Advent 4 13 Deerfield

          Some 70 years ago Christian prisoners of war made a chapel in a corner of a cell. On the wall they hung a rough carved crucifix. At Christmas they set on a table below the crucifix a nativity scene made from bits and pieces of wood and cloth. One day while a prisoner was kneeling in prayer the guard walked in. He pointed at the figure of the man on the cross and asked, “Who?”  “Jesus,” the prisoner replied. Then the guard pointed at the figure of the baby in the manger and asked, “Who?” “Jesus,” the prisoner replied. The guard put his hands together in respect, bowed, and said, “So sorry.” And the prisoner replied, “No, not sorry, but so glad.”

          At Christmas we proclaim our faith in the Word made flesh, Jesus, God’s son. He was born in a stable, died on a cross, was raised from the dead and in him we have new life. Paul wrote to the church at Rome of the “gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures . . . concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

          Many human religions believe the world as we know it was created by a god or gods who then inspired men and sometimes women to teach this creation how to live and gave them the ability to live by these teachings. The details of the teachings and the examples of holy life vary from place to place, person to person, and culture to culture.

Christians alone of all human religions believe that God our creator not only gave us  inspired teachings and the examples of holy men and women, but also that the creator also became a man, “to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to the God and Father of all.”

To many non-Christians the incarnation is a scandal and an offense.  Some hold a philosophy that limits the real to what can be seen and measured, but most of us have known some of the transcendent realities. We have learned, for example, to recognize the love that motivates the Christmas present that isn’t quite right – the wrong size, wrong color, wrong brand. We’ve all gotten presents like that aren’t quire right, and we’ve all given presents like that that aren’t quite right. We know Christmas presents as an outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual love and affection.

We gather for worship  celebrating Jesus’ use of ordinary things to share his extraordinary love. “On the night before he died for us, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread, and when he had given thanks to the Father, he broke the bread and gave it to his disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.’” In the same way after supper he took a cup of wine, gave thanks, and shared the wine with them, “This my blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.” (BCP p. 358) We call this use of the ordinary things by a Latin word, sacrament, and we explain the Christian sacraments as “outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace. Grace is God’s favor towards us, unearned and undeserved; by grace God forgives our sins, enlightens our minds, stirs our hearts, and strengthens our wills.” (Catechism p. 857-858)

Jesus offered God’s grace to the disciples the night he was betrayed, and Jesus offers God’s grace to us this day because he is God incarnate. We live by grace, and not by law alone. We live as forgiven sinners, set right with God by God’s action, not our own. And that is a moral scandal to the non-Christian. How dare we say that “if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."”(I John 1:9) Sin, the moral agree, must be punished. We mock God’s law, they say, when we say we escape punishment by claiming God’s forgiveness. 

We agree that sin must be punished and the righteousness of God’s law maintained. But we also say that Jesus took our punishment on himself on the cross, and when he died there the power of evil was forever broken. Jesus could do so because he, being God, came “to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to the God and Father of all.”

In the prayer Jesus taught us we pray, “forgive us our sins (our trespasses).” We claim for ourselves the spiritual benefit of God in Jesus sharing our human nature. At the cross, Jesus prayer, “Father forgive them.” And we are forgiven because of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

We live by grace, and not by law. So it is not only because he commanded us but because we are grateful for our own forgiveness that we pray, “forgive us our sins (our trespasses) as we forgive those who sin (trespass) against us.” Our pretending to forgive those who sin against us is a further scandal to those who know only law and not God’s grace in Jesus. We who try to forgive know how hard it is. It does seem easier to hold on to the sense of injury, to play the victim. But we know that in the long run that is harder. Resentments can kill us; they contribute to high blood pressure and other physical and emotional, and spiritual, illnesses. We can forgive only because Jesus shares with us the power of his love. But the good news is that we can forgive, and when we forgive others, we experience anew God’s forgiveness.

Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch Christian who helped shelter Jews during the Nazi occupation and with her family was taken to a concentration camp where her sister Betsie died. After the war she spoke in Germany and wrote a book, The Hiding Place, from which this comes:

“It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former SS man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing centre at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s pain blanched face.

          “He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. “How grateful I am for your message Fräulein”, he said “To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!”

“His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.

“I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your Forgiveness.

          “As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.

          “And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” 

Christmas is Jesus’ birthday, and we get the presents. Our greatest gift is Jesus who, being God, came “to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to the God and Father of all.” And all the gifts we give and receive convey the love and reconciling power of the same Jesus.

The guard in the prison camp put his hands together in respect, bowed, and said, “So sorry.” And the prisoner replied, “No, not sorry, so glad.”  

 

Advent 2 2013

Advent 2A 12-8-13

          This sermon was preached at a Eucharist which began with the traditional language Ten Commandments from page 319 in the American 1979 edition of the Book of Common Prayer.  The rubric places this after the opening Collect for Purity in the traditional language Rite 1, and although there is no rubrical direction for contemporary language Rite II, the same form was used at the same place.

 

          In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

We have seen and heard much about Nelson Mandela in the last few days. His life offers us some examples of the repentance John called for. Nelson Mandela was born to a Christian mother and educated in church schools. His education was interrupted by his political activism. He began as an advocate for non-violent change, but when that was met with police force he agreed to lead an armed struggle that included bombing public buildings and other violent responses. In prison he repented of this decision and returned to the principles of non-violent change. He is reported to have said, “As I walked out the door toward my freedom, I know that if I did not leave all the anger, hatred, and bitterness behind that I would still be in prison.”  His lived that repentance in his political and spiritual life thereafter.  

He was an eloquent speaker and advocate for the cause of freedom for all the people of South Africa. He was able to negotiate a change in government marked not by racial violence but by a Peace and Reconciliation Commission that was able to bring most South Africans to a common understanding of their history, of the things than had been done, good and bad, and the reasons why they had been done. Mandela’s Christian faith, and the Christian faith of the white minority, formed a basis for establishing a new community. We see that in the South African flag – over the red, white, and blue of Holland and Britain is the black and yellow of the African National Congress, and the green common to the ANC and to the Dutch speaking South African Republic.  

We prayed, “Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer. . .”

Continuing self-examination and repentance is a fundamental Christian practice. We are continually to judge ourselves against the standard of God’s teaching. We began this morning with the Ten Commandments (page 317) as the communion service began from 1552 to 1928, and the response, “Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.” As part of your Advent spiritual preparation I encourage you to read over the Catechism pp 845-862, particularly pp 847-848 on the Ten Commandments. The old story is of the sailor who came out of church saying, “At least I haven’t worshipped any graven images recently!” In fact paying too much attention to graven images, particularly those on pieces of paper with engravings of presidents and others, may be our most common sin.

The Ten Commandments are not the only standard for self-examination, though they are a good starting place. Another is the list of the works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:16 following:  “Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.”

In the General Confession we say ". . . we have offended against thy holy laws, we have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done . . .” I encourage you this Advent to put some legs on your confession, to be aware of some specific areas of your life where God is working with you to clean up your past and open some new ways for the future.

The Eucharist is our re-membering, our joining with Jesus in his sacrifice as part of his resurrected body, spiritually fed and strengthened in this life as we prepare to “greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer. . .”

Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection has indeed baptized us with his Holy Spirit and fire. “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” By self-examination and repentance, by accepting Christ’s forgiveness for ourselves and forgiving others we identify as his wheat.

Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch Christian who helped shelter Jews during the Nazi occupation and with her family was taken to a concentration camp where her sister Betsie died. After the war she spoke in Germany and wrote a book, The Hiding Place, from which this comes:

“It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former SS man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing centre at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s pain blanched face.

          “He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. “How grateful I am for your message Fräulein”, he said “To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!”

“His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.

“I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your Forgiveness.

          “As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.

          “And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” 

          Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Advent 1 2013

Advent 1A 2013

          Jesus told his disciple, “keep awake . . . be ready . . ,” and the church reminds us of this teaching each year as we begin a new church year 4 Sundays before Christmas.  That message is particularly appropriate for this church in this time as you begin the process of seeking a new rector.

          I first met Paula Morton almost 30 years ago when she was a student at Western Carolina on the staff at Camp Henry doing arts and crafts and I was rector in Shelby serving for a week as camp chaplain.  It is a joy and privilege to be with you these first two weeks of Advent.

          My wife Lucy and I left Shelby in 1989. I served on the staff of the General Board of Examining Chaplains of the Episcopal Church helping administer the national qualifying examination for people seeking ordination in the Episcopal Church until I retired 11 years ago. I have served as part time interim in several churches and offer this based on that experience.

          Jesus’ teaching to “keep awake and be ready” applies to all of us at all times, and particularly to a parish in the interim between rectors.  Some of you who have been members of parishes during interim times have learnings that can help this parish.   

          The three major tasks of a parish in the interim between rectors are to come to a common understanding of your history, to come to a common understanding of your present situation, and to come to common agreement on where you want to go and what you want to do with a new rector. 

In today’s gospel:  Keep awake, be ready, to deal together with your past.  Keep awake, be ready, to deal together with your present parish situation.  And once you have done all this together as a parish then you will be ready to seek God’s vision and plan for the future. Seeking God’s vision together is the hardest part of the whole process and the part most commonly avoided. But it is necessary and it can be done. 

As it is in the parish in an interim time so it is also in our lives as individuals, as children of the God who loves us and draws us to himself to love and serve him. We are the product of our families and our past experiences. We live in a current context, and our task is to seek to keep awake and be ready to discern God’s will for our lives and to do that will. Remember that the God who made us loves us; God wants what is best for us, and what is best for us is to do his will.

In today’s collect we ask God for grace “to cast away past works of darkness” –the things we have done that we do not want to come to light, the things we did, or failed to do, when we were blinded by passion, or sin, or ignorance. We ask for grace “now in the time of this mortal life” to “put on the armor of light.”

          Present actions have future consequences. The past is a fixed succession of former presents. The future is an indeterminate succession of present moments yet to come. We ask grace to put on the armor of light for a purpose – “that in the last day, when” Jesus comes “again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal.”

          We witness to our faith in the midst of the great prayer of thanksgiving over the bread and wine, “Christ has died; Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

          Jesus Christ comes again to us in many ways, and very often. He comes to us by his Spirit as we read and reflect on his word written in the bible. He comes to us under the forms of bread and wine when we receive communion. He comes to us in every action we take to witness to his continuing presence.

          A new church year begins today, the first Sunday in Advent. We look back on the past year and look forward to the new year.  Jesus reminds us in today’s gospel that the Son of Man will come in the last day. Isaiah spoke about that day as the time when the Lord will establish peace in the land. “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

          Peace comes from the Lord, and justice comes from the Lord. We execute limited and approximate justice, but in the last day God’s perfect justice will be established. We can all look back on our lives and see the injustices we have committed and the injustices committed against us. Let us on this first day of the new church year commit ourselves to live in peace and justice, loving one another as Christ loves us. For the armor of God is the power of love, and joy, and beauty in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Proper 28C 11-17-13 By your endurance

Proper 28C 11-17-13 SLLEN

 How many of you remember where you were on November 22, 1963?   How many of you have no idea why I’m asking that?  On November 22, 1963 two important men died. One was Professor C.S. Lewis, English Christian author and teacher. The other was (anyone).

           Look at the dates on the Confederate soldiers monuments. Lincoln County’s monument was dedicated 1911 – 50 years after the beginning of the war. Catawba County’s monument at the old courthouse on North College Avenue was dedicated 1907 – 42 years after the end of the war. As the soldiers die we publicly remember their service. The Honor Air program brought many western NC veterans of World War II to Washington to see the World War II memorial. When I was younger I used to think 50 years was a long time. As I get older it gets shorter.

 The gospels were written down 40 to 60 years after the Crucifixion and Resurrection, based on the oral tradition of the first generation that had received the gospel from the apostles just as that generation began to die in significant numbers, but while there were still people living who had been there and who could testify to what they knew personally.

          The early church expected the return of the Lord Jesus any day now, and Paul’s letters to the church at Thessalonica last Sunday tell us of the problems when the Lord delayed his return. But the church as a whole believed that Jesus had promised to return. St. Luke also records Jesus’ warning about conflict and persecution and his promise, “they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

           From the time of St. Stephen the first martyr Christians had learned that proclaiming a crucified and resurrected Savior meant trouble with those who refused to believe. But they also remembered that Jesus had said this trouble was coming, and he had also said, “But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.” This life may end in martyrdom, but our eternal life continues. By endurance we gain our souls.

           This good news has strengthened many Christians in their time of trial. It continues to strengthen Christians in Africa, in India, in Egypt and the Middle East, and in other places where is is dangerous to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

           Let me tell you about Dr. Graham Stuart Staines.  He was born January 18, 1941 in Queensland, Australia. When he was 15 he saw a photograph of a boy his age who was suffering from severe leprosy and decided to dedicate his life to serve God by serving leprosy patients. Two years later he learned of a medical mission to lepers in Orissa state, India. Orissa is about as far southwest of Calcutta as our companion diocese of Durgapur is northwest of Calcutta. The population is 41 million people, about 2.4% Christian – or just over a million people – about half the size of the Episcopal Church.   

           Dr. Stains did his medical training in Australia and on his 24^th birthday (1965) arrived in India. He joined the medical mission, and learned the local languages so well the local government asked his help with a polio immunization drive. In 1983 he married an Australian nurse missionary; they had three children.  

           The leprosy mission treated about 80 patients at a time and included a vocational training center where patients learned to weave clothing, mats, and towels -  a self-sufficient haven where patients were treated with dignity and learned skills to become economically independent.  In addition to his medical work Graham trained students, and did work in literacy, translation, discipleship, church planting and social development. He helped with the 1997 Ho language translation of the New Testament.

On the night of 22nd January 1999, Dr. Stains and his two sons Philip and Timothy attended an annual gathering of area Christians in a rural area. It was cold and the three spent the night in his station wagon. During the night a mob of about 50 people, armed with axes and other implements, angry at his Christian work, attacked his vehicle and set it on fire. Stains and his sons were burnt alive.

          Four years later the mob ringleaders were tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. Dr. Stains’ wife continued the work for five years. At the sentencing of the killers she said she had forgiven the killers and had no bitterness towards them. In 2005 she received a civilian award from the Government of India, in recognition for her work.

 “They will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

Proper 27C November 10, 2013

Proper 27 C November 10  St Luke's Lincolnton, Epiphany Newton

 O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 Christianity is a religion of faith, hope, and charity. We have faith in what God has done in the past, show charity in God’s service in the present, and hold fast to hope in God’s present and final triumph in the world God has made. Today’s scriptures are about our hope in God’s present and final triumph.

 Begin with today’s collect, written by Bishop John Cosin of Durham for the 1662 English version of the Prayer Book. Bishop Cosin was a bright young man from a middle-class east England family. His father died when he was 13 and he did well as Cambridge University. He was secretary to two bishops, served the cathedral in Durham and as master of a Cambridge college. The Puritan Parliament forced him into 17 years exile (from age 50 to 67) with the royal family in France. At the Restoration in 1660 he became Bishop of Durham where he served 12 years. Bishop Cosin knew about living in hope. “Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves . . .”

 The word of the Lord came to Haggai 520 years before Christ. The word of the Lord was a word of hope. Jerusalem had been conquered 66 years before and many of the people taken captive to Babylon. There they were inspired by the Prophet Ezekiel to maintain a spiritual community, to come together Sabbath by Sabbath to pray and study in the synagogues. After 45 years of exile Cyrus of Persia set the people free to return to Jerusalem. Many did, some didn’t. In the 18 years before Haggai life had been tough for the returnees because, Haggai says, the people focused on rebuilding their own lives, and not on the Lord and on rebuilding the Lord’s Temple. Haggai called the people to hope in the Lord’s presence and promise. “My spirit abides among you; do not fear. . . . in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and . . . all the nations . . . The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the LORD of hosts. . . . in this place I will give prosperity. . . .   You may know the story of the church treasurer who said, “I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we have all the money we need; the bad news is that it is still in your pockets.”

 The prophet Haggai brings the Lord’s word of hope. Psalm 98 is a psalm of hope.  “Let the hills ring out with joy before the LORD, when he comes to judge the earth. In righteousness shall he judge the world and the peoples with equity.”

 St. Paul writes to the church in Thessalonika a word of hope. He affirms Jesus’ coming “and our being gathered together to him,” but that is in God’s good time. Meanwhile “stand firm” and “may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.”

 Finally in the gospel Jesus proclaims our hope in the resurrection. “in the resurrection from the dead [we] neither marry nor are given in marriage. [We] cannot die anymore, because [we] are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.” 

 The gospel reading is from Jesus’ teaching in the controversy of his last week before his Crucifixion and Resurrection. The political and religious leadership took careful notes, looking for an excuse to get Rome to execute him. They asked a number of trick questions. The Pharisees questioned Jesus’ religious authority (20:1-8) and tried to entangle him in their controversy about paying tribute to the Roman military authorities (20:20-26). When Jesus turned the Pharisees’ questions back on them they got help from their own religious and political opponents the Sadducees.

 The Pharisees saw God continuing to reveal himself in the history of the people of Israel and heard God’s word from the prophets. The experience of the Exile and the teaching of the prophets had brought them to believe in resurrection.

 For the Sadducees the final word of God was the Torah – the first 5 books including Deuteronomy 25 which calls for levirate marriage. The term Levirate marriage comes from levir the Latin word for brother-in-law.  Levirate marriage can still be found in east Africa and western Asia.  That is how patriarchal and agricultural clan-based societies provide for widows and keep property in the family. Men are responsible for mothers, sisters, and minor brothers. So in levirate marriage if a man dies without a male heir one of his brothers must marry the widow and father a son to be his dead brother’s heir.

 Levirate marriage is found in societies where women have no rights – no property rights of any kind.  It is rare because most societies find other ways to recognize the natural rights of women and to provide for widows - and for family property where that is important. And Deuteronomy 25 provides a way out for a man who does not want to take on this responsibility.  The way out includes public humiliation – a powerful incentive to negotiate a settlement.

 Levirate marriage was remembered from the patriarch Judah (Genesis 38), and in the story of Ruth, King David’s Moabite great-grandmother, but scholars think it was a rare option. In bringing it to Jesus the Sadducees were trying for a “gotcha,” and “gotchas” never work.

 Jesus turns the Sadducees’ question back on them with true teaching about the hope and promise of resurrection. We who live this side of Jesus’ resurrection are God’s children by adoption and grace. We are born again. We begin here and now to live the new life in Jesus Christ. God is God of the living; to him and in him we are alive.  So let us live in hope.

 O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Proper 25C October 27, 2013

          There’s a big difference between good advice and good news. When we listen to God’s word to us in the bible we can hear good advice, or we can hear good news.  Good advice helps with the outside of life – with our relations with other people, with the use of our money, our things, even our time. But good news deals with the inside of life – where the blood flows through the heart and mind.

We can hear today’s gospel as good advice or as good news. The reading ends with Jesus’ words, “all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted." At first this sounds like the good advice we learned early in life – don’t be pushy, don’t brag too much about yourself, be modest, let others take a turn, and so on.

But of the man who “beat his breast saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' Jesus says, “I tell you, this man went down to his home justified.” The man repented his sins, trusted in God’s mercy, and received God’s mercy. He went home reconciled with God, and with himself.

We receive by faith God’s gifts of mercy and grace, and as we receive these gifts we are set free from the power of sin and set right with God - by God’s mercy and grace received by faith. The man who “beat his breast saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' went down to his home justified.”

The other man, the one who “standing by himself, prayed ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income,’ that man was not justified. He was not reconciled with God; he was not really reconciled with himself.

Why not? He did more than the Law required. Good people in Jesus time were to fast once a week; he fasted two. They were to give a tenth of their income; he gave the full tenth of everything, even of what he grew in his kitchen garden. He was a good man; it is good to eat less food and to be able to give to those who need help.

There are three reasons why the good man was not reconciled with God or with himself.

First, the man’s good behavior was intended to show off his goodness to God and everyone who watched him. He was not serving God; he was drawing attention to himself.

Second, the man despised other people. He said “I thank you, God that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” God does not want us to compare ourselves to others. That leads to envy and hatred. God made each one of us unique, different from every other person who has ever lived. We are to compare ourselves to God, to God’s son Jesus Christ. When we do compare ourselves to God, to God’s son Jesus Christ, we see when we are honest how far we fall short of God’s goodness and God’s will for our lives.

And third, the man refused to admit his own sin. We all know in the secret places of our hearts when we have sinned, when we have done things we know God does not want us to do, and when we have not done the good things God wants us to do. God lets us refuse to admit what we know is true, but there is a price. When we deny the truth, we eventually lose the ability to know truth. When we deny we tell lies to other people, and to ourselves. Eventually we can no longer tell the difference between the truth and a lie. We are lost in deceit.

The man who “beat his breast saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' went down to his home justified.” Jesus tells us in St. John’s gospel, “the truth will set you free.” We know ourselves to be sinners, we know we have done things we know God does not want us to do, and we know we have not done the good things God wants us to do. When we admit our sin, as St. John tells us, “God is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” So in every service of worship we say together a confession, and we receive absolution.

We learn in confession to do all that we do for God, for his honor and glory, not our own. We learn to compare ourselves to God, to God’s son Jesus Christ, and not to other people. We learn to give up envy and hatred and malice. And so we no longer lie to ourselves or to other people. We learn to live life free of lies and deceit. We are set free from the power of sin and set right with God by God’s mercy and grace received by faith. We go to our homes justified.  And that my friends, is not good advice, but good news. Amen.

Proper 22C St. Mary's Asheville

(Before mass)
          I’m Tom Rightmyer, the priest Fr. Norris promised “will be here at 11:00 am to offer Mass for those who cannot participate in the ecumenical service.” I am honored by this opportunity to serve.  When I was ordained in 1966 I promised God that I would take every opportunity offered to preach the gospel and to offer the sacrifice of the mass. I have served in Maryland, in Asheboro and Shelby, NC, and with the national church General Board of Examining Chaplains before I retired in 2002.  We live at Deerfield, and I’m working on a directory of the colonial clergy.

          This morning Fr. Norris and many from St. Mary’s are worshipping with our Methodist and Lutheran ecumenical partners. Let me offer some background.  

          In the Middle Ages parish churches celebrated the mass every Sunday and many also joined with monks and nuns in services of bible readings and prayer, but few received communion except at Easter. From the late 1500’s the usual Sunday morning service combined Morning Prayer, the Litany and Antecommunion – the mass through the prayers of the people. Generally 4 times a year the service continued with the Prayer of Consecration and communion – winter, spring, early summer, and fall - Christmas, Easter, Whitsunday or Pentecost, and the Sunday near St. Michael and All Angels day.

          After 300 years - in the mid-1800’s - the combined services were separated. The mass was central for Anglo-Catholic parishes and Morning Prayer and sermon were the usual Sunday service in other churches. Only from the 1950’s has everyone expected to receive at every mass, and in the 1980’s  the Eucharist replaced Morning Prayer as the principal Sunday service.  

          In colonial America the norm for Anglicans and dissenters alike was communion 4 times a year. The Protestant churches continued that pattern. In the late 19^th century many churches moved from conflict to cooperation and in the 1930’s Protestant churches agreed to a common fall World Wide Communion. God is at work in all his churches, and a sign of his work in an increasing appreciation of the spiritual presence of our Lord in the Holy Communion. I’ve watched this  develop for over 47 years, and I thank God for it.

(As Sermon)

           Today ‘s Gospel ends with one of Jesus’ hard sayings, “. . . when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”

          We don’t like to hear “we are worthless slaves.” We are brought up to think well of ourselves. As one preacher said, “We are self-made men, worshipping our creator.” We have no good reason for this inordinate pride. We are not “good people.” That’s a lie. We are sinners saved by grace, forgiven sinners washed in the blood of the lamb. Our Catholic faith witnessed in Holy Scripture is that we are sinners, and only by Our Lord’s sacrifice, by his death and resurrection, are we reconciled with the Father and made able to receive the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, empowered to do Our Lord’s will in the world he has redeemed. 

I recently heard a meditation on Micah 6:8 “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”  The church in our time has these confused. We do mercy – churches do a lot to help the poor and needy. We love justice – we love to talk about justice. We are keenly aware of injustice in our society and freely gather to complain when we think injustice is being done. But as the speaker continued, the last part is hard. We don’t do very well walking humbly with God.

           Like many of you I have lots of awards given me for various things. Volunteer organizations give paperweights, and coffee cups, and badges, and lots of other things. I suspect we could paper our walls with the certificates of appreciation. At diocesan convention in mid-November we’ll have lots of such awards for worthy recipients and many well-crafted courtesy resolutions of commendation.

           It is natural for those of us with responsibilities for organizational maintenance to want to give these things, and all of us are on some level glad to be recognized and given a token of appreciation. My 4 year old granddaughter, like her mother and her uncle, and her grandmother, and me – and likely you, sometimes notices that we’re not paying what she considers sufficient attention and says, “Look at me!” We’ve all got that in us, “Look at me!”

But as the hymn says, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.”

The reality of the Christian life is that we are raised from death in sin to new life in Christ Jesus. The task of the Christian life is to grow in Christ – to place him at the center of our lives that he may increase and our sinful selfishness may decrease.

          Life in Jesus is profoundly counter-cultural. He teaches his disciples, “So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, `We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!”  He calls us continually to consider in every action, “Who am I doing this for?”

The Ash Wednesday gospel from St. Matthew 6 reminds us, “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

We are all more or less motivated by what we get from what we do. Since Disney’s 1937 Snow White the dwarfs and others have sung, “I owe, I owe, so it’s off to work I go.” We work partly because we need the money. But there is more. Work is a generally productive way to spend time. We are defined by our work. Even at Deerfield we ask new people, “What did you do when you were working?”

And we seek opportunities to be productive.  This Tuesday from 6 am to after 7:30 pm I will work at the primary election for Asheville city mayor. Vote for one of three and then Tuesday November 5 vote again for one of two and for 3 of 5 candidates for city council. The decisions will be made by a small percentage of city voters. I encourage you to be one of them. I’ll be paid – about $10 an hour.  I appreciate the money, but I appreciate more knowing that at least at that precinct the election will be as free and fair as I and others can make it. We will share the internal satisfaction of a job well done.  “We have done what we ought to have done.”

As on Tuesday, so with the rest of life. We live and serve in gratitude for God’s gift of new life in Jesus Christ. A Ugandan bishop, exiled by Idi Amin, once  quoted to me First Peter 2:10, “Once we were not a people, but now we are God’s people; once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy.”  “. . . when we have done all that we were ordered to do, we say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”  Thanks be to God!