s and Silas’ response the jailer understands their perspective of unifying love and his integration with the community. The jailer’s response is a transformed life, taking care of their wounds (healing the sick), bringing them into his house (offering shelter to the homeless), and setting a meal before them (feeding the hungry). These responses of hospitality are expressions of a steward’s heart sharing the blessing he has with others. These are responses of gratitude and an understanding of the jailer’s unified connection with them.
In the physical absence of Jesus, God’s ministries are realized in the ministries we too offer in His name and the organizations to facilitate them. We need to see the connection between Jesus of the scriptures and Jesus in our ministries, bringing about reconciliation and healing in this broken world. The church is a witness of Christ’s continual reconciliation, a key part of mission. We grasp its meaning by participating ourselves. The Church is really Jesus at work.
Although we are ourselves imperfect and live in ordinary, imperfect communities of faith that seldom get it right, and we squabble and disagree with each other, in the end we must realize whose we are and that we are united with Jesus. We strengthen each other.
And when we make impressions on those who we will bring to this community, we will become extraordinary.
And that gets us to the one who once lived and worked here for 30 years, who became an extraordinary man and was part of creating an extraordinary community.
Rev. Sigismund Stribling Ware (“Sig” as he was known) was priest here 1888-1918 and also at Grace Church, Corbin during most of those years. He left us with an account of one year out of 30. The year is 1893. He is in the fifth year of his ministry.
This diary thrives in the ordinary. Much of it is not about church services but his work in this little community of Port Royal. Cookie had this diary and gave it to me at Easter to read.
My time with Ware has coincided with Eastertide these 50 days after Easter. I have lived in the world of 1893, imagining what the town and St. Peter’s looked like, trying to understand the many people he visited and understand both the good and bad times. I came out a fuller understanding of the man and times. I was fulfilled.
Ware lived at a time that St. Peter’s was lit by kerosene lights, heated by coil and probably did not have indoor plumbing. A time when it was 10 degrees below zero in the winter and the river was frozen. A time without modern communication except books and newspapers. And yes, a time without our current medical advances. Two of his three children died at St. Peter’s in the early years of their lives. His wife also passed away here. He had rheumatism.
Things took longer to do. A time when driving meant horse and buggy. It took him 2.5 hours to get to Corbin and Grace Church, only about 20 miles away. A rainy day could mean a church service that was cancelled.
It’s the people that make this story. His relationship with them is the essence of his ministry. Many names I cannot read but some are familiar – the Gravatts, Catletts, Holloways, the Robbs, the Gordons, and Dickinsons. They are the ordinary but they make his ministry extraordinary in their support of him. When he ventured to preach at Grace in Corbin, he left the day before about 2pm, often staying at a home named Santee to give him a night’s rest before the Sunday sermon at Grace Church. He stayed many places and was welcomed.
In turn, Ware made Christ visible to the people of Port Royal. Visiting during illnesses and to celebrate recoveries, walking with them, and gardening with them. And he so loved gardening! Ware celebrated the English custom of tea daily and he invited them frequently into the rectory for tea.
Ware was in tune with the Holy Spirit as it came down to enrich relationships and provide hope. He took the time because he was not in a rush. The Rev always took his “usual walk” almost daily though I don’t know where he walked (except to Catlett Hill) and whom he might have seen on the way.
And that may part of our problem today. We often don’t take the time to bring Jesus to the community. We are constantly jumping from one thing to another, postponing many of the important things, bogged down in trivialities. Slow down. In the movie Ferris Bueller, Ferris says while in the shower “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t slow down and look around, you might miss it"? Ware’s diary has forced me to slow down to try understand his world in 1893. His handwriting is not easy to decipher, he abbreviates and that encourages me to slow down and delve into each word.
To the work at hand, let me say that while we are a successful church we need to extend the reach of this community as part of our mission. Our future may depend on it.
We need to visit and revisit our community of Port Royal and surrounding areas. How well do we know the people? What struggles are they going through, individually and collectively? Our calling is to walk with and beside them to understand the stories that comprise the wonderful character of the community. It will be in this kind of walking that two things will happen. First, we will discover ways of connecting people’s stories with the story of Jesus. Second, we will see in our community the Spirit is already up to something. We have to understand what that is. In the process we too will be challenged, changed and enriched in the end.
The Vestry weighted in on this recently in their retreat which were mentioned in the sermon last week. Some ideas included having a community Bible study at the fire house, holding a book group for young people at the Port Royal library, and having church under a tent on the town green in order to welcome everyone in.
People want to be received and be part of a community. People also want to be made to feel useful.
Here’s the challenge. What talents do you have to contribute to this process? How will you share our blessings as the jailer in Acts did ?
We are ministers in our own dealings. As ministers we have to be like our moms.
Moms are our first ministers. They wiped off the tears, gave assurance, provided alternatives and in general encouraged us on in many cases even when she knew it is hopeless. Mine was there to take me to events, help me with my work and give me that extra lift. Mom played the piano and taught Sunday school. She signed me up for Sunday school and choir and made sure I was there. She was my first teacher and minister. Thanks, Mom. Blessings to you for all that you were.
So the main takeaway from this morning is that we need to be more deliberate and purposeful in our Church life using resources such as John’s reading today. Our developing community depends on it.
From Luke, we moved from the time of Christ on earth toward the creation of the church as the continuation of God’s work in the world empowered with the task of bearing witness to the entire world. At the Ascension, the God the disciples saw in Jesus they found in themselves. Let’s meet people on their own turf.
We need to tap the Holy Spirit as our energy source to preach the good news. We need to demonstrate God at work, working with the ordinary. Let’s celebrate the blessings.
Finally, we need to use John’s “priestly prayer” as the foundation of what we do. We need to communicate the relationship of Jesus to God and share in his glory. Despite our difference with people we need to see that we are one with Christ and that he taught us the foundation of love which is carrying out his teachings. We need to build the community out of love and demonstrate that in own actions and dealings. Let’s be the example of Christian love.
While we remember Rev. Ware and his time, it is important that we work to create a mission in our own time. We need to decide what the best courses of action are. It’s a new century and there’s much to be done if we take the time to understand our community, and ponder the alternatives. We need to build relationships in our community just as he did 125 years ago.
We need to adopt whom we serve. Be a mentor. Like our moms, we have to suggest ways out of problems. Give them the encouragement. Make them feel useful. Check back with them, keep up with them.
In the end all of this will help make our own ascension into extraordinary people and continue to build an extraordinary church.
Author Parker Palmer in The Company of Strangers once wrote, “When people look upon the church, it is not of first importance that they be instructed by our theology or altered by our ethics but that they be moved by the quality of our life together: ‘See how they love one another.’”
Amen.