Cathedral Day Sermon: The Rev. Bertie Pearson

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

The first bishop of this diocese, Henry Satterlee, was sitting in a meeting in the boardroom in the year 1889. And he was staring down at this piece of paper. And reading this in his journal, I know exactly what this moment was like, because there is this picture of Bishop Satterlee in the library at Saint Albans, and whenever we have a Zoom meeting, the camera automatically zooms in on the face of Bishop Satterlee, looking pensive, and blocks out everyone else on the Zoom feed.

It’s very disconcerting, but I feel like I know what it is to be in a meeting sitting with Bishop Satterlee looking really intense. In his journal, he writes about this day. He is in an early meeting of the Cathedral Foundation, and he is looking down at this piece of paper, and it’s got a signature line at the bottom, and he does not want to sign it.

He says, I knew if I signed this paper, I would not know another day of freedom for many long years to come. But finally he takes up the pen and he signs a loan for the modern equivalent of about $6 million. A personal loan to Bishop Satterlee on behalf of the foundation to buy a giant chunk of farmland.

And you may have experienced what it’s like to sign a contract for $6 million and not found it an overwhelming, terrifying, horrific experience. But I would submit to you that is because you are not Episcopal clergy. That is a lot of money. If Bishop Satterlee had not been able to raise the funds to pay back this loan, if he had not been able to raise the funds to build his big building project, if he had not gathered together millions and millions of dollars, this humble priest would be out on his ear.

He would be a failure. Creditors would come to him personally and repossess every button of his family’s clothing, every stick of furniture. And what’s more, this this project that he had to accomplish was completely insane. Bishop Satterlee wanted to build one of the largest buildings on planet Earth. And as if that weren’t crazy enough, he wanted to use no modern building methods.

No glass and iron, no steel and concrete. He wanted to make literally a 14th century stone Gothic cathedral. It is ludicrous. This is the most quixotic thing anyone has ever said or thought. Basically. But he did it. He put all that he was and all that he had on this one little number on this roulette wheel. He cashed in everything and said, let’s go for it.

Let’s build this cathedral. Crazy. In today’s gospel, Jesus says that the road of eternal life is hard and narrow. And I think Bishop Satterlee might have concurred with this statement in this moment, but it’s odd that just a couple of chapters later, Jesus also says, come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

In the fourth century, John Chrysostom was thinking about these two different gospels, holding them in contrast, and he thought that maybe what’s going on with this narrow, hard path, this light and easy yoke, is the difference between seeing the life of the gospel from the inside and the outside. So from the outside to live a life of a saint looks terrible.

You have to give away what you have. You have to forgive people who hurt you terribly. You have to love your enemies even when you have like the biggest mark in the world standing in front of you. You have to privilege honesty and goodness and give the sucker an even break like it’s a rough life. But from the inside, it just looks like one thing.

It just looks like love. There are no markers of achievement. There’s no hierarchy. There’s no status. It’s just the love of God and the love of neighbor. Growing and growing. Because for the saints, you don’t really have to achieve anything or do anything. You just show up, you work hard, and Christ takes what little you bring and multiplies it.

And so Bishop Satterlee showed up. He worked hard. He gave all that he was and all that he had to. Establishing this dream of a house of prayer for all people. And what happened? Christ took his tiny little life, his tiny little gifts, and just exploded them into this place in which all of us are sitting today.

I think this is the life of a lot of great leaders. And here on the 10th anniversary of his ministry, it reminds me of another one so should not be forgotten. And when Dean Hollerith came to this Cathedral in 2016, it had just suffered. In 2011 the horrific damage of an earthquake, there was a $50 million repair bill hanging out there.

And what’s more, this Cathedral had been operating at a deficit for years. There was no money to pay for the repairs, but Randy showed up, worked hard, gave all that he was and all that he had. The crazy thing is the financial precariousness, the physical precariousness of this building. Those weren’t even the big challenges. 2016 was the beginning of one of the biggest divisions in American society since the Civil War.

Politics had gone from being my hypothesis about what would make this country a place that is prosperous and peaceful into my sports team. And I hate your sports team. You know, we had these sort of hooligans and ultra pundits on our screens every night. Everyone is raging against one another. And that fury got hotter and hotter and hotter.

And yet Randy showed up, worked hard and gave all of himself. And what happened? Christ took that little bit of bread, the couple of fish, and started dividing and dividing and dividing. In one year the cathedral went from red to black. In a few years, people like you who love this place, gave $185 million not only to repair the building, but replace the organ, doing all kinds of amazing things.

Miracles occurred not through the miraculous nature of Randy’s hands, but because he gave all that he is and all that he had. And Christ worked through him. So this is all good news. I have some pretty hard news to deliver as well today. Hollerith challenges were Olympic. What Satterlee did was incredible. The odds were so stacked against him, but they look like a breeze compared to your job description.

In today’s epistle, we are told that we have to become living stones of the true cathedral, that we ourselves have to be the cathedral, the true temple of God. What does that mean? We come to church to see the beauty of God, to feel the peace of God, to receive the forgiveness of God. And this is what you are supposed to be in the world.

Somebody should meet. You should shake your hands, and they should feel an overwhelming experience of the peace of God. Somebody should make fun of you or say something mean to you, or steal from you, or try and kill you. And they should be overwhelmed by the forgiveness of Christ. Somebody should be hungry or alone or bummed out for some reason, and they should be comforted by the presence of Christ in and through you.

You might be saying, that is bananas. You’ve got the wrong lady. You’ve got the wrong guy here. I’m the one who needs forgiveness. I’m the one who needs peace. The good news is you don’t have to provide it. You just have to show up. Work hard. Give everything you are and everything that you have. And Christ will do it all.

So what would you like life look like if you made that commitment and you really lived it out? You’re like everything I have, everything that I am. This is going to be all for God’s purposes. 24 over seven. What kind of fruit would God produce in your life? Well, if you want a good example, take a look around.

Happy Cathedral Day. Amen.