Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday – Year B (RCL) 2009
Joel 2: 1 – 2, 12 – 17; Psalm 103; 2 Corinthians 5: 20b – 6:10; Matthew 6: 1 – 6, 16 – 21
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Wednesday, February 25, 2009

HAVE MERCY, FOR YOU ARE MERCIFUL

Let us Pray: Create in us clean hearts, O God and renew in us a right spirit. Have mercy most merciful God as we strive to maintain the balance of our sinfullness against the glory to which you call us. Fix in our hearts a true repentence for the ways in which we have failed you by failing each other and ourselves. Prepare in us a quiet repose for the contemplation of your greatest gift; life for life and death to conquer death. By the sign of your cross may we atain the purification of our lives to the glory of your name. Amen.

(SUNG) KYRIE ELEISON, DOWN THE ROAD THAT I MUST TRAVEL.
KYRIE ELEISON, THROUGH THE DARKNESS OF THE NIGHT.
KYRIE ELEISON, WHERE I'M GOING WILL YOU FOLLOW?
KYRIE ELEISON, ON A HIGHWAY IN THE LIGHT.

So here we find ourselves, once again at the holy season of Lent (a word derived from Lengthen referring to the lengthening of the day that occurs in the spring) and coming before God’s presence with humble and contrite hearts seeking compassion and peace as we prepare ourselves in body and spirit for the observence of the lentan rituals familiar to some of us – and not so much to others. We have draped the crosses in royal purple. We have burried the A – the word we don’t say in this season – and we begin to pray the trisagion or the Kyrie in place of the Gloria.

What is this Greek phrase with which we started our gathering today this “Kyrie Eleison”? As Part of the introductory rites of the Mass or The Holy Eucharist, the Kyrie Eleison (Greek for "Lord, have mercy") is a song by which the faithful praise the Christ and implore God’s mercy.

The beginnings of the Kyrie eleison can be found in Holy Scripture, mostly in the book that served as the Church's first prayer book, the Book of Psalms ("Have pity on me, O Lord ..." Psalm 6:3).Written origins of the Kyrie can be traced to the fourth century. In 390 A.D. the Gallic pilgrim lady Aetheria tells how in Jerusalem at the end of Vespers one of the deacons read a list of petitions and "as he spoke each of the names, a crowd of boys stood there and answered him each time, 'Kyrie eleison' ... their cry is without end."The Kyrie was finally incorporated into the Latin sacramentary in the sixth century for Matins, Mass and Vespers, according to Canon 3 of the Synod of Vaison (529). I remember it like it was yesterday.

In today's post Vatican II Church, the Kyrie has been translated into English and is ordinarily prayed/sung by the assembly (which means everyone, ministers included) after the Penitential Rite, in keeping with the rubrics (General Instruction of the Book of Common Prayer and originally printed in red – hence the word rubric from “rubio” latin for red). As a rule, each of the acclamations is said twice (e.g. Presider: "Lord, have mercy." Assembly: "Lord, have mercy." P: "Christ, have mercy." A: "Christ, have mercy." P: "Lord, have mercy." A: "Lord have mercy.")

Why is the Kyrie in Greek? It harkens back to the earliest years of the Church, when the members of the Church in Rome themselves used Greek, and Greek was the language of worship until about the middle of the third century. After the great split between the Churches in the East and West – the Latin took the day in the Western manifestation of Catholicity. During the days of the Latin Mass, it was the only remaining Greek prayer. Consequently it alows us to hearken back to our traditions in order to place ourselves in a space where we can begin to grasp the power of those traditions to lead our hearts forward into claiming them for our own and using them to shape our liturgical and corporate lives.

(SUNG) KYRIE ELEISON, DOWN THE ROAD THAT I MUST TRAVEL.
KYRIE ELEISON, THROUGH THE DARKNESS OF THE NIGHT.
KYRIE ELEISON, WHERE I'M GOING WILL YOU FOLLOW?
KYRIE ELEISON, ON A HIGHWAY IN THE LIGHT.

We join with Christians far and near in this season of repentence and renewal to focus our minds and hearts on the message which has been handed down to us from generation to generation that our God is a forgiving and benificent God when we are truly sorry for those things which have separated us from the heart of the One who loves us beyond compare. This is our God who has been revealed in the Hebrew scriptures when the prophet Joel writes “Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children even infants at the breast…return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love…: (Joel: 2: 15 – 16a; 13b)” We encounter this fulfillment of this idea reflected in the 2nd letter to the early Christian community at Corinth when the writer says, “See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! (2nd Cor: 6: 2b)”

There is reason for hope in this season of repentance. Several people have commented to me that they actually miss the confession of sin when we have omitted from our liturgy during the festal seasons of our liturgical calendar such as Christmas and Easter. There is something about confession which is “good for the soul”. Oftentimes in her history, the Church has gone to either end of the extreme, either bewailing our manifold wickedness” or focusing on the “feel good Jesus” who asks nothing more of us than we might demand of ourselves. However, when we can remember that we walk this earth not of our own power and volition – but rather of the power of the One who accepted obedience to the point of death – even death on a cross – than we can begin to understand that more is asked of us; because much is given to us.

We will smudge our foreheads with the ashes of palm in the sign of the cross to remember that “we are dust – and unto dust we shall return”. We do this because it also is a part of our tradition. As early as the 6th Century CE, during the papacy of Gregory the Great the palms from the Passion Sunday liturgy were burned and the ashes placed on the foreheads of the believers to remind them of their mortality. We will pray the penitential prayers and ask God for forgiveness of our sins – on the first Sunday in Lent we will chant the Great Litany as it has been chanted in centuries past. We have several “resources” which I have oh so cleverly weaved into my Ash Wednesday message this evening and are available in the back of the Church and I invite each of us to take them with us and use them as part of our spiritual disciplines this holy season. Jean Fleming has done a wonderful job in assembling and printing out a parish Reflection on the Lectionary Readings for Lent. This is a collection of musings from many of our members about what spoke to them in a particular reading or theme that emerged from the readings on any given day in the forty day journey on which we have embarked this day. Also, Episcopal Relief and Development has provided meditation materials and what many of us might remember as the “blue box” from our United Thank Offering days – and has turned it into a white “hope chest” that we might fill with our spare change or dollars saved from passing on that morning latte – and instead putting it toward our Church’s commitment of devoting 0.7% of our resources in support of the United Nations Millenium Development Goals. In each of your bulletins tonight is a prayer that ERD asks we pray in support of the vital work that organization carries out in the name of all of us who call the Episcopal Church our spiritual home.

All of these tools are suggestions only and we invite your participation at whatever level is right for you in this time of reflection and repentance we call Lent. We will turn our hearts inward and turn our minds toward our relationship with the God of forgiveness who has told us time and time again that our sins will not be remembered – but rather we will be blessed in our weaknesses and strengthened in our adversity,. So we pray, Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison, Kyrie Eleison.

(SUNG) KYRIE ELEISON, DOWN THE ROAD THAT I MUST TRAVEL.

Last Sunday after Epiphany (Transfiguration)

Last Sunday after Epiphany (Transfiguration) – Year B (RCL) 2009
II Kings 2: 1 – 12; Psalm 50: 1 – 6; II Corinthians 4: 3 – 6; Mark 9: 2 – 9
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, February 22, 2009

MIGHTY DEEDS IN THIN PLACES

Let us pray: All powerful, immense and un-knowable God – we struggle to meet you in the realities and the seeming impossibilities of your revelations into our merely mortal lives. Help us to surrender to the impossible realities of your power and majesty made manifest in our midst. Guide us to grasp onto the the mountaintop experiences and incarnational moments in which you connect our humanity with your divinity. For you alone are holy, you alone are God and we stumble in the experiences of your power and glory revealed in your Holy One, Jesus the Christ. 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.

What do the feasts of Annunciation, Transfiguration, Resurrection and Ascension all have in common? Several things – not the least of which is the human/divine dichotomy of the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the messiah the son of the living God. One other commonality of these pivotal biblical events in the ministry and mission of that Christ are that they are difficult and potentailly dangerous topics on which preach! I have no desire to drum myself out of my pulpit by posing questions and observations about the improbability if not impossiblity of these events in light of our limited scientific and human understanding. It is partially for this reason that preachers throughout our Christian history have avoided direct confrontation and handed over that exploration to the sometimes vague and always dense explanations of philosophers and theologians. It makes far greater sense to leave those explorations in the hands of Agustine, Aquinas, Borg or Spong who have far greater insights into them than you or I.

Yet, we return to these narrative events as depicted in our sacred scriptures year after year and in so doing search for their truths and relevance to the Good News in our lives and times. There are only so many occassions when a preacher worth their salt can say, “how about that story of Elisha and Elijah and those horses and chariot of fire and the presence of Moses and Elijah with Jesus as he is transfigured before Peter, James and John, don’t they really ilumine and complement each other? Now I would like to turn to an exploration of the 50th Psalm and its importance in the lives of the people of Israel.” The facts and realities of our relationship with Jesus the Christ impell us to relive those miraculous moments of the Incarnation of our God made manifest in the mission and ministry of the radical itinerant rabbi of first century Palestine who sacrificed everything, including the distance and dignity of Divinity, in order to reconcile us with the source of all being.

The Transfiguration has always seemed somehow un-knowable and other worldly to me. Oh certainly I can understand the narrated story as it has been given to us by the author’s of the synoptic Gospels. Today we hear the author of Mark’s telling of these events. This narrative story occurs exactly in the middle of this author’s retelling. Previously Jesus has acted as healer and teacher – after the events of the Transfiguration, Jesus will turn toward Jerusalem to complete God’s purpose for his earthly ministry i.e. crucifixion, death and resurrection. Immediately prior to the events we hear this morning Jesus, tell’s the disciples of the reality of the events around that death and resurrection. Peter, in that telling makes strenuous objection; the author in fact tells us that Peter takes Jesus aside and begins to “rebuke him”; six days later we are told that Jesus takes Peter and John and James and retreats with them up a mountain to pray. While the three are waiting and watching, Jesus’ garments become dazzling white. Two men, Moses and Elijah appear and converse with Jesus about the events which are to occur in Jerusalem around the crucifixion and resurrection. Just as the prophets are leaving, Peter (who is ever Peter) overwhelmed with the awe and majesty of the moment suggests building three dwellings, or tabernacles, for Moses, Elijah and Jesus. Just as Peter finishes this suggestion, a cloud descends and overshadows them – then from this cloud comes a voice that says, “This is my Son, the beloved; listen to him.” Then the cloud disapates and they find themselves once again alone with Jesus. Descending from the mountain, Jesus instructs them to tell no one at that time what they have experienced – but that they may reveal it, “after the Son of Man has risen from the dead”.

(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.

In the Celtic tradition and understanding of human/divine enounter in relationship has developed a concept they call “thin places”. Those are times when that permeable boundary between things worldy and “other worldly” is stretched to its maximum so that we might enounter more fully the relationship between ourselves and our God. I think that those moments of incarnational glory between the human and divine Jesus are such thin places. Some of us might be able to share “thin places” in our own experiences with the Divine – but then again they are deeply personal and immensely powerful moments that often defy conventional scientific human understanding, and we might often find ourselves stunned to silence in their presence and aftermath and share them with only very few – if any – other human beings. We know, however, deep down to the very core of our beings that they are “real” and precious enounters and we treasure their memory and return to explore their significance and meaning time and time again in our journey.

The events surrounding the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth has been called “the greatest story ever told.” It has been called that, because it is of mythic proportion. I caution us here on the meaning and understanding of the term “myth”. Our true “myths” are not fairy tales or made up memories of the lives and deaths of our mythic heroins and hero’s. Neither are our true “myths” scientific provable facts which are irrefutable in their telling and retelling. Rather, they are fundmental understandings of our relationships to each other, to our tribes or societies and to our God. Dr. Richard F. Ott in a medical journal article writes, “throughout time myths have provided meaning for the lives of individuals and their societies. They have also provided the ability for people to experience the mystery of life by participating in the rituals of myth.” We experience some of that mystery when we join in the mythic retelling of Jesus’ story each week around God’s table in our eucharistic re-membering of one of the fundamental moments in our Christian journey.

In the “thin place” of the transfiguration experience of Jesus with Peter and John and James an answer is being provided by the author of the narrative who has been posing the question since the beginning of the retelling of the good news; “who is this Jesus?” The Pharisees and Scribes who have been following Jesus in the synagogues preaching, and into the towns and villages of Galilee healing the sick and all marvel astounded by his authority. They marvel and mumble as the crowds continue to clamor for the healing touch of the Holy One. Even the political leaders like Herod are fearful asking; “who is this about whom I hear such things”? Jesus finally asks the disciples who the crowds and followers believe him to be, and Peter in the chapter immediately prior to the one we read this morning gives answer when Jesus asks, “but who do you say that I am”? with the bold declaration, “you are the Messiah.” Then in the cloud of the mountain God’s voice is clearly heard giving the answer, “This is my Son, the beloved; listen to him!” In a letter written to the early believers of the Church under the teaching of Peter the author tells us – “You wlll do well to be attentive to this as a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

Often humanity living in the early part of the twenty first century seeks to rid itself of our myths and boldy proclaim the value of our humanist and scientifically reasoned discoveries. If truth be told we have learned and gained much in the centuries since we entered this ‘age of enlightenment’ – and we have also lost much. We might seek to return to that place of balance where our myths can inform and enlighten us just as much as our scientific discoveries can. We simply cannot expect to flourish in our relationship with the Divine by relying on either to the exclusion of the other. In an interview program entitled “The mythical bible”, well known Christian author and lecturer Madeleine L’Engle has this to say: “Far from being a lie, myth is a way for us to see beyond limited fact into the wonder of God’s story…Strong stuff. Mythic stuff. That stuff which makes life worth living, which lies on the other side of provable fact. How can we be Christians without understanding this? The incarnation itself bursts out of the bounds of reason. That the power which created all of the galaxies, all of the stars in all of their courses, should willingly limit that power in order to be one of us, and all for love of us, cannot be understood in terms of laboratory proof, but only of love. And it is that love which calls us to move beyond the limited world of fact and into the glorious world of love itself. Of Jesus standing with Moses and Elijah, both of whom had themselves stood on the mount and been illuminated by God's glory…The brilliance of God is indeed blinding, and we need myth, story, to help us bear the light. The existence of God can neither be proved nor disproved. Most of what makes life a wondrous journey lies beyond the realm of provable fact. Did God make the universe? Again, we have neither proof nor disproof, at least not as the scientists search for proof or disproof…myths make us more alive, more human, more courageous. They are more powerful in the long run than cruise missiles or scuds or heavy artillery, and if we have allowed our myths to dwindle and diminish we are in grave danger[1].”

(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.

Incarnation, Annunciation, Transfiguration, Resurrection and Ascension are all powerful pieces of our mythic Christian expereince which enlighten and inform our realtionship with our God and with each other in community. We do not all envision these experiences in the same way – just as we do not all experience the “thin places” in our lives in the same way. Yet God is present in some mysterious and monumental way when the Christ which lives in me meets the Christ which lives in you and allows us to continue to unfold the narrative of “the greatest story ever told”.

Amen.

[1] From a sermon by Madeleine L’Engle titled “The Mythical Bible” given in a television broadcast titled; 30 Good Minutes, produced by WTTW (PBS) Chicago, IL first aired on January 6, 1991

Sixth Sunday after Epiphany

Should now be "current" with Sermon's for 2009!!!!

Sixth Sunday after Epiphany Year B (RCL) 2009
2 Kings 5: 1-14; Psalm 30; 1 Corinthians 9: 24-27; Mark 1: 40-45
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, February 15, 2009

WHAT IS JESUS FEELING?

Let us pray: Gentle Jesus, you reach out and touch the untouchable, you heal those of broken body and mind, you rebuke evil when you encounter it among us, and restore the lost to wholeness. Empower us, guiding Saviour to reach out to those among us who are in need, to bind up the broken hearted, to restore the alienated to community and fellowship. Teach us to live and to love as you live and love. Amen.

(SUNG) JUST AS I AM, WITHOUT ONE PLEA, BUT THAT THY BLOOD
WAS SHED FOR ME, AND THAT THOU BIDD’ST ME COME TO
THEE, O LAMB OF GOD, I COME, I COME.

So let me just tell you that the first thing which popped into my brain as I read the pericope from the author of Mark’s account of the Good News assigned for this sixth Sunday after the Epiphany was – just what is Jesus feeling in this story?

I poured over my Greek Christian Scriptures, I searched in my parallel Greek and NRSV/NIV bible; I researched my Greek-English Lexicon of the Christian scriptures all to try and find out what exactly was Jesus feeling upon encountering the individual with leprosy whom we meet in the Gospel story this morning. William Willimon, who is a source that I frequently look to in my preparation for my sermon writing – is former Dean of the Chapel at Duke University and Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church. Willimon stunned me when he wrote “There are some of our Bibles that say Jesus was filled with pity or compassion. The Greek word in Mark’s text says that Jesus was filled with anger. When Jesus looked at this poor leper, Jesus’ heart was filled with rage. Rage?

Was Jesus feeling anger? Was Jesus feeling rage? Was Jesus’ reaction to this “unclean” one this “un-touchable” of the time that of fury or rage at the disease or at the circumstance of this individual’s life? So, I finally wound up calling a friend of mine – who is a little better at Greek than I am, (since all of my searching and reading and translating hadn’t gotten me my answer) and we discussed just what this Greek word which the translators have marked as “moved with pity” actually might mean. Well, we determined that the root of the word comes from – the gut or the bowels, so that, in fact to translate it as moved with pity is a pretty weak translation. Jesus is feeling deeply and from the gut around this individual and “moved with pity” doesn’t exactly capture that depth of feeling. So what exactly is Jesus feeling here about this individual and how does that effect the way which we experience the story?

I’m reminded of another experience I had, in which I was in a church basement for a meeting and I read something that was posted on the wall in that basement and it also stunned me as I read it. Here’s how it went, “I am the bread (the rice, the noodles the beans) of life. All who come to me shall never hunger, and all who believe in me shall never thirst.” Isn’t it amazing how just changing a phrase or inserting a different word into a familiar passage can cause us to say – wait a minute, that’s not what I remember, that’s not what that has always meant to me? As I read that placard on the church basement wall I was struck by that very amazement. I had to read it again, and again and again to try and make sense of it and see how I could incorporate it into my understanding of that famous passage from the Christian Scripture. Jesus is actually saying I am the “stuff” of life; that is the bread, the rice, the noodles, the beans, the very foundations of what you know life to be in your food and your drink. I AM that, I will be that for you – the very stuff of life; the very foundation of your being. It was a grace filled moment for me and I stopped to give thanks for the insight and for the growth that graced me in that experience.

It was similar to what I experienced when I read that Willimon was thinking that the disease that the leper presented in today’s Gospel story angered Jesus. Wow, what if Jesus really was angry about what this leper was experiencing in his body, or in his community or in the treatment of that community around his “un-cleanliness”? That could flip my whole interpretation of this reading and what it might mean for us, today in our time in our world with our versions of leprosy.

(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.

So here’s the thing. This leper, this “un-clean” one of the society of 1st Century Palestine turns to the Christ – the healer, the one who was going about among them and working marvels in their midst and simply says, “if you choose, you can make me clean”. Jesus if you make it so….all of this will be different, all of my fear and my pain and my separateness will be wiped away in an instant and I will be made whole again. And Jesus responds, “I do choose, be made clean”. Just as Jesus did for this nameless leper over two thousand years ago – Jesus will do for you and for me. Jesus if you make it so….all of this will be different, all of our fears and our pains and our separateness will be wiped away in an instant and we will be made whole again. And Jesus responds, “I do choose, be made clean.” That is really good news folks. Do we trust? Do we truly believe that Jesus can and will do this for us?

These are the promises of our faith – we will be cleansed, we will be made clean, we are already forgiven, we will be given all that we need; and all that is asked of us is that we do unto each other as we would have done for us. Do we wish to be fed? Then we need to feed. Do we wish to be forgiven? Then we need to forgive. Do we wish to be loved? Then we need to love. We have in our power, the power of the Christ – we have in our hands the hands of the healer. Jesus offers us this opportunity to become what we have always dreamed of being; to use the generosity of our hearts to encourage us to open the generosity of wallets and relieve the suffering of the lepers of our own age. The hungry, the forgotten, the lonely the sick, and perhaps most importantly to Jesus the poor. What could be more clear to us in Jesus’ message than this particular focus on and concern for the poor. Poverty is measured in many ways in our lives, the poor in spirit, the poor in health, the poor in geography, the poor in financial resources – yet they are all the poor and they are all blessed and beloved in the eyes of the Holy One of Israel who holds them all in such high esteem. Don’t you think it would serve us well to hold them all in the high esteem to which they are held by our God? We have the resources at our hands to heal the wounded and the sick, to cure the diseases of the ill, to relive the burden of debt for the financially strapped nations of this planet – it is all within our power, it is all within the power of the Christ which we share.

We have a new leader in this country who has encouraged us all to begin to look differently at those whom we have identified as “other”; this leader has taken us along some steps that we hope will change the way we view our planet and its limited resources; the way we view our political systems and just what bi-partisanship might look like; the way we view other Christian believers - those with whom we disagree by suggesting that we invite them to the table so that we might truly “hear” what they pray and not merely assume that we know what they will pray. It has not been a completely smooth introduction to this change that we all might believe in; but it has been a start – and how well we are learning that the old ways are not working anymore. It was Mohandas Gandhi who taught us that we must be the change we want to see in the world – and we who are Christians have the blessing of knowing that we are the body of Christ in this world and we have the power of that Christ within each of us. We have only to desire it enough, to speak our truth to the powerful and to demand that the poor be blessed. This is what Jesus would have us do. This is what the Gospel or Good News of the Holy One of God is all about. Let us claim that Good News and be the bearers of it into a world which is aching for its fulfillment. With each other and with the power of the Body of Christ, the Church behind us we can accomplish much – that is why I love the Church, because it can be for the world the beacon of hope promised in the Epiphany of our God, who is among us – Emmanuel.

(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.

Are you ever frustrated that you can't do more? That you don't have anything special to offer?

Charlotte Elliott, the author of that hymn, "Just As I Am," certainly felt that way. Charlotte was a good Anglican daughter of the Church of England. She had been a brilliant and vivacious woman until an illness in her late 20’s left her disabled. She speaks of days upon days of beging unable to summon the energy to even rise up from her bed. In her situation she became quite depressed. She felt that she no longer had anything to offer -- nothing to give.

Several years later a pastor and a friend, Dr. Caesar Malan, came to visit her. Noting her despair, he encouraged her to give her life to the service of the Christ-- to come to Christ just as she was. That comment started a turnaround for her. While she remained disabled, she began to search for ways to make her life meaningful.

Her friend Malan's words stayed with her -- "Come to Christ just as you are."
Several years later, she wrote this hymn, which has become a favorite around the
world. While she wrote more than a hundred hymns, this one in particular has
affected more lives than she ever could have imagined.

So if we ever wonder what we can do to make our lives meaningful, we might just want to put it into the hands of the Christ and go whereever the Christ might lead. Emmanuel has a way of using ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

Amen.

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany – Year B (RCL) 2009
Isaiah 40: 21-31; Psalm 147: 1-12, 21c; 1 Corinthians 9: 16-23; Mark 1: 29-39
St Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, February 7, 2009

YOU ARE THE GOSPEL

Let us pray: Gentle and loving Jesus you are the Word made flesh who dwells among us. You have asked us to be your word in the kindom you have created among us. In your example we learn the majesty of you, the King of Glory come to dwell in the kindom which is at hand. We are called to be your voice, your hands and your heart for all who seek your peace which passes all understanding. Help us to witness to the Gospel of your abiding love for all of your creation and created. Amen.

(SUNG) THE KING OF GLORY COMES THE NATION REJOICES
OPEN THE GATES BEFORE GOD LIFT UP YOUR VOICES.
IN ALL OF GALLILEE IN CITY OR VILLAGE
CHRIST GOES AMONG THE PEOPLE CURING THEIR ILLNESS.

Several old sayings might come to mind when we read this story about Jesus healing crowds of people and then going elsewhere instead of sticking around to make something out of the newfound community of believers. One of those sayings is, "don't have the sense that God gave a goose." I don't know where that saying came from, but it suggests that geese don't have much sense -- and that some people have even less. That might be what the disciples thought. Jesus came to Capernaum, attended the synagogue and drove out a demon. When we pick up the story in today’s text, Jesus enters Simon's house and healed Simon's mother-in-law; I’m going to resist the serious temptation to insert a mother-in-law joke here. The people flock to Jesus so that they might be healed. Jesus healed lots of people, and the crowd couldn't get enough. And then, just when Jesus had them eating out of his hand, off he goes to a deserted place to pray.

Of course, I would be the last person to criticize anyone for praying. We might think that Jesus would not require prayer. But Jesus gave out spiritual energy all day every day, so there was a needed time for renewal -- time alone with the Creator -- opportunity to recharge spiritual batteries so that challenges could be faced every time a new town was entered.

However, the disciples lost patience with Jesus. They found him missing, and began searching. The New Revised Standard Version translation says that they "hunted" for him. That is a good translation of the original Greek. That word is katedioxen. That is the word that people used to speak of hunting animals. It was as if the disciples had gone on a hunt looking for Jesus -- trying to figure out where Jesus went -- searching everywhere to find the Word made flesh who dwelled among them.

They finally found Jesus in a lonely place -- all alone -- praying -- seemingly oblivious to the crowds clamoring for attention back in Capernaum. This is when the disciples began to wonder if Jesus had the sense that God gave a goose. They couldn't believe that Jesus had gotten the people so stirred up and had then walked away from them. It didn't make sense. They had marveled at Jesus' teachings --and everyone was in awe of this healing power -- but the disciples silently wondered what Jesus was doing out here in the middle of nowhere when there was definitely all that need back in Capernaum!

Can’t you just imagine how they felt? Jesus had raised people's expectations -- and then had disappeared. With nobody else to turn to, I am sure that the people turned to Jesus’ followers. There were only four of them at this point – Simon (who would become Peter), Andrew, James, and John. But what could they do? They didn't know how to handle these crowds. They didn't know how to heal the sick. They had only recently begun to follow Jesus, and they certainly weren't qualified to stand in for their teacher. I'm sure that they were feeling the pressure -- that they were mystified and angry when Jesus disappeared -- just walked off and left them holding the bag.

When they found Jesus, they said, "Everyone is searching for you." I think they really wanted to say, "What's the matter with you Jesus! Everyone's searching for you. Come on! Let's get back to town! Let's get down to business!"

I imagine they also wanted to say, "By the way, don't do that again! Don't leave us alone! Don't get the crowds all stirred up and then disappear. It's not fair! It's not fair to them -- and it's certainly not fair to us!"

But Jesus was having none of it. Jesus answered:

"Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."

I'm sure that the disciples were stunned. "But what about all these people who are searching for you Jesus? They want to see you. Everyone wants to talk to you. There are people who need healing -- and there is a young man who wants to be your disciple -- there's a rich man who wants to build you a synagogue. You don't need to travel all over Galilee, Jesus. There are more opportunities right here in Capernaum than you can shake a stick at -- opportunities to last a lifetime!"

Another old phrase comes to mind -- "Let's strike while the iron is hot!" I don't know where that phrase came from either, but it means, "Let's take advantage of this opportunity! Let's not let this one slip through our fingers!"

(SUNG) THE KING OF GLORY COMES THE NATION REJOICES
OPEN THE GATES BEFORE GOD LIFT UP YOUR VOICES.
IN ALL OF GALLILEE IN CITY OR VILLAGE
CHRIST GOES AMONG THE PEOPLE CURING THEIR ILLNESS.

Then Jesus said:

“Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."

"That is what I came out to do." Another old phrase comes to mind. Jesus was "keeping his eyes on the prize." That old phrase comes from a song of the civil rights era of the 50’s and 60’s. It means staying focused on the one thing that counts most. It stands for the tenacity and courage it takes to keep on keepin’ on, even when it seems safer to stop. For the context of this Gospel passage it means that Jesus is not going to be an example of taking the safe and sure way – but rather Jesus is going to be the example of doing the right thing simply because it is the right thing; of following the example of the Holy One of God who will lead us along paths of righteousness and grace. Following this type of example that Jesus leaves us allows us to be focused on the one thing that counts -- the prize, salvation -- the grace, freely given -- and most especially the good news -- the Gospel, available to all who would hear it. Keep your eyes on the prize. Stay focused on the one thing that counts most.

Jesus had his eyes on the prize. "That is what I came out to do," Jesus said. What was it that the Holy One of God came to do? To preach -- to proclaim the message to the neighboring towns. What message was that? The author of Mark’s Gospel told us earlier that Jesus proclaimed "the good news of God" -- that Jesus preached, "The time is fulfilled, and the kindom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news" (1:14-15).

There is a lesson here for us. We, as Christ's church, need to be doing a thousand things, and it often seems that we are swallowed up in the act of doing them. We need to feed the hungry -- provide shelter for the homeless -- visit the sick and those in prison -- send blankets and money to victims of natural or man made disasters. But those things are not our first order of business. Our first order of business is proclaiming "the good news of God" -- preaching "Repent, and believe in the good news." That is what it means for us to have our eyes on the prize. If we are not preaching the Good News of Christ, the other things won't amount to much. It is MY job to preach the Gospel on Sunday mornings at Seven Forty Five and Ten O’clock. But it is OUR job to preach the Gospel the other hundred sixty-six hours of the week. It is OUR job to preach the Gospel in the many places where we have influence -- certainly in our families -- to our neighbors -- to co-workers -- to friends -- perhaps even (you can’t be serious) to the stranger that we meet on the street.

Do we need to be discerning about this? Of course! It is, as we all know, possible to alienate people instead of inviting them. Few hearts are won by trying to shove our faith upon strangers who might have their own ideas and issues with organized religion. But the problem for most of us isn't that we are likely to alienate people by being too pushy -- but that our witness is likely to be so low-key as to be invisible -- no witness at all -- and that is not what the Christ asks of us.

Let's start with the witness to our community. Surely we can let our friends and neighbors know that we are a follower of the Christ. Surely we can help them to know of our joy and fulfillment in our faith. Surely we can let them know that we have found a place where we are free to live within the questions and don’t necessarily need to find the concrete answers. How difficult would it be to invite a friend to join us at Church some Sunday – we actually do have a lot of fun here and we should share the joy.

I don’t think we’re talking about anything difficult here. We’re not talking about buttonholing strangers on the street and asking, "Have you found Jesus?" We are talking about our families -- the place where the Christ expects us to take the lead. It doesn't matter whether we are mother or father or child -- grandfather or grandmother – step-parent or God parent. We’re talking about our friends who trust us to share the good news of God’s kindom among us and who might be thrilled to know that there is a safe place for them to ask the faith questions they have always wanted to ask, but were afraid they would get in trouble for asking.

When the disciples found Jesus and asked him to take care of the crowds in Capernaum, Jesus said that he had to go to neighboring towns to proclaim the Gospel, because that was what Jesus had come to do.

That is what God has called us to do -- to proclaim the Gospel, the good news. Let us be faithful to that calling.

You are writing a Gospel,
A chapter each day,
By the deeds that you do,
And the words that you say.

All may read what you write,
If it's false or it's true.
Now what is the Gospel
According to you?

-- Author unknown

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

Short sermon today as it was the day of our Parish "Annual Meeting" and I gave a rather lengthy "Priest-in-charge" Report at that meeting. It was a surprisingly "easy" meeting with a wonderful sense of celebration of the Community and the work we do in this special place in God's Kindom.

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany (RCL) – Year B 2009
Deuteronomy 18: 15 – 20; Psalm 111; 1st Corinthians 8: 1 – 13; Mark 1: 21 – 28
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, February 1, 2009

AUTHORITY FROM GOD – NOT FROM HUMANITY

May the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts be always acceptable in your sight O God who is our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

My remarks this morning are probably better titled as a homily – and not as in your service leaflet as a sermon. A homily is defined by Miriam Webster Dictionary as “a usually short sermon”. The reason for a shortened rumination on the Gospel text from this mornings lectionary, is because I want to make sure that we can attend to the business of our faith community in our Annual Meeting after the 10:00 Service of Holy Eucharist – and that I will be speaking to the community in my report as your Priest-in-Charge and you hardly need to hear from me for much longer than that.

(SUNG) GOD OF GRACE AND GOD OF GLORY ON THY PEOPLE POUR
THY POWER. CROWN THINE ANCIENT CHURCH’S STORY
BRING HER BUD TO GLORIOUS FLOWER. GRANT US WISDOM
GRANT US COURAGE, FOR THE FACING OF THIS HOUR, FOR
THE FACING OF THIS HOUR.

The words of the Gospel text according to the author of Mark’s account are believed by scholars to be the first of the narratives we have in our Christian canon, and were penned sometime around the early to mid point of the sixth decade after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Mark’s words are the first to tell the world of the great good news or Gospel – and the other synoptic writers as well as the writer of John’s text will use the words written in this account as a source and support of their own attempts at telling the events of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The narrative in Mark’s account moves quickly and without much “embellishment” of story or character development getting in the way of the purpose of this Gospel which is to establish the claim that Jesus, from the town of Nazareth in the region of Galilee is the Son of God, promised by prophets of old to fulfill the purpose of God’s salvation for all of God’s people. We have only advanced about twenty verses into this Gospel text and already we know of the Baptism in the river Jordan by John, of the calling of the disciples and now of the first “healing” that will become a major piece of Jesus’ ministry and message. In our narrative this morning Jesus enters the synagogue at Capernaum and teaches as one having “authority” and not as one of the scribes who will become the major nemesis of Jesus and his band of followers.

What does the writer mean when speaking of “one having authority, not like the scribes”? The synagogue worship of the age would have included prayer followed by a reading of the Torah or great books of the Hebrew tradition and then an interpretation of that reading by the religious authorities of the Jewish people. The scribes, who commanded great respect and deference in that society, were the accustomed scriptural experts. The scribes would quote many older and more established “teachers” or “rabbis” and report their understandings of the meaning of the text and then end their comments by giving an interpretation of their own building on the ancient learned ones. Jesus, on the other hand, we are told simply interpreted the text and the crowd were “astounded” at his teaching. Jesus spoke with personal authority – an authority based not on learning credentials or the citing of other precedents in the explanation of the text; but based rather on the power of the Holy Spirit given at his baptism. What is the teaching? What was the text being explored that Sabbath? Mark’s author gives no clue – because the interpretation of the word is not important when the very embodiment of the Word is standing in front of them and exploring the text with them. Then Jesus performs the first of many healings that will mark his ministry and that healing involves the expulsion of an unclean spirit inhabiting a man in the crowd. Jesus again simply makes the authority of his ministry manifest by calling the unclean spirit out of the man and commanding it to come out, and with a convulsing scream the spirit obeys and departs. This spirit also recognizes Jesus and calls the savior by name – with the additional recognition that Jesus is “the holy one of God”.

(SUNG) LO THE HOSTS OF EVIL ‘ROUND US SCORN THY CHRIST
ASSAIL HIS WAYS. FROM THE FEARS THAT LONG HAVE
BOUND US, FREE OUR HEARTS TO FAITH AND PRAISE.
GRANT US WISDOM, GRANT US COURAGE, FOR THE
LIVING OF THESE DAYS, FOR THE LIVING OF THESE DAYS.

The crowd in the synagogue after witnessing the power of Jesus’ teaching and healing we are told is “amazed”. Can’t you just imagine the buzz passing from person to person as they try to grasp how this stranger who is not a scribe or a learned “rabbi” that they would recognize but rather an itinerant wanderer from Nazareth displays such power and wisdom enough to make the scriptures they knew come to life and the unclean spirits they witnessed in the suffering among them obey and depart? Perhaps those of us in our own time that have heard the stories and events so many times in so many different interpretations have lost that sense of amazement at the power of God made flesh and choosing to come into our very humanness and set us free from the evils that possess us. We would do well to heed the reactions to this first healing act of Jesus’ ministry and miracle – and be amazed at the power of God present in humble sanctuaries, in bread and wine at our altars – and in the very temples of God’s Holy Spirit – our own bodies and souls as unworthy as they are!

Amen.

Third Sunday after Epiphany

Today was our joyful celebration and visitation from Assisting Bishop +Sandy Hampton. I did not have to preach this Sunday. If you would be interested you may go to the St. Stephen's website and view some pictures that have been posted there from our celbration with the Bishop.

Blessings!

Dennis j.+

Second Sunday after Epiphany

Second Sunday after Epiphany (RCL) – Year B 2009
1 Samuel 3: 1 – 10; Psalm 139: 1 – 6, 13 – 18; 1 Corinthians 6: 12 – 20; John 1: 43 – 51
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland OR
Sunday, January 18, 2009

THE WORK IS LEFT TO US

Let us pray: Christ Jesus we your unworthy servants give you praise. Of all those who are wise, insightful and talented that you might have called to come and follow you – you have chosen us. In our weaknesses and our limitations we often feel unworthy of your faith in our abilities to carry out the work of your Gospel. We gather here in your sanctuary, in the worship of your Name to ask for the gifts we need to become the disciples that you desire us to be. Fill us with your grace and gifts that will empower us to carry out the tasks that you assign us. Send us forth from this sanctuary as those chosen by you to do your will in all that we say and do in your holy name. Amen.

(SUNG) WILL YOU COME AND FOLLOW ME, IF I BUT CALL YOUR
NAME? WILL YOU GO WHERE YOU DON’T KNOW, AND NEVER
BE THE SAME? WILL YOU LET MY LOVE BE SHOWN, WILL
YOU LET MY NAME BE KNOWN? WILL YOU LET MY LIFE BE
GROWN IN YOU, AND YOU IN ME?

In the telling of the Gospel stories things move very quickly. In today’s reading, for instance, we are barely 40 verses into the narrative and already Jesus is calling others around him to join in and begin the work of salvation and the bringing about of God’s Kindom into their midst. No sooner is Jesus baptized than we begin to hear of the call of the twelve disciples that will journey for the next three years with their teacher and friend to learn all that they will need to know in order to continue bringing about the work of God in the world. What often amazes me in the Gospel stories – is that the cast of characters is left to us in all of their faults and foibles. One might think that the authors of our Gospel texts might have wished to make themselves come off a bit more polished and sophisticated than they might have been. After all these characters will become the foundations of a Church that will yield immense power and influence in the centuries since its humble beginnings. If we are to look to exemplify our lives and our purpose in those lives by measuring them against the most perfect example of love and charity that the world has ever known in the person of the carpenter’s son from Nazareth – might we not think that those whom he would choose to carry on the message would be great thinkers and pious examples for us who follow? That however, does not seem to be the case and we have a perfect illustration of that in this first calling story that is narrated by the author of John’s Gospel text.

First we meet Phillip whom Jesus encounters on the way to Galilee. Phillip, we are told, is from the village of Bethsaida the same city that is home to two other of the disciples Peter and Andrew. This is all we are told about Philip. We are given no clue as to his background, his family, or his qualifications for discipleship. Quite quickly and simply Jesus tells Philip to “follow me” and an excited and energized Philip runs and finds Nathanael and says to him, “we have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” That is really rather amazing when you think about it. We were just introduced to Jesus a few verses before. Jesus has not yet done anything – no preaching, no teaching, no healing nor miraculous signs. Before any of that will occur, Jesus calls everyday, ordinary people of the time – people just like us – and invites twelve of them to join in the work of the bringing about of God’s Kindom. Nathanael responds to this amazing news that the Messiah of God – the one who was foretold in sacred story by Moses and the great prophets of Israel has come into the world by doubting that anything good could come out of Nazareth. An unashamed prejudice is evident in this remark of Nathanael’s. Jesus, as he would have been called in his culture - Jeshua bin Josef – hails from a hick town in the middle of nowhere – the son of a tradesman – not of a line of Kings and Nathanael was sure that was not the way the Messiah of God would make an entrance into history. We all are familiar with these unspoken prejudices in our own lives are we not? I for one can admit to one that I’ll share with you. When ever I hear the soft and subtle “twang” of an accent from the southern states of our nation, without even realizing what I’m presuming I think, “Sweet but dumb”. Not a truth in my character that I am proud of, yet a truth in my character nonetheless. Still, for whatever reason we are not clear, Nathanael heeds Philip’s invitation to “come and see.” What was it about this Carpenter’s son that caused people to drop their families, their livelihoods and everything that they held dear in their lives to follow him? One has to imagine that wisdom, truth, beauty and grace flowed through and helped him move about the countryside with a magnetism that was deeply powerful and compelling.

(SUNG) WILL YOU LEAVE YOURSELF BEHIND, IF I BUT CALL YOUR
NAME? WILL YOU CARE FOR CRUEL AND KIND AND NEVER
BE THE SAME? WILL YOU RISK THE HOSTILE STARE, SHOULD
YOUR LIFE ATTRACT OR SCARE? WILL YOU LET ME ANSWER
PRAYER IN YOU AND YOU IN ME?

It is this very humanness of the ones whom Jesus calls to be disciples that can serve as example to those of us who are so very human and feel that we fall far short of what would be needed to become disciples ourselves. Discipleship is best left in the hands of Martin Luther King, Jr. with his fiery and passionate oratory skills than in the hands of a short, balding baritone priest who sings during his sermons! Leadership of the Church is better left in the hands of Popes chosen in Conclaves of Cardinals that signal their calling of the Vicar of Christ with white smoke billowing from the chimney’s of the shrines of the Vatican – than in the hands of a 52 Year old Woman from Corvallis who is elected by the Bishops with whom she serves often in contentious disagreement, to be the visible face of the Episcopal Church in The United States of America for the next decade. In the words of William Cowper, “God works in strange and mysterious ways his wonders to perform.” Episcopal priest and powerful preacher Barbara Brown Taylor says the following from an article she penned for Christian Century, in February of 2001, “Sometimes I think that those spectacular call stories in the Bible do more harm than good. At the very least, I suppose they are good reminders that the call of God tends to take you apart before it puts you back together again, but they also set the bar on divine calling so high that most people walk around feeling short.” The point is, my dear friends, that ALL of us are called by the Christ to “follow me” and carry out the work which we have been given to do in this world. For many of us present here this morning, we have chosen the venue of God’s Church in which to live out that discipleship as imperfect as we might be. Let me give you and example, which though perhaps a bit embarrassing to the individual, serves to illustrate the point of this calling by Christ to discipleship quite well. Just last Sunday, Fr. Bill North shared with me that he has once again been called by God to be about the work of bringing the Good News of the Gospel to those who need to hear it. This time, to serve in an “interim” capacity at a Church in Phoenix, AZ while they await their full time Rector sometime after Easter Sunday. Now I don’t mean to imply that this calling is as far fetched as say, Nathaniel’s incredulity at the appearance of the Messiah of God from Nazareth in Galilee – but you may be sure that the North’s had no expectation of Bill returning to full time Parish ministry at this late juncture in their lives – yet if not Bill, then who? If not you to live out whatever ministry to which God is calling you, then who? We are all we have folks, the future of this Church is in our hands – the future of this faith rests on our abilities to share it with those who need to hear its good news – its Gospel of liberation and radical inclusion for ALL of God’s children. Jesus has left us with certain gifts and talents to carry out our work of discipleship in whatever ways we might have been gifted to do that. Some of us as Preachers and some of us as Lectors; some of us as Vestry members and some of us as extra hands to prepare a meal for the hungry – the vessel is not the point – the message is the point.

All that Jesus from Nazareth – that hole in the wall hick town – wants for the world, all that Jesus expects from his life and death – and all that is meant to be is given by God to us, Jesus’ disciples. Maybe that is a piece of what Jesus means in today’s Gospel text when he promises Philip and Nathanael that they will see “greater things than these.” Jesus is making a reference to the story of their ancestor in the faith, Jacob. Jacob was called to be a father of the people of Israel and he got to see a great ladder that was let down from heaven. What is truly amazing is not only did Jacob get to see this heavenly vision but that Jacob got to see this vision. Jacob, the liar, Jacob the cheat, Jacob the scoundrel of his family got to see things that few mortals get to see. The truth is that Jacob is our ancestor as well. And we, like Jacob may not be the best people in the world, and we, like Philip and Nathanael might not be the most insightful people, but what we are is the people whom Jesus has called to follow him and to be part of the Kindom of God made manifest among us; and that means we’ll see some amazing things.

As we prepare this week to inaugurate the first African American to hold the office of President of this United States – we pause with humility and hope to give prayers to Almighty God for the strength and fortitude that Mr. Obama will need – and we also pray that God will bless each of us with the strength and fortitude that we will need to carry out the work of promise and the hope of the good news given to us as disciples of the Word made flesh who dwells among and within us.

Amen.

Baptism of Our Lord - First Sunday after Epiphany

Well it certainly has been a while since this site has been updated. I'm going to post forward from Epiphany to current - and will try to be much more faithful in the months ahead. Part of the challenge is a "fluke" in the way my sign-in to this blog was constructed and I have secured that fluke, I think!

First Sunday after the Epiphany – Year B (RCL) 2009
Genesis 1: 1-5; Psalm 29; Acts 19: 1-7; Mark 1: 4-11
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, January 11, 2009

THE FONT OF ALL OUR BLESSINGS

Let us pray: God of love, even as Emanuel our God with us entered into the waters of new birth to submit to your desire to be baptized and fully identified with us – you draw us into the water and pour out your abundant gifts of grace manifest in that font. The water, we know, is a sign of your love and promise. We know also that it is the vehicle from which you have chosen to shower our lives with your blessing. Help us to remember the power of this life giving water every day that we may turn from our sin, receive the power of your forgiveness and utilize the gifts of your Spirit to sanctify our lives and serve you in joy and fulfillment. We pray all these things in the name of the one who took our nature upon himself, and in whose name we are baptized, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

(SUNG) COME THOU FONT OF EVERY BLESSING, TUNE MY HEART TO
SING THY GRACE. STREAMS OF MERCY, NEVER CEASING
CALL FOR SONG OF LOUDEST PRAISE. TEACH ME SOME
MELODIOUS SONNET, SUNG BY FLAMING TOUNGES ABOVE.
RAISE THE MOUNT, O FIX ME ON IT, MOUNT OF GOD’S
UNCHANGING LOVE.

Life is beginning to settle back into the natural rhythm of everyday experiences as we move from the festive season of Christmas into the enlightening experiences of Epiphany in our church calendar and into the “bleak mid-winter” in our secular one. I for one enjoy this rhythm between the secular and the sacred in my faith journey. It is often true that when our hearts are tuned to the nature of our world around us – our spirits can tune into the nature of the love of God who surrounds us in our very being and fills us with the power of God’s love poured out in abundance in the lives of those who claim the ministry of the Christ and look to carry that ministry into the world – those of us who claim discipleship in the name of the Christ and who struggle to understand what the nature of that discipleship means in our everyday experiences. For many of us who were baptized as infants within the first few months of our lives the power of that symbolic initiation into our lives as disciples – with the outward and visible sign (water and blessed oils) of the inward and spiritual grace of that sacrament may be missing some of its power. That is in part why we are often stirred to the core of our spiritual selves when we witness that sacramental action in community as we welcome the newly baptized into our midst with the words “We receive you into the household of God. Confess the faith of Christ crucified, proclaim his resurrection, and share with us in his eternal priesthood.” Our baptism then is in reality the service of ordination for each one of us into the priesthood of all believers – and is the most profound and important of sacramental actions that mark us as God’s children and heirs. This is the blessing for which we have gathered to give our thanks this morning. The blessing of the waters of our baptism which have equipped us for the work to which our God has called each of us. With many gifts, the One Spirit has called us each to new life in Christian community. That is the power of this font. That is the gift which we have been given in Emmanuel – God in whose epiphany we have been given new life as that God dwells among us.

We reach this first Sunday after the Epiphany refreshed by the memory of God’s ultimate gift given in the Christmas story, Jesus the Holy One, God’s beloved. In the Gospel account from the Author of Mark’s telling of the Good News we hear of Jesus’ encounter in the river Jordan with the Baptizer John. John, we are told is proclaiming that “the one who is more powerful than I is coming after me – I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” That, in fact, is what has happened for us – we have been baptized in that Jesus’ name with the Holy Spirit; and with that baptism we have been made priests of God’s kindom made manifest among us. That is quite an awesome gift and quite and awesome responsibility don’t you think? That reality in our lives – that we have been claimed by the Son of God, freed from the sting and power of death and made heirs of God’s eternal kindom is why we gather again and again around this holy table to share in the gifts of bread and wine which Jesus left for us a memorial of our redemption in his name.

(SUNG) HERE I FIND MY GREATEST TREASURE; HITHER BY THY
HELP, I’VE COME; AND I HOPE, BY THY GOOD PLEASURE
SAFELY TO ARRIVE AT HOME. JESUS SOUGHT ME WHEN
A STRANGER WANDERING FROM THE FOLD OF GOD; HE, TO
RESCUE ME FROM DANGER, INTERPOSED HIS PRESCIOUS
BLOOD.

The foundations for the Gospel narrative around the actions of the Baptiser John in the river Jordan are found in the creation narrative from the book of Genesis. In that narrative God creates the earth from a void where water, wind and fire come together. Each of those elements has power of its own – and enough power to destroy all that with which it comes in contact. God however harnesses those powers for good and causes them to work in conjunction with each other through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is that Spirit which we witness in today’s recounting of Jesus’ baptism and which we believe has been given to each of us in our own baptism so that we too might be claimed as God’s beloved with whom he is well pleased. The author of Mark’s Gospel is forthright in the declaration that Jesus of Nazareth is God’s Son. That statement is made boldly at the beginning of the narrative; here in the baptism narrative Jesus hears the words of the Father naming him and calling him to the purpose of his ministry on this Earth. Mark’s author wants us to be clear that Jesus is God’s Son in a way that no other of the great prophets of Israel could claim to be. Jesus was to be both the recipient of and the dispenser of God’s gift of the Holy Spirit. The Greek translated here as “descending like a dove on him” is perhaps better translated as “into” him so that the Spirit of God becomes a very part of the nature of this Son of God – and Jesus will impart that gift to those who come to believe in his ministry. John says he will baptize with water and the Holy Spirit and indeed that is the gift with which each of us was infused in our own baptismal covenant whenever that event happened in our lives.

We are told that the baptism of John that was drawing hoards of Jews out of the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem into the wilderness was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Our term “repentance” has a much stronger image in the Greek word “metanoia” which is seen as a change of mind or a total change of direction. John was calling on the people to change their direction and return to the way of righteousness and repentance. Into this mass of humanity hearing the call to metanoia – comes the most righteous prophet of God and after descending into the rebirthing waters of the Jordan river – rises to carry out his mission and ministry by preaching throughout all of Galilee, healing the sick, proclaiming the good news or Gospel of salvation and adoption to restore humanity into right relationship with God and to bring about the coming of God’s kindom among them. It is this metanoia that intrigues me in this baptism of John; this call to change my mind, to change my direction and seek the things of higher purpose. A story is told from the Native American tradition that helps to illustrate this concept with more clarity and power than I can, and I’ll share it with you:

This Native American Coyote story describes a poor man who had a dream or vision that there was a place where everything is perfect. You might say that this was heaven. He had been told that this place was visible to all who had accepted a life of humility and complete service to their community. The poor man felt very humble, especially since he had no real possessions, but he felt that he must set out on a journey away from his present life and community in search of this perfect place.

He set out the next day at dawn. He walked and walked the entire day, and when evening arrived, before he had found the perfect place, he set up camp, took out his meager meal of bread and a flask of water to satisfy his hunger and thirst. He gave thanks, ate the bread, drank the water, and then he removed his sandals and placed them facing in the direction he was headed so he could continue his journey the next day. Then he went to sleep.

While the poor man slept that night, Coyote came and turned his shoes around so that they faced the direction from where the man had come that day. When the poor man awoke, he put on his shoes, and began to walk again. While he walked all day, he thought about this perfect place, this heavenly city. When it was nearly dark, he came to a place that looked strangely familiar. He walked down a street, turned a corner, and saw a somewhat familiar dwelling. He waited outside the dwelling until its inhabitants came out to greet him and invite him in. When they did, he entered and was given warm clothes and a warm meal that was so delicious he could not remember the last time he had eaten so well. He was received with such hospitality that he felt as though he was a member of a family he had known his whole life.

After much talk, singing, and praying, the whole household offered the poor man their best bedding. He thanked them and laid down to sleep thanking Creator God for the abundant blessings shared with him. He could not help but think that this was, indeed, a perfect place, a heavenly place. How could there be another more perfect?

(SUNG) OH, TO GRACE HOW GREAT A DEBTOR DAILY I’M
CONSTRAINED TO BE! LET THY GOODNESS, LIKE A
FETTER, BIND MY WANDRING HEART TO THEE:
PRONE TO WANDER, LORD, I FEEL IT, PRONE TO LEAVE
THE GOD I LOVE; HERE’S MY HEART, OH, TAKE AND
SEAL IT; SEAL IT FOR THY COURTS ABOVE.

This is what our journey into baptized life is like. Baptism is our glimpse into the Kindom of God right here and right now – we so often look for the “truth” in our lives by seeking outside of ourselves and the truth of this story is that by experiencing the metanoia of our relationship with God – by turning around and beginning anew we discover that the truth lies within our own communities of faith and relationship. That is the true miracle of the gift of God’s Holy Spirit given to us in our baptism – to help us understand the power of God’s redeeming love and the ability to hear the whisper of our Creator “You are my Child, the beloved, with you I am well pleased”.