Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 30], rcl yr c, 2022
Second Sunday of St. John’s 2022 Stewardship Program
Joel 2:23-32; Psalm 65; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14
Our Sunday readings at this time of the year when the harvest has been brought in, the days are becoming shorter, and the earth is growing colder, quietly contemplate, it seems, endings, death, and life beyond death.
Joel, even though he prophesies that food will again spring forth from the earth in Judah after years of crop failure caused by drought and swarms of locusts, seems preoccupied with a vision of the last days followed by, as he says, the great and horrible day of the Lord.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches that pride is not only an impediment to authentic faith in this life, it is also something on which we will be judged in the life to come.
And then, in the letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul, writing from prison in Rome, anticipates his earthly death and a heavenly reward for his years of devotion and suffering for the sake of Christ and the gospel.
The irony that these three readings focusing on endings should fall on a Sunday when our stewardship program beckons us to join, renew, or deepen our participation in our ministry together does not escape me. We’re not winding down. Quite the opposite, really. And our parish has grown since we reopened for in-person worship in the fall of 2020. There’s a vibrancy here and a desire among us to gather together as a congregation for worship, and through whatever means we have at our disposal, to bless others with the love we ourselves have received in the good news of Jesus Christ. Participating in Ye Olde Parish Ministry Fayre (that begins in the Upper Parish Hall immediately following the Postlude) is our gracious response to the many blessings we associate with this community of faith. The Fayre celebrates the ministry we do as the community of St. John the Evangelist, Kitchener, as Jesus’ present-day disciples and apostles.
Disciples and apostles. Disciples learn and share in Jesus’ ministry, and apostles are those who are sent out to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ in word and deed. We receive these names for ourselves in Holy Baptism. Baptism sets us on the road to discipleship through our adoption as new members of the Body of Christ, the Church. Parents and sponsors covenant to attend to the spiritual formation of the newly baptized – to help the newly baptized grow in faith. The Congregation promises to support the newly baptized in every way they can. And the specific gift of Holy Baptism, the indwelling Holy Spirit whose sign is the washing of water, echoes the giving of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost when Jesus’ first disciples received the power to proclaim the good news of Jesus for everyone. We become both disciples (learners or students growing in faith) and apostles (those who are sent out to proclaim our faith) because of Holy Baptism.
At Confirmation, with the laying on of hands, the bishop prays that the already-indwelling Holy Spirit will strengthen confirmands and empower them for service, ministry in other words, in the name of the triune God. Interestingly, our BAS rite never uses the word “confirmands”. Throughout the liturgy, the word “servants” is used. And so, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, given in baptism, we are made disciples (learners), apostles (those who are sent out to proclaim the gospel of God in Jesus Christ), and servants entrusted with and empowered for ministry in the name of the triune God.
Parish ministry, our ministry together, allows us to affirm our baptismal covenant, living out our servanthood, working with others and bringing blessing not only to one another as we serve together, but also to the many in our neighbourhood, our city, our world who seek hope, who seek love, who seek companionship, who seek advocacy, who seek community, who seek servants led by faith in Christ and the gospel, and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Having a baptismal spirituality is a wonderful thing for a congregation. Frequently recalling our beginnings as the children of God in Christ Jesus, giving thanks for the indwelling Spirit, and then remembering daily the call of our baptism to serve Christ as disciples, apostles, and servants, is the stuff of Christian community. Mission and ministry begin with Holy Baptism.
I invite you to spend some time at Ye Olde Parish Ministry Fayre discovering perhaps for the first time the 22+ ways we serve and seek to bless others here at St. John’s. And I invite you to set aside some time to reflect and pray about your interests or your individual talents that could contribute to sustaining, invigorating, or expanding our ministry together.
Building, celebrating, and strengthening the Community of St. John the Evangelist, Kitchener is something we do together – through our participation, through sharing our gifts and talents, through giving our time, through being Jesus’ disciples, apostles, and servants. What I hope that you will discover is that our ministry together is also a blessing and joy.