There’s an old joke about the evangelization of the American west which says that the Baptists went west on foot, the Methodists went by horse, and the Episcopalians went by Pullman car.  Of course, that’s not really true.  There is a group of heroic nineteenth century missionary bishops, and I think our Church would be stronger if we knew more about their lives and ministries.  One of the most famous and heroic of these missionary bishops is Henry Benjamin Whipple, the first bishop of Minnesota.  Bishop Whipple was born in 1822 and served as bishop of Minnesota from 1859 until his death in 1901.  He was a champion of the Native American peoples, warning whites and the government that their unjust policies would lead to bloodshed.  He was proven right, and early in his episcopate he negotiated the end to an uprising.  The Indians called him Straight Tongue because of his honesty and integrity.   The peace agreement he brokered is commemorated in the seal of the diocese which shows a broken tomahawk crossed by a peace pipe, surmounted by the cross, and bearing the legend in Latin: Peace through the blood of the cross.   Bishop Whipple personally intervened with President Lincoln and secured pardons for 265 Native Americans who were scheduled to be hanged.

In the mid nineteenth century Minnesota was the frontier, and Bishop Whipple’s autobiography is full of thrilling tales of riding through blizzards, across frozen lakes and streams, sleeping out in the under the stars, and visiting American Indian villages as he traveled around his vast diocese – kind of an ecclesiastical Boys Life.  There is a picture which shows Bishop Whipple presiding at a confirmation service.  He was a large man, and you can see him in off in the distance wearing his vestments and holding a Prayer Book.  But the service is outside and the bishop is surrounded by a forest of wigwams and hundreds of American Indians.  When I see that picture, I am reminded of the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well: “’You say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem’” … “’The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.’”  In May, ten young people from our parish will be confirmed at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan.  The confirmation they receive in that glorious cathedral will be the same one received by those Episcopalians on the open prairie.

The woman at the well is shocked that Jesus is talking to her not only because she is a woman but especially because she is a Samaritan.  As St. John helpfully adds, “(Jews do not share things in common (like water buckets) with Samaritans.”  And they also did not share a common site for worship: The Samaritans worshiped at a temple on Mt. Gerizim and the Jews worshiped at the Temple in Jerusalem.  The Temple in Jerusalem dates back to the time of King David.  When David became king of all of Israel, Israel’s first true king, he chose Jerusalem to be his capital city.  He chose Jerusalem because it was not affiliated with any tribe and because it was located more or less midway between the north and the south.  David made plans to build a Temple in his new capital city, but it was his son and successor, Solomon, who actually got the job done.  The new capital was part of David’s and Solomon’s program to centralize political, economic, and religious power.  Before building the Temple, Israel had a portable shrine, the tabernacle, left over from the days of wandering in the wilderness.   Once the Temple was built in Jerusalem, sacrifices could only be offered there.  Those who could not or would not worship in Jerusalem, such as the Samaritans, were excluded.

Jesus says it doesn’t matter where you worship God because he is the new Temple.   Wherever he is, his worshipers worship in Spirit and in truth.  His Spirit, like living water, flows everywhere.  It flows through the beautiful cathedrals of the East; it flows on the parries of the Midwest; it flows through Africa, Asia; and Europe; and everywhere in between.

On the table here, we have four Prayer Books and four crosses.  These are special Prayer Books and Crosses.  The Prayer Books are Armed Forces Prayer Books, which are complied from the Book of Common Prayer and other sources specifically for use by those in the armed forces.  The crosses are Episcopal Church Service Crosses.  They have been worn by Episcopal service persons since the First World War and are approved to be worn with dog tags.  The cross has one big cross in the middle and five smaller crosses in the corners, representing the five wounds of Christ.  On the center cross it says, “Christ died for you.”  In a few minutes we will bless these Prayer Books and crosses and send them to the four members of our parish serving in the active duty military: John Laskodi, Brieanne Pinero, Andrew Schneider, and Edward Schneider.  Of course, our heart-felt prayers go with these cross and Prayers Books.  And they remind us that we can worship God wherever the Spirit is flowing, whether that is in our beautiful church in New Brighton, in training camps with Brie and Ted, in Afgahnistan with John, or in Iraq with Andrew.

In the desert, the people say to Moses, There’s no water.  We’re dying here.  “’Is the Lord among us or not?’”  Jesus answers, I am.  Anytime, any place, I am. Amen.