Lectionary: Acts 11:1-18; Psalm 148; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35
Preacher: The Very Rev. Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
En el nobmre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
I’ve heard it said that loving our enemies is easy because we often don’t have to see them up close. When we think about it like that, there are kind of a lot of people we might call “enemies up close” – people who have hurt us, lied about us, cheated on us. People whose very presence sucks the life out of us. People who challenge our Christian virtue and cause our protective walls to shoot up around us.
Theologian Roberta Bondi reminds us that, “real love that sees [others] as human beings, beloved of God, and yet flawed, just as [we ourselves are flawed; and] we are to love, not just at a distance, but up close…in concrete ways, …as the Gospel requires.” That is what ministry is. It’s the love of God acting through us.
It’s food given to Lisa who is hungry due to her chronic poverty. It’s limits offered to Steven whose propensity for violence invades our safety. It’s a patient and listening ear for Sheila who has every physical ailment known to humankind and talks about them constantly. It’s hope offered to Richard who believes the lie told him long ago, that even God doesn’t love him.
As Christians, we have to stay alert to the temptation to make categories out of people because once we depersonalize them, we tend to distinguish ourselves from them. Then we can blame them, or hate them, or distance ourselves from them.
Peter understood this. He witnessed how Jesus loved first-hand, but when it came time for him to do it, he was stuck, mired down by what he had learned was right belief and right practice. In order to serve God as was he was being called to do Peter needed to be set free from all that hindered him from loving the way Jesus had loved.
And how did God set Peter free? Through a dream, a vision. God’s frequent use of dreams and visions has an honored place in our tradition. And considering the four conversations I had with members just this week about their dreams, it seems to me that God is still at it.
In his dream, Peter sees a variety of creatures being brought before him and hears a command: “kill and eat.” Oh no! Peter says. I never eat that stuff – it’s against the rules! Eat it, the voice says – and Peter recognizes that the voice is from heaven. “What God has made clean, you must not call profane” the voice said, and it wasn’t just talking about food.
Immediately, three men arrived to escort Peter to the house of the Roman Centurion, Cornelius, and Peter went with them, ready to break the rules and be one with this Gentile community. He went not as a person of superior faith who would fix their beliefs and their practices, but as someone willing to give of his time and his gifts for their sake, so that they could come into a closer relationship with God.
Peter had no assurance that these people would receive what he had to offer, and even being there with them was a bit of a safety risk for him. But he went anyway, and gave what he had – his testimony.
Then Peter watched in amazement as the Holy Spirit filled them just as the Jews had been filled. Not only was the whole household converted, but Peter and his ministry were also converted. Peter had been set free from that within him which hindered the reconciling work of God.
I’ll bet, in this freed state of mind, Jesus’ words at their Last Supper suddenly made sense to Peter
in a whole new way: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
Love one another… not just those we know up close, but those we don’t know yet - those to whom we will be led. Love one another… including those we categorize and hold safely at a distance from ourselves.
“Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” It’s a harder teaching than it seems
because Jesus gave away his life for our sake, so that we could be reconciled to God.
For whose salvation would you give away your life?
I had to confront that very question in 1996. I was laid up with double-pneumonia and there were no antibiotics I could safely take at that time, so I endured six long weeks of terrible pain as I healed.
During that time, I had a recurring dream, a vision. It involved two men who seriously challenged my Christian virtue. One was my ex-husband (whom I’ll call “S”) who horribly abused my daughter and me, then stalked us for a decade. The dream happened during the stalking phase of our lives. The other was a local pedophile (whom I’ll call “B”) whose victims from the previous 20 years were in my support groups. Practically no one in town believed that “B” was an abuser and he delighted in that.
I’ll read the first and last of the dream to you from my journal. “I had been praying for S’s redemption and B’s redemption. I begged the Holy Spirit to simply breathe His love over them, knowing that God’s love is irresistible. Just one taste and they’ll turn to you, I prayed. How could they not?
Then I was standing in a white space, no environment, just white, and I was wearing a white gown. Jesus was standing before me also wearing a white gown. How sweet and loving was his presence!
Suddenly I began to experience great pain. Each pain was the experience of my small offenses, my sins – the ones too small to confess. For each pain, each sin, I was handed a stick of wood, like kindling, the for the purpose of building a fire. My life, my sins went before me, one by one, each adding a stick to the pile in my arms. The sticks themselves were dirty, sticky, sooty, and cut my arms which held them. The pain was crushing me and I fell to my knees. I tuned all around looking for someplace to put the sticks down, but there was no place – all was white nothingness. I turned back to face Jesus, still standing there full of love for me.
I called to him, ‘Lord, the weight of my sins is crushing me! I know I shouldn’t ask, but please! Can you take this load from me? I can’t bear it.’
Without a word, Jesus took the load of sticks form my arms and stepped back from me, smiling. I looked down and my arms were healed and my robe was white and unstained. With gratitude, I accepted my absolution.
The vision repeated over the three days… Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In asking for the redemption of these souls, S and B, the Lord asked me if I would give up my life for the redemption of their souls. ‘Yes’ I exclaimed, and I lept up into His embrace. ‘I love you, Lord, and I trust you.’
Without saying anything I knew I should prepare. When I came back to myself, I regretted my promise… I grieved the loss of the joys and blessings I had been graciously given in this life. I grieved at the thought of my children’s grief – would Patrick even remember me when he was grown? I grieved over Steve’s grief. I love this life. I love God! What have I done?
…On Saturday, when I was asked if I would give up my life for the redemption of these souls, I replied, ‘Yes, Lord, you know I would. But Lord, what if they refuse your love and salvation? Should I sacrifice so much and ask the same of my family if they refuse to accept your love? Still, Lord, if you wish it, I will do it…’
The last repetition of the vision was Sunday morning. When I was asked if I would give up my life I said, ‘Yes, Lord’, with my head down, ready to die.
Jesus reached toward me and I raised my eyes somewhat where I could see his outstretched arms and his white robe, and he said with joy, ‘Child, don’t come now. You have been purified. I can use you now. I will make you strong.’
I responded with tears of joy and a deep sigh of relief –which caused me to cough again, whereupon I returned to myself. I continued to cry for 30 minutes, thought I don’t know why. I felt very overwhelmed by love.”
Most of us aren’t asked to actually die for the salvation of someone else’s soul. We are all, however, asked to give away our lives, that is, our time, our money, our attention, our gifts, our comfort, and our compassion for that very purpose.
God is working a real awakening at Redeemer. The spiritual lives of so many of us are breaking open and coming alive in a whole new way. It’s a beautiful thing to witness.
We are dreaming dreams, having visions, learning to hear the voice of God in the many ways God speaks to us - the same ways God has always spoken to God’s people. We are being asked to give our lives away to bring comfort to the suffering, welcome to the exiled, and healing the sin-sick soul.
Have you discerned the gifts you currently have? Have you listened for how God is seeking to use you to do the work of reconciliation right now – up close – here in the ministries at Redeemer?
What if you, like Peter, have to break the rules as you understand them now in order to answer God’s call to serve? Don’t worry – it’s been done before – and with pretty good results.
How do we do it? We listen prayerfully, trust God totally, and act lovingly. By this we will be known as Jesus’ disciples, if we love one another as Jesus loved us. Amen.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Easter 4 2013: Eternally One in Christ
Lectionary: Acts 9:36-43; Psalm 23; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30
Preacher: The Very Rev. Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
En el nombre del Dios, Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
What a week it’s been!
There was a bombing in Boston, an explosion in a fertilizer plant in Texas, an earthquake in China, the Hubble telescope captured an image of the Horsehead Nebula 1500 light years from earth in the constellation Orion, and my former diocese, WMI announced its slate of candidates for bishop which includes two women and two men: one is African American and two are gay.
Fullness of life. What a week it’s been!
As the events of the week unfolded, I found myself invited into many pastoral conversations – most of them having to do with people trying to find peace or hope as they watched the news about Boston and Texas. In general, I was proud to witness so much true Christianity being expressed – especially by Redeemer folks online and at special services and vigils that were held at the church. This mattered to me because as news came in about the Boston bombing-brothers, many self-proclaimed Christians began to spew judgment and hate and seemed to forget our basic beliefs.
I saw a remark on Twitter made a remark that hurt my stomach and broke my heart, so I responded. I don’t know this man (who is a priest, by the way) personally, but he is much loved – even a celebrity. I have to assume he meant to be pastoral and maybe I misinterpreted his words – so few words are used on Twitter that it can happen.
Here’s what he said: “…How do young people become terrorists and harbor the hate it takes to commit such a horrible crime? Wasted life”
His question is a good one – how does anyone, but especially a young person, become so filled with hate and we don’t notice or intervene until it’s too late? But what hurt my stomach, what broke my heart, was that last comment: “Wasted life”
I’m sorry – but there is no such thing as a wasted life. All life is sacred – created by God, beloved of God, and part of the plan of God’s redemption of the whole world.
If this life can’t be redeemed, then where is our hope? If we can’t gather into collective prayer for the redemption of this life, then what is our purpose?
Justice belongs to God and may not be what we have in mind. We are, of course, at liberty to execute justice as belongs to our land, but Christians live in two worlds at once – heaven and earth.
Our gifts are meant to work together to bring the will of God as it is in heaven also on the earth. Each of us who is breathing has been created by God for a purpose, and gifted specifically for that purpose. Then we are led by the Holy Spirit of God into the company of one another and God waits while we discover by prayer, that is, by divine inspiration of ourselves and our community, how our gifts fit together for the purpose God had in mind when God brought us together.
This past week as our choir met to practice, I watched this very phenomenon happen. I watched as the gifts of our choir director, our accompanist, and our members came together in the anthem. What happened was so beautiful, it gave me the chills: heaven happened in our choir practice.
It’s happened before here too… in many ways and in many times. We often touch and taste the Divine here when we worship together.
This is not bragging – it’s owning and appreciating the process God uses of creating us, gifting us, then leading us together to use those gifts to manifest the kingdom of heaven on earth. Redeemer has many examples of this: our Holy Eucharist, The Shepherd’s Table, the Community Garden, Adult Christian Formation, The No-Judgment Zone discussion group, The Rosary team, the Altar Guild, Stewardship, the reverent ministry of our acolytes… to name just a few.
N.T. Wright, Bp. of Durham, says, “there are no individual Christians.” We are as Christians, by definition, a body – the body of Christ in the world. What we do and how we do it has an impact in heaven and on earth.
Why? Because, as Jesus said, “The Father and I are one.” This was the statement that got Jesus accused of blasphemy. This was the statement that got Jesus killed. “The Father and I are one.”
It is also a basic tenet of our faith: that God is Trinity in Unity. God is not just one in substance or person, but one in activity. What Jesus is doing is what God is doing is what the Holy Spirit is doing.
It is also our Easter reality: by his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus reconciled us to God -- eternally. That means we and God are one in Jesus, the Christ.
Think about that for a minute. It’s a powerful truth with powerful consequences for us and for the world…. we and God are one in Jesus, the Christ.
What Jesus is doing is what God is doing is what the Holy Spirit is doing – in and through us. And this comes with a pledge of security. Jesus says: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.” No one, no thing, no event can separate us from the love of God in Christ. That is our hope and our truth.
We are eternally in the presence of God. Heaven is here on earth – in us!
No, there is no such thing as a wasted life. The life of this surviving bomber is already being used by God for the redeeming of others and for the waking up of the body of Christ. Can’t you hear God reminding us to pray and work for the redemption of this and other lost souls?
There can be wasted potential – but only if we waste it. What if someone has been so criticized or so abused that they can’t see their gifts anymore? We, who are the body of Christ, must find them, have the will to meet them where they are, and the willingness to walk with them from that darkness into the light of truth.
What if someone sees themselves so useless, so ugly, so unimportant that they believe they have no purpose? We, who are the body of Christ, must find them, have the will to meet them where they are, and the willingness to walk with them from that darkness into the light of truth.
What if someone becomes so filled with darkness and hate that they can no longer see any hope, any light? We, who are the body of Christ, must find them, have the will to meet them where they are, and the willingness to walk with them from that darkness into the light of truth.
It’s a hard thing to do – enter someone else’s nightmare. And it’s scary at first – until you witness the power of God’s redeeming love – then nothing is ever scary or impossible again. Isn’t that what Peter showed us when he raised Tabitha (Dorcas) from the dead?
When we live like we believe in the power of God’s redeeming love, then we are those who have come out of the great ordeal, washed in the blood of the Lamb, and every nightmare, every darkness becomes a place where the Light and the Truth that lives in us can shine. We are the place where heaven illumines the earth!
We can fear no evil because Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” God KNOWS us and calls us to go where our gifts and God’s purpose for us will be fulfilled. When the path gets rough (and it will get rough), we trust that God will supply us all we need to keep going: peace, safety, the company of our community of faith, and the prayers of the whole communion of saints to uphold us.
When the voice of our Lord calls to us, our faithful response is to listen prayerfully. And as Episcopalians we do that in two ways: in private prayer (at home) and in corporate prayer (at church).
Then, having listened, we go wherever God leads us, knowing God will be there with us, guiding us, loving us, and blessing us all the days of our lives. Amen.
Preacher: The Very Rev. Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
En el nombre del Dios, Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
What a week it’s been!
There was a bombing in Boston, an explosion in a fertilizer plant in Texas, an earthquake in China, the Hubble telescope captured an image of the Horsehead Nebula 1500 light years from earth in the constellation Orion, and my former diocese, WMI announced its slate of candidates for bishop which includes two women and two men: one is African American and two are gay.
Fullness of life. What a week it’s been!
As the events of the week unfolded, I found myself invited into many pastoral conversations – most of them having to do with people trying to find peace or hope as they watched the news about Boston and Texas. In general, I was proud to witness so much true Christianity being expressed – especially by Redeemer folks online and at special services and vigils that were held at the church. This mattered to me because as news came in about the Boston bombing-brothers, many self-proclaimed Christians began to spew judgment and hate and seemed to forget our basic beliefs.
I saw a remark on Twitter made a remark that hurt my stomach and broke my heart, so I responded. I don’t know this man (who is a priest, by the way) personally, but he is much loved – even a celebrity. I have to assume he meant to be pastoral and maybe I misinterpreted his words – so few words are used on Twitter that it can happen.
Here’s what he said: “…How do young people become terrorists and harbor the hate it takes to commit such a horrible crime? Wasted life”
His question is a good one – how does anyone, but especially a young person, become so filled with hate and we don’t notice or intervene until it’s too late? But what hurt my stomach, what broke my heart, was that last comment: “Wasted life”
I’m sorry – but there is no such thing as a wasted life. All life is sacred – created by God, beloved of God, and part of the plan of God’s redemption of the whole world.
If this life can’t be redeemed, then where is our hope? If we can’t gather into collective prayer for the redemption of this life, then what is our purpose?
Justice belongs to God and may not be what we have in mind. We are, of course, at liberty to execute justice as belongs to our land, but Christians live in two worlds at once – heaven and earth.
Our gifts are meant to work together to bring the will of God as it is in heaven also on the earth. Each of us who is breathing has been created by God for a purpose, and gifted specifically for that purpose. Then we are led by the Holy Spirit of God into the company of one another and God waits while we discover by prayer, that is, by divine inspiration of ourselves and our community, how our gifts fit together for the purpose God had in mind when God brought us together.
This past week as our choir met to practice, I watched this very phenomenon happen. I watched as the gifts of our choir director, our accompanist, and our members came together in the anthem. What happened was so beautiful, it gave me the chills: heaven happened in our choir practice.
It’s happened before here too… in many ways and in many times. We often touch and taste the Divine here when we worship together.
This is not bragging – it’s owning and appreciating the process God uses of creating us, gifting us, then leading us together to use those gifts to manifest the kingdom of heaven on earth. Redeemer has many examples of this: our Holy Eucharist, The Shepherd’s Table, the Community Garden, Adult Christian Formation, The No-Judgment Zone discussion group, The Rosary team, the Altar Guild, Stewardship, the reverent ministry of our acolytes… to name just a few.
N.T. Wright, Bp. of Durham, says, “there are no individual Christians.” We are as Christians, by definition, a body – the body of Christ in the world. What we do and how we do it has an impact in heaven and on earth.
Why? Because, as Jesus said, “The Father and I are one.” This was the statement that got Jesus accused of blasphemy. This was the statement that got Jesus killed. “The Father and I are one.”
It is also a basic tenet of our faith: that God is Trinity in Unity. God is not just one in substance or person, but one in activity. What Jesus is doing is what God is doing is what the Holy Spirit is doing.
It is also our Easter reality: by his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus reconciled us to God -- eternally. That means we and God are one in Jesus, the Christ.
Think about that for a minute. It’s a powerful truth with powerful consequences for us and for the world…. we and God are one in Jesus, the Christ.
What Jesus is doing is what God is doing is what the Holy Spirit is doing – in and through us. And this comes with a pledge of security. Jesus says: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.” No one, no thing, no event can separate us from the love of God in Christ. That is our hope and our truth.
We are eternally in the presence of God. Heaven is here on earth – in us!
No, there is no such thing as a wasted life. The life of this surviving bomber is already being used by God for the redeeming of others and for the waking up of the body of Christ. Can’t you hear God reminding us to pray and work for the redemption of this and other lost souls?
There can be wasted potential – but only if we waste it. What if someone has been so criticized or so abused that they can’t see their gifts anymore? We, who are the body of Christ, must find them, have the will to meet them where they are, and the willingness to walk with them from that darkness into the light of truth.
What if someone sees themselves so useless, so ugly, so unimportant that they believe they have no purpose? We, who are the body of Christ, must find them, have the will to meet them where they are, and the willingness to walk with them from that darkness into the light of truth.
What if someone becomes so filled with darkness and hate that they can no longer see any hope, any light? We, who are the body of Christ, must find them, have the will to meet them where they are, and the willingness to walk with them from that darkness into the light of truth.
It’s a hard thing to do – enter someone else’s nightmare. And it’s scary at first – until you witness the power of God’s redeeming love – then nothing is ever scary or impossible again. Isn’t that what Peter showed us when he raised Tabitha (Dorcas) from the dead?
When we live like we believe in the power of God’s redeeming love, then we are those who have come out of the great ordeal, washed in the blood of the Lamb, and every nightmare, every darkness becomes a place where the Light and the Truth that lives in us can shine. We are the place where heaven illumines the earth!
We can fear no evil because Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” God KNOWS us and calls us to go where our gifts and God’s purpose for us will be fulfilled. When the path gets rough (and it will get rough), we trust that God will supply us all we need to keep going: peace, safety, the company of our community of faith, and the prayers of the whole communion of saints to uphold us.
When the voice of our Lord calls to us, our faithful response is to listen prayerfully. And as Episcopalians we do that in two ways: in private prayer (at home) and in corporate prayer (at church).
Then, having listened, we go wherever God leads us, knowing God will be there with us, guiding us, loving us, and blessing us all the days of our lives. Amen.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Easter Day, 2013: Subversive love
Lectionary: Isaiah 65:17-25; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Acts 10:34-43; Luke 24:1-12
Preacher: The Very Rev. Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
Happy Easter!
Today we have the privilege of bringing another person into the community of love known to the world as the Church of the Redeemer in Shelby, NC. The Baptism of Aveleigh Craver is an important event because by it we are made whole in a new way. By incorporating the one, the whole of us is made new.
It is also a big responsibility for us who are her family of faith. God has created Aveleigh for a purpose. She has been gifted for that purpose, and it is up to us, her community of love, to help her discover those gifts, nurture them, and then use them to build God’s kingdom of love here on earth.
This is no small thing, and it isn’t just about Aveleigh. The same is true for all of us. We have a responsibility to one another to help each other discover our gifts, to nurture them through a life-long commitment to Christian formation, and then to use them where God has planted us, right here in Shelby.
Each one of us has been created by God, gifted, and sent into the world as partners with God bringing the redeeming love that was revealed to the world on that first Easter day.
In our gospel story, we hear that the women who were followers of Jesus went to the tomb to finish the burial rite and found it empty. As they stood there trying to understand how it could be empty, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes were standing with them, and they were terrified.
But the two men simply asked the women a question, “Why are you here looking for the living among the dead?” That might be an awfully strange question in most every other circumstance, but not this time, and here’s why: “Remember what Jesus told you…” the men said.
The women did remember and returned to tell the others – who, of course, didn’t believe them. They had all heard Jesus say these things, and yet, they still couldn’t believe it. So Peter runs off to see for himself. Finding it just as the women described it, Peter returned home amazed.
What amazed Peter? That Jesus hadn’t lied to them? That the women hadn’t lied to them? That he, Peter, who had a history of doing so, had missed the point again?
Everything was just as Jesus said it was going to be. So what amazed Peter?
I think what amazed Peter is that death was no longer what Peter thought it was – neither was life, for that matter. Peter was finally beginning to understand that the power of the love he had witnessed in Jesus, the Messiah, now risen from the dead, was an act of the subversive love of God which set humankind free from the bondage of sin and death forevermore. The resurrection ushered in a new thing, a new age, new life - just as Jesus said it would, and it took some time for his followers to let go of what was and live fully into this new thing.
Luke tells us in the first chapter of Acts that the disciples were “constantly devoting themselves to prayer” in that upper room. The reason is, resurrection isn’t something we can understand ever - at all. We can only prayerfully respond to it.
The resurrection isn’t about bodies, or breathing. It’s about presence.
As we heard in Isaiah, God says, “Before they call I will answer.” God is present before, during, and after our understanding of anything.
That is the hope we proclaim: that in Jesus we have been given the gift of living in the eternal presence of God. God, whose mercy endures forever, God who is our strength and salvation, is always with us, IN us, redeeming all things before we even recognize the need for it. In fact, that’s how we recognize the need for it. God reveals that to us in prayer that so that we can use our God-given gifts to bring the light of Christ in us into darkness of the world.
It helps to remember that God shows no partiality. God didn’t pick Peter because he was so astute. Right? Yet look at Peter’s legacy. God created Peter, gifted him, and sent him to live out his purpose. And Peter did that – in all his imperfection.
God chooses each of us too. We were created us for a purpose and that purpose is simple: to do God’s will. So… what is God’s will?
According to our catechism, Episcopalians believe that it is the will of God that the whole world be reconciled to God in Jesus Christ by the forgiveness of sins. Reconciled people live in harmony and unity with one another and with God.
Our purpose as Christians is to find the one who is oppressed or exiled or lost, and reattach them to the body of Christ, reminding them and everyone who might exclude them that God shows no partiality – which means, neither can we.
Jesus Christ is Lord of all – no exceptions. As St. Paul said in his letter to the Romans, “The death he died, he died to sin, once for all.”
As followers of Christ, we are commanded to love one another as he loved us - even our enemies, because the truth is, we have no enemies. We are all children of one family, the family of God.
I had a discussion yesterday with my daughter. She wanted to tell me about an online argument she’d been having on the issue of homosexuality. The argument was with friends who were Christians and mostly opposed to homosexuality.
The friends kept bringing up Bible verses to support their position – the usual ones: Leviticus, 1 Corinthians… You’ve all heard the arguments. We all have.
Here was my daughter’s response, and I share it with you because I can’t make a better point on Easter Day than this: “All those words [in the Bible] are different ways of illustrating one message: lovelovelovelovelove. God is love. Period. You don't have to understand it. You don't have to agree with it. You can try to collect all the rules you want, and I'm sure that's a comfort. It's just not the point. I will say it until I die: God is love.” ~Jessica Sherer
I will say it until I die: God is love.
We gather on this Easter Day to remember the power of that truth: God is love. We gather to remember that in Jesus we have been made into a community of love. We gather to make another Christian, and we commit to be the community of love that forms her so that she can fulfill the purpose for which she was created.
As we gather at the font and baptize Aveleigh Craver, we will renew our own Baptismal vows and proclaim our commitment to them again, remembering that what we’re doing, is making a commitment to love: extravagant, inclusive, subversive love – the kind our Savior gives us, today, everyday, and always.
(Invitation of the family, friends, and children to the Baptismal font)
Preacher: The Very Rev. Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
Happy Easter!
Today we have the privilege of bringing another person into the community of love known to the world as the Church of the Redeemer in Shelby, NC. The Baptism of Aveleigh Craver is an important event because by it we are made whole in a new way. By incorporating the one, the whole of us is made new.
It is also a big responsibility for us who are her family of faith. God has created Aveleigh for a purpose. She has been gifted for that purpose, and it is up to us, her community of love, to help her discover those gifts, nurture them, and then use them to build God’s kingdom of love here on earth.
This is no small thing, and it isn’t just about Aveleigh. The same is true for all of us. We have a responsibility to one another to help each other discover our gifts, to nurture them through a life-long commitment to Christian formation, and then to use them where God has planted us, right here in Shelby.
Each one of us has been created by God, gifted, and sent into the world as partners with God bringing the redeeming love that was revealed to the world on that first Easter day.
In our gospel story, we hear that the women who were followers of Jesus went to the tomb to finish the burial rite and found it empty. As they stood there trying to understand how it could be empty, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes were standing with them, and they were terrified.
But the two men simply asked the women a question, “Why are you here looking for the living among the dead?” That might be an awfully strange question in most every other circumstance, but not this time, and here’s why: “Remember what Jesus told you…” the men said.
The women did remember and returned to tell the others – who, of course, didn’t believe them. They had all heard Jesus say these things, and yet, they still couldn’t believe it. So Peter runs off to see for himself. Finding it just as the women described it, Peter returned home amazed.
What amazed Peter? That Jesus hadn’t lied to them? That the women hadn’t lied to them? That he, Peter, who had a history of doing so, had missed the point again?
Everything was just as Jesus said it was going to be. So what amazed Peter?
I think what amazed Peter is that death was no longer what Peter thought it was – neither was life, for that matter. Peter was finally beginning to understand that the power of the love he had witnessed in Jesus, the Messiah, now risen from the dead, was an act of the subversive love of God which set humankind free from the bondage of sin and death forevermore. The resurrection ushered in a new thing, a new age, new life - just as Jesus said it would, and it took some time for his followers to let go of what was and live fully into this new thing.
Luke tells us in the first chapter of Acts that the disciples were “constantly devoting themselves to prayer” in that upper room. The reason is, resurrection isn’t something we can understand ever - at all. We can only prayerfully respond to it.
The resurrection isn’t about bodies, or breathing. It’s about presence.
As we heard in Isaiah, God says, “Before they call I will answer.” God is present before, during, and after our understanding of anything.
That is the hope we proclaim: that in Jesus we have been given the gift of living in the eternal presence of God. God, whose mercy endures forever, God who is our strength and salvation, is always with us, IN us, redeeming all things before we even recognize the need for it. In fact, that’s how we recognize the need for it. God reveals that to us in prayer that so that we can use our God-given gifts to bring the light of Christ in us into darkness of the world.
It helps to remember that God shows no partiality. God didn’t pick Peter because he was so astute. Right? Yet look at Peter’s legacy. God created Peter, gifted him, and sent him to live out his purpose. And Peter did that – in all his imperfection.
God chooses each of us too. We were created us for a purpose and that purpose is simple: to do God’s will. So… what is God’s will?
According to our catechism, Episcopalians believe that it is the will of God that the whole world be reconciled to God in Jesus Christ by the forgiveness of sins. Reconciled people live in harmony and unity with one another and with God.
Our purpose as Christians is to find the one who is oppressed or exiled or lost, and reattach them to the body of Christ, reminding them and everyone who might exclude them that God shows no partiality – which means, neither can we.
Jesus Christ is Lord of all – no exceptions. As St. Paul said in his letter to the Romans, “The death he died, he died to sin, once for all.”
As followers of Christ, we are commanded to love one another as he loved us - even our enemies, because the truth is, we have no enemies. We are all children of one family, the family of God.
I had a discussion yesterday with my daughter. She wanted to tell me about an online argument she’d been having on the issue of homosexuality. The argument was with friends who were Christians and mostly opposed to homosexuality.
The friends kept bringing up Bible verses to support their position – the usual ones: Leviticus, 1 Corinthians… You’ve all heard the arguments. We all have.
Here was my daughter’s response, and I share it with you because I can’t make a better point on Easter Day than this: “All those words [in the Bible] are different ways of illustrating one message: lovelovelovelovelove. God is love. Period. You don't have to understand it. You don't have to agree with it. You can try to collect all the rules you want, and I'm sure that's a comfort. It's just not the point. I will say it until I die: God is love.” ~Jessica Sherer
I will say it until I die: God is love.
We gather on this Easter Day to remember the power of that truth: God is love. We gather to remember that in Jesus we have been made into a community of love. We gather to make another Christian, and we commit to be the community of love that forms her so that she can fulfill the purpose for which she was created.
As we gather at the font and baptize Aveleigh Craver, we will renew our own Baptismal vows and proclaim our commitment to them again, remembering that what we’re doing, is making a commitment to love: extravagant, inclusive, subversive love – the kind our Savior gives us, today, everyday, and always.
(Invitation of the family, friends, and children to the Baptismal font)
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Great Vigil of Easter, 2013:
At The Eucharist: Romans 6:3-11; Psalm 114; Luke 24:1-12
Preacher: The Very Rev. Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
The night before he was murdered in Memphis, TN, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech in Memphis, TN. It turned out to be a prophetic speech as he was assassinated the next day.
Here is the last paragraph of that speech: “Well, I don't know what will happen now; we've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter to with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life – longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And so I'm happy tonight; I'm not worried about anything; I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” (Source: http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/ive_been_to_the_mountaintop/)
Like most prophets, Dr. King was a subversive. He challenged the established system and its practices which held African Americans in the bondage of racism. Dr. King’s message was subversive because it was a message of hope, and as theologian Walter Bruggeman says, “Hope is subversive.”
As a prophet, Dr. King gave hope not only to African Americans, but to all Americans. He assured us that despite all appearances and the entrenched practices of the established system, we could live together as one people, in freedom and in unity. He knew this because he had “seen the Promised Land.”
As we continue on this journey of our life together, it is up to us to continually discover where the established system is oppressive and to work to set those captive free. Freedom takes sacrifice; and if it is to be achieved, both the oppressed and the oppressor must work together to break those bonds that deny freedom.
Each age has a Promised Land to reach, a place where the oppressed and the oppressor are reconciled and live together in unity and harmony. In the beginning, Moses led the oppressed people of God out of Egypt into freedom in Canaan. In the 1960’s Dr. King les us all toward racial freedom. Today, gay rights advocates are leading the march to marriage freedom.
It’s a pattern that’s part of our spiritual DNA and one our Savior made eternally true for us. On the day Jesus stood up in the grave, shook loose his burial linens, and left that tomb empty, he made marching to the Promised Land a continual journey for us until his coming again.
It’s been this way from the beginning of our Christian narrative. As the women stood in Jesus’ tomb, trying to understand how it could be empty, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes are standing with them, and they are terrified. But the two men simply ask the women a question, “Why are you here looking for the living among the dead?”
That might be an awfully strange question in most every other circumstance, but not this time, and this is why: “Remember what Jesus told you…” the men said. The women did remember and returned to tell the others – who, of course, didn’t believe them.
They had all heard Jesus say these things, and yet, they still couldn’t really believe it. So Peter runs off to see for himself. Finding it just as the women described it, Peter returned home amazed.
What amazed Peter? That Jesus hadn’t lied to them? That the women hadn’t lied to them? That he, Peter, who had a history of doing so, had missed the point again? After all, this is the disciple who had been to the mountaintop with Jesus.
So what amazed Peter? Everything was just as Jesus said it was going to be.
I think what amazed Peter is that death was no longer what Peter thought it was – neither was life, for that matter. I think what amazed Peter was the power of the love he had witnessed in Jesus, the Messiah, now risen from the dead. The resurrection ushered in a new thing, a new age, a new life - just as Jesus said it would, and it took some time for his followers to let go of what was and live fully into this new thing.
Luke tells us in the first chapter of Acts that the disciples were “constantly devoting themselves to prayer” in that upper room. The good news of Jesus’ resurrection isn’t something we can understand without devoting ourselves to continual prayer.
The reason is, resurrection isn’t about bodies, or breathing. It’s about presence. As we heard in Isaiah, God says, “Before they call I will answer.” God is present before, during, and after our understanding of anything. That is the hope we proclaim – living in the eternal presence of God - and it is, as Bruggeman said, subversive.
God, whose mercy endures forever, who is our strength and salvation, is always with us, IN us, redeeming all things before we even recognize the need for it. In fact, that’s how we recognize the need for it. That’s how we know God is sending us on another march to another Promised Land.
As we go, it helps to remember that God shows no partiality. God didn’t pick Peter because he was so astute. Right? Yet look at Peter’s legacy. God created Peter, gifted him, and sent him to live out his purpose. And Peter did that – in all his imperfection.
God chooses each of us too. We were created us for a purpose and that purpose is simple: to do God’s will.
And what is God’s will? According to our catechism, Episcopalians believe that it is the will of God that the whole world be reconciled to God in Jesus Christ by the forgiveness of sins. Reconciled people live in harmony and unity with one another and with God. The final destination of every march to every Promised Land is always reconciliation.
Sin is what separates us from God and one another. New life in Christ restores us to right relationship with God and one another. All we have to do is remember.
And by remember, I mean “re-member” as we discussed on Maundy Thursday. The word comes from the Greek work “anamnesis” which means to bring into present reality. It can also be understood like this: to re-member is to reattach, the way a surgeon reattaches a severed body part. The re-attachment has to be whole – from the inside out or it won’t work. All the tissue, all the nerves, all the blood vessels have to be connected so that the blood of life can flow into that new part.
Our purpose as Christians is to ‘re-member.’ To find the one who is oppressed or exiled or lost, and reattach them to the body of Christ, reminding them and everyone who would exclude them that God shows no partiality - which means, neither can we.
Jesus Christ is the Lord of all – no exceptions. It isn’t, Jesus Christ is Lord of all, except for the atheists… or the gays… or the unchurched. Jesus is Lord of all – and that includes you, and it includes me, and it includes everyone we meet. As St. Paul said in his letter to the Romans, “The death he died, he died to sin, once for all.”
As followers of Christ, we re-member, Jesus’ commanded to us to love one another as he loved us. In other words, we make that our present reality.
We remember to love God, ourselves, and our neighbors - even our enemies. Dr. King was good at that and gave us a wonderful modern example of how that looks in the midst of real conflict - in real life.
I had a discussion earlier today with my daughter. She wanted to tell me about an online argument she’d been having with on the issue of homosexuality. The argument was with friends who were Christians and opposed to homosexuality. The friends kept bringing up Bible verses to support their position – the usual ones: Leviticus, 1 Corinthians…
Here was my daughter’s response (I can’t make a better point on Easter Eve than this): “All those words [in the Bible] are different ways of illustrating one message: lovelovelovelovelove. God is love. Period. You don't have to understand it. You don't have to agree with it. You can try to collect all the rules you want, and I'm sure that's a comfort. It's just not the point. I will say it until I die: God is love.”
We gather on this Easter Eve to re-member the power of that truth: God is love. We gather to remember that in Jesus we have been made a community of love and we have seen the Promised Land.
We have just renewed the our Baptismal vows together and proclaimed our commitment to them again, remembering that what we did, what we do, is make a commitment to love: extravagant, inclusive, subversive love - the kind our Savior gives us, today and always.
Amen.
Preacher: The Very Rev. Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
The night before he was murdered in Memphis, TN, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech in Memphis, TN. It turned out to be a prophetic speech as he was assassinated the next day.
Here is the last paragraph of that speech: “Well, I don't know what will happen now; we've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter to with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life – longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And so I'm happy tonight; I'm not worried about anything; I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” (Source: http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/ive_been_to_the_mountaintop/)
Like most prophets, Dr. King was a subversive. He challenged the established system and its practices which held African Americans in the bondage of racism. Dr. King’s message was subversive because it was a message of hope, and as theologian Walter Bruggeman says, “Hope is subversive.”
As a prophet, Dr. King gave hope not only to African Americans, but to all Americans. He assured us that despite all appearances and the entrenched practices of the established system, we could live together as one people, in freedom and in unity. He knew this because he had “seen the Promised Land.”
As we continue on this journey of our life together, it is up to us to continually discover where the established system is oppressive and to work to set those captive free. Freedom takes sacrifice; and if it is to be achieved, both the oppressed and the oppressor must work together to break those bonds that deny freedom.
Each age has a Promised Land to reach, a place where the oppressed and the oppressor are reconciled and live together in unity and harmony. In the beginning, Moses led the oppressed people of God out of Egypt into freedom in Canaan. In the 1960’s Dr. King les us all toward racial freedom. Today, gay rights advocates are leading the march to marriage freedom.
It’s a pattern that’s part of our spiritual DNA and one our Savior made eternally true for us. On the day Jesus stood up in the grave, shook loose his burial linens, and left that tomb empty, he made marching to the Promised Land a continual journey for us until his coming again.
It’s been this way from the beginning of our Christian narrative. As the women stood in Jesus’ tomb, trying to understand how it could be empty, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes are standing with them, and they are terrified. But the two men simply ask the women a question, “Why are you here looking for the living among the dead?”
That might be an awfully strange question in most every other circumstance, but not this time, and this is why: “Remember what Jesus told you…” the men said. The women did remember and returned to tell the others – who, of course, didn’t believe them.
They had all heard Jesus say these things, and yet, they still couldn’t really believe it. So Peter runs off to see for himself. Finding it just as the women described it, Peter returned home amazed.
What amazed Peter? That Jesus hadn’t lied to them? That the women hadn’t lied to them? That he, Peter, who had a history of doing so, had missed the point again? After all, this is the disciple who had been to the mountaintop with Jesus.
So what amazed Peter? Everything was just as Jesus said it was going to be.
I think what amazed Peter is that death was no longer what Peter thought it was – neither was life, for that matter. I think what amazed Peter was the power of the love he had witnessed in Jesus, the Messiah, now risen from the dead. The resurrection ushered in a new thing, a new age, a new life - just as Jesus said it would, and it took some time for his followers to let go of what was and live fully into this new thing.
Luke tells us in the first chapter of Acts that the disciples were “constantly devoting themselves to prayer” in that upper room. The good news of Jesus’ resurrection isn’t something we can understand without devoting ourselves to continual prayer.
The reason is, resurrection isn’t about bodies, or breathing. It’s about presence. As we heard in Isaiah, God says, “Before they call I will answer.” God is present before, during, and after our understanding of anything. That is the hope we proclaim – living in the eternal presence of God - and it is, as Bruggeman said, subversive.
God, whose mercy endures forever, who is our strength and salvation, is always with us, IN us, redeeming all things before we even recognize the need for it. In fact, that’s how we recognize the need for it. That’s how we know God is sending us on another march to another Promised Land.
As we go, it helps to remember that God shows no partiality. God didn’t pick Peter because he was so astute. Right? Yet look at Peter’s legacy. God created Peter, gifted him, and sent him to live out his purpose. And Peter did that – in all his imperfection.
God chooses each of us too. We were created us for a purpose and that purpose is simple: to do God’s will.
And what is God’s will? According to our catechism, Episcopalians believe that it is the will of God that the whole world be reconciled to God in Jesus Christ by the forgiveness of sins. Reconciled people live in harmony and unity with one another and with God. The final destination of every march to every Promised Land is always reconciliation.
Sin is what separates us from God and one another. New life in Christ restores us to right relationship with God and one another. All we have to do is remember.
And by remember, I mean “re-member” as we discussed on Maundy Thursday. The word comes from the Greek work “anamnesis” which means to bring into present reality. It can also be understood like this: to re-member is to reattach, the way a surgeon reattaches a severed body part. The re-attachment has to be whole – from the inside out or it won’t work. All the tissue, all the nerves, all the blood vessels have to be connected so that the blood of life can flow into that new part.
Our purpose as Christians is to ‘re-member.’ To find the one who is oppressed or exiled or lost, and reattach them to the body of Christ, reminding them and everyone who would exclude them that God shows no partiality - which means, neither can we.
Jesus Christ is the Lord of all – no exceptions. It isn’t, Jesus Christ is Lord of all, except for the atheists… or the gays… or the unchurched. Jesus is Lord of all – and that includes you, and it includes me, and it includes everyone we meet. As St. Paul said in his letter to the Romans, “The death he died, he died to sin, once for all.”
As followers of Christ, we re-member, Jesus’ commanded to us to love one another as he loved us. In other words, we make that our present reality.
We remember to love God, ourselves, and our neighbors - even our enemies. Dr. King was good at that and gave us a wonderful modern example of how that looks in the midst of real conflict - in real life.
I had a discussion earlier today with my daughter. She wanted to tell me about an online argument she’d been having with on the issue of homosexuality. The argument was with friends who were Christians and opposed to homosexuality. The friends kept bringing up Bible verses to support their position – the usual ones: Leviticus, 1 Corinthians…
Here was my daughter’s response (I can’t make a better point on Easter Eve than this): “All those words [in the Bible] are different ways of illustrating one message: lovelovelovelovelove. God is love. Period. You don't have to understand it. You don't have to agree with it. You can try to collect all the rules you want, and I'm sure that's a comfort. It's just not the point. I will say it until I die: God is love.”
We gather on this Easter Eve to re-member the power of that truth: God is love. We gather to remember that in Jesus we have been made a community of love and we have seen the Promised Land.
We have just renewed the our Baptismal vows together and proclaimed our commitment to them again, remembering that what we did, what we do, is make a commitment to love: extravagant, inclusive, subversive love - the kind our Savior gives us, today and always.
Amen.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Maundy Thursday 2013 sermon: Remember
Lectionary: Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14; Psalm 116:1, 10-17; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Preacher: The Very Rev. Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
(Extemporaneous sermon preached from notes below)
The 4 cups: the 4 ways God has acted to save:
1. The cup of SANCTIFICATION:
(setting apart as holy). I will be your God and you will be my people.
2. The cup of DELIVERANCE:
From our bondage to sin. Only God can save. We cannot save ourselves. Freedom from our bondage to sin and death comes from God alone. We don’t earn it, it is a gift from God.
This is a hard truth b/c the temptation is to spend time and energy trying to do the right thing, live the right way, and earn their salvation. But that is impossible. Redemption is from God alone, and it is a gift we can’t and don’t earn.
Our behaviors simply reflect our relationship with God. If we are in right relationship with God, our behaviors will show it – except when they don’t. We are human and we will sin. Which leads us to the next cup.
3. The cup of REDEMPTION:
It is this cup that Jesus takes, and he tells his followers “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood…” as often as you drink it, do this to remember me.
In the Jewish tradition is that this redemption is about family. This word also means “avenger of blood” and it is, by definition, a family member. This family member acts to set their kin free from slavery, paying a ransom, or great price for that freedom.
The traditional image is of a father sacrificing his firstborn son for the freedom of his entire family. Sound familiar?
This cup makes clear that we are children of God. As he is closing his time at dinner with his friends, Jesus said, “Little children, I am with you only a little longer.”
In this moment, Jesus is speaking a divine truth. In him is the unity of humanity and divinity. This is one of the most important aspects of what we believe – that Jesus is fully human and fully divine and THAT is why he is the Savior. It is one of only two dogmas (things you have to believe) that we hold.
Who knows the other? (God is Trinity in Unity)
Jesus is the Father who pays the price, the Son who is the price, and the family for whom that price is paid. At supper with his friends, Jesus said, “Where I am going, you cannot come.”
Jewish theologian Tim Hegg says, “ The redemption of Israel from Egypt is no less an act of sovereign power than is the creation of the universe. Redemption is… the greatest display of God’s omnipotence… [it is the ultimate] victory of good over evil… of righteousness over unrighteousness.”
4. The cup of HOPE:
The Jews understood this to be the cup of Elijah, for whom an empty seat is kept at the seder table. The filling of that seat would signal the coming of the Messiah.
Tim Hegg says that, for the Jews, “redemption guarantees the final destination, but the journey is still necessary.”
That’s how we understand it too. We are in the journey now. The Messiah has come and our final destination is guaranteed. And by that I don’t mean where we go when we die. In Jesus the whole world is reconciled to God. All of creation, not just us. So the Messiah has come and we continue on this journey, doing our part in this partnership of redemption, until he comes again.
And what is our part?
Jesus said, “I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”
We must, like Jesus, get on our knees and serve humbly. It isn’t easy. (Story of the person who avoids Maundy Thursday b/c she hates feet)
In case we weren’t listening as we mulled over what doing that would really be like, Jesus repeats the command, the mandate (the source of the word ‘Maundy’):
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
Now we get to put our lives where our beliefs are and make manifest our commitment to be followers of Christ.
Intro to the foot washing.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Lent 5, 2013: Extravagant love
Lectionary: Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8
Preacher: The Very Rev. Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo y Espiritu Santo. Amen. (I would say it in Gaelic, but I don’t know how :)
13th century mystic Mechthild of Magdeburg was a prolific writer of poems and hymns that vividly describe the nature of an intimate relationship with God. Mechthild wrote:
“Great is the overflow of Divine Love which is never still but ever ceaselessly and tirelessly pours forth, so that our little vessel is filled to the brim and overflows. If we do not choke the channel with self-will, God’s gifts continue to flow and overflow. Lord! Thou art full, and fillest us also with Thy gifts. Thou art great and we are small, how then shall we become like Thee?” (69)
How shall we? Judging from our readings today, we might imitate Mary of Bethany and St. Paul of Tarsus.
The story of a woman anointing Jesus’ feet is found in 3 of the 4 gospels, though it is only in the Gospel of John that the woman is identified as Mary of Bethany. By identifying her in that way, John brings the issue of intimate friendship into the story. Jesus and Mary of Bethany were friends… dear friends.
John also makes an important point about the way Mary anoints Jesus. Anyone who knows anything about Jesus knows that he was not interested in personal glory. And Mary does know Jesus, so she anoints his feet, which is a sign of repentance, not his head, which is how a King is anointed. Mary anointed the Messiah, not the next king of Israel.
The timing of this story is important too. Jesus, his disciples and some friends are gathered at the home of Mary and Martha of Bethany. Their brother Lazarus, whom Jesus has recently raised from the dead, is also there.
Meanwhile, Caiaphas and the other religious leaders, upon hearing that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, have decided that Jesus must die and they begin to plot how to make that happen. They also plan to kill Lazarus, to ensure that the story of his resurrection from the dead by Jesus should also die.
For the sake of the many, this one must die, they say. They also proclaim an edict that anyone who knows where Jesus is must tell them so that he can be arrested.
It is in this context that Martha, Mary, and Lazarus Jesus and the others have gathered for dinner. The gathering itself is risky and subversive.
After dinner, Mary loosens her hair (which in that cultural is the symbol of her feminine sexuality), takes out a jar of expensive perfumed nard (which would be worth about $15,000 per pound today) and anoints Jesus feet.
Mary loved Jesus deeply, honestly, completely. And she was unafraid to demonstrate that love and devotion, even when it meant violating the cultural conventions of her time… even when it meant bearing the public disapproval of others.
I think the point John is making is that Mary’s love and devotion, somehow she was led to know that Jesus needed this anointing now. She many not have even understood why herself, but she obeyed that inner prompting.
Imagine the faith and courage it took Mary to do that. How did she know Jesus wouldn’t respond like a typical Jewish man and rebuff for her touching him? How did she know that Jesus wouldn’t agree with Judas and be disappointed by her extravagance? How did she know that Jesus needed to be prepared for his burial the day before his triumphal entry into Jerusalem?
She knew. She knew because she knew Jesus… not just the man who was her friend and rabbi, but the one who was the Messiah, the Christ. Mary had integrated and been empowered by Jesus’ message of the extravagance of God’s redeeming love for the world, and so she could reflect that extravagance in her own life.
Mary knew Christ, and it is this kind of knowing that St. Paul is talking about when he writes, “I want to know Christ. I want to know the power of his resurrection.” Having already established Christian churches throughout Asia Minor, Greece, and Macedonia, Paul was now in prison and he knew his death was imminent.
With all of his credentials: a faithful Jew… a Pharisee, blameless under the law, Paul still says, “I want to know Christ” because what Paul is talking about is a deeply integrated, transforming way of knowing – the way Mary of Bethany knew him.
The lives of Mary and Paul make clear that living the reality of new life in Christ takes courage. As the world continues to be transformed by the power of Jesus’ resurrection, some people, some groups will cling to long-held customs out of fear: fear of change, fear of losing power, fortune, or importance, fear of being wrong or cast out from the group that matters to them.
Like Mary of Bethany, however, we are called to listen then act as the Spirit leads us. If we know Jesus like Mary did… deeply, honestly, and completely, then we will be unafraid to demonstrate our love and devotion to him, even when it means violating the cultural conventions of our time… knowing that it might bring disapproval.
To know Christ as Mary of Bethany did is to be empowered by Christ’s message of the extravagance of God’s redeeming love for the world. It is to live our relationship with Christ into the world, knowing that it might mean bring disapproval. To know Christ like St. Paul desired to is to participate with him, to become like him, to reflect the extravagance of God’s love by our lives and our service.
We are the Episcopal presence in this part of NC. That means our message will be out of step with other churches, friends, and business associates in our area because we are unafraid to include everyone just as God made them. That may be a bit uncomfortable for some of us at times, but it is comforting to those who are being judged, excluded, and dismissed. By our life together as a community of faith in the Episcopal tradition, we will demonstrate to them that they matter to us and to God, that they are beloved of God and welcome to be members of our family.
We will demonstrate the extravagant love of God, by showing them that God is waiting to shower that love on them if they will draw near one more time because, unfortunately, too often their experience of drawing near to church hasn’t been a healing one. That is what our worship, our website, our Shepherd’s Table, our Easter baskets, our Rosaries, our gardens, and all of our other ministries communicate to the world.
We care about those who suffer from any lack whether it’s food, friendship, or spiritual vitality. And we do our best to provide at least some of that and to help them find their way to the Source of all of it.
Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with a perfumed nard as a sign of her repentance and dependence on her Savior. The gospel writer said the fragrance of it filled the room. I hope it will do the same for us today.
(Instructions to the ushers, acolytes, etc.)
I have made up a similar ointment for us today and we’re going to pass it out now. The ointment is made from pure coconut oil and essential oil of myrrh – the scent likely used by Mary that day. I invite everyone to scrape some of this ointment into their hands and rub it in. The coconut oil will liquefy when it meets the warmth of your hands and you will smell the myrrh.
(Pause while the community receives the ointment…)
This fragrance that’s on our hands will be an outward sign to remind us of our inner call. It will follow us from this worship into the world, where we will carry the extravagant love of God in Christ to all we meet.
(Note: If you decide you want more afterwards, just let me know… An outward sign of our inward call…)
Let us pray…
Fill us, O Lord, until your love overflows from us and nourishes the souls of all you draw near to us. Help us to recognize them as treasures of your kingdom, that we may give to them as freely as you give to us. Grant us the courage to know you as Mary of Bethany did, to participate in you as St. Paul did, and to serve you, doing your will as you reveal it to us each day. Bless each one in our family as we discern the gifts you have given us, individually and as your community of love. Show us how to nurture those gifts, and motivate us to use them extravagantly for your glory and the welfare of your people. Amen.
Preacher: The Very Rev. Dr. Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector
En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo y Espiritu Santo. Amen. (I would say it in Gaelic, but I don’t know how :)
13th century mystic Mechthild of Magdeburg was a prolific writer of poems and hymns that vividly describe the nature of an intimate relationship with God. Mechthild wrote:
“Great is the overflow of Divine Love which is never still but ever ceaselessly and tirelessly pours forth, so that our little vessel is filled to the brim and overflows. If we do not choke the channel with self-will, God’s gifts continue to flow and overflow. Lord! Thou art full, and fillest us also with Thy gifts. Thou art great and we are small, how then shall we become like Thee?” (69)
How shall we? Judging from our readings today, we might imitate Mary of Bethany and St. Paul of Tarsus.
The story of a woman anointing Jesus’ feet is found in 3 of the 4 gospels, though it is only in the Gospel of John that the woman is identified as Mary of Bethany. By identifying her in that way, John brings the issue of intimate friendship into the story. Jesus and Mary of Bethany were friends… dear friends.
John also makes an important point about the way Mary anoints Jesus. Anyone who knows anything about Jesus knows that he was not interested in personal glory. And Mary does know Jesus, so she anoints his feet, which is a sign of repentance, not his head, which is how a King is anointed. Mary anointed the Messiah, not the next king of Israel.
The timing of this story is important too. Jesus, his disciples and some friends are gathered at the home of Mary and Martha of Bethany. Their brother Lazarus, whom Jesus has recently raised from the dead, is also there.
Meanwhile, Caiaphas and the other religious leaders, upon hearing that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, have decided that Jesus must die and they begin to plot how to make that happen. They also plan to kill Lazarus, to ensure that the story of his resurrection from the dead by Jesus should also die.
For the sake of the many, this one must die, they say. They also proclaim an edict that anyone who knows where Jesus is must tell them so that he can be arrested.
It is in this context that Martha, Mary, and Lazarus Jesus and the others have gathered for dinner. The gathering itself is risky and subversive.
After dinner, Mary loosens her hair (which in that cultural is the symbol of her feminine sexuality), takes out a jar of expensive perfumed nard (which would be worth about $15,000 per pound today) and anoints Jesus feet.
Mary loved Jesus deeply, honestly, completely. And she was unafraid to demonstrate that love and devotion, even when it meant violating the cultural conventions of her time… even when it meant bearing the public disapproval of others.
I think the point John is making is that Mary’s love and devotion, somehow she was led to know that Jesus needed this anointing now. She many not have even understood why herself, but she obeyed that inner prompting.
Imagine the faith and courage it took Mary to do that. How did she know Jesus wouldn’t respond like a typical Jewish man and rebuff for her touching him? How did she know that Jesus wouldn’t agree with Judas and be disappointed by her extravagance? How did she know that Jesus needed to be prepared for his burial the day before his triumphal entry into Jerusalem?
She knew. She knew because she knew Jesus… not just the man who was her friend and rabbi, but the one who was the Messiah, the Christ. Mary had integrated and been empowered by Jesus’ message of the extravagance of God’s redeeming love for the world, and so she could reflect that extravagance in her own life.
Mary knew Christ, and it is this kind of knowing that St. Paul is talking about when he writes, “I want to know Christ. I want to know the power of his resurrection.” Having already established Christian churches throughout Asia Minor, Greece, and Macedonia, Paul was now in prison and he knew his death was imminent.
With all of his credentials: a faithful Jew… a Pharisee, blameless under the law, Paul still says, “I want to know Christ” because what Paul is talking about is a deeply integrated, transforming way of knowing – the way Mary of Bethany knew him.
The lives of Mary and Paul make clear that living the reality of new life in Christ takes courage. As the world continues to be transformed by the power of Jesus’ resurrection, some people, some groups will cling to long-held customs out of fear: fear of change, fear of losing power, fortune, or importance, fear of being wrong or cast out from the group that matters to them.
Like Mary of Bethany, however, we are called to listen then act as the Spirit leads us. If we know Jesus like Mary did… deeply, honestly, and completely, then we will be unafraid to demonstrate our love and devotion to him, even when it means violating the cultural conventions of our time… knowing that it might bring disapproval.
To know Christ as Mary of Bethany did is to be empowered by Christ’s message of the extravagance of God’s redeeming love for the world. It is to live our relationship with Christ into the world, knowing that it might mean bring disapproval. To know Christ like St. Paul desired to is to participate with him, to become like him, to reflect the extravagance of God’s love by our lives and our service.
We are the Episcopal presence in this part of NC. That means our message will be out of step with other churches, friends, and business associates in our area because we are unafraid to include everyone just as God made them. That may be a bit uncomfortable for some of us at times, but it is comforting to those who are being judged, excluded, and dismissed. By our life together as a community of faith in the Episcopal tradition, we will demonstrate to them that they matter to us and to God, that they are beloved of God and welcome to be members of our family.
We will demonstrate the extravagant love of God, by showing them that God is waiting to shower that love on them if they will draw near one more time because, unfortunately, too often their experience of drawing near to church hasn’t been a healing one. That is what our worship, our website, our Shepherd’s Table, our Easter baskets, our Rosaries, our gardens, and all of our other ministries communicate to the world.
We care about those who suffer from any lack whether it’s food, friendship, or spiritual vitality. And we do our best to provide at least some of that and to help them find their way to the Source of all of it.
Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with a perfumed nard as a sign of her repentance and dependence on her Savior. The gospel writer said the fragrance of it filled the room. I hope it will do the same for us today.
(Instructions to the ushers, acolytes, etc.)
I have made up a similar ointment for us today and we’re going to pass it out now. The ointment is made from pure coconut oil and essential oil of myrrh – the scent likely used by Mary that day. I invite everyone to scrape some of this ointment into their hands and rub it in. The coconut oil will liquefy when it meets the warmth of your hands and you will smell the myrrh.
(Pause while the community receives the ointment…)
This fragrance that’s on our hands will be an outward sign to remind us of our inner call. It will follow us from this worship into the world, where we will carry the extravagant love of God in Christ to all we meet.
(Note: If you decide you want more afterwards, just let me know… An outward sign of our inward call…)
Let us pray…
Fill us, O Lord, until your love overflows from us and nourishes the souls of all you draw near to us. Help us to recognize them as treasures of your kingdom, that we may give to them as freely as you give to us. Grant us the courage to know you as Mary of Bethany did, to participate in you as St. Paul did, and to serve you, doing your will as you reveal it to us each day. Bless each one in our family as we discern the gifts you have given us, individually and as your community of love. Show us how to nurture those gifts, and motivate us to use them extravagantly for your glory and the welfare of your people. Amen.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Lent 4, 2013: All we can do is rejoice. Laetare!
Lectionary: Joshua 5:9-12; Psalm 32; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
(Note: "Laetare" means "Rejoice". This Sunday is also known as "Mothering Sunday" or "Refreshment Sunday" The liturgical color is Rose or Pink.)
En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
When I was in seminary, the joke we constantly heard and repeated was: If you want to make God laugh, tell God your plans. Just when we think we have it all figured out, when we think we know who we are, where we’re going, and how to get there… God moves in a way we didn’t see coming and we have to rethink, redirect, and repent, that is, turn around and go another way – the way God is showing us.
As the Israelites wandered in the desert, the traditions that guided who they were and how they lived had to be suspended as they let go of what was and walked on in faith toward the future God had prepared for them. At times, I think, it was hard for them to tell if they were actually heading somewhere or if they were just wandering around lost.
And it seemed like it took forever to get there. The generation who began the journey was now dead and gone and a new generation was arriving at their God-given destination.
Their identity hadn’t changed. They remained God’s people, but their understanding of themselves and their tradition was changed. Their exile in the desert had made it impossible to keep some of the traditions so important to the Israelites: circumcision, food laws, etc. As a people traditionally tied to the land, this wandering people also had no laws to govern their ways as wanderers. They had to figure it out as they went along.
Now, however, they have arrived at the Promised Land. Honoring their forebears, they began re-instituting the traditions that proclaimed their identity and belief. But they did this as a new generation in a new place, with a new understanding.
Yet as much as they had grown, there was more still to learn. There always is.
The Israelites time in the desert had revealed only part of the big picture of the will of God for God’s people. The rest of the story (as Paul Harvey would say) is found in the words of Jesus in the gospel of Luke.
The parable of the Lost Son (fka: the Prodigal Son) is the third of three parables Jesus uses to teach about reconciliation. Remembering that it is in Jesus that the whole world is reconciled to God, Rabbi Jesus tells a wild story, filled with things that would make his listeners cringe. For example, a son asking his father for his share of the inheritance would be akin to a death wish; (Source: C. Hasalm, montreal.anglican.org); the image of a Jewish man, even a desperate one, wishing he could eat the slop of swine would be horror upon horror for a kosher people; and no older self-respecting Jew would ever run to greet his son. (Source: C. Hasalm, montreal.anglican.org)
In addition, I think there are a few reactions Jesus counted on from his listeners (then and now). For example, it was the son’s own choice that led him to his desperate situation. He was selfish, disrespectful, and disobedient. He made his bed… (as they say). The father’s welcoming of the lost son fails to hold him accountable. To use the language of A.A. -the father is acting like an enabler – denying the very real problems the son has and creating an atmosphere where those destructive behaviors will continue and continue to do harm. And finally, the older brother’s resentment is justified. He’s been good and faithful all along, and hasn’t asked for reward. But now his father kills the fatted calf for his low-life brother, and he’s (understandably) upset. Fair is fair… and this is not fair!
Looking at this parable from a “human point of view” as St. Paul says it, these reactions make sense. But we who are followers of Christ must no longer look at things that way. We are a new generation, in a new place, with a new understanding. We are ambassadors for Christ, and we have been entrusted with bearing the message of reconciliation to the world because that is the rest of the story: that in Jesus the whole world has been reconciled to God by the forgiveness of sin.
Jesus teaches us that like the father in this parable, God does not count our trespasses against us. God in Christ also welcomes sinners, and still eats with us, every Sunday, right here, at this Eucharistic feast.
The beginning of the Gospel reading clarifies for us that the world doesn’t love hearing about that kind of extravagance of mercy and love. We’re good with that, of course, when it’s our own sin that needs forgiving, but we’re often less happy about it when it’s someone else’s sin. Then we, like the older brother in the parable, feel justified in our resentment. Some of us even feel justified in being violent toward the sinners we particularly hate – something we see way too often on the news.
As you know, the clergy of DWNC was on retreat last week at Valle Crucis. Our retreat leader was Brother Curtis Almquist from the Society of St. John the Evangelist, a monastery in MA. At one point, Br. Curtis said: “If you don’t have mercy for someone, you don’t know enough about them.”
God does know – and God never fails to seek the lost and bring them home with a joyous welcome. And God has called and prepared us to be partners in this work.
That’s why, as we consider this parable of the Lost Son, we have to remember that we don’t know what led him to ask for his inheritance. We don’t know how he came to disrespect himself so much that he would live a life of such self-destruction. We don’t know what inner demons convinced him of the lie that he wasn’t worthy.
Everyone has a story that plays out within the silence of their hearts. For some it’s an interior battle. God knows our stories. God knows our interior battles. God know us enough to have mercy on us.
And here’s the best news: God’s mercy is always available to us. All we have to do is repent. All we have to do is turn back and claim it.
In the parable, the lost son “comes to himself.” He wakes up, shakes off the fog in his head that clouds his thinking and realizes that he can go back home where he once knew love. He utters the words of repentance: “…I have sinned…” and look at the response he gets - there is rejoicing!
When we wake up and realize that it isn’t God who fails to love us, but we who fail to love ourselves, heaven rejoices! Laetare! Because once we do that, we can be led the rest of the way. Once we truly realize the unfathomable love that God love us with, then we truly are a new people in a new place with a new understanding. As St. Paul says it: we are a new creation.
Then we see with the eyes of God and we notice that everyone is beloved. We respond with the heart of God, which breaks over anyone’s suffering - no matter how we think it came about. We respond with the heart of God that rejoices whenever someone returns to themselves, returns to love, and feasts on the food of life.
It’s always been so for the people of God. As the psalmist says: “Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the LORD; shout for joy, all who are true of heart.” Rejoice! Laetare! for we are loved by an extravagant God.
A final word about the older brother in the parable, who represents us: the church. Like the brother, we try to live faithfully, and we’re tempted to be judgmental about someone who seems to ‘get away with’ not “being-hāve” as my kids would say. (I should explain… I’d say: ‘Behave!’ They’d say: ‘I am being-hāve!)
Did you hear the father’s response to the older brother? Hearing this as the voice of God, the reply was: My child, I am with you always. “All that is mine is yours.”
Think about that for a minute – it’s overwhelming in its reality. What if we believed it when God says to us, My child, I am always with you and all that is mine is yours”?
There God goes again with that extravagance of love… and all we can do is rejoice! Laetare!
(Note: "Laetare" means "Rejoice". This Sunday is also known as "Mothering Sunday" or "Refreshment Sunday" The liturgical color is Rose or Pink.)
En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
When I was in seminary, the joke we constantly heard and repeated was: If you want to make God laugh, tell God your plans. Just when we think we have it all figured out, when we think we know who we are, where we’re going, and how to get there… God moves in a way we didn’t see coming and we have to rethink, redirect, and repent, that is, turn around and go another way – the way God is showing us.
As the Israelites wandered in the desert, the traditions that guided who they were and how they lived had to be suspended as they let go of what was and walked on in faith toward the future God had prepared for them. At times, I think, it was hard for them to tell if they were actually heading somewhere or if they were just wandering around lost.
And it seemed like it took forever to get there. The generation who began the journey was now dead and gone and a new generation was arriving at their God-given destination.
Their identity hadn’t changed. They remained God’s people, but their understanding of themselves and their tradition was changed. Their exile in the desert had made it impossible to keep some of the traditions so important to the Israelites: circumcision, food laws, etc. As a people traditionally tied to the land, this wandering people also had no laws to govern their ways as wanderers. They had to figure it out as they went along.
Now, however, they have arrived at the Promised Land. Honoring their forebears, they began re-instituting the traditions that proclaimed their identity and belief. But they did this as a new generation in a new place, with a new understanding.
Yet as much as they had grown, there was more still to learn. There always is.
The Israelites time in the desert had revealed only part of the big picture of the will of God for God’s people. The rest of the story (as Paul Harvey would say) is found in the words of Jesus in the gospel of Luke.
The parable of the Lost Son (fka: the Prodigal Son) is the third of three parables Jesus uses to teach about reconciliation. Remembering that it is in Jesus that the whole world is reconciled to God, Rabbi Jesus tells a wild story, filled with things that would make his listeners cringe. For example, a son asking his father for his share of the inheritance would be akin to a death wish; (Source: C. Hasalm, montreal.anglican.org); the image of a Jewish man, even a desperate one, wishing he could eat the slop of swine would be horror upon horror for a kosher people; and no older self-respecting Jew would ever run to greet his son. (Source: C. Hasalm, montreal.anglican.org)
In addition, I think there are a few reactions Jesus counted on from his listeners (then and now). For example, it was the son’s own choice that led him to his desperate situation. He was selfish, disrespectful, and disobedient. He made his bed… (as they say). The father’s welcoming of the lost son fails to hold him accountable. To use the language of A.A. -the father is acting like an enabler – denying the very real problems the son has and creating an atmosphere where those destructive behaviors will continue and continue to do harm. And finally, the older brother’s resentment is justified. He’s been good and faithful all along, and hasn’t asked for reward. But now his father kills the fatted calf for his low-life brother, and he’s (understandably) upset. Fair is fair… and this is not fair!
Looking at this parable from a “human point of view” as St. Paul says it, these reactions make sense. But we who are followers of Christ must no longer look at things that way. We are a new generation, in a new place, with a new understanding. We are ambassadors for Christ, and we have been entrusted with bearing the message of reconciliation to the world because that is the rest of the story: that in Jesus the whole world has been reconciled to God by the forgiveness of sin.
Jesus teaches us that like the father in this parable, God does not count our trespasses against us. God in Christ also welcomes sinners, and still eats with us, every Sunday, right here, at this Eucharistic feast.
The beginning of the Gospel reading clarifies for us that the world doesn’t love hearing about that kind of extravagance of mercy and love. We’re good with that, of course, when it’s our own sin that needs forgiving, but we’re often less happy about it when it’s someone else’s sin. Then we, like the older brother in the parable, feel justified in our resentment. Some of us even feel justified in being violent toward the sinners we particularly hate – something we see way too often on the news.
As you know, the clergy of DWNC was on retreat last week at Valle Crucis. Our retreat leader was Brother Curtis Almquist from the Society of St. John the Evangelist, a monastery in MA. At one point, Br. Curtis said: “If you don’t have mercy for someone, you don’t know enough about them.”
God does know – and God never fails to seek the lost and bring them home with a joyous welcome. And God has called and prepared us to be partners in this work.
That’s why, as we consider this parable of the Lost Son, we have to remember that we don’t know what led him to ask for his inheritance. We don’t know how he came to disrespect himself so much that he would live a life of such self-destruction. We don’t know what inner demons convinced him of the lie that he wasn’t worthy.
Everyone has a story that plays out within the silence of their hearts. For some it’s an interior battle. God knows our stories. God knows our interior battles. God know us enough to have mercy on us.
And here’s the best news: God’s mercy is always available to us. All we have to do is repent. All we have to do is turn back and claim it.
In the parable, the lost son “comes to himself.” He wakes up, shakes off the fog in his head that clouds his thinking and realizes that he can go back home where he once knew love. He utters the words of repentance: “…I have sinned…” and look at the response he gets - there is rejoicing!
When we wake up and realize that it isn’t God who fails to love us, but we who fail to love ourselves, heaven rejoices! Laetare! Because once we do that, we can be led the rest of the way. Once we truly realize the unfathomable love that God love us with, then we truly are a new people in a new place with a new understanding. As St. Paul says it: we are a new creation.
Then we see with the eyes of God and we notice that everyone is beloved. We respond with the heart of God, which breaks over anyone’s suffering - no matter how we think it came about. We respond with the heart of God that rejoices whenever someone returns to themselves, returns to love, and feasts on the food of life.
It’s always been so for the people of God. As the psalmist says: “Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the LORD; shout for joy, all who are true of heart.” Rejoice! Laetare! for we are loved by an extravagant God.
A final word about the older brother in the parable, who represents us: the church. Like the brother, we try to live faithfully, and we’re tempted to be judgmental about someone who seems to ‘get away with’ not “being-hāve” as my kids would say. (I should explain… I’d say: ‘Behave!’ They’d say: ‘I am being-hāve!)
Did you hear the father’s response to the older brother? Hearing this as the voice of God, the reply was: My child, I am with you always. “All that is mine is yours.”
Think about that for a minute – it’s overwhelming in its reality. What if we believed it when God says to us, My child, I am always with you and all that is mine is yours”?
There God goes again with that extravagance of love… and all we can do is rejoice! Laetare!
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