Annual Meeting
Today is my tenth Annual Meeting at St. Luke’s and it has been my tradition to offer the address to the congregation as a sermon. This has a couple of advantages. First, I only have to write one report! Secondly, the people who aren’t inclined to stay for the after-church meeting have an opportunity to hear it.
The theme for this sermon is “Called to be Saints” and it comes from the Apostle Paul’s opening words in his first letter to the church in Corinth. It’s important to acknowledge that while the term saint has come to imply some sort of spiritual excellence or holy living, Paul intended the term to apply to every one of those who had come to follow Jesus as part of the Christian community. Given that the members of the Corinthian congregation regularly gave him fits, it’s clear that their status as saints doesn’t mean they are perfect, holy, or even particularly pleasant to be around. It was a challenge to be a Christian in the early days of the Church and many of Paul’s siblings in Christ were challenging to be around.
The same is true for today. As a way of exploring and deepening our calling as saints at St. Luke’s, we will be exploring the themes of Faith and… over the next four weeks. Faith and Academics, Faith and Culture, Faith and Vocation and finally Faith and Politics.
We are richly blessed by the presence of our Assisting Priest, Brian Gregory, Associate Priest Peter Rodgers and Deacon Vince Booth who will be leading these forums after church as well as continuing to bring their voices to the pulpit as preachers. In the past year their ministry along with retired pastor Rody Rowe and our former Associate Mary Anderson have blessed our congregation in so many ways and we are grateful.
No one becomes a saint, a follower of Jesus on their own. Someone else always has to point the way, to share the good news by word and example, to invite and welcome them into the beloved community of Christ’s disciples. In today’s reading from John’s gospel, we hear the words of John the Baptizer as he points to Jesus, “Here is the Lamb of God!” Just as Jesus invited the early disciples to “Come and See,” we are called to share the faith, hope and love that we have received with others.
This past year we baptized and welcomed a number of people into beloved community, through the Spiritual Pilgrimage and our ministry to children and families. The decision of the Bishop’s Committee to invest resources into calling a second full-time clergy person and the Spirit’s matchmaking in sending us the Rev. Brian Gregory have enabled us to continue to grow in both numbers and faithfulness.
The children have age-appropriate lessons and activities to help develop their spiritual lives, we are supporting families in their desire to foster faith at home and our community as a whole is blessed by the wisdom, energy and delight of young people.
For each one of us, someone loved us enough to show and to tell us the story of God’s love in Jesus. Someone testified to God’s presence in their own life. Someone was a witness to the transformative power of the Spirit. Each week, you are that person for someone else, perhaps for a young child, or a visitor, a new acquaintance or a long-time friend. Maybe you demonstrate Christ-like love and care as a volunteer at the Edible Hope Kitchen or by sharing your resources with those we serve through the church’s ministry.
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of “calling” as a divine purpose to serve others, emphasizing that any task, no matter how humble, should be done with excellence, driven by justice, and rooted in love, viewing life’s urgent question as “What are you doing for others?” and seeing true greatness in service.
Sometimes we think that the needs are too great, the injustice around us is overwhelming, and we don’t have the skills, resources or knowledge to address the many problems we face. I’m sure those early Christians at Corinth, a small band of disciples surrounded by a culture that was either indifferent or opposed to their existence, wondered how they could make a difference.
Paul reassured them, “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given to you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift.”
A few years ago, this congregation asked the questions, “Who are we called to serve?” and “What are the gifts we have to offer?” We came away with some foundational commitments. We believe that we are to foster beloved community which is diverse and inclusive. We create space for everyone who is seeking God and a loving community. We make sure children have a play and pray space where they can engage with the worship service fully as themselves. We continue to welcome those who are on the margins into a loving community both at Edible Hope Kitchen every weekday and in our worship service and church programs. We ensure the message of welcome includes the LGBTQ and BIPOC community.
In addition, we discovered the riches of God’s grace to us in the property we have been given to steward and in the people who have so many different gifts to assist in our planning and development. This past year, after moving our Edible Hope Kitchen to St. Paul’s UCC, we have been able to serve even more meals, raised more money and welcomed more volunteers and supporters than we have had in nearly 40 years of faithful service.
In October, 2025 we opened 84 units of affordable housing next door at St. Luke’s apartments. While families and individuals have already moved in, the Grand Opening is scheduled for February 11, and it will be a great celebration. Additionally, we are in a period of due diligence with a developer who is interested in taking over the construction of our second building and new church space. You will hear more about this at the Annual Meeting, but if things continue to go well, we can expect to be moving off site to Ballard First Lutheran at the end of May so that construction can begin in June of this year!
Through Christ and in communion with others, our calling extends much further than we can ask or imagine. “We are connected to Someone much bigger than us, and our lives take on meaning as we engage in God’s mission.” (Mark Abbott) God is the source and strength of our calling. It is God’s grace that enables our own self offering to be multiplied beyond our own limitations. The same Spirit that rested on Jesus at his baptism, rests on us, empowering loving sacrifice.
We are called to carry the name of Christ in our identity as Christians. We are to be “in Christ.” That calling involves loving service, faithfulness in prayer and worship, welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry, forgiving those who have hurt us and receiving forgiveness. It also involves sacrifice. Pointing to Jesus may get us in trouble, loving and caring for those who are oppressed can be a threat to the powerful and therefore, dangerous. Standing for truth will put us in opposition to those promulgating lies. As MLK said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
In this we are united with “all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are joined in holy communion with every celebrated saint and martyr throughout history and the countless unnamed ones who lived in faithfulness to God. We are baptized into one Body and share one Spirit. And we are called into the fellowship of Jesus with all our companions here in this special place, St. Luke’s, Ballard. Amen.
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