Martha and Mary and Righteous Anger

 

Protest outside Texas State Capitol Building (The Austin American Statesman)

Admittedly, it is getting harder and harder for me to preach as our country spirals downward into a new fresh level of Hell each week.

Some of the diehard supporters of the president are finally coming to realize that they've been had. Not because of the brutality toward immigrants (they seem to enjoy that). 

Not because of the draconian cuts and destruction of the social safety net because of the "big beautiful bill" (they seem to think that they won't suffer the consequences of this transfer of wealth to the the very wealthy while stripping us of our medicare and medicaid money).

Not even because the Congress and their overlord have decided to take away promised money to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting...which means tiny community public radio stations will lose up to 65-percent of their revenue (afterall, NPR is a bunch of libs, right?)

No. They're upset because for ten years they've been promised that all will be revealed to them in the files of the late human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein...and it will confirm the conspiracies of the wicked Democratic political pedophile ring run out of the non-existent basement of a DC pizza parlor and finally we can hang all those "libtards" like Bill and Hillary Clinton who abused kids. 

Attorney General Pammy Jo Bondi went on TV and said she had the Epstein client list on her desk. She paraded out a bunch of DOJ employees in suits with white binders labeled "The Epstein Files." 

Now, suddenly, Bondi and her overlord in the White House are saying that there is no list. It's a hoax. It's all a ruse. A lie. And it's the Democrats fault for lying that there were files and a list...and...and...and...

(And let's face it: we know that the current squatter in the Oval Office who had a 15-year friendship and partied regularly with Epstein is all over those files.)

I mean, as a preacher, what am I supposed to do with this? What am I to do when I know that there is a segment of my congregation that is aware of all of this, another segment that just puts it's head in the sand and doesn't want to deal with this, and those few who have probably blocked me on Facebook at this point because I put out my disgust with all of it on a daily basis?

This Sunday I had elected to do what is called "An Instructive Eucharist" meaning that I had us distribute a booklet that had the whole service with annotations along the side margins about the different elements happening. I did a little bit of instruction as we went along as well. And since our Gospel lesson was the story of Martha and Mary...a story that has been told (IMNSHO) incorrectly for too long...I sidestepped the latest outrages...and focused on unpacking the Gospel. 

And I did sneak in a bit about being outraged as well. Because there is exasperation in the Gospel story...and not exactly in the way the church has taught.

See what you think.

Texts: Luke 10:38-42; Psalm 52

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I’ve talked about this before…and since this is an “Instructive Eucharist” Sunday…I figured I’d pull back the curtain and just talk for a moment about the sermon…and the process that I go through to come up with the message that I deliver on Sundays.

The purpose of the sermon is to offer a reflection on the words of Scripture that we’ve heard on any given Sunday.

In some denominations…especially the ones that don’t follow the pre-determined lessons in the Revised Common Lectionary…preachers can basically pick and chose what the congregation will hear and then they can comment on whatever they want.

In the Episcopal Church…it’s expected that the preacher…usually a priest or a deacon…will stick to the script. As in…they will preach based upon what has been shared.

Makes sense, right?

As noted in your Annotated Eucharist booklet…this is a practice that we inherited through Judaism…and became an expectation at any Eucharistic service since 15-49.

So how does a preacher prepare a sermon?

Again…I can only talk about how this preacher does it.

Well…do remember back in your school days playing Tug-o-War?

Two teams…a long rope…and each team pulling with all their might to get the other team over a line?

That’s a little bit like what writing a sermon can feel like to me.

I start the week reading through the assigned Scriptures for Sunday.

I do this a couple of times…taking a pause between each one.

I’ll read through the first lesson from the Old Testament…in this case the prophet Amos… and his warnings to the people of Israel about their religious arrogance and social injustice.

The psalm is something like a Greek chorus to the First Reading…offering its own commentary on the prophetic word.

The second reading…the Epistle…which means “Letter”…is just that.

It’s typically one of the Letters containing teachings to a community of early Christians. In this case…it’s the believers in Colossae.

And then of course…we have the Gospel.

So I spend a lot of time…slowly reading through these…and allowing whatever words or phrases to percolate in my brain.

And that’s when the tug-o-war begins.

Which reading is pulling harder on me? 

Which phrases seem to be demanding my attention?

As that tugging and wrestling is going on in my head…I’m also aware of what’s going on right now?

What’s happening in our broader culture?

What am I aware of that’s happening here at the church?

What are the highs and lows in our lives right now?

I put all that together with whatever passages of Scriptures have been catching my attention.

I pull out a few books…maybe some articles…read commentaries.

And then I pray.

I pace.

I pray.

I pace.

I go to see my clients…and spend time away from praying and pacing to focus on breathing and lengthening and stretching muscles as I practice my healing ministry of massage therapy.

And then usually by Friday afternoon…I make myself focus on writing the sermon.

And then I pray again…that what I have felt moved by the Spirit to say…will be of some help to someone here in the room or even online.

May it be so.

That image of tug-o-war works with our Gospel lesson…as we hear yet-another of the familiar passages from Luke…the story of Jesus’ visit to “a certain village” and the home of Martha.

Too often…this story gets told like it’s a tug-o-war between Martha and Mary….pitting these two sisters against each other.

And way too many times it is also used in ways to shame women in the church.

And some of the worst perpetrators of that shaming are women themselves.

For too long…the church has taught this particular lesson as Jesus disparaging Martha because she complains about Mary.

The church has told everyone that Martha is upset  that Mary isn’t helping in the kitchen.

And Jesus says Mary has chosen the “better part”…meaning she’s not fussing over food and dishes in the kitchen…because she’s praying and studying.

The scandal of the story is that Mary isn’t doing “women’s work” because she’s behaving like a man, studying Torah.

Mary is obviously on Team Jesus…and she and Jesus and others have grabbed the figurative rope and they’ve yanked that nagging Martha over the line…and made her realize that she’s a busy body who needs to get over herself.

If that’s the story you’ve heard you’re not alone.

And it is not what this story is about.

Martha is not a nag.

In fact.. Martha is not in a kitchen. (Look at the text: there is no kitchen).

Furthermore…Mary is not even in the house.

Uh-oh! Crazy priest lady is now blowing up all those years and years of church sermons…and Sunday School.

Remember how I said when I prepare for a sermon I pray…and pace…and I read commentaries?

I spend a lot of time wrestling with these texts.

So have others…people with far more time than I have…and with a much better command of the biblical Greek than I have (I studied Hebrew in seminary).

One of those is Mary Stromer Hanson…the author of a book called “The New Perspective on Mary and Martha.”

Hanson took a second look at the English translation we have…and found that one little word can change our whole understanding of the situation in this scene.

So…let’s take a look at this.

In our text…it says…”She (Martha) had a sister named Mary…who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.”

But what Hanson has found is that our biblical translators didn’t correctly translate a Greek word that’s in the text.

There is a “KAI”…which can be translated as “ALSO.”

So the line should read: “She had a sister named Mary who ALSO sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.”

And what is this “sitting at the Lord’s feet”?

Now…how many of us have thought that this meant that Mary was literally sitting on the floor listening to Jesus teach?

This is what artists have rendered and what Sunday schools have taught us.

But the phrase to “sit at the feet” is a way of talking about discipleship.

 It’s a phrase that appears later in the Book of Acts when Paul is testifying to his credentials as a Johnny-come-lately to following Christ as a disciple.

So let’s think about this:

It seems Mary AND Martha have sat at the feet of Jesus…meaning they’re both disciples of Jesus.

Oh, no! Luke has spilled the beans: there were women following Jesus…going out into the countryside…just like that group of 70 he sent out to go into the towns…say “Peace be with you”…cast out demons…et cetera et cetera.

If they reject you…shake the dust of that town off your feet…

OK…so what is this complaint of Martha’s? Why is she upset?

Well…we’ve thought about the playground game of Tug-o-War.

Now we’re going to high school…maybe college…and the dreaded “group project.”

Those assignments where you are put on a team not of your own choosing…and where you were forced to produce a final project as a team.

If your experience was anything like mine…there would be those members of the team who would pull their own weight…and one who did not.

And I know I was always frustrated and irritated with the one who seemed to be the slacker. Because that one always created more work for me and the others.

That’s a little bit like the situation here in the Gospel.

Martha is at her house.

Her house is base camp for the service…the discipleship… that she is doing in her village.

Mary…who is also a disciple…isn’t at the house.

 It’s quite likely that she has opted to hit the road as part of the 70 and to do her service outside the home…leaving Martha to handle the needs of the village.

When Jesus pays his disciple Martha a visit….he finds that she’s overwrought.

The needs in her village are many…and the laborers are few.

And the one who she had depended upon to help her…her sister Mary…is off somewhere else.

So Martha looks at Jesus with exasperation and basically says,

“Listen, man. I am having to do it all here and I need my sister to help me. You know where she is. Tell her to come home.”

Ministry…doing the work of loving…serving…and giving of ourselves for the betterment of our community…that’s hard work.

It takes more than one person to do it all.

We can see that here at St. Barnabas.

In order to make things happen here…it takes a bunch of people to help on Sundays…and the other six days of the week.

Each person carrying out whatever ministry it is…from playing music…creating the bulletins…crafting the prayers…to making sure the trash gets taken out…fixing the coffeemaker …keeping and caring for grounds and the gardens.

And just like Martha…when there’s people missing or not around to help…it means there’s more work for the few.

At the same time…there are those who take the words and the prayers that they’ve heard on Sunday…and they carry those with them into the community…into their every day life…and strive to make this a better society.

These Marys…stand on the street corners and before councils with the righteous anger of our psalmist:

“You tyrant, why do you boast of wickedness against the godly all day long?

You love evil more than good and lying more than speaking the truth.” (Ps.52: 1, 3)

They go to meet those who are on the margins…those who may never show up at a church service but still yearn to meet a person of God who will show them love…mercy…and compassion.

Jesus knows both these types of disciples.

And he knows both are vital to his mission of Love.

He acknowledges that Mary has made her choice to take her ministry out…going out into sometimes uncertain and dangerous places where she will either be welcomed or rejected for the message of love.

He also sees that Martha is right where she needs to be…doing the work of ministry closer to home and being that disciple who welcomes the foreigner…the stranger into the community by offering hospitality.

His “Martha, Martha” isn’t a harsh admonishment.

It’s an effort to bring her back to herself…take a breath…pray…so that she can serve her community without falling apart.

Because Jesus needs disciples working on both fronts.

Even today.

In these troubled times in our country…we need both those who feel the call to follow Jesus into the public square…and those who will be at the door of the home for the wanderer looking for kindness…compassion…love and mercy.

We need prophets…and we need hosts.

We need those who go out to meet the needs of the community…and those who do the work in the church.

We need Marys and Marthas.

Wherever we feel God calling us…personally…whichever way we feel the Spirit tugging us…know that Jesus is there…and will not leave our side as we carry on.

We are all those sitting at the feet of Jesus.

Now we must do our part to stand for Love in this world in our own way.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

Love Your Enemies And Right Relationship

 This past week in the Administration from Hell has really pushed all of my buttons. 

Our president has decided that Ukraine...which was invaded by Russia three years ago today...started this war, their leader is a dictator, and we are going to do peace negotiations with Vladimir Putin, one of the most evil and reprehensible foreign leaders in the world, without Ukraine's Volodymer Zelensky. 

Our vice president has lectured European leaders as if they are kindergarteners. 

The administration has fired two members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff--a Black man and a woman--claiming they were "DEI hires." 

Park rangers, biologists, JAGs in the military, any federal employee still in their probationary period with a government agency (so a lot of young professionals) have been fired with a mass email and locked out of their computers, so they can't download information like their performance evaluations to help them get new jobs. 

All of this benefits billionaires...specifically one billionaire: Elon Musk. He is eliminating the federal agencies that kept a check on his business interests, and appears to be data mining to get access to the trade secrets of his competitors who had government contracts. 

So imagine the joy of opening the Scriptures for the week and reading that Jesus wants me to "love your enemies."

I needed help...big time...to write and preach this sermon.

Thanks be to God for those men of God....the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Rev. Sen. Raphael Warnock. 

All of us who aim to do our best to walk with Jesus need to help each other. Maybe this sermon helps you. I hope it does.

Let me know what you think. 

Texts: Luke 6:27-38; Gen. 45: 3-11; 15....and Gen. 4:1-11

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I don’t think there’s a tougher piece of Scripture to hear than this week’s Gospel.

There is nothing more challenging…more counter-cultural…than a message to “love your enemies.”

And this Scripture is especially hard to hear right now in our country.

The animosity between groups of people has been building for years.

Distrust of the “other”…whichever “other” that is.. has been spreading like a wildfire.

Verifiable facts…like who started a war in Ukraine… are being re-written.

People are angry…families are split.

And here comes Jesus with “Love your enemies.”

If hearing it is hard…preaching on it is even harder.

And doing it…that’s the hardest!

It’s not as if Jesus was ignorant to the difficulty of his message.

He saw the abusive behavior of the Roman Empire.

And he understood the seething anger of his fellow Jews.

Remember last week’s Gospel lesson with the blessings and woes?

Jesus is there…on the plain…on the level with them in their tired and weary lives.

And yet…he still said…don’t return their hatred with more hatred.

Be different. Don’t behave like them.

A word we must still consider today in 2025.

How can we… when we’re witnessing chaos…and learning about people losing their jobs for no reason…how do we bring ourselves to a place of “loving” the enemy?

I think the best place to start is by thinking through some definitions.

When we hear “enemy” we might be thinking about those we see as foes.

That’s who those listening to Jesus had in mind with the Empire.

But an “enemy” might also be that person who we don’t like. The person we don’t want to be around.

Jesus doesn’t ask us to “like” people.

He says to “love” them.

So what does Jesus means by “love” here?

This is a particular type of “love.”

In the Greek of the New Testament…there are three different types of “love.”

There is “eros”…which is the romantic love; there is philia…which is where we get Philadelphia being “the city of brotherly love.” That idea of a kinship and bond.  

And then there is “agape” love.

This is a redemptive love…the creative and overflowing goodwill that doesn’t seek anything in return. The love that wants good things for all people.

It’s this “agape” love that is the “love of the enemy”…that Jesus is talking about.

In his book “Strength to Love” the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. does a deep dive into what it takes to reach a place of having that agape love for the enemy.

Dr. King certainly knew the hardship of finding love for those who were prejudiced against Black Americans in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

King says the first step toward this agape is to do some inner work.

You can’t get to “loving the enemy” until you work on forgiveness.

One must be able to forgive the wrong that was done.

That doesn’t mean you gloss over what happened…or try to label an evil act as “good.”

Evil is never good.

And this also isn’t about being a doormat.

What forgiveness means is seeing the wrong for what it is…but not allowing that wrong to put up a barrier to relationship.

It’s that part of the Lord’s Prayer: forgive us our trespasses…our wrongs…our refusal to be in relationship to people and the planet…as we forgive those who trespass against us.

We can see an example of that in our first reading with the story of Joseph and his brothers. Joseph’s brothers had initially tried to kill him but instead they sold him into slavery in Egypt. Joseph, who had the gift of dreaming and interpretation, then went on to became so valuable to the Pharoah that he was now in a position of power in Egypt.

His brothers had no idea he had become so successful.

When they found out who he was…and how powerful he was…they were terrified that he was going to seek revenge for what they had done to him.

But Joseph didn’t use his power over them.

He had had time to reflect…and to see that what they had been meant for bad…had turned out better for him.

And really for them…too.

He forgave them. And a relationship that had been severed could now be repaired.

The brothers huddled together and they wept.

The other thing Dr. King notes about forgiving the enemy is the need to recognize a truth about the human heart.

Each of us is capable of both good and evil.

We all can love and hate.

I recently had a chance to rewatch a video that I had made for one of my seminary classes about the story of Cain and Abel.

If you don’t remember the story…the brothers…Cain and Abel…bring an offering to God.

Cain is a tiller of the ground, so in my video…he presents God with a basket of vegetables.

Abel is a shepherd…so he presents God with a choice sheep from his flock.

God accepts Abel’s offering but rejects Cain’s.

Cain gets angry…and God cautions Cain to be careful about this emotion…and tells him that he must master it or else it is going to take him down the pathway of sin.

Sin meaning a separation from God.

That separation…in this case…manifested in Cain leaving the conversation with God and going off to kill his brother Abel.

That’s an extreme example of what happens when hate gets the better of us.

But it illustrates what happens when we feel wronged and then we transfer our hurt onto the other who we think is getting something we aren’t getting.

That jealousy or envy becomes a barrier to relationship.

I think that’s what’s at the heart of the fear and the anger at diversity…equity…and inclusion.

There’s a perception that someone who is a woman…or is not white…or maybe is gay…is somehow “getting something” that they didn’t “deserve.”

Now this term “DEI” is thrown about as a bad thing.

But as Senator and Baptist preacher Raphael Warnock recently pointed out…those letters “D-E-I” spell “dei”…the Latin phrase: “of God.”

And we are all made in the image of God…the “imago dei.”

The diversity of the people in our workforce is a reflection of the diversity of people in our country…which is a reflection of the people in creation.

And as it says in the Book of Genesis…all those made in God’s image are “very good.”

Both the people we love…and the people we hate are “imago dei.”

We can’t forget that.

The Cain and Abel story is also a reminder that we can choose to either follow good…or follow evil…and that both emotions reside in all of us.

So often…the source of somebody’s hate is coming from a place of fear…or prejudice.

It’s built on the wobbly foundation of simply not knowing a person who is different from us…or not understanding differences.

Those barriers can be broken down if we take the time to listen to each other…and feel safe enough to share our stories with one another.

I can see some of that happening in the Episcopal Church around the issue of the boarding schools where our indigenous siblings were sent in the 19^th and 20^th century to “kill the Indian in them.”

Indian children were taken from their families and shipped off miles away to boarding schools…and stripped of their names and given numbers.

They were punished for singing their songs and speaking in their native languages.

While the trauma of those experiences will never be undone…the fact that the Church is now listening…and acknowledging that these wrongs were done in our name is the start of healing.

It repairs the relationships distorted by hatred by giving those hurt the dignity of being heard.

And it softens the hearts of those who have let their hatred…their fears and their prejudices…consume them and rob them of their humanity.

As we approach the end of Epiphany and the start of the season of Lent…I can’t think of a more important lesson for us than this one about “loving our enemies.”

Because we are going to need a lot more love in these next many years.

Things are not right at the moment in this country.

And I’m not just talking about what’s happening on the macro level of national and foreign policy.

As I said at the start of this sermon…we’ve been increasingly turning on each other in ways that are undermining our ability to be in right relationship with each other.

And when we are not in right relationship with each other…we are definitely not in right relationship with God.

When we see each other as only whatever partisan positions we take…or whatever other characteristics we are…gender…orientation…race…and we retreat into that place in our hearts that feeds on our fears of what’s different….we are starving and fasting our faith in God.

In this time…we are being called again by God to choose life.

Choosing life means choosing to stand for Love.

Because Love is the answer and the only force that can turn the enemy into a friend.

Love…that agape love…is that overwhelming and creative force that wants the good for everyone…and refuses to capitulate to the idea that goodness…life…love and light are in limited supply.

As Dr. King so eloquently said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

If we want to be seen as followers and believers in Jesus…we must be ready to take on the difficult task of Love.

We must be willing to see the imago dei in each other…both those who are friends and those who are enemies.

May Love and light be our guide.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

 

Mary the Prophet

 

I love the Magnificat, though I don't always like the tune settings. I always want the song to have more oomph than most composers seem to want to give it. 

I also love the statue called "Mary as Prophet" on the VTS campus. But it wasn't until I was writing this sermon, and spent some time with the words of the Magnificat, and read around the story of Mary's trip into the hill country to see Elizabeth, that I found so much richness and depth and meaning to this moment. When Peggy Parker made this statue, I have to wonder, if she made the same connections that I did to the great prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah? 

And did VTS understand what it did by placing this statue between the ruins of the burned down old chapel and the much bigger new one?

I'm including with this post the prayer I'll be using. It's from "Daily Prayer for All Seasons" put out by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 2014 and pulled from the Revised Common Lectionary p.34. 

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Prayer: O God of Elizabeth and Mary, you visited your servants with news of the world’s redemption in the coming of the Savior. Make our hearts leap with joy, and fill our mouths with songs of praise, that we may announce glad tidings of peace and welcome the Christ in our midst. Amen.

 

The Song of Mary…the Magnificat: so good…we actually heard it twice this morning.

It’s a song of might and resilience…one that ought to be heard as a rock anthem or even a power ballad.

It’s Mary’s song…her own remix of a prayer she probably memorized from her Jewish upbringing.

It echoes the song of her ancestor Hannah when she became pregnant with Samuel, the prophet and last judge of Israel in the Old Testament.

This song rises up from the core of her being…a shout to the heavens of praise and intensity.

But that’s not where this story begins.

There’s a logical build up to this tune.

Like I said a few weeks ago…of all the evangelists…Luke is the one who is a composer and librettist on the level of Rogers and Hammerstein.

If we know anything about their musical style…that duo always made sure there was a dramatic development in the story  that made singing the logical climax.

And therefore…there has to be an emotional build to this young teenage mother-to-be singing out “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord!”

So let’s back up a moment and get a sense of what all has happened.

First thing to know…Mary…a young Jewish girl descended from the line of David…engaged to a carpenter named Joseph…gets an unexpected visit from the angel Gabriel. Gabriel tells her that God has a special mission for her: she’s going to give birth to the Son of the Most High.

“Oh…and by the way…your relative Elizabeth? Yeah, the older woman who thought she was barren? Well…she’s gonna have a son and she’s gonna name him John.

Her husband Zechariah… who thought I was kidding and has been made mute as a punishment for laughing at me… is gonna declare their child “the prophet of the Most High” and their kid is going to prepare the way for this son you’ll be having. How do ya like that, huh?!”

Mary…as we might imagine…probably stood still for a moment in stunned silence and awe.

This is fantastical news…way beyond the bounds of human comprehension.

And so Gabriel finishes this declaration with, “Nothing is impossible with God.”

Again…Mary is listening to all of this.

She’s trying to make sense of this.

She’s a young unwed girl.

There are serious consequences for her being pregnant and unmarried in this culture.

Nonetheless…from the depths of her being she responds: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

This utterance is no less brave and courageous than that of her Jewish ancestors…such as the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah. When told that they must go to their people and be prophets of sometimes really unpleasant tidings…they protested.

Jeremiah said, “I am only a boy.”

Isaiah tried to say, “Oh, no…not me: I am a man of unclean lips.”

And God said to both of them: Don’t tell me what I already know. You’re it! I got your back. Now go!

Through the Angel Gabriel…Mary is getting the same charge…one of God saying, “I know this is scary…but I’ve got your back, Mary.”

And Mary accepts the charge.

But…and there is a “but” here… unlike Jeremiah and Isaiah…she’s in an extremely vulnerable position.

By rights…the society in which she lived was allowed to vilify her and stone her death for being pregnant out of wedlock.

Joseph…as the man…could have told her he wasn’t going to marry her and left her defenseless against those who would see her as a less than because she was pregnant and put her to death.

So, she takes off to the hill country.

A thousand thoughts spinning in her head.

She’s going to Elizabeth…a relative of some kind.

We don’t know what the precise relationship is between them.

What we do know is that Elizabeth is a type of “auntie” figure…a trusted older adult…someone Mary feels comfortable enough with that she knows she can tell her what’s happened and receive good counsel.

I think this is something quite relatable.

I’m pretty sure everyone here at one time or another has faced a time when we’ve felt as if we’re in a pickle.

We don’t know what to do or how to make sense of a situation.

And that’s when we go looking for those helpers: a good friend… a parent… maybe a teacher or colleague…even a therapist… or a priest.

Someone who you know will listen and help guide you through the haze and the fog to making the right decision.  

There’s a statue on the campus of Virginia Theological Seminary by the artist Peggy Parker.

It’s called “Mary as Prophet.”

It’s located between the area of the old chapel and the new one.

And it depicts this encounter between these two women…symbolically like the statue’s location…this is the old Elizabeth and the young Mary….the mother of John…keeper of the Old Testament…and the mother of Jesus…who will usher in the New Testament.

I’ve posted a copy of a photo I took of the statue on the bulletin board in the parish hall.

Parker depicts these two women as being of African descent…a break from what we normally get shown here in the west.

She shows Mary looking wracked with anguish because…well…as I’ve said…this pregnancy could land in her in some serious hot water.

One arm is cradling the very small baby bump.

Her other hand is clutching at the collar of her robe.

Her gaze is off into the distance.

The Elizabeth character is reaching out…placing her hand on Mary’s elbow… a sign of reassurance.

She’s looking into the face of this younger woman.

And her face speaks of concern…caring…and comfort.

I imagine as we look back at the Gospel that this was perhaps how things were the minute Mary arrived at this home in the hill country.

And then…when she reveals the message of Gabriel…not only does Elizabeth respond positively and affirms this calling….

We hear that John… the one who baptizes at the Jordan River…the one who demands a reformation of the way the Jewish religion is practiced under the Roman occupation…even HE is leaping for joy at the sound of her voice.

One prophet recognizing another prophet.

With all this confirmation…with all this encouragement…Mary cannot contain herself any longer.

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord

My spirit rejoices in God my savior!”

Mary…serving as a prophet…pulls on that ancient song of Hannah.

In the face of whatever danger or disgrace may come her way…she sings all the louder:

“He has shown the strength of his arm

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones….

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

For he has remembered his promise of mercy…”

When we hear these words…and consider the circumstances that led her to sing out this way…we are reminded that God continues to seek and find not the rich and famous and powerful.

God comes to those who others ignore:

a young teenage girl and an old woman…

to be the ones to raise up a generation that will lead their people to new hope…and greater love.  

Their words…their songs…echo into our own time…to inspire us to never lose sight of a God who stands on the side of those who are the marginalized.

As we approach Christmas…may our hearts and minds be so stirred by Mary’s song.

May we find our own voice…fashion our own tune…to proclaim the greatness of God.

Because…with God…nothing is impossible.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prophets and Gifts

The 50th annivesary of the "Irregular Ordinations" in Philadelphia came and went on July 29th. For me, and the many thousand of women clergy in the Episcopal Church, this was a big deal. What those eleven women (and then the Washington Four in 1975) went through was hell. Their bravery challenged the institution of the church. That's no small undertaking. 

And the more I think about what they did, the more I see it as a prophetic act. 

So I give thanks for the Revs. Carter Heyward, Allison Cheek, Merrill Bitner, Alla Bozarth-Campbell, Suzanne Hiatt, Marie Moorefield, Jeannette Piccard, Betty Bone-Schiess, Nancy Wittig, Emily Hewitt, and Katrina Swanson for stepping up to be the firsts. 

Text: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a

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Last Sunday… a few of us sat here in the nave and watched the film “The Philadelphia Eleven.”

It’s a documentary that tells the story of the eleven women who were Episcopal deacons that felt called to be priests in the church.

But in 1974…The Episcopal Church hadn’t come to a consensus on allowing women to be priests.

Only four years earlier…the first group of women delegates were seated at the General Convention.

They made the case for women’s ordination and came very close to getting it passed. But when women tried to press the issue again at the 1973 convention…there was tremendous push back.

And so the women deacons met.

They developed a strategy.

They had the support of some male bishops…the vice-president of the Episcopal House of Deputies…and the rector of the historically black Episcopal Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia.

And on July 29^th 19-74…50 years ago…they defied the rules of the Episcopal Church and were ordained as priests.

While not exactly speaking truth to power with words…these women did speak truth to power with action.

It wasn’t easy.

They received death threats…hate mail…and harassment.

In many cases they weren’t allowed to function as priests.

And…even though the church came around in 1976 to approving the ordination of women…the Episcopal Church still allowed bishops to deny women a path to the priesthood…under what was called the “conscience clause.”

As a result…many women would have to relocate to another geographic region just to follow their call and hope to find a bishop who would be favorable to allowing them to be priests.

An almost identical scenario would play out later with the ordination of LGBTQ priests.

We’ve come a long way since 19-74…both as a church and as a society.

But it doesn’t happen without those willing to stand up…speak up…shake things up…and call out the sins of those in authority when necessary.

It takes being willing to be a Nathan approaching a King David.

Nathan didn’t have an easy task.

We need only look at what happened to John the Baptist when he chastised Herod to know that those who enjoy having power over people will not take kindly to those who challenge their actions.

I can only imagine what must have been going on in Nathan’s head.

In the same way that an earthly powerful King David sends people off to war…and command the presence of a woman in his court.

God as a source of power is telling Nathan…”Go tell King David…you ain’t right!’

Now…Nathan has to contrive a way to break this news to David.

And he comes up with a plan… a very pastoral plan.

Nathan tells the wayward king a parable.  

Parables are useful tools.

Jesus spoke in parables to his followers as way of helping them understand the presence of God in ways that they could comprehend…allowing them to think for themselves.

Because each of us has the ability…with our God-given wisdom…to weigh what is right and what is wrong.

What is good versus what is evil.

And this parable of the rich man taking the poor man’s only and most beloved lamb to slaughter worked!

As Walter Brueggemann notes about this situation…David rightly understood the parable.

But he was too blind to understand how it spoke to his own wrongdoing. His guilty conscience betrayed him.

 He so quickly blusters about how this rich man in the story…” deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

“A-ha!” says Nathan! The king is busted!

David will get punished.

Nathan’s mouth opens and he pours out the words of God…laying out for David all that is about to come upon him.

The once favored will lose the child Bathsheba is carrying. His house is going to be divided…and his wives will be given to others.

I can only imagine what that must have been for Nathan to stand there and speak those words to his king.

I imagine it took quite a bit of courage to stand up to one who could easily have ordered him struck down right there on the spot.

But this is the role of a prophet.

They’re the ones who listen deeply to the Spirit…to the Wisdom of God…and even with knees knocking…voices trembling…butterflies beating their wings furiously in their stomachs…they speak the truth to the powerful.

They do so despite the risk to their lives…because the words in their mouths are not theirs but the spirit of God that is upon them.

I find that Episcopalians tend to be shy about thinking that there are still prophets of this kind in our world today.

That whole idea of God speaking through people in the way  our Biblical ancestors understood it may seem just a little too “woo-woo” for our more enlightened minds.

And yet we can still point to people who have spoken truth to power and who do it from a place grounded in the Gospel.

The late South African archbishop Desmond Tutu led the fight against apartheid.

The late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. whose campaign for Black civil rights in this country was not limited just to black people…but the liberation of working-class whites who struggled against the invisible caste system in our own country that keeps millions living in poverty.

And today…that mantle of speaking up for justice for those who are living paycheck to paycheck can be seen in the efforts of the Poor People’s Campaign led by Bishop William Barber and the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis. (thee-o-HAHR-ess)

And then there are those eleven women in Philadelphia in 1974…followed by four more women in Washington, D.C. in 1975…and their supporters the Reverends Paul Washington, William Wendt and Peter Beebe who stood with them in the breech to insist that the Episcopal Church do as it has promised to do…to trust in the Holy Spirit to guide it into all truths as Jesus said would happen…if we are humble enough and willing enough to listen and follow.

Not everyone is meant to be a prophet…we get that from our reading from the letter to the Ephesians.

But all of us have gifts…all of us have abilities…and we are all called to bring what we have into practice for the purpose of spreading more love into the world.

A love that sustains people and grows community…not chaos. 

The spirit of the Lord is upon each of us now to do the work we are given to do.

Love God…and love our neighbors as ourselves.

In the name of the one Holy and Undivided Trinity.