Sunday, July 22, 2007

Sermon-Proper C11-July 22, 2007
One Thing is Necessary
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
About 18 years ago a bunch of us from Trinity went to Florida to attend a conference on how to grow your ministry. The leader of the conference was an Episcopal priest named Bill Atwood. He had 7 principles that he wanted to teach us that were absolutely necessary if your church was going to grow. One of them was, “find ways to say yes”. That meant that most of the time we are supposed to be affirming ideas. Looking for ways to make them happen-not finding reasons that they won’t work.
But one of the chief principles for growth Bill took from Stephen Covey-Keep the main thing, the main thing (actually Covey’s quote is, The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.). Atwood was convinced that most churches forgot what they were about, and that’s why they died.
Every time I hear this gospel story, two things happen for me: I feel guilty because I always like Martha better; and two I remember Bill Atwood and that conference in Florida. And I think of those principles.
In every church there are lots of “Marthas”. What’s a Martha? There are so many Martha guilds around. These are groups (almost always women) who are devoted to good works. How does Martha come out in today’s gospel? SHE IS NOT A ROLE MODEL!
For centuries if you really wanted to put someone down in the church , you simply shook your head, and in your best condescending way, you say: "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things…”. And that’s how we make people feel small and unfaithful. The lesson that almost everyone takes from today’s gospel is this: it is better to sit at the Lord’s feet-than it is be a servant. In the battle between simply Being with Jesus or doing like Jesus, the Be’s have it. Isn’t that what you’ve always thought when you’ve heard this story? We were at the Fire Chaplains training program in April in Indianapolis and they were talking about the personality of the firefighter; The instructor said,
That firefighters get bored easily , “ESPECIALLY IN CHURCH.” He said, “never try to use Mary and Martha as your example with firefighters-they will always think that Jesus chose the wrong one.”
Martha-action, Mary sitting, waiting, listening. Whenever I hear this gospel, that is always what I think.
Do you remember the gospel from last week? IT WAS THE STORY OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN. When you hear Jesus teaching about taking care of your neighbor, do you hear him saying, “boy this Samaritan, he should have sat down and just waited?” We have to keep in mind the stories before and after the one we’re hearing.
Jesus has been spending the whole 10th chapter of Luke teaching about ministry, about discipleship. The first story (2 weeks ago) is the sending out of the 70. Then the story last week of the good Samaritan. And now Martha and Mary. The key is to see the connections between these 3. Because Luke the gospel writer wants us to understand that ministry is about all 3 stories-it’s not just about evangelism, it’s not just about caring for our neighbor, and it’s not just about sitting and listening. It’s about “keeping the main thing, the main thing.”
Martha was a good host. Hospitality was just emphasized, stressed, accentuated in last week’s story about the Good Samaritan, right? That makes today’s story even more important. Jesus is making sure that the disciples don’t think it’s only about being sent out, or only about taking care of one’s neighbor-Jesus is trying to teach them-and us-that how easy it is to lose sight of the main thing. Martha, “you’re distracted” “Martha, you are worried”. Martha, you’re losing sight of what is important. John, I hear him saying, you’re getting sidetracked.
Two weeks ago, the disciples thought what was important was a show of power; last week, the young lawyer thought the main thing was knowing the laws; Martha’s main thing was taking care of her guest. Each week Jesus redefines, re explains the previous story. This time he’s saying, it’s not all about what you do. It’s about doing the one thing that is needed-the main thing. At this moment, Jesus is telling Mary, it’s about listening and learning. They’ll be time for hospitality later. In a sense this story is about the struggle between worrying and waiting. Two things that test our faith. I wish I had a nickel for every time someone has told me not worry, and instead to have faith. Telling someone not to worry, is like saying, “don’t think about elephants.”
Here’s what I try to say to myself instead, when I start getting overwhelmed with worry: keep the main thing the main thing. One thing is necessary. It’s sometimes the hardest thing there is to do. To wait. To sit. To listen. Sometimes the main thing is to show hospitality. Sometimes the main thing is to go out and spread the word. The test isn’t to always do the same thing, the challenge is to figure our what is needed. And then to do that. Can you say this, to yourself? John, John, one thing is necessary-keep the main thing, the main thing.
Amen.



Luke 10:38-42
10:38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.
10:39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying.
10:40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me."
10:41 But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;
10:42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."

sermon-July 15

July 15, 2007
Ah, the Good Samaritan! One of Jesus’ best known parables, perhaps because it is so basic, so foundational to our faith. Love God all the way, and love your neighbor as yourself. And who is my neighbor? Anybody in need. It doesn’t get any clearer than that.
To be honest, I’m not terribly fond of the parable of the Good Samaritan, and I’ll tell you why. I keep identifying with the priest and the Levite. Then I feel really crummy about myself. How often do Jesus’ parables leave us feeling crummy about ourselves, because we don’t measure up? We’re never good enough. I grew up thinking that this story has a very simple moral: if we are good people, we help other people who need it, no matter who they are, no matter how inconvenient it is for us. Bad people turn their heads and keep going. With all the needs in the world that I am not responding to, which camp does that put me in?
But I’m not sure it’s that simple. Jesus’ message was never, “You’re not good enough.” Jesus message is good news. It’s all about God’s wondrous, delighting love for us, no matter what. Jesus is not telling a parable about good people and bad people here. He does not say that the priest and the Levite were evil. They may have felt a real tug at the heartstrings as they went by, thinking, “Poor guy! I wish I could help!” But they couldn’t risk ritual uncleanness, which could make them lose their jobs; or they feared for their own safety; or they had other ministries to attend to – who can say? It wasn’t necessarily malice or hardness of heart that caused them to pass the wounded man by. However, in that particular place and time, they placed their own needs – quite possibly valid, worthwhile needs – above his need. They failed to see the connection between their lives and his. And so they failed to be neighbors.
As we all fail in some way. If my neighbor could be anybody, I have about 6.6 billion neighbors. And way too many of my neighbors are lying by the side of the road, in all kinds of conditions. I really care about the various crises going on in the world. And yet, I can’t respond to all of them.
Last week I spent a couple days with my friend Ruth. We go way back together. 25 years ago we were fresh out of college and living in community at Church of the Messiah in Detroit, full of idealism and trying to change the world. She was a nurse and I taught in the day care center. As we reminisced about those times, Ruth recalled a memory that pains her still. One night about midnight she was driving home from her late shift through nearly deserted inner city streets. There was one car ahead of her, stopped at a traffic light, also driven by a woman alone. Suddenly three young men came off the sidewalk, jumped on the car in front of Ruth and crashed a brick through the windshield.
This was before cell phones, mind you. Ruth had no idea what she could possibly do to help. She didn’t dare stop. She drove around the car, home as fast as she could and called 911. She never did find out what happened after that. To this day she cannot forget the fact that she drove away.
As I thought about the parable of the Good Samaritan, I couldn’t get Ruth’s story out of my head. I know Ruth is a good person. And I don’t think God was calling her to risk her own life in a situation where she probably couldn’t have made a difference. Our community was already doing so much in that neighborhood – a day care center, a school, meals for elderly people, work on housing issues – and we had made a pretty intense commitment by choosing to live there. Ruth was living the Good Samaritan lifestyle. Was it enough? No. Ruth was doing what she could do, and she couldn’t help that woman being carjacked.
So we live with this ongoing tension, trying to figure out which needs God is calling us to respond to. We choose the people we will help, and how much, and we know that it will never be enough, that always there will be more we could have done. It’s tempting to be overwhelmed, to be paralyzed into inaction, to give up and not do anything. But that is not living in Christian faith and hope, and that is not loving either our neighbor or ourselves in the way that God calls us to.
You know, this is really a sermon for those of us going on pilgrimage this week. But the rest of you can listen in.
We are going to another country, one vastly poorer than our own, to help out in an orphanage. There isn’t anything more Biblical than taking care of orphans. For a week, we will do some good work, make friends with people who are different from us, probably see poverty like we have never seen before, and hopefully grow closer to God and to our own souls through all of this. And when we leave, there will still be orphans and there will still be poverty. It will be tempting to think that our one week’s work in Jamaica wasn’t really all that important. I urge us to not fall into that trap, because God will be there making sure that we make a difference, even if we can’t measure or quantify it.
Being a neighbor isn’t always easy. Jesus calls us to continually stretch the outer limits of what we think we can do for another, and it’s almost guaranteed that we will be stretched on this trip. With every act of love, Jesus says, “Oh, that’s wonderful! Beautiful! Now go and love some more.”
Remember that the Jews hated the Samaritans, and vice versa. Jesus, having set his face toward Jerusalem, had just come through Samaria on his way from Galilee, so those hostilities would have been fresh in his mind. What made the Samaritan in the parable a neighbor, as he traveled in a hostile foreign country, was his ability to find a connection with the beaten man and act on it. That’s the kind of stretching Jesus is calling us to.
I’m going to read you a little bit from the Cotton Patch Gospel of Luke. This was written in the 1960s by Clarence Jordan, a Georgia farmer and New Testament Greek scholar. He translated the Gospels from the Greek into a paraphrase, with Jesus living in Georgia in the middle of the 20th century. In this parable, the two who pass by are a white preacher and a white Gospel singer, and the Samaritan is a black man.
"Then a black man traveling that way came upon the fellow, and what he saw moved him to tears. He stopped and bound up his wounds as best he could, drew some water from his water-jug to wipe away the blood and then laid him on the back seat. All the while his thoughts may have been along this line: ‘Somebody's robbed you; yeah, I know about that, I been robbed, too. And they done beat you up bad; I know, I been beat up, too. And everybody just go right on by and leave you laying here hurting. Yeah, I know. They pass me by, too.’"
The one who proved to be a neighbor was the one who could look at another, no matter how different, and see himself. And seeing himself in great need, he put aside his own plans and helped to the best of his ability. And when he had done all he could do, he left the man in the care of another good neighbor, the innkeeper. We will go to Jamaica as Samaritans, open to helping however we can help, seeking the connections between ourselves and the people we meet, and trusting God to make it matter. We may never know what impact we have, but we know that God will make the most of our gifts of time and energy.
And, for the folks who are listening in, we already know that it isn’t required to go to another country to act with love and mercy. We celebrate the neighborly things we are already doing, even as we keep stretching those outer boundaries of who we will respond to with love. It may feel as if what we do is never enough, but that’s simply not true. The Christian faith and hope we live in reminds us that every act of love is holy, blessed by God, and Jesus smiles and says, “Oh, that’s wonderful! Beautiful! Now go and love some more. I will make it be enough.”

Rachel Stivenson, seminarian

Sermon-July 8-The distraction of success

Sermon-Proper C9-July 8, 2007
Distracted by success
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
In the movie 'Pay it Forward' (Warner Bros., 2000) Mr. Simonet challenges his students with an extra-credit assignment to "change the world." He sends his students out to sow seeds and make a difference in the lives of those around them. And one 1 of his students, a little boy, takes it seriously.
Do you remember last week’s sermon? (I know, it was memorable). All these young men keep coming up to Jesus asking to follow him, and he keeps saying? You aren’t ready yet! Don’t follow til you’re ready. HE DISCOURAGES PEOPLE FROM JOINING HIM. Not exactly a good model for the church. And a few verses later we have today’s great story. Jesus sends 70 disciples out to change the world. Why 70? Because in Genesis 10 (seventy in the Hebrew text, seventy-two in the Greek) seventy represents all the nations of the earth. First Jesus discourages people from joining him, and now he sends them out as lambs in the midst of wolves-first they’re not strong enough, then they are given impossible tasks.
I think the two stories are connected. And I think the stories are for us.
Back in the early 1970s I was on fire with a desire to change the world. For me the ‘60s were still right there! I was in my early 20s. My best friends had just moved to Chicago, and I decided to go visit them. They took me to meet a guy, a Christian, who had developed something called , “The Plunge”. He took groups of young adult Christians, and he would set them down in the middle of Chicago for 72 hours with no food, no I d , just the clothes they were wearing, and said “now you will learn what it is to be poor and homeless in a big city-see you in 3 days.” This excited me so much, I couldn’t wait to do a “plunge”. I was ready! Then I heard what came next: All these fiery passionate young people came back raving about their “success”- how tough it was “out there-on the streets”, how much they had learned, how hungry and dirty they were, the people they had met, all that they had survived. They were elated not just that they had survived but all they had been through! And when he would get them all back together, This Christian minister would listen for awhile and then tell them: “you are educated, strong, healthy, smart-and you knew you were only doing this for three days. Of course you made it. But what impact did you have on people who aren’t any of those things?” And everyone would look sheepishly at each other. They thought about what had happened to them-not what a difference they had made on the lives of the people they had met. They focused on their survival-not the life of the street people. I turned around and went back to Kansas City thinking, I don’t know what success is-I’ll never be good enough or strong enough or passionate enough about the gospel to make a difference in people’s lives.
Jesus told all these people who came up to him, you’re not ready yet-you don’t know what I am about. But still they flocked to him, they yearned to be his disciples. They were excited, on fire with the impact he was having on them-and they wanted that power, too. Read through this gospel. Jesus gives 8 verses of instructions about how these 70 are supposed to act: take no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. say 'Peace to this houses!' that you enter; Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, Do not move about from house to house. eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.'
Eight verses on how to act, one verse on what to say: 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' One verse on how they are to change lives
Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, … cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
They return, ecstatic, triumphant telling him, EVEN THE DEMONS surrendered before us. They’re like young twentysomethings feeling great because they survived three days on the streets-THEY WERE SUCCESSFUL, THEY WON. And Jesus says, “it’s not what you survive, it’s what you plant.” 'cure the sick, The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
We become enthralled, mesmerized by all that we endure, all that we sacrifice, all that we achieve. That’s the temptation of the disciple-success-believing that what happens to us is what the gospel is for. Jesus teaches them, again-you can have power, but you don’t know how to use it or what it’s for. You think your success is what it’s all about. None of the disciples were ready yet-to follow, or to evangelize, or to understand. And much of our lives, neither are we. Last week’s disciples wanted to follow-but they had all these distractions. This week’s apostles, had all these victories-they’re the same thing- distractions. You know why this story is in the gospel here? Luke is trying to warn the early church-beware of victories-they can be the ultimate distraction.

We try, we strive, we take simple messages out into the world, and God uses the impulse, the drive within us to make a difference-to actually make that difference, to change the world.
Listen, what the disciples did wasn’t bad-it’s like James and John, the Sons of Thunder , wanting to command fire to come down from heaven and consume Samaritan villages"(from last week’s gospel). We want to change the world, we want to pay it forward, we want to make evil surrender, we want to see Satan fall from heaven, we want to survive three days with nothing. But here is what Jesus charged them with, “eat what is set before you, travel in poverty, stay focused, declare peace, leave if you’re not wanted-and give them this good news: “
cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
And you will have done your mission.
Chapter 9, verse 51- “he set his face to go to Jerusalem”. And as soon as Jesus did that, all these people kept begging him-let us follow you, let us go forth, let us cast out evil. As soon as Jesus started towards his goal, set his face, declared his mission, all these distractions emerged. And the one today was the most powerful-the lure of success. This sounds so much like last lent when we heard about Jesus and the adversary in the wilderness. See, just do this and you will win. All these people going out into the world conquering evil, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" Yes, Jesus says, but it’s not about you. Every time I hear this gospel I think of a young man in Chicago falling in love with ”The Plunge”-for the wrong reasons. Jesus set his face towards his goal-to bring the Kingdom of God near to people. And too often our goal becomes our own success as followers. Luke put this story in right after the story of the three young men rejected for a reason-God has a goal-and sometimes even success in other ways can be a distraction, a divergence from that truth. All we are charged with, is
cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
God takes care of the rest.
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.
10:2 He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
10:3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.
10:4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.
10:5 Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!'
10:6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you.
10:7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house.
10:8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you;
10:9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
10:10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say,
10:11 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.'
10:16 "Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."
10:17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!"
10:18 He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.
10:19 See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.
10:20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

2 Kings 5:1-14
5:1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy.
5:2 Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife.
5:3 She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."
5:4 So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said.
5:5 And the king of Aram said, "Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel." He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments.
5:6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy."
5:7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me."
5:8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel."
5:9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house.
5:10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean."
5:11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!
5:12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage.
5:13 But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, 'Wash, and be clean'?"
5:14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16
6:1 My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted.
6:2 Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
6:3 For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves.
6:4 All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor's work, will become a cause for pride.
6:5 For all must carry their own loads.
6:6 Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher.
6:7 Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.
6:8 If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
6:9 So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up.
6:10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.
6:11 See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand!
6:12 It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that try to compel you to be circumcised--only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
6:13 Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh.
6:14 May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
6:15 For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything!
6:16 As for those who will follow this rule--peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Sermon July 1, 2007

Proper 8

July 1, 2007

Readings

The Lesson: 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14

The Epistle: Galatians 5:1,13-25

The Holy Gospel: Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."

How often do you feel guilty about being a Christian, about the kind of Christian that you are? Never? Once in a great while? Sometimes? Every waking second? Yeah, Catholics do not own the concept of guilt. To be a Christian is to constantly feel as though you don’t measure up. It’s verse like today’s that reinforce that. Don’t take the time to bury the dead. Don’t take care of your family. Don’t say good bye, don’t even look back. Just follow. Just go. And so many Christians hear these words and the first thing we think is: ___________
I could never do that. I could never obey that completely, that radically.
Carl Jung once observed that all moral conflicts are "conflicts of duty." I hear these words from Jesus today and I think to myself, “I could never do that.” I owe my family, my friends, my congregation, my wife. I could never walk out the door and not take care of the people I love, the people I’m responsible for! And then I think, “where does Jesus get off asking for this kind of response?” Am I more faithful when I turn my back on everything and everyone? Is this what a real Christian looks like, someone who runs after Jesus and abandons all other responsibilities? All moral conflicts are "conflicts of duty."
Hold on to that dilemma for a moment and let me fill you in on what is happening in this gospel.
Jesus has been in Galilee, which is up here (north). And this famous verse, Luke 9:51- When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
And he heads south. To get to Jerusalem Jesus and his merry band had to go through Samaria. Most Jews would have gone across the Jordan and taken the long way through another country. There was such hatred, such fear between the Jews and Samaritans that they would do anything to avoid each other. And here is Jesus going straight through enemy country. And in this story, the Samaritans won’t even let him into their villages. So much for the good Samaritan. So James and John (what was their nickname?), the Sons of Thunder, offer to help the Samaritans change their attitude: Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down
from heaven and consume them?" See, that’s how the disciples handle people who aren’t Christian enough. At Luke 9:56 some Greek manuscripts add a conclusion to the story: "And Jesus said to them, 'You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.'"
And then comes three potential disciples. Each one wants to follow Jesus-and yet each one is insulted, pushed away, spurned. Why? Is Jesus saying they aren’t strong enough? Aren’t faithful enough? Are too weak? Too cowardly? To follow him? Why does he speak like this-and what does it mean for us? Is Jesus saying that we have to abandon everything else in life or we’re not worthy? No wonder we feel guilty. No wonder no one ever seems Christian enough.
In the 1924 Olympics in Paris, Eric Liddell, a Scottish runner and son of Christian missionary parents, gave up a certain medal in the 100 meter dash, because he wouldn’t race on Sundays. He was under enormous pressure from his country and his peers to race, but he felt that it would be breaking the sabbath. And so he did not run, and did not win. All moral conflicts are "conflicts of duty." Are we supposed to run after Jesus and abandon everyone and everything?
Let me remind you of a couple of things. Two weeks ago, the widow of Nain’s son was raised from the dead-and after raising him Jesus gave him back to her. Last week the demon possessed Wild man of the Gerasenes was healed and begged to follow Jesus-and Jesus said no, “39“Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.”
The famous theologian and Bible scholar, John Dominic Crossan says that in the gospels there are two kinds of disciples: "Itinerant Christians" and "householders." Each is as vital as theother. There must be householders to host the itenerants. There are those (such as the Gerasenedemoniac, or the widow's son) who were clearly instructed to go back or remain with their family/community. And others yet - clearly called to "pack very lightly."
But you know what, I think this gospel reading is even better than that. I think it’s about who we are-more than what we do-or how fast we follow. Listen, you, me, us, we will probably never completely give our lives to God. We will fail lots of times-using excuses for our faith, looking back, worrying about whether God will take care us. Here is what Dr. Greg Rickel, and Episcopal priest wrote: follow me while doing those things; follow me in a way that makes you do those things in a new way. Follow me forever: no ‘BUT FIRSTs;’ no ‘insteads;’ no ‘YES AND’—not ‘either/or.’ Instead: ‘both/and.’” …doing the ordinary extraordinarily well, making all of life a prayer. It's not about what you are doing or not doing; it is instead about what and who you are being. It is about what we finally put our hope and trust in everyday, and all days.
Listen, we will never be as good as we think God wants us to be. We will never give as much as we think God wants, we will never by faithful, or righteous, or brave as we want to be. We probably won’t be Eric Liddells, and other Christians from time to time may offer “to command fire to come down from heaven and consume us”. We will not act and follow and obey as we know we should. We will make wrong choices and choose wrong ways fairly often.
But we can awake each day and begin as people of faith. We can rise each morning and pledge not to put God first, but to put God only. We can begin each moment of our lives not beating ourselves for failure in our “conflicts of duty”-but simply letting the extraordinary move through us and our ordinary lives. Jesus, I think, wanted these three volunteers to change who they were-not how fast they followed. I think he wanted them to live extraordinary lives where they were. This doesn’t let us off the hook. If anything, it’s harder. It’s in some ways easier to run after a savior and never look back, drop all ties, erase all that is past. It’s much harder to live new ways, to be a new person with the people who have always known us. Jesus said to the Gerasene demoniac, 39“Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And then he follows that story with these three disciple wannabes. I think this story is about following, but not on the physical road to Jerusalem-but on the spiritual road to the cross. How often do you feel guilty about being a Christian, about the kind of Christian that you are?
Luke 9:51-62
9:51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
9:52 And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him;
9:53 but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.
9:54 When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"
9:55 But he turned and rebuked them.
9:56 Then they went on to another village.
If your Bible has study notes, you'll see that some ancient manuscripts insert an extra verse in this week's Gospel at Luke 9:56. I think of this extra verse as the most important verse not in the Bible. At Luke 9:56 some Greek manuscripts add a conclusion to the story: "And Jesus said to them, 'You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.'"
9:57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."
9:58 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."
9:59 To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
9:60 But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
9:61 Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home."
9:62 Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

Sermon June 10, 2007

Proper 5

June 10, 2007

Readings

The Lesson: 1 Kings 17:8-16 (17-24)

The Epistle: Galatians 1:11-24

The Holy Gospel: Luke 7:11-17

Sermon

The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
The lay preachers who preached in the Easter season met last week. One of them shared something very personal-that I am going to share with you. He said, “when the sermon usually starts-I space out-I never really listen. But now that I have preached-I listen very closely!” Years ago we had a young woman who grew up here, listening to me much of her life, and she came back one Sunday and came up to me after the service and said, “I listened to the sermon today!” And I said, “good, I’m glad.” And she said, “No, you don’t understand-I listened. All the years that I attended church here-I never listened to the sermons. You know what, it wasn’t bad!” Yeah, I know. I really do understand. You hear so many jokes about people falling asleep in the sermon, but actually, my experience is that most people go far away before the sermon ever starts. We used to have a guy in the parish (he say right there) as soon as I got up in the pulpit, he went out, BAM. It was like the lunestra kicked in every Sunday about 10 minutes into the service. Usually he woke up as the sermon was ending. Usually.
The point is, sermons, listening to people standing above us, talking at us in religious language, isn’t just boring-it sends us far away, usually, into a kind of reverie. I remember talking to a psychologist once who was working with me on self-hypnosis, and he said, “don’t worry, when people are using their beta waves, they’re even more receptive to your sermons. Uh huh. Sure.
This summer, I will be preaching to you 8 times(counting today)-all on the gospel of Luke. In the Easter season I asked you each week, “who are you going to be on April 8?” I have a different challenge for you this summer: listen. A)I will keep the sermons short-between 10 and 12 minutes. B)I will focus each time on the gospel. C) I will try to connect each week’s gospel with the other weeks. D) I will raise the question each week, “why does Luke include this story or this teaching here. And finally, E) I will tell you how I think we are supposed to respond, how Luke wanted us to respond-to his reading.
Listen: short sermons; focused on the gospel; connected to the other gospel readings; asking why this story is included; and how we are encouraged to react.
So, here goes. If we didn’t have Trinity Sunday last week, we would have heard the story of the healing of the centurion’s slave from chapter 6. Luke loves to do this-to balance the healing stories of men and women. If you listen closely you realize that the real ministry in this story isn’t to the young man who died-but to his mother. A woman in a patriarchal society. Luke tells us that she is a widow. That means that when her only son dies, she will die also-of poverty and hunger. Jesus has pity on her.
Luke was very aware of the story of Elijah and the healing of the son of the Zarephath widow. There were lots of similarities: ––Both Elijah and Jesus come to a gate (1 Kings 17:10, 17; Luke 7:12). Both involve a widow whose only son has died (1 Kings 17:17-18; Luke 7:12). Elijah cries out to the Lord, and Jesus has compassion (1 Kings 17:20-21; Luke 7:13). Elijah stretches himself upon the child, and Jesus touches the bier (1 Kings 17:21; Luke 7:14). "The life of the child came into him again" and "The dead man sat up and began to speak" (1 Kings 17:22; Luke 7:15). Both Elijah and Jesus "gave him to his mother" –– the wording in the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament is exactly the same (1 King 17:23; Luke 7:15). The mother said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true" and the crowd said of Jesus, "A great prophet has risen among us" (1 Kings 17:24 and Luke 7:16)
So, Luke is aware that Jesus is like Israel’s great prophet, Elijah and wants US to know that, too. Luke wants us to see that Jesus reached out to help all peoples-Romans, slaves, widows. Luke wants us to see how much power Jesus had-not only could he heal-like last week-he could even raise people from the dead.
Luke wants us to see how important “touch” is to Jesus. Jesus is supposed to be “quarantined” for 7 days after touching a dead body-or the dead man’s stretcher.
This is early in Jesus’ ministry. Luke is showing us that he is full of power, aching with compassion for those who are hurting, disregards religious rules if they get in the way of the good news. I need to point out something to you: There has been no mention of faith. The mother has not asked Jesus for help –– has not demonstrated faith in Jesus. The action here is solely at Jesus' initiative, and depends solely on his power. When he speaks, things happen.
Luke underlines this. It’s all about Jesus.
This is a terrible story. Preachers dread these healing/resurrection stories. When we hear this story we know we are supposed to be happy that Jesus has so much power-but we wonder-why he didn’t have mercy on us when we experienced a terrible loss-why didn’t Jesus touch the stretcher of our parent, our child, our spouse, our sibling, our friend. This woman shows no faith-and we pray to Jesus all the time. Jesus had compassion on her-what about us?

Sermon May 27, 2007

Pentecost Sunday

May 27, 2007

Readings

The Lesson: Acts 2:1-21

The Epistle: Romans 8:14-17

The Holy Gospel: John 14:8-17, (25-27)

Sermon

The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
There is an old story about a revival preacher visiting a small town. This preacher had services in a tent every night for a week. Every night, the preacher proclaimed that God was present. Every night, the preacher shouted that God wanted to fill people with the Holy Spirit. Every night, the preacher invited people to come forward at the end of the service to receive prayer and laying on of hands.
And every night, the town loser came forward to ask for this prayer. The town loser was what they used to call a ne'er-do-well, a delinquent, a trouble maker. Every night of the revival week, this sinner came down front and shouted his prayer, “Fill me, Lord! Fill me, Lord!” And the next day, he would be off fighting and drinking and gambling and stealing and causing trouble.
But every night he came back to the revival prayer meeting. The last night of the week, he was still there. He was up front at the end of the service, praying loudly for the coming of the Holy Spirit. He shouted, “Fill me, Lord! Fill me, Lord!” And one little old lady finally shouted, “Don't do it, Lord! He leaks!”
He leaks. The Spirit seems to go in –and then right back out. Like all of us. All of us leak. Today is Pentecost. It was an ancient Jewish harvest festival. And it was the 50th day after Easter. The disciples, the word means followers, had witnessed the Resurrection, were still not sure what to do. THEIR LIFE HADN’T CHANGED. They were still the scared, unsure, uncertain, inadequate guys that followed Jesus around for three years. Talk about leakers! After all that-and yet-no difference. They went up into the upper room in Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish Pentecost, the harvest festival-and something happened -1-to them. Finally. After 3 years of teaching and following Jesus, a week of drama and death at the end, and then a resurrection and yet they still were so, lost. Still so unsure-“Yeah, being a follower has been great-but now what?” And then-everything changed. How many times must they have prayed to be different? How many times had they asked God to fill them? How many times have you? I don’t know why the Spirit came upon them when it did. Dr. N. T. Wright says that the greatest proof of the Resurrection is that 12 ordinary men suddenly became changed. Do you know what they called them after today-no longer did they call them disciples, followers, but they began to be referred to as Apostles-meaning, “ones who are sent.” Not followers, but people who were flung, driven, thrown out into the world. They were different. Not that much better, not that much smarter, not that much different-the biggest change was –they were no longer so afraid. They were no longer so unsure of who they were meant to be. They were no longer doubtful about what they were supposed to do. They stopped being just followers.
A few weeks ago there was a Hallmark special on tv. It was the story of Bruce Murakami. 8 ½ years ago his wife and daughter were killed in a traffic accident. A 17 year old boy was drag racing with another guy and he hit the wife’s car and Cindy (Bruce’s wife) and Chelsea died. Eventually the boy was arrested and charged with a felony. Murakami begs a special favor before the trial-he wants to talk to the kid who destroyed his life. And they let him. And as he talks to the boy, something terrible happens-Bruce forgives him. When the kid, Justin Gutierrez, goes to trial, Murakami stands with him and asks the judge not to send him to jail. Together, Bruce Murakami and Justin Gutierrez began talking to school assemblies all over the country about driving and judgement. 8 years later they are still doing it. It is a very powerful and wonderful and awful story. But here is what struck me. Towards the end of the movie, someone asks Bruce Murakami, “why are you doing this? This boy killed your wife and daughter!” And Murakami answered, “my faith gave me no other choice.”
My faith gave me no other choice.
We encounter difficult obstacles and tough decisions all the time in our lives, great moments of weakness and fear. Much of the time we feel unclear, uncertain, and scared about what to do or who to be. The disciples did. And they were with Jesus. A lot. Much of the time we see ourselves as leakers-people who run out of gas and have to be filled up, everyday. And everyday we seem to run out again.
But then something happens. A wind, a flame, a voice in a language we understand-a sermon, a baptism, a touch, a sacred meal, an upper room, something breaks through into our world, and we realize that we are no longer just followers-we have been sent. We are no longer just victims waiting for the next crisis to overwhelm us. We are no longer just scared, indecisive, confused, strugglers-we are apostles-people driven bravely out into the midst of a starving world, people who are not really any better-but flung out into the midst of a world hungry for good news. . We are no longer “just” anything-we are people whose faith gives us no other choice.
I was at a two day workshop this week on crisis management. And towards the end of the second day, they showed us a movie of the first responders, the EMTs, the paramedics, the firefighters who were at the Oklahoma City bombing at the Murrah Federal building 12 years ago. 168 people killed, 800 injured. One of the emergency personnel, a nurse, said, “we were raised to a new level that day, all the 1st responders were. We never knew we could endure so much and still be so strong.” The Spirit gave them no other choice
They were apostles. Most of the time we don’t think we can do it, whatever “it” is.. Much of our lives we spend waiting for the Holy Spirit to fill us up and never leak out. But here’s the truth of Pentecost-no one is ever ready for the coming of the Spirit. No one is ever prepared for how they will be changed. We keep expecting to go back to our lives the way they were. We keep expecting normalcy to return. The disciples did-right up to the moment they caught fire in the upper room. Bruce Murakami never ever saw himself as a forgiving man. The Emergency personnel in Oklahoma City never believed they could handle that much pain. The disciples never saw themselves as people driven out to change the world. And then they did. Their faith gave them no other choice.
Don’t be afraid of being weak. Don’t be afraid of leaking. do. Don’t be embarrassed because you are unclear about your direction. We all are. Don’t be discouraged because you feel unworthy or confused about your calling or your beliefs. We all go through that. Don’t be disheartened because your faith feels inadequate or insufficient-it is. The disciples felt the same way. Until they became apostles. Until the Spirit filled them in a way that could never leak out, until they were finally ready to be sent.
Today is Pentecost, the day tongues of flames rested upon 12 unworthy, inadequate, weak, scared people-and sent them bravely out into the world. Just like us. They weren’t ready. They didn’t understand it. They simply saw themselves as fishermen and disciples. Until their faith gave them no other choice. Amen.