St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes
Proper 9/Year B: July 7, 2024
Gospel: Mark 6:1-13
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.[1]
Five years ago, on July 7, 2019, I preached my first Sunday sermon at Wesley Chapel Episcopal Church, from this pulpit, in this sacred space, with 72 souls gathered, beginning with those poetic words from Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” The poem describes the narrator on a journey to his home. He reflects on the necessity to keep moving forward to fulfill promises before he can sleep, which may be a metaphor for death.
You know, the mission field, just beyond the four walls of the church, is like the woods described by the narrator—it can be intoxicatingly lovely, distractingly dark and terrifyingly deep. The life of a 21st century disciple, who bears the good news of God in Christ in this world, must push through the miles of this earthly life before reaching the promised eternal sleep with our Heavenly father. Sounds exhausting, doesn’t it?
And, yet, I stand here, looking at you, in this sacred space, worshiping with many of the founding pioneers and many faithful souls, those who have since become a part of this unfolding vision of God, and those who are here to support this ministry, and I am reminded of the gospel hymn, “We’ve Come this Far by Faith.”[2]
Prior to that first Mass in 2019, there had been two years of praying, planning, gathering of pioneer missioners, and equipping those lovers of Christ for the unknown terrain on the journey of church planting ahead. We trusted that we were following God’s holy leading into God’s vision, that we could not see, but surely felt. We could feel the activity of the Holy Spirit fueling us forward into a willing, wandering in the wilderness. Welcome to the lovely, dark and deep wilderness, where will still wander and wonder!
In our gospel passage in the sixth chapter of Mark, Jesus was accompanied by his disciples to his hometown of Nazareth where his wisdom astounded those he taught in the synagogue. Those people could not believe it. The little boy who grew up around them, who did ordinary carpentry work, and who came from an ordinary family, could not truly be capable of doing the deeds of power that they had heard Jesus had done. One would think that Jesus would be a hero in his own hometown, celebrated and overwhelmed with requests for more teaching, more healing of the sick and casting out demons. But, in his own hometown, Jesus was rejected.
Jesus did not try to change the minds of the unbelievers by debating with them or by performing miraculous deeds of power before their eyes. The unbelief of the hometown people, not Jesus’ unwillingness, blocked the blessings that only Jesus could give them, for he could do no deed of power there, except for healing a few sick people. That rejection, although probably hurtful, would not be an obstacle to the forward movement of his ministry for all who would receive it. Jesus pivoted his attention and kept it moving. There were others waiting to hear the Gospel.
The second part of the gospel passage, Jesus pivoted his attention to his 12 disciples so that they could be powerful extensions of his own ministry of teaching and healing. Jesus equipped the 12 with rules for how they should journey and show up in the world. Then there’s the direction about responding to rejection. Shaking the dust from one’s feet was a gesture of cursing a place, not blessing it.
Mark’s gospel does not anticipate that Christian missionaries will be bearers of curses for unreceptive towns, and this action does not emphasize God’s judgment, as the gospels according to Matthew and Luke do.[3] As Jesus prepared to send the 12 out into places that would not always welcome them and would reject the gospel message, Jesus told them, “Shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” In other words, disciples, shake it off, don’t curse the people, pivot your attention and keep it moving. There are others waiting to hear the Gospel.
I suspect for many of us, proclaiming the good news, to a world that rejects the existence of God, mocks His Son and is hostile to His Church, is a great source of anxiety. But just as rejection did not stop Jesus and his disciples from their purpose, fears of rejection, must not stop your forward movement as the gospel bearer. We are to face the rejection, and seemingly insurmountable challenges, and we are to pivot our attention and keep the gospel message moving. There are others waiting to hear the Gospel.
So here we are, five years later. A lot of life, individually and collectively, has been lived and shared right here. This community has grown from the original 12 pioneers who committed to the growth of this church as an Associated Worshiping Community, to the faith community that now exists as a mission church of the diocese. We have shared baptisms, confirmations, commissionings, bishop visitations, the dedication of this sacred space, and funerals.
The biggest challenge, to date, to the survival of this fledgling church, which was actively growing in this space for only eight months, was the global pandemic. Sunday, March 8, 2020, was the last in-person Mass held right here before the world shut down, and the church growth that seemed unstoppable—stopped. But we pivoted and kept that gospel message moving through the gift of online services. And, four months later, on June 28th, we held the first in-person service, with 20 souls safely-distanced and masked. And, we started over.
Since then, we have witnessed leaders emerge to serve in worship and in the governance and stewardship of this church. Healing and feeding ministries, as well as new worship services and opportunities for Christian formation and development of spiritual depth, which did not exist five years ago, now exist. And, we have grown as pastors for each other, offering support through sicknesses and losses. We have gained more wisdom, more compassion, more depth in relationship with God and each other through Christ, more grey hairs and more holy exhaustion. And by God’s grace, we are still here laboring on with the kingdom-building work that Jesus has given us to do.
I am inspired by the words of Bishop Justin Holcomb, Bishop of the Diocese of Central Florida, as he stressed why the church exists at all. Friends, I am convinced that we don’t plant churches for our sake or for the diocese’s sake. We plant churches because the Church, as Bishop Holcomb stressed, uniquely exists in this world to tell the story of salvation— God’s message about His Son and His Son’s gift of salvation for us.[4]
St. Paul’s exists to bring the food of the Gospel to feed the souls starving for the bread of life and panting for the living water that is Jesus Christ our Savior. If we are not focused on being a sacred place where humankind meets God, and is committed to being a place of soul transformation necessary to make Christ known, in here and out there, then we can close our doors right now.
We have work to do. By virtue of our Baptismal Covenant, we have promises to keep, and miles to go before we finally see Jesus, face-to-face, and enjoy eternal sleep with our Heavenly Father. In the meantime, we are to face rejection and seemingly insurmountable obstacles of this world, and we are to pivot our attention and keep the gospel message moving. Know this, also, St. Paul’s:
We’ve come this far by faith.
leaning on the Lord,
trusting in his holy word
he’s never failed us yet.
[And], O [we] can’t turn around,
we’ve come this far by faith.[5]
Thank you, Jesus. Amen.
[1] Frost, Robert. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. https://poets.org/poem/stopping-woods-snowy-evening. Accessed July 6, 2024.
[2] Albert A. Goodson, Lift Every Voice and Sing II, Hymn #208
[3] Perkins, Pheme. “Mark 6:6b-13, Sending Out the Disciples,” In The New Interpreter’s Bible. Vol. VIII of New Testament Articles; The Gospel of Matthew, The Gospel of Mark, page 595. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995.
[4] The Rt. Rev. Dr. Justin S. Holcomb, Bishop Diocesan Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida. 55th Annual Diocesan Convention Address. January 29, 2024.
[5] Albert A. Goodson, Lift Every Voice and Sing II, Hymn #208
