Lectionary: Proverbs 25:6-7; Psalm 112;Hebrews 13:1-8,15-16; Luke 14:1,7-14
Our readings today raise up two important concepts for us to consider: humility and friendship in community. The reading from Proverbs and today’s Gospel point out how different the concepts of honor and humility are when examined from a heavenly perspective. And the letter to the Hebrews contains one of the simplest, most beautiful bits of advice ever given to followers of Jesus:
Let mutual love continue. (13:1)
As I did my research for this sermon, I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading what some of the greatest thinkers and theologians have said about humility and friendship – Aristotle, Aquinas, St. Benedict, Rahner, C. S. Lewis, Vacek, Hauerwas (to name a few). In fact, it was Aristotle who once described friendship as “a single soul dwelling in two bodies.” (Ethics) Beautiful!
In the end, however, I found the best description and living out of these important concepts from a less well-known source of wisdom who said this about friendship: “A little consideration, a little thought for others, makes all the difference.” And… “It isn't much good having anything exciting, if you can't share it with somebody.”
He also said this about living humbly in community: “When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.” (House at Pooh Corner) So true!
Yes – the wise one of whom I speak is none other than Winnie the Pooh. And the story that articulates these concepts so well is the story of Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. In this story, Pooh wakes up hungry one day only to find he is out of honey. He spies some honey bees flying nearby, and though he is admittedly a bear of very little brain, he concludes that there must be a hive nearby which would have the honey he needed to satisfy his hunger.
Sure enough, he’s right. Pooh finds the tree where the bees had built their hive and he climbs up to get some of their honey. He didn’t ask the bees first, though – he was not being a very considerate bear.
For whatever reason, the bees didn’t want to share their heavenly honey with Pooh so they swarmed him and chased him away. The bees clearly didn’t know what it says in the letter to the Hebrews:
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers… Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have. (Heb 13:2, 16)
Not willing to give up on finding a way to satisfy his hunger, Pooh remembers his friend Rabbit who almost always has honey. Showing up at his house unannounced, Pooh imposes upon his friend Rabbit for lunch, eats too much honey, and proceeds to get stuck in the entrance to Rabbit’s house.
No amount of pushing or pulling could get Pooh un-wedged from “the great tightness” as Owl called it. All they could do was wait until Pooh got thin again.
As they waited, the friends all took their turns keeping watch with Pooh: “Day after day and night after night… the friends tried to cheer him up. Christopher Robin read stories to Pooh. Owl taught him long words. Kanga and Roo brought Pooh a bright blue scarf to keep him warm. Even gloomy Eeyore tried to make Pooh feel better.” (Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree)
It’s important to notice that no one got mad at Pooh. No one made him feel ashamed like he ought to leave the Hundred Acre Wood. They stood by him and loved him as he suffered through the difficult consequences his selfishness and weakness had brought him.
Sometimes, when someone we love sins, all we can do is wait while God acts to redeem. But true friends wait together - in friendship.
…the righteous are merciful and full of compassion. (Ps 112:4)
When he was finally thin again, the friends all gathered up and pulled Pooh free. Do you remember what happened next? “Pooh shot out of the hole! Like a big bear-bird, Pooh soared through the air and whump! ...landed right in the honey tree scattering the bees and helping himself to “handfuls of heavenly honey.”
It’s true that Pooh learned a lot while he was stuck, but when it was all said and done, he hadn’t changed much. He still didn’t have much sense when it came to eating honey. But he did know he had friends – true friends – who loved him anyway. Friends like Rabbit, who didn’t want to invite Pooh to lunch but did because they are neighbors in the Hundred Acre Wood. He knew that Pooh was a bear of little brain and he invited him anyway.
Sure enough, when Pooh got stuck, his “pudgy posterior” interfered with Rabbit’s comfy home and routine. “Why, oh why did I ever invite that bear to lunch?” Rabbit lamented.
Jesus would answer him – because it was the right thing to do as a friend and as a host.
…when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. (Lk 14:13-14)
There is much more wisdom to be had from the bear with very little brain. For example, though he wasn’t speaking specifically about evangelism, Pooh says this very wise thing:
“You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”
Pooh also seems to share Julian of Norwich’s perspective on truth: Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known. (Pooh's Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne)
Finally, here’s a word from Pooh about friendship. I share this one because it is so reflective of Jesus’ words to us about our friendship with him:
If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together… there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart… I’ll always be with you.
Living humbly as friends in community… if a bear of very little brain can do it, so can we.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Pentecost 12-C Sermon: Send Us!
Lectionary: Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:1-2, 8-18; Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56
Introduction: I offer you today a sermon that is being preached at churches throughout Cleveland County. The outline was written by the Rev. Tony Tench, pastor of First Baptist here in Shelby. Local pastors have agreed to personalize the basic message to fit our individual parishes. The idea is to speak with one voice, in solidarity, for the benefit of our whole community. The sermon is entitled, “Send Us.”
With Major League Baseball in full swing and area football teams beginning their pre-season preparation, it’s time for a rousing rendition of that ‘between-inning’ chorus: “Put me in coach, I’m ready to play, today!”
But this chorus extends beyond the dugouts and sidelines of local diamonds and gridirons, it also echoes across our town as a call to action in a struggle that will have rewards to surpass division pennants and state trophies. This struggle is a team effort to impact the lives of children who live around us.
Put me in coach” is reminiscent of the tone of the voice of a man of character from the Hebrew Scriptures. His name was Isaiah and he lived in a day when God wanted a prophet to stand up and address the devastating events of the day! Israel had not honored God with their lives. Their community was in shambles all about them.
God wanted a faithful word proclaimed in the midst of it all! And Isaiah, at worship before the Lord, heard God’s request for such a prophet and this was his response: “Put me in coach” - well actually, Isaiah said, “Here am I, send me!”(6:8).
Today, God is looking for a new prophet, in fact a whole task force of prophets who will live the truth of the love of God for the sake of the future of our community! This future is visible in the faces of the children who live around us.
The Shelby Star reports:
• Children are devouring their school lunches because many haven’t eaten since they left school the day before.
• A 14 year old boy says he’s not afraid of guns because they are so common in his neighborhood.
• Living in a shelter with her grandmother among drug addicts and victims of domestic violence, a teenage girl says, “I’ve lost all hope.”
• A boy in northeast Shelby says he wants to leave his house every night to sleep at his grandmother’s house because he’s afraid someone will come into his house during the night and shoot him.
Olivia Neely, reporter for the Shelby Star, tells why she wrote the series of articles entitled, Who Got Killed? In the video produced and shared by The Shelby Star (and linked on Redeemer’s website), Ms. Neely shares her shock at how shootings have become so normalized for these children that when they see the response teams on their block, they ask very matter-of-factly, “Who got killed?”
In Isaiah we see that the people of Israel had a similar problem: They’d looked away from the Lord and things in their community had become dangerous and hopeless as a result. And they were doing little to nothing to make it change.
So Isaiah speaks prophetically about a vineyard planted by God on a fertile hill. God worked hard to make sure this vineyard could be fruitful – clearing away the stones, planting choice vines, building a watchtower and a great vat to hold the wine that would come.
But there was no fruit, no wine. The vineyard in this story is the people of God – and God expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry – a cry that I think probably sounded much like the teenager who said, “I’ve lost hope” or the children who asked: “Who got killed?”
But, when God called for a prophet to speak a word of hope and to do something to make things change, Isaiah’s responded, Here am I send me! Then Israel was on its way to recovery, on its way to a new place where hope and encouragement could be found.
The same thing is true for us – right here, right now. Our children need a word of hope. They need things to change. Isaiah’s word to his people can also be our word today as we look to the Lord in worship together with the whole Christian community in Cleveland County and say, “Send Us!”
We can let the children of our community know these three things:
1. There is hope – there is always hope! As we heard in the letter to the Hebrews: By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land… By faith the walls of Jericho fell… By faith, Rabah… did not perish… because she obeyed the will of God and received the spies in peace.
Kimberly Johnson, a local author (who will be at the Fairgrounds on Aug 21, reading and giving away her books) says, “I open a book and I open my mind to things that are kind. Like forests and trees and rivers that run. Like people and places and things that are fun. I travel the world wherever I go. And if I open a book, I’ll get there, I know.”
Ms. Johnson encourages children to see the possibilities in this world through reading. The world God created is beautiful, exciting, and fun! And the people God created are kind – or at least we can be.
This is good news we can share with children who live around us! There is always hope!
2. The strength we need is found in God! As the prophet Isaiah says: God gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. (40:29-30)
When we look to the Lord for strength then we make our way up from stumbling and our way out of falling. But this message will only be heard by the children who live around us if those of us who believe it with all our hearts are willing to share it by our presence, our encouragement, and our love in action!
Through relationships such as mentors, lunch buddies, guardians ad litem, tutors in school and after school, we who are believers in Jesus Christ have the opportunity to point children to the strength of God and the reality that God’s love, God’s strength is enough to redeem even the worst circumstances they may face.
3. There is promise for your day!
Believers know what happens when we wait and hope in the Lord: our vision is joined to God’s and we see the way clear to a new day; we remember that God’s power is real and really able to overcome the temptations that lead us away from God’s plan of salvation for us; and we remember that God will help us put one foot in front of the other, that God will send us friends to walk with us toward goals that make our lives joyous and purposeful.
We know this - and so we can be witnesses of it, prophetic proclaimers of it… compasses that point the way for a child who needs to know it too.
As Shelby Star reporter Olivia Neely said: “It is a simple thing to give one hour a week for a child.” Imagine the difference that could be made if each one of us decided to agree with Olivia and give one hour a week for a child.
In his Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln said: “…the world will not remember what we say here but what [we] did here.” These children in need will not remember what we say, but they will remember what we do right now. So it is up to us to step up and be that task force of prophets who will say to the Lord, “Here we are, send us!”
And we can do that this Saturday, August 21, from 10 am 2 pm at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds. The event is called Connect, Commit to Change and it is a Community Help Fair sponsored by the Shelby Star and other agencies that encourage children in our community. The idea is to connect needs with volunteers who will commit themselves to doing something to help children – so that change becomes real in our community!
We need to be there.
Groups and agencies that care for children will be there with a list of what they need from us: time, talents, lunch buddies, mentors, tutors, equipment, supplies. These groups will be saying: 'Here’s how you can give your one hour for a child.' They will be looking to match up their needs with people like us who can give our time; people like us who are believers, who have been sent to love our neighbors as ourselves.
God has a plan for our children. One day they will soar as on eagle’s wings, and we can encourage that by putting our love and our hope into action, reminding them:
1. There is always hope.
2. The strength we need is found in God.
3. There is promise for your day.
Now that’s a good news word that can only come from us who know it to be true! But saying it isn’t enough. We must also put our love in action. So, with Isaiah I hope we will all say, "Here we are, Lord, send us!"
Put us in coach, we’re ready to say [this good news] – we’re ready to DO this good news today! Amen.
Introduction: I offer you today a sermon that is being preached at churches throughout Cleveland County. The outline was written by the Rev. Tony Tench, pastor of First Baptist here in Shelby. Local pastors have agreed to personalize the basic message to fit our individual parishes. The idea is to speak with one voice, in solidarity, for the benefit of our whole community. The sermon is entitled, “Send Us.”
With Major League Baseball in full swing and area football teams beginning their pre-season preparation, it’s time for a rousing rendition of that ‘between-inning’ chorus: “Put me in coach, I’m ready to play, today!”
But this chorus extends beyond the dugouts and sidelines of local diamonds and gridirons, it also echoes across our town as a call to action in a struggle that will have rewards to surpass division pennants and state trophies. This struggle is a team effort to impact the lives of children who live around us.
Put me in coach” is reminiscent of the tone of the voice of a man of character from the Hebrew Scriptures. His name was Isaiah and he lived in a day when God wanted a prophet to stand up and address the devastating events of the day! Israel had not honored God with their lives. Their community was in shambles all about them.
God wanted a faithful word proclaimed in the midst of it all! And Isaiah, at worship before the Lord, heard God’s request for such a prophet and this was his response: “Put me in coach” - well actually, Isaiah said, “Here am I, send me!”(6:8).
Today, God is looking for a new prophet, in fact a whole task force of prophets who will live the truth of the love of God for the sake of the future of our community! This future is visible in the faces of the children who live around us.
The Shelby Star reports:
• Children are devouring their school lunches because many haven’t eaten since they left school the day before.
• A 14 year old boy says he’s not afraid of guns because they are so common in his neighborhood.
• Living in a shelter with her grandmother among drug addicts and victims of domestic violence, a teenage girl says, “I’ve lost all hope.”
• A boy in northeast Shelby says he wants to leave his house every night to sleep at his grandmother’s house because he’s afraid someone will come into his house during the night and shoot him.
Olivia Neely, reporter for the Shelby Star, tells why she wrote the series of articles entitled, Who Got Killed? In the video produced and shared by The Shelby Star (and linked on Redeemer’s website), Ms. Neely shares her shock at how shootings have become so normalized for these children that when they see the response teams on their block, they ask very matter-of-factly, “Who got killed?”
In Isaiah we see that the people of Israel had a similar problem: They’d looked away from the Lord and things in their community had become dangerous and hopeless as a result. And they were doing little to nothing to make it change.
So Isaiah speaks prophetically about a vineyard planted by God on a fertile hill. God worked hard to make sure this vineyard could be fruitful – clearing away the stones, planting choice vines, building a watchtower and a great vat to hold the wine that would come.
But there was no fruit, no wine. The vineyard in this story is the people of God – and God expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry – a cry that I think probably sounded much like the teenager who said, “I’ve lost hope” or the children who asked: “Who got killed?”
But, when God called for a prophet to speak a word of hope and to do something to make things change, Isaiah’s responded, Here am I send me! Then Israel was on its way to recovery, on its way to a new place where hope and encouragement could be found.
The same thing is true for us – right here, right now. Our children need a word of hope. They need things to change. Isaiah’s word to his people can also be our word today as we look to the Lord in worship together with the whole Christian community in Cleveland County and say, “Send Us!”
We can let the children of our community know these three things:
1. There is hope – there is always hope! As we heard in the letter to the Hebrews: By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land… By faith the walls of Jericho fell… By faith, Rabah… did not perish… because she obeyed the will of God and received the spies in peace.
Kimberly Johnson, a local author (who will be at the Fairgrounds on Aug 21, reading and giving away her books) says, “I open a book and I open my mind to things that are kind. Like forests and trees and rivers that run. Like people and places and things that are fun. I travel the world wherever I go. And if I open a book, I’ll get there, I know.”
Ms. Johnson encourages children to see the possibilities in this world through reading. The world God created is beautiful, exciting, and fun! And the people God created are kind – or at least we can be.
This is good news we can share with children who live around us! There is always hope!
2. The strength we need is found in God! As the prophet Isaiah says: God gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. (40:29-30)
When we look to the Lord for strength then we make our way up from stumbling and our way out of falling. But this message will only be heard by the children who live around us if those of us who believe it with all our hearts are willing to share it by our presence, our encouragement, and our love in action!
Through relationships such as mentors, lunch buddies, guardians ad litem, tutors in school and after school, we who are believers in Jesus Christ have the opportunity to point children to the strength of God and the reality that God’s love, God’s strength is enough to redeem even the worst circumstances they may face.
3. There is promise for your day!
Believers know what happens when we wait and hope in the Lord: our vision is joined to God’s and we see the way clear to a new day; we remember that God’s power is real and really able to overcome the temptations that lead us away from God’s plan of salvation for us; and we remember that God will help us put one foot in front of the other, that God will send us friends to walk with us toward goals that make our lives joyous and purposeful.
We know this - and so we can be witnesses of it, prophetic proclaimers of it… compasses that point the way for a child who needs to know it too.
As Shelby Star reporter Olivia Neely said: “It is a simple thing to give one hour a week for a child.” Imagine the difference that could be made if each one of us decided to agree with Olivia and give one hour a week for a child.
In his Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln said: “…the world will not remember what we say here but what [we] did here.” These children in need will not remember what we say, but they will remember what we do right now. So it is up to us to step up and be that task force of prophets who will say to the Lord, “Here we are, send us!”
And we can do that this Saturday, August 21, from 10 am 2 pm at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds. The event is called Connect, Commit to Change and it is a Community Help Fair sponsored by the Shelby Star and other agencies that encourage children in our community. The idea is to connect needs with volunteers who will commit themselves to doing something to help children – so that change becomes real in our community!
We need to be there.
Groups and agencies that care for children will be there with a list of what they need from us: time, talents, lunch buddies, mentors, tutors, equipment, supplies. These groups will be saying: 'Here’s how you can give your one hour for a child.' They will be looking to match up their needs with people like us who can give our time; people like us who are believers, who have been sent to love our neighbors as ourselves.
God has a plan for our children. One day they will soar as on eagle’s wings, and we can encourage that by putting our love and our hope into action, reminding them:
1. There is always hope.
2. The strength we need is found in God.
3. There is promise for your day.
Now that’s a good news word that can only come from us who know it to be true! But saying it isn’t enough. We must also put our love in action. So, with Isaiah I hope we will all say, "Here we are, Lord, send us!"
Put us in coach, we’re ready to say [this good news] – we’re ready to DO this good news today! Amen.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Mother Valori's August article for The Shelby Star: The kind of Church we are
“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Mt 25:40)
During a recent phone conversation, I was asked a question that got me thinking. “What kind of church are you running there?” the frustrated caller asked. The context of the conversation was my advocacy for a poor family being treated with disrespect and in violation of the summary of the law Jesus gave as well as the laws governing landlords in North Carolina.
Having worked as an advocate for the poor and homeless for decades now, I still find myself surprised by the amount of depersonalization I confront. The “poor” are made into an idea, a concept. Then “they” can be dismissed or blamed or condemned for the trouble they represent.
In this economy, however, our comfortable definitions of the “poor” are being disrupted. If there is redemption to be found in the current economic reality, this might be part of it. Suddenly people who have always been able to provide for themselves (and judged those who could not) are finding themselves on food assistance lines, facing foreclosure and sudden job displacement. They are experiencing what it feels like to be exiled to the fringes of society where dignity and identity are lost. They are no longer who they were. Now, they are “them” – the poor.
All of us who witness this process are forced to remember that the poor aren’t a concept, they are people: mothers, fathers, children, sisters, brothers. These are the least who are members of our family.
While advocating for the above-mentioned family, I visited two homes they were trying to rent. In one house, the floor in one room was covered in dead bats, the back porch infested with rats, the main power line to the house broken by a tree branch that still lay against the house. In the second home, the kitchen and bathroom had electrical wires stretching across the sinks and raw sewage leaking up into the porch behind the kitchen. My heart broke.
I contacted the landlords who have begun responding to these issues, but the question for me remains: why would anyone think that it is okay to let a family move into a home like that in the first place? Why should there be a need for advocacy?
The answer is: because humans sin and systems get used to exploiting the poor and powerless who have ceased to be people to them. It’s always been that way. Jesus confronted the exploitive systems of his time during his earthly ministry, then gave to us, his followers, the command to do likewise. Remembering how the systems responded makes this command a bit fearful, so we focus instead on the bigger picture, the final outcome – the resurrection (heaven’s response) that followed the crucifixion (earth’s response).
The exploiters and the exploited are beloved children of God. Our goal as Christians is reconciliation. So to answer this person’s question, “What kind of church are you running there?” I would say: “A Christian church – one that advocates for the poor and defends the dignity of the least who are members of God’s family.”
During a recent phone conversation, I was asked a question that got me thinking. “What kind of church are you running there?” the frustrated caller asked. The context of the conversation was my advocacy for a poor family being treated with disrespect and in violation of the summary of the law Jesus gave as well as the laws governing landlords in North Carolina.
Having worked as an advocate for the poor and homeless for decades now, I still find myself surprised by the amount of depersonalization I confront. The “poor” are made into an idea, a concept. Then “they” can be dismissed or blamed or condemned for the trouble they represent.
In this economy, however, our comfortable definitions of the “poor” are being disrupted. If there is redemption to be found in the current economic reality, this might be part of it. Suddenly people who have always been able to provide for themselves (and judged those who could not) are finding themselves on food assistance lines, facing foreclosure and sudden job displacement. They are experiencing what it feels like to be exiled to the fringes of society where dignity and identity are lost. They are no longer who they were. Now, they are “them” – the poor.
All of us who witness this process are forced to remember that the poor aren’t a concept, they are people: mothers, fathers, children, sisters, brothers. These are the least who are members of our family.
While advocating for the above-mentioned family, I visited two homes they were trying to rent. In one house, the floor in one room was covered in dead bats, the back porch infested with rats, the main power line to the house broken by a tree branch that still lay against the house. In the second home, the kitchen and bathroom had electrical wires stretching across the sinks and raw sewage leaking up into the porch behind the kitchen. My heart broke.
I contacted the landlords who have begun responding to these issues, but the question for me remains: why would anyone think that it is okay to let a family move into a home like that in the first place? Why should there be a need for advocacy?
The answer is: because humans sin and systems get used to exploiting the poor and powerless who have ceased to be people to them. It’s always been that way. Jesus confronted the exploitive systems of his time during his earthly ministry, then gave to us, his followers, the command to do likewise. Remembering how the systems responded makes this command a bit fearful, so we focus instead on the bigger picture, the final outcome – the resurrection (heaven’s response) that followed the crucifixion (earth’s response).
The exploiters and the exploited are beloved children of God. Our goal as Christians is reconciliation. So to answer this person’s question, “What kind of church are you running there?” I would say: “A Christian church – one that advocates for the poor and defends the dignity of the least who are members of God’s family.”
Friday, July 30, 2010
Summer Sundays
At a recent deanery meeting one of my colleagues mentioned that in the Diocese of Western North Carolina, Sunday attendance in the summers is usually about one-third its usual numbers. I find that to be true here at Redeemer, and to be honest, this astounds me. I understand the increased numbers of vacations in summer, but I don’t think that really explains this phenomenon. I don’t know what does. Here’s what I do know…
In our Sunday Eucharist we stop and make time and space to pray, to invite the presence of God in - individually and collectively. We participate, asking God for what we need for ourselves and for those in our lives and in our world. We breathe in the Word of God in the Scriptures, nourish our souls with the holy food of Communion, then breathe out the effects of all of this in our lives - being dismissed to “love and serve the Lord.”
For Episcopalians, the liturgy is not a performance by the priest of a magic event or a memorial of a past event. It is a bringing down the curtain of earthly time and entering into eternal time. It is an anamnetic event (as we’ve discussed before). A foretaste of the heavenly banquet, our Eucharistic meal links our bodies, our hearts, and our minds to the reality of our salvation in Jesus Christ. We hear the history of our exodus and the truth of our salvation in the Eucharistic Prayers. We hear the narrative of our identity as children of Abraham and people of the New Covenant in the Scripture readings. In our liturgical music, we sing, hear and understand what we believe on another level – one that connects to our creative, holistic understanding.
We remember the example of the disciples who, upon seeing the resurrected Jesus, didn’t recognize him until he made Eucharist with them. Then their eyes were opened and they described a burning in their hearts in the presence of their Savior. Our Sunday Eucharist is the time we set aside to experience that.
We also engender authentic Christian community by creating space for the worship of God. That is why it’s so important be together as family in the most literal and broadest sense: a family of God that worships together, plays and studies together, disagrees yet loves one another, and has a way and a means to accomplish our common mission – the building up of the kingdom of God on earth.
Sunday worship is not a duty (social or otherwise), and we don’t affect our eternal outcome by going or not going. But we do affect our present – knowing who we are, whose we are, and what our purpose is. Our eyes are opened in the Eucharist, our hearts are set on fire, and we are strengthened as individuals and as a community to be witnesses of the Good News we know.
See you Sunday – oh, next Sunday… I’m on vacation August 1!!!
In our Sunday Eucharist we stop and make time and space to pray, to invite the presence of God in - individually and collectively. We participate, asking God for what we need for ourselves and for those in our lives and in our world. We breathe in the Word of God in the Scriptures, nourish our souls with the holy food of Communion, then breathe out the effects of all of this in our lives - being dismissed to “love and serve the Lord.”
For Episcopalians, the liturgy is not a performance by the priest of a magic event or a memorial of a past event. It is a bringing down the curtain of earthly time and entering into eternal time. It is an anamnetic event (as we’ve discussed before). A foretaste of the heavenly banquet, our Eucharistic meal links our bodies, our hearts, and our minds to the reality of our salvation in Jesus Christ. We hear the history of our exodus and the truth of our salvation in the Eucharistic Prayers. We hear the narrative of our identity as children of Abraham and people of the New Covenant in the Scripture readings. In our liturgical music, we sing, hear and understand what we believe on another level – one that connects to our creative, holistic understanding.
We remember the example of the disciples who, upon seeing the resurrected Jesus, didn’t recognize him until he made Eucharist with them. Then their eyes were opened and they described a burning in their hearts in the presence of their Savior. Our Sunday Eucharist is the time we set aside to experience that.
We also engender authentic Christian community by creating space for the worship of God. That is why it’s so important be together as family in the most literal and broadest sense: a family of God that worships together, plays and studies together, disagrees yet loves one another, and has a way and a means to accomplish our common mission – the building up of the kingdom of God on earth.
Sunday worship is not a duty (social or otherwise), and we don’t affect our eternal outcome by going or not going. But we do affect our present – knowing who we are, whose we are, and what our purpose is. Our eyes are opened in the Eucharist, our hearts are set on fire, and we are strengthened as individuals and as a community to be witnesses of the Good News we know.
See you Sunday – oh, next Sunday… I’m on vacation August 1!!!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Pentecost 9-C Sermon: How much is enough?
Preacher: The Rev.Dr.Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector, Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, Shelby, NC
Lectionary: Genesis 18:20-32, Psalm 138, Colossians 2:6-15,(16-19), Luke 11:1-13
When Steve and I were young parents we were truly blessed with three wonderful, healthy children, good jobs, a house of our own, new cars, membership at the country club, a great church home, family and friends we loved all around us. It was an amazing time in our lives, so full of joy. But underneath it all was this constant current of dissatisfaction.
Our house wasn’t as big or as well done as some of our friends so we were constantly planning how to improve it. We even bought land in an exclusive new neighborhood where we planned to build our dream home – the one that we were sure would truly satisfy us.
But Steve hardly ever had time to play golf and we rarely enjoyed the benefits of our club membership. We were in a constant frenzy shuttling the kids to music and dance lessons, sports of one kid or another, the doctor, art camp, every VBS in town, overnights at friends’ houses or our house. It was exhilarating and exhausting!
In the midst of this we learned that Steve’s father was going to die, so we pulled up stakes and moved to Alabama to help Steve’s mother care for him through the process of his dying. We rented a nice big house on the country club golf course, got good jobs again, joined a church, taught Sunday School, coached softball, and started the frenzied pace all over again.
But that current of dissatisfaction remained underneath it all.
Sixteen months later, Steve’s father died. Shortly after that his mother told us she was fine and we should return to the life we left in Valdosta. And that’s when it hit us. We didn’t want to go back to that life. We wanted something different.
So one night we sat down at our kitchen table, laid out a map of the US on it and opened up to ourselves total freedom of choice. We could go anywhere… do anything … there were no boundaries on our choices. It was an amazing, liberating experience.
As we considered what we really needed we asked ourselves this simple, but important question: how much is enough? How much salary do we really need? How much time do we want to spend earning that salary? How many cars do we really need (we had two extras at the time)? How many activities do our kids really need to be involved in?
In the end, we chose to go back to Valdosta but with a different approach to our life there. We found satisfying work, eventually sold the extra cars, bought a bigger house that was already built in the neighborhood we wanted, and limited our kids to one extra-curricular activity each.
We didn’t rejoin the country club – and amazingly, our friends didn’t desert us. We lived a simpler but more satisfying life.
‘How much is enough?’ became our guiding principle and it still is. Living from this principle has taught us not only that we could be more satisfied with less, but also that what we thought we needed, what the TV commercials and magazines told us we needed, was a lie - “empty deceit” as the writer of Colossians calls it.
We don’t need the whitest smile, or the biggest house, or the newest clothes to be satisfied. In fact, those desires were the source of the undercurrent of dissatisfaction we used to know and they distracted us from truly appreciating the blessings we already had.
They also distracted us from the work God was calling us to do. Living in Selma and caring for Steve’s parents taught us that previously, we had been devoting too much time and attention to ourselves – working to get what we thought we needed and didn’t have - instead of looking out and noticing where God might be calling us to give from the bounty of the gifts and blessings God had already given us.
What seemed at first to be a nightmare - the impending death of Steve’s father - ended up providing us with one of the most significant, transforming experiences of our life together.
This is the lesson offered to us in today’s Gospel from Luke.
In this part of the gospel story, Jesus has completed his earthly ministry and is heading toward Jerusalem where he will be arrested, tried, and crucified. (he’s going to die). On his way there, he has been instructing his followers on what it means to be his disciple – hearers and doers of his Word. He has welcomed back the seventy he sent out on a test mission and opened the door for women to sit at the feet of the Master and be disciples in his name. Then he goes off alone to pray.
When he returns, his disciples ask him to teach them to pray and he responds with what we now know as The Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father. This prayer is found only in the gospels of Luke and Matthew. The form most Christians use in Sunday services is the longer form found in Matthew. The doxology at the end of the prayer (for the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours) wasn’t part of the original prayer. It was added later.
We don’t know what language Jesus used to teach this prayer. It might have been Hebrew, which was the formal language of prayer for Jews. More likely, it was Aramaic, Jesus’ hometown language. It was recorded for us in Scripture in Greek.
I’ve given you a version of The Lord’s Prayer found in the New Zealand Prayer Book. It is a faithful version of this prayer that uses different words than we’re used to hearing and I hope we will use it today to help us hear the substance of this prayer anew.
Let’s read it together: "Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, Source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven: The hallowing of your name echo through the universe! The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world! Your heavenly will be done by all created beings! Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth. With the bread we need for today, feed us. In the hurts that we absorb from another, forgive us. In times of temptation and test, strengthen us. From trials too great to endure, spare us. From the grip of all that is evil, free us. For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever. Amen."
One thing I like about this version of the prayer is that it makes clear to us that God is the one acting: feed us, forgive us, strengthen us, spare us, free us… The one place we act is in choosing whether or not we will let the hurts from sin be absorbed into us, into our lives.
Sin separates us from God and from one another, and whenever we absorb the hurt from sin into our lives we give our energy and attention to it instead of to the purpose God has in mind for us. Living in this absorbed sin becomes a habit over time, and even though we know it’s presence is destructive, we work to preserve it because it has become familiar – until it finally becomes ‘what we’ve always done.’
But it steals our life from us nonetheless, and distracts us from our true purpose.
Another thing I like about the Lord’s Prayer, in any version, is that Jesus taught us to ask for what we need this day - right now - not what we think we might need or what the world tells us we should need. Then we are to trust that God will provide it and it will be enough. Bread, as it is used here, isn’t just food, it’s whatever is needed to sustain life. It could be knowledge, or patience, or hope, or friendship.
When we pray this prayer Jesus taught us, we are being invited to step out of our habitual ways of seeing and understanding, remembering that many times blessings don’t look like or feel like blessings - at least not at first. But God is always faithful and God always keeps God’s promises – and God has promised us forgiveness of our sins and everlasting life in Jesus Christ.
It’s pretty simple really, good news, transforming news - and it is enough.
Lectionary: Genesis 18:20-32, Psalm 138, Colossians 2:6-15,(16-19), Luke 11:1-13
When Steve and I were young parents we were truly blessed with three wonderful, healthy children, good jobs, a house of our own, new cars, membership at the country club, a great church home, family and friends we loved all around us. It was an amazing time in our lives, so full of joy. But underneath it all was this constant current of dissatisfaction.
Our house wasn’t as big or as well done as some of our friends so we were constantly planning how to improve it. We even bought land in an exclusive new neighborhood where we planned to build our dream home – the one that we were sure would truly satisfy us.
But Steve hardly ever had time to play golf and we rarely enjoyed the benefits of our club membership. We were in a constant frenzy shuttling the kids to music and dance lessons, sports of one kid or another, the doctor, art camp, every VBS in town, overnights at friends’ houses or our house. It was exhilarating and exhausting!
In the midst of this we learned that Steve’s father was going to die, so we pulled up stakes and moved to Alabama to help Steve’s mother care for him through the process of his dying. We rented a nice big house on the country club golf course, got good jobs again, joined a church, taught Sunday School, coached softball, and started the frenzied pace all over again.
But that current of dissatisfaction remained underneath it all.
Sixteen months later, Steve’s father died. Shortly after that his mother told us she was fine and we should return to the life we left in Valdosta. And that’s when it hit us. We didn’t want to go back to that life. We wanted something different.
So one night we sat down at our kitchen table, laid out a map of the US on it and opened up to ourselves total freedom of choice. We could go anywhere… do anything … there were no boundaries on our choices. It was an amazing, liberating experience.
As we considered what we really needed we asked ourselves this simple, but important question: how much is enough? How much salary do we really need? How much time do we want to spend earning that salary? How many cars do we really need (we had two extras at the time)? How many activities do our kids really need to be involved in?
In the end, we chose to go back to Valdosta but with a different approach to our life there. We found satisfying work, eventually sold the extra cars, bought a bigger house that was already built in the neighborhood we wanted, and limited our kids to one extra-curricular activity each.
We didn’t rejoin the country club – and amazingly, our friends didn’t desert us. We lived a simpler but more satisfying life.
‘How much is enough?’ became our guiding principle and it still is. Living from this principle has taught us not only that we could be more satisfied with less, but also that what we thought we needed, what the TV commercials and magazines told us we needed, was a lie - “empty deceit” as the writer of Colossians calls it.
We don’t need the whitest smile, or the biggest house, or the newest clothes to be satisfied. In fact, those desires were the source of the undercurrent of dissatisfaction we used to know and they distracted us from truly appreciating the blessings we already had.
They also distracted us from the work God was calling us to do. Living in Selma and caring for Steve’s parents taught us that previously, we had been devoting too much time and attention to ourselves – working to get what we thought we needed and didn’t have - instead of looking out and noticing where God might be calling us to give from the bounty of the gifts and blessings God had already given us.
What seemed at first to be a nightmare - the impending death of Steve’s father - ended up providing us with one of the most significant, transforming experiences of our life together.
This is the lesson offered to us in today’s Gospel from Luke.
In this part of the gospel story, Jesus has completed his earthly ministry and is heading toward Jerusalem where he will be arrested, tried, and crucified. (he’s going to die). On his way there, he has been instructing his followers on what it means to be his disciple – hearers and doers of his Word. He has welcomed back the seventy he sent out on a test mission and opened the door for women to sit at the feet of the Master and be disciples in his name. Then he goes off alone to pray.
When he returns, his disciples ask him to teach them to pray and he responds with what we now know as The Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father. This prayer is found only in the gospels of Luke and Matthew. The form most Christians use in Sunday services is the longer form found in Matthew. The doxology at the end of the prayer (for the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours) wasn’t part of the original prayer. It was added later.
We don’t know what language Jesus used to teach this prayer. It might have been Hebrew, which was the formal language of prayer for Jews. More likely, it was Aramaic, Jesus’ hometown language. It was recorded for us in Scripture in Greek.
I’ve given you a version of The Lord’s Prayer found in the New Zealand Prayer Book. It is a faithful version of this prayer that uses different words than we’re used to hearing and I hope we will use it today to help us hear the substance of this prayer anew.
Let’s read it together: "Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, Source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven: The hallowing of your name echo through the universe! The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world! Your heavenly will be done by all created beings! Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth. With the bread we need for today, feed us. In the hurts that we absorb from another, forgive us. In times of temptation and test, strengthen us. From trials too great to endure, spare us. From the grip of all that is evil, free us. For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever. Amen."
One thing I like about this version of the prayer is that it makes clear to us that God is the one acting: feed us, forgive us, strengthen us, spare us, free us… The one place we act is in choosing whether or not we will let the hurts from sin be absorbed into us, into our lives.
Sin separates us from God and from one another, and whenever we absorb the hurt from sin into our lives we give our energy and attention to it instead of to the purpose God has in mind for us. Living in this absorbed sin becomes a habit over time, and even though we know it’s presence is destructive, we work to preserve it because it has become familiar – until it finally becomes ‘what we’ve always done.’
But it steals our life from us nonetheless, and distracts us from our true purpose.
Another thing I like about the Lord’s Prayer, in any version, is that Jesus taught us to ask for what we need this day - right now - not what we think we might need or what the world tells us we should need. Then we are to trust that God will provide it and it will be enough. Bread, as it is used here, isn’t just food, it’s whatever is needed to sustain life. It could be knowledge, or patience, or hope, or friendship.
When we pray this prayer Jesus taught us, we are being invited to step out of our habitual ways of seeing and understanding, remembering that many times blessings don’t look like or feel like blessings - at least not at first. But God is always faithful and God always keeps God’s promises – and God has promised us forgiveness of our sins and everlasting life in Jesus Christ.
It’s pretty simple really, good news, transforming news - and it is enough.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Pentecost 8-C: July 18, 2010
Lectionary: Genesis 18:1-10a, Psalm 15, Colossians 1:15-28, Luke 10:38-42
Today's sermon was exptemporaneous, so there is no text to share. I may (if I can find the time) write something from the notes I used. We talked about Mary and Martha as the icons of discipleship, each representing one of the two parts of discipleship - both necessary, neither more/less important: Mary, who sat at the feet of the Master, as the breating in of God's grace, Martha, who lived out her ministry of hospitality, as the breathing out of God's grace into the world in mission and ministry. Lots more, but maybe I can write more on it later.
Last week, our Deacon Pam gave the homily. I'll see if I can get her text to post here too.
Meantime: See our announcements on our website: www.redeemershelby.com - especially the one about VBS!!!
Today's sermon was exptemporaneous, so there is no text to share. I may (if I can find the time) write something from the notes I used. We talked about Mary and Martha as the icons of discipleship, each representing one of the two parts of discipleship - both necessary, neither more/less important: Mary, who sat at the feet of the Master, as the breating in of God's grace, Martha, who lived out her ministry of hospitality, as the breathing out of God's grace into the world in mission and ministry. Lots more, but maybe I can write more on it later.
Last week, our Deacon Pam gave the homily. I'll see if I can get her text to post here too.
Meantime: See our announcements on our website: www.redeemershelby.com - especially the one about VBS!!!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Pentecost 6-C: Chosen to participate
Let’s begin by reading from the diary of John Wesley, Anglican priest and founder of Methodism. This is taken from the time of his short-lived mission work in Georgia in the 18th century:
•Sunday, A.M., May 5: Preached in St. Anne's. Was asked not to come
back anymore.
•Sunday, P.M., May 5: Preached in St. John's. Deacons said "Get out
and stay out."
•Sunday, A.M., May 12: Preached in St. Jude's. Can't go back there
either.
•Sunday, A.M., May 19: Preached in St. Somebody Else's. Deacons called
a special meeting and said I couldn't return.
•Sunday, P.M., May 19: Preached on street. Kicked off street.
•Sunday, A.M., May 26: Preached in meadow. Chased out of meadow as
bull was turned loose during service.
•Sunday, A.M., June 2: Preached out at the edge of town. Kicked off
the highway.
•Sunday, P.M., June 2: Afternoon, preached in a pasture. Ten thousand
people came out to hear me.
It seems Wesley took to heart the advice we heard St Paul give to the church in Galatia: …let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up.
In the Gospel from Luke Jesus is giving instructions to seventy people he has appointed to be missioners. The number 70 here is not a literal number, but was commonly understood in Jewish culture to mean ‘all the nations of the world.’ Breaking down traditional barriers (something he did often) Jesus chooses missioners ‘from all the nations.’ In other words, they probably included non-Jews and women.
And the first thing Jesus tells them to do is pray: Ask the Lord of the harvest (God) to send out laborers into his harvest. This is where mission always begins – in prayer; as a response to God’s call to serve.
I’m sending you like lambs into the midst of wolves, Jesus says. In other words, trust God completely, no matter what the risk seems to be, even if it seems like you are being sent defenseless into the hands of your enemies (rather like Jesus was).
Then Jesus tells the missioners to go – immediately, and with singleness of purpose. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. There is a sense of urgency here. Don’t even stop to get money or supplies. Get going and trust God to provide what you need.
And keep your focus. Don’t go and visit relatives who might live nearby. Don’t leave one house to go to another for better accommodations or food. Go where God leads you and commit your time and energy to whomever welcomes you, staying only as long as your work requires. That’s a hard thing about mission, which we’ll talk about later.
Declare shalom in whatever homes welcome you, and eat whatever food you are served. This would have been a scandalous instruction for pious Jews whose dietary laws were very strict. But Jesus is bringing down yet another barrier, telling his missioners to look beyond the Law and their tradition towards the relationships God is seeking to build through them now.
Once they have been welcomed and fed, they are to get about their work. Cure the sick who are there, Jesus says. Imagine how these missioners must have felt being told to go work miracles for God when some of them were probably not even allowed to pray to God in the synagogues before this. How affirming and empowering Jesus’ commissioning must have been for them! The excluded were now being told go and do those things that manifest the power and graciousness of God!
And finally, Jesus says, proclaim the good news that the kingdom of God has come near. Knowing from his own experience, however, that some will refuse to believe even in the presence of miracles, Jesus says, if they won’t listen to you - then leave. Shake the dust from your feet and say one more time: the kingdom of God has come near - and go.
Being rejected is part of mission work. Don’t take it personally.
When the seventy missioners return, they are rejoicing, excited to give their report. And Jesus responds by affirming their success. Then he cautions them to remember that what they should really be rejoicing about is being counted as one of God’s own ...rejoice [Jesus says] that your names are written in heaven. In other words, God will do amazing things to bring about the plan of salvation. Isn’t it wonderful that you have been chosen to participate?
Our Prayer Book tells us that the Church pursues its mission by prayer and worship, by proclaiming the Gospel, and by promoting justice, peace, and love. The hard part, as you remember from our purple sheets experience, is getting started. There are too many problems out there, too many choices, and we have so many excuses… most of them having to do with money or time, or the lack of those.
But mission isn’t something we do once we can afford it. And it isn’t something we do once we have the time for it. Mission is something we do in response to God’s calls us. And God will provide all that we need to be successful – including the money, time, and energy we need. Anyone who has witnessed the birth and growth of our Shepherd’s Table mission knows that we are living the truth of this. We are a new creation and, as St. Paul said, that is everything!
Once in the mission field, however, we must be willing to get our hands dirty, to touch the unclean and the sick, that they might know the power of God’s healing love. I remember the day Princess Diana visited a person with HIV/AIDS in the hospital and held his hand. Her simple, loving action helped calm a storm of fear and fiction about the transmission of that disease. The impact of her loving touch that day was felt around the world.
As missioners, we must also be willing to proclaim the good news of the salvation of the whole world in Jesus Christ, so that all to whom we are sent – especially those society shuns and excludes - might know and see by our example, that they are beloved of God, included in God’s plan of salvation, and welcome to feast at the table of the Lord.
A couple of weeks ago, as I walked into our parish hall to bless our meal at the Shepherd’s Table, I saw a person who regularly eats with us there and we greeted one another with a hug. Another guest whom I have also come to know well came up to me a little bit later and told me she was amazed to see me hug that person. Surprised, I said, “Really? We’re old friends by now. We always hug.” She smiled, and said, “We don’t get many hugs from people like you.” “People like me?” I asked, knowing full well what she meant. “You mean... Christians?” I reminded her of St. Paul’s advice to Christians to “greet one another with a holy kiss” something only family members did in that culture. “We’re family, aren’t we?” I asked. “I guess we are” she said still smiling.
Mission doesn’t happen by accident. It’s a choice. As Jesus said, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few... We have been called to be counted among those few and our Shepherd’s Table mission has been truly blessed with laborers from among our members, from Westside Praise and Worship, and from the community.
But if you ask any of those laborers who gets the most benefit from their service, most will tell you that they do. Serving God and serving God’s people in mission is exciting, enlivening! It fills us with joy and convinces us of the truth of the Good News which then overflows in us – just like Jesus said it would – the wellspring of life-giving water from God flowing like a river in us and nourishing all in its path.
Now back to that hard thing about mission: we stay only as long as our work requires. God is calling us right now to feed through The Shepherd’s Table. But just because this is what we are called to do now, doesn’t mean we will always do it. We will do this for as long as God desires it from us. If, sometime in the future, God calls us to do something else, we will respond, trusting in God and going wherever God sends us.
So this is our mission: to be the hands of love that manifest the power and graciousness of God in our community and in our world. Therefore, ...let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up.
And so we will continue to go wherever God leads us – with joyful expectation, knowing that God will do amazing things to bring about the plan of salvation. Isn’t it wonderful that we have been chosen to participate?
•Sunday, A.M., May 5: Preached in St. Anne's. Was asked not to come
back anymore.
•Sunday, P.M., May 5: Preached in St. John's. Deacons said "Get out
and stay out."
•Sunday, A.M., May 12: Preached in St. Jude's. Can't go back there
either.
•Sunday, A.M., May 19: Preached in St. Somebody Else's. Deacons called
a special meeting and said I couldn't return.
•Sunday, P.M., May 19: Preached on street. Kicked off street.
•Sunday, A.M., May 26: Preached in meadow. Chased out of meadow as
bull was turned loose during service.
•Sunday, A.M., June 2: Preached out at the edge of town. Kicked off
the highway.
•Sunday, P.M., June 2: Afternoon, preached in a pasture. Ten thousand
people came out to hear me.
It seems Wesley took to heart the advice we heard St Paul give to the church in Galatia: …let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up.
In the Gospel from Luke Jesus is giving instructions to seventy people he has appointed to be missioners. The number 70 here is not a literal number, but was commonly understood in Jewish culture to mean ‘all the nations of the world.’ Breaking down traditional barriers (something he did often) Jesus chooses missioners ‘from all the nations.’ In other words, they probably included non-Jews and women.
And the first thing Jesus tells them to do is pray: Ask the Lord of the harvest (God) to send out laborers into his harvest. This is where mission always begins – in prayer; as a response to God’s call to serve.
I’m sending you like lambs into the midst of wolves, Jesus says. In other words, trust God completely, no matter what the risk seems to be, even if it seems like you are being sent defenseless into the hands of your enemies (rather like Jesus was).
Then Jesus tells the missioners to go – immediately, and with singleness of purpose. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. There is a sense of urgency here. Don’t even stop to get money or supplies. Get going and trust God to provide what you need.
And keep your focus. Don’t go and visit relatives who might live nearby. Don’t leave one house to go to another for better accommodations or food. Go where God leads you and commit your time and energy to whomever welcomes you, staying only as long as your work requires. That’s a hard thing about mission, which we’ll talk about later.
Declare shalom in whatever homes welcome you, and eat whatever food you are served. This would have been a scandalous instruction for pious Jews whose dietary laws were very strict. But Jesus is bringing down yet another barrier, telling his missioners to look beyond the Law and their tradition towards the relationships God is seeking to build through them now.
Once they have been welcomed and fed, they are to get about their work. Cure the sick who are there, Jesus says. Imagine how these missioners must have felt being told to go work miracles for God when some of them were probably not even allowed to pray to God in the synagogues before this. How affirming and empowering Jesus’ commissioning must have been for them! The excluded were now being told go and do those things that manifest the power and graciousness of God!
And finally, Jesus says, proclaim the good news that the kingdom of God has come near. Knowing from his own experience, however, that some will refuse to believe even in the presence of miracles, Jesus says, if they won’t listen to you - then leave. Shake the dust from your feet and say one more time: the kingdom of God has come near - and go.
Being rejected is part of mission work. Don’t take it personally.
When the seventy missioners return, they are rejoicing, excited to give their report. And Jesus responds by affirming their success. Then he cautions them to remember that what they should really be rejoicing about is being counted as one of God’s own ...rejoice [Jesus says] that your names are written in heaven. In other words, God will do amazing things to bring about the plan of salvation. Isn’t it wonderful that you have been chosen to participate?
Our Prayer Book tells us that the Church pursues its mission by prayer and worship, by proclaiming the Gospel, and by promoting justice, peace, and love. The hard part, as you remember from our purple sheets experience, is getting started. There are too many problems out there, too many choices, and we have so many excuses… most of them having to do with money or time, or the lack of those.
But mission isn’t something we do once we can afford it. And it isn’t something we do once we have the time for it. Mission is something we do in response to God’s calls us. And God will provide all that we need to be successful – including the money, time, and energy we need. Anyone who has witnessed the birth and growth of our Shepherd’s Table mission knows that we are living the truth of this. We are a new creation and, as St. Paul said, that is everything!
Once in the mission field, however, we must be willing to get our hands dirty, to touch the unclean and the sick, that they might know the power of God’s healing love. I remember the day Princess Diana visited a person with HIV/AIDS in the hospital and held his hand. Her simple, loving action helped calm a storm of fear and fiction about the transmission of that disease. The impact of her loving touch that day was felt around the world.
As missioners, we must also be willing to proclaim the good news of the salvation of the whole world in Jesus Christ, so that all to whom we are sent – especially those society shuns and excludes - might know and see by our example, that they are beloved of God, included in God’s plan of salvation, and welcome to feast at the table of the Lord.
A couple of weeks ago, as I walked into our parish hall to bless our meal at the Shepherd’s Table, I saw a person who regularly eats with us there and we greeted one another with a hug. Another guest whom I have also come to know well came up to me a little bit later and told me she was amazed to see me hug that person. Surprised, I said, “Really? We’re old friends by now. We always hug.” She smiled, and said, “We don’t get many hugs from people like you.” “People like me?” I asked, knowing full well what she meant. “You mean... Christians?” I reminded her of St. Paul’s advice to Christians to “greet one another with a holy kiss” something only family members did in that culture. “We’re family, aren’t we?” I asked. “I guess we are” she said still smiling.
Mission doesn’t happen by accident. It’s a choice. As Jesus said, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few... We have been called to be counted among those few and our Shepherd’s Table mission has been truly blessed with laborers from among our members, from Westside Praise and Worship, and from the community.
But if you ask any of those laborers who gets the most benefit from their service, most will tell you that they do. Serving God and serving God’s people in mission is exciting, enlivening! It fills us with joy and convinces us of the truth of the Good News which then overflows in us – just like Jesus said it would – the wellspring of life-giving water from God flowing like a river in us and nourishing all in its path.
Now back to that hard thing about mission: we stay only as long as our work requires. God is calling us right now to feed through The Shepherd’s Table. But just because this is what we are called to do now, doesn’t mean we will always do it. We will do this for as long as God desires it from us. If, sometime in the future, God calls us to do something else, we will respond, trusting in God and going wherever God sends us.
So this is our mission: to be the hands of love that manifest the power and graciousness of God in our community and in our world. Therefore, ...let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up.
And so we will continue to go wherever God leads us – with joyful expectation, knowing that God will do amazing things to bring about the plan of salvation. Isn’t it wonderful that we have been chosen to participate?
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