Annual Meeting Address/Sermon

 

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;

repent, and believe in the good news.

 

Today we hold our Annual Parish Meeting.  Annual Meetings are a time to take stock of where a congregation has been in the past year and to look forward to the future.  I am somewhat challenged in the first category, as I’ve been here for barely four months.  I’ve learned a fair amount about St.  Francis in that time, but I know I have much more still to learn – a process I continue to enjoy. 

 

One thing I have come to know is that this parish is a welcoming and caring community.  Certainly I have been wonderfully welcomed since I arrived in September.  As I wrote in my report in the Annual Meeting booklet –  somewhat different from what I’m saying this morning, so please read it! – the Vestry even had special T-shirts made up which they wore for our first meeting together.  Others have been very generous in their care and welcome in these early months, too, and for that I am grateful indeed. 

 

But I’ve noticed, blessedly, that welcome and care at St.  Francis is not reserved for the new priest.  Care for one another as members of the congregation is a shared value and important practice here:  you reach out to one another when there is illness or another need and support each other in practical ways.  I’ve been struck, too, by the ways people here seek to reach beyond our walls to care for those beyond them.  I’m thinking of the Night-Night Bag project, the clothes collected for distribution to people in need through FISH, and the many other Outreach projects with which we are involved.  Welcome and care are a good and holy part of the life of this congregation.

 

So, too, is the formation of people in their spiritual lives and their understanding and living of Christian faith.  Worship is central to our life – as well it should be.  Christian community finds its origins in Baptism and is nourished in the regular celebration of the Eucharist together.

I am grateful for the care and work of the Altar Guild, Choir, Acolytes, Lectors, Chalice Bearers and Ushers who help make that possible. 

 

Sunday School is clearly a time of great delight.  Our children seem to be learning that love and joy are part and parcel of Christian life – and they are right.  It is a blessing to have their energetic presence in our worship – so we older folks can learn from them..  The J2A program done jointly with Holy Cross, North Plainfield is helping our teens grow in their understanding and practice of the faith as they prepare for Confirmation.  And I’ve been pleased with the response to the initial Adult Formation offerings I have led  as well as the Vestry’s participation in the Bible Study which I’ve introduced to our meetings.  I sense that this is a congregation that wants to grow in the faith we profess and celebrate in our worship each week.

 

For all of these good things – and I could name many more – we’ve also faced some challenges in my months here, most notably financial.  Of course, we are not alone in that:  the economic troubles of our society are having their effects on churches throughout our Diocese – and in some cases much more so than here.  I am aware of two major impacts at St.  Francis.  The first is that our income from the Vicarage was significantly less than budgeted in 2008, since the resident’s business has been adversely impacted by the recession.  The Vestry is taking steps to address this issue and is cautiously hopeful about a positive outcome. Second, and closer to home, is our own giving to the ministry of the parish.  Pledge income for 2008 was almost $10,000 below budget and we have fewer pledges for 2009 than 2008 at this point in time. 

 

There is good news, however.  The $10,000 year-end shortfall is a significant improvement over the $15,000 shortfall we had at the end of November -- we made up $5,000 of back pledges in December alone.  Even more hopeful is the fact that the average pledge for 2009 is 10% higher than in 2008.  There is positive movement there I trust we can build on in the future.

 

So, four plus months in, as I look at what I know of the state of St.  Francis, I see much that is good, much that is hopeful for our common life.  I am looking forward to our ministry together in the years to come.

 

And then there is this morning’s Gospel.  Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”  As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea-- for they were fishermen.  And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people."  And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

 

There is something a good deal more radical in the presence, words and actions of Jesus than taking stock of the life a congregation, no matter how good that may be.  Jesus announces a new reality – the Reign of God –  which has come near in his ministry.  He calls fisherman to leave their families, homes and jobs to follow him and fish for people, and they respond immediately.  This is life-changing, world-changing stuff. 

 

In the Vestry Bible study this week, I asked the group to reflect on what the reaction might be if Jesus showed up this morning at our Annual Meeting, announced the nearness of God’s Reign and called us to follow him as in this morning’s Gospel.  Responses varied, but one thing was clear to us all:  that nearness of the God’s reign and Jesus’ call to follow him were a huge challenge to business as usual.  It just might involve us throwing out the carefully planned Annual Meeting Agenda and walking out the door behind Jesus!

 

But if we were not ready for quite so radical a response – and few on the Vestry thought that many of us would be --  could Jesus’ words at least have an impact on how we imagine and live our ministry as a parish going forward?  I would hope they would.  In fact, I want to share with you some of what it might mean for us in the year ahead.

 

First, Jesus calls us to fish for people, to fish actively and passionately -- to take the habits of care and welcome we already know and build on them.  My dream is that in the year to come we will build an intentional practice of welcome and invitation:  that we will get in the habit of inviting our friends, neighbors and co-workers to check out the Good News of God’s Reign and God’s Love as we seek to live it at St.  Francis; and that when they or anyone else walks in these doors, they will be welcomed with the same attention and care you have given me since my arrival back in September. 

 

My dream is that the Good News of God’s Reign and God’s Love will be evident in worship that is reverent and joyful;   that it will be demonstrated in continued outreach to those in need in our community and the world;  and that it will experienced in the generous, attentive hospitality with which we welcome every person – especially those we do not know – who walk in these doors.  That may be harder to do and require more commitment than we think at first – but it will be well worth doing.  It is worth doing not simply in order that the church to grow in numbers – though that would be a good thing – but because if we live this way we will be doing what our Lord calls us to:  sharing the Good News that the Reign of God is near.

 

Second the nearness of God’s Reign invites us to deepen our knowledge and love of this God whom we are called to follow.  One Vestry member said on Tuesday that we need to be more Christ-like ourselves if we are to follow Jesus.  I couldn’t agree more.  That means worshipping faithfully; strengthening our prayer lives and letting the Scriptures become God’s Word to us in our individual and corporate lives.  It will be an important part of my ministry to offer regularly opportunities for deepening formation in Christ.  I hope you will join me in that work.  I trust I have something to offer --  and I also need you  to grow in my spiritual life.

 

Our deepened faithfulness to Jesus also needs to be reflected in our financial stewardship – for what we do with the money God has entrusted to our care is a profoundly spiritual matter.  It is true, of course, that the money we give to the Church provides for the infrastructure of our life and ministry .  It provides for those mundane but necessary things like heat, lights, insurance, computers, paper and staff.  Beyond that it supports our outreach ministry and the wider ministry of our Diocese and the Episcopal Church. 

 

But something else is going on when we give money for God’s work as well.  Our souls are shaped by whatever we choose to do with money – whether spending it at the mall or putting it in the collection plate..  It is often, and truly, said a glance at our check books will show where our priorities really are.  By giving generously to God’s work through the Church, we are choosing to let our souls, our lives, be more centered on the God we profess our faith in.  We are, in some measure, imitating those first disciples who left everything they had in order to follow  Jesus.  Because giving is such a profoundly spiritual matter and also because it enables the ministry of the parish, this, too, is an area I intend to give attention to in the year to come.

 

One of the great bishops of the Episcopal Church, Stephen Bayne, once said, "Mission is looking around and seeing where God is already at work, and joining God there."  Today’s Gospel shows God at work in Jesus – proclaiming the nearness of God’s Reign and calling people to follow him in proclaiming that Good News.  It is our task in this time and place to see where God is at work in our lives and our world and then join God there.  May God make us faithful in that calling in the year to come.

  

The Rev. Jack Zamboni

January 25, 2009