Disciple: The Softer, Scarier Side of Galilee

Excerpts from the Rt. Rev. Anne Hodges-Copple’s Sermon at the Convention Eucharist

By The Rt. Rev. Anne Hodges-Copple

For the last several years, Bishop Curry has extolled us to consider the 21st-century implications of the Risen Lord’s first command to his first apostles: Go meet me in Galilee. This evening, I want us to consider what we might think of as the softer side of “go”—and maybe even the scarier side.
We’ve heard Jesus say “Go,” but do we really believe we’re the ones being sent? Go is a command. Go is a demand. If Jesus tells me to go, I’m going to go.

But sometimes I wish I had the clarity and the specificity Jesus gave the disciples on the first Easter day. It was pretty clear: Go to Galilee, all together, and I will meet you there. But most of the time, I feel more like those newbie disciples who were sent out two-by-two in every which way, with only the promise that Jesus would show up sometime later.

I think those pre-Easter disciples may have felt a good bit of fear and trembling about being sent out like lambs among the wolves. We may come with joy to meet our Lord on Sunday morning when everybody else does, but to go forth, two-by-two, maybe one-by-one, that’s scary.

From the moment of conception, from the time of our Baptism, God has called us by name, and we were sent to this world for a reason. For all of my doubts, confusion and uncertainty, I have been sent. So have you. God is a sender. He’s always sending people somewhere, and more often than not, it’s somewhere hard.

Jesus sent those inexperienced people out two-by-two with just the barest of necessities, to share their stories, to receive hospitality on someone else’s terms, to go out and find those who might be seeking the kingdom of heaven. And then Jesus was sent—as in sent-enced—to death on the cross, sent back from the other side of the grave to bring us new life. From the first moments of that resurrection he was sending people out to be witnesses of new life and living embodiments of the Kingdom.

We all share in the call to bring the Good News. This is what one catholic, apostolic Church means. We are all sent.

LISTENING IN TAIWAN

Listening is one of the most profound ways we share our deepest presence with one another. Listening and being truly listened to is one of the greatest gifts of ministry. Wherever Bishop Curry and I go, people are eager to strengthen and build those bonds of affection.

This includes Taiwan, where we flew this fall to meet with the House of Bishops. It’s important to remember that The Episcopal Church is composed of 16 countries. We are a multinational church, part of an international community.

The Episcopal Church of Taiwan was first seeded by Japanese Anglicans, who benefited from other missionaries who were sent, including Episcopalians. After World War II, mainline Chinese Anglicans and Episcopal military families and their chaplains came to Taiwan, and the Episcopal Church of Taiwan grew and grew. After 60 years, it felt like maybe it was time to go, although it felt more like sent.

We were sent to listen. Archbishops from Japan, the Philippines and Pakistan came all the way to Taiwan to tell their stories of faith and conversion, stories of risking fractured family relationships by embracing Christianity and of radical hospitality in the face of deadly religious extremism.

After being sent to Taiwan, I am even more excited to work with our diocese to go deeper into the multicultural opportunities for ministry in our neighborhoods.

Another message from our new friends: No church is too small to make a huge difference in another part of the Communion. In 1971, Christ Church, Greenville, South Carolina, gave $30,000 to the building of a new church in southern Taiwan. Over the next 30 years, Church of the Advent believed it was their sacred calling to send their precious treasure to the Philippines, where they built 12 new churches. Average Sunday attendance at Church of the Advent is somewhere around 50 or 60 people.

When we get worried about the survival of our churches, we must remember that the disciples of Jesus are often sent out into the world with seemingly very little to work with, only to find they have—we have—all we really need.
I’m enough. You’re enough. We’ve been called by name.

 The Rt. Rev. Anne E. Hodges-Copple was elected the sixth Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina in 2013. Contact her.