Paul | Grace Episcopal Church (Sheldon, VT)

Pentecost 5 Proper 7 RCL June 19, 2016

Posted on June 19, 2016 by Beth Crane

1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15A
Psalm 42 and 43
Galatians 3:23-29
Luke 8:26-39

In our opening reading from the Hebrew Scriptures, we go back to the point in Elijah’s story when he has just asked God to come down and light the sacrifice on fire, and God has answered. Elijah has also killed all 450 prophets of Baal. In answer to these actions, Queen Jezebel has sent a message that she will kill Elijah.

Elijah runs as far as he can and still remain in the land of Jahweh. He goes to Beersheeba, the southernmost place in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. He leaves his servant and goes into the wilderness. And he asks God to let him die. He is exhausted, He has been battling the enemies of God for a long, long time. He lies down and sleeps.

When Elijah wakes up, God has sent an angel to give him food. He eats and rests again. Then the angel wakes him up and tells him to eat more. He will be going on a long journey. He gets up, eats and drinks, and heads out on a journey of forty days and forty nights to Mount Horeb, also called Mount Sinai, the place where Moses met God, the place where he, Elijah, will also meet God.

Elijah goes into a cave, but God finds him there and asks him, “What are you doing here?” And Elijah tries to present his case. He has been working hard for God, in spite of the fact that everyone else has abandoned God, and now Jezebel is going to kill him.

God tells Elijah to go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, because the Lord is about to pass by. A great wind comes, then an earthquake, and then fire. But God is not in any of these powerful and dramatic things.

God speaks to Elijah in what the King James translation describes as “a still, small voice.” James D. Newsome says this translation is close, but the literal translation is “a thin whisper.” After all the noise and drama of wind, earthquake, and fire comes the quiet voice of God.

The tired and dejected Elijah has an encounter with God, and that meeting with God energizes Elijah to go back to the battle. Elijah is now carrying on the ministry begun with Moses. Elijah’s mission is to free God’s people from the tyranny of Ahab and Jezebel.

So often we expect our encounters with God to be dramatic. Most of the time, God speaks to us in a still small voice, or a thin whisper, quietly, so quietly that we may not hear God if we are not listening. Elijah was certainly listening.

In our gospel for today, Jesus is traveling to the country of the Gerasenes. Jesus is in Gentile territory. He has gone beyond the usual bounds of his mission. He meets a man who for a long time has worn no clothes, a man who lives in the tombs. Jesus does not turn away from this man. Jesus heals him. The demons go into a herd of pigs. The herd runs down the bank into the lake and is drowned. The swineherds go into the town and tell what Jesus has done. Then everyone comes out and they see this man sitting at the feet of Jesus in the posture of a disciple. He is fully clothed and of sound mind. All the people of that area ask Jesus to leave them. They are afraid. One reason for their fear is that they have just lost a herd of pigs, an economic hardship. Jesus has set a man free from illness, but this action has an effect on the local economy. The presence of Jesus in our lives often calls us to reorganize our priorities.

The man who has been healed has become a disciple. He asks if he can come with Jesus, but Jesus tells him to go and proclaim in his own area the good news of what God has done.

Our reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians is one of the most powerful portions of Holy Scripture. Because of the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord, we have all been clothed in Christ. We are all children of God. “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” Jesus breaks down all barriers—race, religion, class, socioeconomic status, gender, all barriers. We are all one in Christ Jesus.

The story of Elijah is also our story. Sometimes it is difficult to try to do God’s will. We can get discouraged. We can feel like giving up. But God is always there to nourish us and renew our spirits. Strengthened by his encounter with God, Elijah goes on to become as great a leader as Moses.

This week, we have been dealing with a tragedy. A young man, who was a perpetrator of unreported domestic violence, who had outbursts of anger which alarmed co-workers, who was described by his ex-wife as mentally ill, murdered forty-nine people.

Imam Hassan Islam, the leader of the Islamic Society of Vermont, was the first religious leader to reach out to the Vermont Pride Center. The Senior Imam of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, Imam Muhammad Musri, spoke on Sunday morning, asking people of all faiths to pray for the victims and families and to help in any way that they could.

I ask that we continue to pray for those who have been injured and those who have died, for their families, and for those who are ministering to the many folks whose lives have been touched by this event.

I also ask that we pray for God’s guidance in this matter, knowing that God will probably come to us as a still, small voice, a thin whisper. May we listen very carefully for that voice.

May we, as individuals and as a nation, seek and do God’s will. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 1 Kings 19, Elijah, Galatians 3, James D. Newsome, Luke 8, Paul, Psalm 42 and 43 | Leave a comment »

Pentecost 4 Proper 6C RCL June 12, 2016

Posted on June 12, 2016 by Beth Crane

1 Kings 21:1-10, (11-14). 15-21a
Psalm 5:1-8
Galatians 2:15-21
Luke 7:36-8:3

Our opening reading tells one of the most disgraceful stories in the Bible. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel do not worship God. They worship the fertility god Baal. They are completely corrupt, accumulating money and power and possessions beyond any reasonable measure, and doing it at the expense of the peasants who do not even have the necessities of life.

King Ahab decides that he wants to own the vineyard of Naboth. He wants to turn this priceless vineyard into a vegetable garden. That is an insulting thought. This is one of the finest vineyards in Jezreel, an area known for its excellent vineyards. To take this land and turn it into a vegetable garden would be an affront to Naboth and his family and an example of terrible stewardship. Furthermore, scholars tell us that Leviticus prohibits selling family land to anyone outside the family, so now Ahab is actually asking Naboth to break the law. Naboth refuses to sell the vineyard.

Aha goes home and has a major pout. Naboth will not do Ahab’s will. Naboth is trying to do God’s will. But Ahab is so far beyond any morality or consideration for others that he lies down on his bed and won’t eat. The king is behaving like a two year of having a tantrum.

Jezebel rushes in to fix this situation. Using all the power of the monarchy, she sends a letter with instructions to have two scoundrels bring charges against Naboth so that he can be killed. Naboth is an honest and respected man, but the men of the city and the elders and the nobles fall right in line. Any ethical principles they may have had fly right out of the window. They join in this plot, which is such a misuse of power by those who are supposed to be leading and serving the people, and Naboth is killed.

Jezebel tells Ahab that he can now take possession of the vineyard, so Ahab sets out for Jezreel. And now, poor Elijah, the last prophet of God in Israel, has the unfortunate task of telling Ahab that his violent, selfish, unlawful and unethical behavior is the exact opposite of what God would be calling him to do and that such behavior has dire consequences.

King Ahab and Queen Jezebel are people who have lost any concept of a moral compass. They use their power to take what they want and they have no regard for their subjects. This is not what God expects of people in leadership positions.

In our gospel, Jesus is invited to eat with a Pharisee named Simon. Simon is at the top of the social ladder. He is supposedly a shining example of one who follows the law. Yet, when a woman, who is labeled, a “sinner,” comes in and anoints the feet of Jesus, Simon begins to question Jesus. If Jesus were truly a prophet, Simon thinks to himself, he would realize that this woman is beyond the pale, unacceptable, not someone we would associate with. But here is Jesus, letting her anoint his feet and kiss his feet and cry and dry his feet with her hair. So I am concluding, thinks Simon, that Jesus is not a prophet after all. I’ll have to remember never to invite him again; he is just not the genuine article.

Jesus senses exactly what Simon is thinking, and he tries to explain. I think Jesus has met this woman before, and she has shared some things, and he has healed her. When we come to a point in our lives where we realize how broken we are and how much we need help, and how much we need healing, not only physical healing bur spiritual healing, and we turn to God, and God gathers us in to God’s loving arms, and we tell God what is going on with us, and, of course God already knows but it is good for us to lay it out in so many words, and God forgives us and gives us words of wisdom and encouragement and touches us deep in our heart and soul and fills us with strength and wholeness and sets us on a new path with a new life, we are grateful beyond measure, and we just want to go to God and say, “Thank you, God, for your love, and I love you back with my whole heart.” That’s what this woman is doing.

But Simon will never understand this because Simon has no sense of his brokenness or his sin, because Simon feels he is as near to perfection as anyone could possibly be, thank you very much. He follows the letter of the law and that’s it. Simon does not need God. He does not understand God’s love and forgiveness because he has never acknowledged his need for forgiveness.

We are here because we do understand this. We have gone through times when we would not have made it through without God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and our friends in the Body of Christ. This is what St. Paul is talking about when he writes, I have been crucified in Christ, and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Christ has come into our lives, and he is living in us, and for that, we are so grateful that it is difficult to find words to express that gratitude. Thank God that we have hymns and psalms and music to try to say thank you to God.

Being reserved Vermonters, we probably would not kneel at Jesus’ feet and anoint his feet with oil and dry his feet with our hair. We would probably also be tongue-tied if we happened to meet Jesus at a dinner. But we can understand why she did it.

Our Lord has done so much for us, and even now he is with us and leads us like a Good Shepherd. We are thankful for all his gifts. He sets a table before us in the presence of those who trouble us. He anoints our heads with oil. Our cup runs over with blessings.

The attitude of gratitude is a powerful thing. May we thank God this day and every day for all the gifts God has bestowed on us, most especially, the gifts of love, grace, healing, and forgiveness. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 1 Kings 21, Galatians 2, Jezebel and Ahab, Luke 7, Naboth, Paul, Psalm 5, Simon | Leave a comment »

Pentecost 3 Proper 5C RCL June 5, 2016

Posted on June 5, 2016 by Beth Crane

i Kings 17:8-16, (17-24)
Psalm 146
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17

In all of our readings this morning, we hear a theme of hope and promise: God gives life. Christ brings new life.

In our first reading, Elijah is called to go into Gentile territory, to the region of Sidon, the home country of Queen Jezebel, who worships Baal, the fertility god. Elijah is called to go to the home of a widow, and we remember that, in that time, widows and children were the most vulnerable people. A widow would normally go to her extended family after her husband had died. She would then have the protection of the men of her family.

But this widow is alone with her son, and, when Elijah arrives, they are about to have their last meal. Elijah gives her God’s promise that they will not run out of food until the rains come and end the famine. The woman is skeptical, but the promise is fulfilled.

Then the woman’s son is stricken with a deadly illness. The text says,
“There was no breath in him.” This is a worse calamity than the famine. The woman is going to lose her beloved son, her only living relative. The woman thinks Elijah has brought this tragedy on her. But Elijah asks her to give him her son, and she trusts him enough to do so. Elijah carries the boy upstairs and puts him on his own bed. He prays with all his heart and the boy is revived. The woman now has faith in Elijah and in God.

God brings life in two ways. The woman and her son are about to starve to death in a time of famine, and their last remnants of food just keep lasting and lasting. Then the son has no breath in him, and he is brought back to life. In this text, God reaches out beyond the usual boundaries, into the land of the Phoenicians, the land of Baal. God reaches out to an obscure widow, someone who has no power in the culture, and her son, who has even less power. God feeds them and then God transforms death and hopelessness into life and hope.

This is good news for all those on the margins of society.

In our reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. Paul is telling his story, and what an inspiring and honest story it is. Paul did not receive the gospel from a teacher or a preacher. He received it directly from Jesus. He had just witnessed the martyrdom of St. Stephen, and he was going to Damascus to continue his work of persecuting followers of Jesus. On the way, our Lord spoke to him and changed his life.

Sometimes we humans can be so sure that we are doing the right thing. We can rise to the top of the power structure in doing something we think is good, and then we find out that we were going down a destructive and wrong path. That was Paul. He was killing people in the name of God.

Once he saw the light of Christ, there was no stopping Paul. He traveled around the Mediterranean Sea, planting churches. Paul had been living a life of persecution. God gave him a new life and called him to proclaim the gospel of love and forgiveness.

In our gospel, Jesus has just healed the centurion’s slave. As he enters the town of Nain, a tragedy is unfolding. People are carrying the body of a man who has died. Jesus finds out that this young man is his mother’s only son. She doesn’t even have to ask Jesus for help. He sees her overwhelming grief, and his compassion flows out to her.

Jesus comes forward and touches the bier, and then he calls on the young man to rise. Instantly, the young man sits up and begins to speak. It would be interesting to hear what he said, but that will always be a mystery.

The text says, “Jesus gave him to his mother.” Jesus does not rush off. He gives this young man to his mother as the greatest gift anyone could give. As parents, we all know that having a child die is the worst tragedy that can happen. Now, Jesus gives this young man back to his mother, and her son is alive. Once again, he is giving the son the gift of life itself, and he is giving the mother a new life with her beloved son.

The crowd thinks Jesus is a great prophet in the tradition of Elijah. They know the story of the widow of Zarephath and her son. As time goes on, they will find out who Jesus really is.

The theme for today is: God brings life. When we are at the end of our rope; when we have tied a knot at the end of that rope and we are hanging on for dear life; when the world looks dark and all hope has gone; when we have tried plan A, Plan B, and every other plan, God brings life and hope. God brings life. Christ brings newness of life.

The other theme of these readings is that God cares about the least of us. God cares about those who have very little. God cares for those who have no power, no influence, no wealth, no status. God cares about everyone, and God cares especially for those who are living at the margins.

Our readings today are telling us that God cares deeply about how we treat those who, like the widows and children in these readings, have very little buffer between them and total disaster.

Like the Ladies’ Auxiliary of Grace Church, who for decades ministered to folks here and abroad, may we continue to reach out to those who need hope and help. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 1 Kings 17, Elijah, Galatians 1, Luke 7, Paul, Psalm 146, St. Stephen | Leave a comment »

Easter 7 C RCL May 8, 2016

Posted on May 8, 2016 by Beth Crane

Acts 16: 16-34
Psalm 97
Revelation 22: 12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John 17:20-26

This past Thursday, the Church celebrated the Feast of the Ascension. Jesus has gone to be with God. A week from now we will celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, which will complete the Easter season.

In our first reading this morning, Paul and his companions meet a slave girl who has a spirit of divination. Some men have enslaved her, and they are making a large amount of money from her gift. She is calling out in a loud voice that Paul and his team are followers of God who are showing people the path to salvation.

After several days of this, Paul becomes annoyed and tells the spirit to come out of her. Her owners, whom Herbert O’Driscoll calls “pimps,” are so upset at the loss of their profitable business that they bring charges against Paul and his team. Their accusations are expressed in the most lofty terms. They present Paul and his helpers as enemies of the public good.

Paul and the team are given a severe flogging and placed in the most secure cell. An earthquake comes, destroys the building and frees them. The jailer is afraid that they have escaped. This could cost him his life. Paul reassures him that his prisoners are present and accounted for. The jailer realizes that Paul and his team are representatives of God. The jailer and his entire household are baptized.

This reading is so timely. We know that human trafficking, prostitution, and other firms of exploitation are rampant in our world.

At our Diocesan Convention this year, we are going to be discussing these issues, and we are going to meet an extraordinary person. Her name is Becca Stevens, and she is the founder of a ministry called Thistle Farms. According to information on their website, Thistle Farms is “the largest social enterprise in the United States run by survivors.”

Becca writes, When I first began working with women on the streets of Nashville I had one child and was pregnant with my second. The idea of opening a two year free sanctuary for women survivors had been simmering for years. But with the demands of work and a growing family that idea was just sitting on the back burner. Then one afternoon late in 1994 I was leaving work and putting my four year old son in the car when he looked up at me and asked, “Momma, why is that lady smiling?”

The billboard he could see was a huge image of a stripper in a cat suit smiling. The question broke my heart because I knew one day he wouldn’t ask it. The sign would just fade into the landscape where women are bought and sold without notice. On that day, I felt I had a fire burning in my chest and knew I needed to open the first home for women who have survived lives of trafficking, addiction, and prostitution. The woman in the cat suit was a sign. What I would also learn later is that because I have a history of child sex abuse in my background… I had a deep connection to the women I was serving in shelters and in ministry on the streets at that time. My son was a living prayer, and by the grace of God that day I could see the sign and hear the prayer.

I quote from Thistle Farm literature: “In 1997, Episcopal priest Becca Stevens opened one home for four women survivors of trafficking, addiction, and prostitution under the name Magdalene. Today, the residential program of Thistle Farms serves over 700 women yearly with advocacy and referral services as well as managing a two-year residential program and an inmate program, Magdalene on the Inside. The residential program offers housing, medical care, therapy, education and job training without charging women or receiving government funding. No staff member lives with residents. Instead the community is guided by 24 spiritual principles. We believe that in the end, love is the post powerful force for change in the world.”

Here are the 24 Spiritual Principles and again I quote: “1) Come Together; 2) Proclaim Original Grace; 3) Cry with Your Creator; 4) Find Your Place in the Circle; 5) Think of the Stranger as God; 6) Take the longer path; 7) Make a Small Change and See the Big Difference; 8) Let God Sort It Out; 9) Stand on New Ground and Believe You Are Not Lost; 10) Forgive and Feel Freedom; 11) Unite Your Sexuality and Spirituality; 12) Show Hospitality to All; 13) Laugh at Yourself; 14) Consider the Thistle; 15) Listen to a New Idea; 16) Lose Gracefully; 17) Remember You Have Been in the Ditch; 18) Walk Behind; 19) Live in Gratitude; 20) Love Without Judgment; 21) Stay on Point; 22) Pray for Courage; 23) Find Your Way Home; 24) Leave Thankfully.”

One more quotation: “Why the Thistle? Thistles grow on the streets and alleys where the women of Thistle Farms have walked. Considered weeds, thistles have a deep root that can shoot through concrete and survive drought. In spite of their prickly appearance, their royal and soft purple center makes the thistle a mysterious and gorgeous flower. Being a Thistle Farmer means the world is our farm and that we choose to love all creation.”

Paul and his team freed a woman from slavery. Our epistle prays that the grace of the Lord Jesus may be with all the saints. In our gospel for today, Jesus prays that we all may be made one, and that the love which God has given him may be in us, and that we may be in Christ and he in us.

The theme of Thistle Farms is “Love heals.” The ministry of Thistle Farms is a wonderful response to the call and challenge of today’s readings. You can learn much more at thistlefarms.org.

May we respect the dignity of every human being. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: Acts 16:16-34, Becca Stevens, Easter 7, Herbert O'Driscoll, John 17, Paul, Psalm 97, Revelation 22, Thistle Farm | Leave a comment »

Easter 6C RCL Year C May 1, 2016

Posted on May 1, 2016 by Beth Crane

Acts 16:9-15
Psalm 67
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
John 14:23-29

Once again, our opening lesson places us in the midst of an important scene in the course of history. Paul and his ministry team are in Troas, a city near ancient Troy in what we would call Turkey. Paul has a vision. A man from Macedonia is calling him to “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” We do not know who the man in the vision is, but it is clear that Paul takes this to be a call from God.

We are given the exact route that they follow. They are going from the continent of Asia to Europe. They are going to make history. They are going to proclaim the Good News on a new continent.

They land in Philippi, an important Roman city. They remain there for several days. When the Sabbath comes they go outside the city gate to a place of prayer by the river. They are hoping to find a synagogue where Paul, a Rabbi, would have the right to teach.

But they find no building. Instead they find a group of women gathered for worship. Paul and his team sit down and talk with the women. There are two striking things going on here. In the ancient world, it would be highly unusual to find a group of women worshiping together, and it also would be unusual for a rabbi to sit down with these women. God is dong a new thing. Barriers are coming down.

Among these women is an extraordinary person named Lydia. She is a dealer in purple cloth. Most scholars see her as a prosperous business woman. Since only the Roman nobility were allowed to wear purple cloth because purple symbolizes royalty, scholars tell us that we can assume that Lydia is accustomed to dealing with the noble class.

Lydia is a seeker. She is a Gentile who is interested in learning about God. The Lord opens her heart to listen eagerly to Paul, and she and her household are baptized. This is another unusual thing. Lydia is the head of a household.

She takes her faith so seriously that she immediately invites Paul and his team to stay in her house. After some persuasion, they accept, Later, after Paul and Silas are released from prison, they go to stay with her again. By that time, services are being held on a regular basis in her house. It has become a house church.

Lydia and her community of women who are engaged in the cloth trade are the first converts in Europe. The church in Philippi was the first Christian community in Europe, and it was a loving and faithful group of people. Paul loved them very much.

Here we have the story of how our faith spread from Asia to Europe, People meet beside the river to learn more about God and a new faith community is born.

Our reading from the Book of Revelation describes the glorious and eternal worship of Christ, the Lamb of God.

In our gospel, Jesus is continuing his teaching of the apostles in preparation for the ascension. He is going to leave them, and he is trying to give them everything they will need to carry on faithfully when he is no longer here on earth.

He is telling them and us that, even though he will not be here in a physical sense, the Holy Spirit will be with us, and the Spirit is the presence of Christ with us. The Spirit leads us and guides us as it did Paul and his team in our first lesson.

Jesus tells us several very important things in this reading. First, the heart of our life with him and in him is love, and the quality of our love for him will be demonstrated in our actions.

Secondly, we will always have his peace, his shalom. This means that, no matter what happens to us, his presence and his stillness and faith will always be within us. In addition, the vision of his shalom, his reign of peace and harmony for the whole world, will always be our vision.

He has taught us to respect the dignity of every human being, and in our opening reading we see Paul and his helpers sitting and praying with a group of women to whom they would not have been allowed to speak if they had been following the customs and laws of that time.

He has called us to create a world of peace in which everyone has enough to eat, clothes to wear, a place to live, good and useful work to do, adequate medical care, a world in which all people can feel safe. He has called us to help him to extend his shalom to the whole creation.

Perhaps most of all he has assured us that he will be with us wherever we are. He will be with us in the sharing of bread and wine which is the food of his love and presence and energy. He will be with us as we pray for healing for our brothers and sisters, and our beloved pets. He will be with us in times of joy and in times of loss. He will be with us in every moment. He will abide in us and we in him.

When Paul and his helpers landed in Philippi, and then rested, and then went to the river to find the praying community they brought with them the presence of Christ. Lydia was waiting for that moment. It changed her life. The Church began in Philippi, and countless others were able to experience the presence of Christ in a community of deep faith.

Thanks be to God for two hundred years of that experience of the presence of Christ here at Grace, and thanks be to God for all the saints who, like Lydia, accepted our Lord with all their hearts and spread the Good News.

May we follow in their footsteps. Amen

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: Acts 16, Easter 6, John 14, Lydia, Paul, Philippi, Psalm 67, Revelation 21 | Leave a comment »

Easter 3C RCL April 10, 2016

Posted on April 10, 2016 by Beth Crane

Acts 9:1-6, (7-20)
Psalm 30
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19

During the fifty days of the Easter season, all of our readings are from the New Testament, or Greek Scriptures. This morning, our readings tell powerful stories of how God works with us human beings. God can see in us potential that we don’t always see in ourselves.

In our opening reading from the Book of Acts, we meet Saul of Tarsus, a devout Pharisee and Roman citizen who is totally consumed with the idea of killing followers of the Way. The beginning of the passage describes Saul as “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.” He has gone to the high priest to get permission to go to Damascus and capture and tie up any followers of Jesus and bring them back to Jerusalem to be punished. He has already witnessed the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr.

But on the way to Damascus, something happens which transforms Saul. A light from heaven flashes around him and he falls to the ground. Jesus asks him that haunting question, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Jesus tells Saul to go into the city and he will receive further instructions. The men who are with Saul have heard the voice but they could not see Jesus. Saul gets up. His eyes are open but he cannot see. So they lead him by the hand into Damascus. What an image—this man who is destined to be a great saint being led by the hand into Damascus. There are times when we need to be led by the hand, too, times when we need the help of God and others to find the way.

Jesus calls a disciple named Ananias to go and lay hands upon Saul to help him regain his sight and to receive the Holy Spirit. Saul has been blinded by the light of Christ. When Ananias lays hands upon him, the text says that “something like scales fell from his eyes.” Saul is baptized. He stays and studies with the disciples in Damascus, and then he goes on his mission to the Gentiles. Later his name becomes Paul.

Some lines from “Amazing Grace” fit this situation. “I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see.” Jesus took someone who hated him and was trying to kill his disciples and made him into a great theologian and evangelist. So often we see, but we do not see. Jesus can give us vision to see and understand things that we did not see before.

In our gospel for today, Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James, John, and two others go fishing. They catch nothing. Just before daybreak, Jesus is standing on the shore, but they do not recognize him. He asks if they have caught any fish. They have caught nothing. So he tells them to cast the net to the right side of the boat, and there are so many fish they can hardly haul in the net. That’s how our Lord is, Just when we think there is no hope, he comes along and shows us the way.

Suddenly, John says that it is Jesus on the shore. Peter quickly puts on some clothes, jumps into the water, and swims to shore. He can’t get there fast enough. The rest of them row the boat, laden with fish. Jesus gives them a breakfast of bread and fish.

Then comes the amazing scene of forgiveness and healing. Peter has denied Jesus three times. The number three is a symbol of completeness. Peter has denied Jesus completely. This is terrible. But Jesus asks him, “Peter, do you love me more than these?”And Peter answers, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus says to him, “Feed my lambs.” Jesus asks a second time, and Peter answers that he loves the Lord. And Jesus says, “Tend my sheep.” Jesus asks a third time, and Peter is hurt, He says, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” And Jesus says, “Feed my sheep.” Peter has done a complete denial of Jesus. But now, Jesus is granting Peter complete forgiveness and commissioning him to go out into the world and feed his people. Peter, who denied Jesus three time, becomes the leader of the apostles.

When we have done things we should not have done or not done things we should have done. In other words, when we have sinned, we usually feel terrible about it. But our Lord is calling us to accept his forgiveness and to do the ministries he calls us to do. Peter was well aware that he had denied Jesus at a crucial moment because he was afraid. He felt awful about this failure on his part. I think Peter confessed this to God in many times of prayer following the crucifixion, and I am sure that Jesus was well aware of Peter’s sincere regret and his determination to be as faithful a disciple as he could possibly be. This is how our Lord is with us. After this powerful dialogue and exchange of love and forgiveness, Jesus says to Peter and to us, “Follow me.”

As our psalm so beautifully reminds us, “Weeping may spend the night, but joy comes in the morning.”

At the center of our lessons is our reading from the Book of Revelation, the prayer of adoration to our Lord, who reigns in heaven. God takes the most unlikely people and calls them to ministry. Because of the experience he had in his own life, Paul could share the powerful story of how he had met Christ and how the risen Lord showed him that he needed to change his whole attitude and purpose in life. Peter was heartbroken about his denial of Jesus. But when he realized that it was the risen Lord standing on the beach preparing breakfast for them, he jumped into the water and swam ashore, so eager was he to clasp Jesus in a bear hug full of love, faith, true repentance, and courage to do whatever he was called to do in order to serve Christ.

Jesus has the power to give us courage we didn’t know we had. Jesus has the power to help us to see the world and other people in new ways. Jesus has the power to show us gifts we never knew we had. Jesus has the power to transform us so that we can transform the world.

Alleluia! The Lord is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia! Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: Acts 9, Easter 3, John 21, Paul, Psalm 30, Revelation 5, Saul of Tarsus | Leave a comment »

Lent 5C RCL March 13, 2016

Posted on March 13, 2016 by Beth Crane

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

Our first reading today is addressed to the people of God exiled in Babylon. They have been there for about fifty years. Elders have died, babies have been born. Hope is almost gone. The prophet we call the Second Isaiah speaks the word of God to the people and to us.

The opening portion of the text is reminding us of how God’s people escaped slavery in Egypt. God parted the waters; the people ran with all their might; the chariots of their captors tried to follow but sank in the mud. The people escaped. And God is saying that God is going to do a new thing that is even greater than freeing the people from that slavery.

God is going to make rivers in the desert. God is going to make a path in the desert for the people to follow. There will be plenty of water and the desert will bloom. The people are going home.

Our gospel for today is also found in the three other gospel accounts. In Matthew and Mark, the woman who anoints Jesus’ feet is not named. In Luke, she is described as a sinner, and, in one of the greatest misinterpretations of Scripture that has ever occurred, an ancient writer said that this sinner was Mary Magdalene. Nowhere does the text say that.

In John’s gospel, the woman is one we know well—Mary, the sister of Martha. Mary is the one who sits at the feet of Jesus to learn from him. She thus becomes one of the disciples.

It is six days before the Passover. Jesus comes to the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany, just a little way outside Jerusalem. Some time ago ago, he had raised Lazarus from the dead. This home in Bethany is one of the few places where Jesus can feel safe. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are good friends and staunch supporters. He can talk with them and seek advice from them. He can relax with them.

After dinner, Mary brings a pound of pure nard, very expensive because it comes from the Himalayan Mountains. She anoints Jesus’ feet just as he will soon wash the feet of his disciples. She wipes his feet with her hair. Judas raises a point about the expense. Couldn’t that money have been used for the poor? This is the height of hypocrisy on his part. We know that he took money from their common purse. He was an embezzler in addition to being a traitor.

Jesus defends this faithful woman disciple. Mary is actually anointing Jesus for burial. She knows the price that he is going to pay, and she honors him with her love and loyalty. She will be there until the end.

In our passage from his Letter to the Philippians, St. Paul says so much. He has many reasons to be confident according to the world’s values. He holds a very high status. He is a Pharisee and a Roman citizen. But it is as nothing to him. He calls it “rubbish.” All his former prestige is worthless to him. It’s actually a loss on his books because of the “surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,” he writes.

Because of Jesus, Paul is now in right relationship with God, and he says that he wants to get to know our Lord more and more and he wants to become like our Lord in his death so that he can know the power of his resurrection. In other words, we have to give up all the old worldly stuff as Jesus gave up everything. We have to give up the idea of our power and prestige and empty ourselves of all that so that we can live in Christ and he can live in us.

And then Paul says something that gives us great hope, He says that he has not fully arrived. He has not reached the goal, but “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Here on the fifth Sunday in Lent, we are looking forward to one week from now, Palm Sunday, when we will be witnesses at the crucifixion of our Lord. We know that we are not 100 percent living in Christ and allowing him to live in us. We are on the road, but we are not fully there. What a comfort it is to hear that Paul is not fully there either. But then he gives us a powerful example. We are runners in a race. We are spiritual athletes.

There is a great deal of the past that we need to forget. Yes, learn from it and remember those learnings so that we do not make the same mistakes again, but then let it go. Let it go because our Lord has taken care of it. We are forgiven. And then put our energies into living in Christ and letting him live in us. No, we are not fully there, but let us let go of the pain and failure of the past, ask our Lord for help, and move firmly, one step at a time, into the future with him.

We are partners with Christ in this journey. We are called to do our part. He has made a great sacrifice. He did it out of love for us. But he can’t run the race for us. We have to do it in partnership with him. That is what Paul is talking about today.

When Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with that priceless nard, she was giving all she had to honor our Lord. We are being called to follow her example. Will we commit ourselves to walking with him? Will we press on toward the goal, counting on his grace but also giving it all we have?

May we follow him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength that we may live in him and he in us. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: Babylonian Exite, Isaiah 43:16-21, John 12:1-8, Lent, Paul, Philippians 3:4b-14, Psalm 126 | Leave a comment »

Lent 4C RCL March 6, 2016

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Beth Crane

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

In our opening reading today, Moses has died and God has called Joshua to lead God’s people. They have crossed the River Jordan and have reached the promised land. They celebrate their first Passover in their new home. They have escaped their slavery in Egypt and they are now free. They will no longer need the heavenly manna that has sustained them, for they will be enjoying the produce of their new land. In this lesson, we hear the important themes of freedom from slavery, new beginnings, and, of course, God’s generosity and guidance and love for all of us.

Our gospel for today is the beloved parable of the prodigal son. Some people call it the parable of the lost son because it follows the parable of the lost sheep whose shepherd left the ninety-nine other sheep and searched until he found the lost one. It also follows right after the parable of the lost coin. The housewife searched and searched until she found it. Some people call this the parable of the loving father or the generous father.

Although this story is familiar, every time we hear it we can see it in a new way. We can identify with the younger son in that we, too, have made some unwise decisions in our lives and have asked God’s forgiveness. We can also identify with the older son in situations when we feel that our loyalty has been taken for granted and we have not received enough recognition for our hard work. We can also identify with the father when we think of all that we have done for our children.

The younger son asks for his inheritance and he goes to a far country and spends it all. He ends up feeding pigs, which, for a Jewish young man is terrible because pigs are unclean and now he is considered unclean. He comes to himself. We have all had experiences like this. We go off on a tangent and make a series of bad choices, and one day we realize that this is not who we want to be. This is not our real and true self. This is not who God is calling us to be.

The younger son goes home to ask his father for forgiveness. His father is out there at the end of the driveway waiting for him with open arms. There is a feast because this son was lost and now is found. When one of us finds our way back, there is great joy in heaven.

The older son is fuming and he tells his father what is on his mind. “Here I have slaved and slaved for you and you never so much as let me have a party with my friends. Now you’re throwing a big wing ding for this son who has spent our family’s money.”

And then the father says the thing that tells us so much. “Son, I know that you have been with me always and you have worked very hard. Everything that I have is yours. This feast is for you, too. But we have to celebrate because your brother is now found.”

It’s a both-and. It’s not that the feast is just for the younger brother. It is a continuous feast for all of us in the Communion of Saints, and it is also a feast for those who have gone way off the path and have returned. It is a feast for those who have been faithful from the word go and all the rest of us who have made mistakes along the way.

Saint Paul addresses some of this when he writes, “We regard no one from a human point of view.” He knows what he is talking about because when he did regard things from a human point of view, he thought that anyone who did not follow the law and anyone who was not part of the in-group should be killed. That is why he went around persecuting the followers of Jesus.

But then he met our Lord on the road to Damascus and Jesus asked him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he saw the world in an entirely different way. He saw the world from the point of view of Christ. And that is why he can write, with stirring conviction, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. Everything old has passed away. See, everything has become new!” Now I know that just because my father gives a feast for my brother who lost his way does not mean that I don’t get a feast, too. God is incredibly generous, loving, and inclusive.

God is reaching out to everyone in a spirit of reconciliation. and God is calling us to carry out the ministry of reconciliation.

But there is an important point to keep in mind. If Saul had not listened to Jesus, if he had continued on his destructive path, we would never have had this letter to read. If the younger son had not come to himself and repented and turned back toward God and gone home to confess his destructive behavior which affected not only his family but all the workers on his father’s land and all the folks in the surrounding area who depended on his father for their livelihoods; if we humans do not come to our true selves and acknowledge our destructive behavior, and confess it with a sincere intention to change our behavior, there is no reconciliation possible. It is a two-way street. There are people who do all kinds of destructive things to other people and have no idea of the damage they are doing. They think they are doing just fine. Their chances of true repentance and full commitment to changing their behavior are small.

Most of us in this sacred place right now are somewhere on the other end of the spectrum. We are acutely aware of our errors and are genuinely pained by our sinfulness. We sincerely confess, and we truly want to change. We know we need God’s help. The parable of the prodigal or lost son is for us. We feel so distressed and sad about our sins that it is easy for us to feel hopeless. This is why, especially during this season of self-examination and repentance and metanoia, conversion, we need to hear this parable.

God is out there at the end of the driveway waiting for us to come home—home to God, home to our best and truest self, home to the human family, home to the feast of forgiveness and new life. God is waiting to wrap us in a big hug and welcome us home to the awareness that God’s love and healing are far bigger and deeper than we could ever imagine and that we are welcome to God’s infinite and eternal feast. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 2 corinthians 5, Joshua 5:9-12, Lent, Luke 15, parable of the prodigal son, Paul, Psalm 32, Road to Damascus, Saul | Leave a comment »

Last Sunday after the Epiphany Year C RCL February 7, 2016

Posted on February 7, 2016 by Beth Crane

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

We are ending the Epiphany season and getting ready to enter the season of Lent. In our opening reading from the Book of Exodus, Moses comes down from the mountain with the tablets of the Ten Commandments in his hand. The skin of his face is shining with the shekina, the light of the presence of God.

Moses is showing forth the glory of God because he has spent time in the presence of God receiving the Law. This makes him a holy person, a person to be revered and admired. It also makes him someone to be feared because people of that time believed that you could not see God and live. So Moses veils his face to protect the people from the light of God’s presence.

As we look at our reading from the Second Letter to the Corinthians, we remember that Paul was a Pharisee, a legal scholar, and an expert on the Law. He had studied the Law carefully all his life. Yet he is the one who said that the law convicts us. We do the things that we do not want to do, and we do not do the things that we know we should do, and we are caught in a tangle of sin, and we are paralyzed in that tangle and we lose hope of ever making any progress.

In this letter, Paul is contrasting the grace of the law and the grace that comes through Jesus. Moses had to put a veil over his face because people were scared of God. Now, we can see God face to face as we look into the face of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. And so, we are a people of hope. We are being transformed into the likeness of Christ.

In our gospel for today, we go up on the mountain with our Lord. Just before this, Jesus has asked the disciples who they think he is, and Peter has replied that Jesus is the messiah. We go up the mountain to pray with our Lord, and with Peter and James and John. And Jesus shines forth with the presence and power of God. Then Moses and Elijah, the two great prophets, are talking with him, and they are shining with the light of God’s presence.

Peter and James and John are, the text says, “weighed down with sleep.” We know how that feels. They have been awake for a long time, They are tired, but they are awake and they see Jesus and Moses and Elijah.

Peter knows that this is a holy moment and he thinks it would be good to build a shrine so that they can come back and see Jesus and these two great prophets. But, like all mountaintop experiences, this one cannot be frozen in time.

And then the cloud, much like the cloud that often hung about Mt. Sinai when Moses was meeting with God, the cloud that signifies God’s presence, descends upon the mountain, and God tells them and us, “This is my Son, my Chosen. Listen to him!”

The next minute, the cloud is gone; Moses and Elijah are gone. Jesus stands alone.

We have all had those mountaintop experiences. There may have been moments on retreats when we have been aware of the closeness of our Lord. We realize that he has been leading and guiding us all the time, and we can sense the depth of his love for us.

Our mountaintop experience may have been time in worship when the beauty of the service touches us so deeply that we cannot even find words to express it. When I first began to attend the Episcopal Church, just those few words at the end of the Lord’s prayer, “For ever and ever,” meant so much to me. They gave me a sense of the everlasting and infinite nature of God. Ancient chants such as, “Let all mortal flesh keep silence” express so much about the power and holiness of God.

So often, these moments come right in the midst of ordinary life. Barbara Brown Taylor writes of feeling close to God as she was hanging laundry on the line in the warm sun and the fresh air. How often have we been deeply aware of God’s presence in a sunrise or a sunset, in a beautiful natural setting.

Many times, we sense God’s presence when we are with people we love. Their acceptance and understanding when we share something that is troubling us; their wise guidance when we are feeling overwhelmed; or their enthusiastic sharing of a triumphant moment in our lives all speak of God’s love.

Today, we are on the mountaintop with Jesus, and we see who he really is. We see the glory of God radiating from him, but we are not like the people of Moses’ time so many centuries ago. We are not afraid. We see who he really is, but we also experience his love. We remember all the sick people he has healed, all the children he has held in his arms, all the people who thought they were outcasts welcomed into his loving community. We remember all that he has done for us.

So, when we are commanded to listen to him, this is something we can do. We can listen to him and we can follow him, because he has taken away the old fear and replaced it with love. He has taken away the old paralysis in the face of the law and replaced it with hope, He has taken away the overwhelming weight of sin and replaced it with forgiveness and the grace to learn and do better.

We are on a journey with him to become more like him. We are on a journey of transformation. May we follow him. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 2 Corinthians, Exodus 34, Luke 9, Moses, Paul, Psalm 99, shekina, Ten Commandments, Transfiguration | Leave a comment »

Pentecost 15 Proper 20 A RCL September 21, 2014

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Beth Crane

Exodus 16:2-15
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16

In our first reading, we join God’s people on their journey. We’ve all been on journeys of one kind or another, perhaps a road trip or a hike, or a bike trip. Or we have begun a journey of another kind. We have gone into
therapy, or we have made a decision to recover from an addiction.

At first, it’s exciting and every day is an adventure, but gradually, it becomes a struggle. If we are on a hike, the mountain seems as though it’s straight up at a ninety-degree angle. If we are on a car trip, we wonder when we are going to get there. If we are doing hard internal spiritual work as in therapy or recovery, the first thrill of excitement is long gone and the work gets very difficult and we want to quit. Our brothers and sisters out in the wilderness are looking with fond nostalgia at their former life as slaves!

The journey of life, the journey with and toward God, can be a struggle at times. We complain. And God feeds us and gives us water and gives us strength to keep journeying. God is always there to help us.

In our epistle for today, Paul is writing to his beloved congregation at Philippi. Paul is in prison. He is suffering. His letter is so honest. He can’t travel around to visit all the congregations he has founded and wants to nurture. He writes, “For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.” With the suffering he is enduring, the idea of dying is attractive to Paul. He would like to “depart and be with Christ.” But he feels deeply called to continue to stay alive in order to be with these beloved people and support them. He writes, “I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel.” Paul says that he knows that the people of the congregation are not intimidated by their opponents. We do not know exactly whom he meant, but these were times of persecution. Paul actually says that it is a privilege to suffer for Christ. In our own time, Christians are being persecuted. Paul is in a challenging time on his journey and he chooses to remain alive to continue his work of nurturing all the congregations he has planted around the Mediterranean Sea.

Our gospel for today is not about how to manage a business. It is about the kingdom, the shalom, of God.

Here is the context of this parable. Matthew’s congregation was growing. New people were coming in. Some had been there from the beginning. Some of the old-timers viewed the newcomers as second class citizens. How come these new people are greeted with all of God’s grace and love when I’ve been here slaving away for so long?

We are all familiar with this parable. The landowner goes out to hire workers for the vineyard. He goes out at six o’clock and hires a group of folks and agrees to pay them the usual wage for a day’s work. Then he goes out at nine and at noon at three and at five o’clock, he says he will pay those workers what is right.

The day ends, and the manager begins with those who were hired at five. That’s rather unusual. Something is different here. He gives these latecomers a full day’s wage. If I am back in line and I have worked since dawn, and I am sweaty and tired and hungry and ready to faint in the heat, and I see this, I can begin to think, Wow! He paid that guy a whole day’s wage. The pay scale has taken a leap! He’s going to pay me more. Maybe seven or eight or twelve times more. That guy started at 5 PM and I started at 6 AM. But when I get there, the manager pays me a day’s wage, too. Maybe I am a bit upset. The pay scale has not changed. The manager paid the latecomers a full wage. But he also paid me what we had agreed upon—also a full day’s wage. The owner has been fair to me and very generous to those who arrived late in the day.

If I can identify with the person who was hired at five PM, if I can think of a time when I couldn’t find a job or if I can think of the hundreds of kids today who have gone to college and can’t find a job in their field, so they are waiting on tables or bar tending or working some other minimum wage job and still living at home, if I can identify with the vulnerable side of myself, the part of me who is out there in the market place every day and has sent out hundreds of resumes and can’t even get a response, let alone an interview, then I am beginning to understand this parable.

Jesus is always looking for workers in his vineyard. And if you are there in the village square, if you show up, it doesn’t matter whether you have a Ph.D or a high school diploma or a third grade education, if you are willing to go out there and share his love with others, he has a job for you. If you are a little older and have a few aches and pains, if you can’t see as well as you once did, if you have a disability, he sees that as a strength. All you have to do is show up. He will welcome you with all the love and respect that he would give to any one of the twelve apostles. They were there at the beginning. We have joined the community two thousand years later.

That’s how his kingdom is, That’s his shalom of peace and harmony and wholeness and healing. Everyone is treated in the same way, with the infinite love and respect that our Lord has for every one of his children. No one is losing anything. It’s just that those who are more vulnerable, those who, for one reason or another didn’t get the good news as soon as some of the rest of us, get the same embrace with wide open arms of love that Jesus gives to Peter and James and John and Mary Magdalene and Martha and Mary and Lazarus and all those who were there at the very start of it all.

Before he tells this parable, Jesus tells us that the last will be first and the first will be last. He also says this at the end of the parable. And he is on his way to Jerusalem, so all of these discussions of grace and forgiveness are in the context of the cross.

May we hold fast to those things that shall endure—God’s grace and love, and the fellowship of the Body of Christ. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: Exodus 16, Matthew 20, Paul, Pentecost 15, Philippians 1, Psalm 105, Workers in the Vineyard | Leave a comment »

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