Grace Episcopal Church (Sheldon, VT)

Christmas 2C RCL January 2, 2011

Jeremiah 31:7-14
Psalm 84
Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-19a
Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

Our reading from the prophet Jeremiah is speaking to a people in exile, people who are finding it almost impossible to hang on to any hope, people who are finding it difficult to believe that God is still present. Of this passage, the wise biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann wrote, “In every season, including ours, the oracle of God breaks the dread of exile. Exiles are those who live in resignation, believing that no newness is possible.” God calls to the people, calls them home, tells them that everyone will be returning—the blind and the lame, those with child, everyone. All of God’s people will be restored in community.

So we see here two powerful themes—the theme of exile and the theme of homecoming. Perhaps some of us have experienced a sense of exile. All of us yearn for home.

Psalm 84 is a song that was sung by pilgrims going to the temple in Jerusalem. It is a song of homecoming.

The epistle this morning reminds us that, before the creation of the world, God was reaching out to us in love. The great gift of Christ is just that—a gift—nothing that we could ever have earned. And God is always working on our behalf. The writer prays for a spirit of wisdom and revelation for the people in Ephesus, and also offers that wonderful prayer that “the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened.”

In today’s gospel, we focus on one of the key figures of Advent and Christmas, and that is Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph. Joseph is an extraordinary man. He is very close to God. Earlier, when Mary found out that she was going to give birth to the Savior, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him that this new life was the work of the Holy Spirit. Now, after the Wise Men leave, an angel appears to Joseph and tells him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod, who is searching for the child to kill him.

After Herod dies, an angel tells Joseph that he should take his family back to Israel, but, when Joseph finds out that Archelaus, Herod’s son, is ruling over Judea, he is guided in a dream to go to Galilee. And so he goes, and settles his family in Nazareth.

The word angel literally means messenger. Angels are messengers of God, and in those days, God often guided people through dreams. Joseph was a deeply spiritual man who lived his life according to the guidance of God.

Mary, Jesus, and Joseph began their life together as exiles. They had to flee to Egypt in order to stay alive. There are many people in that situation today, people who, because of tyrannical rulers, are subjected to hardships beyond description. Our Lord began his life on earth in that position.

As we continue to celebrate the Light that shines in the darkness, we are never far from the forces of darkness which would overcome that Light. As we celebrate the call to the exiles to return home, we also may become aware of ways in which we are in exile—paralyzed, cut off in various ways—perhaps from God or from our own best and truest selves, or from a full vision of what life can be.

God calls us into the light. God calls us back from exile. God calls us home, to our ultimate true home, with God. And God sustains us and has been sustaining us since before the world began.

May our lives and our life together be filled with that Light!

Amen.

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Christmas 1 Year A RCL December 26, 2010

This morning we are contemplating the amazing fact that God loves us so much that God came to live among us as one of us, to lead us into new life here and now.

There is a wonderful story about this which you may have heard before, but which captures the meaning of the incarnation so powerfully that I am going to share it with you.

This particular version of the story is by Daniel Juniper. It is called “A Glimpse into the Stable.”

Tom stared at the fireplace but he could hear his wife’s rising anger. She called through the kitchen doorway.

“Why can’t you go with us to Christmas services?”
He sank into his leather armchair and sighed.

“Gail, I don’t want to argue about it. You know that I believe in God. But as for God ever becoming human—that’s something I just can’t understand. It just doesn’t make sense to me.”

Nothing more was said. She dressed their little boy and then drove away from the farmhouse, the car headlights outlining birches against the winter sky. Heavy snow lay on the ground. Even for Vermont, it was a bitterly cold night.

Tom threw a log into the fireplace and became lost in his thoughts.
“Christians claim that God has become human. Yet why would the infinite God of the universe do such a thing? Even if it were possible, it just doesn’t make sense….”

Suddenly there is a sickening thump on the windowpane. Tom gives a startled glance out into the night. “What’s going on out there?”

A flock of birds has gathered, drawn by the warm light of the house. As they flutter on the deep snow, their wings begin to freeze. Tom opens his front door. The little birds are so miserable that he has to do something. But he shakes his head. “They’d never come into the house. They’d be too frightened,” he thinks to himself.

Though there is no starlight, Tom can see the shadow of the old vacant stable across the farmyard. Lantern in hand, he walks across the farmyard and swings open its door.

“It’s not much, but at least you can get out of the wind,” he tells the birds.

He circles from behind and shoos the birds toward the stable. But they scatter across the barnyard, a confusing of fluttering shadows. Tom mutters irritably,
“Come on, I’m not trying to hurt you. Can’t you understand?”

He opens wide the doors of the stable, hanging the yellow lantern-light in an empty stall. Again Tom waves the birds toward the stable and again they flutter across the snow.

Tom stands hopeless in the cold. “They’ll freeze to death. If only they knew I’m trying to save them, they would understand. …….If only I could become one of them….”

He looks at the frightened dying birds and then glances upward. A break in the clouds has unveiled a single white star just above the lantern-light of the stable.

Silently, Tom understands.

Then he bows in the snow
before starlight
before stable-light
and before the God who has become one of us.

Amen.

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Advent 4 Year A RCL December 19, 2010

Isaiah 7: 10-16
Psalm 80: 1-7; 16-18
Romans 1: 1-7
Matthew 1: 18-25

In Our first lesson today, King Ahaz of Judah is in a terrible political bind. The northern kingdom of Israel has united with Syria against the powerful and ruthless Assyrian Empire and they are threatening Ahaz with destruction unless he joins them. Isaiah, speaking as the prophet of God, is telling Ahaz to rely on God for help and stay neutral in this conflict. The suggestion here is to trust in God and do nothing to try to fix the situation. A difficult thing to do.

Ahaz does not want to listen to Isaiah or to God. He has his own ideas. His motto is, “I have made up my mind. Please don’t confuse me with the facts.” Isaiah offers as proof of God’s care and involvement the promise that a young woman will bear a child who will be named Immanuel, God with us. As Christians we associate this promise with the birth of Jesus. Incidentally, Ahaz ignored Isaiah, slipped out of taking any advice from God by saying he did not want to put God to the test, made an alliance with Assyria, and was eventually defeated by that empire. How difficult it is for us to listen to God at times. How challenging it is do to nothing, to just pray, to simply pay attention, wait, and be alert for God’s word and presence and guidance.

We are very close to Christmas now, and the gospel is telling us about the birth of Jesus from Joseph’s point of view. He and Mary are betrothed, engaged. In those days, this was the equivalent of being married. When Joseph hears that Mary is going to have a baby, imagine how he feels. What can he think but that she has broken her vows to him, that she has been unfaithful? What a shock. Joseph knows Mary very well. We know Mary very well, and we know that she is not someone who takes commitments lightly. She gave birth to Jesus, she raised him, she followed and supported him, and, when many of his followers ran away, she and a few others stood at the foot of the cross. So, knowing all this, we know that Joseph must have been hurt and filled with disbelief. This is not like Mary. Yet she is pregnant. Something must be done. He is a good and decent man. He decides to divorce her quietly. No scandal. No publicity.

But now Joseph has a dream. In the Bible God often speaks to people in dreams. The angel tells Joseph that this baby is the son of God. Joseph is a very different man from someone like Ahaz. Joseph is a deeply spiritual person open to God. Later on, he will have another dream, which will save their lives and ours, the dream that tells him to take Jesus and Mary and flee to Egypt. Joseph, like Mary, is an extremely courageous human being who totally trusts in God and follows God’s direction without question. So Joseph and Mary are married.

Immanuel, God with us. This is the name of this baby who is to be born. God is always with us. Do we, like Ahaz, put our own agenda ahead of God’s guidance? Do we say, “Thanks, God, but I think I can do this myself. I’ll call you when I need you.” We seem to have an innate tendency to want to take everything into our own hands. We sometimes fail to realize how limited our vision is in comparison with God’s vision. Ahaz is a clear example of that tendency.

Can we be like Joseph, always listening for God’s guidance? What an excellent example he is. His whole life is falling apart. The person he trusts the most in the whole world has, it seems, betrayed him. He is desolate, beside himself. Embarrassed, humiliated. An angel of the Lord tells him want is really going on. It is not as it appears at all. On the human level, there is only one explanation. But on God’s level things are very different. What if Joseph had not been able to believe? What if Joseph had not had so much faith? What if Joseph had not been a man of prayer, open to God’s presence? What if Joseph had been like Ahaz?

Can we move our attention from the human level to the divine level? Can we listen for God? Can we give up our agendas and see what God has to say? Can we quiet down? Can we look up at the night sky as the shepherds did and listen for the immensity of God’s love and good tidings? Can we dare to hope?

Gracious God, open the eyes of our faith and the inns of our hearts so that, when he comes, we nay have a place prepared for him. Amen.

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Advent 3A RCL December 12, 2010

Isaiah 35: 1-10
Canticle 3, BCP p. 50
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11: 2-11

In last Sunday’s first lesson, Isaiah described God’s reign of peace. In today’s lesson, the prophet adds to our understanding of the ways in which God will restore the creation. First, the land is renewed. Waters break forth in the wilderness and streams flow in the desert. The desert rejoices and blossoms. What was barren bears fruit. What was dry becomes moist and full of growth.

As the land is made new, so the people are made whole. The eyes of the blind are opened, the deaf hear, the lame can now jump into the air, and those who were unable even to speak can now sing for joy. One theologian, writing about this passage, says, “The Bible is relentless in its conviction that nothing that is skewed or distorted and deathly need remain as it is. God’s power and God’s passion converge to make total newness possible.” (Texts for preaching, Year A, Westminster John Knox Press, 1995, p. 19).

In today’s gospel, John the Baptist is no longer out in the wilderness preaching repentance and baptizing. He is in prison because he has criticized Herod for his inappropriate relationship with his sister-in-law. John is apparently questioning whether he was right about Jesus. Is this man really the Messiah?

John sends some of his followers to question Jesus, “Are you the One, or should we wait for another? In responding to this, Jesus refers to the vision of Isaiah, and the portrayal of the Messiah from the scriptures: “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.” And Jesus goes on to say that he is indeed the Messiah and that John is the forerunner, the one who will prepare the way.

John the Baptist preached a harsh message of judgment and scholars tell us that it is probably accurate to assume that he was beginning to doubt Jesus—that, like many people of that time, he may have been looking for a Messiah who would rise up and overthrow the Roman Empire by military might.

A ministry of healing, forgiveness, and transformation does not measure up to that harsh standard. So, here in Advent, we see the beginning of the shadow of the cross. Jesus was not the kind of leader who operated on the principle that might makes right. And for that he died.

The epistle this morning was written toward the latter part of the first century after Christ. Jesus had died and risen several decades before. At first, the Church expected him to return very soon, but, as time went on, people began to wonder. We can really begin to wonder now, two thousand years later. We are on this journey and we can be like the kids in the car on a long trip. How long is it going to take, God? Are we there yet? We need to be patient as the farmer is patient in waiting for the crops to grow, but we also need to get out there and pull the weeds and put on the compost and water the plants and do all those other things which are needed to make the garden bloom.

What kind of a king are we looking for? Are you the one, or should we look for another? The classic distinction between authority and tyranny can help us here. Tyranny is rule by fear, oppression, force, power-over others. True authority—auctoritas in Latin, is authorship, creativity, what theologian John MacQuarrie calls letting-be. Deserts bloom, people really see, ears hear more clearly than ever before, lepers are cleansed, there are no outcasts, everyone is on the road to Zion together.

Our king is not going to stop building his shalom until everyone and everything is whole. Our God is not going to rest until the entire creation and everyone in it is made new. But how will we know him?

A poem by an unknown fifteenth century writer puts it this way:

Thou shalt know him when he comes
Not by any din of drums
Nor the vantage of his airs—
Nor by anything he wears—
Neither by his crown—
Or his gown—

For his presence known shall be
By the holy harmony
That his coming makes in thee.

Amen.

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Advent 2 Year A RCL December 5, 2010

Isaiah 11: 1-10
Psalm 72:1-7; 18-19
Romans 15: 4-13
Matthew 3: 1-12

Isaiah is giving us this morning two profoundly important concepts of our faith. First of all, he is describing the one we call the Suffering Servant, and then he is elaborating on the theme of the reign of God, the kingdom of God, the shalom of God. The Suffering Servant, whom we as Christians identify with Christ, is steeped in the wisdom of God. He does not evaluate things on a superficial basis. He looks deep within. This servant-king is on the side of the disenfranchised, the poor, and the oppressed. His is a kingdom of justice.

And then we have the description of that kingdom, that shalom. “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

Natural enemies are lying down together; babies are playing very near the homes of poisonous snakes. This is the restoration of the garden, the bringing to fullness of the creation, God’s vision of shalom for the world. It is the extending out into the creation of the life and vision and attitude of the servant-king. It is the reconciling of opposites, the healing of conflict, the bringing together of all things in love. This vision is not some sentimental platitude. It is the spirit of what we are called to work for in the name of Christ. It is the reality of what we are called to work and pray and give for—the shalom of our Lord.

Across the landscape of this Sunday and next strides one of the key figures of Advent—John the Baptist. He probably studied and spent time with the Essene community who devoted their lives to prayer and to political and social action. He is a wilderness person. The wilderness is a place to get away, a place to sharpen our focus, a place to strip away all of the irrelevancies and get close to God, a place where people often go to immerse themselves in the vision of God.

John the Baptist is not wearing a three piece suit. He is not into power lunches. He is coming from a very different place. He is coming from the wilderness of God, the desert. He has the vision and he has it very clearly. He is probably quite scary to behold. If he walked in here right now, we might gasp.

And he is saying that the status quo is just not going to cut it. The values which are prevailing are not the values of God, and things are going to have to change—inside each of us. John is preaching repentance. He is saying that we have to do a spiritual right about face. We have to reach out for and experience that thing called metanoia—that process of inner transformation. We are heading away from God in so many ways, and we have to get back on course. And John is also saying that he is the one who is preparing the way for the messiah, the king. One of the most excellent things about John is that he knows who he is. He knows that he is the forerunner, not the king. Later he will say of Christ and of himself, “He must increase and I must decrease.” He knows his place. He knows his identity.

John is baptizing with water, but Jesus is going to baptize with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is going to bring the grace for that real process of metanoia, that process which will take place in our heart and in our spirit and from there will grow to bring in God’s shalom.

Simultaneously with all of this, we are aware that our King has already come among us as a child born in a manger. Our king comes to us in total vulnerability and with that we can realize that this whole process of transformation is a process of birth. One of the great mystics said that we must allow Christ to come to birth in us over and over again. And that is another way to think of this metanoia, that we are opening our hearts to Christ so that he can be born in us.

The gift that our Lord gives, this baptism with the Spirit, this grace of transformation, is the kind of gift which makes us people of hope and people of light and people of love. May we prepare the way of the Lord. Amen.

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Advent 1 Year A RCL December 5, 2010

Isaiah 2: 1-5
Psalm 122
Romans 13: 11-14
Matthew 24: 36-44

Advent, more than any other time in the Church year, is the season in which we look forward to and prepare for the completion of the creation with the coming of our Lord to establish his shalom, his reign of peace and harmony and wholeness. Isaiah is one in a long line of prophets who have given us this vision. In today’s passage, written at a time when foreign empires threatened Israel and Judah, Isaiah looks to the time when swords will be beaten into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks, a time when peace will be pursued as energetically as we prepare for war when we see a threat.

And this opens our lessons with the theme that we are called to work actively for God’s shalom. But instead of changing ploughshares into swords, instead of converting peacetime production into manufacturing military armaments, God’s vision of shalom focuses on the opposite—putting more and more of our energy into waging peace. Herbert O’ Driscoll writes, “What today must be cultivated? What in our society might ploughshares and pruning hooks mean? In an underdeveloped society this might mean land redistribution. In a developed society it might mean affordable housing and social programs for real need. Ploughshares symbolize all those actions which make possible a community of justice and peace.”

The epistle brings this point home. First, Paul summarizes the commandments, the framework for our ethical life and sums then up in “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Then he speaks of a great Advent theme, the theme of waking up, being alert. “The night is far gone; the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” Another resounding Advent theme is the opposition of light and darkness. “Put on the armor of light.” Later, he advises us to put on Christ, to metaphorically clothe ourselves in Christ!

The gospel builds on the theme of being awake. When our Lord comes to bring in his shalom, his commonweal, as our Presiding Bishop says, it will happen quickly. Be ready. Two men will be in the field. One will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left. We need to be prepared and vigilant with the same devotion and energy with which the householder stays awake in order to prevent a robbery. We are called to make the same level of investment in God’s shalom that we make in protecting our property and our families.

There is a bumper sticker that reads, “World peace begins at home.” The reign of God, the peaceable kingdom, begins in our hearts. Each of us has within us light and darkness. It would be a wondrous and perhaps quite scary thing if tomorrow morning we could all wake up and be entirely creatures of light with no darkness within us at all, but it doesn’t happen that way. As we move into this season of anticipation and preparation, this season in which we focus on the vision of peace which we are called to bring into our hearts and lives, we may become acutely aware of our own places of darkness and powerlessness and confusion and loneliness. The light shines in the darkness but sometimes we feel far from that light. We are called to cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, but, in reality, it is often a slow, painful wearing away of the darkness. It’s hard work, work which can be accomplished only with God’s grace. We know what we are aiming for, and, with hard work, prayer, and large doses of God’s grace, we move toward the goal, slowly but surely. The goal is to be more like Christ; that is our aim. The goal is to be as much as possible creatures of light. But it is important and necessary for us to admit our darkness, talk about it, bring it out into the light so that Christ can heal us and clothe us more and more in the armor of light, and help us to become more like Him.

Helping to bring in Christ’s kingdom means working toward peace and wholeness at all levels—peace in our lives, peace, shalom, in the workplace, peace in our relationships, peace deep within ourselves. Herbert O’ Driscoll says, “We are called to ‘wake,’ to offer God that active quality of human loving, an active peace seeking which can bring day rather than night.”

May we prepare for your coming, O Lord. May we abide in hope. May we be alert and awake. May we move more and more into your light and love. Amen.

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Pentecost 29 Christ the King Proper 29 November 21, 2010

Jeremiah 23:1-6
Canticle 4, p. 50 BCP
Colossians 1: 11-20
Luke 23: 33-43

This is Christ the King Sunday. In the gospel, we see our king hanging on the cross between two criminals. As we look upon this horrific scene, we can hear the taunts being hurled by the crowd. “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, the chosen one.” We can hear the mocking of the soldiers and of the first criminal. We can feel the scorn that surrounded our Lord, hanging there appearing to be totally helpless, allowing himself to be powerless when he could have marshaled armies upon armies.

The first criminal joins the mockery. “Are you not the Christ?” Save yourself and us!” But the second criminal–some have said his name was Dismas—sees what is going on. He sees very clearly that Jesus has done nothing wrong and does not deserve this torture. He also realizes his own guilt and his need for forgiveness. He asks Jesus to welcome him into his kingdom. And Jesus tells him, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

The eternal Word, who called the creation into being, who energized the creation into life, from vast galaxies to the smallest sub atomic particle, hangs, apparently helpless, on a cross. This is our King. A King who will not force, a King who will not overpower. A King who asks God to forgive those people who do not realize what they are doing. A King who pours his life out in love and forgiveness.

Dismas gets the point. He sees how far short he has fallen. He acknowledges his need for this kind of king, and he takes a quantum leap into eternal life. This man sees that all the external power in the world is not going to bring about the kind of transformation which is needed—to restore each of us and to restore the creation to where God wants it to be—a realm of peace, harmony, and justice. But he could not have reached out and grasped the promise of this radical kingdom if he had not felt the forgiveness, the love, the profound understanding, and the courage pouring out from Jesus.

That’s where stewardship begins—with our growing awareness of how much God loves us. God is constantly and forever reaching out to us in love. As Paul said, “Nothing can separate us from the love of God.”

Everything we have is a gift from God. These gifts fall into three categories—time, talent, and treasure. God gives us every moment of the time we have on earth. God gives us talents, the gift of teaching, helping others, making music, playing sports, building things, cooking, community organizing, making spaces accessible. As I have said before, there are many gifts which God has given us here at Grace. And God gives us treasure—money and all the things money can buy. Time, talent, and treasure are all gifts from God.

God calls us to be stewards. A steward is someone who manages property for someone else. We are stewards of God’s creation. We are called to take care of the earth. And we are stewards of the time, talent, and treasure which God has given us.

Now we can say, wait a minute, I earned the money I have, I worked hard. And this is true. But where did the abilities and energy to earn that money come from? They came from God.

Out of gratitude to God for all the gifts God has given us, we return a worthy portion to God. This is the pledge we put on our pledge card. The biblical proportion is the tithe, or ten per cent. The amount is not the important thing. We need to be aware of the percentage we are returning to God. That is between God and ourselves. And we need to feel that we are giving back to God a worthy portion of what God has given us. It all belongs to God anyway. We are just holding it in trust for God.

The Vestry is not going to make up the budget until all the pledges are received. We are not making our pledges in order to meet a budget, We are making our pledges out of gratitude to God for all of God’s gifts to us. We are returning to God a worthy portion of what God has given us.

If you contribute to organizations which are doing God’s work of caring for the creation or helping those in need, those are all part of your stewardship. The Red Cross, Episcopal Relief and Development, the United Thank Offering, groups who work to save the environment, all these are doing God’s work.

Our culture operates on a theology of scarcity. We are taught by our culture to hang on to whatever we have because you can never really have enough to be totally secure. But Christians have a theology of abundance. There is enough for all of us to have what we need. God calls us to share with our brothers and sisters down the road and around the world.

So, we are people who are able to let go. We are people who do not have to hold on. The more we share, the more we have.

Love and gratitude are powerful forces. As we sense more and more how much God loves us and cares for us and helps us to become more and more whole, our gratitude grows. And this process of transformation is at the heart of every vibrant Christian community. This is what Anthony Robinson is writing about in his book Changing the Conversation. Robinson says that churches are called to be communities of transformation. At the heart of that transformation is our growing awareness of the depth and power of God’s love. When we allow God to come into our lives and heal our wounded places and strengthen our weak knees and empower us to share the Good News, amazing things happen.

In gratitude for God’s love and all of God’s gifts, I ask you to pray about your pledge and then return your pledge card sometime within the next month.

This is also the Sunday before Thanksgoving. When we gather with friends and family to give thanks for all the blessings God bestows upon us.

Thanks be to God for all of God’s wondrous gifts. May we be good and faithful stewards. Amen

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Pentecost 25 Proper 28C RCL November 14, 2010

Isaiah 65:17-25
Canticle 9
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Luke 21:5-19

In our first lesson, the people have returned from exile, and they have rebuilt the temple. But the job is not yet finished. Much rubble remains from the destruction of the temple by the Babylonians. That will need to be removed. And the city walls have yet to be built. It has been hard work, and there is much left to do. In such a situation, it is easy to become discouraged.

The prophet we call the Third Isaiah describes God’s vision for “new heavens and a new earth.” This is God’s vision, not only for Jerusalem, but for the entire creation. No longer will babies and children die. People will live to a ripe old age. They will plant crops and vineyards and enjoy the fruits of that planting. They will build their houses and live in them for many years. There will be peace and security on the earth. “They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.”

In our epistle this morning, the Thessalonians have somehow fallen into the hands of teachers who are saying that the end is near. Some people have stopped working. They are thinking that since Jesus is coming tomorrow or the next day, they don’t have to worry about getting food or clothes or saving money for the future. Some scholars tell us that these folks have so much spare time that they are interfering in other people’s business.

Paul says that anyone unwilling to work should not eat. Over the years, this passage has been misinterpreted. Paul’s words are addressed to the Christian community, not to the world at large. This passage should not be used to condemn people who are unemployed. Back in those days, as we read in the Book of Acts, many Christian communities shared their possessions and money in common. If people are choosing not to work because they think the Lord is coming immediately, they are not contributing their share. There is not enough to go around if some are slacking off. Paul holds himself up as an example, He would have been eligible to be supported by the community, yet he worked at his trade as a tentmaker, as well as in his ministry to the community. He contributed his share. The point is, let’s all keep working at building God’s shalom until our Lord appears.

In the gospel, Jesus is looking at the temple. It is beautiful and impressive. But in 70 A. D., it was destroyed by the Romans.

Jesus’ followers were going to face persecution. Jesus tells them not to worry about what they are going to say when they are arrested by the authorities. He will give them the words and wisdom to deal with the situation.

False teachers were going to come among them and tell them that Jesus’ Second Coming was at hand, just as happened with the Thessalonians. Wars, earthquakes, famines and plagues have happened throughout history and they are happening now. But Jesus does not want us to waste our energy wondering, does this mean that he is coming right now?

He wants us to remember that not a hair of our heads will perish, and that he will be with us. The word of the day is endurance.

As God’s shalom comes into being, there will be great upheaval. We are in a time of endings and new beginnings. We could look around the world and say, “The end is coming!” and head for the hills. That is exactly what Paul and Jesus are telling us not to do. We could read the paper and watch the news and give up, throw in the towel. It’s too horrible and there is nothing we can do about it. That’s another thing that Paul and Jesus are telling us not to do.

Isaiah’s vision is God’s vision and Paul’s vision and Jesus’ vision of the creation restored. That is what we are working for. No longer will children and babies die. Everyone will have enough to survive and thrive and live. We will live in peace. We will share what we have. We will plant gardens and build houses and live together as God’s family.

That’s the vision—God’s shalom. That’s what we are working for. It’s quite different from how things are now, so there is going to quite a transformation before we get there. Old things will pass away; new things will come into being.

Are we called to ponder endlessly about when this is all going to happen? No.

What are we called to do in these times of wars, earthquakes, famines, and plagues? We are called to keep on working for God’s shalom. Keep on caring about people, caring about the environment, feeding the hungry, providing clothing and shelter to those who need it. Keep on keeping on. Keep on praying and loving and giving for the spread of God’s kingdom, God’s shalom. We are called to endure. We are called to be faithful to God’s vision.

May we be strong in our faith. May we be people of hope. May we remember that God is making all things new. Amen

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Pentecost 24 Proper 27 C RCL November 7, 2010

Haggai 1:15b-2:9
Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5; 13-17
Luke 20:27-38

This morning’s sermon will be brief in order to make time for Lori and Beth to report on Diocesan Convention.

The prophet Haggai had the ministry of offering encouragement to the leaders and people of Judah as they returned from exile in Babylon and did the difficult work of rebuilding the temple. As they looked upon their unfinished project, it was easy to become discouraged. Haggai assures them that God has called them to do this, that God will be with them every step of the way, and that the new temple will surpass the glory of the first temple.

The Thessalonians have been having a difficult time. Some false teachers have been telling them that the second coming of Jesus has already happened. As we know, over time, there have been many people who have said the end of the world is at hand. Paul tells the people that these upsetting and fear-filled teachings are false, that God has called them and is with them and that they should stand fast in their faith.

The Sadducees are among many religious leaders who try to trip up Jesus. The law says that, if a man dies and his wife is childless, the man’s brother should take her as his wife in order that she may bear a child to carry on his name. The Sadducees give this example in order to prove their belief that there is no resurrection. Jesus tells us that heaven is different from this life. There, we are children of the resurrection.

We are in a process of building and rebuilding, not only in bricks and mortar, but in the life of our community. We need to remember that God has called us together, that God is with us, God is guiding us. We are called to move forward in faith, not give way to fear. We are called to seek and do God’s will, and God will give us the grace to carry that out. We are kingdom people, shalom people. We have been made new, thanks to the grace of our Lord Jesus. “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things.” Amen

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All Saints Sunday Year C RCL October 31, 2010

Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18
Psalm 149
Ephesians 1: 11-23
Luke 6:20-31

The Book of Daniel is supposedly set during the Babylonian Exile in the sixth century B.C., but it was actually written about four hundred years later, during the reign of a terrible king named Antiochus Epiphanes IV, who desecrated the temple in Jerusalem in 167 B.C.

The four beasts represent the four empires which have conquered and oppressed the Jewish people. The Book of Daniel was written to encourage the people to persevere in a time of horrible persecution. The Book says that the day will come when those empires will fall, and “the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever—forever and ever.”

The Letter to the Ephesians was probably written by a follower of Paul and was addressed to a congregation in which Gentile Christians had become the majority, outnumbering Jewish Christians. The new faith was first proclaimed to the Jews, but then, after Peter had his vision of a sheet coming down with all the different foods on it and God saying, “Kill and eat,” the apostles realized that the new faith was for everyone.

Paul is saying that there are no longer two distinct groups, Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, but all are one. In the Letter to the Galatians, he says, “In Christ there is no slave nor free, no Jew nor Greek, but we are all one in Christ Jesus.”

The people are commended for their faith and love. Commentator Audrey West writes, “These are the building blocks with which their identity as the people of God will be formed.” (West, New Proclamation RCL C, 2010, p. 264.)

In the early Church, all the people were addressed as saints. The literal translation from the Greek is “Holy ones.” This language links with the passage from Daniel.

Now we come to that most familiar passage, the Beatitudes. Luke’s Beatitudes are sometimes called the Sermon on the Plain, in contrast to Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. Luke’s Jesus is on level ground with all the people. He has just called the apostles. Now he is giving them the blueprint for his vision of their life together and the life of the human family.

Blessed—happy—are the poor, the hungry, those who weep, those who are hated and excluded. Matthew spiritualizes the blessings—blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. But Luke’s Jesus says happy are the literally poor, hungry, and marginalized. Scholars make it very clear that Jesus is not trying to say that poverty is wonderful.

And then the woes. Woe to those who have plenty to eat, who are laughing now. Woe to those of whom everyone speaks well. Here is that reversal again. Back to the Magnificat: he casts down the mighty from their seat and exalts the humble and meek. William Barclay says that these blessings and woes are “like a series of bombshells.” Scholars tell us that these blessings and woes take the accepted standards and turn them upside down.

Audrey West writes, “Jesus announces a blessing upon all those people whom nobody wants to be.”

But woe to those who have everything, plus the universal praise and admiration to go with it. Why is Jesus saying this? Because when we have it all, it is so easy to think that is all there is. It is also easy to enter into the delusion that we got it all on our own strength. When we are in positions of prestige, people defer to us and tell us what we want to hear. But is that all there is to life?

In the world’s terms, compared to our brothers and sisters in Haiti or Bangladesh, we are wealthy. Does that mean that we are doomed?

I don’t think so. But we need to remember that God’s shalom involves a leveling of the playing field. God wants every one of God’s children to have enough to sustain a creative life.

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who abuse you. Do to others as you would have them do to you.” This kind of love is not a feeling or a sentiment. It is a spiritual discipline. Jesus calls us to exercise toward others the unconditional love he gives to us. If people hurt us or oppose us, we are not to retaliate. We are to wish the best for them and we are to do all we can to help them to realize their full potential as God’s beloved children. We are called to extend God’s love to everyone, even our enemies. A tall order, but this the level of love exemplified by the saints whose lives we celebrate today.

This is the eve of All Saints Day, All Hallows’ Eve. We are remembering that we are part of that great cloud of witnesses, all the saints, little s saints and big S Saints—all who have gone before us, all who are here now, and all who will come after us. They have all run the race just as we are running it now. We are all following the same blueprint. The one laid out by Jesus in his life and ministry, and especially in the Beatitudes.

We are the Body of Christ. We are knit together in love and faith. We are his hands reaching out in healing and welcome, his eyes, seeing deep into human hearts with his compassion, forgiveness, and healing, his mouth, speaking words of encouragement and comfort—and sometimes words of challenge–calling us and to be at our best. We are here to do his ministry.

But the best part is that we are not alone. We are here because they were here, Laura and Irving, and Hoddie and Charlotte and Ruth and Geraldine and Harriet and Gertrude and Mary Magdalene and Paul and George and Theresa of Avila and Patrick and Hilda and on and on, this great cloud of witnesses cheering us on. We pray for them; they pray for us, and the love and faith keep being shared.

May we run the race. May we be faithful to the vision. May we share the faith and love. Amen

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