Sunday, October 2, 2016: "Remembering and Leaving" The Rev. Dr. Joanna Seibert, Deacon



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Remembering and Leaving St. Luke October 2, 2016 22C
2 Timothy 1:1-14
“ I am grateful to God.. whom I worship.. as my ancestors did/..when I remember you constantly in my prayers… recalling your tears… I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice/ and now, I am sure,/ lives in you.”
Do you sometimes think about what will be your legacy, how people will remember you? I think of Phillips Brooks, a legendary preacher, writer, social activist, innovator of modern architectural and liturgical tastes at Trinity Copley Square in Boston, briefly bishop of Massachusetts before his early death at age 58. When you see his life size statue at Trinity Boston you realize what a formidable, physically imposing man he was, six feet four inches tall. Of all his accomplishments, he is now most remembered for one short poem he wrote one night on a visit to the Holy Land,/ “O Little Town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie.”./ What is your “O Little Town of Bethlehem” by which you will be remembered? / What about John Chrysostom, named a golden-mouth preacher of his day in the early church, archbishop of Constantinople, recognized among the Three Holy Fathers, with Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzus? Those who read Morning Prayer say his prayer of St. Chrysostom near the closing of the service each morning, “ you have promised that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them”. That is how we remember him./ What is your Prayer of St. Chrysostom by which people will remember you?/ Remember St. Francis whom we honor this afternoon with the blessing of our beloved animals. He changed the church’s view on our ministry to the poor/ and the sacredness of God in Nature, but he is still best remembered for his prayer just attributed to St. Francis. “Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace”. So we still do not even know if he ever wrote it./ What is your Prayer of St. Francis by which you will be remembered?
My Grandparents, Joe and Annie Whaley, whom by the way I am named after/ mostly raised me. They nurtured me and cared for me and loved me without conditions. My greatest memory of my grandmother, however, is one single event occurring one of the days I went back to college in another state. I always go to say goodbye to my grandparent at their nearby home on my way out of town. I only stay a few minutes. This day my grandmother is playing canasta with her sisters. I kiss her goodbye and leave. Then I remember I have forgotten something. Today I have no memory of what it was. I go back to their house and my grandmother is not at the card table. I ask her sisters, “Where is she?” After a pause my Aunt Julia whispers, “ She went upstairs to her bedroom to cry. She misses you so much when you are gone.” Even though my grandparents are my real caretakers when I am growing up, I spend very little time with them on these infrequent visits home from college. I am always absorbed with my friends or work I bring home. Suddenly I am acutely aware how much my grandmother loves me. I run up the stairs to hug her one more time and witness her love embarrassed by tears. I can still feel today that love my grandmother showed me with her secretly concealed bedroom tears./ Where are your tears of love by which you will be remembered? It is possible that you may be most remembered like my grandmother for just one small act of love.//
We will carry so many memories of you as Robert and I leave St. Luke. I will remember your outstanding hospitality, the genuine way you pass the peace, how you welcome the stranger, your hospitality in your home with Feast with Friends, your breakfasts, your brunches, your suppers. I will remember how well you care for each other like family. You have some amazing Community of Hope pastoral care givers, more dedicated than any I have worked with. I remember how you took care of Pat Loomis, Lewis Jenkins, Betty Miller, Bernice Carrigan, the Macaliks and so many others. I will remember your faithfulness, your DOK daily prayers. I will remember the grand projects of your ECW, Easter eggs, fruitcakes, sending your precious children to Camp Mitchell. I will remember your men’s group, and how they occasionally let me have breakfast with them on Saturday. If you need something done, they were always there to fix it. I will remember Jason, your music, and of course your extraordinary choir. I remember when Jason came for an interview, and Carey and I heard him play for the first time. We were just blown away. You will also fall in love with Thomas. Your Festival of the Senses is also an amazing musical outreach gift to this community. Caroline is also a treasure, and I will miss her as well as those faithful office volunteers. I will always remember your children. I love especially your acolytes and feel it is a privilege to serve with each of them. I cry when they leave to go off to college. I will remember Vacation Bible School with Patricia Matthews and Christ Church. We had such fun planning it. I was the storyteller each year. I love especially the canned sculpture contests. I will remember your dedicated, talented Sunday school teachers, Beth, Anita, Vera, Paula, Ginna and Jennifer, who love your children so much and are so faithful and creative. I will remember your amazing outreach, the veteran’s dinner, the faithful group taking the blue barrel offerings to homeless shelters, and now of course Family Promise. I will remember the opportunity for three years to train Deb Cooper, another deacon who was ordained in August and is now at the Cathedral. A privilege. I give thanks that Carey and Bishop Benfield gave me the opportunity to be with you for five years, that Carey allowed me to preach once a month, serve weekly at this altar, assist with formation and pastoral care and outreach. I am taking with me a treasure chest of memories of each of you./
I leave you with a challenge. Remember your great assets, your love of God, your love for each other and your amazing hospitality. 1 There is no limit to what this community can do inside and outside of these walls. God gave you everything you need to fulfill your ministries to each other and the world. Do not look at life with scarcity, your glass half empty, looking at any deficiencies you think you may have. Your glass is more than half full. It is totally full and running over./ In Christ, your future is bigger than the past. Do not dwell on any past injuries./ Our church is founded on two promises, first, the forgiveness of sins of whatever is past, as it is healed by the Holy Spirit./ Second we believe in everlasting life,/ which claims our future with Christ that has no end.
We’ve had wonderful and sad experiences together, but the best is yet to come./ Like the Carpenters’ 1970 hit, “you’ve just begun.” The Christian Church is just 2000 years old; St. Luke is sixty years old. “You’ve just begun.” //
“When I remember you in my prayers”, my prayer will be from today’s second letter to Timothy, that you will “guard the good treasure entrusted to you,/ with the help of the Holy Spirit living in each of you.”/
May God bless us all/ as we continue our journeys/ with only a river/ and soon/ a new bridge between us.

1 Samuel Wells, “Seven possibilities for church,” The Christian Century, June 22, 2016, p. 29.