Year C Last Sunday after the Epiphany 2022 "Secret Glory"

Year C Last Sunday after the Epiphany, 27 February 2022

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Secret Glory”

Collect: O God, who before the passion of your only ­begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Luke 9:28-36

Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”--not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

The Truth will out, as Shakespeare intoned in the Merchant of Venice.

We look at this event, the Transfiguration, and we, after 2,000 years, see the glorification of Jesus. That is why it was included in all three synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke here), and St. Peter refers to it in 2nd Peter. And as followers of this humble carpenter Jesus, we do right to glorify him. His name is above all names, and:

so that at the name of Jesus

    every knee should bend,

    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

    that Jesus Christ is Lord,

    to the glory of God the Father. [Philippians 2:10-11]

But today I want to look at it from another perspective. The Epiphany. The Unveiling of what was right before the select apostles’ eyes. Peter, James, and John, Jesus’ closest confidantes, were invited to go up the mountain and pray.

In this prayer time, the Holy Spirit is doing some moving. Jesus is so in tune with the Father that an occurrence happens. Jesus is so moved, so filled with the Spirit, that Luke here says that he began to shine, to glow. The power and energy and glory of God were flowing out of his very being. “His face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.” Living in the age of movies, we can all see it in our mind’s eye. Hollywood special effects can do this readily, but this was no special effect. This was a Holy Moment.

But then, we have two arrivals, our gut tells us from where, but the passage does not.

Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Moses and Elijah. The embodiment of the Law, Moses the Law-Giver, who delivered God’s people from bondage and met with God to receive the 10 Commandments which we still have inscribed on our walls! And then we have the embodiment of the Prophets, Elijah, wild and furious, calling down fire from heaven on Mt. Carmel against the prophets of Baal and delivering God’s word to a wayward people.

Peter, James, and John were pretty blown away. They were thinking, “WOW! Moses and Elijah showed up! This is huge! Jesus, you are so lucky!” 

Or “Jesus, you are so holy you deserve special treatment!”

Perspective is so important. The disciples were impressed by who showed up. Peter was so blown away that he wanted to memorialize it. 

Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"--not knowing what he said.

Too often I am like Peter, speaking before thinking, not knowing what I say. Peter, like me, must be an external processor.

Peter wanted to mark the time and the place, that this was the pinnacle. But there was another point of view. Here in Luke we get an insight that is missing in Matthew and Mark’s accounts of this same event. Matthew and Mark said that Jesus “talked” with them. Luke goes a bit further.

Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

The chosen apostles witnessed this, and thought “Wow, Jesus is something, isn’t he? He deserves Moses and Elijah!” We need to make a shrine!

But look at what Moses and Elijah spoke on. His “departure.” I say this so often, and I get fixated on words. I know. I know. The etymology and original languages, but if I trade out the word translated for the word departure in Greek, you will see what a big deal their conversation was.

Departure in the original Greek is the word Exodos. Departure for me connotes leaving. And Jesus did that in Jerusalem. But Exodus conveys, to me, deliverance with divine intervention and care. Moses and Elijah came to talk to Jesus to discuss his Exodus. The “guy who led the physical exodus of God’s people” and the “guy who fought the false prophets to return God’s people to the Lord” are discussing with Jesus the True Deliverance, the true Exodus, that he was about to bring about.

The apostles were thinking, “Wow! Jesus gets Moses and Elijah!”

I think Moses and Elijah were thinking “Wow! We get to meet the Messiah, God’s Anointed!”

Pray breaks down so many walls. And one of those walls is time. Stories are told of missionaries in dire need of medicine to combat an outbreak, and fervently pray for divine help, and the next day a package arrives that was mailed weeks before with exactly what they needed. Prayer breaks through the linear flow of time and space. God can start stacking the dominos wherever, and therefore whenever God chooses. God is not trapped in this river we call time that we are, and God can get out of the flow. 

This is a possibility I have pondered for years. But WHAT IF, Moses may have been praying on the Mountain and Elijah and Jesus showed up. And WHAT IF, Elijah may have been praying in the cave, listening to that “still, small voice” and Moses and Jesus show up. That vision of what is to come may have been a holy gift that these heroes of the faith may have received. I love to think that, but admittedly I may be wrong.

We do know that Jesus was praying on the mountaintop, and that the Spirit of God was so palpable that the disciples were overwhelmed to the point of passing out. I repeat from our reading: 

Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.

They caught a glimpse of the walls of time and space collapsing. Science fiction has nothing on this. But these two giants of the faith see the fulfillment of what they fought their lives to move toward. They could see into the promised land, even though they knew they would not get there themselves. This is whether they came back from heaven, or from the place of the dead, Sheol, or from their own timelines. We are told they showed up. That we do know.

After Peter’s faux pas of wanting to set up a shrine, we hear a word from heaven. Jesus’ ministry began this way at his baptism, and he ends moving toward his Exodus in the same way.

While [Peter] was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. 

God declares that Jesus is the One. His Chosen. The actual word there is The Beloved, the Agapetos. We love who we love. And Jesus’ was The Beloved. Jesus trusted these three enough to share something rare, and precious, and beautiful. It was so delicate, and intimate, and holy that they were moved to silence. As it says:

And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

Too many of us are under the impression that God is not still at work in the world. We have these encounters. We have these moments. We have these inside jokes or serendipities with the Almighty or one of our dear departed loved ones. We don’t talk about it because we are cautious, or don’t want to appear crazy, or because we are proper Episcopalians. (There is a reason why we are sometimes half jokingly/half mockingly called the Frozen Chosen!) 

Last week I was fortunate to help lead the Discernment Retreat for the Diocese. There was a wonderful gathering of people who had felt the call to be priests or deacons. One reason why I love doing these weekends is because for many folks this is the first time they have been in a room with absolute strangers or at best acquaintances and are given an safe and encouraging place to talk about things they kept quiet or secret or only shared with their priest or spouse, and even then in hushed tones. One person summed up the feelings by saying, “Why don’t we talk about this stuff more often!?!? What a difference it would make!”

Like Billy Joel sings, we tend to “Leave a Tender Moment Alone.” We do not speak of such things, but maybe we should. Eventually Peter would confess to the other apostles and in sermons and in his writings that such a stupendous, miraculous, and rare thing occurred. One reason why I believe that this story is true, Peter would have to confess to his lapse of judgment to tell the tale. Someone stretching the truth would probably not go there.

Maybe we need to be a little more risky, a little more open, a little more courageous. I hope you will take those FaithPoints of your journey, where the divine broke through and you caught a glimpse of a reality greater than what our senses perceive or beyond the everyday rational. I am not asking us to be irrational, but maybe to take the risk to be honest to our experience.

The Truth will out. Eventually the Transfiguration of the Christ, the Chosen One, the Beloved became known amongst the believers. Who needs to hear the stories of when God broke through in your life, when in your ordinary existence a burning bush stopped you in your tracks, or a sign from a loved one crossed your path, or a deep calm took over when everything was going to hell in a handbasket?

We, like Jesus’ confidantes, are often given glimpses of God breaking through, and we can share our Epiphanies, and in so doing we can maybe allow people to have their own or a safe space to talk about the Glory of God. Maybe we, too, can be transfigured.

Glory be to the Agapetos, the Beloved. And Glory be to God! Be brave, and Fear Not. To be in on the secret that this world is grace-filled and that God is Love is something that needs to be repeated to each and every one of us as much as it can be. Share your moments of Grace with someone today. Amen.

 

Year C 7th Epiphany 2022 In Abundance Love Them All

Year C 7th Sunday of Epiphany, 20 February 2022

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“In Abundance, Love Them All”

Collect: O Lord, you have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing: Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted dead before you. Grant this for the sake of your only Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-50

Someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.

So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Luke 6:27-38

Jesus said, "I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back."

Good morning, friends. It is good to be home, and many thanks to Becky+ who was able to lead us so ably while I was away.

As we move into the end of the season of Epiphany, we hear some teachings that will take the rest of our lives to move into. Epiphany is God’s glory is revealed. In these teachings, this is shown, but Jesus’ teaching here is hard. It goes against our natural tendencies. 

The order of this world is summed up in the lines of Sean Connery’s character Malone in the movie The Untouchables: 

They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue.

That is why in the Hebraic laws there was a limit on retaliation. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. What was done to you is the limit of what you can do back. Seeking payback is the reflex in a world ruled by tooth and claw. But Jesus in his normal fashion takes an issue, reframes the problem, and invites us into it and to raise our consciousness. Reframe and Step Up is how I sum up his approach to things.

Jesus reframes the issue of revenge, and instead of setting limits on the retaliation, he says to be bigger than the situation. DO NOT RETALIATE AT ALL. Beyond that, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES. And when we do that, they are no longer enemies, or at least they begin to transform in our understanding and in our response to them.

I fail miserably at this all too often. I wrestle with my desiring to live fully into this. When our blood is up in the heat of the moment, for me at least, my inclinations need to be tempered by my desire to live the way Christ calls me to live. 

The Passion shows us how much he meant what he said. When Peter tried to defend him with the sword in the Garden of Gethsemane, he healed the wounded servant. When lies were thrown at him in the illegal trial of the Sannhedrin, he stayed silent. When he was hanging on the cross, he prayed forgiveness on the soldiers. Jesus meant what he said. And he means it for us as well.

He calls us to see the world with his eyes. A world of Abundance ruled by a loving Father who wants us all, the Good, the Bad, the Sick, the Poor, the Rich, the Powerful, ALL OF US, to succeed and live into the fullness of the Kingdom made real, right here, right now. This is a tall order. But it encapsulates so much.  

Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful… A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.

Abundance is the key to our being able to see beyond the immediate deficits. 

When we are insulted and cursed, we don’t curse back because our worth comes from the Abundance of Grace and Worth we have found from God.

When we are struck on the cheek, we show that we are above the wounds given for our concern is not of this world, for we have been given a world much greater than any power or grandeur that might be before our eyes. And also, when someone is reduced to violence they show how little they are and they are inviting you to their level of pettiness. It shows how small they see themselves. To stand in the face of the violent with peace and blessing even, they cannot understand. It may be dismissed as weakness, but actually it is the true and overcoming power that comes from God above.

There is a powerful scene in the movie Gandhi where the Mahatma organizes a protest at a factory. The unjust practices are hurting the poor in the area. The gate to the factory is lined with soldiers and the protesters go up to confront the horrible practices and are struck. Then the next row of protesters steps up to receive the blows and not strike back. It was horrific. And even the British perpetrators saw what they were doing to Gandhi’s followers as horrific. And in giving the blows, they learned of their own injustice and eventually, as the movie shows, they gave India back to the Indians with home rule. As Gandhi said, “You will leave, and you surely will. And when you do, we want you to leave as friends.” He pointed these teachings of his to the teachings of Jesus we read today.

We cannot fight battles without tragedies happening. But the greatest tragedy is when we say we follow the Lord of Love and seek revenge, or mach tit-for-tat. We show that we do not know him at all. Jesus reframes the issues of this world, and invites us to step up to his view and way of life.

The story of Joseph and his brothers from our Genesis reading today is the end of a long, hard story of woe, but that in the end God uses for good. We missed the part where his jealous brothers fake his death and sell him into slavery, lying to their father that his favorite son is dead. We won’t get into the issue of parents playing favorites, but don’t do it. We miss him doing well with Potipher, until his wife tries to seduce him and he rejects her and is falsely accused of attempted rape. We miss him interpreting dreams for Pharaoh's imprisoned servants, and their forgetting to put in a good word for him. But then when one remembers after some nightmares of Pharaoh, Joseph is raised to the highest level of authority in Egypt. And then after years of famine his brothers arrive to beg of this one who they have no idea is their long-lost brother. And Joseph has a choice. With a word they could all be jailed or killed and no one would care a wit. But that is not what he does. What they meant for ill, God took, transformed, blessed, and sanctified. In Joseph’s own words:

God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God.

Now please do not read into this, I certainly do not, that God makes bad things happen. That is a theologically terrifying and slippery slope. The rules established in this Universe to give us the gift of Free Will, means that in our Autonomy things can happen and do that are by their very nature Bad. We have to have them so as to respond and choose this day, and every day, whom we will serve. But even given the broken shards of our lives, when we give that over to God they can be transformed. God takes the Broken, and gives it back sanctified.

That is the reframing and stepping up we are talking about. Beggars and thieves, violent oppressors and cursing belittlers, they are nothing in comparison to boundless love of God. Both in this life and in the life to come. With God at our back, we are bigger than anything we face. Our enemies. Our own Goliaths. Or even our own worst selves.

The brokenness that happens in this life is what is buried, like a seed in the ground. What is raised up is eternal. This is the summation of our First Corinthians readings. A seed must die to itself for the plant to emerge. The death of the caterpillar is the beginning of the butterfly. Living a life of love to all, especially our enemies, may seem a death to the ego, and it seems that way from those outside the faith in God. But as we die to Self, and give that up to God it is transformed. As St. Paul wrote: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

We give up the passing to gain the eternal. That is a deal that we cannot refuse.

But we have to see the Abundance beyond our senses. We have to see a Kingdom that is better and bigger and bolder than the distractions and devices and deviances of this world. We have to trust the promises of this humble teacher who at the end had not a possession to his name, and only a handful of loved ones even acknowledging him at all.

Our prayer today: O Lord, you have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing: Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted dead before you.

Friends, the only way for us to live the way Jesus said we need to live is to make Love the foundation of all we think and say and do. We do this out of necessity. We do this to be who we were born to be. We were not created for the mundane and the mortal. We were designed to thrive in the Abundance of God and do so throughout eternity. And  it all begins with Love. 

Love. Love them all. 

Love them all to death.

Wife Abuser. 

Child molester.

Midnight Cruiser.

Stock Investor.

Honored marine.

Associate dean.

Chain smoker.

Flunkie.

Hash toker.

Junkie.

Redneck man 

in Ku Klux Klan.

Congressional page.

Victim of AIDS.

COVID denier.

Convicted liar.

Beggar.

Thief.

Saint.

Or, Chief.

Love them. Love them all. 

Love them all to death, even your own. 

(Much of this poem is from Matt Tullos’s script “All Souls Come Clean” adapted)

God bless your loving. God bless your dying to self. God bless you. Amen

Year C 6th Epiphany WED 2022 Good Shepherd

Year C 6th Sunday of Epiphany WEDNESDAY, 16 February 2022

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Good Shepherd”

Collect: O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

John 10:1-18

1Jesus said: ‘Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.’ 6Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

7 So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

11 ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18No one takes* it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.’

Good morning, friends! It is good to be home. It would be impossible to keep the pace we have kept the last week for much longer. The official reason for our trip was to say goodbye and Thank You to our sponsoring Bishop of the Triangle of Hope ministry, the Right Reverend Paul Bayes lately of Liverpool. Bishop Paul has been a friend and a dear supporter of our work, and of me personally, and he will be sorely missed. The most moving portion of his Farewell Service was at the very end when he goes to the high altar and lays down his diocesan crozier (on the altar itself), is stripped of his ceremonial gear, and he walks from the cathedral in a simple alb and the doors close (they really slammed these 15 foot doors) behind him.

The whole crowd jumped when the doors slammed shut, first one, then the other. It reverberated throughout the cathedral, and echoed through this largest of Anglican Cathedrals in Europe.

But the Crozier, that symbol of Episcopal authority, comes directly from this chapter. While I am the pastor of this flock, the Bishop, literally from the word for overseer, is the Shepherd of the Diocese. But every Bishop lays down their Crozier in retirement or death. Every single one, even +Paul, and very soon our own +Susan will lay down her Crozier.

Thankfully, though, the Good Shepherd does not lay anything down, except his life when required, for his sheep. This idea of a Good Shepherd is so powerful even when we are so far removed from the pastoral profession in our lives today. 

Jesus very clearly says that he is the Gate and the Good Shepherd. And he states the actions which make him the Good Shepherd. They were true then, and they are true today.

• He knows our name, and he calls us by name. That very thought, that someone knows me by name. As Bishop Paul was walking to the Altar to lay down his staff, he made eye contact with me. I placed my hand on my heart and gave him a nod. He said aloud, “Thank you, Rock!” In that moment I felt such a connection and appreciation for this man I respect so much. And on top of that he knows me. He called me by name. And Jesus loves us even more than that moment I just shared.

• He leads us. He does not leave us wandering or clueless. He gives us direction and purpose. He sets our agenda and our pace. 

• He goes before us. He not only leads us where we are to go, but he goes out ahead to direct us and watch out for obstacles and hazards along the way. The most comforting thing is that he knows exactly what we are going through. He walks with us every step of the way.

• He provides for us life, and more than that, Abundance. It is the difference between surviving and thriving. We can live on bread and water, but a sumptuous feast is what we are given. Abundance needs to be our mindset, and humility is our attitude. We are sheep in this metaphor, not the one the shepherd works for, the Lord. We do not deserve our abundance, it is not a privilege. Our abundance is a gift, and that is the very definition of grace.

• He lays down his life for us. This is how much he loves us. He loves us to death, literally. If we ever questioned that, this proves it. He is the Ultimate Shepherd, and good to boot.

• He knows us and lets us know him, too. This is beyond a trite statement. Scripture promises that he numbers the hair on our heads. He knows us better than we know ourselves. This is love, love beyond measure. This is the love of the Good Shepherd. Thanks be to God!

Today, remember that. Feel the love, and let us be like him in our Following. Amen.

Year C 5th Sunday after Epiphany 2022 Deep Water Abundance

 Year C 5th Epiphany, 6 February 2022

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Deep Water Abundance”

Collect: Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Luke 5:1-11

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Good morning, friends. Surprisingly, the numbers have declined quickly, and we are able to gather in-person. We thank God for that, and we continue to stay vigilant with caring for each other by wearing masks. Two of our staff have had breakthrough COVID, and it, they promise me, is no cakewalk. It was, and remains an awful disease, and the vaccines and boosts have made things survivable.

Looking at our reading for the day, we see Jesus continuing in his ministry, with an “Oh, by the way” miracle. That is what Epiphany is, God’s glory breaking through.

I could not help but look at our church and the last few years when I read today’s reading. It seemed, to me, that God was speaking to the leap of faith we are currently being asked to take.

Let’s start with the context, because that is the filter through which we need to see the rest of the story. Jesus was going along the shore, and the “the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God.” The people were hungry for the word.

If I could define the last few years, I could not sum it better than that. The world over my lifetime has become increasingly complex, and when things get complex, people either shut down and ignore it or they look for simple answers or scapegoats. I can point to examples, many, many, many examples for each and every one of these. You probably can, too.

The people wanted clear direction, clear instruction, wise counsel. I do, too.

Especially in these days, we need to see how to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Our neighbor might be different from us in the ways the world divides us, but they, whoever they are, however they act, whatever choices they prefer, are also beloved by God. The difference is how we see them. Not in who they are.

It used to be seen that our choices define us. It has become that our choices divide us.

We are as hungry for the word of God as these folks were. As I emphasized a few years back, “Y’all Need Jesus!” We all did, and we all still do, maybe all the more. May we turn to Jesus today, like those along that Galilean shore, as well.

But Jesus saw that in that context, he needed to do something different. The ordinary would not work. Seashore. Fishermen. Jesus saw an opportunity instead of a detriment. A preacher has got to preach. So he found a way.

He got in the boat of a certain Simon, with his partners James and John. I am sure those names sound familiar. I hope they do. They had been washing their nets after an unsuccessful night on the Lake we call the Sea of Galilee.

But they helped the teacher out. They let him do what he was about. And when he got done, he instructed these men who were raised on the water to go out to the deep water. Now we have the words of Simon Peter, and they could be a statement of faith directly following Jesus’ teaching, or they could be resignation to prove that the experienced knew better. 

[Faithfully] "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets."

Or, [Skeptically] "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets."

This is the reason we had to come up with emojis in our emails and texts, so people could see how we mean things. Tone is near impossible to convey with words alone, unless you add stage directions. 

But after being invited into the deep waters, something happened. Where the experts saw futility, Jesus saw abundance. When the experts said the timing was wrong, Jesus said “Now is the time.” When the experts were listening to their doubts, Jesus invited them to listen to their faith.

And what did they find in the deep waters? Abundance!

Once I was on a sailing trip, crossing over the Gulf Stream. The captain stopped our boat for us to take a dip. I remember looking down. The crystal clear waters had been fascinating the whole trip, watching the shadows play across the sand bars and coral reefs. But all that changed in the Gulf Stream. When I looked down, even in broad daylight, there was no bottom. I had become used to and appreciated seeing the bottom. Being from Virginia, I was used to the deep green of the Atlantic coast, not being able to see the bottom after a few feet from shore. But here, I appreciated the clarity. I could see the fish, the occasional shark, and everything else. But here, as I stood on the edge of the boat and looked down, I saw the rays of the sun go down, down, down, and not ever stop. Three feet off the water and I had an experience of vertigo. I had never felt that before. The thought of getting in to swim became terrifying. There was no bottom. Now my rational mind knew, I only swam on the surface, and that I would float, and float well. The depth did not matter when I went swimming. But when I peered into the depths, all my irrational fears could think, “What’s down there?” [Sidenote: I eventually did go in and loved it, but that initial fear response surprised me and does to this day.]

But that question, “What’s down there?” remains.

Three years ago we started the theme, LEAD HOLY SPIRIT INTO THE DEPTHS OF GOD. The banners are still up around the church because the church was closed for so long. 

We got the theme from the scripture, I Corinthians 2:9-10:

9 But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,

    nor the human heart conceived,

what God has prepared for those who love him”—

10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

St. Paul is leaning back on the prophet Isaiah [64:4], looking spiritually into that question that loomed in my fear. “What’s down there?” 

We say it with trepidation, but the Holy Spirit says, “Let’s find out!”

We look with trepidation when there is fear, whether conscious or not. We look in hope when there is love. Perfect Love drives out all Fear, as Scripture promises. [I John 4:18]

The Abundance was in the Depths for Simon, James, and John. The Abundance could be found when casting out in Faith. In fact, that is the only way it can be found. Our collect today speaks to that.  

Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life…

Bondage in our sins, and the fear that does not allow us to break the shackles, OR, Freedom of the Abundant Life. Your choice. Jesus came to give us that choice. “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!” or to take away the calcified churchy language, “You can change your ways because God’s Rule is already here!”

We are, and have been in Deep Waters. Waters where we have been held in the Uncertainty of a pandemic and others’ competing reactions to the reality of this worldwide trauma. We only reopen this weekend because of our responses to these external events. We are in Deep Waters of fear, and doubt, and uncertainty.

Jesus promises us that if we have the faith of a mustard seed, we can say to a mountain to move and it will move. That takes a lot of faith. It takes a lot of prayer. And it takes a lot of shovels. It requires all three.

We move into a season of faith, of casting out into Deep Waters. With the world the way it is, it is hard to hear the voice of Jesus telling us it is okay to cast out our nets even if we are weary from a fruitless night. If the last few years have not seemed like a pointless night, sometimes it has for me.

I love speaking to God’s people. I always have. And some weeks it was hard to have the faith to trust that when we “cast our bread upon the water” of the internet (using the biblical phrase) that it would return. But as we re-opened, new families came in that we had never seen before. We had 16 pledge units last year that had not given a pledge the year before. We have had 16,778 hits on our videos in 2021. Online weekend services had 7,998 hits alone. And that is households not individual people. With things as they are, even when we regather this weekend there are those who are only joining us online for their comfort and/or safety. And that is why we trust. That is why we cast our nets into the Deep Waters of cyberspace.

Friends, when we are on the receiving end of Grace, abundance in what we are given, or abundance in growing ministries, or abundance in God’s love and forgiveness of us, we can feel unworthy and maybe even despairing. Simon Peter did. After what he said to Jesus, and then his boat nearly sank from all the fish, he fell on his knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” But Jesus looked beyond his feelings of the moment, and may he look beyond ours.

Jesus looked at him with the same eyes of abundance and faith with which he saw the fish below the boat. He declares over Simon Peter and his buddies, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” He not only overlooks his worry, but forgives his sin as well, and commissions him to make a difference.

As we cast our nets in faith, peering out into the Deep Waters, may we see with Jesus’ eyes of Faith and Abundance. May we see the opportunity that way! May we see the fields of Ashland and Hanover that way! And maybe most importantly after such huge social traumas, may we see ourselves the way God sees us. We are gifted with more than enough, and we are commissioned to make a difference in our neck of the woods.

Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people. Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen