Sermons

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16  Romans 16:25-27  Luke 1:26-38  Canticle 15

We, the Church, are privileged to know something about the history and significance of the birth of Jesus Christ – most of us having been reared in Christian families, where the accounts of the birth, life, and ministry of Jesus Christ have been long familiar.  As our own Paul Harvey would agree, “we know the rest of the story” beyond the words of Luke’s Birth Narrative that we love to hear again and again at this time each year.  We know that Jesus grew up to preach and teach and bring healing and salvation to the world – that he died on the cross and rose again.

And so, we come with awe into this season of celebration of the Nativity, reflecting on the impact the birth of Jesus Christ has had on our lives and on all creation.

First Century Christians did not have the benefit of 2000 years of Christian history and teaching.  They did not yet know the rest of the story.  Jesus’ birth was not hailed by many-at-all of the known world as a significant event.  Luke’s Gospel account of the birth tells us that the shepherds acknowledged the angels’ glad tidings of great joy, and Matthew describes the Magi as they were intrigued to follow the astrological signs that led them to seek out the Christ child; and, we like to think the cattle and sheep and doves were aware of the marvelous new thing that was occurring. 

The narcissistic King Herod, we are told, sought the babe out of great fear for his monarchy; this fear led Herod to the widespread slaughter of newborn males in an effort to eliminate the perceived threat to his throne. 

But, besides all these, there is no indication of others in general paying attention to this world-changing, life-transforming event as it occurred in Bethlehem so long ago.

Certainly not the innkeeper in Bethlehem:  Luke’s Gospel indicates that the innkeeper said “no” to the expectant couple; “there is no room for you here.”  [Luke 2:7b]. 

We know that Jesus grew up in Nazareth in a traditional Jewish family where surely his hometown neighbors admired him as a “good” boy – perhaps a “favored son.”  Yet once Jesus came of age and began his teaching and ministry, they said, Huh, “is not this the carpenter’s son?  Where did this man get all this wisdom and deeds of power?”  Matthew tells us “they took offense at him” – their local boy; they said “no” to his teaching and wisdom and deeds of power. 

In John’s Gospel we read the account of the “woman at the well.”  This Samaritan woman was at least suspicious.  After her encounter with Jesus and his words of “living water,” she ran back to her people with breathless exaltation, “He cannot be the Messiah, can he?”  [John 4:29b]

Yet, Jesus’ own religious community – the leaders from whom he had been taught the history and the prophecy and the law – those of his own faith and heritage said “No,” he is not our king; he is not the Son of God as he claims to be; he is not our long-awaited Messiah.  They said, “No.”  They said, “Crucify him!”

As the centuries have passed, many have said “No.”  Many continue to say “no” to the peace that passeth all understanding in the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ.  God grants us the freedom to say “No.”

Mary did not say “No.”  Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”  Mary said, “Yes.”  Few, if any, would suffer the cost of discipleship more than Mary.  Mary said, “Yes.”

What if Mary had said, “No, I’m too much afraid”?  What if Mary had said, “I have no room”?  What if Mary had said, “He is only a carpenter’s son”?  What if Mary had said, “He cannot be the Messiah”?

Mary said, “Yes,” in spite of fear and all the uncertainties.  Mary said “Yes” to being the vessel for the coming of God into the world in human person – to live and die as one of us.  The angel of God said, “Do not be afraid.”  And Mary said, “Yes.  Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

We, the Church, are privileged to know something about the significance of the birth of Jesus Christ.  We, the Church, are privileged time and again to hear these words of the Annunciation that we have heard this morning in our Gospel lesson.  We, the Church, are privileged to be the vessel of God’s grace as Mary was the vessel – the Godbearer.   We, the heirs of those who said, “yes” to the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ are privileged to continue to carry on that mission.

Despite the uncertainties, despite the fear, be the vessel as Mary was the vessel.  Say, “YES.  Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

Isaiah 40:1-11  2 Peter 3:8-15a  Mark 1:1-8  Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

 He will feed his flock like a shepherd;  he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom,

As Mark recorded the divinely inspired words of the Gospel near the end of the first century, war raged throughout Galilee, southward through Palestine, in and around Jerusalem – all over the land we know and hold in our prayers as the Land of the Holy One.  Vespasian, by this time, had been crowned the Holy Emperor of the Roman Empire – after all his competitors for the crown were conveniently assassinated.  Vespasian followed Emperor Nero who is best known even until today for his fanatical persecution of Christians, perhaps personally calling for the execution of the apostles Peter and Paul less than a decade before the time of Mark’s writing.  War raged for the people of God at the time Mark records his Gospel.

Mark writes as Rome rules in the Land of the Holy One.  Amongst the diverse and divisive groups are the Zealots – Jews who are zealous in their beliefs and actions to overcome Roman rule, to restore Judaism as the state religion, and once again to proclaim Israel as the major political power as they believe God intended.  The Zealots look toward the day that God will raise up leaders to bring war that will overthrow and drive out the Romans and all non-believers.  It was not uncommon for their rage to erupt into public attacks and murder against fellow Jews who were seen as colluding with the Roman authorities. 

In addition, the Zealots raged against those who sought peace with the Romans at any cost – deriding those who pursued their beliefs and practiced their worship only in the safe zones of their tightly defined religious communities, being careful never to challenge the Roman presence, going about their daily business by turning a blind eye to Rome’s heretical rule.  For the Zealots, this group was just as problematic as the Romans themselves.

And, even more serious division and unrest amongst the people had been created by the life and ministry of Jesus, the Jewish Rabbi from Nazareth in Galilee.  Those who followed him had become known as Christians and were intent on furthering his ministry even though this Jesus had been crucified nearly forty years ago in the midst of the ensuing insurrection.  Rome frowned on underlings who were inclined to incite uprisings. 

Jesus had lashed out at the Romans, calling them heretics, but he had not led Israel toward military superiority as some had hoped.  In fact, he had condemned many of the Jewish religious leaders as well and gone so far as to embrace Gentiles not to exclude Roman soldiers.  Even so, nearly 40 years after his death, the numbers who followed his teaching were increasing continuously – both Jew and Gentiles.  How could Jews and Gentiles – God’s chosen people side-by-side with non-believers – join together?  These Christians continued to preach the message of one who died the most appalling and shameful deaths by crucifixion – the means of execution reserved for the lowest most common criminal of Rome?  They continued to declare Jesus their Savior – the Messiah whom the prophets of old had foretold would come to set God’s people free.

The message preached by this Jesus was and is a message of peace and unity for a world in turmoil.  This message is said to be the Good News – the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Imagine if this message – this Good News – could bring peace and unity to such a world torn by such division and turmoil, as was this world of the 1^st century.  It is into this tumultuous climate that God’s words, recorded by Mark, emerged. 

God’s people needed Good News of comfort and peace during the latter part of the 1^st century.  And yes, of course, God’s people need these words of Good News equally in this 21^st century.  Thus, Mark records these words of Good News for all generations past and present and future.  They are timeless words that cast the light of the prophetic message, words that declare our salvation through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.  Mark’s divinely inspired words alert us that we must be prepared for the impact of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

Mark begins his Gospel account with John the Baptizer, a wild-eyed hairy man of the wilderness who ate honey and locusts.  John the Baptist comes to declare the divinity of the One who is to come.  John the Baptist had many followers, inspired by his fiery preaching of repentance and salvation.  But, John was clear in his declaration, “the one who is more powerful than I is coming after me…  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

We read John’s quotes of the prophetic voices of Isaiah and Malachi.  The words of God revealed by Isaiah came long ago at another time in history when God’s people so desperately needed words of comfort and redemption.  After years of exile and brutal persecution, the people of the Judah were returning to their homeland.  How desperate they were to be affirmed of God’s presence, gathering them, guiding them home again. 

“See the lord God comes with might,” says Isaiah – not the military might that was so desired by the zealots of Jesus’ community so certain in their wish to see Israel restored as a military power over Rome insurgence.  God’s might is the power of peace through the faith of Jesus Christ – the inexplicable peace that only Christ can bring, peace that surpasses all human understanding – the peace and comfort and sustenance of the shepherd who feeds his flock and gathers the lambs in his arms, carrying them in his bosom and gently leading the mother sheep. 

John the Baptist cries out in the wilderness of our journey through this season of Advent.  John the Baptist demands our attention – he’s not a pretty sight, but his message is urgent and essential. 

Only life of and in Jesus Christ can bring true peace.  We know Jesus to be our Messiah; we understand the coming of the Messiah to be the inbreaking of God into our earthly human existence – the inbreaking of God. 

As in Mark’s time, our world is tumultuous; it seems it has been always.  Perhaps your heart is tumultuous as well; perhaps your heart and soul know no true peace. 

Listen to John the Baptist, “Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.”  Be baptized in the Holy Spirit.  Allow God to inbreak into your life.  Make this Advent the time to receive the peace that only Jesus Christ can bring.

Isaiah 64:1-9  1 Corinthians 1:3-9  Mark 13:24-37  Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18

Throughout the renovation process of our family home over the past year and a half, there have been a number of treasures I have sought to guard from demolition and sheet rock dust.  Of particular attentiveness are the letters that my parents exchanged while my father was overseas in WWII.  They have been stored for all these many years in tattered boxes tied with faded ribbon.

On Friday, I removed the letters from the boxes and placed them in safekeeping for the years to come.  And, as I lifted the bundles of beribboned envelopes I was impressed by their consistency.  The envelopes in the stacks were all the same, all addressed in the same way with the same handwriting – my mother’s upright neat script, my father’s more flowing loopy scrawl.  From the outside, every letter looks the very same as the next one, but inside, without doubt, the written words brought joy and comfort to a soldier far away and his anxious young wife waiting back at home.  I stood for a moment, imagining this ever-flowing stream of letters – so grateful that tragedy or complacency did not bring an abrupt end to the flow.

One letter was lumpy; I investigated to find a very dry branch of heather from the English countryside.  My father knew how much my young mother would treasure heather from England.  I’ve read some of the letters; mostly they tell of ordinary day to day events – visits with relatives, the weather, mundane experiences.

As I pondered them on Friday, I was struck by the constancy that the letters represent – the ebb and flow of daily life within a deep and undying desire to be linked, determined that oceans and continents and wars could not separate one from the other – this is the providence of love.  

This determination to remain linked – counteracting the fear of separation – is a theme that runs through our lessons for this first Sunday of Advent.  The prophet Isaiah is speaking to the people of God who have been allowed finally to return to their homeland after decades of exile; their faith has been challenged; they have been overwhelmed by the fear of being separated from God; they have struggled to remain faithful in a foreign land where they were persecuted for worshipping the one God of the their fathers.  Now, they have returned to the ruins of their homeland, faced with the overwhelming reality of arduous rebuilding.  But, throughout it all, God has remained constant; God’s providence has gathered them and brought them home again.  God has been with them throughout their horrendous ordeal.  God never separates from us.

Our Psalmist writes, “Restore us, O God of hosts; show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.”  Our only fear is separation from God; as long as we look toward the light of God we are saved. 

These treasured days of the season of Advent are set aside as a time to re-acknowledge the light of God.  God’s light is constant; God’s light shines upon us day and night – in the mundane of our daily lives, at the times of significant rites of passage, at times of great joy and great tragedy.  We are never separated from God. 

But, we need this season of Advent to sit quietly in the silent darkness, to imagine what life separated from God would mean.  We need this season of Advent to sit quietly in the silent darkness of these long cold nights and discern what it is to be alert and prepared for the light that is to come. 

God’s light is constant – the handwriting is always the same. 

In today’s lesson from the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is speaking of the end times.  This thirteenth chapter of Mark is known as the “Little Apocalypse.”  This time of which Jesus speaks is not necessarily some far off time; Jesus is speaking to us of the here and now.  Jesus is speaking of our need to be patient, to endure the persecutions of this world, to remain faithful that the light will come. 

Consistently, day-by-day in the mundane and the sensational events of our lives, we remain constant in our awareness of God’s presence – constant in our understanding that our only fear is separation from God, and God is never separate from us.  In God’s time and on God’s terms, God will send his angels to gather his people “from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.”

Jesus’ message is that it is more important to spend our time being prepared to recognize and follow “the Son of Man coming in clouds of great glory” than to devote our time and energy fretting and speculating over the day and the hour that the end times will come.

In Advent, we might say that we wait in an empty room – there are many windows in our room, but nevertheless, it is a very dark empty room.  There, in the empty quiet darkness, we await the coming of the morning light, faithfully and prayerfully preparing our hearts and minds to receive the long-awaited Messiah.  We remain there awake and alert to his coming.

The Messiah comes, we celebrate the Incarnation and the Epiphany of our understanding that this is the One for whom we have be waiting. 

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, assures us that our Lord Jesus Christ will strengthen us to the end, so that we may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Hear the words of our Lord, “What I say to you, I say to all, ‘Keep awake.’”

May your Advent be blessed with the reality of God’s constant providence of love freely given in our salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Exodus 32:1-14  Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23  Philippians 4:1-9  Matthew 22:1-14

Our lessons this morning address the realities of life.  The reality of life is that we struggle; we become impatient and seek to intervene with God’s guidance; we like to be in control; and, blinded by our own self-seeking goals, we too often overlook God’s invitation into a life of peace and joy.  But, God does not abandon us, even when the realities of humanity lead us to feel forsaken.

Reality is a cost of our humanity.  In contrast to costly humanity, we could be God’s tin soldiers; God would wind us up and we would praise him.  We would be robotically polite to one another, each of us accurately and efficiently fulfilling our responsibilities to one another.  Perhaps there would be no evil or tragedy – certainly, there would be no violation of the Ten Commandments. 

Somehow, I suppose, we would have to be programmed to love God and love our neighbor, since that is where we experience God’s presence.  But, it would be love lacking free will – wind-up love, love out of a can, so to speak.  Well, I just get more and more confused trying to imagine life without the costs and frailties of our humanity – life without the joys and sorrows that are intrinsic in our humanity.  

God created us with free will, and with free will comes the reality of consequences.

In our Old Testament lesson, the people of Israel are struggling with the consequential realities of life in the wilderness.  In chapter 20 of Exodus, Moses goes up to meet God on Mount Sinai.  There, Moses receives the Ten Commandments and an assortment of other laws and guidelines mostly specific to worship.  Actually, there are thirteen chapters of these laws and guidelines that Moses is instructed to put into effect among the sojourning Israelites. 

As I said, it is in Chapter 20 that Moses leaves the people to go up the mountain.  We are now in Chapter 32, and God and Moses have become aware that their visit has gone on too long.  Feeling abandoned, as we read in our lesson, the people of God take matters into their own hands.  Deciding that God and Moses have forsaken them, they gather all their precious metal possessions, melt them down, and fashion a golden calf to serve as their god. 

A reality of our humanity is that sometimes we are not willing to be quiet long enough to listen for God’s voice; we are not willing to be patient with God’s will for us.  We want to take matters into our own hands, and when we do, we really foul things up, as did the Israelites in our first lesson.  And yet, the privilege and ability to foul things up is part of our gift of free will; every element of creation has the gift of freewill.

Christians for the 1st century had similar ups and downs.  From prison, Paul, writes to the church in Philippi addressing the reality of a conflict between two of the church leaders, Euodia and Syntyche.  Conflict is a reality of Church; Church is human relationship; conflict is a reality of our humanity.  The two women about whom Paul is concerned apparently are waging a power struggle within the church at Philippi.  Paul exhorts the Philippians to be patient as they seek to help Euodia and Syntyche.  Among other requests is the admonishment to “let your gentleness be known to everyone.”

Gentleness is, what the Apostle Paul would label, one of the fruits of the spirit.  This admonition to “let your gentleness be known to everyone” came to mind again and again last week as we blessed our precious pets; our pets teach us the necessity of gentleness. Even when they are disobedient, our pets require our gentleness.  Would we want them to be tin soldiers, marching about in complete obedience, fearful of our wrath?  Would we want them to please us out of fear of punishment?  No, our pet’s love for us is pure even when they fear we have abandoned them, and our love for them is pure even when they are disobedient.  Gentleness guides our relationships among the harsh realities of life’s struggles.  We are to help one another with gentleness; gentleness is a fruit that needs more reality.  

Yet, gentleness does not seem to be a reality of our Gospel lesson.  This lesson is the continuation of a tense conversation between Jesus and the elite religious leaders of the Temple in Jerusalem.  There are thousands of sermons here.  But, for today, I just want to highlight one message of the lesson, which is to be prepared – to be open and available to God’s invitation to life in communion with God and with one another.  Jesus emphasizes that, unlike the man without the proper wedding robe, we are to seek to be prepared when we come to the feast – to recognize the heavenly banquet of eternal life – to recognize our host as a friend and not a stranger. 

As confirmed by our Gospel lesson, judgment is part of the reality of our earthly lives.  As teachers and students and parents and policemen and wherever we find ourselves in our adult lives, we affirm that laws and guidelines and the necessity of judgment are part of the reality of our earthly lives.  Thus, we affirm the necessity of being prepared to follow the guidance of authority.

How is it that we are to be prepared?  Unlike the Israelites of our Exodus lesson who fell prey to mob mentality, be quiet; listen intently and patiently for God’s message.  Listen to the admonishment of the Apostle Paul, “Let your gentleness be known to everyone.”  In spite of the difficulties you will face, never give up on God, be prepared, and “let your gentleness be known to everyone.”  Make that a reality of your humanness. 

Sometimes the costs of humanity seem so severe that we feel God has forsaken us, or that God has judged us unprepared, hopelessly disobedient, and tossed us into the outer darkness.  Human love and loss are a great paradox.  Don’t give up on God; in his infinite wisdom, he made us human.  In our wisdom, we accept the realities of our cost of humanity.  We truly would not want the wind-up life of a tin soldier even with its simplicities.

Remember our precious pets who teach us about patience and gentleness and the reality of God’s unconditional love even when we make such a mess of our lives with our impatience and disobedience and spiritual blindness.  When the realities of our humanity tear away at our faith, God calls us to be patient and gentle with ourselves and to let our gentleness to known to everyone as we accept Jesus’ invitation to the heavenly banquet spread before us now and in the age to come.

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20  Psalm 19  Philippians 3:4b-14  Matthew 21:33-46

Our Old Testament lesson presents to us the Law sent down from God to Moses, preserved for us in the 20th chapter of Exodus.  This Law is the foundation – the cornerstone, if you will – of the religion that is the whole of life for the Hebrew people even to this day.

This Law that is summed up in what we know as the Ten Commandments is sheer gift to the people of God.  Their ancestors of many generations had lived in bondage in Egypt; now, they had been freed miraculously from the bondage.  The gift of the Law is given to guide their appreciation for the blessing of living and worshipping in freedom – a guide to becoming one with their creator and living in relationship with one another.

Centuries later, we have this allegorical parable from the Gospel of Matthew, which we have read just now, in which Jesus clearly convicts the religious leaders in his audience of failure to accept and follow God’s Law sent down so many centuries ago.  As religious leaders, it is their role to guide the people in understanding and following the law.  Instead they have misinterpreted and misused the law, abusing their positions of power.  They have failed to interpret the Law as a gift that guides the people in becoming one with their creator and living in relationship with one another as God intends.  Jesus is speaking to all of us who fail over and over to acknowledge and keep sight of the cornerstone of our faith.

Jesus quotes from Psalm 118:  “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”  Jesus condemns the religious leaders for failing to connect with the Son of Man who has come.  His parable indicates Christ’s expectation that they will collude in is earthly death.

Jesus Christ is the cornerstone.  The connotations associated with the cornerstone are interesting food for thought, and I think we would all agree that “cornerstone” carries much more of a spiritual metaphorical image than a tangible brick and mortar image.  Inscriptions on cornerstones are significant symbols of beginning and preservers of history – some even contain time capsules or relics of saints.  There is a wide range of tradition associated with cornerstones.

Cornerstones mark our beginnings.  And, we should not forget that cornerstones mark our endings.  We lay the cornerstone; we follow the guidelines laid down for our building project – or, we might say, our lives; and, in the end, we return to our beginning – our goal is to keep focused and to return to the cornerstone – the foundation of our faith.

In South Nags Head last week, we decided to ride down to Oregon Inlet to check the progress on the bridge.  What a mammoth, unbelievable feat of engineering.  Building is taking place from the north shore of the inlet, the south shore of the inlet, and in the middle – the highest section of the high-rise span.  It is inconceivable to me how these calculations will come together so that the three sections will meet as intended.  The tiniest fraction of an inch of miscalculation will result in three disconnected constructions that go nowhere.  How glad we are that God allows us mercy in our miscalculations, when we lose sight of our cornerstone. Even then, God stays connected and guides our reconnection.

Our foundation – our cornerstone engenders our lives.  We keep sight of that foundation in order to connect with one another and with all creation as we work toward the perfection of our circle of life.  We have to connect with one another.

The monstrous act of evil that gloried in the killing of innocent people in Las Vegas last week was carefully calculated.  The murderer was an accountant and a gambler and a calculated killer.  And, it is obvious that he had made every effort to disconnect with humanity in the months, or perhaps years, before this strategically engineered travesty.  I can imagine that once his life is analyzed from beginning to end, we will find broken human relationships that created this disconnected member of human society.

We can blame the guns; we can blame the police; we can blame the government.  We don’t like to blame ourselves for neglecting our own responsibility to renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness and the evil powers of the world – to turn to Jesus Christ and to put our trust in his grace and love.  These are the vows we take when we are baptized in to the Body of Christ.

We are the Church; we are the Body of Christ; it is our purpose to connect – to be connected and to remain connected.  It is our purpose to keep sight of our cornerstone – to be vigilant constantly for the presence of Jesus Christ in our midst – and the presence of evil in our midst.  We look into the eyes of the people we encounter in the most casual of circumstances; we listen; we tune in to the hurts and the frustrations of the people around us.  We all want our voices heard.  We don’t necessarily have to have our way at all times, but we want our voices heard in the decision-making process.  When voice go unheard, ill will ferments.

It is the gift of God’s guidance, first brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses, that is our cornerstone, leading us to live in relationship with God and with one another.  We cannot allow the World’s increasing desire for disconnection to divert our sense of cornerstone – our beginning and our ending quest toward everlasting life where north and south meet at the highest point to become one in Christ.  As tenants in the vineyard, we are one body, in union with God and each other with Christ as our cornerstone.

Exodus 17:1-7  Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16  Philippians 2:1-13  Matthew 21:23-32

_{“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”}

_{In the setting of our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus encounters the less than welcoming high priests entrusted as God’s representatives in the Temple in Jerusalem.  Jesus did not come here to the Temple in Jerusalem to bask in the revelry of his glorious entry.  Jesus came to Jerusalem to clarify God’s message of grace and mercy – a message that had been distorted by many of these religious leaders – distorted even by those who considered themselves called by God to their positions of power and prestige.} 

_{Through this parable of the two sons, without incriminating himself, Jesus is making the point that the religious leaders have accepted their call to be God’s representatives, yet they have dishonored that commitment – they have said yes and then reneged.  On the other hand, there are others to be gathered into the kingdom, often those less typically identified as God’s representatives.  These, who come later, Jesus identifies as the tax collectors and prostitutes – those who are seen to have forfeited their lives by extortion and degradation.  These latecomers are those who first say “no” to God’s call, but later recognize and respond to God’s call; these come late, yet when they come with great intention, they come humbly and faithfully to follow the will of God.} 

_{Through God’s grace and mercy, the door remains open to tax collectors and prostitutes as well as to these spiritually short-sighted religious leaders maintaining the Temple.}

_{Among these religious leaders of the day, we could imagine a young man by the name of Saul.  Born a decade or so after Jesus and reared by diligent Jewish parents in Tarsus – modern day Turkey, the young boy Saul likely fulfilled the dream of being accepted to study in the Temple in Jerusalem at the feet of the great leaders.  And, as he grew and learned more of Jesus of Nazareth and his followers, Saul came to despise those of the movement whose message often challenged that of the chief priests.  As a non-believer in this movement, Saul set out with great intention to extinguish the movement through persecution of the followers of Jesus.} 

_{But the life of Saul of Tarsus was to take a dramatic turn on the road to Damascus where he encountered for himself the crucified and risen Christ.  As Saul was seeking to carry out the persecutions of the followers of Christ, he, Saul himself, was transformed; he became Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, known as the most prolific of all Christian writers and the most famous of all leaders of the early Christian movement.  We read from Paul’s epistles nearly every Sunday.}

_{Paul could represent the son in our parable who said, “I will not go, but later changed his mind and went to work in the vineyard” – witnessing, founding church houses, writing, shaping the early Church, setting down guidelines for how the Church is to be formed and lived out, and, later, traveling by sea to Rome where his life ended in martyrdom.}  

_{For our modern perspective, some of us said “yes” early, having never known what it is to be without the Church in our lives.  From earliest childhood, Sunday meant Sunday School and church attendance; summers included Vacation Bible School and Church camp; Wednesday evening was the time set aside for choir practice and prayer meeting.   Others of us knew nothing of that lifestyle.  And for most, our “church life” is something in between – ebbing and flowing through our lives.  Yet, we are all here today.} 

_{For those who said “yes,” faith has been pursued with great intention since early age; for others, even if we went through the motions, we did not become intentional Christians until a later time in our lives.  Perhaps, being intentional about your Christianity is still not something you consider consciously, though you are present and continuing to seek a greater awareness of God’s presence.}

_{Regardless of where we’ve been along our faith journey or where we are going, we all stand redeemed.  The wretched Saul who, like the religious leaders in confrontation with Jesus in the Temple, believed himself to be pursuing God’s call, though that call was corrupted from his distorted view of God’s will for his life.  God would change that dramatically on the Road to Damascus.}

_{Similarly, time and time again throughout history and today, those we would consider to be the most unlikely – the most wretched of souls – have found God’s redemption made available through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  John Newton, the eighteenth century Anglican priest and author, had lived a scandalous previous life of drunken debauchery.  As the son of a highly ranked officer in the Royal Navy, Newton spent much of his early life as a sailor who was picked up and brushed off after many a drunken brawl that led to his near demise more than once.  Finally, pulling himself together well enough to become a financially successful ship captain, John Newton invested in the highly lucrative business of transporting slaves across the sea.  Early on, John Newton was a well-known slave ship captain.}

_{Yet, in a fantastic demonstration of God’s ever present offering of the gift of grace, John Newton turned from his wretched abhorrent life; the seeds of faith having been sown in early childhood by Newton’s mother; finally, those seeds sprouted.  Late in life, John Newton began seeking God’s will for his life.  He was ordained into the Anglican faith.} 

_{Today, John Newton is best known for penning the words that were the source of his guidance into a hymn that almost everyone knows regardless of the degree of “churchiness.”  The hymn is Amazing Grace – penned by this former slave ship captain.  John Newton had come late, but he was redeemed nonetheless.  The poignancy of the hymn is accentuated, not by the fact that it was created by an Anglican priest, but because it flowed from the fervent converted heart of a former slave trader who for so many years said “no” to God’s call, but then said “yes” with the greatest intention.}

_{John Newton and the Apostle Paul first said “no” but then came later to the vineyard.  And, Paul continues to speak to us in his timeless epistle writings such as these words included in Paul’s letter to the people of Philippi that we have read today – words known as the Christ Hymn.  Paul writes to the Philippians from prison.  “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”} 

_{Say “yes” with great intention, to the ministry to which you are called by God.}

_{As the Body of Christ, we are representatives of Jesus Christ; we have said “yes” very publicly to the work of the vineyard.  The world is watching to see if we will distort God’s message and renege on that call or accept it with great intention.} 

_{Few understood this truth better than the latecomer, the Apostle Paul, reminding us:  “It is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”  [Phil. 2:13] – enabling our work in the vineyard, it is never too late to say yes and to go.}

Exodus 16:2-15    Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45 Philippians 1:21-30 Matthew 20:1-16

_{The landowner/employer of our parable from Matthew’s Gospel does not follow the expectations of society in his decision to pay all the laborers the same amount regardless of whether they worked all day or only one hour.  We might agree that it seems outrageous, but we cannot deny that the employer does not violate the commitment he had made to his workers.  The employer is free to reward his workers as he determines is best, and he does so.} 

_{As for the gift of God’s grace, the wages are distributed by the good employer without discriminating who came early and who came late.  God’s grace does not differentiate.  Fortunately, none of us receives what we deserve; our heavenly reward is not based on our rank or our place in line – God’s grace is that that we receive that we have not earned – that that we cannot earn.  God’s grace throws earthly human conventions to the wind and God’s grace is awarded freely and in keeping with His eternal covenant.}

_{God’s promise is to provide for our needs.  Each time we pray together our beloved prayer as the Lord has taught us, we ask God to “give us this day our daily bread” – not just “Give us our daily bread,” but “Give us just for today the bread we need.”}  

_{The daily bread of the Israelites was manna in the wilderness about which we read in our lesson from the wonderful story of the Exodus.  Like this daily bread for which we pray, the manna was perfectly tailored to the needs of the sojourning Israelites just for that day with adjustments to meet their needs for the Sabbath.  It could not be hoarded or held for another time – sustenance just for that day, anything beyond the daily amount became infested with worms.} 

_{The manna was not earned; it appeared with the morning dew without any effort required by the Israelites to prepare or provide it.  There was no differentiation between those who had the ability to work for it and those who did not.  It was sufficient to satisfy hunger, but it was not fancy.  In fact, it’s a little gross to describe.}

_{The manna is explained by Old Testament scholar Terence Fretheim as a natural phenomenon in the Sinai Peninsula – the area through which the Israelites fled when they escaped from Egypt.  I quote in detail, “a type of plant lice punctures the fruit of the tamarisk tree and excretes a substance from this juice, a yellowish-white flake or ball.  During the warmth of the day [the flake or ball] disintegrates, but it congeals when it is cold.  It has a sweet taste.  Rich in carbohydrates and sugar, [the substance] is still gathered by natives, who bake it into a kind of bread (and call it manna).  The food decays quickly and attracts ants.”} 

_{We read also of the quail provided by God for meat for the Israelites.  Regarding the quail, [Fretheim says] “migratory birds flying in from Africa or blown in from the Mediterranean are often exhausted enough to be caught by hand.  Such gifts of God’s good creation are placed at Israel’s disposal; but what they do with the gift [says Fretheim] is not an insignificant matter.”[1]}

_{So, even though miraculously provided, the food from which the Israelites are fed is just the ordinary stuff of life – God taking the ordinary gifts of nature and making them holy – providing sustenance for His people.  Neither the Israelites nor God considered this system of food provision to be any big deal.  It was God’s way of satisfying the grumblings and ungratefulness of His people in the wilderness, which even for God seems to be an impossible task.  We read the words of the Israelites from our text this morning, “If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”}

_{Would we, like the Israelites, prefer to be in bondage and well fed rather than free and hungry?  Would we, like those in our parable from Matthew, prefer to be standing idle in the marketplace as the laborers who came late to the vineyard, rather than coming early to work in the heat of the day?  After all, the reward at the end of the day is the same.}  

_{Just the ordinary stuff of life – a day’s wages.  Whether we come early or late, God’s grace is the same.  But, let’s think again of those laborers who worked all day in the heat.  Let’s think of that day as the time of our lives spent with the knowledge of the presence of Christ.  God’s grace is the same at the end of time, but what of our time spent on earth here and now in the knowledge of Christ – in the work of the vineyard.  Is that not itself our special gift?  Are we not rewarded every day that we spend in the Body of Christ doing the work God has given us to do?} 

_{Give us this day, our daily bread.  Take us and all the ordinary stuff of life and make it holy in your sight – just for today, that’s all we can ask.   This is the gift that is turned aside by those who stand idle in the marketplace or those whose existence is in earthly rewards while held in bondage by their ignorance of the love of Christ.  Our daily labor within the Body of Christ is our gift.  We have no need to grumble with God’s providence – though we do grumble like the Israelites.  And, God continues to respond to our grumbling by continuing to take that that is gross and ordinary – making it holy for his purpose of good.}

_{God’s eternal grace is the same for all, but our gift for today is to live in the knowledge and love of Christ.} 

_{Give us this day, our daily bread.  Heavenly Father, give us this day to spend in your presence; your provision is enough – the gift of your grace freely given – just for today.} 

Exodus 14:19-31  Psalm 114   Romans 14:1-12  Matthew 18:21-35

Debt and punishment, forgiveness and mercy are carried to the extreme in the parable we have just heard of the unforgiving slave.  In this parable, we are told that the kingdom of heaven can be compared to the king whose slave owes him ten thousand talents.  For perspective, let us consider that one talent was worth six to ten thousand denarii, one denarius being a day’s pay.  Ten thousand talents, then, could amount to as much as ten thousand denarii times ten thousand days equaling 100 million days of work, which figures out to roughly 274,000 years of labor.  You can check my math, but even if I am off by several decimal points, we are assured that it is an inestimable amount and, certainly, a debt that is humanly impossible to satisfy. 

We learn though, in our story from Matthew’s Gospel, that the king takes pity on the slave and his family and forgives the massive debt.  Again, we experience the extreme when we register the enormity of the debt forgiven.  Only then, can we see the true greatness of the king’s mercy.

Sadly, however, we read that the slave, released of the life-threatening debt, goes his merry way and, upon encountering his fellow slave who is indebted to him, finds no pity for this former cohort – tossing him into prison for his inability to pay him the debt he owes.  And, when the word of this merciless injustice reaches the king (or lord, as he is referenced in the later verses of our lesson), the king hands the ungrateful and unforgiving slave over to be tortured until the fathomless debt is paid – thus, tortured for eternity.

Like the slave of our parable from Matthew, we go to God to beg forgiveness.  We pray daily as we will pray in just a few short moments when preparing to come together to the Lord’s Table.  In that daily and most familiar of all prayers, we ask that God will “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  Or, as a four-year-old was known to say, “Forgive us our trash baskets, as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets.”  [Sins, debts]

Seriously, do you hear these words?  “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  We are asking to be forgiven of our sins equivalent to our willingness to forgive those who sin against us.  Thus, when we limit our forgiveness of others, we confess our recognition of the limit on the forgiveness we are due in return.  We admit to our unworthiness of God’s mercy.  Our prayer acknowledges that when we are not willing to forgive the sins of our neighbor against us we acknowledge God’s justification for not forgiving us for our sins.

Our God is a merciful God and we know that we are justified by grace through our faith.  At the same time, we cannot deny that these Holy Scriptures speak of judgment for our conditional, or limited, or complete lack of forgiveness of others.  This judgment for conditional forgiveness is more imaginable when we bring forgiveness into the domain of something more human and tangible to which we can relate.

I offer an illustration from a story told by Rabbi Harold Kushner:

A woman in my congregation comes to see me.  She is a single mother, divorced, working to support herself and three young children.  She says to me, “Since my husband walked out on us, every month is a struggle to pay our bills.  I have to tell my kids we have no money to go to the movies, while he’s living it up with his new wife in another state.  How can you tell me to forgive him?” 

I answer her, “I’m not asking you to forgive him because what he did was acceptable.  It wasn’t; it was mean and selfish.  I’m asking you to forgive because he doesn’t deserve the power to live in your head and turn you into a bitter angry woman.  I’d like to see him out of your life emotionally as completely as he is out of it physically, but you keep holding on to him.  You’re not hurting him by holding on to that resentment, but you’re hurting yourself.” [1]

For this young struggling mother, the eternity of torture was the result of her unwillingness to release the anger that was eating her like acid from within, tortured by the bitterness she held.  She could not be expected to forget the hurt and the brokenness, but she does have the capacity to deny it power over the goodness of her life and, in turn, the lives of her children.  Try to imagine God harboring such resentment toward us for our sins; not being able to respond with care and kindness to others of his children because he is mired in resentment for our lack of faithfulness.  It is a frightening scenario.

As God’s mercy and forgiveness are without limits, so should be our mercy and forgiveness toward our neighbor for our own personal good and the good of all. 

Whether God is parting the enormous depths of the Red Sea to preserve his chosen people, or forgiving us of the inestimable burden of our sins, or taking the most evil-driven human acts of tragedy and terrorism in our world and bringing from it the best of human goodness – it is all part of the unimaginable truth of God’s redemption of humankind.  We are redeemed through God’s coming to earth to live among us and to illuminate for us the truth of the enormous gift of forgiveness.  

Perhaps in recognizing the enormous weight of our debt (Blanchard), we can begin to conceive of the enormity of God’s mercy.  Surely in recognizing the depth of God’s mercy, we can forgive others who have hurt us and, in the peace of that forgiveness, we can reject the forces that seek to distract us from the truth of God’s redemption of us through His Son, Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

[1]  Harold S. Kushner, “Letting Go of the Role of Victim,” Spirituality and Health, Winter 1999: 34.

Exodus 12:1-14  Psalm 149  Romans 13:8-14 Matthew 18:15-20

Jesus said,  “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

Some years ago, in conversation with a fellow Episcopalian who is a member of a parish that at that time was dealing with some difficult conflicts, my friend said to me, “We go to church to praise God, and if all these conflicts keep me from being able to praise God, then I’ll just go somewhere else. “

Conflicts within our church family are enormously painful and disconcerting.  Is it too much to expect the church particularly to be a rose garden of loving, Christian fellowship?  It is not uncommon to hear:  I don’t really see the need to be in church; I can praise God wherever I am – on the golf course, or on a mountaintop, or in a fishing boat on the lake, or lying on the beach – just God and I.  Who needs all these other people – especially if I’m challenged to deal with conflict?

Yes, we need time alone with God, but that is not an end in itself.  We need that time alone with God so that we can listen for his guidance in how we are to live in relationship with our neighbor – how we are to obey God’s commands when two or three are gathered together.  Worship and praising God are not meant to be limited to a simple relationship between God and me.  Jesus said,  “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”  Worshipping God is about relationship – human relationship; in all human relationship we encounter conflict at some point.  So, where is God in our relationships and in our conflicts?  God’s presence is affirmed in a variety of ways.

First, building relationships with God’s people requires discovering a refreshing yet challenging reality about God’s law.  God’s law, so easily misinterpreted, is intended to guide our relationships with one another rather than provide impetus and opportunity for God’s wrath.  Remember, we are not punished for our sins; we are punished by our sins.  When we sin against one another, thus violating God’s law, we disrespect human relationship and we should expect to receive God’s discipline.  As a simple illustration: human decency dictates that we don’t allow a child to bite another child without discipline.  We don’t “make up” this no-biting rule just because we want an excuse to punish our children; we teach our children to abide by this rule because it is imperative to healthy and safe human relationships.  It would be an injustice to allow the child to believe it was acceptable to go on biting his playmates.

A Florida sheriff being interviewed regarding hurricane evacuations stated, “We’re not requiring you to evacuate in an effort to punish you; we’re requiring you to evacuate because we want to save your life.”  God sends down his laws for us because he wants to save our lives – that’s a gift.

Each of our lessons this morning seeks to increase our understanding of the connection between God’s laws and our relationship with one another – to see God’s commandments as a gift – a gift of instruction to guide us in our relationships with our neighbor – our neighbors being our closest family members and farthest strangers, our fellow parishioners and those outside the church, the ticket booth attendant at the parking deck who hands us our change with a smile and the driver behind us at the traffic light blowing the horn.

Thus, Jesus is speaking about the essence of relationship and this is where we begin to better understand the essential role of God’s law in human relationship.

Secondly, God affirms his presence through his faithfulness, and that faithfulness is dependent upon and manifested in relationship.  To be faithful requires relationship.

Today’s Old Testament lesson of the Passover narrative from the Exodus is an important expression of God’s intent to be faithful – to keep his promises to his people.  All the blood and the smearing of the blood is a little gruesome, but the most important message of the blood on the doorposts and the lintel in not in the sign of the blood itself, but that it is the sign of God’s divine promise – the promise of life and vitality, which blood symbolizes – the promise of an eternal relationship of life and vitality.

Finally, the third consideration of the connection between God’s law and human relationship is that it is all about love.  In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul echoes the words of Jesus, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  It is not that we dismiss the Ten Commandments sent down by God from Mount Sinai when we quote Jesus’ “greatest” commandments” – Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.”  It is that Commandments 5 through 10, which address our relationship to others, can be summed up, as Paul says, in these words: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  These six commandments are very specific:  You shall not commit adultery, murder, steal, covet, or lie, and you should honor your parents.  But, if we love without fear, love as Jesus has shown us to love, there is no need to name the specifics – these acts of sinfulness will not occur.  As we read today from Paul, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.”

As much as we try, we cannot legislate human relationships.  We can institute laws against violence and laws seeking to control actions that degrade and exploit the human family, but we cannot legislate the root cause of the anger that leads to shattered lives and relationships.  And, no legislation can erase the hurt and mistrust that are the cause and effect of broken family relationships.  Jesus charges us to strive for the ideal in seeking to mend the root causes of broken relationships – to experience the presence of Jesus Christ whenever two or three are gathered together.  This is our mission and ministry that is our focus of celebration on this Welcome Back Sunday.

We are encouraged to keep seeking the gift of God’s guidance through the joy-filled times and the difficult times; God’s Law is set down for this purpose.  God is faithful, and faithfulness requires relationship.  Through faith with God’s guidance, we learn to love our neighbors without fear – to abide in love – to follow the law of the new commandment – to listen for our own personal calling to ministry.

There will always to be those among us who are difficult to convince that it is the conflicts in our relationships that keep us looking to the gift of God’s law for healing.  We praise God in mending the broken relationships – not escaping them, and thus, making us stronger.  In our relationships with one another as the Body of Christ, we come together in worship to confess our sins against God and each other, looking to God’s guidance for healing.  We exchange the peace that comes from being forgiven and forgiving one another.  We come time and time again as one Body of Christ to His Table to receive the Holy food and drink of new and unending life in him.

We come together for God’s guidance in mending and strengthening our relationships and we go forth from here with God’s guidance to love and serve the Lord in peace – seeking to mend the broken relationships of our world.  Where two or three are gathered – wherever there is human relationship – God through Jesus Christ is there.