This is an extemporaneous sermon I offered while supplying at St. Mark's in Chester, SC. It is, therefore, available only in audio. I have posted this in two audio formats, one of which will work in most devices.
Lectionary: Acts 2:14a,36-41; Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17; 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35
If the above player doesn't work on your device, click HERE.
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Sunday, April 23, 2017
Easter 2: Balm for our wounded world
I preached this while supplying at St. Mark's Church in Chester, SC, a small parish with a mighty heart for mission.
Lectionary:Acts 2:14a,22-32; Psalm 16; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31
Note: if the above audio player doesn't work for you, click HERE for a different format.
En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
What follows are my sermon notes. V+
(Story of priest who never doubted.)
Doubt is a good thing for a believer to experience… it’s a doorway to deeper faith.
(Story of Doubting Thomas)
Jesus demonstrated three very important lessons for our work as witnesses:
1) that God accepts us where we are and leads us to where we need to be;
2) that there are many ways to come to faith and many ways of being faithful;
3) that God is present and acts in the gathered community of faith.
Thomas was a believer – a follower of Jesus. He thought he needed to touch the crucifixion wounds, so Jesus gave him what he needed. Jesus didn’t get mad at Thomas for doubting. Instead, he invited Thomas to come into his presence and confront his doubt.
And no one kicked Thomas out of the disciples club for not believing right. They preserved their friendship with him, kept him close to them, and let God do the rest.
Some people know about Jesus from their earliest childhood. Some people don’t. Some people will have resurrection experiences, like Theresa of Avila (sorry - I meant to say Julian of Norwich!) who saw visions of Christ, or John Wesley whose heart was strangely warmed when he encountered Jesus in prayer.
Others will say they never experience the presence of God. They don’t “see” Jesus. To them, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
In our Collect today, we asked God to help us “show forth in our lives what we profess in our faith.” Mother Theresa of Calcutta showed us how: she confessed living most of her life in a dark night –
a state of feeling totally absent of the presence of God. She struggled to believe, but never stopped serving as she knew her faith called her to do.
There are many ways to come to faith and many ways of being faithful.
This prayer by St. Theresa of Avila, 16th century Spanish mystic, shows us how to begin:
“Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which to look out Christ's compassion to the world
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless [people] now.”
This is a call to witnesses the redemptive truth we say we believe: that the spirit of Christ lives in us, and as bearers of the divine, we are called to continue his redeeming work in the world until he comes again at the last day.
In the Good Friday service, we prayed….
For those who have never heard the word of salvation (e.g. - the true word, not the coercive one)
For those who have lost their faith (e.g. - due to life circumstances or bad experiences with “Christians”)
For those hardened by sin or indifference (e.g. - un-rescued abused persons often become abusers)
For the contemptuous and the scornful (e.g. - elitism destroys the souls of the rich and powerful)
For those who are enemies of the cross of Christ and persecutors of his disciples (e.g. -Christians are dying right now in countries around the world. This is still happening!)
For those who in the name of Christ have persecuted others (e.g.: religious or cultural leaders who call for the violence against people or groups they have judged as sinful or unlawful)
That God will open their hearts to the truth, and lead them to faith and obedience. (BCP, 279)
God does the work. God leads people to faith and obedience – not us. As Peter said to his listeners in Jerusalem, we are witnesses to the redeeming work of God in Jesus Christ.
We don’t save anyone. Jesus did that once for all. What we do is go to those…. (refer to the italicized examples above).
We aren’t called to coerce or threaten or frighten or cajole anyone into believing. That wasn’t Jesus’ way and it musn’t be ours.
What we are called to share is the “indescribable and glorious joy” (I Ptr 1:8) of the hope we have in Jesus. We are called to bring ourselves, and therefore the presence of Christ that dwells in us, into the world outside of this holy sanctuary and witness the truth we heard in our Scripture today: that Jesus accepts people where they are even when they doubt, even when they’ve been previously hurt by life or the church, even when they sin - because who hasn’t?
Whatever their story, whatever their wounds, Jesus invites them to touch his wounds and believe.
Gentleness, acceptance, invitation - rare commodities in the world today, but they are our currency – our currency of love.
Each Sunday you gather together in this beautiful space a space that smells like prayer and invites a person to simply rest in love a space where a person can truly enter into the presence of God. So, invite your friends to church: On Sundays to worship… On Tuesdays for lunch… Hold a Bible study, or offer Centering Prayer (talk about a gentle invitation!) Or be Episcopalian about it and have a party! We’re great at those!
The world has become a very scary and unsafe place for many people. For some, it has always been scary and unsafe.
Story of my African American friend and me shopping… Or my other African American friend who cried as he told me how he had to prepare his mixed race son (who looks black) to respond in the case of his arrest.
But we know we are all one in Christ, and our relationship to God in Christ is our witness, and our witness is the balm for the wounding of the world even when that means sacrificing our own comfort or our reputation or our financial resources for the sake of the other.
We are the eyes of Christ in the world today – eyes that see and notice someone who is falling, or frightened, or rejected and hands that reach out to catch them, comfort them, and welcome them. It is through our hands that God offers healing touch to someone who is broken in body or in spirit. We bear the light of Christ which dispels their darkness.
We are Christ’s feet in the world today – feet that will go willingly to those places where acceptance and compassion need to be spoken into public conversations that have become so rude, vulgar, and disrespectful anymore; feet that carry us into the public realm where the truth of Christ’s redeeming love for ALL needs to be witnessed to confront the ramped up oppression of people due to their race, gender, religion, economics, or sexual orientation.
We are the body of Christ in the world today. We are the witnesses of redemption in Jesus, the Christ.
I ask you, therefore, to pray with me now: Loving God, who is a balm for our wounded world, grant that as we gather today to worship you, and be fed by your Word and Sacrament, we will accept the grace you are offering us and allow you to make us into one body, one spirit in Christ, that we may worthily serve the world in the holy name of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Lectionary:Acts 2:14a,22-32; Psalm 16; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31
Note: if the above audio player doesn't work for you, click HERE for a different format.
En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
What follows are my sermon notes. V+
(Story of priest who never doubted.)
Doubt is a good thing for a believer to experience… it’s a doorway to deeper faith.
(Story of Doubting Thomas)
Jesus demonstrated three very important lessons for our work as witnesses:
1) that God accepts us where we are and leads us to where we need to be;
2) that there are many ways to come to faith and many ways of being faithful;
3) that God is present and acts in the gathered community of faith.
Thomas was a believer – a follower of Jesus. He thought he needed to touch the crucifixion wounds, so Jesus gave him what he needed. Jesus didn’t get mad at Thomas for doubting. Instead, he invited Thomas to come into his presence and confront his doubt.
And no one kicked Thomas out of the disciples club for not believing right. They preserved their friendship with him, kept him close to them, and let God do the rest.
Some people know about Jesus from their earliest childhood. Some people don’t. Some people will have resurrection experiences, like Theresa of Avila (sorry - I meant to say Julian of Norwich!) who saw visions of Christ, or John Wesley whose heart was strangely warmed when he encountered Jesus in prayer.
Others will say they never experience the presence of God. They don’t “see” Jesus. To them, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
In our Collect today, we asked God to help us “show forth in our lives what we profess in our faith.” Mother Theresa of Calcutta showed us how: she confessed living most of her life in a dark night –
a state of feeling totally absent of the presence of God. She struggled to believe, but never stopped serving as she knew her faith called her to do.
There are many ways to come to faith and many ways of being faithful.
This prayer by St. Theresa of Avila, 16th century Spanish mystic, shows us how to begin:
“Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which to look out Christ's compassion to the world
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless [people] now.”
This is a call to witnesses the redemptive truth we say we believe: that the spirit of Christ lives in us, and as bearers of the divine, we are called to continue his redeeming work in the world until he comes again at the last day.
In the Good Friday service, we prayed….
For those who have never heard the word of salvation (e.g. - the true word, not the coercive one)
For those who have lost their faith (e.g. - due to life circumstances or bad experiences with “Christians”)
For those hardened by sin or indifference (e.g. - un-rescued abused persons often become abusers)
For the contemptuous and the scornful (e.g. - elitism destroys the souls of the rich and powerful)
For those who are enemies of the cross of Christ and persecutors of his disciples (e.g. -Christians are dying right now in countries around the world. This is still happening!)
For those who in the name of Christ have persecuted others (e.g.: religious or cultural leaders who call for the violence against people or groups they have judged as sinful or unlawful)
That God will open their hearts to the truth, and lead them to faith and obedience. (BCP, 279)
God does the work. God leads people to faith and obedience – not us. As Peter said to his listeners in Jerusalem, we are witnesses to the redeeming work of God in Jesus Christ.
We don’t save anyone. Jesus did that once for all. What we do is go to those…. (refer to the italicized examples above).
We aren’t called to coerce or threaten or frighten or cajole anyone into believing. That wasn’t Jesus’ way and it musn’t be ours.
What we are called to share is the “indescribable and glorious joy” (I Ptr 1:8) of the hope we have in Jesus. We are called to bring ourselves, and therefore the presence of Christ that dwells in us, into the world outside of this holy sanctuary and witness the truth we heard in our Scripture today: that Jesus accepts people where they are even when they doubt, even when they’ve been previously hurt by life or the church, even when they sin - because who hasn’t?
Whatever their story, whatever their wounds, Jesus invites them to touch his wounds and believe.
Gentleness, acceptance, invitation - rare commodities in the world today, but they are our currency – our currency of love.
Each Sunday you gather together in this beautiful space a space that smells like prayer and invites a person to simply rest in love a space where a person can truly enter into the presence of God. So, invite your friends to church: On Sundays to worship… On Tuesdays for lunch… Hold a Bible study, or offer Centering Prayer (talk about a gentle invitation!) Or be Episcopalian about it and have a party! We’re great at those!
The world has become a very scary and unsafe place for many people. For some, it has always been scary and unsafe.
Story of my African American friend and me shopping… Or my other African American friend who cried as he told me how he had to prepare his mixed race son (who looks black) to respond in the case of his arrest.
But we know we are all one in Christ, and our relationship to God in Christ is our witness, and our witness is the balm for the wounding of the world even when that means sacrificing our own comfort or our reputation or our financial resources for the sake of the other.
We are the eyes of Christ in the world today – eyes that see and notice someone who is falling, or frightened, or rejected and hands that reach out to catch them, comfort them, and welcome them. It is through our hands that God offers healing touch to someone who is broken in body or in spirit. We bear the light of Christ which dispels their darkness.
We are Christ’s feet in the world today – feet that will go willingly to those places where acceptance and compassion need to be spoken into public conversations that have become so rude, vulgar, and disrespectful anymore; feet that carry us into the public realm where the truth of Christ’s redeeming love for ALL needs to be witnessed to confront the ramped up oppression of people due to their race, gender, religion, economics, or sexual orientation.
We are the body of Christ in the world today. We are the witnesses of redemption in Jesus, the Christ.
I ask you, therefore, to pray with me now: Loving God, who is a balm for our wounded world, grant that as we gather today to worship you, and be fed by your Word and Sacrament, we will accept the grace you are offering us and allow you to make us into one body, one spirit in Christ, that we may worthily serve the world in the holy name of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Lent 2 & 3, 2017: Focused on the AND these 40 days
Note: Supplying at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Burnsville, NC. Since my supply at this parish was snowed out last week, we are using the lectionary and music for Lent 2 (already prepared) and combining the gospel readings for Lent 2 and 3 enabling us to ponder the interesting juxtaposition of the story of Nicodemus and the story of the Samaritan woman at the well.
While I had notes prepared, the sermon was Spirit led - extemporaneous.
Lectionary: Genesis 12:1-4a; Psalm 121; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; John 3:1-17 AND John 4:5-42
For AUDIO click HERE:
En el nombre del Dios, Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
SERMON NOTES:
Women’s ministerial group discussion on the difference between a good life and a godly life; a good person or a godly person.
• for most of them, to be godly meant to follow the rules – but the rules are what they have defined them today.
• So they would judge a person godly if that person kept the rules – as they understand them.
• “An almost Christian” - follows most of the rules, but sometimes cusses, etc.
But that’s a false notion – which is the point Jesus is trying to make to Nicodemus: it isn’t about doing life right so you win the prize of eternal life later, it’s about living in eternal life right now. Then God’s will is being done on earth as it is in heaven.
Eternal life isn’t our reward. As baptized Christians, it’s our present reality.
Nicodemus would have been considered a godly person. The Samaritan woman definitely would not have been.
• Living with a man not her husband, etc.
Taken together, these two represent the two poles of privilege and vulnerability. They also represent our inclination to group people: good and bad, worthy and unworthy, welcomed or unwelcomed in our community. The truth is, they are just descriptors of two spots on a continuum on which we all stand somewhere at varied moments of our lives.
Nicodemus:
Has a name
Is a leader among the Jews – has standing
Urban (Jerusalem)
Meets Jesus under the cover of night
He is safe to travel alone - respected
He is somebody, worthy of respect
Samaritan woman:
Is not named
Is scorned – has no standing
Rural (counstryside)
Meets Jesus in the blazing noonday sun
She is not safe to travel alone - not respected
She is nobody, unworthy on most counts
Jesus’ message to each is the same: John 3:16-17. Born from above, from water and spirit. Nicodemus heard (misheard) born again.
But notice the difference in their responses:
• Nicodemus is incredulous: How can this be? As one commentator says, “Nicodemus would think of the kingdom of God as a heavenly reward for a life well lived, but the [Gospels] make it clear that the kingdom ‘is at hand’ (Mark 1:15). In John's Gospel, eternal life has that same kind of immediacy. The person who believes in Jesus ‘has eternal life’ (5:24; 6:47, Source: lectionary.org)… right now. Nicodemus doesn’t believe. He can’t make his experience of Jesus fit with what he already believes.
• The Samaritan woman does believe as Jesus describes for her what being born from above looks like: “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The Samaritan woman is able to connect her experience of Jesus to her expectation of the Messiah… and when Jesus confirms for her: “I am he, the one who is speaking to you” she goes and tells her good news to her community. THIS is evangelism. It’s as simple as sharing the hope-filled love of God with those whom you love.
Letting go what we know about God, life, and religion and being “born from above” into an adult, mature, Christian faith can be a scary thing, but it is the gift we are given in Lent – time to wander in the wilderness, in the uncertainty, and, maybe most importantly, opportunity to practice trusting God - like Abram did.
God called to Abram saying, Go where I’m sending you... And just trust me about where that is, when you’ll get there, and how you’ll live till you get there. Sound familiar? God’s call to God’s people hasn’t changed much over time, has it?
• Abram journeyed for – 40 years, which, in Bible-speak, means “long enough” referring to lifetimes, ages.
• If we engage the 40 days of Lent (Bible-speak meaning long enough referring to a season in our lives), and go where God leads us, if we follow the word of God, God promises bless us with new life - life in the eternal presence of God. Flesh and sprit living as one. Earth and heaven present as one.
In his conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus says "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.” Water… of the earth, spirit… of heaven.
Jesus is focused on the “AND.” Flesh AND spirit. Water AND spirit. Catholic AND Protestant. Jew AND Gentile. Humanity AND divinity.
• In the sacrament of Baptism we demonstrate the reunion of ourselves, our bodies and our spirits, with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ.
• Being Baptized IS being born from above. We are no longer “merely earthly,” because we are now in possession of the living water, who is Jesus Christ, who said, “the water that I give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
Each Lent we have an opportunity to let ourselves wander as Abram did, away from all that we know about God, about life – about the groups we use to define and therefore treat members of the human family – if we even wander away from what we believe and know about religion… if we turn away from all that and focus on the AND Jesus taught us - of earth and spirit, humanity and divinity, reconciled in himself and now is us – we will find ourselves living a new life – eternal life.
It’s a challenge, and yes, it can be scary, but we journey together aware that among us are Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman and everyone in between. We journey in the company of the saints who have gone before us and walk with us now on our way.
And we go held in the eternal, overwhelming, indescribable love of God who “is truly the Savior of the world.”
Let us pray:
“Oh God of new beginnings who bring light out of night’s darkness and fresh green out of the hard winter earth, there is barren land between us as people and as nations this day, there are empty stretches of soul within us; give us eyes to see new dawnings of promise, give us hears to hear fresh soundings of birth” (Source: Celtic Tradition)
…and give us courage to love you as you are loving us, so that we may enter into you, fully, completely, that your kingdom may come through us – right here, right now. Amen.
While I had notes prepared, the sermon was Spirit led - extemporaneous.
Lectionary: Genesis 12:1-4a; Psalm 121; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; John 3:1-17 AND John 4:5-42
For AUDIO click HERE:
En el nombre del Dios, Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
SERMON NOTES:
• for most of them, to be godly meant to follow the rules – but the rules are what they have defined them today.
• So they would judge a person godly if that person kept the rules – as they understand them.
• “An almost Christian” - follows most of the rules, but sometimes cusses, etc.
But that’s a false notion – which is the point Jesus is trying to make to Nicodemus: it isn’t about doing life right so you win the prize of eternal life later, it’s about living in eternal life right now. Then God’s will is being done on earth as it is in heaven.
Eternal life isn’t our reward. As baptized Christians, it’s our present reality.
Nicodemus would have been considered a godly person. The Samaritan woman definitely would not have been.
• Living with a man not her husband, etc.
Taken together, these two represent the two poles of privilege and vulnerability. They also represent our inclination to group people: good and bad, worthy and unworthy, welcomed or unwelcomed in our community. The truth is, they are just descriptors of two spots on a continuum on which we all stand somewhere at varied moments of our lives.
Nicodemus:
Has a name
Is a leader among the Jews – has standing
Urban (Jerusalem)
Meets Jesus under the cover of night
He is safe to travel alone - respected
He is somebody, worthy of respect
Samaritan woman:
Is not named
Is scorned – has no standing
Rural (counstryside)
Meets Jesus in the blazing noonday sun
She is not safe to travel alone - not respected
She is nobody, unworthy on most counts
Jesus’ message to each is the same: John 3:16-17. Born from above, from water and spirit. Nicodemus heard (misheard) born again.
But notice the difference in their responses:
• Nicodemus is incredulous: How can this be? As one commentator says, “Nicodemus would think of the kingdom of God as a heavenly reward for a life well lived, but the [Gospels] make it clear that the kingdom ‘is at hand’ (Mark 1:15). In John's Gospel, eternal life has that same kind of immediacy. The person who believes in Jesus ‘has eternal life’ (5:24; 6:47, Source: lectionary.org)… right now. Nicodemus doesn’t believe. He can’t make his experience of Jesus fit with what he already believes.
• The Samaritan woman does believe as Jesus describes for her what being born from above looks like: “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The Samaritan woman is able to connect her experience of Jesus to her expectation of the Messiah… and when Jesus confirms for her: “I am he, the one who is speaking to you” she goes and tells her good news to her community. THIS is evangelism. It’s as simple as sharing the hope-filled love of God with those whom you love.
Letting go what we know about God, life, and religion and being “born from above” into an adult, mature, Christian faith can be a scary thing, but it is the gift we are given in Lent – time to wander in the wilderness, in the uncertainty, and, maybe most importantly, opportunity to practice trusting God - like Abram did.
God called to Abram saying, Go where I’m sending you... And just trust me about where that is, when you’ll get there, and how you’ll live till you get there. Sound familiar? God’s call to God’s people hasn’t changed much over time, has it?
• Abram journeyed for – 40 years, which, in Bible-speak, means “long enough” referring to lifetimes, ages.
• If we engage the 40 days of Lent (Bible-speak meaning long enough referring to a season in our lives), and go where God leads us, if we follow the word of God, God promises bless us with new life - life in the eternal presence of God. Flesh and sprit living as one. Earth and heaven present as one.
In his conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus says "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.” Water… of the earth, spirit… of heaven.
Jesus is focused on the “AND.” Flesh AND spirit. Water AND spirit. Catholic AND Protestant. Jew AND Gentile. Humanity AND divinity.
• In the sacrament of Baptism we demonstrate the reunion of ourselves, our bodies and our spirits, with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ.
• Being Baptized IS being born from above. We are no longer “merely earthly,” because we are now in possession of the living water, who is Jesus Christ, who said, “the water that I give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
Each Lent we have an opportunity to let ourselves wander as Abram did, away from all that we know about God, about life – about the groups we use to define and therefore treat members of the human family – if we even wander away from what we believe and know about religion… if we turn away from all that and focus on the AND Jesus taught us - of earth and spirit, humanity and divinity, reconciled in himself and now is us – we will find ourselves living a new life – eternal life.
It’s a challenge, and yes, it can be scary, but we journey together aware that among us are Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman and everyone in between. We journey in the company of the saints who have gone before us and walk with us now on our way.
And we go held in the eternal, overwhelming, indescribable love of God who “is truly the Savior of the world.”
Let us pray:
“Oh God of new beginnings who bring light out of night’s darkness and fresh green out of the hard winter earth, there is barren land between us as people and as nations this day, there are empty stretches of soul within us; give us eyes to see new dawnings of promise, give us hears to hear fresh soundings of birth” (Source: Celtic Tradition)
…and give us courage to love you as you are loving us, so that we may enter into you, fully, completely, that your kingdom may come through us – right here, right now. Amen.
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Meditation for Ash Wednesday, 2017
The following is a poem I wrote in 2015. I was reminded of it in prayer as I began this holy (and my favorite season) of Lent. May you be blessed.
Love is a rock
Sometimes love is a rock
cut and clear
with a rough crown –
there should always be a rough crown.
Formed of the earth
infused with divine breath,
found by accident
and molded with the skill
of the artist,
this love is a rock
cut and clear
with a rough crown.
It waits for the one who is
alive and dead
to come and connect.
And when she arrives
the artist recognizes her
and offers her
the love
which is a rock
cut and clear
with a rough crown.
By: Valori M Sherer
03/05/2015
Love is a rock
cut and clear
with a rough crown –
there should always be a rough crown.
Formed of the earth
infused with divine breath,
found by accident
and molded with the skill
of the artist,
this love is a rock
cut and clear
with a rough crown.
It waits for the one who is
alive and dead
to come and connect.
And when she arrives
the artist recognizes her
and offers her
the love
which is a rock
cut and clear
with a rough crown.
By: Valori M Sherer
03/05/2015
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Epiphany 6 sermon: Commanded to love
I totally enjoyed supplying at St. James, Lenoir, NC. Such a wonderful community of faith! I preached extemporaneously, so below please find the audio file and sermons notes.
Collect: we ask God: “give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments, we may please you both in will and deed.”
So let’s begin with this: What are we commanded to do? Jesus gave us several commands.
1. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind (Mt 22:37)… Mk adds: and with all your strength… (12:30) Lk adds: and your neighbor as yourself. (10:27)
a. Note: This is taken from The Great Commandment in Deut 6:5
b. Loving neighbor as self from Leviticus 19:9-18
2. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (Jn 15:12)
3. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you… (Mt 28:19-20)
It’s all about LOVE. We are commanded to LOVE.
Quote from Bp. Steven Charleston, Native American, Retired Bp. of Alaska:
Love will not lose. Even if the evidence of the daily news seems to suggest that it will, even if we despair of the values we thought we shared, even if we imagine the divisions between us have grown too wide to bridge: love will not lose. Love cannot be constrained by legal walls, political pieties, or institutional fear. Love is the subversion of power by mercy. It is the uncontrolled spirit of hope that erodes the authority of oppression. Love is the human soul made visible. Once we see it in one another’s eyes, no force on earth can compel us to deny its reality. Those who cling to what was will not win, for what is now will never cease to be. No matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, love will not lose.
WORD STUDY: LOVE agapao – agape love:
• to be full of good will
• deliberate – It’s a choice to pay attention to someone else and have regard for and respect them (sounds JUST like our Baptismal vow, doesn’t it: to regard the dignity of every human being)
• not affection (that’s eros) – we aren’t required to like the person
• is self-denying and compassionate
This is exactly what Jesus is teaching us in the continuing sermon on the mount from the Gospel of Matthew: a new way of loving.
But let’s start with Moses in Deuteronomy:
• Love of God = life and prosperity (things going well)
• But if we turn our hearts away = we are led to idolatry, which leads to death.
• CHOOSE LIFE, Moses proclaims. Obey God and cling to God so that you may live.
• (NOTE: I wrote a blog this week on the grace of obedience)
Then in the gospel reading, Jesus shows us a new way to understand these commandments:
You have heard it said… you shall not murder
But I say to you… if you are angry you will be liable to judgment
ANOTHER QUICK WORD STUDY: JUDGMENT = separation, sundering (as in: what God has joined together, let no one put asunder). This is the OPPOSITE of what our mission as found in our catechism: to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. (BCP 855)
But I say to you… if you insult a brother or sister, or call them “fool” which means empty (as in empty of the breath of life, therefore of no value), you will be liable to eternal torment (Gehenna, the garbage dump that stayed on fire)
The new way to love: be reconciled.
If you are separated from a brother or sister, reconcile first, then come to offer your life to God in worship.
This is a STRICT interpretation and in our present social and political circumstances, it’s important to hear that being reconciled doesn’t require that we agree or even like our sisters and brothers. It does require that we regard them with respect and approach them full of good will.
Do you hate someone? Do you hate a group of someones?
• Pray for them. Pray God’s lavish blessings all over them.
• Then watch what happens - prayer changes YOU and realigns your will with God’s – which as we heard in our Collect, is pleasing to God.
About Adultery, Jesus says, But I say to you… looking at a woman with lust counts as adultery.
(Jimmy Carter confession)
Adultery is a favorite sin to accuse people of – then and now.
Then that teaching that seems uncomfortably brutal and at odds with respecting our bodies – a command we’re to follow. But remember, this is Bible-talk, which like prayer, is interpreted as such.
• In Bible-talk, the EYE represents how you see, how you perceive
• the HAND represents what you do, your action in the world
If how you see/perceive the world, that person, that circumstance… causes you to sin (to separate, to sunder), then stop looking. It’s better to be unable to understand a thing, no matter how people judge you for that, than to sin.
If what you do causes you to sin (to separate, to sunder), then don’t do it, no matter how inconvenient that is or how others may tease or criticize you about it… just don’t do it.
Don’t separate. Don’t sunder. Be reconciled.
Then two even tougher examples: divorce and swearing oaths or vows.
DIVORCE: only men could do it. Jesus says, if you do that, YOU are the one who makes your ex-wife AND your new wife adulterers. This was a radical teaching in that time, forcing men to regard their wives with respect and raising women up from property to beloved of God.
SWEARING AN OATH: Jesus says simply – don’t do it. It isn’t needed. Be a person of your word. Tell the truth and keep your promises – just as God does for you.
• Anything else is a distraction.
This new way to practice love (agape) for God and one another, leads us to go deeper
• to move beyond following rules out of duty or fear of punishment toward acting in ways that regard the other in our midst with respect and kindness
This new way to practice love (agape) for God and one another
• challenges us to let go our judgments (whatever separates us from one another)
This new way to practice love (agape) for God and one another
• forces us to grow up spiritually - as St. Paul calls us to do in his letter to the Corinthians – and live into our common purpose which, I repeat, is:
to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.
Close with quote from Bp Charleston:
Kindness is not just an act, but a blessing. When someone treats you with kindness the impact of that blessing stays with you. It seeps into your spirit. It changes your self-perception and alters your outlook toward the world around you. This blessing is so enduring we can remember a single act of kindness for a lifetime. We can look back and count the people whose kindness shaped our lives. Kindness is one of the most powerful spiritual tools we possess. We should use it with intention and we should use it often. How do we change the world? One kindness at a time.
Collect: we ask God: “give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments, we may please you both in will and deed.”
So let’s begin with this: What are we commanded to do? Jesus gave us several commands.
1. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind (Mt 22:37)… Mk adds: and with all your strength… (12:30) Lk adds: and your neighbor as yourself. (10:27)
a. Note: This is taken from The Great Commandment in Deut 6:5
b. Loving neighbor as self from Leviticus 19:9-18
2. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (Jn 15:12)
3. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you… (Mt 28:19-20)
It’s all about LOVE. We are commanded to LOVE.
Quote from Bp. Steven Charleston, Native American, Retired Bp. of Alaska:
Love will not lose. Even if the evidence of the daily news seems to suggest that it will, even if we despair of the values we thought we shared, even if we imagine the divisions between us have grown too wide to bridge: love will not lose. Love cannot be constrained by legal walls, political pieties, or institutional fear. Love is the subversion of power by mercy. It is the uncontrolled spirit of hope that erodes the authority of oppression. Love is the human soul made visible. Once we see it in one another’s eyes, no force on earth can compel us to deny its reality. Those who cling to what was will not win, for what is now will never cease to be. No matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, love will not lose.
WORD STUDY: LOVE agapao – agape love:
• to be full of good will
• deliberate – It’s a choice to pay attention to someone else and have regard for and respect them (sounds JUST like our Baptismal vow, doesn’t it: to regard the dignity of every human being)
• not affection (that’s eros) – we aren’t required to like the person
• is self-denying and compassionate
This is exactly what Jesus is teaching us in the continuing sermon on the mount from the Gospel of Matthew: a new way of loving.
But let’s start with Moses in Deuteronomy:
• Love of God = life and prosperity (things going well)
• But if we turn our hearts away = we are led to idolatry, which leads to death.
• CHOOSE LIFE, Moses proclaims. Obey God and cling to God so that you may live.
• (NOTE: I wrote a blog this week on the grace of obedience)
Then in the gospel reading, Jesus shows us a new way to understand these commandments:
You have heard it said… you shall not murder
But I say to you… if you are angry you will be liable to judgment
ANOTHER QUICK WORD STUDY: JUDGMENT = separation, sundering (as in: what God has joined together, let no one put asunder). This is the OPPOSITE of what our mission as found in our catechism: to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. (BCP 855)
But I say to you… if you insult a brother or sister, or call them “fool” which means empty (as in empty of the breath of life, therefore of no value), you will be liable to eternal torment (Gehenna, the garbage dump that stayed on fire)
The new way to love: be reconciled.
If you are separated from a brother or sister, reconcile first, then come to offer your life to God in worship.
This is a STRICT interpretation and in our present social and political circumstances, it’s important to hear that being reconciled doesn’t require that we agree or even like our sisters and brothers. It does require that we regard them with respect and approach them full of good will.
Do you hate someone? Do you hate a group of someones?
• Pray for them. Pray God’s lavish blessings all over them.
• Then watch what happens - prayer changes YOU and realigns your will with God’s – which as we heard in our Collect, is pleasing to God.
About Adultery, Jesus says, But I say to you… looking at a woman with lust counts as adultery.
(Jimmy Carter confession)
Adultery is a favorite sin to accuse people of – then and now.
Then that teaching that seems uncomfortably brutal and at odds with respecting our bodies – a command we’re to follow. But remember, this is Bible-talk, which like prayer, is interpreted as such.
• In Bible-talk, the EYE represents how you see, how you perceive
• the HAND represents what you do, your action in the world
If how you see/perceive the world, that person, that circumstance… causes you to sin (to separate, to sunder), then stop looking. It’s better to be unable to understand a thing, no matter how people judge you for that, than to sin.
If what you do causes you to sin (to separate, to sunder), then don’t do it, no matter how inconvenient that is or how others may tease or criticize you about it… just don’t do it.
Don’t separate. Don’t sunder. Be reconciled.
Then two even tougher examples: divorce and swearing oaths or vows.
DIVORCE: only men could do it. Jesus says, if you do that, YOU are the one who makes your ex-wife AND your new wife adulterers. This was a radical teaching in that time, forcing men to regard their wives with respect and raising women up from property to beloved of God.
SWEARING AN OATH: Jesus says simply – don’t do it. It isn’t needed. Be a person of your word. Tell the truth and keep your promises – just as God does for you.
• Anything else is a distraction.
This new way to practice love (agape) for God and one another, leads us to go deeper
• to move beyond following rules out of duty or fear of punishment toward acting in ways that regard the other in our midst with respect and kindness
This new way to practice love (agape) for God and one another
• challenges us to let go our judgments (whatever separates us from one another)
This new way to practice love (agape) for God and one another
• forces us to grow up spiritually - as St. Paul calls us to do in his letter to the Corinthians – and live into our common purpose which, I repeat, is:
to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.
Close with quote from Bp Charleston:
Kindness is not just an act, but a blessing. When someone treats you with kindness the impact of that blessing stays with you. It seeps into your spirit. It changes your self-perception and alters your outlook toward the world around you. This blessing is so enduring we can remember a single act of kindness for a lifetime. We can look back and count the people whose kindness shaped our lives. Kindness is one of the most powerful spiritual tools we possess. We should use it with intention and we should use it often. How do we change the world? One kindness at a time.
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
The grace of obedience
I’m grateful for the story of the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis. Like them, I often succumb to disobedience by attending to my own voice or the voice of a tempter, shutting out the voice of God who, as Isaiah says, calls to me, saying: “Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live.” (Is 55:3)
Raised Roman Catholic, I went to Catholic school for 8 years, during which time, and by the example of my nuns and mentors, I built a strong spiritual muscle for obedience. I’m not talking about the systematic dismantling of free will or coerced compliance with church doctrine. I’m talking about learning to trust in the experience of the mentor and/or the tradition of the Church and allowing that to support me regarding something I needed to work out for myself spiritually, theologically, etc., giving myself time and space to do that.
In my experience, a healthy relationship with obedience will include a bit of faithful disobedience. I had the advantage of having a Latina mother, the daughter of immigrants from Puerto Rico and Spain. My mother converted to Roman Catholicism during the time I was being prepared for First Holy Communion. As a result, we studied the Baltimore Catechism together, memorizing the answers to a litany of questions, e.g., Q: Who made you? A: God made me. Q: Why did God make you? A: God made me to show forth His goodness and to share His everlasting happiness in heaven.
As my mother and I memorized the answers to what seemed to me, as a 6 year old child, a million questions, we would come upon questions which had answers to which we weren’t inclined to assent. In true Latina fashion, my mother’s faith was more concerned with redemption than doctrine, so regarding those questions and answers, my mother would say, “You don’t have to believe that. Just memorize the answer in case the bishop calls on you.”
Early on, therefore, I learned to approach the institutional church with a measure of faithful disobedience. My mother allowed me space to grow into my spiritual maturity over time, in prayerful conversation with God. I was free to prayerfully ponder and explore, rather than simply accept, church doctrines.
Five decades later, and having the benefit of a seminary education (Yea, Sewanee’s right!), I now know that the word we translate as “obey” derives from words in Greek, Hebrew, and Latin that mean “to listen” – but more than that, “obey” in these ancient languages, seeks that we listen AND respond to what we hear. If we are listening for the word or the will of God, then, our obedience calls for our attention followed by some kind response.
This is affirmed for me in my prayer life which has been rich and conversational since my childhood. God has been accessible to me as have the saints, my friends in heaven. As a result, I’ve given great importance to prayer time as part of my every day, even as life got busier and time got shorter. I don’t pray out of duty or fear, though, but from inner divine prompting. God calls to me first. When I call out to God it isn’t so that God might wave a divine wand and fix what I say is broken or wrong (in the way I want it fixed); it’s for God to show me how to be in the will of God as I enter the moment facing me – or the day, or the season. It’s because I’m scared, or I don’t know how to proceed, or I know the voice of my will is drowning out God’s voice. Prayer is one gateway for me to the grace of obedience: hearing and responding to God.
I know that in the frailty of my humanity, I simply can’t see the big picture of my life, my place in the world and in human history – but God can. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” (Isa 55:8) Still, at times, I choose not to obey.
Does my disobedience make God mad? I don’t know. What I do know is this: “God is not wroth” as Julian of Norwich said.* Wrath is a human response to helplessness, disappointment, shame, or humiliation. Each time I set out on a path not of God’s choosing, God gently and very clearly re-routes me. I can repent and be re-routed, or be stubborn and resist. The choice is always mine.
I have noticed, however, that my body responds according to my choice. A felt lack of peace, expressed in my body as tension in my throat or chest, or tightness in my stomach, is present each time I set out in disobedience. Peace and wellbeing are restored in my body each time I relent and trust. This has taught me that my disobedience is: a) known to me; b) not good for me; and c) does not separate me from the love of God for me, just as St. Paul promised. (Ro 8:39)
In the Genesis story, Adam and Eve learned that there were real consequences from their choice to disobey. In the very next verse, however, God sewed clothing for Adam and Eve, covering their shame and humiliation. Then God sent them into the world “knowing good and evil.” (Gen 3:22) We know good and evil, and we know when we are choosing to disobey, no matter how well we’ve justified or defended our choice. We know.
We also know that forgiveness is ours for the asking. As the prophet Isaiah says, “let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isa 55:7) In case anyone doubts that could be true – and many of us do doubt the lavishness of God’s love for us – Jesus made clear that his sacrifice was for our forgiveness: “Then, he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mt 26:27)
As long as we live, we will have to reckon with the voice of the tempter, but the steadfast love of God will gently, clearly, and always guide us back to the path of life. Our choice and our challenge is to obey.
*John Skinner, Editor and translator, Revelation of Love, Julian of Norwich (Doubleday, NY, 1996), 96.
Raised Roman Catholic, I went to Catholic school for 8 years, during which time, and by the example of my nuns and mentors, I built a strong spiritual muscle for obedience. I’m not talking about the systematic dismantling of free will or coerced compliance with church doctrine. I’m talking about learning to trust in the experience of the mentor and/or the tradition of the Church and allowing that to support me regarding something I needed to work out for myself spiritually, theologically, etc., giving myself time and space to do that.
In my experience, a healthy relationship with obedience will include a bit of faithful disobedience. I had the advantage of having a Latina mother, the daughter of immigrants from Puerto Rico and Spain. My mother converted to Roman Catholicism during the time I was being prepared for First Holy Communion. As a result, we studied the Baltimore Catechism together, memorizing the answers to a litany of questions, e.g., Q: Who made you? A: God made me. Q: Why did God make you? A: God made me to show forth His goodness and to share His everlasting happiness in heaven.
As my mother and I memorized the answers to what seemed to me, as a 6 year old child, a million questions, we would come upon questions which had answers to which we weren’t inclined to assent. In true Latina fashion, my mother’s faith was more concerned with redemption than doctrine, so regarding those questions and answers, my mother would say, “You don’t have to believe that. Just memorize the answer in case the bishop calls on you.”
Early on, therefore, I learned to approach the institutional church with a measure of faithful disobedience. My mother allowed me space to grow into my spiritual maturity over time, in prayerful conversation with God. I was free to prayerfully ponder and explore, rather than simply accept, church doctrines.
Five decades later, and having the benefit of a seminary education (Yea, Sewanee’s right!), I now know that the word we translate as “obey” derives from words in Greek, Hebrew, and Latin that mean “to listen” – but more than that, “obey” in these ancient languages, seeks that we listen AND respond to what we hear. If we are listening for the word or the will of God, then, our obedience calls for our attention followed by some kind response.
This is affirmed for me in my prayer life which has been rich and conversational since my childhood. God has been accessible to me as have the saints, my friends in heaven. As a result, I’ve given great importance to prayer time as part of my every day, even as life got busier and time got shorter. I don’t pray out of duty or fear, though, but from inner divine prompting. God calls to me first. When I call out to God it isn’t so that God might wave a divine wand and fix what I say is broken or wrong (in the way I want it fixed); it’s for God to show me how to be in the will of God as I enter the moment facing me – or the day, or the season. It’s because I’m scared, or I don’t know how to proceed, or I know the voice of my will is drowning out God’s voice. Prayer is one gateway for me to the grace of obedience: hearing and responding to God.
I know that in the frailty of my humanity, I simply can’t see the big picture of my life, my place in the world and in human history – but God can. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” (Isa 55:8) Still, at times, I choose not to obey.
Does my disobedience make God mad? I don’t know. What I do know is this: “God is not wroth” as Julian of Norwich said.* Wrath is a human response to helplessness, disappointment, shame, or humiliation. Each time I set out on a path not of God’s choosing, God gently and very clearly re-routes me. I can repent and be re-routed, or be stubborn and resist. The choice is always mine.
I have noticed, however, that my body responds according to my choice. A felt lack of peace, expressed in my body as tension in my throat or chest, or tightness in my stomach, is present each time I set out in disobedience. Peace and wellbeing are restored in my body each time I relent and trust. This has taught me that my disobedience is: a) known to me; b) not good for me; and c) does not separate me from the love of God for me, just as St. Paul promised. (Ro 8:39)
In the Genesis story, Adam and Eve learned that there were real consequences from their choice to disobey. In the very next verse, however, God sewed clothing for Adam and Eve, covering their shame and humiliation. Then God sent them into the world “knowing good and evil.” (Gen 3:22) We know good and evil, and we know when we are choosing to disobey, no matter how well we’ve justified or defended our choice. We know.
We also know that forgiveness is ours for the asking. As the prophet Isaiah says, “let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isa 55:7) In case anyone doubts that could be true – and many of us do doubt the lavishness of God’s love for us – Jesus made clear that his sacrifice was for our forgiveness: “Then, he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mt 26:27)
As long as we live, we will have to reckon with the voice of the tempter, but the steadfast love of God will gently, clearly, and always guide us back to the path of life. Our choice and our challenge is to obey.
*John Skinner, Editor and translator, Revelation of Love, Julian of Norwich (Doubleday, NY, 1996), 96.
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Feast of Christ the King, 2016: "Father forgive"
Lectionary: Jeremiah 23:1-6; Canticle 16; Colossians 1:11-20; Luke 23:33-43
Preacher: The Rev Dr Valori Mulvey Sherer, as supply at St. Francis Episcopal Church, Rutherfordton, NC.
(Note: if the above doesn't work on your devise, please click HERE)
En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King, sometimes called the Reign of Christ. This date stands between the long, green season after Pentecost and Advent. On this day we stop to consider what it means when we say that Jesus is our King.
As people who have the freedom of a democratic republic in our DNA, the term “King” can be a bit of a disconnect for us. For the ancient Jews, the King was a Shepherd… think David – and the role of the Shepherd is to love, protect, and guide the flock (the people of God).
But kings are human, and Jeremiah acknowledges some of the kings weren’t very good. There was bad leadership and it had consequences. But Jeremiah promises that the redeeming love of God is greater than all of that and is a certainty; and he says all we have to do is remain faithful and God will restore the king, and us, and everything else to right relationship. That’s what righteousness is.
Then there is that beautiful Canticle, #16, the song of Zechariah, and it’s a song of praise about God who sends a Savior to set the people free , to worship without fear, in holiness and righteousness, all the days of their lives. The letter to the church at Colossae clarifies that this savior, the one promised, is Jesus, the Son of God, the head of the church, the fullness of God (fully human, fully divine), who reconciled all things to himself, in heaven and on earth. So it might make a little more sense now, that our gospel for this day comes from the passion – the crucifixion - because this is where the very notion of kingship is transformed.
Great kings in our salvation history, like David, brought peace and harmony, but none has brought eternal redemption except for Jesus, our King; and he did it in a way that no one saw coming. It wasn’t by being a great ruler, or a great warrior, but by the forgiveness of sin.
I want to pause for a moment to discuss what “sin” is and what sin isn’t. Most of us talk about sin as those things we do that are wrong or harmful. That’s partly right. Theologian Karl Barth talks about sin as a state of separation – separation from God, separation from one another. In that state of separation we do things that are wrong and harmful.
So, it’s kind of like the disease versus the symptoms. We know there is a disease by the presence of its symptoms. We can treat the symptoms, but unless we cure the disease, we aren’t healed.
That’s why Jesus brought us redemption by the forgiveness of sin, by bringing down all barriers that separate us from God and one another. And he demonstrated this over and over in his ministry, and also, on the cross. Remember the story of the healing of the man born blind? Remember the people asked Jesus, ‘Who sinned, they asked, this man or his parents?” Think of how they thought about sin. Or the woman caught in adultery… Everyone was ready to stone her and Jesus says, ‘the one who is without sin can cast the first stone,’ and they all walked away.
Jesus didn’t just treat the symptoms, he cured the disease. This is our King. In his most miserable, painful, humiliating moment as a human, Jesus prayed, and his prayer takes our breath away: “Father, forgive them…”
At our most miserable moments, when we are being unfairly treated, when those with power over us are acting corruptly, is this our prayer?
When I was studying for my doctorate, I went to England and studied over there for a while. I went to a place called the Cathedral at Coventry. Coventry England is a place that was bombed during WWII because it held arsenal. The cathedral was destroyed in an attack. When you go to the cathedral now, you see that they didn’t clear away the rubble, the shell of the original cathedral; they simply built the new cathedral and attached them with a walkway. So it’s one cathedral: the bombed out shell and the new place of worship; and every day at noon they hold a prayer service in the bombed out shell. It’s a very powerful experience.
When you walk into the new cathedral, the very first thing you see, built into the tile on the floor, are these words: “Father forgive.” I can still feel in my body the power of the first moment I saw that.
Anyone who’s been awake or watching the news the last few weeks, might have noticed that our beloved human family is sorely “divided and enslaved by sin.” I don’t just mean our election, I mean the whole world. Look at the news.
In our effort to address this discomfort, we often react like the soldiers and the criminal who call upon Jesus to save himself. Make this pain go away. Take a pill. Kill an enemy. Eat chocolate. Do whatever it takes – just make it stop… And sometimes we can… for a while, but we’ve only addressed the symptom. The disease remains.
More importantly, we’ve reacted to ourselves. Our attention is focused on us – our discomfort, our vision of how things are supposed to be.
Ironically, Jesus’ attention was on us too. As Jesus was dying on that cross, he certainly had the power to make it stop, to make it go away, but his attention wasn’t on himself. It was on us – all of us – humanity… then, now and forever more.
As he hung on that cross, the soldiers mocked him. The religious leaders scoffed at him – his own church family scoffed at him. Even one of the criminals derided him. Yet, Jesus forgave them, freely giving them the same freedom from the sin he gave all of us.
This is what Christ our King does. He forgives, and by doing so, he has “set us on a course that will bring all of us together again under God’s gracious rule.” (Collect of the Day)
Unity in the wholeness of God. That is our cure, and our King has already given it to us. Now it’s up to us to live as if that’s true.
It isn’t easy, given that we live in what we church-folk call the “already but not yet.” Christ has already come, forgiveness is already ours, but the reconciliation of the whole world to God is not yet complete.
Oscar Cullmann said it like this, “Christ's Incarnation was like the Normandy invasion that set in motion forces that would lead to victory more than a year later. In the interim many battles would be fought and many soldiers would die. We, like the soldiers who lived in that interim, are living in the interim between the cross and Jesus' final victory. We should not expect life to be easy (Source).”
Well that’s true, but I also hope we also don’t forget to follow the example of our King. Are we not followers of Christ? Think about Jesus’ whole life. He partied hearty with his friends. Even as he tended to the symptoms of the disease around him , he played, he visited friends, he made wine like crazy! Any he showed us how to live our lives by doing that.
Granted, we have lots of work to do attending to the symptoms around us while we wait faithfully for God to work the whole cure. We must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the lonely, and set free those who are imprisoned - by anything: addictions, oppression, self-hate, poverty, powerlessness… whatever imprisons someone.
We must raise up the lowly and invite into the kingdom of God those whom the world exclude. But we must also cherish our family and spend time with our friends. We must learn to remember to play with our dogs and let the gentle purring of our cats sooth our weary souls.
We must listen to the stories of our elders, and receive the wisdom that comes from the innocence of our children. We must stop to notice the super moon and let the artistry of a sunrise awaken our soul.
As we navigate these next weeks, months, and years, we must refuse to let ideology, politics, or any other thing , separate us any further from one another and from our faith in the redeeming love of God.
We are not put on this earth to save ourselves. That’s been done – Jesus did it!
Our Baptism calls us, instead, to continue the reconciling work of Jesus our King until the whole world recognizes its citizenship in the kingdom of God and lives as one body, one spirit in Christ.
It’s the kind of work that will take a village – or as we call it, a church. We need one another, and we need to share the nourishment of Word and Sacrament regularly together because that what strengthens us and unite us. We need to eat together and pray together, and play together. We even need to disagree together. Church is where we learn and practice forgiveness so that we can take it out into the world, beyond these walls, because as you know, our world remains divided and enslaved by sin.
As poet Mary Oliver said, “I tell you this to break your heart, by which I mean only that it break open and never close again to the rest of the world.”
Amen.
Preacher: The Rev Dr Valori Mulvey Sherer, as supply at St. Francis Episcopal Church, Rutherfordton, NC.
(Note: if the above doesn't work on your devise, please click HERE)
En el nombre del Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.
Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King, sometimes called the Reign of Christ. This date stands between the long, green season after Pentecost and Advent. On this day we stop to consider what it means when we say that Jesus is our King.
But kings are human, and Jeremiah acknowledges some of the kings weren’t very good. There was bad leadership and it had consequences. But Jeremiah promises that the redeeming love of God is greater than all of that and is a certainty; and he says all we have to do is remain faithful and God will restore the king, and us, and everything else to right relationship. That’s what righteousness is.
Then there is that beautiful Canticle, #16, the song of Zechariah, and it’s a song of praise about God who sends a Savior to set the people free , to worship without fear, in holiness and righteousness, all the days of their lives. The letter to the church at Colossae clarifies that this savior, the one promised, is Jesus, the Son of God, the head of the church, the fullness of God (fully human, fully divine), who reconciled all things to himself, in heaven and on earth. So it might make a little more sense now, that our gospel for this day comes from the passion – the crucifixion - because this is where the very notion of kingship is transformed.
Great kings in our salvation history, like David, brought peace and harmony, but none has brought eternal redemption except for Jesus, our King; and he did it in a way that no one saw coming. It wasn’t by being a great ruler, or a great warrior, but by the forgiveness of sin.
I want to pause for a moment to discuss what “sin” is and what sin isn’t. Most of us talk about sin as those things we do that are wrong or harmful. That’s partly right. Theologian Karl Barth talks about sin as a state of separation – separation from God, separation from one another. In that state of separation we do things that are wrong and harmful.
So, it’s kind of like the disease versus the symptoms. We know there is a disease by the presence of its symptoms. We can treat the symptoms, but unless we cure the disease, we aren’t healed.
That’s why Jesus brought us redemption by the forgiveness of sin, by bringing down all barriers that separate us from God and one another. And he demonstrated this over and over in his ministry, and also, on the cross. Remember the story of the healing of the man born blind? Remember the people asked Jesus, ‘Who sinned, they asked, this man or his parents?” Think of how they thought about sin. Or the woman caught in adultery… Everyone was ready to stone her and Jesus says, ‘the one who is without sin can cast the first stone,’ and they all walked away.
Jesus didn’t just treat the symptoms, he cured the disease. This is our King. In his most miserable, painful, humiliating moment as a human, Jesus prayed, and his prayer takes our breath away: “Father, forgive them…”
At our most miserable moments, when we are being unfairly treated, when those with power over us are acting corruptly, is this our prayer?
When I was studying for my doctorate, I went to England and studied over there for a while. I went to a place called the Cathedral at Coventry. Coventry England is a place that was bombed during WWII because it held arsenal. The cathedral was destroyed in an attack. When you go to the cathedral now, you see that they didn’t clear away the rubble, the shell of the original cathedral; they simply built the new cathedral and attached them with a walkway. So it’s one cathedral: the bombed out shell and the new place of worship; and every day at noon they hold a prayer service in the bombed out shell. It’s a very powerful experience.
When you walk into the new cathedral, the very first thing you see, built into the tile on the floor, are these words: “Father forgive.” I can still feel in my body the power of the first moment I saw that.
Anyone who’s been awake or watching the news the last few weeks, might have noticed that our beloved human family is sorely “divided and enslaved by sin.” I don’t just mean our election, I mean the whole world. Look at the news.
In our effort to address this discomfort, we often react like the soldiers and the criminal who call upon Jesus to save himself. Make this pain go away. Take a pill. Kill an enemy. Eat chocolate. Do whatever it takes – just make it stop… And sometimes we can… for a while, but we’ve only addressed the symptom. The disease remains.
More importantly, we’ve reacted to ourselves. Our attention is focused on us – our discomfort, our vision of how things are supposed to be.
Ironically, Jesus’ attention was on us too. As Jesus was dying on that cross, he certainly had the power to make it stop, to make it go away, but his attention wasn’t on himself. It was on us – all of us – humanity… then, now and forever more.
As he hung on that cross, the soldiers mocked him. The religious leaders scoffed at him – his own church family scoffed at him. Even one of the criminals derided him. Yet, Jesus forgave them, freely giving them the same freedom from the sin he gave all of us.
This is what Christ our King does. He forgives, and by doing so, he has “set us on a course that will bring all of us together again under God’s gracious rule.” (Collect of the Day)
Unity in the wholeness of God. That is our cure, and our King has already given it to us. Now it’s up to us to live as if that’s true.
It isn’t easy, given that we live in what we church-folk call the “already but not yet.” Christ has already come, forgiveness is already ours, but the reconciliation of the whole world to God is not yet complete.
Oscar Cullmann said it like this, “Christ's Incarnation was like the Normandy invasion that set in motion forces that would lead to victory more than a year later. In the interim many battles would be fought and many soldiers would die. We, like the soldiers who lived in that interim, are living in the interim between the cross and Jesus' final victory. We should not expect life to be easy (Source).”
Well that’s true, but I also hope we also don’t forget to follow the example of our King. Are we not followers of Christ? Think about Jesus’ whole life. He partied hearty with his friends. Even as he tended to the symptoms of the disease around him , he played, he visited friends, he made wine like crazy! Any he showed us how to live our lives by doing that.
Granted, we have lots of work to do attending to the symptoms around us while we wait faithfully for God to work the whole cure. We must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the lonely, and set free those who are imprisoned - by anything: addictions, oppression, self-hate, poverty, powerlessness… whatever imprisons someone.
We must raise up the lowly and invite into the kingdom of God those whom the world exclude. But we must also cherish our family and spend time with our friends. We must learn to remember to play with our dogs and let the gentle purring of our cats sooth our weary souls.
We must listen to the stories of our elders, and receive the wisdom that comes from the innocence of our children. We must stop to notice the super moon and let the artistry of a sunrise awaken our soul.
As we navigate these next weeks, months, and years, we must refuse to let ideology, politics, or any other thing , separate us any further from one another and from our faith in the redeeming love of God.
We are not put on this earth to save ourselves. That’s been done – Jesus did it!
Our Baptism calls us, instead, to continue the reconciling work of Jesus our King until the whole world recognizes its citizenship in the kingdom of God and lives as one body, one spirit in Christ.
It’s the kind of work that will take a village – or as we call it, a church. We need one another, and we need to share the nourishment of Word and Sacrament regularly together because that what strengthens us and unite us. We need to eat together and pray together, and play together. We even need to disagree together. Church is where we learn and practice forgiveness so that we can take it out into the world, beyond these walls, because as you know, our world remains divided and enslaved by sin.
As poet Mary Oliver said, “I tell you this to break your heart, by which I mean only that it break open and never close again to the rest of the world.”
Amen.
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