The Soap Opera Continues...

And so the soap opera continues. Rev. Amber told us last week about Jacob who tricked his blind, old, father, Isaac, into giving him his brother’s blessing and inheritance. He did this by disguising his smooth body with a fur robe to imitate his brother’s hairy body. And his mother, Rebecca, was coaching him from the sidelines. Now we find that Jacob himself has fallen in love with the daughter of a man named Laban, a distant cousin. Her name is Rachel and she is the younger sister of Leah. Jacob wants Rachel for his wife and is willing to strike a bargain of labor in Laban’s fields for seven years to win his bride. After the seven years are up, the trickster is himself tricked – Laban dresses up the older daughter, Leah, as the bride and marries her to Jacob instead of Rachel. Jacob is, of course, outraged and demands to know what Laban is up to – and Laban says that they never marry off the second daughter before the first. You think he might have mentioned that seven years ago! So Jacob works seven more years for the beloved Rachel and so they were also married, both sisters to the same husband. Trouble and rivalry ensue. As the story continues, Rachel and Jacob have one son, named Joseph while Leah bore Jacob at least six sons and several daughters. We also remember the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors, and how he came to be sold into slavery by his jealous half brothers. Yet he lived to be the most important right-hand man to the Pharaoh in Egypt. From the unethical trickery of Jacob and his father-in-law came the saving grace of Joseph’s mystical intelligence and power. From small, petty, even evil acts, God created the power and grace of Joseph, who saved his family and people from starvation. God redeems the past and creates a future for God’s people.
In our Gospel for today, Jesus gives eight examples of God doing something surprising and redemptive: the tiny mustard seed becomes a tree large enough to shield and house many birds; the parable of the wheat and the weeds is explained to the disciples; the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a treasure hidden in a field that is discovered by someone who hides the treasure and then purchases the field with joy; a merchant finds a pearl of such perfection and beauty that he sells everything he has and buys it; a large catch of fish is hauled in and separated into good and bad - Jesus even adds that this is what the angels will do at the end of the age to the evil and righteous! Jesus asks if the disciples understand and they say yes. And he adds, as the eighth parable, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the mistress of a household who brings out of her treasure what is new and what is old.” This statement doesn’t seem to go with the other parables, does it? “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the mistress of a household who brings out of her treasure what is new and what is old.”
I think Paul gives us three clues in Romans that might enlighten the statement about the scribe and her treasure. Paul identifies three promises or maybe treasures that God has given us in this reading from Romans. The first is the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit with us: ” 26Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” The second promise is the gift of God’s gracious blessing to those who love him: “28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose”. And then there is the third promise, the confidence Paul has in the unfailing presence of God in our lives – that God will not abandon God’s people ever. And he lists all the things that cannot and will not separate us from God. Not in the past, not in the future. Like Jacob and Joseph, like the scribe who brings out of her treasure to the Kingdom that which is old and that which is new, is God being faithful and present to his people old and new – past, present and future. God redeems the past and creates a future for God’s people.


For I am convinced
That neither life nor death nor angels nor principalities
Things present or things to come
Nor powers
Nor life nor death
Nor any other created thing
Will be able to separate us from the love of God
Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Many historians have observed that Jesus might have been identified as Christ, but Paul was the founder of Christianity. And this verse put to song could have been their theme song. Paul tells us today of his surety that even though it seems like things are not always going so well for the Early Christians, nothing will separate them or us from God’s unfailing love, no matter how perfect or imperfect we are. The story of the early centuries of Christianity is long, bloody and complicated - a seed of love and compassion planted among the first followers of Jesus grew in many directions and took various forms even from the beginning. Our namesake town, Antioch, was a chief center of early Christianity. Although the Romans had claimed it as one of their capitals earlier in the 1st century, the city had a large population of Jewish origin and attracted the earliest missionaries. Antioch is said to have been evangelized by Peter first and then later by Barnabas and Paul during Paul's first missionary journey. The converts in Antioch were the first to be called Christians. They were just one small branch of the large tree growing from the trunk and roots which were Jesus. Things did not always go smoothly in Antioch, there were varying opinions on many details of belief and doctrine. They fought, they tried to exclude those with opposing beliefs. They disagreed bitterly about including the gentiles in their congregations and what would be required for them to join. In the readings from Morning Prayer this week we have been following some of these accounts in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Saturday’s reading was about a letter the folks in Jerusalem sent to the congregation in Antioch, encouraging them to include the gentiles and their culture in the Christian Way, sending out Paul and Barnabus for on-site support. Acts 15:“22Then the apostles and the elders, with the consent of the whole church, decided to choose men from among their members and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers, 23with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the believers of Gentile origin in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. 24Since we have heard that certain persons who have gone out from us, though with no instructions from us, have said things to disturb you and have unsettled your minds, 25we have decided unanimously to choose representatives and send them to you, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.” The early Christian congregations were not without a great deal of conflict, but they believed that nothing could separate them from the love of God, and they encouraged each other and lived, loved, suffered and argued together. And the small seed that was the deep compassion of Christ grew to a large tree, large enough to shade the whole earth. God redeems the past and creates a future for God’s people.
For I am convinced
That neither life nor death nor angels nor principalities
Things present or things to come
Nor powers
Nor life nor death
Nor any other created thing
Will be able to separate us from the love of God
Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.

Obedience

Obedience and Righteousness

There are two words in our readings for today that stuck in my head – obedience and righteousness. In our contemporary culture both of these words can have negative connotations, as self-determination and freedom of will are held in high regard in our society. Being obedient is accepting one’s submission to authority. Which can be negative or positive depending on the source of the authority. According to Roget’s Thesaurus some synonyms for obedience are: accordance, acquiescence, agreement, compliance, conformability, conformity, deference, docility, duteousness, dutifulness, duty, manageability, meekness, observance, orderliness, quietness, respect, reverence, servility, submission, subservience, tameness, tractability, willingness. We sometimes see traits like tractability and docility as signs of weakness or giving up or even depression.
Obedience. In Genesis God says to Abraham “…by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.” Abraham obeyed God by his submission to God’s authority over him. He accepted and trusted God’s authority over him. He was obedient even to the very point of sacrificing his beloved long-awaited son Isaac. The antonyms or opposite of obedience are rebellion, bad behavior, disobedience, mischief, mutiny, and misbehavior. These are also some of the milder synonyms for the word sin. Is sin the opposite of obedience? I always think of sin as what stands between me and God – whatever actions, thoughts, attitudes, beliefs or feelings I have that prevent me from moving closer and closer to a full life in the Spirit. In the verses before our Gospel for today, Jesus says to his followers, “Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me”. A person can’t wait until he or she is free of the cross, the weight of our own sin, to follow Jesus with obedience and submission. We carry our own cross for the sake of love for Jesus. My cross is not my obedience to Jesus Christ. My cross is my own sin; whatever separates me from God. So it’s confession time. I find that my pride is one of the feelings that stands between me and God. Part of being obedient to God for me is not standing on my pride – oh so hard to do. Especially at work when my expertise is challenged, I will argue for my stand, for my knowledge and skill, on behalf of my staff, AND I will argue because I NEED to be RIGHT!!! And sometimes God’s way lives on the other side of my need to be right. Pride goeth before a fall; I know it well. My second confession is that I also feel self-righteous sometimes about being a rebel. The diaconate can attract folks who feel called to the fringe of society, as our call is to serve the poor, hungry, imprisoned, lonely, aged, sick and all others who stand outside the community. Jesus was considered a rebel or insurgent for taking this kind of stand so I can feel a certain amount of self-righteousness about my call to the marginalized. But this very stance about my sense of my own call is a sin for me. My potential self-righteous attitude about taking care of the poor can undermine any good that may come. It is a sin that stands between me and true life in God. Pride and self-righteousness are my cross to take up and carry on the journey to full life in Christ.
What about the other word that stuck in my head this week? Righteousness. I just used it negatively as self-righteousness. St. Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, says “thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” Having once been a slave of sin, that is, submissive to my own pride, entrapped by my own self-righteousness, now I, by the grace of God, strive to become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which I was entrusted through my baptism – the teaching of Jesus. And that striving to be set free from sin by Jesus’ teaching, have become a slave of righteousness. Not a possessor of righteousness, but a slave to righteousness. Now when I looked up righteousness in the Thesaurus it was defined as devotion to a sinless life. Wikipedia says that righteousness is an attribute that implies that a person's actions are justified, and can have the connotation that the person has been "judged" or "reckoned" as leading a life that is pleasing to God. God “reckoned” Abraham’s faithful obedience to God as righteousness. And God asks the same slavery to right action and faith from us. Jesus says, in the verse just before our reading today in Matthew, that he who loses his life for Jesus’ sake will find it – giving up our lives we have justified ourselves and striving for a life justified by God.Jesus says, whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of Jesus will receive the reward of the righteous… And that reward is being justified by God in our obedience. Sounds hard to me. And it is hard. For me it means not going to the stubborn place of pride when I’m challenged, but trusting that God will find a way to make things work. And it means not always having to be right, to be willing to listen to authority, not always having rebelliousness as my response to authority. Living in awareness of these attributes has become spiritual practice for me. It’s not easy for me. But when I can listen and not react, empty myself and not be full of pride, let go of my need to always be right - I feel something new, there is a new voice in my heart, and I know God is with me.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, whose beloved Son willingly endured the agony and shame of the cross for our redemption: Give us courage to take up our cross and follow him. Grant, Lord God, to all who have been baptized into the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ, that as we strive to put away the old life of sin, so may we be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and live in righteousness and true holiness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Genesis 22:1

Romans 6:12

Matthew 10:40

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