"When the Authentic Shows": a sermon Year C Lent 5 2016

“When the Authentic Shows”

Year C Lent 5, March 13, 2016

St. Thomas’ Episcopal, Richmond, VA

“When the Authentic Shows”

Year C Lent 5, March 13, 2016

St. Thomas’ Episcopal, Richmond, VA

The Collect:
Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

John 12:1-8

1Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ 6(He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’

From Anthony Bloom:"We must try to discover the real person we are; otherwise we cannot encounter the Lord in truth. From time to time something authentic shows through: in moments when we are carried away by such joy that we forget who might be looking at us...when we are unself-conscious in moments of extreme pain...or when we have a deep sense of sadness or of wonder. At these moments we see something of the true person that we are.” (http://inwardoutward.org/quote-author/anthony-bloom/)

Bloom is speaking here about when we lay out our souls naked. Others may squirm or look away, but when we are at that point of baring it all, emotionally, spiritually, whatever, in these moments we may be able to glimpse our truest selves. These moments are the ones beyond what we do, and they actually define who we are. These are moments that do not make rational sense, they only make sense with the sense of the heart. Mary, I believe, did that this day.

She opened up and did not think about the cost. She, in her ecstatic joy over her brother’s resurrection, tried in a tangible way express to Jesus how she felt about what he had done for her. In anointing his feet, she bared her very soul.

I have seen bumper stickers extolling the “Practice [of] Random Acts of Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty.” This could not be more different. There was nothing Random about this. There is nothing Senseless about this. She was intentional and deliberate. Maybe we should learn something from that.

People, had they been able, would have stopped her. So many social norms were being broken here. She uncovered her hair. No, no, no. She touched someone, a man, to whom she was not related. No, no, no. She took an extravagance, something worth close to a year’s wages, and poured it out like it was water. No, no, no.

I think she was not stopped because there was a quality about her that would not have been stopped no matter what. She was beyond herself that day, expressing perhaps her truest self, as Bloom intimates. She went forward to the Master and knelt at his feet. She uncovered her hair, and used it as a towel to clean the dirt and grime from the road off of Jesus.

Judas complained about the shocking waste, and it is alluded he would have taken a good percentage had it been sold to help the poor. He complained, but notice he did not stop it. I believe the reason why no one stopped this was because despite all the social norms this was breaking, it was a moment of Grace, with a capital “G.” (I have a hard time writing Grace without a capital “G.”)

It is said that the uniqueness of humanity is that we are the storytelling creature. Other animals share information, but we build our lives around stories. You are sitting in a room listening to me talk about stories. When our family arrives home, we ask, “How was your day?” Narratives drive our understanding of our lives. We even see narratives when there are none sometimes, we so long to find a meaning and purpose to our experiences.

Think of the great stories of our culture, the ones that resonate and ring true in cultures around the world. These tales are the ones that are repeated and recycled and handed down from generation to generation. And I would argue that the ones that are people’s favorites are the ones where we see these Points of Grace, whether fictional or real.

What do I mean by Points of Grace? I mean those moments when we see someone being who they were created to be break forth. I mean those moments when despite all the world being against them the individual triumphs, often at great risk or cost, and will not be defeated even if they lose.

For brevity’s sake, let’s just look at a few examples. Sports come easily to mind. Think of those moments when it all comes down to one play, make it or lose. All the pressure, all the hopes for and all the curses against, the shot goes up, the buzzer sounds, and collectively thousands hold their breath while they wait to witness the impossible. The shot goes in and the thousands jump up or cry or scream, or all three at once. Why do we care so much? Because sports are a metaphor for life, whether we like them or not. Little bite-size encapsulations of being alive, where there are set rules and determinable outcomes. And that is why we remember these Points of Grace in sports. When injured Kerri Strug landed on one foot in the ‘96 Olympics to win the Gold Medal. Wow! We even give them names sometimes. The Miracle on Ice from the 1980 Olympics. The Ice Bowl from Green Bay in 1967. The Catch from Joe Montana to Dwight Clark in 1982’s NFC Championship game between the 49ers and the Cowboys. These moments when the miraculous (loosely used there) is seen.

But the movies and books we remember most are the same, as well. There is a reason why Rocky 7 is in theaters now. It might be called Creed, but everyone knows it is Rocky 7. At the end of Rocky, the first one, he loses the fight, but gains the world. He did not back down or give in when everyone and everything was stacked against him. Even in his defeat he won. He was his truest self. He did not quit. He was a rock, he was Rocky Balboa. And that is why we keep going back, hoping for that moment of Grace.

In Star Wars, the first one, Luke Skywalker lets go of his fears and becomes his true self, claiming the Grace that was his to receive. And they made 6 more.

My favorite novels are no different. In A Prayer for Owen Meany, Owen is fulfilling the call of God as he understood it without thinking of the cost. In The Life of Pi, Pi Patel believes and gives his suffering a purpose and bigger vision by claiming “the better story.” In Les Misérables, Victor Hugo’s masterpiece, we see Jean Valjean so ultimately converted that he is willing to do anything to fulfill the Bishop’s claiming of his soul. We see through these stories which point to that Grace that underlies the hunger of our souls.

Often misquoted Blaise Pascal about the God-shaped hole in the heart of every man is correctly quoted here:

“What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace?

This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself”

[This is from page 75 of Blaise Pascal’s Pensees (New York; Penguin Books, 1966).]

I think on the times when Grace has captured our news. The man on Air Florida Flight #90 out of National airport on January 13, 1982, and the victims floating in the frigid waters of the Potomac. Three times a man passed on the rescue rope from the helicopter so that others might live. And his acts of enabling others to live were the last things he did on this earth.

The tank man in Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989, who stood alone against a line of tanks to try and stop them entering to open fire on student protesters.

I think this yearning for Grace is at the base of the heart, and that is why it is the root of our favorite stories and tales, and the basis of the images that haunt us years after the event. God breaks through when we, the very image of God, the imago Dei, open ourselves to being who God made us to be.

And when Mary comes in with that pound of nard, she becomes Thanksgiving incarnate. Her actions scream to all there in the room the joy and thankfulness for what Jesus has done. The Revenant (and thanks to the movie so I can use that word and people might know what it means) the Revenant, her brother, sits there in the room watching her give thanks in the most honest of ways. She says thank you with her whole self.

John goes on to say that “The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” These points of Grace are like that. They permeate us all. They pluck our heart strings. They speak to us about the reality we hope and pray is true. Like the perfume’s fragrance, when Grace breaks through it fills the space. There is no getting away from it.

Another favorite movie of mine is The Commitments. It tells the story of a young man in Dublin who decides to put together a Soul Band. Being white and Irish did not stop Jimmy Rabbitte, but even though a modicum of success found the fledgling band it fell apart. The wizened old trumpet player who had played with all the greats pulls him aside to impart some Truth with a capital “T.”

Joey, the wizened trumpet player: Look, I know you're hurtin' now, but in time you'll realize what you've achieved.
Jimmy Rabbitte: I've achieved nothing!
Joey: You're missin' the point. The success of the band was irrelevant - you raised their expectations of life, you lifted their horizons. Sure we could have been famous and made albums and stuff, but that would have been predictable. This way it's poetry.

Mary’s actions that day were poetry. No one stopped her because she was unstoppable. There are a mere 4 stories that are in all four of the Gospels.

The baptism of Jesus by John.

The Feeding of the 5,000.

The Confession of Peter that Jesus was the Messiah.

And this story. The anointing of Jesus feet. While the details may be different in the various versions, the truth of the story remains the same. In Mark’s account, Jesus even says that wherever his story is told, this story will be included. I think this impressed Jesus, too.

And while we stand in awe, and think how wonderful Mary is, how might we be like her? Not in doing what she did. Jesus is not here, and our brother was not just resurrected. But in Christ, how can we be our truest self?

On Friday, I heard a moving piece on NPR from Francois Clemmons. He played a police officer on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. He began in 1968, after Mr. Rogers heard him sing in church. He offered him a role on the show. Clemmons, being African-American, felt uncomfortable portraying a police officer, as he put it “having grown up in the ghetto” not to mention the racially charged atmosphere of 1968. He did take the role, and portrayed Officer Clemmons for years, 25 I think. One poignant episode, Mr. Rogers was dipping his feet in a wading pool on a hot day, and invited Clemmons to join him. Clemmons said the sight of the skin of their feet next to each other made a strong statement. And then, Mr. Rogers took a towel and dried Clemmons feet. Without words, Mr. Rogers soul came out. Without words, Christ was preached more loudly than from a pulpit. Later, on another episode, at the closing when Mr. Rogers said like always “I like you just the way you are.” After they wrapped up, he walked over to Clemmons who asked, “Were you talking to me today?” Fred Rogers responded, “I have been for years, you just heard me today.” Mr. Rogers’ authenticity finally broke through.

The collect from today prays: “Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners…” I would say just that, as we allow God in to bring order to our unruly wills and affections we start to become who we are. And we can start to become who we are because of whose we are. We, like Bloom said, get out of our own way and “From time to time something authentic shows through…” That is my prayer for all of this Lenten day. That we can let go of our unruly wills and affections and not do something, but rather, BE WHO GOD MADE US TO BE. The world may not understand, and that is okay. Acting out of Grace will not make sense to the mind, but nothing could make more sense to the sense of the heart.

We are enabled and empowered and expected to let the authentic show through, and when it does the world will be in awe. Like it was with Mary. Like it was with Christ on the cross. Like it can be when you claim your birthright in Christ. Who can we be when the authentic shows through? Amen.

Perspectives: Considering the Former and Embracing the New

In all our lives seasons come and go. Some are joyful transitions. Some are movements not of our own choosing. All are change. The thing of dread to more people than you would think.

I tend to embrace change. I like new things, going to new restaurants and trying new tastes and experiencing the unexpected. But sometimes my running to embrace the new leaves people I care deeply for in the wake. Not all of us like the novelty. Not all of us can drop what we adore for something new. This is hard to remember at times.

I am in a season of change right now. Not one of choice, but one of necessity. The siren call of the familiar is a temptation, but the call of something higher and better is louder and clearer. But that higher and clearer call is not something everyone can hear. It would make everything so much easier. What is confirmation in my soul is confusion or delusion to someone else. It is so hard not to judge someone else's confirmation from the Holy Spirit. One's own whispering voice can be so clear, but impossible for others to even comprehend.

One of the best sermons I ever gave was from a passage in Isaiah 43. I ran across it today preparing for a sermon coming up. It's was like a drink of fresh, cool water.

Is. 43: 18-19
[Thus says the LORD:]
Do not remember the former things,
or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.

I am looking for the New Thing. I am looking for the Way in the Wilderness. I am looking for the River in the Desert. It is springing forth. Lord, help me to perceive it. Help those that love me to perceive it. Give them eyes to see, and ears to hear. Even more, help me to see and hear the right voices. Maybe the admonitions of my beloveds are the voice of God, the very ones which I need to hear. And that is wisdom incarnate, the discerning of the calls to which to listen.

As the doors close on this season of my life, and new doors open, help me LORD to know which doors to step into and fully claim your calling and grace. Twice before I have followed my sense of your call, and the world would call them abysmal failures. But stemming from those failures I have gotten my greatest treasures. I got what I needed, not what I wanted. And who knows. The third time may be the charm. My calling away may be what this path, as winding and circuitous as it has been, may have been preparing me for the next steps. In fact, it has, I just cannot see it from here.

"Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" The New Thing is out there. Prepare LORD for whatever it could be.

"Revelation: Up and Down the Mountain": a sermon

“Revelation: Up and Down the Mountain”

Transfiguration Sunday, Year C

St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Richmond

The season of Epiphany is one of Revelation, where the hidden is revealed, the skipped-over is finally seen, where God breaks through and bonks us on the head. And sometimes we need it.

“The stone the builders rejected became the chief cornerstone.” This quote from Psalm 118 was quoted by Jesus, as told in Matthew and Luke, and then was quoted by Luke in Acts and by Paul and Peter in their letters. It could be the theme of the season of Epiphany, as we finish up this week. What was a hike for the closest disciples of Jesus, became a Revelation.

Think of it. When you have something big happen in your life who do you reach out to?

When you get good news, who do you call first?

When you are going to go through something big, who shows up?

The ones we love of course. Some things are for public consumption. Many things are not. There are times and places for things to be revealed, and the Mount of the Transfiguration was such a place.

Jesus chose his Intimates, those he was closest to to join him in his hike up the mountain. Was it just supposed to be time away with friends, and like with Moses seeing the burning bush, Jesus was stopped in the midst of something else and had God break through? Or did he know? Either way God’s glory was revealed.

Jesus, walking with Peter, John and James stopped atop the mountain to pray. And in the midst of his prayer Moses, the lawgiver, arrives. And Elijah, a prophet so beloved he was taken straight into heaven.

In my mind I love to think that in prayer Moses had Elijah and Jesus show up at some point, just that no one was there to see it. In Elijah’s prayer, Moses and Jesus showed up. Imagine that. What if Elijah’s “still small voice” he heard in the cave was Jesus whispering all would be okay. What if Moses on the Mountain discussed the Ten Commandments with the bringer of grace. Time, we are learning more and more, is nonlinear, and our most modern science is saying this could be a possibility. Then the Past is Now. Then the Future is Now, too. Confusing, yes. Fun to  think about.

It must have been beautiful and beyond words. Luke tells us that Jesus’ face changed, and his clothes became a dazzling white.

But Moses went up alone, Jesus brought along disciples, and in his bringing them along his transformation was not private and he opened an opportunity to miss the point of revelation.

You see we go up a mountain to come back down.

We learn so that we can use the learning.

We are blessed by God to be a blessing.

In the economy of God’s Grace, nothing is wasted.

Peter, in a moment overcome by the revelation of Jesus in his holiness, thinks that it is good that they were there. 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." This is when God breaks in. And in a voice from Heaven, as if these three did not already know the holiness of Jesus, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him.”

And here is our Epiphany. We get caught up in the clothes turning white and the glowing of faces, but the important thing in all of this is the declaration of God that Jesus is the One, God’s Son, God’s Chosen. And when one is Chosen in Israel, like young David with the prophet Samuel, he is Anointed. And that is where we get the term Messiah. God’s Anointed. God’s Chosen. This is the important part and the key to today. This is the Revelation.

The temptation to hold onto revelation is the ultimate temptation and the saddest response possible. Peter thought that he was saying something good. But Jesus knew, God knew. and deep down I trust Peter knew. he had to go down the mountain.

From years and years of camp ministry I am used to people having the mountaintop experience. The take themselves out of the normal and get away. They sleep well. They eat well. They exercise. They take care of themselves the way they should all year round. The reason why all of this is provided and given to them is so that they have the space to focus on what is most important, their relationships. With God. With their families and friends. More than once I heard, “I wish this could last forever.” In fact, I have heard it every session of camp for 25 summers of working at summer camps. But we have to go down the mountain. We have to go home.

And what about Jesus? What was going on with him?

I think the parallels with Moses’ cannot be missed. That is obvious and why that was included in our lectionary reading today. But I think it is more. I think it can be more subtle and more real than we want to give it credit for.

Stephanie and I have been married just over 23 years. We know each other so well she can walk in a room and I can read her. Not a word spoken. Not a glance made at me, but in a glance I have learned most of her clues. Our dear friends are the same way, they know us so well they can finish our sentences.

While I was in college I got some much needed help to deal with the death of my father when I was young. And let me do a pause here and put out an advertisement, there is nothing wrong about getting help when you need help. It is not stoic, or brave, or manly. I put it off too long and paid some dear prices because of that delay. But when I did seek out help, it made a huge difference. One day, after some really hard and gut-wrenching work, some of the real issues broke through. I was crying. The therapist was crying. It was a catharsis. Like a boil bursting open and all the nastiness finally getting out, that day was a turning point for me.

After the session, and after I had some space to collect myself and walk back across campus I ran into a good friend. I was just going to say hi, and get back to my apartment as fast as I could, but he stopped me and asked, “What’s going on? You are glowing.” Glowing, his exact word. My good friend knew. I couldn’t hide it. I had a profound, cathartic, and I would even see Holy experience in that therapist’s office. I say Holy because it was healing and healing is a holy act. Was light coming out from me? No, of course not, but those that know us well can sense a drastic, dramatic and positive change. It is “enlightening.”

Every year, the last Sunday of Epiphany focuses on the Transfiguration of Jesus. Every year we are reminded of this turning point in Jesus’ life. Turning point? Yes. This is turning point in the Gospels when Jesus begins the end of his earthly ministry and “turns his face” to Jerusalem. After this point he begins the end. He starts telling his disciples about how the Son of Man must be turned over, beaten, killed and crucified.

And Wednesday, we join in the journey. We turn our faces not to the physical, earthly Jerusalem, but rather the events of Jerusalem are in the forefront of our mind. We impose ashes in the sign of the cross upon our forehead and we are marked as Christ’s. (Please join us at 8, Noon or 7 this Wednesday, by the way.)

And that is how we come down the mountain. I mentioned earlier that we have the mountaintop to prepare us for the valley. We have the Transfiguration to prepare us for Lent. Our beloved Shrine Mont, remember its full name, the Cathedral Shrine of the Transfiguration. We have a Shrine Mont so we can come back to Richmond.

As we end our time of Enlightenment and turn into the Shadows of Lent, what are you thinking of doing to prepare your heart, soul and mind? Last year I spoke of my daughter’s mis-statement about what she was going to “forget for Lent” and I spoke about removing something from our lives so much that we actually “forget-about-it.”

But I was deeply moved this week, in an article from Time Magazine speaking about Pope Francis’ Lenten admonition about Fasting from things:

But Pope Francis has asked us to reconsider the heart of this activity this Lenten season. According to Francis, fasting must never become superficial. He often quotes the early Christian mystic John Chrysostom who said: “No act of virtue can be great if it is not followed by advantage for others. So, no matter how much time you spend fasting, no matter how much you sleep on a hard floor and eat ashes and sigh continually, if you do no good to others, you do nothing great.”

But this isn’t to downplay the role of sacrifice during the Lenten season. Lent is a good time for penance and self-denial. But once again, Francis reminds us that these activities must truly enrich others: “I distrust a charity that costs nothing and does not hurt.”

So, if we’re going to fast from anything this Lent, Francis suggests that even more than candy or alcohol, we fast from indifference towards others.

In his annual Lenten message, the pope writes, “Indifference to our neighbor and to God also represents a real temptation for us Christians. Each year during Lent we need to hear once more the voice of the prophets who cry out and trouble our conscience.”

“Pope Francis’ Guide to Lent: What You Should Give Up This Year” by Christopher J. Hale, Time Magazine, edition Feb. 18, 2015. Obtained online.

The temptation to hold onto revelation is the ultimate temptation and the saddest response possible. This lent, during this time of Shadows extending from the Cross of Christ, let us reach out to those that live there in the shadows of this life, and reach out, invite, console and encourage them so that they too may come to the glories of Easter on the other side. Let us go down the mountain, taking with us this Revelation, and turn our faces to Jerusalem.

Amen.

Welcome d365 Readers

Thank you to all of you hitting my blog after reading this week's devotions on d365 app and website. I am kind of blown away. My prayer for you continues to be that God's will and ways be revealed to you. Have faith that the path you have started will draw you further from your comfort zone, but also further into relying on God's "grace-upon-grace." Thanks again for checking things out. Let me know if you have questions or ideas. Blessings, Rev. Rock

The Good Wine: a sermon Epiphany 2 Year C 2016

“The Good Wine”

Year C Epiphany 2, January 17, 2016

St. Thomas’ Episcopal, Richmond, VA

I will be the first to say, this has not been the best week. Pop icons have died. Our beloved Church has been smacked down by our supposed brothers and sisters. Personally I have not been the best physically. And no one here won the lottery. But if you did, the Stewardship Team would love to take you to lunch today!

And the readings this week, they are an interesting mix. We see Jesus turning water to wine. We hear Paul speaking of the gifts of the Spirit. We hear God calling those who were sent out back home. All nice. But nothing earth-shattering or surprising. Not at first glance anyway.

You see, looking at the week we have just had, and looking at the Scripture passages for this week, what comes out to me is not the jump up and down hurrah, but that the closer we get to the messiness, disappointment and problems of life, the more we zoom in on it, we see that God is already there, no matter how minute our range of vision. If we take our spiritual telescope, God is waving back at us from across the galaxy and if we take our spiritual microscope, God is present and affirming and calling us home.

You see, to be intentionally vulgar for a moment, God gives a damn. For the rest of the sermon I will suffice it to say that God Cares. But, you will know what I mean.

Does the death of David Bowie really truly affect me? Yes and no. My whole life he was a fixture. He starred in movies I liked, was on tv I watched, and many of his songs are present on the soundtrack to my life. Alan Rickman, my favorite bad guy bar none. Die Hard or Harry Potter, I loved how good he was at being bad. I will miss them both. But does God care? Yes. God does. God cares that I care, because we have a caring God. When my daughters cry in a movie my heart is touched, and I may even get choked up myself. I love them, and I love that they love and care and have depths of emotion in them. You think it is any different with God, who loves us even more than I love my kids?

God cares because we care. Jesus had to put up with it, too.

At the wedding we see Jesus hanging out with the disciples he had, and his mother. His ministry had started, but had not gotten into full swing. While there, Mary points out to Jesus that they had run out of wine. And then he so pointedly declares:  "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come."

But for whatever reason, and maybe it was because his mother cared so much, Jesus steps out of the normal and performs his miracle, revealing his glory as the Scripture declares. She instructs the servants to just do whatever he tells them to do. They do, and the result is that here is declared the Good Wine. What came before the guests thought was good, but this, they saved the best for last.

This story, as I have said, may seem insignificant, but the joy of the story, the heart of the story, is that Jesus cared. He cared about the groom’s embarrassment. He cared about the servants fear of being in trouble for not being prepared. He cared about his mother, and her worry over the matter. Jesus cared, and in his caring, the miraculous happened.

But immediately you could counter with a couple of things:

1. People just do not believe in miracles any more.
2. Jesus did not care, and shows us so when he asks his mother what business is it of hers or his.
3. The underlying assumption of this whole sermon is that God cares when we can all think of so many times when horrors took place, and we did not see God at work.

Let’s go through these one by one.

ONE: You may think that people do not believe in miracles any longer, and that they are no longer relevant. But I have news, that is pretty incontrovertible.  How many people thought this week that they could make $2 turn into $1.5 Billion? I heard all kinds of analogies. If 1,000 chances were pennies, and all those 1,000 chances were stacked up as tall as the Empire State Building one penny yanked out would still be 1 in 1,000 chance. Or if you had a banana for every chance, the bananas would wrap around the entire globe at the equator and then continue to stretch into space for another 10,000 miles of bananas. Needless to say, there was a lot of hope stretching out Wednesday night that a few bucks would put somebody well into the 1%. Tell me people do not believe in miracles. They hope and wish and pray for them every day. But maybe the sad part is that they do not anticipate them any more.

There were a lot of people praying, hoping for the miracle of numbers this week. And please hear me, we should not plan, prepare or budget with a miracle in mind. But as we often joke about on Thursday mornings at our Food Pantry, “We are in the miracle business.” Like Miracle Max from Princess Bride. Maybe the miracle of today’s world is seeing God at work when the world is screaming otherwise.

TWO: Jesus obviously said he did not care about the situation, and told his mother as much. Now trust me, I am going to bring this story back to Jesus.

I loved the acting of Alan Rickman, and in reading articles about him this week, I learned something new. When he was portraying Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series, they started filming those after only three of the books had been published. In the early books his character is seen as horrible, and the worst sort of teacher imaginable. Early on, author J.K. Rowling pulled Rickman aside and let him know some things. Ambiguous. Vague. But enough with an actor’s imagination to run with. It was said that with more than one of the directors of the movies, he refused to follow their instructions citing, “I will not do that. The character would not do that. I know things that you don’t know.” You see, throughout all the nastiness and meanness he had to portray, Alan Rickman had to have the end game in sight. He had to make sure that he was consistent and true to the outcome he was to have.

And now, we bring it back to Jesus. I tend to see this in much the same light. Jesus did not live up to anybody’s expectations about what a Messiah was supposed to be, not even his mother’s. Jesus may have been about his father’s work, and yes, maybe it was vague and ambiguous to him at this point, or crystal clear. We do not and cannot know. But he did know that winemaking was not he had come to do. But his mother asked. Who knows whose wedding this was? It could have been close friends or relatives. How do we know that Jesus cared? He did it. Even though it may have been off the grand scheme or vision he had of his calling, even at a party he was able to do good, even though it was none of his business.

THREE: Jesus may have cared, but how can I say God cares when all of us can point to at least 100 times when when bad things happened and we wondered where God was. And this whole conversation is brought together in the theological term Theodicy. A simple way to think of it is the problem of evil.

While there are many approaches to this question, for me it is not so much as to why evil exists but rather why isn’t there more. For me, my eyes of faith see it very differently than “Where was God when bad things happen?” I see it more from “Where might things have gone if God had not been at work?” I believe this is more than the glass is half-full or half-empty argument. It is the idea of the miraculous. God is at work, right here, right now. It is the difference between wine and the Good Wine.

Think about it. Most of us live lives of moderate choice, moderate ease, moderate affluence, especially in comparison to most of the rest of the world. In this party we call life in Richmond in 2016, we expect wine. We expect to be comfortable and cared for. When God steps in though, we begin to get a taste of the Good Wine. The Special Reserve has been brought out. There is a substantive change. While we could have settled for what was, when God steps in the old is past and the new has come.

For Jesus, this was why he did not step forward. His time had not yet come. But he was brought forward nonetheless, and God’s way broke through. The good became the best. Even at a wedding celebration, the world was turned upside down. The best comes out after the mediocre.

For me, that is the miracle. How we see what it is that we are about. If I view much of my life without the eyes of faith, it could be seen as Myah. However, the riches of the gifts of the life of faith are far greater than I could have hoped for or imagined. Thanks be to God.

Like turning the ordinary into the extraordinary, Jesus took water the most basic of things and made the extraordinary. Maybe the miracle that can happen for all of us is to see the miracle in the mundane. Our perception can be that we have been given the Best when all we expected was more of the same ole’, same ole’.

Those who have eyes to see, let them see. Amen.

The Cost of Grace: a response to the Primates' Statement in the Anglican Communion

There are only a few times when I have had my choices more resoundingly confirmed. Yesterday was one of those. I became an Episcopalian by choice, losing many friends and connections because of that choice. Becoming an Episcopal priest only strengthened those beliefs and cemented me further to my new Church. Despite any losses, what I have gained is far greater, a sense of belonging to a church that believes in an all-inclusive love by a church that chooses to make the choices to affirm and defend a gospel of Grace. The issue now is homosexuality. Before it was gender. Tomorrow will be something else.

But what it boils down to is this. Do we believe in Grace? Do we believe that God loves us where we are, no matter where that is, and does God pick us up, clean us off, and call us to be our best selves, loving us constantly and consistently through all of it? Because I can only scream YES to that question, I have to err on the side of Grace, if choosing Grace is ever an error.

As soon as we humans slap any type of caveat, exception, division or whatever on the extent of God's love and Grace it ceases to be either. Grace is what marks the distinction of our faith. Were I to preach a Grace with any limits, it ceases to be Grace. It has become Mercy, which is wonderful and powerful for those who receive Mercy. Grace with limitations is Mercy. Judaism offers a God of Mercy. Islam offers Allah the Compassionate and Merciful. But I believe in something a little bit more. Endless, ceaseless and amazing. Grace.

By choosing to censure the Episcopal Church for proclaiming and living out God's boundless Grace to all people, it shows a fear and sadness that God's love has limits. I would invite my Anglican brothers and sisters to read the Scriptures, and my prayer is that their view of God only becomes bigger, grander, and more inclusive. If not, I will not be surprised if they move from censure to exclusion in three years time. If that is the case, so be it. You see, the Cost of Grace is nothing. But that does not mean living lives of Grace is not costly. (See Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship, et al.)

The Anglican Communion may choose to exclude the Episcopal Church, but I do not think that that will be the direction of this decision in the long term, and that history will arch towards Grace. Read all of Scripture, it has since the beginning. I truly believe that the God of Grace I preach, teach and believe in isn't finished with any of us yet.

Prayerfully I look forward to the prompting, leading and responding to the Holy Spirit in the days and years to come. My all our days, whatever self-declared "camp," be Grace-filled.

Raising Standards & Kaizen: a sermon Epiphany 2016

“Raising Standards & Kaizen”

Epiphany (observed) Year C, January 3, 2016

St. Thomas’ Episcopal, Richmond, VA

(Sermon based on Luke 2:1-12)

Happy New Year! According to the Roman Calendar.

But we keep a different calendar. Our Church Year began on the last day of November, which we called Advent One.  And with it, we began Year C of our lectionary readings. We are a funny people, and we follow funny ways. But we are called out, called out to be special, called out to be a holy nation, called out to be a royal priesthood to God on High. The word we use as Church in the New Testament, ekklesia, literally means the “called out ones.” It is where we get the word ecclesiastical.

So when we look at our new year, whether a month into it, or 3 days, we are looking at a beginning. And often I, like a lot of people, use the turning of a fresh page in the calendar to take a chance to evaluate and take an assessment of where I am and where I want to go, even who I want to be. I saw a great quote this week about change.

“Any time you sincerely want to make a change, the first thing you must do is to raise your standards.” -Tony Robbins

There is a lot of truth in that. If you keep doing the same thing and expect a different outcome, I have heard, is the definition of insanity. To make real change, we have to look at what is, and decide that things need to be better. I think that is almost the definition of our faith. Jesus did not come into this world to endorse the status quo, Jesus came to redeem the world, to transform it utterly and tasked us with finishing his mission. Appeasement of our guilt was not his intent, but taking the dark, dark coal of our souls and creating diamonds worthy of the King of the Universe.  God will not settle for us to get just enough. He wants us to be light in the deepest recesses of a dark, dark world. But we settle for less, far too easily. I am reminded of that in a poem by Wilbur Rees:

I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.

Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep,

but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk

or a snooze in the sunshine.

I don’t want enough of God to make me love a black man

or pick beets with a migrant.

I want ecstasy, not transformation.

I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth.

I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack.

I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.

— Wilbur Rees

Today we celebrate the Epiphany, well, we observe it anyway. Epiphany, the eye-opening of the Wise Men, and through them the rest of the World, that this babe in the manger was the promised light to all nations, the Messiah, Christ the Lord.

This enlightening of minds is exactly what we are going for in resolutions and promises to self at New Year’s. We say we want change, and we try to make steps to start right. Gym memberships soar, and attendance increases for a few weeks, until the glow of the best of intentions wears off.

The thing about this Jesus, we have to go away different from the way we came. We can make all the promises we want, we can have the best of intentions, but if we start out back the way we came, we have not truly changed. Every week  I see it here at St. Thomas’. I also see how caring and loving you all are. We know we are unique, and maybe a bit weird. That’s St. Thomas’, and I would not have it any other way. You wait patiently for Susan and me to take care of those at the altar  and then after the ushers give you the go ahead, you come up to the altar. As you come to the altar rail for the Eucharist each side naturally forms a line. But here is where someone new gets very confused, especially if they are sitting near the front. When done, someone new does not know how we do it, stepping not back the way you came, but down into the Petrick room and back out into the hallway and then down the side aisle back into the church. Most every week, someone tries to go back down the center, which is now filled with two lines of people, very gracious and helpful people, but it can be confusing. When we go to meet Christ, wherever he is, we must return differently.

This is an apt metaphor for our Christian walk. Those Wise Men, “warned in a dream, went home by another road.” And we must do the same. If we do not go home differently from the way we came, why did we bother going in the first place? When we come forward to receive Christ in his Real Presence at his altar, we needs must be transformed. And I am sure in this room we have almost as many opinions on what that Real Presence is and what it means, and I thank God for that. It is one of the reasons I chose to become Anglican. I agree with the poet John Donne:

"He was the Word that spake it;

He took the bread and brake it;

And what that Word did make it;

I do believe and take it."

However we see it, we are called to radical, wholesale change. No ifs, ands or buts.

We, like the Wise Men, are called to go home another way.

But what does that mean? Really. Deep down what does that mean? When I come to the altar, and meet Christ how can I make a real and substantive change three times today? This morning, this afternoon at Floyd’s service, and tonight at Bluegrass Mass? I do not think I can, or anyone could. But I do think when I come to meet Christ here at the altar, or in my prayers, or in my service to him, that I can have an attitude of asking Christ in His Real Presence to show me where I am off his path and how to get back on it. I can be open to his correction, and work to enact it in my life. I can have an attitude of being one who is always learning instead of one of being an authority all the time.

When I first became a priest after so many years of being a pastor in another denomination, I was surprised and shocked about some things. I had an epiphany if you will. When I was a pastor, people often asked my advice but I was only one voice amongst many that they were listening to in their situation. But as a priest, I had several people say something to the effect, “Just tell me, and I will do whatever you say!” That is a lot of responsibility, and one I still am not used to to be honest. Most often my response to that is, “Don’t say that to anyone!” And then we proceed to have a conversation and pray about things. Instead of a director or a conductor or a coach, I feel like I am more of a player/coach. I am at bat and in the field, just like all of you. I must be doing it alongside you. At times you take the lead, and at times I do, but we are all doing the best we can while we can doing what we can. That analogy far better fits how I see how we are doing church together.

Instead of looking at all the things we are doing wrong, the THOU-SHALT-NOTs, I think our approach can be more like the quote from St. Augustine of Hippo, “Love God and do what you will.” If we are truly loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as much as ourself, then our attitude is always about being the best we can as an offering to the one we love most.

As St. Paul said in Romans: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.”Romans 12:1-2

And that is our epiphany! That this babe, this humble, simple babe came into our context to help us change our experience so that we might be called Children of God. Wow! Think of how that changes everything!

When I was in graduate school, there was a Japanese word that was used as a buzzword in consulting situations. Kaizen. Constant improvement. While it became trite and cliché in the business world, it was always something that stuck with me because it resonated with my understanding of discipleship. I was instructed in the way of Christ, so that I could walk the way of Christ, and in doing so invite others to join in Christ’s way, and that together we could continue in the transforming of our minds so that more and more we could be like Christ in what we say and how we say it, in what we do and how we do it. Kaizen. Constant devotion and discipleship leading to further and further Christlikeness.

It was no accident that the early Church members in Antioch were made fun of and called Christians, which means little Christs. When was the last time I was accused of being a little Messiah? Probably too long. God help me. God help us all.

So today we come, and maybe you expected to meet Christ here, or maybe you did not. Whichever, Christ is here, waiting, wanting to meet you, and in doing so, enable you to go home different from the way you came.

To quote a favorite song of James Taylor, “Maybe me and you can be Wise Guys too and go home another way.” Amen.