St. Martin of Tours Episcopal Church
Kalamazoo, Michigan
I love college homecoming days. I love the excitement, the anticipation, of planning to attend. I love the drive to the campus, love the tailgate party, love being one of thousands of people who are smiling and laughing and catching up on what has happened in the lives of friends unseen for a while. I love the football game – the cheers of the crowd showing support for the team, watching the waves as they try to keep going around the stadium; I love the music of the bands and being amazed that they can play and go through all those formations at the same time they’re playing, and I love the drumming exhibitions that have become so popular in recent years. The sounds and smells and colors of homecoming, and especially all the smiles I see, fill me with joy. And that’s how I feel here today, too.
Many churches refer to the Sunday after Labor Day as “Homecoming Sunday” because it’s when we return to church after most of us have had some kind of summer refreshment and renewal. Most of us have been here most of the time, but most of us have also had Sundays when we haven’t been here. And today –theoretically, at least– we’re all back. Today is also the day when the church begins to return to its full schedule. Today I am filled with joy to see all of you, old faces and new.
The anticipation of today began to build before this morning, of course. Last Sunday we had a baptism here. Because we had two other clergy behind the altar, I sat down after receiving Communion, and I watched you come to the rail. I was overwhelmed with the realization once again that I love this congregation. I love being here with you, worshipping God with you, and I love serving God with you – here and outside of this place. As I watched people come forward last week, there were people here of different ages and skin colors and socio-economics and political persuasions. And none of those differences mattered right then. Because this is a place where we teach and believe that all are loved by God, that all are welcome and encouraged to bow before God, to begin again each week to be the person we were created to be. No one coming forward last week was perfect, yet no one was rejected. Standing or kneeling side by side, people who were very different from each other received the sacrament and then walked back to their seats ready to begin living their Baptismal Covenant with renewed strength, assured of God’s love for them.
This is a place where real people can feel at home, a place where our very real God touches real hearts and lives. This is a place where we know the truth of Psalm 139 that we just read together – that God knows us through and through, and has known us since the moment of our conception, and has loved and cared for us from before time, through today, and into the future. This is a place that experiences on a regular basis the power of that love, a place that offers hope to others in this broken and torn world. People from this place care about each other, and we also care about the rest of the world. Last year this small church sent 20 people to New Orleans to do Katrina relief work. We gave winter coats and hats and mittens to over 100 people. We completely refurbished the living room in a house being renovated into affordable housing for people on the lowest end of the salary scale. Last year we did much more than that, too – but I’m not going to talk about that any more right now because that was last year.
Today is Homecoming, another beginning, the start of another academic year. What will we do this year, I wonder? How will we serve God and our neighbors during the 2007-2008 program year? I know we’ve decided to focus on the Millennium Development Goals, but I wonder what specifically we will do. All of the plans aren’t made yet, but I already know that we will do something significant – because we have learned that the gospel doesn’t matter if it isn’t changing people’s lives. Somehow we will help feed the hungry, or shelter the homeless, or work for justice and peace in our community and throughout the world. Somehow we will work to help reduce poverty and disease, or to be better stewards of creation, or to help increase literacy. Somehow this year, as a church and as individuals, we will respond to God’s call to love God and love our neighbor.
Our reading from Philemon today showed the apostle Paul, a person of education and a skilled advocate, using all his resources to advocate for Onesimus, a man who is marginalized and in danger. Maybe this year some of us will figure out a way to advocate for social change.
One of the messages we could get from our reading from Jeremiah this morning is that nations are called to change their actions and bring them in line with the good that God wants for all people. Nations are to be called by God’s people to wake up and open their eyes, to recognize that there are consequences for national decisions and actions. The same is true, of course, for communities, congregations, families, and individuals. If we keep ignoring what the experts tell us and keep contributing to global warming, for example, the consequences for the whole earth will be disastrous. Maybe this year some of us will figure out a way to speak so that our nation hears the call to reduce the harm we’re doing and perform more good.
The passage from our gospel reading this morning challenges Jesus’ followers to realize that discipleship means reordered relationships. This year, then, our definition of “family” may change. Those who are in need may become family to us, and our current family may feel detachment or tension because of it. The first year Tom and I invited people with AIDS for Thanksgiving dinner, the rest of my family wouldn’t come! Living for justice, not just talking about God’s love but sharing it with others, will cost us something. It could cost us the courage of speaking out; it could cost our time and money and talents. It could cost our relationships with people who are close to us who disagree.
We don’t know what this year will bring, but today we have come home to St. Martin of Tours to begin it. The sounds and smells and colors of Homecoming Sunday, and all the people and smiles we see, can fill us with joy if we will only open ourselves to receive it.
Today we begin again by confessing our sins, receiving forgiveness, sharing peace with each other, and receiving the strength and renewal that comes with the sacrament of Eucharist and with the contact with the community here gathered. After church we will go out, have a ball during the pig roast, renew acquaintances and make new friends, and begin another year of serving God by helping make this world a better place for all. Thank you for being here. Thank you for serving God along side the rest of us. Thank you for being part of the reason that I feel joy.
Happy Homecoming, everyone. May God truly bless St. Martin’s during the coming year. Amen.
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- 2010 Nichols Road
- Kalamazoo, MI 49004-3200
- 269.381.3188
- stmartinkzo@sbcglobal.net
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