Sunday, June 23, 2019

Sermon: No Babysitter, But Remember God's Grace


          Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.  In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
          Within the church year, we've experienced Advent through Epiphany, followed by Lent, and Easter through Pentecost.  During this time, people are learning, and being baptized or confirmed.  We're now entering the time when we focus on our ministries, on emulating Christ, and telling others about Christ.  We're back to the liturgy that tells us about the Gospel according to Luke, which we left back in Lent.  Today, though, we're going to discuss our responsibilities as Christians.
          It appears that according to Paul, we no longer need a babysitter.  Up until the time of Christ, Paul says the Law in the Greek, is our paidagogos. Some translations now render this as “guardian” of the young until they reach of age, but “babysitter” is certainly how it would have been termed today.  The babysitter was not the child’s parent or family member, but rather a trusted servant or slave.  But as a child grows, they happily anticipate that the babysitter will eventually go away, and not be permanently necessary. For any given human being, a babysitter is a temporary presence in a person’s life until a time of greater maturity is reached after which babysitters are no longer needed.
          So when Paul speaks in his letter to the Galatians, he states, " Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith."  It's great that we are now responsible for ourselves – and yet, are we truly ready?
          This New Testament passage today ends with inspiring words:  " There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise."  Paul points out how, now in Christ the old separations of sex, gender, legal status, and nationality are stripped away, washed away in the waters of baptism. We now have a unity and a freedom in Christ and in his overflowing grace that we could never have conceived of before.
          Here, though, in Paul's words, he's referring to all of life, not just religious life.  The concept of separating church and state won't occur for another 1700 years.  We, who live in a secular and pluralist society, are apt to misunderstand that here. An issue might be more directly religious—or political—but the two spheres were interlaced like warp and weft, not stitched along a seam. This is probably still truer than we realize today, but in any event, Paul's words are not some 'spiritual' declaration. They refer to the whole of reality. We can't exclude the political sphere from Paul's words.
          As Americans, we separate church from state, sometimes wanting to separate belief and morals from state as well.  As C.S. Lewis wrote, it is the easiest thing in the world to confuse fruit with root.  You can't see the roots of a tree but only the lovely peaches that grow above the soil on the tree’s branches. Of course, the fruit is so much easier to see that sooner or later its production becomes so fascinating that we forget about the roots. It’s the same with Christian work and keeping the law: what we do is visible on the surface of our lives. That it is all fueled by the roots of grace is harder to see and, therefore, to remember, and so sooner or later most of us are far more proud of the bumper crop of spiritual peaches we have produced than we are cognizant of the grace that alone made that possible in the first place.
          To invoke Lewis’ famous analogy: Suppose a 6-year-old boy asks his father to give him $5 to buy him a present. The father gives the boy the money and is then thrilled with the gift the little boy later brings to him. But, Lewis observes, only a fool would conclude the father came out $5 ahead on the transaction!
          If we don't receive the grace, the energy, the “money” from God in the first place, we’d have no spiritual work or fruits to give, and pleased though God is with our lives of discipleship, He never thinks that this is how we saved ourselves in the first place.
          When we look at the Old Testament reading today, the entirety of the passage in Isaiah is spoken by God.  Provided with the law, with God's Word, and watching as humankind continuously " walk in a way that is not good, they follow their own devices".  As a result, the Hebrew people experienced the consequences of turning away from God, because He " will measure into their laps full payment for their actions."  However, those who remained faithful, God says, "As the wine is found in the cluster, and they say, 'Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,' so I will do for my servants’ sake, and not destroy them all."  Christians point out that an alternate translation of the ending of that passage reads, "I will bring forth a descendant from Jacob, and from Judah an inheritor of my mountains; my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall settle there."  We look at this passage as the promise from God that Jesus, the Christ will come to bring us out of adolescence, and into adulthood. 
          However with that adult status, we are now responsible – with help, thanks to the Holy Spirit – for how we see and treat all others.  We have more freedom, but we also have more responsibility to remember that without the grace provided by God, we have nothing.
          Let us pray:  Almighty God, whose loving hand hath given us all that we possess: Grant us grace that we may honor thee with our substance, and, remembering the account which we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of thy bounty, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sunday, June 16, 2019

Sermon: Wisdom of the Trinity


          In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
          Today is Trinity Sunday, and is unique in that it is the only holy day founded on doctrine, and not on an event or particular person.  However, the Trinity is at the very foundation of our faith, and certainly deserves a day devoted to us trying to understand that God is both three and one.  The question I have is, when you hear "in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit", what goes through your mind when you hear it or say it? 
          Saint Patrick is said to have explained the Trinity to the Celts by using a shamrock, three individual leaves, yet still one plant.  Of course, that analogy falls apart when we get the lucky four-leafed clover.
          Tertullian, one of the most famous theologians of the Early Church, used the metaphor of The Trinity as a plant, with the Father as the deep root, the Son as the shoot that breaks forth into the world, and the Spirit as the force which spreads beauty and fragrance on the earth.
          It's not that Trinitarian theology or a Trinitarian God is too complicated to understand; it's finally that a Trinitarian and Unified One God is too complex to be managed or manipulated by all of us who think we know better than God.
          Augustine was a theologian who lived in North Africa in the fourth and fifth centuries. As the story has it, one day Augustine was walking along the beach by the ocean and pondering the deep mystery of God, the Holy Trinity. He met a boy there on the beach who had dug a hole in the sand and kept busy running back and forth from the hole to the ocean; collecting water and pouring it into the hole. Augustine was curious about this, so he asked the boy: “What are you doing?” The boy replied: “I’m going to pour the entire ocean into this hole.” Augustine then said: “That is impossible, the whole ocean will not fit into your hole.” And the boy answered Augustine: “Neither can the infinite God, the Holy Trinity fit into your finite mind.”  Now, probably not a true story, but a reflection of Augustine's thoughts, and a good example that sometimes, we simply have to accept that some things are basically too complex for us to understand.
          Now if we look at the Old Testament lesson today, we are hearing the personification of Wisdom within the Proverb.  As humans, we consider wisdom to be a quality of our own, gained over time, and yet, Wisdom was created by God prior to any organizing of the chaos that was the heavens and the earth.  We've learned over time that God spoke, commanding the formation of mountains and rivers, heavens and earth – and that Christ was there, as the Word manifesting in the commands.  And we have learned that the Spirit hovered over the waters of creation.  From Proverbs, we find that which learned as Wisdom, watched creation itself, learning at the Divine's side, so as to teach, for "rejoicing in [the] inhabited world and delighting in the human race", Wisdom learned and gained knowledge and experience to grow.  Do we listen to the Proverb, "To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live"?  Do we realize how much Wisdom has to teach us about the Trinity, that existed and created the Earth before we ever were?  Are we able to learn, ourselves, and gain wisdom?
          What is interesting, however, is that Christ has said that, "When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come."  He knows everything that Christ knows, and Christ knows everything that God knows, so in explaining that to the disciples, Christ is speaking to every single one of us.  We are still today guided by the Holy Spirit, and as a result, are guided by Christ and by God. 
          In an article[1] written about 20 years ago now, John Brockman in Edge Magazine asked, "What is the most important invention of the last 2000 years, and why?"  Answers were generally what you would expect, ranging from Gutenberg's printing press to chairs, stairs and ploughs, to the internet and digital bits.  Some of the more humorous contributions included,
"Marc D. Hauser, a cognitive neuroscientist, chooses aspirin, pointing out that "among the Masai, headaches are treated with a mud compact of goat feces to the forehead. I prefer aspirin." Leon Lederman, the director emeritus of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, replies … "the thermos bottle." Theoretical psychologist Nicholas Humphrey credits reading glasses as the most important invention, because they’ve 'prevented the world from being ruled by people under forty.'"
… "A vast array of fields are spanned by the answers, from medicine (anesthesia, late twentieth century health care…) to mathematics (geometry, the Indo-Arabic Number System, the infinitesimal calculus) to science (genetic engineering, the Copernican theory, quantum theory) to leisure pursuits (classical music, board games)."
The final result was, "'It’s the Distributed Networked Intelligence (DNI), the collective, externalized mind… It’s the mind we all share, the infinite oscillation of our collective consciousness interacting with itself, becoming aware of itself, adding a fuller, richer dimension to what it means to be human.'"
          That last definition is both inclusive of the concept of wisdom, but exclusive of fully comprehending that Wisdom is being guided by the Holy Spirit, by the knowledge and understanding of the Word, and of the Creator.  Wisdom delights in humanity, but has humanity grasped the concept that we have never been left alone or unguided?  And perhaps more importantly, are we listening?
          While we don't say the Gloria Patri during the Eucharist services, we say it often during Morning and Evening Prayer:  "Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.  As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end, Amen."  Christ told us that "He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you."  And we give all that we are and create and learn and understand, and when combined with Wisdom, we also glorify the Divine.  Because when we understand that God, both in unity and in trinity created this world in its totality, existing outside of time, then God is ever unchanging, from the beginning to now and always.  That by itself is a mind-blowing concept for us humans, but when we acknowledge God's Wisdom, we realize that we will always have more to learn.  And at the same time, we've never been alone, but rather always guided and provided the tools to gain wisdom – if we never forget to glorify God, the three in one and one in three.
          The Gloria Patri is not only a statement of doctrine, faith and belief in the covenant between God and man, these are fighting words in the full defense of Christianity.  The word declaring it so is "Amen", or so be it.  In that statement, you are stating that you believe that God, in the form of the Trinity, not only existed from the beginning of time, but continues to exist now, and will exist long after we're gone.  This is the foundation upon which not only our faith is based, but our understanding of the universe.
          So when we begin with in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen, we have literally said as much, and as little, as we state our foundational belief in the Trinity.
          Let us pray:  Most holy Trinity, Godhead indivisible, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, our first beginning and our last end, you have made us in accord with your own image and likeness. Grant that all the thoughts of our minds, all the words of our tongues, all the affections of our hearts,  and all the actions of our being may always be conformed to your holy Will.  So may we, having seen you veiled in appearance here below by means of faith, come at last to contemplate you face-to-face, in the perfect possession of you forever in heaven. Amen.


Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Tuesday Sermon: St. Barnabus


          Today being the Feast of St. Barnabas, we learn about an exemplary apostle, considered one of the 72 originally sent out by Jesus.  The Acts of the Apostles describes Barnabas as 'a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith' (6:24). His Jewish parents named him Joseph, but after he had sold all his possessions and given the money to the apostles in Jerusalem, they gave him a new name: Barnabas, which means 'son of consolation' or 'man of encouragement.'
          What has struck me as most interesting about Barnabas, is that he is willing to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, even when that may go against what others believe to be a healthy dose of caution with regard to trusting people.  Barnabas was one of the first to welcome Saint Paul, the former persecutor of the early Church, and his own former schoolmate. He persuaded the Christians of Jerusalem to accept Paul's claim that he was now a believer in Jesus (Acts 9:26-30).  Barnabas was sent to Antioch, Syria, to investigate the community of non-Jewish believers there, and he brought Paul there from Tarsus. It was in Antioch that the followers of The Way were first called Christians.  If you remember, Paul had encouraged the believers elsewhere to send help to the fledgling community of believers in Jerusalem experiencing a famine.  Barnabus and Paul took the Antiochean donation to help.
          After that, Barnabus, his cousin John Mark, and Paul returned to Antioch before setting out together on the first missionary journey of the Christian church.  They went first to Cyprus, Barnabas' native land, and for this reason Barnabas is honored as the founder of the Cypriot church. Then they continued on to Perga, but John Mark returned to Jerusalem.  Later they went to Antioch in Pisidia, where they were so opposed by the Jews, they actually decided to preach to the pagans.  And later, they went to Iconium where they were stoned and thrown out of the city.  It was interesting when they went to Lystra in Lycaonia, where they were thought to be gods because of the miracles they worked and the physical beauty of Barnabas.  Unfortunately, after straightening that concept out, they were again stoned out of the city, and fled back to Antioch in Syria.  It was at this point that a dispute arose regarding the observance of Jewish laws and customs, and Paul and Barnabas returned to Jerusalem for the council that decided that non-Jews would not have to be circumcised in order to be baptized.
          When they returned to Antioch, Barnabas wanted Paul and his cousin John Mark to continue their travels together, but Paul, known for his rather forceful personality, was unwilling to give John Mark a second chance, given that he had left them at Perga on the last trip.  There was apparently a falling out between Barnabas and Paul, as Barnabas was determined to try again with John Mark.  Barnabas and John Mark sailed from Antioch for Cypress, where they continued their work together.  Paul chose a new traveling companion, Silas, and went elsewhere to strengthen the churches. Little more is heard of Barnabas though it is believed that the rift with Paul was later healed because we read about Barnabas in 1 Corinthians 9:6). Paul also discusses his relationship to Barnabas in his letter to the Galatians.
          Tradition says that Barnabas preached in Alexandria and Rome, and was stoned to death at Salamis about 61 AD.
          While not a part of the canon, an Epistle of Barnabas is considered to have been written between 70 CE and 132 CE, because it references the fall of the Temple and takes place before Bar Kochba revolt.  You can find it online if you're interested in reading what was likely written down by a part of his community well after his death, of course.
          From this particular story about Barnabas, his character shines through in Luke's writing of Acts, and later in Paul's letters.  We are provided an example of someone who follows where he is led by the Holy Spirit, listening, being aware, and giving people the benefit of the doubt when in need of a second chance.  His encouragement of others, including Paul, helped in shaping the early Church.
_______________________________     Information taken from http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Barnabas.htm; http://www.stbarnabasny.org/who-was-st-barnabas.html; and https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-barnabas/.

Sunday, June 9, 2019

Sermon: It's in the Wind


          Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
          Think back to Genesis Chapter 11, where the people said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves".  And the Lord saw this, saying to Himself, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them."  Knowing that without one common language, the people would multiply and spread throughout the Earth, so God confused their language.  "[T]he Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city."
          Now, I was going to try that verse from the Psalm that I started with, to speak it in four languages.  That was rather a disaster of pronunciation, so I'll let you imagine. 
          Over time, people in many languages celebrated Pentecost – not as we do today, but rather as a combination of celebrations.  Shavuot, known as the Feast of Weeks in English, and Pentecost in Ancient Greek, was a week of weeks beginning at Passover and culminating in the celebration of the first harvest of wheat or what became the Celebration of First Fruits, where people brought their first fruits to the temple.   It was also a celebration of the time God gave the Torah to Moses and the people of Israel gathered at Mt. Sinai.  So Jews are gathered together from many nations at the Temple in Jerusalem.  As we hear in Acts, Jews and gentiles from Parthia – an area today of north eastern Iran, middle Persia, Khuzestan and Ilam Province as well as a small part of southern Iraq,  Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, Crete and Arabia.  Anyone walking through a modern metropolitan city today will hear a similar cacophony of languages. 
          And then Pentecost suddenly changes.  Christ had ascended to the Father the week before.  The disciples knew that they were to stay in Jerusalem, because the Advocate whom Christ had promised to send would be arriving soon.  Gathered together, having nothing but questions, and no answers, and not knowing what else they could do, they began to pray together.  (Close your eyes, and listen.)  One by one, they began to say together the Lord's prayer:  Father, hallowed be your name.  And the wind began to pick up, so they spoke a little louder, Your kingdom come, And around them, they could now feel the wind in the closed room with them.  They could hear the crackle of fire, well beyond what the sconces on the wall sounded like.  Peter spoke louder, leading them, Give us this day our daily bread, and almost shouting, the disciples spoke as one:  "And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”
          The disciples' eyes opened, and they began praying and prophesying, and the ears of all around them heard their words in their native tongue.  The reversal of the story of the Tower of Babel began, as all understood either in their own language, or in a universal language that all who had ears to hear could understand.  And Peter reminded those standing there what the Prophet Joel had said, " In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.  The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
          Can you imagine knowing that you stand in the presence of the Holy Spirit; you speak and tell people about Christ; you are utterly filled with the knowledge that you can share this with every person there.  You can tell them about Christ, about eternal salvation.  And thus, the Church was born this day!
          In case you haven't guessed, Pentecost is one of my very favorite holy days.  There are areas on the Earth that are rapidly growing, on fire with the love of Christ, baptizing people who want to be Christ followers, taking a week to be able to baptize every one of them!  They are filled with the Spirit, and they share that love of Christ with their families, friends, neighbors, or anyone they happen to meet. 
          Now at the same time, we are certainly seeing a rapid decline in church attendance in the United States and other "first world" countries, in belief, in the desire to fulfill our own baptismal covenant to share the Word of God and of Christ's love.  Many Christians want just enough religion to be comfortable, to be respected, to feel good about themselves, but not so much that it shakes up their routines and changes their way of living. Many Christians want the benefits of the Holy Spirit without having to experience much of the Spirit. So, many of us read about Pentecost and the power of the New Testament church and smile and then put it back on the shelf next to our favorite novels and DVDs and go back to our lives as usual. Such exuberance is kid stuff, the stuff of movies and myth. After all, you have to be careful with this kind of exuberance. And if there is one thing that many modern Christians are, it is careful.
          A colleague of mine was assigned to a new church. He was just out of seminary; on fire and excited about what God was calling him to do at his first church. It was an older church, but they had lots of young people moving into the area. He felt led to reach those young people and grow the church. So he decided to start a more modern, edgier worship service for the young people. He got a team of people together and made plans. Members of the church who were musicians volunteered to play. A bunch of instruments were donated. They set a start date and began publicizing it around the community. About a week or so before the very first service, my colleague found the donated equipment piled up outside his office. On top of the pile was a note from concerned members of the church. It said, "Dear Father: If you continue with this newfangled service, we will write the Bishop and tell him you are incompetent and not fit to serve our church." Well, he continued with the service. A year later, he was voted out of the church. We have to be careful with all this Pentecost business, don't we?
          He didn't like the direction the church was going. He felt it didn't have much life. It wasn't doing the things that a church ought to be doing. It wasn't praying enough and serving enough. It wasn't studying the Bible enough. So he, led by the Spirit, started all of these small groups in the church. Lo and behold, they started to catch on, got all fired up, started to change things and shake things up. And the leader of this group started to speak all across town. He lifted up the gospel and all these people listened to him and responded. They received Christ. He was the talk of the town. Well, his church was none too pleased with all this excitement and exuberance, with all this change. They got annoyed with this group in the church and their leader. So, what did the church do? They wouldn't allow him to speak in worship anymore. His name? John Wesley. The group? Methodist Episcopalians! We have to be careful with all of this Pentecost business, don't we?
          Because it's much easier running the church on our own, without being bothered by the Spirit, isn't it? I mean, a church can survive quite a while keeping the Spirit at bay. All we have to do is be organized, be nice, be civilized, be careful, find a good speaker to tell nice stories, play good music and we are on our way with being pleased with ourselves with all we can do with our church. Sure, there is only so much we can accomplish without the aid of the Spirit, but at least we look good. At least, we're in control.
          Ezekiel said in Chapter 37, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord...I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live...and you shall know that I am Lord."  Open your heart, your ears, your mind to the Holy Spirit, all around us.  Because the implication is that God's Spirit, Breath, Wind--can put flesh on a skeleton and bring it to life--whether it's a nation or a church. 
          I heard about a church that was about to close its doors. It was old and tired. One day all these people starting coming to the church. It started to grow. I asked, "What happened?" And someone said, "It's in the wind."
          Let us pray. Loving Holy Spirit, make us aware and receptive to the unpredictable, uncontrollable gift of your creative Spirit that is closer to us than breath itself and that permeates and sustains the universe. Amen.

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Quarterly Quiet Day - Labyrinths and Cairns


Holy Trinity is sponsoring
A Quiet Day Retreat
Saturday, 6/29
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.


Seven Circle Labyrinth
And
Building a Cairn

Suggestions for quiet contemplation,
reflection and prayer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
218 E. Missoula Avenue, Troy

Come for the whole day,
or any part you'd like. 

Call with questions at 295-7007
Refreshments provided.

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Tuesday Sermon: Fulfilling Your Promises


          I was once fortunate to know a man named John.  John was fairly late to come to the Lord, being about 50 years old, when he met his wife, and just knew that he'd have to be a better man to be worthy of her.  Not long after that, he was baptized and joined the church.  John was rather fascinated with Paul, and loved reading about the teachings and experiences Paul had.  After about 15 years of wedded bliss, John was struck with cancer for the first time, but nothing could diminish his spirit.  He was reminded of the number of letters in our Bible, still being read today, that Paul wrote from prison, often having been severely beaten.  John was in and out of the hospital for years, with one cancer after another, always greeting people with a smile, sometimes bald from chemo treatments, oftentimes with his clothes hanging from his body.  But John glowed with the knowledge that all he had to do was ask, and the Holy Spirit gave him the words to say to the people he met in the hospital.  He talked with doctors, nurses, orderlies, other patients, visitors in the hospital, making sure that he followed in Paul's footsteps.  Paul said, "But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace."  John spoke with everyone, because he wanted to make sure that everyone had the opportunity to know Christ, and if he didn't convince them, well, the Holy Spirit would take over and just grow that seed that he'd planted and others would be able to come along and water it.  It was only when his body finally gave up, didn't allow him to receive any nourishment from food, and he was literally unable to talk with others, that the Lord took him home.  His funeral filled the Baptist church here, the largest church our town has, even though he wasn't a member there – his pastor knew his little church wouldn't have room for everyone.  Just about everyone knew John, and celebrated his new birth into heaven.
          While in the passage in Acts, Paul is talking about effective ministry, you'll find that his instructions were for everyone willing to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.  He talks about living an open life, meaning one that is exemplary to anyone who might be looking.  He talks about serving in humility, not seeking the limelight, while yet not shirking one's duty.  If something needs to be done, it is just as important in the grand scheme of things as something that might seem more important or have a more public face.  Hardships are the challenges, tests and confrontations we will face in life; these will provide us with the experiences, and opportunities to minister in the midst of our own troubles in order to help others. 
          Paul said, "I did not shrink from doing anything helpful, proclaiming the message to you and teaching you publicly and from house to house, as I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus."  Balance between preaching and teaching here, where teaching is not necessarily only by word, but also by example, is important to introduce the Word to people, to plant a seed, but to then spend time, one-on-one, helping that plant to grow.  Helping people discover the Good News is great – but we have to ensure that people find the family among the Body of Christ, where every single one is valued and appreciated for what they bring to the whole, and what makes them unique.
          Paul pointed out, the "Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me."  Predictions about hardships are not a prohibition to continuing to fulfill your baptismal promises.  We have the Body of Christ with us; we have the Holy Spirit guiding us; and sometimes, it's going to be tough.  But persevere, follow through and continue to share the Good News.  I think John took these lessons to heart in his life, turning hardships and challenges into opportunities to share Christ's love with every person he met.  Think of how we can be aware of the Holy Spirit, the guidance and warnings, comfort and cheer that the Spirit shares with us, and how we, too, can share the "whole purpose of God."

Sunday, June 2, 2019

Sermon: Intercession and Community


          Each time we meet together, we all say the Lord's Prayer, just as Jesus taught.  In the NRSV version of the Bible, the word "pray" is mentioned 516 times, with 156 of those coming from the New Testament, and 55 times are mentioned in the Gospels.  There are six different Greek words for the word pray, so numbers change from there as well.  Prayer is an important activity that we don't really focus on very well.
          In Mark (6:7-8), Christ told us, "When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."
          Throughout the New Testament, we are often told that Jesus is praying, and occasionally we'll hear a line or two, generally thanking God.  But today's Gospel lesson in John is both from an entire chapter where we hear Jesus praying, and is an example of intercessory prayer.  Intercession is when someone prays on behalf of someone else. 
          How often within a week do you have people ask you – would you pray for X, Y, or Z?  And it might be for a person who's ill, or a situation someone is in and could use prayers.  You'll note that in quite a large number of the prayers we say, we end with "In Jesus' name" or some variation of that.  Why do we do that?  We're well aware that we can pray directly to God, but why do we often ask for someone's help?
          We have many in our congregation who come from a more Protestant background, and when the Reformation occurred, the Protestant churches wanted to throw out anything that smacked of Catholicism.  The Episcopal Church, on the other hand, still recognizes the saints and continues to add to the list of those people who have passed, who have achieved extraordinary things in life, seem to be rather righteous and holy, and often ask for intercession by these people, hoping that their own holiness will sort of clean things up to be a better prayer to God.  We know that God will take all our prayers, for ourselves, and as we intercede on behalf of others.  God, being outside of time, knows what we need, what the answer is, and is ready for us to talk with Him.
          Dr. Helen Roseveare, missionary to Zaire, told the following story. "A mother at our mission station died after giving birth to a premature baby. We tried to improvise an incubator to keep the infant alive, but the only hot water bottle we had was beyond repair. So we asked the children to pray for the baby and for her sister. One of the girls responded. 'Dear God, please send a hot water bottle today. Tomorrow will be too late because by then the baby will be dead. And dear Lord, send a doll for the sister so she won't feel so lonely.' That afternoon a large package arrived from England. The children watched eagerly as we opened it. Much to their surprise, under some clothing was a hot water bottle! Immediately the girl who had prayed so earnestly started to dig deeper, exclaiming, 'If God sent that, I'm sure He also sent a doll!' And she was right! The heavenly Father knew in advance of that child's sincere requests, and five months earlier He had led a ladies' group to include both of those specific articles."
          Today's Gospel addresses the unity of all who pray – "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me."  This entire chapter in John is Jesus praying for us.  He's not just asking for His disciples, but also for all who come to believe in Him.  Jesus lived here with us, taking Himself out of the timelessness of God and subjecting Himself to time until He was ready to rejoin the Father.  But because He was aware that His disciples would not only be those who followed Him during His Earthly ministry, but also of those who would follow Him, He prayed for us all!
          When Jesus looks at people, He doesn't see us as isolated individuals.  He recognizes us as persons, certainly, but as persons in community with one another.  He doesn't see us as apart from each other.  His vision is that we are one.
          We're not talking here about uniformity, reducing everybody to a dull and flat sameness.  Instead, the differences are to be barriers no longer.  The diversity is not a cause for antagonism.  It is to be revealed as what it is: an enrichment for everybody.
          But this oneness is still something that we have to address on a daily basis, to intercede – both in our prayers to God, and in our own society, where we might see barriers to that oneness.  Are people in today’s world sometimes divided by their ethnicity?  Not their culture, which should certainly be celebrated, but simply the color of their skin, the clothing that they wear.  Justice for all, while said in our pledge of allegiance to the flag of our own country, doesn't differentiate as to who "all" is. 
          Are people in today’s world divided by social class?  Have you looked at the research about the gaps between rich and poor, local schools based on where they are, transportation being available to those traveling for work? 
          Are people in today’s world divided by gender?  Even in today's society, in a "civilized" country where our laws indicate equality, there's still a wage gap, a glass ceiling, and prejudice toward women who work outside the home when they have children, and more when they choose to work at home to raise their children, even from other women.  Justice for gender divides is a challenge.
          Jesus praying in the Upper Room that his disciples may be one is challenging business, and sometimes dangerous.  No wonder He gets nailed to a cross.  St. Paul delegitimizing the prejudices of the ancient world, when he says in a letter to the Galatians, in Christ there is "neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free man, neither male nor female; for you are all one”, is a challenging and dangerous business.  No wonder his head was cut off.  Peter made it clear that all were children of God and created by God, being of one body.  That challenging and dangerous concept found him crucified upside down.
          Today’s Church recognizing how Jesus sees us as one, and rejecting all barriers, old and new, that prevent unity in Christ: this too can be challenging and dangerous business.  But what that means is that we're challenging somebody’s arrogance, the belief that this person is better than that person for whatever reason, often including our own.
          When we pray for others, when we intercede on their behalf, or when they intercede on ours, we work to unite as one body in Christ.  Our prayers, said by ourselves, and those where we have asked for help, for the intercession of others, are all heard, no matter how challenging or dangerous they might be.