This has been a really tough week for the region. Hurricane Idalia sent me and my wife to a hotel for the night as we anticipated 100+ mile an hour winds in our city full of live oak trees. Instead, the storm shifted to the east at about 2am Wednesday morning which took Tallahassee out of the center of the hurricane. Good for us.
Really bad for Valdosta, another city with lots of pines and live oaks. I spent many hours between Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon seeking information from parishioners, offering a sympathetic ear, understanding the frustration of being without power and trees either on their homes or leaning precariously on wires by their house.
By the time I got to sitting down to write a sermon... I felt like most of what I wanted to say was "How long, O Lord?!"
I did come up with a sermon. It is what it is. And it was preached to a faithful remnant of ten.
Text: Exodus 3:1-15; Romans 12: 9-21; Matt 16: 21-28
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Good morning! I’m glad to see you here especially after the week
that we’ve had.
Our opening collect of the day caught my attention.
I was struck with the choice of some words and phrases…things like
“graft in our hearts the love of your name” “increase in us true religion” and
“bring forth in us fruit of good works.”
Those words…and our readings this morning… along with the
experiences of this past week with Hurricane Idalia and the difficulties of
when nature lashes out in such a violent way…gave me a lot to think about.
We’ve seen this past week the destructive power of wind and water.
We’ve had plenty examples recently in scriptures of the way water
and wind toss boats around on the Sea of Galilee.
Peter starts to drown when he feels the wind blowing against him as
he stands on water.
In our reading from Exodus today… we have another natural
phenomenon—Fire—which also wreaks havoc and causes destruction.
Think of the images from Lahina and Maui in Hawaii…with charred
vehicles amidst the ashen ruins of what had been paradise.
Some of us know the frightening experience of escaping from fires
in our homes.
Most of us remember the devastation of September 11th
almost 22 years ago…when the heat from two crashed passenger planes melted the
steel and caused the World Trade Center to collapse.
Fire is extremely destructive.
But here in Exodus…we see a different image of fire.
“The bush was blazing but not consumed.”
A fire is raging and yet the bush itself isn’t burning up.
And yet it is.
It’s a fiery passion.
What Moses sees and hears coming from the bush is a fire lit up for
justice…one that has seen and heard enough from the Israelites:
“I have observed the misery of my people. I have heard their cry on
the account of their taskmasters. I have come to deliver them.”
This is a God on fire for making things right that are going wrong
for the people of God.
We can hear that same passion when we listen to the exchange in the
Gospel between Jesus and Peter.
Jesus tells the disciples what’s in store for him as he marches on
toward Jerusalem, and Peter takes him aside to tell Jesus to stop talking that
way.
“Get behind me, Satan! You’re a stumbling block to me…”
Jesus is hot.
He knows what his mission is… he knows he is walking into a
dangerous situation. And he knows that Peter simply doesn’t understand.
Peter may be “the Rock” but he hasn’t grasped yet that to challenge
the status quo… and to push back against Empire, and tyrants and bullies…it’s
going to involve pain and suffering.
Because Jesus is charting a different way of responding to the evil
of his society…an evil that frankly still exists around us today.
Jesus isn’t leading a revolution which burns things down to the
ground.
His is a revolution that sets aflame the hearts of those who speak
words of love in the face of hatred…
keeps the faith against all odds…
and doesn’t let the fire within consume us with rage that it tips us
over into becoming the very bully and tyrant being challenged to change.
Jesus is showing the disciples…both those that were with him then…
and those of us who are still following him two thousand plus years later… that
we must stick close to the source of love and life…and let that be the
energy…the fire… that burns within us.
It’s that source which nourishes us with all goodness,
We learn from Jesus. We see how he interacts with those in need as
well as the way he interacts with those in positions of power.
We don’t just admire Jesus; we attempt to live our lives in such a
way that people see Jesus in us…through us… and around us.
This is the Jesus who shows hospitality to strangers and doesn’t believe in
payback when someone does wrong.
This Jesus demands that we back away from the temptation of
self-centeredness and self-reliance…and accept that God will show up in the
form of others offering help… and putting us on a path of repentance, love,
forgiveness, and mercy.
That’s the “true” religion we want to increase.
Marion Hatchett, who was the chair of the commission which created
our 1979 Book of Common Prayer, wrote in his commentary on the prayer book that
the phrase “true religion” came from Thomas Cranmer, the author of the first
Book of Common Prayer…and it may
have been a reflection of controversies occurring within the church back in the
16th century.
A “true religion” is what Paul is encouraging among the followers
in Rome… and is great advice for us in these times of such political conflicts…
and short tempers.
To be a follower of Jesus is to be different than what has become
the accepted norm of hurling insults…or settling arguments by picking up a
pistol.
To be true to Jesus means having that flaming bush for justice
burning within us…advocating and encouraging cooler heads to prevail in tense
situations… and remembering that the person we are having a conflict with is
also one of God’s beloved children.
When we put all of that into action…the grafting of God’s name…
that sacred name of “I AM who I AM”…will shine through us like a neon light
flashing in the store front window.
Difficult, sad, and exhausting as it is to go through a hurricane…
it’s in these times…when we are at the mercy of nature…and those big trucks and
linemen…that our Christianity is called upon to show up. Because Christianity
is a communal religion.
And that’s been happening.
Neighbors checking in on neighbors with offers of food and shelter.
Those with generators giving respite to those who needed a place to
cool off.
Restaurants serving up hot dogs and hamburgers as a way of giving
back to the community that kept their doors open during the challenging times
of the pandemic.
These are all signs of God’s fiery work in us and through us as a
community.
So many of you spoke of how you tapped into your faith during the
storm…and the thankfulness to have made it through alive.
The most consistent message I heard was: “We’ll get through this.”
And yes, we will.
Because God hears the call of the people… and responds.
Thanks be to God for that!
In the name of God…F/S/HS.
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