Reverend Janet Brown | Grace Episcopal Church (Sheldon, VT)

Palm Sunday Year C April 14, 2019

Posted on April 14, 2019 by Beth Crane

Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11
Luke 22:14-23:56

in our first reading, we hear that God’s servant has “the tongue of a teacher, that [he] may sustain the weary with a word.” The servant suffers but is not disgraced.

In our reading from Paul’s letter to his beloved Philippians who are enduring persecution, we have an ancient hymn about Christ. “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave….”

Jesus calls us to be servants. He calls us to follow the example of the courageous servant described in Isaiah, and, of course, he calls us to follow his example. He emptied himself. And so we are called to empty ourselves. Why do we do this? We empty ourselves so that God’s spirit can come to live within us and so that our every action and thought can be in harmony with God’s will.

Paul prays that we might have the mind of Christ, each of us individually and all of us together as a congregation. Whatever we learn as we relive the events of this day and of Holy Week and Easter, whatever we perceive as our Lord’s call to us, individually and corporately, that is the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ for us includes our intentions, our guiding principles, our motivations for our actions. We are called to pray the prayer of Christ, learn the mind of Christ, and do the deeds of Christ. Individually and corporately, it all begins and ends with love, the love of God in Christ, so freely given. May we empty ourselves that we may receive God’s love, forgiveness, and healing. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: Isaiah 50, Luke 22, Philippians 2, Psalm 31 | Leave a comment »

Lent 5C RCL April 7, 2019

Posted on April 7, 2019 by Beth Crane

Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126
Philippians 3:4b-14
John 12:1-8

Our opening reading is from the prophet known as the Second Isaiah. The exiles have been in captivity in Babylon for five decades, and God is calling Isaiah to proclaim the amazing good news that the exiles will be coming home. They will be free.

This wonderful news is placed in the framework of another earlier time when God freed God’s people. The people had been enslaved in Egypt, but God moved the waters of the Red Sea, allowing the people, who had only the clothes on their backs, to run over the sodden and mucky ground and get to the other side. The chariots and horses of the Egyptians sank into the mud. Now, many years later, God is going to do a new thing, It is springing forth like water in the desert. God is going to make a path in the wilderness so that the people can follow it and return home from Babylon after all these years.

Our psalm today is a song of praise to God from the exiles who are returning to rebuild Jerusalem. We can hear the joyous laughter of the people who sowed with tears and are now reaping with joy.

Our epistle for today is one of the most eloquent and moving passages in the Bible. Paul is addressing his beloved Philippians. The sentences preceding this text reveal that there are some people in the congregation who still believe that all new converts must be circumcised.

Jesus has come, not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. As Paul says,
“The letter kills, but the spirit gives life.” (2 Cor. 3:6) Yet some people are clinging to old beliefs and traditions. Paul brings his entire life to bear on this issue. He himself was circumcised on the eighth day. He is a member of the tribe of Benjamin and a Pharisee, an expert in the law. Few people on the planet have more knowledge of the law than he does. His credentials are impressive.

Then he comes to the part that fills him with shame, the kind of shame we feel when we face something we wish we had never done. He persecuted the followers of Jesus. He watched from the sidelines as an angry mob stoned Stephen to death. He was on the way to Damascus to continue this mission when he met Jesus.

Yes, he was blameless under the law, but he had persecuted the followers of the One who was able to lead him into new life.

He lost his entire way of life. He realized that the cause which had dominated his every moment was not a noble cause after all. And yet, even though he lost that former life, he sees everything as gain.

Saul met our Lord on the road to Damascus. Jesus asked him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” No, he had not been with Jesus for several years the way the others had, but, in that brief meeting when he was blinded by the light, Saul began a lifelong relationship with the risen Christ. Like us, Paul never followed our Lord during Jesus’ earthly life, but his faith was just as deeply rooted as if he had spent every day of his life with Jesus. I believe that he did spend every day of his life with the risen Lord, just as we do, and that he grew very close to our Lord.

Paul has lost all the things he thought were so valuable, and he has gained a relationship with the risen Christ, and Paul wants to continue to grow closer to Jesus. Paul knows that by sharing in the suffering of Christ we experience the power of the resurrection. Our Lord takes all of our times of struggle and shame and defeat and transforms them into new life.

Paul admits that he isn’t there yet. He hasn’t arrived. He is still on the journey, just as we are. But he presses on to make the new life entirely his own, because Jesus has made Paul his own. Paul calls us to “forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead.” Paul clearly has great faith. Although he persecuted the followers of Jesus, he has come to know our Lord so deeply that he can encourage us on our journey of growing closer and closer to Christ.

In our gospel, it is only six days before the Passover. Jesus is going to die. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, who are among his closest friends, give a dinner for him. Lazarus has just been raised from the dead, and there he is at the supper table. The previous verses tell us that folks have gone to inform the authorities, and the raising of Lazarus has propelled them to find a way to kill Jesus. For the powers that be who are squashing life at every turn, the power to give newness of life is a huge threat.

Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with very expensive nard to show her love and respect for him and to assure him that she will be there every step of the way. Judas raises an issue about the expense, which is entirely bogus. Apparently, he wanted Mary to put that money in the common purse, but not because he cared about the poor. The text tells us that he stole money from the common funds. In effect, he wanted more money for himself. Scholars tell us that Jesus’ comment about the poor is simply to point out that his earthly life is about to end. Obviously, he cared about the poor, and in his kingdom everyone has enough to live a healthy and meaningful life.

What are these readings saying to us? There are some themes here about traveling light and letting go of things that do not lead to life. The heavy chariots and horses sank. Traveling light, God’s people made it to freedom. Paul devoted the first part of his life to the law and to his faith. Yet it had led him to kill people. His shame was almost more than he could bear. His transformation was profound. What is God calling us to let go of? What things in our lives lead to death? What in our lives leads to life?

Mary pours out a treasure of love, faith, and devotion to Jesus. She is going to follow him through death and beyond to new life. Mary and Paul are sterling examples for us to follow. In our Collect for today, we pray that, “among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found.” May it be so. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: Isaiah 43, John 12, Mary Martha and Lazarus, Philippians 3, Psalm 126 | Leave a comment »

Lent 4C March 31, 2019

Posted on March 31, 2019 by Beth Crane

Joshua 5:9-12
Psalm 32
2 Corinthians 5: 16-21
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Today is the Fourth Sunday in Lent, known as Laetere, Rejoice Sunday, from the opening words of the mass from Isaiah “Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and come together all you that love her….” (Isaiah 66:10) In the British Isles, this day is known as as Mothering Sunday, when people would return to their mother church, the church where they were baptized and servants would be allowed to visit their mothers.

This joyful note is found in our opening reading from Joshua. After their long journey through the wilderness, the people of God celebrate their first Passover in their new home. The manna disappears and they eat the produce of the land. They have moved from slavery into freedom.

In our epistle, Paul echoes this sense of joy and freedom. “So, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. Everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.”

In our gospel, we come to one of the best known of Jesus’ parables. Biblical scholar Fred Craddock calls this the “Parable of the Loving Father.” Before our Lord tells this story, the text tells us that “ all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus.” We know that tax collectors were hated because they had taken jobs with the Roman occupation government and made good salaries collecting taxes from their neighbors to benefit the Roman occupiers. On the topic of sinners, Fred Craddock writes, “Sinners were persons so designated because their offenses had gotten them thrown out of the synagogues.” (Craddock, Preaching through the Christian Year C, p. 259. Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, and the Pharisees and the scribes are upset that Jesus allows these people, who are generally considered offensive and beyond the pale, to actually draw near and listen to him. And now Jesus tells this parable.

“A man had two sons.” The focus is on the man. He loves his two sons. The younger son asks for his inheritance. A younger son was entitled to one-third of the estate, but he usually inherited this at the time of his father’s death. The father breaks with tradition and divides the property. Scholars tell us that the neighbors were probably scandalized.

The son goes to a “distant land” and spends every penny in “dissolute living.” Scholars tell us that this doesn’t necessarily mean that he spent it on prostitutes as his older brother will later accuse him of doing. It means he wasted the money on useless things. He has taken his family’s legacy and blown it. He has taken something very precious and ground it into the dirt.

Now a famine comes and he gets a job as a hired man feeding pigs. This means that he is breaking the religious law and is considered ritually unclean. Religious people should avoid him. He is eating the pods of the carob, something reserved for animals and the very poor.

Each of us in our own discipline of self-examination can identify with the feeling of shame, uselessness, and hopeless that arises when we make a series of unwise decisions and end up feeling alone, alienated from the people we love, and alienated from God.

We have a moment of sanity. The text says that the son “came to himself…” When we get off the path, we have to recover our true self. We have to go home. And we go over the list—I did this and this and this, and I am unworthy and I am sorry. And we want to get back on track.

If this father had been the traditional patriarch who says, “Jump” and you say “How high?” he wouldn’t have been out there at the end of the driveway waiting for his son. But he isn’t the traditional patriarch. Before his son says a word, he hugs and kisses him. Then he puts a robe on his son, probably his own robe, puts a ring on his finger, and sandals on his feet. Scholars tell us that no slaves wore sandals. Those sandals are signs that he is freed and restored to his true self. And then the feast begins.

But this father has another son. The elder son refuses to go to the feast. He is operating from a theology of scarcity. There’s only so much love to go around. My younger brother gets everything. I get nothing. His father loves him just as much as he loves his foolish younger son. The father comes out from the feast. The elder son lets him have it. The father stands there patiently, lovingly, And then he tells him, “Son, everything I have is yours, always has been, always will be, but your brother was dead and now he’s alive. We have to celebrate.”

We have all made bad decisions. We have all done things we wish we had not done. We have all sinned.

For many centuries, we humans viewed God as someone who hurled thunderbolts, spewed forth fire and brimstone, and, all in all, was extremely scary. The word was that God did these things especially when we humans went astray. I suppose this was supposed to help us stay on the path. In my humble opinion, this misunderstanding about God is not very helpful to us, especially when we are acutely aware of our sinfulness. It makes us scared to go home.

Thanks be to God, Jesus came among us. Here he is, telling this parable because the Pharisees and scribes, the elder brothers so to speak, are grumbling that he hangs out with those detested tax collectors and sinners. Heaven forfend, he even called a tax collector to be one of his apostles!

For some of us humans, certainly for me, and I trust for you, the huge depth and breadth of God’s love is a source of great hope. The sheer fact of God’s love and grace makes everything new! And here in the midst of Lent, we rejoice.

Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: "Preaching through the Christian Year C", 2 corinthians 5, Fred Craddock, Joshua 5, Laetere, Luke 15, Psalm32, RejoiceSunday | Leave a comment »

Lent 3C March 24, 2019

Posted on March 24, 2019 by Beth Crane

Exodus 3:1-15
Psalm 63: 1-8
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9

In our first reading today, we are looking on as Moses goes about his daily work as a shepherd for his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. Moses is already a walking miracle. When the Pharaoh decided to kill all the Hebrew boy babies, his mother and sister made a little boat out of rushes and pitch and put it out into the bulrushes along the banks of the Nile; the Pharaoh’s daughter came walking along, heard the baby crying, took him to the royal palace, hired his mother as nurse, adopted him and raised him as a prince.

One day, Moses went out into the world to see how his people, the Hebrews, were doing. Though he appreciated the compassion, courage, and generosity of the Pharaoh’s daughter, he knew who his people were. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew man, and he killed the Egyptian. When Pharaoh put out the word to have him killed, he fled. He settled down in the land of Midian under the protection of the priest, married the priest’s daughter, Zipporah, and now has a family.

He is going about his daily work, taking care of the flock. And he sees something—a desert shrub that is on fire but is not consumed by the flames. And Moses turns aside. And that is a big part of this story. How many of us will turn aside? How many of us will delay the next meeting or phone call or letter or load of laundry and just take a minute to turn aside?

Moses quickly discovers that he is standing on holy ground and he is in the presence of God. And God turns out to be much more observant and much more compassionate than Moses had realized. Moses hides his face because he knows God is mighty and powerful, but Moses hadn’t quite realized how much God cared.

When God tells Moses that God has seen the suffering of God’s people and God is going to free the people from oppression, Moses is quite impressed. He had noticed that oppression before he left Egypt.

But now God is asking him, Moses, a guy who killed an Egyptian and had to run for his life, a guy who is number one on Pharaoh’s list of the Ten Most Wanted, to go back to Egypt and lead the people to freedom. Like all the prophets before and after him and most of the people ever called to serve God, Moses feels inadequate. There is good reason for this. We humans are inadequate. But God gives the answer God always gives to us when we realize that we can’t do something alone: God says, “I will be with you.”

And then Moses wants to know how he is supposed to tell the Israelites that God has sent him, little ordinary Moses, to lead them out of Egypt, God says, “I am who I am,” “I was who I was,” “I will be who I will be.” God is powerful and dynamic. But God also tells Moses that God is the God of their ancestors, the Holy One who has brought them to this point and will lead them into the future.

As we all know, Moses says Yes, but this wonderful passage from Exodus is a reminder that we are on a journey from slavery to sin to freedom in Christ, and God is with us every step of the way.

Our epistle for today reminds us that our freedom in Christ is not a license to do anything we want to. There is a huge difference between freedom and license. Some of the Corinthians are saying that now that they are baptized and receiving the sacraments, they can do whatever they please. They can commit immorality, they can go to pagan festivals and eat meat sacrificed to idols and still be faithful followers of Jesus. Paul does a recap of the Exodus journey to make it clear that we have to put God first. If we are worshiping idols, we are not following Jesus. Paul also reminds us that Our Lord gives us the grace to stay on the path and follow him.

In today’s gospel, the people have questions about two events. In the first, some people from Galilee came to the temple in Jerusalem to offer their sacrifices. Pilate had them killed and mixed their blood with the blood of the animals they had sacrificed. Although this is something that Pilate might well have done, scholars tell us that there is no mention of it in any other historical document. The people seem to be thinking that, because this awful thing happened to these people, they must have been sinners.

In another event, the tower of Siloam fell and eighteen people were killed. Siloam was a reservoir. Once again, scholars tell us that this event is not mentioned in any other documents. Jesus’ response remains constant: just because this disaster happened to these people does not mean that they were worse than other people.

In Jesus’ time and now, there are still folks who believe that if something terrible happens to someone or a group, they must be bad people. That is why Rabbi Kushner wrote his excellent book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Because even now, in the twenty-first century, this belief persists. In our quest to try to find explanations for things, we revert to that ancient belief that bad things happen only to bad people.

The thing is that none of us is perfect. We are all frail and fallible humans, and, if God operated on the basis of demanding total perfection at all times, we would all be in deep trouble. God calls us to be compassionate toward one another.

This may be why Jesus tells the parable of this poor fig tree. In those days, you gave a fig tree three years to grow to maturity. During that time you did not pick any of its fruit. In the fourth year you could pick the fruit but you had to offer it to God. This tree is three years old. The owner wants to cut it down.

But the gardener says, “Just give it one more year. I’ll dig round it and put on some manure, and then, if it still bears no fruit, you can cut it down.” Our collect points out that we “have no power in ourselves to help ourselves.” Thanks be to our loving God, who is always there to help us bear good fruit. “Inch by inch, row by row, gotta make this garden grow.” Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: "When Bad Things Happen to Good People", 1 Corinthians 10, Exodus 3, Jethro, Luke 13, Midian, Moses, Psalm 53, Rabbi Kushner, Tower of Siloam | Leave a comment »

Lent 2C March 17. 2019

Posted on March 17, 2019 by Beth Crane

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Psalm 27
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:31-35

In our opening reading for today, we meet those shining examples of faith, Abraham and Sarah. At this point, their names are still Abram and Sarai. God has called them to leave their comfortable life in Mesopotamia and journey to Canaan.

Abram and Sarai have no children, and God has promised them that they would have many descendants. They have been through trials and tribulations and challenges too numerous to describe, and, although they are humans like us, they have stayed on the path and kept the faith as well as anyone could under the circumstances. Yet, they are still childless.

Back in those days, around 1600 years before the birth of Christ, having children was everything. If you had children, you had a future, If you had no children, you had no future. If you had children, you could leave your land and flocks and herds and fields to them and they would take care of you. If not, it was easy to feel that you had nothing to live for.

By this time in their lives, Abram and Sarai are very old, way beyond the childbearing years. Yet God has made a covenant with them, and now Abram is asking God, when are you going to keep your end of this bargain? God takes Abram outside and shows him the night sky. See that? That’s how many descendants you will have.

Abram still needs more proof, so God actually tells Abram to carry out a liturgical offering, a sacrifice. Then Abram falls asleep and has a dream in which God confirms that the promise will come true.

Have you ever thought you didn’t have a future? Have you ever thought God had broken a promise? Has your faith ever wavered? Here we have Abraham, that great icon of the faithful person, needing reassurance from God. And God responds.

In today’s gospel, the Pharisees warn Jesus that Herod is trying to kill him. Jesus has little patience with the machinations of worldly leaders. His response is terse, “Go tell that fox that I’m going to keep on healing people and helping people and on the third day I finish my work.”

Jesus knows exactly what is going on. These days we would say he is streetwise. He knows that Herod is a fox who is ready to raid the hen house and eat the chickens. He is totally focused on his mission, and he knows that he has to go to Jerusalem. Yet he tells us a tragic truth. Jerusalem, the city where the temple is located, the city which is supposed to be listening for the voice of God and following God’s leading, is a city in which the leaders, both sacred and secular, do not hear the voice of God. Beverly Gaventa writes, “Ironically, tragically, the city that houses God’s Temple also houses a persistent refusal to hear God’s word.” (Gaventa, Texts for Preaching Year C, p, 207.

Because of this, Jesus wants to protect his little chicks. Like a mother hen, he wants to gather us under his wings and protect us from the likes of Herod and other foxes. But he cannot do this. The powers that be in Jerusalem are not going to permit it. He is called to go to Jerusalem, and he will go, but he will not be permitted to offer healing and comfort and protection to the people. The earthly powers will stand in the way. They will kill him. Jesus knows exactly what a fox is, because he has the vantage point of a mother hen, or maybe even a chick.

How easy it is for us humans, when we acquire a great deal of money and a great deal of fame and power, to lose our bearings. The recent scandal involving very rich people paying money to insure that their children get into the best colleges and other people running a business that facilitates these transactions is a glaring example of this.

What would we do if we had that amount of money and power? What would we do without our faith? What would we do without God and Jesus and the Spirit guiding us and giving us grace?

In his letter to his beloved Philippians, Paul reminds us that, ultimately, we are not citizens of this world. Yes, we are called to stay informed and participate in our government and exercise our vote, but, as Paul writes, “Our citizenship is in heaven.” We are following Jesus, “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith”. We are waiting for him to come and complete his work of creation. And we are not waiting passively. We are doing all we can to help him build his reign of peace, harmony, and wholeness.

Sometimes, on this journey, we wonder, where is God in all of this? Sometimes we may feel that God is far away. Abram felt that way, even though he was a person of deep faith. He called out to God and God answered him.

In today’s gospel, we stand beside our Lord as he shares his profound grief, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” Even before we call out to him, our Lord is ready to help us.

And yet, our Lord knows that he will not be allowed to offer that comfort and protection to Jerusalem. He will be killed.

But we are listening, and we know that, at this very moment and always, Jesus is offering us his presence, his grace and strength and guidance. He is with us right now, doing just that. We don’t even have to ask him, We don’t have to call on him. He is here.

May we accept his gracious gift of himself. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: Abram, Gaventa, Genesis 15, Luke13, Philippians 3, Psalm 27, Sarai, Texts for Preaching Year C | Leave a comment »

Lent 1C RCL March 10, 2019

Posted on March 10, 2019 by Beth Crane

Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13

In our opening reading, from the Book of Deuteronomy, we have the opportunity to look on as Moses prepares the people of God to enter the promised land. They will be planting crops and raising cattle and sheep. When the harvest comes in, they are to offer the first fruits of that harvest to God in thanksgiving for all that God has done for them. God has brought them out of slavery.

The text offers precise directions for this liturgy. The person is to say certain words to the priest. The priest is to say certain words and perform very specific actions. This is to be done with deep reverence. This text is part of the background for our practice of making and carrying out our pledge of time, talent and treasure to God.

God constantly showers us with many gifts, and we respond with gratitude. This is part of our journey in faith.

Our psalm is one of the most profound statements of faith in the Bible. God is our refuge and our stronghold. The psalm says, “For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. They shall bear you in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” This line is a direct link to our gospel for today.

In our reading from Romans, Paul says, “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim.)” This passage can refer to our favorite psalms and other passages from the Bible, which are on our lips and in our hearts, but it also refers to the risen Christ, who is here with us now, very near us, among us, leading and guiding us.

And Paul says something else that is very important. He says, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek: the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call upon him.” We are all one as Jesus and the Father are one.

Now we turn to our gospel. Every year on the First Sunday in Lent, we read one of the accounts of the temptation of Jesus. This year our gospel is from Luke.

Jesus has just been baptized by John, and God has said that Jesus is God’s Son. Now Jesus goes out into the wilderness, and he is tempted by the forces of darkness. How is he going to carry out his ministry? What values are going to guide his decisions and his actions?

This yearly review of the temptations is a great gift to us. For one thing, we realize once again that Jesus went through just what we go through. He was fully human. He was also fully divine, and he did not succumb to these temptations. This gives us hope that, with his grace, we can faithfully follow him. We can resist the things that would draw us away from God, things that would divert us from following our Good Shepherd who is out in front of us.

This year, the thoughts of Herbert O’Driscoll, one of my favorite scholars and preachers, speak profoundly to me. He notes that when Satan says, “If you are the Son of God,” it should probably be read in a sneering tone. Satan is questioning the identity of Jesus.

So often temptations have to do with our identity. Who am I? How am I going to conduct my life? O’Driscoll notes that the temptations “appeal to the ego as being self-sufficient.” O’Driscoll says of the first temptation, to turn stones into bread,”We are hearing the temptation to attract followers through bribery, by producing what they want and need. Our Lord refuses.”

When the devil shows our Lord all the kingdoms of the world and offers them to Jesus, O’Driscoll says, “The temptation is to get people to follow by the use of naked power. If you don’t want to bribe them, then dominate them. Again our Lord refuses.”

In the third temptation, the demon tells Jesus to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple. As our psalm says, angels would come and rescue him. O’Driscoll writes, “The third option the demon offers is the possibility of impressing people so much that they will be mesmerized by spectacle and will follow. Jesus once again refuses.”

O’Driscoll writes, “Every option is an appeal to his human ego…Jesus defers to a will higher the his own.” And O’Driscoll connects these temptations with that moment of faithful surrender in Gethsemane when Jesus says, as we are called to say from time to time, “Not my will but thine be done.”

Finally, O’Driscoll makes an observation that I think is crucial to us on our journey. After this time of challenge is over, what does Jesus do? He goes to Galilee and calls his first two disciples. O’Driscoll writes, “He has chosen, not the way of the solitary ego, but the way of community, sharing, relationship.”

O’Driscoll notes the line that follows the temptations.”When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.” The temptation to rely on our own strength, to be less than God calls us to be, is always there, waiting in the wings. But, with God’s grace, it is as a speck of dust in the face of the light of Christ.

O’Driscoll writes, “The demon does not depart permanently even from Jesus. There will be other encounters, other struggles. We know only too well that this is true for our lives. But we know something else—because of the risen life of our Lord, there is grace for us in our encounters with the demon.” O’Driscoll, The Word among Us, Year C, vol. 2, pp. 16-17.)

This Lent, as we let go of things that draw us away from God, and take on practices that help us grow closer to God, dear Lord Jesus help us to remember that you have walked this way before us and that you are here to help us on the journey. In your holy Name we pray. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: "The Word Among Us Year C vol 2", Deuteronomy 26, Herbert O'Driscoll, Luke 4, Psalm 91, Romans 10 | Leave a comment »

The Last Sunday after Epiphany 3/3/2019

Posted on March 3, 2019 by Beth Crane

Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-36, (37-43)

Today is the Last Sunday after Epiphany. We move from the Epiphany season, the season of light and mission, into Lent, a time of penitence, self-examination, and prayer, a time for askesis, spiritual fitness, a time to confess our sins, ask God’s forgiveness, and grow closer to God. Today is also called Transfiguration Sunday because of our gospel reading.

Our first reading is from the Book of Exodus. The people of God have been enslaved in Egypt, and they are now on their journey to freedom. Moses, their leader, goes up Mount Sinai to receive the tablets of the law. The skin of Moses’ face is shining with the light of the presence of God. When Aaron and the people see Moses’ face, they are afraid to come near him. They are afraid of God, They believe the old saying that, if you see the face of God, you will die. So Moses covers his face with a veil when he returns from talking with God.

In our gospel, it is about eight days after the feeding of the five thousand and after the conversation in which Jesus asks his disciples who they think he is. Peter answers, “The Messiah of God.” Jesus takes his closest followers, Peter and James and John up to the mountain to pray.

And while he is praying, his entire person shows forth the the light of the presence of God. The two great prophets, Moses and Elijah, are there talking with Jesus, showing that he is in the line of the greatest prophets in history. Peter, dear Peter, says, “Master, it is good that we are here with you. Let’s make three shrines, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. He wants to make sure this moment will be forever preserved in history. He wants to build a monument.

Then a cloud comes over them, the same cloud that covered Moses on Mount Sinai, the cloud that shows God is present, and God speaks, “This is my Son, my chosen. Listen to him!”

If this had taken place in the time of Moses, Peter and James and John would never have been on the mountain. They would never have been in the presence of Jesus and God. If by some strange error they had been, they would have run down the mountain screaming in horror because they were afraid of the presence of God.

But none of that happened. Yes, they had been drowsy but they had stayed awake and they had seen the whole thing—Jesus with Moses and Elijah, and then God descending to the top of the mountain and telling them to listen to His Son. Yet they did not run away howling in terror.

Paul talks about this in his letter today. He writes, “All of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord, …are being transformed into the same image from one glory to another.” In other words, we are being transformed into Christ.

Peter and James and John had decided to follow Jesus. They had prayed with him, eaten meals with him, watched him heal people, listened to his teachings, helped him to feed five thousand people. They had observed how he treated each person with great care and respect. Peter had figured out that Jesus was the Savior whom they had all been expecting, they had all been hoping for.

And yet, when they were on that mountain, and the two great prophets were there and then God was also there, Peter and James and John were in awe for certain, but they were not afraid as God’ s people had been afraid in Moses’ time, a little over a thousand years before.

Why was that? What had happened? Why were these three close followers awe-struck but not running away in terror? Because God had come to live with them, to walk with them, to talk with them, to teach them, pray with them, heal them, lead them as their good shepherd, and be with them every day of their lives.

God had come to be close to them, to be with them, and what they felt most of all, was God’s love for them, a transforming love, and that is what St. Paul is trying to express in this portion of his Second Letter to the Corinthians.

Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus has come to be with us, to lead us and guide us. Here on Transfiguration Sunday, we see our Lord as he truly is—powerful, but not in a way that paralyzes us with terror. His is the power of love.

As we prepare for Ash Wednesday and for the season of Lent, and as we do honest self-examination and confession of our sins, our Lord calls us to remember that this is part of our ongoing process of transformation. We are becoming more like him. We are placing ourselves and our lives in the hands of our loving God.

He is in our midst, calling us to follow him, not out of fear but out of love. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 2 Corinthians, askesis, Elijah, Exodus 34, James, John, Luke 9, Moses, Peter, Psalm 99, Transfiguration | Leave a comment »

Epiphany 7C February 24, 2019

Posted on February 24, 2019 by Beth Crane

Genesis 45:3-11, 15
Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42
1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50
Luke 6:27-38

Our opening reading today is an extraordinary moment in the scriptures, and I want to take a little time to think about what leads up to this moment. We all remember how we heard the story of Joseph and his brothers in Sunday School. Joseph’s father, Jacob, loved him more than any of his other sons. As we know, this is not the best parenting practice, but there it is.

Jacob made Joseph a cloak with long sleeves, that was quite fancy, and, over centuries of retelling, it became the famous coat of many colors. Joseph also tended to have dreams, which was a bit much in the eyes of his brothers, especially since the dreams involved their having to bow down to him.

So, when Jacob sends Joseph out to see how his brothers are doing tending the sheep, they think about killing him and finally decide to sell him to some slave traders. They take his beautiful cloak, dip it into the blood of a goat, and carry the cloak back to their father to signify that Joseph has met with a horrible fate. Jacob is beside himself with grief.

Meanwhile, the slave traders take Joseph to Egypt and he is sold to Potiphar, the captain of the guard. Joseph is honest and intelligent, and before long, Potiphar has trained him to take over all his responsibilities. Joseph is also handsome, and Potiphar’s wife begins a determined campaign to seduce him. Joseph resists, and she finally grabs his cloak, whereupon he runs out into the street. When Potiphar comes home, his wife tells him that Joseph has tried to seduce her. Potiphar becomes extremely angry, and Joseph ends up in prison in the captain’s house.

Soon after, the pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker end up in prison with Joseph. Potiphar, the captain of the guard, assigns Joseph to take care of these members of the king’s court. The baker and the cupbearer ask Joseph to interpret their dreams, and Joseph ends up as the chief assistant to the pharaoh.

The pharaoh takes this extraordinary step because Joseph has interpreted pharaoh’s dream of the seven fat cows and the seven lean cows. There will be seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. During the seven years of plenty, Joseph stores the extra grain so that when the lean times arrive, there will be plenty of food.

When the time of famine comes, Joseph’s father sends his brothers to Egypt to buy grain. They meet with this great man who is their brother and they do not recognize him, but he knows who they are. He accuses them of being spies, a crime punishable by death, but says he will let them live if they will leave one of their brothers with him and bring their youngest brother there next time they come.

Then he has his staff fill their sacks to overflowing with food, places their money on top of the sacks, and sends them home. Our scene today is the second trip of Joseph’s brothers to Egypt. The famine has continued. They have come for more food. Their brother, Simeon, who has remained with Joseph, is well, and they have kept their agreement with Joseph. They have brought their brother Benjamin. And now Joseph tells them who he is. They have wondered when the time of reckoning would come for what they did to Joseph. And now he tells them not to be distressed because they sold him into slavery. Joseph’s interpretation is that God sent him into Egypt to be able to help his family and many other people when the time of famine came.

Then he tells his brothers that their whole family will settle in the land of Goshen. They will all be together, there will be plenty of food, and all will be well. Then he kisses all his brothers and they all cry and then they have a good talk. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be a fly on the wall for that conversation! All through his meetings with his brothers, Joseph has had to exit and go to a private room to cry his eyes out.

This story is very old, at least three thousand years old, and that makes it all the more powerful. Here is a man whose brothers sold him into slavery feeding them and the rest of his family in spite of what they did to him, and welcoming them into the land where he is essentially the king and giving them sanctuary and all that they need to survive. Joseph sees the hand of God in all the terrible things that have happened to him. Somehow he has worked through his own anger at what his brothers did to him, and he has allowed God to turn that into love. This is one of those classic stories that tell us that God can bring good out of terrible things.

That is what our Lord is talking about in our gospel for today, the continuation of the sermon on the plain. Our Lord says, “Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you.” And Joseph is doing that. He is in a position of great power; he is in charge of Egypt, one of the great powers of that time. Yet he has compassion on his brothers who were so cruel to him and he saves them and extends to them all the abundance that he enjoys in his own life.

There are so many inspiring stories from the Hebrew Scriptures that can provide much food for meditation. Would we be able to forgive our siblings for doing something like that? Would we be able to extend the kind of hospitality and help that Joseph gives his family?

Do we hold on to resentments? Do we find it difficult to forgive? Do we accept God’s forgiveness for our own failures and sins? Do we learn from difficult situations and move on?

There is a lot to think about in this story. Our collect begins, “O God, you have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing: Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love….” Joseph was able to receive that gift.

Gracious God, thank you for the gift of your love. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 1 Corinthians, Genesis 45, Goshen, Joseph and the coat of many colors, Luke 6, Potiphar, Psalm 37 | Leave a comment »

Epiphany 6C February 17, 2019

Posted on February 17, 2019 by Beth Crane

Jeremiah 17:5-10
Psalm 1
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Luke 6:17-26

In our first reading, the prophet Jeremiah draws a contrast between people who trust in God and those who trust in their human strength, those “whose hearts turn away from God.” Jeremiah says that those who do not trust in God are like a “shrub in the desert.” On the other hand, those who trust in God, those whose hearts are rooted and grounded in God, are like a tree planted by water, sending out their roots, sending their roots deep to the living water. They do not fear when heat comes; they aren’t even anxious in a time of drought. Their leaves stay green and they bear fruit no matter what challenges are going on.

Thanks be to God for the gift of faith. We are so blessed to be able to trust everything to God, to be like trees living by the stream, bearing the fruit of the Spirit no matter what.

In our reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, some people are saying there is no resurrection of the dead. We don’t know exactly what was going on. We do know that Corinth was a bustling city with many temples dedicated to various deities, people of all kinds of philosophies, some of which did not believe in resurrection. Perhaps some folks with those beliefs came into the congregation in Corinth.

Paul responds to this situation in logical form and then concludes by saying that Jesus was raised from the dead, and he is the first in a long line of people who are following him into new life. He will be expanding on this in our reading next Sunday.

Just before our gospel reading from Luke, Jesus has been up in the hill country praying with his disciples and calling from the larger group twelve apostles who will be his closest followers. They go down from the higher country to a level place near the lake. In contrast to Matthew’s sermon on the mount, Luke’s is the sermon on the plain. Jesus is on the same level with his listeners, who include the twelve just called to be his apostles, the larger company of disciples, and a large crowd of listeners from a wide area, suggesting that Jesus is addressing his message to everyone. in this multitude are people who have already been healed, and there are many others who are trying to touch Jesus. They have come to hear him and to be healed.

Jesus blesses those who are poor, hungry, grieving, and those who are hated and excluded. He tells the poor that theirs is the kingdom of God; the hungry that they will be filled, the grieving that they will laugh; the hated and excluded that the same thing happened to the prophets and that they will be greatly rewarded in heaven.

If we really think about what Jesus is saying, we could conclude that his words are shocking. He is really turning everything upside down. We don’t want to be poor, hungry, grieving, hated, or excluded. What is Jesus saying?

Fred Craddock says, “On the lips of members of the faith community addressing one another, a blessing is a celebration of someone’s pleasant and happy circumstances and a curse or woe is a lament over someone’s plight. However, when spoken by God or one who speaks for God, blessings and woes are more than descriptive: they are pronouncements that declare in effect that those conditions will prevail. On the lips of Jesus Christ, therefore, the blessings and the woes of our Gospel section can be taken as the ‘official’ proclamation of the way life will be among the people of God. …Blessings and woes are to be heard with the assurance that they are God’s word to us, and God will implement them.” (Craddock, Preaching through the Christian Year C, p. 102.)

These blessings on the poor, the hungry, those who weep, and those who are despised and rejected, and the proclamation that they are beloved of God and will receive God’s love and care and help, go far back in Luke’s gospel.

In the very first chapter, they appear in Mary’s song, the Magnificat , in which God exalts the humble, lifts up the lowly, and fills the hungry with good things. A few weeks ago, we read in chapter four of Luke’s gospel of Jesus reading from the scroll of prophet Isaiah, in which Isaiah says God has sent him to proclaim good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight for the blind, and freedom for the oppressed.

After Jesus reads that passage from Isaiah in the synagogue, he rolls up the scroll and says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled.” Craddock writes, “The ‘today’ that Jesus declared in the synagogue in Nazareth still prevails; the messiah who will come has come, and the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the poor, the imprisoned, the diseased, and the oppressed is no longer a hope but is an agenda for the followers of Jesus.” (Craddock, Interpretation, p. 88.)

Trusting in God, having roots deep in the living water of Christ and of the Spirit, causes us to bear fruit, the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And so we follow Jesus, and we help him to implement his plan, his reign, his shalom.

For many years, you have helped to implement our Lord’s plan. In recent years, you have helped with a specific part of his plan. When our Lord says that the hungry will be blessed, that they will be filled, he is counting on us to help him with that, to be his hands and feet packing boxes of food and handing them out, to be his listening ears and loving heart when we talk with the folks at the food shelf and offer care and support. Individually and corporately, you have ministered to the folks Jesus calls us to care for in his beatitudes: the poor, the hungry, those who are grieving, those who are hated and excluded.

Just because a congregation is small does not mean that it is weak. As Molly Comeau would say, “You’re small, but you are mighty.” Thanks be to God for all your many ministries.

Dear Lord, help us to plant our roots deep in the living water of your love and grace, and help us to bear abundant fruit. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 1 Corinthians 15, Fred Craddock, Jeremiah 17, Luke 6, Magnificat, Psalm 1 | Leave a comment »

Epiphany 4C February 3, 2019

Posted on February 3, 2019 by Beth Crane

Jeremiah 1:4-13
Psalm 71:1-6
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Luke 4:21-30

Once again, our readings tell us God’s truth. God tells Jeremiah and us that God knew and loved us before God formed us in the womb, and God has put God’s words in our mouths. God has given us everything we need to carry out our ministry. In our gospel, our Lord tells us that God reaches out to those who are outside the household of faith. Our epistle tells the quarreling and competitive Corinthians and us that the greatest gift of all is love.

St. Paul traveled around the Mediterranean basin preaching the good news to people who were outside his original household of faith. He was called to share the love of God in Christ to the Gentiles. He planted congregations and then left them to spread the good news on their own with God’s help and Paul’s support through letters and visits.

The ministry methods of St. Paul are the foundation for what we now call Local Ministry Support Teams or mutual ministry or baptismal ministry or total ministry. Paul’s approach was the subject of an article by Roland Allen called “Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours?” Roland Allen was born in England in 1868 and served as a missionary in China from 1895-1900 and then again for a short period ending in 1902. From his studies of St. Paul’s ministry, he pioneered the idea of indigenous ministry.

Back in the nineteen sixties and seventies, some of us here in Vermont had the joy and privilege of watching a film about a more contemporary example of indigenous ministry. The Rt. Rev. William Gordon, who served as Bishop of Alaska from 1948 until 1974, would fly his own plane all over that huge diocese to remote mission stations that could be reached only by air. Members of each congregation would be called to serve as local priests, deacons, members of pastoral teams, parish administrators, liturgical planners, financial teams, and any other ministries needed to carry on the ministry of Christ in that place.

Here in Vermont, the Rev. David Brown, Rector of Christ Church, Montpelier and Canon Missioner to the Northeast Kingdom Regional Ministry, helped congregations put these principles into practice.

The basic premise of a Local Ministry Support Team is that the local parish has all the gifts it needs to be the Body of Christ in that place. The members gather and prayerfully discern what ministries are needed in order carry on their congregational life and support the members of the parish. These ministries might be worship, pastoral care, administration, Christian formation (education). Then the team prayerfully discerns what roles are needed in each ministry area and the competencies needed for these ministries.

Keeping in mind the competencies needed for each ministry, the individual members of the team discern who is called to be a priest (This person is a sacramentalist who presides at the Eucharist but does not do all he duties of a traditional priest); who is called to be a deacon, who is called to plan worship (Often this is done as a group); who is called to administrative/financial ministry, who is called to offer pastoral care. In a small parish like ours, each person may be called to several ministries. This is done by giving each person a piece of paper with the different ministries listed and each person, with prayer and thought, writing the name of the member or members they feel are called to that ministry.

The training for members of a Local Ministry Support Team takes place in their local church. Usually there is an Itinerant Priest who serves as a link between the parish and the Bishop. Currently, that function is served by the diocesan Companions.

We have one person here who has already participated in the Diocesan Study Program, which, unfortunately, was discontinued. But that gives a good start. I have a list of books which folks have read in order to educate themselves in the areas of The Holy Scriptures, Church History, Christian Theology, Christian Ethics, Contemporary Issues, Liturgy and Church Music, and Theory and Practice of Ministry. Most of you love to read, and I think if we went over the list of suggested books. many of you have already read a goodly number of those books. Many times at coffee hour, your discussions have been excellent formation.

At this point, we on the Commission on Ministry and Discernment are thinking that there are parishes that do not have to start from scratch in this process. These are parishes where there are people who are voracious readers who have already done a significant amount of formation. There are also parishes, such as Grace, where the members have the personal qualities and competencies needed for ministry.

Many of the congregations who have chosen Local Ministry Support Teams have experienced growth in numbers. New people have come in and have taken up their own ministries. The key thing it that is is a team. The members support each other.

We are at the point in the Episcopal Church in Vermont where we are developing ways to meet parishes where they are and to form teams with the least possible numbers of hoops to jump through and the greatest respect for the learning and experience which folks already have.

I asked Shelie Richardson to come to be with us in May, thinking that weather conditions will be improving by then. She has offered May 5 and 19. May 12 is Mother’s Day. Please let me know your thoughts. I have also brought several of the Books on the current reading list for you to look at. I think Grace Church is already a Local Ministry Support Team, with each person offering his or her gifts to share God’s love inside the community of faith and beyond. May God continue to lead us and guide us. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 1 Corinthians 13, Diocesan Study Program, Jeremiah 1, Local ministry support team, Luke 4, mutual ministry, Northeast Kingdom Regional Ministry, Psalm 71, Reverend David Brown, Roland Allen | Leave a comment »

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