The lessons today are timely as we keep this Foundation Festival. They begin with a vision: Jacob’s vision at Bethel. “Jacob dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” Some of you may know the West Front of Wells Cathedral in Somerset, England, which has the ascending and descending angels on their ladders carved in stone on either side of the main entrance. I once heard Bishop Michael Ramsey give a wonderful sermon on this passage. I can still hear him say in his unforgettable voice: “there was a ladder set up between heaven and earth with angels ascending and descending and the ladder was Christ”. It was in light of the vision and the divine message that God was with Jacob and that Jacob had a bright future that the place where it all happened became important. Jacob responded to the divine promise and assurance with the memorable cry: “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

Father Houghton had a vision of a parish in this part of New York. He wanted to provide something that was not being provided by the Episcopal churches in Manhattan at the time. He wanted a church which was truly open to all people; where seats were not reserved; where there was a welcome to all people of all classes and backgrounds; to poor and rich alike; to people of color and white folks; and to those who were not likely to find much welcome in the average church. It was this latter concern which included people in the theater that won the church its nickname “The Little Church around the Corner”. Fr. Houghton wanted a church which was truly catholic, for all people at all times, and one focused on the centrality of worship, prayer and service to others. He had been inspired by the early Tractarian movement in England, a movement which was aimed at recovering the fully catholic and apostolic tradition of the Church of England. We can be thankful that Father Houghton had both this vision and the ability, tenacity and indeed the courage to fulfil it to the best of his abilities. He is rightly remembered as a faithful, pastoral, generous and courageous man who risked his life for the good of others. It is that vision which helped found this community of faith; which built this church; which maintained the daily round of worship and prayer; which fostered vocations to the priesthood; which ministered to this local community and beyond; which helped people celebrate births, marriages and deaths; and which maintained a witness to God’s presence in this part of the city. It is this vision and its maintenance for over one and a half centuries that helps people to say “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

But there is more to it than that. We cannot presume that the holiness of place just remains without contribution on our part. Here the gospel passage is a dramatic reminder. The Temple in Jerusalem was THE place of God’s presence. If any place in the Holy Land of Israel was awesome and was called the house of God and the gateway of heaven it was the Jerusalem temple. So sacred was that place that today observant Jews still pray at the Western Wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem upon which the Temple once stood until raised to the ground by Vespasian’s armies in AD 71. But the text reminds us that when Jesus came to this Holy Place he came first not to pray but to cleanse the place of all the junk of commercialism that had crept into the place over the years thus inhibiting people from worshipping God in their rightful place. This text has been an inspiration to reformers over the centuries. Sometimes we do need to stand back and to look at what we do and who we are and to reflect on our life together in light of the Gospel vision.

We belong to a church which holds to the principle of Reformata et Reformanda; both reformed and reforming. In other words we need to hold to the vision upon which we are founded and not to lose sight of it. But also in light of the vision to review who we are and what we are doing. It is timely for us here at Transfiguration as we give thanks for our foundation to recall our founding vision and to look at our life and see how we are doing. Are we truly open and welcoming to all people? Do we care for the poor, the marginalized, those who feel discriminated against, those who struggle to make it? Are we proclaiming the Catholic Faith in all its fullness? Are we faithful and diligent in our worship and prayer? Do we reach out to this community witnessing to the mercy and compassion of God? Are we good stewards of all that we are given both personally and as a parish? The vision and the need for reformation stand together.

The clue to both vision and to its maintenance lies in the lesson from 1 Peter: “Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” Jesus is the rock on which our faith and our vision is founded. Like the good builder in the gospel we build on that rock and not on the shifting sand. It is our faith in the Saving Love of Christ which enables us to become the people of God, to become as Peter says “living stones” which can be built into a spiritual house. So we return to the people not the building. Peter piles on the descriptive titles for God’s people from the religious tradition: “ you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people”, titles which at first seem extravagant but in fact remind us of the holy vision which makes us who we really are.

Today we rejoice in our Foundation, and in this dear church beloved by so many and part of the fabric and legend of this city. But as we are all too conscious at this time that this building is fragile and needs lots of love and care and money spent to keep it standing, so we can use it as a metaphor for the human community which inhabits it. We, the people of God in this place; we the Church of the Transfiguration likewise need to tend our faith, our love and our hope so that we can continue to witness to the living stone which is Jesus Christ.   Amen

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