Sermon 8/7/2022 “Heritage Days”
Preacher: Jo J. Belser
Location: St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Angelica, NY
Text: Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Day: Proper 14, Year C
Angelica, New York, clearly is proud of its history, and justifiably so. Established in 1860, a sign at the entrance to your town proclaims Angelica to be “a town where history lives.” In fact, as you know better than I, this is Heritage Days weekend, when everyone here celebrates the past.
I think it is not a coincidence, but rather a “God-incidence,” that nearby Houghton University is holding its class reunions this weekend, its own version of Heritage Days weekend. I graduated in 1977, when Angelica’s Heritage Days celebration was only a few years old and I couldn’t even imagine attending a 45-year college reunion.
In case you are wondering who I am and why I am here today, I became an Episcopalian through the love of the people in this church, which I attended with my friends along with the church in Belmont (whichever place Father Rick Hamlin was going to be that Sunday). I was here then with:
- The only Episcopalian student on campus, may he rest in peace;
- The only Roman Catholic on campus, who is now Rector of an Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania;
- And three of us with Wesleyan parents:
- One who is a partner in ministry with her United Church of Christ pastor husband;
- One who is now a Roman Catholic monk and seminary professor.
- And I am Rector of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Alexandria, Virginia, very near Virginia Theological Seminary.
I’m here today because I called your diocesan offices when I had registered for my first-ever college reunion weekend and asked where the nearest location was for Holy Eucharist. They told me, “St. Paul’s,” but only if I would volunteer to celebrate Communion here today. Thanks to Mary, your Senior Warden, here I am (on this, the last Sunday of my first sabbatical), to celebrate my heritage here with you as you celebrate yours.
Perhaps, the reason God sent me here today is to remind us that St. Paul’s has a rich heritage that goes beyond its publicly known story, all the way from its 19th century founding until this very day. For some 200 years, this has been and remains a place of transformation for all sorts of people, known and unknown. St. Paul’s has a rich, living heritage that isn’t Tiffany windows (as lovely at those windows are), but rather a town and a world filled with disciples of Christ Jesus who were transformed here through your ministry.
This is the kind of heritage that the ancient preacher tells of in today’s lesson from the Book of Hebrews. As you might recall, Hebrews is a sermon—a long sermon, by Episcopal standards—and one of the best sermons ever preached.
We don’t know who wrote and preached this sermon, but the text itself makes clear that the preacher knew Jesus’ original apostles. We also don’t know the audience of the sermon. However, the sermon expects the audience to know a LOT about Hewish history and faith, especially the Torah, the first five books of our Bible. Hence, the name given to the sermon—Hebrews—because almost certainly this would have been a Jewish congregation. And the text also makes clear that this Jewish congregation was being persecuted and many were abandoning their faith as a result. (Just like today, but without the persecution.)
So, the preacher of Hebrews challenges Jesus’ followers to remain faithful to him despite their circumstances. He does this by contrasting Jesus with key historical people and events in the Hebrew Bible. Hebrews tells us how Jesus is:
- Greater than the angels
- Greater than the Torah
- Greater that Moses
- Greater than the Promised Land
- Greater than earthly priests
- Greater than blood sacrifices
- (And, I would add) greater than epidemics AND greater than others’ disbelief.
In other words, Jesus is superior to all the other ways God had previously revealed himself to humanity.
Our reading from Hebrews today gives us a slice—one example—of the great historical luminaries of our faith that the preacher uses to contrast with Jesus. That example in today’s lesson is Abraham, the granddaddy of us all in our faith, the oldest distant human relative on the tree of the ancestry of our faith.
Now we know, like the original audience of Hebrews knew, that Abraham acted on God’s instructions in response to God’s promises. And, because we have the benefit of hindsight that Abraham did not have, we know that God fulfilled his promises to Abraham, but not on Abraham’s timetable. In practice, Abraham is as famous for his attempts to “help” God expedite delivery on his promises as he is for his obedience to God. The Book of Hebrews says this was great faith on Abraham’s part, the assurance that, despite appearances and even persecution, God will not abandon his people, that God will not abandon us.
You may recall what the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans chapter 4 verse 3 about Abraham’s faith. Paul says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” This is my favorite verse in the Bible, and believing in and acting on God’s promises without having tangible proof of God’s existence is the essence of our Christian life:
- Faith in Christ Jesus is what brings me to church on Sundays, even if church isn’t as mainstream as it used to be.
- Faith in God’s promises is what sends me into the world to do what Jesus showed and told us to do in this life, even if my judgments try to get in the way.
- Abraham’s example assures me that faith can compensate for the deficiencies in a how I might carry out God’s instructions.
In other words, we don’t have to be perfectly righteous all the time; we just have to repent and return to the Lord when we fail, trusting in Jesus to always forgive.
What does this example of Abraham and his faith have to do with us today, here in Angelica, New York, during our Heritage Days celebration? We’re not being persecuted today the way the Hebrews were, but we can see that a lot of people have abandoned church. Today’s lesson reminds us to look to the faith of our ancestors and discover there what we cannot directly see: That their faith sustained them, even when the impact of their faith wasn’t always directly visible to them.
So, our faith will sustain us, even when we cannot see the full impact of the lives we live.
- Before today, did you know that (in addition to the rest of St. Paul’s glorious heritage) you have raised up at least three ordained and two lay church leaders sent from this place via Houghton College in the late 1970s?
- Do you know that God apparently is reminding us that his church isn’t either the building OR the denominational structures we use to sustain our systems?
- Do you know that faith in Christ Jesus isn’t a creed, but the actions of our life in Christ?
Apparently, you do. Happy Heritage Days, St. Paul’s, the Church “where faith lives” in Angelica, New York. Thank you for allowing me to share our mutual heritage here today.
