If Your Heart Turns Away...

 

Sermon – 02/12/2023

Matthew 5:21-37

As of this past Wednesday I was not scheduled to preach today and therefore had paid little attention to the lectionary readings for this week. However, after my conversation with Fr. David late that afternoon, it became evident that I needed to quickly develop a sermon and to be ready to impart some small piece of theological wisdom to you all this morning.

Of course, my first step was to have a look at the readings. I did so and said to myself, “Wow.” These are long and complicated readings. How do I sort through them quickly and discover that one phrase that says to me “You can preach on this.”

Luckily, I love the Old Testament, and I especially love Deuteronomy. That, I determined, would be my starting point.

First off, I turned to my hero Walter Brueggemann, a definitive theologian and scholar of the Old Testament who has posted many, many of his lectures on YouTube. As I suspected, I found one on today’s Deuteronomy reading. It was nothing short of excellent. Next, I took a look at Deuteronomy as a whole in my old study bible. The one that I used as I prepared for my ordination. There I found a few excellent notes from my Old Testament professor, another well informed scholar.

Well-armed with information from scholars and scripture and filled with inspiration blessedly given by the Holy Spirit, I began my sermon writing process.

The Book of Deuteronomy takes place just as the Israelites, encamped on the plains of Moab after 40 years in the desert, finally stand poised to enter the promised land. Moses as Deuteronomy’s speaker calls the people together and delivers a series of three speeches. These speeches are grouped together and presented as a long farewell address as he prepares to die. In this long and detailed address Moses reviews Israel’s history, recounts their laws, and instructs the people about the importance of loyalty to God.

Deuteronomy is an extremely complex narrative that was written from three distinctive viewpoints over the course of three time periods, each separated by hundreds of years. They reflect the ongoing development of the theology of Israelite’s story in the preexilic, exilic, and postexilic points of their history. In the book’s final chapters these three viewpoints operate simultaneously and present in detail the covenant that God made with Israel. These final chapters reflect a complex interplay developed over hundreds of years of Israelite history, Israelite Law, and the importance of Israel’s loyalty to God.

These final chapters, which include today’s reading from chapter 30, also focus on the details of a formal ratification ceremony that involved the swearing of an oath to accept the penalties for transgressing God’s covenant with Israel.

The basics of the covenant were outlined by Moses in chapter 28, just preceding today’s reading. Moses said, “The Lord will establish you as his holy people…if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways…But if you do not obey the Lord your God by diligently observing all his commandments…then…curses shall come upon you and overtake you.”

Following up by referring to this covenant, in today’s reading Moses proclaims “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, that I am commanding you today…then you shall live and become prosperous. But, if your heart turns away and you do not hear but are led astray…I declare to you today that you shall perish…Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him.”

I don’t know about you, but I do believe that God’s plan for us could not be any more straightforward: Love the Lord, obey him, and hold fast to him.

So, the phrase that almost instantly popped out at me and said, “You can preach on this,” was “But if your heart turns away and you do not hear but are led astray…”

“If your heart turns away and you do not hear.”

Walter Brueggeman claims that these passages from Deuteronomy call us to the “ongoing project of listening;” we are called to hear God continually actively and openly. And in our continued active and open listening we are called to give mindful consideration not only to God’s covenant with Israel but also to the summary and further development of that covenant that was given to us by Jesus just prior to his death on the cross. Namely, to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and with all our souls, and with all our minds, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

And, as we pray, through the process of active and open listening, with these two commandments in mind, we must seek to hear God. Hear what he has to say now to us, now, in this present day, in this present moment. What do these Great Commandments heard through our prayerful listening to God require of us now in this troubled and much challenged world?

Today’s psalm, 119, which refers in detail to hearing God’s Word and carrying forward his commandments is traditionally paired with the Chapter 30 Deuteronomy reading, as is today’s Gospel reading from Matthew.

The psalmist wrote:

Happy are those whose way is blameless,
   who walk in the law of the Lord.
Happy are those who keep his decrees,
   who seek him with their whole heart,
who also do no wrong,
   but walk in his ways.
You have commanded your precepts
   to be kept diligently.
O that my ways may be steadfast
   in keeping your statutes!
Then I shall not be put to shame,
   having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.

Happy are those who keep his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart. The psalmist understood the critical importance of actively and open listening as the only way to hear God’s voice. The psalmist understood what Moses had to say as he imparted his final words of wisdom to the Israelites as they stood poised to enter the promised land: “If your heart turns away and you do not hear.”

In today’s gospel reading Jesus uses the familiar teachings of Deuteronomy on murder and adultery and expands on them for his listeners. Jesus’ teachings no longer apply strictly to acts of murder and adultery. Instead, they become doorways into the examination of the thoughts and actions of everyday life that lead to such acts. The laws that the Israelites heard that day on the plains of Moab had not changed. What did change through Jesus’ teachings was the helpful addition of understanding the ways in which laws are broken by us in our daily lives and what we must do if we are to seek God’s way for us. What we must do to follow the instruction given to us through the language of the Great Commandments.

What is the process that we must engage in if we are to listen for God’s word actively and openly? If we are to hear God voice? If we to avoid the path of going astray.

I would suggest that continual and disciplined prayer is “the way to go.”

To bring us up to date on how prayer and following God’s commandments works in today’s world, I want to refer to the life Elisabeth Elliott, a beloved missionary and prolific author. The resounding theme of Elliot’s life was the boundless love of Jesus, and her greatest commission was to tell others of His saving grace. This costly call led her into the Amazonian jungle of Ecuador where her husband, Jim Elliot, was one of five missionaries speared to death in 1956 while attempting to contact members of the Auca/Waodani tribe. Elisabeth, along with her young daughter Valerie, later returned to Auca territory to live among and minister to the people who killed her husband. Familiar with suffering, Elliot wrote, “The deepest things that I have learned in my own life have come from the deepest suffering. And out of the deepest waters and the hottest fires have come the deepest things I know about God.”

Elliott also observed, "Prayer lays hold of God's plan and becomes the link between his will and its accomplishment on earth. Amazing things happen, and we are given the privilege of being the channels of the Holy Spirit's prayer."

Through the ages, no matter where or when; as taught by Moses, the psalmists, Jesus, Elisabeth Elliott and so many others like her, prayer has been and continues to be the ongoing project of listening and being in a mindset that is actively open to hearing God. Prayer is about the life of Jesus coming alive in us. Prayer is about absolute fidelity, faithfulness, and obedience to God’s word. And finally, Prayer is about the joy in keeping God’s Covenant with us.

 

We Are The Salt of the Earth...

 

WE ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH… 

Just prior to beginning my reflection on today’s gospel reading I completed work on what has been four years of study on the phenomenon of forced migration. Four years of research accomplished through extensive reading, conversations, travel seminars, academic seminars, and deep, deep reflection. After this extensive period of listening and learning, my final project a two-day seminar on forced migration, is set to go. It will be launched February 2-3. After that, It’s up to the Holy Spirit.

As I became more knowledgeable about the complex challenges the world faces in addressing forced migration, I moved from a point of incredible naivete to a painfully clear understanding of the myriad issues related to global migration and the mass movement of people throughout the world.

Increasingly growing numbers of men, women, and children throughout Africa, the Mideast, the Ukraine and Russia, Venezuela and other South American countries, Haiti, and the countries of the northern triangle (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador), and Mexico are forced to leave homes and loved ones in search of safety, security, and independence from oppression. It is truly a massive challenge for all global partners.

The Episcopal Church, understanding its scriptural mandate to welcome the stranger has and will continue to address this complex challenge on many fronts and in many ways. At first glance, the church’s efforts may appear to be but a drop in the bucket. However, Jesus has directed us, as God’s church, we must strive to be the salt of the earth and a light to the world no matter how great the challenge that we face.

Obviously, it is clear that in the realm of forced migration this mandate and our church’s response to it can only be one of the many voices that seek effective ways to mitigate against the need for so many people to flee their homes, and to, when indicated, offer them safe refuge. Refuge that promotes stability and an opportunity to successfully integrate into new communities, their new homes. An opportunity that offers the compassion and healing modeled for us by Jesus himself. 

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; you are a light to the nations.” And we know full well that if the salt has lost its taste, it is useless and that if the light goes out, we are left in the dark. Reflecting on these powerful metaphors I think back to what we now refer to as the “Covid 19 years.” During those months in 2019-2020 the salt did indeed lose its taste and the light was most certainly dimmed. Dimmed so low that many could not see through it.

Happily, although Covid is still with us we are now largely protected by the several vaccines that have been produced. Vaccines that do not protect us completely against Covid infection but do seem to mitigate its more serious effects. Vaccines that have allowed us to begin the slow process of reinvigorating our salt and turning up our light in ways that allow it to shine brightly once again. 

Now is the time to remember that our church has a long history of providing the compassion and love that shines the light of Christ on those who need healing. Over the years the Episcopal Church has provided shelter to the homeless, food to the hungry, and joy to communities throughout our nation.

The dark and frightening Covid 19 years which rendered many church’s salt quite tasteless and allowed many lights to flicker only dimly through such as quite primitive Facebook video prayer sessions are now thankfully behind us.

Now is the time to re-group. To clearly see the changing needs of our communities and to restore our saltiness and the brightness of our lights, and to join with the many other organizations that are responding to these community needs. The Episcopal Church must join with others if it is to truly provide effective forced immigration relief; to provide relief to the needs of an increasing number of men, women, and children in our community.

Our church must add its light to the many lights now beginning to shine in our communities nationwide. Together we can and we will shine ever so brightly, offering healing and hope.

Now is also the time to respond to questions such as “Who are we?” Why do we gather?” “What is our purpose?”

We need not look far for clarification. These questions are answered repeatedly in scripture. In 1 Corinthians Paul writes, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” In 1 Peter we read, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” And today we hear Jesus’ words warning to us both as individuals and as a Christian community, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses it taste it is useless; you are the light of the world…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

Who are we? We are the body of Christ. The chosen people. A royal priesthood. A holy nation.

Why do we gather, what is our purpose? As God’s chosen people, his holy nation we are meant to declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. Our purpose is to be the salt of the earth and a light to the nations.

The church's identity and its purpose will remain the same always, no matter what happens. And, for sure, much is happening in this face-paced and ever changing world. Our context might change, but our identity and our purpose will remain the same – always.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase.”

We will never see the whole staircase, but we must move forward. We must have faith that the incarnation shows us that God truly loves us enough to be with us always and through the power of the Holy Spirit to guide us on our way. We must remember that “…God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John. 3:16). 

The Episcopal Church has no immediate solution to the global challenge of forced immigration, but increasingly it is developing collaborative programs that will augment its “salt” and its “light.” It is taking many definitive steps in the process of innovative and important program development without the luxury of seeing the whole staircase.

 We must return to new and refreshed ways to engage with those in our community that share of mission of providing God’s light to those in need, those who are seeking a light.

Our salt must once again become salty, and our light must once again bright. We must renew our mission and “let our light shine before others, so that they may see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Conversations With God

 

Sermon – 01/29/2023

Matthew 5:1-12

Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish theologian, philosopher and poet, insisted that we do not find God through abstract definitions, or through group affirmation. Rather, Kierkegaard believed that it is only through the personal encounter of prayer that we find and hear God. Kierkegaard believed that “Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.”

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, although using different language and different concepts, also believes that it is only deeply centered prayer that clears the way for the Holy Spirit to descend upon us and move us in the direction of understanding and living into God’s will for us. For Williams prayer is about what we let God do in us.

Origen, a theologian who died around the year 254, believed that if we are to engage in true prayer, we must rid ourselves of anxiety and preoccupation with worldly matters and fully center our hearts and minds on God. It is only then that our vision is clarified; only then that the voice of the divine begins to slowly transform us; only then that we move into a condition where the whole of our life says, Our Father.

Today’s opening Collect also addresses the importance of prayer, both individual and corporate. The collect implies that it is only through prayer that we will find the peace that passes all understanding; the peace that we are called to bring to all; to the world. “Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. AMEN”

Theological reflections on prayer abound. A Google search for prayer quotes yields literally hundreds of resources – each one, of course, different in many ways; but all in agreement on one essential point. Prayer, done quietly and in earnest, changes our relationship with God, and in so doing brings changes in our relationship with the world.

Put quite simply by Elisabeth Elliot, missionary and author, “Prayer lays hold of God's plan and becomes the link between his will and its accomplishment on earth. Amazing things happen, and we are given the privilege of being the channels of the Holy Spirit's prayer.”

Last week at our Annual Meeting we gathered to hear reports from our vestry’s Treasurer and Junior Warden. Reports that were compassionately delivered but quite hard to hear. The reports call the St. Simon’s community, both corporately and individually, to be in deep prayer with God. Prayer that will allow us truly to hear God’s voice. Prayer that will allow us to hear God’s will for us, his beloved children, his will for this holy ground, St. Simon’s Church. Prayer that will guide us and allow us to accomplish his will with courage and grace.

I am sure that you will all agree that this is a critically important time. A time in which it will be so easy to get lost in anxieties and fears; lost in anger and blaming; lost in all sorts of emotions that confuse us and lead us away from a state in which our prayer allows us to hear God's plan; allows us to become the link between his will and its accomplishment on earth.

It will be a time in which we resist change. A time in which we will say to God, “This is our home. We want all to be made well for our building and our land. We don’t want the things that have meant so much to us to disappear.” A time in which we will not easily accept the fact that whether we stay put or move to a new place of worship, St. Simon’s reality and the reality of the world itself has changed dramatically in just a few short, but tragically difficult, years.

It also will be a time when we dig into a period of focused and rigorous self-reflection. A time when we ask ourselves the hard questions, “Who are we? Why do we gather each week? What is our purpose? Upon whom do we intend to shine the light of Christ? When God looks at us what does he see? Who do we want to be in our role as disciples of Christ?”

Perhaps most importantly it will be a time of mourning. A time of deep sadness for people who are no longer among us, and of ways of life lost. A time to consider our own mortality.

It is this discernment of what the future holds that is, perhaps, the most important task of all. If we are unable to mourn, to let go, we will never move forward, whether it be here or somewhere else.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus teaches the crowd about the blessings that abound for all who believe in the kingdom of heaven. He proclaims in the second verse “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Jesus teaches us that we are blessed in our grief, our sadness, our anxiety, our confusion. We are blessed because as God’s beloved children our Father hears us when we cry out to him, and if we pay attention through focused prayer and deep reflection, we will hear his voice as it responds to our cry. We will hear a voice that through the power of the Holy Spirit will guide us in shining the light of Christ into our world in new and exciting ways.

In his book “Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Unchartered Territory”, Tod Bolsinger uses as a paradigm the demanding challenge that Lewis and Clark faced when, in their journey to find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean, they found themselves facing the Rocky Mountains. Reporting on how the two explorers faced this challenge, Bolsinger suggests that if the church is going to scale the mountains of ministry in today’s world we need to leave behind our canoes and find new navigational tools. He speaks to the concept of reorientation and writes, “When our old maps fail us, something within us dies. Replacing our paradigms is both painful and absolutely crucial…But you must let go, learn as you go and keep going no matter what.”

This brings us back to prayer; to Kierkegaard, Rowan Williams, Origen, and so many others who in their own way each advise us that if we rid ourselves of anxiety and preoccupation with worldly matters, if we center our hearts and minds on God, the voice of the divine will begin to slowly transform us and move us into a condition where the whole of our life says, Our Father. The whole of our life will center on the blessing of God’s presence in our lives. The whole of our life will be centered in prayer. Prayer that allows us to see what God is doing in us; that allows us to become channels of the Holy Spirit; that allows us to become the link between God’s will and its accomplishment on earth.

The St. Simon’s community of worship is founded on both corporate and individual prayer. Prayer is, has been, and always will be the foundation and the guidepost of the St. Simon’s community. St. Simon’s is God’s House of Prayer, and it is filled with God’s beloved children who daily pray, Our Father, as they seek the gift of God’s blessing.

It is my prayer that in this time of discernment and difficult decisions, we, both corporately and individually, work intentionally and diligently on our prayer life, casting aside mixed, painful, and confusing emotions and opening our hearts and minds to God’s word for us as we discern our future as a light in the Okaloosa County community. A prayer effort that is so directed will both strengthen us as disciples of Christ and at the same time strengthen the St. Simon’s community as we let go, learning as we go and keep us going no matter what.

 

 

 

 

A Voice Crying Out

 

SERMON

December 4, 2022 - Matthew 3:1-12

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”

Matthew’s account of John the Baptist, a rough looking, strangely clad fellow who ate locusts and wild honey, boldly emerging from the wilderness, proclaiming “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” is for a breathtaking story.

This John is of course the same John that we first meet when he is still in his mother’s womb. I’m sure you remember the story of the Immaculate Conception as it is told towards the end of the first chapter of Luke’s gospel. Mary learns from the angel Gabriel that she is with child. Amazed and humbled she follows the angel’s directive to visit her relative Elizabeth in the hill country. Elizabeth, who is in her 60’s is also miraculously with child. When Mary finally arrives and enters Elizabeth’s house, she shares the account of her visit from the angel Gabriel and of the angel’s proclamation that Mary was now with child, and that the child would be Holy. Upon hearing the story, Elizabeth’s child, John, “leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Less frequently do we hear the story of John’s conception, which comes at the very outset of Chapter One. Luke tells us that the angel Gabriel, prior to visiting Mary, visited Zachariah, Elizabeth’s husband.  When Zechariah saw the angel, he was terrified, and fear overwhelmed him. ^“But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord…even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.”

And then, at the very end of Luke’s first chapter, we come upon Zachariah’s beautiful hymn, best known to us in the Book of Common Prayer as Canticle 16, The Song of Zachariah. This powerful hymn is a prophetic description of what is to come about as the result of his son John’s birth. Midway through the hymn Zachariah says, “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.” In one brief sentence Luke concludes this hymn writing that “The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.”  

Putting the bits and pieces of these gospel stories together helps to place John the Baptist in a context that is the very heart of the New Testament. John is not some bizarre character who suddenly emerges from the wilderness claiming to be a prophet. Far from it. John is the prophetic messenger empowered by God through the gift of the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb to grow strong and to be the one crying out in the wilderness announcing the arrival of the Lord.

John the Baptist is the prophetic messenger sent by God to proclaim the arrival of his Son, Jesus. John’s ministry of repentance and baptism by water is intended to prepare the way for Jesus’ arrival and his baptism not by water but by the Holy Spirit. John has been chosen by God to announce the arrival of the Son of God, God incarnate, Jesus Christ, into our world. As Zachariah proclaimed, “He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.”

 

Matthew concludes this prophetic message delivered by John as he emerged from the wilderness with the most stunning statement “He will baptize you with the Holy spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear the threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

In today’s vernacular John is telling us “This is it folks. Here is your opportunity to receive God’s grace, forever. I suggest you take it because if you do not you will be negatively impacted by its absence.”

In just a few short weeks Christmas Eve will be upon us. The arrival of Jesus Christ in the world, once again. The next morning, Christmas morning, Bishop Russell will join us as both celebrant and preacher. He has selected for the gospel passage that morning the most beautiful hymn of all. The opening verses of the Gospel of John. This exquisite hymn in just a few stanzas tells the whole nativity story in language that clearly speaks to the reality and purpose of God incarnate among us. Jesus’ presence among us as the Word of God that, if followed, shines a light in the darkness of our lives and prepares the way for salvation.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.”

“To all that received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become the children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.”

My friends in this all too brief period of Advent we are privy to the most powerful stories in the New Testament. Stories that bring to life the context in which Jesus entered our world. Stories that proclaim God’s intent in sending his Son to be among us. Without these stories there would be no New Testament, no scripture as we know it. There would be no Christmas Eve; no Christmas Day.

It is in quietly and repeatedly reflecting upon the powerful words delivered in these stories that the miracle of the Nativity, the miracle of Jesus among us emerges and begins to seep into our minds and touch our hearts in ways that are life changing. It is through these stories that we understand fully the context of how God came into the world through the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ. It is through understanding, accepting, and living into this miraculous gift of God’s Word, God incarnate among us, that we become his beloved children.

My point today is to underscore the context of Jesus’ complex birth story and to take seriously John the Baptist’s words of warning, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear the threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 

The nativity story, Christmas carols on Christmas eve and festivities filled with presents, good food shared with family, and friends on Christmas Day can easily eclipse the story of John the Baptist and his prophetic voice announcing the arrival of God incarnate into our lives. A story that began with a messenger sent by God, the angel Gabriel. A story that was filled with it the power of the Holy Spirit. A story of two women, one young and one elderly, whose wombs were filled through the power of the Holy Spirit to give us the gift of Jesus, God incarnate, and the powerful and courageous voice of a prophet, John the Baptist.

The Nativity Story is an incredible story. It is a story that is at the same time both understandable and ineffable, overwhelming, and indescribable.

It is the story of God’s miraculous gift to us. A gift given in love. A gift given in the hope that it will be received in love. A gift meant to bring peace on earth and good will among all men.

John’s sudden emergence from the wilderness with all its disruption in the lives of those who heard his voice was, and is, a wake-up call for us – a disrupting wake-up call in the life of the St. Simon’s community and for all other communities in the world.

John is not some crazy fellow wandering around in the wilderness with no purpose, shouting out nonsense, and eating strange food. John the Baptist is a holy man sent from God to announce the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry – his Word and his gift of baptism by the Holy Spirit. John was sent by God to disrupt our lives and to warn us that we must take care. John alerts us to the saving grace of God’s gift of the Word: the Way, the Truth, the Light. A Word to which we must pay close attention, for it is only in paying attention that we will experience the way and the light; that we will find the way to peace on earth and good will to all men.

Words cannot through any stretch of the imagination adequately describe the story of Jesus’ arrival as it unfolds in the gospels of Luke and Matthew. Words are useless when attempting to express the miracle of Jesus Christ, God incarnate, as he comes into our lives and lives among us – there are none. However, we can in the coming weeks spend time reflecting upon the gift of Christmas Eve, the birth of the Christ child, God incarnate among us. We can listen for John’s cry as he emerges from the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” We can focus on bringing that gift given in love to our community and to the world.  It leaves me breathless – how about you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Are All Special People

 

Ecumenical Service

Sunday, November 20

John 6:25-35 

First off, let me thank you all for being with us this evening. We are truly honored and blessed to have so many members of the Okaloosa County community gathered in this holy place. Tonight, we have come together in peace as one body to offer prayers of thanksgiving for the many blessings that fill our lives despite the chaos and turmoil of our global community. 

As well as acting as your host, I have also been asked to deliver tonight’s message. In preparation I, of course, have been in deep thought regarding the focus of my message. More importantly I have prayed relentlessly beseeching the Holy Spirit to infuse my muddled brain with a message that would be relevant to all of us as we consider the context of our world and our community as we move into 2023. 

Let me begin by saying that I recently had the good luck to participate in a South African travel seminar led by the Rev. Dr. Michael Battle, one of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s colleagues and a brilliant theologian in his own right. The point of the travel seminar was to study not only the ubuntu theology of the archbishop, but also to have an in-depth opportunity to learn about the ongoing struggles of black South Africans despite the abolishment of the apartheid movement and despite the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, chaired by Tutu in 1995-2002.

I do not exaggerate when I tell you that the trip was life changing for me. I returned to the US with a renewed enthusiasm for spreading the word of God through the building of community. I came home understanding the absolute necessity of community if one is to encounter God acting in today’s world. The absolute necessity of community of we are to see the very image of God among us.

So, this evening I want to speak of community and its critical role in this very fragmented and chaotic global society in which so many are suffering, with little or no relief in sight. In which so many yearn for God’s redeeming love. In which so many hunger for a taste of hope through the presence of God, the bread of life, to come into their lives.

In the gospel according to Mark, Jesus clarifies for all who demand to know what the most important commandment is when he answered saying, “The most important one is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Tonight, I want to suggest that if we are to grasp the full intent of God’s command to love our neighbor, we are called to understand and firmly embrace the concept of love of neighbor and the importance of how that love is revealed in and through the gift of community.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer the German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and anti-Nazi dissident who was executed at Flossenberg concentration camp just four days before the end of the Second World War in his book Life Together wrote, “The church is [God] existing as community. It is only through community that we are connected to God….On this presupposition rests everything that the Scriptures provide in the way of directions and precepts for the communal life…”

Bonhoeffer concludes these thoughts writing, “The more genuine and deeper our community becomes, the more will everything between us recede, the more clearly and purely will [God]… become the one and only thing that is vital between us. We have one another only through [God], but through [God] we do have one another, wholly, and for all eternity…this is not an ideal but a divine reality.”  (Life Together. p 24, 26)

In his last published work, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote “…today our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change. The large house in which we live demands that we transform this worldwide neighborhood into a worldwide brotherhood. Together we must learn to live together as brothers and sisters or together we will be forced to perish as fools.”

The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu viewed the critical importance of community through the African concept of ubuntu. Tutu defined ubuntu in saying “A person is a person through other persons. We need other human beings for us to learn how to be human, for none of us comes fully formed into the world…Ubuntu is the essence of being human…I am because I belong…I need other human beings to be human.” (Various presentations) 

An international leader in human rights and social justice, Tutu believed firmly that the building of community was increasingly important in addressing the challenges of our fragmented and chaotic global community. He said “We are living in an historic moment. We are each called to take part in a great transformation. Our survival as a species is threatened by global warming, economic meltdown, and an ever-increasing gap between rich and poor. Yet these threats offer an opportunity to awaken an interconnected and beloved community.” (Various presentations)

In the Episcopal Church the gospel reading appointed for Thanksgiving Day is John 6:25-35, a story we might entitle “The Bread from Heaven.” This story is very much about finding God in and through community.

If you will recall, in search of Jesus, a crowd on the shores of Tiberias gets into small boats and crosses the lake to Capernaum where they hope to find him. They have heard about the miracle of Jesus finding food for 5000 even though he had but five barley loaves and two fishes. The crowd wants to join in – to be fed similarly. But Jesus has their number. He says to them, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you…I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never by thirsty.”

Simply put the crowd is seeking a taste of bread, a morsel of fish, a magical and temporary fix to a passing hunger, but instead they find Jesus who instead offers them a different a kind of food. He offers them the bread of life. A way to fulfillment that brings love and peace not through the temporal fix of a small meal, but through an eternal peacefulness of the heart and soul. In these moments on the shores of Capernaum a community frantically seeking temporary fulfillment of their hunger instead recognizes God as the true bread of life. God as the way to eternal fulfillment. This desperately seeking community emerges as God’s fulfilled and sacred community.

Bonhoeffer, King, and Tutu while quite different in their theological approaches to the challenges of their contexts, all agree on one critical point – God is found in community. God is among us, whatever our current context might be. God is always present in all of us and through all of us. Once again quoting Bonhoeffer we recognize that, “…brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; rather it is a reality created by God in which we may participate. The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our fellowship is in God alone, the more serenely shall we think of our fellowship and pray and hope for it. (Life Together. P. 30)

My friends I know that there is not a person present who does not understand the urgent need for us as members of Okaloosa County to strengthen our communal bonds. To, as one, hear God’s voice as he guides our way and lights our path in the work of creating a community that reflects his peace and love. A community that lays aside barriers to unity and welcomes all. A community created in and strengthened by love. A community formed in the image of God. 

And, on the eve of our Thanksgiving celebrations, a community that offers the bread of life to all through inclusion, healing, and love. Let us remember we are all beloved children of God. All created in his image. All members of God’s kingdom now and forever.

In closing I offer one final quote from the late archbishop.

“In my theology there are no ordinary people. Each one of us, because we are God’s representative, God’s viceroy, God’s stand-in, and a God carrier – each one of us is a very special person.” (No Future Without Forgiveness. 109)

God Among us

 

SERMON

Luke 21:5-19

Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022

 

Unbelievably I am now in my sixth year here at St. Simon’s. My time with you has passed by in a complete flash. Truly, I do not know where the time has gone and sadly along with time disappeared, many memories have been tucked away in the rush of dealing with the present. However, today’s gospel reading from Luke has caused me to retrieve many of those memories and to reflect on our six years together. In doing so, I am amazed at how much has happened in the life of our church family since my first trip to this altar on October 1, 2017.

Major events, like the Craft Fair and the Rummage Sale, have ended. Many, too many, beloved friends have died. Covid 19 terrified us all and closed our doors for months on end. Hurricane Sally pushed water into and through our entire building, leading to a year of disruption and repairs. And, finally many dear friends have moved away or are unable physically to join us as we gather.

I think that you will all agree – that’s a lot. A lot of trauma and grief for anyone, and certainly a lot for a church congregation struggling to maintain a solid vertical connection to God. Staying in touch with God is not always easy when life is beset by challenge after challenge. Obstacles to faith and hope.

And yet, my friends, despite these turbulent seas we are emerging as a body of Christ in faith and in hope that we will resume our energy and our focus as disciples of Christ. Already the servant work in our congregation and in our community has blossomed. We bring comfort and nourishment to the children at Elliott Point School. We share our congregational meals with the residents of One Hopeful Place and partner with other congregations in feeding the many homeless sheltered there on nights when the temperature dips below forty degrees. We partnered with Gregg Chapel to prepare two truckloads of hurricane supplies to send to the Port Charlotte area just a matter of days after hurricane Ian. Several weeks ago we collected 51 bags of non-perishable food items for our local food pantry Sharing and Caring in what will now be a quarterly Brown Bag Ministry. We are preparing to embark on a Blessing Bags ministry through which basic hygiene items with be regularly distributed to the over 475 homeless schoolchildren in Okaloosa County. And we have joyously resumed our potluck feasts on holidays and as a natural extension of special services. Our kitchen is back in full swing; the flower guild is more creative than ever, and the altar guild has polished every nook and cranny in the sacristy and will begin refurbishing some of our sacred items such as the Processional Cross.

My friends, I do believe that we have re-established our vertical relationship with God. We are answering his call to serve in peace through love, faith, and hope.

All this good work has not come about without, as I mentioned earlier, plowing through turbulent seas. Seas of angry, frustrated, and despairing words, and paralyzing moods of depression, anger, and a deep grief over the loss of precious time and the deaths of dear friends. But much like the sea captain in the hymn Amazing Grace: 

“The Lord has promised good to me, his word my hope secures; he will my shield and portion be as long as life endures. Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come; ‘tis grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.” 

St. Simon’s has overcome, and with God’s grace will continue to do so for many years to come.

Now you might ask what about Luke’s story of Jesus describing in distressing detail a future of bloody, death-filled times and the destruction of the temple is relevant to us sitting here 2000 years after the fact.

Think back. As you may remember, Jesus’ predictions in this story are based the disciples’ adoration of the magnificent Herodian temple in Jerusalem. A temple built by a Roman leader and a temple in which Roman Gods were worshipped along with the God of the Israelites. A temple that was ultimately a symbol of Rome’s oppressive power over the people of Israel.  Jesus warns his disciples that temporal symbols of wealth and power that might seem quite attractive in the here and now will ultimately fail and die away. He predicts that, “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.”

The disciples, appropriately alarmed, frightened for their lives I would imagine, ask Jesus when and how they will know that this horrific situation is about to occur. Rather than providing a direct answer to these questions, Jesus responds with the directive, “Beware you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.” 

Jesus understands that in the time of destruction, chaos, and fear the disciples – just like any normal person, you and I included – will lose focus and grasp on to any promise of comfort and safety that they might come across. He warns them – do not lose your focus by being drawn to those who act like god, but who are truly deceivers seeking power to rule; to be a “would be” god. Stick with me, follow me, have faith in me, and I will lead you to the true God. The God of love, of hope and of salvation.

A little later in this same passage he warns the disciples that there will be additional dangers that they must face. Wars, insurrections, nation rising against nation, kingdoms against kingdoms, great earthquakes, dreadful portents or threats, and more. All times and situations in which one’s trust in God can be shaken, and in many cases, all faith lost. All times in which alternative leaders seeking power and control can intrude themselves into our lives gaining our trust and compounding evil upon evil.

Jesus goes on to describe scenarios in which the disciples will be detained, arrested, questioned, even put to death. Times in which they will have to testify to their allegiance to God, not to the power of the Roman Empire. Scary stuff. But then, Jesus offers comfort saying, “…I will give you words of wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.” In other words, despite the turbulent seas, the tragedy, the loss of life, the horrific times of war and insurrection, natural disaster, betrayal by family members, and more we are to proceed in faith and courage understanding that “…not a hair on our head will perish. By our endurance we will gain our souls.”

“By our endurance we will gain our souls.”

Today’s gospel story is so relevant to our modern times. There is not one situation that Jesus describes which is not present in our world today. Insurrection and war in the Ukraine, in various African nations, in Syria, and throughout the Mideast rage without cease. Threats of nuclear warfare are now in every headline. Massive natural events such as earthquakes and hurricanes have caused the destruction of entire communities. As of May 2022, 100 million individuals were forcibly displaced worldwide. Propelled by the war in Ukraine and other deadly conflicts this data accounts for an increase of 10.7 million people displaced from the end of the previous year.

Child hunger affects millions of children worldwide, many of them living right here in the Florida Panhandle, and Covid is still with us stealthily spreading throughout our communities each and every day.

These are times in which Jesus tells us it is imperative to… “Follow me and not a hair on your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

This, my friends, brings me back to St. Simon’s – the community of St. Simon’s – and our corporate life together as we face a chaotic world filled with tragic events and strive to keep our vertical relationship with God. This is a challenge that faces us daily. One that we must meet together as we gather each week in communal worship and as we go into the world to seek and serve Christ.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is just one of the many theologians who insists that we can only know God through communal worship. Bonhoeffer believed that we can only know God through God’s actions. And we can only make sense of God’s actions through worship because it is in worship that we are invited into the mystery of knowing God as the subject of our life together. We know God through adoring God together. 

It is in our church community that we find the presence of God among us and working with us. It is in our church community that we hear God’s call and find God’s presence. Our communal worship life together is essential to meeting the challenge of turbulent seas and chaotic lives.

As St. Simon’s emerges from the ashes of the Covid 19 era of isolation, I sense that the St. Simon’s community recognizes what Bonhoeffer taught. We know God through adoring God together. We know God’s will for us through our communal life of worship– because of St. Simon’s. And, perhaps most importantly we want to share our God through servant works with the rest of our community.

My friends, we possess something most precious to share with the world. Together, let us offer it to others.

I close with a brief quote from Bonhoeffer’s early work The Cost of Discipleship:

“The path of discipleship is narrow, and it is fatally easy to miss one’s way and stray from the path, even after years of discipleship…On either side of the path deep chasms yawn…The way is unutterably hard…if we are afraid for ourselves all the time it is an impossible way. But if we behold Jesus Christ going on before step by step, we shall not go astray…For he is himself the way, the narrow way…He, and he alone, is our journey’s end…The narrow way is bound to be right.”

 

 

 

SERMON

Sunday Closest to July 5, 2021 (never posted, in error)

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

 

I am no different than millions of other people who love music. I subscribe to Pandora, the American music streaming and automated music recommendation internet radio service, and I listen to my music favorites, the "Thumbs up" option, most often while I am having breakfast and getting ready for work. This means that listening to Pandora coincides with my time in the shower – where, also, just like millions of other people, I do my best thinking.

Last Friday, just as I stepped out of the shower, the song Spanish Pipedream was playing. Spanish Pipedream, John Prine's classic love song, was written and originally released in 1971 by John Prine on his self-titled debut album. In that same year it was also performed by John Denver on his album Aerie. Both versions are spectacular – I commend them to you.

Spanish Pipedream is a song about a soldier who meets a topless dancer in a bar on his way to Montreal. The soldier recounts his story saying:

She was a level-headed dancer on the road to alcohol
And I was just a soldier on my way to Montreal.
Well she pressed her chest against me
About the time the juke box broke
Yeah, she gave me a peck on the back of the neck
And these are the words she spoke.

Blow up your TV, throw away your paper.
Go to the country, build you a home.
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches.
Try and find Jesus on your own.

By the end of the song, it is clear that they took the dancer's advice. Here's how it goes:

Well, I was young and hungry and about to leave that place.
When just as I was leavin', well she looked me in the face.
I said "You must know the answer."
"She said, "No but I'll give it a try."
And to this very day we've been livin' our way
And here is the reason why.

We blew up our TV threw away our paper.
Went to the country, built us a home.
Had a lot of children, fed 'em on peaches.
They all found Jesus on their own.

Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why this brief, but powerful, song caught my attention – "…blow up your TV and throw away your paper." Sound like something you might want to do?

I am sure that many, if not all, of us quite often fantasize about doing something akin to this as moment by moment, day by day various media platforms spew forth headlines designed to grab one's attention. Keeping up with what is important, and what is not important can be exhausting. Frequently depressing and anxiety producing. Our eyes and ears – our minds - have become targets of a non-stop barrage of informational tidbits and proclamations of how things should be – how we should feel, think, act. Our entire beings are saturated with unceasing stimuli of all sorts.

"…blow up your TV and throw away your paper." Sound advice that points us in a direction to a quieter time – a time when we can figuratively “Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches. Try and find Jesus on our own.”

Paul in today’s rather circuitous but ultimately quite true passage from Romans describes our human dilemma of unceasing inner conflict. Inner conflict that when recognized leads us to seek a place in which we can truly discern who we are and how we are living our lives. Prine’s lyrics of removing ourselves to a place of quiet – a place where we can plant our garden anew; a place of solitude in which to hear God’s voice sounds like good advice.

As Christians we want to do the right thing, but sometimes the massive diversity of innumerable incoming media messages so distracts us that we fail to act as we had intended. Sometimes, through exhaustion and confusion, we find ourselves not even caring if we are doing the right thing or not. Sometimes we fall away from God’s path for us.

As Christians, at our baptism we are anointed by God. We die to sin and are resurrected to a new life in which we have renounced evil. However, our sanctification is not instantaneous. It is instead a process that continues throughout our lives, through continual repentance and returning, only to be fully realized in death - at our resurrection. It is our dilemma as Christians that try as hard as we might we continue to stand with one foot in the kingdom of this world and the other foot in the kingdom of God. 

We find ourselves continually caught in the tension of these two worlds, frequently dismayed by our own actions.  Failing to do the things that we want to do and instead doing the things that we have vowed not to do. There is an unceasing war going on within us and sin sometimes prevails. 

As Paul puts it, “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of my God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.”

  "…blow up your TV and throw away your paper." 

Matthew’s gospel passage offers us hope. The hope offered through our understanding of God’s love for all his beloved. An eternal love made known to us through the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ. Hope that we can step away from the noisy and divisive chatter that engulfs us. Hope that we can let go of the inner struggles that cause us discord. Hope that if we follow the teachings of Christ, teachings that lead us on a path that calls for repentance, compassion, and love – love of God and love of neighbor – hope that we will find peace.

The distressing rhetoric of anger, hate and the destructive and troubling acts of violence that torment our world can be set aside, put in perspective, but only through returning and repenting. Only through hearing Jesus’ invitation, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 

Jesus is not beset by anger, distrust, envy, or a need to acquire power. No, Jesus is content to serve, to love, and to have compassion for those who are suffering, those who bear the burden of poverty, discrimination, and illness – a much easier route – an easy yoke. And he is asking us to join him by carrying a similarly easy yoke. A quieter, more peaceful way of life in which it is God, not the TV or the newspaper that drives our thoughts and our actions

Reconciliation with God, assuming the easier yoke of Christ, does not happen without work. Work that requires an honest look at ourselves. We cannot repent and return unless we know where we have been, what we have done, what we are doing that is taking us down a path that diverges from God’s will for us.

Bishop Desmond Tutu said in a recent interview, “True reconciliation is never cheap, for it is based on forgiveness which is costly. Forgiveness in turn depends on repentance, which has to be based on an acknowledgment of what was done wrong, and therefore on disclosure of the truth. You cannot forgive what you do not know.”

“Repentance has to be based on an acknowledgment of what was done wrong, and therefore on disclosure of the truth. You cannot forgive what you do not know.”

We cannot assume the easier yoke of Christ without repentance. We must understand the truth of our actions both corporate and individual. In order to forgive, or to be forgiven, we must know the truth of what went wrong.

In this time of Covid-19, a world pandemic with millions infected and over a quarter of a million souls dead in just a few short months. In this time of unprecedented political instability. In this time of renewed efforts to ensure justice for all. We as Christians must make every effort to hear Paul’s analysis of mankind’s plight. If listened to carefully it calls us to examine ourselves carefully. We must be able to say, for example, “You know, I think I do judge harshly” in order to engage in an examination of when, why, and with whom we do harshly judge.

In order to assume Jesus’ easy yoke, we must repent. Hard work, that was made a bit easier for me by John Prine’s advice. Advice that put a big smile on my face and brought the joy of laughter into my life. Besides. It’s good advice. Can we profit from it?

Blow up your TV, throw away your paper.
Go to the country, build you a home.
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches.
Try and find Jesus on your own