Nehemiah 8:2-10
Psalm 113
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
LUKE 4:14-21
January 21, 2007
“May the joy of the
Lord be our strength”
I vividly remember that Sunday morning service in Christ Church,
Nazareth, part of the Episcopal diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East. I was one of 40 students present from St.
George’s College, Jerusalem, an Anglican continuing education center, who came
from nine countries: the United States, Canada, Britain, the Philippines,
Japan, Australia, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa. We all stood to sing the opening hymn (in English), while the
rest of the congregation stood and sang the same hymn to the same music in
Arabic.
The hymn was “The Church’s one foundation” [which we will sing as the
opening hymn at the 10:30 service today].
The second verse begins, “Elect from every nation, yet one o’er all the
earth.” Arabic speakers and English
speakers together, we embodied that
hymn and those words. Little did I
dream then, in 1994, how much the church I came home to – St. Barnabas,
Monmouth Junction - would also come to embody that hymn: marvelously diverse in
many ways, united, with Christ as the one foundation of our church, and
profoundly connected with the world beyond our walls.
Speaking of walls: on the wall behind the altar of Christ Church,
Nazareth are the words of this morning’s
Gospel written in Arabic and in English.
After all, Jesus’ home synagogue was in that very town in which we were
praying. Jesus’ “inaugural address” as
the Messiah, as reported by Luke, was spoken in that very neighborhood. And his words resonate to this very day, and
beyond:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring
good news to the poor. He has sent me
to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let
the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor… Today this scripture has been fulfilled in
your hearing.”
This message of liberation and joy resonates deeply in Nazareth. Arabs are a minority among Israeli citizens,
and Christians are a small minority among Arabs, so Arab Christians face a
double layer of prejudice daily. There
have been Arab Christians for nearly 2,000 years, ever since the first
Pentecost, but they have never, ever been the rulers of the Holy Land. I suspect that Jesus’ words about “bringing
good news to the poor” and “letting the oppressed go free” resonated with all
of us from around the world as well, perhaps especially my colleagues from
Uganda and South Africa.
These words of Jesus call us, in Central New Jersey, to join him in
working for liberation for the oppressed, in bringing good news to the poor,
release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind.
How do we do this? Most dramatically,
as we of St. Barnabas focus on our
mission priorities: the struggles against addiction, against domestic
violence, against hunger and homelessness, against racism.
There are people who are captives
of addiction just as surely as if they were locked up. Addicts can choose either to hold the “key”
which gives them freedom or what they
are addicted to, but not both at the same time. By sponsoring Recovery Sunday, by hosting six A.A. meetings a
week, by making recovery literature easily available, and most dramatically by
supporting an annual Healing Mission trip in support of the Recovery movement
in Kenya, we are by Jesus and through Jesus and with Jesus, “proclaiming
release to the captives.”
We also offer hope and allies to those who are struggling as a result of
domestic violence. Being oppressed by
intimidation – whether physical, emotional, psychological or some combination
of the three – can make a person feel helpless and hopeless and sometimes truly
fearful for her life. By standing with
the survivors of domestic violence and offering gifts of love to those served
by shelters, recovery and outreach ministries in two counties, we are offering
friendship and gifts without conditions to those who may have known little of
either. By Jesus, through Jesus
and with Jesus, we say, “let the oppressed go free.”
Through our gifts to the Franklin and South Brunswick Food Banks, our
donations to the CROP Walk, our service at Elijah’s Promise Soup Kitchen in New
Brunswick, our participation in the Diocese of New Jersey’s Youth Mission trip
to El Salvador, our service at the Men’s Shelter in New Brunswick, our
“adoption” for Christmas of a family in Trenton and a family in South
Brunswick, our work knitting afghans for those in shelters, our “mitten tree” donations
and our efforts to pass on furniture and household items to formerly homeless
people who are starting fresh, we are joining the struggle against hunger and
homelessness. By Jesus, through Jesus
and with Jesus, we are “bringing good news to the poor.”
Through our creation of a marvelously diverse and affirming congregation,
the celebration of heritage and diversity that is International Sunday, the
anti-racism programs of our Diocese, and our joyful, friendship-based efforts
to build understanding among and respect for all people, we are engaged in the
struggle against racism. In a world
which too often refuses to see either
blatant or subtle bigotry or discrimination for what it is, and which too often
fails to see the beauty that dwells
within all people, by Jesus, through Jesus and with Jesus, we labor for “the
recovery of sight to the blind.”
To all people we join with
Jesus in “proclaiming the year of the
Lord’s favor.” And how the Lord has favored us in this past year, and how
many ways we have to give thanks to God and serve God in the year just begun!
We have experienced a historic year, made possible because the people of
St. Barnabas understand and live the words of St. Paul in today’s Epistle: “You are the body of Christ and individually
members of it”. And as Paul says, a
body has many different members with different gifts and abilities, each one
vital, each one serving all. So it is
with us.
Since 1964 we have realized
that our Sunday school space was inadequate.
2006 was the year that changed, and it changed because of the commitment
of Time, Talent and Treasure of dozens of people. Those who are new here in the last few months may not realize
that the second floor had an “extreme make-over” just last year, and it was
possible because of “sweat equity” as well as money on the part of
parishioners.
Our reward is to have the largest Sunday school registration and
participation by children in our history, made possible by ongoing generosity
by those who serve in those ministries.
We are deeply dedicated to ministries by, with and for children.
That is a core value here.
Financially, we are also in a historic transition. In 1997-98, we had just completed a decade
of dramatic growth and had to decide whether we wanted to hang up a “no vacancy”
sign on our over-crowded pews and try to stop our growth – and change who we
were by so doing – or if we were willing to undertake the risky challenge of
investing our available resources plus those resources we didn’t yet have for
the benefit of those who weren’t here yet.
We took the risk. As a result, for the last decade, we have
been praying, planning, raising money, building, borrowing, dedicating,
catching our breaths, renovating, refinancing, and growing our stewardship of
time, talent and treasure.
Phew! After all that, and some
challenging and even scary financial situations along the way, I am happy to
report today that our finances are on a more solid basis now than they have
ever been since we signed the contracts to build this sanctuary. The Vestry has approved a budget for 2007
which is balanced and uses no money
from the Building Fund to pay the mortgages, which funds our educational
programs, staff salaries and property maintenance responsibly and gives more
money away for outreach ministries.
This is good news, and it is made possible by the re-structuring of our
loans from the Diocese and by
increased pledging for 2007 by those who worship here.
This is good news, and it means that we can focus our energies more on mission with less anxiety about
paying the bills. If we have joyful,
meaningful worship, purposeful education and Christian formation for all ages,
varied fellowship opportunities, warm invitations to potential members and
welcome to visitors, and work on mission priorities which save and transform
lives, I believe we will not have to worry about money but will be able to
become a fountain of life-transforming generosity in service to the world and
the larger church.
This may sound challenging or tiring, but let us remember the words of
Nehemiah to the people found in today’s Old Testament reading: “The joy of the
Lord is your strength.”
How about that for a motto for the year?
As we laugh and cry together, serve and be served, teach and learn, pray
and are prayed for, may the joy of the Lord be our strength.
(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard
St. Barnabas Episcopal Church
Monmouth Junction, NJ