Sermon for the Last Sunday after Pentecost, November 26, 2006

This is the last Sunday before Advent and is also known as Christ the King Sunday. As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus with four weeks of preparation, perhaps it is fitting that we have a celebration of the Jesus as Christ the King before we begin.

Jesus has many titles by which we know him. Christ the King, savior, redeemer, King of the Jews. But in the lesson today Jesus reminds us today that his kingdom is not from this world. The word kingdom comes from the Greek word basileia. It is a word that is generally translated as kingdom in most English translations but also could be translated as realm or as process.

We celebrate Christ the King Sunday in the midst, once again, of apocalyptic writings. And again we are faced with our choice of responses. We can choose to respond in fear or in hope. We could decide that all was lost and not worth saving, but once again we would be missing the truth of God. In the midst of this possible fearful response we have the promise of Christ the King. The words of Hymn 544 remind us that “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun doth his successive journeys run; his kingdom stretch from shore to shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more.” This idea that God will triumph is very comforting, particularly when we face tough circumstances.

This brings us back to that idea of the basileia of God. One of the reasons that I like the term the process of God better is that the word kingdom carries too much baggage for us. It puts in my mind the idea of a peaceful place where God is in control and we have nothing to worry about. We can just lay back and take it easy.

But if we look at what is before us as the process of God then it is a much different thing. It is not a destination to which we breathlessly arrive ready for a long and well deserved rest. It is not some perfect place just around the corner that we just have to wait for it to show up. Instead, it is now something on going. Something God is working to make happen. And hopefully something that we are working with God to make it happen. Being a Christian is not about sitting around on a couch waiting for God to deliver the goods. It is about taking seriously our responsibilities to work with God in this process of the basileia of God.

What does this basileia of God look like? It is people trying to solve the world problems of hunger. It is people working towards the millennium development goals to work on this world wide problem and it is people bring bags of food for our food bank to work on this local problem. It is people who don’t say, there is too much wrong in the world, nothing can be done. When you look at the millions of children dying every year and the wars and famines all over the world it can seem hopeless. But God still wants each one of us to do what we can. No one though much would come of a small child born in Bethlehem. I’m sure no one thought much of Sr. Teresa. But the Christ child transformed the world. Sr. Teresa has touched millions of lives making them better.

It is people who role up their sleeves and say, “what can I do, where can I help.” It is people visiting those in prison. It is people offering to sit next to a visitor and help them with our service. It is standing up for people for things that don’t even affect you because it is the right thing to do. It is writing your senators, congress persons, and other elected officials expressing your opinions on issues. The basileia of God is so many things and appears in so many ways, that I could never list them all.

The basileia of God is a process all of us are called to participate in, not a final destination we hope to be magically transported to. And if you look around you see it is true here at St. Peter’s. We are all striving to bring about the basileia of God in our own way. Examine your heart and your life. What can you do for the kingdom of God today?

Sermon for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, November 19, 2006

There is a multi-million dollar industry based partly on our readings for today. It is the “end times” industry. Millions of dollars have been made in books, tapes, and sermons trying to explain the details of the end times to people.

Sadly it is a terrible waste of money. Christians throughout the centuries have been sure that the end times were “just around the corner”. And they were wrong. Paul himself was sure that the ends times were going to happen in his or his hearers lifetime. And he was wrong. You have to think that if Paul couldn’t get it right, what chance does anyone stand today? And yet there are people out there in books and in pulpits still convinced that they can figure it out.

Much fear and uncertainty surrounds the entire end times issue. You can feel the fear in the books and article written about it. And if you hear sermons preached or read book by persons from the end times industry you can feel the fear as well. Fear of being left out. Fear of isolation and desolation.

One member of the parish did observe that perhaps this fear could be used to good purposes. The member suggested that we remind everyone to get their tithes up to date before the end times occur. After all, you don’t want to be behind at the end of the world.

Another problem with believing that the end is just around the corner is how it colors are attitudes towards those things that Jesus has called us to do. After all, if the world will end next week why bother collecting food for the hungry, or clothes for the naked, or visited the sick or imprisoned. That will all be taken care of very soon by God so no need for us to bother about it.

But this would be wrong, very wrong. Not just because the odds are that the world will not end today. But because it is an abrogation of our responsibilities to those in the world around us who are less fortunate that ourselves. God calls us to serve them, to feed them, to cloth them and to visit them. We must follow this call until the end does indeed come.

But there is more than just fear in the readings for today. There is also hope. I don’t actually mind people spending their hard earned money if they are interested in reading about end times theories. What does concern me is my perception that the end times industry panders to fear rather than hope.

No where in the Gospels do we hear Jesus call us to spread fear and concern about the future. In fact some passages advise us to not worry about the future at all. But what the Gospels clearly do call us to do is the spread the Good News of Jesus. This is a message of hope, not fear. The Gospels also call us to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, visit and sick and those in prison. This is also a message of hope, not fear.

Sermon for the Twenth-Third Sunday after Pentecost, November 12, 2006

Oh my favorite topic once again! Actually that is not true. It is really one of my least favorite topics. But still for today, we get to talk about money. I suppose it is timely since the Vestry is once again working on the budget and we will soon to presenting that to the congregation and beginning once again our parish stewardship campaign.

And if we have to talk about money I think the first thing to share, is that God is great. St. Peter’s has been blessed this year once again, thanks to the generosity of many, many people.

So if things are so good, we do we keep talking about money. Well we keep talking about it because Jesus and the Bible keep talking about it. I forget now where I heard this and don’t remember the actual numbers anyway, but it was once told to me that the Bible speaks over 600 times about money in one way or another and less that 100 times about sex. And yet it seems in many churches in the world today we hear a lot more said about sex than money. That would indicate to me that something is wrong in our priorities.

And so we return to today’s story in the Gospel of Mark. Jesus sits opposite the treasury (or offering plate if he was here at St. Peter’s) and watches the crowd coming forward to put in their money. They are giving their gifts to God. Out of this crowd coming forward to give their gifts to God the author observes the rich people putting in large sums and then along comes a poor widow with two small copper coins which he tosses in. This poor widow is giving sacrificially. Jesus points out that she “has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” After this gift she literally didn’t have two coins in her pocket to rub together. It is this same level of giving that Jesus had called the rich young man to. To give all that he had to the poor and follow Jesus. And yet the response of the rich young man was to go away in sadness because he was wealthy. He could give all he had away and follow Jesus.

Now a more practical person, like myself, would, if giving something at all in this time of great financial crisis and need, might have convinced myself to give one of the two small coins and save the second for myself. After all, that is a gift of 50% of all that I would possess back to God. That is a very exceedingly generous donation.

But when you compare this donation to what the others were giving it seems like nothing at all to us. But it was definitely not nothing to Jesus. It was the most valuable gift given that day. This poor woman held nothing back from God. She was willing to give all to God. And she had to be demonstrating her trust in God at the same time. Widows and orphans were the most disadvantaged groups in Jesus time. She would have nothing to fall back on. She would have no one to depend on. So this woman turned to God. She gave all that the possessed to God with the expectation and trust that God would care for her needs.

This is not unlike the other widow we met today. This widow was ready to die. She had nothing left but enough to make one last loaf of bread for her and her son and then they would die. But Elijah called her to faith. Like the widow in Mark, Elijah called on this other widow to trust in God as well. She was also called on to give up all she had and trust in God. She did it and God provided for her needs.

To me this never seems the smart thing to do as I read these stories. To give up what I have in life and what I can control and instead trust in God is a hard thing to do and often seems just a bit crazy. And yet both these woman were able to do so. We know that it worked out well for the widow in First Kings. We never hear again about the widow in Mark.

How would have we responded if either of these women had come to us, asking for advice on what to do? I know that my faith would have been more lacking then theirs. I would have encouraged them to give to God, but not everything! I would have reminded that the standard goal for the Episcopal Church is to tithe, so even though it would be a sacrifice, I would have encouraged both to tithe. How much less my faith is than theirs is!

How do we apply these lessons in our lives today though. I’m relative sure that none of us here, including myself, is going to run out and give every last cent in our possession to the church. And just as it is hard to turn this into a lesson convincing everyone to give everything, it is also hard to turn it into a lesson about tithing. After all, all the other people in the story were most likely tithing and they get no recognition from Jesus at all. And it is very hard to turn someone who gave everything into a dutiful tither.

I think that the lesson we can take today is about control. I know for myself, I’m the kind of person that likes to be in control. The idea of turning control over to someone else, even God, is very difficult. All of us like to control that which is going on around us.

But these two widows were willing to give up that control. What is it in my and your life that we want to control and not give up to God. Each of us needs to examine our lives. Those areas which we refuse to turn over to God can become idols in our lives eventually controlling us rather than us controlling them.

Control. We want it. God needs it. If we are to be effective serving God in the world today we need to turn it all over to God. Just as those two poor widows were willing to do.

Sermon for All Saint's Day, November 5, 2005, RCL

Today we are marking the observance of All Saint’s Day. Faith communities all over the world are joining us in this observance. Some read names out loud. Some light candles. Some remember in silence. This day is observed in many different ways, but always with the same intention, to remember those who have gone before us in faith. Why do we do this? Why should we remember those who have died? It can bring up some very painful memories.

We choose to remember because we are people who believe that there is more to life than just these years which we spend on earth. It is because we are a people who believe in the truth of the resurrection.

This is not to say that we haven’t or do not mourn and weep over the loss of those who we remember. We do. We miss them terribly. This is completely understandable. It is something even Jesus could identify with. When Jesus saw the place where Lazarus had been buried, he wept. Weeping and mourning is a completely human response to death. It would be wrong to try and cover up or ignore the pain of our loss.

But we do not mourn as other do. We do not mourn because we have no hope. We do not mourn because we feel that all is lost. We mourn, but we still have faith in the power of God and in the eternity of life. The reaction of Jesus is the same as ours to the death of a loved one. We weep. We mourn. We deeply regret the loss to ourselves and our family. But we are not left without hope. We have faith in the same Jesus who raised Lazarus from the dead. We have faith in Jesus who himself rose from the dead.

For Christians death is not the end of everything. It is the marking of a new beginning. And so we remember today those who have died. We may remember with tears in our eyes. Or we may remember with a smile on our face for all the wonderful and fun times we shared together with loved ones who are now absent from us.

The passage today from the prophet Isaiah looks forward to that day in which there will no longer be tears or death. Days in which death and the grave will be overcome. In a very real sense those days are with us now. And they were actually with the disciples as well. This is crystal clear in the lesson today found in John. Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Jesus shows the power of God over death and the grave. It is a powerful portent of what is to come in the death and resurrection of Jesus himself. And yet the raising of Lazarus should not have been all that surprising. Those who had been following Jesus had already seen some pretty amazing things. Jesus had already healed all sorts of infirmities. Jesus has already done amazing, powerful things. This is just one more.

In the resurrection of Jesus death has been destroyed for all time. We are saints for eternity. This is why Paul could state with such authority: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, … will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[1]

This is why we continue this observance year after year. We know that in the end we will be reunited with our loved ones.

There is a song in the Episcopal Hymnal called:

I sing a song of the saints of God Hymnal 293

1 I sing a song of the saints of God,

patient and brave and true,

who toiled and fought and lived and died

for the Lord they loved and knew.

And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,

and one was a shepherdess on the green:

they were all of them saints of God and I mean,

God helping, to be one too.

2 They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,

and his love made them strong;

and they followed the right, for Jesus’ sake,

the whole of their good lives long.

And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,

and one was slain by a fierce wild beast;

and there’s not any reason no, not the least,

why I shouldn’t be one too.

3 They lived not only in ages past,

there are hundreds of thousands still,

the world is bright with the joyous saints

who love to do Jesus’ will.

You can meet them in school, or in lanes, or at sea,

in church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea,

for the saints of God are just folk like me,

and I mean to be one too.

So on this All Saints Day, let us commit our lives once again to being on of those saints and people can meet in school and lanes, in church and trains. Let each of us mean to be one to.

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[1] Romans 8:28 (NLT)