ST. GEORGE’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH – 2002 ANNUAL REPORT
The Reverend Canon Noël A. Bailey, Rector

     Scientists tell us that among creatures on earth best suited for survival is one we all detest and try to get rid of. If the human population were to be annihilated, these creatures would carry on, and on and on. With apologies to April, Bill and Garrett, I am talking about, are you ready?, roaches. And no, this isn¹t a paper about insects that I picked up by mistake. I want us to think about roaches today, and I want us to take a bigger step and compare ourselves to roaches.
      Roaches have survived and will continue to live and thrive because they are adaptable. They have learned to deal with and overcome all the poisons that we have thrown at them, and all these obstacles to survival have made them stronger, tougher, and able to go on.
      I am suggesting that we would do well to become like roaches.
      Yuck! I don¹t even like to think about them and I try to eradicate them whenever I see them ­ why would I want anyone to be like roaches? Because they are here now, will be here tomorrow and for many tomorrows, and I think that we should figure out how to be around for a long time, too.
      Roaches have taken in all the stuff we have tried to poison them with, and they are stronger for it. The may look the same way they have looked for millions of years, but inside they are different because they have learned to make the poison work for them and not against them.
      If St. George¹s is going to be around for even a few more years, we, too, need to adapt and change as the roaches do, we need to deal with the reality of the world inside and outside the parish, and we need to change and get stronger, or roll over and die.
      Those words probably hit you harder than thinking of yourself as a roach ­ but, as our Dean, John Tarrant likes to say, "reality is our friend," and we need to confront our reality.
      Ten years ago our average attendance was 65, in 2002 it was 60, and it was that high only because of our Hispanic brothers and sisters who have chosen to worship here and be part of this family. We Anglos averaged only 42 in attendance at Sunday worship, while attendance at Misa averaged 18. This may sound like bad news, but it shows that we can adapt and change ­ so there is one way in which we are like roaches! We have invited new and seemingly different people into our midst and that is a big change. And, our "job" as a church is not be concerned so much with numbers as with mission, to do what God calls us to do and in Jesus showed us the way.
      I pray that in the months and years ahead we will not remain two separate congregations, but we can all find ways to integrate and become one Body in Christ. Sunday morning worship is not just for English speaking folks, Sunday evening worship is not just for Spanish speakers.
      In order to help this integration I am taking a big step, making a change for me and for all of us, with my trip to Costa Rica to learn Spanish. I am looking forward to seeing this beautiful country and to learning to communicate in another language, but I am nervous about what seems like stepping off into the unknown.
      I will survive, I will do more than survive, because I am not going to Costa Rica alone, I will be in the company of God because Holy Spirit is with me always, and in that I, and we, are different from the roaches.
      Roaches survive so that they can stay alive. All they care about is breathing, eating and reproducing so there will be more roaches. They have no plan, no idea beyond that, no vision. And they are God¹s creatures, but I don¹t think they are aware of that, so their survival is self interest.
      For us to truly survive as the Body of Christ we need to be surviving for his sake, not just ours. We need a plan, a reason outside ourselves, a vision.
      Long ago the writer of Proverbs said, "Without a vision the people perish." These words are still as true today, thousands of years later.
      There are folks here at St. George¹s who have a vision, and who work hard to give that vision life and keep it alive. For a parish this size we are very busy, and we have more ministries than many larger parishes. We all can be grateful for the Wardens and Vestry (and we thank Ceil whose term on Vestry is over); Karen and the choir; Andy and Sunday School; Linda and Birdie and the Altar Guild; Louise and Marion who meet each week for prayer for the parish; Karen and Alice who meet each Sunday for Intercessory Prayer, for us and for all God¹s creation; Canon Sherm for his guiding spirit in our Hispanic ministry; Jorge for helping keep that spirit alive; Luisa for her quiet support and sermon translation at Misa; the Blessed group; Jorge and Sue who had the idea for Caring and Sharing Outreach, and John and Andy who have helped with it; Helen, helping with English lessons; everyone who turns out for Loaves and Fishes, where we all have fun as we serve those who want food or community; Andy who has taken on the endless task of keeping our walkways clear of ice and snow; and the building committee who are looking into ways to improve our physical property.
      This is an amazing witness to God¹s love. In our busyness we are like the roaches, but in our reason for being busy we are the Body of Christ. That is an important difference.
      It is that difference that will make or break us.
      Today in our Gospel we hear again the story of John the Baptizer who came "proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." We probably think that we don¹t have a great need of repentance, we¹re doing OK, thanks, so we miss the rest of the story, the part about Jesus.
      When Jesus came up out of the water of baptism, the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, God proclaimed "You are my Son, the Beloved, in you I am well pleased."
      We may not hear God, but those words resounded in heaven when we were baptized. We, through Jesus, have become daughters and sons of our God. Like Jesus we have to live into that new personhood, beginning with (and this may be as hard to think about as being roaches) repentance. Repentance, as you may be tired of hearing, means "turn and walk the other way" or, as I just read somewhere, "looking at the world upside down." Perhaps we don¹t need to turn and walk away from something as much as we need to turn and walk toward our Lord.
      We will thrive and live fully only if our plan and vision include and are infused with God¹s will for us, and we will know God¹s will only through spending time with God in prayer and in study of God¹s word. Otherwise we will merely survive for a time and then become extinct. I am calling for us all to turn toward God and intentionally make God¹s will our plan and vision.
      I am calling us to adapt and change in ways that God has yet to reveal, and will only reveal if we are open to hear God¹s message for us. I am calling us to be less like roaches who survive just to keep surviving, and more like daughters and sons of God who thrive because they know they are God¹s beloved, and that God is with them to bring real life and joy.
      If we don¹t heed this call, then we had better watch out for the can of Raid.
      My prayer for St. George¹s is a long, healthy, Christ-centered, prayerful life.