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Pentecost 13 Proper 16B RCL August 23m 2015

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Beth Crane

1 Kings 8:(1,6,10-11), 22-30, 41-43
Psalm 84
Ephesians 6:10-20
John 6:56-69

In our opening reading, the Ark of the Covenant has been brought to the beautiful new temple. King Solomon offers an eloquent prayer. God’s presence is signified by the cloud, which is so thick the priests cannot perform their duties. Yet King Solomon acknowledges that God is far bigger than this temple, impressive as it is.

As we have followed the story of King David and his son, Solomon, the scriptures have revealed that both these leaders, though they were respected and loved by the people, were, like us, flawed human beings. One of the endearing things about the Bible is that it does not gloss over the weaknesses of our heroes. Both David and Solomon  loved God deeply yet they  sometimes made mistakes and failed to do as God would have them do. This can be reassuring to us. We don’t have to be perfect in order to love and follow our Lord.

This is made clear in our gospel for today. Even among Jesus’ followers, there were degrees of faithfulness. Judas betrayed our Lord for thirty pieces of silver. Peter denied him three times. And yet, Jesus calls us to abide in him and he says that he will abide in us. In today’s gospel, Jesus can see that some of the disciples are having problems believing in him. Some actually leave. But, when Jesus asks Peter if he wants to go elsewhere, Peter says in his forthright way that there is no one else to go to. Peter speaks volumes when he says, “We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Believing is not something that happens just with the head or with the intellect.  Believing is not simply intellectual assent. Believing and knowing involve every aspect of ourselves and of our lives. Believing involves the heart. We remember that the heart in the Biblical sense, is not just the seat of the emotions. It is also the center of the will and the spirit and the motivations. When we say that we believe in Christ, we are saying that we believe with all of our selves.

Our reading from Ephesians addresses this and gives us tools. The letter was written at a time when the Roman Empire ruled the known world. Following Jesus is seen as a cosmic battle, because the community of faith is surrounded by a culture that is violent, materialistic, and tyrannical. Christian values are very different from the values of the surrounding culture, then as now.

In this passage, Paul calls us to clothe ourselves in the virtues we are going to need, as individuals and as a Christian community. The first thing we put on is the belt of truth. Earlier in the letter, Paul said that we need to speak the truth in love in order to make the Body of Christ healthy and strong. Then we put on the breastplate of righteousness. Righteousness does not mean being holier-than-thou. Righteousness is being in a right relationship with God, being in a healthy relationship with God, depending on God for help and opening ourselves to God’s power. The Roman Empire and all empires rest on human power. The Christian community depends on God’s power.

Let us just remind ourselves of the distinction between tyranny, imperium, and authority, auctoritas, as described by the Rev. David Brown. Imperium is the boot coming down and crushing the little guys. Auctoritas is authorship, creativity, calling things into being as our Lord did at the creation, letting be, freeing. Very different kinds of power.

Our reading says, “As shoes for your feet, put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.” Shalom, the creation in harmony, with all creatures living in safety and wholeness and health. Then we take the shield of faith. The journey can be challenging. Faith is the only thing that will get us through. We are called to put on the helmet of salvation. Scholars tell us that the Hebrew word for salvation means literally “to make wide.” Kathleen Norris writes that, when Jesus said that a person’s faith has saved him or her, the Greek word would be translated “has made you well.” Salvation is being made whole. It is not something that happens in an instant; it is usually a process. Theodore Wedel says that, when we are saved, we know that we are sinners, but we also know that we are forgiven. In this passage from Ephesians, we put on the helmet of salvation and we know that we are frail humans and sinners, and we also know that we are forgiven, we are on the way to wholeness in Christ, and this gives us a sense of the protection of our Lord. We may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but we need fear no evil, because he is with us. We take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Our Lord is with us, the Spirit is with us, and we are called to speak the word of God. And we are called to pray in the Spirit at all times. That is how we stay in touch with God. We keep alert and we pray for all the saints, that is, all members of the Christian community. We are clothed in these gifts, these qualities, as we try to spread the gospel of peace, love, and healing in the world.

What are we hearing in these lessons? Our greatest heroes and heroines of the faith loved God with all their heart and soul and mind and strength, and they were not perfect. Even Jesus’ disciples were not perfect. Salvation is a sense of wholeness in Christ,  and an awareness of God’s forgiveness even as we are also aware that we are flawed.

We are on a journey. We are called to be spiritual athletes. We are called to stay in training. The Greek word for this is askesis. It is translated as ascetic.  But it does not mean that we have to go off into the desert and eat locusts and wild honey. It is what Paul is talking about in today’s reading. To stay strong in order to serve our Lord, there are tools we can use, and Paul is talking about some of those tools. Prayer is a very important one. You dear people are well acquainted with these tools. You use then every day.

We began today with the blessing of the new temple in Jerusalem.

One hundred and ninety-nine years ago, on August 12, 1816, some faithful folks gathered in Sheldon and formed what they called an Episcopal Society. Next year, Grace Church will celebrate its two-hundredth birthday. Please begin to think and pray about how to celebrate this wonderful occasion. Keep up the good work.  Amen.

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Pentecost 13 Proper 15C RCL August 18, 2013

Posted on August 18, 2013 by Beth Crane

 

Isaiah 5:1-7

Psalm 80:1-2, 8-18

Hebrews 11:29-12:2

Luke 12:49-56

In our first lesson this morning, God has lovingly created a vineyard, but the vineyard has borne wild grapes. The vineyard is a metaphor for God’s people, the Southern kingdom of Judah, who have strayed very far from God’ s call to take care of those who are most vulnerable. Unjust societies usually fall under their own weight. There will be tragic consequences for Judah.

In our gospel for today, we find Jesus grappling with some terrible realities. He is going to Jerusalem. The authorities are already after him. Fire is a metaphor for judgment. We know that the authorities of Jesus’ time were running a society that was far from God’s values, so the message of Jesus and the coming of God’s kingdom would mean a severe judgment of the world’s values and a huge upheaval. The baptism that Jesus is going to be baptized with is his death. The root word for baptism means a drowning, death. Jesus knows what he has to do. He knows that the authorities are going to try to stop him, and he just wants to get on with it.

So our Lord says these haunting words, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” He has come to bring his shalom, but, given the gap between how this world works and the kingdom of God, the birth pangs of the shalom of God are going to be wrenching.

The example that always comes to my mind when I read this gospel is the situation of a family of plantation owners in the southern United States in the Civil War. These people are devout Christians. Some family members, after agonizing prayer, have come to the conclusion that one human cannot own another. Other members of the family feel that they must continue as they have in the past. We know that then, as now, people could read the Bible and find that slavery was an accepted part of society in Biblical times. People could use the Bible to defend either side in the debate over slavery. Now, after many years, we have realized that one human being cannot own another. We are called to respect the dignity of every human being. This year, we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington, during which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his stirring “I Have a Dream” speech, which describes God’s kingdom of justice and harmony. We have made progress, but we still have a long way to go on this journey.

All of us have seen families divided by difficult issues. A young man brings home his beloved, whom he has met in college, to meet the family. He is white; she is African American. The family cannot accept her.

A young man brings home his beloved, whom he has met in college, to meet the family. His beloved is a fine young man. The family disowns their son, packs their bags, and sends them away.

A father wants his daughter to take over the family business. But she feels deeply called to join a religious order and work with nuns who are helping young African women start their own businesses and work for economic justice. The father cannot understand this.

The kingdom of God has begun. It is not yet complete, but it is growing. How do we know whether something is part of God’s kingdom or not? The Church says that when we are examining challenging issues, we are called to consider them in the light of three areas: Scripture, tradition, and reason.

What does Scripture say about the issue we are thinking about? And here, we have to be careful to study the Bible in a responsible way. We look at the work of scholars as we examine the Bible. It does not take a very long time to realize that the Bible contains many contradictions. The Bible is not meant to be a compendium of facts. It is a library of writings inspired by God but written down by fallible humans. The Bible is full of truth, but not necessarily literal, factual truth. For example, the story of creation has much truth in it, but it is not designed to be a scientific article. When we are looking at very difficult topics and questions, such as issues of race or human sexuality or economic justice I think that it is extremely important that we place primary emphasis on the gospel, What did Jesus say about it? What are the actions of Jesus in relation to this issue?

The next thing we look at is tradition. What has the Church said about this issue over these past centuries? What have theologians and scholars written about this topic?

Thirdly, we look at reason. God has given us minds to be used. As one of the posters by our Church ad service says, we Episcopalians are not asked to check our brains at the door. So we read the research of scientists. We look at all the knowledge that has been gained on whatever topic we are studying.

For example, when I was in grade school, I saw well-intentioned teachers trying to help left-handed students learn to write with their right hands. Research happened, and we learned that, across all cultures and times, a proportion of human beings are created by God as left-handed people. What we are called to do is to rejoice in all their gifts, not try to change them.

Scripture, tradition, and reason. We research these three areas as we consider tough issues. But, if we were going to try to boil it all down, I think we could say that God has a big family. It includes everyone, and each person is loved and cherished infinitely. That’s why last week Jesus said that the master sits us servants down and feeds us. There are no masters, no servants. Everyone is infinitely precious and cherished in God’s kingdom, in God’s shalom.

We all know how gentle and caring our Lord is. Today we see his unflinching courage and his steely determination.

Lord Jesus, as we move ahead, surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses, all the saints of God, we ask you to give us your grace, your caring, and your courage, so that we may build your kingdom of compassion and justice. Amen.

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