St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
October 22, 2023
Year A, Proper 24: The Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost – Green Team Sunday
Exodus 33:12-23
Psalm 99
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 22:15-22
It All Belongs to God
Well, like many of you I’m sure, during this tragic and dangerous time, I’ve been praying extra-hard for peace – somehow, peace – in the Middle East.
And, with so much suffering out there, I have also been trying my best to be extra-thankful for the good stuff going on here at St. Thomas’, God’s abundant blessings that cascade upon us each and every day.
There’s the stunning beauty of our campus, of course, especially these days as the leaves shade into gold and red before they fall to the ground, doing their part to prepare for the new life of spring.
And I have some big news! We have back-to-back baptisms coming up! Next Sunday, young Nathan, and then the following Sunday not quite so young Sean, will plunge into the holy water, dying with Christ and, like a green shoot breaking through the spring soil, they will rise again to new life.
Right here, God will make an unbreakable, indissoluble bond with Nathan and Sean – a bond stronger than anything, stronger even than death itself.
You know that I can’t wait!
Also, if you’re keeping track at home, we are now halfway through “wedding season”. This afternoon, right here, Remington Brooks and Courtney DeVeau will make some big promises to each other, pledging to give one another mutual joy. It will be a joyful celebration and we are all invited.
Last Sunday afternoon a bunch of us spent an hour or so hiking through the Irvine Nature Center, led most of the way by our intrepid young parishioner, Brendan. We admired the beauty of that place and along the trail we even encountered a garter snake, who, frankly, did not seem to appreciate all the attention.
But out of all the recent events here, the one I keep returning to the most is the Newcomers Reception we held last Saturday afternoon, up the road at the Rectory.
It was such a great event.
God has blessed us with so many wonderful newcomers, so many people who have quickly grown to love this place and are already enriching our common life in really meaningful ways.
Naturally, the newcomers had never been to the Rectory before. In fact, most of them hadn’t even known where or what it was.
Longtime parishioners know that the Rectory is an awfully nice house, surrounded by beautiful grounds. Certainly, Sue and I never imagined that we would live in such a grand place.
Anyway, a couple of the newcomers were wide-eyed and kind of exclaimed when they came into the house.
One person looked around in wonder and asked me, “Is this all yours?”
Well, actually, no, not really.
One of the gifts of being a priest is that there are lots of reminders that many have come before me and done their best for the church and then handed it off to the next person.
For example, I see the portraits of four of my predecessors each time I go in and out of my office.
And although you have done so much to make us feel at home – and we do - living in church housing also reminds us that the Ellises and the Baxters and many others have made a home here for a time and then passed it on to others.
And someday Sue and I will do the same.
And, while you may not get reminded quite so often, this is true for all of us.
No matter whose name is on the deed or the mailbox, no matter what lines we draw on a map, no matter whose flag flutters in the breeze, none of this is really ours.
It all belongs to God.
And, as Frances Horich writes so beautifully in this week’s stewardship reflection, God simply asks us to be good stewards – to care for all that we have been given and then hand it off to those who come next, hopefully a little better than we found it.
It all belongs to God.
In today’s gospel lesson we are still in the midst of the conflict between various religious leaders and Jesus – an ongoing conflict that we’ve been hearing about for the last few weeks.
Next up today are the Pharisees, a group within Judaism, usually depicted in the gospels as opponents of Jesus.
Right from the start, Matthew sets a negative tone, writing that the Pharisees “went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said.”
The Pharisees may have indeed been trying to trip up Jesus but it’s also possible that they sincerely wanted to know what Jesus thought about a particularly thorny issue among the Jews of the first century: paying taxes to the Roman emperor – paying taxes to the often brutal regime that occupied their land.
And really, this tax question is part of a larger issue that continues to vex us to this day: how to balance our civic responsibilities with our religious beliefs and obligations.
Our consciences and our courts continue to wrestle with these questions, and probably always will.
Well, whatever their motives, Jesus has no trouble answering the Pharisees:
“Give…to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Left unsaid, of course, is that, in reality, the emperor – Caesar – has nothing that is his own. No matter his great wealth and his exalted titles, despite all that tax money, he will exit life with nothing, leaving behind all that he thought he possessed, leaving behind the legacy, for better or worse, of the life that he lived.
It all belongs to God.
Here at St. Thomas’, today is Green Team Sunday, a chance for us to hear about the work we are doing to be good stewards of this beautiful campus, and to learn ways that we can better care for God’s earth in our everyday lives.
I’m so grateful to the Green Team and especially its co-chairs, Donna Eden and Leslie Steele.
Leslie, by the way, is still technically a newcomer, although that’s easy to forget, since she and her intrepid son Brendan have become such familiar presences around here and have already contributed so much to our community.
Which brings me back to the Newcomers Reception.
As I said earlier, I was struck by how the newcomers already love this place, already seem quite at home here.
Obviously, that really speaks to the quality of the welcome they’ve received.
Those of you who have been here a long time, you have a strong sense of responsibility for this place.
You care about St. Thomas’ very deeply.
Honestly, it’s one of the things that drew me to you.
But it’s a sense of responsibility, not ownership.
Around here, there is a real joy in welcoming new people, sliding down the pew to make room for others, delight as people take their first steps over the well-worn threshold, adding their hopes and sorrows to the prayers offered here by so many generations.
Especially considering the grim state of the world, it is a great blessing and comfort that so many of you are such good stewards, caring so much for this church, but always remembering that, just like our homes, just like the whole world, it’s not really ours.
It all belongs to God.
Amen.
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