Saturday, June 21, 2014

Stones

Easter 5; Yr. A, May 18, 2014
Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14
Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

            Stones.  Stones can be used for building up or tearing down.  When I was younger, we lived in North Carolina.  We were the last house on the street adjacent to miles of woodland and a small creek where we would often go to play.  One day down at the creek, I got mad at my younger brother.  I picked up one of the stones on the dirt road and threw it at him.  It hit him in the face, right beside his eye.  Another few millimeters and it would have taken that eye right out.  As soon as I threw that stone, I knew it was a mistake.  I wanted to reach out and pull it back out of the air, but it was too late. 

            That was a literal stone, but we throw stones all the time, words or actions that hit and bite the flesh of others in our lives.  Stones that can be just as hurtful, even if the other never sees them.  Some words we keep in our hearts, names we call others in our frustration … judgments we make when we don’t feel heard or when we’re not getting our own way.  Instead of voicing our feelings we let them boil and build up inside us, and turn into hard stones of resentment that create walls between us and others.  Stones that can come out when we least expect it, hitting someone right between the eyes. 
            We do not have to become stone throwers.  We can become stone carvers, people who use the hardness of life to relate to others in hard times; People who learn to share experiences of hate, or disappointment, or fear with integrity and courage – sharing the stones we all carry.  We can learn to accept them as a natural part of our human condition without wrapping them in layers of shame and denial … where they just get harder and harder to safely contain.  That learning begins in childhood.
            Children living in poverty have a rocky life.  Their lives are very unpredictable.  They come to school in the morning often hungry, sometimes in clothes that haven’t been washed, perhaps coming from a home that is rife with conflict and frustration, maybe having lost what little they had because the family had to move … yet again.  The city of Rochester has areas of dense poverty that are unrivaled in other cities in our country.  Poverty breeds stones of despair, mistrust, anger and resignation.
            Why go to school if your parents have a high school education or college degree, but can’t find work?  Why go to school if you feel like no one understands where you’re coming from, and there’s no time to tell them?  Why go to school if it doesn’t seem to address the problems you’re having today?  Why go to school if you’re afraid of what might happen there?  Hope gets lost amidst the rubble.  Many of those living in extreme poverty are people of faith, and hope in God is their only hope.  It’s what gets them through the day.
            Many of you know that I’ve been part of a team in the diocese that is working toward establishing a partnership with Nazareth Elementary School on Lake Avenue.  It’s a Roman Catholic school owned by the Sisters of St. Joseph. Originally the stones of that building housed Nazareth Academy, a high school for girls.  On a separate site they operated Nazareth Hall, an elementary school.  Four years ago, the Sisters closed Nazareth Academy when they entered into a partnership with Aquinas High School, a Roman Catholic school for boys located near to them.  Aquinas became co-ed and accepted the students from Nazareth Academy, and the Sisters moved Nazareth Hall into the Nazareth Academy building, focusing their resources on younger students, laying a solid foundation for education, a rock to support young minds and shelter tender spirits.  For almost 100 years that building has been used to educate and form children for the future.  In faith, the stones of that place have been used to build up children in the city.  
            As part of a series called "My Big Break," All Things Considered is collecting stories of triumph, big and small. [They are] moments when everything seemed to click, and people leapt forward into their careers.”[1]  Recently, they told a story about a doctor, Sampson David, who started out as a Robin Hood in his neighborhood, stealing money from drug dealers and giving it back to the poor who lived there.   One night, they had jumped out of their car and they were patting down the dealers when a police car showed up and everyone was arrested.  Because he was 17, he spent the summer in a juvenile detention center.  In that cell, he made up his mind to change his life.  He called it his “big break”. 
            When he returned to school for his senior year, he and his two friends made a pact to become doctors without even knowing what was involved, or how they would accomplish it.  No one in his family had a college education, yet all three of them finished college.  Today one is a dentist and the other two are doctors.  Dr. Davis returned to his hometown of Newark, NJ and now serves as an Emergency Rom doctor in a hospital there.  One night, he heard the name of a man who had been admitted to the Emergency Department the night before.  It was a name he recognized as a man from his neighborhood, so he ran down to see him.  The man had died, having been shot numerous times.  Dr. Davis realized that that could have been him.  That could have been his fate, if he hadn’t had his “big break”. 
            Several things struck me about this story.  First I was reminded how making good choices in our youth can frame our future.  Second, because young people are still learning how to make those choices – second chances are critical.  Third, because sticking to your choices, especially if they’re ambitious, isn’t easy.  A supportive community helps us stay focused on some of the good, but difficult choices we make in life.  I wonder if the story would have ended differently if this young man hadn’t had two friends who were willing to make a pact together with him?  Jesus sent the apostles out two by two for a reason.  Lastly, education is key to breaking many of the destructive cycles we can get into … the cycle of poverty, incarceration, and teen pregnancy to name a few.
            Children need places where they can learn in the presence of love and acceptance, where resilience is nurtured and hope is a rock they encounter every day.   Decisions made in security are much more likely to be the right ones.  Decisions made with the support of responsible adults and caring peers are more likely to be realized.  Lives grounded in hope, encourage dreams to become reality.  That’s the kind of educational environment I’d like to see every child in our city have the opportunity to experience.  That’s what I’ve experienced at Nazareth Elementary School.  That’s why I am so passionate about supporting it.
            Nazareth currently has about 180 students in pre-school through grade six.  They have the capacity to serve at least four hundred in their building.  In partnership with the diocese we could help to lower tuition, offer more financial aid, and increase enrollment to allow more children the educational opportunities that can lead to a brighter future.  Nazareth has a long standing tradition of academic excellence.  The Sisters of St. Joseph have a long history of quality service in the city, and they have shown themselves to be fabulous partners over the last two years.  The school would be incorporated as a faith based school honoring the Roman Catholic and Episcopal traditions, if we decide to jump on board.  Diocesan Council will be making decisions in their May and June meetings. 
            They will want to know how much support is “in the parishes”, so at the last district meeting we were asked to return to our parishes to see what sort of commitment, if any, each parish could make to a collaboration at Nazareth.  It doesn’t have to be intrusive or burdensome.  It can be as small as saying, this is a good idea and we’ll support it by placing materials in the back of our church.  Something we’re already doing.  Or it could be more.  At Trinity Church in Greece, they are inviting the children’s chorus from Nazareth to come sing at one of their services in September, to have a Nazareth Sunday when they will collect donations.  Another congregation thought about collecting school supplies in backpacks to be donated in September.  Some are raising up volunteers to help in classrooms.  The question is whether we want to make a commitment, and what form it will take.  The vestry will be asked to make a decision within the next month, so be sure that your voice reaches one of them!  As you think about what kind of involvement you or the parish might make, be creative.  Don’t be afraid to dream!
            I do not think this effort should detract us from paying very close attention to the public school situation in Rochester.  Let’s not make that a stumbling block to cooperation.  This is not an either/or commitment.  It is both/and.  Linda Dronsfield has continued to volunteer at School 16, and there is much work being done in the community to bring School 16 back to the neighborhood and promote the concept of neighborhood schools.  I think that is all good, and I support that work in whatever way I can.  A faith-based option is not for everyone, but if it’s an important option … only the faith community will make it a reality.  A system of free public education is critical to maintain in our city.  We can also support that system.  I’m happy to hear your ideas! 
            Stones … can be stumbling blocks or building blocks.  We are living stones … what will we build with ourselves … what will we create for others in this kingdom of God that is constantly emerging in our midst?  The choice is ours.
           
Amen




[1] From Without Life-Saving Pact, This Doctor Would Have Been The Patient by NPR STAFF, Broadcast April 27, 201412:41 PM ET on All Things Considered.  http://www.npr.org/2014/04/27/306915059/without-life-saving-pact-this-doctor-would-have-been-the-patient. Copyright ©2014 NPR.
[2] From Without Life-Saving Pact, This Doctor Would Have Been The Patient by NPR STAFF, Broadcast April 27, 201412:41 PM ET on All Things Considered.  http://www.npr.org/2014/04/27/306915059/without-life-saving-pact-this-doctor-would-have-been-the-patient. Copyright ©2014 NPR.

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