Sermon
Chapel of St. Andrew
Deacon’s Retreat – Dec. 14, 2013
Matthew 24:36-44
I am certain that we can all remember how as
children we would continually wonder what we would be when we grew up…and, I am
certain that we all had parents who shared their hopes and dreams of what kind
of life might in store for us. I can remember thinking that being a nurse would
be the most wonderful thing in the world. My mother, never shy about voicing
her thoughts, firmly believed that I should be a movie star. My father assured
both of us that, in the true Italian tradition, I would be a good wife and
mother – end of story. No career for a daughter of his.
Surely you all have similar memories. We all
wanted to “be” something – whether a housewife, a nurse, a movie star, or
something else. In our determined little minds, we all had “when we grow up”
plans for ourselves - big plans.
We were waiting…waiting to grow up; and, we
were dreaming…dreaming of becoming somebody who personified the characteristics
of people, or a person, that we admired. Once we grew up, we knew, we were
certain…it would all fall into place.
And then of course, as always happens at one
point or another, life intervened. In my case, my father died when I was 15. My
mother, completely overwhelmed by grief, sent me away to boarding school. Our
family income dropped significantly. The sure and secure world that I once knew
no longer existed. I was no longer certain of anything. I forgot about nurses
and movie stars and housewives. I was not happy and hopeful. I was scared and
angry.
And then, something odd happened as I was
sitting in chapel at boarding school one Sunday afternoon; something that
transformed my life forever. The chapel was a beautiful old stone building. Stained glass windows were everywhere. The
late afternoon sunlight would stream into the nave in ultra soft hues of blue,
red, and orange – divine light. The calming effect of this beautiful light, the
solid presence of stone and wood surrounding me, and the hushed silence of over
a hundred girls who had become my new family was something that I had come to
cherish.
On this particular day during a long moment
of silent prayer a sense of complete peace fell over me. Somewhere in my
deepest being I knew that God was with me - was in me. I knew that I was no
longer alone. I knew that I was loved and that I could move forward through my difficult
times with assurance and courage.
I don’t want to give the impression that the months
and years ahead were smooth sailing – or indeed are smooth sailing even now. I
don’t know about you, but smooth sailing does not seem to be my norm. In fact, I
have come to believe that smooth sailing is not what life is about – not at all.
I believe that if we expect smooth sailing, in our anger and frustration over
encountering rough seas, we will completely miss the presence of Christ into our
lives. We will be so caught up in the present moment of turmoil that we will
fail to see a future that will help us define both the character and meaning of
our lives. We will be one of the ones that is “taken;” in other words, separated
from God.
In Matthew’s gospel reading for the First
Sunday in Advent, the disciples are no different that we were during our early
years of wondering about the future and questioning the present. Earlier in
Matthew 24 they had asked Jesus, “What will be the sign of your coming and of the
end of the age?” (24:3) The disciples are anxious to know the “who, what, when
and where” of their future. They want assurances. I imagine they wanted to hear
about smooth sailing; not rough seas.
Jesus responds, telling them bluntly, “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither
the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
No assurances here. In fact quite the
opposite as Jesus adds, “Keep awake
therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming…Therefore you
also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
Implicit in this text is not only the
uncertainty of when God is coming, but also the certainty that he is coming.
The emphasis is on being prepared – prepared for the presence of God in our
lives and all that His presence demands of us as stewards of His Creation.
Henry Gustafson says of this gospel reading, “Jesus calls us to take seriously our vow to
love God, neighbor, and self. As responsible persons we will be called to
account for what we have done – or not done. The meaning of our present acts
will be discernible only at the end. The significance of planting seed,
enriching the soil, or polluting it, will be known at the harvest. Thus our
behavior has consequences, both now but also not yet.”
Our future in God’s Kingdom is now as we
“keep awake,” preparing for His presence in our lives; a presence that can be
felt at any moment in time. A presence
that promises not smooth sailing, but salvation from the rough seas of life.
I wonder if Stephen was fully “awake” when he
was called to feed the hungry Hellenists in Acts 6. We are told by the author
of Acts that as Stephen carried out his ministry he was filled with grace and
power and that he spoke with wisdom and the Spirit. From this one brief but
powerful sentence it would seem apparent that Stephen took seriously God’s
presence in his life. Did he know that his “awakeness” would lead to his
painful and humiliating death?
Ultimately, we assume that he knew the risks
he was taking – after all persecution was all around him. And, we can be
assured that he was fully awake when he was summoned to speak with the very
angry Freedmen of the synagogue.
Stephen gave a brilliant defense, describing the
history of God’s people, God’s intent for his people, and the power and
sovereignty of God, and ending with the admonition, “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears. You are
forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do…You are the
ones that received the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.”
(Acts 7:51, 53)
Stephen was most certainly awake as he
defended his faith and ministered to the hungry and to the needy. As deacons in
formation or deacons ordained in the Episcopal Church, are we awake? Are we
prepared to speak with wisdom and the Spirit as we, like Stephen, carry out our
special ministry of servanthood, serving all people, particularly the poor, the
weak, the sick, and the lonely? Are we, nourished by the Holy Scriptures,
prepared to model our life on them? Are we awake to the daily presence of God
in our lives – a presence that demands, yes demands, that we make Christ and
his redemptive love known, by our word and example, to those among whom we
live, and work, and worship? Are we awake to the needs, concerns, and hopes of
the world and prepared to alert our Bishop and our Church to these needs,
concerns, and hopes?
Are we awake? Are we truly called by God and
his Church to the life and work of a deacon? Are we prepared to be a Stephen?
This has been an important day of reflection
and prayer during a season of reflection and prayer as we await, yet once
again, the birth of the Christ Child – A day of reflection and prayer on our
lives as deacons in God’s Church.
I can only speak for myself when I say that
to be a deacon is hard work. It is not being a nurse, a movie star, or a
housewife. It is not a 9 to 5 job, with weekends off. It is not, in most cases,
a job that offers financial compensation. It is not a highly respected job in
today’s world – most people, even in the Episcopal Church, do not know what a
deacon does; nor do they necessarily care. It is not what I dreamed of doing
“when I grow up.”
Those are the things that being a deacon are
not. Like the mystics, I believe that what being a deacon is, is ultimately
ineffable – there are no words to describe the call of servanthood from God.
There are no words to define the diaconal work that needs to be done in this
community, in this nation, in this world. So I will allow Thomas Merton to
speak for me. Merton sums up the diaconal call quite eloquently:
“…it is a response to a call from him who
has no voice, and yet Who speaks in everything that is, and most of all, speaks
in the depths of our being: for we ourselves are words of his…I myself am a
word spoken by God,” said Merton.
In another work Merton went on to say, “For each one of us, there is only one
thing necessary: to fulfill our own destiny, according to God's will, to be
what God wants us to be.”
So my friends, it’s OK to dream about who you
might be when you “grow up.” But, please remember while you dream to “Keep awake, for you do not know on what
day your Lord is coming.”
Keep awake because we do not yet fully
understand our own destiny, according to God’s will.
Keep awake because God has called us to
minister to his people in all the world… particularly the poor, the weak, the
sick, and the lonely.
Keep awake, we are today’s Stephen – no easy
task without hearing God speaking to us within the depth of our being.
Keep awake, “The meaning of our present acts will be discernible only at the end.
The significance of planting seed, enriching the soil, or polluting it, will be
known at the harvest. Thus our behavior has consequences, both now but also not
yet.” AMEN
