The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee



The Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 2010, Church of St. Joseph of Arimathea Hendersonville

“Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn” (Is. 60:3).

“A cold coming we had of it, /just the worst time of the year /for a journey, and such a long journey:/ The ways deep and the weather sharp,/ The very dead of winter.” So the poet Eliot paraphrased Lancelot Andrewes’ sermon preached on Christmas Day in 1622, and adapted it for his own poem, “Journey of the Magi.” “It was no summer progress,” wrote the Bishop about the journey of the wise men, words that we ourselves might adapt for the journey here tonight to St Joseph’s Church. “And these difficulties they overcame, of a wearisome, irksome, troublesome, dangerous, unseasonable journey; and for all this they came,” wrote the Bishop; and so we too come, to pay homage and to worship, as those wise men did.

The Magi are representative figures in the Gospel of Matthew: that is, they signify more than just themselves; they bear a tale that goes beyond their own biography; they represent a crucial piece of the witness of the Gospel. They are primitive scientists, folks worth knowing because the knowledge they possess through study of the stars is crucial to calendar, crops, and civilization itself. They’re also identified with the kings of the old prophecy from Isaiah, the kings who submit to the royal line of David. So the magi who take their place at the crib represent human knowledge and human power, science and politics, kneeling in the presence of the child who is born king of the Jews.

But we go further to the main point of the Gospel about these representative figures. They signify all the nations of the earth, the Gentiles gathered to see the manifestation of God. The wise men are often shown in multi-national hues, as representing peoples of every tongue, tribe, and nation, and this abundantly illustrates the main point of the Gospel. The God of the Jews, YHWH, is revealed as the God of all people; so the People of God are not restricted to a particular family, culture, or tribe, but include all peoples. The Gospel has a global reach; the Church is a universal community; Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world.

This feast of the Epiphany is an appropriate occasion for us to celebrate the unification of St. Francis’ and St. Joseph’s Churches. The Gospel with a global reach is pertinent to all, and a Church which has a claim to universal community has a universal mission which is lived out in particular places. These two congregations which come together tonight both came to birth to do Gospel ministry and to carry out Gospel mission in this part of the Diocese of Tennessee, in an area that is growing and which the Church is called to serve. They are both part of a community of faith that goes beyond the confines of this locale; they have a common stem in the Diocese of Tennessee, and are both expressions of its common life. They come together in this place to serve more faithfully and to carry out the mission of the Church more fully than they are able to do on their own.

There is a great opportunity here for the newly configured and newly united congregation of St. Joseph’s Church, Hendersonville. For the Mission Council and members of St. Francis’ Church, there is the opportunity to continue to carry out Gospel ministry in a well-located and well-established community of faith. For the Vestry and members of St. Joseph’s Church, there is the opportunity to catch some of the vision that led to the more recent planting of St. Francis’ Church, to be infected with the idea of church growth and mission that was part of the genesis of this congregational plant. As the newly configured and newly united congregation of St Joseph’s, the members of this community of faith together have a great opportunity, “a second chance” if you will, to return afresh to the ministry and the mission that they were given at their start.

The unification of these congregations is a result of the generosity of leadership and membership in these two faith communities, as well as providential circumstances that helped bring it about. I’m grateful to the Vestry of St. Joseph’s Church and to the Mission Council of St. Francis’ Church; grateful as well to the Rev. Jill Zook-Jones, the interim Rector at St. Joseph’s and to the Rev. Jody Howard, Vicar of St. Francis’ and the newly appointed Priest-in-charge at St. Joseph’s as it begins a newly configured and newly united life. We give thanks to God for his great generosity in giving us this opportunity, this “second chance.” There is a new vision here, new possibilities, new life that comes through the death that leads to resurrection.

Make no mistake: the Church’s mission lies outside these doors, in the works of service you are called to do, and in the persons who are out there and not yet here in the pews. The Feast of the Epiphany reminds us that our mission is not to “the chosen people” who are already here, but to the much greater number who are not here, and to those who are not yet here. The Gospel has a global reach; the Church is a universal community; Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world. We cannot afford to be blinkered in our vision, focusing on ourselves, but instead endued with a greater vision that focuses on the world outside and on the people that God sends us. We need to be a light to the world, as surely as the star that rose in the east. May the birth of this newly configured and newly united congregation of St Joseph bring a new dawn in this corner of the Diocese of Tennessee, a fresh witness, and a new life.

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

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