Homily, Our Shared Parish
The Seventeenth Sunday after the Pentecost (Proper 22C), 2025
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
Plant City, FL
The Rev. Derek M Larson, TSSF
Today’s Lectionary Readings:
Lamentations 1:1-6
Lamentations 3:19-26
2 Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10
In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
One of the things I love about our tradition, is that we keep a parish register. Actually a few registers. We have one in which we keep a record of every mass, morning prayer, eucharistic visit, last rites that we do. And another that records the names of every person who is baptized here, every person who was married here, every person who was buried here, every person who was confirmed here, every person who received into the Episcopal church, every person who is a member of this parish, we write your names in ink in a book, in our parish registry. I love that.
And I love that because of how people centered is. We care about who is here. We want to remember each person long after they die or move away or change traditions. They are important parts of our community.
I didn’t grow up in a tradition like that, and years ago when I was trying to attain a record of my baptism, I called the church where I had grown up and been a member and was baptized, and they had no record, no memory, no knowledge of my time there or my baptism. They had not written it down. By contrast, I got a call last year by one of our online parishioners, Melinda. Melinda worships with us faithfully each week from her home in Tennessee, and she shared with me that she had been confirmed here in 1954 before she moved away. So I pulled out our parish register and flipped back to 1954, and sure enough I found her name right there, written in the hand writing of Father Folwell, on the same page as as Benjamin and Marion Gatliff who were confirmed on January 2, 1955 and William and Vera Bush, confirmed on March 21, 1954. And I was able to send a photo of that page to Melinda, which she loved. We remember in our tradition. The people and names of this community matter.
In our second reading for today, we get glimpse of something similar. St. Paul writes to his protege, the young Timothy, offering encouragement and direction in his ministry. And in verse 5 he writes, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now, I am sure, lives in you.” Lois and Eunice. Mentioned by name. Remembered by the written word. Recognized in the community. In this letter Paul is reminding Timothy that his faith is not his alone, but that it has been shared with him by his community, by his family. It has been given, handed down from person to person going back to Christ himself before the ages, as he writes in verse 9.
Faith is communal. Faith is shared. It is not something we claim for ourselves. It is not something we purchase. It is not something we attain. It is not a reward. It is a shared gift of Christian community, offered to us by the hands of another human being.
Think about your own faith. Did you purchase it online? Did you order it from a catalogue? Did you earn it from years of study and prayer? Or was it first shared with you by another person. Perhaps a family member or a friend. Perhaps even by a stranger? Do you remember their names? Can you see their faces? Faith is communal.
And the same is true of this parish. St. Peter’s is not primarily an organization or an institution or a religious establishment. It is a community. Made up by the people that hold it in common. It is a spiritual family in which the names of all who are present here matter. St. Peter’s is our shared parish.
This week we begin our stewardship campaign and our resource planning for the coming year and each of you will be receiving an invitation to join in that work in the coming days with your prayers, your participation, and your financial provision. And as your consider those things, I want clarify something about stewardship.
Giving to St. Peter’s is not a membership fee nor is a charitable donation. Giving to St. Peter’s is exercising care for a community to which we belong, a community that we share—that we hold in common, a community that is handed down to us by those that have gone on before. Giving to St. Peter’s is not purchasing a product or donating to a good cause, it is the sacred responsibility to cherish that which has been shared with us. As Paul writes to Timothy, “Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.” St. Peter’s is our shared treasure. Our shared parish. And it is up to each one of us to take care of it.
We each have a role to play here. Not as consumers or benefactors or beneficiaries but as members of this community. Together we share the ministry of this place. It does not belong to me, or to our staff, or our vestry, or our bishop, or any one person or one small group of people. The ministry of this place is that which we hold all in common. That which has been given to us. That which has been shared through love and care and relationships for more than 136 years. Isn’t it wonderful to be part of a community like that? Isn’t it wonderful to belong to the relationships that make up this parish?
Supporting St. Peter’s with our prayers, participation, and financial provision is not simply a good and nice thing to do. It is our sacred responsibility. And it is a big responsibility. It’s too big for any one person or small group of people, but as a community with each of us doing our part, we sustain and hold this community in common. This is our shared parish. We share it with one another. We share it with every name written in our parish register, past and present. We share it with Christ. And each of us in this community matters. Someday someone will look back in our parish register and see each of our names written there on the page. Not as consumers or donors, but members of this family, people of this community. We are St. Peter’s. We are this church. This is our shared treasure. This is our shared parish. Amen.
Questions for Reflection
- How has my faith journey been influenced by the people in my life? Can I identify specific individuals who have shared their faith with me?
- What practices do I engage in to nurture my sense of belonging within my faith community? How do I contribute to the shared life of my parish?
- In what ways can I actively remember and honor those who have come before me in my faith tradition? How might their stories inspire my own spiritual growth?
- How do I perceive my role in supporting the ministry and mission of my church? Do I view my contributions as a responsibility or merely as an act of charity?
- In reflecting on the concept of stewardship, what steps can I take to more deeply engage with the shared community of my parish? How can I encourage others to do the same?
Thoughts on Faith 