I Will Not Be Afraid: A Sermon for the 23rd Sunday After Pentecost

Photo Credit: Jon Tyson on unsplash.com

May only truth be spoken and may only truth be heard. Amen.

 

We had something a little different in place of the psalm today, and not just because it was a hymn, although singing it was definitely appropriate. A canticle is a hymn or song of praise from the Bible, similar to a psalm but specifically from texts outside of the Book of Psalms. Today’s lectionary called for Canticle #3 which is an excerpt from the scroll of Isaiah dubbed the Song of Thanksgiving. It goes like this:

“Surely, it is God who saves me;

I will trust in him and not be afraid.

For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defence,

and he will be my Saviour.

Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing

from the springs of salvation.

And on that day you shall say,

Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his name;

make his deeds known among the peoples;

see that they remember that his name is exalted.

Sing the praises of the Lord, for he has done great things,

and this is known in all the world.

Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy,

for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.”

 

Line 2 says: "I will trust, and will not be afraid". These words were spoken by the prophet Isaiah to the people of Judah and Jerusalem more than 2700 years ago, when the Assyrian Empire was the dominant power, and Judah lived in the shadow of its might. Foreign invaders, political instability, and crises of one kind or another formed the context of Isaiah's proclamation. The people to whom he was sent and those for whom this book was originally composed lived in a world that was unpredictable and out of their control.

 

Not much has changed, in my opinion. While the headlines are different now than almost 3 millennia ago, the news of the day reminds us that always there are events happening on a scale far beyond our reach and our ability to control them. Whether the threat is widespread, such as the worldwide economic crisis, or whether it is personal, such as illness, the loss of a job or the death of a loved one, it is no small thing to stare the menace in the face and say, "I will trust, and will not be afraid."

 

I don’t know about you, but one thing that I tend to do when I’m afraid is sing. The palms can be a great source for prayer and strength during times of fear. And I absolutely love it when the psalms are sung or chanted. The reason today’s canticle is called the Song of Thanksgiving is because Isaiah is calling the people to sing praises of thanksgiving to the Lord.

 

The first song in this passage is sung by an individual, offering thanksgiving for deliverance by the God who is "my salvation". Although the individual is not identified, the end of the song hearkens back to the deliverance from Egypt, quoting Exodus 15:2: "The Lord God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation".

The image is one of a great warrior, one who is strong enough to defeat even the armies of Pharaoh in order to free the people from slavery in Egypt. To anyone who is caught up in fear, this echo from the Exodus and all the events attending it is a reminder that earthly powers cannot defeat the power of God.

 

The second song offers a refrain of Thanksgiving to the "Holy One of Israel", the one whose "name is exalted", and who "has done gloriously". Isaiah calls on the people to lift their voices in praise to God: "Give thanks...sing praises...shout aloud and sing for joy!" This is a communal song, as if a whole choir has joined voices with the soloist who sang in the first two verses. No longer is there a lone voice singing out against fear, as though whistling in the dark, but rather a chorus of voices offering praise for all that the Lord has done.

 

"Make known his deeds among the nations," they will sing, and "[the Lord] has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth". This reminder of past experiences with God, how the Lord has already acted for the benefit of God's people, is a strong defense against the grip of fear. So, also, is our association with a community of faith that witnesses to God's saving deeds. How much easier it is to "trust and not be afraid" when a whole community is present to join together in the refrain!

 

The verse that ties these two songs together is addressed to the gathered community: "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation". In its historical setting, the verse probably refers to a ritual activity, most notably during the Feast of Tabernacles. As it connects the two songs, however, the verse is a reminder that God's salvation is fundamental to life, as basic to survival as the water that falls from the sky and springs forth from the earth. God's offer of salvation is what the Lord "has done gloriously" to be made "known in all the earth"; it is this saving power that makes it possible for God's people to choose a stance of trust instead of fear when the day brings situations and events beyond their control. The "wells of salvation" suggest an abundant supply, spilling over to soothe tongues that are parched from fright, moistening lips so that they might sing melodies of praise to "proclaim that [the Lord's] name is exalted".

 

Next Sunday brings an end to the Christian calendar and moves us into the season of Advent. As dark nights grow longer and our fears of what’s happening in our lives grow stronger, we wait – like the people of Isaiah's time – for "that day" when God's salvation will come to us in all its fullness. "Do not be afraid," the angel will say, "I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people; to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord". We are drawn toward that future, ready to "shout aloud and sing for joy" together with the whole people of God who will proclaim, "Great in [our] midst is the Holy One of Israel".

 

Here are my questions for you this week: Is it easier to say to a person who is struggling with their faith, “you just have to believe” or is it easier to say, “let’s pray”? Is it more effective to say to someone, “trust in God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your strength” or is it more effective to say, “let’s sing Amazing Grace together”? We sing of the coming of the Emmanuel, of joy to the world, of the baby tucked away in the manger, of shepherds keeping watch by night, and angels from the realms of glory. It is in the singing that we can come to believe the words "I will trust, and will not be afraid".

 

Amen.

Resurrection Life: A Sermon for the 22nd Sunday After Pentecost

May only truth be spoken and may only truth be heard. Amen.

 

The tensions are rising in the relationship between Jesus and the religious authorities of the day. Jesus is confronted in the Temple by the Sadducees who ask him: If a woman was married seven times to seven husbands, who will she be married to in the resurrection? You see, the Sadducees don’t believe in life after death because, as far as they’re concerned, if something isn’t mentioned in the Torah (the five books of Moses), then it doesn’t exist. The Sadducees claim that resurrection is not found in the Torah, therefore they don’t believe in it. In this confrontation, they wish to mock Jesus and make the belief in resurrection appear ridiculous. But what does this have to do with marriage?

 

Nothing, but here’s why the Sadducees are using this example. In the time of this encounter, women had no rights, had no access to land, had no way of supporting themselves. They got married so that they could be taken care of someone other than their father. If they have a son, then that responsibility passes down to him. According to the law of the time, if a man dies, his brother is to marry the wife until there is a son old enough to take over. If that brother dies, the next brother takes over, and so on. Now, I guess this family was extremely unlucky because seven brothers died without bearing any children (or at least male children), leaving this woman with nothing and no one. She finally dies herself, putting us at the Sadducees question – which one of these brothers will be the woman’s husband after death?

 

As is Jesus’ way, he doesn’t answer the question directly. Instead, he teaches and turns the argument upside down. And it certainly has mothing to do with marriage, but everything about resurrection. What is resurrection life like? What is life after death like? What is "eternal life"? We have all had these questions. People 2000 years ago had them. And many people have them today. These questions are the mystery of our faith. We will never know what’s it’s like to die, or to be resurrected. It’s not like a person dies and then reports back! In our limited human capacity to think about heaven and the life to come, we tend to imagine it as simply a more glorified version of what we already know and have experienced here in this earthly life. But Jesus is trying to tell us that eternal life with God is beyond our imagining! Everything will be changed. Everything will be made new.

 

With this Gospel reading falling between All Saints’ Day and Remembrance Day, it is a perfect time for us to consider what we think resurrection might be like, what heaven might be like. Often people question whether or not they deserve to go to heaven, or are worried that their loved one won’t make it into heaven, or ponder who they might meet in heaven. These are questions we will never know the answer to. Even for our loved one on their deathbed, in that last moment before death, we don’t know what happens at that point. Does God meet them at that last breath to give them full and eternal forgiveness and mercy?

 

That is the mystery of our faith. That is the good news that we have received through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That Jesus died for the forgiveness of all our sins so that we may have eternal life with God in heaven. That is the Gospel that we are to be sharing through the actions in our lives.

 

The Sadducees’ biggest argument was that they didn’t believe in resurrection because it never happened in the Torah. But it did! Just not how they were imagining resurrection to be. When we keep the memories of our ancestors and live through their teachings, we are keeping them alive! Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses….These are all Jewish ancestors that have taught us through the millennia how to maintain right relationship with God. When we keep the memories and teachings of our own ancestors, we keep them alive in ourselves and through ourselves. This is resurrection!

 

It's not all about what’s going to happen to us after we die. Resurrection is about how we continue to keep our ancestors alive by telling their stories and living out their teachings here, today. The last line of the Gospel today is like this, “Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.” God is not just sitting around waiting for us to get to the other side so that the real work can begin. No! God wants us to live the resurrected life here and now, while we are still alive.

 

And we are invited to begin this resurrected life where we are – in the reality of our broken and beloved world. It is out of the blue and in surprising moments that God meets us, surprising us with what God has had in store for us all along…resurrection from deaths, both big and small, experienced at a variety of points in our lives. For example, we can think back on the woman in our story. A world of resurrection life does not contain the many deaths we inflict on one another by treating one another as objects. Instead, a world in which a person's belovedness is based on nothing else but that they have been hand-made by a loving God. In God's world of resurrection life, all are beloved and cherished because of who they are in themselves, and communities in which the resurrected Jesus brings that world into the present, are beloved and cherished because of who they are in themselves.

 

Ultimately, life after death will look nothing like life before death. In our resurrection, we will be redefined as a person, our relationships to one another will be changed, and our relationship with God will be strengthened. But Jesus is saying that we don’t have to wait until we physically die to experience resurrection life. Jesus’ announcement of the resurrected life changes the present world by bringing God's intended future to us right now! We can participate in resurrection life now! This is how Jesus changes the present world! That is the good news of Jesus' resurrection life for us now! Think of how freeing the future resurrection life will be for that woman the Sadducees speak of. A life in which she can simply enjoy being in the safe, unconditional love of God.

 

Homiletician Luke Powery says, “In order to experience life, resurrection, or hope, one must go through death.” Even as the liturgical season turns back towards Advent, the texts for this Sunday continue to teach the reality of the deaths in which we live. So what does that mean for our community of St Peter? How can we experience God’s resurrected life? Are there any small deaths that need to happen in order for St Peter to be redefined in resurrection?

 

These are the questions I ask you to consider as we proclaim with confidence our faith that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob raised Christ from death and promises to do the same also for us. Here at the little church on the hill where all are welcomed, where all are fed, where healing happens, where peace is made, and where justice is pursued. Here, in this place, is where God's resurrection reign comes into the present. So with Jesus and all those witnesses to resurrection life and resurrection living, let us say, "Amen."

Resources

workingpreacher.org

Out of the Blue Resources

Pastor Michael Kurtz

A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 41

Chapter 41 – God or Mammon

 

When thinking about the debate between God and Mammon, and whether or not money and love should be mutually exclusive, I’m drawn to the parable of the dishonest manager. You know, the story about the manager who skims money from the land owner, who then finds out and has the manager fired, but before he leaves the manager makes shady deals with all the customers? Ebenezer Scrooge comes to mind, too.

 

According to Eberhard Arnold, “Mammon is the rule of money over people…. Dependence on material affluence and financial security – that is mammon.” (p. 259) The bottom line is that you cannot serve both God and wealth. If all we care about is getting wealthier, our relationships grow less important. We don’t care about the customer, just the customer’s money. That doesn’t mean there is anything inherently wrong with being wealthy. It’s all about what you do with that wealth. Do you hoard it or share it? Are you selfish with it or generous with it?

 

We can’t love God and money, but there needs to be balance. We need to pay the rent, buy shoes and school supplies for the kids, save up for college funds, and make sure we’ll someday be able to retire without burdening those kids. There is nothing inherently wrong with money, but money should never overshadow our values or faith. There is nothing inherently wrong with having wealth, but God calls us to steward our resources faithfully, letting go of the desire to hold on to wealth and, instead, centering our lives on generosity and compassion.

A Review of the Book "Persistence is Futile" by S. V. Moroz

Title: Persistence is Futile

Author: S. V. Moroz

Publisher: Self-published

Year; 2017

108 pages

From the Back: In this minimalist self-help guide, personal coach and counsellor Moroz warns about the dangers of persistence and the importance of taking pause, breaks, and quitting.

Personal Thoughts: Two things got me to read this book. The title reminded me of the Borg from Star Trek - "resistance is futile" - and the subtitle "how taking a break can move you forward" captured my attention. I have to admit, though, that I am not a fan of the content. The main principle is that sometimes it's ok to quit what you're doing rather than forcing yourself to persist. In principle, I can see where the author was trying to go. Staring at a blank screen waiting for inspiration gets you no where. Forcing yourself to work extended days to finish a project can lead to poor workmanship and exhaustion. But encouraging someone to quit their job because they don't like it doesn't sit well with me.

    I was intrigued by the Pomodoro Technique of taking regular breaks in order to increase productivity, as well as the author's insistence that we should be sure to know that we are persisting for the right reasons. Points such as these were useful.

    However, overall, I wouldn't recommend spending time reading this book. For me, it didn't feel worth my time.

Good Times. Bad Times. Blessings. Curses.: A Sermon for All Saints' Sunday

May only truth be spoken and may only truth be heard. Amen.

 

While originally of pagan origin, the Hallowtide Triduum has become a Chrisitan tradition of a three-day observance that includes All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day. All Hallows' Eve is celebrated on October 31 and is the first day of the triduum. It is a time for preparation and reflection on death, often including services and visits to cemeteries to prepare graves for All Saints' and All Souls' days. All Saints' Day is celebrated on November 1 and is a day to celebrate and honor all saints, martyrs, and the faithful departed who have lived holy lives. It is a time to celebrate the "mystical body of Christ" and the "company of all faithful people". All Souls' Day on November 2 is the final day of the triduum. It is a solemn observance for remembering and praying for all the faithful departed, especially relatives and loved ones. Traditions include visiting graves, lighting candles, and giving "soul cakes" to the poor in exchange for prayers for the dead.

 

From an Anglican perspective, the Hallowtide Triduum is a significant part of the Anglican liturgical calendar, often observed with specific services and a focus on the communion of saints. As with other traditions, it is seen as a time to reflect on the victory of Christ over sin and death and to contemplate our own mortality and eternal life. The commemoration of all faithful departed on November 2 is a key element, reinforcing the Anglican belief in the communion of saints and the church, both living and dead.

 

If you’re asking yourself why we are celebrating All Saints’ Day today then, when it’s November 2, well, it’s a complicated liturgical scheduling question that I’d be happy to answer to anyone interested at another time. Over time, as people stopped going to church on a daily basis, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day have been merged into a single Sunday service that focuses on remembering those in the church who have died in the previous year while also celebrating the saints and martyrs of the church. It is an important occasion for remembering and celebrating the blessed of the church’s story, both ancient and contemporary, those known to us only by legend and history, as well as those known to us in this life.

 

The Gospel reading for today lays out the characteristics of the blessed alongside the characteristics of the lost. Good times. Bad times. Blessings. Curses. We feel and experience them all. It is with these images that we approach the gospel of Luke and his account of Jesus’ beatitudes for today. We usually deal with the beatitudes from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5 when we hear Jesus’ sermon on the mount. Luke’s version is slightly different in that it is shorter, and it is delivered on the plains. It is possible that this is the same sermon with Matthew and Luke remembering it or writing it differently. But it is more likely that Jesus gave this sermon more than once and in more than one place. The beatitudes are, after all, the foundation of a Christian’s baptismal life, so is it hard to imagine that Jesus told them over and over again?

 

Luke’s version of the beatitudes is quite a bit more literal than Matthew, less spiritual. In Luke, Jesus declares that the poor, the hungry, the lamenting, the hated, the excluded, and the defamed are to rejoice, for their suffering will be reversed and turned into plenty and joy. By contrast, the rich, the privileged, the prominent, and the comfortable will find themselves outside of the realm of God. On the surface, this passage seems quite controversial. If you are poor, you are blessed and if you are rich, you are cursed? If you’re hungry, crying, hated, reviled, you are blessed? Full, happy, loved – cursed? You can see why this might be seen as controversial.

 

When reading the Gospel, you must consider Jesus’ audience. To whom is he speaking? Sometimes we must guess or do some historic digging to figure it out. But if you back up a little to verse 17, Luke tells us straight-up who the audience is – his disciples and a great multitude of people. In Matthew, Jesus delivers his beatitudes from on top of a hill or mountain. In Luke, he comes down to eye level, to equal ground, with his disciples and gives them his blessings and curses, his owes and woes.

 

Jesus is not saying, as we are often tempted to read into this passage, that to be poor is to be blessed. He is not saying that to be hungry is to be blessed, or weeping, or hated. Jesus is speaking to his disciples who happen to be poor, who happen to be hungry, who happen to be weeping, who happen to be hated. He is speaking to his disciples and helping them to figure out how to feel about being in this situation. He says, in verse 23, to rejoice in that day and to leap for joy. Jesus is telling his disciples that despite the fact that they are poor, hungry, sad, hated, reviled, because they have faith in God, they will be blessed with the rewards of heaven.

 

The reward promised to the first blessing is “yours is the Kingdom of God”. Blessed are you who are poor for yours is the Kingdom of God. What's the counterpart to that? “Woe to you who are rich for you have received your consolation.” Jesus says woe to you who are rich now because that's what you get. In your poverty, you are the beneficiaries of the Kingdom. Jesus is your king, and you are rightful heirs of all that the Kingdom of God is. All that the king can do for you, he is doing for you and for your good, right now, even in the midst of poverty and weeping and slander. So when Jesus says “woe to you who are rich”, he means what is your portion right now? Rich is you wanted, you got it, then in the end, that's it that’s all. You have received your consolation, this is what you get, and that will be the end of it.

 

So what's my point here? The point is not that poverty and hunger and weeping and being hated are the way you become blessed, the means of blessing, the qualification you meet in order to get the blessing. That's not the point here. Jesus is not saying that if you want to be blessed, you better be poor. He is not saying if you want to be blessed, you better not have any food. He is not saying if you want to be blessed, you better be a weeper and not have any joy. He is not saying if you want to be blessed you better get yourself hated.

 

No, the point is many disciples are in fact poor, so how should you think about it? That yours is the Kingdom. Many disciples are in fact hungry, so how should you think about it? That you will someday get the reward of satisfaction. Many disciples are now weeping, and in all kinds of difficulties and pressures and afflictions. So how should you think about it? That day is coming when that's all going to pass, and you will laugh again.

 

And so, the point of this text is not to give us qualifications for how to receive the blessing of God. The point is that Jesus said “you are my disciples and therefore you are blessed. You are following me, and you are trusting me. Therefore, whether you’re poor, whether you're hungry, whether you're weeping, whether you're hated, you are blessed for all these reasons.”

 

By all worldly standards, I am rich, full, and well-spoken of. I have a home, food in the cupboards, and people who care about me and love me. As I have listened to Christ and experienced God’s love for all, I have learned that to be rich while others are poor is to not live in the promise of the kingdom of God. The consolation of self-contained riches is real but very limited, shallow, and fleeting. We all live in the house of God’s love and grace. Our response to the “Woe” should not be paralyzing guilt but receiving the gift of being put on a new path. What a great adventure of grace to discover ways we can live in the promise of sharing God’s abundance and knowing that God is always declaring “Blessed are you.”

 

As I’ve previously said, there is nothing inherently wrong with living in abundance. It’s what we do with that abundance that shows how we are blessed, and how we are living out God’s kingdom today. Our reading today ends with a call to love our enemies, to “do to others as you would have them do to you.” By sharing in our blessedness, we are living out God’s command to love one another, including the radical call to love even our enemies. Today, on All Saints Sunday, we remember those saints across the centuries who have dared to love enemies, even at great personal cost.

 

Today as we remember the saints who have lived and heard the challenge to live like saints, the words of the Apostles’ Creed ring true: we believe “in the communion of the saints.” As the church of Christ, we have a purpose in this world to live for others with Christ-like love. Through God, we have inherited a promise to be reunited with our loved ones in death. As the body of Christ, we are called to seek Christ in everyone we meet. May God help us follow the example of Christ as we strive to live in unity and love through the power of the Spirit. Amen.

Resources

"Feasting on the Word" edited by David L Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor

workingpreacher.org

pulpitfiction.com

A Review of the Book "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" by Barbara Robinson

Title: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Author: Barbara Robinson

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Year: 1972

108 pages

From the Back: The Herdmans are the worst kids in the history of the world. They lie, steal, smoke cigars, swear, and hit little kids. So no one is prepared when this outlaw family invades church one Sunday and decides to take over the annual Christmas pageant.

    None of the Herdmans has ever heard the Christmas story before. Their interpretation of the tale - the Wise Men are a bunch of dirty spies and Herod needs a good beating - has a lot of people up in arms. But it will make this year's pageant the most unusual anyone has seen and, just possibly, the best one ever.

Personal Thoughts: I'm not ashamed to say that sometimes I read children and teen books. There are times when nice, easy reads are required to allow the brain to rest a little. Even better are the books that end up with an amazing lesson within the pages. This little book is about more than just a Christmas pageant. It's about not judging other people, about caring for our neighbours, and about realizing that not everyone has heard the good news of Jesus Christ. In a multicultural and ecumenical world, we ca no longer assume that the majority of the people around us are Christian. Also, if you are going to talk about your faith, you can no longer assume the person in front of you has read a bible. This cute story is a lesson in humilty, and an understanding that if you're going to talk to someone about Jesus, you just might need to start from the beginning. And bring refreshments!

A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 40

Chapter 40 – The Good Eye

 

As we get into the final few weeks of our exploration of the Sermon of the Mount, we begin to delve into some of the more difficult verses. Matthew 6:22-23 talks about eyes and lamps, darkness and light. Quite a curious pair of verses.

 

If your eyes are working properly, they will take in the light of the room and allow you to see. If they aren’t working, you will be in darkness. This same description is used in Luke 11. Timothy Keller links both metaphors to money, materialism, and greed. He declares that “Jesus says … this darkens your eye spiritually.” (p. 254)

 

According to Keller, the darkness comes from not wanting to talk about greed, not wanting to admit that we are quite likely greedy, we just don’t realize it. We compare ourselves to someone richer than us, and there’s probably always someone richer than us, and decide that because rich people exist, we aren’t greedy. But just because someone might be more extravagant than you, doesn’t mean your greed is non-existent. Did you choose your job because of enjoyment or money? Or are you turning a blind eye to the damage your employer is causing to the environment?

 

The darkness of materialism is everywhere in our society. Perhaps it’s time for us to reassess how we spend out money. Even just by focusing on buying Canadian and/or local, we are letting our eyes see the reality of where our money goes after it leaves our hands.

A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 39

Chapter 39 – Lasting Treasures

 

Not only is humanity full of selfishness and greed, but it also seems to be incapable of letting go of things and stuff. It’s as if the accumulation of “stuff” is the most important thing to many people. And the richer you are, the less likely you’re willing to let go of anything, especially money. Basil the Great states, “if everyone took for himself enough to meet his immediate needs and released the rest for those in need of it, there would be no rich and no poor.” (p. 249)

 

I took economics in school, and I still couldn’t tell you what’s happening in today’s economy. Pries are skyrocketing, especially when it comes to food and other necessities. And how about the salaries for professional athletes? Why do they need all of that money? Probably just to buy more stuff. It’s hard to comprehend why the few richest people feel like they need more when so many people have nothing, can’t even buy food to feed their family.

 

And it’s not like you can take it with you when you die. All these earthly treasures that are being accumulate will just be left behind once you’re gone, so why not spread the wealth while you’re around to see the joy on someone else’s face? As Clement of Alexandria says, “In the end it is not the one who keeps, but the one who gives away, who is rich.” (p. 251)

A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 38

Chapter 38 – Deliver Us

 

…but deliver us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:13)

Now that we’ve asked God not to lead us into temptation, or to save us from the time of trial, our next request is to be delivered from evil, or the evil one. But what is this evil, or who is this evil one? Our minds automatically go to Satan. Makes sense that we’d ask God to deliver us from Satan and his evil ways. This feels too simple, though.

Romana Guardini says, “The evil I have to contend with is a distillation from past evil that comes from others or myself.” (p. 240) The evil we come across in our lives is not Satan, but humanity. The selfishness and greediness of God’s creation have done more harm in this world than Satan ever has. Guardini continues, “Wars are not started by the force of nature, but by selfishness everywhere.”

Repeatedly we hear how humanity is destroying the planet, and how if we were to take better care of our resources, there would be enough for everyone. And yet, the world is run by a select few with millions barely able to get their hands on a loaf of bread because “the real evil does not stem from nature, but from the coldness and hardness of selfishness, the negligence of the indolent, the thoughtlessness of the superficial and pleasure-loving.” (p. 240)

The good news is that God can deliver us from this evil, if only we would put our faith into God and follow God’s lead. Jesus has given us the roadmap to deliverance, now it’s up to us to listen.

A Review of the Book "The Fire Sermon" by Francesca Haig

Title: The Fire Sermon

Author: Francesca Haig

Publisher: Gallery Books

Year: 2015

370 pages

From the Back: Four hundred years after a nuclear apocalypse, the Alphas have inherited the earth - or what's left of it. All humans are born in pairs, the deformed Omegas getting split from their flawless twins and exiled to bleak farming villages while the Alphas exploit and oppress them almost unto death. But despite their claims of superiority, the Alphas cannot escape one harsh fact: whenever one twin dies, so does the other.

    Cass is a rare Omega whose mutation is psychic foresight - not that she needs it to know that as her powerful twin, Zach, ascends the ranks of the ruling Alpha Council, she's in grave danger. Zach has a devastating plan for Omega annihilation. Cass has visions of an island where a bloody Omega resistance promises a life of freedom. But her real dream is to discover a middle way, one that would bring together the sundered halves of humanity. And that means both the Council and the resistance have her in their sights.

Personal Thoughts: This was a very entertaining book! The story was engaging, the characters enthralling, and you couldn't help but compare events to what's happening in our society. As with most dystopian science-fiction, the story doesn't fall far from reality. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.

"Anything You Can Do": A Sermon for the 20th Sunday After Pentecost

May only truth be spoken and may only truth be heard. Amen.

 

Sometimes life feels like a giant competition. We are always trying to one-up the other person – better job, bigger house, faster car, cuter child, larger bank account. Social media hasn’t helped one bit. We are constantly in a state of comparison and vying for the most likes and shares. With people posting pictures of their lives, we only ever see the best parts and the good days but none of the struggles or bad days. The perfect family photo – but no sign of how long it took to get everyone ready and looking at the camera. With digital photography, you know right away if you need to keep taking more pictures until you have the perfect one for social media posting. So, when you look at your friends’ Facebook post and see perfect, smiling people, you can’t help but compare your life to theirs and wonder why yours looks so different.

 

Today’s parable also seems like a competition – the Pharisee against the tax collector, each vying for God’s affection. These are two characters that couldn’t be more opposite. The Pharisee was a highly religious man who knew all of the laws that would have needed to be followed in order to be considered properly pious. Based on what we read here, he was a good man. He isn’t a thief or an adulterer. He fasted and he tithed more than what was required. He peeks over and sees the tax collector, off in the corner with his eyes to the ground. The Pharisee prays to God, which is what he was there to do, but he does so in such a way to show people how good of a person he is. “Look at me,” he says, “I’m so glad I’m not a tax collector. Look at all the good things I’ve done.” It’s almost as if rather than giving thanks to God for all that he has in his life, the Pharisee is giving God a run-down of his resume as proof of having earned his position in heaven.

 

And then we have the tax collector. A real scumbag. He harasses his fellow Jewish community for money on behalf of the Roman empire and then skims a little off the top for himself. He’s as dishonest as you can get and cruel to his fellow countrymen. Compared to the Pharisee, a tax collector would never have been considered good or pious. And yet, he also finds himself in temple each week, praying to God with a simple declaration, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”, as his beats his chest while keeping his eyes on the floor. This tax collector knows that he’s a sinner and all he asks is that God forgives him. According to Jesus, this tax collector would have been more justified than the Pharisee. In Paul’s vernacular, this would have been justification by works versus justification by faith.

 

And the justification championship goes to – the tax collector! Hardly seems fair, though, does it? The tax collector who does everything wrong during the week that he possibly could receives God’s justification over the Pharisee who does everything right by the law. There should have been no comparison. But as with social media posts having more behind them than meets the eye, so does the comparison between the Pharisee and the tax collector. God isn’t looking for the one who is perfectly pious. God is looking for the one who is truly penitent. The new standard is no longer the code of the law the Pharisee is following so closely, it’s the love of God on which the tax collector threw himself.

 

The Pharisee is showing off to God and to anyone in earshot, listing off all the ways he is perfectly following the letter of the law which should put him closer to God. The tax collector knows who he is and asks for God’s forgiveness, week in and week out, casting himself onto the mercy of God. And week in and week out, he gets the mercy and forgiveness he seeks. That’s called grace. Robert Farrar Capon tells it this way. The Pharisee is like the perfect church member. He does everything by the book. He gives everything he has to the church. He gives thanks to God for everything that he has (or at least makes it seem like he is). The Pharisee is the perfect candidate for vestry, and any church would be lucky to have him on their parish list. But what about the guy who takes a twenty from the plate as it passes by? The guy who spends Monday through Saturday crossing off every deadly sin as if it were a checklist? The guy who comes in every Sunday morning, staring down at his feet, and saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner?” Probably not the first one you’d ask to join the vestry or any other church committee, for that matter.

 

Between the Pharisee and the tax collector, we can all admit to ourselves who we’d be more likely to welcome through our door. But God does things differently. To God, the Pharisee is no better off than the tax collector. In fact, the Pharisee is worse off because at least the other guy can admit that he is a sinner. According to Capon, “The fact is that they are both equally dead and therefore both alike receivers of the gift of resurrection.”

 

And this is good news for us! How many of us can claim that we had the perfect week? A week where we committed no sin, or error, or mistake? We can’t! The good news is that we can come here every Sunday, give everything we’ve done over to God, admit that we are sinners, and start over. Why? Because Jesus died for our sins on the cross so that we can have eternal life with God alongside the resurrected Jesus.

 

As church people, we aren’t supposed to have it all together. We are human beings who fail daily at perfection. And that’s okay because God doesn’t expect perfection. God’s justification is based on love, faith, and trust, not perfection, pride, or piousness. God expects us to love God, to love ourselves, and to love one another. God expects us to have faith in God’s plans for us. And God expects us to trust that God knows what God is doing.

 

The point of today’s parable is not to see who the best is at praying to God. It’s not about creating competition amongst the people of God to see who deserves the most justification. It’s not about who has scored the most points with God in order to get closer to heaven. God doesn’t keep score of our deeds, good or bad. God doesn’t monitor to make sure you’re praying properly. The point of today’s parable is a lesson in trusting in God’s grace and mercy, for if a tax collector can find mercy before God, then who could possibly be excluded?

 

God’s greatest act of mercy is found in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. All people are drawn into the mystery of redemption through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, at the foot of the cross, we can make the tax collector’s cry for mercy our own: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” In Luke’s Gospel, we see this enacted in the penitent thief who says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus replies, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

 

Amen.

Resources

"New Collegeville Bible Commentary" New Testament" edited by Daniel Durken

"Luke for Everyone" by N T Wright

"Feasting on the Word" edited by David L Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor

"The Parables of Jesus" by Neal F Fisher

"The Parables of Grace" by Robert Farrar Capon

pulpitfiction.com

episcopalchurch.org

Be Persistent for Change: A Sermon for the 19th Week After Pentecost

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O God. Amen.

In the Parable of the Unjust Judge, Jesus selects a widow as the model for discipleship. This widow, as any other widow in Jesus’ time, had no one to intercede for her in the decisions of the judge. The widow, as a woman alone in the first century, was vulnerable to being taken advantage of in any number of ways. She was easy prey to those who would take advantage of her dire financial straits and her physical vulnerability. She was probably up against a wealthy opponent and his bribes, but she was so poor that she had no money by which to bribe the judge for herself.

 

The question of bribery is not out of question for this parable, for this judge was one who had “no fear of God and no respect for anyone.” The person who would have heard these words while listening to Jesus speak would understand that the lack of fear for God naturally entailed lack of respect for human beings, since the two were closely related throughout the Hebrew Bible. A judge in Israel was not only expected to be an unbiased umpire, but a defender for those who had no defender, the champion of the oppressed – the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the foreigner. Because God was the one who cared especially for the victims of persecution, it was necessary for any judge to see that the rights of the powerless were heard.

 

The judge in the story today did not fear God and therefore considered himself under no mandate to be a defender to the defenseless. The widow came to the judge asking him to secure her rights, but the judge refused to act on her behalf. There is no indication of what her cause is, who has wronged her, or what she wants. And no details about the judge’s reluctance to do so. We don't know what the opponent she wants justice from has done to her, but whatever it is, she is not going to stand for it. The woman persisted in her demands for justice.

 

Finally, the judge succumbed to her persistence and said to himself:

“Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone,

yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice,

so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.”

 

The translation that she will “wear him out” has been diluted over time. A more literal translation of the judge's grievance is that the woman "is giving me a black eye." Like all black eyes, the one the widow's complaints threaten to inflict have a double effect, representing both physical and social distress. That is, the judge complains that the widow's relentless badgering may not only cause him physical harm but also risks publicly embarrassing him. For this reason, he says – perhaps justifying his actions to his wounded sense of self – that he relents not because he has changed his mind but simply to shut up this dangerous widow.

 

After the judge grants the woman’s request, Jesus proceeds to put the questions to the hearer: “And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?” Here, Jesus is not holding up the conduct of an unjust judge for commendation. He is saying that if even an unrighteous judge will grant justice out of fear and self-interest, will not God, who is the champion of the poor and the oppressed, grant them the justice that they pray for and seek day and night?

 

The reign of God is vindication of the oppressed. It is glimpsed when the oppressed get justice, even when they have to take it from an unwilling and an unjust judge. It is glimpsed when we see one who is powerless demand and obtain for herself the justice that is hers.

 

Luke’s point with this parable seems to be that we need to be persistent. Where has the persistent widow showed up in your life? Or, maybe better, who has been the persistent widow in your life? Perhaps it was an advocate for 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion, motivated by the love of a gay son, lesbian daughter, or transgender child, pushing for rights in school, government, and church. Perhaps it’s the mother of a child in a wheelchair demanding better accessibility at school. Perhaps it’s people you know on either side of the climate change debate, one passionate about care of creation and the other against the economic cost of proposed climate protections. Perhaps it was you, fighting for something you believe in even if no one else was on your side.

 

Persistence is important when encouraging ourselves and those suffering injustice to continue complaints and demands for justice. Persistence is needed for not only continual demands for justice, but also for change in the systems that are doing the oppressing in the first place. Jesus calls on us to “pray always and not to lose heart,” reminding us that faith is not a passive undertaking. The things we toss and turn with in the night call out for our attention, advocacy, and justice. To fulfill this call, we must be willing to be persistent. We must be willing to bring our prayers to God unceasingly, trusting that our petitions will be heard. God, the Bible has persistently insisted, gives special attention to those who are most vulnerable; therefore, we should persist in our complaints, even to the point of embarrassing the powers that be in order to induce change.

 

But as you fight alongside God for the widow, the orphan, the poor, the foreigner, and anyone else who has been oppressed, remember this one word…Empathy. Empathy for the person on the other side of the conversation. Empathy for the widow or judge or someone in between. Empathy for each other and for ourselves. For while we are fighting to right an injustice, we must remember that we are all human beings who deserve to be respected and who crave the mercy, care, and justice of the God we know in Christ.

 

Amen.

Resources

pulpitfiction.com

workingpreacher.com