The following sermon was presented by the Rev. John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia, on June 1, 1985. The title is, The Lord Under My Roof, and the scripture reference is Luke, chapter 7, verses 1 through 10. 

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke. Reading from the seventh chapter, beginning at the first verse, Jesus is just called the twelve and then had an extended teaching. After Jesus had ended all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.

Now a centurion had a slave who was dear to him, who was sick and at the point of death. When he heard of Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his slave. and when they came to Jesus they besought him earnestly saying he is worthy to have you do this for him for he loves our nation and he built us our synagogue and Jesus went with them when he was not far from the house the centurion sent friends to him saying to him lord do not trouble yourself for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof therefore I did not presume to come to you.

But say the word and let my servant be healed. For I am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, go, and he goes.

To another, come, and he comes. And to my slave, do this, and he does it. When Jesus heard this, he marveled at him and turned and said to the multitude that followed him, I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.

And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave well. The Gospel of the Lord. King Solomon, at the dedication of the temple, and this centurion of whom we've just heard, were really wrestling with the same question, although in rather different terms. Solomon put it this way, will God indeed dwell upon the earth? Is it conceivable that the God who created the whole universe, who holds the stars and the planets in the palm of his hand, is it conceivable that the infinite God would come and dwell within a very finite building that we, his creatures, have built for him?

The answer is yes, but. Yes, God chose to do precisely that for a season. God chose to set His glory in that house as a place to meet with mankind, the center of their worship for a season in the Old Covenant.

It foreshadowed something far greater in the New. God inhabited a building until He inhabited a body. In the book of Hebrews, the author puts into the mouth of Jesus these words, Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired.

Now think about that. God Himself commanded sacrifices and offerings. That's what the temple was for.

That was the center of worship, was coming and offering your sacrifices for sin. But he says, sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired, but a body hast thou prepared for me. In other words, all of that was just anticipatory.

It foreshadowed the real thing. The real sacrifice, the real offering, was Christ himself. And all of that Old Testament worship, all of the paraphernalia of priesthood and altar and sacrifice, was simply to prepare us for His coming.

I wonder if you realize that when Jesus made that interesting comment in the opening chapters of John's Gospel, you remember when He says, destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it up again? And everybody assumed He was talking about the temple, the physical temple. and John adds the little comment this he said about his own body he was speaking of the resurrection I wonder if you realize that when he said that he wasn't simply toying with them trying deliberately to confuse them playing with words no, he was saying I am the temple this building has served its purpose what after all is a temple it's the place where god meets man and jesus said he now indwells my body i am the temple destroy this temple and in three days i'll raise it up again it's an interesting phrase in the middle of the 118th psalm which is one of those psalms is called a song of ascent, which means that as pilgrims made their way up to the holy city of Jerusalem, this was one of the songs that they would sing en route.

And they still do, right down to the present time. 118th Psalm. In the middle of it, it says the stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.

This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Do you hear what's being said? the builders were building a building but God had another building in mind they completely overlooked the cornerstone the chief stone in that building they built on the wrong foundation you have to wonder what the Jews thought they were singing about as they went up to Jerusalem I wonder what they think they're singing about today as they make their way up to the holy city and year after year celebration after celebration they say of themselves the stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.

God is building a building and it's a different building. Not the physical temple which was destroyed but the body of his own son which was destroyed and raised up again and lives forever. That phrase is a very, very important one scripture. In the New Testament, it's quoted in Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts.

It's referred to in Ephesians and twice in 1 Peter. It is a very central scripture. The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. God is building a different building.

Every now and then you hear reports that some zealous Jewish folk in Israel and around the world are trying to raise funds to rebuild Solomon's temple. Have you heard that? Sometimes it's also said that certain fundamentalist American Christians are raising money for the very same purpose because they believe that unless the temple is rebuilt, Messiah won't come back again.

Let me quote to you something Terry Fulham has said about that on many an occasion. He said, not only would that signal the greatest holy war in the history of the world, because Temple Mount is now occupied by the Muslims, that's where the Dome of the Rock is, in order to rebuild Solomon's Temple you have to destroy all that, not only would that signal the greatest holy war in the history of the world, but it would also be the greatest apostasy in the history of Judaism and Christianity. Why?

Because it would be the total, final, irrevocable rejection of what Christ did. We don't need another temple. That temple does not need rebuilding.

Sacrifices and offerings are done with. There's been one sacrifice for all time. It does not need adding to.

It does not need to be repeated. It is totally complete. To rebuild Solomon's temple would be the final and total rejection of what Jesus has done.

The language about the temple ever since the incarnation has to do with a living temple. You and I, living stones built into it, placed upon the cornerstone, cornerstone who is Christ Himself. Paul said to the Ephesians, therefore we are members of the household of God built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief cornerstone.

That's the only building that God has any interest in today. Now how much of that the centurion understood? I have no idea. I suspect very little.

But one thing he saw clearly was that this man, Jesus, who stood before him, was indeed indwelt by the Spirit of God. He spoke with an authority that was unparalleled. He commanded light and darkness, good and bad, health and sickness.

The centurion says, I understand authority. I tell somebody to jump and he asks how high on the way up. and I understand your authority.

You don't even need to come to my servant. You just speak the word and he's going to be well. Jesus marveled at it.

He said, not in all Israel have I seen such faith as that. The centurion's question was not metaphysical. Is it possible for an infinite God to come under a finite roof?

the centurion's question was moral Lord I'm not worthy that you should come into my house nevertheless speak the word and my servant will be well I'm interested in that for two reasons first of all because all the Jews around him were urging Jesus to go and heal this man's slave precisely because He was worthy in their estimation. He loves our nation. He's built our synagogue.

He deserves it. That's what they were saying. But Jesus healed the man not because he was worthy, but precisely because He said, I am unworthy.

And He nevertheless exercised mighty faith. I bid you to bear that in mind I want to think with you for just a few moments about something that's happening this week Tuesday evening is our annual meeting principal reason that we have an annual meeting is for the electing of this year's class of vestry members the elected lay leadership of the parish I think this is a remarkably appropriate backdrop against which we could think about that for a moment or two this morning. In common everyday language, we call a building like this God's house.

But that's not really very accurate. God's house is you and me. We are the household of God.

This building is simply one of the places that the house meets. The principal place in which we gather together. The vestry, as the elected lay leadership, and the clergy and staff as the paid professional leadership, have a joint responsibility.

A shared responsibility. First of all, to seek the mind of Christ. To honor Him.

To obey Him. to magnify him as fully as in us lies. Secondly, to care for the people that he calls to be part of this household, part of this fellowship.

And thirdly, to reach out in service and witness to his name to those beyond. In a lot of places, a distinction is made. The clergy have spiritual responsibility.

The vestry has responsibility for the temporal affairs of the parish. In other words, for the business. And I want to suggest to you that that distinction is totally without scriptural foundation.

Totally. As a matter of fact, you can't find a distinction in the New Testament between clergy and lay. Stop and think about it.

I remember being with Michael Harper one time and he made the comment to somebody, you do realize that our church is headed by a layman, the Church of England. Head of our church is Queen Elizabeth. And I said, Michael, you do realize that our church is headed by a layman?

His name is Jesus. He was never ordained. In the sense that we speak of it today.

Nor were any of the apostles. now it's true that in the New Testament some were freed up to give most of their time the majority of their time to preaching and teaching but eldership oversight was a shared responsibility even though various folks within the eldership might have specific responsibilities and I'd put it to you this way the elders Vestry, clergy, staff, the elders, the overseers, have a spiritual responsibility for the church, which primarily means the people, which includes the business. You got it?

It's not clergy have spirituality, vestry has business. No. The elders have a spiritual responsibility which includes the business. So however much they have to deal with nuts and bolts and bricks and mortar, their preeminent concern is with the spiritual nurture of the people of God.

And that means this. There to be men and women of prayer. There are to be men and women who order their lives and the lives of their families according to biblical precepts.

And there are to be men and women who, to use a very old and rather quaint phrase, have a passion for souls. They care about the well-being, the spiritual well-being of other folks. In one sense, Christian leadership isn't all that different from any other kind of leadership.

It requires a capacity for decision making. It requires a certain amount of drive and enthusiasm and energy. It requires a readiness for responsibility.

And that means time. And I underscore that in an area like ours where people's schedules are stretched very thin indeed. There are lots and lots and lots of good folks who are well qualified but simply do not have the time to give to the job.

To elect somebody to vestry is to ask that person to set aside quality time regularly and not be distracted by other competing responsibilities. Requires an ability to relate well to others. And one of the most important things that we are constantly working on within the leadership of the parish is to defer to each other.

To defer to each other. Love doesn't insist upon its own way. But you know, all those other qualifications, do you know what the distinctively Christian requirement for leadership is?

Even for waiting on tables, it's to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Read Acts chapter 6. When it came to the point where the apostles said, we're just so bogged down with caring for the physical needs of the folks, we've got to give ourselves to preaching and teaching, we've got to find some people who can wait on tables, it says that what they looked for was men filled with the Spirit of God.

So I want to submit to you that what we're talking about is of the highest importance. And that's why I bring it before you this morning. This year we've spent the last several months restructuring the vestry.

We've realized that for the most part it's been set up to administer programs. And that may have been appropriate a few years back, But as we've grown and the staff has grown, we've come to the point where most of the administration of program is staffed out. And so we have reorganized ourselves to put the vestry alongside the clergy and the other staff in terms of ministry rather than administration.

Ministry rather than administration. I want to say more about that on Tuesday evening. I think that is a most important restructuring process that we've gone through.

I share all this for three reasons. First of all, I want to ask you to come on Tuesday evening. This is an extremely important event.

I think the case could be made that it's the most important event in any given year. The electing, the selecting, the confirming of God's choice, we trust, of those men and women that he's calling to take on this kind of responsibility. Some folks have said, why bother?

There are seven nominees for seven vacancies. Why bother coming? Well, that's true.

There are seven nominees for seven vacancies. not because the nominating committee decided beforehand that that's the way it should be, but because they had the experience of being led by the Spirit of God to those seven names. However, I want to say two things about that.

Number one, the floor will be open for additional nominations, and if you feel that the nominating committee has missed something, you are very welcome to make an additional nomination so long as the person in question has been previously notified and agreed to it and meets the canonical requirements. Secondly, whether or not there are additional nominations from the floor, the electing is only half of the reason we gather. The other half is what I would call the inaugurating, the commissioning, the laying on of hands, the praying for, the launching of a new vestry term, the celebration.

And I want to ask you to be there, to be present, to surround our vestry, new members and those continuing with the love and support and prayers of God's people. Secondly, I ask your prayers between now and Tuesday, that those elected will be prepared by God, That they'll be the ones that He Himself has chosen, called, and equipped for this ministry. And that He'll mold us quickly into a team.

It takes time to begin to function together. We want to shorten that time as much as possible. We're going off on retreat together next Friday and Saturday, immediately after the election, just in order to facilitate that process.

We want to hit the ground at full speed. And I'd ask you to pray for that whole process. And finally, I ask you to bear this in mind.

I want to say this as carefully as I can. It could be very easily misunderstood, and it probably will be. But I'm going to say it anyway.

I believe that God has raised this parish up as a lighthouse parish. Not only for the Episcopal Church, but for the Anglican Communion and even beyond that. God has done that.

And God can take it away like that. And God forbid that we individually or corporately, the rector, the clergy, the staff, the vestry, or any of the parishioners, Begin to think that it's because we are worthy. It is not.

God has done it because He's chosen to do it. Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But may it please You that Your Word would be spoken here and that healings and signs and wonders would accompany it to the praise of Your name.

Let's bow our heads together. Father God, for all those men and women who down through the years have served You in this special capacity, we give You thanks. And for those that You're calling to take on, vestry responsibilities as of this Tuesday evening, we give You thanks.

And we pray the anointing of Your Spirit and the gift of humility and boldness that we might not think more highly of ourselves than we ought, but that we would think very highly indeed of You. And that in all things we would bring honor to Your name. For Jesus' sake.

Amen.