Sermon

St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Durham, NC

January 27, 2008 - Rector's Annual Report

The Rev. M. Jonah Kendall

My friends, you did it!  You met 2007 and all the changes it threw your way head on and you triumphed.  Just consider this past year.  If there were ever a time to slink into darkness it would have been then.  After only having begun to come to terms with Scott’s departure you were dealt three quick blows.  Harriette Sturges, Kent Otto and Cathie Caimano all announced that they were leaving.  On top of this, you had to deal with the difficult downside of renovations.

Let me assure you, this would have been enough to send an ordinary parish into a tailspin.

Yet, despite how difficult the last year has been, you rose above it.  Honestly, I’ve never encountered a higher-functioning church than this one.

St. Philip’s, in 2007 you orchestrated a flawless search process, hired a new rector, developed a budget committee, hired Molly and Eddie to fill in your losses, kept up an ongoing catechumenate program by utilizing lay-leadership, patiently endured the transitional period and still managed to confirm and receive 12 people.  That’s amazing!  Thank you, Vestry.  Thank you, Search Committee.  Thank you, people of St. Philip’s.

At this point I would like us to thank Vicki Smith.  She did a wonderful job keeping this place going; of loving it, nourishing it and strengthening it.  She was a superb interim and a skilled search process consultant.  Thank you, Vicki.

Another thank you needs to be extended to the staff.  They work hard for you, St. Philip's, and they give their all.  Thank you, Anne, Cyndy, Calvin, Molly, Eddie and Tom.

For you, the construction wasn’t a weekly, but a daily, reality.  We thank you for your perseverance.

We also need to show our appreciation for the catechists, leaders, volunteers and families of our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and J2A programs.  Shuffling from room to room, living out of boxes, you have had to endure much this past fall.  Yet despite this, you continued and thrived.  Thank you.

Lastly, I want to thank the Building Committee and, in particular, Wes Newman and Tom Metzloff for the hard work they have done to make The Way Ahead an incarnate reality.

In the parable of the Prodigal Son, Luke says that when the father sees his returning son, who is still far off, the father, wasting no time, rushes into the far country to meet him, to put his arms around him and place a ring upon his finger.

Although the work’s not quite done, and although completion is not that far off, let’s start our journey of celebration now.  Thank you, Building Committee.  Thank you, Wes and Tom.  A beautiful dream is about to be fulfilled.

Now it’s time to look ahead.  With that in mind I want us to begin thinking about our future by recalling something Duncan Smith said so well:

In downtown Durham, there is a beacon that marks a community of faith whose faith is growing.  In downtown Durham, there is a light that says regardless of who you are, if you are seeking a closer relationship to God, if you are seeking a caring, nurturing and supportive community to walk with you, at St. Philip’s there is always a room at the Inn.  Over downtown Durham there is a shining star that is drawing folks to us, folks who will bring their gifts to help us do the people’s work.  A star that has brought our next rector to us-- and the source of all this light is God’s grace, God’s compassion, God’s love, God’s power and strength—shining through you.

Now I share this with you today not only because we are in the season of Epiphany, but because Duncan captured the essence of what I believe God is doing in and through the people of this parish.

St. Philip’s is a light offered to the world.  This light, I have come to understand even in these few weeks with you, is our common life gathered around an altar on Main Street between Dillard and Queen.  For each Sunday something uniquely special takes place here.

The Russian Orthodox Church has a beautiful way of depicting the Resurrection in many of their icons.  Christ is in the center.  He is standing on a cross that serves as the gate to hell.  Below him, the depths of hell are black, and from this blackness, with outstretched hands, Christ raises up two figures, a man and a woman, Adam and Eve.  In lifting them up out of their tombs, he raises them out of death into life, out of sin into redemption, and out of the darkness of isolation into the fellowship of the Saints gathered in the bright blue heavenly sky that shines above.

Standing on that cross, Jesus, the risen one, is the center point through which all things flow, where death meets life, darkness-light, sin-redemption.  Jesus is a literal crossroads, God’s reconciling love bringing salvation into the world as all things pass through Christ and become one in the light of his resurrected glory.

What a wonderful way to understand the life and work of this parish.  St. Philip’s – Christ’s community at the crossroads; for we are at a crossroads, the crossroads of East and West Durham, the crossroads of the developing and the underdeveloped, the crossroads of wealth and poverty, the crossroads of abundance and need, the crossroads of worship and service, the crossroads of race, the crossroads of sexuality, the crossroads of age, gender, life.

St. Philip’s, we are the beloved community of all peoples; and in this we not only bear a light, but in our life together serve to be the dawning of light for others.  For we are community of inclusion and love the likes of which this world so desperately needs.

But there is a challenge in this beautiful life of ours.  And that is the challenge not to become several communities under one roof, but one community raised up by God.  And so we have to be on our guard.  We need to be open to one another.  We need to listen to one another, to learn from one another, and grow with each other.

And we must ever strive to look beyond the narrow lens of our own particular needs.  For God’s will is not bound up in us as individuals but in our life together.  And so I want to focus on our fellowship this year.  I want to create opportunities for people to come together and to work together.  I want reinstitute our Wednesday night dinners.  I want to develop an in-reach program through which we can care for one another, discover through application how similar we all really are and tap into the grace of God that binds us all.

And I would like to develop a worship committee so that what we reflect each Sunday is an outgrowth of who we are and how we celebrate God.  But what I really want is your willingness to believe in one thing – that heaven is not merely a place on the other side of death, but the transcendent life awakened in us as we turn towards one another.

My friends, my hope is that we will work hard to live into this reality.  To be the body of Christ made alive not just by diversity of its parts, but by its working together in symbiotic harmony.  For a crossroads is more than the presence of variant paths; it is at its crux their binding together.  And so let us be the bound community, bound to Christ, bound to one another, bound in love.

This is who we ultimately are in Christ.  This will be our eternal reality.  We all will be seated at God’s heavenly table.  Yet in the Church we are given an opportunity to make this future reality known here and now as we live with one another in a way unlike any other on earth.

For what binds us together is not a school, a job, an idea, a play-date, or a volunteer opportunity.  We are not bound by the typical intersections of life, but here in Church we are bound by something deeper—a common inner-most desire to be God’s.

Let us be that, St. Philip’s.  And let us be that together.

© 2006, Saint Philip's Episcopal Church
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 218, Durham, NC 27702
Telephone 919-682-5708, Fax 919-683-1857

Webmasters: Jack Mitchell, David Smith