To Tell the Truth

 

At some point, I will stop living my life out of a suitcase. I spent the first few days of September at the Full and Equal Conference celebrating 50 years of LGBTQIA+ inclusion in The Episcopal Church. 

Of course, anyone who has followed this blog for any period of time will know that the story of our inclusion has not necessarily been full, and in some parts, far from equal. Thankfully, the organizers emphasized repeatedly that "this conference is not a victory lap, but a next leg of the race." 

It also came right at the moment when the wider liturgical church community had some important verses assigned from the Gospel of Matthew that fit with the theme of truth-telling. Because I was on such a time crunch and did NOT want to drag my laptop with me to Minneapolis, I wrote my sermon ahead of time....with the full expectation that what happened would happen: namely, I needed to do some revision and rewrite very early Sunday morning.

Here's the result. See what you think.

Text: Matt 18:15-20

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There’s a prayer in our Prayer Book credited to the Fourth Century Bishop John Chrysostom.

It contains the line that “when two or three are gathered together” in Jesus’s name, Jesus “will be in the midst of them.”

And to that…we say Thanks be to God!

Because in my experience when two or three people get together in the church…there’s liable to be conflict.

Conflict is just part of human nature.

We come from different backgrounds…with our different histories…different ideas of how to solve problems…all informed by the way we live and move in the world.

So some level of conflict is inevitable…not just in the church but in life.

How we handle it…and keep it from unnecessarily going from zero to 60 … is the focus of what we just heard from Jesus.

Our Gospel lesson this morning is often labeled in Bibles as Jesus talking about “Church Discipline.”

Not the type of discipline that is like "getting whacked on the knuckles with a ruler" discipline.

But what we hear Jesus recommending… is a process that is grounded in mercy for both the person who was injured and offended AND the person who has committed the injury and offense.

It’s more like reconciliation…and repairing the gap that’s occurred in a relationship.

It’s also nothing new for the community Jesus was talking to back in the First Century.

I’ve said it before: we have to remember that the people in the Gospels…unless they are identified otherwise…are all Jewish.

And so the disciples in the story…and even those who were hearing the Matthew Gospel read to them back in the beginnings of the Christian movement… understood that Jesus was referencing the moral holiness codes of Leviticus and Deuteronomy…and putting them into practice.

They understood that it wasn’t healthy to harbor hatred and resentment toward someone who did them wrong…and that if the matter was serious…it was important to have more than the testimony of just one witness to what happened. Otherwise, it could lead to someone getting falsely accused.

To illustrate the importance of this point…in the verses right before today’s reading…Jesus talks about children…the most vulnerable and innocent among us.

Children…like widows… represent the powerless…the ones who depend upon the kindness of strangers…to protect them from exploitation and cruelty.

Then Jesus drives home this point with the story of the shepherd…who notices that one of his flock has gone missing.

The shepherd leaves the 99 on the mountain side to go find that one and bring them back into the fold.

It’s not that the other sheep don’t matter to the shepherd.

But what Jesus wants them…and us… to understand is that when it comes to living in community…all members…especially the least…the lowest…the lost…the overlooked…are important and must be included.

And it’s essential that when conflict arises…for a community to remain a thriving living…breathing… example of God’s loving kindness…God’s mercy… there is a way to go about addressing the issue…that protects everyone…and offers a means of making amends without causing more harshness and injury.

It's about restoration…reconciliation… …and giving grace for all voices to be heard.

It’s about telling the truth.

And that’s what makes this particular discipline challenging.

Because truth-telling takes honesty…and a willingness to listen to those who are the vulnerable…without making excuses or cutting off the dialogue.

I just got back last night from a conference in Minneapolis where the Episcopal Church did some truth-telling around the treatment of the LGBTQIA community.

While our church is now standing on the other shore from outright rejection of the queer community…it didn’t happen without conflict and a lot of hard work.

And it has taken us fifty years to live into the promise that was made in 19-76 to the LGBTQIA community...a promise issued by the whole church, that quote:

“...homosexual persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church.”

That simple sentence led to years of conflict…with steps forward…and many steps backward...and more lurches forward.

And…despite what some have tried to argue…it was all Gospel-based hard work.

Gospel-based hard work that grew out of the equally hard…Gospel-grounded work of the church accepting the idea that women could be ordained as priests in the church.

The same work that’s found in our baptismal covenant…when we talk about seeking and serving Christ in ALL persons…ALL persons.

Not just persons who are just like us.

And respecting the dignity of every human being.

That’s hard work….and it’s on-going work.

And I think this is some of what has been tripping us up in this country...our reluctance to do hard...truth-telling work.

Throughout our history…there have been many histories.

But too often the stories told by the least…the lowest…the overlooked…get pushed aside.

Sometimes…just our basic understanding of major events…the things we were taught in school.. depends on where you were growing up in the country.

I was shocked in my senior year of high school in New England when I learned from my sociology teacher…a native of South Carolina…that the war fought in this country between 1861-1865 was not “The Civil War” as I had been taught.

It was “the War Between the States” because…as she told us…South Carolina’s Education Department declared that there was “nothing ‘civil’ about it.”

I’m not going to argue that war is “civil”…but when we can’t agree that the reason the North and the South fought one of our most deadly battles was about slavery of black people…we’re not being honest.

If we can’t teach our children that the years following that war were marked by broken promises and more violence…we are only doing further injury… not just to the memory of those who were enslaved and their ancestors…

Not telling the truth also injures those of us who are white who are descended from the perpetrators and as well as those who witnessed the violence.

It traps all of us in a skewed version of history…where the truth is buried and the hurt is allowed to keep growing.

And it prevents us from reaching the desired outcome: restoration with the possibility of forgiveness.

This is the very thing Jesus’s instruction is getting to when he talks about treating the one who refuses to listen even to the church to as a “Gentile and a tax collector.”

He’s not saying to kick them out…but as professor Aaron Gale notes…these are the ones who need more instruction…more remediation.

They’re the toughest nuts to crack…but….like that lost sheep…we must keep looking for the way to bring them back…and accept that they have done wrong so that the breech can be repaired…and open the way for healing and even forgiveness.

Can you imagine if this were the way our justice system operated?

Actually…some have imagined it.

There was a woman I knew in Tallahassee…a retired nurse and social justice advocate named Agnes Furey.

Agnes had a daughter named Pat. 

Pat loved animals and gardening and helping people.

But she also had an addiction to alcohol.

For a time…Pat’s youngest child…Christopher…lived with Agnes while Pat was in rehab.

And it was in her addiction recovery program that she met a man named Leonard Scovens.

Agnes felt uneasy about this relationship…but Pat insisted to her mom that Leonard needed help.

Scovens murdered Pat and Agnes’s six year-old grandson.

And as you might imagine…that loss was devastating.

Agnes was rightfully angry and deeply wounded.

And after some time….she did the extraordinary: she wrote Leonard Scovens a letter in prison.

He wrote her back…a dismissive letter apparently…which infuriated Agnes.

So she wrote to him again.

And gradually…as they corresponded back and forth…Agnes learned more about the broken and dysfunctional childhood that had helped to create Leonard into an anti-social human capable of murdering her daughter and grandson.

And Leonard saw in Agnes a soft-spoken…kind-hearted…and tough as nails woman…who wasn’t going to let him off the hook…and that he had hurt her in a tragic and brutal way.

The story is not so much about Agnes forgiving Leonard…or Leonard having some great kum-by-yah moment with his victims’ mother.

But they found a type of peace in knowing each other more fully...in the space between them.

For Agnes…it freed her from the anger that was burning inside of her.

For Leonard…it freed him to feel what Love really looks like for the first time in his life.

And their letters and stories are in a book called, "Wildflowers in the Meridian."

This is what restorative justice looks like.

And this is the world that God imagines for all of us.

One in which we will do the hardest work of them all:

Telling the truth.

Loving our neighbors as ourselves…and respecting the dignity of every human being.

That’s our work. That’s the example we can give to others.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Who Do YOU Say That I Am?"

 

 You got love it when your bishop hears something you said on a podcast and decides to make it into a graphic!

I'm back from my vacation in Europe to see the solar eclipse and to take in the festivities in Laruns, France, on the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Those were the two big highlights of this excursion.

And I wisely wrote this sermon before I left. So, tell me what do you think? Do you think Jesus is a little bit sassy at times?

 

Text: Matthew 16:13-20 

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“Who is Jesus Christ?”

That was the question put before me during my interview with the bishop of Florida in 20-13.

He didn’t exactly ask that question as much as barked it at me.

But of all the things that I was asked during that interview…who was Jesus Christ was the one question for which I could answer with no hesitation and a big smile.

“Jesus Christ is the greatest liberator from oppression ever!”

I have no doubts about that answer.

And it came from having run away…struggled and wrestled with God for more than ten years before that meeting.

It was born from experiencing the depth and breadth of a Love that was beyond my wildest imagination.

It had it’s formation from entering Holy Week and the Triduum—those three Holy Days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter—and emerging out of an Easter service with that fullness of joy in feeling God’s promise having been kept to us: that assurance that Love wins!

That Love always is a stronger, more enduring power than fear or hate.

Incidentally…I tend to think that’s the reason why so many of our politicians and others lose their minds every June when the LGBTQIA community celebrates Pride. because…Pride…is really a big ol’ carnival of honoring and rejoicing in Love.

The bullies and tyrants can’t hold power over others when that Power of Love takes up all the space.

Bullies and tyrants were all around Jesus and the disciples at Caesarea Phillippi. Where this Gospel scene takes place is at or at least near the grotto dedicated to the pagan god Pan…the deity of shepherds.

The disciples are far away from the safety of being with their kinfolk when Jesus asks them, “Who do the people say that I am?”

And the answers run the gamut.

“Well…some think you’re your cousin John the Baptist. Some say you’re Elijah. Some think you’re Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

Jesus is like, “Uh-huh. OK. Cool, cool.”

I mean…none of those are bad ideas…and showed a type of Judaism that was faithful and dutiful to God.

But then Jesus makes the question personal.

“Who do you say that I am?”

This is no longer about what others say or think.

There isn’t a cheat sheet that they can check to find the “right answer” to this question.

This is about their own belief…their own experience…their own understanding of this man they’ve been following all over the place.

And he’s quizzing them as they were standing at a place of worship centered on an idol…and not the God of their ancestors.

I find this is one of those moments that’s still relevant for us today…living in a time where to profess to have faith in Jesus can evoke either strong positive or negative reactions from others.

Our vestry has been reading the book “Church Tomorrow?” by the Reverend Stephanie Spellers…who once served on the Presiding Bishop’s staff under Michael Curry.

She notes that survey after survey of people in this country shows the steep decline in religious affiliation…especially in mainline Protestant churches.

A 20-24 Pew Research Center poll found that only 63-percent of those surveyed identify as Christian…while those who claim no religious affiliation is 28 percent.

This change has been happening over the past 50 years…with the steady decrease in church attendance and the gradual uptick in the number of people who have no faith affiliation or interest in religion at all.

So knowing and being able to articulate “who Jesus is” to us…each one of us…remains probably the most important question for any of us to answer when we take a moment to contemplate our relationship to God through Jesus Christ.

And how we answer that question speaks to how we have come to find God in this second person of the Trinity…Jesus…in a culture where that might be seen as “weird” or even really counter-cultural.

Each one of us will have any variety of words…and feelings associated with those words…for how we relate to Jesus…or if we even feel we do relate to him. 

From the Christian perspective…the hope is that we have at least found in him a Word…the Word…that has become flesh…and through him it has led us to faith in the Name that is above all Names.

In our Gospel story…Peter…our beloved extroverted disciple… is the one who pipes up with, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!”

Good job, Peter!

The next few verses…where Jesus gives the details of how he’s giving him the nickname, ‘Peter’ or petras…meaning “The Rock”…and declaring it will be upon this rock that Jesus will build the church…is a description that only appears in Matthew’s telling of this story.

Scholars believe it’s because the Matthean community was a Christian community forming and emerging in the middle of a struggle and upheaval in Judaism after the destruction of the second Temple.

This new community also continued to face hardships living as a minority group within the Roman Empire.

Matthew includes these words spoken at a pagan shrine to give confidence to those beleaguered and fearful followers that Jesus was establishing something new…and that this was all happening within this pagan culture.

It’s also telling us I think something about Peter as that representative of this new church.

Remember about a month ago when we heard all those parables of Jesus…and his description of the “kingdom of heaven is like” a sower tossing seeds around.

Jesus describes the seeds that land on rocky ground as “this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.” (Matt 13: 20-21).

Think about what happens with Peter when Jesus confronts the power structure in Jerusalem.

Jesus gets arrested…Peter gets put on the spot about whether he has anything to do with this upstart challenging the status quo…and then three denials and a cock-a-doodle doo later…the one who we heard call Jesus “the Messiah” in front of the grotto of Pan is suddenly not so bold sitting by the fire in the high priest’s courtyard.

This is also a perfect reflection of the church…both the institution and the people.

While the church has exalted Jesus and we have venerated the cross…we have also not always lived into our call to follow in Jesus’s footsteps.

Like Peter…we have been the rocky soil…happily hearing the words of Scripture while it’s read within the walls of the building on Sunday.

But when faced with a world that does not know this liberating Love… and governmental and political structures that don’t care about its message of compassion for the planet and its people… we have a tendency to shrink back into silence on Monday.

There’s a reluctance to confront the systems that have done harm…sometimes because of our own guilt in the ways we have participated in those systems.

And many times…because of not wanting to get involved in things that are messy.

Our own denomination was slow to speak up about the injustice and unfairness of the Jim Crow laws in the South.

It wasn’t until a white Episcopal seminarian…Jonathan Myrick Daniels…was murdered in Alabama in 19-65 for an act of heroism in saving a young black teenage girl named Ruby Sales that the broader Episcopal church finally took a stand for civil rights.

When the church…you and me…goes silent…we allow others to speak in our name in ways that betray that life-giving liberating Love of God that we have known through Jesus.

And it’s not as if Jesus hadn’t warned that trouble would be coming to the church.

In the verses that follow this morning’s reading…Jesus tells the disciples the horrors that will occur in Jerusalem…that he will be killed…but that he will also be raised on the third day.

And Peter…the rock of the church…says, “No, no, no. Don’t say that! That’s scary. That’s hard.”

Yes, it is.

And again…that’s the world in which the church…both the institution…and each of us…has to operate.

We have to risk facing the scary…and the unpredictable nature of the world. But we can and we must do it.

Look again at Peter.

Remember Pentecost?

The Holy Spirit blows through the Upper Room…and re-ignites the flames that had been dimming in the wake of all the trouble and turmoil at the crucifixion…and the exhilaration and confusion at the resurrection.

And Peter finally screws up his courage to assert…in the face of opponents and skeptics…that Jesus was right…his way of being is the way to life.

Despite the flaws…the stumbling…the lack of courage…his rocky faith found the good soil and dropped down strong and resilient roots.

And the one who was given the keys to the kingdom is finally ready to drive the car.

That’s the truth of the church as well.

When those of us who make up the foundation of this institution find the words…and the feelings we attach to those words about Jesus…and live by them…love our neighbors through them…and challenge our systems to be better because of those words…we also become the ones who are bringing earth and heaven closer together.

Who is Jesus Christ?

That’s the question.

It’s up to each of us to have an answer…guided by our own experience of the God who is Love.

And how we answer…and then live into that answer…is how we can help show others the true nature of Jesus as that beacon of life-giving and liberating Love that God has to offer this world.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

Next Person Up

I have to say that the one thing helping to keep me from total despair these days is remarkably the Boston Red Sox.

And, unless you have been a long time fan of the team, you won't appreciate just how ironic that statement is at the beginning of August in baseball season. Usually, right after the All-Star break, is about the time the team begins to take a nose dive.

And, unless you last thought about the Red Sox in late May/early June, then you might think I've totally lost my mind. Because the team stunk...like a dead fish left on the beach in the warm sun for 24 hours.

But something happened about June 25th. And suddenly, the team found its purpose. They started playing together. They took time at the plate and made the opposing pitchers work. And everyone seems to be bought into the idea that winning actually feels good and makes their fan base very, very happy.

By the end of July...they had posted a 25-4 record...the best July this team has ever had in its 125 year history!

What the heck does any of that have to do with the 14th Chapter of Matthew, you ask?

Well...read on and tell me what you think. 

Text: Matthew 14: 13-21

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I love baseball.

And I especially love listening to baseball on the radio when it’s my team…the Boston Red Sox…playing.

Now I know that not everyone shares my same enthusiasm for the team or the sport…but recently…the Red Sox went on the most incredible run.

They won 15 games in a row…the most consecutive wins that team has had in 80 years.

And it almost came to an end at game number 14.

They were playing the Baltimore Orioles… a division rival… who also were on a long winning streak.

The two teams kept going back and forth on the scoring.

It was the bottom of the eighth inning.

The score was tied five to five.

The two guys on the team who had been doing the best at the plate—Wilyer Abreu and Wilson Contreras—had already been at bat and hadn’t made a dent in this tie score.

So now all eyes were on the Red Sox third baseman Caleb Durbin.

Now…earlier in the season…a lot of us fans were not happy with the way Durbin had been playing.

And none of us were excited about the offensive strength of the Red Sox.

They just were…well…not very good…including Durbin.

But just when it seemed as if this game was going into extra innings….bam…Durbin hit a blast that sailed into the bleachers for the go-ahead home run… and the Red Sox were able to hold on to win the game in the ninth inning on a score of six to five.

And there was joy…and happiness… and celebration from Fenway Park… all the way to me sitting at my desk in our home office.

The radio commentators were overcome with emotion.

As one of them said…the Red Sox had become a real team.

When the usual stars don’t come through… the attitude in their dug out was now “next man up”…the average player…the one in a slump… not the big name star…comes up to make the biggest play of the game.

That’s how the best teams make things happen… and win the game.

That’s what I think we hear Jesus saying this morning when he says, “You give them something to eat.”

Essentially…it’s a “next person up” situation.

This story of the feeding of the five thousand appears in all four Gospels…which is like a neon light-flashing clue that this is one of the big Jesus moments so pay close attention.

There are several places we could jump in on this one.

This miracle used to be the central story for gathering the early Christians together for the Eucharistic meal.

It has echoes of the history of Israel…journeying through the wilderness…with doubts in their heads and hearts.

Jesus lifts these provisions of bread and fish to God for a blessing…and like the manna that rained down on the Biblical ancestors during the Exodus from Egypt… God was able to feed five thousand out of just this offering… and still have enough leftovers to go into 12 baskets.

(The twelve baskets represented the 12 tribes of Israel).

This story stands out as one of the best examples affirming God’s Love and desire to see that all… everyone… is fed and given exactly what they need.

It’s also a teaching moment for the disciples that were there with Jesus… and it speaks to us hearing this story two thousand plus years later.

Remember the events that have built up to this moment.

Jesus has already given a pep talk to the disciples.

He’s told them to get out there… go to the towns and talk to their fellow Jews… and do the work of his mission… telling them God’s kingdom has come near.

Heal people.

Liberate them from their doom and gloom.

Cleanse the lepers who society has shunned and pushed aside.

Take all those who have been treated as outsiders and center them in the story of God’s love.

And he’s warned them that none of this work is going to make them popular and could get them into deep trouble with the Empire.

In fact…the story that is told in Matthew’s Gospel right before this one about the feeding of the five thousand is the horrific execution of John the Baptist by Herod.

But despite the terror and the difficulties…Jesus repeats the favorite phrase in all of Scripture: do not be afraid.

So, he’s been teaching them, coaching them, using parables as a type of code language, and preparing them for just a moment as this feeding of the five thousand.

So when they turn to him and say,

“Come on Jesus. It’s getting dark. Tell these people to go away so they can get food.”

Jesus’s response is, “No, I will not tell them to go. YOU give them something to eat.”

A-K-A: Time for the next person to step up.

Those who have been listening and learning and have sat at the feet of Jesus…soaking in all his instructions… must now do the very thing he has been showing them how to do all along.

Feed the sheep.

Feed the lambs.

The disciples look around.

They look at one another.

They’re seeing this throng of people.

And all they have to offer them is a couple of fish and five loaves of bread that they’d been carrying with them.

But even that meager amount…which seems like nothing…is enough for Jesus to give one more demonstration.

He lifts that bread and fish to God…blesses it and breaks it…and gives it back to the disciples so that they can pass it out to everyone.

And through this act…God’s grace is able to feed the crowd because the disciples step up to feed the people.

Their small offering becomes greater with God’s help and their efforts.

That’s the ultimate teamwork…and that is what gets asked of us every day:

To take the things that we have…our smarts…our skills…our goodwill…and put it to work to lift up those around us…help move our society in a direction where all are fed…both with real food and even more importantly…with a real sense that they matter.

We are called on to keep meeting the needs of those we know our hungry for mercy…compassion…and justice….as well as those seemingly smaller tasks of simply treating each other with respect and dignity.

This is the way we reclaim an important element of Christianity that has been lost in the tangled web of our religion being too close to the power structures.

This is how we move intentionally in the direction of Jesus to stand with those who aren’t the most prestigious…and politically connected…and to bring God’s love to those needing real friends.

This is what it means to be on Team Jesus…and be the next person up to meet the matters facing us in this time.

In the Name of Our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

 

Baptized for Hope

 

Summer time and the preaching is not easy. Neither the Letter to the Romans nor the Gospel were particularly "easy" texts. And with the way things are in our American society, with a president and his regime who are dedicated to disruption and discord, it is very hard to wrap my mind around themes of "hope" and "love" while acknowledging that all is not right and good on the other side of our Episcopal red doors.

It is further complicated by knowing where I am in the country: in a place where my little congregation is one of the few that isn't a church ascribing to the white Christian Nationalist mindset, while surrounded by those who do.

Every week feels like a tightrope walk. And I keep stepping carefully.

See what you think.

Texts: Romans 8:12-25, Matt 13:24-30, 36-43

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One of my most favorite services in the Episcopal Church is baptism.

I love it when we get to formally welcome people into the larger Body of Christ…and celebrate with them as they’re brought into this greater connection through the symbol of water...and invited to participate fully in the meal served at this table.

And I love that we all get to take part in that welcome.

We not only rejoice with those who we are baptizing…we also get to speak to our own place as children of this Love that is God.

We make promises to keep doing the work that comes with our inheritance…to keep praying…keep loving… and keep striving for justice and peace.

Baptism is our ritual to mark a person joining a new family…taking on a new identity and becoming another one of our siblings.

And that can be particularly important to people who may have felt caught off from their families of origin for one reason or another.

That feeling of belonging is vital to our mental well-being.

Baptism not only means we gain some new aunties and uncles in the church.

We are also being adopted as beloved children of God…marked and sealed as Christ’s own forever and handed that light of Christ to burn in our hearts and lead us to being good stewards in our communities.

We’re grafted into a larger family tree that is bigger…broader…and filled with the hope that our branch of this tree will produce really good fruit.

That’s a lot of what Paul is driving at when says,

“For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ-- if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”

If that sounds good to us…it was even more important to the members of the emerging Roman churches of the First Century.

These churches were made up of Jews and non-Jews who were mostly living on the  margins of the Greco-Roman society.

Some were recently freed slaves…some not even native to Rome.

The ways of the Empire hadn’t changed much from the time of Jesus’s crucifixion.

There was still a lot of classism.

And the military and well-connected held power over the labor class.

The Roman Emperors used to declare themselves to be god and expected the people to worship them.

For the Jews hearing this letter of Paul…the words to not fall back into “a spirit of slavery” recalled the story of their exodus through the Sea of Reeds as they fled Egypt into freedom.

For both the Jews and non-Jews in the churches…the feeling of adoption and belonging was a bonus.

Paul’s expression spoke to that sense of freedom from oppression…and the liberating Love of God.

“Adoption” also served as a useful tool for people who were accustomed to living under the laws of the Empire.

Under the Greco-Roman law of adoption…the family name and property could be passed on to a chosen heir…preserving the family lineage.

In fact…Emperor Augustus…not having any male heirs of his own…adopted Tiberius before his death so that he could have a successor of his own liking.

But Paul puts a twist on this adoption language.

Paul says those who become one with God in Christ have secured something even more binding.

Because God has adopted them spiritually.

And as adopted spiritual children of God…they’re now full members of this family not hung up on power plays on earth.

God has become closer to them …and this relationship is so personal that they can call God, “Father” or “Abba.”

These ordinary citizens…who did not occupy the seats of power in government…and couldn’t hold public office in some cases…are hearing from Paul that they have something better…richer…fuller.

They’ve been clothed with a different kind of sovereignty…one that has made them Christ’s adopted siblings….with an equal share of his inheritance…making them heirs to a freedom possible through Christ’s life…death…and resurrection.

This is the legacy that is passed on to us through our baptism.

To be heirs of God…and siblings of Christ…is both amazingly freeing…and it comes with some costs as well.

Because what comes with our inheritance is the same mission that Jesus was on in the world:

"To bring good news to the poor;

Sight to the blind;

To proclaim release to the prisoners

And to liberate the oppressed." –Luke 4:18-19

 

All very good and noble words to say.

Doing those works…stepping outside of our comfort zones and striving for a more just and equitable society is not easy.

It involves working together…even with those we don’t always agree with on everything…in the hope of making a difference that we may or may not ever see in our lifetimes.

It means taking a good long hard look at what’s happening around us and doing the work of discernment about what we see and having that vision of what could be better.

It’s like what Jesus is saying in our Gospel lesson about wheat and weeds.

Again…just a little bit of background here to understand this.

There was a weed…called darnel…that was very toxic…and grew in the climate of the Middle East.

It closely resembled the wheat crops of Palestine…and would shoot up between the wheat. 

Farmers had to be careful to tell the difference between the good wheat and the darnel as they did their harvesting…otherwise they’d ruin their harvest.

So just as Paul used the ideas of “slavery” and “adoption” to make a point…Jesus is using this agricultural metaphor to caution those eager to kick out anyone they thought wasn’t worthy or a “real” follower of the Way.

This is important for all of us to remember…particularly right now as we live in a culture where there is so much coming at us on a daily basis and attempts to get us to turn on one another…scapegoating communities and people for problems that require much more thought and attention to address.

Our work is not to get into the judging business.

Our work is to get into the questioning business.

To ask why is that people are going without food and shelter?

What factors contribute to some places receiving resources and others not?

How do we break some of these cycles and work toward a better society for all people regardless of their race…ethnicity…identity or other factors?

The fact that inequities still exist means that we have an obligation to keep asking the questions…and pursuing the solutions.

This is how we live fully into our baptisms…and how we make good use of our inheritance as the adopted beloved children of God.

This how we keep hope alive not only for ourselves…but for the generations to come.

In the Name of Our One Holy Undivided Trinity.

Liberally Sharing of Grace

It doesn't happen often, but this week was one where I just couldn't wrap my mind around any of the assigned Scripture readings. Nothing was breaking through...until I happened to listen to the reflection offered by the Rev. Canon Dana Corsello at Washington National Cathedral. Listening to her words, and then looking at the Scriptures, I finally found what was there the whole time: God's grace is abundant, it goes wherever it wants, and when we accept it and live by God's love...we can offer that same grace to others.

At least that's what I got out of all my wrestling and struggling. And it sure beat talking about Jacob and Esau and red lentil stew.

See what you think. 

Text: Texts: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23, Romans 8:1-11

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I recently heard a story told by one of the priests at Washington National Cathedral that seemed relevant to our readings today.

She was talking about scrolling through Instagram and reading the experience of a Japanese Soccer fan who had come here for the World Cup.

 But this wasn’t about the soccer games.

This was about eating at a Mexican restaurant.

This man had never been to the States before…and so he was unaware of some of the customs of hospitality that we take for granted.

He’s in this Mexican restaurant….and places his drink and food order.

He’s talking with his friends when the basket of chips and salsa arrive.

Confused…he stops the waiter.

Motioning to the basket he says, “We did not order this.”

“It’s OK,” says the waiter, “They come with the table.”

The Japanese man was awe struck.

These chips…this overflowing basket of chips with salsa…comes with the table?

In his post…the man went on to talk about the cultural difference…the fact that in Japanese restaurants…the idea of giving food away for free was a foreign concept.

His post went on to note that after they’d finished the first basket of chips …My goodness! Another basket of free chips arrived.

Chips for free.

Without asking.

And accompanied by what he called a sampling from the seemingly bottomless well of salsa.

This experience seemed to rival any sort of awe-inspiring play on the soccer pitch!

Something good… hospitable…for free.

Aside from the feeling of goodwill we can get from seeing a foreigner enjoy the perks of eating at a Mexican restaurant in America….this story makes for a great analogy about the nature of God’s grace.

Like chips and salsa that come with the table…

It’s free.

It’s abundant.

We don’t need to earn it and we can’t buy it.

We just need to be willing to accept it and let it fill us up.

And because we’re filled with such grace… and because of grace we have experienced this sense of freedom…we are more able to share it with others.

That is the hope…the dream… that God has for us.

This is similar to the sower…going about…freely tossing seeds here…there and everywhere.

It doesn’t matter if it’s the right time of year… or the best season… or the most ideal soil.

These seeds are going to get thrown because that’s what the sower does.

In this case…our “sower” is Jesus.

The “seeds” he’s spreading are his teachings…his healings…his kindness…all the Love…the grace of God…that is within him.

He’s using this metaphor of a sower to a people familiar with this farming practice.

Unlike today…where farmers carefully measure the acidity of soil…and plan and rotate crops…the farmers of ancient Palestine used this scattering method…knowing that some plants would grow… and others would not.

So Jesus’s audience would at the very least grasp this image of a sower.

Whether they understood it as meaning the spreading and growing of God’s Love… and could take in that message… was another matter.

For some…they hear it and don’t care…or they care too much about other things.

These are the ones who want power over others…or more money... and prestige.

They don’t want to receive this gift…especially if it means changing their outlook…and becoming a person who cares about the well-being of others.

This is what Paul is driving at in his letter to the Romans with his talk about “flesh” and “Spirit.”

They’ve set their hearts and minds on the “things” of the world that might bring about instant gratification…but will not serve them in the long run.

Now I know a lot of people find Paul’s writings to be challenging.

And yes—in our 21^st century ears—he is long-winded and his letters can lead one to think: “T-L-D-R”…the short-hand for “Too Long, Didn’t Read.”

And this one from chapter eight has been really badly  misconstrued…and has led some to believe that our bodies are bad and evil and sinful.

To sound like Paul for a moment, “Is Paul saying the human body is horrible? No! Not at all!”

Don’t forget that we are made in the image of God.

All of our limbs…ligaments…the breath in our lungs….these are all blessings given to us.

Heck—as Paul even says…Jesus took on human flesh.

And that’s an important part of what Paul wants us to hear in this portion of his letter.

It was through Jesus’s actions…both his loving ministry of mercy…compassion…and justice in the world…and going to the cross as an innocent man… that Jesus did the work of freeing our fleshy humanity from that the sin that got Adam and Eve kicked out of the Garden of Eden in the first place… and his actions transforms us into a new people to carry on the God’s mission.  

By living in Love…and dying in Love…and being raised again out of Love…Jesus gave all of us who were baptized…a shot at new life…new breath… and the fire within of the Spirit.

Now…sadly…this doesn’t mean that sin…the force that seeks power over others and drives a wedge between us and God and each other…is dead and gone forever.

We’re all aware of that.

Our news media reminds us of it daily.

People still hurt and abuse other people…as well as animals…and the planet.

Cancer and other diseases still claim lives.

Those holding earthly power still attempt to dominate others through violence.

There is always this perpetual struggle between those who are self-serving…and those who are joining in the mission to spread more Love…and grow up more people who want a world where everyone enjoys that grace that’s like those free chips and salsa at a Mexican restaurant.

But what Paul’s Epistle to the Romans and the Gospel lesson this morning are encouraging us to hear is that when we choose to live into the liberating life found in Christ…and when we set are sights on achieving a world where there is health…healing…and hope with unconditional love… we have a power source of the Spirit… ready to help us grow that garden of Love…and boost our efforts.

These lessons speak to how it is through God’s power working in us and through us …as a community… we can achieve infinitely more than we can ask or imagine in the mission of caring for each other.

We may live in a world where there are stony paths or  rocky soil… and places where weeds have been allowed to choke the life out of people.

But still we go. 

We may have rocky soil or thorny bushes growing in our own hearts.

But we are still loved…and encouraged to never give up on the grace that is there to help us cultivate the goodness that is within us.

If we keep doing our best with our hearts and minds fixed on Love… we can and will be able to freely sow hope out in our communities.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.