Glimmers of Hope: A Sermon for Proper 14C 9th Sunday After Pentecost

 

A wonderful thing happened last month that I think got lost in the shuffle of all the other ‘things’ happening in our lives.

Amidst all the grim news of floods, fires, and politics… science gave us a reason to pause and reflect on the awesomeness of our world.

I’m talking about the marvelous images sent to back to us from the James Webb Space telescope.

The project was launched on Christmas Day of last year. The hope was to probe the universe for galaxies and planets that might have Earth-like atmospheres.

What was beamed back to us was nothing short of incredible.

Even more detailed that what we’d seen with images from the Hubble telescope… these photos took us deeper into space… beyond our own galaxy… and revealed the brilliance of what exists “out there.”

These snapshots have given us a glimpse of what might possibly be the first lights created 13 and a half billion years ago.

This is the closest look we’ve ever had of the beginning of time.

There were images of galaxies swirling and star beams dancing in the darkness.

There was so much joy with astrophysicists and NASA engineers giddy at these discoveries and bursting with excitement as they shared them with all of us.

What an awesome reveal…all these photos.

They are so mesmerizing.

The type of thing that one could just stare at and never feel tired.   

I’ve always been fascinated by the night sky.

I love looking at the moon and the stars.

I’ve often wondered… as I counted what few stars I could see with just my own two eyes…what else is out there?

Could Star Trek be right?

Are there other galaxies with other creatures wondering about what might be happening in that place called the Milky Way?

 The images from the Webb space telescope reawaken that interest in what might be.

Maybe there could be other life forms out there.

The more I browse and study these photos…the more I am reminded of this passage from Hebrews.

“By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible” (v.3)

Faith demands us to have hope in those things we cannot see… but will become clear in the unfolding of time.

I imagine when Abraham stepped out of his tent and saw so many stars… he might have doubted the promise that he would be the father of so many descendants.

 “As many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the sea.” (v.12c)

Logic would have said that such a promise was absurd.

And then Sarah and Abraham became pregnant with Isaac.

The NASA scientists said they weren’t so sure their Webb space telescope would be successful.

But because of their willingness to trust and hope for success… we now have been given the gift of seeing another layer of the creation in all its splendor.

And I can imagine God delighting in our discovery… and calling out to us to keep searching because there’s so much more to find.

To have “faith…in the things hoped for, the convictions in the things not seen” (v.1) begins with a willingness to go seeking. 

Not with our eyes. But with our heart.   

It requires letting go of the “known” and being willing to venture into the unknown.

When we open ourselves to the experience of moving out beyond our preconceived ideas… and our old set ways of doing things, our heart expands.

We can look at things in new ways and even understand the experience of another person.

It seems quite appropriate that we have this reading from Hebrews as many of our children are starting back to school in the city and county and Valdosta State will be gearing up for another semester.

Schools serve as that opportunity for students, teachers, and professors to step out into something of a wilderness of learning on a journey toward discovering new information with each other.

To learn anything… both parties must have enough faith and trust in each other to begin.

This is true of all new relationships… be it a job or even a romance.

Our faith comes from trusting and having gratitude for God’s unconditional love of us that he would have given Jesus to us to set the standard of what it means to walk and live in love for one another.

Through this loving relationship… God empowers us to bring about a world that puts love of God and each other as the center of our being.

This faith is the bedrock which allows us to build relationships… allowing us to even work across our differences.

We might even discover the image of God in people who we at first didn’t like or trust.

Perhaps we might start tackling problems that we’ve been ignoring because we didn’t have enough faith that we could work with each other.

I have seen what I believe to be the seeds of such faith emerging from our Lambeth Conference.

You’ve heard me mention this meeting of the bishops before.

It’s not a legislative body or any kind of governing structure. What the Lambeth Conference represents is an opportunity for the bishops of the Anglican Communion—all the churches that trace their history back to the Church of England—to come together every ten years or so to study and talk with one another about the issues they’re encountering in their parts of the world.

These discussions help fuel ideas that the bishops can carry back to their respective dioceses and provinces.

The past two conferences were fraught with tension.

Some churches…including The Episcopal Church representing the United States as well as churches in Europe and the Caribbean… have made steps to include the LGBTQ+ community into the full life of the church.

Bishops… mostly from Africa and Asia… have objected to this, and especially to our church’s position on marriage equality. And since 1998… there have been numerous attempts to take the Lambeth Conference in a direction of punishing The Episcopal Church for accepting LGBTQ+ Christians.

There was another such attempt to do this at this latest conference.

But unlike the times before… there were gay and lesbian Episcopal bishops present.

There were those bishops who’ve come to see, know, and experience lesbian and gay Christians.

And there was the understanding that our Church could bring to the Conference to demonstrate how to live in love with one another recognizing the diversity of human sexuality.

We… and some of the other provinces… could bear witness to the reality that faith is a journey without a need for a set arrival date at the destination, but a willingness to trust in the Holy Spirit who will not leave us comfortless.

In turn… bishops from Africa and Asia shared their truth. 

They spoke of the threats they’ve faced from hostile governments who consider these bishops part of some larger Western conspiracy to undermine the laws of their countries.

Everyone listened.

Relationships formed.

And more than 600 bishops from 165 countries agreed to trust God and each other to lay this issue down and stop demanding to have winners and losers in this struggle.

That is an act of faith.

Where we go from here is a great unknown.

But what seems clear is that there is a willingness on the part of all sides to stay on the journey with each other.

No more threats to walk out.

No more calls for sanctions.

Look to the one who gave himself in love on the cross and remember that he died and rose again so that we could all have life and be a beloved community… and children of God.

This is gift of faith surrounds all of us… reminding us of who we are and whose we are.

God invites us and even beckons us to move out of our comfort zones of certitude…and our human need for right and wrong… open the eyes of our heart and step onto the path of faith.

We may pass through a fog of doubt and uncertainty…and we may not readily see what’s ahead.

But even as we venture out… beyond our own personal universes… we are never…never alone.

In the name of God… F/S/HS.

 

 

No Room for Greed in God's Economy: A Sermon for Proper 13C

 

I haven't posted anything more about the Lambeth Conference. I am waiting until they've dropped the metaphorical hanky before I say anything more. Needless to say, everything remains in flux, and conservative Global South bishops are behaving as they have before. When women first arrived as bishops in 1998, male bishops from the Global South refused to participate in the Eucharist. 

When +Gene Robinson from NH was in England but not at Lambeth in 2008, they refused to go to the rail again because there were supporters of +Gene still allowed inside the Episcopate Clubhouse. 

Now, because the LGBTQ+ bishops are allowed to come to Lambeth (but their spouses are specifically excluded), they're sitting in the pews at Eucharist, pouting and putting out statements demanding Lambeth be a legislative body instead of a gathering of prayerful, faithful purple-shirted people. 

It's ridiculous. It's tiresome. And it's infuriating. The bishops have another week to figure out what's what. 

But their refusal to receive the body and blood of Christ because of the presence of LGBTQ+ bishops made my own presiding at the table today all the more meaningful for me. And all the more sad that those who are in the position of bishop would likely hoard the wafers and wine rather than share it with the LGBTQ+ faithful out of some man-made construct called "orthodoxy." 

A bit like the landowner in Luke's Gospel...

Text: Luke 12: 13-21; Hosea 11: 1-11

 +++

 

My drive here to Valdosta from Tallahassee takes me past lots of farmland.

Mostly it’s dairy farms, but there are also plenty of acres of cotton and corn.

And certainly I’ve found myself patiently following behind a combine driving from one field to the next.

Farming is a way of life around here…and so a Gospel story involving a farmer enjoying a year of bumper crops shouldn’t be hard for us to understand.

What might be challenging is how Jesus describes God’s response to this prosperous man and his fantastic crops.

The man’s carrying on about how much abundance he has and God bellows out—You fool!

A fool? Because he wants to save up for a rainy day?

A fool? Because he wants to enjoy having a bounty of plenty?

I think probably the toughest thing for many of us when we encounter these texts week after week is trying to understand the way God responds in any given circumstance.

And this one could easily bring us up short especially since we are immersed in a culture which encourages acquiring and stockpiling.

I’m not an economist, but from listening to all the reporting on what’s been happening here and globally with inflation, it seems COVID sparked a case of “cabin fever frenzy buying.” So many people all buying things at one time… that our spending has outpaced the supply.  

Add to that the goods stuck on boats out in the Pacific… lack of truck drivers… plants shut down for unsafe conditions… and there’s a major kink in the supply hose.

What little I did retain from my college economics course is that when demand is high and supply is low, the prices go up. And we’re certainly living in a time when everything is costing more.

So why is God calling this man a fool?

According to our economy, this man’s only doing what he ought to do to keep himself safe…stocking up.

And there’s the beginning of his foolishness.

He is a supplier. He has what others might need or want. But rather than make it available… he’s taking it off the market.

If we pay attention to this man’s words…

“What should I do, I have no place for my crops, I will pull down barns and build larger ones, I will store my grain and my goods…”

“I…My…it’s all about me.”

This man is not just a fool; he’s a narcissist.

He’s placed himself at the center of his universe. He even has a conversation with himself:

“Soul, you’ve worked so hard; let’s kick back and have a drink”

“Yes, that’s a great idea, soul! What’ll you have: wine or beer?”

“How ‘bout champagne!”

“Perfect!”

There’s nothing wrong with the man having a bumper crop.

But God’s hanging out there on the periphery saying, “Hello? How ‘bout showing me a little love for the rain and the sun and the earth that helped you get this harvest.”

What’s more, this man apparently already has plenty, enough that his barns are already full. So it isn’t that he needs to save anything.

Just as Jesus has told the parable of what it is to be a good neighbor… here’s an opportunity for this man to see what has come his way as a blessing… and then bless others because he already has enough.

God is calling out this man for disrupting God’s economy, an economy that revolves around giving thanks to God for the abundance and then recognizing the interconnectedness of humanity that leads us to earn and then share.

We have a tangible sign of that here at St. Barnabas.

The basket that’s been out in our nave for the past few weeks is overflowing with canned fruit. These will get paired with the many cans of tuna we collected in June.

Next month…we’ll be taking up another collection…this time for pork and beans… to provide needed legumes and protein.

Inflation hasn’t stopped us from picking up that one extra item at the store for our feeding ministry.

This is symbolic of the heart of this community that we continue to look for ways to meet the needs of others even when we’re in difficult financial times.

It reminds me again of the question Jesus posed last week about the child seeking to get a fish.

Good…loving…caring parents don’t hand such a child a snake or a scorpion.

Even as good and loving a parent as God is to us… it seems we humans fall into a pattern of self-centeredness, stubbornness and rebellion.

Jesus knows this well. I think that’s one of the reasons he didn’t want to be dragged into the middle of a family dispute at the start of our Gospel reading. He would have known the words of Hosea that we heard in our first reading this morning… one’s that I think any person who has ever raised a child could identify with.

Here’s God…remembering the better days when God was like a parent to a newborn...

“I taught Ephraim to walk…I took them up in my arms… I led them with cords of human kindness and bands of love…I bent down to them and fed them…”

This time…the “I, the me, the mine” is God.

But the difference here is the way of God is not about selfishness and hording.

God is about empowering and strengthening Israel…getting the people up on their own two feet. Making them a people who others see and turn toward to find life.

That’s the love that is the currency in God’s economy. 

But in the same way that Luke’s rich man mistakes his good fortunes as purely his own achievement and something to be horded… Hosea wants us to know that Israel has forgotten who made the way for them to be free from tyranny in Egypt…and allowed them to flourish…and grow.

Israel and the rich landowner show us how becoming self-absorbed, and enamored with how much we have and how much we have done and so focused on self not only cuts us off from God… it leaves no room for anyone else.

 But there is good news.

Hurt and angry as God might be in this Hosea passage… God isn’t like us.

When we get hurt… we might cry. We might retaliate.

God declares that even as tragedy…and in this case it’s the coming invasion by Assyria … God isn’t going to turn away…but keeps coming toward God’s people.

Even though the rich man may be a fool… God doesn’t give up on him.

Even though Israel is running away…God remains compassionate.

God keeps calling them and us…and keeps beckoning them and us to invest in God’s economy and reap its benefits.

An economy where the sole currency is showing love and mercy toward one another.

An economy where we work toward building each other up… and making our society one where all people know they are included and appreciated… and everyone has what they need.

We are called to make that the real reality for our community. That’s what we mean when we pray:

“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

In the name of God…F/S/HS

 

 

 

 

Lambeth Calling*

 *This is not one of my sermons but reflects my response to all-things Anglican. Read on...

One of my favorite hymns in The Hymnal 1982 begins:

Christ is made the sure foundation,

Christ the head and cornerstone,

chosen of the Lord and precious,

binding all the Church in one;

holy Zion’s help forever,

and her confidence alone.

Upon this stanza of Hymn #518, I would hope, I would think, I would pray that all of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus could agree. I would especially think that the bishops gathered from across the Anglican Communion could accept these lyrics and live into this understanding. 

How we get there is not as important as the fact that we do get there and see this as the essential truth from which we can live and move and have our being.

If only this were the only work of the bishops at Lambeth to make Christ and our commitments to walk in the way of Jesus, and love as Jesus taught us to love each other. Maybe we could all get along.

But that is not what is happening. And while I am saddened, I am not surprised.

The last time there was a Lambeth Conference it was 2008. Then Archbishop Rowan Williams invited all the bishops to England… except for one: Bishop Gene Robinson of my home diocese of NH. He was too outwardly and unashamedly gay for this gathering. Bishop Gene went to England and did a bunch of fringe events. But he was not allowed to go to tea with Queen or participate in the Indaba listening sessions because bishops from the Global South would have been uncomfortable with his presence.

So there was listening, and talking, and praying, and sharing about LGBTQ+ Christians, but the one figurehead of LGBTQ+ Christianity was not included in the official conversation.

And while the bishops did their best to keep things controlled, the Holy Spirit continued to blow through the provinces of the Communion, moving and shaking things up. Another attempt to control the Spirit came in the form of the Anglican Covenant, a document that aimed to put into a type of ecclesiastical time-out those Churches which discerned the valuable gifts brought to the Church from the LGBTQ+ community, including supporting our right to be married. The Covenant failed miserably, most notably in the Church of England where it had originated with Archbishop Williams. Shortly thereafter, the Archbishop announced he was going back to what he was better at: being a theological scholar.

In the meantime, over the past decade, The Episcopal Church in this country, the Canadian Anglican Church, Scotland, Wales and a myriad of other Churches in the Anglican Communion had all arrived at a place of seeing that LGBTQ+ people could form loving, covenantal relationships. We could preach the Gospel. We did belong in the church and fighting over such matters was a distraction from the main point: to love and serve God and one another.

By this time, we had already had our nasty, bitter break ups with those who didn’t accept LGBTQ+ Christians and they had already formed their own cathedrals and Towers of Babel under the “Anglican” Church of North America and GAFCON. ACNA had tried to get The Episcopal Church voted off the Anglican Communion island and had failed. The Lambeth Conference stalled; the GAFCONites held their own rival global meeting in Jerusalem. And then COVID hit, and the Lambeth Conference was forced to delay meeting until this year.

That’s a summation of the past fourteen years of what I call the “Anglican Angst.”  With a new Archbishop, Justin Welby, there would maybe be a chance for the bishops to get back to Christ as the sure foundation and reason for the Church to exist. Groups of bishops have been meeting with each other over Zoom. All seemed to be going well.

Then there was the news that while LGBTQ+ bishops would be allowed to attend Lambeth (yay!) their spouses were explicitly excluded (boo!) Again, this was to accommodate the comfort level of those bishops from the Global South who don’t accept marriage equality. A small step for Lambeth; a trip and fall for humankind, but whatever. 

The decision of many of the Episcopal Church bishops was to go and continue to stand for “all the sacraments for all the baptized.”

But then…as so many of them were boarding airplanes to Europe… a 58-page document dropped from the Archbishop of Canterbury titled “Lambeth Calls.” It covers ten subject areas. The bishops were to read it and be prepared to vote either “Yes” or “Yes, but with more study” to the various “calls.” Under the title “Human Dignity” there were statements condemning colonialism and past imperial actions of the church…and…oh, by the way, “the Anglican Communion is of one mind” that marriage is for a man and a woman and that homosexuality is not compatible with Scripture.

Remember: the bishops are only allowed to say, “Yes” or a “Yes, but.” There is no “No” or “Hell NO!” option.

The language of this proposal comes straight out of a 1998 resolution called Lambeth 1.10. Our Episcopal Church, and others, have rejected this stance and, in fact at our recently concluded General Convention in Baltimore, we have moved decidedly in the direction of full inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the church. So to suddenly have this dropped on our bishops for a "Yes" or "Yes, but" vote is offensive and wrong.

And the plot thickens: one of the members of the group that helped draft the Human Dignity Lambeth Call is the openly gay and married Bishop Kevin Robertson of Canada. According to a post he put out on Facebook, his study group never discussed Lambeth 1.10 as they crafted that particular call. Imagine the shock and betrayal he must have felt to discover this tucked away on page 31 of a 58-page document.

If the working group of bishops didn’t know it was in there, then who did?

Did someone let Judas into the printing press?

I am a black-shirted priest, not a purple-shirted bishop, serving a small congregation in Southwest Georgia. But unless there is a means for bishops to raise objections and get that language amended out, I would hope our diocesan leaders and Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church would consider their peace returned to them, shake the dust of this dirty deed off their feet, and refuse to participate any further in this conference.

Lambeth may have called. But the province they have reached is no longer interested in debating human sexuality.