Rev Dennis j Parker

Third Sunday in Easter Day 2011

2011-05-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

The Third Sunday of Easter – Year A (RCL) 2011
Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 116:4, 12-19; 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, May 8, 2011

PEOPLE OF THE WAY – PEOPLE OF HOPE – PEOPLE OF THE WIERD

Let us Pray: Dear God, as we go along our life’s way, help us to be aware of your presence with us. Open our eyes, make us expectant, eager to be met by you. Give us open minds, open eyes, open hearts to receive your gracious presence and to share it with all you would have us meet. You are the resurrection, and the life. Amen.

(SUNG) BE KNOWN TO US, LORD JESUS
IN THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD.

Our lifetimes are marked by spiritual, political and social events that have influenced us to such an extent that we can often recall, many years later the exact time and place we were when these events burst into our lives marking and changing them forever. Few of us (in a certain age range) would fail to be able to tell you where they were when they received the news that John Fitzgerald or Robert Francis Kennedy were assassinated; or when Tranquility Base reported that “the Eagle had landed” and Neil Armstrong spoke of “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” So, will your children; grand and great grandchildren report on what they were doing when they realized that passenger jetliners were being flown into the World Trade Center or Pentagon? Now will we mark with the same sense of cultural memory the events of last Sunday evening inside the walled compound of an unmarked estate in Abbottabad, Pakistan? Will the young men and women who spontaneously gathered outside the Whitehouse, College Campuses or the under construction Freedom Tower at the former site of the World Trade Center Towers in lower Manhattan, have wonderful stories to relay to their children and grandchildren around celebrating the violent end of another human life? Trust me; the hypothetical questions I’m posing fill me with as much confusion and torn emotion as I’m sure they do for you and the hundreds of thousands of Americans or Pakistanis; Muslim, Christian or atheist/agnostic who struggle to understand what we might do when our enemies face the reality of our outrage for the horrific crimes committed against innocent children, women and men who committed no greater crime than arriving at school or work or play on the impossibly blue sky late summer morning in September of 2001. I do know what the Gospel message of Jesus the Christ asks of us: “But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” I’m not saying the answers are easy, or fair (in the sense of human justice or fairness) and I am saying that the message of the Christ whom we claim to follow is clear when it comes to what we owe our enemies and those who hate us for the Prince of Peace whom we claim as our savior and our God. I encourage you to listen to the anthem that the Choir will sing just after Communion this morning [I’d like to share with you the lyrics of an anthem that the Choir will sing at the 10:00 AM service this morning] I discovered the availability of a hymn text by the well known writer Andrew Pratt when a clergy colleague of mine who is the Rector at St. John the Baptist Parish on the campus of OES told me that their Director of Music, Scott Crandal had written a hymn tune to set the text and was offering the copyrighted anthem for use by anyone who would find it helpful in generating a conversation around our Christian responsibility toward those whom we consider our enemies. The text reads:
We cannot gloat: a time for grief,
another mother's son is dead,
and if that son has killed and maimed,
it is the better least is said;
but let us mourn for all the loss,
within the shadow of the cross.
We mourn for victims we have loved,
and for the orphans yet unborn;
for those for whom a searing pain
greets this and every rising dawn,
and then we bow our heads and pray
that peace might drench the world today.
And to that end we pledge our lives,
our words, our actions and our deeds,
as following the Prince of Peace,
we'll work for peace till peace succeeds,
in breaking every barrier down,
that love may be our goal and crown. © Andrew Pratt 2/5/2011
We are called, each of us who claim this Jesus to live out the Gospel vision of God’s Kindom come among us. That is why we are the ones in our culture who have to give voice to the hard choices that Christ’s Gospel demands of us. We have to be the ones who continue to live out our responsibility to love our enemies and pray for those who abuse us. That same Gospel calls us today and every day toward the Kindom of God made manifest among us right here; right now. The Kindom might be messy, it might be imperfect – it might even at times be petty, gossipy or seemingly trite. It is however that same Kindom that Jesus came among us to proclaim that Kindom in which the hungry are fed, the captive are set free and the mourning rejoice in the Easter joy of the triumph of life over death. Is that that Kindom that we live our inside our Red doors and outside with our Red Tabernacle bringing the Good News into the places where it needs most to be heard.

Our Gospel text for this morning, from the Author of Luke/Acts tells the story of the amazing journey from the cold hard despair of the locked room we visited last week, to the joyous and faith filled hope that happened on the road to Emmaus when the two un-named disciples, completely unknowing met the risen Christ in Word and Sacrament just as we have the chance to do each time we gather in table fellowship.

Those earliest followers of the risen Christ were known simply as “people of the way” and that way is what we later followers cling to with expectant hope – filled with the joy of our God’s victory over darkness and death. The author of Luke’s Gospel recounts the Emmaus roadside journey of amazement and blessing in the revelation of scripture and the recognition and fulfillment of hope in the blessing and breaking of bread. The disciples welcomed a stranger and found in that welcome the reality of God with us – Emmanuel – in the person of the risen Christ. Filled with hope they returned from Emmaus to Jerusalem to share the good news with the other apostles who were gathered in the locked house; and with us – that God indeed is with us in the welcoming of strangers and in the sharing of our table fellowship.

From that journey shared on the way to Emmaus, from the scriptures revealed and explained by the risen Christ to the bread taken, blessed, broken and given we have followed the way for two centuries. In each of our encounters with the risen Christ we continue to be amazed at the unexpected gifts found in the welcoming of strangers as we find the Christ revealed in them. It is in the common and everyday experiences that we are caught unaware – in the simple gifts of bread and Word that the Divine presence continues to reveal itself and move us from cold despair to joy-filled hope.

(SUNG) BE KNOWN TO US, LORD JESUS
IN THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD.

On this Sunday when we recognize the Easter joy anew; when we share bread broken and wine for all from the one cup – we also share in the fellowship of our community around coffee and cake; and we move from this place to take that bread and wine (actually the cup we take out to the park uses grape juice rather than wine) and add to it bread spread with peanut butter and jelly to share with the hungry of body as well as the hungry of spirit; and we have recently added eggs to our feast that we share will all who ask – and we make sure that we also have treats for the critters who share our lives and are such a blessing to our ministries; critters like ranger and sophie & [Drew’s dog] this is our community of believers led by an Irish Catholic Episcopal priest and a UCC Minister of Outreach who met each other and connected in the Good News of the Gospel shared among the members of the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus; and who now are growing into a greater understanding of what Jesus meant when he called us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. It’s all good and it’s all powerful and growing into our unique and wonderful ministry at the corner of 13th and Clay and moving out further and further into the heart of our city. Sometimes it is rich and full of deep and reverent liturgy and sometimes it is real and rough and full of drug addicts and drunks and we are all children of a loving God and I can just bet that God is watching and smiling and wondering what we’ll do next. In closing, I’d like to share with you a passage from Mike Yaconelli’s book Messy Spirituality: God’s Annoying Love for Imperfect People:

“In C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the White Witch has turned many of the inhabitants of Narnia into stone, but Aslan, the Christ figure, jumps into the stone courtyard, pouncing on the statues, breathing life into them.

The courtyard looked no longer like a museum; it looked more like a zoo. Creatures were running after Aslan and dancing round him till he was almost hidden in the crowd. Instead of all that deadly white, the courtyard was now ablaze with colors; glossy chestnut side of centaurs, indigo horns of unicorns, dazzling plumage of birds, ruddy-brown of foxes, dogs and satyrs, yellow stockings and crimson hoods of dwarfs; and the birch-girls in silver, and the beech-girls in fresh transparent green, and the larch-girls in green so bright that it was almost yellow. And instead of the deadly silence, the whole place rang with the sound of happy roarings, brayings, yelpings, barkings, squealings, cooings, neighings, stampings, shouts, hurrahs, songs and laughter.

Lewis’ summary of what is happening in Narnia is a brilliant description of what a church should look like: “The courtyard no longer looked like a museum, it looked more like a zoo.” It is in the incongruence and oddness of our disjointed spirituality that ought to characterize every church. For God so loved the world, that whosoever believes in him will, from that point on, be considered weird by the rest of the world, which means the church should be more like a zoo than a tomb of identical mummies.”

We are about bringing that unique brand of Christianity to a city who’s unofficial motto is Keep Portland Weird; as messy as it is; as funky as it can get – I wouldn’t want to worship with anyone else I know – Would You?

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

2010-09-20T17:13:00.000-07:00

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost – Year C Proper 20 (RCL) 2010
Jeremiah 8: 18 – 9: 1; Psalm 79: 1 – 9; 1 Timothy 2: 1 – 7; Luke 16:1 – 13
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, September 19, 2010

GOD AND MAMMON

Let us pray: Holy God we are tempted to squander the opportunities you place before us for ministry and service in your name. We are busy furthering our own fortunes and we often neglect the fortunes of others who have so much less than we. You, however, call us always to service to discipleship in your name with an unswerving devotion. That commitment is beyond our grasp without you, O God, give it to us in your grace. We ask that you help shape our priorities so that we might spend what you give us on things which truly matter. We pray this in the name of the One, Holy and Living God. Amen.

(SUNG) THERE IS A BALM IN GILEAD, TO MAKE THE WOUNDED WHOLE. THERE IS A BALM IN GILEAD, TO HEAL THE SIN SICK SOUL.
SOMETIMES I FEEL DISCOURAGED, AND FEEL MY WORK’S IN VAIN, BUT THEN THE HOLY SPIRIT REVIVES MY SOUL AGAIN.

Admit it, when you heard that phrase [Is there no balm in Gilead?] in the reading from the Prophet Jeremiah, your mind immediately jumped to this old chestnut! In my previous parish we had a training session in the church for Lector’s and we used this reading to give each person an opportunity to read aloud for the group and be critiqued. One of the lectors, Sandy commented that it was not until she began to learn to read that she realized that she had heard the phrase incorrectly – and her young mind searched for some logic around why God would have planted a bomb in the city of Gilead. In the midst of Jeremiah’s chastising of the people of Judah and Jerusalem around their creation of graven images and foreign idols Yahweh speaks to the chosen people. God speaks in first person voice of hurt, grief and dismay and tells them that a fountain of tears would pour from heavenly eyes as God wept day and night for the wounded and slain people God claimed as God’s own. Gilead was a region of the Transjordan and was a major stop along the trade route called the Kings Highway, which stretched from the Gulf of Aqaba all the way to Damascus. The exact composition of the famed balm in Gilead is unknown to this day. Jeremiah speaks of this balm at several other points in the oracles collected in the book attributed to this major prophet and it always serves as a metaphor of the healing power of God’s love for the people.

Fr. Jim, who was here last week to cover for my short trip to British Columbia, gets to preach on the beautiful parable story of the shepherd who leaves the ninety nine to go and search for the one lost sheep. The previous week was an opportunity for my colleague in ministry and our Deacon extraordinaire to tackle the difficult text from this author’s account wherein Jesus tells the crowd that they must hate their father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters; and even life itself in order to be a disciple. If I thought he had a difficult Gospel text to preach on two weeks ago, the lesson from the author of Luke/Acts chosen for this Sunday wins the “difficult” prize hands down. All of Jesus’ parables are challenging but the story of the dishonest manager who is praised by the master for acting shrewdly (while, incidentally, he appears to be robbing him blind) is one which will make any hearer turn there heads and ask “what is that all about? This Gospel stuff has surely risen to the heights of obscurity today – I wonder what he’ll have to say about this one”! The fact is, I have nothing to say about this one – so if we could all just sit and meditate upon what we think might be happening in this story we’ll get on with the Nicene Creed and press on. Seriously, I have studied commentators and searched through preacher’s galore to see what God’s Holy Spirit might be leading me to say about this challenging text. One of the first courses which I enrolled in at the Episcopal Seminary, Church Divinity School of the Pacific was titled; God and Mammon – the Politics and Theology of money. Dr. Marion Grau crafted this course and challenged those of us who took it to discern for ourselves our understanding of the theology of money. Dr. Grau cited the number of times that Jesus spoke to issues of economics and money (including in those statistics mention of the poor and our responsibility toward them) and the number though I cannot find in the mess of my seminary 1st semester notes the exact citation, was astronomically high – and certainly many times higher than the number that Jesus gave mention to the current issues which divide our Anglican sisters and brothers so fractiously. My point in bringing this up is that Jesus, in this morning’s Gospel narrative opens the door for the followers and disciples to have those conversations and discussions, which we find to difficult to have and they mostly center on money. Not necessarily how much we have or don’t have – but most especially about how much we give away; that is truly the taboo topic in our Christian theology of economics.

(SUNG) THERE IS A BALM IN GILEAD TO MAKE THE WOUNDED WHOLE THERE IS A BALM IN GILEAD TO HEAL THE SIN SICK SOUL.
IF YOU CANNOT PREACH LIKE PETER, IF YOU CANNOT PRAY LIKE PAUL, YOU CAN TELL THE LOVE OF JESUS, AND SAY HE DIED FOR ALL.

So, he figured out a way at the end of September to turn it into a “stewardship” Sermon. The Christian Scripture reading from First Timothy and the Lukan text about the dishonest manager suggest some alternative ways of addressing stewardship in our community. First we are urged by the writer of Timothy to pray. Why, because when we pray we are giving voice to the relationship we have with our maker and redeemer. Relationships require communication, and prayer is the principle form we use to signify our relationship with God. Will be doin’ a lot of prayin’ in this stewardship season. Learning about prayer deepens our relationship with God, and lays a foundation for our response in giving from what God has given to us. Learning to pray also begins to order our life around a subject that is still difficult to talk about in our culture – money! Oh, we can talk about how to spend it, how to save it, how to invest it – but few talk about how to give it away. That is where today’s parable from the Author of Luke/Acts sixteenth chapter can give us some insight. As we noted, Jesus talks about money, a lot; and in today’s Gospel story Jesus talks about it in ways we can really identify with – getting it anyway you can. Of course, the point of the parable is that the crafty steward uses his cleverness to assure himself a place when the bottom falls out of things. Jesus commends that cleverness – though not the dishonesty, for us. Jesus also says that we cannot serve God and Money (Mammon), that’s because Jesus knows how we struggle with our limited resources; how we wish we could have more and how we even say, “when I get rich I’m going to give a whole bunch to charity.” Jesus doesn’t want to hear that, Jesus wants us to feel freedom and joy, and to give from what we have – right now. God knows how bound we are by our feeling of scarcity – God wants us to claim abundance.

It is important to remind ourselves of the setting of this story, nothing in the narrative indicates a movement by Jesus or the disciples or the Pharisees so we can safely assume that we are still at the same dinner party sitting with outcasts and sinners and religious authorities who have their noses pretty out of joint. Throughout this party Jesus has offered the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the two lost sons (or the Prodigal Son). These three stories talk about the generosity of God’s love, not the rejection of sinners and outcasts, plus the setting of the telling is in intimate table fellowship. This setting can give the disciples and followers a sense of what potential there can be when they join together around that table and share gifts with each other. They learn that the appropriate outlook on outcasts and sinners is an open heart, one that expresses itself in the love for one another, in their willingness to be the best for another no matter where that other comes from, or what treatment popular opinion says they deserve.

As if to drive home the point, Jesus tells an outrageous story that has some pretty dicey ethics, at best. To say that Jesus is encouraging his hearers to “think outside the box”, is an understatement, but in doing so Jesus illustrates the zeal and determination that is being sought from the disciples to choose the Kindom of God and to live in it. Richard Obach and Albert Kirk in their commentary on the Lukan Gospel have a great description of this story:

“As the parable unfolds, a servant is about to be dismissed for wasting his employers money; he was neglecting his responsibilities. The servant’s future looks very bleak. Beggary awaits him because he lacks the strength for manual labor. As he ponders the bind he is in, he receives a flash of insight and realizes how he can solve his dilemma. He then makes a decision that makes a bearing on his entire future – the security of being welcomed into the homes of his master’s former creditors; he reduces their indebtedness by giving up his rightful commission. As a steward he had a right to a percentage of what he collected for his employer. The employer praises the steward not for his earlier neglect of his duty, but for having the foresight to give up his commission for the sake of what would be needed later on when he had no job…”

A possible moral for this story is that Jesus wants those who are listening to see that the choice before them is of the same gravity and magnitude as the one before the steward. Their whole future hangs in the balance. Jesus wants them, and us, like the steward to be shrewd, daring and willing to sacrifice for the future. This is an all or nothing proposition. The people in fellowship around the table that evening have already tasted something new in what life can be. Jesus is asking if this is going to be for one night only, or do they (and we) see the importance of re-orienting the way we live to the standards present only in the Gospel – and in the Kindom of God, which is present among us.

(SUNG) THERE IS A BALM IN GILEAD, TO MAKE THE WOUNDED WHOLE. THERE IS A BALM IN GILEAD, TO HEAL THE SIN SICK SOUL.

I was struck by a quote which was I came across while reading one of the sermon illustration resources to which I subscribe; it was credited to the Grand Dame Brook Astor who died at the ripe old age of 105. Ms. Astor, an American socialite and philanthropist, was the chairwoman of the Vincent Astor Foundation which had been established by her third husband, Vincent Astor, the last surviving member of the moneyed Astor family. Brook was quoted by some unknown sources as saying: “Money is like Manure, it should be spread around.” What a wonderful theology of stewardship, from this remarkable woman who knew that serving God and wealth (Mammon) is impossible. As we gather and pray with God and each other in the weeks ahead and look for the ways in which we might give back to God what God has so graciously given to us as part of our prayerful and personal stewardship. I share with you a Prayer written by former Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold:

“Lord God you gave bread to your people in the wilderness, and sent Jesus to be bread for the life of the world. May we, your family, who week by week break and share the bread of the Eucharist, be bread for one another, and for all who stand in need. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

2010-09-20T17:10:00.000-07:00

I was on Vacation in Victoria BC for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost and the Rev. Jim Corbett presided and preached for Sunday, September 12th, 2010

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

2010-09-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

Deacon Ken preached the sermon for Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, for Sunday September 5th, 2010

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

2010-09-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 17 (RCL) Year C 2010
Jeremiah 2: 4 – 13; Psalm 81: 1, 10 – 16; Hebrews 13: 1 – 8; 15 – 16; Luke 14: 1, 7 – 14
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, August 29, 2010

GUESS WHO’S (NOT) COMING TO DINNER?

Let us pray: Help us gracious God to live out your call to be followers of your Christ and not merely admirers. When the lessons are harsh, when the message is hard, help us to dare and take the risks you took in your time among us as The Anointed One, the Messiah of God. When we envision your Kindom come on earth – may we glory in the reversals of pride and poverty; of position and powerlessness and especially in the Angels who come among us disguised as strangers that they might teach us all that you have given in the ultimate act of salvation through Jesus, you’re Holy One and our savior. Amen.

(SUNG) NOW WITH GOD AT TABLE WE SIT DOWN,
NOW WITH GOD AT TABLE WE SIT DOWN.

The long green season of time after the feast of Pentecost is designed to allow us through the scriptures commended in the Revised Common Lectionary to hear from the authors of our Hebrew, Christian and Gospel texts lessons and examples of the truth of God and God’s plan for humankind and its ultimate salvation. Often those stories and examples handed down to us by our ancestors in the Faith (both Hebrew and Christian) are difficult for us in our twenty first century sensibilities to comprehend; and indeed probably were as difficult for those in the centuries before us. Jesus’ life and ministry as revealed to us by the authors of our Gospel texts was a prophet and preacher who was a threat to the religious and political authorities of his time and preached a message of reversal of fortunes for those who held the power and authority of humankind. I honestly believe that Jesus was not the kind of dinner guest that any of us would have been interested in hosting for a light evening of casual frolic and bon vivant! No, this “Irritant Preacher” as some author’s have referred to him – was all about turning the tables upside down and humbling the proud in the middle of their folly. Each and every Sunday that we gather around the Altar Table we pray, as a joined community of believer’s that Jesus will come among us and be our guest at God’s table; are we really and truly sure that we want that prayer to be answered? If we get the Jesus who is revealed to us in the author of Luke’s account this morning – I think I might hesitate at that invitation.

If we are to believe the events narrated from the Gospel story this morning, Jesus was not always the most pleasant of dinner guests. Here Jesus has been invited to the “house of a Pharisee”. As soon as we hear the mention of Pharisee’s in the author of Luke’s account, we can expect the conflict and drama of the story to intensify. Perhaps this Pharisee invites Jesus so that more ammunition can be gathered for the eventual payback that this group of religious leaders looked to exact. Perhaps this Pharisee invites Jesus into his home to try and negotiate some sort of peace between the established temple leadership and this rebel preacher who had been doing so much to rile up the crowds; the unkempt and unclean crowds; the irreverent and unapologetic crowds, the crowds that would eventually turn against him and echo the cries of the religious authorities to crucify him. “Maybe if we can just get Jesus to sit down at the table in the midst of us and offer the hospitality of our spacious home, we can negotiate some sort of peaceful resolution between him and those who look to stop him by any means possible.” I guess they can forget that pretty quickly. No sooner has Jesus arrived when he begins to stir up controversy and turns his indignation toward the gathered guests. Jesus calls them on their behavior by noting how they all scrambled as quickly as they could for the best places at the table. Think if you will about our own cultural norms when we are attending or organizing a dinner or banquet. Table cards are marked and set out in a seating arrangement that places the honored guest at the front or center of the gathering hall and seats are assigned to the “head table” or those tables closest according to the protocol of the most honored guests up front and the less notable or desirable further and further back. In today’s Gospel message, Jesus condemns this practice telling those who look for positions of influence that “those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

(SUNG) NOW WITH GOD AT TABLE WE SIT DOWN
NOW WITH GOD AT TABLE WE SIT DOWN.

Next this gentle dinner guest turns on the host. “The next time you give a dinner party, don’t invite those like you have invited here; your friends, your relatives and those who have power and influence in your circle and will be able to repay the favor by inviting you to their next soiree; rather invite the lame, the blind the poor and the destitute – those who would never in a million years have the ability to reciprocate your hospitality.” Does anyone here have that understanding of how a dinner party should be organized? Then again this is Jesus, this is the one who takes on the powerful and privileged of his society and turns them all on their heads with shocking regularity. This is the Jesus who speaks of the greatest banquet of all – the feast in the Kindom of God. Who is seated at this table? Those who have nothing are given everything – for nothing. The outsiders of our societies become the insiders of God’s Kindom. Do we remember the song that Luke’s author puts in the mouth of Mary at the announcement of Jesus’ birth? “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” As God has promised, so will God deliver. I wonder if I am blessed enough to be seated at God’s great banquet how surprised I will be at who is sitting next to me, and who is sitting next to them – and who is seated closest to the head table?
Would any of us fare any better if Jesus were the invited guest at one of our dinner parties? Are we humble enough to let our neighbor’s be that highly exalted, especially our neighbors that we would never think of inviting into our banquet tables? Are we prepared to sit with sinners and saints? Are we ready to extend our generosity to the prostitutes and drug addicts, to the dirty and bedraggled beggars? I want to share with you a story that I came across as I was searching for sermon ideas this week. It’s a story called Thank you, Mike.

This story appeared in a local newspaper years ago about a “regular” street beggar and a woman named Ellen Friedman and her son:
The man in question stands at the same street intersection every day, rain or shine, with a cardboard sign in hand, asking for money. On occasion, the Friedman’s have been known to give him a dollar, or even a sandwich. One rainy day Mrs. Friedman was ferrying her son from lunch at home to his music lesson and they saw that the beggar on their corner was barely able to walk. In fact, the man appeared to be staggering. The light turned green and off they went.
Later, Mrs. Friedman wrote: "Thinking out loud, I said to myself, 'he might have been drunk.' But being in the presence of the relentless honesty of youth, I had to add, 'but he looked like he was in pain.' We drove for several blocks in silence. At length my son said, 'Mom, I just don't feel right. We just ate pizza for lunch, and you let me have drum lessons, and pitching lessons, and camp, and that all costs lots of money, and he's sitting there in the rain.' I began looking for a place to U-turn. This was not the first time my children have urged me to turn around in the name of charity....At Krieger Schechter, the Jewish day school my children attend, they have learned that tzedakah (the Hebrew counterpart for 'charity,' but which literally means 'justice') is a way of life. Discovering she only has a 20 dollar bill with her; Mrs. Friedman pulls into a fast food chain and buys a meal, and returns to the corner on Roland Avenue to deliver the lunch. "...he turned toward the car, and (for the first time, I'm ashamed to admit) I looked into his face. He wasn't as old as I had expected. Maybe not much older than I. He was also visibly upset. Amid his thanks I caught another story. '...just drove by and threw somethin' at me. What makes people be so hateful? Don't they think I got feelings too?' The light changed, and we drove on with tears in our eyes. I was humbled when I thought how close we had been to just driving home. We could debate all day whether it's appropriate, safe, or good public policy to give to individual beggars, or whether all giving should be done through institutions. But when faced with the decision of whether or not to give to an individual, the Talmud, the ancient commentary on the Hebrew bible, instructs us that...if a beggar says, 'I'm hungry, please give me some food,' we should do so with a kind word, certainly without insults. Sometimes, as this experience has us, the words of encouragement may be the most important part."

The next week Mrs. Friedman and her son drove back toward the intersection with lunch in hand and asked the man on the corner how he was feeling. As the man explained to them, he had been to the emergency room for the pain he had been suffering. Mrs. Friedman noticed something for the first time. Scribbled at the bottom of his cardboard sign were the words, "Thank you, Mike."
"Now I knew his name.’Mike, we won't be coming this way for a few weeks. Take care of yourself.' Mike wished my son a good time at camp, and then the light changed. We'd like to think that the hot food and the kind words we gave Mike had a value beyond the dollars and the time it cost to give them, but we do know that what we learned from the encounter with Mike had a far greater value. Thank you, Mike."

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers” says the author of the Letter to the Hebrews, “for by doing that some have entertained Angles without knowing it.” I know I don’t have the insight to discern the bums from the Angels. I pray that God might lead us, in community to a closer understanding of how we might be better followers of this one we claim as our savior, this Jesus who calls us to open our banquet tables to a different seating arrangement than we have ever known before.

Amen.

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

2010-08-24T17:09:00.000-07:00

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost – Year C Proper 16 (RCL) 2010
Isaiah 58: 9b – 14; Psalm 103: 1 – 8; Hebrews 12: 18 – 29; Luke 13: 10 – 17
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, August 22, 2010

AN ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP

Let us pray: Holy and loving God we are gathered this day to bring before your presence the prayers and praises of your people. We look to offer in our worship the glory and honor; the might and power of your Word and Sacrament as a means of maintaining our relationship with you through your Holy One, our Savior Jesus the Christ. In the words that we pray and the actions that we offer we ask that you receive our feeble attempts at pleasing your mighty presence in the holy places where we have found our connection with you. Be among us this day, O God – and every day as we seek to serve you in all the holy places of our loves and lives. Amen.

(SUNG) O BLESS THE LORD MY SOUL, HIS GRACE TO THEE PROCLAIM
AND ALL THAT IS WITHIN ME JOIN TO BLESS HIS HOLY NAME.
O YEAH.

We are coming to the end of the summer season – and I know that I always approach that reality with a mix of sadness and joy. Sadness to witness the shortening length of daylight as it ever so slowly slips from our western skies; sadness to loose the fullness of bloom and blossom in the earth and sadness to hear the fading of the children’s excitement as the carefree boredom of summer days marches toward the structure and discipline of the return to classrooms and soccer practices. In this mix of sadness comes the joy of remembering the glory of a crisp fall morning; the excitement of potential new friends and adventures to be had in the starting of a new school year and in the comfort of returning faces in the routines of our ordinary lives. All of this mixture of joy and sadness is reflected in the stories from our sacred scriptures that we encounter on this thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost.

We start with a writing from Third Isaiah – this is the prophet as we love and remember; giving us the hope and promise of renewed relationship with God if we but turn our hearts and forsake our rebellion against God’s mercy and grace. If we remove the pointing of the finger (he did it not me; look at what they did), the speaking of evil (gossip and betrayal of confidences) – if we offer our food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted as this Parish family has faithfully done for many years on Tuesday afternoons, Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings – and yet God would ask us to do more; to stretch ourselves into an understanding of making this commitment part of the very nature of our relationships with God and with each other; then our light shall rise in the darkness and our gloom be like the noonday. What good news is that to carry with us into the lengthening dark of our Pacific Northwest autumn. The poetry of the writer is magnificent in description of the relationship between God and God’s people. “The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your need in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.” Think of what those words must have envisioned to a desert people – to a nation that longed for its land of Milk and Honey as it had been promised of old! All that Yahweh would ask is that God’s people honor the Sabbath covenant – that on God’s Holy day we refrain from our own interests and that we call the Sabbath a delight and the Holy Day of the Lord honorable. That is, if our worship on God’s Holy Day might give delight to God and to us as we gather to hear God’s word and share God’s Sacrament with all who seek nourishment at God’s Holy Table.

(SUNG) O BLESS THE LORD MY SOUL, HIS MERCIES BEAR IN MIND
FORGET NOT ALL HIS BENEFITS – THE LORD TO THEE IS KIND.

This particular version of the musical setting of the hundred and third Psalm is taken from Stephen Schwartz setting for the Off Broadway Musical Godspell. In my early twenties this musical was a major part of my life – I was in a long running production at a regional theater and this adaptation of the author of Matthew’s Gospel that established a pop culture Iconic Christ who sang and danced his way into the hearts of young people was my worship at an age where I was rebelling against the structures of my parents Church as was my entire generation. I can remember few more profound or deeply personal connections with God in Worship than I experienced on the stage as we joined in the distribution of communion with a Dixie cup for chalice; or as we gently lifted the symbolically crucified body of the actor portraying Jesus and carried him in sorrowful procession and chanted:

(SUNG) LONG LIVE GOD – LONG LIVE GOD. LONG LIVE GOD, LONG
LIVE GOD.

I think that the point which our generation looked to make with the language of the stage and movie musical versions of Godspell and say, Jesus Christ Superstar, was that Worship needed to be a profound and deeply personal connection between God and those who gather to worship that God. That same longing to make our worship reflect the reality of our lives is continued in this generation’s adaptation of the music of Bono incorporated in many places as an “U2charist”. In the Christian tradition, especially of the more “liturgical” churches our tendency is sometimes to worship our worship rather than to worship our God. I do not mean to imply that the deep and ancient rituals and rites of the Church which form our style of liturgical expression and therefore a major piece of our Sunday worship can simply be dismissed as irrelevant to a modern culture. In our pericope from the sermonic text addressed to the Hebrews the author speaks to that most fundamental of our connections with the worship of God and our history of how that has been lived out. The author uses the contrasting images of the Mountain of mystery and danger (that of Mount Sinai and its ancient connection with the people of Israel) verses the mountain of calm and peace which is Mount Zion and represents God’s connection with an availability and approachability that is called a heavenly Jerusalem where humanity might dwell with divinity as a result of the presence and ministry of the Christ who reconciled us to be once again God’s chosen people. This is how the author expresses God’s Kindom that cannot be shaken and so we give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe.

In these longer and quieter days of summer our Worship as community has been focused in what some of us call Rite III or what the Church calls the “Supplemental Liturgical Materials” which are found in the texts of our prayers and responses and often call us up short when we look to pray from our memories rather than reading the revised texts with their changes. Would you take your bulletin that provides those prayers and responses out for me right now? If you take the time to peruse the prayers and responses in these liturgical materials you might notice subtle differences from our more traditional “contemporary” prayers in Rite II from the Book of Common Prayer. Depending on one’s “liturgical purity level” these differences may not seem all that “subtle” and can often seem “jarring” to our ears which are used to the more “formal” language of our Tudor English forebears who crafted the original language of our Common Prayer in the 16th Century. These “supplemental liturgical materials”, including three alternate Eucharistic Prayers (of which we are using prayers 1 and 3 this summer) which further “contemporize” the language and imagery of God’s saving work in humanity have been part of our formal “approved” worship since 1991. In this reworking of the liturgical materials approved by General Convention, there is also some “reworking” of the more traditional language of the Nicene Creed which we use each Sunday to make our profession of faith as a gathered community. Look at the text of that Creed found on page six. In the third Paragraph beginning with the statement “We believe in the Holy Spirit” you might notice in the next sentence something which has been “tripping” people up all summer – the text reads “who proceeds from the Father,” and most of us, because of years of conditioned response in prayer will continue that sentence with “and the Son.” Now at this point I could launch into a 45-minute presentation on the wars and schisms that have been fought around the “filioque” clause. This is an obscure and historic disagreement in Trinitarian theology, which threatened and actually contributed to the brake in the unity of God’s Church between its Roman or Latin branch and its Eastern or “Orthodox” branch in the year 1054. The papal legate acting on behalf of Pope Leo III excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople (Michael Cerularius), who in response excommunicated the Pope’s legate sent to negotiate a settlement between the two leaders. The decision by our Standing Liturgical Committee to drop the clause from this version of the Creed was an attempt to offer a gesture of reconciliation to our Orthodox sisters and brothers – and as I’m sure most of you would agree probably matters little to the God who hears our prayers. All of this “history” is merely to point out that how we “structure” and craft a language around our Worship of God is of profound importance in our tradition and “liturgical” heritage – and actually of little importance to an “acceptable worship” which reverently reflects our desire to offer praise and thanksgiving (or Eucharist from the Greek) to our God and the God of our Ancestors, both Hebrew and Greek.

The author of Luke’s Gospel carries the theme of the day into the synagogue worship of Jesus’ time. The focus is placed in this story on the hypocrisy of the legalistic interpretations of the laws surrounding what it means to honor the Sabbath. The leader of the synagogue challenges Jesus’ healing ministry by complaining that the healing act itself is a violation of the Sabbath. Jesus, who in typical fashion is able to dismiss the argument of the opponents and shame them into silence, decries this small minded and narrow interpretation of the day of the Lord. Then we are told by the author that the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that Jesus was doing. This adulation, as we well know, will not last forever and the synagogue leaders will only lie in wait for their moment to strike back at this radical rabbi and exact their revenge; but that story will come later in our liturgical cycle. For now it is perhaps best for us to reflect on what our worship is and what our worship isn’t. In the traditions of our founders in the faith a great effort was struck to balance those portions of our worship experience that might maintain the mystery present in the very act of approaching God’s Holy presence – with a genuine need to make that encounter genuine and personal by hearing the words in the language which was spoken by the faithful. That language, so beautifully crafted and poetic as it is – must continually be adapted so that we speak to God and allow God to speak us in ways that communicate where the divine mystery can lead us as faithful followers of the Word – made flesh who dwells among us.

Amen.

Eleventh and Twelfth Sundays after Pentecost

2010-08-02T17:21:00.000-07:00

The Priest in Charge is away on Vacation for the next two weeks. Upon my return I will next preach on the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost. I will try and "update" this blog at that time and stay faithful to that process going forward. However, as "mi sainted irish mither (may she rest in peace) used to say; the road to hel* is paved with good intentions."

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

2010-08-02T17:18:00.000-07:00

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost – Year C Proper 13 (RCL) 2010
Hosea 11: 1 – 11; Psalm 107: 1 – 9, 43; Colossians 3: 1 – 11; Luke 12: 13 – 21
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, August 1, 2010

PENNY WISE AND POUND FOOLISH

Let us pray: Mighty God we gather in this “sanctuary” and holy space to lift our voices in prayer and song as your creation groans under the weight of our selfishness and neglect of all that has been so freely given to us. Keep us mindful this and every day of our call to be good stewards of the Earth and protectors of all who dwell upon her face. Keep us under your constant care and help us to learn how to share our abundant blessings with all of your creation and created, to the honor and glory of Your Name. Amen.

(SUNG) FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH, FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE
SKIES, FOR THE LOVE WHICH FROM OUR BIRTH OVER AND
AROUND US LIES, CHRIST OUR GOD, TO THEE WE RAISE
THIS OUR HYMN OF GRATEFUL PRAISE.

I would invite those of you who have not had the opportunity, to join with us some Sunday afternoon as we celebrate Communion in the Park, which is an outreach ministry of this parish community as well as several other denominational organizations in the City. This celebration of liturgy under the canopy of trees and foliage in the warmth of our mid summer season is fast becoming an important ministry in the life of our faith community. We are indeed blessed with a pastoral setting among the granite monuments dedicated to peace in the quietness of the south park blocks of Portland, where we can take advantage of the beauty of creation to turn our hearts and spirits toward the glory of God so visible in the world around us. This ministry intentionally focuses a spiritual encounter in the great outdoors with a simple service of Gospel and communion. Accompanied by a Celtic harp in easy to remember hymns and chants we gather in the glory of God’s creation raising our voices in prayer and praise. God has been most cooperative in the weather department over the past few weeks as we have shared the Good News with friends and strangers; neighbors and visitors from all walks and conditions of life. I think this is a wonderful reflection of what the early Christian community might have experienced as they looked to break bread and spread the message of the risen Christ. In the middle of a bustling and busy metropolitan neighborhood; a moment taken to listen to the lilting strings of a harp and whisper a prayer of need or thanksgiving is a welcome blessing for all who experience it.

In our readings from the sacred scriptures assigned in the lectionary for this tenth Sunday after Pentecost a theme is woven that can be visioned as an invitation to place God at the center of our lives, rather than follow our own human desires and wills. The minor prophet Hosea speaks God’s words to an Israel which has forgotten its calling to be the people of the covenant and conveys imagery which invites a reconnection with a compassionate and caring Creator whose faithfulness is never ending. Whenever I have had the opportunity to visit some of the great Gothic cathedrals in the United States, such as St. John the Divine in Manhattan or the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., – as I pass through the great main doors my attention is immediately and inevitably drawn upward! Upon entry to these great edifices, we often become aware of a change within ourselves of a lifting of our spirits and a widening of our visions to match the glory of the holy space in which we find ourselves. In the section of the letter to the early Christian community at Colossae, which we heard this morning, I experience that same moment when the author writes – “If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above…set your minds on things that are above.” Paul encourages the believers to lift their hearts and their lives to the things that are above, and not to the things that are of this earth, for it is in their death to self and selfish things that they can be resurrected to new life revealed in the Christ.

(SUNG) FOR THE BEAUTY OF EACH HOUR OF THE DAY AND OF THE
NIGHT, HILL AND VALE AND TREE AND FLOWER, SUN AND
MOON, AND STARS OF LIGHT, CHRIST OUR GOD, TO THEE
WE RAISE THIS OUT HYMN OF GRATEFUL PRAISE.

In our story from the Gospel text this morning, the author of Luke/Acts tells of a fellow in the crowd who demands of Jesus a judgment in a family inheritance matter. Jesus declines to be drawn into the matter, and instead uses the opportunity to address the crowd with a parable that is unique to the Luke/Acts Gospel narrative. Though the beginning of our Gospel text this morning might appear to us as brusque – and the intention of the fellow who asks Jesus to intervene in the matter of family inheritance rather presumptuous, we should remember that it would have been perfectly proper behavior in the context of our reading this morning for someone to ask for interpretation of civil law of a learned rabbi and to seek assistance in arbitrating a family matter. This, however, was not the practice of this rabbi and Jesus’ response – “friend, who sent me to be a judge or arbitrator over you” allows the rabbi to move the conversation and glean a “teaching moment” from it. Jesus tells the story, the parable, of the greedy rich man whose land produced abundantly. There is essentially no reason to believe that the man in the parable whom Jesus defines as a “fool” came into the good fortune and wealth of his life from anything other than good hard work; determination and a sound financial plan for the future that might provide for his old age and retirement. Yet Jesus calls him a “fool”, and notes that he is rich only toward himself and not toward God. The man seems to talk only to himself and in his self-absorption lays his foolishness. He tends to believe that his possessions and material wealth will provide for his well being and lacks any understanding that the bounty which has created his wealth comes from God, and that God expects that something more be done with it than merely pilling it up in hopes of keeping it for a rainy day. This man, whom we might refer to as a prudent businessman – Jesus calls a “fool”. It continually comes as a shock to us when we realize that Jesus looks at things differently than we look at things. We tend to honor those people who gain the whole world, those who seem wise enough to accumulate vast amounts of wealth and power by their ingenuity and hard work – we constantly glorify them in our yearly roundups of the most successful, the most famous and the most beautiful. When the disastrous performance of the Chief Operating Officer of British Petroleum hit in the questioning before a congressional panel, the COO of BP was called “a fine Christian man,” by his Vicar. In an article in the New York Times the following is quoted from a self identified entrepreneurial Millionaire: "I know people looking in from the outside will ask why someone like me keeps working so hard. But a few million doesn’t go as far as it used to. Maybe in the ’70s, a few million bucks meant ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,’ or Richie Rich living in a big house with a butler. But not anymore." What do we suppose Jesus would have called this greedy man? Yet Jesus’ ideas around this accumulation of wealth are pretty clear. Note that in the three lines of the rich man’s monologue, the word “I’ is used six times, and the word “my” five. No thought is given to how others might have contributed to his success. What about a possible “bonus” to the hired hands who assisted? No mention of thanksgiving is offered for the contributions of others, or for the blessings from God. The difficulty for the man in this parable is not wealth and possessions – but rather the self centered and selfish use of that wealth.

(SUNG) FOR THE JOY OF EAR AND EYE, FOR THE HEART AND MIND’S
DELIGHT, FOR THE MYSTIC HARMONY LINKING SENSE TO
SOUND AND SIGHT, CHRIST OUR GOD TO THEE WE RAISE
THIS OUR HYMN OF GRATEFUL PRAISE.

Part of the challenge for us in this parable is that we tend to distance ourselves from the central character. The tendency is for us to identify the wealthy foolish man as some kind of ultra-rich Phil Knight or Donald Trump type figure. The truth is that he’s not, he’s pretty much the successful, middle class worker with a livable working wage and a comfortable 401K and retirement package. The biggest challenge here is to find ourselves in the problem of Jesus’ parable. The abundance of possessions is so subtle and culturally acceptable that it goes largely unnoticed. The challenge of this story is that none of us is going to think that it applies to us. I found myself in the same pitfall upon first reading it – I don’t have an overabundance of material possessions so that I would have to tear down my barn and build bigger ones just to store them – and then I gave thought to the possibly twenty pairs of pants which hang in my clothes closet that I haven’t worn in how many years? Have you noticed the number of “self storage” sites that have sprung up around us in the past ten years? If we were to compare ourselves and our culture with say the United Kingdom and Australia we have 10 times as much self-storage space as they do. How many times do we envy the newer car or bigger house in the neighborhood, when we are already blessed beyond our needs with the ones that we have? This is what Jesus is warning us against by saying, “be on your guard against all kinds of greed.” Jesus knows that our appetites for “more” can be very subtle and so warns us to be intentional in looking out for those pitfalls. The problem for the rich fool in this parable is not that he was wealthy or had a great harvest. The problem is that he didn’t understand the spiritual reality behind all that he had. Our Christian ethics and responsibilities around material possessions and wealth are pretty clear: we are given so that we might give back; we are blessed so that we might be a blessing; we are loved so that we might love; we are reconciled to God so that we might be reconcilers to each other; we are forgiven so that we might forgive.

(SUNG) FOR THE JOY OF HUMAN LOVE, BROTHER, SISTER, PARENT,
CHILD, FRINDS ON EARTH, AND FRIENDS ABOVE, FOR ALL
GENTLE THOUGHTS AND MILD, CHRIST OUR GOD, TO THEE
WE RAISE THIS OUR HUMN OF GRATEFUL PRAISE.

Many of us have become aware in the past decade of our need to “live simply, that others might simply live.” The subtle lure and cunning infiltration of a consumerist society threatens to keep us blinded to the gospel truth that “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” I think we all know ways in which we might “cull” some of the abundance of “things” in our possession and share them with others who might have need of them. One way is to seriously look at what we “have” and compare it with what we “need” and make the adjustments in our own evaluation of how we might be builders of bigger barns rather than distributors of blessings that have been given to us and therefore should be used to bless those who are in greater need. Liberation theologian Gustavo Gutièrrez writes: “Human beings fully realize themselves in solidarity with others. On the contrary, they are diminished as persons and as believers if their purposes do not go beyond self-satisfaction. Striving for the kingdom and welcoming it liberate us from a paltry and diminished worldview and allow us to journey with ease in the realm of love and generosity. ” From Gustavo’s lips to God’s ears, may it be so for us in this place in God’s Kindom.

Amen.

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

2010-08-02T17:15:00.000-07:00

Today's sermon was preached by The Rev. Jim Corbett, retired priest of the Diocese of Los Angeles who was visiting our parish community and considering allignment as "Associate Clergy".

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

2010-08-02T17:04:00.000-07:00

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost – Year C Proper 11 (RCL) 2010
Genesis 18: 1 – 10a, Psalm 15, Colossians 1: 15 – 28, Luke 10: 38 – 42
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish Portland, OR
Sunday, July 18, 2010

BLESS THIS MESS

Let us pray: Gentle and patient Jesus you are always calling us to new visions of our relationship with you and with others. Help us to value the learning’s from our sacred stories and keep our hearts and minds open to new ways in which we might find your truth. In our eagerness to be of service to others, help us to remember to take the time first to nourish our spirits with your Word and our hungry hearts with your Sacrament, which give us all that we need to serve you and others in your name. Amen.

(SUNG) TAKE MY LIFE, AND LET IT BE CONSECRATED, LORD TO
THEE; TAKE MY MOMENTS AND MY DAYS, LET THEM FLOW IN
CEASELESS PRAISE.

Do you remember the promises around the benefits of the new age of technology? The gadgets and inventions of the guru’s of efficiency and organization promised us a “paperless” office; more time for leisure and learning as a result of less time needed for the mundane tasks of our work and household routines. For me these promises have yet to be fulfilled. As I spend more and more time retrieving voicemails and emails; surfing more websites for biblical commentary and sermon preparation resources; catching up with friends and family via Facebook and plugging and unplugging my cell phone and laptop from their chargers, I find myself with less and less time to sit back and reap the benefits of all this freedom the tools were designed to give me. The reality of our lives in the consumer conscious culture of the early part of the twenty first century is that we are all far too busy keeping up with the technology of our society to have any time to be able to engage with the deeper longings of our souls. We often long to simply “unplug” the complexity of our lives so that we might be able to focus on those deeper moments of connection with our spiritual selves. The alarm clock rings and we are off – filling our days with the necessities of work and family responsibility and rarely having the chance to whisper a word of prayer that we might hear God’s voice asking us to find some time for meditation and reflection. We have been dragged into our society’s compulsion to constantly produce more and more “stuff” so that the god of consumption might better be served and reward us with more and more “things” to help distract us from the ever widening gulf between the “haves” and the “have nots”.

Into this whirlwind of busyness and production – the never-ending cycle of consume and replace – comes our Gospel lesson this morning of the story of Martha and Mary. Our busy, busy lives are modeled in the activity and preparation which consumes the host, Martha – who is, after all only trying to carry out the duties of hospitality which are of paramount importance in her culture and society. Jesus enters “a certain village” un-named in this author’s account but from the other Synoptic accounts we know the town to be “Bethany” which is about 2 miles from the big city – Jerusalem. Note that the author of Luke/Acts tells us that Martha welcomed Jesus into “her home.” Once again we will be standing at the edges of “societal propriety”. Women of that culture, first of all, rarely owned a home – and if they did would never have looked to entertain a single male (and possibly his entourage of disciples and followers) without considering the possibility of gossip and scandal which might have resulted. None of that is recounted in our narrative; and so we might assume that Martha was a person of some means and social status who welcomes Jesus into her house that it might become a place of refuge and rest before the final journey toward Jerusalem. This Martha is no “shrinking violet” who serves merely as a device for the plot as a contrast to her sister Mary. This is a female “head of household” who looks to welcome the rabbi and healer into her home and honor his presence with them by fulfilling her role as “diakonos” or servant to the hospitality codes of her culture.

(SUNG) TAKE MY HANDS AND LET THEM MOVE AT THE IMPULSE OF
THY LOVE, TAKE MY HEART, IT IS THINE OWN; IT SHALL BE
THY ROYAL THRONE.

This code of hospitality and the responsibility to entertain and provide for the needs of the traveling visitor is laid out clearly in the story from the Genesis account of Abraham’s encounter with the three mysterious “visitors” who appear before his tent by the Oaks of Mamre. This encounter serves as a wonderful model for the idea of taking to heart the concept of providing for the stranger among us. In the desert encounter with the three men, one of whom is the Lord God, Abraham and Sarah receive in return for their faithfulness, God’s continued promise to give them a Son who will be the fulfillment of the Covenantal promise. In the Lukan account, once again the Lord God, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, visits God’s people prior to the fulfillment of the new Covenantal promise fulfilled in God’s son, Jesus and the ultimate sacrifice made for humanity upon the cross at Jerusalem. The care and nurture of the visitor; the fulfillment of the hospitality code of her society and the personal connection between Martha, Mary and Jesus make for no light “dismissal” of the importance which Martha would have placed upon her welcome of her guest. She would have been frantically going about the business of making her home a haven of rest and peace for the road weary Rabbi. Contrasting Martha’s responsible role as host and head of household – is her sister Mary who also breaks with the cultural expectations of her society and takes a position at the feet of the teacher to listen to his words. This would definitely have been a role taken by the male disciples of that culture and was an accepted act of respect and deference given to a person of influence and importance by those who looked to learn from the wisdom and insight of the teacher – but certainly not an accepted role for a female of that time and culture. Once again, we find Jesus smashing the norms of his society and culture in order to break through with the radical gospel message of God’s Kindom come among us.

We have expectations of ourselves, and we have expectations of our God and how that relationship works between us. We agree to take on the responsibilities of our lives, to do the job, to earn the rewards of our work well done – and when we look for our final accounting with our creator we hope to hear, “well done, good and faithful servant.” Yet in today’s Gospel story we want to identify with Martha, we want to say, “Lord, why is it that we always have to do all the work – could you please point out to our wives, or our husbands or our children that everyone is expected to do their fair share and no one gets to sit around and daydream about your Word while the rest of us are trying to simply do the things that must be done?” And Jesus smiles and reminds us that if all we do is do, do, do – all we get is dodo. Jesus points out that we are too often distracted by the many “things” which we know have to get done and too often we fail to take the opportunity to sit at Christ’s feet and listen to what is being said in the Word made flesh who dwells among us.

(SUNG) TAKE MY VOICE AND LET ME SING ALWAYS, ONLY, FOR
MY KING; TAKE MY INTELLECT, AND USE EVERY POWER AS
THOU SHALT CHOOSE.

The events of today’s Gospel lesson immediately follow those that we read last week, in which Jesus compels the inquiring young lawyer after telling him the story of the Good Samaritan, to “go and do likewise”. It is a command from our Rabbi to be disciples of action; to be doers of the Word rather than merely hearer’s. The message from the story of Martha and Mary appears to be the exact opposite – in this story Mary is commended for her faithfulness in being at the feet of the teacher and listening; while Martha is chastised for her action, her busyness and her distraction by “things”. That response is often difficult for some of us who are Martha’s. Some of us are doers and preparer’s and the one who is always to be counted on to make sure that everyone has everything that they need – who are righteously justified when we take umbrage that others are not doing their fair share! Because, after all God which is it? Are we to be doers of the Word (“go and do likewise”) or are we to be hearers of the Word (“Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken from her”)? Is it black, or is it white? Is it either or is it or? Oftentimes to our annoyance and consternation Jesus’ response is; “it’s shades of grey”; Jesus’ response is, “it’s both and”.

(SUNG) TAKE MY WILL AND MAKE IT THINE, IT SHALL BE NO LONGER
MINE. TAKE MY SELF, AND I WILL BE EVER, ONLY, ALL FOR
THEE.

The late Henri Nouwen, who sparked much energy and challenge in our exploration of his short work, The Wounded Healer - had this to say about our “busyness”. He was talking about the busyness of Christmas, but it could have just as well been about the busyness of Fourth of July or any other “normal” day in our busy schedules. He said: “I often think, a life is like a day, it goes by so fast. If I am so careless with my days, how can I be careful with my life? In many ways we are like the busy person who walks up to a precious flower and says, ‘what for God’s sake are you doing here? Can’t you get busy someway?’ And then finds themselves unable to understand the flower’s response; ‘I am sorry sir, but I am just here to be beautiful.’ Nouwen asks, “How can we also come to this wisdom of the flower that being is more important than doing?”

Part of the lesson to be gleaned from God’s Good News of this day is of the importance of being able to strike that balance between our call to be Disciples of action and our invitation to be Disciples of discernment and introspection. I offer you my mantra of calming when I become too deeply embroiled in the activity of my life – when I become too cluttered with the noise of the committee that often takes up residence in my head, I use this simple phrase from the 46th Psalm and pray it backward:

Be still then and know that I am God
Be still then and know that I am
Be still then and know that I
Be still then and know that
Be still then and know
Be still then and
Be still then
Be still
Be.

Amen.

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

2010-08-02T16:59:00.000-07:00

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 10 Year C (RCL) 2010
Deut. 30: 9 – 14; Psalm 25: 1 – 9; Colossians 1: 1 – 14; Luke 10: 25 – 37
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, July 11, 2010

“WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR”

Let us pray: God of our ancestors and of our children’s children; we have long struggled as you’re chosen to know who you call us to love as our neighbor. There are so many who claim our love in a world that has such need. Guide us to a right understanding of your commandment to love them as we love ourselves. Turn our hearts to know that the commandments that you call us to are not beyond our capabilities to obey. Widen our narrowness of heart, mind and spirit so that we might become the embodiment of your Word, which is very near to us. May we who gather in your temple be fed by your Word and Sacrament and go out to become food for our neighbors. Amen.

(SUNG) JESU, JESU FILL US WITH YOUR LOVE,
SHOW US HOW TO SERVE
THE NEIGHBORS WE HAVE FROM YOU

Sh'ma Yis'ra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad. Barukh sheim k'vod malkhuto l'olam va'ed. V'ahav'ta eit Adonai Elohekha b'khol l'vav'kha uv'khol naf'sh'kha uv'khol m'odekha. “Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” These are words of prayer, which are taken from the Hebrew book of Deuteronomy (6: 4 – 9) and referred to, by the first word of the prayer as the “shemah”. It is considered the most important prayer in Judaism and its twice-daily recitation is a “mitzvah” or religious commandment. In a religion and culture dominated by law and commandment – this prayer would be as familiar to an observant Jew as “for thine is the Kindom and the power and the Glory, forever and ever” would be to observant protestant Christian. The prayer would continue with further wording from the 11th Chapter, verses 13-21 and would conclude with text from the Book of Numbers 15: 37 – 41. The remainder of the prayer commands that the words be taught to the children; that they be prayed when rising up or lying down and written on the doorposts of the house and gates. It tells of the rewards that will come from God for living out these commandments – and conversely gives an admonition about failing to heed these commands lest we arouse the wrath of God.

(SUNG) KNEELS AT THE FEET OF HIS FRIENDS, SILENTLY
WASHES THEIR FEET, MASTER WHO ACTS AS A SLAVE
TO THEM. JESU, JESU FILL US WITH YOUR LOVE, SHOW US HOW TO SERVE THE NEIGHBORS WE HAVE FROM YOU.

My point in sharing the text and the message of the “shemah” with you this morning is that the Lawyer in today’s story from the Author of Luke/Acts account knew already the answers to his questions before he asked them. Jesus was aware of this and calls this character on his stuff! A “lawyer” from the time and culture of this story would have been a lawyer of the Talmud – of the law of the Hebrew people handed down to them from the Prophets. This lawyer would have learned the “shemah” at his father’s knee – able to recite it before he even knew what it meant or what it commanded. Jesus knew this law just as well and was not interested in being dragged into a rabbinical argument about the finer points. So, Jesus asks the lawyer to tell what he interprets to be necessary to inherit eternal life. The lawyer recites the 3rd line of the “shemah” – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and will all your mind,” and then adds a command from the Levitical Code – “and your neighbor as yourself.” Ah, here comes the “twist” in the story. Jesus tells the man – your right, you have the right answer – do this and you will live. Not willing to leave well enough alone – the lawyer presses on – and who is my neighbor? Here is the deep question that lies at the heart of our relationship with God and with each other. Who is it that God commands me to love; who is it that God loves? Who is it that is worthy of my time, my money and my energy? The same question, put in its reverse leaves an interesting conundrum – who is it that God commands me not to love; who is it that God does not love?

Jesus’ response to that questions leads to the story of the Samaritan who was traveling down from Jerusalem to Jericho. We are all familiar with this story, which appears only in the Luke/Acts account. We call the story the “good Samaritan” though Jesus never refers to it by this title; and the very statement would have been an oxymoron to the ears of those in Jesus’ time who heard it – “good” and “Samaritan” simply did not appear in the same sentence. We’ve explored the history of the Hebrew and Samaritan peoples before; and we know that Samaritan’s were not beloved of the Jewish people to put it politely. The true “twist” within the story though is the introduction of the “hero” being a Samaritan. The priest was of the highest social status, followed by the member of the tribe of Levi – and one would have expected in the natural progression of the “characters” in the story that the third person would have been a faithful member of one of the other tribes of Israel. This is where Jesus broadens the scope of inclusion to dare and suggest that the favor of God – and the example of hospitality and Godly concern come from the hands of a Samaritan. That, however, is Jesus’ point. That was always Jesus’ point – to delight in the despised; to welcome the wretched to sanctify the sinner. The Samaritan in Jesus’ story does not stop to calculate the costs and risks associated with helping the injured person who needed assistance. The Samaritan does not have an internal debate about what his feelings tell him he should do; the Samaritan doesn’t stop to consider what he thinks he should do – the Samaritan simply takes the action and does what he and everybody else who passed by knows should be done. I was struck earlier this week by a comment which I read from a story in the Book titled Alcoholics Anonymous (which we lovingly refer to as “the big book” and reads: “You explained the Big Book had no chapters titled “Into Thinking” or “Into Feeling” – only “Into Action.” When Jesus asks the lawyer who of the characters in the story was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers – the lawyer, unable to even speak the name of his perceived “enemy” says “The one who showed him mercy”. Jesus, who had ample opportunity at this point to chide, deride or scold simply says – “Go and do likewise.”

SUNG) NEIGHBORS ARE RICH AND POOR
NEIGHBORS ARE BLACK AND WHITE
NEIGHBORS ARE NEAR BY AND FAR AWAY.

JESU, JESU FILL US WITH YOUR LOVE,
SHOW US HOW TO SERVE
THE NEIGHBORS WE HAVE FROM YOU

Despite what we know to be the “right” thing to do; despite the example we have in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and the lessons taught to the disciples and passed down to us in the gospel stories we often fail to live up to this call to “Go and do likewise.” I remember the incident from my youth of Kitty Genovese. Do you remember it? It led to a great national ethical discussion. Kitty Genovese was a young woman in New York who, one on early spring evening in 1964 was raped, stabbed repeatedly, and left bleeding in a stairwell in the Borough of Queens in New York City. That’s how horrible crimes occur. But this terrible crime was notable because it occurred within the full hearing of Kitty Genovese’s neighbors. Over a period of about 45 minutes, Ms. Genovese screamed, cried out for help, and pled for someone to intervene. In the investigation afterwards, it was revealed that a least a dozen of her neighbors actually heard her cries for help. And no one did anything. Many of us know, instinctively, even without having to think about it, what we ought to do, but doing what we ought to do is another issue.

“Good Samaritan” stories abound in our own culture and the phrase has even been borrowed by to describe certain behaviors. “Good Samaritan Laws” exempt those who might stop to help an injured person, and by their actions cause further injury or death to the person – and frees them from any “liability”. A modern day “Good Samaritan” story evolved just about a year ago on the upper slopes of Mt. Everest. On the morning of May 26, less than 1,000 feet from the summit, American guide Daniel Mazur abandoned his own climb toward the top of the world to save another climber who had been left for dead by his own team. Despite the fact that Mazur’s decision to aid the fallen mountaineer meant that none of his group, which included two paying clients (at $60,000/person) would make it to the summit, Mazur’s action acknowledged who his neighbor was. The fallen climber was Australian Lincoln Hall, who had succumbed to the oxygen-poor altitude the previous night and become desperately ill. The two guides with him tried to help, but they eventually had to leave to save themselves. Hall was declared dead, but when Mazur and his team found him the next morning, he was sitting up, though disoriented. Mazur’s team gave him emergency assistance and set to work to bring him down the mountain. They also radioed for help, but by the time others arrived to take over the rescue, Mazur’s group had expended too much energy at that life-sapping altitude to complete their own summit bid. While Mazur’s team was helping Hall, two Italian climbers passed by en route to the top, and Mazur asked them to assist. The pair claimed not to understand English and kept moving. Later, their claim was discovered not to be true. We may not claim that we don’t know who is our neighbor. We may not claim that we don’t understand the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves; for it is not a difficult concept and it is taught to most of us at our parent’s knee. What then is it that prevents us from doing that which we know to be the right thing? Ethicist’s and Moral Theologians have written volumes around the failure of humanity to do what it right toward our neighbor. In spite of our tendency to protect ourselves and “our kind” from the onslaughts and horrors of human behaviors – we know that our neighbors are Jews and Gypsies and Homosexual’s imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps. We know that our neighbors are starving and malaria weakened refugees in Darfur. We know that our neighbors are hungry and homeless families in Lane County. We know what is the right thing to do. “Go and do likewise.”

(SUNG) NEIGHBORS ARE RICH AND POOR
NEIGHBORS ARE BLACK AND WHITE
NEIGHBORS ARE NEAR BY AND FAR AWAY.

JESU, JESU FILL US WITH YOUR LOVE,
SHOW US HOW TO SERVE
THE NEIGHBORS WE HAVE FROM YOU

Amen

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

2010-08-02T16:52:00.000-07:00

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 9 Year C (RCL) 2010
2 Kings: 5: 1 - 14; Psalm 30: Galatians 6: 1 – 16; Luke 10: 1 – 11, 16 – 20
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, July 4, 2010

WHEN NUMBERS COUNT IN THE KINDOM OF GOD

Let us pray: Loving Jesus, we stand before you amazed that you have entrusted the continuing of your kindom among us to such an unprepared people as ourselves! Yet we are constantly aware that you have no hands in this world but our hands; no passion for justice but our passion – no children to be the daughters and sons of God but our children and our childlike spirits. Fill us with the power you gave to those who came before us so that we might continue the work of your kindom come – here on our earth as it is in your heaven. Grant us your Spirit to help us live out your call to spread the Good News here in this place, and especially outside of it. Amen.

(SUNG) CHILDREN GO WHERE I SEND THEE – HOW SHALL I SEND
THEE? I’M GONNA SEND THEE ONE BY ONE, ONE FOR THE
LITTLE BITTY BABY – BORN, BORN BORN IN BETHLEHEM.

Just a brief reminder that in the gloriously warming 80+ degree-days of July, Christmas is just around the corner! Actually today’s Gospel story of the sending forth of the 70 (or the 72 depending on your Bible translation) is a perfect chance to pick out anyone of dozens of “sending” hymns or songs which could help to illustrate the importance of the call to continue the work of spreading the Good News of God in Christ. This call is also referred to by that word which strikes fear deep into the heart of every good, quiet and decently ordered Episcopalian – EVANGELISM. That word comes from the Greek έϋαγγέλιον (transcribed as “euangelion”) which originally meant a reward for good news given to the messenger. It is also the word given by the Church to the four individuals credited with authorship of the canonical Gospels, i.e. evangelists – though, in reality the names of those evangelists are deeply in question by modern scriptural scholars. Expressed in its simplest form it denotes spreading of the good news – and perhaps in its most formal and frightening sense our vision of one who stands on street corners or travels from door to door with copies of the scriptural texts often used to promote conversion from non-believers and especially in the non-believers of “the one true way” that the particular evangelist subscribes to. A truly inspirational piece of learning that I picked up in my travels this week to the Episcopal Campus Minister’s Conference in Atlanta was a clarification that the keynote speaker, the Rev. Stan ?? highlighted and struck me deeply – especially in light of those who might use the bible and its verses as an instrument of judgment or condemnation; Stan said “the author tells us that the Word became flesh; and this is quite different than what most biblical fundamentalist espouse that the “text became flesh”. The reality is often that this “good news” is misused; and results in our discomfort and distrust of “teleevangelists” and fundamentalist “evangelicals” thus tainting our perceptions of the call to announce that the kindom of God is among us.

The joy and delight of the good news of God’s kindom is often lost in the zealous attempt to “bring the Gospel” to those who have yet to hear it, or for whatever reason have chosen not to accept it or, in fact, openly rejected it. I found the musings, meditations and actual work experiences of Rev. Stan to be deeply motivational and in many ways appropriate to the situation we find ourselves in here at St. Stephen’s in downtown Portland. In the weeks ahead I would like to share some of those thoughts with the vestry, leaders of our different ministries; and perhaps finally with the entire parish community to have a serious conversation of what our future might look like when we come to understand that our Parish is not those of us sitting in the pews here this morning; or even the sometimes full houses that we manage to garner at Christmas and Easter; but rather the city that surrounds us and all of the wounded souls in that city who are yearning for a way to connect on a real level to the good news of God in Christ Jesus, under the progressive vision of The Episcopal Church with all of its messiness and all of its beauty. Many of you, I am sure were caught up short by the visit of Harry the Homeless who arrived in your midst last Sunday to tell you what he might need in order to hear the Gospel as “Good News” in his life and the lives of those like him. This afternoon, as we recognize the birthday of our Nation and the principles to which she once stood – we have to ask the difficult questions around why nearly 60% of young African American Males are incarcerated or living in the deepest levels of poverty and unemployment. We need to ask the difficult questions of how we fix a broken immigration system in our heavily populated border states while honoring the dignity of every human being as we have promised to do in our covenant with God at Baptism. We need to ask the difficult questions of how we survive as a Parish Community in a world changing under our very feet and shifting to a “post Christian” mentality; while honoring the beauty; tradition and history of our beloved sacramental systems of worship. One of the ways we will attempt to do this is gathering later today at the Peace Chant between Clay and Market in the South Park Blocks to join with our neighbors; housed and un-housed; churched and un-churched; poor and wealthy, sick and healthy – a true representation of the Kindom of God made manifest among us, to break bread and share community in a new way. Ecumenical partners will join us, one of our preachers will be a seventy two year old transsexual evangelical Pentecostalist; and some folks will come and be fed; others will come and wander away; others will come looking for a hand out and still others will come looking for the Good News we claim to proclaim. We will try this my friends, and we will try a piece of “Kno” Theater written by our own beloved Deacon as the Liturgy of the Word at the 10:00 Service in two weeks; and we will try many other ideas some that will be a success and some that will not and as sure as God’s Holy Spirit is present among us whenever two or three of us gather in God’s name; that loving and Holy Spirit will show us the way we are to live out the call to spread the good news of the Kindom of God right here, and right now. Jesus, as the fulfillment of the Hebrew prophets – has now set his face toward Jerusalem and its final redemption in the act of supreme sacrifice and death – and ultimate triumph in Resurrection and new life to bring about the reign of God among mortals. It is the reality of this coming of the kindom of God which is at the root of the “evangelism” or good news reward that Jesus extends to those sent out in pairs to every town and place which he himself intended to go.

(SUNG) CHILDREN GO WHERE I SEND THEE, HOW SHALL I SEND
THEE? I’M GONNA SEND THEE TWO BY TWO – TWO FOR
PAUL AND SILAS, ONE FOR THE ITTY BITTY BABY WHO WAS
BORN, BORN BORN IN BETHLEHEM.

So here’s the good news (and trust me, it is good news despite what you might think) about our clear call from today’s Gospel story to be evangelists in Jesus’ name; we don’t have to do it alone; and we are given a clear set of instructions and suggestions for how to deal with success and failure as we meet them along the journey. The number chosen for this mission (seventy or seventy two, depending on sources) was not inconsequential or accidental. Numbers and numerolgy in the scriptural texts have fueled theories and interpretations for as long as humankind has been reading and interpreting them. Consider the propensity of the number 6 in today’s liturgy; The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, the 6th Chapter of Galatians the first through the 16th verses and the 16th verse of the 10th Chapter of the author of Luke/Acts account of the Gospel which reads, “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” In earlier accounts from the Hebrew scriptures (specifically the Book of Numbers) the great prophet Moses appoints 70 elders of Israel who are given a portion of God’s spirit and who, with this spirit, help Moses to lead God’s people. Whether Jesus meant to send out seventy or seventy two, the point is that in all of God’s power Jesus, much like Moses, graciously empowers a body of workers to join with him in ministry. As we know from the story of the Exodus, Moses had all sorts of difficulties with those who were appointed to help. They constantly rebelled, complained, misunderstood, and generally made a mess of things. When Jesus sends out those called in the story today, they “return with joy”. Jesus has dared to commision them to do the very same work that he does and they return filled with excitement and awe saying, “it works”. Truly this is, good news – an encouraging text meant to give a word to all of those who have been enlisted in helping Jesus spread the vision of God’s kindom come among us. We are those sent out with a sense of urgency and empowered by the Spirit to help declare the Good News of God in Christ – the incarnation of God made very flesh in Word and Sacrament, at this time and in this place as surely as it was in Bethlehem of Judea centuries ago. Jesus leads us out of all the captivities that enslave us and all the demons that possess us named conspicuous consumerism, alluring addiction, incipient imperialism greed grabbing capitalism or whatever you will call it.

When Jesus tells us that “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” and asks us to pray and ask God to send out laborers into the harvest, this is not as was perpetuated in the Church of my youth simply a plea for more ordained priests to carry out the work of the institution. It is rather, a genuine call to each and every one of us here this morning, to carry out the continuation of Jesus’ earthly ministry in our lives, in God’s Church and in our world. Those of us who might be tempted to equate the call to “ministry” which is clearly laid out in the story of the sending of the seventy with “minister” and leaving that responsibility in the hands of the ordained clergy would do well to head the advice of Episcopal priest and noted author of among other titles Leaving Church in which she describes her agonizing decision to leave active parish ministry. Taylor passionately speaks of the need for the church to mean “the ministry of all baptized Christians” when we use the word minister. In her book, The Preaching Life, Taylor recounts an experience she had with a college graduate who spoke to her about his desire to be ordained. She describes an articulate and committed Christian who had been active in campus ministry and deeply influenced by the Episcopal chaplain at his school. She goes on to detail how she was perplexed as the young man described his “call” to ministry. He did not seem interested in serving a church, didn’t think he would like being held accountable to an Episcopal authority or denominational body and found no attraction to a ministry of the sacraments – although he did express an interest in being able to preach once a month or so. Barbara recounts the conversation thusly: “Then why do you want to be ordained? I asked him. He thought a while and finally said, ‘for the identity, I guess. So I could sit down next to someone on a bus who looked troubled and ask them how they were without them thinking I’m trying to hustle them. So I could walk up to someone on the street and do the same thing. So I could be up front about what I believe, in public as well as in private. So I would have the credentials to be the kind of Christian I want to be.’ His honesty was both disarming and disheartening. God help the church if clergy are the only Christians with ‘credentials’, and God help all those troubled people on the bus if they have to wait for an ordained person to come along before anyone speaks to them…In many ways, those who pursue ordination take the easy way out. They choose a prescribed role that seems to meet all the requirements, and take up fulltime residence in the church. They forego the hard work of straddling two different worlds, while those they serve have no such luxury. Those in the pulpit may know where they belong, but the people in the pews hold dual citizenship. Whey they come together as the church that is where they belong – in God’s country which is governed by love. But when they leave that place, they cross the border into another country governed by other, less forgiving laws – and they live there too.”

(SUNG) CHILDREN GO WHERE IS SEND THEE, HOW SHALL I SEND THEE

Hiring me on a half time basis as a professional minister to work among you does not free you from the Gospel imperative to go and live out your ministry in Christ’s name. It simply allows me to ask the difficult questions and help steer you in community to identify the work you already do as ministers of the Gospel and find ways to support you in that work. It allows you to feast at God’s table on Sunday and then carry that full spirit into Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…(well you get the picture). As Barbara Brown Taylor probably knows, and I definitely know – one doesn’t find many ordained clergy riding buses to hear the cries of the troubled and offer them God’s peace and blessing. Jesus has to use you and your ministry to reach all those who clamor for meaning and gospel in their lives and invite them into this place, or into the South Park Blocks where they can be inspired, forgiven, nourished and encouraged to go forth and pass on what they have received. That is how the called are equipped to serve the world as servants of the Gospel, spreading the good news that God’s kindom is among us.

Amen.

Trinity Sunday Year C

2010-08-02T16:33:00.000-07:00

The Deacon of our Parish, The Rev. Ken Arnold preached the sermon on Trinity Sunday. Isn't that what happens in every parish? One of the blessings of being the Priest in Charge is that I can palm off the Trinity Sunday sermon to my Deacon!

The Day of Pentecost

2010-08-02T16:20:00.000-07:00

Pentecost Sunday – Year C (RCL) 2010
Genesis 11: 1 – 9; Psalm 104; Acts 2: 1 – 21; John 14: 8 – 17 [25 – 27]
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, May 23, 2010

HOMETOWN LOCAL VOICES – BIG CITY ETERNAL WORDS

Let us pray: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth you’re Spirit, and we shall be created – and you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit instructs the hearts of the faithful, grant by the light of that same Spirit we may truly wise and ever rejoice in Her consolations, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

(SUNG) SPIRIT OF GOD IN THE CLEAR RUNNING WATER,
BLOWING TO GREATNESS THE TREES ON THE HILL,
SPIRIT OF GOD IN THE FINGER OF MORNING,
FILL THE EARTH, BRING IT TO BIRTH AND BLOW WHERE
YOU WILL. BLOW, BLOW, BLOW TILL I BE BUT BREATH OF
THE SPIRIT BLOWING IN ME.

I was traveling to some un-remembered city for yet another business appointment for the Fortune 500 Corporation in which I was a Human Resources manager. Air travel was an almost weekly requirement for my job and this jaunt to some un-remembered State (I think it was one of the square one’s, they change those around every four years you know and no one knows the difference) was from my home here in Portland where I had been living for about 3 years. As I sped down the airport corridor to meet the taxi at curbside, which would take me into the downtown area for my meeting, I heard two women in a conversational exchange from behind me. The one at a clearly audible level said to the other, “I don’t really have the time, but if you’ll sit down with me and have a cup of coffee we can try and talk it out, just the two of us.” Immediately I was at home, I knew these people, these were “my people” these were people who came from my neck of the woods and though I was living in the cosmopolitan city of Portland, OR I was still deep at my roots a Jersey boy. I’m sure you have all had a similar experience – one where you heard your own language in the midst of a foreign situation or place. Whether that is in another country where you were relieved and thrilled to hear your native tongue being spoken by a store clerk or restaurant server and knew that you could breath just a little easier – or hearing your native “dialect” or “accent” in a part of this country where you would not expect to hear it and instantly feeling a little rush of familiarity and relief. This is something of what those 3000 gathered in Jerusalem on that first Pentecost Sunday experienced and it marked the power of God’s Holy Spirit in their lives and their Church and would change them forever. That same Holy Spirit continues to speak in the myriad of voices in our Church and it has – and will continue to change us forever.

Into the life, mystery and majesty of that Church today we call down God’s Holy Spirit to fill the hearts of each of us who have gathered here to worship and work; to minister as choir or cook – reader or greeter in order to make this place in God’s Kindom at the corner of 13th and Clay a place of healing and prayer for those who are the baptized children of God looking to discover what that God is calling us to do as disciples of the 21st century. What we will do today, as we renew our commitments made in the Holy Sacrament of Baptism, is unchangeable for the remainder of the earthly life of Christ’s Church. The Book of Common Prayer says that the bond, which God establishes with us in Baptism, is indissoluble. The Apostle Paul writes in a letter to the early Christian community at Rome that, “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” What that means for those of us who are less familiar with Church lingo, is that no one – at any time, or for any reason can take away the effects of this sacramental action that we received and remember today and in which we each were indelibly marked as Christ’s own, forever. The Holy Spirit whose coming we recount on this festival day will fill our hearts and minds and souls and claim each of us as a beloved child in whom God is well pleased. That is pretty powerful stuff – So, we take on a deep and important task this day as we remember the coming of God’s Holy Spirit to the first church meetin’ and we welcome the coming of that same Holy Spirit into our Church meeting and vow to support each other as God’s saints sharing in God’s ministry among us. We will renew our own Baptismal Covenants and re- connect with joy the memory of our own baptisms when we entered into covenantal relationship with the God who has loved us since we were formed in our mother’s womb and who has led us into the warm welcome of this faith community where a place has been prepared for us at God’s table and where we as sisters and brothers in the faith say, to each other “welcome home.” I’m particularly struck by the irony of this day of coming of the Holy Spirit that we remember in a renewal of our baptismal promises – that we also hold in prayer and beseech God’s Holy Spirit to be with our brother and Friend John as he nears the end of his journey and receives the promise of that Holy Spirit to take him to that place where the communion of saints joins in that worship and praise that has rung through eternity. Please hold John and his family in your prayers this day and ask that the holy spirit of God might guide him in peace as he nears the end of this piece of his journey in Christ.

(SUNG) FILL THE EARTH, BRING IT
TO BIRTH, AND BLOW WHERE YO WILL. BLOW, BLOW, BLOW
TILL I BE BUT BREATH OF THE SPIRIT BLOWING IN ME.

So what of this “Whitsunday”? What of this festival of Weeks, which we have inherited from our sisters and brothers in the Hebrew tradition and which, we claim as the birthday of the Church? Pentecost translated from the Greek means “fifty” and for the Hebrew people was celebrated as a festival for the harvest. Fifty days were counted from the offering of the barley sheaf at the festival of unleavened bread (or Passover). The book of Leviticus compels the faithful to “count until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days; then you shall present an offering of new grain to the Lord.” The feast became known as the feast of weeks, because the countdown was seven Sabbaths – seven weeks – a week of weeks. Subsequently, fifty days after the 1st Christian Sabbath (the day of the empty tomb and Resurrection) when the disciples were once again gathered in what is presumed to be the familiar “upper room”, a sound like the rush of a violent wind filled the entire house where they were gathered. Divided tongues like the flames of fire, appeared among them and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability. The devout Jews from every nation under heaven were gathered in Jerusalem for the festival and when they heard this sound they assembled – and the story tells us they were bewildered because each of them heard the disciples speaking in their own native language. Comments were made about their questionable level of sobriety – however it was 9:00 in the morning and a devout Jew would yet to have broken fast prior to their morning devotions, much less partaken of the fruit of the vine. Something was up – something very big was up and people were bewildered, confounded, amazed, perplexed and wildly curious about this group of folk from the hick town of Galilee who could suddenly speak, and be understood in all of the languages of then known world. This was the reversal of the curse at Babel, which we heard from the Genesis recounting of that famous story explaining the formation of separate languages for the peoples of the earth. It was now, is seemed, God’s intention to allow humanity the gift of common communication so that the word could be spread to all the faithful from every land.

Then Peter, the same Peter who had a mere seven and a half weeks earlier denied three times that he even knew the Christ – delivers the sermon of his life, calls on the words of the Prophet Joel and interprets them for a new covenant and new vision of God’s saving work in the world. Peter might indeed be the preacher on this first gathering of the Church in Jerusalem – but it is the Holy Spirit with which all of the disciples have been filled – who is the author of that sermon. Joel, in the second chapter of the book which bears his name and his visions says: “Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.” For Joel’s understanding and prophesy “all flesh” meant all Jewish flesh – for Peter (really for the Holy Spirit) “all flesh” meant “all nations of the world” and even Peter at this point in the story is not fully aware of what this vision of God’s Holy Spirit will entail. It is not until the tenth Chapter of this second part of the author of Luke’s Gospel which we call The Acts of the Apostles, that Peter will come to understand that “all flesh” means “all flesh” (no asterisk or footnote that “some restrictions may apply”). It is that radical and inclusive Gospel, which Jesus came to reveal, that challenges us in the Church to this very day. The names of the currently excluded group may change; the circumstances of the “difference” will vary – and the church continues to learn, and learn, and relearn that “all flesh” means “all flesh” and that in the words of our baptismal promises, we “will respect the dignity of every human being.” This promised filling of God’s people with the “paraclete”, the “advocate” who will come as the spirit of all truth is foretold in the Gospel narrative, which we heard in this morning’s reading from the Author of John’s account. This Spirit – this Holy Spirit – will demand much of those who are chosen as disciples of the risen Christ and not merely followers of the historical Jesus. Those of us who have been baptized into the Holy Spirit will have great demands made of us by that Spirit. As one of my seminary Profs told us as the incoming class – “folks, when God calls you God’s not doing you a favor” and there is some truth to that. However, it is also the promise that God’s Holy Spirit will be with us “forever”. It should be evident to us, in this time and place, in this work of welcome and healing to which we are called in God’s Church, that the Holy Spirit is powerfully and plainly in our midst; moving, stretching and exploding the boundaries of Her church by the powerful and prophetic wind which is sweeping through it.

(SUNG) SPIRIT OF GOD EVERYONE’S HEART IS LONELY, WATCHING AND WAITING AND HUNGRY UNTIL; SPIRIT OF GOD WE LONG THAT YOU ONLY, FULFILL THE EARTH BRING IT TO BIRTH,
AND BLOW WHERE YOU WILL. BLOW, BLOW, BLOW TILL I
BE, BUT BREATH OF YOUR SPIRIT BLOWING IN ME.

So we have emblazoned the Church in deep shades of fiery red, as we mark this festal day and in recognition of the two thousand and tenth birthday of this body which we call the Church. It is fitting that we do this and that in so doing that we renew our promises and recall that moment when we promised or it was promised for us and we became members of Christ’s church becoming Christ’s body. This is another of our “festival days” and we mark it as special and blessed. Unlike the festival day that we celebrated fifty days ago, we don’t have to add any chairs to accommodate the hoards of people clamoring to sing happy birthday to the church – or the festival day that we celebrated five months ago when we gathered to say happy birthday to Jesus in the stable at Bethlehem. This festival day, though, is no less significant or important to our lives as the gathered community of faithful followers of the Risen One who has sent us the gift of the Spirit to prod and to push us; to guard and to guide us; to beckon and to blow us into the breath of the Spirit which will renew the face of the Earth.

Amen.

Seventh Sunday after Easter - Year C

2010-05-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

Seventh Sunday after Easter – Year C (RCL) 2010
Acts 16: 16 – 34; Psalm 97’ Revelation 22: 12 – 14, 16 – 17, 20 – 21; John 17: 20 – 26
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, May 16, 2010

BIG CHANGES COMING

Let us pray: Our hearts are strangely stirred within us as we greet your resurrected presence among us. We are coming to the end of our season of Easter and the joy and reality of that holy time will give way to the gifts of your Holy Spirit made manifest in the fiery tongues of Pentecost. Help us to stay always present to the reality of the Easter moment and our call to be the people of new life and Resurrection. Grant us the gift of unity in you as you are united with Creator and the Spirit, so that where you go to prepare a place for us; we might be with you in glorious eternity. So also, loving savior prepare a place for us where you enter human suffering and pain – where you are the victim of this world’s cruel injustices, when you stand beside us in our hours of deepest need; that where you are we might be also showing your face of Easter hope. Stir our hearts and hopes to be always where you are. Amen.

(SUNG) AND WE PRAY THAT ALL UNITY MAY ONE DAY BE RESTORED,
AND THEY’LL KNOW WE ARE CHRISTIANS BY OUR LOVE, BY
OUR LOVE – YES THEY’LL KNOW WE ARE CHRISTIANS BY OUR
LOVE..

I wanted to take some time this morning to share with you some of my experience from the time spent in the Diocese of Newark. As most of you are aware, I was attending a meeting in that Diocese of the Jubilee Ministry of the Episcopal Church. There were about 150 of us who represented the ministries of Jubilee, the Episcopal Community Services in America and the National Episcopal Health Ministries. The Conference was entitled “Called to Serve: The Episcopal Church Responds to Domestic Poverty”. Led by the keynote address of the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, the participants who hailed from across the United States, prayed, studied and conversed with one another about the ways in which our church might begin to explore the issues and effects of domestic poverty in this nation. A model of Community Based Organizing and resource sharing among the participating groups led us to heartfelt and difficult discussions around who are the domestically poor and how are we called as a church to serve them. One of the major discoveries for me was that I am among the domestically poor. Now I don’t mean to imply that my economic situation places me in that percentile of the population that falls at or well below the “poverty level” as defined by the government (though I’m not far above it); what we were encouraged to reflect on is that all of us find ourselves numbered among the poor; some of us economically, some of us due to the conditions of our physical and/or mental health and still others of us who find ourselves morally or spiritually poor. That reality ought to make us truly humbled and genuinely involved when we address issues of domestic poverty. Somehow the “them” becomes the “us”. Demographics and statistics provided by Federal, State and Local governmental organizations can help us to identify ways in which we might be called to serve the economically disadvantaged among us – and we also need in our Church and in our communities to address those areas and issues of domestic poverty that we individually might find ourselves identifying as areas in which we number among the poor. I believe that Jesus had something to say about those of us who might blessed to be among the poor in spirit. Gathered as the Church – specifically as The Episcopal Church – the participants in this conference are among those for whom Jesus prays in our text this morning taken from the account as told by the author of John’s Gospel. This reading is part of what scriptural scholars refer to as the High Priestly Prayer, which the author places into the midst of the farewell discourse just prior to Jesus’ crucifixion. The author of this fourth Gospel account shares a unique literary and theological message with the faith community of the early first Century, and carefully crafts the Gospel telling of the uniqueness of Jesus’ relationship to the Father and the Spirit. The Church looks to summarize this relationship at the end of our recognition of the Easter season while hanging at the precipice of the coming of the Holy Spirit, which we will celebrate next Sunday. Big things are afoot for the newly forming Church and its ministers in Jerusalem, exciting times and possibilities lay at their feet; and Jesus looks to fill them and bless them with his priestly prayer which will guide their priesthoods in the service of the Risen one.

For the community gathered in the name of the Episcopal Church and charged with the enormous task of responding to domestic poverty – the fact that we all were doing the work of the Gospel, each of us in our own particular circumstances living out the command of Jesus to feed the hungry, or care for the widow and orphan, or visit the imprisoned – was shared work with each other in our particular organization and with each and every one of you as members of the Body of Christ. It was this shared call to serve that gave us the strength in our few numbers to dare and address huge issues that effect the lives of all of us – and filled our hearts with hope that with God’s grace and assistance our work would, in fact, lead us to the unity of God that Jesus prays for in the passage we heard from the Gospel text this morning…”also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.” When we gathered in fellowship and fun, the laughter was raucous and real. When we gathered in worship and work the connections were genuine and grace filled. In the silence and solitude we lifted each other intensely and intentionally to the God who is the source of all of our ministries and listened for that still small voice to unite us as one. Theological and ideological positions were abandoned for a time to allow the work of the Holy Spirit to renew our hearts and refresh our souls. None of us separated ourselves from each other by identifying the role that we hold in the ministry of the Church. Clerical collars were absent so that we didn’t need to identify who was a bishop, or deacon or lay minister – only that each of us shared in the Priesthood of All Believers and in that role serve each other in God’s name. The earliest biblical description that we have for Christian leadership in the earliest communities was “deacon” which means literally “butler” or “waiter”. Christians did not call their leaders priest, or president; Christians called their leaders servants. I think that each of us was able to reclaim that humility and servant hood that are such essential elements of our lives as Priest’s of the Church. I am deeply grateful to this faith community for the gift of time away – to the diocesan faith community for the chance to serve as Jubilee Officer of this Diocese – and to the national Church community for the support of those who labor in the fields of Christ’s Church with the invitation to gather in Christ’s name and fearfully work out the solutions we seek in order to address the issues of Domestic Poverty that cripples each and every one of us who gathered in the name of the Christ we claim to serve.

The author of Luke/Acts recounts the story we heard today from the sixteenth Chapter of Paul’s stay in Philippi. Several characters are introduced to extend the story line and then discarded when they have fulfilled that purpose. Such is the case of the slave girl who possesses a spirit of divination and who’s “fortune telling” talents brought great profit to those who managed her. As soon as her function as mover of the plot line allows us to have Paul and Silas ensconced behind prison walls, the main story can emerge. The powerful presence of God in the midst of the depravations and shackles of human prisons portrays for the early community the sure and certain power of belief in the risen Christ. Many of the early believers would face just such a fate for their ministry, and this example would serve to strengthen their resolve. The jailer’s question has rung down through the ages – “what must I do to be saved”? For those whose flavor of salvation runs closer toward the evangelical side of the Church Acts 16:31 serves as a lynchpin for their mission, “believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” However, even for those of us who shy away from that sort of evangelical fervor – the power of the message of salvation is no less diminished. Identification with and living out the ministry of the Good News of God in Christ is central to the lives of all who follow the resurrected carpenter’s son from Galilee. It is the power of that message of hope from the Gospel accounts which calls each of us here on a Sunday morning to witness and worship; to continue in the apostle’s teaching and fellowship and to be nourished in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup.

It is this work of discipleship in community for which Jesus served as our model and our great high priest. The prayer that we might share in the Glory, which has been given to those who believe so that we might be with Christ to “see” the glory that is, and was, and has been from before the foundation of the world – speaks to the great and unfathomable love between Father, Son and Spirit which the author of John’s Gospel begins to articulate. It is this priestly ministry in which we are all called to share – that the strength and value of community begins to unfold as our gift and our giving. L. William Countryman in his book Living on the Border of the Holy – Renewing the Priesthood of All; writes of several types of priesthood. Countryman identifies them as the priesthood of Humanity, the priesthood of Religion, the priesthood of Christ and the priesthood of the Christian People. I highly recommend this text for anyone who is looking to deepen their understanding of, what for me had been a foreign concept – the priesthood of all believers. I share with you one paragraph from that book in which Dr. Countryman is examining the Priesthood of the Christian People:

“The priesthood of the Christian people is the priesthood of all humanity, interpreted and formed by the priesthood of Jesus. To suppose that Jesus created a new priesthood from the ground up, as if no priesthood had existed before him, would be a radical break with our tradition. The earliest Christians insisted, despite prolonged challenges from Gnosticism, that the GOD of Jesus was also the original CREATOR of humanity. The HOLY does not deny its former work in its later work. The CREATOR doest not push aside the grace of creation in order to make room for the grace of resurrection, for the two are, at their deepest level, fully continuous. But Jesus interpreted the fundamental priesthood through his own service in it, as he taught and celebrated and lived out the good news. The priesthood of the Christian people, then, is the fundamental priesthood of humankind, understood afresh in terms of Jesus’ message and experience.[1]

I discovered during my week in NJ, in community with others who live out the ordained priesthood of the Church – part of the glory of the priesthood of the Christian people. It is this work, this priesthood which each and everyone of us gathered here this morning takes on in our choice to gather around this table and remember as Jesus taught us to take bread and bless it and break it and share it with each other to be spiritual food for our human journey. The gift and blessing of this place in community is learning the role of priest and exploring and sharing that with our families and neighbors and becoming the kindom of priests to serve our God and each other. It is in that ministry – in that priesthood that the Christ can offer on our behalf the prayer…”so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them.”
Amen.

[1] L. William Countryman, Living on the Border of the Holy, Renewing the Priesthood of All, Morehouse Publishing, Harrisburg, PA, 1999, p. 63

Sixth Sunday After Easter - Year C (RCL)

2010-05-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

Sixth Sunday of Easter – Year C (RCL) 2010
Acts 16: 9 – 15; Psalm 67; Revelation 21: 10 – 22 – 22-5; John 14: 23 – 29
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
May 9, 2010

OF LEAVE TAKING AND LETING GO

Let us pray: resurrected Jesus we long to know you as intimately as your disciples did. In your relationship with them you were somehow changed after your defeat of death. You commanded your followers not to cling to you and told them that you must depart in order to send your Holy Spirit, the Paraclete to advocate for them and us in your kindom. Teach us not to fear the thought of your leaving – rather to anticipate the depth of new relationship with you through the grace of your Holy Spirit. Amen.

(SUNG) IF ANYONE LOVES ME, THEY WILL KEEP MY WORD
AND THE FATHER WILL LOVE THEM, AND WE WILL COME TO
THEM AND IN THEM, BE HOME.

Jesus delivers these words at table with the disciples within the context of the last supper. These remarks immediately precede events in the 15th Chapter of the Johannine text where Jesus will spell out “the new commandment” that is given to “Love one another, as I have loved you.” In these verses, the writer of this text helps to “set the stage” as it where for the introduction of this most important message that Jesus will leave with the followers prior to the crucifixion, death and resurrection events that will follow. The “priestly prayer” (that they all may be one) and the “farewell discourse” will wrap up the theological and Christological arguments that the author conveys to this community which is facing deep persecution from both the Romans and the Temple Jews – and it must have been most reassuring to them to know that the promised “advocate” or from the Greek “parakletos” would guide and guard them in the absence of the Messiah of God whose fate was much, much different than expected.

So what is the nature of this word from the “parakletos”? It appears only 5 times in the Christian Scriptures, 4 times in this Gospel and once in the 1st Letter of John where it is used to refer to Jesus. Most other references to the “spirit” or “Holy Spirit” of God use the Greek word “pneuma” and have been translated typically as “spirit” or “breath” or “wind” in reference to the presence of God’s Spirit come among humankind. We have anglicized this Greek word with the English Paraclete, which The American Heritage Dictionary defines as “1. The Holy Spirit; 2. To invoke to the side of; thus to call.” Biblical translators have rendered the word as “advocate” or “counselor” or “comforter” and even “sustainer”. However the word translates for us – in the context of the audience for which this text was composed hearer’s would have heard the many and varied nuances of meaning that the Greek allows for. Parakletos could mean a lawyer who pleads the case – or a witness who testifies on your behalf. It could also be used to refer to an individual who offers comfort, advice or counsel and emotional strength in time of need. It can also refer to someone who comes to your aid in times of distress or danger. According to William Barclay in his reference bible on the Gospel of John, “Parakletos was literally someone called in, but it is the reason why the person was called in which gives the word its distinctive associations…Always a parakletos is someone called in to help when the person who calls is in trouble or distress or doubt or bewilderment.” [1]

Certainly this would describe the original followers of Jesus and their state upon hearing that Jesus would leave them and the concern and worry about what might happen in the absence of their teacher and guide. Jesus in an attempt to calm their hearts and their fears tells them that though he must depart from among them – this “spirit” will be with them to abide in their ministries – to abide in their Church. So in a way – Jesus helps to prepare them with these verses (as well as several verses afterwards this is, after all, the author of John’s account and nothing in that account gets said just once) for that interim time between the resurrection and post resurrection appearances until the Pentecost moment and the presence of the Paraclete into their midst. So – like so many of our experiences in life, Jesus’ time among us helps us stretch and grow so that we might find out what life might be like in those “interim” times. You get where I’m going here? This faith community of St. Stephen’s finds itself in one of those times. The vision for where God might be leading us is being discerned in community as we seek to live out our call here and beyond our doors to be the welcoming and healing presence for the downtown Portland community in which we serve. Perhaps there are some lessons from Jesus’ experience with the earliest manifestation of Church that we can apply to our experiences with the 21st Century church where we find ourselves in “transition” both as a Parish and as a Diocese that begins a new ministry with a new shepherd. Bishop Michael spent three hours with many of us this past Thursday, and we were able to share with him our vision of what St. Stephen’s is becoming as we deepen our understanding of what it means to be a place of welcome and healing to ourselves in community; but especially to those who have yet to find us. I was deeply impressed with the new Bishop’s manner and what seemed to me a genuine and sincere willingness to listen and learn about the people of St. Stephen’s – who we are, what we have been – and perhaps most importantly what we might become as we live out our call to welcome the stranger and heal the wounded in body, mind and Spirit. Bishop Michael suggested that we might examine Henri Nouwen’s book The Wounded Healer as a model from which we could carry out the healing work that we believe God is calling us to in this place. Nouwen explores in this short book how “in our own woundedness, we can become a source of life for others.” I think it would be a truly valuable exploration for us to examine how our own brokenness can become a source of strength and healing for those who come seeking that in this place. Perhaps a four to six week book study in conjunction with a light soup supper similar to our Lenten explorations might offer us a deeper insight into this aspect of how we see our ministry reaching others and helping to heal the brokenness of our wounded world. I would certainly be willing to join with others and explore this book as the Bishop suggests – and by doing that begin to discover what it means to be God’s healing presence for any and all who come seeking that gift.

(SUNG) IF ANYONE LOVES ME, THEY WILL KEEP MY WORD
AND THE FATHER WILL LOVE THEM, AND WE WILL COME TO
THEM AND ABIDE IN THEIR HEARTS

Just prior to his sudden and untimely death, Author and mystic/priest/poet John O’Donohue was working on a book that has been subsequently published entitled, To Bless the Space Between Us. I have used that book many times in the past few years, as a source of insight and prayer; as a reference for meditations and retreat reflections and it is filled with insight and understanding of the many ways in which our relationships with God and with each other can be a source of healing and a balm of gentle grace when words can often escape expression of our deepest longings. My friend and clergy colleague whom I lovingly refer to as Holy Mother Church; is the rector of St. Stephen’s in Newport and the Vicar of St. Luke’s by the Sea in Waldport. Susan was the first person who introduced this book to me and she shared with me several poems and blessings from it – as well as many other pieces of poetry that speak to the varied and multiple spiritual experiences of our lives. I would like to share with you one of those “blessings” in the form of a poem from O’Donohue’s book entitled:

For the Interim Time

When near the end of day, life has drained out of light, and it is too soon for the mind of night to have darkened things,

No place looks like itself, loss of outline makes everything look strangely in-between, unsure of what has been, or what might come.

In this wan light, even trees seem groundless. In a while it will be night, but nothing here seems to believe the relief of dark.

Your are in this time of the interim, where everything seems withheld.

The path you took to get here is washed out; the way forward is still concealed from you.

“The old is not old enough to have died away; the new is still too young to be born.”

You cannot lay claim to anything; in this place of dusk, your eyes are blurred; and there is no mirror.

Everyone else has lost sight of your heart and you can see nowhere to put your trust; you know you have to make your own way though.

As far as you can hold your confidence. Do not allow your confusion to squander this call which is loosening your roots in false ground, that you might come free from all you have outgrown.

What is being transfigured here is your mind, and it is difficult and slow to become new. The more faithfully you can endure here, the more refined your heart will become for your arrival in the new dawn.

Jesus says in today’s reading from the author of John’s Gospel, “But the advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” This is the promise to those who believe and keep the commandments of Jesus. Jesus’ commandments for the new covenant are but two – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” and the second which is like it “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The promise of the Advocate, the Paraclete then is contingent on our obedience to these commandments and being faithful to them, we are promised that we will receive the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive – and that Spirit or parakletos will guide and guard us in that interim time until the Son of God will return in all glory to begin the reign of the Kindom of heaven. Yet, that Son of God can return – in us as the Body of Christ to begin the reign of the Kindom among us, right here and right now! I have preached before of this opportunity we are given in Christian community to bring about the promised reign of God the Kindom come – and we truly can be the healer’s and helper’s that we believe we are called to be. If we reach out to our neighbors those we know and those we don’t – God will be the advocate, the parecletos, the helper and work among us and instill within us the healing community that we have all experienced ourselves to be. I’m once again reminded that ALL of our time is “interim”. We exist in those “liminal” spaces that are but the passages of our spirits from one realm to the next – from the “known” to the unknown. Even as we begin to prepare to welcome the stranger among us – we are preparing for those times when we, “a royal priesthood” will take on the work of the Body of Christ and move this faith community to the next place that the Paraclete will lead us if we but listen to Her voice. Amen.

[1] Barclay, William, The Daily Study Bible, "The Gospel of John," Vol. 2 (Edinburgh: The Saint Andrew Press, 1955) p. 194

Preaching Shared

2010-05-14T11:19:00.001-07:00

The following Sunday's after Easter this year the people of St. Stephen's were gifted and blessed by other folks in our community who, either ordained or working toward that goal, took the pulpit and delivered the sermon in order to give me a much needed break - or a chance to travel on vacation or business for the Church.

Fr. Dale Carr (Priest Associate and Chaplain for the Providence Health System); Fr. Palmer Pardington (Priest Associate and recently chosen Interim Rector for St. Matthew's Episcopal Parish in Eugene); The Rev. Deacon Ken Arnold (Deacon at St. Stephen's) and Mr. Marcos Domiguez (Aspriant for Holy Orders in the Episcopal Church) took turns at preaching during the month of April and the First Week of May.

I am deeply grateful for their ministries among us - and for their gifted sermons to our Church.

Easter Day 2010

2010-05-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

Easter Day – 2010
Acts 10: 34 - 43; Psalm 118: 1 – 2; 14 – 24; 1 Corinthians 15: 1 – 11; John 20: 1 – 18
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, April 4, 2010

WHO ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

Let us pray: Risen savior our joy this day is great in recognition of the fulfillment of your presence among us. We have journeyed this past 40 days through the times of temptation and test, of repentance and return, of cold and dark and finally into new light with rebirth and Resurrection. Fill us this and every day with the glory of your good news that we might resolve to live out your resurrection and proclaim our faith in the sure and certain hope of eternal life in you. May our song of Alleluia rise to fill the world with love in your name and bring hope to all who live in the promise of new and unending life in you. Teach us to recognize you when you call us by name and to see you in the faces of those whom we love – and especially those whom we do not. Amen.

(SUNG) I HAVE COME TO BRING THE TRUTH,
I HAVE COME TO BRING YOU LIFE.
IF YOU BELIEVE – THEN YOU SHALL LIVE!
I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE
THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN ME WILL NEVER DIE.
I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE
YOU WHO BELIEVE IN ME WILL LIVE A NEW LIFE.

In the rapid paced week prior to our resurrection celebration this morning, our faithful and dedicated music director who has voluntarily taken on the added responsibility of producing our bulletins since budget constraints forced the elimination of our Parish Administrative Assistant; did a marvelous job in compiling and reproducing 4 bulletins in about as many days. One oversight of that rapid production was the exclusion of the Gospel text appointed by the Revised Common Lectionary for Easter Sunday of Year C. The text printed in your bulletin was simply a repeat of the text from last year’s bulletin. The text which Ken proclaimed this morning from the author of John’ account of the Good News is the text appointed and the one for which your Priest in Charge had prepared his sermon. “Jesus said to her, woman why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Interesting question indeed; and one we might fairly ask ourselves as we gather in this place this morning. Who are you looking for? What might you be expecting to find here today that you have not found before? What do I suppose that I can preach about this day – this event that has not been preached before? Christians have been gathering on this festival day to mark the central act of our faith for some two thousand and ten years – is there really anything new that can be said about the discovery of the empty tomb and the failure by those present that morning to recognize the risen Christ? Probably not, its all been said before and much more powerfully and articulately than I would ever be able to do – so I’ll just go sit down now, and you can conjure in your memory the best Easter sermon you’ve ever heard!

I guess I’m not going to get off that easy eh? Well I can share with you some thoughts that have been ruminating in brain during this past week, which for people in my line of business can be pretty hectic and demanding. What I have tried to do is to make sure that I balance the care and nurture of my own spiritual health with the needs of the gathered community and the support and participation of the people of God in this “holy week”. I can tell you that the Gospel message proclaimed in Christian churches around the world this day – that the one who was judged, scourged and crucified and who has risen as was promised – produces a profound sense of joy that often defies feeble attempts at explanation. This is part of the reason that we incorporate into our celebration color and light, music which accompanies our voices with trumpets and grand flourishes from organ pipes. This is the day when all the stops are pulled out and we deck ourselves and our churches and sanctuaries in their finest array. “On this day,” says the psalmist, “the Lord has acted, we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

Let me tell you one of the most exciting things for me about this day. This is Easter day begins the liturgical season of Eastertide which will extend for the next 50 days until we mark the Ascension and then the feast of Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit; this also means that Lent is over – and beginning on this day I can return to Breyer’s mint chocolate chip ice cream; and that is very good news indeed! Whatever the Lenten disciplines that we took on beginning on Ash Wednesday – we can now incorporate into our celebration of this festival day and the joyous season that accompanies it. Our liturgical colors turn to dazzling white and our sanctuary is once again filled with the beauty, fragrance and color of flowers that remind us of the return and rebirth of the season of spring. The simple pottery chalice and plate are replaced with our finest silver lovingly polished and buffed to its brightest sheen. The Light of Christ, which is symbolized by the Paschal Candle which we lighted last evening from the new fire – will burn in our sanctuaries and in our hearts for the next days of this celebratory season. Our renewal of and re-commitment to our baptismal covenant also part of our vigil liturgy reminded us of the promises which we made to “ continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers” to “persevere in resisting evil, and, when we fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord” to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ” to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves” and to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”

(SUNG) KEEP IN MIND THE THINGS THAT I HAVE SAID
REMEMBER ME IN THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD.
IF YOU BELIEVE – THEN YOU SHALL LIVE
I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE
THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN ME WILL NEVER DIE
I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE
YOU WHO BELIEVE IN ME WILL LIVE A NEW LIFE.

I found a quote from an anonymous source that reads Christmas is the Promise – and Easter is the Proof. The captioned phrase “He is risen” speaks of the Easter moment to those of us who are believers. Unlike the other major Christian festival that we celebrated only three short months ago; the moguls of Madison Avenue have not been truly successful in converting the forty days of Lent into the only twenty shopping days left until Easter campaign. Colorful green and yellow ad inserts in the local newspapers tout the benefits of one stop shopping for your succulent holiday ham – but generally speaking we have held onto the sacredness of our Christian story in this season far better than the in the rampant “commercialization” of our Christmas festival, and we don’t have too much to fear from the consumer culture that looks to capitalize on the potential moneymaking opportunities of candy manufacturers and egg farmers. “He is risen” means more, however, than the smiling Pillsbury Doughboy image which has been traveling around in my circle on the internet. It is the claim, from those of us who find reason to gather here on Easter morning – that the story of the Incarnation (i.e. the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth) fills us with promise and purpose and mission. We who are among those whom Jesus loves (which includes ALL of creation) look to spread that Good News or Gospel of hope into a world, which is skeptical of claims about resurrection. The story, which we heard read this morning from the author of John’s account, is filled with intrigue and excitement, with doubt and with strength for those harried and grieving followers who trudged to the tomb early on the first day of the week. God, in infinite wisdom and sense chooses to offer the first appearance of the resurrected Christ to a woman – whom we know as Mary Magdalene. This devoted disciple is distraught with the fear that the body of her teacher, her rabbi and her friend had been dishonored by grave robbers or religious government officials who looked to make sure that his humiliation was complete. Whatever else Mary may have carried in her grieving heart that early morning; I can’t imagine that hope in the fact that Jesus would have surmounted death was in her realm of possibility. Why would it be? We all know, only too well, that death is the final moment. Yet something happened that fateful morning – something that she would not be able to explain – something which thousands of learned theologians in the years since have not been able to explain, because faith is not explained faith is experienced. Resurrection is not explained – resurrection is experienced. I have experienced resurrection in my life – all of you have experienced resurrection in your lives; too many times to not believe that it is possible. Those moments when the grief seems too great, when the guilt seems too crushing and when the hope seems too faint – God enters in and resurrection happens in spite of our doubts. The explanation is never needed as long as we are able to trust the experience. That’s what Mary was able to do when she heard Jesus call her name; she was able to trust the experience of love in that voice and know that it was no gardener – rather is was the voice of the one whom she loved. In fact, it was the voice of Love itself; it was the voice of God. It is the voice of resurrection, which continues to draw us here around this table to share the love, which is God with each other, and to recognize in that sharing that we are the Body of Christ called to continue the building of the kindom of God among us – in this place, in this time and for this community.

My guess is that we have come here this morning looking for the One who calls us to love. We have finished the Lenten journey and have made our way from Bethlehem in Judea to Jerusalem of Israel, and into the sure and certain truth that Paul writes about in the first letter to the early Church in Corinth; “but by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain” and that the author of Luke/Acts proclaims; that “all the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” This is the good news of our Easter story. Easter, according to Theologian Jürgen Moltmann is “God’s protest against death”, this does not mean that death will not happen; I’m sure it will come as no surprise to anyone here this morning that death will touch each and everyone of our lives more times that we might care to know. The truth of the Easter experience is that because of the empty tomb and the encounter with the risen Christ that death will no longer hold sway over us. The struggle has been fought and won – the Risen one will gather all of the faithful and lead us into new life. That is our sure and certain hope this day – that is what we have come here looking for and that is what we have found; new life in the Risen Christ and in the Kindom of our God among us, right here – right now!

Amen

Palm Sunday - Year C (RCL) 2010

2010-04-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

This Palm Sunday sermon was written and delivered by The Rev. Ken Arnold, Deacon at St. Stephen's.

Sermon
Sunday of the Passion, March 28, 2010
St Stephen’s
Luke 23:1-49

Who is condemned in the Passion? Who dies on the cross? Jesus of Nazareth? Or Ken of Portland?

The answer in a few minutes.
Many of us have watched as someone we love has died, perhaps slowly and painfully, although it is not all that common in our culture, to be with someone as they are dying. We can watch movie and television violence, seemingly without pain, but we avoid the realities of suffering and death. Even in events like the earthquake in Haiti, where the agony is dressed up for us in newscasts meant to entertain even while they appall.

To be with the dying is to begin to understand suffering as a condition of life itself. And to be with the dying is to begin to be with ourselves, who we really are.

My father had Parkinson’s Disease, which as you know is a debilitating and cruel condition. He was a physically active man for whom this disease was especially galling. He said once, immobilized in his wheelchair, that “it wasn’t supposed to be like this.” He suffered the last few years of his life, as did my mother who cared for him. I was there on occasion to help, washing him, cleaning up after him in the bathroom, feeding him. When he died, I think he was grateful to be done with the suffering. I think I would have been. I know my mother was. Her back and knees hurt, she had half-slept with her mind attentive to what he might need in the other room. She was exhausted.

How is the death of my father different from the suffering and death of Jesus?
It isn’t. And, no, my father was not the Messiah--far from it. We had a difficult relationship. He once threatened to run me over if I blocked the entrance to the Pentagon, where he worked, during a protest against the Viet Nam War. He might have done it.

Were we reconciled in the end? Yes, to some extent. When I’m in Virginia, I visit his grave and play my flute for him. It’s the best I can do. It is good enough. I am a witness.

The question I want to raise for you today is: How does the Passion--this story of Jesus’s suffering and death--help us live our own lives? Probably not the question you were expecting. Never mind the thorny questions of how his death redeems humans or why or if God lets Jesus suffer and die. Never mind the theology of atonement or whatever explanations the church has devised to explain this event.

The purpose of the Gospel, in whatever version, is to show us how to live in harmony with the reality we call God. And that is what it means to be redeemed. It means to become our self and live in freedom. The life of Jesus is the story of the spirit’s arduous journey toward oneness with all that is. We suffer in this journey, as Jesus did; the work is hard, the obstacles many.

But this Gospel, Luke’s, demonstrates that God is faithful to humanity--to everyone, including those thought to be outcasts and sinners. God journeys with Jesus from the beginning of his life to the end. And beyond.

It is the same with us. That is the good news.
God-with-us, however, does not absolve us of responsibility for our own lives and the lives of others. We have work to do and not much time in which to do it.

The curious thing is that everyone suffers with Jesus: Pilate, Herod, Mary, Judas, Peter, Sam, Dennis, Joyce, Molly....Because, you see, we inhabit a single body in which the suffering of one affects all. The problem is that we often deny that connectedness. The church refers to this as the Body of Christ--and that’s certainly one way to say it. But it’s too limited. The body is actually all that is, everything. It is the cosmic body, which is also the body of God. Everything is one consciousness.

We cannot actually escape this fact, although we can and do deny it, by focusing obsessively on the pursuit of our individual happiness, and on the pursuit of a pain free life. The pursuit of happiness is the bondage Jesus died to free us from. His life was not about the pursuit of happiness; it was about the pursuit of his own truth in the Cosmic Body of God--and no one can find that without suffering and dying.

The crumbling society in which we live is being consumed by an obsession with happiness, with an idea of freedom that is based on what’s actually an alternate reality. This alternate reality insists that individuals can escape suffering if they make enough money or have enough toys. This alternate reality insists that those who are not wealthy cannot be happy and are condemned by their own inadequacies to suffer. This alternate reality is demonic. It is the reality of a society possessed.

What stands in the way of our living in freedom, either as individuals or as a society?
We do--the false self that protects us from the reality we call God. The false self is the ego, the crybaby who wonders why God allows suffering. Why me? is the cry that prevents our living our lives in freedom and grace. The more relevant question is, Why not me? What makes me think I am exempt from the suffering of my father? He thought it was not supposed to be that way--but it is. That is exactly how it is. In refusing to accept the reality of our certain death, we hide behind a mask that prevents our entering into the kingdom of freedom announced by Jesus. That’s the Kingdom of God--the Kingdom of Freedom. Jesus’s primary message is: Take off your mask. Stop hiding. Stop kidding yourself. You really are going to die and before you do you should figure out who you are. Because you don’t get another chance to do it.

Jesus dying is an emblem of our own life purpose, as he taught, which is to die to self. It is the same with this parish. We must die to self, to the illusions of who we are. It is the same with me, with each of you. The false self is what crucifies Jesus--revealed in its fear, self-importance, fantasy, secrecy, politics, lying, despair. Jesus was not killed by the Romans or the Jews but by the forces of denial. Around Jesus were many who kept looking for the solution to this man’s enigmatic life. As Jesus himself asked, Who do you say I am? Which is--who do you say you are? When you strip away your false assumptions, your protective coloring, who is left? Once you know that, you know Jesus.

Several times in this Gospel reading today the verb “to see” shows up. Seeing is an important concept here. What do we see when we look at Jesus in this story? Certainly we see his agony and death. We see the story in a vivid and disturbing way. We are meant to be disturbed. We are meant to be changed in seeing it. We cannot turn away from these events. They rivet us over and over, year after year. Why?

Because they are events in our own lives. If we turn away, we are denying our own reality. If we turn away as a society, as a parish, as individuals, we are denying the Cosmic Reality we know as God. God has not turned away. God is walking the same road Jesus is walking and you and I are walking.

At the end of the Gospel, we read that “his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.”
Another translation, The Message (which is somewhat more contemporary), says that these people “who knew Jesus well”--more than just acquaintances--”stood at a respectful distance and kept vigil.”

They knew him well. They were intimate with him. They knew the one who was dying to self. They too were being called to die to self. And in keeping vigil that is what they were doing. Letting go the fear and denial and keeping vigil, as we do when we wish to witness to what has happened.

Some years ago in New York, as many of you know, I was the on-call chaplain at St. Luke’s Hospital up next to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The hospital had a tradition of calling a chaplain after someone died. On occasion I was called to the hospital during the night. It seemed odd to be going up Broadway to visit a dead body.

I recall one visit in particular. It was about 3 AM when I was called. I dressed. Couldn’t find a taxi. Walked ten blocks. The nurse was glad to see me because there was no one else around. She was alone. She showed me to the room. The dead man was a transient, perhaps 70 when he died. Emaciated. He was not yet wrapped and so I was with the recognizable body of this unknown man. I would recognize him today if I saw him. I prayed for him, for the repose of his soul, as we do. On his forehead, I made the mark of the cross with holy oil. The nurse thanked me. I went home and back to sleep. The next day I went to work as usual.

What was I doing? I was keeping watch. Keeping vigil. I was honoring the dead man who was also me, who was also Jesus. The women who kept vigil at the cross and went to the tomb to keep vigil make the resurrection possible. If we are not present to suffering and death, if we do not watch, God remains silent. Jesus remains in the tomb.

In keeping watch, we die to our self, to ego. My ego self that night would have preferred to stay in bed. No one would know if I did not go--except the nurse, who probably would have understood. Certainly the dead man would not know. But I went, leaving my self--my ego, my self that hates suffering--behind.

We might ask if Jesus lacked the problem of ego what we experience as a barrier to our true selves. Well, look back at this morning’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It is a perfect example of what we all imagine for ourselves--the triumph of ego, adulation, praise, a perfect life. Jesus too has to shed the ego that wishes to be admired. He too leaves the ego self that does not want to suffer--remember his prayer that the cup be taken from him--he needs to leave it in order to grow into the self he is called to be.

Not one of the apostles, not seen to be important, Mary Magdalene keeps vigil. She is has no ego. She is present at the cross and at the resurrection; she has also anointed Jesus in Bethany. Hers is the real self, not the false; she stays with the journey, with Jesus. It is also our journey. She is the one we should emulate.

Suffering is part of the journey but our suffering is the result of not seeing the world for what it is and clinging to our illusions. It’s not suffering itself but our reaction to it that matters. What do we do with the inevitable suffering of our lives and the lives of others?

Keep vigil. Witness. Be present. The self that is not afraid of reality stands with reality, as God stands with us in our suffering, which God shares. That is what we learn in this Passion, that God shares our suffering and is with us. And God was with Jesus. And we, like Jesus, can awaken to our true self, the one without a mask, the self that can love as Mary Magdalene loves in keeping watch. The self that can love selflessly, as Jesus does.

Oh, the answer to the question, Who dies on the cross, is, of course, Ken of Portland. And Dennis of Portland. And Molly of Portland. And and and. And St. Stephen’s of Portland.

Thanks be to God.

Fifth Sunday in Lent - Year C (RCL) 2010

2010-04-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

Fifth Sunday in Lent – Year C (RCL) 2010
Isaiah 43: 16 – 21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3: 4b – 14; John 12: 1 – 8
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, March 21, 2010

THE SWEET SMELL OF DEATH

Let us pray: Holy One of God we remember this day our repentance and reconciliation, which have been the focus of our Lenten journey. As we draw ever closer to the events of your passion and sacrifice at Jerusalem our hearts become heavier with the knowledge of our complicity in your suffering at the hands of humankind. You speak words of warning and we choose to ignore your call to love each other as you have loved us. Fill us this Passiontide with the strength to see the gift of your love in the faces of the poor and forgotten who are among us as the living embodiment of your grace which remains with us always. Amen.

(SUNG) WOMAN YOUR FINE OINTMENT, BRAND NEW AND EXPENSIVE
SHOULD HAVE BEEN SAVED FOR THE POOR. WHY HAS IT
BEEN WASTED? WE COULD HAVE RAISED MAYBE THREE
HUNDRED SILVER PIECES OR MORE. PEOPLE WHO ARE
HUNGY, PEOPLE WHO ARE STARVING – THEY MATTER MORE
THAN YOUR FEET AND HAIR.

The journey toward Jerusalem and the events of the passion, death and resurrection draw closer and closer in our liturgical year. This mornings narrative from the author of John’s Gospel places us in Bethany, and mere five miles from the gates of the holy city where throngs will gather to cry out for the blessed one who comes in the name of the Lord. It is six days before the Passover the author tells us; and we are well aware of the events which will unfold at that Passover feast. This day though in Bethany of Judea, Jesus will share a meal given for him at the home of Lazarus who had been restored to life from death. We can assume that many have gathered in this small town to see, once again, this preacher from Nazareth who was accomplishing acts mightier than any of the prophets of old. All four Gospel evangelists tell a version of this story of the anointing of Jesus as a symbolic preparation for events which will unfold in the days ahead. We jump from the author of Luke/Acts telling to the author of John’s telling in order to maintain the timeline in the narrative. The author of Luke/Acts places this event earlier in Jesus’ public ministry and at the home of a Pharisee where a woman of questionable repute washes Jesus’ feet with her tears, dries them with her hair and anoints them with ointment. We pick up the story in the Johannine text so that we can move the narration timeline along and arrive at the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, where the foreshadowing of Jesus’ burial anointing is laid out as is the betrayal by Judas Iscariot who is also present at this meal. Mary, in an act of costly generosity takes a pound of perfume made from Nard which was imported from India and hence extremely expensive – and anoints Jesus’ feet; then in an act which would have been scandalous to all who viewed it; pulls down her hair and dries the savior’s feet with it. The Iscariot Judas, unable to contain his indignation at this extravagance lashes out and demands an explanation and judgment against her behavior.

(SUNG) SLEEP AND I SHALL SOOTHE YOU, CALM YOU AND ANOINT
YOU, MYRRH FOR YOUR HOT FOREHEAD/THEN YOU’LL
FEEL EVERYTHINGS ALRIGHT YES, EVERYTHINGS FINE.
AND IT’S COOL AND THE OINTMENTS SWEET, FOR THE FIRE
IN YOUR HEAD AND FEET, CLOSE YOUR EYES, CLOSE YOUR
EYES AND RELAX THINK OF NOTHING TONIGHT.

Mary in her generous and extravagant act is blessed by Jesus who is grateful for the opportunity to pause, however briefly, before the coming onslaught and bask in the fragrant glow of a blessed moment of peace. It is almost as if the Gospel author gives us this moment to gather our breath and our minds about us before we are thrust into the chaos and confusion which will accompany Jesus and the followers in the coming days. Jesus is aware of what Mary has done – even if she is not – in preparation for what must be faced in the approaching days of betrayal and death. The high cost of her perfumed gift matches the higher cost of the offering which will be given at week’s end on the hardwood of the cross.

As we prepare for the upcoming re-telling of the pivotal piece of our Christian story, we are struck by the quickening pace of our narrative and the events that surround the band of disciples who will join Jesus in Jerusalem for the Passover feast, and the whirlwind three days that will mark Christ’s suffering, death and burial. Just at the gates of Jerusalem we pause and reflect on the anointed one who will carry out the greatest act of love known to humankind – the offering of one’s life for one’s friends. I wonder if Jesus is trembling with the fear and anticipation of what awaits him and his disciples. I wonder if we are ever truly ready for the events we live out each Passion tide as we continue the journey with this one whom we have claimed as our Savior.

Our beloved Episcopal Church has once again grabbed the world spotlight as we begin to experience the bantering and political posturing from across the pond to the news that The Rev. Mary Glasspool has received the required consents from Bishops and Standing Committees to permit her Consecration as Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Los Angeles to proceed. On Wednesday the office of the Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church, The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori announced that the majority consents required had been received. The following day a communiqué from Lambeth Palace, the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury was released that said among other things; “It is regrettable that appeals from Anglican Communion bodies for continuing gracious restraint have not been headed…following the Los Angeles election in December, the Archbishop made clear that the outcome of the consent process would have important implications for the communion…further consultation will now take place about the implications and consequences of this decision.” The Episcopal Church has made it clear with the election and consecration of The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson in the Diocese of New Hampshire in 2003; and now the election and pending consecration of the Rev. Mary Glasspool in the Diocese of Los Angeles that we have ended our fractious debate on the issue of the inclusion of ALL of God’s children to ALL of the sacramental rites and orders of our Church. We will continue to hold our sisters and brothers in the Anglican Communion who respectfully disagree with our decisions in our hearts and our prayers and we will continue to join with them at God’s holy table to share the joy of our Good News in Christ Jesus that no one will be turned away from the bounty of God’s grace and blessing in our Church.

It is with great relief and joy that I report to you that the ongoing demons of institutional disgrace have been turned aside by the persistence and good graces of many folks who have looked deep into their hearts and seen their hardness and have chosen to repent and return on this Lenten journey. The nursing staff of the unit at the Oregon State Hospital where our parishioner is staying has communicated that they will accept a visit from your priest and deacon this afternoon. Ken and I will travel to Salem and join with our brother in prayers of healing and blessing as he looks to regain some of the dignity of his personhood in the midst of a difficult system that needs much reform. Our persistent prayers and pleadings have moved an institutional block just a hair’s breathe enough to let the grace of God move in and our Christian commitment to visit the sick can be lived out.

Our community of faith, which has been looking to move outside of the red doors of our facility is gaining ground; sacred grounds that is – and the service of meditation and prayer held at the new location of Cello Coffeehouse downtown was a rousing success this past Wednesday. About twenty of us gathered in prayer and fellowship in this latest move to bring the Good News out into our neighborhood. Thanks are due to all of you who joined us and a challenge is renewed to invite a friend or neighbor who might not know about our community to join you either here on a Sunday morning or at one of the other services of Holy Week that will dramatically re-tell the story of our redemption and renewal in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Beginning next Sunday we enter that special time of our liturgical year that we call Holy Week. The music is being polished, the drama is being set up and the excitement is beginning to build. The penultimate acts of our salvation will be retold on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday – and the great celebration of the Resurrection is not far behind. We have so much to be excited about – so much to be grateful for and so much to share with those who have yet to become aware of the power of the Gospel alive in this place. When we greet each other across the aisles at the exchange of peace this morning, we should be conscious of those who are here with us to relive our Christian story – and we should be more aware of those who are not and how we can bring them to join us in the work we have been called to do. God asks no more of us than God is willing to do for us; and what God has done for us in the life, death and resurrection of the Christ is amazing news meant to be shared with all of creation so that the Good Friday sacrifice may burst with the empty tomb of Easter joy.

Amen.

Fourth Sunday in Lent - Year C

2010-03-20T17:08:00.000-07:00

Fourth Sunday in Lent – Year C (RCL)
Joshua 5: 9 – 12; Psalm 32; 2 Corinthians 5: 16 – 21; Luke 15: 1 – 3, 11b – 32
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, March 14, 2010

HEARING AND TELLING OUR STORIES ANEW

Let us Pray: Shape us Holy God into the image and likeness of you – so that we may become that which you truly desire us to be. Help us to see in the familiar stories the unexpected as well as the comfortable truths. Wend into our hearts the power of your reconciling love for us and for all of your creation made new in the power of your suffering, death and resurrection. Amen.

(SUNG) PRODIGAL SON HE’D BEEN AWAY A WHILE
HE WAS MAKING HIS WAY BACK HOME NOW, OVER MANY
A RAGGED MILE.
WHEN HE FINALLY CROSSED THE RIVER, AND HIS FATHER
SAW HIM NEAR;
THERE WAS A JOYFUL SOUND FOR ALL THE WORLD TO HEAR.

It has been a full and fascinating week for me, and I reach this Sunday liturgy filled and full of the lessons, learning and life experiences that are a part of the totality that we bring with us to our shared work in Christian community. I am blessed to have an opportunity to hear and reflect with others during the week the texts that we will use for our gathering in prayer and worship on Sundays. My sharing of those texts helps to shape what God might be calling me to say as I listen to what others have taken from their own collective memories of the stories and experiences that have shaped their lives. On Tuesday we gathered at Terwilliger Plaza to celebrate our once monthly service of Holy Communion with some of our parish family who reside there. We share Eucharist with each other and with God and then we gather to share a lunch in the dinning hall. These wise women humble me with their depth of life experience and the wisdom that has garnered in their lives. I often come away from that gathering grateful for the chance to spend time and fellowship with a group that has begun to “bond” in many ways – but also very aware of the limit that our short time puts on our ability to deeply delve into the Gospel narrative and search out what it might mean for us in our own lives. After this gathering on Tuesday I drove down to Salem to attempt a pastoral visit with a member of our Parish family whom Deacon Ken mentioned in his remarks last Sunday. The demons of institutional apathy raised their ugly voices and I was not able to actually see him; but I was able at least to get a working phone contact that will provide me with periodic updates on his condition and the readiness of his spirit to receive visits. I find it truly amazing that all of this fuss is being made over a little parish priest who wants to visit with a troubled parishioner and share the blessings of presence and comfort with him. I wonder what the story of the prodigal son’s return would say to Edmundo! On Thursday I gathered with the folks at Campus Ministry at PSU and we shared communion and a wicked good tomato basil bisque and talked about the differences that folks heard in the Prodigal Son story based on which character they most closely identified with when they heard it this time. I was thrilled to have the perspective of young folks just beginning their adult Christian journey to compare with the wise women of Terwilliger who are nearing the end of theirs. It is amazing to me how folks hear the stories of our tradition and how they speak to us at different levels in our lives and this time did not disappoint. The young women who were at PSU tended to compare the story of the Prodigal Son with the story of Martha and Mary. Identifying with the strongly dominate male characters in Luke’s telling of this parable from the mouth of Jesus was not as comforting to these young women as it was to the guys gathered around the table on Thursday evening. In contrast, the women at Terwilliger more closely identified with the reconciling and welcoming love of the father in the narrative – it seemed to them that the whole story was about the welcome home and the nurturing care of a Father for both of his children equally and with very different needs. The young men at PSU on the other hand tended to identify more closely with the prodigal who was out in the world squandering the inheritance of his youth and looking for a way to work himself back into the graces of his father whom he loved deeply and was achingly aware of having damaged their relationship. What we hear and how we hear it can be deeply influenced by the role we most clearly identify with in the story. In this realization grew the seed of the message that I was pulling from the story and how it related to my life at this point in my adult Christian journey and I surmise the same is true for you.

If any preacher worth her or his salt hasn’t preached a least one sermon on the story of the Prodigal Son or the Beneficent Father however you want to focus it – then they just haven’t been preachin’ long enough! I myself have reflected on this parable from our Gospel texts at least 5 times so far in my short career. Part of our challenge is to find ways to tune our ears and our hearts to hear the stories which we know so well and pull out from them something new which they have to say to us each time that we hear them. What I heard new this time was the powerful message of reconciliation to which the prodigal, the older brother and the father are all called. Old wounds and grudges which have to be released in order to be fully present to the celebration and welcome home offered; perceptions and expectations which need to be examined and released after we have been forgiven – and can then focus on forgiving others. Here’s a piece of the mystery and grace of reconciliation – when I am reconciled to you both of us become healed even if you are unaware that I have offered our struggle into God’s hands and asked for the grace of reconciliation – still a piece of us becomes healed and space grows in our relationship so that grudges can move out and God can move in. Several folks have contacted me in the last weeks seeking an opportunity to join with me in the sacramental rite of Reconciliation of a Penitent. For those of you who may not be familiar with this rite of the Church it follows the form of Confession from our Roman Catholic roots. In this penitential season of Lent we look to find reconciliation in our hearts and our souls; and to repent and return. As a result of the introspection and personal reflection we have been invited to during these forty days, many seek to find a way to right their relationship with God and this sacramental gives the opportunity to confess our sins and receive the absolution and remission that is the gift and privilege of the Church.

So in this liturgical year when we hear the story of the Prodigal Son we pause to consider what the message is that we take to heart in this familiar re-telling. The temptation for me, I know, is to gloss over the details of the story and focus only on the fact that I’ve heard this before and it has spoken to me from the point of view of the Prodigal one year, the older son the next and the father in still another. This year, I forced myself to listen to what others picked up in their hearing – and it allows me to find anew the message that God’s seeks to convey in the voices of wise elders and insightful youth. I had yet another experience this week that led me to a deeper understanding of reconciliation in my life. It was the opportunity to come to reconciliation with myself; with my own fears and insecurities and to realize that in the voices of others I can find the truths that God seeks to help me discover. In reviewing my time among this community, I am being encouraged to discover strengths that I need to build upon and challenges that I need to overcome in order to guide us to a deeper and more fully alive witness to the Gospel in our corner of God’s Kindom. We have worked and discerned that our very special calling in this place is to be a gathering of healing and welcome to all who seek a deeper relationship with God – not only to those who come into our pews or into our Parish Hall seeking spiritual nourishment or physical nourishment. Perhaps more importantly to those outside of our Red Doors; our neighbors both housed and homeless – the stranger and the friend and invite them to feast in our abundant blessing. It is our calling and our responsibility to extend our sincere welcome that they might be fed by the God who has filled us all with the Good News that we are welcomed home; that those who felt almost as one who was dead have come to life and the ones who were lost have been found.

The incalculable love and generosity of our God – symbolized in this story by the father – is ours not because of anything we have done however good or bad we imagine our selves and our behavior to be; rather it is ours because God created us in God’s image and likeness and we are loved because God is good – all the time. Here’s the best news of the Good News in this Gospel story and it comes early in the narrative: “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” The Community of God is not a temple for saints; it is rather a respite for sinners. Our Messiah the very God incarnate in Jesus the Christ chooses to eat sinners and welcome them to his table. We are called to do the same, to be the good news for those who think that they will always be alone and without a community that cares for them. To those who hunger for healing and hope; to those who thirst for refreshment and reconciliation we say “come to the table and eat, with and of the God who has reconciled all things in Christ.” I ask your help in spreading this good news. We need each and every one of us here this morning and even more we need each and everyone those who are not – to offer them the healing comfort of our community and assure them that they are welcomed by the God who welcomes sinners and eats with them! Now that’s good news; that’s Gospel my friends and that is worth all the effort it will take to build anew the Kindom of God in this place.

Amen.

Third Sunday in Lent - Year C 2010

2010-03-10T20:46:00.000-08:00

Third Sunday in Lent – Year C (RCL) 2010
Isaiah 55: 1 – 9; Psalm 63: 1 – 8; 1 Corinthians 10: 1 – 13; Luke 13: 1 – 9
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, March 7, 2010

WE ARE ALL SINNERS IN YOUR SIGHT

Let us pray: We come before you this day O God seeking your forgiveness in light of our sinfulness. In this Lenten journey we look to find mercy in your judgment – we seek to repent and return to your way. Keep us mindful of your call to consider our failings in your sight that we might be filled with the knowledge of your desire for mercy and not sacrifice; for you are generous o Lover of souls and we are blessed by your mercy. Help us to examine all of our sins and repent of them that we might be reunited in your Easter joy. Amen.

(SUNG) THIS IS HOLY GROUND, WE'RE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND

FOR OUR GOD IS PRESENT, AND WHERE GOD IS IS HOLY

THIS IS HOLY GROUND, WE'RE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND

FOR OUR GOD IS PRESENT, AND WHERE GOD IS IS HOLY.

Today’s passage from second Isaiah is an invitation to abundant life extended to all Israel in preparation for the divine salvation soon to be realized. The prophet calls God’s people to return from their exile and to “incline your ear, and come to me, listen so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” Here the prophet recalls for God’s people one of the four major covenantal relationships which Yahweh has offered; the first being the one with Noah, the second with Abraham and the third with Moses. It is this fourth Davidic covenant that will yoke the new covenant with the Christ to the ancient ones of God’s chosen people. It is in this call to a renewed relationship with God that promises of repentance and return to the Lord are first offered to us. “Let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts, let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Israel’s deliverance by the hand of Yahweh, however, seems to be contingent on the one thing of which she was unable to do in those days just prior to her exile – to turn to God with all of their hearts and to repent of their sinfulness. Only then would God be able to pardon and show them mercy. Now is that time, declares the prophet. A door is open and God is near and inviting the Israelites to return. God will allow himself to be found; and is drawing near to restore Israel. Now is the time to return to God and expect restoration.

Israel did, as we do today, struggle with her understanding of a God who might restore them after all of their failings at faithfulness in the past. The prophet, however, insists that God does not decide on such things in the same way that human beings do. God’s ways are higher than human ways. At the heart of Israel’s theology is a struggle between belief in God as a judge who rules by divine law, and belief in God as creature of compassion and mercy, who routinely violates the demands of divine justice in order to have mercy on a wayward humanity. It’s not logical for a God of justice to waive the judgment which humans so richly deserve. No human judge would set aside our laws in such a generous fashion. However, God is God and can do as God pleases. God does not desire or need our understanding of divine judgment and mercy in order to act as She chooses.

(SUNG) THIS IS HOLY GROUND, WE'RE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND
FOR OUR GOD IS PRESENT, AND WHERE GOD IS IS HOLY
THIS IS HOLY GROUND, WE'RE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND
FOR OUR GOD IS PRESENT, AND WHERE GOD IS IS HOLY.

As we move deeper into our Lenten reflections our readings from the Author of Luke/Acts account of the Gospel narrative become more and more focused on repentance and renewal of our relationship to God through Christ. This is the case in the text which we read today from the 13th Chapter of that Gospel – where we encounter Jesus’ exchange with a group of people who recount a tragic incident of some Galileans who were massacred at the hands of Pontius Pilate in the holy place of the Temple. Picture if you will, law officers entering our sanctuary space at the insistence of our Governor, and spilling the blood of our members as it mingles with the blood of Christ poured out from our Chalice. That situation would, in some small way, reflect the horror of an occupied people who were at the mercy of a bloodthirsty barbarian who ruled their lives. We are not told who these people who recount this story to Jesus are – are they adversaries who wish to entrap or just simple folk who look to have answers about why bad things happen to good people? Jesus does not address this universal characteristic of humanity –i.e. our need to know how a just God can allow these tragedies to happen. Rather, we are told – Jesus asks if they believe that these Galileans suffered in this way because they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, Jesus assures them – they were not any worse, and unless all repent all will perish, as did those in this tragic circumstance. This is a tough message for them – and for us to hear! We want answers to our conundrum about a God who allows the rain to fall on the just and the unjust, and we get a scolding about our behavior and a warning to shape up! Then, lest we think it was Pilate’s evil intention which is being judged here, Jesus recounts the story of a seemingly random act of tragedy which occurred when the tower at the gate of Siloam fell and killed eighteen people – do they think that those eighteen were any worse offenders than all the others who were living in Jerusalem? Well, we get the point, don’t we? All of us are sinners in God’s sight – none of us gets to judge who is the worst sinner – since God expects repentance and return from all of us we are hardly able to judge each other, but oh how we love to!

The truth is this return and repent message doesn’t preach well to people who wish to question God’s seemingly random mercy, judgment and justice. It becomes much easier for us to demand answers as to why babies die of cancer and corporate profit stealing moguls live to ripe old age. That, you see, allows us to deflect the contemplation of our own sinfulness and how we will be called to account for that when we meet God face to face. How could we bear to do that if a God who allows the rain to fall both on the just and the unjust did not love us? How will we be able to feast at the heavenly banquet beside Mother Teresa and the perpetrators of the horrible death and destruction at the World Trade Center towers on September 11th, 2001?

(SUNG) THIS IS HOLY GROUND, WE'RE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND
FOR OUR GOD IS PRESENT, AND WHERE GOD IS IS HOLY
THIS IS HOLY GROUND, WE'RE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND
FOR OUR GOD IS PRESENT, AND WHERE GOD IS IS HOLY.

God is faithful, even when we are not. This is the message that is delivered again and again to God’s people throughout the history of our relationship with the divine. Again and again God’s calls us back to renew the convent – again and again God’s sends prophets and poets to warn us of the ways in which we fail each other and so the ways in which we fail our God. Our very God in the person of Jesus the Christ came to live among us and give us the benefit of the ultimate sacrifice offered on behalf of our sins and we fail even to acknowledge that ultimate gift when we fail to love that Christ in each other. Yet God offers again to take us back – to renew our covenant if we but only repent of the sins we have committed and return to the ways of righteousness and peace. In the parable story of the fig tree which fails to bear fruit, the owner returns not once, not twice but even a third year in anticipation of the expected harvest. At that last attempt he strikes out in anger and tells the gardener to cut the offending tree down, after all its only wasting the valuable resources of soil and water. One more time, one more year – says the gardener – let me work on it, toil with it and fertilize it and see if next year it will bear fruit; if not you can cut it down. We are not told in this parable example if the gardener was finally successful and the next year bore fruit for the owner of the vineyard – yet that is not the purpose of this lesson which Jesus coveys to them and to us. The lesson to be gained is in the patience and passion of the gardener who will dig around the roots, feed and nourish with manure and wait for growth and fruit to blossom from tender care and concern. Then, if all is as God’s intends it to be the tree will yield a healthy and fruitful harvest.

When we take the opportunity to examine our hearts, our lives and our consciences, and reflect on the ways we have sinned against each other and so sinned against God – we can ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness which we do not deserve, nor have we ever done enough to earn. Then, clear in our minds that our sin is through our own fault – but what we have done and by what we have left undone – we can seek forgiveness by grace, repent of our faults and return to the heart of our God who loves us beyond reason or understanding. If we resolve to spend time in reflection, repentance and returning in this Lenten season, we will experience the joy of an Easter moment filled with redemption, renewal and rebirth – and rejoicing will be great in heaven for this sinner who was lost and has been found and by the grace of God forgiven and reclaimed.

Amen.

Ash Wednesday 2010

2010-03-10T20:42:00.000-08:00

Ash Wednesday – Year C (RCL) 2010
Isaiah 58: 1 – 12; Psalm 51: 1 – 17; 2 Cor 5: 20b – 6:10; Matthew 6: 1 – 6; 16 – 21
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Wednesday, February 17, 2010

FROM OUR SINS WE HAVE BEEN FREED

Let us pray: Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us. As we approach this season of reflection and repentance, we ask your mercy and grace to guide our hearts and our minds toward a holy time of reconciliation and renewal. It is in the promise of your Holy One, Jesus the Christ, that we find the strength as people of corruption to approach your throne of Glory and reconcile our world to you. Teach us, Oh patient God to always return and repent of the tendency to stray from your love. We ask all this in the name of the One who is our sacrifice and our savior – Jesus the Christ. Amen.

(SUNG) COME BACK TO ME, WITH ALL YOUR HEART,
DON’T LET FEAR, KEEP US APART. TREES DO BEND
THOUGH STRAIGHT AND TALL, SO DO WE, EACH OTHER
CALL.
LONG HAVE I WAITED FOR YOUR COMING HOME TO ME,
AND LIVING DEEPLY OUR NEW LIFE.

I’ve been working pretty hard today. This is the last of four services that I have led for Ash Wednesday. I’ve been thinking a lot as a result of that work and those services about the prevalence of sin in our lives and in our corporate liturgy the opportunity we are given each week when we gather as God’s people around God’s holy table to acknowledge our sin and confess it before God and each other; and receive the assurance by God’s words through the priest that we have been absolved of and forgiven for all of our sins. “Confession is good for the soul” seems to speak more and more truthfully to me as I get older. And so today is one of many days in my life over the past eight years that I discover anew a fact of church life that still continues to baffle me – people still yearn to acknowledge before God and each other their brokenness in sin and their repentance and hope for reconciliation in order to return to right relationship before God.

What is it about this need to root out our sinfulness and seek forgiveness from God which overcomes us when we gather in God’s house to offer worship and praise for the manifold gifts and blessings we have received from the God who loves us always and seeks us constantly? Our deepest Christian beliefs assure us that we are indeed, forgiven for all that we might have done to break our relationship with God and God’s covenant with us. In the language of the Eucharistic prayer from the Rite One service referring to our redemption through Christ we pray: “He made there a full and perfect sacrifice for the whole world.” Still, individually and corporately, we find the desire and in reality the need to humbly confess our sins before God and our neighbor.

Perhaps nothing in our Holy Scriptures describes this confession and repentance better than does the psalmist in what our tradition numbers as Psalm 51. The superscription from that Psalm is translated: “A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba”. Yet, the text of the psalm lacks any specific reference to the David/Bathsheba story; and in fact it is the very universality of the psalm’s language about sin that has allowed it to speak to the widest possible variety of human sinful experiences. This psalm has become the classic statement of repentance – and so deeply has it shaped the language of confession in both the Hebrew and Christian communities that its very cadences often echo in synagogues and in churches when worshipers address in a corporate fashion our sinfulness before God. It is a verse from this psalm which I pray when I ritually wash my hands in ablutions before the Eucharistic Prayer that I offer on behalf of all of God’s people; v. 11 “Create in mi a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” This psalm is no less a powerful vehicle for expressing individual confession and its inclusion as an Ash Wednesday lection is mandatory by all of the church’s lectionaries – and especially for those of us who worship in the liturgical and confessional traditions. Ash Wednesday then becomes for us the equivalent of the Hebrew ‘Day of Atonement’ when God’s people turn in private and corporate prayer to address our sins and our failings before the God who loves us.

(SUNG) THE WILDERNESS WILL LEAD YOU TO YOUR HEART
WHERE I WILL SPEAK.
INTEGRITY AND JUSTICE, WITH TENDERNESS, YOU SHALL
KNOW.
LONG HAVE I WAITED FOR YOUR COMING HOME TO ME AND
LIVING DEEPLY OUR NEW LIFE.

Paul, in the second letter to the early Christian community at Corinth addresses the issue of sin and reconciliation. Our reading today comes from the 5th and 6th Chapters of that letter – and rather than a direct cry to God for forgiveness and reconciliation the apostle asserts that it is God rather who reaches out to humanity seeking reconciliation and a return to rightness in relationship. The point which is made in this portion of the letter is that it is not God who must be appeased because of human action; but rather human beings, who have turned away from God in rebellion and who must, therefore, accept God’s appeal and be reconciled. Even in the face of the reality of human sin, it is God who takes the initiative to correct the situation – human beings have only to receive God’s appeal. Paul addresses this universal need for redemption and reconciliation and appoints a specificity to the events in the newly formed community at Corinth – it is time, Paul offers – or perhaps past time for the church to lay aside their differences and hear in full the reconciling plea of God made through those whom God appointed as their leaders; valuable lessons even for us who read portions of the letter some two thousand years hence!

I cannot imagine that there is anyone here this evening who is not aware of the reality that we are all sinners in God’s sight. If there are any who doubt this reality please see me after the service and we can address your confusion. The common human experience of the fallen and broken nature of our relationship with God – leads us to this time of reflection and introspection in which we can examine our own sinfulness and repent and return to our God who is constantly seeking reconciliation and renewal with each and every one of us. The Church invites us to this period of forty days in which we can seek a renewal and reconciliation in our fractured relationships with God and with each other. The disciplines which we “take on” in this holy season allow us to point our hearts and our lives toward the places we seldom seek to go – those places where we find our selfish and stubborn natures returning time and again – even when we don’t want to. As we examine our sins and look to accept the reconciliation, which God offers in Christ – we can only do so after reflecting on those dark and dreadful places of our fear and fallen lives. The Christ looks to shine the light of truth and wholeness and healing into those broken places of our lives. When we know where and what those places are; God can begin to reconcile them and us back into spiritual health and wholeness that we seek.

We recognize today the cathartic effect of acknowledging and admitting the brokenness of our relationship with God and our responsibility to each other and ourselves in confessing our sins and examining our lives in light of those failings. In these next weeks of our Lenten journey we can gain much by spending time in prayer and meditation seeking the reconciliation that God offers, and we so often fail to accept. Confession may be good for the soul – and it is also good for the psyche. May we discover in these next forty days that the weaknesses which are part of our sinful nature can be conquered with the help of God and that the disciplines which we take on to offset those weaknesses can blossom into the fullness of new life in Christ.

(SUNG) YOU SHALL SLEEP SECURE WITH PEACE; FAITHFULNESS WILL BE YOUR JOY. LONG HAVE I WAITED FOR YOUR COMING HOME TO ME
AND LIVING DEEPLY OUR NEW LIFE.

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany - Year C 2010

2010-03-10T20:33:00.000-08:00

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany – Year C (RCL) 2010
Jeremiah 1: 4 – 10; Psalm 71: 1 – 6; 1 Corinthians 13: 1 – 13; Luke 4: 21 – 30
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, January 31, 2010

PROPHETS AND PREACHERS

Let us Pray: Holy God you speak to us, your people, in many and varied ways. We hear your voice in scripture and song – in still and quiet contemplation and in the thunderous majesty of your work in nature. Often we wish to hear only the comfort and peace your message brings, while ignoring the warnings and judgments of the consequences of our sinful actions. Help us to remember that you came among us as the prince of peace proclaiming forgiveness and as the prophet of fire proclaiming repentance. Help us to live in your Grace and in your prophetic warnings learning to balance between the two, so that we might more fully comprehend your Word in our world. Amen.

(SUNG) SPEAK LORD I’M LISTENING
PLANT YOUR WORD DOWN DEEP IN ME.
SPEAK LORD I’M LISTENING,
PLEASE SHOW ME THE WAY.

I can see my homiletics professor uneasily squirming in the chair at the back of the classroom and furiously scribbling away on the notepad and “Student Preacher Evaluation Form” on the desk in front of him. Comments and feedback were always to be given in a positive and supportive format – yet he was not likely to mince words when it came to shaping the style of budding seminarians who were soon to be set loose into the pulpits of America and beyond. We were encouraged to cultivate our own gifts and talents and bring them with us into our preaching – and we were also challenged when doing so to make sure that we understood the most effective way of communicating the message to the widest possible number of listeners. The primary mistake made by most new preachers – according to Dr. Webb – was to underestimate the audience either by preaching well above their heads or well beneath their capacity to incorporate new ways of visioning familiar stories and helping to shape a response to the challenge of the Gospel message. “Mr. Parker, where’s the good news?” This phrase continues to challenge and stretch me each week as I prepare through prayer and reading – through meditation and musing to explore what God might be saying to us as followers of the Christ.

Now I’m not sure who would have ventured to provide a critique of the sermon delivered at the Synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath, which had the appointed reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, the 61st Chapter. Joseph and Mary’s eldest son – who had been away from town and reportedly teaching and preaching throughout Galilee, had returned and all were set to be wowed in this hometown crowd. Opening with a flare for the gifts of understated subtlety – Jeshua bar Joseph – reads the text, rolls back up the scroll of Isaiah, hands it back to the scribe, sits down in the midst of them; waits for all eyes and ears to be focused and attentive – and says “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Muttering in the crowd, “so far so good….this could be interesting….where do you think he’s going with this? Then every homiletic teacher’s nightmare erupts. The preacher overreaches the boundaries of good rhetorical style and proceeds to make assumptions on behalf of the audience – assumptions that may or may not be true and – the crowd starts to grumble and grow restless, irritable and discontent. The preacher then starts to get defensive, “I know what your thinking…Doctor heal yourself…”, and “why don’t you do for us the fantastic things we’ve been hearing about your doing for everybody else in the area”. The whole situation starts to spiral out of control – the preacher grumbles; “nobody ever gets any recognition in their hometown” and starts to quote stories out of their sacred scriptures of how the majesty and grace of God are going to everybody else in the world before they will be given to this ungrateful people. This preacher is not going to earn anything much better than a C- if not an F; and the feedback will address many of the pitfalls of trying to make connection with an audience for which one might have little to no respect – and hoping to change their hearts and minds by telling them that if they don’t shape up the good news is going to somebody else, and they can just suffer the consequences! Not the best way to win friends and influence people.

(SUNG) SPEAK LORD I’M LISTENING
PLANT YOUR WORD DOWN DEEP IN ME.
SPEAK LORD I’M LISTENING,
PLEASE SHOW ME THE WAY.

The reality is that, in fact, Prophets and Messiah’s don’t necessarily need to conform to homiletical conventions and rarely look to address their remarks in ways that might be suggested by the Dale Carnegie method of how best to win friends and influence people. From the reading of the Hebrew Testament assigned today we hear the story of the call of the Prophet Jeremiah. This “call story” follows pretty much the pattern of the other narrative telling of God’s call to the prophetic voices in the history of our relationship with the Divine. God announces intention that this individual will go forth and speak to the people providing challenge and charge – extending judgment and justice, recalling the wayward and welcoming the disenfranchised to participation in the covenantal relationship. The chosen individual voices objection of ignorance or unworthiness. God then assures that words will be given and strength will be provided to those whom God calls. Having struggled protested and sufficiently whined – then having been assured – the individual is symbolically marked as God’s chosen, and goes on to live out their lives as God’s mouthpiece. Is it any wonder that all of these prophetic voices would have preferred a different lot in life? Consider Jeremiah – verses one through three of the first chapter of this book tell us that God extended call to this young man in the thirteenth year of King Josiah’s reign making it the year 627 BCE. This was a momentous and tumultuous time in the history of God’s chosen people in the southern kingdom of Judah. The northern kingdom of Israel had fallen into the hands of conquering nations about a century previously and things were about to go pretty much downhill for the remaining remnant. In Jeremiah’s lifetime (some 60 to 75 years as can best be determined) the Assyrian empire, which had long dominated the known world, was crumbling. The pulse of the Hebrew people was rapid with fear of the change coming and with a perhaps naïve hope of some sort of political alliance which might allow national freedom in the approaching power of Babylon. It would be Jeremiah’s fate to speak to God’s chosen people of the impending destruction from the north while attempting to encourage them toward a return to the Torah principles, which had governed their lives. Some of this rededication to the rule of God by God’s law began to happen under the leadership of King Josiah, and there was a brief period when the Vassal nation was able to break free of the crumbling Assyrian empire and exert its own national identity. This, however, was not long lived, and when Josiah died in 609, the kingdom of Judah continued its decline and eventually fell into the hands of the ascending world power of the Babylon nation. Jeremiah was able to foresee most of these conditions while preaching and prophesying to a people who were not particularly thrilled with his gloom and doom news. Yet this voice of God for the people of God continued to live out the call “to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

The prophet for a new and renewed covenant with God’s people – manifest in the epiphany appearance of that very Godhead dwelling among us – would also have words to speak, messages to preach and prophesies to declare which would fall upon many times indifferent – and probably more times openly hostile ears. The riled and angry crowd in Nazareth might have been the first – and definitely would not be the last, which would look to silence this hometown rabble-rouser with attempts at violently ending a life. Jesus, like the prophets before, knew clearly what a limited time was available to turn the hearts and minds of a rebellious nation back toward righteousness and salvation. Three years of public ministry – teaching and guiding, preparing and cajoling the followers would end in the facing down of another violent crowd who would reject the difficult message and ultimately succeed in the ending of a life. Any wonder why prophets might be reluctant to answer their call? This prophet, however, would be different. The attempt at silencing this prophet by death would fail because this prophet would have power over death itself.

(SUNG) SPEAK LORD I’M LISTENING
PLANT YOUR WORD DOWN DEEP IN ME.
SPEAK LORD I’M LISTENING,
PLEASE SHOW ME THE WAY.

In the midst of these two difficult stories about the words and work of prophets and preachers the compilers of our lectionary have included the hymn to love written by Paul to the early Christian community at Corinth. I observed many of your faces this morning as you listened to these familiar words, which gloriously tell of the power of Love. It was almost as if the lectionary compilers knew that the words of God to Jeremiah and the Word of God in the author of Luke/Acts account needed to be counterbalanced with the love of God which is evident in all of scripture and often hard to discern in those stories and retellings of the prophets and preachers. That, “Mr. Parker” is the ultimate good news. Love conquers everything, love triumphs even over death and destruction. Much might be asked and expected of us as Children of God and heirs of God’s Kindom – and that is because much is given in Love. And Love never ends.

Amen.

Second Sunday After Epiphany - Year C 2010

2010-03-10T20:29:00.000-08:00

Second Sunday after the Epiphany – Year C (RCL) 2010
Isaiah 62: 1 – 5; Psalm 36: 5 – 10; 1 Corinthians 12: 1 – 11; John 2: 1 – 11
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, January 17, 2010

OF WINE AND WITNESS

Let us pray: God of abundant grace we are overwhelmed by the excess of your generosity and blessing. As you demonstrated at the wedding feast in Cana, your heart knows no boundary in displaying your care and concern for your children. Like empty stone jars, you have filled us with your goodness and grace. Now pour us out into a world that sorely needs your love and presence. Let your love flow to those who thirst for acceptance and new beginnings. As we remember this day the ministry of all those who follow in your name – we are especially grateful for the witness of your servant Martin. May our hearts and lives be enlightened by the memories of those saints who have come before us, and challenged by the call of the prophetic voices for peace in our midst. May we utilize the gifts of the Spirit to further the work of your kindom among us. Amen.

(SUNG) TASTE AND SEE, TASTE AND SEE
THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD.
OH, TASTE AND SEE – TASTE AND SEE
THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD. OF THE LORD.

I am struck by the imagery and description of interactions with Jesus, the disciples and crowds whenever we find the Gospel narratives turn toward stories of food and table fellowship. This morning’s depiction in the Gospel account by the author of John’s Gospel is no less telling in terms of this fellowship and Jesus’ response. This story appears only in the author of John’s telling of the good news. It seems an odd and perhaps trivial way for Jesus to begin public ministry – yet on closer exploration it speaks of God’s generosity and abundance poured out for us so that we might pour ourselves out for others in God’s name. It is perhaps helpful to look at this story narrative in light of its placement within the structure of this author’s text. This is the first of seven “signs” to which the author points as demonstrations of the power of this Emanuel, this “God with us” to move people from doubt to belief. “Signs” as this author describes them, are perhaps different from what we might think of as “miracles”. I often think of a “miracle” as some act or intervention into the natural physical laws of our world – which temporarily “suspends” those laws in order for the miraculous event to occur. A “sign” rather is an indicator of something toward which it points. For example, if you are driving down a roadway and suddenly see a blue light flashing in your rear view mirror, you might think “that is a police car coming up behind me.” Well, in actuality the blue light is not a policeman – rather it is a “sign” which points toward the police vehicle and the officer inside of it rushing closer toward your vehicle. In the same way, the author of this Gospel sees seven “signs” of Jesus’ ministry as pointing toward the greater glory represented in them. Signs, however unlike miracles done in the open – are hidden from some. Not everyone understands their significance – and often many miss the subtleties of their pointing. The narrator tells us, “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciple believed in him.”
Cana, as well as this story of Jesus’ attendance at the wedding feast there – are unique to the Gospel according to John. Scholars are puzzled as to where the exact location of “Cana” would be; it is mentioned in no other texts of the time. Suggestions are that is might be the community presently located at Kefr Kenna, which is about 4 and a half miles northeast of Nazareth. This author mentions the community other times, mentioning that Jesus is visiting there when asked to heal the son of the Roman official at Capernaum and identifying it as the disciple Bartholomew’s home town. The significance then of Cana, is its insignificance. Just another example that this author uses to point out that God, in Christ takes the ordinariness of our life sanctifies it and by so doing makes it holy and sacred.

(SUNG) TASTE AND SEE, TASTE AND SEE
THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD.
OH, TASTE AND SEE – TASTE AND SEE
THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD. OF THE LORD.

Let’s return to the idea of Jesus’ interaction with the disciples and the crowds at times of food sharing or table fellowship. Vision if you will the abundance when Jesus surrounds himself at events of feasting and nourishment for the body – they also frequently become opportunities for nourishment of the spirit. In Jewish tradition, we should note images of banquet were associated with the messianic age. The author of John’s Gospel is well aware of this and uses the “first” of the signs which point toward Jesus as something more than meets the eye to highlight the messianic fulfillment in the “Word made flesh” who will perform other signs in the time of first century Palestine which will speak some two thousand years later with much the same power and intention. Six stone water jars filled to capacity become wine of our rarest vintage (Chateau Mouton Rothschild). Five barley loaves and two fish feed 5000 – bread and wine offered at the Passover feast become food for that generation and for this as the very sustenance of body and spirit. All of this speaks of the abundance and extravagant generosity of God, made manifest in the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. We should note that weddings in the time of Jesus were more than the merely private family affairs of our time. Weddings often lasted for seven full days and the entire community would be gathered for vast amounts of food and wine. The regular and meager diet of the peasant classes of that time would have consisted mostly of grain, vegetables, fruit, olives and occasionally fish. Meat and poultry were rarely eaten since people were reluctant to eat the few animals they had. Hence, the wedding banquet took on a special and spectacular place in the lives of the people of Jesus’ time and station. There is a reason that heaven is depicted in the lives and literature of these people as a great banquet at which no one goes hungry and room is made at the table for all. This is the scene that the author of John’s Gospel wishes to describe and implant in the hearts and minds of the audience as the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. The “six stone jars” which Jesus asks to be filled with water would have been present for the ritual purification of the guests at this banquet. Each of these jars would have held twenty to thirty gallons of liquid. Ritual tradition would have required approximately 1 cup of water for each persons purification ritual; it is possible that 120 to 180 gallons would have been enough for purification of the whole known world – and now the guests at this wedding banquet into the third day of the celebration have enough wine to satisfy the needs of all of Israel twice or three time over. Such is the abundant grace and blessing of the Messiah. As we begin to examine the life and ministry of the Word made flesh, John’s author seems to be saying that what this Jesus is about – what this gospel or “good news” of Jesus is about is a wedding banquet at which the wine never runs out and the best is saved for last.

(SUNG) LET US TURN OUR THOUGHTS TODAY
TO MARTIN LUTHER KING – AND RECOGNIZE THAT THEIR
ARE TIES BETWEEN US, ALL MEN AND WOMEN. TIES OF
HOPE AND LOVE, SISTER AND BROTHERHOOD. THAT WE ARE
BOUND TOGETHER, IN OUR DESIRE TO SEE THE WORLD
BECOME A PLACE IN WHICH OUR CHILDREN CAN GROW FREE
AND STRONG. WE ARE BOUND TOGETHER BY THE TASK THAT
STANDS BEFORE US AND THE ROAD THAT LIES AHEAD.
WE ARE BOUND, AND WE ARE BOUND.

Some of you may recognize that ballad which first appeared on a James Taylor Album in 1995 and provides the perfect “segue” to move from the preaching of a sermon on the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth to the living of a sermon on the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth that was embodied in the ministry of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This spiritual and civil rights leader is remembered for the incredible gift that he was to our generation and countless generations to come by the setting aside of a special holiday in memoriam. I think that we as Christian community do a grave disservice to Dr. King’s memory and to the Gospel message if we allow this day to pass without some recognition I am grateful to our Director of Music Ministry for choosing hymns for this Sunday which reflect the gifts of African American composers in our traditions of sacred music and hymnody. Dr. King and the message, which he tirelessly preached, must serve to continue to stir the hearts and minds of this nation and this Church that still suffers from the sin of Racism. Many among us have living memory of the work, which Dr. King led in the heart of the American south during that turbulent period of the early 1960’s; while others were not even born until well after his tragic death by assassination in 1968. History leaves us a large collection of letters, writings and sermons from the hand of this charismatic and gifted leader of the Church. I would like to share with you just a few of the quotes that continue to stir my heart and soul with the power of his prophetic ministry:

“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word”. “Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'“Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”

“Any religion which professes to be concerned with the souls of men and is not concerned with the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them, is a dry-as-dust religion.”

I would challenge each of us to take the time this week to read to re-read “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. It is easily accessible in many formats and speaks to the Church and to the world with dignity and passion about the work, which God called Dr. King to live out, and subsequently calls each of us to live out in our own ways. Grace and abundant blessing is still spoken to us in our own day and time, by voices like those of Martin Luther King, Jr. and by voices like yours. This is the way that the message of Good News or Gospel continues to live in “the word made flesh” who continues to dwell among us.

2010-03-10T20:22:00.000-08:00

The Eve of Christmas – Year C (RCL) 2009
Isaiah 9: 2 – 7; Psalm 96; Titus 2: 11 – 14; Luke 2: 1 – 14
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Thursday, December 24, 2009

BORN AMONG US – BORN WITHIN US

Let us pray: Silently and softly you are birthed among us on this most holy night. Emperors and Kings have ruled and died and yet your reign goes on toward eternity. Born to us this night as our savior and messiah, we are filled with the hope and promise of life renewed and peace proclaimed. In this ancient story we regain a sense of your miracle incarnate in the Holy One of Israel, the illegitimate son of a Jewish peasant girl; the anointed one of David’s line by way of a simple carpenter from Nazareth; Jesus our Christ. Fill us this night with the means of grace and the hope of Glory heralded by Angels and witnessed by peasants so long ago and only yesterday. Amen.

(SUNG) TREE CHRISTMAS O – TREE CHRISTMAS O
BRANCHES THY ARE LOVELY HOW
HERE SUMMER’S THE WHEN ONLY NOT
YEAR OF TIME COLDEST THE IN BUT
TREE CHRISTMAS O – TREE CHRISTMAS O
BRANCHES THY ARE LOVELY HOW

One of the most enduring signs of our connection to the festival we celebrate this night is the borrowed Germanic pagan tradition of bringing the evergreen tree into our homes, businesses and churches and decorating them with light and ornamentation. Some of us will scurry home tonight and prop up that tree in its stand, unravel strands of light with which to adorn its branches then carefully and meticulously place Popsicle stick kindergarten art projects or delicate crystal treasures gingerly dangling from the scented pine of its boughs. Others who might be of a more organized personality type have perhaps performed this ritual weeks ago influenced by the timing of our late November festival of Thanksgiving – but in either case this ritual is an important piece of our “tradition” around the celebration of Christmas. You might be surprised as I was to learn that the latest trend in Christmas tree chic turns the whole concept upside down. Indeed, all the rage among a small but growing number of devotee’s is hanging the Christmas tree upside down, suspended from the ceiling. Peter Applebaum, a freelance writer reported on the growing phenomenon in the November 27th, 2005 edition of the New York Times. In fact, it was the title for that article which stirred my rendition of O Tannenbaum sung in exact reverse order (not an easy feat I assure you). Why, you might ask would someone do such a thing? Aside from just being different for different sake – several advantages are touted for the upside down Christmas tree. First of all, marketer’s point out – it makes room for more and larger presents underneath it for those who are big spenders. If you are an urban dweller living in a small cramped apartment the ceiling mounted tree can take up much less valuable floor space. Then from a more stylistic point of view; you can put your more prized ornaments at eye level where they can be enjoyed and admired by more than toddlers and the household pets whose intention for them might be something other than gazing in admiration! One might be aware of the obvious disadvantages such as where do you put the star, and how on earth do you water a tree which is suspended from the ceiling? Then again, the “traditionalists” might argue, “why would anyone nail a tree to the ceiling, that’s just not Christmas”!

People simply do not like to have their sacred traditions tampered with. If we have ALWAYS sung silent night with candles lit just after communion then that is the way that we will ALWAYS do it. Family traditions especially around this time of year are sacrosanct and the wise new Pastor will be sure to learn what HAS to show up in every Christmas Eve liturgy. Part of the danger; however, of clinging to our traditions as if they were sacred is that we begin to blur the lines between the traditions of the season and the reason for the season. The birth of the King of the World in an animal shed was about turning the world upside down. Angels descend to earth and proclaim tidings of great joy not to Emperor’s and popes; but rather to sheepherders and innkeepers too wrapped up in the busyness of the season to prepare room for the newly arrived messiah. God could have chosen to enter our world in the majesty of the Great Temple at Jerusalem, but chose a birth at Bethlehem a small town about 6 miles south of the big city. The message, which this God incarnate born this night brings, would also be about turning the world upside down. The poor and marginalized would become the disciples and ministers; tax collectors and Samaritan women would be filled with God’s Spirit and hope in the messages of this radical rabbi; this son of an unwed teenager and a carpenter of King David’s line. God would carry out the plan of salvation beginning by taking on our life in the feeding trough and ending it on the wood of the tree; hardly what was expected by the prophets foretelling.

So into the middle of your Christmas Eve liturgy and traditions comes the moment of placing the Christ Child figure into the Crèche (invite someone in the community to do this now) This night as we welcome the newborn Christ child into our hearts by the symbol of our welcome of guests into the midst of our community. When we offer the Peace of God found in this birth that proclaimed Peace on Earth; we continue to live out the Christmas story anew – two thousand and nine years after it occurred in Bethlehem of Judea – and we weep for the walls that separate Palestinian from Jew in that ancient cradle of Christianity. At our Christmas liturgy we light the center candle of white, which symbolizes the “Light of Christ” in which we rejoiced at our Easter Vigil – think of it as the culmination of our Advent Wreath that also helps us to focus our minds and hearts on the return of the light to brighten the darkness of our world with the hope and promise of new birth.

(SUNG) FOR CHRIST IS BORN OF MARY AND GATHERED ALL ABOVE,
WHILE MORTALS SLEEP THE ANGELS KEEP THEIR WATCH OF
WONDERING LOVE. O MORNING STARS TOGETHER PROCLAIM
THE HOLY BIRTH, AND PRAISES SING TO GOD OUR KING AND
PEACE TO ALL ON EARTH.

Hear a story. Preparations were complete and the eve had arrived for the retelling of the Greatest Story Ever Told in Pageant by all of the members of St. Swithen’s by the Sea. The costumes of shepherds and angels were stitched by loving hands and the smallest of the Sunday school members were replete with tinsel covered halos placed above their adorable blonde heads. Everything was in perfect order and ready for the big service. The only questionable moment might come from Barry. Barry was the one who usually managed to botch things up and it had been decided to let him play the Innkeeper. All he would have to do is say two words, “no room”. Even Barry could do that. The time for the Pageant arrived – all of the children gathered at the front doors of the church. Joseph stepped forward and said, “My wife is pregnant, do you have a place where we could stay”? Barry said, “no room”. Joseph persisted, “but we have no place to go. My wife is about to have a baby.” Barry looked at Mary. His chin began to quiver. How could he turn them away? But his line was, “no room”, so he said it one more time – “no room”. With that, Joseph and Mary turned and started to walk away. Barry stood it as long as he could. Then he called after them, “Wait! Don’t Go! You can have my room”. With that I think the most powerful lesson of Christmas was given.

(SUNG) O HOLY CHILD OF BETHLEHEM, DESCEND TO US WE PRAY;
CAST OUT OUR SIN AND ENTER IN, BE BORN IN US TODAY.
WE HEAR THE CHRISTMAS ANGELS THE GREAT GLAD TIDINGS
TELL. O COME TO US ABIDE WITH US GREAT GOD EMANUEL!

Episcopal Priest and powerful preacher Barbara Brown Taylor in her book, Mixed Blessings imagines God addressing humanity with this impassioned plea:

“I am so crazy in love with you that I will come all the way to where you are to be flesh of your flesh; bone of your bone. I love you enough to become Word made flesh and will dwell among you. I will do it all, and all you have to do is believe me – that I love you the way you are; love you enough to become one of you, and I love you to death.”

Third Sunday in Advent - Year C 2009

2010-03-10T20:19:00.000-08:00

Third Sunday in Advent – Year C (RCL) 2009
Zephaniah 3: 14 – 20; Isaiah 12: 2 – 6; Philippians 4: 4 – 7; Luke 3: 7 – 18
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, December 13, 2009

THAT MOST UNCOMFORTABLE OF IN-BETWEEN TIMES

Let us pray: Holy and long awaited One – the advent of your presence among us passes all too quickly in our expectation of your birth and the re-telling of your nativity. Help us to remain in that “time between” when we can truly prepare for all that your coming among us means. As we speed more and more surely toward the dying of the light – may your advent help us to reflect upon our brokenness and remind us of your promises made new each dawn. Fill us with the joy of your saving grace on this day of rejoicing at the hope of your coming among us. Amen.

(SUNG) COME THOU LONG EXPECTED JESUS, BORN TO SET THY
PEOPLE FREE – FROM OUR FEARS AND SINS RELEASE US
LET US FIND OUR STRENGTH IN THEE.

Here it is already the Third Sunday in Advent – we will light (have lit) the pink candle in the midst of our Advent wreath. In the tradition of the Church pink (or rose) is the liturgical color designated for Gaudate Sunday. This tradition comes from the first line of the Introit or opening prayer of the Latin church in the West; “Gaudete in Domine Semper,” which is translated “rejoice in the Lord always” and taken from the letter to the Philippians in the text read earlier. In the long penitential season of Advent (which at its beginning in the 4th Century started on November 12th – this mid-season prayer placed some joy back into the calendar and allowed for the use of Alleluia’s and hymns of joy and the rose color replaced the more somber purple of the remainder of the Advent season. Probably more than you wanted to know, but then again better than leading off with the fact that there are only 12 more shopping days left till Christmas.

We hear first this morning from the Hebrew prophet Zephaniah. This is not a Hebrew text that we read from very often in our Sunday lectionary. On this Sunday, however, this rejoicing Sunday, this prophet of old offers an incredible and beautiful glimpse of real, biblical style God given joy. Zephaniah speaks of a day when God no longer has to deal harshly with the faithful; he speaks of a day when the judgment for pursuing false joys is no longer held against those who have been made right with God through the grace of God. There will be a day, there will be a time, Zephaniah says, when women and men will ‘sing aloud’ and ‘shout,’ where they will ‘be glad and rejoice with all their hearts’. This true, authentic joy will well up not as a result of piling up enough money, or achieving certain levels of success. Rather, this lasting joy will flow from the fact that God has found God’s joy in you! That’s correct in little old, sinful imperfect you and me.

We are in that most uncomfortable of “in-between” times. That time of almost…but not yet; of expectation not completion. We have yet to reach the major tones of Christmas carols; we are still in the minor keys of advent hymns. Into the midst of this Advent season comes our encounter this morning with the wilderness prophet, the Son of Zechariah – John of baptizing fame. We are told in the narrative from the author of Luke/Acts that the crowds were thronging out to the wilderness to hear the fiery preacher that referred to them as a brood of vipers. Can you just imagine your surprise if I rose this morning, reeking of days and nights spent in the wild, clothed in animal skins and shouted out that you all were a bunch of snakes and warned you that the ax is lying at the foot of your tree and if it does not bear good fruit it will be chopped down and thrown into the fire? I’m not thinking I’d be offered the position of Rector in this fine and upstanding Episcopal Church in the Downtown Park blocks. Yet, in the passion of this wild man who speaks of the coming wrath of God, is also the promise of the One who is to deliver Israel from her bondage and the Messiah anticipated since the time of the great prophets of old. Those who have come out into the wilderness to hear the message of repentance and rebuke; listen with the ears of those hungry to hear the Good News or Gospel of Joy that we proclaim on this Gaudate Sunday.

(SUNG) ISRAEL’S STRENGTH AND CONSOLATION, HOPE OF ALL THE
EARTH THOU ART; DEAR DESIRE OF EVERY NATION, JOY OF
EVERY LONGING HEART.

It is helpful, I think, to put Zechariah’s son into the context of his time and age. John the baptizer was a sharp thorn in the side of the ruling classes of 1st Century Palestine. This wild man was speaking truth to power – and that is always a very dangerous thing to do. Power doesn’t often like to hear the truth; persons in positions of power generally surround themselves with voices that will assure them of the rightness of their policies and flatter them with encouraging words and pleasant platitudes. This was definitely not the style of the wilderness prophet whose sermon we hear this morning. Stirred by John’s visions of the coming wrath of God; those who sought his baptism and looked to follow his message of repentance ask specific questions of how they ought to repent in order to avoid the coming judgment. “What then should we do”? Now I’m quite sure that no one has ever asked me point blank what they should do in response to one of my sermons. The author of Luke/Acts tells us that the worst of the society asked in what ways they might repent – the baptizer tells them; who ever has two coats must share with anyone who has none”. I looked in my coat closet this morning before leaving the house and it would appear that I have a lot of coats that I need to share. Even the tax collectors we are told came to be baptized by John and they asked “what should we do”. The preacher tells them to exact from the people no more than is prescribed them to collect. That profession was infamous in its greediness and despised in that society for their often brutal tactics to collect what was owed to the Roman Government and then whatever they could gain for themselves. Are we hearing a theme here? Is the writer trying to point out; in a subtle way that what is being demanded of the Jewish Nation by its Roman occupiers is subject to the same fate as the chaff that will burn with unquenchable fire?

(SUNG) BORN THY PEOPLE TO DELIVER, BORN A CHILD AND YET
A KING; BORN TO REIGN IN US FOREVER, NOW THY GRACIOUS
KINDOM BRING.

Here is part of the reality of the Word made flesh – God incarnate – come to dwell among human beings is a God that comes into a world of political power and influence and that world does not give up its gained power easily. What would this Messiah, this hope of the nations do for an oppressed Nation that looked to regain its position and influence? Would the Messiah who would reclaim the throne of his ancestor David – who would in fact come of the same blood line as that greatest of Israel’s Kings – stand in opposition to the dominating and hated power of Rome? The baptizer seems to believe that will be one of his successor’s roles. It is this Messiah that John speaks of when he says “his winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Scripture scholars have long translated Israel as the wheat and her captors as the chaff. It would appear that Zechariah’s son is setting the stage for a Messiah who will fulfill the vision of a political hero that will deliver God’s chosen from the yoke of her oppression.

What transpires, we with the gift of hindsight are aware; is a very different Messiah, than the one that Israel had long expected. The Carpenter’s son, Jeshua of Nazareth; cousin of the wilderness prophet will fulfill the role of Messiah in a very different way….but that story will come later; much later in our re-telling of the salvation story. For today, this rejoicing Gaudate Sunday – the messenger gathers the faithful in the wilderness of Judea and the Word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. In a literal translation from the Greek “the word of God” (whom the writer of another version of the Good News identifies as God by writing …”and the word was God”…) happened to John. The word of God – the long-awaited, eagerly-listened-for word of God happened to John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. That very word, became flesh and in the divinity of the Christ delivered the world into the hands of God’s salvation; now if that is not a reason to rejoice in the Lord always…then I don’t what is.

(SUNG) BY THINE OWN ETERNAL SPIRIT RULE IN ALL OUR HEARTS
ALONE; BY THINE OWN SUFFICIENT MERIT RAISE US TO THY
GLORIOUS THRONE.

Finally in this third chapter of the author of Luke/Acts account we are told: “So with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.” This fire and brimstone preacher continues his exhortations and by so doing delivers the Gospel to the faithful of his generation. Our reading this morning ends at verse 18 – the completion of that train of thought about John’s wilderness sermon actually extends two more verses in this Chapter. Before we move to the events of Jesus’ baptism and the start of his public ministry – which we will pick up after we revisit the Birth narrative in our season of Christmastide – the author of Luke/Acts ends his talk of John’s wilderness sermon with a brief reference to Herod Antipas who finally imprisoned and cut off the head of John, son of Zechariah. Allow me to share those two verses with you: “But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, added to them all but shutting up John in prison.” But we ought to pity poor King Herod. He’s not as important or as powerful as he thinks. Herod can’t shut John up. The word of God has come to John in the wilderness. A wild conflagration has flared up out in the wilderness, among the marginalized and the lowly, a fire that shall eventually sweep toward Jerusalem and consume the whole world. The word has happened to John – the word has happened to us; rejoice in the word always, again I say Gaudate!

Last Sunday After Pentecost - Year B 2009

2010-03-10T20:10:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday afer Pentecost (Christ the King) – Year B (RCL)
Daniel 7: 9 – 10, 13 – 14; Psalm 93; Revelation 1: 4b – 8; John 18: 33 – 37
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, November 22, 2009

ALL THE KING’S HORSES, AND ALL THE KING’S MEN (PEOPLE)

Let us pray: All powerful and mighty God we strive to know you in our own human and secular visions. Throughout our history we have ascribed to you the images and metaphors of our own times and ages. Yet you remain timeless and ageless. You reign in our hearts and in our heads as the source of all our being and the servant of all our needs. In these conflicting images of your presence, teach us to grasp you and not to mold you according to our feeble attempts. Keep us ever mindful of your many and varied names and images which we have given you – and mostly those which you have given us, our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer – our Father, Son and Holy Spirit - our newborn infant in a feeding troth and our ruler on the throne of eternity. Amen.
(SUNG) ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS’ NAME! LET ANGEL’S PROSTRATE FALL; BRING FORTH THE ROYAL DIADEM AND CROWN HIM LORD OF ALL! BRING FORTH THE ROYAL DIADEM, AND CROWN HIM LORD OF ALL.

I’m sure that it comes as a surprise to none of you that I find male dominated imagery and language as it references God and God’s presence among us as difficult, to say the least. Part of the reason for this is that imagery and language so powerfully shape our perceptions and realities that I would like those who are growing in faith and knowledge of the love of God to be able to broaden their concepts and images of who and what God can be for them in their lives. Jesus was, I think, aware of this when in the narrative of the synoptic Gospels we hear quoted “How I have longed to gather you as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.” The truth of the nature of the Divine is that God is neither male nor female. We who have written and preached about this God since the beginning of our relationship have tended to skew our imagery and language toward the masculine depictions with which we are all familiar. God as Father, and God as King are not easily transposed in our culture to God as Mother and God as Queen. Part of my attempt to address this cultural bias is to be as intentional as I can be to remove any reference to God in gender specific terms and consequently to drop all pronoun references and only use terms which are gender neutral. That can work to some extent; yet still we reach days in the church or liturgical year which have historically been referenced to various aspects of our human understanding of the nature of God. Today is one such day – today is the last Sunday of Pentecost and therefore the feast of Christ the King.

The imagery and metaphors around that imagery in our scripture references this morning also point toward this recognition of God as the ruler (or King) of the universe and Jesus as having come to bring a fulfillment of God’s reign (or Kingdom) among us through the incarnation of God made human in Jesus and living and dying as one of us; yet fulfilling God’s purpose for us by rising from the dead and destroying death forever. In the apocryphal vision of the Hebrew prophet Daniel – we Christians see “the one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven”, as the second coming of our Christ whose “dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away.” Our second reading, from the Christian apocryphal literature of the Revelation of John points toward Jesus as the firstborn of the dead, and ruler of the kings of the earth…whom we see coming with the clouds…the alpha and the omega…who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

(SUNG) YE HEIRS OF ISRAEL’S CHOSEN REACE, YE RANSOMED OF THE FALL, HAIL HIM WHO SAVES YOU BY HIS GRACE, AND CROWN HIM LORD OF ALL! HAIL HIM WHO SAVES YOU BY HIS GRACE, AND CROWN HIM LORD OF ALL!

It is, however, in the Evangelist’s telling from the author of John’s Gospel which we heard this morning wherein Jesus tells the Roman Governor and ruler of the Judean territory what is really true about his nature and about his Kingdom. Pilate concerned mostly, if not entirely for the political ramifications of Jesus’ claim to power; asks, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus, as is typical for those of us familiar with his rhetorical style answers the question with a question. “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Here Jesus is using this rhetorical style for clarification rather than as an opportunity for further education; that is Jesus wants to know, where did you get this title for me? The author of this Gospel narrative has already explained in great detail in previous Chapters that Jesus has been avoiding the status of kingship. For example after the feeding of the five thousand Jesus withdraws from the crowds because they were “about to come and take him by force to make him king.” Jesus will continue to push back from the title of King in this exchange with Pilate. “You say that I am a King.” Also we will gain some insight into the nature of Jesus’ “kingdom” in this exchange. “My kingdom is not from this world.” Jesus does not draw the power of the Kindom of God from any earthly source; and therefore can indeed claim that God’s Kindom is come in his person – and ask that the Kindom come, and God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus’ confrontation with the political power of his day is then, not about power; but rather about truth. Pilate, being a shrewd and savvy member of the power structure of Rome knows only how to view Kings and subjects in as much as they will present a threat to the empire and his own political power. Jesus – who speaks and lives from the position of truth – knows that power and position are fleeting concepts, which provide no interest in the reign of God. Jesus claims the power of God’s dominion; God’s reign and that power is based in truth. “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

(SUNG) LET EVERY KINDRED, EVERY TRIBE, ON THIS TERRESTIAL BALL, TO HIM ALL MAJESTY ASCRIBE, AND CROWN HIM LORD OF ALL! TO HIM ALL MAJESTY ASCRIBE, AND CROWN HIM LORD OF ALL!

So, here I find myself preaching on the feast of Christ the King and wondering how do we begin to understand what our language and imagery around God can do to shape the vision of the next generation of Christians? If we are conscious of describing God’s reign as radically inclusive and open to all of God’s children; then how can we open up those images of God and Christ to our children and our children’s children so that they might be able to carry the message of hope and promise to a world which desperately needs them. This is a world which is locked in the grip of fear. Fear of the “other”, fear of the “different” whether that difference is skin color or “orthodox belief”. One way, I think, is to be brave enough as our Presiding Bishop was brave enough in her first remarks after election to push the borders of our comfortable constructs of God and God’s nature. Allow me, once again to quote from a sermon that Bishop Katharine preached to the General Convention:

“When Jesus says that his kingdom is not of this world, he is saying that his rule is not based on the ability to generate fear in his subjects. A willingness to go to the cross implies vulnerability so radical, so fundamental, that fear has no impact or import. The love he invites us to imitate removes any possibility of reactive or violent response. King Jesus’ followers don’t fight back when the world threatens. Jesus calls us friends, not agents of fear…Our mother Jesus gives birth to a new creation – and you and I are his children. If we’re going to keep on growing into Christ-images for the world around us, we’re going to have to give up fear.

That was risky, in those first remarks which were to be carried to the world to refer to “our mother Jesus”. I think the choice was intentional and powerful and I think it served to open the hearts of those who might otherwise be deaf to the hope of the Gospel message. If we are to live in a Twenty First century understanding of God than that God needs to speak to a Twenty First century Church which is able to incorporate all sorts of images and languages to open the heart of that God for those who seek as well as for those who have already found. In my own way, I use the language of the Kindom of God as my attempt to open others ears and hearts to the good news of God in Christ. I borrowed this image from a mentor in my spiritual development, Deacon Marla McGarry Lawrence at St. Michael and All Angels in Portland. She opened for me a new way to vision the old language, which had carried so much baggage. This was also the case for someone in my former parish community who picked up on that image. I share with you a short poem which Mark Phinny sent to me one day that assured me of God’s on-going influence in my life and ministry: I offer it, not because it speaks of me or my ministry – but rather because it speaks of how our subtle uses of images and language about God can influence those with whom we come in contact, in other words those with whom we minister:

PS – a short poem
Most people know Dennis for his small ‘j’, somebody in the screen actors guild took the big ‘J’ but Dennis took that small ‘j’ and made it his. It gives a unique twist, makes people smile when they say it. I know Dennis for his missing ‘g’. I don’t know if anybody else knows about it, even him, but he taught me about the Christ with that missing ‘g’. It happened one day when he was talking about the kin – dom of God. All the crowns and thrones and carpets and scepters disappeared with that one word. The separation and fear and judgment all disappeared too. They left behind the feeling of family – the warmth and comfort of kin. Kin is like comfortable family; don’t sweat the small stuff kind of love. Run around in your stocking feet and laugh out loud! That missing ‘g’ just opens up the Word, makes it clear that it is for everybody. Kin – dom means come on in, the foods a-cooking and the family is here. I always thought that it must be kinda lonely being king, but being kin – count me in!

Opening up the language and metaphor’s that we use to refer to the Divine helps to bring the message of God to those who have found the message to be dominating and opressive and tell them that God can be a brooding hen who watches over her children; or our Mother Jesus who gives birth to a new creation. It means that we can celebrate the feast of Christ the King with the good news of the Kindom of God come among us. I pray as we end this liturgical year – that we might greet the New Year with all of the possiblities that lie before us to spread the Gospel that all might hear it with new ears and spread it with a new voice and God’s reign may come anew!

Amen

Twenty Fourth Sunday After Pentecost - Year B

2010-03-10T20:08:00.000-08:00

Twenty Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – Year B (Proper 28) 2009
Daniel 12: 1 – 3; Psalm 16; Hebrews 10: 11 – 14, 19 – 25; Mark 13: 1 – 8
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, November 15, 2009

OF GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS – OF BEGININGS AND ENDS

Let us pray: Savior Jesus, you came to us as “good news”; as the answer to our questions, the light in our darkness, the hope in our despair. In you, we experience the near and loving presence of God, embracing us. Reaching out to us. In this life, O God we have bad things happen to us. We discover that we are not as secure, not as safe from tragedy as we think. Bad news breaks in upon us and we feel engulfed, threatened by sadness and difficulty. Holy One again and again you come and turn our bad news to good news, you come and work with us, stand beside us, embrace us. Even in the difficulty especially there you are with us. You are not only our friend, our teacher and our guide; but also our savior. Save us from the things that threaten us. Save us from our despair. Bearer of our hope; savior of our world – our best good news hear us when we pray. Amen.

(SUNG) DEEP WITHIN I WILL PLANT MY LAW; NOT ON STONE
BUT IN THEIR HEARTS. FOLLOW ME, I WILL TAKE YOU BACK
YOU WILL BE MY OWN AND I WILL BE YOUR GOD.

We are all pretty familiar with the Good News/Bad News setup in our society. I’ve got some good news for you, and some bad news the setup goes. So here’s the bad news; I was in bed the later part of this week feeling like I’d been run over by a Mack truck. I didn’t run a fever so I’m guessing it wasn’t the H1N1 virus leading to swine flu. Here’s the good news my sermon this morning is going to be shorter than usual since I didn’t have the preparation time (10:00 AM and I’m not going to make you listen to the sermon in Portuguese that Marcos delivered at the Misa em Portuguese celebrated as the vigil last evening). I do, however, have a good news/bad news story for you. Jim was an incredible baseball fan. In fact Jim was such a fan that he made his wife swear a vow with him. Whoever died first had to swear that they would communicate with the other when they died to find out if there was baseball in heaven. As it happened, Jim’s wife died after a long and wonderful life. A few days after the funeral, Jim was getting ready for bed and he felt his wife’s presence in the room with him. A familiar voice rose up and he heard her say: “Jim I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that there is baseball in heaven. The bad news is your Pitching on Tuesday.

So we will note that we get apocalyptic texts as we reach the end of our liturgical year; we are moving towards the end of that year, the end of the Gospel text attributed to Mark and so Jesus speaks to the disciples about the end of the world. “Apocalyptic” doesn’t mean destruction, ending or strange events. Apocalyptic means “unveiling”, “revealing.” Before Jesus goes into the events that will lead us to the cross, he let his disciples in on the final act, a glimpse of the future. Here toward the end of the church year, the church has an opportunity to reflect upon “the end,” to ask, “Is this the finale, the bad news of cataclysmic destruction?” Or, “Is this really the good news of a birth, a beginning, a cataclysmic creation of something new?” God is a God of creation, but rarely can creation be wrought without some dismantling, destruction, and re-creation. It is that aspect of God’s creative work that is the Good News of our Gospel text this morning.

You don’t hear a text like today’s Gospel often preached in a Church like ours. Mainline Protestantism doesn’t often use literature like the Book of Daniel or Mark 13, “apocalyptic” biblical literature. Those popular “Left Behind” books weren’t written by an Episcopalian. Why? People on top, people in power, people whose children are well fed, well housed, and well futured do not care for apocalyptic literature that speaks of ending and of the destruction of the present order. After all, the present order has been very good to people like us. To hear that God plans to allow the destruction of all our eternal looking achievements is bad news indeed. C.S. Lewis says that most of us Christians are “too easily pleased.” There is this human tendency to imbue human institutions and humanly created situation with divine permanence, as if God created everything that now is. Passages like Mark 13 remind us that God isn’t done with us or our world. When we discover, as we did this week, that our old dusty moon is brimming with life giving water; we can begin to hear the Good News that God is not done with our creation. Sometimes things can’t be made new until the old is destroyed. Sometimes there can’t be birth until there is death. In the falling leaves that are dying and falling to the earth in decay; comes the fecund mulch that will give birth to the bulbs hiding underneath the soil they cover.

(SUNG) DEEP WITHIN I WILL PLANT MY LAW; NOT ON STONE
BUT IN THEIR HEARTS. FOLLOW ME, I WILL TAKE YOU BACK
YOU WILL BE MY OWN AND I WILL BE YOUR GOD.

Have any of you here had to die in order to live? Does someone here know what it is like to have your “temple” destroyed, only to be replaced by something much better? Has your very bad news ever become very good news? In my last parish one of my dearest supporters and friends shared with me, “When my husband died, my life was over, I told God, ‘I’ve got nothing to live for now. My world is destroyed.’ But wonder of wonders, I didn’t die. I went on, not with the same life, but with a new life. I wouldn’t have chosen for my marriage to end, to be alone, yet that was the life I got and I must say, it’s turned out for the best. I have my children and grandchildren and great grandchildren and they bring me great joy and hope. Now that’s someone who knew the move from bad news to good.

It is only human to cling tightly to what we know, what we have. Maybe its divine to give birth, sometimes painful birth, to a future that is new. Perhaps we come to church to learn how to look for God’s hand, even in the news that seems bad, to expect God to work, to continue to create good news – to continue to birth the Gospel. The Good News of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth as told to the community that knew the author of Mark’s text is the Good News that we have been focusing upon this year. It is a Gospel that contains many sad events – the incomprehension and infidelity of the disciples, the growing hostility of the religious and political authorities of that time, and finally the bloody crucifixion of the savior of the world. Yet this Gospel attributed to Mark begins by saying that all of this, including the bad, is “The beginning of the Good News” way back in Chapter 1 at Verse 1. I had always thought that Mark 13, foretelling the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem was bad news, Jesus on a bad day. However, to the person who has been abused, thrown down by this world, the news that this world will be thrown down is good news. For God to say, “This world is not your ultimate home. I am still working, and will work, to make this world, my world in all of its goodness and fullness.” This is good news; this is Gospel “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ the son of God.”

Amen.

Twenty Third Sunday After Pentecost - Year B

2010-03-10T20:04:00.000-08:00

Twenty Third Sunday after Pentecost – Year B, Proper 27 (RCL) 2009
1 Kings 17: 8 – 16; Psalm 146; Hebrews 9: 24 – 28; Mark 12: 38 – 44
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, November 8, 2009

OF WIDOWS AND ORPHANS, OF GOSPEL AND GOOD NEWS

Let us pray: Holy God we are often tempted to use what we offer to you and to others as a way to impress ourselves or our neighbors with the magnanimity of our generosity. You see deep into our hearts and know the true value of our gifts. Help us to avoid the easy answers – to seek the root causes of hunger and poverty as we strive to feed the hungry and uplift the poor among us. Guide our hearts to do justice, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with you – our God. Amen.

(SUNG) GOD SENT ME TO BRING THE GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR
TELL PRISONERS THAT THEY ARE PRISONERS NO MORE
TELL BLIND PEOPLE THAT THEY CAN SEE – AND SET THE
DOWNTRODDEN FREE – AND GO TELL EVERYONE THE NEWS
NEWS THAT THE KINDOM OF GOD HAS COME. GO TELL
EVERYONE THE NEWS THAT GOD’S KINDOM HAS COME.

I have to admit to you that I do not like pennies. I find them to be useless and often leave them in those little penny boxes in front of cash registers at convenience stores and in the coin return drops that are becoming more and more common at super markets. I truly believe that the cost of items should be rounded up to the nearest nickel so that we didn’t have to deal with pennies. I have a large ceramic bowl on my dresser which I fill up with those pennies that do happen to get into my pocket, and then once a year or so give them to a friend who collects them for her two children’s educational fund. She has many people giving her their pennies – so I guess I’m not the only person who would rather not deal with them. Her children are now 13 and 12 and other people’s pennies have contributed approximately three thousand dollars to their educational fund. Not, by any means, the bulk of what is needed to pay for a college education. Rather it might help to defer the cost of textbooks for a few years of that education. The widow in the author of Mark’s Gospel story that we heard this morning is at the end of her resources. She might have been glad to have the pennies of which I am so disdainful. Yet even given the little which she has – she gives all back to God. In the patriarchal society of that time the widow found herself at the very bottom of the socio-economic scale. The widow had no resource on which she could ever hope to improve her station; consequently that was why the religious/spiritual community was called upon to provide some respite for the widows. Here, though, the author begins by having Jesus calling down upon the traditional protector of the widows and warn of their deception. Beware of the scribes Jesus says. The scribes are often paired in the Gospel accounts with the Pharisees and I must admit that when I would hear the Gospel narration I often thought the two to be synonymous. They were not. The scribes were members of an ancient profession, made up of people who could read and write (a rarity in the first century of the Common Era). Scribes originally acted as secretaries of state, but then, when the nation of Israel lost its independence, they turned their attention to matters of the law. In the time of Jesus, the scribes were allies of the Pharisees, who supplemented the ancient written law with their traditions. Beware of the scribes Jesus says, beware of the lawyers. Jesus certainly had a problem with the elite scribes of the time, men who liked to strut around town in long robes, enjoy places of honor at banquets, grab the best seats in the synagogues, and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces. They seem to care little about the truth of God, or the welfare of poorer members of the society, and Jesus condemns them for saying long prayers for the sake of appearance, and devouring “widow’s houses”. What exactly is meant by that last phrase is unclear – though it may be a reference to the practice of a kind of parasitic relationship with the rich widows of Jerusalem, offering guardianship or companionship in exchange for a life of wealth and power. At any rate, Jesus denounces these lawyers for such selfish and self-serving relationships. Jesus is condemning the scribes for turning away from their role as experts in religious law, and putting their energy into acquiring social power and influence.

A modern parable: There once was a man who lived in suburbia America with a great job, three kids, a wonderful wife and an income of $300,000 a year. He had investments in IRAs, CDs and mutual funds. He was considered a good man in his town and in his church. His Rector especially loved him because he gave $10,000 to the building fund and was one of the top tithers in the church. This man is on the vestry, teaches Sunday school (even though he is gone half the year on business) and his wife somehow manages to do special music once a month. There is also a single mother who goes to this same church and lives in the same town. She works nights as a janitor at Wal-Mart for minimum wage just to support her two kids, who are in elementary school. She’s a faithful every Sunday attendee at church and puts a donation in the offering plate every week at considerable personal sacrifice. After paying the bills and buying food there isn’t much to give, but she gives it. It’s not much, but it’s sure more than 10 percent of her paltry income. She is also involved heavily in her community. She participates in every outreach ministry the church has organized. One Sunday morning, the church decides to put up a huge plaque in the lobby to recognize the most generous and faithful givers. The man is number one on the list and the woman’s name appears nowhere.

(SUNG) GOD SENT ME TO BRING THE GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR
TELL PRISONERS THAT THEY ARE PRISONERS NO MORE
TELL BLIND PEOPLE THAT THEY CAN SEE – AND SET THE
DOWNTRODDEN FREE – AND GO TELL EVERYONE THE NEWS
NEWS THAT THE KINDOM OF GOD HAS COME. GO TELL
EVERYONE THE NEWS THAT GOD’S KINDOM HAS COME.

This sermon song is based on the text from the Prophet Isaiah’s 61st Chapter, which was one of the readings chosen by The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori for her service of investiture as the Twenty Sixth Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and the first female primate in the history of the Anglican Communion. I was privileged to have been present at that service in Washington’s National Cathedral in 2006. I have many memories of that glorious chapter in our in our Church’s history. This morning I would like to share just a small piece of the sermon which the Presiding Bishop gave at that service:

“That vision of home-going and homecoming that underlies our deepest spiritual yearning is also the job assignment each one of us gets in Baptism – go home, and while you’re at it, help build a home for everyone else on earth. For none of us can truly find our rest in God until all of our brothers and sisters have also been welcomed home like the prodigal.

There’s a wonderful Hebrew word for that vision and work – shalom. It doesn’t just mean the sort of peace that comes when we’re no longer at war. It’s that rich and multihued vision of a world where no one goes hungry because everyone is invited to a seat at the groaning board, it’s a vision of a world where no one is sick or in prison because all sorts of disease have been healed, it’s a vision of a world where every human being has the capacity to use every good gift that God has given, it is a vision of a world where no one enjoys abundance at the expense of another, it’s a vision of a world where all enjoy Sabbath rest in the conscious presence of God. Shalom means that all human beings live together as siblings, at peace with one another and with God, and in right relationship with all of the rest of creation. It is that vision of the lion lying down with the lamb and the small child playing over the den of the adder, where the specter of death no longer holds sway. It is that vision to which Jesus points when he says, “today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”. To say “shalom” is to know our own place and to invite and affirm the place of all of the rest of creation, once more at home in God.”

I am filled with such hope for the future of our Church, even in its struggles with that woman at the helm of it! I am certain that God’s Holy Spirit will send to us, to be consecrated by Presiding Bishop Katharine the shepherd who will lead us in this diocese in the years ahead so that we might spread the Good News of God’s promised Kindom in this place in the world.

Jesus is close to the end of public ministry when we reach the events which the Gospel narrates this morning – one final chapter of the author of Mark’s account remains for Jesus to leave one last teaching opportunity with the disciples before the events of holy week and death and resurrection will come to fulfillment in God’s Messiah. Jesus highlights for them the example of the widow who generously, graciously and quietly gives all that she has to God – trusting that God will provide all that she needs. I wish I had that kind of faith. With that kind of faith we could truly “Say Yes” to the vision of this place in God’s Kindom where we have chosen to live out our ministries. I wish I had that trust in the shalom of God.

God wants from us nothing less than everything. When we are wise enough to grasp that concept, then God can return to us all that we can ask or desire. It is the letting go, the leap of faith, the willingness to drop all that we have into the hands of our God who needs nothing from us – and offers everything to us if only we will surrender our hearts in service to God and to our neighbor.

(SUNG) AND GO TELL EVERYONE, THE NEWS THAT GOD’S KINDOM
HAS COME!

AMEN

Feast of All Saints - Year B 2009

2010-03-10T20:02:00.001-08:00

Feast of All Saints – Year B (RCL) 2009
Isaiah 25: 6 – 9; Psalm 24; Revelation 21: 1 – 6a; John 11: 32 – 44
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, November 1, 2009

THE ALPHA & THE OMEGA; THE BEGINNING AND THE END

Let us pray: Almighty God, who in your great mercy and creative power raised your crucified Christ from the dead, we give thanks for your continued presence with us in this life, your continued word addressed to us in this world, your determination to be with us, no matter who we are or where we are. Compassionate God of the living and the dead we pray for your continued presence with us in whatever life awaits us after this life. In the hope of a future with you, we live in the present, confident that even as you worked wonders in our beginning, you will continue to work wonders for each of us at our end. Amen.

(SUNG) I SING A SONG OF THE SAINTS OF GOD
PATIENT AND BRAVE AND TRUE
WHO TOILED AND FOUGHT AND LIVED AND DIED
FOR THE GOD THEY LOVED AND KNEW

We’re reaching the end my friends. The end of the Church year is a few short weeks away; the end of the calendar year is only two months away. Our readings from this morning’s scripture are from the end of our canon – the book of Revelation the last book of the bible – the Twenty first chapter is that climatic ending that speaks of the end of time when the new Jerusalem descends to earth and God proclaims God’s word “done”. What was begun at our Easter Vigil with the reading of the opening story of Genesis and the creation of this world – is now being brought to perfection as God descends to dwell forever with God’s people. The Church in her wisdom looks at the end of our season of growth and harvest – the end of our long days of light and the beginning of our longer nights and deepening darkness and turns her thoughts to the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins – the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Today is the day we mark the feast of All Saints. This is one of our “major feasts” in that, even if the 1st of November should fall on a Saturday – the observation of the feast would be moved to the following Sunday – giving it the precedence of observation in our principal day of worship at our gathering to share in the Eucharistic gifts of bread and wine become body and blood to feed us as bread for our journey. We pause to remember those who have gone before us – as we remember our promise to be gathered with them in the new heaven and the new earth that the Revelation of John describes for us.

This Revelation theme of the banishment and defeat of death, combined with the witness of this Sunday’s other lessons – the Prophet Isaiah’s vision of that day when God will swallow up death forever and will make a great feast for all the poor in which all will be glad and rejoice in God’s salvation; and the remarkable story of the raising of Lazarus and Jesus’ command to unbind him and let him go free – all speak to a wonderful opportunity to vision death and dying as an affirmation of God as the One who stands at our end; offering us consolation and life – presence and hope!

We are offered in this vision from the writer of the Revelation of John a voice from the throne of God that proclaims “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end”; God is seen as not only the genesis or creator of all life – but also as the One still standing at the end of all that is. Our promise then is that we as children of God do not face the deterioration and obliteration, the decay and destruction known in the death of things mortal. Rather we at the end experience God – the beginning creating a new heaven and a new earth as the old have passed away. This is the Good News of our God in the resurrected Jesus – the God who has us is not only the giver of life, the creator of life – but also the giver of life eternal; the gatherer of the great cloud of witnesses we call the communion of saints to share in the glory of our God who has conquered death and destroyed it in resurrection and new birth.

(SUNG) THEY LOVED THEIR GOD – SO DEAR, SO DEAR
AND GOD’S LOVE MADE THEM STRONG.
AND THEY FOLLOWED THE RIGHT, FOR JESUS’ SAKE
THE WHOLE OF THEIR GOOD LIVES LONG!

Many of us in our twenty first century understanding of God’ work in our lives and our world have become increasingly skeptical of a Christology that defines God’s purpose in Jesus as an atonement for the sins of humanity. If God, in all of God’s love and passion for the created was willing to become incarnate and live among us – it makes more sense at least to my understanding that the incarnation was God’s reaching out to us in order to be among us and reach out for us so that we might learn how to be “good” as only God is good; and that we might know through the example of the Holy One of God that life as we know it – is not life as God knows it. Our faith, founded in the faith of those who came before us – focuses not on the death of Jesus, not on the crucifixion – but rather on the empty tomb – on the resurrection and ascension to life as God intends for all whom God loves with a never ending love. Like Jesus calling Lazarus from the tomb, God shall call each of us forth into this new life, calling us by name. Our destiny is God’s eternal remembrance of us, each of us, in our death, so that we might live.

This feast day – this day of recollection of “all the saints” is an opportunity to reflect on the great thinkers and leaders of our world and our Church and honor that greatness. It is a day to remember the William Temple’s and the Mother Theresa’s of our Church; it is a day to remember the Mahatma Gandhi’s and the Lech Wallesa’s of our world – those who worked tirelessly for the betterment of their societies and their Churches. It is also a day to remember the silent saints whose lives lived out in simplicity and sincerity led to deaths that helped to change the very face of our society; folks like Matthew Shepherd and James Byrd who lived ordinary lives and died extraordinary deaths – and whose dying has been instrumental in adding protection against the type of hate and ignorance that led to their tragic end of life and upholds the dignity of every human being who will be protected under the legislation that bears their names from the senseless hate they faced in the last moments of their lives. It is also an opportunity to remember those who we loved and have gone before us to the new Jerusalem. Perhaps none of them has marked the world in a way that will remembered in the annals of our recorded history – yet, nonetheless they are remembered on this day by those whose lives they touched in numerous and unsung ways. Those members of this community that we have lost in the last year; Glenn Hubbard who died unexpectedly and far too young just a year ago, and Jo Southworth whose life and ministry will be memorialized in a service of Christian celebration later this afternoon; join in that communion of saints who watch over us that have yet to earn our place in that new heaven and new earth envisioned by John of Patmos.

(SUNG) THEY LIVED NOT ONLY IN AGES PAST,
THERE ARE HUNDRES OF THOUSANDS STILL,
THE WORLD IS BRIGHT WITH JOYOUS SAINTS WHO
LOVE TO DO JESUS’ WILL.

When we think of All Saints we tend to remember those who are no longer living in the world of our consciousness. However, as the old chestnut of a hymn that I have been using as my sermon song this morning points out – the saints of God live not only in the new Jerusalem; they live in the cities and towns of our own world as well. The saints of God are alive and breathing as well as resting in cemeteries and columbaria. I had quite an unexpected encounter with one just yesterday. I was outside the church sweeping the leaves off of the ramp that lead up to the southwest door and using an old and frayed stiff broom; and a wide spoke rake that we own. I had hopes only of being able to clear a bit of the rain soaked foliage that had accumulated around our sidewalks; and no serious thought of clearing the entire area that surrounds our property on 13th Avenue and the half block of Clay Street. Someone pulled up a fancy big black Toyota Tundra and parked it just at the corner. I remember thinking it odd that they would park there on a Saturday afternoon few cars travel those streets; and fewer still park on the city streets. The owner got out of the truck and asked “how much do you have to do”? I commented that I was just tying to sweep a small path up the ramp and around the front doors. “Let me help”, he said “I’ve got a good sized blower in the back and I’ll rake out the areas around the bushes and trees. What were you planning to do with the leaves, he asked and I said I thought it would be best to just sweep them into the street and hope that the city would clear them away. He started up the leaf blower and handed it to me. He then took off to the far end of our property line on Clay and raked all of the area up to 13th Avenue. I used the blower to clear off all of our sidewalks from the multiple layers of dead foliage that had accumulated on them since the trees first began shedding themselves of their leaves last month. About a half hour later the rain began to come down in buckets and I scurried to finish with the blower so that he, unprotected by any hat or coat could pack up his tools and head home. I offered to compensate him for his time and cost of the gasoline to power the blower but he wouldn’t hear of it and smiled and bid me a wonderful day!

(SUNG) YOU CAN MEET THEM IN SCHOOL, OR IN LANES, OR AT SEA,
IN CHURCH, OR IN TRAINS, OR IN SHOPS, OR AT TEA,
FOR THE SAINTS OF GOD ARE JUST FOLK LIKE ME,
AND I MEAN TO BE ONE TOO.

William Willimon is the Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church and the main writer and editor of Pulpit Resource, a sermon preparation resource that I have found extremely valuable in my ministry. I share with you, in closing, his vision of the gift of God’s grace at “the end”: “One day I shall leave home and shall not return that evening. I shall then be buried; forgotten, returned to the dust from whence I was made, remembered for a while only by those few ho knew me well. I shall fade into the oblivion of the forgotten. Whatever I accomplished shall tarnish and diminish. And ye, on the basis of what I have known of God, I believe that what seemed a conclusion will in reality be a commencement. I fully expect to hear the God who so sought me in life say to me even in my death, ‘Yes, the face is familiar. I remember you. I’ve got a whole new world to show you. Wait until you see this. I have yet to give up on you. Can we talk? You haven’t seen anything yet. We’ve got all the time in the world.’ This, by faith we believe, is our end.”[1]

Amen

[1] Willimon, William H., Pulpit Resource Vol. 37, No. 4 (Year B & C), October, November, December 2009, p. 23

Twenteith Sunday after Pentecost

2010-03-10T19:55:00.000-08:00

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost – Year B, Proper 24 (RCL) 2009
Isaiah 52: 4 – 12; Psalm 91: 9 – 16; Hebrews 5: 1 – 10; Mark 10: 35 – 43
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, October 18, 2009

MIS-UNDERSTANDING OR DIS-UNDERSTANDING?

Let us pray: Holy God your ways are often so counter intutitive to our ways. We desire to know you in all of your complexity and are astounded by simplicity. You come among us in our humanity and we fail to grasp your message of service and surrender. In your Christ we have a glimpse of all that you call us to do and be for each other – and we often fail to grasp that we are your disciples who struggle to submit our lives to your service. Patiently and gently you reach out to us again and again as our teacher, our counselor and our guide. When we stumble in our call, lift us up by your grace and guide us by your Word. Give us the strength to follow your way of service, sacrifice and suffering that we might be messengers of your glory in the Church and in the world you so passionately love. Amen.

(SUNG) WON’T YOU LET ME BE YOUR SERVANT
LET ME BE AS CHRIST TO YOU.
PRAY THAT I MIGHT HAVE THE GRACE TO
LET YOU BE MY SERVANT TOO.

We are fast approaching the end of our liturgical year. At the beginning of next month our readings will turn toward a recognition of the feast of, and our connection with the Communion of Saints. After that we will return to the author of Mark’s Gospel account for the final two Sundays in our long green season after Pentecost and that will complete our lectionary year B in which we have been primarily – though not exclusively focused on the Good News from that author’s perspective. I for one will be grateful to move on to another of the evangelist’s accounts in the new lectionary year cycle. It is not that I dislike this author’s style or perspective – just that sometimes it is so blunt in the depiction of Jesus’ followers and their failure to grasp the message of the Messiah that I am tempted to shout “oh for heavens sake, how many times do we have to go through this”! Thankfully Jesus, in this Gospel telling is far more patient than I – and lays out the message as often as is needed to penetrate the hearts and heads of those who will be entrusted to carry the good news to the ends of the earth.

The disciples in this author’s retelling of the events in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth somehow just never seem to get it! In the earlier Chapters they bemoan why Jesus can’t simply say what he means, instead of couching everything in metaphors and parables. When we reach the later chapters, and Jesus finally begins to do that as they draw closer to the fateful events at Jerusalem – still they fail to grasp what the teacher has been so patiently trying to lay out for them. The events of today’s story perfectly illustrate this denseness of the disciples and their woeful ignorance of the master’s message. Immediately preceeding the narrative where we pick it up this morning Jesus has given them, for the third time, a description of the events which will unfold in Jerusalem. “He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, ‘see, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the son of man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condem him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him, and after three days he will rise again.’”

(SUNG) WE ARE PILGRIMS ON A JOURNEY
WE ARE TRAVELERS ON THE ROAD
WE ARE HERE TO HELP EACH OTHER
WALK THE MILE AND BEAR THE LOAD.

Not too much couched in metaphor or parable in that statement which the author has come directly from the mouth of Jesus. What Jesus is teaching the disciples, over and over again, is that this will not be the Messiah they were expecting. This will not be the one who comes in and sets everything right, defeats evil and injustice on our terms and ends in glory. No, Jesus will be betrayed, rejected, killed and rise again. Jesus’ identity as the suffering servant Messiah will be crucial for their identities as disciples. It is that suffering servant that the Hebrew prophet Isaiah speaks of in the reading we heard earlier this morning. This is what Jesus is teaching – and none of them are getting it. If we are fair, we would have to admit that what Jesus is trying to teach them is a very difficult lesson to learn. The disciples have been expecting a triumphant, all powerful Messiah. What they get in Jesus, is a suffering servant. They have signed on with Jesus for glory; Jesus speaks to them of the way of the cross and it is hard for them to understand. Jesus tries to keep working with them, using different illustrations and telling different stories, but still they don’t get it.

So here’s the thing that I wonder – did they in fact, “not get it” or perhaps they had a problem similar to a problem that I think we all may experience. It’s not that they don’t understand what Jesus is telling them, it’s that they don’t like what Jesus is telling them. This is a way that nine out of ten people do not want to walk. “The Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give up life as a ransom for many.” (Mk. 10:45). Then as for us, “whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.” When we think about the social order of that day the slave was the lowest on the pole – and Jesus is calling us to be the slave of the slaves! No wonder the disciples don’t understand what Jesus is saying. No wonder they are afraid to ask what all of this means. It’s bad enough that Jesus tells them that he is on the way to a cross – but now Jesus tells them (and us) to take up our crosses as well. Mark Twain is quoted as saying, “It’s not what I don’t understand in the Bible that bothers me, it’s what I understand only too well.”

(SUNG) WE WILL HOLD THE CHRIST LIGHT FOR YOU,
IN THE NIGHT TIME OF YOUR FEAR.
WE WILL HOLD OUR HANDS OUT TO YOU,
SPEAK THE PEACE YOU LONG TO HEAR.

WE WILL WEAP WHEN YOU ARE WEAPING
WHEN YOU LAUGH WE’LL LAUGH WITH YOU,
WE WILL SHARE YOUR JOY AND SORROW
TILL WE’VE SEEN THIS JOURNEY THROUGH.

The sons of Zebedee (James and John) hear what Jesus says about the events that will come to pass when they reach Jerusalem and it is simply a message that they are not able to digest at this point in the journey – so they quickly change the subject from sacrifice and cross bearing and death and turn toward the petiness of the ongoing debate among them – who will be the greatest and who will be rewarded with the highest honors when Jesus establishes the Reign of God. It seems that they can grasp the concept of Jesus’ glory at the throne of God – they just can’t grasp the method of getting to that throne. It seems incredibly insenstive and petty doesn’t it – Jesus pours out to them the reality of betrayal, judgement, degradation and death which will follow – and the immediate response is “do for us whatever we ask of you”. Jesus does not chide them or ridicule their insensitivity – rather he takes the opportunity to teach once again what is expected of those who would claim to be followers and not just admirer’s of the Gospel message he preaches. In their asking for positions at the right and left hand, Jesus tells them those are not decided by him – and in fact, if we remember those positions are filled by two common criminals, theives – once again this Jesus will confound the expectations and re-order the social structure of God’s kindom.

The pettiness though is not contained to James and John (who in this author’s telling along with Peter are often the “inner circle” of those closest to Jesus) but rather the grumbling and discontent spread to the other ten whom the author describes as beginning to get angry with James and John (presumably not because of their insensitivity to Jesus, but because they feel left out of the discussion around who will be rewarded and in what order). This is when Jesus gathers them all together and takes, once again, the opportunity to instruct them about what kind of realtionship they are to have with each other and with those to whom they will bear the Gospel message. In this instance there is an almost chiding tone as Jesus compairs their behaviour to that of the Gentiles (meaning those hated political forces which have long dominated the Jewish people) who are tyrants over those whom they control. Rather, Jesus tells them, they are called to this servant role – as Jesus is – not to be served but to serve. Deborah Smith Douglas in a compilation titled The Other Side, speaks of attending mid week Eucharist at St. Bede’s Episcopal Church in Santa Fe, New Mexico; and how she is struck by the hand lettered sign which hangs over the only door into the sanctuary. It read’s “Servant’s Entrance” there isn’t anyway in or out of that Church except through the service door.

(SUNG) WHEN WE SING TO GOD IN HEAVEN,
WE SHALL FIND SUCH HARMONY
BORN OF ALL WE’VE KNOWN TOGETHER
OF CHRIST’S LOVE AND AGONY

WON’T YOU LET ME BE YOUR SERVANT
LET ME BE AS CHRIST TO YOU
PRAY THAT I MAY HAVE THE STRENGTH TO
LET YOU BE MY SERVANT TOO.

I think that most of us would be terribly uncomfortable if we truly allowed others to be servants to us. Think of how difficult it is to simply be a guest at another’s home and not feel compelled to “do something” to assist the host in their serving us. In order to be a servant, and to allow our sister’s and brother’s to live out Christ’s call to be a servant, we need to adjust to that uncomfortable role of receiving the servant ministry which is offered. That’s the thing about this Jesus that we don’t truly “misunderstand” – we just truly don’t really like some of those things to which we are clearly called. Jesus is attempting to teach us and transform us into what God would have us be, not necessarily what we would have us be. Often we come to church expecting that we will have our faith confirmed – we’ll be able to pray the prayers and sing the songs and hear the sermon and nod our heads in agreement as we say to ourselves, “yes that’s what I believe, that’s what I’ve always thought” and then we can go home and have lunch. Then we have a story like the one we have today which reminds us that Jesus is often more about making us uncomfortable and challenged than he is about making us sure and confident in our fixed faith systems. Sometimes Jesus’ first disciples just don’t get it – and sometimes Jesus’ disciples today – even those of us on the inner circle – just don’t get. Here’s the good news, Mr. Parker, it isn’t about “getting it”. It isn’t about “knowing it all.” Rather, its more often than not about “it getting you” and about “knowing that we don’t know” and being content with that. Knowing that Jesus continues to teach us and continues to talk with us and patiently, ever so patiently explain once again what we are called to do as servants of our God. We can come to church and God can still surprise us, God can still challenge us and we can continue to grow – serving those whom we have been called to serve in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

2009-10-09T16:59:00.000-07:00

(The preacher is indebeted for some ideas and/or inspiration from The Rev. James Liggett who preached a sermon from these texts in 2006.)

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Gen 2: 18 - 24; Ps 8; Hebrews 1: 1 - 4, 2: 5 - 12; Mark 10: 2 - 16

St. Stephen's Episcopal Parish, Portland OR

October 4, 2009

Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Let us pray: Loving compassionate Jesus, we are gathered here this morning every one of us, because you have summoned us, sought us and bound us to yourself in love. We celebrate your encompassing and all embracing love. We give thanks that, even though we sometimes fall away from you, you never let us go. You continue to come for us, seek us and reach for us. Give us the grace to live our lives, to reach out to our sisters and brothers, that in some small way others might see some of your reaching, seeking and embracing love in us. Amen.

(SUNG) NO MAN IS AN ISLAND. NO MAN STANDS ALONE
EACH MAN'S JOY IS JOY TO ME, EACH MAN'S GRIEF MY OWN. WE NEED ONE ANOTHER, SO I WILL DEFEND, EACH MAN AS MY
BROTHER, EACH MAN AS MY FRIEND.

"If I speak with the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal...Love is patient; love is kind; love is not evious or boastful or arrogant or rude....Love never ends....And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." 1st Corinthians 13: various verses. "But Ruth said, 'do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go I will go; where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die - there will I be buried. May the Lord to thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you." Ruth 1: 16 - 17. "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love....I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment, that you love one antoher as I have loved you." John15: various verses.

These are some of the passages and verses from our sacred scriptures that are often used at Weddings in our churches when we gather with the hope filled and happy couple that are looking to join their lives and love with the support and commitment of their Christian Community. You will notice that often the text from the author of Mark's telling of the Good News of God in Christ - the Tenth Chapter the sixth through the ninth verses will often be chosen by the happy couple "but from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the tow shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate." I have yet to be asked by a couple planning their wedding or blessing ceremony to include the following verses from the Author of Mark's 10th Chapter that follow: "Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, 'whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." I wonder why?

Today as we gather to hear God's word and celebrate the sacred mysteries of bread and wine become body and blood - we are challenged and probably wanting to completely avoid these words from the writers of the texts of Genesis and Mark. It would be far easier to ignore these challenges to our 21st Century sensibilities - when we hear the words which the Genesis author records and which Jesus repeats; they are harsh to our "enlightened" ears and we've moved beyond a Church that absolutely forbids divorced people from full participation in the life of the community. The wisest thing for the preacher to do, would be to focus instead on the life and actions of the monastic 10th Century young man from Assisi in whose honor our four legged friends have joined us today to receive blessing and attention. St. Francis and the prayers attributed to his ministry about peace and simplicity would preach much easier than Divorce which is painful and private. We do not like the judgmental words of Jesus that tells us anyone who divorces is guilty of adultery. Yet these words and scriptures are part of our canon and we dismiss them at our own peril if we are to understand the heart of the message in them texts which is, I believe about the sacredness of commitment in community.

The little piece from the second chapter of Genesis that we just heard, and that we just heard Jesus quote from, is like many other passages from the sacred scriptures, so familiar that we often don't even notice it. In it's familiarity it has become almost invisible. However, it is incredibly important and says some absolutely basic things about our vision of the world and of our humanity.

Do we remember the central pronouncement in the creation story? Throughout the previous chapter in the book of Genesis God has said one thing about the creation over and over again - "and God saw that it was good." But now God looks at all that has been made, everything, and says, “It is not good.”

It is not good that the man (and here “man” means, not a male person, but a human being) should be alone. Think about that. Listen to that. Everything else is good, but this isn’t. Notice also that Adam, the human being, was hardly alone in the garden. First of all, God was with Adam in the garden. That’s a lot all by itself. Then, when the animals were all done, all of nature, all of creation, was with Adam in the garden. The whole world was there. This man was not alone!

In fact, this sounds like the perfect situation for much of popular American religion -- one man alone, surrounded by nature, with God close at hand. How many times have we heard people say that this is really all the religion anyone needs: just me, God, and the great outdoors? This is the response that I almost always receive when someone finds out that I am a priest of the Church; "I find God in the mountains; all alone with the grandeur of creation that's my Church." Notice though when God saw it, when God saw one person, God, and the great outdoors, God didn’t say, “It doesn’t get any better than this.” Instead, God said, about this and only about this: “It is not good”.

(SUNG) NO MAN IS AN ISLAND, NO MAN STANDS ALONE.
EACH MAN'S JOY IS JOY TO ME, EACH MAN'S GRIEF MY OWN. WE NEED ONE ANOTHER, SO I WILL DEFEND EACH MAN AS MY BROTHER. EACH MAN AS MY FRIEND.

Creation wasn’t finished yet. As long as the man lived in isolation from other people, the creation of a good, a complete, human being, had not yet happened. It was in order to complete creation, to make a whole human being, that the other person, Eve, is created. There are a couple of things to notice here. First of all, this story is not as much about the roles of men and women as it is about what it means to be a human being. Also, it is not saying that everyone should be married or that only married people are whole people. That’s just not true. After all, Jesus, the perfect image of God, was single. But this is saying that we human beings can only grow into who we are created to be with and through the other -- through relationship and community. This growth happens in many ways, but it does not happen alone. If you ask an honest monk where his biggest and most important struggles come from, he’ll tell you “other monks.” We do not become whole or complete in isolation, but through community, through the “other.”

It is to this end that God has given us certain structures and situations in which we can, maybe, begin to discover what it means not to be alone, and where we can have our humanity drawn, and sometimes dragged, out of us. God has given us schools of love, places to grow. One of those places is certainly in committed relationship and family. These are some examples of schools of love. While not everyone is called to the vocation of marriage, for those of us who are, this business of helping one another grow into who we are created to be is one of the primary reasons God created the partnership of marriage. To be sure, there is more to it than this, but that is primary.

In much the same way, God has called us to be the Church, and called us into this church, because without something like this we simply cannot be very Christian, in spite of -- or more likely, because of -- both the difficulty and the joy other people bring. One of the central insights of Christianity is that being a part of a real, human, chunk of the body of Christ is essential to any serious Christian growth. Like covenanted relationships and families, parish life, church life, is not really about agreement, success, having our needs met, or personal "happiness". Instead it is a school of love. It is about growth into wholeness. That is why, in Church as in families, the real ties that bind are ties of love and circumstances, not of any other sort of genetics or homogeneity. This kind of growth is simply not possible without commitment to a lifetime of effort and intentionally seeking the grace and help of God. God’s intention that marriage be life-long is not an arbitrary and difficult rule God gives us to make our lives even more difficult. Instead, such intention is a gracious and necessary (if minimal) requirement if a real covenantal marriage relationship is even to be possible. In the same way, our Baptismal vows, which include a commitment to the life of the Christian community wherever we find ourselves, are also for the long haul; for better or worse. The same is true for life vows in monastic communities and the commitments involved in the other schools of love we are given. These vows are life-long in intention, because God knows we need at least that long to begin doing what we promise to do.

Obviously there are times in our lives when that does not happen. There are situations in which the reality of health and wholeness point to separation as the only option in which hope and healing can happen. Each of us has known that reality at some point in our lives and relationships. People leave churches and find new ones as most of us know from experience. In our own communion this reality has caused painful and costly fractures to the Body of Christ. Divorce, if not part of our personal experience, is a reality in our families and friendships and we have been deeply affected by it. These failures in our intention to live in life long relationship wound deeply and those wounds need our loving, caring and compassionate attention. In our vows, either baptismal, marital or spiritual we promise before God, and in community "to do all in our power to support these persons in their new lives" baptized members of the community, as newly formed partners in life; or as ordained ministers in service to the Church. None of us enters these vows lightly. Some of us, for reasons that often God alone understands are unable to fulfill them as intended - and in those situations God is at our call to lift us up in reconciliation and compassion. The function of community is to stand with each other in our successes and our failures - and share the love of God present among us in the Christ to aid in healing our deepest woundedness.

Our vows, in baptism, in covenanted marital relationship or in ordination are sacred mysteries, built into creation and into human nature. They are schools of love, gifts of a loving God. For it is not good to be alone; and the only way to goodness, to wholeness, is through commitment, relationship, community, and the grace of God.

Amen.

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

2009-10-09T16:57:00.000-07:00

St. Stephen's has a member who aspires to the Priesthood in the Episcopal Church. Marcos Dominquez preched this morning in that capacity.

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

2009-10-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost – Year B – Proper 20 (RCL) 2009
Wisdom of Solomon 1:16 – 2:1, 12–22; Ps 54; James 3:13 – 4:3, 7 – 8a; Mark 9: 30 – 37
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, September 20, 2009

THE ONLY THING YOU HAVE TO CHANGE IS EVERYTHING

Let us pray: God our tendency is to honor those among us who are the greatest acheivers, thinkers and leaders. We revel in competions which declare who is the greatest among us. Nobel prizes and van Kleiburn competitions – national spelling bees and American Idols grip our attentions and our accolades. You came among us to model something different. You tell us time and again that the greatest among us are those who would serve the lowliest – that achievment will be measured by the amount of service to others in your name. Help us to value the peacemakers more than the Generals, the dishwashers more than the master chief’s; the paupers more than the princesses. Challenge our conventions and shatter our sureities so that we might revel in your call to welcome the lowly and in doing so welcome you. Amen.

(SUNG) FROM THE VOICES OF CHILDREN LORD,
COMES THE SOUND OF YOUR PRAISE.
FROM THE VOICES OF CHILDREN LORD,
COMES THE SOUND OF YOUR PRAISE
THE SOUND OF YOUR PRAISE.

The journeing Jesus and followers continue down the paths of the Palestinian countryside, through Galilee and into Capernaum and arrive at a house to rest. All through this traveling the author of Mark’s Gospel account continues to cloak Jesus’ teachings and conversations with the disciples in secrecy. Jesus is constantly telling those whom he heals and those to whom he reveals aspects of the truth of coming among them; that they are to tell no one what has been seen or done in their midst. This “messianic secret” thread which runs through this Gospel account can often be confusing in light of the overall imperative to “preach the good news” to all the ends of the earth. Why does Jesus caution the inner circle of followers to remain silent about the deeds and revelations to which they become privy? I think that a large piece of the literary technique used by this author is to whet the appetite of those who are listening to the narrative, that we might be all the more anxious and excited to spread the message when we are finally enabled and encouraged to do so. Jesus, however, wants to be sure that the message is fully understood and grasped before the disciples set out to change the face of the world. They, like us are able to grasp the truth of Jesus’ miracles and ministry among them only in small doses; and always within the context of their everyday life experiences. Jesus, however, is always aware of the limited amount of time which he has to prepare them for their ministry – and so continues teaching in the midst of the rushed journey toward Jerusalem. Often we will experience Jesus’ frustration and observe the patient reiterating of lessons which must be grasped if the followers are to carry on the bringing of God’s Kindom among them.

Today’s story follows closely, though not immediately, on the heels of the events which we read about last week. In this 9th Chapter account we encounter the 2nd of the three passion predictions which Jesus will proclaim to the confused followers. Last week, when we heard the first – it was followed by a rebuke from Peter; this time the twelve are no more able to grasp what Jesus is trying to tell them but they have learned their lesson. No attempts at rebuking the teacher this time, instead we are told that they were afraid to ask him what they could not understand. When they arrive at Capernaum Jesus, I’m sure quite tounge in cheek, asks what they had been arguing about on the way. Can’t you just picture the response? None of them wants to admit that they had been having petty squabbles about who was the greatest among them. “No, not simon; he’s the one who’s always getting the answers wrong – and when he does get it right he sticks his foot in his mouth.” “I’m bettin on the beloved disciple – look at how much attention he gets paid?” Ego driven discipleship tends to lead to televangelists who eventually fall under the weight of their own reputations. Patiently once again the teacher takes a seat among the chosen twelve and tries to explain how different things will be in the reign of God than from what they have known.

(SUNG) FROM THE VOICES OF CHILDREN LORD,
COMES THE SOUND OF YOUR PRAISE.
FROM THE VOICES OF CHILDREN LORD,
COMES THE SOUND OF YOUR PRAISE
THE SOUND OF YOUR PRAISE.

In the house where they were staying, Jesus picks out one of the youngsters and sets the child in the midst of them. If you think we have seen examples of Jesus reaching out to the disenfranchized and lowliest of the society before – here is the ultimate example of the undervalued or completely ignored. It’s not that children were despised or “unclean” it’s simply that they held little to no value to the adults who surrounded them. Not really able to provide any financial or labor advantages for the household – and requiring food and shelter for their upkeep; children were seen as a necessary burden to be held onto only until they could join the labor field (males) or be bartered in marriage to the best economic advantage (females). Children’s status was just a little above that of the household slaves. A perfect example of this is illustrated in the writing of the narrative. The author not only failing to name the child whom Jesus takes into his arms – doesn’t even tell us the gender – and so the translation is “then he took a little child and put it among them.” Then Jesus takes the whole social paradigm and turns it upside down. Jesus is famous for doing this – think prostitutes, tax collectors, bleeding women and lepers! Now what was seen as having the least value is held up as the very source of our connection to God – for Jesus tells them “whoever welcomes one such Child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

Those of you who consider yourselves members or at least regular attender’s of this community will receive a letter in the next few weeks from our Bob Tayler who is leading our Stewardship Planning Team and it will inform us as a community of the theological underpinning of this years campaign theme, which will in some way or another will link us to Mic’s suggestion in his remarks a few weeks ago that we need to concentrate on “A Year of Mission Building”. Over the next Sundays for the month of October we will hear from our sisters and brothers who will share their insights and passions and invite us to share ours around this special place in God’s Kindom that we call St. Stephen’s. Our time in community and around the Holy Table will remind us of the necessity of our commitment with our time, talents and treasure to the builiding up of the Kindom of God among us. Each of us has a story (at least one; and probably more) of how God’s work in our lives and in the Church has affected our families, our relationships and our lives for the betterment of the world we have been given; and instructed to guard as its stewards. We spent the past 8 weeks in small groups; and hopefully in our prayer lives and our liturgical life as Parish – reflecting on what this place has meant to us, and what we can do as a community to ensure its continuing as a presence of God’s love and healing in downtown Portland. Creative and exciting ideas are beginning to emerge – ideas which will require the commitment of ALL of us to bear fruit and blossom. We also contemplate our responsibility to ensure that God’s work continues to be done and God’s Word continues to be lived out through and among us by offering our gifts of time, talent and treasure back to the God who provided them to us in the first place. Whatever contribution we decide to set apart from the first fruits of our labor – we ask God to bless and accept our offerings because we need to make them. We will gather all of our combined offerings in November – cleaverly timed to be around the season of “Thanksgiving” that we celebrate as a Nation and also around the time that we will call a new leader to come among us as Bishop. In that timeframe we will take our offerings of treasure and talent and time - and place them upon God’s holy table as the symbol of all that we have and all that we offer.

We contribute to continue this legacy of God’s work through and among us so that we may pass it on to those generations after us just as it has been passed to us from those generations which came before. In 1977 a Presbyterian clergyperson named John Westerhoff wrote a ground breaking book in which he explored the model that Christian Churches used for education of its member, this book was titled Will Our Children Have Faith. In 2003 The National Episcopal Church’s office of Ministries With Young People sponsored a conference which they titled “Will our Faith have Children?” Over 600 faith leaders gathered to explore what the Church had lost as a result of decades of indifference to forming and enriching the faith of children, youth and adults. The conference focused on the promises of embracing lifelong learning and formation at all levels of the Church’s life. We continue to reap the benefits of placing our focus on the “little child” among us as Jesus did. Our small faith community is sadly lacking the young people that used to fill our Sunday School classrooms and noisly clammor into the pews with their parents to hear God’s Word and be filled with God’s Holy food. Our hopes and dreams as a community lead us by their very nature toward imparting that important message of God’s love for our future generations. I am confident that as we begin to more clearly define where we believe God to be calling us as a Community – God will send into our midst the laborers that are needed for the building up of God’s Kindom. In the meanwhile I share with you two stories from my work with youngsters that have filled my life with joy and my heart with hope. Harry’s family had moved quite a bit in his young life. When they arrived in town they started “church shopping.” One Sunday they would visit the Unitarians, and the next the Presbyterians. When they decided that Resurrection was going to be their spritual home – Harry was starting to get used to the place; I heard from the open car window one morning as they came rolling into the parking lot and Harry recognzied the “red doors” - “Oh great we’re going to CHURCH”! Finally, my heart will always be stirred as I remember Max who had been receving communion since his first visit after being born when I would dip my pinky into the chalice and place a small drop of the Blood of Christ the Cup of Salvation onto his tounge. When Max was about 7 months old, as I was distributing communion and approached his family waiting at the rail – out of the corner of my eye I caught his little hands reaching up from his mother’s arms and saw him making those little fingers stretch out as he screeched with joy “ah, ah, ah” at the anticipation of the small bit of sacred bread and finger full of holy wine that had become his Sunday morning treat!

(SUNG) COMES THE SOUND OF YOUR PRAISE
THE SOUND OF YOUR PRAISE.

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

2009-09-13T21:01:00.000-07:00

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 19 Year B (RCL) 2009
Isaiah 50: 4 – 9a; Psalm 116: 1 – 8; James 3: 1 – 12; Mark 8: 27 – 38
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, September 13, 2009

WHO IS IT ALL ABOUT?

Let us pray: God of the burning bush, the thunder rolling across the mountains and the still small voice, we long to know who you really are. Throughout the history of our relationship with you we have struggled to know you ….the name that cannot be named; the peace that cannot be comprehended – the force and spirit that moves like the wind and can never be captured. Help us to be content in our limited knowledge. Remind us that we can compare you to things which we comprehend and probably will never fully comprehend you until we meet face to face. In the Messiah, the Anointed One you made your fullest revelation to us and it is that revelation we wish to embrace in community with you and each other. Reveal to us in your Holy One the mystery and majesty of the working out of your plan for salvation and the perfection of our lives with you. Amen.

(SUNG) JOY AT THE START, FEAR IN THE JOURNEY
JOY AT THE COMING HOME
A PART OF THE HEART GETS LOST IN THE LEARNING
SOMEWHERE ALONG THE ROAD

ALONG THE ROAD YOUR PATH MAY WANDER
YOUR PILGRIM’S FAITH MAY FAIL
ABSENCE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER
DARKNESS OBSCURES THE TRAIL

The author of Mark’s telling of the Gospel continues the narrative of the ever moving and wandering itinerant rabbi from Nazareth. The Jesus revealed in this Gospel account is clearly on the move. Since the beginning of this telling Jesus has traveled from Nazareth to the banks of the Jordan, to Galilee and Capernaum, to the country of the Gerasenes, to Genesaret, to Tyre and Sidon, to Bethsaida, and now to Cesarea Philippi. The twelve have followed their teacher up and down mountains, and across the sea and back again. All along the way Jesus has been teaching and revealing more about his ministry though often through the vieled approach of parables and stories. Healings and exorcisims have marked the days of these journeys; feeding and preaching to ever growing crowds of the desperate and downtrodden of the society; Jesus moves ever forward to the destiny of events which will culminate at the cross in Jerusalem when the journey will come to rest. We can imagine conversations between them as they travel and, in fact, we are let in on some of those conversations. Jesus spends time with the twelve revealing meanings behind the metaphors of the parables, and telling them how they are to act and behave when they approach a new village to spread the good news. The conversation on this day in the journey however takes a different turn. This conversation which they have on the way toward the villages of Cesarea Phillipi will be like no other – this will be a conversation about identity; not what Jesus does or says – rather who Jesus is and what that means for them and consequently for us.

This encounter between Jesus and the inner circle of followers goes to the root of what Jesus needs to impart about his ministry and the consequences of that ministry for them in the continuation of the journey toward Calvary. In the context of our modern day understanding this would be a conversation that turns to “all about me.” We all know examples of the self absorbed neighbor or friend who turns at one point in the conversation and says, “well that’s enough about me. Let’s talk about you – what do you think of me?” It is not exactly in that exaggerated of a style, but yes Jesus does draw the conversation in and turn it to find how much of the lessons and parables, the healings and miracles his followers have been able to understand in terms of what they reveal about the true nature of his ministry. “Who do people say that I am?” How do you suppose your friends would answer that question? I imagine the responses going something like, “oh, he’s that short irish looking balding guy whose the priest over at that church by the 405.” We can gain a great deal of perspective on who we are - or more probably who we project ourselves to be by asking those closest to us what their impressions of us are. I find it rather interesting in my work that when I meet someone for the first time, someone who has come into my office to talk about questions on their spiritual journey – and I ask them to tell me something about themselves, 99% of the time the initial response will be what they do to earn a paycheck, or explain why they can’t or don’t earn a paycheck anymore. Our society has so ingrained in us the Protestant work ethic that our identity becomes firmly entrenched in our work. How refreshing it might be to have someone reply, “I’m a child of God who is struggling to figure out where that God wants me to go.”

(SUNG) CURSING THE QUEST, COURTING DISASTER
MEASURELESS NIGHT FORBODE.
MOMENTS OF REST, GLIMPSES OF LAUGHTER
ARE TREASURED ALONG THE ROAD

ALONG THE ROAD, YOUR STEPS MAY STUMBLE
YOUR THOUGHTS MAY START TO STRAY
BUT THROUGH IT ALL A HEART HELD HUMBLE
LEVELS AND LIGHTS YOUR WAY.

So Jesus enters this “all about me” territory to discover how much the followers have gained in insight and understanding of who Jesus is and what Jesus represents. The disciples share with him what they have heard. They are the ones who keep their ears open for the moods of the crowds and for the ordering of those whom they will allow to get closest to the teacher. “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” Reflecting the influence that the baptizer John had on the crowds of this time and the close link between John’s ministry and Jesus’ – many in the crowds identify Jesus with his cousin. Next Jesus is identified with the Hebrew prophets – note that the disciples reflect that the crowds do not think that Jesus is “a” prophet – rather that Jesus is one of “the” prophets. Expectation for the return of Elijah who had ascended to God without first dying was great in the lore and myth of the Jewish people. These are the stories and whisperings of the masses about Jesus since he first started moving among them. Jesus, however, wants to go deeper into this identity conversation and so the second part of the question is asked; “But who do you say that I am?” Here is where the “rubber will meet the road” to use a metaphor well beyond the context of the disciples time. Jesus wishes to know how much this band of rag tag fisherfolk have assimilated of what they have been taught. The readers know, we’ve read the author of Mark’s prologue; but the disciples have not. All the disciples have to go on are the signs and wonders which have been occurring wherever Jesus goes. Some hints have dropped for them – back in Chapter 2, the tenth verse Jesus says, “but so that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins” and again in verse 28, “so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.” In chapter 4, they are told by Jesus that they have been “given the secret of the Kingdom of God”. Again those hints are veiled and the secret obscure for uneducated common laborers like the disciples. So Peter, who we can assume is answering for all of them says “you are the Messiah”. That word, with all its baggage for the Jewish people now becomes associated for the first time in this Gospel telling with Jesus and his ministry.

Now Jesus begins to “unpack” the meaning of that word as it is used to reflect his ministry on earth. Jesus will not be the “Messiah” which the great majority of the Jewish people expect. Messiah means “annointed one” and comes from the tradition of the kings and priests who were set aside by God for the service of God and sealed by ritual annointing with oils and in that annointing are empowered for their ministry. What was expected then around the messiah was perhaps a return of a great King – or the fulfillment of the visions and promises of the great prophets wherein the people of Israel would become a great nation and the ruler of nations. Rather, Jesus reveals for them the suffering servant image from Isaiah’s prophesies and explains that he will fulfill that promise – that he will be scorned and rejected and killed and three days after rise again. This is far beyond any of their ability to comprehend, so once more Peter acts on their behalves and takes Jesus aside to rebuke him we’re told. Peter, ever Peter I can just hear him – “now teacher you don’t want to go and get everybody upset like that….we have no intention of letting you get into the hands of the chief priests and the scribes and getting yourself killed; and, by the way dead is dead, people don’t come back three days after their dead”. But the question of Jesus’ identity is too important for Jesus to ignore any longer. The twelve, at least, must be made to understand what is going to happen in the days ahead. The rebuke switches sides and Jesus now rebukes Peter and his attempt to avoid the reality of the sacrifices which must be made to bring about the promised Kindom of God. So, Jesus calls the crowd in addition to the disciples and begins to teach the reality of the Cross – not only the Cross that Jesus must bear but also the cross that each of those who want to call themselves followers must bear for the sake of the Gospel.

(SUNG) JOY AT THE START, FEAR IN THE JOURNEY
JOY IN THE COMING HOME
A PART OF THE HEART, GETS LOST IN THE LEARNING
SOMEWHERE ALONG THE ROAD
SOMEWHERE ALONG THE ROAD

I share with you the story of Georgene Johnson. Georgene was living in Cleveland OH when she turned 42 years old. She decided that if she had to be 42 years old she was at least going to be a solid and healthy 42 years old. So Georgene decided to exercise and focus on maintaining a good healthy life – as part of her exercise routine she began to run. Every day she would run and slowly she began to get better and better at her running. Georgene thought that a little competition might help to motivate her running and so she entered a 10K run. For those of you, like me, who have no idea what that distance is, its about 6 miles. Not too challenging, but challenging enough for a beginning runner. Nervous about her first race, she arrived early and much to her surprise there were already a lot of people milling around, stretching their limbs and warming up for the race. All of a sudden a voice on the microphone said “move to the starting line”. This is it, she thought, a gun sounded and they were off like a huge wave, hundreds of runners, sweeping her up, Georgene was in the race. After about four miles it occurred to her that they ought to be turning around and heading back to the finish line. She stopped and asked an official “how come the course isn’t turning around?” Then came the reply from the race official, “Ma’am this is the Cleveland Marathon, you have about 24 miles to go.” Georgene’s event, the 10K was to start a half hour after the start of the marathon. Some of us would have stopped right there and said that’s it, I’m going home. To Georgene’s credit she kept right on going, and finished the race. She said this, “this is not the race I trained for. This is not the race I entered. But for better or worse, this is the race that I’m in.”

This was not the journey which the disciples had set out on, this was not the journey which they had visioned. This was not what Peter had bargained for when he dropped everything to follow this teacher. It was however, the journey that the teacher was asking them to continue. It was the journey that would change their lives and the lives of hundreds of millions who would follow after them. It is the journey that you and I are asked to take up and continue. It is the journey which we are blessed and privlidged to share with each other and with Jesus. It is not the destination, it is the journey.

Amen.

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

2009-09-10T20:07:00.000-07:00

The Senior Warden of St. Stephen's took the sermon time this morning to update the community on the results of our "discernment" work and Mission & Ministry planning for the future. I post it here for those of you who would like to read it.

DIRECTION DISCERNMENT HOMILY

This morning I am here to report to you the consensus of our discernment meetings for implementing the mission we identified in July. Our meeting phase has ended, and the planning phase begins today. I want to thank Fr. Dennis for giving me this time today.
What I have learned is that discernment works in mysterious ways.

I have no idea how Jean and I decided to offer First Corinthians as the September discussion topic for Adult Inquiry. It just came to us that it would be a good idea at this time to read it.
Corinth was the largest city in its province. It was an important port. It had more microbreweries and strip clubs per capita than any other city in the world. Its work depended heavily on slaves from other countries. Corinth was not so much un-churched as any churched. Its new Christian community was small, uncertain and contentious. But if anything, it was the downtown church of all downtowns. However, they were not in good standing with the leaders of the synagogue. They had stopped sending money to the mother church in Jerusalem. They had questions about sex and sexuality and argued about the roll of women in the church. Some drifted from one preacher to the next and had started to identify themselves with other liturgies. Others were tangled in ecclesiastical lawsuits over form and practice. Many had come to question Paul and his message and some complained that his sermons were dull. Especially compared to the new guy in town Apollos. And worst of all, perhaps, many had started to see the Eucharist as an event for socializing. Coffee hour at St. Paul’s in Corinth began at the table and often ended under it.

Paul had a vision of Christ and made it his mission to preach the good news. He believed in love above all things and invited us to think of ourselves as "servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries."
In 1 Corinthians he tries to articulate in practical terms what a church might look like. He has a vision; he has a mission and now tries the 2
difficult task of spelling out the details. How to get this thing to work.
At St. Stephen’s we believe with Paul in the stewardship of God’s mystery.
We discern that God is telling us that there is specific and special work to do at 13th and Clay. That work involves providing a spiritual home for those seeking communion and solace embraced in that mystery. And as the outward and visible expression of the grace we find here, we wish to be a community that reaches out to those of our little corner who are in need: the hungry, sick, lonely and hurt.

Our discernment process begins with the solidly expressed desire to remain in this place and to continue to search for a way to stay here permanently.
What will we do here?

First, we must project a fiscal plan for 2010 that operates within our means. For 2009 we have operated with a projected deficit. Next year we will need to make serious decisions about our priorities under reduced means.

Second, we will initiate programs to grow our presence as a center for spiritual healing.

Third, we will look to create partnerships that support our direction and enhance our capabilities.

And fourth, we are agreed to take steps to increase local awareness of who we are and what we are doing and to grow the congregation.

What are some of the practicalities?
First let’s review our financial position:

o We have no endowment or large reserve.

o At the end of August our cash position was roughly $75k. Our less liquid investments were valued at just under $60k.

o At the annual meeting in January we adopted a plan that forecast a shortfall of $56k and an intention to balance the year by drawing down our cash holdings. We are still able to do that. Our expenses are tracking very close to plan. For example YTD our music program appears to be within $17 of the forecast. But everyone needs to know we are still not paying our diocesan assessment.

o The good news is that our contributions are running at a rate of 11.6% ahead of the plan. This is due largely to some truly timely and generous gifts. At this rate our deficit would only be $32k, by the end of the year. So even though we need to continue to be concerned, everyone should know that we will not be broke at the end of December. But we cannot play the same card again.

How about our building?

o The bottom line on our building is this: it is not going to fall down around our ears on its own. It would be in trouble with a major earthquake, snowstorm or fire.

o We do not have the resources to bring it up to code. But to stay here longer we do need to consider doing some of the maintenance that has been deferred. This would include our old favorite of repairs to the roof.

How will we implement our mission?

We will start a Parish Care Program. I hope everyone has had a chance to read the article by our Deacon, Ken Arnold in this month’s Sentinel. It envisions a St. Stephen’s program, which would lead our mission to provide a downtown center for spiritual peace and healing. Some of its activities would include

1) Participation in laying on of hands during the Sunday Eucharist,

2) Visiting parishioners in hospital or at home recovering

3) Partnering with our neighbor Julia West House or Operation Nightwatch to visit the sick who are homeless or lack family care. We have two excellent and experienced trainers in Bill North and Palmer Pardington who have offered to help with this program. Those of you who are interested are invited to talk directly to Ken.

We are in discussion to start an evening service at the south waterfront. It would be a way of reaching out into our neighborhood to spread the good news among those whom we live! Kevin Countryman, the proprietor of Rilassi Coffee House is open to the idea of our doing a healing service there. Today, the south waterfront has no churches and no organized spiritual activity and just happens to be at the streetcar terminus for the line that comes past Clay Street.

We want to figure out how to tell our story at PSU. Historically we have not been very good at this; and practically no other church at this end of town has either. But it continues to be of obvious interest.

On the creative side some have suggested inviting another church to prepare and provide an additional meal using our kitchen and parish hall. I have been part of a joyous conversation envisioning a blessing of bicycles. And at our last vestry meeting one of our newest members Ed Garren proposed organizing a shared Thanksgiving meal for the entire community. I love this kind of energy!

What can each of us do?

Bob Tayler is this year’s Stewardship Chairperson. Shortly he will be talking to us about our campaign for our Year of Mission Building. It is a given that we will all need to search ourselves on the matter of treasure. But I would hold out that next year is a very important year for increased gifts of time and talent.

In Chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians Paul talks about the variety of spiritual gifts, "To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit." And later in Chapter 14 he asks, "What should be done then, my friends? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up."
What is your ministry today? What can be your ministry going forward? When I last spoke to you four weeks ago I gave examples of those whose ministries have run long and deep. I see in The Sentinel John Marks is back on the essay trail.

There is a new ministry I would like to tell you about today. I know they would keep this secret, but Drew and Marcos have asked to take on the church cleaning job as their gift of talent this year to start in the next few weeks. Fr. Dennis is working out the details with them, but it is a gift that takes my breath away.

What can you do? Are you a leader? We will need three new members for the Vestry next year. Are you a bookkeeper? Sue Rossiter’s time as our volunteer treasurer is coming to an end. Who wants to start an Altar Guild? Who can own the 10:00 coffee hour? Who would like to work on the library, help count money, become a lector, be an acolyte? Lead a discussion group. Help publicize our concerts. Organize a potluck. Sing in the choir. Coordinate with Portland’s hotel concierges. Work on the Parish Care Committee. We are rich in the spirit and rich in talent and the opportunities are endless.

And as Paul says concluding his letter to the Corinthians, "Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous and strong. Let all that you do be done in love."

When we depart this morning, we will offer a prayer to our God of abundance and ask to be sent forth in the power of his Spirit.
We have a joyful dream and our time is now. I personally discern a lot of love in this place and an abundant future for St. Stephen’s as we proclaim God’s redeeming love of our world.

[Amen]

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

2009-09-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 17) – Year B (RCL) 2009
Deuteronomy 4: 1 – 2; 6 – 9; Psalm 15; James 1: 17 – 27; Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, August 30, 2009

OF ALL THAT IS, CLEAN AND UNCLEAN

Let us pray: Fill our hearts, oh God with a sense of true religion; the root of that word which is a proper conduct toward others. Help us to learn that through your law we are set free to be a people ruled by love and not by law. Plant your law deep into our hearts that we might proclaim your love and justice to all who have neither. All these things we pray in your holy and life giving name. Amen.

(SUNG) BE THOU MY VISION, O LORD OF MY HEART;
ALL ELSE BE NAUGHT TO ME, SAVE THAT THOU ART –
THOU MY BEST THOUGHT BY DAY OR BY NIGHT,
WAKING OR SLEEPING THY PRESENCE MY LIGHT.

I find it incredibly ironic. As you are by now well aware, in the great majority of Christian Churches the scripture readings assigned for each Sunday are taken from the Revised Common Lectionary. Now not all churches use this lectionary (and, in fact there are different and separate Lectionaries for the Roman Catholic Church and Episcopal Churches by order of General Convention have until the year 2010 to completely switch). In the RCL for this Sunday the reading from the Hebrew Scriptures in the book of Deuteronomy the second verse reads “you must neither add anything to what I command you nor take anything from it” and then the RCL jumps to verse 6 omitting verses 3 through 5! What’s up with that?

In this Hebrew book (literally meaning “second law” – as it repeats in the 12th through 26th Chapters much of the legal code found in the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers) Moses addresses the people of Judah in 3 distinct discourses; in the first person for the first 2 discourses and then in the third person for the final or “farewell” discourse to the people of Y—WEH just prior to their entrance into the promised land. Much of the detail of the first six books of Hebrew Scripture or Torah deals with the “legalism” of the proscriptions of the Jewish faith and tradition. It is this “legalism” that Isaiah Chapter 29 v. 13 and later Jesus in the author of Mark’s account of the Gospel decries. “Because this people worship me with empty words and pay me lip-service while their hearts are far from me, and their religion is but a human precept, learnt by rote.” Now this good Irish Catholic boy certainly has rote religion in his head. The words of the Baltimore Catechism are still emblazoned in my brain: Question, “Who made you?” Answer, “God made me.” Question, “Who is God?” Answer “God is the Supreme Being who made all things and keeps them in existence.” Question, “Why did God make you?” Answer, “God made me to show forth His goodness and to share with me His everlasting happiness in heaven.” And I could go on and on – these things just live in my brain, I don’t know why.

So, I find myself this morning reflecting on several questions that have been ruminating in my brain since I first started to prepare this sermon. The first is what we remember and how we remember. The author of Deuteronomy has Moses speak to the people of Judah these words: “But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life;” an interesting command since we might admit that it is just that tendency – to forget the things that our eyes have seen – and rather concentrate on those things which others have seen and report back to us that can lead us into the trap of living a dead faith. This is always the tendency of religion; to shroud ourselves in the ritual and tradition of our faith as it has been handed down to us and neglect the living out of that faith in our own time. This is the proscription that can lead us to a religion that bases itself on “tradition” to the exclusion of “experience” which the Caroline founder’s of Anglicanism, our spiritual ancestors called “reason”. Scripture, Tradition and Reason (relying no more heavily on one to the exclusion of the others) form the famous “three legged stool” of Anglican thought. Jaroslov Pelikan, Sterling Professor of History at Yale University is quoted as saying, “Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. Tradition is the living faith of the dead.” The writer of the deuteronomic text, addresses Moses remarks to the gathered people, we should note, in the present tense: “…so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.” I would suggest that this technique is used so that the hearers of these words into millennia beyond their writing might vision the law as a living entity, which still feeds and nourishes their hearts and souls.

(SUNG) BE THOU MY WISDOM, AND THOU MY TRUE WORD;
I EVER WITH THEE AND THOU WITH ME, LORD;
THOU MY CREATOR; THINE OWN MAY I BE;
THOU IN ME DWELLING, AND I ONE WITH THEE.

The second of the questions that I mentioned previously has to do with the message of Jesus that is addressed to the Pharisees in this morning’s Gospel reading – and for me it is difficult question. How do we respect the tradition of the faith, those things which have been handed down to us through the Church – and yet avoid the very things, which Jesus seems to be addressing to his detractors? I was less than thrilled to discover that the word which we translate “hypocrites” is from the Greek hypokritēs which is actually the Greek work for “actor”, having spent the better years of my youth in that profession. How do I avoid letting the “rituals” of my religion – becoming the rote actions of my childhood memories? The ritual prayers and actions of our liturgy are comforting and familiar and are a piece of what allows us to connect our hearts and minds to God. AND – they are not and cannot be the end all of our religious expression. One of the ways that we avoid this danger is to occasionally revise the way we pray. This may help us to call ourselves up short and re-focus our hearts and minds to the God who lives beyond our rituals – and who longs to live in our hearts as well as our churches. As a leader in ritual prayer and action for the Church – in my priesthood and sacramental ministry, I search for ways to keep myself mindful of this pitfall of my ritual becoming my prayer. One of the ways that we can do this is to remind our brains that the rote prayer and familiar wording of our liturgical expression is not the only way that we can address God in prayer. By substituting the language of the Holy Eucharist from our Book of Common Prayer with the Supplemental Liturgical Materials from Enriching Our Worship, which we do during the summer months – we have the opportunity to hear with “new ears” the ancient prayers of our sacred mysteries. I give thanks to God and to this place for that opportunity as I continue to live out my ministry among you.

Part of what the author of Mark’s Gospel has Jesus convey to the people addressed in this morning’s story is the “nuts and bolts” of the washing of hands and cups, pots and bronze kettle’s; the “purification” rituals of the Jewish people. The author who was addressing a primarily Gentile audience uses the story to illustrate the danger of allowing our ritual to become our religion. The Episcopal Church like our sisters and brothers from other “liturgical” traditions face this danger. Allow me to illustrate with a story which I found recounted by Anthony deMello, the story of the guru's cat: it seems there was a guru who would have meditation services every evening and his cat would always run in the middle of those meditating. So every evening before the service, the guru would tie the cat to the tree outside. Then the guru died and the new guru also had the cat tied to the tree every evening in the same way. When the cat died, the new guru had an assistant immediately go out and buy a new cat to tie to the tree in the same way. The new guru even wrote a manual on the correct way to tie the cat to the tree before meditation services.

I invite you to notice that the debated “hand washing” ritual purification continues in our own liturgical tradition. Before approaching God’s Holy Table, the presider participates in what is called “the lavabo” (from the Latin for “I will wash”). Water is poured over the fingers in a symbolic ritual cleansing of the priest who will participate on behalf of God’s people to offer sacrificial gifts of bread and wine in remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice. As a reminder around our ritual, though, Jesus tells us that it is NOT what comes from outside a person that defiles, but rather that which comes from within. During that lavabo time a silent prayer is suggested from Psalm 51 and often whispered, “Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me.” We might note, however, that the words translated as “wash” and “washing” which the author has the narrator use in verse 4 of our reading this morning are “baptizo” and “baptizmos” which, as you may guess are generally translated as baptize and baptism. We must be careful not to demonize and totally dismiss the ministry of the Pharisees which can be an easy temptation in the Gospels of the synoptic author’s. These men were the teachers and protector’s of not only the “law” or “Torah” but also of the interpretation of that law, or what would become known as the “Mishnah” so that it could be moved out of the temple restrictions and lived in the everyday lives of an occupied people to remind them who and whose they were. Jesus, in the events depicted in our story from the author of Mark’s retelling, simply calls them to realize that the beauty of the law lies in its spirit rather than its letter. Jesus comes, we will be told later, not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. Jesus calls these religious leaders to task because they are living out Isaiah’s prophecy when they are told; “You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.” Therefore, we might surmise that all of the ritual hand washing and purification rites and laws will not make us clean. This does not mean that we can come to the table and eat dinner without washing our hands (me sainted Irish mither may she rest in peace would be horrified), but rather that the spiritual waters with which we are cleansed in birth and baptism have purified us before God to live as God’s chosen people, still bound by the law – but no longer slaves to it. Blind obedience to “ritual laws” will not suffice in the new Covenant – but the law written deep within our hearts, by God will set us free.

(SUNG) High ruler of heaven, when victory is won;
may I reach heaven’s joys, bright heaven’s sun!
heart of my heart, -- whatever be fall,
still be my vision, o ruler of all.

We’ve reached another turning point in our lives as community. Summer is ending and we will soon return to the familiar routines of fall – school will start and vacation times will end. Life will return to its yearly patterns in our homes and our church. As we slip back into the rhythms of soccer practice and car pools, grocery shopping and choir practices on Wednesday evenings – let us not forget what our eyes have seen and our ears have heard; God is calling us to new places in our ministries in the Church and in the world and there is much work to be done. God’s promise is to be with us in the journey wherever it may take us – if we are conscious of God in the ritual of our lives then we will have blessing in all of our comings and goings.

Amen

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

2009-08-28T17:01:00.000-07:00

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost – (Proper 16) Year B (RCL) 2009
Joshua 24: 1 – 2a, 14 – 18; Psalm 34: 15 – 22; Ephesians 6: 10 – 20; John 6: 56 – 69
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, August 22, 2009

THE GOD WHO OFFENDS

Let us pray: Do we offend you God? Is your power and distance great enough to ignore our feble attempts to limit you by our understanding? You offer us all that you have, even to the point of dwelling among us in the flesh – and we are often unwilling or unable to hear your voice. What we do not understand we fear and what we fear most greatly we destroy. In offering your Holy One you risked everything to continue your covenant with us as you promised. Guide us in your ways that are not our ways and speak to us in thoughts that are not our thoughts. May your Word be among us as the truth which we cannot ignore – so that your Gospel may bring hope to the hopeless and love to loveless. We pray this in name of the Holy One of God, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

(SUNG) SUNDAY MORNING VERY BRIGHT – I READ YOUR BOOK BY
COLORED LIGHT THAT CAME IN THROUGH THE PRETTY
WINDOW PICTURE.

As I was sitting in my very crowded home “office” on Saturday morning and collecting my thoughts for the words which God might give me to speak – I was able to slip my not so worse for the wear surgically altered knee under the table we use for a desk and back up the chair against the 6 drawer standing bureau that are jammed into the “spare bedroom” since our home is in the misdt of a remodel. I’m told that many in this immediate situation would avoid the cluter and confusion of our living space – the reminiscent touch of college dorm life that comes with having one’s mattress and box-spring on the floor of the living room – and the activities of this remodel event like the plague and that the bedlam and crowding of the hallways and living spaces with other family “treasures” would drive them to distraction. Several people during this weeks long process have commented to me that I don’t seem to be anywhere near as distrubed as others might be. My guess is part of that has to do with growing up in a four bedroom one bath house with thirteen other individuals all of whom had their collections and possessions; and another part of it is that I’m basically a lot more “laid back” kind of guy in many aspects then many others including my partner, who is having a much more difficult remodel expereince than am I. As I stepped out into the hallways and picked up boxes of clothes to be taken to William Temple House and chachka’s to move into the great unknown of others lives, I was struck to ask what is this thing we call “church” that will gather us in from the distance of our private lives to share with others in community and fellowship? Why do we, who live in the most “unchurched” state in the union gather together to do church, or rather to be church? The collection of individuals and families who join together every Sunday to remember God’s promise to be with us whenever two or three of us gather in God’s name is one thing. In our liturgical and eucharistic gathering and sharing in the gifts of God for the people of God we are fed and nourished by Christ’s Body and Blood; and while this happens in the midst of the gathered community that sharing can also be deeply personal and private between ourselves and our God. What amazes me even more though is our commitment to the Church and to each other, which gathers us on a weekday afternoon to contribute to the feeding program; for a bible study meeting or a Saturday at 8:00 in the morning to make coffee, pour juice and set banquet hall table to reach out and offer them to the greater community in order to feed the hungry and share the good news of God’s love in our lives with those who deperately need to hear that message. We give of our time and our money for a good cause, whatever that cause may be in our communal life. The rasing of our consiciousness around our mission and ministry in the downtown neighborhood in which we find oursleves proclaiming God’s love to the world is important and difficult work. I commend those of you who have given of your time in working out the details of our mission and ministry – I ecnourge those of you who have not to find someone in parish leadership and share your thoughts and fears; feelings and concerns with them. Perhaps what is more important and glorifying to our God is the witness which the gathered community makes to say “we are the presence of God’s Body and Blood in the downtown south park blocks of Portland Oregon for the past One Hundred and forty five plus years and we are always looking to invite others into that community of witness. “To feed those that are hungry in body and spirit, and provide spritual comfort and heartfelt welcome”

(SUNG) I VISITED SOME HOUSES WHERE THEY SAID THAT YOU WERE
LIVING – AND THEY TALKED A LOT ABOUT YOU AND THEY
SPOKE ABOUT YOUR GIVING. THYE PASSED A BASKET
WITH SOME ENVELOPES, I JUST HAD TIME TO WRITE A
NOTE; AND ALL IT SAID WAS “I BELIEVE IN YOU.”

In our shared story with the Hebrew people we heard this morning from the final chapter of the Book of Joshua which is a piece of a unique and extensive history of the wandering period in the wilderness for God’s chosen people. This final chapter is a piece of Joshua’s farewell discourse and talks of the covenant ceremony at the holy place of Shechem and of Joshua’s death. God is depicted in this history as closely involved in the events described as a God of battles whose power is clearly manifested in the conquests and successes of the people of Israel. In our pericope from the book this morning several verses are combined to create a vision in which Josuah gathers all the people, the elders, heads of families, judges and officers of Israel from all of the tribes together at the Holy place of Shechem to remind them of their covenental promise and to seek their commitment to that promise once more before he dies. It is from this pericope, in the final sentence of the 15th verse that we encounter the phrase which has become familiar to us on plaques and wall hangings in Christian bookstores, “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Now I will just bet that as you listened to Choi (or Mic or Jean) this morning, you were struck by imagery and depiction of the author of the early letter to the Ephesians request that the believers “put on the whole armor of God.” I know that I was struck by it when I realised that in the epistle reading for the day all of the imagery and metaphor that speak to battle and forces of the evil one and the wiles of cosmic forces of darkness; the author encourages the faithful of Ephesus to put on their feet whatever will make them ready to proclaim the Gospel of peace – I’m sorry, say again – I didn’t hear very much of a Gospel proclaiming peace in that pericope. When we gathered in the sacristy after last Sunday’s services; I was thrilled and delighted to be reminded by Stephen that this weeks Gospel reading, was ONCE AGAIN – about Jesus’ disturbing message regarding the flesh and blood presence of our God among us. The mainline liberal protestant preaching sites and blogs which I visit on a pretty regular basis for insight and inspiration were all abuzz this week with the difficulty of finding ANYTHING more to say about the end of the sixth chapter of the author of John’s gospel, and with the challenge of addressing the author of Ephesian’s militaristic metaphor in inviting us to be strong in God and in the strength of God’s power. As difficult as that passage might be for some of my sister’s and brothers who will climb the pulpit today – I am grateful beyond description that I do not face the challenge of my brother priest’s who must address (or more probably will totally ignore) the lesson chosen for the Roman Catholic lectionary from Ephesians for today which speaks of “wives submitting themselves to their husbands.” If you think I’m going to near that, you can think again.

What I do find fascinating in the pericope from the Ephesian’s text is that “the armor” pieces which the writer identifies are, with the exception of the sword, all defensive weapon’s, to be used by the believer’s not in agression or military dominance; rather as defense against the spiritual forces of evil. The metaphor would certainly have spoken to the audience of it’s day (around 100 C.E.) which lived in the reality of the Roman Empire and it’s soldier’s, fully armed for their opression and control of the populace. How clever, for this author whom most scholars agree is of the “Pauline school” and not Paul himself, to use the common descriptors and images of the oppressive military regime and turn them into a description of the power of God to shield the faithful with salvation, righteousness, faith, truth, peace and the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God! The end of this letter speaks directly to those of us who have as a principle part of our ministry the preaching of God’s Good News. The challenges and rewards of Sunday after Sunday seeking out the kernal’s of God’s guidence hidden in the treasure of our Scriptures and seeking to apply its wisdom and insight for God’s people and God’s Church. The author writes, “Pray also for me, that I may be granted the right words when I speak, and may boldy and freely make known the the hudden purpose of the gospel…” The Rev. Dr. Linda Clader who is professor of Homiletics at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, CA wrote in the introduction to her book Voicing the Vision: Imagination and Prophetic Preaching, the following comment which I share with you, “Preaching is dangerous because it opens doors to the holy. Whether it occurs in the context of a eucharistic liturgy or a service of lessons and carols, we believe that somehow Christ is present in the Word proclaimed and that our preaching is part of that proclamation. Whether we are guest preachers in cathedrals or long-time pastors of small churches, we believe that somehow we are called to make God's ways known anew to this group of people at this time. And whether we speak in an informal vernacular or painstakingly craft a piece of poetry, we understand that the words we use are only a small part of the message our listeners receive, and that a large share of that message is entirely out of our control. We can be totally misunderstood,. We can touch someone's hot button and spend the rest of the week having to pour water on a brush fire. And sometimes we discover to our amazement that while we thought we were preaching a sermon hurriedly prepared or ill-conceived, one of our parishioners was hearing something life-changing. We can't make that happen and yet we understand that we have a responsibility to prepare and to act as if it might.”.

(SUNG) I VISITED YOUR HOUSE AGAIN, ON CHRISTMAS OR
THANKSGIVING – AND A BALDED MAN SAID YOU WERE
DEAD, BUT THE HOUSE WOULD GO ON LIVING. HE RECITED
POETRY, AND AS HE SAW ME STAND TO LEAVE – HE SHOOK
HIS HEAD AND SAID I’D NEVER FIND YOU.

So my sisters and brothers we reach - for the fifth Sunday in a row - the author of John’s account of the Good News of God in Christ’s 6th Chapter and the discourse on the “Bread of Life”. I would also point out that we are on page 5 of my sermon text and my sermon’s are rarely longer than 5 typewritten pages in 12 point font at space and a half per line. So, I have successfully avoided having to preach on this text for which I have absolutely nothing left to say. Seriously though, in this particular visit the lectionary places the emphasis on Jesus’ question to the twelve after the other disciples have decided that the message which is being taught to difficult and they turn away from following the Nazarene carpenter’s son. Jesus turns to them and asks, “Do you also wish to go away?” Who among us at one time or another, faced with difficulties or heartbreaks, grief or burden’s has not wanted to say “yes, I do wish to go away; this is too hard, it is just more than I can bear.” Peter, in one of the brief shining moments of his ministry responds not as “ever Peter” and has the grace, and strength and blessing to respond “Lord, to whom can we go?” I can almost hear couched in that simple response the sub-text in Peter’s mind “we might not know where we’re headed, when we’ll get there or what the ending point will look like; but we’ve come this far and we ain’t turnin’ back now.” The miracle of our relationship with this carpenter’s son is that we are free to go away. God, in Christ loves us so much and so unconditionally that we are free to leave whenever we choose. We are free to stop following and Jesus will never stop loving, giving, healing and protecting, because of the covenant God made with God’s people and because of the truth revealed in Peter’s faith declaration, “You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Amen.

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

2009-08-22T15:38:00.000-07:00

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 15) – Year B (RCL) 2009
1 Kings 2: 10 – 12, 3: 3 – 14; Psalm 111; Ephesians 5: 15 – 20; John 6: 51 – 58
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, August 16, 2009

HOLY GIFTS FOR HOLY PEOPLE

Let us pray: Saviour Jesus, we know you in incarnate and eucharistic revelation. In the obscure and distant “facts” of your earthly presence among us, and in the intimate and immediate gifts of your body and blood which we share week after week. When we think we have you all figured out – you enter our hearts and our souls to upset our routine and remind us of your mystery. Fill our minds with your Word, and our bodies with your body. Feed us with your holy gifts that we might be worthy to be your holy people. Comfort us with your truth – and shock us with your mystery that we might become all that you deign for us to be. Amen.

(SUNG) GIVE US A SIGN, THAT WE MIGHT BELIEVE IN YOU – MOSES
GAVE US MANNA FROM THE SKY.
LOOK BEYOND THE BREAD YOU EAT – SEE YOUR SAVIOUR
AND YOUR GOD. LOOK BEYOND THE CUP YOU DRINK – SEE
GOD’S LOVE POURED OUT AS BLOOD.

I have to begin my remarks this morning by expressing my frustration at the compiler’s of the Revised Common Lectionary. We follow that prescribed lectionary which determines the sequence of readings from the Hebrew testament, the songs or Psalms of the people of Israel, the letters or teachings directed to the earliest Christian communities forming in the first and second centuries of the common era (more commonly called the epistles) and the narration of the events and teachings of Jesus the Christ as handed down in the four canonical Gospels. My difficulty with the readings chosen for this Sunday, the eleventh after Pentecost (Proper 15) of Year B is that we differ very little from the stories as we heard them presented last Sunday – and yes, even though we were on Vacation, Michael & I attended the 8:15 Sung Eucharist (Rite 1 I might add, complete with the “prayer of humble access”) at Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish in Colorado Springs, CO. If you can remember ALL that way back – we read from the telling of the Good News by the author of John’s account about the events just after the feeding of the five thousand with five barley loaves and two fish when Jesus makes the first of the “I Am” statements refering to himself as “the bread of life”. Well, thank you very much – but we heard all that last week! Now, we are given by those responsible for the lectionary this eight verse pericope which tacks onto the ending of that discourse about eating of the body and drinking of the blood. Couldn’t we be a bit more efficent and just have included these verses last week? Why do we have to have two Sunday’s in a row where we foucs on this difficult image of eating flesh and drinking blood? Why does the author of this Gospel have to pound it out so mercilessly? Eat my body, drink my blood, yes we get it already.

Now you, the small yet faithful attendees of this urban downtown Episcopal Parish did not hear from me last Sunday, yet I trust that Palmer wrote about the bread of life and I’m sure you do not need to be reminded just a short seven days later what he felt that “I Am” statement of Jesus has to say to us who gather in Jesus’ name and share the bread and wine each Sunday. Even though I was not your preacher last week, I can assure you that I would have writen a brilliant sermon for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost and it’s basic thrust would have been that Jesus as “the bread of life” is not sliced white wonder bread that helps build strong bodies twelve ways. Sitting so smugly in the pew last Sunday morning, I was just thrilled that I wouldn’t have to preach, yet again on the Author of John’s text that can be difficult for anyone to hear. I suppose that I could have just “borrowed” the sermon I heard last Sunday and delivered it to you this morning – [and I always find that to be troublesome since God’s spirit is trying to say something through a preacher’s remarks which are specific for the particular audience to which they are written.] No, it would appear that we will have to probe deeper into these readings this morning and find out what God is trying to convey in this most disturbing of metaphors about eating flesh and drinking blood, and that is no easy task. Thank you, Holy Spirit!

(SUNG) I AM THE BREAD WHICH FROM THE HEAVENS CAME, THOSE
WHO EAT THIS BREAD WILL NEVER DIE.
LOOK BEYOND THE BREAD YOU EAT – SEE YOUR SAVIOUR
AND YOUR GOD. LOOK BEYOND THE CUP YOU DRINK – SEE
GOD’S LOVE POURED OUT AS BLOOD.

Most of us who have been part of this liturgical tradition of a eucharistic centered community have been able to “desensitize” our ears and understandings about this eating of flesh and drinking of blood – and the Church helps us to do this by using in our weekly commemoration of Christ’s memorial redemptive act the slight twist of the language which the synoptic writers left us “Take this all of you and eat it, this is my body given for you.” I don’t know about you, but for me it is a bit more tolerable to contemplate on the eucharist as Christ’s “body” than it is to focus on it being “the flesh of the Son of Man.” The Greek, however, in this 6th Chapter of the author of John’s account is “sarx” which is definitely translated as “flesh” and not the Greek “soma” which is translated as body. One of my sermon preparation resources also notices another surprise in the Greek text in this chapter and that is the word translated as “eat”. The Greek for the word in this discourse changes from the generic polite word for eating, “phage” to the much more coarse and earthy Greek word “trogan” which is perhaps better translated as “munch” or “gnaw” or “gulp”. So here we can translate as “those who munch on my flesh and gulp of my blood abide in me and I in them.” No wonder the hearer’s of this discourse are shocked and confused. Especially in a society where what was eaten and it’s level of purity and cleanliness was of paramount importance. No observant Jew would ever think of allowing human flesh and blood to pass their lips. We are told that many turned away and no longer followed after these events.

Part of the reason for the use of the more gutteral and earthy words of Jesus around munching of flesh and drinking of blood in this author’s account might have to do with several early Christian heresy’s with which the Gospel’s audience would have been familiar. Most notably “docetism” and “gnosticism” which among other things discounted the human sufferings and death of the divine Son of God. The author of John’s account might have intentionally used this more human and earthy wording in the bread of life discourse to point up the truth that Jesus of Nazareth – the son of God, was also human and experienced all of the fleshly aspects of that humanity. Also, we should remember that way back in the prolouge to this Gospel account the author introduces Jesus as “the Word became flesh”. In this narrative event, Jesus points up that flesh and offer’s the followers this startling and shocking discourse about the eucharistic gifts which will be left as a memorial of his presence among us. Part of this, I think, also has contributed to the more protestant and evangelical branches of the Church retreating from Eucharistic centered worship and focusing more on the Word of God and not the Flesh of God.

(SUNG) THE BREAD I GIVE YOU WILL BE MY VERY FLESH, MY
BLOOD WILL TRULY BE YOUR DRINK.
THIS MAN SPEAKS HARSHLY, WHO CAN LISTEN TO HIS
WORDS, WE WILL NO LONGER FOLLOW HIM. LOOK BEYOND
THE BREAD YOU EAT, SEE YOUR SAVIOUR AND YOUR GOD.
LOOK BEYOND THE CUP YOU DRINK, SEE GOD’S LOVE
POURED OUT AS BLOOD.

So, where does that leave us, those of us who gather around this table each Sunday and share gifts of bread and wine, gifts of flesh and blood – holy gifts for holy people? We in the Catholic tradition of the Church who – although we do not hold to the understanding of transubstantiation in our eucharistic sacrifice, do hold to the understanding of consubstantiation; that in some unkown and mysterious way, through the actions of my hands and the function of our community Jesus become present to us in our bread and wine as body and blood given for the world God has made? We enter in this liturgical realm, deep theological mystery. We recall the events of the life, death and resurrection – the incarnation – of our God made flesh among us, both in the last supper narratives of the synoptic Gospels and in this earthy and gutsy retelling of the bread of life narrative in the fourth Gospel.

Folks we all come to this table loaded down with our understandings of what happens in this sacred mystery which we share each week; of what we have been taught to believe about this sacrament of God’s body and blood. I am not here to tell you what you “must” believe about this sacred moment in your week. That is one of the true graces of the “via media” in Anglican thought and theology. I would point out that if you question what the Church thinks about this gift of God for the people of God, there are no less than nine Eucharistic Prayer in our Prayer Book and Supplemental Liturgical materials which contain the details and understandings of Eucharistic Theology in nine different and wonderful ways – and even they cannot contain the totality of the grace and mystery present in events they narrate. The moment I think I understand what happens in the Eucharist, when I think I “know” what this Eucharist is all about – then I am in big trouble. Then the word of God fills my heart and my head with the nonsensical nature of eating flesh and drinking blood, of gifts given for the life of the world, of holy gifts for holy people of which I am totally unworthy of taking by any act of my own doing.

(SUNG) YOU MY DISCIPLES, WILL YOU ALSO LEAVE – LORD TO
WHOM CAN WE GO? LOOK BEYOND THE BREAD YOU EAT

SEE YOUR SAVIOUR AND YOUR GOD. LOOK BEYOND THE CUP
YOU DRINK, SEE GOD’S LOVE POURED OUT AS BLOOD.

When we affirm our “yes”, our “so be it”, or “so I believe” – our AMEN to the reception of the Body and Blood of Christ we continue the Church’s memorial commemoration of that act of Eucharist or thanksgiving which Jesus handed down to us; and we take that bread which is Body or Flesh and that common cup which is lifeblood for the Body of Christ, the Church and we are what we eat.

Amen

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

2009-07-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

Deacon Ken was the preacher this morning - and I thank him for that gift.

I will be on Vacation for the next two weeks (Ninth and Tenth Sundays after Pentecost) and so will not be posting sermons to this blog until Sunday, August 16 2009.

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

2009-07-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost – Year B (RCL) Proper 11, 2009
Jeremiah 23: 1 – 6; Psalm 23; Ephesians 2: 11 – 22; Mark 6: 30 – 34, 53 – 56
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, July 19, 2009

VACATION IN GENNESARET

Let us pray: Restful God, in Jesus you called the disciples away from their busy labors in order to rest with you in the wilderness. You pulled your followers out of the tug and pull of the demands of ministry and led them into a remote place where they might find rest and restoration. Help us to realize that we do not run the world, that it is not within our power to make history turn out right, or to fix all that is wrong with ourselves and others. Help us, God, to remember that you are God and we are not. Give us the grace to enjoy your promised rest, this day and always. Amen.

(SUNG) COME FOLLOW ME, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST.

Here’s the first piece of Good News, or Gospel this morning. General Convention has concluded and the sky has not fallen, nor have the consituent members of the Anglican Communion risen up and marched off with the Archbishop of Canterbury to declare the American Church expelled. The secular and sensationalist press may want to entice readers and listeners by reducing detailed and carefully crafted legislation down to catchy headlines and sintilating sound bytes. I, however, want to read the two General Convention Resolutions that have been attracting all of the attention exactly as they were amended and approved by overwhelming majorities in both of the Houses of our bi-cameral system of governing that met in Anaheim, CA for the past two weeks. I believe that it is essential to our community to hear exactly what was discussed, prayed over, debated, prayed over, resolved, prayed over and approved by the House of Bishops by 70% majority vote and the House of Deputies by 72% during the meeting of the 76th General Convention of The Episcopal Church: First is Resolution D-205 dealing with the qualifications required for candidates to be considered for ordination in our Church – that Resolution reads as follows:

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That the 76th General Convention reaffirm the continued participation of The Episcopal Church as a constituent member of the Anglican Communion; give thanks for the work of the bishops at the Lambeth Conference of 2008; reaffirm the abiding commitment of The Episcopal Church to the fellowship of churches that constitute the Anglican Communion and seek to live into the highest degree of communion possible; and be it further

Resolved, That the 76th General Convention encourage dioceses, congregations, and members of The Episcopal Church to participate to the fullest extent possible in the many instruments, networks and relationships of the Anglican Communion; and be it further
Resolved, That the 76th General Convention reaffirm its financial commitment to the Anglican Communion and pledge to participate fully in the Inter-Anglican Budget; and be it further
Resolved, That the 76th General Convention affirm the value of "listening to the experience of homosexual persons," as called for by the Lambeth Conferences of 1978, 1988, and 1998, and acknowledge that through our own listening the General Convention has come to recognize that the baptized membership of The Episcopal Church includes same-sex couples living in lifelong committed relationships "characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enables those in such relationships to see in each other the image of God" (2000-D039); and be it further
Resolved, That the 76th General Convention recognize that gay and lesbian persons who are part of such relationships have responded to God's call and have exercised various ministries in and on behalf of God's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and are currently doing so in our midst; and be it further
Resolved, That the 76th General Convention affirm that God has called and may call such individuals, to any ordained ministry in The Episcopal Church,; and that God's call to the ordained ministry in The Episcopal Church is a mystery which the Church attempts to discern for all people through our discernment processes acting in accordance with the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church; and be it further

Resolved, That the 76th General Convention acknowledge that members of The Episcopal Church as of the Anglican Communion, based on careful study of the Holy Scriptures, and in light of tradition and reason, are not of one mind, and Christians of good conscience disagree about some of these matters.

Resolution C056 that deals with the participation of all of the baptized in all of the sacraments; carried by a 2/3 majority in both orders of the House of Deptuies and by the same majority in the House of Bishops. It reads as follows:

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, that the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, in consultation with the House of Bishops Theology Committee, collect and develop theological resources and liturgies of blessing for same-gender holy unions, to be presented to the 77th General Convention for formal consideration, and be it further

Resolved, that the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, in consultation with the House of Bishops Theology Committee, devise an open process for the conduct of its work in this matter, inviting participation from dioceses, congregations, and individuals who are or have already engaged in the study or design of such rites throughout the Anglican Communion, and be it further

Resolved, that all bishops, noting particularly those in dioceses within civil jurisdictions where same-gender marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships are legal, may provide generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this Church; and be it further

Resolved, that honoring the theological diversity of this Church, no bishop or other member of the clergy shall be compelled to authorize or officiate at such liturgies, and be it further

Resolved, that the Anglican Consultative Council be invited to conversation regarding this resolution and the work that proceeds from it, together with other churches in the Anglican Communion engaged in similar processes.

I am personally struck this morning by a creeping sense of delight and anticipation of my upcoming journey to Colorado and time to be spent with my birth family in “reunion”. Next Sunday the sermon will be delivered by our hard-working and dedicated Deacon. The following Sunday and the Sunday after that will be covered by Supply clergy as I spend my time and energy navigating the challenges and blessings of 8 of my siblings; their spouses, children and grandchildren in the beauty of the Rocky mountains and against the background of the Garden of the Gods. I think it wonderful then, that today’s Gospel text refers to Jesus and the disciples work in and around Galilee; and the practical matter of vacation.

We find ourselves this morning in the beauty and warmth of God’s creation surrounded by the sunlight and warm breezes of the Pacific Northwest summer. As we gather in that relaxed atmosphere of our church family during that time of year – I’m struck by the appropriateness of our pericope taken from the author of Mark’s telling of the Good News of God in Christ. In this story, which is the third in a row taken from that author’s sixth chapter; Jesus welcomes the twelve back from their missions of ministry and invites them into vacation time. That is not exactly the term which the author uses – and the intention is exactly the same. Jesus, we are told, hears the stories of the follower’s adventures in ministry – and then invites them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” We are told that many were coming and going about them and they had no leisure even to eat.

How well we know that busyness and activity in our lives. Our work is so pressing that we stay at our desks and gulp down a sandwhich, if we’re lucky, and continue on with the important tasks that we must accomplish from our “to do” lists. It is our human nature to measure our importance by our degree of “busyness”. I’d be glad to find sometime to talk with you – let me check my calendar. The reality of our lives is that our time beomes “filled up” with what we have to acomplish; with “things” which we believe will have great impact on our success or lack thereof in our careers or our social lives. Jesus knows all of this – our tendencies to busy ourselves and so loose focus on who is in charge, after all; to forget that the earth will continue to revolve in the solar system, not because of what we do which allows it too – rather because of what God allows to continue in spite of our fumbling attempts to control all which comes under our pervue.

(SUNG) COME FOLLOW ME, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST.

I find it quite telling that the first thing which Jesus has the disciples do after their first successful “job” which has been assigned – is to take a break, to intentionally withdraw from the busyness of the crowds and the activity of their surroundings and “rest a while.” It is a model which Jesus has given to them previously – by withdrawing to pray; and which will be given to them again when withdrawl is sought to prepare for crucifixion, death and resurrection. Always, it seems, Jesus commands us to take time away from everything and “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” That is a part of what we do, every Sunday when we gather in Jesus’ name to retreat from the busyness of our week and receive nurishment and sustenance to go out and continue the work which we are given to do.

So, if someone asks you what the sermon was about at Church this week, tell them it was about hearing the exact wording of the controversial resolutions out of our General Convention and also about the divine command to take a vacation. If you haven’t taken your vacation yet this summer, I wish you refreshment, renewal and rest. If you have taken your week or two – remember that in most places in this world the average vacation is six weeks in length – so perhaps it is time to think about what the next “deserted place” where you can rest and renew will be. When the good old Protestant work ethic which tugs at your psyche and says “the only way that this is going to get done correctly is if you do it – and do it now” – remember that God is in charge and that it is not our responsibility keep the earth rotating on its axis; or in the words of a prayer in the New Zealand prayerbook “What has been done, has been done. What has not been done, has not been done. Let it be.” Sabbath time is sacred time – God has declared that to be true. In the first story of our realtionship with God we are told that God – yes, even God took time away to rest. Jesus invites us into vacation time today – enjoy your time away in a deserted place all by yourselves and rest awhile.

(SUNG) COME FOLLOW ME, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST.

Amen.

Sixth Sunday After Pentecost - My "Come to Jesus" Sermon

2009-07-12T18:12:00.000-07:00

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 10 (RCL) Year B 2009
Amos 7: 7 – 15; Psalm 85: 8 – 13; Ephesians 1: 3 – 14; Mark 6: 14 – 29
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, July 12, 2009

WHO WILL WE BE – HOW WILL WE BECOME

Let us pray: God of our dreams and visions, help us to claim our ministry in this world. When we are frightened, give us direction; when we are stagnant urge us on. Help us to understand all that you have in store for us as we work to bring about the coming of your Kindom among us. Grant that we might always hear your voice in all that we proclaim in your holy name. Assure us that when we live out your vision for our lives you will be with us from beginning to end. Amen

(7:45 Service) I began with a story "telling on myself" about how I left the manuscript for my sermon at home and had to rush back, pick it up and drive back to the Church. I found a parking spot close to the front of the church and was begining to think I had "made it, without anyone noticing"; when suddenly as I rounded the corner to slip in the side entrance I came face to face with my Sr. Warden who must have wondered why I was so late in arriving for services as I was 7:40 AM!

(10:00 Service) I will climb up into the usually un-used pulpit and allow a few moments of light exchange. I will use my "blinking glassess" for some levity and then climb down off the pulpit and return to the usual area where I deliver my sermon.

Now that I have gained your attention – I wonder how many of you (by a show of hands) are aware that something was “up” this morning at St. Stephen’s and that a concerted effort begins to covey some important information about the future of this dynamic and special faith community? Well for those of you who were not aware; that is in fact, what my remarks this morning are going to be pointed toward. I don’t mean to imply that the scripture readings assigned for this Sixth Sunday after Pentecost are unimportant; or that I might not have some very wise and deeply relevant insights about them; only that we are not going to use our time this morning for that reflection because the Vestry and leadership of St. Stephen’s – the downtown Episcopal presence in Portland, OR for the past 146 years – has asked me to address some issues this morning that directly affect the future of this place and how we will continue to live out that presence and in what ways we need to re-fashion ourselves as the people of St. Stephen’s.

I’d like to start by sharing with you my own personal story about this place and what it has meant to me over the years. I arrived in Oregon in 1997 to begin a new relationship and a new life with my partner and my best friend, Michael. It was a pretty gusty move since he was the only person I knew – and I was leaving family, friends and a loving faith community that was more and more convincing me that I needed to seriously consider rekindling a long slumbering call to ordained ministry as a Priest in God’s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Folks back home in the Diocese of Newark were pretty skeptical of my ability to do that in the Diocese of Oregon since the then Bishop was not supportive of LGBT folks being considered in that capacity. Then, I heard about the faith community of St. Stephen’s in downtown Portland and an ordination of an openly Gay male that happened in that parish; although the then Bishop did not participate in the ordination. That sounded like the kind of place where I could find hope for my journey. Next thing I knew was that St. Stephen’s had called The Rev. Larry Falkowski as their rector. Larry was an acquaintance of mine from the Diocese of Newark and I knew that he was supportive of the ministry of the Oasis of which I had been a member of the Board of Directors. So perhaps this community was one where I could find support. Michael and I found St. Michael and All Angels as a Church home and yet I knew that my relationship to St. Stephen’s was not over. Deep down in the core of my being (where we “know” things a much deeper level) I was sure that my link to the people and parish on the corner of 13th and Clay was still unfolding. Sure enough just about a year ago to this day – I began a conversation with the Search Committee that resulted in my being called as the Priest-in-charge of a Parish community that had dealt over the past five years with a plan for an 18 story high rise housing and church complex fully ready to break ground that was then brought to a grinding halt by a Bishop who was (well let’s just leave it at that); A visionary rector who had a massive stroke and eventually reluctantly retired; an embezzlement of a hundred thousand plus dollars – and despite all of that was still living out its ministry to God and the people of the downtown Portland community. Now I stand at the helm of this community and invite each and every one of you (present here this morning or not) to remember your St. Stephen’s story and how you came to discover what a wonderful place it was for you and yours. In that memory I invite you into a process wherein we can refocus and renew our vision of who we are as the people of God in a downtown urban Parish – and what God is calling us to do with our ministry and our resources for the next chapter in the history of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish. I truly believe that God has put me and each and every one of us in this place at this time to do the work that we are called to do, supported by each other to vision the next great thing for our ministry as baptized followers of the One we claim as our Savior and friend – Jesus the Christ.

(SUNG) WE CAN DO WHATEVER, WE WANT TO DO WHEREVER WE
WANT TO GO – IT’S UP TO US!

As most of you are aware we have been operating since our Annual Meeting this year from a budget that has a $60,000 gap in it. Tracking our income and expenses for the first six months of that budget does not indicate that gap closing and, in fact, it may be widening. At the present rate of expenditures the parish will effectively have spent through all of its reserves by the end of this fiscal year. While we remain in conversation with possible partners in a building project the feasibility of that project reaching fulfillment within the next year or two is little to none. The Building Operations Committee, under the faithful leadership of Father Palmer Pardington continues to seek out any and all possibilities for development; but that vision can no longer be the driving force for the mission and ministry of this Parish Community. We need to take the time to reevaluate our priorities; and to begin a conversation with our leadership and each other about who and what we will be as we move into the call of the Holy Spirit to bring to our Church and our neighborhood a welcome and a ministry of providing for the spiritual and physical hunger of all of God’s people within our reach.

The Vestry has been working and praying over the past six months about how we might engage the community in this work of envisioning our commitment to the Church and each other. After our service, at the coffee hour, you are welcome to talk with them and with each other about how we will move forward in this process. I’m going to briefly outline it for you now. Beginning this week small groups facilitated by Fran Anguilo, Jeanne Armstrong, Tom Bartlett, Mic Fleming, Sue Rossiter, Bob Tayler, and Mike Zula will set up time for 2 meetings that will help the groups to answer several questions that will lead to discernment of the mission and ministry that the community holds in deepest value. As a first step in this important work, I will call those individuals forward later in our service and “commission” them for the invaluable work on which they embark; as a community we will voice our support of them and the work they call us to. In August those small groups will reconvene and from the consensus of the discernment work will vision a way to implement that discernment into a workable plan of action. After those meetings are complete the leaders will gather with the Vestry and craft a plan of action that will be written with specific goals and actions and shared with the whole community at the end of September. After that we will be on our way to living out the mission and ministry of St. Stephen’s with a renewed energy and enthusiasm and a vision for our place in God’s Kindom essential to the people of downtown Portland and in cooperation with the greater Diocese and Episcopal Church. The details of this work lie in the hands of each and every one of us who are members and/or supporters of the work of God in this place; and I know that I speak for the vestry, staff and clergy when I say that with full confidence in God’s grace we will write this new chapter in our Parish’s history and hand our work over to the next generation of believers to continue God’s message of radical welcome to all who are hungry.

(SUNG) WE CAN DO WHATEVER, WE WANT TO DO WHEREVER WE
WANT TO GO – IT’S UP TO US!

US Anthropologist and faithful Episcopalian Margaret Mead is credited with the following “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Stirred by those words that have inspired generations of optimists, we believe that our future lies in our hands. God would ask of us as creatures made in the very image and likeness of our Creator – that we answer the call to carry out the plan of salvation by contributing our part in cooperation with others who vision a world far better than the one we have been given. Ours is an age of great promise and great challenge. Visionary leaders throughout our human history have encouraged and cajoled us to become all that we dream we can be; and the way toward that goal for the majority of us in Christian community is through the work of the Body of Christ, the Church. That work which has been lived out on the corner of 13th Avenue and Clay Street in downtown Portland, OR since 1870 is part of the very fabric of who we are and what we do – and so the call that I have been charged with giving you this morning is really a continuation of the work of God done on God’s behalf by countless others who have come before us and who knows how many others that are just waiting to join us; we simply have to figure out how to invite them in. I want to close my remarks this morning by “borrowing” a phrase that my wise Sr. Warden shared with Deacon Ken and myself at dinner earlier last week. Mic was talking about another search process that he was part of in the Diocese of California – but I think it fits perfectly with the work we will do together in the next months and so I offer it to you; “God knows what the ministry of St. Stephen’s will look like going forward; its only up to us to figure out what God already knows!” Let the Church, the Body of Christ, give me an Amen!

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 9

2009-07-08T15:22:00.000-07:00

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 9 – Year B (RCL) 2009
Ezekiel 2: 1 – 5; Psalm 123; 2 Corinthians 12: 2 – 10; Mark 6: 1 – 13
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, July 5, 2009

HOME COMING AND HOME LEAVING

Let us pray: Jesus we look to welcome you into our lives and into our hearts. How often we neglect to invite you into the ordinary and perhaps mundane moments of our days and nights. What is there in the average day that God would want to participate in with me? We leave our prayer and adoration for you here in your house and neglect to bring it with us into our houses. You took upon you our nature and by so doing sanctified humanity and placed it into a higher realm. Help us to recognize you in all of our activities and actions – keep us mindful of your call to spread your good news not just in this place on Sunday, but also in everyplace on every day. Amen.

(SUNG) IN MY LITTLE TOWN, I GREW UP BELIEVING
GOD KEEPS HIS EYE ON US ALL
AND HE USED TO LEAN UPON ME WHEN I PLEDGED
ALLEGIANCE TO THE WALL.
LORD I RECALL
IN MY LITTLE TOWN.

How many of you here today were born and raised in this town? That probably closely represents represents what is true for the majority of of natural born American citizens. According to Census Bureau statistics only 60 percent of Americans still live in the State in which they were born – and those figures change dramatically when one looks at individual states or cities. For example, in “melting pot” places like the borough of Queens, in NY and the city of Los Angeles, in California – less than half of the residents were born in-state. For individuals living in Colorado and Arizona only one in three people were born there and in Nevada whose Los Vegas metropolitan area is the fastest growing in the nation, that number of natives still living in their hometown drops to one in five. Our world is markedly different from perhaps that of our parents, and certainly from that of our Grandparents. Those of us who grew up with the “Leave it to Beaver” image of family and home and neighborhood have had to change our perceptions of all of those social structures, and as for the realiity of that portrayal, I know that my mother never cooked dinner in high heels and pearls!

What we encounter as part of the Gospel message this morning in the continuation of the author of Mark’s account is the story of the return of the local boy made good who is, nonetheless, shunned by those who knew him best. Jesus, after performing great signs of power and witness in the regions of both the Hebrews and of the Gentiles, visits Nazareth his hometown. I think that part of the reason why this Gospel story resonates with us is because it presents a pretty universal human experience that most, if not all of us have had to deal with in our lives. “Just who does he think he is?” “I knew her back when she was a snot nosed little kid running around in diapers.” The words of Thomas Wolfe “you can’t go home again” – seem to ring loudly in this episode from Jesus’ life and ministry in Nazareth of Galilee. Jesus comes back to the hometown crowd leading the twelve disciples and begins to preach in the temple. Having had no “formal” instruction, the fact that Jesus has “disciples” marks him as a Rabbi, and so it is natural for the Rabbi to preach to the gathered community at the Sabbath gathering. We are told that “many who heard him were astounded.” Most who heard this preaching and teaching would have known that Jesus had not trained at the feet of any rabbi and so, we are told, come these remarks: “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands!” Word would surely have spread about the Gerasene demoniac, the hemmoraging woman and the daughter of Jarius; incredible deeds of power done through Jesus’ hands via the faith of those who believed.

(SUNG) AND AFTER IT RAINS THERE’S A RAINBOW
AND ALL OF THE COLORS ARE BLACK,
IT’S NOT THAT THE COLORS AREN’T THERE,
IT’S JUST IMAGINATION THEY LACK
EVERYTHINGS THE SAME BACK – IN MY LITTLE TOWN

Jesus’ power is manifest in the hearts and minds and bodies of those who believe. Is it that Jesus cannot work signs of power in those who do not believe – or just that Jesus does not wish to expend valuable time and energy with those who are unable or unwilling to take the leap of faith necessary to accept the kindom of God which is at hand in the life, death and resurrection of the radical rabbi from Nazareth? I’m sure that greater theological minds than mine have probed this question and posited answers, and I invite you to search them out if you truly need to have answers laid out for you. As with most of the questions which the ministry and mystery of Jesus raises for us – the spiritual benefit lies not in someone else’s answer, however learned it might be. The thoughts and ruminations of our spiritual ancestors in matters theological and Christological are of value only in as much as we are able to incoporate them into our own understanding of the ministry of the local Nazareth rabbi who changed the face of the known world by incarnating the power of the God who created it. When Jesus visits the old hometown and is rejected by those who in their smugness are unable to vision anything other than the carpenter son of Mary – the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon; Jesus allows them their disbelief and continues on with the ministry which will witness to the coming of the kindom of God among them. This was not a Gospel story which was read very often in the Church of my youth. Part of the reason for that is the Roman Church’s belief in the perpetual viginity of the mother of Jesus. I always found it interesting that Good Sisters of St. John the Baptist could take this pericope from the Gospel of Mark and explain that the author was referring to the “figurative” rather than the “literal” wording around Jesus’ brothers and sisters; and that they also could be translated as “cousins”. I said I found it interesting, I didn’t say that I found it plausible, and my limited knowledge of classical Greek does not allow that word to be translated as “cousin”.

Jesus’ response to those who cannot afford him consideration past their knowledge of his questionable parentage from the un-wed teenaged Mary and his early trade as the carpenter’s apprentice of Joseph is, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and their own house.” The author goes on to tell us that Jesus was unable do deeds of any power there – except to lay hands on a few sick people and cure them. Jesus is amazed at their unbelief, we are told. I think we all can share in that experience of being discounted based solely on circumstances of our births, rather than celebrated for the aptitudes and talents with which we have been gifted by the God who loves us all as children. Many of us share in the pain of being told that we aren’t enough, based on our gender, race, nationality, economic status, class or orientation. Jesus’ response to that pain is to move on and carry the message to those who will be willing to hear it and work toward the coming of the Kindom of God among them.

(SUNG) IN MY LITTLE TOWN, I NEVER MEANT NOTHING,
I WAS JUST MY FATHER’S SON.
SAVING MY MONEY, DREAMING OF GLORY
TWITCHING LIKE THE FINGER ON THE TRIGGER OF
A GUN.

Where do we suppose might be the hometown for Jesus were we gifted by the presence of the Word made flesh among us in mortal body today? I would like to think and believe that the Church would be Jesus’ hometown today. Certainly in the Church Jesus would feel comfortable and not be limited by perceptions of external circumstances limiting the power of God among us. However, if we are honest with ourselves would Jesus be welcomed in the Church of the 21st Century? Would Jesus recognize that the work we were called to do as apostles and disciples of the Christ is being lived out in the ministry of the Church? I think that the report card on that would be mixed. Yes, in some places in the Church good and right work is being done in the name of the One we claim as our leader – as the head of our Church and the author of our salvation. In many other places Jesus would be challenged to recognize the work of God in our religious institutions. “See how they love each other” was a comment often spoken about the believers in the early years of the Church. I wonder how many non Christians would look at the Church today an utter that comment? As we bicker and blame each other, as we question each other’s orthodoxy and judge each others beliefs, I think that Jesus would find it hard to settle in our Church and make it hometown base. We are called to make the Church the example of love and welcome which Jesus failed to find in the hometown synagogue in Nazareth. We need to be a place where Jesus can work mighty deeds of power because of our faith in God and in each other. We will always be challenged in the Church to live out the Gospel message that we proclaim with integrity and faithfilled witness. The Church is the Body of Christ in our own age giving witness to the ministry of God among us – and we are human and will fall short of the mark of perfection which is our aim. Sin is a reality in our lives and in our Church. God has continued to raise up prophets for the Church just as God has done in ages past from our religious roots with the people of Israel as we heard in the calling of the prophet Ezekiel, to the gift of the prophetic ministry of the Christ, to the present day. Who those prophets are may be different for each of us in our own vision of the Church – and who they are for me are such stirring and challenging voices as Barbara Brown Taylor, Desmond Tutu, Oscar Romero, William Sloan Coffin, John O’Donohue, John Shelby Spong and Bono. Each of us needs to take prophetic responsibility for our piece of the Church to do all in our power to live out the call to discipleship and make God’s Church a place where all are able to see the hand of God guiding the hands of all of God’s children in working toward making in reality the kindom come among us.

Amen.

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 8

2009-07-08T15:19:00.000-07:00

Having just returned from the National Episcopal/Lutheran Campus Ministry Conference in Chicago, IL - I had this Sunday "off" and The Rev. William North (Associate Clergy) presided and preached!

Third Sunday after Pentecost

2009-07-08T15:16:00.000-07:00

Third Sunday after Pentecost – Year B, Proper 7 (RCL) 2009
Job 38: 1 – 11; Psalm 107: 1 – 3, 23 – 32; 2nd Corinthians 6: 1 – 13; Mark 4: 35 – 41
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, June 21, 2009

The Faith of the Mustard Seed vs. the Fear of the Unknown

In the name of the God who calls out from the whirlwind of our deepest ignorance’s and asks “where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth”? In the name of the God who calls the Apostle Paul with the assurance; “At an acceptable time I have listened to you and on a day of salvation I have helped you”. In the name of the God who calms the ferocious storm and asks; “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” In the name of the God who speaks through us, the truth. Amen.

(SUNG) FEAR NOT, FEAR NOT,
FEAR NOT, FEAR NOT.

Some of the earliest Christians adopted a simple drawing of a boat with a cross for a mast as the symbol of the Church. In an age of persecutions from the outside and controversy and conflict on the inside, in their experience, the emerging church must have seemed like a boat on a storm-tossed sea. Recalling the story of Jesus' calming of the sea, like those first disciples in the boat, the early Christians must have joined in their desperate prayer, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"

Little has changed in the intervening years. The winds of change and the waters of chaos continue to beat hard on the worldwide church and the people of faith. People of Faith are still being martyred in shocking numbers in tribal, ethnic, and religious wars around the world. At home, the church is fiercely divided around issues of authority, liturgy, sexuality, and cultural diversity, so that deputies to each successive General Convention arrive with feelings of foreboding as they look to the business before them with suspicious eyes, preparing to build alliances of power to bolster their respective sides. Today, the prayer of many in the church is: "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"

Our private lives are not spared stress and storm as our individual little boats are tossed about by the waves of global economic uncertainty and change, planetary devastation and destruction from the abuse of our natural resources; collapse of order and civility due to oppressive political regimes; or the ravages of war, divorce, sickness, and death. Hardly a week goes by that we do not face the fearsome realities of these events, either impacting us personally or our neighbors or our friends in the church, and nightly the troublesome images of television news intrude into our homes from the larger world. "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"

In today's Gospel according to the author of Mark’s account, Jesus calms the wind and the waves and says to the tense disciples, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" I have no doubt that Jesus surely intended the link between faith and fear. The opposite of faith is not doubt or unbelief; those tend to be doctrinal differences. No, the opposite of faith more often as not is fear. We fear the unknown. We fear the undiagnosed lump in the breast, the elevated PSA or the persistent yet unexplained cough. We fear Swine Flu or, the next indictable virus that will morph into a global killer. We fear losing control of our bodies our minds and our health because of aging. We worry about how changes in politics, technology, or the economy will influence our jobs; and we worry about the income from our savings and retirement funds which seem to be disappearing before our eyes as we watch helpless to control the downward trend. Fear is like waves ever seeking to knock us off our footing -- our faith footing.

(SUNG) IF YOU ARE LONELY, FEAR NOT;
IF WINDS BLOW HARD IN THE COLD TIMES, FEAR NOT.
FOR I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, FEAR NOT.
ALWAYS AND FOREVER, FEAR NOT.

Allow me to share a story with you; this story, one of faith in a seemingly fearful situation, was told by a Presbyterian minister. He told of his days as a Navy submariner in the Pacific during World War II. "We would often come under depth charge attack by Japanese destroyers," he said. "The other sailors would be trembling with fear, while I just leaned back and read a comic book. One of them asked how I could be so calm. I explained to him that in my childhood I had very little supervision from my parents, so I spent many hours each day at the New Jersey shore. Sometimes a huge breaker wave would catch me by surprise and toss me under the water, rolling me in the sand. But I learned when I would just relax thousands of air bubbles like the fingers of God would catch me up and lift me to the surface. Now, whenever I find myself in trouble, I just relax and wait for the fingers of God to reach under me and lift me up."

Faith is an ever persistent striving toward life. According to psychologist Erik Erikson, it is a confidence that is typically acquired very early in life when a child learns to expect her or his environment and the people in it to be reliable and trustworthy. During the Cold War, when we were all living with the possibility of nuclear annihilation, some researchers interviewed children to see how worried they were from the threat of nuclear war. What they discovered was that the children with the least amount of fear were those whose parents were active in nuclear disarmament efforts, or who regularly attended church, or who were deeply involved in the social justice issues of their communities. These parents did not feel hopeless in the face of tremendous challenges. They invested themselves in actions to change the world around them and remained optimistic that what they could contribute would make a difference. As a result, the attitudes of the parents infected the emotional and intellectual development of their children. These children did not feel helpless. Rather, they saw that their parents and their church and the other involved citizens of their community maintained faith and were doing something toward resolving the problems of the world. Their faith would help to overcome their fear.

I have a best friend who, several years ago, within a period of three weeks, lost both of his parents, within the period of another few years a favorite and beloved aunt died. It dawned on him at the time that all of the people in his life who loved him unconditionally were dead, and that he was out in the front of the line as it were all alone. About the same time, his business began to decline and his business partner of many years was no longer interested in continuing; his plans for succession were dashed when an employee who was being groomed for leadership in the corporation decided to change careers and offered his resignation. In those painful and challenging months, my friend painfully and slowly rediscovered his own definition of faith. I share it with you: Faith is the simple trust that life still can be good despite the fact that it is very painful and difficult. Out of the worst of experiences that my friend could have imagined, he found many little bubbles of love, joy, and hope in the form of friends, family, and church lifting him upward like the fingers of God. And the worst year of his life was followed by what he declares to have been one of the best years of his life wrapped in the arms of the God who brought him safely through the storm to the other side of the shore.

(SUNG) I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, FEAR NOT.
ALWAYS AND FOREVER, FEAR NOT.

"Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" In these rather impatient words directed to the disciples, Jesus brings into focus the polarities of faith and fear. A gifted and prophetic voice of our time who recently passed from us, William Sloan Coffin has this to say in his last book, The Courage to Love, “Fear distorts truth, not by exaggerating the ills of the world…but by underestimating our ability to deal with them…while love seeks truth, fear seeks safety.” Faith is a stance and how we stand up to those things that would threaten us and how we manage our fears makes all the difference. In the midst of troubles, try reaching up your hand to God and saying, "Help!" And when you reach your hand out to others around you and say, "Help!" the fingers of God will never fail to reach down and lift you into new and reassuring experiences of God's grace. AMEN.

Second Sunday after Pentecost - Pride Sunday in Portland

2009-07-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

Second Sunday after Pentecost – Year B (RCL) 2009
Ezekiel 17: 22 – 24; Psalm 92: 1 – 4, 12 – 15; 1 Corinthians 5: 6 – 17; Mark 4: 26 – 34
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, June 14, 2009

WONDERFULLY AND MARVELOUSLY CREATED

Let us pray: God of all creation you have made everything that dwells upon this earth and have called it good. When you created humankind in your image you called it very good; and yet we have taken upon our selves the judgment of our value or lack thereof in your creation. Help us to see that you intend for us, your children, the full measure of dignity and value on your earth and in your heaven. Teach us the lessons of your parables that even in the smallest of seeds are contained the greatest of blossoms. Remind us that in respecting the dignity of every human being – is the commandment to love ourselves so that we might carry out the call to love others in your name. Amen.

(SUNG) JUST AS I AM, WITHOUT ONE PLEA, BUT THAT THY BLOOD
WAS SHED FOR ME, AND THAT THOU BIDS’T ME COME TO
THEE, O LAMB OF GOD, I COME, I COME.

Before we begin to explore in a little more depth the Gospel lesson that we heard this morning, I need to share a little history of my own with you. I share this because I think that it is essential to hold up our history and continue to educate those who have little or no experience with who we are as a people. Let me share with you a brief history lesson – the history of my tribe that can help explain why this day is celebrated.

The Stonewall Inn was a nondescript two-story building at 53 Christopher Street, just off Sheridan Square in New York City’s Greenwich Village. 40 years ago this month, June 27th, 1969 was not an average Friday night at this Mafia run dive where the watered down drinks were often sold in not particularly clean glasses. Earlier that week, on Tuesday night, the police had raided the Stonewall (a frequent occurrence in gay bars at the time). Several plainclothes officers entered the bar around 2:00 AM on the 27th. Of the approximately 200 people ejected from the Stonewall that night five (5) who were dressed as women were detained. After being released from the bar the patrons were joined by another approximately 200 of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight, Bisexual and Transgender people who were in the village that hot summer night (many who had been in the borough of Queens at the wake of Judy Garland). Tensions began to grow. The festive applause minded crowd’s mood started to change once the paddy wagon arrived and 3 drag queens, the bartender and the doorman were loaded inside. Tensions continued to rise. Angry shouts rose from the crowd. A newspaper reporter, the deputy inspector and the police officers that had conducted the raid retreated inside the bar and bolted the heavy front door. Someone threw a rock, which broke a window. A large group grabbed and dislodged a parking meter and began battering the entrance door open. Beer cans and bottles hurled in; a uniformed police officer was hit with something under his eye. The police became furious and located a fire hose; the idea being to ward off the madding crowd until reinforcements could arrive. Someone in the crowd yelled, “. . .let’s get some gas.” A stream of liquid was poured in from the broken window. The reporter, Howard Smith for the Village Voice writes, “. . . A flaring match follows. Deputy Inspector Pine is not more than ten feet away from the broken window. But he didn’t fire; the sound of sirens coincides with the swoosh of the flames where the lighter fluid was thrown.” Later, Pine states that he didn’t shoot because he had heard the sirens in time and felt no need to kill someone if help was arriving. It was that close.

The modern Human Rights struggle for Gay and Lesbian people was born that night – and so this Sunday of June is celebrated here in Portland and in other cities around the world as Gay Pride Day. The Spirit works in strange and mysterious ways. Out of that tribe and that people, God called me and many hundreds of thousands of others like me to live in dignity and integrity, and to witness to the good news of God in Christ. We who have been part of that struggle march to remind ourselves and others that our value and integrity have not always been so evident in our Churches, Mosques, Synagogues and Temples. We gather as members of this and other faith communities to witness to our growth as Children of God and to invite those who remain marginalized by fear and prejudice to know that there is a place for them in God’s Kindom.

The God of our understanding, who knew us before we were knit in our mother’s womb, calls all of us, from every tribe and language and people and nation. It is a powerful thing to fall into the hands of the living God! This call to follow Jesus was never promised to be easy. What was promised is that Jesus will be with us on every step of the journey. That promise is fulfilled here in this embracing and affirming Christian community of St. Stephen’s when we are fed with the “Bread of life and the Cup of salvation.” It is also fulfilled in the quiet moments of contemplation and prayer when God’s Spirit is breathed upon us and guides us through the moments of fear and uncertainty when it is that Spirit who calls and says “You are my beloved child, with you I am well pleased”

(SUNG) JUST AS I AM, THOUGH TOSSED ABOUT, WITH MANY A
CONFLICT MANY A DOUBT; FIGHTINGS AND FEARS WITHIN,
WITHOUT, O LAMB OF GOD I COME, I COME.

In the Gospel narrative this morning we return to the author of Mark’s account of the good news and begin to explore the parabolic teachings of Jesus and the metaphors created to explain the Kindom of God. I think it is truly fitting that the first of those metaphors is that of the seed. All forms of life were believed to be contained within the seed; the tinniest speck of life was cast upon the ground – and not quite knowing how the sower would witness the miracle of new birth and growth. Even the smallest known seed of the mustard shrub would yield a harvest of great growth and bounty within which the creatures of God could take refuge. That, says Jesus, is the truth of the Kindom of God. Jesus has taken the time and tenderness to reveal in metaphoric and parabolic story how and when God’s Kindom is to be made manifest in God’s world, and that it is through us and those that came before us and those that will come after us that God’s Kindom becomes reality on earth as it is in heaven. As we listen and digest the Word of God, made flesh who dwells among us – we learn in simple, yet profound ways that God’s Kindom is not distant, but near at hand; that God’s Kindom is not obvious, but subtly hidden in the everyday moments of our lives; that God’s Kindom is not static and rigidly defined, but ever becoming and manifesting itself in our actions aligned with God’s purposes; and finally that God’s Kindom is not limited by our perceptions of who is worthy and who is not, but rather it is a Kindom continuing to make room for all of God’s creation of every tribe and language and people and nation. No one is left outside of the circle; no one is denied the feast at the banquet table – and everyone is called and challenged to live out the good news of God – because as Paul tells the early Christian community at Corinth “so if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”

(SUNG) JUST AS I AM; THOU WILT RECEIVE; WILT WELCOME, PARDON
CLEANSE, RELIEVE, BECAUSE THY PROMISE I BELIEVE
O LAMB OF GOD, I COME, I COME.

Amen.