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The Third Sunday of Lent, 14 March 2004
Exodus 3:1-15, I Corinthians 10:1-13, Luke 13:1-9
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, West Valley City, UT

The Rev. W. Lee Shaw

For me there is something utterly unique and wonderful about being an Episcopalian. Some of this I'm sure comes from my status as a “convert” to the faith. But part of it also is the fact that I just simply delight in our approach to life, God, Scripture, theology, justice, and being in community. I was reminded of all this during the past week with the vestry retreat and visitation of Bishop Irish to St. Stephen's and San Esteban last weekend. It was such a full time of communion and community, the sharing of faith and of fellowship.

A year or so ago, Louie Crew, noted Episcopal layman from New Jersey, started an online discussion on 365 reasons to be an Episcopalian. This was narrowed to 101 Reasons to be an Episcopalian and published in this little book.

Our epistle reading is about personal responsibility in community, I want to share some of these quotes with you—quotes about being in community as Episcopalians:

When Anglicanism is at its best, its liturgy, its poetry, its music and its life can create a world of wonder in which it is very easy to fall in love with God.
Asking questions about our faith is expected. In the Episcopal Church, God doesn't get upset if I wonder why some things are as they are. And God doesn't get upset if I suggest that some things should not continue as they are.
We do not give simple answers to complex questions. Instead, we offer tools that help people develop a sustaining faith.
We belong before we believe.
Where faith is God's gift to us, not our gift to God.
Because it's one religion where laughing at our own absurdities is a basic spiritual discipline and we're invited to rejoice in how much we have still to learn of God instead of how much we know.
We welcome the faithful, the seeker, and the doubter.

This last one is particularly important for me. We do welcome all into our community. We have no litmus test for personal piety. At our vestry retreat we spent time talking about our community and the type of goals and hopes we have for St. Stephen's. This is a transitional time for the parish and for me, but it is not a time of inactivity. Transitions are active. We can use this time as a community to look at where we have been, where we want to be and make plans to reach those goals. This is a time to take stock and look to the future.

This is a time of looking at how we come together as a community and what gets in the way. It is a time for dreaming and planning for the future, and the vestry has begun that work. It is a time to look at our core values as Episcopalians in this part of the vineyard and how we share the good news with others.

We also need to look at our responsibility to one another in community in terms of stewardship, financial support of our ministries. And, yes, St. Stephen's is not in the best of financial condition right now. We are running a consistent budget deficit. So, as part of our life as a community, I invite you to look at your level of giving to the parish and increase it if possible. If you have not completed a pledge card, please take one and fill it out. We need your presence, your prayers, and your financial support in order to grow and maintain our ministries here for all of us. Like the fig tree in the parable, we need to nourish the roots of our community and that means in this case financial support to help us grow and remain healthy.

Our life together is bound up in worship, fellowship, ministries, shared gifts, open hospitality, stewardship, and your own growing spirituality. Each of you is an important piece of the fabric of this community. To this end, here are a few other aspects of who we are:

Despite or perhaps even precisely because of our present disagreements in the Episcopal Church I am reminded that God calls us all together because we aren't whole without each other.

This is the only church that is as lovingly loony as your family.
God loves you, and there's not a thing you can do to change that.
I love our church because we don't think unity means uniformity.
Christ has no hands on the earth but ours. We need you to help us bless the world.
We don't have all the answers, and we welcome others who love the questions.
However you like to worship, there are Episcopalians who like doing it that way too.
There's no such thing as a politically incorrect Episcopalian. There are conservative Episcopalians and liberal Episcopalians. There are straight Episcopalians and [gay/lesbian] Episcopalians. There are Catholics and Protestants. There are African, English, Asian and Alaskan Episcopalians. And none of the above. The Episcopal Church doesn't offer you a set dogma or pat answers, or a list of do's and don'ts. There's room for all kinds of people and all kinds of theologies. What the Episcopal Church does offer you is a way of prayer, a way of thinking and asking questions, a way of life in this often confusing, conflicting, and complicated world, a way that may lead you closer to God.

And finally, my favorite: “Ours is the perfect church for people who aren't perfect.”

All of these, and so much more, is why I love being an Episcopalian. Especially in Utah! I am thrilled and humbled to share in your ministries here at St. Stephen's.