Year A Proper 22 2017 Metrics of our Success

Year A Proper 22, 8 Oct 2017

St James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Metrics of our Success”

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
Then God spoke all these words:
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work.
Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.”

Philippians 3:4b-14
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 21:33-46
Jesus said, “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

I want first to acknowledge the awful tragedy of last Sunday in Las Vegas. I spoke on it at our Wednesday morning service, and I would invite you, if interested in reading that on my blog, rev.rocks, please do so. We live in a fallen world, and we need Christ’s message of love and peace all the more, and in a roundabout way, that is what today’s sermon is all about.

One of the hard parts about growing up is deciding which voices we will listen to. And, which ones we won’t. In fact,  one of the greatest challenges for young people today is discernment. Often at Church we use the word discernment in regards to a calling to the ministry. What is the voice of God, and what is not? I truly feel that the greatest discipleship challenge in the Church today is teaching discernment to everybody.

Discernment is defined outside the Church as “the ability to judge well.” That is exactly what each of us must do. We must judge the messages that we receive, and consider the source of that voice.

I had never really thought about this much, until I attended a conference on the Brain and Learning co-sponsored by Harvard and MIT while I was a teacher. In one of the workshops the speaker pulled up Google, and typed in Martin Luther King, Jr. Now the number one hit on the search was…? [Wait for response] Of course, Wikipedia. And as a teacher I always told my students to only use Wikipedia if you knew NOTHING and needed a place to start, but to be very wary and not to trust it completely, and to NEVER use it as a source. It has gotten better, but it is still written by any and everybody. We do not trust it because we can never know the source of the information given. We have to be discerning. As we continued in our search on MLK, there were some good sources, but nestled into the top 5 was a site that seemed legitimate until you dug several web pages in. It was sponsored by a white supremacist group, and the first few pages were intentionally designed to lure in kids doing work on the life of MLK. It was horrific, and deliberate. And it taught the lesson well. Know to whom you are listening.

Our readings for the day reflect just that. The Exodus passage is well known to us. It is even transcribed on our wall. The Ten Commandments. God’s Little Instruction Book. The Ten Words, as our Jewish brothers and sisters call them, were a great place to start. “Want to live a good life?” asks God. “Start here.” It shows how to live well and peaceably with our neighbors and with our God. Wonderful! But as we grow, we know that the black and white of the Ten Commandments do not cover a lot of the grey areas of living life. It is not that we do not need these, we do, we really, really do, but if these covered everything then we would not need lawyers, or biblical scholars, either. No offense to any lawyers in the room.

Jesus’ parable is much the same. His story is about those that decided not to listen to any of the messages of the one who owned their whole world, the owner of the vineyard where they lived and worked. The workers got into a situation that Psychologists might call GroupThink, where the ideas of a group rationalize and justify their own opinions because they are limiting the information received from outside their own circle. Time and again, the owner sent the voice of authority, reason, and sanity, and they dismissed them at best, and killed them at worst. He even sent the heir apparent to them, hoping they would respect his authority through the son, but alas, they did not. They killed the son. This was a prophetic parable, and foreshadowing, wasn’t it? They had convinced themselves that they were right and could keep what was not theirs, despite all the messages. And they did not heed the Voice they actually needed to hear.

The most powerful lesson for me today, though, is when St Paul gets very honest and very personal. The word I use is vulnerable. The years have taught me as a preacher, that for people to connect I have to take a risk and put myself out there. If a play it safe, there is very little return. When I dare to risk, and be vulnerable, the return is great. That has been my experience anyway. Like life teaches us all, WHAT COMES EASY WON’T LAST, AND WHAT LASTS WON’T COME EASY.

Paul oozes authenticity as he shares what makes for greatness. He had a litany of success according to some measures, but he learned that the metrics he had used were RIDICULOUS. They did not lead to the ETERNAL.

“If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

My old life, as it was, by any metric I had arrived.

• By Jewish standards, CHECK ✓
• By Legalism, CHECK ✓
• By Zeal, CHECK ✓
• By Righteousness, CHECK ✓
• By Jesus, NADA, ZILCH, ZERO 𝟬

All the metrics he had used, and lived SO METICULOUSLY by, were NOTHING. Think of the crisis of identity he went through! When he was “blinded by the light,” physically he could not see for days, but according to the story, he had to wander in Arabia for three years [Galatians 1:17] to overcome and wrestle with the idea that his WHOLE LIFE had a been a waste. Why else would he argue across the whole Roman world that Jesus was the Christ and invented the idea of being a missionary? Here was a man who had been confronted with the truth that his whole life was based on lies, that what he held most dear was for naught.

His metrics had to become realigned. I remember one time I went to the State Fair and one of the exhibits were giving out yard sticks. I was teaching science at the time, and always needed more rulers and yard sticks. One day in class, one group’s work was repeatedly off, and I as a teacher came in to show them how to measure something correctly. But THEY WERE! Their yardstick, their unit of measurement, was off. You see, measuring properly was impossible. As soon as I saw this to be true, I took the yardstick and broke it over my knee and threw it away. When we learn that what we measure with is FALSE, that can be our only response.

And that is what Paul did, and that is why it is so hard. We understand WHO WE ARE by the metrics we use. Paul traded in his Jewish heritage, his legalism, his family, for what he held most dear, JESUS CHRIST.

“I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

Everything he does, everything he says, everything he thinks, everything he eats, and drinks, and breathes in, he wants it to draw him closer to Christ, and draw him deeper into Christlikeness. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him…

The world is screaming at us about what success means. By the clothes we wear, by the car we drive, by what we consume, and we get tricked into thinking that that is who we are. Which voices will you listen to this day? Our golden calves today are much less easily identified. They come in a many shapes and sizes, but they are no less idolatrous.

And none of us have arrived. None of us are fully committed. The saints of God, when you read their writings, repeatedly stress how they wish they could give even more to God. Mother Teresa, Augustine, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and yes, even Paul.

“Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”

That was his all-in-all, that “heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” And as we finish our first month together, I want to toss out a metric for us to use as a parish. If there is one thing that we need to be about, the one unique thing that the Church can and should be, is organization that points to God. That’s it. While many of the things we do might be good, and even noble, the thing that only we can do is point people to the Jesus way of loving God.

I remember when I first heard of this church. I thought to myself, what a funny name. No irony is lost on me that this is where God would send me, and the important lesson that I needed to learn. If you look at history, often persecuted groups take an insult and turn it into something else. Even the term Christian was an insult in Antioch, meaning “little Christs.” And in my first days I prayed about how “the Less” could mean something more. How could we take something that sounds inferior to the world and its metrics, and give it up to the glory of God? You may have already seen it in the e-Blast on Wednesdays. I rolled over in the middle of the night a few weeks ago, and a verse was rolling around in my head. “With less of you, there is more room for God and God’s Rule.” With LESS of you… With LESS of you… I could not remember where I had heard it, and after a Google search, I finally found where. In Eugene Peterson’s translation The Message, he shared the first Beatitude that way. Normally we hear it, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.” Peterson put it in words that we could all understand. “You are blessed when you are at the end of your rope. With less of you, there is more room for God and his rule.” [Matthew 5:8] And so as we round out our first month together, and after a lot of prayer, I want us to follow St. Paul’s example, and St. James the Less’s example, and Mother Teresa, and Bonhoeffer, and all the saints of God, and work on this.

In what we say and think and do as a congregation, let this be our new metric.

me less than God

me < GOD

A friend visited us last week, and loved being here. He actually wrote on my Facebook page that maybe we should change the name of the Church to St James the MORE. He meant it in love, and appreciation. And as I put that in my spiritual cud, it struck me that I feel called to double down. The world is going to repeatedly tell us to be more, bigger, better, bolder, but I remember our reading from last week, that wonderful hymn to Jesus.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death--
even death on a cross. [Philippians 2:7-8]

When I get out of the way, Jesus has more room to come through. So, may we be THE LESS. Some of you have even made comment about my license plate, THE LESS, which is a great reminder for me, and a wonderful conversation starter. Already, I had a guard at a check-in see my license plate and ask, “Do you know there is a man in Scripture named THE LESS?” I responded, “Yes, St. James the LESS. In fact, I am the priest at St. James the LESS Church!” He smiled broadly and said, “Well, God bless you then, sir! God bless you today!” And as we become less so that God can increase, may God bless us all.

May we embrace that name, and let it be our rallying cry. As we strive to run the race that is set before us, let us strive to be like Christ and in doing so we will become who God meant all along for us to be. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Year A St Francis Day 2017 I Want To Be Like Francis

Year A St Francis Feast Day, 4 Oct 2017

St James the Less Episcopal, Ashland

“I Want To Be Like Francis”

After the events on Sunday, I have no words. I am pleased, though, that we can turn our eyes to St. Francis. If there were ever a saint of God for our times, I would argue that it would be Francis of Assisi. His whole desire was to be a fully committed follower of Jesus Christ. That was his whole agenda. In his lifetime, his passion and zeal for God was so compelling that he gathered a throng of followers and some were women who followed St. Clare, his equivalent companion in ministry.

A collection of legendary stories were gathered of the early days of the Franciscan movement. It is called The Little Flowers of St. Francis. It is quite clearly apocryphal, but it does speak to the nature of the man and his beliefs. One of my favorites is about the Wolf of Gubbio. [In person, Rock tells this story, given here from Little Flowers.]

The Legend of Saint Francis & the Wolf of Gubbio
There was in Italy the town of Gubbio, a prosperous village that had a great problem. A wolf was eating their livestock, and attacking the people. Nothing the townspeople did protected them from the wolf. Never had they seen such a fierce predator. He killed a shepherd, then the shepherd’s brother and father when they went out to deal with this menace. The next morning the town was abuzz with the story told by the shepherd’s mother and sisters.

The mayor of Gubbio announced he would send three of his best guards to find and slay the wolf that very afternoon. At dusk the townspeople could hear shouts and clashing of metal from the woods. Then it was quiet. The guards had met the wolf.

Late in the night the only survivor of the encounter struggled into the anxious town and collapsed. After he was revived, he told his tale of their fight with the fierce and powerful wolf. As the story rushed through town the wolf grew larger and more ferocious. Fear was in the eyes of everyone in Gubbio. Children were kept close by, weapons at the ready and the defenses of the town raised.

The mayor consulted with his advisors and decided to see if Francis of Assisi could help them. They had heard that he could talk to animals and that God talked to him.

Several brave messengers were sent to find Francis and ask him for his help. They had the good fortune to find him in Assisi at the house of Bernardo Quintivalle, his first follower. They told him of the tragic attacks of the wolf and how the frightened people were almost in a state of siege. They thought Francis was the only one who would be able to help them. They begged the simple Holy man to help and implored him to come with them right away.

Francis was moved by their plight and wanted to do what he could. He said they could leave in the morning and they should eat and rest with his Brothers that night. After dinner they prayed with Francis for a solution and slept that night with hope in their hearts.

Dawn found them walking down the hill from Assisi on their way to Gubbio. In time they arrived at the woods near the town. The messengers pointed to where the wolf had slain the two guards not far from the road. They stayed in a tighter group as they hurried the rest of the way, watching for the wolf.

The gate to the town was opened as they arrived and was quickly closed behind them. The entire town followed Francis to the town square where the Mayor eagerly met them. They went into the town hall to eat and discuss what Francis would do with the wolf.

The mayor wondered what Francis could do with such a challenge. The mayor hated that wolf. He knew the men who were killed and their families. One of the guards was a cousin to the mayor’s wife. If he were younger, he would have led the guards after the wolf. He wanted Francis to strike the wolf dead or send him to the town of Spoletto, their old enemy. Either would satisfy a need for revenge and stop the attacks.

Francis listened as the mayor described what had happened to their peaceful town. He had much empathy for the families of the victims and wanted to meet the wolf and hear his story, too. Francis stated that the next morning he would go the woods where the guards had been killed to see if he could find the wolf. That night he prayed for the wisdom to find a solution that would benefit everyone.

Early the next morning, refreshed and confident this would work out, Francis was accompanied by the townspeople to the gates of Gubbio. They wished him well and retreated to their homes, worried that Francis would share the fate of the shepherds and guards.

He walked on to the woods, ready to engage the wolf. As he neared the first stand of trees, the wolf appeared and began to stalk Francis. His slow, deliberate steps, the walk of a predator, announced his intention. He drew nearer and nearer, closing in a circle around the holy man from Assisi.

Seeing the wolf, Francis felt a connection. He made the sign of the cross and called the wolf to meet him in peace under the grace of the Lord. The wolf watched as Francis came closer. “Come Brother Wolf, I will not hurt you. Let us talk in peace.” The wolf froze in mid step. The wolf struggled with doubt and uncertainty. Finally, understanding that Francis meant him no harm, the wolf walked to Francis and sat back on his haunches, ready to listen.

Francis told the wolf that he had come from Gubbio and described what the townspeople were experiencing because of the wolf’s actions. He described the pain and resentment they held toward the wolf. “How did this come to happen?” Francis asked the wolf. “Why did you kill the livestock and people?”

The wolf told Francis his story. He had been left behind by his pack because he was injured and couldn’t keep up. He could only catch prey that didn’t run fast, like sheep and goats. He really preferred to eat deer and rabbits, but, with his injured leg, that was out of the question. He explained to Francis that all he wanted was to eat when he was hungry.

Francis implored him to explain his actions. The wolf continued. The first shepherd he had killed was trying to protect his flock and the wolf had no choice but to fight back and kill him. That afternoon two more men came after him and instinct took over. He quickly killed them, leaving their bodies where they fell. The next day the three guards came hunting him. He was only defending himself when he fought them. Two were slain. As the third man was no longer a threat, he let him go.

Francis could see that the wolf was only acting to fill his needs. He had made unfortunate choices that affected people of whom he knew nothing. Through Francis the wolf was able to feel the pain of the people in Gubbio and he felt remorse. He was sorry for the pain he had caused, but he needed to eat. What could he do?

Hours passed as Francis prayed. The wolf watched closely, not fully understanding what was taking place, but sensing that Francis believed he felt remorse at having caused such pain. When Francis emerged from his contemplation, he quietly suggested an answer to the dilemma. It was a suggestion that could meet the needs of both the town and the wolf. He proposed to the wolf that the townspeople could feed him and, in return, the wolf would stop killing the people and their livestock.

The wolf thought this would work well for him, but worried the people would still want to kill him. Francis understood the wolf’s concern and assured him he would present the idea to the townspeople in such a way that he would be forgiven and welcomed into the town. He knew they could let go of their fear and hate if they saw the wolf ask for forgiveness and accede to a peaceful relationship. Francis extended his hand. The Wolf showed agreement by placing his paw in Francis’ hand.

Saint Francis and the wolf walked back to Gubbio.

As they neared the gate, the citizens could not believe their eyes. Francis and the wolf continued to the town square, although the mayor and the entire town watched with hate and fear. The wolf had to keep his eyes on Francis to still his fear.

Francis called out, “Come countrymen, the wolf will not hurt you. Let us talk in peace. I have spoken with the wolf and he apologizes for his actions and wants to make amends.”

Francis told them the wolf’s story. “He has the same needs as you and only wants to eat and not go hungry. Can the people of Gubbio feed him if he promises to never again take the lives of the people and their animals? Remember, our Savior taught forgiveness. He taught us to love our enemies.”

The citizens returned skeptical stares. Francis continued, “This will be your wolf. He can’t be killed or passed off to Spoletto or Perugia. He will serve the town as a defender as long as he will live.”

The citizens of Gubbio asked Francis to talk privately with them, to help them understand his suggestion. The Mayor guaranteed no one would hurt the wolf while they conferred.

The people of Gubbio talked with each other for hours. Relatives of the dead were the hardest to convince. They harbored a hard place in their hearts for the wolf. Francis wept with them and touched them in a way that softened their hearts. Finally, after many tears, they found compassion for the wolf. At Francis’ suggestion, they addressed him as Brother Wolf.

Francis asked the Mayor and Brother Wolf to declare a pact. The people would be safe from the wolf. The wolf would be safe from them. Everyone expressed joy that the shadow of fear had been lifted from their town.

The wife of the shepherd, the man who was the first to fall, brought out food to feed Brother Wolf. She was crying in relief to have the burden of hate lifted from her spirit. Brother Wolf was humbled when he found his apology accepted. More food was brought out and soon everyone was eating together.

Word spread to other towns. Soon the people of Gubbio were proclaiming proudly that they had a special wolf, Brother Wolf. He lived another two years like that until he died, cared for by the generous and forgiving town of Gubbio.

How do we love and care for our enemies so that they will become not just our friends, but our brothers and sisters?  This is so hard. We have to take the risk. We have to treat them as that before they are. We have to love them more than we love ourselves, which is a way of saying, we have to take seriously the teaching and words of Jesus that they become who we are.

St. Francis’ way of saying this is his famous prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life. Amen.

Year A Proper 21 2017 What Are You Doing?

Year A Proper 21, 1 October 2017

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“What Are You Doing?”

Philippians 2:1-13

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death--

even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Matthew 21:23-32

When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

Collect: O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

“What ARE you doing? Really, what ARE you doing?”

The Temple leaders could not take it any more. They were at the end of their rope. They sound all nicey-nice when they come to Jesus, but like with most stories, if we do not understand the context, we miss so much. If there were smiles, they were passive-aggressive veils of what they felt. This is not a pleasant scene in the Temple. This is the day after Jesus raising a fuss. Chapter 21 in Matthew begins with what we call the Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem, what we remember on Palm Sunday. “Hooray Jesus!” as he paraded into town.

But when he gets to the Temple and sees all the money changers ripping people off with EVERY TRANSACTION he gets a little riled, and cleans house, his Father’s House. Never forget that if you ask what would Jesus do, it just might mean turning things on their heads. (Things not people!) “Yikes Jesus!” people thought as he thrashed and flipped and caused a ruckus.

And then he goes on to heal folk, curing them of illness and disease. “Nice Jesus!” this one is a lot easier to deal with, they thought. So the officials waited till things calmed down a day.

It is in this context that people were confused. What ARE you doing? And WHO said you could do it? All the Hosannas and Hooray Jesus, Yikes Jesus, and Nice Jesus had people’s heads spinning.

So, Jesus, what are you doing and who said you could? The underlying worry here is Authority. How do we get it? How do we use it?

Last weekend, we had a great time at Shrine Mont. A big part of it was getting to know one another. Some of you have known me for years, and others just met me. And here we are in a relationship, one that requires great trust and responsibility. Why should you trust me? In the Episcopal Church, we have a network of accountability. I am priested, so I had to go through months and years of interviews and screening processes that were invasive and extensive. It is intimidating and daunting, and I am on this side of it. I also have the endorsement of the Vestry who spoke at length with me, and the Bishop who signed our Letter of Agreement saying I could start. I cleared a lot of hurdles to make it here. And all of that is a good thing. Potentially in our time together I could see you on the worst day of your life, when a tragedy has struck. I could see you on the best day of your life with the joy of a birth or a marriage. In all of those life-changing moments, I have to have a voice of calm authority for me to do what you, the Bishop, and I believe, God has called me here to do. Some of you will give me authority by virtue of the collar. Some of you will need to test the waters and see if I am “all that.” We all build trust in our own way. That is okay.

One time when I was newly priested I had a woman come to my office to ask my advice on a family situation, and I gladly met with her. The first thing she said was that I was her priest, and whatever I said to do she would do it. My response was, and I quote myself here, “Anything I say, huh? Okay. Do not ever say that to anyone.” I may have authority, but so do you. I am responsible for me, as you are for you.

When Jesus overturned the tables at the Temple, he rocked the status quo. One of my seminary professors put it this way, “Whenever there is conflict there will be change, and whenever there is change there will be conflict.” In the recent days, the conflicts that have happened have hurt this church. Let us be honest. There was a change, or I would not be here.

In all the conversations, some commonalities have come out. Some are upset with what happened. Some are upset with how things happened. Some took sides. Some took umbrage. All were affected. Too quote the great Jewish theologian Heschel, “Some are guilty. All are responsible.” That being said, all that is left to us is what will we do with what we have been given.

And that is where we find ourselves, exactly in the same situation that the Church in Philippi found itself. Divisions had formed, and people were clinging to opinions instead of each other, following their gut instead of the heart of Christ.

From the reading today: “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” The foundational word in Paul’s appeal to these fellow Christians is IF.

• IF there is encouragement in Christ
• IF there is any consolation in Love
• IF there is any sharing of the Spirit
• IF there is any compassion or sympathy

That is a lot of IFs. And if there is an IF, then there has to be a THEN. It is a conditional clause. If one thing is true, it leads to another. If it is not true, then the conditional, or second, statement is not true. Now these are NOT rhetorical:

• IS there encouragement in Christ? [YES]
• IS there any consolation in Love? [YES]
• IS there any sharing of the Spirit? [YES]
• IS there any compassion or sympathy? [YES]

Good. We are in agreement. If these are true, THEN...

• Be of the same mind
• Have the same love
• Be in full accord and of one mind
• Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit
• In humility regard others as better than yourselves
• Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others

Now brothers and sisters in Christ, I have had several one-on-ones these last few weeks, both here in Ashland and at Shrine Mont. People have been hurt. People have been smug. People have decided to be “right,” more than to be loving. How on earth can we get past this?

This is when I wished I played guitar. I wish I could play, and I also wish we all spoke ancient Greek. Because the way Paul got everyone to start to move back to a single mind, a unified perspective, was to start singing a song. A song they all knew. Who knows, maybe this was a song they had written in Philippi as a community when they went on a retreat the the Anatolian Peninsula’s equivalent of Shrine Mont. Paul started to list the lyrics so they would join in:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death--

even death on a cross.

Now do not let this messenger [me] distract you from Paul’s message. He is calling the Church in Philippi (and I believe the Church in Ashland, too) to take a step back and think again in whose name we gather, and maybe we can truly be little Christs, Christians, with one another, to one another, and for one another.

The song of praise continues:

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

This is how we are called to live. This is how to live a good life. This is what God wants, because this is what God is like. How can Jesus do what he does? By what Authority does he cleanse the Temple, heal the sick, parade into God’s eternal city?

His own.

I come bearing the Authority of the Bishop and as a Priest. Not daunting at all, is it? Try living up to it.

But Jesus was worthy of all honor, and glory, and respect. By what he says, speaking the Truth. By what he does, by humbling himself and serving all. By who he is, the only Son of the Father, eternally begotten of the Father.

After being confronted about his Authority, and because the Temple leaders were not willing or able to say if either he or his cousin John the Baptizer had any, Jesus tells a simple story.

Two brothers: one said the right thing but did not do ANYTHING, one said the wrong thing but then did the RIGHT THING. One had a sin of speech, one had a sin of leaving something undone. We all have a choice right now, of what we will do. We may have said the wrong thing and hurt someone, or we said the churchy thing and then did not act the Jesus way. That was then. What about now?

We are given this day. It is a gift from God. What will you do with it?

The past it is History, tomorrow it is Mystery, today is a Gift, that is why they call it the PRESENT.

You have the Authority of being St. James the Less Episcopal Church. As Spider Man has reminded us over the years, with Great Power comes Great Responsibility. I am in the same boat. Last week I asked the question on my board, “What do I need to know about Ashland?” This week I ponder,  “What do you Treaasure about St. James the Less Church?” I will learn from you Authority, about this town and about each other. And I hope you will learn from my Authority as well. It is mutual, and delicate, and the world is watching how, and maybe even if, we will do it. I know we can, will we?

Last we I asked us to take a step back and give each other the benefit of the doubt as a first step in rebuilding trust. This week I would ask you to use the gifts and power you have been given, not to push any agenda, but to serve one another like Christ did. Humbly, fully, lovingly. That is no small ask. But I trust that as Christ leads, so will we go.

Let us pray: Lord, you have given us more Authority than we often know what to do with, more responsibility than we often wield responsibly. Help us to be like your Christ, who humbled himself like unto a slave, and he loved us to death, even death on a Cross. May we go, and do likewise. Amen.