Let us pray: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy your consolations, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
A good clergy friend of mine was recently interviewing with a church Vestry and as she recounted the interview she said, “They asked me how I was going to grow the church, because they need new members. I just told them the truth.” She paused a moment and I found myself wondering what “the truth” was, it seemed like it should be obvious to me, but it wasn’t and I wasn’t sure what she may have said. Then she said, “I told them that isn’t my job… that is their job. I said I would certainly facilitate them doing the work and ministry that needed to be done to grow the church, but ultimately growing the church is their ministry, the ministry of the baptized.”
I admit- I was impressed by her answer and I agree with her completely; I felt a bit silly for not realizing this obvious answer. But yes: she may have a role to play, but ultimately churches grow because of the ministry of the whole community, because of the ministry of the members of everyone there. One of the many odd things about being a parish priest is that you get blamed for a lot of things that aren’t your fault and you get credit for things that aren’t about you, and you also do a lot of ministry no one will ever know about. It just comes with the territory. In one of my former parishes, they realized this, and so at the end of every annual meeting, there was a tradition that I really enjoyed: a long time member would always stand up and remind us of an important truth. She would say that the Rector that year had been blamed for a lot of things that weren’t his fault, and that he also did a lot of things that no one saw or knew about, and for those things, she asked the members to stand and applaud, and the congregation always happily obliged with a rousing round of applause and smiles. She was nice enough to leave off the part about getting credit for things he hadn’t done though.
St. Alban’s has grown since my arrival and I have heard our members attribute that to my presence, but my part in this has been very, very small: it has primarily been a combination of God’s grace among us and the ministry that you all bring as members and friends of St. Alban’s. Even before I got here, you were reaching out to those in need, including the refugees who just starting to find their way into our community. And you have shown yourselves to be an open and welcoming church, time and time again, truly opening your hands and hearts to all who come through our doors, making St. Alban’s, in recent years, one of the most diverse if not the most diverse parish in the Diocese. This has been a Holy Spirit lead phenomenon. This is one of the important actions of the Holy Spirit: the Spirit moves upon and makes us one in the Spirit, regardless of our economic status or ethnic background. As St. Paul writes, “For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-- and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”
I have witnessed your Holy Spirit inspired love on many occasions and I know that will continue no matter who your next priest is…and this is why St. Alban’s has grown and will continue to grow- there is room for a lot more growth. I told the story recently to Drusilla Grubb, who is writing an article about St. Alban’s for the Diocesan Messenger, about one of those Holy Spirit moments I was blessed to witness when the gift of hospitality was very apparent here. I described a morning before church, as we were gathering in front to greet people, when a woman off the street who spoke broken English came up and asked us what kind of church we were. I answered and then she said she would come back when she was properly dressed. One of our choir members reached over immediately and warmly hugged this woman, a complete stranger, and said, “You are welcome here, please come and worship with us today, just as you are.” She then lead the woman into the church and the woman stayed, with a smile and tears in her eyes. The woman came back with a friend later that week to worship and said to me, “I told my friend to come here because Jesus is here.”
My friends: the Holy Spirit has gifted you, each one of you in a special way, and nothing can take that away. On this day of Pentecost we are invited to celebrate and remember the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the first followers of Jesus. We are also called to recognize and celebrate with deep joy, the Holy Spirit’s presence among us today. As St. Paul states in our lesson today, there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge …to another faith …to another gifts of healing…to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.” You may have one of these very gifts or your gift may not be listed here (it’s not an exhaustive list by any means), but the Holy Spirit has blessed each of us at baptism with spiritual gifts . Our response and calling is to use those gifts, as the text says, “for the common good.” Your gifts of wisdom, faith, teaching, healing, or language...whatever your gift, is meant for the building up of the whole community.
Thank you for bringing your spiritual gifts and offering them back to God as you sacrifice, serve, or just do what comes naturally to you, here at St. Alban’s. If you haven’t yet offered your gifts, I invite to pray about that and ask God to reveal to you how you can serve God in this community, for the common good. And then know that this is a community blessed by the Holy Spirit’s presence and is filled with people who have been gifted in incredible ways by the Spirit.
Let us pray: Thank you Holy Spirit for being present among us and within the people of St. Alban’s. Thank you for your grace and love in our lives and enable us to hear your call, to open our hearts to your leading, and to use our gifts for your glory. Bless each member of St. Alban’s with an outpouring of your power so that they can do and accomplish all you’ve given them to do, confident of the spiritual gifts you have given them. We praise, honor, and glorify you this day. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
A good clergy friend of mine was recently interviewing with a church Vestry and as she recounted the interview she said, “They asked me how I was going to grow the church, because they need new members. I just told them the truth.” She paused a moment and I found myself wondering what “the truth” was, it seemed like it should be obvious to me, but it wasn’t and I wasn’t sure what she may have said. Then she said, “I told them that isn’t my job… that is their job. I said I would certainly facilitate them doing the work and ministry that needed to be done to grow the church, but ultimately growing the church is their ministry, the ministry of the baptized.”
I admit- I was impressed by her answer and I agree with her completely; I felt a bit silly for not realizing this obvious answer. But yes: she may have a role to play, but ultimately churches grow because of the ministry of the whole community, because of the ministry of the members of everyone there. One of the many odd things about being a parish priest is that you get blamed for a lot of things that aren’t your fault and you get credit for things that aren’t about you, and you also do a lot of ministry no one will ever know about. It just comes with the territory. In one of my former parishes, they realized this, and so at the end of every annual meeting, there was a tradition that I really enjoyed: a long time member would always stand up and remind us of an important truth. She would say that the Rector that year had been blamed for a lot of things that weren’t his fault, and that he also did a lot of things that no one saw or knew about, and for those things, she asked the members to stand and applaud, and the congregation always happily obliged with a rousing round of applause and smiles. She was nice enough to leave off the part about getting credit for things he hadn’t done though.
St. Alban’s has grown since my arrival and I have heard our members attribute that to my presence, but my part in this has been very, very small: it has primarily been a combination of God’s grace among us and the ministry that you all bring as members and friends of St. Alban’s. Even before I got here, you were reaching out to those in need, including the refugees who just starting to find their way into our community. And you have shown yourselves to be an open and welcoming church, time and time again, truly opening your hands and hearts to all who come through our doors, making St. Alban’s, in recent years, one of the most diverse if not the most diverse parish in the Diocese. This has been a Holy Spirit lead phenomenon. This is one of the important actions of the Holy Spirit: the Spirit moves upon and makes us one in the Spirit, regardless of our economic status or ethnic background. As St. Paul writes, “For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-- and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”
I have witnessed your Holy Spirit inspired love on many occasions and I know that will continue no matter who your next priest is…and this is why St. Alban’s has grown and will continue to grow- there is room for a lot more growth. I told the story recently to Drusilla Grubb, who is writing an article about St. Alban’s for the Diocesan Messenger, about one of those Holy Spirit moments I was blessed to witness when the gift of hospitality was very apparent here. I described a morning before church, as we were gathering in front to greet people, when a woman off the street who spoke broken English came up and asked us what kind of church we were. I answered and then she said she would come back when she was properly dressed. One of our choir members reached over immediately and warmly hugged this woman, a complete stranger, and said, “You are welcome here, please come and worship with us today, just as you are.” She then lead the woman into the church and the woman stayed, with a smile and tears in her eyes. The woman came back with a friend later that week to worship and said to me, “I told my friend to come here because Jesus is here.”
My friends: the Holy Spirit has gifted you, each one of you in a special way, and nothing can take that away. On this day of Pentecost we are invited to celebrate and remember the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the first followers of Jesus. We are also called to recognize and celebrate with deep joy, the Holy Spirit’s presence among us today. As St. Paul states in our lesson today, there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge …to another faith …to another gifts of healing…to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.” You may have one of these very gifts or your gift may not be listed here (it’s not an exhaustive list by any means), but the Holy Spirit has blessed each of us at baptism with spiritual gifts . Our response and calling is to use those gifts, as the text says, “for the common good.” Your gifts of wisdom, faith, teaching, healing, or language...whatever your gift, is meant for the building up of the whole community.
Thank you for bringing your spiritual gifts and offering them back to God as you sacrifice, serve, or just do what comes naturally to you, here at St. Alban’s. If you haven’t yet offered your gifts, I invite to pray about that and ask God to reveal to you how you can serve God in this community, for the common good. And then know that this is a community blessed by the Holy Spirit’s presence and is filled with people who have been gifted in incredible ways by the Spirit.
Let us pray: Thank you Holy Spirit for being present among us and within the people of St. Alban’s. Thank you for your grace and love in our lives and enable us to hear your call, to open our hearts to your leading, and to use our gifts for your glory. Bless each member of St. Alban’s with an outpouring of your power so that they can do and accomplish all you’ve given them to do, confident of the spiritual gifts you have given them. We praise, honor, and glorify you this day. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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