I suppose one of the good things about rising age is the perspective gained from traveling over that much geography.  One of my favorite writers, Morris West, titled his memoir, A

 

 

View from the Ridge, looking back over his life just before slipping into the next life in valley beyond.  I have not yet reached the ridge but I can look back over a few foothills. This is the 10^th time I have attended an annual parish meeting at Saint John’s.  Ten years is a long time.  I was 51, I had hair, I also was a lot heaver than I am today for which I am grateful.

 

As I look over this nave, In my mind, I also see in their old accustomed places some of those who greeted me here in 2002 and have gone before us into that perfect rest.

 

*        Stan Gafford – at 92, Stan took up tap-dancing to meet chicks.

 

*        Sara Jane Prothero wrote the date beside the hymn every time that hymn was sung in church.   Geoff keeps it up today.

 

*        Harry Wilcox who every animal at the Memphis Zoo, and their mate, their progeny and all their names.

 

*        Carol Leatherman, a force of nature, instructed me in the family secrets of old Memphis.

 

*        Louise Carr who on her deathbed, called her financial adviser & moved money in 5 figures to the memorial fund in honor of her husband & daughter who preceded her in death and waited to embrace her only hours later.

 

They & many others have departed this life in the faith & fear of God, waiting for that great day, when we all will be with Jesus and he will wipe away all tears and death will be swallowed by life.  In the communion of the Saints all those who ever loved God in this place, join us this morning as we gather and order our common life.

 

This year I have found a clarity, verging on high definition, about this Christian experience we share.

 

I see that there are two parts of ministry: my job & my work:

 

*        My job is Rector:  I was made chief steward of this place ten years ago, to husband the resources, to guide and serve this community until I surrender this privilege to the Bishop at some future day. I intend to deliver this institution into his hands hopefully a little better than I received it. This is my job.

 

*       On the other-hand my work is “the cure of souls.”  When I was installed as rector in September 2003 with precise & archaic language, I was given “charge of the cure.”  This means that in a sense I am a “player-coach,” in that I do my own soul work, while I coach others as they as they their soul work.

 

One would think that my job & work are exactly the same and I say with sorrow that such is often not the case. The tyranny of the immediate, the speed of communication & the maintenance of the fabric of the institution often obscures if not blinds me to the deepest concerns of ministry.  For several years now, I have admitted to myself that while the institution of Saint John’s is in pretty good shape given the anxiety in the Episcopal Church, soul work is not the focus of our common life in a way that deeply transforms lives. Yet, the simple truth is that this place exists for one purpose and one purpose only: that here people safely experience God. That is why this room is filled with world-class art, better music than I have ever dared hope for and indeed treasures of all the arts making this Church aesthetically exquisite; in addition the liturgies are carefully planned, the altar carefully prepared and the buildings a faithfully cleaned and with the care that the occasion of meeting God in the breaking of the bread deserves.

 

What we do with that is up to us, of course, we can come and eat bread & drink a sup of wine leaving in the same shape we were in or we can come with expectancy meeting the resurrected Jesus in the bread of heaven & the cup of salvation.  This place, this beautiful place, this “home place” is here serving  as – an open space – where we  in that great ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­choreography of grace  dance with God & each other here on Sundays & the Holy Days.

 

And yet, more is needed.  For a long time I have sensed that how we have done church, the way I experienced church as a boy, is no longer working.  Each generation faces the unique challenges that comprise life in that day.  We are no different, but discerning the signs, it appears that we live at a cadence point in history. Naively I thought that modern went on forever.  But, what we call modern is no longer the cutting edge of speculation and innovation but is the label of a history, like the Victorian or Colonial era.  Not all generations lives through at such a cultural pivot, but we do.

 

It is not as if Christians have not been here before, in anxious years, look for a life-giving way forward.

 

§  In 70 AD, the Temple was destroyed and Christians adapted and proclaimed the never-changing truth of the Gospel as the Church was freed from persecution and became the religion of the Roman Empire.

 

§  In late Antiquity as the Roman Empire in the West crumbled, Christians adapted, proclaiming the Good News of God in Christ and evangelizing pagan Europe.

§  The end of modernity is such a time, a reinvention must happen if the Gospel is to go to all the world.

 

For the past 500 years we have done church pretty much as we have experienced it in our life time.  But that way no longer works.

 

The day when the culture propped us up is no more, the public schools are no longer the Protestant parochial schools & Blue laws no longer protect us from competition; no longer can we prosper by a sort of genteel ignorance of the faith, while hiring people in collars to do our Christianity for us.  I’m not saying folks were not Christian & I’m not saying that they were unconcerned about faith.  What I am saying is that the future requires a kind of commitment and formation that we have not needed for centuries.

 

Living forward, each believer will need to be self-feeding, taking responsibility for the health of her or his soul. We have not done that sort of intentional soul work for a very long time. Past generations worshiped in churches sitting on various corners and  waited for folk to wander in. The un-churched no longer seek us out and we are at a loss as to what to do.  For we live at the end of a chapter of history, the page is not yet turned but we prepare for whatever this next chapter brings.

 

Let us not succumb to a fixation on survival, a sure and certain path to death, no let us rather embrace the adventure ahead of us, for the plot thickens & The Holy Spirit will guide us as Jesus promised.

 

Your clergy, three priests & two deacons are committed to soul work, in us and in this place. I have prayed for 2 years & when I ran out of options to will it into being and slumped over exhausted, a way forward appeared.  This better thing is the EPISCOPAL SPIRITUAL LIFE RENEWAL that began at Holy Spirit Parish in Lake Forest Ill. You can read about it on the Webb page of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago. Bishop Johnson supports, & your vestry has voted to become a pilot parish for this process & we are already underway. This is the process:

 

*        Between January 19^th & February 10^th every member of Saint John’s is asked to take an online survey.

 

*        This survey is anonymous; no one will know who took the test

 

*        This survey examines two key questions:

 

          ^    What is the Spiritual health of Saint John’s

 

           ^   What is Saint John’s role in the formation of souls.

 

*        In March, we will receive the results.

 

*        A team of Saint John’s communicants will work with this material over a period of months.

 

*        By late spring, they will advise us how best to proceed given what we have learned from each other.

 

*        Then, God willing, we will organize Saint John’s that all our resources serve the soul work of the people, supporting them in the various ministries emerging from their soul work.  We will pray, learn & do what is  required to grow our souls up. Growing ourselves up and calming ourselves down is the greatest contribution we can make to our culture and this Republic we love.

 

§  This is what I ask all of you to do:

 

§  Ask questions, go online & read about Episcopal Spiritual Life Renewal.

 

§  Above all, please take this survey.

 

I am hopeful today in a way I have not been in a long time. I want to invest my remaining years of public ministry in this place. The words of Paul in his letter to the Christians in Ephesus come to mind over and over and I ponder the call of God.  Ephesians 4:11 The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

 

Over twenty-five years ago I awakened from sleep with a dream, it was simple, a single picture, if you will.  In my dream I was a member of a Christian community and we were planted a orchard.  To plant an orchard is an act of faith as the trees will not bear fruit for years.  Some of those planting would not benefit from the fruit they would bear.  Later, I came across a quote from Martin Luthers where he said, “that if he knew the world would end tomorrow he would plant an apple tree today.”

 

 I have a realization sense that you are that community and that Memphis is that orchard.  Let us go this adventure together.

 

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