Which Child Do I Want To Be?

Sermon-Proper 21A/ Pentecost +15
September 25, 2011
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 that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
“My God of peace, of joy and delight,
I offer you all my tears, all my ignorance.
My God of peace, of joy and delight,
I offer you all my fears and fractured promises.
You, my God, know all this, all this;
How poor I am, how small I am;
You, my God, know all this, all this.
Yet what I have, my God, I give to you.”
[Paul Verlaine 1844-1896]
Voltaire quipped that we ought to judge a person by his questions rather than his answers.
In seminary there was a guy who began his senior sermon with the thought the Jesus said we should all become more like prostitutes and corrupt officials-then he quoted a series of examples of Jesus praising them and criticizing the religious leaders. We all looked at the faculty at the time to see if they were getting nervous.
Jesus asks the question, who sent John-and who sent me? Is it popular approval or a divine mission. The religious authorities are afraid to answer. I don’t think the issue is authority here-I think the question is about us. How do we respond, how do we act in the face of truth?
We want to believe that we would be brave and courageous in the face of truth-that we would embrace it, run towards it, desire it. I want to think that if I see truth I would act nobly and walk towards it-but I can think of dozens of times in my life when I have heard truth-and shrunk back-sometimes in fear, sometimes out of self-interest-you name it. The temple leaders try to trap Jesus by asking where he gets the right to act as he does-but that’s really not the issue. They’re scared. They’re threatened. They don’t like him, and they don’t like people following him. Karl Jacobson writes: “The disciples asked him [Jesus] questions; who is the greatest among us (18:1), what good deed do we have to do to receive eternal life (19:16), for a sign concerning Jesus' coming at the end of the age (24:3). … Peter would ask another; "How often must I forgive?" (18:21), "We left everything for you, what do we get?"(19:27). These questions are all revealing. With the exception of [the Gospel of] John and perhaps (ironically) Pilate, the questions are all self-serving. Those who ask Jesus questions want to trap him, or impress him, or get something from him. And to every pointed question Jesus offers an equally pointed answer, which reveals truth about the Kingdom, the King, and the Kingdom's subjects.”
And, as Jesus often does, to answer a difficult question, he tells a story, a parable.
I have spent much time the last six months with my mother in Texas, who is very ill. In a normal week here in Belleville I am a husband, a friend and a priest. In my granddaughters recent move here, I added “Papa John”. But the toughest role of all for me is going to Texas and becoming a son-again , and this week a brother. I love my mother, but I have always struggled with being a “good son”. So when I went to Texas this week, I looked at the gospel and thought, as I frequently do, “Did God write this one just for me?” “A man had two sons…”. I don’t have any statistics to back this up, but it feels like Jesus uses family in more of his parables than any other. We all know what it is to be family, we all understand stories about being a child, a sibling, a parent. In this morning’s gospel, Jesus asks the temple leaders who is the good child-the one who says he will obey-but doesn’t? Or the one who says he won’t, but does? Jesus, of course, is trying to get these leaders to see the distinction between what they say-and what they do. On one side are these priests and elders who profess their love of God daily in the temple-vs John the Baptist, and notorious sinners like the prostitutes and tax collectors, who are not acceptable-but show their faith by coming to Jesus.
Karl Jacobson again: “For every individual who hears this parable the comparison helps them (forces them) to ask the question, Which am I? Am I the son who presents himself as obedient while running around raising havoc, or am I the daughter who to all appearances is the "black sheep" but in the end does what is needed? Which am I? Which are you?”
That’s how Jacobson ends his commentary, “Which am I” in terms of my faith-the one who gives lip service, says the right words, begrudgingly answers-or the one who embraces truth, comes to Jesus, has the courage to turn around and live faithfully. I know which one I want to be. But there are days….
Hearing stories helps me. I can put myself in the place of the characters and see which one not only is me now, but which character do I hope to be. Do I want to be the one who recites the Creed, says the prayers, confesses my sins on Sundays, only to be someone else throughout the week? Or do I want to be the child of God who actually acts lovingly, faithfully, hopefully Monday through Saturday? Which am I? Which do I want to be?
We all know the answer we want to give, we all know which child we wish to be, the challenge is actually saying AND doing.
At one point this week, my mother got very upset and I asked, “mom, what’s the matter?” And she answered, “I’m supposed to give you some wonderful last words, some great advice for you to remember before I go -and I don’t know what to say!” I couldn’t help from laughing. I told her, “mom, you have given me a lot of words and advice-but even better than all that, you have given me 60 years of love-that’s what I will always remember.”
When Jesus tells this story of a man with two sons, he is asking those who seek to follow God-which do you want to give-lipservice or lifeservice? Which child do we want to be? Which am I, who do I want to be? The one who says the magic words at the end of my life? Or the one whose message is my whole life? Which child do I want to be? Amen.

What Then Will We Have?

Sermon-Proper 20A/ Pentecost +14
September 18, 2011
Do you remember the sitcom, Cheers? There was a very odd character always sitting at the bar, named Cliff. Every once in a while Cliff would say something really off the wall, and there would be dead silence. He would look up at everyone would be staring at him, and he would ask, “wait a second, did I say that out loud?” His internal monologue had gone public. We all have them, those things we say in our head that we wouldn’t dare say out loud. We’re now in chapter 20 of Matthew, Jesus has been teaching his friends, the disciples, how to make his kingdom work-if he should leave. And he tells this story about a rich landowner and people getting hired. But what we don’t hear is why Jesus tells this story. Four verses earlier Peter, the rock that the church will be built on, says to Jesus:
"Lord, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?" (19:27) As Alyce MacKenzie notes: “By now, Peter and the other disciples are pretty clear about what they've lost. They're missing their children and extended families, they're yearning for their wives, and they're missing their familiar surroundings, their beds, their boats, their nets.”
They don’t want to hear about the last and the first. They don’t want to hear about acceptance and everyone getting into heaven-they want to know what all of this sacrifice and following and has got them: “What then will we have?” What does being a Christian get us?
Think back over the last 24 hours-can you remember an event, an incident, something, where you weren’t treated fairly? A family member took advantage of you? A car cut you off? Someone got more than you? Stop when you can remember 3. I always know that I’m in a bad mood when I start making lists: this happened, and that happened, and this, and that. When I start keeping track, counting up, I know that I am looking for injustices in my life. What’s amazing to me is how many there are. We-do-not-get-treated-fairly!
We all know people like us-people who feel as though they don’t get what they deserve, people who are critical. Recently on the Episcopal communicators blog there was a conversation about “snarkiness”. All the Christian educators were complaining about people in their congregations who gripe, criticize and nitpick. They were complaining about people who complain. Wayne Brouwer tells the story about the famous poet Matthew Arnold. “British poet Matthew Arnold was neither kind nor gracious. He was known for his overly critical eye. One time he stayed at the home of an American family while on a speaking tour. His hostess offered him pancakes for breakfast. Arnold took one, tasted it, and then passed the plate to his wife. "Do try one, my dear," he said. "They're not as nasty as they look!" When he died, one of his neighbors said of him, "Poor Matthew; he won't like God."
But this gospel isn’t just that there are crabby people in the world-it’s about what Christians deserve-and what we will get. We want to be God’s beloved. We want God’s favor. We want God to love us. Most. First. We have been faithful, we earned it. Instead, Jesus tells the story that even those who come late to the party will be loved. Just as much. This will be difficult. “What then will we have?"Peter asks
This isn’t a Christian thing-this is a human thing. If we work hard, if we work all day, we deserve our reward. But it’s more than that. We deserve more. That is the challenge building in the gospel. Jesus is struggling with the Jewish elite who kept people out, down, or at the back-because most did not measure up to them. As Jesus builds his church, the new Christians, like Peter, want to establish the same kind of order. From Alyce Mackenzie again: “On two recent occasions in Matthew the disciples have tried to keep people from bothering Jesus. These people were the Canaanite woman and a group of children (15:23, 19:13). Following the parable of the workers in the vineyard is a passage that highlights the disciples' continuing struggle with spiritual elitism. The arrogance and ambition of the disciples is voiced by James and John's mother as she negotiates for the corner offices for them in the kingdom of heaven (Mt. 20:20-28).”
The new church that Peter is supposed to be the rock for, is doing the same thing Jesus is fighting. ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?’
The problem with the story of the laborers in the vineyard isn’t unfairness. The problem isn’t the first will be last and the last first. The problem is that the last will be the same. That is not right. We should be at the front. We have worked hard, we have given our all. We deserve more.
David Lose puts it best: “Because this parable lays before each and all of us a choice as clear as can be. When we look at our lives, do we count our blessings or our misfortunes? Do we pay attention to the areas of plenty in our lives or what we perceive we lack? Do we live by gratitude or envy? Do we look to others in solidarity and compassion or see them only as competition? The killer thing about this choice is that it really is a choice as unavoidable as it is simple -- you just can't be grateful and envious at the same time. So which is it going to be?
So which is it going to be? I know which one it want it to be-I will be first, I deserve more- I am at the front. That’s what Peter thought. That’s what James and John’s mother wanted. That’s what Christians want. “What then will we have?" We will have what we choose-gratitude or envy. God has already given us the gift. It’s time for that inside voice to change. Amen.
27 Then Peter said in reply, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?’ 28Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold,* and will inherit eternal life. 30But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

God Can Change Things

Sermon-Proper 19A/ Pentecost +13
September 11, 2011

I’m going to talk about 9-11 in a moment, but first let me give you some background on today’s gospel-or as I like to say, show you that I actually do look some things up before I preach. This gospel parable is pretty straightforward. Peter wants to know how many times he has to forgive someone. Remember 2 chapters earlier Jesus said that Peter was the rock, on whom he would build his church. And believe it or not, Peter is trying to impress Jesus by asking this technical question. Jewish religion was very specific about this. Rabbinic teaching (according to Clayton Schmit) said this:: “to forgive, yes, but prudently. To forgive once is generous. To be let down by the same person and forgive a second time would be exemplary. To be fool enough to get hurt by the same individual a third time and to forgive even then: this is bordering on the obsessive.”
So Peter was trying to say to Jesus when does forgiveness stop and foolishness begin? Jesus then tells a story that we will be forgiven only as much as we forgive.
Jesus loves to use exaggeration, hyperbole is the technical term, in his parables. His story says that the king forgives the loan to his head slave of 1000 talents. A talent is 130 pounds of silver That is the equivalent of, and again, this is the technical amount, a GAZILLION dollars. The head slave turns around, and then punishes a lesser slave for not paying him a debt of a hundred denarii. 100 denarii is worth a days of work-or, a very little. The king hears about this gross injustice and takes the head slave, throws him in the dungeon and tortures him for being an unforgiving jerk. Jesus uses this parable to teach about understanding the connection between being forgiven, and forgiving.
Professor Alyce MacKenzie writes: “This parable is unique to Matthew. It is about forgiveness, but with a typical Matthew ending in which someone has to pay......All of the parables unique to Matthew, except for (a few brief) analogies ... end with someone's downfall... So the unforgiving servant in this parable ends up being tortured in a dungeon (18:34)....we have a picture here of a terribly harsh king who, inexplicably, takes pity on a servant who owes him a tremendous debt. And we have a picture of a person who has been shown tremendous mercy, inexplicably unwilling to extend it to someone else.”
In the gospel of Matthew forgiveness is a key ingredient to Jesus’ good news. It’s the fifth petition in the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” Forgiveness, Karl Jacobson writes, is “extravagant and precious” in the gospel of Matthew. “Forgiveness lies at the heart of our faith in God and our love of one another. Forgiveness, which we receive from God our King in the person of Jesus is what our King expects from his subjects in their dealings with each other.”
But you already know that, right? You know that the reason we have the confession in our liturgy every week is because we need to recognize that we have separated ourselves from God and from others, and we cannot be reconciled until we acknowledge and admit it. You all know that, right? We hear this parable and we’re supposed to see ourselves in the slave who owed much, and forgave little. We’re supposed to see that forgiveness changes us, it makes others lives AND our lives, better. But forgiveness is hard. You all know that already, too. We are familiar with Christian teaching about forgiveness. Forgiveness is about release of another’s sins, and the release of the person who is pardoning. But forgiveness is just one example of the Christian message. The important thing to remember is that no matter how bad, how terrible, how unforgiving, we are, life is-God can change things. The world was forlorn, God brought his son. The crucifixion led to the resurrection. God changes things. He redeems even the worst, even the saddest, even the most hopeless events in ways we cannot imagine. But he needs us to be willing to participate-and to see the possibility of this truth.
In each bulletin is a 4x6 card with a biography from the New York Times of someone who died on the planes or in the towers 10 years ago. These are heart wrenching snippets. Deb came home one day and here I am with this book open, crying. And she said, “you’ll never get all these biographies done, you’re a mess.” These are powerful and sad and sweet. Some are heroic. Some are tragic. Most of the people are incredibly average, normal folks. A high percentage of them were immigrants from other countries. And about one out of every nine of those who died were first responders-police, firefighters, emts.
They didn’t deserve to die like this. This was just sad, and evil. But we have an opportunity to help redeem their memory. We have an opening to be God’s agents today and bring healing into their loss. Redemption is offered in forgiveness, redemption is offered in healing. We can help their lives, their deaths become holy. This week, say a prayer for the person whose bio you hold in your hands. Pray that their family finds forgiveness and release from this trauma. Do an act of kindness in memory of this person this week-an act of charity or love. Read to a child, take a meal to someone who is shut in, call someone you have forgotten, and tell them how precious they are. Do these things not because you need to feel better-but in memory of the person whose name you are holding. Write what you do on the back of this card and bring it with you next week to church and put it up on the bulletin board. We will leave them up for a couple of weeks, so we can all be healed and inspired by these acts of remembrance.
How many times must we forgive someone who has sinned against us? Until we both the forgiver-and the forgiven-are set free. How long do we honor the people who died so savagely 10 years ago? Until we can look at these names, these bios with hope and thanksgiving. Today, again, we tell the Christian story-that no evil, no pain is ever final. Every sin, every shame can be pardoned. Today we don’t just remember pain and sorrow-we work with God to tell the Christian truth, every memory can be healed, forgiveness never ends, that hope never dies, and, that every life can be redeemed. Amen.

We Want Church To Be MORE!

Sermon-Proper 18A/ Pentecost +12
September 4, 2011
How many of you are really frustrated with congress, exasperated with their inability to get things done, discouraged by their stubbornness and ineffectiveness? You know what John Adams, our second president said? “one useless man is a shame, two [useless men] is a law firm, and three or more [useless men] is a congress." I listen to my share of political shows and I have heard many good ideas about how things ought to be changed so that we get on the right track. The problem is, I keep running into other people, like myself, who have different (I would say wrong) ideas about how things ought to be changed. And I guess that is what I have learned about our current political situation right now-it reflects us. No one has offered this as an explanation, but listening to today’s gospel gave me some insight-we have the kind of congress right now-that we deserve-conflicted, unproductive, angry, and uncivil. Because maybe that’s who we are. Maybe the government we have right now is in our image--conflicted, unproductive, angry, and uncivil.
Jesus had a tough road the last several chapters of Matthew-disciples disappointing, Pharisees judging, people arguing. And then we get to chapter 18. And Matthew portrays Jesus as essentially giving instructions about what his community, the church, should look like, be like. A lot of Biblical scholars think this section actually came from the teaching Jesus gave after the resurrection and was reinserted here. Regardless, Jesus begins talking to his disciples and explaining to them how they have to live together. It’s so easy to focus on the easy parts of this reading and skip the tough ones. If someone sins against you, you have to go and talk to them about it. Privately. Ever gone to someone and told them what they’ve done wrong? That’s the easy part. Ever been the toldee? How did you handle that? This is what we have to do if we want to live together. I’m afraid if people took this seriously that they had to tell me how I had sinned against them the line would be down the block. To be the church, Jesus tells his disciples, you have to be honest with one another. You have to be brave. And you have to be open and willing to listen. And it is not easy. Everyone always talks about living in community, being a pat of a larger family-how much we want that. But realistically, it is difficult living with people. What is going on in our government is a good example. The more scared we are, the more stubborn, the more accusatory, the more we blame, the more angry, the less we listen.
There is a mistranslation in today’s gospel-and it was done on purpose. Look at your bulletin. See where it says "If another member of the church…” and then a little farther it says, “you have regained that one” “member of the church” and “that one” What the Greek actually says is “If your BROTHER sins against you” and later “you have REGAINED your brother” Your brother. Does that feel a little different than “a member of the church”? The translators were trying to get the sense of inclusion in the words at the sacrifice of intimacy. If your brother sins against you-what do you do?

From time to time I will go up to someone, someone who is a pretty good person, and say to them, “you know what, I think you’re a pretty good person, and I’d like you to consider serving on the vestry-the board that runs Trinity.” And I can’t count how many times people have said to me over the centuries, something like this “oh no, I like Trinity, I don’t want to see the political/powerhungry/nasty/dark side of it by serving on the vestry.” We assume that if we know too much we won’t like what we see. Church, the Christian community, for most of us is an ideal, a model, and we’re afraid if know too much, see too much, our dream. Our model will be scarred and tainted.
Jesus said, “But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.” Don’t take people along so they can agree with you, or record the charges, take them with so they can explain to both of you what is being said. As Karl Jacobson, Assistant Professor of Religion, Augsburg College Minneapolis, MN writes: “Jesus is not instructing us to bring witnesses to testify against our "brother" who has sinned against us, but to testify to the exchange between brother and sister.” “If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church…” Jacobson again: “Jesus says, essentially, that being a member of the church means you have a responsibility. If your sheep gets lost you don't look for an hour and call it quits. You get out there and find that sheep.”
They were surveying ministers about their favorite and least favorite gospel stories-and guess what-this turned up very often as “least.” One of the primary reasons people leave a church is because there is conflict-and not just conflict-but nastiness. People are always telling me that they left a previous church because there was arguing, name calling, fighting-and there was only one option-losers had to leave. What a shame. We want more from a community dedicated to Jesus. We want a community where no one has to or wants to leave, where people are so committed to each other-and more importantly, to Christ, that even when one of them sins against their brother-they stay. Jesus tells his friends, “these are your brothers, work through it-be honest, be accountable, be brave, be open. This is your brother.” Jacobson one more time: “One of the things that plagues most Christian communities (and other communities no doubt) is the inability to handle confrontation, disagreement and our mutual accountability when it comes to sin. We simply don't know how to live together, fight together, and stay together.
It started last week when Jesus told Peter, on this rock I will build my church. Here it is. Here is what it’s about, here is where we go. The next few weeks, Jesus is going to tell his disciples how hard it is to be the church-the community that will live on after he is gone. He wants it to be a dream, too. He wants it to be a model for how people can live together, love together, and even fight together. He wants it to be unlike anything else we’ve ever done. He will never, ever tell his friends that it needs to be easy. He will not say that he will be in their midst when they agree.
Years ago I was on the board of an organization, and it was disintegrating in front of our eyes. Backbiting, yelling, accusing. There were threats, namecalling-people being fired. I would come home from the meetings and Deb would say, why don’t you just resign. And I figured I probably would. One evening, one of the members, a prominent businessman, said-“we can’t keep going like this-we have to come up with a different way of being a board. And he suggested that we spend the next 3 meetings coming up with solutions on how we could work together. It was painful and hard. But the first principle we came up with-you had to talk to the person you disagreed with-directly-in person. It was eye opening. Businesspeople following Matthew 18.
Listen to Jacobson one last time: “Notice that Jesus follows this with talk about the power of agreement, saying that anything that is agreed upon by two on earth will be done for them by the Father in heaven. This is a promise. But notice as well that this is not where Jesus ends. Jesus says last, "where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them." There is no question of agreement at this point. Jesus is present, really present, where two or three are gathered in the Divine Name, not just where two or three agree in Jesus' name, but where two are three are gathered; presumably this includes the two who cannot listen to each other about a matter of sin, and how to handle it. Even there, perhaps especially there, Christ Jesus is present.” Brothers-and sisters-don’t always get along. We don’t always agree. We frequently, painfully, sin against each other. We hurt each other-intentionally and unintentionally. And we respond badly way too often. But that doesn’t change our relationship. That doesn’t change the dream. Our goal is still to be a new community in Christ, something sacred, something holy. It just means that it will take a lot more of ourselves that we wanted to give.
From time to time, people who have been arguing will wind up at the altar rail receiving communion-side by side. I don’t know what they’re thinking or feeling when this happens-maybe they don’t even notice the person beside them. But when I see it I always think-this is what church is supposed to be.
Over the next few weeks we will hear through Matthew, Jesus teaching how this new community has to be, must be. He will handle the hard parts of being brothers and sisters in Christ. Today it’s about conflict and confrontation-two things we never want to deal with in church. But if we are to be brothers and sisters, if we are to live together as the ideal community-this is what we have to do. We fight, we confront, we go to one another, and we gather in Christ’s name. Amen.