Nov. 2, 2003

All Saints Day

Rev. 7:2-17 (NLT)

And I saw another angel coming from the east, carrying the seal of the living God. And he shouted out to those four angels who had been given power to injure land and sea, "Wait! Don't hurt the land or the sea or the trees until we have placed the seal of God on the foreheads of his servants."

And I heard how many were marked with the seal of God. There were 144,000 who were sealed from all the tribes of Israel: [12,000 from each of the twelve tribes.]

After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a mighty shout, "Salvation comes from our God on the throne and from the Lamb!"

And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell face down before the throne and worshiped God. They said,

"Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom

and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength

belong to our God forever and forever. Amen!"

Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, "Who are these who are clothed in white? Where do they come from?"

And I said to him, "Sir, you are the one who knows."

Then he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white. That is why they are standing in front of the throne of God, serving him day and night in his Temple. And he who sits on the throne will live among them and shelter them. They will never again be hungry or thirsty, and they will be fully protected from the scorching noontime heat. For the Lamb who stands in front of the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to the springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe away all their tears."

Ps. 149

Matthew 5:1-12 (NLT)

One day as the crowds were gathering, Jesus went up the mountainside with his disciples and sat down to teach them.

This is what he taught them:

"God blesses those who realize their need for him,

for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them.

God blesses those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

God blesses those who are gentle and lowly,

for the whole earth will belong to them.

God blesses those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness,

for they will be fully satisfied.

God blesses those who are merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

God blesses those whose hearts are pure,

for they will see God.

God blesses those who work for peace,

for they will be called the children of God.

God blesses those who are persecuted because they live for God,

for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

"God blesses you when you are mocked and persecuted and lied about because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted, too.

Sermon:

Today Gene Robinson will be ordained a bishop in the Diocese of New Hampshire. Please bear with me. I know you are tired of hearing about this. I’m tired of talking about it. But we must talk about it. This is undoubtedly the most important doctrinal crisis in our church that has occurred in any of our lifetimes. As one bishop put it, today the Episcopal Church will cease to be in any sense truly catholic and apostolic, “and will become instead a tiny, isolated, radical American sect.” I need to ask you to be in prayer.

Today the Episcopal Church will undoubtedly split. I’m not trying to be dramatic. I’m only stating the obvious facts. Several dioceses and hundreds of parishes across the country have already stated that they will not remain in communion with a church that blesses immorality.

Today the Anglican Communion will begin “realigning.” Under the oversight of the Archbishop of Canterbury, pastoral support and leadership by bishops will begin reaching across traditional boundaries of Diocese and Provinces. Exactly what this will mean for us here at St. George’s, I don’t know. We will have to wait and see what kind of arrangement the leaders of the Anglican Communion work out. That too is why I ask for your prayers, and your patience. We have never been in this situation before, and the answers we seek will be slow in coming.

Some clergy have ignored this whole subject, either because they agree with this new doctrine, or because they are just hoping that by ignoring it, it will go away. I cannot do that. It is important to me that you be informed, and that you be in prayer. It is my job to inform you, and to teach you, and call you to prayer.

Someone asked me recently how it is that so many people in our churches do not seem bothered by what is happening. How can they not see how wrong this is? The answer is fairly simple. First, they don’t study the Bible for themselves, so they have no idea what it says. Second, they attend churches where the preacher spoon feeds them “politically correct” sermons which presume to tell them that the Bible doesn’t say anything at all about sexual morality, or that what it does say is simply out of date, or misunderstood, or applies to some other type of immorality, not the “committed” relationships we are experiencing today.

Why would they be concerned about Gene Robinson being ordained a bishop? If you listen every Sunday to a message that says his lifestyle is “wholesome” and “a good example to the church” and you never open up the Bible for yourself and read the first chapter of Romans, how would you know any different than what you’ve been told?

The problem we face is not just immorality masquerading as virtue. The root of our problem is biblical illiteracy.

Please pray, especially at 4:00, the time of the ordination service. There will be a special Evening Prayer service here today at 4:00 for that purpose for anyone who can attend.

How can we pray for the Diocese of New Hampshire? How can we pray for those who will take part in this ordination, including our own bishop, George Counsell? I can only think of the words Jesus prayed from the cross:

“Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Is this the end of the church? No, not at all. It is the end of an institutional structure, “the Episcopal Church” as we have been accustomed to it for most of our lives. What it will become we don’t yet know. But I don’t want to overstate the situation. This is most certainly not the end of the church, which is the Body of Christ, the kingdom of God on the earth. The scriptures never referred to the church merely as an institution, a manmade structure, but only as a body of people who have put their trust in Christ and committed to following His commands. That church, the true church, cannot fail. Jesus said of that church, “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Meanwhile, life and ministry go on here at St. George’s. I mentioned briefly in the sermon last week that the Vestry has begun looking at a truly staggering load of challenges and mission opportunities: expanding our youth ministry, expanding our music ministry, making major renovations to the property, truly some, “Big, Holy, Audacious Goals.” One thought that has been on my mind constantly in recent weeks is this:

If God is not in it, you cannot make it work.

If God is in it, you cannot stop it.

God is doing His work in the world today. One of the good things about the present crisis in our church is that it has opened our eyes to what God is doing around the world. We have seen in other parts of the Anglican Communion the power of God’s hand. In spite of all the threat, persecution, and death that Moslems, Hindus, and atheists have hurled against the church in places like Africa and Asia and South America, the church continues to grow and thrive. If God is in it, you cannot stop it.

Meanwhile Christianity in the Western industrial world has languished as we have compromised our beliefs to comfort a secular society in its immorality. The ordination that will take place in New Hampshire this afternoon is not of God, and no matter how much pomp and ceremony and bravado and bluster the Presiding Bishop and his followers try to pump into it, it will not stand, and the Episcopal Church as a denomination will continue to lose ground. If God is not in it, you cannot make it work.

As for our mission projects here at St. George’s, are they of God? I believe so, but that must be tested. The working out of our plans remains very much in God’s hands, as it should be. We will have to pray, and talk, and get answers to many questions as we pursue the mission God sets before us. Along the way God may allow some of this to fall aside because it wasn’t His idea in the first place. And He may add parts to the vision that we have not seen yet. We will have to do some serious work on our financial stewardship in order to fund the work that must be done. I hope you will consider staying for lunch and take part in the Stewardship Group Meeting that will take place today after the Sunday School hour. But when I look at the future and mission of this parish as a whole, I can say confidently and categorically, God is in it, and it will not fail.

It seems somehow very appropriate that this day for us here at St. George’s is called, “Day of Discernment.” This is the day when Vestry candidates are asked to look at how we discern God’s call on our lives. Indeed, we all need to take a look at how we discern God’s call.

One of the outstanding leaders in the church today is Rick Warren of Saddleback Community Church in California. Here’s a thought about leadership that I got from Rick Warren:

“You have to say ‘I can’t’ before you say ‘God can.’”

Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. (2 Cor. 3:5, NIV)

- from Rick Warren’s “Pastor’s Toolbox”

That’s a great place to start, by recognizing that our competence as leaders is not in us but in God. Sometimes people are intimidated by the word “leadership.” That’s because we think of leadership in worldly terms, like the president of a company, or the head of a social or political organization, who leads by charisma or persuasion and is able to get others to do what he wants them to do. But that is not the kind of leadership Christ is looking for.

Just because you aren’t president of a corporation or even captain of your softball team doesn’t mean that you cannot be called by God to serve in the leadership of the church. This is not IBM, nor is it a social club. It is the Body of Christ, and in that Body it is Christ, the Head, who calls each part to its proper function.

Always remember that leadership in the Church begins with service, not power or position, or persuasion, or “connections.” Jesus said, “Who is greater, the one who sits at the table, or the one who serves? Isn’t it the one who sits at the table? And yet I am among you as one who serves.”

The first step in discerning any call from God is to be willing to become a servant. First, we must be willing to serve God, and that means listening. Second, we must be willing to serve people, and that means humbling ourselves. To serve God, you must be willing to put aside your own agenda, your feelings, your passions and desires, and prayerfully listen to God’s Word. To serve people, you must be willing to put aside your pride and put the other person’s best interest above your own.

I can tell you that this is something I have often seen happen in the Vestry here. It is a joy to see this Vestry listening to God together, but it always involves some degree of struggle. It is only natural that we come to any task with a particular point of view. We know what we would like to see happen, but we must work with a group of other people who have viewpoints of their own. The natural instinct is to say, “How can I get them to agree with me?” But when we are serving God we must ask an entirely different question: “How can we all come to be of one mind in agreeing with Christ?”

That’s why we have a policy of unanimity. “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.” 1 Cor. 14:33 (KJV) We must be willing to put our own viewpoint on the table without insisting that it be adopted by everyone else, because God can also speak through other people besides me. That is how God’s viewpoint emerges, when we come together in humility, allowing each person’s perspective to be honored, and submitting everything to the final test of the Word of God.

Unlike the business world where we create a business and are responsible for making it work, it is God who creates the church and shows us how it is intended to work. In this task we have two guiding statements. First, we have the mission statement for the whole church as found in the Catechism. On pg. 855 of the Prayer Book we see that our job as Christians is “to represent Christ and His Church; bear witness to Him wherever we may be; and according to the gifts given us, carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world….”

There are many Vestries who are confused about what their job is. They think that they are to “represent the parish to the Rector.” While it is true that the Vestry communicates to the Rector what information they have that he may not, that is not their primary job. The primary role of the Vestry is to represent God to the parish, and to the world outside the church.

Secondly, we have the mission statement of this parish. “The mission of St. George’s church is to know Christ as our Lord and Savior, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, to love Him, serve Him, and witness His love to the world.” Servanthood is the key.

This is always how the Bible talks about leadership. A leader’s responsibility is to be doing the work that God has called for, and helping others join in that work as much as they are able.

Personal Priorities for Leadership:

To be person of the Word of God: This does not mean you have to have the Bible committed to memory. It does mean to be willing to be taught, challenged, inspired, corrected and rebuked by the Word of God.

To ask, what would Jesus do? What do the Apostles and Prophets have to say to us? What does the Law of God require of us?

Rule of Christian Leadership- (Gert Bahana)
“If it’s for the Lord, we try to do it.

“If it’s for us, we try not to do it.

“If we don’t know, we wait.”