Charlotte
Collins Reed
Christ
Church Episcopal
August 11,
2019
14 Proper C
Almost two years ago, in the fall of
2017, we held a series of cottage meetings in which over 100 people dreamed
about our future at Christ Church. Some
of the dreams were huge-like use our Christian Education hallway for a
pre-school. Some of the dreams were
small, like new carpet in the Parish Hall.
We allowed ourselves to dream as if money were no obstacle so we could
begin to discern what God is calling us to do and be at Christ Church.
Over the months and now years that
followed, we honed that dream, pushing ourselves to be specific about both the
what and the why of our dreams. Through
more parish conversations, we discerned that we wanted to make our space,
particularly our parish hall and other gathering spaces, more user friendly both
for ourselves and for the community at large.
At a parish gathering, we determined that our number one priority was to
maximize the use of our building.
This morning, we hear Jesus say “For
where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” I would like to suggest that over the past
two years, we have been trying to articulate where our heart is, so we can put
our treasure there. From our
conversations, I believe our collective heart at Christ Church wants to be more
connected and of more service to our community both in Hudson and beyond. Our collective heart hears Isaiah speak God’s
voice this morning and say “cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice,
rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow,” and we long
to do what God desires of us. Our
mission statement proclaims that we seek to be a welcoming community of faith,
grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ, serving Hudson and beyond. Our heart is in building that community.
We already welcome many groups into
our buildings. We host Job Search, AA,
Al Anon, SAGE which is an educational opportunity for retired people, the
Hudson Youth Chorus, Music from the Western Reserve, Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, Brownie Scouts and
Daisy Scouts, Refuge Recovery, the Hudson Writers’ Workshop, the Learned Owl
book group, Newborns in Need, and First Presbyterian Church. I am sure I have left something out, and that
does not include the groups or people who ask to use the building on a one time
or occasional basis. All of that is on
top of the very many Christ Church ministries that occur in our building.
Jesus calls us to action and
preparedness this morning, then Jesus says “"But know this: if the owner
of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let
his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming
at an unexpected hour." Our baptismal
covenant calls us to “Seek and serve Christ in all people.” Yes, we wait for Jesus to come at the end
time. But we also believe that Jesus
comes in the form of every single person who crosses our threshold, whether a
member of the parish, a visitor or guest, someone trying to find their way from
the parking lot to the Upper Room for an AA meeting, or the 42 children we
served at Vacation Bible School last week.
Jesus comes at unexpected times and in unexpected ways, while at the
same time Jesus comes all the time in everyone.
Our call is to be a church that welcomes and serves Jesus every time
Jesus walks though our door.
Today, we kick off our Capital
Campaign. Lou Young and George Van Buren
will tell you more about that at the end of the service. The name of our campaign is “Building for
Community.” On the surface, a capital
campaign can look like it’s all about the building and all about us. Yes, our buildings need some work and yes, we
will benefit from that work. But if that
is all the campaign is about, I am really not interested. Our campaign is about community, building
community among ourselves and building community in Hudson. Our campaign is about providing a more
welcoming and accessible place where we meet Jesus and where we better serve
Jesus as he comes through our doors day in and day out. More accessible gathering spaces, more
accessible restrooms, a hallway to go around an upgraded parish hall with more
space and a sound system so everyone can hear, and some work on the outside of
our historic Beebe House are all pieces of this campaign. Yes, the campaign is about the building. But the building is about being a place that
creates community and serves Jesus at Christ Church.
The reading from Hebrews reminds us of
the faith of Abraham, who was called by God to set out on a journey, not
knowing where he was going, how he would get there, or what he was supposed to
do when he arrived. We are called to
such faith, even though we have a much better idea of where we are going and
how we will get there than Abraham did.
But we do have an audacious goal for our campaign and reaching that goal
is going to require stepping out in faith.
Stepping out in faith is nothing new to Christ Church and I brag about
your faithfulness and tenacity all the time to pretty much anyone who will
listen. Our theme, again, is building
for community. I believe that working
together as one body on this campaign will strengthen us as a community. In my experience, every time a church steps
out in faith and bites off what feels like a little more than they can chew,
that church grows in faith, in energy, and sometimes even in numbers because
faith and excitement are contagious. And
when we step out in faith, whatever we are doing, we will find Jesus in new and
unexpected times and places.
Amen.
