Sunday: The 3rd Sunday of Lent
Reading: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Preacher: Peter C. Lane

Today I am going to ask you for money, but I am going to put in the context of our gospel reading. So, hold on...

Jesus welcomed sinners and ate with them. Now, in the culture of 1st century Palestine, calling someone a sinner wasn't just some personal moral judgment, these were people who had breached Mosaic Law and were therefore excluded from the synagogue. It was like an ex-felon who has to check that box on every job application. And Jesus wasn't just around these people. He welcomed them. He hosted them. He ate with them. Even today, but more strongly back then, eating with someone is a sign of acceptance. And that was what Jesus was about. The Pharisees condemned that radical hospitality. To defend himself, Jesus tells a parable of grace and joy that draws in not only the registered sinner and the ex-felon, but, I believe, each one of us so prone to wander. The parable of the prodigal son-perhaps better called the parable of the loving father or the older son-pictures an astounding abundance. There is a younger son who has totally disrespected his father and blown all his money but is welcomed home to the fatted calf. I haven't blown all my father's money, but I have had times when I have needed the unquestioning, uncritical embrace pictured in this parable. There is an older brother who had done all the right things but has to watch the revelry over his slacker brother. More often I have been the one to do the right thing and wondered why grace seems even to trump justice. And there is a father who shares what he has recklessly. I have had moments where I have been able to be the one to share love generously. Jesus pictures a God ready to welcome the lost to the table. Jesus is challenging us to recognize that we sometimes are the lost who can turn back to that loving embrace of God. And Jesus is challenging us to be a community whose hospitality is that extravagant, that uncalculating, and that indulgent of human failing. [1] Jesus revealed such a God. Jesus practiced that kind of radical hospitality.

The vision of St. Paul & the Redeemer is to become a community that mirrors that radical hospitality practiced by Jesus. The challenge of a parish church in any specific time and place is to give those gospel values practical expressions. SPR tries to live out that audacious vision in many concrete ways. We welcome everyone, regardless of their social position, race, sexual orientation, no matter where they are on the journey of faith, to feast with us at God's table. We sing music that brings glory to God by being spiritually nurturing, aesthetically beautiful, and affirming of cultural diversity. We welcome children into full participation in our liturgy and serve their families through Christian formation and building of meaningful community. We invite young adults to worship in ancient and innovative ways and to build a nurturing and justice-minded community. And we seek to engage our broader neighborhood through service, solidarity, and the sharing of our riches.

To continue to do those things well and to live out our vision in new and important ways we must hire a talented, full-time Assistant Rector. In order to do that, we need another $27,376. So, today, with the strong support of the Vestry, I ask you to make a special one-time gift to St. Paul & the Redeemer. Your gift will ensure that we can hire a full-time Assistant Rector to help us make concrete the gospel values that we gather around.

Before I give you some details, let me tell you about the outstanding candidate that we are excited about and who is excited about working at SPR. Raymond Massenburg is a thoughtful, pastoral person who has a passion for the South Side of Chicago. Ray is currently working as a research assistant professor at the School of Public Health at UIC while he finishes his Master of Divinity at Seabury Seminary in Evanston. God willing, he will be ordained to the transitional diaconate in June, and then to the priesthood in December. I have spent many hours with Ray and I believe his pastoral skills will draw newcomers into the church and will develop community within the parish. I believe his academic understanding of urban communities will help us flesh out a way of engaging the broader neighborhood in our mission. And I believe his personal story will be a compelling witness for our vision of radical hospitality. He grew up on the deep South Side attending a Baptist church and Catholic schools. He went on to get degrees from DePaul, Purdue, and UIC. He is married, has two young children, and is African-American. Ray has met with numerous parishioners and members of the vestry. All have given strong support for hiring Ray. Let's not let Ray slip through our fingers.

To those details... (I will be downstairs after the liturgy to answer your questions.)

· First, good news. SPR just received a grant funded by the Lilly Endowment and administered through the Diocese of Chicago for $120,000 over four years to help pay for an Assistant Rector. As part of it, Ray and I would participate in a great program designed to build effective, faithful clergy. However, if we do not hire an assistant rector now, we will forfeit all of that money.

· Second: SPR had a full-time Assistant Rector for nine years. Jarrett Kerbel, Kara Wagner Sherer, Sarah Fisher, and I threw our energy into building this parish. We must return to that level of staffing to continue to thrive. 150 families giving $180 each would do it.

· Third: I want to be upfront that the 2011 budget will require our continued generosity. However, we will pay off $13,000 in interest payments and receive $15,000 more from Lilly in 2011. Combined, that gives next year's budget a $28,000 advantage over 2010. To be sure, annual giving for 2011 will be critically important and a real challenge, but we will be relieved of some of the pressures from 2010.

· Fourth: The Vestry and I are committed to living within our means. At the Annual Meeting the Wardens told you that cuts would be made if new money was not raised by the March 17 Vestry meeting. To honor that, I ask you to please make your gift now. A letter and a giving envelope will arrive at your home early this week. Or just write Assistant Rector in the memo line of your check. To honor our commitment to transparency, we will only keep the special gifts if we raise enough to hire an Assistant Rector. If we do not, any money you have given will be applied to an existing 2010 pledge or returned to you. It's all or nothing.

· A final detail, I want to recognize the good work that Anne Benvenuti is doing on a part-time basis during this transition time at SPR. We have benefitted greatly from Anne's gifts of preaching and pastoral care. It has been my privilege to preside with her at the table. As planned, we will continue to benefit from her leadership until June.

Erin and I, the staff, and every member of the Vestry have already committed a total of $8,745 to this vision. Most of us have already written checks. I invite you to join the leadership in making a gift before the 17th so that we can hire a terrific Assistant Rector, Ray Massenburg. 150 families giving $180 each would do it. Of course, some grad students will give $20 and some families will give thousands. Together we can do it. Ray would join an already very talented staff to support and to lead our community as we continue to be a parish that mirrors the radical hospitality practiced by Jesus, a parish we need, a parish our city needs.

AMEN

[1] Brendan Byrne, The Hospitality of God: A Reading of Luke's Gospel (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2000), 131.