Sermon: "Faithful Perseverance"
The Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg
Third Bishop of East Tennessee

[This sermon by Bishop vonRosenberg was delivered using the following notes.]

This has been quite a weekend! We have celebrated the ministries that Father Howard Rhys and the church of St. John the Baptist have shared for the past fifty years. We also have dedicated and set apart your new parish hall as a means to continue your ministry in the years to come. As sign and symbol and expression of our celebration, we have certainly eaten a lot! And, we have prayed a lot. And we have enjoyed the fellowship of this community – and through this community, with many, many others. It has indeed been quite a weekend!

This morning we gather in order to do what the church has done through the years – even prior to Howard Rhys. We are blessed to have inherited the faith of our ancestors. And, like them, we come together week by week to give thanks to God, to celebrate the Word of God which is Jesus Christ, to pray for those in need and in trouble, to remember the downtrodden of the world with whom Jesus himself identifies, and to confess our sins and to receive the absolution that God promises. In short, as a worshipping community of faith, we consciously place ourselves in line with the communion of saints – and we keep the faith. Sunday by Sunday, week by week, we keep the faith, in part by keeping on keeping on.

I have thought a great deal about Christian perseverance recently. It may be that we do not mention or value that virtue sufficiently in our day. However, on this particular weekend, in this particular place, it seems entirely appropriate to put the subject of Christian perseverance squarely before us.

There is a prayer for perseverance in the Litany for Ordinations. We pray on behalf of the newly ordained person, “that by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, he may be sustained and encouraged to persevere to the end”(BCP, 549). However, one reason I remember that petition so vividly is that a different version was offered when I was ordained priest. The litanist read, on my behalf, “that by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, he may be sustained and encouraged to preserve to the end.” In the intervening years, I have often remembered that version of the petition, and I have prayed that I might be preserved as I try to persevere!

The Gospel just read calls us to remember the essence of the practice of Christianity. And I call your attention to the fact that perseverance is required as we practice our faith. Actually, the setting of this particular Gospel reading reminds me of certain moments in the history of most Christian communities. This little band of Jesus and his followers had become pretty well acquainted with each other. They worked together fairly effectively. They surely had their squabbles from time to time, but basically, they did all right as a group. Then one day two of the community’s members – James and John, two leaders – came forward and asked Jesus for special recognition.

Now, isn’t that just like a church – or just about any other group you can think of? Things are going OK – and then, someone wants special attention and recognition. This is the point – the circumstance – that Jesus chooses to teach his followers about part of the essence of the practice of Christianity.

Jesus says, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many”(Mk 10:42-45).

According to Jesus himself, the essence of the practice of Christianity is to be a servant. Now, that’s different from the way we usually do things in the church. We tend to follow the model of James and John. That is, work hard, demonstrate leadership qualities, and then, expect special recognition – like sitting at Jesus right and left hands in the kingdom, or having a building named after us, or being elected bishop.

But Jesus reminds us that the essence of the practice of Christianity is to be a servant. And, I would maintain, a significant qualification for that practice is perseverance. That is, a servant does not anticipate recognition. A servant cannot expect rewards. Rather a servant perseveres – simply and faithfully – in the practice of the Christian faith. The faithful Christian servant keeps on keeping on. And, it is due to the perseverance of countless Christian servants of the past that we are blessed to be here today.

In conclusion, then, may I repeat our collect for the day. And, by the way, note that the verbs “preserve” and “persevere” are both found in it. “Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

Copyright © 2003 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee