St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

Smithfield, NC 27577

Lessons: Isaiah 25: 1-9

Psalm 23

Philippians 4:4-13

Matthew 22:1-14

LOVE AND FORGIVENESS

Last week in the adult Sunday school class, we were talking about the question, “What did it mean to be a Christian in the early church?” W played with the question a little. We decided that First, a Christian was one who accepted the good news of Jesus Christ, and that second, A Christian was one whose life was changed by that good news and who went on to act out that good news.

Another important question, very naturally flows from the first question, “What is the good news?” When we came to that question, I heard a voice, which started talking about how we must as Christians live in love and be willing to forgive. That’s the answer Love and Forgiveness is the good news! Now, who do you suppose might have given us such an answer? Who could answer the question, “What is the Good news?” so succinctly and completely? The answer is, only someone who has accepted that good news, whose life has been transformed by that good news, and who has acted on that good news, Lucille Austin.

I really don’t mean to embarrass you, Mrs. Austin, because I know that you are indeed humble and that you do not prefer the spotlight. However, I think it is important from time to time for Christians to reflect together and to give thanks to God for the saints and angels in our midst, that we might appreciate their place as part of God’s grace and that we might learn from them and emulate them.

Lucille, your family is here with you, to help celebrate your birthday, but I want to proclaim that we are your family too and you are our family. That is what it means to be a Christian as well, to live in a community of love and forgiveness, not just a family or a clan, but a community. Just as you have given of yourself unselfishly to your blood family, you have also given unselfishly to your Christian family.

As you have been a wife, a mother, and a grandmother to your family, you have been a Sunday School teacher, faithful in attendance at the breaking of bread and the prayers, and a joyful witness to God in Christ for us, your Christian family. For this we give thanks to God and to your blood family for sharing you, your love and your forgiveness with us, your Christian family.

Allow us the presumption of invading your privacy once again so that we may hold up the light of Christ as it shines in your life, that we may learn from it, be inspired by it, and follow its flame.

“I have no objection to churches so long as they do not interfere with God’s work,” said Brooks Atkinson. So what is God’s work? It is the same as the good news, to love and to forgive. The church is forever trying to define its mission. A current fad in the church is for vestries to write a mission statement. May god forgive us if the mission statement doesn’t say to love and to forgive. As we prepare ourselves to search for and hire an interim and/or a permanent priest and pastor, may we come to a more complete understanding of what it means to love and to forgive. May we struggle with and discern in fear and trembling whom we are to love and how we are to love. May we all find a way to define forgiveness and to practice it on others and ourselves. May we allow others to love us and be humble enough to accept the forgiveness of others.

Martin Bell in his book Distant Fire says, “The good news is that no one is expendable. And the task of preaching the good news belongs to the new community. But it is not enough to proclaim the word within the ‘Ecclesia” (The Church). Yahweh-Spirit-Christ calls us beyond confession and celebration, shoves us back into the world again to live the third great act of workshop: Offering. The implication of Christian hope is mission. Enabled by grace, we carry the word to every last woman, man, and child on the face of the earth. We carry the word back into the world that has beaten us down. And there is more. More is reserved for us: The free and total offering of tenuous life (Shadowy Death) on behalf of wholly other. Confession leads to proclamation; proclamation begets missional intentionality. We are a servant people charged with telling the story to individual human beings everywhere whether or not the story has been heard before, whether or not the individual believes anything, whether or not the person can even hear the words we speak.”

If we accept this good news, to love and to forgive, and if our lives are transformed by that good news and we actually start loving our neighbor as ourselves and forgiving others, as we are wont for God to forgive us, then we will certainly be anxious to tell others about this adventure. It is not enough to accept and be transformed. We are also called to proclaim, to witness. As a definition of witness, Paul Tournier says, “Our task as laymen is to live our personal communion with Christ with such intensity as to make it contagious.”

Marin Bell – Distant Fire

“Yet God was in Christ reconciling the world to divine purpose, not counting our trespasses against us, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Let us therefore with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Creation is brimming with opportunity realized. The time of harvest, the season of rain – each belongs to Yahweh. Even the natural ebb and flow of the seasons, trembles and sways in the gathering headwind of God’ salvation. ‘In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.’”

I saw these words in our presiding bishop’s letter this month and felt that they are relevant for us here at St. Paul’s: “We are people who know and share each other’s burdens. Though we minister in a variety of circumstances, and heaven knows we are a diverse group with different, and strong, personalities, we probably know better than anyone else the cares and joys of one another.

We are people who are mutually responsible for and accountable to one another. This means that we must support each other as we carry out our baptismal-ordination vows. It means that we are helping one another to grow into the fullness of who God calls us to become. We do this by honoring one another, by listening to one another, by challenging one another. In brief, we do this by loving one another, as God loves us. It is just as simple and as difficult as that.

Love is the seed-bed of justice and the grounding for mission. It is the essential element of life in community, and it allows the community to move beyond itself and make a witness to the world out of love for one another. I earnestly pray that we will give witness to the world of what God is doing to us and through us.”

Thank you, Lucille, for being contagious, for not being afraid of the world, for being of good cheer, and for being a faithful witness to the good news of love and forgiveness.

Amen