James Lloyd Breck, a nineteenth century Episcopal clergyperson, was a missionary with the constitution of a pioneer. When places like Wisconsin and Minnesota were the "northwest territories", Breck set out from the East Coast with two of his seminary classmates on a mission to spread the Gospel. He was instrumental in founding two seminaries for the Episcopal Church -- Nashotah House in Wisconsin (1842) and Seabury in Minnesota (1858). Breck worked for a time among the Ojibwa (one of the largest of the Native American nations). Eventually, he made his way to California and worked toward the establishment of two schools there before his death in 1876. Today is the day when the Episcopal Church commemorates the life and ministry of this pioneering priest.

(Visit http://www.seabury.edu/worship/sermon_james-lloyd-breck-commemoration.php for a wonderful sermon about Breck.)

My guess is that Breck could have probably found a comfortable life as a rector of a parish in a city or town back East. He could have busied himself with the day in, day out routines of congregational life -- the joyous and the mundane. He could have preached to the well-heeled establishment in exchange for a rectory and a stipend. He could have been a valued citizen, lending an air of religiosity to civic life. But Breck chose a different path.

Maybe that path didn't seem so courageous at the time. Maybe he simply followed what he felt to be a call from his Lord. Maybe he had his doubts, too. Maybe there were times he wondered "what would have been" if he had simply cultivated a more civilized mission field -- one with some creature comforts.

Breck's frontier of southern Wisconsin is now overlaid by Interstate 94. The forests that became farmlands around Nashotah House are sprouting new crops these days -- the large, single family homes of the exburbs. I am one of those "settled" parish priests (of the East Coast variety right here in the Midwest) -- complete with rectory and stipend. My 21st century working environment is even more luxurious than the sorts of comforts Breck left behind when he traveled out here to the "northwest" back in the 19th century.

The Epistle reading for today is one of my favorites. Paul writes to the Corinthians that there are workers in God's field who "plant". There are some who "water". But God is always responsible for the growth. (1 Corinthians 3:4-11). That lesson reminds me that, like Breck, I'm simply passing through. There were workers in the field before me. There will be workers who follow. And while I may be (God forbid!) a "settled rector", I hope I never settle for thinking that maintaining the status quo constitutes the mission of God in the world.

Teach your Church, O Lord, we pray, to value and support pioneering and courageous missionaries, whom you call, as you called your servant James Lloyd Breck, to preach, and teach, and plant your Church on new frontiers; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.