John’s introduction of Andrew and Simon Peter is unique among the Gospels. While in Matthew, Mark and Luke, these first disciples are called in and around the Sea of Galilee. We first meet them as fishers, somewhere near the town of Capernaum. In John, however, these two are first disciples of John the Baptist. We meet them near where John was baptizing near the Southern end of the Jordan River. John had just been telling the pharisees that he was not the Messiah, but rather the voice in the wilderness. Now, when John tells his two disciples that Jesus is the Lamb of God, they begin to follow Jesus.

Interestingly enough, the first question these two disciples ask Jesus is not “Who are you”, “What are you doing,” “Where are you going,” but rather they ask“where are you staying”.

The Greek here is the word “meno”, a word which can also be translated as “abide”.

Meno is also used in other places in John. Where we read “The word became flesh and lived among us”, the word translated as “lived” is also meno. Later in chapter 14, Jesus tells his disciples he is preparing an abiding place for them…. Also meno. Later in the same chapter, Jesus tells them he will abide with his disciples…. Also meno.

Thus a central act of Jesus in John is abiding… living with…. Being present with. It isn’t doing, or speaking, or saying…. It is simply being with.

We so often focus on “Doing” something. We want to make something, produce something, create something. We don’t consider just being. We don’t focus on how people are. We don’t just sit with them. When someone is sick or suffering, we ask “How are you doing?”

But Jesus is simply being present.

Yet is it such a simple thing… just to be present? Is it really so easy? I think it isn’t.

When my mother was dying last year, I flew home to be with her. On her last day, she was unconscious. She was on a external respirator, which forced air into her lungs. The seals on her face where so strong that it had cause bruising and bleeding. In fact, they had covered the area around her face in bandages so that it would cause more pain. Every time it forced air into her body, it cause her entire body to convulse.

I sat with her for about four hours. We turned on music. We called other family so they could say goodbye to her. But after four hours, I couldn’t take any more. I couldn’t sit with her any longer. It brought up too much pain for me… pain of her suffering… pain of our broken relationship… pain of my anger toward her… pain of my frustration with her. I could only be with her for so long.

To be present isn’t really an easy thing. To be present means we have to sit with our fears, our anxieties, and our pain. To be present is actually to be vulnerable. It is to let our guard down, to let our walls down, and to open up to the other.

To be present is something we so fear that we build up walls, literal and figurative. We live in a world of such walls… walls to keep ourselves in and others out. Whether these walls are around our homes, our neighborhoods, our nations, or even our hearts…. We keep building them. Truly being present is so frightening to us that we build those walls when the other needs us the most.

Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī was a 13th century Sufi Muslim poet and mystic from what is now Iran. Among the many writings we have of his, we have the following:

“Run from what's comfortable. Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on I'll be mad.”

To truly abide with the other is to live dangerously.

Years ago, when in a sermon I used this very quote, some members of the congregation accused me of hypocrisy. I lived in a very nice house, not far from Alki Beach in Seattle. On one level, they missed the point of what I was saying. They took it too literally.

Yet, on another level, they were quite right. I, like so many, often take the safest and easiest route in my life. Yet I believe Jesus is calling us to more, to struggle, to go deeper.

St. Matthias has a long history of being present. Before I came to be with you, I told some friends I had in town that I would be coming here. They are self-described heathens, with no faith traditions. But they knew about St. Matthias because of the Soup Hour.

For nearly four decades St. Matthias has opened its doors to feed those in need. Yet since the pandemic began, this has ended to be replaced by a bagged lunch and some assistance at the gate.

I am not sure if the Soup Hour will ever return as it was. And that may be OK. Everything has a time and a season, as we hear in Ecclesiasticus. The energy and passion for what was may have died. That may very well be clear in the $90k deficit we face for the current year. But God’s call for us to be present hasn’t ended. It is more vital now than every.

Part of this transition period is for St. Matthias to discern how it will be present in Whittier in the future. Over the next several months there will be opportunities for you to join in the conversation, to help dream about St. Matthias’s future. The Soup Hour, even in its current form, may not be this congregation’s future. It isn’t a secret that Dottie will at some point retire. Dottie’s ministry among us has been so dedicated to this presence. So how will her presence and love be carried forward? Who will take her place?

In truth, no one person can take Dottie’s place. And maybe no one person should. The Soup Hour ministry began through the work of lay members of this congregation, not staff. I wonder if we as a parish have become too dependent on staff for this and other ministries. I believe that the future of ministry here is dependent on your leadership, not staff leadership. And you can do this. One area that this congregation shines in lay leadership is pastoral care. Pastoral Care here is driven by lay people. The future of St. Matthias now requires more of you to step up and take on responsibilities here.

Over the next two months, We are going to be calling on you to step up and take on leadership in this congregation. In the short term, we need candidates for the vestry. In the longer term, we need leaders to step up and join teams focused on Formation, Outreach, Finance and Buildings/Grounds. Your wardens and staff carry too much of this burden on their shoulders. It is time for you step up and be present in this leadership.

The words from Rumi are more powerful in light of these challenges. Live where you fear to live. Abide where you fear to abide. Be present where you fear being present. Take risks. Be bold. Tear down walls. And sit with each other. Given the challenges we face, it would be easy to throw up our hands in defeat. It would be easy just to walk away. But God calls us to something different, something greater, something harder. Are you willing to step up? Are you willing to be here, to be present here, to abide here?