Monthly Archives: May 2022

Family Duties on Memorial Day Weekend 2022—Early This Year

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This year our nation will observe Memorial Day on the same day we traditionally observed it until 1971—May 30. Thankfully our family did not lose anybody to war, although my grandfathers and dad fought in World War I and II respectively. So in addition to remembering those brave men and women who fought and died to preserve our country’s freedom, I have made the weekend a time for both remembering those in my family who have died and honoring them.

Since they are no longer living, I have decided that on my watch their graves will be well kept and in good repair. So my beloved wife and I go out and trim around the tombstones, rake the graves, clean them up, and put flowers on them for the summer. Doing so is a way for me to continue to honor them, both for being such a good family and for their service to our country. We are doing it early this year because my beloved will be recovering from surgery over the Memorial Day weekend.

It also reminds me of how fleeting and transient this mortal life is. When I was a kid, we’d spend Memorial Day at the lake at my grandparents Shaffer’s cottage with my extended family. It was a grand time and I have great memories of those halcyon days. Now I only have their graves to visit and I confess I liked it a whole lot better when I was able to be with them at the lake.

So Memorial Day is a bittersweet time for me. But as long as I am able, I will continue to honor my family on this holiday, in part, by caring for their grave sites. It is the least I can do considering all they did and sacrificed for me.

May you too find ways to honor and love your loved ones, especially if you are blessed enough to have them still be living.

Father Jonathon Wylie: The Gospel is for All

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Sermon delivered on Easter 5C, Sunday, May 15, 2022 at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church, Westerville, OH.

Father Wylie is a slug and gets all whiny when we ask for a written manuscript. Nobody’s got time for a whiny priest, especially during Eastertide, so click here to listen to the audio podcast of his sermon.

Lectionary texts: Acts 11.1-18; Psalm 148; Revelation 21.1-6; St. John 13.31-35.

Father Philip Sang: Manifestation of Christianity In Action 

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Sermon delivered on Easter 5C, Sunday, May 8, 2022 at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church, Westerville, OH.

If you prefer to listen to the audio podcast of today’s sermon, click here.

Lectionary texts: Acts 9:36-43; Psalms 23 and John 10:22 – 30.

May the words of my mouth and meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you oh Lord our Rock and our Redeemer. In the name of God the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit.

This morning I want us to see how Christianity in Action is manifested in our reading from Acts 9:36-43, and i will include verse 32-35 

Luke shares three great events that can only be explained by God’s power and authority working in the lives of His Disciples. Overall, we see Luke sharing story after story of how the power of the Resurrection is affecting the greater world around Jerusalem. Faith in Jesus is spreading and lives are being transformed by the Holy Spirit in amazing ways. In our particular passage, Luke reveals to us these three great examples of what Spirit-filled Authentic Christianity looks like in action.

This morning, let’s see firsthand how God’s power is being displayed:

  • in the sacrificial life of Tabitah/Dorcas,
  • in the faith of the disciples at Joppa and
  • in the courage of the Apostle Peter.

Let’s understand that the same power and activity that we see here is readily available to us today. In our individual lives and in the life of our church we can experience so many things that can only be attributed to God’s power and authority working within and through us.

I. We see God’s power displayed in the Sacrificial Life of Tabitha
In verse 36, Luke tells us that this amazing lady was known by two distinct names; Tabitha and Dorcas. Those who spoke Aramaic as their native language called her Tabitha, while those who spoke Greek called her Dorcas. Both names mean “gazelle” signifying that she was to be a woman possessing the characteristics of awareness, agility, beauty and grace.

Why two names? While we don’t know for sure, it seems rather obvious that Tabitha was already working with both Jewish and Gentile women in Joppa. Well before the Early Church officially commissioned Paul and Barnabas to evangelize both groups, it seems that Tabitha was already sharing the message of Jesus and meeting the essential needs of both Jews and Gentiles. She had already successfully bridged the gap between the two camps and was well known and loved by both groups. To her Jewish friends she was called Tabitha. To her Gentile friends she was called Dorcas.

Tabitha’s story was a familiar one in the Early Church. She believed that the best way to show her faith in Christ was to put it into action. Jesus had gone about doing good and in like manner, Tabitha devoted her life to taking care of those in need around her. In Tabitha, we find a concrete example of what it means to live out a Spirit-filled and Spirit-led life. She bore the fruit of the Holy Spirit through her service to the poor; especially to the Jewish and Gentile widows of Joppa. She sacrificially gave her time, her resources and herself to meet their spiritual, emotional and physical needs.

Over the years Tabitha has been given the title of “God’s Dressmaker” or “Queen of the Needle”. For Tabitha being good meant doing good. She knew what she could do and she did it. She would have whole heartedly agreed with the Apostle James when he later wrote to the Jews in Diaspora.

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2:14-17) or with Apostle John when he wrote the following words to the members of his church at Ephesus:

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 2:16-18)

For Tabitha, Easter Faith meant Christian service. For her that meant she would sew clothes and do her best to meet the financial and physical needs of the poor and needy around Joppa. While the Roman Empire was renowned for its ability to create a society of peace, it was not renowned for its abundant social welfare programs. The Empire provided very little material and social help for the aged, the poor, the widowed or the physically disabled. Each person pretty much had to fend for themselves. Coming from Africa, i know what this means. 

That meant that a lot of people fell through the cracks. Many had to beg, hire themselves out as servants or even some would turn to prostitution to provide for themselves and their families. Sadly, many died due to starvation, exposure and lack of medical care. That is where Early Church Christians like Tabitha made such a positive impact. Her grace of providing money, food and clothing not only kept many people alive and kept families intact, it greatly promoted the cause of Christ. Around Joppa, Tabitha was known both as a spiritual and physical life saver.

However, we see here in our passage that working with destitute people commonly means that one is also able to be exposed to all kinds of dangers. From what Luke shares here, if it was for example time like this of COVID-19 pandemic I believe that we could say that either through an accident or simply by working around the disadvantaged, Tabitha picked up an illness that led to her abrupt death. I say abrupt because it doesn’t appear that there was much time between her illness and her death or else we would have seen her friends reach out to the Apostle Peter much earlier. If she had been suffering from a long term illness I believe that he would have been summoned much earlier. And it is in speaking of the Apostle Peter that we see the second point

II. We see the Power of God displayed in the Faith of the Disciples of Joppa
Again, I believe that it was a sudden illness that overtook Tabitha. It was only after she passed away that someone made mention that the Apostle Peter was only 11 miles away in the city of Lydda. They had faith that Peter could come to Joppa and do the impossible – raise their friend Tabitha from the dead.

Before Tabitha story Luke in Acts 9:32 – 35 tells us that Peter had been busy evangelizing around the city of Lydda. He also tells us that living there was faithful disciple who had been suffering from palsy for the last eight years named Aeneas. At that time palsy was a debilitating disease that caused a person to suffer from wild tremors and paralysis. Verse 33 tells us that Aeneas was now completely bedridden. It appears that his friends had contacted the Apostle Peter in the hopes that he could come and heal Aeneas in the name of Jesus.

“And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose.”

News of Aneneas’ miraculous healing became the catalyst of an immediate Revival. All around that area, people saw Aeneas and began to believe in power and message of Jesus. The kingdom of God was being advanced.

Luke tells us that news of Aneneas’ miracle had gotten back to Tabitha’s friends in Joppa and we see that it greatly influenced how they handled Tabitha’s dead body. First of all, according to custom, the ladies present washed her body. Then they placed a cloth around it and carefully placed it in an upper room. That way they could both isolate and protect Tabitha’s body.

What is important to realize here is that while they had washed her body, they had not wrapped her body for burial as was the usual custom of that day. Normally, a body was buried within just a few hours of a person’s passing.

In Tabitha’s case however, her family and friends had not began the process of wrapping and places spices all around her. Nor had they made plans for her burial. Everything had been put on hold. They had simply washed her body, placed a cloth around it and placed it in an upper room. They were not ready to bury Tabitha yet.

It is here that it all gets exciting. We know that those disciples loved Tabitha. Her life had meant a great deal to them and her death had meant even more. For with her death there was now a huge void. Who would now take care of the widows? Who would make their clothes and provide for their needs? Tabitha’s sudden death had revealed just how valuable this lady was to both the Jewish and Greek community. Her sudden death was a major blow to everyone. So, they decided that they would go for a miracle beyond imagination. In what looks like impossible faith, they sent two men to go as quickly as they could and get the Apostle Peter. Now, the city of Joppa is located 11 miles north west of Lydda. Round trip would mean a total of 22 miles. That’s a lot of walking.

Depending on what time they started, most likely most of the day was spent getting to Lydda and locating Peter. Travelling at night was extremely dangerous so the men would have had to stay overnight. They would have gotten as early as possible the next morning and started back with the Apostle Peter, if he had agreed to go with them.

What we need to see here is the tremendous love and faith that these Joppa disciples possessed. Some have theorized that they only wanted Peter to come and speak words of comfort but when you look at the whole passage that doesn’t seem to be what Luke is trying to tell us. It seems that Luke wants us to understand that these early Christian disciples of Joppa were praying, hoping and had the faith to believe in the impossible. They had faith that Peter in the name of Jesus could bring Tabitha back from the dead.

They did not have any assurances that Peter could do anything. But, after hearing about Jesus’ resurrection and the miracles that the Apostles were doing they decided to hold on to their faith. They decided that it was at least worth a two day walk to see if Peter could do anything. Their love for Tabitha was so great that if there was a chance for her to be raised from the dead they were going to take it.

This kind of faith that these disciples had in Jesus and in the Apostle Peter sounds crazy and it is. But they were crazy enough to believe in the impossible and God reached down and answered their prayers.

III. Finally, we see the power of God displayed in the tremendous Courage of Peter

How would you have liked if you had been Peter the day those two men showed up? I am sure he was glad to greet some disciples from nearby Joppa. I am sure he was overjoyed to hear about all the good things that were going on in Joppa. I am sure he rejoiced in the truth that the Great Commission of Jesus was coming to reality.

However, once they started sharing what they wanted the Apostle to do, I am sure Peter was taken back. He had to be energized by the healing of Aeneas but bringing someone back from the dead, well that’s another story. It’s one thing to heal someone of a debilitating disease its quite another to bring breath back into a person’s dead body.

There was a great deal at stake in the Apostle Peter going back to Joppa with these men. What would happen if he got there and no miracle happened? What would happen if he got there and attempted to raise Tabitha from the dead and nothing happened? Would the cause of Jesus be harmed and would people think him foolish? Would everything positive that had happened over the last few days be lost?

It is so easy to read these stories and forget that they involve real flesh and blood people. Peter’s pride, his reputation and the ongoing mission of Jesus was at stake. If Peter goes and nothing happens then the whole movement of Jesus might could have been greatly hindered and Peter could have been discredited.

Verse 39 tells us that Peter filled with faith ( and no doubt some anxiety) goes back with these two men to Joppa. I wonder what they talked about during that five hour walk back. I imagine those men did their best to tell Peter all about Tabitha and how much she meant to both the Jewish and Greek communities. I am also sure that Peter did a lot of praying and seeking God’s will as they walked along. This was no time to be putting God to the test.

Once they got to Joppa and dispensed with all the nice things, they all settled down to the real issue at hand. Taking Peter upstairs they showed Peter some of the clothes that Tabitha had made them. The room was filled with people grieving over the loss of their friend.

It is here that we see the Apostle’s courage and genius in action. He takes a page of out Jesus’ miracle book. Back in Luke 8:49 – 56, Luke records the story of Jesus’ raising Jarius’ daughter back to life. Luke tells us that when Jesus got there no one believed that He could raise the girl from the dead. Luke tells us that Jesus put everyone out except for Peter, James and John and the parents. Jesus then takes the little girl by the hand and raises her from the dead.

In very much the same way, Peter puts everyone out of the upper room. He wants some time alone with the LORD. He kneels and down and begins to pray. How wonderful it would be to have those words that he spoke that day. Peter is then given permission and is led to speak to the body of Tabitha. He only says two words, but they are powerful words – TABITHA ARISE.

Immediately Tabitha begins to open her eyes and when she sees Peter she sits up. The Apostle then helps her off the table and calls for friends to come and take care of her. Suddenly, instead of weeping and sorrow the house was full of surprise, joy and praising the name of Jesus.

All over the city the news of Tabitha being raised from the dead quickly spread. And just like the miracle of Aeneas, the miracle of Tabitha was the catalyst for a mighty Revival. People hearing and seeing Tabitha understood the power of Jesus’ Resurrection. They began to believe in the LORD.

Does God still raise people from the dead today like we see in our passage? Are there miracles happening today that we can only attribute to the power and authority of God? In all that happens as we do what we do as Christians the focus is on what God does in and through his people.

Focusing on Jesus and bringing people to faith was the reason the LORD allowed Peter to bring back Tabitha. Bringing her back to life was the start of a Revival all around Joppa. It was not a miracle for the sake of a miracle. We read that after the miracle, the Apostle Peter stays around the city of Joppa for awhile. 

This morning, 

  • I believe that the LORD is calling us to experience the same Holy Spirit power that we see present in the lives of Tabitha, the disciples of Joppa and in the Apostle Peter.
  • I believe that many of us are called to serve those who are less fortunate. The LORD has given us the necessary time and resources to reach out to them in the name of Jesus. The LORD has called us to impact the lives of these individuals materialistically and spiritually.
  • I believe that the LORD has called many of us to possess deep faith. Faith that will pray and fast for the impossible. Faith that can lead to great miracles along with people coming to Jesus. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Today, we need people who possess and practice faith like these disciples of Joppa.
  • I believe many have been called to possess great spiritual courage. Peter went to Joppa with a lot of faith and courage. It took courage to go to that upper room and pray for a miracle. It took great faith and courage to believe that the LORD would work through him, a man who had once denied Jesus.

Our churches and our communities desperately need people like Tabitha, like the disciples at Joppa and like the Apostle Peter. We need people who are willing and ready for something to happen around them that they can only be attributed to the power and authority of the LORD. We need people who have completely surrendered and are willing to accomplish the impossible for cause of Jesus. We need people who will courageous seek God’s Holy Spirit anointing and to then go in that anointing and share the message of Jesus at work, at home and everywhere.

This morning, as we come to a close let’s ask ourselves some questions:

  1. Are we willing and ready to sacrifice like Tabitha? Will we obey the call to give of the time and resources the LORD has placed in our hands?
  2. Are we willing and ready to possess the faith like the faith of those disciples of Joppa? Are we willing to believe in the impossible and then set out to make it happen?
  3. Are we willing to be filled with the Holy Spirit’s anointing and courage that we see being displayed in the life of the Apostle Peter?

More than ever today we need God’s power and authority unleashed in our lives and in the life of our churches. We need to see things happening that can only be attributed to the LORD.

This morning as we close let us open up our hearts to the LORD committing to Him that we will take up the mantle of Tabitha, the disciples of Joppa and the Apostle Peter. Let us surrender to the Father the son and the Holy Spirit and be the catalysts God needs to bring about a Revival here in our church and in our community.

In the name of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

V-E Day 2022

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Today marks the 77th anniversary of V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day), May 8, 1945, in which the Allies celebrated the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany the day before. Take a moment today and thank God for bringing us victory over evil. Remember the brave men and women who fought against Nazism. If you know a veteran who is still alive, take time today and thank him (or her) for his service to our country. Ask that person to tell you his story and remember it so that you can pass it on to your children and others. Nazi Germany may be a thing of the past, but unspeakable evil certainly is not. #VEDay77

May 7, 2022: Happy Birthday, Mom

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Today would have been my mama’s 100th birthday, something I simply cannot fathom; where has the time gone?? My mother was an exquisite role-model of motherhood. She loved me, spent time with me, loved me enough to instill what it meant to be a Maney, and disciplined me when I did not live up to that standard. I hated it at the time, but am grateful for it today. She allowed me to have a childhood that was second to none because she insisted that I be a kid and worked sacrificially to make that happen. In that regard, I have missed her presence these past 14 years. But I cannot be sad because I would rather her be where she is than to be here with me and struggling with illness and infirmity like she did in her last years (check out this reflection on grief and consolation over parents who have died).

Thank you mama, for being the mother you were. Thank you for all your sacrifice for me and for our family. Thank you for allowing me to grow up in a timely manner and not before it was my time to do so. Thank you for personifying sacrificial love for me. And thank you, dear God, for blessing me with the best parents a person could ever want or dream of having.

Happy birthday, mama. I love you. Enjoy your rest with the Lord who loves you and has claimed you from all eternity.

Rest eternal grant unto Margaret, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon her. May she, with the rest of God’s saints, through the mercy and grace of God, rest in peace and RISE IN GLORY. Amen.

And for those of you whose mother is still living, make sure you remember your mama on Mothers’ Day this Sunday. Better yet, treat her like every day is Mothers’ Day. I know my mama would surely approve.

Christ’s Resurrection: Making All Things New

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Sermon delivered on Easter 3C, Sunday, May 1, 2022 at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church, Westerville, OH.

If you prefer to listen to the audio podcast of today’s sermon, usually somewhat different from the text below, click here.

Lectionary texts: Acts 9.1-20; Psalm 30; Revelation 5.11-15; St. John 21.1-19.

Today is my last regular Sunday to preach to you, my beloved (ignoring the fact that many of you consider that my preaching is enough to make any Sunday irregular). Fourteen years ago today I was ordained to the priesthood. Eleven years ago to the day, we started a home Bible study/eucharist that would eventually become St. Augustine’s. I don’t quite know where the last fourteen years have gone, or more precisely, how they have passed so quickly. But here I am on the verge of retirement, feeling very much like a washed-up old man and hot mess, and so I am resolved to pack fourteen years worth of sermons into one today. I’m guessing that will only take a few hours given my superb skill of summarization. I’m sure you are thrilled at the prospect. I see Father Bowser twitching already in giddy anticipation.

What are we to make of St. John’s strange story of Christ’s appearing to his disciples by the Sea of Galilee? What is St. John trying to tell us? How is this story relevant to us today, both as individuals and the Church? This is what I want us to look at this morning.

Hearing St. John recount Christ’s third resurrection appearance to his disciples, we get the distinct impression that something new has been accomplished, that things have really changed, and for the better. Jesus is the same, yet he is somehow different. Despite appearing to his disciples twice before (Jn 20.19-29), they still don’t recognize him at first. They knew it was him but yet there was something different about him, so no one dared ask him who he was. As one theologian has wryly observed about the nature of these appearances, after the resurrection you don’t find anyone casually slapping Jesus on the back and saying with a grin, “We’re so glad you’re back, Jesus!” No, Christ was alive and had carried his wounds into God’s new world, remaining the same. But he was different and because he was alive and transformed, everything else was new. But were things really new? St. John doesn’t tell us the disciples were busy proclaiming that Christ had risen from the dead and working enthusiastically to build his Church. No, they had apparently returned to their original vocation of fishing, and the story gives us the impression they had done so because they were either depressed and/or bored. Nothing new there. Where was the excitement from the Octave of Easter we read about last week? In our NT lesson, St. Paul was still breathing threats and violence against the fledgling church. Nothing new there. The world still scoffed at the disciples’ proclamation that Christ was risen from the dead. Nothing new there. So what was really new?

Before we answer that question, it is critical to our resurrection faith that we again pay careful attention to the bodily nature of Christ’s appearance in this story (cf. Luke 24.33-42). He stands on the shore and has cooked breakfast for his weary and discouraged disciples. He eats with them and talks with them. They can see him, hear him, touch him. Despite his transformed appearance they know it is Jesus because they recognize him primarily in his bodily form, not to mention his gentle kindness, thoughtfulness, and love. And here is the answer to our “what’s new” question. St. John, masterful and brilliant storyteller he is, is telling us in story form what the early Church proclaimed and what Jesus himself had told his disciples at the Last Supper—that in his Death our sins are forgiven, our wounds are healed, and we are made whole again. We are reconciled to God our Father and freed from our slavery to the power of Sin and with it, from Death’s tyranny. Yes, death will come to us all barring Christ’s return in the interim because all have sinned, but we will live and conquer Death because Christ lives and has conquered Death through his own Death and Resurrection, thanks be to God! Easter anyone?

How do you get all that from this story, you ask, and with a bit of snark? I’m glad you ask, despite the fact that I just told you. But it wouldn’t be right if you stopped arguing with me during my sermons after all these years. That would mean you have stopped being the quirky people that make up this nuthouse of a parish, the people I love so much. So to repeat, while St. John does not tell us these things in exposition, he tells us in personal stories. In other words, we see Christ’s victory over Sin and Death in the transformative power it has on those who belong to him. Take his encounter with St. Peter, for example. There is much to love about St. Peter because he is us. He had shot his mouth off on the night before Christ died, boasting of his undying loyalty to his Lord, only to deny him three times in a spectacular act of cowardice of which we are all capable, especially in the context Peter’s denials occurred. And afterwards he had rightly wept bitterly over his profound failure. Imagine now for a minute that Christ was not risen from the dead, that there was no possibility for reinstatement, for forgiveness, for personal reaffirmation after catastrophic failure. How would St. Peter have felt? Utterly devastated and remorseful, no doubt, with no chance of his failure being put to rights. We all know this because we’ve all lapsed in our resurrection faith on occasion. There’s no worse feeling in the world than knowing a massive wrong/injustice cannot be made right because of our sins and/or failures. But this is exactly the situation we would find ourselves in if Christ really is dead. We may love God and others, but we’ve all let God and others down. We’ve betrayed and denied God and others and failed to live as the holy people God created us and calls us to be, and if Christ is not alive we are still dead in our sins with no hope of resolution or forgiveness. 

But Christ is not dead. He is alive and now confronting St. Peter about his past sin. “Simon, son of John, do you agapao me more than these?” Agapao is the verb form of agape, the Greek word that means the highest form of love, the kind of love that is self-giving and seeks the absolute best for the beloved, the kind of love with which Christ loved his disciples and loves us. “Yes, Lord, you know I phileo you,” St. Peter replied. Phileo is another Greek word for love, but it can refer to a lesser kind of love, a brotherly, affectionate love that is not always self-giving. Back came the response: Feed my lambs (take care of my followers, the Church, Simon). A second time Christ asked his wounded and hurting disciple: Do you agapao me?, receiving the same answer. Yes Lord, you know I phileo you. Back came the response: Tend my sheep. A third time, matching the number of times St. Peter had denied his Lord on Holy Thursday, Christ asked him, “Simon, son of John, do you phileo me?” St. Peter was hurt by this third question, or perhaps the subtle change in it. We aren’t told why. “Lord, you know all things. You know I phileo you.” Back came the response: Feed my sheep. Now while there is much scholarly debate over the significance of Christ using St. Peter’s word, phileo, to ask a third time if St. Peter loved him, count me among those who believe St. John was too good a storyteller to have this be simply about semantics. Here we see our crucified and risen Lord meet St. Peter where St. Peter was emotionally with Christ at that moment. Surely St. Peter had learned from his unfounded bravado that he wasn’t the stud he fancied himself to be, nor did he love his Lord as he thought. He had failed catastrophically the man he loved more than anyone else, the man who had turned his whole life upside down. In telling us this tender and compelling story, St. John is surely telling us that this is how Christ and his resurrection are making all things new. Without forgiveness of sins on the cross, without a newfound freedom to resist Sin’s power, there could have been no real forgiveness. St. Peter, like us, would have remained dead in his sins and alienated from God the Father, doomed to utter destruction. But here was Christ, meeting his wayward and sorrowful disciple where he was, forgiving him and inviting him to take up the victory Christ had accomplished for him in his Death and Resurrection, and Christ does the same for us. St. Peter would accept Christ’s invitation by giving his life for the Son of God and so can we.

In telling us this story, St. John is surely telling us that the power of Jesus is typically not made known in stunning ways, in ways the world recognizes as spectacular, although there are notable and numerous exceptions to this rule. Christ making all things new is not about razzle-dazzle or eye-popping special effects that we love to see at the movies. Instead, it is about the quiet way of Christ with his people, with St. Peter, with you and me, agapaoing us in all our unloveliness, forgiving all our failures and betrayals and denials, recognizing our limitations, but also seeing our potential and putting us to work for him, despite who we can be, out of his sheer grace and love for us. There is nothing we have said or not said, thought or not thought, done or not done that is beyond the healing love and forgiveness of our crucified and risen Savior, nothing that will not eventually be put to rights, even if we must wait for it to be put to rights in God’s new heavens and earth. If you cannot find real hope, real comfort, real healing in this reality and promise, my beloved, surely you are to be pitied most of all. St. Paul found it on the road to Damascus, St. Peter found it in our gospel story today as have countless other Christians across time and cultures. Let us join this happy and forgiven throng so that like the psalmist in today’s lesson, we too can make the bold proclamation of conquering death through Christ our own!

And how does this apply to Christ’s body, the Church, to us together? It is quite appropriate that today’s gospel lesson was the appointed text because it is the promise and power of Christ making all things new, even with all its ambiguity and perplexities, that allows me to leave the people I love so much. Make no mistake. Human leadership, good leadership, is massively important for any family. But human leaders come and go and I am no different than anyone else in that regard. We are a healthy, thriving parish with a bright future, and while I have played some small part in that, the fact remains that we are this way because we make Christ our true Head and Leader. We believe in his promise to meet us where we are in all our changes and chances of life, in all our fears and hopes and dreams and failures, and he promises to lead us through even the valley of the shadow of death. This is what allows me to retire with confident hope for you our beloved family, because I know Christ lives and is present here among us, making all things new, transforming the old.  

My dearly beloved, don’t ever lose sight of this reality and promise. Christ seeks you out, no matter who or where you are, and promises to bring you home one day to a world where there will be no more sorrow or sighing or sickness or alienation or madness or folly or separation or death. We can stake our individual and collective lives on this promise if we continue to respond faithfully to the means of grace that make Christ available to us in real and living ways: Bible reading and study, prayer, confession, sweet fellowship of all kinds (don’t forget to party and enjoy the blessings Christ showers on you), and regular partaking of holy communion. All these things open us to Christ’s risen reality and Presence in and through the Holy Spirit. We have all died and been raised to new life in Christ in our baptism, and we are yoked to him forever, thank God. In Christ is our hope, our present, and our future. In him we find comfort in our sorrows, God’s tenderness, forgiveness, new life in our failures, and a deep abiding joy in all things because we belong to Christ. Imitate this great love as he commands us. Beloved, make this old man happy and proud by responding to Christ’s love with boldness and courage and hope. Remain faithful to him who delivers you from Sin and Death, and never abandon the faith once delivered to the saints, the true apostolic faith. Don’t be worried about your future as God’s family here at St. Augustine’s without the Maneys because you have Christ and he will never abandon or desert you. He is busy making all things new, yourselves included, both now and in God’s new world to come, a world that Christ’s resurrection announced and inaugurated. God bless you, my beloved. I thank God for blessing me with the massive privilege of being your rector for all these years. Toots and I are thankful to have been part of this holy and very quirky family and I am thankful to be yoked to you in Christ forever. We love you more than you’ll ever know. To him be honor, praise, and glory forever and ever. Alleluia! Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.