This address was abridged orally on the date of the Annual Meeting due to time constraints. When originally composed, there was no awareness that the several pages of a Rector's report would be offered orally in its entirety'. Thus, my time to fully deliver this was preempted.
Warden’s Address
Good
afternoon, brothers and sisters. You will hear from me in part your typical
address, as well as a non-typical part. So first, the TYPICAL part.
I am going to highlight some of the
reports for you; you have the reports of ministries that have taken place in
the last year in your booklet. I strongly urge you to read them, I strongly urge you to read them, all
in their entirety and contemplate what you are reading. [speak to Rector’s
final words to congregation; Altar Guild; Bible Study; Christian Care; DOK;
Pledge/Treasurer Report; Warden’s Report].
Does anybody
know what is the MOST IMPORTANT part of worship, i.e., what is actually the
essence of worship?
God called out and created a nation called Israel; He liberated them from Egyptian bondage so that they may go into the wilderness to serve and worship Him. Ex. 19:5 God says to His people, “if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples…”1/ Jesus tells us in John 9:31 that God does not listen to willful sinners – persons who rebel against Him and His word but, instead, listens to those who worship Him and obeys His will. And Paul writes in Romans 6 that those who obey God walk in the path of righteousness, that is, they are doing what is right in God’s eyes. He is the final judge. The Bible is replete with examples of what happens when we rebel against God and what happens when we obey Him. He says in Amos to those who disobeyed His commandments on a day-to-day basis, that He hated what they called worship because they had chosen to worship their way while living lives of disobedience. He would not accept their worship, He would not hear their praises, because they rang hollow to Him. Jesus would also say in that final night, to those who were closest to Him: if you really love me and the Father, then obey my commandments. When we are intentionally living lives that are contrary to what God’s will is – you know, that will we pray about in the Lord’s prayer – we are not walking in the light of Christ. It is challenging to serve God and walk in His will if we reject His word and choose not to let it dwell richly in us in such a way as to transform us [it is downright impossible]. Many people claim to believe in God, but Jesus says their fruit is what really identifies them.
Here's the
thing – this is what an Annual Meeting must be about – identifying who we have
been over the past year, what have we done, how have we been Christ’s disciples
-- light in the darkness? This harmonizes with the command at 2 Corinthians13:5 to examine ourselves to see if we are continuing in the faith.
What is
keeping us from obeying Jesus’ command to be servants in His Church? In John 13
we find the account of Jesus – Creator of all things seen and unseen, the second
Person of the Trinity – God, yes God, we see him take off His outer robe to
take the role of a house slave, and quietly with a basin of water and a towel,
proceeds to wash the disciples’ feet. Stinky, dirty, filthy feet. The disciples
are stunned, and Peter rejects Jesus’ offer out of pride and a bit of chiding
of Jesus, whom he addresses as Lord – that a true Lord and Master is not a slave nor
should he act like one is what he was implying. When Jesus responded, if you
don’t you can have no part with me, Peter says wash my feet, my hands and my
head Lord! When Jesus finished, does anyone remember what He says: “Do you
know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and
Lord, and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if
I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one
another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you
also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I
tell you, slaves are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater
than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things,
you are blessed if you do them.”
Have you
ever really heard these words (re-read v.16-17) If you are being led by God to
serve, talk to me or any one of the ministry leaders on the Vestry or to those
who provided the reports, and sincerely pray to God and ask Him where He
wants you to be active, and then obey Him. Do not let pride keep you
from a blessing; if God calls you to serve in an area – notice, I did not say,
if you call yourself to serve somewhere -- He is able to provide you with what
you need to accomplish the task, as indicated in Exodus 36:2.
Okay, so
take a breath... Now here comes the non-typical part. So I’m going to do
something a little different. I will ask for those who have been a part of the
church of St. Christoper’s for 30 or more years to either stand or raise their
hands. If you can keep standing or hands raised, I will ask the same thing of
those who have been a part of St. C’s for at least 20 or more years. Okay, and
now I will ask those who have been a part of St. Christopher’s for at least 10
or more years to also stand or raise their hands. I invite the remaining
members to turn around and look. These persons have been not just a part of the
church, but have been the church, servant leaders in the church involved in
ministries both internally and externally serving God and His people. Each of
those members have actively served in ministry through the years and has
provided compelling models of service for us to consider. So: Praise God
for you! Thank you for your service and fellowship these many years!! And now I would like to ask the members of
the Vestry who are present here – including our newly elected members to stand.
Each and everyone of these members have a history with St. Christopher’s that
involve ministries and outreach. For example, Joe B. for YEARS in capital
letters has served as a musician and choir director in our church back in the
day when he shared leadership with Ms. Ivy. It isn’t just about coming in for
a couple of hours on a Sunday and playing the piano or organ – it is about a
dedication to practice, to prayer and discernment of what music fits what
service and so much more. We have Mercy who has been a member of the Vestry
twice now, was on the Vestry that called Pastor Melana, and who has worked internally
in ministries, and externally in another house of worship to minister to that
church. There’s Justin – I remember when he was in youth group and acolyting
and he came to me, to my chagrin, as I had not discerned this about him: he asked
if he could do more in the acolyte ministry! After I got over being
embarrassed, I was over-joyed and we found together the “more.” And look, he is
still serving the church as part of the AV Team and the Vestry, and wherever
else help is needed. We have Pius, who came to us through the Ezinne family
thank you Ezinnes, and especially Chika, right? Together they have a growing
family that he shepherds. He has volunteered to help at events, clean-ups, and
is an active, valued member of the Vestry as all of our members are. Ginny, who
for 37 years has worshiped with St. Christopher’s; she is also not a
first-timer on the Vestry; she has served as a Sunday school teacher, has been
involved in numerous activities internally in church and externally within the
New Carrollton community as her bio shows. She has years of service experience
and wisdom! Eze – stand up please, I
also have had the privilege to watch him grow and mature; he, too, was an
Acolyte, who showed new acolytes how to serve, who is a lector, usher, and
happy to help wherever needed, and is now a new member of the Vestry. Enefazu
has a history that shows a demonstration of service – he serves as Usher,
Lector, he is our Emcee for church events like Harvest Thanksgiving, and he
leads the AV Team and is a Vestry Member. Olivia: for 34 years she has
worshiped at the 8am and 10am services. She has served or assisted in
ministries during those times either directly or indirectly – for example, serving
on the search committee that called Father Jonathan – back in those days the
work of the search committee could last for a couple of years or more – a long
commitment; most recently, she was part of the planning and doing for the recent yard sale. Ms.
Lara rotated off the Vestry after serving 4 years – 1 year more than is
customary. She is also currently out of the country and when she returns plans
to rejoin the counters group and learn the ropes so to speak. And Milton
Gbonda, also rotates off Vestry this year: he has been involved in at least two
confirmation classes teaching and sharing his love of God with the youth; he also serves as lector and Sunday school
teacher, and is more than willing to help wherever he can, in addition to being
a member of the Vestry. Thank you to all who stood or raised their hands when
called.
Did anyone catch what is the running theme here? Yes! These are persons who
have acted on God’s inward call to serve Him and His people. Servant leaders
Thank you again, everyone, for your service and modeling Christ’s love for God
and His people.
I need to
tell you four stories about four women. Jesus said as recorded in Matthew 10:34-39
that His coming to earth and proclaiming the Truth would result in some
families and communities being divided over His words, that believers would be
shunned by their families and communities because they chose to accept the
truth Jesus proclaimed. He is the Truth, right? And Jesus prophetic statement in that Matthew passage would be fulfilled thousands upon thousands of times if not more in these past 2000 years. Some
of us have seen or experienced this personally.
I personally
know a someone who, as a young woman, experienced such a traumatic season: the
loving family she grew up in and the only community she knew and grew up in would
come to shun her because she could no longer accept the hypocrisy and false
teaching of that religious organization. God, in His providence, would allow
the young woman to be an outcast, would lead her in the wilderness where she
was exposed to quote – unquote beasts and dangers. Yet it would be in this
wilderness experience that she would come to a saving knowledge of the truth.
God would send a vision, would bestow on her spiritual gifts that would take
her some time to discover in this journey. As she drew closer to God, became
immersed in His Word with great passion, He would direct her to a place where
she could experience what the psalmist experienced in Psalm 27 that though
mother, father, would leave her that God would never leave nor forsake her. *It
was God’s forgiveness, the fact that God would save her, foreordaining
her before the foundation of the world, His mercy and His grace that would
change her life and give her new purpose. Yes, she bore the ‘scars’ of that
wilderness but she was so beholden to God and what He had done in her, for her
and with her, she could never see herself the same lost way again. She would
pray for her family to be released from the bondage and influence of that false
religion, and with a fervor teach others the truth, being moved through the Holy
Spirit to be like Christ to others –
And she
discovered in scripture a mirror in the lives of three women who would come to
follow Jesus and they were all named Mary: Mary of Nazareth, Mary of Magdala,
and Mary of Bethany.
Mary of
Nazareth. She grew up in a typical Jewish family that was strong on what would
become the mix of the Mosaic Law and the oral law and tradition which would
become known as the Mishnah and Talmud. She grew up in a village called
Nazareth located in Galilee, which was several days’ journey from Jerusalem on
most days. It was small, poor, and isolated because of where it was located
between hills and not very accessible. It was a place where elements of
meanness, obscurity and evil doing were characteristic of it. It was a small
Jewish village surrounded by Gentiles or non-Jews; there may have been a Roman
garrison somewhere in the nearby locale, whose personnel would join in the revelry and immorality. The village was often looked down upon
by Judean Jews and even those in other parts of Galilee. It was like Nathanael
said to Philip after Philip had met Jesus – son of Joseph from Nazareth per
John 1:45-46: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Even though considered
as less, the community of Nazareth was very tight. Yet, God would send His
angel Gabriel to this seemingly God-forsaken place with news and blessings to
be bestowed on a teenage girl named Mary. God had chosen her to be the first
person who would be a bearer of Christ; she would fulfill that role both physically and spiritually. She
was part of God’s salvific plan for the world, as she relates in her song found
in Luke 1. Her parents accepted the intentions of a man named Joseph who wanted
to marry their daughter, and per the customs of the time, Mary was not a part
of the conversation but was the subject of it. She would become betrothed and
go away to visit with an older cousin Elizabeth upon whom God’s favor rested,
for she who had been barren for such a long time was now pregnant in her old
age – she, too, was part of God’s salvific plan. After 3 months Mary would return
home, visibly pregnant. While it is so very common today to see a pregnant
teen, in those days such an out of wedlock situation would result in Mary being
shunned and/or looked down upon by community –
a HUGE embarrassment to her family who would come just a minute short of disowning her,
and as a woman betrothed and found to be pregnant before the actual wedding,
the man would be justified in having her stoned to death or otherwise punished
under the law. We still see that in some cultures today. Yet, God’s providence
to take Mary through that wilderness experience, and who would see to the
safety of Mary and Joseph, see to the safe birth and growing up of the Son who
came into the world to save it, despite the low esteem of and shunning by the
villagers. We know how that story winds up, right?
Then there
is Mary of Magdala. The Bible does not go into depth as to how she came to be
in the predicament of having seven demons in her doing only God knows what with
her and in her as recorded in Mark 16:9 and Luke 8:2. As such, she was
considered an anathema – cursed by God, and was shunned by her community,
despised. But what the Bible does tell us is that she has the foreordained
encounter with Jesus who exorcises the demons. She is liberated from the
domain of darkness by the Light of the World, and she followed that Light!
That forgiveness and liberation would bring her some time later to a tomb in a
garden where Jesus was laid, and finding it empty, she is beside herself! She asks
“the gardener”, where have you laid my Master? And the man answers, “Mary!” She immediately recognizes the voice of her beloved Savior and falls and worships at His feet.
And we come
to Mary of Bethany. This is the same Mary who was the sister of Martha and
Lazarus, and at whose home Jesus would visit and stay on occasion. It is clear
enough that Jesus had a strong affection for the small family per John 11. Again,
the Bible is silent on Mary’s past, do encounter her in Luke 7 and John 12 in a
different setting. Note that according to the passages, Mary of Bethany was
recognized by those in her community as a sinful woman. We are not told of her
sin, but somewhere along the way, she acquired a jar of very expensive and
exotic perfumed oil. It was Jesus’ visit to Bethany to dine at the home of
Simon the leper and pharisee where we see her enter into Christ’s presence.
Some scholars think that she and her siblings were servants or slaves of Simon
who lived on his property. Whatever the case, while Jesus and His disciples
were seated at Simon’s table, Mary comes in silently, bringing her jar of
perfumed ointment with her. In God’s salvific plan, this Mary also is liberated, delivered from a dark past and forgiven forever, and it is that deep down gratitude within her, stirred by the
Holy Spirit, that Mary anoints Christ by pouring out the anointing oil on Him,
and washing his feet with her tears and hair.
So what do
these stories show us – we who are as broken and sinful as the four women but
whom God would use in a powerful way in His providence? All of these women were
forgiven profoundly by God, and lived, walked, and breathed that forgiveness so
that it became faith in action. They could not sit still, so to speak, and bask
in the forgiveness as if they were getting a suntan. No! And that is the
message we see throughout scripture – and especially in the New Testament
writings of those who have been saved and who are baptized by the Holy Spirit
recognize that this call is not something to take lightly. That this
forgiveness by Christ has changed them because they understand what that
forgiveness cost– that they are liberated, delivered out of a past of deep darkness. They are no longer the person of
little value, of shame or shunning, but are instead made children of God and in
that bright awareness of who they are, this new identity, they cannot keep
still but are compelled by that act of forgiveness and salvation to serve God
and His people in ways that they could never have imagined.
So, church
at St. Christopher’s, what does our identity look like? Are we motivated by
what Jesus has done for us and to us so that serving Him and obeying Him are
our deepest desire? Do we exult in what He has done by serving others in His
name? As I read to you Matthew 25:14-30, think on this question – with whom do
I identify in this passage? –READS—….well done trustworthy slave, you have been
faithful with little, so I’m going to appoint you in charge over many things.
By your fruits…
The writers of
the Gospels and epistles as led by the Holy Spirit all point to the same thing: by our
fruits we would be known, not only as a church but individually as members of
the church. Have we been called inwardly by God, forgiven of our sins, and so
unabashedly grateful to Him that we answer His call to serve with joy in
whatever capacity He asks us to serve? – Exodus 36:2 again! A joy that goes far
beyond a glandular response? That we find the most joy in serving God and those
around us? Do we love our neighbor as Jesus does? Are we are overwhelmed by Jesus’ forgiveness
of and liberation/deliverance from our sins that we give ourselves fully to Him like the
four women whose stories I have shared did, or do we stingily hold back? Consider
who Christ is. He left His place in heaven, was born into a world that
hated Him. The Creator who in His earthly journey, became a slave, an outcast,
would bow down on His knees to wash His disciples stinky, dirty feet. Yet, He
loved the people of the world so much that He went through unimaginable torture
– the One who created those persons who killed Him, suffering an extremely
harsh death on a cross to REDEEM US, you and me. Consider that Jesus. Then ask
ourselves, am I better than Jesus?
Friends,
that is our challenge here, our challenge for 2025, this is the challenge that scripture
poses: that we submit to Christ as our Master, that we obey Him and His
commands to have hearts full of and trained by God’s Word, that we serve each
other in love, that we respect and steward those things God has gifted us with
– including His church. Look around you – while we may call this our church and
our lives, we do not own them. Psalm 24:1 tells us that God owns all things. 1Corinthians 6 tells us we are not our own – we cannot claim lordship over our
lives because we were bought with the blood of Christ.
So not your typical address, yet a critical one. Who are we? What are we doing
or not doing? As we go through this clergy transition, God has given us the
pause and responsibility of clarifying these things for ourselves. As we go
into development stage it will become even more important. So here’s what I am
asking us to do: Write down 3 things briefly – like a bullet point or sentence
or two about your identity/ who you are, and 3 things about St. Christopher’s
identity and who it is. Also, read the ministry reports all the way through.
Can you do
that? Can you bring your thoughts next week – don’t have to put your name on
it, and we will put them all in a basket, and share these thoughts with one
another. Will you do that?
1/ I would receive a blistering response to the Biblical doctrine of obedience. I was told that this is not something I should say out loud because people with traumatic backgrounds of clergy abuse would be turned off and, worse, would be subjected to relive that trauma. I did not apologize for sharing that scripture and doctrine, but was sympathetic to the person's cry. The person was still living in that bitterness in such a way that psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually, that they have found it hard to forgive God for the pain and trauma. I empathized with the person about their experience, but pray for God to "open the eyes of their heart" to know Him. That all throughout mankind's history there have been evil people who have cast aspersions onto the character of God through so-called religious acts and acts of wickedness in the name of God. The Bible is replete with such examples not only to make us aware that these evil acts are of the devil, and that such evil lies in every heart; God sees and He condemns those unrepentant sinners who dishonor the Name. (Genesis 6:5; Psalm 28:3; Ecclesiastes 9:3; Zechariah 8:17; Proverbs 6:16-19; Matthew 15:19; Hebrews 3:8-12; Revelation 2:18-29.
