Sunday: 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany
Reading: Luke 4:14-22
Preacher: S. James Steen

This has been quite a time for me. Three weeks ago today was the 40th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. Day before yesterday was my 66th birthday. During the past few months, as my retirement has grown ever closer, each Sunday has felt like some kind of milestone. And now the time is here.

For this morning, I decided to cast the lectionary aside and to choose a favorite text. I told the senior staff that if I had a favorite passage in all the Scriptures, it might well be Luke 4:14-22. That passage, which Jack just read, contains what I like to call Jesus' Inaugural Address. I believe it holds the key to Luke's entire Gospel and the key to Jesus' understanding of his vocation. Jesus goes to the synagogue in Nazareth, where he had grown up; he opens the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah and he reads, "'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.'"

The devastating earthquake in Haiti this past week gives this passage gravitas. For these words serve as an urgent reminder that whatever else we may do as Christians, if we are to take Jesus' proclamation seriously, all of us who have much must reach out generously to those who are poor and at the mercy of forces over which they have little control. "I have come to bring good news to the poor." At this moment, that is up to us.

But whether we are talking about literal poverty, blindness and oppression - like we see in places like Haiti and parts of Chicago - or the spiritual varieties that limit the vision, the freedom and the resources of the rich as readily as the poor, this brief statement of Isaiah, which Jesus found worthy of quoting, gives us the heart and soul of the Good News.

Everything that Luke has described until now has been leading up to this climactic moment in the synagogue, and if we pay close attention, we will see that it's all about the Holy Spirit: Before Jesus' Baptism, John the Baptist said, "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit..." When Jesus was baptized, Luke says, "The Holy Spirit descended on him...like a dove." Then, "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness. After 40 days in the desert, "Jesus, [again] filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee." He began to go to the synagogues and to teach and everyone praised him. Finally, he goes to Nazareth, where he picks up the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and begins his reading with the words, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me..."

The ubiquitous, unavoidable force behind Jesus' ever-clearer understanding of his calling is the Spirit of the Lord. It descends upon him; it leads him into the wilderness, and it fills him with power to go forth and proclaim God's liberating, transforming power. This is power that can open eyes and hearts and minds, that can fill our emptiness and satisfy our hunger, and that can free us from the fears that would keep us from loving others without prejudice or restraint.

We often hear of the Kingdom, which Jesus came to usher in. To love with abandon and to know that one is loved so completely is what is meant by life in the Kingdom. And although we live both in an already and in a not yet state, where we taste the Kingdom, but aren't fully there, every Christian community it called to be is a sign, an icon, a mirror of this Kingdom. As Luke tells us with sledgehammer subtlety, the Spirit filled Jesus, and it filled him so completely that he was compelled to go forth and invite everyone into the life of the Kingdom.

Dare I say that the Holy Spirit is upon us and it has anointed us to issue this same invitation to all who are seeking a place to belong, a place to be loved with no strings attached? Dare I refer to SPR as a Spirit-filled community? While I honestly believe that is our vocation, this language may make us uncomfortable. Tom and I have friends who love to talk about the Holy Spirit, and every time is happens, I want to flee. Can we say that a community, like SPR, that welcomes religious skeptics is Spirit-filled? Is it possible that a church that serves a neighborhood whose chief currency is reason and intellect it Spirit-filled?

You may recall the story - I think I've told it before - about the woman who wandered into St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue in New York City during a service. She was so moved by the grandeur of the place, by the great reredos, by the sublime music and the vestments that all of a sudden she jumped up and shouted, "OOOOH, I got religion!" Within seconds, an usher in formal morning attire was at her side, whispering, "Madame, with all due respect, this is no place to get religion!"

I say, with all due respect, this is a place to get religion, and we don't have to be afraid of it. Many of us have so reacted against the anti-intellectualism and stubborn traditionalism of some religious people and traditions that we become nervous when any pious language is used. I am among those people. But one of the things that make this community vital is that, at our best, we at SPR embrace both the insights of scholarship and science and the richness of the ancient traditions of Christianity. It doesn't have to be either/or.

We, unlike more evangelical churches, lack simple accessible language to describe our relationship with the Holy Spirit, and we may even define the Spirit in a variety of ways; nevertheless, if, as I am convinced, being filled with the Spirit is to live in such a way that we become icons of God's Kingdom, then SPR's calling is to be a Spirit-filled community. If being Spirit-filled is to become imbued with the love of God, as we gather around this table, recognizing Christ in the faces of one-another and in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood, then surely SPR is called to be a Spirit-filled community. And if being Spirit-filled is to seek and serve Christ in all persons, to respect the dignity of every human being, and to work for justice and peace among all people, then to be Spirit-filled is our calling and it must remain so.

When people speak of SPR, they mention radical hospitality, love of children, worship as central, and great, diverse music. Dare I suggest that you add "Spirit filled" to that litany as you move into the future with Peter Lane. Please don't think I'm trying to plan your future for you as I exit. You and Peter will have a relationship, just as you and I have had a relationship. I know that your new relationship will be of the Spirit, and that means it will be dynamic: continually growing and transforming your vision and your ministry. Some of you have been here long enough to know how much we have evolved as a community during the past 12 years. I am so grateful for what has happened among us.

You have shown such generosity of spirit, enabling me to stretch and grow in numerous ways; and your financial generosity has made it possible for us to assemble one of the finest staff teams in the entire Episcopal Church. Together, you and I have raised up excellent lay leaders, who have been partners in all our work, showing both care and boldness, with a crucial willingness to take risks when necessary.

More than three years ago, when Clarence Langdon, then the Deployment Officer of the Diocese, told me that he had just met one of the most impressive young men he had seen in a long time and I should not delay in contacting him, I called Peter Lane immediately. Working with Peter has been one the great experiences of my 40 years of ordained ministry. I am so excited for him and for all of you as you move forward. And I have every confidence that the next leg of the journey of St. Paul & the Redeemer will be a joy to watch unfold.

Amen.