2022 Year C Proper 16 - August 21, 2022
What my kids need most is hope
*Preaching is an oral art form, the notes are not a transcript of the sermon preached in the pulpit. We must always leave room for the Holy Spirit. The YouTube recording can provide a transcript through their app.
(Psalm 71:5-6) For you are my hope, O Lord God, my confidence since I was young. …ever since I was born; …you have been my strength; my praise shall be always of you.
Our children and youth suffer an epidemic of hopelessness. I recently spoke with administrators of Omaha Public Schools about how Trinity could interrupt the cycle of truancy that leads kids into prison. She told me, “What my kids need most is hope.”
I know we can meet their acute need: hope that they are loved by the community, hope that they are worthy of joy, and hope that their nightmare world can be transformed to a place of peace. I know this is our call because we have shown resilient hope to Omaha since our pioneer forebears discerned a place for the Episcopal Church this side of the Missouri River. Our charism to Omaha is resilient hope in the face of upheaval. When the world is reordered, we respond with enduring presence and relevant mission.
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral is called by the Holy Spirit to bring the hope of Christ to our neighborhood, each other, and Episcopalians across our diocese. We took up a three-fold call when Trinity Parish accepted Bishop Clarkson’s invitation to become Trinity Cathedral.
We are a sacrament of the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska drawing into communion all Episcopalians of our state, acting as a public witness of love to Omaha, and shining the hope of Christ into a world blinded with fear and hatred.
If a sacrament, then we must have “an outward and visible sign” of our “inner, spiritual grace.” Our buildings are that outward sign. A tower anchoring this vision of beauty to Capitol Street. Our buildings must be inspiring, accessible, safe, and used in ministries expressing God’s grace.
It is not a simple identity and we do not have a simple building. We inhabit three buildings from different eras attached to one another with disjointed technology and architecture. In 2018 you recognized that effective ministry in the present and institutional sustainability required elegant integration of these spaces.
You accomplished an amazing campaign. Then in 2020, well, you know, the world and Trinity shifted. Like a kaleidoscope when the sky changes, we had the same view, but the colors and patterns changed over and over.
We responded with shifting ministries: worship and fellowship moved into virtual space, DEO meals transitioned to delivery to the most vulnerable, and Tamar’s Closet distribution moved into Magdalene Omaha so survivors’ needs were met immediately.
Our neighborhood changed. Hotel Indigo and their restaurant opened across the street. Our neighbors without shelter remapped their patterns of movement to meet their needs. The neighbors who pass by our doors today craving Christ’s love are the students of Central High.
What does our three-fold sacramental identity look like?
Bring hope to each other: we must have soul fulfilling worship, challenging formation, congregational song, fellowship, and ways to play.
Bring hope to Nebraska’s Episcopalians: we must greet them into an iconic entrance, preserve and share our collective history of bold compassion, and provide resources linking us to the future of Episcopal identity and mission.
Bring hope to our neighborhood: we need to love those kids at Central High School.
Pray for the young people up the hill, their teachers, and staff, especially our members who are students and staff. We’re invited to become mentors. They don’t need expert tutors; they need optimistic adults interested in their lives.
We love music, show up to their concerts and shows to build relationships. Our building is literally in a position as sacred space to show the students they are loved by God, a place to find hope. Some may sing with our Trinity Youth Chorale. Some may use our internet and grab a snack. Some may need academic help. Some may use the calm of our Chapel as a place to breathe. Some just need us to use their chosen name without judgment.
We’ve raised a generation of traumatized children convinced our society loves our adult conveniences, our guns, our ideologies, and our economic growth more than our kids. Looking at public policy, they’re right.
Trinity, we can love them into hoping for more in this age and to believe the eternal hope of God’s dream for our world through the love of Jesus our Savior.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, heavenly Father, you have blessed us with the joy and care of children: Give us calm strength and patient wisdom as we bring them up, that we may teach them to love whatever is just and true and good, and to show them the hope we share by the example of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (BCP 829)
+The Very Rev. Vanessa E. B. Clark