+I’m so pleased to be with you this morning and I thank Fr. Earle for his hospitality. [Who knew what a party place, St Martin’s was!!! I really know how to pick my visits! ]
Today’s Gospel is one I think most of us can relate to---a wedding and the reception that follows—is a big deal.
When we got married three years ago this month, the plan was to keep the whole thing simple and to be married as part of the regular Sunday liturgy. Well, even with that goal uppermost in our minds, the whole event was complicated and we needed a lot of help to pull it off. We had the liturgy, incense, a big procession and lots and lots of music. The Bishop presided and preached, we had a close friend who is a priest assisting the Bishop, we had two deacons, a sub-deacon and a partridge in a pear tree!
All those moving parts needed coordination and required collaboration. It was complicated! And then there was the reception, held in the parish hall at the Church of the Ascension--- that small but mighty parish went into overdrive, repainting the hall, pulling up old and outdated carpet---sprucing the place up as best they could. Friends of ours arranged for the caterer, other friends arranged for people to bring additional food, my mother bought the champagne and the rest of my family helped shovel and de-ice the sidewalks leading into the church.
There were surprises, too, just like at the Wedding in Cana—no we didn’t run out of wine-- but unexpected things still came up.
A wedding requires a lot of collaboration and a wide range of talents---from those who can cook to those who can play music, plan liturgies, arrange flowers, serve the altar, usher, set up, clean up. It takes a team of folks who are good at a variety of things to pull off an event that has a lot of moving parts.
Kind of like a church. Or a diocese.
Think about how many people it takes to get St Martin’s ready for a Sunday morning. Altar Guild, choir, grounds keeping, cleaning the church, readers, chalice bearers, healing team, a sermon, [the gospel being acted out, a big party]…..lots of moving parts go into a smooth Sunday morning worship service that feeds people, strengthening them for the week ahead. Then there are the broader parts of being a parish church---you have to pay your bills so you need to do fundraisers, you need to have a stewardship team, you need vestry members, wardens and other committee chairs. You need Sunday school teachers, youth group leaders etc etc etc.
A church has a lot of moving parts. And if you multiply all those roles I just enumerated by 58 (the number of parishes we have in the diocese) that’s a whole lot of people, a whole lot of tasks requiring a whole lot of different “skill sets.”
It’s what Paul’s describing in his letter to the church in Corinth. The Spirit provides us with a variety of gifts. Which is good, because there’s a lot to do to spread the light of Christ to all whom we encounter!
A few of us are really good at some things. Others of us are really good at other things. But all of us---all of us--- possess gifts of the spirit.
Yes, even you. And you and you and you and me. All of us.
Imagine with me what our churches would look like if everyone—each and every one of us---exercised our specific gifts to, as our collect says today, shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory so that he may be known worshipped and obeyed to the ends of the earth. If we, each and every one of us, used our gifts, those “unique made especially for us by God gifts” to help illuminate the love and light of Jesus Christ; we would change this wonderful parish forever. If we, each and every one of us, used our gifts, those unique made especially for us by God gifts to help illuminate the love and light of Jesus Christ; we would change this diocese forever.
If we, each and every one of us, used our gifts, those unique made especially for us by God gifts to help illuminate the love and light of Jesus Christ, we would change this town, this region, this country, this world, forever.
Don’t think you have a gift? Don’t think you’re talented enough? Do you feel a pull to get more involved but don’t know how?
Well do I have good news for you---my job, this brand new position created by the Bishop, the Canon for Connections, my job is to help each and every parish in this diocese connect with all the other parishes. My job is also to help people and whole parishes who may want to begin to try something altogether new but don’t know how to begin or where to look for help, find other people who know how to do just what it is you’re trying to begin.
My job’s also to tell you how many things you can do, at the diocesan level that will help you discern your gifts and the gifts of those around you. My job is to help all of us use our gifts to help bring the kingdom of God to reign here on earth.
Perhaps my title should be, instead of Canon for Connections, the Canon for Gifts, the Canon for Collaboration or the Canon for helping everyone in this diocese see that it does, indeed take “all kinds” to shine with the full light of Christ.
So my charge to you, the folks of this storied parish is this---pay attention to the nudging of the Spirit, those times when you think, “what if we tried this…”or those times when you feel a pull to read the bible more fully, or respond to a need in the community of Grand Island, or get involved on the diocesan level ….pay attention to those nudges, listen to that voice, because what we learn from our readings this morning is this----“there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.” Even you and me. Amen.
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