Year C Proper 17 WED 2022 Death and Truth

 Year C Proper 17 WEDNESDAY, 30 August 2022

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA
“Death and Truth”

Collect: Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Acts 12:18-25

When morning came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. When Herod had searched for him and could not find him, he examined the guards and ordered them to be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

Now Herod* was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him in a body; and after winning over Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for a reconciliation, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat on the platform, and delivered a public address to them. The people kept shouting, ‘The voice of a god, and not of a mortal!’ And immediately, because he had not given the glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

But the word of God continued to advance and gain adherents. Then after completing their mission Barnabas and Saul returned to* Jerusalem and brought with them John, whose other name was Mark. 

John 8:47-59

Jesus said: ‘Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God.’

The [Jewish religious leaders] answered him, ‘Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?’ Jesus answered, ‘I do not have a demon; but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and he is the judge. Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.’ The [Jewish religious leaders] said to him, ‘Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, “Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.” Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, “He is our God”, though you do not know him. But I know him; if I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.’ Then the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.’ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

I must admit, really troubled by today’s readings, attempted murder, regicide, hubris. Hard to see, must less share, the Good News from today’s readings.

I have mentioned before the wonderful mat behind the pulpit over at Shiloh Baptist, our sister church, that says “Preach so they can see Jesus.” 

At the end of the reading this morning, we see Jesus hiding and getting away before he could be stoned to death. Hard to talk about the Good News in that.

But it does make us confront the fact, that as people of God we are sometimes required to speak the truth in love, and that truth can be very hard to hear. So the first response is to kill the messenger. Literally or metaphorically.

But speaking the truth in love is what we are called to do.

In the Acts reading, we see people praising Herod, saying how he speaks like a God instead of a man. He was speaking, but was it the truth? Was it the truth in love?

So that I do not add commentary, I will say clearly what the outcome is for Herod and the Church:

And immediately, because he had not given the glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck [Herod] down, and he was eaten by worms and died. But the word of God continued to advance and gain adherents.

Yeah for the Church? I think?

We do not live in a fully redeemed world. We still must fight the good fight, and do what the Lord requires of us. Sometimes that is hard. Sometimes people will resent and try to silence us. Sometimes that opposition comes from those we think of as friends and families. That makes the stabs in the back even more painful. Et tu, Brute?

The Call of God is a lifelong commitment, and Jesus tells us that to follow him we will have to “take up [our] cross.”

One analogy I hold onto is that the world we are living in is much like the time between D-Day and VE day. The war was over once the Allies invaded Europe, but there was a lot of pain, and suffering, and sacrifice to come before Victory was fully won.

Christ has won over sin and death, and we are in the campaign to bring the culmination of the story. Have faith, and especially have hope when times are hard. We know how the story ends. Amen

Year C Proper 17 2022 We Are Bound Together

 Year C Proper 17, 28 August 2022

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“We Are Bound Together”

Collect: Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you." So we can say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper;I will not be afraid.

What can anyone do to me?”

Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Luke 14:1, 7-14

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.

When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, `Give this person your place,' and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Good morning, sisters and brothers in Christ.

We spoke last week of the worth of each and every Child of God. This topic is closely related, and as important. This week we look at the Interconnectedness and Interdependence of all of us. We all are One.

We may feel we are autonomous, and buy into the myth that we “pulled ourselves up with our own bootstraps,” but we are knit together into the web of humanity, life, the Cosmos itself. When we “Other” anyone we smother the Truth of God.

So often we think we are a single thread. We do whatever we want and there is no ripple effect to our actions. I will agree, we can think of each and every one of us like a single thread, but we are woven together in a sweater, or better yet, a tapestry. Pull one thread, and one can never know the outcome. The effect is unknown and can be potentially disastrous or unraveling to our society.

One of the greatest gifts I have been given in this life is the work I get to do with the Triangle of Hope. Connecting with fellow Anglicans from Liverpool and Kumasi, or better yet, fellow Christians from around the world. We have hard, honest conversations. We share experiences and the joys and upheavals of our lives. Both when we travel and the regular day-in and -out. Seeing how similar we are, and celebrating our differences along the way. We are One, and this short sojourn we are given is to try to be One as best we can to catch a glimpse of what heaven will be like.

In Revelation, we are given John’s view of what it could be like. I do not think it is an accurate picture like a photojournalist would take, but rather a portrait filtered through language and culture of what it could be like. The image that John of Patmos weaves is of every nation singing praise to God in their uniqueness and authenticity. No erasing the differences, but embracing them. We try and model that in our work. I try to keep it in mind in my leading.

In my past, one of the Churches I served had 4 separate congregations, English-speaking, Spanish-speaking, Korean, and Vietnamese. Once or twice a year, we would have a joint service. I always looked forward to the covered dish lunch afterward, because the food was authentic and amazing, but even more, the singing was astounding. We would use hymns that all 4 congregations shared in common with a common tune, and all of us would sing at the top of our lungs. The unity and the diversity, blended together in beautiful harmony, gave me goosebumps. A true embodiment of John’s vision of what heaven would be like, and the lunch was maybe the heavenly banquet to boot.

And it is not only in the good times that we are bound together, but in the horrors and heartbreaks as well.

My British colleagues do this far better than we do, keeping in touch with the persecution of the Church around the world. Very little do we keep track of the atrocities that so many of our brothers and sisters endure in their devotion to Jesus Christ. As the Preacher in Hebrews says:

Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.

We are bound together, because together we are the Body of Christ. Not just the Episcopal Church, or the American Church, or the Anglican Communion, but the Church Universal, all who claim Christ as their Lord and Savior are part of this Body of Christ, and woven across the centuries as well as the miles.

In 1994, I had the opportunity to go to Israel and Palestine for a month on a long mission immersion experience. In one of the scheduled learning sessions, we met with the Palestinain Orthodox priest, Father Elias Chacour. He told us at the turn of the 20th Century, 90% of Palestinians claimed to be Christian. 10% Muslim. By the end of the 20th Century, by the Church abandoning them, particularly the Western Church, Palestinian Christians for the most part converted. We had forgotten and abandoned our sisters and brothers in Christ. They saw more hope in their Muslim brothers and sisters than in the Church of Christ.

And it is not just situations like this. When one of us suffers we all do. Our prayer list is a gathering of the concerns and needs of our people, their kin and friends. When you or I go to visit folks in their homes or in the hospital, it is a reminder of how we are all connected and interrelated. And now with our streaming service, so many are connected with us in real time through the gift of the internet. We are living in times that are miraculous and confusing, all jumbled together.

This idea and understanding is not limited to Christianity. Buddhist teacher and author Thich Nhat Hahn expressed our interconnectedness and our essential responsibilities from the sheer fact that we are human beings together. He put it this way:

THERE IS NO SEPARATION BETWEEN YOURSELF

AND OTHERS. YOU DO NOT LIVE JUST FOR

YOURSELF; YOU LIVE FOR OTHER PEOPLE. YOUR

PEACE, FREEDOM, AND JOY ALSO PROFIT OTHERS; YOU ARE ALREADY HELPFUL. AND SO, WHEN YOU BREATH MINDFULLY OR WALK MINDFULLY AND CREATE JOY AND PEACE, THAT IS ALREADY A GIFT FOR THE WORLD. LIGHTING UP THE ENERGY OF MINDFULNESS IN THE HEART OF YOUR FAMILY, YOUR COMMUNITY, YOUR CITY, OR YOUR SOCIETY IS ENGAGED ACTION. COMPASSION AND PEACE RADIATE FROM YOUR PERSON.

You have heard me say repeatedly from this pulpit the drive to divide that we have in our time and country is deeply troubling. Call it tribalization or distraction, it is bad. But there is a reason we do this. As we integrate more and more across business, across communication, across the globe, the complexity is overwhelming. Our brains have not been acclimated to these new realities. We escape to tribalism, to segmentarianism, to division so that we can get a grasp on our times. But look back to the early church. Since our founding, the call of Christ has been to connect and include, to invite and welcome. The Kingdom of God was not something you and I were invited into, it was something given to us so we could take it to others. It still is that way. That has not changed.

We never know how our actions have an impact, how our drive to be inclusive, welcoming, and accepting can change people’s lives. I told this story on a Wednesday service back in 2018, so please forgive me if you have heard it before because it fits so well.

In 1989 I was serving in Germany as Youth and Young Adult Minister at International Baptist Church in Hamburg, West Germany. One of the members of our Singles group was a pain. She wrestled with me and argued about everything. But we made sure she felt welcome. To be honest, she really kept me on my toes all the time because of her opposition. The 9 months I worked there while in the middle of college was hard work and when I left I did not see much to show for my time. Or so I thought.

Five years later, on my way home from that trip to Israel I have already mentioned, we had an overnight layover in Switzerland and we stayed at the Baptist Seminary in Rüschlikon, Switzerland. And, lo and behold, the pernicious young woman from my group was in her second year there. God had called her, and little did I realize the impact I had on her. Surprised to say the least, I asked her how on earth she was in seminary preparing to be a pastor. She said that my work was what gave her no excuses. After the Single’s Bible Study at the Church, the burglar alarm came on at 9:30 and we started at 8 pm so all the young adults could get off work and get there. So we met at the church, and then moved the meeting to the pub across the street before the burglar alarm so that we could just hang out. I brought along a little game called Schweinerei, which is called Pass the Pigs in America. You roll two little pigs like dice. And she said, if someone like me, who could have fun and play Schweinerei could be a Christian, she had no excuses. God’s call to include, even sitting in a pub and playing Schweinerei can change a life. We never know how some small kindness, some pleasantry, can issue the resounding call of God. And now she has been a pastor for over 25 years. Thanks be to God.

Our faith urges us to reach out and include. Especially those who are often overlooked or ignored.

James Taylor in his beautiful song about Martin Luther King, Jr. entitled Shed A Little Light sang this:

Let us turn our thoughts today

To Martin Luther King

And recognize that there are ties between us

All men and women living on the Earth

Ties of hope and love

Sister and brotherhood

That we are bound together

In our desire to see the world

Become a place in which our children

Can grow free and strong

We are bound together by the task

That stands before us

And the road that lies ahead

We are bound, and we are bound…

Shed a little light, oh Lord 

So that we can see

Yes, dear Lord, help us see. And then help us make it so. Amen

Year C Proper 16 2022 Worth

 Year C Proper 16,  August 21, 2022

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Worth”

Collect: Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Jeremiah 1:4-10

The word of the Lord came to me saying,

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." But the Lord said to me,

“Do not say, 'I am only a boy';

for you shall go to all to whom I send you,

and you shall speak whatever I command you,

Do not be afraid of them,

for I am with you to deliver you,

says the Lord.” 

Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,

“Now I have put my words in your mouth.

See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,

to pluck up and to pull down,

to destroy and to overthrow,

to build and to plant.”

Luke 13:10-17

Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day." But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

In our world, so many of us are reduced to transactional relationships. Scratch my back and I will scratch yours. We are seen not as human beings but consumers by the corporations who mine our data so they can mine our pockets.  Every minute of our lives become marketing opportunities so that we can trade our days for economic opportunities. 

This has hit home particularly this summer looking at colleges with my oldest. It is deeply disturbing to me and my liberal arts education when on tours one of the main “selling points,” and notice those words, by the way, “selling points,” of a school is the hire-ability of its graduates.  Like the only reason you would go to school is what type of money you can make when you get out. Learning for learning’s sake is no longer of importance or appreciated.

The other area where this came out was when my oldest got a job, trading hours for money. Sweat and time for dollars. We broke it down to how many minutes for every dollar. It was quite an education for both of us.

What is a minute worth to us?

What is an hour?

What is a day?

What is the value of a life? What is its worth?

At what point do we stop making life transactional? When do we value it for the priceless and precious commodity that it is?

We put so many things on our lists before the value of the breath in our lungs. With my father dying early I was taught far too young the value of life itself. None of us are promised another day. I made vows that I would live a life worth living, a life of value, or better put, a life of values. My life and those I love are worth so much more than any single thing I own or ever could.

We all know this deep down, and too often it is so deep down that we let it slip by unnoticed.

Repeatedly we see the Worth of each of us in today’s readings. And we must make the Worth of each and every child of God a priority in what we as a church do. In our clinic, in our Sunday Schools, in our Youth Group, Grief Group, 4th Quarter, or Worship. Each and every soul is worthy of love and respect.

Jeremiah heard it from God’s own lips, 

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you…

and,

“Do not say, 'I am only a boy';

for you shall go to all to whom I send you,

and you shall speak whatever I command you,

Do not be afraid of them,

for I am with you to deliver you,

says the Lord.” 

The Call of God is not just for the special, the elect, or the elite. 

If you are a Child of God…  

if you have breath in your lungs… 

then the fingerprints of God are on you, 

and the Call of God can shape your days.

You are of Worth beyond measure, and there is nothing, absolutely nothing that can separate you from the Love of God, the Call of God, or the Image of God reflected in your very soul.

We see this in moments of clarity. Often with weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Worth is such a precious word to me. My father’s middle name was Worth. A family name shared down the generations, and Worth has such meaning unto itself as well. A thing of Value, of great price, expensive, royal. Our worthy is only in question to those who do not know and love us.

Liam Neeson portraying Oskar Schindler in Schindler’s List has the cathartic scene after the war is finally over. He traded his fortune made as a war profiteer for hundreds of workers in his factory, making bribes and trading favors so that 1,100 souls would not be destroyed in the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps. Driving away ahead of the Allied forces, he is sent away with a ring of gold made from the fillings and teeth of those he saved out of thanks for their very lives. And it hits him. The pin on his lapel could have been another life saved. The car he is about to drive a few more. Every wasted ounce of gold spent on illicit things and food and drink could have been another Child of God redeemed from the death camps. It is quite the image. Do we see it as true?

I ask again. What is the Worth of a soul?

Obviously for God there is nothing of any more value, no greater worth. He loves us to death, even death on a cross.

We put so many other things in the way. We put up rules and strictures, and then elevate them instead of the thing itself. As Jesus said in Mark 2(:27): “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath

The petty tyrants ranted about the Sabbath, but Jesus could show in seconds the hypocrisy of what they were saying.

“Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?”

What is the worth of a beast, whether ox or donkey, in comparison to a daughter of Abraham? Once it is so clearly shown one is a beast of burden given refreshment, and one a burdened child of God delivered from something plaguing them 18 years!

The choice is so obvious. To them. To us.

But I hear the angry voices raised denouncing so many things, race, color, heritage, who we love, who we are, so many lines we draw. And I see Jesus weep. I see him healing on the Sabbath out of love for the woman hurting and bent for 18 years. I see him erasing all those lines we draw. I often wonder if Jesus walked in here on a Sunday what lines have I drawn would he need to erase? What child of God have I excluded that he would embrace? What one that I declared worthless would he say is Worth all his love, his very life?

Friends, this radical declaration of Worth is still revolutionary. It is a message we need not just hear, but embody, and then boldly proclaim here in Ashland and Hanover County.

We hear denouncements when things are not what is expected, what used to be the norm. We are living in times where change is so drastic that our heads spin, and often the urge is to go back to the way things used to be. So easily wished for and so hard to do.

Friends, we have been given the gift of living in such a time as these. You have been equipped and enabled by living the life you have lived to proclaim a Gospel of radical Acceptance and unlimited Worth to each and every Child of God you meet, as am I. The nay-sayers urging us to keep things calm, to keep the peace, do not see the cost demanded of those who need Grace and Love today. TODAY! Not tomorrow. Not when you get comfortable, but 18 years ago so Today will have to do.

To name another movie, at the end of Saving Private Ryan, the main character leans into the eponymous character Private Ryan. Ryan is given a message that he must go home to his mother who had lost all her other sons on D-Day. With his dying breath, and after most of his unit is killed delivering the message, the main character whispers, “Earn this.”

He did not say Ryan was not worth this price. He is saying that the price that was paid was a high one. He is to live a life of value, the value of so many who gave their all for him to live a life of Worth, worthy of the price that was paid.

Friends, we all have lives which are given to us paid for dearly. We owe so much to so many. But Jesus does not say to us that there is a debt we owe, but to declare our freedom in word and deed. The crowds around the healed woman who had been bent over for 18 years rejoiced. It gave them hope, and may it give us hope, too. It gave them an image of who God is, and maybe who we are in God. May we, like them, “rejoic[e] at all the wonderful things that he was doing.” Was doing, and is doing. His declarations of freedom and release continue to this day. Thanks be to God!

You are Worth the world to the only One who can give it to you. Hold onto that, and praise God! Amen

Year C Proper 15 WED 2022 Creator Sets Free & Abundance

Year C Proper 15,  WEDNESDAY August 17, 2022

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Creator Sets Free & Abundance”

Collect

Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Acts 8:14-25

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come* upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John* laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give me also this power so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.’ But Peter said to him, ‘May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God’s gift with money! You have no part or share in this, for your heart is not right before God. Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and the chains of wickedness.’ Simon answered, ‘Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you* have said may happen to me.’

Now after Peter and John* had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, proclaiming the good news to many villages of the Samaritans.

John 6:1-15

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.*  A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages* would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they* sat down, about five thousand in all.Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’

When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

A few thoughts this morning on Abundance. I recently watched a movie looking from the perspective of Native Americans, our first nations, how they saw the land and those coming into the land wanted to dominate and control. In our Acts reading I see that same perspective. We want to control and be in power, instead of residing and resting in the Abundance of God. The man wanting to “buy” the power of conveying the Holy Spirit is disgusting.

I mentioned a few Sundays ago how this desire to be in control shows a lack of faith on our part, a wish for us to be in the driver’s seat. The one offering funds for the “power” to convey the Holy Spirit showed how little he understood. How little we understand.

Then we flash to Jesus. Looking at what meager things they had, and how much abundance he could see. Unlearning to think from a deficit perspective, unlearning the need to control and conquer, unlearning the lessons so readily taught in our culture is the task set for all of us. Oh, us of little faith. 

To rethink and rehear this lesson, I would like to read to you from the First Nations Version of the New Testament of today’s lesson. It really emphasizes how it is not about control. It is about having faith.

John 6:1-15 First Nations Version, An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament

1After this Creator Sets Free (Jesus) went over to the other side of Lake of Circle of Nations (Sea of Galilee), also called Sea of Rolling Water (Sea of Tiberias). 2A great crowd of people followed him because they saw powerful signs he performed, healing the sick. 3Creator Sets Free (Jesus) walked up to the mountainside and sat down with his followers. 4Soon it would be time again for the yearly Passover festival for the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel).

5From the mountainside Creator Sets Free (Jesus) could see how large the crowd following behind him had become. There were over five thousand men, along with women and children! He then looked at Friend of Horses (Philip) and said, “Where will we find enough food to feed all these people?"

6He said this to test him, for he already knew what he would do. Friend of Horses (Philip) took a step back and looked at him with wide eyes. He was not sure whether Creator Sets Free (Jesus)was serious or not.

7Friend of Horses (Philip) answered, "Eight moons' worth of gathered food would only give them enough for one small bite apiece!"

8Stands with Courage (Andrew), one of the twelve, the brother of Stands on the Rock (Peter), tried to be helpful and said, 9"Here is a boy with five pieces of frybread and two small fish, but how would that possibly be enough?"

10Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to them, "Have the people sit down on the grass."

There was much grass there, so all of the five thousand men began to sit down, along with women and children. Creator Sets Free (Jesus) waited patiently for them to finish. When they were all settled down, he had the ones who walked the road with him bring baskets and stand in a circle around him.

11He took the five pieces of frybread given by the little boy and held them up

to the sky. He gave thanks to the Great Spirit and began to break the frybread

into smaller pieces and gave them to his followers to give to the people. In the same manner he also divided the two fish, and they were given out to the people.

12 Everyone ate until they were full! When they were done eating, he instructed them to gather the leftovers of fish and frybread, so nothing would go to waste. 13It took twelve baskets to hold it all.

14The people began to realize what had happened. This was a powerful sign that Creator Sets Free Jesus) had just performed. They began to wonder who this man was who could do such amazing things. Like wildfire, the hopes and dreams of many generations began to rise in their hearts and minds. They were saying to one another, “This must be the Prophet, spoken of long ago, who would come into the world!?”

15Creator Sets Free (Jesus) knew in his spirit that the people were about to take

him by force to make him their chief, so he left the crowd and went to a quiet

place on the mountainside to be alone and pray. 

 

Year C Proper 15 Hard Truths

 Year C Proper 15, 14 August 2022

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Hard Truths”

Collect: Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Hebrews 12:1-2 (a portion of today's reading)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Luke 12:49-56

Jesus said, "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:

father against son

and son against father,

mother against daughter

and daughter against mother, 

mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law

and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, `It is going to rain'; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, `There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

Friends, this Sunday is a inside the family conversation. Jesus is speaking plainly, honestly, and shockingly frankly to most ears. It may sound like Jesus needs a Snickers, but it is much more than that. What he says does not fit the mold we may have of Jesus of Nazareth. He speaks of how his teachings will be confrontational and divisive. And remember, there were times when he overturned tables as well as welcoming children. 

Truth is often a hard pill to swallow.

Sometimes our mental images are far more comforting than reality. And our denial may let us slip back into our prejudices and bad habits, friends, it is not where we really want to reside. Who wants to live in a lie?

We often forget that Jesus was murdered for political reasons, his teachings were dangerous and he needed to be silenced and his “divisive movement” must be quelled by the religious leaders that be in the precarious balance of powers they shared with the Romans who were occupying their state. To keep what little they had, they had to pay an expensive price. What is the life of one man to maintain the way things are?

To the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious congress, obviously that this was worth it. Jesus’ prediction came true.

His message, if we really do what he calls us to do in the Gospel, not what we think it says, but truly says, is as shattering to the status quo today as it was then. 

Despite the current debates to the contrary, there is right and wrong. There is good and bad. There is Evil in this world out to undo the Kingdom of God. Every single one of us, not just the clergy or super-religious amongst us have the responsibility to discern. We all must do the work of discernment, listening to the prompting of the voice of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Think of it like Jiminy Cricket if you have to, or that still small voice while the world is in uproar, but each and every one of us are given the opportunity every day to “choose this day whom we will serve.” We are given the opportunity to choose the right, and turn away from the wrong. The high road or the low road, we all choose our path.

In the early church, in their baptismal practices before infants and children were baptized, the new initiates would gather in the predawn hours beside a stream or river of flowing water. They would get into the chilly waters, and as the sun cracked over the horizon they would turn and renounce the darkness, and turn back and embrace the light. Then they would be baptized into Christ. Claiming and residing in Christ in a lifelong commitment. Some of that language remains in our baptismal promises.

Even today, in countries where Christianity is not the norm or predominant, many are fine if their relatives are curious and attend a Bible study or church service, but if people are baptized, they understand that this is serious, a game changer. They understand the words of Jesus that there will be division.

“Father against son

and son against father,

mother against daughter

and daughter against mother, 

mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law

and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Somewhere along the way we have allowed our faith to become cultural, and I have seen images where people have drawn Jesus with American flags, or even worse, with a gun. Nothing could be further from the Jesus of Scripture than images like these.

Like the Hebrew prophets of old, Jesus knew that things were not as God would have them. Like Isaiah called out the hypocrisy of those who considered themselves righteous in Isaiah 5, just a little bit further down from today’s reading:

Woe to those who drag iniquity along with cords of falsehood,

    who drag sin along as with cart ropes,

who say, “Let him make haste;

    let him speed his work

    that we may see it;

let the plan of the Holy One of Israel hasten to fulfillment,

    that we may know it!”

Woe to those who call evil good

    and good evil,

who put darkness for light

    and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

    and sweet for bitter!

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes

    and shrewd in their own sight!

Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine

    and valiant at mixing drink,

who acquit the guilty for a bribe

    and deprive the innocent of their rights! [vv.18-23]

Jesus came to promote the Kingdom of God. Not his religion. Not the Empire. Not the Emperor. Not the Right to bear your sword. Jesus came to reframe our world, and have us step up into the reality of the Kingdom of God. A place of Grace. A place where all are welcome, no matter what has come before. A place divided from the way things are in this world. Jesus knew that his way of thinking, and living, and this message would drive a wedge into hearts and minds, and our society itself.

Jesus said, "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided…

The way I read this is not that Jesus wants division, but he wants the Kingdom so badly that he knows the outcome. Don’t put the cart before the horse. The horse is the Kingdom of God, and the cart that follows is division. Treating people with Love and Grace goes against the power structures that were, and are still today. The hard truth that Jesus says here in Luke is not past tense. It is as true today as when he said it.

For so many outside the Church, they can almost see the divisions and the hypocrisy better than we can. When people claiming to follow Christ talk about needing jet airplanes or fancy cars or luxury items it is disgraceful. 

While I was traveling recently it made the news in England about the preacher in New York who was doing an online service and was robbed at gunpoint for a million to a million and a half dollars in jewelry that he and his wife were wearing. Not supposedly these two people are followers of Jesus who only had the robe on his back when he died, and even that was taken and gambled over by the soldiers at the foot of the cross. Surprisingly enough, when we landed at Dulles, the customs official who welcomed us back into the country asked if I had heard about it while I was in England. He brought it up when he found out I was a priest. He then mentioned that his uncle was the NYPD detective on that case. I told him that I would pray for his uncle and I have. I also encouraged him to have his uncle look into the minister who had a million plus in jewelry. That sounds more shady to me than the robbery.

Friends, we preach a message of love and sacrifice. Of life change and eternal reward. Of turning the other cheek and generosity. Of humility and prayer. Power, and Privilege, and Prejudice are not choices we can make when we are truly following Christ.

And none of us, not a one of us, especially me, gets it fully right on this side of heaven. There are and will be logs in our eyes as we slowly attempt the conversion of our hearts on our road to heaven. That is why we gather for encouragement and strength, for correction and confrontation, for reconciliation and absolution in our divided and divisive path into the Kingdom of God Christ brought about. There are many shoulders of the faithful that we are standing upon, and the world is slowly shifting to that final day when all shall be revealed and the Kingdom will come in its fullness. That is why the preacher in Hebrews can encourage and strengthen us with their admonition:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Ashland is a train town, and an old standard that was actually a hit again in my teenage years echoed through my brain this week preparing for today. 

People get ready

There's a train a-coming

You don't need no baggage

You just get on board

All you need is faith

To hear the diesels humming

Don't need no ticket

You just thank the Lord

So much truth there. I need to let go of the baggage of this world and get on board. Do I have the faith to do so? Or will I let it go by? Ponder that friends. Jesus’ promises confront and welcome still. Amen