I Dare You

Dear Jesus, our Peace: To each of us you say “come follow me, follow me not just for an instant but in the faithfulness of a lifetime and as your call grows clearer, I, Christ, pray in you, dare to make a gift of your life.” This is the prayer of Broth Alois from Taize, a beautiful and perfect prayer about our corporate and individual relationship to Jesus. Let me say it again. Dear Jesus, our Peace: To each of us you say “come follow me, follow me not just for an instant but in the faithfulness of a lifetime and as your call grows clearer, I, Christ, pray in you, dare to make a gift of your life.”
All of our readings today are about our relationship with Jesus after the Resurrection. The reading from Acts describes the consequences suffered by Peter and John after they healed a man on the steps of the Temple at the hour of prayer - in the name of Jesus. There is a great uproar from the people inside the portico to the Temple – someone who had never walked in his life, who they had seen on the steps of the Temple every day - was standing, clinging, to Peter, and walking. In response to their astonishment, Peter witnesses to the prophets foretelling the coming of Jesus and to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. This ruckus alerted and annoyed the rulers and high priests who took Peter and John prisoner. They held them overnight and the next day demanded to know by whose authority they had performed this miracle – as if it were a crime to heal someone who had been lame from birth. Peter declared that is was in the name of Jesus who had been crucified, the cornerstone that had been rejected. Privately, the authorities recognized that a notable sign had been performed and would attract the attention of many people. And they were afraid of what the people might do if anything happened to John and Peter. So, as the lame man had nothing bad to say about them, the authorities let Peter and John go, demanding that they not speak anymore in Jesus’ name. Peter famously replied, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” The conviction of the disciples and their dependence on the Holy Spirit for words to speak is a model of Christian behavior and spirituality. God may grant us the power and courage to do likewise.
The psalm for today, Psalm 23, is the first one we learn to say as children and the last one we remember when we grow old. It describes our relationship with Jesus as protector. When Jesus the Lord is my shepherd, I will not want for anything. He leads me, restores me, comforts me with goodness and mercy all the days of my life. The gospel reading is also about Jesus as caretaker. Jesus is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. The good shepherd knows each and every sheep and they know him, too. They trust him and depend on him for their very lives. I do not doubt for one minute that I have been dependent on the Love and Mercy of Christ Jesus from the moment I was born, and I am sure that many of you, if not all of you, feel that in your hearts, too. Jesus cares for the sheep by the authority of God, his father and our father, his mother and our mother. In our day, the Bishops of the Episcopal church represent this shepherd and protector aspect of Jesus. The Greek word for bishop is episcopos, or overseer. So we are a church of bishops. If you have a prayer book in front of you, open it to page 855 and follow along with me about the ministry of bishops. “The ministry of a bishop is to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as apostle, chief priest, and pastor of a diocese; to guard the faith, unity, and discipline of the whole Church; to proclaim the Word of God; to act in Christ's name for the reconciliation of the world and the building up of the Church; and to ordain others to continue Christ's ministry.” So our bishop is our symbolic and sacramental shepherd. And that is why he carries a staff just as a real shepherd in the time of Jesus might do. Turn the page over to 856 and follow along with me the duty of all Christians. “The duty of all Christians is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray, and give for the spread of the kingdom of God.” We understand the call to weekly worship, but the rest of the description of our duty as Christians is not very specific. If Jesus is our shepherd and protector by whose power we want for nothing, and by whose grace our daily lives depend – then what are we to do in return? What does God expect from us for all his mercy and kindness to us?
I think we will find that the crux of the meaning of our relationship with Jesus is spelled out in the reading from 1st John in Chapter 3. “We know love by this. (WE KNOW LOVE BY THIS); that he laid down his life for us – and we are to lay down our lives for one another.” There it is – we are to be for one another as Christ is to us: little shepherds. “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help? Little children, let us love, not in word and speech, but in truth and action.” If Jesus has died for us we should live for each other, by the power of his spirit who lives in us. The first time I had the honor of preaching at St. George’s was on Maundy Thursday. This is the day that Jesus tries to convey to the disciples that he is really leaving them and he gives them to each other to care for and love. Jesus shows this intimate and personal love by washing their street-dirty feet with his own hands, and says, that the disciples should likewise wash each other’s feet. We should likewise wash each other’s feet – or the modern equivalent of that kind of intimacy. We need to take care of each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. But how do we do that, you might ask! Each of us has a gift or more than one gift that God has given us and that is what makes us the Body of Christ – our gifts and talents help us continue to be Christ for the world and each other. Sometimes we feel our gift is very small and maybe not important – but with love and nurturing our gift can be just the right thing at the right moment – and all gifts grow and thrive with love and attention. Today after the service we will have an opportunity to begin to discover and explore our own gifts as members of the Body of Christ. It will be exciting and challenging – and require courage and hope from all of us as disciples of Christ, just like the disciples of Jesus’ day. May God Bless our discovery process.

Let us pray. Dear Jesus, our Peace: To each of us you say “come follow me, follow me not just for an instant but in the faithfulness of a lifetime and as your call grows clearer, I, Christ, pray in you, dare to make a gift of your life.” Amen.

Roses in Spring

Isn't that what you and I want, even now, in the midst of our painful circumstances -- to understand God like we never have before, to see him as we've never seen him before, to emerge from our days of suffering with God's blessing and with a life that can be described as good?"
—Nancy Guthrie

Thank you, Lord, for the beautiful reminders of your grace and goodness to us that these Spring flowers bring. Help us to remember to love each other as you loved us. Help us to trust in your boundless love and kindness to us. Love us and teach us so that we may love and teach and serve others. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen.

Maundy Thursday Sermon

Foot Washing
In our Gospel reading for today Jesus takes on a lowly servant’s role. In his day there were no paved roads or closed-toe shoes to protect one’s feet from the dust and dirt of the streets. A servant was assigned to greet guests with a basin of water and clean towel to refresh their feet and welcome them into the home. This was a particularly distasteful job as there was sewage and other smelly stuff in the streets of that day. The foot washer was faced with a challenging task in cleaning the guests’ feet. It was nothing like our gentle washing of clean feet during our reenactment of the scene from this Gospel later tonight. This meeting of friends was during the festival of Passover, which we heard about in the Old Testament Reading, and Jesus had gathered with his friends to celebrate. But there was no servant to wash the feet of the people gathered, so the feet had gone unwashed. Taking up the role of the servant, Jesus ties a towel around his waist to accentuate the aspect of his actions. He then starts washing the feet of his friends. As we know, Peter protests being serviced in this lowly way by his lord and master… I wonder how we would feel about Jesus washing our feet? How does it feel to have our feet washed by our friends here as we are Jesus for each other?

There are three short passages in this story that stand out for me. The first is right at the beginning “: Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” Jesus knows that the time is short and he is gathered here with his friends whom he loves. He is concerned that they haven’t get quite gotten the idea of what is going to happen, but he tries to prepare them to remember and share the unconditional love he has had for them, which has held them together thru all their experiences, joys and fear. The emphasis this night is on intimate friendship and shared service.

The second phrase that grabs me is when Jesus says, ““Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” Just to make it really clear that Jesus is putting the disciples in each others’ care he has shown them this example of humble servitude as an example of how they are to approach and care for one another. (Pause) The Icon for the SFD, my alma mater, is an icon written by Lucia Dugliss, the wife of the Dean, Rod Dugliss. It is entitled “The Holy Ablutions” and it depicts the scene of the footwashing. Lucia describes the rich colors of the icon: “the brilliant colors give us a glimpse of the staggering beauty, glory, generosity and depth of the Divine Nature manifest as Jesus humbly establishes God’s kingdom in love and service.” Love and Service. These are Jesus’ expectations for us in our relationships with each other as a small band of his followers.

The last phrase that catches me is the final one, “Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Now Jesus turns his humble actions into a commandment on a level with the 10 commandments that they all knew so well, the commandments that God had given to Moses. This is now the depth of expectation Jesus has for his actions of service and love: that they will become a visual and physical reminder of the new commandment given by God that we should love each other just as Jesus has loved us. And in this way, everyone will know who we follow, if we show love for each other. When we are baptized or renew our baptismal vows, one of the questions asked of the congregation is “Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?” And we answer, “I will, with God’s help.” I will, with God’s help, seek and serve all people and love them as much as I love myself. Wow. Can we live like that? Do we know people who live up to this challenge? All baptized Christians are called to serve Christ in those we meets and deacons are particularly called to set an example of love and service, a sacramental representation of the deacon Christ and his diaconal church, as it says in the book, Many Servants, by Ormande Plater. I know several deacons in this diocese who set a mighty example of servant leadership. One has a house in Bay Point which was left to her by her grandmother. She has turned it into a food bank and resource site for the entire community. She and some volunteers gather and distribute food to those in need, entirely without any other kind of support. Another deacon I know runs an afterschool program in a marginal neighborhood in San Francisco. Many children who would go home to an empty apartment and maybe get caught up in gang activities find a welcoming place to spend some hours playing games, listening to stories and getting help with their homework, free to their grateful parents. Still another deacon I know is the minister to the sailors at the Port of Oakland. He travels ups and down the western seaboard bringing comfort and spirituality to many seafarers. These are mighty examples of love and service in our own diocese. However… I think Jesus is taking the reality of love and service to a deeper level here. We are all called – lay people, bishops, priests and deacons, to serve the poor and needy. But in this demonstration of service, the washing of feet, I think Jesus is asking us for something very basic to our faith. I see the commandment to “love one another as I have loved you” as a call to intimacy, the kind of intimacy that true friends share, agape is the Greek word. Jesus calls us to be there for each other in intimate, nurturing, caring relationship, the way he cared for his disciples. This is the love and service of a thousand small gestures of thoughtfulness and support. This is the love and service of a phone call just at the right moment, a hug, a shared laugh, the deep silence of compassion. God calls us to intimate service for one another and then the world will know us. These kinds of relationships lead us out into the world together to serve the needy as Christ’s disciples. The deepest level of loving serving friendship will bring the world to know we are Christians by our love. Amen.

Faith

Faith
“Keep this for me.”What child has not said this,And placed a treasure in his Mother’s handWith strict injunction she should keep it safeTill he return?He knows with her it will be safe;No troubled thought or anxious fear besets his mind,And off he runs light-hearted to his play.
If children can so trust, why cannot we,And place our treasures , too, in God’s safe hand;Our hopes, ambitions, needs, and those we love,Just see them, in his all embracing care,And say with joyous heart, “They are with Thee.”
Author Unknown

A Blessed Holy Week to all with Love from Mary

First Fruits

Thank you, Lord, for the beauty and newness of Spring. You give us hope and fresh minds to focus on your love and care for us. How can we share that with others today? How are you calling us to new life on this early spring day? Bless our hearts of love for you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.