Sermon: "Show Forth in our Lives"
The Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg
Third Bishop of East Tennessee

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

As bishop, I spend a good deal of time on the roads of East Tennessee. I probably am guilty of not paying enough attention to road signs along the way, but I have noticed that we have quite a variety of them in our part of the world. For instance, some signs obviously indicate speed limits. Other signs alert drivers of a problem just ahead. Still others give notice to distances yet to travel. And then, there are those interesting signs which attempt to indicate graphically how the road bends and twists in the distance. As I enter some of our more mountainous areas, signs may look like the artwork of a young child set free with a can of paint.

The purpose of road signs is to give substance or expression to another reality - a speed which is safe, a distance prior to some destination, an attribute of the road ahead. Therefore, the value of the sign lies in its accurate depiction of that other reality, the reality behind the sign.

Perhaps you have heard it said that ours is a "sacramental church." And the definition of a "sacrament", as presented in the Prayer Book Catechism, is "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace." Thus, sacraments provide us with signs of other realities, realities of grace.

The two great sacraments of the Church are Baptism and Holy Communion. We are blessed to participate in both of them this morning - as well as Confirmation, which relates directly, in substance and in meaning, to Baptism.

The sign of Baptism - the outward and visible indicator of baptismal grace - is water. And, again according to the Catechism, the grace of Baptism is "union with Christ in his death and resurrection, birth into God's family the Church, forgiveness of sins, and new life in the Holy Spirit." Thus, that which is visible in Baptism - water - points to another reality which we cannot see. And that inner reality involves new life which is in God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is that baptismal reality to which we reconnect today, through Baptism, Confirmation, and the Renewal of our Baptismal Covenant.

In Holy Communion, the outward and visible signs are the bread and wine. And the grace of Communion - again, as expressed in the Catechism - is "the Body and Blood of Christ given to his people and received by faith." That is, by means of Holy Communion, we become one body with Christ, for he is in us, and we are in him. That happens only in and through grace. And the signs of that grace are bread and wine.

Thus, in our sacraments - as in road signs - the value and validity of the signs themselves depend on an accurate depiction of that other reality, that reality behind the sign.

It follows, therefore, that when a sign does not mirror that which it claims to show, then that sign is of no value. Put another way, a sign only has value to the extent that it points accurately to another reality.

I remember well a claim to fame in my childhood. And this moment in the spotlight depended on a false sign. A friend and I were exploring a wooded area near our homes in Fayetteville, North Carolina. We came upon a cannon ball, which excited us considerably. We reported the discovery to an adult who lived nearby, and she, in turn, called the authorities.

In short order, the ammunitions experts from Fort Bragg were called in, and radio stations reported the story. My friend and I were driven around in official cars as we sought permission from neighbors to excavate the area. You see, the site of the Civil War arsenal which had been in my home town, never had been definitively located. Arsenal Avenue might not have been the place after all, and all of a sudden, it appeared that two young boys had found the true site. And I was one of those boys!

The last neighbor in the immediate area reacted differently from previous ones, however. After having been told the story of our discovery and of plans to dig and search for the arsenal, she was neither excited nor especially concerned. Rather, she said simply, "So that's where the cannon ball went. My husband brought that to me from Fort Fisher, and I've wondered where it was."

Fame is fleeting. It's a long fall from the position of hero to suspects in a childhood prank. Eventually, my friend and I went back to the woods, and the cannon ball, which we did not remove by the way, went back to the lady's porch. And all of us learned a lesson. Sometimes signs do not depict the reality which is apparent and which we expect.

The point for us today is that the signs of our lives need to be authentic. Those signs need to point to meanings that are true and real. What we say needs to be consistent with what we do. What we proclaim we believe needs to bear fruit in our lives.

You see, this is the motivation behind Confirmation. That is, Christians are baptized at some point in life. Promises either are made on behalf of children, or - if the person baptized is older - the promises are made by the person himself or herself. However, in order to reaffirm those promises - to recommit to them quite directly as central to life - the promises are confirmed later. And all of us, hopefully on a regular basis, renew our own promises in the Baptismal Covenant. Such actions intend to remind us of the need for an authentic life … the need for actions that provide true and accurate signs for the faith within us.

Thus, in our Collect today, we prayed, "O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them …" Do you hear there the prayer for consistency in belief and in action … the petition for authenticity of faith in life?

This need for accurate signs pointing to authentic faith is not new. Indeed, St. Paul struggled with conflicting signs in his own life. Remember that he once had been a zealous Pharisee, in the life that he describes in our reading from the Letter to the Galatians today. He wrote there of his "earlier life in Judaism" and of his persecution of Christians then. But after his conversion, St. Paul writes that he now serves the very cause that he previously had worked so hard against. Not surprisingly, St. Paul had a credibility problem. Could people believe the signs that he currently showed them, or did his former actions speak too loudly? To try to make his point, he quotes this message being spread about himself: "The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy" (1:23).

For many reasons, then, it seems to me that the message for us today is very, very important. The call to us in our day is to make certain that our faith is authentic. What happens in this place - what we do here - should bear fruit on the other days and in the other places of our lives. Sunday is a sign for Monday through Saturday. How accurate a sign is it? How authentic is the Christianity which we pray and sing and confess in church?

One of the collects in Easter Week expresses so very well this responsibility we have as Christian people. In terms of the Church Year, Easter has just happened, when we pray this collect. That event which defines us as Christians is fresh and real and new. And with that event in mind, we pray, "Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith." Indeed, that prayer is worthy of all of us who call ourselves Christians, all of the time. "Grant that we may show forth in our lives what we profess by our faith." Amen.

Copyright © 2007 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee