From the Pulpit:

The Rev. Margaret Waters

I’m going to put you all to the test today. So far, I’ve never had anyone complain that I’ve preached a sermon that was too short. But there is so much going on this morning that this is going to be a quick one. First of all, we have two baptisms. Then we’ll have the blessing of new members. The children will be singing the offertory anthem. We’ll have a stewardship testimonial, because it’s that time of year. And because it is the Feast of All Saints, we’ll read the names of all our beloved friends and family who have gone before us. We’ve divided that list in half, so if you don’t hear the name you wrote on it, you can be assured that it will be read at the other service. That is a whole lot of stuff.  

The Feast of All Saints is a very big deal. In the eyes of the church it is right up there with Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. This year it lands on Sunday, but we can celebrate it on Sunday even when it doesn’t. It is that big a deal.  Who do you think of when you think of a saint? St. Peter and St. Paul? St. Alban. St.  Patrick.  In the Roman Catholic tradition their sainthood is determined by how many miracles they performed after their death, but in our tradition they can be just regular people who lived such exemplary Christian lives that we want to learn from them how to be fully Christian. What does it mean to be Christian? As we’ve been learning lately it simply means to live in the most Christ-like way we can. so we can say that by learning their stories we can see what it looks like when a person lives like Jesus.  

It’s no accident that on this baptismal date, we remember together the lives of those who have meant so much to us, and that we are going to bless our newest members. When we get down to it, the reason we come to church at all, today and every Sunday is because deep down inside each and every one of us has a sense that we can become more than we already are, and that when we come together to sing and pray and listen and work and share and support each other we have a sense that we are growing in that way. Baptism, remembering dear ones, celebrating new members –  all of these are about transformation, and that is what we are about. Our church mission statement says it clearly, We seek the transformation of lives through sharing the gifts of God’s love and grace. We are here to participate in this mysterious dynamic we call transformation. We are here to encourage each other, To share our stories of where we have been touched by grace, how we have grown in love and how we have been empowered. Every one of us, no matter how new we are to this parish or to this business of being ever more Christ-like, every one of us is an agent of transformation just as we are the vessels of Christ’s love. And every one of us is somewhere on the continuum of  transformation, we are all being transformed. Life is all about change. When we cease to change we die. We come ever closer and closer to Christ’s own self, and we find that identity in Jesus and in each other and in ourselves.  

Little Kadence and Isabella will be new Christians in just a few minutes, but don’t sell them short. They are little children, and we will be making promises to Help their parents raise them in Christ’s love, but the fact is that they will help to transform us as they grow. Look at all the little children we have been watching as they get bigger. They enrich our lives. The people whose names we read may be gone from this life but their memory lifts us up with love that never dies. And the new members whom we bless today may still be learning the ropes around here, but each one of them comes bearing gifts given them by God that will enrich all of us.  

I’m in awe of what happens when we worship together, when we bless and celebrate the work God has already done among us and is continuing to do within us. and I am blown away by the words of Richard Rohr when he said, “Transformed people transform people. Transformed people transform people.” We are all in the middle of God’s extraordinary work. I can feel  it in the air in this holy place. I can sense it in the energy among us and I can see it in your faces. As C. S. Lewis would say, there is Deep Magic here, there is Deep Magic right in the midst of us and in our hearts, and we are all the richer for the way we feed each other and are fed. Bless you, and thank you.

Amen.

02/13/2010