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 use to be and more of what we ought to be, through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen
And the king will answer them,
“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are
member of my family you did it to me.”
In the midst of a busy weekend
of new ministry celebrations, receptions, and remembrance Sunday, we pause this
morning at our 9:00 service to honor and celebrate our patron St. Martin.
Of course some of you might be
wondering how our church ended up with such an unusual name. In Anne Shepherd’s
fine history of our parish, it says that according to one story the church got
its start in the living room of Mrs. R. A. Robinson when her husband died on
April 27, 1948.
The rector of St. Luke’s, Fr.
Milton Richardson came from downtown to perform last rites and during the
course of conversations it became apparent to several people that an Episcopal
church was needed between the Cathedral and Grace Church in Gainesville.
After a few years of discussion
and false starts, the first meeting of a founding vestry was held on April 8,
1951 at the home of Mr. A.D. Wilburn and included C.T. Taylor, Henry D. Norris,
Mrs. Mary Palmer, K.R. Mclennan, Hugh Saussy and Nan Ramsey.
The effort to start a church in
North East Atlanta was given the name the Oglethorpe Mission because the
president of Oglethorpe University gave his permission to use a classroom for
meetings.
The second meeting of the Vestry
of the Oglethorpe mission was held on May 26, 1951 at he Dekalb National Bank,
where AD. Milburn was President. The first church service was planned for July
8, 1951 in the Oglethorpe Chapel or on the premises of the university.
Mr. Wilburn the senior warden
agreed to play the organ without pay. (Did you hear that Ingrid.) Mr. Dosh Bill
Durden (appointed lay reader in charge by the bishop) said he would obtain a
list of prospective members from other churches. (The good old days of evangelism or what we refer to in the
clergy as sheep stealing.)
The next paragraph in her book
is the important one for us. It says that, Mr. Norris made the motion that the
mission should be named St. Martin in the Fields, provided this was verified as
the name of the church in which General James Edward Oglethorpe, the founder of
Georgia for whom the University was named, was baptized.
The Vestry agreed, voting
unanimously. (Should I say that one more time.)
It was decided that Mr. Durden
would secure this information and advise the bishop of the name selected.
Bishop Walker had wanted us to use the name St. James but Henry and Anna Norris
had researched St. Martin and they suggested naming the mission for him.
You see, even in our early
years, our church had trouble following the bishop’s advice. Of course, I am
pleased that St. Martin won out over St. James.
It is not that I have anything
against Jesus’ brother but we have more historical information on St. Martin
than St. James and that makes it a little easier for me to say a few words
about him today.
Also in cases like this, I
believe that the Holy Spirit is at work. There are only about eleven churches
in the United States that are named in honor of our patron. It is a special
name for a church that has had a special history and a strong call to serve
God’s people in northeastern Atlanta.
Our statue to the right captures
the key turning point in Martin’s life. The son of a Roman soldier he was born
about 330 in Hungary.
As a young man he too joined the
Roman Army and was out riding one day and was approached by a poor man, who
asked for alms in the name of Christ. Martin drew his sword, cut off part of
his military cloak and gave it to the beggar.
On the following night, Jesus
appeared to Martin, clothed in half a cloak, and said to him, “Martin, a simple
catechumen covered me with his garment.”
It is easy to see why the gospel
lesson for today was chosen.
It reminds us that when we feed
the hungry, give a drink to the thirsty, welcome strangers, clothe the naked,
care for the sick, and visit those in prison, we are in the deepest sense
taking care of Christ himself.
This was what Martin discovered
when he cut a portion of his cloak to cloth the beggar who approached his
horse.
This is what we have discovered
as well during the past fifty-plus years as we have shared the cloak with
others and seen our many ministries grow and flourish.
St. Martin’s cloak story is also
useful for us as we prepare for our upcoming stewardship campaign. Martin was
willing to give away something that was important and precious to him to
relieve the suffering of his neighbor.
I wonder why at this moment the
word lunchbox keeps popping into my head.
St. Martin’s story reminds us
though that when we let go of things we thought were important our lives began
to change.
This year we have an important
task before us in our annual campaign to raise operating funds for the coming
year. On the one hand there is a practical matter, if we don’t have money we
can’t keep the heat on in the sanctuary during winter (I hear the winters here
are little colder than Marco Island.)
However, our stewardship of this
church has to go much deeper, if we want to honor the vision of those who came
before us in the earliest days of this church.
Our patron, St. Martin was
willing to share what he had with someone who appeared to have nothing.
At that moment, Martin could not
have possibly foreseen that he was in fact helping Jesus and that his action
started him on a path that would lead to his becoming one of the most respected
and beloved bishops of the fourth century.
In much the same way, I want to
suggest that none of us sitting here this morning knows exactly what the future
holds for this parish.
We have hopes and dreams for
what we would like to become but a lot of our future depends upon our
faithfulness to God and the willingness we have to share our own cloaks.
Or as Fr. Terry said are we
ready to do those five things: pray, study, worship, outreach and fellowship.
This is what also makes this
time of year particularly important. Our culture is about to get all revved up
trying to convince us that we can’t live without a lot of stuff we think we
need.
Yet the church calls us at this
time to re-examine our values. To ask the questions what are the things we hold
most dear and what are the things that give our lives meaning.
And unless your first answer
begins with God and St. Martins, you probably need to make an appointment to
come see me.
Let’s face it, everything we
have from our Cloaks, to our lunchboxes ultimately belongs to God anyway.
Part of our task at St. Martin’s
is using our resources to serve other people, just as St. Martin did on that
horse almost 1,700 years ago and as our own founders did in the conference room
of the Dekalb National Bank over fifty years ago.
Our mission statement says we
will be lead by Christ and lead others to him…..Jesus however put it the
following way, Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of
these who are members of my family you did it to me…