Tag: Episcopal

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Sermon: Epiphany 6 RCL C – “Deeper”

Back in the frontier days, a westbound wagon train was lost and low on food. No other humans had been seen for days, when finally they saw an “Old Jewish Man” sitting beneath a tree. The leader rushed to him and said, “We’re lost and running out of food. Is there someplace ahead where we can get food?

“Vell,” the old Jew said, “I vouldn’t go up dat hill und down other side. Somevun told me you’ll run into a big bacon tree.”

“A bacon tree?” asked the wagon train leader.

“Yah, ah bacon tree. Trust me. For nuttin vud I lie.”

The leader goes back and tells his people that if nothing else, they might be able to find food on the other side of the next ridge.

“So why did he say not to go there?” some of the pioneers asked.

“Oh, you know the Jews don’t eat bacon.”

So the wagon train goes up the hill and down the other side. Suddenly, bandits attack and massacre everyone except the leader, who barely manages to escape back to the old man.

The near-dead man starts shouting, “You fool! You sent us to our deaths! We followed your instructions, but there was no bacon tree! There was hundreds of bandits, who killed everyone.”

The old Jew holds up his hand and says “Vait a minute.” He then gets out an old English-Hebrew dictionary, and begins thumbing through it. “Oy,” he finally says, “I made myself ah big mistake. It vuz not a bacon tree. It vuz a ham bush!”

“And God said, ‘Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.’ And it was so.  The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.” (Genesis 1:11-13)

On the third day, God created the plants and trees of the earth—I do not believe either the bacon tree or the ham bush was on the list—yet the variety was immense. When we begin to consider the trees, we probably often think of the massive Redwoods in California, some of which are thousands of years old or those oddly shaped Baobab trees in Madagascar. In seeing and thinking of these, we miss some other remarkable specimens. For example, there is a White Cedar tree in Canada that is near the Great Lakes. It is over 130 years old, but stands at only four inches tall. And then there’s the tree I was thinking of today: a wild fig tree that grows in South Africa.

Standing at approximately 120 feet, it is an impressive tree, but for an area that only receives about 18 inches of rain a year, how could such a tree grow so tall and produce so much fruit? Of course it is the roots. Generally, the root systems of these trees will be five to six feet deep, but this particular tree has a tap root that travels 400 feet, through solid rock and even a cave system, until it reaches a source of water. It supports the massive tree above by pumping almost seven gallons of water upwards each day.

Charles Darwin wrote, “The tip of the root (of plants) acts like the brain of one of the lower animals.” It is the part of the plant that we do not see, but it seeks out the sources of water and nutrients and will either find it or the entire plant will die in the process.

In our first lesson this morning, the Prophet Jeremiah said to us:

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.
They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.

The tree—and we know we are talking about a soul—that is planted near the stream will survive, but we also know that a drought can become quite severe. Lakes and streams can dry up all together, but that’s just on the surface. Down deeper, the water is still available. The plants that lived along the banks can and will die, unless they, like that wild fig tree, go deeper in search of the water.

For a soul, this can be a difficult time. It has not all together been cut off, but it does experience a crisis. Consider the first two verses of Psalm 42:

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
(Psalm 42:1-2)

And again, David writes in Psalm 63,

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)

David’s soul knows where its life comes from. His soul thirsts for the one thing that can give it life and that one thing is God. He knows that his soul will either find God or die, so it searches, but those times of searching can be lean times. Those are days of struggle and crisis. Those are days when the soul is not 100% sure that it will survive. And those are days that each and everyone us of experience. It is at times like this that some will give up. They feel as though God has abandoned them. They are withering in their search for water, for God, and struggle to see that this is a season and not a lifetime. They forget the days of plenty and the people around them taunt them by saying, “Where is your God?”

You can truly find yourself in that barren and dry land where this no water. You are poor in body, soul, and spirit. You are hungry and thirsty for God. You are saddened by your condition and those around you are no help. You are all these things and… you are blessed. Blessed…

“Blessed are you who are poor,
 for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who are hungry now, 
 for you will be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now, 
 for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven.”

Days and seasons where there is no water are not days when God has abandoned us. They are days when God is calling us to go deeper, to trust and enter into an even more intimate relationship with him. Yes, you can do nothing and look back on the good ol’ days and in the process become bitter at your current circumstances or you can even quit. You can wither and die there on the banks of a dry river bed or you can push on until you once again encounter the Source… that has always been there! Patiently waiting for you and allowing you to grow through the trials you experience.

In his Revelation, St. John tells us about the New Jerusalem and he says, after seeing the great city, “the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city.” (Genesis 22:1-2) On the day we enter into that city, we will always have this source of water readily available to us—it is our hope and the promise that has been made to us by God—but for now, we must at times go deeper in search of that life giving water, but do not fear. It is there, for as St. Paul tells us, “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation——including droughts, famine, and the lack of water——will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

Today, the ground may be dry and cracked, barren and unfit to produce life, but by going below the surface, deep into the earth, we will find Life. Seek God where he wills to be found. Go deeper.

Let us pray:
Come, all who are thirsty
says Jesus, our Lord,
come, all who are weak,
taste the living water
that I shall give.
Dip your hands in the stream,
refresh body and soul,
drink from it,
depend on it,
for this water
will never run dry.
Come, all who are thirsty
says Jesus, our Lord.
Amen.

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Sermon: The Presentation of Our Lord

Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (1710)
by Andrea Celesti

The prophet Ezekiel has a great vision of the Lord. He writes in chapter one, “As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal.  And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures.”

Remember the Ark of the Covenant, how it was kept in the Holiest of Holies in the Temple and that on the lid of the Ark there are the two cherubim with their wings outstretched towards one another. It is in that place just above where the wings meet that God made his home on earth, where Ezekiel understands this vision to be taking place.

However, as his visions continue, Ezekiel understands that God is about to punish the people for their idolatry and that he intends on doing so through the Babylonians. The people will be carried off into captivity and the city and temple will be destroyed. We learn that this can happen, because God is leaving the Temple. Ezekiel writes in chapter nine: “Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house.” Then in chapter ten, “Then the glory of the Lord went out from the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim.  And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth before my eyes as they went out, with the wheels beside them. And they stood at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the Lord, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.”

For all those years, God had remained in the Temple, but now he leaves. You can imagine the pain in the peoples’ hearts as they heard these words, but there is hope, because the punishment will not last forever. Chapter forty-three: “Behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory…. As the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.”

All that Ezekiel spoke concerning the destruction of the city and the Temple came to pass, but what about God’s return? When would his Glory once again cross the threshold and re-enter the temple? We read about the beginning of this great event today: the Presentation of Our Lord, when Mary and Joseph brought the Son of God into the Temple. As St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Hebrews, Christ “is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.” The glory of the Lord was returning and it was Simeon who testified to it:

Lord, you now have set your servant free *
to go in peace as you have promised;
For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, *
whom you have prepared for all the world to see:
A Light to enlighten the nations, *
and the glory of your people Israel.

We are also witnesses to God’s glory returning. We see it each time this glory enters into a human temple and radiates God’s word throughout.

The Presentation of the Lord is an ongoing process until the Lord returns in all His fullness. We see it as God enters these human temples of ours and begins his marvelous light. Yet, we are not only witnesses, but participants as we are the ones who carry Him to others. We are the ones who present Jesus at the threshold of souls so that he might enter.

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Sermon: Epiphany 4 RCL C – “Speaking in Love”

Photo by Giulia May on Unsplash

Triboulet was the court jester for King Louis the XII and Francis I. One day, as the king passed, Triboulet smacked him on the backside, which enraged the King. The King said that he would forgive him if he gave an even more clever response for his actions. Without missing a beat, Triboulet said, “I’m so sorry… I mistook you for the Queen!” When he was sentenced to death, the king allowed him to decide how he would die. Triboulet chose old age. Astonished, the king set him free.

An old proverb, “There’s a grain of truth in every joke” even if the King does look like his Queen. That said, no matter how the truth is spoken—jokingly or sincerely or in anger—it is not always appreciated, but that does not mean we stop speaking it. In writing to a friend, Flannery O’Connor (she was a devout Catholic) wrote, “The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it emotionally. A higher paradox confounds emotion as well as reason and there are long periods in the lives of all of us, and of the saints, when the truth as revealed by faith is hideous, emotionally disturbing, downright repulsive.” (Source) But it is still the truth, therefore it should be spoken. This is what was happening in our Gospel reading today.

Jesus is speaking to the people of his hometown, Nazareth, but the people respond by essentially saying, “Who do you think you are? We’ve known you all our lives and you’re just a carpenter.” In response, Jesus does not perform any miracles for them, instead he speaks the truth to them by reminding them of two separate incidents in their history.

The first incident deals with the prophet Elijah. There had been a famine in the land and all the Israelites were suffering, but when Elijah demonstrated the love of God through a miracle, it was not an Israelite who profited. It was the “widow at Zarephath in Sidon” who was a gentile.

In the second incident, Jesus reminds them about the Hebrew prophet Elisha. An army commander was suffering from leprosy in the land, so he came to Elisha seeking to be healed. Elisha had pity on him and told him to bathe in the Jordan River seven times. The commander did and was healed. Who was this commander? Naaman the Syrian, another gentile.

In reminding the Israelites of Nazareth of these two events, Jesus is speaking the truth. He is saying that God the Father has many times sent to them those who could bring them into the saving knowledge of God, but that they did not listen or return to God, so instead of blessing the Israelites, God chose to bless the gentiles. Jesus is saying that God is about to do the same thing. “If all you want are miracles, then God will give the knowledge of salvation to the others—to the gentiles.” Did he tell them this just to make them mad? No. That was the outcome—they tried to throw him off a cliff—but Jesus was trying to force them into seeing the error of their ways and to repent. I don’t know of many who like to be corrected for the errors, but when Jesus revealed the truth to them, they found it repulsive.

This incident shows us that we must be prepared to speak the truth, but to also hear it for ourselves when we need to be corrected. How do we go about this?

Within the Christian faith and civilized society, there are rules of engagement. There are things such as Robert’s Rules of Order, but there are even greater underlying rules. St. Paul speaks of these greater rules in his letter to the Ephesians: “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

“Speaking the truth in love.” It means being sincere and honest with one another, but before we can speak to one another in such a way, we must first mature as Christians and become a community that is founded in forgiveness and mercy. We must be those who see the love and image of God in the other. Why? I’ve seen way too many people who claim to be speaking the truth in love but use their opinion or version of the truth to browbeat those who disagree with them. The truth we are to speak has nothing to do with personal revelation or preferences. The truth is founded in Holy Scripture and revealed in love. If we are mature in our faith and are certain of our love and motives, then we should go to one another and speak openly and honestly; keeping in mind that, before we go off and speak to someone, we must also be prepared for someone to come and speak to us in the same manner, because it is certainly not about being the one who is always and insufferably right.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it like this: “Where Christians live together the time must inevitably come when in some crisis one person will have to declare God’s Word and will to another. It is inconceivable that things that are of utmost importance to each individual should not be spoken by one to another… The basis upon which Christians can speak to one another is that each knows the other as a sinner, who, with all his human dignity, is lonely and lost if he is not given help… This recognition [as sinners and God’s child] gives to our brotherly speech the freedom and candor that it needs. We speak to one another on the basis of the help we both need.” (Life Together, p.105-6)

Will these kind of tough conversations always go the way you plan them and will they always have the results you were hoping for? Absolutely not, but as Bonhoeffer said, we have a Christian responsibility to one another. Will everyone walk away feeling happy and delighted with the conversation? Not a chance and even if both are firm in their Christian faith, there’s still the chance of someone being hurt. As I said earlier, no one enjoys being corrected. You might even find that the one you’re speaking to becomes angry, but if you have their trust, built up over time, and were truly speaking the truth in love, the other will likely come to understand that you were not accusing them, but were in fact… loving them.

What underpins both the giving and receiving of speaking to one another in such a way is humility. My friend, Thomas a Kempis writes, “Do not think yourself better than others. If there is good in you, see more good in others, so that you may remain humble. Turn your attention upon yourself and beware of judging the deeds of other men, for in judging others a man labors vainly, often makes mistakes, and easily sins; whereas, in judging and taking stock of himself he does something that is always profitable.” In other words, speak the truth in love to yourself before you decide to do the same to another.

St. Peter in his first epistle tells us, “Love each other deeply from the heart.” It is in loving each other in this way that we are able to come alongside one another and speak those things that are sometimes difficult to hear. If done in faith and charity and humility, the result will not be a pushing apart, but a much deeper binding of us one to another and to Christ Jesus our Lord.

Let us pray: 

Lord, make us an instruments of your peace:
where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that we may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

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Sermon: Epiphany 3 RCL C – “Annual Meeting”

You all know that I would rather stub my toe than go to a meeting, but apparently the world loves to have them. On average, in the US, there are over 11 million formal meetings… everyday… costing on average $37 billion dollars a year. (Source) That is a lot of unproductive time. The Harvard Business Review reports that researchers performed a study on a large company and “concluded that one weekly executive meeting ate up a dizzying 300,000 hours a year.” They performed the calculations by adding up the number of hours the executives spent in the actual meeting, plus the number of hours in meetings they spent in preparation of that meeting, plus the number of hours their various teams spent in meetings preparing for that meeting… and you get your 300,000 hours. (Source)

Author Dave Barry said, “If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings.”

All this to say, “Welcome to Annual Meeting Sunday” where we hope to not suck the life out of you or give you thoughts of finding a new church home. And today, I thought instead of waiting to start the meeting until we get in the Parish Hall, we could start it now, because—as a Church—wouldn’t it be interesting if we included the work we do in here with the work we do in there. Sounds crazy, I know, but take the word we use to describe our our work here, the service: liturgy. So often, we define liturgy as, “the work of the people.” However, early on, if someone built a shrine for the community to the glory of God, that would also be considered liturgy. That’s because liturgy, more properly defined is not “the work of the people” but, “the work for the people.” Liturgy is about doing the work of God for the good of all, therefore, God is the focus of our liturgy here, but also our liturgy there in the annual meeting. So, let us begin our Annual Meeting with a prayer.

Let us pray: Almighty and everliving God, source of all wisdom and understanding, be present with those who take counsel in this Annual Meeting of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church for the renewal and mission of your Church. Teach us in all things to seek first your honor and glory. Guide us to perceive what is right, and grant us both the courage to pursue it and the grace to accomplish it; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

As, I hope and pray, we approach the end of the Covid pandemic and since we are now able to worship in person, you’ve probably noticed a rather significant change in your church: fewer people attending. This is something we touched on a little while back, but today I wanted to bring it a little more in focus.

You’ll see on the front of your bulletin an image. It is a picture of one of the pages in The Big Green Book. That book contains a list of all members and is broken down into various categories. There are pages set aside for baptisms, confirmations, weddings, and burials. What you’re seeing in the picture are the pages set aside for Baptized Members. The pages for baptisms are for those baptized in this church, but Baptized Members are those members of our church who are currently active, so they may have moved here from another town where they were members of an Episcopal Church or they may have been baptized in another tradition and have asked to be received into the Episcopal Church. However they arrive, when they join our church, I go to the The Big Green Book and enter the information: full name, youth or adult, male or female, where and when they were born and where and when they were baptized. On the next page, I record how they came into the church. There may be a note such as “Baptized at St. Matthew’s” or “Transferred from St. Swithun’s in the Swamp”. Then the next column is for those who leave the church and are removed from the record. Again, any number of reasons can be given, from moving to dying. If appropriate, I can include a note (something like: “May the Lord have mercy on whatever church they transferred to, but we are thankful to be rid of ‘em.” No. Never anything like that!) But how is this relevant to us today?

When it comes to the removed, as always, there are some who leave because they no longer like the church or the priest or something along those lines. We are fortunate to have only a handful of those. For the most part, in our records, you will find either transferred (they moved somewhere else) or… deceased. Not all of them were members, but many were, and since I’ve been here, I’ve performed thirty-eight funerals. Don’t go back and read all the names, because it is a list that will break your dang heart. But, without dwelling on that, safe to say, there are many who are no longer a part of this earthly church. Yet, this type of loss is nothing new to the church, however, what is new to the church is not having the opportunity to bring in new members.

I’m not sure how long we were closed, but for a considerable period of time because of the pandemic, the only way we were able to reach out was through the lens of that camera. Now that we can worship in person (it has been almost a year since we reopened), several are still cautious about coming and many others have simply fallen out of the practice of attending church. All combined, this is a bit of a perfect storm for the church: loss of members through transfers, etc and not being in a position to attract new members. The end result for us: we had grown for five consecutive years, but we are now about the same size church, if not smaller, than when I began here almost seven years ago.

Now, please don’t think I’m up here whining or making excuses. I’m honestly just trying to give you a realistic picture. What that picture means is that we must begin again. Do we have the resources to begin again? Yes. As a matter of fact we do. Our finances are in good order, our facility is a gem and getting better, and the people—You!—are amazing. Your liturgy, your work for the glory of God, is truly a light to the world.

We have all the resources we need begin again. As St. Paul told us, “You are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” We’ve talked about this before, but today it is worth hearing again. When Paul speaks of the Church as the body, he is saying that you have everything you need in order to complete the work of God. Sometimes Paul was speaking of the universal Church, but quite often he was speaking to and of the local church, which means, no matter the size, each congregation is The Body of Christ and within that single body are contained all the gifts and talents needed to accomplish the work that God has called them to.

There’s that old joke about the church that has a leaky roof. The preacher stands up in front of the congregation and says, “I’ve got good new and I’ve got bad news. The good news is that we have the money to fix this roof today. The bad news is that it is still in your pockets.” I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is that we can grow the Kingdom of God and the Church. The bad news—maybe “challenging news” is better—the challenging news is that it will take all of us working together on this by inviting friends, neighbors, and others, as well as, telling the story our church and of how God is and has worked in your life.

Whether you are a hand, a foot, an eye, a whatever, this body, your church needs you. So what if have begin again. God loves to make all things new and I’m up for it if you are. Within you is a message of light which can proclaim hope, life, love and salvation. Let us perform our liturgy in here, in there, and in all places where God calls for the building up of His Kingdom and His Church.

Let us pray:
We pray You,
O almighty and eternal God!
Who through Jesus Christ
hast revealed Your glory to all nations,
to preserve the works of Your mercy,
that Your Church,
being spread through the whole world,
may continue with unchanging faith
in the confession of your name.
Amen.

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Sermon: Epiphany 2 RCL C – “Transforming”

Marriage at Cana by Paolo Caliari (1528 – 1588)

Four novice nuns were about to take their vows.

Dressed in their white gowns, they entered the chapel for their symbolic marriage to Jesus, making them “Brides of Christ.”

Just as the ceremony was about to begin, four Hasidic Jews came in and sat in the front row.

The Mother Superior said, “I am so honored you want to share this experience with us. May I ask why you came?”

“We’re from the groom’s family.”

It is not really the time of year for fireworks, but I was thinking back to when I was considerably younger than I am today and playing with those magical little bombs. You could go to the big shows, but it seems that the ones you could buy were regular firecrackers, bottle rockets (great for bottle rocket wars and no one ever lost an eye having them), sparklers, and smoke bombs. All top-notch entertainment. When it came to the regular firecracker, some folks would like to set them all off at once, but I was more a fan of the one-at-a-time method, especially because I had fun blowing things up. I wasn’t that mean little kid in Toy Story, but… load one up in a pine cone or drop one in a can, that was more my speed. I also got a kick out of putting one in a little pile of pebbles, lighting the fuse and running. No serious injuries ever occurred, except for the one time I planned on just throwing one: I lit it with the punk, but ended up throwing the punk instead of the firecracker. It kinda stung a bit.

I mention this, because today in our Gospel, John has lit the fuse on an explosive story and when it reaches it conclusion on a hill outside of Jerusalem with Jesus being crucified and then three days later rising from the dead, it is going to make one heck of a “bang!” John even gives us a hint to the fact that this is where he is headed with his Gospel, because in the telling of the events at the wedding in Cana, he first said, “On the third day there was a wedding….” In addition, in his Gospel, John does not refer to these astonishing events in the life of Jesus as miracles, he calls them signs. The last verse we read: “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory.”

We’ve talked about this in the past: a wedding in the time of Jesus was a big deal. You didn’t just invite a few guests. You invited the entire town and even folks from the surrounding towns. It was also an event that wasn’t just one day, but could last up to a week. I’m sure that everyone pitched in with food and beverages, but ultimately, it was going to be the family of the bride and groom that provided for the needs of the guests. I would suspect that in seven days, that many folks could go through a fair amount of wine, yet it would seem that those hosting the wedding in Cana—for whatever reason—ran out. Some might say, maybe they shouldn’t be drinking so much, but even so, this would have been a huge embarrassment for the family and the new couple. The couple might even see it as a bad omen for their marriage. What are they to do?

Mary, the mother of Jesus (and this is one of only two times that she appears in John’s Gospel, the next will be at the foot of the cross) upon hearing that there is an issue, goes immediately to her son and tells him, “They have no wine.” Jesus response, “Mom! It’s not time.” Mom’s response, “Yes, yes,” and turns to the servants near by and says, “Just do what he tells you.” If Jesus was a disrespectful child, you would have heard the eye roll at this point, but he is not. He is obedient and he is compassionate, so he sets out to resolve the problem.

Seeing six jars that could hold twenty to thirty gallons each, he tells the servants to fill them with water. There were no waving of wands or magic incantations. He simply said, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” From the sounds of things, it was even better than the wine I make… and that’s saying something! The water had become wine. Water, something that was probably not really fit to drink, so something that was impure, had been transformed into something new and remarkable, beyond anything that they had tasted before.

John lit a fuse on an explosive story. Through this first sign, the events at the wedding in Cana and the transforming of water into wine, we can begin to grasp that John’s explosive story is not only going to be about transformation, but will be transformational in the lives of those who hear it.

Those who have had even a minimal encounter with the Gospels are familiar with most of the events of Jesus’ life. Yet, so often, when we hear them time and time again, they no longer have an affect on our lives. They no longer have that transformative power over our lives. Maybe we’ve heard them so many times that they’ve lost their awe or perhaps we just see them as stories, not believing that the events described actually took place (we’re too sophisticated to be impressed with what we consider to be parlor tricks) or maybe we think, “That was then, but these types of things simply don’t take place anymore”, whatever the case, when we hear the stories they make no change in us. We are not transformed even a little. Our regular, ordinary and impure lives remain water in a jar where nothing extraordinary has or will happen. There’s no fireworks. No bang. If you find yourself falling into such a mindset, then I invite you to a challenge: for a period of time, set aside your doubts and your criticisms, set aside your unbelief and ask yourself, “What if it is actually true? What if it really happened?”

If we start from a place where our minds are already made up, then no amount of signs or wonders will change the way we think. The Sadducees and Pharisees in the time of Jesus fit perfectly in this category. Nothing Jesus did ever made a single impression on them. They denied it all and their hearts remained hardened til the end. As John said in the prologue to his Gospel, Jesus “came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”  They did not receive him and they were not transformed. They died in their sins. “But,” as John continues, “to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” Those who believed, were transformed, they were reborn by water and the Spirit and they became the finest of wines. They became Children of God.

Give yourself the opportunity to truly believe that Jesus can transform water into wine and you will discover that he can transform you into something new and remarkable. He can transform you into a child of God.

Let us pray:
God, our Father,
You redeemed us
and made us Your children in Christ.
Through Him You have saved us from death
and given us Your Divine life of grace.
By becoming more like Jesus on earth,
may we come to share His glory in Heaven.
Give us the peace of Your kingdom,
which this world does not give.
By Your loving care protect the good You have given us.
Open our eyes to the signs of Your Love
that we may serve You with a willing heart.
Amen.

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Sermon: RIP – Betty Vance Hume

It was March 19, 2018 that we were gathered here for the service for Dave, Betty’s husband for more than 70 years. At that time I shared with you a story that comes to us from around the year 125 A.D.: a Greek philosopher by the name of Aristides wrote to Hadrian, who was the Emperor, trying to explain the extraordinary success of the new religion, Christianity. In his letter, Aristides speaks of the faithfulness and righteousness of the Christians, how they treat others fairly, how they worship and pray, and even how they respond to the death of another Christian. He wrote, “If any righteous man among the Christians passes from this world, they rejoice and offer thanks to God, and they accompany his body with songs and thanksgiving as if he were setting out from one place to another nearby.” (From The Apology of Aristides)

“… as if he were setting out from one place to another nearby.”

Jesus tells us that he is going to prepare a place for us and so often we think that place is up there… far off beyond the stars, but I really don’t think the place he takes us is really all that far off. In fact, I think it is as close as right here. Just a thin veil’s width away. I say that because it seems that Jesus is often so close and the same is true with his Mother, Mary, and… the same is also true with all those that have gone before us. You can “feel” their closeness and therefore know that they are still very near… just beyond that veil.

That might sound a bit spooky to some and give rise to concerns about ghosties and the likes, but to those who understand that in death “life has changed, not ended”, it is a comfort and a blessing, because it means that we still have access to those who have gone before. We can know that they are still very much a part of our lives and in fact, since they are now closer to throne room of our God, can provide even greater assistance to us now than ever before.

Consider the words of St. Teresa of Lisieux, “My mission – to make God loved – will begin after my death. I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will let fall a shower of roses.” If one such as Teresa will shower us with blessings, then imagine the benefits of the blessings and prayers we shall receive from those who are so close to us, such as our mother and father and others… such as Betty.

Today, we mourn the loss of Betty, but we are joyful and give thanks that she has entered into her Heavenly reward. A place that has been prepared for her by her Savior, Jesus. We give thanks that she has been reunited with Dave and all those that have gone before us, but we also give thanks that she is also still so very near to us, continuing to love all those that she loved while still on this side of that thin veil.

As we read, the Prophet Isaiah said:

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.

That is a feast that all who call on the Name of the Lord will be invited to take part in. It too is a place that has been prepared for us. Until that day, when we all come together at that joyous celebration, know that those who have gone before you have not left you here alone. They are ever watching over us and they speak to the Father on our behalf; and on the day that we are called into God’s Kingdom, they—along with our Savior, Jesus—will greet us and welcome us to our true home.

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Sermon: Aelred Of Rievaulx (Friendship)

Jesus said, “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” Aristotle, who lived some three hundred years before Jesus, asked the question, “What is a friend?” And his answer seems to capture what Jesus had in mind: a friend is a “single soul dwelling in two bodies.” This implies a closeness that is an “indwelling” of one another. We can see this in our relationship with Jesus, but it can also come into being between two people. This is an idea that we can learn from others, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Life Together) and Thomas Merton, and also from our saint for today, Aelred of Rievaulx.

Aelred lived during the twelfth century, dying on this day in year 1167. He was a monk and later the abbot at the monastery of Rievaulx in Yorkshire, England. He is the author of several works, but perhaps his most known is the short, three part book, Spiritual Friendship. In the introduction of the Liturgical Press edition, the editor states: Aelred “writes of the sacramental essence of friendship—the way in which men and women may by loving one another embrace Christ in this life and enjoy eternal friendship with God in time to come.”

Aelred, like Aristotle, believes that true friendship is the making of two into one. He writes, “Friendship is that virtue by which spirits are bound by ties of love and sweetness and out of many are made one.” That sounds very close to what we hear in the book of Genesis and the marriage vows and I believe that is exactly what Aelred has in mind: friendship with another as close as a friendship with a spouse.

He tells us that “No medicine is more valuable, none more efficacious, none better suited to the cure of all our temporal ills than a friend to whom we may turn for consolation in time of trouble, and with whom we may share our happiness in time of joy.”

In addition, he sees nothing wrong with having what we might call a best friend, writing, “Divine authority commands that many more be received to the clasp of charity than to the embrace of friendship. By the law of charity we are ordered to welcome to the bosom of love not only our friends but also our enemies. But we call friends only those to whom we have no qualm about entrusting our heart and all its contents, while these friends are bound to us in turn by the same inviolable law of loyalty and trustworthiness.” Love demands that we love and pray even for our enemies, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to pour out our hearts to our enemies or just anyone else that sits down beside us, therefore, a friendship is something that includes love, but is also beyond love, for in a friend we find another part of ourselves.

In the words of Winnie the Pooh, “A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside.” I pray that your honey pot is running over.

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Sermon: The Baptism of Our Lord RCLC

Baptism of Christ by Pietro Perugino

Boudreaux wanted to go parachuting, so he signed up for a class.

During one of the first classes, the instructor tells them, “One thing you need to know, is that it’s important to start preparing for your landing at around 300 feet.”

Boudreaux asked, “How do you know when you’re at 300 feet?”

“A good question,” replied the instructor. “At 300 feet you can recognize the faces of people on the ground.”

Boudreaux thought about this for a while before asking, “What happens if I don’t recognize anyone?”

Facial recognition has been the dream of many technology companies and is now used by police departments to identify criminals and mobile phone companies to unlock phones. Needless to say, there are many benefits to being able to properly identify an individual via a computer, but there are also many opportunities to exploit the technology. Whether good or bad, the computers are getting better at it. As for people recognizing other people, we do fairly well. We will recognize a person’s face even if we can’t remember their name, so how is it the brain does this? For the answer, we have to go to the scientist and I found an article in the Smithsonian that helped.

Turns out, when we are remembering a person’s face, we are not remembering the entire face, but really only key points. The scientist who was interviewed said, “as far as your neurons [your brain] are concerned, a face is a sum of separate parts, as opposed to a single structure.” (Source)

This might very well explain why, when I have spoken to people who are wearing a mask for health reasons, I end up talking to complete strangers. Only seeing half their face does not allow my brain to properly analyze those key points. It has, however, made for some rather interesting conversations.

I got to thinking about this and thought, “Wouldn’t it be a great idea if there was a key marker in our faces that would identify us as Christians.” That would make it easy for us to recognize one another so we would know when we are with the “right people”. For example, maybe when we are baptized there is some subtle change in our appearance, some marker that declares to everyone: Christian, but then my cynical mind kicked in and said, “Think of all the money you could make by coming up with a product that could hide that marker, so that when we felt like being ‘not so Christian’, we could cover it up.” And the only reason my cynical mind thought of that was because I would likely be the first one in line to buy it! As Hamlet says in the William Shakespeare play, “God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.” Still, there must be a way. How can we identify each other as Christian?

Jesus actually provides us an answer to this question: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 1:34-35) That sounds so simple, but we are all aware of how truly difficult it is, because love is far more than words.

In The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis writes, “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” And that is just one aspect of what love is, because love also involves acceptance and sacrifice, giving and receiving, repenting and forgiving, and so much more. To be identified as a Christian is to love in such a way, which as we know, means to love as Jesus loved. It would be nice, if at our baptism, we were suddenly imbued with the capacity to love in such a way, but that is clearly not the case. However, at our baptism, we are given a road map. Would you take out your Book of Common Prayer and turn to page 292.

Please see below for The Renewal of Baptismal Vows.

You are all familiar with this. It is the Baptismal Covenant and most of you have renewed your vows in the past. And as this is the day we celebrate the Baptism of Our Lord, we are given yet another opportunity to renew them.

That first question (“Do you reaffirm your renunciation of evil and renew your commitment to Jesus Christ?”) is the equivalent of our more protestant friends asking us if we are “saved”. The next three questions concern what we believe and the combined answers make up one of the oldest confessions of the Christian faith: the Apostles’ Creed. There are 1,000s of pages written further explaining what it is we are saying in those few words, but these statements are truly sufficient. The road map on how we are to love as Jesus loved is provided in the next five questions. Like the Creed, each of these can be expanded on, but once we fully understand what it is we are saying, we learn that these questions are all inclusive of the Christian life: fellowship, Communion, worship, prayer, study, service, repentance, forgiveness, loving, justice… all are included here. Yet, we also know that it is not all about what we say. It is also about what we do, for as the Apostle James said, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?  If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2:14-17) We will be identified as Christians by our love, but that love must be accompanied by actions that reflect it.

In the renewal of our baptismal vows, we state in Who and what we believe, then we respond as to how we live and act as we are called. What does that look like? I’ll never be a Mother Teresa, but…

Shane Claiborne is an activist and author and had the opportunity to work alongside Mother Teresa. In his book, The Irresistible Revolution, he says that he is often asked what she was like. He writes, “Sometimes it’s like they wonder if she glowed in the dark or had a halo. She was short, wrinkled, and precious, maybe even a little ornery, like a beautiful, wise old granny. But there is one thing I will never forget – her feet. Her feet were deformed. Each morning in Mass I would stare at them. I wondered if she had contracted leprosy. But I wasn’t going to ask, of course, ‘Hey Mother, what’s wrong with your feet?’ One day a sister said to us, ‘Have you noticed her feet’. We nodded, curious. She said, ‘Her feet are deformed because we get just enough donated shoes for everyone, and Mother does not want anyone to get stuck with the worst pair, so she digs through and finds them. And years of doing that have deformed her feet.’” Claiborne wrote, “Years of loving her neighbour as herself deformed her feet.”

We are not all being asked to wear shoes that deform our feet so that others may be more comfortable, but we are all being asked to love in such radical ways as to have the unmistakeable and identifiable mark of Jesus upon our lives. So I give you this to consider: when someone looks at you and your life, will they be able to identify you as a disciple of Jesus?

Let us pray: God, our Father, You redeemed us and made us Your children in Christ. Through Him You have saved us from death and given us Your Divine life of grace. By becoming more like Jesus on earth, may we come to share His glory in Heaven. Give us the peace of Your kingdom, which this world does not give. By Your loving care protect the good You have given each of us. Open our eyes to the wonders of Your Love that we may serve You with a willing heart. Amen.

The Renewal of Baptismal Vows

Do you reaffirm your renunciation of evil and renew your commitment to Jesus Christ?
I do.

Do you believe in God the Father?
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.

Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?
I will, with God’s help.

Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
I will, with God’s help.

Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
I will, with God’s help.

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
I will, with God’s help.

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
I will, with God’s help.

The Celebrant concludes the Renewal of Vows as follows

May Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and bestowed upon us the forgiveness of sins, keep us in eternal life by his grace, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

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Sermon: Eve of the Epiphany RCL C

Edward Burne-Jones – The Adoration of the Magi

My friend, St. Josemaría Escrivá, in his book, Christ is Passing By, writes about his contemplation of the baby Jesus lying in a manger. He begins by asking, “Lord, where is your kingship, your crown, your sword, your sceptre?” Escrivá says, “They are his by right, but he does not want them. He reigns wrapped in swaddling clothes. Our king is unadorned. He comes to us as a defenceless little child. Can we help but recall the words of the Apostle: ‘He emptied himself, taking the nature of a slave’?

“Our Lord became man to teach us the Father’s will. And this he is already doing as he lies there in the manger. Jesus Christ is seeking us—with a call which is a vocation to sanctity—so that we may carry out the redemption with him. Let us reflect on this first lesson of his. We are to co-redeem, by striving to triumph not over our neighbour, but over ourselves. Like Christ we need to empty ourselves, to consider ourselves as the servants of others, and so to bring them to God.

Therefore, Escrivá continues, “As you kneel at the feet of the child Jesus on the day of his Epiphany and see him a king bearing none of the outward signs of royalty, you can tell him: ‘Lord, take away my pride; crush my self-love, my desire to affirm myself and impose myself on others. Make the foundation of my personality my identification with you.’” (#31)

I won’t speak for anyone but myself, but when I consider how many times I want to put myself first, how many times I see myself as better than someone, how many times I think I deserve more or the best—this could be a long list—and then I come alongside the Magi and kneel before this child and consider all that Jesus gave up to be born in a manger and all he endured because he gave it up… I would like to think that I’m a humble person, but I know the truth of myself… I’m a spoiled brat. I am a redeemed spoiled brat, but spoiled brat all the same.

We must learn humility from this child, the One True God, who lies in the manger wrapped in swaddling clothes. We must learn to submit to and humble ourselves before God and submit ourselves to one another, so that in the end, we may be raised up with him.

It is as St. Paul teaches us in his letter to the Philippians (2:6-11) “Though [Jesus] was in the form of God, [he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

On this Eve of the Epiphany, as we kneel alongside the Magi, may we be reminded of our Savior’s great humility and learn to follow in the way he leads.

In the words of Escrivá, let us pray: ‘Lord, take away our pride; crush our self-love, our desire to affirm ourselves and impose ourselves on others. Make the foundation of our personalities our identification with you.’ This we pray in the Name of your Incarnate Son, Jesus. Amen.

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