Epiphany 2B

In 1946 Victor Frankel published a book, Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankel was an Austrian psychiatrist, Jewish, liberated from a Dachau area concentration camp in April, 1945. His wife and parents had died in the camps, and Frankel wrote about his experiences, and about how hard it was for him to feel joy again.

Frankel restates the basic biblical affirmation that all life has meaning. God calls us to the task of discerning that meaning and bringing it to life in our lives.

       In today’s collect we pray, “that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth.” A child looking at the stained glass said, “saints are the people the light shines through.” We are God’s saints, and as we say in the “Lift up your hearts” the Sursum corda, “It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.”

       When we make real the meaning of our lives we “shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory.” We make real both internally and externally. Internally we understand and act on some thought or feeling, and externally we bring that thought or feeling into being. “Always and everywhere” we “give thanks to” the “Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.”

       Samuel was asleep in the temple of the Lord. Samuel was a special child. Hannah and her hasband Elkanah had no children and Elkanah’s second wife Peninnah taunted Hannah. Barrenness ran in the family. Abraham and Sarah’s maid Hagar taunted Sarah after the birth of Ishmael. Isaac and Rebecca were barren for 20 years before Esau and Jacob were born. Jacob’s 2^nd wife Rachel whom he loved was also barren until Joseph and Benjamin were born.  Later Elisha’s prayers brought a son to the Shunamite woman (2 Kings 4). And Mary’s cousin Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s mother, also old and barren.  

       Samuel was specially dedicated to God’s service. It was a spiritually dry time.  “The word of the LORD was rare in those days” as the King James says, “there was no open vision.” The temple was corrupt. High priest Eli allowed his sons Hophni and Phinehas to cheat those who came to sacrifice. In a time of spiritual dryness, need, and corruption God called Samuel.  Samuel made real his calling to revive the people, to be a good and righteous judge, to “shine with the radiance” to prepare the people for the realized kingdom of David.

       In God’s good time his son Jesus was born, the Word made flesh, and began his ministry of reconciliation with John’s baptism in the Jordan. Ministry is not solitary, and Jesus began by recruiting his disciples. This week we hear of Philip and Nathaniel, next week St. Mark’s account of Andrew and Peter, James and John. And then Jesus’ ministry begins in Capernaum - teaching and healing and casting out demons.

       Jesus returned to Galilee, the area where he had been brought up. The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem and Judea despised Galileans. Galilee was part of the northern kingdom of Israel whose 10 tribes had been deported by Assyria 7 centuries before. The road from Egypt to Mesopotamia passed through Galilee and the people were more susceptible to the influence of foreign ideas. Jerusalem had only ruled Galilee for only a century. Philip was from a fishing village on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. He realized inwardly that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Messiah, and when Jesus called him realized that fulfillment externally, following Jesus and sharing with his brother Nathaniel.

       The Prophet Micah wrote in chapter 4 about the promise of God’s kingdom, “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, but they shall sit every man under his vine and his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid.” “Sitting under the fig tree” became a metaphor for bible study. Nathaniel’s question reflected the skeptical attitude of the Jewish leaders toward Galilee, but Philip’s response is fundamental evangelism, “Come and see!”

       We begin with “come and see.” Someone brought us to see – to see Jesus in his church, in the people of God, in his word written and preached, to see Jesus in baptism and in the holy communion. We saw, and we realized Jesus in our hearts, in our lives, in the truth and power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus gives us grace to be faithful to his call on our lives.

       Victor Frankel came to know the meaning of life in the concentration camps, in the loss of wife and parents, in the gradual recovery of joy in freedom. We know the meaning of life in Jesus, and as begin to “shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth.”

 

Epiphany 1 15

Epiphany 1B 15

 Martin Luther was a great leader of the Reformation, the man whose wisdom and courage set Europe ablaze with renewed zeal for Christ. But Luther was also a man of scrupulous conscience, a man very aware of his own frailties and failures, with a tendency to melancholy and depression. Martin Luther knew himself to be a “miserable sinner.” But he also discovered a spiritual remedy for his anxiety, his melancholy and depression. In the worst of times, under tremendous spiritual attack, he would put his hand on his head and proclaim, “I am baptized; I am baptized.” With that assurance he could do the work God had given him to do and proclaim God’s saving love and grace in Jesus Christ.

Today the Scripture lessons tell us of the baptism of Jesus – the reality of our baptism in him, a baptism of water and the Holy Spirit which begins a new relationship with God, a new relationship with ourselves, and a new relationship with other people.

The outward and visible sign of baptism is washing with water in the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The inward and spiritual grace of baptism is union with Christ in his death and resurrection, birth into God’s family, the Church, forgiveness of sins, and new life in the Holy Spirit. (That’s in the Catechism, Prayer Book page 858. If you haven’t read through the Catechism, I want you to do so. It’s only 18 pages long, but we all need to know it.)  Some history and background: The Jews were different from some ancient people because they bathed regularly, sometimes as often as once a month. God’s law in Leviticus 11 and 15 requires a ritual bath to wash away certain kinds of ceremonial uncleanness. In Jesus’ time many people were converting to Judaism and the ritual bath became a sign of conversion and new life in God’s covenant.

John the Baptist said to his fellow Jews, to those born to the Sinai covenant with God, “You have broken your covenant and you need to claim the covenant again as a convert, through the ritual bath” of John’s baptism. It is roughly as though we native-born citizens need to come in under a visa, wait our time, take the test, and the oath, and be naturalized. The baptism of John was a sign of conversion and new life in God’s covenant. 

Jesus comes to John, the sinless son of God fully identifying with the situation of sinful humankind, as the Epistle to the Philippians says, to take upon himself the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men, humble himself and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, because he loves us, and wants to bring us to that perfect unity with God the Father which he enjoys. Jesus suffered all the temptations any of us can suffer, and gave us an example that it is possible to be tempted and not sin, not break the unity with the Father.

But he gives us more than an example – he gives us he who was made manifest at his baptism, the Holy Spirit of God, the spirit of truth and power and adoption as children of God. John the Baptist said, “I indeed have baptized with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” John’s baptism brought people again into the Old Covenant of Sinai. Jesus’ baptism brings us into the New Covenant, by water and the Holy Spirit. Isaiah had prophesied, “Behold my servant whom I uphold . . . I will put my spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations.”

The manifestation of the Holy Spirit at his baptism marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, a ministry of proclaiming God’s love in word and deed, even to the death on the cross, and resurrection to new life. Jesus died because of sin – common, ordinary, everyday, sin. Judas, for greed, betrayed him. The chief priests, for envy, lied and delivered Jesus a prisoner to Pilate. Pilate, for weakness, unjustly condemned him. The soldiers, for cruelty, scourged him. The crowd, for sadistic pleasure, taunted him. Jesus died for all those sins, and for all our similar sins, and for the sins of the whole world. “Father, forgive them . . .”

Jesus’ baptism, in perfect unity with God the Father, led directly to his death for sin, and his death is followed by his resurrection to life, his ascension to heaven, and the empowering manifestation of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, which led to our being here today.

The baptism of Jesus is the reality of our baptism in him, a baptism of water and the Holy Spirit which begins a new relationship with God, a new relationship with ourselves, and a new relationship with other people.

You can see in your daily life the death to sin and resurrection to fellowship with God as by the power of the Holy Spirit you resist temptation, claiming the power of the Holy Spirit to replace a mean word with a kind word, to express gratitude rather than complaint, to be generous rather than stingy, and as the Prayer Book says, “. . . to live in the power of his resurrection and look for him to come again in glory . . .”

Like Martin Luther, we can put our hands on our heads and proclaim, “I am baptized; I am baptized.” And with that assurance we proceed to the work God gives us to do, to proclaim God’s saving love and grace in Jesus Christ.

Christmas 2B 15

Christmas 2 15

          Happy New Year!  We know from today’s collect that God has “wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature.” That sets the over-arching theme of our coming year. In Jesus Christ God has restored the dignity of human nature, and he has set before us the opportunity to live out, and show forth, that restored nature.  We don’t yet know how we are to do so, but God invites us to share his work in the world he created and his son Jesus Christ has redeemed.

          A good predictor of future action is past performance, and we have some anniversaries this year to celebrate and reflect on.  Fifty years ago in response to both President Johnson’s January State of the Union “Great Society” speech and to the  March 7 Selma, Alabama, confrontation Congress passed and the President signed on August 6 the Civil Rights act. The war in Vietnam and the protests against it increased. The Second Vatican Council was drawing to a close. Malcolm X was killed February 21, Adlai Stevenson died July 14, Albert schweitzed died September 4.

          In 1915 we saw the first use of poison gas in western Europe at the Battle of Ypers April 22, and the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey cost many Australian and New Zealand soldiers life and limb. Many lives were also lost when the passenger ship Lusitania was sunk May 7. The United States began a 19 year occupation of Haiti in July. Leo Frank was lynched in August, and President Wilson married in December.

          The Civil War ended 150 years ago this spring. Fort Fisher fell in mid-January. The Battle of Bentonville was March 19-21. General Lee surrendered at Appomattox April 9. President Lincoln was assassinated April 14. General Johnston surrendered at Bennett Place near Durham April 26. President Jefferson Davis was captured May 10, and the Grand Review of the Union Army was held May 23 and 24.  Aaron Rightmyer, my great-great uncle, marched with Sherman’s army. Finally on December 13 the 13^th Amendment was ratified, and the last slaves in Kentucky and Delaware were finally freed. And in 1865 the Salvation Army was founded in England.

          Going farther back we remember in 1815 January 8 the Battle of New Orleans, in February the Treaty of Ghent to end the war with Britain, and June 18 the Battle of Waterloo, the final defeat of Napoleon.  From September to mid-November 1715 James III the Stuart Old Pretender tried and failed to regain the thrones of Scotland and England. Many Scots then came to America, and more came after James’s son Bonnie Prince Charlie failed in a similar attempt in 1745.  In 1615 we remember the first Jesuit missionaries in China. Nothing much to remember happened in 1515 or 1315, but on July 6, 1415 Czech reformer Jan Hus was burned at the Council of Constance, and June 15, 1215 King John signed the Magna Carta. In November the 4^th Lateran Council established transubstantion was the official Roman Catholic explanation of how Christ is present in the eucharist. That may have been a philosophical triumph for medieval scholasticism, but it raised more questions than it answers. And finally 1215 is also a convenient date to remember Francis of Assisi and the renewal of Christian concern for the poor.

          Church history reminds us that about every 400 years the church seeks to renew itself. We remember again what we pray in today’s collect: God has “wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature.”

          We remembered again the Christmas Day armistice of 1914, and we can rededicate ourselves to the cause of the Prince of Peace.  War continues – in Syria and Iraq, in South Sudan, the unresolved conflicts between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, between North Korea and the United Nations, and Cuba, and Somalia, between Israel and its Arab neighbors, new conflicts in Ukraine and lower level conflicts elsewhere.   War continues, and so do efforts and prayers for peace.

          We are still dealing with unresolved issues of race and economic inequality from the time of the Civil War and before and since.  We have made significant progress in the past 150, and 100, and even 50 years, but we are not yet a country where liberty and justice, and the dignity of human nature, are a reality for all our people.

          I’ve spent some time in Christian ecumenical work, and I am sad to see a real lack of interest in Christian unity, even among those of us who share our Anglican history.  We seem more interested in remembering past hurts and grievances than in seeking to move forward toward greater unity of effort to share the good news of forgiveness and new life in Jesus Christ.

          But new creation and restored human nature are possible.  Bishop Weinhauer led the Episcopal Church and the Lutheran churches that form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to full communion and shared ministry. The Episcopal churches in Lincolnton and Newton-Conover are served by a Lutheran pastor. Bishop Weinhauer’s work was the pattern for our agreement with the Moravian Church, and a Moravian pastor serves an Episcopal church near Franklin. 

          Those are simple examples. You can tell or more. But in the year we have just begun let us look for, and work to develop, other places where we can celebrate God’s work in Jesus Christ and in Jesus’ body the church, where, as we prayed in  today’s collect, God has “wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature.” Amen.

Advent 4B 14

Advent 4B 14

 

“The Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.” 

 

Scripture is clear that Jesus’ descent from David was important to the early church. But that descent does not seem as important to us. What does the angel’s word to Mary means to us? How do we understand Gabriel’s promise, “The Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.”  

 

An answer includes two points, one personal and one political.

 

David’s personal relationship with God was a relationship of love, trust, and truthfulness. Jesus’ personal relationship with God the Father is a relationship of love, trust, and truthfulness. And Jesus offers us a personal relationship of love, trust, and truthfulness with him and the Father in the truth and power of the Holy Spirit.

 

In Jesus’ time the people looked back to David’ rule as a political golden age. As they reflected on David’s reign they came to faith that the Messiah would restore political freedom and social unity.  As we await Christ’s final coming to judge the world and to establish his eternal rule, we also seek both political freedom and social unity.  

 

But our political history has taught us not to confuse some particular political situation with God’s perfect rule. The kingdom of God in our time is not a political kingdom like the kingdoms of this world. God rules in human hearts and wills, regardless of the political situation.  

 

The New Testament has many references to Jesus as son of David. Both the gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke begin with the list of Jesus’ descent – from Abraham through David and Solomon in St. Matthew (1:1-14), from Adam through David and Nathan in St. Luke (3:23-35)

 

Jesus cites David’s eating the Bread of the Presence in the house of the Lord in his teaching that the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath. (St. Mark 2:23-28, St. Luke 6:1-5).  St. John (7:40-44) cites the tradition that the Messiah is to be a descendant of David. Two blind men followed Jesus in Galilee crying loudly, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” (St. Matthew 9:27-31)  The Canaanite woman (St. Matthew 15:21-28 and St. Mark 7:24-30) shouts to Jesus, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David, my daughter is tormented by a demon.” When a blind and mute demoniac is healed the crowd says, “Can this be the Son of David?” (St. Matthew 12:22, St. Mark 3:20-30, and St. Luke 11:14-23, 12:10) Leaving Jericho Jesus and the disciples hear blind men crying, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David.” [St. Matthew 20:29-34 two men, St. Mark 10:46-52 blind Bartimaeus, St. Luke 18:35-43 one blind man)       The crowds at the Palm Sunday Triumphal Entry cried out “Hosanna, Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!” (St. Mark 11:9, St. Matthew 21:9 – St. Luke 19:39 has “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” The account of Jesus putting the Pharisees to silence in three gospels (St. Matthew 22:41-45, St. Mark 12:35-37,  St. Luke 20:41-44) depends on the tradition that the Messiah is David’s son. And in 2 Timothy (2:8) we read, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David – this is my gospel.”

 

          David’s relationship with God was a relationship of love, trust, and truthfulness. Jesus shows the same love, trust, and truthfulness in his relationship with God the Father, and in Jesus we can have the same relationship of love, trust, and truthfulness with him and the Father in the truth and power of the Holy Spirit.

 

          David loved God, trusted in God, and was truthful with God. David trusted in God when he defeated the Philistine giant Goliath with stones thrown from a sling. He and Saul’s son Jonathan became friends, and he married Saul’s younger daughter Michal. But Saul was jealous and David fled for his life to Hebron in the south while Saul ruled in the north. David trusted in God and refused to fight God’s anointed king Saul even though Saul several times sought David’s life. After Saul died David captured Jerusalem, and made it the capital of a reunited kingdom, bringing to the city the Ark of the Covenant and the Tent of Meeting. He defeated the Philistines who had controlled the seacoast and the trade route between Egypt and Syria and ruled all the tribes. David was remembered as a great and just ruler.

 

          But David’s personal life was a mess. He took Bathsheba, the wife of one of his soldiers, and when her husband Uriah the Hittite refused to condone David’s behavior David had him killed in battle. But then when the prophet Nathan charged him with his sin, David recognized the truth and repented.  David was an over-indulgent parent. He did not punish his firstborn son Amnon when he raped his half-sister Tamar. He did not punish his second son Absalom, Tamar’s full brother, when Absalom murdered Amnon, and later rose in rebellion against David. Absalom died in that rebellion When Absalom’s brother Adonijah sought the throne. David arranged for Bathsheba’s son Solomon to succeed as king. Politically things went downhill from then on. After Solomon the kingdom divided and the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah fought for 200 years until Assyria conquered Israel in 722, and Babylonia took Judah in 586.

 

          David was the standard by whom the people judged all succeeding rulers. They came to believe that only the Messiah could restore political freedom and unity. Jesus had to explain again and again that the kingdom of God is not a political kingdom like the kingdoms of the world. The kingdom of God is God’s eternal rule in human hearts and wills, regardless of the political situation. Even the disciples found this hard to understand. After the resurrection, as Jesus led them to the Mount of Olives to take his final farewell and ascend to the Father the disciples asked, “Lord, will you now restore the kingdom to Israel ?”

 

Our own political history has taught us not to confuse some particular political situation with God’s perfect rule. The kingdom of God is not a political kingdom like the kingdoms of the world. The rule of God is in human hearts and wills, regardless of the political situation

 

David’s personal relationship with God was a relationship of love, trust, and truthfulness. Jesus’ personal relationship with God the Father was a relationship of love, trust, and truthfulness. And Jesus offers us a personal relationship of love, trust, and truthfulness with him and the Father in the truth and power of the Holy Spirit.

 

Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is a son of David. In baptism we are made members of the Body of Christ, and so we share in Jesus’ descent from David. God grant that we may show forth in our lives the same relationship of love, trust, and truthfulness that David enjoyed with God, and that Jesus makes possible for us by his death for our sins, his resurrection in which we have new life, and his gift of the Holy Spirit of truth and power given us for eternity.

 

“The Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.” 

Proper 23A October 12, 2014

Proper 23A SJHC

          In the 1928 Prayer Book today’s collect is prayed on the 17^th Sunday after Trinity and reads, “Lord, we pray that thy grace may always prevent and follow us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” This prayer was sent by Pope Gregory the Great with St. Augustine to Canterbury in 597, over 1500 years ago.  “Prevent” comes from the Latin “praevenio” to come before.

 

       “Prevenient grace” is a theological term for God’s grace given to all people to prepare us to receive and respond to the gospel. The gospel is good news of Jesus’ death on the cross which set us free from slavery to sin and Jesus’ resurrection to offer us new life in him in the truth and power of the Holy Spirit. 

 

       Article Ten of the Article of Religion tells us, “. . . we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us (going before us), that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.”

 

       In the section on the sacraments our church catechism page 857-858  says this, “The sacraments are 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.”

 

       God’s prevenient grace comes before our conversion and prepares us to receive and respond to the good news of Jesus’ death on the cross which set us free from slavery to sin and Jesus’ resurrection to our new life in him in the truth and power of the Holy Spirit.  When we respond to the good news in faith we begin to receive the continuing grace of God. Our sins are forgiven, our minds spiritually enlightened, our hearts stirred and our wills strengthened to know and do God’s will in our lives.

 

       We call that response “conversion” or “being saved.”  The response is not automatic or universal. God’s prevenient grace, God’s call, is universal. God calls us all. God’s grace makes it possible for everyone to respond. But God’s creation includes free will. We have to choose to hear the call and respond to it.

 

       Baptism and the eucharist are the biblical means of grace, the ways God has given us to know his grace and to grow in his grace. Most of us have been blessed to be born into families that knew God’s continuing grace and brought us to baptism. In baptism we are made members of the spiritual body of the crucified and resurrected Jesus. As St. Paul tells us in the epistle to the Romans, we are grafted in to the body as a tree is grafted into a root.  We are made God’s children by adoption and grace. In the eucharist we give thanks. Efharisto is the Greek word for “I thank you.” We give thanks for the death and resurrection of Jesus and for the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us by faith. We offer ourselves in God’s service, and we are spiritually fed and strengthened in that service by the bread and wine which are for us the life giving body and blood of Jesus.

 

       God’s grace, “God’s favor towards us, unearned and undeserved” us such a wonderful gift that it is hard to understand why everyone does not accept it. . Our sins are forgiven, our minds spiritually enlightened, our hearts stirred and our wills strengthened to know and do God’s will in our lives. Why is it so hard for us to receive this wonderful grace, and to continue in it?

 

       Today’s bible readings suggest four reasons why it is hard for us to receive this wonderful grace, and to continue in it. First, some have not heard this good news. God trusts Christ’s body the church to proclaim the good news. Some have not heard because as someone said, “what you do is so loud I can’t hear what you say.” We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Some have been so injured by church people clergy and lay that they are spiritually deaf. Second, some cannot hear because they are so culturally bound. Third, fear makes some deaf. Fourth, some are so immersed in the immediate tasks of this life that we will not stop long enough to hear God’s eternal call. Some are so caught up in sin that we are unable to repent and receive God’s grace.

 

       Fear: The people of Israel escaped slavery in Egypt, followed Moses into the desert, were fed by manna, watered from the rock. But when Moses was slow coming down the mountain they got scared. Clergy can fear like everyone else. Aaron the priest made the golden calf. We “test the Church by the scripture.”  Moses prayed for the people; pray for the church that we may be faithful in preaching and serving Jesus.  

 

       Busyness: “. . . they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them.” Some of us who have responded to grace allow the urgent to distract us from the important. We need continually to respond to God’s grace and seek to serve.

 

       The wedding garment: Continual repentance is a sign of grace filled life. Eastern Orthodox spirituality includes the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”  We are sinners saved by God’s grace in Jesus Christ. God grant us grace to live as we believe.  

 

REPEAT COLLECT.  

 

Proper 17A 14

          My text is from the gospel. Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. . . . what will they give in return for their life?” 

          That text is the theme of the gradual hymn. “Take up your cross, the Savior said, if you would my disciple be.” The tune we used today is unique to the Hymnal 1982. The more common tune is called Breslau, numbers 471 “We sing the praise of him who died” and 281 for St. Matthew’s Day, “He sat to watch o’er custom paid.” I’m not familiar with any of them.

          Our gradual hymn. “Take up your cross, the Savior said, if you would my disciple be” was written by Charles William Everest in 1833. Everest wrote this hymn as a poem in 1833 when he was 19. He later served as rector in Hamden, Connecticut.

          In late adolescence and early adulthood we begin to deal with issues of identity and vocation. “Who am I?” and “What shall I do with my life?” Most of us muddle through to a sufficient response to keep moving through life. We choose a major, get a job, marry, and grow up – some. But the answers of youth are always subject to reconsideration and revision.  Issues of identity and vocation continue in our spiritual life and we ignore or deny them at our peril.

          Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. . . . what will they give in return for their life?”  Part of our life with Jesus as sinners saved by grace, as followers of Our Lord, is to continually ask ourselves questions like, “If I am a follower of Jesus, how am I denying myself for his sake?  How am I bearing the cross? What am I doing with the life God gives me each day I live?” 

          Charles William Everest at age 19 offered his response in the words of the hymn. Moses heard the voice of God from the bush that burned and was not consumed. Let’s look at Moses. Last week he heard how Pharaoh’s daughter found Moses and took him as her son. How did Moses get from the basket to be “keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian . . . beyond the wilderness.” Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s court, but when he grew up he had what we might call an identity crisis. He identified with the Hebrew people to the point of murdering an Egyptian overseer beating a Hebrew. Pharaoh sought to kill Moses. He fled to the desert, took refuge with Jethro, and married his daughter.

“Keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian . . . beyond the wilderness” Moses saw the bush burning but not consumed. He turned aside to see. And Moses heard the voice of the Lord.

          Many of us sometimes find ourselves in spiritual deserts – in dry places where we see little life. Not all of us are murderers like Moses, but we all know something of the deadly results of our own mistakes and failures. Most of us keep moving on, doing the best we can, but in our dark hours asking, “Is this all there is?”  And then we experience something different, like the ray of sunshine on a dark day, some act of grace that invites us to stop and turn aside. Moses did and Moses heard the voice from the bush that burned but was not consumed, the voice that recalled him to his true identity, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

          Our true identity is to be children of God, sinners saved by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, saved from death in the desert by the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, risen to new life in him.

          To be in church on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, to hear of the bush that burned and was not consumed, to hear and respond to the call of our Lord Jesus, ““If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. . . . what will they give in return for their life?”  Can this be a time and place for you to see a light, to feel something of God’s love for you, to hear anew Jesus’ call on your life? 

          God told Moses he had heard the cries of his people. God hears our prayers and God answers prayers. I invite you to take some time this day, this weekend, to reflect again on your identity as God’s beloved child, as a member of the resurrected and Spirit-filled body of Jesus Christ, to consider once more questions like, “If I am a follower of Jesus, how am I denying myself for his sake?  How am I bearing the cross? What am I doing with the life God gives me each day I live?” 

          And having asked the questions, take some time to be quiet and hear the voice of God speaking to you as he shows you his will for your life.

          It will not be easy. God sent Moses back to a Pharaoh who had wanted to kill him with the message, “Let my people go!”  “Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”   

          St. Paul exhorted the church at Rome, “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.”

          The cross we bear is the good news that the spirit of the crucified and resurrected Jesus will work in and through you and me, and all God’s children, to accomplish his will. He simply asks us to accept the good news, to accept his cross, and to follow Jesus where he leads the way.

           “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” What will we give in return for the gift of life in Jesus?

Proper 15A August 17, 2014

Proper 15A August 17, 2014

          The message of today’s Scripture readings is in the psalm, “How good and pleasant it is, when brethren live together in unity.” God brings good out of evil. God’s will for us is repentance and reconciliation.

          The news is full of stories about refugees and immigrants. Today’s Old Testament reading includes Joseph’s invitation to his family to escape famine in the Holy Land by settling in Goshen near the Egyptian border. In the Gospel Jesus goes out of the Land of Israel into what is now southern Lebanon, and the Epistle speaks of God’s mercy.  As Christian people we are called to hospitality, we are called to care for those in need, and particularly to care for strangers and aliens.  The St. Andrew’s Community Garden is one way for us to help provide good, fresh, nutritous food for all. As citizens we shere responsibility for a just and humane immigration policy that meets the needs of ourselves and the whole country. We may disagree about what particular actions are the most just and beneficial, but all of us descend from immigrants and many of us from refugees, but all of us share Emma Lazarus’ poem on the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

          First, Joseph:  Some of the best stories about Joseph are not in the Lestionary. Last Sunday we left him sold as a slave to Midianite traders on his way to Egypt.  In Egypt Joseph was bought by Potiphar, the captain of imperial guard, and became his overseer. .  Potiphar jailed Joseph  when Potiphar’s wife lusted for Joseph and when he refused her accused him of attempted rape. In jail Joseph interpreted the dreams of the royal butler and baker. The butler  restored to office remembered Joseph when Pharaoh dreamed about 7 fat and 7 thin cows. Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream as prophecy and proposed a 20% income tax to store up grain in the good years for the coming time of famine. The Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of the project and married him to an Egyptian priest’s daughter. Their sons were Manassah and Ephriam.

          When the famine came Pharaoh sold the grain collected in the good years and gradually acquired title to all the land of Egypt. Jacob sent his ten sons to buy grain, keeping Joseph’s full brother Benjamin at home. After testing their sincerity by requiring them to bring Benjamin to him, Joseph accepted their repentance in the scene we heard today.  Their life experiences had  both brought the brothers to repentance for selling him into slavery and also  brought Joseph to accept that repentance, to desire and to accomplish reconciliation.

The story of Joseph explain how the people of Israel came to Egypt. From about 1750 to about 1550 BC northern Egypt was ruled by the Hyksos rulers  from the north and east. Genesis says that Joseph lived to see his part-Egyptian  great great grandchildren included among the people of Israel. Next week’s reading begin with the slavery of the people on Israel when a Pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph, then Moses and the Exodus, 40 years in the desert, and the coming to the promised land. At the Exodus Joseph’s descendants took his body with them and eventually buried it at Nablus in the West Bank.  

          Joseph teaches us about God’s ability to bring good out of evil, about God’s will for repentance and reconciliation, as the psalm says, “how good and pleasant it is, when brethren live together in unity.”

          But unity, and repentance and reconciliation are hard work. It is easier simply to exclude those who are different. In today’s Gospel Jesus went to what is now southern Lebanon – perhaps to get away from the crowds seeking healing. It didn’t work. A woman of that country cried after him, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David, my daughter is tormented by a demon!” The disciples were also tired of the crowds and wanted to shut up the noise. Jesus’ response is “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” That seems a strange response to us who know Jesus as the savior of the world. But Jesus knew his limitations of time and space. He knew that the responsibility and authority to heal the world would be the gift of the Holy Spirit to the whole body of believers after his death and resurrection. Jesus’ earthly ministry was limited in time and space; the spiritual ministry of Jesus by his Holy Spirit in the church is limited only by the short time remaining until Jesus comes to earth at the end of time.

          Jews and Canaanites called each other names. “Dog” was a mild one. When the Canaanite woman spoke of the bread of the children those who heard her were reminded of God’s special gift of manna in the desert. Jesus recognized the faith of the stranger. He not only healed her daughter but in doing so brought her into the fellowship of saving faith. “Great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.”

          God’s can bring good out of evil. God’s will for us is repentance and reconciliation. “How good and pleasant it is, when brethren live together in unity.”  This week let us look for opportunities to repent and seek reconciliation and unity.