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Ash Wednesday 2010
Several years ago, after one of my first Ash Wednesday services I walked into the vesting sacristy( AKA the dressing room) and there was a woman carefully using a tissue to wipe off her ashes. Less than thirty minutes after I had imposed ashes on her forehead she was already wiping them off.
Immediately I jumped to judgment mode and thought of all the reasons why what I was witnessing was so wrong.
Did she even care about what we had just done? Was her faith so shallow that she would wipe the ashes off? Didn’t she understand that those ashes were to be a visible reminder of her mortality, of the intimate relationship that she and the creator have? That her life wouldn’t exist if God hadn’t scooped her out of the dust and breathed the breath of life into her?
Now looking back on this instance she might have had some very good reasons for wiping her ashes off – some very practical- maybe she was allergic to the ashes… maybe she was going to going home and go to bed so it just was practical for her to take that moment to wipe her ashes off- maybe she was taking to heart what she heard in the Gospel–
Remember the opening line of today’s gospel is this,
Beware of practicing piety before others in order to be seen by them… Maybe just maybe Elaine was taking this idea very seriously, maybe she had examined her conscience and she realized the reason she gets ashes is so that others might look at her and see that she’s been to church, or look at her and think here is some super religious person.
And those would be the wrong reasons so she’s wiping them off.
You know, I never asked her –so I don’t really know what her motivation was for wiping her ashes off.
In today’s Gospel- underneath Jesus cautioning his disciples to beware of practicing piety before others, warning them to beware of how and where you pray, beware of giving alms so that you are known… underneath that is Jesus call for his disciples to live lives of authenticity, to live lives with pure intentions.
We are all a bundle of motivations sometimes we have the right motivations and some wrong, some pure and others not so pure. Deep underneath Jesus’ admonition to beware of practicing piety before others is Jesus call for his disciples to do the things they are supposed to do, not out of obligation, or because someone else wants them to, or because it will looks good or because you are going to get something from it, is the call to practice piety from heart for the right reasons. Jesus wants his disciples hearts to be in the right place. He wants their actions to spring forth from the depths of their hearts. He wants their motivations to be pure and undefiled.
The fifty first psalm which we will pray in few short moments deals a lot with the Psalmist desire to have a right heart. Throughout the Psalm we hear the Psalmist imploring God to help him get his heart straightened out. Verses 6&7 he say “You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. “
In verse 10 the Psalmist again implores God to purify his motivations. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.”
Perhaps during Lent this year, rather than giving up chocolate or fast food maybe we ought to take on praying and meditating on the words of Psalm 51. Perhaps during Lent this year we make verse ten our mantra- Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Perhaps this years we spend time examining our motivations for why we do the things we do and then ask God to purify them- to create in us a clean heart.
May the smudge of ashes remind you that God desires first and foremost your hearts, may they remind us that God calls us to live lives first and foremost of integrity and authenticity -for God know sour hearts and he also knows that where our hearts are there will also be our treasures.
AMEN
Last Sunday after Epiphany February 14, 2010
Last Sunday, one of the things I said to describe Peter was that Peter was probably the person from the bible most likely to put his foot in his mouth. And this morning we see Peter again about to put his foot mouth when he is very rudely interrupted by God. Peter is speaking to Jesus when a cloud rolls and God announces from the cloud that Jesus is my son, my chosen one. Listen to him. If God had just given Peter a few more seconds I am certain Peter had enough rope to hang himself.
But before we look to harshly on Peter, maybe we should think about how we might have reacted. Peter, James and John take a leisurely stroll up the mountain to pray with Jesus. They thought it was going to be an ordinary day off praying with Jesus. When all of a sudden Jesus is transfigured before them, his clothes become dazzling white. Jesus face, his countenance changes and all of a sudden Jesus is radiating- then Moses and Elijah show up for conversation.
What does Peter do? He says this is a good thing, let’s try to preserve this moment and let’s designate this as holy ground. Let’s build three booths. One for you, One for Moses, and one for Elijah. Let’s stay here as long as we can. Let’s try to soak up this moment for as long as possible. And then let’s leave these three booths, these monument will be a sign for all who pass that this is Holy ground Jesus was transfigured, on this ground God showed.
Isn’t it human to try to preserve the good moments, the holy moments we want to photograph them , video tape them we want to be able to relive those wonderful moments in our lives. Yesterday, I did a wedding and I wonder how many hundreds of pictures were taken , by photographers, by family and friends. We want to remember the special moments of our lives. We want to memorialize them.
Peter and James and John want to preserve this incredible transfiguration but they can’t, so they take this encounter with they tuck into their hearts, they stuff it deep down inside and they tell no nobody- they hold onto the moment keep it to themselves . But the story doesn’t end there.
They come back down off the mountain and several days later they are confronted with a man who desperately needs healing for his son. This man is looking for help- his son is suffering from convulsions and seizures and the disciples can’t offer him anything. So he moves on to Jesus. Jesus- I beg you to look at my son- to heal my son. And Jesus does. But this story is not really about Jesus healing, but it is also about his disciple failure. In the disciples encounter -they are powerless to do anything to heal this young boy, to cast out his demon.
They can’t do anything to cast out this demon and so they fail miserably. And I think they fail miserably because they leave the transfiguration behind on the mountaintop, they leave it behind as a distant memory. They see the transfiguration as a holy moment up on a mountaintop and they fail to recognize how a little bit of that Holy Moment, a bit of that Transfiguration, that encounter with God has rubbed off on them.
Remember the story we just heard about Moses, he spends some time with God and he just glows- he just radiates God’s glory. Have you ever been in the presence of someone who just ooze holiness, and you just that this holiness radiates from this relationship they have with God.
Peter, James and John fail to see that they too radiate a bit of God’s glory- they too have something to offer that desperate parent. They fail to see That they too, reflect a bit of God’s glory into any situation. Peter, James and John fail to recognize that they are a living monument radiating God’s glory into the world.
We may never have a transfiguration experience, but we do encounter God’s holiness and goodness day in and day out. In a few moments we all we be unconditionally welcomed as the people of God to the table for bread and wine and there we will encounter God holiness and goodness. God’s holiness and goodness surrounds us.
God’s Glory is kind of like walking to close to a car this time of year- you will no doubt find that a little bit of salt rubs off on you. God’s holiness seems to work that way, it tends to rub off on those who get to close.
May we realize that we have the awesome privilege of radiating God’s glory into the world -when do- demons will be cast, people will be healed, people will be comforted, people will come to know that God loves them because of the glory that you radiate in your lives.
May we lift the veil that we try to cover our face with , because when we do will not only find that we are reflecting God’s glory to the world, but that we may also receive a little bit of God’s glory back into our lives.
AMEN
Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany – Year C
This morning we hear the stories of three very different people who lives are radically changed, shaken up when they encounter the grace of God. We have the story of Isaiah, the Old Testament Prophet, we hear allusions to Paul conversion experience in the lesson from 1 Corinthian and we hear Luke’s version of the story of Simon Peter ‘s, the fisherman’s, call to be a fisher of people.
Now I am not a big award’s show person, but I know that the Grammy’s awards were just handed out a few weeks ago and we are not too far from the Academy Awards. So thought it might fun to hand out some awards to this to Isaiah, and Paul and Simon Peter.
Although, we don’t hear the story of Paul’s conversion experience (that is told in the Acts of the Apostles.) – he does allude to it in the reading from the letter to the Corinthians. Anyway if I were to give an award for Paul’s conversion – it would have to be the award for the most radical change. Remember before Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, Paul was one mean, bad dude. Paul ate Christians for breakfast. Before Paul was struck down on the road to Damascus he was a persecutor of the early church, but after Paul encounters Christ on the Road to Damascus road he becomes Christianity biggest evangelist-he almost single handedly brings Christianity to the non Jewish world.
So - Paul wins the award for the most radical change,
But I think Isaiah wins the award for having the coolest conversion and perhaps the most frightening experience. In Isaiah’s conversion - Isaiah finds himself in God’s throne room, and apparently there’s not much room in the throne room because e he says the hem of God’s robe fills the room, there are these winged creatures called Seraphs flying all over the room.
The worship that is going is so intense that the pivots of the threshold are shaking and vibrating. There is smoke billowing up and Isaiah so struck by the holiness of God – is all he notices is sinfulness. God in his grace can’t leave Isaiah in this state so he dispatches a seraph with thongs holding this red hot ember that he presses to Isaiah’s lips to cleanse him. As the ember is seared into his lips Isaiah soul moves from feeling utterly inadequate to when God calls saying here am I; send me.
Then we have Simon- Peter. And I don’t know if I have an award for Simon-Peter. But after fishing all night to no avail- Peter is utter amazed and transformed when Jesus say why don’t you fish over there in the deep water- you might have better luck. And all sudden the nets are overflowing with fish. And Peter realizes that this is the man he should be following. So Peter leaves behind his fishing business to follow Christ.
So this morning we are faced with three men, who have three very different experiences but three men who have one thing in common their lives are radically changed for ever by the grace of God. Their lives were different because God moves out of shadows, out of the background and takes center stage. Their lives are different because they have open themselves to receiving God’s grace.
Lewis Galloway says something that I think is helpful for us. He says this, “Receiving the Gospel is not simply giving assent to the articles of a creed. Receiving the Gospel is not a matter of accruing one more good thing to a life that is already a full of good things. Receiving the Gospel is discovering in Christ a new center of existence, Receiving the Gospel is discovering in Christ a new center of existence, a new power for living, and a new perspective from which to view all things. “
At the end of 1998, I would say that I got religion. My life changed, but not as radically as you might thing. And I think when we here someone say “I got religion…” all of sudden our boring meter—boring, boring, boring meter goes off. In fact, my life has never been more exciting than it these last 12 years.
Maybe I’ll start off telling you not how I have changed, but how I haven’t changed since I got religion.
When I got religion in 1998- I didn’t quit playing poker- for money on Friday nights… didn’t stop liking baseball…. I didn’t stop being ultra- competitive- in fact in seminary while playing flag football I was so trying grab this guys flag off and I have him by the back of his shorts as he is running off that instead of tearing his flag off I pulled down his shorts… when I got religion I didn’t give up drinking beer…
But I did in 1998 discover in Christ a new center for existence. I did discover a new perspective that has changed me and a lot of the changes I am about to tell you about were not instantaneous changes. The changes have been progressive and they are continuing to evolve as I daily place Christ in as the center of my existence.
So here are a few of the ways I have changed.
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I have found in Christ a hope that this life is not all we have- that there is something beyond this life, that God has something so great and so wonderful in store for us beyond this life . I have a hope, a faith that when I need to look into the eyes of someone who is dying or stand with a family who’s about to shut off life support and I can tell them it’s ok to let go- this is not the end… That what God did Jesus’ resurrection God is going to do in us and in our loved ones.
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I have also found a confidence that is based in my belief that if God calls me to something then I first off I will be equipped to follow that call and second I will not walk alone in that call that God will be with throughout.
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Since I got religion I have also come to realize no matter what the situation I am dealing with- I do not walk alone in that situation. It could be the most horrendous, the most tragic thing but I know That God always, always walks with me regardless of the situation- he may not change the situation, but I never walk alone…
I could go on and on but this sermon is not about how God has change … but rather it is about that we are dealing with a God who changes lives for the better. How is God transforming you? Because he is. He did it in Paul’s life, he did it in Isaiah’s life, and he’s doing it in yours. How is the Gospel, how is what we say here in church, how is what we read transforming us?
May we on this day make Christ the center of our existence and may allow the Grace of God to flow into our lives so that we might know the Spirit’s transformation.
AMEN.
Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Jeremiah 1:4-10
Perhaps the most overlooked characteristic of a prophet is that prophets tend to be pretty good at whining and making excuses- making excuses particularly about why they aren’t qualified for what God is calling them to do.
We hear some of that whining this morning from the prophet Jeremiah.
God says to Jeremiah, in that deep Godly voice- Jeremiah, I appoint you to be prophet to the nations.-
But, but God I am only a boy, but God I don’t even know how to speak. Isn’t that kind of important if I am going to be a prophet, shouldn’t I be able to articulate a sentence if I am going to be prophet to the nations.
Or How about Gideon from the book of Judges- an angel appears to Gideon telling him that he is to lead the army against the Midianites and what does Gideon say you want me to lead the army - Don’t forget I am the weakest guy in my family and not only am I the weakest guy, but I also come from the weakest clan.
This guy is so afraid of conflict that when the angel appears to him he is hiding in a wine press- threshing wheat- so that the Midianites won’t try to steal it from him. This is absolutely ludicrous
And of course we have Moses- Moses whom God appoints to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses throws every excuse in book - God trying to get out of leading the Israelites- But God, what if the Israelites ask me your name? I don’t know your name.
Well then tell them I am has sent you. But what if they don’t believe me. And Lord by the way don’t forget my speech impediment, I never was good at talking- so I probably wouldn’t be the best candidate for speaking with Pharaoh anyway.
I can even remember my own excuses, as I began to sense a divine call to the priesthood. I can remember throwing up every excuse I could offer. God you know me I’m not articulate, you know I really don’t like be the center of attention, I’m not really that smart and you want me to get up in front of people and preach and celebrate.
This absolutely crazy, I am not qualified to be a priest. That’s the thing about a call from God often we are not qualified, we don’t think we have the skills, we think certainly that there is someone more qualified who’s better suited to do what God is calling us into.
But yet the call from God remains.
For the longest time I can remember thinking that calls from God were reserved for missionaries, people in the bible and priests. I can also remember thinking that a call from God had to include a grandiose vision or hearing God’s voice. I believed a call was something in tune with Jesus showing up at the end of your bed one night and telling you that you are going to become a missionary in Africa.
But as I began to understand call a little better as I began understand the complexity through which God calls people, I began to understand more often a call from God is not just for those seeking ordination or missionaries it is for all people and it is often expressed as a nagging feeling or a persistent thought running through your head that this is something I ought to do.
Remember that movie “Field of Dreams from the 1990’s- Kevin Costner who turns his Iowa cornfield into a baseball diamond because of the crazy voice running through his head “if you build it they will come. “ I think more often than not that’s call.
Sometimes it could be Jesus showing up at the end of your bed, but more often it is listening to the inner voice, its recognizing that nagging, gnawing feeling that this is something I should do. “If you build it, they will come.”
Like I said earlier, calls often don’t make much sense and sometimes following a call is downright risky. remember in the Field of Dreams- Kevin Costner risks financial ruin by plowing under acres of his corn crop. He risks his farm and his family well being to follow this call. “If you build it they will come.”
Jeremiah, the prophet to the nations whose words are going to pluck up and pull down, who’s words are going to destroy and overthrow risks his life to follow this call to be prophet, to speak for God-some much so that at one point some people are so fed up with what Jeremiah has to say that they get permission from the king to kill Jeremiah by throwing him into a cistern filled with mud.
When a call comes we may have some very good reasons not to follow that call, reasons that make very logical sense. I am not trained for that, I don’t have that type of experience, this could put me at financial risk, Calls sometimes make sense, but they don’t always have to. but always with a call from God there comes the assurance that Jeremiah got when God called him to be the prophet of the nations.
Always with a call from God come the words that Jeremiah heard “Do not be afraid…for I am with you. “ And that my friends is the most important thing for us… to remember that when God calls us and he is going to- we can’t escape it- when God calls us to do something whether it’s a call to simply buy the homeless guy your passing on the street a McDonalds’s hamburger, whether it’s a call to teach Sunday school whether it’s a call to become an ordained person- that call comes hand in hand with the assurance that God will be with us through every step of that call. “Do not be afraid…for I am with you. “
Amen
Baptism of our Lord- Luke 3:15-17,21-22 ( January 10, 2010)
Several years ago, I remember hearing a story of a gentleman about my age who was bound and determined to one day go off on a retreat and make God show up in some glorious experience. He was looking to have the experience that Jesus has while he praying after his baptism, this guy was looking for the sky to split open, for the Holy Spirit to descend to come down and he’s hoping to hear the words that Jesus heard You are my son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased. So with this in mind, early one morning this guy heads off to a mountaintop retreat center to spend the day in prayer. He arrives early and begins praying and nothing happens, silence the heavens don’t split, there is no voice from heaven. So he prays harder.
And no matter how hard he tries to get God to show up Gloriously all he gets is silence-this guy so filled with hope gets absolutely nothing from God, no heaven torn open, no voice of God, no dove descending.
So at the end of the day, defeated, this guy goes home. He arrives at his house just in time to put his infant son to bed, as he is sitting there in the darkness, rocking his infant son- soaking up this moment with his son, sitting there basking in the love that he has for his son. Suddenly he has this warm feeling as he realizes that the this overwhelming feeling of love that he has for his infant son are the feelings that God has for him.
This story that we hear about Jesus’ baptism, the heavens tearing open, the audible voice seem so foreign to us and to our experiences. It seems that today, God is much more subtle in his dealings with humanity. We just don’t tend to experience God as Jesus did that day at the river Jordan.
I have yet to have a baptism where the roof of the church is torn off and God descends from the heavens. I keep hoping, but so far nothing.
And yet every time we baptize someone we believe that in Baptism God is saying to each of us You are my son, you are my daughter, the beloved, with you I am well pleased. The same word that Jesus hears after his baptism are words for us. They are words that convey the deep and abiding love that God has for all of us.
I wish as I stood here and said that God loves you – I wish I could somehow summon the Holy Spirit to break open heart and pour the love that God has for you into it.
But God is more subtle than that at least most of the time, Yes I believe that God at times breaks in and does the miraculous- but most often God operates by whispering to us.
Rather than tearing open the heavens I think God prefers to send a gentle breeze.
Rather than a mountaintop experience God more often prefers the rocking chair approach.
Rather than sending a dove I think God prefers to use us to show the world his love.
Several years ago when I was in Haiti, I and the people who pulled up to a school that was just letting out for the day, as we were getting out our jeeps we were immediately engulf by this sea of elementary school children. They were Hugging us, giving us high five.
And then for a moment while I was standing in this sea of kids- the sea seemed to part and this young handicapped boy who I met a day earlier came running through the crowd and clamped his arms around my waist and in that moment I could feel God’s love pouring through him.
And for that moment the heaven’s split open, but it was not flashes of lightening or loud voices it was the arms of a young child clamped around my waist that said to me Sean you are my beloved.
You and I, we have this incredible power to split open heavens and to let our friends, our family our neighbors and even strangers to let them know they are God’s Beloved. And you and I we, have the capacity to have the heavens tore open before us and to known that we are God’s beloved from the something as simple as a hug from a child.
My friends, please know that you are God’s beloved and with you God is well pleased.
AMEN
Advent 1 Year C –November 29, 2009
I liked to begin this morning by wishing you all a happy new year.- (Attendance wise it looks like a few of us must have been out partying last night ushering in the new year.) In case you thought I misspoke- I have my party hat and noise maker right here.
One of the things that I like about a new year is that it is often pregnant with new possibilities, the new year is often pregnant with hope. Hope that things might be a little bit better this year or hope that things couldn’t possibly be as bad as they were last year. Hope that perhaps this is the year we might quit smoking or lose that 15 lbs. Hope that perhaps that this is the year I get my financial life in order. Hope that a relationship that has gone bad might find some reconciliation.
Or maybe some of us hope that this might be the year in which the Bills and Sabres turn things around.
Now I know many of you are thoroughly perplexed- about this new year thing -you should have seen the look on some of your faces. You know that MasterCard commercial – you know the one that ends priceless. The look on some of your faces was just priceless when I wished you Happy New Year.
I know that some of you think that I am still in a turkey induced- tryptophan coma.
But really today is the beginning of a new year- not the calendar year, but rather we begin- a new church year- a new liturgical year. The church year begins in Advent by looking forward- we look forward not only to the birth of the Christ child, but we also look forward to the unfinished business of God that will occur when Christ comes again.
At this time of the year- We, the church not only celebrate that God became flesh and dwelt among us in the person on Jesus Christ, but during Advent we wait with eager anticipation for the future that God has promised creation.
Each of our readings today highlight the fact that there is still some unfinished business to be done.
Each of the readings is pregnant and dripping with anticipation that God is still at work in you and I and in the world, that God has some unfinished business with creation, that things still are quite right and that God is going to have the last word and is going to make them right.
The prophet Jeremiah speaks of the day when God will raise up a “righteous branch… who shall execute justice and bring righteousness to the people.
Paul speaks of God’s work of, molding the hearts of Thessalonians- so that they might abound in love for one another, Paul speaks of God molding their hearts so that they might walk in holiness and be found blameless before God.
Jesus speaks of the day when the son of Man will come riding on the clouds - a second coming that will spark a conflagration to make all things new.
One of the things that we are invited to do in Advent is to wait- we are invited to wait with joyful hope that God is not done yet. We are invited to wait in anticipation knowing that God has more for this world. We wait in anticipation that the work God began in Jesus on the first X-MAS he is continuing to do in order to set the world right.
Now I would like to propose that there are two kinds of waiting that we as Christian’s can be involved in.
The first kind of waiting is what I call “waiting room” waiting. That’s the kind of waiting that we do as we wait for the nurse to call our name in the doctor’s office , it’s the kind of waiting that we do as we wait for our number to be called at the deli counter. This kind of waiting doesn’t take a lot of energy- other than to be attentive as we wait for our name or number to be called.
The other kind of waiting is what I call “garden” waiting – its the kind of waiting that a gardener does- as he or she awaits the first ripe tomato, the first cucumber of the season This kind of waiting involves getting your hands dirty. It involves watering the plant and fertilizing the garden, it means getting on your hands and knees and pulling weed- all tasks done as the gardener waits for the day that the garden will pour forth it’s bounty.
You and I have a choice to make, we must decide what kind of waiting we would like to do.
Will we wait passively or we can wait actively?
We can wait and watch as the kingdom of God passes us by or as we wait we can we jump in and participate in the unfinished business of God- I still find it hard to believe that you and I we have the opportunity to participate as co-creators with God in the work of God’s kingdom.
The thing is that from where I am standing it is pretty clear which of the kind of waiting offers us the juicy red tomato and which kind offers us the overgrown weed- infested garden. Its quite clear from where I am standing which one offers life and which one offer death.
You and I have a choice to make, Will it be life or will it be death? Will it be to join God in God’s unfinished business or will it be sit on the sidelines. Will you choose the waiting room or will we choose the garden? Will you choose to get your hands dirty? Or will you wait to hear your name called?
I know how I choose, but how do you choose?
May you this day choose to Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. May you this day by your actions choose to bless the Lord. May you this do choose to be about the unfinished business of God. AMEN
November 15, 2009 Proper 28 Hebrews 10:11-25
I have a friend by the name of Joyce, who gets up every Friday morning and drives into the city of York Pennsylvania to fold and stuff bulletins at my former parish St. John’s. Every once and while Joyce would mess up the bulletins- and when that happens the staff at St. John’s will relentlessly tease Joyce that we were going to dock her pay. However, since Joyce was a volunteer she doesn’t seem to be overly concerned about our threats of decreasing her compensation package. She would then remind us that she was working for what she would call “heavenly pay.” The idea being that she would be compensated not in this life, but in the next.
Although I am not sure if Joyce believed this or not – the idea of heavenly pay I think is somewhat attractive to us. The idea that somehow what we do or don’t do in this life is going to influence our standing, our relationship with God. The idea if we dot all the “I’s” and cross all the “t’s”, if we are engaged in good work, if we follow the ten commandments, if we stuff bulletins or be an usher or teach Sunday school then we can somehow force God’s hand. We can force God into relationship with us. We can force God to love us and maybe we can force God to let us into Heaven.
The problem with this kind of thinking is that we then turn the purpose of religion into being the fulfillment of a set of obligations, we think of religion as a set of duties to be performed.
In some ways that’s comfortable to me because that puts me in the driver seat, it’s exactly where I want to be, in control, all the power in my court. If I just fulfill my obligations then everything will be all set between me and God. God is going to look with great favor upon me.
Of course, sometimes we look at the list of demands and say there too stringent, this is too difficult, I can’t possibly live up to those expectations- and so we throw up our arms in disgust and walk away shaking our heads like- the like the rich young man whom Jesus told he needed to sell all he had if he wanted to follow him.
But, what if religion weren’t all about trying to fulfill our obligations to God? What if Jesus has already taken care of all the obligations, all of the duties that we feel we must do?
Could that be what Paul was saying in his letter to the Hebrews when he talks about Christ’s “single sacrifice” Christ “single offering” for sins? Could Christ have taken care of it all? Could it be possible that Jesus has already done the work of reconciling us to God? Do I no longer need to justify myself before God?
That’s what I believe Paul is trying to tell the Hebrews- That Christ in his sacrifice has made a way so that we can all stand confidently before God.
Paul says to the Hebrews there is no need to day after day after day, year after year to be worrying about going to the temple to offer your sacrifices to God, to be fulfilling your obligations- Paul say that Christ once and for all took care of that. In some way we are off the hook There is no need for us to be worried about heavenly pay any longer.
For Paul in the letter to the Hebrews says that Christ has paved the way so that all Christian people can stand confidently and with boldness before God knowing that we are loved unconditionally, that our sins have been taken care of and that we have been forgiven.
Imagine that being free of all duties and obligations before God?
Of course you might be wondering if everything has been taken care of then why do I need to be here? Why do I need to come to church? Why should I continue to follow the commandments? Why should I seek justice on behalf of my oppressed brothers and sisters?
Just because Christ might have freed us from our obligations to God that does not mean that we no longer have obligations to each other. Just because we have been freed of our obligations to God does not mean that we no longer have obligations to world- the very essence of being a Christian means living and being in communion with the other.
From time to time, people tell me that they are spiritual and not religious- And I know that many of them are trying to step above the fray, to separate themselves from the messiness and dysfunction that can and does occur in institutional religion.
Many of these people tell me that they can experience God on a mountaintop or in the woods or when they are out walking on the golf course.
And to be honest I can’t disagree with them- some of my most poignant experience of God have come when I am by myself on a mountaintop or sitting by the ocean. But being Christian is more than just than just being spiritual, its more than just experiencing and connecting with God.
Debora Dean Murphy in our blog called the ecclesia project writes, “the inconvenient thing about religion [is] it asks you to do stuff – like worship with other people, love other people, do good to and for other people. And to do it all regardless of how you feel about any of it. To be spiritual but not religious, on the other hand, is to be unburdened by such stifling obligation. It is to turn inward instead of outward.1
Being Christian is not about turning inward, but it is about is about turning outward- to be in community with the other-It is why Paul urges the Hebrews to continue to gather together - he says do not neglect to gather together- make sure you are provoking one another to good deeds.
Being a Christian is about bringing my experiences of God to community, to the world and sharing them with you all. Being Christian about you bringing your experiences of god and sharing them with us sharing the God we know with the world. If we confess to be Christians, we rest assured that Christ has taken of our relationship with God and that we are now free to bring the God we know to the world and freeing us to bring the world that we know to God.
AMEN
October 4, 2009 Proper 22 Mark 10: 2-16
There are certain biblical texts that clergy avoid like the plague- as you can imagine today’s Gospel is one of them. There is the real danger of stepping into something not so pleasant when trying to engage biblical texts like the one Mark presents to us today. I am going to do my best to tap dance around the landmines, but I will invariably step on one or two of them in an effort to give this text its opportunity to shine as Gospel or good news.
If I say something that doesn’t make sense please feel free to follow up with me about it after the service.
There seems to be very little wiggle room in today’s Gospel. The Pharisees and the disciples , they both want to know from Jesus is divorce permissible.
“Is divorce permissible” the Pharisees ask.
Now when you look at Jesus response closely you’ll see that Jesus takes the focus off divorce and really emphasizes God’s intention for marriage. Listen to what He says to the Pharisees- “Because of your hardness of heart he (Moses) wrote this commandment for you.”
Here is Jesus sleight of hand-“But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and the two shall become one flesh.”
Jesus essentially says yes Moses permitted divorce, but divorce was never God’s intention, divorce was not part of God’s plan for creation. Jesus points the Pharisees back to Genesis and says God’s intention in creation was that when a man and a woman are joined in Holy Matrimony those two individuals become one flesh. Jesus continues by saying what God has joins together should not be separated.
The disciples after listening to his explanation still don’t get it, so they ask Jesus same question.
Last Modified: 2010-02-18 10:05:10