Christ Episcopal Church
107 South Washington Street, Rockville, MD 20850
Phone (301) 762-2191 Fax (301) 762-0928 Christchurch@cecrockville.org

Father McDuffie's Sermon on Sunday, September 11, 2005
at the Service Celebrating the Dedication of the Jefferson Building

Genesis 28:10-17
1 Peter 2:1-5, 9-10
Matthew 21:12-16

We are gathered here today on this beautiful September morning to worship God and to dedicate the Jefferson Building to the glory of God. What a joyful time this is! It is a new beginning in the history of Christ Church and Christ Episcopal School. And it is appropriate that it is September, because this is a month of new beginnings—the beginning of a new school year, and the beginning of a new programmatic year of the church.

This past week, I couldn’t help but think of that old song from the musical The Fantasticks, which goes:

                        Try to remember that kind of September
                                    When life was slow and oh so mellow,
                        Try to remember that kind of September
                                    When grass was green and grain was yellow,
                        Try to remember that kind of September
                                    When you were a tender and callow fellow…
                        If you remember that kind of September
                                    Then follow….

How many of you know what “callow” means? I confess that I never knew, and I finally asked my vocabulary expert wife Mary to tell me. We both confirmed by the dictionary that it means “immature” or “inexperienced”.

A few days ago I started thinking about past Septembers, and particularly the ones I’ve known here at Christ Church, because I just observed the anniversary of the seventh year of my ministry, which began on September 1, 1998. That day was probably the last time I was a tender and callow fellow, because I suddenly was immersed in a kaleidoscopic view of new opportunities and challenges ahead. Two days later, on September 3, I attended my first meeting of the Christ Episcopal School Board of Governors. And the Board Chair at the time was Bill Thompson, now a devoted and active member of our Parish family, who suddenly proclaimed midway through the proceedings, “In six months we need to produce a comprehensive strategic vision for the mission and ministry of Christ Church and CES, complete with a facilities plan.”

My heart was strangely aflutter in response. I didn’t even know where all the restrooms were in the building! But I knew from another meeting that I had attended two months before I began my ministry that something was up. At that meeting, also attended by Jane Pontius and Gene Sullivan, the outgoing Senior Warden of the Vestry, George Wolohojian (who later became CES Board Chair), asked me urgently, “Do you think we should buy property down South Washington Street if it becomes available?” “How should I know?” I gasped. “I don’t even work here yet!”

Something indeed was up, and I was greatly relieved when Bill Thompson came over to me after my first Board meeting and gently said, “Do you think I’m going too fast?” But I could see on that September evening that God was in this place, and God had planted a dream in the hearts and minds of the leaders of our Church and School—a dream for a new beginning that included facilities expansion.

I fast-frame forward to another September morning three years later—September 9, 2001, in which we celebrated the 275^th anniversary of Prince George’s Parish, outside in Old Courthouse Square—replete with choirs, a brass ensemble, dignitaries from the federal, state, county, and city governments. We glorified in the fact that here we were, in the heart of Rockville, as we began a renewed witness to ministry in this community. There was a brief time to bask in the warm glow of that occasion—to let life be slow and oh so mellow—but it was less than 48 hours before the savage events of September 11 brought us into a new and dreadful reality. Who can forget that fateful morning? I remember for a few moments thinking that we would all perhaps be dead before the end of the day. I remember walking into the eighth grade classroom of CES and watching television footage of the bombing of the Trade Towers, and the smoldering side of the Pentagon. And I remember being together in our church for a special chapel service that day, with prayers for the safety of us all.

Even in the midst of the terrible events of that day, God was still present in this place, guiding us forward.

Then there was September a year later—or rather I should say early October—when suddenly on the 2^nd of the month a rampage of murder began with the deaths of six people in a series of sniper attacks. I remember the palpable fear we all experienced, and I remember our School window blinds being drawn and outdoor activities being cancelled. Yet again, however, God was in this place, guiding and directing us, and keeping hope alive for the future.

Then there was September 2003, and the Spirit was leading us forward again! I remember Vestry and CES Board meetings as we planned information-sharing meetings with our communities, to tell them that the Jefferson Building was available to purchase!…and that we had a brief window of opportunity in which to act. This opportunity came as we had just shut the doors on a strategic plan to build a new building on our existing property. We had realized that the City was never going to give us permission for that plan and we were asking ourselves, “What next?” And God opened a new door.

That brings us to September 2004: the Jefferson Building had been purchased! Construction plans were being made for its conversion into School space. A joint capital campaign, “United in the Spirit of Growth”, had been launched. And once again, I was aware of how God was here, still stoking the fires of the hearts of leaders to move us forward into a new era.

So now we are gathered today, on another beautiful September morning, to celebrate the fact that classes began this past Tuesday in the Jefferson Building. It has hardly been a slow and mellow September—our occupancy permit was only secured on the Friday before this past Tuesday! And we are in the midst of yet another national tragedy, in the wake of the destructive path of Hurricane Katrina. Yet God still continues to be with us--in the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday morning; in the 24-hour Prayer Vigil kept by members of the Church and School communities yesterday; and now as we share in worship, and gather in a short time at the Jefferson Building, with our eyes also across the hallway in this building to where a new choir room and nursery will be constructed.

I want us to remember more than anything else this morning that God is in this place, and that it is God’s presence and providential grace that has brought us to where we are. In the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the people of Israel that it is not by their own hands that they are to acquire the wealth of the new land into which they go. It is God’s gracious hand that has given them power.

And each of the lessons appointed for today speak to the idea of a “house.” In the book of Genesis, Jacob, fleeing from his brother Esau after stealing his inheritance, comes at night to rest his head on a stone, and has a dream in which he sees angels ascending and descending on a ladder. “Truly God is in this place, and I did not know it!” he cries out upon awakening. “This is none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven”.

In the second lesson, from the first letter of Peter, the writer tells us to let ourselves “be built into a spiritual house”. And in today’s gospel, Jesus drives the moneychangers out of the Temple in Jerusalem, proclaiming that this is “my Father’s house of prayer, and you have made it into a den of thieves!” That is a disturbing moment, but it call us in both the Church and School communities to know that whenever we make the stuff of our lives in this place to be just a set of secular or commercial transactions, we have really drifted far from our purpose.

I say this to remind us all, and especially our School parents and teachers and students that the purpose of Christ Episcopal School isn’t simply to give students a quality education so that they can successfully navigate in a very competitive world. No, the ultimate purpose is much deeper than that. It is to nurture these children so that they can be brought into the fullest awareness of how they can be good stewards of the abundant gifts of God’s grace that have been entrusted to them. They are here to bear witness to what Jesus also says of God in this morning’s gospel: “Out of the mouths of children and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself.”

The Jefferson Building today is thus being dedicated to the glory of God. And if we ever were to get into concerns of who owns these buildings--the Church? —the School?—the real answer is God! All of our buildings here make up God’s house. And all of us, united in the spirit of growth, are God’s faithful servants.

What a great day this is, in the history of Christ Episcopal Church and School. May the house of God continue to flourish here in this place, now and always. Amen.

This web site is dedicated to Ned Prettyman and Wally Keene.

Try to remember that kind of September When life was slow and oh so mellow, Try to remember that kind of September When grass was green and grain was yellow, Try to remember that kind of September When you were a tender and callow fellow… If you remember that kind of September Then follow….

Try to remember that kind of September
When life was slow and oh so mellow,
Try to remember that kind of September
When grass was green and grain was yellow,
Try to remember that kind of September
When you were a tender and callow fellow…
If you remember that kind of September
Then follow….