Farewell Sermon, Pastor Lou Florio
Messiah Lutheran, Mechanicsville, VA
Feast of the Conversion of Paul
Close of the Week of Prayer of Christian Unity
January 25, 2019
Year C Readings:
Acts 9:1-22; Psalm 67; Galatians 1:11-24; Luke 21:10-19
So here we are…Many miles and more than eleven years have passed since I first came to Messiah as your pastor. What an adventure it has been! We’ve made a lot of progress, and yes, we have taken a wrong turn a time or two as well. Yet with God’s grace and guidance, holding onto each other’s hands and caring for one another’s hearts, we’ve made it to this day. It proves a surprising day where God is doing something wondrous and new, and yet it is as God always does on every day, whether we are aware of it or not…even when it seems sad or hard. God is always doing something wondrous and new.
Still, it appears to be a pretty big if not dangerous turn in the road ahead, doesn’t it? What will happen to Kristine and me as we enter a new congregation with new challenges and new people? … And challenges and people often go together, don’t they?… And what about Messiah, who will be sent to walk with you into a future the prophet’s promise will be one filled with hope? Well, if I know anything of God after my 55+ years traveling on this globe, I know this. The journey will not always be easy…in fact it will often prove extremely hard…but God’s loving grace will always be there to carry us forward. In good times and bad, God will send us to the people that need our help and encouragement. God will also send us the people we need.
Amidst this certainty, how much like Paul we can still prove to be…so often blind to the plans of God…frequently resisting them even as we think we are doing the right thing. And then suddenly, in profound moments of grace, we catch a glimpse of Jesus. Perhaps through the circumstances or people sent our way…maybe it’s a still, small voice speaking to our heart…but we ultimately hear Jesus challenge and encourage us. Amidst our fears or missteps, he tells us, “get up and enter the [future], and you will be told what you are to do.” You see, Jesus, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, is in that future already waiting to welcome us. Through our faith and baptism, he has claimed us. He upholds us. It is he who ultimately guides us as a shepherd, and it is he who wills to see us travel together home.
Like Paul, we might have to repent of some of our ways, and maybe we will need an Ananias or two to help us keep straight. And for all of us, wherever we are on this journey, we are invited as children to continually grow in our knowledge and awareness of Christ. It is together through this relationship called “church,” we hear the word of God and share the Lord’s Supper. We together proclaim the Gospel and serve the Christ in others. We grow in this communion of love; in oneness with Christ, his angels and all the saints. And yes, this wondrous new reality includes those of all traditions in his universal church.
On this pilgrimage of sorts, we discover that we are men and women, children who belong to the Way. Claimed in our baptism and continually formed and transformed by the Holy Spirit, we go forward into a certain future…one of hope…despite the fact we do not know the way on our own. And so with Simon Peter, we might meekly, longingly and perhaps even sadly in desperation say, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You [alone] have the words of eternal life.” Yet we can trust with Paul, even in our weakness, that we have been chosen and called to be instruments of Christ’s love. We have something to offer no matter how messed up, weak or small we think we are. Our ultimate victory is assured.
And thus, it is no surprise to me as to how many more scales came from my own eyes as we entered the Way more deeply together. I saw Jesus in how a previously wounded congregation united in love. It was willing to do anything it could to not only reconcile but also to welcome the stranger. As these people came into our lives, they were often helped with housing and food. Several were moved from homelessness to the working world. Others were embraced when the world and even their own families had thrown them aside as if they had no value. Some stayed as our brothers and sisters here at Messiah. Some went on with our blessing. And although disagreements and even sin could arise, we loved one another and forgave one another time and time again.
A wonderful thing happened on this walk with Jesus and one another. We were blessed even as we sought to bless others. I, for one, had the opportunity to grow in my understanding of Jesus and the power of his love. Yet we also made new friends. Yes, this includes many of those we helped, but we also found that God sent us still others to serve beside us. Our brothers and sisters at All Souls Episcopal come to mind first and foremost. (I lovingly call them my “Episco-peeps.”) Who would have thought God would do so much through our two little, sometimes struggling congregations just by the opening of our hearts, our buildings and our missions to one another? Jesus has been most certainly doing something unique in and through these two bonded congregations. I dare say he won’t stop now if you dare to continue to listen and walk with him. Whatever happens, whatever Jesus has in mind for your relationship, I echo Christ’s own command and urge you to love one another. That love has made a profound difference in the world already, and your relationship proves to be a living parable of communion for others.
And although they were often secular in nature, our cooperation with many other community organizations proved important too. It also meant since we were there, Jesus was there. This led to some discovering Jesus and his Church in a positive way perhaps for the first time, or at least becoming more aware of them. Still others were affirmed in their already existing faith. Serving humanitarian needs or even the needs of our animal friends, the world was made a better place, and that’s partly through the new relationships forged.
I remember one woman who had visited us several times after we warmly and sincerely welcomed her and her dog at our pet blessing and craft fair. Before that, she had become disaffected (if not wounded) on her journey with Christ’s church. One Sunday after several months of visiting here and there, she stopped coming without saying a word. Yet a few years later, she visited us for Christmas Eve, and she told me that she had moved to the mountains and joined a Lutheran congregation there. She said, “Your congregation is why I became Lutheran.” I stopped to consider her statement, as I have done many times since. Through the very little that we had done…the authentic welcome of a women and her dog in Christ’s name…with no ulterior motive…the Spirit had been at work for a life-changing purpose.
How many other little moments of blessing went unseen nor fully understood? I imagine many. I could go on and on with stories of “Jesus sightings,” acts of quiet yet profound generosity, offerings of forgiveness and love. Unfortunately, there’s not enough time. The blessings are too many and the time much too short. It is now time for me and Kristine to leave. And this makes us truly sad.
Yet, I have also learned on my journey that partings, although sad, can indeed prove part of God’s plan for the desert to bloom. As I left the brothers of Taizé, I cried, but I knew a little bit of their hearts would remain with me, and mine with theirs…that the promise of the communion of saints would prove true. Indeed, I give God thanks for them each day when I think of them. What a surprising joy it was to have them with us last April for our young adult event! It was as if we had never parted, and I now wonder if our paths will cross again. Later as I left the Native American youth I loved so deeply and sought to serve as a missionary in South Dakota, I pondered (and continue to ponder) how they made my life better and informed my faith and service here at Messiah. I still sense that I remain in communion with them, and when we are in touch through the internet, our hearts are found to remain connected; never truly parted. We remain better for our relationship. And as I went on from internship in Maryland, and hospice chaplaincy, and now move on from being your pastor, I trust I will remain connected to you and the many others who have walked with me in beauty and love. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, through the faith, hope and loved shared, Kristine and I will remain in communion with you all forever. Our lives have been transformed, and we can’t go back.
This has been a sacred journey, but it isn’t over yet. The Way is with us, and it lies before us. The Way calls us to remain one in faith and mission until the day of his glorious return. Through my time with you, my eyes have been opened wider; my life changed more for the good. I will glorify our God more often and more clearly because of you. And despite all this good, I still must leave you. God is calling me to share what I have received here with others. I know not why yet, but someday God will make it clear to me. I also trust that God will use what we have shared to move you and others forward in proclaiming our faith, that Jesus is the Son of God. This makes my heart glad even as we have shed tears at this parting. As Martin Luther said, “This is not the end, but it is the road.” It is the road made for us; the one we must travel. (I just wish there weren’t so many bumps!)
Walk on my brothers and sisters. Do not be afraid. Wherever God will lead us through our comings and goings, it remains true that we who are loved by Christ never walk alone. And although separated by miles, or years, or even by suffering and death, the Way carries us together toward one certain destination, a new heaven and new earth…a new home with the Triune God and all the angels and saints forever.
So, “Come, Lord Jesus! Come!” We long for you to lead us home, wherever the Way might take us. Amen.
©The Rev. Louis Florio, January 27, 2019
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