Just Walk. Just Reach. Just Touch. Proper 13B Trinity Hamburg Aug 5, 2018

+People do amazing things when hungry.
This morning, the people Jesus fed last week are hungry again, so they’ve piled into boats, crossed the water and have tracked Jesus down.
Although Jesus isn’t surprised that they’ve come… he IS a tad annoyed at their shortsightedness—happy to have their stomachs filled but completely oblivious to the real reason for His presence in their lives. Just as we often are, these folks are clueless as to the real reason for Jesus’ presence in their lives.
Jesus didn’t come to fill our stomachs, Jesus came to fill our souls. But, and Jesus knew this, it’s really difficult to pay attention to one’s soul if one’s stomach is growling. So, he filled their stomachs hoping—maybe even assuming---that once their stomachs were full, they’d realize just how empty their souls remained.
But to do that, to realize how empty we may feel, is not so simple. There’s no definitive signal---like a growling stomach---to tell us we’re spiritually empty, that we need some spiritual nourishment. It takes awhile to figure it out.
And, apparently, it takes awhile to explain it as well.
In John’s gospel, Jesus spends FOUR Sundays trying to get his followers, those then and us now, to distinguish between physical and spiritual hunger. It’s annoying as we hear, again, again, again and AGAIN that the manna from Exodus and the multiplication of loaves and fishes in the gospels is nothing…NOTHING compared to The Bread of Life...the bread that is Jesus.
And while in theory we may join with the folks from the gospel and say, “yes Jesus give us this spiritual bread forever,” it’s a lot more involved than just saying yes. We can’t just say it. We have to live it. We have to believe it. We have to accept it. We have to receive it.
     You see, since time began we’ve been separated from God. And God has been, since time began, trying to bridge that gap, trying to reach us, trying to touch us.
According to philosopher Louis Dupre (wiki preacher) religion is how we reach out to God. It’s how we try to bridge the gap from our end of this divide.
Remember Michelangelo’s depiction of Creation on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? In it is the iconic image of Adam-- stretched out on the ground, dazed and confused, one arm, one hand, reaching out toward an old and slightly wild looking God, who’s also stretching out an arm, a hand, with one finger almost touching Adam’s. In between is a teeny space separating God from humanity. Separating us from God.
Dupre says that our entire life is lived in that tiny space between God’s finger and Adam’s hand. Trying to bridge that gap.
The problem is, we don’t know how. We try to be good and faithful Christians, but it doesn’t always work. It doesn’t work because we forget to do what Jesus told us to do---- believe and trust in him.
It doesn’t work because instead of letting go and trusting God, we hold on and try to do it on our own: “Just show us how to do it and we’ll do it ourselves, God. We really don’t need this Jesus fellow…just give us the magic formula and we’ll take care of things.”  That never works. It doesn’t work because it isn’t about us, it isn’t about our filled bellies, it isn’t about what we can do. It’s about what God does. And what God has done is given us Jesus.
Jesus says, “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of God will GIVE you” And the people respond, “OK, so how do we learn to get this food ourselves?”
Jesus tries again. “This is the work OF GOD: That you believe in the one God sent. It’s a gift. God does the doing, the sending. We do the receiving. The accepting.
You see, Jesus is the one who fills up that tiny space between God’s finger and Adam’s hand. Jesus bridges that gap, so tiny in the painting, so vast in our lives. What we need to do is walk across that bridge between God and us, reaching God, touching God, being one with God.
It really is that simple: walk. Reach. Touch.
As many of you know, my mom’s health has been failing quite precipitously for the past 18 months. I just returned from Chicago where mom entered into a higher level of nursing care. Mom’s most debilitating symptom of kidney failure is unrelenting fatigue. She said to me the other morning. “I just want to be able to walk on my own and get to where I want to go. I just want to walk.” Of course, the only way she’ll be able to walk without lots of assistance is when she transitions from this life into eternal life. When that happens she will walk, she will run, she will be free. She will walk, she will reach, she will touch, she will be one with God, forever.There is great wisfon within her lament.
Just walk. Just Reach. Just Touch.
This is really it. It’s the wisdom of God, manifested in my mother’s waning days on earth, the wisdom of our Savior: Just walk. Just Reach. Just Touch.
My friends, we are hungry. Let us, fueled by the Bread of Life,  walk, reach, touch and be filled. Amen.

Proper 12B Always enough…and more July 29, 2018 St Luke’s Jamestown

+“Family hold back,” was a familiar refrain in my family. My parents entertained a lot and always, before the guests arrived, Mom would say, “I don’t think we made enough potatoes, so family, hold back.” To Mom, there was nothing as horrifying as running out of food so no matter what, “family, hold back!” Of course, I never remember a time when there wasn’t enough food for everyone around the table. Never. Yet, up until Mom stopped cooking a few months ago, she would still warn “hold back, there might not be enough.” My mother like so many of us, is afraid that there simply won’t be enough.
     Mom would have fit right in with Philip in today’s gospel who, when asked by Jesus to provide food for the gathered 5,000, immediately looks at the whole situation from a stance of scarcity—there’s no way! It will cost too much!! It’s impossible!
Even when Andrew notices the boy with the barley loaves and two fish…Philip is still catastrophizing—"what good will that meager amount be with ALL THESE PEOPLE?” Philip wasn’t wrong…in normal circumstances the boy’s meager groceries wouldn’t have made a dent, but when is anything with Jesus normal? One might expect that Philip would have figured this out by now…
but no one ever said the disciples were quick…
now the boy is another story….as far as we know he knew nothing about Jesus…when Andrew approached him about the food the boy had to wonder what difference his little bit of food would make… I can imagine him thinking…“There are so many and I have so little.  All that will happen is I’ll have to go hungry along with everyone else.  Better to keep what’s mine and let the other people take care of themselves.”
It’s easy to think, “What difference will it make?  I barely have enough for myself, how could I possibly give to others? “There isn’t enough” is a familiar refrain isn’t it? It certainly was with Philip, and my mom and so many of us sitting here today.
But that boy didn’t flinch. He offered what he had, not worrying about whether his gift was enough.

      Instead of “never enough,” our readings today talk about always enough…and more! They call us to have enough faith in God to share what we have and enough trust in God to fill in the rest.
In 2nd Kings, because of a famine, the traditional offering of first fruits is paltry-- 20 barley loaves and a handful of other fresh grain--- “a family hold back” offering meal if there ever was one! But Elisha doesn’t bat an eye. “Give it to the people.” he says, “The Lord has promised, ‘Eat and there shall be leftovers! ”
Right there--in the midst of scarcity-- faith and abundance!
 And again, in today’s Gospel, the boy hands over his meager groceries to Jesus.  And, once again, somehow, someway, God provides.
There’s plenty, more than enough for everyone. Jesus makes a rich feast out of a peasant’s dinner, no one holds back and everyone is filled. PLUS there’s leftovers!
     We often think we don’t have much to offer God or the world, either personally or as a congregation. We see ourselves as poor, small, weak, unworthy or otherwise inadequate. We hold back, thinking no one will want what we have, for it’s simply NOT ENOUGH. You know what God says to that?
“Hogwash.”
     Ours is a God who takes our little and turns it into a lot.  We often try to hang on to what we have because we don’t really trust God’s promise that if we turn everything over to God we’ll be all right, we really will.  Deep down, most of us don’t believe that God will take what we grudgingly, almost reluctantly, hand over and turn it into more than we ever imagined possible.
But God has done and will do just that. You see,
God doesn’t really want our treasure, God wants our trust.
God doesn’t really want our finances, God wants our faith.
 God doesn’t really want our things, God wants us.
God wants us to let go of everything else and truly believe that we can rely on the fact that the divine and holy love that made our universe also made us and that this immense love, a love “that is beyond all knowledge,” (Ephesians 3:19) will provide for us and will use us to provide for others.
     7 years ago there were 17 people attending the Church of the Ascension in the city of Buffalo…instead of giving up, four of those parishioners---FOUR---under the direction and inspiration of Deacon Pete Dempesy Sims began a pet food pantry. In the past seven years that little pet food pantry has distributed over 15 TONS of pet food. And that pet food pantry has spawned four other pet food pantries in this diocese and more in other dioceses. All because a handful of people in a struggling congregation decided that they could make a difference in this world. And they did. And they do.
I’m sure to many folks, all the work that goes into the Children of the Book reading camp doesn’t seem worth it…after all, I can hear them say, what difference will it make in the pervasive system of poverty in this region…. but ask anyone who is involved in it and they’ll regale you with stories of how it has made a difference and how it will continue to do so.
How does this happen? How do we find ourselves doing more than we could ever imagine possible?
Through Trust. Through Faith, and through Love. That’s how. My friends, when we trust in God, when we have faith in God, when we love God enough to give all that we are and all that we have, “family hold back” is turned inside out and upside down and suddenly, from our meager and simple offering, God’s makes an amazing, abundant and outlandish feast.  Amen.

Ward Hamlin Funeral Homily 7.16.18

+Ward Hamlin loved beauty. The beauty of a well-done liturgy is how I will always remember him. Perfect choral music, well recited prayers, graceful movement throughout the chancel, a well-crafted and delivered sermon and at the end a meal fit for kings and peasants alike, the Holy Eucharist. This is how several of us who had the honor of serving as priests at this Cathedral, remember him.
He appreciated all that went into liturgy including, but no limited to, the choral music. Former Dean Liza Spangler, former Canon Paul Lillie and I all agree---having Ward Hamlin as a member of the congregation was a tremendous gift. His dedication to the church went beyond the choir stalls. As Liza told me, Ward was the finest Warden she had ever worked with in her career. I remember his support of me as I worked with the youth in this place, understanding that we needed to provide services for children who weren’t part of the choral program.  He served God in a wide array of ways and he did it all with classic Ward Hamlin precision and dedication.
  Ward pursued excellence in all things not just because that’s what he expected of himself and those around him, but because it is in excellence where the beauty of God is so often found. And for Ward, beauty is what it was all about.
For Ward beauty could be found in many places and in many forms... first and foremost he found beauty in his family---nothing made his face light up more than his family. Your joy was his joy. He loved discussing choir music with Emma and Grace, especially enjoying a friendly competition about who got to sing what piece of music first!  He and Steven engaged in lengthy conversations about Yankees baseball and fast cars. And then there was Lynn. On a number of occasions Ward told me of his deep and abiding love for his wife. A love he felt unworthy to receive, but a love he was bound and determined to honor.
Ward Hamlin is the only person I know who could regale one with details about a well-crafted legal debate, the sweet swing of Derek Jeter, riding his tractor along the death defying hill at the house in Colden, and drinking in some obscure 800 year old pub in the English countryside...all in one conversation! There was beauty in all of it, and Ward relished it.
You see, to appreciate beauty, to see beauty, to notice beauty, one must understand beauty.
Ward Hamlin understood beauty. He appreciated it. He sought it.
Today, in paradise, Ward is experiencing a beauty unlike any other, a beauty beyond all understanding. Yes Ward, a beauty and a peace you can’t even describe with your exquisite wordsmithing skills.
Today, Ward is perfect. Today he is fully who it is God created him to be. Today, Ward understands it all.
This is the wonder of eternal life, it’s the culmination of our Christian journey to find ourselves, at the last, in the full presence of beauty, in the full presence of the Holy, in the full presence of Love.
I have no doubt that on this day, Ward is exhaling with sighs too deep for words, basking in the glory and beauty of all that was and is and is to come. Today, Ward’s existence alongside his Lord and God is sublime.
Any of us who heard Ward sing had a glimpse of this glory he now fully inhabits.
Now I know I’m surrounded by musicians of great skill and amazing talent here, which made me question whether or not I should delve into his choral career in this homily. But then I remembered why we sing, and why we listen to others sing-- to glorify God. To praise God. To pray.
I’ll never forget what it felt like to be seated in this glorious building on Good Friday while Ward chanted the Passion Gospel.
Ward understood.
He understood that singing is praying and that singing beautifully is to pray exquisitely.
Ward Hamlin sang beautifully, prayed exquisitely and loved his God with all his heart, all his mind and all his strength.
Ward was no passive follower of Jesus…he was passionate. And God loves nothing more than a passionate believer.
When Ward become weaker and weaker he needed to sit during rehearsals of Vocalis- but to stop singing? That was a pain too great for him to bear. Which is why it gives us all such joy to know that today Ward has set up residence in the choir room of God’s house, singing with the angels, forever.
As word of Ward’s death spread across the choral music community, tributes to Ward were posted on his Facebook page.
Jaimie Burritt shared a recording of the Vocalis performance of Jake Runestad’s “Let My Love Be Heard,” based on this text:
"Angels, where you soar
Up to God's own light,
Take my own lost bird
On your hearts tonight;
And as grief once more
Mounts to heaven and sings,
Let my love be heard
Whispering in your wings."
(From "A Prayer" by Alfred Noyes)
On the afternoon of June 30, 2018, the angels sang Ward Hamlin home.
 To his family and friends: may we be comforted in knowing that from this day forward, whenever we experience the beauty of a well performed choral anthem, a perfectly executed double play or a stellar legal case marvelously argued, take a close listen and hear Ward’s love, now one with God’s, whispering within the angels’ wings.
Rest in peace, good and faithful servant, job well done. Amen.

The Church of the Faithful and the Home of the Brave Proper 8B Trinity Hamburg July 1, 2018

+Today’s Gospel reading is all about profound, courageous, and audacious faith. And I think it teaches us a lot.
We have one of the leaders of the synagogue, Jairus (JAIRUS)—-a member of the establishment, someone whose whole career could be ruined if seen engaging with Jesus—asking…pleading…begging Jesus for help. “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.”
With that sentence Jairus has made it clear: he believes that Jesus has the ability to heal his daughter.
Jairus shows an amazing faith.
As does the “Woman with a Hemorrhage.”
Now just a little bit about names here—-the man in the story—is named —Jairus—- but the woman, she doesn’t get a name, she gets a label—the “Woman with the Hemorrhage.” Sometimes the Bible frustrates me.
     Regardless, “the Woman” is another hero of this Gospel…she broke so many traditions with her actions it’s easy to lose track. First, she was bleeding—she’d had an out of control period for 12 years—and in the Jewish faith, a bleeding woman was considered “unclean,” therefore she couldn’t be out in the crowd. She needed to be sheltered, separated, secluded. But…this Woman, this woman?  She was desperate.
And she was faithful... “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.”
She had enough faith to risk being stoned to death for violating a number of Jewish laws about purity and propriety.
Her faith was so strong that when she touched the hem of Jesus’ robe, Jesus actually felt power go out from him. It gives me chills every time I read it—how much faith must one have for it to deplete Jesus of his energy?!?
This woman was also brave…in response to the question, “who touched my robe,” ‘[she] knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.”
As an unaccompanied woman, she could have disappeared into the crowd, no one would pay her any mind…and yet…she spoke up. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that she was brave. After all, true, deep faith requires a huge amount of bravery.
That’s what I always think when we recite the baptismal covenant—how much Christianity expects of us, how risky it can be….
“Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers”—in other words, go out and spread the gospel, telling people the truth they may not want to hear, and then come back and be in fellowship with one another at church. (It’s possible that some days being in fellowship with folks at church may be the toughest part!)
“Will you persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?”
This is really tough…we have to admit our mistakes, make amendment of life and return to God. This isn’t just saying you’re sorry, this is making it right...there are so many ways this is difficult and risky because when we’ve hurt others, when we’ve done wrong, trying to make it right may be met with hostility. Our corrective action may not be accepted.
“Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?”
We have to speak the word and we have to live it. Out in public, in front of people who may not agree with us!
And then the final two promises, by far the toughest—
“Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?”
Now remember Jesus’ answer to—-“who is my neighbor?” Everybody, even those with whom we disagree, those we don’t like, those who cause us fear…these are our neighbors.
“Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
Striving for justice means speaking out against injustice, about demanding that justice is served always and forever.
 Peace. This means where there is strife, where there is intolerance, where there is violence we must stand up, we must speak out and we may never ever rest until this work is complete.
Finally, when we know a human being isn’t being treated with dignity—you know when someone is dismissed, abused, hated because of the country of their origin, the color of their skin, the name of their God, the gender of their beloved, the actions of their immigrant parents——we must DO SOMETHING, DO ANYTHING to make sure that dignity—-a God-given right for all of God’s beloved children—is afforded to everyone. Everywhere. Always.
    Whenever we recite these promises, as I stand in front of a congregation I wonder, “do they really know what they’re promising ? The risk they’re taking?”
    Jairus and the Woman with the Hemorrhage risked everything because they were desperate beyond all measure and they BELIEVED beyond all measure that Jesus could help them, heal them, restore them.
    So the question for today, the question for everyday is this—-
Are we desperate enough to live this faith?
Are we brave enough to live this faith?
Are we willing to risk everything for this faith?
Are we willing to be Jairus? Are we willing to be the Woman?
In this week of celebrating our democracy, can we be the Church of the Faithful and the Home of the Brave?
I sure hope so. Amen.

“Job said to God, ‘Do something!’ God said to Job, ‘I did. I created you.’ It’s up to us. Here. Now.” Proper 7B St John’s Wilson, St Andrew’s, Burt June 24, 2018

+In our first reading this morning God is responding to the long lament of poor ol’ Job. What I find interesting is that
nowhere in God’s FOUR CHAPTER response does he say to Job, “I’m sorry” nor does God explain why such horror befell Job. Instead, God’s response is more along the lines of “I’m God. You’re not.” Period. But I don’t think God’s being dismissive—-I think God is saying to Job…and to us…. you are one speck, one moment in the history of all things. I have created everything that has been and everything that will be. Don’t worry about my motivation, worry about yours.
OK let me explain.
I don’t know about you, but for the past week I’ve struggled, feeling helpless and hopeless regarding the fate of immigrant children on our border. Now let me be clear—I’m not wanting to engage in a policy debate.
But as the Bishop of Washington DC, Mariann Budde wrote this week:
This is not a partisan issue that divides us. It is a moral concern that unites us as Americans, as people of faith, and especially for those of us who follow Jesus.
Our faith implores us. It demands of us, it expects of us that we never…and I mean NEVER… sit idly by while one of God’s children is in anyway demeaned, disrespected, or dismissed.
If anyone sitting here today could listen to the recordings of those children calling out for their mamas and papas, if anyone sitting here today could watch video of children in cages without any familiar loving adult with them and not be sick to your stomach, heartbroken, outraged, despondent and felled to your knees in prayer, then you may need to do an assessment of your soul.
It’s easy to say, I didn’t vote for him
It’s easy to say, the media has blown this all out of proportion.
It’s easy to say, these laws have been in the books for a while, this President is just implementing them.
It’s easy to say that the actions of the government are out of our control.
It’s easy to be like the disciples in this morning’s Gospel and just sit back horrified and terrified waiting for Jesus to do something.
But that’s not how it works.
We have a role to play in this.
Yes, we must pray.
But prayer without action is, as St Paul tells us, a clanging cymbal, a noisy gong signifying nothing.
My friends, we must act.
As followers of Jesus Christ we must seek and serve Him in all persons, loving our neighbor as our self. We must strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being. These promises that we make in our Baptismal covenant mean that we cannot sit idly by while our government participates in state sponsored, taxpayer funded child abuse. When we hear children crying for their mothers, when we see these children in cages, when our own President echoes the words of the Third Reich saying that these immigrants, these refugees, these children will “infest our country,” we better do something.
You see it is fine and good to pray to God to stop this insanity but guess what? It can’t stop there. We have a role to play too. It’s the point God is making with Job.
God has created everything and everyone.
Including us.
God created us. With our brains and our passion, with our free will and with our faith.
God created us to have dominion over the earth.
Jesus tells us to go and make disciples, to seek and serve him in all that we do.
The Holy Spirit was bestowed upon us to give us the strength and the motivation and the courage to do the work that we’ve been given to do.
And what is that work? To love as we have been loved.
To speak up for the voiceless
To stand up for the downtrodden
To love as we have been loved.
What is this work we’ve been given to do?
To be afraid but then to go forward anyway.
To have faith that God will be with us as we do this work.
It’s not our job to shake our heads and say, what a shame.
It’s our job to raise our voices, saying “there must be another way. A better way. A loving way.’
Job says to God do something.
God says to Job, I did. I created you.
You do something.
It’s up to us my friends. Here and Now.
It’s not over, it is clear that our country is full of intolerance and hate. It’s full of fear and trembling. It’s full of despair and despondency.
And this week it seems to be a country where somehow it seemed ok to use children as pawns in a political debate.
In this country at this time, we are putting children, alone and afraid, ripped from their parent’s arms, in cages.
In the name of God let us do something.
Because God didn’t create us to be spectators God created us to be participants.
In the name of all that is holy, in the name of our redeeming sustaining and ever-loving God we must make sure that hate never wins, that hope is never lost and that Love in all its forms reigns supreme. Amen.

Proper 5B Trinity Hamburg, 2018 Who Goes There? A Child of God

+Thomas Wolfe wrote, “You Can’t Go Home Again.” Of course, you can, but it won’t be the same.
I grew up in a small village outside of Chicago. We lived right in the center of town and were so connected with the community that when my oldest sister was married she and my brother in law stopped at the local grocery store between the wedding and the reception to say hi…. The local merchants were a part of our family.
But, now that I haven’t lived there for many years, I don’t really fit in. There’s a whole new generation of people who are integral members of this small community. Unless there’s a real old timer around, when I walk into one of the local haunts people look at me as a stranger. It doesn’t take too long away before you move from being an insider to being an outsider.
 Jesus had such an experience when he returned to Nazareth after what had been a whirlwind first few months of ministry. He’d gained quite a following and was saying and doing things that, frankly, a good kid from Nazareth, the child of Joseph and Mary, wasn’t supposed to do. Back home folks barely recognized this charismatic leader who was ticking off the temple authorities left and right. He was breaking the sabbath, he was touching the unclean… and then, probably most shocking of all… he denies his own family—mother, brothers, sisters.
     Jesus had left home and came back acting at best like a jerk and at worst, like a possessed lunatic. It’s a tough scene to watch, and a difficult Gospel reading to hear.
But before we pile on and decide that Jesus has LOST HIS MIND, , let’s remember that what Jesus seems to say is not always what Jesus means.
 When he appears to reject his family what Jesus is really doing is proclaiming that there’s something greater than family something greater than all the human structures we’ve erected to order our world….something greater than society, something greater than government, something even greater than the love we have for our mother, our father, our sisters, our brothers, our wives, husbands, partners and children. He’s speaking, of course, of the Source of all Love: God. Before we were the child of our parents, before we were the spouse of our partner, before we were the parent of our children we belonged to God. Jesus is saying, all of these structures—be they family as mentioned in the Gospel or governmental as mentioned in Samuel, mean nothing if before these things, we don’t remember, we don’t acknowledge and we don’t proclaim ourselves beloved children of God. At our core we must love God first and foremost because before we were even = formed in the womb, God adored us.
      This is wonderfully illustrated by the tradition of the Hapsburg dynasty in Austria ---Remember the Hapsburgs? For more than 600 years they ruled much of Europe. In 1916 Emperor Franz-Josef I of Austria, a member of the Hapsburg line, died. The story of his burial went like this:
A procession of dignitaries and elegantly dressed royal mourners escorted the coffin. A military band played somber funeral music as the torch-lit procession made its way down winding narrow stairs into the catacombs beneath the royal Monastery in Vienna.
At the bottom of the stairs were great iron doors leading to the Hapsburg family crypt. Behind the door was the Cardinal-Archbishop of Vienna.
The Commanding officer rapped on the door and cried out. “Open!”
The Archbishop replied, “Who goes there?”
“We bear the remains of his Imperial and Apostolic Majesty, Franz-Josef I, by the grace of God Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, Defender of the Faith, Prince of Bohemia-Moravia, Grand-Duke of Lombardy . . . .” And so it went, through the entire list of his 37 titles.
The Cardinal responded: “We know him not!” The officer knocks angain and the Cardinal again replies, “Who goes there?”
The officer answers, using the informal title saying,  “We bear the remains of Emperor Franz-Josef I of the Hapsburg line.”
“We know him not,” the cardinal said again. “Who goes there?”
This time the officer replied, “We bear the body of Franz-Josef, our brother, a sinner like all of us.” At that the doors swung open and Franz-Josef was welcomed home.
     We move around a lot in our world—I read someplace that the average American will move 12 times in their lifetime. Roots are hard to maintain in such a transient culture. Each time we move, we establish new friendships, we lay down new roots….but at the end of the day… whether our relationship with the family we grew up with, the family we married into or the family we raised ourselves is still solid and familiar, we need, we long for, roots that attach us wherever it is we find ourselves. And what Jesus offers us in today’s Gospel, and what the Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna so boldly demands of royalty and peasantry alike, is a connection, a family tree, a hometown we can always count on, a place we’ll always be welcomed, a place we always belong. You see, the good news in today’s readings is that as long as we maintain that primary relationship with our loving Creator God as experienced through the Holy and Undivided Trinity, we are never ever alone. For this is the family from which all other families spring.  As long as we keep that relationship vital and healthy, then we’ll always be on the inside, we’ll always be a “part of.” Because, whoever else we may be, whatever other relationships we may have, there is one title and one relationship that can never be taken away from us; we are always beloved children of God, born out of the waters of baptism and sealed with the Holy Spirit forever.
Who goes there? We do, beloved children of God.
Amen.
  story taken from The Lectionary Lab: http:lectionarylab.blogspot.com for Proper 4B 2012

Love Makes a Church. Or a Temple. Or a Mosque…. Proper 4B June 3, 2018 Trinity Fredonia. Baptism

+I have a friend who is a priest in Chicago. One day I was at his church as he was preparing for a big parish event…as he was running around he was muttering, “Jesus never had a church, Jesus never had a church.” At the time I wasn’t sure what that was all about but now, after being ordained for a decade, I get it….sometimes the business of the church feels as if it’s overshadowing the business of God.
     It’s true, Jesus didn’t have a church, nor did he have a denomination. Jesus simply had a message and some followers. But the message was revolutionary and his followers were growing, so he also had to deal with the institutional faith of the day—the Temple and the temple authorities. Jesus may have been fully human and fully Divine, but even his Divine nature had to deal with church—or in this case temple--- politics.
     In today’s Gospel those authorities were none too happy with Jesus. The specifics of the argument are a bit arcane; suffice it to say the authorities had one interpretation of the Jewish restrictions on activity during the sabbath while Jesus had a broader, wider more encompassing view. The authorities were basing their opinion on human-made (although no doubt Divine inspired) law. Jesus was basing it on who God is, what God wants, and what God needs. You see,  the Jewish people had their “law” handed down to them from Moses. Jesus’ followers had the requirements of God presented to them by God in the flesh,Jesus Christ. Yeah, this is an argument the temple authorities are going to lose every single time.
The authorities had Divine law interpreted by human beings---complete with what humanity brings to the table—flaws and foibles—while Jesus had, well Jesus had the inside track…. Jesus had God. Jesus knew what it was the Lord required of us….because he was and he is the Lord. The authorities had nary a chance.
And just what is it that God requires of us, just what is it that God dreams for us, just what is it that God created us to be?
God made us out of Love to be Love to give Love, to share Love.
Now when I say love I don’t just mean the love we have for our spouses, our children, our parents, our siblings, our friends. I don’t just mean the love a couple has for one another on their wedding day, or the love a family has for a baby (like baby Angel who will be baptized in a few minutes---at the 10:30 Eucharist---), no I mean the source from which all of that love springs. I mean the source of all that is good and holy and joyful and peaceful and justice-filled in this world. I mean God. For God is Love. Period.
Today as we baptize Angel (and as we at the 8:30 renew our own baptismal vows) we  “re-up” the fundamentals of our faith:
That we love the Creator of all—God.
That we proclaim Jesus, God’s son,  as our Lord and Savior.
That we embrace the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ specific gift to us.
That we seek justice for all. That we stand up and speak out when other children of God are unjustly treated. And that means more than shaking our heads and saying, “what a shame,” it means doing something to make sure that justice is served. Always.
That we respect the dignity of every single person. Everyone. Everywhere. Always. Meaning that if people aren’t being treated with dignity---if they are hungry, lonely, naked…or they’re in prison, or they’re children ripped from their parent’s arms due to political instead of compassionate decision-making…or they’re sick with no access to quality healthcare, or they’re not safe in their classroom….
You get the point….by virtue of our baptism we promise, we vow to see Christ in all whom we encounter and to be Christ to all those we encounter.
In sum, we promise to Love.
It’s all about Love, my friends.
Two weeks ago our Presiding Bishop captivated the world with his words about Love delivered at the Royal Wedding. Why did his message so captivate the 2 billion people who heard them? Because our world is a hurting place. Our world is an increasingly angry place. Our world is an increasingly dark place. Our world is hungry for, is desperate for, Love.
     On this day when we make ourselves a brand new Christian, when we celebrate Angel as the beloved child of God that he is--- formed out of love to love and to be loved, let me close by quoting Presiding Bishop Curry:
“…Imagine a world where love is the way.
Imagine our homes and families where love is the way. Imagine neighborhoods and communities where love is the way.
Imagine governments and nations where love is the way. Imagine business and commerce where this love is the way.
Imagine this tired old world where love is the way….
When love is the way, then no child will go to bed hungry in this world ever again.
When love is the way, we will let justice roll down like a mighty stream and righteousness like an ever-flowing brook.
When love is the way, poverty will become history. When love is the way, the earth will be a sanctuary.
When love is the way, we will lay down our swords and shields, down by the riverside, to study war no more.
When love is the way, there's plenty good room - plenty good room - for all of God's children.”
     My friends, Love is the way. It’s the best way, it’s the certain way, it’s the only way.
Love one another. Love yourself. And above all else, Love your God, for God loves you, God loves us, beyond all understanding. Always and Forever. Amen.