Well done, good and faithful servants

 Last week I told you about Ezekiel and I told you how terrifying it is to preach, because if God calls upon me to speak out against the demons and if I fail to do so then woe be unto me! My job as priest, terrifyingly, often calls upon me to speak on behalf of God. This is a fearsome thing to be called upon to do, to proclaim a message from God Almighty. And it's a role I'm still growing into. I had only been a priest for a few weeks when I was sent to you. One hard thing for me about this pandemic has been the fact that until March, I've had Bill by my side for almost every Eucharist I've ever celebrated. I had to learn quickly what to do without Bill and the rest of our amazing Altar Guild setting everything up and without Bill making sure everything appears in the right place at the right time. I'm still growing into my role as priest, as a man of unclean lips among a people of unclean lips, as Isaiah put it, who is nonetheless called upon to proclaim the word of God.

In our tradition, there are three messages from God we specifically reserve for priests to deliver, the ABCs of sacerdotal or priestly ministry. Absolution, blessing, and consecration. Absolution: your sins + are forgiven; go in peace. Blessing: the blessing of God Almighty, Father, + Son, and Holy Spirit be among you and remain with you always. And consecration: take, eat: this is my body, given for you. I don't forgive your sins; God does that. I don't bless you; God does that. I don't make bread and wine into the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; God does that. But as a priest, I'm called to speak on behalf of God from time to time: to declare to you the good news that God has wrought in our midst. God forgives you. God blesses you. God is present with you in flesh and blood. I don't make these happen. I'm not forgiving or blessing or consecrating. I'm just the messenger.

Our lessons today are powerful stories about forgiveness and its importance. Hear them. Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them. But unusually, today’s lessons are not what God is calling me to preach about today. 

Instead, I need to proclaim a different message today. Last week I had to talk about the false gods in our midst, the demons that can lead us astray. That warning is real, and the demons that turn us from love are real and dangerous. But today, on this rather dark anniversary, I have more cheerful news to proclaim to you. I stand before you as your priest to declare God's blessing: well done, good and faithful servants. Well done.

This is hard to believe, but it’s been half a year now since this crazy crisis began here and the world as we knew it stopped. It’s been an unimaginable six months that we have not been able to do almost ANYTHING in quite the way we’ve been accustomed to doing it as a church. Despite this, St. Paul’s has been able to continue its ministry through this Coronatide.  The world still needs our prayer and service, perhaps more than ever. These past six months have been a challenge, but this congregation has risen to the demands of our day and proclaimed the good news to a world that needs to hear it in ways that we might not have dreamt of a mere six months ago. I certainly hadn’t.

It wouldn’t have happened without a lot of people practicing their faith in all sorts of ways, some of them new and quite unanticipated, using their gifts to advance the kingdom of God. A lot of the people practicing their faith in all these varied ways don’t like attention called to them, so I’m not going to name names. But the canons call upon faithful Christians to work, pray, and give for the spread of the Kingdom of God, and we’ve seen so, so many examples of people stretching outside the bounds of the familiar to do just that. And I personally want to say think you, because your faith in action inspires me. The ways I see people in this church living our their faith teaches me what I can aspire to and hope for in my own life of faith. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, and brothers and sisters, you are all among those witnesses.

First of all, people stepped up with praying. We’ve had a greater number of people at services in half a year since the pandemic hit than we have in many entire years. For a while we had daily services, praying for the sick, the dying, the dead, the front line workers, the mourning, the lonely, the fearful, those making decisions, and those in need. We’ve gathered electronically in ways none of us ever expected to try. We’ve had outdoor gatherings in person without our beloved music and worship space. We’ve tried to learn new technologies and new ways of gathering. People have stepped up as readers and offered their prayers. To everyone who has been praying, thank you.

Secondly, people found safe ways to keep up the physical work of maintaining our church and garden and grounds. Christians here have practiced their faith by tending to the lawn and the gardens and even the building. Plumbing has been fixed, surfaces have been sterilized, vegetables have been planted and watered and weeded and harvested and delivered, grass has been mowed, trees have been trimmed – and all of this has been done by people here practicing their faith. Thank you for showing me how trimming trees and mounding potatoes and wiping door handles and mowing grass is all prayer.

Third, people have found ways to continue our call to serve others. One spectacularly unrewarding but essential form of service is everything everyone has done to reduce the spread of disease. Staying home might not feel like a heroic act of love and service, but you do now know how many lives you may have saved by eliminating inessential contact. Difficultly, for many of you, that meant refraining even from ministries at the church that had to take a fallow season. That wasn’t what Milton had in mind when he said, “They also serve who only stand and wait,” but it is nonetheless true. Standing and waiting to slow the spread of disease has been a form of love of neighbor and service to the world. But your service did not stop there. When I’ve talked to people, I’ve heard stories about how people from this congregations have been checking in on people in need. How you’ve helped people move and get to appointments and stay connected. I know about your outreach to Grace House despite the fact that we couldn’t travel there this summer. I know that people have demonstrated to support people of color in our community. I know people have read and joined discussions to better inform themselves about issues afflicting the world, and some of you have recommended things for me to read too. I know what you’ve done to continue to serve Samaritan House. Your generosity in caring for each other and all people even at risk to your own health. I know some of what you’ve done to encourage one another. And I know how discreet so many of you try to be in this service, so I don’t even know how much I don’t know about. But God does. To everyone who has continued in our call to work in service to the world in so many ways during this pandemic, thank you for both your service and your example. Don’t hide your lamp under a bushel basket; let it shine.

And fourth, somehow through all this craziness, through loss of normal settings for employment and school and even friendship, through disruptions of every sort and turmoil in financial markets, the church bank account has remained solvent. That isn’t miraculous manna from heaven; that happened because of people’s diligence and generosity and commitment. People continued to send in their pledges and contributions, despite multiple changes in procedures. People stepped up when they could with new particularly generous donations to address particular crises. Your faithful stewardship of the money God has entrusted to you has enabled the church to continue to pay its bills and serve this community. Thank you for your stewardship. Thank you for enabling this parish to continue its work.

As your priest, my job here today is to look back on our ministry over the past half a year in exile from the usual shape of our beloved community and proclaim to you God's blessing: Well done, good and faithful servants. For six months, you have labored faithfully in exile from normalcy. For six months, you have bourn witness to God’s love in a wounded world. You have been faithful ministers of the Gospel in this troubled time. I am not a prophet, nor a prophet's son (I’m not even a herdsman or dresser of sycamore trees). I have no word from God about the things to come. There are no signs for us to see; there is no prophet left; there is not one among us who knows how long this will go on. But you have been faithful for the past six months, and we have found a way to sing the Lord’s song upon alien circumstances. Now I call upon you to be faithful again going forward into the unknown ministry to which God calls us in the next chapters.

And so with the Psalmist, we pray:

Restore us, O God of hosts; *

show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

You were once gracious to your land, O Lord, *

you restored the good fortune of Jacob. 

You forgave the iniquity of your people * 

and blotted out all their sins.

You withdrew all your fury *

and turned yourself from your wrathful indignation.

Restore **us** then, O God our Savior; * 

let your anger depart from us.

Will you be displeased with us for ever? *

will you prolong your anger from age to age?

Will you not give us life again, *

that your people may rejoice in you?

Show us your mercy, O Lord, * 

and grant us your salvation.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit

As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. 

Amen.

—

I will listen to what the Lord God is saying, * 

for he is speaking peace to his faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to him.

Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him, * 

that his glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth have met together; * 

righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth shall spring up from the earth, *

and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

The Lord will indeed grant prosperity, * 

and our land will yield its increase.

Righteousness shall go before him, *

and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.