Epistle to the People of Grace Church from the Rev. Ted Cobden

Dear friends of St. George and and St. James now gathered together in Christ as Grace Church.
As the days shorten and winter descends upon us, I often enjoy an evening before the fireplace. I gaze into the warming flames and let my mind roam on pleasant memories and imaginings. As the time passes the logs burn down into pieces and fall apart into charred embers.

To restore the fire, I take some of the larger pieces and place them together. Then the flames begin to start up again. It’s ready for new wood. Soon the fire is restored.

I see this as a metaphor of our life together. In the course of our long lives, each of us as St. James and St. George experienced circumstances which used up our resources. We were nearly exhausted. But God found a wonderful way to place us together and we reignited. We are given new life. The Holy Spirit is breathing anew in us. The new flames are Grace Church.

Now as stewards of the Church we are responsible for adding new fuel, new resources to the fire, to the life of the congregation. Each of us brings new energy to the mission of the church. The energy of imagination, prayer, commitment, faith and hope. The energy of time and abilities to rekindle our outreach and care of others. We add to the light and warmth of our mission by giving our financial support. A percentage of our income.

God invites us to do our best to let the warm love and light of Christ shine forth with renewed vigor. May God richly bless us as we radiate anew as Grace Church.

An Epistle from Martha Platt to the Church at Crissey Farm

I think we are all very thankful that we suffered no harm last Monday during the hurricane.

Since coming to worship at Crissey Farm, we have become more of a church family. Now we are wondering what God wants us to do. What did Jesus tell his disciples to do? He did not say “go out and build church buildings,” he said, “Help the poor, visit the sick, and spread the Gospel”. The Gospel is the good news that Jesus was the Messiah; he came down from heaven to teach people how to live a good and happy life right here on earth; he came to forgive us all our selfish, sinful deeds, if we are sorry, and he promises eternal life to all who believe in him.

Now we can support all kinds of charities that help the poor. We can visit the sick, but for many reasons, many people do not like to discuss religion.
We must find new ways to spread the Gospel. Perhaps the first thing to do is try to live the Christian Life ourselves and try to influence others to do the same. Sometimes we have the opportunity to share our faith and hope with others in difficult times. We are called to be missionaries!

A Letter from Louise Robitaille to the Congregation of the “Soon to Be” Grace Church

To the Christians of Grace Church, an Episcopal Community in the Southern Berkshires, Greetings and Blessings! I am writing to you from a place of vision and what I see for our community in the future. 

Why Grace?, because we are new, we are on the beginning of who and what we will become. The possibilities are only limited by our imagination—we can become anything we can envision, we can try new things, we can and should think outside the box. IF we have never done it that way….lets DO it that way. Be BOLD. We have been charged with a recreation of something that has been a part of the Berkshires for 250 years, the Episcopal Church. Do we have to do what we have been doing for 250 years, somewhat, should we move with the times … absolutely! We have seen that doing what we have always done, is no longer good enough or relevant to people today. Many still live with that God shaped hole in their lives, do we have what it takes to fill that hole—I think we do. The question I pose to you…how do we let the community know that we would be willing to help them find what they need to fill that hole. I don’t have that answer, but I do want us to think about, dream about, share with each other our thoughts and dreams. We did the visioning exercise earlier this year, lets visit those cards, lets dream a little. 

Why pledge? This I could go one about for some time. Why will I pledge? Because I have much to be thankful for and pledgeing is the way we Christians show and practice our thankfulness. I want to be a founding member of Grace Church and I want you to join me. I and the other leaders of St. George’s made a commitment to our members—we will not let our dreams fade away, we will be part of an Episcopal Community, we will faithfully move into a future with our pledges and that commitment. I will stand by my commitment. I will increase my pledge. I invite you to do the same! Together we can make our dreams come true.

A Letter from Mary and Ian Booton to the Congregation of the “Soon to Be” Grace Church

Why Grace church?

 

We had been attending another church in South county when we discovered the minister would no longer be there. We started looking to attend another church in the area. We attended a few services in other churches when we came upon Grace church.

We have attended St. James for a few functions when it was downtown in the past. So we decided to try it and see what it was like at Chrissy Farm. We both felt comfortable and welcome upon entering the church. All the people of then church where warm and friendly. We enjoyed the handbook and liked that it had the whole service in it and included all the songs that would be performed that day. We very much enjoyed the choir and their enthusiasm. We enjoyed the structure and rhythm of the service. We felt that not only was Francie informative in her sermon, but she gave us a feeling of acceptance and comfort. It was nice that she explained the previous readings of that day in her sermon, helping us understand what was being read. Our favorite part was at the end of the service where Francie blessed the children. Our children are adults now, but we very much enjoy children and thought this was lovely. We also liked the announcements and some of the humor that was included in them. It was also nice meeting some of the people attending the church and enjoyed some of the wonderful items offered at coffee hour.

So why Grace church?

We care that all are welcomed and that all are accepted to Grace church. We know that God loves all of his children and that Grace church promotes this. We feel that Grace church has the right Sheppard for its flock with Francie. Lastly we feel comfortable and embraced by all at Grace church.

A Letter from Dorreen Hutchinson to the Congregation of the “Soon to Be” Grace Church

Chapter 1
What a privilege to write the first few verses in this new and exciting chapter of our future church lives together. When I think of the image of Grace, I am brought back to a time in my adolescent life when my family (mom, dad, sister) dedicated our lives to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The central image was the Heart, with lots of light emanating outward. It wasn’t the ritual, but the concept that I recall best. That was when we were committed to being the reflection of Christ’s Heart in our world.

 

It is that reflection of Christ that I see in each person here and why I wish to be an active participant in Grace. It isn’t just about our common worship, but the common values and spirit which is so palpable here. Others feel it when they come here – the Diocesan Committee felt it; the place in which we work, the groups we participate in, the Diocese and visitors – there is something very different here – something very alive, which emanates from each one of you and it is awesome. That is why grace for me. I want to be a part of this.

 

So, why do I pledge? 

 

I see a tremendous focus on mission here. I feel that my pledge of time, talent and treasure is meaningful. Supporting Gideon’s Garden is so rewarding! I like being part of something that benefits so many in our community – feeding many with the bounty of the Garden; providing opportunity for many who wish to volunteer in a meaningful way (Kiwanis, Railroad Street Youth Project), or providing fresh food for community dinners at Breaking Bread, the Guthrie Church Dinner and the Pantries.

• And let’s not underestimate the opportunity to teach others about growing vegetables and caring for chickens – like BRIDGE elementary school groups and Brookside.
• And how do you quantify what it means to a special needs child to feel the soil under their feet, to finger new seedlings and to hold the bounty in their hands?
• And, most of all, to watch the support and mentoring of young people like Brendan, Kyle and now Matt. I have observed firsthand the delight in my granddaughter’s face as she watched the chickens, the goats and the ducks. And when Kyle and Matt took her so lovingly to see the huge pumpkins and watermelons they grew, I saw her positive response to them as young people teaching her, which was nothing short of amazing.

 

My pledge helps support all of this tremendous work. I may not be there each day, but I trust Sue and Penny and Dan and Paul and Keith to use their skills and knowledge to make it happen.

 

This is my way of being the reflection of Christ’s Heart in my part of the world.

A Sermon Preached on Oct.21, 2012, the Sunday after Diocesan Convention

by the Rev. Jennifer Gregg, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Pittsfield

“Will you come and follow me?” 

James and John, two ordinary men, one extraordinary call: a call to follow Jesus. And when Jesus first uttered their names, on the Shores of Galilee, what felt like many moons ago, they immediately said, “yes”, dropping their nets leaving their father, Zebedee still sitting in the boat, to finish the days work.

It was call that initially seemed pretty easy. Here, these two lowly fishermen were being invited to follow and be part of the inner circle of someone who was quickly growing in popularity, or at the very least, he was the talk of the town. Young and old, rich and poor, sick and healthy were flocking to him from all sides for a word, a touch, an acknowledgement.

And as Peter and others began to acknowledge that he was the Messiah, the anointed one, surely the one to return the Jewish people to a place of political power. Then, they too, would also be great, especially as part of this elite group.

But things lately had become more difficult, nothing was what it seemed. Now for the third time Jesus had told the disciples of his passion and death.

James and John, completely petrified about what Jesus is saying, are trying to hold on to what they know. They are trying to find security in what feels like an ever changing dynamic with Jesus. What glory, honor and power will come from dying? Surely there must be another way. So they try to secure their position and place, and ask Jesus, if they can sit one on his right hand and one on his left?

But this was not who Jesus was calling them to be. The greatness that Jesus had in mind for them, since he first called them off the shores of Galilee, would never be found in places of honor or a secured position. Jesus vision for them was greater than they could have asked or imagined. What James and John didn’t know on that quiet morning on the Shores of Galilee was that their nets were the first of many things that they were going to have to leave behind. And yet, it would only be found in dying to themselves, of who they thought they were, so that they could be born anew. The road to life that Jesus was inviting them to travel on, was actually a road that looked like death.

A road that we too are invited to travel.

Story of St. James, Great Barrington and St. George’s, Lee

"In August of 2008, just eight months after calling their new rector, The Rev. Francie Hills, the outer wall of St. James, Barrington, part of the chancel area in their sanctuary, bulged out. The pieces falling on the parking lot behind the church, fell directly onto Francie’s car - not exactly the beginning they were anticipating.

After an assessment, the building was no longer considered structurally sound and was condemned.

Nothing was what it seemed, nothing was what they could have possibly expected. They went from having a home, to no home, of having prayer books, hymnals and choir robes at their disposal, to Rubbermaid boxes, easily packable for the road, from having an office to print bulletins, to printing and working from home, bulletins showing up on the door step of Francie’s home the night before Sunday worship.

The eventually ended up in a unexpected place – the Pub at Crissey Farms – transforming a banquet room and bar into a worship space - learned to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary – a testimony to what God was doing in their life together.

In a moment of crisis, rather than clinging to what they knew, the tradition, their building, and re-securing their place in the community – the continually put before themselves the question, “Who is God calling us to be?”

At the same time this was going on, St. George’s, Lee was wrestling with their own set of questions. With such a small congregation 25 or less, the realized the building they were in was becoming more of a financially strain and liability….and yet to close completely was not a viable answer. The too were deeply wrestling with the question,

Who is God calling us to be? How can we be a viable presence in the community without a building in which people can identify us by? How can our mission with others tell people more about who we are, rather than our building?

The answer has not come easily but it has come faithfully.

The process of rebirth for these two congregations was a continued process of self-emptying of redefining what it meant and what it means to be church, of moving beyond who they thought they were when located on Main Street in Great Barrington, and downtown , Lee to who God was calling them to be with and alongside the people of Great Barrington and Lee.

It was a process that was filled with a hopeful spirit, deep grief, and the grace to continue to answer the question, Who is God calling us to be?

Detrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, “costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him….it is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.”

• It was this grace that met them in their grief and disbelief when the wall first fell 
• It was grace that allowed them to ask the hard questions about what to do with their buildings without easy answers… 
• It was grace that met them in moments of exhaustion around conference room tables, at homes and in parking lots 
• It was grace that met them in the voices and words of one another, offering consolation and encouragement 
• It was grace that fed them through word and song, bread and wine,bringing them out of death into new and abundant life

Grace claimed them on their journey of death and rebirth and Grace renamed them.

Yesterday at our annual Diocesan Convention, as of January 2013 they will officially be Grace Episcopal Church of the Southern Berkshires, still without a building but witnessing to God’s grace and love to that part of the Berkshires and beyond. Their greatness now found together in what they can be and do as one body.

Like James and John, St. George and St. James, we don’t always know what we are getting into when we say “yes” to Jesus. We do not know where it will lead us, we don’t know what shifts and turns it will take… we certainly don’t always know the cost, of what it will ask us to let go of or what it will ask us to take-on, so that our truest identities can be formed.

And so God keeps calling again and again and again, to let go and to take on, to serve and be served, beckoning us into a greater fullness, into greater places of love and compassion, as we are shaped into who, God, is calling us to be…moment by moment…

May we too be filled with the grace to answer the call.

Message to the Church from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori with an Introduction from Francie Hills

On this first Sunday after July 31, the 4^th Anniversary of “The Fall of the Wall” at St. James, I’m replacing the regular sermon with “A Message to the Church”, which our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts-Schori issued on Friday. It’s a report on what happened at General Convention. Certainly Deputy John Cheek has already shared some of his “take” on that with us.  The PB’s message gives us her perspective of what’s going on in the Episcopal Church, and I think much of it is quite relevant to this congregation as we move forward into becoming a “nimble” Grace Church. The Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector

Message to the Church

The General Convention which took place in Indianapolis in July offered new and creative responses to the call of the gospel in our day. We saw gracious and pastoral responses to polarizing issues, as well as a new honesty about the need for change.

General Convention addressed a number of significant issues that will impact the life and witness of this Church for years into the future – and they include many more things beyond what you’ve heard about in the news. The way we worked together also represented a new reality, working to adapt more creatively to our diverse nature as a Church.

It is that way of creative engagement that ultimately will be most transformative for The Episcopal Church and the world beyond it. On issue after issue, the resolutions addressed by General Convention emerged in creative responses that considered, but did not end in, the polarized positions expected as we went into Convention. People listened to the movement of the spirit and discerned a way forward that was mutually upbuilding, rather than creating greater divisiveness or win-lose outcomes.

The hot-button issues of the last decade have not been eternally resolved, but we have as a body found creative and pastoral ways to live with the differences of opinion, rather than resorting to old patterns of conflict. There is a certain expansive grace in how these decisions are being made and in the responses to them, a grace that is reminiscent of the Elizabeth settlement. We’ve said as a Church that there is no bar to the participation of minorities of all sorts, and we are finding pastoral ways to ensure that potential offense at the behavior or position of another is minimized, with the hope that we may grow toward celebrating that diversity as a gift from God. If we are all sinners, then each of us may be wrong about where we stand. Human beings, made from humus, become Christlike when they know humility.

Major issues addressed at General Convention included approval of a trial rite for blessing same-sex unions. It may be used in congregations beginning in Advent, with the approval of the diocesan bishop. Bishops are making varied responses to the rite – a prime example of this emerging reality of local adaptation based on context – something which is profoundly Anglican.

The decision to provide a trial rite for same-sex blessings was anticipated by many across the Church – some with fear and trepidation, others with rejoicing, and yet others with frustration that more would not be offered. The decision of General Convention may not have fully satisfied anyone, yet it has provided more space for difference than most expected. The rite must be authorized by a diocesan bishop, which permits bishops who believe it inappropriate to safeguard their own theological position. Some of the responses by bishops with questions about the appropriateness of such rites in their dioceses show creativity and enormous pastoral respect for those who support such blessings. The use of this rite is open to local option, in the same way we often think about private confession: “all may, some should, none must.”

General Convention also produced creative responses to a number of other challenging issues – in particular, peacemaking in Israel-Palestine, the Anglican Covenant, and the call to restructure The Episcopal Church. The resolutions adopted reflect a higher level of investment in the health of diverse opinions and positions in the Church than we have seen for a long time. We can celebrate a bit of “growing up into the full stature of Christ” and the kind of welcome we claim to exemplify: “The Episcopal Church welcomes you,” whoever you are and wherever you stand. As a Church, when we’re at our best, we earnestly believe that that diversity helps to lead us toward the mind of Christ.

The call to restructure the Church is a response to growing grassroots awareness that we must change or die. I’ve heard it put this way, “It’s not a matter of tradition or change – tradition IS change!” We live in an age of rapid change, and if we are going to be faithful to our baptismal work of going into the world and proclaiming the gospel, our methods and support systems also need to change. We need to be more responsive and able to engage opportunities, more nimble.

Nimble is not a word usually associated with Episcopal churches, but the passion and energy at our General Convention was certainly moving in that direction. Most of us probably associate that word with Mother Goose and Jack who is nimble enough to jump over the candlestick. But there is a character to Jesus’ own ministry that has something to do with a flexible and creative responsiveness that might be called nimble. It certainly characterized the explosion of his followers across the Mediterranean world and then to India, Africa, and Europe. Nimbleness has something to do with creative risk-taking; it may have a playful character that is also profoundly creative, and it partakes of joy.

We’re looking for a 21st century Episcopal Church that can adapt and respond to a myriad of varied local contexts and missional opportunities. We’ve begun to realize, pretty widely across the Church, that the way we’ve “done church” for the last century or more no longer fits many of our contexts. We haven’t been terribly effective at evangelism with unchurched populations; we haven’t been terribly effective at retaining the children born to Episcopal parents; family structures are changing and our ability to address the needs of those families has not kept pace, whether we’re talking about ECWs and women in the workforce, or single-parent families, or special needs children.

The General Convention decided to address needs for structural change, by looking at the ways in which we live and move and have our being as a Church. A task force will be appointed to listen broadly within the Church and offer a proposal by late 2014.

General Convention adopted a budget for the coming triennium based on the Five Anglican Marks of Mission, which includes some creative initiatives in partnership with dioceses, other parts of the Anglican Communion, or those churches with whom we are in full communion or other relationships. One notable example: “Mission Enterprise Zones” will facilitate creative initiatives at the diocesan level, funded in partnership with the broader Church.

General Convention asked for a task force to study our theology of marriage. Remarkably, this happened only a few days after the Anglican province of Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia did the same thing. This may offer some very creative opportunities for study across provincial boundaries in the Anglican Communion.

The General Convention affirmed the implementation of the Denominational Health Plan, and offered some greater flexibility and more time to address health care parity issues for lay and clergy employees at the diocesan level.

All of this creative work means that we emerge with abundant hope, better discipline for working together and with partners beyond this Church, for our fundamental reason for being – engagement with God’s mission. We have moved beyond the entrenched conflict of recent years. I pray that our growing confidence is a sign of new humility, knowing that we are finite creatures who can always be wrong, that we can do God’s work only as part of the Body, and that disagreement is a mark of possibility.

God still seems to have a use for this Church, if we can remember our central focus – to love God and our neighbors as ourselves, wherever we go, and wherever we find ourselves. May God bless the journey, and may we learn to travel light.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church

A Sermon Preached July 22, 2012 Proper 11 B

by the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector

‘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.

Arrival in Indy

I got here this afternoon. It is very hot and the bus from the airport did not seem to have AC. I managed to check in and register which required a lot of walking on fiercely hot city streets. The first person I ran into was retired Bishop Barbara Harris. She told me this was going to be her last convention. I pointed out that she had said that in 2009. She said, "Well, I lie a lot". Bishop Barbara is a piece of work and thank God for her! I also ran into Rob Hirschfeld the bishop elect of New Hampshire and now rector of  Grace Amherst. Later in the restaurant we saw the present bishop Gene Robinson. Our deputation is trickling in and our own Bishop elect Doug Fischer has arrived along with Betsy, his wife who is also a priest.  don't know how much posting I will be able to do, but you can follow our deputation blog at http://westernmassmusings.blogspot.com/

Ascension: Journey of the Heart

Sermon preached  at the Regional Confirmation Service 

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Pittsfield, MA   

Feast of the Ascension 5-17-12

by Lee Cheek, Lay Preacher, St. James Episcopal Church, Great Barrington, MA

Peace be with you, Friends of God!   Peace be with you, (Bishop) Gordon, Hannah and Jennie! Peace be with you, candidates for confirmation and reception into this Communion!  And peace be with you, mentors, sponsors, friends and families!

15 years ago, May 4, 1997, on the Sunday afternoon before Ascension Day, Gordon confirmed me and received several others at Grace Church, Dalton, less than a year into his tenure as our bishop.  Tonight some of you will be confirmed by him in this, the final year of his tenure.  

As I recall, most of the service that afternoon was somewhat of a blur to me.  But the one thing I remember was the weight of Gordon’s hands on my head.  The weight was sure and firm—certainly much more sure and firm than my understanding at that time of the strange and complex vocation of being a follower of Christ—which is what I want to speak about this evening.

So I am grateful, Gordon, for that palpable firmness on my head and the assuredness it communicated to me that the project I was signing up for was Love’s project and it was Real.  Real with a capital “R”, even though it has taken me over ten years to appreciate just how Real it is and just how stunningly difficult it is to remember I am actually a part of it.  

Understanding this project and my part in it is the foundation for what I understand to be the Christian vocation.  And it is this: that Love (for God is Love) desires my agency in its world and there is no part of my life that Love does not desire to be in charge.  

That Love (for God is Love) wants me (even ME!) to be its agent in the world of my life and there is no part of my life where Love does not desire to be in charge.  

And this I know, and in this I place my hope for the world, because of the life, death, and resurrection of a young rabbi two thousand years ago and the witness of his followers who eventually learned to read the troubles of the world through his eyes. 

I say “eventually” because their new understanding of his life which became the foundation for their true vocation began when they encountered a dead man now strangely and fully alive, who greeted them with ‘Peace’ and let them  know that their cowardice and betrayal had simply no effect on his continued love for them!    Joy!

Through the eyes of this Forgiving Victim, they began to understand the scriptures, law, and history of their people—a people who had been called since Abraham to use the subversive power of forgiveness and mercy to organize and unite themselves with one another, rather than to exercise the temporary unifying powers of human sacrifice, whether cultic, spontaneous, or conveniently “lawful.”

Sadly and tragically today, human group cohesion and security is still being achieved far too often in the same murderous way.

So what does this strange picture of “ascension” of the state-crucified and God-resurrected Jesus have to do with our vocation as Christians?  What does this text have to say to us tonight, we professed members of a shrinking, yet still world-wide communion of those who long for restorative love and rescue from our entanglement with the powers that rule us by fear?

First of all, let us say that the picture of the Forgiving Victim rising to take his place on the throne beside the Ancient of Days is not a fanciful or pretty picture of Jesus’ cloud-ride to heaven which we also might get when we die if we have tried to be as good as Jesus or made a lot of public noise about how great we think Jesus is.

It was, rather, for Luke’s community, a picture of the removal of the veil of separation of Heaven (God’s place) from Earth.  Any Temple Jew of the time would have understood the significance of the image.  The Temple which had been the place of holy intersection between Heaven (God’s dimension) and Earth (humankind’s dimension) could now be anywhere—two miles away, over in Bethany!  Or in Pittsfield, or in your home or your body.  In short, wherever we are!

Because the point is that the connecting pathway to the place of holy intersection is accessible from anywhere, for it is the pathway for the journey of the heart.[i]

In addition, the image of the aforementioned cloud should be read as the traditional symbol for the presence of God, like the cloud pillar of Yahweh that guided the Israelites in the wilderness.   So this says something to us, too, about the identity of the Forgiving Victim as God himself—the One who has a claim on us and on whom no human can have any claim.

It was for them, and is for us, a picture full of hope in the understanding that Love (for God is Love) really is ultimately in charge—not the Caesars of this world whose claim on us is not ultimate.

You see, the manipulation of our allegiance, which is the giving of our hearts and minds, is where evil does its work in the world.  And the work of the church in the world is to ask the hard questions about whose lives and dignity are at risk in any human endeavor and in any human encounter in our homes, schools, our workplaces, and our institutions, especially our churches.  For it is a hopeless world indeed if the Caesars of our world and their collaborators are ultimately in charge of our souls.  

This is how it must have felt for the disciples when it looked like the restoration of Israel had seemed to fail for them with Jesus’ state ordered execution.  They couldn’t see that their ideas—like many of our own today—about salvation from the world’s evils were pretty much limited to getting rid of the bad guys violently or securing their identity of goodness with moralistic pride and self-righteousness.  

The powers that discount, degrade and devalue other human beings, especially their enemies, were still in charge of their souls, even though they had been following for three years a man who had challenged every current idea of kingdom, sacred or secular, that was established by exclusion.

What I love about the Ascension event is the joy when they learned how wrong they had been about who was really in charge and what was going to save their world.  Their story continues in us today, because it is only in this process of being wrong and being forgiven that any of us has a chance to understand and embrace our part in God’s great project of rescuing us from our own violence towards one another.

Even though we are disinclined much of the time to being wrong about something or someone, isn’t it a mercy when we can finally let go of the lie and relax into the truth?  And when we are relaxed, are we not less inclined to resort to returning tit for tat, or hitting back?  Less inclined to spread lies and rumors to shore up our goodness?  Less inclined to demonize others? 

Using the language of Ascension, we could say it this way:  anytime we can let ourselves be wrong about someone or something and relax into the truth is the moment when Love’s throne room moves into our lives.

And that, my friends, brings us back to what we are doing here this evening in this splendid space with the beautiful liturgy and traditions lovingly crafted by the saints before us and the saints among us now.  For each of them began their individual, personal journey with the hope to which each disciple is called:  that Love is indeed in charge of the world and that Love’s Spirit of Truth will be in us and among us and always for us and for the world.

So in my attempt to use the Ascension event to say something about our vocations as Christians, I hope you have some sense this evening that Love desires each one of us to be Love’s agents in the world, and that there is no place in our lives where Love does not desire to be in charge. 

Candidates, I hope for you that the weight of Gordon’s hands on your head will help you remember your acceptance into this strange vocation[ii] in a world that values a different kind of power.  

And for all of us here this evening, I hope that when Gordon stretches out his arms in his inimitable and memorable way at the end of our service, we will remember that we are loved and blessed into this vocation.  In his gesture, let us take in the hope for us in Christ’s Blessing.  It is how the disciples returned to Jerusalem with great joy.  May you return to your own Jerusalems with great joy, too.[iii]  

AMEN.

---

[i] Joseph Ratzinger, in part two of his Jesus of Nazarath (San Francisco:  Ignatius Press, 2011), described the path that the ascending Christ opens to us is “not a matter of space travel of a cosmic-geographical nature:  it is the “space travel” of the heart, from the dimension of self-enclosed isolation to the new dimension of world-embracing divine love.” (p. 286)

[ii] On the Christian vocation, Rowan Williams writes:  “In his faithful and obedient relation to the Father, Jesus sketches a new and comprehensive vocation for human beings.  So to come to be ‘in Christ’ , to belong with Jesus, involves a far-reaching reconstruction of one’s humanity:  a liberation from servile, distorted, destructive patterns in the past, liberation from anxious dread of God’s judgement, a new identity in a community of reciprocal love and complementary service, whose potentials are universal.”  (from the essay “Trinity and Revelation” in Williams’ On Christian Theology, Blackwell, 2000).

[iii] The preacher is indebted to the following authors for much of her reflection on Ascension: James Alison in Raising Abel (Crossroad, 1996) and The Joy of Being Wrong (Crossroad, 1998);  N.T. Wright in How God Became King (Harper, 2012) and Surprised by Hope (Harper, 2008). 

A Sermon preached June 3, 2012, Trinity Sunday B

by the Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector

It’s Trinity Sunday, the great day of glory and wonder when we celebrate the way

we’ve come to speak of God as “One God in Three Persons”—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—Blessed Trinity.

What a glorious day in our Christian faith! What a monumental day and weekend for us here! We have a new Bishop-Elect Doug Fisher! We’ll be looking forward to his ordination in Springfield on December 1.And today we will choose a new name for our consolidated parish! So in addition to being this great feast of the glory of our Triune God, it is and will be a New Day for this “Episcopal Community in the Southern Berkshires” and for the Diocese of Western Massachusetts. So, we need to be thinking about what that New Day will look like? What is our mission in the New Day? What will prepare us to meet the challenge of the New Day?

I believe through these years in the wilderness, the Holy Spirit has guarded us and guided us to this place in amazing ways, and we can learn from our experience.

We’ve learned to Trust God the Father, the One who creates us and calls us his beloved children. It’s clear that God hasn’t let go of us so far, so we have no reason to fear that God would let go of us in the future. We’ve learned we’re never alone,

because Jesus, the Son, our companion, our brother, our shepherd, is with us always…even to the end of the age. In his being with us through our joys, pain and grief, we’re learning that God loves us unconditionally. God takes us just as we are. Our faults, sins, and weaknesses are redeemed and then used to the Glory of God.  In these years, we’ve learned to recognize more and more that the Holy Spirit is with us, giving us courage and joy, making us longsuffering and loving, and deepening our faith. We’ve been learning how to listen for God’s voice in Holy Scripture, in one another, and in the wider community. We’ve been learning to notice and pay attention to the way the Spirit nudges us…Often/usually in ways we could never anticipate.

It’s important for us to remember these ways our Triune God has been with us as we think about what the future consolidated parish might look like. What is God calling us to do? Where is God calling us to join in God’s mission, during this time of great transition in the Church and the world?  How can we—who are created and loved by the Father, reconciled by the Son, and empowered by the Holy Spirit—be more ready to begin this adventure of being a New Church, with a new name, and a new bishop, in a world that is increasingly secular?

         

It’s a world full of people who are hungry for the very love, reconciliation, and empowerment that our Triune God so generously offers; yet they are people who have no idea that God is the real source of all they truly need and deeply desire. They don’t know God’s love, reconciliation, and empowerment are theirs for the asking. I think we are uniquely positioned to get that message to them because of the way we have survived, thrived, and come together and because of the way we love one another and reach out across boundaries with unconditional love.  

So what can help us be prepared to spread this Good News in our community today? I think we can look at today’s Isaiah passage (about his call to serve God)

for some important clues. In fact, in this story, we can find a pattern to follow as we move forward to answer God’s call. First, this mystical vision happens to Isaiah

while he’s in the temple, during a time of great transition…It’s “The year (long-reigning) King Uzziah died.”Times of transition are stressful. They make us vulnerable and especially open to the Spirit, creativity, experimentation, and new life!

Isaiah is transported to the very throne of God, to the very presence of God. God’s train/robe fills the temple as he sits “high and lofty” on the throne! And seraphims, strange, six-winged creatures, are flying all around singing “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts.” Just try to imagine it! We’re praying here at Crissey Farm, during this year of great transition…In the year that Gordon Scruton retired. In the year Saints James and George consolidated. In the year Doug Fisher was elected bishop. Like Isaiah we’re vulnerable and open to the Spirit, when all of a sudden we’re somehow in the very Presence of God!

Annie Dillard writes (Holy the Firm),

“Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews…For the sleeping God may awake someday and take offense, or the waking God may draw us out to where we can never return.”

For Isaiah it was such holy ground that the place shook and was filled with smoke…perhaps with the fragrance of God’s very self!

Now what happens here is so important…

          Confronted with God’s Holiness,

                    Confronted with the very Truth,

                             Confronted with the source of Goodness,

Isaiah’s response is to see everything clearly, and to admit his and the world’s truth: He, and the world, are “lost” and have “unclean lips”.

In the Presence of the Truth, Isaiah is spiritually convicted and confesses his brokenness. He seems amazed that even in his own fallen state, he’s actually allowed in the Presence of God. (How could God love a sinner like me?) And then what happens? A seraphim touches his mouth with a hot coal and says, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.”  Isaiah confessed his sins, and he’s absolved!

After that, Isaiah is able to hear the Lord’s call, and he’s empowered to respond:

          “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

Isaiah says simply,  “Here am I; send me!”

What happens with Isaiah in this story of his call is actually the classic pattern for reconciliation. This is what I think can inform and equip us at this transitional time in our diocese and our church, so that we are able to hear and respond wholeheartedly to God’s call to us.

When we are in the presence of Goodness, Love, the Holy, the Truth, we can see our own truth clearly and confess it, all of it…our shortcomings and grief, the bad things we’ve done, and the good things we’ve left undone. The way we wish the world would be, but isn’t. The way we resist surrendering our illusions of control, that keep us from “Letting go and letting God”. Having admitted the truth about ourselves (no more and no less than we are), we can receive absolution. Our guilt is departed, and our sin is blotted out. Then we can hear and fully embrace the call, the mission, the works of love and service that God will call us to do.

This pattern of reconciliation that’s part of Isaiah’s call is essential for us as we move forward into the New Day that’s dawning.  And we can approach this with confidence because we are loved by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

                                                         Amen. 

A sermon preached by the Rev. Meredyth Ward on June 2, 2012

at Christ Church Cathedral, Springfield, MA

on the occasion of the election of our Ninth Bishop

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts, be always acceptable to you, O Lord our Rock and our salvation.

My name is Meredyth Ward.  I am President of the Standing Committee here in the Diocese, and I serve at Church of the Epiphany in Wilbraham.  The bishop and I are sharing the sermon this morning. 

A little more than a week ago we were blessed to have the candidates for bishop with us in the Diocese.  One of the places we brought the candidates was the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton.  Thursday afternoon, near the end of a long week, we had the opportunity to stop and pray and surround ourselves with beauty.  We were all a bit tired and worn, and we were deeply grateful for the opportunity for quiet rest and refreshment.

One of my favorite icons at the museum pictures an old monk at prayer.  He’s holding a sheaf of papers, or maybe a scroll, but that’s not what has his attention.  He’s looking at the upper corner of the icon, where there is a tiny image of the nativity.  There’s Mary and Joseph and the baby, a being covered in so much gold that it could only be an angel, and, in the back, in the midst of a group of figures there is a miniature image of the monk himself.  He was so immersed in praying the text, so transformed by the experience of meditation, that he himself was fully present at the Incarnation, fully participating in the mystery of the Word made flesh.

One of the things about icons is that while they are pictures, when we use them in prayer we’re not supposed to focus on the image itself.  They are often beautiful.  Some of them are even encrusted with silver filigree and jewels.  But rather than looking AT the icons, we are supposed to look THROUGH them, in order to see God.  They are spiritual windows—windows into mystery.  The surface is lovely, but we are asked, no, CALLED, to look through them into the deep mystery of God.

Over the past few weeks we have been engaged in a process of coming to know the candidates for bishop.  We have read their profiles, as they have read ours.  We have checked out websites and read blog entries and sermons and resumes.  They have been looking at ours as well. But our task and theirs has been to see beyond the words and images, and like the monk at prayer in my favorite icon, come into the presence of the Word made flesh, and see the presence of God and God’s work among us.

It is not easy to hear God’s voice clearly.  In our first lesson today, Samuel knew that SOMEONE was calling him, but he wasn’t quite sure about who or how or why.  He needed the help of Eli, his mentor and friend, in order to be certain that it was God’s voice that he heard.

All of our candidates for bishop have been called by God.  Some, like Samuel, heard God’s voice as a child.  Others became attuned to God’s voice later in life.  But no matter when they heard the voice of God, there is no doubt that they are beloved of God and are called to God’s service.  They have answered the call before.  Like all of us they were marked as Christ’s own forever in Baptism.  They tested their call again as they were ordained deacon and then priest.  At each step along the way there were others, friends and family and mentors and community members, who helped them hear and understand their call.  “This is what I hear God saying to me—does this match what you see and hear?”

Whatever the outcome today, it is likely that one or more of these fine priests will be ordained a bishop someday.  They are gifted, prayerful and dynamic.  They have prayed and studied and thought and hoped.  They’ve even convinced their spouses that this bishop thing might at least be an OK idea.  The question before us, though, is not should they be bishops, but which one is called to be OUR bishop, HERE in Western Massachusetts, at THIS time in our history.

Our task today is to prayerfully cooperate with the Holy Spirit.  We are called to view these candidates the way we view icons.  Our task is to open our eyes to see THROUGH these priests to God’s presence within them.  We are asked to focus not the on the surface of the words they have written and spoken, nor on their style of speech or appearance, but to see THROUGH these to notice what God would have us know of them.

One of these candidates is to be our shepherd.  One will be chosen not only to plead with the Lord of the Harvest on our behalf, but to help us learn to recognize the harvest which is all around us.  We need fresh eyes.  We need fresh ears.  We need a fresh heart.

We need these, but not because we have been without a shepherd.  We all know that that is not true.  We have been blessed with a shepherd who knows us and has had compassion on us.  One who knows our names and the names of our children and grandchildren.  One who loves us and has rejoiced at our joys and wept at our sorrows.  One who has held us in prayer and will continue to do so, long after he retires.

So we know what it is like to have a good shepherd.  What we need to be careful about is confusing the PERSON of the shepherd with the work of God WITHIN the shepherd.  Looking at the icon itself, rather than looking through it to see the work of God in our midst.

In the next few hours we are embarking on a work of mystery.  We ask the Holy Spirit to be with us, to change our hearts, to challenge our assumptions, to lift our hopes and encourage us to embrace new possibilities.  There are new pastures to be tended, new harvests to explore, new voices to hear and new visions to capture.  All for the love of God.  All for the work of the Kingdom.  All as a glimpse of the Incarnation.  All as a vision of the love and work of God among us that will drop us to our knees in prayer and send us out in love and service.