Rector's Charge to the Annual Parish Meeting of
St. Paul's Church by-the-Lake, Chicago, IL. 60626
25 January 2009

+In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Let each of you lead the life that the Lord has assigned, to which God called you. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters.”
I Corinthians 7: 17 and 23

I. You may have wondered why in my homilies, classes and if you've served on the Vestry, that there is in my voice an urgency and need to get things done. Yes, I admit, I am impatient. I like progress and hate it when things drag-on. I even hate my own sermons that drag on. But there is a practical, spiritual and religious reason for this. St. Paul has been telling the Corinthians in our Sunday Epistles 'How Christians ought to live'. A story I like illustrates WHY it is urgent that we begin to live and act like Jesus' Church. It seems the Devil received the results of a Gallop Poll that showed Heaven was gaining ground and Hell was slipping in the numbers game. Satan would have NONE of that, and called a General Convention of all his Demons. They divided in to committees, brain storming sessions, focus groups, and even round table reflection teams. They were to report back to Satan 'new ways' to gain souls for Hell.

II. Satan asked for the reports to be given. One group felt that changing people's attitudes toward sex and sexuality would do the trick. Another thought convincing people that GREED was a good thing would be the ticket. Still another group proposed that getting more people in debt would make them have to bargain with the devil to survive. Then in the middle of all this, Satan screamed out: “STOP! We've done all these things and continue to do them, doesn't anyone have a new idea?" Then stood up the ancient of all the demons and said: "Dear Satan, It is quite easy to get more souls for Hell"…there was a great pause and silence…"If you want more people in Hell, just tell them they have plenty of time to turn their lives around!”
St. Paul urges us to live 'godly lives' because time is running out- and that applies to this parish as well. We must not take the laid-back attitude that we have forever to accomplish our mission and ministry. Today we must respond.

III. St. Paul does let us know that this urgency is not a sort of drop-everything and wait on a Mountain Top. No, it is an urgency to live as a Christian where God has planted you, using your gifts to bring others to Jesus. Living in a "Christian Way" may not be the way of the world's pleasures, for that might just be what the demons are doing to attract our souls! Recently I was moved by the sermon of the 4th Bishop of Chicago, The Rt. Revd Charles Palmerston Anderson, who in 1928 as the Presiding Bishop preached to the whole General Convention of the Episcopal Church. This sermon was sent to me by former St. Paul's Choirboy Ewing Cobb, now 93 years young living in San Francisco. Listen to theses words from Bp.Anderson's sermon thinking of St. Paul's words to the Corinthians and of Jesus' call to the Apostles in today's Gospel, to "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."

IV. “The problems which confront the Church today can all be gathered up into one problem. It is the problem of secularization- the secularization of the home as though the family were the creature of the state and Christian Marriage only a civil contract. The Secularization of business as though the chief end of man was to make money, rather than 'glorify God and enjoy Him forever'- the secularization of politics, the secularization of life as though men could live without God in the world'- as though there were no such things as the grace of God, the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of souls.

Here is the battleground of the Church. This is the Church's battle to be fought. The Church cannot be on friendly terms with the world without being as the salt, which has lost its savour. Our only hope of winning the world to Christ is by renouncing the world for Christ. "Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God." "Be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed." People are not going to rush into the Church by being told that there is no difference between the Church and the world, but by letting our light so shine that they can clearly see the difference. People are not kept out of the Church by its creeds so much as by its lack of deeds. It is not the Catholic faith that repels people but the absence of Catholic charity; not the Christian religion, but the lack of it. The Church is here to save people from the world, to keep God always in their minds, to show people how to love God and love each other, to produce holiness, to make saints and transform life …into harmony with the will of God. Unless the Church can win along these lines its capitulation to the world will be complete and men will no longer say "O Galilean, Thou hast conquered," but "O Galilean, Thou art conquered.”

Throughout the world there are many people who see that the real issue of the day is between Christ and the world. They are moved to become followers of Christ, but perplexed as to how to reconcile discipleship with the spiritual mediocrity and narrow outlook of many a parish. They desire to find in the Church the vehicle through which ardent discipleship can find an outlet. Throughout the world there are many priests, far removed from the limelight, living in places where Christ is not popular, who are gladly giving their lives in making new allegiances to Christ and securing fresh verdicts for Him. These are the people who should have the backing of this Church. They can be cheered or chilled by the things on which this Convention lays emphasis. It will break the hearts of many earnest disciples if the Church squanders time over obsolete issues or current questions of only secondary importance. "Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, let us press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

And let this parish heed these words of Bp. Anderson and remember the words of Jesus "follow me and I will make you fishers of men". For if Satan's Convention decided to increase the number of souls in Hell by telling people they have plenty of time to turn their lives around, maybe the opposite must be true for our parish. New souls will only come when we, like the Gospel, tell people HOW urgent it is that we change our lives and follow Jesus.

“Let each of you lead the life that the Lord has assigned, to which God called you. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters.”
I Corinthians 7: 17 and 23

+In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

(Top of Page)