A CPA is a real change from worm doctor. As we grow up and gain more experiences, we learn more about ourselves and our relationship to the world, and our sense of identity evolves. And as we learn more about the world politically, socially, economically, and relationally, we begin ourselves to develop our own core values that become the foundation of our life.

                This Sunday, our second Profile Gathering will focus on Calvary's sense of identity and core values, as expressed by you, its members. In order to call your perfect rector, you need to know who you are and what you value most in the church and the world. Are you a traditional church rooted in the beautiful liturgies and traditions of the past, or are you a forward-looking church ready to try new things? Do you value the church as a place of prayer and meditation, or as an advocate for social justice, or as a refuge from the world outside?

                Our organist and choirmaster Howard Helvey told me that the main original part of the Calvary Church building turns 150 years old this year. Calvary may have begun church ministry wanting to be the equivalent of a worm doctor to the community. At age 150, I'm sure that your identity and values have evolved, just like the identity and values of a little boy evolves as he grows up. This interim time is the perfect time to discern who you are and what you believe in. That message, which will be an integral part of the parish profile, will be a beacon to any priest who shares your values. Please come and make your voice heard this Sunday, when we solicit your ideas.

                I feel it's also necessary to mention that this is an important time for us-as Americans, as Christians, as a society-to be clear about what our identity and core values are. And when an executive order is signed, banning whole nations from our borders, we need to be clear whether or how the order holds up to our core values as Christians and as people living in an American democracy. It's time for us to hold fast to our Gospel values, and, most of all, to be sure to advocate for those values.

                Our readings for the next few weeks are all about the Sermon on the Mount. All those "You have heard it said...but I say to you..." teach us about the Gospel values of love, forgiveness, and faithfulness to God. Much of the Judeo-Christian tradition centers on a command so important that it is mentioned in the Old Testament more than a dozen times: "You shall welcome the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." In the next few weeks, and in the Lenten program "Images of Jesus," we will be talking about what that really means in America today. How do we best reflect the image of Christ in ourselves and in others? We are no longer worm doctors. Now we are grownups, and recent events have shown us that it's time we consider seriously our grownup values, and be ready to live them out.