Sunday, May 15, 2022
/The Fifth Sunday of Easter
Acts 11:1-18; Psalm 148: 14-29; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35
The Rev. James M.L. Grace
In the Name of God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. AMEN.
“I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” These beautiful words come at the very end of the Bible – we heard them in the reading from Revelation earlier, from chapter 21, and if you open up a Bible to Revelation, you will see the chapter 21 is at the very end.
The Bible ends on a high note: there is a new heaven and a new earth, and curiously, John the author, writes, the sea was no more. Why get rid of the ocean? What’s wrong with fish and dolphins? In the ancient mind, the sea represented chaos and death. In the grand ending of the Bible – the conclusion of Revelation, the sea is banished, meaning all death and chaos are permanently deleted as God’s final word affirming the goodness of God’s love.
At its heart, Revelation is a book about hope, it is about God’s vision, and it is about God’s legacy. These themes of hope, vision, and legacy concerned the author of Revelation thousands of years ago, and these same themes concern us at St. Andrew’s today. Hope, vision, and legacy are the themes of our capital campaign, which goes public today.
While this may be news for some of you, the beginning of this campaign started over a year ago, when a member of our Vestry approached me before a Sunday service with a concern about St. Andrew’s legacy – would St. Andrew’s still be around fifty years from now to share God’s love with people we might never know ourselves? An appropriate concern, and one that led to many subsequent meetings at the Vestry and Finance Committee levels, and a year later, we are embarking on a capital campaign rooted in prayer and in Jesus Christ to solidify St. Andrew’s legacy in the Heights.
In this campaign, entitled “Our Hope, Our Vision, Our Legacy” we are raising $2 million to support necessary restorations and updates to our church to ensure that St. Andrew’s remains a spiritual home for people for generations to come. Although going public today, the campaign actually started in March, and our Campaign Executive Committee, who includes, Alli Jarrett and Dianne Yeomans as campaign co-chairs, along with members Greg Caudell, Treasurer, Doug Pecore, Sr. Warden, Mary Eyubolu, Finance Chair, Catherine Runner, Jr. Warden, Nancy Simpson, previous Head of School, and Vestry members Eric Reed and Deb Perl have been hard at work quietly shepherding this campaign along the way. I am also pleased to say that every member of the Executive Committee has made a commitment to the Capital Campaign. Marla and I have made our pledge.
A closing word on Revelation. Verse 5 of today’s reading: “the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new. The church next door is closing and selling their property. I do not believe that is St. Andrew’s legacy, at least right now. I believe God is doing a new thing at St. Andrew’s, and this is our moment to participate in what God is doing. It’s not obligatory. And in full transparency, this capital campaign is not in place, but in addition too, our stewardship campaign, and we will again be asking you to support our growing ministries in the Fall. We get to participate in what is doing at St. Andrew’s What a gift. A gift that is trustworthy and true. AMEN.