I've never liked the name given to the Sunday after Easter, though I get where the name came from. True to form, our Sunday attendance for the Eucharist was down - significantly from Easter and from our ASA. I must have been heard saying more than a few times throughout the day, "If people really got Easter, wouldn't they be in church today too?"
Besides being the Sunday after Easter, it was also the beginning of a week long celebration in Meigs County for National Day of Prayer (NDP). We gathered in front of the county courthouse for the sounding of the shofar, 10 minutes of prayer and the singing of "Amazing Grace."
Talking with Brenda, the minister with primary responsibility for organizing NDP, she said, "My heart is breaking. Attendance has never been this low for this event." FYI, it was a beautiful day so low attendance wasn't because of the weather unless people had decided they had better things to do.
So we talked, both of our hearts breaking for what appeared to be a lack of zeal on the part of God's children on this important day of praise and worship.
Our hearts were also breaking because of my pending departure from Pomeroy. We have enjoyed working in God's vineyard together and we will miss each other when I move. She then said, "Pete (her husband) and I have decided that we will move to whatever place you move to and start a church next to yours." She didn't say this to indicate that she would be opening a competing church, but to say we would love to continue to do ministry with you. The sentiment of her statement was true, even though I don't expect them to move!
Then the bombshell, the breaking forth of God's amazing grace. Her church has a holy habit of contributing to mission beyond the local community. She told me that they were going to consider me their extended mission and that from the time my time at Grace is complete to the time I accept my next call, their church will send me $100/month! My protest was quickly silenced and the miracle of God's blessing washed over me as tears formed in my eyes. Then I had an equally profound realization - my ministry in this place has made an impact! During my time between calls, I will continue to be about ministry and I will hold Restoration Fellowship in my prayers for supporting me in that work.
________________________________
O Lord, lead me and the church I shall next serve in a holy walk of search and discernment until our paths shall cross and we are overcome with the joint realization that we have just been overcome with your goodness and mercy towards us!
Monday, April 28, 2014
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
A Post Resurrection Account
From the look of things, I haven't used this blog in quite awhile! It's now Tuesday in Easter Week and I'm beginning to prepare for my first real search since ordination. My time as the bishop's appointed priest-in-charge at Grace, Pomeroy, Ohio will soon be coming to an end. So I'm thinking it's time to resurrect the blog!
I had hoped to stay at Grace for a few more years to see if some of my dreams could come to fruition, but unfortunately money talks and so does the perceived lack of it. The mission council feels that it is unwise to continue spending down our investments in order to continue to compensate me at a half-time position.
I hope to write about my search process and perhaps that will assist parishes that will come here to read or listen to some of my sermons.
Speaking of which, here is a link to my Easter Sermon preached just two days ago.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwnLlaCynx0lSTRWOVBxT1JqMHM/edit
Just copy and paste the link into your web browser.Then download the wav. file to listen. I'm still trying to find an easier way to do this!
Well here's my first blog entry in a while. Let's see where this leads.
I had hoped to stay at Grace for a few more years to see if some of my dreams could come to fruition, but unfortunately money talks and so does the perceived lack of it. The mission council feels that it is unwise to continue spending down our investments in order to continue to compensate me at a half-time position.
I hope to write about my search process and perhaps that will assist parishes that will come here to read or listen to some of my sermons.
Speaking of which, here is a link to my Easter Sermon preached just two days ago.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwnLlaCynx0lSTRWOVBxT1JqMHM/edit
Just copy and paste the link into your web browser.Then download the wav. file to listen. I'm still trying to find an easier way to do this!
Well here's my first blog entry in a while. Let's see where this leads.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Living in Community - Reflections from my Retreat at Good Earth Farm
For my retreat I chose to live with the Common Friars for a few days at the Good Earth Farm in Athens, Ohio. They are a small community in formation as a religious community here in the Diocese of Southern Ohio. Among other things they grow and distribute healthy organic produce to local food pantries and shelters. They do this with the help of many volunteers from their parish of the Church of the Good Shepherd and the surrounding area.
The country air here is refreshing. It is not a place of putting on airs at all. It is a place of common folk - Common Friars living together, sharing, working, praying and playing together. There is a certain draw here; a sense of the the presence of the Holy. The question arises, could I ever live in a place like this? There are couples and single people living here, so I wouldn't have to revisit the issue of celibacy. Actually, I don't think I would ever revisit that issue. I remain open to the possibility of meeting someone someday.
There are joys and struggles in living together a common life. I've experienced some of that in just the few days I've been here. That is true of every community whether it is of two people or more.
We are drawn to live in community, We are created as social beings. Yet there is also a draw to emphasize the me in the relationship of community. We are called to live in healthy balance of taking care of self and others. I came seeking to reclaim balance in my life and I think I have.
My retreat was not all that I planned it to be, but it was everything God intended it to be!
I look forward to leading the youth mission trip to this holy place in June.
The country air here is refreshing. It is not a place of putting on airs at all. It is a place of common folk - Common Friars living together, sharing, working, praying and playing together. There is a certain draw here; a sense of the the presence of the Holy. The question arises, could I ever live in a place like this? There are couples and single people living here, so I wouldn't have to revisit the issue of celibacy. Actually, I don't think I would ever revisit that issue. I remain open to the possibility of meeting someone someday.
There are joys and struggles in living together a common life. I've experienced some of that in just the few days I've been here. That is true of every community whether it is of two people or more.
We are drawn to live in community, We are created as social beings. Yet there is also a draw to emphasize the me in the relationship of community. We are called to live in healthy balance of taking care of self and others. I came seeking to reclaim balance in my life and I think I have.
My retreat was not all that I planned it to be, but it was everything God intended it to be!
I look forward to leading the youth mission trip to this holy place in June.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Easter Year C - St. Luke's Granville
What did Jesus’ life and death mean? We shall have to wait a few days to see. Those of you who were here for Good Friday services may remember these words with which I closed my sermon. Today, I complete if you will my Holy Triduum Trilogy. Having preached on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, I now preach on Easter. Yes, I know on our calendar it is already the Second Sunday of Easter, but our Gospel lesson from John still comes from the experience of that first Easter night. It is still Easter and just a few days have passed.
It is time to see what meaning Christ’s life and death have for us. We can begin to answer the question because we now can view his life and death from the viewpoint of the resurrection. All we had on Good Friday in the midst of his death were questions. With Easter, we have a way to find some answers.
Most religious people even if they are not Christians would say that Jesus was a great teacher. Many would acknowledge that he was a great healer and miracle worker. As important as those things are, they were but signs pointing to a more important reality; a reality not totally revealed until the events we continue to remember in John’s lesson for today.
Even in Jesus’ time, many would ascribe to him the status of a great teacher and prophet the likes of which there had been others in Israel’s history; Moses, Elijah, and most recently John the Baptist to name but a few. In reality though, Jesus was not a person who could be compared to any other. As much as there were similarities with others, there was something quite unique about Jesus. Jesus’ attempts to explain to his disciples that he would have to die and rise again were never really understood as long as he was among them. Immediately after his death, it would seem that their emotions took over. It was not a time for reason to interpret all that Jesus had taught. Isn’t that often the experience for us when someone close to us dies. In those first days, don’t we largely live in our emotions as varied and as complex as they can be? We largely find peace and meaning in their lives in the ensuing days and months.
John’s Gospel tells us that even after finding the tomb empty, neither Mary, Peter nor John understood the scripture that he must rise from the dead. Each had to first have a personal encounter with the risen Lord. Jesus spoke Mary’s name in the garden and he appeared to the disciples in the upper room that evening saying “Peace be with you.” With these personal encounters, they each believed.
Many give Thomas a bum rap for his refusal to believe unless he too personally encountered this risen Christ. In the end, he only wanted the same experience the others had. It seems inevitable to me that each of the apostles would need this experience so that their testimony would all rest on the same foundation of having encountered the risen Christ.
The real meaning of Christ’s life and death come only in his resurrection. Only now could he be truly known as the way, the truth and the life. Only now could he truly be known as Son of Man and Son of God. Only now could Christ’s sacrifice be known as the means of our reconciliation with God and our way to eternal life.
It is not because of Christ’s teaching that we are here today. It is not because of Christ’s holy life that we are here today. It is not because of Christ’s miracles and healings that we are here today. We are here today because of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. All of the others would long have been forgotten, but for Christ’s resurrection from the dead.
It is the resurrected Christ that says to the disciples that first Easter night: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Christ knew that not everyone would be able to have the same encounter with him that these disciples had. He was sending the disciples out to teach and to proclaim his resurrection as eye witnesses, but not alone. He breathed upon them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” By the Holy Spirit they were empowered to proclaim the Good News of the resurrection and forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. They did this with boldness and power and not even imprisonment or death could stop them.
In our reading from Acts, we encounter the apostles before the same council that had sentenced Jesus to death and it is not their first time there. We pick up the story in mid stream and I discovered that unfortunately we do not hear the earlier portion in any of the lections appointed for Sundays in the three year lectionary cycle according to the Revised Common Lectionary we now use.
Peter and the other apostles were boldly proclaiming the gospel and many were being added to the Lord. The sick and those with unclean spirits were being cured. The high priests had had enough. All of the apostles were arrested and thrown into prison. It would be easy to imagine that the apostles at this point might have been expecting an outcome similar to that of Jesus. Perhaps they were expecting a trial and death the very next day, but that’s not what happened.
Instead we are told that an angel of the Lord opens the prison doors and commands them: “Go stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.” We are no longer dealing with the same bunch of apostles that ran scared after Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. We are talking about the apostles after their encounter with the risen Christ and their receiving of the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine the fear of the high priests when they received the news that these same apostles were free from their imprisonment and were back at the temple teaching on the very next day after their arrest? They were brought back to the same council and instructed once again to stop teaching in Jesus’ name to which Peter and the apostles responded: “We must obey God rather than any human authority.” They were not rearrested, but released. The only hope this council had was that this movement was of human origin and would die out. If indeed it was of God, they realized they would not be able to stop it.
We find ourselves here today because the teaching of the apostles was of God. No attempts in all the 2000+ years since have been able to stop the spread of the Gospel; no persecution, no hardship, not even the death of so many on account of their faith. The spread of the Gospel has not been stopped by apathy, false teachings or scandals that from time to time have entered the Church.
Rather on the basis of the preaching of the Gospel in every generation people have been raised up that have had their own personal encounter with the risen Christ. Not in the same way as did the apostles, but every bit as real. Our generation is no exception.
In our own day, in our own lives, we hear Christ calling us by name, saying to us: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. Receive the Holy Spirit.” In our own days when the challenges to the Gospel are every much as real as in any other age, we are the disciples. The apostles have gone on before us. We are the ones who know the risen Lord. We are the ones called to preach and teach by word and example in the temple, in the streets, in our families; wherever we find ourselves.
We have received the same Spirit that the apostles received. We cannot leave this work to others. We too are members of Christ’s Body. We are his hands and feet and mouth. Prison doors will be flung open for us. What prison do you find yourself in? The door can be opened. We will be challenged and persecuted, but we too will triumph. We are the ones today through whom the Holy Spirit is working to add great numbers to the Lord. Let us say yes to Christ when he calls our name. And if you have doubts like Thomas did, engage them in the midst of the community of believers. It is in the midst of this community that when you encounter the risen Lord you will proclaim as Thomas did, “My Lord and my God.”
In the Spirit, we will boldly say as did the apostles, to any who would stop us from proclaiming the Good News of Christ crucified and risen from the dead:
We must obey God rather than any human authority. 30 The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.
In just a few moments, as we exchange the peace, let us hear for ourselves as did the apostles that first Easter night these words of Jesus that started it all: “Peace be with you.” Let us see in each other the risen Christ.
It is time to see what meaning Christ’s life and death have for us. We can begin to answer the question because we now can view his life and death from the viewpoint of the resurrection. All we had on Good Friday in the midst of his death were questions. With Easter, we have a way to find some answers.
Most religious people even if they are not Christians would say that Jesus was a great teacher. Many would acknowledge that he was a great healer and miracle worker. As important as those things are, they were but signs pointing to a more important reality; a reality not totally revealed until the events we continue to remember in John’s lesson for today.
Even in Jesus’ time, many would ascribe to him the status of a great teacher and prophet the likes of which there had been others in Israel’s history; Moses, Elijah, and most recently John the Baptist to name but a few. In reality though, Jesus was not a person who could be compared to any other. As much as there were similarities with others, there was something quite unique about Jesus. Jesus’ attempts to explain to his disciples that he would have to die and rise again were never really understood as long as he was among them. Immediately after his death, it would seem that their emotions took over. It was not a time for reason to interpret all that Jesus had taught. Isn’t that often the experience for us when someone close to us dies. In those first days, don’t we largely live in our emotions as varied and as complex as they can be? We largely find peace and meaning in their lives in the ensuing days and months.
John’s Gospel tells us that even after finding the tomb empty, neither Mary, Peter nor John understood the scripture that he must rise from the dead. Each had to first have a personal encounter with the risen Lord. Jesus spoke Mary’s name in the garden and he appeared to the disciples in the upper room that evening saying “Peace be with you.” With these personal encounters, they each believed.
Many give Thomas a bum rap for his refusal to believe unless he too personally encountered this risen Christ. In the end, he only wanted the same experience the others had. It seems inevitable to me that each of the apostles would need this experience so that their testimony would all rest on the same foundation of having encountered the risen Christ.
The real meaning of Christ’s life and death come only in his resurrection. Only now could he be truly known as the way, the truth and the life. Only now could he truly be known as Son of Man and Son of God. Only now could Christ’s sacrifice be known as the means of our reconciliation with God and our way to eternal life.
It is not because of Christ’s teaching that we are here today. It is not because of Christ’s holy life that we are here today. It is not because of Christ’s miracles and healings that we are here today. We are here today because of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. All of the others would long have been forgotten, but for Christ’s resurrection from the dead.
It is the resurrected Christ that says to the disciples that first Easter night: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Christ knew that not everyone would be able to have the same encounter with him that these disciples had. He was sending the disciples out to teach and to proclaim his resurrection as eye witnesses, but not alone. He breathed upon them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” By the Holy Spirit they were empowered to proclaim the Good News of the resurrection and forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. They did this with boldness and power and not even imprisonment or death could stop them.
In our reading from Acts, we encounter the apostles before the same council that had sentenced Jesus to death and it is not their first time there. We pick up the story in mid stream and I discovered that unfortunately we do not hear the earlier portion in any of the lections appointed for Sundays in the three year lectionary cycle according to the Revised Common Lectionary we now use.
Peter and the other apostles were boldly proclaiming the gospel and many were being added to the Lord. The sick and those with unclean spirits were being cured. The high priests had had enough. All of the apostles were arrested and thrown into prison. It would be easy to imagine that the apostles at this point might have been expecting an outcome similar to that of Jesus. Perhaps they were expecting a trial and death the very next day, but that’s not what happened.
Instead we are told that an angel of the Lord opens the prison doors and commands them: “Go stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.” We are no longer dealing with the same bunch of apostles that ran scared after Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. We are talking about the apostles after their encounter with the risen Christ and their receiving of the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine the fear of the high priests when they received the news that these same apostles were free from their imprisonment and were back at the temple teaching on the very next day after their arrest? They were brought back to the same council and instructed once again to stop teaching in Jesus’ name to which Peter and the apostles responded: “We must obey God rather than any human authority.” They were not rearrested, but released. The only hope this council had was that this movement was of human origin and would die out. If indeed it was of God, they realized they would not be able to stop it.
We find ourselves here today because the teaching of the apostles was of God. No attempts in all the 2000+ years since have been able to stop the spread of the Gospel; no persecution, no hardship, not even the death of so many on account of their faith. The spread of the Gospel has not been stopped by apathy, false teachings or scandals that from time to time have entered the Church.
Rather on the basis of the preaching of the Gospel in every generation people have been raised up that have had their own personal encounter with the risen Christ. Not in the same way as did the apostles, but every bit as real. Our generation is no exception.
In our own day, in our own lives, we hear Christ calling us by name, saying to us: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. Receive the Holy Spirit.” In our own days when the challenges to the Gospel are every much as real as in any other age, we are the disciples. The apostles have gone on before us. We are the ones who know the risen Lord. We are the ones called to preach and teach by word and example in the temple, in the streets, in our families; wherever we find ourselves.
We have received the same Spirit that the apostles received. We cannot leave this work to others. We too are members of Christ’s Body. We are his hands and feet and mouth. Prison doors will be flung open for us. What prison do you find yourself in? The door can be opened. We will be challenged and persecuted, but we too will triumph. We are the ones today through whom the Holy Spirit is working to add great numbers to the Lord. Let us say yes to Christ when he calls our name. And if you have doubts like Thomas did, engage them in the midst of the community of believers. It is in the midst of this community that when you encounter the risen Lord you will proclaim as Thomas did, “My Lord and my God.”
In the Spirit, we will boldly say as did the apostles, to any who would stop us from proclaiming the Good News of Christ crucified and risen from the dead:
We must obey God rather than any human authority. 30 The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.
In just a few moments, as we exchange the peace, let us hear for ourselves as did the apostles that first Easter night these words of Jesus that started it all: “Peace be with you.” Let us see in each other the risen Christ.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Good Friday Sermon at St. Luke's
Good Friday Year C 04022010 Sermon at St. Luke’s
IS 52:13-53:12, PS 22, HEB 10:16-25, JN 18:1-19:42
Though I don’t remember particular examples, my parents will tell you that my favorite words when I was growing up were “why” and “how come.” It would be impossible to count the number of times they answered those questions.
These days especially when it comes to matters of faith, I don’t personally ask those questions too much anymore. Perhaps I’ve answered most of them or perhaps I’ve found that in many cases there are no satisfactory answers. Still on Good Friday, I like most of you still have to ask the questions. Why did Jesus have to die? Why did Jesus have to die on a cross? Even if we’ve discovered a satisfactory answer for ourselves, we still need to ask these questions as a community on Good Friday in order to fully experience the joy of Easter.
Did Jesus have to die? That question was answered I think when he was born. As human beings, we know from the moment of birth that we shall one day die. Death is a fact of life. Couldn’t Jesus have just been “lifted up” at the end of his life? I don’t think so. Jesus did not come to show us how to escape human life, but rather how to live human life authentically. As mortal beings; humans as it were and not gods, death is a reality of our existence. For Jesus to be truly human, he too was destined on the journey of life that leads to death.
Being born in human likeness, Jesus did not exploit his equality with God to avoid the reality of human life. He humbled himself by becoming one with us in all things, but sin. If Jesus was fully human, but without sin, that means that though we sin, it is not our authentic created nature to sin. Sin entered into our world by choice, not creation.
In the person of Jesus Christ, God has so perfectly intimately, become one with us. God is not our adversary. God is not out to get us. God is in solidarity with us through all that life brings our way, even death. Our fear of God is to be in the sense of reverence, not in the sense of being afraid.
Because of Christ we no longer need to fear death. I often say, “I’m not afraid of death. I’m afraid of dying.” There is a difference. As we read of Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see that even Jesus was afraid of dying, but he did not exercise some divine escape clause from being fully human. He overcome the fear of dying and was obedient even to the point of death.
Every society has held a place of special honor for those who in the process of saving another life lose their own. We hold our fallen first responders in the highest regard. There is something heroic or noble about such people. They give their all for the sake of another.
Jesus’ case is different. His death did not immediately save anyone from death. Quite to the contrary, those early followers of Jesus often became martyrs because of their relationship with Jesus. Jesus’ death saved us not from death, but from the consequences of death. Death would no longer be a permanent separation from God, but the gateway to new life through Christ and an eternal place in God’s presence.
But, did Jesus’ death have to happen the way it did? I think the answer to that question is yes. His way of life was one of speaking truth to power, not exactly a way to endear oneself to those in power. Jesus stood in solidarity with the poor. That did not make the rich his best friends. Jesus sought justice for the oppressed. When you work for justice, those responsible for the injustices in the world are most likely out to get you. Jesus’ life was almost a certain pathway to the type of death he suffered at the hands of the powerful, the rich and the oppressors. Jesus poured out his life for others. His entire life was given in sacrifice for others. In the end, his life was destined to end in sacrifice precisely because of the way he lived sacrificially.
Jesus crucifixion was not so much a matter of being obedient to a God who demanded blood as a sacrifice for sin as it was of being obedient to a God who would pay any cost to show us that God loved us. In the end, God’s people were no more willing to accept this love from Jesus than they were from any of the myriad of other ways God had demonstrated love to them.
It was not God that demanded that Jesus be crucified. It was us. We can point to the particular people calling the shots that fateful day, but we are all responsible. As we repeated time and time again last night in our responses to the readings of Tenebrae: “All we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned, everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” God allowed Jesus who knew no sin to give himself in sacrifice as he became one with us to the point of taking on our sin. In one cosmic moment, the sin of the whole world, of each individual, your sin and mine was received into Jesus.
Jesus’ suffering on the cross was only faintly from that of physical torture. His suffering was rather more from the mental anguish that came in one moment when he experienced the one thing he had not experienced in his human life to this point; the separation from God that is the consequence of sin. In the end, Jesus experienced everything in life and death that all humans experience.
And now the hour has come. We remember Jesus’ death. We cannot immediately celebrate his resurrection. We must first live through the void that existed in between, a time that must have seemed like an eternity, but was only a matter of three days. What did Jesus’ life and death mean? We shall have to wait a few days to see.
IS 52:13-53:12, PS 22, HEB 10:16-25, JN 18:1-19:42
Though I don’t remember particular examples, my parents will tell you that my favorite words when I was growing up were “why” and “how come.” It would be impossible to count the number of times they answered those questions.
These days especially when it comes to matters of faith, I don’t personally ask those questions too much anymore. Perhaps I’ve answered most of them or perhaps I’ve found that in many cases there are no satisfactory answers. Still on Good Friday, I like most of you still have to ask the questions. Why did Jesus have to die? Why did Jesus have to die on a cross? Even if we’ve discovered a satisfactory answer for ourselves, we still need to ask these questions as a community on Good Friday in order to fully experience the joy of Easter.
Did Jesus have to die? That question was answered I think when he was born. As human beings, we know from the moment of birth that we shall one day die. Death is a fact of life. Couldn’t Jesus have just been “lifted up” at the end of his life? I don’t think so. Jesus did not come to show us how to escape human life, but rather how to live human life authentically. As mortal beings; humans as it were and not gods, death is a reality of our existence. For Jesus to be truly human, he too was destined on the journey of life that leads to death.
Being born in human likeness, Jesus did not exploit his equality with God to avoid the reality of human life. He humbled himself by becoming one with us in all things, but sin. If Jesus was fully human, but without sin, that means that though we sin, it is not our authentic created nature to sin. Sin entered into our world by choice, not creation.
In the person of Jesus Christ, God has so perfectly intimately, become one with us. God is not our adversary. God is not out to get us. God is in solidarity with us through all that life brings our way, even death. Our fear of God is to be in the sense of reverence, not in the sense of being afraid.
Because of Christ we no longer need to fear death. I often say, “I’m not afraid of death. I’m afraid of dying.” There is a difference. As we read of Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see that even Jesus was afraid of dying, but he did not exercise some divine escape clause from being fully human. He overcome the fear of dying and was obedient even to the point of death.
Every society has held a place of special honor for those who in the process of saving another life lose their own. We hold our fallen first responders in the highest regard. There is something heroic or noble about such people. They give their all for the sake of another.
Jesus’ case is different. His death did not immediately save anyone from death. Quite to the contrary, those early followers of Jesus often became martyrs because of their relationship with Jesus. Jesus’ death saved us not from death, but from the consequences of death. Death would no longer be a permanent separation from God, but the gateway to new life through Christ and an eternal place in God’s presence.
But, did Jesus’ death have to happen the way it did? I think the answer to that question is yes. His way of life was one of speaking truth to power, not exactly a way to endear oneself to those in power. Jesus stood in solidarity with the poor. That did not make the rich his best friends. Jesus sought justice for the oppressed. When you work for justice, those responsible for the injustices in the world are most likely out to get you. Jesus’ life was almost a certain pathway to the type of death he suffered at the hands of the powerful, the rich and the oppressors. Jesus poured out his life for others. His entire life was given in sacrifice for others. In the end, his life was destined to end in sacrifice precisely because of the way he lived sacrificially.
Jesus crucifixion was not so much a matter of being obedient to a God who demanded blood as a sacrifice for sin as it was of being obedient to a God who would pay any cost to show us that God loved us. In the end, God’s people were no more willing to accept this love from Jesus than they were from any of the myriad of other ways God had demonstrated love to them.
It was not God that demanded that Jesus be crucified. It was us. We can point to the particular people calling the shots that fateful day, but we are all responsible. As we repeated time and time again last night in our responses to the readings of Tenebrae: “All we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned, everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” God allowed Jesus who knew no sin to give himself in sacrifice as he became one with us to the point of taking on our sin. In one cosmic moment, the sin of the whole world, of each individual, your sin and mine was received into Jesus.
Jesus’ suffering on the cross was only faintly from that of physical torture. His suffering was rather more from the mental anguish that came in one moment when he experienced the one thing he had not experienced in his human life to this point; the separation from God that is the consequence of sin. In the end, Jesus experienced everything in life and death that all humans experience.
And now the hour has come. We remember Jesus’ death. We cannot immediately celebrate his resurrection. We must first live through the void that existed in between, a time that must have seemed like an eternity, but was only a matter of three days. What did Jesus’ life and death mean? We shall have to wait a few days to see.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Maundy Thursday Sermon
Maundy Thursday Year C 04012010 St. Luke’s
EX 12:1-4, 10-14 PS 116:1, 10-17 1 COR 11:23-26 LK 22:14-30
How many times have you heard these words of wisdom: “Don’t believe everything you read." Well this can be especially true if you read it on the Internet! It’s truer still if you read it on April 1st, April Fool’s Day. Whether you’re the really cautious type or the very gullible type, we’ve all been the brunt of a good April Fool’s joke. Today, I was greeted by a Facebook friend who had posted a link to a blog by someone sharing the “news” that Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had changed some of his positions concerning the proposed Anglican Covenant. By the time I checked out the blog and read the post, the blogger was already responding to comments left by other readers admitting that it was indeed a hoax, an April Fool’s joke. Sometimes, things are not always what they seem to be or what they say they are.
Tonight, we celebrate the institution of the Lord’s Supper which grew out of the great Jewish feast of the Passover. Each year, the Passover is celebrated to remember the mighty work of God in freeing the Israelites from their bondage of slavery in Egypt. We are now in the midst of the great Easter Triduum in which we remember the mighty work of God in freeing us from the bondage of sin through our Lord Jesus Christ.
This night some 2000 years ago, the disciples heard these words for the first time: “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” Whether any individual disciple was quick to believe or was skeptical, I doubt any of them had a good idea of what this meant and probably weren’t even asking the question yet of how this could be, but because they were spoken by Jesus himself, they certainly didn’t mistake them for an April Fool’s joke.
The early Church in following Christ’s command, “Do this in remembrance of me,” celebrated the Lord’s Supper proclaiming the death and resurrection of Christ as they awaited his coming again. They discovered in this bread and wine, taken, blessed and shared; food for their journey of faith. In the midst of their joy and trials, they were strengthened for the journey. They discovered in their sharing of the meal the presence of the risen Christ and their oneness in that same Body of which they were all constituent members. It was this experience of Christ in the midst of the meal that made the Eucharist the central act of Christian worship.
The Eucharist became the central act of Christian worship through the Church’s experience of the Eucharist not because of a theological thesis that explained the Eucharist. As things go, theological statements about the Eucharistic can be helpful or problematic.
We human beings are want to explain things; what a thing is, where it comes from, how it operates, how it affects us. The advancement of our race has been dependent on this drive to discover and understand. This same drive deepens our faith; makes it our own. We Christians have a better understanding of who God is because God became one like us in Jesus Christ. In the end, however we can’t know God completely. We must be content to live with the mystery that ultimately God is beyond human understanding.
So we return to our weekly celebration of the Eucharist. In our doing as the Lord did and speaking as the Lord spoke, we experience the Lord in our midst just as the early Church did.
Humans are beings who must continually remember and be fed. Jesus knew this intimately well being born of human estate. He continually read the scriptures and ate with his disciples. In his institution of the Lord’s Supper, he established a perpetual meal in which we recall his death and resurrection and partake of the Word himself. In partaking of the one bread and the one cup, we become one with Christ and with each other.
All of this is neither conferred upon us by magic or by force. It is given freely in love and must be freely received in love. Any true encounter with Christ must be one of love.
Can any of us really explain our relationships of love? In the end, aren’t we left with some degree of awesome mystery? When the mystery ends or we no longer engage in the mystery of our relationships isn’t that when they grow old and bereft of life? Only when we reengage the mystery of relationship, start dating again do we rediscover the life and love that we knew before and then even more. Tonight, we are called to reengage with the Mystery of God’s love for us made known to us in Christ; in the breaking of bread and in the cup.
Immediately after the Lord’s Supper, Judas betrayed Jesus and the other disciples began arguing among themselves who was the greatest. Jesus turns upside down the notion that the greatest is one who is served. He asks his disciples, “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.” Jesus demonstrates to us what it is to be great.
Those downstairs that will soon be joining us for the Eucharist are experiencing the servanthood of Christ in the Washing of Feet. In order to truly understand the greatness that comes from servanthood, we must be willing to be served and also to serve. Just as Jesus was willing to allow Mary to wash his feet with costly perfume, so was he also willing to wash the feet of his disciples. Jesus calls us to follow his example to serve and to be served if we are truly to be considered great.
Like the disciples at that first Eucharist, we don’t always get it. Sometimes we approach the table with little sense of the mystery of which we are about to partake. Sometimes we leave the table and immediately resume our disputes among one another and with our neighbors. We are called to something more. Listen again to the words we say at communion.
We begin the distribution of communion with the proclamation: “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us;” to which we all respond: “Therefore let us keep the feast.”
We are then invited to receive what we have just proclaimed to be true: “The Gifts of God for the People of God. Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.”
When we receive the Body of Christ, the bread of heaven and the Blood of Christ, the cup of salvation we assent to this mystery when we respond, “Amen.” “I believe.”
As our words proclaim the mystery we receive, may our bodies dance to the rhythm of those words. From our procession to the communion rail, to our receiving of the precious Body and Blood, to the raising of our voices in prayer after communion, let our bodies move both in reverence and intimacy to our relationship with the crucified and risen One and with each other. May our regular participation in this mystery bring us ever closer to Christ and to each other. May it keep us ever before the cross and in the presence of the risen Christ that we may faithfully “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord!”
EX 12:1-4, 10-14 PS 116:1, 10-17 1 COR 11:23-26 LK 22:14-30
How many times have you heard these words of wisdom: “Don’t believe everything you read." Well this can be especially true if you read it on the Internet! It’s truer still if you read it on April 1st, April Fool’s Day. Whether you’re the really cautious type or the very gullible type, we’ve all been the brunt of a good April Fool’s joke. Today, I was greeted by a Facebook friend who had posted a link to a blog by someone sharing the “news” that Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had changed some of his positions concerning the proposed Anglican Covenant. By the time I checked out the blog and read the post, the blogger was already responding to comments left by other readers admitting that it was indeed a hoax, an April Fool’s joke. Sometimes, things are not always what they seem to be or what they say they are.
Tonight, we celebrate the institution of the Lord’s Supper which grew out of the great Jewish feast of the Passover. Each year, the Passover is celebrated to remember the mighty work of God in freeing the Israelites from their bondage of slavery in Egypt. We are now in the midst of the great Easter Triduum in which we remember the mighty work of God in freeing us from the bondage of sin through our Lord Jesus Christ.
This night some 2000 years ago, the disciples heard these words for the first time: “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” Whether any individual disciple was quick to believe or was skeptical, I doubt any of them had a good idea of what this meant and probably weren’t even asking the question yet of how this could be, but because they were spoken by Jesus himself, they certainly didn’t mistake them for an April Fool’s joke.
The early Church in following Christ’s command, “Do this in remembrance of me,” celebrated the Lord’s Supper proclaiming the death and resurrection of Christ as they awaited his coming again. They discovered in this bread and wine, taken, blessed and shared; food for their journey of faith. In the midst of their joy and trials, they were strengthened for the journey. They discovered in their sharing of the meal the presence of the risen Christ and their oneness in that same Body of which they were all constituent members. It was this experience of Christ in the midst of the meal that made the Eucharist the central act of Christian worship.
The Eucharist became the central act of Christian worship through the Church’s experience of the Eucharist not because of a theological thesis that explained the Eucharist. As things go, theological statements about the Eucharistic can be helpful or problematic.
We human beings are want to explain things; what a thing is, where it comes from, how it operates, how it affects us. The advancement of our race has been dependent on this drive to discover and understand. This same drive deepens our faith; makes it our own. We Christians have a better understanding of who God is because God became one like us in Jesus Christ. In the end, however we can’t know God completely. We must be content to live with the mystery that ultimately God is beyond human understanding.
So we return to our weekly celebration of the Eucharist. In our doing as the Lord did and speaking as the Lord spoke, we experience the Lord in our midst just as the early Church did.
Humans are beings who must continually remember and be fed. Jesus knew this intimately well being born of human estate. He continually read the scriptures and ate with his disciples. In his institution of the Lord’s Supper, he established a perpetual meal in which we recall his death and resurrection and partake of the Word himself. In partaking of the one bread and the one cup, we become one with Christ and with each other.
All of this is neither conferred upon us by magic or by force. It is given freely in love and must be freely received in love. Any true encounter with Christ must be one of love.
Can any of us really explain our relationships of love? In the end, aren’t we left with some degree of awesome mystery? When the mystery ends or we no longer engage in the mystery of our relationships isn’t that when they grow old and bereft of life? Only when we reengage the mystery of relationship, start dating again do we rediscover the life and love that we knew before and then even more. Tonight, we are called to reengage with the Mystery of God’s love for us made known to us in Christ; in the breaking of bread and in the cup.
Immediately after the Lord’s Supper, Judas betrayed Jesus and the other disciples began arguing among themselves who was the greatest. Jesus turns upside down the notion that the greatest is one who is served. He asks his disciples, “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.” Jesus demonstrates to us what it is to be great.
Those downstairs that will soon be joining us for the Eucharist are experiencing the servanthood of Christ in the Washing of Feet. In order to truly understand the greatness that comes from servanthood, we must be willing to be served and also to serve. Just as Jesus was willing to allow Mary to wash his feet with costly perfume, so was he also willing to wash the feet of his disciples. Jesus calls us to follow his example to serve and to be served if we are truly to be considered great.
Like the disciples at that first Eucharist, we don’t always get it. Sometimes we approach the table with little sense of the mystery of which we are about to partake. Sometimes we leave the table and immediately resume our disputes among one another and with our neighbors. We are called to something more. Listen again to the words we say at communion.
We begin the distribution of communion with the proclamation: “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us;” to which we all respond: “Therefore let us keep the feast.”
We are then invited to receive what we have just proclaimed to be true: “The Gifts of God for the People of God. Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.”
When we receive the Body of Christ, the bread of heaven and the Blood of Christ, the cup of salvation we assent to this mystery when we respond, “Amen.” “I believe.”
As our words proclaim the mystery we receive, may our bodies dance to the rhythm of those words. From our procession to the communion rail, to our receiving of the precious Body and Blood, to the raising of our voices in prayer after communion, let our bodies move both in reverence and intimacy to our relationship with the crucified and risen One and with each other. May our regular participation in this mystery bring us ever closer to Christ and to each other. May it keep us ever before the cross and in the presence of the risen Christ that we may faithfully “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord!”
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Relationship Consideration in Decision Making
The word "relationship" surfaces everytime I talk about my ministry. That's not surprising. After all the Catechism in the Book of Common Prayer explains that the mission of the Church is "to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ."
As Wendano Ministries evolves, it is important that is does so in relational ways: Americans to Africans, Anglicans to Anglicans, Christian to Christian, Christian to non-Christian, Wendano resident to fellow Wendano resident, supporter to supporter, Wendano resident to supporter, Wendano Ministries to other ministries. You get the idea. It has to be much more than just collecting money and disbursing it for "good causes."
Each heart must be changed, moved, filled with the love of Christ. The gospel must be the motivating force for all we do. We must be changed by the relationships we enter through this ministry. This we is a total we. The Wendano children are participants in this ministry as well. So if you're planning to get involved, be ready to be changed.
Now I started with all of that to get to the inspiration I had earlier today about decision making. What if before we made a decision we actually thought about how those decisions would affect our relationships; those with the people closest to us, those related to us on a global scale and all those in between. It's not a novel idea, but I suspect thinking about relational ramifications would change some of our intitial thoughts about what we wanted to do.
This is an idea not just for individuals, but for groups, communities, etc. How would our churches be different if vestries used this type of approach to decision making. Someday when I'm a rector, I'd like to try it out with my vestry. I'm recording this idea in my blog in case my memory grows faint in the intervening years!
If you try it out, let me know what difference it makes.
As Wendano Ministries evolves, it is important that is does so in relational ways: Americans to Africans, Anglicans to Anglicans, Christian to Christian, Christian to non-Christian, Wendano resident to fellow Wendano resident, supporter to supporter, Wendano resident to supporter, Wendano Ministries to other ministries. You get the idea. It has to be much more than just collecting money and disbursing it for "good causes."
Each heart must be changed, moved, filled with the love of Christ. The gospel must be the motivating force for all we do. We must be changed by the relationships we enter through this ministry. This we is a total we. The Wendano children are participants in this ministry as well. So if you're planning to get involved, be ready to be changed.
Now I started with all of that to get to the inspiration I had earlier today about decision making. What if before we made a decision we actually thought about how those decisions would affect our relationships; those with the people closest to us, those related to us on a global scale and all those in between. It's not a novel idea, but I suspect thinking about relational ramifications would change some of our intitial thoughts about what we wanted to do.
This is an idea not just for individuals, but for groups, communities, etc. How would our churches be different if vestries used this type of approach to decision making. Someday when I'm a rector, I'd like to try it out with my vestry. I'm recording this idea in my blog in case my memory grows faint in the intervening years!
If you try it out, let me know what difference it makes.
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