Beyond Our Expectatio

Over 800 years ago a young man named Francesco Bernadone was trying to figure out what to do with his life. He’d served as a soldier, his father wanted him to go into the family textile business, but Francesco felt restless. Something was stirring in his heart that told him God was calling him to something else. In his wanderings around Assisi, Francesco came upon the little rundown church of San Damiano, where he went in to pray, kneeling beneath the crucifix. Praying to God for help, he felt the eyes of Jesus upon him, and heard the words, Rebuild my church. So he got himself some tools, and he went to work repairing the church building, and repairing some of the other local churches too. Until he began to realize that the call was not to rebuild the church buildings – it was to rebuild God’s church, the institution of God’s people on earth, the followers of Jesus who had started to lose their way. God’s call was to even more than he imagined: to be part of the healing of the world, to be an instrument of God’s love and peace. That little man Francesco became the saint Francis – a saint whose words and actions continue to draw people of all faiths to God’s love, and our call to love one another.

And about 65 years ago a small group of families got themselves together here in this valley and started to meet regularly for prayer. God was stirring something in them, and they wanted to find a way to respond. They found some space to meet next door at the community center; they found some priests to come around sometimes and celebrate the Eucharist; they built some friendships and the kind of relationships that are deeper than friendship, relationships of prayer and support and involvement in one another’s lives. They made a little community that tended each other in this place. But something made them go further: they gave of their money and their time and their skills, planning and dreaming. They reached out to the Episcopal diocese and got themselves official status. And finally, they built a church, this lovely little adobe church, full of their prayers and hopes for what would come in this valley. They responded to God’s call, a call that started in a prayer group and then kept going from there. And because they kept responding, this community has grown and touched so many lives, near and far.

And now it’s 2025, and here we are, on another lovely Sunday morning. We’ve gotten out of bed and got ourselves here; some of us have done extra work to make and bring special food, to make the church and the parish hall look extra lovely, to gather up stories and photos that tell a bit of the history of these last 50+ years so we can have a special celebration. We’ve responded to God’s call in all of this, the stirring of God in our hearts. It might look simple, this little gathering, as if we’re just joining our friends, or having a nice day, getting a good start to our week. But God is in it, as God is in anything good; we’ve answered a call, whether we realize it or not. And God’s calls have a way of growing and expanding. There is more to them than meets the eye.

This weekend, of course, is our patronal feast, celebrating the feast day of that little St Francis of Assisi. This church was named for him, it is said, because in the early years the members would put on live Nativity scenes for the community. Someone realized that St Francis was the first to set up a Nativity creche for devotion, and so they named the church for him. That’s a sweet story, and a sweet bit of the history about St Francis. So is the blessing of pets in his name, as we did yesterday, remembering all the ways St Francis loved and cared for creation and all God’s creatures. That’s all the softer side of St Francis, you could say – like the softer side of Sears.

But the scripture readings set for this feast day paint a sterner picture. Beginning with the reading from Job, we hear God reprimanding Job’s ignorance, declaring how God cares for all the wild creatures, loves and cares for them just as much if not more than for us humans. And then there was that frightening story from Acts, as two members of the early church pay horribly for trying to deceive God and their community. And that parable from Jesus: ‘You fool, you’ll die tonight and lose it all.’ These are scripture passages that point to uncompromising wildness, high expectations, fierce justice – no softer side here. They’re chosen for Francis’ feast day to remind us that St Francis didn’t just love the animals; he gave himself completely to God’s call. He renounced all wealth and worldly goods, walking away from his privileged upbringing, recoiling from money throughout his life. And he was absolute about that: none of his followers were allowed to handle money, every one of them were required to beg for their food, and Francis himself gave away his clothes to anyone who needed them. When Francis followed Jesus, there was no halfway. He truly rebuilt the church by his witness and faith. These texts tell us: let this be a warning to us all: God is fierce, and God’s call is total. Be careful when you answer it.

There’s a bit in C S Lewis’ book Mere Christianity where he uses the analogy of a house to describe what it means to answer God’s call. Imagine that we’re the house, and God comes in to make some repairs on it. At first, God is fixing some things that we know need repairs and so we’re glad for it, and not surprised at what God is doing. But then God starts ‘knocking the house about’ and it starts to hurt, and it doesn’t make any sense – until gradually we realize that God isn’t just there to repair the house; God is there to rebuild and renovate the house entirely, and move in. We thought answering the call, answering the doorbell, was a small thing. But God intends so much more: God intends our transformation. And not just for us in our own lives; God intends to use us for purposes far beyond what we can ask or imagine. God intends to rebuild the church, now and long into the future, long after we’re gone.

All of this is meant to be good news. And it is good news, albeit sometimes terribly and frighteningly good news. God wants a relationship with us – all of us, our whole selves, every bit of us. And God wants us to fulfill a purpose – God’s purpose, God’s intention for our lives. And God calls us into community with others to help us grow in that relationship, and to serve in that purpose. As God did with the early community of the church; as God did with Francis; as God did with our community ancestors here in this valley; as God does with people in all times and places. We have a long lineage before and after us of people who answer God’s call.

And again, we might hear the call at first to be something that seems simple and small – to fix something, to make food to share, to be kind to a neighbor. Good and easy to say yes to. We want a community to be part of; we love this little church; we want it to grow and good things to happen here. So we say yes, and with our yes, we open the door, and God begins to work. And then things start happening. Thank God, it doesn’t all depend on us to figure everything out for what comes next, to always do or say the right thing, to get it perfect every time. God makes up the difference in what we can offer; God knows our limitations. But God intends and expects that we will fully show up as much as we are able, here in this church and in every part of our lives. To open our eyes and see; to open our hearts and feel; to open our ears and listen to what God is up to. To use our hands to do the work God sets before us. And then to marvel at what God makes happen. We are in God’s hands. God is most certainly not in ours.

I know the plans I have for you, God tells his people through Jeremiah. God knows the plans God has for this place too, and for every one of us. God’s call comes to every one of us, quietly or surprisingly, all at once or a tiny bit at a time, healing what is broken in us and drawing us further in, building us up and sending us further out, to share God’s wild, uncompromising love for this world. God gives us everything; God calls us to do the same in return. And so let’s see just what comes next.