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There are moments in all our lives that forge us and, God willing, show us what the world might be. That moment for me was my time working for my mentor, The Very Rev. Heidi Kinner, at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Helena, MT.
Heidi provided a lot of opportunities throughout the Diocese for me, especially because I was going to be attending seminary in the following year. In doing so, she led by example to build up in me the skills she knew would be important and which she had a lot to offer. As a strong preacher, Heidi emphasize the importance of preaching and helped me learn and grow in my own sermon writing and preparation. Teaching was another area Heidi showed was important to our Faith, and so she involved me in leading the youth group. My planning Formation for that group led to what has now become the Gospel according to Superheroes, and Heidi encouraged this work because it was a way I was able to connect more deeply with the youth. Outreach is a key way we live out our Faith, and Heidi fostered and encouraged connections I made with local non-profits. She even sent me to serve at a Diocesan run camp for the children of incarcerated parents. Not only did we reach to serve others outside the church, but Heidi also helped me foster relationships with those who were poor and living with mental illnesses within our own church community. Finally, she supported me when I found an opening to start a 20s and 30s group, which I’m happy to say helped many of us with our life in Faith. Thanks to the hard work of the leaders who came after me, that 20s and 30s program was able to thrive in the time after I went on to seminary.
When I started at seminary, I remembering hearing a lot of people, including professors, talk about the divide in the church between social justice and evangelism. Yet what Heidi taught me was different. She had a focus on outreach that stemmed from wanting to get the word out about Jesus. She was able to bridge the gap between this divide because she made sure everything centered on just one thing: the saving work of our Lord Jesus Christ in this world.
Our readings today reveal this same bridge Heidi first showed me. In them we continue to hear about Peter’s miraculous healing if the beggar in the Temple, just as we did last week. Here we even see Annas and Caiaphas, some of the same people that put Jesus on trial, now judging over Peter’s actions. Yet Peter implores them to look at the works, to see the good that has happened.
1 John too calls us to love others “in truth and action”. We’re called here to proclaim our Lord Jesus Christ by what we do in this world.
Yet both Peter’s call and 1 John’s call are rooted in the message of the Gospel, in the what Jesus first did for us as we hear today in the Gospel according to John.
Jesus’ role is to be the Good Shepherd and to do this work to the point of laying down His own life to protect His sheep. This is the Love Jesus showed us on the Cross. This is the Love that is at the heart of our celebration of Easter. This is the Love at the core of our Faith. It is the Love that should be at the center of everything that we do.
Throughout my life and ministry, I’ve seen many of the different aspects people associate with church. I’ve seen parishes that do Outreach to the point of seemingly wanting to replace all the non-profits out there. I’ve seen parishes that focus so much on social gatherings that they almost seem more like a country club. I’ve seen parishes so focused on evangelism that they seem to forget to listen to the Word they were trying to proclaim in the first place.
When we make the core message of Jesus the Good Shepherd the center of everything we do, we don’t have to worry about straying from the path. We don’t have to worry about becoming something we’re not. Our Outreach and good deeds are meant to stem from a place of wanting to share the Love of Christ, not out of a sense of being better or even guilt. We are called to gather together to let others know that God loves them and so do we, not to form a social club. We are to share the Good News because we know that Jesus first loved us, even when we can be unlovable. Our hope in sharing that message is that others can come to realize the same is true for them as well.
Jesus tells us, “I know My own and My own know Me.” If we know Him, we make His Love for us the center of everything we do. If we know Jesus, we know His Love and want to share that Love with all we may meet.
If we want to do well as the church, we have to make the Gospel the center of all that we do. That is how we continue to do God’s work in the world. If that is the work we continue to do, then we will thrive.