The Senior Sermon of Robert Fitch, Class of 2006 from the Diocese of Spokane, given in Christ Chapel on March 29, 2006

Isaiah Shouted, "Come out" to all who were in the darkness.

"A revolution is coming -- a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough -- but a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability," so stated JFK our Thirty-fifth President in 1962.

Today we celebrate the life and contribution of John Keble. He is best known for his sermon titled "National Apostasy". It was about the church becoming a mere institution of society rather than a prophetic voice of God. This sermon was about a nation turning away from God. The year was 1833. As Anglicans we mark this event in history because John Keble created such a spark that it ignited a revolution.

He was one of several writers for a publication titled the Tracts. Tracts was published and distributed widely to the people of England. Hence, from this publication the movement received the name, Tractarian. There were some 90 Tracts published by different authors. However the sermon, "National Apostasy" was preached at Oxford before the civil and criminal court officials at the beginning of their judicial year. Here John Keble offered a prophetic voice which sparked the Oxford movement. By whatever name you choose this was a difficult time in England's History and for the national Church of England. It marks a time of change. As all people come to understand change, be it good or not is very difficult. Change is always met with some resistance.

This time of change was marked by parliament abolishing 10 Anglican Bishoprics in Ireland. Imagine if you will, our US government deciding to abolish three provinces of ECUSA. In our country we talk about the separation of church and state. For John Keble, the Church of England was the national church and therefore joined to and governed in part by parliament.

For John Keble and perhaps for people today, the question is how does one struggle with the role of the church in our common life? Can church and state be separated? If so, then I wonder if Dioceses can be separated from ECUSA. If so, then I wonder if church and God can be separated. Are we called as the people of God to establish a religion which conforms to society or are we called to be a prophetic voice standing in opposition to society? For John Keble his choice was to be a prophetic voice. This June will present another test to our common life as Episcopalians. Let us strive to unite. Again Kennedy's words serve to remind us that a revolution is coming, "United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do -- for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder." JFK

This past Monday I participated in a funeral at my field parish. Nancy was a WWII Army nurse. As the color guard folded and presented her family with the flag my thought was simply this, "If everything belongs to God and is under God, then is it so hard for us to acknowledge that our country is also part of God's reign. There has been an on going debate questioning if the American Flag really belongs in the church. Perhaps if our country's symbol, The American Flag, were more present in our churches it would serve as a reminder that as the people of God we are called to hold our country to a different standard. We do not worship a Flag, but it is a symbol of who we, as Americans are. If we remove the American flag from the presence of our worship perhaps it becomes easier to separate God in what we do outside of church.

Our relationships with each other and with God are not always easily accessible. But God so loves us, you and me, that God sent His only son, Jesus, to live among us. Jesus shared in our joy and in our suffering. In this sharing God demonstrated to us how to find our way back into a loving relationship with God. Today's gospel is reminding us that God requires you and me and the world in which we live, to be in relationship. It is relationship that calls us into community. In John's Gospel and for us as the people of God, it is in community where we can find wholeness. God put God's face on the person of Jesus. This is the miracle of the incarnation. Yes, God came into our world with the desire to put words into language so that we could better understand God. These words were about relationships, relationship to God and relationship to each other. It is in community that God entered our world. God's reality is shaped by his love for us and creation. God's one desire is to bring us back into wholeness with creation.

Our own reality is shaped by what we love. Is it possible that today our ability to love is motivated by what we get more than what we give? Our culture makes it possible to enter into relationships with things far easier than into relationships with people. Perhaps this is true because the things we love require less from us than the people God is calling us to love? Have we come to believe that a relationship with things is simpler and more fulfilling? Today, are we more comfortable in a "Thing Relationship" because our feelings, our emotions, our time, our fears have specific boundaries? And we can set them aside when we want. Things do not require an internal self exam. No longer is there a need for relationships with others because things are simpler to love and require very little commitment and maintenance. Thing do not hold us accountable.

What is it that binds us to this world? It seems today more than ever one's reality is shaped by what one wears, what one drives and by what one owns. As biblical scholar Halford Luccock puts it: Christians who ignore the coming of Christ "have allowed the buoyancy to drop out of their religion.... (Humankind) has exchanged his august faith in God's coming action for a faith in the kind of plastic heaven that comes out of a factory.... What a trade! Heaven for earth! God for gadgets, the coming of Christ in the life of the world for the coming of a salesman's paradise!" Perhaps, instead of removing the American Flag from our church we should remove our currency. After all our currency, is not just a symbol for many, it has become their Idol. Perhaps it is this symbol that is producing a far greater tension between our worldly reality and the Kingdom of God.

I wonder if our flag were present, would we be more actively involved with the issues of immigrations and Human Rights? I wonder if our flag were present would more voices be added to the Episcopal Peace Fellowship in the call to abolish the Death Penalty here in Texas and not just Texas, but as a nation simply because it is the right thing to do, simply because it is the Christian thing to do. Instead of removing symbols that may create tensions between our world and God's Kingdom, Instead of compartmentalizing our lives perhaps we need to name and own them in community. I wonder if we did this, would we realize that each of us is accountable? And if we own it and are held by our community accountable, perhaps we stop blaming others for where we are today as a people and as a nation.

This Lenten season has been a time for inward reflection. As we are reminded during this time and season that we are but dust, let us also reflect on how God molded the dust of the earth into Jesus and blew the very breath of God into this life, simply that God might fully understand and participate in our existence. If we accept this Christian truth then let us reflect why we struggle with God? If we struggle as a community, we as the people of God may see the issues more clearly.

What is it that we are seeking? For many, it is a relationship and a community. What kind of relationship one may ask? What type of community? Today's gospel describes a relationship between the son and his father. Today we can add a daughter to her mother or a sister to sister and brother to brother and sister to brother and sister to brother. Yes it is about relationships. God's relationship to us. As relationships develop and grow, a community is formed. Community by its very nature is a move to wholeness. But for those that stand on the outside of community they suffer a loss of connectedness. They stand alone and as lonely as the vast expanse of outer space. What is it that stops us from inviting them in? Though we are drawn to community, people in community find many who are broken and bruised by sexism, racism, terrorism, and many other "ism". When we listen in community, there is a dialogue where the other is heard. Community is about the wholeness humanity. It is not about the individual or self. It is about the whole. In community we are individually and communally accountable to each other and to God. Wholeness in creation requires that we share. We each have gifts to offer. It is when we share these gifts, given and received that we find the good news. It is God's desires for each of us to offer our gifts. It is when we give of ourselves, our very own unique God given gift that the whole community benefits.

In sharing our gifts perhaps, we will better understand God's desire for us. Perhaps we'll discover all over again, or even for the first time ever, that God's desire for us is to join in a peaceful revolution. In a revolutionary act of His own, God gave the world His only Son Jesus Christ. And when we allow it, when we insist on it, this act continues in the Church to declare to the world, 'God's revolution is coming; God's revolution is here.'

May each and every one of us run with the Gospel this and every day to the Glory of God,
Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer. Amen