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The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
There is a sign on Hwy 321 between Boone and Blowing Rock that says: Jesus answers “knee mail,”
Well, that is certainly kind of cute and probably true.
People often complain that God doesn’t answer prayer.
I say God does, but we don’t always get the answer we want.
You are wondering why I am talking about prayer?
Listen to this verse from today’s gospel: “In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place and there he prayed.”
With all that is going on in our lessons for today, for some reason, this sentence stands out and speaks to me.
“In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place and there he prayed.”
“…he got up and went out to a deserted place and there he prayed.”
Prayer.
We talk about it a lot. We say, “I’ll pray for you…” What we really say is: “I’ll be thinking about you…”
We all know that means, “I’ll be praying for you.” We are just worried that we might sound a little too religious so – “We’ll be thinking about you.”
We may often be too timid about prayer. I remember a clergy conference several years ago when Jack Spong, now retired Bishop of Newark was speaking to the clergy of the Diocese of North Carolina.
Jack said, “Don’t say to somebody: ‘Let me say a little prayer for you.’ Little prayer? Say a big prayer!”
You see, despite all his controversial, and some believe heretical, statements, Spong has a deep and abiding faith and believes in the power of prayer.
Prayer
The Catechism – also known as An Outline of the Faith (page 845 in the Book of Common Prayer) says that “Prayer is responding to God, by thought and by deeds, with or without words.” (BCP 846)
Did you hear that: “…with or without words.”
Sounds to me like a lot of what we do could be prayer – and we didn’t even know it.
“Wait, do you mean driving a nail while working on a Towel Ministry project could be prayer?
Youbetcha! If it is responding to God, it is prayer.
Well, how do we know that? (Responding to God)
That is called a leap of faith – maybe you just thought you were responding to someone asking you to help out and God wasn’t in the picture.
That could be – but then where is there a picture that doesn’t have God in it?
Think about this for a moment. Anywhere, anytime that love is practiced --- love – giving of oneself --- anytime that happens, God is there.
What? Why? ---- God is love.
Stop trying to figure that out – trust it. God is love!
Prayer is essential to all that we do and you may pray more than you thought you did.
Now if you want to get technical, there are several principle kinds of prayer:
Adoration – I am reminded of the praise and renewal song ‘Father we adore you, lay our lives before you – how we love you.”
Adoration is lifting up the heart and mind to God, asking nothing but to enjoy God’s presence.
Praise and Adoration often seem to work together – it also seems that music is particularly good at helping us in offering this kind of prayer – hymns like ‘Immortal, invisible God only wise, In light inaccessible, hid from our eyes …”
Often you will find several kinds of prayer within the text of a single prayer.
Of the many types of prayer and sources of prayer –no doubt the best known is the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples
“Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.”
(notice all of this is praise and adoration)
“Give us this today our daily bread.” (petition)
“Forgive us our sins,
As we forgive those
Who sin against us.” ((penitence - restitution and amendment of life)
“Save us from the time of trail,
And deliver us from evil.” (petition and intercession)
“For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours,
Now and for ever.” (Praise, adoration)
Yes, I intentionally used the contemporary version and yes, I know that causes some heartburn.
Why must we tamper with these age old texts, the ones that have given us so much comfort?
First of all we need to realize that there is a danger in holding on to something because of its particular language or form - particularly if the meaning is the same.
You could say that some of these older expressions give us comfort --- like the little blanket we insisted on taking with us everywhere when we were very young. We loved that blanket and we still do, though now if we are chilled we don’t go to the cedar chest and get ‘blankie’ out – we get out our newer adult sized cover or duvet.
Ok not the best analogy – But you get the point.
Does “Jesus doth die for thou sins.” Strike you as more authentic than, “Jesus died for your sins.”?
What I am talking about is becoming aware of ‘intent and content’ over packaging in your prayers.
But that diverts me from what I really am most interested in and that is our prayer life.
Some years ago, my friend and co-worker (Jack,) was dating a woman (Mary) – they had both been divorced and she had two children. They had met in the program of Narcotics Anonymous – NA. So they were both in recovery and (Mary) used to bring her children with her to meetings. Well, they decided to get married.
(Jack) was a lapsed Roman Catholic, and he and (Mary) decided to get married in the church, so (Mary) and her children started attending mass with (Jack).
The first time they went everyone was enjoying the service and it came time in the service when everyone joined in saying “Our Father who art in heaven… (Mary’s) young son ca. 7 years – tugged at (Mary’s) hand and said, “Mom, they know the NA prayer!”
You see many meetings of AA and NA, Al-Anon, etc. will say the Lord’s prayer at the end of their meeting. Certainly not all do this – some say the Serenity Prayer – some might have no prayer --- you see each group is autonomous – they decide how to conduct their meetings.
Question: Is the prayer efficacious if it is used outside the church by people who are not necessarily professed to be Christians?
My opinion – youbetcha!
“…he got up and went out to a deserted place and there he prayed.”
In the gospel this morning Jesus is praying – the text doesn’t tell us what he is praying – what kind of prayer it is.
We do know that he had a very busy night just before this dark morning – he had healed many people and it says “…the whole city was gathered around the door.”
So his friends were searching for him and when they found him at prayer -- they said, “Come on, a lot of people are asking for you.”
Jesus was popular in that town – he probably could have had the call as rabbi in charge at Capernaum. But his response to those who were encouraging him to build on the good beginning he had made the night before was not what they wanted to hear.
He was not interested on building on the success of his Capernaum healing service. Rather, he says, “We must go now and give the message in other towns and places.”
How could a person turn his back on an obviously attractive opportunity such as that in Capernaum?
I think the answer is found in this sentence: “In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place and there he prayed.”
Somehow he sensed during that prayer time that he must be about more than being a popular healer and teacher – he had bigger work to do.
SO WHAT?
So prayer worked for him – it has worked for me --- maybe it has worked for you. But just in case you need encouragement or you are skeptical about prayer, here is the other part of today’s so what.
I’ll give you three options:
And if that is just too much for you to handle, then just pray this:
Or if you need the help of a book or structure:
You can, if you like, do any of these suggestions on your knees, I read once that God answers, ‘Knee Mail.’
The Last Sunday after the Epiphany
The mountains are used in scripture as places of symbolic closeness to God – mountains are places of Divine revelation. ( Synthesis , Feb. 19, 2012) Well, we have just heard about a theophany on a mountain top. Theophany - now that is a “ten dollar church word” if I ever heard one. Theophany: The appearance of a god in visible form to a human being. This week I received an invitation to a workshop – an e-invitation from the Clergy Leadership Institute. The lead article was titled ‘Transfiguration and Agents of Transformation.’ Rob Vovle, writing for the Clergy Leadership Institute says that “Theophanies typically begin with some experience that evokes great fear and then confusion.” That certainly seems to be true in our gospel from Mark. Today we find Jesus on the mountain top and he is transfigured from the familiar friend and teacher that Peter, James and John have been following, listening to and learning from, and he becomes, in appearance – dazzling white – awesome, other-worldly. Jesus, on the mountain with his friends, is transfigured before their very eyes and they become aware of Jesus in a new way. In this event Jesus is revealed as God’s son, and He is shown (by the presence of Moses and Elijah) as the culmination of the law (represented by Moses) and the prophets (represented by the first among the prophets, Elijah.) The scene is awe inspiring, the disciples are confused and terrified --- they don’t know what to do – Peter wants to commemorate the occasion with building three structures. Which may seem silly to us, but it was a “don’t just stand there – do something” response. Of course the climax comes when the cloud descends and all hear the voice from God saying, “This is my son, the Beloved; listen to him!” You may recall that this is what was heard at the Baptism of Jesus which occurs on the first Sunday after the Epiphany. It is as if we begin and end this phase of the church year with, “This is my son, the Beloved; listen to him.” After the ‘mountain top experience’ Jesus and his friends begin their descent and while walking down the mountain, Jesus tells his friends to tell no one what has happened until after the resurrection. The disciples are clueless (who wouldn’t be?) One of the things of which we must be aware is that this is a transitional event in Mark’s gospel. Mark is moving from Jesus’ initial success as a healer and proclaim(er) of God’s Kingdom to the beginning of his journey to Jerusalem and his Passion. We will find that from this point on that Jesus begins to have more and more conflict with the religious leaders and those who are the keepers of the status quo. If we read in Mark what happens to Jesus following the events we call the transfiguration, we find that he immediately comes upon a man who begs for Jesus to heal his son. The boy is suffering from convulsions and seizures. Jesus rebukes the causes of the boy’s illness and restores him to health. A little later, settling a dispute among his disciples, Jesus takes a little child to his side and says, “Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me, welcomes the One who sent me -- for the least among you is the greatest.” Then someone says,” Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he does not follow with us.” Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him for whoever is not going against you is for you.” It seems that these challenges are coming at him is a fast and furious pace. In each of these encounters there is an implicit directive: “This is my Son…listen to Him.” The question for us today is -- can we allow Jesus to transfigure us this morning? Can we allow Jesus to become something far more than just someone we give perfunctory allegiance to on a Sunday morning? “This is my Son…listen to Him.” Can we allow Jesus into our lives in such a way that we wake up every day and say, “Lord, help me listen to you this day”? Can we follow Jesus’ example of meeting the man as he comes down off the mountain? “This is my Son…listen to Him.” Can we listen to him when he says, “...whoever welcomes a little child welcomes me?” … Whoever welcomes the weak and vulnerable in any way, welcomes Jesus. “This is my Son…listen to Him.” Can we listen to Jesus when he says, “The least among you shall be the greatest?” “Years ago there was a well known Episcopal evangelist, Gert Behanna, who, though raised in an affluent atmosphere, battled alcoholism and agnosticism for much of her life. But when she was converted, she became a tremendous witness for Christ. A friend met her after her conversion, and was shocked by the new Gert. She said, ‘My God, Gert, what has happened to you?’ Gert replied, ‘My God has happened to me!’” (Anglican Digest, Lent 2003, page 31f) Jesus transfigured Gert. Her life changed forever and it was easy for people to see. That happens when we take the direction of God seriously: “This is my Son…listen to him.” Like the mountains in the transfiguration gospel, this church exists amid the mountains. It has been here in one form or another since 1842. It is undergoing a transformation in 2012 --- is it being transfigured? Will it continue to be one of the prettiest churches in Northwest North Carolina? You bet. Will it be transfigured? That will depend. “This is my Son…listen to Him.” If we follow Jesus’ example of ministry --- if we listen to him as God commands in the transfiguration story --- Jesus will shape our ministries. We will not simply be self satisfied as being know as the “Church that helps people.” We will not be content with the heritage of our old beautiful buildings and traditions. We will instead realize that Jesus never stands still and that as the world changes, the church must change also. In the words of Rob Vovle, quoted earlier, “Do we fearfully cling to the Jesus we used to know or do we look for the Jesus who is always going out ahead of us and stretching the reach of our understanding? Jesus will not stay on the mountain top of our understanding, but continually will be seeking the lost and the lonely and confronting the principalities and powers of our day.” My guess is that if we truly seek to listen to Jesus and continually ask to be a meaningful presence for Christ in the changing world in which we live, we will eventually hear: “My God what has happened to Holy Cross?” And may you reply, “My God is what has happened to Holy Cross.” May the transfigured Christ be alive in your heart today, may you, through your worship and your prayer life, through your attempts to walk with him, be able to listen and hear him. May we be open to the transfiguring power of God in this community in order to be present for Christ and a beacon of hope and healing in these mountains. And may we emulate Christ by never settling for the status quo. The mountains are used in scripture as places of symbolic closeness to God – mountains are places of Divine revelation. ( Synthesis , Feb. 19, 2012) May that be profoundly true at the Church of the Holy Cross, Valle Crucis. Amen.
The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Good morning and welcome to church. Or as you will hear later, Welcome to worship, Jesus style. Lots of folks tell me that they come to church to escape from the rigors of the work week. Folks say that they come to try and achieve some peace and quiet. Folks like to come and see each other, catch up on the news and at this parish -- they often come to eat. Some say that coming to church is helpful in getting away from the Rat Race. Well, do you know what Lily Tomlin says about that: “The problem with winning at the rat race is that, even if you win you are still a rat.” I’ll have to say that in my experience church is usually a pretty tame place to be. For the most part it meets the expectations of those who are seeking shelter from the frenzy of work and other things in life that can be intensely bothersome: money, relationships, family… Like I say church is a pretty tame place to be. We pretty much like it that way. Aside from the occasional falling flower pot or fainting acolyte, church is predictable. We did have occasion at St. Paul’s during our very fully packed 9:00 service to have EMTs come in and take a parishioner out on a stretcher (They were slain in the spirit otherwise known as low blood sugar.) Then there was the time at the Easter Vigil when Father Fred put the new flame of Easter – for lighting the Paschal Candle – under the smoke detector. The system was hard wired into the Winston-Salem Fire Department. This resulted in our having firemen in full regalia, axes in hand, wandering around through the church while the lessons were being read and the hymns were being sung. I don’t think they stayed for the sermon. Now let’s compare our experience in church with the gospel this morning. United Methodist Bishop and former Dean of Duke Chapel William Willimon in his book, Pulpit Resource says “Welcome to worship, Jesus style.” How many of you remember the film, The Exorcist? Well today we have an exorcist at work. And this exorcism did not occur in the bedroom of someone’s home or in a hospital psych ward – nope this one occurs in a church/synagogue. Picture this: Jesus is the brand new kid on the block in the synagogue at Capernaum – the text says that folks were amazed at his teaching. Jesus is launching his ministry – it is the beginning of the Jesus campaign. The people are amazed because Jesus teaches on his own authority – he is his own resource – he isn’t using Commentaries, he isn’t quoting other learned rabbis (or Methodist Bishops) – he is his own resource and he astounds his listeners. Put yourself in this situation. Can you imagine it’s your first class, your first sermon, your first presentation, your first public appearance --- things are going well and all of a sudden some guy starts yelling out and convulsing?
In Jesus’ case it was, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” Jesus is apparently cool as a cucumber. He simply says, “Be silent and come out of him!” And the spirit does – it or they depart in a loud convulsing exit. Now those who were impressed with Jesus’ teaching are even more impressed, they say, “He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him!” Several things are worthy of note here. The first is that the spirits recognize Jesus for who he is when others are not seeing it. The second is that Mark, the writer, never bothers to tell us what it was that Jesus was teaching. He obviously sees the action, representing Jesus’ power as more important than any message Jesus may have been imparting. It is the power and action of Jesus which sets him apart. As Willimon says, “Welcome to worship, Jesus style.” I said earlier, “Church is a pretty tame place, isn’t it?” We pretty much know what to expect and we like it that way. We would be pretty upset if someone shouted out in the middle of the sermon or in the middle of the Eucharist – it would be disquieting. Hey, I would be upset. But let’s take another look at our worship experience. Maybe it isn’t always as docile and uneventful as I have described. You come to church seeking peace and quiet. You would like a predictable experience and:
I know that things like that can be bothersome and upsetting. I also know that preachers preach what they feel they are called to preach even if it is upsetting. Now this is as opposed to Jesus – who is his own resource – Jesus doesn’t have to use the Commentaries – the preacher – your preacher must risk the possibility that he/she might just be dead wrong --- in a sense they – your preachers are more vulnerable. He/she must take risks rather than having certainty. Thank God, Episcopalians, for the most part are pretty accepting of this type of ambiguity and risk taking. (– for the most part…) I also know that liturgy and music which become comfortable can be very dangerous, dust gathering icons of a past never to be seen again. The seven last words of the church, “We’ve always done it that way before!” can be the most death dealing, creativity stifling, new member off-putting words ever uttered. You can come to church and get irritated or even upset. The church might not meet your expectations of quiet solitude or even joyous worship. It is not unusual to hear. “I come to church to feel better – if I don’t feel better, church isn’t doing for me what I need – why should I come? Let me tell you the problem with that. It puts your encounter with God and your relationship with your brothers and sisters in the community of faith in a hostage situation to your emotions. If I feel good, God is there. If I feel good, church is good. The risk is God becoming a product of your emotions. Of course there is also that train of thought that the role of the church is to “Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” It is also a fallacy to exclude the possibility of God’s presence in our negative emotions – pain, anger, sadness. --- We cannot limit God! Let me just make a brief case for coming to worship with the expectation of being surprised – or coming with an open mind and receptive spirit. Here is why I think that is a good idea. That same power we heard about in the gospel this morning is still present in our world and is possible in our worship. That power to confront sickness, death and insanity is possible and can be present. I remember a few years ago when we were in Nashville, Tenn. visiting our friends George and Tinky Hamilton. George suggested that we might want to go to the “Cowboy Church” on Sunday morning before our flight out later that day. Well, we went. The Cowboy Church at that time was located in a strip mall not too far from the Grand Ole Opry. It was started by (I believe Johnny Cash’s sister and her husband.) It was, I can safely say, the most non-Episcopal-like service I have ever attended. The men --- musicians wore ten gallon hats that they held over their hearts during the prayers. We of course sang a number of old timey hymns and had a little scripture read --- I don’t remember what it was. They took up a collection and it was announced that you could use your credit card to donate to the Cowboy Church – since our card at the time was a US Air Visa card – it gave a whole new meaning to “I’ll Fly Away.” We were participating in this very different service, but really to be honest, I was mostly a spectator, rather amused and yes, maybe more than a little judgmental. It was an ‘experience’, not worship. Then a woman started singing a song – I can’t remember now the exact content, but it was generally about God’s being there for us -- even when we weren’t there for God. It lasted a while, and I must say that the entire mood and feeling in that place radically changed. (The mood and the feeling in me changed as well – I didn’t mean for that to happen.) It was profound. It was so profound that the minister who was to preach simply said, “I believe that we have been given the message God wants us to have this morning and there is nothing I can add.” There was indeed a power and a spirit that had not existed before that woman sang. Some, and I would be among them would say, “It was the spirit and the power of Jesus.” Mark doesn’t bother to tell us what Jesus taught in the synagogue at Capernaum, he just tells us of the power of the teacher. We are told that where two or three gather he is present. The power of the teacher is still here. “Welcome to worship, Jesus style.” Amen
The Third Sunday after the Epiphany
“The time is fulfilled – the kingdom of God has come near – repent and believe the good news.” So says Jesus in our gospel this morning.
As I was preparing this sermon today, one of my resources said,
“All the readings for this Sunday remind the preacher and the church that with the Epiphany of God there comes a radical shift in values and life outcomes. Life does not continue the same.” ( Preaching Through the Christian Year , Craddock, et. al p. 83ff)
That is certainly true in the gospel as we see Jesus in a hurry to recruit his followers and begin his ministry. It is true for Paul as he tells the Corinthians that the time is running out – no need to make big changes. And we even see this radical shift in values and outcomes in our lesson from the Hebrew Bible – Jonah.
Let’s first look at Jonah.
In this morning’s reading we only get a small part of a much richer and interesting story. This is the only time we read from Jonah in this liturgical year. (We are in year B of the three year, A, B, C cycle of the Sunday lectionary.)
It is generally agreed that Jonah was developed as a prophetic legend during the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel at the beginning of the eight century BCE.
Jonah was asked to go to Nineveh – he did not want to go.
It is interesting that the text says, “The word of the Lord came to Jonah… ‘Go at once to Nineveh….’” (urgency)
As I said, Jonah did not want to go -- He was a Jew – Nineveh is an Assyrian city. He probably hated the people of Nineveh. He saw them as the enemy or the potential oppressors.
For all these and maybe many other reasons Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh.
So he didn’t go – in fact he headed in the opposite direction from Nineveh.
Jonah fought God’s call – and he got a free three day cruise as a result. (In the belly of a large fish)
So Jonah prays from the belly of the fish and, according to the text, God has the fish burp Jonah out upon the dry land.
The text says, “Spewed” – I didn’t think that was anymore delicate than “burp.”
Anyway, now that Jonah is back on land, God reminds Jonah that God wants Jonah to go to Nineveh and Jonah decides that that is a good idea. So off he goes to Nineveh and when he gets there he walks through the city crying out, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
Jonah must have sounded very believable because the people began to repent and even the King proclaimed that everyone should cover themselves with sackcloth and ashes and repent of their evil ways.
And they did – they repented just as they were told to do!
And the text says, God changed his mind and did not bring calamity upon the great city.
God’s forgiveness is extended to a people other than God’s chosen – actually people who were feared as despised.
Much to Jonah’s dismay, Nineveh believed and repented.
The text says that Jonah was angry – he is even so angry that he asked to die. He was mad and he wanted to stay mad.
Jonah went out from the city and created a little spot where he could get out of the sun and just pout and look at the city to see what was going to happen.
God took note of Jonah’s attitude. He caused a plant to grow that gave Jonah shade and Jonah loved that plant. Then God sent a worm to cut down the plant and Jonah was exposed to the hot sun. When this befell Jonah, he once again said that he would be better off dead.
Then God reminds Jonah that he had done nothing to deserve the bush he had been given, but that indeed Jonah had been far more concerned about that plant than he was for the hundred twenty thousand people in Nineveh.
God is free to bestow forgiveness even to enemies of God’s people.
“In the Jewish tradition, the book of Jonah is read on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, for its example of repentance and forgiveness. The Lord’s nature is to be merciful, and mercy is extended to all who repent. God is free to bestow forgiveness even to enemies of God’s people.” ( Synthesis, Jan. 22, 2012)
Anne Lamott: “You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” (Quoted in Inward/Outward, 1/19/2012, Church of the Savior)
Well, as I said, Jonah was angry and really acted very childish – God eventually chastised him for his petulant behavior.
If you will pardon a personal example: Some years ago, I was the Director of Substance Abuse Services for Forsyth Hospital – what is now Novant Health. Our offices and Intensive outpatient program occupied a building, which was leased, and located in an office park near the hospital.
It was about this time of year and we had had a significant snowfall – yes, it snows in Winston-Salem – the weather remained very cold for several weeks and the snow wasn’t melting – including on the walks leading to our building. We submitted a request that the snow be removed from the sidewalks as it was a risk issue for our patients and staff – the attorney, whose office was across the courtyard from ours was the onsite person responsible for the property.
I do not remember the exact wording of his response to our request but it was either flip or sarcastic – i.e. not helpful nor did it result in our sidewalks being cleared.
I became very angry and (what might be described as) raised hell.
A few days later – after the walks had been cleared – I ran into the attorney on the walk – he came up to me and said “I am sorry for how I responded to you…”
I then talked about how bad it was that he had not been prompt in serving us…. When suddenly he simply says, “I am asking you to forgive me – will you forgive me?”
I was angry – still angry – righteously angry – here I am standing out in cold with a man asking for forgiveness (probably even had on a clerical collar) and I am hesitating – Suddenly I was struck by the absurdity of my lack of response.
“Of course I forgive you.” I said while feeling inwardly ashamed for being so slow in responding. I learned then what I have often said since – there is no indignation like that of the righteous.
So What?
In the gospel this morning we find Jesus moving rapidly about and recruiting his closest followers. He is in a hurry and he quickly decides his followers will be. Today he is among fishermen and he tells them: “Drop your nets – we are going to fish for people.”
They join him and soon he is also going from place to place proclaiming: “The time is fulfilled – the kingdom of God has come near – repent and believe the good news.”
Repent --- be forgiven.
Repent --- learn to forgive as God has forgiven you.
The kingdom of God is all about repentance and forgiveness.
This past Monday we remembered Martin Luther King, Jr. On Monday I received this quote of Dr. King’s from ‘Inward/Outward’ an online service of the Church of the Savior:
Some of you may be thinking – easy for you to say, preacher. But just how are we to go about forgiving when we still feel so much anger?
Who said this was supposed to be easy?
It can be done and here is how. First you pray for the willingness to forgive, then you pray for the person/s and you keep doing it until something happens.
In your prayers you also ask to be forgiven for any part you may have played in the problem, issue, event, etc. --- you keep doing this until something happens.
Don’t expect sirens, or bells or burning bushes – you may just realize one day that your feelings have changed – you haven’t seen a burning bush, but your heart burn seems better. “The time is fulfilled – the kingdom of God has come near – repent and believe the good news.”
When we repent and are forgiven, the kingdom of God has come near. When we forgive another – the kingdom of God has come near.
“The time is fulfilled – the kingdom of God has come near – repent and believe the good news.”
Amen
The Second Sunday after the Epiphany
Can anything good come out of Nazareth? It sounds as if Nathaniel might think that Jesus is some kind of undesirable character. He has a rather strong reaction to his friend Philip when Philip says, “… we have found him of whom Moses…and also the prophets wrote, Jesus, son of Joseph from Nazareth.” When Philip tells Nathaniel about Jesus, Nathaniel’s first response is sarcastic, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” It is the biblical equivalent of “you’ve got to be kidding.” Apparently there was a good bit of bias toward people from Nazareth. According to the Rev. Dr. Fred Horton, retired Religion professor, in his commentary on this passage, “Jews in Jerusalem were suspicious of Jews from the Galilee because Jews were such a minority there that some suspected they had been corrupted by Gentile ways.” Thus we hear the response, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Perhaps Nathaniel knew that no person of any particular accomplishment had ever come from Nazareth. Maybe he knew some folks from there and thought poorly of them – whatever the reason, Nathaniel was more than willing to dismiss Jesus based on where he was from – his hometown. Nathaniel was prejudging Jesus based on his hometown. Could it be similar to the kind of things we hear today: What would that bunch of rednecks know? She’s from ___________ - you know how those people are! Those people are all uncultured they like country music/rap music/classical music/reggae/pop/old people’s elevator music. Can anything good come out of Mexico? Nigeria, Sudan/Gaza/etc. You get the picture. But Philip doesn’t give up just because his friend is negative and prejudiced. Rather, he says to Nathaniel “Come and See.” Come and See! Isn’t that an interesting response to Nathaniel’s derisive comment, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Come and See! And of course Nathaniel did come and see and he met Jesus and he became one of His disciples. Nathaniel overcame his bias towards Nazareth. Or perhaps it would better to say that Jesus overcame Nathaniel’s bias – he did not let it stand in the way of seeing Nathaniel for the basic good person that he was – in spite of his prejudice. Come and See! Philip’s invitation is to Come --- move out of your comfort zone --- and see! Isn’t it interesting that the great hymn of the civil rights movement is “We shall over come ”? Come, Come – move across those barriers of race, sex, and nationality – those things that divide --- come and see. When Nathaniel allowed himself to “come and see” he met Jesus. Will we allow ourselves to come and see this morning? Will we come and see our Lord? Once he is truly met, it is much harder to fall for the easy stereotyping of people; because once his is met, you begin to realize that Jesus loves “ those people” --- just like he loves us. You know you don’t even have to be documented for Jesus to love you. You know you don’t even have to be ‘straight’ for Jesus to love you. You don’t even have to be ___________ whatever “ “ Tomorrow we honor the memory and the ministry of Martin Luther King, Jr. Certainly his life and ministry was one that forced many of us out of our comfort zones and made us Come and See – Come and See people and our institutions in a different light. This morning we would do well to remember that the source of Martin Luther King’s charisma, eloquence and leadership is the same one that Nathaniel was invited to “come and see” --- our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Racial prejudice and bigotry are sins – when we stereotype people because of their sexuality, or their economic status, or because they are infected with a particular disease, or their nationality -- we are committing sin --- we are separating ourselves from God. The one whom Nathaniel met that day --- the one whom Philip said to “Come and See.” -- that person --- Jesus Christ is the good news. Yes, for you see, Jesus Christ, in the words of the Rite I liturgy: “… is the perfect offering for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.” That includes our sins of racism and prejudice. And if we, like Nathaniel, will come over and see Jesus for the person that He is -- then we, like Nathaniel, shall be changed. We too will be freed from the biases that keep us locked into the mindset, “can anything good come out of… this or that place or person?” We will overcome those biases and live a life of insight and freedom that we never dreamed or imagined was possible.
We are not having the holiday tomorrow because all racism, bigotry and prejudice have been overcome – we are having this day of memory because we so much need to be reminded that we still have work to do – we must never forget our own heritage of racism and slavery, just like we must never forget the holocaust and the horrors of anti-Semitism. We must never allow ourselves to become complacent. We will all have an opportunity in our lives to combat prejudice and bigotry. If fact in North Carolina this spring we will be asked to vote on a Constitutional amendment which may indeed look innocent but which is born out of ignorance and prejudice toward gay and lesbian people. This one will couched in religious language with biblical quotations – just like the admonitions to maintain the institution of slavery in the 1800s. And just like the 1800s Christian people will be in disagreement – and we will one day look back on this time as a low point for Christianity. As I said, tomorrow, we celebrate the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Martin Luther King was a man, who like Nathaniel, had come to see Jesus. This same Jesus walked with King and inspired him to lead our nation into a more promising future of racial equality. For, as King knew and often said, “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” Love --- the Love that was born out of the house of David --- Love ---- The Love can and will free us all from the weight of our sins of racism and prejudice ----indeed the sins of the whole world. Love, the Love that lived in Nazareth and began his ministry near there Love ---The Love that lived 2000 years ago and still lives in the hearts of his followers today Love --- The Love that called Philip and Simon and Andrew and Nathaniel, ---- and you --- yes, you! Can anything good come out of Valle Crucis? Come and See!
The Baptism of Our Lord
Last Sunday we had a major feast day in the life of the Church: “The Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” You may recall we heard about the naming of Jesus as an eight-day old infant. That special occasion reinforces the humanity of Jesus as a real person, with a name and a family and a member of the religious tradition of his people.
Today we have the feast known as the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is always on the first Sunday after the Epiphany.
The feast of the Epiphany is always on January 6 th . We have just completed the twelve days of Christmas – Dec. 25 – Jan. 5.
The 6 th of January is the date of the coming of the wise men following the star to Bethlehem. This account of the star, the wise men and Herod’s duplicity is only found in the gospel according to Matthew.
Briefly, the star represents the light of Christ coming into the world. The wise men represent the world beyond the confines of Palestine – they were from other countries. That is to say the Epiphany is the showing forth of Christ to the whole world, not just the messiah of the Jews but also “…the light unto the Gentiles…”
Just a brief teaching moment: we really do not have a season of Epiphany – you will notice in the church calendar that the Sundays are marked as 1 st Sunday after the Epiphany, 2 nd Sunday…etc.
That is also true for Pentecost and the Sundays following Pentecost. In the Roman Catholic Church the reference to these Sundays is often “Ordinary Time”. So this is what we have: Advent (season), Christmas (season), Epiphany (feast), Sundays after the Epiphany, Lent (season), Easter (season), Pentecost (feast), Sundays after Pentecost (proper #s).
So what?
So now you can correct people when they say things like “We are in Epiphany,” or “we are in Pentecost” and look like a completely supercilious jerk.
It may prove helpful in navigating ‘church speak.’
I do not believe that if indeed we have some sort of final examine in life – I do not believe that questions about this will be on the final exam or that you will be given extra credit for knowing it.
As I mentioned earlier, today is “The Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We have in our Gospel from Mark, the account of Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist in the river Jordan.
This is in the very beginning of Mark’s gospel – chapter 1, 4 th verse.
You may remember that I mentioned last week or the week before that only the gospels of Luke and Matthew have birth narratives. Both Mark and John begin their gospels with Jesus as a grown man and both have Jesus in encounters with John the Baptist at the beginning of his public life – at the beginning of his ministry.
In this case, Jesus comes to John and is baptized. The text says that Jesus then sees the heavens torn apart and a Spirit descending like a dove and a voice coming from heaven saying, “You are my Son, the
Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” It is interesting that only Jesus sees and hears this apparently Divine intervention,
The main point to the Baptism of Jesus is that it marks the beginning of his ministry and it is recorded in all of the gospels. It is the inaugural event in Jesus’ public life and the initiation of a new age. Mark declares Jesus as the Son of God and commissions Jesus for his work.
Jesus’ work, his calling, is to encounter and do battle with the evil forces that cripple, maim, alienate and destroy human life. We will find that this involves many different encounters and many different situations – physical and mental illness, injustice and dishonesty. It will involve a large variety of people from the physically sick and disabled to the insane. It will also involve persons of great power and prestige who happen to, for the most part, want to keep things as they are, who are more interested in enforcing the rules than whether the rules make any sense in terms of human welfare and betterment.
It is also clear from the gospel of Mark and the other gospels, that Jesus’ baptism and ministry had clear implications for those who would follow him. Remember that the gospel writers were writing for the early church.
It is certain that they understood that those who were baptized into the community of Christ’s followers were also empowered by the same spirit that descended on Christ at his baptism, and that, as Christ had been empowered to encounter the forces of evil and injustice and illness in the world, so too were those who were baptized in his name.
The book of Common Prayers says that ‘Baptism is full initiation into the body of Christ’-- the Church. Once you are baptized – that is it – it not a repeatable act.
That is why, if you are baptized in the Baptist church or the Methodist Church or the Roman Catholic – any Christian church --- you are baptized – period and we recognize that as full membership in the body of Christ – which is by the way much bigger, better and greater than any denomination.
“The Rev. Dr. William Hethcock, retired professor of homiletics from the University of the South School of Theology, Sewanee, Tenn., tells a story, ‘perhaps apocryphal’ about baptism.
Some decades ago, before automobiles came to be manufactured largely by robots, assembly line workers amassed a wide variety of tools in their home workshops. These were tools they had simply brought home from the factory and never returned.
As the story goes, the practice was widespread at the Ford Motor Company, and management seemed unable to do anything about it.
It happened that one employee was deciding to become a member of a Christian church, and as he moved toward this church membership decision, he was also to be baptized. As he learned more and more about the baptism he was to receive and what it would mean, the presence of the tool collection in his garage began to weigh on his mind.
He decided that as a Christian he must take all the tools and return them to the Ford factory.
When he handed the tools over to his foreman, he explained that in good conscience he could not keep them. As a newly baptized Christian, he had to return the tools to where they belonged.
Word went up through management, and a cable was sent to Mr. Henry Ford, who was in Europe at the time. Ford learned that an employee had returned to the auto plant all his stolen tools because he was about to become a baptized Christian.
Ford is said to have shot back a cable right away saying. ‘Dam up the Detroit River and baptized the whole lot of them.’”
Apocryphal means probably not true, but widely believed to be true.
Factual or not it makes the point that needs making.
So here is the real: “So What?
Baptism is supposed to make a difference. Your membership in the Body of Christ is supposed to make a difference. Your baptism is supposed to make a difference in how you live your life.
And – this is important – And please know that the Christian life is one of constant tension between the demands of our baptism and our actual living out of those things we professed to believe.
That is why, even if we do not have any persons to baptize on feast of The Baptism of Our Lord, we renew our own baptismal promises and remind ourselves that we are called to be faithful – that is to try as best we can – and when we fail, repent and return to the Lord.
And finally, dear friends, because our God is a loving Father to us all, when we have run our race, given our failures and our successes, when we turn to God at someday in our future, we may well hear: “You are my daughter/son, my beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
Amen
The Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Names are important.
The name ‘Rembrandt’ is very important in the art world. He is a seminal figure in art history and is considered one of the most important artists of all time. Kay and I just returned from Raleigh. We had made the trip to see the Rembrandt exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Art. It is a fine exhibition – Rembrandt in America – and a number of paintings from Art Museums and even private collections are on display. Rembrandt’s name on a painting meant a great deal; however, he did not always sign his paintings so many times pictures could be attributed to him but might not actually be his work. The exhibition in Raleigh deals with the issues of art attributed to Rembrandt which probably were not his and also the issue of art produced in his studio – but perhaps painted by pupils or artists who worked for him. As you might imagine it was/is very prestigious for a collector or a museum to own a ‘Rembrandt’ because that name meant have a painting done by one of the world’s most famous painters. Names are important. We have an unusual occurrence today. January 1 is the Feast of the Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a major feast in the church calendar. Because it is a major feast, it takes precedence over the regular lectionary – today would otherwise be known as the First Sunday after Christmas. The lessons and psalm would be different than those we have this morning. Again, the reason for this is the fact that the feast of the Holy Name is a fixed date – Jan. 1 and it happens to fall on a Sunday this year. That is probably more than you ever wanted to know, but it is important to know why certain things occur in our worship and it is not just up to the arbitrary choice of the rector. That is the same reason that we have not removed the greenery in the church – it is still Christmas – a twelve day season in the church calendar which ends on January 6 th – the Epiphany. So here we are on Feast of the Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Names are important. When we joined the Episcopal Church – Confirmed in 1967 -- the official liturgy of the church was from the so called 1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. We loved the church and its liturgy. We immediately went out and bought two black leather bound prayer books and had our names embossed on them. It seemed that many folks brought their own book with them on Sunday -- we wanted to be in the groove with everyone else -- we brought our books also. This was all quite lovely and good until one Sunday, the priest handed out some paperback books and said we are going to be using these for a while instead of our regular prayer book – this is a trial liturgy.
We used various editions of the liturgy until we adopted the present edition – you have it today – the 1979 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. Some people still call it the ‘new Prayer Book’.
The edition prior to 1928 was the 1892 edition which was a revision of the first American Prayer Book—1789. I was never a great fan of the 1928 Prayer Book because I did not have a long history with it. (I do love the size of the one I have.) Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t have anything against it – it is just that I did not have the lifetime of experience with it as did many Episcopalians. So when that edition of the Prayer Book was replaced I did not suffer the angst that so many people did. In fact, at St. Anne’s we had been using paperback books for so long that we were just glad to get a hard back book. There is one thing in the 1928 book that is not in the ’79 book that I wish were not the case. In the 1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer (and I believe all of its predecessors both here and in England) in the service for Holy Baptism, this directive is given to those presenting a child: “Name this child.” I still use that, as do many other priests.
“Name this child.”
Names are important -- we aren’t baptizing ‘John Doe’ – we are baptizing Robert Edward Smith or JoAnne Elizabeth Jones: A real person with a real name. That becomes even more important later when we say --- Robert/JoAnne – you are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked s Christ’s own forever. Names are important. How did you get your name? My name is John Edward Shields. My father’s name was John – Edward, I am told, was from our neighbor at the time I was born - Ed Kiger – I never thought to ask my mom about that…? Jesus gets his name today. It was tradition that on eighth day after his birth a male child is brought to the temple to be circumcised and to be named. *We have several biblical accounts of why and how Jesus got his name. In Matthew 1:21 we have the angel telling Joseph to name the child about to be born, ‘Jesus.’ In Luke 1:31, the angel Gabriel declares to Mary that the child is to be named ‘Jesus.’ *Jesus in Hebrew means savior or deliverer. The Romanized name is Yeshua . The name was fairly common. One source said that archaeologists have unearthed the tombs of 71 Yeshuas from the period of Jesus’ death. *The long version of the name, Yeshoshua appears many times in the bible – the most famous in the OT is the hero Joshua. *Why Joshua in the OT and Jesus in the NT?
* OT is taken from Hebrew – NT was written in Greek – and the Greeks did not use the
sh
sound and substituted another
s
at the end
So clearly, there were a number of people with the same name that we know as Jesus during the time of Jesus’ life. The question for us (so what) is why does this one stand out from all the rest? And why do we have to have a feast day just for naming him. To answer the latter question first. The event of his circumcision and naming occurring within the tradition of his people places Jesus in line with the fulfillment of prophecy and also affirms his humanity – a human person with human parents raised in the tradition of the Jewish people. What is it about this person with a fairly common name that makes this Jesus special for us? Interestingly enough the gospel lesson for the First Sunday after Christmas answers that question very nicely for us. It is taken from the first chapter of the Gospel of John – known as the ‘Prologue’. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came in to being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it. …And the word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory… full of grace and truth… from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. The word became flesh and lived among us and his parents named him Jesus and from him we have received grace. One of the most famous paintings by Rembrandt was painted in the last year of his life. It is named “The Return of the Prodigal Son” and it hangs in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Russia. It is a powerful depiction of one of the most well known of Jesus’ many stories – parables. Perhaps it is the most important of his stories. For in it he tells us about the nature of God and God’s relationship with us.
God is a God of grace – God loves us without question and is always ready to welcome us back –no matter how far we have distanced ourselves from God. God, like the waiting father is ready to receive us fully back into the loving grace of God’s love. As I have said so many times before: “There is nothing you can do to make God stop loving you.”
Today is New Year’s Day. A time of new beginnings – maybe you have made some New Year’s resolutions: lose some weight, exercise more, save more, relax more, --- whatever. Good Luck with all that – I just want you to know that even if it doesn’t work out – it is fine. Don’t beat yourself up. Every Sunday we come here and receive the presence of Jesus in our sacrament and in our fellowship and every week we are assured that our God is not a onetime God. We don’t have to be perfect. God is not a onetime God – God is an on time God -- always waiting with another chance – always there for us. We know it is true because a man by the name of “Jesus” told us. |