My thighs burned, the straps on my backpack cut into my shoulders, but the greatest pain came from the searing in my lungs. 13,000 feet and climbing, climbing, and the form of my friend, Randy Borman, always three steps ahead of me, seemingly tirelessly drifting up the hill. Relentlessly we slogged toward the pass. I had ceased to think about what Randy was feeling—I was consumed with striving to keep up. I was wrestling. One might think I was wrestling with the mountain, but I was wrestling with myself—with the cries of my body vs. my desire to prove I wasn’t a wuss! The mountain and the thin air were only the challenge that brought about the struggle, but in the end the mountain would not be changed—I would!

All three Scripture lessons for today talk about striving. In the first lesson Jacob struggles with his own past: In the early days he had defrauded his twin brother Esau, cheating him out of his birthright. Now, many years later, he wants to come home, but Esau and his own past stand in the way. Jacob is climbing the mountain—peace with his brother and himself is the form in the mists before him, and the mountain is a night wrestling with the angel. Again, the angel is not changed—but Jacob is. He leaves wounded—he cannot best the angel, but is instead renamed—the wiser Jacob is now no longer the “grasper,” as the name “Jacob” means, but “Israel,”—Chosen of God.

In the second lesson Paul exhorts Timothy, the young priest in Ephesus to strive for the Gospel: “Preach the word, be urgent in season and out, convince, rebuke and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching…do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” For the time is coming when men will not endure sound teaching, but will find teachers to tell them what they want to hear. With what does Timothy strive? One might think it is hard hearts, but it is really Timothy’s own human capacity to give up in the face of trouble, to somehow see adversity as redirection rather than the applause of true change! Paul does not promise that hard hearts will change, but that Timothy will become a true minister of the Gospel.

Jesus hits the nail directly: The parable is about struggle. It is as if you are a widow striving with the unjust judge—you go and go again. Note that the judge does not change—he is no more concerned with true justice in the end, for he grants justice for all the wrong reasons. But the woman is more resilient and more confident in the end because her persistence has brought about justice. So, too, we, whose heavenly Judge IS concerned with justice, can come again and again to Him in prayer, knowing that the change will be in us, as we learn to adjust our sense of justice to His. We struggle not with God, really, for He is never changed by our striving, but with our own limited understanding of His ways and His sense of time.

These are timely words. A year ago I experienced something that has been a rare part of my walk with God. I truly believe God spoke to me about this parish. 2007 would be a year in which we turn a corner toward great things. Ours was to be faithful to the tasks of preparing for the change to come. That message still burns in my heart like it did 12 months ago. It is tempting to give up on the struggle, to concern ourselves with small things. It is more comfortable to do things as we always have done them rather than force the uncomfortableness of true change. It is seductive to listen to the voices that will tell us being what we have been is OK, when it is not. This is our striving, this is our wrestling with the angel, this is our case, our fight, our big challenge.

Three things are necessary: First, we must be consumed with the vision. The woman in the parable had a vision of justice and she would never have achieved it if she had not been convinced of her case. Jacob would never have faced the angel if he had not wanted to be reconciled to his brother. Timothy would never have been one of the New Testament examples of the Christian priesthood if he had not known from his youth that ministry was His calling. We, too, must be consumed with the vision. We must learn to see ourselves in terms of God’s vision for us. This is who we are to be, our best self, God’s chosen plan for us, and there is no stopping God. Secondly we must choose the new path. We must recognize that to be satisfied with 200 on Sundays when there are 4000 in this community whom God has called us to reach is unfaithfulness to the Gospel and disobedience to God, and to absorb the multitudes that are out there we must be prepared—and we are not. And we must mourn—it is an honest reality that who we are will no longer be. There is a sacred and faithful wounding that must happen as with Jacob. This is part of the struggle, too. Finally, we must get to the work of change—of learning to work like the kind of church that can handle the people that ought to be here.

This is where your parish needs a tithe from its people. It needs a tithe of your talents, your capacities and abilities, and of your leadership potential. I, also, charge you by Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead: Be urgent in season and out. What is it you can do? Give the Church 10% of it!

Can you sing in the choir or perform special music?. Do you have a sense of the beauty and pageantry of our liturgy? See our Worship Director. Can you paint, fix things, change light bulbs and cut grass? Our sexton needs to meet with you right after church! Are you good with numbers? Our treasurer wants to see you. Can you manage? There are programs that need managing—see your priest! Are you good with getting people to have a good time together? Are you good with decorations and coordination of food? See our Fellowship Director. Are you good with people? Our newcomer ministry needs visitors and greeters. Are you good with kids? Our Education Director needs to talk with you. Do you have a passion for our youth? Our EYC director needs you yesterday! Are you passionate about the less fortunate and the needy? Our Outreach Director will speak with you right after he gets married!

Ephesians 4 describes how the Holy Spirit gives gifts to each member of the body, that, relying on one another, we might be built up to the full stature of the body of Christ. How big is that part of the body that is St. Christopher’s? A lot bigger than we have thought!

Fr. Paul Moore+