You probably expected a big name preacher to be here, and instead you get me! It’s humbling and an honor to be the one to help kick-off our 175th anniversary as a parish. I’m the 18th rector of St. James the Less, following in the footsteps of some incredible men. We’ve had in this pulpit scholars, activists, bishops, writers, people of national and even international renown. When I arrived here eight years ago I knew I had walked into a very special church, with a gorgeous and complex history that I can’t wait for us to be immersed in this year, as a church (and wider) community.
On that note, I’d like to welcome some of our guests this morning: from afar but with us online, our former clergy, who send their greetings: the Rev. David Newcombe from London, the Rev. Michael Kendall from Maine, the Rev. Jonathan Coffey from South Carolina, and the Rev. Bob Godley from North Carolina. Of course my predecessor, the Rev. Tom Newcomb and his wife Leanne were with us at last night’s gala. It was a joy seeing them.
Welcome to Canon Victor Conrado from the diocese, who will be delivering a brief statement on behalf of the bishop during announcements, and also to Mayor Arest!
Welcome to my colleagues from St. James in Fordham, with whom we jointly run the Food Pantry every other week. This partnership is very dear to us, and having you here, Abby, and Father Nat, further solidifies this bond we share: St. James the Greater, and St. James the Less (as they remind us regularly).
Also friends from the Scarsdale Historical Society are with us this morning. I hope you’ll all join in our efforts to tell our history this year, which is very much also Scarsdale’s history. As we’ll learn as we go.
Above all, welcome to the Popham descendants. You all came here from England, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and we’re so very grateful. For those who weren’t present last night or don't know this peculiar part of our history, the 3 acres we sit on were leased to us in 1849 by William H. Popham, on the condition that we furnish a silver dime to a Popham descendant whenever requested.
And I just have to ask: have you ever actually requested that? I feel like it’s us always begging you to come here and let us hand over a dime.
Another question, if we don’t give it, do you really want all this back?
You’ve come out of your way. Jim Boulden will be presenting after the service on his family’s, the Morris family’s (which married into the Pophams), history in Barbados. Not long ago we had a Racial Justice Task Force that endeavored to research the parts of the Popham and Morris family history of which we aren’t as proud but that we are enriched by knowing. Well, it turns out Jim, who’s a journalist, was doing this same work over in England, which took him to Barbados and we can’t wait to hear what your research has uncovered.
We are celebrating our history today and this year. But this is an active, ever-changing parish with a robust present and, with the grace of God, a long future -- we’ll get to that 1000 years of our lease, just to see what happens then!
In the life of the church, of course, and even the Episcopal Church in the U.S., ours is not a particularly long history. We can trace our beginnings to when we were incorporated on September 7, 1849. Or we can go all the way back to 1724 when Episcopal worship was first documented in Scarsdale. The priest from Rye parish traveled eight times a year to Scarsdale and Fox’s Meadow to serve its small community of worshipers here. Of course then it would have been called the Church of England, prior to 1779, after which we renamed ourselves the Episcopal Church.
Even going back that far, to 1724, we’re still fairly young. Our church building was inspired by the Gothic style of churches like St. Michaels in Longstanton, England, which dates to the 1200s.
This means We have a lot more history we need to create!
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The contemporary essayist Andre Aciman, a master of nostalgia and the passage of time, once said something like Future Me looks back on Present Me as the Past Me (and I apologize I was unable to find his exact quote). By the time we walk out of these doors in 40 minutes, this will be the past. What I just said, is the past. That’s like a child’s game that can make you dizzy to think about. But to me this underscores just how quickly it all goes, and how fleeting our chance, our one chance, to make a difference in our community, is.
This year we’ll learn about and honor those people who, thankfully for us, chose this place as their chance to make the world better.
George Kempsell, rector from 1953-63 who took a courageous stand against anti-semitism, gained a national platform for his bravery and did his part to help shape Scarsdale into the vibrant and diverse community it is today. I wouldn’t want to live in any other kind of place.
Marjorie Landsmark DeLewis, the first African American woman graduate of Juilliard who threw her passion for our church into music, composing pieces that we’ll hear this year, securing and restoring the instruments we still use, all to ensure that God is worshiped in the “beauty of holiness” that’s the hallmark of our Episcopal heritage.
Julia Chester Emery, a saint in our church, parishioner here -- buried in our graveyard! -- who founded from St. James the United Thank Offering. Kids all over the world today still use the famous little blue mite boxes each year during Lent to collect money for people in need throughout the world. I love their motto: Practice Gratitude, Change the World.
Oliver Hyatt, in whose memory these beautiful south transept windows were given, the [quote] “longest standing vestryman in the country.” Our vestry (that’s the governing body of our church) now has 3 year terms and people often can’t wait to cycle off. Can you imagine serving on the vestry for 64 years?
And of course his peer and fellow vestryman William Popham, who gave us this land and helped the men and women of his day fulfill their dream to form a little piece of God’s kingdom here, atop this hill, in Scarsdale.
It’s the nature of any church that it’s also built upon so much unacknowledged sacrifice of nameless men and women--and not all of them even parishioners here, I should add. In one of our earliest written histories from the 1880s, the author wrote: “The church cost the parishioners five thousand dollars but this cost obviously does not reflect the numerous gifts of both time and materials that were freely contributed by members of the congregation. The earnestness and zeal of the early parishioners seems to have set such a tone of self-sacrifice and dedication that members of the community who were not of the congregation also liberally donated both time and gifts.”
This is one more reason we want this year’s celebrations to be for the whole community, not just our church. You helped build this place, too. And with your curiosity and support in so many ways, continue to sustain it with us.
None of these people--Pophams, Hyatts, right on down the line--were perfect. We diminish God’s grace in trying to hide their flaws. And we’re all about grace here. So we’ll tell the full stories as best we can. And we’ll remember that imperfection is no excuse not to further build upon their (and our) legacy here, in our time.
This year is about looking back, yes, and then seizing the present, and building our future.
In closing, because I want to leave us plenty of time for our silver dime ceremony, and then our lecture, I chose for our Epistle reading today this wonderful passage from Paul the Apostle, inarguably one of the greatest forces in early Christianity, a tireless builder of the church universal, without whom none of us would be here today. And yet, he takes a moment to acknowledge the fact that it takes many people to build God’s kingdom on earth, wherever we’re called to do that.
Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase, the growth.
Friends, let’s keep watering what’s been planted here on this hill in Scarsdale. Let’s plant a few things ourselves for the next generation to water. And above all, let’s remember that, despite all our hard efforts, it’s only and always God, that brings the growth. Amen.