We changed the altar hangings. We switched the lectionary readings. We planned a party with hamburgers and hot dogs afterwards.
We had just over a dozen people come to church.
These are the days when I feel that sense of loneliness that I preached about.
Texts: Is. 42:5-12, Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3; Matthew 10:7-16
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Within the first couple of weeks of arriving here at St. Barnabas…I
must have had at least three people come to me and share the story of how our
church got its name.
Back in the early 1980s…there was a dream of starting a second
Episcopal Church…on the northside of Valdosta…close to Moody Air Force Base.
There was this land…ten acres on Bemiss Road…that was the perfect
location.
Bishop Phil Reeves and Dr. Buddy Pitts were walking the property.
Bishop Reeves spotted the old barn that was still standing in the field.
And Bishop Reeves said to Dr. Pitts, “Why don’t we call this church
Saint BARNabas?”
Get it: Barn. Barnabas.
I can imagine that these two men took great delight at this clever
idea.
Certainly, everyone who has shared this story with me thought it
was super funny.
And…as it often happens in this life…God is the one who gets the
last laugh.
Because in picking what might have been seen as a clever…cute…and
humorous name for our church put us on a path of living into the life and
legend of the real Saint Barnabas.
A path which fits in with our stated vision of a world that is full
of “health, healing, and hope with unconditional love.”
That’s the life that Barnabas is said to have lived.
Born in Cyprus in the First Century to a wealthy family…Joseph the
Levite…who the apostles would later rename Barnabas…was a Hellenistic Jew….
meaning he spoke and prayed in Greek, but not Hebrew or Aramaic.
Some scholars believe Barnabas was born not long after Jesus’
birth.
While he was not part of the original twelve disciples…it’s
possible that Barnabas may have encountered Jesus while studying under
Gamaliel…a Jewish teacher and member of the Sanhedrin who had also mentored
Paul.
Jesus’ teachings about the care for the poor…and oppressed…made
such an impression on Barnabas that he sold a field that belonged to him and
gave all the money to the apostles. This is when they gave him his name…. which
means Son of Encouragement.
And he was an encourager.
When Paul had his major conversion moment on the road to
Damascus…it was Barnabas who encouraged the apostles to accept Paul into the
community despite his prior reputation as a persecutor of the Jesus movement.
When a dispute arose in Jerusalem over whether Gentiles needed to
be circumcised in the same that the Jewish followers of Jesus had been…it was
Barnabas and Paul who successfully argued to let all these new pagan converts
be themselves and not try to become Jewish.
And as we heard in our reading from the Acts of the Apostles… it
was thanks to the work of Barnabas and Paul in Antioch…which was one of the
most populous cities on the border of Turkey and Syria at the time… that the
term “Christian” came into use to describe this emerging movement of Jews and
Gentiles who were followers of Jesus’ teachings.
Barnabas and Paul would later have a falling out…with each going
their separate ways and continuing to do the work of the Gospel among the
Gentile populations. Barnabas went back to Cyprus with his cousin…John
Mark…believed to be the author of the Gospel of Mark.
It was there…some time about the year 62 C-E that a mob of
Greco-Roman pagans stoned Barnabas to death.
John Mark buried him…and would later also bury Paul after his
martyrdom in Rome.
Which gets us to this last line of our Gospel from Matthew: “See, I
am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents
and innocent as doves” (Matt 9:16).
Barnabas and the other followers of Jesus were living and
ministering in a time when they were not part of the in-crowd, or the popular
ones.
They were a minority group.
And like anyone who doesn’t enjoy the perks and privileges of being
in the majority…they had to be wary…know how to speak their truth in the face
of a sometimes hostile audience…expect nothing in return and be ready to move
on if necessary.
Minorities in a majority culture can never fully rest unless the
majority consents to grant them peace.
The apostles already knew there would be those who didn’t welcome
them.
That’s why Jesus uses that line about Sodom and Gomorrah…to remind
them that they will encounter people who oppose them…even some who say
they are following God.
Despite what some in the Christian church have tried to say about
the story of Sodom and Gomorrah…the moral take away from that story out of
Genesis Chapter 19 has nothing to do with sex…or sexual orientation.
It was about those two cities…places of means and abundance…who
refused to welcome a stranger. Indeed were violent toward those they saw as
“outsiders.”
Lack of hospitality…and the failure to show compassion and
kindness… were deadly faux pas in the ancient world.
We don’t face quite the same threat of dire destruction in our
culture.
But…those places… and particularly…those houses of worship and
people of faith who don’t offer respite and the equivalent of a cold cup of
water to someone suffering from the heat and exhaustion of the world…are doomed
to fail.
That brings us back to our patron saint and namesake…Barnabas.
Because we are the community of Saint Barnabas….we have a special
role to play in our larger area of Lowndes County to be a place known for
hospitality.
One that all of us can and should put our minds to thinking about.
At our recent vestry retreat…we were looking at trends across the
various generations…as well as those things that we see as pressing needs
around us.
The vestry members named climate change and affordable
housing…especially for seniors…as important issues facing all of us.
And they also identified “Loneliness” as an issue.
In a Harvard Graduate School study shared with the group…in a survey
of 950 people…researchers found “serious loneliness” was a big concern.
More than 40-percent of adults over age 55 said they were lonely.
More than 60-percent of the adults ages 18-25 said they had an
acute sense of loneliness.
Where does a place such as St. Barnabas fit into the mix to meet
people in their loneliness?
How do we make our vision of health…healing…and hope with
unconditional love…translate into the type of hospitality that welcomes and
helps to connect people?
The young with the old…people of different
backgrounds…orientations…races…and abilities…creating a space where they feel
included?
How do we build a community that makes even more connections beyond
our congregation…so that we continue in that tradition of seeking and serving
the Christ in others…loving our neighbors as ourselves?
Our founders chose the name Barnabas.
We now have the opportunity to be those sons and daughters of encouragement
God wants us to be.
In the name of God…F/S/HS.
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