"The Navy sent Brad to England in the 1960's to get a degree in aeronautical engineering. We lived on a beautiful old farm near the village of Waddon and what a wonderful experience it was! The English were so warm and welcoming. We went to a lovely old church in Waddon and there were never many people there; sometimes it was only the vicar, his wife, Brad and me. The vicar preached, Brad took up the collection, I sang and the vicar's wife played the organ!" (Carol Hall)
These powerful first-century words of Paul to his newly-built church in Corinth could well be the motto of St. Margaret's Church in twentieth-century Palm Desert. For the truth is, we have, every one of us, visitor or resident, newcomer or old-timer, striven hard to quite literally build up the Episcopal Church in our lovely desert community.
We are now nearing the completion of our beautiful building...And though we often have the sense that we are tucked away and out-of-sight in the desert, you should be aware that most folk in this valley and many in the National Episcopal Church are watching you and this building with great joy and not a little astonishment. Why? Simply because you are providing this, your community and the National Episcopal Church, with a large new sanctuary, a magnificent work of religious art. And that's quite a rare feat and treat these days! To use the words of one well-known visitor on completion of his tour, "Brad," he said, "this is one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen."
Along with a building, you are also giving our national church a lot of hope, inspiration and indeed a good measure of courage to get on with the "Building up of Christ's Church" in other parts of this world which struggle to maintain faith in God and desperately need new religious symbols and fine churches to gather people together for worship.
We are like the famous old farmer in the 19th century Midwest who decided to improve his corn crop by planting a new hybrid seed. It was chancy, expensive and difficult to grow, but the first year produced an abundant and exquisite yield. By the second year his neighbors noticed their crops were yielding more and better corn as well, and by the third year, the whole area's harvest was phenomenal. What that farmer and his neighbors discovered was that his prize corn had pollinated his neighbors' fields as well as his own, and all enjoyed and shared this farmer's investment and good fortune.
I want you to know that I am incredibly proud of what you have done over these past two years. And I think I can speak for all those who have watched us "build up the church." Indeed, every person I have talked with who is involved in our national church leadership has expressed personal pride in, and rejoice with, St. Margaret's. They rejoice because our growth is their growth, our building up is their building up, our good fortune is their good fortune, our new seed will enrich the whole church at large.
Very soon, life at St. Margaret's will change for all of us. I think we all know enough about life to have learned by now that change is a mixed blessing. It's good news and bad news. It's bad news because this change will force us to alter our routines a bit, to let go of some old and comfortable ways of doing things and take on some new ways. We will be parking in a different parking lot, going into a new building each Sunday, seeing different images and symbols (for example, we still don't know where we will place our altar flowers and Cross), and we'll be sitting in new (but more comfortable) pews. There will also be increased financial demands on all of us as we strive to complete construction and then maintain a much larger plant.
But in the long run, change with all its concurrent responsibilities is good news because it will provide for us a God-given opportunity to not just build, but using Paul's descriptive word, to "excel" in building.
One of the reasons I believe we have been given this opportunity to grow, and responsibility to excel, is because St. Margaret's is an excellent church. While this may sound a bit like a play on the word, the fact is that we are a very fortunate and blessed congregation.
-- We live in a beautiful and growing community.
--The majority of us are reasonably well-off. We are well- educated and sophisticated in worldly ways.
-- We are, as most students of churchmanship might term it, a very healthy church.
And so, with this God-given abundance of excellence, we will always have a God-given opportunity to excel and to grow the Kingdom of God in this valley
Now, as we prepare over the next few months to move into our new sanctuary, I am asking all of us to think upon and pray about how we will go about this opportunity for Christian excellence. What ought we to be preparing for, what might we be doing as we near the end--or should I say, "as we approach a new beginning," of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Palm Desert?
I'll end today by naming one trait of Christian excellence which is high on everyone's list--Inclusion. Our new and beautiful sanctuary will draw many new people into it--people needing comfort, needing friendship, and above all, seeking God's presence in their lives and a place to worship. Our call to excellence will be to welcome them and to include them into our community and into our lives and share with them of our abundance. Only you can do this. You are the ones who will welcome newcomers and include them into our community. You will make the difference every Sunday in our ability to excel in this Christian ministry. Amen.
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