Message Archive

The Rev. Anne Edge Dale

30
Aug

Faith

Psalm 26:1-8 Romans 12:9-21 Matthew 16:21-28

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.  [Romans 12:9]

It is the Apostle Paul who provides us with these bullet points on the elements of Christian love.  Centuries later, we would do well to highlight these bullet points and post them on our refrigerators, to make them a part of our daily devotion time – particularly over these next ten tension-laced weeks as we move toward election day.

Paul was writing to the Romans prior to his arrival in Rome.  Paul was transported to Rome as a prisoner; Paul was legally a citizen of Rome and demanded that he be tried in Rome.  That visit to Rome did not end well for Paul.

Violence had erupted in Rome; Nero considered it prudent and politically advantageous to blame the Christians; apparently, Paul and Peter were the scapegoats.  Peter and Paul lost their lives as the result; it is speculated that Paul and Peter were executed in Rome by the Emperor Nero.   And, yet, we have this essential checklist of the many ways we are called to model the love of Jesus Christ.

How poignant is that message:  When facing evil, focus on love; when fighting against hatred, preach LOVE.

So, let’s dig a little deeper.  What was it that drove Paul toward love in the face of hatred by the authorities?  So much so that he devoted such a large portion of this letter to the subject of love.

Quoting from the mid-twentieth century monk Thomas Merton:

“The beginning of the fight against hatred…is not the commandment to love…It is the prior commandment, to believe.  The root of Christian love is not the will to love, but the faith that one is loved.  The faith that one is loved by God.  The faith that one is loved by God although unworthy – or, rather, irrespective of one’s worth.”

Similar to the Apostle Paul, Thomas Merton died tragically and mysteriously.  And, like the Apostle Paul, some of his beliefs were a challenge to the authorities – in Merton’s case, a challenge to Catholic orthodoxy.  Thomas Merton died as the result of being electrocuted while showering in preparation for a keynote speech in Bangkok, Thailand where he had integrated a great deal of Eastern theology into his Catholic beliefs.

Even with the odds against him from his tragic childhood and Church authorities, Merton, who was a young adult when he came to the faith, held strong in his beliefs; his words ring true:

“The beginning of the fight against hatred…is not the commandment to love…It is the prior commandment, to believe.  The root of Christian love is not the will to love, but the faith that one is loved.  The faith that one is loved by God.  The faith that one is loved by God although unworthy – or, rather, irrespective of one’s worth.”

Most of us would say that we are not worthy of the one perfect sacrifice that was made for us.  Yet, to love truly, as Jesus loves us, we must first accept that we are loved truly by God.  Our efforts to love others is superficial without our understanding of God’s love for us.  We cannot love with the love of Christ until we accept and believe that we are loved despite our unworthiness.  We come time after time to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ accepting our unworthiness, but coming worthily to receive.

That ability and willingness to love as Christ loves us begins with faith, not worthiness.  When we have faith in Christ, we want to be like Christ; we want to love others as Christ loves us, seeking daily a deeper relationship with Christ as our model for love, which begins with believing.  Believing begins with regular worship, daily study of the scripture, and an unceasing sense of prayer and meditation.  Our worship and prayer shapes our belief; our belief leads us to love others as Christ loves us.

To tap into the words of last week’s message from our bishop, it is our faith and belief that allows us to move beyond the current highly-touted politically divisiveness and more faithfully toward our call to be the Church.  There are too few of us to allow our political opinions to divide us further.  This divisiveness did not begin with any one person or specific time; it has been coming upon us as an unhealthy transformation over the past decades.  In overcoming this secularly-charged divisiveness, we are to turn our attention to the divine.

Nothing makes the devil happier than to divide the Church.  Nothing makes the devil happier than for us to be distracted by the pitfalls of our human nature.

In what is labeled the most stunning rebuke in the Bible, Peter is rebuked by Jesus for allowing Satan to be the stumbling block that distracts his focus from that that is divine, focusing instead on human desires.

Our call is to carry these words of Jesus’ stunning rebuke.  Our call is to bring forward these words, “Get behind me Satan!” when we are tempted to speak words of hate rather than words of love – words that allow Satan to separate and distract us from the reality of our being loved by God.  When we speak words of hate, Satan delights in our weakness.  Keep the awareness of Satan’s delight fresh in your mind; let this command “Get behind me Satan” guard your thoughts, words, and actions.

Our epistle lesson concludes: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  There is no evil that God does not overcome with Good.  “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”  God does not need our interference.

The root of Christian love is not the will to love, but the deep down firm belief that each of us is loved.

25
Aug

Holy Communion

Isaiah 25:6-9 Psalm 42:1-7  John 6:37-40

My soul thirsts for God,

for the living God.

When shall I come and behold

the face of God?

Distributing the Holy Communion is one of the great privileges of being a priest in God’s Church.  In better times, each communicant comes to the altar rail to kneel alongside fellow communicants in true communion.  There is a very tender moment as the wafer is placed within each hand, each recipient humbly kneeling with soul laid bare in the real presence of Jesus Christ – the bread of heaven, the cup of salvation.  It is a tiny slice of sacred time for communicant and celebrant; a time when the boundary between earth and heaven becomes very thin – a time that I treasure with particular reverence and gratitude as the observer of the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of each recipient.

This very sacred moment of sharing the Holy Communion with Gladys Ivory, was, each and every time, most humbling for me.  Whenever Gladys consumed the holy food, there was no doubt that Jesus Christ was truly present for her, that her soul thirsted and was fed by the living God.  Her expression was like that of someone who, after a long exhausting search, had finally found something she desperately needed; or, of someone who, after walking miles in the heat, had been given a cool drink of water; someone giving over all of her griefs and earthly struggles as she was drawn into the peace and comfort of the arms of her Lord.

Last week, when we shared Holy Communion for the last time, my intention was to simply touch the drop of wine to her lips.  But, that was not enough for Gladys.  Even in her diminished physical and mental state, her earthly death so near, her understanding of the real presence of Jesus Christ was not diminished; she consumed the thimble full of wine with that same old fervor, responding to the words, “The blood of Christ, the cup of salvation,” with a hearty “Amen.”   Amen – so be it.  For that final time in her earthly life, Gladys offered herself into the arms of her Lord, held firm in his promise that all who see the Son and believe in him will have eternal life, trusting herself to the will of God.

The shining star of Gladys’ presence will be sorely missed.  She touched the life of every parishioner young and old with her concern and compassion.  As she knew Jesus Christ is present in the Holy Communion, she knew that Jesus Christ is present in each of us.  We could see our pain and our joy in her sparkling eyes.  We loved her gentle quiet nature of the English and her fine china tea pots.  We loved her well-coordinated outfits and glimmering jewelry and spritzy sandals.  We loved her updates of life-long friends and the Ivory clan reunions; news of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren whom she loved so dearly; and historical accounts of her challenging childhood, the adventures of her evacuation from London during the Blitz that destroyed her home.  We loved her shared memories of Wendell, the love of her life, who brought her to America but never dimmed her love of England.  We all love England, even more, because Gladys loved England and we loved Gladys.

The second of our opening spoken anthems is a paraphrase from the Book of Job; it concludes, “though this body be destroyed, yet shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger.”  When Gladys was gathered into the loving arms of our Lord in the dark hours of last Friday morning, those were not the arms of a stranger.  She had known his presence throughout her long life; she experienced that presence every Sunday and every Wednesday and in each one of us.

When Gladys was gathered into the loving arms of our Lord in the dark hours of last Friday morning, the path was well-lighted path as she was gathered into immeasurable joy – into the holiest Communion.

The words of the prophet Isaiah never grow old,

“This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

Let us rejoice, giving thanks to God for the life and ministry of Gladys Ivory.

 

Burial of Gladys Ivory

16
Aug

Gathering

Isaiah 56:1,6-8 Psalm 67 Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28

Thus says the Lord God,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel, 

I will gather others to them
besides those already gathered.

The Prophet Isaiah speaks of a time when God’s people will be returned from exile in foreign lands, gathered again in their homeland, praising and worshiping God in his Holy Temple.  We can relate to being regathered.

Centuries after Isaiah’s time, Jesus would respond in a confusing and alarming way to this foreign woman from a Pagan society.  Jesus’ words seem cruel; in today’s world we would consider his words as racial slur.  But, Jesus has even harsher words for the scribes and Pharisees, the official keepers of Jewish tradition with whom Jesus shares gender, race, and religion.  Prior to the point at which today’s Gospel lesson begins, Jesus had been in a heated discussion with a particular group of scribes and Pharisees who had come to Galilee to confront Jesus regarding their opinion that his followers were not honoring the laws of ritual purity appropriately.   Jesus responds by labeling his visitors as hypocrites, accusing them of exploiting God’s law for the purpose of protecting their own status of importance and for the purpose of excluding those whom they determined should be excluded.

Yet, immediately following, in the account we have just heard, Jesus seems to be hiding behind the traditions that he was just declaring as hypocritical.  In our lesson, we learn that Jesus leaves Galilee and journeys toward Tyre and Sidon – pagan territory.  Here, Jesus encounters a Canaanite woman – a non-Jew who likely worships the earthly King Herod rather than the God of Israel, a Gentile pagan, an enemy of Israel, an outcast whom believers commonly label as a “dog.”

Yet, this heavily marginalized woman – a pagan woman, the mother of a demonically possessed child; this woman cries out for mercy, and she does not give up.

Jesus’ initial rebuff is shocking.  Is he really saying that he believes his mission on earth to be only for the Jewish people and not the Gentile “dogs?”  Does Jesus himself not yet understand his mission to bring salvation to all people?  Or, is Jesus speaking with tongue-in-cheek irony, as if to say, “You, a worshipper of false gods, come to me begging for mercy for your child?   Is your god not available this week?”  Or, perhaps, very likely, Jesus is simply using reverse psychology for the benefit of observers.  Remember the negative response of the disciples who first insisted that the woman be sent away.  Typically, when we hear the bigotry in our hearts verbalized, we are (or should be) outraged by it.  Without doubt, Jesus intended for his followers and for us to be called out for our cruelty and dismissiveness to others.

How ever you might interpret this for yourself, Jesus’ words, written down by Matthew, spoken intentionally in this bold manner, emphasize the very opposite of his statement of narrowed, exclusive purpose – the purpose being only for the House of Israel.   This is a turning point in Matthew’s Gospel account of Jesus’ ministry.  Without this seemingly harsh reaction by Jesus to this socially outcast woman, we might miss this stunning, undeniable message: The God of Jesus, this God of Israel, is the God of all, and this God of all is a merciful God whose will is to gather all to himself.  This, more clearly than ever, is the mission of Jesus Christ and all who follow.

This lowly non-Jewish creature steps far beyond the acceptable norms of her society; she is persistent in her demands – persistent in her faith in the mercy of God that comes in the person of Jesus Christ.  Even though dehumanized in the extreme, she is not to be dissuaded.  Once: “Have mercy on me, Lord.”  Twice: “Lord, help me.”  Three times: “Lord, even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”  This most typically faithless creature, tested by Jesus’ harsh and perplexing reaction, demonstrates with great affirmation her unquestionable faith in the mercy of God that comes through belief in Jesus Christ.  In God’s kingdom she is no foreigner.

Last week, we read of Peter, probably the best known of all the original disciples, slipping beneath the waves of chaos as he allowed his anxieties to overtake his faith in Jesus.  “You of little faith,” Jesus says to Peter as he grasps his hand to save him from the swirling tempest.

Today, in contrast, we read of the most marginalized outcast of first century society possessing such great faith that Jesus, himself, declares, “Woman, great is your faith!  Let it be done for you as you wish.”  Through the mercy of the God of all, the daughter is healed – freed of the demon that has tormented her.

Jesus’ stunning turning point highlights the depth of his message.  No longer are there foreigners.  As Isaiah has prophesied, all are united into God’s kingdom – Jew and Gentile, female and male, slave and free, rich and poor, parent and child – gathered there through faith in Jesus Christ.

09
Aug

Come

1 Kings 19:9-18 Psalm 85:8-13 Matthew 14:22-33

“What are you doing here, Elijah?”  The truthful succinct answer is that Elijah is fleeing in fear for his life, abandoning his call as the great prophet of the Lord.  Elijah had been in an ongoing confrontation with King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.  Elijah had overseen the killing of the prophets of Baal; he had been zealous against the desecration of the altars of the Lord.  As the result of his zealous efforts, he had incited the ire of Queen Jezebel who now sought his life just as zealously.  Fleeing in fear to Mount Horeb, Elijah found himself alone and afraid.  In the loneliness – in the silence, God speaks, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Elijah finds that he was not alone; God was present all along; God is present now.  Elijah’s mission as the prophet of the Lord is not complete.  Elijah is given specific instructions in how he is to continue with a clearer understanding of God’s constant presence and his dependence upon that presence.  He is to trust that presence.

Several weeks ago, on an early Sunday morning, as I exited the interstate onto Chesapeake Blvd. and approached the first traffic light, I noted numerous police cars gathered in the intersection.  Sitting at the light, I was able to observe for a bit as a police officer seemed to be handcuffing a tall lanky man.  But, as I watched with interest, I realized that the officer, instead, was leading the man by the hand.  The man had obvious physical disabilities, palsied limbs and a shuffling unsteady walk.  The officer was backing down the sidewalk, leading the man by the hand as other officers stood frozen in suspended silence as if their words or movements would cause the man to break away in fear.  Slowly, steadily, gently, compassionately, the officer backed down the sidewalk, back step-by-back step, leading his charge toward a destination that time did not allow me to determine.

The compassionate scene brought tears to my eyes.  We are all ministers; this police officer recognized his ministry.  This man’s safety was obviously dependent upon this police officer who had gained his trust.  Had the officer turned loose the man’s hand, had he shouted impatiently, had he tried to rush, the sense of trust would have been broken; the mission to get this marginalized man to safety would have been derailed.

My mind went immediately to today’s Gospel lesson – Jesus reaching out his hand to save Peter from drowning.

Again, in this week’s lesson, as evening has come, Jesus sends the disciples away in their boat and seeks time alone to pray.   By early morning the disciples have been struggling against the wind and waves through the night.  Matthew tells us that they are far from shore when Jesus comes toward them walking on the water.  Amidst the fear and confusion, Peter gets out of the boat in response to Jesus’ beckoning.

The sea is raging, but Jesus does not calm the storm as Peter approaches.  Jesus simply says, “Come.”  Peter comes toward Jesus walking on the water UNTIL, taking his eyes off Jesus, he notices the storm, and he begins to sink.

Only through his faith and trust in Jesus can Peter walk on the water.  Alone, distracted by his fear, and without the recognition of his dependence on Jesus, Peter sinks.  He cannot save himself or anyone else without that faith and trust; he must stay focused on Jesus – a simple message – a difficult message by which to live.  He must stay focused on Jesus.

Peter could not save himself; Elijah could not save himself; the tall lanky subject on the street corner on that early Sunday morning could not save himself.  Neither can we save ourselves.  Regardless of our sense of self-sufficiently and earthly power, at some point in our lives, we will cry, “Lord, save me!”  We are dependent upon Jesus Christ; when we lose focus on that faith and trust, we flee in fear; we slip below the surface; we struggle aimlessly.  We struggle until, in the silence, we hear the Lord’s voice, “What are you doing here?”  And, we follow his command, “Come.”

02
Aug

Earthly/Spiritual

Isaiah 55:1-5 Psalm 145: 8-9, 15-22 Romans 9:1-5 Matthew 14:13-21

We have studied these past three weeks the Parables of the Kingdom, devoting our thoughts to the Kingdom of God that is here and now, and the Kingdom that is to come.  There is always a tension for us as God’s children to hold both the human and the divine, the earthly and the spiritual, finding the sacred presence of God within the ordinary of our everyday lives.

In exploring the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, we are drawn deeper into that understanding of the bread of life amidst the age-old tension between the human and the divine.  The people come again and again and again to Jesus, seeking to understand his message.   Jesus’ message is that the bread of God gives eternal life to the world.  Yet, it is clear that Jesus always fed the people and instructs us to do so.

Jesus affirms that we must have physical bread to survive and thrive.   Yet, that is not enough.  Studies, some particularly horrible, from decades past have shown definitively that infants and very young children whose physical needs are provided still do not thrive or even develop normally without relationships with other human beings.  Even as adults, we can have all the physical food we need, but without relationships with others through which we exchange the love of Jesus Christ – the spiritual bread of life – we cannot truly live.  I grieve for our precious elders in this community of faith who are receiving optimum care at home but are withering away as the result of our forced isolation.  Many will never recover.  Thankfully, when their and our earthly life comes to end, and we no longer have need of earthly bread, it is the bread of God that comes down from heaven that gives us life eternal.

God, in his infinite wisdom, created us human with human needs.   God came to earth fully human to sanctify our humanity – to connect for us the fully human with the fully divine.  From the five barley loaves and the two fishes – the travelling food of the poor – Jesus fed the multitude with physical and spiritual food.

Similarly, we bring our meager earthly offerings to share at the Lord’s Table.   Through the work of human hands with God’s help and provision, the bread has been made from wheat of the field and the wine has been made from grapes of the vineyard.   And, by the invocation of the Holy Spirit, the bread and wine will become the body and blood of Christ – always, always, that indistinguishable line between the earthly human and the heavenly divine.

As we come to share the Holy Eucharist – we experience that that is fully earthly at the same time as that that it is fully heavenly.  And, as we partake of the body and blood of Christ, together we become united as one with Christ.  Thus, the bread becomes our channel for worship and service to Jesus Christ.  We are fed so that, in turn, we can take the bread of life into the world.

We partake of the eternal bread and open our lives to the revelation of God’s plan for us.  The dividing line between the human and the divine becomes less and less distinguishable as we are drawn closer to God for understanding.  The bread of Christ is not purely a physical bread that ignores our spiritual hunger, and it is not purely a spiritual bread that ignores our human needs.  It is the bread that fills and fulfills.  Jesus says to us, “I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

26
Jul

12A

1 Kings 3:5-12 Psalm 119:129-136 Romans 8:26-39 Matthew 13:31-33,44-52

We have been granted the knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom.  Like Solomon, we ask God to grant us a wise and discerning mind that we might trust and bring others into the knowledge of these mysteries.

We’re granted this knowledge through our study of the Gospel of Matthew.  We have listened and learned over the past three weeks through Jesus’ parables Sunday after Sunday – the Parables of the Kingdom.  As listeners and followers, we take great comfort in the assurance of the coming of the Kingdom as something to be desired.

Just the same, the coming of the kingdom is not necessarily a pleasant thought; we cannot readily anticipate the joy that it brings.  It is our nature to fear the unknown, especially as it implies our mortality.  Two caterpillars peered upward as a butterfly flitted by joyfully.   One caterpillar said to the other, “You’ll never get me up in one of those things.”  Fortunately, for many of us, the transformation that the Kingdom of Heaven brings comes quite by surprise and it is upon us before we have a chance to push it away.

From our Gospel lessons these past weeks, we note that Matthew’s Gospel devotes a goodly amount of space to Jesus’ teaching through his generous use of parables regarding the Kingdom of Heaven.  Through the study of these beloved parables, we’ve learned that for God’s kingdom to come to earth, we are to be like the good soil in which the seed of God’s Word is sown, receiving and nurturing God’s word so that it grows and bears bountiful fruit – bearing seed that we, in turn, are to continue to sow.

Last week we learned that even as we strive to sow good seed, ourselves, the seed of the evil one too easily becomes intermingled with the good seed.  Jesus persuades us to remain patient having faith that God intends to sort the good from the evil – the wheat from the tares.  And, God, in his ways and in his time will cast out the evil and convert it for the good of his kingdom.

Today, our Gospel lesson presents a conundrum – a mixture of parables that seem to help us understand the Kingdom of Heaven – or, perhaps, further perplex us.  Jesus, quite intentionally, left us with these riddles rather than clear answers so that we wouldn’t get lazy.  His parables keep us ever perplexed, ever discovering the connections of his words to the present, ever digging deeper – entranced and drawing ourselves closer – little by little – to the kingdom.

The Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus says, is like a mustard seed.  Mustard was not/is not generally a welcome seed in a field of more desirable plants.   Jesus, himself, was not welcome among his own people or by the religious and political leaders of his day.  But, just as the mustard seed persists to grow into a large shrub that provides comfort and protection for the birds and to spread its seeds with great proliferation, so the message of the Kingdom of Heaven would grow and spread in spite of efforts to snuff it out.

Further, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”  Three measures of flour would be closely equivalent to 50 pounds of flour.  Yeast, used wrongly, can have negative effects, but used correctly as leavening for the flour, the result would be enough bread to feed over 100 people.  Like the mustard seed, a proportionately small effort, entrusted to God’s will, produces huge results – the bountiful blessings of the kingdom.

Sometimes the Kingdom of Heaven takes us by surprise as for the man in Jesus’ parable who happens upon the treasure hidden in a field.

Others of us search for the kingdom, searching wholeheartedly and relentlessly, seeking God’s guidance until we have experienced his kingdom come to earth.  And, like the pearl merchant in our parable, we pour our whole being into the joy of total obedience to God’s will – recognizing that, in turn, each of us is God’s treasured pearl.  As we hear from the Apostle Paul, “He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?”  God desires to give us the Kingdom of Heaven.

But, we’re never quite sure what that means.  “What then are we to say about these things?” Paul poses this question in his letter to the Romans.  Jesus assures us of the bountiful pleasures and treasures of the kingdom; surely, we are not to fear the coming of the kingdom.  Jesus Christ intercedes for us.  With wise and discerning minds, we come to understand that even the uncertainty of our earthly death is not to be feared.

The most comforting words of the burial office are these we find in our Epistle lesson today.  Our only true fear in this world is separation from the love of Christ.  “For I am convinced,” Paul continues, “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

None of us knows the particulars of our transition from this world to the Kingdom of Heaven – a field of hidden treasure, a pearl of greatest value, a seed that grows far beyond expectation; the good gathered into the harvest, the evil cast into the fire; all on God’s terms and in God’s time.  Through the love and grace of Jesus Christ, we will be gathered into the kingdom where there is no fear.  In the Kingdom of Heaven even our earthly death has no power to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are to be the good seed; we are to be patient with God’s plans for eternity; we are to keep being faithful like the tiny mustard seed; and we are to seek wisdom to recognize the treasures of that that is eternal.  This is our journey to the kingdom.

You, each and every one of you is the pearl of greatest value to God.  Nothing in all creation can take that away.

28
Jun

Little ones

Jeremiah 28:5-9 Psalm 89:1-4,15-18 Romans 6:12-23 Matthew 10:40-42

Jesus said, “Whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple – truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

Thus, Jesus ends his lengthy missionary discourse.  Step by step, with brutal honesty, throughout the discourse, Jesus has warned of a journey of trials and adversities that will come to those who are sent out as missionaries of the Good News – sheep in the midst of wolves, flogged in the synagogues and dragged before governors and kings.  Jesus assures that the mission will not be a mission of peace, but of the sword – man against father, daughter against mother, households divided by the choice of each member to take up or not to take up the cross of Jesus Christ.  Last week’s Gospel lesson concluded with the familiar words of Jesus’ admonition, “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”  [Mt.10:39]

So then, if we choose to follow; if we take up the cross of Jesus Christ, we lose our life as we know it; we walk knowingly and bravely into the midst of wolves – obedient slaves.  Why?  The phrase “fools for Christ” comes to mind.  Are we fools to believe and to answer the call to be sent out on this missionary journey – to lose our life in order to find it.

The Apostle Paul writes to the Romans, “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Romans 6:23] Having been set free from sin, we have become slaves of righteousness.

And, so, we follow; we become disciples of Jesus Christ.

There are trials and adversities; we know those as “life.”

Jesus ends this portion of Matthew’s Gospel that is subtitled The Missionary Discourse; his words have been difficult for us to absorb.  Yet, Jesus ends this honest and forthright lesson on the dire cost of discipleship with words of endearment and gracious hospitality.  As Jesus’ disciples, we will be welcomed as Jesus was welcomed and as God the Father is welcomed.  As slaves of righteousness, we will receive the reward of righteousness.  Endeared to Jesus our Lord, we are the little ones.  Whether flogged or pierced by the sword, we will never be separated from God.  We will never lose our reward.

Extra-biblical history and legend provides insight and speculation into the cost of discipleship paid by the original disciples of Jesus Christ.  They were known to have been stabbed to death, crucified, beheaded, stoned or bludgeoned, or exiled into hard labor.

The Apostle Peter was crucified upside down by order of Nero in Rome.

Andrew was whipped severely and crucified on an X-shaped cross that has become his symbol.

James the Son of Zebedee was the first of the disciples to be martyred as recorded in the Book of Acts; James died by the sword per the orders of King Herod; it is said that the Roman officer who guarded him was so overcome by James’ defense of his faith that he presented himself to be executed beside James.

Matthew, too, is believed to have died by the sword as he spread the message of Christ is Ethiopia.

Bartholomew was flayed to death by a whip.

Thomas was stabbed to death with a spear in India where his teaching of the faith had made great missionary impact.

Jude was shot through with arrows as, again and again, he refused to deny his faith.

Philip was likely stoned and crucified on a long cross.

James, the Minor, is recorded to have been beaten to death by a fuller’s club; and Simon, the Zealot, sawn in two with a long saw.

Matthias, the disciple chosen to replace Judas Iscariot was stoned and beheaded.

John, Son of Zebedee, the only disciple believed to have died a peaceful natural death, had survived attempts on his life – being boiled in a cauldron and forced to drink a cup of poison.  John was eventually exiled to the Island of Patmos, and many years later freed to return to modern-day Turkey.  Even so, we credit John with the care of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his prophetic writings including the Book of Revelation.

Deadly relentless efforts were made and continue to be made to snuff out the message of Jesus Christ.  But, that message continues.  These martyred disciples are the “little ones” of which Jesus is speaking with such endearment – martyrs, but never separated from the love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Endeared to Jesus our Lord, we are his disciples, we are the little ones.  Whether flogged or dragged before unjust accusers or pierced by the sword, we will never be separated from God.  In spite of our trials and adversities, through faith in Jesus Christ, we will never lose our reward.

What an honor to be welcomed in the name of Christ, to be welcomed as Christ is welcomed, to give our life to Christ.  Think of the tiniest dewdrop on a blade of grass; in it we find reflected the sunshine and the blue of the sky – in the tiniest dewdrop.  Pray, Little One, that in you, others will find reflected the love of Christ.

21
Jun

God’s Peace

Jeremiah 20:7-13 Psalm 69: 8-11, (12-17), 18-20 Romans 6:1b-11 Matthew 10:24-39

Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

We think and speak often of the peace of Christ.  We look forward to the time when we can once again exchange the peace of Christ safely with a handshake or a hug or even a kiss.

Yet, Jesus bamboozles us with this statement, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”  And, if we consider what we know about Jesus’ life and ministry, we would have to agreed it was not peaceful.  We might even have experienced this piercing sword for ourselves – a time when we have discerned with God’s help to do the right thing in spite of pressure from family and friends, in spite of the knowledge that our decision would bring anger and division, a sword inflicting deep injury in a human relationship that would be slow to heal.

These weeks of Ordinary Time have come; Pentecost has passed; we set off in earnest on our journey as Jesus’ disciples, learning from the true Teacher.  Matthew’s Jesus is symbolized in the human face of God.  Our study of Matthew’s Gospel through the coming weeks of summer and fall will be as students of the teachings of Jesus organized into five different discourses; today’s lesson is a significant portion of the Missionary Discourse.  Jesus, our teacher, is quite transparent as he shares the brutal truth of the great costs of our commitment as his disciples.

Jesus is not advocating family divisiveness; he is not encouraging us to be disrespectful or irresponsible in our relationships; Jesus is calling us to live into those relationships – to face the challenges of those relationships in ways that nurture and prioritize our call to discipleship in ways that further the transformation of this world toward the Kingdom of God.  We cannot shy away from disrupting the false peace that obscures or diverts our call to live into our covenant as people of God.

If you have been blessed with a loving benevolent father or father figure in your life, you know that, out of necessity and duty, fathers don’t always bring peace.  Misbehaving was one thing, but having my father know that I had misbehaved was an emotional sword through my heart that kept me from being in the wrong place at the wrong time more than once.  A true loving father does not turn his back on much-needed discipline out of fear of disturbing the superficially peaceful household.

Jesus knew that his call was to disrupt the status quo, to challenge the world’s injustice, to speak the truth that would at times divide even his closest followers.  Jesus’ teaching did not hide the reality of the dangers of the disruption of the superficial peace we are tempted to enjoy in spite of its shallowness.  These earliest disciples and disciples of every generation since continue to accept this reality and obey the call toward the transformation of the world into the kingdom of God.

If we do not recognize that God is above even our dearest loved one, where will we be, how will we go on if and when we lose that dearest loved one?  We mortals will pass, but God is real and everlasting.

God, through his Son Jesus, is asking us to choose.  First century Jews who made the choice to become Christians were banished from their synagogues and alienated by family members.  Our choices may very likely divide us from friends and family.  The choice to be a disciple of Christ and to follow his teachings has brought the literal sword of persecution and death into the lives of far too many Christians in our world.

The unifying principle – God’s message that is incredibly clear in Jesus’ words to his disciples, is that we are to follow without fear.  Rather than our own human determination and planning, which over and over obstructs our view of God’s promise to us, we trust God to heal our divisions – to embrace us into his grace, freedom, and destiny.

Our God is a god who cares even for the tiny sparrow – purchased for a half penny – the cheapest meat available for purchase by the poorest family in first century times.

This is God in whom we entrust our destiny; this is God in whom there are no divisions; this is God wherein lies the true peace that we seek beyond the sword.    Amen

14
Jun

Gift

Exodus 19:2-8a  Psalm 100 Romans 5:1-8 Matthew 9:35-10:8(9-23)

This is the season of graduation celebrations.  This year’s season of graduations has been one we will remember for its sadness, in that we were forced to gather only virtually.  And, it will be remembered for the compassionate and amazingly creative means that education administrators and loved ones have implemented in order to make these rites of passage a truly celebratory event.  We celebrate with our graduates this year with particular keenness.

For these sorts of celebrations – graduations, ordinations, retirements, and we might include weddings and wedding anniversaries – we salute significant accomplishments by the honorees.  There is an understanding that the honoree earned something special, certainly with the help of mentors and supportive family members, but all in all an accomplishment by the honoree that we celebrate.

Similarly, we celebrate birthdays.  But, in contrast to graduations and retirements, we can’t say we earned our birth.  Our birth was a gift to us from God with the help of our parents.  Yet, each year on our birthdays, we receive more gifts and felicitations as if it is some sort of worthy accomplishment.

Similarly, as Christians, we have received the gift of salvation; we receive this gift of salvation as a child of God, justified by faith alone.  Our salvation is not our accomplishment by us.

The Apostle Paul affirms in his letter to the Romans, Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand.’  It is through Jesus Christ that this grace is obtained.  We are justified by faith, and we have peace with God.  What greater gift could we imagine than peace with God.  This faith is sufficient; this peace is enough; and, it is a gift.  We simply have to take the gift in hand and heart and open the box.

The manifestation of our faith is our call to discipleship.  As in the gift of our earthly birth, with nurturance, we grow in body and spirit; the gift of our salvation is nurtured, inseparably, in our discipleship in the peace of God.

Within this peace of God, called into discipleship, Jesus’ words that we hear today are a loud trumpet blast.  “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”  I don’t know that I have understood Jesus’ statement with the same clarity as after spending ten intense days in Israel and the West Bank.  While there and since, the words ring in my head again and again: ‘The laborers are few.’  Here in the Land of the Holy One who walked and preached and healed, the laborers are few; Christians are a tiny minority within the minority of Palestinians – sheep in the midst of wolves.  The harvest – the huge majority of Palestinians and Israelis who face life every day without recognizing the gift – without opening their hearts to the peace of God through the message of justification by faith are, nevertheless, locked in centuries-long injustice, hatred, and death.  If only they would accept the gift – peace with God, the key to locked hearts.  The harvest is overwhelming; the laborers are brave and tireless, but few.

Jesus’ message is the same message that the Israelites received from God through Moses in the Wilderness.  God said, “You have seen … how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” But, Jesus brought a new understanding and clarity to these words.

The world is in sore need of the awareness of this gift.   “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”

We’ve all had cause for tears these past weeks as our sense of community has been ripped to shreds – tears of outrage, tears of sorrow, and tears of joy.  The news account of Lucy Hosley, part-owner of the Valentine Deli in New York, evokes all of these emotions and more.  Lucy stood in the street outside her smashed deli with arms crossed castigating the masked perpetrators who continued to vandalize and loot her store shelves.  In an interview later, she confessed she knew these young people.  In her words, “I know who you are, but I won’t turn you in; I’ll let God do it.”

Lucy knew them, as she described, because for years she had been feeding the children of her neighborhood on Saturdays at the local school.  Taking money out of her own pocket to begin this program, she wept as she described these hungry children eating eggs and bacon as if they had never eaten before.  “It broke my heart,” she said.  On this night, they broke her heart even more; not so much because of her destroyed business, but because of the dysfunctional unjust brokenness into which these young people had fallen prey.

Lucy described her own childhood growing up in the cotton fields of the segregated South, being told, even by her mother, that she would never amount to anything.  She credits her pastor for guiding her to put those thoughts out of her head and seek a better life for herself with the gift of God’s peace firmly planted in her heart; none of us is nothing in the sight of God.

Lucy ends her interview with a plea, not for punishment or restitution; her plea is to parents, “Stop telling your child ‘You won’t ever be nothin’.  We need to educate these children.  We can do better.  My life matters; their lives matter.”  Wise words from one who well knows the power of God’s grace.  The harvest is plentiful, but the Lucy Hosleys are far too few.

Much like our earthly birth, our salvation is a gift from God, peace through our Lord Jesus Christ.  We celebrate our graduation – our earning of degrees from esteemed universities; we cannot earn salvation; we can only receive it with open hearts and carry it forth with the hands, feet, ears and voices of laborers for Christ with the greatest celebration.

The Rev. William DuBose, a late 19th century professor of theology at Sewanee was much more formally learned than Lucy Hosley, but the theology of each regarding God’s grace is in agreement.  To quote DuBose, “It is simply that we are not to bring our goodness to God, but to bring it from God.  We are to come to God with the nothing that we are, and receive from Him the all things that God is.”

We would be nothing without the gift of God’s grace so freely given; in that gift, is all that is God, peace that we cannot resist sharing with the plentiful harvest.    Amen

07
Jun

Responsibility

 

Genesis 1:1-2:4a 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 Matthew 28:16-20 Psalm 8

We like to use the phrase “reading again for the first time” regarding scripture that is very familiar – so familiar that we need to remind ourselves to read as if it were for the first time, searching for a new revelation in the familiar passage.

Our first lesson for today – the account of Creation is a good example.  What’s new in the account as we read it again for the first time?

There is the magnificence.  Just think of God’s power to create from nothing, taking control of the light and darkness, naming the light Day and the dark Night, the dry land Earth and the gathered waters Seas – much like naming our children.  Think of the intricacy of every tiny creature:  the tiniest “No-see-um” bugs that drive us crazy with itchiness, the small acorn that becomes an enormous resplendent oak tree bearing thousands of new acorns, the complex interconnectedness of our bodily systems of digestion and respiration and circulation.  Who could invent such things?

Who could invent the beauty of a mountain vista or the music of the wind in the trees or a sunset – different every single day?  Magnificent.

And, in the Creation account, there is the recognition of the blessing of being created in the image of God, granted our place in this magnificent creation as God’s people.  “Be fruitful and multiply,” says God to humankind, “fill the earth and subdue it.” Over fish and fowl, plant yielding seed and fruit bearing trees, every beast, everything that has breath of life – over all things in God’s creation, humankind is to have dominance.  We are amazingly blessed – we of humankind, created in the image of God.

Yet, reading again for the first time, we notice that God includes no warnings about our great responsibility as keepers of these many blessings of God’s magnificent creation.  Nope, God just hands us the car keys and says, “Go for it.”  Surely, God knew how reckless we would be, yet God bestowed us with this magnificent blessing; and, with great blessing comes great responsibility, responsibility that forever requires God’s guidance.

An obsession of my safer-at-home period has been my butterfly habitat.  How arrogant to think God cannot make monarch butterflies without my help.  Weeks ago, tiny white specks appeared on my one young stem of milkweed.  Out of the attic came the mesh tent into which was placed the sprig of egg-covered milkweed.  Slowly, the tiny white specks hatched into itty bitty caterpillars – eight in all, each visibly growing daily into fat two-inch striped caterpillars, eagerly consuming all the milkweed I struggle to provide this early in the growing season.  As of now, four of the caterpillars have become snug chrysalises – one of those just within the last hour – hanging from the top of the tent, looking like tiny green peppers; one other turned black and disintegrated; one has a mis-shaped chrysalis, which is cause for concern; the other two have been lazy slouches –lying around consuming the green leaves at horrendous speed.

All in all, my efforts to help God make monarch butterflies can be confounding.  Did I do something wrong that caused the one young caterpillar to turn black and dissolve without being able to make its chrysalis?  And, what’s wrong with the slow ones.  Did they need more moisture?  Did they get too chilled in the cool night air?  Why are they so far behind the others?  I can’t help feeling I have not fulfilled my responsibility of providing proper sanctuary from the wild world that threatens their extinction.

But, neither am I worthy of praise for this sacred process of metamorphosis or the bright orange beauties that will emerge successfully one day soon.  All praise to God for these beautiful fragile creatures who feed on the toxic milkweed and are, thus, defensively toxic to predators – God’s magnificent interconnected creation that provides for the monarch’s protection and the blessing of their beauty.  All glory to God.

All glory to God as we are blessed to be created in the image of God and to have bestowed upon us the great blessings over which, we are reminded in today’s lesson, we have dominance.  Great blessing – great responsibility for all humankind.

The psalmist, upon considering the magnificence of the heavens and the works of God’s fingers – the moon and stars in their courses, asks of God, ‘What is man that you should be mindful of him?’[Psalm 8:4-5a] And yet, You give him mastery over the works of your hands; you put all things under his feet.’ [Psalm 8:7] The magnificence of God’s creation, the blessing of humankind created in God’s image, the responsibility to safe-guard God’s creation.

Sometime soon, we will come together once again to praise and glorify God as God intends for us.  Too long without worship and praise to God, we begin to feel that we are worthy of the glory that rightly belongs to God; we betray our responsibility as masters over the works of God’s hands.

With great blessings comes great responsibility.

Matthew concludes his Gospel with another familiar passage that requires our reading again for the first time – Jesus’ words that summarize our responsibility, our dominant place as God’s people in creation.  “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”  Go make disciples among those who are downtrodden by the physical and economic effects of the pandemic; Go make disciples among those who are victimized as the result of racial prejudice; Go make disciples among the bigots and the hypocrites who exploit injustice; Go make disciples among the many in our world who truly want to improve the wellbeing of creation but are thwarted by our political divisiveness.

Hear Paul’s words: “Live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”

On this Trinity Sunday – the fourth principal feast celebrated in physical isolation – In the name of Jesus Christ, go make disciples of all nations.  With God’s help, take up your responsibility as disciples of all creation, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.