Sermon: Celebration of New Ministry. We Show People Jesus!

Let the whole world see
and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and
things which had grown old are being made new and that all things are being
brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, Jesus
Christ our Lord.

+           

Mission statements are pretty popular. It seems like everyone
either has one or is working on one. And a good mission statement has two
things. It’s precise and it’s concise.

Google’s isn’t bad. To organize the world’s information and
make it universally accessible and useful.

Charles Schwab does even better. “To help everyone be
financially fit.”

Probably my favorite mission statement is actually a product
slogan. It nails precision and concision in three words.

You know it. It’s Raid. What does Raid do? Everybody?

Kills Bugs Dead.

Precision. Concision.

Now, churches love mission statements too. Unfortunately, too
often they’re neither precise nor concise. Too often they are way too long and
too often there’s not much to separate them from Starbucks or the United Way.

But one church got it right. One church has the “Kills Bugs
Dead” of church mission statements.

It’s Canterbury Cathedral, mother church of the Anglican
Communion. Their mission statement is just four words:

We show people Jesus.

Isn’t that beautiful? Says it all. Precise and concise!

Let’s say it together.

We show people Jesus.

Again … We show people Jesus.

Louder … One more time…  We show people Jesus.

“We show people Jesus” is beautiful because it is spot on
and impossible to forget … especially now that we’ve all said it three times.  But “We show people Jesus” is also
beautiful because as soon as we say “We show people Jesus,” it begs some
important questions as we consider the mission, the new ministry of this Cathedral:

Who is this Jesus we are showing people?

How do we show people Jesus?

Finally, how do we show people Jesus as a Cathedral?

First, who is this Jesus?

That one’s easy.  I can’t tell you. You
have to find out. And you have to keep finding out. And keep finding out. And
keep finding out.

If we are to show people Jesus, the foundation of our life
has to be our own quest for Jesus. That means it is absolutely essential and
non-negotiable that each and all of us commit ourselves to the holy habits of
finding and being found by Jesus.

We must pray. Every day. We must read and study the Bible.
Every day. We must seek Jesus where he tells us he is to be found – in the
lives of the most marginalized and vulnerable among us.

And in these tasks, you have chosen exceedingly well in
calling your Dean. In Penny, you have called a formidable priest whose strength
comes precisely from her absolute commitment to prayer and study and a tireless
quest for Jesus, for finding and being found by him.

Make no mistake, she does not do these things so you don’t
have to. If you are to continue to grow this Cathedral’s history of showing
people Jesus, you must together recommit yourselves to prayer and study and
service and of finding and being found by Jesus.

We cannot show … what we do not know.

Second, how do we show people Jesus?

That one is easy, too. It’s easy because it is in our DNA.
It is part of our natural rhythm of life as followers of Jesus. We show people
Jesus the way Jesus is shown to us. Using the motions of the Eucharist and the
ministry of blessing.

Think about what happens in the Eucharist. The community
gathers around the presence of Jesus on the table. And then we are invited to lay
our lives on the table with Jesus. In the words of this morning’s epistle, we
“present ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is
our spiritual worship.”

And then something amazing happens. Our lives on that table
get mixed up with Jesus’ life and something new emerges. New life. Resurrection
life. Then in receiving the Eucharist, that new life which is a piece of each
of us and of Jesus, too, that new life lives in us, and we are sent out into the
world to live it out loud.

To show people Jesus, all we have to do is take what we do
in here and live it out there.

We take the Jesus we know from prayer, study and service and
we find something that looks like Jesus. Some mission or ministry or
opportunity to follow that great commandment of “love one another as Jesus has
loved us.” Something that looks like an invitation for us to lay down our lives
for one another. Some deep brokenness that is just waiting for the reconciling
love of Christ.

And then we take this opportunity, this idea, this ministry
– and we gather the community around it. And not just this Cathedral
congregation, not even just this diocese, but all San Diego. And we say, “Hey,
this looks like Jesus to us! What do you think?” And if they think it looks
like Jesus, too. If they think it looks like a love that can change life
itself, we invite them to join us in laying their lives on the table with it.
And if they do, we watch and we midwife a new resurrection life into being and
then we send it out to be Christ in the world.

At Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis, we looked around
and we saw women being beaten and abused and sold for sex on our streets and in
our downtown hotels. And we looked at what Becca Stevens has done in Nashville
with Magdalene and Thistle Farms – a
two year residential program and amazing social enterprise for women who have
survived lives of prostitution, violence and drug abuse. And so we brought
Becca and some of the women of Magadalene in, and we gathered the community
around and we said “This looks like Jesus to us? Are you willing to lay your
lives on the table with this mission of love?” And St. Louis said yes, and the
result is Magdalene St. Louis, which
will open its first house for five women this fall.

 

We looked around and saw a public school system that had
lost its accreditation, parents who could afford to fleeing for the county when
their kids reached school age and parents who couldn’t trapped in failing
schools. Bringing children together across lines of race and class to give them
the gift of education? That looked like Jesus to us.

So we connected with a group with a similar mission and now
we are incubating an excellent – public charter elementary school in our
building and serving both the downtown loft community and some of the children
most left behind by education inequality in our city.

Neither of these are things we do all by ourselves.  We are gatherers and catalysts and
contributors. Just like the Eucharist, our role is not to generate resurrection
life ourselves, but to gather people around something we believe looks like
Jesus, to invite the whole community to lay their lives on the table with it,
and then to midwife the new resurrection life into being.

What is the brokenness in this city? What might it look like
when the love of Christ, the most powerful force for healing in the universe,
meets that brokenness? That’s what Jesus looks like. That’s what you gather
people around.

And you’re already doing it, too. I can name at least one
way. I saw on your Facebook page that you are connecting people who have spare
bedrooms or couches with people who have been displaced by the fires. That’s
what I’m talking about! Hospitality. Opening up your homes to strangers. That’s
what Jesus looks like!

And you’re inviting everyone … everyone … to lay their lives
on the table with it. And who knows what new life will emerge? Not just
temporary housing but networks of relationship founded in radical hospitality.
Relationships founded in showing people Jesus. Great job! Outstanding!

But there’s even more. Because showing people Jesus is also
a ministry of blessing. Of being out in the community looking for things that
look like Jesus and when you see them, blessing them. When you see them saying
in ways that nobody can miss that God says this is good. That this makes God
dance. That this looks like Jesus.

St. Louis is one of the most segregated metropolitan areas
in America. But there is one Saturday morning when we all come together –
races, classes, creeds, you name it. 
It’s the Saturday in June when we hold the largest Race for the Cure in
the nation. All of God’s people gathering together across their divisions to
work together for healing. We looked at that and said, “Hey, that looks like
Jesus!”  So we decided to let
people know it.

The race’s starting line was only a block from the Cathedral,
so we got a crew of people to climb into our bell tower and ring the Cathedral
bells for the full hour it took the 60,000 people to cross the start line. And
then we had another crew waving streamers and ringing handbells and our clergy
asperging the racers with holy water. 

The race organizers loved it. They even moved the starting
line back a block so it could be right at the Cathedral so our tower bells
could be the starting gun. And there is not one morning the whole year where we
bless and pray with and anoint and show more people Jesus than we do on that
day.

And you know what? It’s fun!

What is happening right outside your doors, in Balboa Park, in
the streets of your city, that looks like Jesus to you? What is already
happening out there that you can burst out of these four walls to celebrate and
bless and anoint and asperge … and cense?

We show people Jesus by gathering. We show people Jesus by
blessing.

Every church is called to this mission, but Cathedrals are
uniquely positioned historically and institutionally to do this for the city
and the region.

While parish churches are designed to be the family living
room, where the parish family gathers to eat and be together, Cathedrals are
less living room and more town square.[1]
Cathedrals historically are gathering places for the whole community. Where
everyone comes together to celebrate, pray, learn and work for the common good.
Where everyone comes together and we show them Jesus.

As a Cathedral, you have a platform and an opportunity to
show not just yourselves and not just this neighborhood but all San Diego Jesus
in a way that will literally transform this city. Amidst the cacophony of
voices claiming that Jesus hates and Jesus divides, you can be the voice that
shows people the Jesus who loves and unites. Showing people Jesus through how
you live your life as a Cathedral for all San Diego. Showing people Jesus
through how you live your faith out loud.

How many of you remember Kellen Winslow, tight end for the
Chargers?

Now when I say Kellen Winslow, I’ll bet there’s one specific
game that jumps to your mind immediately, right?

January 2, 1982. AFC Playoff Game. Chargers-Dolphins. 41-38
in overtime. Arguably the single greatest individual sports performance in San
Diego history. Kellen Winslow, 13 catches for 166 yards and a touchdown … and
what else did he do … he blocked a last-second, potential game-winning field
goal by the Dolphins to send the game to overtime.

All this playing with a pinched nerve, dehydration, cramps
and a gash on his lower lip that required three stitches.

I’ll bet you Kellen Winslow hasn’t paid for a drink in this
city since January 2, 1982. And it doesn’t even matter that the Chargers lost
in the Ice Bowl in Cincinnati the next week. We remember.

32 years later, San Diego remembers Kellen Winslow because
when it mattered the most, he showed us something. He laid his body on that
field – literally, he had to be carried off the field after the game – he laid
his body on that field for his team and his city. And we remember.

You have something to show San Diego, too.

And in this time of racial and economic strife. In this time
of social and political division. In this time where more and more young people
are convinced the church is irrelevant and the loudest voices shouting Jesus
are the ones preaching hate. This is the time when it matters most.

People of St. Paul’s Cathedral, you have the opportunity to
do something extraordinary. You have a chance to lay your life on the table
with Jesus for the healing of this city.

It’s time to show San Diego what you’re made of.  It’s time to show San Diego who you are
in a way this city will never forget. It’s time to let San Diego see and know
that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had
grown old are being made new and that all things are being brought to their
perfection by him through whom all things were made, God’s Son, Jesus Christ
our Lord.

It’s time to show San Diego Jesus. Amen.