What were you
working on in 1984, thirty years ago?
That is the year I headed off to seminary. It seems both like just yesterday and five
lifetimes ago. That same year a group of
European and American scientists began to plan an audacious expedition aimed at
landing a space probe on a distant, speeding comet. Engineered in a clean room, the probe – named
Rosetta – was launched in the spring of 2004.
It took ten years for it to reach its destination; a journey that
included several delicate, deep-space maneuvers and a three-year hibernation to
conserve energy.
On August 6th, after
travelling over 3 billion miles, Rosetta went into orbit around 67P, a comet
roughly the size of downtown Suffolk. It
is an amazing achievement. Imagine
standing on the beach at the Outer Banks and trying to launch a golf ball to
land in a moving bathtub on a beach in California. That is what has been accomplished.
But the mission
did not end there. Rosetta carried with
it a lander named Philae, which is about the size of a washing machine. On November 7th, Philae successfully landed
on 67P where it is now conducting experiments and transmitting data and images
back to earth. It has already detected
the presence of water and amino acids (the building blocks of life) and this
discovery may help us to answer some important questions: What was the early
solar system like? How did earth come to
be covered in water? Where did the stuff
of life come from? Rosetta and Philae
will be on a wild ride for the next twelve months as they journey with 67P on
the comet’s trip around the sun.
The mission
raises for me some big questions: Who are we?
Where did we come from? And,
perhaps most intriguing, what are we capable of achieving?
I wonder who is
working now at an initial phase of a project that in several decades will
revolutionize what we know or how we live.
I read recently sections of a book called Physics of the Future,
which looks at technology we now have or are in the process of developing and relates
how it will change everything about computing, medicine, energy, and space
travel in the next ten, twenty-five, fifty, and one hundred years. Much of it seems like science fiction, except
it is not fiction. It is science
possible.
We are doing
things the builders of the Tower of Babel could never have dreamed. And yet their story from the book of Genesis
is still relevant to us today. Theirs is
a cautionary tale reminding readers down through the ages of the dangers of
human overreaching; of striving so hard for achievement that something
essential is lost in the process.
Today is Christ
the King Sunday, the final Sunday of the church year. On this day we proclaim, as St. Paul wrote, that
Christ sits at the right hand of God in glory, far above all rule and authority
and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, in this age and in
the age to come. From this preeminent position Christ speaks to
us with authority.
In today’s Gospel
reading we hear him lift up other questions for us to hold as we strive to
learn who we are and test what we are capable of doing. Christ demands that we also consider who we
are with and ponder what is required of us to be in relationship with
others. These are the essential
questions lost at Babel and the result was a fragmenting not only of language,
but of human relationships in general.
“I was hungry
and you gave me food. I was thirsty and
you gave me something to drink. I was a
stranger and you welcomed me. I was
naked and you gave me clothing. I was
sick and you took care of me. I was in
prison and you visited me.”
Who are we
with? Notice in Jesus’ parable there are
two groups of people. One group has no
recollection of ignoring Christ because they never saw the need around
them. Or perhaps they did see the need,
but never considered that Christ could care about anyone they did not care
about. The other group never understood that
their acts of compassion were in fact offered to Christ himself. Who are we with? As we test ourselves to push our
capabilities, what does it mean to be in relationship with others? What does it mean that every person – every
single human being on this planet – matters?
The Food Pantry is one way we here at St. Paul’s acknowledge those who
are with us in our community. As you may
know, it has
experienced tremendous growth over the past six weeks. During the summer months we averaged between
75-85 clients each Monday night. This
fall we have been over 100 every time we have been open. On October 20th, we set an
all-time record with 117 clients on a single night only to see that mark
eclipsed one week later when 151 people came through our doors.
Each client shops for up to five food
items. If you do the math, 100 people
coming through the pantry on a given night means we are handing out 500 items
of food. This translates to as much as 2,500
items each month. Because we have
partnered with the Hampton Roads Food Bank we are able to get much of what we
distribute at a greatly reduced cost.
Still, the dollars add up. If
each item costs roughly a dollar for us to purchase, you can see that we need
to raise $2,500 a month to keep the ministry going.
Because this amount far exceeds
congregational giving to the ministry we are beginning to look at creative ways
to raise additional funding. For the
last few years we have been blessed to receive a grant from the Ruritans for
$2,000. This summer we applied for a
grant from the Diocese of Southern Virginia’s Seeds of Hope fund and have been
awarded $2,400. For the Christmas Dinner
Basket Distribution we have created a fundraising site with CrowdRise
and have already received on-line donations from folks outside the parish. All of this helps, but does not get us to
where we need to be.
You can help. Does your employer make charitable
contributions? If so, can you put in a
request for our food pantry? Does your
employer make matching gifts, and if so, would the Food Pantry be
eligible? Your personal contribution to
the food pantry could be doubled. Are
you a part of a civic group or organization that makes charitable
donations? If so, please consider making
an appeal for our food pantry. We are
developing a “Facts Sheet” about St. Paul’s Food Pantry to help you make a
compelling case to get support. Do you
have any other ideas that might help us do the work God is calling us to do? If so, please feel free to contact me or
anyone else associated with the pantry.
It is thrilling to be alive at a time
when the human race is capable of landing a probe on a speeding comet in an
effort to unlock mysteries hidden for over 5 billion years. It is equally thrilling to be a part of any
effort that connects one human being to another, that recognizes how need and
blessing can be shared experiences, and to sense that the God who created the
cosmos can somehow be present and known through these kinds of
relationships. Think about what we will
proclaim in a just a few moments: that the body and blood of the King of
Creation is contained in a little piece of bread and a sip of wine. It is no less miraculous and equally as true
that our King meets us and greets us through every human we encounter. So, as we amass data from a space probe on a
speeding comet telling us about what our solar system was like billions of
years ago, here is something else incredible to ponder: present in each every
person you encounter today is the King and Creator of the cosmos. When you respect that person, you respect the
King.
