Why I'm Proposing Resolutions

I decided to run for deputy to General Convention in order to support the cause of evangelism in the Episcopal Church.  Evangelism simply means telling the good news - proclaiming that the kingdom of God has come to us in Jesus.  We are beloved by God, and that is good news worth sharing with our spiritually impoverished world.  

Well, so I have proposed two resolutions to General Convention (the text of which are in my previous post).  The first one proposes that the Anglican 5 Marks of Mission be adopted as strategic priorities of the church, around which the budget should be structured.  This looks like a resolution designed to improve our relations with the Anglican Communion, but as far as I'm concerned this good result is only a side effect.  

To me, the key to the resolution lies in the paragraph that states that "the first mark of mission, proclaiming the Good News of the Reign of God, is really a summary of what all mission is about, and therefore instead of being just one of five distinct activities, that this is the key statement about everything we do in mission."  In other words, this resolution would recognize evangelism as the top strategic priority of the Episcopal Church.  I think it is vital for us to recognize this fact.  Not only has our church been shrinking at an alarming rate, but we have forgotten the priority of reaching out to new people in Christ's name - and if there is anything clear in the gospels, it is the fact that Jesus has commissioned us to do exactly this.  The other vital ministries that Christians perform all grow out of the fact that they are Christians.  And, well, you have to hear about Christ first, to become a Christian and perform Christian ministry.

Sadly, the powers that be have assigned this resolution to the World Mission committee, which I worry will abandon it in favor of Bonnie Anderson's resolution to "adopt" the 5 Marks of Mission.  Her resolution doesn't say anything about what we will do with them once we have "adopted" them (in contrast to ours, which requires us to structure the budget around them).  Her resolution is also missing the crucial paragraph that names evangelism as the key priority on which the others are based.  She has two fine paragraphs about informing the Anglican Communion that we have "adopted" the marks, but surely they will ask themselves - "adopted" them as what?  It looks like lip service to me.

My second resolution calls for several groups to collaborate on producing a strategic plan "for growing the church, increasing congregational vitality, planting new churches, and redeveloping dying congregations."  The hope is that the strategic plan would be implemented at all levels of the church and cause a renaissance in evangelism and church growth.  I am puzzled that this resolution, which so clearly centers on evangelism, has been assigned to the Stewardship and Development committee - apparently because they have a couple of other strategic planning resolutions to deal with as well.  

Well, wish me luck.  We'll see how all this turns out.

 

Resolutions at General Convention

On Monday, July 6, I leave for General Convention in Anaheim.  I am one of four clergy deputies elected from the state of Arizona.  I will be serving on the legislative committee on Evangelism.  I am excited about the opportunity to serve, and also apprehensive about the incredible workload that people tell me this involves - long hours and very little sleep!  I'll be updating my blog from convention periodically to let you know what the experience is like.

As part of my interest in Evangelism, I am proposing two resolutions to convention:  we'll see if they pass, or get a hearing.  Nick Kniseley (another clergy deputy from Arizona) has been very helpful in getting co-sponsors for these.  My two co-sponsors are Ann Fontaine+ of Wyoming (a liberal) and Neal Michell+ of Dallas (a conservative).  Because we cover the board in terms of theology, there is a chance of attracting a wide range of support - we hope!

Here are my two resolutions, both basically intended to further the cause of evangelism in the Episcopal Church:

RESOLUTION D026:  THE 5 MARKS OF MISSION AS STRATEGIC PRIORITIES FOR THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

 

Resolved, the House of ___________ concurring, that the 76^th General Convention name the five Anglican Marks of Mission as the five top strategic priorities for The Episcopal Church, and that the House of Deputies direct Program, Budget and Finance to center the budget around these strategic priorities, and be it further

 

Resolved, that these strategic priorities, as developed by the Anglican Consultative Council, are: 

1.     to proclaim the Good News of the Reign of God;

2.     to teach, baptize and nurture new believers;

3.     to respond to human need by loving service;

4.     to seek to transform unjust structures of society;

5.     and to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth; and be it further

 

Resolved, that the first mark of mission, proclaiming the Good News of the Reign of God, is really a summary of what all mission is about, and therefore instead of being just one of five distinct activities, that this is the key statement about everything we do in mission.

 

EXPLANATION

The Five Anglican Marks of Mission were developed by the Anglican Consultative Council between 1984 and 1990.  They have won wide acceptance among Anglicans, and have given parishes and dioceses around the world a practical and memorable “checklist” for mission activities.  The Anglican Consultative Council has recognized the proclamation of God’s Reign as the key mark of mission, which underlies all other mission of the church, because it is based on Jesus’ summary of his own mission (Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:14-15, Luke 4:18, Luke 7:22; cf. John 3:14-17).  For more information see “The Five Marks of Mission,” published by the Anglican Consultative Council, Anglican Communion Office website (attached).

 

The Five Marks stress the doing of mission.  Faithful action is the measure of our response to Christ (cf. Matthew 25:31-46; James 2:14-26).  However, the challenge facing us is not just to do mission but to be a people of mission.  The purpose of this resolution is to allow every dimension of church life to be shaped and directed by our identity as a sign, foretaste and instrument of God’s reign in Christ. 

 

We recognize that all mission is done in a particular setting – the context.  So, although there is a fundamental unity to the good news, it is shaped by the great diversity of places, times and cultures in which we live, proclaim and embody it.  We recognize that there are many ways to adapt the five marks of mission to local and cultural contexts, and we encourage this adaptation as an essentially Anglican way of following Christ. 

RESOLUTION D024:  CREATING A STRATEGY FOR PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS OF THE REIGN OF GOD AS A PRIMARY MARK OF MISSION FOR THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

 

Resolved, the House of ____________ concurring, that since proclaiming the Good News of the Reign of God is an essential mission of The Episcopal Church, that the 76^th General Convention direct that the next triennium be a period of strategic planning to determine how to implement this priority and to make resources available to encourage this work at the diocesan and local levels; and be it further

 

Resolved, that the strategic plan include a strategy for growing the church, increasing congregational vitality, planting new churches, and redeveloping dying congregations, as essential components of this mission; and be it further

 

Resolved, that this strategic plan pay particular attention to the challenges of proclaiming the Good News in a multicultural context, to young people, to underserved and marginalized populations, and to people with no church background; and be it further

 

Resolved, that the work of creating this strategic plan should be a joint effort undertaken by the following groups, in consultation with the Standing Commission on Domestic Mission and Evangelism: the Executive Council Strategic Planning Committee; the Center for Evangelism and Congregational Life of the Episcopal Church Center; and the Congregations in Mission Standing Committee of Executive Council; and be it further

 

Resolved, that the work of creating this strategic plan be completed, presented to Executive Council, and made available to deputies to the 77^th General Convention by January 1, 2012.

 

EXPLANATION

To take best advantage of the missional opportunities before the church, we need to plan carefully and execute wisely by setting goals, locating resources and monitoring progress.  There are several groups now working on the priority of proclaiming the good news of God’s reign.  This resolution directs them to work together to enhance the work of all, and names the strategic priorities that will be key to accomplishing this mission. 

 

Sermon for 6.28.09

Sermon for 6.28.09

Lessons for this Sunday

His voice was almost a miracle, the perfection of his pitch and his little-girl breathiness winding up to impossible heights, when he was a little boy  His body did dance moves that made no sense, seeming to float almost impervious to gravity.  He invented moves that no one could do like he could.  He made the greatest music video of all time and the best-selling album of all time – and yet his life was a tragedy.  Andrew Sullivan says, on theatlantic.com:

 

Of course, Michael Jackson bears responsibility for his bizarre life.  But the damage done to him by his own family and then by all those motivated more by money and power than by faith and love was irreparable in the end….He was everything our culture worships; and yet he was obviously desperately unhappy, tortured, afraid and alone….I grieve for him; but I also grieve for the culture that created and destroyed him. That culture is ours, and it is a lethal and brutal one: with fame and celebrity as its core values, with money as its sole motive, it chewed this child up and spat him out. He died a while ago. He remained for so long a walking human shell.

 

My heart breaks for a world that values all the wrong things, and destroys people – if not as obviously as Michael Jackson was destroyed, then slowly and invidiously, by making people believe that the false gods of money, appearance, celebrity, power, are the only ones worth worshiping.

 

"Jesus came to raise the dead,” says Robert Capon.  “The only qualification for the gift of the Gospel is to be dead.  You do not have to be smart.  You do not have to be good.  You do not have to be wise.  You do not have to be wonderful.  You do not have to be anything...you just have to be dead.  That's it."

 

Death comes in many ways in our world – physical, emotional, and spiritual.  Death comes to a child with a voice like an angel, who was deprived of a true childhood and spent the rest of his 50 years trying to get it back.  Death comes to those who are ill, to those who are hopeless, to those who have no money to survive, to those who have lost connection to the God who made them and loves them.  

 

And into a culture of death, Jesus shines the light of the gospel, defying death as Michael Jackson defied gravity, demonstrating in every way he knows how that the power of the gospel brings life and hope. 

 

Our scriptures today show us three different ways the power of God challenges the powers of death and destruction, three ways the gospel brings life into the world.  The Old Testament reading tells us that even before the time of Jesus, the Jews were aware that God’s will for the world was life, not death.  The epistle demonstrates one result of our trust in God’s power to bring life:  Paul approaches the Corinthian Christians with a plea for them to donate money to support the Christians in Jerusalem, who are suffering from famine and persecution – appeals to Jesus’ generosity in giving everything for us as an example for our own generosity to others.  And Paul makes it clear that in Christ, we all become responsible for each other, as Jesus took responsibility for each one of us on the cross.  He says that as Christians, our own task is to continue Jesus’ ministry.

 

And to understand what Jesus’ ministry was, Mark’s gospel is a good place to start.  Today we hear about two intertwined healing stories, where Jesus calls healing out of illness and life out of death.  He feels power drain out of him and turns to find that a woman has been healed by touching the hem of his robe.  And he continues to the house of a young girl whose father has turned to an itinerant preacher in despair for her illness.  Jesus reaches out a hand to her and calls her from death into life.  And as he calls to the girl, he calls to us too, in Frederick Buechner’s words: 

 

You who believe, and you who sometimes believe and sometimes don't believe much of anything, and you who would give almost anything to believe if only you could.... 'Get up,' he says, all of you--all of you!" Jesus gives life not only to the dead, but to those of us who are "only partly alive...who much of the time live with our lives closed to the wild beauty and the miracle of things, including the wild beauty and miracle of every day we live and even of ourselves.

 

To a world full of people who know nothing better than the power of money, celebrity, appearance, Jesus calls, get up!  It’s time to live!  God’s will for us is true life, life of the spirit, life that calls others into life.

 

There’s something odd about the healing and resurrection stories in the Bible, and that is this:  that in real life today, God doesn’t always heal the people we pray for.  And though Jesus healed many people, the main lesson Mark wants us to understand is not that God can heal (though that is true).  The main thing Mark wants us to understand is that these healings tell us something about who Jesus is:  Jesus is the one who brings the power of God into the world, Jesus is the one who calls the world from death into life. 

 

Mark makes it clear throughout his gospel that the healings are signs that point the way to something else.  They are signs to help people understand Jesus’ main purpose:  to proclaim the good news that the kingdom of God is here – the kingdom of life that challenges all worldly kingdoms of death (physical, emotional, and spiritual).

 

And because that is Jesus’ main purpose, it becomes our main purpose too, because Jesus leaves us as his disciples, Body of Christ to carry on his mission.  We are here to proclaim the good news that God’s will for us is true life, the life of the spirit, the life that does not allow people to die slow deaths as captives to the powers of this world.  And, as Jesus did, to call people into new ways of life that affirm that we are citizens of God’s kingdom and agents of God’s life-transforming love.  People do not have to live in self-destructive traps, like Michael Jackson did, or like anyone could who does not understand that God’s power of life is stronger than any of the false gods that claim our allegiance.  God can change the world, bringing it from death into life, working in partnership with us, and this good news is the heart of evangelism (a word that simply means good news).

 

I believe that the Episcopal Church has too often lost sight of its mission to proclaim this good news to everyone who can hear it, in this death-dealing world.  I believe that too often we have been complacent, sure that our innate attractiveness will help others find us, that they will somehow wander through our doors on their own, or that we don’t need to worry because “Everyone who is supposed to be an Episcopalian already is.” 

 

This is simply not true: we have been given a treasure in God’s life-giving gospel, and a mission to share that gospel in as many ways as we can.  This is the reason for adding a new service that speaks to different kinds of people through different kinds of music .  Music like gospel, blues, jazz, Celtic, folk traditions speak to the American heart in different ways than our beautiful traditional Anglican music does.  And it is up to us to use our amazing talents in this church to help God transform our community and our world.

 

If you want to see Michael Jackson at his best, a Michael Jackson we don’t often remember, go on YouTube and watch the video of “We Are the World.” The year was 1985, people were starving in Africa.  50 prominent rock musicians got together to record a single whose proceeds would be donated to feed the starving people.  Look on the video and you will see a young Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Willie Nelson, and 30 others.  

 

And you will see Michael Jackson, in his spangled jacket and famous glove, singing to feed the hungry.  I didn’t realize at the time that Michael Jackson actually wrote and co-produced that song.  But in this song you see Michael Jackson at his best:  called out of himself, pouring his heart out to help others. 

 

This is a picture of all of us at our best, a picture of what our world could be like if we allowed God to focus our priorities, if we became followers of life rather than disciples of death.  This kind of transformation is what God calls us to bring to the world.

 

I mourn for Michael Jackson, a man just a few years older than me, who never really became a man – was stuck in fearful, vulnerable childhood all his life.  And I mourn for many people who experience that kind of emptiness of life.  To our neighbors who live in empty and meaningless worlds, I want to bring the good news that God is here, and God has been here all along.  Loving each one of us, calling us into mission in Jesus’ name.  Calling us to proclaim the incredible, wonderful news that God’s kingdom is at hand, and that we have been called from death into new life, new hope and new ways of being in this beautiful world that God has made.

 

Sermon for 6.21.09

Sermon for 6.21.09

Lessons for this Sunday

My husband Tom is in Las Vegas visiting his father for Father’s Day weekend.  If you asked him what his favorite memories of his father are, he would tell what I think a lot of people would tell you about their dads.  Dads help you define who you are and who you are called to be.  They do this by loving you unconditionally, and they do this by calling you into new places and new challenges.

Tom remembers the fun times, the times when his dad called the family out of normal life into new adventures, the times that are special family memories.  In Tom’s case, his dad was extremely fond of boats, ships, fishing and anything to do with the sea – so his family spent a lot of time on the water.  They tell the story of numerous family excursions, with the whole family plus the dog in the boat while the kids water-skied.  Tom was a good skier but his sister, Ellen, apparently was not.  When Tom was skiing, the dog would lie down in the boat and go to sleep.  But when Ellen skied, the dog stayed alert, and the minute she went down, the dog would go diving into the water after her, so their dad would have two family members to rescue, not just one.

It’s one of those stories that the family tells quite often when they get together, one of those stories that in some way defines who they were as a family.  And it talks about a father as someone who calls you into new adventures, but also will always make sure you are safe while you are out on the water.

 

There’s a good reason that Jesus called God his “Father.”  We see it in gospel today.  Jesus had absolute confidence that God would not only call him out into new adventures, new risks for the faith, but that God would also care for him.   Take a look at what Jesus is doing here – he gets into the boat and tells the disciples to go to the other side.  It’s not obvious from the story, but the “other side” of the lake is Gentile country.  In other words, Jesus is leaving home and every place he’s comfortable and going to people that are different, the strangers, the others, outsiders to Israel  Jesus is crossing the Sea of Galilee to a foreign country, leaving his comfort zone to bring his mission to new people.  Not leaving the old people behind – the disciples and people in other boats go too.  But Jesus is showing his passion and compassion for every single person by extending his mission beyond the easy and familiar places. 

 

He is bringing whole group along on a mission to strange and unfamiliar territory, when a storm blows up and threatens their lives, and Jesus stills it.  Jesus had no doubt that a simple command would still the storm.  And Jesus’ simple command, “Peace! Be still!” is excellent advice for us, when storms seem to threaten our control over our lives.  lesson is simple:  we may feel threatened by all the things that toss us around in our lives – but we can count on Jesus to see us through.  In other words, when troubles of life overwhelm us, we should never forget that Jesus is here in the boat with us. And it is Jesus we should call out to.

 

And this is a really good lesson– but it’s not all that Mark wants us to hear.  For Mark, the punchline to this story comes in the last 2 sentences:  “He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’"  

 

In our translation it uses pale, lifeless words – they were filled with great awe.  But in the original Greek – it says “phobos megas” – they feared with enormous fear.  Now note:  this is AFTER he had calmed the storm.  Their lives are no longer in danger, they know that he can do things only God can do – and they are more afraid now than they were during the storm.  Being confronted with the power of Christ and the dawning realization of who he was – was even more frightening than the life-threatening storm.

 

It’s like Mark is saying:  if you think life is frightening, wait till you see Jesus!  Because if you see the real Jesus, he will blow you away.  Like a father who calls us out into new adventures, Jesus will call you out into places you never dreamed of going, and sometimes those places will be more adventure than you ever wanted to have

 

I think everyone here will agree that Jesus is still calling us out of our comfort zones.  No one who is part of a new mission church like this one could deny that even 2 millennia later, Jesus is still leading people into new adventures.  Our language reflects what we already know:  a church is a “nave” – a little boat.  After 2,000 years, we disciples are still in the boat with Jesus, sometimes afraid, sometimes full of wonder and awe. 

 

We started this church almost 3 years ago, imagining a church that didn’t exist yet, a church that would make its mission “transforming lives with the love of Jesus Christ.”  In 3 years we’ve come a long way – averaging 133 people in worship this year, sponsoring lively children’s and youth programs, making beautiful music together, reaching out to the needy in our community and abroad with amazing outreach ministries – we can be proud of the lives we’ve transformed.

 

And yet Jesus is this amazing and incredible savior, whose passion for those who don’t yet know him never stops, whose call to us is never silent, whose leadership is never comfortable.  And I believe that Jesus, like a faithful father, is calling us into new adventures even now – adventures in faith, adventures that will lead others to know the love of Christ and experience the life transformation that he brings.

 

This week you will receive a letter from our senior warden Mark Dobbins and me.  Our Bishop’s Committee and a number of other people have spent a great deal of time in meetings, discussion, prayer, and discernment of God’s will.  We believe that God is calling us to keep the wonderful, traditional worship service that we have, and also to start a new worship service in a format that is still true to our Episcopal roots but branches out in terms of music to reach out to new people.  I am really excited about the possibilities for us and for the people Jesus wants us to touch with his love – strangers we don’t know yet, but who will become dear to us as members of our church family.  

 

We felt it was important, because of our strong commitment to children’s and youth ministries, to do this new service at a time when it could include Sunday school, meaning Sunday morning.  The new service will be at 11:00, which means beginning in September this service, our traditional one, will shift just a little bit to 9:30.  I am really excited about the opportunities this offers all of us for new options and new ways to engage with our faith, and I think it is a big step forward in the kind of joyful, loving, engaging ministries we can provide.  This is all part of our vision and our mission to transform lives with love of Jesus Christ.

 

You will be getting a letter this week that explains this in more detail.  I invite you to read it and think about it.  I also invite you if you wish, to come to a meeting next Sunday, June 28, after the 10:00 service, and the BC and I will tell you more about the new schedule, what is the reasoning behind it, and how all the different parts fit together, and you can ask questions and make comments.  And of course, you can call or email or come visit me anytime, with your questions or comments.  

 

Mostly, I hope that you will find many things to love about this new venture, as I do, and trust and pray that Jesus will be with us every step of the way.  Everything we have done from the beginning is a risk, and this is too – we don’t know how things will turn out.  But I hope that you will be here in the boat with us, going where Jesus calls us to go as his church. 

 

Because God calls us into new places we wouldn’t go on our own.  No matter where God calls us to go, I can tell you without doubt and without reservation that Jesus is here in the boat with us.   Christ's peace can still the wind and the sea, and Christ's peace can lead us through change and growth in our church.  We are all here because we have been touched by the grace of God, and we have seen that grace reflected in this church community that God has created, against all odds and nearly miraculously, seemingly out of thin air.  

 

I believe it is true, in the words of John Newton, a ship captain from two centuries ago:  "'Tis grace that brought us safe thus far, and grace shall lead us home."

 

I believe that wherever we go, Christ will lead us.  Our enthusiasm and our confidence in Christ as our leader will make all the difference as we take our little boat out on the water.

 

 

Sermon for 6.14.09

Sermon for 6.14.09

Lessons for this Sunday  

Our Youth Group just got back from its Mission Week.  I went with them for part of it, a trip to St. Andrew's Children's Clinic in Nogales, Arizona.  We heard so many stories there of miracles.  I want to share one of them with you.  One of the departments at that clinic is speech therapy for children who have difficulty talking.  Rev. Lucie, the vicar there, helps out in that department, translating from English to Spanish for the clients.  She tells the story of a girl whose parents had brought her to the clinic every month for years.  The girl could not speak at all, and she really didn't even interact with others.  Nevertheless, her parents kept bringing her.  One day, Lucie was sitting in her office down the hall from the speech therapy room, when the girl came walking in, climbed up in Lucie's lap, and just started talking.  Not in words, but in complete paragraphs.  A miracle had happened.

·      All those years, when it seemed nothing was happening, when her parents kept bringing her to school although there were no results, something was happening inside her mind – some part of her was listening.  And when the right time had come, that part of her mind blossomed – and she began suddenly to talk, as if she had burst into full flower overnight.

The kingdom of God is like that. 

·      The kingdom of God, says Jesus, is like the tiniest of seeds, that when planted in the earth, is invisible for a long period of time.   Any gardener or farmer can tell you what it takes to plant a seed and to create the conditions necessary for it to thrive – but they will also tell you that once the seed is in the ground, there is nothing they can do to make it sprout.   The kingdom of God is like mysterious, underground, invisible energy, hiding in darkness, that suddenly bursts forth in blossom that everyone can see.  

When we read today's gospel of the mustard seed in conjunction with our lesson from Ezekiel, we can see something very interesting Jesus is doing.   Clearly, Jesus is using Old Testament roots to grow something new: Jesus bases his parable of the mustard seed on Ezekiel's prophecy.  As Ezekiel speaks, the people of Israel are in exile in Babylon, and the people are hoping for restoration to their home in Israel.  Ezekiel speaks God’s words, promising that Israel would be re-planted in its old home atop a mountain as a lofty cedar – like a redwood.  A grand and glorious future, of power and might, awaits Israel.

·      Jesus takes this vision and uses it – yet, Jesus transforms it in surprising ways.  Instead of a grand cedar, Jesus gives us a mustard plant – a ubiquitous plant in the holy land, somewhat like a mesquite tree allowed to grow wild, or sagebrush in the desert that sprouts in every yard if you don’t weed it out.  If you see a natural mesquite tree, you see how it grows – out, bent, low to the ground, offering shade to birds and other creatures, not height and grandeur.

·      The kingdom of God is like the most common of plants, spreading out not up, leaning close to the ground, easily seen once you know where to look.

 Jesus’ main purpose throughout his ministry was this:  to proclaim the kingdom of God.  The kingdom of God is at hand, he said over and over, closer than your own hand is to you, right here among you, the kingdom of God is here and now.  To anyone who would listen, he would say, I am here to announce the arrival of the kingdom.  

And yet it was also clear to anyone listening that the kingdom was not here:  that the grand and lofty rulers of the world were still in control, as they had always been, that the poor were still poor and the sick were still sick.  And so from the very beginning, Jesus’ preaching had what scholars call the “already … and not yet” quality – the kingdom of God is here, closer than the nose on your face, and yet the kingdom of God is still to come, that kingdom that is the glorious eternal reign of peace and justice for all creation.

 And so it is still today:  when we look around, we have to ask the same question they were asking 2,000 years ago:  Where can we see kingdom of God?  Often I think, the idea of the kingdom of God is mistaken for the idea of the Apocalypse, the idea that amid flashing lights and sounding trumpets, Christ will reappear.  Maybe God’s kingdom will come in this way (though I have serious profound doubts about those who believe that it will come in a cataclysm of violence).

·      But in the meantime, I think we should be looking for signs of the kingdom all around us, the “already” kingdom – so common that we might assume these signs are just weeds, poking their stems through cracks in the sidewalk.  

Where is God’s kingdom in this world?  If we are craning our necks looking for lofty cedars, maybe we’re looking in the wrong place, maybe we should be bending our heads to look at weeds that keep on growing, no matter how hard we try.

·      Where is it that the power of this world is being challenged with the weeds of God that will not stop growing?

One place is certainly in St. Andrew’s Children’s Clinic, where a band of intrepid volunteers has quietly transformed lives of the poorest of poor, every month for years.  Another place is in hearts and minds of our young people who experienced the transformation God brings when we allow him to work through us.  Another place is in parents of children and teenagers who pour their hearts into making sure their children grow up with an awareness of God’s love.  Another place is in many, many members of this congregation who come here to be refreshed in God’s shade, and then go out again to make a difference in their daily lives.  It may not be obvious that as they interact with those around them, they are doing it in a Christ-like way – but spending time in Christ’s presence transforms people, and the seeds that are planted grow into shrubs that can shade many people in many different ways.

·      And I have come to the conclusion that it is my purpose in life, and the purpose of this church, to create the conditions under which those seeds can grow, to make the ground fertile so that God’s Spirit, working in darkness and quiet inside each of our spirits, can make the kingdom blossom, and change the world.

This is why I have a passion for evangelism – that frightening word that scares Episcopalians into running out the door.  Evangelism is simply doing what Jesus did:  proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God, that is coming and yet is already here, easily seen if you know where to look, easily measured if you can understand the many ways it shows itself in the world; and helping create the conditions for that kingdom to grow.

·      this is what I think God has called this church to do:  to announce that the kingdom of God is here, and help it grow like beautiful, unstoppable weed.  The kingdom of God, says Jesus, grows in dark, hidden, and unexpected ways.  It grows in us when we’re not looking, it surprises us by how it changes us.  The harvest will come in God’s good time, as we create the conditions for God’s seeds to flourish in our lives, and give them space and time to grow, because God adores us and it is God’s love that is the power of growth. 

·      It is this love that transforms the tiniest seed into a shrub that spreads like weeks, and gives rest and shade to the singing birds, just as it transforms our tiny, distorted awareness of God into shining awareness in which we can rest. 

What is growing underground and in the dark in your life? What fruit is God bringing to life?  What has God planted in you long ago, that just now may be ready to burst into flower?  My prayer for us all is that God will bring new love, new excitement and new growth to harvest in each of our lives.