15th Sunday After Pentecost
Exodus 17:1-7 Philippians 2:1-13 Matthew 21:23-32
In the wilderness, the people were so thirsty and so furious at Moses that they cried out, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Moses protested to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They’re almost ready to stone me!” But God promised Moses he would be with him, standing in front of him on the rock at Horeb.. And Moses struck the rock and the water gushed out. Yes, the Lord is among us. And Paul says to the people of Philippi that it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. This is God’s promise, and here at Messiah it’s fulfilled.
Messiah is especially blessed by the beauty of our old red-frame building, its stained glass, its wood. Many of us have felt God’s presence here from our very first experience of walking in the door, have felt intuitively that this is a “thin” place, a much prayed-in place. We sense that God is among us, here, especially, in this place.
But more than that. If Father Brad hadn’t had a vision of a church filled with all the people of God, Messiah’s soul could have died, moved to the suburbs, this building sold to be used as a restaurant or a movie theater, horror of horrors.
Instead, by much work and inspiration by Fr. Brad, and all our assisting clergy over the years, we have a living, breathing congregation that represents God’s creation, black and brown, and white and all the shades in between; young and old, English and Spanish-speaking, gay and straight, and all varieties of political belief. This is a glimpse of heaven, this wonderful mixture of people; this is how God intended the church to be. The people are the church and in this glorious kaleidoscope of God’s creation that we have here, we show that God is indeed among us. Ultimately, we have this treasure because Fr. Brad really believes that all people everywhere, not just at Messiah, are children of God. Lots of churches have different ethnic groups using one church building, but Messiah isn’t like that. Fr. Brad & Carolyn have succeeded in building one congregation worshipping often together, and spending more and more time together in picnics and beach parties and book clubs and supper clubs, retreats and blessings of the animals; more and more of the myriad functions of the parish are integrated into one congregation. The egg toss at the picnic in June (I hope that you got to see it) was a perfect example of the beautiful conglomeration of people that is Messiah.
But Fr. Brad didn’t just wish this mixture of people to happen, he worked hard, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to make it happen.
Years ago he had to fight to get a gay man, Michael Kehtel, seated on the vestry. He has had a conscious policy of having people of every description in visible leadership roles in the church at every level. And now, over and over we have said that this inclusivity is what we love about Messiah.
Actually, if we are honest, Messiah has some elements of all kinds of religious belief as well, despite the fact that we have extraordinary preaching in this church. We’ve all heard Carolyn’s fantasy of the church reciting the creed, and people standing and sitting, rising and falling depending on whether they believe each phrase. People in Messiah aren’t afraid to admit that they’re not quite sure of this or that aspect of the faith; we, most of us, are working on it, a work in progress. This isn’t a place where doctrines are pushed down our throats. Instead, we are encouraged to use our God-given brains to think, and probe, and question, in classes on an incredible range of topics over the years. Members of Wednesday’s Women and Men Seeking God aren’t given canned answers to questions, but are challenged to ponder the mystery that lies at the heart of creation and in our inmost souls. God is at work here, in this place, in this questioning and in the answers. We struggle, as with the people of Philippi, with working out our own salvation, but not as Paul says, with fear and trembling, but with joy and peace. And we all rejoice when the celebrant says, “Wherever you are in your journey, you are welcome here at Christ’s table.”
Jesus calls us to love God and our neighbor, but Messiah has shown us who our neighbor is. Hands Together, the Noah Project, the Morning Garden for homeless mothers and children, & the Literacy Center have changed the lives of thousands of people for the better in this area of great need. Bishop Bruno chose Messiah as the place for the Archbishop of Canterbury to visit because it best exemplifies out of the whole diocese the place where God is at work. And Messiah does this, not with a huge endowment, but with Fr. Brad’s vision of justice and lots of people (led so well by Glenn Howard) working with intelligence and effort. God is here.
We walk, always a wonderful mixture of people, into this neighborhood carrying the huge cross on Good Friday. We process singing, volunteers creating their own prayers at the stations. An incredibly moving experience, the church, the body of Christ, doing God’s work in the streets. Or we worship at Morning Prayer in the choir stalls at 6:30 am on Wednesday mornings, or give each other the Eucharist around the altar during Advent and Lent, or learn to meditate in Karen Goran’s Tuesday night group. Or experience God alone in the pews in the middle of a service, or on a retreat. Or find God in this community itself of like-minded souls, or through the arts, through poetry, or drama, (even a sword fight!) In so many different ways we can meet God here….
But especially, we meet God in our worship, in our music. The liturgy is the beating heart of Messiah. Often I find myself with tears in my eyes; God speaks to us through the music. Our choirs love Jim Gilliam and Jim Vaskov and Miguel Conniff and love to sing. Many of us are sometimes tired on a Sunday morning, turn over and go back to sleep. The choirs keep coming, Sunday after Sunday, year after year. They are our treasure, our unsung heroes. We forget to thank them. And do you realize the great variety of music which Jim Gilliam has chosen for us? Music to suit all our tastes, perfect to fit this congregation with our eclectic nature. And we can choose the meditative eight o’clock service with soloist and organ, or the slightly rowdy ten o’clock, but if you want even more energy and passion, you can experience the twelve o’clock service. Messiah shows forth the whole world of God’s musical magnificence in the liturgy and in our concerts.
Messiah is a place with a world full of ideas and people, but also with action. Our members have gone to Mississippi, to Kenya and now to Nicaragua, protested against apartheid, brought Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Messiah, supported AIDS Walk and gays.
In 1990, 21 years ago, I was sent on a stewardship call to Chad De Leeuw, whom I had never met. Out of that encounter grew Sts. Aelred and Hildegard, our ministry to the gay community in Orange County. Chad was a deeply religious person who had lunch with Fr. Brad once a week for years. Do you love the statue of Christ the Good Shepherd, which is in the Upper Room? Did you know that, before he died, Chad had it carved in Europe as a gift for Messiah? Aelred and Hildegard worked, mostly because we could get away with being radical in 1991 because we were little old ladies. The simple message chanted in the parades: “2, 4, 6, 8, Jesus loves us, Gay or Straight” is what we taught, all these years here, and at convention, working to help create the change in attitudes that resulted in our lesbian Bishop Mary’s election. And we do real evangelism at our booth at the Gay Pride festivals among people who haven’t had the benefit of experiencing a place like Messiah, and still need to be told that God loves them as they are, as God made them.
And now, Vicki Tamoush is following in the Messiah tradition of social justice by founding Interfaith Witnesses earlier this year. I went on July 24th with Vicki and Biff Baker to walk in silent witness at the La Mirada mosque, which had been vandalized. Over fifty of us, including the 89-year-old former mayor of La Mirada walked with signs proclaiming our different faith traditions and desire for peace. Friendly motorcycle police escorted us; the grateful mosque leaders served us food afterwards. It was a very satisfying way to be able to stand up for freedom of religion in America.
In so many different ways Messiah sends us out as God’s hands, feet, and voice into the world.
So, finally, God is at work in Messiah. Let it be your work, too. You are part of it when you make a pledge. Why pledge? Why not just put your offering in the plate? The church has a light bill, a water bill, a gas bill, just as you do. What if you didn’t have any idea what your income was going to be? How could you plan? The church (which is us) needs us to pledge so that the church (which is us) can plan how to meet its expenses, which are all laid out in black and white in the annual meeting in detail.
How do I decide how much to pledge? Some time ago I gradually worked up to the traditional tithe, ten percent. (Though I was a bit shocked to discover that someone I know pledges fifteen percent, so don’t consider ten percent a maximum!) I take it off the top, first of the month, God comes first. And I epledge, so I don’t forget. But in these tough times, don’t worry. If something unforeseen happens, you can change it. Easy. When my ex-husband died and my pension was cut, I lowered my pledge, no questions asked, no problem.
So, come, join us for breakfast, send in your pledge card, and rejoice that God has brought you here, to this holy place, the testimonial to Fr. Brad’s thirty years of ministry.
