ThisWeeksSermon, The First Sunday After the Epiphany The Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ, January 13, 2008

“New things I now declare.”
The First Sunday After the Epiphany, The Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ, January 13, 2008
May I speak only the truth, and may only the truth be heard by you. In the name of God our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sanctifier. Amen.

This week I was nominated for membership in the Highland Rotary Club.
I never really understood what the Rotary organization was all about.
My whole life I've seen the Rotary logo on highway welcome signs at the borders of towns and cities, A sort of gearlike wheel, mixed in with "Episcopal Church Welcomes You" signs, and with signs from other denominations.
I always imagined Rotary to be a group of civic-minded businessmen sitting around in suits and ties, talking business.
But now I know it's more than that.
It's an organization of service clubs, and the "clubs" are located all over the world.
There are more than 32,000 of them in more than 200 countries, and there are more than 1.2 million members around the world.
“Rotarians,” they’re called.
The stated purpose of Rotary is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, to encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and to build goodwill and peace in the world.
Clubs meet weekly, usually.
And there’s food, usually.
Their best-known motto is:
“Service above Self.”
Their secondary motto is:
“They profit most who serve best.”
I’ve been nominated
Jennifer Barrows, the priest for Episcopal congregations in Highland and West Park, has been a member of the Highland Rotary for quite some time.
She invited me to attend.
Last week she nominated me for membership.
Wednesday I’ll be formally “interviewed”, and eventually “installed.”
So at this point, I've been to three meetings.
And I’ve seem some interesting parallels between what Rotarians do in their hour together each week, and what we do in our hour together each week.
The parallels are striking.
It’s like church in many ways.
First, they begin by ringing a bell.
So do we.
That's followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.
Then there's a prayer.
And that's followed by a sort of "creed."
Everyone says it out loud.
All together, in one voice, they recite a four-way litany of test questions, guidelines of what they ought to think, say, or do.
Guideline 1: Is it Truth?
Guideline 2: Is it fair to all concerned?
Guideline 3: Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
Guideline 4: Is it beneficial to all concerned?
After that, visitors are introduced.
After that, there are announcements.
Then they take up a collection, only they make a "game" out of it.
They sell raffle tickets for a dollar apiece.
There hasn't been a winner in my three weeks there, so the fund is growing.
I understand that the winner usually donates the winnings to one of the Rotarian outreach programs.
Then there's a Rotarian version of the Prayers of the People.
When a collection plate comes by, it's an opportunity to drop a dollar in and share a "one-buck thankyou", or a "bad-news buck”, or a "good-news buck", or a concern of any kind.
Then it's on to what I see as the centerpiece of this liturgy, not a sermon.
But a speaker.
And in the end, a sort of parallel sacrament.
Breakfast is served.
I's a sort of communion with one another over food, and I believe there is a certain holiness about it, a holiness that happens when a bunch of people who share a common goal and really respect one another and enjoy one another's company, and work together to make good things happen, There’s a certain holiness when a bunch of people who like one another get together and share something of themselves with each other, and eat together.
Like us, they're doing good things in the community, and in the world.
This month, for example, Rotarians from Highland will be in the far interior of El Salvador.
Their mission will be to provide fresh drinking water in a community where there is none at all.
It's church without walls, church without any overhead.
It's liturgy without vestments.
It's Christ in the world, but Christ without the name "Christ."
Okay with God
I think this is alternative to church is probably quite okay with God.
God is always beyond words in a book, surpassing church buildings and cathedrals and liturgies and vestments and canon law and archbishops, and even popes.
My core belief is that we must always be watching and listening for the voice of God, a voice that leads us beyond the past and into a future, a voice that calls us to discern the difference between what’s essential and what’s not.
What is our core belief?
This week, in a posting on the internet, our top bishop, Mark Sisk, wrote about a distinction he makes between what he calls “core beliefs” and “beliefs more peripheral.”
“The perennial challenge,” he said, “is to determine exactly what is a core belief, and what is a cultural adaptation.”
The role of a free society is to allow maximum scope for believers to define what the core belief might be.
The prophet Isaiah
In this morning's first reading, we heard some profound words from the prophet, Isaiah.
The words describe Israel's mission as God's servant people, chosen to bring "light” not just within the Jewish community, but “to bring light to the nations.”
It’s some of the most advanced theology of the Hebrew bible, suggesting an openness to new ways of thinking about what God wants, suggesting a core value that Jesus incorporated into his life.
"See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare. Before they spring forth, I tell you of them.”
God is beyond Israel.
God is beyond organized religion.
God is alive and well in the hearts and souls of men and women and boys and girls who show compassion and kindness to one another, who care for and protect Creation, who work to eradicate extreme hunger, who work for universal primary education, who promote gender equality and empower women.
God is alive and well in those who would reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, and combat HIV, malaria, and other diseases.
God is alive and well in those who care for and protect the future of God’s Creation.
It’s how the true people of God in every place are called to live.
These are core values of Christianity.
These are core values for those who would follow in Jesus’ footsteps.
Prayer
Let us pray.
Eternal God, the Great Mystery that is outside everything and yet at the same time inside, keep alive in each one of us the search for a faith that is real, a faith that helps us to live happier lives, a faith that gives us a fuller meaning to life and the events of life. Bring us to know the goodness that flows from the heart of the universe and may we be expanded in heart and soul by that goodness.
This is our prayer. Amen.
Jerry Brooks