October 7, 2007 The Rev. James Lee Winter To my new family here at Resurrection. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am grateful to God for bringing us together. I tell you the same thing in saying “Hello!” that I told my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ at Trinity two weeks ago saying “Good-bye!” Nobody could be more surprised than I am. I was happy doing the work I had been called to do in New Orleans albeit often tired and frustrated - as anyone working on the coast can attest. And yet, when I met with your representatives, I had a clear sense almost immediately that God was calling me to join you. I just had to discuss with God for a couple of weeks whether that was true. Now, there are friends and family members who will spread the vicious rumor that I am just a little hard-headed. And I will admit, in telling my spiritual journey that it will sound like God has to work hard to get my attention and get me to accept what I am being told, but I’m sure it’s not stubborn-ness. Once having said “Yes!” though, I know this is right and good. I am completely blown away and humbled by the kindnesses of my previous family in saying “Good-bye” as I am by your graciousness in welcoming me. I can only describe it as moving from joy to joy. Having been one of the pastors to a Vestry and two search committees in the last three years, I do want to hold up to you the hard work and faith journey your own Vestry and Search committee have taken. They are a wonderful group. Thank you all for inviting me to become a part of this parish family. It’s impossible for me to tell you all the things you may want to know about me and my vision of the Church on this first Sunday with you. One thing will be clear shortly - I don’t do long, winding sermons. Well, I try not to - they may wander but they are rarely long. We can say a thing or two about beginnings. The first is that expectations are terribly important. What you think I ought to be and do will have a lot to do with how you will see me over the next few years. What I expect of you as a congregation will affect my experience of being your priest. So, I will spend some time in the next months getting to know you and asking about your expectations and vision before I do anything else. We will together - with God’s help - discern God’s directions and goals for us. Last Thursday was St Francis’ Day and we will observe that with a blessing of the animals this afternoon. There are some wonderful prayers and practices that have grown up around Francis but the call that he heard from God from the beginning was “Rebuild my Church.” He initially took that very literally and began refurbishing the physical church building. Sometimes that is needed. However, there is another dimension to that which is an ongoing task. We pray in our baptism that we be given “...an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works.” Becoming a new creation in Christ is a lifelong task as well as a life changing event. Most people can see the need for that in a troubled parish but a joyful and strong parish like this one is exactly the wellspring through which that “rebuilding” spirit can work wonders. Every day, we are given opportunities to live our faith. Some may be large and important decisions. Most, probably are more like mustard seeds. Those were the smallest things known that could be seen with the naked eye in Jesus’ time. And yet, the promise of faith is that even the smallest things, offered to God as lived faith can be the opening for wonders. Desmond Tutu tells the story of one of the most formative events in his early faith journey. In the apartheid bound South Africa of his youth, one day he saw a white man tipped his hat to a black woman. The white man was an episcopal bishop and the black woman was his mother. Such a small thing, seemingly... My prayer is that we grow as disciples, that we go about planting those mustard seeds of lived faith and trusting God to make something of it. Basically, that is our call. Together, we can build up the body of Christ in this place and time. God will rebuild us.