Welcome to annual-meeting Sunday and the
state-of-the-parish address. And here’s my
annual warning: This will be longer than a standard sermon. On the bright side, I won’t be giving a
speech in the meeting downstairs….
In a nutshell, the state of our parish
is mixed, honestly. Some parts of our
common life are strong and getting stronger; in others, we see red flags we’ll
be addressing this year. That’s not a
surprise, given the huge changes underway, both in our parish culture and in our
world. Following our model of
collaborative leadership, I’ll share with you where we are in terms of the parish’s
spiritual affairs, and you’ll hear about the temporal affairs downstairs.
We’ve had a very good year in terms of “equipping
the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12). Basically, we’ve spent a year strengthening
our staff. We defined a new leadership
position, pastor for young adults and families; and we searched for and found
Fr. Marcus – praise God for that. We bid
farewell to Dr. Sharon Hettinger in her retirement, redefined the music
director’s job with a more missional focus, and called Dr. Tom Vozzella –
praise God for that. We redefined the roles
of the children’s and youth ministry coordinators, making their work more
collaborative with their commissions; and we found Kat Mercer and Mathew
Berger, who’ve energized these ministries greatly – praise God for that. We redefined our communications role to focus
on marketing the parish internally and externally, and we’re very close to
filling two part-time positions to get that work done. Our talent pool is deep and getting deeper –
praise God for that.
We’ve also built our capacity to stay connected
with you. Many of you remember Telecare,
led by Chuck Sweeney – a ministry of calling everyone in the parish simply to
check in. Thanks to the leadership of
Mtr. Anne and Deacon Peg Ruth, we’ve renewed Telecare and rechristened it “Sweeneycare”
in Chuck’s memory. We’ve also increased
the number of parishioners visiting other parishioners for pastoral care, with 11
lay people now regularly doing that work.
At the other end of the age spectrum, Fr. Marcus, Kat Mercer, and Mathew
Berger have been busy contacting our families to strengthen those relationships
and invite them to join the fun.
And we’ve begun building our capacity to
reach people who aren’t yet here. With
Take5, our Saturday-evening service, we’re offering a new, more relaxed
approach to worship at a new time – and about 50 people a week are taking us up
on the offer. And Fr. Marcus is meeting
people in neighborhood coffee shops and watering holes, building toward a regular
series in a bar – relaxed fellowship and conversation about real issues,
offering “church” in a new way.
But in other ways, as I said, the indicators
aren’t so good. For the year, our worship
attendance is down. Our sojourn in the
undercroft during the nave renovation had something to do with that, and the
addition of Take5 on Saturday evenings has increased our averages in the past seven
weeks. But still, attendance is
down. Also, our pledged income is
basically at the same level as last year, which is good; but the number of
pledging units has decreased. From what
we’ve heard in following up with people, many just forgot to send in their
pledges or didn’t recognize the pledge mailing for what it was. Still, we have some real work to do in
engaging parishioners better and in making stewardship a year-round, spiritual practice; and we’ll be digging
into that beginning with the Vestry retreat in a couple of weeks.
You’ll hear more about 2013 in the
meeting downstairs. But for now, let’s
think about the big questions as we look forward: Who are we, what is our mission, and what’s
God asking of us in this moment? The
answers to these questions have everything to do with what’s coming in the next
12 months.
Our readings today tell us pretty
clearly who we are and what we’re called to do.
The prophet Isaiah says, “It is too light a thing” for us simply to be
people of faith. Like the Israelites, we
are called to be the Lord’s “light to the nations, that … salvation may reach
to the end of the earth” (49:6). The
people of God are by definition a missionary presence in the world. The light of Christ shines through us. It shines through the witness of our lives,
our words and our actions. That witness
is both our greatest gift to God and our brightest beacon of blessing for the
people around us. And in that offering
of ourselves, in our brokenness and in our giftedness, we are “called to be saints,”
Paul says in First Corinthians: We are
holy and set aside for the service of God, and we “are not lacking in any
spiritual gift” necessary for a saint’s work (1:7). If a bunch of fisherman were good enough to
follow Jesus and take his word to the world, aren’t you? And in John’s Gospel,
we hear that story, our story – the
call of Andrew to call others. He begins
as a follower of John the Baptist, but he goes off to follow Jesus
instead. Jesus asks him what he’s
looking for and invites Andrew to “come and see” (John 1:39). We don’t get to hear what happened, but something clearly happened because
Andrew couldn’t keep his saints’ light from shining. He had to run off and find his brother,
Peter, and share the news: that he’d found the real deal, the messiah, the real
presence of God come to earth. Andrew
couldn’t help himself: He had to open the door and invite his brother in.
So, for this congregation of “missionary
zeal,” as the plaque to my left says – what do we hear in all this for us? I hear God calling the saints of this place to
open our doors and let Christ’s light shine.
It’s right there, in our parish vision statement: “St. Andrew’s is a spiritual home to all,
inspiring us to shine Christ’s light into our families, our city, and our
world.” So here are four doors we’re
going to work to open in the next 12 months:
First,
the doors of our hearts. There are
lots of ways our hearts might be opened to a deeper relationship with God. But first and foremost, those doors are
opened by worship; and within worship, it’s particularly music that turns the
key. Over the past year, we’ve been
taking a few steps to differentiate the musical experience at our three weekend
services. Now, with Tom Vozzella here,
that work will step up. 8:00 will still
be an experience of the richness of traditional hymnody and classic
composers. At 10:15, we’ll keep
exploring a greater musical diversity, including traditional hymns along with
spirituals, more contemporary pieces, maybe music from other cultures. And at Take5, we’ll keep moving toward a more
inviting and accessible sound, giving people the chance to sing things they
might hear on Christian radio, things they can sing with ease. It’s all a work in progress, the musical
“product” one week being influenced by your experience in the weeks
before. So please, talk with Tom, or with
Mtr. Anne, Fr. Marcus, or me. Let us
know what’s working and what isn’t.
Because the point isn’t to
create an interesting range of church music; the point is to open your heart to Jesus Christ, who’s
standing at the door and knocking (Revelation 3:20).
So the door to our hearts is the first one
to open. Second, we’re going to work on opening the interior doors of our parish. Of course, I don’t mean that literally; I
mean the doors that sometimes keep us separated from other members of our church
community. Maybe the door is closed by physical
difficulties in getting to church. Maybe
the door is closed by a habit of keeping to the crowd we know. (I heard recently from a long-time member,
and a ministry leader, that she’s never been invited to another parishioner’s
home.) Maybe that door is closed by
forgetting to invite newcomers to get involved in something you’re involved
in. (We have a good number of people
coming through our red doors; and even though they may not say it, they want you to “make the ask.”) We’re going to work on opening each of these
doors – increasing our capacity to get older and disabled people to church, creating
new opportunities for fellowship and pastoral care, explicitly offering
multiple entry points into the life of the parish. In the city of God, scripture tells us, “its
gates will never be shut” (Revelation 21:5).
Third,
we’re going to work on opening the doors of our faith to our friends and
neighbors by helping you tell our story. We’ve
made a good start, with parishioners putting out yard signs at Christmas and
Easter, maybe even distributing some door hangers (probably in the dark and in
other people’s neighborhoods…). As
Episcopalians, speaking about faith is our greatest growing edge. Well, your new Communication Commission has
been helping us find the words to say when the time is right to talk about what
makes St. Andrew’s special. On the back
page of the bulletin, you’ll find the progress so far: a statement of beliefs and values that
encapsulate what differentiates us. (Please
don’t read it now; take it home instead.)
The commission isn’t finished, so look for more tools to help us share
our congregation’s story. Doing that,
along with growing our capacity to market ourselves professionally, will open
doors for people who never would have thought to seek God here. As Jesus said, “Knock, and the door will be
opened for you.” (Luke 11:9)
Fourth,
we’re going to work on opening the exterior doors of our church. Again, I’m not talking about literally
propping open the red doors. I’m talking
about opening the parish to the community around us, continuing our journey of
reaching new people with “church” done in new ways. As you know, for some time now we’ve been
exploring what to do with our facility across the street, HJ’s, and whether we should
conduct a capital campaign to celebrate our second century. In November, we asked you those questions
through a fundraising feasibility study.
The results were deeply encouraging.
We received more than 200 responses, and 88 percent of you feel this church is effective in meeting your
spiritual needs. That’s huge – exciting
and humbling, all at the same time. In
addition, a clear majority supports replacing HJ’s with a new facility, and our
consultants say we have a very high likelihood of raising the money to do
it. So the Vestry has voted to proceed
with a capital campaign, and you’ll hear more about it downstairs. For now, let me say this: It’s an open question exactly what we’ll do
with HJ’s; that decision is part of the campaign process. But the building is not the point. The goal is to create a new open door between
our parish and our community – a place where activities like Youth Group and
Scouts can grow and thrive; a place where fresh expressions of worship can
happen; a place where neighbors can gather for art exhibits, classes, meetings,
or events; a place where we can support and empower entrepreneurs working to
improve the lives of people in our city who are suffering. We want to build an open door through which
parishioners and residents can come together, both to prosper our church and to
prosper our community. It’s the next
step for the spiritual descendants of St. Andrew, providing a place where we, along
with those not yet among us, can “come and see” Jesus as we gather together,
opening the doors of the kingdom for people, like Andrew himself, who don’t
even know what they’re seeking.
When we truly open our doors, we can’t predict
just what will happen. We can’t know
exactly who may come in. And that’s a good thing. In fact, it’s the point. Jesus is asking the saints who tend this
house of God to open the doors of our hearts and the doors of our parish to the
gift of new life that Jesus wants to give us.
I want to close by reminding you of a
story, something that happened here three and a half years ago now. A parishioner and I were returning to the
church after lunch; and as we pulled up under the porte-cochere, we noticed the
door was propped open. Directly in front
of the doorway, at the threshold, there stood a dove. It was minding its own business, with its
back to us; and it was looking into the church.
We sat in the car, watching to see what this
symbol of the Holy Spirit would do. And
what it did was … nothing. It just stood
there, looking inside, weighing its options.
Finally, it jumped, spread its wings, and beat them hard to lift itself
up and … into the building. We
took it as a healthy sign. It’s always
good when the Holy Spirit chooses to join us here in church.
So my friend went back to work; and I
went inside – where the dove was now flying around in the narthex, trying to
make sense of a new space. Part of me
wanted to let it stay, to see where else in the church the Holy Spirit might
choose to go. But the practical side of
me – the part that really didn’t want the dove to fly into the nave and
roost in the rafters – that practical side of me intervened. And I found myself in the dubious position of
trying to corral this emblem of the Holy Spirit and drive it back out of
the church.
The dove had flown pretty far in, onto
the small greeter table by the Wornall Terrace door; and I thought I should get
myself between the dove and the Jewell Room so it wouldn’t fly around in
there. Slowly I walked around it, but the
dove didn’t seem to care. Instead, it
seemed to be waiting for me to take my place.
Once I’d gotten behind it, the dove flitted over to the oblations table
by the door to the nave. I came along
slowly, hoping it would keep moving toward the outside door. It looked at me, hopped down from the
oblations table, and flew over near the door.
Again I came along behind. Finally,
I watched as the dove beat its wings and flew out the open door.
I was relieved but also a little
disappointed by the role I’d had to play.
But then it hit me: Who was
leading whom? Rather than me driving the
Spirit out of the church, perhaps the Spirit had invited me to follow it. The dove had come through the open door, and
I had followed it in. Then it had moved
to its positions, and I had moved into mine.
Like dance partners making up the steps as they go, the dove and I moved
in choreography that came as it needed to come.
I wasn’t herding or corralling
anything. It was the dove who was
leading me out, just as the dove had led me in.
The same holds true for us. The Holy Spirit has led us here, into this
beautiful and sacred space, into this warm and welcoming family. Now, the Spirit says: Unlock your doors and open them wide. Open your doors, that we might let the light
of Christ shine through them. Open your
doors, that we might bring in people looking to connect with a power they can’t
quite name. Open your doors, that we
might go out into God’s world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit. Open your doors, that the Spirit might use us
to make the old creation new.
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