Today we are celebrating the significant birthdays of 23 members of St. Thomas who are 80 years or older. Presenting them to you right after the Gospel reading, is a way of saying, they are part of the Good News you are hearing today. Now, it would be very easy for me to become the Pharisee’s assistant, and boast about their accomplishments. In order to avoid doing that, I want to look first at this familiar parable \ of the Pharisee and the tax collector.

It is important to begin by saying that Jesus was not disparaging the religious practices of the Pharisee. The fact that the Pharisee gave a tithe of his income, fasted twice a week, and avoided stealing or committing adultery, were all good things, with which Jesus did not quarrel. The problem with the Pharisee was his belief that God prefers people who obediently practice their religion, and gives them “heavenly credit”. It is a natural assumption to make. If I answer the questions the teacher asks in class, and turn in my homework and ace the exam, I do expect the teacher to like me, and to promote me. Similarly, if I obey the law and file my tax returns, I expect to receive a driver’s license, a passport, and to vote at election time. But God is not like the teacher, or the state; salvation does not depend on good deeds. The shocking, and possibly unjust good news is, that God loves ALL God’s children, the bad ones as well as the good ones.

In this parable, Jesus is telling us two things. First, he is saying that God is not putting his people in rank order from the least to the greatest, of who is the most righteous, or who gives the most money, or even who spends the most time in prayer. All of our finely tuned skills in evaluating behavior and judging right and wrong are to be used only on ourselves, not on others. Second, Jesus is gently suggesting that we recognize and accept the fact that we are all in need of God’s mercy. None of us are perfect, even though we may try to be; and God is not expecting perfection. God is expecting honesty, about how we have separated ourselves from God, and how we have separated ourselves from other people.

What this means, is that the religion of Jesus is NOT a one-size-fits-all religion. Jesus chose not to give us a new set of rules or commandments by which to measure ourselves. Instead, Jesus invited us into a new way-of-being with God (the new covenant), and a new way-of-being-with-each-other (the way of love). Each of us who accepts that invitation, begins a journey which will be different in many respects from all others, and yet the same as all others. The differences arise from the age and circumstances in life when we came to faith and were baptized: some of us as infants, and others, like Char Nicholls, within the last year. The differences arise as well from the diversity of talents we have been given, and the events, which have shaped us.

All of our elders were born in 1927, or earlier, which means that they were all shaped by the Depression as they were growing up, and all were profoundly affected by World War II. Elaine Ho remembers watching the planes from Japan attack Pearl Harbor. Gene Fife served on a Navy flight crew here on the West Coast. Marisha McMahan was an Army nurse stationed in New Caledonia, and Don Wiggin was flying airplanes in Alaska and Siberia, and surviving plane crashes! Our elders have been alive for many firsts that we now take for granted: the first transatlantic telephone call, and the first transatlantic airplane flight, the inventions of nuclear power and modern medicine.

In our second reading today, which is often read on Pentecost Sunday, St. Paul tells the Corinthians that that Holy Spirit was given to every Christian, not just to the leaders. This means we are all equal in Christ ~~ the newly baptized 8 year old is equal to the 80 year old. Women are equal to men, people of every race, ethnic group every class are equal to one another. Although we baptize people one by one, it is the whole community that is inspired, energized, and guided by the Spirit. Usually when I speak about the gifts of the Spirit, and how the Spirit has guided us, I am speaking generally. But today, on the day when we offer our pledges to God for the ministry of this parish in 2008, I intend to be much more specific.

I asked all those participating in today’s celebration, to tell me some of the gifts and talents they have given to the church over the years. There are 8 elders being presented at the 8:00 service, and 14 elders being presented at the 10:30 service. It may be that some of you, who are 80 and older, are not happy with that term “elder”, but it is an honorable title in the history of the church. There are about 30 references to the elders in the letters of St. Paul, and in the Book of Acts. They, along with the apostles, were the leaders of the early church. What is most significant, is that our word elder, is a translation of the Greek word presbyteros. These are the presbyters, who made all the decisions in the local churches. After several centuries, this word came to mean priests, but in the beginning, it meant the elders.

Our 23 elders have given a great deal of their time, energy, and talents to the churches to which they have belonged. I was delighted to find that 10 of the 23 have served on the Vestry, in that crucial ancient role of making decisions for the local church. 9 of them have served on the Altar Guild, 7 have sung in the choir, 7 have taught Sunday School, and 7 have helped put on fellowship events. Other work done by 3 or 4 of them include being a layreader, chalice bearer, or usher, serving on committees such as Finance, Archives, and Search, being a delegate to Convention, engaging in outreach work such as Our Daily Bread and Social Ministries, and making things for the church, such as vestments, and mosaics. One of our elders is Carroll Rankin, who used his talent and education to design this beautiful sanctuary in which we worship.

Several elders told me something of how their journey in Christ began. It is important to Violet Fugate that she was baptized at St. Thomas Church in Charlton, London, and then has been active in this St. Thomas since she moved to Sunnyvale about 5 decades ago. Gene Fife tells a story familiar to many Episcopalians: when he and Lorraine were married, she was Catholic and he was Mormon. When she couldn’t accept Mormon teaching, she suggested they try the Episcopal Church, first in Philadelphia and then in Sunnyvale. They have been members of St. Thomas since 1963.

Several elders told me about a series of churches in which they have been active. Lovella Tyndall and her husband attended St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Las Cruces, New Mexico, when they were both working at White Sands Proving Ground. Later in Colorado they were members of St. Timothy’s, where Lovella taught Sunday School. Lovella surprised me by sending a photo of her daughter’s wedding in 1984, at which I officiated. (I had no idea until this week that I had met her 23 years ago!) Beatrice Scott writes that she was baptized, confirmed, and married at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and that her children were confirmed here at St. Thomas.

Carroll Rankin was influenced in the 1950’s, by the experience of leading Evening Prayer once a week for several years, in his parish in York, Pennsylvania. He was a trained layreader, and every Friday after work, he led a congregation of 5 or 6 people, including his wife and daughter. He says, “I believe that we benefited just as much, if not more, than the church, from this experience.” Sometimes it happens that the person and the task to which they are called, are such a good match, that they persevere in it for many years. Lorraine Fife served as a delegate to convention for 11 or 12 years, and she greatly exceeded that record, by sewing vestments for St. Thomas for approximately 33 years. One of her last projects was the traveling St. Thomas banner, small enough to be easily transported to Convention, as it was yesterday. It will also be carried in procession at the Bishop’s consecration.

Three elders shared stories that reflect on their maturity in the spiritual journey. Char Nicholls was active in the Methodist Church in high school and college, and for many years attended Presbyterian churches where her husband Carl was singing in the choir. Last fall, after they had been attending St. Thomas barely a year, Char decided that she was reading to be baptized! So last January, at the age of 89, she says, “I experienced an epiphany when I was baptized by the Bishop”.

Some of you have heard Marisha McMahan telling this experience she had about 8 years ago. She had been a longtime member of a nearby parish that was going through a difficult time, and she was ready to give up. In the middle of the night, she heard a distinct voice saying to her “return to St. Thomas, you will find solace there”. At first she thought someone had come into her bedroom, but then she realized it was God speaking to her. So Marisha came back to St. Thomas after a 40 year journey in other parishes, and she is active as a lector, a member of the Archives Committee, and the Later Life group.

The last story is about the wisdom and strength that the Spirit gives us when we are suffering. Many of you know that Elaine Ho’s son Melvin committed suicide 24 years ago. Some years after that her brother Albert was devastated when his son joined the Jehovah’s Witnesses. In response to Albert’s anger and bitterness, Elaine reminded her brother that his son Mike was still a loving son, and gently pointed out that he still has Mike with him, while she didn’t have Melvin. In the last conversation Elaine had with her brother before he died last year, Albert remembered Elaine’s words, and thanked her for pointing the way toward reconciliation with his son.

The Good News in our elders, and in our New Testament readings, is that God rejoices in our different journeys, that God’s work is sometimes accomplished across years and decades, that God will wait patiently as long as 89 years for someone to say Yes I promise to follow Jesus, and above all, that God is at work in our lives, to redeem the failures, the suffering, and the sins. Today we give thanks to God for the lives and the witness of our 22 elders, and for this parish of St. Thomas in which we share the journey. Let us continue to support St. Thomas with our talents, our energy, and our pledges, following in the footsteps of these faithful elders.