‘Can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to sitting down and reading all the things you’ve written on those sticky notes about your vision for a grace-filled church! I’d venture to say that for most of us over these past 4 years, our visions and ideas about church…what it is and what it does…have changed significantly.
Remember three years ago when we came to these readings in the Lectionary, the congregations of St. George and St. James were in radically different places. St. James had just received the Ryan-Biggs engineering report that told us something of what we were facing, if we were to restore the building. We were overwhelmed and full of grief and confusion.
Three years ago, St. George was discerning about their future…weighing the costs, and considering what it would mean to sell their property yet remain an intact congregation and a missional presence in Lee.
Today of course, we’re together and in such a different place, yet we got here by different routes…For St. James it was not by choice, but by the reality of our circumstances that we’ve become a people on a journey in the wilderness with no permanent place to call home. And yet we are blessed by a myriad of unexpected gifts of grace and unexpected ways of being nourished and of nourishing others along the way…
Not the least of which is the people of St. George, who after long discernment, chose to sell their property and come to worship here at Crissey Farm with the people of St. James. Their hope was to be part of a new church in South County.
So we’re two congregations without a building, who are now taking the bold step of formally consolidating and becoming a new church together…Grace Church: An Episcopal Community in the Southern Berkshires!
As we continue our mission and ministry as a homeless congregation, and at the same time begin to dream about what is next, I can’t help but think about that beautiful line in Joshua (4:6), “What do these stones mean”? It comes as God’s chosen obediently erect 12 stones to commemorate and always remember the story of their journey and finally crossing safely into the Promised Land…God says, “When your children and your children’s children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean’ tell them the story of how God has been with you through it all!”
For us a question is, “What do the old buildings, which we no longer own, which are now deconsecrated, mean to us? Certainly our hearts are full of memories and stories of the faithful communities that occupied them. I wonder what would having a new building mean to us? Would it be a means to the end of accomplishing the creative mission God is calling us into? Or would it quickly become an end in itself and eventually almost an idol?
In the 2 Samuel reading today God makes it pretty clear to King David, through the Prophet Nathan, that it was NOT important to God to have a fancy home of cedar. What God wanted the people to value was how they were not “Sheep without a shepherd”, but a people God had been with and protected for generations, wherever they went.
If we had a new building…what would it mean? Our Presiding Bishop once spoke of “the blessings of leanness.” She said, “People get creative wandering in the wilderness. They get creative when they don’t have great structures behind them. They get creative when they don’t have big fat bank accounts.” God knows out here in the chaotic wilderness, the people of St. George and St. James have gotten really creative. And God knows we’ll need more of that gift of creativity down the line!
So it’s easy to become anxious about tomorrow. ‘Afraid we might not have the strength to do whatever we need to do. But today’s words from the Letter to the Ephesians are like a balm to the ears. Although the context is very different from ours, Ephesians reminds us of the SOURCE of the creativity and strength we’ve received and will continue to need and receive as we move forward in this exciting time of transition.
The SOURCE, of course, is the cross. Through the cross, Jesus has brought together both his Chosen People, the ones who were “near” and those who did not worship the God of Israel, the ones who were “far off”. By Jesus’ death and resurrection, the “far off” and the “near” miraculously come together and become the Church. They share Jesus’ “peace”.
This reminds me of how over these past four years, we have become so much more aware and involved in this community, especially through Gideon’s Garden and our Pantries. We’re actually concerned about and in relationship with people who are not part of our formal church. And both of our congregations have opened our arms to one another, people from two different Episcopal churches, who might in earlier days have been rivals or just ignored each other’s existence. Churched and unchurched, near and far off, we are coming to see that we are all children of the same God, sheep with a shepherd, brothers and sisters on the Way, and people with an incredible story to tell!
Through the Cross Jesus took the wall of hostility that stands between the groups and broke it down. He’s torn down a wall in order to create a new, united humanity, reconciled to God. It’s like the African concept of Ubuntu. It means, “I in You and You in Me.” The Chosen and the Pagans are united in Christ as the Church. Ubuntu. Paul says the people, with all their different backgrounds and points of view, “Are all members of the household of God…Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.”
So in the midst of this great transition, full of chaos and creativity, we can relax! No matter what we decide we should do; no matter what time, talent and energy; no matter what infusions of creativity it takes to get to where we’re going... St. Paul tells us we’re standing on the solid foundation of those who have gone before, those united together in Christ. Ultimately our solid ground is Jesus Christ, the cornerstone. It is in Jesus’ masonry (Not bricks and mortar) that the whole structure of the church is joined together. It is in Jesus’ grace—not by all our hard work—that we grow into a holy temple. It is in Jesus’ spirit—not in a particular building—that we are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God. It is in us, God’s people that God dwells. It is we who are God’s holy temple.
So, I hope we will take our companionship with one another very seriously. God dwells in and among us! I in you and you in me. Together, as Christ’s body, we will receive the creativity and strength God gives us. As we fill out those sticky notes, we will entrust ourselves to God’s Spirit to show us the future God wants for us. We’ll be empowered by our history, and we’ll empower others by telling our stories of how God’s been with us through all the years—bringing us to this time and place. Christ is indeed our cornerstone, and we are being built together spiritually into a grace-filled dwelling place for God. I in You and You in Me, a holy temple in the Lord. Amen.
Not the least of which is the people of St. George, who after long discernment, chose to sell their property and come to worship here at Crissey Farm with the people of St. James. Their hope was to be part of a new church in South County.
So we’re two congregations without a building, who are now taking the bold step of formally consolidating and becoming a new church together…Grace Church: An Episcopal Community in the Southern Berkshires!
As we continue our mission and ministry as a homeless congregation, and at the same time begin to dream about what is next, I can’t help but think about that beautiful line in Joshua (4:6), “What do these stones mean”? It comes as God’s chosen obediently erect 12 stones to commemorate and always remember the story of their journey and finally crossing safely into the Promised Land…God says, “When your children and your children’s children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean’ tell them the story of how God has been with you through it all!”
For us a question is, “What do the old buildings, which we no longer own, which are now deconsecrated, mean to us? Certainly our hearts are full of memories and stories of the faithful communities that occupied them. I wonder what would having a new building mean to us? Would it be a means to the end of accomplishing the creative mission God is calling us into? Or would it quickly become an end in itself and eventually almost an idol?
In the 2 Samuel reading today God makes it pretty clear to King David, through the Prophet Nathan, that it was NOT important to God to have a fancy home of cedar. What God wanted the people to value was how they were not “Sheep without a shepherd”, but a people God had been with and protected for generations, wherever they went.
If we had a new building…what would it mean? Our Presiding Bishop once spoke of “the blessings of leanness.” She said, “People get creative wandering in the wilderness. They get creative when they don’t have great structures behind them. They get creative when they don’t have big fat bank accounts.” God knows out here in the chaotic wilderness, the people of St. George and St. James have gotten really creative. And God knows we’ll need more of that gift of creativity down the line!
So it’s easy to become anxious about tomorrow. ‘Afraid we might not have the strength to do whatever we need to do. But today’s words from the Letter to the Ephesians are like a balm to the ears. Although the context is very different from ours, Ephesians reminds us of the SOURCE of the creativity and strength we’ve received and will continue to need and receive as we move forward in this exciting time of transition.
The SOURCE, of course, is the cross. Through the cross, Jesus has brought together both his Chosen People, the ones who were “near” and those who did not worship the God of Israel, the ones who were “far off”. By Jesus’ death and resurrection, the “far off” and the “near” miraculously come together and become the Church. They share Jesus’ “peace”.
This reminds me of how over these past four years, we have become so much more aware and involved in this community, especially through Gideon’s Garden and our Pantries. We’re actually concerned about and in relationship with people who are not part of our formal church. And both of our congregations have opened our arms to one another, people from two different Episcopal churches, who might in earlier days have been rivals or just ignored each other’s existence. Churched and unchurched, near and far off, we are coming to see that we are all children of the same God, sheep with a shepherd, brothers and sisters on the Way, and people with an incredible story to tell!
Through the Cross Jesus took the wall of hostility that stands between the groups and broke it down. He’s torn down a wall in order to create a new, united humanity, reconciled to God. It’s like the African concept of Ubuntu. It means, “I in You and You in Me.” The Chosen and the Pagans are united in Christ as the Church. Ubuntu. Paul says the people, with all their different backgrounds and points of view, “Are all members of the household of God…Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.”
So in the midst of this great transition, full of chaos and creativity, we can relax! No matter what we decide we should do; no matter what time, talent and energy; no matter what infusions of creativity it takes to get to where we’re going... St. Paul tells us we’re standing on the solid foundation of those who have gone before, those united together in Christ. Ultimately our solid ground is Jesus Christ, the cornerstone. It is in Jesus’ masonry (Not bricks and mortar) that the whole structure of the church is joined together. It is in Jesus’ grace—not by all our hard work—that we grow into a holy temple. It is in Jesus’ spirit—not in a particular building—that we are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God. It is in us, God’s people that God dwells. It is we who are God’s holy temple.
So, I hope we will take our companionship with one another very seriously. God dwells in and among us! I in you and you in me. Together, as Christ’s body, we will receive the creativity and strength God gives us. As we fill out those sticky notes, we will entrust ourselves to God’s Spirit to show us the future God wants for us. We’ll be empowered by our history, and we’ll empower others by telling our stories of how God’s been with us through all the years—bringing us to this time and place. Christ is indeed our cornerstone, and we are being built together spiritually into a grace-filled dwelling place for God. I in You and You in Me, a holy temple in the Lord. Amen.
