Tag: Episcopal

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Sermon: Proper 21 RCL A1 – “Massah and Meribah”

After five years of therapy, a psychiatrist told his patient, “We don’t often use the word cured, but I’m pleased to tell you that I believe you’re completely cured.”

To his surprise, the woman looked deeply disappointed.

He said, “What’s wrong? I thought you’d be thrilled.”

She said, “Doctor, look at it from my point of view. Five years ago I was Joan of Arc. Now I’m nobody.”

Expectations are funny things. They don’t just affect how we feel about what happens. They also shape how we interpret it.

Some expectations are fanciful: when I was about eight, I wanted a pair of leather pants because I expected to grow up and be a cowboy, and of course I couldn’t be a cowboy without them. Other expectations are more reasonable: you purchase a plane ticket from point A to point B, and you can pretty much expect to land at about the correct time at point B.

Today in our reading from Exodus, we hear of a reasonable expectation followed by disappointment.

The Israelites are a desert people; they know you can never travel too far from a water source. So, to get somewhere, you don’t necessarily travel in a straight line. Instead, you travel from one oasis to the next. This is what the Israelites did because it was smart if you wanted to live, and because God told them to: “The whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded.” By doing this, they came to Rephidim. The picture on the front of your bulletin shows the traditional site. It is an oasis. Why did they go there? The text is not explicit, but it is safe to say they had a reasonable expectation that there would be water.

Being in the desert without water is death, so the people quarreled with Moses: “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” Then they asked a hard question: “Is the Lord among us or not?”

We read the words of the Psalmist:
Hear my teaching, O my people;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
He worked marvels in the sight of their forefathers,
in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
He split open the sea and let them pass through;
he made the waters stand up like walls.
He led them with a cloud by day,
and all the night through with a glow of fire.

The people at Rephidim who asked, “Is the Lord among us or not,” are the same people who have experienced these praiseworthy deeds and witnessed the power of the Lord. Yet about 45 days later, when their expectations were not immediately met, they quarreled over whether God was with them.

Despite their complaints against God, the miracle came, and water flowed from the rock at Horeb. The miracle is remembered, but so is the complaining. Moses called the place Rephidim Massah and Meribah, meaning testing and quarreling. Years later, the Psalmist will instruct the people,

Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
(Psalm 95:8-9)

Sitting here in our nice air-conditioned church, it is easy to be critical of the Israelites: “You had firsthand knowledge of all God can do, and now you’re complaining. What’s a little water when you’ve lived through the ten plagues of Egypt and seen the sea parted?” However, I suspect there is a place in each of our lives that was once Rephidim but has become a place of Massah and Meribah—a place where we grumble because, even though we’ve done all God asked in the way He asked, there is no water.

You’ve gone to church, you’ve confessed your sins, you’ve prayed, you’ve knocked because you believe Jesus’ words, and you’ve been faithful; therefore, you have a reasonable expectation that God will act in a certain way. Yet there is no water. The prayer isn’t answered, the relationship cracks, the sickness persists… there is no water.

Like the Israelites, whether spiritually or physically, you need water to live. There is a possibility the Lord will provide a rock at Horeb—water—but there is also the possibility that Riphidim remains a barren and dry place, a place of Massah and Meribah—testing and quarreling. And in that place you may ask, “Is God with me or not?”

As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
(Psalm 42:1-3)

In your thirst, what are you to do?

Today, Jesus tells us the parable of the father with the vineyard and two sons: “A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go.”

Now, imagine you are that first son. You’ve been going to work in that vineyard day after hot, sweaty day, but on this day you’ve had enough. Your father asks you, and without giving any reason, you say no. Notice, the father does not offer you an increase in your allowance or any other reward, but neither does he beg or threaten. The father simply asks. You say no, but after a time you have a change of heart—nothing has changed; there is still no water—nothing has changed except you. Why did you go into the vineyard to work?

I would suggest two possible reasons. First, there is obedience. You have been asked by your father, one who is in authority over you, to carry out a task. You can obey or not. So, you may have had a change of heart because you recognize the father’s authority. However, in this case, I think obedience is a very distant second to the main reason behind your change of heart.

The main reason is the relationship between the father and the son. The son knows that the father has always cared for him, provided for his needs, and been faithful in all things. The son knows that his father loves him. Therefore, in response to the father’s love, the son goes and works in the vineyard. Nothing has changed; there is still no water, but because of the father’s loving faithfulness, you know he has his reasons. It may not look like what you wanted. It may not be what you think you need. Yet God is with you. He has always been with you and loved you.

You are faithful. To the best of your ability, you do what our heavenly Father asks, so you have a reasonable expectation that when you ask for water—peace, healing, renewal, consolation, answers—God will provide. Yet when you get to Rephidim, it is a wasteland. It hurts and is disappointing, but that doesn’t mean God is absent. We remember the Father’s loving kindness and trust that he is with us.

You say, “That’s all well and good, Father John, but I’m dying of thirst out here.”
You say with David,

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
(Psalm 63:1)

Yet when we say these things, the Lord replies as he did to the Prophet Isaiah:

When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them;
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
I will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
(Isaiah 41:17-18)

“Yes, yes, yes,” you say. “God will do those things, but when? I’m thirsty now.”

I know.

And I wish I could tell you where your rock of Horeb is. I wish I could tell you when the water will come, but I can’t. Still, there are things I can do. I can sit with you in Rephidim. When you cannot remember what God has done, I can remember it for you. When you cannot pray, I can pray for you. When you ask, “Is the Lord among us or not?” I will stay with you as we wait. You see, that is what the Church does. We don’t pretend there is water when there isn’t. We don’t tell thirsty people they simply haven’t prayed hard enough. We don’t explain away the wilderness. Instead, we sit together, just as we are doing today. And perhaps that is how we know the Lord is among us. Because we can reach out and touch Him in the person next to us.

Let us pray: O Lord our God, grant us to trust in your overshadowing wings. Protect us beneath them and bear us up. You will carry us as little children; even to our grey-headed age, you will carry us still. When you are our strong security, that is strength indeed. Amen.

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Sermon: Thecla

The Apostle Paul planned to visit Iconium in central Turkey. When he arrived, the people wrote a description of him: “At length they saw a man coming (namely Paul), of a small stature with meeting eyebrows, bald [or shaved] head, bow-legged, strongly built, hollow-eyed, with a large crooked nose; he was full of grace, for sometimes he appeared as a man, sometimes he had the countenance of an angel.” (Source) That description appears in a second-century text: The Acts of Paul and Thecla. An early commentator described it as “religious romance,” not a romance between a man and a woman as we understand it, but a shared romance of sharing the Gospel.

While Paul was visiting Iconium, Thecla sat on her windowsill for three days without eating or drinking and listened to Paul teach on chastity and purity. Following that teaching, she swore off marriage, ended her engagement, and pledged to follow Paul as a helper. Her fiancé, not at all pleased with this decision, brought charges against her. She had agreed to marry, and getting married and having children was what women were for. Not only was her choice to remain unmarried against the will of her fiancé and family, but it was also against the will of the state: you can’t have women going off with these funny ideas of not producing children. Her sentence: to be burned at the stake. She was tied up, the fire was set, and… there was a great flood of rain. She escaped her death sentence and went to Antioch with Paul.

I’m guessing she was more attractive than he was. Once there, she caught the attention of a city official who desired her, but she rebuffed him as well, which sent him into a fit and prompted him to call for her death. This time, she was set in the arena with wild beasts—twice. The first time, the lioness sent in to kill her only licked her feet. The second time, the lioness protected Thecla by killing another lion and a bear, then lay down at Thecla’s feet. In the end, the text reports that the Apostle Paul sent Thecla back to Iconium to do two things: preach and baptize. This may be why the Acts of Paul and Thecla do not appear in the canon of scripture or even in the apocrypha, and why it was condemned by Tertullian, who, writing on baptism and Paul, stated, “For how credible would it seem, that he who has not permitted a woman even to learn with over-boldness, should give a female [Thecla] the power of teaching and of baptizing!”

The Psalmist writes,

Because you have made the Lord your refuge, *

     and the Most High your habitation,

There shall no evil happen to you, *

     neither shall any plague come near your dwelling.

For he shall give his angels charge over you, *

     to keep you in all your ways.

They shall bear you in their hands, *

     lest you dash your foot against a stone.

As I read Thecla’s story, I considered that Psalm and remembered the words Joshua said to the people, “It is the Lord your God who fights for you, just as he promised you.”

So often, when we come up against an adversary, whether it be someone or something in the world, our own inner ‘demons,’ or events such as sickness or hardships, we can believe we are in it alone. But if we remember Thecla, we remember that our God douses the flames and turns back the wild beast. The Lord our God is one who gives his angels charge over us, so that our souls and eternal lives will always be saved.

The next time you face trouble, remember Thecla, who even in the face of death stood and did battle and, through the Lord, overcame her adversary.

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Sermon: Feast of St. Matthew

The canonical books of Holy Scripture run from Genesis through Revelation, and the Episcopal Church also recognizes the Apocrypha—Bel and the Dragon, the Book of Wisdom, and others—but does not use them to establish doctrine, rather as suitable “for example of life and instruction of manners.” (BCP 868) However, these are not all. Many other books have been passed down that are hard to classify and are known as the New Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, such as the Infancy Gospel, the Ascent of Isaiah, and the Apocalypse of Peter, to name a few. The one where our story begins today is the Acts of the Holy Apostle Thomas. 

It is primarily the story of Thomas and how he evangelized India, but it begins in Jerusalem. “At that time we the apostles were all in Jerusalem — Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the tax-gatherer; James of Alphæus and Simon the Cananæan; and Judas of James; — and we portioned out the regions of the world, in order that each one of us might go into the region that fell to him, and to the nation to which the Lord sent him.”

If this is to be trusted, our Patron Saint Matthew was in attendance, but from there the legends and traditions take many different directions. Today, I’m using Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend because that legend is linked to the painting on the cover of your bulletin. 

In Acts of the Apostles, an angel instructed Philip to go to Gaza. There, he met “an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians.” The Ethiopian was trying to understand a passage from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. Philip explained it, and the Ethiopian was converted. 

Years later, according to the Golden Legend, after the meeting in Jerusalem when they divided up the known world, we are told that Matthew went down to Ethiopia, where he “stayed with the eunuch of Candace the Queen, whom Philip had baptized.”

Using the Eunuch’s home as his base, Matthew went out and began evangelizing. Along the way, he had some rather interesting encounters with magicians. On one occasion, “a man came to them and reported that the magicians had arrived with two dragons, which breathed fire and sulfur from their mouths and nostrils and killed everyone they encountered.” Matthew, armed with the sign of the cross, went out to meet these magicians and their dragons. As soon as they saw Matthew, the two dragons approached him, lay down at his feet, and went to sleep.

A verbal confrontation with the magicians follows, ending with Matthew waking the dragons and sending them away. Is that a true story? Let me ask you, when was the last time you saw a fire-and-sulfur-breathing dragon?

Later, the king’s son died, and Matthew raised him to life. The king declared far and wide, “Come and see God in the likeness of a man.” The people came, bringing gold and wanting to make sacrifices to Matthew, but he said to them, “What are you doing? I am not God. I am the servant of our Lord.” He commanded that the gold and silver be taken and used to build a magnificent church, completed in thirty days. From this church, Matthew ministered the Gospel for thirty-three years, converting all of Ethiopia.

During that time, Matthew established a convent where some two hundred virgins lived and prayed. One of them, Ephigenia, caught the eye of the new king, Hirtacus, who ascended the throne after the king whose son Matthew had raised died. 

Hirtacus greatly desired Ephigenia and pleaded with Matthew to release her and persuade her to come and be his bride. In response, Matthew told the king to do as his predecessor had done and come to church on Sunday. The king was happy, thinking Matthew would do as he commanded.

In concluding his sermon, Matthew said that marriage is good when it is faithfully preserved in a good covenant. But then he said: “You who are gathered here know well that if a servant were to take the wife of a king, he would not only offend the king but would deserve death—not simply because he wished to marry her, but because in taking his lord’s bride he would violate the marriage that already joined them.”

“And you, O king, know that Ephigenia has become the bride of the everlasting King [Jesus] and has been consecrated to him by the holy veil. How, then, can you take the wife of a mightier King and join her to yourself in marriage?”

As you can imagine, the king was not pleased and flew into a rage. The Golden Legend tells us, “After the solemn celebration of the Mass, the king sent an executioner, who killed Matthew from behind with a sword as he stood beside the altar with his hands raised toward heaven.”

In the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, three paintings by the great Italian painter Caravaggio hang in a small chapel near the high altar: The Calling of Saint Matthew, The Inspiration of Saint Matthew, and The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew. I would wager you would recognize them if you saw them, and The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew is the one on the cover of your bulletin.

Matthew lies on the altar steps, and his executioner holds Matthew’s wrist. It appears as though Matthew is holding up his hand, as if trying to ward off another blow, but he is instead reaching out to take the palm branch the angel above the altar is handing him. 

The Book of Revelation describes the vision St. John had. At one point, John sees “a great multitude that no one could number… clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.” (Revelation 7:9) When John asks who these people are, he is told, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:14)

Matthew reaches for the palm branch, the sign of his martyrdom. 

Is the whole story true? I’ll let you be the judge, but I suspect that behind the dragons’ wings, there is a good bit of truth about our Patron Saint. 

Some may say, “That’s a nice story, Father John, but what’s it got to do with us, with me?” The answer, I see, is not in the story but in the painting. 

If you were at our Wednesday night study, you may recognize a face in the painting. On Wednesday, we looked at Caravaggio’s painting of David and Goliath. David holds up Goliath’s head, and Goliath’s face is Caravaggio’s self-portrait. Caravaggio also includes a self-portrait in The Martyrdom of St. Matthew. 

The executioner is in the center. There is a face just to the left of the executioner’s left shoulder. It is believed to be Caravaggio. He has painted himself looking on this horrific scene while running away.

Now, I don’t know what Caravaggio intended by placing himself in this painting, and I’m not going to pretend that I do. But I wonder what we might learn from this man who is running away while looking back.

He sees the violence. He sees Matthew lying on the steps. He sees the executioner standing over him. And he is leaving.

But he is still looking back.

I wonder how often that is us.

We hear the Gospel. We know what Christ asks of us. We know we are to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves. We know we are to forgive, to show mercy, to care for those in need, and to take up our cross and follow him.

And sometimes we do.

But sometimes we turn away. Sometimes the demands of the Gospel are more than we want to bear. Sometimes the world offers us something that seems a good bit easier than following Christ.

And we walk away.

But we keep looking back.

I wonder if Caravaggio’s self-portrait might tell us something about the grace of God. For even as this man is leaving the scene, he has not entirely turned his back on what is happening. Something still holds his attention.

And perhaps that is where the work of grace begins.

Look again at Matthew. He is reaching toward the palm branch, the promise of victory and eternal life. His earthly journey is coming to an end.

But Caravaggio’s journey is not over.

He is still alive. He still has time to turn around.

And so do we.

I don’t know where you would place yourself in this painting. Perhaps you would be among those fleeing. Perhaps you would be standing helplessly, watching what is happening. Perhaps you would like to imagine yourself beside Matthew, ready to share in his martyrdom.

I know where I would like to place myself.

But I also know that there have been times when I have walked away from what Christ was asking of me.

And yet, I keep looking back.

Maybe that’s the question we should take away from this painting today. Not whether we would have the courage to die as Matthew did, but whether we have the courage to turn around and follow Christ while we are still alive.

Because the man in the painting still has time.

And so do we.

Let us pray: 

O blessed Saint Matthew, once a tax collector,
now a beloved apostle of Jesus, pray for us.
You were called from a worldly life to follow the Lord,
and your example inspires us to leave behind
our sins and embrace a life of faith.

Intercede for us that we may
be open to God’s call in our lives.
Help us to recognize His presence
in the ordinary moments of our days.
Grant us the courage to follow Him
wherever He leads.

We ask for your intercession,
that we may be faithful stewards of our talents
and resources, using them for the glory of God
and the good of others.

Amen.

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Sermon: Hildegard of Bingen

Our saint for today is Hildegard of Bingen, born in 1098. Hildegard was a great teacher and advisor to everyone from the average person on the street to kings, queens, and Popes. Many of her letters are preserved, and today I would like to share one she wrote to Elisabeth of Schoenau, who led the double monastery in Schoenau, Germany. Hildegard writes,

“I, a poor little form and earthen vessel, speak these things not from myself but from the serene light: Man is a vessel which God fashioned for himself, which he imbued with his spirit, so that he might accomplish his works in him.”

Hildegard then speaks of God’s creation and leading up to the fall. She cries out, “Oh woe!” She continues, “Then all the elements enfolded themselves in the alternation of light and shadows as man did in transgressing God’s commands. God, however, strengthened/irrigated certain men, lest man be completely despised. Abel was good, but Cain a suicide. And many saw the mysteries of God in the light, but others committed many sins, until that time came in which the word of God was manifest as it is said: Beautiful in form beyond the sons of men. Then the sun of justice appeared and illuminated men with good works in faith and in act, just as the dawn comes first, and the other hours of the day follow, until night arrives. Thus, o daughter Elisabeth, is the world changed. For the world is already weary in all the greenness of virtues, that is at dawn, prime, ters, and in the strongest hour of the day, at sext. But in this time it is necessary for God to strengthen/irrigate some men, lest his instruments be idle. Hear, o anxious daughter, that the ambitious suggestions of the ancient serpent are worrying somewhat those men whom the inspiration of God has so imbued. For when that same serpent sees an elegant gem, he roars, saying: “What is this?” And he worries it with many miseries of the burning mind, desirous of flying over the clouds, as if they were Gods, just as he did. Now hear again: Who desire to accomplish the works of God, let them always consider that they are earthen vessels, since they are men, and let them always reflect on what they are and what they will be, and leave heavenly things to [him] who is of heaven, since they are exiles, not knowing heavenly things, but only reciting the mysteries of God, just as a trumpet only makes sounds, but does not cause them; someone blows in it in order to make the sound. But the mild put on the [armor] of faith, being gentle, poor, and unfortunate, having the simple habits of children, just as he whose trumpet sounds they are was a Lamb, since God always scourges those who sing in his trumpet, taking care lest their earthen vessel perish, except as it pleases Him. O daughter, let God make you a mirror of life. But I too lie in the [timidity] of my mind, fatigued much by fear, sounding a little, at times, like the small sound of a trumpet from the living light. Whence God help me, that I may remain in his ministry.”

I was struck by the line, “O daughter, let God make you a mirror of life.”

Do you remember Clare of Assisi and her letter to Blessed Agnes of Prague? In it, Clare implored Agnes to “Look more deeply into the mirror and meditate on” the characteristics of Jesus. Clare asks Agnes to gaze into Christ as into a mirror, contemplating him so deeply that her own life is conformed to what she sees. I see “O daughter, let God make you a mirror of life” as an extension of this teaching: Clare tells us to look into a mirror and see Jesus, and Hildegard tells us to be a mirror and reflect Jesus into the world. 

Imagine the infinite mirror effect. There is a mirror in front of you and a mirror behind. You stand between them, but instead of seeing yourself, you see Jesus, and that reflection continues into eternity. 

Jesus said, “Those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” Perhaps this is the life Clare and Hildegard are calling us to live: a life between the mirrors—beholding Christ until, by grace, we begin to reflect the Christ we behold.

Question: What are you reflecting?

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Sermon: Proper 19 RCL A1 – “What are You Building?”

“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away … It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.”

Can you see those words scrolling up the screen as the music swells? I was stunned to learn this week that next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the original Star Wars movie. But I have been a faithful follower of those movies and even survived Jar Jar Binx. 

As big and powerful as the Galactic Empire was, it went the way of all the real empires we know of. The British Empire of the 1920s was the largest, and it eventually collapsed, as did the Mongol, Russian, and Spanish Empires, among others.

If the empires of history were represented by colors, we would see one color constantly superseding another. Beautiful and chaotic.

The empires we hear about in scripture—Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian—dominate Israel’s history, and in today’s reading, the Egyptians take center stage.

Moses came to Pharaoh and delivered the Lord’s message: “Let my people go.” Pharaoh responded, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord.” (Exodus 5:2) Years later, another Pharaoh would say essentially the same thing: “My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.” (Ezekiel 29:3) In their arrogance, they believed they had built the empires they ruled. God has a funny way of humbling such fool-heartedness.

The sea parted, the Israelites crossed on dry land, and the Egyptians followed. In the song of Miriam that we read, Pharaoh said, “I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.” The Lord said, “I don’t think so,” and the waters came crashing down. The Israelites were liberated. What do they do with this newfound freedom?

As you will recall, just before the Israelites left Egypt, Moses told the people to ask the Egyptians for silver and gold, and the Lord disposed the Egyptians to comply.

Today, they passed through the Red Sea, but only a couple of months later, “All the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” (Exodus 32:3-4) The Egyptian gold they received as a blessing from God was used, with their own hands, to make the Golden Calf, a false god, to replace the one true God who had liberated them. By their actions, they speak in the same spirit as Pharaoh, “My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.” In essence, the Israelites are building their own version of Egypt. They are beginning to build their own empire. How it all plays out is a story for another day, but see the pattern: captivity to liberation, yet instead of living into God’s freedom, they turn from God to self. “My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.” And in that turning from God and in their arrogance, they began building their own empire. When they did, we should not be surprised that God came along and smacked them, as he has done to so many others.

What we must keep in mind is that this applies not only to world empires; it also applies to the individual. Consider it the parable Jesus told today.

The king is settling his accounts and has a servant who owes more than he can ever repay. Because the servant was unable to pay, the king ordered that the servant and the members of his family—wife and children—be sold into slavery to pay the debt. The servant went to the king and pleaded for the king’s patience: “‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.”

The servant is like the Israelites in Egypt. He is in captivity to his debt. Yet, like the Egyptians’ gift of gold, the king gives the servant a gift—mercy. In doing so, the sea parts for the servant, allowing him safe passage through the debt, and then the sea closes behind him, bringing him into safety. The servant has been liberated.

“But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt.” The servant took the gift of mercy and, in his arrogance, began building his own little empire. “My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.” The king, hearing of this, recalled that servant and smacked him about the head and neck.

The Israelites were liberated, and the servant was liberated. In both cases, a gift followed. But the gift never became a way of life. Israel received the gold but forgot the Giver. The servant received mercy but refused to become merciful.

In his epistle, Saint James speaks of the law of liberty. It means that, through Christ, we have been liberated from the empire of sin and death. However, the liberty we received does not mean we are free to do whatever we please or to treat those around us in a sinful manner. Instead, the law of liberty teaches us how liberated people live, using the gifts He has bestowed on us for the good of His kingdom. Why? Because the gift is not about us—me—the gift is about God and His glory. Saint Peter writes, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace… in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever.” (1 Peter 4:10-11)

Aesop wrote a fable that has evolved over the years but remains essentially the same: A sacred icon of the Madonna and Child was being transported from one church to another. To carry the icon, they decorated a donkey with garlands and ribbons and placed the icon on its back so that, as it passed, all could see it.

As the procession went along, the people came out, adoring the image, singing songs, and casting flowers before it. However, the donkey got it in his pointy little head that all the adoration was for him. In his foolishness and arrogance, he stopped and began to bray loudly, basking in all the praise. Understanding what was happening, the man leading the donkey swatted him on the backside with a stick and said, “Get along with you, you stupid Ass. The honor is not meant for you but for the image you are carrying.”

God has liberated us from sin and death and has given each of us gifts. Some have received wealth, education, position, status, and many other gifts. These are wonderful gifts and great blessings, but like the Egyptian gold or the servant’s mercy, they can be profaned. We can begin thinking like the donkey or Pharaoh: “My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.” In doing so, there’s a very good chance God will come along and swat us with a stick and say, “Get along, you stupid little… yeah.” Why? Because when God liberated us and blessed us with such wonderful gifts, He did so that we might enjoy them to the fullest, but more importantly, He did so that we might bring Him glory.

Remember how they collected gold to build the Golden Calf? Later, they collected gold again, this time to build the Tabernacle and its sacred furnishings, including the Ark of the Covenant. The gold was never the problem. Possessing the gold was never the problem. The question was what they built with it.

Wealth can build an empire or serve the Kingdom. Education can elevate the self or serve the Kingdom. Authority can dominate or serve the Kingdom. Position, reputation, intelligence, talent—all of it. The question is what you build with what God has put in your hands.

The Psalmist says of the Lord,

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
    and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

(Psalm 145:13)

Every empire we build eventually falls. God’s Kingdom endures forever.

Question: Why would we ever want to work on our own little perishable empires when we can work to bring glory to the only Kingdom that is imperishable and eternal?

God has parted the Red Sea for you. You are free. He has placed gifts in your hands. Don’t use them to rebuild Egypt. Don’t use them to build yourself a little empire. Build his Kingdom. And whatever he has placed on your back—carry it well. Just remember who gets the glory.

Let us pray: O Dearly beloved Word of God, teach us to be generous, to serve You as You deserve, to give without counting the cost, to fight without fretting at our wounds, to labor without seeking rest, to spend ourselves without looking for any reward other than to bring You glory, knowing that we do Your holy will. Amen.

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Sermon: Proper 18 RCL A1 – “Reconciliation”

Katherine speaks:

 Why, sir, I trust I may have leave to speak,
 And speak I will. I am no child, no babe.
 Your betters have endured me say my mind,
 And if you cannot, best you stop your ears.
 My tongue will tell the anger of my heart,
 Or else my heart, concealing it, will break,
 And, rather than it shall, I will be free
 Even to the uttermost, as I please, in words.

If you know your Shakespeare — thank goodness for the internet, because I don’t — you’ll recognize this as a passage from The Taming of the Shrew (Act 4, Scene 3).

For a long time, my understanding of the word shrew was limited to Webster’s Dictionary’s second definition: an ill-tempered, scolding woman. Please do not report me to the bishop for being sexist. It turns out the first definition refers to a small, insect-eating, mouse-like creature. Some weigh as little as a penny. Not very big.

Somewhere along the way, the name of this tiny, noisy creature became a term for an ill-tempered, scolding person—and Shakespeare gave us perhaps the most famous shrew of all. When a shrew gets agitated, it makes a rapid-fire eek-eek-eek-eek sound, as if it were firing a tiny little machine gun. I suppose Shakespeare thought that’s what Katherine sounded like when she got agitated.

My research tells me there’s no masculine version of the shrew, but I can picture someone like Ove from A Man Called Ove embodying one. Just a real grouch.

So, we have the grouch and the shrew—those who are ill-tempered, and when they get irritated, they sound like tiny little machine guns, letting everyone know exactly how they feel. Thank goodness I am never like that.

Throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus offers teachings that are not only difficult to follow but also seem contrary to our natural inclinations. There is the business of loving your neighbor, which we will attempt, but love of your enemy… don’t you think Jesus is asking a bit too much there? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is great until it starts costing us; then we may have to rethink it a bit. And as for the Beatitudes—blessed are the poor, the meek, the peacemakers—they can certainly seem a little too radical at times. However, today’s Gospel reading is something we can all get behind. It’s as if Jesus is giving us permission to be the grouch or the shrew we know we have every right to be.

“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault.” Hallelujah. I can get behind that. And when I do, if I’m honest, I hope that person doesn’t repent, because then I can break out my tiny little machine gun and tell everybody. Even better, in most cases, I have such confidence in how right I am that I can actually dispense with that first step and go straight to telling other people. Then I can build my sides, my team, and stock up on ammunition. I can hit the person who offended me with both barrels and then some. No need for peacemakers here. I have been given permission, by Jesus, to embark on this most holy war.

We like this teaching of Jesus a lot because it gives us room to vent our righteous anger and flip over a few tables. Or does it?

When I served in Montana, I ran an after-school program in one of the communities. The kids who attended were not church kids, and they went to high school across the street. They were great kids, but sometimes a little rough around the edges.

I had them for a couple of hours once a week. We gave them a meal and a safe place. I told them they were always welcome, but their attendance would cost them 10 minutes, and those 10 minutes were mine. They agreed, and I taught them the Christian message in creative ways.

It would never work with our kids here at Saint Matthews, but one message sparked a full-on rebellion from that group.

I took a paper box and, on the lid, I attached a large picture of a cockroach with blue painter’s tape. There were about a dozen kids that day, and I told them there was likely someone in their lives who was an irritant. Perhaps someone they truly disliked or who had hurt them, and that this exercise was designed to help them release the frustration and stress they experienced.

The cockroach, I said, represented this evil person in their life, and they should pour all their disdain for that person into the image of the roach. We had some good laughs as they pictured the person. Then I handed the kid nearest to me a butcher’s knife. “Take out your frustrations,” I said. And they all did. They stabbed that poor cockroach so many times that it was a shredded mess by the end.

When they were suitably vented, I peeled off the blue painter’s tape and removed the picture of the cockroach. What I had failed to tell the kids was that beneath the cockroach image was another image of Jesus. It, too, was a shredded mess, and outrage erupted. “You didn’t tell us.” “That’s not fair.” “I never would have.”

Perhaps putting a sharp butcher knife in the hand of an angry teenager and telling them to work out their frustrations wasn’t the wisest pastoral move, but I would wager they still haven’t forgotten that lesson.

We read our gospel today, and we can become the shrew or the grouch. We can go after someone with our tongue the same way those kids went after that cockroach. We can shred our enemies and firmly believe we are within our Christian rights. Yet when we do, we forget Jesus’ words: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40) From the greatest to the least, from the person you love to the one you hate, whatever you do to them, you do to Jesus.

When we study Scripture, we can study individual passages, but when we interpret it, we must do so through the lens of Scripture as a whole. One part will not negate another. Because that is the case, Jesus is not telling us we have the right to go after the person who offends or hurts us. So what could He possibly be saying in our Gospel?

The answer lies in the motivation. If we read this passage to give ourselves the right to strike out at the cockroach, our motivation is vengeance. Through the lens of Scripture, we know that vengeance is not our department. The Psalmist writes,

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
    Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. (Psalm 37:8)

St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’” (Romans 12:19) So if the passage isn’t permission for personal vendettas, what then? What should the motivation be? The answer is found in our Gospel lesson. It’s the one sentence that is easily dismissed: “If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.” The motivation is at the heart of Jesus’ entire ministry: reconciliation. Jesus reconciled us to God so that we might be reconciled to one another.

Yes, there will be people who irritate you, and there will be people who genuinely hurt you. Being reconciled does not mean you have to go and be best friends forever, that you have to forget, or even pretend you weren’t hurt, nor does it mean you have to allow the offender back into your life. However, it does mean, at the very least, you will release the desire to go out and stab cockroaches. It means you won’t allow the other person’s sin to cause you to sin or to dictate who you will become. If the offender chooses not to be reconciled, that is between them and God. However, what is between you and God is your actions, your heart, and your life.

Finally, if you are the offender, which you know you can be, don’t be so pigheaded that you can’t accept fault, for you are under the same obligation, and an even greater one, to work toward reconciliation.

Throughout the history of the Church, there have been great persecutions. Persecutions in which thousands were put to death for their faith—for refusing to renounce Jesus. For every one great capital “S” Saint who somehow found wonderful words to denounce their executioners and profess the faith, there were hundreds of others who were kind, simple people. They didn’t have great knowledge, so no one was going to listen to what little they had to say. Like all the rest, these Christians were given the option in plain language: Renounce your faith or die. In response, they gave a simple reply that spoke volumes: I am a Christian. I am a Christian.

When faced with an evil person or someone who is simply disagreeable to you, your first thought is often anger, which can turn to vengeance—a shrew, a grouch, a knife-wielding cockroach killer. In those moments, don’t surrender yourself to such thoughts. They’ll happen. That doesn’t make you a bad person. Just don’t let them hang around. Say to yourself, “I am a Christian.” That doesn’t mean the evil didn’t happen; it doesn’t mean you have to keep taking it, and it doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt. However, “I am a Christian” does mean the other will not be allowed to rule your life, and—as hard and painful as the work may be—you will work toward reconciliation.

Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” This is not a formula. This is not simply two or three church folk hanging out together. Instead, it is a reconciled community where Jesus, the one who reconciled us to the Father, is present, healing and restoring our brokenness.

Let us pray: Most Holy Virgin Mary, help us to heal the broken bonds within our families, our friendships, and all our other relationships. Help us to love others the way that Christ loves us with self-sacrificing love. Intercede for us, O Holy Daughter, Spouse, and Mother, so that through the mercy of God, the chains of division will be broken, uniting us once again as you are ever united to the Most Holy Trinity. We ask this in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Sermon: Proper 17 RCL A1 – “Defying the Furnace”

Reader’s Digest reported an incident where medical staff who transcribed medical audiotapes were confounded when one of them came upon a perplexing diagnosis: “This man has pholenfrometry!” [spell it out] Being unfamiliar with that condition, they checked the medical dictionary and with co-workers, to no avail. Finding the doctor in charge, they asked him. He listened to the tape, shook his head, and translated: “This man has fallen from a tree!”

There is a wonderful little acronym most are familiar with: KISS—keep it simple, stupid. That is advice we should follow; however, many are more prone to go in the direction of what we could call MESS—make it sound sophisticated. Complicate it. Confuse it.

Chapter 3 of the book of Daniel is a very familiar Bible story. We learned it as children. The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (a.k.a. My Shack, Yo Shack, and A Bungalow). They are also known as the three young men.

The Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, has made a statue and decreed that everybody is “to fall down and worship the golden image” or face death. (Daniel 3:5)

Even though they are captured Jews, the three young men and Daniel have risen to high places in Nebuchadnezzar’s court. Their rise to power and fame has also heightened jealousy among many, so these others are looking for a way to destroy them. When the jealous ones learn that the three young men are not worshiping the statue, they turn them over to Nebuchadnezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar confronts them. He tells them, you can worship the statue and live, but if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.” (Daniel 3:15a) It is then, in his ignorance, Nebuchadnezzar adds, “And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” (Daniel 3:15b)

The three young men reply, “If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)

Hear what they say: “Our God is faithful, and our God is able to save us.” Notice, they did not say, “Our God will save us, only that He is able to save us.” Then they add, “But if not.” That is, “Our God can save us, but if not, if our God chooses not to, so be it. We will remain faithful.”

Nebuchadnezzar is furious. He orders the furnace heated to seven times its normal temperature; the three men are bound and cast into it.

Nebuchadnezzar then watches, scratching his head. He asks his aides, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” (Daniel 3:24b) You are correct; the aides answer. “But,” Nebuchadnezzar says, “I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” (Daniel 3:25) He calls the three out of the furnace, and they are unharmed. “The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them.” (Daniel 3:27b)

Nebuchadnezzar had asked, “Who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” He learns the answer. It is the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who can save. He declares, “There is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” (Daniel 3:29b)

Looking at this one episode in the lives of these three young men, what can we learn about faith? (Remember KISS and not MESS.) Their faith was not contingent upon whether God saved them or allowed them to die. Their faith was simply in God and His divine providence, without qualification.

Notice, we are not told the three weren’t afraid of burning to death, or that there would be no pain involved, or that they knew for certain what God’s plan was for them. However, their faith did declare, “Nebuchadnezzar, your kingship and your decrees do not rule over our lives; this furnace does not rule over our lives; pain, suffering, and even death do not get to decide who we will become.” The three defied all these things and declared, “We will be bound to no one and no thing, except to the one true God.” What happened? Well, duh. “God saved them from the fire.” However, for the three young men, that was not the main thing. What was? We see it in our reading from Exodus.

Moses is standing in front of the burning bush. The Lord tells Moses that he is sending him to Egypt to confront Pharaoh and free God’s people. Moses is an Israelite, and God wants him to return to the land he has escaped from—the land where he is a wanted man. The Lord wants Moses to confront and make demands of one of the most powerful individuals in the world—Pharaoh. “Moses,” God says, “I am sending you into the furnace.”

Moses says, “Who? Me? I’m a nobody.” In response, God did not say that it would be easy, that there was no need to be afraid, that Moses would be sleeping in five-star hotels the entire time. No. God said, “I am sending you into the furnace, and I will be with you.”

The Lord never spoke those words to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, but through their faith, God proved they were true. How did Nebuchadnezzar put it? “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” (Daniel 3:25) God was with them.

For us, God never promises there will be no furnaces in our lives. He never says we’ll come out unscathed, but He does promise, “I will be with you.” Can we believe that?

In our Gospel, we are told, “Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Jesus said, “I am headed into the furnace.” Peter’s response was very human. Perhaps he was terrified. Perhaps he simply couldn’t imagine losing Jesus. Whatever was going through Peter’s mind, he said, ‘This must never happen.’” Jesus rebuked him. Why? Because Jesus knows He will not be alone in the furnace. He has already said, “The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.” (John 16:32-33) Jesus says to Peter, “Follow me.” It is as though Jesus were saying, “I know the furnace is a terrifying place, but follow me, because when you face your own furnace, I will be with you. I will lead you through.”

The three young men defied the furnace. They did not allow it to dictate who they would become. Instead, in their defiance, they declared, “We believe in God.”

Moses defied the furnace in his life and through his words. In doing so, he declared, “God is with me.”

Jesus, fully aware of the furnace, defied it. He declared, “I believe in the Father.”

Jesus says to us, “Follow me, and I will lead you through the furnace, and we will defy it together.”

When you are standing in front of the furnace, all the complicated answers do you no good. If you can even remember them, they fall away. When they do, what remains of your faith?

Imagine: there you are, standing in front of the furnace, burning seven times hotter than ever before.

Why did this happen? How did you end up in such a place?

I don’t know.

Will God save you from all the hurt and the pain?

I don’t know.

How is it going to turn out? Will you live?

I don’t know.

You don’t seem to know very much. Is there anything you do know?

Yes.

What’s that?

“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life.” I may not know much, but I do know there is a God and that He is with me.

We can all find ourselves standing in front of any number of furnaces. And it is in those furnaces that our faith becomes costly. They bring with them pain in various forms—evil, loss, death, pain, suffering.

While standing in front of that furnace, we may have no answers as to why any of this is happening or what the outcome will be, but there is one thing we can hold fast to—I believe. We can defy the furnace. It does not mean it won’t hurt. It does not mean that we will not experience great fear, or that we will see a happy outcome, all tied up with a pretty little bow. However—I believe—does mean we are not walking into the furnace alone. So follow Jesus. He has gone before us into the furnace, and He promises, ‘I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”

I believe.

I’ll share with you a portion of Psalm 116:1-10 as a closing prayer. Let us pray: I love the Lord, because he has heard
    my voice and my pleas for mercy.

Because he inclined his ear to me,
    therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

The snares of death encompassed me;
    the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
    I suffered distress and anguish.

Then I called on the name of the Lord:
    “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
    our God is merciful.

The Lord preserves the simple;
    when I was brought low, he saved me.

Return, O my soul, to your rest;
    for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

For you have delivered my soul from death,
    my eyes from tears,
    my feet from stumbling;

I will walk before the Lord
    in the land of the living.

I believed, even when I spoke:
    “I am greatly afflicted.”

Amen.

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Sermon: Proper 16 RCL A1 – “Holy Purposes”

Many are familiar with the story of Adolf Hitler being rejected from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna twice. There is no way to know, and many other factors were involved, but might world history have been different if he had been accepted?

One small action, and the result affected everyone on the planet. There are many such stories.

At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, President Woodrow Wilson received a petition and letter from someone who worked at the Ritz Hotel in France, asking that France withdraw from Vietnam. Another hugely complicated issue, however, it is believed by many that the hotel employee was a young Vietnamese man named Ho Chi Minh. One little thing might have changed much.

Little actions, leading to tremendous results.

Our story from the Old Testament is the beginning of the Exodus and traces the transformation that unfolded in Egypt over many years. When Joseph’s brother came to him, Joseph was held in very high esteem by Pharaoh; however, over time that relationship was forgotten, and the Israelites had become so numerous that Pharaoh and the Egyptians feared them. To weaken the Israelites, they were ruthlessly oppressed.

To further decrease their numbers, two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, were summoned by Pharaoh. Why them? Scripture does not say. Perhaps they were the ones in charge of others. Whatever the case, they were instructed to kill all male children of the Israelites as soon as they were born.

Unlike Prissy from Gone with the Wind, who didn’t know nothin’ ‘bout birthin’ no babies, these two were professionals. They, like all other midwives, were important members of the community and would have worked day and night, caring for mothers and babies. However, when Pharaoh commanded them to kill the male babies, there was one thing he failed to factor in—these two women feared God more than they feared him. Therefore, they found a way to disregard Pharaoh’s orders. Whether by deception or flat-out lying, they allowed the male children to live. When his covert plan to deal with the Israelites failed, Pharaoh simply demonstrated his own ruthlessness and ordered all male Israelite babies to be thrown into the Nile River—to be murdered.

As the story proceeds, a woman becomes pregnant. We don’t learn her name here, but it is Jochebed. (Exodus 6:20) Jochebed is a woman who is living in very harsh conditions. She is a slave and greatly oppressed. Her child is born, and it’s a boy. Knowing that Pharaoh decreed that all male children be killed, she hides her child for three months. When it becomes apparent that she can no longer hide him, she comes up with a plan.

In English, we read that she made a basket and covered it in pitch. In Hebrew, she made a tevah. The word tevah is used only once elsewhere in Scripture. It is what Noah was told to build—an ark. Jochebed makes an ark for her baby, places the child in it, seals it with pitch, and, in a way, following the command of Pharaoh, casts the ark into the waters of the Nile.

The baby’s sister is also not named here, but we learn it later. She is called Miriam. If Jochebed’s life was hard, Miriam’s was even more so. In the story, she watches to see what happens, as any loving big sister would. She watches the course of her brother’s ark.

The ark and the baby float down the Nile and are seen by Pharaoh’s daughter. We never learn her name, but among all the women in Egypt, she is at the highest point of society. Unlike the midwives, Jochebed, and Miriam, she has everything. She is daddy’s little girl. When she sees the baby in the ark, she immediately knows he is a Hebrew child, but unlike Daddy, she does not see a nemesis or someone to be feared. She sees a child, one to be pitied. Even knowing that Pharaoh has commanded all male Hebrew babies be killed, she finds a way to save this child. Seeing this, Miriam runs over and says she can find someone to nurse the child. Pharaoh’s daughter agrees, and the baby is returned to where he began—in the arms of his mother, Jochebed.

Who was the baby? Moses.

So often, when we read the story of the Exodus, we become so focused on the central characters, God and Moses, that we fail to see the part everyone else played. However, in this part of the story, Moses does only four things: he rides in a basket, he eats, he sleeps, and he poops. That’s it. However, if it hadn’t been for the work of the others, the story would have ended very quickly, and Moses would have drowned in the Nile River.

You are familiar with Saint Paul’s teaching to the Romans that we read today. He says, “As in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.” He will later expand on this idea, but here he continues by saying, “We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.”

The list is short, but the categories are very broad. It could have easily included midwives—those who care for the poor and the innocent. Those who are willing to stand up against injustice. Those who give of themselves so others might have life.

The list could’ve included the Jochebeds of the world. Those who faithfully fulfill their calling as a mother, father, or guardian, and who, after doing all that is required of them, entrust the work to God.

Paul’s list could also include those like Miriam, who watch and discern. Who know when to speak and what to say. Who know how to put the pieces together so that God’s work moves forward.

The list can include individuals like Pharaoh’s daughter. Those who can use their position and resources to save and care for the less fortunate. Those who can see not a problem to be dealt with, but a child of God made in His image—a human being who deserves the opportunity to survive and to thrive.

The story of Exodus is not just the story of Moses. Instead, it is the story of God and the individuals He endowed with specific gifts so that His will might be accomplished in their lives and in the world. And that is not only the story of the Exodus; it is also the story of the Church.

Each person seated here today has been endowed with a particular grace, a specific gift that can be used in the church and in the fulfillment of God’s purposes. As Paul said, we do not all serve the same function, but together as the body, we serve God.

The gospel reading today is known as the Confession of Saint Peter. Jesus first asks, “Who do the people say that the Son of Man is?” The disciples answer, “Some say this, others say that.” Jesus then makes the question personal: “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answers with his confession, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus responds, “Peter, you get the gold star,” but then Jesus does something interesting—He tells Peter who he is: “I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”

Paul tells us that we each have a part to play in God’s kingdom, but sometimes we may not know what that part is. One way to find out is to turn Jesus’ question back to Him. Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?” So ask Him the same question. “Lord, who do you say that I am?” Like Peter, you may hear Him come straight up and tell you, or, like Moses, you may encounter a burning bush. However, it is more likely He will say to you, “Open your eyes and look around. What do you see?”

When you do, like Jochebed, you might see those who are vulnerable and in need of nurturing so they can be prepared to go out into the world. Like the midwives, you might see a specific need that must be met for God’s work to continue. Like Miriam, you may be one who has the gift of discernment, organizing others to accomplish the work. Like Pharaoh’s daughter, you may have the resources and compassion to help those less fortunate.

God is funny like that. He’s not going to look at you and say, “You’re a mighty fine brain surgeon, so I’m going to make you a carpenter.” No. God says, as He did with Peter, “You’re a mighty good fisherman, so I’m going to change what you’re fishing for. Instead of fish, it will be people.” If we allow it, God will take our natural gifts and give us opportunities to use them for holy purposes. When we do this, it is called ministry, where a little action can have tremendous results. You may only see one small part. You may not be able to see the wider scope of what is taking place. However, you may see that one piece, that one little thing, that completes the greater work.

Pray, “Lord, who do you say that I am?” Then open your eyes. He will show you. When He shows you, don’t just sit on it. Pick up your call and fulfill your purpose.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, You call all your people to be your Church, and you give each of us gifts to share. Look with love upon those who serve as lay ministers in your house. May their work build up your kingdom on earth and bring your light to the world. Keep them close to you in daily prayer, and let their lives reflect your great love. We ask this in your holy name. Amen.

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Sermon: Proper 15 RCL A1 – “Story of the Heart”

Johnny was proposing to his girlfriend. He held the ring and said: “Sweetheart, I love you so much. I want you to marry me. I don’t have a car like Hank Green. I don’t have a yacht like his or a house as big as his. I don’t have Hank Green’s money, but I love you with all my heart.” She looked into his eyes and said, “I love you too, sweetheart… but could you tell me more about Hank Green?”

The Psalms are a constant source of inspiration, and as we study them, we learn they serve different purposes. Like today’s psalm, the ones we share on Sundays are often in praise of God, but there are other Psalms for times when we are scared, angry, sick, and so forth. Perhaps the one that speaks to us most about who we are, who God is, and the relationship we share is Psalm 139.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from afar.

You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways. 

The final two verses of the Psalm make a request to God.

Search me, O God, and know my heart!
    Try me and know my thoughts!

And see if there be any grievous way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting!

(Psalm 139:1-3, 23-24)

Reading those words, the question I might ask, especially of myself, is, “Do I really want God to do that?” I mean, I know my heart, and sometimes… it’s best left hidden.

We know that within Judaism there is the Law. It has existed since the days of Moses. For the devout Jew, the Law of Moses governs every aspect of their life. Practicing it properly is good; however, the way the Law was practiced in Jesus’ time was often a major issue. The truth is, the problem goes back much further than that.

We will learn more about this when we begin our study of Isaiah next week, but in the first chapter, Isaiah, on behalf of the Lord, writes,

Bring no more vain offerings;
    incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
    I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.

Your new moons and your appointed feasts
    my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
    I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread out your hands,
    I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
    I will not listen;
    your hands are full of blood.

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
    remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,

    learn to do good;
seek justice,
    correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
    plead the widow’s cause.

(Isaiah 1:13-17)

On the outside, the Israelites and their leaders appear to be doing everything perfectly. On the inside, God has searched them out and knows their hearts, and what He sees displeases Him. Our gospel reading points to the same issue today.

Just before our reading, the Pharisees and scribes come to Jesus and ask, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” (Matthew 15:2) In response, Jesus calls them “hypocrites.” (Matthew 15:7) Why? He quotes from Isaiah,

“‘This people honors me with their lips,
    but their heart is far from me;

in vain do they worship me,
    teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

(Matthew 15:8-9)

Now, in our gospel reading, Jesus has just turned from that conversation and faces the people. He says, “Look, it’s not about what goes into the mouth; it’s not crispy fried bacon that makes you a bad person. It’s what comes out of the mouth—it’s what you say, what you believe, your inner dialogue—that’s what makes you bad. Why? Because what comes out of the mouth is from the heart. It is who you truly are. And understand, they did not need to speak these things for God to know them. The Psalm declares, God “knows the secrets of the heart.” (Psalm 44:21b)

“Johnny, sweetheart, I love you so much, but could you tell me a little more about Hank?” You see how that works. What’s in the heart?

The next scene in our Gospel appears to be such an abrupt change in setting and conversation that it is difficult to see how they are related. However, they are intimately connected. The first is the teaching, and the second, with the Canaanite woman, is the application.

The beginning of the second part appears to provide only geographic information, but it is, in fact, the clue to our understanding. (As we said before, the writers of Holy Scripture do not waste words. There is a meaning in them all.) Matthew 15:21 states, “Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.”

Early on, in the understanding of the law of Moses, the Israelites were told not to make a covenant with or marry the Gentiles. Easy enough. However, over time, those laws became even stricter as they were interpreted and reinterpreted. Over generations, those commands were surrounded by traditions intended to preserve Israel’s holiness and identity. The separation could become so profound that Peter would later say to the Gentile Cornelius, “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile.” (Acts 10:28). Tyre and Sidon, where Jesus and the disciples go, are Gentile regions. According to the interpretation of the Law, they have essentially broken the Law; at the very least, they have become unclean.

If that’s not bad enough, a Canaanite woman—a Gentile woman—speaks to him. The disciples know what’s what. They know this woman is a dirty Gentile, so they say, “Send her away, as she is crying out after us.” Jesus appears to confirm everything they are saying by responding, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” She responds, “Lord, help me.” Jesus answers, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She says, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Now hear this. The woman is saying, “Even if what you say is true, what You, Son of David, can give, even if it is a little, only a crumb, will suffice. It will heal.”

Do you remember from a few weeks back when we talked about Jacob wrestling with God until God did what Jacob asked? This woman is doing the same thing. She is wrestling with Jesus. She is wrestling with God, and she will not let Him go until He blesses her and heals her daughter. And as Jacob was blessed, so is she. “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”

Yes. Good, but now go back to the first part of our Gospel lesson. It is not the following of the Law to the letter that matters. It is not what goes into the mouth that makes a person clean or unclean. It’s what comes out of the mouth, out of the heart, and the Lord knows the heart. Right?

With the Canaanite woman, what came out of the disciples’ mouths? Send her away. She is bothering us. She is a Gentile. They surely agreed with Jesus when he implied she was equal to a dog. What came out of the disciples’ mouths? Prejudice. Contempt. Judgment. Anger. Impatience. On the other hand, what came out of this dog’s mouth? What came out of her heart? “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David.” “Lord, help me.” “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” What came out of her mouth? Humility. Perseverance. Submission to God. Faith. Not even the disciples had recognized in Jesus what this Canaanite woman did.

Jesus, God, did not see her as something unclean or beneath Him. He saw her as a human being and saw her heart. What came from her heart expressed her inmost being, and Jesus declared, “Great is your faith.”

By the story of their hearts, the disciples had lumped themselves into the same category as the Pharisees and the scribes—hypocrites. By the story of her heart, the woman showed herself to be a child of God and was blessed.

Question: What is the story of your heart?

The Psalmist wrote,

Search me, O God, and know my heart!
    Try me and know my thoughts!

And see if there be any grievous way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting! 

That is an invitation for God to look into your heart. What is He going to find? Maybe your heart is nothing like mine, but what He is going to find is not always good. However, the words of the Psalmist are not only an invitation. They are also a request. 

“See if there be any grievous way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting!”

“I invite you, Lord, to look into my heart, and if you see anything amiss, lead me out of it and into Your ways, the way of everlasting life.”

That is a good and proper prayer, but I will be honest with you: it is also a scary one. In the Letter to the Hebrews, we read, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31) On that day in the region of Tyre and Sidon, it happened to the disciples. They fell into the hands of a loving God, and it changed their lives forever.

Let us pray: O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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