Our Rocky Faith is Enough Proper 16a August 27, 2017

+Lutheran pastor and author Delmer Chilton says this about today’s gospel:
[The name Peter comes from the Latin word “petra” which means rock. Now most of the time people who are nicknamed Rocky are stalwart, immovable, straight-ahead, no-nonsense kind of guys, like Rocky Balboa. Somehow the name Rocky doesn’t seem to fit Simon son of Jona.] For this Rocky, this Peter, was, to [be blunt], not very stalwart or immovable.
Simon, now Peter, was hot one minute, cold the next:
“I’ll walk on water, Lord.” And then, “help, I’m drowning!”
“I’ll never deny you Lord!” Then,
“ Jesus? Never heard of him.”
“Lord, I’ll stand by you forever!” Then,  “Well, Jesus is dead, I’m going fishing.”
Was Jesus making fun of Simon by calling him Peter?
Was He joking when he said that “on this rock of questioning, unstable, doubting and undependable faith I will build my church?”
Why would Jesus choose someone so flawed, so irritable, undependable, doubting, questioning, fearful and full of angst as Simon Peter? Someone so……….
Like us? Shouldn’t the foundation of the church be entrusted to someone more deserving, more capable, more reliable?
Apparently not.
It appears that God rarely chooses the all put together and the likely. Consider Abraham, Sarah, Noah, Moses, Jonah, Ezekiel… the list goes on and on… countless flawed and very human people who God chose as  prophets—- prophets!!!
Apparently, in God’s eyes, one needn’t be perfect, one needn’t even be particularly capable, to be chosen. God plucks prophets, redeemers and saints --even a messiah---out of the most unlikely of places and unusual of circumstances.
So why not Simon Peter… a Galilean fisherman who’s full of bravado and self-assurance one moment, cowering behind pillars of doubt, fear, and denial the next?
Just like us.
Peter wasn’t Jesus’ favorite, or even the most devoted apostle. But Peter’s The One. Obviously Jesus saw something in Peter that he thought was perfect for the establishment of the church. And although I don’t know that Jesus envisioned denominations, dioceses, parishes ,Church conventions, reformations and schisms (well he probably figured there’d be fights) when he mentioned “Church,” I do think the choice of Peter sheds light on the Church as an institution, it’s past, it’s present and it’s future.
Peter was flawed; Jesus knew that, God knew that, we know it. But God was willing to let Peter make his mistakes and Jesus was willing to let Peter grow into his role, because they knew that a big part of learning, of growing, is messing up. We don’t learn without making mistakes. They’re instructive and useful-- as long as we admit them, take corrective action, and try again. Going through this process teaches us---as individuals and as communities of faith.
Admitting our mistakes and then trying again. That’s what living a faithful life is all about folks. Most Sundays we have corporate confession and absolution. We confess our sins and are absolved. Forgiven. All of us.
How can God forgive what I’ve done, you may ask?
Or, how can God forgive that scoundrel a few pews over?
But, you see, God’s forgiveness is abundant, constant and without caveat.  Forgiveness by God is assured as long as we admit that we’ve made a mistake and strive, with all our might, to learn from it. That’s reconciliation and repentance: an amendment of life. We don’t promise to never make another mistake, we simply promise to learn from those we do make and when we mess up, admit it, make it as right as we can and move on. It’s what we tell our children all the time. Admit your error, fix it and try to do better next time.
This is what the church as an institution needs to always do: admit, repent, reconcile.
The Church makes mistakes: some small, resulting in hurt feelings, others large, resulting in atrocities; but regardless of the magnitude, the church MUST admit its, our, mistakes. And then do better.
So often the Church has not done this. We preach a God whose love knows no bounds, whose care for us is never compromised, yet we hide our mistakes, too proud or too ashamed to admit the error of our ways. When we, as a church, do this, we insult God and we deny the lessons we’ve learned from all who’ve come before us.
   Why was Peter chosen to be the cornerstone of our faith, the gatekeeper of salvation and the symbol of the Church as Institution? Because. ….
When Peter said:
I’ll walk on water, Lord.
Then, help, I’m drowning!
We’ve said (and say)
We’ll serve the poor,  just after we skim some off the top…
And when Peter exclaimed:
I’ll never deny you, Lord…
Jesus? Never heard of him.
We proclaim:
We’ll love everyone, no exceptions. Well, except for the Jews. And the Muslims…and the immigrants….and the women…
And LBGTQI  people…oh and the people with disabilities…and the folks who don’t look like us or vote like us.
And when Peter exhorted:
« Lord, I’ll stand by you forever…
Well, Jesus is dead, I’m going fishing.”
We’ve said:
Yes, the church is greater than the sum of its parts but if you make that decision, I’m out of here.
God chose Peter in spite of, maybe even because of , his flaws. God knew who Peter was and God knows who we are. But God also knows who we, through the help of the Holy Spirit, can be. Rocks and all.
So, my dear friends of Calvary Church, as you welcome your new rector next week, don’t regret your past or be afraid of your future, simply embrace what the Holy Spirit lays in front of you and together, with Fr. Robert, be who it is God is calling you to be.+

Our Rocky Faith is Good Enough Proper 17a

5

Our Rocky Faith

Proper 16A August 27, 2017 

Calvary, Williamsville

+Lutheran pastor and author Delmer Chilton says this about today’s gospel:

[The name Peter comes from the Latin word “petra” which means rock. Now most of the time people who are nicknamed Rocky are stalwart, immovable, straight-ahead, no-nonsense kind of guys, like Rocky Balboa. Somehow the name Rocky doesn’t seem to fit Simon son of Jona.] For this Rocky, this Peter, was, to [be blunt], not very stalwart or immovable. 

Simon, now Peter, was hot one minute, cold the next:

“I’ll walk on water, Lord.” And then, “help, I’m drowning!”

“I’ll never deny you Lord!” Then,

“ Jesus? Never heard of him.”

“Lord, I’ll stand by you forever!”Then, “Well, Jesus is dead, I’m going fishing.”

​Was Jesus making fun of Simon by calling him Peter?

Was He joking when he said that “on this rock of questioning, unstable, doubting and undependable faith I will build my church?”

​Why would Jesus choose someone so flawed, so irritable, undependable, doubting, questioning, fearful and full of angst as Simon Peter? Someone so……….

Like us? Shouldn’t the foundation of the church be entrusted to someone more deserving, more capable, more reliable?

Apparently not.

It appears that God rarely chooses the all put together and the likely. Consider Abraham, Sarah, Noah, Moses, Jonah, Ezekiel… the list goes on and on… countless flawed and very human people who God chose as prophets—- prophets!!!

Apparently, in God’s eyes, one needn’t be perfect, one needn’t even be particularly capable, to be chosen. God plucks prophets, redeemers and saints --even a messiah---out of the most unlikely of places and unusual of circumstances.

So why not Simon Peter… a Galilean fisherman who’s full of bravado and self-assurance one moment, cowering behind pillars of doubt, fear, and denial the next?

Just like us.

​Peter wasn’t Jesus’ favorite, or even the most devoted apostle. But Peter’s The One. Obviously Jesus saw something in Peter that he thought was perfect for the establishment of the church. And although I don’t know that Jesus envisioned denominations, dioceses, parishes ,Church conventions, reformations and schisms (well he probably figured there’d be fights) when he mentioned “Church,” I do think the choice of Peter sheds light on the Church as an institution, it’s past, it’s present and it’s future.

Peter was flawed; Jesus knew that, God knew that, we know it. But God was willing to let Peter make his mistakes and Jesus was willing to let Peter grow into his role, because they knew that a big part of learning, of growing, is messing up. We don’t learn without making mistakes. They’re instructive and useful-- as long as we admit them, take corrective action, and try again. Going through this process teaches us---as individuals and as communities of faith.

​Admitting our mistakes and then trying again. That’s what living a faithful life is all about folks. Most Sundays we have corporate confession and absolution. We confess our sins and are absolved. Forgiven. All of us.

How can God forgive what I’ve done, you may ask?

Or, how can God forgive that scoundrel a few pews over?

But, you see, God’s forgiveness is abundant, constant and without caveat.  Forgiveness by God is assured as long as we admit that we’ve made a mistake and strive, with all our might, to learn from it. That’s reconciliation and repentance: an amendment of life. We don’t promise to never make another mistake, we simply promise to learn from those we do make and when we mess up, admit it, make it as right as we can and move on. It’s what we tell our children all the time. Admit your error, fix it and try to do better next time.

​This is what the church as an institution needs to always do: admit, repent, reconcile. 

The Church makes mistakes: some small, resulting in hurt feelings,others large, resulting in atrocities; but regardless of the magnitude, the church MUST admit its, our, mistakes. And then do better. 

So often the Church has not done this. We preach a God whose love knows no bounds, whose care for us is never compromised, yet we hide our mistakes, too proud or too ashamed to admit the error of our ways. When we, as a church, do this, we insult God and we deny the lessons we’ve learned from all who’ve come before us.

  Why was Peter chosen to be the cornerstone of our faith, the gatekeeper of salvation and the symbol of the Church as Institution? Because. ….

When Peter said:

I’ll walk on water, Lord.

Then, help, I’m drowning!

We’ve said (and say)

We’ll serve the poor, just after we skim some off the top…

And when Peter exclaimed:

I’ll never deny you, Lord…

Jesus? Never heard of him.

We proclaim:

We’ll love everyone, no exceptions. Well, except for the Jews. And the Muslims…and the immigrants….and the women…

And LBGTQI people…oh and the people with disabilities…and the folks who don’t look like us or vote like us.

And when Peter exhorted:

« Lord, I’ll stand by you forever…

Well, Jesus is dead, I’m going fishing.”

We’ve said:

Yes, the church is greater than the sum of its parts but if you make that decision, I’m out of here.

God chose Peter in spite of, maybe even because of , his flaws. God knew who Peter was and God knows who we are. But God also knows who we, through the help of the Holy Spirit, can be. Rocks and all.

So, my dear friends of Calvary Church, as you welcome your new rector next week, don’t regret your past or be afraid of your future, simply embrace what the Holy Spirit lays in front of you and together, with Fr. Robert, be who it is God is calling you to be.+

Don't You Tell Me No Proper 15A Calvary, Williamsville

+Poet and theologian Jan Richardson wrote this poem about today’s Gospel:
“Don’t tell me no.
I have seen you
feed thousands,
seen miracles spill
from your hands
like water, like wine,seen you with circles
and circles of crowds
pressed around you
and not one soul
turned away.
Don’t start with me.
I am saying
you can close the door
but I’ll keep knocking.
You can go silent
but I’ll keep shouting.
You can tighten the circle
but I’ll trace a bigger one
around you,
around the life of my child
who will tell you
no one surpasses a mother
for stubbornness.
I am saying
I know what you
can do with crumbs
and I’m claiming mine,
every morsel and scrap
you have up your sleeve.
Unclench your hand,
your heart.
Let the scraps fall
like manna,
like mercy
for the life
of my child,
the life of
the world.
Don’t you tell me no."((Jan Richardson--A Stubborn Blessing)
     This week, Susan Bro, the mother of Heather Heyer (the woman killed in the Nazi march in Charlottesville) said this: make my daughter’s death worthwhile—confront injustice, turn anger into righteous action.” Susan Bro is another in a long line of mothers and mother-figures who when confronted with danger directed at their children, take amazing risks, speak incredible truths and do whatever it takes to make things right. Susan Bro won’t let the death of her daughter be in vain, nor will the Canaanite woman from today’s gospel let some religious and political rules keep her from the feet of the man who can heal her daughter.
     It’s hard to know what Jesus was thinking that day—perhaps he used her intrusion into his ministry as a teaching moment for his followers or, more likely, he was in a stubborn, cranky mood. Either way, the story demonstrates that when it comes to saving what needs saving, being nice and agreeable won’t always win the day, or save the life. Sometimes we need to dig in our heels and do some nudging, some bothering and some hollering.
     The Canaanite woman, the mother of a daughter in desperate need of healing, should not be approaching Jesus and the disciples. She’s an unaccompanied woman and a Canaanite. Canaanites and Jews despised each other then and they still do today…because Canannites are Arab.
     Remember, Jesus has been trying to get some R and R for awhile now. First he went up to the mountain to pray, only to be confronted with thousands of hungry followers, then he took off across the lake only to be harassed by a Peter who was so quick to doubt and to debate (and sink). So one can imagine that, travelling into foreign territory, he’s hoping for a little peace--after all no non-Jew would dare pay him any heed, for he wasn’t “their messiah.” Of course, that doesn’t work and suddenly this woman appears, demanding to be heard and seen. What follows is one of the most uncomfortable and horrifying exchanges in the Gospels when Jesus harshly dismisses her, saying:
“It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
Has Jesus lost his mind? Is this the same man who teaches that we must love everyone, no exceptions?
Yes it is.
Jesus is saying, in language not unusual for his culture, that he was the messiah for the Jews and that his work was for those lost sheep, not any other.
But, my friends, Jesus is wrong.
This desperate and determined mother helps Jesus see the full scope of his mission, she teaches the      Teacher, leaving the ego of the human Jesus tattered and the surety of the divine Jesus, shaken.
The mother teaches and the Messiah, learns.
     Even after being horribly insulted by Jesus, this classic outcast, this mother who will not be denied, forges ahead. She accepts where Jesus is at—that he has come for the Jewish people and no one else—and challenges him with the fact that dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table and that all she wants—this unclean, unaccompanied, socially unacceptable person—are the crumbs of his grace. She has such faith in who Jesus is, and such desperation to help her child, that she’s willing to accept the left-overs, the trash, if it will save her daughter.
    Rage must have churned within her. Fury, fear and terror all pulsating through her veins…but she didn’t give in, she didn’t lash out, she didn’t retreat, she didn’t give up. Her daughter was extremely ill and, regardless of the risk, she had to do something!
Just like Susan Bro some 2K years later, the Canaanite woman wouldn’t be denied…not because she was full of hubris, but because she was full of love. Love for her daughter. Mothers, and mother figures across the ages, have tempered their fury, bridled their rage, and swallowed their pride to protect, support, and care for their family.  They’ve set aside their own desires, their own dignity, in order to provide for those whom they love without reason, those whom they love beyond all measure, those for whom they will lay down their very life…not because they’re super-human or heroes, but because they are, plain and simple: mothers.
     The lesson of The Triumphant Canaanite Women and the humbled Jesus is this: No matter how much we say no, no matter how far we go to reject, destroy and ignore it, God’s love will not be denied, because God’s love, like the love of every devoted parent we know, knows no limit, respects no prejudice, and will never ever stop. The love God has for us is fierce. It is our job to let this love wash over us as we stand up against , like Heather Heyer’s mother and like the Canaanite mother, all prejudice, all hate, all intolerance and all darkness. And for that we say, Amen.

August 13, 2017 Proper 14. Charlottesville

So I had a sermon written for today. It was quirky and quick. But then our nation exploded in a frightening display of hate-filled domestic terrorism. Swastikas. Confederate flags. A car used as a weapon for one reason and one reason only: fear of the other, intolerance of the other, hate of the other. And these events made preaching anything other than our God-given, Jesus-commanded, Holy Spirit-fueled responsibility to love--TO LOVE---our Lord our God with all our heart, mind and soul and to love one another as we ourselves are loved, impossible.
And so… as best as I can remember… this is what I told the people gathered at Trinity Church, Lancaster, 8 am and 10 am:

Peter really wanted to be the A student. He wanted to be the #1 disciple, he wanted to be Jesus’ go to guy. He wanted to be as much like Jesus as Jesus was. But, when push came to shove, he couldn’t, he wouldn’t. He didn’t.
It was: too risky
  too terrifying
           too difficult
And so he sank like a stone, he proclaimed, “I do not know the man.” He failed.
And still Jesus built the church upon Peter’s cornerstone. Why? Because Jesus knew that Peter wasn’t a jerk, or a liar, or a pain in the…well maybe he was a pain, but….Jesus built his church upon Peter because Jesus knew that Peter was, simply, human. That the humanity Jesus was counting on to be his eyes and ears, his hands and feet, his voice, was/is incredibly flawed and yet, Jesus left it all to Peter, He left it all to us.
We are to take the lessons Jesus had taught us, and live it. LIVE IT in all that we do, even though being a follower of Jesus, being a Christian, being someone who walks the Way with Christ requires that we take risks, endure fear, and work through difficult things.
 It is uncomfortable. We will lose friends, family members, fellow church-members.
It can be incredibly lonely to be a Christian—to really be a Christian. But, at this time in our world as followers of Jesus we must respond to the vitriol of bigots, the horror of the swastika, the ignorance of the confederate flag with the one tool-- the only tool--we have at our disposable: Love.
Hate can be stopped by love.
Hate will be stopped by love but, hear me clearly, this isn’t the love of Hallmark cards or Silly Love Songs, this love is the source of all love, this love is the be all and end all of  love. It is L-O-V-E.
It’s risky—Jesus died for it, Ghandi died for it, Martin died for it. We may die for it.
It’s scary—loving everyone, everywhere, no exceptions can be frightening. Sometimes people are so different from us, sometimes their very presence in our world makes us uncomfortable , uneasy and on edge that standing up for them, welcoming them,  realizing that they are us—can be really, really hard.
It’s difficult---speaking up when someone is telling a racist joke, standing up when you see another human being belittled, ostracized, hated, letting all who are around you that Hate has No Home Here—this is all really difficult, uncomfortable and scary.
But as long as stand as one to proclaim our faith through our creeds, as long as we join hands around this altar, as long as we share this Holy Meal with each other, as long as we call ourselves Christians, we must.
By virtue of our baptism we must---MUST—do this.
At all times.
In all places.
No matter what.
Do what you have to do to garner the courage to do this--
Pray for the strength, then get off your knees, go through these doors and make your loving, tolerant, accepting self be seen, heard and noticed.
For it is only through us---you and me---that Hate will be overwhelmed, over-matched and obliterated.
We can’t wait for a new president or a new congress or a new culture.
We can’t wait for someone stronger, or braver, or more faithful to do it.
We can’t wait for the madness to end.
We need to end the madness.
We can’t wait.
Love must be unleashed—by all of us, through all of us.
Always and Forever.
May God have mercy on the hate-mongers and may God’s Love embolden us, encourage us, propel us into doing what must be done. Right here. And right now.
Amen.

In Thin Places, God’s Glory can no longer be contained. Aug 6, 2017 Trinity Hamburg

So, this is a rework of the Transfiguration sermon I gave on Last Epiphany,2017. Before getting into the sermon text, I explained why we commemorated the Transfiguration on two Sundays this year. 
Then I proceeded to use the below as bullet point notes for mu sermon. Perhaps because I was bored giving this sermon for a second time. Perhaps because the Spirit moved me. But regardless, here is the manuscript.
+Have you ever been transfigured-- so effected by an experience that your actual appearance—how you look, how you carry yourself, changes? It can be negative—when something horrible happens and the wind is taken out of your sails--or positive-- you’re in love, you’ve gotten your life back on track after some rough spots.
Something about how you appear, how you present yourself to the world changes.
But sometimes the causes of these transformations, these transfigurations aren’t as clear-- they’re more mysterious.
            Mary Oliver describes such experiences in her poem, Mysteries, Yes:
“Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to be understood”----or even explained. These mysteries are experiential and describing them, let alone understanding them, is impossible ----but the effect? That’s life-changing.
        In Celtic spirituality these are known as Thin Places.
Thin Places are those moments when we feel especially close to the Divine. When, all at once. one feels incredibly small and yet larger than life; one with God, one with all of Creation.
Maybe it occurs when witnessing a gorgeous sunset, or the birth of a child.
Or perhaps in the midst of an ordinary day—driving the car, washing the dishes, cooking dinner. Thin Places are available to all of us at any time and in any place.
Thin places occur when we let the guard of our humanity down long enough for the fullness of the divine to breakthrough.
I think that the Transfiguration was a Thin Place for James, John and Peter. I also think it was a mystery too marvelous for words.
 No one knows exactly what happened on top of that mountain, but something most definitely happened. Something transfigurative for Jesus, transformative for his friends and sacred for us all.
     It helps to set the stage a bit: All summer we’ve been reading from Matthew’s gospel. Today we pop out of Matthew for a week and dive into Luke. We leave the active part of Jesus’ ministry—his teachings throughout Galilee, the parables, the stories, the healings-- to be with Jesus as he heads for Jerusalem and into the very first Holy Week. Jesus is trying to get the apostles ready. He needs his friends with him for this journey. He needs them to get it. He needs them ready for the increased scrutiny, for the arrest, the torture, the death… for Jesus being gone. They need to feel all of this, for only in feeling it---really feeling it---will they be open to the ultimate Thin Place: the glory, wonder, and awe of the Resurrection.
And they aren’t getting it.
 Maybe they don’t want to, maybe they simply can’t.
 Regardless, his closest friends—Peter, James and John-- follow Jesus up Mount Hermon because He needed to get away and in His wisdom Jesus knew they needed to get away too.
It’s only then, when they get away from the distractions of their life, when they get quiet enough, relaxed enough, open enough, that this thing happens. Jesus’ appearance-- his countenance--changes. One commentator describes what happened like this:
 “The indwelling Deity darted out its rays through the veil of Jesus’ flesh; His face shone with Divine majesty, like the sun in its strength” At that transfiguring moment, God’s glory could no longer be contained within Jesus…it burst forth.
    Sometimes, God’s glory just can’t be contained. Sometimes it over flows, overwhelming our senses.
It’s what happens in Thin places: we’re overwhelmed by God’s Glory.
In Thin Places, God’s Glory can no longer be contained.
Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary was a Thin Place, as was Christmas morning, Jesus’ baptism, and the Presentation of Jesus in the temple. Each of these moments were times when, in the course of a routine action---Mary going about the household duties of a young Galilean woman, the birth of a baby to a poor traveling couple, the baptism of a follower of John, the fulfilling of  purity laws by a devout Jewish couple, and the quick trip up a mountain for some retreat time with friends----in the course of these ordinary events--- God’s radiance bursts through, our efforts to shut the Divine out of our lives, the noise of daily life which tries to outshine the radiance of God, fails, and we are overwhelmed with what is pure and holy and sacred.
 Our humanity can’t manage a steady diet of this radiance. We spend a lot of time and energy layering “life” upon the in-breaking of the Holy—the radiance of God. Therefore, moments of the Holy-- Thin Place experiences--- are usually fleeting…not because God retreats, but because, being overwhelmed, we reach back into the familiar—the noise of daily life--to ground ourselves in the routine, the ordinary, the familiar and unchallenging ebb and flow of our days.
The Feast of the Transfiguration is one of those days in the church year which reminds us to stop all the noise, to shut down all the distractions and make some space for the mystery of God to burst forth when we least expect it, and yet amazingly, most need it.
So, my friends, enjoy these waning days of summer, make space for the Divine and be prepared to have the love of God, as given to us in the person of Jesus Christ, transfigure and transform us into exactly who it is God created us to be!
Amen!