GENESIS 32:3-8,22-30

PSALM 121

2 TIMOTHY 3:14-4:5

LUKE 18:1-8a

Sermon – October 17, 2004

There are times in each and all of our lives when we are, as the hymn says, “Standin’ in the need of prayer.”

Actually, we are all standing in the need of prayer all the time – our relationship with God is what makes our lives possible, makes our lives meaningful, and can make our living go beyond our lives on earth. Sometimes we are simply more aware of our need. It may be a health crisis, a personal tragedy, a challenging family situation, a time of great joy, a hunger for meaningful community, or a time of national calamity. At those times and many other times, people can turn to a personal relationship with God as individuals – and to the community of those who seek “to see God more clearly, love God more dearly, and follow God more nearly, day by day.” That is to the church.

Of course, there are those who say they don’t need to belong to any church to pray. Which is true... except that without the Church, there would be no Bible (since it was written down, preserved and published by the church for the twenty centuries since Christ walked the earth) and therefore no one would know Christ’s teaching on prayer – or Christ himself. Jesus never wrote a book; he trusted his followers to form communities of faith, baptize, teach, and gather together week by week for communion, as he taught us to do.

So, as vital as it is for a Christian’s life to have a personal, individual prayer life, it’s also important and potentially enormously strengthening to be part of a community of prayer existing both for its members and for those who are not. The names in the Prayers of the People are not all members of St. Barnabas, and Prayer Chain members know how often we are asked to pray for people beyond the parish, and how much that is appreciated. And I think both individual and corporate prayer are supported by Jesus in today’s parable about the “need to pray always and not lose heart.” Indeed, when we may lose heart as individuals, the community of prayer can carry us. I know.

Our call to prayer comes right out of the Mission of the church which the Catechism in The Book of Common Prayer defines as “To restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ." Wow! That's no small job. It deserves and requires our best. The Catechism continues, “The Church pursues its mission as it prays and worships, proclaims the Gospel, and promotes justice, peace and love.”

Is that something you’re excited about being a part of – or a team you’d really like to join? What higher calling could we have as human beings?

The forces of injustice, terror and hatred are well-organized and well-funded. The forces of indifference, self-centerdness and superficiality are well-entrenched. To make an impact, we as a community of faith need to be just as dedicated to our mission as those forces are to theirs.

Clearly, such a mission takes individual effort, but it also takes team effort, which is what a church is. Christian commitment to the team is called stewardship, stewardship of time, talent and treasure.

Last week I spoke on this theme in general terms; today I will now reflect specifically on where St. Barnabas is now. If you think I’m “overdoing it” preaching two sermons in a row on stewardship, please consider this: 1/3 of all of Jesus’ parables and 1/6 of all his words as recorded in the Bible are about our relationship to our possessions. One-Sixth of all sermons in church would mean eight or nine a year. Jesus talked more about stewardship than about the sacraments and about Heaven and Hell – combined. If he thought stewardship was that important a spiritual issue, we should too.

So as you reflect on that grand mission of the church and how it pursues its mission, I’d like you to take out the green insert to your service leaflets. On the cover you can see a drawing of a rocket and of the rocket’s “base” and launch pad. So here’s my analogy-of-the-week: every local church is like Cape Canaveral. It has an essential “base” and “launch pad”, but its purpose is to send up “rockets”.

The expenses for our base and launch pad, listed under the launch pad, include property expenses, mortgages and administration. We could not all gather together in anyone’s living room; we need a building both for Sunday worship and activities and for activities through the week – to send up “rockets”, in fact, called Worship, Education, Pastoral Care and Outreach.

“Launch pad” expenses include things like utilities, cleaning, snow plowing, secretarial support, office supplies, insurance, paper towels and toilet paper – things people take for granted unless they’re not there! We try to run as efficient a base camp as we can, but some things just can’t be cut. And yes, we re-financed our mortgages this year – but we still have $330,000 in mortgages, and the bank has a way of expecting its check on the first of each month.

A few years ago, after careful prayer, study and reflection, we decided that the launch pad we had – the building beyond the double doors on the other side of the welcoming area - was inadequate for the mission we were called to. So, with the dedication of extra time, talent and treasure from many, many people, we more than doubled the size of our base and by that more than doubled the amount of ministry we could do.

Now the “rockets” we can send up – in spiritual growth programs for all ages, in worship, in pastoral care by ordained and lay people, in outreach programs around the world and down the street – are more and greater than ever before in our history.

Sunday School, Communion Class, Vacation Bible School, Confirmation Class, Adult Inquirers Class, Adult Bible Study, Women’s Link Spiritual and Friendship programs, Men’s Spiritual Growth Group, Men’s Club, Fellowship, Youth Group – all are “rockets” we send up. So are hospital visits by clergy, home visits and care by clergy and laity for the very sick and for those who are physically limited but as hungry for Christian community as anyone. School supplies and other gifts for the Women’s Shelter and the Family Shelter for the Homeless, food for the food banks of South Brunswick and Franklin, volunteers for Elijah’s Promise Soup Kitchen in New Brunswick and the Men’s Shelter in New Brunswick – all are “rockets”. So are the trips our missioners take to Kenya to train professionals to respond effectively to the epidemic of addiction and A.I.D.S. there. So is our ongoing support of the Episcopal Church in El Salvador – and the Episcopal Church in New Jersey, in the USA and throughout the world. From Ground Zero, New York to hurricane-devastated areas of the Caribbean to around the world the Church is there because we care, and others like us care.

But you can’t send up rockets without fuel. So please turn to the back of the green sheet. Financial pledges care for our “base” and provide rocket fuel. It’s as simple as that. And is it important for each and all of us to pledge as devoutly as we can? Please open up the green sheet and take a look at the dollar bill inside.

A church I belonged to as a lay person 28 years ago at that time received ¾ of its income from dividends and interest from its endowment. Investment income, you could say, supported All Saints’, Brookline from January 1 to September 30. Investment income supports St. Barnabas, Monmouth Junction from January 1 to the early evening of January 2. It’s one teeny part of the category “other.”

“Fund-raising” – the art auction, grocery certificates and those Somerset Patriots concession stands this summer – plays a significant role. Rental income – mainly South Brunswick Assembly of God, with some from the five A.A. groups that meet here – chips in about 6% of our income.

We knew when we built the new building that our expenses would shoot up immediately while pledge giving would not go up nearly as fast. Thankfully, Building Fund giving – which made it possible to build the building – has continued at a level which has supported paying our mortgage in our first 2 ½ years in the building. We are, however, soon coming close to the end of Building Fund pledges.

That means – yup, that big section of the dollar bill, donations, will have to stretch to get the job done. That category is overwhelmingly annual pledge giving. And remember, Bill Gates doesn’t belong to this church. It’s up to us – and that’s the way it should be. We are the ones God has called to carry out God’s mission as part of this particular community of faith.

So I ask that you prayerfully reflect on what percentage of your income you can commit to our shared mission together when you receive your 2005 pledge information in the mail this week. We are operating economically – lots gets done by volunteer labor, and to further save on base camp expenses, we’ve reduced the summer hours of the secretary position. And sadly, we’ve had to cut back on “rockets” too: we were not able to fund a seminarian intern position for this school year. What happens with that in the future, as well as with all other “rockets”, depends on pledges.

We have a special, an extraordinary group of people at St. Barnabas. I’m honored to be the captain of this team, under the leadership of the Head of the Church, Our Lord Jesus Christ. We have accomplished great things, and kudos to all those who have been involved. And our best days are ahead of us.

Let’s fuel those rockets.

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church