To listen to the sermon as it was preached at the service on Sunday, July 10, 2011, click here.
St. Charles Episcopal Church - Saint Charles, IL
The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 10 RCL Year A
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Genesis 25:19-34 – Psalm 119:105-112 – Romans 8:1-11 – Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Rev. William R. Nesbit, Jr.
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
“Hear then the parable of the sower. Let anyone with ears, listen!”
We’ve heard it so many times that most of us could recite it from memory. So what could I add? Actually, I want to head off on a bit of a tangent today. On this special day of gathering and fellowship, I would like to speak on what I believe is the core of this parable - discernment.
Most Biblical scholars are of the opinion that the explanation section was not actually spoken by Jesus at the time but was added later by Matthew when he was actually writing the Gospel. In this way, the explanation section is sort of a sermon by Matthew on Jesus’ Parable of the Sower. I want to take a step back and let Jesus’ parable stand on it’s own. In this way, I can take the parable in a slightly different direction.
Rowan Williams, the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury once described the church as, “a space in which people may become what God made them to be.” I like this description because it incorporates growth as one of the core values of the church. This helps us to remember that staying the same is anathema to the life of faith. I also like this description because agency is both personal and distributed. Notice that the church is not “an organization or a hierarchy that turns people into what God wants them to be,” but a space in which people become what God made them to be.” Can you hear the difference? The difference may seem small, but it is critical.
So how do we make this space? Well, to start, I like to think of this space as a habitat. A habitat is a specific environment that encourages certain life to grow and discourages others. As rain gives life to the seeds that fall to the earth, so the core of the Christian habitat is water, specifically the water of Baptism.
The ritual of Baptism and accepting the Baptismal Covenant lies at the core of what it means to be a Christian. Like all of us, Jesus began his ministry after his baptism. In the Book of Common Prayer, our baptism service begins with the acclamation, “There is one Body and one Spirit; There is one hope in God’s call to us; One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism; One God and Father of all.” Every time we baptize new members into the body of Christ we all remember who we are as Christians. As we renew our own baptismal vows we remember our attachment to the whole body of Christ.
Baptism is primarily about God acting and the community of faith responding; it shapes our primary identity as the church - the body of Christ. For some of you, I am sure this is a new understanding of church. When we get lazy, we cling to the model of the church as the flock and the priest as the shepherd. That way we can be dumb and lazy sheep and just let the shepherd do all the work and tell us what to do. We forget that Jesus is the good shepherd and is calling us, each of us, into new pastures of life. God is working in all people...infinitely more than we can ask or imagine! We are all God’s flock. Infused by the Holy Spirit through the water of baptism, we respond to the callings and urgings of God.
Most of us, when we think of responding to a call from God, immediately think of ordained ministry, but that is wrong. Through our baptism, we all strive to live a life answering the call of God. Baptismal ministry is living the questions together and seeking the answers together. As a baptismal community we are more than individuals gathered around a minister, we are the priesthood of all believers. We are more than recipients of ordained ministry, we are a ministering community.
I know this is new to most of you, but I assure you these are the deep bones of the faith we live; the faith we have been given. If we cannot reclaim them as our own, the faith will die. Faithful living takes shape in communities where all members - and not just a few ordained leaders - struggle to understand and live out the faith. I know God has already given us the gifts to lead the church into the future; we must be prepared to discern our ministries, and have the courage to live them out. Baptismal ministry demands both that we make the effort to discern the gifts we have been given to bring in the kingdom of God, and then courageously share those gifts abundantly. Living into our baptism urges, indeed demands that Christians make a difference in the world.
So how do we go about discerning our gifts for ministry? It is not as hard as you might think, but it does take a concerted effort. Like all good discernment it takes time, it takes reflection, and it takes friends. A good first question to ask is, “When in my life have I felt most alive?” This helps you to be attentive to yourself and your inner voice. Take time to answer this question, and use your friends to validate, or invalidate your observations; that’s what friends are for. As you find these passions, explore where these passions intersect with the needs of others. It is in this interaction that mere passions become elevated to baptismal gifts, vocations.
This work of discernment, so often limited to the selection of candidates for ordination, is one of the truly important tasks of the church, outfitting the faithful for the real work of the body of Christ, working inside, but even more importantly outside of the church.
Every Sunday we gather to hear the word of God and respond to the demands it places on our hearts. This is again, the work of discernment. We respond in prayer, ask forgiveness for the times we have fallen short of God’s image for us. We then take the body and blood of Christ into ourselves, to fortify us for the week ahead; to give us the courage to truly live into the life we have been given. At the end of the service the prayerbook says that we are dismissed by the Deacon.
The writers of the Book of Common Prayer missed an opportunity to teach. We are not dismissed. We are charged; given orders. If we would truly live out that charge, even for one week, what a world it would be. “Let us go forth in the name of Christ.” “Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord.” “Let us go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit.” Even the lowly, “Let us bless the Lord.” Can you imagine a life that blesses the Lord for a week?
The truth is, the only thing that stands in the way is our fear, the enemies first and best weapon. I bid you leave your fear behind and take up the work of discernment. Remember that you are simply doing the work of growing up into the person God has already made you to be. Let anyone with ears, listen!
Amen.