5 Grafted Upon Our Hearts Proper 17c Aug 28, 2016 St John’s Grace

m+I love today’s “prayer of the day,” Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
But then I loved it even more after I read the lesson from the prophet Jeremiah… in this reading the grafting of love takes on a new dimension, here God is bereft. God’s sad and a little angry---“why did your ancestors abandon me? Why do you love these gods of human composition more than you love me---the source of all love, the creator of all things, the maker of humankind? Why don’t you love me?”
Now a more cynical person may wonder why God gives a rat’s patoot about us, after all we’ve done little to bring God joy over the past millennia. But God persists...always striving for us to enter the fullness of creation; that is to be joined, wholly and completely with God.
How is God’s love grafted upon our hearts? How is our love grafted upon God’s?
By being one.
By joining in that crazy dance with God that began on the first day, at the first light, with that first breath. A dance that humanity repeatedly steps out of, much to God’s heartbreak.
It’s a miracle that God has hung in with us this long.
[I guess that’s why God is God and we are…not. ]
Which brings us to today’s Gospel reading about where we should sit at a dinner party…which then leads us to merging onto a highway, what to do with your shopping cart in the Wegmans’ parking lot, and how to live into who it is God want SJG to be! [Yes I’m serious]
Let’s review—Jesus berates those who sat in the places of honor at the dinner party. He’s pretty blunt: “all who exalt themselves will be humbled and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Remember, being humble doesn’t mean being “less than.” It means making sure that your good fortune is not at the expense of another. It means making sure that every human being is respected and that their dignity is intact.
And that’s where merging onto the 33 and where to put your grocery cart comes into play.
Don’t you get frustrated when you’re trying to merge onto the 33 and the cars in the right hand lane won’t let you in? It’s infuriating! Now consider when you’re trying to exit a parking lot onto a busy street, or are again trying to merge onto a highway and a car slows to make sure you can slip into traffic. Nice. It may seem silly, but these are examples of hubris vs. humility…of entitlement—where I need to go in my car is far more important than where you need to go, so I’m going to move along, oblivious of you and your needs----vs--- realizing that we’re all in this together and where you need to go is as important to you as where I need to go …of working with one another vs. working against one another. Of being in community rather than in competition.
OK so what about that grocery cart? There was a meme going around FB this week showing a picture of a grocery cart. The caption read: I don’t know a single successful person that leaves their shopping cart in the middle of the parking lot.
I agree—who’s so important that they don’t have the time to take their shopping cart to the corral? The people who don’t are at best, lazy, or at worst, entitled. Returning your shopping cart so that others aren’t inconvenienced (or their cars aren’t damaged) is an act of common human decency. It’s of being in community rather than being above or beyond community.
The golden rule is clear—we do unto others as we wish done unto us. We’re in this together folks. We get nowhere if we place ourselves before others.
That brings me to SJG. I know you’re trying to find your way, trying to define just who you are. I know there has been some upheaval and some disagreement. I know that some of you are worried. But--and I’m fairly certain Judy has been preaching this for awhile now---your success isn’t about how many people are sitting here each Sunday, it isn’t about how many baptisms or confirmations or even pledging units you have compared to other churches. You’re not in competition with them, nor should you focus on bringing people through these doors.  No YOUR success is in how you, as a community of faith, bring that Love of God--- you know that which God longs to have grafted on our hearts, that which makes your heart sing, that thing that you do, collectively here at SJG that brings you, as a community of faith, closer to God. That thing you do that grafts you unto God and God unto you----bring that to the world around you, to this community of the Elmwood Village.
 What is it that makes you, as a congregation, sing God’s praises the loudest? That’s the thing, that’s the thing that you need to focus on, for when you do the thing that makes your hearts sing, then God’s love is forever grafted upon your hearts and all matter of things shall be well. Amen.

Proper 16 Yr C Aug 21, 2016: Straighten Up and Fly Right, God’s Got This.

+I don’t know too much about horses. But Pete does. She showed horses throughout her childhood and the Olympic equestrian events (along with the Kentucky Derby, The Preakness and The Belmont) are “must see” tv in the Dempesy-Sims’ household. While watching the horse jumping competition this week, I learned a fascinating fact ---horses can’t see directly in front of them. So when they approach the jump, they have to trust their rider to keep them from slamming into the wall. Of course, considering a horse’s anatomy it makes sense that they can’t see straight ahead—after all their eyes are on the side of their head. Now, the horse doesn’t know any differently and if you watch horses you’ll see how they adapt to primarily having peripheral vision.
The woman in today’s gospel can’t see directly in front of herself either. The osteoporosis from which she suffers has caused her to be so bent that her view of the world is confined to the ground directly below her. To see the world more broadly requires adaptation: a painful twist of the neck or an arduous lifting of her eyes to see more than the feet of whomever stands directly in front of her.
How many of us only see what is right in front of us? How many of us are so burdened by whatever ails us that all we see is the ground directly below? How many of us are so weighed down by darkness that we fail to see the light surrounding us on every side? How many of us have adapted to all the stress in our lives by just dealing with whatever is right in front of us, missing out on the beauty and opportunity around us?
We don’t need to have eyes on the side of our head, or a spinal deformity to keep our gaze downward, our worldview, narrow. The stress of daily life, the pressure of our jobs, the strife in our families, the worries in our hearts can keep our heads down.
The “bent woman” isn’t looking for Jesus, no doubt she was used to being overlooked by the folks at the synagogue, used to being less than the able bodied people around her. But Jesus? He has a laser focus when it comes to the outcast. When he entered the synagogue he saw her right away, and called her over. Jesus notices the un-noticed, He reaches out to the Other, He touches the untouchables. We don’t know what synagogue this is—what we do know is that he has turned his face toward Jerusalem, so he is traveling along the road that runs from Galilee down through Samaria and into Judea. Along the way Jesus does a lot of teaching, a lot of preaching and quite a bit of healing. So it would be easy, if you were reading the Gospel of Luke straight through, to read this excerpt as just another healing, just another miracle performed by Jesus. But as I spent time with the Gospel this week something more became apparent. You see I don’t read this just as another miraculous healing story …I see it as a story that speaks to each and every one of us as a way forward, a way out from under the burdens weigh us down…the burdens that, as Jesus tells the woman, Satan has laid upon us.
OK, a little bit about Satan...Satan is short hand for the forces of darkness, the forces of evil that exist in this world. It’s clear that the forces of light and goodness, which is God, are in a seemingly endless battle with evil and darkness---Satan. God is all that is good and bright and hopeful and true. Satan is all that is evil and dark and hopeless and false. The forces of darkness are at work in this world, the forces of darkness are at work in our world, in our lives, right now.
Lest you think I’m overstating this, look at how Jesus characterizes the woman in today’s gospel: “whom Satan bound for eighteen long years…” Bound by Satan. While that may sound a bit like something the old Saturday Night Live character, the church lady, might say, it is also true. This world can get so bound by Satan, our own lives can get so bound by Satan….
Paralyzed by fear? That’s Satan.
Unable to forgive? That’s Satan.
Full of doubt? Satan. Full of hopelessness? Satan. Full of despair? Satan. The stuff that weighs us down is Not of God. The hatred that leads to terrorist attacks, the despair that fuels this crazy presidential campaign, the inability to forgive that keeps our families in turmoil comes from darkness, from evil, from Not God.
  But here’s the Good News… no matter how fiercely the darkness tries to envelope us, no matter how hard Satan tries, we have the perfect antidote:  God, the source of all good and of all light. God, who takes our bentness, who takes our downward gaze, who takes all that weighs us down and straightens our backs, raises our eyes, lightens our burden and sets us free.
So this morning, no matter what binds us individually, no matter what binds us collectively----no matter what version of darkness and despair that happens to infect us, it’s temporary, not permanent; it’s curable, not terminal, it’s of this world, not of God’s. So shed what weighs you down, straighten up and look around, and allow yourself to be enveloped in the light, love and wonder that is God. +

Balancing what he knew as divine and what he felt as human. Proper 15 Yr C Aug 14 2016

+Today Jesus is riled up—he’s fed up with the disciples, annoyed with his followers and really stressed about what he’ll face in Jerusalem. He’s on edge, he’s ticked off, he’s scared.
In other words, he’s being really human.
Jesus as God incarnate---God in the flesh---is a cornerstone of our faith. We embrace Jesus the man born to Mary and Joseph, AND Christ the Son of God as two sides of the same being. While this seeming contradiction----being fully human and fully divine----is fundamental to our faith… have you ever stopped to think about how it must have been for Jesus?
How did he balance being fully of God and fully of Mary----how’d he balance what he knew as divine and what he felt as human? Think about it---the human Jesus went through the same developmental milestones we all do--- he may have been colicky! He learned to crawl, to walk, to talk….growing up as we all do….through trial and error…. fits and starts.
While we know very little about Jesus’ childhood and adolescence we do get some glimpses  that suggest Jesus was a fairly normal boy who, as he grew, began to test the limits of his parents. At times he drove them nuts and at times he was positive they didn’t understand him. Yes, my guess is Jesus went through the same growing pains we all do…but…….
how much did he know about who he really was?
In Luke’s Gospel it appears Jesus came to terms with his identity and his fate about three chapters earlier than what we’ve been reading this summer. It’s pretty safe to assume that after his transfiguration in chapter 9, after he famously, “set his face toward Jerusalem (9:51),” Jesus realizes that his message of peace and love was going to be met with fierce and violent opposition and that he would need to fall victim to that violence to fully complete his earthly task…
Such a realization would cause anyone to be a little on edge….
And Jesus, as we’ve read these past few weeks in Luke’s Gospel, is getting pretty edgy.
So today we encounter a Jesus who realizes that his time is short and his task is immense. Today we encounter a Jesus who’s finally come to grips with his identity and doesn’t understand why his followers don’t get it---today we encounter a man having a bit of an identity crisis.
He was anxious, he was stressed …..he was being very human…and if we really believe what we say we believe---that Jesus is the Son of God, born of a human woman, fully human and fully divine…. then we should embrace this Gospel, difficult as it is to hear---not because we want families to be torn apart, not because we support some reign of terror to accompany the end times---but because God so loved us, God came to walk among us, to grow among us and to die among us so that, once and for all we’d know---that we’re never alone.
That’s the purpose of the gospels---this collection of stories, parables and teachings--- proof that we are loved beyond all reason. And that’s good, because being a Christian, as outlined by these same Gospels, isn’t easy.
Discomfort is a big part of Christianity….it is uncomfortable to stand up for what is right when it isn’t popular, it’s uncomfortable to raise your pledge when money seems tight,  it’s uncomfortable to pray for the people you don’t like, the people who wish us harm, the people it would be so much easier to hate.
Christianity, with it’s clear and non-negotiable message of peace and justice for all, demands that we challenge the status quo when that status quo impedes any human being from living life on an equal footing with everyone else, it demands that when we know of injustice we do something to stop it, it demands that when everyone shrugs their shoulders and says, “that’s the way it has always been” we say, “no that’s not acceptable, there’s another way.” Christianity demands that we be the pain in the patoot to the world. Christianity demands that we make ourselves and other people uncomfortable as long as inequality and injustice exists on earth.
Christianity demands much of us.
It’s not easy. And in today’s Gospel Jesus is telling us that being faithful can be very messy, very frustrating, very infuriating and at times pretty darn hard.
But, because we know that God came to live among us, as one of us in the person of Jesus Christ, we also know that, as we stand up for what is right and just, as we fight the good fight against violence and evil, degradation and despair, we’re not alone…
…no matter who might abandon us along the way, no matter who may disagree with what we believe, we’re never alone. We never have been and we never will be.
Because God has been where we are, and then some. Because God, given to us in the person of Jesus Christ knows how hard it is, because God’s felt the anger, the loneliness and the terror which is part of our human condition this Gospel today offers us Good News. Good News that although being a Christian may not be easy, and it may not be popular and it may not always feel good, it’s never ever lonely. And for that we can all say, Amen.

Being Rich Toward God. July 31, Wilson/Burt Proper 13 Yr C

Many years ago I worked with cocaine-exposed children and their mothers. We had a beautiful playroom full of brand new toys. LOTS OF THEM. What we quickly learned is that too many fun shiny toys would completely overwhelm the children. I think the theory holds true for all children, but especially for these cocaine-exposed kids, too much "stuff" stressed them out and caused them to fall apart.

 Life is full of stuff... Stuff that needs our attention. Stuff that distracts, consumes and at times, overwhelms us. 

It seems the more complicated our lives become, the less connection we have with God. 

Riches on earth pull us away, distract us from riches in heaven.

The riches, the STUFF of life pulls so many of us into the rat race of the here and the now that we forget the forever and the eternal. Riches in this life often make us forget our richness in God. 

This Gospel is about being rich toward self vs being rich toward God.

How rich are you toward God?

Okay time for a couple of disclaimers.

First, having stuff, being wealthy, is not a bad thing. Second, we're all wealthy. The United States is the wealthiest nation on earth and to the rest of the world we all, even the poorest among us, are wealthy. So even though it's tempting to, while listening to the parable of the rich fool, as this story is known, to say “well if I was rich I wouldn't behave that way...” we can't say that  because we are rich.

But lots of us don’t feel rich. Many of us feel poor. Which, actually, is at the heart of this Gospel. The man in the parable wants to relax to eat drink and be merry. And he’ll do that just as soon as he builds enough barns. But there’s the rub, he’ll never have enough barns. Because he’ll never feel like he has enough…because he isn’t filling his barn with God, he’s filling his barn with self. He isn’t filling his barn with hope, he’s filling his barn with fear. He isn’t filling his barn with true abundance, he’s filling his barn with a terror of scarcity.

The having of stuff isn't the problem according to Jesus, the distraction it causes, is. 

In the gospel the man who wants Jesus to tell his brother to be fair with the family inheritance has just lost his father. Inheritances only come into play when someone has died and in this case this man, and his brother, have lost their father. But does he come to Jesus seeking  solace? No he comes to Jesus seeking righteous justification. He comes to Jesus to make sure he gets what's his. He comes to Jesus about stuff. About external, material things. He comes to Jesus distracted by “want.”

He’s not looking to fill a spiritual emptiness, he’s looking to fill his barn. 

Having stuff isn't bad. Wanting stuff isn’t bad. Getting distracted by the stuff , being derailed by the want is.

Being rich in cash and goods isn't bad, letting cash and goods block our connection to God, is. 

Being rich isn't bad, being poor toward God is.

Are we rich toward God or are we poor toward God?

I feel rich when I find myself in silence. No phone ringing, no email dinging, no tv or radio blaring.

I feel rich toward God I sit on the back deck and watch the sunrise. 

I feel rich toward God when I put everything else aside and stand behind that altar, celebrating the Eucharist.

I feel rich toward God when I volunteer at the Eaton Summer Reading Camp.

I feel rich toward God when I visit parishes across this diocese and revel in all the work that the parishes engage in, in the name of God.

I feel poor toward God when I forget that this is God’s world, not ours. 

I feel poor toward God when I forget that God’s in charge, not me. 

I feel poor toward God when all that stuff that makes me feel rich toward God gets put on the back burner. 

     This parable isn’t about the evils of having too much. It’s about being driven to distraction as we keep up with all the “stuff” filling our playrooms, our barns, our hearts and souls. It’s about distraction, its’ about all the stuff that keeps us from noticing the love of God and offering love of neighbor. 

This whole section of Luke’s Gospel—what we’ve been reading this summer--- is about what God wants us to value. It’s written to teach us that what matters to God and what should matter to us is that we bring all that we are and all that we to this altar---where we are fed the bread of life and drink from the cup of salvation-- for when we do that, when we stop worrying about stuff and start trusting in God, our barns will be full of something more valuable than stuff and more rewarding than want, our barns, our playrooms,  our hearts and our souls will be filled with the abundant richness that is God. And really, what more could we ever want or need? Amen.