Come, Holy Spirit, come.
Come as the fire and burn, come as the wind and cleanse, convict, convert, consecrate
our hearts for our greater good and your greater glory.
Amen.
Well, good morning, and just in case there might be some wonder, I am Bishop Brian Thaum,
the 13th Bishop of the Diocese of Idaho, serving from 2008 to 2022.
And I was 17 years at Church of the Ascension in Twin Falls.
So the role today, as the deacon was telling you, is to provide supply for the rector who's
on vacation.
And my task is to try to interpret the readings in my own way and to make you really miss
your rector.
So I'm going to try my best at that, and we'll see how it goes through the rest of
the service.
I'm particularly committed to letting the deacon do parts that he normally does instead
of barreling through them, if I remember, like I did at the early service.
So it's my pleasure to be in this space with you.
Ardell and I have found a parish home with you in my first and second retirement.
So it's a delightful thing for us to be able to be with you and for me now to have a chance
at an altar.
The deacon reminded you, as the rector always does when he takes this space, or at the beginning
actually, that St. Stephen's is a place where we're attempting to know Christ and to make
Christ known.
And that is exactly what's happening in all the readings today, particularly in the gospel
session from Matthew.
Let me help you with a little bit of church business, if you will.
Now that all the major events have been accomplished from Christmas, the Incarnation, through crucifixion
and resurrection and Pentecost, all those things that are kind of crammed together in
the first five or six months of the calendar year, we now enter what our Roman Catholic
brothers and sisters call ordinary time.
For all these Sundays after Pentecost, there's going to be 26 of them before we get to First
Advent, which I think is going to be the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
So for the next 26 weeks, you're going to have to move your way through the gospel of
Matthew.
We'll spend some time finishing the story of Abraham and Sarah, but it'll be Matthew,
Matthew, Matthew, Matthew, Matthew, Matthew, Matthew.
The church gives us this blessing because, yes, we've paid attention through the intensive
part, but in its wisdom, it now gives us, through the long, ordinary season, a chance
to engage the three synoptic gospels in a fuller way.
So in year A, which we're in, we get Matthew, next year it'll be Mark, and the third year
for C it'll be Luke, and so we get to spend this time now just getting reacquainted with
these stories that help us understand who Christ is and might help us move into that
space where we can help make Christ known to others.
You've heard some of these stories before.
I checked at the early service.
Who's been an Episcopalian the longest?
How long?
Give me a number.
How many?
73.
76.
79.
59.
81.
Okay.
There was a sister here with 86 at the 8 o'clock service.
She began as an Anglican, but we'll take that.
No, my point is, so you take those big numbers and divide by three, and that's how many times
you've heard this reading.
And sometimes the readings, oh yes, this is the story about Matthew, this is the story
about the woman, or this is the story about the child, and then you pick up the bulletin
or you sit back and do something.
The point is, you may be familiar with the story or you may not, but the bidding is still
the same.
How is the Spirit going to reveal who Christ is to you through the stories?
Or how will you help others do the same?
Indeed, everything we do on a Sunday morning in a Episcopal church is about creating an
environment where we can come to know Christ in a deeper way.
From the moment you begin worship, which is when?
When you wake up, when you walk out the door.
How many of you set out your outfit last night before you went to bed?
Remember those days?
Oh yeah, thank you.
Go raise your hand.
People.
Right?
I can remember my mother setting stuff out to make sure I'd put it on in the morning.
However, we're people of the Incarnation.
Our worship, our encounter with God begins in a sense when we turn our hearts towards
that moment.
So I would say to you, and I always said to the kids, that you begin worship when you
decide to come to church.
And then everything since then can be part of your worship experience, or part of that
crucible where you're going to know Christ or make him known.
When you pull into the parking lot, you have an encounter with the parking lot.
Well, you have many things.
Either it's empty and you go, oh, or it's really full and you say, who's in my parking
space?
Or maybe you look around and, what's the condition of the parking lot?
Well, it's been picked up.
It's very nice.
That's good.
Someone's paying attention.
They want to make a good impression.
There's customers coming.
The parking lot is the first message to your customers.
This is true.
So, and then you come in here, and then there's somebody in your pew.
And then, and what's going on?
And there's flowers, and there's a new setup up here, and in this church, that funny cross
that's off-center.
I just can't figure that out.
Put your hand on your heart.
Oh.
So, you see, many people participate, and you're getting to know Christ better.
I'm kind of pushing this to the frivolous, because I really believe in the power of our
liturgy and the power of our physical space to make a difference.
Thanks be to God, I get to come and, most days, sit in the pew with my partner.
And as a retired bishop, twice, it takes me a while to get over my creative assessment
of the rector's style and grace.
But I've got to tell you, that's really a thing for retired clergy.
Because all we're thinking about is how he's holding his hand and what happens when.
And the Holy Spirit is trying to help me get over that.
To think, look past Dennis and the shenanigans that they create up here.
I was pointing at Lisa.
To look past those things that I put up as blocks.
What I'm saying is, come each time, prepare yourselves, and anticipate that something's
going to happen to help you get to know Christ better.
The Spirit's going to do something with you.
You come to that door thinking, I think this is a get-to-know-Christ-better day.
Or, it could be, well, you know, kind of okay.
Maybe this is a get-to-help-someone-else-get-to-know-Christ-better day.
And that tells you how, then, to greet someone, or to welcome them,
or to take them to coffee, or that person you think,
I should probably go say something to them about that.
To know Christ personally and to make Christ known is offered to us at every moment.
You will come these 26 weeks and hear different versions of Matthew's story
that you've heard before.
And both of us, we sit there and say, I've heard this before.
And the Spirit says, hmm.
The Spirit says, hmm.
I wonder if I can.
But you can't.
You can't.
Unless you're willing.
Keep coming back.
It works, as our friends in AA say.
Come back.
Decide when you come to the door if this is a get-to-know-Christ-better day
or a make-Christ-known-better day.
And you will.
Thanks be to God.
And amen.
Amen.