Rector’s Annual Address
(Given at the 9:30 service on January 31, 2016)
“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”
1 Corinthians 13 is one of my favorite passages of scripture. Paul gently reminds the Christians in Corinth and the Christians at the Church of the Advent to remember the power of love. We may have so many gifts, so many blessings, so many spiritual resources, but without love we have nothing. The Church of the Advent is making real strides in love. We are growing and we are dedicated to more growth. In February, we will be discussing church growth ideas and strategies to help facilitate further growth in the church. We have many spiritual gifts, and we will host a forum later in the year on helping us identify those gifts and put them to the service of the kingdom of God. We are growing in a good direction, and we have much for which to be proud.
I am continually delighted in the progress we are making reaching out to the community. We cohosted a viewing of Traces of the Trade with a facilitated conversation. We are not afraid to talk about the reality of racial tension and bias in this congregation. We have deepened our relationship with the Upham House, our nearest assisted living facility. I lead weekly services, and, in the fall, our children visited for the first time with plans to return. We continue to cosponsor Vacation Bible School and we co-sponsored a cleanup day to beautify our local environment.
Thanks to the work of Building and Grounds with some encouragement from Phoebe Joseph, we have taken many positive steps to make the church more environmentally friendly and energy efficient. We replaced toilets with modern low flows, and, thanks to Don Miller, we replaced dozens of bulbs in this nave and sanctuary with LED’s. All of the outside lighting is now LED. Those outside lights also work, which is its own reward.
Our Sunday School continues to show positive growth, and I am so thankful for our teachers and for Maureen Dodge for taking on a leadership role in this year’s pageant. The Sunday School is a place of real joy, and I encourage everyone of you to help discern if you are called to play a greater role in the Sunday School. Our growing school needs more teachers, assistants, and people of faith to help guide it into the future.
The Sunday School is making demands on our space. We have space downstairs, but it is not well laid out for the needs of a 21st century church. We are interested in better utilizing the space. We have a team on the vestry to help us look into our options. I hope that in the coming years we will be able to construct a plan and secure funding to revitalize our downstairs space. Members of the vestry and I are certainly interested in staying ahead of the curve on this, but we do not have as much time as we might think.
We continue to grow in mission. This past year’s mission trip to New Orleans was again fully subscribed. Our youth are dedicated to sharing Christian love and service. They have helped out hundreds of people, especially children, in their work in New Orleans. They have worked in the school system, in parks, in a camp for disadvantaged children, and in the environment to make the city a better, more loving and more habitable place. This work is important. It helps mold the lives of those who go on the mission trips, it helps the people we are working with, and helps the parish. We know that we help support the spread of Gospel love throughout the country not just in our own backyard.
This year, we are beginning a new outreach partnership and we are deepening an existing one. We received a grant to create move out baskets for the Medway Family Shelter. We are happy to be able to help families right in our own neighborhoods who have experienced foreclosure, eviction, or abuse. We help provide necessary items to make their transition a little easier.
We also are sending teams with St. John’s in Westwood to the Epiphany School in Dorchester to serve dinner. The Epiphany School is a tuition free middle school dedicated to serving some of the poorest neighborhoods in the city. The school is led by an Episcopal Priest who has done a fabulous job of instilling character education and pride in the school. The students receive three meals a day because they quickly learned that good nutrition is part of a good education. I am happy to be involved in this ministry. Please talk with Jill Moon or Katie Tortorello for more information.
We have started our conversation on end of life issues as well as what it means to live a good life. Last year’s Lenten series focused on time – how it is a gift to us, but also in how we abuse it and waste it. We explored through that series how to live a more meaningful and fuller life in God. Our conversation about end of life issues comes from the same place. What kind of life do we want to lead, and what is preventing us from sharing what we want with our loved ones? What is preventing us from asking those we most love, what kind of life do they want to live? Christians are taught not to be afraid because whatever happens God will be with us. It can be hard to have conversations about life and death. We seek to encourage real life, and not to avoid conversations about it even if it makes us feel uncomfortable or afraid.
We also want everyone to know that there is real life even in sickness and in old age. We do not keep the ambulatory wonders of a 25 year old for long. As the youth group can attest, we were down a person in dodge ball once last year, so I decided to step in. I used to be really good at dodge ball through high school and college. I still had that narrative running through my head. I was not good at that game. I could still throw a little, but I lacked the quickness to dodge very well. That doesn’t mean my life can’t be fulfilling. When you can’t shovel snow anymore, or drive anymore, that does not mean your life isn’t valuable, and it doesn’t mean you don’t have love and prayers to share.
We have all of these good missions and projects going on, but it is not a time to get overconfident. It is not a time to rest on our accomplishments. I want us to go much further. We have the opportunity to be a model church, a hub of Christian practice. We have gone from a church known for strife to a joyful church. Now we must go from being a church which is doing some good things to a church that sees itself actively advancing the kingdom of God. We could view ourselves asa little church in the outer rings of the suburbs of Boston that struggles to survive, or we could see ourselves as leaders of a confident Christianity that seeks to spread the transformative power of the love of God in Christ. We can do this.
Both our diocese and our parish are in a period of discernment. Often these conversations only happen when a rector is leaving, but it is so critical to have these discussions not just during periods of transition. This is an exciting time for the Church of the Advent. The vestry has begun to set out goals, but these goals need more investigation and further definition.
Our discernment must be rooted in the love of God and the love of our neighbor. We must not seek to be self-serving, or just care about our little section of the neighborhood. We must always be reaching out to the community. Yes, corporately, through outreach and acts of service, but also, individually, through acts of love and evangelism. We are part of something great. We believe in a positive message of God’s saving love. We are part of an historic faith reaching back through the generations who teaches the same good news, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” What presidential campaign orphilosophy preaches this?
We are seeking to reveal the kingdom of God in this world. I wish to be a part of this “Jesus movement”. Why would you not want to be a part of making the world a more loving place, or a more forgiving place? This is a life giving mission, and not just for the person you invite to church, serve dinner to in Dorchester, or renovate a school for in New Orleans. It is life giving to you the doer. These missions place you in a situation of sharing love without asking for anything in return, but we do receive something in return. It is a connection to God and a connection with humanity. That connection is life giving. Let’s do that.
Faithfully submitted,
The Rev. Marc G. Eames, Rector