Rector's Study July 2009

From the Rector’s Study ~

Do you ever think about the ‘service area’ of ECR? Do you ever suppose that ECR serves certain areas, certain peoples, but not others. I doubt it.

“Across traditions, the ultimate focus is God – often represented as God’ sovereignty and God’s glory – as this extends to include the well-being of all life.” So notes theologian and author Paula M. Cooey in her book Willing the Good: Jesus, Dissent, and Desire. She continues, “Christians are called to love God and to love their neighbors as themselves. Nevertheless, conversion [to Christ and Christianity] focuses the energy on the making of the Christian subject or agent. This sustained, often all-consuming, focus…makes it all too easy to lose sight once again of the radical orientation to others of the Christian life and ethics.” Cooey reminds the reader that, “This focus on the other, apprehended in Jesus’ identification as the other in need, should collect and sustain the desire to will the good for all creation. Making people pure through the forgiveness of sins, and holy through their subsequent actions, is in this respect a by-product , a means, to a further end, and at best a secondary concern.” Her point is that, “When concern for one’s purity and holiness becomes the central force driving human life and action,…it subordinates God’s will for the good of all,…to the desires of one’s ego. This subordination,” she suggest, “constitutes a form of religious or spiritual narcissism.”


I’m a firm believer that actions are more accurate than are words in describing a people’s values. I believe that we here at ECR demonstrate two great concerns that are equally primary to this community as a whole. Both our actions and our words demonstrate that our community is focused upon loving God and loving neighbor as we love ourselves.

Our focus is our greatest spiritual gift. It is what marks ECR as the special community that it is. Recently, a father and his daughter came to the Church Office looking for assistance. His daughter’s husband, serving in the military, is not able to be with his wife. Yet, his wife is about to have their first baby; so the father was hoping that they might find some help in meeting their bills. While we spoke, he received a return call on his cell phone. It was from another church, relatively nearby to us, a fellow Episcopal Church congregation. The person there informed the father that, after reviewing his written application for assistance, the people who decide such things determined that he was “outside the zip code area” that they serve. I confess that I laughed out loud as I overheard the conversation. The father had to ask the person to repeat it to make sure he understood correctly.

‘Outside the zip code area that they serve!’ How is that for an example of a business model of church life? I could only wonder to myself how many people in need of urgent assistance were coming to this church from the upper middle-class suburban zip code areas that surround it. Putting aside my embarrassment at this stereotypically Episcopalian response, I assured the father and his daughter that I would help as I was able. Thanks to all of you for your donations to my Rector’s Discretionary Fund, I was able to provide some assistance. What I could give monetarily to this man and his daughter in the name of the Church and in Jesus’ name was meaningful and helpful. What helped even more, though, was being able to offer them our desire to help, our will here at ECR, and God’s will, to help.

I wonder sometimes if you of ECR know how truly unique and wonderful you are as a church community. I want you to know that I am not concerned with your holiness and purity, because I believe that God is not concerned. And the fact that we are not overly concerned comes across to the people around us. Visitors guest, new members, and friends all experience a real desire amongst us to know them as they are, to meet them and celebrate them as they are; We can offer them this blessed experience because our community has no distracting narcissistic concern with itself.

The truth of God really does set us free. You and I are liberated by the knowledge and faith that God accepts and loves us already. This makes us able all the more to accept and love one another, and better able to offer love and acceptance to all those ‘others’ around us. Holy people? Sure we are; because of Jesus, because of what God gave to us and gives to us in Christ. Pure people? Sure we are; we purely people; well-intentioned, trying to do what’s right and good, making mistakes, and trying again. And we are Resurrection people, with eyes and hearts lifted to God, hearts and hands reaching out to one another and to those around us.

Be proud to share what our actions tell of our driving concerns here at ECR. Be proud that our traditions match our words, which match our deeds. Be proud to celebrate the blessing of all that do and all that we are. Be proud and thankful that our ultimate focus really is in on God, ‘up there,’ within, and ‘out there.’ Be humbly proud that here at ECR the dimensions of the areas of our service are determined not be zip code, but by the magnitude and magnificence of God’s generosity and love for all.

God’s Peace.
Jim +