The Rev. Nora Smith

The Church of the Intercession

July 20, 2008

Romans 8:12-25

Brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ-- if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

In 1962 a former vicar of the Chapel of the Intercession, the late C. Kilmer Myers, spoke to the New York Times about the lost role of saints in the Christian tradition. Myers said, “We have relegated the saints to a pink and blue and gold world of plaster statuary that belongs to the past; it is a hangover, a relic, of the Dark Ages when men were the children of fantasy’s magic.”

I have an update:

The saints drove up to the Church of the Intercession last Sunday afternoon. They piled out of their cars and mini-vans wearing black t-shirts with the words “INTERCESSION, SUMMER 2008” emblazoned in day-glo green. There was no pink, blue, or gold to be seen, and the only part of them that was plaster was the big bag of ready-to-mix compound brought in to repair walls. The saints who arrived at Intercession last Sunday afternoon were no relics of the past, no remnants of the Dark Ages, but children of this generation -the Youth Group of Christ Church, Warwick, NY- with their heads full of fantasy and magical imagination about what they might encounter here and what they might be able to do for us and for the love of God.

If you wanted assurance that saints have not been relegated to the nostalgic past you only needed to stop by the church last week and meet the Youth Group and youth leaders from Christ Church, Warwick. If the saints are examples of faith in action, whose activities in the world are known to be inspired by the Holy Spirit, then I want you to know that The New York Times can come and interview me right now and I will tell them all about saints. They are nothing like statues. In fact, I don’t think I saw any of them not moving a mile a minute: hauling trash, scraping, painting, plastering, and polishing; and all the while, laughing, chattering, and singing.

This was a week full of moments where the presence of God was undeniable. I felt as if I were living inside a moment where the Good News had come to life right before my eyes. If the saints are those who bring the love of God to life then I want to give you a new, living illustration from the past week:

It was evident by Monday afternoon that the projects we and the folks from Christ Church, Warwick had set out to accomplish were going to be finished ahead of schedule. In fact, by Tuesday they had filled a 40-yard construction dumpster and determined that we needed to order another! But, instead of congratulating themselves on their speed and efficiency, the group set about looking for more to be done.

Together with Tommy and Eddie, the crew started imagining more projects and so we determined to take a supply of floor tile that had been hiding in a closet for years and re-tile the pantry in the Gates House.

Now, the pantry is not so large, but the floor was a big fat mess. Undaunted, Father Scott, Youth Leader Eddie Sattler, and some of the kids set to work with elbow grease and scrapers to take up the old floor. Now that turned out to be a bigger job than anyone had foreseen and consequently the pantry floor was looking much worse than had we just left it alone. In fact, it turned out that the floor next to the sink was rotted, making it impossible to lay tiles there. It looked kind of hopeless. At about this time that I decided I was ill-equipped for flooring and headed for an exit. As I passed by in the hallway I saw Father Scott sitting on the floor with a scraper, going over and over a messy old glue spot by the threshold which resisted removal. Now, tiles could have been easily laid over those old glue spots, but that would be lumpy and imperfect. While some of the crew were getting cleaned up and ready for supper, I left for home too, waving goodbye to Father Scott who looked up and smiled broadly and went right back to scraping.

During that evening I reflected on the busy day. We’d had a Law & Order shoot that afternoon- the first in months- and a young woman from the crew had spent a long time talking with me about her daughter. At the end of the day she asked if I would baptize her child and we agreed to meet again the next afternoon to talk about that. She had felt something special here and thought perhaps Intercession might be a good place for her to reconnect with God after a difficult time. Later, we had a bunch of curious location scouts come through and they were so awestruck they signed up for a big shoot for a new TV series- bringing in almost enough money to cover our Con Edison deposit. Finally, on my way home, I received another call from a different scout with a last minute TV shoot for this past Friday! There was so much happy hubbub in the place that people from the neighborhood started popping in to see what was going on. It was fun and lively here; filled with a strong sense of the Spirit in motion.

I blame those saints.

Returning early the next morning, I passed through the Gates House, stopping to pop my head into the pantry…and there I saw Father Scott, right where I had left him, scraping away patiently at that resistant spot, grunting from the exertion of removing 30 year old tar, getting the floor prepared for its resurrection. At that moment I looked over at him and thought:

“I consider the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed…” and then, “for who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

Now, Saint Paul was not writing to the church in Rome about property improvements. Paul was writing about hope.

Saint Paul teaches that all of creation is inextricably linked. But he also asserts that it is moving towards the perfection that God intends. Jesus Christ was not exempt from suffering, nor did he spare us from the realities of the world. But Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection reveal that any suffering in the present is far outweighed by the magnitude of glory in the world to come.

Saint Paul was not writing to the church in Rome about property improvements. Paul was writing about hope.

This week at the Church of the Intercession it amounted to the same thing.

“for who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

I am not sure I am patient enough to wait for that full revelation so I look for little glimpses in the here and now; little clues, little hints, little doorways that reveal God’s glory. For me this week that revelation is a vinyl tile floor in the Gates House, patiently prepared and pressed into place by the loving hands of a group of missionaries from Christ Church, Warwick, NY.

Hope. That is what the saints embody. Hope and perseverance, and joy in service to God and God’s creation.

Today we might only get a little glimpse of the Spirit’s movement in the direction of creation’s final, glorious perfection; a small revelation that refreshes our hope and restores our excitement and commitment to live a gospel life. Today, for that sense of refreshment and hope, I suggest you simply look around at what the saints from Christ Church, Warwick, NY have done.

On lost role of saints in Christian tradition, NY Times 19 Mar 62