DELIVERED BY THE REVEREND HAROLD T.
LEWIS, Ph.D., D.D., D.C.L.
AT THE ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-FIRST ANNUAL
MEETING
OF CALVARY EPISCOPAL CHURCH, PITTSBURGH,
PENNSYLVANIA
ON THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
21 MAY 2006
"When Barnabas came and saw the grace of God,
he rejoiced, and exhorted them all to remain faithful to the
Lord with steadfast devotion." (Acts 11:23)
If I asked you to name ten personages in the New Testament, chances
are Barnabas would not be one of them. Barnabas comes across
more like a sidekick. He is to Paul as Tonto was to the Lone
Ranger, or Robin was to Batman. But if we read the Book of Acts,
we see that Barnabas was a central figure in the early church.
It was he, after all, who convinced the apostles that Paul (a.k.a.
Saul of Tarsus who had persecuted the church) was legit [Acts
9:27]. Barnabas, in presenting Paul's credentials, might well
have coined the phrase, "There's nothing like a convert."
Barnabas' real name was Joseph, but the disciples gave him the
nickname Barnabas, which means "son of encouragement."
We can see why. With all due respects to Saint Michael, I would
like to adopt Barnabas as our patron "pro-tem" as we
embark on the 152nd year of the life of this great parish. For
I believe that Calvary Church has been called at this time to
give encouragement to the whole church. Let me hasten to add,
however, that this is not so much a presumptuous claim (which
I am certainly not incapable of making!) as it is a report of
the fact that as I go about the church, people repeatedly thank
us for the witness we are making. The Dean of Virginia Theological
Seminary, for example, described Calvary as "one of the
great parish Churches in our denomination, and one whose prophetic
witness and ministry is a beacon of light and hope to many in
these difficult times of conflict within our Church."
How do we exercise a ministry of encouragement, and how can we
continue to do so? First, like Barnabas, we must continue to
welcome all in the Name of Christ, and "all" means,
to use a Prayer Book phrase, "all sorts and conditions"
of men and women --- those who are steeped in the faith and those
who are struggling to believe, those blessed with an abundance
of this world's goods as well as those who are just making it.
We welcome people regardless of what they look like, what their
zip code is, what their political affiliation is, and whether
men or women are the object of their affection. As I listened
to the members of our inquirers, class --- former Roman Catholics,
Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians (and even a few random Episcopalians)
from a variety of backgrounds, one thing became abundantly clear.
They chose Calvary because they feel welcome here. Clearly we
are doing something right! Barnabas, you see, was asked to help
the Gentiles in Antioch (and I remind you that the Greek word
for Gentiles is ethnoi, which, as my Greek professor would say,
comes from our word "ethnic") because he already had
a reputation for caring for the underdog, something we do well
at Calvary precisely because we know what it means to be the
underdog.
Second, we must be willing to leave our comfort zones for the
sake of the Gospel. Barnabas was willing to leave the walled,
protected, familiar and holy city of Jerusalem, where he was
among his own people, and give that up for the bustling, multiethnic
city of Antioch, with its red light districts and its chariot
races. And he went without delay, without giving it a second
thought. We must never yield to the temptation of believing that
we are so wonderful that everyone will beat a path to our door.
We must be willing to go out into the highways and byways, inviting
people into our fellowship. When Calvary was still a young parish,
it went about the business of founding other congregations. We
must explore ways in this century to stretch ourselves for the
sake of the Gospel.
Another manifestation of our ministry of encouragement must be
the ability to see the grace of God in an imperfect church. Barnabas
could have given a pessimistic report on Antioch. He could have
said that the Gentiles weren't converting fast enough, or that
there were still vestiges of their old religion in their worship.
He could have complained about the decadent and dissolute atmosphere
of the city. Does this sound familiar? We are constantly being
told that secular humanism is eroding the fabric of the church,
and even that certain practitioners of religion have smuggled
an alien and pagan religion into the church. But Barnabas saw
potential. Luke tells us that "he saw the grace of God and
rejoiced," and then encouraged the Antiochians to persevere
in the faith. Calvary's mission, in part, is to see the church's
glass as half full, to encourage the saints in their pilgrimage,
to preach that revelation is an ongoing process, to declare that
the Holy Spirit is constantly leading the church into all truth.
From time to time, we run into people who asked if we are saved.
What they often mean by that query is whether there was a particular
moment, say 12:32 p.m. on a given Thursday, when our conversion
took place. Here is the rector's suggestion about how to answer
such a question. Tell the inquirer that unlike Saul of Tarsus,
we did not have a Damascus Road experience. Tell him that we
are a work in progress, and that God isn't quite finished with
us yet!
Finally, like Barnabas, we must show encouragement by exercising
good stewardship. The very first time we meet Barnabas in the
Bible [Acts 4:36-37] he has sold a piece of land, and as soon
as he was paid for it, we are told, he brought the money and
laid it at the disciples, feet. In today's lesson, we read that
when a great famine arose, the disciples decided that each of
them, according to their ability, would send relief to Judea.
So they took up an offering and entrusted it to Barnabas and
Saul. We can be very proud of ourselves. Stewardship is at an
all-time high. And the congregation is especially to be commended
for digging deeper into their pockets to "close the gap"
in order to eliminate the possibility of a budget deficit. But
all of us must still ask ourselves if, like the disciples, we
are giving "according to our ability."
In the last century and a half, Calvary Church has distinguished
herself in many ways. Our annals are replete with stories of
community outreach in the second half of the nineteenth century.
More recently, this parish has been an advocate for women in
the ordained ministry, and has also struck a blow for the ministry
of laypeople. Calvary has exercised a ministry to people living
with AIDS at a time when the disease was considered, even in
church circles, to be a scourge! The parish has fought discrimination
against racial minorities and homosexual persons. But our current
challenge is the greatest we have faced --- to preserve the integrity
of the Episcopal Church, to resist a narrow view of orthodoxy
that reduces the church's membership to a handful of people who
believe they have a corner on the market of salvation. Our task
is to help ensure that the church, as one Anglican divine described
it, remains "an inn where all are received joyously rather
than a cottage where some few friends of the family are
to be received."
It is our hope that in the months ahead, through the intercession
of blessed Barnabas, blessed Michael and all the saints, we may
be equal to the task.
Let us pray:
Forward! Be our watchword, steps and voices joined;
Seek the things before us, not a look behind;
Burns the fiery pillar, at our army's head,
Who shall dream of shrinking, by our Captain led?
Forward, through the desert, through the toil and fight;
Jordan flows before us; Zion beams with light. [The Hymnal 1940,
561]
AMEN.