Q: How many Episcopalians does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Three: 1 to call the electrician, 1 to mix the drinks, and 1 to talk about how great that old light bulb was.

Q: How many Episcopalians does it take to change a light bulb?

A: CHANGE?!?!?! My grandmother gave that light bulb back in 1918! We do not change light bulbs!

These are just jokes, of course. But most jokes have some kind of truth to them. If you didn’t know this already, please know now: Episcopalians despise change. Don’t change the worship or the Book of Common Prayer. Don’t dare change the music or the furniture. Don’t change worship leaders. Don’t change anything. If it was good enough in the 16^th century, it’s good enough now.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t work in a Christian church. You see, wherever the Holy Spirit is, there is change. If there’s not change, something is missing—and chances are, it’s probably the Holy Spirit. God transforms our hearts, our minds, our lives…even our precious Episcopal churches.

Last Sunday the Vestry of this parish sat through a very long Vestry meeting. We began with the normal run through of business matters. Once we were through with that, we began discussing a timeline the wardens and I had discussed prior to the meeting. I’m sure it’s no secret to most of you that this parish has been through a great deal of conflict over the past several months. This timeline was a behavioral timeline. It laid out the bad behavior in the past and the good behavior being encouraged during that time. It was indescribably painful to work our way through this timeline. It called back a great deal of painful memories and behavior. It also highlighted the change this parish has been through since September. Trust me, it’s a lot of change, particularly if you’re a member of Oldfield’s Chapel. Following the discussion of the timeline, we did a short Bible study on the Gospel of Matthew. We did this because in the midst of pain, we need to always be reminded that God is present with us. I chose the Gospel of Matthew for two reasons. First of all, it’s the only gospel that mentions the word “church.” Secondly, throughout the Gospel of Matthew we hear Jesus emphasizing behavior. Matthew, then, is highly based on the behavior of Christian and Jewish people and the church’s role in modeling and _____ that behavior. Following the Bible study, the Vestry made a behavioral covenant, a covenant of leadership. We agreed that we would follow these covenants, or no longer be leaders within Christ’s body.

It was painful. It was, without a doubt, deeply, deeply, painful.

I have spent a great deal of time this week thinking over last Sunday and the events leading to that day. I kept trying to put my finger on how things went wrong. How did they go so wrong? How were people suddenly so hurt and so angry? Very few things in this world can be explained in simple ways, especially when it involves people’s emotions. If I could explain it simply, though, I would say this happened because of change. There has been a great deal of change over the past several months. You have a new priest. Your last priest was also a woman, but Elly and I are very different people. She was a wonderful priest for you, but I am not the same as her. The worship has changed. The furniture has been moved. Some people resigned from their positions of leadership. This made room for people who had not served on Vestry or in other places of leadership for some time, and some who had not served at all, to stand up to take leadership in the parish. The St. Agnes Guild at Oldfield’s Chapel is now a group of women who meet monthly to make decisions together regarding the actions of the guild. Oldfield’s Chapel had a Sunday school for the first time in many years. We are working our way towards having at least two licensed lay preachers in this parish. We will be working towards the formation of a choir at Trinity Church. We had Vacation Bible School last summer, and are having it again this summer. We have new families. And, you now have a pregnant priest!

This change has been incredible. Seriously, think about how much change we have gone through in just one year. This change has inspired many, but has left some feeling slighted: as though there is no room for leadership for them now that others are stepping up. They do not feel inspired by my presence here either. While it’s nice to hope that everyone will like me…some people will not. Even for those of us who feel inspired by these changes, the change is hard nonetheless.

Throughout the Bible, though, we see that God does not begin acting within the hearts and lives of his people without creating change. Whenever and wherever God is, there is change. That doesn’t make it any less painful, but it helps us understand painful change a little better.

God told Sarai that, though barren, she would give birth to a child. Sarai laughed at God. Her pregnancy, though, set into motion an indescribable amount of change in this world, change for the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim people. In the book of Ester, the Jewish woman Ester’s very presence, and later her courage, creates change for the entire nation of Israel. Through prayer, God entered the picture on behalf of the Jewish people and saved them from certain annihilation. The resulting change was profound. We read in Hosea today where God says, “I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Again and again the Israelites just couldn’t understand that God required faith and love above all else. They were centered on adherence to doing the law, rather than having the law of God written on their hearts and souls. It took a change, exile to be exact, many years away from their home, to bring them back home to God. In the New Testament, we see Jesus enter the picture, and suddenly everything changed. How could it not? Suddenly everything changed for those Pharisees and scribes who proclaimed ownership of God’s law. Seven times Jesus says, “Woe to you, Pharisees and scribes, you hypocrites!” How quickly their position of leadership changed. No longer is God portrayed as despising the sinners. God loves the sinners, like in our gospel reading for today from Matthew. The Pharisees question Jesus’ act of sitting at dinner with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus replies: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick…I have come to call not the righteous, but sinners.” What Matthew doesn’t say in his gospel is how hard it must have been for those sinners and tax collectors to change their ways, to wholly become followers of Jesus Christ. How hard do you think it must have been for those tax collectors and prostitutes to give up their lives, especially the good money they were making, in order to follow Christ. But we have to change in order to follow Christ. We cannot be in the presence of Christ without being wholly transformed.

We see this change ever more clearly on the day of Pentecost. On that day, the Holy Spirit comes down in fire, transforming the hearts, minds, and souls of those present. Fire is such a beautiful picture. Like a nice warm fire in your fire place in the middle of winter. But this fire on Pentecost was no comfortable fire. This was destructive fire. What does fire do? It transforms everything it touches. It changes everything it comes into contact with. That is what the Holy Spirit does. That is what God does. He changes. He transforms. And it is not just all warm and fuzzy transformation. In fact, quite often it’s deeply, deeply painful. It’s hard to abstain from fighting that change. Trust me, I watch my body get bigger and bigger every single day. And for someone like me who is really body conscious, this change is incredibly difficult. Suddenly I cannot run, which was, for me, a form of prayer. Suddenly I cannot lay out by the pool very long or I start cramping. Over the course of 5-6 months, I have almost an extra 20 pounds on me. But it’s good change. It’s painful. My ligaments and organs are moving around inside my body. I’ve been nauseous. I’m tired. I can no longer function on 3-4 hours of sleep. This change hurts. It’s scary. And I want to do everything possible to stop it from happening. But nothing can be done. I’m okay with that, though, because the reason that nothing can be done to stop this change in my body is because God has entered my body. God is transforming my body. And as painful as it may be, I know that God is blessing me, is blessing my husband, is blessing this child, and is blessing this world with the change he is putting my body under.

Likewise, God is transforming this parish. This parish isn’t changing because change is inevitable, though that is certainly true. This parish is changing because God has come to transform it. It is painful. It’s hard. It’s so difficult to see the changes, because we liked things the way they were. It’s so difficult to see the changes, because people come away scarred. But when the fire of Christ sparks life, it transforms everything it comes into contact with. We can deny that change all we want, working as hard as possible to stop it. But that will only leave us lifeless, hurt, and angry. Our only choice here is to have faith in the truth that God will lead us in this change to places more wonderful than we can ever imagine. Our choice here is to surrender to that change. And trust me, I know this is easier said than done. I know we are all tired of the change. Trust me, there is nothing I would have enjoyed more in the short run than a parish where nothing changed. Because stagnancy is easy. I sure would have gotten a lot more sleep over the past several months, as would many of you. I know we are all tired of the change. I know it’s exhausting. But God is not through fanning the flame of his Spirit here. It will continue to be a wild and exhausting ride. All I ask is that we fasten our seat belts and let God take the wheel, because the changes God has in store for this parish are profoundly and indescribably wonderful.

The point of the behavioral timeline last Sunday was to describe the changes this parish has been through, and to point to the awesome future God is working out. The point was to note the behavior and the changes and then move forward. It was not to keep us looking back at the past. The more time we spend looking back at the past, at what could have been, the less energy we have to look forward into the amazing things God is doing and will continue doing for us. This process that we underwent on Sunday, and the process of change and moving forward that we are currently undergoing—the point of this is ultimately to be lost in forgetfulness, wit h no regret; to faithfully shed and be free from the worry, free from the dark that often lives in us; free to embark on the Passion that Christ has so favorably fashioned in each and every one of us.