St. David’s Day

Sunday, March 1, 2009

St. David’s Episcopal Church, DeWitt NY

The Rev. James C. Bresnahan, Interim Rector

“Rushing In or Finding Out.”

Today is a very special day in the life of St. David’s

For one, this is St. David’s day, the patron saint of Wales, whom this parish was named after.  An acetic, he lived mostly on bread and herbs, denied himself fleshly pleasures and forbade the drinking of wine and beer. He would recite Scripture standing in a cold water lake.  I guess our connection to him in some regards is in name only!

Second, this is the First Sunday in Lent; we continue our move through this season of introspection and deepened devotion.

Third, today marks the beginning our new worship schedule for children and youth, to be with us our entire worship time. They opened this morning’s worship by playing hand chimes.

Finally, this is the day we dedicate a room in memory of John Farnham and dedicate as well the clerestory window, designed and executed by John Dobbs, who is here today. The window is dedicated in memory of many beloved people.

So much to be thankful for, to remember, or to celebrate this day! We will continue that celebration at a reception after the service in our Parish Hall.

In my sermon today, I want to reflect, as always, on the Gospel reading, which today is a very short story Jesus told of sown seed that keeps growing even while one sleeps. Listen to it again.

‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’

We can only guess at the original context in which Jesus first told this story.  It may have been with regard to those who had lost all patience and wanted to bring about the Kingdom of God violently by revolting against Roman rule.  Jesus would, then, be saying, God’s kingdom comes not through force and compulsion, but in hidden ways and in God’s own good time; like scattered seed, it comes without our compelling it to come, forcing it to come.

We might explore this story Jesus told in any number of other contexts with illustrations like these:

He’s sixty-five, recently had a heart attack and surgery afterwards.  His doctor said to him, You’ve got to take it easy.  It’ll take a good six months before you are strong again. Don’t rush things.  You will heal, even while you are sleeping you will heal. But if you push it, you will only make things worse and lengthen the time it takes to get better.  

But he is wiser than his doctor.  He pushes to prove how virile and strong he is - to show to himself and others how quickly he can recover. But he exhausts himself.  He delays his healing and is the worse off for it.

Illustration two: Her son has been having difficulties for years - trouble standing on his own, lacking confidence.  A therapist has been helping. But every time the young man hits a snag, she rushes in to help him out – gives him advice, tells him what to do, or does things for him.  And she wonders why he’s not getting any better with all her help.

Three: He has just come off a terrible divorce. His priest says to him, You will be whole again. I promise you. Yet not in a moment, not in a week, maybe not even in a year.  Take time to pray, to work through your anger, your hurt. Take time for healing, and to gain insight.  At the end you will be better than you ever were before.  But he can’t wait. He thinks he needs a new relationship more than he needs to be made whole.  He rushes back into a second marriage, and repeats the same pattern as before, and thinks it’s her problem.

A fourth illustration:  Seeing so many things in a parish that needs changing, a few rush in to fix one thing and then another, and then another, patching this or propping up that, but without really changing anything fundamental. And they wear themselves out. For the culture remains the same. And it’s the culture that produces most of the problems.

Lastly, an illustration of the opposite kind: a woman on the way to becoming a mother. She is carrying the seed of a child within her womb.  She cannot see the outcome.  It lies hidden within.  She knows it all will take time, that the child will grow on its own, that above all else she needs to provide a healthy bodily environment for the child to develop within.  She knows she needs only to take care of herself – to eat well, rest, and not endanger herself or worry needlessly.  God will take care of the rest. She does that. She trusts that seed grows even while she sleeps. And it does.

Your vestry, like that pregnant woman, also knows what it needs to be about.  It knows that its major work is not fixing one thing after another, but coming to understand what kind of environment and culture will allow good things to happen and that will be pleasing to God who is love for everyone.

The vestry is committed to living into a grand vision for St. David’s – bigger than a building program and more important, because it is a spiritual vision – a vision of a culture here in which in which God provides the growth.

The vision has five components:  Five needful things that are the soil in which good growth happens.

The first is Radical Hospitality –rooted in the recognition that in every new person we encounter, we are meeting Christ. We want to be the most inviting, welcoming, including, and caring congregation we can be with regard to every new person we meet. And we hope to pray, study, and learn our way into it.

Two: passionate worship.

Three: Intentional Faith Development.  

Four: Risk-taking Mission and Service.

And five: Extravagant Generosity.

The Vestry is only at the beginning of exploring what it might mean to live out of that vision in its entirety.  But we already do know that it’s more than making a checklist of ten things to do, and it is different from jumping right in to do what we think needs doing. It begins and is guided throughout by making time to pray, listen, study, learn, and discern what community in Christ is and should be.

The Vestry is being guided in its exploration and visioning by a book called Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations.  It’s a book I wish everyone at St. David’s would read.   If you’d like the church to order one for you, let me know. But I warn you: It’s going to challenge you to think differently about church and the kind of church God can help us be.