Into the wilderness

5 Easter B 2009
Acts 8: 26-40; Ps 22: 24-30; 1 John 4: 7-21; John 15: 1-8


Yesterday at noon I was drinking beer with Quasimodo.

OK fine, his name is not Quasimodo, he’s not a hunchback. His name’s Parker, but like Quasimodo he’s moved into the stone bell tower of Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church on Belmont and 55th. He’s there with the blessing of the congregation. And he’s not there to ring the bell. Michelle Harvey, Vestryperson, was with me. Why Parker is in that tower with the congregation’s blessing is a good story.

Mount Tabor Presbyterian Church is an old congregation founded in 1892. In their well-endowed stone church the congregation thrived in the years after both of the two World Wars. But now I’m told the congregation is down to about 40 people at last Sunday’s “traditional” service. They can’t pay their bills, they can’t keep up the large physical plant.

The congregation could have chosen to hang on that way of life to the bitter end, huddling close to one another, telling stories about the “old days”, badgering the central church authorities for more help. Instead they decided that they had to change if they are to have a future and if they are to continue to witness to the love of Christ.

So the congregation took all of their remaining resources and poured them into a new mission. One whole end of the building is being converted into an attractive arts center, coffee shop, and gathering place. They are making themselves an inviting place for post-modern, post-christian, de-churched or un-churched Portlanders to gather and to share faith and meaning and the challenges of their lives. Parker is leading this effort along with one of their younger clergy. When Michelle and I visited, we walked past a group of neighbors strolling around who were pointing and chatting about the work inside. “Yeah, it’s really nice, they call it Tabor Place” I heard one man say. It’s good to hear a non-churched person say something nice about a church in their midst.

I think what is happening at Mt. Tabor Pres is one way that today’s story from Acts comes alive. Philip heads out of familiar Jerusalem after that church is shattered by persecution. He runs into an unlikely man, a foreigner, a dark African who is also a eunuch, a rejected sexual minority according to religious law. Philip chooses to enter this man’s world and in turn is invited to share his space inside his chariot. Philip’s message falls on very fertile ground and the Ethiopian is swept away. He asks for baptism, and Philip freely gives him water and new birth. If you go to Ethiopia today you can see the result. You will see one of the oldest continuing Christian communities in the world. There Philip and the eunuch are honored as the apostles of Ethiopia.

Philip went into the wilderness. He did not stay home amidst a shattered Jerusalem church waiting for something to happen. Philip took the risk of trusting God and sharing the Gospel with a foreigner, overcoming whatever prejudice he felt towards dark-skinned folks or despised sexual minorities. He shared the Gospel gladly and the results were two Spirit-filled people and then a whole new nation choosing Christ.

That’s how faith is shared. That is how the church is re-born.

Back in 2007 we took one small step into the wilderness. We invited and welcomed our sisters and brothers of the Hispanic community, and we have been blessed. Today at the 12 Noon Mass we will celebrate our first Baptism. One of the lectors is a high school student preparing for her Quinceanera, who wants to be a communion minister.

How else are we called to be the church of Philip? What other wilderness are we being invited into? Do we see ourselves as struggling to survive, or are we called enter the worlds of more people we do not yet know?