The Same Hope: A Homily for Vestry Sunday

 

Preached on Vestry Days, Saturday, Feb 24, and Sunday, Feb 25, at St. Luke’s, Creemore, and All Saints, Collingwood, Anglican Diocese of Toronto. 

Readings: Gen 17:1-7. 15-16; Ps 22:22-30, Rom 4:13-25; Mk 8:31-38. 

”Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again" (Mk 8:31)

Imagine that you’re invited to be part of something – a new business, a political campaign, a romantic relationship – wouldn’t you want to know that all would turn out well?   Would you accept the invitation if you knew that it would all come crashing down and that your hopes would be dashed?

I’m sure that at this point in Mark’s Gospel, Peter and his fellow disciples were completely blindsided by Jesus’ prediction that he would undergo rejection, suffering, torture, and a terrible death.   Think of all that they had seen and done with Jesus thus far – demons put to flight, lepers cleansed, crowds fed from scraps of food, storms calmed by a word from Jesus.   Sure there had been bumps along the way.  They had seen Jesus scorned and rejected in his home town, they’d seen the Pharisees become increasingly hostile, and they’d heard of the arrest and execution of John the Baptist.

Even so, Peter’s shocked reaction to Jesus’ prediction shows that the disciples expected a triumphant outcome, that Jesus would fulfil their expectations of the Messiah and be a conquering king, a second David, who would drive the Romans from the land promised by God to Abraham and his descendants.

It’s almost as if Peter was so outraged at what sounded like a prediction of defeat and crashing ruin that he did not hear Jesus’ last words,  that “after three days [he would] rise again”.   And really, who can blame him.  

We all want the future to be bright and to keep our hopes intact.  We don’t want the pain of disappointment.  We don’t want to admit that we’ve failed.   I think that’s true of life and, I would say, it’s also true of churches. 

Today and tomorrow we’re having vestry meetings at two historic churches, St Luke’s, Creemore, and All Saints, Collingwood.   The people who dreamed of these churches, built them, paid for them, looked after them, they have long since gone to their reward.   If they were here with us today, would they be disappointed by what they would see?

Would they be disappointed by the general decline of Christianity in a country that’s become increasingly secular?  If they asked where the children were and we said, most of them go to hockey on Sunday mornings, while congregations got smaller and older and clergy got fewer, what would they think?   If they saw that famous Anglican Journal newspaper saying that our church will go extinct by 2040, would they think they’ve failed and that founding these churches was in vain?

No.   I think that if they were here with us today, they’d say no, it was all worth it, because here you are, acting in the present and planning for the future.   Here you are, feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.   Here you are, living out the hope of our faith, inspired by the same Holy Spirit that inspired us to build these churches.  It was worth it then.  It’s worth it now.

I said earlier that Peter didn’t hear or understand what Jesus said, that “after three days [he would] rise again”.   Peter and the disciples couldn’t understand those words at the time.  None of Jesus’ friends were prepared for the reality of the resurrection.  It wasn’t until they saw him, heard him, broke bread with him, that they began to believe.  And it wasn’t for years thereafter, as they started to travel and preach throughout their known world, that they began to realize that Jesus had empowered them to build his church.

The same is true of us.   We dedicate considerable time, energy, and wealth to keeping these churches going, which is good thing if these buildings bring people closer to Jesus.   When things go wrong, or as we get older and fewer, we can lose sight of the promise of the resurrection that Jesus promised.

But here we are, still going.  Our ministries have changed.  We run foodbanks and we feed people.  We see society fragmenting and we care for the lonely.   We see the housing crisis getting worse and we are called to speak out to those in power, as you will see in our social justice motion.   That’s the spirit of the resurrection, leading us to follow Jesus in new ways and to adapt the mission of the church.

So let’s remember, in our vestry meetings and in the year that follows, that we continue to be church because we follow the same Lord, and hold to the same promise of the resurrection, that animated the first disciples.     We keep faith with the generations before us that built these churches and served these communities and worshiped this God.   Some of what we do – prayer, praise, and worship – hasn’t changed.   Some of our ministries have evolved and changed as we follow the Holy Spirit.     We do all these things because we believe the mystery of our faith – Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again – and that gives us our hope.   Amen.