In my last go-round as senior warden, I got the fun job. God had brought through our doors a larger-than-life prophet from South Africa named Jannie Swart, who partnered with us in a year-long experiment in congregational discernment. We got together in small groups to dream big and get a little whimsical with LEGOs, picture books, and heavenly menus as we tried to imagine the future God was bringing forth at St. Matthew’s. As we worked together in those sessions, the ideas that emerged were far more amazing than any ideas we could have come up with on our own. Jannie taught me to trust that the Holy Spirit is at work in the spaces between us. I learned that discernment is a communal endeavor; not one of us alone can see the future God is bringing forth. We can only see it together.
I learned that lesson all over again when the Hospitality Vision Team met in October to discuss our recommendation to the Vestry. We had just received the project cost estimates, and I think every one of us went into that meeting still reeling from sticker shock. We had worked together for eight months and an exciting vision had taken shape, but the numbers were daunting. It was hard to imagine going to the congregation with such an expensive project. But as we met in the library to wrestle with the numbers, we prayed and began to share stories from the last capital campaign, and suddenly a new sense of hope and excitement began to emerge. We didn’t even have the bottle of scotch that was allegedly instrumental in hatching the idea for the 1997 addition, but the Holy Spirit was at work in that room – a room that we have because our leaders were God-inspired and unafraid to dream big.
Discernment is communal, but it’s also finite: even together, we can see into God’s future only a little way. When we built the 1997 addition, we discerned God’s call to make an art gallery in the parish hall. We didn’t know that in 20 years that gallery would host an exhibition of photos bearing powerful witness to the stories of refugees who have fled violence and oppression. Could we have envisioned then that the exhibit would take place in a political climate where refugees are denigrated by leaders at our highest levels of government, an America where so many would greet refugees and immigrants with contempt rather than compassion? The photo exhibit and the poignant community conversation we hosted were a prophetic rebuke to the callous and cynical politics of our age. We were ready for that moment because 20 years ago God opened our imaginations and we responded with trust and courage.
Even though it was a leap of faith, we asked tough questions of ourselves back then, just as we have asked tough questions about our current hopes for the lift, kitchen, and parish hall. The two-year process of congregational discernment Judy Johnson summarized in her January 11 Tidings article began with some essential questions about how our building both helps and hinders our ministries as we strive to follow the Way of Jesus. When our hospitality practices, and especially our kitchen, emerged as the leading area of excitement, the HVT was formed to ask deeper questions: what does hospitality look like in 10-20 years? How do we serve the stranger in our midst? The current plan emerged in answer to those questions. But as a church that has come to understand more and more deeply that we exist for the sake of God’s world, there’s another tough question to consider: who is this for?
I’m going to be honest. It’s for us.
But maybe not in the way that you think.
It’s for us, because funding it will stretch us and reshape us in the image of our generous God. Giving more than we think we can fosters trust in God and builds capacity in us to give back with joy, to dream bigger and bolder, to see past our limitations and glimpse God’s expansive vision for us and for the world. Giving faithfully frees our imaginations to see avenues for deeper change.
It’s for us, because in God’s kingdom there is no “us” and “them.” There is only us, in all our diversity. The building is a place where God gathers us from all walks of life to heal divisions, build relationships, deepen our understanding, and grow in practices that help reveal God’s love to all.
That doesn’t mean we hunker down in our building and wait for people to come through our doors to join us. Every single day, the people of St. Matthew’s go out on God’s mission to the places where we work, volunteer, learn, play, and shop. The building is not the mission, but it’s the place where we are equipped to carry out the mission through worship, study, and companionship, where we encourage one another over a cup of coffee, where we have our perspectives challenged and re-shaped by talking with someone whose experiences are utterly different from our own.
The building is not the mission, but it’s a place where the mission unfolds and enlarges in unexpected ways. A week after Beatrice Garubanda’s untimely death, heartbreak turned to hope when a standing-room-only crowd gathered at St. Matthew’s and determined to carry forward Beatrice’s dreams for the Blue House in Uganda. Since then, hundreds of people have come through our doors in support of the Blue House ministry, as shoppers, planners, and donors. I wonder how many of them have looked around and noticed that there’s something extraordinary going on here. Over the years, how many people from all walks of life have entered our doors, through our ministries or for community events, workshops, funerals, and celebrations? How have they witnessed God’s love at St. Matthew’s, and how will they experience it in the future? The building is not the mission, but it’s an essential part of the mission, a place where all can experience a foretaste of God’s eternal kingdom.
This Sunday, you’ll find a display in the parish hall, where I invite you to share memorable moments that have taken place in our building, and then imagine ways the building – especially the kitchen, lift, and parish hall -- might expand our practice of God’s hospitality in the future. What will our world look like in 20 years? What capacities are we building now so that we will continue to be a sign and foretaste of God’s kingdom in the future? Dream big.
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