The courage to endure..

Sermon

St. Simon's on the Sound

Proper 28 – Year C

Luke 21:5-19

As complex and rather unnerving as this week's readings from Scripture may seem, I believe that they are incredibly relevant to our journey as Christians in this very troubled world. I also believe that today's readings leave no doubt about the importance of Scripture as our road map in that journey. For us as Christians, Scripture provides the theological and ethical compass that guides our journey – our way of being in the world.

Let's have a closer look at what we just heard.

Right of the bat, the Collect for the day leaves no wiggle room for a possible misinterpretation of our mandate to hold Scripture as our guide, "Blessed Lord who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may ever embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life everlasting, which has been given us in our Savior Jesus Christ."

Hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest all holy Scriptures…. our work is cut out for us.

Next comes a lesson from the Old Testament reading.

Malachi, which means "my messenger," wrote in the fifth century B.C.E. He claimed to have received the words he spoke directly from God.

His severe warning to the Israelites – particularly the priests - should cause us to perk up our ears and listen closely.

Malachi accused the Israelites of failing to fill their newly rebuilt temple with the glory of God. Rather, he asserted, they have prioritized the intrigue and the power-hungry greed of the royal court. They have allowed these ways of being to invade the sanctity of God's house.

Malachi did not mince words, he railed against their manipulative worship, corrupt leaders, oppression of hired workers, widows, and orphans, rejection of aliens. He proclaimed that those who had turned away from God – the arrogant and the evildoers - were not acceptable to God. The day is coming, he prophesied, when all evildoers will be burned up – annihilated.

Malachi implored the Israelites to honor their covenant with God – to be faithful; to love justice; to do mercy; and to walk humbly with their God. He promised that those who did so would be blessed and those who failed to do so would be doomed.

Paul's warnings to the Thessalonians were not dissimilar from those of his ancestor, Malachi. Keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us, wrote Paul.

Paul knew all too well the challenges that are faced on a day-today basis for those who profess to follow the way of the Lord; for those who proclaimed Christ as their savior. He understood the need to have strength and courage – endurance – in staying true to the teachings of Jesus.

Wherever he went, and whomever he wrote to, his theme was always the same, “continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2nd Tim 3:14-15).

Paul, like Malachi, was a messenger of God, proclaiming the importance of becoming a living member of God's covenant with us.

Paul lived a life filled with hardship and hard work. He walked and sailed thousands of treacherous miles to preach and to teach God's Word. He sustained endless rejection and multiple floggings, and stonings. He continually wrote letters to his communicants throughout the world, sometimes building them up, encouraging them, and sometimes chastising them, always with the goal of underscoring the need to stay steady on the course of faithfulness to God.

Paul begged his beloved communities, "do not weary in doing what is right."

Like Malachi, Paul warned those who will listen about the perils that lead us on a path quite divergent from the path that God has prepared for us. The path that will lead us in love, to peace, to God's eternal kingdom.

In Luke's gospel we hear a parallel message. We hear Jesus, so very near the end of his life, once again expressing fears that his disciples do not "get it." In this particular passage, he worries that they see only the external adornment of Herod's spectacular temple – a fifteen story structure covered on all sides with massive plates of gold. Gold that in the sunlight radiates fiery flashes of light. Jesus fears that the disciples are easily distracted, tempted, and swayed by the world of power and wealth – the easy route.

Jesus warned the disciples to beware. To be bedazzled by the temple's extravagance – by wealth and power – indicates a failure to see the spiritual bankruptcy behind the golden façade – the hypocrisy – the oppression – the rejection of God and the Gospel. Jesus prophesied, "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down." In other words, things of this world are ephemeral, short-lived. Only God's kingdom is eternal.

In the midst of proclaiming countless disasters that would befall the land, the community, and the disciples themselves, Jesus urged the disciples, "Beware that you are not led astray…do not be afraid…do not go after them." Rather, said Jesus, have courage - stand up, testify, be a witness to God's Kingdom.

He promised, "I will give you the words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict…by your endurance you will gain your souls."

By your endurance you will gain your souls – it sounds so simple, but is it really? Malachi and Paul understood that it most certainly was not. They understood that that it was far easier, very easy to be distracted by power, wealth, greed, jealousy – a whole host of ways of being that lead us far astray from God.

Jesus warned against these very same temptations, but he had no patience for the possibility of succumbing to them. He commanded his disciples – he commands us - to stand up, to witness the truth and the power of the gospel. To see beyond the glitter, the glamour, and the gold. To see beyond hypocrisy and greed. To see beyond the destructive and divisive behaviors of those who seek a life based on power and wealth. To resist the lure, the temptation to follow false gods.

Jesus commands us to go forth into the world – into difficult situations -proclaiming the gospel, with the faith that he is with us. With the assurance that the Spirit will breath into us the words and the ways of being that will support our witness in a manner so stunning that no one – no foe – will any longer have power over us.

Jesus commands us to endure – to die with him so that we may live with him. To endure so that we may gain our souls.

As I wrote this sermon, I was also reading Martin Luther King's book Strength to Love. I was shocked to learn how frightened King was most of the time. In several sermons he speaks of almost paralyzing fear of being killed and of the terror both he and his family experienced as a result of 12 jailings, continual death threats and multiple bombings of their home.

He wrote, "I must admit that at times I have felt that I could no longer bear such a heavy burden and have been tempted to retreat to a more quiet and serene life. But every time such a temptation appeared, something came to strengthen and sustain my determination. I have learned now that the Master's burden is light precisely when we take his yoke upon us."

Martin Luther King, Jr. endured. In his words, "The end of life is not to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. The end of life is to do the will of God, come what may."

All of this takes me back to the very beginning, our Collect for today:

"Blessed Lord who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may ever embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life everlasting, which has been given us in our Savior Jesus Christ."

Today, and hopefully every day, we ask Christ for the discipline to hear, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest Scripture.

What does this Collect mean to you? How does it affect your reading of Scripture? How does it affect your daily life?

Do you hear the words of Malachi, Paul, Martin Luther King, Jr. and so many others who have chosen to inwardly digest Scripture and to, with God's help, intentionally live out their call to bring justice and peace to all people? To take up Christ's yoke.

Do you imagine yourself at Jesus' feet as he says, "Beware that you are not led astray…do not be afraid…do not go after them…endure so that you may gain your soul."?

While the TV incessantly tells us what to think – what to believe, and Facebook, Twitter, etc. shoot brief, disruptive messages at us all day, do you stay the course? Do you remain based in your understanding, your inward digestion of Scripture?

Are we individually and as the church of God faithful witnesses to Scripture as we go out into the world each day?

Forgive them...

Sermon

St. Simon’s on the Sound

Proper 25 – Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 18:9-14

In Luke's gospel, Jesus' last words as he hung on the cross were, "…Father forgive them; for they know not what they do." This brief 10-word phrase is one that I have never seriously thought through until late this summer, when preparing for our new Book Study group, I read a sermon given by Martin Luther King, Jr. entitled "Love in Action."

The sermon is found in the small but powerful book, "The Strength to Love." In the sermon King writes, "A second lesson comes to us from Jesus' awareness of man's intellectual and spiritual blindness. "They know not what they do," said Jesus…The men who cried, "Crucify him," were not bad men but rather blind men. The jeering mob that lined the roadside that led to Calvary was composed not of evil people, but of blind people. They knew not what they did. What a tragedy!"

King goes on for the remainder of his sermon to eloquently describe the many human tragedies that have occurred as the result of man's blindness. Tragedies that span time immemorial from the crucifixion of Christ up to and including the world of segregation and hatred in which he found himself.

Wars have and are being fought. People have been and are being persecuted; killed; exterminated. Ignorance and prejudice have caused and are causing irreparable damage to countless men, women, and children. And why, says King – because "They know not what they do." Blindness was and is their besetting trouble…”

This sermon of King's is for me a disquieting reminder of the imperative nature of the church's mandate to take up, with a renewed commitment to Christ, its role as a leader in healing divisions that continue to deepen among people throughout the world. Divisions brought about by blindness - the inability to think and act with understanding, compassion, and love.

The church's mandate to, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you." (Matt 28:16-20) has never been more relevant.

It is a mandate to counteract blindness, and to bring about “good will among men.” It is a mandate to heal divisions that stem from entrenched positions assumed through ignorance, prejudice, and fear. Divisions that create an atmosphere of blaming, anger, and hate. An anger and hate that has, and is, creating pain, suffering, and chaos throughout the world. It is a mandate to bring about healing through forgiveness and love.

Last week, in his opening address to the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said,

“The United States is being torn asunder within by the inability to be in deep relationship with each other and yet hold differing positions and convictions.

“I really believe that Jesus was right. That the Way of Love, doesn't mean the way of agreement. But it means the capacity to love each other, and therefore, to seek the good together. Whether we agree or disagree.

“Dr. King once said, “History is replete with the bleached bones of civilizations that have refused to listen to (Jesus),” who said love your enemies, bless those who curse you.

“This country must not become a valley of dry bones. And frankly, the only way is the way of love.

“There is no other way.”

Now is the time for us, the church, to leave behind the comfort of home; to go into the world as both disciples and prophets; to enter into conversations and ways of being that will forge paths that lead to healing the wounds of hatred and divisiveness that grow more evident with each passing day. Conversations and ways of being that point us to God's grace – God's desire for his beloved children to live lives of peace and abundance.

What does all of this mean for those of us sitting here in Ft. Walton Beach and those Episcopalians who reside throughout the entire Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast?

How do these messages from Martin Luther King, Jr. and our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, impact our day to day lives if our goal is to go forth into the community as disciples and prophets? What is it that we can do that will facilitate healing in our chaotic and divided world?

To be effective, our conversations and ways of being should listen to Jesus' words, "Forgive them; for they know not what they do." Our conversations and ways of being should reflect the knowledge that reconciling these divisions can only come from recognizing that God alone, not we, but God alone, is the judge of all mankind.

Luke's gospel reading today points to this reality - that God alone is the judge of all mankind. Luke begins with the phrase, "He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.” (Lk 18:9)

The parable goes on to describe two people praying in the temple. A Pharisee who is giving thanks that he is "not like other people" who, in essence, are flawed, not worthy; in some way "bad." And, a tax collector who, in humility and shame, has hidden himself at the far edge of the Temple courtyard, unable to look up – to look God in the eye, so to speak, as he asks for mercy.

The contrast between these two men is quite evident. The Pharisee makes a claim to righteousness based on his own assessment of his accomplishments as a man of God, while the tax collector, knowing he has many faults, relies entirely upon the Lord's benevolence to forgive his sins.

The pharisee appears to have no need for God. Rather than being grateful for his blessings, the Pharisee appears smug to the point of despising others. In his mind there are two kinds of people: the righteous and the those who are sinners - those who are not worthy. He is grateful that he can place himself among the righteous - those worthy of God’s blessing.

The tax collector, on the other hand, isn't so much humble as desperate. He is too overwhelmed by his plight to take time to divide humanity into sides. All he recognizes as he stands near the Temple is his own great need for forgiveness. He stakes his hopes not on anything he has done or deserved but entirely on the mercy of God.

That's a big difference – One man is judging his worthiness through his own eyes; the other, is asking God for mercy.

How easy to fall into the role of the Pharisee. Indeed, do we not find ourselves in this category every day - see ourselves through the judgement of our own eyes - no one else’s, let alone God’s? How easy to think, “I go to church. I pray on a daily basis. I donate to causes that help the needy. I am a good person.”

Sound familiar?

I certainly am no different than anyone else. I frequently find myself in the Pharisee category. However, more and more, the Pharisee category makes me very uncomfortable. When I feel that discomfort, I say to myself, “Clelia, you are blind. Your blindness is preventing you from being a true servant of Christ. You need to forget about yourself and seek God’s way for you, not his congratulations for your personal achievements, which, by the way, matter little in this troubled world.”

The link here between King’s sermon and his observations about blindness and Luke’s gospel is, of course, righteousness. Through our sense of righteousness, our self-satisfaction, we become alienated from God. And, when we are alienated from God, we no longer see the “other” through the lenses of discipleship. The lenses of forgiveness and love. We see the world as “us” versus “them.” We are the right ones, the good ones. Everything is fine on our side of the fence. It’s those “others” who are the problem.

And thus, acts committed in blindness, the blindness that King refers to when he points to the importance of Christ’s words, “Forgive them, they know not what they do,” acts of violence are brought about.

There are two important points here. The first is Christ’s cry to God, “Forgive them.” The torture and sadness of the cross was an act of love carried out for us. Our promise of eternal forgiveness given in a moment of torture and suffering. Through an act of love and forgiveness, we are forgiven - loved and forgiven, eternally.

The second is the sin of our righteousness and the obligation we have to the cross to get beyond our righteousness and into the world to offer the same forgiveness and love that we have received from God.

God sent Jesus so that we might receive eternal forgiveness and love. Jesus sends us to do the same.

This is not easy work - going into the world to offer forgiveness and love. To understand and participate in the healing of the other. But it is the work that God has given us to do.

Let us not be blind. Let us not fall into the way of those who know not what they do. Let us have the humility, courage and discipline needed to lift the scales from our eyes and, with God’s help, to know what we are all about as we forge the path of discipleship - the path of forgiveness and love.

In his book, Journey to the Common Good, Walter Brueggemann, as usual, eloquently paints for us a picture of what prophetic life entails when he writes, “Those who sign on and depart the system of anxious scarcity become the history makers in the neighborhood.”

With God's help, let us know what we do. Let us become “history makers in the neighborhood.” AMEN

"No, I tell you rather division...."

Sermon

St. Simon's on the Sound

Proper C – The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 12:49-56

I stood in the Catholic Charities Respite Center's food distribution line wrapping tacos in paper napkins and handing them out one by one to a crowd of over 350 refugees – men, women and children. Refugees waiting to board buses. Refugees waiting to be transported to places far and wide throughout the United States. Refugees journeying from a place of terror to a place unknown; but, a place somewhere out there that they would now call home.

I looked into the grateful face of each taco recipient. I looked out at the crush of people sitting peacefully side by side, slowly eating their tacos. I glanced into the adjoining room where mothers and their children lay side by side on blue mats, not sleeping; just staring at nothing in particular, with vacant eyes.

Not much talking among adults; absolutely no crying children. Just people exhausted, spent, bewildered, sad, and lonely. People wondering how they will find the strength to continue their incredibly treacherous journey – this disruption in their lives with a goal of finding a better place – a better life.

As I stood there, I was struck by a force that formed a knot of anxiety and deep sadness in my heart and in my soul. As I gazed out at this crush of weary refugees, I realized that these men, women, and children – these journeymen - were coming to live with me; coming to live with us. I was shamed by the realization that previously I had not understood this situation at all; and, that in my ignorance I was in no way ready to welcome my new neighbors. I saw with crystal clarity that as a nation we are no different than the crowd Jesus spoke to in today's gospel when he said, "You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?" (Lk 12:56)

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a refugee is a person outside his or her country of nationality who has experienced past persecution or has a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.  An asylee is a person who meets the definition of refugee and is already present in the United States or is seeking admission at a port of entry.

All refugees wishing to enter the U.S. undergo a credible fear interview. For immigrants in detention who are fleeing persecution, the credible or reasonable fear interview (actually a series of up to four or five interviews) is crucial. Without a positive determination, an immigrant will be deported from the U.S. and unable to re-apply for entry ever again.

The refugees at the Catholic Charities Respite Center had all passed their credible fear interviews and had been given asylee status. They had been released from detention and could now legitimately enter the United States.

I cannot imagine what these men, women and children have experienced. I cannot imagine fleeing persecution and violence with nothing but the clothing on my back and traveling thousands of miles on foot with little or no food or water. I cannot imagine leaving my home, my family, and my friends – all I have ever known - and beginning a journey of nothing but hardship, with no real knowledge of how my journey will end. I cannot imagine the courage needed; the heartbreak and the terror encountered.

According to the Pew Research Organization, today, more than 40 million people living in the U.S. were born in another country. Looking forward, the Pew Organization predicts that immigrants and their descendants are projected to account for 88% of the U.S. population growth through 2065.

We in America are a people of many nationalities. I, myself, am first generation American. I was born to an Italian father who became an American citizen late in his life after a struggle with immigration that included detention at Ellis Island in New York City during World War II.

While there is great physical, cultural, religious and racial diversity among us – the color of our skin, our country of origin, the language we speak, the religion we follow – we are all the same in God's eyes. The Apostle Paul writes in Galatians, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal. 3:28)

Strangers to us - those whom we categorize as "the other" - are not strangers to God. God's love and grace extend to all – there are no favorites; no special cases.

As a people who have committed themselves to following Jesus as their way, their light, their life we must strive with all our hearts and all our souls to understand Jesus' simple, yet so very complex, commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself." And, we must find the compassion and the courage to honor our baptismal vow to "respect the dignity of every human being."

Finding myself in the midst of the turmoil of the immigration situation on the Texas-Mexican border was my most recent gift from God. It allowed me to grasp on many levels the challenges many, if not most, refugees face as they journey from other countries hoping to enter the United States. Hoping to assimilate and become one of "us." Hoping to find work, education for their children, and a better life for themselves and their families. Hoping to be loved, not terrorized.

It struck me that I have done very little, if anything, to truly welcome the stranger among us – to become a better neighbor as we all strive for the common good. I guess you could say I had an epiphany – a wake-up call.

So, when I arrived home and prepared to write this sermon by reading the gospel passage for today – I thought to myself, "Now I get it. Now I understand why Jesus was saying to his disciples, 'Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you rather division!' "

Now I get this shocking declaration and Jesus' prediction that houses will be divided, and families will find themselves against each other as they bicker and disagree with each other. Turmoil will reign. Now I get it.

Jesus' relationship with the Father determined his identity; his very being. In every action, in every relationship, in every moment of his life he remained faithful to the Father. Although he knew that his actions, driven by his commitment to the Father, would threaten the powerful Roman Empire and the Jewish elite, and that, ultimately, he would face certain arrest, torture and crucifixion, he was not deterred from his mission. His obedience to God's commandments was unshakable. And at the very end, he prayed, "Father, if you are willing remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done." (Lk 22:42)

Not my will, but yours be done.

What Jesus is telling us in this passage from Luke is that once we choose the Father as the ultimate relationship through which all of our actions and relationships are mediated, we stand the chance of butting heads with those who have chosen other Gods, such a power, wealth, and hatred as their relationship mediator. To choose God as the authority through whom we act and have our being, is to run the risk of causing division among many of our other relationships. To choose God as our ultimate authority is to run the risk of losing friends, colleagues, and yes, even family.

That is the choice that Jesus sets before us today – and every day.

Who or what is the determining relationship that guides our lives; that shapes our way of being in the world, our decisions, and our interactions with the "other"? Who is our ultimate authority? It's a choice we must make over and over, day after day as we respond to our many relationships and various life situations. It is a choice that frequently, if not always, brings division and disruption in our lives. It is a choice that we must make if we are to have the courage to "love our neighbor as ourselves and to respect the dignity of every human being."

In one of his incredibly powerful sermons, Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others. In dangerous valleys and hazardous pathways, he will lift some bruised or beaten brother to a higher and more noble life."

Have we the courage to live the life of the Good Samaritan? If so, what does that mean for us in the here and now?

If we are to be Good Samaritans, we should listen closely to Jesus when he says to us, "You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?"

The present time confronts us as an urgent matter. The present time brings us back to the Texas/Mexican border and the asylees from Mexico and Central America, Cameroon, Peru, Venezuela, the Congo, Columbia, Syria and so many other countries where terror and genocide reign, propelling God's beloved children to seek refuge in safer places. Places where they will be greeted in love, not as "the other". Places where they will be greeted as a brothers and sisters in Christ –  fellow journeymen in life – all recipients of God's love and grace.

To interpret the present time is to understand that now is a time to have the courage to speak out from a heart and soul filled with love, not fear – love, not hatred. Now is a time to disregard fear of divisiveness among family, friends, and colleagues, of disruption of the comfort and complacency of our lives. Now is the time to be clear that to reject those who legitimately seek asylum is to reject God. Now is the time to "pick up the cross of Jesus". Now is the time to "lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely and run with perseverance the race that is set before us." (Hebrews 12:1)

It is a time that requires solid faith in our loving God, and the courage to love "the other" as God loves us.

Being a Missional Church

Sermon

Proper 9

St. Simon's on the Sound

Luke 10:1-11; 16-20

BEING A CHURCH SHAPED BY JESUS AND HIS MISSION

In just a few short weeks I will once again be back teaching at the diocesan school. The upcoming year will be the third and final year for eight postulants who are seeking ordination as priests and deacons in our diocese.

As many of you know, this past school year I taught these same students Clinical Pastoral Education, better known as CPE. The point of CPE is to learn the skill of pastoral care and to develop a better understanding of yourself and how you relate to people. These goals are accomplished through conducting interviews with patients or care seekers, and through presenting verbatims – word for word reports – of these encounters to one's fellow students and instructor.

CPE is often regarded as a terrifying experience. A big leap into the unknown world of emotional suffering and pain, and the continual public examination of one's self through the in-depth critiquing of the verbatims.

I am happy to report that the students all survived. In fact, they did a great job. I am very proud of them.

This coming school year I will be teaching a course called Contextual Formation.

You may ask, and rightfully so, what in the world is that?

Well, essentially it is a project-oriented class designed to help students learn the leadership skills necessary to take their church "out of the box" and into the world as it exists today.

Each student will be assigned a field placement at a church other than their own. It will be up to the student to enter into a relationship with the rector and the congregation; to explore and define the culture of that particular congregation and surrounding community; to identify and lead a group in the development of a missional project that is based in the context of our baptismal theology and in the context of the church and its community's culture; and, finally by the end of the school year to transition the leadership of the project to someone in the congregation.

Contextual Formation – creating a missional project for the church within the context of our baptismal theology and within the culture of the church's reality.

If it sounds like a lot – it is. But I must tell you the students are excited, as am I.  We have agreed to see ourselves as a collaborative "think tank." We will meet monthly and together explore progress, successes, failures, and opportunities for growth and improvement in our goal of moving the assigned churches "out of the box" and into the world.

Bottom line, this will be a project driven by the Holy Spirit, with both the instructor and the students working to equip various churches for their calling to "make disciples of all nations…teaching them to obey everything that I [Jesus] have commanded you." (Matt 28:19-20, 11-12)

Contextual Formation is an incredibly important project. It is a project designed to place a spotlight on the calling of the church to be a truly missional movement. It is a project designed to give life to the fact that Scripture is the Spirit-given authority to form us for missional living – Scripture is the authority that God's Spirit gives to the Word – the authority that sends us into the world not as individual missioners, but as God's missional church.

It is a project designed to remind us that as a church we are sent by Jesus into the world "to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you." (Matt 28:18)

In his book Canoeing the Mountains Tod Bolsinger writes, "The culture is changing, the world is changing rapidly, and churches are facing change on an unprecedented scale…But the church is also at an exciting crossroads. We are entering a new day, new terrain and a new adventure. We are not alone. The Spirit of God goes before us. The mission of Christ will not fail."

Our work as a church committed to carrying the good news of Christ to all nations has become very challenging. Perhaps challenging isn't even a strong enough word. Maybe it would be more descriptive to say that we are engaged in an uphill battle. An uphill battle to preserve the church – the vehicle that proclaims through scripture, sacrament and love God's Word. A vehicle through which the gospel of Christ becomes a reality in man's life.

Last week we learned that Jesus had set his face to Jerusalem. Surrounded by his Disciples and a crowd of people who had declared that they wanted to follow him on his journey to the cross he launched a fast-paced campaign to bring the gospel to as many people as possible in what he understood to be his short time in this world. "He appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of himself in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go."

Establishing what ultimately was to become the mission of the church – the evangelization of the gospel - Jesus sent out not just the 12 who had been commissioned as Disciples, but a multitude of his followers – 70 in all. And, interestingly, Jesus sent them out in advance. He commissioned them as leaders in what we now call, many thanks to our beloved Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, the Jesus Movement.

Jesus sent his followers out ahead of him to proclaim the good news – to evangelize. To prepare people for his arrival in their lives.

The sending of the seventy is scriptural witness to the reality that as a gathered church we are formed to carry out God's mission in the world. We are called to evangelize – to spread the good news. In this brief section that describes Jesus' sending his followers as laborers into the harvest we experience with total clarity the actual authority of God's Spirit as it demands our missional obedience. Just as God sent Jesus into the world, so Jesus sends us into the world. With all authority we are a people sent by God…sent into the world.

Old Testament scholar Christopher Wright reminds us that the sending of the church as the apostle to the world goes to God's very purposes. He says, "It is not so much that God has a mission for his church in the world, but that God has a church for his mission in the world."

God has a church for his mission in the world.

Alan Hirsch in his book The Forgotten Ways writes, "Missional church is a community of God's people that defines itself and organizes its life around…its true and authentic organizing principle – mission. When the church is in mission, it is the true church."

God is a sending God. Just as He sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us.

I wonder if the students at the Diocesan School for Ministry think of themselves as missional. As they prepare to embark on this groundbreaking class called Contextual Formation, do they think of themselves as the modern-day equivalent of the seventy? Because in a sense they are.

Essentially, the students are being told that the harvest is plenty, but the laborers few. They are being sent to forge a new way for us. They are being sent with the warning that they may possibly find themselves among wolves – nonbelievers. They are being sent with no real tools other that prayerful support. They are being sent with the directive to not to be distracted and to stick it out once they have settled on a project – no matter how challenging.

They are being sent with the hope that they will transform and energize a community of people to embrace God's mission for the church in the face of a changing world. They are being sent with the directive to identify the mission that God has for the church in this complex and tumultuous world.

Above all, they are being sent to spread the gospel with the understanding that whoever listens to them will be listening to Christ. They will be creating a church shaped by Jesus and his mission.

I wonder how the seventy felt as they listened to Jesus' commandment to go ahead of him. As they heard his warning that they would be as lambs among wolves. Would they, like the diocesan students initially react rather violently saying, "Hey, wait a minute. We are not ready for this. You are the teacher – the leader – you go first, and we will follow."

Well that's not what Jesus, or the diocesan school leadership, had in mind. Jesus knew that he was in the world for only a short time. More importantly, he understood that as the Son sent from God it was his mission not only to teach and to heal, but also to send forth his disciples, his followers to be God's church in the world.

Fast forward to today – that means us. As followers of Jesus, as the Jesus Movement, we are being sent forth as an agent of God's mission to the world – to evangelize the gospel.

Tod Bollinger is just one of many who has written and/or preached about the fact that "The culture is changing, the world is changing rapidly, and churches are facing change on an unprecedented scale…But the church is also at an exciting crossroads. We are entering a new day, new terrain and a new adventure. We are not alone. The Spirit of God goes before us. The mission of Christ will not fail."

The mission of God will not fail – six very important words. Six very important words that can only become a reality if we, like the seventy, heed Jesus' command to go ahead of him, spreading the good news, preparing the way for him to enter people's lives – their souls.

However difficult, we must accept the reality of the crossroad that faces the church. If we are to meet the uphill challenge of finding new ways to carry out our mission we must reorient ourselves. We must let go of the old, learning and leading as we go forward. We must have the courage to enter unchartered territory. We must not give up; we must keep going – no matter what.

It is we who are sent into the world as the rightful and faithful continuation of Jesus' own sending by God. It is we who are sent as witnesses to our own community. It is we who must realize that when our church is in mission, it is the true church. We must enter unchartered territory with a mission worthy of our utmost dedication.

We must be a church shaped by Jesus and his mission.

 Sermon

Proper 9

St. Simon's on the Sound

Luke 10:1-11; 16-20

BEING A CHURCH SHAPED BY JESUS AND HIS MISSION

In just a few short weeks I will once again be back teaching at the diocesan school. The upcoming year will be the third and final year for eight postulants who are seeking ordination as priests and deacons in our diocese.

As many of you know, this past school year I taught these same students Clinical Pastoral Education, better known as CPE. The point of CPE is to learn the skill of pastoral care and to develop a better understanding of yourself and how you relate to people. These goals are accomplished through conducting interviews with patients or care seekers, and through presenting verbatims – word for word reports – of these encounters to one's fellow students and instructor.

CPE is often regarded as a terrifying experience. A big leap into the unknown world of emotional suffering and pain, and the continual public examination of one's self through the in-depth critiquing of the verbatims.

I am happy to report that the students all survived. In fact, they did a great job. I am very proud of them.

This coming school year I will be teaching a course called Contextual Formation.

You may ask, and rightfully so, what in the world is that?

Well, essentially it is a project-oriented class designed to help students learn the leadership skills necessary to take their church "out of the box" and into the world as it exists today.

Each student will be assigned a field placement at a church other than their own. It will be up to the student to enter into a relationship with the rector and the congregation; to explore and define the culture of that particular congregation and surrounding community; to identify and lead a group in the development of a missional project that is based in the context of our baptismal theology and in the context of the church and its community's culture; and, finally by the end of the school year to transition the leadership of the project to someone in the congregation.

Contextual Formation – creating a missional project for the church within the context of our baptismal theology and within the culture of the church's reality.

If it sounds like a lot – it is. But I must tell you the students are excited, as am I.  We have agreed to see ourselves as a collaborative "think tank." We will meet monthly and together explore progress, successes, failures, and opportunities for growth and improvement in our goal of moving the assigned churches "out of the box" and into the world.

Bottom line, this will be a project driven by the Holy Spirit, with both the instructor and the students working to equip various churches for their calling to "make disciples of all nations…teaching them to obey everything that I [Jesus] have commanded you." (Matt 28:19-20, 11-12)

Contextual Formation is an incredibly important project. It is a project designed to place a spotlight on the calling of the church to be a truly missional movement. It is a project designed to give life to the fact that Scripture is the Spirit-given authority to form us for missional living – Scripture is the authority that God's Spirit gives to the Word – the authority that sends us into the world not as individual missioners, but as God's missional church.

It is a project designed to remind us that as a church we are sent by Jesus into the world "to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you." (Matt 28:18)

In his book Canoeing the Mountains Tod Bolsinger writes, "The culture is changing, the world is changing rapidly, and churches are facing change on an unprecedented scale…But the church is also at an exciting crossroads. We are entering a new day, new terrain and a new adventure. We are not alone. The Spirit of God goes before us. The mission of Christ will not fail."

Our work as a church committed to carrying the good news of Christ to all nations has become very challenging. Perhaps challenging isn't even a strong enough word. Maybe it would be more descriptive to say that we are engaged in an uphill battle. An uphill battle to preserve the church – the vehicle that proclaims through scripture, sacrament and love God's Word. A vehicle through which the gospel of Christ becomes a reality in man's life.

Last week we learned that Jesus had set his face to Jerusalem. Surrounded by his Disciples and a crowd of people who had declared that they wanted to follow him on his journey to the cross he launched a fast-paced campaign to bring the gospel to as many people as possible in what he understood to be his short time in this world. "He appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of himself in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go."

Establishing what ultimately was to become the mission of the church – the evangelization of the gospel - Jesus sent out not just the 12 who had been commissioned as Disciples, but a multitude of his followers – 70 in all. And, interestingly, Jesus sent them out in advance. He commissioned them as leaders in what we now call, many thanks to our beloved Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, the Jesus Movement.

Jesus sent his followers out ahead of him to proclaim the good news – to evangelize. To prepare people for his arrival in their lives.

The sending of the seventy is scriptural witness to the reality that as a gathered church we are formed to carry out God's mission in the world. We are called to evangelize – to spread the good news. In this brief section that describes Jesus' sending his followers as laborers into the harvest we experience with total clarity the actual authority of God's Spirit as it demands our missional obedience. Just as God sent Jesus into the world, so Jesus sends us into the world. With all authority we are a people sent by God…sent into the world.

Old Testament scholar Christopher Wright reminds us that the sending of the church as the apostle to the world goes to God's very purposes. He says, "It is not so much that God has a mission for his church in the world, but that God has a church for his mission in the world."

God has a church for his mission in the world.

Alan Hirsch in his book The Forgotten Ways writes, "Missional church is a community of God's people that defines itself and organizes its life around…its true and authentic organizing principle – mission. When the church is in mission, it is the true church."

God is a sending God. Just as He sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us.

I wonder if the students at the Diocesan School for Ministry think of themselves as missional. As they prepare to embark on this groundbreaking class called Contextual Formation, do they think of themselves as the modern-day equivalent of the seventy? Because in a sense they are.

Essentially, the students are being told that the harvest is plenty, but the laborers few. They are being sent to forge a new way for us. They are being sent with the warning that they may possibly find themselves among wolves – nonbelievers. They are being sent with no real tools other that prayerful support. They are being sent with the directive to not to be distracted and to stick it out once they have settled on a project – no matter how challenging.

They are being sent with the hope that they will transform and energize a community of people to embrace God's mission for the church in the face of a changing world. They are being sent with the directive to identify the mission that God has for the church in this complex and tumultuous world.

Above all, they are being sent to spread the gospel with the understanding that whoever listens to them will be listening to Christ. They will be creating a church shaped by Jesus and his mission.

I wonder how the seventy felt as they listened to Jesus' commandment to go ahead of him. As they heard his warning that they would be as lambs among wolves. Would they, like the diocesan students initially react rather violently saying, "Hey, wait a minute. We are not ready for this. You are the teacher – the leader – you go first, and we will follow."

Well that's not what Jesus, or the diocesan school leadership, had in mind. Jesus knew that he was in the world for only a short time. More importantly, he understood that as the Son sent from God it was his mission not only to teach and to heal, but also to send forth his disciples, his followers to be God's church in the world.

Fast forward to today – that means us. As followers of Jesus, as the Jesus Movement, we are being sent forth as an agent of God's mission to the world – to evangelize the gospel.

Tod Bollinger is just one of many who has written and/or preached about the fact that "The culture is changing, the world is changing rapidly, and churches are facing change on an unprecedented scale…But the church is also at an exciting crossroads. We are entering a new day, new terrain and a new adventure. We are not alone. The Spirit of God goes before us. The mission of Christ will not fail."

The mission of God will not fail – six very important words. Six very important words that can only become a reality if we, like the seventy, heed Jesus' command to go ahead of him, spreading the good news, preparing the way for him to enter people's lives – their souls.

However difficult, we must accept the reality of the crossroad that faces the church. If we are to meet the uphill challenge of finding new ways to carry out our mission we must reorient ourselves. We must let go of the old, learning and leading as we go forward. We must have the courage to enter unchartered territory. We must not give up; we must keep going – no matter what.

It is we who are sent into the world as the rightful and faithful continuation of Jesus' own sending by God. It is we who are sent as witnesses to our own community. It is we who must realize that when our church is in mission, it is the true church. We must enter unchartered territory with a mission worthy of our utmost dedication.

We must be a church shaped by Jesus and his mission