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The Rev. Christopher Brdlik
December 3, 2006 - The First Sunday of Advent

The Family Photo Album, 2006 

The first thing I need to do today is to wish you a Happy New Year.  Advent season marks the beginning of the Christian calendar, the liturgical new year, and today conveniently corresponds with the date of our annual meeting. As I report to the congregation on the year that has passed, what comes to mind is a series of pictures, mental photos from some parish family album, pictures taken of scenes away from Calvary on those occasions in 2006 when the parish extended itself.  

The first family photo I have in mind is from exactly a year ago, when members of our YAC group (Young Adults in the Church), along with Laurie Matarazzo and adult leaders, journeyed to Mississippi to do relief work for Hurricane Katrina.  The image that comes to mind is the blue roofs — mile after mile of houses covered with the blue plastic tarps supplied by FEMA to serve as temporary roofing.  Our group of youth was on the scene just three months after the storm. Things on the ground were still pretty raw. Victims of the hurricane were clearly in need. And that served as an inspiration for our teens and leaders to dig right in and help. Not only am I proud of the work they did to relieve evident suffering, I think the whole experience was a catalyst to maturation and growth for these young members of Calvary. When it comes to the destruction of natural disasters, the question is not “why did God cause this?” but instead, “what can God’s people do to help out?”  Our YAC group learned a valuable lesson in addressing that important question. The answer is to extend oneself to meet a need, as our Lord Jesus Christ did for us.

The next family photo in my mind is also from Mississippi.  For in May a second group of Calvarians returned to the hurricane area to help out some more — this time, a group of adults. And there was still plenty to do.  In fact the image I remember is an Episcopal hymnal, The Hymnal 1982, half-buried in the sand at the site of a shorefront church that had been wiped away by the force of the storm surge. And I recalled that our teens had also visited that site. One of them had commented that seeing such a familiar object as the hymnal lying on the ground made a deep impression on him. And for me, six months later, to see this same object lying in the sand also impressed me. It said that God’s work still needed doing on the Gulf Coast. And that’s what residents told us: People thanked us again and again for coming to help, but they always added, “Don’t forget us!”  It is going to be a long time before God’s work is done there. I spoke with a rector last week, recently returned from a trip with his youth group, who said there’s plenty to do.  Maybe we should think of going again. 

Another thing we should continue you to do is interfaith dialogue. On the cover of today’s bulletin is my next family photo. It shows an audience my interfaith dialogue group had with the ecumenical patriarch of Orthodox Christianity, Bartholomew, last June in Istanbul. Bartholomew met with our group of Episcopalians, Catholics, Methodists, Lutherans, Baptists, Hindus, Jains and Muslims from New Jersey because of his concern for all religions to grow in understanding and respect for each other. This past Wednesday the Pope, Benedict, met with Bartholomew in the same room as this photo. He, too, was there to increase dialogue. And in Benedict’s case, it was after being chastened for some earlier unkind remarks about the history of Islam. The success of Benedict’s trip indicated he learned an important lesson: The future of religion is interfaith dialogue. God does not want us to war and quarrel with each other any more. This means that pontiffs and leaders must learn to forswear their prerogatives and replace the quest for power with respectful cooperation. No group has a premium on the truth. Every religion attests to some aspect of the truth that the others do not see. I believe that in a real, concrete, positive fashion Calvary Church has been related to this powerful movement in the way depicted by our family photo printed on the front of the bulletin. We certainly will be continuing to emphasize interfaith dialogue. 

The final photo in our 2006 album is the image most personal for me, yet one that still represents an important link for Calvary. It comes from the end of the investiture of the new Presiding Bishop at Washington National Cathedral one month ago. This beautiful, colorful, spirited service was the most meaningful experience of liturgy I have had in a long time, and I am sure my reaction was shared by the many thousands of people in attendance. By now you know that the new Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, attended Calvary Church in her teens with her family and graduated from Summit High School. And several of us from Calvary were able to get tickets to her investiture through her good graces and the determined work of our parish administrator, George Hayman. But the memorable moment for me came at the conclusion of the service when Bishop Katharine stood at the center of the nave to greet people and give her blessing.  Of course she was mobbed, mostly by her fellow bishops, who were seated close enough to be first in line.  But slowly, purposefully, my daughter Abby made her way through the sea of red vestments — me holding on to the back of her coat — until we were in front of Bishop Katharine.  “We are from Summit, New Jersey,” we said, and Abby added, “I go to Summit High School.” The family photo in my mind is of Bishop Katharine, her face markedly brightened. “Oh!” she said, and she thanked us for coming. Truly, here is another link for Calvary. 

My point is this.  It’s often easy for a parish like Calvary Church to feel self-sufficient. We’re big enough for people not to know everyone else, we’re complex enough for something always to be going on. Because of that self-sufficiency we can feel isolated from the national church, even the diocese. And the danger for any Christian church is that it might become a world unto itself. What appeals to me about the Family Photo Album 2006 is that it records concrete links to the world outside our red doors, to the wider Church of which we are apart, to our neighbors on the Gulf Coast, to God’s people on the other side of the planet.  Keeping that perspective should be a goal for any year.  But I think it’s going to receive special attention in 2007. The vestry has decided to focus on external mission for its retreat this year. We already have plans for continuing the interfaith dialogue here at Calvary, and we will be continuing to learn more about Islam.  There’s a standing invitation out to Bishop Katharine to come over to Summit for a visit. And I think we should consider another trip to Mississippi. These links remind us our congregation is something more than parish programs and Sunday worship.  

An Archbishop of Canterbury (I think it was Michael Ramsey) some years ago said, “The Church that lives to itself will die by itself.” Let me leave you with that thought. It’s a good one to begin a new year.  Happy 2007. Join in God’s work at Calvary Church.

© copyright 2006, Christopher Brdlik

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