Pause...and think of Jesus

Sermon

Christ Church, St. Michael’s Parish

2^nd Sunday in Lent, 2016

Luke 13:31-35

I entered this Lenten season with a very specific goal for myself – a goal reached after many weeks of discernment. It is a simple goal really, and yet it has been a somewhat difficult goal to maintain on a regular basis. Day after day I catch myself falling away from what I had vowed would be my Lenten discipline for 2016.

What is my Lenten discipline goal? To pause and think of Jesus before I speak – not only in meetings or other public events, but in each and every encounter that I have; each and every day.

How did I identify my goal? A couple of ways really.

The extensive readings covered by the History of Christianity class and the incredibly rich discussions that have filled each class meeting were certainly a key ingredient in the mix. These readings and discussions have been a vivid, and at times painful, reminder of how difficult it is to maintain a Christian way of life. They have pointed up again and again that a life committed to following the teachings of Jesus is not for the faint of heart. These readings have indicated over and over again just how easy it is to fall off the Christian way of life path and onto a path that leads not to love of neighbor and love of God, but a path that leads to that age old need to think about “me” and to be in a position of power and glory.

As we studied the history of the Christian faith from the time of Pharaoh straight on to Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire and fast forwarding to the centuries long struggles between the Western and Eastern Empires, the incredibly barbaric Crusades, the sometimes deadly struggle between the Catholics and the Protestants, the Holocaust, the insensitivity of colonists who throughout the world eliminated entire segments of indigenous culture in the name of Christianity, and the post-modern bickering among thousands of Protestant faith groups over who is right and who is wrong in their interpretation of Scripture, the class was left with many questions about the true nature of Christianity.

One puzzled and perhaps discouraged class member summed up these questions when she asked: “Weren’t they thinking about Jesus?”

Good question. Were our forefathers thinking about Jesus, or were they caught up in matters of state – both political and religious? As Christianity evolved from the time of Constantine forward until the colonization of America, was Christianity so much an arm of the state – of kings, queens, the Pope and emerging nations – that the message preached today by many, including our new Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, - “we have embarked on a Jesus movement” – That message was not even in their line of vision? Or, if in their line of vision and pursued in an open and fervent manner, would their fervor be crushed by those whose power and authority was threatened. Just a Jesus was crushed – crucified in Jerusalem – by the Roman Empire and the Temple Jews.

An important thought to ponder – power hungry brutality waged in the name of Christianity versus the compassion of Jesus Christ offered as a foretaste of God’s saving grace.

Another key factor in my Lenten discipline decision was the ongoing conversations among my clergy colleagues that focus on the need to bring the Episcopal Church into the lives of those who remain, for a wide variety of reasons, unchurched.

These “how do we make the church more relevant” conversations can be depressing, but, more often than not, I find them to be exciting – exciting, but requiring the courage to face the unknown. We need have the imagination necessary to reach out to others in a way that is totally unknown to us - unknown because we have never done it, never been there before.

We need to toss aside the practice of dragging out old models of evangelism, dusting them off, and proudly announcing, “we have a new way of doing it” – whatever it is. And we don’t need to hold any more workshops that encourage us to “think outside the box” either. We need to get out of the box entirely and live among the unchurched – just as Jesus went out among those who did not know God. And, in doing that – in living and being among the unchurched, perhaps they will bring a new way of doing church to us. Perhaps they are already following Jesus without even knowing it – how do these unchurched folk demonstrate their love and their compassion?

How can we learn from and about people who we do not know?

Considering the history of Christianity with its years of brutal wars waged against those who were fighting for their religious freedom – their own way of worshipping God, of following Jesus, of being moved by the Spirit to love and serve the world; and, considering that we, as faith group, who not that many years ago finally won that coveted freedom to worship without fear of persecution, but who are now experiencing an alarming lack of interest in exactly that which caused so many deaths over multiple centuries prior to the 1700s --- those were the two key elements of my decision to pause and think of Jesus before speaking or acting during this Lenten season.

And how is my thinking about Jesus before I speak or act going to help matters? Or, more importantly, what makes this practice a relevant Lenten discipline?

It seems to me that if we are to keep Christ, and Christianity, alive we must always be very clear about our own motivations and our own behavior. We must continually discern the basis of our actions as we move in and through the world, in conversations and in relationships. We must be disciplined in asking ourselves, “are our conversations and actions based on our vow to love and serve the Lord; to seek the Christ in others; to strive for peace and justice; to offer ways of reconciling the world to God?”

In other words, are we keeping alive God’s gift to us – his Son Jesus Christ – and are we making this gift available to others, both here in our own community and throughout the nation and the world?

And today, I am suggesting that this continual discernment process is far easier if we think about Jesus, always. If we are persistent in reminding ourselves that Jesus is our light, the light that guides us on our way.

Today’s gospel reading comes from a portion of Luke known as The Lament Over Jerusalem. Jesus is crying out his heartache over Jerusalem, the holy city that had been the seat of God’s presence since ancient times. Jerusalem where as a boy Jesus found his home in the temple. Jerusalem the city that would soon claim his life.

He exclaims, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it” How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”

To me this a passage of one who knows that he has been betrayed – Jesus is passionately grief stricken -  and yet his words make it abundantly clear that he is still capable of loving completely. Jesus wants us to know that it is never too late to return to being in close relationship with him – to being a community of love and belonging.

In this brief passage, Jesus is calling his people into the security of God’s love. He is calling his people – and therefore us, into a community of love and belonging.

For me this passionate passage is a vivid image of all that has transpired over the centuries in the name of Christianity.

Jerusalem, the city that kills – the power and greed of the Roman Empire and the elite Temple Jews, a prelude to years of war and destruction waged in the name of Christianity; the power and greed that for centuries shattered lives and crumbled communities.

Jesus our savior, always there. Jesus who yearns to gather us under his protective mantle, just as a hen gathers her chicks around her, covering them with her wings to protect them from danger; Jesus who yearns for his beloved to be in close community – a community that is vital, vibrant and ever expanding – always spreading the good news of God’s love and salvation.

This is what I think of each day as I remind myself of Christ’s words and actions before I speak or act - The love and passion of Christ, whose life among us was a most incredible gift from God – The love and passion of Christ that lights the challenging path of loving others as God loves us – The love and passion of Christ that takes us on a life journey that can be thrilling, if we cast away all fear.

As Christians, we are free to worship and to evangelize without fear of persecution. As Disciples of Christ we are called to go into the world – to spread the good news – the gospel. These are incredible gifts and astounding responsibilities given to us by God.

Will we heed Jesus’ cry uttered in grief so many years ago? Will we gather together under the loving mantle of Jesus and allow ourselves to be protected by the love of and guided by the light of Christ in making our church, once again strong – once again relevant? Let us pray:

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of
darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of
this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit
us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come
again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the
dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
for ever. Amen.