Saturday, September 10, 2016
Lost and Found Proper 19 Yr C September 11, 2016 St John’s Grace
+Episcopal priest and author Rick Morley says:
Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?
Nobody. No one does this. No one would ever do that. It’s insanity. If you lose 1% of your holdings, you don’t risk the other 99% to get it back. By leaving the 99, you risk them roaming off, being stolen, or being killed and eaten by a wolf.
No one leaves the 99.
Or what woman upon losing a coin, lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches until she finds it? And then calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, `Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’
Nobody. No one does this.
You don’t call friends and neighbors together for a celebration only to spend more money feeding and entertaining them. I mean why bother looking for the coin at all, if you’re just going to blow more money?
It’s insanity. Nobody does this.
Except Jesus.
Jesus does this. Jesus leaves the 99 to search for the lost. Jesus sweeps the house and then throws a party when the lost are found. It’s totally and thoroughly insane.
And it’s the Gospel message.
It’s the Good News of Christ that when a soul is lost, when we’re lost, that soul, is missed, longed for, and not only worth the search party, but worth the celebration-party when the soul is brought back into the fold.
Our God is the God of the lost, the God who celebrates when the lost are found .
At one time or another we've all been lost---literally and figuratively.…we all, now and again, find ourselves tangled in the bramble unable to get free and desperately looking for rescue.
The good news is that the rescue plan is already in place: Jesus Christ. The moment Jesus began to walk this earth, the moment Jesus defeated death through his own death and resurrection, the rescue plan was activated.
We’re never a hopeless case. We’re never lost forever, because God is always, ALWAYS looking for us.
Who goes searching for the one out of a hundred? Who goes searching for the one out of a thousand? Who goes searching for the one out of a trillion? Who goes searching for you and for me, no matter how far afield we’ve flown?
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, Jesus the rabble rouser, Jesus the teller of obscure parables, stories that expose a truth we didn’t even know existed, that’s who. Jesus: the one who will always find us no matter what.
Now a sensible sermon based solely on the readings for today would continue to address all the varied ways we get lost, all the ways we hide from God, the ways we thwart God’s reaching out to us. But today is the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. And for those of us who lived through those attacks we can’t let this day go by without acknowledgement. If we don’t remember then we are causing all 2,996 people killed and the more than 6,000 people injured to be the lost sheep, caught in the bramble, forgotten, dismissed, ignored. We can’t do that, we shouldn’t do it.
For as those buildings collapsed into smoldering piles of fiery dust , as that plane crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside and as the Pentagon burned, hundreds of people, just like the shepherd, just like the woman with the coin, refused to turn their backs, refused to give up on the lost.
If this was a regular Sunday and not the 15th anniversary of 9/11 a preacher would talk about how this Gospel is about sin and forgiveness. That this Gospel tells us that no one is “too far gone” to be saved through God’s amazing grace. But this isn’t any regular Sunday. Because 15 years ago begged the question---where in the world was God as those nearly three thousand people died and those 6k+ were injured? What did those people do to deserve such a fate? And I get that. Why do bad things happen to good people? Frankly I don’t know, that’s my first question when I come face to face with God--- but what I do know is that God was there, in Manhattan, in Shanksville PA and in Washington DC on 9/11/2001. God was in every single first responder who ran toward, who ran into rather than away from. God was with those first responders who wouldn’t get off the smoldering pile until they were absolutely positively sure that there was no one, no one left behind. Where was God then, where is God now? God is in the darkest corners. God is in the most horrific scenes, God is in the most broken of hearts. God is there, God is here. Through you, through me, through every single human being who seeks Christ in everyone, everywhere, no exceptions, God is there.
And that, my friends is the good news extracted from that darkest of dies. Who seeks the one who is lost and in danger, leaving behind the 99 who are safe and sound? God does.
Today is a sad day in our history, a painful day. But it is also a Gospel day. Because on that day, as the world wept, so did God. As the heroes of 9/11 ran into instead of away from horror, God was with them, as the search for survivors which would turn out to be futile carried on day after day, God was with them. Who searches for the one lost sheep out of a hundred? God does.
Who searches for the one lost coin and then spends three times as much money celebrating finding the coin? God does.
Wedding Homily Liz and Mike Sept 9, 2016
Weddings are great---everyone is happy, the couple looks great, we have a great party to look forward to---weddings are glorious occasions.
But what the wedding sets into motion—a marriage--- isn’t all sweetness and light. A marriage as Mother Ellen proclaimed a few moments ago, should not be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, because frankly marriage, like any relationship, takes work. But, as our reading from Ecclesiastes so poignantly points out---it’s worth it.
The reading offers this advice for you as you begin your marriage: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.”
This statement is made right after the author extols the desolation of a miserly couple who toil in isolation---far removed from any human community. The point the author is making is clear---solitary toil is pointless compared to toil and life together in community.
God has built us to live in community, to be in relationship. We can do so much more, we can be so much more, when engaged in relationships, in community. Not just marriage, but all kinds of relationships, all kinds of connections. It’s when we’re relating that the fullness of God is expressed.
Even the very fullness of God is expressed in and through relationship.
One God, three persons.
One God, three varied ways of reaching out to us.
One God, three expressions of that Divine Being: The parental Creator of all God, the fully human, fully divine Jesus Christ God and God the Holy Spirit, that which energizes us in our communities, in our relationships to do good, to be faithful and to further the kingdom here on earth.
God’s all about relationships and community. And marriage is just that—a relationship, a community. Individually you’ve each brought communities to this relationship. The communities of Liz, the communities of Mike. Together, you’ve created additional communities, the communities of LizAndMike.
The point is, God created us to be together because we are stronger together---
Of course there are many ways to be in relationship---they’re as varied as the personalities here today, but the important thing is to find how you –how each of us---is fulfilled.
What relationship, what community makes your heart sing?
What relationship, what community brings you closer to the Holy?
With whom is it that you most often see the face of God?
It’s a quest for us all.
At this time and in this place your quest pauses here to acknowledge THIS relationship, THIS community of LizAndMike. A time to pause and celebrate the sanctification of this relationship, of the community---the family---you are and that which you’ll become.
For God loves when we find others to be with, to love and to nurture.
Liz and Mike, today we sanctify what has become.
Today we celebrate what will be.
And today we thank our Creator God that our very beings find their fulfillment in each other.
May God bless you this day, may God bless you every day and may those who witness your love, your community, your commitment to each other be strengthened in their own relationships and their own communities. And above all, as Paul writes: clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Amen.
But what the wedding sets into motion—a marriage--- isn’t all sweetness and light. A marriage as Mother Ellen proclaimed a few moments ago, should not be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, because frankly marriage, like any relationship, takes work. But, as our reading from Ecclesiastes so poignantly points out---it’s worth it.
The reading offers this advice for you as you begin your marriage: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.”
This statement is made right after the author extols the desolation of a miserly couple who toil in isolation---far removed from any human community. The point the author is making is clear---solitary toil is pointless compared to toil and life together in community.
God has built us to live in community, to be in relationship. We can do so much more, we can be so much more, when engaged in relationships, in community. Not just marriage, but all kinds of relationships, all kinds of connections. It’s when we’re relating that the fullness of God is expressed.
Even the very fullness of God is expressed in and through relationship.
One God, three persons.
One God, three varied ways of reaching out to us.
One God, three expressions of that Divine Being: The parental Creator of all God, the fully human, fully divine Jesus Christ God and God the Holy Spirit, that which energizes us in our communities, in our relationships to do good, to be faithful and to further the kingdom here on earth.
God’s all about relationships and community. And marriage is just that—a relationship, a community. Individually you’ve each brought communities to this relationship. The communities of Liz, the communities of Mike. Together, you’ve created additional communities, the communities of LizAndMike.
The point is, God created us to be together because we are stronger together---
Of course there are many ways to be in relationship---they’re as varied as the personalities here today, but the important thing is to find how you –how each of us---is fulfilled.
What relationship, what community makes your heart sing?
What relationship, what community brings you closer to the Holy?
With whom is it that you most often see the face of God?
It’s a quest for us all.
At this time and in this place your quest pauses here to acknowledge THIS relationship, THIS community of LizAndMike. A time to pause and celebrate the sanctification of this relationship, of the community---the family---you are and that which you’ll become.
For God loves when we find others to be with, to love and to nurture.
Liz and Mike, today we sanctify what has become.
Today we celebrate what will be.
And today we thank our Creator God that our very beings find their fulfillment in each other.
May God bless you this day, may God bless you every day and may those who witness your love, your community, your commitment to each other be strengthened in their own relationships and their own communities. And above all, as Paul writes: clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Amen.
Monday, September 5, 2016
Proper 18 Yr C Sept 4, 2016 Labor On, You Are God’s Creation
+I love Labor Day weekend. Not because it’s a weekend of cookouts and relaxing. Not because it’s the last hurrah before the routine of the September through June world takes root. No I love Labor Day because it serves as a reminder to me that God sanctifies our daily work, our labor. Do you know that we have several prayers in our prayer book devoted to our Labor? ( pg. 259 and 261 in the BCP) They reflect two things—the importance of fair Labor practices, that every worker’s dignity is respected, and the sanctification of our work—that God has given us the ability and the expectation that we will work, that we will labor. The prayers, [as well as the Hymn Come Labor On,] tells us that there’s work to do and that, when we work hard with dignity and integrity, God is pleased.
Pleased with our work. All our work. Not just work we do specifically “for the church.” God sanctifies all human labor because work is part of the human condition--- God notices our work and God sanctifies it.
Of course, we all want to be acknowledged for the work we do, to be told that what we’ve labored at all day, all week, all career, is worthwhile and appreciated. But it usually isn’t God we turn to for that praise.
You see, when we’re focused on being acknowledged by our bosses, by the folks who sign our checks, by our friends and family; we forget that the acknowledgement that really matters, the honor that really counts, is that which we get from God.
And, remembering God in all we do is the message in today’s Gospel.
When Jesus tells us to hate mother, father, sister, brother he means, don’t lose our primary focus— remember God in all we do, not just in times of trouble, not just in times of joy-- but always and everywhere.
He knows how easy it is to get caught up in the here and now, to pay attention to the loudest voices around us, the voices of judgment and expectation put forth by our co workers, our bosses, our friends and our family.
Jesus is reminding us that what we do---that everything we do—is because of and for God.
As stated in the Book of Jeremiah, God, the great potter, has molded us from non-distinct balls of clay into the wonderful vessels we are today, complete with the unique attributes which make you, you and me, me. Each of us fulfills a different purpose within creation. Remember the old hymn, I Sing a Song of the Saints of God? It details how all of us are saints in the eyes of God, no matter what we do. We can be teachers or doctors, shepherds or queens, soldiers or priests, or even slain by a fierce wild beast…..but the point is we all have specific gifts bestowed upon us by our creator and our job is to go out into the world utilizing these gifts, as best we can.
Every job, even the wonderful job of being a priest and the Diocesan Canon has drudgery attached to it. There are things I need to do on a daily basis which don’t feel, at first blush, to be furthering God’s kingdom. I your jobs feel the same way. But, and here is the point, no matter how mundane, when we’re doing our work we are living into the life God created for us.
Because, we are God’s creation and all we do is of God.
When we get so caught up in just “getting through the day,” when our daily tasks become a burden, when we forget to see God at work even in the most tedious of tasks, we’re turning our back on God.
Jesus is saying, “don’t let anything stand in the way of your love of God. ….it doesn’t matter if you can’t see the glory in what you do every day. . .because God sees it, and God has sanctified it.”
The regular-ness of our daily lives, our jobs as clerks, teachers, farmers, construction workers, bankers, homemakers and retired people… is where we live out the fullness of our faith.
The regular-ness of our daily lives—our Monday through Saturday lives, is more sacred than our Sunday morning lives. For it’s in our daily lives that others are able to see God’s grace at work in our lives.
What we have to do, what our task is as put forth by Jesus, is to do our very best to seek and serve Christ in all people—even when our bosses, our co-workers, our classmates, all our companions along the way ----drive us nuts, make us mad, hurt our feelings and exasperate us.
That’s when we’re carrying the cross of Christ. Carrying our cross and following Jesus is not proselytizing it’s not preaching…it’s living our regular, ordinary day in and day out lives.
If we live our lives doing the best we can, seeking and serving Christ in all people---even in those people who drive us nuts---then we’re carrying the cross of Christ, we’re ---evangelizing. Because, by being who God molded us to be, we show others that God loves us all and sanctifies all that we do.
Next week, your new priest, Randi will be standing here. Together you will embark on a season of getting to know each other. A season of trying some new things, a season of perhaps doing some old things in new ways. It will be a time of adjustment and it will be a time for great celebration….as you embark on the next phase of life at St John’s [St Andrews] know that God is with you in all you do, loving you for who you are and who you are becoming, because you are God’s beloved masterpiece, formed to be exactly who it is you will become.
So go forth with my abundant love and unceasing prayers. Labor on with Pastor Randi, remembering that all your work is beautiful in God’s sight. +
Pleased with our work. All our work. Not just work we do specifically “for the church.” God sanctifies all human labor because work is part of the human condition--- God notices our work and God sanctifies it.
Of course, we all want to be acknowledged for the work we do, to be told that what we’ve labored at all day, all week, all career, is worthwhile and appreciated. But it usually isn’t God we turn to for that praise.
You see, when we’re focused on being acknowledged by our bosses, by the folks who sign our checks, by our friends and family; we forget that the acknowledgement that really matters, the honor that really counts, is that which we get from God.
And, remembering God in all we do is the message in today’s Gospel.
When Jesus tells us to hate mother, father, sister, brother he means, don’t lose our primary focus— remember God in all we do, not just in times of trouble, not just in times of joy-- but always and everywhere.
He knows how easy it is to get caught up in the here and now, to pay attention to the loudest voices around us, the voices of judgment and expectation put forth by our co workers, our bosses, our friends and our family.
Jesus is reminding us that what we do---that everything we do—is because of and for God.
As stated in the Book of Jeremiah, God, the great potter, has molded us from non-distinct balls of clay into the wonderful vessels we are today, complete with the unique attributes which make you, you and me, me. Each of us fulfills a different purpose within creation. Remember the old hymn, I Sing a Song of the Saints of God? It details how all of us are saints in the eyes of God, no matter what we do. We can be teachers or doctors, shepherds or queens, soldiers or priests, or even slain by a fierce wild beast…..but the point is we all have specific gifts bestowed upon us by our creator and our job is to go out into the world utilizing these gifts, as best we can.
Every job, even the wonderful job of being a priest and the Diocesan Canon has drudgery attached to it. There are things I need to do on a daily basis which don’t feel, at first blush, to be furthering God’s kingdom. I your jobs feel the same way. But, and here is the point, no matter how mundane, when we’re doing our work we are living into the life God created for us.
Because, we are God’s creation and all we do is of God.
When we get so caught up in just “getting through the day,” when our daily tasks become a burden, when we forget to see God at work even in the most tedious of tasks, we’re turning our back on God.
Jesus is saying, “don’t let anything stand in the way of your love of God. ….it doesn’t matter if you can’t see the glory in what you do every day. . .because God sees it, and God has sanctified it.”
The regular-ness of our daily lives, our jobs as clerks, teachers, farmers, construction workers, bankers, homemakers and retired people… is where we live out the fullness of our faith.
The regular-ness of our daily lives—our Monday through Saturday lives, is more sacred than our Sunday morning lives. For it’s in our daily lives that others are able to see God’s grace at work in our lives.
What we have to do, what our task is as put forth by Jesus, is to do our very best to seek and serve Christ in all people—even when our bosses, our co-workers, our classmates, all our companions along the way ----drive us nuts, make us mad, hurt our feelings and exasperate us.
That’s when we’re carrying the cross of Christ. Carrying our cross and following Jesus is not proselytizing it’s not preaching…it’s living our regular, ordinary day in and day out lives.
If we live our lives doing the best we can, seeking and serving Christ in all people---even in those people who drive us nuts---then we’re carrying the cross of Christ, we’re ---evangelizing. Because, by being who God molded us to be, we show others that God loves us all and sanctifies all that we do.
Next week, your new priest, Randi will be standing here. Together you will embark on a season of getting to know each other. A season of trying some new things, a season of perhaps doing some old things in new ways. It will be a time of adjustment and it will be a time for great celebration….as you embark on the next phase of life at St John’s [St Andrews] know that God is with you in all you do, loving you for who you are and who you are becoming, because you are God’s beloved masterpiece, formed to be exactly who it is you will become.
So go forth with my abundant love and unceasing prayers. Labor on with Pastor Randi, remembering that all your work is beautiful in God’s sight. +
Sunday, August 28, 2016
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.
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.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
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. +
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. +
Saturday, August 20, 2016
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
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.
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