Proper 26, Year A
October 30, 2005
Christ Church, Covington
“It is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and
laudable service” (Collect for Proper 26).
Who says children don’t understand what’s going on in worship? Over the years
I’ve been presented with dozens of pieces of art work and text, created by young
children during the liturgy and then offered up afterwards. I keep them; and if
I get in a tough spot on the Judgment Day, I sure hope I have these dear
expressions of faith and regard with me.
A few observations about them: creating this art and these texts gives children
a chance through a different medium to process and reflect on what they are
hearing and seeing. It also lets them participate in a way which is authentic to
them. And it seems that by handing them over to me our youngest parishioners are
honoring an instinct which is basic to Christianity: the desire to offer
themselves and who they are. Art reflects the artist, and the world as well.
These works of art, with their themes of God and Christ, take the person and the
person’s world and make them a part of the Christian story. All of which, like a
great treasure, is handed over by our children as an offering to God.
This is, I think, an example of what we prayed about in our Collect of the Day a
few minutes ago, the “true and laudable service” that Christian people offer. I
said this instinct for offering goes back to the beginning, because it is summed
up and epitomized in the offering of Jesus himself on the cross. The early
Christians had a vivid sense that the offerings they brought to the altar, the
bread and wine of the Eucharist, connected them to Jesus’ death and
resurrection. “This is my body; this is my blood.” These things that they
brought, their “true and laudable service”, became a part of something else,
Jesus’ own offering of himself. So Saint Augustine could tell his congregation,
“You are there on the altar!” What we offer symbolizes ourselves and the world
we live in, just as surely as our children’s art does, offered to God and
accepted for Christ’s sake. The only difference between us and our children is
that they seem to understand this instinctively, this “true and laudable
service” while we have to explain it to ourselves.
So what are you bringing today? Well, some of you have arranged flowers and set
up the altar; others have paid for them or made an offering for the bread and
wine. Others of you have agreed to lead us in reading or singing or playing, in
fulfilling the roles that make our worship possible as acolytes or Eucharistic
ministers or as Eucharistic visitors. Somebody opened up the church and turned
on the heat or air; some other folk submitted to ordination so that the
community could be led. Others arranged and printed and folded our bulletins.
All of us have given of our wealth to make this ministry possible, which of
course I’m reminding you of during this time of focus and prayer for
stewardship. All examples of “true and laudable service”, the offering of what
we are so that God may take it and use it.
And we will continue to offer “true and laudable service” as we go about our
work this week, engaged in pursuits which build up God’s world (which is looking
a little threadbare in South Louisiana right now, in need of some building up);
engaged as well in pursuits which make our life together a little easier. We’ll
offer ourselves, again and again, so that God’s work can go on through us.
There’s one more thing that should be said. Remember the Collect, “it is only by
your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service”. All
that we have and all that we bring is God’s possession, his gift to us. We bring
gifts, but they are first of all God’s gift to us. The great treasure that we
bring, whether it’s the art of a child that he or she offers, or the beauty and
order of the liturgy we enact, or the check that we ourselves write, is the gift
of ourselves, which ultimately comes from God.
John Bauerschmidt is Rector of Christ Church, Covington.
Home | About Christ Church | Schedule of Services | Newcomers | Sermons | Clergy & Staff | Vestry | Contact Us