Sunday Homily - September 29, 2019 - A Home Worth Keeping

Stencil of Trinity Parish Church

I.

I want to tell you a story.

Don't worry, it's a true one,
 but a story that I think is vitally important
  both in history as well as an example to us today.

And this story is about a small town in the 19th century
 and about a guy named Henry.

Now, Henry was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 1820.
 He was an intelligent young man,
  even so much as to graduate from Brown University in 1842 at 22 years of age.

But Henry's work in life was about to change for good.
 Because God placed a calling on Henry's life
  to the in the spread of the Gospel
   as a missionary.

Now, when you think "missionary" you might have the temptation
 to think that Henry went to some far off place in the world,
  like perhaps Asia or Africa.

Instead, Henry went as a missionary to none other than
 Texas!
  He was a missionary to Texas,
   specifically Washington County, Texas
    in 1849.

But he would once again be called to ministry among several missionary outposts,
 one in Alabama,
  one in Illinois,
   one even in Arkansas.

But there was one particular small town
 that gained a church plant under Henry's leadership
  that I think is truly inspiring.

It was a town of just about 1100 people
 in a small town west of the Missisippi River
  that Henry encountered in his ministry.

And, certainly,
 the town was like most towns in Arkansas.
  It was small geographically, and it ebbed and flowed
   as the times and changes of the 1800s washed over the top of it,
    such as the Civil War and the hard relationships wrought
     between North and South.

But in the late late 1800s,
 Henry and a small group of people
  made a commitment to Jesus:
   that they, in this small town, would start a congregation.

The congregation began in meager settings,
 but nonetheless, it was a seed planted that Henry and the small congregation
  of neighbors and farmers prayed for the Lord to bless and use them
   to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Henry passed away in the year 1899 at the age of 79,
 almost making it to the 20th century.
  But the most amazing thing is that this small town church
   that Henry helped establish is still operating today!

And you can go and visit it, even.
 In fact, I regularly encourage people to visit this small church,
  because for over 100 years that small town church
   that Henry helped establish
    has changed countless numbers of lives who have come through the doors.

And you, friends,
 maybe without knowing it,
  are sitting in the very pews of that church this morning.

Because Henry Niles Pierce is also known by his ecclesiastical title:
 the first diocesan Bishop of the Diocese of Arkansas.

And that small farming town that Henry established a church in
 in 1893,
  is none other than Searcy, Arkansas.
   And that small church is none other than Trinity Parish Church.

II.

But the story of Trinity, of course,
 contains within it a lot of the story of small town churches
  over the past 100 years.

There always has to be people in this church who continue to sustain it.
 And often times, it took ALL of us to keep this ministry going.

When the Great Depression hit,
 it took literally everyone to keep the lamps burning,
  to keep the altar set,
   but most importantly,
    to keep loving God and our neighbor
     through sharing of our food, our houses, and our crops.

When the World Wars were raging,
 and our sons went off to war,
  some never to return,
   and some to return, wounded physically and mentally by the hell they went through,
    there are some whose souls were prayed on their way to God
     by the small church right here where you are sitting.
      And there are some places in this very church
       where young soldiers returned from war
        prayed to God to to please let their brother make it home safely.
         And they did all they could to keep the church going,
          giving of themselves, because this congregation was not just a nice church,
           but because it was their home and safe haven from the fires of war.

When desegregation began in Arkansas,
 and the unjust laws that kept us as brothers and sisters separated
  all because of the color of our skin,
   people still gathered right here in these pews to say their prayers
    and to begin the process of imploring God for what we needed to do
     to reconcile ourselves to our black brothers and sisters.
      And people gave to the efforts to keep this place alive
       as a light that would shine Christ's light in the world as we walked together.

And when the time came for difficult decisions to be made about finances,
 God placed into the rich and the able
  a desire to give above and beyond,
   giving our church the ability to eventually make a small parish hall,
    and then an office space,
     and most recently the Education Building across the street.

III.

Friends, the story of our church is a story of people who have come in the doors
 and have found a home that is worth keeping.

When Bishop Henry first established Trinity Parish as a mission in 1893,
 the small congregation didn't have a building or a place to regularly worship.
  And they wouldn't have a building of their own until almost 6 years later.
   And just when you thought it was going the right way,
    that building burned down,
     and in the undercroft beneath our feet, you can actually see the scorched timber
      of some of the wood that survived.
     
It wasn't until the good people from St. Thomas in New York
 financed a new building for us that we could even have a sanctuary
  to worship in regularly.

And guess what?
 Our parishes story continues to this day,
  with various people giving of what they have to this parish family
   because it is a place that we have found to be a home worth keeping.

And our 1st Timothy reading this morning demonstrates the hope that we have
 and the hope that our ancestors in the faith who have sat in the very seats you sit in
  had in Christ Jesus.

They put their faith in a heavenly kingdom that God is bringing into the world,
 and they found that Trinity Parish was indeed that church family
  that was a home worth keeping.

We are in the same place today
 that has changed millions of lives.

The farmer from Searcy in 1900 who prayed to God fervently in the rubble of the fire
 to bless them with a building that they could worship God in.
  That farmer sat beside you.

The soldiers who were about to leave for war,
 praying to God for safe passage.
  Those soldiers sat beside you.

The people who met God for the first time
 through the life-changing Gospel proclaimed by ministers of the faith,
  the mothers and fathers,
   sons and daughters,
    the widows and orphans,
     they all sit (present tense) SIT beside you right now.

And there is no doubt in my mind that Bishop Henry and I sit beside each other
 a lot in this building.
  And oh the stories he will likely tell me
   when we see each other in the resurrection to come.

We all have inherited a gift from God
 given through the money, time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears
  that has been passed down to us by our church family at Trinity.

I pray fervently that you give to our church home.

I pray that if you have the finances to keep us going,
 you would know that every dollar you give
  goes to a home that has changed people's lives forever.

I pray that if you have the skill to contribute to our upkeep and worship
 that you would know that you join a home of Christians
  who have worked and contributed in so many ways
   to keep the light of the Gospel burning in this place by God's good will.

I pray that even if you can only join us sometimes,
 that you know this morning that home is always open
  there's a chair we always save just for you,
   and that absolutely no one will be turned away who has come to worship with us.

I pray that if you have found a home here,
 that you will join us in giving our life and labor to God
  who has lovingly given us this home together.

And I hope that all our family present and past,
 who sit in these pews this morning,
  will keep our eyes on the heavenly kingdom of Jesus Christ,
   and know that we are being made into an eternal family
    that will never again be separated again
     when we see each other on the other side of the grave
      in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.