This sermon was read to the congregation by the Rev. Anne Privett. Archbishop John Stephens was unable to attend the Evensong service due to illness. You can watch the Evensong service here.
It was back in 1967 that my link with St. Philip’s first began. If you are keeping score that is 58 years ago. A good portion of the 100 years of this parish.
I don’t remember any details but my parents, my older brother and I landed at the airport in November of that year and we were quickly whisked to set up home in the rectory not more than 15 meters from where I am currently standing. Those 15 meters describe the limited separation between my years of growing up here at St. Philip’s and in the community of Dunbar for about the next twenty years or so. They were very much intertwined and interlinked.
Earlier in 1967, my father, Bill, was Rector of the parish of St. Matthew’s, Keady in County Armagh in Northern Ireland when he received a telegram. The equivalent of an email in the world of today, I suppose, but it had more urgency and often more fear. This one contained words that would change my family’s life forever. Essentially the words were, “You have been appointed Rector of St. Philip’s, Vancouver. Have a nice flight.” I exaggerate a little but not an awful lot. No application process then, no appointment process, no CV sent in the mail. Just a few words in a telegram that set all sorts of things in motion.
Suddenly we were part of a large community on the west-side of Vancouver. Suddenly we were part of a parish family that took seriously what it meant to live as a community. Suddenly we were starting a new life in a new country where we were warmly welcomed and supported. Suddenly, at a year and a half, I had a huge number of would-be grandparents eager to share their wisdom, whether it was received warmly or not.
That was a pretty central part of the life of St. Philip’s in those late 1960’s and into the 1980’s. My parents, Bill and Thelma loved being in this parish. They had a large group of people, who while being parishioners were also good friends. People like the Wests, the Browns, the Clintons, the Etchells, the Parnells, the Rushs, the Overtons, the Emards, the Wilsons, the Sexaurs, the Bernards, the Edwardsons, the Nansons, the Johnsons and the list went on and on. I am sorry if I missed any, I am sure that I did but suffice it to say there were lots on the list. The parish was a very social place with lots of pot-luck dinners, dances, parties, games nights, festivities of all kinds. It was hard to separate out the social events and the faith-life of the parish; they were completely intertwined. And my parents loved all of it. The rummage sales, the Christmas Fairs, the Bishop’s Possett after the Advent Carol Service, the parish picnics, the badminton nights, and all sorts of other things.
Life was different then from the way things are now. There seemed to be more time for things and life seemed simpler. But at the same time, not that long before we arrived there were about one thousand children in the Sunday School, we were told. But when I was a child, it was nothing like that at all, the changes were happening in society and in the church. The so-called glory days were quickly changing and that was not all a bad thing. It made us sit up and take notice of what it means to be followers of Jesus Christ.
Us Stephens kids had a great time growing up in this neighbourhood. The Murphy’s, also recent immigrants from Ireland lived next door and there were many soccer, floor hockey or football matches on a Saturday afternoon. There were more freedoms then and much more of an innocence. We each have great memories of growing up in all of this but also with the life of this parish as a central part of all that we were doing.
It was a difficult day for my parents when my father moved to become rector of St. Mary’s, Kerrisdale. This was home, this was a central part of who they were, this was a key part of their social and support networks. But it was not meant to last forever. Just as God had a plan in terms of us moving here in 1967, so God continued to lead into a new situation and new possibilities. As always, the Holy Spirit brought wisdom and discernment.
The Gospel reading for today was the calling of St. Philip and St. Nathanael. With two simple words to Philip, Jesus invited him to live more deeply into what it meant to be a person of hope and faith in the words of life. Two simple words of, “Follow me,” invited Philip to live into the gospel and discover more about the grace and love of God. Follow me… the only words that were needed it seems for Philip to set out and set off. And Philip quickly went to find Nathanael and offered him three words in a similar sort of fashion. Philip said to him, “Come and see.” And indeed Nathanael did.
And ever since then, people of faith have heard those words and responded in ways that have seen their lives linked to the kingdom of God that Jesus promised. They have discovered that God was calling them to explore the meaning of life in its fullest extent. The simple words of “Follow me” and “Come and see” have been heard countless times in every corner of this world. My father heard those words as they invited him into ordained ministry and to come to this parish and to move on into other ministries.
A number of years later I too heard those words. I was invited to come to this parish as the rector as well. A lot of things had taken place since growing up and being formed here but suddenly I heard those words of “Follow me and Come and see.” Perhaps not quite as clear and obvious as it sounds in the gospel reading but the response was the same. And many of you have known this as well. Perhaps not quite as easily recognizable as in the gospel passage but you have followed and you have come to see.
When I told my parents that I was going to be going to St. Philip’s as the new Rector, they were not quite sure what to say. “I never thought in a million years that you would be the new Rector,” my father said. I was not quite sure how to take those words but I simply responded, “Neither did I.” But again a new beginning started to unfold. A time of growth and development in my own formation as a priest. My children grew up here in those fifteen years as they became young adults also shaped and formed by this place. And that time guided me toward my episcopal ministry in which I now find myself. I am not sure what my father would say about that either.
Which brings us to this evening and reflecting on one hundred years of history. Of people, clergy, lay folks, wardens, trustees, treasurers, music directors, parish administrators, Sunday School teachers, Youth Group leaders, Jones Girls members, choir members and so many others over the ten decades who heard those words of Jesus and responded as Philip did. “Follow me,” Jesus said. “Come and see,” Philip invited. And it has changed everything. Our faith in this invitation has brought us to the altar to receive bread and wine of the holy sacraments, the font that has baptized children and adults claiming their faith, there have been weddings, funerals, confessions and absolutions. There have been hymns sung, prayers offered, sermons preached, and coffee consumed. But in all of that we have not lost sight that we are called to Follow Christ and continually seek to come and see that indeed the Holy Spirit is in our midst calling us to live more deeply into the gospel of Christ.