Last Epiphany B. 2/19/12 (Annual Mtng) St. Francis Church
Rev’d Jennifer Phillips 2 Kings 2:1-12;Ps 50:1-6;2Cor.4:3-6;Mk9:2-9

You are here, I believe, because you long for – and have had in some way – an experience of the Spirit, of the glory of God, and something in you yearns for more. And likely you are also here for the experience of being held in community among others whose need for God is vivid and who have been drawn to the way of Jesus Christ as an avenue toward the divine mystery and the truly and fully human life. Here we make ourselves available to the Presence. Here we – in that lovely old-fashioned phrase – wait upon God. And here we re reminded of who we truly are: images of the Divine goodness, friends of God (as Gregory of Nyssa put it), sealed and marked as Christ’s own for ever, citizens of heaven, children of light, fellow-travelers on the Way of Jesus, co-heirs of the promise, people of the Spirit. Look around you- these are those who are sitting around you!

On this Parish Annual Meeting day when we take a hard look at the material resources we are offering to the work of Christ here, and give thanks for the great generosity of so many individuals over the past year and before, how fitting that we have four scriptures that keep pointing us toward the glory, the mystery, the light, and the summons of God-with-us. The Gospel is both undecipherable to people who see only the surface of things, and clear to those who see with the eyes of the spirit – what the Letter to the Ephesians calls having “the eyes of your heart enlightened” by that Light which is Christ.

I wonder whether we – individually or together- would want to ask God for a double share of the spirit of Jesus, the way the prophet Elisha asks for and receives a double portion of the spirit of his great predecessor Elijah? I have a hunch that such a notion would be terrifying to most of us, when we think of where it might lead us. To have the energy, the courage, the singleheartedness, the clarity of mind of Jesus, even in one portion, would transform all of life so radically, who could even imagine it? And yet, Jesus assured his friends that they – that we- would receive the Holy Spirit as advocate, comforter and guide, and the Apostle Paul described that as a result we “have in us that mind which was in Christ.” The Divine life breathes in us, and every once in awhile, we open our eyes and see through to the deep connection we bear with all things, our small place in the vast fabric of God’s design, through to the love that holds us fast and draws us homeward – if rather more slowly than by fiery chariot!

Some see visions of the Divine radiance, some catch tiny glimpses from the corner of their eye once or twice in their lives, some walk along by faith more than sight – trusting in what is unseen yet compelling to their hearts. Some walk with hesitation, doubt, stumbling, and great effort, hoping against hope, and these too are in their way faithful seekers after God, even when they aren’t sure they have any faith at all. But blessed are all those who come in the unpronounceable name of God!

In our world there are lots of neighbors who are so dazzled and distracted by the press of information, activity, work, and pleasures that they don’t notice their own hunger…until sometimes life disintegrates for them. There are many who grow up with no spiritual formation, no religious roots at all, and who can’t imagine what transformation a community of faith might bring them. There are some content to see the trees or the rocks near at hand and never to climb the hills to look out at the Divine landscape in which everything makes up a whole filled with meaning. It is our calling as followers of Jesus to jump up and down, to point and say “Look! Right there! The Reign of God has come near.” So that’s what we are doing with our little doorhangers, our invitations to friends to come to church. Your help is needed. I only am friends with 7 people in the state of New Mexico and two of them have already joined the church, and two households are pledging here; if each of you invited even one household of friends, just imagine what our community would be like on Sunday mornings – and more importantly, what longings might be filled that haven’t even been put into words yet! You can do this! Why be embarrassed or shy about inviting people to share in something wonderful? Bread for the soul’s hunger; the wine of delight for those who are poor, who labor in drudgery, those who sorrow, or who wander and feel lost. Inclusion in a body of members committed to love and care for one another for those who are alone or lonely! Our calling at St. Francis, especially in this year – is to hospitality, to extending the welcome of Christ’s table into the world. I urge you to use your ingenuity, your warmth, your own sense of discipleship, to bring the feeding of Christ to others.

The coffee hour here is lovely in that there is something good to eat and people linger, sit and talk in good numbers. But often, tables are made up of the same friends. I want to try an experiment for fun today – you’ve heard of speed dating perhaps? Where a roomful of strangers wanting to meet someone special spend five minutes sitting across from someone else and have rapid conversations to see if chemistry emerges? I’m going to signal you all to get up every five minutes today and shift to a new table and seat and speak to whomever you find there. Yes, this is a bit silly, but I notice some newcomers who spend much of coffee hour with their own family members alone, some long-termers who spend every coffee hour with the same neighbors. If everyone committed to spending half of coffee hour sitting with someone new to them, no one would sit alone, and we’d all know each other better than we do now.

We Anglicans in our tradition and now describe the Eucharistic liturgy, Holy Communion, as ”these holy mysteries” – or as the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins put it: “an incomprehensible certainty not an interesting uncertainty.” “There is an element of unknowing which paradoxically liberates something in the human spirit, almost an element of what John Robinson called ‘that agnosticism which releases’…” (mcAdoo) or as the great Augustine of Hippo said, at the eucharist, “Your mystery is laid upon the Table of the Lord, your mystery you receive.” Each of us in our mystery of being encounters the mystery of Christ in a way that changes us toward goodness. And so we strive to make our worship and our life together spacious for all who come in their need, their hunger and thirst, their seeking, and to extend its hospitality – this table where Christ makes us his guests – to the coffee hour, to St. Martin’s Ministries, and to the world.

What happens at Holy Communion? Christ gives himself sacramentally in the body and blood of his paschal sacrifice and when this offering is met by faith, a life-giving encounter results. We are formed and transformed back into the image of God in which we were made. Our community is formed and transformed into the body of Christ to be given in service to the world God so loves. This is the center of all we are and do here. As we receive the divine gift of love and life, surely our hearts rise up so that we desire to give ourselves, our souls, our bodies, our resources and talents, our lives, wholly, as an offering of thanks and praise, back to God to whom we already belong!