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Christ Church Covington
Proper 20
September 21, 2003
About seven years ago, I was going through a time
of trial. I felt adrift. I was several years a college graduate, I was
married, I was working, yet I was questioning what I was supposed to do
with my life. During this challenging and painful period of searching, I
asked myself things like, “What am I going to do with my life? What am I
good at? What am I going to find satisfying? What is going to get me where
I want to go?”
Have you picked up on a motif in this inner dialogue? My frame of
reference in all this was myself. My search for identity was all about me.
Then something wonderful but completely unsettling happened: My wife gave
birth to our first child. When he was finally delivered and I laid eyes on
him for the first time, I knew two things. I knew that his name was George
(that had not been theretofore decided). I also knew that I’d better stop
dithering about what I wanted to do with my life, that I’d better get on
with it and do what God was calling me to do, what he’d always been
calling me to: the priesthood. Suddenly in that hospital operating room, I
realized that my life was not all about me – wasn’t even mainly about me.
Beholding that utterly dependent child and his temporarily helpless
mother, I realized that my identity would be discovered in providing for
others, not in pursuing my own interests. I’ll wager the arrival of most
people’s first child has this effect on them. It’s kind of a wake-up call.
Well that is what Jesus is doing for the disciples in today’s Gospel by
placing a child in their midst. Their conversation had been focused on
themselves and their status and whatnot. “Then he took a little child and
put it among them…” This symbolic gesture suddenly and dramatically makes
sense of Jesus’ teaching on servant-hood. Jesus is telling the disciples
that the road they are travelling is not about them; it is about those who
need them, those whom Jesus will send the disciples to serve.
Let us consider then, what it might mean for a community of faith – a
church parish – to welcome the child and place it in our midst.
It’s hard to overlook the obvious: a parish might center its ministry on
its children. It might provide them space – make room for them in their
midst. It might build a school. It might provide programs that invite
their growth in the knowledge and love of God, ministries that invite
their participation in the community of faith. Moreover, a parish might
reach out to other kids, disadvantaged children, and give them a place and
a program to provide them with some of the same opportunities. Hmmm…does
such a parish exist? Where might one find such a place? Hmmm. I wonder.
(Hint: Christ Church, Covington.)
However, we might extend the child metaphor to include all who must rely
on others’ strength and ability to for their survival. What then might a
parish that were focused on that larger group look like? It might see that
those in hospital were visited, it might take an active interest in the
needs of new mothers, it might organize and support a retirement
community, it might reach out to console the grieving. Again, this should
sound familiar to you because these are all fairly common expressions of
ministry at this very parish.
Furthermore, in the New Testament the image of a child is a metaphor for
those who are new to the faith. A parish focused on this even larger group
would go out of its way to welcome and form newcomers. Sound familiar?
OK, I am patting Christ Church on the back for all that it does to live
into the image we are presented with in today’s gospel, but it’s not
gratuitous congratulations. It’s not intended just to make you and me feel
good. From its beginning Christ Church has been a work in progress in this
regard. Most of us remember when there was no youth center here (last
year). Many remember when we had no coordinator of Newcomer Ministries. I
bet there are some who remember when there was no CEEP/Summer Witness.
Some of you might remember when there was no Christ Episcopal School. Some
of you remember when there was no Christwood. All of these things have
become part of our ministry landscape here because from generation to
generation, folks at Christ Church have understood that while the Church
is a place for them to be ministered to, it is much more a place to
minister to others, that while it is a place where they feel welcomed, it
is much more a place for them to offer welcome to children, the needy, and
the stranger, that while one can attend a beautiful service here, it is
much more a place where one can serve others.
I invite you to meditate on this image of Jesus holding a child in his
arms and telling the disciples, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my
name welcomes me,” and ask yourself how God might be calling you to live
into this gospel in this parish. It might be in one of the familiar
established ways that I’ve mentioned. God might be calling you to do
something completely new and different – remember, if God hadn’t called
folks here into something completely new and different, ministry here
would not be what it is today. But I guarantee you he’s calling you in
some way. You are needed.
Amen
The Rev’d Robert M. Odom
M.Div., Curate
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