Action

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
January 29, 2023

Annual Meeting 

          Today is Annual Meeting Sunday at Christ Church.  We look back at the previous year and all that we accomplished, and we look ahead to the future and where God is calling us.  One of the ways the Episcopal Church measures what we accomplish is through the Parochial Report, which is all about numbers.  The first part asks for people numbers.  How many people are in church on Sunday?  How many baptisms, weddings, funerals?  How many attend Christian Education offerings?  The second part asks about financial numbers.  How many pledging units?  How many dollars pledged?   How much other revenue did the church have and how much were expenses?  And on and on.  If you think filing your taxes is a challenge, the Parochial Report is at least as daunting.

          While numbers are certainly important, in my dream world our budget, which we will approve/approved this morning would be about more than dollars.  The budget would have under income all the gifts we offer, from music and teaching to serving to hospitality and kindness, and everything in between.  Under expenses, the budget would indicate how those gifts were expended.  Leading youth group, building a Habitat House, working on ways to support refugees and immigrants in Summit County, welcoming guests….there are so many ways that we expend our gifts.  What would that budget look like at Christ Church if all of our gifts, not just our money, were reflected as income and expense in our budget?

          In the gospel reading this morning, we hear the beatitudes.  Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.   I have read those words many times before, and I have always tried to identify those who are blessed.  This week, in the aftermath of the brutal killing of Tyre Nichols, I wondered who is supposed to comfort all who grieve this death, to show the kingdom of heaven to those who seek justice for such heinous acts, to let those who seek real and costly peace, not just the temporary absence of violence, know that they are children of God?  Who is going to do that?  Clearly Jesus did that as he moved about teaching and healing.  But who is going to do that now?

          In the beatitudes, Jesus is teaching his disciples how they are to make a gospel difference in the world.  Jesus is teaching them what the Kingdom of Heaven looks like so they can make that kingdom come alive in the world once he is no longer physically with them.  And Jesus expects the same of us, the body of Christ.  Jesus expects his followers, us, to bring the beatitudes alive and make them real for the world around us.

          The prophet Micah reminds us that the way to respond to all that God has done for us, which for us is both the Exodus and the gift of God’s Son, is to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.  That command is a lot like making the beatitudes come alive for the world around us.  Do, love, and walk are action words.  Suppose the measure of our vitality was the extent to which we do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God?  We talk sometimes about putting our money where our mouth is, and we are actually pretty good at that at Christ Church.  But sometimes the challenge is to  put our lives where our mouths are.

          Several years ago, as we were getting ready to launch our capital campaign, we had a series of cottage meetings to talk about our priorities for Christ Church.  Our number one priority was, and I believe still is, to make Christ Church a great place for parents to raise their children.  We want Christ Church to be a place where families feel welcomed and nurtured.  But to do that, to really do that, we have to also put our collective time and talent there.  Our Director of Christian Education cannot do all of that work alone.  Parents cannot be expected to be the only ones to teach Sunday School each week.  At each baptism we are asked if we will do all in our power to support this child in his or her life in Christ and we respond with a hearty “We will.”  Our lives match those words when we make dinner for the youth group, or help with Sunday School or serve as a chaperone for an off-site activity, or help with vacation Bible School or Lego Church, even and especially when we have no children of our own in the program.  We promise to support our children in their life in Christ and Jesus calls us to show with our lives what we promise with our lips.

          Christian Education for our children is just one of many areas where we can do more to put our words and our dollars into action.  We say hospitality is important and we have many opportunities to serve as ushers, greeters, and coffee hour hosts.  We say we value outreach, and as a congregation we are very generous with our money when we raise funds for outreach projects like our Chromebook Challenge last year or collect laundry detergent each month for the Hudson Food Pantry.  And yet, there are Habitat houses to build, people to serve at the Food Pantry, and refugees and immigrants to assist as they learn English.  We say we want to see the pews as full as they were before the pandemic so visitors see a robust and vibrant church.  That one is so easy.  All we have to do is be here on Sunday morning and reach out to people we miss. 

Church is the place where we practice showing with our lives what we profess with our lips, whether through Christian Education or hospitality or outreach.  We practice here so that when we go through these doors we know how to show with our lives what we profess with our lips in the world.  Our words are not empty but they move us to action that calls out injustice, that loves kindness and does not just stand by watching while another human being is brutalized, and that puts ourselves aside to walk humbly with God.  Vitality is measured not just by numbers but by action.  On this annual meeting Sunday, both Micah and Jesus call us to a life of action where we offer our whole selves both here and in the world as we seek to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God so that we can bring the Kingdom of God alive in this very broken world.                      

Amen.