The Rt. Rev. Jeffery Rowthorn, May 6, 2012 The Fifth Sunday of Easter in Europe, retired 9:15 am Christ & Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Westport, CT

THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY TREE

A sermon based on John 15:5 and Holy Women, Holy Men

Text: Jesus said, “I am the Vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

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My middle name is WILLIAM, and that’s true of my son and his son and of my father and his father. In fact, it’s been true of the elder son in each generation of my family all the way back to 1066 and the Battle of Hastings. After the battle William the Conqueror rewarded his standard-bearer with lands in the north of England, and out of gratitude my ancestor named his elder son William. And that’s been the case ever since, or so they tell me. Whether it’s true or not, I’ve always been moved by the thought that I’m related to all those Williams and that my family tree stretches back over the centuries.

All of you here today have a family tree which stretches back perhaps to the Mayflower and the Pilgrim Fathers, or to immigrants coming here from Europe in the nineteenth century, or to more recent arrivals from every corner of the globe. Separate family trees, each with their own story to tell, their own heritage to celebrate. But what we often forget is that we all have a family tree in common. The Christian family tree which is rooted in Christ and which stretches back two thousand years and more.

In today’s reading from the Gospel of John we heard these words of Jesus:

“I am the Vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

And the wonder of it is that we are related to all of those branches, countless millions of them, unknown to us by name. But there are a few who are known to us because they are remembered each year in the Calendar of Saints of our church. So this morning let me remind you of three of them who lived, as we do, here in . And as I do, imagine that these Connecticut cousins of ours are here with us, praising Jesus the Vine, in whose love we are rooted and with whose life we are fed.

Convinced that slavery was fundamentally wrong and incompatible with her Christian faith, the lady sitting over there said, “I feel now that the time is come when even a women or a child who can speak a word for freedom and humanity is bound to speak.” And speak she did, through the pages of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The book sold 300,000 copies in less than a year and had a profound impact in both America and Britain. So much so that when President Lincoln invited HARRIET BEECHER STOWE to the White House in 1862, he greeted her with these words: “So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.” Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing, but if you abide in me, you will bear much fruit.” As a faithful branch of the Vine, Harriet Beecher Stowe did indeed “bear much fruit”, and when she died in Hartford in 1896, she was mourned by many who owed their freedom, in part, to her.

Page 1 of 2 The Rt. Rev. Jeffery Rowthorn, May 6, 2012 The Fifth Sunday of Easter Bishop in Europe, retired 9:15 am Christ & Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Westport, CT

Tomorrow, May 7, is the day when we remember the woman sitting near the back of the church. Orphaned at the age of one when her parents died of yellow fever, she grew up in the home of relatives living in Bridgeport. As a young woman she worked as a nurse in , but what she wanted most of all was to be part of an order of nuns who would live in community and care for the sick. Her dream was realized when the Community of St. Mary was established in 1865, with HARRIET STARR CANNON from Bridgeport as its first Mother Superior. Under her leadership the Community established hospitals and orphanages, educated young women free of charge, and expanded their care of the sick. In 1878 an epidemic of yellow fever broke out in Memphis, and eventually more than 5,000 people died from the disease. Sisters from the Community of St. Mary refused to leave the city; instead they stayed to minister to the sick in Christ’s name during this time of desolation. Several of them died and are now commemorated as “The Martyrs of Memphis”. In realizing her dream Mother Harriet’s faith was put to the test but, abiding in the Vine, she bore much fruit in her lifetime, even as Jesus had promised.

And then there’s this man near the front. Sadly I never had the honor of meeting him when we moved to Salem; he had died there a few months earlier. But I do know his children and they’ve told me about his privileged upbringing, his education at Yale and his years in the American diplomatic service. When the Second World War broke out in Europe, he was Vice-Consul in Marseilles with special responsibility for issuing visas. To his surprise this quiet Episcopalian found himself holding people’s fate in his hands and facing the greatest challenge of his life. Acting directly against the orders of the State Department in Washington, he worked with the French Resistance, issuing countless visas to people fearing for their lives. He personally escorted refugees to safety across the border into neutral territory and even hid some of the most hunted men and women in his own home. The artist, Marc Chagall; the philosopher, Max Ernest; a winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics; a distinguished writer – in all, 2,500 people owed their lives to the devout and unassuming man from Salem Connecticut. And, recently, HIRAM BINGHAM IV was commended posthumously by Secretary of State Colin Powell and a U.S. postage stamp was issued in his honor. Worshipping week by week at St. James’ Church in New London, he had abided faithfully in the Vine, and when the greatest challenge of his life confronted him without warning, he “bore much fruit” and gave glory to God in doing so.

Sitting here on this spring morning, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Starr Cannon, Hiram Bingham IV and countless others are here to encourage us when we think the odds against us are too great; here to rouse us when we grow slack; here to cheer us on as we run the race that God has set before us; here to inspire us by their courage, their compassion and their commitment. But, most of all, they are here to remind us that, as branches of the Vine, we need to hold fast to Jesus, for apart from him we can do nothing that is worth doing. That being so, may we see Jesus more clearly, love him more dearly and follow him more nearly, day by day. Amen.

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