Embodying the Word…Watering the Faith

Celebrating the call to serve God’s beloved

 

Good morning, and welcome to Bexley Seabury Seminary in Hyde Park. We are delighted to be with you for this first time together at Christ’s table in our new home on this new campus.

We’re here because each of us—and all of us—have been called to be here in this place, at this time, as individuals and as a seminary community. We have heard, in our own ways and contexts, the voice of the Shepherd. And the word we have heard was “Come.” And we have said “yes,” with a willingness to embark on a new adventure together.

With every new adventure that we willingly accept there is an element of excitement and joyful anticipation, but also, perhaps, a bit of anxiety. It’s natural to wonder whether and how our work here together will be fruitful for ourselves, for the church, and for all of God’s beloved.

I find in today’s readings, though, a welcome word of reassurance, of encouragement, of promise, and a comforting word of hope.

From the mouth of Jesus in John’s Gospel, we hear this:

My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.
No one will snatch them out of my hand.

And through the lips of the prophet Isaiah—who was speaking to a people in exile, preparing them to embark on an adventure that would lead them back to the homeland of their ancestors—we hear God saying this to them, and also to us:

For as the rain and snow come down from heaven,
and do not return until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

In the lives of saints Aidan and Cuthbert, whose feasts we celebrate today, we can see the fulfillment of this promise that God’s word will not go out and return empty. History gives us evidence of a generous showering of life-giving and sustaining grace that took place in their lives and ministries.

Aidan was born in Ireland. As a young man he traveled far from home, across the sea, to the Scottish island of Iona to get his theological education. There he became a monk. Ultimately, though, he was called to go, to lead, and to preach in a place he most likely never expected to find himself—in Northumbria on the rugged east coast of northern England. Christianity had come to England centuries before, but by the 7th century Christianity was waning. People had been returning to their own gods in what was considered “mission territory.”

As bishop of Northumbria, Aidan established a cathedral monastery on the rocky island of Lindesfarne. But he did not stay on that island. Aidan traveled all around Northumbria. And this is how he went about converting and re-converting the people: He walked and walked and walked. He talked and talked and talked with whomever he met. He listened deeply to the stories of their lives. He spoke with them in words and images they could understand. He preached the Gospel also by his acts of charity. He housed, fed, and educated orphans. He bought the freedom of those enslaved. His monastery became a great center of learning. Although a bishop, Aidan was truly one who literally walked humbly with his God. And as a consequence, the Gospel was not only heard, but seen in action; churches in Northumbria were planted; and the Body of Christ in Northumbria flowered.

Today we also commemorate Cuthbert. He grew up near Lindesfarne in an abbey that had been founded by Aiden. When Cuthbert was a boy, he had a dream that Aidan was being carried away by angels to heaven. Later he found out that the dream had occurred on the very day that Aidan had died. Cuthbert was so impressed by the life and ministry of Aidan—and with his action-contemplation model of spirituality—that he, too, became a monk and, eventually, a strong leader. He served as Prior of two teaching abbeys before becoming a bishop who made his home in Lindesfarne. At a time of great religious and political conflict, he was a reconciling force who came to be known as “healer of the breach” between Roman and Celtic factions of the church in England.

Aidan and Cuthbert were like holy rain for the people. They established churches, cared for the poor, listened to people, responded to their needs with compassion. They spread the good news of God’s love with their words and deeds. They embodied the Word that watered the faith of the people of Northumbria, that grew the plant and that produced the seed, that allowed the sower to sow, the farmer to harvest, the miller to make the flour that the bakers used to create the bread, so that those hungry for food and for peace could be nourished and flourish.

Today we stand together at Christ’s table on this new day in this new place, because of the saints in our own lives who, like Aidan and Cuthbert, took the time to give living witness to the Word. Through them the Word went forth and has not come back empty. Our saints have walked with us, talked with us, listened to our stories, and told us theirs. They have perhaps nudged or urged us to come to Bexley Seabury Seminary to learn, to grow, and to prepare to lead and to serve others more effectively. Perhaps the faces of your saints are now coming to your mind. See them. Give thanks for them. They have been the snow and rain that has watered your faith.

Now the Word has called you to take a next step in your faith journey. The Bexley Seabury community, past and present, rejoices in your “yes.” In fact, I dare to say that creation itself rejoices in your “yes.”

Listen now again to God’s promise to you through the prophet Isaiah:

For you shall go out in joy
and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

I can hear the trees clapping already. Can you?