A Taoist parable: Once upon a time and old farmer and his son watched as their only horse, a beautiful stallion, broke out of its corral and ran away. The farmer’s neighbor came around to grieve this loss with the farmer: “How terrible that your only horse is gone! Such bad luck!” The farmer replied, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?” The next day, the farmer’s horse returned bringing a wild mare with him into the corral. The farmer’s neighbor rushed back to celebrate, exclaiming,“Such a wonderful event! A mating pair! You are truly blessed by this richness of good luck” to which the farmer replied, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?” The next day, the farmer’s son fell of the new mare and broke his leg. The neighbor returned, bemoaning the bad luck of the elderly farmer who now had no one to help him with this farm. The farmer simply replied, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?” The next day, the local warlord rode into the village and conscripted all of the able-bodied young men into military service. Seeing the farmer’s son was lame, they left him with his father. The neighbor thought to himself, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?”
We are cautioned over and over again in Scripture not to judge – one another or the present circumstances. Isaiah helps us understand why: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa 55:8-9)
Anyone looking at Jesus’ life and ministry during his time might not have judged it too well. He was an itinerant preacher dependent upon the benevolence of his followers for his food and shelter. While his resume looked pretty good regarding pastoral care and healing, and his attendance numbers were good at the end of his ministry, Jesus was ultimately a ministerial failure: arrested, humiliated, publicly stripped and beaten, and finally, condemned to death and crucified by the powerful in his time. He even needed to borrow a grave.
But we look back at Jesus’ life and ministry and see something very different than the world saw then. We see the redemption of God unfolding in all of the circumstances of Jesus’ time – good and bad. God used it all. As Joan Chittister said, “the history of …God’s people has always been a good event, bad event situation, a continuing affirmation of life despite the unending threats of death.” (National Catholic Reporter, July 22, 2011)
In each of our lives, and in our common life at Redeemer, we confront circumstances like the farmer in the Chinese parable of the farmer. Some of us react like the neighbor, dancing in happiness or drowning in worry, spending our energy assigning credit or blame – forgetting that in all the cares and occupations of our lives we are ever walking in the sight of the Lord, (BCP, 100) who continues to use every circumstance – good or bad - to draw us closer to God’s self and to one another, according to God’s perfect plan of redemption for the whole world.
As we look at where we’ve been and where we’re going at Redeemer, we would be wise to remember that in every circumstance of our lives, God is there – loving us, guiding us, redeeming us, gifting us (yes, even the ‘bad’ circumstances are a gift), and then seeking to use the gifts given to us for the redeeming we are called to do with/for God.
God continues to form us and make us into the church God wants here in this time and place. As we move into our next program year, take a look at the many wonderful things God is doing in/through us:
EVENING PRAYER: Second Sundays at 5:00 pm in the church (new day and time). Evening Prayer is part of our long and rich Anglican tradition. There is no Eucharist at this service.
SERVICE OF TAIZÉ: Fourth Sundays at 5:00 pm in the church Take a break from the demands and stresses of daily life and join us in this ecumenical service featuring meditative prayer and song based on the practices of the monastic community in Taizé, France. Open to the community. All are welcome.
BIBLE DISCUSSION GROUP: Thursdays at 6:00 pm (new day) A weekly "no judgment zone" discussion group. Topics taken from the Bible and other spiritual books. Meets after Evening Prayer.
CENTERING PRAYER: Second and fourth Thursdays at 5:30 pm
Centering prayer is silent, meditative, receptive prayer resting in God’s presence. Come join us as we consent to the presence and action of God within.
EPISCOPALIAN ROSARY: These Rosaries (developed by our rector) and ‘how to pray' booklets are free to all who ask as an aid to their prayer life. Watch our online calendar for Rosary-making workshops which are scheduled as needed (and we need one soon!).
GROUP AND INDIVIDUAL SPIRITUAL DIRECTION: A time of entering into a sacred space together, to explore how we can live more fully into whom God created us to be. Individual meetings are by appointment.
MOVIE NIGHT! First Fridays at 6:30pm (new night) Popcorn and soft-drinks provided, along with BYOAdultBeverage. Next Movie Night! is September 2. We’ll be watching “The Lord of the Rings, the Two Towers” rated PG-13. Watch our online calendar for movie details.
PRAYER SHAWL MINISTRY: Wednesdays, 12:45 pm (new day and time) Beginners to experienced knitters and crocheters meet weekly after the Shepherd’s Table to make shawls.
Also in this newsletter, you will hear from Matthew Kiggen, our new Youth Minister, about our newly designed Youth Program. Deacon Pam writes about our newly re-formed Christian Formation program for all ages. Steve Sherer talks about the rebirth of the Parish Net program as the Parish Meal Ministry and how you can help with it. Lowrey Young and Jane Shooter update us on the formalization of our Shepherd’s Table and Food Pantry ministries, including the development of policies and procedures, volunteer training and more!
Our Music Director search is underway, so your prayers for this are much appreciated. We are also transitioning in our admin office again - Ashley has accepted a full-time social work position in Gastonia (where she lives). Since we only recently interviewed for this position, I have re-contacted our top two other picks and will be re-meeting with them this week. I hope (expect) this will be a short transition.
The vestry has also approved Phase One of the garden project – the Columbarium. Work should begin any day (behind the connector, between the admin building and the parish hall). Our roof is also scheduled to be repaired later in the fall.
We still need to get busy on our planning for a playground/outdoor worship/learning space for our children. Anyone feeling called to help with that? Let me know: rector@redeemershelby.com.
As you can see, there is a LOT going on at Redeemer. Our life together is full, blessed, and constantly forming! Come and find your place, and God’s will for your gifts among us. I close with a prayer written for our Taizé service on Aug 28: “Although within us there are wounds, Lord Christ, above all there is the miracle of your mysterious presence. Thus, made lighter or even set free, we are going with you, the Christ, from one discovery to another. Amen.”
Friday, September 2, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Pentecost 10A: You are Petros
Lectionary: Isaiah 51:1-6; Psalm 138; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20
How many of you are familiar with the story, The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams (Unicorn Publishing, NJ)? It’s the story of a stuffed toy rabbit that lived with a small boy. The boy had lots of toys in his nursery - there were mechanical toys “full of modern ideas” who “looked down on” all the other toys; there was a model boat who “caught the tone” from the mechanical toys and held himself superior to the others; there was a jointed wooden lion who “pretended he was connected to the Government” and therefore, was a very important toy. When the Velveteen Rabbit arrived, the other toys made him feel common and unimportant – except for the wise, old Skin Horse, who “had lived longer in the nursery than any of the other [toys].”
One day, the Velveteen Rabbit asked the Skin Horse what it meant to be REAL. Does is mean “having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle” like the mechanical toys? Does it mean being important like the wooden lion?
No, said the Skin Horse. “Real isn’t how you are made… It’s a thing that happens to you... [when you’re loved] for a long, long, time."
“Does it happen all at once… or bit by bit?” the Velveteen Rabbit asked. “It doesn’t happen all at once” the Skin Horse replied. “You become. It takes a long time.”
The same is true about being Christian. We become. And it takes our whole lives.
In today’s Gospel from Matthew, the apostle we know by his nickname, Peter, experiences a moment of divine revelation. Jesus and his disciples have been discussing who people say he is, and Jesus asks: But who do YOU say that I am? And Simon Peter answers: “You are the Messiah. The Son of the living God.” Jesus blesses Peter, then clarifies to all who are listening (including us) that this revelation of truth came to Peter as a gift from God, and was not the product of his own understanding or experience.
Then Jesus gives his disciple his now famous nick-name: “You are Peter” Jesus says. ‘Petros’ in Greek; ‘Cephas’ in Aramaic, and it means ‘stone or rock.’
It’s a bit of word-play with a purpose. This particular nick-name is also an identity and a call to mission. “You are Petros (a stone, a single part of a greater whole) and upon this petra (foundation) I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”
Did you hear that? Not even death - and Jesus is talking here about his own death which is about to happen – not even death will prevail against the church I build.
So - who is the builder of the church? Jesus says, “…I will build my church…” God in Christ is the builder. It isn’t the vestry, or the rector, or the bishop – or even the most involved members. We don’t build the church. God does. So when we consider our tithes and our budget, our worship and music, our leadership and programs, and our path into the future, it is important for us to remember that God is the builder of this church. We are individually Petros whom God graces and unifies and forms into petra, the foundation on upon which the church is built.
This is not a new concept. In the Old Testament lesson from Isaiah, God says to the people: “Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, but I blessed him and made him many.”
God did it. Abraham and Sara were Petros-es whom God graced and unified into petra and through whom God built a people so numerous that our numbers are greater than the number of stars in the skies.
Ours isn’t a church built on or by a single stone (person). It’s a church built by God through each of us who is Petros, who receives the grace of God into our lives and uses it according to and for God’s purpose. That is what Peter did that day, and that’s why Jesus said Peter had the keys to the kingdom.
Many understand this to mean that Peter is the one who reveals the mystery of the kingdom, or decides who gets to enter the pearly gates of heaven. But the gospel story makes clear that revelation comes from God, not from any human. And it isn’t likely that God needs a guard at the gate of heaven.
So what does it mean? To have a key is to have the means of opening a locked door. Jesus is giving to his disciples, and to all of us who are Petros, the means by which to open the doors of the kingdom to those who are locked out.
The last bit of the gospel story about binding and loosing is a rabbinical instruction. In those days, rabbis were responsible for establishing the rules for their followers. For us, these would be the canons of TEC and the diocese.
Jesus, the rabbi, is instructing Peter and the other disciples (the word in Greek is plural) in the ways of a rabbi. Jesus says - Now y’all decide what to bind (that is, what not to allow) and what to loose (…what to allow). I’ve got your back. I will guide you in this. Remember you are Petros. I am the builder. I have the big picture in mind. You don’t. You can’t.
Keep in mind that this gospel story takes place right after Peter has failed in his attempt to walk on water and right before he denies Jesus three times at the trial, which shows us that being Petros means that we are becoming as God would have us be. It means we are continually opening to whatever grace God chooses to give us at this moment in our journey, knowing that the gift isn’t for us alone – it’s for the petra - the unified foundation formed by God from each of us and our gifts for the building of the church, the body of Christ, on earth.
As St. Paul says, we “who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us by God. That’s why Paul cautions us “not to think of [ourselves] more highly than [we] ought to think.”
If we separate ourselves from the others in the petra, we impede God’s building of the church. If we withhold the gifts given to us (our money, talents, and time), we impede God’s building of the church. If we use the gifts given to us for our own purpose instead of for God’s purpose, we impede God’s building of the church. If we judge someone else’s gift as common or unimportant or our own as superior, we are wrong and impeding God’s building of the church.
Our church, the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, is a partial expression of the petra. We are incomplete and still becoming. We still are being formed by God. Everyone here, each Petros, is meant to be here. Everyone here has a gift and a purpose designed by God, which God desires to use. And everyone who comes to us brings a gift and a purpose designed by God and meant to be part of the petra upon which God continues to build the church in our time – right here at Redeemer.
This brings to mind a quote I saw on Facebook last week, posted by our own Kheresa Harmon. She quoted Douglas Webster, Ph.D. as saying: "We think of hospitality as giving to others, but what if hospitality is the Lord's way of bringing people into our lives who will give to us: the foreign student who enlarges our world, the homeless person who deepens our compassion, the missionary who causes us to pray more earnestly, the single mom who increases our family, and the neighbor whose next-door presence trains us in practical love?"
Practicing hospitality as Dr. Webster describes it will change us, transform us as St. Paul says, and that might be a bit uncomfortable. But that’s all part of our becoming.
When the Velveteen Rabbit asked the Skin Horse if becoming Real hurt, the Skin Horse replied, “‘Sometimes,’ for he was always truthful [but] ‘when you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”
Jesus showed us the truth of that when he gave up his life on the cross. Now it’s up to us to hear and be transformed by Jesus’ words: You are Petros and upon this petra I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
Amen.
How many of you are familiar with the story, The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams (Unicorn Publishing, NJ)? It’s the story of a stuffed toy rabbit that lived with a small boy. The boy had lots of toys in his nursery - there were mechanical toys “full of modern ideas” who “looked down on” all the other toys; there was a model boat who “caught the tone” from the mechanical toys and held himself superior to the others; there was a jointed wooden lion who “pretended he was connected to the Government” and therefore, was a very important toy. When the Velveteen Rabbit arrived, the other toys made him feel common and unimportant – except for the wise, old Skin Horse, who “had lived longer in the nursery than any of the other [toys].”
One day, the Velveteen Rabbit asked the Skin Horse what it meant to be REAL. Does is mean “having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle” like the mechanical toys? Does it mean being important like the wooden lion?
No, said the Skin Horse. “Real isn’t how you are made… It’s a thing that happens to you... [when you’re loved] for a long, long, time."
“Does it happen all at once… or bit by bit?” the Velveteen Rabbit asked. “It doesn’t happen all at once” the Skin Horse replied. “You become. It takes a long time.”
The same is true about being Christian. We become. And it takes our whole lives.
In today’s Gospel from Matthew, the apostle we know by his nickname, Peter, experiences a moment of divine revelation. Jesus and his disciples have been discussing who people say he is, and Jesus asks: But who do YOU say that I am? And Simon Peter answers: “You are the Messiah. The Son of the living God.” Jesus blesses Peter, then clarifies to all who are listening (including us) that this revelation of truth came to Peter as a gift from God, and was not the product of his own understanding or experience.
Then Jesus gives his disciple his now famous nick-name: “You are Peter” Jesus says. ‘Petros’ in Greek; ‘Cephas’ in Aramaic, and it means ‘stone or rock.’
It’s a bit of word-play with a purpose. This particular nick-name is also an identity and a call to mission. “You are Petros (a stone, a single part of a greater whole) and upon this petra (foundation) I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”
Did you hear that? Not even death - and Jesus is talking here about his own death which is about to happen – not even death will prevail against the church I build.
So - who is the builder of the church? Jesus says, “…I will build my church…” God in Christ is the builder. It isn’t the vestry, or the rector, or the bishop – or even the most involved members. We don’t build the church. God does. So when we consider our tithes and our budget, our worship and music, our leadership and programs, and our path into the future, it is important for us to remember that God is the builder of this church. We are individually Petros whom God graces and unifies and forms into petra, the foundation on upon which the church is built.
This is not a new concept. In the Old Testament lesson from Isaiah, God says to the people: “Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, but I blessed him and made him many.”
God did it. Abraham and Sara were Petros-es whom God graced and unified into petra and through whom God built a people so numerous that our numbers are greater than the number of stars in the skies.
Ours isn’t a church built on or by a single stone (person). It’s a church built by God through each of us who is Petros, who receives the grace of God into our lives and uses it according to and for God’s purpose. That is what Peter did that day, and that’s why Jesus said Peter had the keys to the kingdom.
Many understand this to mean that Peter is the one who reveals the mystery of the kingdom, or decides who gets to enter the pearly gates of heaven. But the gospel story makes clear that revelation comes from God, not from any human. And it isn’t likely that God needs a guard at the gate of heaven.
So what does it mean? To have a key is to have the means of opening a locked door. Jesus is giving to his disciples, and to all of us who are Petros, the means by which to open the doors of the kingdom to those who are locked out.
The last bit of the gospel story about binding and loosing is a rabbinical instruction. In those days, rabbis were responsible for establishing the rules for their followers. For us, these would be the canons of TEC and the diocese.
Jesus, the rabbi, is instructing Peter and the other disciples (the word in Greek is plural) in the ways of a rabbi. Jesus says - Now y’all decide what to bind (that is, what not to allow) and what to loose (…what to allow). I’ve got your back. I will guide you in this. Remember you are Petros. I am the builder. I have the big picture in mind. You don’t. You can’t.
Keep in mind that this gospel story takes place right after Peter has failed in his attempt to walk on water and right before he denies Jesus three times at the trial, which shows us that being Petros means that we are becoming as God would have us be. It means we are continually opening to whatever grace God chooses to give us at this moment in our journey, knowing that the gift isn’t for us alone – it’s for the petra - the unified foundation formed by God from each of us and our gifts for the building of the church, the body of Christ, on earth.
As St. Paul says, we “who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us by God. That’s why Paul cautions us “not to think of [ourselves] more highly than [we] ought to think.”
If we separate ourselves from the others in the petra, we impede God’s building of the church. If we withhold the gifts given to us (our money, talents, and time), we impede God’s building of the church. If we use the gifts given to us for our own purpose instead of for God’s purpose, we impede God’s building of the church. If we judge someone else’s gift as common or unimportant or our own as superior, we are wrong and impeding God’s building of the church.
Our church, the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, is a partial expression of the petra. We are incomplete and still becoming. We still are being formed by God. Everyone here, each Petros, is meant to be here. Everyone here has a gift and a purpose designed by God, which God desires to use. And everyone who comes to us brings a gift and a purpose designed by God and meant to be part of the petra upon which God continues to build the church in our time – right here at Redeemer.
This brings to mind a quote I saw on Facebook last week, posted by our own Kheresa Harmon. She quoted Douglas Webster, Ph.D. as saying: "We think of hospitality as giving to others, but what if hospitality is the Lord's way of bringing people into our lives who will give to us: the foreign student who enlarges our world, the homeless person who deepens our compassion, the missionary who causes us to pray more earnestly, the single mom who increases our family, and the neighbor whose next-door presence trains us in practical love?"
Practicing hospitality as Dr. Webster describes it will change us, transform us as St. Paul says, and that might be a bit uncomfortable. But that’s all part of our becoming.
When the Velveteen Rabbit asked the Skin Horse if becoming Real hurt, the Skin Horse replied, “‘Sometimes,’ for he was always truthful [but] ‘when you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”
Jesus showed us the truth of that when he gave up his life on the cross. Now it’s up to us to hear and be transformed by Jesus’ words: You are Petros and upon this petra I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
Amen.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Vacation announcement
Hi friends and family,
I will be on vacation August 1-14. Supply priests will serve us on the Sundays and Wednesdays during my absence. Sermons will be added to this blog once I return IF I am provided text or audio file from those services.
I look forward to the time away with my family and to my return to my family at Redeemer in two weeks' time. Until then, peace be with you.
Valori+
I will be on vacation August 1-14. Supply priests will serve us on the Sundays and Wednesdays during my absence. Sermons will be added to this blog once I return IF I am provided text or audio file from those services.
I look forward to the time away with my family and to my return to my family at Redeemer in two weeks' time. Until then, peace be with you.
Valori+
August newsletter article: Remembering our Christian Duty
By: The Rev. Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. (Ro 12:9)
It’s amazing how succinctly St. Paul sums up the code of conduct for the body of Christ in this verse from his letter to the Romans (Paul is rarely succinct!). Meditating on this makes it clear that we are called to be the presence of Love (God) in the world, doing the work of Love, in the name of that Love. That is our Christian duty, both as individuals and as a church, part of the body of Christ.
I have been looking at some research lately (a throwback to my first career in marketing) and was startled by the results of a study about the racial and ethnic composition of members of mainline Protestant churches. The image below (which didn't copy in this format) speaks volumes about how successful we’ve really been (or not been) at extending hospitality to strangers:
White (non-Hispanic) 91%
Black (non-Hispanic) 2%
Asian (non-Hispanic) 1%
Other/Mixed (non-Hispanic) 3%
Hispanic 3%
(Source: http://religions.pewforum.org)
To be clear, mainline Protestant churches, as defined in this study, do not include Evangelical, Roman Catholic, Jewish, non-Christian, or pseudo-Christian churches (e.g. Mormon). Their pictures look pretty much the same though. The exception is the Roman Catholic Church in which Latinos comprise almost 30% of their church in the US.
What does this mean for us at Redeemer, especially given that our congregation’s demographics fit the diagram above pretty well? Who are the “strangers” in our area who are excluded from worship at local churches? How will we answer the call to show them hospitality? How would we go about doing that?
The Catechism in our Prayer Book answers that question simply in its discussion of Christian duty: “The duty of all Christians is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray, and give for the spread of the kingdom of God.” (BCP, 856)
All we have to do is remember our Christian duty. Be at church on Sundays (or for some of you, on Wednesdays) to worship and pray together. Do something – mission/ministry – that has as its goal building the kingdom of God. Establish and practice a discipline of personal prayer. Contribute to the church so that it can do the work of being the presence of Love (God) in the world, doing the work of Love, in the name of that Love.
Mother Valori+
P.S. I hold you all in loving prayer during the two weeks I’m away on vacation: Aug 1-14. Deacon Pam is available for pastoral emergencies during my absence. Peace, friends!
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. (Ro 12:9)
It’s amazing how succinctly St. Paul sums up the code of conduct for the body of Christ in this verse from his letter to the Romans (Paul is rarely succinct!). Meditating on this makes it clear that we are called to be the presence of Love (God) in the world, doing the work of Love, in the name of that Love. That is our Christian duty, both as individuals and as a church, part of the body of Christ.
I have been looking at some research lately (a throwback to my first career in marketing) and was startled by the results of a study about the racial and ethnic composition of members of mainline Protestant churches. The image below (which didn't copy in this format) speaks volumes about how successful we’ve really been (or not been) at extending hospitality to strangers:
White (non-Hispanic) 91%
Black (non-Hispanic) 2%
Asian (non-Hispanic) 1%
Other/Mixed (non-Hispanic) 3%
Hispanic 3%
(Source: http://religions.pewforum.org)
To be clear, mainline Protestant churches, as defined in this study, do not include Evangelical, Roman Catholic, Jewish, non-Christian, or pseudo-Christian churches (e.g. Mormon). Their pictures look pretty much the same though. The exception is the Roman Catholic Church in which Latinos comprise almost 30% of their church in the US.
What does this mean for us at Redeemer, especially given that our congregation’s demographics fit the diagram above pretty well? Who are the “strangers” in our area who are excluded from worship at local churches? How will we answer the call to show them hospitality? How would we go about doing that?
The Catechism in our Prayer Book answers that question simply in its discussion of Christian duty: “The duty of all Christians is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray, and give for the spread of the kingdom of God.” (BCP, 856)
All we have to do is remember our Christian duty. Be at church on Sundays (or for some of you, on Wednesdays) to worship and pray together. Do something – mission/ministry – that has as its goal building the kingdom of God. Establish and practice a discipline of personal prayer. Contribute to the church so that it can do the work of being the presence of Love (God) in the world, doing the work of Love, in the name of that Love.
Mother Valori+
P.S. I hold you all in loving prayer during the two weeks I’m away on vacation: Aug 1-14. Deacon Pam is available for pastoral emergencies during my absence. Peace, friends!
Pentecost 7A and Baptism of JBEdwards: "Bring them to me"
Lectionary: Isaiah 55:1-5; Psalm 145: 8-9, 15-22; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21
I begin with a quote from the 2009 report to the Episcopal Church from the Theology Committee of the House of Bishops:
“Baptism unites [us] to Christ. One receives thereby Christ’s own Spirit as the power to lead a reformed, Christ-like life. In the Eucharist [we] actually draw upon that life-giving Spirit, which comes to us through the gift of Christ’s own humanity to us in the elements, to grow into and sustain under trial a Christ-like transformation of life…. In baptism [we are] graciously adopted into God’s household and then nourished by God in the Eucharist. Believers receive the Spirit [of God] in baptism leading to sanctification by [that same] Spirit’s work in the Eucharist.”
Our Gospel reading from Matthew is a story of Baptism and Eucharist. The feeding of the 5000 (plus all of those women and children who got a mention this time), is the only miracle story present in all four gospel accounts, which points to its significance.
Matthew tells us that when the crowds followed Jesus to the place where he was trying to be alone,he had compassion on them and healed their sick. But that wasn’t enough. The crowd continued to linger. They wanted to stay near Jesus.
When evening came, the disciples became concerned that the people needed to be sent away so they could find something to eat before it got dark. Recognizing what they were truly hungry for, and knowing how they would need to be fed, not just this night, but forever, Jesus said to his disciples: "Bring them here to me." (2)
YOU bring them, and YOU distribute to them the food I will give you. And from that time on, Jesus’ disciples have been doing that very same thing - in our churches. If you think about it, it’s exactly what we are doing here today, though admittedly, ours is on a much smaller scale.
The parents of Thomas Edwards, who are disciples of Jesus in our time, are doing as Jesus commanded when he said: “Bring them here to me.” Together with Thomas’ parents, we, his church community, are consecrating him, setting him apart, and committing to support and uphold Thomas as he discovers and lives out the sacred purpose God has for his life.
Then all of us will share a Holy Eucharist together, a celebration of our redemption. We will nourish ourselves with the holy food and drink given to us by our Savior, renewing and strengthening ourselves to serve God in “unity, constancy and peace” all our days. (3)
The process of a “Christ-like transformation of life” is ongoing and achieved in community. Today we welcome Thomas Edwards into this community and promise to pray and work with him and his family as we all engage this process together.
I now invite the candidate for Baptism and his parents, god-parents, family and friends to process with me to the font. Children in the church are also welcome to join us at the font. As we do, we will all sing Hymn number 296.
Footnotes:
(1) (REFLECTIONS ON HOLY BAPTISM AND THE HOLY EUCHARIST, A Response to Resolution D084 of the 75th General Convention By The Theology Committee of the House of Bishops, June 2009)
(2) Mt 14:18
(3) BCP, 363
I begin with a quote from the 2009 report to the Episcopal Church from the Theology Committee of the House of Bishops:
“Baptism unites [us] to Christ. One receives thereby Christ’s own Spirit as the power to lead a reformed, Christ-like life. In the Eucharist [we] actually draw upon that life-giving Spirit, which comes to us through the gift of Christ’s own humanity to us in the elements, to grow into and sustain under trial a Christ-like transformation of life…. In baptism [we are] graciously adopted into God’s household and then nourished by God in the Eucharist. Believers receive the Spirit [of God] in baptism leading to sanctification by [that same] Spirit’s work in the Eucharist.”
Our Gospel reading from Matthew is a story of Baptism and Eucharist. The feeding of the 5000 (plus all of those women and children who got a mention this time), is the only miracle story present in all four gospel accounts, which points to its significance.
Matthew tells us that when the crowds followed Jesus to the place where he was trying to be alone,he had compassion on them and healed their sick. But that wasn’t enough. The crowd continued to linger. They wanted to stay near Jesus.
When evening came, the disciples became concerned that the people needed to be sent away so they could find something to eat before it got dark. Recognizing what they were truly hungry for, and knowing how they would need to be fed, not just this night, but forever, Jesus said to his disciples: "Bring them here to me." (2)
YOU bring them, and YOU distribute to them the food I will give you. And from that time on, Jesus’ disciples have been doing that very same thing - in our churches. If you think about it, it’s exactly what we are doing here today, though admittedly, ours is on a much smaller scale.
The parents of Thomas Edwards, who are disciples of Jesus in our time, are doing as Jesus commanded when he said: “Bring them here to me.” Together with Thomas’ parents, we, his church community, are consecrating him, setting him apart, and committing to support and uphold Thomas as he discovers and lives out the sacred purpose God has for his life.
Then all of us will share a Holy Eucharist together, a celebration of our redemption. We will nourish ourselves with the holy food and drink given to us by our Savior, renewing and strengthening ourselves to serve God in “unity, constancy and peace” all our days. (3)
The process of a “Christ-like transformation of life” is ongoing and achieved in community. Today we welcome Thomas Edwards into this community and promise to pray and work with him and his family as we all engage this process together.
I now invite the candidate for Baptism and his parents, god-parents, family and friends to process with me to the font. Children in the church are also welcome to join us at the font. As we do, we will all sing Hymn number 296.
Footnotes:
(1) (REFLECTIONS ON HOLY BAPTISM AND THE HOLY EUCHARIST, A Response to Resolution D084 of the 75th General Convention By The Theology Committee of the House of Bishops, June 2009)
(2) Mt 14:18
(3) BCP, 363
Friday, July 29, 2011
Healing Witness: July 2011 article for the Shelby Star
When we open ourselves to come to know God in the power of Jesus, everything we once knew from a human point of view about God, ourselves, and the world is changed; transformed by the love of Christ that fills us and urges us on as witnesses of his resurrection. An important example of this is found in the story of Mary Magdalene (whose feast day is July 20), a story about healing, transformation, and faithful witness.
Unfortunately, aside from the Biblical record that Jesus healed her of seven demons (none of which was named), we don’t know much about her. In the gospels, she is a minor character who is recorded as following Jesus and his disciples around and ministering to them. (1) She is recorded as being present at Jesus’ crucifixion and burial, and all four gospels tell us that she was the first witness of the resurrection sent by Jesus to tell the disciples the good news – which led early church writers to call her the apostle to the apostles.
It was St. Gregory the Great, at the end of the 6th century, who identified Mary Magdalene with the unnamed sinner in Luke who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears, and the woman caught in adultery whose stoning Jesus forestalled. “From this conflation, now rejected by scholars as well as the church, there came about the popular representation of Mary Magdalene as a penitent sinner, [a] prostitute.” (2)
For nearly two millennia Mary Magdalene, the faithful follower of Jesus, the apostle to the apostle, has been dismissed as a minor character and slandered as a prostitute. Yet the healing Jesus began when he freed her from the grip of seven demons continues to this day, restoring Mary Magdalene’s reputation and her rightful place of honor in the Christian community.
That’s how healing works. We know from the many stories of Jesus’ healings in Scripture, that whenever Jesus heals, he heals more than a person’s body or mind. Jesus’ healings always restore a person to wholeness of life. The lepers who were cleansed, for example, were able to return to their families and live in the communities from which they had been exiled due to their disease. The blind beggar and the demoniac who were healed became evangelists who told of the mercy they had received from Jesus – and all who heard their stories were amazed.
That’s the other thing about healing – it is for us, but not just for us. When we have been restored in body, mind, or spirit, we come away with a new awareness of God’s powerful love and mercy, and that is what is meant to be shared.
When Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb and finds it empty, she cries. But in the most unexpected way, her tears are turned to joy as she hears her teacher and friend, call her by name. Suddenly there is nothing present but transforming love. We don’t know how long they stayed together in that moment, but we do know that at some point Jesus tells Mary not to cling to him, but to go and tell the others, that they might be transformed too.
Mary doesn’t stop to ask Jesus to explain how he did it – she doesn’t ask to understand at all. She simply responds to the love of Christ that fills her and urges her on, and she goes to tell the others, taking with her an unexpectedly new awareness of God’s reconciling love in Jesus. What she had once known from a human point of view, Jesus her Rabboni, has been transformed, and because of that everything has become new (2Cor 5:17).
When someone has been beaten down by the demons of fear, loneliness, or depression, when they have been oppressed by poverty, marginalization, or anger, when they have been forsaken by friends and family, it is as if they are living in exile – cut off from the reconciliation Jesus died and rose to give us all. And the longer someone lives in exile, the more their hope and sense of self-worth dwindle away. It is to these beloved, thirsting ones that God sends us as witnesses, because, as we hear in the book of Judith, God is the God of the lowly, the helper of the oppressed, protector of the forsaken, and the savior of those without hope.(Jud 9:11)
Witnessing means carrying the life-giving waters of Baptism out to those who are athirst for the living God (Ps 42:2). It means trusting God and God alone to judge them. It means inviting them into relationship just as they are and trusting God to take them and us where we need to go. Witnessing means proclaiming by all we say and do the Good News of God in Christ.
History did not treat Mary Magdalene well as a witness, and may not treat us well either - but that isn’t what matters. What matters is that Mary loved Jesus so deeply that she was open to receive his Holy Spirit and to be sent - healed, forgiven and renewed - to tell the Good News of his resurrection.
Our Savior continually calls us to wholeness of life, allowing him to turn our tears into joy by entering into the presence of his transforming love. Then having been healed by him, we are made ready to go and tell others, that they might be transformed too.
Footnotes:
(1) James Keifer, http://elvis.rowan.edu/~kilroy
(2) Robert Ellsberg, All Saints, Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for our Time (The Crossroad Publishing Co., NY, 2002), 312.
Unfortunately, aside from the Biblical record that Jesus healed her of seven demons (none of which was named), we don’t know much about her. In the gospels, she is a minor character who is recorded as following Jesus and his disciples around and ministering to them. (1) She is recorded as being present at Jesus’ crucifixion and burial, and all four gospels tell us that she was the first witness of the resurrection sent by Jesus to tell the disciples the good news – which led early church writers to call her the apostle to the apostles.
It was St. Gregory the Great, at the end of the 6th century, who identified Mary Magdalene with the unnamed sinner in Luke who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears, and the woman caught in adultery whose stoning Jesus forestalled. “From this conflation, now rejected by scholars as well as the church, there came about the popular representation of Mary Magdalene as a penitent sinner, [a] prostitute.” (2)
For nearly two millennia Mary Magdalene, the faithful follower of Jesus, the apostle to the apostle, has been dismissed as a minor character and slandered as a prostitute. Yet the healing Jesus began when he freed her from the grip of seven demons continues to this day, restoring Mary Magdalene’s reputation and her rightful place of honor in the Christian community.
That’s how healing works. We know from the many stories of Jesus’ healings in Scripture, that whenever Jesus heals, he heals more than a person’s body or mind. Jesus’ healings always restore a person to wholeness of life. The lepers who were cleansed, for example, were able to return to their families and live in the communities from which they had been exiled due to their disease. The blind beggar and the demoniac who were healed became evangelists who told of the mercy they had received from Jesus – and all who heard their stories were amazed.
That’s the other thing about healing – it is for us, but not just for us. When we have been restored in body, mind, or spirit, we come away with a new awareness of God’s powerful love and mercy, and that is what is meant to be shared.
When Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb and finds it empty, she cries. But in the most unexpected way, her tears are turned to joy as she hears her teacher and friend, call her by name. Suddenly there is nothing present but transforming love. We don’t know how long they stayed together in that moment, but we do know that at some point Jesus tells Mary not to cling to him, but to go and tell the others, that they might be transformed too.
Mary doesn’t stop to ask Jesus to explain how he did it – she doesn’t ask to understand at all. She simply responds to the love of Christ that fills her and urges her on, and she goes to tell the others, taking with her an unexpectedly new awareness of God’s reconciling love in Jesus. What she had once known from a human point of view, Jesus her Rabboni, has been transformed, and because of that everything has become new (2Cor 5:17).
When someone has been beaten down by the demons of fear, loneliness, or depression, when they have been oppressed by poverty, marginalization, or anger, when they have been forsaken by friends and family, it is as if they are living in exile – cut off from the reconciliation Jesus died and rose to give us all. And the longer someone lives in exile, the more their hope and sense of self-worth dwindle away. It is to these beloved, thirsting ones that God sends us as witnesses, because, as we hear in the book of Judith, God is the God of the lowly, the helper of the oppressed, protector of the forsaken, and the savior of those without hope.(Jud 9:11)
Witnessing means carrying the life-giving waters of Baptism out to those who are athirst for the living God (Ps 42:2). It means trusting God and God alone to judge them. It means inviting them into relationship just as they are and trusting God to take them and us where we need to go. Witnessing means proclaiming by all we say and do the Good News of God in Christ.
History did not treat Mary Magdalene well as a witness, and may not treat us well either - but that isn’t what matters. What matters is that Mary loved Jesus so deeply that she was open to receive his Holy Spirit and to be sent - healed, forgiven and renewed - to tell the Good News of his resurrection.
Our Savior continually calls us to wholeness of life, allowing him to turn our tears into joy by entering into the presence of his transforming love. Then having been healed by him, we are made ready to go and tell others, that they might be transformed too.
Footnotes:
(1) James Keifer, http://elvis.rowan.edu/~kilroy
(2) Robert Ellsberg, All Saints, Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for our Time (The Crossroad Publishing Co., NY, 2002), 312.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Pentecost 6A 2011: The Christian Response
Lectionary:1 Kings 3:5-12; Psalm 119:129-136; Romans 8:26-39; Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
This sermon was extemporaneous, so the audio from the 8:30 and 10:30 services are provided. I've included both because they were a bit different. There is no written text today. Mother V+
Sermon given at the 8:30 service:
Sermon given at the 10:30 service:
This sermon was extemporaneous, so the audio from the 8:30 and 10:30 services are provided. I've included both because they were a bit different. There is no written text today. Mother V+
Sermon given at the 8:30 service:
Sermon given at the 10:30 service:
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