Sermon Preached on June 16, 2013
St. Mark's Episcopal Church
St. Mark's Episcopal Church
Being in Place. Growing in Faith. Living
from the Center.* Have you heard this
before? You can find it on our website ,
on the sign facing Ridge Avenue, on communications from St. Mark’s, and, I hope, beginning today, that we will begin
to inscribe these words on our hearts and hear them regularly spoken by our
lips. St. Mark’s is preparing to
celebrate its 150th year in Evanston. Being in place. Growing in Faith. Living from
the Center. Can you say it with me? “Being
in place” – “Growing in Faith” – “Living from the Center”
Being in Place
What began as an old wooden structure on
Davis Street in 1869, moved to this place at the corner of Ridge and Grove in
1891. Over the years, the building has
been expanded and renovated, patched with care, and loved into being . But despite changes in the architectural
footprint, St. Mark’s has been at the heart of Evanston for nearly as long as
there has been an Evanston. But there is
more to “being in place” than just having and knowing one’s address. There comes with such being a commitment, a
commitment to our community, to our neighbors.
When Jesus was asked “Which commandment
is the first of all?” he answered: “Hear
O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God
with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with
all your strength.”[1] And
then he continued, “And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”[2]
Love of God, love of neighbor. Beginning in September, we will offer a 4-week
forum on what it might look like for each of us at St. Mark’s to take seriously
God’s command to love our neighbor as ourselves. What might it look like for St. Mark’s –
being in place at the corner of Ridge and Grove – to truly love our neighbors?
What might the implications be for our identity, for our relationships, for our
leadership, for our worship? St. Mark’s –
being in place at the corner of Ridge and Grove.
Growing in Faith
Our Eucharistic Prayer C concludes with these
words, “Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace
only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal.” (BCP, 372).
This morning I would like to suggest another prayer, “Deliver us from the
presumption of coming to this worship for solace only, and not for
transformation; for companionship only, and not for growth.” A couple of weeks ago I shared Martha Grace
Reese’s experience in a small group of clergy. She asked them, “What difference
does it make in your own life that you are a Christian?” And the response she received was “Silence. Loud
silence [that] stretched on. And on. . .”[3]
Beginning in late October, we will offer
a 4-week experiential forum on growing in faith. Because if we are not – every one of us (not
just our children) – growing in our faith, we might as well be the Rotary, the
Lions or any other civic organization that is doing good in the community. And there is nothing wrong with being an
organization that does good - but that is not what makes us a Church and it is not
what makes us Christian. St. Mark’s – growing
in faith – growing ever deeper in our relationship with God.
Living from the Center
In a powerful speech to the Athenians,
Paul says,
From one ancestor [God] made all nations to inhabit
the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the
boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for
God and perhaps grope for him and find him – though indeed he is not far from
each one of us. For “In him we live and move and have our being”[4]
God is indeed not far from us. God has a dream for us. Marcus Borg suggests that
the Bible as a whole is the story of the dream of God,
beginning in Genesis with paradise and ending with paradise restored in the
great concluding vision of the book of Revelation. . . . the dream of God is a social and political
vision of a world of justice and peace in which human beings do not hurt or
destroy, oppress or exploit one another . . .
The dream of God is a vision of shalom.[5]
And Scripture tells us that we are made
in the image of God. Perhaps in our very
DNA is a blueprint for this vision of shalom. If we dare to live from the center – to live
with God as our center – where might we hear God’s call? Where might we risk going with God’s urging,
that we could never imagine going alone?
Cecil Alexander, one of the great hymn
writers of the 19th century wrote these familiar words:
Jesus calls us over the tumult
Of our life’s wild, restless, sea;
Day by day His sweet voice soundeth,
Saying,
Of our life’s wild, restless, sea;
Day by day His sweet voice soundeth,
Saying,
Christian, follow Me!
…
Jesus calls us from the worship
Of the vain world’s golden store,
From each idol that would keep us,
Saying,
Of the vain world’s golden store,
From each idol that would keep us,
Saying,
Christian, love Me more!
In our joys and in our sorrows,
Days of toil and hours of ease,
Still He calls, in cares and pleasures,
Days of toil and hours of ease,
Still He calls, in cares and pleasures,
Christian, love Me more than these!
Jesus calls us! By Thy mercies,
Savior may we hear Thy call,
Give our hearts to Thine obedience,
Serve and love Thee best of all.[6]
Savior may we hear Thy call,
Give our hearts to Thine obedience,
Serve and love Thee best of all.[6]
And so, in January, we will offer a
4-week forum on discerning God’s call to us.
St. Mark’s – living from the center – listening for and following God’s
call to action.
Being in Place. Growing in Faith. Living
from the Center. When you think of St.
Mark’s, think of these phrases. Inscribe
them on your hearts; utter them with your lips; and live them in your lives.
*These phrases appear as section headings in Jannel T. Glennie, Confession of an Ordinary Mystic (Aurora, OH: Greenleaf Book, 2001); however, St. Mark's use of them developed independently and does not, to my knowledge, draw from Glennie's work.
[1] Mark
123:28-29.
[2]
Matthew 22:39-40.
[3] Martha
Grace Reese, Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism, 2nd
edition, (St Louis: Chalice Press, 2008), p. 14.
[4]
Acts 17:26-28a.
[5]
Marcus Borg, The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion to a More
Authentic Contemporary Faith (San Francisco: Harper, 1997), 133.
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