We were treated to a typically wonderful and stirring Sermon today, The Third Sunday in Epiphany 2011. The Gospel text was Matthew 4:12-23 and Mother’s reflection anchored on the statement, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people”, Jesus calling his first disciples in Matthew’s Gospel this week, and Mother introducing some new ministries to our parish involving the “big bad ‘e’ word, evangelism”, and a couple of new eCommittees which are forming almost immediately. (Surprising to me that we should need committees for evangelism when the full legal name of our national church corporate body is the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America but then again I’m just a simple typist with a Theatre Arts degree from an agricultural college.)
In speaking about fishing for people, Mother drew an analogy to St. Luke’s being an aquarium and I was struck by one of the things which brings me to a transcendent praise of god in the physical space of our sanctuary (I know you know this one) which is the way in which the sun’s light streams through our beautiful Chihuly windows … I found it an appropriate and vivid comparison. She brought up ways in which one fishes, the use of lures and baits, tides and times and how we could use Social Media and other tools in our new eLife. (My husband told me he heard a sermon on these texts at this week’s PFT and the meditation was less on how one fishes today for individual fish versus the use of a net to catch at once as many and varied fish as possible … hmmm … “there’s more at the door …”)
I was surprised, though, that Mother quoted some statistics about how, historically, Episcopalians are shy in sharing their faith, in inviting people to church and how she is excited that our aquarium is so attractive with its outreach programs, local visibility and cultural offerings which bring floaters inside to swim around to test our waters. I know I’ve always been a bit “praise god”-y all my life but where I was taken aback was that, in finding the Episcopal Church, I don’t know that I’ve ever been more vocal in inviting people to my church because, after YEARS and YEARS of praying and searching, I finally have a home ... a home I can point to and be proud of and a home that TRULY believes that the god many of us reference actually says to me(!), "Come! Eat! Rest! I MEAN it! I'm PROUD of you!" … a branch of a mainstream organized religion which tells me I was made wonderfully and specifically by god’s hand, stitch by stitch, exactly the way I am and it’s not just “okay”, it’s “normal” and “good” and I am perfect and, in this environment, I am able to flourish and continue to perfect myself with every single one of god’s blessings and encouragement. I think so many of us who FINALLY, after searching for so many years for a rich god-centered community filled with praying, spirit-filled people, are so proud and relieved to be a part of the vibrancy of this collective consciousness that all we DO in our “real” lives is say to everyone, “ohmuhguh you’ve gotta come to my church!” and I have had a great many people I know from disparate areas of my life visit us there.
I also continuously praise god for the marvelous and rich community we have online as congregants through FaceBook. One of the things I was meditating on before the celebration of the Holy Eucharist this morning, hearing again my girlfriend Janet saying a couple of weeks ago, “I LOVE our parish!”, was that if it weren’t for FaceBook I wouldn’t have such deep and intimate relationships with so many people I go to church with because we’re all basically such terribly shy people. For me, navigating coffee hour chatter, even brunch cocktails, is not as nourishing as sharing our daily walk, our praise reports and our prayer requests which are so easily found in Status Updates and the knowledge of this daily walk, I feel, helps to propel each fresh meeting from chatter to "soul talk" because we’re each caught up on the little and the big things and are able to talk on an entirely different level. For me it adds a richness that "how are you, have a good week, see you next Sunday" is never going to offer.
Add to this the excitement of meeting friends of friends on fire with the love of god and, on top of that, very spiritual non-churchy friends who are also FaceBook friends who participate in our conversations. I believe we have created an entirely new kind of eChurch.
I felt pretty good about my participation in the FaceBook eLife and I think we’re all doing a pretty great job at Living Out Loud as we are urged in today’s Gospel, right? I think I became defensive about parts of this Sermon because I’ve been feeling lately that after ten years in the same job which is not truly my life’s passion that I’m just not doing enough to get unstuck and I’m wasting my very true talents. And yet I know from experience and from study that god needs me exactly where I am at all times. So I shall continue to pray and wait and listen and now, maybe, I need to start Living Out Loud at 11 … “it’s one louder, innit …”
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