The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee



The Celebration of a New Ministry , January 28, 2012, St. Joseph of Arimathea Hendersonville

“I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last…” (Jo. 15:16).

This afternoon we’re gathered for a happy duty, to celebrate the call of the Rev. Jody Howard as Rector of St. Joseph’s Church in Hendersonville. This is a new ministry but in a couple of significant ways it’s not new. First and most obvious is the fact that Fr. Jody has been ministering at St Joseph’s Church for two years as Priest-in-charge, and before that for two and a half years as Vicar of nearby St. Francis’ Church Goodlettsville, which has now been united with St. Joseph’s. He has lived and ministered in this part of the Diocese of Tennessee for the better part of five years, so he is no stranger to this community. Though his ministry as Rector is a new one, and well worth celebrating, he already knows you in some important and significant ways. I’m glad that you have been able to make this call, and that he has accepted, because I am convinced that the convergence of events that brought you together at this particular point in the life of this particular community was a providential blessing. So it’s a joy to say “welcome” in a new way to Jody and Anna and now Eli, here in this place.

The second way in which this ministry is not new is that it is simply one moment in a ministry that has been going on for a long time, here in the Hendersonville area in the Diocese of Tennessee but also in the life of the Church: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, as we say in the Creed. It’s a significant moment in the life of this priest and of this parish, but it is just one moment in a rather grand story that begins in Jerusalem with Jesus’ death and resurrection and runs right through to our own day, as Christians have shared the Good News and been formed into a community of faith, the Church.

Our roots run deep into the time of the call of Abraham and the establishment of God’s Covenant with Israel, when God claimed a People as his own and then gave them a Land. Now the Church, the new Israel, has become a community of many peoples and nations, and makes its dwelling place in all lands. Jesus has sent his followers everywhere, and the particular moments of celebration and joy, of challenge and sorrow also, are simply snapshots in a family album with many volumes that go back to the beginning. We have been the Church for a long time, gathering around God’s altar in the name of Christ, and what we do today is just the latest iteration of a longstanding ministry.

Jesus wasn’t kidding when he told the disciples in John’s Gospel that they had been chosen to bear fruit, fruit that will last. This ministry too, at St Joseph’s Church, will be fruitful, as the branches of the True Vine continue to grow and to bear their fruit. It will be fruitful as we cultivate friendship with Jesus Christ, who no longer calls us servants but friends. We grow in friendship with Christ as we spend time with him, in communion and prayer, and as we spend time with his brothers and sisters assembled here. We are called to love one another by our Gospel today, as Jesus Christ himself has loved us; our future lies with each other. We are in this together, branches of the True Vine. We together seek friendship with Christ so that we can bear fruit that will last.

As branches of the True Vine we are also called to a common ministry together. That’s a large part of what we’re celebrating today. The ministry was here before any of us arrived because it transcends any one person. It involves all of us. Today we celebrate the feast of St Thomas Aquinas, teacher and theologian, a wise and holy man who said this about that: “To teach in order to lead others to faith is the task of every preacher and of each believer.” That’s right, each of us, each believer, is called to share the faith, to teach and lead others to faith.

Thomas Aquinas may have lived in the Middle Ages but there is nothing dated in his words. I know that Jody Howard is committed to preaching and teaching and leading others to faith; he understands that this is the task of the preacher. But the measure of the success, the fruitfulness of the ministry of St. Joseph’s Church, will be in the degree to which he persuades you to lead others to faith; the degree to which St Joseph’s Church becomes a place where friendship with Christ is cultivated, and people are led to faith and to deepened faith by the ministry of this church.

This is just a single moment in that ministry; just one of many that have come before and many that will (pray God) come after here in this parish. But it’s a good moment, a mighty good moment, in which God is powerfully present, and both Fr. Jody and St. Joseph’s parish can take stock and chart a course. It’s time for us to focus, and to bring things into focus. It’s a time for the ministry of God’s Church to break forth into blossom.

- The Rt. Rev’d John Bauerschmidt, Bishop of Tennessee

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