Bishop Smith's Homily at the 235th Diocesan Convention

January 14, 2012, Cathedral of St. John the Divine

These lessons are about mission.  This diocesan convention, as we have prayed, is about mission and renewal, and speaking of such things, there are two things that could get us.

One thing that could get us is the teaching and example of Jesus in the gospels.  

Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.  Go therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you – always – to the end of the age.”

“Go.”  

One of the more interesting aspects of serving as a bishop in the Diocese of New York, especially here in the City, is in fact going “out there on the streets.”  

What I was used to in episcopal ministry, in Connecticut, was leaving wherever I was – office or home – climbing into the car, driving, parking often in a spot reserved for the bishop at the destination, and ducking into a building once again.  
Here, in the city, it’s different.  Here I have to go outside, walking, among people, and riding on subways and buses, among people, lots and lots of people.  There have been Visitations and meetings to which I have just walked from here to there and back.  Even walking across the Close, or inside this Cathedral – as public a place as any in New York - I’m out among people.  

That may not seem like a big thing to you, but it is to me.  Imagine walking through Chinatown – or riding the 1 train - in a dark suit, black shoes, a bright purple shirt, gold chain and cross, and clerical collar.  Think that New Yorkers don’t look at one another?  Let me tell you about the sneaked glances, the direct stares.  

Out there I’ve met members of the diocese, and talked about the Church with strangers – a bank teller just yesterday - or when I’m just standing on a bus or on the subway, and I’m aware that I‘m representing The Episcopal Church, the diocese, you – and yes, can we say it?, Christ Jesus. People often nod, or say hello, and sometimes approach in need, too.

All of which has made me think of how I, and we all, spend so much of our time inside, in our two hundred-odd churches built to hide us inside (In Connecticut in several towns folk did not know the churches existed, and one neighborhood thought the local church was closed), and it made me think also, how we devote so much energy and so many resources to their running costs and their repair and maintenance (or not) and to the busy-ness of what goes on inside them.  And how it becomes easy then to feel we own them, they’re ours, here for us.

And then I got to thinking about Jesus, where Jesus spent his time.  Reading the Gospels, it’s clear he covered a lot of territory – from Tyre and Sidon in Lebanon to the district of the Gerasenes in Jordan, to his home region of Galilee, and the Samaritan hill country, the Judean wilderness and of course, Jerusalem.  Outside.  Walking.  Among the people.   I wonder what a study of his ministry - the proportion of his ministry that he spent out among people - would show, compared with the portion he spent inside (religious) buildings?  Wouldn’t it be interesting to tote up the pericopes (not to mention his time in travel) to compare his presence “outside” compared with his presence “inside.”

Remember how he met people, how he challenged them, brought healing and the invitation to new life to them, presented God’s heart for justice and peace and mercy, and how in everything he strove to bring to this earth God’s will and purpose.

Then after his Resurrection, and here’s today’s gospel, he handed over that ministry to his followers, to us:  Jesus said to them, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.  Here’s my first marching order for you:  Go, go out there, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you – always – to the end of the age.”

I think we’re supposed to be outside of our buildings a lot more, as he was outside, to work God’s purpose  Certainly that means a whole lot more than someone walking around New York City in a purple shirt! Think, for instance, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  
Could we begin re-forming our lives around Christ’s expectations for mission to the world in new ways – with honest conversation, bold imagination, earnest prayer, re-visioning, letting go of familiar patterns and things, renewal, that will lead us into spending a whole lot more energy and time outside?

What if we all, laity and clergy, were to apportion our time for the gospel that Jesus has entrusted to us – apportion it decisively between inside time, outside time?  Laity, could you expect our clergy, and support them, to spend as much time in the community as they do in the church? Would you do the same?

We have spiritual gifts in abundance and variety, Saint Paul enumerated them for the Corinthians - wisdom, knowledge, miracles, prayer, faith – aren’t those gifts given by God for our mission to others as well as for our life together?

Thinking of mission, the first thing that could get us, then, and move us, is the example of Jesus outside, and his orders to “Go."

The alternative that could get us, thinking of mission, and not in a good way, is to stay content with our life-style the way it is.

Over the years, the Church has drifted into a way of living that depends on others other peoples’ money.  Think buildings again:  how many of our two hundred or so church buildings have we built with our own money and resources?  Or, how many of our two hundred congregations worship and live in buildings which were planned, designed, and built by our forebears?  Think next of income:  how many of our congregations are supported entirely by our own giving?  And how many depend on – to one extent or another – the income and/or principal of endowments which also were built by our forebears?  

Our Church, especially in the Northeast, is tied to a life style that has enabled us to get by on what we’ve been given or inherited from other, people:  property (sometimes located and designed for another era) – we claim as “our” buildings - and money, “our” endowments.  So we are “trust fund children,” living off legacies from the past, and we haven’t challenged ourselves to provide adequately and generously for the life, mission and witness of the Church our own day – not to mention the days to come.  Rather, the Church has relied on inheritances (interest and principal) while contributing only meagerly from our own resources, increasingly apart from the neighborhood and the world and even apart from one another.  And the legacies are being spent down very quickly.

Sound harsh?  The signs are clear.  Cutting budgets and apportionments has become the norm within our parishes, large and small, well-heeled or not.  With each cut, there is loss of ministry, loss of program, loss of spirit, a step backwards, and more and more resources are dedicated to internal institutional life-support, rather than outward gospel mission.  

There are lots of reasons for this predicament, and they add up to the truth that the way we have been living – providing primarily for ourselves, from other peoples’ money – whether that is from endowments or fundraisers or property rental or whatever – that style of living mutes the gospel message.  

Here again, let’s dream.  What if, caught up anew in the grace of Christ, we would look to the One who was not concerned with survival – if he were he wouldn’t have gone to the cross – but with faithfulness to God?

Though we are many, we are all baptized to one body, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.  And we have resources, spiritual and material, in abundance. In that freedom we can begin rethinking our mission for our age, again, meeting, talking honestly, collaborating for the common good, imagining, dreaming together about how we can be more effective gospel people.  Would we be willing to give up, sacrifice (make holy) stuff we have thought is “ours”?  .  Would each of us here, as Christian believers and leaders, shake off old dependencies and take on our responsibility in Christ beginning now for the present and the future of the Church and begin ourselves to witness and to contribute to teach and ensure gospel living?  

This great diocese, your parish, the whole Church, our life is about mission and renewal.  And there are two things that could get hold of us.  One is the teaching and example of Jesus, to build us into vibrant gospel people, truly a light to the nations.  The other is continuing in the patterns of our dependent life-style, dependent on those who have gone before.

Sisters and brothers, may we look to and decide for the first, for the sake of Jesus who said, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.  “Now go, you go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.”  

He also said, “And remember, I am with you – always – to the end of the age.”