That's God's Church!

 That's God's Church!

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           One of the big questions being raised by the Church today asks, “Are our places of worship and our maintenance of these historic buildings getting in the way of our ability to reach out in love and concern for the poor?  Are we so consumed with keeping up expensive buildings to the point where we are blinded to the needs of the community?”  

            I ask this because St. Paul’s is dealing with this same question.  As you know, the congregation has spent the better part of the last five years studying what kind of work needs to be done to maintain and preserve our beautiful campus.  And it comes as no surprise that the project will not be cheap.

            I also bring this up because our gospel lesson highlights this same tension (John 12:1-8).  After Mary wastes an expensive bottle of perfume for the anointing of Jesus’ feet, Judas presses Jesus and says, “This perfume should have been sold and the money given to the poor.”  The lesson goes on to tell us that Judas’ agenda was to steal the money for his own end.  In the end, Jesus celebrates the extravagance of Mary’s expression of love because it is that expression of love that will save the poor. 

Mary is modeling the great love of Jesus, a love that goes to the cross for our sake, a love that is spilled out for the salvation of the world, a love that comes at a great price, a love that has the power to satisfy the hunger of every heart. 

            On the surface, the question that Judas raises seems quite rational.  Jesus has basically told his disciples that his father’s kingdom is not something that needs to be conveyed through buildings.  The kingdom that Jesus brings is instead built by acts of kindness and compassion and mercy.  So why not sell our most prized possessions and give the money to the poor?

St. Vincent DePaul once suggested, it is not in the feeding of the poor alone that will save them.  Instead, it is the love that is shared that will bring salvation both to the poor and to the rich.

            At the vestry retreat held in January, we considered “10 questions Jesus would use to evaluate ministry.”  The seventh question asked, “Do we value people over possessions?”  Even more, we asked, “If we were to surrender all of our church possessions, would we still be able to do ministry?”

            As good Episcopalians, the vestry recognized that none of these questions can be answered effectively by simply saying, “yes or no.”  Instead, these questions challenge us to take seriously the main objective of the Church.  Why do we exist?  How do we convey to the community the reason behind why we exist? 

For us today at St. Paul’s, are we having this conversation because we are simply interested in preserving the rich history of Selma and St. Paul’s or are we also having this conversation because we are interested in pointing to the rich story of God, a history that points to extravagant love? 

            As much as I love historic buildings and the beauty they offer to a city, if you as a church community don’t take seriously the second question, then you might as well shut down and turn the keys over to the Historic Preservation Society. 

But if you are serious about engaging in a conversation that wonders how this building can be used to point to the rich story of God’s love, then I believe you are ready to talk about how this parish family can raise money that will see St. Paul’s continue to be a place where the faithful are nourished and strengthened to point to the extravagance of God’s love in the community and the world. 

So the question isn’t simply, “are you ready to engage in a capital campaign that will raise money to preserve this building?”  The question that must drive this conversation asks, “are you willing to continue to convey the beauty and wonder of God’s kingdom, through this historic place, by committing to works of mercy and compassion in a city that is hungry to remember and discover her belovedness?”

I believe that you are, but I want to make sure that you are.  When Rich Webster visited a couple of weeks ago for the Lenten lunch, he made the comment, “these walls are alive.”  He said that he has visited a lot of historic churches and most of them seem hollow and dusty.  But he said, “St. Paul’s is alive.”

There is no doubt in my mind that God wants St. Paul’s to stay alive because St. Paul’s has a rich history of conveying the wonder of God’s love to Selma.  And I believe God is not finished using St. Paul’s to convey the compassion and love of God to Selma and the world.  The harvest is plentiful.

I hope you hear me saying that this preservation project should not be a means to an end.  Rather, this project should be about recognizing how God is continuing his mission of love and mercy through the people who gather to worship at this church.  This project should be about how God intends to use this place, a place that oozes with the lavishness of God’s love, to send her people out into the community and world to live with an extravagant love.

Even more, this project should not excuse our ministry to the poor.  Many have misinterpreted the words of Jesus in this passage as a license to not have to minister to the poor.   Many have said, “well the poor will always be with us, there is nothing we can do so let’s build a beautiful building instead.”  Jesus is not being mutually exclusive here.

Instead, Jesus is saying that our worship of him will magnify his intention to send us out into the world to serve the poor and lonely.  Our worship of Jesus will intensify our desire to walk among the poor and share the good news of God’s kingdom.  After all, when we worship Jesus, we worship the one who became poor so that all might become rich with the goodness of God’s grace.

I want to end with an image that many of you have heard me talk about.  About six months ago, Mary Katherine made the statement, “I want to go to Joyce’s church.”  This is natural because, well, Joyce, our Parish Administrator, is always at church when Mary Katherine visits after school. 

And being the good priest and father that I like to think I am, I said, “actually it is God’s Church.”  After a few lessons, she started to understand and she would say, “I want to go to God’s Church.”  I was beaming with pride.  My daughter gets it!

One morning, as Mary Katherine anticipated her arrival at Little Friends, she looked out the window and commented on the other churches saying, “that’s not God’s church, that’s not God’s church, that’s not God’s church.”  When we pulled up in front of St. Paul’s, she exclaimed, “That’s God’s Church!”  While a part of me was proud, I knew it was time to give another lesson on ecclesiology.   

In the end, this project that we are talking about should not be understood as our preservation project.  This project isn’t about preserving Joyce’s church.  This project isn’t about preserving your ancestor’s church. 

Instead, this conversation is about continuing God’s salvation project.  This conversation asks, “how is God calling St. Paul’s continue in the same salvation project that our ancestors have been a part of?”  Jesus says more than once, “those who want to save their life with lose it and those who lose their life for the sake of the gospel will save it.”  In all that we do, I hope that we are willing to lose our life for the sake of the gospel.

At the end of the day, God’s mission to touch the world with the lavish love of Jesus will continue with or without St. Paul’s.  However, I am convinced that God is not done with St. Paul’s.  God’s has made us rich in so many ways and through the witness of Mary we have an incredible opportunity to, from the world’s point of view, waste our riches so that the community and world may know the extravagance of God’s love.  Amen.