A Sermon of The Rev. Dr. David A. Killian, Rector
All Saints Parish
Brookline, Massachusetts
First Sunday in Lent
March 5, 1995
Text: Luke 4:1-13: Jesus was tempted.
I
Three years ago a man walked into the Brookline Public Library. While there he noticed a pamphlet inviting people to attend the RUAH spirituality series at All Saints Parish. He had never heard of All Saints Parish or of RUAH before, but the series looked interesting and he decided to attend. He returned for the next RUAH series and the next and the next and slowly he got to know several of the people of our parish whom he found to be friendly and welcoming. In time he started worshipping here regularly, attending other classes and programs, and he filled out a pledge card during the October stewardship appeal even though he was not a Christian and, indeed, he was not baptized. Today, in a few minutes he will stand before us and be enrolled as a catechumen in his spiritual journey which will culminate in Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Eucharist at the Easter Vigil Service on Holy Saturday. Bill Frimmel received an invitation to attend a RUAH lecture and he responded. God continued to extend invitations and Bill responded to these also. God's invitation and our response -- this is the dynamic which we see over and over again in Scripture and which continues in people's lives today.
It began with Abraham and Sarah who were invited by God to leave their homeland in Haran and journey to a new land which God would give them. It is an invitation to achieve our eternal destiny to become the unique persons that God created us to be. It is an invitation to become whole and integral persons.
Along the way we, like Jesus, will be tempted to divert from our spiritual journey. In today's Gospel passage, Jesus was tempted to misuse his spiritual gifts and become a magician by turning stone into bread; he was tempted to give up his faith in the one true God by worshipping the devil; he was tempted to win people to the Kingdom by dazzling them with a leap from the top of the temple instead of following God's plan. These temptations sought to divert Jesus from his true purpose and his spiritual journey.
II
Today is the last of my three-part sermon series on "A vision for All Saints Parish: Spirituality, Stewardship, Sharing." Today, as I speak about Sharing, we ask "What temptations face All Saints Parish with regard to sharing?"
We can speak of three temptations. We are tempted to resist sharing our faith, our hope, and our love. First, we are tempted to resist sharing our faith. Our American culture, and perhaps even more, our New England culture, often sees religious belief as a private matter. "You have your faith and I have mine." Or people say "one thing we don't talk about is religion." Or we have this tremendous fear that if I mention my church or my belief, people will think I'm a holy roller or a religious fanatic.
Yet deep within each of us, there is a hunger for God, a need which can be filled by God alone. Carl Jung, the great psychoanalyst, was counseling a man who had been in therapy for six months and was getting no better. Finally Jung said, "Friend, I can't do any more for you. What you need is God." "How do I find God, Dr. Jung?" the man asked. "I don't know," said Jung, "but I suspect if you will find a group of people some place that believe in God passionately and just spend time with them, you will find God."
In my vision for All Saints Parish, I see parishioners who believe in God passionately and who feel comfortable sharing their faith. There is a certain Anglican respect for privacy and a certain reticence about pushing our beliefs on others which I find admirable. I am not suggesting that we become obnoxious, arrogant, or boorish. However, can we not find acceptable ways of indicating that our faith gives meaning to our lives? Can we not share our faith naturally? It is a matter of finding one's comfort level. For example, we might naturally say to a friend, "You know the other day at my church, the sermon was about...," or "Last Sunday at my church the choir sang this magnificent anthem," or "I hadn't been going to church, but then I found my way back and it really makes a difference in my life," or "I didn't have a spiritual home, but then I found my way over to All Saints." Maybe we would even feel comfortable inviting a friend to come with us some Sunday to church."
Secondly, we are tempted to resist sharing our hope. A couple of weeks ago I read a column by William Raspberry in the Boston Globe which was entitled, "The Church plays small." Raspberry said "If you're a basketball fan, you've seen him: the near 7-footer who loves to shoot 15- or 20-foot jump shots or, when he does play near the basket, persists in bringing the ball down to chest level before going up for a shot. The frustrating thing about this player is that he wastes his natural advantage. The 7-footer who brings the ball down to his chest becomes, in effect, no taller than the 5-10 guard who might smack the ball right out of his hands. Coaches have a phrase for this sort of player. He is, they say, a big man "playing small."
Raspberry thinks that the Church plays small. By this, he means that the Church has an unique role to play in the spiritual and moral rejuvenation of this country and in solving problems of homelessness, teen pregnancy, substance abuse, and school failure. He quotes Robert L. Woodson, head of the center for Neighborhood Enterprise, who asserts, "We have been looking for cures in all the wrong places. We don't have a crisis in recreation, or social services, or consumer capacity. Certainly our children need these things, and need jobs too. But these things have no redemptive quality, and what our young people need above all is to be redeemed."
How does All Saints Parish share hope? We share hope when we minister to the prisoners at the Massachusetts Correctional Institute at Longwood. The Bible study, conversation, and worship give these prisoners hope to lead renewed lives when they return to society. We share hope when we donate to a "start-up basket" to a homeless family to make a fresh start in their new household. We share hope when we go with our Mission Committee to Rosie's Place to serve a meal to homeless women. We share hope when we open our doors to the numerous twelve-step groups that meet in our church each week. We share hope when we listen to a friend who is suffering through a divorce or separation, the loss or a job, or a debilitating illness.
III
Third, we are tempted to resist sharing our love. This past Friday evening, at the invitation of someone from our RUAH program, I attended the tenth anniversary celebration of the founding of Shir Tikvah, a Jewish congregation in Winchester. I was struck by the spirit of joy and friendliness which seemed to pervade that gathering. This congregation has doubled in size in the past six years and the reason given was their friendliness and their inclusiveness.
In my vision for All Saints Parish, I see a parish that is characterized by a love and friendliness which extends to people of every age and background. We wish to be a parish in which our senior citizens will be feel honored and respected, where children are seen as assets not nuisances, where married people and single, newcomers and longtime members, people of diverse races and ethnic groups will feel welcome. I see a parish where the koinonia groups will communicate a sense of belonging and acceptance. I see a parish where meetings will radiate joy and friendliness such as we experienced yesterday at the Altar Guild Retreat, this morning at the Church School breakfast and earlier in the year at the training workshop for the Second Century Fund, at our Annual Meeting, and in the Journeys Group.
Like the people in today's first reading from Deuteronomy, we have been given a great gift but we are tempted to keep this treasure to ourselves. Jesus expressed it well in the parable of the talents. A master calls his servants in and gives five talents to one, three to another, one to another. The person with five talents takes his talents and returns five more; the person with three talents takes his talents and returns three more. The person with one talent buried his talent and didn't return anything.
My vision for All Saints Parish has three aspects: Spirituality, Stewardship, and Sharing. Spirituality is my relationship with God. Stewardship is my personal response to God in gratitude for the gifts given to me. Sharing is my response to other people.
Invitation and response. Like Bill Frimmel, each of us is on a spiritual journey that is our eternal destiny. Each is invited to respond with whole heart and mind and strength. May God inspire us to "play tall not small" and to share the great gifts of faith, hope, and love which have been given to us.
Amen.