From the Rector
This is who we are
Post-October 16th: It is hard to express how wonderful Sunday, October 16th, was: our Presiding Bishop preaching and celebrating; our own Bishop in attendance; a full house at Mass; a bi-lingual service that seemed to go so smoothly. I think it was during the Sermon or the Creed, as I sat in the sanctuary looking out over the congregation that it occurred to me: “This is who we are.” On any given Sunday and at any given Mass we may not see it. We don’t usually worship in both English and Spanish together. The early Mass and the late Mass in English are different from one another. The Spanish Mass is different from both. All are smaller and do not fill the worship space. We don’t usually have so many visitors. Of course, we never have had the Presiding Bishop with us and we usually do not have our own Bishop present. But all of us together for this bi-lingual Eucharist, as we experienced it on this particular occasion, is a true symbol of our identity. It pays to remember this as we get back to “normal.” Sometimes we ask ourselves about our identity and sometimes others ask us. Here is what our Sunday with the Presiding Bishop signifies to us (among other things):
We are a diverse Church. We were composed on Sunday of 1) people who had been members here for more than 50 years and who had raised their children in the Church and perhaps their grandchildren, too. These folks are mostly small town Indiana white folks. Then there were 2) those who have moved our way over the years and “almost” belong here now—having been here 10 to 15 years or more. Others 3) are more recent: some are so new (Isabella and Teal) that they haven’t been baptized yet (but soon!). Some of these folks are long-time Episcopalians, some not. Some have heard it all before, others hardly ever. And then there were 4) a large group of our Latino members. These folks have only been in this country for 10 to 15 years, less at St Thomas, and never imagined that they would be members and friends of the Episcopal Church, and some are not sure yet what St Thomas is, except a place where they are welcome and receive the Sacraments. Then there were 5) visitors—old and new, those who had been here before and who had never been here, those who had seen or heard an announcement and those who had been invited. All of us together sang and read our way through a service in two languages. And we prayed and received Communion together even though we share many divergent points of view about many different things. It was our unity in Christ that mattered and does matter, above and beyond all.
The presence of our Bishop reminded us that we are only one parish in one diocese of the Episcopal Church. It is a small diocese of only 36 congregations, many of which are smaller than St Thomas, some of which are larger, all of which share together in the ministry of the Episcopal Church here in Northern Indiana as part of a single fellowship in communion with our Bishop. We had some visitors from of these parishes in the diocese on this special occasion. The Diocese is not just an administrative unit—a way to organize our institutional life. It has a fullness and completeness to it: it is a microcosm of the whole church with the ministry of all orders, priests, bishops, deacons, and lay folk. It has a fair representation of all of the Spirit’s gifts. While we worship regularly and carry on our ministries regularly through our parish membership, it is the diocese that gives shape and support to our parochial life. We are who we are because we are part of the Diocese of Northern Indiana.
We are also who we are because we are part of the Episcopal Church in the USA, which was affirmed and made visible to us in the presence of our Presiding Bishop. As she brought us greetings from all the other US dioceses and dioceses in Central and South America, the Caribbean, and other parts of the world, we recognized again that our bi-lingual experience here is only a symbol of the multi-ethnic and multi-lingual reality which is the Episcopal Church. Again, as is true of our microcosm of the Church here at St Thomas, even more throughout the Church there are varieties of conviction and practice about many things. But, again, what holds us together is our loyalty to Jesus, our proclamation of the Kingdom, and our worship according to the Book of Common Prayer. In fact, that is what Bishop Katharine said in an article in as local newspaper: her main desire is to follow Jesus and speak about the Kingdom. Her role as preacher and celebrant united us around that center: following Jesus and proclaiming the Kingdom.
So, when you think of St Thomas or of the Episcopal Church, especially, perhaps, after you have just read about something divisive or troubling: remember, that we are a large and diverse group, seeing things differently and expressing ourselves in ways not easy to reconcile with each other. But over and above all—and you have it on good authority from the very “highest levels”—what holds us together and directs our life is our common desire to follow Jesus and proclaim the Kingdom of God. We are just a sampling here of a much larger body of which we are an essential but small part. What we see on any given Sunday contains the hint of who we really are, but not the clear picture. Last Sunday we came close to such a vision of the fullness of our reality together—and I intend to let that sink in and enjoy it for a good long time yet!