Year C, First Sunday of Lent
Luke 4:1-13
If you are familiar with the story of the Israelites then today’s Gospel will probably evoke the story of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness before coming into the land that was promised to them through their ancestor Abraham. Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days, the Israelites wandered the wilderness for forty years. The Israelites made their way into the wilderness after God saved them bringing them through the Red Sea, Jesus was led into the wilderness after his Baptism by John in the Jordan. The similarities between the two stories are clear, and so are the differences. And the difference between the two experiences of wilderness is very important, the different experiences show two very different ways of approaching the wilderness.
As we heard in today’s Gospel Jesus is tempted by the devil in three different ways. First, the devil tempted Jesus by playing off of his primal needs, Jesus had been without food for forty days, he must have been pretty hungry. Then the devil moved onto to tempting Jesus with things beyond his primal needs, he tempted him with power, power over all the people and kingdoms of the world, and then with power over death. In all of these temptations, Jesus resisted, Jesus remained faithful to God.
The Israelites on the other hand, while they wandered the wilderness they may not have been tempted explicitly by the devil, but regardless they grumbled against God, they questioned God, they did not remain faithful to God. In the book of Numbers we hear that at one point in their wanderings the Israelites began to complain because they had no meat, God had been providing them with manna, bread from heaven, but that was not enough, they wanted more. This is just one story of the Israelites grumbling against God in the wilderness, there are plenty more. The Israelites could not be content with what God gave them, and so they wandered the wilderness being kept from the land promised to them through Abraham.
The difference between these two experiences of the wilderness is faithfulness to God. In the story of Jesus’ temptation Jesus remains faithful to God in the face of all temptations. Jesus remembers that we need the nourishment of the word of God, that God, and only God, is to be served and that we are not to test our God. The wandering Israelites forget these things, and thus had a completely different experience of the wilderness than Jesus did.
The time that the Israelites spent in the wilderness served as a punishment, keeping the generation that grumbled against God from seeing the Promised Land. For Jesus however, the time in the wilderness served to strengthen and empower his ministry. The verse after what we heard in today’s Gospel reads, “Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country”. Jesus did not grumble, Jesus did not question, Jesus did not lose faith. Jesus resisted temptation and being ‘filled with the power of the Spirit’ was able to go on and complete his ministry.
Nowadays we are less likely to find ourselves in actual wildernesses but we certainly find ourselves in situations and times that can be understood as a type of wilderness. Times in our lives when we feel lost or out of control. Times in our lives when we feel like we are doing nothing but wandering around with no idea of where we are headed. Times in our lives when we are confronted by temptation after temptation after temptation. We may not be able to relate to the experience of Jesus in the wilderness or to the experience of the Israelites in the wilderness on a literal level, but I’d be surprised if there were many of us here who could not relate on a metaphorical level. These forays into the wilderness of uncertainty, of fear, of temptation, of doubt are a common part of the human experience.
These two different experiences, that of Jesus and that of the Israelites, have a lot to say to us when we find ourselves in our own wildernesses. We can enter these wildernesses faithful that God will see us through, or we can enter these wildernesses and grumble against God. Grumbling against God in these situations, losing faith, giving in to temptation, will lead to us feeling punished, and while we may come out of this wilderness we will come out bitter and separated from God. If, however, we remain faithful, if we go through these wildernesses aware of God’s loving presence with us, if we keep God before us in these times we can come through stronger and closer to God and more able to witness to the love of God.
One of the things that I love about St. Paul’s, one of the things I have appreciated over the past year and a half I have been here with you, is the importance of the sacraments in the life of this parish. Every day you can come here and receive the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. No matter what is going on outside of those doors, you can come here experience God’s loving presence. The other week there was more snow on the ground then there has been in I do not how long, and before Sunday on the news there was a long list of cancellations, mainly secular institutions but there were a fair number of churches on that list as well. That did not stop St. Paul’s parish though, I admit I did not make it in that morning, but I heard that a hundred people were here. No matter what is going on outside St. Paul’s parish and your commitment to sacramental worship are a constant reminder that God is with us.
This commitment to sacramental worship is great way to enter the wilderness of our lives in the knowledge and love of God. By coming to this altar, by receiving the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ regardless of whatever may be happening around us, we are maintaining our faithfulness to God while we wander the wilderness of our lives. Another way that we do this is as we enter this season of lent many of us take on different disciplines and practices. These disciplines serve to bring us closer to God and in doing so they prepare us to enter any wilderness faithful to God.
As we deepen our relationship with God, whether it be through sacramental worship, personal disciplines or any other way we are more able to face the trials and temptations that the world has for us and we are more likely to come through them stronger and as a living witness to the power and awesomeness of our God. As we come closer to God we are able to enter the wilderness not like the Israelites, grumbling and feeling punished by God, missing out on what God can do for us, but as Jesus entered the wilderness, aware of the priority of God in our lives and resolved to come through the wilderness and show forth the love of God.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Third Sermon at Emmanuel Church in Cumberland RI
Third Sunday after Epiphany Year C
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 & I Corinthians 12:12-31a
Nehemiah was the cupbearer of the Persian King Artaxerxes. If we were to have read the beginning of the book of Nehemiah we would have heard that Nehemiah was a fairly happy guy. However, when he heard of the state that Jerusalem was in after the exile, he was so grieved that Artaxerxes noticed the change in his cupbearer and sent him back to Jerusalem to restore the city’s walls so that Jerusalem could be returned to her former glory. What we heard today comes from after these walls have been rebuilt. Nehemiah’s love for God and his grief over the dilapidated condition of Jerusalem moved him to return to Jerusalem and enabled him to inspire the Israelites to rebuild the walls regardless of any opposition they faced. We hear that after the wall was rebuilt, all the people were gathered together, and Ezra read to them the law.
Now, this is where it gets interesting for me. You see, after the law is read to all the people, and after it is explained to them, the people begin to weep. Jerusalem is being restored to her former glory, the Israelites are free to return to their homeland, things are going pretty well, weeping is not the response that I would expect. So when I read this I wonder, why do the people weep when they hear the law? What could lead them to this response? Do they weep at the restrictions being placed on them by the law, for instance in Deuteronomy 14:21 the law says that they should not “boil a kid [a baby goat] in it’s mother’s milk” which would have been explained to them as meaning they shouldn’t mix meat and dairy, I mean, I might weep if I was told I couldn’t have a cheeseburger ever again. Or more seriously, could they have been weeping at the beauty of God’s will expressed through the law, seeing beyond cultic rituals and rules to the love of God expressed in the law?
I was talking with a friend yesterday about this reading and he put forth the idea that the people are weeping because in the law they hear of God’s love, in the law they hear that they are God’s chosen people and they do not believe themselves to be worthy of this. They are weeping at their unworthiness in the face of God’s love.
I wonder, how many of us here can relate to this?
How many of us question whether or not we are worthy of love, not only God’s love, but even the love of other people?
How many of us ask ‘why me?’, not in the face of adversity but in response to a love we don’t think ourselves worthy of. In the face of such great love that we cannot even begin to understand how we could be worthy of it. I get an idea of this in thinking about my family. In thinking about the love that my parents have for me, the love that my aunts and uncles have for me. No matter how awesome I may think I am it’s easy to question whether or not I’m worthy of the degree of the love they have for me.
How much greater must this doubt be when thinking about God’s love for us? How could we ever be worthy of that?
We get an answer to these questions in today’s reading from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. In this passage Paul fleshes out what he means when he talks about the Body of Christ. If you were here when I came this past summer you’ll remember that I preached then on the Body of Christ, how all people are unified in Jesus Christ. How through our faith in Jesus we become the Body of Christ and are thus adopted as children of God.
Being the Body of Christ has a lot to say to these questions of doubt that arise in the face such great love. Being the Body of Christ answers the question ‘why me?’. Because God’s love is not given because we deserve it. In fact, any question of worth does not even come up. Through our adoption as children of God, achieved by our Lord Jesus Christ, we receive God’s love without any question of whether or not we deserve it, without any questions regarding our worth. We receive God’s love simply because we are God’s children.
It is through our becoming members of the Body of Christ, becoming children of God that we can answer these questions of doubt, but being a member of the Body of Christ has implications for us. In today’s passage from First Corinthians we hear about these implications. And what sticks out to me from this, no doubt because of the recent earth quake in Haiti, is the verse, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it”.
In the past two weeks since the earthquake hit Haiti there has been a great outpouring of support and aid from both the secular and religious world. This is a wonderful thing and it is very important, especially in situations such as this and it speaks to what Paul is saying about the Body of Christ, about how when one suffers all suffer. We, as members of the Body of Christ, are giving not to receive anything back, but in recognition that as long as our Haitian brothers and sisters are suffering, we all are suffering alongside them.
This verse that stuck out to me, doesn’t end in talking about how we share in suffering though. You’ll remember it goes on to say, “if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it”. This verse stuck out to me not only because of the line about suffering and recent tragedies but also because of this line about rejoicing and something I saw on Emmanuel Church’s facebook page. An event was advertised on this page labeled as a ‘guerilla ministry event’ where people met up and went to watch a member of this church coach a JV team at Cumberland high school. I don’t know much about these ‘guerilla ministry events’ but if they are all like this, they seem like natural things for members of the Body of Christ to be doing. For, in supporting and caring for each other in these and other ways, you are honoring each other and rejoicing together.
This verse that I’ve been talking about aptly sums up the implications for us as members of the Body of Christ. We are so linked up in the lives of each other that when one suffers we all suffer, and when one rejoices we all rejoice. This is because when we say that we are members of one holy catholic and apostolic Church, when we say that we are members of the Body of Christ, we are not just paying lip service to some ideal about unity. We are truly one through our faith in Christ.
Nehemiah told the Israelites not to weep, but rather to “eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared” he also told them, “do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength”. Throughout Paul’s writings we hear much the same thing. We need not weep before God in fear of whether or not we deserve God’s love, as God’s children we can rejoice in the knowledge that we receive God’s unconditional love unconditionally, we receive this love no questions asked. And as God’s children we are called to share in the lives of all our brothers and sisters, we are call to share in their suffering and to share in their happiness. So rejoice and “do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength”.
Amen.
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 & I Corinthians 12:12-31a
Nehemiah was the cupbearer of the Persian King Artaxerxes. If we were to have read the beginning of the book of Nehemiah we would have heard that Nehemiah was a fairly happy guy. However, when he heard of the state that Jerusalem was in after the exile, he was so grieved that Artaxerxes noticed the change in his cupbearer and sent him back to Jerusalem to restore the city’s walls so that Jerusalem could be returned to her former glory. What we heard today comes from after these walls have been rebuilt. Nehemiah’s love for God and his grief over the dilapidated condition of Jerusalem moved him to return to Jerusalem and enabled him to inspire the Israelites to rebuild the walls regardless of any opposition they faced. We hear that after the wall was rebuilt, all the people were gathered together, and Ezra read to them the law.
Now, this is where it gets interesting for me. You see, after the law is read to all the people, and after it is explained to them, the people begin to weep. Jerusalem is being restored to her former glory, the Israelites are free to return to their homeland, things are going pretty well, weeping is not the response that I would expect. So when I read this I wonder, why do the people weep when they hear the law? What could lead them to this response? Do they weep at the restrictions being placed on them by the law, for instance in Deuteronomy 14:21 the law says that they should not “boil a kid [a baby goat] in it’s mother’s milk” which would have been explained to them as meaning they shouldn’t mix meat and dairy, I mean, I might weep if I was told I couldn’t have a cheeseburger ever again. Or more seriously, could they have been weeping at the beauty of God’s will expressed through the law, seeing beyond cultic rituals and rules to the love of God expressed in the law?
I was talking with a friend yesterday about this reading and he put forth the idea that the people are weeping because in the law they hear of God’s love, in the law they hear that they are God’s chosen people and they do not believe themselves to be worthy of this. They are weeping at their unworthiness in the face of God’s love.
I wonder, how many of us here can relate to this?
How many of us question whether or not we are worthy of love, not only God’s love, but even the love of other people?
How many of us ask ‘why me?’, not in the face of adversity but in response to a love we don’t think ourselves worthy of. In the face of such great love that we cannot even begin to understand how we could be worthy of it. I get an idea of this in thinking about my family. In thinking about the love that my parents have for me, the love that my aunts and uncles have for me. No matter how awesome I may think I am it’s easy to question whether or not I’m worthy of the degree of the love they have for me.
How much greater must this doubt be when thinking about God’s love for us? How could we ever be worthy of that?
We get an answer to these questions in today’s reading from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. In this passage Paul fleshes out what he means when he talks about the Body of Christ. If you were here when I came this past summer you’ll remember that I preached then on the Body of Christ, how all people are unified in Jesus Christ. How through our faith in Jesus we become the Body of Christ and are thus adopted as children of God.
Being the Body of Christ has a lot to say to these questions of doubt that arise in the face such great love. Being the Body of Christ answers the question ‘why me?’. Because God’s love is not given because we deserve it. In fact, any question of worth does not even come up. Through our adoption as children of God, achieved by our Lord Jesus Christ, we receive God’s love without any question of whether or not we deserve it, without any questions regarding our worth. We receive God’s love simply because we are God’s children.
It is through our becoming members of the Body of Christ, becoming children of God that we can answer these questions of doubt, but being a member of the Body of Christ has implications for us. In today’s passage from First Corinthians we hear about these implications. And what sticks out to me from this, no doubt because of the recent earth quake in Haiti, is the verse, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it”.
In the past two weeks since the earthquake hit Haiti there has been a great outpouring of support and aid from both the secular and religious world. This is a wonderful thing and it is very important, especially in situations such as this and it speaks to what Paul is saying about the Body of Christ, about how when one suffers all suffer. We, as members of the Body of Christ, are giving not to receive anything back, but in recognition that as long as our Haitian brothers and sisters are suffering, we all are suffering alongside them.
This verse that stuck out to me, doesn’t end in talking about how we share in suffering though. You’ll remember it goes on to say, “if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it”. This verse stuck out to me not only because of the line about suffering and recent tragedies but also because of this line about rejoicing and something I saw on Emmanuel Church’s facebook page. An event was advertised on this page labeled as a ‘guerilla ministry event’ where people met up and went to watch a member of this church coach a JV team at Cumberland high school. I don’t know much about these ‘guerilla ministry events’ but if they are all like this, they seem like natural things for members of the Body of Christ to be doing. For, in supporting and caring for each other in these and other ways, you are honoring each other and rejoicing together.
This verse that I’ve been talking about aptly sums up the implications for us as members of the Body of Christ. We are so linked up in the lives of each other that when one suffers we all suffer, and when one rejoices we all rejoice. This is because when we say that we are members of one holy catholic and apostolic Church, when we say that we are members of the Body of Christ, we are not just paying lip service to some ideal about unity. We are truly one through our faith in Christ.
Nehemiah told the Israelites not to weep, but rather to “eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared” he also told them, “do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength”. Throughout Paul’s writings we hear much the same thing. We need not weep before God in fear of whether or not we deserve God’s love, as God’s children we can rejoice in the knowledge that we receive God’s unconditional love unconditionally, we receive this love no questions asked. And as God’s children we are called to share in the lives of all our brothers and sisters, we are call to share in their suffering and to share in their happiness. So rejoice and “do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength”.
Amen.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Second Sermon at St. John's Barrington
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.
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 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.
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