The Rev’d John McCard, Rector

(First sermon in St. Martin’s pulpit)

Proper 18, September 5, 2004

“I am confident that together we will unleash a power to dream the kind of dreams for St. Martin’s that can transform the lives of all people that come through the doors of our church, office and school.”

O God, be in my mouth as I speak for you and fill this place with your great grace that we may leave this place less of what we used to be and more of what we ought to be, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ. I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.

Before beginning my service as your new rector, one of my good friends told me that it must be nerve wracking having to give your first sermon. After all, you find yourself standing in an unfamiliar pulpit. Everyone’s attention is focused on you.

Eighteen long months have passed since the parish started on this journey of self- discovery and discernment and you, as the new rector, are the finished product of their blood, sweat and tears.

How can any sane person say there is not pressure on someone giving his or her first sermon in a new church?

Well that might be true, but I reminded my friend that when you give a first sermon there are two groups of people that are always a lot more nervous than you are….

The Vestry and the Nominating Committee …. (please be kind to them during coffee hour)

Let me first say what a great joy it is for my family and I to be with you this morning. I want to thank you for the warm welcome we have already received from so many of you in the church and the school. Although it has only been about three weeks since our moving van was unloaded, we already feel that we have begun to make a new home in Atlanta.

A lot of this has to do with the Christian hospitality and love that have been so freely given to us.

The entire McCard family continues to be grateful for the way that you have welcomed us into our new community of faith.

I also must confess that I knew little about St. Martin’s at the beginning of January 2004. I knew that my good friend Terry McGugan had served here in the mid-nineties. I had met your former rector, Fr. Remer, several years ago and knew that he had left St. Martin’s to start his service to St. John’s, Tampa, in my former diocese.

My limited knowledge of St. Martin’s was dramatically changed at the end of January when I received a packet of information on your church and an invitation to take part in a process of discernment.

Believe it or not, I had told Fr. McGugan in the fall, that I was really content at St. Mark’s on Marco Island and not really interested in looking for a new call.

However this communication or the Holy Spirit must have gotten their wires crossed and I somehow remained on the list of your potential candidates. At first, I thought of sending a polite note of refusal, but then I remembered that my prior call to St. Mark’s on Marco Island had happened when I wasn’t looking to go anywhere.

Upon further reflection, maybe the Holy Spirit was trying to tell me something or maybe God noticed that after six years in a resort community my golf game showed no signs of improvement.

As I started the process with St. Martin’s Nominating Committee, I found myself more and more coming to the realization that God was ready for me to move on to another challenge and phase in my Christian ministry.

This was not something that came to me overnight. I was last January getting ready for a three month sabbatical. I had absolutely no idea that I would be packing my bags and saying farewell to St. Mark’s on Marco Island in early August.

And yet here I stand today, with a great sense of humility that I have received the call to come and minister in the footsteps of Burgreen, Cobb, Gable and Remer.

This is a position of great trust and I am grateful for the privilege you have given to me as your new rector. As I was reflecting on this call and our scripture lessons for this week, I found myself drawn to St. Paul’s epistle to Philemon.

This letter written by St. Paul is unique. It is one of the few letters we have that are addressed to an individual and not a community of Christians such as those living in Corinth.

It addresses a difficult situation that has arisen for Paul. While Paul has been in prison probably awaiting trial in Rome, he has come to rely on the services of a man named Onesimus (try saying that three times fast). Because of his association with St. Paul, Onesimus has been to converted to the Christian faith and Paul has come to regard Onesimus as he would his own son.

There is, however, one big problem with Onesimus working for St. Paul. He is a runaway slave from Philemon’s house who is one of Paul’s rich patrons. As you can imagine, the penalties for harboring a runaway slave in the Roman Empire of the first century are harsh. Paul knows that he is under the gun to resolve this situation before it interferes with his own ministry and his support from Philemon.

So what does St. Paul decide to do? Well this is before the age of email and teleconferencing so he sends Onesimus back to Philemon with this letter asking that he be greeted as a beloved brother in Christ, given his freedom, and returned to Paul for service in Philemon’s name.

This letter becomes a way for Paul to make a request based upon his personal relationship with both Philemon and Onesimus. As St. Paul writes, “I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced”.

As St. Paul goes on to state, “For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty (that is free Onesimus from slavery), yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love.” Paul takes an enormous risk in this letter. He has no way of knowing how Onesimus will be received. But he has enough faith in God to put the ball in Philemon’s court.

It is now up to Philemon to decide how he is going to respond to Paul and to his returning slave. St. Paul had faith because he already knew how the risen Christ had transformed his own life on the Road to Damascus. And he is willing to trust that this kind of experience has transformed the lives of Philemon and Onesimus as well.

“When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God because I hear of your love for all the saints, and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ.” Again, “I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ.”

St. Paul believes there is no end to the amount of good that can be accomplished when we have the courage to share our faith boldly with others.

This is the basis of the relationship that he has with Philemon and Onesimus and it is also the foundation of the relationship we are starting this morning.

In many ways this weekend, we begin a process of writing a personal letter to each other based upon our belief in Jesus Christ as our risen Lord and savior. As a priest and church, we start a marvelous adventure that will enable us to grow in our faith together.

And most importantly of all, as we continue to be led by Christ and to lead others to him, I am confident that together we will unleash a power to dream the kind of dreams for St. Martin’s that can transform the lives of all people that come through the doors of our church, office and school.

As someone who is taking a risk like St. Paul, and stepping into the river that has been St. Martin’s life as a church and school, I am painfully aware that I come as someone who is not completely up to speed on the marvelous history and ministry of this place.

Yet as we begin our personal letter today, part of my task as your rector is to be a good listener in the coming months.

In age where “getting our say is perceived as an individual’s right”, listening well is a dying art form. Despite this difficulty though, I think a short story will demonstrate how important listening can be particularly when we think we are out of options.

How many of you have ever seen the movie Grumpy Old Men? Do you remember the scene that took place on the lake as both Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon fished in their little huts in Northern Minnesota? I want you to put that picture in your minds.

My story concerns two fellows, Mike and Charlie that had a little lake hut for ice fishing in Minnesota just like the fellows in Grumpy Old Men.

As they sat fishing together one Saturday morning in February, Mike dropped on the sawdust floor of their hut the pocket watch that his wife had given him on their wedding day. Recently widowed, he jumped up and quickly began scrambling to find his most precious possessions. His frantic efforts kicked up a huge amount of sawdust and as both men started coughing and swearing they decided to exit the hut and come back after the dust had settled.

Outside in the freezing weather, they cleared their lungs and discussed their next course of action.

As the colorful expletives flew, a young boy was walking by to get coffee for his dad at the local shop, he stopped and asked the two men why they were so upset.

Toning down the language a bit, they explained their predicament to the young boy. After listening the boy proclaimed quite confidently that he could find the watch without any problem.

The skeptical codgers looked at each other, smiled, and told the boy to go ahead and do his best. The boy walked into the hut and after about ten seconds came out with the watch in hand.

The two astonished men were completely flabbergasted and were, for once in their lives, at a complete loss for words. “How did you do it?” they asked at once.

The boy said, simple, I went into the hut, sat in the floor, and listened until I could hear the watch ticking.

Part of our task in the coming months is to be that kind of listener as a priest and as community of faith. To take the time to share our faith, to pray together and to discern God’s will for our lives as members of St. Martin’s.

Even in prison St. Paul told Philemon that he prayed that the sharing of his faith would become more effective when he perceived all the good that he could do for Christ.

There is much good for us to do as well and I am looking forward to meeting those challenges with you in the coming years.

I want to leave you this morning with the words of St. Teresa of Avila who like St. Paul endured hardship and suffering for her faith in the 14^th century. I have found her message to be a good antidote for human anxiety whether you happen to be a new rector or better yet a vestry member.

Let nothing disturb you,

Let nothing make you afraid,

All things are passing,

God never changes,

Patience obtains all things

Nothing is lacking to the one who has God.

God alone is enough.