EPIPHANY C 2022

 

 

King Herod noticed as the Magi made their way to Bethlehem. He wasn’t pleased. Herod knew something about these star-gazers from the East. He knew it had to be something big to bring them all that way. And it was something big…and from the perspective of Herod… something very bad…for they were  recognizing the birth of a messiah—THE messiah who promised to change…EVERYTHING. Herod was incensed; you see, there's no one more sensitive to a threat--- real/or imagined-- than a puppet king with an inferiority complex. Out of this anger, this fear, the King tried mightily to get at that baby, that king, that messiah, that threat…but he was outwitted by the Magi who took a different route home while the Holy family escaped to Egypt. They needed to avoid Herod at all costs—for this baby was something to be adored, AND something to protect.

On this second Sunday of Christmas, we look forward to the coming Epiphany and to what the ongoing manifestation of Christ in the world around us and the world within us means, and we ask—-just who is Jesus?

 A King, a God, a man, a Son, a prophet, a preacher, a revolutionary, a Messiah?

Yes.

And then some.

Who is he? What is he? Why is he? It's the question of the season of Epiphany: of noticing, realizing, manifesting.

         Or are you already past it? Has the tree come down, the lights lost their charm, have the presents been tossed aside?

Are we still awash in the wonder of Christmas?

Or have we moved on, back to the same ol’ same ol’?

      Our Epiphany task is to open our eyes to what, how, where Emmanuel “God among us” is taking shape.

It’s time to ponder, adjust, understand, comprehend. To adapt.

A time to notice how the miracle that just happened manifests itself in our lives.

     It’s a tall order, I know. The stores are replacing Christmas and New Year’s displays with Valentine’s Day, all those mundane things that demand much of our attention are nagging at us.

But let’s not forget: something astounding has happened.

God in the flesh has come to live among us.

Remember, at the moment of the birth, the cosmos cried out in exultation by flashing that star…

…The heavenly hosts burst into song across the Bethlehem hills.

…The shepherds noticed.

…The star gazers in the east noticed.

…Herod noticed.

But have we?

     Epiphany is all about the reality of “God among us” showing and shining in the world.

Does this reality excite us, or terrify us?

Who are we in this story? The fascinated Magi, the cowering, plotting Herod or the terrified and thrilled, scared and amazed shepherds? Or maybe Mary and Joseph, quietly pondering, silently trusting…

Are we filled with expectation about just who this Jesus will be and what he’ll do with us and through us?

Or are we Herod, threatened by anything that challenges the status quo, leery of anything new, anything different?

 The birth of our Savior caused the stars, planets, and galaxies to erupt in shiny celebration, intriguing the Magi, terrifying the  shepherds, baffling the Holy Family, infuriating Herod.

what about us?

Are we bursting with this Good News?

Are we ready to arise and let the light of Christ shine upon us?

I hope so.

Because we have work to do— in the world around us and here at St James.

Are we ready to let the light of Christ’s manifestation—-his undying love, his never ending guidance, his longing to bring all of God’s creatures together in peace—-are we ready to let that light shine from us and all that we do in the name of Jesus? Will the people who drive by this place feel the warmth of that light? Do we feel the warmth of that light?

St James is at a crossroads. Where we are now is not where we’ll be at the end of 2022–thanks be to God. So let’s saddle up and like the Magi before us, search for where this Christmas star will lead us.

Amen.

 

 

 

 

EPIPHANY 2C 2022

     Maybe Jesus doesn’t think he’s ready. Perhaps on some level he doesn’t want to have his first miracle (or “sign” as John refers to them) be some type of party game. But Mary is wise…somehow she intuits, she just knows that the time’s right for Jesus to shine his light….so over his harsh rebukes Mary calmly tells the servants to do whatever Jesus says. She’s’s not deterred by her son’s protests, rather Mary’s encouraged by what she knows, what she senses, God’s urging her to do. She ignores the human side of Jesus and encourages his divine side to get to work. It’s time.
    Mary, in the quiet way she moves through the stories of Jesus’s life, gives Jesus—and us—-an important lesson: what God needs us to do is not always what we want to do. As a matter of fact it is often exactly what we don’t want to do.
Jesus was at the wedding as a guest—he had no intention of being anything other than a regular wedding guest. He was sure: it wasn’t his time.
But Mary, she wasn’t concerned with anything except what she sensed, what she heard deep within her.and what she heard, what she felt was…it was time.
Throughout the stories of Mary, we hear that she pondered.  
Whether it was the announcement from the angel Gabriel, the wisdom offered by the Magi, or at the presentation of  Jesus at the temple; each time Mary experienced another step in the amazing journey of being Jesus’s mother we’re told that she took what happened, and pondered it in her heart. She quieted herself enough, was comfortable enough with the discomfort of not knowing what it all meant that she let things linger in her heart, soul and mind, listening for when more would be revealed.
Mary listened, waited, and listened some more. This devotion to waiting, wondering, looking and listening led Mary to be a wise counsel to Jesus (and to us) through this  journey of increasing awareness, the season of Epiphany.
    One of the overlooked parts of Epiphany is understanding that the Messiah coming in the form of a human being, born of a human woman was not the way it was supposed to happen. The Messiah coming and taking so many of the beloved traditional beliefs of Judaism and turning them upside down and inside out was not what anyone thought would happen. They thought that all the traditions of the faith—-those handed down for generations —-would continue to serve the faith forever. The messiah was to fit the model worshipped and longed for for centuries. The Messiah wasn’t supposed to be unexpected, unusual and challenging.
It’s why, in my opinion, the Wedding at Cana was the first miracle, the first sign pointing to the arrival of this long-awaited Messiah:
The wine is running out and the wedding host is in danger of being shamed. Although unhappy about it, Jesus obeys his mother and saves the day.
But, the miracle at Cana isn’t done simply to save the day….it’s done to show us that this Son of God is here to save us every day and in a completely new way.
You see, the water used in the miracle is poured into the jars used—for centuries—in the Jewish rite of purification, a cornerstone of the old covenant… but Jesus uses them for a new thing—creating wine. The old way is adapted and a new way emerges.
From the restrictions of the old emerges the hope and joy of the new.
Much how new wine bursts old wineskins, God, through Jesus, bursts out of the old in a big, abundant and extravagant way.
This first miracle of Jesus is not just a little something. It’s a whole lot of something big.
The new came to the Jews of ancient Israel in Jesus’s time and it comes now, too.
May we all quiet the voices in our head that begrudge the new long enough to, like Mary,  ponder and then notice how Jesus is leading us into something new, something  unexpected, the next step of what it means to be his followers.
Right here and right now.
Amen.

BOB MERTENS FUNERAL HOMILY

 You’ve all heard stories about Bob’s larger than life personality, his generosity and ever-present cigar and glass of bourbon. My job is to remind you all that death doesn’t mean that life has ended, it has simply changed. Changed from what we know as this temporal existence into the world of everlasting life of love, light and peace. A place where pain and sorrow are no more. And I will, …but not by talking specifically about the Bible readings we’ve just heard but instead talking about the golden rule and how Bob , someone I never saw set foot in the Church of the Good Shepherd for a service , embodied the golden rule, how Bob was probably just about the most deliberate and authentic Christian I ever had the pleasure of meeting. Regardless of his attendance at church.
I had this sense about Bob for the entire time I was acquainted with him—and I say acqauinted because the truth is I didn’t know Bob—I admired and enjoyed him whenever I saw him, but I certainly didn’t know him, per se. But the sense I always had about him was solidifieid when I sat down with the family to talk about who their husband, dad, brother, brother in law, grandpa, friend, was.
    In the Episcopal Church, the church Bob was raised in, we commit to the Golden Rule when we promise to: proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ, to seek and serve Christ in all persons, to love your neighbor as yourself and to strive for justice and peace among all people, respecting the dignity of every human being. It all comes down to this: live your life as an example to what it means to be a decent human being, helping those who need help, lifting up the downtrodden, respecting the dignity of everyone we encounter.
Bob nailed that.
Whether it was the fact that he never met a stranger, or that he taught his kids to respect other people---especially teaching the boys the lost art of chivalry, or making sure Stacy knew that his grandpa was always thinking of him, even when Bob was on some trip to an exotic beach with Patty, or getting up before anyone else on vacation and making sure everything was in perfect order so everyone else could have a great time. Whether it was being a loyal and protective husband, big brother, brother in law, dad, grandpa, Bob was the epitome of the Golden Rule, of a good and faithful servant of all that is good and right in this world.
 Bob Mertens was a bear of a guy who was also a teddy bear, crying during he and Patty’s wedding. He was opionated, but even when he disagreed with you, he didn’treally care whther you agreed with him, he just wanted the encounter ended with a laugh because at the end of the day Bob Mertens knew who he was and he didn’t need anyone else to build him up…nor did he need to knock anyone else down. That just wasn’t who he was.
Who he was is probably best summed up by Patty who wrote this to me the other night:
“for almost 40 years, Bob was my anchor and my wings, ready for any adventure, our love grew stronger with each passing year. Through him I learned to be thankful for every measure of joy we were given. His laughter and love will live on in my heart.”
My friends, that is the descriptor of someone who follows the Golden Rule, of someone who follows the teachings of all the great faith traditions of our time: Love people,Treat them well, Show them that you care, Grant them the dignity they deserve as beloved children of God. Bob Mertens raised people up, he did not turn them away but welcomed them. To be loved by Bob was to be LOVED. As you move on in your lives without Bob’s earthly presence ask yourselves, what would Bob do? Because what Bob would do is exactly what God would have us do.
There’s no greater epitaph than this: Bob loved fully,laughed often, appreciated all the joy life brings and through it all he cared. He cared about you all. There is no greater measure of a person than their ability to exude and exemplify love in all things.
As his soul has been raised the choir of heaven has exclaimed:  Job well-done, good and faithful servant. Job well done. Rest in Peace, Bob. Until we meet again.
Amen.

CHRIST THE KING LAST PENTECOST 2022

 + Today is Christ the King Sunday, also known as the Reign of Christ. But just what do we mean by all this talk of Reign…and Kingship?…
It’s a day when we commemorate Jesus Christ as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. It’s a day when, as we close out the church year, we celebrate that our King, this King isn’t a king of royal palaces or of bejeweled crowns or of ermine robes. No today we remember that our king, this king died the death of a common criminal, that he was deserted by his friends and mocked by his captors.
 Today we remember that our King, the King of our hearts and minds and souls isn’t a King of the powerful but is the King of the weak. Today we’re reminded that our King isn’t the commander of a mighty army but is the Prince of all Peace. Today we remember that neither death nor life, not angels nor rulers, not present things nor future things, not powers nor principalities can determine our fate. Today we remember that Christ is our King, that Jesus is our Lord and that all of our power, all of our hope and all of our love is found in and through Him.
Today we celebrate that this faith of ours is as counter-cultural in the year 2022 as it was in the year 30.
I believe that many of us would be crucified today if Herod was our king,,,,
Today we celebrate the fact that for 2000 years we have left those in our wake scratching their heads and saying, “those Christians, are they nuts?’
Today we face the increasing intolerance of our world by saying, The Episcopal Church Welcomes You. Yes, You. And you, and you and you. The Episcopal Church welcomes the stranger, the refugee, the outcast, the hated, the different, the difficult and the destitute.
Today we face the ever-expanding hate of this world by saying, “we, as followers of Jesus Christ, love everyone.” Today we remind everyone in our world that although we may not like everyone all the time we do love everyone all of the time. Not because we necessarily want to, but because we must, because our Lord, our King, our Savior tells us that it is only by loving everyone that we ourselves can fully receive all the love God pours out upon us.
Today we face the never-ending uncertainty about our safety by saying that we, as people of deep faith, may not know what tomorrow holds, but that, as people of deep faith we know that all matter of things will be well because we are beloved children of God.
Today we remember that our King isn’t found on Pennsylvania Avenue or on Wall Street.
Today we remember that our King isn’t found in the money we make or the houses we build.
Today we remember that our King isn’t the winner of reality shows like the Voice, or Survivor or America’s Got Talent.
Today we remember that our King isn’t a Sabre or a Bill or even a Cub.
Today we remember that our King, this King, is too full of Love and Light, too full of Truth and Grace to be derailed by the darkness of this world.
Today we remember that our King, this King is the manifestation of God’s Love for us and that if we only remember who our King is, if we only remember what this King taught us---to love one another as we ourselves are loved---then this King, our King, the King, will reign not only in heaven but always and forever in our hearts.
For today, when we remember Him, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, he will remember us.
Amen.

EASTER 2022

 My favorite Far Side comic depicts a figure looking an awful lot like Albert Einstein standing in front of a blackboard. Three headings sit atop three columns on the board, marked Step One, Step Two and Step Three. Under Steps 1 and 3 are numbers and mathematical symbols, suggesting some type of formula. Step 2 has no such numbers, no symbols, no formula. Instead it reads, “And then a miracle happens.”
Sometimes, even in science, we just don’t know how we get from Step One to Step Three, we just know that we do.
Such are the attempts to explain the doctrine of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit….one is tempted to give all the theological explanations and then just say, well then a miracle happens: Step 1 We Believe in God. Step Three we believe in a Blessed and Undivided Trinity. Step 2, a miracle happens which makes three into one, and one into three.
Some things can’t be explained as much as they can be experienced.
    In our reading from the Book of Proverbs Wisdom is a “being”—-Lady Wisdom is a title often given to the star of much of the Book of Proverbs. In today’s reading we hear that Wisdom was with God at creation…and she was. It is this same “Lady Wisdom” who over the generations, morphed into the Holy Spirit of the New Testament, as we hear Jesus discuss in our reading from John (it’s also interesting how the ancient writings about Lady Wisdom were clear in the gender identity and how bt the time we got to the 3rd and 4th centuries Lady Wisdom had become a male Holy Spirit (but I digress). Earlier in the Gospel of John, Jesus tells his disciples that he must return to his Father, with whom he has existed since the beginning of time.
Bottom line, our Christian doctrine is clear—-God comes to us in three persons—a creator, whom we generally refer to as God or as “Father,” a Redeemer whom we refer to as the Son, Jesus, and our Sustainer, Holy Wisdom or the Holy Spirit whose existence we commemorated last Sunday. We believe in a Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe in One God. One God who has three forms emanating from the same whole.
    Almost all expository attempts at describing the Trinity fall short because at its heart, the essence of the Trinity is relationship. And describing the essence of a relationship almost always fails.  God, in God’s three fold nature, is relationship.
    Retired Lutheran Pastor Richard Lischer shared this interpretation of the Trinity he discovered while contemplating a stained glass window depiction of the Trinity: “The fairly typical Trinitarian design of three interconnecting triangles reminded me of an aerial photograph taken of our small farming community.  Besides the straight and orderly rows of crops in the fields, another distinct pattern emerged: well-worn paths criss-crossing from one farmhouse to another. These paths, worn into the ground by generations of neighbors visiting and helping out in times of need, linked the town, they knit the community together.” Lischer’s description of the interconnectedness represented in those paths explains my experience of the Trinity.
God grooves paths in our lives, coming to us at different times and in different forms to address a variety of needs.
God, in three persons, Blessed Trinity, reaches out to us as a strong parental type when we feel small and childlike. God in three persons, Blessed Trinity reaches out to us as a forgiving friend in times of loneliness and confusion. God in three persons, Blessed Trinity reaches out to us as a sustaining force of inexplicable peace when we are bereft and lost, angry and bitter, hopeless and helpless. God in three persons, Blessed Trinity, longs to be a palpable presence in our lives, so God in God’s infinite wisdom, walks a number of paths to reach us.
Hopefully we are doing the same as we reach out to others. I envision a well-grooved path leading from our driveway to the Blessing Box where people, down on their luck walk up to the box and receive a true gift of the Holy Spirit—our love and our care. We groove a path from our driveway to the box and our neighbors groove another path from the box to their homes. The same is true of the Thrift Store—people make a path to donate, people make a path to receive. A relationship grooved not only in the sidewalk but in the hearts of those in need.

Step One: God Loves Us.
Step Three: God Wants to be With Us
Step Two: Through the miracle and mystery of God in Three Persons, Blessed Trinity, God’s Love is always with us. Amen.

TRINITY SUNDAY 2022

 My favorite Far Side comic depicts a figure looking an awful lot like Albert Einstein standing in front of a blackboard. Three headings sit atop three columns on the board, marked Step One, Step Two and Step Three. Under Steps 1 and 3 are numbers and mathematical symbols, suggesting some type of formula. Step 2 has no such numbers, no symbols, no formula. Instead it reads, “And then a miracle happens.”
Sometimes, even in science, we just don’t know how we get from Step One to Step Three, we just know that we do.
Such are the attempts to explain the doctrine of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit….one is tempted to give all the theological explanations and then just say, well then a miracle happens: Step 1 We Believe in God. Step Three we believe in a Blessed and Undivided Trinity. Step 2, a miracle happens which makes three into one, and one into three.
Some things can’t be explained as much as they can be experienced.
    In our reading from the Book of Proverbs Wisdom is a “being”—-Lady Wisdom is a title often given to the star of much of the Book of Proverbs. In today’s reading we hear that Wisdom was with God at creation…and she was. It is this same “Lady Wisdom” who over the generations, morphed into the Holy Spirit of the New Testament, as we hear Jesus discuss in our reading from John (it’s also interesting how the ancient writings about Lady Wisdom were clear in the gender identity and how bt the time we got to the 3rd and 4th centuries Lady Wisdom had become a male Holy Spirit (but I digress). Earlier in the Gospel of John, Jesus tells his disciples that he must return to his Father, with whom he has existed since the beginning of time.
Bottom line, our Christian doctrine is clear—-God comes to us in three persons—a creator, whom we generally refer to as God or as “Father,” a Redeemer whom we refer to as the Son, Jesus, and our Sustainer, Holy Wisdom or the Holy Spirit whose existence we commemorated last Sunday. We believe in a Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe in One God. One God who has three forms emanating from the same whole.
    Almost all expository attempts at describing the Trinity fall short because at its heart, the essence of the Trinity is relationship. And describing the essence of a relationship almost always fails.  God, in God’s three fold nature, is relationship.
    Retired Lutheran Pastor Richard Lischer shared this interpretation of the Trinity he discovered while contemplating a stained glass window depiction of the Trinity: “The fairly typical Trinitarian design of three interconnecting triangles reminded me of an aerial photograph taken of our small farming community.  Besides the straight and orderly rows of crops in the fields, another distinct pattern emerged: well-worn paths criss-crossing from one farmhouse to another. These paths, worn into the ground by generations of neighbors visiting and helping out in times of need, linked the town, they knit the community together.” Lischer’s description of the interconnectedness represented in those paths explains my experience of the Trinity.
God grooves paths in our lives, coming to us at different times and in different forms to address a variety of needs.
God, in three persons, Blessed Trinity, reaches out to us as a strong parental type when we feel small and childlike. God in three persons, Blessed Trinity reaches out to us as a forgiving friend in times of loneliness and confusion. God in three persons, Blessed Trinity reaches out to us as a sustaining force of inexplicable peace when we are bereft and lost, angry and bitter, hopeless and helpless. God in three persons, Blessed Trinity, longs to be a palpable presence in our lives, so God in God’s infinite wisdom, walks a number of paths to reach us.
Hopefully we are doing the same as we reach out to others. I envision a well-grooved path leading from our driveway to the Blessing Box where people, down on their luck walk up to the box and receive a true gift of the Holy Spirit—our love and our care. We groove a path from our driveway to the box and our neighbors groove another path from the box to their homes. The same is true of the Thrift Store—people make a path to donate, people make a path to receive. A relationship grooved not only in the sidewalk but in the hearts of those in need.

Step One: God Loves Us.
Step Three: God Wants to be With Us
Step Two: Through the miracle and mystery of God in Three Persons, Blessed Trinity, God’s Love is always with us. Amen.

PROPER 11C

 +My parents were great entertainers. Together they had terrific parties and elegant dinners, always opening our house to a variety of guests. But, there was a downside to all that entertaining. As the day of the party approached, Mom became increasingly stressed—the house had to be spotless, the food perfect, the table settings, exquisite. Mom became anxious, irritable, and distracted. A lot like Martha in today’s gospel.
    This is a familiar story and because of how it’s been interpreted over the years, many people struggle with it.
For some, their role behind the scenes at church: on Altar Guilds, property committees, kitchen crews, seems disregarded and belittled by Jesus. Others find the fact that these two women are pitted against each other, upsetting. Before we wipe our hands clean of this story---I mean perhaps preaching on God’s anger with the Israelites in Amos would have been a better choice---let’s consider what Luke’s trying to get across here. In these four verses, Luke shows us that there are a number of ways to serve God, and that how we serve God doesn’t matter nearly as much as the fact that we do serve God--- at all times and in all places.
Still, it does seem that Jesus is siding with Mary doesn’t it?
 That somehow Martha was insulting Jesus while Mary was honoring him.
    I don’t think Jesus meant to suggest that Mary’s way was the only way, nor was he suggesting that Martha’s way was the wrong way….I think he used that moment—when Martha’s anxiety had taken firm hold—as a teachable moment.
    This scene immediately follows what we heard last week—the parable of the Good Samaritan---a story in which Jesus implores his followers to be do-ers of the Word not just hear-ers. In that parable the inaction of the priest and the Levite—both bound by Jewish law to not go to the man’s aid— are criticized by Jesus, while the hospitality—the tangible action of the Samaritan— is honored. Last week, Jesus said, “Go and do like wise.” Be do-ers of the Word.
    But then this week Jesus appears to contradict himself, praising the seeming inaction of Mary who sits at his feet to receive his word, while condemning the action of Martha who’s offering the culturally expected  hospitality —Jesus praises the hearer of the word, while condemning the do-er. What’s up with that?
But neither Jesus nor Luke is being contradictory. Instead they’re using these two different stories to illuminate how a community of Christians need both do-ers and hear-ers. Both receivers and givers.
Mary and Martha are two halves of what is needed to make a household work: their household in Bethany and the household of God. They are two halves of what makes God’s Kingdom hum.
    There’s no problem with Mary hearing the Word and Martha doing the Word. BUT, there is a problem afflicting Martha, a problem familiar to my mom, a problem familiar to many of us as we navigate our lives:
 anxiety, worry and distraction. Through Martha’s effort to love her neighbor as herself, she’s become anxious and distracted.
While focusing on her tasks, she’s lost sight of the goal.
The tasks of hospitality have gotten in the way of being hospitable. When the details of hospitality, the serving of food, the setting of the table [the liturgies, music and preaching] become more important than the welcome and love of neighbor, then we’ve all missed the mark.
In today’s Gospel Jesus was saying to Martha,” what you’ve done is enough, thank you. Now stop and let us be in fellowship.”
    Martha and Mary isn’t an “either or” proposition,  it’s a “Yes and” proposition.
 To Love and Serve the Lord requires giving AND receiving. To love and serve the Lord requires both speaking and listening. Both busyness and stillness.
Hospitality isn’t the issue.
Discipleship isn’t the issue.
Attentiveness is.
Jesus is saying, do the work that’s necessary to offer hospitality, but don’t make the preparations take away from the dinner party.
Those parties my parents hosted were fun, we loved them. But the days leading up to those parties? Those were brutal.
Sometimes what we’re being called to do is to sit still and listen. Sometimes what we’re called to do is to stand up, get out and do. Our job is to be attentive enough to do what it is God needs done, not what we think needs to be done. Amen.