Sermon - February 4th, 2024 - The Rev. Jack Alvey

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable.

In your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.

Amen.

Just so you can get your bearings, this particular sermon is going to revolve around those verses

that said, and he took her by the hand and lifted her up.

Then the fever left her and she began to serve them.

The fever left her and she began to serve them.

I recently heard a story about a church not anywhere near here that deeply troubled me.

Like many churches today, this particular church has been in decline numerically for

some years.

Unlike many churches in decline, this one happens to be in a growing part of the state.

This growth has given way to new members joining, and these new members joining are

many of them are younger.

Certainly, this is an answer to prayer.

Who doesn't want to have a growing church with younger members?

Well, it's an answer to prayer unless and until these newer younger members wanted to

serve on the governing board.

At the annual meeting, when the board elections were to take place, where these newer younger

members were running, they actually reduced the size of the governing board so that they

didn't need any more people to serve on the board.

This effectively squeezed out the younger members from service.

Now, if I were one of these people, I probably would have started looking for another church

that actually wanted me to serve, but to their credit, they stuck in there.

I understand that church leadership is now intervened, and these newer younger members

are serving in leadership.

Now, I'll tell you this story because if we want to truly accept people into our community,

then the best way to show that acceptance is to allow them to serve.

At the end of the day, we all want a part to play.

We all want to be useful and helpful to have purpose.

We all want to contribute to the team.

That's when we know we're truly valued and accepted.

Speaking of teams, seventh grade saw the end of my baseball career.

I was one of two seventh graders on a seventh and eighth grade rec league team.

I'll emphasize rec league team.

The other seventh grader was the coach's son.

Up until the last game, I either played in one inning or none at all.

Even if I did get to play one inning, I probably didn't get to bat.

Over the last game, after we had wrapped up the league title, the coach said I could start

and play anywhere I wanted.

I told him I wanted to play second base and bat second.

I don't remember the specifics, but I think I had a pretty good game.

I got on base a few times.

I know I scored a run.

I got some outs.

After about a week, I received a long note from the coach encouraging me to stick with

baseball that next year I would be bigger and older and faster and get to play more.

Damage was already done, I had already decided to quit baseball and focus on golf.

You can't argue with the number on the scorecard.

The we, once you won the team, but you have to sit on the bench, attitude doesn't work

in little league sports.

It's definitely not going to work in the church.

Our goal isn't about winning, but about making sure everyone has a part to play.

Make sure everyone feels like they belong.

There's a saying in church circles, especially a young youth ministry circles that goes,

if you don't allow them to lead, then you are giving them permission to leave.

As you may have noticed, we're growing here at Church of the Ascension.

We have about 25 people who are set to be confirmed in April, youth and adults.

I think this might be the largest confirmation class since before I was born, which is like

40 years ago.

As for Paris leadership of our 12 vestry members or board members, nine are serving for the

first time.

Of those nine, five have joined in the last five or six years.

And of those who've joined in the last five or six years, three are under the age of 40.

Also stating the obvious, we are doing a good job of not only welcoming new members, but

giving them a place to serve.

Even more, our vestry is in a process of changing how we govern things.

This is going to have some growing pains.

So I invite you to pray for that.

Pray for your vestry, your leadership, that we may make more space for people to get involved.

That's the whole reason we're doing this.

And so I invite those of you who've been here for a long time to pray and look for ways

to engage those newer members.

For those of you who are new, I invite you to make yourself known.

Don't be afraid to raise your hand.

We'll call on you.

Show up at fellowship events so we can get to know you and your story.

Now it seems to me that most people come to church because they are looking for a place

to belong.

And if the church had a television theme song to go with it, it might sound a lot like

the one from Cheers, right?

Yes, that TV show with Ted Danson in the 80s.

I'm not going to sing it, I'm sorry, but it goes like this.

Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name and they're always glad you came.

You want to be where you can see our troubles are all the same.

I really love that line.

Our troubles are all the same.

You want to be where everyone knows your name.

And regardless of what side of the bar they're on, each of the characters in the show has

a role to play when the community is gathered.

And if one of those members of the community is absent, then that absence is notice.

It's felt.

And while the community here is much bigger than the one at Cheers, your absence is most

certainly felt when you're not here.

And I'm not trying to make you feel bad about missing church, but I want to emphasize that

every one of you is a vital part of the community that God is gathering here.

And if you don't feel like a vital part of the community, Emily and I want to know.

We want to help you find a place where you can serve.

And if we can't find one, we'll make one.

Your sense of belonging in this community or any community is directly tied to your sense

of purpose in that community.

And Jesus knows this truth very well.

Even in this first chapter of Mark, we see that Jesus is about restoring people to the

life of the community.

He's about restoring people to the life of the community.

It's not just about their individual healing, but it's about returning them to the life

of the community.

When we get sick, sometimes the physical pain doesn't even begin to compare to the pain

of isolation, social distance.

We all know that from COVID, right?

Last week, we heard the story of how Jesus restores a man to the community by driving

out unclean spirits.

This week, Jesus takes Peter's mother-in-law by the hand, raises her up, and what does

she do?

She immediately begins to serve the community.

You'll notice that between last week's lesson and this week's lesson, there's a transition

from public life in the synagogue to sort of a more private life, smaller group in the

whole.

In this transition, we see, I guess, the biblical argument for small groups, how small groups

are vital in our communal life.

Showing up to church on Sunday is really important.

It really sort of, I guess, sets the tone.

But so is being a part of a smaller group where everyone knows you.

Again, as ascension grows, so does the importance of smaller groups.

We have fellowship groups.

We have service groups, outreach groups, study groups.

We have groups for men and women.

And if you need help finding a group, Emily and I can help, or we can make a new one.

When I was in London for my learning from London course, we met with an Anglican priest

named Michael, I should have figured out how to say his last name, Michael Mania.

It's not good.

Michael is a pioneer in the Fresh Expressions movement in England, you might have heard

of it.

Simply put, a fresh expression is a small group of people who create gospel communities where

life happens.

It could be in a local coffee shop.

It could be in the break room at your office.

It could be under the tree by the school while you wait for your kids for pickup.

It could be at a bike shop.

It could be at a tattoo parlor.

It could be in the 19th hole at the golf course.

I think you get the picture.

Typically these expressions begin where people naturally gather for similar purposes.

At some point someone might notice a need in their immediate context and a group starts

to work to meet that need.

At some point later down the road, someone might introduce Jesus to the conversation.

People start praying together and eating together, studying together, being there for one another

in good times and in bad times.

It kind of sounds like a church to me, doesn't it?

Most often these Fresh Expressions are lay led.

They're led by people other than people with a collar, laity, non-clergy.

Why is that?

Well, that's because life happens.

Lay leaders exist where life happens in a way that clergy are not privy to.

The obstacle, of course, is getting lay people in the Episcopal Church to be comfortable

about talking about what God is up to, what God is doing, comfortable praying out loud.

But the good news is that we're going to do something about it in Alabama.

Bishop G., or diocesan bishop, has invited Michael to come to Alabama to create what

he calls greenhouses.

These greenhouses are sort of like ministry incubators.

They will empower and equip lay leaders to talk about God, to pray out God out loud, to

build these gospel communities where life happens.

Now, as a part of my debt owed to the bishop, she's put me in charge of one of these greenhouses,

so stay tuned.

Belonging or acceptance in Christian community cannot happen without community.

But even more, it cannot, this acceptance, this belonging cannot happen when space is

not made for us, for everyone to play a part, for everyone to have a skin in the game, so

to say.

Every Sunday as we encounter Jesus at this altar rail, as we gather around this rail,

we are given a powerful image that says that Jesus wants us, wants to make space for all

of us to live into our baptismal vows, to love and serve as he loves us.

So today, after you receive communion, and when you begin to stand up again, assuming

you kneel in the first place, when you stand up again, I encourage you to imagine that it

is Jesus who's taking you by the hand and lifting you to life.

And as you were lifted back to life, I pray that you were filled with that same kind of

gratitude that filled Peter's mother-in-law and led her to serve.

And when you stand to leave here this morning, I pray that you may hear with a renewed sense

of belonging in person the words of the dismissal, words that say, go in peace, to love and serve

the Lord.

Yes, be to God.

Amen.

Now we are going to...