The Transforming Power of Love

 

This has been a particularly rough patch for me personally. I have lost two friends, one a year older...the other a year younger than me... this past month to cancer.  In between mourning and funerals was the latest Mickee Faust cabaret, a celebration of new ministry in Valdosta at Christ Church, and my spring clergy conference on the Georgia coast. Following that, I traveled to last week to Fayetteville to participate in the funeral of my younger friend, the Rev. Leslie Roraback. And after our service at St. Barnabas this past Sunday, I drove through a massive traffic headache on I-75 to get to back home to Tallahassee to attend the memorial service St. John's held in honor of Leslie who had been their associate rector.

I didn't know if I would have the ability to write a sermon through exhaustion and tears. But I did. And I have a feeling that I had a couple of angels who were hovering over my shoulders to help me get it done in fits and starts. See what you think.

Texts: Acts 7: 54-60, John 14:1-14

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Following Jesus is not for the faint of heart.

To actually walk the walk…and talk the talk…of the one who keeps pointing the way to Love takes practice…patience…and an ability to handle the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and the sea of troubles that will come.

Now I want to be clear: to follow Jesus and to live out our Christian faith in this world does not necessarily put us in mortal danger.

Despite what some might want to say and trumpet on any number of social media platforms…we Christians of the United States are not a persecuted minority.

This is not Somalia or North Korea.

Even with the declining number of people attending churches in this country…. Christians still have an out-sized statistical advantage over other religious groups.

And we are still ahead of that growing number of people who say they don’t have any religious affiliation at all.

Of course…that could change…in part because of the way those who claim to be Christian are behaving…making gods of out of other “things”…and not following Jesus.

But if we can take anything away from the stoning death of Stephen…the first deacon and martyr of the church… it’s that when we have the courage to speak from a place of faith in Jesus…not everyone is going to receive it…and we may find ourselves facing hostility because of it.

Because the way…the truth…and the life that Jesus calls us to is one that doesn’t fit with what the culture counts as strength.

Jesus was about teaching us to keep looking beyond labels…and recognize the divine spark that lives in all creation…both humans and animals and even in the plant life around us.

The more we seek connection to one another…the closer we are getting to that vision…that dream of God…where we might stop falling into the trap of wanting to dominate others in order to feel as though we have some self-worth.

Now the interesting thing about Stephen is that he apparently was very good at living into his faith…and doing the task that he was given to do: to love and care for the Hellenistic widows of Jerusalem…helping to feed them as well as the other widows in the city.

The whole reason the apostles made Stephen and a few others into deacons was because the needs of both native Jews to Jerusalem and the Greek-speaking population were so great they needed some extra help.

But by Stephen doing these acts of charity…and being faithful… he aroused the jealousy of some.

And…just like with Jesus… Stephen’s detractors trumped up charges against him…and got some people to lie about him to the council.

But unlike Jesus…this man…described as having the face of an angel…decided to launch into a lengthy…detailed lecture…tracing the history of Israel…and the way that the people turned on Moses and the prophets.

And then he capped it off with accusing the council members of being stiff-necked and killing Jesus.

While his speech was passionate…it wasn’t the best way to win friends and influence people.

Just in the same way…screaming Bible verses into a bullhorn and condemning people to hell if they don’t profess a belief in Jesus is not the best kind of evangelism.

In fact…it’s pretty repulsive to most people.

There’s a reason so many have turned away from the church since the days of the Baby Boomers.

So this diatribe of Stephen’s wasn’t his best moment…and still…it ended up serving a greater purpose.

His killing was an awful and extreme act of retribution.

And…just as it did at the crucifixion…the attack on Stephen sent the disciples scattering.

And out of those ashes came new growth.

The disciples…coming in contact with others outside of Jerusalem…began to quietly and carefully…share the story of Jesus.

Philip would encounter the Ethiopian eunuch who…upon seeing a pool of water…asked “What is to stop me from being baptized?”

The same happens with Peter who finds the Roman centurion Cornelius and his family in Caeserea.

And as we heard this morning…standing in the crowd that was attacking Stephen was Saul…who would undergo his own massive conversion on the road to Damascus…and would become the prolific New Testament writer Paul.

What others did as an act of evil…God salvages and Love transforms it for good.

I think about these moments such as this one with Stephen…and the crucifixion of Jesus.

I note that in both cases…they didn’t give in to bitterness.

Even as others are attacking them and killing them…they still kept their eyes fixed on Love.

For Jesus…he prayed Psalm 22... a psalm of lament that ultimately keeps the heart fixed on God who is merciful.

For Stephen… he had that vision of Jesus at the right hand of God… and his faith and trust in Jesus’s ways led him to pray for forgiveness for those persecuting him.

I think about how anchoring ourselves in our faith…tapping into that lifeblood of Love that is around us…is our true superpower in times of trouble and turmoil.

It has helped me and so many others when things in the world seem so bleak…or unjust and out of whack with that vision that God has of us living in harmony with each other and the rest of creation.

I’m wondering who else might have had that experience?

Have any of you experienced something that felt like a set back of some kind…and through some form of prayer or even pleading to God… that you found your way through that time of trouble?

(Leave a moment for this. If nothing comes…move on.)

The thing is that we are always going to face challenges and difficulties. And Jesus knew that would happen big time for the disciples.

That’s why John records his extended goodbye speech to them…starting with this famous portion with “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

Those who have learned from Jesus…and listened to Jesus…and absorbed all that…have all that they need to survive life’s tempests as they come.

When we partake of the bread and the wine at this table…we’re not only receiving into our bodies the elements that bring us solace….but this meal is about giving us the strength and renewal to face the challenges put in our path.

Love is the feast served at this table.

Keep that in mind this morning as you receive the bread and the wine…and may it feed us so we are ready to feed the world.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me..." A Funeral Sermon for Jim Crochet

It is hard to lose a loved one. It is even harder when their death was apparently preventable, and had been hastened by mistakes made during a surgery. That seems to be the case with Harold James "Jim" Crochet, the husband of my friend, Craig, and a former long-term care ombudsman for the state of Florida. His death was tragic, and happened in the home. He literally passed away in Craig's arms. 

I reached out to my friend when he posted his agony on Facebook. Craig immediately asked if I would serve as the celebrant at Jim's funeral, whenever it would happen. And I said it would be my honor.

Within about 24 hours, I was getting noticed that the funeral would be happening on Sunday, September 29th at St. John's Episcopal Church in Tallahassee. My head was spinning. At that time, we were less than two weeks out from this announced date and I hadn't had a chance to sit down with Craig or Jim's brother, Glen. 

Hurricane Helene interrupted the plan. Dignitaries invited to be on hand for this man who had been a champion of LGBT+ seniors needed to get it on their calendars. And St. John's, which is a beautiful, stately cathedral looking church, had its own funerals and several weddings that had already been taken for any weekend dates. We finally settled on October 15th at 3pm.

And I finally had a chance to sit with Craig and Glen and join with them in their place of grief and mourning, anger and frustration, and I got to learn more about this man who I had only had the pleasure of meeting once at Craig's retirement party from the Florida Supreme Court. I wish I had gotten to know him better.

But I took what I had gathered...prayed...and gave back to a congregation of mostly so-called "unchurched" queers... a picture of Jim as more than just their friend and partner, but an advocate who embodied all the qualities of a good and faithful servant of God.

See what you think.

Texts: Isaiah 61: 1-3, Psalm 23, John 14:1-6

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Friends…let us pray: may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be always acceptable in your sight, O God our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

 

Many thanks to all of you for being here for Craig and for Glenn…and thank you to Jon, Rep. Tant, and Nadine for your words and offering some more context for Jim’s life…his purpose…and helping Craig tell the story of his beloved partner and the pain surrounding the circumstances of his death. There are no words to soften the hard realities.

The prophet Isaiah exclaims:

“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me,

he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,

to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives

and release to the prisoners…”

For those who heard those words many centuries ago…this was some good news.

This was said to a people who were feeling crushed…and brokenhearted and lonely after being conquered and carted away by a hostile empire.

Now the prophet Isaiah was proclaiming their freedom.

They could go back to their homeland and breathe easy again.

These words are ones that Jesus read aloud in the temple in Luke’s Gospel.

This was the passage that Jesus read from the scroll as he was proclaiming his purpose and reason for being.

They expressed the meaning of his earthly ministry…a ministry of freedom for those who were oppressed…and kindness to those who desperately needed someone to show them love.

These are the words that ring true for every person who makes that bold commitment to making their life about serving others.

Those guardian angels on earth who are the friends to the friendless.

The people who have that spirit within them that sharpens their vision, so they see those who others so easily ignore.

The ones who advocate for the least…the lowest… and those getting lost by the system.

These words paint a picture of the child protection investigator…and the commitment and attention needed to be the long-term care ombudsmen in a state where the most vulnerable require an advocate grounded in loving kindness.

These are words that are befitting of Jim Crochet.

Truly the spirit of the Lord was upon Jim…to live out a life of service rooted in Love.

A love that was strengthened and sustained in a partnership with Craig…and informed from a life of growing up in a military family…coming out of the bayous of Louisiana.

It’s our life experiences that inform how we live and move and have our being.

And the spirit of God implanted in Jim from his experiences gave him a deep belief in justice.

An abiding and unwavering sense that he could do his part to bring about a more just outcome for those who have been pushed down… and beaten up by the world.  

Certainly Jim…and those of us in the LGBTQ community in Florida…know that it takes persistence and patience…and a whole lot of strength to stand up to the bullies and tyrants.

It also takes a heart that has been broken…and knows the sting of rejection… to have the compassionate care to be a loving and loyal advocate.

Standing on the side of the powerless…going to the mat for someone’s grandmother…parent…or spouse who is getting ignored and abused in a facility…isn’t the work that gains a whole lot of fame and fortune.

But for those who hear those words of Isaiah…who feel that spirit of God saying: release the captives…free the oppressed…comfort the brokenhearted….

Those Jims of the world aren’t in this work for kudos and big bucks.

They do it because it is right.

And they care to make this world a better place.

When Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life” he was talking about the peacemakers and the justice seekers such as Jim.

He was telling his disciples…and by extension…telling all of us…that the way…the truth…and the life is bound up in the commandment to love one another… and do right by each other.

The way for us to live into that spirit of Isaiah’s prophetic proclamation is to remember the lessons seen through Jim’s life.

The life of a true servant…a dedicated brother and loving partner…and a friend and advocate to those who needed someone who would fight for their rights and their dignity.

Jim left us too soon…that’s true.

His death hurts all of us who remember his warmth that radiated through his entire being.

No one feels that loss heavier than those closest to him: Craig and Glenn.

You two have been plunged into that valley of the shadow of death that psalmist so aptly describes.

Grief does that. The shadows in that valley are long.

And the tears you shed are the rains that feed the river that runs through that valley.

Your tears join with those of so many who know and have experienced a profound loss and untimely end to a loved one’s life. 

That valley walk hasn’t gotten any easier for any of us.

But I came across something recently in the prayers of our Jewish siblings.

It was in their Yizkor service as part of their prayers on Yom Kippur…the day of atonement.

And it made a very astute and important observation about the promises made and kept in Psalm 23.

The psalmist doesn’t say that evil will end…or that suffering and pain will be eradicated.

But the psalm does make one very important promise: You are not alone.

Craig and Glenn: you aren’t on an island and alone in your grief.

Those here present with you today…Jon and Nate…Tip…Allison…Nadine…all of us…everyone here are with you in that valley.

Our presence today is the reminder that you have many who will help you as you navigate this path…and offer a helping hand when you trip over the rocks along this journey.
This is the way…and the truth…and the life of how God works in our realm…through the love we show and share with one another.

Jim is there with you too.

In every memory weaved into that tapestry of your lives together.

From the way his whole face lit up with his smile… to his discerning tastes about what does and does not belong in gumbo.

He may not be here in body…but Jim lives on in your heart…and he’s with you in spirit.

The spirit of the Lord is upon you…and me…and all of us…to remember Jim’s dedication and love…and to be with you…and help you to carry on.

In the name of the one Holy and Undivided Trinity.