Texts: 

First Reading: Jonah 3:1-5, 10

Psalm: Psalm 62: 6-14

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 7: 29-31

Gospel: Mark 1:14-20 

 Collect: 

Good morning. I am the Rev. Mary Thorpe, Director of Transition Ministry for the Diocese of Virginia. I am here with you because you've had a rather challenging time of transition in the past few months, and your Bishops and I wanted to make sure you are coming through this time of change in good order, and that we are doing everything we can to help you. This parish is beloved to your bishops, and we know this has been hard.

Your former interim rector, The Rev. Marian Humphrey, was not a good fit for you. This became increasingly evident to me as I talked to her, to Kathy and Bill, your wardens, and to the Vestry. We at the diocese did not do our best by you. I could make the excuse that she was the only interim available at the time you needed one - that is probably true - but the fact remains that we should have done a better job of figuring out if she was the right person to serve you, and we didn't. For that, I apologize. It caused you heartache and strife, and that is not what church is supposed to be about, and it is most certainly not what this parish is about. This is a place of welcome, of possibilities, of mutual love and respect, and it is time that you had the freedom to be that again.

So your Vestry decided to end the relationship with Marian, a painful decision, to spare the parish more stress and pain. Pray for them and thank God for them - they did very difficult work on your behalf. And pray for Marian, too. She tried to do her best, and I know it grieves her that this didn't work out.

This hard time should come as no surprise to us - stories in the Holy Bible tell us time and time again that God's people face hard times, sometimes because of their own failures, sometimes because of circumstances beyond their control. And I would imagine that everyone in this room has had their own personal hard times - losses, death, illness, divorce, job troubles...

But this is the one thing I hope you understand: in those hard times, in those times of change and distress, God travels with you. God, the God who created you, who loves you, who understands you better than you understand yourself, that is the God who travels with you.

In case we have any doubt of that, let's take a look at some of our readings for today. In both our Old Testament reading and our Gospel story today, we hear of people going through some sort of surprising change, and how God walks with them and even talks with them.

In the Old Testament, we hear the story of the prophet Samuel's call. This is going on in a very dark time in the history of God's people. Listen to this: "The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread." Not much talk of God, not much talk from God. No one was really seeing God, literally or figuratively.

And yet God was there, and he revealed himself in a surprising way, to a surprising choice...a mere boy, an assistant to Eli, a priest in the temple. Eli wasn't a particularly impressive priest - part of the Old Testament story you heard talked about how God was going to punish Eli because he hadn't raised his sons right - and Samuel was a young boy who didn't understand much about God, because God, as we heard at the beginning of the story, didn't really seem like he was around much lately to talk to God's people.

And so we have this almost comical tale where Eli and Samuel are asleep in two different parts of the temple, and Samuel hears a grown-up voice calling him. Naturally, he assumes it's Eli, and because his job is to act as a servant to Eli, he goes to the old man and says "You called, sir?" This wakes Eli up, and I would guess Eli is a little annoyed, because as we get older it is hard to get to sleep and even harder to stay asleep. Eli says, "No, I didn't call you. Go back to sleep." A little while later, Samuel once again hears that grown-up voice. He gets up and runs to Eli, sure it is his master's voice. And once again Eli says, "It wasn't me. Go back to sleep." And once again, a little while later, Samuel hears that voice. And now he doesn't know whether to be frightened - is it a ghost? - or aggravated that Eli is playing some sort of trick on him. But Samuel knows he needs to check, so he once again goes to Eli.

This time Eli knows something is going on, and he senses it is the voice of God, that same God that didn't seem to be around much lately, and tells the boy to lie back down and if he hears the voice again to say "I'm here, Lord." And God starts talking to him, telling him about Eli's sins, saying that God is present and will punish those who are wicked, but sustain those who love God.

It's an interesting story, because it may cause us to wonder why God told this to Samuel, that clueless young boy. Why not address Eli directly, since he is the one who has failed to defend God against his son's bad words? Why talk to a powerless youngster? Perhaps it is because he knows that Samuel will pay attention, that Samuel may have the gifts to serve as God's voice to God's people, that unique calling of prophets. Perhaps his purity of heart and faith will help change the ways of God's people. But the even more important part of all this is the fact that God doesn't abandon God's people, even though he is angry at them. He doesn't wipe them off the face of the earth, as he did in the Great Flood. He doesn't let them struggle without guidance. No. He chooses someone, an unlikely someone, to do the work necessary to change the world by changing the hearts of God's people. He loves them too much to let them continue as they have been going.

This story has parallels with the Gospel story. Here we're hearing about Jesus Christ calling his first disciples. He encounters Philip and simply says "follow me."

Now it isn't like Philip is anyone special, or rich, or gifted. He's a fisherman, like so many men who live by the Sea of Galilee. Just an ordinary guy. He probably hasn't traveled more than ten miles away from home. But when he hears those words "follow me," something happens. He runs to his friends and says "the Messiah is here. It's just like in the prophecies...he's Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth." His friend Nathaniel says "Nazareth - you've got to be kidding me. Nothing good ever comes from that backwater town."

But he accompanies Philip to go see for himself, and Jesus surprises him by correctly identifying him - Jesus says "Ah yes, you're the Israelite who always tells it like it is - you have no deceit in you." And Nathaniel says "how did you know that? Have we met?" And Jesus says, "Yup, I saw you under the fig tree before Philip came and found you and I knew immediately who you were." Nathaniel was shocked - how did this Jesus know he was under the fig tree before Philip found him? - and professed his faith that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. And Jesus said in so many words "You ain't seen nothing yet!"

So a surprising Messiah, who looked like just any guy from a backwater town in the Galilee, who calls a bunch of equally unimpressive seeming guys to follow him.

Understand that all the people of Israel were under awful oppression by the Roman Empire, and had been praying for decades, centuries, that the Messiah would come to bring them freedom from Roman rule.

So this Jesus is not quite what they expected, and the first disciples certainly don't seem to be the sort of military brains to conquer the Romans.

But this is not God's way, to pick the usual and most likely people to do God's work. Once again, as with the boy Samuel, God is choosing people whose gifts are not immediately evident to do the work of saving God's people.

And once again, we see that God doesn't abandon his people when they are in pain, broken, struggling. He sends them what they need, even if it doesn't look exactly like what they think they need.

God is doing the same thing here, among the beloved people of this parish. God is walking with you. God is speaking through your vestry, your bishop, and your friends. You may not think that Kathy and Bill and Mariko and Winnie are God, but they bring God's words and work to this place.

So we are starting this work of transition afresh, with another priest who will be called to serve you as your interim in the very near future, one who understands the history and culture of St Patrick's, who can lovingly and faithfully guide you as your Search Committee proceeds with its work.

This has been a challenging time, to be sure. But God walks with you, giving you strength and hope. The same God who called out to Samuel in the night calls to you to serve him faithfully. The same God who said to ordinary people, "Follow me and help do the work," is saying to you all, help do the work of proceeding with this search, supporting this parish in the months ahead, share in the joy of the many ministries that are carried out in this place.

Know that your God has heard your voices, and guides you even now into a joyful future. And know that your bishops and your diocesan staff will pray with you and for you and help in whatever way we can.

Blessings on this place and all the people herein, and all who will come here in the days and months and years to come.