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St. George's Episcopal Church Roseburg, Oregon Proper 14, 13 August 2006 Go To St. George's Home Page

Genesis 11:31, 12:1, 12:4-9
Psalm 63:1-8
Philippians 4:1, 4-9
John 17:6-10a
Collect of the Day

“I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine.”(John 17:6-10a)

Holy Ground, Holy Groundedness
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop

     As you have heard me say many times from this pulpit, life is all about change. Jesus came into a world that was stratified and stifling and oppressive. People knew their place, and they knew what was expected of them. It was, in many ways, a very fundamentalist place where rules governed human behavior at nearly every level. There were restrictions on what was allowed and on what was prohibited.

     Jews could be with fellow Jews, but Jews could not fraternize with those other Semites, the Samaritans. Jewish men had to follow certain rules of conduct; they could not talk to unmarried women or to people with skin disorders, people experiencing bodily discharges, or suffering from other disfiguring ailments. Touching a corpse or even smelling the dead was a defiling experience. Jewish men and women could not enter the home of a Gentile. Certain foods were considered profane, and could not be consumed. People engaged in certain occupations, like tax collectors and prostitutes, were to be shunned. To utter certain phrases or words out loud was to risk defilement.

     And to complicate matters even further, there were competing groups within Judaism who were putting forth different ideas about what was important, sacred, or salvific. The Pharisees had one view of things and the Sadducees another.

     And into this stepped a man from Nazareth who offered a very different view of society. The Gospel writers called it “The Kingdom of God.” It called for radical change, a movement away from centuries-old thinking, in order to embrace something that he taught and showed would reflect the mind and heart of a God who cares equally and deeply for every single person and every speck of creation. There would be justice and peace in this new order.

     Society would never be the same. It would be a place where personal conscience would influence judgmental behavior. It would be a place where all people regardless of social position, health, wealth, gender, age, or religious affiliation were treated with dignity and respect. Society and life would be godly, not worldly.

     But these visions meant change. It meant life out of death. It meant rebirth and renewal. It meant repentance and transformation. It meant that God’s will could be done on earth as it is in heaven, once we opened our hearts and minds to the love of God, and truly began to treat our fellow human beings as neighbors, with love and with respect.

     But change did not come without a price. New life could not come without death. The seedling came into being with the death of the seed.

     As you all now know from the letters mailed this week, I have accepted a call to become the Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. This was a decision that was a long time in coming, and was a choice that was arrived at after a great deal of prayer, much worry, many sleepless nights, a huge amount of thought, and a lot of anguish. The details of this decision and the move itself and the time table to be followed is the subject of the “Candid Discussion with the Rector” hour between this morning’s services.

     Here, in the pulpit this morning, I want to talk about this change and what I see it to mean to this parish.

     For pastoral reasons, a few weeks ago, I requested permission from Bishop Itty to substitute the lessons from the Revised Common Lectionary with the readings we heard today from Genesis, the Psalms, the Letter to the Philippians, and the Gospel of John.

     The story from Genesis is part of the Abraham Saga – the story of Abram’s call to leave Ur of the Chaldeans and go to Canaan. Abram moved in stages to Canaan through the Negeb, finally arriving at the promised land.

     In today’s psalm we can hear the psalm writer describe how full his heart is with the presence of God.

     The reading from Philippians continues the theme of the psalmist. Paul exhorts people of Philippi to stand firm in the Lord, to rejoice in the Lord.

     And finally, the gospel of John describes the prayer that Jesus prayed for his disciples. Like the psalmist, Jesus was overwhelmed by the great gift that God had bestowed upon him in the twelve, and he asked God for God’s blessings to be with the twelve. His prayer for his twelve is my prayer for you all.

     Normally when I compose a sermon, I have an idea in mind, and I begin to work that idea and write. But I never quite know where I will end up. Such is the movement of the Spirit. And at the end, I search what I have written and where I have been to come up with a title. Today, I have a title – or a theme at least. And who knows if I actually have a sermon.

     The theme is Holy Ground; Holy Groundedness.

     Holy Ground. Every place, every space is holy – or at least they ought to be viewed that way. But there are places where there seems to be a particular kind of connection between one’s soul and the location. The Israelites felt that way about specific places, and they erected altars at those sites. Some became important, like Sechem, Shilo, and Jerusalem. And places like that become very special to us.

     There are also very special Holy places where the physical location touches us in very profound and deep ways. Locations like that make us feel connected to the place itself in some special sense. Perhaps this is the way Abram and his descendants felt connected to their land.

     One place where I experience Holy Ground is my native Oregon. I will always feel a sense of the Holy here; the mountains and the coast, the rivers and the desert are all familiar and comfortable, like an old cardigan sweater. This place makes me feel good. The ground feels different under my feel here, and the air smells different. Not better; just different. And who can complain about the climate here?

     In contrast to a place where there is holy ground, there are many places where one can feel spiritually grounded. And the south is such a place for me. When I first moved to the Republic of Texas I thought I had moved to the south. But after a few months there, I came to understand that Texas was, well, Texas; a place unique among all places. But the subsequent ten years in Arkansas taught me something about the south – the real south. And I discovered that there was a je nais se quoi that had great appeal to me. And it certainly has nothing to do with the weather! It has to do with cultural, social, and religious ways of doing things that resonates within me. My former Bishop was born and raised in Montana, and yet he served churches in Mississippi before becoming Bishop of Arkansas. When I have described this feeling to him, he just smiles. He knows whereof I speak. Maybe you feel that too for some place or culture in the world.

     As I worked my way through this discernment process, I felt myself terribly torn by many things. First and foremost, you are my adopted family –and those are the best kind to have. You have cared for us when we moved here as a family unit, went through divorce, and now again as we move into new chapters of our lives. I have grown to love you and it was very, very hard to imagine leaving you. Yet, I also felt a calling to the parish family at Trinity, and I see that I have something to contribute to that parish as well. And I know that in time, those good people will adopt me as one of their own too.

     And there was the call of Holy Oregon Ground under my feet which pulled against the Holy Groundedness I feel for the south. Back and forth and forth and back I went comparing things that truly are incomparable. In the end, it was like an ethical decision where one has to make a choice between two goods.

     And in the end, I believe the greater good for both St George’s parish and for me, is to move onto the next chapter of my life.

     St. George’s is in a very good and solid position right now. It is in the best financial condition that it has been in for several years. I sense a new spirit in the life of the congregation – a spirit of giving and caring that moves beyond lip service and into real action. Just look at the number and success of the fund raisers we have enjoyed in the past year alone. This is but one example of people caring for each other and for this place. Membership is up, pledging is up, the “endowment” has not been touched for the better part of this year, and we have been able to make improvements to the building and grounds and to initiate new pastoral care and youth programs. There is a sense of vitality and growth. And I am confident that that will remain and continue to grow, particularly because you have raised up outstanding leaders in this parish who are dedicated and committed to seeing St. George’s grow into the full stature of Christ.

     Your vestry and parish leadership are quite capable of moving this parish from the very good posture it is in now, into an outstanding position. The vestry has developed good plans for the immediate and foreseeable future, and with your help, those plans will continue to provide stability and growth. The Diocese will work with them to transition into a new future, and I will as well, insofar as I can and am permitted to do so. In a few weeks, we will launch the stewardship campaign for the forthcoming year, and I could not encourage you more to contribute generously to that campaign so that St. George’s will have the resources it needs to grow and build up the Body of Christ in this area of Oregon.

     I have confidence in you, the good people of St. George’s parish. You are wise, good, caring people. Life here has been good. And it will only get better.

Let us pray,

Lord and Source of all gifts, we rejoice in the fullness of your holy generosity. We thank you especially now for the gift of change, that gift of newness that opens doors closed by habit and routine.

We bless you and thank you as well for that which is stable and unchanging, for the ancient and traditional which give meaning to the new and different.

We thank you, O End of All Longing, for the capacity to change our lives, for without change there can be no real growth and no true life.

We are grateful in this prayer for those persons who through their gifts of excitement, dedication, and leadership, have taught us not to fear change, not to resist the new. We are thankful to your Son, your Sacred Word, who spoke to us of new wine for new wine skins and who calls us daily to a new kingdom and to a new covenant.

May our hearts be ever-changing, ever in growth, as we continue our journey to you, who are forever fresh yet forever then same.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, so gives spice to life with change. Amen .

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Genesis 11:31, 12:1, 12:4-9

Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there. The days of Terah were two hundred five years; and Terah died in Haran. Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

Psalm 63:1-8

O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; *
my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you,
as in a barren and dry land where there is no water.
Therefore I have gazed upon you in your holy place, *
that I might behold your power and your glory.

For your loving-kindness is better than life itself; *
my lips shall give you praise.
So will I bless you as long as I live *
and lift up my hands in your Name.

My soul is content, as with marrow and fatness, *
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips,
When I remember you upon my bed, *
and meditate on you in the night watches.

For you have been my helper, *
and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.
My soul clings to you; *
your right hand holds me fast.

Philippians 4:1, 4-9

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

John 17:6-10a

“I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine.”

Collect of the Day

Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Copyright © 2006, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
10 August 2006

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