Make a Friend, Be a Friend, Bring a Friend
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Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and redeemer.Good morning. I'm Bob Halleck, a member of the Secretariat for the Cursillo of San Diego Diocese, and I'm also a parishioner here at St. Peter's. If you've been to, uh, Cursillo Weekend, you know pretty much what I'm going to say.
If not, as Mark Anthony said, lend me your ears. Cursillo is a small group ministry of the Episcopal Church. It's a joint ministry of clergy and laypersons, whose goal is to change the world for Christ through prayer, sacraments, study, and community. It's not as complicated as it sounds. It started within the Catholic Church in Spain in the 1940s, and its intent, then as now, was to draw laypersons into the work of Christianizing their everyday life.[00:01:00]
It all begins with a weekend. The next weekend in our diocese is February 22nd through the 25th at the Whispering Pines Camp and Conference Center near Julian. The weekend consists of a series of talks and meditations, lots of singing, and loads of food. There are 15 talks, 5 meditations, and a daily Eucharist.
Believe me, you will sleep well on the night you get home. The weekend exists to help you identify and realize the need for Christ in your life. And you will be equipped at the end of the weekend to do so for the rest of your life. After the weekend, you will meet with others to continue your bonds and improve your self ministry.
This process is called the fourth day. And that's Cursillo in a nutshell. If you have any questions, I'm available on the patio after this service, and most Saturdays or Sundays after this service that I attend. We would love to have you attend our next weekend, and there's no cost to you. [00:02:00] Now what I've given you is just my standard Cursillo speech that I use at other parishes in the diocese.
Mother Paige asked me if I could talk a bit longer, and when Paige asks you to do something, you don't say no. Thank you.
Reaching out to others is what many people call evangelism. It's something all of us at St. Peter's should do, for we have a great parish and a story to tell. The Cursillo mantra at the end of the weekend is to make a friend, be a friend, and bring your friend to Christ. Like many other things, it's not that simple.
Look at the world we live in. The numbers don't change much when you look outside. It's a secular world where 80 percent or so of the population is not affiliated with a church. For the most part, they will say they are spiritual, but they're not religious. Many, if not most in that group, spent time at a church when they [00:03:00] were young.
But somehow or other, along life's yellow brick road, they stopped going to church. Dorothy never told us that the yellow brick road ran uphill, but it does. And it's a tiring journey, where faith can disappear as quickly as the morning fog in Del Mar. There are so many barriers out there to trip us up and leave us tired of the culture wars.
Christianity, getting mixed with politics, or simply as many ways to worship the one God we say we all believe in as there are stars in the sky. You get tired of trying to see if you're welcome if you are different, or if you've stayed away so long you forgot the rituals. Every Sunday morning, Richard Walker's Pancake House and the Broken Yolk say, Come on in.
Or you just flat don't have the time. Your college roommate's in town, or your kids have two soccer games before noon on Sunday. So where am I going with this? [00:04:00] I'm never sure because I'm as doubting, wrongdoing, abrasive, and by many definitions, as sinful as the next person. But at Cursillo, I did learn a lot about myself.
I've adopted the make a friend, be a friend, bring a friend to Christ into a simple phrase. I am the only Bible most people I see today will read. These few words help me to show my faith every day, to be a better listener, to be calmer, helpful, patient, less complaining, and thankful for everything. It doesn't work every day.
And it doesn't work all the time, but one thing I realize is that you don't need Cursillo to do that, but you do need St. Peter's. John Donne said it as well as anyone. "No man is an island entire of itself. Any man is part of a continent, a part of the main. And therefore, never send a no for whom the bell tolls. It [00:05:00] tolls for thee."
So on Saturday evening or Sunday morning the bells of St. Peter's toll for me. This is my community. This is where I need to be because being spiritual in and of itself is not enough. Being religious is needed. And religious needs community. Think of it, how great it is. We have many ways to serve our community and each other.
There is not enough time to build the list, so we can mention the high notes. Helping hands, showers of blessings. And, oh my God, a thrift shop and outreach committee that any parish in the diocese would kill for. Sorry about that violation of the Sixth Amendment. For our growth, this, there is Bible study, the forum, et cetera, et cetera.
And don't forget the patio. As one of my favorite persons at St. Peter's gently reminded me one Sunday, patio conversation is for fellowship and nothing else. I don't need [00:06:00] anything else after a service. We are here in our faith for everything. We are spiritual and religious and that is what we need to share.
So why not paraphrase the Bard of Avon? "For he today who worships with me shall be my brother. Be he she, Or he, so rude, this day shall gentle their condition." And others in Delmar, not here on Sunday, shall think some day how unfortunate they were not, and hold their spirituality cheap, while any of us remember where we were on days of worship.
It's hard to be a Christian on your own, following Jesus as a group activity, bringing new people into St. Peter's, celebrating Eucharist, singing hymns, studying the Bible, listening to Mother Paige are group activities. We are not, as Lily Tomlin said, "in this alone."
So to conclude, this is a special place, and I would be remiss if I did not mention [00:07:00] that we are in our period of stewardship.
If you've not made your pledge, please do so. If you have, thank you. And I expect that Mother Paige has scheduled the Ghost of Billy Sunday to make the big stewardship pitch later this month. I leave you with a final thought.
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. And please remember: you are the only Bible many people will read today.
We look forward to seeing you and your friends on many future Saturdays and Sundays. We will welcome them. We do not care where they've been or where they are on their spiritual journey. We will welcome them and show them our love.
