Sermons

Oct 7 - The Rev. Christopher McLaren - Faithful generations: that includes us

Listen to audio version of this sermon.

This past week a saint died in New Orleans.

I knew him as Fr. Bill the rector emeritus of St. George’s New Orleans. He was 96 years old the year I left New Orleans and St. George’s and I will never forget celebrating the 75th anniversary of his ordination vows. It always gave me a lift to see Fr. Bill in the congregation on Sunday mornings. Wild horses could not keep him away from worship, he came with great difficulty and often with pain.

This past Monday, The Rev. William P. Richardson, 98, rector of St George's, New Orleans, from 1953-1976, died peacefully in his sleep.

Among the gay community in the United States, Fr. Richardson is honored as a hero. I remember being in New York and mentioning to a group that I was the rector of St. George’s, New Orleans to which the immediate question was is Fr. Bill Richardson still alive? Let me tell you why. On June 24, 1973, fire broke out in a gay bar called the Upstairs Lounge, at Iberville and Chartres in the Vieux Carré (French Quarter). It was a hate crime involving a Molotov cocktail tossed at the bottom of the stairs. The patrons were trapped behind barred doors and windows of the second-story lounge. Thirty-two died in the fire, and many others were injured. Only a very few survived being led out a back exit by some of the staff.



In a tribute to Fr. Bill this last week, the retired Archdeacon Ormonde Plater wrote these words about the life and witness of Fr. Bill Richardson.

Against the orders of his bishop, Fr. Bill held a burial service at St George's for the victims, their families, and their friends. No other member of the clergy in New Orleans dared to do this.
 Bill was already out as a gay male. He was small in size, enormous in stature. Year after year, at Louisiana’s diocesan convention, Wee Willie (as he was affectionately called) introduced resolutions and spoke out in support of gays and lesbians and their full-inclusion in the life of the church. The resolutions always failed. Bill never failed.



Fr. Bill was also a strong supporter of racial integration and old-timers at St. George’s can still recount the time that Fr. Bill prevented the Vestry from barring blacks from Sunday worship.

Ormonde Plater writes,
“Rejoice in his long life of faithful service and in his peaceful departure. May we strive to follow his splendid example.”

I tell you of this story, not because I’m jonesing for a theo-political sermon, but because Fr. Bill as one of my spiritual grandfathers has been on my heart this week, his life and work instructed me, inspired me and influenced me. His story exemplifies something of the heritage of faith that our readings speak of through the letter of the Apostle Paul to his beloved co-worker Timothy.

Paul, writing from prison in Rome, is not sure if he will ever again see Timothy, his close and trusted friend and co-worker of nearly 20 years. II Timothy is best read in one sitting as if just received by courier from Rome. One can almost imagine Timothy devouring the letter from his father-in-Christ. It is a letter full of intensity and a sense of finality as well as strong human emotions and affections. Paul facing death, feeling abandoned and alone, writes “I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. Indeed the main purpose for writing this letter besides giving pastoral advice and encouragement to Timothy, the young pastor, in caring for the churches under his charge, is to request that Timothy come to him in Rome before winter. The letter is full of detail such as the instructions to Timothy to bring the heavy winter coat he left in Troas, the books and especially the parchments.

A key issue found in the letter to Timothy is the importance of transmitting the faith from generation to generation that was just starting to be a felt need in the enduring Christian communities. Timothy is a third generation Christian. In a moving and evocative way, Paul writes: “I am reminded or your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.”

Intuitively Paul knows that the basic unit of the church, of the Christian mission is the family. The quiet transmission of the life of faith from parents to children from grandparents to grandchildren is something so basic, so powerful, so important, Paul wants Timothy, a developing pastor, to take note of it. In essence, Paul is saying remember your roots, you have a great lineage of faith to draw strength from, you have fine examples of faith in your family, you are not called as a pastor for nothing, influence people around you for good.

Just this past week I spoke with a parishioner who is preparing to be baptized and I was not surprised to hear him speak of the faith and example of his grandfather. It is amazing what fragments from the lives of our forebears might indeed become generative or creative in our own faith development. I think of the things that made an impression on me in my childhood; my grandfather sitting with the King James Bible open on his lap when we would visit, the simple fact that Christian faith and practice had saved him from alcoholism. I think of my father singing hymns and choruses in the shower. I think of my mother’s love for making sure we knew the sacred scriptures and had them hidden in our hearts, of her rising early to pray, of her willingness to speak of God in normal conversation. Hearing her read bible stories to my children before bed during this past week was a blessing too deep for words.

Paul’s tender writing to Timothy about his rich spiritual heritage offers an opportunity for all of us to consider our spiritual heritage. We did not end up here this morning by accident or coincidence. We have had spiritual mentors and examples and inspirations along the way. Who were those key people of faith in your life? If time allowed, I wish we could create the opportunity for us to talk with one another about those who shaped our faith lives, to tell stories and give voice to who truly influenced us toward God along the way.

Oh, yes I know this is a dangerous business. Not all of our spiritual history is positive. In fact some of it may have been abusive or troubling in the extreme. Like many good things that are powerful spirituality can be used for great evil as well as for great good. Our text today would have us celebrate the best of our spiritual influences for somehow the basic goodness of God, the love and forgiveness we all need and desire, and the vision of the Good News in Christ has worked its way into our lives through others.

Paul reminds Timothy of how the Gospel has attracted and animated his very existence. Saying, “Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord … This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (II Tim. 1:8-10)

Timothy’s faith, his way of seeing the world, was formed by his mother and grandmother and Paul his father-in-Christ. What is the heritage of faith you will leave to your children or your grandchildren or the children around you in this community of faith?

“Christians are made, not born,” wrote Tertullian, an early church father. What he meant is that Christianity is a way of life and that to be a Christian is to be formed as a Christ-like person. This is a lifelong process that none of us ever graduate from. Contrary to the thinking of some, confirmation is not an early Christian retirement party.

As parents and grandparents and godparents there is no way you can determine that your child or grandchild or godchild will be Christ-like. Every child is free to determine how much influence will affect him or her. That is why parents will never be blamed for how their children turn out, only how they as parents turn out, and that is plenty for all of us to lose sleep over. We are to be faithful influences.

We parents and adults we can mess up a lot, but we finally can’t blow it. God does redeem our errors and failings. And God only asks us to give the little bit we have, knowing that in the mystery of things it will be enough. God is present and active in our lives, and that is also the good news. We need only to walk in the way of Christ with our children. You and I are not to do things to or for our children but with our children.

To be sure, the formation of children is complicated by the fact that there are many influences on them. We need to be active in a congregation of like-minded persons: we need to consider seriously what kind of schools our children attend, who their friends and playmates are, what they watch on television, and all the other influences that will either aid or work against our influence. For all formation is composed of many influences but chiefly it is our love and care and the experiences we offer them that help them to know God’s love.

As our children grow up, we need to remember what we need most to do with them is be active in a loving and caring community of faith together. We need to tell and retell the biblical story; we need to celebrate our life of faith; we need to pray together, we need to listen and talk to each other; we need to perform acts of service and witness together.

Paul instructs Timothy to “rekindle the gift of God that is within you.” To do so means to stir up actively rather than to passively allow the flames of faith to go out. Just as Paul calls Timothy to take stock of the spiritual gifts he has been given, so we too are called to rekindle our own faith lives as well.

How will you rekindle the gift of God within you? What disciplines and practices enliven you spiritually? How will you invest the gift of God you have been given?
Last week Fr. Brian eloquently described how we as a faith community benefit from the life and faith of those who have come before us and how what we build and do will be the heritage of those who come after us. Paul encourages Timothy not only by looking to his past heritage in the faith but also by pointing him toward the future of those who will benefit from his ministry with them. Fr. Bill’s life and witness pointed faithfully toward the church’s future and shaped a congregation in New Orleans that in turn shaped me.

Today we are invited to celebrate the blessings of those who have shaped us and to consider how will we spend our lives, how will we invest ourselves in our children and families, in this community so that others may also have a rich heritage of faith to celebrate. In doing this you will rekindle the gift of God that is within you.