“Family Hold Back Turned Inside Out” Proper 12, Yr B July 26, 2015

+“Family hold back,” was a familiar refrain in my family. My parents entertained a lot and often, before a dinner party, Mom would say something like, “I don’t think we made enough potatoes, so family, hold back.” In the Dempesy family culture there was nothing as horrifying as the thought that our guests wouldn’t have enough to eat, so no matter what, “family, hold back!” Of course, I never remember a time when there wasn’t enough food for everyone around the table. Never. Yet, still, to this day, when Mom cooks dinner she’ll invariably warn us to “hold back, there might not be enough.” When I reflect on my upbringing, this fear of scarcity was a major focus. My mother then, and my mother now, is afraid that there simply won’t be enough. I’m happy to say that in recent months, perhaps it’s her winning the staring contest with death, perhaps it’s better living through pharmaceuticals, or perhaps a combination of both, that scarcity drumbeat appears to be slowing.
Mom would have fit right in with Philip in today’s gospel who, when asked by Jesus to provide food for the gathered 5,000, immediately looks at the whole situation from a stance of scarcity—there’s no way! It will cost too much!! It’s impossible!
Now Andrew, at least he’s noticed the boy with the barley loaves and two fish…but even after that discovery of possibility, Andrew falls into scarcity and pessimism—what good will that meager amount be with ALL THESE PEOPLE?
Now in Jesus’ time, the middle classes, the wealthy, the Greek merchants and the Roman occupiers all ate wheat bread – the poor ate bread made from barley. So this boy was not well to do…he was just another peasant whose barley loaf and fish was, most likely, dinner for his family. So how was it that this person, this boy, came to share his food with 5,000 people?
Did he shyly tug at Andrew’s elbow and say, “It’s not much but the Teacher can have it.”  Did he sit off in a corner with his lunch under his cloak, occasionally sneaking a bite before he was spotted by Andrew, who then said, “You need to share that.”? Or was it something in between?  How was it that the boy decided to share?
Surely the boy had to wonder about what difference his little bit of food would make.  He had to think, “There are so many and I have so little.  All that will happen is I’ll have to go hungry along with everyone else.  Better to keep what’s mine and let the other people take care of themselves.”  
It’s easy to think, “What difference will it make?  I barely have enough for myself, how could I possibly give to others? “There isn’t enough” is a mantra familiar to all of us.
But, instead of never enough, our readings today talk about always enough…and more! They call us to have enough faith in God to share what we have and enough trust in God to fill in the rest.
In 2nd Kings, because of a famine, the traditional offering of first fruits is paltry-- 20 barley loaves and a handful of other fresh grain--- “a family hold back” offering meal if there ever was one! But Elisha doesn’t bat an eye. “Give it to the people.” he says, “The Lord has promised, ‘Eat and there shall be leftovers! ”
Right there, in the midst of scarcity, faith and abundance.
 And again, in today’s Gospel, the boy hands over his meager groceries to Jesus.  And, once again, somehow, someway, God provides.
There’s plenty, more than enough for everyone. Jesus makes a rich feast out of a peasant’s dinner, no one holds back and everyone is filled. PLUS there’s leftovers!
We often think we don’t have much to offer God or the world, either personally or as a congregation. We see ourselves as poor, small, weak, unworthy or otherwise inadequate. We hold back, thinking no one will want what we have, for it’s simply NOT ENOUGH. You know what God says to that?
“Hogwash.”
Ours is a God who takes our little and turns it into a lot.  We often try to hang on to what we have because we don’t really trust God’s promise that if we turn everything over to God we’ll be all right, we really will.  Deep down, most of us don’t believe that God will take what we grudgingly, almost reluctantly, hand over and turn it into more than we ever imagined possible.
But God has done and will do just that.
God doesn’t really want our treasure, God wants our trust.
God doesn’t really want our finances, God wants our faith.
 God doesn’t really want our things, God wants us.
God wants us to let go of everything else and truly believe that we can rely on the fact that the divine and holy love that made our universe also made us and that this immense love, a love “that is beyond all knowledge,” (Ephesians 3:19) will provide for us and will use us to provide for others.
It might not seem like 20 kids in Eaton camp will make a dent in the pervasive system of poverty in our region but Pete and Barb and Nancy and Andrea and Gloria and I are here to say it has.
It might not seem like a congregation of 20 people at Ascension could make an impact on this diocese and this city, but the pet food pantry has been replicated 4 times (and counting) in this diocese...plus we have distributed some 7 tons of pet food in 4 years…plus I get A LOT of phone calls asking me how it is that Ascension was brave enough to let go of their building and GS was gracious enough to share theirs.
It might not seem like a handful of people sorting books and serving breakfast to the kids at school 54 can make a difference; or 15 people giving blood would be enough to save 45 lives; or that 8 stalwart volunteers in our food pantry could possibly provide 60,000 meals a year…but guess what?
When we trust in God, when we have faith in God, when we love God enough to give all that we are and all that we have, “family hold back” is turned inside out and upside down and suddenly, from our meager and simple offering, there’s enough. And then some.
Amen.

We are the smelly, stubborn, not all that bright sheep Proper 11 Yr B July 19, 2015

The 23rd Psalm is one of those pieces of scripture we can easily quote. But when was the last time you spent anytime with it, considering just what it’s telling us, here, today?
The Lord is our shepherd. A shepherd never ever gives up on the sheep. No matter how whiny, smelly and stupid they are. Now I don’t know a lot about sheep , but I do know this, they aren’t very smart. Not at all. They get themselves into problems ALL THE TIME. They get into bramble from which they need to be carefully and lovingly extracted. They get lost as they wander around, seeking a greener pasture, a larger pool of water, a more exciting herd…when they find themselves lost they panic, baaing and bleating with a despair and longing that pierces the heart of the shepherd.
The shepherd never lets the sheep go without. The shepherd will not stop until every sheep is fed, watered and secured for the night. The shepherd makes sure that the burdens befalling each every sheep are lifted, the shepherd guards them, protects them and nurtures them.
The shepherd takes the sheep and MAKES them lie down in green pastures. The shepherd leads the sheep to still and luscious waters. Sometimes this is hard. Sheep are often uncooperative. Stubborn. Bull-headed, anxious to do what they think is best for them. But the shepherd, the shepherd uses whatever means possible to get the sheep to finally relent so that they can get the rest and refreshment they need to face come what may.
The Shepherd revives the soul of her sheep by guiding them—again often by any means necessary----along right pathways, good roads, in a direction toward light and life and love instead of the road of despair and darkness and fear.
Sometimes sheep face horrific terror: predators, drought, loss, danger. The shepherd, even when the sheep have found themselves deep within the valley of death and horror and anger and hate and loss, has his staff extended, a lifeline for the sheep, for when the crook of that staff, the length of that powerful arm of love reaches the sheep, and the sheep stop fighting it, no evil in the world---human made or nature made, will conquer them. For that rod and staff of the shepherd? It comforts, it shelters, it secures. In that grasp, all will be well.
The shepherd, marvelous as she is, spreads a feast before her sheep….the shepherd, always aware of the enemy the devil who is lurking about, spreads this feast just out of the reach of those who wish the sheep harm. Remember that rod and that staff, they keep the darkness away, they shield the flock from harm so that in joyous community, the sheep may lay their burdens down and feast on the gift of love. The sheep, when they relinquish their false sense of control, find their very beings covered in sweet oil and their “cup” overflowing with blessing. The sheep when they turn in full surrender to the loving direction of the shepherd, find themselves in a peace and security not known since they rested in their mother’s womb.
The problem with sheep, though, is that their memory stinks. They are very good forgetters. And so that’s what they do.
They forget.
They wander off.
They get mired in the bramble.
They get lost.
They resist getting found.
They get angry
Belligerent even.
And then?
Then they get sad.
Really sad.
And scared.
Really scared.
And then?
The shepherd shows up.
Well, actually, the shepherd has always been there, searching, reaching out, longing to have the sheep follow his call.
In the end, in the happy ending version of this story, the sheep end up listening. They end up hearing and they follow the call of the Shepherd. They respond to her voice, they find their way home.
Our Lord, our God is, of course, our shepherd. And we? Obviously, we are the sheep.
We are the smelly, stubborn, not all that bright sheep.
We’re lost.
We’re stuck.
We’re scared.
But just around the corner, just up beyond the hill, lies a green pasture of lusciousness and joy beyond anything we can fathom.
We’re lost.
We’re stuck.
We’re scared.
But just around the corner, just beyond the hill, is a pond of still clear waters the likes of which you’ve never seen or tasted--water so refreshing it quenches thirsts you never even knew you had.
We’re lost
We’re stuck
We’re scared
But, just around the corner, just beyond the hill, is a table spread with a manna that is heaven sent. Holy food for holy and blessed people. A food that, when we eat of it, satisfies hungers previously unknown, hungers previously so deep, so sharp, so seemingly un-fillable we long ago gave up seeking to be sated.
Even though the average American has far more ‘stuff’ than in any other time in our history, so many of us live pretty empty lives. We run from our homes to our jobs to the gym or our second jobs or our elderly parent’s house or or or….but at the end of the day when we stop to search for meaning and for hope and for joy, too many of us come up empty- handed…not because meaning, hope and joy aren’t available to us, but because we are so often too lost, too scared and too stuck to notice.
The truth is, the Lord is our shepherd and we are God’s sometimes smelly, often stubborn and really not all that bright, sheep.
May we take the 23rd psalm to heart and  
may we find our way back to the fold over smooth pathways, straight roads and verdant valleys.
For the good news is, the great news is this:
 the Lord is our Shepherd and we shall never ever want.
Amen and Alleluia.

God's Like. Proper 10, Yr B July 12, 2015

+We’ve all seen it, some of us have done it, some of us have had it done to us. A parent and child are in the grocery store and the child is engaged in a full blown, foot stomping, ear piercing, temper tantrum. The parent, displaying amazing restraint, says, “You know I love you, but right now I don’t like you very much.”
In most cases, the love of a parent for a child is unconditional….but the like? Oh that’s conditional…there are times we really don’t like the people we love.
Is God, as the ultimate parent, any different? I don’t think so. I know God loves us, but I’m not sure God likes us all the time.
Consider our reading from Amos.
The visions Amos had were clear: God was none too happy with Israel. Established ramrod straight as if on a plumb line the people had gone askew and God, well God was disappointed, angry and perhaps at wit’s end. Right then, God didn’t like God’s people too much.
So God sends this tree dresser, this gardener, a regular guy out to tell the truth: God loves you but God sure doesn’t like you so much right now. And as the reading tells us, “the land couldn’t cope with everything he was saying.” Or, in an older translation, “the land couldn’t bear all his words.”
The people didn’t like what they heard. The people liked being loved, but they didn’t like being held accountable.
 Sometimes it’s really hard to accept love—because with love comes great responsibility, responsibility to nurture that love, to respect it and to heed its demands. So the Israelites shut Amos out, despising and rejecting him— they truly couldn’t bear the message being shared …they didn’t want to hear that with God’s love comes expectation. They didn’t accept that Love is a two way street.
Today’s Gospel gives us another glimpse into what happens when we, as recipients of God’s great Love fail to live up to our end of the bargain.

Herod is a sad sap. Now remember this isn’t the Herod of the nativity story, that Herod was ruthless and sure of himself. This Herod? Not so sure of himself. And even though he was attracted to John’s message he didn’t follow John as he may have wanted  because, although Herod was King, he most certainly didn’t wear the pants in the family, so although John’s words made his heart burn, fear of his wife made his very being quake so instead of following John, Herod is manipulated by his wife and ends up giving her what she wanted: John’s head on a platter. At that moment, in that situation, Herod had a choice, follow the Love of God as he received it through the words of John or follow his pride and his social standing to adhere to his manipulative and vengeful wife’s hatred.
By denying what he was feeling about John Herod has rejected God. Herod has taken God’s love and simply said, ‘no thank you.”
How often do we choose to save face only to break God’s heart?
The Israelites of Amos’ time did it, Herod did it and you and I do it.
We love God. We know God loves us…but that love so easily fades to the  background when we’re faced with the “expectations” of this world, the “expectations” of our own social circle, the “expectations” of our family. How often do we choose the “socially expected” way, the way that will make the fewest waves, cause the least amount of relationship strain instead of the way of God?
When we do that, God doesn’t like us too much.
When we cross the street to avoid the homeless person, God doesn’t like us too much. God doesn’t expect us to give them money, God simply expects us to look them in the eye and to treat them as the human being—the beloved child of God they are.
When we hear someone demeaning the dignity of another human being based on the color of their skin, the name they call their God or the gender of their beloved and we fail to confront that person for their intolerance and hate, God doesn’t like us too much.
When we participate in the destruction of this, our glorious planet, when we are too lazy to recycle, to cheap to demand our food be produced in environmentally sound ways, when we drive bigger and bigger cars, regardless of the cost to earth, God doesn’t like us very much.
When we fail to confront the loved one whose self-destructive behavior is destroying everything good in their world, God doesn’t like us very much.
When we fail to do one of the simplest things we can do to give life to another, by giving blood and by being an organ donor, God doesn’t like us too much.
With love comes great responsibility. To truly love God and to fully accept God’s love of us, we must make the difficult choices, we must speak the hard to hear words.
Herod couldn’t do that—even when face to face with a prophet, face to face with a messenger from God, his heart burning with a recognition that this man brought him something no amount of fame fortune power or prestige could give him couldn’t do that. He rejected the love of God and killed the messenger, all for a few moments of temporal glory and family peace.
Israel in the days Amos, wouldn’t accept God’s love. They doubted, they feared they lost their faith and in so doing, they made God mad. Not mad enough to remove God’s love, but mad enough to make them mighty uncomfortable . God still loved them, but they were too caught up in the here and now to remember that love and to spread it.
We’re no different.
With God’s love comes great expectations. We must let our hearts burn with recognition, we must set out to love and serve the Lord in all we do. We must gather here proclaiming God’s love and then leave here showing the world that love in all that we do and with all whom we meet.
 For this is what God likes, a people who know they are loved and in turn love each other in God’s name. When we do that, not only will we be loved, but we’ll also be liked.
Amen.

Notes for my remarks regarding General Convention 78

It is good to be home again.
But, as I think Jesus learned in today's Gospel, leaving home is helpful
--- it changes one's perspective
-----Giving one fresh eyes

And sometimes, when you return home after being gone, you've changed, but home still sees you as you've always been.
And therein lies the conflict and the challenge....you are full of new ideas, you are different.
But folks see you as you've always been.
General convention is a bit homecoming and a bit entering a new land.
You catch up with old friends--- I saw Paul Lillie, seminary friends, folks from Chicago and in one instance someone I've known for over 40 years--- and you make new.
You see these old friends in a different light and you consider your new friends in a unique light--- that of being among several thousand other Episcopalians!
General convention changed our church
And it changed my life
Just as it should!

First of all, being anywhere where episcopalians make up the majority is awesome.
Everywhere we went in SLC there was a sign, welcoming us! They were happy to have us.

Secondly, everyone was really happy.
Now remember we are not of one mind----(table)
But we are of one God
And at GC that really comes through
We truly are a church of via media....the middle way....and everyone must adapt, adjust, bend to create a unified whole

Not so easy for those on the far edges

But everyone worked very hard at it.

So,let take you through what we did as we took the councils of the church for 10 days:

Budget.... Diocesan asking will go down by 2019, but by streamlining some things we should be able to do this without significant cuts. (iPads)

----PB election

Liturgical revision:
BCP
HYMNAL
NAME CHANGE LITURGY
REGULARIZING THE IRREGULAR
DISCUSSION ABOUT BAPTISM

Alcohol use in congregations
Many other "inside baseball" issues that can be tedious but will affect us at the parish level in due time.

We are a people of representative governance. You elect, we represent and on we go.
It's an amazing thing.

And then there is the worship!!! Wow.

Get up girl!!

It's not that hard to find lost sheep...without the lost sheep and the beggars we are nothing but a museum

Music. Dancing. Praising God in many forms and in different languages.

But of course, overarching the whole experience were three events--- one national and two church wide---
Which will change many lives for generations

Supreme Court marriage equality

+Michael

Church marriage equality



Structure



But as Presiding Bishop elect reminded us, we are a Jesus people and Jesus people are committed to making disciples of the whole world

I don't care who you are,
how the Lord has made you,
what the world has to say about you,
if you've been baptized into Jesus
you're in the Jesus Movement and your God's.

As he died to make folk holy
Let us live to set them free
While God is marching on.
Glory.
Glory, hallelujah.
God's truth is marching on.
Now go.

~The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry,
Presiding Bishop - Elect

*****************************************************************************

At the 4:30 service I worked off these notes:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—

Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

From June 24-July 3, as we gathered Episcopalians from far and wide we witnessed the fundamental truth of these statements come to fruition in our country and in our church. 

And it was awesome. 

We did a lot of work—much of it the “inside baseball” of church polity and structure—all good but not immediately germane to our life together. 

And then, as I was sitting in a committee meeting the text message I’ll never forget came through on my phone---the Supreme Court had voted 5-4 for marriage equality. Suddenly I and so many people I know, knew that our marriages were not only “valid” in the eyes of the state they were, at that very moment, the law of the land. Suddenly Pete and I, along with thousands of others were full citizens. 

And then we did some really bold things:

We elected the first African American to hold the office of Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church---Michael Bruce Curry, a prophet, an evangelist and a born leader. We are blessed to call Michael ours as he was raised at St Phil. 

The electricity around his election, the power of the Holy Spirit as the Bishop’s elected---in a landslide and on the first ballot---him and then we, in the House of Deputies, confirmed their choice---was incredible. 

And then we did some other business…like opening the way for other churches to experiment with liturgy as we do here….we decreased the tax levied on dioceses….we addressed issues of alcohol abuse among the clergy and in many of our parishes….we talked about divestment of investments that feed the hatred of Palestinians in Israel….we voted to make a plan fro the revision of the 1979 BCP and the 1982 Hymnal. We did a lot of work. 

And then the Holy Spirit did her thing again and in four momentous votes---two in the HOB and two in the HOD---we stated, once and for all, that all people are free to be married in our churches and that the sexual orientation of those people, or the gender identity of those people DOES NOT MATTER. That what matters is Love and that once and for all in our church—the church Pete and I were born into and love----those whom God has brought together, let NO ONE put asunder. In other words, ---all people---in this country and in our church, are created equal---ain’t nobody gonna mess with out marriage.

Two hymns best exemplify the feeling of General Convention and the supreme court decision of last week ---

Lift Every Voice and Sing and The Battle Hymn of the Republic---

Lift Every Voice and Sing 

Lift every voice and sing

till earth and heaven ring,

ring with the harmonies of liberty.

Today, my friends, this is true.

Later in the hymn we sing:

God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

My brothers and sisters in Christ, for years, for decades, for generations, for millennia, many of us have felt weary and have shed gallons of silent tears.

But now…now those tears have turned from those of weary separation into tears of unbounded joy….

But here’s the thing---whenever the oppression of one is ended it is incumbent upon those who once were lost but are now found to go out and find the lost sheep of this world, the despairing, the hopeless and the terrified an to bring them back into the fold. Our current presiding Bishop, in her sermon to us last Sunday told us that it was time to get up and get out into the world, spreading the Good News of God to all whom we encounter. This may be old news to us at Ascension, but it is very new news to much of our church and it was refreshing to hear it from the Presiding Bishop and then, this past Friday we heard a riveting sermon from our Presiding Bishop-elect who picking up on the theme of inclusion and going out into the world, making disciples of the nations, ended his sermon with this adaptation of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, one of my favorite hymns of all time:

I don't care who you are,

how the Lord has made you,

what the world has to say about you,

if you've been baptized into Jesus

you're in the Jesus Movement and you’re God's.

As he died to make folk holy

Let us live to set them free

While God is marching on.

Glory.

Glory, hallelujah.

God's truth is marching on.

Now go.

~The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry,

Presiding Bishop – Elect

So yes, much was accomplished at the GC but there is much more to do until all peoples—all peoples---will, in joy and thanksgiving lift their voices in a unified hymn of praise to the one God who loves all of us, no exceptions.