Rocks and our Redeemer

The Rev. Nancy E. Gossling Vestry, Retreat: Church of the Redeemer

How is our Church in general, and Church of the Redeemer in particular, identified today?  Are we a faithful religious witness to the Jesus Movement? Are we a spiritual Body that reveals God’s love, which is liberating, life-giving, and visible in human flesh? That moves beyond the boundaries of our skin and our church walls? Are we living stones that proclaim with joy the good news of Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone of our Church?

The letter to the Ephesians reminds the Church that we have a purpose. We are called to equip others in the work of ministry, to build up the Body of Christ in love, until all are united. Speaking the truth in love, we can grow into the full stature of Christ, who is the head of our Body and our Church. With a diversity of gifts, we are joined together, and with each part working properly, we will promote spiritual growth in ourselves, at Redeemer, and beyond its walls. With clear identity and purpose, you will serve Christ as vestry leaders with greater balance, focus, and power.

When I left parish ministry, after serving as the rector of St. James Church in Glastonbury, Connecticut for 10 years, I felt that God was calling me to serve in new and different ways. My unexpected three year transition took me to the Cathedral Church in Dublin, Ireland for 3 months, a Spanish immersion in Barcelona, Spain for 6 weeks, and two search processes, one in South America and another in Maryland. Having finally sold our suburban home in Connecticut, my husband Paul and I purchased a condominium in East Cambridge in 2015.

We could not be happier with our personal choice; and yet initially, as a priest, I felt like an immigrant, an itinerant traveler who left home in one country and felt lost in a new land. I felt unmoored as a Christian, still identifying myself as an Episcopalian, but not anchored in any one parish. I was spiritually free but too free-floating, blown about by the winds of uncertainty and sadness. Not wanting to limit my gifts to one parish only, I claimed my identity as a missionary and evangelist. Feeling somewhat isolated, and searching for spiritual strength, comfort, and courage, I found a religious community here at Bethany House, and my spiritual life was renewed once again.

In 2016, I met with my bishop and other clergy and began to make connections. Over time, with discernment in community, I became involved with our new mission strategy in this diocese. I love our headlines which are based upon scripture passages: to embrace brave change, to reimagine our congregations, build our relationships, and engage our world. Based upon the letter to the Ephesians, we wrote: “Blessed by the manifold charism of all of our diverse members and congregations, we will strengthen the bonding ligaments between individuals, congregations and diocesan bodies. Honoring the contributions of every generation and working across differences to build each other up in love, we will share our varied gifts with one another and our world.”

In my first meditation today, I invited you to focus on your personal identity as a Christian leader, using the analogy of the Body of Christ. Now I’d like to shift that focus to your communal identity as vestry leaders of Church of the Redeemer, using rocks or stones as a symbol for your reflections. Stones, like those in St. Anne’s Chapel, hold memories, and memories speak to us. Let me begin with a memory that I bring with me today.

During the summer of 2016, when I had not yet been appointed as the co-chair of our mission strategy team or as acting dean of our Cathedral Church, I found myself with more time on my hands than I like. I am an Enneagram #3, an achiever, a high energy person who seeks meaningful work, and wants to get the job done! I am too much content and not enough process. Paul and I have a family home on the Cape to which I retreated that summer. Looking for things to do, I decided to make a small pathway around our outside shower with stones from the beach.

Every day, I would walk down to the beach with cloth bags, pick up heavy stones from the beach, and carry them back to the house. I picked them up and put them down, along with my thoughts and my prayers. It took me all summer to finish the walkway, and today, I am very proud of my efforts and the result. It is a memory of a time when I was sad and empty, as well as a time in which I was literally laying down a pathway for God. I still yearned for new opportunities to serve, and yet with tears, I realized that God cannot fill that which is already full.

As I mentioned before, I served at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland for three months as a consultant. There, I found the Celtic Way of spirituality to be alive, not only in the people but also in their land. In a book called Sacred Spaces, Margaret Silf, describes us as islands of disconnection which are created by our desire for self-sufficiency. And yet, as Thomas Merton once said, “No man is an island unto itself.” Rather, Margaret Silf writes that underneath all of our islands is a bedrock that connects us all, where all creation is held in unity, and reminds us that there is something and someone greater than us all. As a Christian, that bedrock for me is Jesus, and all else is shifting sand. As a member of the human race, that bedrock reminds me that I am a beloved child of God, on a pathway to new life.

You know how stones can be used for good things as well as harm, right? A woman caught in adultery was going to be stoned until Jesus intervened. In some parts of our world, women are killed today with this very same method. Jesus also intervened when the demoniac was hurting himself with stones, and on his way into Jerusalem, Jesus accused the people of stoning the prophets. How we use our stones today is important. In the letter of 1st Peter, the author invites us to come to Jesus as “living stones, and let ourselves be built into a spiritual house acceptable to God.”

Stones can speak to us in various ways. As Jesus marched triumphantly into the city on the back of a donkey, the people’s cries of Hosanna could not be stopped. For as Jesus said, even the very stones would cry out with joy and hope. In the letter to the Ephesians, the author reminds us that the Church is built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Margaret Silf devotes a chapter of her book to The High Cross, the Touchstones of Eternity. She writes, “in Celtic times the standing stones and high crosses were the village’s library, its pulpit and its art gallery, just as they were the sentinels of the high places, watching over the community, focusing the people’s gaze always to something beyond themselves.”

She reminds us of listening stones, in which we return to God in silence in order to reorient our lives. She mentions the stones of scripture: the silent witness of stones that remind us of our lost ways and future hopes. Stones used as pillows for dreams, struggles with God, and knowledge of God’s presence. Touchstones remind us of sacred moments and sacred spaces; weeping stones allow us to grieve our losses, and singing stones help us to reclaim our joy and our hope. Above all, Margaret Silf connects the stones of the high crosses to the call and vision of every community - to be its library, it’s pulpit, and its art. The stones of the high cross point us to God and the call to serve beyond our stone walls.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul reminds the Church about our purpose as a community. He writes, “The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s building. Each builder must choose with care how to build on that foundation which is Jesus Christ. Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?  For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”

Perhaps you know the story of The Stone Soup. In it, a traveler passes through a village with no food or shelter. When he asks villagers for something to eat, they decline for various reasons. And so, the traveler goes to a river, takes a large stone, and begins to cook it in a large pot. When villagers pass by and ask him what he is doing, he tells them that he is making stone soup, and how much better it would taste if it had a potato, or some meat, or a vegetable. Soon enough, villagers were bringing one thing or another, and then together they all enjoyed a very different kind of stone soup.

You have a variety of gifts to offer, not only to Church of the Redeemer, but also beyond your stone walls. I’m curious, what does your neighbor think about you, and what is God up to in your neighborhood? At our diocesan convention last year, our mission strategy team recommended 3 action items. Today I mention two:  #1: to launch an indaba type process next year throughout our diocese, connecting us with other parishes and action item #2 is a way of mapping the gifts that our communities have to offer. I encourage you to consider and explore these opportunities, if you have not done so already, before this year’s convention in November, and I have provided some information for you to take with you.

There is a bike trail on Cape Cod that I often use for prayer and exercise. On it, I found a box with stones in it, each painted with a word or a phrase, and a sign inviting us to pick one up or drop one off. I took one that said, “Pray for Peace.” Today, I invite you to reflect in two small groups upon the gifts that Church of the Redeemer has to offer beyond its walls. As living stones, remember, that you are a building dedicated to God, with a variety of gifts and the Holy Spirit, who can point to Jesus, the chief cornerstone of Christ’s Church, and the bedrock of our faith. Remember that Jesus is our Redeemer, who offered himself with sacrificial acts of kindness, whose feet pounded the stone pavements for justice, and whose voice cried out in the wilderness and upon the cross for our sakes. Remember that God is Love and Love has a Body and a Building, and both of these are you.