Something more

The departing homily of The Rev. Rowena MacGregor, Rector of St. James Episcopal Church, Mansfield, PA, September 4, 2005 - January 17, 2021.

Some years ago I spoke to a woman from the Philippines who told me she was always amazed to see the news stories about her country that focused on violent uprisings when her lifelong experience of the Philippines was radically different. She said that her friends in the US believed that the whole of the Philippines was rife with continuous violence all the time because of the news reports of sporadic uprisings, corrupt government and civil unrest. She reported a different viewpoint, that the violence was limited to localized areas and that in most areas of the Philippines people lived their lives and went about their business and peace prevailed in most places. Nonetheless, the people she spoke to in the US held to their strong opinion that the Philippines was a dangerous and unstable country.

It is easy to develop a very skewed view of reality when the only source of information about the state of the world is coming through news channels who trend to negative headlines. Social media amplifies the stories of the day with a barrage of open source op-eds, self-professed experts, and armchair pundits. Even short exposures to news and social media can leave us feeling dazed, disheartened and anxious about the future. We mustn't wait for the news to get better - not because good things aren't happening - but because the nature of news outlets is to report problems: disasters, political strife and corruption, war, famine and pestilence, murder and all manner of wrong-doing, pandemics and death. That is their job. But that is not all that is happening in the world. Whatever we are watching on our TV's or computers, iPads, or phones is only part of the story of what is going on in the world and it is far from the whole story. 

Be clear that I am in no way denying anything being reported in the news or minimizing it in any way. We have real and serious problems we must together work through in our nation, and in our local communities. But that isn't all there is, there is something more.... there is always something more.... The cameras of the world are not directed there, they are focused on something else, and likewise our attention is directed on something else. But God is calling us to look in the direction of the something more. 

The whole canon of Holy Scripture is the archived but ever-relevant news footage of the something more. The Torah with its tremendous stories of faithful guidance and faithfulness, the age-old history of human resistance to the divine and its occasional heroes in Kings and Chronicles, the prophets and sages who call to us still to turn around and return, the wisdom of the mystics, of Sophia, Solomon and Proverbs, the worship hymnody of the Psalter, the Gospels, beginning with Mark, whose words rose up out of the ruins of Jerusalem after four years of devastating war, followed by the accounts of Matthew, Luke and John, the book of Acts and the letters of Paul and his fledgling Christian communities as well as all the other accounts of Jesus, his life, his ministry to the people, his influence, his clear and resolute proclamation of the something more. 

The church throughout its long history, at its best, has been and remains the vessel for this something more. It is the voice that cries out in the wilderness - make the path straight, turn around, return to God - return to the kingdom which is your spiritual home your only true home. It too must be resolute in its proclamation that in the face of all evidence to the contrary there is something more, something that cannot be broken or even slightly influenced; its purity uncompromised by any human intent or design. It is the sole work of the church to proclaim the rest of the story, the never-ending story of the love of God and God's provisions of care for the people within the vast abundance of the created world. It is the church's work to promote a reasoned faith as well as blind faith; to point to the cloud of witnesses and to call upon the wisdom of the ancestors. It is the sole work of the church to provide comfort and succor to its communities, to be a balm of healing wherever it is planted. It is the sole work of the church to sing of God's love and at all times to be a model of unconditional love of neighbor; to offer the world a vision of another kingdom, the promise of the restoration of peace, the assurance of shalom... something more.

Today I complete my work with you in this place, in this community. But I am not leaving the work of the church and neither are you. The future of St. James is not dependent on who comes next to serve with you, but rather lies in the bigger questions you ask about your common life and purpose. The biggest, most important questions are not framed in terms of sustainability or even survival, but rather, How shall we be a witness to the love of God and neighbor in a nation divided? How shall we provide comfort and succor to those who suffer in this community? How shall we tell the stories of our tradition and offer a vision of something more to a world that cannot see anything else but the bad news of the day?

That is the work of the church and its only reason for being. So let us not, in this moment, wring our hands in worry and trepidation about anything. Let us turn our hearts and our minds over to the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Let us rest in shalom; not the far off promise of the ceasing of hostilities, but the peace that passes all understanding that is present with us here and now. Let us give thanks for our lives, for our families and our friends, for the strength and endurance of this nation, for this community and our neighbors, for the great cloud of witnesses - our ancestors. Let us tell our stories of liberation and grace and give thanks for our freedom. Let us share in the sacrament together, united as one body in Christ. 

And when we are filled with the food of the Spirit and refreshed by the Word, let us turn our attention to world, and bring to it something more.