So, who was St. Hilary and why should we care that we call ourselves by his name?

Hilary was born in Poitiers in what is now France in 315. He died there in either 367 or 368 (whether on November 1 or January 13 is open for debate.) He was named a saint shortly after his death and was declared a "Doctor of the Divinity of Christ" by Pope Pius IX in 1851. His feast day is now celebrated on January 13.

Hilary was born into a wealthy, pagan family. He studied rhetoric and philosophy and was known as an orator He married and had a daughter now known as Saint Afra. He experienced conversion in his mid-thirties and was baptized along with his wife and daughter. He was made bishop of Poitiers in 353. (According to one source, he and his wife had to live separately so that he could be ordained. Quite a sacrifice on both of their parts.)

There was a major controversy raging in the Church in the 4th century between those that claimed that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine - he was of the same substance as God the Father - and those that claimed he was not as divine as God the Father - he was of a similar substance. This has become known as the Arian controversy. Most of the Orthodox theology (Jesus was God) was being promoted in the eastern and Greek speaking part of the world. Most of western Latin speaking, Europe was Arian (Jesus was like God). Hilary was the first theologian to argue for orthodoxy using western thought, philosophy, culture and language.

His orthodox stance caused him to be exiled for several years. It was during his exile that he did most of his writing on the Trinity and on the theology of the church. While in exile, he was never replaced as bishop of Poitiers because the priests would rather "pretend he was still there" rather than risk getting someone they didn't want. He was returned to his diocese in 360, mainly because he was causing so much trouble in Phrygia where he had been sent that the Arian bishops asked that he be returned.

Hilary was a prolific writer and poet and was one of the earliest hymn writers. Although he is not one of the most well known of historical theologians, his influence was vast. He was a contemporary of Athanasius. He was Martin of Tours' spiritual director and guide. St. Jerome considered Hilary an inspiration.

I believe that it would be safe to say that if it weren't for the determination, persuasive abilities and courage of Hilary of Poitiers, Arianism would have captured the day in western Europe. It is probably in great part, because of Hilary that western Europe, and therefore we, have grown up in a faith that claims that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and in fact is true God of True God.

Hilary is the patron saint of those bitten by snakes and learning disabled children and according to some sources, of lawyers. There is a legend that while visiting an island off the coast of France, Hilary ran all of the snakes into the sea (an incredibly similar legend to that of Patrick of Ireland). Hilary's bed was kept on display in the Cathedral of Poitiers for years. It was said that if a "madman" were to spend a night in the "cradle of St. Hilary" he would be cured.

In art work, Hilary is often pictured with three books, a pen, a snake, a cradle or with Martin of Tours. Our window in the back of the church, pictures him in the Eucharistic vestments of a bishop with three books, a pen and a snake.

When this congregation was being formed in 1958 the founding men and women looked for a name that would capture the spirit that was driving them to start a new church way down south of Fort Myers. It seems that several lawyers were involved in the early settlement of this congregation and in fact have been throughout our history. So, Hilary, because of his connection to lawyers, was chosen as our patron. We are one of 3 St. Hilary's Episcopal Churches in the U.S., although there are several in Europe.

So now that we know who Hilary was and how we came to be called by his name, why should we care that we are St. Hilary's Episcopal Church?

Maybe it doesn't really make a difference. Maybe we could be St. John's or St. Margaret's or any number of names and still be who we are. Maybe not. But there is much about the man, Hilary of Poitiers that commends itself to us. We have, for 48 years, called on his name, his spirit and his example to guide us in our journey, both as individuals and as a congregation, to Christ. That example has served us well and will serve us well as long as people gather under this name.

When Hilary was beginning his journey of faith, he found particular comfort in two particular scriptures. The first was that portion of Exodus we read this morning. It is the story of God calling Moses to lead the quest for freedom for the people of the Hebrews. In it, Moses asks God what his name is. God answers "I am who I am." It was in this sentence that so many of us find troubling and confusing that Hilary found the identity of God. It is in this unknowability, this reference to the source of being, I am is one manifestation of the verb to be, that Hilary could recognize the incomprehensible nature of the divine being. God is so vast that human language cannot describe him.

Hilary was able to find God, have faith in God, trust in God, yet knew that he could never fully understand nor describe God. Hilary lived in the tension between knowledge and faith. He never quit trying to know God better, but knew that if God were God, that journey would never be complete. I find great comfort in that. A great theologian, a doctor of the church, lived his life in a faith tension. He spoke eloquently about God and about his experience of God, yet he spoke from the knowledge of the ineptness of his knowledge.

We don't have to be certain of our understanding of God. In fact, if we are too certain, perhaps we are only certain of a small part of who God really is. It's OK to be on a journey of deepening faith. It's OK to wonder and struggle. It's OK to have to work at our faith. In fact, if we are not actively working on our faith, our relationship with God in Christ, we quit growing into the person God calls us to be.

The other portion of scripture which helped form Hilary's faith was the prologue to the Gospel of John, "In the beginning was the Word, and Word was with God and the Word was God." Through this he saw that Christ had been a part of the creation of all things. That all things were created by the divine purposes of God in Christ. His life had purpose in that it and all life had come from Christ.

We all have a relationship with Christ. We were created through him, the Word of God. It is that relationship that gives us value. It is that relationship that caused God to send his son to die for us. It is that relationship that we find eternal life.

Our value comes not from who we are, but whose we are. Not from what we do, but what God did in and through Christ. We are created and redeemed through Christ.

Whether it was part of the conscious decision process of our founders, we bear the name as a congregation of a man who knew that he was a child of God through the creative and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. He knew that that was who he was. And we, too, can know, can trust, can believe that we are children of God through that same creative and redemptive work of that same Jesus Christ.

It is through a journey of faith in this unknowable, incomprehensible God that we come to experience the creative and redemptive love of His Son Jesus Christ. What a wonderful expression of where we are and who we are as a congregation.

Hilary of Poitiers lived life on a journey. A journey of discovery. A journey of deepening faith. We like our patron, are on a journey, strengthened by his example and by the creative and redemptive love of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.