Year C, First Sunday after Christmas, RCL
Galatians 3:23-25, 4:4-7
When I was younger I was not a neat or tidy kid. Growing up my older brother Eric and I had to share a bedroom and it was always very easy to tell whose side of the room was whose, because one of the biggest differences between Eric and I is tidiness, Eric has always been very neat and orderly. Last week my mom was telling a story about how on Christmas mornings we would rush to open our gifts and since we’d be having family come over we would bring all our gifts to our rooms and display them on our beds so everyone could see what we had gotten for Christmas. As you can probably guess from what I’ve told you Eric’s presents were always laid out very neatly and orderly whereas mine were more likely than not just thrown on my bed.
The way we handled our Christmas presents was typical of our tidiness everywhere else. The only way I would ever clean up my room was when I was made to. And I doubt I could count the number of times that I was made to clean my room. Now, growing up I knew that I was supposed to keep my room clean, but knowing and doing are not the same thing. If my room was ever clean it was because my Mom or Dad, usually my Mom, made me clean it, it was only because my Mom or Dad had acted as a disciplinarian and made me do what I was supposed to.
In the reading from Galatians today we hear St. Paul explaining the law to the Galatians in similar terms. “The law was our disciplinarian” he wrote. St. Paul had visited the Galatians before sending this letter and had preached a Gospel centered on faith in Jesus Christ. The Galatians however began to listen to someone else after Paul had left them. The message that the Galatians received after St. Paul left stressed not just the importance of but the necessity of following the law. In his travels St. Paul heard what was happening with the Galatians and wrote this letter to correct them.
St. Paul wrote to them explaining justification and the true place of the law. “The law was our disciplinarian” we heard in today’s reading. The Israelites had the law not to be made righteous before God but to keep them in line while they awaited the fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham. St. Paul began to argue against the newly held view of the Galatians by asking them “Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?”. He goes on to talk about how Abraham “believed and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”. St. Paul makes a case based both on the experience of the Galatians and the biblical narrative for the primacy of faith over and against the law. He then goes on to explain the purpose of the law, that it did not guarantee the promise made to Abraham, that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him, but rather the law was given as a disciplinarian to watch over the Israelites until the promise was fulfilled.
This promise was fulfilled through Jesus Christ. St. Paul wrote that it was through Jesus “that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”. In today’s reading we hear that this promise has been fulfilled by Christ because through Christ we have been adopted as children of God. We are justified, we are made righteous before God, not by any works we can do but because in Jesus we have been made children of God. Whether or not we follow the law does not even come into the question, as children of God we do not earn God’s love, God gives that love to us freely, and we accept that gift of God’s love through our faith in Jesus Christ.
To go back to the story about my untidiness. My Mom acted as a disciplinarian, she made sure that I knew I had to clean my room and when I failed to do so there were repercussions. Her making sure I did this never made me into a tidy person though, I cleaned my room because my Mom was there making me do it. Living on my own for the past few years, I’ve become a little neater, partly because I’m in a dorm now and the space is fairly cramped but also because I no longer have someone to clean up after me. When I come back home on breaks, however, my newly acquired tidiness quickly disappears.
I realize the importance of being neat and tidy, especially after living in a dorm room. I recognize the benefits of these qualities, I know they would make a lot of things easier, but like I said earlier, knowing and doing are not the same thing. I am not a neat person and even with a disciplinarian I can only feign neatness. I will always fall short at this, no matter how many people tell me I have to do this and punish me if I do not.
Now, here I’m only talking about being tidy, keeping things neat, just think of the difference between keeping things tidy and being righteous before God. If a disciplinarian falls short for something as little tidiness imagine how ineffective it must be for something like being righteous before God. We cannot earn or make ourselves righteous before God. We are all imperfect, how could we ever make ourselves righteous before that which is perfect. We can’t. But yesterday and the day before, we gathered here to celebrate that God took on our imperfection, and in doing so has sanctified our imperfection. There is no longer any question of earning God’s love or being worthy of God’s love, for we are children of God and as such God’s love is freely given to us.
I find the fact that God’s love is given to us regardless of what we do or if we are worthy of it to be terribly comforting. It does however trouble me. For if what we do doesn’t affect whether or not we receive God’s love what’s the point of being good moral people? What’s to keep God’s grace from becoming what Dietrich Bonhoeffer termed cheap grace? In the letter to the Galatians St. Paul wrote, “do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another” and also, “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ”.
It is through Christ that we are justified, we cannot make ourselves worthy of this or earn it, it is freely given because we have been adopted as children of God. St. Paul tells the Galatians, and us, that this does not mean we should go off and do whatever we want. Rather, in response to the gift of God’s love, we ought to be come slaves, or servants, of love ourselves. To go back to me being untidy, when I’m home on break every so often I’ll clean up a little around the house, not all the time, but it happens, and I do this not because I have become a neat person or because I want things to be tidy, but because I know my Mom likes things to be neat and clean. In response to the love that I know my Mom has for me, I try and do what she wants, I try and do things for her.
How much greater ought this response to being loved be when we are talking about being loved by God? As children of God, freely receiving the love of God, we ought to bear one another’s burdens, we ought to become slaves of love. For, it is in response to God’s love that Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” And that the second is, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
So remember, we have been adopted as children of God, and God loves us no matter what we may or may not do and in response to this love we ought to become slaves of love, we ought to bear one another’s burdens.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Sixth Sermon at St. Paul's
Year C, Third Sunday of Advent, RCL
Luke 3:7-18
“And the crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’”
We heard last week that the word of God came to John the Baptist and that he traveled all throughout the land around the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We hear in this week’s Gospel reading that his itinerant preaching days paid off. Right off the bat we hear that crowds, not a crowd but multiple crowds, came to be baptized by John. Upon arriving to receive this baptism of repentance that John so eloquently preached, John does something I find to be quite remarkable, he calls them out for coming to be baptized. “You brood of vipers!”, he calls them. He then informs them that “the ax is lying at the root of the trees” and that “every tree... that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Now, I imagine that if I was among those crowds that came to be baptized by John I would be very disturbed by these statements. Am I producing good fruit? I would wonder. How can I be sure that I will not be cut down and thrown in the fire? If up until now I have failed to do so how can I possibly begin to bear good fruit now? All this doubt and anxiety leads to the question, “what then should we do?”
The crowds are concerned with what they should do to avoid being chopped down and thrown into the fire. They seemingly come to John, not because they recognize that he is preaching a way of life that has inherent value because it is in line with how God calls us to live, but rather out of anxiety and fear of what will happen to them. I’m reminded of a story I read recently that is used by Ikon, an emergent church community in Belfast, Ireland, as part of a performance like liturgy that they put on every week.
The story tells of a group of disciples who immediately after the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ left and traveled for thousands of miles finally settling in an isolated village far from where they had seen Jesus die on the cross. Having left after the crucifixion this group never knew about the resurrection, but regardless, upon settling in their new village they vowed to continue to live by Jesus’ teachings. Hundreds of years later Christian missionaries came to this village and the villagers then heard about the resurrection. The evening they heard this news there was a great celebration in their village. One of the missionaries however, noticed that the village elder was not partaking in these celebrations. When asked why, the elder told the missionary that he recognized it was certainly a day for celebration but followed that up by saying, “But now I am concerned that my children and my children’s children may follow him not because of the implicit value he has, but because of the value he possesses for them.”
Looking into this story quickly I was unable to find anything that confirmed or denied its historical accuracy. Based on where I heard it from, I’m inclined to believe it to be nothing more than a story, but even still it has an important message. This band of disciples recognized that Jesus was worth following, not because of any promises of eternal glory, but because in Jesus they recognized God, and that is reason enough to follow him. They recognized that the way of life he showed was the right way to live regardless of any promise of future reward or punishment. They followed Jesus because Jesus was their Lord, that was all the reason they needed.
The crowds that come to the Jordan to be baptized by John the Baptist on the other hand, they came because of the benefit for themselves of doing so. They came to avoid being chopped down and thrown in the fire, they came to avoid being burned as chaff in an unquenchable fire. And for this John the Baptist calls them a brood of vipers. However, even though they may not have come for the right reason, the crowd’s question is still an important question. “What then should we do?”
In this season of Advent we find ourselves in a time of waiting, a time of expecting. In this time of waiting, while we think on Jesus’ coming to the world near two thousand years ago, and his eventual coming again, it is only natural that we ask this same question, “What then should we do?” If Jesus is to return, then what should we be doing to prepare ourselves? This question sums up Advent for me. We’re not supposed to be simply waiting around, sitting on the edge of our seats, anxiously watching minutes pass by. No. We’re waiting and in this waiting we are preparing ourselves for his arrival, we are working out what we should do in anticipation for his arrival.
What does it mean to prepare ourselves for his arrival though? Jesus is not a house guest for whom we clean up an extra bedroom and stock the fridge a little more than usual. Jesus’ arrival calls for much more than quickly tidying a mess, which will most likely return shortly after our guest leaves. John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance in anticipation of Jesus’ arrival. I think it was last week that Fr. Sloane aptly stated that repentance, metanoia in the original Greek, is not simply admitting fault and saying you’re sorry, it is a complete reorientation of our lives.
This reorientation is certainly difficult, much more difficult than admitting fault, saying you’re sorry and then going right back to whatever you were doing. If we approach repentance solely as a means of receiving something, as a means of avoiding the ax that John the Baptist told the crowds was already laying at the roots, then true repentance, metanoia… well I do not think that it’d be possible. If, however, we come to it as the disciples from the story I told earlier, as seeing the implicit value that Christ has, not the value he possesses for us, then this repentance, this metanoia, is possible. It becomes possible because when we are concerned more with what value Jesus possesses for us then all we are doing is moving the object of our desire to our salvation, we are still focused in on ourselves. When instead we see the implicit value that Jesus has we move past focusing on ourselves and our own desires and we give ourselves over to God. Elsewhere in the Gospels you’ll remember that Jesus tells the disciples that to be his followers they must deny themselves and carry their crosses, they must give up themselves . We are told that by doing so we will find life, we are clearly told that there is a reward to following Jesus, I am not trying to deny that. Rather, what I am saying is that like the disciples from the story, we ought to follow Jesus because in him we recognize and experience God, not because of what we can gain from doing so. In the first approach to repentance, that of avoiding the ax at our roots, we are not reorienting ourselves, we are simply reorienting our desires, reorienting our concern for ourselves. When we approach repentance with an understanding of the implicit value that Christ has however, we can fully reorient ourselves to Christ and in doing so we can deny ourselves, pick up our crosses and follow him.
This reorientation to Christ is what our lives as Christians should always be focused on, no matter the time of year. In Advent, while we are living in a place of expectancy the question of “What then should we do?” is very present, and it is of course natural that this reorientation will be more prominent in our thought and speech than it might at other times of the year. This however, does not mean that preparing ourselves for his return, that reorienting ourselves to Christ is limited to this season. As Christians we ought to be always working out the question of “What then should we do?”. Every day we should remember that God became man and bid us to follow him and from this we should ask “What then should we do?”. Following Jesus, following God incarnate, requires repentance, requires a complete reorientation of our lives. We cannot follow him and remain as we are, as we were. We must continually strive to orient ourselves towards Christ. So as we await his coming again I ask you, what then will you do?
Luke 3:7-18
“And the crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’”
We heard last week that the word of God came to John the Baptist and that he traveled all throughout the land around the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We hear in this week’s Gospel reading that his itinerant preaching days paid off. Right off the bat we hear that crowds, not a crowd but multiple crowds, came to be baptized by John. Upon arriving to receive this baptism of repentance that John so eloquently preached, John does something I find to be quite remarkable, he calls them out for coming to be baptized. “You brood of vipers!”, he calls them. He then informs them that “the ax is lying at the root of the trees” and that “every tree... that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Now, I imagine that if I was among those crowds that came to be baptized by John I would be very disturbed by these statements. Am I producing good fruit? I would wonder. How can I be sure that I will not be cut down and thrown in the fire? If up until now I have failed to do so how can I possibly begin to bear good fruit now? All this doubt and anxiety leads to the question, “what then should we do?”
The crowds are concerned with what they should do to avoid being chopped down and thrown into the fire. They seemingly come to John, not because they recognize that he is preaching a way of life that has inherent value because it is in line with how God calls us to live, but rather out of anxiety and fear of what will happen to them. I’m reminded of a story I read recently that is used by Ikon, an emergent church community in Belfast, Ireland, as part of a performance like liturgy that they put on every week.
The story tells of a group of disciples who immediately after the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ left and traveled for thousands of miles finally settling in an isolated village far from where they had seen Jesus die on the cross. Having left after the crucifixion this group never knew about the resurrection, but regardless, upon settling in their new village they vowed to continue to live by Jesus’ teachings. Hundreds of years later Christian missionaries came to this village and the villagers then heard about the resurrection. The evening they heard this news there was a great celebration in their village. One of the missionaries however, noticed that the village elder was not partaking in these celebrations. When asked why, the elder told the missionary that he recognized it was certainly a day for celebration but followed that up by saying, “But now I am concerned that my children and my children’s children may follow him not because of the implicit value he has, but because of the value he possesses for them.”
Looking into this story quickly I was unable to find anything that confirmed or denied its historical accuracy. Based on where I heard it from, I’m inclined to believe it to be nothing more than a story, but even still it has an important message. This band of disciples recognized that Jesus was worth following, not because of any promises of eternal glory, but because in Jesus they recognized God, and that is reason enough to follow him. They recognized that the way of life he showed was the right way to live regardless of any promise of future reward or punishment. They followed Jesus because Jesus was their Lord, that was all the reason they needed.
The crowds that come to the Jordan to be baptized by John the Baptist on the other hand, they came because of the benefit for themselves of doing so. They came to avoid being chopped down and thrown in the fire, they came to avoid being burned as chaff in an unquenchable fire. And for this John the Baptist calls them a brood of vipers. However, even though they may not have come for the right reason, the crowd’s question is still an important question. “What then should we do?”
In this season of Advent we find ourselves in a time of waiting, a time of expecting. In this time of waiting, while we think on Jesus’ coming to the world near two thousand years ago, and his eventual coming again, it is only natural that we ask this same question, “What then should we do?” If Jesus is to return, then what should we be doing to prepare ourselves? This question sums up Advent for me. We’re not supposed to be simply waiting around, sitting on the edge of our seats, anxiously watching minutes pass by. No. We’re waiting and in this waiting we are preparing ourselves for his arrival, we are working out what we should do in anticipation for his arrival.
What does it mean to prepare ourselves for his arrival though? Jesus is not a house guest for whom we clean up an extra bedroom and stock the fridge a little more than usual. Jesus’ arrival calls for much more than quickly tidying a mess, which will most likely return shortly after our guest leaves. John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance in anticipation of Jesus’ arrival. I think it was last week that Fr. Sloane aptly stated that repentance, metanoia in the original Greek, is not simply admitting fault and saying you’re sorry, it is a complete reorientation of our lives.
This reorientation is certainly difficult, much more difficult than admitting fault, saying you’re sorry and then going right back to whatever you were doing. If we approach repentance solely as a means of receiving something, as a means of avoiding the ax that John the Baptist told the crowds was already laying at the roots, then true repentance, metanoia… well I do not think that it’d be possible. If, however, we come to it as the disciples from the story I told earlier, as seeing the implicit value that Christ has, not the value he possesses for us, then this repentance, this metanoia, is possible. It becomes possible because when we are concerned more with what value Jesus possesses for us then all we are doing is moving the object of our desire to our salvation, we are still focused in on ourselves. When instead we see the implicit value that Jesus has we move past focusing on ourselves and our own desires and we give ourselves over to God. Elsewhere in the Gospels you’ll remember that Jesus tells the disciples that to be his followers they must deny themselves and carry their crosses, they must give up themselves . We are told that by doing so we will find life, we are clearly told that there is a reward to following Jesus, I am not trying to deny that. Rather, what I am saying is that like the disciples from the story, we ought to follow Jesus because in him we recognize and experience God, not because of what we can gain from doing so. In the first approach to repentance, that of avoiding the ax at our roots, we are not reorienting ourselves, we are simply reorienting our desires, reorienting our concern for ourselves. When we approach repentance with an understanding of the implicit value that Christ has however, we can fully reorient ourselves to Christ and in doing so we can deny ourselves, pick up our crosses and follow him.
This reorientation to Christ is what our lives as Christians should always be focused on, no matter the time of year. In Advent, while we are living in a place of expectancy the question of “What then should we do?” is very present, and it is of course natural that this reorientation will be more prominent in our thought and speech than it might at other times of the year. This however, does not mean that preparing ourselves for his return, that reorienting ourselves to Christ is limited to this season. As Christians we ought to be always working out the question of “What then should we do?”. Every day we should remember that God became man and bid us to follow him and from this we should ask “What then should we do?”. Following Jesus, following God incarnate, requires repentance, requires a complete reorientation of our lives. We cannot follow him and remain as we are, as we were. We must continually strive to orient ourselves towards Christ. So as we await his coming again I ask you, what then will you do?
Monday, December 7, 2009
5th Sermon at St. Paul's
Year B, Proper 28, RCL
Hebrews 10:11-25
Recently I began watching the BBC Robin Hood series that premiered three years ago. The Legend of Robin Hood, as many of us know, places Robin as a contemporary and supporter of King Richard the Lionheart during the third crusade. Robin returned to England before the King and quickly became an outlaw. For, while the King was away Prince John was seeking to steal the crown, and he set up people in authority to help achieve this goal.
So, the King has gone away and in his absence there are those who try to set themselves up in power. They establish themselves as authority figures and pretend to be supporters of the king all the while plotting to steal the crown and the people from the true King. In today’s Gospel reading we hear Jesus warning against something quite similar to this. Jesus says, “Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray”. He goes on and lists terrible things that will happen in those times, wars, famines, earthquakes…, and he ends saying that “this is but the beginning of the birthpangs”, things are going to be bad, but that will only be the beginning, there will be more to follow.
The early church was very aware these coming trials. You can see throughout St. Paul’s writings an emphasis on the end of the world. In the first letter to the Thessalonians St. Paul wrote that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night”, although he expected it soon he knew that no one knew exactly when it would come, he continued, however, to write that Christians should be ready for the day of the Lord, because it was coming.
Being aware of the imminence of the day of the Lord, the early church was naturally concerned with how they ought to live. This was a concern both of what they ought to do under everyday circumstances, but also of how they were to avoid being misled by those that would come to deceive them, in terms of Robin Hood, how could the people of England stay loyal to King Richard? What could they do to not be deceived by the Prince Johns and Sheriff of Nottinghams of the world?
In today’s reading from the letter to the Hebrews we are given instruction as to how we are to live as Christians. These instructions begin by establishing Jesus as the foundation of everything we do as Christians, “since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus” the author writes. What we are able to do, we are able to do through Jesus, not through our own strength. The author goes on, “let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water”. Jesus has given us the confidence to enter the sanctuary, to come into God’s presence. And naturally following from having the confidence to enter into the sanctuary is the implication that we will do just that, and that we will do so faithfully, as those who have been washed clean through our baptism into the Body of Christ.
The author then urges the Hebrews writing, “let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering”. We are not only to enter into the sanctuary but beyond that we are to hold fast to the confession of our hope, to our beliefs, to our faith. We must always remember what it is we believe, what is right. Back to the Robin Hood story, Robin does not waver in his allegiance to King Richard, he knows what is right and he sticks to that as he continues his fight against Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Finally, the author writes, “let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another”… This is the piece that stood out to me when I first looked at today’s readings and is what I really want to emphasize. The instruction that we’re given in this reading is advice for day-to-day life but it also is speaks to how we can avoid being led astray as the day of the Lord approaches. This passage ends: “and all the more as you see the Day approaching”. “The Day” being the day of the Lord, that which lies after what Jesus is speaking about in today’s Gospel reading. The author of Hebrews is telling us here, that we are given each other as a safeguard against being led astray. In the story of Robin Hood, Robin is not alone, but rather he fights with his band of merry men. They keep each other in check, they make sure that they are all continuing on with the work that has been given to them.
Now, as noble as Robin Hood’s intentions may be, I don’t suggest that we go out and follow suit with his actions. I do however think that he and his merry men are a good example of what we heard in the Hebrews lesson today. If you have seen this recent BBC series you will know that a number of time, Robin and his men are faced with difficult decisions about following their beliefs of right and wrong, and these instances usually require them to go to Nottingham where the odds are stacked against them. There is always a voice in the group saying that they should not go to Nottingham because they have very little chance of getting back out, however, every time a different member of the group reminds the others what they ought to do and ends all discussion saying “we go to Nottingham”.
Robin and his men model what our lives as Christians should be in community. These outlaws hold each other up to the standard of their belief, they remind each other that no matter what they go to Nottingham. They encourage and provoke each other to continually do what is right regardless of the potential costs to themselves. The reason they do so is because they hold fast to their hope of the return of King Richard, and this allows them to stand without wavering in the face of what is wrong in England.
The hope of Robin and his men is in King Richard the Lionheart, now our hope… well our hope is in one much greater than King Richard… We have a different king, our hope is in Jesus, it is He who gives us the confidence to enter into God’s sanctuary, to hold fast without wavering and to meet together continually urging each other on to love and good deeds. Our hope being in one much greater than King Richard should provoke us to love and good deeds all the more. We, as Christians, should always be holding our brothers and sisters accountable to our faith, we should always be pushing our brothers and sisters to go to Nottingham.
The other day I was reading the Call to Commitment e-mail that came out late last week. This e-mail summed up perfectly what I wanted to say about what we hear in today’s reading. Towards the end of the e-mail it was written, “Let us encourage each other! Along with our prayers, let us continue to offer our encouragement to those we know who are struggling to see the path ahead. There's no need for anyone to be left out!” This statement was in the context of stewardship, but it applies to every aspect of our lives as Christians together. For in our lives together we must constantly be reminding each other that we are the people who go to Nottingham no matter how difficult it may seem. For it is through the confidence we have gained in Christ and the encouragement and provocation of our brothers and sisters in Christ that we are able to continue faithfully following the way Christ has set before us. Amen.
Hebrews 10:11-25
Recently I began watching the BBC Robin Hood series that premiered three years ago. The Legend of Robin Hood, as many of us know, places Robin as a contemporary and supporter of King Richard the Lionheart during the third crusade. Robin returned to England before the King and quickly became an outlaw. For, while the King was away Prince John was seeking to steal the crown, and he set up people in authority to help achieve this goal.
So, the King has gone away and in his absence there are those who try to set themselves up in power. They establish themselves as authority figures and pretend to be supporters of the king all the while plotting to steal the crown and the people from the true King. In today’s Gospel reading we hear Jesus warning against something quite similar to this. Jesus says, “Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray”. He goes on and lists terrible things that will happen in those times, wars, famines, earthquakes…, and he ends saying that “this is but the beginning of the birthpangs”, things are going to be bad, but that will only be the beginning, there will be more to follow.
The early church was very aware these coming trials. You can see throughout St. Paul’s writings an emphasis on the end of the world. In the first letter to the Thessalonians St. Paul wrote that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night”, although he expected it soon he knew that no one knew exactly when it would come, he continued, however, to write that Christians should be ready for the day of the Lord, because it was coming.
Being aware of the imminence of the day of the Lord, the early church was naturally concerned with how they ought to live. This was a concern both of what they ought to do under everyday circumstances, but also of how they were to avoid being misled by those that would come to deceive them, in terms of Robin Hood, how could the people of England stay loyal to King Richard? What could they do to not be deceived by the Prince Johns and Sheriff of Nottinghams of the world?
In today’s reading from the letter to the Hebrews we are given instruction as to how we are to live as Christians. These instructions begin by establishing Jesus as the foundation of everything we do as Christians, “since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus” the author writes. What we are able to do, we are able to do through Jesus, not through our own strength. The author goes on, “let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water”. Jesus has given us the confidence to enter the sanctuary, to come into God’s presence. And naturally following from having the confidence to enter into the sanctuary is the implication that we will do just that, and that we will do so faithfully, as those who have been washed clean through our baptism into the Body of Christ.
The author then urges the Hebrews writing, “let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering”. We are not only to enter into the sanctuary but beyond that we are to hold fast to the confession of our hope, to our beliefs, to our faith. We must always remember what it is we believe, what is right. Back to the Robin Hood story, Robin does not waver in his allegiance to King Richard, he knows what is right and he sticks to that as he continues his fight against Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Finally, the author writes, “let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another”… This is the piece that stood out to me when I first looked at today’s readings and is what I really want to emphasize. The instruction that we’re given in this reading is advice for day-to-day life but it also is speaks to how we can avoid being led astray as the day of the Lord approaches. This passage ends: “and all the more as you see the Day approaching”. “The Day” being the day of the Lord, that which lies after what Jesus is speaking about in today’s Gospel reading. The author of Hebrews is telling us here, that we are given each other as a safeguard against being led astray. In the story of Robin Hood, Robin is not alone, but rather he fights with his band of merry men. They keep each other in check, they make sure that they are all continuing on with the work that has been given to them.
Now, as noble as Robin Hood’s intentions may be, I don’t suggest that we go out and follow suit with his actions. I do however think that he and his merry men are a good example of what we heard in the Hebrews lesson today. If you have seen this recent BBC series you will know that a number of time, Robin and his men are faced with difficult decisions about following their beliefs of right and wrong, and these instances usually require them to go to Nottingham where the odds are stacked against them. There is always a voice in the group saying that they should not go to Nottingham because they have very little chance of getting back out, however, every time a different member of the group reminds the others what they ought to do and ends all discussion saying “we go to Nottingham”.
Robin and his men model what our lives as Christians should be in community. These outlaws hold each other up to the standard of their belief, they remind each other that no matter what they go to Nottingham. They encourage and provoke each other to continually do what is right regardless of the potential costs to themselves. The reason they do so is because they hold fast to their hope of the return of King Richard, and this allows them to stand without wavering in the face of what is wrong in England.
The hope of Robin and his men is in King Richard the Lionheart, now our hope… well our hope is in one much greater than King Richard… We have a different king, our hope is in Jesus, it is He who gives us the confidence to enter into God’s sanctuary, to hold fast without wavering and to meet together continually urging each other on to love and good deeds. Our hope being in one much greater than King Richard should provoke us to love and good deeds all the more. We, as Christians, should always be holding our brothers and sisters accountable to our faith, we should always be pushing our brothers and sisters to go to Nottingham.
The other day I was reading the Call to Commitment e-mail that came out late last week. This e-mail summed up perfectly what I wanted to say about what we hear in today’s reading. Towards the end of the e-mail it was written, “Let us encourage each other! Along with our prayers, let us continue to offer our encouragement to those we know who are struggling to see the path ahead. There's no need for anyone to be left out!” This statement was in the context of stewardship, but it applies to every aspect of our lives as Christians together. For in our lives together we must constantly be reminding each other that we are the people who go to Nottingham no matter how difficult it may seem. For it is through the confidence we have gained in Christ and the encouragement and provocation of our brothers and sisters in Christ that we are able to continue faithfully following the way Christ has set before us. Amen.
Second Sermon at Emmanuel Church in Cumberland, RI
Year B, Proper 11, RCL
Ephesians 2:11-22
If we were to read all of Ephesians, instead of only the passage we heard today, we would hear that it was Paul who wrote the epistle. Despite what the epistle actually says though Ephesians most likely wasn’t actually written by Paul but the author certainly has a grasp on Paul’s theology, especially Paul’s concept of the “Body of Christ”. The author of this epistle writes of Christ bringing all people together so that he “might reconcile both groups to God in one body”. Paul’s understanding of “the Body of Christ was certainly influential on the author of this epistle.
Writing about this “one body” the author is not talking about a group of people who all fit the same mold, who think and act a like, who generally get along well together. No! The author here is talking about the Israelites, the people of God, and the gentiles, the unclean others. When this epistle was written there was much division between these two groups. The purity code of the Jewish people severely limited any interaction between the two groups, and there was simply put general animosity between the two, a distinct wall separating the two. Israelites and gentiles, the people of God and everyone else.
That all changed though, we heard today that Jesus “has made both groups into one and broken down the dividing wall”, that we are “no longer strangers and aliens” but are “ citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God”. The author writes that together we become a “holy temple in the Lord”, that we are built together “into a dwelling place for God”. I don’t know about all of you, but I find this passage really exciting. Think about it, first of all there is now no dividing wall between the people of God and everyone else, being the people of God is now open to everyone, every single person. And secondly, together we become the dwelling spot for God in the world. We become the Body of Christ.
The Body of Christ has two different understandings for me. The one that always comes to mind first is that it defines us. We are one. One people, one church, one body, the Body of Christ is who we are. There is no longer an ‘us’ and a ‘them’, there is now one body, the Body of Christ. The beauty of this is that a body is made up of different parts, it can only be a body if it contains different parts, so we’re not asked to give up our individuality to achieve the unity of this body, rather we are invited in and that diversity is celebrated, for it is what makes the body functional. And this is the second understanding of the phrase, it describes us functionally.
As the Body of Christ, we act in this world on Christ’s behalf. Our actions, those of the one holy catholic and apostolic church, are the actions of Christ in this world. ~~Now before I go on, let me say a few words about what I mean by the church. This past week I was one of two chaplains at Older Boys camp at ECC. The theme for the week was discovery and as chaplains we focused on how we discover God in different areas, the bible, community, creation, ourselves and church. The day we talked about church we focused on how the word church doesn’t refer to a building or a denomination, but rather it refers to the people. The word it comes from in Greek derives from the verb to be called out of, the church is the people who are called out. This is not Emmanuel Church, you all are Emmanuel Church. One other thing before I continue, I used a phrase from the Nicene Creed, one holy catholic and apostolic church because I am not talking about the Episcopal Church, but am talking about all Christians, as Episcopalians we make up one part of the greater church.~~ Ok, back to the Body of Christ. Christ is seen and made known in this world through the actions of the church.
Kind of daunting, huh? That’s a lot of responsibility. In thinking about this I’m reminded of two very different sayings, the first is often attributed to St. Francis, “preach the Gospel always, and when necessary use words”. The obvious connection here is of course that our actions are seen as a way of preaching the Gospel. What we do communicates what we believe, what we do communicates who Christ is and what it means to be a Christian. What I love about this little saying is that it includes the word ‘always’, this isn’t something to do in a pulpit on Sunday mornings or on a mission trip somewhere, it is what we are to do all the time. Our lives, every moment of our lives, are to be given as a sermon, proclaiming the Gospel to the world around us. In doing so we are faithfully acting on behalf of Christ in the world.
The other saying comes, I believe, from a bumper sticker and puts forth a negative view of the church, it goes something like: I love Jesus, it’s his followers I can’t stand. This bumper sticker is a criticism of the church, and once again I’m talking about the entire church. As much as I’d like to say that this bumper sticker is ridiculous (and I generally simply dislike bumper stickers so I’m especially tempted to do so for that reason) there is of course some truth in this saying. The church does not always act as the “Body of Christ”, our actions do not always embody how Jesus would act in the world this day and age, we do not always preach the Gospel with our actions.
We can easily give in to focusing on what divides us rather than on what unites us, but this is what leads to people loving Christ but not his followers. If we as the church are to truly be the Body of Christ then we must remember what we heard in today’s epistle reading, we must remember that in making us one Christ has “broken down dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us”. We must remember that we have been reconciled “to God in one body through the cross”.
As I mentioned earlier, this does not mean that we need to give up any sense of individuality or diversity or become mindless clones. That would be just as bad as trying to rebuild the dividing walls that Christ has torn down. As one body we are made up of different parts, and this is to be celebrated, for otherwise we would not be able to function in the world, we rely on our different parts. Today’s epistle reading is calling us to come together as one body and focus on the thing that unites us, that is, our faith in Jesus Christ. The Body of Christ is called to act in such a way that we embody Christ in this world so that statements such as “I love Jesus, it’s his followers I can’t stand” will be utterly ridiculous. We are called to act in such a way that we can truly be a holy temple and dwelling place for the Lord.
I mentioned that I’ve been at ECC this past week, I’ve actually been there the past two weeks so I’ve had a lot of time to wander around and take in a lot of things that could easily go unnoticed there. One such thing is an excerpt from a poem, “In Search of a Round Table, by Charles Lathrop, framed on the wall of what is called the “round table room”, which is the first room you walk into in the house on the property. I noticed the poem within the first couple of days after arriving and it has been on my mind over the past two weeks as I thought over this sermon. I’d like to end with an excerpt from this poem.
For God has called a People
Not "them and us".
"them and us" are unable
to gather round; for at a round table
there are no sides
and ALL are invited
to wholeness and to food.
...
Round tabling means
No preferred seating,
No first and last,
No better, and no corners
For the "least of these".
Roundtabling means
Being with,
A part of,
Together and one.
It means room for the Spirit
And gifts
And disturbing profound peace for all.
Ephesians 2:11-22
If we were to read all of Ephesians, instead of only the passage we heard today, we would hear that it was Paul who wrote the epistle. Despite what the epistle actually says though Ephesians most likely wasn’t actually written by Paul but the author certainly has a grasp on Paul’s theology, especially Paul’s concept of the “Body of Christ”. The author of this epistle writes of Christ bringing all people together so that he “might reconcile both groups to God in one body”. Paul’s understanding of “the Body of Christ was certainly influential on the author of this epistle.
Writing about this “one body” the author is not talking about a group of people who all fit the same mold, who think and act a like, who generally get along well together. No! The author here is talking about the Israelites, the people of God, and the gentiles, the unclean others. When this epistle was written there was much division between these two groups. The purity code of the Jewish people severely limited any interaction between the two groups, and there was simply put general animosity between the two, a distinct wall separating the two. Israelites and gentiles, the people of God and everyone else.
That all changed though, we heard today that Jesus “has made both groups into one and broken down the dividing wall”, that we are “no longer strangers and aliens” but are “ citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God”. The author writes that together we become a “holy temple in the Lord”, that we are built together “into a dwelling place for God”. I don’t know about all of you, but I find this passage really exciting. Think about it, first of all there is now no dividing wall between the people of God and everyone else, being the people of God is now open to everyone, every single person. And secondly, together we become the dwelling spot for God in the world. We become the Body of Christ.
The Body of Christ has two different understandings for me. The one that always comes to mind first is that it defines us. We are one. One people, one church, one body, the Body of Christ is who we are. There is no longer an ‘us’ and a ‘them’, there is now one body, the Body of Christ. The beauty of this is that a body is made up of different parts, it can only be a body if it contains different parts, so we’re not asked to give up our individuality to achieve the unity of this body, rather we are invited in and that diversity is celebrated, for it is what makes the body functional. And this is the second understanding of the phrase, it describes us functionally.
As the Body of Christ, we act in this world on Christ’s behalf. Our actions, those of the one holy catholic and apostolic church, are the actions of Christ in this world. ~~Now before I go on, let me say a few words about what I mean by the church. This past week I was one of two chaplains at Older Boys camp at ECC. The theme for the week was discovery and as chaplains we focused on how we discover God in different areas, the bible, community, creation, ourselves and church. The day we talked about church we focused on how the word church doesn’t refer to a building or a denomination, but rather it refers to the people. The word it comes from in Greek derives from the verb to be called out of, the church is the people who are called out. This is not Emmanuel Church, you all are Emmanuel Church. One other thing before I continue, I used a phrase from the Nicene Creed, one holy catholic and apostolic church because I am not talking about the Episcopal Church, but am talking about all Christians, as Episcopalians we make up one part of the greater church.~~ Ok, back to the Body of Christ. Christ is seen and made known in this world through the actions of the church.
Kind of daunting, huh? That’s a lot of responsibility. In thinking about this I’m reminded of two very different sayings, the first is often attributed to St. Francis, “preach the Gospel always, and when necessary use words”. The obvious connection here is of course that our actions are seen as a way of preaching the Gospel. What we do communicates what we believe, what we do communicates who Christ is and what it means to be a Christian. What I love about this little saying is that it includes the word ‘always’, this isn’t something to do in a pulpit on Sunday mornings or on a mission trip somewhere, it is what we are to do all the time. Our lives, every moment of our lives, are to be given as a sermon, proclaiming the Gospel to the world around us. In doing so we are faithfully acting on behalf of Christ in the world.
The other saying comes, I believe, from a bumper sticker and puts forth a negative view of the church, it goes something like: I love Jesus, it’s his followers I can’t stand. This bumper sticker is a criticism of the church, and once again I’m talking about the entire church. As much as I’d like to say that this bumper sticker is ridiculous (and I generally simply dislike bumper stickers so I’m especially tempted to do so for that reason) there is of course some truth in this saying. The church does not always act as the “Body of Christ”, our actions do not always embody how Jesus would act in the world this day and age, we do not always preach the Gospel with our actions.
We can easily give in to focusing on what divides us rather than on what unites us, but this is what leads to people loving Christ but not his followers. If we as the church are to truly be the Body of Christ then we must remember what we heard in today’s epistle reading, we must remember that in making us one Christ has “broken down dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us”. We must remember that we have been reconciled “to God in one body through the cross”.
As I mentioned earlier, this does not mean that we need to give up any sense of individuality or diversity or become mindless clones. That would be just as bad as trying to rebuild the dividing walls that Christ has torn down. As one body we are made up of different parts, and this is to be celebrated, for otherwise we would not be able to function in the world, we rely on our different parts. Today’s epistle reading is calling us to come together as one body and focus on the thing that unites us, that is, our faith in Jesus Christ. The Body of Christ is called to act in such a way that we embody Christ in this world so that statements such as “I love Jesus, it’s his followers I can’t stand” will be utterly ridiculous. We are called to act in such a way that we can truly be a holy temple and dwelling place for the Lord.
I mentioned that I’ve been at ECC this past week, I’ve actually been there the past two weeks so I’ve had a lot of time to wander around and take in a lot of things that could easily go unnoticed there. One such thing is an excerpt from a poem, “In Search of a Round Table, by Charles Lathrop, framed on the wall of what is called the “round table room”, which is the first room you walk into in the house on the property. I noticed the poem within the first couple of days after arriving and it has been on my mind over the past two weeks as I thought over this sermon. I’d like to end with an excerpt from this poem.
For God has called a People
Not "them and us".
"them and us" are unable
to gather round; for at a round table
there are no sides
and ALL are invited
to wholeness and to food.
...
Round tabling means
No preferred seating,
No first and last,
No better, and no corners
For the "least of these".
Roundtabling means
Being with,
A part of,
Together and one.
It means room for the Spirit
And gifts
And disturbing profound peace for all.
Fourth Sermon at St. Paul's
Year B, Third Sunday of Easter, RCL
Luke 24:36b-48
The women had seen the empty tomb and the two men in dazzling clothes admonishing them for “looking for the living among the dead”, Peter had gone and seen the empty tomb for himself, and Cleopas and his companion had walked with and broken bread with the risen Lord… And after all this where do we find the disciples? What are they doing? Today’s Gospel reading from Luke has them gathered together talking about these things amongst themselves.
Jesus finds his disciples closed up in discussion with each other and the first thing he says to them is “peace be with you”, and do they accept this peace? No, rather they are startled and terrified by Jesus, mistaking him for a ghost. The disciples become scared, and quite honestly I imagine I would have as well. But Jesus reassures them and calms their fear. “Peace be with you”… Do not be afraid, do not doubt…
Jesus accomplishes this by showing them his humanness, that he is not in fact a ghost, but has indeed risen from the dead body and all. His first proof for them is, look… my hands…, my feet…, and presumably my scars…, see this is me, this my body, the body you saw beaten and broken, it has now been restored. And we are told that the disciples and their companions “while in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering”. They are no longer afraid, they are joyful, and it’s starting to sink in for them, but they cannot fully make that jump yet, they are still uncertain. So Jesus does the most logical thing you can do when trying to prove you’re not a ghost, he asks for dinner.
(But seriously/Think about it) this is a great way for Jesus to show the disciples it is indeed him. Jesus’ ministry was filled with teaching and eating, so that is exactly what he does, he asks for dinner and then begins to teach them again. He “opened their minds to understand the scriptures”. He showed them how everything has been leading up to this, to Jesus’ death and resurrection.
So, the disciples now understand what has happened, and how it was meant to happen. And this is where it gets good. Not only do the disciples now understand this, what they’ve been a part of throughout Jesus’ ministry, but they are to be witnesses to it also. They can no longer close up in conversation with each other, but rather they must go and proclaim this good news to all nations.
Now, what strikes me about this whole sequence is how Jesus finds his disciples. They’re together, seemingly closed off from outsiders. Luke’s account doesn’t say it as explicitly as other Gospel accounts, but I think it’s safe to assume that they were afraid even before Jesus appeared in the midst of them. They are followers of a man who had just been executed for treason, the dominant culture clearly was not in favor of what they were doing and what they had been doing. So they’re closed up with each other afraid, and this is how Jesus finds them. Fear is holding them back from witnessing to the world everything they had seen, fear is holding the eleven remaining apostles back from continuing to proclaim the kingdom of God and healing. Fear, we all know, can be very powerful. (But we’ll get back to this)
If you follow the Daily Office Lectionary you will be aware that this past week we have readings from the Book of Daniel. Daniel, as we know, was an Israelite in the Babylonian exile, who grew to prominence as an adviser to the king of Babylon. Along with Daniel in this book are three other exiled Israelites. Long story short, these three men were faced with an ultimatum, worship the king of Babylon or be thrown in a furnace.
They did not, however, let fear overwhelm them, but staying true to their faith they answered the king’s ultimatum saying that they will trust in God and be thrown into the furnace. And thrown into the furnace they were and the faith that these three men possesed allowed them to survive their time in the King’s furnace. I bring the story of these three up as a reminder that even though fear can often stop us in our tracks, it can be overcome, for fear is no match for what our faith can do. We need not fear anything because God is stronger than anything we can fear.
Now back to today’s Gospel. After witnessing Jesus’ execution, it is not a big stretch to imagine the disciples very much aware and fearful of their own mortality. And this is how Jesus finds them, discussing amongst themselves, afraid for what might happen to them. But Jesus shows up with them, his very presence tells them that death need not be feared, for through his resurrection Jesus has conquered death, and our faith allows us to share in that resurrection. Jesus tells us that we need not be afraid of anything, our faith frees us from fear.
Hopefully by now I’ve made it clear that we need not be afraid, that our faith is stronger than fear. But what next, what now that we are freed from our fears, after Jesus eased the fear of his disciples he sent them out to be witnesses, to proclaim the repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations. Jesus did not free them from their fears, from death so that may stay couped up together in an upper room somewhere discussing what they had seen and heard. NO… Jesus freed them from their fears in order that they could leave the safety of their group and go out and spread the good news of Jesus’ resurrection.
I’ll be honest with you all. For quite some time, evangelism really freaked me out. Coming from New England, growing up religion was pretty personal and private outside of church and other appropriate settings and most of my experiences and understandings of evangelism haven’t been the most positive. There was televangelism, which never seemed all that genuine to me. There were the Baptist and non-denominational groups who at times seemed forceful and overbearing with their evangelism. And the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who a few months before I began school down here, upon coming to my door and conversing learned of my plans to go to seminary and God willing be ordained an Episcopal Priest handed me a pamphlet on false churches, said goodbye and walked away.
So evangelizing took me a while to really get my head around. These experiences as well as growing up in a culture where religion is becoming less and less a public topic has instilled if not a fear at least discomfort within me regarding evangelism. But we see in today’s Gospel, that fear, or discomfort, is no reason to refrain from proclaiming the “repentance and forgiveness of sins… to all nations” Fear is no reason to not be a witness to these things. If you remember, even in the face of death the three companions of Daniel I mentioned earlier, did not use fear as an excuse to cease from proclaiming that they would not worship the king of Babylon because they worshiped the living God.
Fortunately, evangelism need not happen over a television, or by going door to door handing people pamphlets telling them that they’re wrong, and although in some places it is still dangerous, in our society it does not lead to being thrown into a furnace. There is no set formula for how we are to proclaim our faith, we are told what to do, but not how to do it. We will all have different ways of carrying this out, but as long as we are true to the Christian faith and to ourselves and each other the differences don’t matter so much as long as we are doing it.
So, what happens in here, and in churches all over, cannot be an end in itself. Today’s Gospels reading tells us that we are not to remain in groups, or churches, discussing these things amongst ourselves, afraid to go beyond our walls. But what we do here should rather give us the strength, should give us the courage to proclaim to all the nations the good news that Christ has risen from the dead. Alleluia.
Luke 24:36b-48
The women had seen the empty tomb and the two men in dazzling clothes admonishing them for “looking for the living among the dead”, Peter had gone and seen the empty tomb for himself, and Cleopas and his companion had walked with and broken bread with the risen Lord… And after all this where do we find the disciples? What are they doing? Today’s Gospel reading from Luke has them gathered together talking about these things amongst themselves.
Jesus finds his disciples closed up in discussion with each other and the first thing he says to them is “peace be with you”, and do they accept this peace? No, rather they are startled and terrified by Jesus, mistaking him for a ghost. The disciples become scared, and quite honestly I imagine I would have as well. But Jesus reassures them and calms their fear. “Peace be with you”… Do not be afraid, do not doubt…
Jesus accomplishes this by showing them his humanness, that he is not in fact a ghost, but has indeed risen from the dead body and all. His first proof for them is, look… my hands…, my feet…, and presumably my scars…, see this is me, this my body, the body you saw beaten and broken, it has now been restored. And we are told that the disciples and their companions “while in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering”. They are no longer afraid, they are joyful, and it’s starting to sink in for them, but they cannot fully make that jump yet, they are still uncertain. So Jesus does the most logical thing you can do when trying to prove you’re not a ghost, he asks for dinner.
(But seriously/Think about it) this is a great way for Jesus to show the disciples it is indeed him. Jesus’ ministry was filled with teaching and eating, so that is exactly what he does, he asks for dinner and then begins to teach them again. He “opened their minds to understand the scriptures”. He showed them how everything has been leading up to this, to Jesus’ death and resurrection.
So, the disciples now understand what has happened, and how it was meant to happen. And this is where it gets good. Not only do the disciples now understand this, what they’ve been a part of throughout Jesus’ ministry, but they are to be witnesses to it also. They can no longer close up in conversation with each other, but rather they must go and proclaim this good news to all nations.
Now, what strikes me about this whole sequence is how Jesus finds his disciples. They’re together, seemingly closed off from outsiders. Luke’s account doesn’t say it as explicitly as other Gospel accounts, but I think it’s safe to assume that they were afraid even before Jesus appeared in the midst of them. They are followers of a man who had just been executed for treason, the dominant culture clearly was not in favor of what they were doing and what they had been doing. So they’re closed up with each other afraid, and this is how Jesus finds them. Fear is holding them back from witnessing to the world everything they had seen, fear is holding the eleven remaining apostles back from continuing to proclaim the kingdom of God and healing. Fear, we all know, can be very powerful. (But we’ll get back to this)
If you follow the Daily Office Lectionary you will be aware that this past week we have readings from the Book of Daniel. Daniel, as we know, was an Israelite in the Babylonian exile, who grew to prominence as an adviser to the king of Babylon. Along with Daniel in this book are three other exiled Israelites. Long story short, these three men were faced with an ultimatum, worship the king of Babylon or be thrown in a furnace.
They did not, however, let fear overwhelm them, but staying true to their faith they answered the king’s ultimatum saying that they will trust in God and be thrown into the furnace. And thrown into the furnace they were and the faith that these three men possesed allowed them to survive their time in the King’s furnace. I bring the story of these three up as a reminder that even though fear can often stop us in our tracks, it can be overcome, for fear is no match for what our faith can do. We need not fear anything because God is stronger than anything we can fear.
Now back to today’s Gospel. After witnessing Jesus’ execution, it is not a big stretch to imagine the disciples very much aware and fearful of their own mortality. And this is how Jesus finds them, discussing amongst themselves, afraid for what might happen to them. But Jesus shows up with them, his very presence tells them that death need not be feared, for through his resurrection Jesus has conquered death, and our faith allows us to share in that resurrection. Jesus tells us that we need not be afraid of anything, our faith frees us from fear.
Hopefully by now I’ve made it clear that we need not be afraid, that our faith is stronger than fear. But what next, what now that we are freed from our fears, after Jesus eased the fear of his disciples he sent them out to be witnesses, to proclaim the repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations. Jesus did not free them from their fears, from death so that may stay couped up together in an upper room somewhere discussing what they had seen and heard. NO… Jesus freed them from their fears in order that they could leave the safety of their group and go out and spread the good news of Jesus’ resurrection.
I’ll be honest with you all. For quite some time, evangelism really freaked me out. Coming from New England, growing up religion was pretty personal and private outside of church and other appropriate settings and most of my experiences and understandings of evangelism haven’t been the most positive. There was televangelism, which never seemed all that genuine to me. There were the Baptist and non-denominational groups who at times seemed forceful and overbearing with their evangelism. And the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who a few months before I began school down here, upon coming to my door and conversing learned of my plans to go to seminary and God willing be ordained an Episcopal Priest handed me a pamphlet on false churches, said goodbye and walked away.
So evangelizing took me a while to really get my head around. These experiences as well as growing up in a culture where religion is becoming less and less a public topic has instilled if not a fear at least discomfort within me regarding evangelism. But we see in today’s Gospel, that fear, or discomfort, is no reason to refrain from proclaiming the “repentance and forgiveness of sins… to all nations” Fear is no reason to not be a witness to these things. If you remember, even in the face of death the three companions of Daniel I mentioned earlier, did not use fear as an excuse to cease from proclaiming that they would not worship the king of Babylon because they worshiped the living God.
Fortunately, evangelism need not happen over a television, or by going door to door handing people pamphlets telling them that they’re wrong, and although in some places it is still dangerous, in our society it does not lead to being thrown into a furnace. There is no set formula for how we are to proclaim our faith, we are told what to do, but not how to do it. We will all have different ways of carrying this out, but as long as we are true to the Christian faith and to ourselves and each other the differences don’t matter so much as long as we are doing it.
So, what happens in here, and in churches all over, cannot be an end in itself. Today’s Gospels reading tells us that we are not to remain in groups, or churches, discussing these things amongst ourselves, afraid to go beyond our walls. But what we do here should rather give us the strength, should give us the courage to proclaim to all the nations the good news that Christ has risen from the dead. Alleluia.
Third Sermon at St. Paul's
Year B, Palm Sunday, RCL
Mark 11:1-11
Today we begin Holy Week. We begin the journey to the cross, and through that to the resurrection. This begins with a procession, with a parade, Jesus entered into Jerusalem much like a king or hero would upon returning to the city. Jesus’ entrance into the city however, is not what strikes me about this passage. Rather, I am baffled by what he does once he is in the city. After this absurd and exuberant entrance Jesus goes into the temple, he does not pray, he does not sacrifice, he doesn’t even teach. Instead after entering the temple we are told, “when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve”… He looked around and left. That is all St. Mark tells us.
I wonder… what was going through Jesus’ mind while he was looking around the temple? Was he nostalgic or sad realizing that he had little time left to look upon the temple? Or was he overwhelmed, maybe by his reception into Jerusalem or by the awareness that his time has come and he was soon to be handed over unto death? We do not and cannot know what was on Jesus’ mind as he looked around the temple.
What we do know however, is that he left the temple only to return the next day. He left the temple to continue along the path to his crucifixion. Whether he was nostalgic or sad, overwhelmed or even afraid, Jesus returned, Jesus continued on towards suffering and death. Sure he had doubts or fears about this, as seen in the Garden of Gethsemane, but regardless of those he continued on the path before him, continued on to the cross, to his death.
This week, in the Triduum we will remember and celebrate different points along this path. Yes, different points but different points of one path, one Passion. They cannot stand alone, they are wrapped up in each other and must be seen together, for without Jesus’ death there can be no resurrection, and without Jesus’ resurrection Christ does not defeat death, and it is both his death and resurrection that transform the simple act of sharing bread and wine.
Our liturgy will capture this very element. On Thursday and Friday there will be no dismissal, for although taking place on different days they are bound up together and are pieces of a greater whole. They are different points of the same path, of the same Passion and so we treat them as one service, beginning Thursday evening and ending at the Great Vigil of Easter on Saturday night.
And seeing that Christ’s death, Christ’s passion was not just for us, what better way is there to tell someone about it then the Triduum? This service is the center of our faith, and if you could only invite someone to one service this would be it. Fortunately, there is no limit to how often we can invite people to church, however, you still should invite friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, whoever you wish to come celebrate the Triduum with us. You can even find bookmarks in the back of the church with our Holy Week schedule on them, go ahead and take some, hand them out or post them in visible, high traffic areas.
So later this week we will celebrate the Triduum. And just as Jesus left the temple after his entrance into Jerusalem to return to the path towards his death on the cross, I urge you all to leave here today and to return Thursday, Friday and Saturday and remember that Jesus walked this path for us. I urge you all to come and remember Christ’s Passion for us as we celebrate the Triduum. Amen.
Mark 11:1-11
Today we begin Holy Week. We begin the journey to the cross, and through that to the resurrection. This begins with a procession, with a parade, Jesus entered into Jerusalem much like a king or hero would upon returning to the city. Jesus’ entrance into the city however, is not what strikes me about this passage. Rather, I am baffled by what he does once he is in the city. After this absurd and exuberant entrance Jesus goes into the temple, he does not pray, he does not sacrifice, he doesn’t even teach. Instead after entering the temple we are told, “when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve”… He looked around and left. That is all St. Mark tells us.
I wonder… what was going through Jesus’ mind while he was looking around the temple? Was he nostalgic or sad realizing that he had little time left to look upon the temple? Or was he overwhelmed, maybe by his reception into Jerusalem or by the awareness that his time has come and he was soon to be handed over unto death? We do not and cannot know what was on Jesus’ mind as he looked around the temple.
What we do know however, is that he left the temple only to return the next day. He left the temple to continue along the path to his crucifixion. Whether he was nostalgic or sad, overwhelmed or even afraid, Jesus returned, Jesus continued on towards suffering and death. Sure he had doubts or fears about this, as seen in the Garden of Gethsemane, but regardless of those he continued on the path before him, continued on to the cross, to his death.
This week, in the Triduum we will remember and celebrate different points along this path. Yes, different points but different points of one path, one Passion. They cannot stand alone, they are wrapped up in each other and must be seen together, for without Jesus’ death there can be no resurrection, and without Jesus’ resurrection Christ does not defeat death, and it is both his death and resurrection that transform the simple act of sharing bread and wine.
Our liturgy will capture this very element. On Thursday and Friday there will be no dismissal, for although taking place on different days they are bound up together and are pieces of a greater whole. They are different points of the same path, of the same Passion and so we treat them as one service, beginning Thursday evening and ending at the Great Vigil of Easter on Saturday night.
And seeing that Christ’s death, Christ’s passion was not just for us, what better way is there to tell someone about it then the Triduum? This service is the center of our faith, and if you could only invite someone to one service this would be it. Fortunately, there is no limit to how often we can invite people to church, however, you still should invite friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, whoever you wish to come celebrate the Triduum with us. You can even find bookmarks in the back of the church with our Holy Week schedule on them, go ahead and take some, hand them out or post them in visible, high traffic areas.
So later this week we will celebrate the Triduum. And just as Jesus left the temple after his entrance into Jerusalem to return to the path towards his death on the cross, I urge you all to leave here today and to return Thursday, Friday and Saturday and remember that Jesus walked this path for us. I urge you all to come and remember Christ’s Passion for us as we celebrate the Triduum. Amen.
First Sermon at Emmanuel Church in Cumberland, RI
Year B, First Sunday after Christmas, RCL
John 1:1-18
(I think I edited this a little on my parents computer so this isn't how it was actually preached, I'll work on finding that copy)
Merry Christmas… not seasons greetings… not happy holidays… Merry Christmas. We are here today, we came here three days ago, not because it is winter, not because pine trees look good in our living rooms with a little bit of tinsel. We are here, today, right now, because God so loved the world, that he sent his son to walk amongst us, to eat with us, to teach us, cry and laugh with us, to share in our lives. And by having shared in our life, we are able to share in his life, we are able to become children of God. In today’s Gospel John tells us just this. “The word became flesh” he says, and he goes on, “all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God”. This is why we are here today, because the Word became flesh and we realize just how awesome that was, and still is.
John then goes on to talk about Jesus’ glory, he says, “we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth”. What makes Jesus’ glory different than ours, what makes it “full of grace and truth” is that he does not seek his own glory, but rather he seeks the Father’s glory. For the Father’s glory is full of grace and truth and thus Jesus’ glory is full of grace and truth. While Jesus walked amongst us he taught us that we are not to seek our own glory, but rather, we are to seek the glory of the father and by doing so we will receive “grace upon grace”.
When I think of glory what always comes to mind is “the Battle Hymn of the Republic”, the chorus always runs through my mind when glory comes up, you know, “glory, glory, hallelujah” except in my head it sounds better than I can sing it. But when I really settle down and think about it, I have images of a fanfare of trumpets, angels, and bright lights and halos. The image of Jesus returning in glory to me is this overpowering and truly awesome presence. Glory, however, is not always this breathtakingly awesome. Glory also refers to our reputation, our fame, our honor, our prestige.
Now, the glory of God the Father is of the breathtakingly awesome kind. And I believe we will see Jesus in his return in the same glory. But, Jesus walked around as one of us, remember that’s why we’re here today, because the Word became flesh, and I doubt that during his earthly tenure he was accompanied by trumpets and angels wherever he went, he did not have the chorus of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” playing on loop in the background. In his earthly life he pointed to this greater glory of God, by seeking God’s fame, God’s honor, God’s prestige, not his own. And thus, his glory is “full of grace and truth”.
Whose glory do we seek? What is our glory filled with? Are we more concerned about how we are viewed, how others see us, are we more concerned with our honor, than we are with God’s honor? These may seem like simple questions, but they are not. They are some of the most difficult questions I have ever been asked or asked myself, and they are difficult because they are important, remember, Jesus tells us not to seek our own glory. Why should we follow Jesus’ example, and seek God’s glory and not our own?
You may have seen the movie Bruce Almighty, it came out a few years ago and is about a TV news reporter named Bruce Nolan. Now Bruce does human interest stories, stories about the anniversary of the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls or a local bakery making the worlds largest cookie, he wants more than this though. He wants to be a news anchor, he wants to be somebody. Things, however, do not work out for Bruce exactly as he wants, and in response to Bruce’s anger about this, about not being somebody, God temporarily gives Bruce his powers, thus Bruce Almighty. Well, as to be expected Bruce, at first, uses his newfound power to benefit himself, to become somebody, to seek his own glory. The movie details how when Bruce is more concerned with being somebody, with his own glory rather than God’s, bad things happen to Bruce and to those around him.
Bruce is more concerned with his glory than with God’s and no matter how hard he tries things just don’t work out. They may seem to go his way at first, but everything starts to fall apart, and he soon realizes just how empty his life is becoming because of his obsession with being somebody, his obsession with his glory no matter the cost. In the end, Bruce sees beyond himself, and his quest for glory, and he is able to set things right.
When we seek our own glory, when we become obsessed with our own glory, as Bruce was, our glory is not full of truth and grace, as is Jesus’. Our glory turns out to be vain and empty. Now, fame, honor, recognition these are all good things. By no means, is it inherently bad to be held in high regard by others. These things, honor, fame, regard, glory become a problem when we seek them over everything else, especially when we value them greater than God. Seeking our glory becomes a problem when we overlook God’s glory.
When we do look beyond our own glory, and put God’s glory before us, amazing things can happen. In Bruce Almighty, Bruce is able to reconcile with the love interest of the film whom he had pushed away in his pursuit of glory, and he realizes that he is able to do more good through stories about giant cookies, and old ferry boats than he could if he was an anchor. He recognizes his calling and how his gifts and talents help others, he points beyond himself, points to a greater glory than his own.
When we look beyond our glory, we are able to point to the greater glory of God, as Jesus did, as Jesus showed us to do, and still shows us to do. When I began talking with you all this morning, I made a point about it being Christmas, about our being here today because God so loved us that that he sent his son to walk amongst us, to live a human life. In his life, Jesus did a lot, and in his death and resurrection he did even more. Yes, his death and resurrection are of utmost importance to the church and us as Christians. But what we are remembering, what we are celebrating today is that the Word became flesh. We are celebrating that the Word walked amongst us and showed us what true glory is.
I believe that what we have been talking about with glory today, seeking God’s glory, and not our own, underlies all of Jesus’ teaching. In Matthew’s Gospel we hear that the greatest commandments are “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” and also “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This is what it looks like to seek God’s glory and not our own, putting all we have in to love, loving God and loving our neighbor. Jesus did not tell us to turn away from prestige or honor or fame. No, he told us not to seek those things for themselves. Rather, love God… love your neighbor… let your glory come from these things. Jesus showed us this in his life, he showed us the beauty of seeking God’s glory and not our own, he showed us a glory that is full of grace and truth
So, the “Word became flesh”, God became one of us. In doing so he opened a whole new life to us. We can be children of God, because Jesus walked amongst us, because Jesus showed us the way. Through parables, through prayers, through his life Jesus showed us how we can put God’s glory before us. Jesus showed us how we can be who we were created to be, who we are called to be. We can love God with our hearts, our souls and our minds and we can love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We can seek the glory of God, because Jesus walked amongst us, shared in our lives, and showed us how.
John 1:1-18
(I think I edited this a little on my parents computer so this isn't how it was actually preached, I'll work on finding that copy)
Merry Christmas… not seasons greetings… not happy holidays… Merry Christmas. We are here today, we came here three days ago, not because it is winter, not because pine trees look good in our living rooms with a little bit of tinsel. We are here, today, right now, because God so loved the world, that he sent his son to walk amongst us, to eat with us, to teach us, cry and laugh with us, to share in our lives. And by having shared in our life, we are able to share in his life, we are able to become children of God. In today’s Gospel John tells us just this. “The word became flesh” he says, and he goes on, “all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God”. This is why we are here today, because the Word became flesh and we realize just how awesome that was, and still is.
John then goes on to talk about Jesus’ glory, he says, “we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth”. What makes Jesus’ glory different than ours, what makes it “full of grace and truth” is that he does not seek his own glory, but rather he seeks the Father’s glory. For the Father’s glory is full of grace and truth and thus Jesus’ glory is full of grace and truth. While Jesus walked amongst us he taught us that we are not to seek our own glory, but rather, we are to seek the glory of the father and by doing so we will receive “grace upon grace”.
When I think of glory what always comes to mind is “the Battle Hymn of the Republic”, the chorus always runs through my mind when glory comes up, you know, “glory, glory, hallelujah” except in my head it sounds better than I can sing it. But when I really settle down and think about it, I have images of a fanfare of trumpets, angels, and bright lights and halos. The image of Jesus returning in glory to me is this overpowering and truly awesome presence. Glory, however, is not always this breathtakingly awesome. Glory also refers to our reputation, our fame, our honor, our prestige.
Now, the glory of God the Father is of the breathtakingly awesome kind. And I believe we will see Jesus in his return in the same glory. But, Jesus walked around as one of us, remember that’s why we’re here today, because the Word became flesh, and I doubt that during his earthly tenure he was accompanied by trumpets and angels wherever he went, he did not have the chorus of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” playing on loop in the background. In his earthly life he pointed to this greater glory of God, by seeking God’s fame, God’s honor, God’s prestige, not his own. And thus, his glory is “full of grace and truth”.
Whose glory do we seek? What is our glory filled with? Are we more concerned about how we are viewed, how others see us, are we more concerned with our honor, than we are with God’s honor? These may seem like simple questions, but they are not. They are some of the most difficult questions I have ever been asked or asked myself, and they are difficult because they are important, remember, Jesus tells us not to seek our own glory. Why should we follow Jesus’ example, and seek God’s glory and not our own?
You may have seen the movie Bruce Almighty, it came out a few years ago and is about a TV news reporter named Bruce Nolan. Now Bruce does human interest stories, stories about the anniversary of the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls or a local bakery making the worlds largest cookie, he wants more than this though. He wants to be a news anchor, he wants to be somebody. Things, however, do not work out for Bruce exactly as he wants, and in response to Bruce’s anger about this, about not being somebody, God temporarily gives Bruce his powers, thus Bruce Almighty. Well, as to be expected Bruce, at first, uses his newfound power to benefit himself, to become somebody, to seek his own glory. The movie details how when Bruce is more concerned with being somebody, with his own glory rather than God’s, bad things happen to Bruce and to those around him.
Bruce is more concerned with his glory than with God’s and no matter how hard he tries things just don’t work out. They may seem to go his way at first, but everything starts to fall apart, and he soon realizes just how empty his life is becoming because of his obsession with being somebody, his obsession with his glory no matter the cost. In the end, Bruce sees beyond himself, and his quest for glory, and he is able to set things right.
When we seek our own glory, when we become obsessed with our own glory, as Bruce was, our glory is not full of truth and grace, as is Jesus’. Our glory turns out to be vain and empty. Now, fame, honor, recognition these are all good things. By no means, is it inherently bad to be held in high regard by others. These things, honor, fame, regard, glory become a problem when we seek them over everything else, especially when we value them greater than God. Seeking our glory becomes a problem when we overlook God’s glory.
When we do look beyond our own glory, and put God’s glory before us, amazing things can happen. In Bruce Almighty, Bruce is able to reconcile with the love interest of the film whom he had pushed away in his pursuit of glory, and he realizes that he is able to do more good through stories about giant cookies, and old ferry boats than he could if he was an anchor. He recognizes his calling and how his gifts and talents help others, he points beyond himself, points to a greater glory than his own.
When we look beyond our glory, we are able to point to the greater glory of God, as Jesus did, as Jesus showed us to do, and still shows us to do. When I began talking with you all this morning, I made a point about it being Christmas, about our being here today because God so loved us that that he sent his son to walk amongst us, to live a human life. In his life, Jesus did a lot, and in his death and resurrection he did even more. Yes, his death and resurrection are of utmost importance to the church and us as Christians. But what we are remembering, what we are celebrating today is that the Word became flesh. We are celebrating that the Word walked amongst us and showed us what true glory is.
I believe that what we have been talking about with glory today, seeking God’s glory, and not our own, underlies all of Jesus’ teaching. In Matthew’s Gospel we hear that the greatest commandments are “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” and also “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This is what it looks like to seek God’s glory and not our own, putting all we have in to love, loving God and loving our neighbor. Jesus did not tell us to turn away from prestige or honor or fame. No, he told us not to seek those things for themselves. Rather, love God… love your neighbor… let your glory come from these things. Jesus showed us this in his life, he showed us the beauty of seeking God’s glory and not our own, he showed us a glory that is full of grace and truth
So, the “Word became flesh”, God became one of us. In doing so he opened a whole new life to us. We can be children of God, because Jesus walked amongst us, because Jesus showed us the way. Through parables, through prayers, through his life Jesus showed us how we can put God’s glory before us. Jesus showed us how we can be who we were created to be, who we are called to be. We can love God with our hearts, our souls and our minds and we can love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We can seek the glory of God, because Jesus walked amongst us, shared in our lives, and showed us how.
Second Sermon at St. Paul's
Year B, Advent 3, RCL
I Thessalonians 5:16-24
“Do not quench the spirit”, Paul wrote these words to the church at Thessalonica nearly two thousand years ago. I’d say this advice is still pretty good in our day. Think about it, Paul’s advice can apply to any facet of life, any situation we may find ourselves in, any of life’s happy accidents or tragic tales. One of the best things we have, one of the best things we can take with us into any and all situations that life may present us with is a sense of the spirit. That mysterious person of the trinity whom Jesus himself promised to us, his disciples, his apostles, his prophets, to all the members of the Body of Christ. He promised the Spirit to guide and teach and strengthen us. He promised the spirit so that we might not become lost or fall away from the church while we await his coming again and the ushering in of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of heaven. As we await his second advent we would do well, Paul says, to not quench the spirit.
After Jesus’ ascension the early Christian’s expected his return rather quickly. They did not know when he would return, but they did expect his return within their lifetime. If you remember, in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus told his disciples “there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom”. The belief that Jesus would come again within their lifetime is easy to understand in light of Jesus’ own teaching.
Imagine the anxiety of these early Christian’s, these men and women who put everything on the line for their belief, for their hope in the return of Jesus, as they awaited his return. Imagine this anxiety building as people they know continue to die, some of whom may have even heard Jesus himself say that they would not taste death before seeing the kingdom. I can almost feel their anxiety myself.
This is the context for today’s epistle, for Paul’s advice to the Thessalonians. Their anxiety and fear is beginning to overcome them as they question, when will the Lord return? How much longer must we wait? How many more of our loved ones must we see pass away before this all comes to be? Beyond the loss of loved ones, the questions and anxiety of these early Christians were also fueled by the social conditions of their times. Thessalonica did not exactly warm up to Christianity that quickly. When Paul and Silas were first evangelizing there, they had to be ushered out in secret in the middle of the night for fear of what might be done to them if they stayed.
These early Christian’s in Thessalonica had much reason to desire the return of Jesus, for in returning he would usher in the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom, which years later, Paul described as “righteousness and peace and joy in
the Holy Spirit”. This is what Jesus’ return meant to the early Christians, righteousness, peace and joy. And the fact that Jesus had not returned yet, contrary to what they understood his teachings to mean, scared them. They were yearning for righteousness and peace and joy… but what if Jesus might not return? What if they had been wrong?
So Paul wrote to the Thessalonians explaining that the Lord will return and that those who have died in Christ will not be forgotten but they will rise and be with Christ. Those who are still alive will then be joined up with them, and we will all be with the Lord forever in the kingdom of heaven. There will be righteousness and peace and joy forever.
Now, today, looking back we know that Jesus did not return within the lifespan of those who were present for his earthly ministry. And yes, we can find those who believe that we are now living in the end times, that the kingdom is coming, and it is coming soon. Personally, I don’t know whether we are or not, for as Jesus said “about that day and hour no one knows”. What I do know, however, is that we find ourselves in a time between the ages. Jesus, through his incarnation and earthly ministry, through his death, resurrection and ascension has begun a change. Nothing… nothing, will ever be the same again. Yet, this change has not been completely actualized yet, we are still waiting. We are awaiting the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven.
We find ourselves, in a similar situation as the Thessalonians to whom Paul wrote. We ask, when will the Lord return? When will we have true righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit? Finding ourselves in a place like that of the Thessalonians of the early church, Paul’s advice applies to us just as it did two thousand years ago. While we await the coming of our Lord, and all that his coming entails, we must not quench the spirit, Paul tells us.
What does this mean though? Do not quench the spirit. How do we go about not quenching the spirit? Paul tells us, “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances”. Pretty easy stuff right? <1,2,3> Always… without ceasing… in all circumstances… <1,2,3> I am reminded of something I heard Fr. Sloane say not too long ago: in our lives as Christians there is no such thing as neutral gear. We are either moving closer to Christ or we are moving further away from Christ, there is no standing still, there is no neutral gear.
With no neutral gear, we have two options, forward or reverse. Reverse leads to a quenched spirit. Going forward, however, follows Paul’s direction, and does not quench the spirit. In good times, and in bad, going forward, not quenching the spirit makes demands of us. We are to rejoice, we are to pray, we are to give thanks. All of these seem a lot easier said than done.
What stuck out to me the most out of Paul’s triad of advice for not quenching the spirit, was giving thanks in all circumstances. How can I do this, I thought, in all circumstances. Looking into this exhortation more deeply though, I found something that made me smile. The word that Paul uses for giving thanks here is the same word used by Jesus on the night that he was betrayed. On that night he took bread, and he took wine and he gave thanks. And this word, that Paul and Jesus both used to give thanks, eucharisteo, it’s where we get the word Eucharist. Whenever we come to this table, we are giving thanks.
It may be difficult to be thankful after having lost a loved one, or receiving a poor diagnosis, during financial troubles, after receiving a bad grade in an important class, or not knowing if we’ll have a warm place to sleep and something to eat tonight. <1,2,3> But ven amidst all these things, we can come here, come to this table, and we can give thanks in all circumstances. In doing so, not only are we not quenching the spirit, but we are in fact stoking it.
We find ourselves in this odd place of waiting for the return of our Lord, waiting for the kingdom of heaven, but unable to remain motionless while wait. We can move forward or we can move backward, but we cannot remain where we are. Moving forward in this way, will at times be easy and at times be difficult. Regardless of which, we are to take the spirit with us. We are to rejoice, to pray, to give thanks, and in doing so we are preparing ourselves for his return, and we are preparing ourselves for the kingdom of heaven. As we wait, as we go through life with all its joys and sorrows, Paul urges not to quench the spirit. Here at St. Paul’s, we can go beyond not quenching the spirit: we can stoke the spirit by coming to this table, by participating in sacramental worship, week after week, day after day no matter the circumstance.
I Thessalonians 5:16-24
“Do not quench the spirit”, Paul wrote these words to the church at Thessalonica nearly two thousand years ago. I’d say this advice is still pretty good in our day. Think about it, Paul’s advice can apply to any facet of life, any situation we may find ourselves in, any of life’s happy accidents or tragic tales. One of the best things we have, one of the best things we can take with us into any and all situations that life may present us with is a sense of the spirit. That mysterious person of the trinity whom Jesus himself promised to us, his disciples, his apostles, his prophets, to all the members of the Body of Christ. He promised the Spirit to guide and teach and strengthen us. He promised the spirit so that we might not become lost or fall away from the church while we await his coming again and the ushering in of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of heaven. As we await his second advent we would do well, Paul says, to not quench the spirit.
After Jesus’ ascension the early Christian’s expected his return rather quickly. They did not know when he would return, but they did expect his return within their lifetime. If you remember, in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus told his disciples “there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom”. The belief that Jesus would come again within their lifetime is easy to understand in light of Jesus’ own teaching.
Imagine the anxiety of these early Christian’s, these men and women who put everything on the line for their belief, for their hope in the return of Jesus, as they awaited his return. Imagine this anxiety building as people they know continue to die, some of whom may have even heard Jesus himself say that they would not taste death before seeing the kingdom. I can almost feel their anxiety myself.
This is the context for today’s epistle, for Paul’s advice to the Thessalonians. Their anxiety and fear is beginning to overcome them as they question, when will the Lord return? How much longer must we wait? How many more of our loved ones must we see pass away before this all comes to be? Beyond the loss of loved ones, the questions and anxiety of these early Christians were also fueled by the social conditions of their times. Thessalonica did not exactly warm up to Christianity that quickly. When Paul and Silas were first evangelizing there, they had to be ushered out in secret in the middle of the night for fear of what might be done to them if they stayed.
These early Christian’s in Thessalonica had much reason to desire the return of Jesus, for in returning he would usher in the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom, which years later, Paul described as “righteousness and peace and joy in
the Holy Spirit”. This is what Jesus’ return meant to the early Christians, righteousness, peace and joy. And the fact that Jesus had not returned yet, contrary to what they understood his teachings to mean, scared them. They were yearning for righteousness and peace and joy… but what if Jesus might not return? What if they had been wrong?
So Paul wrote to the Thessalonians explaining that the Lord will return and that those who have died in Christ will not be forgotten but they will rise and be with Christ. Those who are still alive will then be joined up with them, and we will all be with the Lord forever in the kingdom of heaven. There will be righteousness and peace and joy forever.
Now, today, looking back we know that Jesus did not return within the lifespan of those who were present for his earthly ministry. And yes, we can find those who believe that we are now living in the end times, that the kingdom is coming, and it is coming soon. Personally, I don’t know whether we are or not, for as Jesus said “about that day and hour no one knows”. What I do know, however, is that we find ourselves in a time between the ages. Jesus, through his incarnation and earthly ministry, through his death, resurrection and ascension has begun a change. Nothing… nothing, will ever be the same again. Yet, this change has not been completely actualized yet, we are still waiting. We are awaiting the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven.
We find ourselves, in a similar situation as the Thessalonians to whom Paul wrote. We ask, when will the Lord return? When will we have true righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit? Finding ourselves in a place like that of the Thessalonians of the early church, Paul’s advice applies to us just as it did two thousand years ago. While we await the coming of our Lord, and all that his coming entails, we must not quench the spirit, Paul tells us.
What does this mean though? Do not quench the spirit. How do we go about not quenching the spirit? Paul tells us, “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances”. Pretty easy stuff right? <1,2,3> Always… without ceasing… in all circumstances… <1,2,3> I am reminded of something I heard Fr. Sloane say not too long ago: in our lives as Christians there is no such thing as neutral gear. We are either moving closer to Christ or we are moving further away from Christ, there is no standing still, there is no neutral gear.
With no neutral gear, we have two options, forward or reverse. Reverse leads to a quenched spirit. Going forward, however, follows Paul’s direction, and does not quench the spirit. In good times, and in bad, going forward, not quenching the spirit makes demands of us. We are to rejoice, we are to pray, we are to give thanks. All of these seem a lot easier said than done.
What stuck out to me the most out of Paul’s triad of advice for not quenching the spirit, was giving thanks in all circumstances. How can I do this, I thought, in all circumstances. Looking into this exhortation more deeply though, I found something that made me smile. The word that Paul uses for giving thanks here is the same word used by Jesus on the night that he was betrayed. On that night he took bread, and he took wine and he gave thanks. And this word, that Paul and Jesus both used to give thanks, eucharisteo, it’s where we get the word Eucharist. Whenever we come to this table, we are giving thanks.
It may be difficult to be thankful after having lost a loved one, or receiving a poor diagnosis, during financial troubles, after receiving a bad grade in an important class, or not knowing if we’ll have a warm place to sleep and something to eat tonight. <1,2,3> But ven amidst all these things, we can come here, come to this table, and we can give thanks in all circumstances. In doing so, not only are we not quenching the spirit, but we are in fact stoking it.
We find ourselves in this odd place of waiting for the return of our Lord, waiting for the kingdom of heaven, but unable to remain motionless while wait. We can move forward or we can move backward, but we cannot remain where we are. Moving forward in this way, will at times be easy and at times be difficult. Regardless of which, we are to take the spirit with us. We are to rejoice, to pray, to give thanks, and in doing so we are preparing ourselves for his return, and we are preparing ourselves for the kingdom of heaven. As we wait, as we go through life with all its joys and sorrows, Paul urges not to quench the spirit. Here at St. Paul’s, we can go beyond not quenching the spirit: we can stoke the spirit by coming to this table, by participating in sacramental worship, week after week, day after day no matter the circumstance.
First Sermon I preached at St. Paul's.
Year A Proper 29, BCP Lectionary
Matthew 25:31-46
‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance the kingdom prepared for you or from the foundation of the world’
Matthew 25:31-46
‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance the kingdom prepared for you or from the foundation of the world’
‘The kingdom prepared for you’… for us… there is a kingdom prepared for us, and I for one find that terribly comforting. The world can be a scary place: there are wars, famines, economic depressions, there are those of us who have been scared by abuse and there are those who don’t know if they’ll have a warm place to sleep and something tonight, the list could go on and on. There is much brokenness and need in our world. But there is something greater than all of this brokenness and need. There is a kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world.
I think it’s safe to say that most of us, if not all, have wondered at one time or another about what will happen to us. We have asked, what is going to happen at the ‘end of the age’[1]? What is going to happen at the finality of all things?
In today’s gospel reading we heard Jesus concluding his explanation of the ‘end of the age’ to his disciples. If we look back a couple of chapters in Matthew’s gospel, we hear Jesus foretell to his disciples the eventual destruction of the temple. After this his disciples begin to question ‘the end of the age’. They come to him alone, without the normal crowd and all the commotion and distraction that come with this crowd. They come to him alone while he is sitting on the Mount of Olives. They are afraid and they are looking for comfort. They are afraid because of their uncertainty of what will happen to them. They are afraid of that question, what will happen to us. If the temple, the house of God, in all it’s glory will be thrown down so that no stone is left upon another, what will happen to us?
So they seek Jesus out, and he answers their fears, quite honestly, warning them to be on their guard. For there will be false prophets trying to deceive them and there will be much persecution on account of Jesus’ name. The disciples are warned to be vigilant. Jesus tells them of great suffering to come, but this suffering is a sign and after this suffering Jesus will return. He tells his disciples to be watchful, but then tells them that no one knows the day. He tells them that ‘the son of man is coming at an unexpected hour’[2].
Jesus then begins to use parables to explain what the kingdom of heaven will be like. He distinguishes between the faithful and unfaithful slave and how the one will be rewarded and the other will be cut up and put where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth[3]. He goes on further to discuss what the kingdom of heaven will be like in the passages we have heard in the Gospel readings these past couple of weeks, the parable of the foolish bridesmaids, and the parable of the talents. And Jesus concludes his explanation of what will happen to his disciples, to us, with today’s gospel lesson.
Sitting on the Mount of Olives, Jesus tells his disciples, that he will come again, he will come in glory, with all his angels, and he will sit upon his throne as King. Then he will gather to himself all the nations. And from here we all know what happens, sheep and goats, kingdom and fire. In his distinction between the two Jesus identifies himself with the least of these, his brothers and sisters. What we do for them we do for them we do for Jesus, likewise what we do not do for them, we do not do for Jesus. And this is how all the nations are separated, sheep and goats, kingdom and fire.
In our reading ‘all the nations, those the King gathers to himself, seems pretty straightforward, everyone. In the original Greek however, there is uncertainty about exactly who ‘all the nations’ refers to, and because of this uncertainty there is also confusion as to who Jesus means by ‘the least of these who are members of my family’. Some believe that Jesus is teaching about the judgment of all peoples, others only of Christians, and still others that this judgment is the judgment for nonbelievers. In thinking about which understanding might be right, I’ve come to the conclusion that it doesn’t really matter. For, as St. Paul wrote to the Romans yes the Jew first but also the Greek, “for God shows no partiality”[4]. Whether the language used implies a judgment of gentiles or Israel, Christians or pagans, God shows no partiality, no matter who we are, we are to care for the least of these.
So his disciples have come to Jesus with all their existential dread and Jesus tells them of God’s grace, that a kingdom has been prepared for them from the foundation of the world. Jesus tells them, yes things are rough, and they’re going to get worse, but there is a kingdom prepared for you. There is a kingdom prepared for us, prepared for all people if we are willing to receive it.
St. Martin, knew that a kingdom had been prepared for him and he exemplified what it means to know this and accept this kingdom. In the middle of the fourth century he was a Roman Soldier who converted to Christianity and later became the Bishop of Tours. There is a story about St. Martin, when he was a catechumen he was still a Roman solider. One year in the cold of winter when he was still a young man, while entering some city of the empire, St. Martin was approached by a beggar asking for alms. Having no money but recognizing the need of this man, St. Martin unsheathed his sword, removed his cloak and cut it in two. Half he kept for himself, and the other half he gave to the beggar. Later that night, sleeping soundly in his quarters he dreamed of Jesus clothed in half of his cloak. In this dream Jesus said to him, “Martin, a simple catechumen, covered me with this garment”[5]. Shortly after this dream St. Martin ended his catechumenate and was baptized.
St. Martin shows us that this kingdom is not won by force or might but rather this kingdom is given to us. And in response to this gift, we ourselves are to give. We are to give freely and lovingly as has been given to us. The sheep are all the ones who have done as Martin did, they have given freely and lovingly, with no expectation of reward.
How many of us are sheep? How many are goats? Our culture is becoming more and more individualistic. Society tells us to look out for ourselves first. How many of us here would have cut our cloak in two for the beggar who approached St. Martin? I would like to think all of us here would do so, but in all honesty I don’t even know if I can say this is true for myself.
Reading this lesson, I can’t help but think of the numerous times when I have failed to meet the need of others. Whether it be a car broken down on the side of the road, a homeless person asking for some change or even a friend who is not feeling well and might appreciate a visit. Sure, I have also come across these situations and done what was right, but what sticks out to me more are the times that I failed to do so, the times where I was a goat rather than a sheep.
It is easy to feel like we are goats. There is so much need present in our world, that none of us can address it all, our cloaks can only be cut up so much before what we have to offer becomes useless. This need can certainly be overwhelming, but this is no reason for inaction. We are able to do something. We may only have one cloak and we may not be able to cut it into as many pieces as we would like, but we can cut it. We can be the sheep at Jesus’ right hand. All it takes is that we care for one another, that we love one another, and in doing so we are loving Christ our King.
There is a kingdom prepared for us, for all people. This kingdom is a gift that we can accept, that we can inherit as a people blessed by the Father. However, It is up to us, to accept this gift and if we accept this gift we should give as we have been given. Now, I left out part of St. Martin’s story. In some accounts after his dream where he sees Jesus wearing the half of his cloak that he gave the beggar, St. Martin wakes up, and he finds that his cloak has been completely restored[6]. Remember this the next time you’re not sure if your cloak is big enough to cut in two.
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