The Episcopal Church Says: Come and Grow

We are, are we not, familiar with the Ten Commandments? Even it we cannot list all ten by memory, we might be able to peel off a couple: keep the Sabbath holy, do not murder, do not steal, honor your mother and father. I am prone to quote this honor commandment to my kids throughout this father’s day. The last of the ten is this: “you shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.” Arguably, that is perhaps the hardest of the commandments because it is so easy to do. From time to time, I falter, and covet what my neighbor has. For example, I covet my neighbor church on Main Street for their advertising campaign and giant banner on the front of their church. The United Church of Christ hit the jackpot with a brilliant campaign entitled: “God is still speaking,” They quote none other than the comedian Gracie Allen who said: “Never place a period where God has placed a comma.” The premise behind the series of ads is that God continues to work in the world, through people, through scriptures, and through the church. Inspiration did not end with the last sentence of the New Testament, but is ongoing as it encourages people of faith to live out the gospel message each day. I love this campaign and yet, I do covet it and wish the Episcopal Church had thought of it first.

Alas, the Episcopal Church has our campaign. It is: “Come and Grow.” Not bad, and it certain fits nicely into our gospel passage this morning. The first portion of the passage is called the parable of the growing seed, found only in Mark. In it we hear of the Kingdom of God as compared to someone who scatters seed on the ground, and while asleep each night, the seed grows on its own, confounding and surprising the one who planted it. The meaning of the phrase for the “earth producing of itself” has the same root of the English word automatic. The seed automatically grows, without anyone having to till the soil, spread fertilizer, or pull the weeds. When the seed has grown into grain, then it is time to harvest. Jesus turns yet again to agricultural images to shape a message of God’s mysterious and miraculous presence in the world to a people and culture at home with stories of seeds and sheep and fishes. We get a picture of God taking root in the earth, which for us extends to our lives, our nation, our time and place. It is not heaven that Jesus is talking about; it is the moment at hand.

Our church, the Episcopal Church, is saying: come and grow. Gone are the days when we could expect children of Episcopalians to grow into adults and continue to worship in the church of their parents, or worship in a church at all. An invitation is a requirement in our day and age. We value not just good liturgy that moves our souls and spirits: we value welcome. The Come and Grow campaign says that “we may not have all the answers, but we welcome all your questions. That’s because we believe we all have something more to learn from one another – and always more to learn about the world, our God, and ourselves. The Episcopal Church does not ask you to check your mind at the door. Our ability to reason is a gift from God.” In an interview on Larry King the other night, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold quoted from John 16 when Jesus said: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” It is a verse he quotes often to respond to those who question our inclusion of all of God’s children – as they are – into the life of our church. Come and grow: in understanding, in gratitude, in service and in peace.

Later today, the Episcopal Church will elect a new Presiding Bishop for the next nine years. The white insert in your bulletins this morning, the last of a series that we have distributed leading up to General Convention, has a list of those who have been nominated. In our church, always democratic, the bishops select one of their own, but that name then goes to the House of Deputies for ratification. For the average person in the pew, it may seem to make little difference who is elected our next Presiding Bishop. He or she does not possess the authority of the Pope, nor would they have the influence of an archbishop in many other provinces of our communion. Nevertheless, the Presiding Bishop is the chief pastor of our church and the key leader in articulating its vision and mission. Whoever is elected later today, will inherit a church that is a bit weary from constant conflict, yet feeling a need to pull forward.

As I mentioned in my sermon last week, a number of parishioners and I have been up to our eyeballs in history books looking into the past of this congregation as we approach the latest phase of the restoration of the brownstone exterior, putting on a new slate roof, and restoring the many stained glass windows in the choir room and offices in our annex. This congregation, when it was Christ Church Parish and before it was named the cathedral of the diocese, can claim one of first Presiding Bishops as our own. The Reverend Philander Chase was rector here from 1811 to 1817 – his picture hangs on the wall along with other rectors and deans – he served during the years of the earlier white wooden church building located just across Church Street where the Stilts building now stands. Chase would later become Bishop of Ohio and later of Illinois. Chase served as the sixth Presiding Bishop from 1843-1852.

We are a church influenced by the democracy that gave rise to the American political experience: bishops, clergy, and laity will all weigh in on countless of resolutions. Though the politics and maneuvering of the convention is as undoubtedly interesting to some as it is appalling to others, we can look to the simple parable in Mark to remind us that in spite of how hard we try to read and meditate on Scripture to be faithful to its original meaning, how hard we try to be agents of peace and reconciliation in our broken world, and how hard we try to say our prayers and be faithful in our choices, and our giving, and our worship, God’s abundant creation is rich enough, deep enough, resilient enough, that we can be drawn into God’s love and grow – in spite of how hard we try. The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow. I hope and pray that each one of us may accept the invitation to grow – grow stronger in faith, grow more tolerant of differences, grow more patient in adversity, and grow into the children of God we are intended to become.