The Rev. Austin K. Rios
2 October 2022: Proper 22
On most Sundays ahead of the 10:30 morning worship here at St. Paul’s, I translate and print out a copy of the sermon in Italian or Spanish, to allow as much multilingual participation as possible while I usually preach in English.
However, as this Sunday marks the 30th anniversary celebration of the Latin American community of St. Paul’s, I’m going to preach the rest of this sermon in Spanish and I have provided written copies of this sermon in English.
If you have not yet gotten a copy of the sermon and wish to, raise your hand and the greeters can make sure you do!
Ready?
When you reach an historical milestone, whether it be in your personal life, or in the life of a community, it provides an opportunity to reflect on how you got to this point.
For the Latin American community of St. Paul’s, the story of these last 30 years began with the arrival of the founding members and ministers as migrants.
While that arrival was due to the availability of work, many of those founding members experienced difficulties arising from racism, xenophobia, and other fear-based responses aimed at immigrants the world over.
This community was a safe place to reconnect with the God who accompanies us in the midst of our journeys, a place to celebrate the cultural heritages of home—then, primarily the mountains and coastlands of Ecuador—and a place to grow together while navigating life in this new country.
Over the years, while first-generation immigrant experiences gave way to second-generation realities, the community began to change.
Part of this was due to difficulties in ordained leadership at the time, but mostly the change was due to the difference between the needs of a community of first-generation migrants and the needs of an established community seeking to build for the future.
Children and grandchildren were born here in Italy and spoke more Italian than Spanish, and our community’s cultural programming became about preserving the link to the rhythms and traditions of home an ocean away.
While this kind of cultural remembering is important, it can cause a community to stagnate if not accompanied by making active memories with new members alongside the valuing of the old.
This is a classic struggle we all face as members of the church—how much of our worship is memorializing something that happened long ago, and how much of it is bringing forward the power and lessons of that time to better inform and animate the present?
Some of the best moments I have witnessed as Rector of this church for the last 10 years arise when the Latin American Community of St. Paul’s understands itself not as a separate interest group using space in this building, but rather as an integral part of the entire body—a necessary component of our collective witness in Rome, with particular gifts to share for the benefit of all.
Regardless of what language we speak, regardless of which country we call home, we have all been called by Christ to form a new Body that can proclaim, share, and live into the new kind of community Jesus inaugurated among his disciples.
In this new community, our distinctions are not cause for division, but rather are reasons to rejoice—the blessed diversity of God’s creation shines through us.
In this new community, there are no insiders and outsiders, but rather all of us have been welcomed by grace into this fellowship of faith, and the only way of expressing our gratefulness for that grace is by welcoming others in the same way we have been welcomed.
In this new community, we are constantly seeking to respond to the movement of the Holy Spirit and to model all aspects of our shared life according to its designs.
That means that we must not be afraid of making changes if certain ways of worship or community building no longer serve us, and we approach our relationships with one another with authenticity and forgiveness instead of guardedness and suspicion.
This call to new community in Christ is not only for the Latin American Community of St. Paul’s but for our entire church.
One of my favorite parts of today’s readings is from Paul’s Second letter to Timothy—a letter that is tender and personal and written most likely while Paul was in prison for proclaiming and raising up this type of new community in his own age.
Paul acknowledges the great gifts of Timothy’s ancestors in the faith—recalling his grandmother’s and mother’s faith—but quickly reminds Timothy that the faith that has been passed down to him is a living thing for which he is accountable.
“For this reason, I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace.[1]”
Today is a day for celebrating 30 years of the Latin American Community’s witness here in Rome.
It is day for remembering the blessings of the founding members of this community, the gifts brought forth by successive generations, and a time to rekindle the gift of God that is among us and work together without cowardice toward a strengthened witness for today and tomorrow.
As we share today’s meal downstairs after the service, try to get to know members of the larger body that you might not yet know, even if you speak different languages.
In the weeks and months ahead, ask yourself: “How can I build upon the legacy of our community so that it is a living stone for the disciplined construction of the new community Christ calls us to become?
In what ways am I willing to ‘guard the good treasure entrusted to us[2]’ and give of my gifts to see this new community grow in order to better serve others as I was once served?”
We give thanks to God today for the testimony, work, and sacrifices of previous generations who helped our church become what it is today—a multilingual, multicultural, multinational fellowship.
May we resolve on this anniversary to serve together as one Body, blessedly gifted in diverse ways, so that the liberating and healing power of God may both renew us and reshape the world according to the love we know in Christ Jesus.
And when future generations celebrate significant anniversaries in our church’s life, may they see in our efforts what we value in the sacrifices of our forebears—the committed work and shared joy of those whose lives have been transformed by the gospel and who lived it out as faithfully as they could, so that the whole world might know that joy and transformation as well.
[1] 2 Timothy 1:6-9a
[2] 2 Timothy 1:14