You cannot turn the radio or TV on these days without being inundated with political ads.  That will be a fact of life the next two months.  Despite how they are couched and who approves or disapproves of this message, when it is all said and done, each ad is trying to answer a question that you may or may not have asked.  Is the Democratic Party what you need it to be this year?  Is the Republican Party what you need it to be?  Is the Independent Party what you need it to be this year?  If so, then vote accordingly.  And if you step back from that unspoken question, the even bigger one is:  “What do you need this country to be for the next 4/8 years?”  Which vision captures your heart and soul and imagination the best? Then vote accordingly…

     If political ads were available in the times of the bible, wouldn’t the implied questions be pretty much the same?  What do you need the nation of Israel to be for the world?  (Ezekiel’s question) What do you need the church to be in your life?  (Matthew’s question)

It is a question that we all answer in some way each Saturday or Sunday when we come here.  So why are you here? What do you need the church to be for you?  Some need it to be a building - a place of quiet and refuge to connect to God.  Others need the church to be their social outlet - a place where I can meet folks who share at least a common neighborhood and a common vision.  Some need the church to be the place that educates their children.  It is why we spend so much time, talent and treasure around our parish schools.  Still others need the church to be ‘their ticket’ to heaven.  When they die, they can tell St. Pete that they were members of St Ann parish, or St. Paul’s or Ascension St. Paul’s and the like. 

Ezekiel and Matthew have a deeper vision in mind.  Matthew’s gospel has been widely acclaimed as the ‘church gospel’.  He is the only evangelist to use the word ‘ekklesia’ (church/gathering), twice in this passage, and once in the 16th chapter.  And all of chapter 18 from which today’s gospel comes reflects a strong concern about the life of the community.  (Do not read Church =  institution or hierarchy – those developments were later in coming.) It is as if he is asking that unspoken question of political ads – what do you need the church to be in your world?

  Matthew defines the church both as a brotherly and sisterly community, and as the gathering of two or three in the name of Christ.  The liveliness of the church is not to be defined in numbers, but in terms of the presence of Christ in it’s midst.  And specifically, Matthew is trying to help us understand what it means for us to be members of this brotherly-sisterly gathering.  And how do we live connected to each other in healthy, life giving ways, especially after we’ve failed and fallen and sinned and wounded each other? 

Ezekiel’s image is similar – but from that broader perspective of what you need the country to be.  The role of Israel and the role of the church are to be the watchman.  And though that has some bad history and connotations to it, it is an amazingly strong vision for us, the church today. 

    The role of the watchman is not about being a busybody, but rather living with a wide eyed awareness to what is good and right and life-giving. Watchmen, because they have a sense of what is good, also are able to sense danger.  To sense what is hazardous for the individual and for the community.  Watchmen can then sound the alarm, sound the call to action, sound the prophetic call to change. 

   It is not a popular role in our culture today.  Nor is it popular on college campuses where we overlook almost everything in our efforts to be accepting of others.  But don’t you hear side comments like: “Well, if they want to throw away their life on that guy /gal /addiction /(you fill in the blank), then that’s their business.”  But what Ezekiel and Matthew are trying to teach us today is that it is not ever just their business.   Because of our solidarity as human beings and because of our belief in Jesus, what happens to the least as well as the greatest is vital to who we are.  Paul says it so succinctly: “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another…”  Because we love one another, we cannot but speak out. 

What do you need the church to be?  If Ezekiel and Matthew are right, then part of what the church needs to do and do well is to be watchmen.  And though there are hundreds of areas around which we need to have watchmen, the bishop’s document “Faithful Citizenship, is a prophetic call to act as watchmen in the upcoming the election process.  They take no stand of any candidate, but ask us to figure out how our nation will hold together seven areas of priority that come from the gospel and Christian tradition.  Check it out at www.faithfulcitizenship.org. 

So, what do you need the church to be?  Since we are the church, may we work ever more to becoming for all the people God needs us to be. 

PS – Maybe the real question is:  What does Christ need his church to be?...