Grant that we may know and understand what things we ought to do

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 10)

Rev. Amy Welin: I have just returned from three weeks of intense study in the doctoral program at Virginia Theological Seminary. It is a wonderful program. In the middle of the first week, the light bulb in the bath burned out. That should be easy to fix, I thought. Finding another bulb in the utility closet, I spent about 30 minutes trying to figure out how to take the cover off the fixture! The quick fix became a project, because I had to figure out how to ask the (largely invisible) staff for assistance.

Sometimes we do not know what to do, or how to proceed, and it is difficult. Sometimes we think we know what to do, and it is still more difficult than we had anticipated.

King David wants to unite the kingdom of Israel, and brings the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. He dances for joy that the glory of God is once again among the Chosen People. (It had been captured by the Philistines, and later returned because of the divine punishments inflicted on them.) He knows what he needs to do, politically and religiously. His personal life, however, is a little messy, and ultimately brings him serious difficulty.

The Letter to the Ephesians is written to a small group of Jesus’ early followers in a small city in Turkey, reminding them of the blessing that is the good news of Christ. The rest of the letter reminds them that the most important part of their life – which is their identity as part of the one Body of Christ – is reflected by their unity as a community. Divisions along the fault lines of ethnic identity or financial status are unacceptable.

Our gospel lesson is disturbing at best. King Herod hears about the miraculous ministry of Jesus and is gripped by fear. Herod is certain that John the Baptist, whom he had executed, has returned from the dead. This is a grim foreshadowing of what Herod knows what he has to do to Jesus, out of fear that the healing power of God will eclipse the controlling power of empire.

The unspoken questions that seem to frame our days are: what should we do now? how do we live a Christian life in a context that does not support that? That was the subtext of all my classes at VTS.

The Episcopal Church, like all churches, is at a crossroad. We cannot do church the way we have done it for 75 years. Religion is not at the center of American culture any more. Although we know for certain that membership in the years 1940-1975 was an aberration (they were skewed higher by a significant increase in population), the percentage of the population that attends or joins churches has decreased in our time. I might add the editorial comment that the percentage of people who attend the Episcopal Church now who are genuinely committed to a life of faith is higher than before. The primary reason to attend church now is that one really wants to have a relationship with God.

The recent General Convention of the Episcopal Church sought to address the issue of what we shall do and how we shall live as Christians, that is, as people who follow the way of Jesus. In addition to some political drama and the wrestling over budgetary matters, our bishops elected Michael Curry as the next Presiding Bishop. Bishop Curry is well known for his passionate commitment to living a life with Jesus as its center, and he will encourage Episcopalians to do the same. The Convention called all Episcopal congregations and all Episcopalians to live what we say we believe. As a group, we have voted for inclusivity, adopting marriage for couples of the same sex. We increased funding for evangelization and for Latino/Hispanic ministries, and committed to developing programming to support racial reconciliation. This is not semantics. It signals a change of heart. Watch carefully how this unfolds, because it is important, and signals that the years of business-as-usual are over. This is a revival.

Most of this is not breaking news in Waterbury. I think that we are St John’s have been living in the very real (and slightly frightening) world of changed context for 3 years. We have lived into many significant changes, in parish life, perspective, and identity. We still have a way to go. We are on our way.

The good news is that God still is. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is still true. This is the pledge of our inheritance. We are still a community led by Christ in Waterbury. And the answer to all of our questions about what to do seems to be this: Go out and do what Jesus asked us to do. We are working toward that. Don’t give up!