We Have a Place for You!

Homily, We Have a Place for You!
The Ninth Sunday after the Pentecost, Proper 11B, 2024
Final Homily as Associate Rector at Good Shepherd
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church
Tequesta, FL

The Rev. Derek M Larson, TSSF

Today’s Lectionary Readings:

2 Samuel 7:1-14a
Psalm 89:20-37
Ephesians 2:11-22
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Three years and six days I ago I came to serve as priest at Good Shepherd. For ten months I shared in ministry with Fr. Doug—Bishop Scharf. For eight months I shared in ministry with the amazing Fr. Groff. For 18 months I served Good Shepherd as solo priest, but most importantly for three years and six days I shared in ministry with you, the people of Good Shepherd. 

And when I say share, I really mean share. 

A few weeks ago on the last day of a wonderful Vacation Bible School, a parent of some of the campers came up to me with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes as she said, “Thank you. You have done such an incredible job with this week. We are so grateful for you.” I stopped, taken aback. I didn’t do any of the planning for Vacation Bible School. And I played a very small part in it. This happens a lot. Because I wear a collar sometimes people give me and Fr. Groff way too much credit for what goes on here. But Vacation Bible School and so many other things at Good Shepherd were put together by so many of you, not just me (and in the case of VBS, especially Mary Lou Crifasi at the lead).

Ministry is something we do together. And what I love about that is that as we do ministry together, we also build community together. The ministry we share creates a place of purpose and belonging. You could feel that at VBS. It didn’t belong solely to one person, it belonged to a community of people who care about one another doing ministry together.

We see that in our gospel passage this morning. In this passage we see a community of people gather around Jesus not just as disciples, but as apostles, or those who are sent out. In this passage Jesus surrounds himself with a community that doesn’t just receive his ministry but shares in his ministry. And people recognize not just Jesus, but the community of apostles that surround him as well, because they too are in the world preaching and serving those around them. 

And as they share in ministry together, they find a community of purpose and belonging. A community where each of the disciples feel they are an important part of the group. Where they are valued. Where they are loved. Where they each have a role to play. And when, in this passage, Jesus invites them to a place of rest, he is not only inviting them to a physical place, but a spiritual place of love and belonging. Places don’t always have to be just physical or geographic locations, sometimes places are people—are relationships—where you can share in life with others. That’s what Jesus is doing in this passage. Rather than clinging to ministry as his own, he shares it with others to create a place for them of love and belonging.

And in my experience, that’s what we mean at Good Shepherd when we say “We have a place for you.” “We have a place for you” is more than simply a slogan or a catchphrase. It’s more than a tool for recruiting people. It doesn’t just mean we have a place for you to volunteer. It doesn’t just mean we have a place for you to sit in our pews. It doesn’t just mean we have a place for your child at our school. Like Jesus inviting his disciples to a place for rest, “We have a place for you” means, we have a place for you to be in community with us. We have a place of belonging and purpose where you can share in our common mission. We have a place for you. 

Now for something personal. It’s my last Sunday after all. Three years and six days ago I came to Good Shepherd to share in ministry with you. But three years and six months ago, I didn’t know where I was going. I was in my senior year of seminary and uncertain about what was next. My peers all started getting jobs lined up for after graduation, but I hadn’t yet found a call. We were in the midst of COVID, and there were not a lot of churches that felt ready to hire someone in the midst of that uncertainty. The plan had been that I would go back to the Diocese of Atlanta, which had sent me to seminary, but they didn’t have any open positions. And so I began to pray, “God, prepare a place for my family, and prepare my family for a place.” Everyday I’d pray the same prayer, “God, prepare a place for my family, and prepare my family for a place.” And originally what I meant by that prayer, was “God, give me a job. So that my family has a place to live. And help me get ready for that job.” 

And finally, in answer to my prayer, I saw a job description for this beautiful church in Tequesta called Good Shepherd, that had this motto: “We have a place for you.” And after coming to visit and interview, I realized it was true, they did have a place for me and my family. But the place was so much more than the job that I had been praying for. I found, in Good Shepherd, a place of community. I found a place where ministry was shared. I found a group of people that took my family as their own and truly provided not only a place for me to work, but a place for me and my family to belong.

Good Shepherd has been the place where I can pray at someone’s bedside knowing that someone is also praying for me. Good Shepherd has been the place where I can plan a Bible Study knowing I will also learn the Scripture’s meaning from you. Good Shepherd has been the place where I could be encouraged and supported to grow in my vocation as a young priest. It’s been the place where people humored me when I experimented or tried odd things like juggling or unicycling. It’s been the place where I could entrust my son to be educated and cared for, and it has been the place where LauraAnn and I could bring another child into this world, and have him baptized surround by people we know would love him. 

This is the gift of Good Shepherd. That you provide a place of community and belonging for others. And today, on my last day here, I say thank you for that ministry, and sharing it with my family. 

And the work goes on! I am excited to see what’s next for you. With Fr. Groff and every person in these pews and on the livestream, I’m excited to see how your ministry of providing a place for others goes on!

You know, there are more people outside these doors without a place. Without a community of belonging. Without a purpose to share in. There are people out there all around us that—in the words of our gospel passage—are like sheep without a shepherd. We could also say like people without a place. But you have a shepherd. And you have a place. In Christ and in this community, you have a Good Shepherd. And it is your ministry to take that Good Shepherd and share him with those around you. 

And so the ministry goes on. And I am so grateful for my small part in it. Thank you. Keep on doing what you’re doing. Sharing in ministry. Being a community. Keep doing what you are doing. And do for those without a place what you have done for my family. And tell them, “We have a place for you.” Amen.