Kathy's Good Word

24 Pentecost Yr B

2009-11-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

Over the years we’ve seen quite a disaster movie genre develop. I remember Airport, The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, Earthquake, Twister, Independence Day, Armageddon, and so many others. There’s a new slew of end of the world movies out, as some look toward 2012 and the end of the Mayan calendar. Additionally, our culture has a bit of a fascination with destruction, and some have even interpreted that biblically resulting with books like the Left Behind series. Today’s gospel from Mark may be all of that, and more. These movies are just movies, they are fantasy, these books are fiction. Our reality however, is the tragedy at Ft. Hood, the devastation of Katrina, the destruction of the two towers in New York, reality does brush against fantasy.

When destruction or tragedy happens in our communities, we will eventually look back at those events and tell each other about it. We know where we were when the images first began coming over our television sets, some of us know people who were there and have some first hand stories. But we always understand events, tragic or glorious, in hindsight. We look back at an event and there is much discussion about how it could have been prevented, if at all, there is much sadness and heroism reported and recorded. These sorts of events become defining moments in our communities and in our nation’s collective psyche, watershed events.

The report of destruction in the gospel of Mark that we read this morning is similar in many ways. The story contains a prediction by Jesus of the destruction of the temple, but stories are always told after the fact. So this is a story about destruction that really occurred, and the destruction was shared by and affected all Jews. So we have a story in which Jesus makes a prediction of what will happen, written down after it has happened. The placement of this story is in the final days of Jesus life, it is Jesus’ farewell to his disciples. It had an urgency to the disciples, as it has an urgency to us.

The original hearers of the story probably lived through those events; they have lived through the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, they have lived through wars and insurrections, they have lived through famines and plagues, they have lived through persecution and betrayal; it is like someone today writing a story about the events leading up to our recent tragedies. We all know it has already happened, but we include in our stories the ways it could have been prevented, or could have been worse, or could have happened to me, or my neighbor.

What can we hear in this story from Mark? I think what Mark is trying to tell those who originally heard this story is that just because he won’t be there with them anymore doesn’t mean that he isn’t with them anyway. He is saying, yes, it looks and feels like the end must be coming, but don’t panic, don’t be afraid, don’t lose hope. Don’t panic in the face of human destruction. Don’t panic about wars and rumors of wars. Don’t panic when the sky itself shows troublesome portents.

It is so tempting to panic. It is tempting to be ruled by our fears. I believe we live in a culture of fear today. There is fear in so many of the arenas of our lives. There is fear in parenting. Doing the right thing by our children is no longer self-evident. From pregnancy to parenting, there is no sure fire right thing. New parents have so many choices. Should they reclaim a simpler time and have the baby at home. Should they hire a doula to assist with delivery? Should they take advantage of the full medical and technological capacities of the modern hospital, trusting to well-trained doctors and nurses? If so, should the mother take medications that might facilitate a quicker, less painful birth? But the drugs might be dangerous for the baby. How do you know? Uncertainty quickly turns to fear that they may make the wrong decision for the baby. Once that wisdom was handed down from mother to mother, now it is the experts that must be trusted.

Parenting itself is increasingly an arena of fear and anxiety in part because family life in general now lacks any cultural consensus about norms and standards. It’s not just that we don’t know if we’re getting it right, but that we don’t even know what right would look like.

In the absence of agreement about good parenting, we increasingly find solace in safe parenting. We don’t let the nurses take our baby to the hospital nursery, because we’ve heard stories of babies getting mixed up or even stolen. Sure, it’s unlikely, but it happens—we saw it on Dateline!

And there’s the rub. In the midst of our fears, whether they are around parenting, or the Newsweek lead article That Little Freckle Could Be a Time Bomb, or Why drinking too much water could send you to the emergency room, or the Mayans calendar ends in 2012 so that’s the end of the world, we are surrounded by fear to the extent that we are surrounded by people who profit from fear.

Although we may be experiencing a heightened level of fear and insecurity, the truth is that our world is no more dangerous now than 50 years ago, 100 years ago, or 1000 years ago. The types of dangers have changed, no one had to worry about plane crashes a hundred years ago, but in general we in the west at least, are living longer, healthier lives than ever before. And yet in our darkest and most fearful moments, our greatest fear is our fear of death.

How do we follow Jesus in a culture of fear? What is the fitting response, the ethical response to fear, the kind of fear that is with us today, and the kind of fear some garner from a biblical passage like this one in Mark? Now, fearlessness is not a good thing. But that is why God chooses to be known to us, so that we may stop being afraid of the wrong things. Putting fear in its place is being freed from fear to being empowered to love. The quieting of fear is required in order to hear and do what God asks of us, and yet in our culture, fear seems to have the loudest voice.

Quieting our fear is not easy, but these overwhelming fears need to be overwhelmed by bigger and better things, by a sense of adventure and fullness of life that comes from locating our fears and vulnerabilities within the larger story that is ultimately hopeful and not tragic. The story of God’s abundant and amazing love that resides with us in the life and love, the pain and suffering, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And only by facing death, our most primal fear, can we move ahead to embrace life with the great nevertheless that is God’s gracious word to a broken world.

At our baptism, we were united with Christ and marked as Christ’s own forever. Through baptism we have already faced death, and seen it overcome. Every time we gather together here to celebrate Christ with us we acknowledge the work that God does in Jesus on the cross. Jesus collects all our fears, all our pain and suffering, and Jesus takes it out with him, not by responding in kind, not by seeking revenge, but responding in love.

Following Jesus in this culture of fear is to offer hospitality and then we are no longer strangers. Following Jesus in this culture of fear is to be compassionate instead of safe. Following Jesus is to transform this culture of fear into a culture of hope.

The earth is the Lord’s for he made it: Come let us adore him.

23 Pentecost Yr B

2009-11-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

What would it be like if any of us here were eating our last bite of food, or putting our last pennies into the collection plate? Those are the stories that we hear today, stories about widows, on their very last bit of hope, two widows who embrace the question of where will my next meal come from, where will my next penny be, and do not act out of fear, but instead act out of God’s abundance.

The Hebrew word for widow connotes one who is silent, one unable to speak. In a society in which males played the public role and in which women did not speak on their own behalf, the position of a widow, particularly if her eldest son was not yet married, was one of extreme vulnerability. If there were no sons, a widow might return to her father’s family if she could. Left out of the prospect of inheritance by Hebrew law, widows became the stereotypical symbol of the exploited and oppressed. Old Testament criticism of the harsh treatment of these women is prevalent, as well as texts that describe God’s special protection of widows.

These widows, though their voices were silenced in their own time, speak loudly to us today. These stories speak to us of our relationship with wealth, our treatment of money. I think they speak over and against the worship of money that we see and experience in our culture. We see many, many people treating money as it were a God; worshiping wealth and sacrificing themselves to wealth, and believing it can give them joy, make them whole, and ensure their security. But money cannot do any of those things.

Money begins as a morally and spiritually neutral medium of exchange. However, it becomes something morally positive or negative, and something spiritually liberating or destructive because of the ways we feel about it and use it.

What can the widows in these stories teach us? First they teach us the movement from fear to love and generosity. Over and over again we are taught fear; we are taught that if we don’t have enough money we will not be able to have what we belief we must have. We must invest or we will end up old and broke. If we don’t spend and buy the right stuff we will be inadequate or just unimportant. The widows teach us that when we share we will have plenty. God provides for all creation. When we live in joy and gratitude for what we have, and we share with others, that is the path of transformation, that is the path to wholeness. And we live this way because we are convinced that God’s grace and care for us moves us from fear to love.

The widows teach us that our money will be with what we care about most. We could ask ourselves the question, where do we spend our money? What Jesus tells us is that the ways we spend and invest our money can create obligations that may come to dominate our attention and energy, and in so doing draw our commitments and loyalties away from where we want them to be. Our hearts will follow our money. We become devoted to the things we spend our money on, rather than spending our money on that which we are devoted to. The question is, “Do we possess our things, or do our things possess us?”

And the widows teach us that wealth is about much more than money. Wealth is everything we are, everything God has given us, all of our gifts and talents, everything we have learned and will learn. How do we put all of that wealth into the mission of reconciling all people to God? How do we put all of that wealth into this counter cultural mission of love?

We live in a culture in which marketers spend more that $1000 per person per year for every man, woman, and child, that’s more that $250 billion to convince us that we should put all we possess, or at least a lot of it, into comfort, status, excitement, self-aggrandizement and a desperate search for security. Somehow we just do not see the same kind of advertising effort to convince us that the purpose for our lives is not possessing, but loving.

Where are we putting our treasure? Individually and as a people of faith. Where is wealth leading our hearts? If we look into our bank account registers, we can read the story. Here at St. Andrew’s I’d love to see a big chunk of our budget spent on Life-long faith formation and outreach. I’d like to see us budget for advertising in new and different ways, a revamp of our web page, a way to connect with people who don’t use the traditional means of reading the newspaper, so that we can let people know about this wonderful place where God is loved and where people can know that we are Christians by our love.

One way if testing whether our possessions have begun go possesses us would be to reflect on the fear we have of losing them. When we have a high level of fear at the thought of losing our stuff, it is likely that we are holding on to our stuff a little too tightly, refusing the open hand of generosity, thinking of ourselves as owners of our property rather than as stewards of God’s property. Today’s marketing preys upon our fear of losing what we have, on loving what we should not, on our caring more than we should about money, pleasure, and status.

I’d like us to move from fear, to continue to move from a stewardship of scarcity, to love, a stewardship of abundance. We have so much here, we have people with amazing gifts and talents, each one of us is wealthy in such a variety of ways. I’d like us to be like these widows, who gave out of love and abundance, not out of fear of not enough. There is so much more that we can do. God is busy in our world, and our job is to get on board with God. We need to move from fear to love; we need to be transformed as individuals and as a community of faith. We need to be about our mission of reconciling all people to Christ.

Go out and share God’s love with everyone you meet. Do not slave for things that are not live giving, but trust in God’s provision, and give generously of all you have.

The earth is the Lord’s for he made it: Come let us adore him.

2009-11-01T15:02:00.015-07:00

Mother Kathy and much of our congregation were in Sioux Falls this weekend celebrating the consecration of our new Bishop Co-Adjutant, who will be assuming most of the duties of our Bishop +Creighton Robertson has he prepares for retirement.

I was part of the choir at the consecration on Saturday afternoon; we premiered a new choral setting (by South Dakota composer Steven Yarbrough) of a text attributed to St. Dimitri of Rostov.

I post this text here in celebration of our new Bishop, The Right Reverend +John Tarrant, and our future in Christian ministry in the Diocese of South Dakota:

Come, my Light, and illumine my darkness.
Come, my Life, and revive me from death.
Come, my Physician, and heal my wounds.
Come, Flame of divine love, and consume my sins,
Kindling my heart with the flame of Thy love.
Come, my King, enter my heart and reign there,
For Thou art my salvation.

More about our new Bishop:

Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 10/25/2009: New Episcopal bishop focusing on mission, people
Information about the election and Bp. +John is available on the Diocese of South Dakota website.

21 Pentecost Yr B

2009-10-24T17:18:00.000-06:00

We take up with the gospel of Mark again in the shadow of Jerusalem, on the way to the cross. This story of the blind Bartimaeus is the last story of Jesus’ ministry, before the cross and the passion. It is a story of call, healing, and discipleship. I recently suggested that I think Jesus must be an Episcopalian, he keeps telling those he healed not to tell anyone, not much good for evangelism. Well this time, I think the characters in this story must be Episcopalian. There Bartimaeus sits on the side of the road, probably with many other beggars near the gate of the city, where beggars were wont to sit. When Bartimaeus hears that Jesus was in the house, he shouts and says, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” This is where I’m sure there were Episcopalians on that road, many sternly ordered him to be quiet. Bartimaeus’ declaration and claim that Jesus is Son of David may have something to teach us all.

Call him here. A short sentence and a clear command to call the man. And so they do. They tell him that Jesus is calling him. Bartimaeus leaps up and throws off his cloak with which he begged, and came to Jesus. Jesus’ question of Bartimaeus is the same question that Jesus asked James and John only a moment ago. "What do you want me to do for you?" But the contrast between the request of James and John and Bartimaeus is telling. James and John ask for power, Bartimaeus asks for sight. Call, healing, and discipleship. Very unlike the power and status that James and John were all about, and Bartimaeus wasn’t even a so called disciple.

Jesus called the disciples, Jesus said to them, come, follow me, and they did, they left everything to follow Jesus. We do need to give them credit for that. The difference I believe is in what follows. It seems the healing; the transformation of James and John was a bit long in coming, not unlike most, if not many of us. It takes time to be changed by God’s amazing and abundant love. For most of us that doesn’t happen immediately, it happens gradually. I’ve spoken in recent weeks about the importance of examining what it is that makes us fat, what barriers we set up in our relationship with God, with ourselves and with others, what burdens we need to set down so that we may follow God’s love in Jesus Christ. We are much more like James and John than we are like Bartimaeus. For many of us, our blindness is not immediately noticeable to others, unlike Bartimaeus whose blindness was obvious. Our hurts and pains are buried deep and wide, and instead of being healed, like Bartimaeus, we look to taking power and control, like James and John. The call to Jesus is to also open ourselves up, to reduce our baggage, to lay our burdens down, it’s hard to hear the call when we can’t listen, it’s hard to follow when what we carry is so heavy, it’s hard to move when we’ve built our sturdy wall.

Being healed changed Bartimaeus’ life completely. There’s some good and some not so good about being healed. The good part for Bartimaeus was being restored to the community. As a blind man in that culture he was outcast, on the margins, unseen by any who walked by him on that road, his work was begging. As a man restored to society, he had to get a job. There is risk involved in being healed. There is risk involved in transformation. Life will never, can never be the same. Out of what seems like death comes resurrection. We cling so desperately to that which we believe is our identity, that which we have defined ourselves by. Letting go of what we believe defines us to take on our true identity may hurt and is hard. But unless and until we let die what is killing us, we can never be healed, we will never be transformed into the new person in Christ that gives new life. The Good News is that when we do let die what is killing us, there will be new life in ways we can hardly begin to imagine.

Bartimaeus regained his sight and followed Jesus on the way. The way at this point is to the cross, which is where the rest of the story takes place. Call, healing, discipleship. Not easy, no more business as usual, always death before resurrection. Discipleship, following Jesus on the way, to the cross, all the way to resurrection, is not about gaining or wielding power and status, and it is not about pain and suffering for suffering sake, or for the sake of martyrdom, but is about embracing this life with all it entails. It is as much about joy, thanksgiving and gratitude, as it is about pain, suffering and tragedy. It is about our God’s willingness to be with us in the middle of it all, which is very different than the gods the 1st century Mediterranean people told each other about, those were gods who were trying to get out of this life, who were trying to be immortal and powerful, not to be in the mess and the joy with humanity.

Bartimaeus is called, healed, and in faith follows Jesus. Had Bartimaeus known what lie ahead for Jesus and for the rest of the followers, they might have bailed, who knows. The journey to and through the cross is as difficult as it is exhilarating, discipleship is not for the feint of heart. It was only a very short period of time between Bartimaeus being healed, being restored to the community, and Jesus’ passion, suffering, death and resurrection. Bartimaeus could easily have it wasn’t worth it, why bother, what happened to the reward, where’s the power and status in all this.

So discipleship as Bartimaeus shows us is not about the reward, it is about the journey. It is about being accompanied by Jesus on the road, it is about accompanying others on the journey, it is about seeing, seeing, the grace, the joy, the wonder, in all that life throws at us, because we know. We know that resurrection happens. We know that life always wins over death. We know that we are part of resurrection. There is hope. There is hope.

Discipleship, following Jesus, is not about having the right answers; it’s not about being perfect. Discipleship is seeing healing right in front of us; discipleship is seeing the divine in one another and joining with one another in the journey. Discipleship is being transformed, being changed; becoming the creation that God calls us to be. Discipleship is answering yes to God’s call to come, even when the road ahead seems treacherous. Discipleship is faith like Bartimaeus’.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, Come let us adore him.

20 Pentecost Yr B

2009-10-17T19:17:00.000-06:00

When you go to see a play, usually you watch the whole play at once. It’s not usual to see a bit of it, then come back once each week to see a little bit more. But that’s the odd thing that’s happening as we read the gospel of Mark. It’s really much like a play, and intended to be read or performed all at once, and yet we hear just a very small portion of it each week. If you remember last spring, a group of people gathered on a Saturday to read the whole thing, as it was intended. And Marty tells me the Education for Ministry group will watch a telling of the Gospel of Mark at their Tuesday night meeting.

The challenge as we hear Mark, is to get ourselves back in the action. It’s like setting your novel down and when you come back to it you need to remind yourself of what you’ve already read. The writer of Mark is telling us a story about an event that radically changes the way we look at and experience the world; there is actually excitement in every word. The Good News that Mark is telling is that God is here right now, actively seeking to help us in the way we most need help.

This is Good News indeed, and it is not the experience of those who were the original hearers of the story. Those original hearers were well versed in the gods who fought one another for dominance, gods who were precocious and pernicious, gods who were at various stages of mortal trying to be immortal. This God of the Jews, who now is interested in being the God of everyone, was compassionate, and passionate to be in relationship with each and every one of us and all of creation. This story that Mark tells is told in a milieu of competing stories. A question brought to this gospel; is this story is sufficient to bear the weight of meaning?

We have heard the story of Jesus’ baptism, his sojourn in the wilderness as he was tested by Satan. We have listened to the testimony of Jesus’ public ministry, and the growth of the relationship between him and the disciples. Last week we heard about the rich young man who could not rise to the challenge of reorienting his life to the new kingdom, which brings us to where we find ourselves today, sandwiched between Jesus’ ministry and the passion to come. We are on our way to Jerusalem and the cross with Jesus. As you continue to listen to this story always remember that it is being told, as every story is told, after it has happened, and with the clear purpose of engendering change in the hearer.

James and John, Zebedee’s sons, came up to Jesus. “Teacher, we have something we want you to do for us.” Jesus answers, “What is it? I’ll see what I can do.” And they respond, “Arrange it so that we will be awarded the highest places of honor in your glory—one of us at your right, the other at your left.” What arrogance, Jesus, just give us what we want, we’re better than all the rest anyway. James and John are not only full of themselves; they haven’t a clue what they’re asking. You and I know what’s next because we’ve heard the story before; we know that next Jesus will go to the cross. Jesus is asking James and John to accompany him on that journey, Jesus is asking us to accompany him on that journey. Jesus will suffer and die, again, it’s not about honor and status, it’s about something else entirely.

The question is is that something else sufficient to bear the meaning of our lives? Is that something else that Jesus is all about worth the change, the transformation that is effected in our lives when we give ourselves over to God’s abundant and amazing love, God’s grace. It is right here, “for the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to live his life as a ransom for many.” This isn’t about morality, it isn’t about being right or being wrong, it isn’t about being favored or not favored. It is about God, it is about God’s grace, it is about God’s abundant and amazing love, it is about God’s compassion and passion that frees us to be lovers and to be loved. Is God’s love, grace, and therefore forgiveness sufficient to bear the meaning of our lives? I say it is.

You see, you and I have a choice. There are many stories that compete to order our lives. And we live ordered by many stories. As Americans, one story that orders us is capitalism, goods and services are traded and some make a profit, some don’t. There is the story that says, this is MY planet, and I can use it up in any way I like. And another one, I work hard for what I've got; I deserve it. There is the story of rugged individualism. There are stories that order us depending on gender, race, socio-economic status, family make up, and all these stories cooperate and compete for meaning in our lives, they are not necessarily good or bad stories, that’s not the question, the question is are any of these stories capable of bearing the weight of love, sin, sadness, tragedy, compassion and forgiveness.

This story that we have before us today, the Good News of Jesus Christ, can bear that weight. Jesus says, it’s not about you, it’s not about what you have, it’s not about your honor or status, it’s not about rulers or power; it’s not about any of that. It is about the reality of pain and suffering and tragedy. All of those other stories crumble under the weight of the reality of our lives. It is about a God who loves us, and is willing to be with us in the midst of the pain and suffering and tragedy. It is about reorienting our lives so that we no longer live as slaves to our hurts, our anger and resentment and pain, but instead we live in freedom to love as we have been loved. It is about a God by whom our pain and suffering can be transformed into compassion and love. It is about a God of healing and grace. It is about a God of joy and compassion.

This is a story that is about all of us. It is a story in which any one of us can and does participate.

When we live our lives according to this story, two things happen. We are transformed, and we become agents of transformation, one is not before the other, these things live in us at the same time. The reality of love, grace, and forgiveness transforms us and we become people of love, grace and forgiveness. As we are this people of love, grace, and forgiveness, others hear the story of our lives and the story of the Good News, as we become agents of God’s love in the world.

So what does it look like to live a transformed life and a transforming life, one that is empowered by this story of Jesus’ life, suffering and death, and resurrection, one that is empowered by this story of freedom to serve? It means that you are the one to look for healing and reconciliation in a family dissolved by each members need to be right instead of loving. It means that you are the one to look for respect and dignity in a work place that undervalues and disempowers the workers. It means that in a community that judges because of race or status, you are the one to look beyond hatefulness to healing and reconciliation. It means that in a church that professes love for God and for others, you are the one who actively seeks out your neighbor to say I’m sorry and make amends. It means that in a church that professes love for God and for others, you are the one who puts aside your need to be right, so that everyone can have a place at the table. The life of transformation looks like you.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.

19 Pentecost Yr B

2009-10-10T19:56:00.001-06:00

Being that the Twins are in the playoffs, I thought I’d begin with a baseball joke. Hank and Frank were baseball buddies. They were the biggest fans in the whole U.S. Both were stars on the St. Swithins Episcopal Church team, the Faith Lutheran team, just in case, and coached the little boys T-ball for the elementary school team. The guys made an agreement between them that whoever died first would try to come back and report on whether or not there was baseball in heaven. Hank died first, and as he promised, came to Frank as in a dream. “Frank, Frank,” Hank whispered into his buddy’s ear, “I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news. The good news is that there is baseball in heaven.” “And the bad news?” Frank asked. “You’re pitching tomorrow night!”

We make a mistake when we think this gospel story in Mark is about the reward at the end of life. What must I do to inherit eternal life seems like a question about what happens next. But life is not about the reward at the end; life is about now. The Kingdom is now, Jesus inaugurated the kingdom, Jesus is the first-born of the kingdom, we are citizens of the kingdom, now. That’s what the whole life, death and resurrection story is about. The question is not about what happens after life; the question is about participating in God’s kingdom now. The question is about who we are and how we behave as those who God loves abundantly and absolutely. The answer is difficult, as the young man discovers, so difficult that he turns away from it. The answer is about being lean and thin. You gotta to be pretty darn thin to get through the eye of a needle.

The kingdom is about being exactly who you were created to be, no more, no less. You were created to be a lover, and you were created to be loved. Not a lot of extra weight on that, and I know a thing or two about extra weight. This is about being lean. Sometimes we’ve looked at this passage and decided it was all about divesting ourselves of our wealth, a rich man cannot get in but a poor man can. There is an issue of wealth here, but I don’t think it’s just about wealth. I don’t think it’s about sacrifice or how much you give. I think it’s about being found by God, and about living right now as a grace filled child of God. I think it is about the power God gives us to live fully alive. And some in our tradition call that salvation.

Jesus was talking about being lean when he said to this young man it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. God loves you, abundantly and absolutely. But you need to be thin; you need to be lean. You need to put yourself in God’s presence, you need to divest yourself of all that which makes you fat. And you need to give up trying to buy the kingdom, or eternal life, or whatever people want to call it, and you need to place yourself squarely in God’s presence.

The kingdom can’t be bought, it can’t be bought with your time, it can’t be bought with your money, it can’t be bought with your life. That’s already happened, that’s already been done for you, Jesus already did that on your behalf. In response, your job is twofold. Your job is to divest yourself of all that makes you fat, all that puts extra barriers around you to keep you from being fully in God’s presence and abundant and absolute love. After that, you need to turn to the question of the relationship of worship and ethics.

What barriers do you set up that keep you from being fully receptive to God, to God’s grace and abundant and absolute love? What keeps you from being lean? For the young man in the story today, it was power and status. The young man followed the commandments, but Jesus asked more of him. Jesus loved him, and asked him to divest himself of power and status, the wealth that defined him. The young man could not do it. In 1st century Mediterranean culture, power and status were a hot commodity. His very being was defined by his power and status, not unlike our present culture. To divest himself of that was to reorient himself to the kingdom, and he was not willing. This young man was missing out on living the new life that Jesus offered him.

What are your barriers? What gives you false security? What role do your possessions play in your life? What provides false confidence in your life? What hurts do you live out of and hang on to that are barriers to you being fully receptive to God? What resentments do you hang on to, what revenge do you seek? All of these are barriers to being fully receptive to God’s love and grace, to salvation.

Secondly, how are worship and ethics connected in your life? I love all this we do together on Sunday mornings, and I get to do it all again on Wednesday mornings and sometimes even on Wednesday nights. I love the music that takes me to places just the words cannot. I love the words that connect me to saints past and saints yet to come. I love the actions of breaking bread, gathering shoulder to shoulder to love and support each other as we eat the bread, the mystery that contains the unexplainable, all pointing to the God who loves us, and comes into our lives, the God who feeds us, cares for us, the God who is known and unknowable. But none of that matters without the leanness, without the divestment, without the removal of the barriers and reorientation to the Kingdom. That’s what the first will be last and the last will be first is about; it is about being reoriented to the Kingdom. What we do matters, what we do in community matters, what we do at work matters. Worship needs to reorient us to the kingdom, worship needs to point us out into the world, what we do in the world matters, what we do here together in church matters. Loving one another matters.

I think for many in our culture today the fat is layers of pride and ego. Many are so concerned with being right and marginalizing those who disagree with them, or who are different from them, that they put on layers and layers of fat. I believe it’s better to be loving than right. Compassion and empathy prepare us for that journey through the needle, pride and ego and the need to be right make us fat and prevent us from making it through that small space.

Anne Lamott, author of Traveling Mercies, and Plan “B” said in a recent interview, "I think joy and sweetness and affection are a spiritual path. We're here to know God, to love and serve God, and to be blown away by the beauty and miracle of nature. You just have to get rid of so much baggage to be light enough to dance, to sing, to play. You don't have time to carry grudges; you don't have time to cling to the need to be right.”

Being light enough to dance, to sing, to play, slipping through that needle’s eye, you don’t have to be right, just thin. Live your life as if every moment matters, as if each person is loved by God just as you are. You are a part of the kingdom.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.

16 Pentecost Yr B

2009-09-27T13:50:00.005-06:00

Joan Conroy stepped in for Mother Kathy this morning. (Kathy is at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest this week.)

Pastor Joan shared some thoughts based on today's lessons:

How can you bless the ordinary?
What kind of things can we do to be like salt?
Look around.... Who around you are "salty people?"
When you see someone who is, say a quick "Thank you, God!"

She also gave us this verse from Edwin Markham:

He drew a circle that shut me out --
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout
But love and I had the wit to win
We drew a circle that took him in

16 Pentecost Yr B

2009-09-19T21:29:00.002-06:00

I’ve seen this wonderful card in a few different places, it’s a picture of a 50’s wife opening her oven door, you can almost smell the amazing baked goods that you can see in the oven, it’s an idyllic sight. However, the caption on the picture reads, I don’t know what she’s doing either. Must be some kind of ancient housewife ritual. This is the image the reading from Proverbs stirs up in me today. I actually am not going to take much time talking about Proverbs, but after hearing it read, I want to talk a little about Wisdom in general, rather than this passage in particular.

Remember, we’ve been hearing from wisdom literature for some weeks now, and I did talk about it a few weeks back. I commented then that Wisdom in scripture is not just about being wise as opposed to being foolish. But that God has built wisdom into the fabric of the cosmos. And we learn from wisdom that there are certain ways of living in which people thrive, and other ways of living which lead people to death. Ordering your life to Wisdom is what we read about in these scripture passages, in Proverbs as well as in James. In James, Wisdom is that which connects us to the divine, and that connection presents humanity with a different kind of community, the kind of community that is ordered to Wisdom, but it is Wisdom that cannot be possessed, Wisdom that is not pursued. This is the kind of wisdom our culture does not value, the wisdom born out of the possibility of being wrong. This is the kind of wisdom that requires fear and trembling before God, the kind of wisdom that allows us to fall on our knees and ask forgiveness when we are wrong.

This is Wisdom that is peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. According to James, this is the community God imagines, and this community is very different from what the first hearers of James imagined as possible. The Greeks had been worshipping Gods that were pretty full of themselves. Recall your Greek mythology, the pantheon of gods who intervened in human history were fickle and always immortal, or trying to be so. And the social world of the 1st century was clearly based on honor, status, and class. The community imagined in James was based on gentleness, mercy and forgiveness that bears fruit.

And it is now we turn to Mark, and the second time Jesus tells the disciples that he would be killed. It seems to me that the disciples in Mark are as far from wise as anyone can get. Jesus tells them that he will be killed, they don’t quite understand, and yet they too afraid to ask him, and, then, instead of offering any sort sympathy, they argue about which one of them is best.

Jesus then describes what this whole servant thing may look like. Jesus says whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me. We often assign sentimentality to this passage, recall the paintings of Jesus and the children, but this passage really isn’t as much sentimental as it is subversive. Remember that children as well as women in 1st century culture and political structure have no status, they are of no account. Jesus is showing us the image of invisible people in society, people who did not have rights, the one’s who are overlooked, the ones used as a commodity, and Jesus is showing us that these are the people that look like him. To be a servant, is to welcome those who look like Jesus, the marginalized, the outsiders, the ones with no power. In the face of Jesus’ death, the disciples are concerned about who is first, and Jesus is concerned about showing the disciples what being a servant looks like.

What does all of this have to do with us? Our society suffers from a debilitating addiction to greatness, not unlike the disciples. Which one is the best is a question that is asked and answered with the unending number of competition reality shows and award shows on television. Seldom is one's popularity based on servanthood. Seldom is honor and status awarded when we order our lives to wisdom, to gentleness. Seldom do we win any awards when we yield to others, when we approach one another with humility.

The Wisdom that is embodied in these stories is that in the midst of all that the world deals us, we are to order our lives to gentleness, to humility, to mercy. We are to welcome those who are like children, the invisible and the overlooked, as if they are the very embodiment of Jesus. We are to be participants in this new community that God imagines.

We debate and we argue while the invisible and the overlooked are starving to death, while the invisible and overlooked are dieing from diseases that could have cures, while the invisible and overlooked are cast away like so much trash. We debate and we argue about who is first and who is last. We debate and we argue about who is right and who is wrong. It doesn’t’ matter. It just doesn’t matter.

The gospel according to one of the great folks in our universe, Garrison Keillor, goes like this. Garrison was recently hospitalized for a stroke, and he writes, two weeks ago, you were waltzing around feeling young and attractive, and now you are the object of Get Well cards and recipient of bouquets of carnations. Rich or poor, young or old, we all face the injustice of life -- it ends too soon, and statistical probability is no comfort. We are all in the same boat, you and me and ex-Gov. Sarah Palin and Congressman Joe Wilson, and wealth and social status do not prevail against disease and injury. And now we must reform our health insurance system so that it reflects our common humanity. It is not decent that people avoid seeking help for want of insurance. It is not decent that people go broke trying to get well. You know it and I know it. Time to fix it.

We all live together on this rock, we are all in the same boat; we are all beloved of God. It’s time to treat people as if they were like Jesus. That’s what Wisdom says.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.

15 Pentecost Yr B

2009-09-12T19:34:00.000-06:00

This particular passage from Mark is the one that convinces me that Jesus was an Episcopalian. Why else would he tell Peter not to tell anyone about him? It really doesn’t do much for evangelism. Especially since Peter gets it right, he does in fact know who Jesus is. You are the messiah, Peter answers. But despite Jesus’ best efforts to keep it quiet, the community begins to know who Jesus is, and the rest of the story in Mark tells us the ramifications of that. Knowing who Jesus is is risky business, living your life as a follower of Jesus, is risky business.

The question that is asked of Peter however is not asked just of Peter. The translation, as it is the case so often, doesn’t let us really know the original intent. The language used here is the second person plural, maybe better translated, who do y’all say that I am. You see, the question is not directed just at Peter, it is directed at the others that were with Peter, it is directed at the hearers of the gospel of Mark, it is directed at you and me. Who do you say that I am?

Who do you say that I am? This question suggests, no demands, an active response. Where and how do you see God active and incarnate, in the flesh, in our lives and in the live of our church? We must ask this question, and then articulate the response. We must not keep the answer to ourselves, but tell the story of God’s activity in our lives, realizing that doing so is risky business. It is risky business because Jesus teaches that following him is about separating ourselves from that which defines us, in fact giving up what is comfortable and known, for this new society that forms around Jesus.

Who do you say that I am? Where and how do you see Jesus active, incarnate, at work in our world? In your relationships? Through friends sustaining you through difficulty, through illness, through job loss. Through the good that you are able to do and to receive. But then comes the risky part, deny yourself and take up your cross and follow, for those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for Jesus sake will save it.

We make a mistake when we reduce these words to suffering in silence, or taking what comes our way, or even taking abuse at the hands of the one who professes to love. The gospel has been used as a weapon to keep people in their place with this kind of interpretation, but this is not what Jesus was talking about. Jesus was talking about the new creation, Jesus was talking about reorienting the culture as they knew it, Jesus is talking about being the change that makes the world just, Jesus is talking about the kingdom that is God’s love for all of each creation, no exceptions, no exclusions.

The reality in which we live is that there is suffering, tragedy and sadness. Each one of us has experienced that. As a community we experience the sadness and tragedy of job loss, of the loss of a home, and of the loss of health with the possible accompanying financial devastation. We just observed for the eighth year the horrible tragedy of the attack on our country and culture. We look for incarnation, Jesus in our midst, as we try to understand these tragedies. I was watching the news on Friday, and I learned that the first responders of September 11, 2001, have been working on a project each year since then that they call New York Says Thank-you. They were in Des Moines Iowa rebuilding the Boy Scout camp that was devastated by a tornado last year. Many work on making September 11th a National day of service. These are good things, really good things, I do believe that these are times and places that we find incarnation.

But there is more. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is about even more than that. It is about breaking bread with outcasts and sinners, healing the sick, and proclaiming good news to the poor. It is about changing the structure of this world to be justified with the rule of God’s kingdom. It is about putting the other first, and ourselves second. It is about speaking truth to power. It is indeed risky business.

Today we will take time to reaffirm our baptismal vows. Our baptismal vows form and shape our answer to the question, who do you say I am? Our baptismal vows form and shape our lives as disciples. Our baptismal vows form and shape your ministry. Our baptismal vows call us to be who we are created to be. When we take our baptismal vows seriously, indeed it is risky business. Most of us were infants when we were baptized, so like Peter and the disciples we come to the realization of who Jesus is and what is asked of us as disciples gradually. When we begin to realize what the life of following Jesus, of discipleship is, many decide to bail, it is indeed risky. You see, we do what we do as followers of Jesus not because of the reward, not because there’s something in it for us, not because somehow we will be relieved of suffering, of pain, or even death. We do what we do because Jesus calls us to be agents of resurrection along with him.

It is risky to step out of this church and be part of the change that reshapes our community. It is risky to be at dinner with your family or friends and to ask, so how have you proclaimed the good news today, or how have you persevered in resisting evil today, or how have you seen Christ today, or how have you respected the dignity of each person you’ve met, today?

Who do you say that I am? We cannot sit by and watch, we must respond. You are Jesus, the one who comes to make the world new, the one who comes to be a voice for the voiceless, the one who comes to turn the tables on the powerful and rich. You are Jesus, the one who comes as God in our midst, mysteriously and unreasonably. You are Jesus, we are your disciples, it is risky business indeed.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.

14 Pentecost Yr B Proper 18

2009-09-06T12:21:00.000-06:00

Deacon Marty Garwood preaching

Do you ever feel that about the time you get something figured out, things change? That seems to happen to me often and it happened to me again with the homily for this morning. When the Rev. Kathy asked me if I would preach today, I looked over the readings for this morning and immediately got a glimmer of something. Over the next week or so I began to flesh out that idea. The homily was starting to take shape and it was going to be a very good homily. But then I sat down to spend some more time reflecting on the readings and much to my surprise and dismay, the readings appointed for this morning were completely different than I thought they were. I just was getting it all figured out and everything changed.

This particular gospel passage about the Syro-phoenician woman challenging Jesus has a special place in my memory. St. Andrew’s was in the interim time between Father Hibbert’s retirement and calling the Rev. Kathy to be our pastor. One August morning, we were scheduled to have a supply priest and we were also to have a baptism at the 8:00 service. By 7:45 that morning, the supply priest still had not made an appearance. I was newly ordained and not too confident. I made an emergency phone call to Virginia and she probably broke a few speed limits in getting here in a matter of minutes. Her advice to me was that when it came time for the Gospel I should read very slowly and pray very hard that the priest would walk in. If that didn’t work, Virginia said I had three options. I could skip the homily and have silent reflection, we could open it up for discussion, or I could preach off the top of my head with no preparation. Well believe me, I read very slowly and I prayed very hard. No priest! Well I did preach that morning. I don’t remember exactly what I said but I do know that some power other than my own gave me the courage and the words to talk about what the story of this determined mother may mean to us in today’s world. Another case of thinking I was prepared – that I had it figured out. At the last minute everything changed.

One thing that I have learned is that there is a real need for flexibility in our lives. Just as bridges and tall buildings are built intentionally with some sway factor which adds intrinsically to their strength – we too are stronger when we are able to sway with the unexpected. Life will throw us curves and just when we think we have it figured out, something may change. If we do not have that built in strength of flexibility – if we remain rigid and unbending – we run the risk of breaking. Our spiritual, physical or mental health may be adversely affected. And even our relationships with others may suffer.

Now that I’ve told you that we have to be flexible – to be able to give with the changes that life will inevitably bring us – I want to be clear that I don’t mean we are simply to give in and be swayed by every thing that comes along. There is certainly pressure from our culture to do just that. We as Christians are called to stand firm in our belief and faith in a God that loves us and transforms us.

We are called to act out that faith every day of our lives. Many times it happens in ways that are as natural to us as breathing. Or there may be times we feel that our faith has completely left us and we wonder how we will survive. But there are also times that we make a conscious decision to live into the faith that we profess.

A mother whose daughter is ill takes a determined stand. A woman who is a Gentile has such faith in the person of Jesus that she ignores cultural mores that would normally prevent a Jewish man from speaking to a woman in public. This believer was ready with a rebuttal when her request was refused. Her faith – her courage – her love for her child – allowed her to stand firm in the face of uncertainty. We don’t know if she really expected a response to her plea. Perhaps she was so desperate that she felt she just had to try no matter what the outcome. Perhaps she thought there was no hope and yet suddenly everything changed.

A deaf man with an impediment in his speech would most likely have endured a number of obstacles in his daily life. Yet this man had family members or friends who cared enough about him to bring him to where Jesus was. Then they made their way through the crowds to beg Jesus to lay his hand on the man. Their determination allowed for a life-altering encounter with Jesus. Deafness and a speech impediment in that day and age would be a far different matter than it is today. Perhaps the man had learned to live his life within that scope of limitations – he thought he had it all figured out and then everything changed.

We are called to have that same sense of determination and faith as we live our lives in the Kingdom of God. There will be times for each of us to be the mother who begs on behalf of the child. There will be times that we are called to be the ones pushing through the crowds on behalf of someone else. Jesus has sent us out into the world to do the work of God.

Sometimes that means we have to step out of our comfort zone – we have to speak out – we have to stand up. We can not – we should not – stand idly by when we are surrounded by the poor, the disenfranchised, the ones discriminated against, the ones who are ignored, the ones with no voice. We must serve as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in this world to spread the Good News.

Within the letter attributed to James we are reminded that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Our faith in – and our love for – Jesus Christ will bear fruit. It isn’t that we have to do works of faith to believe. It is because we believe in a God that loves us that works of faith become a part of who we are. Within that scope we are to honor the poor. We are called to remembering that the poor shall be blessed by God. However, we must always be aware that poverty is not simply a condition of ones’ financial status. Poverty comes in many disguises. It does not necessarily express itself in outward and visible ways. Each and every one of us has the ability – the gift – of being able to relieve or help ease the burden of poverty from some one. The gift of listening, a simple smile, fresh vegetables left on the table in the hallway, school clothes for an unknown child, a telephone call, as well as a monetary gift are just a few of the many ways we each lift or ease the burden of others. We may never know how deeply we touch someone with a simple gift – a gift that we give because we have already been given the greatest gift of all. Perhaps just when someone thinks they have it all figured out – a simple gift changes everything.

There is yet another aspect to today’s Gospel story that I think we should consider. What if you and I are the ones who need to have our ears opened – opened to hear the Word of God in a new and fresh way? The voice of God comes to us in many ways. The healing grace of Jesus Christ changes our lives – change that comes with faith but that also comes unexpectedly.

We may hear something in an old familiar Scripture passage or favorite hymn – something that suddenly sounds so new that our ears and heart are opened to new understandings. Perhaps we are a participant in the adult discussion group on Sunday mornings, the Bible study or EFM class on Tuesdays, or just visiting at coffee hour and suddenly something we hear gives us pause – and we take the time to consider what we have heard in a new way.

This may come as a surprise to you but just because we all attend St. Andrew’s does not mean that we always agree on everything or even that we always like one another. There are times that it feels comfortable to assume that we all think alike – but that is a dangerous assumption to make. When we start to think in that manner – it means that we are not hearing some of the voices – that we are not listening to the message some one else can share.

We have the opportunity for that very thing here at St. Andrew’s. The Rev. Kathy has asked us to reflect upon the question of how homosexuality has affected us personally. There will be opportunities for sharing with one other our thoughts and responses to that question. The question is not judgmental – it does not ask for an answer of right or wrong. It simply asks how we each have been affected. That is only one of the many issues that affect each of us differently. It is only one of the many facets of life itself that we have the opportunity to hear about.

We can listen to one another with the gift of love. Admittedly, it isn’t always easy or comfortable to listen – to really hear – what others have to say. The temptation often is to immediately refute or agree – and yes to even walk away. When we can resist that temptation and sit in silence as others speak, we will be giving one another an enormous gift. We will be honoring the speaker in ways that do not happen often in this noisy world we live in.

We each have our own story – no two exactly alike. Each story is as valuable as the other. To take the time to listen to another’s story will open not only our ears but also our hearts. We will be living into the commandment to love one another as God loves us. We will love as we each want to be loved. We will be living into our Baptismal vow to treat each person with respect and dignity.

Who knows? Perhaps as we listen we may hear the voice of God speaking to us and everything will change.

12 Pentecost Yr B

2009-08-22T21:06:00.000-06:00

My nephew and I are often exchanging books to read, we share the same interest in fantasy and science fiction, he’s and English major like me. The most recent recommendation he made was a book tilted The Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin. I went to the used book site I buy books from on the Internet, and learned that this was the first in a series of four books, so I bought them all. As they came I realized that each book was 900 pages long, plenty of summer reading I figured. I just began the third book. This is an epic story of Kings and Queens, Knights and courts and battles. Well of course the knights and the warriors don their battle armor, so I’ve actually been thinking about this image of armor and battle for quite a while now. In the fantasy stories there seems to be much romance in knights doing battle. The armor these particular knights put on shows their status, the armor is inlaid with gems, it shows who they are, the house they belong too has a symbol that is represented in the armor, and it shows their allegiance, the king they serve. Putting on this amazing armor however also means they go to do battle on their King’s behalf, and more than likely die in the process.

The people in Ephesus, the audience for this letter, were mostly Roman Gentiles, not Jews. They were warriors and familiar with putting on armor and going to war. These days we aren’t so comfortable with going to war for Christ, there’s been so much abuse in our history. Nevertheless, here it is, and there is a wonderful juxtaposition as well. Paul instructs them to put on their feet whatever will make them ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. What can we claim from this for ourselves?

The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes that will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit. For Paul this is not as much about protection against the powers of darkness as it is dressing in the strength of Jesus. It is not so much about insulation from the evils of the world as it is about taking on the church’s holy calling of reconciliation. I think we must dress ourselves so that we may be ready, protection is not the point, being ready in truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and spirit is the point. How do we get ready? How do we dress ourselves with truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation and spirit?

We engage in ways that help us learn about where we’ve been, so that we may know where we are going, so that we may know what the work is that we are called to do. In dressing ourselves we engage in theological reflection, which is a fancy way of saying that we must reflect on our life and make faith connections. Theological reflection is simply wondering about God's activity in our lives. Asking ourselves where is God present? What is God calling us to do? By taking time to ask questions about what happens to us—seeing our experiences through the lens of faith—we become clearer about our connection to God. We all ask questions about relationships, our work, our children, our government, and our situation in life. We all reflect, wonder, analyze, think, assess, and discuss with friends as ways of trying to understand our life. Theological reflection simply refocuses all that thinking to encourage a stronger sense of relationship with God, asking, "Where does God fit into the picture?"

Part of this wondering process is to find ourselves in the biblical story. You’ve heard me over and over ask the question, I wonder where you are in this story? This is a way to get you to see the biblical story as your story, but in order to find ourselves in the story, we must know the story. So dressing ourselves is to read and study scripture, so that we have a framework for wondering about how God fits into the picture. I encourage you to take the opportunity to study scripture here at St. Andrew’s. There is already a bible study at 5:30 on Tuesday nights, there is an intensive course called Education for Ministry that also meets on Tuesday nights, if these don’t fit for you, I’d be happy to find a time for another group to meet together for study.

Another part of dressing ourselves is prayer. In one sense, the whole reflection process is prayer, because it is intentional quiet time when we are conscious of God's presence in our lives. Yet concluding with an explicit prayer draws our whole reflection into an expression of our deepest hope. It takes all our hurts and joys, all insights and lingering questions into an intimate conversation with God. I have found that people using this process as a personal spiritual journey have deepened their prayer life or sometimes even discovered a prayer life if they had not experienced one before. It also takes the process of reflection from the posture of thinking about God to one of being with God, whether we do that alone or in a group.

And what is it we are getting ready for? We are standing ready as agents of resurrection, we are standing ready as people who are marked as Christ’s own forever for the purpose of being bearers of the kingdom in all places and at all times. Our job then, or the work that we are called to do, dressed in word and prayer, is to proclaim with our lives God’s presence with us.

If we were actually wearing armor, people would know right away we were warriors. We aren’t wearing armor, we are dressed in word and prayer, do people know right away who we are? Do people know right away that we live our lives as agents of resurrection? Do people know right away that we carry God’s presence with us? How would they know that to see and hear us? Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is about healing and reconciliation. As agents of the resurrection, as co-workers with Jesus in enacting the kingdom, it is our job to participate in activities that bring healing and wholeness to this broken and fragmented world. It is our job to give ourselves away in radical acts of service and compassion, expecting nothing in return.

This way is not an easy way which is why it takes preparation. That’s what’s in John’s gospel today. Many of Jesus’ disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. Dressing ourselves in our armor and going out to do what we are called to do is not easy work. And it involves risk, a warrior risked death, we risk life. The life that John is all about, the life that is abundant and amazing. The life that brings healing. The life that is the good news, good news that spreads in our families, our communities, our country.

Clothe yourselves in word and prayer, and go forth into the world to be the good news that the world yearns to hear.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.

11 Pentecost Yr B

2009-08-15T19:50:00.000-06:00

I had bananas falling out of my freezer yesterday morning, with more ripening by the second on my countertop. I decided it was time for banana bread. I make some good banana bread, nice and low fat, but my mom makes awesome banana bread, not low fat, but not as bad as banana bread can be, so I called her to get her recipe. Of course, in talking to her we caught up on stuff, compared notes on Willie getting to her house to stay before he heads to college, the weather, the usual. Isn’t that the way it usually happens, you go looking for a good recipe, and in return you get wisdom, maybe it also happens the other way around too, you share a good recipe, and you share a bit of wisdom as well.

We have the same pairing in our readings today, wisdom and good food; maybe there is not one without the other. Wisdom in scripture is not just about being wise, as opposed to being foolish; God has built wisdom into the fabric of the cosmos. And we learn from wisdom that there are certain ways of living in which people thrive, and other ways of living which lead people to death. Ordering your life to wisdom is what we read about in these scripture passages today. We begin with the reading from Kings, King David’s son Solomon is now on the throne, at the ripe old age of 12. You and I know that Solomon is famous for being wise, and it is already evidenced at this young age in his prayer to God, give your servant an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil. In Ephesians we hear about wisdom as right living, be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise. Do not be foolish, but understand what the will, which also may be translated desire, understand what the desire of the Lord is. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, giving thanks to God the father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The last two weeks now you have heard me talk about Christianity as intentionality and spiritual practice, not morality. I believe that intentionality, spiritual practice and our prayer together, or common prayer, forms us into the people who God desires us to be, not a perfect people, but a wise people, a people who can love one another. Paul’s words for the Ephesians are about wisdom as right living, and that God’s desire for us, God’s people, is to live wisely.

In John’s gospel, the wisdom tradition is applied to Jesus; Jesus now is the embodiment of wisdom. We continue to hear about the living bread, the bread that is Jesus. John is making a claim about the radical presence of God in Jesus, essentially John is saying that in Jesus, God provides everything; God’s abundance is made real in Jesus. We are invited to be present in God’s bounty. We are invited to feast on wisdom; we are invited to eternal life, all contained in this loaf of bread.

What does it mean for us that God has built wisdom into the fabric of the cosmos, that ordering our lives to wisdom brings abundant and bountiful life, that Jesus is the embodiment of wisdom, and that we feast on wisdom? I think it means that even like the ordinary bread, our ordinary lives are made extraordinary by God’s abundant love. I am reminded of the movie Chocolat. The story is about a young mother who with her young daughter blow into a rural French village on the first Sunday of Lent. She opens a Chocolate shop, and prepares amazing confections that seem to transform those who eat them. She has opposition however by those in the town who live by a certain set of rules that don’t allow for the ordinary pleasure of chocolate, especially during Lent.

Our main character in the movie dispenses wisdom along with chocolate and other confections. Entering her chocolate shop through the ordinary front door results in extraordinary nourishment. And yet, there remain those who will not cross the threshold for fear of what may happen and how they may be changed.

We are changed by the ordinary bread, into an extraordinary community. We are changed by the wisdom feast into the body of Christ teeming with extraordinary life. Through the practice of Eucharist, through the practice of Thanksgiving, through the practice of eating together around the table, we become the community God desires for us to be, filled with the Spirit, singing and making melody to the Lord and giving thanks at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus.

What was comfort food becomes radical presence. And we are filled with God’s soul food, rather than the fast food that only satisfies us briefly. We are filled with God’s radical presence in Jesus, and we are sent out into the world to practice God’s wisdom, we are sent into the world to show forth the Good News, we are sent into the world to live intentionally, sacramentally, as agents of resurrection and reconciliation.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.

10 Pentecost Yr B

2009-08-08T18:16:00.001-06:00

Last week I said the Christian life is much more about practice than it is about a set of rules, it is more about intentionality than it is about morality. All week long at Vacation Bible School we practiced a life of being baptized. We were reminded of our baptism by getting wet again and again, and we listened to stories that helped us remember our baptismal promises of prayer, respect, forgiveness, loving our neighbor and proclamation. We affirmed that we are all children of God, the delight of God’s life and we are marked as Christ’s own forever. Before us today is this letter of Paul to the Ephesians, helping us once again to remember what the practice of the Christian life looks like.

Paul says let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. Put away all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander and malice, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians was as important to the Ephesians as it is for us today. The purpose of Paul’s letter was to build up the community of emerging Christians in Ephesus.

I think what is so very important in all of this, and you’ve heard me say this before, is that to be Christian is not to be perfect, but to be forgiven, to be Christian is not to be perfect, but to be healed, to be Christian is not be perfect, but to be reconciled, to be in unity with God. This is what Paul is so good at pointing us to. The people of Ephesus lived in a broken and hurting world; you and I live in a broken and hurting world. But we also live in a beautiful, joyous world. It is never one way or the other way, it is always both. Your words may give grace to those who hear.

I believe that our words make real what is in our hearts. We must practice grace, we must use graceful words and actions, and when we do so, we become the agents of new life, of healing and reconciliation in our little piece of the world. And we build up the community; we create with God the new world that God promises for us.

Perfection is not the goal. Success is not the goal. Prosperity is not the goal. Despite what we see and hear and read all around us. Even the removal of disease is not the goal, no matter how much we want that. We all know people who we love and care about that we would like God to just remove the disease right here and right now. Disease just isn’t fair, especially when it hits good people; it’s only bad and evil people that should get disease, right? But we forget that the joys and pains of this world are all of a piece. It is in the midst of all of the joy and the pain that our words may give grace to those who hear, it is in the midst of all the joy and the pain that we can live the reality of resurrection.

During this last week of Vacation Bible School, I would go home in the afternoon and put my feet up, and inevitably take a bit of a nap, but one afternoon I caught a little bit of Oprah. Her guests were famous people who were telling their stories of disease and healing. She interviewed Scott Hamilton, the figure skater, who told his story of being diagnosed with testicular cancer, and then on the heels of that having a brain tumor. He spoke about the joys of his life being so sweet because he experienced the pain of disease. I am never one to suggest that any disease is God’s will and I am never one to suggest that some are more blessed by God than others. But I am one to suggest that we can find Jesus walking with us through it all, if only we open our eyes and ears to see and hear. And we have the words of grace for each other that help one another see Jesus. You have all sorts of stories like this to tell, we have stories to tell right here at St. Andrew’s. The reason I bring this one up and remind you of your own is that these are stories we must tell so that we give grace to those who hear. These are stories of pain and suffering, of death to life as we have always known it. These are stories of resurrection.

Healing is not the restoration of the body exactly the way it used to be. Healing is not the resuscitation of a dead body. Healing is the gift of new life, in ways that we could not and can not even imagine. This is what Paul is talking about. In a broken and hurting world, our words and our kindness to one another, our practice of being tender-hearted, and forgiveness of one another, show forth God’s goodness and effect God’s grace.

What would the world look like if this were our practice? What would our church look like if this were our practice? What would our little corner of the world look like if it were our intentional practice to say words that may give grace to those who hear? I think if we were intentional in our practice of loving, of tender heartedness and of forgiveness, we may come closer to the mission of the church which is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. Our work is not only here in our church; it is even more importantly outside the walls of our church. Our witness in the world is to God’s abundant and amazing love, love that heals and forgives, love that brings wholeness.

You are the agents of resurrection; you are the people who can proclaim by word and example the love and forgiveness that brings about healing and wholeness in the world. If you don’t proclaim this Good News, it won’t get done. We have Good News for the world to hear, Jesus is the bread of life, whoever comes to him will never be hungry or thirsty again. Jesus contains all of our longing, all of our dis-ease, all of our pain and suffering. And Jesus creates new life out of what the world deems dead.

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.

9 Pentecost Yr B

2009-08-01T20:57:00.002-06:00

The back door would slam and I would shout, Mom, I’m home. I would enter our kitchen and soak up the aroma of freshly baking bread. Mom would slice off a chunk and slather it with butter and peanut butter, and I would be in heaven with my after school snack. My belly was full, I was content, and there was nothing in the whole wide world that could harm me. Full, safe, and protected, my mom never had to say I love you, I knew that in the loaf of bread.

Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. Last week I said that this feeding is a massive picnic in the wilderness. Not only is the bread Jesus’ body, but it is manna from heaven, the bread of angels. The wine is not just Jesus’ blood, but the free-flowing drink at the messianic feast, the substance of joy. Word and table are brought together by the image of word as bread.

A loaf of bread is as practical as it is mysterious. Being Christian is as practical as it is mysterious. We make a huge mistake when we think that being Christian is to assent to a certain set of rules. Being Christian is much more about practice and much less about morality. We are a people who take in this bread of life and whose lives flow from the sustenance and the nurture that the bread of life provides. Being Christian is not about assenting to certainty, but about living a certain way, and becoming what God intends for us to be. We come here week after week, and week after week we take into our bodies the bread of life, we ingest the Word over and over again. In this practice, we become the people of God, we become a community of faith, we become who God creates us to be.

Part of the mystery is that the loaf of bread teaches us who we are as well as transforms us into whom we may be. Our practice and prayer surround the loaf of bread with word and action. There are books upon books about Christian spiritual practice as well as practice from many other spiritual paths. But we already have a book that invites us into practice that feeds us and nourishes us, that gives us life and enfleshes hope. It is our Book of Common Prayer. When we enter into the practice of prayer that our Book of Common Prayer shows us, we may be formed into Christian community, we are formed as people of scripture and people of love and care for one another, and the Good News of God in Jesus may be enfleshed in our midst.

I again commend to you this most wonderful book, filled with prayer, filled with practice, filled with song and psalm and worship. Our prayer book offers the practice of daily prayer, morning, noon, evening and night, alone and in community. This daily prayer teaches us and forms us. These are the words we speak at the break of the day, Lord open our lips, and our mouth shall proclaim your praise. Morning prayer forms us in a way that these words become the first words that are on our mind and our hearts as we begin each day. And at noonday we may pray, Heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit into our hearts, to direct and rule us according to your will, to comfort us in all our afflictions, to defend us from all error, and to lead us into all truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. I am so thankful for the opportunity to practice prayer and love for others often in my day, because I so rarely get it right. In the evening we pray, O Gracious Light, pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven, O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed. Now as we come to the setting of the sun, and our eyes behold the vesper light, we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices, O Son of God, O Giver of life, and to be glorified through all the worlds. And lastly, before we go to bed we pray compline, Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous, and all for your love’s sake. And we finish the day with Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep, we may rest in peace. Each of these opportunities to practice prayer brings us deeper into a relationship with God in and through Jesus Christ and by the work of the Holy Spirit. Each of these opportunities binds us together in the community of faith.

We are formed and shaped by our practice of prayer with the Word as bread at our center. I came across a great piece of writing this week that I would like to share with you. It is from Episcopal Café, a web site that offers many things including a daily reflection. A priest at a cathedral was presented with a question from a potential new member about where the cathedral stands on the question of same-sex blessings. This priest struggled for a while trying to discern what the questioner really wanted as an answer, until he decided he would just answer the question and not try to guess how the questioner wanted him to answer. His answer, There are people in this congregation who are fully supportive of the Church’s blessing of same-gender unions. There are people in this congregation who are opposed to the Church’s blessing of same-gender unions. While the Episcopal Church as a denomination is on record as calling for equal protection under the law for all citizens, if you’re looking for a congregation that is of one mind on this issue, you’re going to be disappointed with this one. We don’t have agreement internally on this particular - or many - issues. Instead, we just agree to pray and worship together. We don’t agree with each other. We pray together. The writer goes on to say, as an Episcopalian of catholic leanings and ecumenical enthusiasm, if there’s one thing that argues for the continued existence of an Anglican witness in the Universal Church - it’s our charism of holding firm to praying with those with whom we disagree no matter how hard that is to do. (Thank you to The Very Rev. W. Nicholas Knisely who is Dean of Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix Ariz, found at Episcopalcafe.com) We don’t agree with each other, we pray together, we practice together, we eat together.

Our practice, each time we gather to celebrate the bread in our midst, forms us. We gather in the Lord’s Name, we proclaim and respond to the word of God, we pray for the world and the church, we ask forgiveness for that which we have done and left undone, we offer one another peace, we prepare the table at which we each, we make Eucharist; the Great Thanksgiving, we eat together and there is enough for all, and we are blessed and sent out into the world to do the work that God calls us to do. Practice means that we acknowledge that we need to do it over and over because we don’t get it right the first time, and maybe not even the bazillionth time, and we are humble enough to know that we will need do it all over again.

All of this practice may arise out of our fundamental activity of baptism. We baptize not because we know it all and are perfected, we baptize because our practice of getting wet and slathered with oil helps us to remember who and whose we are. We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism. In it we are buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit. And together we are fed by the word and the bread, for Jesus says to us, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.

Diana Butler Bass – A People’s History of Christianity | :: TheOoze.TV :: Emerging Church Video Podcast

2009-07-30T10:18:00.001-06:00

This is great, please watch!

more about "Diana Butler Bass – A People’s Histor...", posted with vodpod

8 Pentecost Yr B

2009-07-25T12:42:00.002-06:00

It was a hot and humid July day in Fargo North Dakota for the annual Johnson/Danielson/Lutes family reunion. The kind of day that just standing still you sweat, the kind of summer day that makes you wish for a winter day when the wind blows and makes your bones so cold. This is the July day in Fargo that we all gathered in the city park to see many we hadn’t seen for years, others, we’d just seen yesterday. This is the July day that everyone brought their best, their best jello salad, their best potato salad, their best rolls, their best glorified rice, their very best. This is the July day that the picnic tables were full to overflowing with the best potluck in the world. This is the July day that we revel in the abundance that is family, and food, and fellowship.

Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. They all sat there in the city park, about five thousand in all, somewhat more than our family reunions, but not much. Jesus took the five loaves of bread, the two fish, gave thanks for all he had, and distributed them to everyone. They ate as much as they wanted, and when they were satisfied, the disciples gathered up the fragments, and they filled twelve baskets.

It seems to me that this feeding story in the gospel of John is a precursor to the feeding stories of our family and church potlucks and meals. They are stories of abundance. When was the last time anyone went away hungry from your family potluck? When was the last time anyone went away hungry from a St. Andrew’s potluck? When was the last time anyone went away hungry from a meal St. Andrew’s served at the Cornerstone mission? Even when it seems like there may not be enough, somewhere, somehow, there is enough, and usually more than enough. These stories show us divine plenty and generosity. Even when it seems like and looks like abundance cannot be found, “where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” God’s abundance shows up.

During the 76th General Convention of The Episcopal Church, all of us gathered were reminded that mission is the heartbeat of who we are. Mission is enfleshed in many different ways. One of the ways mission is enfleshed is through the Millennium Development Goals, goals that technically point us to global concerns, which is very good. Just to remind you, the Millennium Development Goals are by 2015: to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, to achieve universal primary education, to promote gender equality and empower women, to reduce child mortality, to improve maternal health, to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, to ensure environmental sustainability, and to create a global partnership for development with targets for aid, trade and debt relief. Yet at this General Convention I began to hear movement toward domestic poverty as a major concern of mission, and even funded in the budget. If we think that a budget is a moral document, our church has made a statement about the immorality of people going hungry right here in our own country. I believe the Millennium Development Goals and the relief of domestic poverty goes hand in hand, we can’t pay attention to global concerns without paying attention to poverty that knocks on our front door, especially here in South Dakota, especially here in Rapid City.

When it feels like we are losing so very much, our retirements, people around us losing their jobs, and when goods and services cost more than ever, how can we even think about relieving domestic and global poverty? We do so because it is our call, it is our mission, and we do it because of God’s abundance, we do it because of this story from the gospel of John, even when it looks like there cannot be enough, God’s divine plenty and generosity and love is ever present, God’s abundance shows up, all we have to do is get out of the way and get involved in the work God has already blessed.

In this time of fear, we continue to serve a meal at Cornerstone mission, we are on the way to collecting more money than ever before to provide new clothes for children to begin school in the fall, we have been gifted with money from Fr. Bill’s estate that enable us to give even more to provide malaria nets through Episcopal Relief and Development, and our income to pay our expenses and payroll here at St. Andrew’s is as healthy as it has even been.

When we respond to God’s divine plenty and generosity even in a time of fear and perceived loss, with confidence and abundant generosity ourselves, amazing things happen. We are able to show people the truth of resurrection. Resurrection shows us that when life as we know it dies, new life will arise. We are in the midst of loss and for some death, I am confident in resurrection, I am confident in the new thing that God is doing. And in the midst of God’s divine plenty and generosity, people continue to love one another, people continue to care for one another, people continue to be generous themselves.

And it cannot be accidental that the feeding of the five thousand is followed immediately by the story of Jesus walking on the sea. Jesus said to them, and says to us, “it is I; do not be afraid.” When it feels like we are losing more than we are gaining, when it seems like there is not enough, remember, in the breaking and the sharing of the bread, there is always enough, “it is I; do not be afraid.”

This story from John is not only a description of the way God’s abundance was present then and is now; it also points us to the feast that is to come. This massive picnic in the wilderness is manna from heaven, the bread of angels. Our participation in the feeding of many today, our participation in God’s divine plenty and generosity today, does affect the Kingdom that will come. The story continues to show us that Jesus is the bread of life. We will hear more about that next week.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.

5 Pentecost Proper 9 Yr B

2009-07-04T19:58:00.000-06:00

The purpose of Mark’s gospel is to bear witness to Jesus as the proclaimer and embodiment of the Kingdom of God, and to challenge us to follow Jesus, who Mark also tells us from the very beginning is the Good News, the Son of God. The particular passage that we hear today is the sending out of the disciples, it is the way that the Good News is spread so that we can follow Jesus, it is the mission we are all sent on.

This mission, which is most assuredly the most difficult work we will ever do, is accomplished in a way which stands at odds with values in our culture today, or at least at odds with how popular culture is presented in our media and our on televisions. Most of the stories on television, well at least those that are “reality” based, tell a story of individual excellence. They are stories in which people must be the best they can be; they must rely on their individual strengths, whether that is physical or intellectual. They are stories in which it really is all about them, it is about their self-absorption and often includes deception.

There’s one reality show though that is not like the others. The Amazing Race. People go out into the world two by two, all they have with them is what they can carry on their backs. And, they need to rely on the good will of the local people to get them where they are going. Not bad for reality entertainment. And similar to the story in Mark’s gospel today. Except, instead of winning the big money, Jesus’ disciples win….. well I don’t know that they win anything at all. But eventually the disciples realize that the story is not about winning, it is about the new life that comes through life in Christ.

The mission is a communal one. Jesus called the twelve and began to send them out two by two. We are never to be about the mission alone. We are always to go out together. What does this mean for us? I think first and foremost this means that the challenge to follow Jesus is about being in relationship. In order to spread the Good News that God loves us we need to be first in relationship with God and we need to be in relationship with others. This Christian life is not to be attempted alone. At every turn we have the opportunity to walk this road together, and our commissioning as disciples assumes that we will walk it together. It is most obvious here on Sunday mornings, we gather together, hear God’s word, we pray, we give thanks, we eat, and we are sent out to spread the Good News. Together we are the body of Christ, and we participate in that not only with this assembly but with the worldwide assembly as it gathers together. We pray daily, and when we pray the rhythm of daily prayer we pray with people worldwide.

Travel light. What does this mean for us? Maybe we are being called to simplify our lives and to trust God completely. I learned to travel light years ago. The first big trip I ever took, an extended excursion in Europe when I was just graduated from college, I put everything I needed for six months in a backpack. One of the reasons I took that trip was to see if I could do it, I was very conscious of relying on God and others. However, I prepared. I knew my stuff. I knew what I could and couldn’t do, I knew where I could and couldn’t go. I knew as a young single woman there were just some things I needed to do to stay safe. Traveling light doesn’t mean not being prepared. What sort of baggage do we need to leave behind, and what do we need to bring with us? How do we need to be prepared for this mission God sends us on.

We need to bring our story with us; the story that each of us have of our relationship with God. This is the story that tells of our blessed creation, it is the story that tells about turning away from God. It is the story about how we have been seduced by power or greed; how we have been seduced by our own self-importance; how we have been seduced by conspicuous consumption, and how we turn from those seductions daily and ask for forgiveness, and how God forgives, and loves us no matter what. How when we die to the illusions of happiness in the world, we rise to new life and joy in Jesus Christ. This is the story we must tell, this is the story that we bring with us, this is the story that will heal and transform lives.

How are we prepared for this mission? We prepare by knowing the story of God in our lives, by knowing how God created all that is seen and unseen, how God promised the people to always be their God, how the people turned away from God and worshipped all manner of things that were not God, how God called them back into relationship and how God came into this world just like you and me to show us how we may live, and how God in Jesus died just like you and me, and how something absolutely new happened. We prepare by practicing the telling of our story and our place in God’s story so that others will see that they too are loved completely and absolutely by God, and that their lives may be healed and transformed.

Here at St. Andrew’s we have spent much time and resources on how we attract people to church, on how once they come we welcome them and treat them, and this is all good, it is part of our mission. But it is not the whole mission. We must get out of this building, go beyond these doors to the people who are out there just waiting for the Good News we have to tell them, just waiting for someone to say, “Hey, I know a way out of the trouble you’re in, Hey I know a way of love and respect that can help you, listen to my story.” And when you tell them, you invite them to church with you.

And how do we respond if they don’t accept our offer of new life in Christ? We are to shake the sand off our sandals, let go of the outcome. It’s God’s mission, it’s not about us. This is so hard for us. We want so much to control the outcome. We want so much to be able to say, if I do this right, if I say this right, if I am right, then everyone should be able to see that and come join us.

I have suggested to you today two concrete ways of preparing for the work of mission. One, daily prayer, two, practicing your story. There are many resources for your daily prayer. Open your prayer book to Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, or the daily devotions. Or, there are some very wonderful internet sites that post daily prayer for you. Just google daily prayer. Look for daily prayer from our Book of Common Prayer, you should also find Common Worship of the Church of England, Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church, use those resources, and know that you are praying with millions of people around the globe.

I have suggested that you practice telling your story. This is a way to help others connect their story with the work of God in their lives. Begin by creating your own time line. Trace the events of your life, and then ask yourself the question, did I experience God in this, or not. Identify the times you turned to God and did not turn to God, identify the times you felt loved and cared for by God, and you will begin to see the pattern of your life. You might even do this in the context of your daily prayer. And then, this is the hard part; say to someone, someone right here at St. Andrew’s, can I tell you my story of God’s work in my life. It’s an amazing thing to me, that we might encounter God in each other as we tell our faith stories.

The fact of the matter is that we’re not much good at mission. That’s not to say we haven’t had a history of mission, we have. We come from those in England who spread the Good News throughout Africa and the New World. The Episcopal Church has wonderful mission opportunities for young adults and for adults, but what we need to reclaim is the simple invitation.

You can say, Come and see what Jesus is doing in my life and in our church. And then let God do the rest. That’s all it takes.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.

4 Pentecost Proper 8

2009-06-28T12:18:00.000-06:00

Some ask the question, have you found Jesus? Often my flippant answer to this question is I didn’t know Jesus was lost. I think Jesus finds us. That’s not to say we can’t go looking, but it is to say that not matter how hard we try to hide, God still loves us so very much that Jesus comes looking. And I also think that we get found in the oddest of times and places. In times and places that we just don’t expect.

I think we also tend to believe in a very limited God. We believe in this God, who only knows us when we’re in church, which goes hand in hand with believing in a God we can hide from. I believe in God, who seeks us out, who loves us so very much as to come to be with us, to stand by our side, to hold our hand, to carry us when we need help. This passage from the gospel of Mark is one of the stories that convince me of this. This is a story about opportunity and interruption. See, you can’t plan how you will be found; you can’t put a date in your blackberry and say to yourself, I’ll meet Jesus for lunch today. This is a story about where God finds you.

This story begins and ends with Jairus, a very important person, who asked Jesus to come to his house to heal his daughter. But it is also about the in between story, the story that interrupted Jesus. Jesus was on his way to Jairus’ house, I imagine he was fairly focused on getting there in short order, because the girl was dying. As Jesus made his way through the crowd, a woman reached out to touch the fabric of his prayer shawl so that she would be healed. Jesus, we know, was a good Jew; therefore he would be wearing his prayer shawl. A Jewish mans prayer shawl has fringes. In Malachi, there is a story that all good Jews would know, that even the fringes of the Messiah’s prayer shawl had healing power. So as this woman interrupted Jesus’ mission to Jairus’ house by reaching out and touching his fringes to be healed, she did it in confidence and faith that Jesus is the Messiah, and capable of healing.

There’s a fabric store in Austin Texas, where we lived when we were at seminary, called the Silk Road, and I would go there just to touch the fabric. It was in a wonderful old house, and there were stacks and racks of silks, and cottons, and linens, and I would wander around and feel the fabric. Fabrics that are smooth and rough, brightly colored and earth tones. I’ve sewed since my mother taught me how as a young girl, and for a while I even worked for an interior designer and I made beautiful window coverings and upholstered head boards and valances out of amazing fabrics. My journeys to the Silk Road were all about finding balance and healing. In the midst of the academic and intellectual world of seminary, I would go to the Silk Road to touch and feel, to be reminded who I am, where I came from, I would stop thinking for a while, and experience the moment of beauty in the fabric. I tell you this story of the Silk Road today because I think the story from Mark is about how God finds us in some very unusual and odd places, God finds us in interruptions. We get bothered by interruptions, but God finds opportunity in interruptions.

Jesus' willingness to resist the electric expectancy of the crowd and to complete the restoration of a faithful woman paints him as a person who sees opportunity in interruption. This passage encourages us to consider a theology of interruptions, to understand that God is neither bound to nor limited by human allocations of value and priority. Opportunity in interruption. That’s what my trips to the Silk Road were about, interruption of what I thought I had to do, in order to be healed, to be restored, to come back to myself.

Usually we experience interruption as an inconvenience. Interruption is being derailed, thrown off course. And yet, considering this theology of interruption brings us to a place where we can find ourselves, where we can be restored, where we can be balanced once again. A theology of interruption is to see and feel how Jesus finds us and makes us whole. A theology of interruption is to see and feel God’s grace. A theology of interruption shows us that we are not in control. God is present in the interruptions. God brings healing and restoration in the interruptions. God comes close in the interruptions.

We work so hard and spend so much time making plans and being focused on the outcome of whatever important thing we must accomplish, even when it is saving lives, we miss the opportunities for balance, for healing, for wholeness. We miss the opportunities to touch what is holy.

As I looked briefly at this morning’s paper, and saw the pictures of those who have lost jobs in this recession, I am reminded of the less pleasant interruptions. Losing one’s job, losing one’s health, these interruptions in our well planned lives are painful and difficult. But I am convinced that it is in these interruptions that we may be found. Because it is only in death that there is resurrection, it is only in losing our lives that we are created new. Touch the fringe of Jesus’ garment, feel the power that there is in Jesus. Go in Peace.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.

3 Pentecost Yr B

2009-06-20T17:41:00.000-06:00

During the time in which the story in 1 Samuel first was told, Israel is constantly at war with the Philistines. Ancient warfare was highly ritualized. In Homer’s Iliad, we read how battles were conducted in ancient times in the epic story of the siege of Troy, about 1200 BC. We see that each side would send out its great champion who would fight on behalf of his people. Often the battle would end with that, because whichever champion won the other side would be so demoralized it would retreat. At this time, the Philistines have a champion who is described as well, huge, Goliath. And the problem is that the Jewish forces have no champion at all. The Jewish troops are stationed on the one side of the Elah Valley, south of Jerusalem, a place that you can still visit today in Israel, and the Philistines are on the other. Goliath is marching out in front of the Philistine lines, shouting curses at the Jews and challenging someone to come and fight him. Choose yourself a man and let him come down to me shouts Goliath. If he can fight me and kill me, we will be slaves to you; if I defeat him and kill him, you will be slaves to us and serve us. The mortified Israelite army has to listen to this, because no one is willing to take on Goliath. One day, David, who is still a shepherd and not a soldier, shows up on the battlefield bringing food for his brothers and he’s shocked by what he sees. Outraged at Goliath’s blasphemous insulting of the God of Israel, David volunteers to fight Goliath, though he has a hard time convincing everybody to let him go out into the field. Finally, he convinces King Saul with his steadfast faith in God.

Why do we love the stories of the underdog so much? Well at least I do. We’ve watched Rudy so many times we can recite the lines, and I cry every time Rudy gets put into the game. Mighty Ducks, the first one, is another favorite, I sit on the edge of my seat until the end of the game, even though I’ve seen them win a bazillion times. The Rookie, Star Wars, Chariots of Fire, Remember the Titans, Field of Dreams, and the list goes on. And there are many where the underdog doesn’t win in the end. Little Big League, Tin Cup, Any Given Sunday. The reason I bring all this up is that I wonder at the question, which comes first, our passion for rooting for the little guy, or the story of David and the story of Jesus? I think it is a fascinating question.

I remember my first New Testament professor telling us that all history is written from the perspective of the winners. History published in history books is written from the perspective of the winners. The losers don’t write history, and their story is rarely told in history books. Western civilization loves its winners and are often assigned near divine status, or, at the least, God is on the winner’s side status.

And yet we have before us this story of David in which the underdog becomes the champion. And we have this story of Jesus, in which those who are low are raised up, those who are on the margins are brought to the center, those who have no power are empowered, and lowly fisher folk become disciples.

I wonder if it is human nature to be on the side of the winner. Is it part of our DNA? The biological story may support that. We know the story of the survival of the strongest. We know that the human drive is to procreate, to survive and to thrive. In the animal kingdom the weakest and the smallest don’t last long. But Jesus shows us that in God’s kingdom in dying we are alive, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing everything.

God’s kingdom is very different from human’s kingdom. In God’s kingdom, the underdog becomes the champion. In God’s kingdom, fisher folk become disciples and bring the Good News to all nations, to all people, to the ends of the earth. In God’s kingdom, God has faith in the people, and the people respond with faith the size of a mustard seed in God. In God’s kingdom, faith the size of a mustard seed is enough to grow and accomplish great things. In God’s kingdom, not only does the underdog win, not only does the lowest get lifted up, but even what is dead has new life. Even faltering faith of the disciples can become awe.

The Good News is that God’s kingdom has begun. Jesus’ life, and love, suffering and death, and resurrection began God’s kingdom. In God’s time God’s kingdom will be fulfilled. In the meantime, you and I can be active participants in God’s kingdom. We can respond to God’s love, we can respond to God’s faith in us. We can be on the side of the underdog. We can be with the lowly disciples in the boat.

So I return to the all time best underdog movie, Rudy. For those of you who don’t know the story, Rudy grew up in a steel mill town where most people ended up working, but Rudy wanted to play football at Notre Dame instead. There were only a couple of problems. His grades were a little low, his athletic skills were poor, and he was only half the size of the other players. But he had the drive and the spirit of 5 people and has set his sights upon joining the team. He spent two years at St. Mary’s working on his grades and working his way through school. When he finally got into Notre Dame as a junior, he walked on to the team and served on the ‘scout’ team as pretty much a tackling dummy. By the time he was a senior, he had endeared himself to the really good football players, and they really wanted him to be officially recognized as a member of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and that would only happen if he participated in at least one play. Rudy’s teammates had already experienced his heart, and his steadfast faith, and insisted to the coach that Rudy suit up. So in the waning moments of the last game of Rudy’s senior year, the team and then the fans chanted Rudy, Rudy, coach put him in and Rudy ran a couple of plays. It wasn’t about winning at all, it was about a little guy who responded to life in big ways and with gusto. it was about faith, it was about being fully engaged in relationship with God and with others.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.

2 Pentecost Proper 6 Yr B

2009-06-13T17:37:00.001-06:00

What makes this story that we are hearing a life forming story? What makes this story an epic? What makes this story worth paying attention to? For one, it’s a pretty good story. It has love and passion, it has violence and death, it has good guys and bad guys, it has a giant and a weakling. What’s more, it has truth, it reveals to us the patterns of our lives, the patterns of history, the patterns of the universe.

We catch up with the story today as Samuel the prophet realizes that Saul and his descendents will not continue to rule Israel, and Samuel goes looking for another candidate. Guided by God, he goes to Bethlehem and Jesse’s family to find someone. I am reminded somewhat of the story of Cinderella, after the ball, after Cinderella runs from the palace and looses her shoe, when the prince sends his emissary out into the kingdom to find the one the shoe fits. He gets to the house of the evil stepmother, and she shows what she believes to be the best of her girls. The two stepsisters. The emissary tries the shoe on the girls, and we all know it doesn’t fit either of them. He asks if there is anyone else. According to the evil stepmother there is not. She does not even begin to see any value or worth in Cinderella, the lowest of the low in her eyes. Eventually Cinderella shows up, after being detained in her room, in the Disney version the mice get her out, and when the shoe finally is placed on her foot, well we all know the end of that story. Happily ever after and all that. I suppose that’s where the similarities end.

David is the youngest son, the smallest, the weakest, he’s out tending the sheep, and we all know about shepherds, that position was reserved for the ones who couldn’t do anything else. As soon as David appears, Samuel knows he is the one. Despite the fact that physically he isn’t much to look at, he is the strong leader that Israel needs. So Samuel anoints him, pours the oil right over his head. David, the youngest, the weakest, the smallest, is to become Israel’s champion, but we’ll save that story for next week.

I think what makes this story so great is that the one who is chosen is David. When we read the whole story we realize that any one of us can identify with David. If we don’t hear the story for ourselves, we make the mistake of just knowing that David was a shepherd and then a King. We don’t really hear the parts that show us that David, the shepherd, the champion and the King, is a sinner, a repenter, a servant, a human just like you and me.

This story of David is a part of the greater story we call the metanarrative, and we see the truth of God in the pattern that is revealed in creation. This story shows us that this is the One God, creator of the universe, creator of all that is seen and unseen, God above all gods. Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. This is the God that brought the Israelites out of slavery into freedom; this is the God that stayed with the people in Exile. This is the One God who anointed Kings over Israel and Judea even knowing that wasn’t such a good idea. This is the One God who reunited the two kingdoms into one and placed this King David on the throne, knowing that David was not a perfect man. This is the One God who creates and who blesses. This is the One God who has faith in creation and who stands fast when creation turns away and who calls creation back into relationship even as they wander in the wilderness. This is the One God who chooses as the champion the littlest, the weakest, the least perfect.

What about this story is so powerful? What about this story is about redemption? We find the pattern repeated in the gospel of Mark. Here we have a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade. It’s not size, or the power that we have that is important. It is not what we have or what we achieve that is important. It’s not being the biggest or the best that is important. It is the transformation, it is the shepherd transformed to the king, it is the mustard seed transformed to the greatest of all shrubs so as to provide shade so that all the birds of the air can make nests. And the gospel of Mark shows us that this transformation is what the kingdom of God is like. The kingdom of God is not about perfection, but about transformation. The kingdom of God in not about being right, or being powerful, or being strong, or even having enough faith, the kingdom of God is about the transformation of a thing that looks like it can’t possibly be worthwhile, into a new thing that is able to give life, is able to provide a place for the birds of the air to make their nests.

So we are to be like David, in the fullness of our humanity, God has faith in us. And God’s faith in us is transforming. We are to be like the mustard seed, the very seed that looks like it can’t bear any fruit at all, but becomes that which gives life to all that take refuge. And there’s one more thing in this Mark passage that we need to pay attention to. The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. This little kingdom of God parable shows us that God’s work is our transformation; our work is to respond to God. This is not to say that we do nothing, it is to say that transformation is up to God, and we are to be in a position to hear, to listen, to worship, to glorify, to be changed, to be molded. And then transformation results in our response, just like planting seeds in the ground bears fruit. The fruit we bear is our response to how God changes us. The fruit we bear is a part of the new creation, the kingdom of God.

So we have these stories before us today that are all about littleness and mystery. They are about God, not really about us at all. They show us that God is faithful, they show us that God is up to something and we are simply called to participate in what God is doing in the world. That is why we find flashes of brilliant hope and the promise of a greater day to come. They may only be flashes, but they are powerful epiphanies nevertheless. Here and there, in longed-for reconciliation within families and among friends, in healing from illness and grief, in the decisions by a community that places its most vulnerable members at the top of its agenda rather than at the bottom, in sharing and celebration and the release of grudges, in acts of great and unexpected generosity, in the end of war and the seeking of peace, in the breaking of bread and the nourishment of our souls and our bodies, in giving voice to the voiceless and lifting up the hopes of those in despair, we see the mysterious ways of God.

It may begin, or seem to persist, in smallness, in little steps and small hopes, but the path, Jesus says, leads to greatness, a greatness we cannot see or even imagine today. God can see it, and God can imagine it, and most of all, God intends it. The tiny little seed grows into the greatest of all, the mustard tree, strong and great enough to offer shelter and goodness and the stuff of life for those who need to find a home. (Thank you to Weekly Seeds, i-ucc.org)

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.

Trinity Sunday Yr B

2009-06-06T19:43:00.001-06:00

This passage from the Gospel of John is probably one of the most familiar passages in the bible. Who hasn’t seen posters at football games with John 3:16? What happens with things so familiar is that we accept what they are and forget to ask what does that really mean, my favorite question.

This is one of my favorite stories about why. The family was gathered for Easter dinner. The youngest newly married daughter was preparing her first family dinner. As she was about to put the large ham in the oven to begin baking, her mother stopped her and said "You have to cut three inches off the ham before you bake it." Puzzled, the daughter asked her mother why? "Because that's the way my mother taught me to do it," said the mother. Still puzzled, the daughter went to find her grandmother. "Nana," she asked, "Mom says you have to cut 3 inches off of the ham before putting it in the oven to bake. Why?" "Well, that's how my mother taught me to do it, and it's the way I've always done it," replied the grandmother. Well, the daughter's husband had heard all of this and he wanted to get to the bottom of the mystery. He went into the living room where the family was gathered around great grandmother. "Nona," he asked, "Grandma says you taught her to cut 3 inches off of the ham before putting it in the over. I'm puzzled. Why is that necessary?" "Well, dear, when I was a new bride, just starting out, I baked my first ham for Easter dinner. The ham was 18 inches long. The largest roasting pan I had was 15 inches long, so I had to cut three inches off of the ham to make it fit the pan." And so it goes, from generation to generation, until someone asks "Why?"

So Nicodemus asks the question for us, “Why,” more specifically, Nicodemus asks, “How can these things be?” Nicodemus was a man of the Pharisee sect; he was a prominent leader of the Jews. And yet, late in the cover of night, he went to Jesus to find out the truth. How can these things be, he asked. How can you be the Son of Man Jesus? How can you turn water into wine? How can you say we must be born again, we are born only once. How can these things be?

You and I live in a world of reason and science. We live in a world where we spend much time and energy on finding the explanation, testing the hypothesis, repeating the experiment to see if we can get the same results many many times. This is a fine world; it’s a world of question and answer, a world of fact and proof. But side by side with the world of reason and science is the world of narrative, the world of story. Who you are today has everything to do with how you were formed, and who formed you. It has everything to do with the people in your life, and it has everything to do with how you learned to respond to the challenges that were set before you. This is where truth lives. The world of science and reason and the world of narrative are not mutually exclusive worlds, they address different questions though.

Nicodemus asked the question how does this happen, he wants a proof and evidence, and Jesus answered with the truth of relationship, Jesus answered with the truth of the story. Jesus referred Nicodemus, the learned Jew, to the story he would know so well, the story that is part of the very fiber of his being, the story of Moses and the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. Jesus essentially says to Nicodemus, remember who and whose you are, you are a child of God, you are constituted by the truth of wandering in the wilderness, just like Moses, just like the people that followed Moses. And what happened to them? They were slaves brought out of Egypt into the Promised Land. They were in bondage and they were freed. Jesus says to Nicodemus you can be free too, free from the bondage that holds you to death. You can have new life and freedom that comes with the truth of God who came into this world, God who loved the world so much that God gave God’s Son, the one and only Son, so that no one needs to be destroyed, by believing in him, anyone can have whole and lasting life. God came into the world to put the world right again. God who came into this world so that something absolutely new could happen.

Nicodemus had to come out of the cover of darkness and into the light to ask his question. Nicodemus was astounded to learn that what is offered is not the same ol same ol. What is offered is not the reason and explanation of the law, but the new creation, the new life, that comes in the person of Jesus Christ. The answer Nicodemus gets is about the new life that is offered through Jesus, it is about love, and love is not reasonable. This story shows that the new life, the new creation that is available through Jesus Christ is nothing like anything anyone ever knew or experienced previously.

The story used to illustrate this amazing love that God has for God’s beloved is the story of birth. Nicodemus asks is it like entering a second time into the mother’s womb, and Jesus’ answer is that it is not, it is being born of the spirit. This story expands the possibility of how and when new birth and the power of the spirit work, rather than limiting the power of the spirit to one way or one time. You do not now where the spirit comes from or where the spirit goes, but the spirit is always about birth, the spirit is always about new creation, the spirit is always about the new life that God affects in our world.

There is no same ol same ol. There is no business as usual. God is about something absolutely new in our world. And that something new is not reasonable and explainable. That something new is about the love that God is and has for us, the beloved. We are marked and chosen, we are the delight of God’s life. We have just come out of a time of wilderness wandering, we have just celebrated the inauguration of the new creation, we in fact are living in God’s kingdom. But we continue to act as if we live in the darkness. The question before us is how do we come out of the cover of darkness and live fully and completely in the light of God’s amazing and abundant love for us? Somehow we need to be open to the possibility of the spirit, the possibility of trinity, the possibility that it is in this relationship of father son and Holy Spirit that we are made one, we are whole, we are healed.

This life we have chosen, or which has been chosen for us, is so very counter-cultural. We are seduced by the comforts and conveniences of this world, with its HDTV, espresso machines, wifi, iphones, googling, facebooking, and texting. We are seduced by the ease of our lives, we have warm houses with stoves and refrigerators and toilets. There’s nothing wrong with all this, but I do think it seduces us into forgetting who and whose we are. We must remember, gathering together, hearing the stories, eating the bread, drinking the wine, helps us remember, helps us to stay in the light, to keep our eyes and ears open to God’s amazing love for us, for each and every one of us, and therefore to our response to God’s amazing love for us. Not only is God’s love available to you, it is available to everyone. Not only does God come into this world for you, God comes into this world for all of us together. Our response to God’s amazing and abundant love is to share it, not to posses it or to hoard it.

Wake up, feel the wind on your face, hear the wind blowing across the prairie, it carries the Spirit on it. Stay awake; see the reality of God with us, of Jesus Christ in the other, of new life abounding and abundant. This is where the transformation happens. This is where we become who we are called to be. This relationship forms and shapes us into the persons that God calls us to be, persons of vast love and charity, persons for whom God’s new creation and love hold hope and joy and freedom.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God: Come let us adore him. Amen.

Willie's Graduation Talk

2009-06-01T18:17:00.002-06:00

From then until now has been quite the journey. I feel accomplished and thankful. But, mom keeps on reminding me that the pomp and circumstance music are not actually for me, nor my class, its all about her. That is true for all ceremonies, but especially graduation. The pictures taken as I walk across the stage are not for me, but for the walls and desks of my family. Moms need the ceremony to put a cap on the top of high school and have something to aid in the reminiscing for the coming years. But for the graduates it is different. It is the end to one step and just the beginning of a huge leap. Graduates have experiences in school and out to reminisce about.

Coming from Minnesota to Texas, back to Minnesota, I had huge doubts about South Dakota. It’s definitely different here. The whole place has a different feel. I was here previously, but that was just camping. Living somewhere and just visiting sheds different light on the way we perceive the environment we find ourselves in. The hills and ridges definitely put Rapid City into a different category than everywhere else. But all in all I have grown to love it here now, mostly because of the people and particularly the people here at St. Andrew’s. I want everyone to know that I greatly appreciate everything that the people here have done for me. From Obie taking me out for the day, Spew at our youth lock-ins, memories have been made and you have helped shape me into the person I am today. As I leave for college in the fall I will take St. Andrew’s with me and will never forget the people here. Don’t worry mom and dad, and everybody else I guess, I will come back to visit. Honestly, I want to thank everyone who has been a part of my life, you have formed me into the graduate I am today and I will always carry something of everybody with me.

Feast of Pentecost

2009-05-31T07:35:00.001-06:00

On Thursday night I watched some of the finals of the national spelling bee. I always feel like a geek when I watch that, but I am fascinated by the focus those young people have on hearing the words to spell. They were able to spell based on pronunciation, based on etymology and language, but it all came down to their ability to convert what they heard into letters in our particular English alphabet. I am most impressed when those words don’t even come from the English language.

Hearing well and listening well is so very important for us. I am always mindful of my diction and delivery when I am speaking in public. It is very important to me that my words are heard clearly, if people can clearly hear what I say, I’m most of the way there to people understanding what I say.

This Feast of Pentecost that we celebrate is the occasion at which the story tells us that the Holy Spirit came from Heaven like the rush of a violent wind and tongues like fire appeared among them. In John’s gospel we learn that Jesus has asked the father to give the Advocate to be with us forever. An advocate is one who speaks on behalf of another. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, is the one who speaks on our behalf and speaks on God’s behalf to us, in a language we are able to understand.

Language, words and sounds crafted into ideas that may be shared between and among humans, is the way we concieve of our God, it is the way we imagine the world and the universe around us. Language is amazing; it is how we know we are human. We use the language of poetry and metaphor to try to experience reality, the language of prose to describe our reality, technical language to teach our reality to others. It is why we describe God as author; God has spoken the Word and has authored our lives and our salvation. In acknowledging the wonder of language, we must also acknowledge how woefully inadequate language is to communicate with God. We try so hard to use the proper words, we try so hard to use symbol and sign, but we fail miserably in our attempt.

It is the gift of the Holy Spirit that makes it possible for us to communicate with God and to hear one another. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit that makes it possible for us to hear one another in the language of our land, in the language of our life, in the language of our heart. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit that makes it possible for us to hear one another at all, and to hear God at all.

At the first Pentecost, when each heard the other speaking in their native language, those gathered were amazed and astonished. They were amazed and astonished by the presence of the Spirit. I am amazed and astonished by the presence of the Holy Spirit today.

How do we know the presence of the Holy Spirit? How do we experience the presence of the Holy Spirit? Why are we so frightened by that when it happens?

I believe we know the presence of the Holy Spirit and we experience the presence of the Holy Spirit when we really hear one another, when we really hear God, not just with our minds and our intellect, but when we hear with our hearts, when we hear with our spirits, and when we speak with our hearts and our spirits. I think that is frightening for many because it is so intimate, it is so real, and it is so truthful. Often, the truth is hard and scary to hear.

I experience the presence of the Holy Spirit at times if deep connection of spirit and truth in corporate prayer. Sometimes that is in the beautiful language of our prayer book sometimes that is in the spontaneous language of people gathered lifting to God all that blesses us and all that concerns us. I experience the presence of the Spirit in music and song, in rushing wind and water, in quiet contemplation, and often in good conversation.

We count on the Spirit showing up when we gather together as Church. We bid the Spirits presence especially when as a church we need to be led, when we need to make decisions together. When we elected our bishop recently, we called on the Spirit to lead our deliberations, to guide us, to give us wisdom and to help us choose. Our Church meets in General Convention this summer. General Convention is 10 days in July in Anaheim. General Convention happens every three years; it is the time when the business of the church happens. It also is very much a family reunion. We will worship together, we will pray together, eat together, play together, as well as do the business of the church. Now it seems odd to some to talk about the presence of the Spirit in this session. But I believe that it is only the presence of the Spirit that makes it possible for us to even begin to do the business of the church. When we meet together we must listen to each other, not just to the words, but also to the heart and the spirit.

We come to General Convention from many physical locations; we come from the plains, the mountains, the desert. Not unlike those who gathered at that first Pentecost. We come to the gathering from many theological locations, some orthodox, some traditional, some progressive. We come to the gathering from various liturgical customs, some high church, meaning great emphasis on ceremony and ritual, some low church, and many in the places in between. However, none of this changes our common commitment to the centrality of Jesus Christ and the lordship of God our creator in our communal lives and in our personal lives. But it does demand that we call upon the Holy Spirit to be in our midst so that we may listen to one another with our hearts as well as our ears, so that we may be in the presence of God with the Holy Spirit as our advocate, as the one who speaks on our behalf.

I remember the last time we met in General Convention, Bishop Steven Charleston, bishop and dean of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge Mass asked a question. He asked us what will be our witness in the world, what will be the language we use to speak God’s love and reconciliation to the world. I do believe that continues to be the question we must ask ourselves in General Convention, in the Diocese of South Dakota, and right here at St. Andrew’s. What is our witness? What do we represent in the world? Do we and how do we take the reconciling love of Jesus into the world? Is our witness the unconditional love of God through the grace of Jesus Christ, is it to hope, not fear, is our witness to mission, is our witness to reconciliation? What do we show the world as we gather together and as we are sent out into the world?

So I ask you to pray. Include our General convention in your prayers as you include the Diocese of South Dakota and as you include St. Andrew’s. Pray for the very same that happened at that first Pentecost. Pray that each hears the other in their own language, that each hears the other speak their own truth, that each hear the other speak about God’s deeds of power.

The Holy Spirit is moving in this place. The Holy Spirit points the way for us. The Holy Spirit calls us to be voices for God’s abundant and amazing love, and calls us to bring that reconciling love into the world.

Alleluia. The Spirit of the Lord renews the face of the earth: Come let us adore him. Alleluia.

7 Easter Yr B

2009-05-23T20:24:00.000-06:00

The Gospel of John is an amazing story. It is a story whose purpose is stated in the 20th chapter, “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 may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” This story shows us these signs so that we may have life in Jesus. The passage we have before us today is a prayer at the time when Jesus knows that he will die. It begins in the first verse of chapter seventeen and continues to the end of the chapter, we have heard just a snippet of the prayer today. Jesus prays that his followers may know his father, Jesus prays for protection for his followers, and Jesus prays that they may know the truth, and that the world may know the father through them, his disciples. It is astounding.

If we believe that in the incarnation God comes into the world as one of us, to live, love, laugh, suffer and die as one of us; and if we believe that in the resurrection God inaugurates new creation, in effect beginning creation again; which is what the gospel of John shows us; and if we believe that because of incarnation and resurrection we are joined with Jesus in the new creation, then we, you and I are in the world as agents of this same new creation. And as agents of new creation, as agents carrying the amazing, abundant, and reconciling love of God made real in Jesus, to the world, we are open to attack. Jesus prays, “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one… Sanctify them in the truth; your word is the truth.” Jesus is praying for us, for you and me. It is astounding.

This Good News is dangerous stuff. The promise that outcasts and sinners, single women and children, have an equal place in the kingdom as the mighty and powerful is a threat. The promise that God’s love, grace, and forgiveness are available to anyone is a threat to those who want to draw lines between people who are in and people who are out. Protect them, Jesus asks, protect them, they will be rejected and ridiculed on my behalf, protect them. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

Your word is truth. Jesus is God’s Word, and Jesus is truth. Today I quote from Velvet Elvis, by Rob Bell, a book I commend to your reading. Is the greatest truth about Adam and Eve and the fruit that it happened, or that it happens: This story, one of the first in the Bible, is true for us because it is our story. We have all taken the fruit. We have all crossed boundaries. We have all made decisions to do things our way and then looked back and said to ourselves, What was I thinking? The fruit looked so great to Adam and Eve for those brief moments, but the consequences were with them for the rest of their lives. Their story is our story. We see ourselves in them. The story is true for us because it happened and because it happens. It is an accurate description of how life is. The reason the stories in the Bible have resonated with so many people over the years is that they have seen themselves in these stories.

Another example: The Israelites leave the kingdom of Egypt where they are slaves, and God brings them out into freedom. It happens. Every day. For many of us, that is our story. We were in darkness and God brought us out. And we continue to identify areas of darkness in our lives, and God continues to bring us out. So the exodus is the Israelites’ story, but it is also our story. It happened then; it happens now. That is why the Bible is so powerful, and that is why the Bible is true. These ancient stories are our stories. They are alive and active and teaching us about our lives in our world today. We live in the metaphors. The story of David and Goliath for another example continues to speak to us because we know the David part of the story, we live it. The tomb is empty because we have met the risen Christ; we have experienced Jesus in a way that transcends space and time. And this gives us hope. We were in darkness and God brought us out into the light. The Word is living and active and it happens. Today.

The disciples were left to live in the world with this truth, and you and I live as disciples in the world today with this truth. We live in the world with the truth that we are new creations through our baptism, and as new creations we are agents of this truth. The Truth that is not black and white, the Truth that is not right or wrong, but the Truth that is living and active and happening.

The world is a messy and chaotic place. God has come and continues to come into this world to show us how to live with authenticity, with honor, with grace, God comes by our side in the midst of the messiness and the chaos not to remove us from the world but to show us how to live in it. The truth walks with us through the pain, the sadness, the suffering, and the joy and the glory. The truth shares our pain, sets us free, gives us hope. And it is this truth that we respond to creatively. We respond to the truth with joy in worship, we respond to the truth by being a blessing to everyone around us. We respond to the truth by getting busy with what God is doing in this world.

But the evil one seeps in, trying to twist us and turn us, seducing us into believing that somehow the truth is a set of words on a page, that the truth can be measured against a black and white set of standards, that the truth is contained, held close, or belongs to only a certain group of people. The evil one seeps in, trying to make us believe that what is real is what we have, or what we can acquire, or what we can own, or what we can possess. The evil one seeps in, trying to make us believe that death always wins. But we know differently, because we live the story.

Knowing differently however does not protect us. We often miss the mark. We often succumb to the seduction of certainty, where there are no questions, only clear answers. We often succumb to the seduction of rightness, where only those who agree with us can sit at our table. We often succumb to the seduction of greed, where having enough gets lost in having because I can. We often succumb to the seduction of self-importance, where it really is all about me and not about God. We often succumb to the seduction of entertainment, where mystery and quiet contemplation become boring.

Missing the mark is not irredeemable. The Truth that is living and active and happening, the truth that is God’s grace shown to us in Jesus, the truth calls us to turn around, to straighten our shoulders, to keep our eye on the target. The Truth stands by our side and says, you are wonderfully and fearfully made, you are the delight of my life. The Truth guides our arrow on the wind, and brings it swiftly and cleanly to its mark.

In the name of the Father who creates us, the son who walks by our side, and the spirit who guides our ways, Alleluia. The Lord is risen indeed: Come let us adore him. Alleluia.

6 Easter Yr B

2009-05-16T20:25:00.002-06:00

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. I do not call you servants any longer, but I have called you friends.

As it becomes clear in John’s gospel that Jesus is bringing something entirely new to Jews and Gentiles, there also is a parallel movement in the gospel from servant to friend. In the foot washing story which precedes this story, Jesus says to those gathered that he has set an example, and that his followers should do as he has done. Servants are not greater than their master. We read that story on Holy Thursday each year as an example of servanthood. The story that is before us today, and that follows narratively in this text, is this story that shows us transforming love. Servanthood becomes friendship. What’s the difference? The master and slave or servant relationship was one-way. Master to servant. The main feature of Jesus’ new commandment, love one another as I have loved you, is friendship. The disciples are to be attached to Jesus and to one another as friends, no longer servants. Jesus loves his disciples as friends, and expects the same of them toward each other. Jesus describes this new friendship; no one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. And then, you are my friends if you do what I command you. The “if” in this case is not strings attached to Jesus, the “if” points us out toward each other. The “if” is the command is to love one another as we have first been loved.

So what is this friendship that Jesus commends to us? Maybe we can get a picture from outside of Christianity. The Buddha defined a friend as one who "guards you when you are off your guard and does not forsake you in trouble; (one who) restrains you from doing wrong; and enjoins you to do right..." Aristotle laid out the need for friends when he wrote: "We need friends when we are young to keep us from error; when we get old to carry out those plans which we have not the strength to execute ourselves; and in the prime of life to help us in doing noble deeds." And Jesus told his followers: "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. There is no greater love than this, (than) to lay down ones life for ones friends."

I think our understanding of friendship pales in comparison to what Jesus does for us, and commands us to do for one another. This begs the question, who is my friend? Jesus pushes our understanding of who our friends should be. The story shows us that included in this category is the Samaritan who cares for the man left by the side of the road to die, even though they were sworn enemies. Tax collectors, outcasts, sinners, children, single women, anyone on the margins are all included in the list of who Jesus called friend.

Another way of considering the question is not about who is eligible to be my friend, but how am I a friend? The example Jesus set of being a friend, of laying down his life for his friends may seem epic, unachievable by our lowly human accomplishments. And yet being a friend is what we are called to. I’m not so sure that I can name those things that make someone a friend, but I know a friend when I encounter one. A person who considers the feelings of the other, a person who sometimes puts his owns needs and wants aside, a person who is loyal, a person who tells the truth in love, a person who stands beside the other when the other has been wronged, or overlooked.

Bob Evans, the pastor at 1st Pres downtown, is in the pastors group that meets on Wednesday mornings. Bob is a retired Navy man and chaplain. Bob was able to tell us about those he knew who literally laid down their life for their friends by taking a grenade. That is not the chance you and I have in our daily lives. But we do have the chance to be the friend that Jesus calls us to be.

This kind of friendship is what our community’s of faith should look like. Jesus says you are friends, and I will put my life in your place so that you can live with the freedom of friendship, no longer a servant to anyone, you are friends. And we must always remember Jesus’ mission was to Jews and Gentiles alike. There are no insiders and outsiders; there is no one Jesus did not lay down his life for. Jesus says, You did not choose me but I chose you. There is no way we can claim exclusivity, there is no way we can claim that our way is the right way. Jesus laid down his live for his friends; we are all counted as his friends. Just like Peter, who denied him, Judas who betrayed him, Thomas who needed proof, we are counted as friends.

The vine and the branches metaphor that we heard last week, shows us what this early community believed about God in the flesh, Jesus. God dwells in the community, God is incarnated, in the flesh, God’s new home is with creation. God inaugurated new creation in the resurrection, and God continues to make us and all creation new.

Last week we learned that the word abide can be translated “to make our home.” God has made God’s home with us in Jesus, and we are to make our home in Jesus together as friends. This kind of love, this kind of friendship is powerful. It is a transforming love. Jesus’ love for us is transforming, our love for one another is to be transforming as well. Transforming love is not some kind of feel good love, just as this kind of friendship is not just about feeling good. Transforming love is the kind of love that Jesus has for us, it is the kind of love that changes people, changes communities.

The result of this amazing and abundant love is transformed lives. And the fruit of a transformed life is mercy and justice, generosity and forbearance, forgiveness and reconciliation. The fruit of a transformed life is life before death. Greg Laurie is in town this weekend preaching about life after death. Now I don’t dispute life after death, I just don’t think it’s the most important reason to accept Jesus Christ as Lord. I think the most important reason to accept Jesus Christ as Lord is living life fully alive, and making our home in God. It is being the kind of friend Jesus trusts us to be. It is laying down our live for our friends. Jesus lived, and loved, suffered, died and was raised to new life to show us the way. God begins something entirely new in Jesus. Jesus calls us friends, Jesus chooses us. We are to live today as if all that matters. We are to live fully alive, fully engaged, we are to be merciful, and generous, charitable, and forgiving, we are to live life before death.

Alleluia. The Lord is risen indeed: Come let us adore him. Alleluia.