Fr. McGugan and Fr. McCard, Saturday, Nov. 13, 2004

 

Fr. Terry McGugan

November 13, 2004

 

What an honor to be here today at St. Martin’s.

                John, you have been blessed.

 

These are great people, devout, loving, supportive, committed.

                                And this is a wonderful church,

                                 Filled with important and dynamic ministry.

 

Oh John you have been blessed!

 

Then there is the school,

                the school is fabulous, the teachers excellent.

                The church clergy and staff are top notch.

 

Oh my goodness John you have been blessed!

 

You have a bishop who we both know from our seminary days

                A bishop that I know will be supportive pastoral

                                And empowering for ministry

 

John you have been blessed!

 

It brings tears to my eyes.

 

I am sorry, I think it is imperative for me stop this sermon

 

Neil, I mean Bishop Alexander, I have sinned and need to make a confession right here right now…

Confess that I have committed the sin of envy

 

Oh I am filled with envy,

 I am green with envy,

                I am so green I feel like Kermit the frog.

 

I feel like busting out to sing Kermit’s timeless lament

 

“It's not that easy bein' green
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves”

 

I need to stop before I spiral down into a quagmire of self pity.

 

Let me change tacks, Let me collect myself…

 

St. Martin’s let me tell you, you have been blessed as well…

                John is an extraordinary priest.

He’s an academic, bright, talented, a powerful teacher.

 

Oh you have been blessed.

               

He’s a sensitive and caring pastor.

                Devoted to his people and the church.

 

He is an orthodox Christian,  grounded in scripture and theology. He is a gifted liturgist and a talented administrator, a strong and trustworthy leader.

 

Oh you are blessed!

                You are getting ‘the full meal deal.’

               

But do you know what the real bonus is,

                Do you know what his greatest strength is…

 

                Cynthia, oh my goodness you all are bless…

                  

 

I am thrilled for all of you.

                 I feel like a match maker sitting back and basking in the after glow of a match made in heaven.

 

And I sit on the edge of my seat, expectantly anticipating great things to come out of this new relationship.

 

But let me remind you all

                 that just as much as St. Martins thinks

                                that they choose John,

and John thinks that he accepted this offer

               

This is really the work of the Holy Spirit.

 

It is not by chance  that any of you are sitting in this church this morning. It is not by accident that you are a member St. Martin’s.

               

 You have been brought here for a purpose

               

I would say the same for John and Cynthia and the girls.

 

You are not here by accident. You are here because God desires to do a mighty work in this place for his glory for his honor for the building up of his church and the ushering in of his kingdom.

 

As Jesus said to his disciples in the gospel of  John:

 

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last.”

 

You all, John and Cynthia, the members of St. Martin’s                have been chosen by God to serve in this place and to bear fruit. You have been brought here for a reason and purpose.

 

Which Begs the question:

 

Why has God brought us all here?

Why is John here ?

Why are we here.?

What’s the reason?

What’s the purpose?

 

In other words, What is our mission?

 

I would love to tell you that St. Martins mission is unique and that your purpose is special and different from all other churches, but I can’t.

 

 The mission for St. Martin’s is the same for all churches. It’s not just for St. Martins but also St. Michael’s were I serve, and Holy Innocents or St. Luke, for the Methodist church down the road, the Lutheran around the corner, the Pentecostal, the Roman Catholic, the Greek orthodox…

 

The mission is the same for all churches. It was established by Jesus 2000 years ago and it will be the mission of the church till the close of this age.

 

I quote from Matthew:

Then Jesus came to them and said,

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

 

That’s right: the great commission, the mission of the church universal. This is the mission that crosses time and space the mission that crosses denominational and national boundaries.

 

This is the mission of St. Martin’s, this is the fruit you are to bear.

 

Let me break the great commission down for you

 

  1. Reach the unchurched,
  2.  grow disciples
  3. equip for ministry
  4. go back to step one and repeat.

 

That’s it. Now go out there and do it.

 

Do know what I hate about preachers? They are always to quick to tell you what to do but they very rarely tell you how to do it.

 

So let me tell ya how to do it.

 

Which brings us back to our Gospel for this morning.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

 

There is the key. Do you see it? Did you hear it?

 

Couched in this agrarian image of a vine and branches and fruit comes the key to fulfilling the mission of the church.

 

If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

 

In order for the church to fulfill its mission, we have to remain in Jesus and allow him to remain in us or as other translations have said, “abide.”

 

So there you have it. The mission is clear. The “how to” has been established: Remain in Jesus.

 

All right then, let’s head out there and remain in Jesus.

 

Some of you may be saying to your selves, Well that’s great but once again a preacher is telling us what to do but he again has not told us how to do it.

 

How do you remain in Jesus as a community and as individuals? How do you stay connected to the vine?

How do we abide in Jesus so that we can fulfill our mission?

 

I want to offer you  as a church and as individuals           five actions of the Christian life.

 

Before I tell you what these five actions are I want to make something crystal clear:

We are not to pursue these five actions as tasks on a list to be checked off or as chores to be done to get a desired result

 

Think of them rather as doors, doors that we open…Doors into our hearts and spirits which allow the spirit greater access into our lives.

 

 By doing these actions we are opening doors into our lives, and inviting Jesus in.

 

The more doors you have open,  the more access Jesus has into our lives           and the more access the deeper the relationship. And the deeper the relationship, the closer you will abide in him and he in you, and the closer he abide in you and you in him, then the greater fruit you will produce.

 

And that fruit is the fulfillment of the mission of the church: reaching of unchurched, the growing of disciples and the equipping for ministry.

 

Notice there’s nothing in there for us, because it’s not about us:

 

It’s about Jesus

 

But a by-product of these actions is a life of purpose meaning beyond ourselves, a life of  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,       faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

 

Because while we practice these five actions, these are the fruit of the spirit that will become manifest in us. That’s what we get when we offer our lives to Jesus and participate in the mission of the church

 

And we do it through these five actions, or doors that we open.

 

Do you want to know what the five actions are? I hope you are on the edge of the pew.

 

I hope your heart is racing a little. I hope you are hunger to know what these five actions are, because don’t you really want to be in deeper relationship with God? Don’t you want your life to have meaning and purpose?  Don’t you want to participate in the transformation of the world?

 

I hope you’re screaming inside

Tell me tell me, enough already tell me, I want it.

Tell me, for Pete sake, spit it out, preacher man.

 

Okay here we go!

Drum roll please.

 

  1. Prayer
  2. Study
  3. Worship
  4. Service
  5. Fellowship

 

Hey don’t look so disappointed. I hate to tell you but there is nothing new in the church.

 

Those things like the great commission which were established 2000 years ago are the bed rock of the practice of our faith.

 

These are the ways we open the door to faith, the way we abide in him, the way we remain in him.

 

It’s simple. It’s not rocket science, it is not complicated. It’s not a secret. These have always been the ways by which Christians through the millennia have abided in Jesus

 

Through daily disciplined prayer.

Through daily reading and study of the scriptures.

Through weekly corporate and daily personal worship.

Through offering your self, your money and you talent in service through ministry.

Through building friendships and relationships with other Christians.

 

I challenge each of you, individually and collectively, as the church of St. Martin’s, to evaluate how you have abided in Jesus

 

I challenge you to really take stock. Are you opening these doors to faith? Are some closed? Are some only ajar? Are some wide open? Are some locked and barred? Have you completely ignored some?

 

Make the changes needed and necessary to throw open wide the doors to faith.

 

Be courageous. Be honest with yourselves.

 

 Because the more we open ourselves up, the deeper we will be in relationship with Jesus, and the more effective we will be individually and as a church in fulfilling the Mission of the Church

 

To choose not to evaluate yourselves and not makes changes puts us individually and as a community in a dangerous position

 

“If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”

 

You see God has a mission to win the world, to transform the world, to redeem the world and he will accomplish his purpose. And we have been created for and called to be part of that mission

 

But if we are not opening the doors to faith so that we abide in him, and we are not producing fruit he will find other means and ways to accomplish his will.

 

St. Martin’s is on the cusp of a new era in the life of this church.

God is calling you to even greater things for his glory. He is calling you to be his hands and his feet in this place to accomplish his mission.

 

Are you ready to answer the call? Are you ready to be used and to be used up by God  for his glory and his purpose?

 

As Peter wrote in his first Epistle,

 

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.”

 

Are you ready? None of you is here by accident. You have been called. Are you willing?

Throw open the doors to faith.

Are you willing to abide in him?

Are you ready to fulfill his mission in the world…?

Reaching the unchurched?

Growing disciples?

Equipping for ministry?

 

A new day has dawned at St. Martin in the Fields.

 

Are you ready and willing to step forward?

 

The Rev’d Terry McGugan, rector of St. Michael’s Church, Racine, Wisconsin, preached this sermon at St. Martin in the Fields Church on the occasion of the celebration of Fr. John McCard’s new ministry here on Nov. 13, 2004.