Epiphany 3C / Annual Parish Report
January 27, 2019
 
In today’s gospel reading we hear one of the three Holy Spirit stories told by Luke. In the first story, the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus like a dove when he is baptism. In the second story, the Holy Spirit fills and leads Jesus into the wilderness for a time of testing as Jesus refuses the pathways that are wrong for his servant ministry. And in today’s reading, the Holy Spirit fills Jesus with power for ministry as he reads a text that will be his mission statement as Messiah. And then preaches perhaps the shortest sermon ever, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  (Now don’t get your hopes up – my sermon is going to be longer than usual today, because I am combining the annual parish report and sermon so you only have to really listen to me one time!)

Robert Brearly’s essay on this passage from Luke is insightful: Jesus is called to be “an agent of mercy to the downtrodden:  to be good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight for the blind, freedom for the oppressed, and new beginnings for all who have failed.” In other words, Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, is sent for everyone, for don’t we all fit into one of these categories at some point in our lives or another? 

Then experiencing the love of Christ by the power of the Spirit, we are called to do and be something in return. We need to know our mission and understand what God has given us to do.  That is as important for us as it was for Jesus. Luke wants us to know Jesus’ ministry began when the Holy Spirit claimed him in baptism, tested him in the wilderness and filled him with power for “an urgent ministry of grace…” The Holy Spirit came and taught Jesus what was real:  to say yes to God’s good purposes for all people; to help the poor and captured of all kinds; to say yes to working for God with urgency and compassion. 

And the Holy Spirit gives us something to do for God as well. In this era of declining church attendance, the question I often hear is “How we are doing as a church?” but a better question might be “As a church, what are we doing for God?”

On this Sunday of our Annual Parish Meeting – I’d like for you to imagine church as theater -- a stage play; worship as a drama – not acting, but a Spirit-led movement in which we all fulfill a role, in which we all participate. (Now this analogy may not work if picked apart too deeply, but just humor me and play along….)

Shakespeare said, “All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,”

The church is God’s spirit-filled stage, inspiring worshippers upon it. And all kinds of worshippers are needed to fulfill God’s mission in and through this sacred place.

Let’s say the Altar Guild are the stage hands, making sure the set is just right. Their work makes our worship space beautiful, from the polished silver vessels to the polished brass on the doors. They make sure we are in the correct colors for each liturgical season and that all the linens and vestments are properly cared for and presented. Much of their work is behind the scenes, but with careful attention to details, they make our space a worthy offering to God. An interesting statistic for the Altar Guild is that they count each wafer to be consecrated during the Eucharist which totaled 3,538 wafers in 2018. (Altar Guild – please stand.)

Supplementing the beautification process for our stage – our worship space – is the Flower Guild. Your honorariums and tributes fund the flowers and a small team of volunteers make them happen every Sunday (except Lent and Advent), every funeral and reception. (Flower Guild – please stand).  Thank you for sharing your talent and time in this fashion!

No theater is complete without Ushers. The Ushers are not only responsible for handing out our programs – our Worship Leaflets, but also for checking lights and sound equipment, securing oblation bearers each week to bring forward the bread and wine, and collecting our gifts of tithe and offering. For funerals, which totaled 10 this year, ushers make sure pews are reserved for families and assist with seating and welcoming guests. They have many jobs, which I am still discovering even after 4+ years of being here. The ushers keep a head count for every service as well, which totaled 4,131 noggins in 2018.  (Ushers, please stand.)

Another important aspect of worship life is music. Do we not have an amazing choir and organist???  (Applause!)  Often after their anthems, I find I wish I could clap to show my appreciation, but it doesn’t seem to work as Tony so quickly takes us to the doxology. This music department works very hard, practicing every Wednesday night 10 months out of the year to present us with 56 anthems during worship for 2018. And Tony is a master at choosing anthems and other music that work well in our setting and for our choir. He also takes great pride in playing our Kilgen & Son organ that is 110 years old this year. The choir is here for every service during Holy Week, Advent and Christmas, including TWO services on Christmas Eve!  Choir, Tony – Thank you!!!

The other “players” upon this stage, if you will, are the Lectors and Readers who share in worship by orating the scriptures of the day.  Some read with great expression, others with a sense of reverence, but all offering themselves to God in worship. We have heard many voices reading in our services the past year. Please stand if you have given of yourself in this way. 

And finally, the acolytes who physically lead our worship and make my role look easy.  They lead the procession into worship with reverence and grace. They accompany the Gospel proclamation, receive the gifts, set the altar, assist with the distribution of communion, light candles, extinguish candles, and help all around with the worship experience. We have new people on our teams and are always eager to train new leaders. I would be remiss not to give a special thank you to Eleanor for schedule, organizing, re-scheduling, training and leading the acolyte teams – Thank you, Eleanor!  And all acolytes, please stand… Thank you for sharing your time and talent to help our worship of God.

In order for Sunday morning worship to happen, there is a lot that takes place during the week. We are 5 years into volunteer office help from 9-1 Monday-Thursday. That is 832 hours a year of volunteer time put in primarily by 4 folks – Pam, Suzi, Gary and Patti.  You four save the church thousands of dollars a year with your devoted time!  Please stand… thank you!

The generosity of this parish continues to amaze me! You support every outreach opportunity thrown your way – from school supplies to stocking stuffers, from Thanksgiving bags to food pantry extras, from angel tree gifts to Eastside Ministry requests. And that is not counting the nearly $2,000 given to help 12 local families with rent or utilities, to help 1 family with funeral expenses, bought 7 coats for children who had none, and helped one gentleman get an ID card which in turn helped him get a job. The brain and passion behind managing this Ministry Fund is Carolyn Brannen. She is careful and thoughtful with the funds you generously share to give away from ourselves. Thank you all for your generosity to the Ministry Fund and thank you Carolyn for your compassionate and discerning service.

Not only are you generous with your time and gifts, you are generous with your space.  St. Luke’s in the Meadow is in use 7 days a week which is a great sign of life and spotlight of hope to our neighborhood. Most everyone here has played a part in this great parish and I appreciate you all.  And there are two people who have been driving forces behind St. Luke’s doors remaining open through all kinds of ups and downs. 

First, Sr. Warden Patti Callahan.  Patti has believed in this church and its mission on the Eastside of Fort Worth.  She has put in countless hours as Sr. Warden for the past 5 years. Patti has done everything from building renovation and restoration to grant writing to food pantrying.  She has been a great Sr. Warden to get a new Priest-in-Charge trained and eventually to become the Rector. Patti’s has been a great stage manager, up to whatever drama, comedy or worship opportunity God has put before her.  Patti, thank you!!!!  Enjoy a break from Vestry…. And run again before too long!

Now, before the music starts and you kick me off the stage, there is one more person I want to recognize. Let’s just say the Holy Spirit has been doing all kinds of amazing things around here the past year.  And I think it is God’s tremendous affirmation to one man who has given so much to make sure St. Luke’s stayed financially afloat. We still have work to do to get to a balanced budget, but we are making progress. There were a record number of pledges made for 2019!  Thank you for that!  Thank you for taking that leap of faith! Our operating budget is about $220,000 and our receipts are projected to be about $215,000, a short-fall of $5,000, which I trust will appear somehow. I recall a year ago at our parish meeting, in response to our financial needs, Katie Sherrod said, “We do not know what God has planned.”  And boy was she right! Katie ran a GoFundMe Campaign in Gayland’s Memory that brought in almost $12,000 for our church! Most of it helped balance 2018’s budget and the remainder is in our memorial fund.  Thank you, Katie… and thank you Gayland Pool – your memory lives on!

And then, not knowing God’s plan, another surprise came along – a surprise that I think was in part God’s way of affirming the great gift of money management given by Jay Andrews for many, many years. Jay has pinched pennies, stretched dollars and miraculously made ends meet. The Holy Spirit gave Jay a “miracle” to retire on from his Treasurer role. The Connie Wood Endowment of $723,000 will give life to this parish for many, many years to come. It will take a couple of years for the interest to accrue enough to supplement our Operating Budget, but it will give us a little breathing room and take some of the financial pressure off.  I truly believe this endowment is God (and Connie’s) wink to you, Jay, saying, “well-done, good and faithful servant!!!”  Please stand and come to the front….

Jay, we promise to continue your conservative approach to spending. and we have a gift to honor you and to remind us of the importance of giving and conserving. And as a reminder to us that “We do not know what God has planned for this place,” but we can be sure the curtain is not closing any time soon!

The Holy Spirit filled Jesus with power for “an urgent ministry of grace…”  The Holy Spirit has filled this parish with faith, hope and love.  The Spirit has given us courage to say yes to God’s good purposes for all people; to help the poor and captured of all kinds; to say yes to working for God with urgency and compassion. 

I’d say that as a church we are doing well!  As for what we are doing for God…. I’d say we are doing whatever God puts before us to do! I am blessed beyond anything I deserve to serve as your Rector!  May the Holy Spirit fill us, the love of Christ flow through us, and the power of God direct us on the stage of sacred purpose and mission. Amen.

Epiphany 2C 2019
The Rev. Karen Calafat
Wedding at Cana
 
          I fell in love this week.

          I fell in love with Mary Oliver and geese and grasshoppers.

          I fell in love with Maira Kalman and trees and whimsy.

          I fell in love again with The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and dreams and justice and equality for all God’s children.

          And I fell in love again with Jesus and surprise, abundance and grace.

          My heart has been full this week of love, admiration and hope.  That is not to say that my heart has not also be broken and hurting and burdened for the hundreds of thousands of people impacted by the government shutdown – from people who live paycheck to paycheck and find themselves now in financial straits, to people who planned vacations to National Parks and now are being turned away, to the anxiety and stress that we all feel in these times of contention and “he said”/“she said”.  Not to mention the heartbreak for the families of those killed in Syria, including four Americans.  I hope you have lifted all these situations in prayer, for we definitely need God’s mercy and guidance.

          But if you are like me, I must have a break from the seemingly constant bad news and look for positives…  look for places of hope.  And that is where I fell in love this week.

          Mary Oliver was a poet who died this week at the age of 83.  Her instruction for living was:

Pay Attention.
Be Astonished.
Tell About it.

          Mary didn’t ascribe to Christianity because she “had trouble with the Resurrection,” but she was incredibly spiritual, prayerful and hopeful.  She lived a horrific childhood that scarred her for life.  Her solace was in nature and poetry.  She believed poetry should not be “fancy,” but clear, accessible and understandable.  She was a cancer survivor for years and wrote a sequence of poems titled “The 4th Sign of the Zodiac” about her illness that are worth reading.  Her poem "The Summer Day" is one of her most famous:

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
 
        Many of Oliver's poems are a joyful celebration of life and nature.  She wrote a poem about Geese that I was listening to while walking on the Trinity Trail Friday afternoon.  I am sure I looked akin to the Cheshire Cat as the poem ended and I simultaneously happened upon a small gaggle of geese – a surprise… a miracle…  a gift.  Thank you, God!  Thank you.

       My next love of the week is Maira Kalman, an illustrator and story teller who has had her share of suffering in life as well.  She has written and illustrated many children’s books and is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker Magazine.  You might recognize her whimsical artwork on the covers.  Maira starts her days reading the obituaries – the daily reminder of her own mortality serving as the ultimate wake-up call. She says, “Reading the obituaries every morning makes you really conscious of the fact that you have a very limited amount of time.”  (Echoing Mary Oliver:  What will you do with your one wild and precious life?)

      Having heard Maira speak about her love of trees and enjoyment of them on her daily walks in Central Park, I was especially attentive to trees this week.  I often go through the forest of daily life and completely miss the trees.  It was a wake-up call to pay more attention to my surroundings – not just the trees, but the clouds, the centipedes on the sidewalk and beetles on the pebbles; the people, and all God’s creation.
​
      Attentiveness to all of God’s children is part of what inspired the late, great Martin Luther King, Jr.  His “I Have a Dream” speech is as powerful today as it was the day he spoke it in 1963… and as much needed:

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama —little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low. The rough places will be plain and the crooked places will be made straight, “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”
This is our hope. This is the faith…. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.  With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brother-hood.”

      Martin Luther King’s Dream is a reality for some, but a long way off for others.  How do we continue to make progress toward that symphony of all humanity?

      I think “the mother of Jesus” (as John refers to Mary in his gospel) has the right instruction for us.  “The mother of Jesus” simply says, “Do whatever he tells you.”  ‘Do whatever Jesus tells you to do.’ 

      Did you notice the servants at the wedding did just what Jesus said?  (Amy Richter:) And they got to participate in Jesus’ first sign, his first miracle. They just did what Jesus told them to do:         
         
      “Fill the jars with water” and they do.
      No arguing, “We need wine, not water.”

      “Now draw some out” and they do.

      No complaining, “What’s that going to achieve?”

      “And take it . . . So they took it.” 
      No, “Hey, Jesus, I have a better idea . . .”

       They just do the simple, straightforward things Jesus tells them to
do and they get to participate in a miracle.

      Do whatever Jesus tells you. Water becomes the finest wine. The mundane becomes miraculous.

      Jesus tells us all some very simple, straightforward things to do. Jesus tells us to: love, share, give, serve, listen, learn, worship, pray.”

Love him. Love her. Love them. And those you don’t really like, love them, too! Share your money, your time, your particular gift, your ability with that child, with that elder, with that family. Worship with your parish family. Pray wherever you are.
Listen for what Jesus tells you to do.

Do it.

You may participate in a miracle.

You may be part of making King’s dream come true for all God’s children.  If you follow Mary’s advice and do “whatever Jesus tells you to do,” I dare say you will find renewed faith and hope in your own “wild and precious life.”