Once upon a time at the end of a family vacation at the beach, a young man called his parents and siblings together after a long day's outing. He had something important he wanted to tell them. In a few weeks, he would enter his third year at the University of Notre Dame, where his grades have been spectacular. Charming and popular, he has enjoyed a successful academic career. Everyone has always expected that he would go on to do great things.

His father, a prominent and successful cardiologist, always assumed that this son, the eldest of the seven children born to this Catholic family, would follow him into the medical profession. There had never been any discussion of the matter, really. Why should he ever had discussed it with him? His son's occupational inheritance had been taken for granted. So what was the important announcement he had to make? Maybe he had chosen the field of medicine in which he would specialize and he wanted to announce that to them all.

Well, as some of you might have guessed, his announcement was-that he wanted to be a priest; in fact, he was transferring to study at a Jesuit seminary in the Fall. Stone cold silence greeted this news. His father bristled-no son of his was going to be a priest. He had no respect for priests-they were parasites. If his son wanted to be a priest, then he would no longer be his son! And with that the father stormed out of the beach house leaving them all in silence.

"You have ruined our family," his mother icily told him, and she left to join her husband. His closest brother asked, "So, how long have you been gay?" "He never did like girls," whispered one sister to another.

"Do you think that I have come to bring peace to earth?" says Jesus. "No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. Father against son and son against father…"

The message in today's gospel continues the theme of urgency in pursuing the kingdom of God, found here in the twelfth chapter of Luke. When seen as a whole within the context of the chapter, we can see that Jesus neither advocates nor praises family quarrels, but he does praise the one who can see and pursue that which really matters, even in the face of enormous family pressure that might urge us to do otherwise.

Clearly, this is an issue that members of the struggling and emerging first century church faced, and an issue some people face even to this day. If we were to take the time to ask around this room, we should expect to find in someone's faith journey a story where one's choice to follow Christ, to be baptized and join the church has caused strife within their family. Maybe someone one has received ridicule and abuse for becoming a Christian; often we find this happening when one person chooses to join a church different from the one in which he or she had been raised.

In some places in this country, if a Baptist or a Lutheran marries a Catholic, the news gets treated as if a death occurred in the family, rather than rejoicing in the happy event of a Christian marriage. Family members have been known not to speak to each other for years or decades over such matters.

Sometimes bringing peace to some people brings conflict and strife to others. In his book, Laughing Out Loud and Other Religious Experiences, Tom Mullen writes: "My religious denomination is the Society of Friends (Quakers)… I learned upon joining the Quakers that they attack large social and moral problems with conscientious determination. They work for peace-and if you really want to cause conflict, work for peace!" Dom Helder Camara, onetime Archbishop of Brazil, has often been quoted, "When I give bread to the poor, they call me a saint. But when I ask why the poor have no bread, they call me a communist." It has been said that, "Jesus came to comfort the afflicted, and to afflict the comfortable." Clearly, we see this Jesus today.

For Jesus to say, "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled," has far too often been co-opted by the Hellfire and Damnation School of Preaching, when in fact, it is not a statement of judgment by Jesus as much as a statement of passion about his mission.

In the Greek, the literal rendering, "Fire, I have come to cast upon the earth," carries the idea that Jesus came to set the world on fire-here in Luke it speaks of Jesus' passion for his mission: to spread the message of God's love for the world. Jesus wants us to be clear about his passionate mission, and urgently wishes for us to make it our passionate mission as well. In other words: The most important thing is to keep the most important thing, the most important thing.

So, what are you passionate about? What is your 'most important thing' that you will strive to keep your 'most important thing'? These questions probe our lives and our motives, and can cause discomfort in some cases. How do we know and come to perceive the most important thing?

"When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, 'It is going to rain'; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?"

The ability to realize what is happening around us-the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God!: Nothing could be more important for us to perceive and participate in, says Jesus.

Jesus asks us to interpret the times of our lives, to discern what we consider worthwhile or appropriate. If we can regard the appearances of earth and sky, then can we not regard the times in our lives? How do we do this?

One way is to take note of the things to which we pay close attention, and note the things we ignore. The things we pay close attention to, we see and respond to; and the things we ignore, we literally do not see, respond to, or even notice, which makes this task far more difficult. It hard to begin seeing things we usually don't see.

Jesus calls us to have a passion about something in our church and in our world for the sake of the Kingdom of God. At our baptism, each of us received the gift of the Holy Spirit, and that gift includes talents, skills, and abilities that can help fulfill Jesus' passionate mission of spreading the message of God's love for the world. Jesus called his disciples then, and us today, into a ministry of servanthood for Christ's sake. And, most importantly, Jesus calls us as we are, and not someone whom we are not.

During this past year, I have perceived a wind of passion about ministry blowing through this place that I believe comes from the Holy Spirit. Maybe you have felt it, too. I believe St. James is truly a blessed and exciting place to be at this time-I perceive the Holy Spirit calling us to do great things in this part of Greenville for the sake of the kingdom of God.

As the elected and Holy Spirit-called leadership at St. James, your vestry and Sally and I are right now in prayerful discernment about the Vision for this Parish and the Purpose Statement for ministry here, a task we are charged to do by the bishop and the Church at large, and we do this task on behalf of the parish. It is an enormous task, so pray for us as we near completion of this important duty.

You also need to know and give thanks for this: We as a leadership team are passionate about St. James and the potential for God to work in huge, exciting ways in this parish and community. We are passionate about the people of this place, and the gifts you all possess to help in the spread of God's kingdom. And we invite you to join with our passion for ministry by prayerfully considering what you perceive God calling you to do as your own ministry in this place.

Each one of us has been given gifts for ministry. Today in your bulletin, or on the table in the Parish Life Center at the Rally Day displays, you will find a Servant Search form. It is designed to inform you about the many ministry opportunities and needs we have at St. James, and to help you consider where your interests lie, so that you might become more fully involved in the life of this parish community. While it is an extensive list, it is by no means an exhaustive one. We have many ministries that need to be started, we have ministries that some of you will come forward and suggest or volunteer to begin. If you don't see something on this list that needs to be there, write it in! Just don't forget to put your name on it.

St. James has such wonderful and talented people, with so much to offer; we wish to help you find a way to exercise your ministry, to use your gifts to the glory of God, to the spread of God's kingdom, and for the benefit of God's people, as Bishop Henderson likes to say. As a parish community, we must want to do our part in helping Jesus set the world on fire!

We invite you to join us in this joyful task of passionate ministry, and let your light so burn in God's service that others might be drawn to Christ in this place and leave their darkness and fears behind.

Now is the time; this is the place; the Spirit is calling you. I say, "Go for it!"

The Rev'd Timothy M. Dombek
ST. JAMES EPISCOPAL CHURCH
301 Piney Mountain Road
Greenville, SC 29609-3035
(864) 244-6358
stjamesrector@mindspring.com
Copyright © 2001 Timothy M. Dombek All Rights Reserved.