The Chasm

The Chasm

In the second year at the School for Deacons each student takes a class in Field Education at a facility such as a homeless shelter, a meal program, or a social service agency. I chose to spend 8 hours a week for a year at a local mental health inpatient facility called Crestwood. There are very few of these kinds facilities –after the dismantling of the large mental health institutions the intention was to create small, community based treatment centers for the mentally ill, but it has not happened the way it was envisioned. Now it is almost necessary that a mentally ill person without health insurance do something illegal to qualify for assessment and some kind of help. Many do not get help until they end up in prison, unfortunately.
When I started at Crestwood I didn’t know much of anything about these issues. Most of my pastoral experience had been in hospice care and though I knew some people who had mental health issues this area of life was outside my daily experience and concern. I was concerned to be sure, but I honestly had been put off the topic of mental healthcare by some overly enthusiastic preaching so I had mixed feelings about my placement at Crestwood. Initially I felt really awkward there like at the start of a new job. I didn’t know how to get into the bathroom as it was locked. I didn’t know which staff members would be friendly in helping me to start a group for the consumers, as they called the patients. I was pretty much left on my own to figure out how to get to know the consumers and start up a group of some kind. And I didn’t know how the consumers would behave or what they would expect from me, if anything. So the first day I sat in their TV room and tried to get some conversations going. It was really hard to find anyone who would talk with me but I managed to get into a game of pool and eventually learned some of their names. I didn’t think of there being a divide between the consumers and myself in the moment but the divide between us was wide and deep. They didn’t know or care why I was hanging around and though I wanted to learn more about their lives and offer spiritual care, I didn’t know how to start so I tried to be there and be present and open to whatever happened. Eventually the consumers got used to seeing me and I started a spiritual care group and found my way along. I knew most of all that the wind of Holy Spirit was pushing me forward into this particular divide.
Leaving Crestwood for a moment and let’s talk about our gospel reading. It’s hard to imagine a more dramatic and difficult warning to the rich of the earth. The author, Luke, who was a physician, was the likely author of both this Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. He had a special affinity for the poor, the marginalized and for women. Luke holds with Jewish tradition that the poor are considered especially holy. This is the feeling we get about Lazarus who lies uncomplaining at the door of the rich man’s house, eating the scraps from his table, and letting dogs lick his sores for comfort. Because he is holy he is taken away by the angels when he dies to live with his Father, Abraham, in the joy of heaven. Now the rich man has had a lot of the good life in his times: nice clothes and home, good food and presumably good friends and family. Luke does not describe him as a selfish person and he makes no mention of his attitude or contributions to the poor. So we can’t assume he was indifferent to the poor, he might have even been very generous. When the rich man dies he goes to Hades and is in torment. He looks across the divide and sees Abraham and Lazarus in heaven and asks for just a sip of water to cool his tongue, but the divide is too great for Lazarus to cross over to provide even that moment of comfort. The tables have turned – the divide that the rich man allowed to exist in life on earth between himself and Lazarus was now separating them in the afterworld. The rich man may have been generous or not, we don’t know, but we do know that he didn’t open himself to cross over that divide between rich and poor, even a poor man living right on his doorstep. So the rich man, realizing too late the error of his ways, begs Abraham, in his despair, to send Lazarus from the dead to warn his brothers of the lesson he had learned. Again Abraham refused by saying, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone rises from the dead.” This is most likely a reference to Jesus and perhaps it’s Luke's response to questions early Christians had as to why Jesus did not reappear after his resurrection and warn everyone of the realities of life after death. Particularly because some of the Christians were starting to lose their focus from the early days when everyone had personal experience of Jesus. There is an attempt to provide this warning in our reading from The Letter to Timothy as well. We hear: “As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to be good, to be rich in good works and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.” Take hold of the life that really is life. What is that? It is Life in the Kingdom of God – where nothings divides us from God and our sisters and brothers on earth. The Kingdom of God lives in our souls by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit moves us toward justice for the poor and marginalized through discernment of the Spirit. And when we feel where the Spirit is working we may support that movement of the Spirit to continue to create God’s Kingdom here on earth. So what about my struggle with the divide at Crestwood? Maybe you are wondering if I ever made it over. Yes and no. I met a woman there named Suzanne. Sometimes she came to my Spiritual Care group and sometimes she took communion with us – even though she was Jewish. Everyone was welcome at the table. She told me that she really was a “Judeo-Christian” and I said, so I am I. Unfortunately her illness was progressive and she became more and more tormented. She would moan and scream and make unbearable sounds of suffering sometimes, walking continuously up and down the halls. In her few clear moments she told me about her life before Crestwood. She had two children, and a husband and a life in Berkeley where she lived with her family. And in this moment I saw clearly, too, that she was very much like me. There wasn’t much difference between us – same age and demographics, children, ex-husband, desire for a “normal” if somewhat bohemian life; spiritual and seeking. The significant difference was that she had the horrible bad luck to be stricken with worsening mental illness at the change of life – and I didn’t. I wished I could give her even a week of my life to feel what it was like to walk free again and experience the normal life of work, church, grocery store, eating out, being at home with family and having “normal” problems. She had none of that any more, only the torture that lived in her mind. She let me cross over and experience her life and be in relationship with her for a few brief moments. Eventually she was completely lost to her illness and I am pretty sure she lives with Abraham now. This is a pretty extreme story I have chosen to tell. Jesus’ story about Lazarus and the rich man illustrates the point that separation from any of our fellow creatures divides us from the life that is really life. Because Suzanne’s behavior was out of the so usual I had a hard time getting myself over the divide at all because the tragedy of her life was hard to see. I knew that it could have easily been me living at Crestwood and her coming in to visit and provide care. That was a really difficult reality for me to imagine. The good news is that unlike the rich man who died not realizing that the divide even existed we have the opportunity to reach across the divide today thru working for justice for the poor, the sick and the marginalized. We do it, not to avoid Hades, but because this is how Jesus our Savior lived – reaching out to those who needed his help and love. And by being present to their suffering. By the grace of the Holy Spirit we may do the same and gain a glimpse of God’s mercy across the divide. Amen.

Prophets

Over the past several thousand years there have been people called prophets who speak for justice and mercy at various times in various ways. Some were respected in their communities and some had to run for their lives. The first deacon, Stephen, in his inaugural sermon, spoke passionately with a prophetic voice. This disturbed some in the synagogue so much that despite all the wonders and signs he had done among the people, he was taken to the town square and stoned to death. Speaking up against social injustice and holding society accountable for the poverty and isolation of some members of the human race, makes the life of a prophet uncomfortable if not downright dangerous. But we need prophets in our midst, to keep us from growing comfortable in our lives and to shake up our complacency and send us out to work in the world for those who have no power to speak for themselves. Such a prophet is a deacon friend of mine, someone who I went to school with. She holds a Ph.D. in political science and was a naval officer. She speaks with a prophetic voice that is hard to hear sometimes, because she calls us out to care about places and situations far away from our daily lives. Recently she wrote a short note in the Deacons’ yahoo group messages about the privatization of water in the countries of Bolivia and Peru by large companies such as coca cola – making access to something as basic to life as water a political and economic issue. I find myself resisting the reality of the challenge in her words. The resistance is the key – because it will cost me something to care about this problem. I might have to take action, make a choice, care enough to do something. It’s hard to listen to the call to justice in the middle of a busy life. But that’s what Christians are called to do. We are called at the very least to be aware and pray and care.
We are so blessed in our lives, to have Bishops who speak fearlessly about the times in which we live. They are also prophets. They speak out despite the division their visions of Life in the Kingdom bring. On July 25th, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori attended a Eucharist at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. She challenged those present to be "ready, willing and able" to speak out and take action against the world's injustices and indignities. She said, "Prophetic work is about more abundant life for the whole world, and it is about a home everywhere, a home for all," she said during her sermon. "Prophetic work is about challenging human systems that ignore or deny the innate dignity of all of God's creation … We lose our dignity when we tolerate indignity for some … The work of the cross is the most life-giving journey we know. Are you ready, willing and able?"
One of the ongoing controversies of our time is the right of gay and lesbian people to marry. As you are aware this was denied by proposition 8, voted in by the people of California last year. Last week a judge reversed this proposition, saying that denying the right to marry on the basis of sexual orientation was unconstitutional. Our own Bishop Marc, a true prophet, addressed the people who gathered at City Hall in San Francisco after the ruling and he said:"So, today Jesus says to you, 'Congratulations, you who have been mourning! You are being comforted! Congratulations all of you who have been hungering and thirsting for righteousness! Aren't you feeling filled and nourished now?' . . . All these congratulations and blessings are so that we can keep on moving, to extend congratulations to LGBT people in places where persecution is still intense, to use our great energies to help children get food and education, to give strength and support to women everywhere, to fight world-class diseases like HIV/AIDS, to heal the wounded planet. We rejoice today, and tomorrow we continue the fight, lending our strength, the blessing of God, to those who need it." This is what prophets do – speak out about the injustices of the times and hold the people accountable for changing the source of the injustice: and they do so at their own risk. I know that just by reading these quotes I may have caused division and anger in this very room. It is not comfortable to be a Christian and Jesus says that’s what he intends for his disciples. He didn’t come to make us happy or create a life of self-righteous ease. He came to bring fire and cause division! In our gospel reading today Jesus speaks with this prophetic voice to the disciples. They are continuing on the road to Jerusalem and in parable after parable Jesus explains that they must stay awake for what is coming. They must prepare for his death and to take his place in the world as prophets themselves, speaking truth to power and paying the price for speaking truth to power. In the chapters before today’s reading Jesus talks about being dressed and ready for action, having the lamps lit and the food ready for the master. He talks about the thief coming at an unexpected hour just as the Son of Man will come, like a thief in the night, when you are unarmed and unprepared. Jesus tells them the story of the unfaithful servant who, when put in charge, beats the other slaves and proceeds to get drunk – but then the master arrives at an unexpected hour and finds the servant unprepared and having abused his master’s trust. This was a warning to the disciples and also is a warning to us – to give up our complacency and work for the cause of the Kingdom. Jesus says, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much as been entrusted, even more will be demanded.” And then he demands, “do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth?” Well, yes, that is what we thought. What about Jesus’ birth and all the songs about “Peace on Earth good will to men”, and the angel going around telling everyone not to be afraid? What about Jesus’ mother Mary declaring that in Jesus’ very existence on earth the powerful had been brought down and the lowly lifted up, the hungry filled with good things and the rich sent away empty? What about the Kingdom where the lion will lie down with the lamb? Why did Jesus come here to earth, then? To make more trouble in an already troubled time, to cause division and bring fire to the earth? Yes, he says. He knows that he is going to his “baptism” of fire in Jerusalem and he feels stressed out that the disciples don’t understand that he will soon be gone and all hell will break loose for his followers. Those who take up the cross that they will bear for the sake of the love of Jesus will suffer greatly and live with division, even in their own families. Because they live a life outside the norm – not going along or giving in to the pressures of society and industry, but protesting and speaking out for the sake of the marginalized and suffering poor of the world. In our reading from the letter of Paul to the Hebrews, Paul recites an extensive list of the sufferings of the prophets and then says, “ 12Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.” The sin that Paul refers to as clinging closely to us is that which separates us from God – the unwillingness to take a chance and step out in favor of those who have no voice or support or the rights that all human beings deserve. This is what I meant when I said I find myself resisting the reality of the challenge. In order to be ready for the Master I need to give up my own resistance to change – the sin that separates me from God and open my ears to the prophetic word. As Theologian Walter Bruggemann says, it is “crunch” time. Crunch time is the time to make a decision for or against the Holy Reign of God. The prophets and martyrs of old made their choices with joy. Jesus, Paul says, made his choice with joy, and Bp. Katherine says . "We're invited to join the band of prophets, share the meal and drink the cup. It can be dangerous work, but most prophets I know are also filled with joy."
This, I know, is a lot to take in. We are not all called to be prophets or speak with a prophetic voice. But we are all called as Christians to listen, respond and be present to the difficult choices life presents us. And to take be aware of the suffering near to us and across the world and take action to help those in need. Because we have been blessed. This is a daily choice we make – to live like Christ and share his vision. May God give us the insight and strength to hear the prophet’s voice. Amen.

Samaritans

I want to tell you a true story that I wish wasn’t true. A few years ago I joined with the folks who were participating in the Episcopal Charities Walk in San Francisco. If you haven’t heard of this, it’s a sponsored walk to raise money for various Episcopal charities around SF and in Oakland as well. The participants walk from site to site, learning about each charity they visit and taking on some pretty steep hills as part of the journey. So we set off from the Cathedral with the Bishop in the lead. The first leg of the walk was straight down from the Cathedral into the Tenderloin district, where there are lots of people who have life challenges to put it mildly. In the first block we passed some folks sitting drinking on a stoop. One of the men, he looked more like an older boy really, had passed out on the sidewalk and was lying with his leg half in the street and just spread out there in our path. Several dozen Episcopalian walkers had already passed by and so we came up behind them and saw the man lying there, too. We discussed what should be done, in our little group, and because we felt obligated to proceed with the walk we had signed up to do, and because we presumed that someone had already called police or ambulance, we continued on with the walk. We visited all the charitable organizations that do such great work in SF and we wore ourselves out trudging up and down the hills, but I couldn’t get that unconscious man out of my head, lying splayed out on the sidewalk, stone cold drunk and helplessly unconscious. Who was a neighbor to this man? Certainly not a couple hundred Episcopalians who walked right past – I know many had more than a tug at their heart and compassion – but I hated it that I was one of them and that I didn’t stop and do something to change that moment in time for him. Did he deserve my help and pity? I believe he did, I believe he did. Was I legally obliged to act? I don’t know. God put a tug in my heart, and I walked by. I was not a neighbor to the man who lay drunk and unconscious on the sidewalk. I wish I didn’t have this story to tell you.
In our Gospel today a lawyer asks Jesus a legal question about his rights and obligations as a Jewish citizen and religious adherent in the first century. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus questions him back – “What does the law say? What do you read there? They are both referring to the Jewish law contained in the Torah, the first five books of the Jewish Scriptures. The lawyer replies with the standard and proper response: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28And then Jesus says to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” But the lawyer feels some kind of dismissal in this interchange – He has given the pat answer and Jesus has responded in a perfunctory way. So to push the envelope a little the lawyer asks, and who IS my neighbor? And so Jesus invites him and us then, into a deeper more loving more intimate meaning of the word neighbor. The question changes from a legal issue to a loving issue – not “who is my neighbor?” but “who was a neighbor to the man who was injured?” These are completely different questions by legal standards and by standards of the heart. Legally, the priest and the Levite could not touch the beaten man who had been left in the ditch to die, they could not touch him according to Jewish law, without losing their status of ritual cleanliness. And then they could not perform the acts they were obligated to perform on behalf of the people at the temple. So they passed on by due to this question of legal and religious obligation – and they were legally right to do so. But the question of the heart, the question of love begs a different response. The Samaritan looks at the man and is filled with pity for his condition – he doesn’t worry about his own consequences or the cost, or the interruption of his journey – he is filled with pity and acts accordingly. And Jesus casts this helper as a Samaritan just to put a knife into the heart of the lawyer, because as we have discussed previously the Samaritans were the enemies of the Jews and did not follow the Jewish laws and dared to worship at another temple on another mountain. Justice can certainly be a question of law – just and right behavior can be regulated and receive a stamp of approval. But mercy on the other hand, is an affair of the heart. Who is a neighbor to the injured one, who is moved with enough compassion to do something to really help?
The lawyer asks: And who is my neighbor?

And Jesus answers: Who was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?

So to answer this question I have to tell you another story and ask another question.

As many of you know, I work in a small rural hospital about 70 miles from here. Our hospital has been struggling financially as long as I have worked there, about 10 years. And though the problems – financial, structural and social – are abundant, there is compassion and care in the work done there. The town also has a lot of pride in its produce – and in its name, which is famous all over the world, though the town is very small. Over the past nine months many ideas have been considered to keep the hospital from falling into bankruptcy as many small hospitals do. This week a new idea, which had been floating around for a while, was made public. There is a state mental hospital nearby and our hospital is considering a contract with them to provide acute hospital care for the residents and prisoners. It will bring needed revenue for the hospital, much needed revenue. Our usual clientele mix ranges from the extremely wealthy and sometimes famous to the most poor and illegal field worker. There is no security to speak of at the hospital. The doors are open most of the time except in the dark of night and we have no security guard at any time of day or night. So this is the setting into
which a few very mentally ill and criminally culpable individuals with serious healthcare issues are proposed to be introduced. I wondered how my staff of nutrition caregivers would respond. I wondered how they would feel about the prisoners and their guardians being in our hospital and providing care for them. At 11:45 each weekday we have a “standup” meeting for about 5 minutes so I took the opportunity on Friday to ask them how they felt about the potential for the criminally insane to be patients in the hospital. Nobody answered so I went ahead and talked about how it would be normal to be afraid of working with folks who have committed a crime serious enough to land them in the state hospital. But fortunately, this state hospital is the same place where I did my clinical pastoral education for SFD and so I could assure them that medication, guards and psych techs will control the behavior of the prisoners so that my staff can feel very safe – and when the prisoners come to the hospital they will be sick enough to be admitted to an acute hospital – for whatever regular reasons people are admitted – appendicitis, broken legs or hips, surgery of some kind, even having a baby.
Referring back to our story about the Good Samaritan, one could argue that these prisoners are not the man who was beaten and stripped of his clothing and left to die by the side of the road. They are, in fact, the robbers. They have beaten and stolen and murdered. They have exhibited out-of-control dangerous behavior. They are unwashed and unkempt, in dirty clothes and smelling not so great. They are our neighbors, brothers and sisters, they are us. We may have folks in our own families with mental illness – perhaps not so extreme – but although we don’t talk about it much, mental health care is a huge problem in our society – most people with severe mental illness end up in prison since the large institutions were shut down. Don’t get me started….
Jesus asked, who was a neighbor to the man who injured by the robbers? The lawyer answered, the one who showed him mercy.
And I want to ask the question - will we at the small rural hospital be able to be the neighbor to the robber himself – to the most despicable, dirty, criminal and ultimately the most in need of our love and care? Will we be able to show him or her mercy? It is my prayer that this blessing will come our way. Jesus says, Go and do likewise.

Amen.

For Freedom Christ has set us Free.

I would like to be free of my mortgage! I would like to be free to go to work when I want to and stay home when I don’t feel like working. Some days I would like to be free of my obligations and housework and difficult employees and 20-year-olds who think I am an ATM machine. I don’t feel all that “free”, to tell you the truth. But St. Paul says “Christ has set us free – for Freedom.” How and where are we free in this world? If I didn’t have the obligations of job and mortgage I wouldn’t have anywhere to live, would I? And if I didn’t have my 20-somethings I would sometimes be very lonely indeed. According to Paul it is in life in the Spirit that sets us free to be the people of God through our faith in and love for Jesus. And as gentle and lovely as that sounds it is a counter-cultural and revolutionary statement that puts us at odds with most of modern world.
In our Gospel today, Jesus has set his course to Jerusalem, to the final chapter of the story of his ministry. This is Jesus’ last chance to form the mission that will become the church which is the body of Christ, his legacy of love to the world. In the Gospel according to Luke chapters 9 through 23, Luke describes Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem and how Jesus is guided and supported by the Spirit on his way to crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and life with God. And then Jesus sends out the Spirit to be our advocate, comforter and teacher. So on his Way to Jerusalem, Jesus sends some messengers ahead to the next town to tell of his arrival, as was the custom of the day, so that his group would have a place to stay when they got there. Because there were no hotels as we know them, the need for hospitality and a place to lay your head made you dependant on the kindness of strangers. But when Jesus and his followers reached this town, they discovered it was a Samaritan town and that they were not welcome. The Samaritans were related to the Jews ethnically and historically – but they worshiped at another temple on another mountain and there was no love lost between the two groups. This rejection of Jesus and his followers was the result of an ethnic conflict. The disciples got offended and offered to call down fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans and Jesus “rebukes” them and moves on. Jesus had “set his face to Jerusalem” – as his home of worship, but also as the unraveling place for his story and his ultimate mission to give his life up for the love of the people he served. Not as warrior king but as loving servant of the most oppressed and marginalized people in society. What can you imagine Jesus said to the disciples when they wanted to destroy the Samaritan town with fire from heaven? It must have bothered him a lot that they still didn’t get it that his mission was not a military action or a “lightening bolt from God” sort of crusade. He may have turned away discouraged and yet still determined to continue on in the mission that God had set for him. I can see him calming them down and reminding them of the work yet to be done and moving on down the path, setting his face and his will to Jerusalem where his fate awaited him.
As they continued along Jesus encountered more people who wanted to join his walk to Jerusalem – people who had heard about the miracles and the stories of healing and hope. After his encounter with the Samaritans Jesus continued to gather up more workers for his mission, these people who will form the church and reap the first fruit of the Spirit which Paul mentions – “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control.”
The call Jesus sends out to these prospective disciples in our gospel reading is in contrast to the violent reaction of the disciples to the Samaritans. When St. Paul says, “For Freedom Christ has set us free,” Paul is talking not only about freedom from ethnic prejudice, or material possessions, or other earthly concerns which can take up a lot of time and energy and money. He is talking also about the freedom to follow where the Spirit leads. Jesus, too, on his walk makes a call to the potential disciples for this kind of freedom. It is a call for a radical change of life and possible expulsion from their families and communities. The call to a life in Christ is not easy when you have a lot to lose in terms of the world. Can you imagine someone asking you to walk away from home, family, bank account, SUV, boat, vacation plans…retirement plans. That is what Jesus asked of the people on the way to Jerusalem. Maybe that’s why Jesus says the poor are blessed – because taking up a life in Christ is easier when you have less to lose. In our gospel, a young man comes to Jesus and says in all earnestness, “I will follow you wherever you go!” And Jesus tells him the truth about his own life – even a fox has a hole and a bird has a nest but the Son of God has no permanent place to rest his head, he has no home to go to each night. He was what we would call homeless, vagrant, jobless, and dependant on the generosity of the women who follow him. It sounds frightening and tenuous when described in that way. Jesus really lived free of earthly demands like mortgage and job and family ties. The young man in this encounter must have been shocked at this truth about Jesus. We don’t know if he joined up or not. In his place, I don’t know if I would have joined up. Jesus called out to the next candidate for discipleship – “Follow me!” And the man called back, “First let me bury my father!” Now in the culture of Jesus’ time and place this didn’t mean the funeral was tomorrow and the man would catch Jesus up at the next town. This short statement reveals all the weight and obligation of family ties and values that a man could feel. Children were all the retirement that parents had – the children had to prepare to care for them until they died – and their children must do the same for them when the time came. To walk away to follow an itinerant preacher and prophet was to lose the respect of community and possibly abandon one’s parents to poverty and shame. What an awful choice. And even the disciple candidate who wanted to say goodbye to his folks at home and let them know where he was going got the same kind of response from Jesus – Anyone who puts their hand to the plow of a life in Christ and looks back – just looks back with the slightest yearning for the old life, the life lived in the world, is not fit for the Kingdom of God. These are such harsh words and a seemingly impossible condition for discipleship.
How do we reconcile our lives then – in the world and in the Spirit? Are we to give up everything to the poor and go out there and preach the gospel on the streets, live among the homeless and give up all to Christ? Some people are called to that kind of service – Mother Teresa comes to mind – and we know that even she was not without internal conflict about her life in Christ and her relationship with God. How does one give up the life of the world, the values and desires of the flesh, the comfort and struggle of life in a family and live a life that yields up the fruit of the Spirit and makes us each a window into the life of Christ? It is a lifelong journey of struggle and success, failure and joy – but always with a determination, an urgency, setting our faces to Jerusalem. Have we got the stomach and courage for it? Have I got the stomach and courage for it?
Paul says, “13For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. 14For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This is what Jesus did. Slavery to the welfare of our brothers and sisters in the world is complete freedom from the crushing weight of the demands of life in the world of earthly concerns. Following Jesus is not an easy journey, but the ultimate fruit of this life in the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control.
I wish I could give you some advice how to do this. I still have my house and mortgage; my kids; my job, my Blackberry. I haven’t cashed in my retirement plan and given the money away to the poor. Everyone who follows Jesus struggles with the complex demands and temptations of the world – the only thing I know for sure is that the Spirit will lead me – if I keep my heart open to what she is saying to me and calling me to do and be. And the fruit of the Spirit for me now is the joy of being in this place called St. George’s with you. For the Freedom to follow where the Spirit is leading us, Christ has set us Free. Amen.

The Vision of Christ

When I think of heaven, I think of a verse from the beginning of the 14th chapter of John – “2In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.” It’s a lovely idea, to always be with Jesus in a big beautiful house. I have a rather childlike vision of a large mansion with endless hallways and a special room for each person there – something made and arranged with just that one in mind. And Jesus waits at the door with open arms to gather us in. And in our reading today from the same chapter, Jesus says, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” A similar idea, but more focused life on earth – not only will there be a place prepared for us in heaven, but before that happens, God and Jesus will make a home with us here on earth. Jesus is trying to comfort and encourage the disciples and us, too. He promises that the Spirit, our Advocate, will come and teach us and lead us until we make our home in heaven. We won’t be left alone; we will have guidance and comfort. Jesus says, “27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” Don’t be afraid, Jesus will be with us in the form of the Holy Spirit our guide and comforter. I have to admit that I find it hard not to be afraid. I believe and know from experience that the Spirit takes care of me and that worry is really unnecessary. But I am human and I am often afraid. And Jesus knows this, that we are too weak not to be afraid sometimes.
The reading from Revelation that we heard today is a vision of that same promise of a New World – where God and Jesus live with us on earth. In Verse 3 we hear, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” This is the New Jerusalem, created without imperfections, coming from heaven from God for humankind. The vision is of a beautiful city, where light comes from the Lamb, Jesus, and there is no day or night, no sun or moon needed. There will be no falsehood, or abominations, and the people will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations. This vision of a renewal of creation would be very attractive to people living in the last two decades of the first century; the years 80 to 100 in the current era. This is the time the books of Luke and Acts were most likely written, as well as the book of Revelation. In this period the first Christians were having a rough time of it. The counter-cultural nature of the teachings of Jesus created a hostile and sometimes violent environment for these Christian people. Some were brutally martyred; some hid and worshipped secretly in the cities and some were dispersed to friendlier countries where they could worship more openly. They believed, as Paul did, that Jesus would be back soon, bringing the new order and a new creation – a perfect world where there was no hunger or persecution, but a just and beautiful life for everyone. As time went by however, they had to acknowledge that it seemed like Jesus wasn’t coming back anytime soon – and they formed more permanent communities to keep the faith intact while they waited. To these mostly gentile, that is non-Jewish, communities St. Paul traveled, ministered, taught and preached. The author of Luke and Acts – most likely the physician Luke – wrote his books as a story defending and explaining the life of Jesus, his death and the continuing life of the Christian community. In writing this story, he encountered the problem of the hostility and persecution as well as the seemingly disjointed community – the first Christian communities went through so many transitions in the early stages that it was hard for Luke to write a sensible history. So he properly ties it together and emphasizes the power of the Spirit to direct and guide the people in spreading the Word and maintaining the faith. In reading Acts we notice how frequently the events of the day are attributed to the movement of the Spirit. Paul, while working in Troas, on the Aegean Sea, has a vision that he is called to Macedonia by a man who asks Paul to come and help them. And so Paul and his companions, possibly including the Author Luke, go by the power of the Holy Spirit, across the sea to Neapolis in Macedonia – free and obedient to the call of the Spirit – even though with some difficult traveling we can imagine. They continue on to Philippi, which Luke notes is a Roman colony. This is important because Paul would be somewhat protected there due to his status as a Roman citizen. After a few days they located a place of prayer near a river and went there on the Sabbath where they found Lydia and some women who already had the habit of meeting for prayer. Lydia was a dealer in purple cloth, likely a woman of high standing in the community of Philippi, and she listened to Paul with an open heart and received his words eagerly. She is baptized then along with her household. The power of the Spirit sends Paul to Macedonia where he finds Lydia and in his freedom of mind and in the power of the Spirit she and her family are offered a new life in Christ. Just as we, through the power of the Spirit, have been offered and now live a new life in Christ. According to NT author Walter Bruggeman, Lydia embodies three characteristics of the new Christians:
•Lydia had an open heart; was not troubled or worried about the politics of religion. •She lived in freedom then, mentally emancipated from the powers of the present age in which she lived.•And she was capable of the new obedience of love offered through Paul’s preaching.

These are the points Jesus makes in our gospel for today – he urges us not to be afraid of the powers that be - he promises to be with us through the Holy Spirit during our trials in this life. And when the time comes he will take us home with him to be with God. Notice that Jesus doesn’t promise it will be easy. He doesn’t promise us a beautiful life of justice and mercy here and now on earth. And he doesn’t promise us he will be back soon to establish that kind of life right here on earth, like the glorious vision in the book of Revelation. But he promises to take us home when the time comes. Home to the beautiful house with many rooms that God has prepared for us. This vision of life with God has sustained Christians for centuries through struggles and trials that we can’t even imagine. The openness of heart, freedom of life, and obedience through love that the Holy Spirit brings to us give us the courage to continue to live in an imperfect world full of abominations and darkness, hunger and pain, hatred and violence, natural disasters and death. It is life in the Holy Spirit that brings us closer to our home with God and Jesus and each other in our Christian communities. And it is in Jesus’ command and promise that we find courage to continue to carry the faith forward: Peace be with you – do not be troubled or afraid – I am with you always.

Amen

John 14:23-29
Acts 16:9-15
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5Psalm 67

The Vision of Christ

When I think of heaven, I think of a verse from the beginning of the 14th chapter of John – “2In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.” It’s a lovely idea, to always be with Jesus in a big beautiful house. I have a rather childlike vision of a large mansion with endless hallways and a special room for each person there – something made and arranged with just that one in mind. And Jesus waits at the door with open arms to gather us in. And in our reading today from the same chapter, Jesus says, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” A similar idea, but more focused life on earth – not only will there be a place prepared for us in heaven, but before that happens, God and Jesus will make a home with us here on earth. Jesus is trying to comfort and encourage the disciples and us, too. He promises that the Spirit, our Advocate, will come and teach us and lead us until we make our home in heaven. We won’t be left alone; we will have guidance and comfort. Jesus says, “27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” Don’t be afraid, Jesus will be with us in the form of the Holy Spirit our guide and comforter. I have to admit that I find it hard not to be afraid. I believe and know from experience that the Spirit takes care of me and that worry is really unnecessary. But I am human and I am often afraid. And Jesus knows this, that we are too weak not to be afraid sometimes.
The reading from Revelation that we heard today is a vision of that same promise of a New World – where God and Jesus live with us on earth. In Verse 3 we hear, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” This is the New Jerusalem, created without imperfections, coming from heaven from God for humankind. The vision is of a beautiful city, where light comes from the Lamb, Jesus, and there is no day or night, no sun or moon needed. There will be no falsehood, or abominations, and the people will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations. This vision of a renewal of creation would be very attractive to people living in the last two decades of the first century; the years 80 to 100 in the current era. This is the time the books of Luke and Acts were most likely written, as well as the book of Revelation. In this period the first Christians were having a rough time of it. The counter-cultural nature of the teachings of Jesus created a hostile and sometimes violent environment for these Christian people. Some were brutally martyred; some hid and worshipped secretly in the cities and some were dispersed to friendlier countries where they could worship more openly. They believed, as Paul did, that Jesus would be back soon, bringing the new order and a new creation – a perfect world where there was no hunger or persecution, but a just and beautiful life for everyone. As time went by however, they had to acknowledge that it seemed like Jesus wasn’t coming back anytime soon – and they formed more permanent communities to keep the faith intact while they waited. To these mostly gentile, that is non-Jewish, communities St. Paul traveled, ministered, taught and preached. The author of Luke and Acts – most likely the physician Luke – wrote his books as a story defending and explaining the life of Jesus, his death and the continuing life of the Christian community. In writing this story, he encountered the problem of the hostility and persecution as well as the seemingly disjointed community – the first Christian communities went through so many transitions in the early stages that it was hard for Luke to write a sensible history. So he properly ties it together and emphasizes the power of the Spirit to direct and guide the people in spreading the Word and maintaining the faith. In reading Acts we notice how frequently the events of the day are attributed to the movement of the Spirit. Paul, while working in Troas, on the Aegean Sea, has a vision that he is called to Macedonia by a man who asks Paul to come and help them. And so Paul and his companions, possibly including the Author Luke, go by the power of the Holy Spirit, across the sea to Neapolis in Macedonia – free and obedient to the call of the Spirit – even though with some difficult traveling we can imagine. They continue on to Philippi, which Luke notes is a Roman colony. This is important because Paul would be somewhat protected there due to his status as a Roman citizen. After a few days they located a place of prayer near a river and went there on the Sabbath where they found Lydia and some women who already had the habit of meeting for prayer. Lydia was a dealer in purple cloth, likely a woman of high standing in the community of Philippi, and she listened to Paul with an open heart and received his words eagerly. She is baptized then along with her household. The power of the Spirit sends Paul to Macedonia where he finds Lydia and in his freedom of mind and in the power of the Spirit she and her family are offered a new life in Christ. Just as we, through the power of the Spirit, have been offered and now live a new life in Christ. According to NT author Walter Bruggeman, Lydia embodies three characteristics of the new Christians:
•Lydia had an open heart; was not troubled or worried about the politics of religion. •She lived in freedom then, mentally emancipated from the powers of the present age in which she lived.•And she was capable of the new obedience of love offered through Paul’s preaching.

These are the points Jesus makes in our gospel for today – he urges us not to be afraid of the powers that be - he promises to be with us through the Holy Spirit during our trials in this life. And when the time comes he will take us home with him to be with God. Notice that Jesus doesn’t promise it will be easy. He doesn’t promise us a beautiful life of justice and mercy here and now on earth. And he doesn’t promise us he will be back soon to establish that kind of life right here on earth, like the glorious vision in the book of Revelation. But he promises to take us home when the time comes. Home to the beautiful house with many rooms that God has prepared for us. This vision of life with God has sustained Christians for centuries through struggles and trials that we can’t even imagine. The openness of heart, freedom of life, and obedience through love that the Holy Spirit brings to us give us the courage to continue to live in an imperfect world full of abominations and darkness, hunger and pain, hatred and violence, natural disasters and death. It is life in the Holy Spirit that brings us closer to our home with God and Jesus and each other in our Christian communities. And it is in Jesus’ command and promise that we find courage to continue to carry the faith forward: Peace be with you – do not be troubled or afraid – I am with you always.

Amen

Believe and Live

Let’s imagine for a moment that we are among the original disciples of Jesus at the time of his death and resurrection. Let’s pretend that we ourselves have witnessed some of Jesus’ teaching moments and miracles that he performed. We have spoken with him and know how he thinks and how he turned the world upside down with his ideas about the first being last and the last being first. He always made everyone feel important, no matter what their station was in life. Even people normally looked down upon like tax collectors, women without husbands, and Samaritans, he treated them all like they were special and important. At the time it was shocking really, but over time we came to understand and know Jesus and his Father and the love that surrounded his compassion for all people and his love for and deep relationship with his Father. Life seemed hopeful if hard, but the love made it all worthwhile. Walking on the journey of life with Jesus was worth whatever sacrifices we made, even if we had to leave some of our loved ones behind, even then.
But in the process of living out this life of love and compassion, Jesus made a lot of enemies, too. He gave the civic and religious authorities a hard time and wouldn’t follow some of their rules – in fact he challenged the rules that everyone had accepted and lived by for hundreds of years. And at that point the journey became so much harder and more dangerous. We heard that some people were plotting to kill Jesus because he represented a threat to that authority and suddenly our lives were in danger, too, because we followed him. And then they trapped him and had a phony trial and suddenly he was gone, crucified, a horrible way to die. We hid in our homes and in friends’ homes and hoped that the soldiers wouldn’t come after us, too. Was it really all over? What about all Jesus’ teachings, was it all just a false hope, a beautiful dream? It was a confusing and terrifying time… But then we heard some strange rumors that Jesus was seen down by the river. And someone else thought they saw him on the road. The women who stayed with Mary Magdalene had told that odd story about his body being secretly removed from the tomb, it was all so unbelievable. What could it mean? Where was Jesus, and what had become of all his followers – and what would happen to us? We knew the life of joy lived with Jesus and then witnessed his death. We felt afraid and yet still hopeful somehow, knowing that he had promised to return, to rise from the dead, though not everyone believed that was possible at all. We talked it over and over in the hours and days after Jesus’ crucifixion. It was on everyone’s lips, trying to figure what had really happened and what would happen next.
So on the first day of the new week we were gathered at someone’s house and the doors were locked for safety and suddenly, Jesus was there with us. Well, we were dumbfounded, no one moved or spoke, and Jesus said in a calm way, to quiet our fears, “Peace be with you.” It sounded just like him, it looked just like him, real flesh and bone, and he put his hands out, we could see the wounds where the nails had pierced him on the cross. Then we were giddy with laughing and touching him and jumping up for joy! Jesus was alive! alive! He lives! And then to quiet us down he said again, “Peace be with you!” and then very serious he said, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And then he blew his breath on us and said “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” And then he was gone from the room. Wow. It was really Jesus, wasn’t it? He spoke to us, we all heard it, what did he mean by sending us out? And in our amazement we ran out into the street and told everyone. We found Thomas, who hadn’t been in the room and told him the whole incredible story. But he didn’t believe us! Even though there had been a lot of people in the room to witness, he still refused to believe Jesus was alive unless he could see it for himself – even touch the wounds on his body to make sure it really was him! And then we beganto doubt our own eyes and ears, too. But could we all have imagined the same thing? So confusing and yet exciting at the same time. And in each of our hearts we heard the beat – he lives, he lives.
So about a week later we were all together again and this time Thomas was with us, too. He still wasn’t at all convinced that we had seen Jesus and then, suddenly, Jesus was there. “Peace be with you.” Then we knew it really was him. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” And again he was gone. ***************
So here we can stop imagining ourselves to be present in the room with Thomas and the disciples, because now the playing field is level. We are in the same circumstance today as the disciples were after that day – standing on the other side of the cross – not seeing Jesus in the flesh anymore, but believing all the same. How are we able to believe in someone we can’t see, have no hope of ever seeing or experiencing in person? In some ways we are all like Thomas, not quite knowing, wanting more assurance, some kind of evidence. But Jesus gave us a gift, nothing more or less than a breath of air, nothing more or less than a wind as large and powerful as the breath that God blew over the oceans at the time of creation. Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into the disciples. This gift of Spirit was the power of belief that the disciples needed to fulfill the mandate Jesus gave them to go out into the world. He sent them out to spread his message just as the Father had sent Jesus himself to give the people the good Word of compassion and love. The message that God loves all of us, no matter who we are. And over the years and centuries the Word has spread – sometimes through people who were hunted down and martyred, sometimes by people who were the center of proper and acceptable society, but always through the power of the breath, of the Holy Spirit, our precious gift from Jesus. And the Word has reached us, too, through the original disciples in an unbroken chain from them to us. This allows us as the body of the risen Christ to believe in one whom we cannot see or touch. And the Risen Christ is just as alive now in our hearts as he was to the disciples in the year 33.
I think of all the people in my life who have breathed the Spirit into my heart – my parents who took me to church, the kindly Lutheran pastor who confirmed me and my friends, the Presbyterian woman who welcomed my children at her church’s summer program in SF. And I especially think of the Sunday I walked into St. Michael and All Angels in Concord for the first time. We had just moved to Concord and I had never even been in an Episcopal church, but it was near our new house and so I went. I remember how hard it was to go into a church in a new place and particularly a church of a denomination I had never experienced. When I walked through the door I was immediately scooped up by the deacon, and she said, “oh who are you?!!” Like I was a wonderful gift that had popped through the door. And at that moment I became an Episcopalian and started on the road to being a deacon myself, though I didn’t know it then, and would have been shocked if someone had told me. She breathed the breath of life and love into my heart through the power of the Holy Spirit and gave me the courage to believe in a new life in Christ for my kids and me. We are each one in that chain of breath – and I wonder if we realize the power we have to give others hope and new life, thanks be to God.
At the end of today’s Gospel reading our narrator of the Gospel of John talks directly to us, all of us listening right now here at St. George’s. He wants all the future generations to know that he thought of us, imagined we would exist in the unbroken line of believers who picked up the story of Jesus of Nazareth, received the breath of the Holy Spirit and believed. We are blessed to be among those who have come to believe in and live a life in Christ. John the narrator says, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you (and me – all of us and all those we invite to join us) may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” May it be so. Amen.

Love and Remembrance

Love and Remembrance

This night is about love and remembrance. We remember how the Angel of Death spared the Israelites from extinction by passing over their houses marked with blood on the doorposts and saving their children from death. We remember how Jesus sat at the table with his disciples and broke the bread and drank the wine just as they did any other night – only tonight it was for the last time. And we know the love that Jesus showed his disciples through the simple and humble care he gave them by washing their feet which were dirty with sewage and dust from the street. In these stories we hear an end to a way of life and the beginning of a life yet unknown. God made a covenant with the Hebrew people – he promised that they would be the people to bring all the nations of the world to know and love the one true God. God gave Moses the Ten Commandments to show the people how to live God’s will for them. God provided a way for Moses to lead the people out of slavery in Egypt and to the Promised Land. So they followed Moses into the wilderness even though they didn’t know what would happen to them; how long the journey would be; how much it would cost them in hunger and death, loss and fear, to reach the other side. They didn’t know what their new life would be like, but they trusted Moses and they loved God and so they believed and followed. This is the Old Covenant of the Hebrew Scriptures, God’s love and intention for the Israelites: the Israelites love and fear of God.
There came a time when God, in God’s great wisdom, saw that the people fell away from Moses’ teachings and did not remember God’s covenant and commandments anymore. The law of the Hebrew Scriptures had become rules used to control the people and maintain power by a priestly class. That was not God’s intention for the people.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God”.

So God sent Jesus, the word, into the world to bring a New Covenant, a new relationship with God, to all who believe in Him. In the New Covenant we are offered a new life in Christ, the Messiah, our Savior. Christ promised to bring us into the Kingdom of God and give us life in all its fullness. Jesus Christ gave us a new commandment as our part of the New Covenant: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love God, love your neighbor. In worship we show our love for God by making a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for everything God has done for us and given us: much more than we can ever know. We are part of the mystical circle of love between the God our Mother and Father and Jesus our sibling, and our brother. We show our faithfulness by worshiping God and loving our human sisters and brothers.
When I am reminded of this humble circle of service and love I think of my sister Deacon, Diana, who was just installed as the deacon to the Night Ministry in SF. She goes out in the dark and finds the lost souls living on the street and brings the light of Christ to them through her loving acceptance and cheerful soul. I think of my brother Deacon Anthony, who is now the Archdeacon for the West Bay, whose faithful service to folks with AIDS has been his call and life’s work. I think of my brother, Deacon Dave, who ministers to anyone in the Port of Oakland who is traveling far away from home and needs a kind word and a peaceful break from the rough life of the sea. These deacons do incredible work in the name of Christ, but I bet that each one of them would say that they receive so much more love and care than they give. That is the miracle of a life lived in the Way of Jesus Christ – that in washing the feet of the dirty, hungry, cold, lonely, dying, sad or needy people who walk the path with us – the love we give is multiplied back to us, sometimes in surprising and miraculous ways. We are not all called to the ministerial drama of the street or the ocean or the hospital – but we all meet people every day who could use the humble service of attention and love that we each share in our relationship with God and Jesus. In our modern fast-paced world we don’t literally need our feet washed but we all could use some loving attention and moments of genuine closeness and care.
Jesus gives his example of humble service of washing the feet of his students, his disciples, as the way for us to love each other - humble service. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, there are so many barriers to our living a humble life of service as Christ did. Our human frailties and needs, our excuses and desire to put ourselves at the center of life, the busyness and demands of modern life make it so easy to focus inward. So tonight we are reminded and we remember what Jesus asked us to do by washing each other’s feet and looking into our own hearts to hear God’s special call to service that is given to each of us. This night is the end of our old way of life and the beginning of a new life, a New Way of Being in Jesus by following his loving example to the world. We may be unsure of the difficulties ahead, we may wonder where the path will lead us, but we go with the strength and courage of Jesus walking with us into the light of this New Life.

Amen.

The Anointing of Jesus by Sister Margaret Mardis

Fill Me Up and Pour Me Out

I’m going to start out in a non conventional way today. Instead of
reading the scripture today I am going to tell you one story that comes from three scriptures. The scripture story is about The Anointing of Christ at Bethany. It comes from the gospel of Mark 14: 1-7, the gospel of John 12:1-9 and the gospel of Matthew:26:6-13. Here is the story along with a little detail that I imagine must have happened too.

Come with me to the land of Israel in the time of Jesus our Savior. It was spring and the days were warming up and the shrubs were beginning to bud. By day you could wear your light robes and open sandals but the nights were still cold and the people were still eating and sleeping indoors. Jesus was always traveling in those days and six days before the Feast of the Passover Jesus came to stay in the town of Bethany. Bethany was a little suburb about 2 miles outside of Jerusalem. Jesus had been there many times and it was a place where he could relax and get away from the drama that sometimes followed him in Jerusalem. He had a lot of friends there. He had a friend named Lazarus whom he had recently raised from the dead and he had a friend named Simon whom he had healed of leprosy. Needless to say many people in Bethany opened their doors to him when he was in town. One of his friends was a woman called Mary. You may remember her. She was the sister of Lazarus. And she was also the sister of Martha who got mad at her one day for not helping with a dinner party they were throwing for Jesus. We all know that story. Mary was made of pretty strong stuff and we know from that tiff with her sister that she was not afraid stand up and follow the voice of God within her.

Now Mary had heard something very disturbing about her friend Jesus. She had heard that he was in danger. We don’t know how she knew. Maybe she was there when Jesus said that he had a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of him. Maybe she was close at hand in Jerusalem when he said that the people where trying to kill him. Maybe she heard people talking at the Market saying that they heard Jesus say that he would only be around a little longer and that where he was going no one would be able to find him. But once she heard that Jesus was in danger she had a nagging feeling that she had to do something for him. She knew she wasn’t strong enough to protect him. Anyway she had heard that a couple of his disciples had taken to carrying swords to defend him. He didn’t need another body guard. Mary knew that she could give him a gift and she knew she had one thing of great value. She went to her room and found a beautiful jar. It was a jar made of alabaster. It was the color of sweet cream and it was made from a rare stone that came out of Egypt. It was filled with a very expensive and equally rare perfume from India called Essence of Nard. She was being driven by a force within her to give this precious gift to Jesus. She had felt that force before and she knew it was God leading her to where she must go.

If she had talked to anyone and said she was going to give this gift to Jesus many, maybe even most people, would have told her she was crazy. “Who is this Jesus anyway?” they would say. “Nobody even knows where he comes from. And people are saying that he is demon possessed. Mary, don’t be giving HIM your special perfume!” And some might have told her to save this perfume for her father or her mother. In those days this perfume was kept for anointing the dead before funerals. There clearly was no funeral for Jesus and anyway, she should keep it for someone special in her family. They would remind her to not be impulsive and break it open because there is no way to close it back up once it was open. The most expensive perfume in the world would be ruined. No, Mary didn’t have to talk to anyone to know that she would be severely judged for giving Jesus this perfume. But judged or not she felt driven to give him this gift and she would do it.

But how was she going to get it to him? She knew that he was going to be having dinner with friends. She didn’t want to barge in uninvited but she had to give this gift before he left town. Jesus had been behaving strangely and moving around a lot. It was almost like he was hiding from someone. He would be somewhere one day and then be gone the next. So uninvited or not she took her alabaster jar and she went to the house where he was having dinner. She walked into the dining room and the table was filled. His friends had all come and his disciples were all there too. She came in and stood before Jesus. With everyone staring at her, she took out her alabaster jar and she broke it open. The smell of the perfume filled the whole room. Then what she did next shocked everyone. She poured the perfume on his head. Jesus did not move. It was as if he had been waiting for her to come. She poured all of the perfume on his head and then she was done. She had given her most valued possession to Jesus.

Then the judgment that she feared would come, did come. Some of those at the table were indignant. “Why waste such expensive perfume?” they asked. “It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!” They scolded her harshly. It was the custom in those days to give money to the poor before the Passover Feast. They thought she was being wasteful because of this. The disciple, Judas Iscariot, was especially verbal about this point because he had already decided to betray Jesus and he was doing anything he could to keep looking innocent to the crowd.

But Jesus replied in her defense, “Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me? You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. I tell you the truth, whenever the Good News is preached through out the world; this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”

Mary left the house where the dinner was held and she went to her own home and she cried. She had not thought at all that she was preparing her friend, her teacher and the man she believed to be the Son of God, for his burial. He was in more danger than she had thought. She was sad and more than a little confused. Jesus was not ill. Indeed he was very much alive but he had clearly just talked about his own burial as if it was coming soon. Mary knew the traditions around burial and knew that even if the worst happened and he was murdered by his enemies he would be anointed with perfume again. That was the custom and custom was everything. No one would forget to do this. She found some comfort in knowing that what she had done, she did because God had spoken to her and led her. With this knowledge, peace came over her and her confusion left her.

What we know and what Mary could not have known, was that Jesus would die by crucifixion. He would be put to death as a criminal. In those days the only people who were not anointed before their burial were people who died as criminals. That night, she had done what no one else would be able to do later on. And all of this happened because she listened to God.

What is God saying to us in this story? Clearly Mary is a model for a righteous and devote person. We admire her for her willingness to listen to God, her unwavering belief in Jesus and her devotion to him. We admire her for her courage to follow her beliefs, to go out of her comfort zone and to face certain criticism because of what she did. We like Mary and as we listen to her story, we cheer her on: “You go girl! Don’t back down! Keep going! You can do it! Stand tall and don’t let them push you down!” We need her kind of strength and her unfailing belief today more than at any time. Because these are hard times and we are being pushed and stressed everywhere we turn. We want her backbone and strong mind but most of all we want to walk with God the way that she did.

This story nudges us to be like Mary and we couldn’t do better in our Christian journey than to strive for that. But like so many things we read in the Bible, there is a story behind the story. We know that a mustard seed is more than a mustard seed, that a vineyard is more than a vineyard, and that a gate is more than a gate. The mustard seed is faith. The vineyard is the Lord’s chosen people and the gate is Jesus Christ. I think if Jesus had had more time he would have turned to his disciples, as he so often did, and said, “What do you think this really means?” But in the town of Bethany, six days before the Feast of Passover he was almost out of time. So it is up to us to find the story within the story. Is the jar just a jar? Is the perfume just perfume? And are the critics just critics?

We already see that Mary was an extraordinary woman because she let herself be a vessel to carry an enormous amount of love to Jesus who needed it at that moment. She was the alabaster jar; that special container that opened her heart and soul up to carry a priceless gift. That priceless gift was within her and it was God’s love. It was given to her in excess by God so that she could give it away. The only way she could give her love to Jesus was to open up her heart. Her heart was not like a corked bottle. She couldn’t open a little and give a little and close up again. She broke herself open and poured out her love to Jesus. In this way the great commandment to Love One Another was put into action for us to understand.

We see that her critics where indignant. They admonished her. They scolded her for opening up her heart and pouring out its’ contents. Her critics were the jar closers. We all know jar closers. They are people who ask us why we get up at the crack of dawn to go to church when we could be getting some rest or reading the Tribune. They tear us up for going to Bible study instead of going to watch a game at the Sports Bar. They encourage us to get behind office gossip and do some tearing down instead of some building up. In little and big ways they encourage us to close up our hearts and shut down our love. That is the way it is with jar closers.

But let’s be honest. It is not always someone else that shuts us down. We can just as easily do it ourselves. We get caught up in our physical or emotional pain. We can get shut down and we can let our fear close us up. We withdraw and feel low. Our smile is only skin deep. We hope no one notices. This can happen in hard times like these. We have more trials than we are used to and more hard news than we can bear. I know about this because I am not just Sister Maggie. I am also Main Street USA. I am one of the self employed Americans who is worried that my part of Main Street is going to be closed. After writing this sermon, I put a note in front of my desk that says: Keep Your Jar Open, Somebody Needs Your Love. I can close my jar and close up my love because I am anxious but there is a price. I start to feel less alive. The strange thing about this love inside me is that it only feels good when I take the cork out. I think that is because God gets happy when his love can be poured out. Somebody I don’t know needs my real smile and the love that flows so naturally with it. God needs me to pull them away from their despair. I’m not all of that but God’s love Is ALL of THAT.

You are the precious and rare vessel that carries the most valuable thing on earth. You are God’s love carrier. He has filled you up so that you can pour yourself out to someone in this church, to someone in your family, to someone you know or to someone you haven’t met yet. Mary had her time and her place. Now you are just right and this is the right time for you. There is no one more prepared and ready to carry his love. God has filled you with his love for this time and for this place. He needs you to be his alabaster jar because there are so many that need his love. Let’s all throw out our corks and pour everything we have out. It makes God happy and we will get more love because his is the love that never ends.

Turn to your neighbor and say:
Keep your jar open-Somebody Needs your love.

Turn to your neighbor on your other side and say:
Keep your jar open-I need your love.

Mothering Sunday

The Prodigious Love of God

Three American hikers supposedly crossed the border from Kurdistan, a northern region in Iraq, into Iran on July 31, 2009. Joshua (27), Sarah (31), and Shane (27) were arrested for “illegal entry” into Iran. In November, Iran’s chief prosecutor had said they were accused of being spies. As of mid-December, Iran had stated that the hikers will be tried in court. However, as of today, there have been no formal charges.
The American hikers were friends who all graduated from UC Berkeley. They had planned a short trip to Sulaimaniya, a resort area in Kurdistan, where many other Westerners have traveled. While there, the three decided to take a hike to Ahmed Awa. It’s an area known for its beautiful waterfall. And it is also near the Iranian border so it’s pretty easy to cross over without realizing it. Iranian officials claim the hikers crossed the border into Iran on purpose. The hikers’ families and friends state the three had no intention of entering Iran for any reason. The Kurdish regional government issued a statement saying the hikers had “lost their way due to their lack of familiarity with the location, and entered Iranian territory.” Since then they have been held in Evin Prison in Iran. Because America and Iran do not have diplomatic ties it is hard to negotiate for their release. The only one who has seen the three is the Swiss Ambassador who said they were physically healthy. The families of the detained hikers have sent letters and video messages asking for their children’s release to people such as the Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations and to President Ahmadinejad. The hikers have not been released. Their families have been allowed one phone call and that was just this past week, after 7½ months. U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton has expressed the hope that they will be freed on a “humanitarian and compassionate basis as soon as possible.” People have held vigils for the three hikers and have signed petitions. Influential individuals have called for their release. With no other options in sight, all three mothers applied for visas to travel to Iran to plead their case themselves and to be allowed to see their children, one of the mothers said. They have not gotten word back on their applications. In the meantime, hundreds of letters of support have poured in, many of which the families have forwarded to their imprisoned children. We can't say enough how important the letters are to them the mom said. "We found a way to get the letters straight to the prison, and we hear they do get them." But they haven't been able to write a letter to anybody…," she added. "They don't know what's going on. That's horror enough right there.” We know in our bones that these mothers will not give up until the children come home. It is a frightening situation we would not wish on any mom or dad… We might compare the situation of these families with one of the stories in our Gospel today. Bright children, endowed with the hopes and dreams of a family, possessing top quality educations and looking to bright futures, head off into unknown territory, taking all that their parents have been able to endow them with. Likewise, the prodigal son took what his father had to give him in terms of life experience and worldly goods and headed off into the unknown.
Maybe we can’t imagine exactly how the parents feel but at the same time we can share their loss and pain. Being a mother or father is something very special – from living in extreme joy to living in hell. The connection with the child is never broken no matter what happens, no matter how far the child strays. Sometimes the child leaves and goes physically far away like those young people in Iran, or sometimes they are lost in the depths of their own minds, like the young man with the promising future as an electrical engineer who was killed at the Pentagon the other day. He had bi-polar disorder. His mother, and no doubt his father, too, traveled with him to the depths of his soul. And now they live forever with his violent death.
Of course a mother or father is not always someone who gives birth to the child. A mothering relationship exists wherever a selfless love enfolds someone who is in need of this kind of love. And we all need this kind of love.
In our gospel for today, we have three examples of self-giving love that seemingly go beyond the bounds of reasonable behavior. The most familiar story is the one I have already mentioned, the Prodigal Son. I looked up the word “prodigal” in Webster’s dictionary and I was really surprised by what I found there. I always thought prodigal meant “wayward” or “selfish” but in actuality prodigal means Lavish, Luxuriant and Profuse – including the meaning of wasteful and spendthrift, but also including the meaning of abundance. The words “prodigious” (meaning huge, wonderful and marvelous) and “prodigy” (meaning extraordinary or surprising) are related to the word prodigal. So it might be a little confusing then, who in our story of the prodigal son is actually the prodigal. The father’s gift of half his worldly goods is really prodigal in the sense of being abundant. Maybe recklessly abundant. And so is his lavish welcome on the son’s return. Prodigious, we might even say. And there were two other stories in our Gospel today - do these readings also have something to say about the abundant, lavish and even reckless self-giving God-like love?
In the first story the shepherd realizes that one of his sheep is missing. He looks around but doesn’t see the curious and exploring sheep nearby, so he leaves the other sheep, who are equally defenseless and in need of care, to go and search for the one that wondered off the beaten path looking for adventure or a midnight snack. The shepherd searches everywhere until he finds the lost one, scoops it up onto his shoulders and carries it tenderly home. Christ, as the good shepherd, is the great example of tender, loving, even lavish protective care: this is God our mother, who loves us and will not let us get lost out there in the cold and dangerous world, who will recklessly abandon whatever else is at home and if she can’t find us, will not let anyone forget us if we do. This feminine aspect of God is willing to go where we go even if we end up in trouble. And even more, God our Mother and our human mothers, are willing to forgive us even before we are sorry and repent. Jesus was a known visitor to the homes of tax collectors and sinners and was seen eating with women of ill repute, all who might be considered unrepentant sinners. Some of the religious people didn’t understand Jesus, like the Pharisees and scribes, who called him a glutton and a drunkard, but Jesus went to the hellish places that people can create for themselves to bring his abundant message of love and acceptance. Mothers, fathers, ministers, friends, teachers, nurses, aunts and uncles - and self-giving people of all kinds -know this willingness to go to the dark places of the human soul in order to comfort and encourage the lost ones. This lavish and abundant outpouring of love is of God. Archdeacon Anthony Turney preached a sermon at ordination one year telling the newly ordained to “go to hell” – to go where Jesus went – to find the souls who need the message of loving acceptance the most. And to love them abundantly, even before they repent. When those souls are brought back into the fold, there is rejoicing in heaven and the party begins. We might even call such a party a prodigal display of joy and love.
The second story in our gospel today is a vision of an industrious housewife, who having done her accounts, discovers one of ten silver coins she had in her charge is missing. She lights a lamp, and begins to search diligently for it. She alerts the neighborhood of her loss and maybe some of them come out to help her look. The lamp and the neighbors are key to this story – she doesn’t dig around in the corners looking for the coin -miserably alone and in the dark. She doesn’t try to hide the fact that she lost the coin, or make excuses, she brings all the light she has to bear and the light illuminates her search and she brings others into the search and they all celebrate when the coin is found. God our Mother gives us the never ending light of the Gospel to help us find the lost one and celebrates in putting all the pieces back together again! God is the woman and we are the coin, a part of God’s profuse treasure who alone can make the treasury complete. By the light of the Words of the Gospel we are found and restored to our rightful place in God’s overflowing and luxuriant love.
And then, of course the third story in our gospel today is the prodigal son. We can talk about the recklessness of the son, his insulting request to have the goods and money he would have if his father were already dead, the lavish response of the father in giving in to his son’s demands, the selfish attitude of the brother, who resents the warm welcome that his returning brother receives…but the most striking and touching part of this story for me is the image of the father running towards his son, he can’t get there fast enough. The father loves and forgives him before he knows even that the son has repented! What kind of lavish radical love is this? It is the love of a mother who can wait for years for a child to return from the far corners of the world not knowing the real story of what happened and if the child will ever come back. It is prodigal in the sense of being abundant and overflowing. If we can imagine the depth of love the parent has for the prodigal son then can we also imagine the love that God has for us? That we could wander into the worst places of the mind and soul, into the most addictive habits and destructive behavior, and still God our Father & God our Mother would run so fast to greet us, even when we are far off and possibly not yet repenting of our sins? Martin Luther in his sermon on this gospel reading says that to be a Christian means to get down into the mire of the “sinner” just as deeply as he or she sticks himself there – and taking that difficult situation upon ourselves and floundering out of it with that person just as if it were our own problem. Getting down into the mire with the one who has been lost, giving that one a hand up, covering them with our own love and piety instead of judging them, and helping by the light of the Gospel, to bring reconciliation with God and each other, that is the true work of the Christian, according to Martin Luther. The prodigal, prodigious – abundantly marvelous love of God is the light that we live in every day. And it is also the work that we are called to do as Christians – to love abundantly, recklessly, and surprisingly those who wander from our fold into life’s dangers just as God our Mother loves us when we stray.
Amen.

Dear God,

One more day, just for today, in the midst of inner turmoil, I choose you. Lead me in light, dispel my darkness. Amen.

Shabbat Shalom

Today my sermon is based on chapter four from the book we are reading together, Soul Feast, by Marjorie Thompson. The beginning chapters are about the spiritual yearning of our times and they explore ways to pray and meditate. Some of these methods are traditional and familiar, and some may be new and challenging. In any case the goal of these methods of prayer and meditation is opening ourselves to God’s presence. This opening of the heart may help us to prepare for worship as well, which is the subject of the 4th chapter of Soul Feast - Gathered in the Spirit: Our Common Worship.
Why do we come together to worship every week? Why is it necessary for our spiritual lives that we participate in corporate worship? Our catechism asks: “What is the duty of all Christians? And it answers: 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 in the world.” So worship is at the very least, our Christian duty – this may be a motivating factor for some – but I suspect that there is a deeper longing that draws many of us to church each Sunday: the heart searching for a connection with the mysterious and elusive presence of God.
One Sunday morning while I was a student at the School for Deacons, I was sitting in the back of the chapel at the seminary in Berkeley looking out into the courtyard through the open door. The rest of my classmates were engaged in worship and focusing on their various roles in the worship service. I had no formal role that day, but I was the sacristan so I was keeping an eye out for latecomers and just resting in the peace of the day. It was spring, the air was warm and soft, the flowers had just bloomed outside the brick chapel, a perfect day. I felt transported to a place of peace and light that was outside of normal experience. I felt united with my friends in worship and united with God and at rest in myself. For me this is the greatest experience of worship – engaged and alive and transported into the presence of God. It doesn’t always happen, even though we wish it would! We all have reasons for coming to church – and one reason can be a desire to be closer to God. And God desires to be closer to us.
If we take a look at the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses for the Israelites, the ancient commandments that the children of Abraham have lived by for thousands of years, we hear God asking us for two things that are involved in worship. The first commandment says, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of bondage. You shall have no other gods but me.” The 4th commandment says “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” When Jesus was asked which the greatest commandment was, he replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. And a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Now we have talked a lot about loving one’s neighbor, so right now we will set that part aside and focus on loving God. And the question is what evidence of love does God want or expect from us in worship? And what do we expect in return from God?
I have a friend named Ruth who is an Orthodox Jew. On her Facebook page last Friday she wrote in her status bar, “Shabbat Shalom”. Shabbat – which is our word “sabbath” and shalom, which means peace but more than the Greek word for peace – pax. Shalom means justice, mercy and equality for all people in the holy reign of God. Not just the absence of war, but the presence of justice, which as we know, are two very different things. So Ruth was wishing us shalom on the sabbath, an ancient greeting. Sabbath is the word that refers us back to the very first part of the book of Genesis, in which the story of God’s creation of the world in six days is told. On the seventh day, God rested and that is the Sabbath. For the Abrahamic faiths, the observance of Sabbath is a day when a person is freed from the regular occupations of everyday life, has an opportunity to think about the spiritual aspects of life, and can spend time with family and friends who are also taking a break from work and daily cares. I think that is what I experienced in the chapel of the seminary on that Spring Sunday morning – real sabbath rest. God wants us to have a period of time each week doing what God did – rest in shalom and find refreshment for our souls. This is one aspect of worship – being in a place set apart and being ourselves set apart for the refreshment of our souls in the presence of God. The catechism says: “Adoration is the lifting up of the heart and mind to God, asking nothing but to enjoy God’s presence”. In worship we can rest in the presence of God’s love and give our love back to God.
Another aspect of worship where we have an opportunity to interact with God is in the liturgy. We use the word “liturgy” to describe the readings and spoken words in the service – and liturgy means the work of the people. One can observe the Sabbath alone, I think that is possible. But to participate in the work of the people, Christians need to gather together as the body of Christ. Hearing the words of the OT, the NT letters and the Gospel helps us to open our hearts and minds to the actions of God in the past and particularly in our lives today though the grace of the Holy Spirit. Two weeks ago we participated in a Lectio Divina at the reading of the Gospel. For those who weren’t here that day, Lectio Divina is a kind of meditation based on repetition of a Bible reading, each repetition focusing on a deeper meaning. I was so fortunate to be standing in the middle of the church where the power of our meditation was focused on the Gospel reading. I felt the intensity of the common meditation and was transported again into the presence of God – in light and the power of shalom. When Mimi touched me to bring me to awareness that we were finished with the reading, I felt like I had come back from far away, and yet I had been aware of and alert to all the readings and comments that you all made. That is the power of the Word and the work of the people in liturgical practice in community. The Word becomes flesh and dwells among us.
Another way we interact with God in worship is through offering our sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. We do this because God is worthy to be praised for all God’s kindness and love for us. In our psalm today the psalmist thanks God with his whole heart and praises God for steadfast love and faithfulness. He thanks God for answering his prayer for strength of soul, and says even the kings of the earth will praise the glory of the Lord. The psalmist is confident that God will protect him and fulfill his purpose here on earth. Our catechism says that thanksgiving is offered to God for all the blessings of this life, for our redemption, and for what ever draw us closer to God. For some people, including myself, music is a special source of praise and feeling open to the presence of God. I am sure we each have a favorite hymn that holds special meaning for us. When I traveled to Chicago with my children a few weeks ago, I had a chance to visit my friend Maggie’s church – which is an African-American Methodist Episcopal church – the AME church which is the church of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Their service has three basic components – praise through music, preaching, and altar call. The Gospel music at this church is incredible – I am always totally transported by the sound and the spirit of the people into a place of communion with God. But I miss our liturgy – there are no bible readings except during the sermon and they don’t follow a series of readings as we do, which is called the lectionary. The lectionary leads us through Jesus’ life story every year. When I visit the AME church I miss our readings and rituals, and I love their music, so I always think – wouldn’t it be great if we could combine our Episcopal liturgy ritual with the AME Gospel music! It wouldn’t be everyone’s preference, but I would love it. The point is that praise, in whatever form it takes, lifts our hearts up to God in thanksgiving and this experience can be very individual even as we praise God together. It is good to have a variety of music and experiences in the service for this reason.
Why do we call the act of praising God a sacrifice do you think? When we praise God in the Spirit of Sacrifice it includes a whole self-offering of mind, soul and body to God. And that opens our hearts so we can listen for God’s intentions for the world and give ourselves to what God wants for the world. Our offering of self is the sacrifice we make for all the praiseworthy things God has done for us. We offer our gifts of money at this time as well, but we offer more than money, we are making an offering of self as well. The opening sentences of the Eucharistic Prayer invite us into this mode of self-sacrifice through giving thanks and remind us also of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf. So right before we start the Eucharist the priest may say one of these phrases, which hopefully reminds us of what we are doing:
The priest may say:
Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and make good your vows to the Most High. Psalm 50:14
Or she may say:
Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:2
Or he may say:
I appeal to you, Sisters and Brothers, by the mercies of God, to present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1
And there are several more opening phrases for the Eucharist with the same idea. They help us remember as we come forward to celebrate the Eucharist, the sacrifice Jesus made for our salvation, and we praise God for all God’s grace and gifts to us and in response offer our whole selves as a sacrifice of praise and in service to God’s intentions for the world. So we see that we are offered many different ways to get closer to God in worship through the service itself, which is the work of the people. Each of us will find an aspect of worship that pulls us in and helps us to experience the true shalom of Sabbath rest and peace in the presence of God. So I wish you, as my sister Ruth did, the true peace of resting in God, Shabbat Shalom. Amen.