Deuteronomy 30:15-20
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Matthew 5:21-37
Psalm 119:1-8
Homily by Fr R Christopher Heying
It is said that Henry Ward Beecher, a famous nineteenth-century Congregational pastor in New England, entered the pulpit one Sunday morning to find there an unmarked envelope. Opening it, he discovered a single sheet of paper on which in large script was written the single word FOOL.
After chuckling to himself, he held the paper up to the congregation and said: "I have known many an instance of a man writing letters and forgetting to sign his name. But this is the only instance I've ever known of a man signing his name and forgetting to write his letter."
This story is a poignant reminder to the clergy that a thick skin and a sense of humor can go a long way in dealing with our feet of clay.
I have known a lot of clergy, all with some gifts, most with extraordinary ones.
But even so, as we get to know our clergy better, weaknesses also tend to become apparent. Great pastors are not always the strongest preachers. Great preachers not always the strongest pastors. Some have remarkable gifts as envisioning what can be.
Some are better at simply loving in the midst of what is right now. A few have such charisma that they build large congregations, some of which dwindle immediately following their inevitable departure to a new cure or death.
Most advertisements for clergy positions seek a priest who will address declining numbers and finances by growing the church without changing anything, or at least not things I like. Bring us lots of children but don’t let them disturb us. Clergy are not immune to this desire.
In a previous cure, we had up to 20 children attending children’s chapel before coming back right before the Peace. A retired community church founder who grew up Episcopalian always complained to me about their God-awful noise which disturbed his prayer.
I really did love him, but within a couple of years or so, not one of those children attended our church and he was dead.
In the advertisements for clergy positions it is common to see a keen desire to get back the people who left during the tenure of the previous priest. Yet most evidence points to the fact that those who abandoned ship because they didn’t like a priest aren’t the type to return and become more fully committed because of any other priest.
Churches don’t grow by getting back folks who once came and stomped or drifted away. They grow by getting new people. And the statistically significant way of doing that is through the regular invitations given by those here now who say to their family and friends “come and see for yourself what God is doing in this place.”
And churches grow because there is a happy marriage of your gifts and the community’s needs. Can we find a single church that is thriving which isn’t intentionally reaching out to the community in which it is set?
To identify our gifts and the community’s needs takes time, perseverance, discernment, and commitment. Priests can facilitate, encourage, and support you through the process but rarely can they impose some “vision” on you. Quite frankly we often overrate the personality and gifts of the priest in thinking about what he or she can do for us.
The story is told about a vestry member who finally lost patience with the search committee who continued to focus on the inadequacies of every candidate, alleged or otherwise. The vestry member thought it was time for some soul-searching to be done by the search committee so he handed them a letter of application for a priest.
Members of the Search Committee:
I understand you have an immediate opening, and I am applying for the position.
Having preached for a number of years, I am a decent organizer though I am not the best at paperwork and sometimes forget whom I have baptized. I have moved around some, staying no longer than three years in any one location and often less than that.
My preaching has at times upset people enough for them to attack me and, occasionally, to riot in the streets. I have spent time in jail but never for any real wrongdoing. At 50 plus, I am not in the best health and my eyesight is bad, but with the help of a good secretary I have done some writing that has been well received and is still being read in many churches.
If you can use me, I will serve faithfully . . . until I believe God is calling me to serve elsewhere.
The vestry member looked up and asked, “What do you think? Should we call him to be our priest?”
The search committee was shocked. Have you lost your mind? Are you seriously asking if we should call an unhealthy, absentminded ex-con whose sermons obviously disturb people? Who is this guy anyway?
Looking at them and then back at the letter, the vestry member said, “Well, it is signed, ‘The Apostle Paul.’”
Of all the Episcopal clergy that I have been blessed to know through almost five decades, not one has been without at least some weakness, imperfection, flaw, of which I personally am blessed with more than my share!
But this morning in his First Letter to the Church at Corinth, the Apostle Paul couldn’t be clearer. Your priest is not your savior, Jesus is.
One priest plants. Another waters. Maybe another tends and prunes. But these are not saviors but servants. God and God alone gives growth.
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, you have called us out of the world into a goodly fellowship of faith with each other and with Christians in every place throughout the ages. Now open our hearts to the message you give. Open our eyes to the opportunities you bestow. Open our hands as working vessels of your reconciling love wherever we may be. Amen.