It is good to be with you today at St. Michael’s as we celebrate the 136th anniversary of this parish. We give thanks for all who have gone before us and celebrate all who are with us today as we look to the future. For anniversaries are not just about looking back but looking forward; recognizing that God is calling us to faith even in a world such as ours today. God is active and inviting and stirring in our midst. And for that we give thanks.
I am grateful to Padi Wilmer for all of his work here at St. Michael’s and in the Diocese as a whole. I am grateful to your property development team for all the work that they have been doing related to the possibilities for developing the property. I am grateful to the parish as a whole for the way you live into the gospel of Christ in caring for your neighbours offering compassion when often today that is hard to find. Thank you to all of you.
As I thought about this celebration today, I was reminded of the time about three years ago, visiting our partner diocese of Northern Philippines. Father Wilmer was there at the same time, as it was on the occasion of the consecration or ordination of their Bishop, Benny Lang-akan. And that was a celebration, let me tell you.
At the service, we were overwhelmed by generosity during the offering made prior to the celebration of the eucharist. Where in Canada we might expect an offering plate and perhaps a basket of food. There, it was an enormous procession of boxes and bags and sheaves of rice, coffee, limes, squash, bananas, tomatoes, flowers, piled high and deep in front of the altar. The procession took about 15 minutes as so many people were involved offering what they could as a sign of thanksgiving, gratitude, faith, and hope in God’s love. It was inspiring and deeply moving to encounter. People giving not out of scarcity but abundance. A faith in God that revealed God’s goodness and generosity in our lives. It shaped our entire time in the Philippines.
You see, Jesus told a parable today that might just get us all thinking about what it means to truly give thanks to God for all that we are and all that we have. He told a tale that causes us to think about what is most important and how we are called to live out the love of God with all that we have and not simply with what we think that we can spare.
Jesus told this parable about a rich man who had everything that he could ever possibly need. He had finely tailored purple clothes, he ate chef-inspired meals every day, he had more money than he knew what to do with, he bragged to his friends about all that he was able to purchase with his spare change let alone his greatest investments. He was pretty sure he had it made. And most people around him agreed. At least they didn’t want to argue with him in case they lost favour in his sight. Sometimes it is hard to speak truth to fantasy.
Except for this poor man who also lived in the same neighbourhood. The poor one, Lazarus was his name, nightly slept at the gate of the rich man. He used to dream of just having one opportunity to eat from the table of the wealthy one, to find a place to ease his sores, to try out, even for a little while, what comfort might feel like.
As luck would have it they both died on the same day in Jesus’ parable. But they discovered that there was a great chasm in the life beyond death and that the rich man was no longer in favour but the poor man was.
Now in a nutshell that was the parable. It is not, as is sometimes interpreted, it is not a parable about what happens in the life after death. It is not a story about that. It is a story about here and now. It is about what we see as important in this life. It is about loving our neighbour no matter who they are. It is about recognizing that all are made in the image of God. It is about coming to a realization of what it means to be rich. It is about awakening.
You see this Jesus that we follow has a way of getting under our skin and flipping the world upside down. Notice that in the parable the rich man is not named but the poor man is named Lazarus. In this world it is the rich and famous whose names we remember, not the homeless ones on the corner, think about that Jesus was saying. Notice that in the parable, the rich man thought he had it made and suddenly discovered that he had been investing in all the wrong things in this world… think about that Jesus was saying. Notice that the rich man wanted his five brothers to know about what is most important in life but Jesus reminded him that people do not pay attention to the words of prophets but only when they come face to face with their true selves do they discover God calling them to something else. Only when there is a realization that at the heart of life is not a long list of possessions but a long list of relationships and the love and grace of God. This is where we need to invest. Think about that Jesus was saying.
As I said, this Jesus we follow has a way of disturbing our comfort to turn our attention to God’s justice and God’s peace.
The world of our times seems to have lost this plot as well. We are chasing after things that pull us further from God and further from relationships with others. We seem to encourage the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. We seem to never have enough, we can only see what we are lacking. And our world is paying a price for this. Trade tariffs, immigration policies that terrorize, wars, famine, destruction of this planet, racism, fear of reconciliation with Indigenous People, housing costs that shut most people out and so much more are part of creating a world that shuts out the poor… and the number of poor seems to be growing by the minute. In this country, food banks were brought in as an emergency measure in 1981. Now they feed, and this church knows all about this, now food banks have about two million visits each year, a 90% increase from 2019. Two million Lazaruses seek food each year. Think about that Jesus would probably say.
Jesus’ parable reminded us, whether we wanted to hear it or not, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things.” Makes us think doesn’t it. We have received good things, we have received from God’s hands… and are not called to hoard it away but to offer to those in need. This Jesus we follow makes us think about what it means to follow the way of the cross. This anniversary Sunday is a great day to consider this.
This morning Clarence is being confirmed. Confirmation is about following up on what took place at our baptism. It is confirming, affirming, that baptism was but the beginning of our calling in Christ, and there are many steps along the pathway that he leads us. Confirmation is about recognizing that we are being called by Christ to be different in this world. To live out our baptismal commitments as to what is most important in this world. To be shaped by Jesus’ words to us. To be formed by how we respect the dignity of every human being and strive to safeguard the integrity of God’s creation. Our faith calls us to look at life differently, to look at the Lazaruses differently, to look at what we possess differently, to seek and serve Christ in all persons. It is a lot to ask. Clarence you are confirming this in your life, and we join you in making our own confirmation of our hope in God.
In a little while, as people have been doing for 135 years, we will taste a small amount of bread and wine but it will change us. It will invite us. It will call us to be the body of Christ in the world. It will feed us on our journey of discovering where Christ is calling us to follow.
Today we are remembering the 136th Anniversary of this parish of St. Michael’s. That is an amazing achievement. As we look back we think on the first parishioners and their faith to build a church and trust in the guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead and direct from there. And the Holy Spirit has done exactly that. And today we pray that the same Holy Spirit will continue to lead and direct us to trust in that same calling. A calling to live out the gospel here and well into the future, recognizing the Lazaruses in our midst, recognizing Christ in our midst, recognizing that we are called to live with a gratitude for all that God has done for us over 136 years and counting. A gratitude that shapes how we live each day and each moment.