by Bishop Bill Gohl
I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete – John 15.11
Over the last decade this congregation has engaged a pretty difficult conversation. It was not easy. It was emotional. And it was something no one wanted to talk about. And yet you did. A hard-on-the-heart vote followed and here we are. Entrusting what was in this place to a new congregation and giving ourselves and our future wholly into the hands of God, again.
I was out to visit with the transition team in December, just before Christmas. What a faithful group of people with Pastor Kiesling’s gentle and loving leadership! I was so proud at the wrangling and wrestling that has been done here to be to honor the lives and faith of the thousands of people who have been a part of this congregation over the span of the 1800s, 1900s and 2000s.
Please hear me: you have done nothing wrong. And also hear this: God is not done with you, either.
"Abide in me, even as I abide in you," Jesus calls to us from the Gospel. We are part of one another, and even as God has blessed this congregation to bear so much fruit over so many years, we are committed to making sure that the branches of Second Church bear fruit across this church and world for generations to come.
From 1841 when the decision was made to establish the second English-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Baltimore, the earliest founders built a church that reflected the needs of the community for that time. They were people of faith. People for whom the will of God was the center of their lives. And they, and the generations that came after them, kept the doors of this church open to respond to the faith needs of not just this community, but the world. They began the work: baptizing and confirming people who would know Christ. They sent money to support missionaries in foreign fields and domestic missions. They rallied to keep responding to the needs of neighbors, near and far, in the World Wars, and the Great Depression. When, after World War II, the mission field shifted west, with a resiliency and faithfulness, this place was claimed as holy ground for the preaching of the Gospel, the administration of the Sacraments, and the care and building up of this community - and those purposes were served well even until today, and in just a few minutes, we will learn about how those commitments will continue in the sharing of legacy gifts that will ensure the mission of Second English for generations still to come.
You made a hard choice. You decided to honor the legacy of the people who came before you by giving freely of the gifts you had. You made a selfless choice. And the choice you made, and the way you made it, says more about who you are as Christians than about anything else. You continue to speak well for all the generations that no longer can.
Our Gospel rings out with echoes of all those words of the Lord that have been spoken here- all the baptismal water splashed, the hymns sung, the marriage vows exchanged, the faithful departed commended to God, the prayers offered, the wine and bread shared. But beyond what we can see and remember, Jesus alludes to the fruit that has born in all those inaudible, unspoken sermons that have gone on in the hearts of the people - in the hearts of many of you here today - who have sought out this community as a place to get and to keep their bearings on life's journey. You carry that fruit - that peace of God with you - even when you no longer worship in this place.
You have done nothing wrong. You have done everything possible to honor the legacy of those who came before you. You’ve done it by loving your neighbor. You’ve done it by being good stewards. You’ve done it by trusting that God never forgets God’s children. And on behalf of your sisters and brothers across our synod and church, we thank you. For your example, your support, your partnership and your witness – in life and in death – to Jesus, the true vine in which death will be swallowed up in new life, new seeds planted through your faithfulness to grow new vines through the ministries of Mar-Lu-Ridge, Church on the Square, the Oromo Church and our synod’s Mission Fund - and to strengthen fragile vines through Augsburg Lutheran Church, St. Dysmas in the prisons, ELCA World Hunger and the Route 40 Help Center, you will care for those who came before us with gifts to Augsburg Village and the National Lutheran Home at Rockville - and you assure the formation of leaders for those who will come after us through an endowed scholarship at our seminary. Indeed, God is not done with you, your vine, our life in Christ rooted here at Second English continues to bear fruit – and will for generations to come.
Augustus Hackmann, pastor of this congregation for many years, and now of blessed memory, was one of my predecessors in my former congregation on the other side of the city. Famous for his "violin" sermon, Pastor Hackmann, like so many other venerable pastors who have served this church, was an outstanding preacher. When he was 95, a few years before he passed into eternal life, he preached at Epiphany as part of our centennial anniversary. I’ll confess, even at 95, he was mesmerizing. At lunch afterward, he nostalgically reminisced about his first 17 years of ministry spent at Epiphany, "the sweetest years" he called them. After a "blip" of a few years of service at St. Matthew’s in Charleston, South Carolina, he received and accepted the call to serve Second English until his retirement, "his best years," he told us, serving with people "who were willing to put everything on the line to serve Christ and their neighbor."
And with that high praise from a generation before us, and as you leverage everything, literally, to serve Christ and neighbor anew, I remind you of this precious promise from our Lord alive among us still: Abide in his love, wherever your faith journey leads you next, that his joy – even in our grief – might be in you, and your joy, despite salty tears, will be complete.
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete." – John 15:1-11