Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, March 25, 2007

We find in the reading today from Isaiah a warning from God that new things are about to be done. Warning about new things coming is probably a good idea. No one seems to particularly like new things. We all love the old things. And yet we are warned in this same passage to “not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.” This is a hard teaching for Episcopalians! In fact, even with lots of warning, change is still hard to deal with.

I’m reminded of this struggle we all have with change in a story line from the series “The Vicar of Dibley”. In the first episode a “woman” priest is sent to the parish as their new vicar. The initial shock left everyone silent. As some of the parishioners began talk about change they observed that there is good change and bad change and that is true in the world today. But what makes it so difficult is our inability to come to agreement on which changes are good and which are bad. This is reflected locally and in the wider world. It effects everything from what we do here at St. Peter’s when we make changes to what is going on today in the world wide Anglican Communion.

Make a river in a desert as it says in Isaiah and you are sure to find some who would find reason to complain. The river is not in the right place. Too many people or animals are around now. The environmental balance has been changed. There is now too much traffic. It used to be nice and peaceful and quiet here and now it is so loud and disruptive. And you have to deal with the mud.

Look at the Israelites, they were freed from slavery and provided manna from heaven and yet still managed to complain about it. The old times were better they said. We are sick and tired of this manna they complained. The very food sent down from heaven by God was becoming tiring to them. The grass always is greener on the other side! And I’m sure if we look in our own lives we will find plenty of times when we complained and perhaps the complaint was not really all that justifiable.

Why do people complain about change so much? I think it is because we mourn the loss of the familiar. The familiar is comfortable and easy to go along with. It doesn’t cause stress or anxiety. People also don’t like change because of the fear of the unknown. Change puts us face to face with something new. Something that may be unpalatable or undesirable. Or maybe just something that is different. Like a river in a dry place.

But there is something even more important in this passage today. God says that she is about to do a new thing and yet we do not see it. There are two things here particularly important. First that God is doing a new thing. There are some who would prefer, who pray for and who fight for God to only do the old things. There is no understanding or comprehension that God may indeed be doing a new thing in their life or in the life of the Church. Those who would paint God in a nice neat corner are only bound to be disappointed. Several weeks ago I spoke about how surprising God can be and is. Of this there can be no doubt.

The second part of that verse “do you not perceive it?” should be a warning to us. A warning to not try and fight against the new things God is doing. But this can be painfully difficult.

How do we know that all the new things going on now are from God? That is the critical question. Those against the new things clearly see the answer as no, they are most definitely not from God. Those in support of the new things clearly see the answer as yes, God is working powerfully among us. Personally I think that the Christian community would be in much better condition if everyone kept in mind that they just might be wrong. This sort of humility seems to be sadly lacking in many of the conversations in the Church today. An embrace of the idea of the possibility of error in my own thoughts would allow greater charity towards those we disagree with. It would also lower the level of strife for those fighting so hard for what they feel is right.

There is one thing that is very good about change, whether you are in favor of it or not. Change forces us to re-evaluate what is going on in our lives. And that is a good thing. It is healthy and an opportunity for spiritual growth. It can cause us either to strengthen the views we already held or be an opportunity for the possibility of changing them. Whether in the end the change was necessary or perhaps quietly done away with, self examination of our own lives and of our own, sometimes closely held beliefs is good.

Change forces us to wake up from the lethargy of the usual, of the common, and to look at things in a new light. That may feel like a dangerous thing. But it is life giving.

As Christians we are called to face change with expectation and hope. We need to view change with the expectation and hope that God just might be doing a new thing in our lives. So when we are faced with changes, we should not react with a gut level reaction to immediately reject it. Instead we need to think about it. We need to test it out.

Perhaps, just perhaps it can help us grow.

The Three G's

The Three G’s

A wonderful friend, Mary Grace shared the 3 G's with me a while back (a long while back now that I think about it). Grace, Gratitude, and Generosity. These are three gifts/abilities that I think more of us need to work in (particularly myself). I see in our current church issues a particular lack of all three in the discussions going on. Most distressingly (at least for me) is this lack from the liberal orthodox side. Since I count myself on this side I would hope that we would live what we believe and so often say regarding respecting the dignity of worth of every human being. Sadly language can hurt and it is hurtful too often. Of course I’m also disappointed to see it from the reasserter orthodox side as well, but since I’m not tarred by the same brush I suppose I’m less sensitive. Which is a good think considering that the reasserter orthodox side seems to most often violate the 3 G’s in posts I see in the world of the blogs.

I pray that all will seek to see Jesus in the face of those whom we oppose. Perhaps that will lower the level of rhetoric.

Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent, Year C, March 11, 2007

Have you ever been surprised by something? I’m sure we all have at one time or another. Life is full of surprises. Imagine how boring things would be if this were not true. It should not be shocking to discover that the creator of all, God, is full of surprises as well. I want to speak about two surprises in the lessons for today. Both occur in the lesson from the Book of Exodus.

Now the idea that God is surprising should not be that novel. I know that as I look back in my own life it is filled with surprises, things which I never would have expected. There are twists and turns in my life that have led me to places I never though I would be. I’m sure that many of you today can identify with those same experiences.

The Holy Scriptures are also packed full of surprises. In the Scriptures we find stories of old women having children. There is the most memorable story of a young maid giving birth to the son of God. Stories of angels appearing when no one expected them.

Even today here at St. Peter's we celebrate a surprising event. That most unexpected of occurrences in an Episcopal Church, a baptism in Lent. Today we will baptize Spencer and welcome him to our faith community. Life is full of surprises. And like the baptism today, surprises are not always bad things.

In the reading from Exodus today we see that God can come to us in surprising ways. Moses is out wandering around with his flocks. As he wanders, he sees something not all that uncommon in his experience. He sees a fire. But as he looks at it be becomes surprised. He sees something totally unexpected. Moses observes that while there is a bush blazing on fire the bush is not being burned up. That had to be quite a surprise. And then Moses discovered the source of this seemingly impossible event. And it was another surprise. It was God. God came to Moses in a surprising way, in a way Moses did not expect. And I think that often happens to us as well, God comes to us in surprising ways. God comes to us through people we would not expect or events we would not anticipate. And suddenly we realize that God is trying to tell us something or God is trying to show us something in a new way.

Next we see that God uses surprising people. As a matter of fact, God uses people who don’t think they should be used by God. God tells Moses “Guess what, you are going to be the one Moses. You are the one who is going to save my chosen people. You are the one who will go to Pharaoh and tell him to let my people go. I think at that moment Moses probably looked around to see if there was someone else standing behind him to whom God must be speaking. God sure surprised Moses in his choice of who he would use to bring God’s people out of Egypt. Moses was convinced that God had chosen the wrong man. I think many of us often feel that same way. The Lord can’t possibly be talking to me and calling me to do something. First of all who wants to go and tell anyone that the Lord has told me I’m supposed to do this. Most people would maybe take a few steps away from you and wonder either how they can get away from you for good or how they can get you to some treatment. But they are mostly likely not going to say “Oh hallelujah, I have been waiting for you to tell me.” And Moses knows this. And I think the other thing is that Moses knows himself. Here he is a simple shepherd and yet God is going to call him to do amazing things and deal with the most powerful man that Moses knows in the world. And he is going to have to tell the most powerful man in the world some things that man does not want to hear. “Who am I that I should go…” Moses responds to God. This might not be an unexpected response. It might be a response we have offered to God in our own past when we felt the call of God in our own life. No one really wants to have to tell everyone that God sent them to them. Or like Moses we might recognize that there is nothing special about ourselves. There is nothing powerful about ourselves and we might respond “Lord there must be a better person to do your work.”

And what do you think the Lord’s answer to Moses was. We all know. Moses you are the one. I know you are the one. You can do it. I sometimes think that God chooses people on purpose who don’t think they can do it. You see the problem is that if you think you can do it, then you don’t have to rely on God. You can just go out and do it on your own. But if you are convinced that you cannot possibly be the right person to do it, then you have no choice. You have no choice other than to rely on God to give you the strength and the power to carry out what it is God wants you to do.

And so my challenge to you is to look for unexpected things in your own life from God. Look for God to speak to you in unexpected ways. Look for God to ask you do to unexpected things. And then trust God to give you what you need to do it.

Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent, Year C, March 4, 2007

Many of you may remember that the Gospel passage for today contains one of my favorite verses. In fact, it seems I can not avoid preaching on this particular text anytime it comes up in our readings. For some reason I find amazing comfort in these words: “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings…” Or as Eugene Peterson puts it: “How often I’ve longed to gather your children, gather your children like a hen, Her brood safe under her wings…” It makes me feel safe just saying the words. However the end of this verse is very sad “but you refused and turned away!”

You may have noticed that Jesus is using a feminine example in this story. Now this kind of thing does not always sit well with everyone.

Some of you may remember that our Presiding Bishop got into considerable trouble at her first sermon ever as Presiding Bishop at our last General Convention. In her sermon, she used the term “mother Jesus”. This term sent up howls of complaint regarding her theology. Of course, she did not coin that term. It has been used in the past, most notably by the mystic Julian of Norwich. But she took a lot of grief for using a feminine image of Jesus. And yet in this passage we have Jesus likewise using the image of the feminine in describing his desire to hold a people close to him as a hen gathers her chicks.

As a farm boy, I remember well the image of chicks out in the yard running to the mother hen at the first sign of danger and good mother hen managing to tuck an amazing number of chicks under her wings to protect them. Not that the hen had much of a chance against any predator, but she was willing to try. And it reminds me of an image we are blessed to see more and more often around St. Peter’s. That of a child getting hurt from a bump or scratch and running to the safety and warmth of mother’s arms for protection and solace.

Jesus is longing to have that same relationship with the world. Jesus wants to be the safety, warmth and protection for us. But how often to we respond the same way many responded to Jesus in his own time – the people “refused and turned away.” What is it that makes people want to turn away? What is it that makes us sometimes want to turn away from the invitation of Jesus?

I think that there are many causes. Some of these include pride, a feeling of self importance or the opposite the belief that we are undeserving, fear, hopelessness, the desire for self sufficiency, anger, or the cares of the world, to name just a few. The cares of the world is such an interesting phrase. It comes to us from Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of Mark.[1] The cares of the world is anything that distracts us from God. These cares can very easily become idols in our lives. An idol is anything less that God that we allow to take the place of God in our life. These things can drive wedges in our lives which can separate us from each other and can separate us from God. But the reality is that Jesus is always there, always waiting for us to return to his tender embrace.

Have you ever been through a difficult time in your life? I’m know we all have. Each and every one of us has struggles and battles some of which we fear to share with anyone. But Jesus is there.

To be honest, I like the idea of “mother Jesus”. With all the masculine references to God we are surrounded with in the Holy Scriptures and in the world around us it is well to be shocked back into reality once in a while. God the stern taskmaster or God the judge seems to come all to easily to our collective minds. We inherited this view from the long tradition of church history as well. While the Greek words for Jesus and God are male forms of words, the Greek word for the Holy Spirit is a female form. And yet when this sermon is over and we recite the Creed in the paragraph dealing with the Holy Spirit we will use all male pronouns. The use of language and image in the Church is see to be universally masculine images. Those brave enough to challenge this are often dismissed as heretics. God the mother is a good contrast for us to meditate on.

The image of Mother Jesus is very much misunderstood and wrongly maligned. But that should not surprise us – much about Jesus was and is misunderstood. I want to end with a thought from one of our church fathers (regretfully, church mothers don’t get near the exposure they deserve):

He began His ministry by being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life.
Jesus ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the Living Water.
Jesus was weary, yet He is our rest. Jesus paid tribute, yet He is the King.
Jesus was accused of having a demon, yet He cast out demons.
Jesus wept, yet He wipes away our tears.
Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the world.
Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, yet He is the Good Shepherd.
Jesus died, yet by His death He destroyed the power of death.
Gregory of Nazianzus, A.D. 381.

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[1] Mark 4:19.