Be the bridge

Sermon for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost (November 13, 2022)

View the scripture readings and the Collect of the Day: 23rd Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 28, Year C

Preached at St. James’ Episcopal Church in Hyde Park, NY. A video of our whole 10 am service is available here.

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For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;

the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.

But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;

for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.

I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;

no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.

No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;

for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.

They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;

for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;

for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord--
and their descendants as well.

Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent-- its food shall be dust!

They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

Isaiah 65:17-25

Edited Transcript

May only truth be spoken here, and only truth be heard: in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I invite you to be seated.

I've been having a little bit too much fun this morning. You know, it's our second week together. And then yesterday and on Friday was the Convention of the Diocese of New York, which brings all of the people of our diocese... how many churches? ...Like a whole bunch. Like 200, a little less than 200. Brings people and clergy of 200 churches together in one place for worship and prayer and the activity of the church. And I think I think I'm just coming off of it really jazzed. Also, I did see a lot of clergy there yesterday. But I have to tell you that I think you might have the happiest priest in the whole diocese. I'm just so happy to be here. So that's the energy I'm bringing today.

The readings though, the readings that we have before us today... just to take a more serious turn... These readings I think speak to us—especially that reading from Isaiah, also Jesus' words to us—of a certain human condition and in particular the Christian condition. And that is this: that while we are here and now, God has given us for the gift of imagination, the power and the ability to glimpse God's dream for the world.

And I have to tell you that I think this is both a blessing and a curse. Of course, it is a blessing to have a glimpse of what God truly intends for God's creation. But it's also a burden. Because we can see so clearly, sometimes in our own lives, sometimes in the lives of our neighbors and friends, or folks we love, and sometimes through our work in and our awareness of the wider world, we can see so clearly the ways in which this world falls short of God's good dream. Right.

Too often, the world that we live in here and now is much more like a nightmare than a dream. And in a way, it would be easier not to know that God intends better for us. And so a gap opens up. And especially for Christians, we sort of live our lives in that gap between the nightmare of what so often is, and the dream of God that we can glimpse. And we're stretched between that dream and that nightmare.

And when we make that movement, we realize that it is Jesus who stands in that gap. The cross is the intersection between time and eternity. The cross is where the divine and the human meet. And it is in that gap that Jesus stands to lay himself down for us as a bridge between the nightmare and the dream.

And the good news, especially as we look back to All Saints' Day, is that we are part of that Body that stands in the gap and makes the bridge so that this world can walk from nightmare to dream. We are part of that body. We are called to be the body of Christ, standing as a bridge between what is and what ought to be.

Now at our diocesan Convention yesterday, we witnessed some of the ways that really when we come together, together as the Body of Christ, we can begin to take steps on that journey and to build that bridge together. And a couple of things I want to highlight that we did, that your diocese and your church did yesterday. The Diocese, a few years ago by act of Convention, set aside a fund of $1.1 million for reparations for slavery, as a way of beginning to make amends, with the gifts of our lives, for the sin that we committed as a Church, that we committed as a people. And in yesterday's Convention, the convention created a 501(c)3 which will steward and administer those funds on behalf of this Church, so that scholarships can be given, so that new projects can be done to uplift communities against whom this Church has sinned. That is a great and powerful blessing. A wonderful new beginning for our church.

We also committed, we made what in my opinion is a very challenging commitment that by 2030—so seven years from now—this Diocese will be carbon neutral, and our churches will be carbon neutral. So we are beginning as of this Convention, to take steps to to be a church that is a sign of hope and that takes the lead in stewarding this beautiful creation that God has given to us, and which we know we're not doing right by.

But we can begin to walk that journey from nightmare, to dream. That is the power of the Body of Christ when we come together, because no one of us could do all of that by ourselves. But together, we can begin to walk that journey, which is why we come here.

And as Thanksgiving approaches, and as we contemplate this call to be the bridge between nightmare and dream... i the next few weeks, you should be receiving from St. James' an invitation to renew your pledge, your commitment, to supporting and stewarding this beautiful community. And I want to invite you now, even before you receive that invitation, to make a pledge of your gifts for the year ahead. I want you to begin to pray about how God may be calling you to support this church. Not only because we care about this place, but because I want everybody here to know what it means to be part of the Body of Christ, to give yourself to the Body of Christ, and to be the bridge between nightmare and dream. We are so blessed to be part of this body. And so I invite you to pray about how God may be calling you to commit yourself again.

The good news for today, even while we may be here, in a world that so often feels like a nightmare, is that the dream of God endures. The dream of God is everlasting. That beacon of hope is always going to shine and you are part of the hope. You are the bridge that is the Body of Christ in this world. Amen? Amen.