Trinity Episcopal Church

Let's Go Anyway

2012-01-23T09:48:00.001-05:00

Sermon 3 Epiphany B-Jan. 22, 2012

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

Mark 1:14-20- Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God,and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen.And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”And immediately they left their nets and followed him.As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets.Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.
People are always asking me, “What’s your favorite gospel?” I usually say, “well, Luke has the best stories.” But I love the gospel of Mark. Mark was the first gospel written, it’s not nearly as polished as Luke, not even close to being as theological and clever as Matthew, and nowhere near as beautiful or poetic as John. Mark’s gospel is raw and rough, the shortest, and the most poorly constructed. In the gospel of Mark there is an word that is repeated 40 times that says more about Mark’s Jesus than anything else. The word is “immediately”. Mark uses it 40 times in 16 chapters to describe what’s going on. 40 times. What do you get from that? Twice in this morning’s story. There is an urgency in Mark’s Jesus that you never get in the other gospels. Jesus is on a mission, there is no doubt, and everyone who meets him is called to decision. “18And immediately they left their nets and followed him.” 20”Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.”
David Lose asks this question, “What would make you drop everything and pursue an entirely new life? A great job offer? A marriage proposal? The chance to make a huge difference in another part of the world?”
That’s what happens in Mark’s gospel-people see life as a decision, a choice, a chance to make a difference. In the Gospel of Mark people respond-dramatically, powerfully-sometimes even stupidly. But they lead with their faith.
Alyce Mackenzie tells the story about being a young assistant in a large church. And every Sunday the ministry team would line up in the narthex preparing to process in. Every week before the service she, the young assistant would look at the senior pastor who was looking around with a distracted air, and she would say to him, “Paul, it’s 10:55. Are you ready?” He sort of snapped to attention, looked at her and said, "No, but let's go in anyway."
That’s the Gospel of Mark. We may not be ready, but we go anyway. You’re going to hear the Gospel of Mark in the year to come. Listen for people being challenged to make a decision. Listen for people being pushed to make a choice. Listen for the word, “immediately”. And think about what you would make you drop everything and move? We always have a million reasons not to act, not to choose, not to decide, not to do anything. But, let’s go in anyway. Amen.

Look At My Face

2012-01-16T10:26:00.000-05:00

Sermon 2 Epiphany B-Jan. 15, 2012
O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
John 1:43-51The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth." Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" Nathanael asked him, "Where did you get to know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you." Nathanael replied, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" Jesus answered, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these." And he said to him, "Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

Last week we didn’t have a sermon at the 10:30 service because we heard the story of “The Other Wiseman”. But at the 8am I told a story about a book written a year ago. A year ago this month a part-time actress, Elise Ballard, published a book entitled, “Epiphany: True Stories of Sudden Insight to Inspire, Encourage and Transform”. Ballard went around and interviewed 50 well known people and asked them if they had ever had an epiphany, “a moment of great sudden revelation; an intuitive grasp of reality through something usually simple and striking; an illuminating discovery, realization or disclosure”.
Ballard discovered that everyone of them had had an epiphany-and easily remembered it. And afterwards every single person changed their life, they all went home by a different way as the magi did. There was one more thing she learned. “After people began to take action on their epiphanies, circumstances [in their lives] seemed to fall into place so that they could take the next steps.”
Every story that you will hear in Epiphany season in church will be about someone who encountered Jesus and went home by a different way, in other words, they went away changed, they became different people. When did you meet someone and become someone else? When was your epiphany? How were you different afterwards? Think about the wise men, the magi, astrologers from the east who follow a star-and leave precious gifts in a barn. They have their “sudden intuitive leap of understanding” and their lives are never the same.”
This is the 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, and today we hear a story from the Gospel of John about Jesus calling Philip, and Philip inviting Nathaniel: “Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth. Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."
Every time I hear the story of Philip inviting Nathaniel I think about an episode from the West Wing. Josh Lyman is a professional political operative. He goes around hiring out to whatever candidate will pay him. But he yearns for a chance to back someone who is a good person, someone who is better than the rest. Josh wants to work for someone who is worth his life. He goes to visit his old friend, Sam Seaborn. Sam says, “who are you working for now, Hoynes? He’s going to win the nomination isn’t he? “ Then he look at Josh and says, “is Hoynes the real deal?” Josh starts hemming and hawing, because he knows that Hoynes isn’t. So Josh tells Sam that he’s going on to New Hampshire to see a little known candidate, Jed Bartlett. Josh says to Sam “do you want me to come back and tell you if Bartlett is the real deal? And Sam says, “you won’t have to tell me, you have a terrible poker face.” In the next episode Sam, the lawyer, is in a multi-billion dollar conference with a client when Josh pounds on the window outside the conference. Same looks up, and all Josh does is this (points to his face which is smiling). That’s how Josh recruited Sam to work for this no name candidate running for president-he let him see his face and it was obvious that Bartlett was the real deal.
Philip says to Nathaniel, “come and see.” And he just as easily could have done this (pointed at his face and smiled). It means, I have found the one-this is the real deal.
One pastor I read about instead of preaching a sermon after reading this gospel had everyone in the congregation sit in small groups and talk about what kind of toothpaste they used. The week after that he had them talk about the car they drove, the next week the team they rooted for. And finally after several weeks of talking in small groups about their lives, he had them talk about their faith and what they thought of Jesus. The point is, he wanted to get them comfortable talking about what they thought, and how they felt about things in their lives before they got to the big one-talking about their faith.
Today we heard the shortest sermon in the gospels-“Come and see.” It’s the story of someone who had an epiphany, “a moment of great sudden revelation; an intuitive grasp of reality through something usually simple and striking; an illuminating discovery, realization or disclosure”.-and it’s the story of that epiphany changing their lives.
That’s our calling as Christians-to be so filled with conviction, and grace that all we have to say to someone is, “look at my face” and God will do the rest.

We All Have Epiphanies!

2012-01-09T12:20:00.000-05:00

Sermon-1 Epiphany B-Jan. 8, 2012

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

Every season of Advent and every season of Epiphany we hear the story of John the Baptist. I have preached on John over 60 times in my career, or you might say, you have had to listen to my sermons about John many many times. So, I thought rather than subject you to yet another sermon about John the Baptist I would try to give you, THE BIG PICTURE.
Epiphany is the season immediately following the 12 days of Christmas. The length of Epiphany varies, from 5 weeks to 9, and ends at Ash Wednesday. The word Epiphany means unveiling or revealing or manifestation. And we usually talk about it as a surprise, or as it’s defined: “a sudden intuitive leap of understanding, especially through an ordinary but striking occurrence” .There are four stories that are associated with the season of Epiphany-the first one is the coming of the magi, the wise men. We always hear that one on Jan. 6. The first Sunday (today) after the Epiphany we always hear the story of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus. When Jesus comes up out of the water we hear God say: ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” This is an epiphany, a sudden intuitive leap of understanding for all the people standing around him at the Jordan. The 3rd story that is associated with the season of Epiphany is Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana. We only hear this story once every 3 years but it’s only read I Epiphany. And the last story is always read on the last Sunday after Epiphany-it’s the story of the Transfiguration-Jesus on the mountaintop being transformed into a glowing figure.
All of the stories told in Epiphany every year have to do with Jesus being revealed as the Christ to people who weren’t expecting it, or prepared for it. Epiphany is the season of surprises, of revelations, of the unexpected. There is one phrase that I love that I always associate with Epiphany, and it gets lost so easily. But whenever I hear this expression it always makes me stop and think about my own life.
The magi were wandering, unsure where to go, uncertain what they were looking for. They had lots of distractions on their journey. And then they found a child, and they left the burdens that they had been carrying at the manger. And the story ends with this phrase, “and they went home by another way.” And every time I hear that story, those few words jump out at me- they went home by another way.
Because whenever I hear those words I think, “that’s what Epiphany is all about-an event, an experience that changes our direction, changes our life.” Think back for a moment. Think about people in your life who have touched you, changed you, redirected you. You were going along on your life, and then you met someone, and your life was never the same-because you were never the same.
A year ago this month a part-time actress, Elise Ballard, published a book entitled, “Epiphany: True Stories of Sudden Insight to Inspire, Encourage and Transform”. Ballard went around and interviewed 50 well known people and asked them if they had ever had an epiphany, “a moment of great sudden revelation; an intuitive grasp of reality through something usually simple and striking; an illuminating discovery, realization or disclosure”.
She discovered that everyone one of them had had an epiphany-and easily remembered it. And afterwards every single person changed their life, they all went home by a different way. There was one more thing she learned. “After people began to take action on their epiphanies, circumstances seemed to fall into place so that they could take the next steps.”
Every story that you will hear in Epiphany season in church will be about someone who encountered Jesus and went home by a different way, in other words, they went away changed, they became different people. When did you meet someone and become someone else? When was your epiphany? How were you different afterwards? Think about the wise men, the magi, astrologers from the east who follow a star-and leave precious gifts in a barn. They have their “sudden intuitive leap of understanding” and their lives are never the same.
This season of Epiphany listen for the next 6 weeks, especially as you hear the stories of all the people who are transformed as they meet Jesus. Listen as disciples are called, people are healed, lives are changed. Listen as we hear stories of how people have , a sudden intuitive leap of understanding. And as you hear these old familiar stories, begin thinking about the epiphanies in your own life-the ways you have been redirected, challenged, changed. This is a season when we watch ordinary people going through their lives-when they meet God-and they are never the same.
This is the Epiphany season, a time when people follow stars and dream dreams. It is a good time for us to think about our own journey, our own pilgrimage in life. Listen to the stories of this season and start to wonder, am I ready to go home by a different way?

When Is It Real?

2011-12-19T09:36:00.001-05:00

Sermon-4 Advent B-Dec. 18, 2011
O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
As most of you know, my mother passed away 12 days ago. I was in Texas this week. Constantly people kept coming up to me saying that I seemed to be taking her death very well (meaning that I wasn’t crying or breaking down). And I kept saying, “it’s because it isn’t real to me. ” I hadn’t seen her in 3 weeks, and it just didn’t feel as though she had left. So I went to every place that I had seen her the last year-to the bed in the nursing home, to the place in the dining hall where she ate, to the chair she sat in a lot when she read and worked her crossword puzzles. I kept trying to feel her passing by looking at the places where she had been. But every place I looked she still seemed to be there. She did not feel gone. A second thing that happened was that whenever I told someone that my mother had died, they immediately told me about a loss they had suffered. It was as if they wanted to say, “yes, I understand, this is real for me, too.”
I was thinking a lot about that this week, and thinking about today’s sermon. I began thinking about how hard it is for me, and I assume for others, to feel that something is “real”. It is not easy.
The first person ever to have a nativity scene was St. Francis of Assisi. You know why he did it? The first crèche? He did it to make the birth of Jesus feel more real for people. He wanted people to understand God coming into the world-he wanted them to believe it- “St. Francis of Assisi is credited with creating the first nativity scene[3][4] in 1223 at Greccio, Italy…..[6][7] Staged in a cave near Greccio, St. Francis' nativity scene was a living one[3] with humans and animals cast in the Biblical roles.[8] Pope Honorius III gave his blessing to the exhibit.[9] Such[exhibits] …. became hugely popular and spread throughout Christendom.[8] Within a hundred years every church in Italy was expected to have a nativity scene at Christmas.”
In a sense every sermon, every story has that as a goal-to make God real, to make God alive. It is not easy. We have made God so distant, so far away, so untouchable, that it is hard to ever believe that God is real, God is near, God is active, that God is still alive in our lives. At Christmas we try to convince everyone the unbelievable belief that God came as one of us. It can be hard for us to believe that God is real.
Novelist Ron Hansen writes: “Each day at noon the bell of Holy Angels Catholic Church slowly gonged, and if we schoolchildren weren’t at lunch or recess we were instructed to stand and recite “The Angelus.”
“The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary,” our teacher would say. Our memorized response was, “And she conceived of the Holy Ghost.” Which was followed by the prayer called the “Hail Mary.”
At the next gong, the teacher recited, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” And we said, “Be it done unto me according to thy word.”
Another “Hail Mary,” another gong, and then the final petition, “The Word was made flesh,” to which we added, “And dwelt amongst us.”
Some fifty years later I still recite “The Angelus” when I hear a church’s noontime bell, and that recitation is a regular reminder of the crucial importance of the announcement and acceptance in our gospel passage from Luke.”
Church bells as a way of seeing that God is real. When I read that story I thought of me looking at mom’s chair where she always sat. I told a woman on the plane that my mother had died and she immediately said, “I know what you’re feeling-my father died 12 years ago.” We use images, reminders, sounds, smells, and especially memories to help us understand and to know.
We use these ways to help us remember and to feel. We use these ways for us to believe that something is real.
Kate Huey writes in her weekly column: “And that brings us to how God is doing such wonderful and seemingly impossible things here in this story about Mary and an angel's astonishing announcement. We note that it isn't called "The Request," or "The Invitation," but "The Annunciation." And we suppose that God could have chosen to save the world, to fulfill God's promises of old all on God's own; after all, nothing is impossible with God. However, this humble but earth-shaking conversation tells us that God wants humanity to be part of the effort, even if it makes things much more complicated and even difficult (which it does): "God intends to draw Mary and all of us into what God is doing," Brian K. Peterson writes, "and God apparently is not willing to do this behind our backs or without our own participation" (New Proclamation 2008). And this is what, in some mysterious way, makes Mary's story our own, or at least it makes her story something we can understand much better.”
God uses a human, a young girl, a birth, a child, to show us, to teach us that he is real. God uses us to break into our world.
I’ve told you several times about a parishioner who was here when I first came (and has long since passed on). I would take him communion, and he would say to me, “ok, father, I’ll take communion, but I want you to know that I don’t believe in the Virgin Birth.” I’d ask him, “how about the Resurrect ion?” Not a problem, he’d say. “The feeding of the 5000?” “Oh yeah, I believe that”, he responded. “Then why,” I’d ask, “is the virgin birth such a problem?” “It goes against science!” he replied. I would say, “None of the story is scientific!” And he always responded, “yeah, but the virgin birth is just too much of a stretch!”
Maybe it is too much of a stretch, but it shows what lengths God will go to, to make us believe that his love, his presence is real.
Today we hear the story of God using Mary. It is a wonderful story, full of drama and charm-but is it real for you? When you hear it do you think, “what a cute little story!” Or does it have power ?
I think for something to be real for us it has to be part of us, in us, something w can see and touch and feel. It has to be part of our lives, too.
Barbara Brown Taylor quoting from the medieval mystic Meister Eckhart once wrote:
"We are all meant to be mothers of God. What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine Son takes place unceasingly but does not take place within myself? And, what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace if I am not also full of grace? What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to his Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and my culture? Then, then, is the fullness of time: When the Son of God is begotten in us." (Meister Eckhart, quoted by Barbara Brown Taylor in her sermon, "Mothers of God" in Gospel Medicine).
Today we hear the story of a young girl who said yes, “use me”, bless me with this terrible blessing. We have made it beautiful, and sweet and miraculous. But that is not what we need to do. For this story to be powerful and life changing for us, it must also be real. We have to see that God is still being born, still calling unlikely people, still asking if we are ready to be his servants. Is this story too much of a stretch for you? Or is it possible for God to be born in you, also? In other words, does this story feel real for you? Amen.

Lighten Up

2011-12-12T10:31:00.000-05:00

Sermon-3 Advent B-Dec. 11, 2011
O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
I think it’s because basically because I grew up unchurched that I am fascinated by church traditions. People who grow up immersed in church take all these things for granted-but every time I learn of an ancient ritual I always feel like, “wow-this was there all the time and I am just now finding out about it!!??
For instance, today is Gaudete Sunday. Usually by now someone has asked me “did you run out of purple candles and have to substitute a pink one?” A thousand years ago the season of Advent was almost as strict as Lent-with fasting and prayer. Because the season could be very exhausting, it was decided to give everyone a break. So on the 3rd Sunday of Advent every year, people , in a sense, were given a day off. Instead of the penitential color of purple, rose (or pink) was used. People were allowed, even encouraged, to feast and celebrate. The opening verse of the chanted Introit was “Gaudete in Domino semper” rejoice in the Lord, always…And so this is known as Gaudete or Rejoice Sunday (and in the Anglican church “Stir up” Sunday). We try to have our chicken soup dinner and fellowship on this day, and we light a rose colored candle as our way of taking a break in a dark season.
Everything in Advent is pointing away from the messengers-pointing ahead to the one who is coming. Listen, again, to this interaction from today’s Gospel:
1:19 This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"1:20 He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, "I am not the Messiah."(Anyone remember the tv show from the early ‘90s, Dinosaurs “not the mama”)1:21 And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the prophet?" He answered, "No."1:22 Then they said to him, "Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"
Who are you? What do you say about yourself? The people want to know who John is, why did he come-and John’s response is to deflect , turn aside, to redirect the answer. He’s like all those pictures of Sacajawea, the Native American woman who helped lead Lewis and Clark across the northwest-try to find a picture of her where Sacajawea isn’t pointing away from herself..
Nope, not me, John says -I’m not the one.(“Not the messiah”) “He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.”
This whole passage from John the gospel writer revolves around identity-who Jesus is, who we say he is-and who are we.
There’s a movie out: “Cowboys and Aliens”. In the movie a famous outlaw, a man who robbed, stole, and murdered is abducted by aliens and afterwards can’t remember who he was or what he ever did. Everyone keeps coming up telling him how evil and mean he was, however he can’t remember. Eventually he has to make a decision to either go back to what he was, or to become the person people need him to be.
The town preacher has faith in him. As the preacher is dying he saysto Lonergan, “the people need you to lead them, and Lonergan replies, “I’m not a leader, I don’t help people.The preacher’s last words to him, are these: "God doesn't care about who you were. He cares about who you are."
Advent is the season when we can turn around. We can stop worrying about who were we, and begin thinking about who we are going to be. Advent is the 4 week season when we can look ahead and point towards the light that we’re heading for. Advent is a short time just before the coming of the light, that we can reimagine who we are and who we want to be-regardless of our baggage. John the Baptist keeps saying in today’s reading-“I’m not the one-but I can show you who he is.”I’m not the messiah-but I can lead you to him.
There is a new documentary out called “Serving Life” (Oprah’s network showed it last summer). This is from a review of that documentary by Reverend Dr. James P. Wind “Serving Life takes viewers inside Louisiana's notorious Angola Prison. This maximum security prison has the reputation of confining within its walls "the worst of the worst"-rapists, kidnappers, and murderers. The average sentence for its inmates is more than 90 years. 85 percent of the people who enter the prison will never go anywhere else.
[We] are first to the prison and then to a group of inmates who have just volunteered to serve in the prison's hospice. … we get a view of prison life-and of human transformation-that is very rare.
The film follows the four new [prisoner hospice] volunteers into the difficult but strangely beautiful work of caring for the dying. …. what the [documentary] offered viewers was a close-up view of a powerful process of human and community formation, where people became more than they were before …Viewers confront the fact that under some circumstances, contract killers and drug dealers can surprise us with an unexpected grace and humanity. The prisoners in Angola have something to teach us about redemption and compassion. How many of us accompany the dying so well?
There are deeper treasures in the film, if one looks closely. The inmates play cards with and tell jokes to the hospice patients. They sing, read Scripture, and pray. They make quilts to keep the dying warm. They make funeral palls with open hands and butterflies embroidered upon them. They take four-hour shifts keeping vigil as patients near death. ….There they were with their worlds of difference working together in one community of compassion.
….." Somehow in the midst of the deepest human despair, hatred, and suffering imaginable, a group of dying patients and life-sentenced prisoners become a community of reciprocity, a congregation if you will, that teaches people to reach beyond their own needs and care for others.
….. Under certain circumstances, even the people we give up on can change and do amazing things. The most elemental human practices-caring for the dying, reading texts, keeping vigil, singing, feeding, bathing-can do so much more than we imagine. I was stunned to watch hardened criminals soften as the film unfolded. As they became a community of compassion, they began to talk about the terrible things they had done that led them to Angola, to take responsibility for their lives, and to seek to repair the worlds that they had made and dwelled in. ….. Sometimes we need to step away from all the familiar distractions that complicate our lives and our communities of faith and go to a strange place like Angola to get our bearings.
The hospice workers of Angola are not the light-but they bear witness to it. John the Baptist was not the messiah-but he led people to him. We are not the light, but our lives can point towards it.
This is Gaudete Sunday, Rejoice Sunday, Stir up Sunday. It is not Christmas, but it is a good day to “ begin to talk about the things we have done that lead us to where we are, to take responsibility for our lives, and to seek to repair the worlds that we have made and dwell in.” We aren’t the light-but we can be a reflection of it.
One preacher I was reading said, “this is the day we should tell everyone to “lighten up”.

Creating Space this Advent

2011-12-05T09:33:00.001-05:00

Sermon-2 Advent B-Dec. 4, 2011
O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
Mark 1:1-8The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,"See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,who will prepare your way;the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:'Prepare the way of the Lord,make his paths straight,'"John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

2 Peter 3:8-15a But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.

“In the Old Testament when a prophet sent a message to King Ahaziah of Israel, the king asked the messengers, "What sort of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things?" The messengers reported to the king, "A hairy man, with a leather belt around his waist." When king Ahaziah heard that description, he concluded immediately, "It’s[the prophet]- Elijah the Tishbite" (2 Kings 1:7-8).” That’s how a prophet was know in Israel-how they dressed, and what they said. Prophets spoke hard truths and lived severe lives. Needless to say, very few prophets lived til old age. They spoke unpopular words and made a living offending people-especially those in power. But a prophet was a truth teller, someone who told others what they needed to hear.

John the Baptist was considered one of the greatest of the prophets. In Advent and in Epiphany every year we hear his story. Mark the gospel writer starts off Jesus’ life, not with his birth, like Luke and Matthew, and not with a poem about creation (in the beginning) like John. Mark the 1st gospel writer begins Jesus’ story with John the Baptist, a prophet, telling the people of Israel what they needed to hear.
So, Jesus had a warm up man, someone to get the people ready-his cousin, John. John’s job was to wake people up, get them on high alert. His job was to open people up for the main act that was to come. John the Baptizer was supposed to tell people the truth, so that when the messiah came they would be ready to follow. Hold that thought.
Who is the dominant character leading up to Christmas for us? Who is in every commercial, on every child’s lips, the addressee for every letter at this time of the year? That’s right, Santa. Tuesday is the feast day for St. Nicholas. Santa is everywhere. One commentator I was reading wondered, “what if John the Baptist was Santa?” Instead of cookies and milk you would leave out locusts and honey. Children wouldn’t go up to show John their list of what they wanted for Christmas-they would kneel and confess their sins. In fact, John could care less what we wanted for Christmas, he’d tell us how to live different lives, and that it’s time to shape up. Advent is John’s season, but he doesn’t do a good job as a mall Santa. As one preacher Alyce MacKenzie) wrote: “John would make a poor Santa on a fire engine. Instead of throwing candy canes, he'd stand up and shout, "This year better be different! Going through the motions of …Christmas will not guarantee you joy, peace, or the perfect gift on Christmas Eve!"”

Pastor Sharron R. Blezard says that if she really wants her house cleaned, she throws a party. She knows the deadline of a party will make her work nonstop getting the house ready. Deadlines do that for us, as much as we hate them. They force us to get our house clean. Christmas is the deadline. This year, what are we going to do to get our hearts ready in time?
Over the years I have passed on lots of advice about what to do, how to act in Advent to get ready. Today I’m going to give you a little John the Baptist as you prepare for Christmas. As often happens I turn to Alyce MacKenzie who made what I thought was a great point about getting ready in Advent. This is what she wrote:
“When I first started out in ministry, I thought being a minister meant being so strong that I didn't need support from others. I was walling myself off from others, putting on a good face to my colleagues. A good friend of mine, also a pastor, saw through my game face and said to me, "Isn't it funny how sometimes what we think is our greatest strength is really our greatest weakness?" It was as if she had slapped my face. What do you mean by that? I asked her. "You already know," she said.
Proverbs 27:6 says, "Profuse are the kisses of an enemy, but well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts." [Alyce continues]
I once preached a sermon on that text and afterwards two men from the congregation came up to me. Gus and Roy were retired and had been friends and members of the church for years and years. Roy said, "Your sermon reminded us of a time a couple years ago when we were both in a Bible study on Jesus' teachings about not judging. Gus said to me privately after one session, 'Roy, you really need this verse, because you tend to see people's faults before you give them a chance to show their virtues.' That made me angry, but later I realized he was right. And I thanked him for it."
If you think I’m going to encourage you to be honest and truthful with a friend as you prepare your heart this Advent, you have misjudged John the Baptist. That would be hard to do, telling someone you care for a hard truth. But that doesn’t get our hearts ready. Rather, this is a good season to ask someone you really trust for a hard truth about yourself. Can you do that? Do you trust someone enough to let them tell you something difficult about yourself, something you need to change? I hear the voice in my own head saying, “Why would I do that? Why would I ask someone else to tell me something I don’t want to hear?” What you’re doing is asking someone to be John the Baptist for you. What you’re really doing is trying to get your heart ready for Christmas. Go up to someone you really trust, a good friend, someone you believe that not only is honest, but also will tell you the truth with kindness. Someone who will help you get your heart ready.
There’s a reason we start our Advent worship each week with the 10 commandments. I’m not trying to get you to feel worse about yourself-or more self-righteous. I’m trying to get you to begin examining your life and faith, to really get your spirit ready for Christmas.
How can we expect joy, if our lives are too busy, too full? Where would there be room in us if we are so consumed with all the stuff that goes on around Christmas? This Advent, we have a deadline. Clean your house. Go to someone you trust and ask them to tell you something you really need to know about yourself-a truth. Start clearing out some space inside of you. We have a word for this in Christianity and it really started with a character named John the Baptist. It was how he prepared people for Jesus. The word is “repentance” and it means turning one’s life around so that we can be more open to God. Amen.

Matching Resources to Faith

2011-10-10T09:25:00.001-04:00

Sermon-Proper 23A/ Pentecost +17
October 9, 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]

Over 2 years ago we hired the diocesan consultant on stewardship, Kristine Miller, to work with us on our goals and dreams. In an all day meeting about 30 members of Trinity identified 4 areas that were important to our future. We talked about how we wanted our resources to match our goals.
First and foremost were our youth. We agreed that our children and youth were one of our highest priorities, and we made a decision to invest more resources into making sure that they knew it. We significantly upgraded their space in the basement. We purchased furniture, painted, scrubbed, bought supplies, and we agreed that we would celebrate youth sabbaths twice each year. We wanted our youth to know that we were committed to them.
Second, we wanted to improve on our building and grounds. Morris, Virg, and Kraig have worked nonstop on our property the last 2 years. At one point a few weeks I said to Virg, “I can’t remember a time in the last 25 years that we have done so much improving our property,” and she replied, “well, it couldn’t wait!” Whether it’s painting, caulking, the Bell tower, the floors, the landscaping-you name it. The last 2 years we have been working very hard to get the building and grounds in the best condition they have ever been in. Carpets cleaned, floors polished, cracks healed, plumbing fixed-we are committed to maintaining and improving our property and keeping it in excellent condition.
A third priority was our communications. We wanted to upgrade our website, and begin using electronic communication a lot more. We hired a first class website designer and worked with him for a year. The communications team has been meeting throughout the last 2 years to continue expanding it. We’ve also begun weekly parish updates, e-mailing the Bell and now our quarterly statements. We’re not done yet. But ever since we identified communications as a priority we have been devoted to making sure that the parish knows what’s going on, and we know what your concerns and needs are. We’ve come a long way.
Finally, we wanted to develop and expand our Adult Christian education. We had been going in stops and starts for a long time in how we approached adult Christian formation. Over the last 3 years we have begun a long term weekly study program, Education for Ministry; we began a weekly program in between services-the Adult Forum; we have had 2 major programs-Spirituality and Personality and the History of Church Music; very well attended Lenten programs, a very popular 3 month Inquirers program last spring; and recently two small weekly short term study groups.
When we met over 2 years ago we wanted our money, time, and resources to match our goals and dreams. We agreed that we would invest in our priorities so that people could tell by looking at us what were our main concerns. We take great pride in what we have done the last 2 ½ years. We set the bar high and we have worked hard to reach it. Next February we will meet with Kristine again as we review what we have accomplished, and where we believe God is calling us to go next. Today we begin our stewardship pledge campaign. We wanted to begin by letting you know what we have been doing, how we have sought to keep the faith-with God and you-with our gifts.
Today we ask you to begin thinking about your life, your commitments. On October 30th we will ask you to turn in your pledge. And for 2012 we will be asking you to match your resources to your faith. Amen.

Love In Action Is A Harsh And Dreadful Thing

2011-10-04T10:31:00.000-04:00

Sermon-Proper 22A/ Pentecost +16
October 2, 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]
Professor of New Testament Sharon H. Ringe writes about today’s gospel: “When people in authority challenged Jesus, he often responded to their challenges with a parable. If those challenging him didn't get the first parable, he'd give them a second one. Today's Gospel lection is just such a second parable addressed to the challenge posed by the chief priests and elders about the source of Jesus' authority (21:23-27).”
Remember the question Jesus was asked last week by the chief priests and elders?, “by what authority do you do the things you do?”
So Jesus tells a story on the elders. And guess what, they don’t like it.
For centuries Christians used this story to justify anti-Semitism. “See, it’s the Jews who were the problem.” But we know better. Jesus didn’t tell stories about the Jews-Jesus was a Jew. Jesus told stories about people, and that’s what we have to hear when we listen to this story.
Ira Brent Driggers writes: “The parable serves to show how the temple leaders have been entrusted by God and how they have rebelled against God. It also prophesies their violent rejection of the Son. Jesus' opponents understand all of this. They get the parable, but they reject its truth. "Yes, we are God's tenants, but we are not those tenants; and you are certainly not God's Son."
“We are not those tenants.” If we really listen to Jesus’ teaching, we have to put ourselves in the story. What if this story was directed against you? How do you respond when someone accuses you, names you, calls you out? One thing I’ve learned over the years is how well I handle criticism-even when it’s not meant as criticism. It is so easy to hear judgement from others-painfully easy. We just cut them out of our will, turn our backs on them, and sprinkle salt on the ground where they are standing. “We are not those tenants.” Jesus became harsh when confronting the Jewish leaders because they had one goal-and that was to keep their power, and he knew it. He was frustrated and angry that the people who were supposed to lead others in holiness and love, instead were consumed by their desire to stay in power. Driggers again: “we should avoid standing comfortably behind Jesus and waving our accusatory fingers at his opponents. Instead we should put ourselves in their shoes and risk being confronted by what Jesus has to say.”
How am I like these leaders? How do I emulate the tenants in this story, believing that the whole world is mine-and no one dare take it from me? How is Jesus speaking to me in this parable? “Martin Luther once said that sometimes you have to squeeze a biblical passage until it leaks the gospel.”
One thing, it’s not the landowner who says that he will punish the wicked tenants. The chief priests say that. The landowner, God, keeps sending messengers. God keeps trying to turn the Jewish people-and especially their leaders-around. God doesn’t give up, God doesn’t quit. The sending of Jesus, God’s son, is the most dramatic example.
Secondly, Jesus doesn’t threaten punishment, pain, or death to the Jewish leaders. He simply says that “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.”
Does that sound, mean, nasty? Unkind? What if those same words were said to us? What if we also were told that the kingdom would be taken from us unless we started producing good fruit?
Have many of you have ever heard of Dostoevsky’s book The Brothers Karamazov? It is a wonderful book. There is a chapter in the book called, “A Lady of Little Faith”. A woman goes to the elderly priest, Fr. Zosima. She says that she has dreams of giving her life to help the poor. But she’s afraid they won’t be grateful. “Zosima-while remaining kind-delivers a scathing critique of charity, which is chiefly about controlling and defining the one who is in need. “I am sorry I can say nothing more consoling to you,” he concludes, “for love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams. Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in the sight of all. Men will even give their lives if only the ordeal does not last long but is soon over, with all looking on and applauding as though on the stage.” This is from a sermon by Laurel A. Dykstra, a scripture and justice educator. “Love is central to the readings from Romans and Philippians this month. But the lections from Matthew, in which Jesus and his companions approach Jerusalem, lean more toward the harsh and dreadful. They ask what love means in practical terms. How do we resolve conflicts in community? How do we love one another in a world of complex economic and social relationships? How do we deal with authority and power? How do we honor our families?
“love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams.”
“We are not those tenants” we say. We will bear good fruit. This is a difficult reading, and a challenging story. It seem so clear cut. Jesus wants to confront the authorities who are standing between him and his mission. He wants them to bear fruit. He chides them to do their job of loving God and leading the people. He bids them to love. They are afraid, they are defensive. They are angry. How am I like the wicked tenants in this story? Do I think that I have actually earned all that I have? Do I think that everything really is mine? Is my love more like a dream, or is it the harsh and dreadful kind of active love Jesus is advocating as he nears his death-a practical, long term, sacrificial love? Jesus meets head on the people who are standing in God’s way, and tells them a story. Instead of listening, instead of seeing, they plot, and conspire to get rid of him. “We are not those tenants” they say. So what kind of tenants are we?

Which Child Do I Want To Be?

2011-09-26T09:27:00.000-04:00

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?

2011-09-19T09:22:00.001-04:00

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

2011-09-12T10:37:00.000-04:00

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!

2011-09-06T09:30:00.001-04:00

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.

Who Do You Think I Am?

2011-08-22T10:59:00.001-04:00

Sermon-Proper 16A/ Pentecost +10
August 21, 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]
Matthew 16:13-20
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

In a recent movie comedy race car driver Ricky Bobby is saying grace with his family. This is how his blessing over the food goes:
Ricky Bobby: Dear Lord Baby Jesus, Dear tiny infant Jesus,
Carley Bobby (his wife): sweetie, Jesus, did grow up. You don’t always have to call him, baby [in all your graces]. It’s a bit odd and all putting the cradle and baby.
Ricky Bobby: I like the Christmas Jesus best, and I’m saying grace. When you’re saying grace you can say it to the grown up Jesus or the teen age Jesus or the bearded Jesus or whoever you want.
(his wife): Carley Bobby: You know what I want? I want you to do this grace good so that God will let us win tomorrow.
Ricky Bobby: Dear Tiny Jesus, golden fleece diapers, with your tiny little balled up fist
I like the baby version the best
Ricky’s best friend Cal Naughton, Jr. I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo t-shirt, ’cause it says like, “I want to be formal, but “I’m here to party, too”. ‘Cause I like to party, so I like my Jesus to party, too.
(his son Walker): I like to picture Jesus as a Ninja fighting off evil samurai
Ricky Bobby: Dear 8lb 6oz newborn infant Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, just a little infant, so cuddly, still all powerful, “boogety boogety amen (Pastor Joe Nelms)
Jesus as an all powerful infant, Jesus as the one who helps us win races, Jesus who likes to get down and party, Jesus as a ninja.
Who do you say that Jesus is? And does it really matter what you say?
As usual, First, some background. The town of Caesarea Philippi was built by Herod Philip just about the time Jesus was born in what is now called, the Golan Heights. It’s about 2000 feet above sea level and is much cooler in the summer, which is why Herod made it his summer home. It had a long history as a place of spirituality-the Greek god Pan had been worshipped there. The city is on the slopes of Mount Hermon, and there are many caves and sulfur springs nearby. Residents had long believed that these caves, because of the gases that came out of them, were the entrance to the underworld or Hades. Wayne Brouwer and Schuyler Rhodes write: “Over the centuries a variety of religious sects had used the place as a cultic shrine. They cut niches in the rock walls of the mountain just above the burbling caves and set up statues of gods they thought might be resident there. They even gave the place a spiritual name. They called it "The Gates of Hades."”
So now Jesus has returned back from the wrong side of the Sea of Galilee (last week’s gospel) and is back where he grew up. It has been a tough time in the last few chapters with many misperceptions and much confusion about he who is and what his purpose is. Finally Jesus asks the disciples, the band on people following him-Why are you doing this, why are you here, “Who do you think I am?”
In a sense Matthew the gospel writer has been building up to this. It is a powerful scene. Jesus is surrounded by this group of close friends that he has been traveling with for a couple of years, and has yelled at them several times as “men of little faith”. Now he asks them, like he might ask us, “you’ve been walking with me a long time, we’ve been through a lot, you’ve seen me, heard me, struggled with me, nearly drowned-who do you think I am?” Obviously they’re afraid of giving the wrong answer, so they sort of guess, “uh John the Baptist? Elijah? Jeremiah? And so Jesus puts their leader on the spot-ok, Simon, who do you think I am? And in this moment Peter doesn’t just give an answer-he gives an answer that will change his life forever. It’s one of those moments where the next words you say will change everything. And so Simon answers: “You are the Messiah”, the savior. And Jesus answers, “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” You are the rock, and the future of the world will depend on what you believe. Can you imagine what a difference Peter’s words meant for him? Because he gave the answer he did, his whole life was different. He would one day die, crucified upside down, because of these words. Statues and churches would be built in his honor, because of these words. He would become famous for thousands of years-because of these words. And during his lifetime he would be isolated, hated, and vilified-because of these words. Do you think this moment in the gospel of Matthew is important?
A million years ago they used to have weekend retreats every year for all the people who thought they might be called to ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church, called BACAM. Bishop’s Advisory Commission ____ Ministry. I was at one in Carbondale, Illinois in 1975/76. And they had this grizzled old man who had been a parish priest for 1000 years (younger than me) running our weekend. We spent 3 grueling days of interviews, tests, consultations, and examinations answering questions where everyone felt pretty stupid about our faith. When you talk about what you believe it always sounds so small, and inadequate. Finally, on the last night we got to interview HIM, the old priest. We sat around in a circle with a chance to pelt him with questions. He handled them all pretty well, and finally the last question was, “So, describe as clearly and as theologically completely as possible, Jesus-and your relationship?” We waited, expecting this long, dense, very sophisticated, nuanced answer. And finally he looks at us and says, “My Lord and my God.”
How often does your name change? How often do you change what you are called? The words we say every Sunday without thinking, the words that escape from our lips without thought or reflection, changed Peter, and changed the world: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
Think of the words that have changed your life: “Congratulations, you’ve graduated”, “you’re hired”, “it’s a boy”, “I do”, What if each time some short sentence was uttered you changed your name. That would make you remember those words, that moment, wouldn’t it? For centuries we have said that one’s last name was the family name, but your first name was your _______(Christian name) the one given you at baptism. Who do you say Jesus is? What if your answer would completely change your life, your future, the world?
David Lose, Marbury E. Anderson Biblical Preaching Chair Luther Seminary , wrote this: “Andy Andrews wrote a little book called The Butterfly Effect in which he catalogues the extraordinary impact of simple and courageous efforts. Except when you go back, you can never really tell which efforts made the biggest difference. So, for instance, should Norman Borlaug, who developed high yield, disease resistant corn and wheat be credited with saving two billion lives from famine, or should Henry Wallace, the one-term U.S. Vice-President, who created an office in New Mexico to develop hybrid seed for arid climates and hired Borlaug to run it. Or should we credit George Washington Carver, who took a young Henry Wallace for long walks and instilled in him his love of plants. Or should it be Moses and Susan Carver, who adopted the orphaned George as their son. Or should it be... Well, you get the idea. Andrews points out how inter-connected our actions are, creating an unforeseen butterfly effect that can ripple across time and space to affect the lives of millions.”
We think our words, our beliefs are relatively unimportant-or only important to us. But what if what we say, what we believe, what we say about what we believe changes our names, changes our future, costs us everything? Do you think Simon thought to himself, “man, the answer I give to this question will change my life forever?”
I have been telling you for several weeks of Jesus’ frustration with his followers, disappointment with the crowds, distress with those who didn’t understand who he was. And now someone does. Simon “gets” it. He has finally figured out who Jesus is-and that means that Simon’s will be forever changed.
Who do you say Jesus is? Whatever your answer, says as much about you-as it does about him. Does it matter what you say? Does it matter what you believe? If your answer doesn’t change you, doesn’t send you in a new direction, doesn’t become one of those moments that you remember forever-maybe you haven’t discovered the right answer yet. Maybe you’re not sure, maybe your Jesus is still a ninja or wearing a tuxedo t-shirt still.
Brouwer and Rhodes tell this story: “One of the college courses I often teach is called "Which Jesus?" In it I take my students through Jaroslav Pelikan's book Jesus through the Centuries (Yale, 1999) and the writings of the New Testament, and reflect on the variety of ways in which people think about Jesus. Each time I teach this course I ask my students to write a paper requiring that they talk with their parents about how Mom and Dad view Jesus. Invariably I get some papers still wet with tears from students who never before knew the Jesus of their parents' religious devotions. Too long they had passed by one another snickering at the religious folly of others while never having to face the question of Jesus' identity themselves. Only when this tender moment of forced query was ordered did the light of faith break through, and relations of mystery become bonds of grace.”
Who do you say Jesus is? Is your answer important enough to change your name? your identity? Would your answer be worth dying for? Or even more importantly, be worth living for? Who do you say he is, for you? Would your answer change your life?
Jarolsav Pelikan. Jesus Through The Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture.

What is 'Great Faith'?

2011-08-15T09:34:00.000-04:00

Sermon-9 Pentecost-Proper 15-August 14, 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]
Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28
Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, "Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles." Then the disciples approached and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?" He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit." But Peter said to him, "Explain this parable to us." Then he said, "Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile."
Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon." But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, "Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." He answered, "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed instantly.

I have been telling you throughout this summer that things aren’t going well for Jesus. He went to his home town and bombed in chapter 12. 58And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.” He had to resort to parables in chapter 13, because his disciples weren’t getting his teaching. Jesus learns that his cousin, John the Baptist, was beheaded by the king in chapter 14-and when he tried to get away to grieve, the people followed him. “Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself.” Last week he is walking on water and Peter, the leader of the band, sees storms instead of Jesus, and sinks. It’s been a tough time for Jesus in his ministry. But at least in today’s gospel it takes a turn for the worse.
I need you all to do something for me so you get a sense of what’s happening in today’s story. I have asked one person to be the Canaanite woman. She has one line, Lord, have mercy: Kyrie Eleison . And I need the rest of you to be the crowd. Here is your line, it’s one word, apolyson. “ἀπόλυσον". Let’s try it:
(1 finger)Kyrie Eleison
Whenever I put two fingers up you are supposed to say: Apolyson
Ok, louder two fingers
louder two fingers
louder! two fingers
Matthew the gospel writer wants us to get the alliteration here-how much Eleison and apolyson sound alike. “Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, "Have mercy on me” Eleison means, “have mercy”. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, "Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us." two fingers “Apolyson” means, “send her away”.
Jesus, has been having a hard time, a tough time in Galilee, so he goes across the Sea of Galilee to a gentile area-and what happens? The disciples say to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?" Jesus is being challenged, criticized, accused, judged wherever he goes, whatever he does. Perhaps the disciples are trying to be helpful, perhaps they’re warning him. But each chapter of Matthew reveals increasing pressure, increasing disapproval of Jesus and his message.
Ever been there?
One finger Eleison two fingers Apolyson
You are trying to please EVERYONE. You are working so hard, and it feels like every time you turn around someone is saying, “you forgot to do this!”. Or, “you didn’t do it right!” The harder you try, the greater your sense of frustration. Ever been there? I’ll bet if I give you a few seconds you can remember one of these moments pretty easily when you tried to do the right thing, the good thing, the decent thing and you were met with criticism and disapproval.
Jesus feeds 5000. Jesus walks on water. Jesus calms the storm. And what does he hear?
(1 finger) Eleison
And what else does he hear? (2 fingers) Apolyson
Kyrie Eleison Lord, have mercy. We use it a lot at the beginning of our service. Kyrie “Lord” Eleison, “have mercy”. The gospel says that the woman, the gentile woman, the desperate woman is pleading for her daughter, her poor, demon racked daughter. And she begs Jesus, Eleison.
And what do the disciples say, two fingers “Apolyson” “send her away”.
This is an embarrassing story for Christians, isn’t it? Jesus doesn’t look very Jesuslike in this gospel. First, he doesn’t respond to her at all. Then he tells her that he is on a mission, he has a goal, and that is to reach the JEWS. But she persists, and he finally calls her a “dog”. Not very “Jesus” of Jesus. Every week I try to think of a funny title for my sermons that will make someone seeing the title on the blog want to read it. This week I was going to call it, “What up, dawg?”
Jesus ignores her, tells her “I didn’t come here for you!” she’s not part of his purpose, then he insults her. And what does she say,(1 finger) “Eleison”
Ever been there where you have to humble yourself, to “crawl” for something? Ever been in that spot where you wanted something so badly, so desperately, you were willing to disgrace yourself to ask for it? Have you been in that spot that you had to give up your dignity for something, you had to swallow a big chunk of your pride-because something was so important to you? There is a great scene from the movie “Out of Africa.” Karen Blixen is a Danish baroness who lives in colonial Kenya in the early 1900s. By the end of the movie, she has lost her money, her husband, her lover, and her farm. She has utterly failed and must return in disgrace in poverty to Denmark. As a farewell to Africa she goes to a party given by the British ambassador. There is a very formal receiving line, and while standing there she asks the ambassador to save the tribe of people who worked for her, a group she has come to love. He gives her a perfunctory, “I’ll look into it.” At which point the baroness drops to her knees in front of him and everyone, and begins loudly, insistently begging him to help her friends, this tribe. Everyone is horrified by her lack of decorum, her breech of protocol. She has no dignity left, no pride. She has lost everything and wants only the mercy of the government for her friends. She is willing to suffer any shame to save these people. The first time I saw that movie and saw her begging for help I thought of this gospel story of the Canaanite woman beseeching for her daughter. It is a moment we have all been through, perhaps less dramatically. We know what it is to be on our knees giving up our pride for something, someone we love.
Jesus started with great excitement and joy in his ministry-preaching, healing, performing miracles. But as his journey continued it got harder and harder. His disciples, his closest group, frequently didn’t understand who he was, and what they were called to. Often they wanted more power or authority-for themselves. Five times in the gospel of Matthew Jesus chastises his disciples as people of “little faith”. Only once in Matthew does he describe someone as having great faith. It’s here. In this story, in this miracle-this woman-who was not even a Jew. Do you see what’s happening in Matthew’s gospel? Jesus is seeing humility as the key component in the response to his message. The initial enthusiasm to his good news is being replaced by misunderstanding, opposition, and hostility. But once in a while someone will step up who realizes that being forceful about someone else does not conflict with being humble about yourself. In a sense, Jesus is learning not just about this woman, he’s also learning about his ministry, his mission. He will not be a king as his followers want-he will be a servant. He will fight for others, but he must be willing to be humbled himself. Great faith requires great humility. Closeness to God, means willingness to give up one’s own dignity.
One more thing. Let’s see if you remember your word one more time, (2 fingers)Apolyson. Believe it or not that you have heard that word before. You heard it two weeks ago. Jesus was surrounded by 5000 people. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away (2 fingers apolyson) so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Apolyson
The disciples are good at sending people away. Especially those who are in need, especially those who are embarrassing. Jesus sees those who are hurting, and realizes that his whole purpose, his mission is to the dogs, the crumbgatherers, the anonymous gentile women with daughters who are possessed. His mission is to teach us about sacrifice of self. This morning’s gospel is about healing. But even more it’s about the true meaning of faith-it’s about humility, and openness, and fighting for others, and not ourselves. We hear two words in this gospel that sum it up-(2 fingers)apolyson-send her away or (3 fingers) Lord, have mercy. Today, Jesus has a woman, a foreigner, a crumbgatherer, a “dog” kneel before him. And she is not sent away. Today, there is no apolyson. Today there is only Eleison. Amen.

Stay In the Boat?

2011-08-08T09:59:00.001-04:00

Sermon-8 Pentecost-Proper 14-August 7, 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]
Matthew 8: 23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ 26And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. 27They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’

Matthew 14:22-33
Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking towards them on the lake. But when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid."Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came towards Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

So Deborah and I were talking about today’s gospel and she turned to me and said, “so why was Jesus walking on the water?” I read probably 20 commentaries and several sermons preparing for this sermon-and not one, NOT ONE, even addressed that. It’s such a logical question, and my wife, the theologian, hit it on the head. I don’t have an answer. I guess the only thing I can say is that he was left behind while the disciples went on ahead, and he was trying to catch up with them-it says that he was walking towards them when they saw him. Hmm.
There is an old African-American proverb, “You’re either headed for a storm, in a storm, or just got out of a storm”. Ever heard that one?
I think that’s how many of us mark our lives-by the crises we’ve had: the problems, illnesses, losses, the deaths. “oh yeah, I remember that year-grandpa died” or “I’ll never forget that summer-the crops failed, the dog died, and Bobby Joe threw something off the Tallahatchie bridge”. We see life as a series of storms, calamities. There’s a lot of folks that feel like they’re either headed for a storm, in a storm, or just got out of a storm.
You’re familiar with this morning’s story, don’t you? Jesus walking on the water? Peter trying to walk towards him? Be careful. This is chapter 14 in Matthew. Listen to the gospel from chapter 8: Matthew 8: 23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ 26And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. 27They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’
Sound familiar? Actually today’s gospel is a response to the earlier one in chapter 8-which is why you had to hear it. The first time Jesus calmed the storm, he was in the boat with the disciples. The winds rose, the waves grew, and the disciples believed they were going to die. And they said to Jesus, “Lord, save us”. 6 chapters later, Jesus was not in the boat-the winds rose, the waves grew, and this time the disciples thought they were seeing a ghost. And Peter cried out, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." And then he sinks.
When you hear this gospel there is almost always the same sermon. Mark G. Vitalis Hoffman started off his commentary on the gospel this way: “I've heard quite a few sermons on this text that basically come down to a commendation of Peter's faith for getting out of the boat and walking on the water. The problem, as it is usually put, is that he takes his eye off Jesus, and his faith falters, but Jesus is there to save him. So, the sermon concludes, be courageous, get out of the boat, but keep your focus on Jesus.”
I’ve preached that sermon a few times, so it was interesting to hear what Hoffman had to say. He points out that in both stories the disciples are trying to figure out “who Jesus is”. ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’ from chapter 8, and “"Truly you are the Son of God" in ch. 14. In other words, both stories are about Jesus’ identity-who he really is.
As important as that is, understanding who Jesus truly is, there’s an even more important point for me-and I think for us, in both these stories. For me the real story is what happens to the disciples. Both stories end up with Jesus in the boat-teaching his friends. Both stories have miracles of Jesus taming the sea. Both stories have Jesus and the 12 crossing the Sea of Galilee. Both stories are squeezed in between other miracles. Last week’s was the feeding of the 5000, next week will be the healing of a non Jew. Just like in chapter 8. Each time Jesus has great success in his ministry and then goes through the chaos and threat of the sea to end up in a foreign land casting out demons. The stories of Jesus on the Sea of Galilee are not just about Jesus’ power over nature. These stories are about who we are as followers. We, too, are on a journey in life. We, too, are often either headed for a storm, in a storm, or just getting out of a storm. We, too, are struggling-like the disciples-trying to recognize Jesus in the midst of all the craziness of our lives. We, too, are often in between crises in our lives, never seeing the connections.
Matthew describes these events in a certain pattern for a reason. He wants us to see and understand that the walk of faith goes in a certain direction-not from strength to strength, but from test to test. Sometimes the trial is not having enough-like last week. Sometimes the test is being plagued by evil and discouragement-like we will hear next week. I think the key in the stories about the storms on the sea is the boat. What does the boat mean? Who is in it with us? What is the boat in our journey in faith? Both gospel stories end with Jesus in the boat with his friends.
We’re not Jesus-walking on water. We’re not Jesus-stilling the waves, calming the wind. We’re the disciples-at times lost, scared, worried, uncertain-thrown about, battered, fighting to stay afloat. In these two stories this is where our eye needs to be, those are the people we need to watch in today’s gospel-the people in the boat. What is happening to them? Peter tries to get out of the boat and sinks-what does this tell you? In both stories Jesus has to come to the disciples and join them in their boat for them to be safe. In both stories great tests lie ahead, but first they have to make it through these trials.
There have been many movies over the years about people whose ship sinks and they are stranded in a small boat with little chance of being rescued. Some are sick, some are hurt. There’s not enough food or water. They are desperate. They have to decide who lives, who dies if some of the group is to survive. In a course I was in once, the professor gave this scenario to the class and said, “how would you decide, who lives, who dies?” So we wrestled and argued and finally came to a consensus about which ones were expendable. So we carefully explained to the professor our solution and then he asked us, “why was important for some to live? What if these last days were the best days of everyone’s life? What if the time in the lifeboat was what all these people were meant for?”
I think when Matthew wrote down these stories he wanted to make sure that his listeners were seeing themselves in these stories. He wanted us to realize that the boat was a symbol for our journey in faith. And he wanted us to make the connection that no matter what we are going through, when Jesus is in the boat with us, we will be ok. We’re either headed for a storm, in a storm, or just getting out of a storm. The key is, who we are while we’re in the boat, and who is in the boat with us. Amen.

Linda Fabian Pepe
the Sea of Galilee is about (13 miles wide, 8 miles long). But it’s surrounded by mountains- and it’s actually below sea level- so when a storm blows up the wind rushes down the mountains almost like a hurricane, and can cause waves up to 12 feet high. And worse, it happens quickly. The lake can be as smooth as glass, yet within half an hour it can look like a scene from The Perfect Storm.

Never Enough

2011-08-01T10:15:00.002-04:00

Sermon-7 Pentecost-Proper 13-July 31, 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]
Matthew 14:13-21
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves." Jesus said to them, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." They replied, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish." And he said, "Bring them here to me." Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Last January we had to put our little Pomeranian, Gracie, down. Debby came down with pneumonia in February. Our kids were going through a lot of problems. Then we had to put Ozzie, our beloved terrier, down in March. Then my mother was diagnosed with cancer in April. It was a tough spring. People, you, who knew about some of this, would try to not bother me with problems or issues. People kept e-mailing me saying, “I hate to bring this up right now but….” People knew we were going through a lot, and they were trying to protect us. But life kept getting in the way. On the day that Ozzie died, I had Helen Wilson’s funeral. I did premarital counseling the day my mother was diagnosed. The timing was terrible. Too many things happening personally to focus very well in terms of ministry. But that happens, right? I kept thinking, “man, where’s my head?, no concentration, not listening, unable to give people what they need. I just kept thinking, I wish I could compartmentalize better-keep personal stuff over here-church stuff over there, and not mush the two together. Life kept getting in the way. Hold on to that.
I don’t know if you picked this up from other sermons that I gave this summer, but Jesus is not doing well in this section of Matthew. It’s subtle, but it’s there. I told you a last week that Jesus began using parables because his teaching wasn’t effective. That’s why he resorted to parables. That’s chapter 12. In Chapter 13 it says that Jesus went to his home town and “57And they took offence at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house.’ 58And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.”
And then in chapter 14 Jesus learns that his cousin, the person who baptized him, has been put to death by beheading. That’s the lead up to today’s gospel. “Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself.” This had to be a tough time for Jesus-depressing, discouraging-he needed to get away, grieve, heal, be replenished. But instead-what happens? “…when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.” They needed him. The timing was terrible. Too many things happening personally to focus very well in terms of ministry. Too much going on in his life. Life was getting in the way.
Do you ever think of Jesus this way? Running on empty, tired, spent, needing a breather? As a rule, I don’t. I think Of Jesus as a man without any real human needs so when I run across an example of Jesus being human it brings me up short. In today’s story, he just doesn’t seem to have anything left to give. He’s drained, hurting, sad-in mourning. And then he’s faced with 5000 hungry people. All wanting-him.
If you’re a parent you’ve been there. If you work in a high stress job, you’ve been there. If you are alive and breathing-you’ve been there. We have al been in this spot-some more than others. People needing you and wanting you and calling for you, and all you want to do is run away and hide and not be needed for awhile? And then somebody finds you in your hiding place-and they need you! Now.
It’s growing dark, after a long day. The people gathered have no food. The disciples come to Jesus and say, “it’s getting late, you better send the people away so they can eat”. That’s their solution. People are hungry-send them away. And Jesus says, “bring me what you have”. But they don’t have enough. That’s what we’re supposed to get from this story. No one in this gospel story has enough of what they need, Jesus doesn’t have enough alone time; the people don’t have enough food; the disciples don’t have enough understanding. Everyone in this story is empty, everyone-Jesus, the people, the disciples, everyone is out of what they need. We’re supposed to see that.
Think about your life. Do you have enough? When is the last time that you thought to yourself, “my health is pretty good”? or “I have way too much empty time”? or “I have more than enough money”? or “my heart is way too full right now”? When is the last time you really felt like you hadenough of what was really important to you? Remember that great quote by J. Paul Getty, the billionaire? When asked how much money would be enough for him? He answered, “just a little bit more than I have.”
When is the last time you had enough?
Bring me what you have, (paraphrased) Jesus tells them. Bring me what you have. It doesn’t matter if it’s not enough. It doesn’t matter if it’s inadequate. It doesn’t matter if it’s insuficient. Jesus doesn’t yell at them when they show up with 5 loaves and 2 fish. “What , you expect me to feed 5000 people with THIS! Jesus says to his friends, “you feed them”. One sermon I was reading on this gospel was written from the disciples perspective and was entitled, “you want us to do what??!!!” This story is about how much everyone needed-and how little everyone had
Jesus takes the little that he is given, the little that he has, and he feeds them. He blesses what he has been given-and he gives it away. This is the only miracle story that’s in all 4 gospels, the feeding of the 5000 people out in the wilderness. Jesus takes the meager amount that he has, and blesses it-and gives it away. The meager amount of spirit, the scant amount of energy, the paltry amount of food, the insignificant amount of hope-and he blesses it-and gives it to the people who are hungry for it.
The nature of being human is this-we never ever believe that we have enough. We will always feel as though we need more, must have more, are way too short of what we require. The nature of being divine is that the little we have is plenty. “Bring me what you have” Jesus tells them, and it sufficed.
We can be so short of the things we want- time, heath, money, happiness, love. When we come to the altar rail no one is ever asked, “are you good enough?” “were you faithful enough this week?” “are you a good enough?”. Everyone who comes to the rail is given just enough to feel God’s touch, and know God’s love. It is never enough for us. We always want more. But some days it dawns on us- we have all that we need-and we ask God to bless all that we are. And it is enough. And as empty and inadequate and as hungry as we are-it is enough. “Bring me what you have.” There is a great story that I have told many times over the years about the Jewish people of Eastern Europe in the
Once to avert a terrible disaster, the Baal Shem Tov went into the forest, lit a candle and prayed a special prayer. With God’s help, the disaster was averted.
Years after his death, another disaster confronted the Jews and it fell to his disciple, the Maggid of Mezritch to avert the catastrophe. He said, “I don’t know the prayer the Baal Shem Tov used, but I know the place and I can light the candle.” So he went to the same place and lit the candle, and it was enough. With God’s help the disaster was averted.
After the Maggid passed from the earth another crisis awaited the Jewish people and it fell to his disciple, the Rabbi Shmelke of Nikolsberg to rescue the people. He said, “I do not know the prayer, and I do not have the candle, but I can go to the place and it must be enough.” And so he did, and with God’s help, it was enough.
After the death of Rabbi Smelke, Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sassov, his disciple was called upon to save his people from another calamity . He said, “Ah me! I do not know the prayer, I do not have the candle, and I do not even know where the forest is. But I do know the story. I will tell it and God will help.” And so it was enough.
We bring to God what we have. It is insufficient. We bring to God all that we know. It is inadequate. We bring to God who we are. And we still hunger. And yet God blesses us, and feeds us, and loves us-despite all of shortcomings, despite all of the ways that life gets in the way. And it is enough.

The Parable Of the First Lost Tooth

2011-07-26T09:48:00.001-04:00

Sermon-6 Pentecost-Proper 12-July 24, 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]
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."
He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
"Have you understood all this?" They answered, "Yes." And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old."
Our youngest granddaughter, Danielle lost her first tooth (it would be a nice thing if you asked her to show you). I was telling this to my mother and she told me the story of my losing my first tooth. When my tooth was ready to come out it wasn’t quite there, and it was hanging on by a thread. But I wouldn’t let anyone near it, or pull it (afraid it would hurt, I suppose). My mother said it was pretty disgusting kind of hanging out of my mouth. Everyone was telling her just to reach up and grab it, but she wouldn’t. She
decided to talk to me about it instead. So she asked if she could just touch the tooth, just to show me that it wouldn’t hurt. Then, she asked me to touch it. She kept talking to me, walking me through each step, until eventually I let her pull it out. My aunt was in the next room listening to all this, and later told my mom that she couldn’t get over and careful and patient my mother was with me-and how deeply I trusted her.
Jesus told stories, in today’s case, parables, because they stuck with people longer. We remember a story so much more than we ever recall any other kind of teaching. In today’s gospel, Jesus tells 5 short stories, 5 parables about what life is like with God, in God’s kingdom. Don’t be misled. Just because they’re short and simple, doesn’t mean that they’re easy, nor understandable at first blush.
"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. Many of you know this, a mustard plant is a weed. It’s not the smallest seed, and it doesn’t grow into a tree. Jesus is exaggerating to make a point. No farmer plants mustard seeds, they just grow and take over your garden, your fields-like kudzu. The people listening to this story would have expected Jesus to say that God’s kingdom would have been like the royal and stately cedar of Lebanon. Instead he uses the image of a pernicious weed to talk about what God’s world is like. This story would have surprised, maybe even shocked those hearing it. Listen carefully to each parable. In each of these stories there is a sense of mystery, of "hiddenness"-small seeds becoming huge bushes, buried treasure, yeast concealed in flour. In each of these parables there is a message of surprise and unexpectedness. We’ve heard these stories so often it’s difficult for us to hear how strange these stories were. The kingdom of God that Jesus was talking about was the extraordinary in the commonplace. But it was always unforeseen, always astonishing. The kingdom of God like a weed? These stories weren’t just surprising, they were a little offensive -insulting. Wait for it, you’ll hear it as we keep going.
“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened”. Do you have any idea how much 3 measures of flour is? Its over 50 pounds! Jesus describes a woman making enough bread for over 100 people. And she mixes in to this huge mixture of dough a small piece of yeast. And this is another part of these parables-there’s not just a hiddenness in each story, there’s also an explosion, an over abundance, too. The woman doesn’t just make bread, she makes way too much bread. In each of these parables there is exaggeration, abundance, enormous quantities-the biggest bush, the most bread, the greatest treasure. God’s kingdom is overflowing, spilling over, enormous. Every parable, every one of these short stories takes something small, commonplace, everyday and then Jesus describes God’s kingdom as a cornucopia of abundance. .
A man hides a treasure in someone else’s field. And then he sells all that he has to buy that field. God’s kingdom is mysterious, and hidden; it’s abundant and explosive; and then it demands sacrifice and single-mindedness. These aren’t nice teachings about how little things can become big, or how we should look for specialness in our lives. These are radical teachings about what God’s empire is like-the extraordinary in the ordinary, the unexpected breaking through the commonplace, the incredible abundance and profusion when little was expected. And how the kingdom is revealed to those who seek it. Like Jesus. These stories are deep and layered and they’re supposed to make us think and see and wonder and realize that in God’s world things are different. Small, hidden, abundant, demanding, requiring sacrifice. This is the kingdom Jesus describes as belonging to his father-thee aren’t nice little stories-these are subversive, insubordinate, nettling little stories that would have shocked and perhaps offended those hearing them.
We just spent several days with our friends Mark and Paula. On our last night there we were talking about the funny twists and turns our lives have taken-things we didn’t see coming, didn’t expect-among other things-our friendship. We met almost 30 years ago, kind of randomly. Paula said she just assumed we would go our separate ways and never see each other again. They certainly never expected that we would be lifelong friends-or for our friendship to last. We talked about how surprising our friendship has been-and how rich. And how hard it has been to stay together over 30 years, how much work it takes to be real friends. And I thought about the parables for today-about how subversive God is-how unexpected, how the kingdom hides and explodes and overwhelms, how God is constantly overturning what I think will happen and changes my life in powerful-but what seems like ordinary ways. And how hard I have to work, how many sacrifices I have to make, if those changes are to remain.
Jesus tells 5 simple stories about how unexpected God’s kingdom is, how surprising, how profuse and abundant-and what this kingdom demands of us. The word “parable” comes from the Greek “to throw alongside,”-it’s a story that is supposed to open our eyes to a new teaching-that is deep, and powerful, and revelatory. Alyce MacKenzie says this about parables: “A rule of thumb of parable interpretation is this: identify what is strange about the parable. It is your window into the kingdom of God” . So, what do you hear when you hear afresh the story of the mustard seed? What do you learn when you think about the pearl of great price? What layers are revealed when you see in your mind the story of the yeast in the great wad of dough? That’s what Jesus was trying to get the people to understand-that the Kingdom of God was different than what they expected-abundant, surprising, commonplace-and demanding.
And so, when my mother told me the story of losing my first tooth I began to think of an incredibly patient, caring young mother and fearful little boy. And I wondered to myself, “how is this like God’s kingdom?” And “what does this teach me about God?”
Alyce Mackenzie again: “So, four strange parables, the first two about what God is doing in offering the gift of the kingdom (mustard seed, leaven), the second two, about how we are to seek and accept that gift (treasure, pearl). They are followed by an allegorical parable (13:47-50) that serves as an exclamation point to all four of them. Its message seems to be: better recognize the gift and work at accepting it…” The kingdom of God is a story that makes us realize that God is working everywhere, all around us, surprisingly, abundantly, demandingly. Where do you see God’s kingdom in your own story?

One Wild And Precious Live

2011-07-11T09:38:00.001-04:00

Sermon-4 Pentecost-Proper 10-July 10, 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.
Listen, we are part of the Diocese of Michigan, 82 Episcopal Church in southeastern Michigan. And because that is rather a large number, the diocese is broken down into smaller “subgroupings” called “deaneries”. So we are one of the 11 churches of the Downriver Deanery. Many of the other churches (not all) of the deanery are small and because they are small, they sometimes feel as though they are failures –disappointments-losers. We had a deanery meeting last year and several of these small churches were angry, feeling defeated, and they said, “WE NEED A PROGRAM ON CHURCH GROWTH”. So, I said that I would do it-even though I know almost nothing about growing a church.
Pease keep in mind, at this meeting were two very active Trinity members, Virg Stoltz and Patti Gearns, who have witnessed some of my more “interesting” attempts over the years at evangelism. So I wrote out for this meeting 20 concrete things a church could do to grow. And each time that I made a suggestion on growth, I told a story where I had tried something-and how it had failed. I wanted these churches to know 2 things: every success was built on several ideas, GOOD ideas, that had borne no fruit-what we call FAILURES; and that you never stop trying to grow-no matter how many disappointments, failures, or defeats. People look at Trinity and they see a wonderful church full of enthusiasm, energy and the Holy Spirit. And so it is. They see a community of faith that seems to spin gold out of straw-but what they don’t always realize is how many times we fall, how often we struggle, how frequently we are frustrated with out defeats.
Chapter 13 in the gospel of Matthew is the first time that Jesus begins using parables as teaching tools. He has used sermons, healings, exorcisms. And now he begins using parables. It says that he is so popular he has to sit in a boat out on the water to speak to the crowds that are following him. And he uses this wonderful story that most of the people, this agricultural people, would have understood. He tells them that most of his words, most of his teachings, most of his message-will not bear fruit. People will hear Jesus-and will misunderstand. Or they will get excited-but then soon leave. Or folks will hear and believe, but then life will get in their way, and they will get distracted and promise to come back later when they have more time, more energy, more resources.
Every minister I know has a million examples of people who walk into their office, or show up one Sunday in church, or even talk to them in Meijer’s saying, “I really want to come to your church, I am ready to follow Jesus, I will be there from now on.” And then you never see them again. I’ve been in groups of clergy where someone will start off with, “I had a guy once who…” And then each clergy will top that story with one of their own about someone who was so excited, or so committed-only to disappear or fall away. It doesn’t just happen, it happens all the time. And Jesus, a practical man, a worldly teacher, understood this.
Jesus feeds 5000 with little bread, he heals scores, raise many from the dead, he is Hosannaed into Jerusalem-and how many are there at the Cross? Jesus knows what it is to be loved, followed and obeyed by the people-for awhile-and then to watch them wander away.
So I was at one of these clergy gatherings many years ago, when this parable came up for discussion. And everyone was telling their stories of people who were excited by the word, or made promises, or committed themselves-only to fall away. And a long time priest, turned to us and said, “have you never been this person?” And we, stopped our stories in embarrassment. Of course we had. All of us at one time or another had been one of these people-initially excited, or superficially committed, or way in over our heads. Each of us knew that there had been times when we had been each of these soils. And there was this great silence in the ministers. And finally the old priest said, “and yet God keeps throwing seed on us.” Almost everyone here sees ourselves as the good soil in this parable, the fruitful soil. I mean, we’re here right? But we have all been each of these. And, to a degree, we still are. Our natural tendency is to look at our life now and believe that we are there. We are the mature ones, we are the ones with deep character and solid foundations. WE are the people of faith and good soil. Right?
Anna Carter Florence writes: “Maybe this isn’t about us at all—what we do, or what we see, or what kind of soil we are. Maybe it’s about what God does and what God sees. Because I look around, and I see parts of the seed that fell into the good earth, and they are yielding fruit, they are coming up and growing, and they are bearing thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold, beyond what anyone ever expected. I see seeds that some in the church believed had no right to exist, yet they do, and they thrive! And I don’t think the point is to shame us into listening—they that have ears to hear, let them hear! I think the point is to shout about the good we see, and not care who hears it—they that have ears to hear, let them hear! This is not about what good soil we are, and how well we understand the divine mysteries. This is about what God is doing in staggering numbers.” And I would add-“in spite of us.”
You can look at this parable as an allegory about the church-which it is. And you can look at it as a story about each of us individually-how often we seem ready to follow, commit, pledge-only to look back years later and wonder why we were ever so enthusiastic. Thomas Merton writes in his book on this parable, “The Seeds of Contemplation”: “Every moment and every event of every person’s life on earth plants something in her or his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men and women. “
But what I like about this parable is that God is constantly wasting himself on us. God is throwing out endless seeds on us, planting, scattering, sowing, placing in us day after day his good news, his hope, his power. No matter what kind of soil we are. No matter how often we fail. No matter how small, how immature, how childish. God keeps planting the gospel in us. When we are there and when we think we’re there.
Two last quotes that I found very powerful about this parable: Thomas Long writes: "Therefore, the church is called to 'waste itself,' to throw grace around like there is no tomorrow, precisely because there is a tomorrow, and it belongs to God" (Matthew, The Westminster Bible Companion). And Kate Huey adds “To whom does your "tomorrow" belong?”
Listen, David Lose a teacher of preachers, says that this is a mosaic that is hanging on a house in his neighborhood that says: "Tell me what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life.” David Lose
God wastes his love on us, because there is a chance that someday we will have a small piece of good soil and that good news will grow and flourish and thrive. Until then, God will keep throwing seeds at us, until our one wild and precious life bears fruit 30, and 60, and 100fold. Amen

You Didn't Do Everything

2011-07-05T09:50:00.000-04:00

Sermon-3 Pentecost-Proper 9-July 3, 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.
Ask people their favorite Bible verses and on most folks short list will be: 11:28 "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
John Stott, The famous preacher and chaplain to the Queen tells the story of going to “South Georgia [Island], eight hundred miles east of the Falkland Islands. [They] landed at Grytyiken, which is an old abandoned Norwegian whaling station, the place where Ernest Shackleton, the famous Antarctic explorer, is buried. Here behind the disused and rusty buildings is a lovely little Lutheran church that has recently been restored. When I approached it, it was surrounded by elephant seals and king penguins. What do you think I found on the east wall of this lovely church inscribed in Norwegian? "Come unto me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest."
Go to the ends of the earth and you will hear these verses.
On any given Sunday, you have to figure that a fair number of people sitting in a congregation, you all, are carrying heavy burdens, and tired of a heavy soul. And then we hear this gospel, it is a comfort and a strength. Life can be overwhelming. The losses, failures, and fears -they can add up, and they can hold us down. I remember talking to a woman once who had just gone through a whole boatload of pain, and she angrily asked me, “where is God? How come my life isn’t better!”
I remember sitting in the hospital once and it was about the 10th day of an 18 day stay and I told Deborah that I felt like I was just barely hanging on. There are times like that. Kids, jobs, finances, money, health, family, pain-life.
For this passage to make more sense to you, you have to know something more. It’s the 11th chapter of Matthew and according to Matthew the gospel writer, Jesus has just experienced the first real rejections in his ministry. As Kate Huey writes Jesus had been :”healing the sick, raising the dead, and bringing good news to the poor. And [several] cities, we know from the edited verses (11:20-24), closed their hearts and minds to him.” Jesus is being rebuffed by the people he came to save. He came to set people free-and they didn’t want him-or his message. And then follows this wonderful passage of encouragement and hope. "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
28Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke [is] easy, and my burden is light.

David Holwerda in The Lectionary Commentary “ tells us that a yoke "both restrains and enables. It is simultaneously a burden and a possibility. The question confronting humanity is, whose yoke or what yoke does one put on? No one lives without a yoke… the demands of this yoke are to love God above all and one's neighbor as oneself. Love is a gentle yoke, not burdensome or wearying, but light, easy, pleasant…. one thing more is necessary: to learn from Jesus himself how to walk the ancient paths that lead to the peace and rest of the kingdom of God and to inheriting the earth" (The Lectionary Commentary). Does love of God, and love of neighbor, feel like a "gentle yoke" to you?" or as Kate Huey (again) says, "Everyone gives their heart to something; be sure that what you give your heart to is worthy of it."
It is not easy for us to accept this blessing. We are a people who throw off yokes and demand choices, options, freedom. What are we going to celebrate tomorrow but Independence Day! It was not easy for the people of 1st century Israel to embrace the yoke of Jesus. It is not easy for us. Accepting the yoke of faith can be overwhelming to a people raised on independence and self-reliance. This morning, Jesus talks to us, you and I, right after he has been pushed away, rejected, “dissed” in the towns of Israel. And he says, “come to me, all of you, and I will help you with life, with pain, with hope.” It was not easy for the people of Israel to hear or accept. It is not any easier for us. Some here this morning are feeling overwhelmed, burdened, tired of the battle. God knows. Listen to this.
The Rev. Dr. Amy Richter tells this story of when she was a young parish priest: she was already late for the meeting. Rushing past the sexton who was putting the recycling out, she had her own arms full as she tried to get the back door of the church open. Juggling her lunch bag, laptop bag, and pocketbook, she tried to pull the door open. She knew that in the humidity the door would often stick, but this time, it just wouldn’t budge. Not wanting to set anything down, she just pulled as hard as she could, hoping the door would open and she could still make it in time. No such luck. She gave up and noticed the sexton was watching.
“Did you pull as hard as you could?” he asked. “Yes, I gave it everything I’ve got.” The sexton smiled and said, “No, you didn’t. You didn’t ask me to help you.” He walked over, took her bags off her shoulder and said, “Now try it.” The door came open on the first try.
Give it everything you’ve got. Then, when you realize that that will never open all of life’s doors for you, ask for help.
"Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
"Everyone gives their heart to something; be sure that what you give your heart to is worthy of it."

What's Your Name For God?

2011-06-20T10:10:00.000-04:00

Sermon-Trinity Sunday- June 19, 2011
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
How do you describe yourself? Have you ever been at one of those workshops or programs where you had to stand up and say something about yourself, or say 3 things about yourself, or something like that? In some way you had to explain who you were in a short about of time. And no matter how you did it, you sat down thinking, “man, did I sound dumb, or shallow, or weird” and you feel like everyone is slowly trying to move away from you?
Think about it, think of 3 things that you would say about yourself that would best describe who you are. Do you think of yourself by what you do-a woodworker, a teacher, a secretary-or by who you are-a wife, a dad, a person with a disability? How do you think of yourself-by what you do, or who you are?
Today is Trinity Sunday. And no, it is not a Sunday we named for our church. It has been the name for this Sunday for about 900 years. In Judaism they never ever said the word God. It was forbidden. I’ll never forget I was a resident assistant at a dorm in college and David Bamberger not only wouldn’t say the word, he wouldn’t write it. He would put G dash d. 3000 years ago Jews thought of God as distant, transcendent, powerful-and often angry. They thought of God as the power in the first reading- a God who could fashion a universe and make all creation good. This was a God of power! Over time they began to see this also as a God of justice. But it was not a God they could feel close to, a God of warmth or intimacy.
Then Jesus came along. And he was so different. He did something radical. His disciples came to him and said, “John the Baptist’s disciples know all these great long, powerful prayers-why don’t you teach us prayers like John.” And so he gave his followers a prayer. And the most important thing in the prayer he taught them was this, “Our Father”. Only the word he used wasn’t “father”, it was much more intimate, much more familiar-the closest thing we have to the Hebrew word is “Papa”. Jesus told his followers to call God “abba”. It was a radical thing to do. This was a people, this was a religion that saw God so far away they couldn’t even say God’s name-and here was this holy man, Jesus, telling them to call God. “papa”. It was scandalous, it was revolutionary. And it was very hard for Jews to think of God in this way. But this man that they followed told them to think of a God that was closer than even their skin. Finally they got their heads around the idea that perhaps God was fully in Jesus, and Jesus was fully in God-and then Jesus left. And even though he was gone, they still felt him with them. These people, these followers, these disciples wanted to somehow describe all of these new feelings, these new experiences, these new understandings. But they had never thought about God in this way. Talk about “thinking outside the box”-it was as if they were told there was no box! And they kept working and trying to explain who God was and how God was coming into their lives.
They struggled, they stumbled, they fought with each other. For the first 400 years of this new stumbling church they kept trying to understand and make sense out of their experience. In the 4th century they finally settled on the language that was used in the New Testament. God was a creator, far away, powerful, but distant, yes, -and this understanding of God they decided to call “Father”-because that’s what Jesus called God. But they were convinced that Jesus was God, also. But how to explain him? And finally the only word that could explain Jesus’ intimacy, his relationship with God was as a “Son”. And so that is what they called him. And then there was the feeling, the sensation that God was near, active, working, helping, lifting, strengthening STILL. And so to this experience they used the word “Spirit”. These were the names they used for God, these were the words they used to describe something that was more than they could describe. Words aren’t enough. Nothing is adequate, nothing is enough. Which is why the Jews would not say God’s name-they were afraid that it was trying to contain something that was beyond them. You’ve heard the old joke-the little boy is in Sunday School, very seriously drawing a picture. And the teacher asks him what he’s drawing and he said, “I’m drawing a picture of God.” And the teacher spluttered and stammered and finally said, “but Timmy, nobody knows what God looks like.” And he looked up and said, “they will when I’m finished.”
Rev. Rob Gieselmann writes: “The point of Christianity has never been to figure God out by reading and learning, but to experience God. The pertinent question is the same question it always was: how do we find God? Where do we find the love and acceptance and redemption?”
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the traditional way to talk about something that we cannot describe. Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer is another way. Transcendent, immanent, active is another. What word do you use for God? When you pray, how do you begin? How do you address God? Is your God or relationship, like a loving parent? A God of action, like a rescuer? A healer, a friend? How do you talk to God? Someone said to me yesterday, “How come I pray more when I’m driving than any other time?” We are constantly looking at our experience and unafraid to call God different names. As they look at their experience. Rev. Rob Gieselmann again “What is attractive about this redemptive approach is its freshness and flexibility. Like the ancients, people of this generation want to use words that more accurately describe their experience of God. People are trying desperately to understand God. People want to know God.”
Trinity Sunday is the day we devote to thinking about who God is in our lives-how we describe God, how we talk to God, what names we have for God. What is God? Jesus changed the question to “Who is God for us?”
Reverend Brother Tobias Stanislas Haller writes, “The primary difference between Trinity Sunday and the rest of the year is that on this day we focus on God's being rather than on God's doing; on who God is rather than on what God has done. On this day we turn from the "sacred story" to the sacred itself….God is Trinity: above us, and in us, and working through us.
How do you describe God? What word do you use for God when you pray? A relationship word? Or do you talk to God as one who acts? How we address God says a lot about our relationship with God. “God our helper,” “Lord” “Father God” . The New Zealand Book of Common Prayer has a Maori Lord’s Prayer that begins this way:
“Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain bearer, Life-giver, Source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven”…Much of the time I begin my prayers: “Jesus, our companion on the way…”
Trinity Sunday is the one Sunday every year that we stop for a moment and think to ourselves, “who is my God? What is my God like? How do I know and experience this God?” It’s good that we do this every year and that we are freed up to use a lot of other words besides Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to describe our experience with God. Take just a moment today, in the midst of busy, hectic, questioning lives and think about who God is to you. It’s Trinity Sunday. On this day we remember that God is beyond us, God is in us, and God is working through us. Amen.

I Will Not Leave You Orphaned

2011-06-10T10:22:00.000-04:00

Sermon-6 Easter May 29, 2011
Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)
Grant to me, O Lord, an eloquence most gentle and wise, that for your good gifts I may not be puffed up and extolled above my brothers. Place in my mouth, I ask You, through your Holy Spirit, words of consolation, edification, and exhortation, that I may encourage the good to better things, and by word and example bring back to the threshold of your righteousness those who walk apart from You. May the words which You give to your servant be as keen darts and as burning arrows to penetrate the minds of those that hear, and inflame them with fear and love of You. Amen.
Do you ever think about your “farewell speech”, you know, your last words? Here are some famous ones: Humphrey Bogart said "I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis." Oscar Wilde said "Either this wallpaper goes, or I do!" When she woke briefly during her last illness and found all her family around her bedside. Lady Nancy Astor asked ," Am I dying or is this my birthday?"

Do you ever think about what you want to say to those closest to you, with your last breath? A million years ago I was sitting with a family waiting for their elderly, and cantankerous grandfather to pass. The large Italian family was sitting around the bed in silence, crying, grieving. Grandpa had been asleep or unconscious most of the day, and the hospital was giving him palliative) care, with painkillers. A nurse came into the room, lifted up the covers, and gave him a shot of morphine in his hip. He turned over, eyes wide open, looked at the startled nurse and said, “WHY THE BLANK DID YOU DO THAT?” The family broke into a great release of laughter, and a few days later after he had passed, at the funeral everyone was quoting grandpa’s last words.
Wellington Burt was in the news this week. He died 92 years ago, and in the early 1900s he was ranked as the 8th richest man in America. He was a former mayor of E. Saginaw and a state senator. But what he is remembered most for was the “spite clause” in his last will and testament. He got mad at his 7 children and put into his will that neither his children nor his grandchildren would ever receive anything from his sizable estate. Instead the will specified that everyone would have to wait 21 years after his children and grandchildren were dead before his fortune could go to any descendants. His last grandchild died in May of 1989 and last week May 2011his great grandchildren were to receive 100 million dollars. He is remembered as a vindictive, bitter old man. That was his real last will.
The season of Easter is 50 days, 7 Sundays long. The first 3 weeks of Easter every year we hear stories of Jesus’ Resurrection appearances. On the 4th Sunday of Easter every year we celebrate Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Then a shift begins every year on the fifth Sunday as we get close to the Day of Pentecost. We begin to hear verses from the Gospel of John from Jesus’ last supper-his last words. Deacon Dick told you about that last week. Today is the 6th Sunday of Easter-and this is what Jesus says to his closest friends at his farewell dinner- “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, …You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you."I will not leave you orphaned;”
Jesus, at that last dinner, knows he will not be able to stay with his friends. He knows that his end is near. But he doesn’t just want to say good bye, and say something memorable. He wants a part of himself to stay with them forever. He wants his last will and testament to be something greater than just “good bye”. He wants them to know that his power is going to be coming to them, strengthening them, inspiring them, convicting them-long after he is gone: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.”
Alyce MacKenzie, a preacher I seem to quote a lot tells this story:”I once heard a motivational speaker turned preacher describe why he gave up his lucrative career on the lecture circuit in favor of being a preacher and pastor. He answered‘I realized that, in my motivational speeches, I was telling people to turn up their thermostats and turn up their thermostats and turn up their thermostats. And then one day I realized that I had no furnace. [so he became a pastor]‘Jesus' …address in John 14-16 has a furnace.’”
Jesus is sending his power. To them. It will be like he is with them.
Jesus is telling his friends with his last words that someone is coming that will be with them forever. And they will never be alone-"I will not leave you orphaned…” The problem with these words, like lots of last words-is that his friends, the disciples, didn’t understand them. And they seem pretty hard for us, too.
Kate Huey writes: “But they aren't just pretty words. Jesus backs up his claims with a promise to send the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, to be with these disciples, and with all of us today, two thousand years later. Burridge says that "the word 'Paraclete' means 'someone called alongside' to help or assist," and this helper is our "advocate…Counselor and Intercessor…Comforter." But he draws on the original meaning of the word "to comfort," which is to give strength or courage. Thus the Paraclete is our counselor, advocate, intercessor, comforter, strengthener – an all around helper"
Jesus says, “I will not leave you orphaned”-He will be giving us himself in a way that will never go away. When we are encouraged, strengthened, comforted-Jesus is there. That is what he tells his friends. When we most feel alone, orphaned, abandoned-Jesus is there. Jesus doesn’t say, “I will announce myself, leave clues, spread small hints that it’s me-but it is.” The Spirit is God invisible, powerful, lifting us, helping us, with us-that is what Jesus is promising at his last dinner.
The Rev. Dr. Barbara K. Lundblad has this great quote: "The reason mountain climbers are tied together is to keep the sane ones from going home." Whoever said that was playing with us a bit, for we know mountain climbers are tied together to keep from getting lost or going over a cliff. But there's another piece of truth here. When things get tough up on the mountain, when fear sets in, many a climber is tempted to say, "This is crazy! I'm going home." Jesus promises that he will not leave us orphaned-he will be tied to us on the mountain, and will never let us go. Most days we never realize that there is a Spirit, a breath, moving through our lives. I don’t. I will be lifted up, strengthened, encouraged, someone will stand alongside me and I will just think-“boy, is that nice”. Never wondering where it is coming from, how I am being held. Alice Walker wrote a famous book many years ago called, The Color Purple.
Shug is describing the wonders of God’s creation, and the lengths to which God will go to try and get us to pay attention to it. "I think it really [makes God mad] pisses God off, when you walk by the color purple in a field, and don’t even notice," she says.
The Spirit is always painting the world purple, trying to get our attention, hoping that we will realize that we are not orphans. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever.”
This is week 6 in Easter Season, 2 more weeks to go til Pentecost. This coming Thursday we remember that Jesus ascended into heaven, never to be seen again. But he did not leave us alone. We are not orphans. Unlike people who want to control those they leave behind, or want just the right ext line, Jesus gave away himself. Jesus’ last commandment which runs throughout his final sermon was, “love others, as I have loved you.” Today we hear that we are always and everywhere surrounded with the color purple. Amen.

What's Next

2011-06-06T09:44:00.000-04:00

Sermon-7 Easter June 5, 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 Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Acts 1:6-14
So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you.

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

John 17:1-11
After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

"I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one."
This is known as Ascension Sunday. 40 days after Easter, the Risen Jesus took his friends out to the mount called Olivet. And while they were standing there he said good bye and rose into the clouds. It is recorded that this happened on a Thursday, which makes this the Sunday after Ascension.
It is also the Sunday that we honor all those who have graduated in the past year-whether it’s from high school, college , graduate school, or a specialty program.
So what do Ascension Sunday and Graduation Sunday have in common?
Years ago I was watching a series of university commencement talks and they had one of the graduates give a short speech. He said something like this-he had spent his whole life in school-and now he was finished-and he had NO IDEA what he would do next. He didn’t have a job. He had no prospects. His parents said no more money. And he suddenly realized that even though he had a college degree he had no skills that anyone wanted. Basically he ended his speech by saying that it was a great day and he better enjoy it, because his future looked pretty uncertain.
The disciples were devastated when Jesus died. Then he rose on Ester and their spirits soared. And then he left them, AGAIN, and they were left staring up into heaven. They were on a roller coaster-they had Jesus, they lost Jesus, they had Jesus back, they lost him again. They were now all alone again-and their future seemed pretty uncertain.
Graduation is about accomplishment, it’s the moment when we celebrate hard work and sacrifice and acknowledge that someone has achieved a goal they set out for. Ascension tide, as this 10 day season is known, is about Jesus fulfilling his purpose by returning to his Father.
Graduation is a time of transition, when one thing is finished, and the future is wide open to possibility and potential. Ascension is about Jesus leaving, and the world is now wide open to Jesus’ 12 friends going out in power and enthusiasm to tell the world.
Graduation and Ascension are about change. Which also means they are about fear. They are both about ending and beginning. And they are also both about good-byes.
Sometime during my senior year in college, I realized that the history degree I was working towards, was an ending-not a beginning. And I started wondering, “what’s next?” My senior year at seminary, with no church in sight, I started wondering, “what’s next?” Today, education is much much more career and job oriented and focused than it was 40 years ago-but at every point in our lives after our goals are met we always wonder, “what’s next?”
The disciples never expected Jesus’ returning to the Father. They never expected Jesus to be raised from the dead. They never expected Jesus in the first place. But God kept surprising them. I understand why they stood there looking up into heaven-they never expected so many things, and yet, as Jesus disappeared from their view, I’ll bet you anything that there were 2 words running through their brains-“what’s next?”
God had even more surprises, more opportunities, more bombshells ahead for them-but there was no way they could see them. On Ascension Thursday all they knew was that Jesus had gone back to the Father-and they were left on Mount Olivet. Alone.
It is always scary when we accomplish our goals. The day we have been working so hard for, for so long, finally arrives-and we stop and begin wondering what happens after that. For the disciples, they returned to Jerusalem, to the upper room-and began praying. Unsure of what to do next-they simply waited and prayed.
[We celebrate our graduates today, and we honor them-for all that they have achieved, all they have sacrificed, all they have done to accomplish this important goal. Today while everyone is asking you, “what’s next?”, we just want to tell you that what you have done is wonderful –and we are very proud of you. We may not gaze at you in awe as the disciples did, but we and very thankful and we hold you up in honor. ]
Elizabeth Achtemeier well known preacher and editor writes: “To be faithful messengers of that good news, however, we must learn to wait, as the apostles and disciples waited. Not jumping immediately into the task of each day, not running around in the busyness …. but first praying - praying for God's empowering Spirit that can enable us to be obedient and to do his will and to accomplish the purposes for which he has called us. We do not own the Holy Spirit. For each task given us as disciples, we must ask anew for God's guidance and empowerment. “
For those who are graduating, and for those who are simply living in the season in which Jesus leaves, the advice is the same to the question that keeps running through our head, “what’s next?”-we simply say, “let’s wait and pray. Amen.

What's The Point?

2011-05-16T09:54:00.003-04:00

Sermon-4 Easter May 15, 2011
John 10:1-10

[Jesus said:] "Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers." Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

So again Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

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
Stick with me on this one, it’s going to take a while to develop. I don’t get to the point til near the end.
First, some history. Every year on the 4th Sunday of Easter we have what is known as “Good Shepherd Sunday”. For some reason the church decided that every year a part of the 10th chapter of the gospel of John would be read. It’s in this chapter that Jesus says he is the Good Shepherd. Every year we read a different one third of this chapter and Jesus explains this self image. We always read the 23rd psalm on this Sunday-the 4th Sunday of Easter. The image on this Sunday is not just of a shepherd, but of sheep, a place where sheep are kept (the sheepfold), a gate, strangers, thieves and bandits. Lots if images for a short reading. And we even have John the gospel writer tell us, “Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.” It’s not always clear what Jesus is trying to say. In this reading from chapter 10 Jesus says, “I am the Gate.” You all know many of the “I am” phrases Jesus uses-“I am the bread of Life, I am the light of the world, I am the way, the truth, and the life”-but very few people get this one-“I am the gate”! But I can shed a little light on it. The shepherd in Israel would bring the sheep into the enclosure, the sheepfold, at night, and then the shepherd would lay down in front of the opening, like a human gate-so that danger could not come in, and sheep could not go out. Jesus says, “I am the gate” I am the shepherd who lies down to protect the sheep.
Ok, all of that is interesting-but it’s not my point.
There is a program on PBS called Frontline. They do some pretty interesting in depth stories. They did a series two years ago called “The Persuaders”. The Persuaders was about modern advertising. The program said that starting in the 1990s, brands stopped talking about whiter, brighter, bigger and instead advertisers began to invest in “pseudo spiritual marketing.” Khaki pants were sold without ever referring to pants. You just saw a bunch of guys talking and being cool. Nike was about” achieving transcendence through sports.” Starbucks wasn’t a coffee shop-they were a place where you could go and be part of a community. Starbucks said, we want to be your “3rd place”-not home, not work-just a place where you could go and just “be”-with other people. Do you remember all the ads about the colors of Benetton? They always showed a million colors-they were selling multiculturalism, diversity. Each brand was trying to connect with people emotionally-and spiritually. Every company had to have a “big idea” behind their brand-not just a product. One advertising guy said that his job now is to create a whole “meaning system for people through which they get identity and understanding of the world.” Advertisers began looking at different groups and why they are so devoted to something. They discovered that people join a cult or buy a product-for exactly the same reason-they want to belong, and they want to have a meaningful life. They want to figure out what the world is all about and they want the company of others as they go on that journey of discovery.
The narrator at one point said this, “that "emotional branding" seeks to fill the empty places that non commercial institutions like schools and churches might have once done the job…brands become an invitation to a longed for lifestyle”
Advertisers are” fulfilling the needs that we have for community and a life story and belonging to something bigger than just ourselves” At the end of the day-a running shoe, a cup of coffee, a box of cereal, laundry detergent-even a car- doesn’t give your life meaning-they’re just things. That’s what one advertiser said-the only thing a person could do, he believed, was simply to keep going out to buy more-hoping that they would feel a connection to other people-and find a purpose in their life. But, he said, these “things” don’t make our life abundant-no matter much they promise, no matter how many we buy.
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are written so that you may come to believe* that Jesus is the Messiah,* the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
That’s how the Gospel of John ends in chapter 20. That through believing we may have life. 42 times in this Gospel the word “life” is used. 5 times in the 10th chapter of John alone. Do you think John the gospel writer thinks that Jesus is life? Do you think that it’s important? “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
Do you think Jesus wants us to live? John 1.4: in him was life,* and the life was the light of all people. John 3.16:‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life., ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Over and over throughout this gospel Jesus offers all who listen a new way, the way of life. It begins with believing in him-and it ends in eternal life. It is both in this existence, AND in the next one. It is a spiritual life that takes us into a new way. It is often difficult, sometimes it is sad, it requires a great deal of trust, it will find resistance and there are a lot of people out there who will see it and try to offer us a knock off version of it-thus the thieves and robbers. But they are not true, and we will stay hungry for the “true life” until we find Jesus..John 8.12:”Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’”
This is from a sermon by Sr. Joan Delaplane many years ago: "The glory of God, is the person fully alive," said Irenaeus. We've seen what that looked like for Jesus! What would it look like for each of us at this time? Would it mean that we could finally let go of our anger and refusal to forgive a past hurt or betrayal? Would it mean less fear of the new and different? Would it mean less clinging to what other people think about us, less grasping and clutching for things in our search for happiness and peace? Instead, would we be able to pray confidently Psalm 23: "Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long."
We have the gift of life today to take time to look at our lives and our priorities in the face of eternity. Jesus has come that we might have life, and have it to the full and it is in doing just that—living fully—that God is glorified by each moment of our existence. In the words of John Henry Newman: "Fear not that your life will come to an end, but rather that it shall never have a beginning."
Here’s the point of my sermon. Jesus came so that we might live. And live abundantly, fully, completely. Jesus came that we might not just exist, but that we would flourish and thrive. Jesus came so that we might live lives of intensity and faith, hope and power. Jesus came and offered a life that would be so attractive, so wonderful that every other kind of life would look like theft of the real thing. Here’s the point-Jesus came so that we might live abundantly. He was made , he came, he taught, he healed, he suffered, he died, he rose, all so we could live. “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. ”Our purpose in faith-is to live –and to say to the world-this is what real life looks like. Here’s the point , Jesus wants us to live incredible, amazing, wonderful, exciting, intense, full and abundant lives. And that’s the point. Amen.

Why Is This Here?

2011-05-03T09:41:00.001-04:00

Sermon-2 Easter May 1, 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. John 20:19-31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

I ask you this all the time, why do you think John, the gospel writer, kept in the story about Thomas? It doesn’t really flatter Thomas, does it? Was this some kind of payback by John? Was John settling a score by portraying Thomas as unbelieving, difficult to convince, hard hearted? Think about it, Thomas looks bad in today’s story-why would John essentially end his book with a story about someone who had so much trouble with their faith? Does it strike you as, I don’t know, a little odd? Why end a book about Jesus with a story that has gone down in history with an example of uncertainty and skepticism? Doesn’t it make you kind of wonder? Why end the gospel, the good news about Jesus, this way?
I was in my mid 20s, and I went in to see the Bishop of Chicago, Jim Montgomery. He was a legend in the diocese as a man of great holiness and piety. So I go in to ask his permission to begin the process of ordination. And he gives me the “bishop talk” about the priesthood. And finally I interrupt him, and say, “Bishop, I’m worried. What if the Standing Committee asks me if I’m 100% sure that I’m called to be a priest-I don’t know that I am.” And he looked stunned, and a little embarrassed. “Well,” he said,” you shouldn’t lie, but none of us is ever 100 % sure of anything.” I couldn’t believe it. Even Bishop Montgomery wasn’t sure???
I told you last week that the resurrection story hung by a thread. First Mary Magdalene, then Peter and John. So much of our faith rested on such fragile people, people of great frailty, doing the right thing. If you listened closely you heard it again in today’s reading. The story begins on Easter day, AFTER the disciples have seen the risen Lord-and what are they doing? They’re still hiding behind locked doors. They are still afraid. This is the day of the Resurrection. Look at these guys. “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews,” It’s EASTER SUNDAY-the day we celebrate with joy. Why does John record this? The disciples aren’t filled with joy, they’re full of fear.
Years ago, I had a fellow in my first church by the name of Harry. Harry was a great guy and wanted desperately to serve God and the church. So he went off to retreat weekend for all those who wanted to be deacons. At the retreat the leader, a very important diocesan person, told all the participants that unless they had truly experienced a vision Jesus in a powerful and real way-like Paul the apostle, that they weren’t really called. Harry went back to his dorm room, packed his bags and went home. His faith wasn’t good enough-he had never experienced Jesus in right way.
We don’t just question our faith-we question everything in our lives-our relationships, our truths, our selves. Constantly. Think about it, even though you have some things in your life you are absolutely sure of-have you ever questioned them, wondered about them, second guessed them? Was there ever a moment when you were unsure, conflicted, even about the things you were sure of?
“But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."
Mary told Peter and John. Jesus appeared to 11 of the 12 and they told Thomas. And still Thomas refused to believe. Why? Because he hadn’t seen him? Because it was impossible that someone rises from the dead? Because Thomas didn’t trust his fellow disciples? Why was Thomas so unsure?
I think John the gospel writer includes these last difficult stories because they are supposed to represent us, you and I. We believe John was writing this gospel 60 years after the resurrection. Hardly anyone was still alive who had seen the risen Lord. So how did people come to faith? How were people supposed to believe after Jesus stopped appearing? That’s what I think John is trying to address-that’s why I think he wrote this gospel-how are people who don’t see the Risen Lord supposed to have faith. And Thomas, more than anyone else in his gospel, is supposed to be you and I.
David Lose writes in Working Preacher: “Little wonder that John follows this scene with his own two-sentence purpose statement: "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:30-31). In other words, what happens to Thomas is exactly what John hopes will happen to each of us when we read his story.”
I Think Thomas refuses to believe not because he needs proof, which is usually how he is portrayed, but because he is afraid of being wrong. I think he is afraid of getting his hopes up. I think Thomas is afraid of not being 100% sure. I think Thomas is like us-he’s afraid. And yet the last thing Thomas says in the gospel of John has become the greatest confession of the church, My Lord and My God!
Thomas did everything he could to question, challenge, and test the experience-but in the end, it wasn’t settled for him, in his soul-until he made a decision. Until Thomas made a choice, the resurrection wasn’t real. And finally, ultimately, Thomas had to choose-was Jesus being raised worth his life, or not.
As I keep saying, I think it’s what everyone of us is confronted with-we make a choice, we make a decision-regardless of how much, or how little, proof or evidence that we have. Do we believe God raised Jesus from the dead? Do we believe that Jesus was the messiah? Do we believe God came to rescue us? Do we think God has power over death? Do we think love is the greatest force in the universe? I don’t think, finally, it’s about proof-as Thomas finally realizes at the end of this gospel. I think it’s a matter of commitment. What are we willing to stake our lives on? Thomas has an overwhelming experience-and decides, finally, that he will choose Jesus. It was painful for him. It was, in many ways, excruciating. But when John ends his gospel, there is only one thing left for Thomas to do, one decision that he feels he can make. He never does touch the risen Lord. Never does all the things that he says he requires for proof. At the end, all Thomas can do is face his own life and make a decision. And he does. “My Lord and my God.” And John the gospel writer tells us, we are all left with that same choice-not, are we afraid of being wrong, but are we afraid of making a decision. You decide.

A Pretty Fragile Way To Start A Religion

2011-04-25T09:50:00.000-04:00

Sermon-Easter morning April 24, 2011
(Based on the words of J. Gresham Machen, “Prophets False and True,” in God Transcendent (Edinburgh, 1982), page 125).
God, save me from the sin of paring down the gospel to suit the pride of men.
God grant that I may deliver your message straight and full and plain, that, whatever else I may sacrifice, I will have one thing— the favor of my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Do you know how your parents met? My father turned into a coffee shop one day and started flirting with the young girl who was the new waitress. When you find out how, quixotic, how chancy it was that got you here, you start thinking, wow, my life started in a very fragile way. A Serbian terrorist shot a minor Austro-Hungarian archduke in Sarajevo, Bosnia, in 1914, and that started a cascade of events that led to World War I. By the end of that War 4 years after that assassination sixteen million people died.
Mary Magdalene goes to a tomb where they have buried her friend, Jesus. What if she had slept in? What if she was too grief stricken to go? When she arrives, she sees the tomb is empty and decides to go and tell Jesus’ followers. Peter and John return to the tomb and find the clothes neatly folded ( this is to prove that grave robbers didn’t take the body) and the gospel says, (20:10) “Then the disciples returned to their homes.” What if the story ended there? What if Peter and John looked inside the tomb and thought, “hmm, that’s strange, Jesus is gone, let’s go back and have lunch”? Mary stays at the tomb, grieving. Two angels appear, and then Jesus. She doesn’t even recognize him at first! Until he speaks her name she thinks he is the gardener. As Barbara Brown Taylor writes: “The resurrection is the one and only event in Jesus’ life that was entirely between him and God. There were no witnesses whatsoever. No one on earth can say what happened inside that tomb, because no one was there. They all arrived after the fact. Two of them saw clothes. One of them saw angels. Most of them saw nothing at all.”(The Christian Century 1998)
But Mary is transformed-and she goes to tell the eleven disciples. And they go to tell the world. Bishop and Biblical Scholar N. T. Wright says that the greatest proof of the resurrection is that 11 scared little men who seem afraid of their own shadow suddenly overnight are willing to die for what they have experienced-and to die bravely. Does it strike you as fragile and frail how all of this is?
What if Mary the mother of Jesus had said “no” to the angel 30 years earlier? Theangel comes to Mary. This young woman and tells he that God has a wonderful plan for her life, and she simply responds, “”it’s not a good day for me, maybe next year?”
What if Mary Magdalene hadn’t gone to the tomb that morning? What if she overslept, what if in her grief she gave up, gave in, gave out? What if….What if… Does it strike you how thin, how fragile all of this was as the beginning of a world religion? What if Mary, thought to herself;”you know, Peter and John didn’t always treat me with a lot of respect as a woman and follower, I think I will keep all this to myself?”
It all depended on one person being changed-who then goes and tells another person who is changed-and another- …Life, especially life changing, life altering, life transforming events always seem fragile and thin when we look back at them. They always seem simple and uncomplicated. They appear so fragile, so tenuous, so feeble. You think this is thin? Ask your parents, the people who started YOUR life, the people who gave you life how they met.
Christianity, faith in Jesus has always depended, relied on, trusted in one person being transformed by the resurrection-and then their reaching out to another. Think about it. All of Christianity, all of Easter, all of God’s great power, may depend on what happens in your life-and who you tell. Does that feel like an awesome responsibility? Does that feel a little heavy? Burdensome? The thing is, when Mary Magdalene goes to tell Peter she isn’t thinking, “why did Jesus have to choose me? Why does it all depend on me? Why does all the responsibility for carrying this news fall on me” All she was thinking was, “my life is changed, and I have to let people know”. It wasn’t a burden for her, she didn’t act saddled with a terrible duty-for Mary learning that Jesus was raised was an amazing joy; she wasn’t weighed down-she was set free; she wasn’t overwhelmed, she was lifted up. Mary experienced a shift in the universe, a transformation for her life and the lives of the whole world, and all she could think was-I HAVE TO LET PEOPLE KNOW!
What if this same news depends on us? What if the whole world depends on us? All of Christianity, all of Easter, all of God, all of life may just depend on whether we let someone else know what has happened? Is there freedom in your faith? Is there joy in your life? Is there hope is you? Someone I think a lot of recently said to me, “how do I bring someone I love to Christ?” I told them, “just be loving, faithful, and full of hope and they will want to come all by themselves”-we are in a hungry world, carrying around platefuls of food. Let someone know what the resurrection means in your life. Is there joy in the resurrection, let someone know. Is there hope in this good news? Let someone know. Think of yourself as Mary Magdalene, and the whole world is counting on you. I know this seems pretty fragile, pretty thin, pretty powerless as a way of changing the world. But if the Resurrection shows us anything, it’s that one person being lifted up, one person being changed, one person being filled so full of God-will be enough. Hallelujah, he is risen, indeed.
Amen.

We Stand Tonight

2011-04-25T09:48:00.000-04:00

Sermon-Easter Eve- April 23, 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 Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Everything about tonight is supposed to be primal, visceral, powerful. We light a fire, we march into a shadowy church carrying candles, following a torch. We sit in neardarkness and listen to ancient stories, the stories from the Old Testament preparing people for Jesus.

For the last several months I have been reading a guy by the name of Bernard Cornwell who writes novels about 9th centuryEnglish history-The Saxon Tales, he calls them. His main character is Uhtred of Bebbanburg. Over and over again in these stories Uhtred stresses that you are only as good as your oaths. If you swear allegiance to someone, that is more important than your life-people throughout these books are often identified as either oathbreakers-or oathkeepers.
And so after hearing the ancient stories from the Bible, we stand up and renew our Baptismal covenant-which is our way of repledging our oath to God-that was made at our baptisms.
Then, we listen to the Resurrection story-for the first time in a year. The story on Easter Eve is always of earthquakes and lightning, guards who are scared to death, and tombs that are emptied out. It is Easter Eve and everything tonight is supposed to be raw and gritty and powerful. We’re supposed to be shaken by the earthquake, and shaking from seeing angels. Twice in 6 verses these words are uttered, “Do not be afraid…” That’s the whole point, we’re supposed to be afraid! The world is shifting, there is a new reality. The dead come to life, and the living look like the dead. Women are portrayed as the brave ones in this story, and throughout people are running, rushing, hurrying-either trying to get away or being sent on death defying missions to a far land. It is Easter Eve and everything tonight is supposed to be frightening, fearsome and overwhelming.
We sit down in a few moments for the sacred meal, the food of body and blood of a savior. We are allowed to shout alleluia for the first time in a month and a half, and we hear the ancient words, “alleluia, Christ is risen, the Lord is risen indeed, alleluia. And then we are sent back out into the night, just like Jesus told Mary, “go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me." She was sent to the disciples, they were sent to Galilee, and we are sent back out into our own darkness, to raise a light, to show the light, to be the light of Christ to the world. It is Easter Eve, and everything tonight is about darkness and light, fear and hope, death and life.
If we were doing this right, it would be freezing cold outside, and comforting warm within; we would walk into a blackened church with small tapers of light, our only protection against the unknown; we would hear the ancient stories of God and people, and we would tremble with fear and excitement. If we were doing this right, there would be no light only shadows, no noise except whisper and murmurs. In the early days of the church people would stay up all night, kneeling, praying, the only light being the candles, the only heat being the new fire. And they would be waiting for the sound of the authorities breaking in theirs door to arrest and imprison them.
This is the night we remember that a baptismal oath could cost you your life, and meeting around an altar for bread and wine might mean death.
Everything about tonight is supposed to be about fear and desperation , faith and hope. We bring small lights to fight darkness, we hear old stories to remember who we are, we take oaths pledge of who we will be, and we eat holy food to promise who we are pledged to. It is Easter Eve, the night when Christianity was born. We don’t just remember on this night- we boldly go where the first followers went-we leave here and head for our own Galilee where Jesus is waiting. Tomorrow, Easter Sunday is about light, and music, and laughter-tonight is about hope and courage and faith. “Don’t be afraid,” the angel and Jesus both told Mary. But it’s ok if we are. There is a lot of darkness and fear and discouragement in the world. Earthquakes and lightning and things that go bump in the night. But we stand before all those things (stand up), we make our oath, we tell our story, we kneel together for the holy food-and we say the bravest phrase that was ever said in the darkness-“Alleluia, he is risen!” Amen.

It's A Tough Week

2011-04-19T11:09:00.000-04:00

Puritan Prayer, adapted. The prayer is adapted from The Valley of Vision
My Master God,
I am expected to preach today, but go weak and needy to my task;
Yet I long that people will be edified with divine truth,that an honest testimony will be given for you.
Give me assistance in preaching and prayer,with heart uplifted for grace and passion.
Present to my view things pertinent to my subject,with fullness of matter and clarity of thought,
proper expressions, fluency, fervency, a deep emotion to accompany the words I speak,and grace to apply them to people’s consciences.
Keep me conscious all the while of my defects,and let me not gloat in pride over my performance. Help me to offer a testimony for yourself and to leave sinners inexcusable in neglecting your mercy.
Give me freedom to open up the sorrows of your people, and to set before them comforting consolations.
Give your power to the truth preached, and awaken the attention of my slothful audience.
May your people be refreshed, melted, convicted, comforted, and help me to use the strongest arguments drawn from Christ’s incarnation and sufferings,that people might be made holy.
I myself need your support, comfort, strength, holiness, that I might be a pure channel of your grace,and be able to do something for you.
Give me then refreshment among your people, and help me not to treat excellent matter in a defective way,or bear a broken testimony to so worthy a redeemer, or be harsh in treating Christ’s death, its design and end, from lack of warmth and fervency.
And keep me in tune with you as I do this work.

I had kind of a tough week. As many of you know, my mother in southern Texas was diagnosed with cancer of the spine about 10 days ago. This is her 3rd bout with cancer in 46 years. I decided that I would go to be with her and her husband on Wednesday as she prepared for surgery. Late Monday night I learned that Joanne Ramey, a long time member, was very ill in St. Joe’s. I went to see her that night and the next afternoon she passed away from pneumonia. On Tuesday I was told that Margaret Carlson, a very active member at St. Luke’s-Allen Park, and a long time friend, was in Arbor Hospice with a rare form of cancer.
So Wednesday I went down to Texas to be with my mom and her wonderful husband Jack as she had surgery to remove the T4 vertebrae. We spent a lot of time at the hospital. The prognosis so far is good, and we are hopeful. It was tough coming home yesterday. A part of you wants to be there, and a part of you wants to be anywhere else but there. I felt terrible for leaving Jack there by himself- guilty, sad-I told him that I felt like I was abandoning him, just when he and my mom needed me the most. You know how this feels, many of you have been through it in your own lives. My mother has always been there for me, she has been my rock, and I wanted to be there as she went through this. Life is full of tough decisions and painful sacrifices.
All week I worked on today’s sermon, because more than anything I want things to get back to normal, for the routine to return. But every time I started to put something down on paper, it never seemed right. That happens a lot with my sermons, and especially on important Sundays like this one. Words always seem inadequate for the important moments in our lives. Sitting in the airport yesterday morning, going over the gospel, again, I started thinking, what do I need to hear in this story? It’s been a tough week, I thought, how does this story touch me? Where I’m at? In my life?
Sara Miles, the director of Ministry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco writes: “Following Jesus on this path to new life means we have to stop pretending. The truth is that [bad things will happen to us]. That [you] we can't always prevent the pain of family or friends. That loved ones as well as strangers will betray us. And that we will hurt and fail others. “
We listen to a story that happened a long time ago and we say, “yeah, but that was him-and that was then-but what about me, and what about now?” The reason why we tell Jesus’ story every year, especially this long story of his last day and death, is because it’s supposed to teach us about life, and God, and death in a really non-religious way. It’s supposed to say to us-bad things happen, pain happens to those we love, those close to us may betray us, that we hurt and fail those we care for. And none of that is foreign to God. God knows, God understands, God has been there. That is what we are supposed to hear in this story. It’s not just Jesus’ story-we’re supposed to hear our own story in it, too. We watch all this stuff happen to Jesus, this terribly unfair, painful, discouraging stuff happen to him, and we think to ourselves-he understood. He knew how it is on our hardest days. He knew what it is like. He understands what life can be like.
We are always asking, why did Jesus have to die? Why did all this terrible stuff have to happen? Why do we tell this story? My mother, who has been through cancer and surgery before said, “I just want to wake up and for all this to be over.” And I told her, “yeah, me too.” All Lent we listened to long stories leading up to today, and they show us one thing-Jesus knew what was coming. He knew that love costs. He knew that there is a price to pay for loving people. And still he chose to come to Jerusalem.
We retell this story every year, even though it is hard, and sad and difficult to hear, because it is part of the story of love-an important part, a required part. For life to matter, we have to be willing to give up all we have, everything that we hold dear, for that which is most precious. This week, this story, teaches us again, that Jesus was willing to give up everything because he loved us so much. It is hard to end this story where it does, because we need to believe that God will win, that love will triumph, that this is not the end. We don’t want our story, our lives, and Jesus’ life to end here-at the cross, in the grave. We want our life, our offering to make a difference-we want his sacrifice to change the way life seems to end. We go through this challenging week immersing ourselves in Jesus’ story, because we believe that it will show us the way, and because we need to hear-every year, that the sacrifice of love is worth it. Today, this week, we hear what God was willing to give up-for us. This is hard, the story is difficult to listen to. That’s ok. Love costs, it’s good for us to hear the story and remember that. Before we get to Easter, we have to go through the cross.

The Next Level

2011-04-11T09:56:00.001-04:00

Sermon-5 Lent-April 10, 2011 What a marvel, that I can proclaim your word, the word which saves in its hearing. Lead me, Lord, into a love of your word above all other words that clamor to call to me each day. Fill me with your sacred silence so that I might truly seek your instruction and only yours. Enable me to teach and preach out of such silence so that the people listening may enjoy the fruit of our intimacy, an intimate love contained within and ordered by the church's continual love and protection of your holy word. Amen from Deacon James Keating's new book "A Deacon's Retreat" John 11:1-45 11Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 7Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. 10But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” 11After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” 12The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” 13Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. 14Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” 17When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, 19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” 23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” 28When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35Jesus began to weep. 36So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” 38Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” 40Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” 45Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. In paleontology, the study of prehistoric life, sometimes an organism that was thought to be extinct, “reappears”. This has happened at least 3 times and has a special name-it is called the “Lazarus taxon”(taxon means organism). There is also a term in medicine for a person who spontaneously returns to life (the heart starts beating again) after resuscitation has stopped-it’s called, the “Lazarus phenomenon.” The story of Lazarus is so famous, even paleontologists and doctors use the term with familiarity. This is a long story, the story of the raising of Lazarus. As usual, let me give you a little background to help you understand what was going on. The name Lazarus, is a shortening of the Hebrew name Eleazer, which means, “God helps”. The town Bethany, where Lazarus, Mary, and Martha live, means House of Affliction or Suffering in Hebrew. So, as Alyce MacKenzie points out, “God helps those going through affliction.” In the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke the reason why the authorities want Jesus to die is because he overturns the tables in the Temple. But in the gospel of John, if we were to read a little further in the 11th chapter we would hear that the Chief Priests and Pharisees want to put Jesus to death for raising Lazarus-in fact in chapter 12 it says that the Chief priests plan to put Lazarus to death, also! So its today’s story, today’s event, that the authorities will use to indict Jesus. When Jesus goes to Bethany he is a mere 2 miles from Jerusalem, near the city where people want him dead. For him to go this suburb of the capital city is as if he is asking for it. In the gospel of John, I have been telling you each week, every story serves as a metaphor for a spiritual challenge: Nicodemus comes in confusion and doubt; the woman at the well, full of guilt and shame meets Jesus; the man born blind gains his sight, and loses every other relationship; and here, Jesus comes to Bethany to raise the dead. More from Alyce MacKenzie: “Water is a metaphor for the quenching of our spiritual thirst through Jesus' presence; Jesus is the living water (Jn. 4:14). The bread Jesus multiplies to feed the crowd is a metaphor for the satisfaction of our spiritual hunger that Jesus brings; Jesus is the Bread from Heaven (Jn. 6:35). Sight is a metaphor for the spiritual vision and clarity that Jesus brings; Jesus is the light of the world (Jn. 8:12, and [in] chapter 9 where Jesus gives sight to a man born blind). Here, in chapter 11, the restoration of physical life is a metaphor for breaking free from the bonds of spiritual death into the gift of eternal life that Jesus brings. Jesus is the resurrection and the life [(Jn. 11:25-6: "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.")]. Every story is supposed to lead us to something much deeper than what is on the surface. Get it? And then we get to today’s story. This is the climax. Every story has been building to today’s story. In the gospel of John every story has 2 meanings-on one level something is happening, but at a deeper level God is doing something profound-something to change us. Listen to the great preacher Fred Craddock: “… to say this is a sign story is to say that its primary function is revelation. Some truth about the meaning of God’s glory and presence in the world is made known through Jesus’ ministry. ….what is really going on here is not only a family crisis in Bethany but the crisis of the world, not only the raising of a dead man but the giving of life to the world. On one level the story is about the death and resurrection of Lazarus, but on another it is about the death and resurrection of Jesus. The sisters want their brother back, to be sure, but Jesus is also acting to give life to the world.. Jesus declares this truth to Martha at the heart of the narrative: "I am the resurrection and the life." Jesus is aching because his friend has died, but he also understands that he has come for more than just his friend-he has come for you and me, for all of us. Craddock again…. “the passion of Jesus bleeds through the surface of the story. Jesus was "deeply moved in spirit and troubled" (v. 33) , he was "deeply moved again" (v. 38) , and he wept (v. 35) . Why? He had deliberately delayed coming until Lazarus was dead and buried. The crowd said, "See how he loved him!" (v. 36) , but in this Gospel they never understand what is really going on. Jesus is experiencing something like a Gethsemane, for he knows that calling Lazarus out of the tomb means that he must enter it. The narrative will shortly make that fact abundantly clear: the belief in Jesus generated by his raising Lazarus prompts the religious leaders to plot Jesus’ death (vv. 45-53) . But for Jesus there is no other way because only in this act can he be the resurrection and the life for the world. And so the reader sees in and through the Lazarus story the Jesus story. Notice: Jesus is troubled and weeping; the tomb is not far from Jerusalem; the tomb is a cave with a large stone covering the opening; the stone is rolled away; Jesus cries with a loud voice; the grave cloth is left at the tomb. Sound familiar? Let there be no misunderstanding: Martha, Mary and Lazarus are not simply props for a spiritual story. They are real people trapped in death and grief, and Jesus brings comfort and life. Jesus was a real human being ministering among the suffering. This story is supposed to prepare us for Jesus’ own death. And it’s supposed to point us beyond it, too. The story of the raising of Lazarus tells us that Jesus doesn’t just come for his friends in the first century-he comes also for us-in the 21st. The people of Bethany were amazed that Jesus could raise Lazarus-but they couldn’t see beyond this amazing miracle. And neither can we. When there is a death in our lives, all we want is for the person to come back to us. We don’t understand death, we don’t like it, and ultimately we all want to say, “I thought if I believed in Jesus those I love wouldn’t have to die.” Jesus is telling Mary and Martha that he didn’t come just to raise their brother-he came to stop death forever. Like I said, they didn’t understand, and neither do we. Even after all these signs, after all these stories it is still a mystery how one person can change the power of life-and death. So today’s story is not finished. But the story of Jesus is still building, still adding new layers, new meanings, new insights. We will have to hear and experience the rest of this story in the next 2 weeks, for us to understand what death means-and how Jesus is the Life. Amen.

But What About Now?

2011-04-04T11:43:00.001-04:00

Sermon-4 Lent-April 3, 2011 But what about, now?
O Creator of the universe, who has set the stars in the heavens and causes the sun to rise and set, shed the light of your wisdom into the darkness of my mind. Fill my thoughts with the loving knowledge of you, that I may bring your light to others. Just as you can make even babies speak your truth, instruct my tongue and guide my pen to convey the wonderful glory of the Gospel. Make my intellect sharp, my memory clear, and my words eloquent, so that I may faithfully interpret the mysteries which you have revealed. Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

First, let’s do the important stuff. The history part. Did you know that in the Church of England, “the 4th Sunday of Lent, is the only day in Lent when marriages can be celebrated”? Today is the 4th Sunday of Lent, known in the church as : Laetare Sunday so called from the Introit at Mass, "Laetare Jerusalem" ("O be joyful, Jerusalem"), is a name often used to denote the fourth Sunday of the season of Lent in the Christian liturgical calendar. This Sunday is also known as Mothering Sunday(only in England), Refreshment Sunday, Mid-Lent Sunday and Rose Sunday (because the golden rose sent by the popes to Catholic sovereigns used to be blessed at this time).
Some day you will thank me for this knowledge.
The writer Anais Nin once said, “We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.” Years ago a long time member passed away. I was trying to comfort the family, so I said, “well, you had them a long time, and someday we’ll all be reunited and together again in heaven.” And one of the adult children said, “yeah, but what about now?”
This gospel may be my favorite story in the gospels, “the man who was born blind.” One reason is because there are so many layers to it, every time you peel back one understanding, there’s another one. But I think the best part is that I have always believed that this story was about me.
Jesus is a small part of this very long gospel. And that’s sort of the point. This whole story is about Jesus healing this guy, and then disappearing. In this gospel reading it’s what happens when Jesus is gone to the man born blind, that is important. Sort of like for us.
Let me set the stage. Jesus and the disciples are walking along, when they see this blind man. The disciples assume he’s blind because he is being punished by God. “Who sinned,” they ask Jesus, “this man or his parents.” “Neither,” Jesus tells them then he heals the man. This takes all of 7 verses. This is pretty standard gospel stuff, Jesus does a miracle, a person’s life is changed. But then it starts getting interesting.
This is from Fred Craddock, one of my favorite preachers: “In scene one (vv. 8-12) , the healed man tries to go home again but cannot. So radical is the change in him that his reappearance in the old neighborhood generates no joy, no celebration, no welcome home, only questions and doubts. His insistence that he is the same man gains mixed responses.” The man is healed, but the people people aren’t happy. They aren’t even sure that it’s him! I know I’ve told you this story, but I go to my mother at 19 and say “mom, I’ve joined the Episcopal Church and I want to be a priest,”, and she says, “what! You can’t do that, we’re not even religious!”
Again from Fred Craddock, “In scene two (vv. 13-17) the healed man is hauled before religious leaders. They are interested in all reported miracles, especially if performed by unauthorized individuals and most especially if done in violation of some law. Such is the case here; the healing occurred on the sabbath. A quandary: if this man is truly healed, it was done by someone with the power of God, but if the healing took place on the sabbath, then it was done by someone opposing God’s law. Are you sure you can see? Were you really blind? Who did it? Further investigation is needed.” Do you know what Jesus did wrong? It wasn’t the healing that was the problem. This is from John O’Day in the New Interpreters Bible: “The mixing of spit and dirt occurs only in this story. It probably was deliberate [by Jesus]to evoke the ire and blindness of the Pharisees. Kneading[of the dirt/mud/spit] was one of the 39 forbidden tasks on the sabbath [see O'Day, John]”. Jesus kneaded the dirt and mud.
“Scene three (vv. 18-23) finds the parents of the healed man being grilled by the religious leaders. Yes, he is our son; yes, he was born blind; no, we do not know what happened; no, we do not know who did it. Whatever joy they[the parents] may have had is drowned in fear. Expulsion from the synagogue and social disgrace is a high price to pay for having a son especially blessed by God. They were unwilling to pay it.”
The neighbors are angry, the religious authorities are outraged, the parents now disown their son. This is tuning into some miracle, isn’t it?
And finally, “(vv. 24-34) the man is grilled a second time and more intensely. The authorities, faced with the irrefutable evidence of the healing, try to make the man denounce Jesus as a sinner. The poor man, armed only with his experience and sound logic, cannot believe a sinner could have the power of God. Anger and frustration rule: the man is denounced along with Jesus and expelled as a sinner.”
At least when the man was blind, he had friends, neighbors, family, and an established place in society. And he lost all that for having his sight. Some trade off. He must have been thinking, “be careful what you pray for…”.
At the end of this story, after the man who was born blind has lost everything, Jesus comes back into the picture. So, at the end of the story the man who was born blind says to Jesus, “well, I guess I will follow you-what else is there?”
In the early days of the church, it is supposed, Christians hearing this story would have thought this miracle was being told for them. Many of them lost their families, many were ostracized by their friends, frequently they were kicked out of their communities. They followed Jesus- and lost everything. And the Jesus that had called them, didn’t seem to be anywhere around as they went through all the trials and challenges of being his followers. They felt alone, abandoned forsaken by Jesus, and they wondered if it was all worth it. So when they heard this story of the healing of the man who was born blind, they would have nodded and said, “yeah, I know how he felt.”
When I decided to follow Christ it cost me very little. But it felt like a lot at the time. The friends I had had before didn’t find me as much fun anymore. They said, “you’ve changed, what’s wrong with you, why are you so different?” My parents wondered where I went wrong. I didn’t know what to do, where to go, or who I would feel comfortable with, ever again. I changed, and I was scared. I started to wonder if being a Christian was worth it. In the grand scheme of things, it cost me very little. But when I hear this story, I know how this guy felt. His life had changed, and he couldn’t go back to who he was. And this new life certainly wasn’t easier. In fact, life was a lot more confusing, a lot more difficult, for me as a Christian, than it ever was before. I was blind, and then I could see, and I couldn’t go back.
When we say, like this man in the gospel, “Lord, I believe.” They aren’t just words. They are not just words. To see this truth, to understand this truth, cost this man-everything. If we say these words, if we mean these words, it will cost us, too. It will change us.
One last quote from Fred Craddock: “The time of Jesus’ absence is no picnic. In fact, the man born blind could have said understandably to himself more than once, "I never asked to be healed. If this is what it means to be blessed of God, I think I am willing to relinquish some divine favors." Perhaps no biblical story illustrates quite so dramatically the truth of repeated experience: God’s favor more often leads into than away from difficulties. A relationship to God does not remove one from, but often places one in the line of fire. Those who preach faith as the cessation of pain, suffering, poverty, restless nights and turbulent days are offering false comfort. Notice what happened to the healed man during Jesus’ absence.
The grieving adult child asked “yeah, but what about now?” Now we live in faith, we trust the love that has claimed us, we embrace a life that will be a lot more uncomfortable and difficult than the one we had before. That is the reality of following Christ.
Faith is not the cessation of pain, the end of suffering, the absence of poverty, the finish of restless nights and turbulent days. To say “I believe” means we will step out fiercely into an uncertain world, we will challenge the powers with light, and we will likely lose more battles than we will win. To say, “Lord, I believe” is a costly thing. But once we see, once we know the truth, once we are claimed by the voice of Jesus, what else can we do? For me, being a Christian meant that I had to grow up, and become a person of faith. I heard the truth, and once I did, I was compelled to follow. At the time, it seemed to cost me a lot. I often wondered where Jesus was as I stumbled forward in faith. Like that young man of long ago, I, too, wondered, “but, what about now?” But I knew that once I received your sight, I could never go back to being blind.
John 9:1-41
9As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 7saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.
8The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” 12They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” 16Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 17So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.” 18The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 24So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” 25He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.
35Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.
39Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” 40Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

La Samaritana

2011-03-29T12:42:00.000-04:00

Sermon-3Lent-March 27, 2011 John 4:5-42 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?" Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back." The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!" The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us." Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you." Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you want?" or, "Why are you speaking with her?" Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?" They left the city and were on their way to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, eat something." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." So the disciples said to one another, "Surely no one has brought him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, 'Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I have ever done." So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world." Grant to me, O Lord, an eloquence most gentle and wise, that for Thy good gifts I may not be puffed up and extolled above my brothers. Place in my mouth, I beseech Thee, through Thy Holy Spirit, words of consolation, edification, and exhortation, that I may encourage the good to better things, and by word and example bring back to the threshold of Thy righteousness those who walk apart from Thee. May the words which Thou dost give to Thy servant be as keen darts and as burning arrows to penetrate the minds of those that hear, and inflame them with fear and love of Thee. Amen. Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) In 2004 Frank Warren started a temporary community art project called PostSecret.com. It was a blog where people were invited to mail in postcards that had one of their secrets written on it. You simply sent in a postcard with your secret on it-no name, no return address. Every week Warren would choose 10-20 of the postcards sent in and publish them, anonymously, on his blog. In the original message Warren wrote: “your secret can be regret, fear, betrayal, desire, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything-as long as it’s true, and you have never shared it with anyone ever before.” 2 rules: it must be true, and you have never shared it with anyone ever before. In high school I was so desperate for a boyfriend I dated a guy who went to Star Wars Conventions . . . and he dumped me. I suffer from an eating disorder and I fear my mother's suffering. I can't stand my stepmother. I was 7 years old the first time I attempted suicide. When things go well for me I have to wreck my life all over again. I watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in a mental hospital. Imagine the woman at the well. How many postcards would she have needed to send? Women went to the well at noon for one reason-to avoid meeting anyone else! Everyone went to the well early in the morning at the cool of the day. There were expectations. The Samaritan woman went there at noon-when no one else would be there. John the gospel writer tells us details, always, to make a point. Point two, Unrelated men and women never ever talked to each other. It wasn’t done in 1st century Israel. “Rabbis forbade rabbis to greet any woman in public, even a wife or a sister. There were, in those days, Pharisees who shut their eyes when they saw any woman on the street. With their eyes shut, they walked into so many walls and tripped over so many cracks in the street that they were called the "bruised and bleeding Pharisees." There were expectations. Point three, Jews and Samaritans never ever talked with each other. It would be the same of Israelis and Palestinians today. You don’t talk to outsiders. There were certain expectations. And yet Jesus, a Jewish man, talks to the Samaritan woman. At noon at Jacob’s well. Last week John tells the story of Nicodemus, a Jewish man of great importance, coming to Jesus by night to find out from Jesus “who are you!” This week, Jesus is in an encounter with a non Jewish woman, at midday, in a strange city. Every story this Lent that we hear will show us a different layer of life, a different secret, a different rule being broken. Every week this Lent, we will hear a story that when opened up we might say, “yes, that is my secret, too, that is me, that could be my postcard.” Nicodemus was confused, uncertain. He wasn’t sure who Jesus was, and he was afraid how Jesus might change his life. The woman at the well, the notorious woman at the well, a woman of shame and guilt. Confusion. Doubt . Shame. Guilt. Embarrassment. Humiliation. Any of these fit somewhere in your journey in faith? Every week John tells us a story about one person’s encounter with Jesus. And in that story we are to see our own stories. In southern Mexico, La Samaritana (the Samaritan woman) is remembered on the fourth Friday in Lent, when water flavored with chilacoyota, tamarindo, jamaice and horchata is given to commemorate her gift of water to Jesus. It is a sweet mixture, and people are supposed to offer it, especially to strangers, on the 4th Friday. It is to remind everyone of this woman. The Orthodox Church knows her as St. Photini, or Svetlana in Russian. Her name means "equal to the apostles," and she is honored as an apostle and martyr. (from sermon by Patricia Farris Unlikely Messenger) What do you struggle with your faith? Doubt, confusion, anger, mistrust, shame? Listen, the woman at the well has long been portrayed as a person of humiliation. She had 5 former husbands, she went out of her way to avoid even her own people. She felt as if she was worthless, and her past made any possible future bleak. She had committed too many sins to ever be redeemed. And yet Jesus talked with her, chose her, listened to her. B.B.Taylor writes: “Jesus talks longer to the woman at the well than he does to anyone else in all the Gospels-longer than he talks to any of his disciples, longer than he talks to any of his accusers, longer than he talks to any of his own family. She is the first person he reveals himself to in the Gospel of John. She is the first outsider to guess who he is and tell others. She is the first evangelist, John tells us, and her testimony brings many (the whole village) to faith. The Messiah is the one who shows you who you are by showing you who he is.” It is as if Jesus reads her postcards, all of them, reads OUR postcards, ALL of them, and says, yup, I understand. You’ve made mistakes. But your life isn’t over. There is still time. There is still hope. It doesn’t matter what has gone before, you can begin again. There were rules back then that kept people in their place. And Jesus swept them all away. Jesus talks to the woman at the well, and helps her understand that she is not worthless, not condemned, not insignificant. Last week Jesus talked to Nicodemus and helped him see that new life was possible. Every week in Lent Jesus will help someone see who they can be. And he does this by listening, understanding, helping them change, begin a new life in him. This is from an old sermon by Kate Huey:“Here a different translation of Jesus' answer, from Eugene Peterson's The Message, is helpful: "…the time is coming," Jesus says, "it has, in fact, come – when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter. It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people God is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before God in their worship. God is sheer being itself – Spirit. Those who worship God must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration." Whether we are at the well, thirsty and tired, doing our daily tasks, or in the marketplace or the mall, talking politics and religion, or engaged in the countless other pursuits of our lives, we are thirsty for more than water. We thirst for the living water of God's grace, God's voice still speaking words of healing, acceptance, and unconditional love, even if we don't have or understand all the answers. All of us have known, at one time or another, what it means to be alone, or afraid, or discouraged, or rejected. We know what it means to be "the other." And we know that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Nevertheless. Nevertheless, we turn to God and lift up our faces and feel the living water wash over us, we drink in the cool, clear water of God's grace and God's acceptance, this God who knows us to our very core, the truth of who we are, in spirit and in light. Just accept that God accepts you, and loves you, and calls you, of all people, just like the Samaritan woman, to share this good news wherever you go.” The Brazilian Paulo Coelho's books have sold 100 million copies, been translated into 70 languages, and sold in 150 countries. But life was not always so sweet for Coelho. When he followed his childhood dream of being a writer, his parents twice committed him to a mental institution….. He dropped out of law school, traveled, joined the drug culture, dabbled in journalism and theater, and became a political agitator. After being kidnapped and tortured, he wanted a more "normal" life, and later enjoyed success as a song writer and music executive. Jesus and the woman at the well, 4th century Roman catacomb. But Coelho's soul remained restless. In 1986 he had a vision of a stranger, which stranger he met two months later in a cafe in Amsterdam. The stranger advised him to reconnect with his Catholic roots, and to make the 500-mile medieval pilgrimage to Compostela in Northern Spain (where legend says the bones of Saint James, Santiago, are buried). The pilgrimage convinced Coelho that he was living "only for bread and water." Two years later, he published The Alchemist, a simple fable about a shepherd boy named Santiago. Like the author himself, Santiago vows not to live like his sheep and even his own father, both of whom lived "only for bread and water." Every week in Lent, Jesus will meet another person on a journey. The person will be in a struggle for their soul-and most won’t even know it. Jesus will be their guide at a pivotal point in that journey. He will see so deeply into them that no secret will be concealed, no part of them will be hidden from him. And he will help them see themselves, accept themselves and begin their new life in relationship to him. In today’s story of La Samaritana, a woman who is carrying so many burdens, Jesus offers her living water, a drink that can release her from so much. We hear this story, because we, also, are invited to come to the well. It doesn’t matter what our “regret, fear, betrayal, desire, confession, or childhood humiliation” is. We are known, and set free. Today we are asked to see ourselves at the well, at noon. And we are challenged to come and drink. Amen.

What Is Lent Like For You?

2011-03-14T10:47:00.000-04:00

Sermon-1 Lent-March 13, 2011
Matthew 4:1-11
4Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 7Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; 9and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 11Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

“Lord Jesu! Teach thou me, that I may teach them: Sanctify and enable all my powers; that in their full strength they may deliver thy message reverently , readily, faithfully, and fruitfully. Oh, make thy word a swift word, passing from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the life and conversation: that as the rain returns not empty, so neither may thy word, but accomplish that for which it is given. Oh Lord, hear, Oh Lord, forgive! Oh Lord, hearken, and do so for thy blessed Son’s sake, in whose sweet name we pray. — George Herbert, 1593-1633
Each Sunday in lent I will use a different prayer to begin my sermon. This one was the prayer George Herbert, a Welsh born English poet, orator and Anglican priest. began his sermons with in the 1600s.
by Kate Huey
In "Lenten Discipline," her sermon on Luke's version of the temptation of Jesus in the desert, Barbara Brown Taylor gives a wonderful description of how Lent came to be (after all, it's not in the Bible). Many years after Jesus had not returned as quickly as expected, church folks "decided there was no contradiction between being comfortable and being Christian. And before long it was hard to pick them (Christians) out from among the population at large. They no longer distinguished themselves by their bold love for one another. They did not get arrested for championing the poor. They blended in. They avoided extremes. They decided to be nice instead of holy and God moaned out loud" (Home by Another Way).
and so we began the season of Lent.
We hear today’s story every year on the first Sunday in Lent. Jesus has just been baptized. He hears God tell him that he is “God’s son, the beloved”. And in the next scene Jesus goes and fasts 40 days in the wilderness. And then the tempter comes to him and makes 3 “offers”.. The temptations are in a different order that they are in Luke.
What is Lent like for you? Is it usually a time of failure or success? Do you get stronger or weaker in Lent? Does your faith grow or lessen? This is a season of preparation, a season of “training” if you will. So, do you usually get better or worse in Lent? Is this season of Lent, “working” for you?
For years every Lent I gave up smoking. Never made it. Couldn’t stop. Maybe a day, sometimes two. Couldn’t do it. Prayed, struggled, did everything. Couldn’t do it. Arrived at Easter every year for years feeling weak and rotten about myself. People would come up to me and say, “well, don’t worry about it, you’re only human.” After several years I started hating that phrase, “you’re only human.” It reminded me of failure, weakness, disappointment. No one ever says, “you’re only human” when you succeed, when you accomplish something, when you succeed-only when you fail. And usually fail badly. It’s used especially when we give in, or fall short in temptation. Listen for the next time somebody around you says , “well, you’re only human.”
I learned a lot every year in lent by failing. I knew a lot about temptation. Here is one thing I learned -a lot of times it’s about taking shortcuts. It’s about trying to get to the finish line too quickly. 1)The first temptation for Jesus is to feed himself after fasting for 40 days. Katerina Whitley writes, “It is significant that this particular temptation comes when Jesus is famished and physically at his weakest. ….What makes it temptation is the shortcut to the miraculous: “Use your powers as the Son of God to change these stones into bread.” “Take the quick way, you must be famished” the tempter says. Isn’t this what we hear every time we want something, really really want something? “who does it hurt? It’s a victimless crime?” Take the shortcut. Jesus does eventually turn bread into more bread-but not for himself, not for his own hunger. Not to show off, or to convince, never to prove who he is, or how much God loves him,-only when there was human need. Shortcuts. The first temptation.
No. 2-The easy fix. Listen again to Katerina Whitley: The answer that Jesus gives, He who could have thrown himself from the pinnacle and survived, is that even when we ask for things using the words of scripture, putting God to the test is yielding to the temptation of the easy fix without considering the consequences.
How many ways do you think there are to help people lose weight? To get stronger? TO STOP SMOKING? How many times do you bargain with God, make deals, ask God to help-just this once? We asked Rae Thom once to come over and teach the youth group some basic maintenance skills before we went to repair homes in Appalachia. He told the group, “okay, you can do things the right way, or the slow way-because if you get hurt, have to do it over, or don’t do it right, it will take a lot longer.” 5Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 7Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
The third temptation, now you’re on top-you’ve done well, you’ve fought the devil and won. The third temptation, for me, has always been when I was successful. I can’t count the number of times I stopped smoking, for awhile, and thought to myself, “well, I can handle it now-one won’t bother me, I am in control.” You know when I am at my weakest? When I have just had a success. The tempter takes Jesus to the top of “a very high mountain” (remember last week I told you that Matthew always has Jesus’ holiest moments on mountaintops?). Satan shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and asks if Jesus wants them. Power. Money. Control. How can you say no to this? What do we say, “I can handle it”, what do we say, “I can do a lot of good with this”, what do we say, “if things don’t go well I can always get out, I’m strong enough to quit.”
Do you know how you are with temptation? Do you know how you are with shortcuts? with easy fixes? with success? I know how I am-and it’s not always pretty. I struggle. But after all, I’m only human, right?
David Lose, a preacher I like a lot, points this out about the first reading about Adam and Eve: “Might it be that a part of being human is being aware that we are insufficient, that we are not complete in and of ourselves, that lack is a permanent part of our condition? To be human, in other words, is to be aware that we carry inside ourselves a hole, an emptiness that we will always be restless to fill. Adam and Eve behold the fruit and conclude in a heartbeat that their hole is shaped just like that fruit. Yet after they eat, the emptiness remains. Today we might imagine that hole to be shaped just like a new car, or computer, or better house, or the perfect spouse. But after laboring and sacrificing and obtaining these things, the emptiness remains. Blaise Pascal once described this essential condition of humanity as having a "God-shaped hole," and this is what Jesus demonstrates. There is no filling of that gap, no permanent erasing that hole, except in and through our relationship with God. Yet that, also, isn't quite the full picture. To be Christian is not to have that hole, that need, that awareness of finitude erased once and for all. Rather, to be human is to accept that we are, finally, created for relationship with God and with each other. Perhaps the goal of the life of faith isn't to escape limitation[s] but to discover God amid[st] our needs.”
Every time the tempter speaks to Jesus, he offers Jesus something that isn’t bad-food, faith, power. But the offer is always about Jesus giving up a part of himself to get those things. In other words, he has to become weaker to have what is offered. Do the right thing-for the wrong reason. I have told you before what that old Bishop of mine I used to say, “it’s funny how the Holy Spirit always called me to a better paying church.”
It’s Lent, the season the church created because we are “only human”- we get comfortable, we take shortcuts, we rationalize what we do, and we believe we are in control of our lives and so much stronger than we truly are. Lent isn’t supposed to be a season of failure-or victory. It’s supposed to be 40 days of being honest with ourselves. About seeing the God shaped hole in our lives. To see, clearly, how we are made for God. It is not easy. There are lots of temptations, shortcuts, lies we tell ourselves, false victories, and easy ways out.
This Lent, try to be a little more honest with yourself, a little more sincere, a little more truthful. Try to fill the God shaped hole in yourselves with God this year. That would be a great way to be “only human”. Amen.

We May Be Dust, But...

2011-03-14T10:40:00.000-04:00

Sermon-Ash Wednesday-March 9, 2011
Every week in Lent I’m going to open with a different prayer before the sermon. I am going to use the prayer that I have been using the last few years from the Cloud of Unknowing.
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.
The Cloud of Unknowing (Middle English: The Cloude of Unknowyng) is an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in Middle English in the latter half of the 14th century. The text is a spiritual guide on contemplative prayer and the esoteric techniques and meanings of late medieval monasticism. The book counsels a young student to seek God, not through knowledge and intellect, but through intense contemplation, motivated by love, and stripped of all thought. This is brought about by putting all thoughts, except the love of God, under a "cloud of forgetting", and thereby piercing God's cloud of unknowing with a "dart of longing love" from the heart. This form of contemplation is not directed by the intellect, but involves spiritual union with God through the heart:
I remember in 10th grade seeing my good friend Amy Otis in school one February day, I rushed over to her and said, “Amy, you better get into the bathroom quick and wash up, you’ve got dirt all over your forehead.” And she turned to me, very kindly and said, “it’s not dirt, you dummy, it’s Ash Wednesday!”
Today we smear ashes on our foreheads. We do it to remind ourselves that life is short and that everything-rocks, buildings, pyramids, and even humans, will one day be ashes. It’s supposed to make us humble, to help us remember that life is short, and that one day we will be ashes. It is supposed to sober us, to “bring us up short” as we say in EfM. It comes from Genesis 3.19 God speaking to Adam:”you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
We say this at funerals-ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Life was created from earth, we say, and one day we will go back to the earth that birthed us.. There are many references to ashes as penitence in the Bible: Jonah goes to the Ninevites and calls them to wear sackcloth and to sit in ashes for their sins-AND THEY DO. Job after losing everything puts on dust and ashes as a sign of repentance. Jeremiah the prophet calls Israel to repent by wearing sackcloth and rolling around in ashes! And Jesus calls on whole cities to repent by putting on ashes and turning to God. When people in the Bible wanted to show that they were sorry for their sins and intended to lead a new life-they put on ashes. It was their way of saying, we are human, we make mistakes. And we will change. We are dust, we will return to dust, but we will change.
I was watching the movie The Bucket List (again) the other night, the story of 2 men who had cancer and both were given a short time to live. So they came up with a list of all the things they wanted to do, before they “kicked the bucket”. The thing is, everybody understands this even if they haven’t seen the movie-everyone knows what a “bucket list” is, as soon as you say the phrase. What would we do, if we were doing our end of life list? ( from a Sermon by written by Lee A. Koontz in 2006)
There’s an episode of The Simpsons in which Homer is told by his doctor that he has only a few days to live. He is understandably frightened, but very soon after this dire pronouncement, he shows remarkable fortitude. Homer makes a list of all the things that he would like to do before he dies, and the list is full of things like ride in a blimp and tell off his boss. But the list also contains items like making amends with the neighbor who he’s always borrowing things from but never returning. Homer also realizes that not only has he not been a model neighbor, but also not the best father to his children. So, he spends quality time with his son, and listens to his daughter play the saxophone one last time instead of telling her to stop with all that racket.” Wearing ashes is our way of saying that we have a spiritual bucket list. It’s our way of saying, I know I won’t live forever, and this is what I want to do before I return to ashes.

I’m going to give you 2 simple things for your bucket today, 2 very small, very simple things for Lent. First, inside your bulletin is a 3x5 card in an envelope, and a pencil. I’d like you to think of one thing you will pray for every day in Lent. Think of one person, or one issue, one concern that so needs God’s attention and your prayer, that you will pray for it every day for 40 days. Then write it on this card, and write your name on the envelope-first and last. We’ll give these back unopened to you on Easter weekend in 7 weeks.
The second thing is in the parish hall. This Lent, I want you to watch for an act of love that is done for you, to you each day or each week this Lent. And then write it briefly on the sheets in the parish hall-not an act of love done BY you-but to or for you. I am challenging you to be aware of the love that is permeating, saturating, infusing, coming into your world-and to remember it on the walls in the hall.
Listen, today we wear ashes. It is a symbol of humility, a symbol of the shortness, and transience of life. More from the sermon by Lee Koontz:
We think of our sinfulness, and we know immediately that we have work to do before we die. So, how would you live if you knew that your days were numbered? Would you be more kind? More loving? Would you treat your friends differently? Your enemies? Would you make more time for family? Would you say, “I’m sorry” to the people that you’ve hurt? Would you be more mindful of suffering in the world? Would you want to share a little bit more of what you have with those who have nothing? What would you do? How would you live? What kinds of things would be on your list?
Death, sinfulness, repentance… these are the things that these ashes symbolize for us. Ash Wednesday reminds us first that we are dust, and to dust we will return. Life is fleeting. Time is short. And the ashes remind us that we are fallen, and we can’t get up on our own. We need God’s help. We need God’s forgiveness and God’s grace. We need God’s love.
And that, brothers and sisters, is the hope that is smeared in ash on our foreheads, that God’s love has reached through our sinfulness, through the grim shadow of death, to the dust and the ashes of human life. We may be dust, but dust that we are, we are loved. As Paul writes, “we are accounted dead… and yet we are so very much alive.”
So take a moment to think of a concern, an issue, a person, something that needs your prayer over the next 40 days-and write it on this card. Then, over the next 6 ½ weeks-go into the parish hall and write down a moment, an instance, an event that you are feeling loved, that you see love, that you notice love. Let others know that it is there.
So that even when people come up to you and say, you need to wash your forehead, you’re really dirty”, you can answer, “yeah, but I am so very much alive/loved.”

Not Every Mountaintop Is A Peak Experience

2011-03-07T11:10:00.000-05:00

Sermon-Last Epiphany March 6, 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.
Matthew 17:1-9
17Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” 6When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” 8And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. 9As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
In 1981 I climbed (walked up) my first mountain. I was in charge of the youth group at Trinity Wheaton, Illinois. The previous year the kids in the group had gone to North Carolina to climb Mt. Mitchell, in the Black Mountains of the Appalachian Mountain Chain , the highest peak east of the Mississippi-but they never got there. So this was my first journey with them. We drove from Chicago to North Carolina, spent the night, and the next day we started driving to the base of Mt. Mitchell. We had an accident. No one was hurt, but it was clearly my fault. So we went back to the cabin where we were staying, talked and talked and talked, and then the next day we drove back to Mt. Mitchell. We made it to the top of the 6700 foot mountain and all the time I was walking up the mountain all I could think was, “my career is over”. We got to the top and it was beautiful, and after an hour on the summit we started back down. It was my first youth group trip, it was my first summit-we had an accident, and we got to the mountaintop. It was scary, painful, and glorious. And I thought to myself, “well, this has to be the lowest and highest moments I will ever have in my ministry.”
The season of Epiphany always ends with the telling of the story of Jesus on top of the mountain-the event called, the Transfiguration. Transfiguration Sunday is usually just about halfway between Jesus’ baptism (Jan. 9) and Jesus’ crucifixion (April 22). That’s not by accident.
Alyce M. McKenzie sums up today’s reading this way:“In the preceding chapter Peter has confessed his faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God (16:16) and Jesus has offered some sober teaching about the cost of following him. Then he goes up on a Mountain with three of his disciples Peter, James and John. Before their eyes, Jesus' clothes and garment shine like the sun. He experiences the presence of Moses and Elijah, two peerless prophets who had shaped the Hebrews' view of what Messiah would be like when he came. As he has just predicted his own suffering and death (Mt. 17: 21-23), now God previews his post-resurrection glory. Peter begins babbling about setting up permanent dwellings for the heavenly visitors, to prolong the glorious experience. As at Jesus' baptism in Matthew 3:17, the disciples now hear a voice from heaven saying "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!" Then it is time to come down the mountain and heal and teach and suffer.” And head towards Jerusalem.
In 2008 I went on sabbatical. Kyle, our son, and I flew into western Ireland, and that first night we drove to Westport, a beautiful town. Westport is at the foot of a holy mountain, Croagh Patrick, where, legend has it, Patrick prayed and fasted for 40 days. It is a very popular mountain to be climbed. It was supposed to be an easy 2 hour climb. It wasn’t-at least not for me. It took almost 4 hours, a very rocky, difficult path, and it was a dense fog all the way up. And everyone from a 9 year old little boy to a man in his 70s working off a hangover passed me by. Very embarrassing. But we got to the chapel at the top, said our prayers, and talked to the people there. And the fog lifted and the clouds cleared and we could see all the way to Clew Bay 2508 feet below. It was an overwhelming sight. I thought my heart had stopped-either because I was breathing so hard or because it was so beautiful. It was the second day of my sabbatical, and I had climbed a mountain! I fell four times coming back down and was a mass of bruises and scrapes and exhausted when I reached the bottom.
The Rev. Dr. Timothy Smith, senior pastor at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Atlanta writes: [an] “important allusion to the Hebrew Bible is in the explicit appearance of Moses and Elijah in Jesus’ Transfiguration. At the broadest level of comparison, both Moses and Elijah transformatively experience God’s presence on a mountaintop. Also, in Exodus, after the Golden Calf incident when Moses breaks the Ten Commandments tablets, Moses must re-ascend the mountain. When Moses comes back down after his mountaintop experience with God, “the skin of his face was shining” (Exodus 34:30) — just as Jesus’ face shone after the Transfiguration. When you lay the full context of the Hebrew Bible and Gospel lessons side by side, it quickly becomes obvious that the basic template from the Moses story in Exodus was recapitulated in Transfiguration accounts. Both mention “six days,” have three named companions in addition to the central figure, both happen on a mountaintop, both result in shining figures, and both have God speaking from a cloud.”
So when Matthew the gospel writer recounts this story, he wants us to see Jesus as the new Moses. Matthew loves to have Jesus on mountaintops. Only in Matthew do we have the Sermon on the __________. And next Sunday we’re going to hear another story about Jesus told by Matthew where Jesus goes to a mountaintop.
But there’s something we have to remember-Jesus never stays on top of the mountain-he always comes down. No matter how good-or how bad the experience is-he comes down. And the peak, for Jesus, usually is reached after a fair amount of disappointment, and struggle, and is always followed by a great trial. Today for instance-this story follows Peter saying that Jesus has got his ministry all wrong that Jesus doesn’t understand who he is or what he’s about -and then Jesus takes him up the mountain. And what happens after today’s gospel? Jesus heads for Jerusalem-and we head for Lent.
Do we want mountaintop experiences if they are so hard to get to, and can be so difficult afterwards? A lot of people don’t. Either the climbing is too high, the experience too painful, journey too demanding. The Transfiguration, the name for today’s event, is about Jesus’ appearance being changed in front of his friends. But there is another way to look at it-the transfiguration of Peter, James, and John. They see Jesus in a new way-and they are changed. They are told not to tell this story until after Jesus’ death, because no one will understand it til then.
This is one of the things I have learned-no one experiences a mountaintop-from hearing about it. My summit moments only mean something to me-they are almost impossible to make sense to someone else. All I can do is talk about the mountains I’ve climbed, the journeys I’ve taken-and how I am different because of them. Every time Jesus is on a mountaintop in the gospel of Matthew-he comes down as a different person. There is something about climbing a mountain that always changes him.
This is from Fr. Rick Morley who writes a column called, The Garden Path: After a person is baptized in an Episcopal Church, there is a prayer said for the newly baptized, which concludes like this:"Sustain them, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit. Give them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works. Amen." The gift of joy and wonder in all your works. I've had too many experiences of taking youth into a grand nave of a wondrous, storied, cathedral or abbey... only to find them more interested in (looking at their shoes and) incoming text messages. Those moments hurt my heart. We had a clergy day a few weeks back with Mike Gecan, the author of "Going Public." He talked about going into his child's Kindergarten class and seeing a bulletin board illustrating what the students wanted to learn in school that year. Most of the statements were like, "behave," "learn to sit still," "follow the rules," "listen to the teacher better."One child (said) wrote "I want to know why the ocean shines like fire."There's a kid who has the gift of joy and wonder in all God's works.”
We have all climbed a lot of mountains, the question really becomes, when did going up the mountain change us-when were we different when we came down? How often are we altered? When are we changed? When does the journey up to the hardclimbed summit actually make us different people? When was the last time that you went to the mountaintop, and were transformed?
This is the last Sunday in the season of Epiphany, the season where we have listened over and over to “ sudden realizations: sudden intuitive leaps of understanding, especially through an ordinary but striking occurrence”.
The story of the Transfiguration is the last “sudden realization” that we will have for a while. Jesus climbed a mountain, and his appearance changed. But epiphany season and especially this last story of Jesus’ transfiguration, has to be about us-you and I, and when we suddenly breakthrough and see ourselves, our faith, our world in a new light, in a new way.
This is the last Sunday after the Epiphany, the season that started with the wise men going on a great journey, following a star-only to find a child at the end of it. What do you think they understood after all of that, what was their “sudden realization”? You know how their story ended? The gospel says that “They went home by a different way”. That’s how this season is supposed to affect us. That’s how we are supposed to be after 8 weeks or epiphanies. That’s what we realize when we come down the mountain after being to the top-that it is time to go home a different way. Amen.
Gladys Milton said, "Whether life grinds you or polishes you depends on the material you're made of." It's an old saying that we can't always choose what is going to happen to us in life, but we can always choose how we're going to respond to what has happened.
The dazzling reign of Jesus is one we can not afford to leave in residence on the mountaintop or be placed in a booth on display. The moment of transformation is one that invites us to new and meaningful encounters with God. How can Jesus be revealed in our time? When we have been to the mountaintop, how do we come down to ministry in the valleys as Jesus did, healing and teaching beyond the moment of change?

Epiphany is the season of revelation. We have seen Jesus revealed, now what? What is there for us to do with what we have seen and heard? Jesus is not new to us; neither is the nature and presence of the Divine? Can we make room for change in our lives and for divine revelation to impact the world through us?
The Reverend Karen Georgia Thompson serves as Minister for Ecumenical Relations in the Office of General Ministries of the United Church of Christ.
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ 14And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ 15He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ 16Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah,* the Son of the living God.’ 17And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter,* and on this rock* I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ 20Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was* the Messiah.*

21 From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.’ 23But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
27 ‘For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. 28Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.’

So God Can Live

2011-02-14T09:32:00.001-05:00

Sermon-6 Epiphany Year A-Feb. 13, 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.
Matthew 5:21-37
21“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ 22But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. 23So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. 25Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. 26Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
27“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell. 31“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
33“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ 34But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.
In 1977 I was sitting in the dining room (called, the Refectory) at seminary with a group of students, and one of our professors was sitting there talking to us. There was a lull in the conversation as we all took a mouthful of food, and then the professor looked at us and said, “did you just hear that?” nodding down towards the end of the table, “that guy just killed somebody!”. We all jerked our heads around to look, and the teacher said, “didn’t you hear him just say that that group of people were sinners?”
And that’s how I think about today’s reading from the Sermon on the Mount. I have been telling you the last two weeks, that the Sermon on the Mount was a radical statement, a terrible sermon, by Jesus going way beyond the law of the Old Testament. Do you remember the verse last week that I told you was key, the verse that unlocks this whole sermon?“unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."Matt. 5:20
Today’s gospel picks up four instances in Judaism, where Jesus says, keeping the law, being righteous isn’t enough. Following the rules, being a good citizen-isn’t enough.
Murder, Adultery, Divorce, lying. All punishable sins in Judaism-all against the law. And Jesus says, they aren’t the problem. The problem is what is behind the act, what is in the heart, the intentions behind the deeds-those are what are the real sin.
The thing is, I know that’s true. But it’s awfully hard. I started thinking of some of the ways taht holding on to anger and hate had murdered people in my life.
“There is a true story about two farmers in Canada. One day the dog of one farmer got loose and mauled to death the two-year-old child of his neighbor. The devastated father cut off all relationship with his neighbor, and the two men lived in cold, defiant enmity for years. Then one day a fire devastated the property of the dog-owning farmer, destroying his barn and all his equipment. He was unable to plow and plant, and so his future appeared doomed. Except that the next morning he woke up and found all his fields plowed and ready for seed. Upon investigation, he discovered that his grieving neighbor had done this good deed. Humbly the rescued farmer approached his neighbor and asked him if he had plowed his fields -- and, if so, why. The answer was clear: "Aye," the former enemy said. "I plowed your fields- so that God can live."
You expect to hear stories like this in church-stories of forgiveness and almost unbelievable changes of heart. But that is what Jesus is teaching-a real change of heart-not just right living “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."Matt. 5:20
Most of us will never murder another human being-but all of us know what it is to hate. Most of us will never take another person’s life-but we know what it is to hold on to a terrible grudge. Most of us will never end another person’s life-but we know what it is to hold on to feelings of spite and anger against another. And in the long run, Jesus teaches, this becomes just as bad as the act of murder. Then he goes on to teach about abusing vows, abandoning relationships, breaking our promises. Each one, when done as an act, can be prosecuted in the courts. But it’s our hearts where the real damage is done. It’s inside of us where the real sin lies. And that’s where Jesus separates himself from the “good” Pharisees. Most of us can keep most of the laws, most of the time. But the hard part for me-is letting go of the things that I really want to hold on to-the lies, the anger, the hate, the broken promises. I don’t just keep those inside-there is a part of me that likes holding on to them. And that’s , in the words of that farmer, when God cannot live. I can keep the law fairly easily-but it’s loving what’s behind the law-that, for me, is very hard.
Last fall a debate was arranged between Christopher Hitchens, the famous writer, columnist and professional atheist-and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The debate was about the place of religion in the modern world. There were 2700 seats at the hall and they sold out in a few hos. People were scalping $20 tickets for $500. FOR A DEBATE ON RELIGION! Let me tell you that Christopher Hitchens is a “Identified as a “champion of the "New Atheism" movement,”. In 2007 he published a bestselling book, “God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything”. Tony Blair, on the other hand, resigned as Prime Minister in 2007, converted to Catholicism, and then started the Tony Blair Faith Foundation to promote understanding between religions.
Hitchens asked "Is it good for the world to worship a deity that takes sides in wars and human affairs, to appeal to our fear and to our guilt – is it good for the world?"To terrify children with the image of hell ... to consider women an inferior creation. Is that good for the world?" Hitchens asked as he opened the debate.
Hitchens fueled the debate by criticizing religion for blocking peace in the Middle East, perpetuating poverty by subjugating women as inferior and causing numerous conflicts including the genocide in Rwanda – a country he says "is the most Christian country in the world, and one which many of the people who committed the crimes are now hiding in the pulpit."
Blair acknowledged that religion has been used to lead people to commit indescribable acts, but it has also led people to commit acts of goodness."Health care in Africa has been delivered by those motivated by their religion ... The abolition of slavery was achieved by combined secularism and non-secularism. At least accept that there are people who are doing great things because of their faith," Blair said. At one point Hitchens was detailing all the wrongs that religious fanaticism had committed-every religion. And Blair responded that even if there was no religion, fanaticism would continue, because it was so much a part of the human heart. 68% of the people who left thought that Hitchens had won the debate-and religion was more dangerous than “no religion”.
Are we doing great things-because of our faith? Leo Tolstoy once wrote, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
Jesus goes up on the mountain and say, it’s not about loving the law-it’s about the law of love. And then in hard words, in demanding teachings, Jesus told those gathered that they needed to change their hearts.
That is very hard to hear, even harder to do. You have heard that it was said that we are to keep the law, but Jesus said, go beyond the law. Go to your heart. Go to why the law is there, go to why we do something, our motives, our intentions- nd change that. For when the heart is changed, there will be no need for the law.
Recently the Washington Post did a story about Aaron Miller, who has been one of the chief United States negotiators for peace in the Middle East. Mr. Miller recently changed the venue of his work. Rather than operating at the global, political level, he decided to work at the local, personal level. He has become President of Seeds of Peace, a non-profit organization that tries to enable reconciliation between Arab and Israeli teenagers through one-on-one encounters. Mr. Miller is convinced that the only hope left [in the middle east] is at the grassroots level. Miller quoted a young participant in the Seeds for Peace program, who said, "In order to make peace with your enemy, you have to make war with yourself." In other words, we must battle our own hateful instincts.”
Jesus goes up on a mountain and turns the world upside down. He challenges all the good Jews listening to him to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees. Change your heart, he teaches, so that God can live.
“unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."Matt. 5:20

Epiphany means? “a sudden realization: a sudden intuitive leap of understanding, especially through an ordinary but striking occurrence.”

You Are the Salt Of the Fire

2011-02-07T09:32:00.000-05:00

Sermon-5 Epiphany Year A-Feb. 6, 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.
Matthew 5:13-20
[Jesus said:] "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." \

I told you last week that for four weeks we will hear Jesus speaking in the Sermon on the Mount. Last week you heard the Beatitudes, the blessings. Remember? This week picks up where last week left off. Jesus is still on the mountain. He’s still teaching. So you know the background.
Remember last summer (oh, yes, remember last summer- the warmth, the green grass, the…) ok. We had a verse from the gospel of Luke that I told you would influence every lesson for the following 4 months. The verse was: “he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Luke 9:51.Well here is the verse that will influence everything you will hear in the sermon on the Mount: , “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." The last verse of today’s reading. Jesus is teaching what it means to follow him.
I have told you many times, that the Pharisees were good people, righteous people. They lived very obedient lives, following the Torah, the Jewish law. But they tended to follow the law, literally, legally. They tended to scrupulously do what the law commanded, no more, no less. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus tells those who listened to him, you have to go deep inside the law, you have to be better than just a good citizen-you have to be different, better, MORE than just righteous-you have to not just follow the letter of the law, you have to obey what was behind the law-you have to follow the spirit and reason for the law! And this verse is the key: “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
This is harsh language. You have to be better than good. Does that sound a little, demanding to you? A little difficult? Maybe even too good?
I like it better when Jesus talks about forgiving me, or accepting me. I told you last week that the Beatitudes were words of revolution-blessed are the empty, those who are broken-hearted, those who powerless, those who are desperate for justice. Those are the ones Jesus said are blessed. That made no sense. And asking us to be better than good-that may be too hard, too. I don’t know if I can be better than the Pharisees. And yet, I think this is what the sermon on the mount is asking us to do, why it is considered so revolutionary. Who we are to be- different, better than the ones who simply- obey the law. Go to the intention, the purpose of the law, Jesus tells them, and obey that!
Think about that while I go down a different road for a while.
Jesus uses two very ordinary images in today’s teaching-salt and light. The phrases are very emphatic-You are the salt of the earth; "You are the light of the world.”
What was salt used for? It was used for seasoning, preservation, and purifying (2 Kg. 2:19-22). It was used to ratify covenants (Num. 18:29; 2 Chr. 13:5) and in liturgical functions (Ex. 30:35; Lev. 2:13; Ezek. 43:24; Ezra 6:9). To eat salt with someone signified a bond of friendship and loyalty (Ezra 4:14; Acts 1:4). Salt scattered on a conquered city reinforced its devastation (Jg. 9:45) (Reid, 35).In rabbinic metaphorical language, salt connoted wisdom (Hill, 115). Today, salt adds flavor to food, cures food, creates traction on icy roads, and can serve as an antiseptic in wounds. It also used to be rubbed on newborn children, and understood as a metaphor for wisdom.

When I am blessing water for holy water I add a pinch of salt because it is believed that salt was necessary to cast out evil. You probably have heard of most if not all of these, right?
But there is something else, another use for salt that Jesus was referring to in his teaching-one you probably have never heard of before. Listen to what salt was primarily used for in 1st century Israel:
In ch.5:v.13, the salt referred to was the leveling agent for paddies made from animal manure, the fuel for outdoor ovens used in the time of Jesus. Young family members would form paddies with animal dung, mix in salt from a salt block into the paddies, and let the paddies dry in the sun. When the fuel paddies were lit in an oven, the mixed-in salt would help the paddies burn longer, with a more even heat. When the family had used up the salt block, they would throw it out onto the road to harden a muddy surface. This is why the verse reads: "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
Jesus saw his followers as leveling agents in an impure world. Their example would keep the fire of faith alive even under stress. Their example would spread faith to those mired in the cultural "dung." But if their example rang empty, they were worthless; they would be dug into the mud under the heels of critics.” (from word-sunday.com).
In other words Jesus is telling his listeners-be the salt that makes the fire better .
Remember what Epiphany means? “a sudden realization: a sudden intuitive leap of understanding, especially through an ordinary but striking occurrence.”
:You are the salt of the earth”, a very ordinary, common occurrence. We are not a preservative, not something to make food taste good, not a deicer, not a sign of friendship, not any of those things-be the salt-we are the element in life that is supposed o make the fire burn brighter, to make the fire last longer.
“Thomas Long writes; the challenge is indeed formidable for Christians in the 1st century were "a small group trying with mixed results to live out an alternative life, set down in the midst of a teeming, fast-changing culture that neither appreciates nor understands them….The hardest part is not in being Christian for a day, but being faithful day after day, maintaining confidence in what, for all the world, appears to be a losing cause." Continuing to burn brighter, longer-that’s the hard part. “remind the congregation of who they are and what Jesus calls them to do in the world, no matter how great the obstacles they face, or what messages bombard them from the surrounding culture. …"Jesus is saying that what the people of God do in the world really counts" (Matthew, Westminster Bible Companion).
“Indeed, when people encounter us – as individuals and as communities of faith – they should see and sense more: they should feel hope, they should feel the possibility of a "different world," Charles Cousar writes, "marked by unheard-of reconciliation, simple truth-telling, outrageous generosity, and love of one's enemies" (Texts for Preaching Year A).
I like that. I really like the idea that what we believe, and what we do impacts the world. I like the idea that we are called to be salt and light to a world that is desperately in need of a long burning fire and understanding. What if when people talked about us (meaning Christians) they said with awe. These are people of “unheard-of reconciliers, simple truth-tellers, outrageously generous, great lovers of their enemies”
We need to be better than those who only, merely, simply keep the law. The world is full of good people, law abiding people, people who obey the rules and keep the commandments. Jesus taught from the mountain that we have to be more than that, more than only,simply, merely righteous. He calls us to be “unheard-of reconciliers, simple truth-tellers, outrageously generous, great lovers of their enemies”.
Keeping the law, most of the time, is easy. Christianity is not about doing the easy thing “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees,” This is why Jesus climbed a mountain to teach. This is why he drove away so many of the Pharisees -because he called them to be the kind of salt that actually made a difference -the kind that was mixed in with the world so that the fire kept burning. “when people encounter us – as individuals and as communities of faith – they should see and sense more: they should feel hope, they should feel the possibility of a "different world,” Amen.

Bless Me Less!

2011-01-31T09:44:00.000-05:00

Sermon-4 Epiphany Year A-Jan. 30, 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.
5When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Ok, I like to start this way so that long after you have forgotten the sermon, you’ll remember your Bible. The name for the verses from Matthew today is _____________ (the Beatitudes). It is the most famous part of Jesus’ most famous sermon, the Sermon on the _________ (Mount). You’re going to be hearing from the Sermon on the Mount the next 4 weeks. This is the longest of the 5 sermons that Jesus has in the gospel of Matthew. Scholars believe that Matthew has grouped Jesus’ words into 5 sermons because it reminds the Jewish people of the 5 books of _________(Moses). In other words, Jesus is supposed to be the new Moses. That’s how Matthew portrays Jesus.
So this is the first words of Jesus’ first sermon. Ok, why are they called “the beatitudes”? (and despite Robert Schuller they are not the “Be” attitudes). Because Beatitude is the Latin word for blessing. How many Beatitudes does Matthew have in his gospel? Nine. Ok, The Beatitudes are the first part of the first sermon in the gospel of Matthew. The Sermon on the Mount is chapters 5-7. It is the first of 5 sermons by Jesus in Matthew. The word Beatitude comes from the Latin word for blessed, and there are 9 of them.
There’s a big argument as to whether they are in two sets of four or 3 sets of 3 but that’s enough facts for today. Let me tell you what I think the Beatitudes are about: they are about turning the world upside down. The Sermon on the Mount is a sermon of challenge. It’s not Jesus changing Moses’ Law, but interpreting it in a new and exciting way.
Think about it, when do you say that you are blessed? When something happens to you that is good, wonderful, propitious-right? How often do you say, “I was mugged last night-what a blessing!” or “someone just stole my identity and all my credit card numbers-I am sooooo blessed!”. We don’t say that. Sometimes we might say that someone died, and that it was a blessing-because they were suffering so much. But in the beatitudes Jesus is trying to teach his disciples (and the crowds who were eavesdropping) that to follow him was to live a different kind of life-to have different values, different goals, different dreams. Remember what season we’re in? Epiphany. “a sudden realization: a sudden intuitive leap of understanding, especially through an ordinary but striking occurrence.”
People listening to Jesus’ teaching expected him to praise those who were well, rich, and comfortable. He didn’t. They expected him to pronounce a blessing on the happy, contented, and strong. He wouldn’t. Jesus chose the poorest, the emptiest, the saddest, the people hurting the most-and said, these are the people most open to God-these are the ones who will be filled. Does that make sense? Of course not. Does it strike you as odd who Jesus doesn’t choose as “Blessed” (from Alyce MacKenzie): “Blessed are the self-reliant (not the poor in spirit), the cheerful (not those who mourn), the bold (not the meek), the proactive and the ambitious (not those who hunger and thirst for righteousness), those who demand to be treated fairly (not the merciful), those with a single, driving ambition (not the pure in heart), those who stand up for themselves (not the peacemakers), those who have a high quality of life (not the persecuted), and those who have a good reputation (not those who are reviled and slandered).”
Jesus told his disciples when we have lost what was most important to us, that’s when God steps in-that’s when we feel God’s touch, that’s when we hear God’s voice. Until then, we are spending so much time thinking that we are in control of our lives, that we have very little room for God. Jesus wants people to see blessing as their inner life being filled by God, not when their outer life is going the way they want.
In 1976 I was visiting Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp ever built, a few miles outside Munich. A German Lutheran pastor showed us around. He had been a political prisoner there in World War II, and in those days former inmates were stoill being asked to be guides. As he showed our group around he said, “in here we were stripped of every possible form of human self-respect. All we had left was divine dignity.” That’s the beatitudes. When there is nothing left, that’s when God’s blessing is most powerful.
The first four blessings, 1)poor in spirit, 2) those who mourn, 3) the powerless (the meek) 4) and those who are desperate for justice –those are who Jesus is blessing here. Those are the ones most open to Christ, most available to the voice, the touch.
As Alyce MacKenzie, a Methodist preaching professor (noted above-who I seem to quote every week) writes: “This blessedness is not a state of passive resignation to present hardships. It is a positive gift he gives to those who follow him with faith despite present adversities (New Century Bible Commentary: Gospel of Matthew, 110)….
When the things that bring us strength and hope are taken away, Jesus says, that’s when we are most open to the power and blessing of God.
Look at the next 4 beatitudes. Here is Jesus teaching what his followers -those who are poor in spirit, grieving, powerless, desperate for justice are like - are like: 7“Blessed are the merciful, …. 8“Blessed are the pure in heart, …. 9“Blessed are the peacemakers, …. 10“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
First Jesus talks about those who have lost so much, then he describes as blessed those who respond out of that emptiness-AND seem to do all the wrong things-the merciful, those devoted to God, the peacemakers, the persecuted. I don’t want to be in the first group-nor in the second. It’s just too hard. What happens to the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted? They get run over. They are forgotten. People make fun of them. They are ridiculed. Look at the 9th beatitude: “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Who are people reviling? Who are the persecuted? Those who minister out of their blessing.
That is what happens to the blessed. First you lose those few things that keep us going, then when we try to act decently and kindly, we are reviled. Sound appealing? How many really want to be blessed like this?
This is the opening words of the most popular sermon Jesus ever gave. They are very hard, very demanding-and very revolutionary. This is not the feel good Jesus. This is the Jesus who is opening up the 5 books of Moses and reinterpreting them in new ways. His teaching in the Sermon on the Mount is going to be about how God’s kingdom is so very different that the human kingdom. This is his opening shot-it’s going to continue for 4 more weeks.
A woman was walking along the street one night and came upon a man walking around under the streetlight , staring intently at the ground. She asked him what he was doing, and he replied that he was looking for his car keys. She offered her help and started looking. After about 15 minutes of intense searching she asked, “Are you sure you dropped them here?” “Oh No,” he answered, “I dropped them near my car”, he replied, and pointed to the other side of the street. “Well, why are we looking over here”? she responded, barely able to hide her exasperation. “Well, because there’s no light over there!” he answered.
Jesus brought the light to where the lost were. Matthew wrote down these words to his generation of Christians who were scared, empty, and discouraged. They felt helpless and powerless in the face of persecution, they often felt that God had left them-and Jesus’ words of blessing gave strength to weak knees and drooping arms. It didn’t lift them all the way up-but it did let them know that when they were most alone, most empty, most powerless, most discouraged, that God was coming in to their lives. Regardless of what was happening in the circumstances of their lives, Jesus was teaching them, God would be filling them with a divine dignity. It is not easy hearing who is blessed-or WHEN we are blessed-unless you are feeling poor in spirit, powerless, broken hearted, and persecuted. Then, more than anything else in the would, you will want to hear that God is coming into your life.

A Sudden Realization

2011-01-25T09:51:00.002-05:00

Sermon-3 Epiphany Year A-Jan. 23, 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.

, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

Do you ever listen to this reading and think, “I could never do that”? Drop everything and run to Jesus? Every time I’ve ever done this reading in a Bible study this is the pattern of conversation:“oh, those fishermen, they had so much faith! I could never leave everything and (fill in the blank-be a missionary, go door to door, be a professional Christian”). That’s the fist response. Then someone asks me, “do you really think they responded that quickly (like I would know).” Then someone says, “I don’t think snap decisions like that are a good idea (and then they will tell some terrible story about someone who made an snap decision and wound up losing all their money to a Nigerian con man). And the Bible study kind of goes downhill from there-about whether these fishermen really were right to act so impulsively.
This is the season of Epiphany, the season of : “a sudden realization: a sudden intuitive leap of understanding, especially through an ordinary but striking occurrence.”
This is the season when one day we’re walking along and we realize something new-even though we’ve seen it a million times before. One of my favorite stories is about Anna Power Scheffer. She grew up here, attended church here almost every Sunday until she became an adult. One day she was back visiting and she said, “you know, I have been here for hundreds of your sermons-but I never listened to one. I listened to the one today- you know what, it wasn’t bad!”
This is from Alyce MacKenzie, a professor of preaching in Texas:
“In all four gospels, people made what looks like a snap decision to become disciples of Jesus. But things look a little different when we look at their decisions in the flow of that particular gospel's story. Then it looks like the snap decision may have been one step in an ongoing process. It seems likely that the disciples had been thinking about Jesus for a while and about what the impact of following him might be.
Each gospel has a different definition of what it means to be a disciple, to follow Jesus. In John it means to believe. In Luke, to be a disciple means to have compassion on the poor and the sick. In Mark, to be a disciple means to be willing to suffer,
[And in each of the gospels the story right before the call, and right after always explain what it means to be a disciple]
And in Matthew, to be a disciple of Jesus means to be willing to follow his teaching and to do God's will. The call of the first disciples in Matthew comes right after Jesus' brief teaching about the purpose of his ministry (Mt. 4:12-17) and right before the Sermon on the Mount. So the disciples make (what sounds like) a "snap" decision to spend their lives as salt and light for the world by living by Jesus' teachings. These teachings fulfill, the heart of the Law: to love God with one's whole being and one's neighbor as oneself. ….The life of the disciple, which begins with what may look like a sudden decision, becomes a series of recommitments to that decision, day in and day out, every day of our lives.”
We don’t just make one time only snap decisions to follow Jesus, to become fishers of people. We usually have to make the decision every day. What may look like a snap decision to someone else, has usually been building up in us for a long time. You want your life to mean something. You want your life to matter. You want to be part of something bigger than just you. You want to make a commitment that draws every part of you. No one ever became a Christian because they wanted to remain exactly the same. Amen.

A Sudden Realization

2011-01-10T09:27:00.000-05:00

Sermon-1 Epiphany Year A-Jan. 9, 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.
Matthew 3:13-17
13Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

You’ve heard this story before, right? Jesus goes out to John in the wilderness , baptizing people in the river Jordan, and he asks to be baptized. You’re familiar with it, right? So, what’s your favorite part? It’s a very short gospel reading-some of you have heard it dozens of times-which part do you like the best? Which part of this short episode speaks loudest to you?
We’re in the season of Epiphany. Here’s a definition of Epiphany that I like: ? a sudden realization: a sudden intuitive leap of understanding, especially through an ordinary but striking occurrence. A sudden realization. The season starts with the coming of the wise men on January 6th. And every year the first Sunday in Epiphany we hear the story of the baptism of Jesus. Then for the next several weeks we will hear about other epiphanies, other sudden realizations. Every week in the gospels. And every year this season ends with the great epiphany of Jesus being transformed on the mountaintop. That’s all I want to tell you about this season for now. But I have much to say about baptism.
Tertullian the early Christian theologian wrote about baptism in the 2nd century: "When we are going to enter the water," he says, "we solemnly profess that we disown the devil, his pomp, and his angels. Hereupon we are thrice immersed, making a somewhat ampler pledge than the Lord has appointed in the Gospel. Then, when we are taken up, we taste first a mixture of milk and honey. And from that day we refrain from the daily bath for a whole week.” Did you know that early Christians were always baptized naked? They would go under the water and when they came up they were then dressed in a white robe symbolizing purity. “It was a sign that they had literally put on Christ like a garment. They wore those robes for a long period as a reminder of who they were and what they had done.” That would increase attendance on baptism Sundays, wouldn’t it?
You may think that the baptism of Jesus story is pretty harmless, but in the first century Christians were very embarrassed by this story. Why would Jesus, the Son of God, their savior, need his sins washed away? It was one of the “scandals” of Christianity. The baptism of Jesus was terribly embarrassing to the church. These days it is usually an opportunity for a party. The Rev. Dr. Bill J. Leonard the dean of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity, tells this story about baptism in the Baptist church: …in 1807, a Kentucky slave woman named Winnie was disciplined by the Forks of Elkhorn Baptist Church, where she was a member, for saying that "she once thought it her duty to serve her mistress and her master, but since the Lord had converted her [since her baptism] she had never believed that any Christian [could keep] Negroes or slaves." And she got into more trouble with the church for saying that "there were thousands of white people wallowing in hell for their treatment of Negroes--and she did not care if there was many more.”
So when you (again) hear today the story of Jesus being baptized, what’s your favorite part? Does the story have the power to move you? To free you? Make you think? If you don’t feel scandalized or intrigued by the story, do you feel any interest in it at all? How about scared? Listen to this story from The Scott Black Johnston, senior pastor of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York
“Early Christian icons, devotional pictures of this scene at the Jordan River, depict Jesus submerged up to his neck in the water. John stands nearby, gently touching the Messiah's head. Above, a lone dove glides down a ray of heaven-sent light, while on shore, angels wait with ready towels for God's beloved Son to emerge. My friend with the water collection, Stan, once pointed out to me that these icons usually include a curious figure. There in the water along with Jesus you can often find a small elderly man carrying a jug. He is the river god, the spirit of the Jordan [River], the sometime enemy of humankind. This aqueous [water] sprite reminds viewers that water is not always so friendly. It destroyed the earth in Noah's time. It threatened to swamp the disciples' boat in a storm. It nearly drowns both Peter and Paul. In one Eastern icon (Ohrid, Yugoslavia, c.1300), Jesus raises his foot to squash this river god. And that's not the only adversary that the Messiah will find in the depths. The waters of the Jordan in these icons are frequented by dragons and great sea serpents. In these icons, when Jesus goes into the river, he goes to do battle against the powers of evil.
So when you hear the story of Jesus being baptized do you imagine him fighting the river spirits? The dragons and sea serpents of the Jordan? Do you see Jesus, gentle Jesus, going to war? Setting prisoners free? Rescuing people from hell?
I tell you all this because when you hear a story a lot it’s hard to stay focused, to stay interested. But you know what I hear when this story is told? When Jesus comes up out of the water “the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
When I hear the story of Jesus baptism, I hear a story of approval and acceptance-I hear a story of love. I think of that every time we have a baptism here. The first baptism was a story of God loving his son so much that he couldn’t NOT say it. He didn’t tell the people to follow Jesus, or to bow down to him, or throw money at him-or even to give him a party. All he said was, “I love you so much, and I am so proud of you.” And I think to myself, this is what every person, no matter how old, whatever the circumstances, this is what every person wants and needs to hear-from God, from the church. When our new life begins with God, that’s what we need to hear-not promises, not threats, not warnings, not enticements-we need to hear what every child craves to hear from a loving parent-I love you, you’re mine, I am so proud of you.
Fr. Henri Nouwen was a famous Catholic writer, speaker, teacher, when he decided in his 60s to leave that life behind, and to share his life with mentally handicapped people at the L'Arche community of Daybreak in Toronto, Canada. He wrote this in a sermon many years ago: “I would like to speak to you about the spiritual life as the life of the beloved. As a member of a community of people with mental disabilities, I have learned a lot from people with disabilities about what it means to be the beloved. Let me start by telling you that many of the people that I live with hear voices that tell them that they are no good, that they are a problem, that they are a burden, that they are a failure. They hear a voice that keeps saying, "If you want to be loved, you had better prove that you are worth loving. You must show it." But what I would like to say is that the spiritual life is a life in which you gradually learn to listen to a voice that says something else, that says, "You are the beloved and on you my favor rests."You are the beloved and on you my favor rests. Jesus heard that voice. He heard that voice when He came out of the Jordan River. I want you to hear that voice, too. It is a very important voice that says, "You are my beloved son; you are my beloved daughter. I love you with an everlasting love. I have molded you together in the depths of the earth. I have knitted you in your mother's womb. I've written your name in the palm of my hand, and I hold you safe in the shade of my embrace. I hold you. You belong to Me and I belong to you. You are safe where I am. Don't be afraid. Trust that you are the beloved. That is who you truly are."
I want you to hear that voice. It is not a very loud voice because it is an intimate voice. It comes from a very deep place. It is soft and gentle. I want you to gradually hear that voice. We both have to hear that voice and to claim for ourselves that that voice speaks the truth, our truth. It tells us who we are. That is where the spiritual life starts -- by claiming the voice that calls us the beloved.
This is the Epiphany season, a season when we hear stories of sudden realizations: sudden intuitive leaps of understanding, especially through an ordinary but striking occurrence. This is the season when we talk about the light bulb coming on, and we can see something ordinary in a new way. Today we talk about the baptism of Jesus, a story you may have heard a 1000 times. But today, see if there is an epiphany for you, any kind of realization. What do you hear when you hear the story now? What speaks to you loudest? Maybe God is trying to let you know in some mysterious, intimate way, how much he loves you and approves of you. Maybe today you can make an intuitive leap and hear a voice claiming you as his beloved. Perhaps when we hear the old familiar story of baptism we will hear God not just speaking to Jesus-but also speaking to us. Amen.

The Whole Christmas Story

2011-01-05T11:14:00.000-05:00

Sermon-1st Sunday after Christmas Dec. 26, 2010

Lord Jesus!. Oh, make your word a swift word, passing from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the life. Oh Lord, hearken, and do so for your blessed Son’s sake, in whose sweet name we pray. — George Herbert, 1593-1633

Years ago I was talking with a woman from another church and she told me that at THEIR church, they were going to have a Living Nativity outside their building, and they were going to tell the WHOLE story of Christmas (by that I am pretty sure she meant angels, shepherds AND wise men) not just a donkey and a cow with the Holy Family. But because I am such a smart aleck, I said, “oh, the WHOLE story? So you’re going to have the slaughter of the Bethlehem children and Joseph, Mary and Jesus having to escape into Egypt? Needless to say, I was not asked to attend the performance.
This gospel is read every year on the Sunday after Christmas, but we either have Lessons and Carols that day or because most people don’t go to church the Sunday after Christmas, very seldom is this story heard: Are you starting to understand why? It is filled with evil kings, the massacre of children, references to Israel’s past of inconsolable sorrow. And the story ends with the holy family having to go into exile into Egypt. The Christmas story that we think of as beautiful is actually filled with evil, sadness, pain, escape, deception, slaughter, and illegal immigration. You don’t see too many of these scenes on people’s front yards at Christmas, do you? Can you imagine if we told this story every year on Christmas eve? “ one commentator once compared the second chapter of Matthew 2 to “an obnoxious and most unwelcome guest at your Christmas party--the kind of person who talks too loudly and who spills eggnog all over your nice Persian rug.”

When we hear THE WHOLE CHRISTMAS STORY it is unsettling, to say the least.

So, I’m going to give you a little more history than you’re used to because it may be a while before you’ll hear it again and it may help you to understand it a little more fully.
Remember the story about the Wise Men? How Herod told them to let him know where this new king would be born so he could worship them, too? But they were warned in a dream and returned home by a different way-avoiding Herod. That’s usually where our knowledge stops. But after that (verses 12), Herod does find out that the “new king” will be born in Bethlehem, so to make sure he “gets” Jesus, he kills every boy under the age of two in the town of Bethlehem. Usually the number given is about 120, but I don’t know why. Before that happens Joseph, Jesus’ father, is warned in a dream that Herod is coming and takes the family and escapes to Egypt. They stay there for 2 years until Joseph has another dream that it’s safe to return to Galilee (Herod is dead and one of his few living sons is now on the throne). Maybe you’ve heard all of this before. (Let’s see a show of hands). Let me give you some more background.
Herod, the king mentioned in this story was a tyrant. He had 10 wives and dozens of children. He killed many members of his own family (wives, in-laws, and especially several of his sons fearing that they might try to take over his kingdom). The word for pig in Latin and the word for son are only 1 letter apart. Caesar Augustus, the Roman emperor at the time of Herod, once punned that it would be safer to be one of Herod’s pigs, than one of his sons (Jews can’t eat pork, get it?). When Herod finally died after ruling for 37 years, they held a national day of celebration and a festival-he was so hated.
The idea that Herod could order the death of all the male children in a little village is not preposterous. He was very capable of doing such an atrocity (Danielle-“she’s evil”).
Rachel in the quote from Jeremiah ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’[So Rachel] She became a symbol for Israel, in other words, of inconsolable sorrow. How can anyone console you when so much that seems to happen to you is unfair and full of sadness? So, when the Babylonians carried off Israel into exile centuries later, Jeremiah wrote that it was like old Rachel was still crying out from her grave.”
And one more thing-Rachel was buried just outside of Bethlehem. So when Matthew quotes Jeremiah in today’s gospel, he is using a code word for Israel and its inconsolable sorrow-and connecting Rachel and her sorrow to Bethlehem. Even today, if you visit Bethlehem, there are long lines into the tomb where Rachel is buried
Are you starting to understand why people never hear this gospel story? It is filled with a lot of bad stuff. This is THE WHOLE CHRISTMAS STORY: evil, sadness, pain, escape, deception, slaughter, and illegal immigration. You don’t see too many of these scenes on people’s front yards at Christmas, do you? Can you imagine if we told this story every year on Christmas eve? Christmas is supposed to be beautiful and sweet, but the truth is that the Christmas story wasn’t like that.
“In an episode of the TV series “M*A*S*H” back in the 1980s, two doctors and a nurse desperately try to keep a fatally wounded soldier from dying on Christmas Day lest the man's wife and children back home forever after have to associate Christmas with their loved one's death. When the man expires just before midnight anyway despite their best efforts, Dr. Pierce moves the clock hands forward twenty minutes and then puts “December 26” on the death certificate. "No child should have to connect Christmas to death" he says in defense of his unethical faking of a medical record.”

But death is a part of Christmas. And so is new life. And fear, and joy, and awe, and terror. This story is that God breaks into the world that is-not the world we want it to be. God breaks into the world and it is messy and scary and real. The Christmas story is God breaking into the world. It’s not that everything was, or will be, beautiful-it’s that God is with Mary and Joseph, and he will be with us. That’s the truth. Part of the good news is that the story isn’t beautiful-it’s real, and part of the story is that bad things happen to innocent people-and yet, God continues to be a part of Joseph and Mary’s lives. It is a story of challenge. And it is a story of faith. And that, is really The WHOLE CHRISTMAS STORY

Why Did He Come?

2011-01-05T11:12:00.000-05:00

Sermon-Christmas Eve Dec. 24, 2010
Lord Jesu!. Oh, make your word a swift word, passing from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the life. Oh Lord, hearken, and do so for your blessed Son’s sake, in whose sweet name we pray. — George Herbert, 1593-1633
Lord Jesu! Teach thou me, that I may teach them: Sanctify and enable all my powers; that in their full strength they may deliver thy message reverently , readily, faithfully, and fruitfully. Oh, make thy word a swift word, passing from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the life and conversation: that as the rain returns not empty, so neither may they word, but accomplish that for which it is given. Oh Lord, hear, Oh Lord, forgive! Oh Lord, hearken, and do so for thy blessed Son’s sake, in whose sweet name we pray. — George Herbert, 1593-1633
Fred Craddock, one of my favorite preachers, “tells the story of a preacher who loved to preach on big subjects and large issues every Sunday. From time to time some of his parishioners would complain of his big sermon topics and say they wanted something that helped them closer to home, helped them to get through the week but the pastor said they needed to learn to think beyond their petty concerns. So one week the pastor had to go to a denominational meeting in a large city and got one of his church members to go with him. When they reached the city, the pastor asked his church member to find a map so they could make their way to the meeting place. The church member reached over in the back seat and pulled up a globe of the world.”
So here is a sermon about petty concerns that is closer to home.
In central and west Africa there is the country of Cameroon. They have a traditional Christmas carol that they sing where the choir repeatedly asks, "Why did he come?"
"Why did he come?"
A few days ago there was an interview on National Public Radio with Mark Goldsmith. Six years ago he got involved with a not-for-profit program that encourages New York civic leaders to volunteer in city schools. He told them to put him in a tough school. He thought they would put him in east New York or South Bronx, really tough areas. Instead they asked him if he would go to jail. He was a 68 year old New York retired cosmetics executive. So they sent him to Rikers Island, the jail complex where most New York lawbreakers are sent. So many teenagers are incarcerated there that New York operates a public school there. 60% of those released from Rikers return. Again and again and again. “Goldsmith found out he had more in common with the inmates than he expected. He himself had once been a poor student and a college dropout. He knew what it was like to be an aimless young man with no clue how to get by.” It didn’t matter that he was old, Caucasian, and a businessman. The young men in jail had never ever met a successful human being in their lives. Goldsmith said, “They do not know a single person who can help them when they get out - not one.” So Goldsmith started an organization called “Getting Out and Staying Out”. Over the last 6 years they have placed 1500 young men in jobs. It is hard to imagine a 74 year old retired white cosmetics executive having anything in common with a 17 year old Latino gangbanger. And yet. Can you imagine how hard it is for these two to find anything in common, much less to learn from each other?
But Marc Goldsmith knew what it was to be one of these young men, aimless, clueless, with no hope, and never having known anyone who had achieved ANYTHING. And so he went there.
“Why did he come?”
Every year at Christmas I ring bells for the Salvation Army in front of Walmart for a 2 hour shift. I talk to folks, I see people I know, and a lot of people come up and thank me and bless me for what I am doing. But the best ones, every year, are the people who come up to the bucket and stuff in a wad of cash and say to me, “last year Salvation Army saved me.”
“Why did he come?”
The Christmas story makes no sense, none at all-which is why, I suppose, that we try to make a terrible, desperate story so beautiful and sweet. It is why, I suppose, why we tell the story of Santa Claus, a man who flies through the air in a reindeer drawn sleigh once a year carrying gifts for every child in the world. I guess we figure if we tell one fantastic story, why not tell another.
Mary was an unmarried teen age girl in a 3rd world country 2000 years ago. And she claimed that her child was the Son of God. It makes no sense (except that we’ve all known parents who believed their child was God). She was forced to travel about 70 miles on a donkey when she was 9 months pregnant. There was no hospital, no house, no designated space for a child to be born. So her child was birthed in a barn. 40% of all children in that era died before they were one, and this child looked like a good candidate. Can you imagine anyone farther away from who you are, your experience, than a child born to an unwed mother in 1st century Israel? Can you picture anyone you can relate to less than Jesus than us?
"Why did he come?"
One of my favorite stories was the one told by the character Leo on The West Wing several years ago. A man falls into a very deep hole and cannot get out. He yells and yells but no one hears him. Finally his best friend comes along and jumps down into the hole with him. “WHY DID YOU DO THAT?” yells the first man at his friend! Now we’re both stuck down here!” The friend says, “Yeah, I know, but I’ve been in this hole myself, and I know the way out.”
The Christmas story is an extraordinary one, that God would come as one of us into the world. That God would come as an infant in a barn in Bethlehem-a town of about 100 adults, in a 3rd world country, in the first century. That the same power that created the universe would come as the most powerless being there is. It makes no sense.
"Why did he come?"
The essence of hope, is when someone who is like me, can show me another possible future-I may not take it. It may take me a long time to understand it. It may make no sense to me, and I may not trust it, but someone like me showing me the way out, gives me hope. The Christmas story is about God coming as one of us, and showing us another way. It is unbelievable. But my experience with hope is that it is always hard to believe at the time.
Why did Jesus come? Because we needed him. Because we needed to believe that there was a purpose to our lives. Because we needed to believe that there was a loving God that cared about each of us. Why did Jesus come? He came to show us the way out.

A Good Night's Sleep

2010-12-20T11:41:00.001-05:00

Sermon-4 Advent- -December 19, 2010
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.”
The Very Rev. Samuel G. Candler is Dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip tells this story: “It was a few days before Christmas. A woman woke up one morning and told her husband, "I just dreamed that you gave me a pearl necklace for Christmas. What do you think this dream means?" "Oh," her husband replied, "you'll know the day after tomorrow."
The next morning, she turned to her husband again and said the same thing, "I just dreamed that you gave me a pearl necklace for Christmas. What do you think this dream means?" And her husband said, "You'll know tomorrow."
On the third morning, the woman woke up and smiled at her husband, "I just dreamed again that you gave me a pearl necklace for Christmas. What do you think this dream means?" And he smiled back, "You'll know tonight."
That evening, the man came home with a small package and presented it to his wife. She was delighted. She opened it gently. And when she did, she found-a book! And the book's title was "The Meaning of Dreams."
The writer 16th century writer Rabelais once said, "I never sleep comfortably except when I am at a sermon."
I know this is rather personal, but do you sleep very well? I mean, most of the time. I was in a group of guys, this is years ago, and someone mentioned that they usually slept in a chair most nights-something to do with their breathing and acid reflux. And someone else said that they didn’t sleep much either. One guy said that his wife’s snoring kept him awake most nights, and around the group it went. Out of about 8 guys there were only 2 that actually slept most nights all the way through. I am a terrible sleeper. I wake up often in the middle of the night, sometimes go out and work, watch tv, talk to the dogs, then back to bed. I asked my doctor about it, and he said I needed to drink less decaf. But one of the main things going on is that I fret-I stew-I worry. There will be something that’s heavy on my heart, and I just can’t seem to let it go. How many of you have looked at my e-mails at 4am and wondered, “what’s he doing up at this hour?” Sometimes I’ll go back to bed and get another hour or two of sleep.
And almost always when I finally get to my morning prayers, the problem, whatever it was, won’t seem so bad. You know how your mom always told you to “sleep on it”. It turns out she was right. There’s just something about getting up the next morning and whatever it was-it just doesn’t seem so overwhelming. It’s not that the problem has gone away-it just seems like I can handle it better-I can put it in perspective. I always realize the next morning that the world isn’t going to end, that life will go on, and that I will survive another day. It’s happened so often to me that I actually go to bed (the first time) knowing that whatever is troubling me, will be ok the next day. That’s a great comfort. Weeping may spend the night, but joy comes with the morning psalm 30:5
I tell you all this for two reasons-one, because I suspect that you have had this experience often, also. And secondly, because it is what happens in today’s gospel story. Joseph is described as “a righteous man” a good man-like most of us. This will come up a lot in the next year as we listen to the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew is always working at defining what it is “to be righteous”. What he means when he describes Joseph this way is that he was obedient to the Old Testament Law. Joseph was a good man, he followed the rules, he did the right things-and yet here his fiancé becomes pregnant. That might keep you up nights.
And so he goes to sleep, planning to break the engagement and not expose Mary to public humiliation. That is what a righteous man, a good man, does, that would have been the “right” thing to do. Brian Stoffregen of Faith Lutheran Church wrote this: “Perhaps what is at least as miraculous as the virginal conception is how Joseph's mind was changed. In the first century, marriages were still arranged. Their families may have determined that Joseph and Mary would be married when they were still young children. When Joseph finds out that Mary is pregnant, his "righteous" decision to divorce her is what the law and society expected him to do.
[Biblical scholar] Keener (A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew) notes: "Jewish, Greek, and Roman law all demanded that a man divorce his wife if she were guilty of adultery. . . . Mediterranean society viewed with contempt the weakness of a man who let his love for his wife outweigh his appropriate honor in repudiating her" (p. 91). Divorcing pregnant Mary was the right thing for Joseph to do.”
But in the night, Joseph has a dream. An angel speaks to him and tells him not to be afraid-he should go ahead and wed Mary-that Mary is pregnant with God’s child-and that this child will save his people. And when Joseph woke the next morning, he had a new attitude. And he understood is own righteousness in a new way. He decided to do what the dream angel had told him. He married Mary, and named the child Jesus-which means, God saves. Matthew, the gospel writer, tells us that this fulfilled the prophecy from Isaiah-that a child would be born that would be called Emmanuel-God with us.
I always think that despite what the angel told Joseph, that he had to be afraid. He must have been afraid of marrying this young woman. He must have been afraid of raising God’s child. Joseph was a righteous man, a good man-like most of us-and he had to be scared of doing this very hard thing. Joseph would have known his liabilities, his shortcomings. He had to think to himself, “I can’t do this, I’m just a normal Joe. I’m nothing special-why would God choose me?”
Mary gets all the glory for agreeing to do this hard thing that God asked her, but Joseph, too, had to do a very hard thing. He had to set aside his honor, he had to swallow his pride, and to a degree, he had to do something that was unrighteous. He had to wed this pregnant woman, and care for someone else’s child.
When we hear this story there are two miracles that are happening-one, is that God chooses to be one of us; and secondly, that ordinary everyday people are able to overcome their great fear, and work with God to make it happen. Have you ever thought how God needed Mary and Joseph to make Christmas happen? This isn’t about whether God could have done it without them. This is very simple: God chose these anonymous people, in a no account country, to tell the world the most important thing in the world. He didn’t choose miracle workers or kings, he chose these people-a carpenter and a teen age girl. It makes no sense. God could show his love for us in a million better ways than this. He could have chosen a million better people than these two. But I guess that’s the point. It becomes dangerous when we portray Mary and Joseph as saints, because God went out of his way to choose unbelievably normal people. God chose the ordinary to bring about the extraordinary. God chose these average commonplace people just so we would get it-he wanted to let us know how much he loved us. He didn’t love the good parts of us, the holy parts of us, the righteous parts of us-he loved all of us, every part of us, even the worst of us. And that’s why he chose these two people. He didn’t want only saints to feel as though they were loved-he wanted each of us to know it, also.
The Gospel of Matthew begins with God’s son being called, God with us. And the last verse of Matthew’s chapter ends with Jesus saying this, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”* What do you think God is trying to tell us? Not too subtle, is it?
We end the Sundays of Advent today, on the verge of the birth of Jesus. That gives us the opportunity to look once again at the circumstances that God arranged. People like us-like you and I-were chosen so that God could teach us about his love. That’s a terribly humbling reality. And if God could choose Joseph and Mary, then perhaps we are supposed to realize that God can be shown through everyone-even us. I don’t doubt that Joseph was scared, but he did what was needed. Maybe that’s the message for today, even when we are scared, even when we are having a bad night, even when our hearts are heavy, even when we are too worried to sleep, God will work even through us-if we let him.
Matthew 1:18-25

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
"Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,"
which means, "God is with us." When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

What Do We Hear, What Do We See?

2010-12-13T10:26:00.000-05:00

Sermon-3 Advent- -December 12, 2010
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.”
In about the year 28 John the baptizer attained public notice, not as a priest but as a prophet. He was active in the region of the lower Jordan Valley, from “Aenon near Salim” (near modern Nablus) to a point east of Jericho. His dress of an austere camel's hair garment was the traditional garb of the prophets, and his diet of locusts and wild honey represented either strict adherence to Jewish purity laws or the ascetic conduct of a Nazirite (a Jew especially vowed to God's service). His mission was addressed to all ranks and stations of Jewish society. His message was that God's wrathful judgment on the world was imminent and that, to prepare for this judgment, the people should repent their sins, be baptized, and produce appropriate fruits of repentance.
Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee and central Transjordan in the 1st century divorced his wife and married Herodias, the divorced wife of his half brother. This was illegal by Jewish law, and John the Baptist, denounced the king for his crime. Herod arrested him and had him killed. (from Biography.com)
You all know this story. In John’s world there were those were repentant-and those who were not. And he saw himself as one who prepared the people for the coming of and angry, vengeful God. So when he was in prison and he heard about the ministry of Jesus, his cousin, he had to wonder-was this the one he was preparing people for-or not.
It had to be very hard on John, believing that the end time would arrive soon-and Jesus was growing in popularity. John had a cult like following, so he had several of his followers go and ask Jesus directly-are you the one I am preparing the world for-or not?
And Jesus gives this answer, it is straight from the great prophet Isaiah: Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me."
How do you think John felt about that message? John’s life WAS offending people-on purpose. And Jesus said “blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” How do you think John felt when he heard that?
John’s message was harsh, demanding and fearful. Jesus’ ministry was full of healing, hope, and reconciliation. John’s message was “prepare for the coming of the savior”. Jesus message was “the time is now”. John refrained from most foods, obeying the dietary laws of Judaism, and was a strict judge. Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors, and preached a message of forgiveness. How do you think John felt as he heard what Jesus said and did?
John is the alarm clock that was to wake people up to their need for God. His task was to get people to stand up and watch. A pastor named Lindy tells this story : “My Dad used to try and get his cat to watch T.V. with him. Dad would point to the dog on the T.V. and would say, ."See kitty kitty, see the nice doggy?" but the cat would simply nuzzle up to Dad's finger instead of seeing what was being pointed to. Religion tends to be that way...nuzzling up to the pointers of life instead of what is being pointed to. John the Baptist was a pointer and he knew it. “
John the Baptist saw the future clearly-and it was nothing like Jesus. That had to be so disappointing for him. John’s vision was not a world of reconciliation and hope-it was a world of heaven and hell.
Advent is our season to listen to John the Baptist getting us ready. But he is the pointer-not what is being pointed to. And that’s what we hear today. The world that is coming is a world of hope, a world where the hurting are healed, the scarred are made whole, the desperate are calmed, and the hungry are fed.
But it’s not here yet. James Boyce, a professor of New Testament writes: If this Jesus is really the good news of God, then why is there still so much suffering and pain, evil and destruction, or hurt and brokenness among God's creation? Why doesn’t God fix the world? What is he waiting for? It’s easy to see why people believed in John. We get disappointed, too. We’re waiting and expecting. We want the healing to begin, the hurting to end, the judging to stop, and the hope to begin-don’t we?
Let me tell you a story written by Kate Huey-a Congregationalist pastor that I quote a lot: “I was driving around in my car this week, listening to NPR and thinking about this sermon, when I heard a most extraordinary interview of three women who had written a book together. One of the women is Jewish, one is Muslim, and one is Christian. After September 11, the Muslim woman, Ranya, was struggling with questions about her faith and her identity as a Palestinian American. She reached out to these two other women and began a difficult but ultimately rewarding interfaith conversation and friendship. Together they wrote a book called The Faith Club. Like Mary and Elizabeth, in challenging circumstances, they reached out to each other and found a way, together. The more I listened, the more interesting the conversation grew. Then, I was struck by one thing the Muslim woman said about the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, which had been one of the most painful issues for the women. Ranya (the Muslim woman)said, so simply and eloquently, "I just want an acknowledgement of the suffering of the Palestinian people; I want our suffering and loss acknowledged and honored; I believe that is the beginning of healing, reconciliation, and peace." It wasn't a song, really, but it was another woman's voice, speaking up for the suffering of her people and insisting, like Mary, that their voice be heard. The path of justice leads through compassion, through listening and honoring the experience and suffering of another.
At another point in the interview, the Jewish woman, Priscilla, spoke of her change of heart and mind about the whole Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She said that she moved from thinking of the Palestinians as an impersonal concept to thinking of her friend, Ranya, and that made everything different. What might happen, we wonder, if more and more people did take things personally – that is, if we thought of a person we know and love and if we honored their suffering, and the suffering of their people before we form an opinion or make a decision that affects them?
My heart aches, as I know yours do, too, for the suffering of people right now in places far away and close at hand, in places like Palestine and Israel and Lebanon and Iraq and the Sudan, and here in this city and in all our cities and neighborhoods and in many, many of our own homes. There are children and elderly people and so many other vulnerable people whose experience needs to be honored, whose stories need to be heard. I know we feel overwhelmed at times by the suffering and sorrow of the world. And yet, we have been shown a way and offered a promise: if those of us who are well fed and comfortable, those of us who have power, those of us who have a voice, get out of our comfort zones regularly and listen to the stories and experiences of others who are not so well fed, who live on the edge, who feel pressed down…well, honoring that experience and that pain, as Ranya said, is the beginning of reconciliation, healing, and peace. And aren't those the things that we really long for, deep down, in this Christmas season?”
John the Baptist was the pointer, but Jesus was the tv. We are called to listen and honor the experiences of others, and to be a voice of hope in a world that is crying in pain. We are surrounding our life here at Trinity with kindness this Advent-because the world-and especially we, need to hear that there is compassion, there is benevolence, there is courage alive and well-all around us. We need to see and to read “that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the sick are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” We know all too well that there is judgement and harshness in the world. We need to make sure as we listen to others speak of their pain, that we are speaking, and doing acts of kindness in response. We are called to be messengers of good news. Let us go and tell the world what we hear and see. Amen.

A Time To Come To Our Senses

2010-12-06T09:49:00.001-05:00

Sermon-2 Advent Year A-Dec. 5, 2010
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.
Every year on the second Sunday of Advent we hear about John the Baptist. He was an immensely popular figure in ancient Israel. All four gospels have him at the beginning of their stories. Non Biblical sources refer to him often. A religion grew up around him and was still active in the middle east until 200 years ago. One source (Wikipedia) has this: “He followed the example of previous Hebrew prophets, living austerely, challenging sinful rulers, calling for repentance, and promising God's justice. John is regarded as a prophet in Christianity, Islam,[7] the Bahá'í Faith,[8] and Mandaeism. “
He rose up at a critical time in Israel’s history, under Roman occupation. And within decades after his death Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple, the symbol for Judaism, was torn down. Many Jews at the time believed that the destruction of Jerusalem was due to the martyrdom of John the Baptizer.
I haven’t ever found him that popular among Christians. He is seen as a harsh, judgemental figure, austere, demanding. He had one message that the people of Israel responded to-but Christians today don’t find particularly appealing-“repent.” I can’t rehab his image for the 21st century, but I can explain a little bit about why he was so attractive.
The people of 1st century Israel were living in a time of great anxiety. There had been 3 major regime changes in their country over the previous 300 years-The Greeks, the Maccabeans, and now the Romans ruled them. There was extreme corruption and injustice. Taxation was high, public officials were competing to see who could steal the most from the people, and religious authorities had power-but little respect.
Several messiahs or “saviors” had come on the scene over the previous few decades, and each time their star had risen for awhile, only for them to be defeated and killed. The people wanted change, their wanted “something”, “someone “ they could trust, they could believe in who they could respect. They wanted desperately to see someone with integrity and honor.
Into this milieu came John. He lived in the wilderness several miles from Jerusalem, and had a dramatic lifestyle. His diet, clothing, and message were powerful and engaging. He appeared not only to be a person of honesty, but he resembled the people’s image of the great prophets of Israel’s history. He seemed to the hurting uneasy people of Israel to be holy-and a symbol of hope in the midst of great anxiety and powerlessness.
He essentially he had 2 messages-not one. He did call the people to repent, but repentance wasn’t guilt. He asked them to turn their lives around-to begin walking in a new direction. The Greek word that is used in scripture is “metanoia” and it is different than the word we usually associate with repent. Theologian Marcus Borg wrote this: “The biblical meaning of "repentance" is quite different from an apology. In the Jewish Bible, the Christian Old Testament, "repentance" means "to return" - that is, to return from exile, to return to life in the presence of God, to a life centered in God. -So apology and repentance, forgiveness and repentance, are quite different. Apology and forgiveness do not in themselves imply change. Repentance does.” John didn’t want people to feel bad, to count their sins, to be guilty-those are the things we associate with repentance. John wanted them to turn their lives around and begin living God centered lives. They weren’t supposed to be ashamed, he was calling them forward-not making them feel worse about themselves. As Frederick Buechner in his book titled "Wishful Thinking" defines repentance this way. "To repent is to come to your senses. It is not so much something you do as something that happens. True repentance spends less time looking at the past and saying, 'I'm sorry,' than to the future and saying 'Wow!.'"
So this Advent, let’s come to our senses. Let’s hear John, this harsh austere figure standing by the river in the wilderness who is calling people to return. We spend an awful lot of our Christian life feeling bad about ourselves, beating ourselves up, dwelling in guilt. Does that seem to help your relationship with God? Has that helped you become more holy?
Rev Tony Lang of St John’s Presbyterian Church once told this tale: Do you remember the story about the goldsmith who was asked by a child how many times he put the gold back into the fire? When did he know that all of the impurities were gone? Remember the goldsmith’s response? "When I can see my own face in the gold." Christ will not come to refine us until he can see his face in our own faces.
Don’t spend time this Advent feeling bad about who you are or what you’ve done. And especially in this holy season, don’t approach Christmas concentrating on your sins and shortcomings. Come to your sentences. Change your direction. As theologian Richard Jensen once wrote: “Often we think of repentance as an "I can", (I can change, I can improve, etc.). Better to think of repentance as an "I can't"...(I can't do it alone, only God can give me new life) . This is the “I can’t” season, the season of “coming to our senses”, the season of turning around. Every year on the second Sunday of Advent we hear this strange man yelling the same word, Repent. This year, let’s really listen to it. Amen.

The King of Irony

2010-11-22T11:37:00.001-05:00

Sermon-Christ the King Sunday-Proper 29- -Nov. 21, 2010
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.”
General Motors began selling stock last week after coming out of bankruptcy. President Obama introduced the START nuclear reduction treaty to the senate and went to Lisbon, Portugal to talk to NATO countries about Afghanistan. Unemployment fell in Michigan to a 2 year low. Ireland is on the verge of bankruptcy. There’s a new experimental drug out that may do wonders with cholesterol. And do you know what was the most dominant story in the news last week? Katie and William got engaged.
Friday night my wife MADE me watch an NBC special, “The Man Who Will Be King” about Prince Charles. The Prince, of ENGLAND. He’s not even Our prince. He’s England’s prince. So why do people care? Who cares who is the prince, or the king, of another country? We thought so little of royalty that we fought a war to get rid of them in our lives 235 years ago. And yet, here we are watching programs and spending time wondering when William and Katie will get married.
Today is Christ the King Sunday. It is the last Sunday of the church year. Every year you hear me preach about Jesus as a king. It is a fairly recent celebration as far as the church goes. In 1925 Pope Pius XI in response to the rise of dictatorships in Europe leading to World War I, saw people being manipulated and misled by these earthly leaders. He instituted this festival, Christ as our king, to try to get people to follow someone other than human kings and despots. Pius hoped the institution of the feast would have various effects. His goals were:
1. That nations would see that the Church has the right to freedom, and immunity from the state (Quas Primas, 32).
2. That leaders and nations would see that they are bound to give respect to Christ (Quas Primas, 31).
3. That the faithful would gain strength and courage from the celebration of the feast, as we are reminded that Christ must reign in our hearts, minds, wills, and bodies (Quas Primas, 33).
It wasn’t 100% effective. 14 years after the Pope called for this special day to acknowledge Jesus as ruler of all, the world was plunged into a second and even more terrible world war-led by new dictators and even worse despots. So much for papal encyclicals. So much for the power of the church to redirect peoples’ hearts.
Every year for the last umpteen years, on Christ the King Sunday, we here at Trinity do something “different”. Actually we do this on the Sunday closest to Thanksgiving but for this sermon’s sake I’ll make a stretch and say it’s on Christ the King Sunday (which it usually is)-we gather clothes for children who are cold and can’t afford to be warm. We’ve been doing this at Trinity for-how many years Teresa? _____. It is an odd way to honor a king. To clothe children who are cold but can’t afford new clothes. If you watched the news at the end of the week, William and Kate were trying to find just the right church for their wedding-it had to be huge, ostentatious, impressive-able to hold several thousand guests. That’s what we do for kings-and princes. And yet we have decided to gather clothes for children. Think about it-it’s a little strange, isn’t it? One of the big issues when Queen Elizabeth came to America a few years ago was whether our first couple (George and Laura) would bow and curtsey when they met her. Kings (and queens)are about money and power and authority. Roaylty are about manners and protocol.
And we celebrate Christ our king by helping the least in our world. It is supposed to strike us as odd. It is supposed to get us to open our eyes, and get our attention.
The gospel reading chosen today for Christ the King Sunday is Jesus on the cross. He is about to die and another person who is dying beside him, begins mocking him. Not very kinglike is it? Everything about Christ the King Sunday is supposed to make us squirm with irony. There is no power in this story, no wealth, no authority. It’s all about sacrifice, humility, and love. Three qualities we never ever associate with royalty.
The pope deciding to call the last Sunday of the church year, Christ the King Sunday, did not stop the worst thing the world has ever seen. It did not change nation’s actions, nor did it make the church more just and caring. It was interesting and curious calling the last Sunday of the church year Christ as our King, but not very effective.
So we do something else to show our allegiance to a king who suffers and dies-we give clothes to children.
Next week I am going to propose that we do something else, too. Beginning next week, the first Sunday of the season of Advent, I’m going to ask everyone to be more aware of the kindness in the world. The story of Jesus that we hear today is a man dying in a humiliating way on a cross. Next week we begin the story of a babe who couldn’t even find a house to be born in. So I am going to ask you to prepare your heart this Advent for kindness. In the parish hall starting next Sunday we will have newsprint everywhere. I want to see if we can fill them up with 1000 acts of kindness this Advent. Whether it’s a kindness that is done to you, or an act of kindness done by you, I’d like to see if you would write them on these papers. I want us to walk in each of the 4 Sundays in Advent-and feel surrounded by kindness. My hope is that we will record at least 1000 acts of kindness, that we will read each other’s stories and feel moved and inspired; that we will see these short snippets up on the walls and think- “maybe there is room in this world for the birth of kindness.” I would like to encircle all who enter this building with acts of compassion. Oh, And one more thing, we won’t be putting our names or initials on them. They will be anonymous. It will be as if all of these actions that surround us in the hall could have been done by us-or to us. We start doing this next Sunday, starting the new church year.
But this is a carryover from this week. This week we see a dying king on a cross extend his kingdom to anyone who calls to him. Even a thief who is dying, also. Next week we’ll see if we can make room in the inn of our hearts , so that God’s child can be born in us. It is all very ironic, very odd. It makes little sense. Kings are honored with gold and beauty and servants. Today we tell the story about a king who is honored by the clothing of children. Begin watching for kindness this week. Today we do something very odd, we turn kingship upside down, we take a man on a cross and ask if we can be in his kingdom.

This Will Give You An Opportunity…

2010-11-15T09:58:00.001-05:00

Sermon-25 Pentecost-Proper 28- -Nov. 14, 2010
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.”
Have you ever been in a time in your life where you start thinking, “My world is falling apart” and you begin to wonder “My God, what will happen to me now?” If you haven’t been, you will be at some point. You lose someone who is so important to you; or your job; your home; your marriage is in trouble; a child is sick; the bills are overwhelming. Lots of things in life can cause this feeling. It is overwhelming and you don’t see a way out. You feel desperate, alone, trapped- you see no solutions, no options, and you have little hope that things will get better.
Jesus is talking to his disciples in today’s gospel in Jerusalem. And he is telling them that that day will come for them. And he wants them to know how to react when it comes. They are looking at the grandest most beautiful, holiest building that they will ever see, the temple, and Jesus says, “and soon it will come down, there will be natural disasters and people will be in a panic, and you will be threatened and hated and blamed for all that is happening.” This is “end time” talk and followers of prophets were used to it. There were lots of messiahs and their students and disciples expected their master, their teacher to talk this way. But all of the messiahs would then tell them what the sign would be that they should look for-the time when they would rise up, the time when they should rebel, the “signal” as it were, when the end was coming. Only Jesus told them not to be afraid, and not to give in to all the fear and the anxiety and the terror of that time. Just the opposite. He said, “they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify.” This will give you an opportunity to be a sign of hope-this will give you an opening to be a symbol of hope. Odd words, strange teaching-it struck his followers as bizarre, and it still sounds peculiar to us today.
Did you all see the story about the Burmese woman, Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released yesterday? She has been under house arrest for 7 ½ years because she has been fighting for freedom for her people. She believes that democracy is better than being controlled by the generals who have run Burma/Myanmar since 1962. Did you see that story yesterday? It is a powerful story. She was from Burma but married an British professor, moved to England, had kids and lived a nice quiet, housewife nd academic life. But her mother back in Burma had a stroke, and she went home to take care of her in 1988. While there she took up the struggle of the Burmese people. Since 1989 she has been under arrest 15 out of the last 21 years. When her husband was dying of cancer he asked if he could visit his wife. He was refused. When she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway in 1991, her teen age sons accepted the prize for her. The government has said that she can leave the country whenever she wants, but she would never be allowed back in to Burma. So she has stayed a prisoner there. Two years ago Hoda Botke from NBC snuck into Burma and interviewed her. Hoda asked her, “You’ve had to sacrifice a lot of things, has it been worth the fight? Oh yes, … I don’t look upon it as a sacrifice, it’s a choice. If you choose to do something, you shouldn’t say it’s a sacrifice. Because no one forced you to do it.” It’s not a sacrifice-it’s a choice. Yesterday Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest and thousands of people stood outside her home, waiting for her.
“…they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify.”
M. Scott Peck, a psychologist and writer, who wrote The Road Less Traveled a long time ago, once said “The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.”
When we are feeling trapped, lost, overwhelmed-those can be our finest moments. They have never been my finest moments. Just the opposite. It’s usually when I look and act my worst. When I feel my world is falling apart I start running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Which is why I need to hear this gospel. It’s why I need to hear stories like Aung San Suu Kyi. I need to hear and know that panic and fear and desperation aren’t my only options. I need to hear and see a vision of the future even when things are very bad.
Verna Dozier, that great Episcopal teacher of the Bible once wrote: “The important question to ask is not, "What do you believe?" but "What difference does it make that you believe?" Does the world come nearer to the dream of God because of what you believe?” Does what we believe, matter?
Jesus has been journeying south since last summer when we heard that he set his face towards Jerusalem. And now he is there. And his disciples, many of whom are country bumpkins and simple fisher folk, are feeling small and insignificant because of this great and wonderful city of Oz that they have arrived it. And Jesus tells them that the city will not last. And he is right. It will be destroyed in a few years. And the country will be in a panic, and Rome will kill or exile many of them. And Jesus says, This will give you an opportunity to be a witness for your faith. When I am feeling swamped and overwhelmed by life I’m not looking for an opportunity to witness-I am just looking for a way out, a shaft of light, some opening for hope.
Safiyah Fosua, United Methodist Church General Board of Discipleship, once wrote:
Part of the frightening character of these descriptions is that instead of calling widespread "wars and insurrections" clear signs of the end of the age (as would have been commonly done in his day, and many days since!), Jesus says that kind of turmoil is simply situation normal for world history. Even the portents and signs in the heavens aren't the things Jesus wants his disciples to focus on. Those things will simply happen; they will happen regularly, and we will have to deal with them. But they do not mark the end. Instead, he instructs his disciples, and those of us who seek to live as his disciples today, that what really matters is how they will perform under the pressure of persecution that will come to them (as it has to many in the ages since) regardless of anything else going on in the heavens or on the earth.
And it's not about eloquent preparation or even "grace under pressure." It's all about trusting him at all times. "I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand,"
I need to hear this. I need to believe this. I need to follow this. It's all about trusting him at all times.
When I hear Jesus’ words, when I remember where he was, what he was facing and what was to come, I realize that he was speaking to me about my fear my hopelessness. I realize that he knew what would come for his disciples-in the first century-and in the 21st century. It would feel like the end of the world.

Marian Wright Edelman, the leader for so many years of the Children’s Defense Fund once said, “Whoever said anybody has a right to give up?”.
It is when our world is falling apart that we most need to hear this gospel, “they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to bear witness to the good news.
David Livingstone, the legendary missionary to Africa, prayed, "Lord, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me." Amen

We Need Saints

2010-11-09T10:50:00.000-05:00

Sermon-All Saints’ Sunday-Nov. 7, 2010
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.”
Every 4 weeks I meet with other clergy to talk about the readings, and worship. They asked what we were doing for All Saints Sunday. So I told them about the blue clouds of saints that we put up on the walls, the reading of the names, the baptisms, the pilgrimage to the memorial Garden. And they just stared at me. Finally one of them said, “why do you do so much?” A fair question. I told them that for me, I wanted people to be on the watch for saints. Once a year we say the names of those who are saints in our lives, and we remember , just for one day-“So many people have gone into making me who I am”. We are not alone. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses-people both living and dead who have touched us and shaped up, and guided us into who we are.
Frederich Buechner, in his book called Wishful Thinking, defines saints this way: "In his holy flirtation with the world, God sometimes drops a handkerchief. Those handkerchiefs are called saints."
We do a lot of things today to call to mind that there are saints among us, people who are instruments, tools of God who are “handkerchiefs” trying to get our attention. And for one brief moment, one Sunday each year, we call to mind those saints in our lives who showed us what it is to be blessed.
David Tiede, Professor Augsburg College in Minneapolis once wrote:
Make sure your observance of All Saints Day celebrates the times when ordinary sinners conveyed God's holy love to you and to the world, probably in unexpected times and places. The first miracle of All Saints Day is about God whose holy reign is still at work in the lives of the likes of us.
And the second miracle of All Saints Day is about us- and how our lives are transformed. We, forgiven sinners, are called and sent to be ordinary saints in God's world, enacting God's love and justice.!" "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God" (Luke 6:20). The saints, "the holy ones" who are "beloved of God" are, by God's grace, mere mortals like us. The old Anglican children's hymn has it right: "I sing a song of the saints of God ... and I want to be one too." Indeed, by the Spirit of the living Christ, we get to be saints too!
Today we take a moment to say, there have been saints in my life-people who showed me God’s grace and love, showed me what it was to be blessed. And to realize that each of us is called to be a saint, too. Perhaps we won’t always be holy, but we are asked to be tools and instruments in the lives of others-showing them grace, and love-just like someone did for us.
John Maynard once wrote in a sermon, “Fifty-seven times in the New Testament the word "Saints" is used. But NEVER is it used in the Bible to designate any particular person. Always the term is used to describe those who belong to Christ - saved sinners. And always it is used in the plural. No specific person is ever called a "saint" in the New Testament Greek, the reference is always to the many: to the holy ones of God. “
I’ll tell you one short saint story. When we moved to the Upper Peninsula, one of the members of my congregation was Dorothy McQuown. Dorothy was famous as the last public school teacher on Isle Royale-a small island in Lake Superior. She was there in 1932-3 for one year to teach the 4 remaining kids on the island.$65 a month and $35 of that went to pay her room and board. She was a 29 year old widow with a small child in the middle of the depression. She struggled through that year. When she finished that year the state closed the school, and all her salary for that year, which had been deposited in a bank in Houghton, was lost when the bank failed. Dorothy and her 6 year old son moved back to the mainland where she continued to teach. When I met Dorothy she was 81, she had lost her legs and sight to diabetes. She was hard of hearing, but she still tutored children in math after school. She had kept a diary while she had been on Isle Royale, and her son and I worked hard to get it published while she was still alive. She was reluctant to let us get it in print, because on one page she had implied that one of her students wasn’t very bright. She made us promise that if her diary was published after she died, that that passage would be taken out. We explained to her that her student was now in his late 60s and wouldn’t care, but she was adamant. No book of her life was worth printing, if it might make someone-even 50 years earlier- feel smaller, or worse about themselves.
Another promise Dorothy made us give was that when she died there would be no service for her-she was an incredibly modest, and shy woman. And that promise, thankfully, we did not keep.
We have been made who we are by the saints in our lives. They influenced us in ways that we never saw coming. There are others waiting for us to be saints for them. Today we remember those who touched and shaped and guided us. And we learn this morning, again, that we are being called and blessed and sent to be saints for those who are also waiting for saints in their lives.. Amen.

Don't Be Fooled

2010-10-18T09:18:00.000-04:00

Sermon-21 Pentecost Proper 24-Oct. 17, 2010
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.”
Luke 18:1-8
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
Every week on Monday morning I tell Erin to remember to put my Sunday sermon on the blog, and every week she asks me the same question-“what should I call it?” This week I think I will say, “Don’t be fooled”. When you hear this gospel you’ve already heard what the parable is about, “Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.” So what do you think the parable is going to be about? “To pray always and not to lose heart” Right? Ah, but what’s the title of my sermon? That’s right, “don’t be fooled.” It seems so simple, “pray always and don’t lose heart.” That’s a good message and important, and one we need to repeat and remember. I just don’t think it’s the point of the parable. Sorry, it would be a lot simpler if it was. One preacher I was reading said that all a preacher has to do on this Sunday is tell several stories about how people kept on praying and eventually what they prayed for happened. My gosh, we’ve got the obvious example of 33 miners in Chile, right, All praying to be rescued.
I think the key to this parable happens several verses earlier, a section of Luke we never hear read on Sundays. It’s the 17th chapter, the 20th verse: 20 “Once Jesus* was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming” . I think this story for today is an answer to that question. Notice how this parable ends, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
Alyce MacKenzie, my new favorite preacher, wrote this: “it’s not just a personal message which nudges us to pray for a cure for a family member, a new job, or financial stability. It’s about a particular type of praying: for justice for those whose needs are not being met in our society, praying that they will receive what they need and what is rightly theirs.”
Did you notice that the word justice is repeated 4 times in this short parable? The woman was seeking justice, the judge didn’t care, all he wanted was for her to go away. “And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?” This parable is about prayer AND it’s about justice. AND it’s about doing what is right. Don’t be fooled, it’s not just that we should pray, it’s about fighting for justice and bringing the kingdom of God into the world now, AND it’s about praying. Fred Craddock once wrote: “All we know in the life of prayer is asking, seeking, knocking, and waiting, trust sometimes fainting, sometimes growing angry. Persons of such prayer life can only wonder at those who speak of prayer with the smiling facility of someone drawing answers from a hat. In a large gathering of persons concerned about certain unfair and oppressive conditions in our society, an elderly black minister read this parable and gave a one-sentence interpretation: "Until you have stood for years knocking at a locked door, your knuckles bleeding, you do not really know what prayer is." ..This parable is about prayer-and it’s about showing our faith through good works and fighting for the oppressed and doing the right thing and holding up the lowly. Do you know that the word for “widow” in Hebrew means. “The one without a voice”? This woman had no voice, no status, but she could keep fighting for justice. Do you really think Jesus only wanted us to pray more, and that’s why he told this story? “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" This parable was included here by Luke the gospel writer, 50-60 years after Jesus had died and risen, and the church was discouraged and oppressed. Those Christians, afraid, persecuted, hounded, were wondering, when will the world end, and when Jesus will come again and make things right? “ Listen again to the question from a few verses earlier :Once Jesus* was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming”. And the Christians Church, a few generations after Jesus was wondering the same thing.
And Jesus tells this story that not only should they keep on praying, but that they had to keep working and fighting for justice, for widows and orphans, for people who had no voice, and those who had no power. That’s why Jesus told this parable. This again from Alyce Mackenzie: “One thing about the Bible- it presents a full picture of God. Not just a God of reward and mercy. Not just a God of justice and accountability. Always a God of mercy and justice, [always a God of] grace and challenge. You can’t have one without the other, when it comes to God. And, in preaching, the good news is not the good news if it isn’t true to the whole character of God. So Jesus, after assuring us that it is God’s intention to grant vindication [or justice] for all, puts the burden to make some behavioral change back on us.“Yet, (despite the fact that we know God’s will is for justice on earth) when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? (18:8) When are we to prepare for the kingdom of God? We are to prepare now for then. How? By praying for justice, pestering for justice, persistently demanding justice from people and institutions with other priorities.”
We’re supposed to pray constantly, especially for those who have nothing but prayer-the powerless, the weak, the hurting, the defeated, those without a voice. AND we are supposed to help bring about the kingdom of God, by pestering working fighting and nagging for justice. One last clue. This gospel translates the judge’s phrase, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming. The real translation of “wear me out” is to “give someone a black eye”. The judge doesn’t want to be shamed by this voiceless person, he doesn’t want to be hounded all his life by someone who will not stop.. Our calling in this parable is not just that we are supposed to do that, but it’s also to pester and nag and work and fight for justice. , of course we are to pray always and not lose heart -AND we are to bring about the Kingdom of heaven on earth.
Don’t be fooled, we are to knock on the door of God with our prayers until our knuckles are bleeding-and we are called to work for the kingdom of God here on earth until all those without a voice are heard. Amen.

I Want To Be Thankful But...

2010-10-11T09:48:00.000-04:00

Sermon-20 Pentecost Proper 23-Oct. 10, 2010
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.”
Have I mentioned that I just returned from Scotland and France?
There were some moments that were so special on that trip, I was so often brought to tears. Going to Scotland there were 12 of us, and we arrived on two separate dates, and all walked up together at the same hotel at the same moment. I was so grateful, so relieved-but then I began thinking about where were we going to eat lunch.
A few days later we arrived in a little town of Melrose in southern Scotland, and there was a drum and bagpipe competition going on. We had just enough time to throw our luggage in our room and dash out to the street for the 15 or so bands who were competing to go marching by. It was exquisite, and I said a prayer to God thanking him for letting us see and experience this beautiful moment. And as I was watching and filming these wonderful bands going by, I realized that I needed a heavier sweater than the one I had on, and I was wondering if I had time to go back up to the room to get it.
Later in the trip we came to the top of the highest point on the walk, WideOpen Hill. It’s about 1207 feet up and it was kind of an arduous climb. We were standing at the top taking pictures, congratulating each other on how great we were, enjoying this amazing scenery. And I said a prayer thanking God for this great opportunity and the strength to get there, but then I had a blister that was starting and I was beginning to worry about the walk down.
Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"
“But the other nine, where are they?” I know where they were. They were showing themselves to the priest-like Jesus told them; or they were making plans for their new life-rejoining society and once again being part of a community. Or they were thinking about how they were going to earn a living, now that they no longer would be begging.
In other words, they were doing what all of us do when we are overwhelmed with thanksgiving and joy-they were thinking about the million and one things that will or might or could happen next.
Barbara Brown Taylor in her book The Preaching Life contrasts the actions and attitudes of the nine lepers with those of the one who returned.“Those nine presumably Jewish lepers were doing what they had been told, and they were trying in their own way to fulfill expectations and duties. "Ten were healed of their skin diseases, but only one was saved….Ten behaved like good lepers, good Jews; only one, a double loser, behaved like a man in love." She goes on to describe the difference, and to realize that "I know how to be obedient but I do not know how to be in love".
"I know how to be obedient but I do not know how to be in love".
Do you know how hard it is simply to give thanks? You may think you’re the only one who has trouble doing this, but how hard is it for us simply to savor some act, some event for very long at all, to take some moment, some experience that’s wonderful, and just be grateful for more than a minute? Remember the old Chevy Chase movie, National Lampoon’s Summer Vacation? He is taking his kids on their first real summer vacation, and they go to the Grand Canyon. They stare at this great wonder of the world, and after about 5 seconds he says, “well, that’s great, we have a lot to see-let’s go.”
These 10 people, 9 Jews and one non Jew would travel around in a group because it was safer. Because they were lonely, depressed and defeated. They had a disease that was slowly, painfully, killing them and they stayed with each other for support, protection, and help as they died. "The regulations of Numbers 5:2-3 specified that lepers should be put out of the camp. Leviticus 13:45 repeats that command and adds that lepers should wear torn clothes, let the hair of the head hang loose, and cry ‘Unclean, unclean’ when approached.” That’s a living death. And suddenly, out of nowhere, they were saved. Out of nowhere they were rescued and given their lives back-and in that moment they had to be overwhelmed. They must have ALL been so incredibly thankful. So where were the other 9? Why did only one come back to Jesus to give thanks? Why did only the Non-Jew, only the outsider, only” this foreigner”, as Jesus says, return to praise God?
It is hard to live a thankful life. I know. I struggle with this, regardless of the incredible blessings I have received. Why is it so difficult to be grateful? Why is it so hard to live a life of gratitude? Most Christians I know, will all say that they have been very blessed, that they are thankful for all that God has given them. I hear this all the time. I say this all the time. So why, why is it so much easier to be the 9 who walked away? The Rev. James Liggett, a priest in Midland , Texas, once wrote, “ No, the issue wasn’t gratitude. The issue wasn’t feeling good about Jesus or anything like that. The issue was that those who had received so much were running so hard in the wrong direction. They were so full of what they had received, of their gift, that there was just no room for the giver, the source of the gift. They weren’t ungrateful, they were just busy. That’s all; they were just terribly busy. There we are. There is our world. There is our life, in one small, bitter nutshell.”
Kate Huey, a United Church of Christ Commentator that I quote almost every week wrote this: “Sometimes it takes someone else, unexpected, to open our eyes to blessings and wonders in our lives. A person on the margins, on the outside, may have a better vantage point to look inside and see the heart of the matter. When has someone else, unexpectedly, helped you to see something important?” (Text for Preaching). Sometimes someone has to wake us up and say, “Life is different now, you’re alive, your life is a gift.”
It is not easy to live a life of thankfulness. There is a reason why 9 kept on walking. There is a reason why I seem to be able to stay grateful for only a few minutes at a time. There is a reason why we can go from incredible gratitude to worrying about everyday life so quickly. I think it’s because living thankfully is so hard, it takes so much work.
How many times have you come to church and been told to be thankful? 5? 10? 1000? How often, as a Christian, do you hear the message that we should have a grateful heart? You want to, you want to live thankfully, but life keeps getting in the way, right? WE FORGET. WE GET DISTRACTED. WE GET BUSY. BAD THINGS HAPPEN. Linda Loving, a Wisconsin priest said, “I believe gratitude is not so much a behavior as it is a grounding. Gratitude is not so much an act as an attitude, a frame of mind. Consider the words from First Thessalonians: “Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.: Give thanks in all circumstances. Not just when the leprosy is healed but also when you discover more chemo is needed. Not just when you exchange wedding vows but also when you exchange the damaging words of your first lovers’ quarrel. Not just when the unexpected promotion comes, but also when the unexpected layoff occurs. All circumstances. Giving thanks in all circumstances because God knows where we are. God knows how we feel. God knows our next breath. How extraordinary to be so known, so loved, so healed. I believe we are most whole when we hold our stance of gratitude in the world knowing we are held by the Holy.”
It is not easy living a grateful life. It is hard being thankful for very long. So if it’s so hard, why try? Why work so hard at a life of gratitude? For me, I guess it’s because I want to. Living like the 10th leper, the outsider, the one who turned and came back looks so much richer, so much fuller, so much more like life-than living like the 9 who kept going. I don’t care how hard it is, I want to be thankful in all things. I know how tempting it is to be distracted and preoccupied with life, but I want to live like one who knows how precious their life is. I know what it is to live an obedient life . Theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote: “Only they who give thanks for little things receive the big things. We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts he has in store for us because we do not give thanks for daily gifts.” I want to live like the one who realizes that he has been given life-I want to live like the one whose faith has made them well.

It Is Enough

2010-10-04T09:40:00.000-04:00

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.”
Last summer I told you that there was a key verse in the gospel of Luke (by now you should be pretty tired of this). The verse was 9:51:When the days drew near for him(Jesus) to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
That was June 27-3 ½ months ago. And each week since then we have listened to stories from that journey. Every week there is a teaching about discipleship, about how to follow Jesus on the way to Jerusalem. These teachings overlap, intersect, and challenge those following Jesus. It is a journey that he uses to grow his disciples, and it is a tool that Luke the gospel writer uses to teach us, his readers.
Today’s gospel is a very short reading that has two important points, faith and humility.
Alyce McKenzie a preacher I really like, wrote this about today’s gospel, “To preach on this parable, I would need to go back to (Luke) 16:14 where Jesus tells us that “God knows our hearts.” (16:15) God knows that some of the Pharisees’ hearts are full of the love of money. God knows that the rich man’s heart in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (16:19-31) is filled with love of material comfort and a confidence that his wealth is a sign of God’s approval. God knows that some people’s hearts are filled with unforgiveness toward others (17:1-4) that can be a stumbling block to their growth toward God. Who can blame the apostles, after hearing about all these things that God knows are in our hearts, for saying to themselves, “My God, I need more faith to deal with all of this!” and then turning to Jesus and saying in 17: 5 “Increase our faith!”
And Jesus looks at them and says of their faith, “you have enough”. Faith doesn’t come in sizes. We’re always talking about people who have a lot of faith, and people who have a little-but Jesus tells his friends, “you’ve got all you need!” Mother Teresa once said, “Our calling is not to do great things, but to do small things with great love.” Jesus is teaching them-and us-that we don’t need more faith-we just need to use the faith given to us.
There is an old prayer from many years ago (I don’t know who said it), but it goes like this: "O God, I don't pray for enough faith to move mountains. I can get enough dynamite and bulldozers to do that. What I need and ask for is enough faith to move me." The problem wasn’t the size of the disciples’ faith-the problem was the size of the disciples’ hearts. And Jesus told them, you have what you need to change the world. Asking for more puts the responsibility on God. You have enough.
That’s the first teaching- on faith. We have been given enough. Size doesn’t matter.
Years ago Bob Greene, a popular columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, and then the Chicago Tribune, wrote a column in his paper about a doctor in Chicago. He promised that he wouldn’t divulge the doctor’s name or where his office was, but there were enough clues that people could have figured it out. The story about the physician was that this doctor told people to pay only what they could afford. He let people pay him as much-or as little-that they wanted. The story really got around, and a few weeks later, Greene went back to the doctor and did a second story. The doctor told him how much he regretted doing the first interview and becoming well known. Greene asked him,” well, you probably have way too many patients trying to get in to see you now?” “No,” the doctor told him, “I have control over how many patients I take-I know how to say no.” “Are your patients paying you less, now that they know that you’re a newspaper star.” Green asked “No. that’s not it, either,” replied the doctor. Greene kept guessing why the doctor regretted the first story, and finally the doctor held up a hand to stop him. “I guess,” explained the physician, “I’m worried about my own motives. I’m afraid that I will keep doing the right thing just to be admired or respected or whatever by people. I set my own rules for payment by patients because I believed that’s what doctors should do-no, I’m concerned that I might do the right thing for the wrong reasons.”
That column was many years ago but it had a big impact on me. Here was a good person who was concerned about why he was doing the right thing. And he knew himself well enough to know that praise and fame might change him into someone he didn’t like.
In the 1st century Jewish rabbis wrote several commentaries on scriptures. They were collected and called: Pirke Aboth (Sayings of the Fathers). This is one of them: "If you have learned much Torah (Law), do not flatter yourself about it, because it was for this purpose you were created." (2:9)
Jesus is teaching his followers to be careful about why they live a life of faith. when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”
Does this sound harsh to you? Last night at Mike and Sara’s wedding I told them that some of the most important words in a marriage were “please” and “thank you”, and here is Jesus telling his followers, “you don’t need a reward for being my followers!” ouch
The best way I can understand this harsh teaching is from a story, Rev. Milton Gutierrez of the Methodist Church in Allen Texas told years ago: a woman who came to him with a faith question. “Pastor Milton,” she said, “I want to know ‘What is the reward for the life of faith?’” Being a very wise man, he said, “Let me think about that and I’ll give you an answer next week. ”She didn’t forget. The next week she came to him with an expectant expression on her face. “Pastor Milton, what is the reward for the life of faith?” To which he replied, “The reward for the life of faith is the life of faith.”
The ending for this story could be, “your life as a follower of Jesus is your reward. It is enough.” Jesus doesn’t promise wealth, or fame, or health or even peace. Lots of people do promise those things to Christians- but not Jesus. He’s on his way to Jerusalem with a bunch of people who want more-more faith, more power, more rewards, more….And even though they’ve walked with Jesus all this way, they haven’t got it yet. They keep thinking there’s got to be something in it for them. They’re doing the right thing-Jesus is asking them to do it for the right reason.
Years ago I had a great bishop with a wonderful sense of humor. Now clergy traditionally will say that when they go to a new church that the Spirit was calling them. Bishop Ray used to say, “It’s amazing how the Holy Spirit is always calling me to a church with an increase in salary.”
Jesus is on a journey to the cross. He has been teaching the whole way. Today he shows his frustration with his students who never believe what they have, what they get, is enough. I could be one of them-always wanting, asking for more. Never believing what I have is enough, always aching for approval, recognition, rewards. I was at a wonderful lecture a week ago by a seminary professor. When she finished her 5 hour talk everyone stood and gave her a standing ovation, and she turned and faced the wall in embarrassment. In the small town of Chartres an hour outside of Paris is a magnificent cathedral. There is a tiny winding stairway that takes you up 300 steps to the top of one of its two Gothic spires. There is a small platform that has been built there so you can walk around the spire and see 30-40 miles in every direction. The view is great. But what impressed me more than anything is that the craftsmen, sculptors, and masons who built this incredible building used as much care and love and skill at the top-where no one would ever see their work- as they did at the ground where everyone stands to gaze and admire.
Today we learn that what we have is enough-enough faith, enough recognition, enough rewards. We have been given all we need to be a disciple.“ The reward for the life of faith is the life of faith.” Amen.

Until No Chasms Are Left

2010-09-28T09:51:00.000-04:00

Sermon-18 Pentecost Proper 21-Sept. 26, 2010
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.”
Let me get some misunderstandings out of the way.
My name is John Hagan. I am NOT Canon Neily’s younger brother. I am NOT filling in for him while he is on vacation. And yes, you are stuck with me.
I went on vacation to Scotland for 2 weeks with 11 folks, many of whom were from Trinity (some of whom came back), and then Deborah and I went to France for 2 weeks with some other friends. I was not under arrest, in rehab, or being held hostage by Deacon Dick as several people have asked . We had a wonderful time. In Scotland we visited some sacred islands, and took a walk. In France we visited a lot of churches. I’m sure you want to hear more about the trip, so after church I have 1700 pictures that I would like to share with you.
Ok, enough of that. This is a busy day for us, with a lot of important things going on so I’m going to keep this short
First, let me get some of the things out of the way about today’s gospel. There is a long tradition about this story, it’s called “The parable of___________________ (Dives and Lazarus). The Latin word for rich man is “Dives” so when people heard this story in Latin, they assumed that was his name. This is the only parable where one of the characters is named, “Lazarus”. This is not the same Lazarus who is Mary and Martha’s brother, who is raised from the dead. This is just a character in a story. The name Lazarus means, “The One Who Is Helped by God”. So the story is known as Dives and Lazarus. In the 1100s a group of knight crusaders started an order devoted to the care of lepers called, the Order of St. Lazarus.
I want to tell two short stories and make one important point.
This is from a sermon by Dr. Amy Richter:
A man told this story of his experience just before his father died. The man and his sister were taking care of their father who was in the last stages of cancer, the man staying with their bed-ridden father during the day and his sister staying with their father through the night.
It had been a hard day. The man and his father had not always gotten along well, and on this particular day his father was especially irritable and giving him a hard time. The man was impatient, waiting for his sister to come for the night shift. He had his coat and shoes on so he could leave as quickly as possible when she arrived. But he heard his father call to him from the other room. He went in, and his father asked, “What do you think happens to us after this life?” A big question. A serious question. The man didn’t have many words, but he thought he could show his father his answer. He got into the bed and lay down beside his father. He asked him, “Dad, do you love me?” “You know I love you,” his father said. The man touched his own chest and then touched his father’s, right above his heart. The man asked, “How much of our ability to love do you think we use during our lives? Ten percent?” “Fifteen,” said his father. “Okay,” said the man. “In heaven,” he said, touching his own chest and then his father’s, “100 percent.”The next day the man got a call from his sister, telling him his father had died, quite peacefully. But before he died, he made a gesture she didn’t understand. Just before he died, he looked at her, and he touched his chest – his heart – and then reached up and touched hers.
In the gospel of Luke everything is always upside down. The poor are lifted up, the outsiders get to come in, the despised become the favorites. So in the story of Dives and Lazarus you can see this coming. A freed black slave in the Union Army saw his ex-owner being led away in chains as a prisoner and said to him, "Hello massa, bottom rail on top this time."
That’s the gospel of Luke, the bottom rail is always on top.
But this parable goes a little farther. Doesn’t it surprise you that there’s no hope for Dives in this story? Doesn’t it, offend you that Father Abraham says, “there’s nothing you can do to change things”? The chasm is too wide. Tough luck. Doesn’t it bother you?
So is this story just that we should become poor? Is that it? Is it that we all are supposed to become Lazaruses? Here’s the second story. This one is from a sermon by There is a large African-American church in New Jersey. Around election time , the minister gets contacted by candidates asking if the politician can come and address the congregation. Can we visit your church? Can we speak to your church? Can we lead a prayer in your church?
Here is what this congregation does. They introduce the candidate seeking office to the whole congregation. Then they invite about six members of the church to stand with the politician. And then the preacher says, "Mrs. Jones is a senior citizen on a fixed income. Your voting will affect her life. This is Mr. Ellison, he is truck driver, with no health insurance. Your voting will affect his life. This is Mrs. James worked at the plant that has now closed. Your voting will affect her ability to provide for her family. And this went on. Then they would pray for the candidate.
How would you feel as the candidate? What would this do to you as someone running for office? Who was Jesus telling this story for? Better yet, who are you in this story? Dives? Lazarus? Father Abraham? The dogs? Amy Richter says, in this story, we are Dives’ five brothers. We are the ones trying to hear the message. It’s not our job to be poor-or to be rich. We are supposed to hear that there are people at our gates who are hurting and in pain. Our job is to do what Dives couldn’t-to see them. And then to cross the chasm. Now. Remember that earlier story about the father and the son? In heaven we use 100% of our love to touch each other. But we can do better now. We don’t have to wait. What if besides the Law and the prophets someone came back from the dead and told us that we can do better, that we need to be better? That we need to see and hear those who are hurting, suffering , starving. Now. Would we? We are the 5 brothers. Put your hand on your heart. Go ahead. This is a great symbol. How much of our ability to love do you think we need to use while we are alive? How much? Until there are no chasms left. Amen.

What Needs To Be Broken?

2010-08-16T09:35:00.001-04:00

Sermon-12 Pentecost-Proper 15-August 15, 2010
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.”
Last Sunday Marlene Dapsi’s family brought balloons to church to celebrate her birthday. It triggered a memory for me that on my first Sunday here in 1986 Marlene’s brother, Kirby, stood up and told the congregation that it was her birthday-and then he told everyone how old she was. I couldn’t believe that he did that (telling everyone her age), and remembering that brought back another memory for me. It was earlier that year and Debby and I had come down to be interviewed by Trinity about being their next rector. I had been through the search process this a few times with other churches and more or less knew what to expect. Until I came here. Most search committees consisted or 6-8 members-Trinity’s had over 30. Most search committees had a series of questions written out that different people on the committee would ask the candidate. Not Trinity. They would turn to the large group of people and say, “what do you want to ask him?” And then someone would say, “Ask him how he likes strawberries????” And then the group would laugh and laugh and laugh. Somebody else would say something kind of off the wall, and everyone would laugh hysterically. And this went on for 2 hours. I came back to our hotel room after the interview and Deb asked, “how did it go?” I said something like, “They don’t need a priest, they need some medication.” And I remember thinking to myself, this is a group that enjoys themselves (a lot)-how will they accept a priest who on occasion has to tell them hard news? Will they laugh it off? Get angry? Ignore it?
Today’s gospel reading makes me wish I had left a week earlier. Daniel Harrington, S.J., is professor of New Testament at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass said in a sermon a few years ago, “The Gospel reading for this Sunday presents three initially puzzling sayings of Jesus. He proclaims that he has come to light a fire on earth, to undergo a baptism of death and to bring division rather than peace. What happened to angels singing about peace on earth and Jesus the prince of peace?”
51Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! Debby asked me, “Do you think Jesus was just having a bad day?” 52From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” This is not the Rodney King version of Jesus , saying “Can’t we all just get along?” This is the tough Jesus, the angry Jesus. Pastor Martha Sterne of Maryville, Tennessee once wrote: In today’s first reading. “Am I a God nearby and not a God far off? Who can hide so that I cannot see them? Is not my word like fire? Is not my word like a hammer that breaks in pieces?” That’s what God said to Jeremiah, who said it to the people. And they didn’t like it at all. They laughed at him and he kept on. They threw him down a well and he kept on. They put him in jail and he kept on. …So Jeremiah kept talking –hollering really-irritating everybody.”
This is what prophet’s do-they irritate, they aggravate, they make you want to throw them down the well. Do you wonder why Jesus’ popularity seemed to wax and wane? You’d think that someone who went around healing people, providing free food, changing water to wine would be very popular, right? Jesus is on his way to ______________(Jerusalem) and every week we hear him teaching on the way. Today he gives the tough teaching (when doesn’t he?) and he says that following him will challenge what people believe, who people are.
At the vestry meeting Monday night we were talking about racism, and I said that I never knew a white person who thought they were racist. It really goes a lot farther than that. I can’t remember a man who ever thought he was sexist, a young person who ever thought they discriminated against the elderly, an able person who ever thought they discriminated against the physically challenged. Every time someone has accused me of prejudice or unfairness I always have fought tooth and nail to say that they were wrong. Every week we admit that we are sinners as long as we don’t have to confess specific sins. James Baldwin once said “Most of us are about as eager to be changed as we were to be born, and go through our changes in a similar state of shock.”
Whether it’s being born again, giving up our lives, or facing the fire in today’s teaching, Jesus doesn’t just try to be nice, he is a truth teller, a sword, a divider-words we never use in our prayers to Jesus. Woodie W. White is Bishop of the United Methodist Church for the Indiana area was preaching on this lesson once and asked this provocative question: “May I ask you, what in your life might need to be broken? Is there some attitude, some behavior, some mode of thinking, some pattern of being that needs to be broken or changed? Surely in our society, there are some things that have become just ways of doing things that need to be changed. We've become a far "meaner" society. It was once said that we are a kinder, gentler society but that is not true. Indeed, it seems that the thing to do is to be mean, to let it all hang out, to say it like it is, to be unkind, and it seems the louder you shout and the crueler you are, the more popular you become. And so we become - and are becoming - accustomed to this kind of harshness, this pattern of behavior ….”
When Jesus says strong words like “I came to bring fire, I came to bring division” or as it says in Matthew, “I came to bring a sword” and you think to yourself, man, was Jesus just a little cranky that day, remember this one question, “what in your life might need to be broken?”
The great mystic and social activist of the 16th century, Teresa of Avila, came to a stream while en route to one of her convents. As she began crossing over, her donkey became startled and bucked her off headlong in to the cold water. Coming up out of the water breathless and shivering, Teresa looked up to heaven and yelled, “do you always treat your friends like this?” Waiting a moment and getting no answer, the saint dragged herself out of the stream and muttered under her breath, “no wonder you have so few of them.”
A prophet’s job isn’t to be liked, or even likeable-it’s to tell the uncomfortable truth and to provoke us to change. It feels like fire, it divides, often times it hurts and we are dragged kicking and screaming into being different. I loved Baldwin’s quote-we start out fighting birth and resist every change from then on. Jeremiah is a prophet, Jesus is a prophet. And we are people who hear this teaching and challenged to ask, “what in my life might need to be broken?”

Read the Book

2010-07-26T09:20:00.001-04:00

Sermon-9 Pentecost-Proper 12-July 25, 2010
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 many of you are happy, satisfied with your prayer life? (raise your hands)
How many would like to have a better prayer life? (ok, again?)
Everyone wants a better prayer life. There are two questions, usually, that when asked, make Episcopalians curl up like a slug on salt: Do you know your Bible? And how is your prayer life?
Listen, the holiest man in Israel during Jesus’ time wasn’t Jesus-it was John the Baptist. People were always coming up to Jesus, or his disciples, and asking, “why aren’t you more like John?” Like today. Jesus’ disciples go up to Jesus while he’s praying and demand, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."In other words, “WHY CAN”T YOU BE MORE LIKE JOHN THE BAPTIST-A GOOD PRAYER?”
So they ask Jesus, not for a prayer-but how to pray. And he gives them 42 words. 42. How often do you hear a prayer that you remember? You hear beautiful prayers, inspiring prayers, powerful prayers, long, long prayers-but how often do you hear prayers that you remember? The Lord’s Prayer that we repeat every week is from the Gospel of Matthew and is quite a bit longer than this one. Jesus teaches his disciples several things in how to pray. First, he teaches them. Keep it short.
In the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, there's a story about Macarius the Great (born c. 300), a former camel driver. One day someone asked him how to pray. "There is no need at all to make long discourses," he advised. "It is enough to stretch out one's hands and say, 'Lord, as you will, and as you know, have mercy.' And if the conflict grows fiercer say, 'Lord, help!' He knows very well what we need and he shows us his mercy."
Secondly, when Jesus teaches his friends how to pray he tells them, “start off by talking to God as if he’s a loving parent.” The word Jesus uses to begin this prayer is Abba. The closest word we have to that is “daddy.” Father, Jesus begins. When you are praying, talk to God as if God is a loving parent-very near, very accessible,
So, make it short, make it intimate. Then he tells them-make it simple:
There is a wonderful story about Mother Teresa and a famous ethicist who came to work at her house of the dying in Calcutta, at a time when he was seeking a clear answer to how best to spend the rest of his life. She asked him what she could do for him, and he asked her to pray for him. She said, "What do you want me to pray for?" And he said, "Pray that I have clarity." She replied, "No, I will not do that – clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of." The ethicist observed that Mother Teresa always seemed to have the clarity he longed for, but she laughed and said, "I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God." (from Kate Huey)
Make it short, make it intimate, keep it simple, and make it from the heart.
Jesus says, ask for your daily needs, ask for forgiveness, pray to be protected.
Anne Lamott writes in Traveling Mercies that our two best prayers are, "help me, help me, help me" and "thank you, thank you, thank you" (p. 82).
Make it short, make it intimate, keep it simple, make it from the heart.
And then Jesus gives them a couple of bonuses. Two more pieces of advice from parables. Don’t be passive in your prayers: Ask, search, knock. Tell God what you need, don’t wait, don’t hold back. Tell God what you need, don’t be passive. Tell God what you need. Don’t wait, don’t be passive. (Got it, yet?) Do you remember what we say before the Lord’s Prayer, “And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say,”
And finally, Jesus tells them, BE PERSISTENT. Only persistence is a bad translation of the word. A better translation than persistent is, “shameless”. BE SHAMELESS in asking God for what you need. Grovel, lose your dignity, plead-and keep begging. BE SHAMELESS when praying to God. Go to God as if she is your mom and you are afraid she will forget, pray to God as if he is your dad and you want him to know something that is very important to you.
Ok, how do you feel about your prayer life? Inadequate, lacking, INEFFECTIVE? Want some advice? Make it short, make it intimate, keep it simple, make it from the heart, be bold, be shameless. And pray. A lot.
Don’t worry about the length, the height, the depth of your prayers. Don’t worry about your language, your faith, how beautiful they are. Don’t worry that your prayers may not be good enough, holy enough. Jesus wasn’t considered holy enough either.
One last story. When our son Kyle was about 11, he had a book review due in two days. Kyle was very smart but he wasn't always a good or "prepared" student. So I was somehwat surprized one night when a friend of his called up to ask Kyle about the book report. We only had one phone so I heard all of Kyle's side of the the conversation. The friend kept explaining to Kyle how he hadn't read the book and wouldn't have the report done in time-and how much trouble would he be in. Kyle answered, "Read the book." The friend explained that he was a slow reader and he hadn't even started yet, and Kyle replied, "Read the book." The friend went on and on trying to get Kyle to understand that it was just too hard for him, he was inadequate, and that he would never get the report done. And Kyle grew increasingly exasperated with his friend, and Finally just exploded at him, "IF YOU HAD STARTED READING THE BOOK INSTEAD OF CALLING ME YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN FINISHED BY NOW!"
It does not matter if you are a lousy prayer, if you don't know the right words, if you have a poor faith, if you are unworthy, inadequate, ineffective. Jesus was not considered a great prayer, and yet we all say his prayer every week. Make it short, make it intimate, keep it simple, make it from the heart, be bold, be shameless. And pray. A lot. Or, if you have trouble remembering all that just remember this, Read the book.