Our Journey Home -- The Dean's Annual Meeting Address for 2013

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The annual meeting of the 194th year of Christ Church Cathedral is now called to order.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN.

Home.

I’m not sure there is a word that resonates more deeply inside of us than...

Home.

I imagine for most of us, when I even just said that word … “home” … an image came to your mind and a feeling came to your chest. What was it? What happens inside you when you hear the word, home? Maybe more important, where is it that, when you arrive, your heart says “Home.”

In this morning’s reading from Isaiah, God is singing to the people of Israel. They are a people in exile, homeless – cast out of the place that was promised to them, their place of safety, their ancestral home. They are living in captivity in Babylon - a place that has become familiar, a place that is all they have ever known, but a place that is still not their home.
And into their exiled life, God begins to sing. And God sings this song we heard this morning. It is a song that says, “I am coming to deliver you.” It is a song that says “You are going home.”

But that’s not all that God sings. God also sings:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.”

Going home is a wonderful thing. So why is God singing about this stuff? Why is God saying do not fear?

Because God knows something about the people of Israel going home. God knows that they will be going home to an unfamiliar place. A place that even though it is where they come from is still somewhere they have never been, and that is scary.

God knows that they will be going home to a place that will challenge and change them. God knows that they will be going home to a place that is the land of their ancestors, but also a place that will be made new for their generation.

And so knowing there is a cost to going home, knowing that even though home is where they long to go the prospect of the journey is daunting, knowing it is what they need to hear, God sings these words of love and assurance:

You are mine.
I will be with you.
I am your God.
I love you.

Last week, we talked about how we, like those magi from the east, are on a journey together. We are searching for something, and we come here because we know or think or maybe even just hope what we need is God, that who we need is Christ.

Last year, we spent time speaking clearly and listening deeply to one another about what the values are that bind our Cathedral together. Who are we … really? Who are we as God sees us? From this came five core values, five things we believe Jesus dreams for us to love:

Spirituality & Faith
Diversity
Communication
Growth
Service

Those values are for us like that star was for the Magi. They are what will lead us to Christ. They are what will lead us home.

And what we will find as we make that journey is much what the people of Israel found. And that is that home is a wonderful place. But home is a different place. It is not the home of our ancestors and it is not what we have come to know.

Like the people of Israel, we will discover and are already discovering that Christ Church Cathedral is being called home to an unfamiliar place, where things are and will be different than they ever were. Where change is a necessary part of the journey. And where, as God sings to the people of Israel about their redemption, each wonderful new thing also comes with a cost.

When we leave this space and continue our meeting upstairs in Schuyler Hall, we will spend much of our time diving more deeply into those five values. You will have a chance to pick a table that is labeled with one of them and share with one another why that value is important to us and what opportunities you see for living into it now and in the future.

But I want to take my time here, this time of the dean’s address to this annual meeting, to lift up three things that are already emerging from these values. Two of them are new ventures and one is a new opportunity. These three things will go a long way to defining our journey home this year. Each is a wonderful thing. Each will help us grot is that home is a wonderful place. But home is a different place. It is not the home of our ancestors and it is not what we have come to know.

Like the people of Israel, we will discover and are already discovering that Christ Church Cathedral is being called home to an unfamiliar place, where things are and will be different than they ever were. Where change is a necessary part of the journey. And where, as God sings to the people of Israel about their redemption, each wonderful new thing also comes with a cost.

When we leave this space and continue our meeting upstairs in Schuyler Hall, we will spend much of our time diving more deeply into those five values. You will have a chance to pick a table that is labeled with one of them and share with one another why that value is important to us and what opportunities you see for living into it now and in the future.

But I want to take my time here, this time of the dean’s ad theologically. As we study and pray with scripture every day, we will realize that the story of our lives is a continuation of the story of scripture … and that even the most mundane seeming decisions in our lives will be transformed by the wisdom in those pages.

As I wrote about each day this week, these values we are striving to embody – Spirituality & Faith, Diversity, Communication, Growth, Service – they come right from those pages.

As we every day infuse our life with God’s word to us in scripture, we cannot help but be drawn more deeply into God’s Spirit and drawn out to live in faith. We hear stories of God romancing us into embracing the all the gifts of the broad diversity of God’s people. We hear tales of God’s unrelenting desire to share Godself with us and to have us share God’s love with one another. We hear promises that as we give our lives away, as we love one another as Christ has loved us, that we will gain new life, richer and deeper than we can possibly imagine.

Yes, there is a cost. Not in money, but in time. It means finding 20 minutes or so a day to devote to reading the Bible, and that will likely mean casting something else off. Even more than that is the cost of being challenged by what we will find in those pages. The cost in the changes we will be challenged to make in our lives when we let scripture interpret us.

But I promise you it is worth the cost. In fact, if you want to make a difference and be a part of something amazing at Christ Church Cathedral this year, and if you haven’t already … this is it. Join us in reading the Bible in 2013. We’re only one week in so catching up is easy. There are sign up sheets on the side table here and there will be in the Guernsey Room where you get your food. Everything else we do here will spring from this. (You can still sign up here at www.cccbiblechallenge.wikispaces.com)

Immersing ourselves in a scriptural worldview is critical, because biblically speaking, 'playing it safe' is the most reckless and irresponsible thing we can do. So ironically, we are called, as a cathedral, to take the biblically safe and secure route: and that's to leave the familiar, risk everything, and trust in God --who is providing, and seeing us home.

Sometimes trusting God to see us home means us opening up our doors and providing a home. And that’s what we’re doing this year. In the year to come, the most tangible change to our life together will be our welcoming Lafayette Preparatory Academy to Christ Church Cathedral. LPA is a new charter elementary school that has an important and ambitious mission … to provide high-quality education to children who range from kids who live in the downtown lofts and Lafayette Square … kids who get three good meals a day, a warm bed to sleep in and help with their homework every night … to kids who live in some of the poorest neighborhoods in our city. Kids who might only get one meal a day if they don’t get it at school, who are sleeping on an aunt’s or grandmother’s couch, and who don’t even have a decent place to do homework much less someone to help them with it.

Pending a final contract, which we expect to be signed in the next month, Lafayette Preparatory Academy will be incubating in the Bishop Tuttle Building for two years. Starting in August, they will have kindergarten and first grade classes. Starting in August, 2014, they will add second grade. In their third year they will move into their permanent home somewhere else.

The opportunity before us is to be much more than landlords for this school, but true partners. Several people have already stepped forward saying they want to be a lead our congregation in specifically reaching out to help those kids who don’t have a place to do homework or don’t get decent meals. To see how we as a Cathedral can live Christ’s love to them so that Christ Church Cathedral isn’t just a place where they attend school, but people who know their name and want to help them not just survive but thrive. To serve the Christ we meet in them.

If you’re interested in being a part of this, talk to Carolyn Herman, Rick, Hope and Maya Gregory, Pat Cleary, Colleen Timson or Tammy O’Donnell. Or come see me and I’ll put you in touch with them.

By welcoming this school into our building, we are dedicating ourselves to trying to make a difference in one of the most critical areas of our common life in St. Louis --and that is the vast inequality that exists in education. In nurturing this school, we are also telling parents who have moved downtown and committed to the exciting renaissance that is happening here that they don’t have to move out to the county when their kids reach school age. We are helping downtown St. Louis have a real and sustainable future as a thriving residential and business community.

We are also helping our own sustainability to be a beacon of the Gospel in downtown St. Louis. Without infusions from the Pope Bequest and the Feehan Fund, we would be running a $70,000 deficit for 2013. If, as Bill Clinton says, we “do the arithmetic,” that cannot continue.

As members of this congregation, I know that many of us are giving sacrificially. I am moved by how generously many of us give when I know the economic downturn has hit us hard. And so if you are giving deeply to this Cathedral, thank you, thank you, thank you. And if you have not pledged or could give more, now is the time. Now is the time to trust that God will sustain you and now is the time to support the work we are beginning here.

But congregational giving alone will not sustain us. We also need to build investment in the Cathedral as an institution from downtown and the region. That’s why later this month, a group of development experts are coming together to help us chart a course for a development plan for Christ Church Cathedral.

That’s one of the reasons we will continue to do whatever we can to show downtown that Christ Church Cathedral is an incredible asset to this neighborhood and the region… one worthy of continuing support and investment.

And that’s one of the reasons why partnerships like the one we are entering into with Lafayette Preparatory Academy are so important. Because in addition to embodying our commitment to service and diversity, it will bring crowds of new people into our buildings and an estimated $80,000 - $120,000 income over the two years. That’s money that will not make our own giving irrelevant. In fact it will make our own giving even more crucial because our giving will be able to be directed to expanding our ministries and not just keeping the lights on and the doors open.

But as with all good things, there will be a cost. With the gift of these students, teachers and administrators there will be changes. We will have to adapt to the challenges of shared space. There’s a great old hymn that sings “new occasions teach new duties,” and LPA’s arrival will teach us patience and flexibility … but as those children pour into our building, I am convinced it will teach us even more something else we’re already pretty good at … joy.

And joy is where I want to finish. Joy in something that is happening right here in our midst, right here in this room. Joy that I invite us to seek out and embrace.

Over the past two years, and particularly over the past year, we have seen more and more new people walk into this space on Sunday morning. And one of the most wonderful things is how many of these people have been carrying … or in many cases, chasing after … smaller people! There are many, many faces among us who weren’t here a year or even six months ago. And more who are new in the past two or three years.

This is new life, and it is wonderful. And if you are one of these people who is newly arrived I want to tell you how good it is that you are here. Getting up and going to church on Sunday morning is no longer the expected thing to do in our society and that you are coming to worship God and be a part of this community is just the best thing ever.

But here’s the thing. So often, I see people who are newer to this community standing off by themselves. So often when we have special events like the chili cookoff, I look around the room and I don’t see any of these new faces. And I think what’s happening with the rest of us who aren’t so new here is something very human. We want to spend time with the people we know and love. That time is precious to us, and I get that.

But here’s the thing. If we are going to be a people who value growth. If we are going to be a people who value diversity and sharing God’s love and growing in Spirit and faith. We have to set that time with the familiar people aside and every week, reach out and get to know somebody new. Ask them about themselves and tell them about you.

When you are going to a Cathedral event, make it a habit of inviting at least one person or family who is new to this community in the past year. It’s really, really hard to break into a new community. Don’t underestimate how much bravery it took people who are new to this community to even walk in the door, much less go to a social event where they don’t know anyone. We for whom this place is familiar and full of familiar friends have got to reach out.

Even if you are the most turtlish introvert, you can learn a name and share a story. And if you’re like me and you can’t keep names straight in your head to save your life, well you are giving people opportunity for grace and laughter when you get it wrong.

And the truth is, as we do this, we will not only be living our values of growth, and diversity and sharing God’s love and growing in Spirit and faith. We will know a depth of joy like we have never known.

When I was the Episcopal campus missioner at Washington University, my favorite day was freshman move-in day. That’s because it was like Christmas morning. I got to meet these wonderful students whom I just knew I would come to love and treasure for years to come. Meeting each one was like unwrapping a gift. That’s what it can be for all of us. Every Sunday, every time we gather, making sure we don’t just meet our current friends but greet and get to know our future friends. And please start today by introducing yourself to someone you don’t know and inviting them to be a part of this family gathering as it continues upstairs.

Why? Because together we are going home, and like those Israelites hearing God singing to them in Babylon, the home God is calling us to is a wonderful place, it is a life-giving place, but it is an unfamiliar place. It is a home that we find as we dive together into God’s word every day. It is a home that we find as we fling open our doors to the children of this city and those dedicated to teaching them. It is a home that we find as we the take the time to unwrap the gift of new relationships that will start off unfamiliar and awkward, but by God’s grace will show us Jesus just as powerfully as those friendships for which we most deeply give thanks today.

We are ready for this journey, and indeed we have already begun. Our journey into Christ will be one of deeply living those values of Spirituality and Faith, Diversity, Communication, Growth and Service. Values which are part of our DNA, part of our history and in new and surprising ways will be part of our future.

A journey of promise that will lead us to a place that will not be what it once was, but with God’s help and never-failing presence will become everything God dreams for us and more. A journey we will take and are taking together. A journey home. Amen.

Why are you here? -- A Sermon for the Feast of the Epiphany

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“Wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage."

We’re going to start our time together this morning with a question.

It’s a personal question, and because of that, and because you know how I am, I’m going to put you at ease by saying I’m not going to pass out cards and ask you to write the answer down, and I’m not going to make you turn and tell the person sitting next to you. I’m just going to ask the question and invite you to sit in silence for a minute or two and consider how you would answer it.

But here’s the thing. I want you to answer it deeply. And that means not be satisfied with your first answer. One way to do this is when you get your first answer just ask keep asking yourself “Why is that important to me?”

So, for example, if the question was “why did you go to the grocery store?” Our first answer might be – because I needed food. But then if we ask “why is that important to me?” enough times, if we keep drilling down, we get beyond the mundane, and we get to what’s at the core. Things like “I love my family” and “I want to live.”

So when I ask this question, use your first answer as a launching pad … and keep asking “why is that important to me?”

OK, enough suspense. It’s a simple enough question.

Why are you here?

Not “why are you here on this planet?” but why are you here at Christ Church Cathedral? Of all the places you could be right now. Of all the things you could be doing. Why are you here?

Now, one more thing before we go into silence to consider this. If your initial answer is about compulsion. If why you are here is because your spouse or partner or parent is making you come or because you believe God will cast you into the lake of fire for all eternity if you don’t – which, by the way, is NOT true – then I’d ask you to start with a slightly different question and that is “why might you choose to come here?"

OK, let’s just take a couple minutes. Why are you here?

(We observed two minutes of silent contemplation.)

Why are you here?

Now, if we were to share our first answers to that question, I think we’d be amazed how varied our answers are. If we were to share our answers after asking “why is that important to me?” four or five times, I think we would be amazed how connected our answers are.

I say that because I’ve asked this question and done the “why is this important” exercise with lots of people and groups throughout the years and that’s pretty much the way it plays out.

The first answers are about things like the beauty of the space or the music or the people or really feeling the presence of God or the liturgy or the chance to serve or learn or even that it’s just habit or loneliness.

But when we drill down, the answers start to sound more and more the same. And I’ve found there is something that connects almost all of them.

We come here because we’re looking for something. Because in our lives outside of this place and this community, something is missing.

What is that “something?” Well it might be different for each of us. We might describe it in different ways. But the truth is left to ourselves, something is missing from our lives. And we have learned that whatever it is, we can’t find it at the mall or online or at Kaldi’s or even in bed reading the New York Times on a lazy morning.

So we come together here. We come here because we’ve found it here. We’ve come here because we hope to find it here. We come here maybe because we don’t know where else to go.

But there’s one other reason we come here … to this place, to be in this community. Because lots of people feel something is missing, and they look for it in lots of different places. We come here, to this place, to this community because on some level we know or maybe even just hope that what it is that we need … is God. One some level we know or maybe even just hope that who has what we’re searching for, who is what we’re searching for … is Christ.

Christ, who turns the wisdom of the world upside down and says thing like love your enemies and sell all you have and give it to the poor and follow me. Christ, who hangs out with the prostitutes and lepers and says “don’t be afraid” when a tiny boat is being tossed in a fierce storm on a giant sea.

Christ, that place where God and humanity touch and where we catch even a glimpse of what it means to be fully loved and fully alive.

We come here, to this place, to this community because on some level we know or maybe even hope that what it is that we’re missing might be found in a child in a manger who ended up on a cross. And so this morning, we each embarked on a journey … a journey that led us here.

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, when we remember the visit of the Magi to Jesus. But really every time we gather is a re-enactment of this Gospel. Because what were those Magi if not people who realized that something was missing. Who realized that despite everything else they had in their lives, it wasn’t enough, and that they had to search for something more. And who, like us, chose to search for it in what many think is an unlikely place. Who chose to look to a child in a manger to show us who we truly are, and who we truly can be.

W. H. Auden put it this way in his Christmas Oratorio

“We three know that this journey is much too long,
that we want our dinners,
and miss our wives,
our books,
our dogs.
But have only the vaguest idea
why we are what we are.
To discover how to be human now,
is the reason we follow the star.”

"To discover how to be human now,
is the reason we follow the star.”

We are here not to become something different, but to become whole … to become who we truly are. Like the Magi, we sometimes have only the vaguest idea why we are what we are. Like the Magi, we are hoping Christ will show us what it means to be fully human, fully alive.

And like the Magi, it is a journey we make together. We are individuals, that is true. But there is something that we become together that we are not separately. On this journey, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The Magi did not come one by one, they traveled as a group. And so do we.

Last year, we spent time speaking clearly and listening deeply to one another and talking about what the values are that bind this Cathedral community together. Who is it we believe God has made us to be? Who is it together we believe Christ is loving us into becoming.

But it was also our way of together answering the question … why are we here? What is it that is so compelling about our shared life here at Christ Church Cathedral that we are willing to give ourselves to it? What is it that we are together in this community, that is missing without it? What is it that, as we embrace it, makes us fully alive?

And together we discerned five core values, five things we believe Jesus dreams for us to love. You can see them on the piece of paper in your service leaflet. They are:

Spirituality and Faith
Diversity
Communication
Growth
Service

This isn’t just what I have said we value as a community or what your Chapter said we value – although when we went through this process, we pretty much came up with the same things. No, this is what our whole community has said we value. What together we have said we truly are about. About what God in Christ is shaping us more and more to become.

Spirituality and Faith
Diversity
Communication
Growth
Service

Now a couple things about these values.

First off, they did not just emerge randomly. They are deeply rooted in our scripture, in the tradition of the Episcopal Church and in the history of cathedrals in general and Christ Church Cathedral in particular. And our discerning them shows that we are similarly rooted.

This week, I’ll be taking one of these values each day and saying more about this rootedness and inviting to us to consider together the scripture and tradition from which these values spring. So watch your emails, Facebook, Twitter, and my blog and our website for that.

Second, these values are like the first answer to that question we considered this morning. They are a launching point. There are more questions we need to ask ourselves. Questions like “why is this important to us?” and “what are the opportunities for us to embody this now and in the future?”

And so, that’s our task for this week. You’ll see it on that piece of paper in your service leaflet. This week, take some time and consider each of these values. And ask yourself those questions?

Why is this important to us?

What are the opportunities for us to embody this now and in the future?

And next week, we’re going to gather for a different kind of annual meeting and share our thoughts on just these questions. Yes, we’re going to elect chapter members and diocesan convention representatives, and we’ll hear the treasurer’s report and talk about where we are financially and where we need to be. But most of the meeting will be us sharing a meal and sharing conversation. Everyone will have a chance to pick one of these values and share their thoughts on those two questions:

Why is this important to us?

What are the opportunities for us to embody this now and in the future?

And then, led by your Chapter and clergy and ministry leaders, we will take this wisdom and let it shape us as we move forward together into 2013 and beyond. These values and the wisdom that emerges about them will be the star that leads us to find what we are searching for, that will lead not just us to Christ, but will announce to the world that God is here.

We are all fellow travelers with the Magi. For different reasons we have all realized that something is missing and we are on a journey of discovery looking for Jesus. And as we find him, we will lay our gifts before him.

And we will be changed.

And we will be made whole.

And neither we nor the world will ever be the same again. Amen.