Seventy Times Seven, The Reverend David R. Williams, Pentecost XVII--Year B--Sept. 11, 2005

“The weak eat only vegetables,” Paul says. How do the vegetarians feel about that one?

The quarrels between those who eat everything and those who eat only vegetables are but one of Paul’s metaphors for a quarreling congregation of God-loving people.

We all are so adept in discerning differences we may have with one other, especially when we find ourselves under one roof. The judgment begins.

“Welcome those who are weak in faith,” Paul says, revealing some of his own prejudice. “But not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions.”

Interesting how a congregation of the first century can be so similar to a congregation-- or any community for that matter-- of the twenty-first century.

The finger-pointing in the aftermath of Katrina has saturated the airwaves. We are part of a larger community, and the feelings are raw.

We are so good at blaming, finding fault, evaluating, criticizing those other persons – you know, those vegetarians--those “weak” and different vegetarians!

“Lord,” Peter says to Jesus, “How often should I forgive? As many as seven times?”

Peter searches for understanding of the mediation, reconciliation and redemption described by Jesus. Seven times to forgive someone is a stretch for the very human Peter.

“No, Peter, seventy times seven,” Jesus says. In other words, the only way to truly forgive requires the incomprehensible! True forgiveness is a deep reach—into the mystery of a God who always asks more from us.

This morning the members of the Holy Comforter congregation welcome one another home. Many of us in the past few months have been on journeys – to far away places in Europe and even Asia-- and to nearby places of re-creation such as home gardens, nearby lakes, golf courses and tennis courts.

We gather to celebrate God’s blessings in our lives. We pray for patience, for understanding, for guidance in a continuing war. We pray for our brothers and sisters who have struggled in a hurricane and now try desperately to begin their lives over again. We pray in remembrance of the thousands who perished four years ago from an invasion of terrorists commandeering domestic airplanes into buildings, an unspeakable horror.

We recall how the doors of this church and others opened as sanctuary to a grieving community.

We gather this morning to commission new and refreshed ministries to this church and to this community of Alamance County and the world. We celebrate, we remember, and we commission.

I thank you for your recognition this morning of my twenty year anniversary with Holy Comforter. My thanksgiving comes with a heart-felt sense of privilege and honor to be a part of this incredible church family. Surely our parish has a few characteristics in common with the congregation to which Paul makes reference! We have moments of quarreling, debate, disagreement—yes. But, always and moreover, we know the spirit of forgiveness and compassion. We are truly a caring church. Each of us at Holy Comforter takes seriously our personal life as a part of this church. And each of us at Holy Comforter takes seriously the parish family integral to the meaning of our own daily life.

To fully know the ministry I have been able to offer to this parish is to know me in the context of my own family – four children of whom I could not be more proud-- and a loving, patient and caring spouse. Sarah, our “Good News from the Pews” editor, is an amazing pillar of strength for this Priest of the Church. She is no vegetarian. And I speak for these most special people of my life—each of us in the Williams household considers the Holy Comforter family to be very much a part of our family.

The instrument behind me – the Dobson Organ – arrived on the same day I arrived. I recall the attention of the congregation as I preached my first sermon. All eyes seemed to be a bit to my right and above as the congregation took in the visible portion of the instrument, beauty and beast. We could only look, at first, as it would be several weeks before the magnificent sounds of the organ would be heard, enjoyed and embraced. We are fortunate to have such a superb instrument and equally fortunate to have had two most talented Ministers of Music over the past decades, Jeannette Hassell and Charles Hogan.

The ministry of Comforter House began soon after my arrival through resources provided by the newly-organized Holy Comforter Mission Fund. As many as five United Way Agencies have carried their ministries forward from the offices at Comforter House. Two long-term tenants – Christian Counseling Center and Family Abuse-- have grown so vast that their work and ministry now comprise all of and more than the building’s space. We at Holy Comforter feel so proud to have been a part of the invaluable ministries of these agencies, our friends.

Mediation, reconciliation, forgiveness, compassion – the love of God is made manifest through ministry to others.

“If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s,” Paul says. No matter what place, what stage, what age, what circumstance in life, we are part of a much larger picture. We count ourselves, all of us, even the vegetarians, the different, as blessed by the mystery of God on earth.

The best way to grasp this truth is to go back – to return to the place of our beginnings – the time of our baptism. Our baptism gives meaning, context, to our celebration of special moments of our past and our remembrance of loss in terror, in war, in natural calamity.

Through baptism we are guided in hope and reassurance through the impossible and the painful, the joyful and the promising. Our future becomes illuminated through discovery of new ways of caring for neighbors, proclaiming the Good News of our Lord, feeding and nourishing the empty, tending the sick and the destitute, forgiving those who hurt us and loving our neighbors-- and even ourselves. We recommission our lives to these endeavors.

Let us now stand as we reaffirm our Baptismal Covenant (page 304 in The Book of Common Prayer and within our service bulletin).