St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
February 4, 2018
Year B: The Fifth
Sunday after the Epiphany
Isaiah 40:21-31
Psalm 147:1-12, 21c
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Mark 1:29-39
Fitting Together
“I
could write a book!”
You’ve
probably heard somebody say that when they’ve been talking about their work or
their family – describing some bizarre behavior of the people with whom we work
or live.
Or,
maybe you’ve said that yourself.
“I
could write a book!”
A
lot of us may say that, but I really admire people who actually do it – what an
amazing thing to put in the time and effort - to be creative and disciplined
enough - to write a book – or to write even more than one!
You
know, we actually have a few published authors here at St. Paul’s.
A
couple of years ago Emily Barker published a magical novel and has been hard at
work on the sequel. And, a year or two ago, Rebecca Reilly published a well-received
volume of her poetry. You may remember that we had parties for both of them –
pretty cool.
And,
of course, as you’ve heard, during Lent we’ll be reading and studying one of
the books written by our Priest Associate, Gary Commins.
There
was at least one published author in my previous parish, too. Her name is Cali
Yost and she’s published a couple of books, including one called Work + Life.
In
that book, which is aimed at professional people but can apply to anyone, Cali
makes the case that it’s a mistake to seek “balance” between our work life and
our personal life, a mistake to think that somehow, someday, we’ll ever achieve
perfect harmony among the different pieces of our lives.
Instead,
she argues that we need to fit
together the different pieces of our lives: fit together work, family and
friends, recreation and rest – and our fit will change depending on what’s
going on in our lives.
I
thought of Cali’s notion of “work + life fit” as I reflected on our gospel
lessons, both last week and today.
Last
Sunday and this Sunday we’ve heard about Jesus’ first day at work – the first day
of Jesus’ public ministry, as recorded in the Gospel of Mark.
It’s
a day in the life of Jesus.
If
you were here last week, you may remember that Jesus’ day began with him in the
synagogue, where he taught with power and authority and where he was confronted
by a man possessed by “unclean spirits” – demons who know exactly who Jesus is
and want nothing to do with him.
In
a demonstration of divine power, Jesus cast out these unclean spirits, leaving
everyone present staring with awe and wonder.
A
day in the life of Jesus.
Today
we pick up where we left off, with Jesus and his first disciples leaving the
synagogue and going to the house of Simon Peter and Andrew – maybe hoping for some
down-time – maybe hoping for a home-cooked meal, but there’s to be no rest yet
because it turns out that Simon’s mother-in-law is there, ill with a fever.
So,
Jesus keeps working - he heals the woman – and we’re told she immediately
begins to serve them.
I
always smile at that, thinking especially of all the mothers and grandmothers who
have no choice but to serve others even when they’re not feeling very well at
all – but, for Mark, the mother-in-law is meant to be a model of discipleship –
someone who is healed by Jesus and immediately begins to serve others.
We’re
told that the Good News of Jesus spreads and “the whole city was gathered
around the door.” Jesus continues to heal many, continues to cast out demons.
But,
you know, even Jesus needs rest and refreshment, so we’re told that he got up
in the early morning, before sunrise, and headed out to a deserted place to
pray.
(I
imagine him tiptoeing out of the house, trying not to wake up anyone, hoping
for a few minutes of alone time.)
But,
you know how it is, we’re told that Simon and others “hunted” for Jesus (and if
that sounds vaguely ominous, you’re right).
Not much alone
time for Jesus!
In
this day in the life of Jesus, during his first day at work, we don’t see a
balanced life but we do see him fitting together the pieces of his life: the
teaching, the healing, time with friends, and time for prayer.
As
I hope you all know, today is the day of our Annual Meeting – it’s the day we
take stock of a year – in this case, a particularly eventful year - in the life
of St. Paul’s Church.
And,
just like Jesus spent his day fitting together the different pieces of his
life, we’ve spent the last year – the last few years, actually – fitting
together the many different pieces of our church life.
Recently
I was having a conversation with someone who, to my surprise, had done some
online research about me – about us here at St. Paul’s.
He had gone on the
Episcopal Church’s website and found the page with data about St. Paul’s,
specifically our attendance and our income – and had printed out the graph.
He
held up the sheet for St. Paul’s and wanted to know how and why we have grown
so much in recent years.
It
was kind of a weird conversation, but he was right – we have had a lot
of growth here at St. Paul’s these past few years
Many
of you were not here five or so years ago, and even for those of us who were
here, it’s a little hard to remember how different our church was back then.
It
had gotten very small – we had just one not very well attended service on
Sunday and the summer camp, and that was about it.
Money
was really tight and there were some longtime parishioners who wondered how
much longer ministry could continue here on Duncan Avenue, many who feared that
we would soon join the long list of closed churches.
But,
by God’s grace and thanks to the hard work and faithfulness of many, we have
added and fitted together so many pieces of our church life.
And, the biggest
and most important of those pieces is worship – our three Sunday services and
also our ambitious schedule of weekday services. Week after week, month after
month, we bathe these old walls in prayer – and I think – no, I know - that this
has made all the difference in our life together.
And
then, there are all of the many other pieces of our church that I hope you will
read about in our voluminous annual report – Altar Guild, choirs, Sunday
School, Youth Group, Men’s Group and on and on.
And, just like Simon
Peter’s mother-in-law who as soon as she was healed immediately started serving
others, more and more we’ve reached out beyond our doors. We have fitted
together so many other pieces, pieces that feed lots of hungry people – our
Stone Soup Community Suppers and the Last Friday Lunch at the homeless drop-in
center, our increased giving to the food pantry - and also our many excellent arts
and music events, which feed people with so much beauty, as well as the
occasional challenge.
And
now, in an unexpected turn of events, God has chosen to fit together two very
big pieces – St. Paul’s and Incarnation – two pieces that had been broken apart
long ago but now are being assembled into something more beautiful than we
could have ever imagined or dared to hope.
Thinking
about all of this, I’m struck by the fact that all of this fitting-together
work here has been happening while our country seems to be heading in the other
direction, while our country seems on the verge of shattering into pieces,
while norms that we long took for granted are broken, while at least some of us
value our little piece so much that we are willing to risk the good of the
whole.
But,
as always, God continues to work, right in the midst of our mess, right in the
midst of our brokenness – and right in the middle of Jersey City.
So,
don’t be surprised if God has even more surprises in store for us.
Because I’m sure that
God is collecting even more pieces and will be hard at work assembling them
right here on Duncan Avenue – after all, this is what God does.
Fitting together
is God’s reconciling work.
And,
I’m sure that the fitting together here at St. Paul’s won’t be completed while
I’m rector, won’t even be completed before all of us are gone, but how
marvelous it is to witness it, how amazing to be part of it!
In
fact, you know, we could write a book!
Thank
You all – and Amen!
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