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The Third Sunday In Lent
Almighty God, who seest that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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The Third Sunday In Lent
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Scripture citation(s): Exodus 3:1-15; Luke 13:1-9; I Corinthians 10:1-13
A Sermon by
The Rev. Canon Carl Turner
on
Exodus 3:1-15; Luke 13:1-9; I Corinthians 10:1-13
✛
Getting Our Priorities Right
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Anthony de Mello tells a lovely story of a rich industrialist who was on vacation in South East Asia. Late one morning he was horrified to find a fisherman lying lazily beside his boat, smoking a pipe.
“Why aren’t you fishing?” said the rich industrialist.
“Because I have caught enough fish for the day,” said the fisherman.
“Why don’t you catch some more?”
“What would I do with it?”
“You could earn more money” came the reply, “with that you could have a motor fixed to your boat and go into deeper waters and catch more fish. Then you would have enough to buy nylon nets. These would bring you even more fish and more money. Soon you would have enough money to own two boats…maybe even a fleet of boats. Then you would be a rich man like me.”
The fisherman looked puzzled, “What would I do then? he said.
“Then,” said the rich man, “you could really enjoy life.”
The fisherman smiled at the rich industrialist: “What do you think I am doing right now?”
Lent is a time for taking stock, for getting our priorities right and working out what is of real value to us.
In our Epistle reading, Paul reflects on how the people of Israel had forgotten the intimacy of their relationship with God and their corporate responsibility. He was dealing with a testing time for the emerging Church; King James Bible uses the word temptation in the passage we heard, but that might make us think that this is simply about something to be resisted. It is more than that – it is testing more than temptation – it is about how one reacts to the world, to relationships and, ultimately, to God: ‘getting our priorities right and working out what is of real value to us.’ Paul reflects back to the time of the Exodus and the testing time for Israel in the wilderness. Testing demands action not just resistance.
Jesus knew all about testing times. The Gospel reading, which begins with reference to some historical events that we know little about, also refers to corporate responsibility – the actions of a few can affect the whole and the actions of whole groups of people can compromise the life of an individual. “Unless you repent, you will all perish as they did,” says Jesus, twice. Repentance is, of course, a ‘turning around’ and this is the challenge that Jesus gave to his hearers and gives to us today – making the right choices; discovering what is of value; knowing our place in the community of faith; these are marks of the Kingdom of God breaking in and demand action.
As I reflected this week on our own corporate life here at Saint Thomas Church and our responsibilities to each other and to the Church in this place I was particularly struck by the parable that Jesus told.
Now, if you are a gardener, then you will know that it normally takes three years for fig trees to grow to maturity and begin fruiting. The owner of the vineyard in the parable is, therefore, quite right to ask for this tree that does not bear fruit to be uprooted – three years old, it is draining the soil of energy and, of course, fig trees are prolific in their growth and can soon take over their spot of the garden. But something remarkable happens – the gardener has faith and the gardener wants to nurture the fig tree. Not uprooting it from the soil will, ironically, mean enriching the soil with manure to fertilize it. However, it will, undoubtedly, also need pruning.
So here we are at the end of the Candlemas Campaign to raise pledges for our church, which is not only an individual responsibility, it is a corporate act of love for Jesus and his Church. I am thrilled to tell you that 29% of pledges made by existing pledgers have increased by at least 10% – and many more than that – but the reality is that we are still far short of our $2M target. Putting it simply, we are not able to balance our budget and for many years we have been dipping into our invested funds more than is prudent. I said to you, when I first arrived just under a year and a half ago, that we couldn’t be a church that relies simply on the generosity of those who are now dead. This is a living church and we need to cultivate it and nurture it and this is a corporate responsibility. Yes, pruning often has to happen in order for there to be growth, but I want us to be in control of our pruning and not find that our financial situation dictates drastic measures. We are a church that people think has lots of spare cash; in fact, if I had a dollar for every time someone has said to me “Oh, you’re at one of the richest parishes in the country” I could put a sizeable amount back into our invested funds! Yes, we are rich – but rich in faith; rich in a beautiful building; rich in our musical heritage; rich in the talent around this church; rich in our choir school; rich in the amazing diversity of the people sitting here or listening to the webcast…
…but with a deficit budget set every year.
So, here’s a sobering thought: In 2014, the national average pledge given by an Episcopalian nationally was $2,626.
The average pledge at Saint Thomas Church in the same year was $2,497.
In this next year we need to think hard about what we value and what take for granted. I said earlier that Lent is a time for taking stock, for getting our priorities right and working out what is of real value to us. So perhaps that is a spiritual exercise for each of us this week – some questions to reflect on: These are testing times for us here and not only financially; how do we, at Saint Thomas Church, respond to the world around us; to the Episcopal Church or the Anglican Communion; to the people of midtown Manhattan; to those who have differing opinions to us? And how do I take responsibility for the mission here that is St Thomas Church and to which I belong?
