[Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori preached the following sermon on Dec. 7 at Christ Church in Little Rock, Arkansas.

 Christ Church, Little Rock, AR
175^th anniversary
7 Dec 2014

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church

Happy Anniversary! 175 years for the first Episcopal congregation in this part of the world is quite a remarkable witness. Think about it – it’s almost a tenth of the history of Christianity. Dr. Witsell, who was the rector here for 20 years, wrote a history of this place that ended with his retirement in 1947. He started at the beginning, in 30-33 CE, with the founding of what he called “the Catholic Church of the Christian Ages, of which the Episcopal Church in the United States is an accredited branch.” His next milepost concerned Hernando DeSoto and his band of Spanish soldiers, who wandered through Arkansas in 1541 and “treated the natives cruelly, robbing, murdering and raping.” When DeSoto died his body was unceremoniously dumped into the Mississippi.[1]

Witsell’s timeline continues by noting the first Anglican presence in the Jamestown colony, and goes on with nods to the French missionaries and explorers who navigated the Mississippi River down into Arkansas.[2] Eventually he gets to the first Episcopal bishop in this part of the world, Leonidas Polk. Polk founded this congregation in 1839, a few months after he was ordained to serve the Missionary District of the Southwest, which included Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, the Republic of Texas, and Indian Territory. He had a slightly later counterpart who was the Bishop of the Northwest, and was affectionately known as the bishop of all outdoors.[3] Sons and daughters of the South probably know that Leonidas Polk soon became the Bishop of Louisiana, and some years later a Confederate general. He was killed by a cannonball in the Civil War.

This congregation he started has survived repeated fires and its community more than a few floods. This community has seen war and destruction, slavery, emancipation, desegregation, the division of Little Rock and attempts to heal those divisions. Today this community called Christ Church is actively working to make its surroundings into something that looks more like the reign of God. That’s what Isaiah begins to lay out when he proclaims comfort to people who have been lost. That level road through the desert is meant to be a message of hope to people who’ve been wandering in exile, who have lost their homes and community and even their confidence in God. And then Isaiah hears the challenge to “cry out!”

What he offers is a frank description of reality: ‘All people are grass, they are no more constant than wildflowers. ⁷The grass withers, and the flower fades, when God’s breath/wind blows on it; yes, the people are grass. ⁸The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God – that stands forever.’

A lot of grass and flowers have withered here in Little Rock, but the great and solid rock stands fast. This building has burned down, its members have seen lynchings[4] and ugly attempts to separate the members of this community,[5] yet God’s word continues to call humanity to a better way. That word is heard as challenge as well as comfort and hope. Isaiah is bound to cry out with both. If we’re going to walk the way of the Lord, that cry must become our own.

Cry out over the injustices that human beings commit, the division and hate that still bedevil us, cry out the reminder that God’s vision endures, in spite of the withering scorn some have for God’s handiwork. Cry out, proclaim assurance that God will draw all people home to a place of peace and dignity and justice.

Peter’s letter insists that God will do it, though individuals may wither away while they’re waiting – God is faithful, and the new heavens and new earth will come when we least expect their inbreaking. Wait, pray, work, and be ready – that day is coming.

Mark begins his gospel by saying, “the beginning of the good news.” God is not finished yet, there is more good news to tell and will be in the future. It may take longer than the lifetime of anyone here, but that new earth is coming, even like a thief in the night, sneaking up on us when we least expect it.

The coming in the night may be received as disaster or as blessing, and often they are mixed up together in the moment.

We should be astounded that there has not been national chaos in the aftermath of the decisions in Ferguson and in Staten Island. I am certainly grateful that so many people are beginning to awaken. Even the death and darkness of injustice can be a provocative sign to those with ears to hear and eyes to see and hearts to kindle with passion for love of neighbor that will bring justice for all. No human being should live in fear of life because of skin color, gender, national origin, religion, or who makes up that person’s family. We have all been equally created as children of God, heirs of that dream for peace that Isaiah proclaims. The road ahead is full of potholes and stones heaved out of place, but God is still at work.

We have heard the beginning of good news. This season of Advent is meant to enliven our hope for more of it – it’s not just idle waiting. Like the mother of the child whose birth we will celebrate in a few short weeks, it’s a time for active and expectant, care-filled readying. We’re meant to nurture the hope and possibility we meet around us, to feed the body with good food and rest for the soul, and reject what does not lead to health and liveliness.

John the Baptizer calls people around him to come and take a bath, as a sign of doing just that – letting go of what isn’t life-giving and healing. He chooses to live simply, and eat simply, and reject the hate that infests the society he lives in. Today many choose to live and eat simply, so that others may simply live – as a witness to the deep connections that bind us all as children of the same God, given only one garden to share. Living simply puts the essentials at the center – love of neighbor, life and God’s abundance for all.

The hate that surrounds us seeks to smother and snuff out signs of life that proclaim freedom or equality for all – but that hate will not prevail, not in the eternal framework of the One who creates us all. God’s presence among us in the flesh binds us together as brothers and sisters of the same family. We cannot escape that, in the long run, even though we may try. This building has come and gone, but the vision remains. God’s word is faithful, and life will prevail. Though it may change, it does not end.

As Advent advances toward that dream of life and liberation for all, what part of the road will you seek to smooth? It can only be done in company, and it needs gifts different from yours, for the road only becomes level as two create a bridge between them. Where will you reach across the brokenness in this community, nation, or the world? What repair of this world will you pray for, and work toward? Where are we willing we put our own selves and substance to fill a gaping pothole? The road toward home for us all is built by journeying in company, together with all God’s children. The one whose birth we await has taught us that human flesh can change the world. And that is just the beginning of the good news.

[1] William Postell Witsell, Christ Church, Little Rock, Arkansas, 1839-1947. Christ Church Vestry, Democrat Printing and Litho Company, p3

[2] Joliet, Marquette, LaSalle, who explored Arkansas between 1673 and 1682

[3] Josiah Cruickshank Talbot, consecrated in 1860

[4] The last one in the same year Dr. Witsell began as rector http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/remember-the-1927-lynching-in-little-rock/Content?oid=2367957

[5] E.g., the school desegregation crisis of 1957. Cf. “The Little Rock Nine.”