Sermon for August 17, 2008

A few weeks ago we began to put an announcement in the weekly bulletin that goes like this: if you visit another church while away from St. Clair and would like to bring back that church's bulletin to St. Paul's, I will hang it on the parish bulletin board. Please put your name on it and give it to Barb XXXXXX or you may put it in my box in the church office. It has been interesting that over the last couple of years more than a few people have been bringing back bulletins from other churches that they have visited and when they have seen me they have made it a point of giving me the bulletins and then speaking about the church that they have visited, they have spoken about what it is that they have liked and how they felt. The suggestion has been made that the reason people bring the bulletins back with them is to actually prove that they went to church on the Sunday when they were away! Visiting other churches and speaking about what it was like to worship in another church no matter whether it was Episcopal, Methodist, Congregationalist or Baptist or non-denominational is what many like to do now. I heard a story this past week of a person who was a visitor in a particular church and as the story was recounted to me, from the time of walking in the church until the time of leaving not a soul said a word of welcome, hello, glad that you are here, or hope to see you next Sunday. We have all heard the stories of the past where the visitor has gone in to the church alone or with family and as they made their way up the aisle and found a vacant pew they have been told that it might not be the best place to sit because another person usually sits in that place. I think that when people begin to speak about what it is that they appreciate, what they are looking for in a church, what does not seem to come up in that conversation as much as it used to come up is the question of what I call denominational loyalty or geographical loyalty. Saying a bit more about that, when people begin to speak about what they are looking for in a church, it is not always important that the church they are looking for be of the same denomination that they grew up in and are familiar with or that it be the same church that is closest to where they live. This morning I am going to speak about the heart.

Firstly this morning I think that what most people are searching for in church life is a church where for lack of better words, their heart is in the right place. In the Gospel for this Sunday, Matthew tells the story about Jesus calling people towards him and then he said to them that it isn't what goes into a person's body or what they eat that defiles them or makes them unclean, but rather it's what comes out of their mouth. Now you can imagine that when Jesus said that it would not have set too well with the religious authorities and those who had been strict in following the law because he was challenging the dietary laws. Jesus then went on to say this to those who were listening to him, "but what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles..." Just over two years ago I had a phone call that was not out of the ordinary. The phone call was to ask if I would be willing to do a wedding and I was given a particular date. The call was from a non-parishioner. I asked my usual question of whether they were looking just for a church to get married in or a church to get married in and perhaps make that church their church home. The person on the other end said to me, 'look, to be honest with you we live a good distance from St. Clair and we are just looking for a church to get married in'. I then said to the person that long gone are the days of geographical and denominational loyalty. The next words were to ask if that person could meet with me, to which I said yes...and the wedding happened and that bride and groom are part of our church family here at St. Paul's. When asked why they come here as they are able, what makes it possible, it comes I believe to heart. It is not just what we believe as Episcopalians or as the people of St. Paul's or what we don't believe...that is not the deal breaker. What the deal breaker is for that couple is heart. If Jesus was to speak to us this morning in a similar way to how he spoke to that crowd that day, I wonder if instead of saying that it isn't what goes into the mouth that defiles but rather what comes out...I wonder if he might say that it isn't in being faithful in celebrating the Eucharist every week that is going to make us right with God and effective witnesses in the world and in the place where we are, and it isn't about having the right liturgy and correct positions on important issues...alone...but rather it is about where our heart is. He might say that it is the heart that in the end will tell the true story. I would like for us to think about a question this morning in regards to our church and when I say church I am not referring to the bricks and mortar and buildings. What do you suppose is being said right now about the heart that we have?