I bring you greetings from the 155th meeting of the Presbytery of South Louisiana, and I want to remind you that we are a part of the Presbytery. There is no us and them. There is just us, and we meet three times a year with commissioned Elders – not representatives but Elders who are in mission together – to discern the will of God for the church.
The meeting of commissioners of the Presbytery of South Louisiana (PSL) is February 6 at University Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge, and our governing council, the Session, will need to commission two Ruling Elders – which means two people who have served (or are serving) on our Session – to attend that meeting.
I also mentioned the Rev. Lemuel García-Arroyo in the announcements. Rev. Lemuel serves as a ministry engagement advisor for the South region of the PC(USA) Office of Ministry Engagement and Support. In that role, he assists congregations and mid-councils (like the Presbytery) to deepen their engagement in mission and ministry and to respond to the Matthew 25 initiative. This initiative is something we have not talked much about, but it is something that we are engaged in as a Presbytery. The Matthew 25 initiative is certainly worth looking into as you continue in ministry together, and it may help you further define the mission of witness and service that we have been working on this past year.
The point in sharing all of this is that there is a great cloud of witnesses surrounding you – even here, even now. As First Presbyterian begins a transition in ministry, there will be work to do that none of you want to do, but there is support for you in the PSL and in the PC(USA).
I find God’s timing in all of this amazing, given that today is All Saints Day! Believe me when I say that, although I have made some decisions in this transition, the timing is not one of those choices. Even so, it is fitting that our relationship should change on this day.
Traditionally, it is a day that we reconcile ourselves with the reality of loss and the expectation of God’s providence. At the same time, it is also a day when we recognize those living saints in our midst, and again, believe me when I say that I am not talking about me.
Our Reformed tradition looks to scripture for an understanding of the concept of saints, and throughout the letters of Paul, we find the word “saints” being used to describe members of faith communities who are actively engaged in ministry together – so that would be you.
In our reading from the Revelation of John, we find an ecstatic vision of martyrs standing before the lamb of God offering praise and glory! It’s important to know that this was written in a time of suffering for the church, and they needed to know that their suffering was not in vain.
The same is true for the church today, and perhaps especially so for our siblings in Cuba. Many of you will recall stories of Mercedis Cardenas, the woman who started or sibling church in Sabanilla with a Bible study in her house during Castro’s revolution. She came here in 2000 to establish our partnership, and when she did she received a church newsletter that had a clip art image of a lamb with a cross and it inspired her to make this banner. [Draped over the pulpit.]
Mercedis gave it to me on our last visit and told me passionately that she wanted you to have it as a symbol of our union in Christ. The Latin Phrase on it translates to “No Other Lamb,” and she has held this symbol of union and prayed over it – and for you – for years!
To her, this gift is every bit as important as the Living Waters system that we partner with her congregation to maintain – even though that system gave her the first taste of water that she has ever consumed without having to boil it.
This is what it means to be a Saint of the Church, to love and seek the salvation of others; to pour oneself out in the hope of restoration; to love as you have been loved; and to come to know yourself as a child of God – for that is what you are (1 John 3:1).
What’s next? 1 John 3 goes on to say that we aren’t sure, but we have this hope in Christ Jesus that we might become something more, something pure, something more like the embodiment of love through whom we have come to know how to love.
As good as that sounds, it’s a little hard for me to visualize what that might be like. I like to imagine how things might look and feel for them to become real. Most of you probably know that this is one of the reasons I love to make art.
I don’t usually call myself an artist because I feel like that title has some cultural baggage that I don’t want, but I will say that I am creative – and so are you. You are created in the image of The Creator so you really can’t help but create in some way or another. Maybe not in the ways of fine art, but maybe in the art of conversation; or auto mechanics; or teaching; or problem solving.
You are a creature who creates. Even if you just make a mess, you have made something! In fact, I would suggest that we are not only creators, but we are – in our common union as the church – a work of art from the hands of the Great Master!
We are a unique work of art in that we play a part in our own expression. We are like a painting that paints itself, every day. Even on Sundays the people that fill these pews, and worship with us online, shift and change from week to week. The congregation is not just a group of members but members in community – in common unity – with others, and while that starts here it doesn’t end here. The faith we share finds its fullest expression outside of these walls in our families and friendships and even the most random of encounters.
How do we do it? How do we create and re-create such works of art in the gallery of the world outside? We do it by looking to our faith as though it were an easel. We look to our tradition as though it were a canvas. We look to God’s word as though it were our paint, and we look to our hearts as though they were our brushes.
Today we have received – in our painter’s pallet – hope amidst our trials from the Revelation of John and the assurance of our kinship in God’s love from 1 John. In Matthew’s Gospel, we received what we really need to hear. “Blessed are you. Blessed are you. Blessed are you.” Nine times we are told how blessed we are, and there are two truths revealed in this passage that I have learned from the Saints of First Presbyterian Church in Lafayette that I’ll share with you now.
First is the abundance of God’s grace in the midst of what the world calls scarcity. You have a history of demonstrating the idea of “creation out of nothing,” but that’s because it isn’t out of nothing. It is out of the hospitality of God reflected through the Saints of the church. Back in the day, you produced over 1,000 gift baskets one year for needy children. After that ministry ran its course you opened your doors for disaster recovery, and you still stand ready from the lessons learned to do it again when the next one comes.
After that, you provided the start-up funds for Living Waters in Cuba and found others to match it. All the while you’ve maintained partnerships in the community to extend the reach of the church far beyond your capacities, and you do it all the time through the grace and mercy of God.
It’s also no small thing that you have become known as a safe space in a spiritual landscape that has historically and presently proffered violence and harm to the LGBTQ+ community. I guarantee you that, while some members of that community may never darken your door, some are yet encouraged by this public witness. I also guarantee that after I am gone there will be those who wonder if you really mean it or if it was just Pastor Zach’s agenda, and you’ll need to find a way to assure them if this safe space is to be maintained.
All of this speaks to your character of hospitality that has created an ethos of abundance in the midst of scarcity, which is what Jesus described when he called you blessed.
The second truth from this passage that you’ve taught me is that it’s okay to name and claim whatever state of sorriness you find yourself in. What’s not okay is to let it define who you are. You are a beloved child of God. Those who mourn will be comforted. Those who are beaten down in every way will be lifted up! Even if people treat you horribly on account of your witness of love and acceptance and radical welcome, you are blessed and you will see and experience the active presence of God!
I know this because I have seen God’s activity here in your midst, and I have seen the masterpieces that you have painted in the past. Last Spring, during Lent, you literally created works of art reflecting on what it means to you to be the church, and you created a gallery in the Narthex. That same gallery also displays pictures from time to time of other events and activities of the church, and I hope you will continue to display expressions of creative ministry in that space and every place.
It makes me wonder what you will paint next with the easel of faith, the canvas of tradition, the pallet of paint that is the Word of God, and the brushes of your hearts. I have no idea what it will be, but I expect it to be amazing!
The beautiful thing is that – even though you will go out into the gallery of the world and be on display for all to see – you have one another to paint it with. Even more beautiful is the knowledge that we are surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses that includes those in the Presbytery South Louisiana and the PC(USA), our siblings in Cuba, and all who follow the way of Jesus! Even more beautiful is the vision of the kingdom of heaven that we find here, around this table where we celebrate the forgiveness we have received.
Here we remember those who have gone before us. Here we not only imagine but we taste and see the goodness of God. Here we are united with all the saints, on whose shoulders we stand, beside whom we sit, and even those who wait in the shadows for the light you may bear.
At least I expect it to be as such for me; and I expect it to be as such for you; and to God be the glory – now and always. Amen!
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