FAITH---THE STEPPING STONE OF MISSION

FAITH: THE STEPPING STONE OF MISSION

(Matthew 14:22-23)                                                        

(Sermon by the Rev. Canon Dr. Winfred Vergara at the Closing Eucharist of the Filipino Convocation of Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries at the Holy Trinity & St. Benedict’s Church in Alhambra, California, August 10, 2014)

Let me begin with something funny. A story is told of two Pinoy priests: one an Episcopalian, the other IFI (Aglipayan) who are avid fishermen.  Every time they have a day off, they would go to the lake and fish. One day, a pastor of another denomination, a fundamentalist preacher, asked if he could join them.  Actually, he wanted to “befriend” them so that he can proselytize and convert them to his church.  He believed that his church is “the only true church” and that the Episcopal Church and the Iglesia Filipina Independiente are not good enough. Moreover he thought that the clergy of these churches do not have enough faith. 

So they drove into the site, got into the boat and paddled till they reached the middle of the lake. As they were fixing their fishing poles, the Episcopalian priest said, “Brothers, I left the bait in the car by the bank of the lake; just stay on the boat and I’ll get it.” So he stepped on the water and walked right to the shore and came back to the boat. A few moments later, the IFI priest also said, “Brods, I’ll get three bottled water; just stay on the boat and I’ll come back.” So he also stepped into the water, walked right to the shore and returned to the boat. At this point, the fundamentalist preacher was really amazed and said to himself, “My God, I must have made a terrible mistake. These guys must have tremendous faith to be able to walk on water!” So he silently prayed for forgiveness and for more spiritual power and said, “Friends, I forgot my sun screen lotion; you just stay on the boat, and I’ll get it from the shore and come back.” When he stepped out of the boat, there was a big splash as he went right down to the bottom. As he came bobbing up and swimming back to the boat, the two priests said, “Brod,  sorry. We forgot to tell you where the stepping stones are!”

My three questions this morning in relation to the Gospel, are: (1) Where is your stepping stone? (2) How strong is your foundation stone? (3) What kind of ripple does your pebble make?

 Let me emphasize a portion of the Gospel just read: “Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the waves, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

1.      What is your stepping stone?

It is obvious from this gospel that Jesus is teaching Peter and the other apostles the power of faith. At some point, he taught them, “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain 'move' and the mountain will move.” Faith has the power to make visible the invisible, and if you have faith, there is nothing impossible. In healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind and casting out demons, you need faith. Faith is the stepping stone of mission and ministry. Mission is an adventure, it is risky and unpredictable. It is like stepping on water and defying the law of nature. Hebrew 11 says, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” It is calling things that are not yet as if they are, and visualizing dreams as if they are real.

 Without faith it is impossible to please God. Without faith, we cannot do great things for God,  but with faith, we are able to do exceedingly more than what we can even hope or imagine. Faith in Jesus is the stepping stone, the foundation stone, the cornerstone of the Christians and of the Church. The church that has lost faith has lost its message; the church that has lost faith has lost its power; the church that has lost faith, has lost its reason for being. 

Just as Elvis has left the building, without faith, the mission of the church is gone. Without faith, the building may still be there, the people may still be there, but the mission has gone with the wind. If you want your church to move from maintenance to mission, if you want your church to thrive,  pray for faith that can move mountains and can walk the stormy sea.

2.      How strong is your foundation stone?

We often sing the hymn, “The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord; she is his new creation by water and the word. From heaven, He came and sought her to be His holy bride and by His blood He bought her and for her life He dies.” The question we ask today’s church is “how strong is your foundation?” 

One of the things that many churches are trying to do today is to re-examine the structure of the church so that she may be able to respond meaningfully to the changing times. The Episcopal Church has a commission called TREC- Task Force for Re-imagining the Episcopal Church. Its purpose is to gather data, hear voices, collect dreams, hopes and expectations from across the church and submit its findings to the next General Convention. Whatever their findings and recommendations are going to be, may become the stepping stones for changes that will occur in the institutional church. 

When I was a young adult leader in the Iglesia Filipina Independiente in 1977, I participated in the major restructuring of this Filipino Church. It was the change of the church Constitution and Canons that transformed its papal polity into a more egalitarian and semi-democratic form of church government. The IFI is the only tangible product of the Philippine Revolution of 1898; the result of the religious reformation initiated by Don Isabelo Delos Reyes and Bishop Gregorio Aglipay. While politically departing from the Roman Catholic Church, it pretty much retained the structure that places the Obispo Maximo in similar status to that of the pope. While the former constitution allowed for election every four years, it was always a forgone conclusion that the reigning Obispo Maximo would be reelected because of his built-in power to control the Supreme Council of Bishops. So the IFI constitution of 1977, crafted by lay leaders, bishops and priests,  placed the tenure of the Obispo Maximo  to “six years without reelection” and shared power to the National Priests Organization, the National Laymen Organization,  the WOPIC (Women of the PIC) and the YIFI (Youth of the IFI).  In my recent visit to the IFI Philippines, I heard the oft-repeated comment: ”Isn’t the six year term too long for a bad OM and too short for a good OM? Isn’t it time for a new change?”

“How strong is your foundation” is the question that we, individually and corporately, have to wrestle from time to time.  The apostle Peter was bold; he was courageous; and he was an adventurer. But he was also impetuous.  Peter had faith but he was also impulsive, hasty and precipitate, driven by strong passion and emotion. At the drop of a hat, he would jump out of the boat, leaving the other disciples behind, without much discernment. His heart would go miles ahead of his head. Remember when he struck the servant’s ear with his sword? Or when he ran naked when he saw the Lord? Like a lone ranger or a Rhinestone cowboy, he would shoot first and ask questions later. 

Peter was as human as we are and our institutions are as imperfect as we are. That is why I really love what the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie said about the Anglican ethos. Runcie said that when it comes to mission, the Anglican ethos is “passionate coolness.” To me it speaks a lot on how we approach change. It is a dialogical relationship between two propositions: “Take risks because mission is an adventure” but “Be careful not to marry the spirit of this generation or you will become a widower in the next.” Mission is a process of constant discernment and decision-making between two affirmations: “God has spoken and we must obey” and “God is still speaking and we must listen.” Passionate coolness is another word for the Anglican via media or middle way.

This tedious process of discernment, decision-making and community building (with Jesus as the chief cornerstone), is our assurance that we do not disintegrate, that we do not shoot each other on the foot, that we do not devour each other. The foundational values of “unity in diversity,”  “striving for justice and peace” and “respecting the dignity of every human being” are the assurance that in the midst of theological typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis and tornadoes, our faith will rise above the clouds and our structures will stand the test of time.

3.      What Ripple Does Your Pebble make?

Changing the image of typhoons to earthquake, I was reminded about an earthquake who appeared as a passenger in a plane. (Now don’t ask me how an earthquake can ride a plane; my task is just to tell the story and your task is to listen. I hope my task is done, before yours. ) The earthquake told the stewardess, “I am going to that city and kill 100 people.”  As soon as the plane landed, there was an earthquake and several buildings collapsed. That very day, it was reported that as many as 200 people were killed. The following day, the earthquake was again a passenger in the plane. The lovely stewardess approached him and angrily said, “Mr. Earthquake, you are a liar! You told me you’re going to kill only 100 people. Why is it that 200 people died?” The earthquake replied, “Miss, I only killed 100 people; the other 100 died out of fear.” So fear less and live longer.

As I changed from storm to earthquake, I will now shift from stone to pebble. You know that when a pebble is thrown into a pond, it creates a ripple. Now in transmitting the news, what kind of ripple does our pebble make? Is it Good News or a Bad News? We have learned in our ABCD (Asset-Based Community Development) study, that everything, including life itself, is either half-empty or half-full. We learn that we all have needs but we also have assets. Where do we base the development of our community? From needs or from assets? From our lack or from our abundance? From our inadequacy or from our potential?

What kind of message do you send from the pulpit Sunday after Sunday? Do you bring hope and inspiration or do you bring despair and discouragement? I am part of a Facebook Group that is named “Inspire Before Expire.” My prayer is this: “Lord, use my eyes to see greater things; use my lips to speak inspirational words; fill my heart with compassion; and use my hands to reach out and touch the world with your love.”

Now a ripple is defined by Wikipedia as “small waves or undulations, as water agitated by a breeze.” You notice from experience that when you throw a pebble into the pond, the water must be calm before you can make a ripple. In other words, if the water is stormy, you cannot see the ripple effect. If the church is conflicted, if there is no harmony and peace, it is difficult for the church to send its message. Jesus said to the Father, “I pray that they maybe be one, so the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” If we cannot be one in sharing a cup of coffee or tea, how can we truly be one in sharing the Body and Blood of Christ? So I pray for unity, peace and reconciliation in the church and in the world.

Let me re-read the gospel:  And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the waves, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, he rebuked the wind and the storm ceased. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

 

Yes, only Jesus can calm the storm. Today, you come to this church with your hopes and your fears,with your problems and needs. My prayer is that you will see Jesus. Jesus alone can answer your deepest needs, mend your broken hearts, wipe the tears from your eyes and give you that peace that surpasses human understanding. As we reflect on the storms in our lives, in our church and in our world, let us once again turn to Jesus. He will calm the storm so that the ripples of Good News can touch every human heart,  so that all people ---those in the boat and those outside the boat---may worship Him and proclaim “Truly you are the Son of God.” Amen.

WHEAT & WEEDS: STORY OF OUR LIVES

WHEAT AND THE WEEDS: STORY OF OUR LIVES (Matthew 13:24-29; 36-42)

The Rev. Dr. Fred Vergara, Holy Apostles, St. Paul, MN.7.20.2014

SACRAMENT: A new church goer asked me one Sunday during announcement and Q & A:”Father, I noticed that some people, when they enter the church, they dip their fingers on the water and make the sign of the cross. Why do they do that?” I first asked the people who were doing that and they did not know the answer. Well, I said, “that is to remind us of our baptism.” And what is baptism? “Baptism is a sacrament.” And what is a sacrament? “A sacrament is an outward and visible sign with an inward and spiritual grace.” So what are the signs of baptism? Water and the words, “I baptized you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And what is the inward and spiritual grace in Baptism? That we are received as children of God and members of His Body, the Church. In baptism, we are united with Christ in His death and we rise again to new life in the Spirit. The baptism by immersion drives home the point very well. When we are submerged in water, we are drowned to our sins; and when we are pulled back into air, we breathe in the resurrected life.  At baptism, we also vowed “to seek and serve Christ, loving our neighbors as ourselves... to strive for justice and peace and to respect the dignity of every human being.”

PARABLE: A parable is similar to a sacrament. It is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. It is a material story with a spiritual meaning; an ordinary story with extraordinary significance.  Jesus spoke in parables to teach about us heaven and the kingdom of God. So what is the meaning of this parable of the wheat and the weeds?

I learned that many Hmong are expert farmers and so there is one thing in this parable that should not escape you. You know that when there are weeds in the rice fields, you have to immediately remove them, because they will choke the rice stalks and eat up the nutrients or fertilizers that should go to the good seeds. You have to weed them out. Remove them. Eliminate them. But in this parable, the owner of the field said to the farm workers, “Leave them alone. Let them grow alongside the wheat but on harvest time, we will gather them and put them into the fire.”

THREE MEANINGS:

1.       1. The Lord lets his sun shine on the just and the unjust and sends rain to both the righteous and the unrighteous. Matthew 5: 45. In other words, God allows both good and evil to exist in the world. So to the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people; and why do good things also happen to bad people?”  The answer is simple: “God allows it to happen.”  And why, we ask? It maybe that God allows the bad seed, time to repent, to change ways, so that and when they realize their evil ways, they can turn to God and be forgiven? Do I question God’s wisdom about this? No, who am I but dust and ashes to question His will?

Do you remember another parable called the “Parable of the Prodigal Son?” Others call it the Parable of the Lost Sons, for there were two of them. One ran away, the other stayed at home. But it was not really the Parable about the stupid younger son and a narrow-minded older son. It was really a Parable of the Forgiving Father. The parable goes that the younger son demanded his share of the inheritance.  The Father, instead of being upset (“why are you asking for your inheritance? I am still alive!”), gave him all his share of the property. Readily he went into a far country and squandered his money in wine, women and parties. Very soon, he got bankrupt, became so destitute that he had nothing to eat. He was in the pig pen, the lowest place where a Jewish boy should be. Then finally, he came to his senses and decided to return to the Father. He was ready to be punished, to be treated as one of the servants, but when the Father saw him, the Father ran and met him half-way, embraced him and gave back the ring, signifying that he was being forgiven and received as a son.  Then the Father threw a big party, had his cooks kill the fatted cow and made a barbecue dinner, like what we had last night. When the older son returned from the farm and saw the festival and learned about the return of his brother, he got upset and scolded his Father. “What are you doing? All these years, I served for you and you never killed a goat or threw a birthday party for me. But this son of yours, who squandered your money among the prostitutes, and he returned, you killed the fatted cow and gave him a Fiesta?”  The Father again, instead of being upset, spoke pastorally: “Son, you have always been with me; everything that is mine is yours but you never asked for a goat barbecue. But now this brother of yours came back; he was lost and is found; he was dead and now he is alive.” To us, human beings, we can forgive the sinner but we can’t forget their sins, which is another way of saying, we never really forgive. To the heavenly Father, when we are forgiven, our sins are also forgotten.

Now back to the parable of the Wheat and the weeds: Could it be that God allows both the good and the bad to exist so that the bad will have time to repent and if the good would stray, he could always return home?

2: God knows everything and everyone. God knows the wheat and the weeds. He is omniscient, all knowing God. Even when we were fashioned in secret, He already knows us. He knows the just and the unjust; the righteous and the unrighteous.

There was a story of a woman who was hit by a car and was brought to the hospital. As she lay dying, she saw the Lord and she asked to be given a second chance. Her prayer was answered and she miraculously survived. So as she was strong and healthy as a youth, she decided to change her image. She engaged a plastic surgeon to give her a make-over. She had her nose and face shaped like that of Princess Diana; she had her lips like that of Angelina Jolie; and had her hair blonde like Marilyn Monroe. When she got out of the hospital, she was so happy that she rushed out. Unfortunately, she was hit by a speeding ambulance and she died. Up in heaven, she asked the Lord, “Why?” And the Lord said, “I did not recognize you!”

This story is funny but it is not biblically and theologically correct. The truth of the matter is that God is omniscient and God knows us, no matter how cleverly we change our appearance. Men look on the outside but God looks in the inside. Remember the story of Jonah?  He was called by God to Nineveh but he did not want to obey God so he went the other way. He hid in a ship bound for Tarsus, believing that in the ocean, God would not find him. But alas, God caused a storm to the point that the ship was about to capsize. The crew found out that Jonah was the jinx that caused the storm so they threw him overboard. In the bottom of the ocean, Jonah was swallowed by a big fish and then spat him out right into the beach of Nineveh!

So we can run away from God but we can’t hide from God. Psalm 139 says, “If I take the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost part of the sea (Borneo), God is there. If I go down into the deepest part of the ground (Death Valley, California) or if I fly to the highest heaven (the moon), God is there.”  So God knows who the weeds and the wheat are--- and He allows them both to grow together---until Judgment Day.

3. There is a Judgment Day, a Day of Reckoning. It is very clear to the Apostle Paul when he spoke to the Athenians at the Aeropagus in Greece. In Acts 17, St. Paul said:  “The God, who made the world and everything in it, is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything. Rather, He himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.  From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.  God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.”

There is a Judgment Day but judgment belongs to God alone. It is not for us his servants to make the judgment of uprooting the weeds.  This was the error of the Jews who called for the crucifixion of Jesus. They thought that because they were called “the chosen people,” that they have the right to execute what they thought God’s judgment. They forgot that they were called to servant hood and not of being judge of the others. They maybe God’s people but God also have other peoples.  God is God of all. God is God not only of the Jews, not only of the Christians, not only of the Muslims. God is God of the Buddhists, the Hindus, the Taoists, the Shintoists, the agnostics and the atheists---whether they acknowledge Him or not.  God is a universal God and His salvation is universally offered for all.

So the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds is a story of our lives. We all are wheat or weeds or both. The field is the world and all of us are seeds of God. But God allows us all to grow, so that we may be transformed to the image of His Son, from one degree of glory to another.

Let me end with this story of a man in Boston whose son was killed by another man. As the criminal was put in jail, the man sought to revenge. He discovered that this criminal also had a son, just as old as his own son.  Because this murderer’s son was now without a parent and he himself is without a son, he decided to adopt him and treated him like his own son. This extraordinary gesture created a tremendous change in the man who is in jail. How could he not? This example was an extraordinary work of God? Is it possible that the even the weed would someday become a wheat? Yes, for there is nothing impossible for God, who can do exceedingly more than we can even hope or imagine. Amen.

The Great Commission: Why Churches Die and How We can Survive andThrive

THE GREAT COMMISSION: BACK TO BASICS IN CHURCH GROWTH

 (Or Why Churches are Dying and How We Can Survive and Thrive)

Fred Vergara. St. James Church, Elmhurst, NY. June 15, 2014

Christianity in America is in crisis. Many churches are dying; many churches are aging; and many churches are without children and youth. According to the Hartford Institute of Religion Research, “between 4,000 to 7,000 churches close their doors every year. “ Other researches put the estimate higher. Southern Baptist Church researcher, Thom Rainer even said, “Somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000 churches will close this year 2014.”

Why are churches dying and how can we ensure that ours will remain standing and growing?

1.      Churches are dying because they refuse to change with the times .

The first reason why the American churches are dying is change. The world has changed but these churches did not.  There was a story of a man who so loved the color yellow. He painted his house yellow, his bathroom yellow, his kitchen yellow and his bedroom yellow. One day he got sick…of hepatitis! He called 911 and when the paramedics came, they could not find him!

Many churches in America are like this ‘hepatitic’ man. They fell in love only with themselves and become obsessed with their own color that they are dying. They failed to read the signs of the times; they failed to listen to their neighbors and they failed to see that their neighborhood has changed. Why did the dinosaur become extinct? Because all things have changed but the dinosaur did not.  If we at St. James wish to survive and grow, we must see the world with a new pair of glasses; we must listen afresh to our new neighbors; and we must smell the city once again---and welcome change.

Once upon a time, this neighborhood of Elmhurst was called Newtown.  It was also the New Amsterdam. In other words, it was a Dutch neighborhood. Today, you are lucky if you see a Dutch; luckier if you hear a Dutch; and luckiest if you bump on a Dutch. But close your eyes and walk outside our church and you would likely bump upon a Chinese or Filipino or South Asian or Mexican or Afro Caribbean. And close your eyes and just listen, and you will hear variety of languages. Within a 2-mile radius, there are some 200 languages spoken in Queens, New York!  If we must grow as a church, we must welcome and invite the new racial, cultural and demographic shift---and learn their languages.

2.      Churches are dying because they lost their sense of mission

 Theologian Emil Brunner aptly wrote that “The church exists for mission as fire exists by burning.” Another theologian Christopher Duraisingh also wrote, “The church does not have mission; rather mission has the church.” In other words, the church must be the embodiment of mission. If a salt lost its taste what good would it be? If sugar is no longer sweet, what use would it be? If a church lost its mission, it has also already outlived its usefulness. It will die!

A few years ago, the Episcopal Church adapted the Five Anglican Marks of Mission, namely:

“First, to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God; second, to teach, baptize and nurture new believers; third, to respond to human need by loving service; fourth, to seek to transform unjust structures of society; and fifth, to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.”

The catechism in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer (Page 855) says, Q: “What is the mission of the church?” A: “The mission of the church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.”

I love it when a book asks a question and then provides the answer. It makes it easy. But the truth of the matter is proclaiming the kingdom of God in the midst of a skeptical generation is not easy. Christianity has been planted by the Pioneers  and the “Greatest Generations” (those born before 1946) most of whom are already in heaven; then it was nurtured and nourished by the Pillars who are mostly Baby Boomers (those born from 1946-1964). They were followed by Generation X and Y, who were starting to get skeptical about the church. Today, we are facing another generation, The Millenials (those born from 1983-2001) most of whom call themselves “spiritual but not religious,” meaning they believe in God but not interested to belong to a church.

I was driving in San Francisco last week (for the Why Serve Conference for Young Adults of Color) and caught in heavy traffic, I saw me upon the large billboard by an Insurance company, announcing that “67 times the population of San Francisco will retire in 2020.” San Francisco has a population of around one million and so that would mean 67 million Baby Boomers will retire in 2020. This number is confirmed by the PEW Research, that says “everyday for the next 16 years, 10,000 baby boomers will enter retirement,” or the grave.

 It’s a simple arithmetic that if the church does not have a youth and young adults, it will die in ten years; and if the church does not have children, it will die in 20 years.  If St. James wants to have a future, we shall have to invest on children and youth ministries; enable programs that they may come and then develop infrastructures for this ministry. We often say “the youth are not only the future but the present.” We need to put actions into our words.

3.      Churches die because they do not have a new vision

Last Sunday was Pentecost and we were reminded that “visions and dreams” are the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the church (Acts 2).  The Bible always reminds us that “without vision, people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). But visions need to be tested by reality and the reality is that unless we act, we will never know whether that vision comes from God. You will never know the will of God unless you do it!

My vision for St. James is three-fold:

1.      As a people, we shall be a healing, welcoming and serving church. When people gather to worship God, they will be healed or reconciled to God and to their fellows; they will be welcome and received no matter who they are, where they come from, and what color of skin they have; they will be served and will learn to serve as Christ came to serve.

2.      As a place, my vision is to see a Church, a Campus and a Community Center. That is the reason why we have various church services; why we have a Virtual Classroom; and why we engage the issues of community such as Summit Against Human Trafficking; Immigration Reform;  TPS Philippines; Community Health and Wellness program. And that’s the reason why we must develop our buildings and properties so that they would serve the purpose of service to the community of Elmhurst and beyond.

3.      As a Church, as articulated in the Bishop’s Committee Retreat, early this year;   St. James shall be a “Light of Christ in Elmhurst, celebrating life abundant and embodying God’s dream of reconciliation across races. genders, generations and cultures.” That is the reason why we strive to welcome the Seniors community even when they speak different languages and profess different religions. That is the reason why we must welcome the Millenials and reach out to them via internet and social media. We must strive to communicate the Gospel of reconciliation in this new and different world in whatever ways we can.

GOSPEL

The Gospel this morning says of the Great Commission that Jesus gave to his disciples. It contains three things: the authorization, the command, and the promise.

The authorization is this: Jesus said, ”All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”  Authority is more powerful than power. A six-wheeler truck over speeding on the highway has tremendous power. But the traffic policeman holding up his palm and ordering the driver to stop has authority and the trust must yield. The authority within us, as Christians, is greater than any power in the world.

The command is this: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” It is amazing that here in America, we do not have to cross the oceans and trek the jungles to become missionaries. We simply have to visit our neighbors from Asia, Africa, Latin America and even Europe. They are on our doorsteps. They are in our apartments, our schools, our offices, our factories, our malls, our grocery stores, our pharmacies, our flea markets, our subways, our movie houses, our sidewalks. As a hospitable people, our task is simply to open the doors of our church and the doors of our hearts and the smile and welcome the people from all nations that God has brought into us. Is that really hard to do? I believe not.

The promise is this: “And behold I am with you till the end of the age.” Yes, if we are faithful and available and teachable in doing God’s mission in the world, the promise is to us and to our children and our children’s children. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He is the Head of the church, the Author of our salvation; to know Him is eternal life, to serve Him is perfect freedom and to worship Him is joy unspeakable!

CONCLUSION

In 2005, shortly after I became Missioner for Asiamerica Ministries I was invited by Fr. Bill Bulson, a priest from St. Paul Minnesota to come and preach on Pentecost Sunday and help welcome the Hmong people who have joined the Holy Apostles Episcopal Church.  The story of this church is typical among many Episcopal churches. Bill was sent to Holy Apostles Parish in order to help it die a graceful death. Once it was a great white church but now with the change in population and the greying of the church members, it was a church in decline. Many pioneers either died or moved to other cities or states for their retirement. It could no longer sustain a full time priest and steadily decreasing in membership and revenues.

But God had a plan for the church. God had a plan to “re-people” the church. So in one encounter, he was introduced to the Hmong community. Once “war refugees” from Southeast Asia, the Hmong had now become a stable population in Minnesota---and they were seeking a spiritual community to belong to. Holy Apostles, with Bill’s leadership, welcomed and received the Hmong with radical welcome and unconditional love.

So instead of closing the church because it only had a dozen white members, they had to expand the church to accommodate some 760 Hmong new members! Six months after we welcomed the Hmong, I returned to preach at the Cathedral in Minneapolis where hundreds of them were confirmed! Today, the Holy Apostles Church continue to grow and were able to realize the first theological trained Hmong priest in the Episcopal Church and the entire Anglican Communion. 

Some years ago, I visited the world’s largest single church in Seoul, Korea, the Full Gospel Central Church and learned stories about how this church grew. One remarkable story was about a diminutive Korean lady with a big smile. She would stand at the elevator of an apartment building and welcome everyone with her smile. At times, she would assist others with heavy groceries; pacify crying children with her ever-ready toys and always on hand to help the elderly. No, she was not being paid to do the job; she was just there. Overtime the news about her spread throughout all the floors and people became curious to know who she was and why she was doing it. She led them to her own apartment and showed them the video of her church. She has brought literally thousands of people to her church for the many years she lived in that apartment! With her smile!

In Korea or Minnesota, God is good in all places and in all times. And He will do it again and again and again. Amen