Sermon: Gen: 9:8-17 and Mark 1:9-15
1st Lent March 26, 2012
The number 40 keeps popping up today, along with a number of other themes. If I were superstitious I might use it to play the lottery. The Old Testament reading about Noah, for example, is preceded in the book of Genesis by the story of the great flood. It rained 40 days and 40 nights in order to cause such a deluge. Then in the Gospel of Mark we are told that Jesus after his baptism was driven by the Spirit into the desert for forty days. And the season of Lent, which we began last Wed., lasts for forty days.
Then there’s the water. All that water in the flood, the waters of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan and the practice in the Episcopal Church of blessing the new waters for Baptism at the Great Vigil of Easter.
What emerges for me from this symbolism is a theme of death and resurrection. Yes, God made this idyllic world described in Genesis where all things were in harmony, but when men and women messed it up He got fed up and moved to destroy all life on earth. That’s the death theme. Yet he provided a way for life to regenerate by saving Noah, his family and all those animals. That’s the resurrection theme. And He set the rainbow in the sky after the rain as a reminder to himself, but mainly I think for us, that He will not destroy like that again. Now the rainbow doesn’t come after every rain or even after most rains, but when it does come and we get to see it is such a beautiful, hopeful sign.
Jesus goes off into the wilderness, like a death to his old life, certainly a major departure from His former life. He goes back to nature, to the elements, and comes out ready to begin His life of preaching. Baptism symbolizes all that dying to the old way and rising to the new life.
Lent is the time to think and pray about these things, a time for going figuratively into the wilderness to get our heads straight, to focus on elemental things, those things that are most important. It is a time to get rid of the debris that builds up in our lives, the old ways, as it were, those things that distract us from that which really matters. Hence the custom of denying ourselves as Jesus did, of giving up things during Lent.
It is time to stop focusing on things as problems or disasters, but rather as opportunities. Noah sensed this; he sent the birds out to see if there was dry land yet. They had a great opportunity to start the human race all over again and God sent them a rainbow as a sign of hope. Lent is a time to look for the rainbows. If we don’t look, we won’t see.
We have been through a bad time economically in this country, especially in this state, but there are signs that the worst may be over. We are not out of the wilderness quite yet, though, and before we leave the wilderness let’s resolve to not return to the old ways of taking things for granted. Times of scarcity are times of opportunity to band together and help one another. Times of plenty are times of temptations to just look out for number one, ourselves. So maybe as things continue to improve we will just return to our old ways and not remember the lessons learned in an economic downturn, like what is most important. Let me ask “what things are most important for you?”
As is my custom and as I mentioned last Sunday, I am recommending something to give up this Lent. In previous years the recommendations have been resentments, prejudices, and gossip. This year it is worry. Not an easy one. As a help let’s look at the Serenity Prayer. It is a prayer attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr, the great Protestant theologian. He is, reportedly, President Obama’s favorite theologian. That would make sense. I hope the president has been able to pray the prayer and benefit from it during these three plus years in the wilderness. The prayer has been popularized by the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous and the other Twelve Step groups. You know it already.
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.
Okay, let’s look at those three elements. If there is something bothering me that I don’t have the power to change, rather than worry about it, I need to just put it in God’s hands. If there is something about me that I need to change, then rather than fret about it I have to get on with changing it. If I am worrying about something and don’t know if I can change it or not, then it is time, big time, for prayer. So, I recommend we use the number 40. Each day of the 40 during Lent stop, center yourself and say the prayer. Ask the question what am I worrying about? Decide which of the three situations applies and move accordingly. Oh yes, four of the 40 have already passed. So that means do it twice for four days in order to catch up.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
Mother in Laws
Sermon: Mk. 1:29-39
Feb. 5, 2012
Mother-in-Laws can be controversial characters. A lot of jokes are made about them, but what would we do without them. We married men appreciate that they had daughters. Witness today’s Gospel which just casually tells us that Simon Peter had a mother-in-law, so he must have had a wife and probably children.
The main theme of today’s gospel is healing. One of those healed is Peter’s mother-in-law. Often times we think of healing, whether directly from God or indirectly through the medical professions, as being exclusively physical healing without reference to the other elements in a person’s life.
The kind of healing that Jesus brought to his ministry was holistic, healing the whole person. I have a model for that. It is called bio-psycho-social-spiritual. Bio refers to those disorders which are primarily physical, such as genetically inherited ones, a fractured hip, a viral infection. Psych means psychological, those disorders which have a mood component, such as depression, those disorders which are complicated by our thinking process, maybe our beliefs about certain things. It isn’t so simple that we can divide illnesses cleanly into those that are biological from those that are psychological from those that are social from those that are spiritual. Many, if not most, have maybe all four components intertwined.
Depression is a good example, as evidenced by this fictional case. Here is a young woman, who may have a proneness to depression, perhaps genetic, but it has never really been triggered into a serious mood swing, until she gives birth to her firstborn. The hormonal changes result in post-partum depression, a common occurrence. Add to that the environment; she lives in Michigan during the winter where many people suffer from SAD, seasonal affective disorder, because of the lack of sunshine. These things alone could account for a serious depression, but then her mother dies, a major disruption in her social support network. The resulting grief pushes her over the edge into a whale of a depression.
Clearly in such a case all the relevant areas of a person’s life need to be seriously considered for engagement if recovery is to occur. Medication, counseling, strong social support and assistance, as well as the sacrament of anointing are examples of a holistic or bio-psych-social-spiritual approach to recovery.
Where does the spiritual fit in? It is that element in our lives which unites, which gives meaning, which pulls it all together into a unity, so we are able to devote ourselves to something greater than ourselves and in return we benefit. Prayer, Bible reading and worship life are often a major part of it.
So, how did Jesus heal? You think he stopped and said I’m going to heal holistically, body, mind, soul and family relations? No, that would not fit His times, but he did heal holistically, if I understand the Scriptures.
Let’s look at today’s story. After synagogue Peter invites Jesus and the other three Apostles to his home for dinner. Did he warn his wife and mother- in-law he would do this? I doubt it, knowing what we know about his impetuosity. A major social catastrophe is about to happen, because the woman in charge is in bed with a fever and the great teacher along with a bunch of other guys comes to her home for dinner. Jesus sizes up the situation and does what is needed. He heals the key person, who is able to do what she does so well and what she wants to do. She serves them all.
Then the whole town, it says, like a mob gathered at their door and he spent a long time healing people and driving out demons. But he slipped away before sunrise to a quiet place where he could pray. He looked out for himself by tending to his own spiritual needs, preventive wellness, if you will. When Peter finds him and tries to coax him back because he says people are looking for him, Jesus says he must go to the neighboring towns so that He could proclaim the message there also. Healing is secondary to His primary mission, which is to establish the reign of God on earth, a kingdom of justice, peace and love. His healings were impressive, especially the physical healings, but notice that He didn’t do away with all sickness. I doubt that he even healed all those He came in contact with him. For one thing, they needed to believe and many did not. For another, spiritual healing was more important to him than the physical. Often, he would say, when he healed blindness or paralysis or deformity, go and sin no more. He was healing people of their selfishness, their hatreds, their dishonesty, in addition to their physical illnesses. Of course, that kind of healing requires faith and repentance on the part of the person.
So when and why does He heal even today? He heals when he is moved by compassion, just as He did when he walked the earth, when he sees suffering and wants to alleviate it. If you notice, most of the time, if we are given the context, that suffering is also affecting other people, usually family. The son of the widow of Naim, Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law are examples.
It is no accident that we have our monthly healing service today, the Sacrament of Anointing, after the main service. Anyone feeling the need for healing, whether the disorder is physical, psychological, social, spiritual or all four intertwined is encouraged to be with us.
Feb. 5, 2012
Mother-in-Laws can be controversial characters. A lot of jokes are made about them, but what would we do without them. We married men appreciate that they had daughters. Witness today’s Gospel which just casually tells us that Simon Peter had a mother-in-law, so he must have had a wife and probably children.
The main theme of today’s gospel is healing. One of those healed is Peter’s mother-in-law. Often times we think of healing, whether directly from God or indirectly through the medical professions, as being exclusively physical healing without reference to the other elements in a person’s life.
The kind of healing that Jesus brought to his ministry was holistic, healing the whole person. I have a model for that. It is called bio-psycho-social-spiritual. Bio refers to those disorders which are primarily physical, such as genetically inherited ones, a fractured hip, a viral infection. Psych means psychological, those disorders which have a mood component, such as depression, those disorders which are complicated by our thinking process, maybe our beliefs about certain things. It isn’t so simple that we can divide illnesses cleanly into those that are biological from those that are psychological from those that are social from those that are spiritual. Many, if not most, have maybe all four components intertwined.
Depression is a good example, as evidenced by this fictional case. Here is a young woman, who may have a proneness to depression, perhaps genetic, but it has never really been triggered into a serious mood swing, until she gives birth to her firstborn. The hormonal changes result in post-partum depression, a common occurrence. Add to that the environment; she lives in Michigan during the winter where many people suffer from SAD, seasonal affective disorder, because of the lack of sunshine. These things alone could account for a serious depression, but then her mother dies, a major disruption in her social support network. The resulting grief pushes her over the edge into a whale of a depression.
Clearly in such a case all the relevant areas of a person’s life need to be seriously considered for engagement if recovery is to occur. Medication, counseling, strong social support and assistance, as well as the sacrament of anointing are examples of a holistic or bio-psych-social-spiritual approach to recovery.
Where does the spiritual fit in? It is that element in our lives which unites, which gives meaning, which pulls it all together into a unity, so we are able to devote ourselves to something greater than ourselves and in return we benefit. Prayer, Bible reading and worship life are often a major part of it.
So, how did Jesus heal? You think he stopped and said I’m going to heal holistically, body, mind, soul and family relations? No, that would not fit His times, but he did heal holistically, if I understand the Scriptures.
Let’s look at today’s story. After synagogue Peter invites Jesus and the other three Apostles to his home for dinner. Did he warn his wife and mother- in-law he would do this? I doubt it, knowing what we know about his impetuosity. A major social catastrophe is about to happen, because the woman in charge is in bed with a fever and the great teacher along with a bunch of other guys comes to her home for dinner. Jesus sizes up the situation and does what is needed. He heals the key person, who is able to do what she does so well and what she wants to do. She serves them all.
Then the whole town, it says, like a mob gathered at their door and he spent a long time healing people and driving out demons. But he slipped away before sunrise to a quiet place where he could pray. He looked out for himself by tending to his own spiritual needs, preventive wellness, if you will. When Peter finds him and tries to coax him back because he says people are looking for him, Jesus says he must go to the neighboring towns so that He could proclaim the message there also. Healing is secondary to His primary mission, which is to establish the reign of God on earth, a kingdom of justice, peace and love. His healings were impressive, especially the physical healings, but notice that He didn’t do away with all sickness. I doubt that he even healed all those He came in contact with him. For one thing, they needed to believe and many did not. For another, spiritual healing was more important to him than the physical. Often, he would say, when he healed blindness or paralysis or deformity, go and sin no more. He was healing people of their selfishness, their hatreds, their dishonesty, in addition to their physical illnesses. Of course, that kind of healing requires faith and repentance on the part of the person.
So when and why does He heal even today? He heals when he is moved by compassion, just as He did when he walked the earth, when he sees suffering and wants to alleviate it. If you notice, most of the time, if we are given the context, that suffering is also affecting other people, usually family. The son of the widow of Naim, Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law are examples.
It is no accident that we have our monthly healing service today, the Sacrament of Anointing, after the main service. Anyone feeling the need for healing, whether the disorder is physical, psychological, social, spiritual or all four intertwined is encouraged to be with us.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Midnight In Paris
Sermon: Mark: 1:21-28
Jan. 29, 2012
“What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” That’s the question that reverberates down the centuries. What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
He had come out of Nazareth, been baptized, went on retreat in the desert, called his apostles, set up headquarters in the larger town of Capernaum, and then showed up in the local synagogue where he opened the scroll and began to teach. They were amazed at his new message and the authority with which he taught. There was a man there with an unclean spirit. The spirit knows who he is. He is the holy one of God. The spirit infesting this man is frightened. “What do you have to do with us?” he says. Interesting that frequently in the gospels unclean spirits are referred to in the plural. Jesus drives out the spirit or spirits and the people are even more astounded.
We might as the question… in fact, we should. “What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” The answer is... “everything.” He has everything to do with us. Before the world came to be, He is. The eternal word of God spoken by the Father, intimately involved in our creation, He became human and entered our time zone, became one of us, with a name, Jesus of Nazareth. Through his spirit, the Holy Spirit, he is present to us, within us, helping us if we will let him to be all that we can be. Well, then if we are surrounded by him, even invaded by him, why don’t we know it? Because we are distracted by so many other things, that our spiritual senses are deadened. It is the here and now, though,that matters. Where is the meaning right now? So frequently we are in the past, romanticizing about those better days that used to be or longing for the future when things will improve. Rarely are we with Christ in the present.
I got an insight this week from an unlikely source, Woody Allen. I was watching his recent movie, Midnight in Paris, not expecting to be that entertained when suddenly I got the message. Now I am going to ruin the movie for you, if you have not seen it, by telling the story. If you don't want that, cover your ears for 3 or 4 minutes. On the other hand, it could save your the $8 admission.
It’s about an aspiring young writer who is struggling through his first novel. He finds himself in Paris, brought there by his fiancé and her parents. He loves the atmosphere of Paris, but something is missing, is wrong. As he wanders the streets at midnight he is picked up by one of those grand old motor cars from the 1920’s. In it are Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, who take him to a party where he meets a cast of aspiring young artists. He realizes he is talking with the young Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso before they are famous. The guy on the piano playing that very familiar music is Cole Porter. He is so in his element, even getting help with his novel from Edith Stein, that he goes back each night at midnight to live in that world. It is his golden era. In the meantime he breaks up with his fiancé. Good thing, because he falls in love with a beautiful young woman from the twenties, who herself is bored and unhappy to be alive then. She takes him in a horse and carriage at midnight to the 1890’s, her golden era, where they meet Toulouse Lautrec and a bunch of the impressionist painters. They’re at the Moulin Rouge where the Cancan is being performed. Yet the people there are unhappy and bored with that era and long for something earlier. Then there is a flash to King Louie the 13th and Marie Antoinette at Versailles just before heads started rolling in the French Revolution. Suddenly our friend gets it, just as I got it. He returns to the present day Paris, refuses to travel at midnight and finds a contemporary young French woman; they walk off in the rain along the Seine.
Now is our golden era, not the past, not the future.. Christ is here now among us, within us. Take off the blinders. Be aware. Possibilities are unlimited. That’s what Jesus of Nazareth has to do with us. “ My I suggest to you. This is the best part of our lives.” (Recording by Vance Gilbert of above piece is now played.).
Jan. 29, 2012
“What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” That’s the question that reverberates down the centuries. What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
He had come out of Nazareth, been baptized, went on retreat in the desert, called his apostles, set up headquarters in the larger town of Capernaum, and then showed up in the local synagogue where he opened the scroll and began to teach. They were amazed at his new message and the authority with which he taught. There was a man there with an unclean spirit. The spirit knows who he is. He is the holy one of God. The spirit infesting this man is frightened. “What do you have to do with us?” he says. Interesting that frequently in the gospels unclean spirits are referred to in the plural. Jesus drives out the spirit or spirits and the people are even more astounded.
We might as the question… in fact, we should. “What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” The answer is... “everything.” He has everything to do with us. Before the world came to be, He is. The eternal word of God spoken by the Father, intimately involved in our creation, He became human and entered our time zone, became one of us, with a name, Jesus of Nazareth. Through his spirit, the Holy Spirit, he is present to us, within us, helping us if we will let him to be all that we can be. Well, then if we are surrounded by him, even invaded by him, why don’t we know it? Because we are distracted by so many other things, that our spiritual senses are deadened. It is the here and now, though,that matters. Where is the meaning right now? So frequently we are in the past, romanticizing about those better days that used to be or longing for the future when things will improve. Rarely are we with Christ in the present.
I got an insight this week from an unlikely source, Woody Allen. I was watching his recent movie, Midnight in Paris, not expecting to be that entertained when suddenly I got the message. Now I am going to ruin the movie for you, if you have not seen it, by telling the story. If you don't want that, cover your ears for 3 or 4 minutes. On the other hand, it could save your the $8 admission.
It’s about an aspiring young writer who is struggling through his first novel. He finds himself in Paris, brought there by his fiancé and her parents. He loves the atmosphere of Paris, but something is missing, is wrong. As he wanders the streets at midnight he is picked up by one of those grand old motor cars from the 1920’s. In it are Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, who take him to a party where he meets a cast of aspiring young artists. He realizes he is talking with the young Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso before they are famous. The guy on the piano playing that very familiar music is Cole Porter. He is so in his element, even getting help with his novel from Edith Stein, that he goes back each night at midnight to live in that world. It is his golden era. In the meantime he breaks up with his fiancé. Good thing, because he falls in love with a beautiful young woman from the twenties, who herself is bored and unhappy to be alive then. She takes him in a horse and carriage at midnight to the 1890’s, her golden era, where they meet Toulouse Lautrec and a bunch of the impressionist painters. They’re at the Moulin Rouge where the Cancan is being performed. Yet the people there are unhappy and bored with that era and long for something earlier. Then there is a flash to King Louie the 13th and Marie Antoinette at Versailles just before heads started rolling in the French Revolution. Suddenly our friend gets it, just as I got it. He returns to the present day Paris, refuses to travel at midnight and finds a contemporary young French woman; they walk off in the rain along the Seine.
Now is our golden era, not the past, not the future.. Christ is here now among us, within us. Take off the blinders. Be aware. Possibilities are unlimited. That’s what Jesus of Nazareth has to do with us. “ My I suggest to you. This is the best part of our lives.” (Recording by Vance Gilbert of above piece is now played.).
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Jonah and Home Boys
Sermon: (Jonah, 1-5) Jan. 22, 2012
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
This is great. We get to talk about Jonah, God and the Big Fish, based on our Old Testament reading for today. The Book of Jonah is variously called a parable, an allegory or a short novel. What then is it’s message? First the story. Some people here have already found the message. Most people know the story, but maybe not the message. Some people don’t know either. So first the story.
Briefly it is that God told Jonah He wanted him to travel over to Nineveh and warn the Ninevites that unless they repented of their sinful ways they were going to be destroyed. Jonah hated the Ninevites; they were Assyrians. He considered them to be the enemies of the Hebrews. He wanted them to be destroyed. So rather than do God’s will and carry words of repentance to them he set out in the opposite direction to the Mediterranean Sea where he booked passage on a ship headed west. He was running away from God. Do you think God would allow that? How silly, almost as silly as Francesco Schettino, the captain who ran his cruise ship on the rocks in the same sea last week and thought he could abandon ship and his passengers and not get caught. Well, Jonah and he do not get off that easily. In Jonah’s case, God caused a great storm to come upon the ship so that the sailors feared for their lives. They prayed to their gods to be spared but the storm only got worse. Eventually Jonah came clean and admitted the storm was his fault because he was running away from his God. The sailors became believers in the God of Jonah and started praying to Him to save them, but the storm only got worse. Jonah finally said you’ll have to throw me overboard to avoid shipwreck. They did and the sea calmed. God was still not going to let Jonah get away, though. He had this big fish swallow him up. Jonah prayed like crazy to be delivered. God let him squirm for three days and three nights before having the fish belch him up on the same shore from which he had set sail. Then the question: “Are you ready to do now what you were told?” Jonah decided to obey God, (hard-headed fellow that he was), but he didn’t decide to like it. He travelled to Nineveh and told them they would have to repent and change their ways or God would destroy them. This part he was enjoying. It was a big city, more than a 120,000 people. It took him three days to cross the city, shouting “repent or be destroyed.” He didn’t expect they would repent; he hoped they wouldn’t. After all, they were the hated Assyrians. When he had crossed the city he found a hill and sat to see the city destroyed. But lo and behold the king heard the words. He called on the people and even the animals to dress in burlap, put ashes on their heads and fast. God saw their true repentance and did not destroy them. Jonah is got so mad he couldn’t stand it. He is going to hold onto his biases and his hatred, come big fish or high water. He is still sitting in the sun, baking in his misery. Rather than relent he says he wants to die. The story ends there. The Ninevites flourish and Jonah is left in his misery.
So what is the message of this little novel? I can think of two. First, you can’t get away from God. Second, we are the true victims of our own racism, prejudices and hatreds, not the ones we fear and hate.
I wrote the first draft of this sermon last Tues. but was unhappy with the practical applications to our situations in the here and now. Then I had the good fortune to hear Father Greg Boyle Wed. night. You may recall last Sun. I invited people to go to Detroit to hear him as part of our honoring of Dr. Martin Luther King. Well, several of us went and were truly inspired. He is the Jesuit who in his first assignment as a priest went to the poorest Catholic parish in Los Angeles, right between the two largest housing projects west of the Mississippi, an area dominated by Latino gangs. Twenty five years later he is still working with gang members, mostly former gang members, and together they have built a multi-million dollar network of businesses to provide employment for former gang members, known as Homeboy Industries. That is all wonderful and has made him famous, but Greg’s real message is about the Homies, both men and women, Home Boys and Home Girls who with the help of God have transformed their lives. The hatred and killing between rival gangs in L.A. and elsewhere, to an outsider look so senseless because they are between similar people fighting over who would dominate which blocks of the city. It dawned on me that this is what the Book of Jonah is about. The Hebrews and the Assyrians were rival gangs fighting over territory. They are loved and pursued by the same god, the One God. When confronted by God the Assyrians, at least in Nineve, turn and repent. Jonah will not. He wants to keep his attitude.
The most touching stories told by Greg Boyle, and there are many, are those involving rival gang members, who come to Home Boy Industries and find themselves working beside each other. The grace of God works, so they end up being willing to give their lives for the former enemy.
So, the question for us is who are the Ninevites, the rival gang or gangs, we fear and hate, those groups we are unwilling to share territory and jobs with, even though we all are loved by and pursued by the same God. Are they the Mexicans, the undocumented, the Blacks, the Arabs, the poor on welfare who we are convinced are to blame for their own poverty? Or maybe its the people next door.
If you identify such a group that you have an attitude about and you don’t open up to God’s grace-filled attitude adjustment, I recommend you don’t get on a boat in the Mediterranean.
We have acquired a copy of Father Boyle’s book, “Tattoos on the Heart.” It is truly inspiring and available for loan around.
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
This is great. We get to talk about Jonah, God and the Big Fish, based on our Old Testament reading for today. The Book of Jonah is variously called a parable, an allegory or a short novel. What then is it’s message? First the story. Some people here have already found the message. Most people know the story, but maybe not the message. Some people don’t know either. So first the story.
Briefly it is that God told Jonah He wanted him to travel over to Nineveh and warn the Ninevites that unless they repented of their sinful ways they were going to be destroyed. Jonah hated the Ninevites; they were Assyrians. He considered them to be the enemies of the Hebrews. He wanted them to be destroyed. So rather than do God’s will and carry words of repentance to them he set out in the opposite direction to the Mediterranean Sea where he booked passage on a ship headed west. He was running away from God. Do you think God would allow that? How silly, almost as silly as Francesco Schettino, the captain who ran his cruise ship on the rocks in the same sea last week and thought he could abandon ship and his passengers and not get caught. Well, Jonah and he do not get off that easily. In Jonah’s case, God caused a great storm to come upon the ship so that the sailors feared for their lives. They prayed to their gods to be spared but the storm only got worse. Eventually Jonah came clean and admitted the storm was his fault because he was running away from his God. The sailors became believers in the God of Jonah and started praying to Him to save them, but the storm only got worse. Jonah finally said you’ll have to throw me overboard to avoid shipwreck. They did and the sea calmed. God was still not going to let Jonah get away, though. He had this big fish swallow him up. Jonah prayed like crazy to be delivered. God let him squirm for three days and three nights before having the fish belch him up on the same shore from which he had set sail. Then the question: “Are you ready to do now what you were told?” Jonah decided to obey God, (hard-headed fellow that he was), but he didn’t decide to like it. He travelled to Nineveh and told them they would have to repent and change their ways or God would destroy them. This part he was enjoying. It was a big city, more than a 120,000 people. It took him three days to cross the city, shouting “repent or be destroyed.” He didn’t expect they would repent; he hoped they wouldn’t. After all, they were the hated Assyrians. When he had crossed the city he found a hill and sat to see the city destroyed. But lo and behold the king heard the words. He called on the people and even the animals to dress in burlap, put ashes on their heads and fast. God saw their true repentance and did not destroy them. Jonah is got so mad he couldn’t stand it. He is going to hold onto his biases and his hatred, come big fish or high water. He is still sitting in the sun, baking in his misery. Rather than relent he says he wants to die. The story ends there. The Ninevites flourish and Jonah is left in his misery.
So what is the message of this little novel? I can think of two. First, you can’t get away from God. Second, we are the true victims of our own racism, prejudices and hatreds, not the ones we fear and hate.
I wrote the first draft of this sermon last Tues. but was unhappy with the practical applications to our situations in the here and now. Then I had the good fortune to hear Father Greg Boyle Wed. night. You may recall last Sun. I invited people to go to Detroit to hear him as part of our honoring of Dr. Martin Luther King. Well, several of us went and were truly inspired. He is the Jesuit who in his first assignment as a priest went to the poorest Catholic parish in Los Angeles, right between the two largest housing projects west of the Mississippi, an area dominated by Latino gangs. Twenty five years later he is still working with gang members, mostly former gang members, and together they have built a multi-million dollar network of businesses to provide employment for former gang members, known as Homeboy Industries. That is all wonderful and has made him famous, but Greg’s real message is about the Homies, both men and women, Home Boys and Home Girls who with the help of God have transformed their lives. The hatred and killing between rival gangs in L.A. and elsewhere, to an outsider look so senseless because they are between similar people fighting over who would dominate which blocks of the city. It dawned on me that this is what the Book of Jonah is about. The Hebrews and the Assyrians were rival gangs fighting over territory. They are loved and pursued by the same god, the One God. When confronted by God the Assyrians, at least in Nineve, turn and repent. Jonah will not. He wants to keep his attitude.
The most touching stories told by Greg Boyle, and there are many, are those involving rival gang members, who come to Home Boy Industries and find themselves working beside each other. The grace of God works, so they end up being willing to give their lives for the former enemy.
So, the question for us is who are the Ninevites, the rival gang or gangs, we fear and hate, those groups we are unwilling to share territory and jobs with, even though we all are loved by and pursued by the same God. Are they the Mexicans, the undocumented, the Blacks, the Arabs, the poor on welfare who we are convinced are to blame for their own poverty? Or maybe its the people next door.
If you identify such a group that you have an attitude about and you don’t open up to God’s grace-filled attitude adjustment, I recommend you don’t get on a boat in the Mediterranean.
We have acquired a copy of Father Boyle’s book, “Tattoos on the Heart.” It is truly inspiring and available for loan around.
Friday, January 6, 2012
My Beloved Daughter
Sermon: Mk 1:4-11
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 1-8-12
We have chosen to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany today, because it is an important feast in the church year. It was actually Jan. 6, and today is technically the First Sunday after Epiphany. Epiphany signals the end of the Christmas Season. Hence, we will take down the Christmas decorations after service today.
Epiphany also signals the beginning of the next season called, of all things, the Epiphany season. That will take us to the beginning of Lent. During this season the focus is on epiphanies, or revelations, of who Jesus is. It is not about a single revelation, but a series of revelations, as we are brought to a fuller understanding of the mystery of the Christ. So, for instance, today’s Gospel tells the story of the Magi, those wise astronomers, who discerned from the stars that a great king had been born and followed his star to Judaea. So, we learn He is a King. The gospel for the first Sunday after Epiphany tells the story of His baptism at the Jordan. When He came up out of the water He saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him and a voice came from
Heaven, “You are my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” This in Mark’s account. In Matthew’s account it says “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” It would seem that the epiphany or revelation was intended for John the baptizer and the crowd who was there and, of course, for us. So now we know He not only is a king; he is also the Son of God. But the biggest thing for me is that, following Mark’s version, it was an epiphany for Jesus. He is being told He is God’s Son and that his Father is pleased with him.
Hard to understand? Didn’t He already know this? Apparently not. It is hard to understand, in fact it is impossible to understand the mystery of who Jesus is. The Christian doctrine from at least the fourth century is that he is both God and man, two natures, divine and human in one person. Truly God and truly man. In our efforts to understand this I think many times we come down on one side and not the other. One version is that He was always God and just pretended to be human. He went through the motions. He knew everything there was to know because he was God, so He knew He was God’s beloved Son. He didn’t have to learn it. Also, He didn’t really feel human emotions like love and anger. He didn’t really suffer as a human being would, but played the role. I don’t know about you, but I don’t find that version believable based on reading the Gospels.
The other version is that he was only human and not divine. Okay, the greatest human who ever lived, but not God. God revealed special things to him and gave him the power to perform miracles, but He was only human. Sure he felt all our emotions and all our pain because He was human. At the end of his life he was taken into heaven and has the highest place next to God, but is not God, not one of the three persons in the Trinity.
Now either version is relatively easy to understand, but neither is the Christian teaching; both were condemned as heresies in the early church.
We are left with the mystery of the God-man. We cannot totally understand him, but we can identify with him, unite ourselves to Him. It is easier to do that by looking at His human experience, rather than His divinity. Since He was truly human I assume that means in His human mind he did not know everything. He had to grow in knowledge and wisdom before God and men, as we are told when he was lost in the temple at the age of 12. We know that he went frequently into solitude to pray to the father in order to know the father’s will for him. It must have been a great consolation and affirmation to hear the words at his baptism, “You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.”
What does this have to do with us? Don’t we all need and appreciate hearing words like that? “You are my beloved daughter in whom I am well pleased.” Many men have trouble saying those kind of words. My own father was like that. He was quite emotional but had trouble expressing himself. Many times he said to me, “You know how I feel.” And I did know.
Sometimes when men express deep emotion, it surprises people. I was reading about this priest who was preparing a sermon on this very text and got so inspired that he immediately text messaged both of his adult sons and said to each “You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” One of the boys never acknowledged the message, but the other answered “Thanks, Dad. Are you okay?”
So, on this Epiphany day, it might be a good idea to tell our children how we feel about them. God did.
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 1-8-12
We have chosen to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany today, because it is an important feast in the church year. It was actually Jan. 6, and today is technically the First Sunday after Epiphany. Epiphany signals the end of the Christmas Season. Hence, we will take down the Christmas decorations after service today.
Epiphany also signals the beginning of the next season called, of all things, the Epiphany season. That will take us to the beginning of Lent. During this season the focus is on epiphanies, or revelations, of who Jesus is. It is not about a single revelation, but a series of revelations, as we are brought to a fuller understanding of the mystery of the Christ. So, for instance, today’s Gospel tells the story of the Magi, those wise astronomers, who discerned from the stars that a great king had been born and followed his star to Judaea. So, we learn He is a King. The gospel for the first Sunday after Epiphany tells the story of His baptism at the Jordan. When He came up out of the water He saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him and a voice came from
Heaven, “You are my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” This in Mark’s account. In Matthew’s account it says “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” It would seem that the epiphany or revelation was intended for John the baptizer and the crowd who was there and, of course, for us. So now we know He not only is a king; he is also the Son of God. But the biggest thing for me is that, following Mark’s version, it was an epiphany for Jesus. He is being told He is God’s Son and that his Father is pleased with him.
Hard to understand? Didn’t He already know this? Apparently not. It is hard to understand, in fact it is impossible to understand the mystery of who Jesus is. The Christian doctrine from at least the fourth century is that he is both God and man, two natures, divine and human in one person. Truly God and truly man. In our efforts to understand this I think many times we come down on one side and not the other. One version is that He was always God and just pretended to be human. He went through the motions. He knew everything there was to know because he was God, so He knew He was God’s beloved Son. He didn’t have to learn it. Also, He didn’t really feel human emotions like love and anger. He didn’t really suffer as a human being would, but played the role. I don’t know about you, but I don’t find that version believable based on reading the Gospels.
The other version is that he was only human and not divine. Okay, the greatest human who ever lived, but not God. God revealed special things to him and gave him the power to perform miracles, but He was only human. Sure he felt all our emotions and all our pain because He was human. At the end of his life he was taken into heaven and has the highest place next to God, but is not God, not one of the three persons in the Trinity.
Now either version is relatively easy to understand, but neither is the Christian teaching; both were condemned as heresies in the early church.
We are left with the mystery of the God-man. We cannot totally understand him, but we can identify with him, unite ourselves to Him. It is easier to do that by looking at His human experience, rather than His divinity. Since He was truly human I assume that means in His human mind he did not know everything. He had to grow in knowledge and wisdom before God and men, as we are told when he was lost in the temple at the age of 12. We know that he went frequently into solitude to pray to the father in order to know the father’s will for him. It must have been a great consolation and affirmation to hear the words at his baptism, “You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.”
What does this have to do with us? Don’t we all need and appreciate hearing words like that? “You are my beloved daughter in whom I am well pleased.” Many men have trouble saying those kind of words. My own father was like that. He was quite emotional but had trouble expressing himself. Many times he said to me, “You know how I feel.” And I did know.
Sometimes when men express deep emotion, it surprises people. I was reading about this priest who was preparing a sermon on this very text and got so inspired that he immediately text messaged both of his adult sons and said to each “You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” One of the boys never acknowledged the message, but the other answered “Thanks, Dad. Are you okay?”
So, on this Epiphany day, it might be a good idea to tell our children how we feel about them. God did.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Our Hero
Sermon Acts 6:8-8:1
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Jan. 1, 2012
Each year our patron saint gets short shrift because his feast day falls on Dec. 26 and who is going to come to church the day after Christmas? It’s like having your birthday on Dec. 25. It gets lost in the bigger celebration. This year the Worship Committee decided to celebrate St. Stephen’s Day on Jan. 1, since today is a Sunday.
Stephen is our hero and a great one he is. We know a lot about him, since the Acts of the Apostles features him in its early chapters. He was one of the original seven chosen to be the first deacons. Their role was to relieve the apostles of the work of serving tables and caring for the widows. Stephen had abilities far beyond those tasks, for he was a preacher and a miracle worker so outstanding that he, like Jesus, threatened the power structure in Jerusalem, and, like Jesus, he was called before the Sanhedrin. There he preached the good news and confronted the Sanhedrin with the fact that they had manipulated Romans into killing the Son of God. This confrontation so inflamed the Sanhedrin that they took him outside and stoned him to death without a trial.
Stephen became the first martyr following in the steps of his Master. Then we saw something that was to be repeated many times in the early history of the Christian Community and memorialized with this saying. “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christianity.” Following Stephen’s profession of faith and his lynching, a persecution against Christians broke out in Judaea, the first of many to come throughout the Roman Empire. As a result, many Christians left the Holy Land and scattered around the Mediterranean. They took their faith with them and began to convert both the Jews in those cities and most especially the Gentiles. When the persecutions came to those areas and other Christians were martyred the faith spread all the more, fed by the example of great faith shown in the martyrs.
A side story often hardly noticed in the account from Acts is the fact that a young Pharisee by the name of Saul stood by as Stephen was stoned. He did not actually participate but it says he approved.
This reminds us of another wise saying: “All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men and women to say and do nothing.”
Of course, following upon Stephen’s death young Saul became Paul, arguably the Apostle most responsible for the spread of Christianity throughout the empire. It took the appearance to him of Jesus on the road to Damascus and his being blinded before he got the message, however.
So what’s the message for us on this New Year’s Day, 2012? If you are in to New Year’s resolutions, even if you are not, let me suggest a resolution to witness your faith this year and every year. It’s harder to know how to do that, compared with Stephen’s time and the price you pay will likely not be a dear as his. I think we witness by doing the right thing, the honest thing, even when we get ridiculed for it. We witness by doing the loving thing, the caring thing, especially when we don’t get on TV for it. We witness by forgiving those who have offended us, as did Stephen, following the example of his Master, just before he was put to death.
It is one thing for people to remain quiet and not protest against evil. It is quite another thing for people to use the guise of Christianity to teach hatred against those with whom they disagree. It’s amazing to see people say I am a Christian or even naming their denomination and with that dubious justification, lashing out at others, advocating death, supporting war and the denial of basic rights guaranteed under our constitution.
We witness for Christ when we teach His message as found in the New Testament, whenever and wherever we can. It is really up to each one of us to decide what we believe his message is and not to let someone else, even one’s priest, determine what that is. So how about this for an expanded Every Year resolution: “To witness for Christ wherever and whenever I can and to listen to the New Testament in order to know what His message really is?
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Jan. 1, 2012
Each year our patron saint gets short shrift because his feast day falls on Dec. 26 and who is going to come to church the day after Christmas? It’s like having your birthday on Dec. 25. It gets lost in the bigger celebration. This year the Worship Committee decided to celebrate St. Stephen’s Day on Jan. 1, since today is a Sunday.
Stephen is our hero and a great one he is. We know a lot about him, since the Acts of the Apostles features him in its early chapters. He was one of the original seven chosen to be the first deacons. Their role was to relieve the apostles of the work of serving tables and caring for the widows. Stephen had abilities far beyond those tasks, for he was a preacher and a miracle worker so outstanding that he, like Jesus, threatened the power structure in Jerusalem, and, like Jesus, he was called before the Sanhedrin. There he preached the good news and confronted the Sanhedrin with the fact that they had manipulated Romans into killing the Son of God. This confrontation so inflamed the Sanhedrin that they took him outside and stoned him to death without a trial.
Stephen became the first martyr following in the steps of his Master. Then we saw something that was to be repeated many times in the early history of the Christian Community and memorialized with this saying. “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christianity.” Following Stephen’s profession of faith and his lynching, a persecution against Christians broke out in Judaea, the first of many to come throughout the Roman Empire. As a result, many Christians left the Holy Land and scattered around the Mediterranean. They took their faith with them and began to convert both the Jews in those cities and most especially the Gentiles. When the persecutions came to those areas and other Christians were martyred the faith spread all the more, fed by the example of great faith shown in the martyrs.
A side story often hardly noticed in the account from Acts is the fact that a young Pharisee by the name of Saul stood by as Stephen was stoned. He did not actually participate but it says he approved.
This reminds us of another wise saying: “All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men and women to say and do nothing.”
Of course, following upon Stephen’s death young Saul became Paul, arguably the Apostle most responsible for the spread of Christianity throughout the empire. It took the appearance to him of Jesus on the road to Damascus and his being blinded before he got the message, however.
So what’s the message for us on this New Year’s Day, 2012? If you are in to New Year’s resolutions, even if you are not, let me suggest a resolution to witness your faith this year and every year. It’s harder to know how to do that, compared with Stephen’s time and the price you pay will likely not be a dear as his. I think we witness by doing the right thing, the honest thing, even when we get ridiculed for it. We witness by doing the loving thing, the caring thing, especially when we don’t get on TV for it. We witness by forgiving those who have offended us, as did Stephen, following the example of his Master, just before he was put to death.
It is one thing for people to remain quiet and not protest against evil. It is quite another thing for people to use the guise of Christianity to teach hatred against those with whom they disagree. It’s amazing to see people say I am a Christian or even naming their denomination and with that dubious justification, lashing out at others, advocating death, supporting war and the denial of basic rights guaranteed under our constitution.
We witness for Christ when we teach His message as found in the New Testament, whenever and wherever we can. It is really up to each one of us to decide what we believe his message is and not to let someone else, even one’s priest, determine what that is. So how about this for an expanded Every Year resolution: “To witness for Christ wherever and whenever I can and to listen to the New Testament in order to know what His message really is?
Amazing Peace
Sermon: Lk 2:1-20, Christmas Eve, 2011
Each Christmas Eve after reading that beautiful passage from the Gospel of Luke, I feel inadequate to add anything to it by preaching a sermon. It seems to speak for itself and I fear I diminish its power by commenting on it. So, this year I present you with a Christmas poem instead of a sermon.
Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightening rattles the eves of our houses.
Floodwaters await in our avenues.
Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and gray and threatening.
We question ourselves. What have we done to so affront nature?
We interrogate and worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?
Into this climate of fear and apprehension Christmas enters.
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.
It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightening sleeps quietly in the corner.
Floodwaters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.
Hope is born again in the faces of children.
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth, brightening all things.
Even hate, which crouches breeding in dark corners.
In our joy we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness. The word is Peace.
It is loud now. Louder than the explosion of bombs.
We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.
We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon the good season to wait awhile with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.
Come and fill our world with your majesty.
We the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confusian,
Implore you stay awhile with us
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see community.
It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.
On this platform of peace we can create a language
To translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.
At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ
Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues the coming of hope.
All the earth’s tribes loosen their voices
To celebrate the promise of Peace.
We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Nonbelievers.
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves,
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation:
Peace, My Brother. Peace, My Sister. Peace, my Soul.
No, I am not the author of this poem. It was written by
Maya Angelou and delivered at the lighting of the national Christmas tree at the White House, Dec. 1, 2005.
These are my sentiments for you, however, for us all.
Peace, My brother. Peace, My Sister. Peace, My Soul.
Each Christmas Eve after reading that beautiful passage from the Gospel of Luke, I feel inadequate to add anything to it by preaching a sermon. It seems to speak for itself and I fear I diminish its power by commenting on it. So, this year I present you with a Christmas poem instead of a sermon.
Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightening rattles the eves of our houses.
Floodwaters await in our avenues.
Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and gray and threatening.
We question ourselves. What have we done to so affront nature?
We interrogate and worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?
Into this climate of fear and apprehension Christmas enters.
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.
It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightening sleeps quietly in the corner.
Floodwaters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.
Hope is born again in the faces of children.
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth, brightening all things.
Even hate, which crouches breeding in dark corners.
In our joy we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness. The word is Peace.
It is loud now. Louder than the explosion of bombs.
We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.
We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon the good season to wait awhile with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.
Come and fill our world with your majesty.
We the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confusian,
Implore you stay awhile with us
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see community.
It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.
On this platform of peace we can create a language
To translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.
At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ
Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues the coming of hope.
All the earth’s tribes loosen their voices
To celebrate the promise of Peace.
We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Nonbelievers.
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves,
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation:
Peace, My Brother. Peace, My Sister. Peace, my Soul.
No, I am not the author of this poem. It was written by
Maya Angelou and delivered at the lighting of the national Christmas tree at the White House, Dec. 1, 2005.
These are my sentiments for you, however, for us all.
Peace, My brother. Peace, My Sister. Peace, My Soul.
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