These past few weeks and months, I’ve had rather a lot to say about today’s Dedication Anniversary. Let’s pause for a few moments and reflect on the prayers that were offered that day, 50 years ago. They’re words that, yes, tell us about a building. But they’re words that describe our work as Church.

50 years ago, the Bishop prayed, “Here may the waters of baptism overwhelm the shame of sin; here may your people die to sin and live again through grace as your children.” Still, we’re called to evangelize, to draw those who seek and who question to the waters of new life. And we continue in these walls to take sin seriously, so that the burden of guilt might be lifted.

50 years ago, the Bishop prayed, “Here may your children be fed at the table of Christ’s word and Christ’s body….Here may prayer, the Church’s banquet, resound through heaven and earth as a plea for the world’s salvation. Still, our doors are open to all who take refuge in the Real Presence of our Savior, who cry out to God in their need.

50 years ago, the Bishop prayed, “Here may the poor find justice, the victims of oppression, true freedom.” Still, we feel the call to welcome the stranger, to feed the hungry, to be present to the sick and the imprisoned.

The words of 50 years ago aren’t just pretty poetry. They call us to wrestle with the imperfections of a broken world and our wounded human nature. They call us to a live lives steeped in prayer and sacrament. They call us to offer mercy to all who come seeking mercy. Live those words. Live as Christ’s Church.