VISION 2020: Spiritual Growth

June 01, 2008

Third Sunday after Pentecost
Romans 1:16-17, 3:22b-28; Matthew 7:21-29
The Reverend Cathy S. Gilliard

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Three Sundays ago on Pentecost, Stephen began a series of sermons focusing on our Vision 2020. That Sunday he talked about the development of our family album and spoke about how the Holy Spirit mediates grace in persons’ lives. The following week he spoke about God’s ravishing Spirit and how the Spirit creates dynamic, transforming community as our lives are being changed. Last Sunday Javier addressed Vision 2020 as it relates to our Outreach ministry. Today I will be emphasizing Spiritual Growth or Spiritual Formation. If you missed any of these Sundays I encourage you to go back and read or listen to them so that we might all be traveling together. On the next two Sundays Stephen will focus on Community Building and Worship. Also on June 15 each of us will have an opportunity to participate in this large vision by making our own personal commitment to what lies ahead. Please plan to be present and, again, as you are praying and sorting things out should you have any questions whatsoever, come and talk to Gary or Kelly; members of our Leadership Council, Stephen, Javier or myself.

One of the things I most enjoy about my work here at Christ Church is our ministry to children. I love watching them grow up and partnering with their parents to provide programming that ensures their continual journey in faith. I see it as a great opportunity to lay a foundation upon which they can build their entire lives while we build a new generation of Christians who will continue the work we have begun wherever they find themselves in the world.

They remind me of my own spiritual roots where the earliest seeds of my faith were planted. Like some of you, Sunday worship and Sunday School were regular and integral parts of my family life. It was there that I learned Bible stories and simple prayers and sang in the children’s choir. I suspect that others of you came to faith out of curiosity, some nudging or longing for truth and deeper meaning to life. Others came out of necessity; following some tragedy like 9/11 or an illness or personal devastation. My guess is that our reasons and our longing for God are as varied as our individual personalities and needs. Some have been on the journey for a long time; others are just getting started. For some there was a lightning bolt experience – you can name the day and the hour. For others, your turning was more organic; you barely knew what happened – one day you just found yourself yearning for the holy; perhaps you came by invitation from a friend or to return favor. But somehow all of us have found ourselves here together.

As I think about our community in light spiritual growth or spiritual formation, the question that is always before me is: How do we continue the process of maturing and advancing persons on their spiritual journey? I think at the heart of it, spiritual growth has to do with one’s capacity to first love him or her self in a way that inspires constant renewal and personal transformation – and then through the grace of God, love others as we love our selves.

It also begs the question for each of us: What am I doing to nurture my soul? What am I reading? How am I praying; and what am I doing for self-care? Who am I listening to and where am I drawing strength? How am I being challenged to think, act, and be in a new way? Where is the tension? With whom am I sharing my story?

It is a matter of personal engagement since faith is not stagnant but ever moving and we are ever being stretched. What we try to do in the ministry of spiritual growth is provide vistas of sacred space for learning and transformation. We offer courses of study that challenge the mind as well as heart; where we grapple with Scriptures and the hard questions of life and faith. We teach and encourage the practice of spiritual disciplines of prayer, sharing, and holy listening. We encourage covenant groups where we share our stories, fears, and dreams; where gifts are discovered and we support one another and hold each another accountable in loving ways.

An appetite for spiritual growth is a mark of our commitment to one another so that the body can be built up so that we as a community can be God’s presence in the world. And sometimes this is the hard part. Sometimes it is easier to go off and help others than to do the inner work of one’s own self-reflection and personal engagement. It is difficult but it is necessary.

I have discovered in my own life, perhaps you recognize this too, that I am so much better when I tend to my own spiritual needs. I am better when my days begin with prayer and reflection. When I take time to rest my body, mind, and spirit. I am better when I listen to my inner voice; confront my vulnerabilities and find watering places to quench the thirst of my own soul. My decisions are clearer. My attitude is better. My relationships are healthier. I am a better human being.

Our Gospel lesson that Javier just read brings us to the conclusion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The first part of the story describes those persons who have prophesied in Jesus’ name; they have cast out demons in his name and performed many acts of power in his name, yet Jesus says, "I will declare to them, I don’t know you; I never knew you; go away from me, you evil doers.

I got to wondering about this group of people; who were they and why would Jesus say this? Did they not attend worship regularly? Did they not go to covenant group? Would they not help a blind person cross the street or perform other good deeds? Yes, I think they did – it’s there in the text. If it was only about the doing, surely they would have made the grade. Yet, Jesus rebukes them.

And goes on to say, "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but id did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell and great was its fall!”

I think Jesus was trying to offer them and us something that would sustain us for the long haul. He was encouraging them to build the foundation of their house on something that cannot be shaken but is sure and can last a lifetime.

O Beloved, that’s why it is important to grow; because no matter how hard we try, life has a way of presenting circumstances that can shake our foundation. There comes a time in which winds blow and billows are tossing high and we find ourselves tossed to and fro. Sometimes life presents success which can cause winds of self-reliance and self sufficiency. Other times life presents storms of adversity and we are tossed on every side looking for something to hold on to. The good news is that Jesus presents himself as the Rock upon which we can build. And in those moments when our embrace seems insufficient he reaches down and grabs hold of us and helps us to stand firm and live out our lives as resurrected people; forgiven of God; loved and claimed as his very own.

Within the liturgical framework, the season we are in now is called ordinary time. Ordinary time is equated to that which is growing and bearing fruit. Through the holy days of the high seasons the seeds have been planted. But it is during the ordinary days that the seeds are cultivated.

We don’t want to be lulled into a sense of complacency during the ordinary time. Without the work being done during ordinary time the high holy days lose their potency. Now is the time go deeper; to remember how we got here in the first place. What it was that drew us to commit our lives to God in the first place? Instead of thinking about what cannot be done; now is the time to be thinking about what can be done because of all that we have heard. And all that we have seen. And all that we know for sure. Now is the time during the ordinary season to live out the power of our new identity and life, even as we remember the legacy upon which we stand.

On June 15 we are going to have the opportunity in ordinary time to enter a new vision for ourselves, our city, and the world in which we live. The vision that has been set before is grand but that’s what visions are – they are always bigger than what our eyes can see or we can achieve on our own. This church will be a very different place in the year 2020. Some of us will be gone on for one reason or another. Others will be added. Babies will be born. Staff will change. Life will happen.

We will do many wonderful things. Lives will be transformed as we are being transformed. There may be times when we as a congregation may be shaken by doubt and fear; differences of opinion and sheer fatigue. But those will be the times we need to remember that we are building a house on Rock.
This table is a constant reminder, symbolized in the breaking of the bread and drinking of the wine that Christ is the solid Rock upon which we stand – all other ground is sinking sand.

We have hung high our banner: We seek to love God above all things and our neighbors as ourselves. We have identified the core values around which we will live and work and love one another:

*Worship is at the core of our life

*We live and practice dynamic hospitality

*We welcome and affirm diversity

*We strive for excellence in all we do

Indeed, we are building a house on the foundation of the One we waited for in Advent, who was born at Christmas, crucified at Calvary, resurrected at Easter and set loose at Pentecost.

We are building a house where we will be built up and sustained.

We are building a house where others will come and find shelter from the storms of life.

We are building a house where future generations will be nurtured and grown up in the faith.

We are building a house of God not made by human hands and incorruptible.

Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God.

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