By The Rev. Bernard W. Poppe, RectorWe began our service singing “Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones”. It’s one of the great hymns of the church singing in glad alleluias of the Joy shouted in heaven in praise of God’s goodness and grace. Let all that have voice shout alleluia, let those whose hearts are full live alleluia.
This season of Epiphany is a recalling of the manifestations of God’s love active in the world and the Gospels stories over these past weeks describe how Jesus made manifest the love of God and put flesh to the words of praise sung for countless generations.
Ye watchers and ye holy ones. People of St. George’s, visitors and all gathered here - you are the watchers and the holy ones singing the praises of God today. You are raising the glad alleluias. You are continuing the songs of the angels, the bright seraphim, the prophets, the martyrs, the holy twelve and all people of good will around the world. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
This last Sunday of Epiphany is sometimes called “Alleluia Sunday” because it’s our last chance to say them liturgically before it is silenced by the solemnity of Lent. The children will symbolize this by putting away the “A-bugs” that on Easter will become Alleluia butterflies. These are the church seasons that mark the year liturgically, and make flesh our understanding of the grace of God in chronological and thematic ways.
And just as we mark the changes in the liturgical year, our cultural calendar changes seasons as well. We’ve observed Black History Month in February and next week, the first week of March will usher in an observance of Women’s History Month.
God is manifest in the lives of people and in the trends of history. The writers of scriptures understood God’s character by analyzing history and interpreting the movement of societies as God's guidance. When Martin Luther King said that the arc of history bends toward justice, he captured the ancient understanding of God’s manifestation through time.
So we observe segments of society and listen to their stories, hear their music and prayers. Hear how God has spoken to them and lifted them up on their own journey towards justice and fulfillment. Liberation for one group of people is a liberation of all others as well. When the slaves sang spirituals they gave voice and alleluias to God in a code of hope that still stirs people who feel enslaved by societies prejudice and injustice. Even captors and bigots are slaves to their anger, fear and hate and without knowing it, the freedoms grasped by those who are captives set even their captors free.
Over the past few weeks we’ve heard stories focusing on the complex history of African Americans from first hand and historical points of view. Tragic stories, hopeful stories, inspiriting stories from the points of views of black and white people. As brothers and sisters our histories are not lived apart except in artificial ways. The history of one people is a history of all people whether they are aware of it or not. We are all participants in this world, we have a share in how it unfolds and a responsibility to see that it unfolds in a way that is peaceful and just.
It’s good for us to include observances of the stories of people working toward justice, whether that justice is for people of color, for women or gay and lesbian. Everyone’s story is our story and God is manifested in them.
I want to say a word about the clothes I’m wearing. On the occasion of my 50th birthday a year and a half ago - you can do the math - Moses Chimezie and his family presented me with this traditional Nigerian men‘s clothing. Mr. Chimezie’s career in Nigeria was in the fabric and garment industry and his love of the fabric and eye for detail and quality is a joy to experience.I wear this now in pride aware that it combines several themes for us today. As Black history month concludes we recall the Africans torn from their homeland and viscously enslaved. We recall the work for freedom, the industry and pride in a heritage that is beautiful and strong. We recall the blending of cultures and the gifts each now can offer to the other.
Another theme these clothes represent is a trip I am about to take to the great continent of Africa. For weeks we’ve been talking about and planning the next three months of my sabbatical. My travels will take me to Africa for a month, England for a month and Europe for a month. My travels will be chronicled via a blog I promise to maintain. The parish will welcome The Rev. Anne Bolles-Beaven as my substitute while I’m on this trip, and the wardens and Sabbatical Planning Committee have come up with activities, events and forums that reflect some of the themes of my trip. It will be a time of reflection and renewal for all of us. Sorry to say that I’m the only one who will get frequent flier miles out of it, though!
The scripture lessons this morning fit in quite well with these themes. They are about change and transfiguration. They are about continuity of leadership despite the people who are in those roles, because ultimately it is still God in control whose love is manifested in the good will of God’s followers.
I’m staying in monastic houses and with communities of people of faith in various cultural and social settings. I want to experience how different people understand God, pray to God, sing alleluia to God, live with God and reflect God in their music, words and lives. I want to see the colors and hear the rhythms of faith in this world. Even though my trip only scratches the surface of human experience, it’s far deeper than I’ve ever gone before. I’m excited and scared and determined.
When the apostles saw Jesus transfigured on the mountaintop, they too became transfigured. They walked back to the others as changed people. Our experiences and stories change us. The telling of those stories changes others. Over the next few months we’ll create some stories to share and we’ll be changed by the experience.
Although I’ll still be at St. George’s this coming Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, today is my last Sunday with you until I return on June 7. In one sense it seems long, but we all know too well that three months also passes in the blink of an eye. But I’m also missing you already. I love you all and I love my ministry in this wonderful church. It’s really painful to leave even for this short time, and yet my hope is to be a better priest for you when I return.
Spiritual healing is an important part of my ministry and I’ve been so happy that the prayers we offer during the service and the interest in healing has taken root here so well. Much of the preaching and many of the classes I’ll be teaching during my trip will center on this topic. My life in this ministry has been a seeking for healing myself. I’ve had a very happy life, but there have also been serious personal issues. Some of these struggles I’ve been able to share with you, and others may come in time. As an adult coming to terms with these issues I’ve found in God the source of healing and love. I’ve discovered that a ministry showing others what I have found and continue to seek is the most important thing I have and can offer.
We are all in need of some kind of healing. The stories are different, but the end result of need is the same. And the solution is the same also. God’s love. When we pray for each other after communion or on Wednesday evenings at the healing Eucharist, in the hospitals or homes, around this altar or anywhere, it’s how we manifest God’s love. It’s how we offer healing.
The opening of the hymn trumpets the watchers and holy ones of all ages in all sorts and conditions. Our common shout is Alleluia - a word of unsurpassed joy. That joy transfigures us. Good people of St. George’s, you are watchers and holy ones. Raise the glad strain, Alleluia, cry out dominions, princedoms powers, virtues, archangels, angles choirs, alleluia, alleluia. Let’s add another verse to this great hymn - O children in your schools, actors in technicolor dream coats, committee members, altar guilders, readers, and greeters. Computer geeks and business people. Raise the loud strain, Alleluia! Those afraid or hidden doubters, those with secret pains or unjust scars. Raise the loud strain, Alleluia. God’s love reflects your joy and heals your wounds. Share your stories and sing your songs. God is good, and we change and grow and make our histories arcing toward justice, transfigured in God’s grace and always within God’s sight and love. Alleluia, Amen.
© 2009 St. George's Episcopal Church, Maplewood, NJ
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