Episcopal Church

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Who We Are  ~  Reflections from the Rector

Rector’s Address - Annual Meeting

January 30, 2011

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, January 30, 2011

Readings: Micah 6:1-18; Psalm 15; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Matthew 5:1-2

Sermon text: What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?  Micah 6:8

1. Who We Are: Three Texts

Today is our Annual Meeting, which will follow this service. We will gather in the Parish Hall, have brunch, receive reports, elect new Vestry members and thank those stepping down. We will look at the year in pictures, as well as line items and charts. But right now let me take a few minutes within this hour of worship to reflect on our church in terms of its identity, practices, and challenges. Let us look together at the road ahead, and set the goals we will strive to attain as we move forward into the future.

You will notice that I have brought out an easel and white paper pad. The poor man’s PowerPoint. Here on the first page I have written some of the verses from the Holy Scripture readings appointed for today. The Hebrew Scripture and Gospel lessons are particularly central to an understanding of what it means to be a people of God.

The passage from Micah is, for many people, a fully adequate summary of God’s commandments - fit to put aside the Great Commandment of Jesus (to love God with all our heart and soul, and our neighbor as ourselves). Micah tells the people of Israel - our forebears in faith--that God is not interested in sacrifices and ritual shows. What God wants from us is simple, but profound: to do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly before the Lord. That is, strive for a better, more just and peaceful world, be compassionate with others and yourself, and understand that God is God and you are not.

Paul proclaims that what may be foolish and doomed in the world’s eyes - Christ on the cross - is actually the demonstration of God’s power. What seemed to be defeat was in fact the taking on of the suffering and sin of the world in order to free us from its bondage. Death is not the final word; resurrection is. God is always creating and re-creating the world - and us. We are part of God’s mission - weak and foolish though we may be. But God chooses what is weak to demonstrate God’s power. Consider this group. Not one Nobel laureate or corporate CEO. But still a wonderful set of gifted people, with a heart to serve, a hunger for meaning and purpose, and a longing for God. Consider your call, Paul writes - and his words still speak to us.

Jesus begins his Sermon on the Mount with even better news than that given by the prophet Micah. Not only has God asked us to humbly walk a righteous and loving way, but God is with us even in our missteps along the way, in our poverty, sorrow, and suffering. God is with us and for us - with the children and peacemakers and justice-seekers. Blessed are they - and blessed are you. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

These core texts help identify who we are: a people of God, a member of the body of Christ, a community of friends who follow the way of Jesus.

2. What We Do: Five Dates

Hold these texts to the side (Terri will post them on the walls for continued reflection), and let us now consider what we do as a church.  Here is a sheet with five dates. What happened on them tells a story about us.

1.  March 28, 2010. The first time we did Messy Church. Messy church is a worship service, family fun night (with dinner provided), and holy play all in one. We borrowed the idea from a group in England. The children and parents gathered in the Parish Hall. Amy and her elves did a marvelous job of planning and preparation. The first thing the children did was make personal pizzas - just like the unleavened pita bread baked in the time of Moses and Jesus - to teach through the sense of taste. Then they put together bath salts, using vanilla or lemon fragrances into packages for taking home - the sense of smell. Next stop, the way of the cross: the children took off their shoes and socks and stepped in paint and then onto to canvas, leaving behind the impressions you see at the back of the church. Beautiful are the feet of the children following in the footsteps of Jesus --the sense of sight. Of course they needed a foot washing then! Just as Jesus had done for his disciples, so we did for each other, washing their feet with some of the bath salts--the sense of touch. Finally, the children made cardboard palm fronds to wave come Palm Sunday when we shout Hosanna!--the sense of hearing. Messy Church is all about experiential ways of Christian formation and worship (we had an informal Holy communion service after talking about the last Supper). To end the evening, we ate our pizzas, with salad and an amazing dessert: dipping strawberries into a chocolate fountain - for many of us a pretty good foretaste of paradise. Now that’s Messy Church! We nurture our children and grow in faith.

2.  May 1, 2010. Community Garden and Eagle Grove. All the planning was about to bear fruit. Candidates for Eagle Scouts Drew Kelly, Hugh McNamara and Dylan Reiss were set to begin their Eagle projects. Drew was responsible for building the garden beds and filling them with  well prepared soil mix. Hugh got ready to build the fence and compost bins. Dylan was starting the log chapel. Everything was ready. The younger scouts arrived in small flocks and whirled and laughed like puppies. But along the way they got some work done. Alice Eckerson’s design for a community garden was realized. Throughout the summer the garden yielded produce for the Connecticut Food Bank. Work continued on the Log Chapel; Eli and I and a few others kept stacking the logs; we will shingle in the spring. There was another Eagle project in the fall: a garden pergola under which we will have picnic tables (Jack Angus) and one yet to come clearing the last of tangled wood and planning some pear trees (James Rosen). We hope to have the whole thing ready for Bishop Douglas to bless in April. It is already a blessing to the community—a place of beauty and contemplation, of play and laughter, of fertility and shared work. We provide a place of beauty, spiritual refreshment, utility and play for the community.

3. September 18, 2010. Haiti Walk. A beautiful morning to take a walk. Over two hundred people eventually did so, walking from St Timothy’s down to Trinity Southport and then over to St Paul’s in downtown Fairfield to benefit our companions in mission in Haiti. In January a devastating earthquake destroyed much of the buildings in Port au Prince and surrounding parts of Haiti, including the cathedral and schools of Holy Trinity Cathedral. We were supporters of the elementary school there - previously we had raised and sent money to build new classrooms, buy computers, and provide for lunches and scholarships. Now they needed help just to live. We needed to stand with our friends in their hour of need. Earlier a concert had raised a significant amount of money. Now we raised another $36,000 or so--$22,000 from this parish alone--which adds together with diocesan funds and other parishes efforts as part of a church wide effort to raise millions over the coming several years. We each have a part to play - a step we can take. Mother Fernande, principal of the school and the first female priest in Haiti joined us for the walk. We take concrete steps to help heal the world.

4. October 15-17. FallFest. What a celebration. What a wonderful event - and thanks to so many who helped out. Of course we will talk about this later—but remember the night, the tent magically transformed into a forest scene (thanks to Joan, Claire, Butzi and many others), the art work of young artists in the Parish hall, the piano playing of Alex Beyer, the choral assemble of Scott Handley’s students, the great food and lively auction. The next day, children getting henna tattoos, pumpkin painting, cooking workshops, hot soup and popcorn, herbal wreath and other displays - just a feel good day. And finished off with an inspiring service on Sunday. Say, let’s do it again! We have fun together—and raise money for good works in the process.

5. January 15, 2011. Jean Thompson Funeral. Just a couple of weeks ago we held the funeral service for Jean Thompson, a long-time member of this parish and of this larger community. A long full life and a holy death, in the company of her daughter, having made peace with God and said final prayers, her affairs in order and ready to move on to new life. It was a beautiful service - a celebration of a good life-- for a long-term member of our church and community. Members of our caregivers group showed up in force, helping with arrangements and the reception, as did others who served as ushers, and ministers of communion. The church is a place where the major milestones of life are ritually marked and celebrated - births and baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and holy death. We bring our lives before God and ask God to bless us.

This is what we do as a church. We nurture our children and care for our sick, we celebrate the seasons and help a world in need. We baptize, confirm, marry and bury - and along the way we gather and worship, break bread and fellowship, do some good and have some fun. We are a community of friends who follow the way of Jesus and I am honored to be among you as one who serves.

3. The Challenge We Face: Two Cycles

It is not easy, these days, to be a community of faith. Here it is a nutshell (the diagram shows a circle).

The life-cycle of churches, like people and empires, is a story of birth, growth, maturity, decline and death. It is the familiar circle of life. Here we are forty five years old - from the birth of the idea and small group worshipping in Dwight Gym, to the acquisition of property, energy of construction and first growth, to some wobbles along the way but a pretty sustained 100 plus families pledging and over 130 attending. A spurt up here in the late nineties as some families gave generously to add staff for children and youth, leading to a surge in membership and attendance - up to 150 or so. I came in. for two years we kept growing - new records at Easter. Then a conflict broke out- the worst kind –over theology and leadership direction. A sharp decline in membership and attendance and pledging. Since then we have stopped the sharp drop and instituted a number of new plans and programs - but still not enough to reverse the pattern. I hear the voices - I am one of them sometimes- too few volunteers for too much work, too few givers for so much budget, we are out of the way, it is too hard get here.

Making the situation worse, we are struggling through a recession - like all churches, non-profits and most companies and families. Giving is down. Costs of clergy, property, program - not getting cheaper. New members - not as easy as the old days to attract. We are fortunate to reside in a community full of vital congregations - our competition! Small churches struggle to have the critical mass for children and youth programs newcomers look for. A sparsely-attended service on first visit is not likely to lead to a second. Throw in a recession, the life cycle moving on of generous pledgers, and you have a challenge. We have a challenge.

Should we resign ourselves to further decline? God forbid. May God rather move in us and give us a new birth and new growth and new vision. For the lifecycle of churches is not always like that of individuals and empires. Churches are more like communities and companies. Local churches can and often do endure over many generations, sometimes thriving, sometimes weakening - and the church as a whole has outlasted many empires. The life-cycle of congregational life has another set of labels around the circle.  No church can remain stable for long, the world changes too fast. Churches must redefine their mission, redevelop their resources and come back to new life. We Christians are a resurrection people. That’s what we are in the process of doing

4. The Road Ahead: The Life-Giving Way

We have begun the work of revisioning and redevelopment. It began with our strategic vision plan of 2007. We have steadily implementing the suggested steps (see my Rector’s Report). It is beginning to bear fruit.

Some of the stories I told earlier bear witness to the first stages of renewal. We show a number of the signs of vital congregations - of the kind research indicates are poised to grow. We have joyful, inspiring worship. We are a welcoming community of friends with a good mix of ages - and a strong cohort of leaders young and old, staff and laity. We are transforming lives by helping people get closer to God, stay connected to community, and find purpose and meaning in life. We are doing all of this as part of God’s mission to heal and renew the world. This is what it means to be a follower of Christ; this is how we fulfill our call.

This year we will continue developing excellence in our worships, programs and ministry. We will offer innovative worship and fellowship events in the church and chapel. We will roll out the results of the Ministry Project--A Life-Giving Way: The Rule of St Timothy -- I have been doing in concert with others that is all about what it means to be a follower of Jesus these days - and how the church can be a place of renewal and a spiritual and community resource for all the parts of our busy lives.  We will expand the preschool. We will continue our Preservation Plus building program. The Vestry will be particularly focused on a marketing/evangelism plan that will communicate all of these efforts to the wider community in order to attract visitors and incorporate new members.

5. What You Can Do

Consider your call, sisters and brothers, your gifts, your way of being part of this community of friends who follow the way of Jesus. Please support the church however you can. Attend early and often. Volunteer for ministry, inside and outside of the church. Give generously, sacrificially. We can all go out and proclaim the good news of Christ crucified and risen - and invite people to come and be part of a welcoming community that supports us in our faith journey, cares for those in need, and helps us to transform our lives in order to be part of God’s mission to heal and renew the world. If we all do so, together we can overcome any of the challenges we face.

My friends, we are ready for a new season of growth. The doors are a bit banged up - but we are about to put new doors on. The church is in good repair - plenty of parking, a new kitchen, and an expanding preschool. Our programs are innovative and of excellent quality. Our membership is committed and generous. We need only get out the good word - invite our friends and neighbors. Let’s get to it! We have a good year ahead of us.

In the name of Christ, Amen.

The Rev. Matthew Calkins, Rector

St Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Fairfield, CT

Who We Are