THE FEAST OF THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEDICATION OF THE CHURCH
Sunday, October 02, 2022
THE FEAST OF THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEDICATION OF THE CHURCH
A Sermon by
Ms. Josie Godfrey
✛
Sermon for Evensong on the Feast of Dedication
The Fifth Avenue entrance to Saint Thomas Church
May I speak in the name of the living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Climbing up into the pulpit, I feel a little bit like Zacchaeus. But although I’m looking out at all of you, both here, and on the livestream, when Zacchaeus climbed the tree, he only had eyes for one person – Jesus.
In the reading from Luke’s Gospel, we heard that Zacchaeus was trying to see who Jesus was. Not trying to see Jesus, not trying to see where Jesus was, or what Jesus looked like, or what he was doing. Zacchaeus was trying to see who Jesus was. He was trying to see the essence, the substance of Jesus’ being. Reading on further, we hear what was preventing Zacchaeus from being able to see: ‘he was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd, he could not’. Again, the crowd wasn’t necessarily preventing him from seeing Jesus, but from seeing who Jesus was – from having that birds eye view of Jesus. Without the tree, Zacchaeus would not be able to see Jesus.
So I’d like you to consider, what is your sycamore tree? And what is your crowd? When and where do you see Jesus? What do you need to be able to see Jesus? And what is preventing you from seeing Jesus?
When Jesus called Zacchaeus down from the tree, Zacchaeus didn’t ask him lots of questions. He hurried down from the tree, and immediately promised to give away half of his possessions. Which, of course, seems very strange. He hasn’t asked Jesus anything at all, Jesus hasn’t asked him to give away his possessions. But then we remember that he went up the tree, not to find out what Jesus wanted, but who Jesus was. And so, on seeing the Son of God, on being called down from the tree by the Son of God himself, Zacchaeus had no need for questions, only belief, and a desire to follow Jesus.
A few days ago I was helping at the Noble Singers rehearsal, and as we were singing we got to the words ‘anyone who eats this bread will live forever’. And the child sitting next to me turned to look at me, and her jaw dropped and she looked at me with her eyes wide open and asked ‘is that true?’. And I looked back at her, and her excitement and awe was almost palpable, and I felt that same sense of wonder, quickly followed by a feeling of dread as I realized that I needed to reply to her, and that if I said the wrong thing, that look of excitement would disappear. And my mind went completely blank. How do you explain eternal life to a 5 year old? But of course I had to say something and I realized that actually the answer was very simple – yes. She wasn’t asking me to explain the doctrine with citations, with evidence, with reference to the Church Fathers. In fact, she wasn’t asking me to explain anything at all. She was simply asking, ‘is that true?’. And so the answer was equally simple and I replied: ‘yes, it’s true’, and instead of fading, her excitement grew even more, and she asked ‘really? Is it really true?’. And so I turned to her again and replied ‘yes, it’s true’. And that was enough for her. She didn’t have any more questions. She turned back to her music and carried on singing, with a huge smile on her face and a look of excitement in her eyes. Just as Zacchaeus saw Jesus, the way, the truth and the life, she heard the truth, and she simply believed.
Today, on the Feast of the Dedication of the Church, and the launch of our Annual Appeal, we put some of this into practice; you can be not just part of the past and present of St Thomas, but also the future. Pledging enables us to plan for the future – not just the short-term future, but the next years, decades, even centuries – helping others to see Jesus.
When you climb a tree, you can see in all directions. Not just the future, and not just the past. And from that vantage point, you can focus in on one thing. And so actually, like Zacchaeus, I can look down from my pulpit-shaped tree with eyes for only one thing, and I can see it in every one of you, if I look for what St Thomas’ is. Not who it is, or where it is, or even what it does – not that those things aren’t important, but they can change from generation to generation, from day to day, in the blink of an eye. But what is constant, is what St Thomas’ is. And that is a community of fellowship and discipleship which endures from generation to generation. Everyone here is an individual, with different talents and gifts. But as members of St Thomas’, you are the body of Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
