St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
October 27, 2013
Year C, Proper24: The
Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost
Joel 2:23-32
Psalm 65
2 Timothy 4:6-8,
16-18
Luke 18:9-14
People are Complicated. God is Simple.
I
received an email this week from the Bishop’s Office asking me to schedule a
phone conversation with Bishop Beckwith to talk about our upcoming Celebration
of New Ministry here at St. Paul’s.
Like
many of you, I’ve already been thinking about – and planning - our celebration.
But that email certainly focused my attention! Our celebration on November 9 is
getting close!
And,
as I’ve said before, I really hope that this will be our celebration, not just a service and party to celebrate my
installation as rector of St. Paul’s. I want this to be an opportunity for us
to look back on what this wonderful church has meant to us and so many others,
to rejoice in all that has been accomplished with God’s help, and to look ahead
at the exciting - beyond our wildest dreams - future that God has in store for
us.
I’ve
been trying to include as many different people as possible to have roles in
the service. And, Gail and I have been planning music that we hope will be most
meaningful for us.
In
terms of music, I did make one special request.
I’ve
invited our parishioner Dennis Doran to sing “A Simple Song” from Leonard
Bernstein’s Mass. Some of you St.
Paul’s old-timers may remember him singing it here a few times years ago. It’s
one of my favorite pieces of music and I love the way Dennis sings it. So, I’m
really glad that Dennis has agreed to sing it for us on November 9.
Unfortunately
for Sue, that piece has been in my head and, as she can tell you, I’ve been
humming it and sort-of singing it, for the past couple of weeks. I’ll spare you
my singing but here are the words:
“Sing
God a simple song.
Make
it up as you go along.
Sing
like you like to sing.
God
loves all simple things.
For
God is the simplest of all.”
God
is the simplest of all.
I’m
guessing we don’t usually think of God as simple – and certainly not the
simplest of all. And yet, when you stop and think about it – when we reflect on
God as revealed in and through Jesus – we realize that God really is simple –
God really is the simplest of all.
God
is pure love.
God
is pure love poured out on us – poured into us – if only we open our eyes and
ears and minds. God is pure love poured out on us – poured into us – if only we
open our hearts.
God
is the simplest of all.
But,
you and I, we’re not simple at all.
This
will probably sound pretty obvious, but people are complicated. In fact, we’re
so complicated that we probably don’t even really know just how complicated we
are!
We
carry around lots of heavy baggage: regrets about the past, wondering about
roads not taken, and opportunities that passed us by. We are burdened by feelings
of insecurity – of just not being good enough, of not being worthy or not being
lovable. We are burdened by disappointments - by hopes and dreams that just
didn’t work out – by love and affection that were not returned to us. We are
wounded by hurts inflicted by people we loved and trusted. We are wounded by
hurts that were self-inflicted.
People
are complicated. God is simple.
We
carry around lots of baggage: we compete with each other, measuring ourselves
against others, trying to get ahead of the other guy or gal, so that others
will look at us and see “success” – so they’ll see someone who has made it – they’ll
see someone who is living the dream. We have all sorts of agendas that
complicate our relationships with other people – we look down on others – we
use people – how can this person help me get what I want – we reduce people
into things - all the while never considering or remembering that others have
their own hopes and dreams just like we do.
People
are complicated. God is simple.
Probably
no one has ever described just how complicated we are better than St. Paul in
his letter to the Romans where he writes,
“I
do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the
very thing that I hate.”
People
are complicated. God is simple.
Today’s
lesson from the Gospel of Luke picks up right where we left off last week. You
may remember we heard the Parable of the Persistent Widow and the Unjust Judge.
Through that parable, Jesus teaches us to be spiritually persistent – to keep
praying – to keep gathering together here even when - especially when - we
don’t feel like it.
Now,
today, Jesus offers another parable on prayer.
In
his introduction, Luke tips us off on the parable’s meaning. He writes, “Jesus
told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous
and treated others with contempt.”
Which
raises the question, just how could we ever think we can be righteous and treat
others with contempt?
Anyway.
People are complicated.
The
parable contrasts the prayers of the Pharisee and the tax collector.
The
Pharisee – someone who everybody would have recognized as a very religious
person – somehow still feels the need to show off to God. He thanks God that
he’s not like these sinners and then he rattles off all of his religious
practices.
Now,
I’m no psychologist, but it seems to me that there’s a lot going on with this
Pharisee. I can understand showing to other people how good and faithful he is.
I bet we’ve all encountered people like that – people who want to impress us
with how holy they are, how much they give, how much they do for others…
I
get that. But, to do that while praying? Boasting to God? Showing off to God –the
One who sees all and knows all? Weird.
People
are complicated.
And
then there’s the tax collector – a person who in that time and place no one
would ever consider holy. And, obviously, he doesn’t think of himself as good
or holy.
He
stands far off with his eyes lowered. He beats his breast and he cries out,
“God be merciful to me, a sinner!”
Jesus
concludes the parable by saying, “I tell you, this man went down to his home
justified rather than the other, for all who exalt themselves will be humbled,
but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Now,
I don’t know how many of us exalt ourselves either with others or in our
prayer. If we do, Jesus’ message is clear.
But,
today’s gospel lesson also reminds us that, although we are complicated, our
prayer doesn’t have to be – shouldn’t be – complicated.
When
we pray to God who is pure love, we can put down our heavy baggage, our
regrets, our insecurities and our disappointments.
When
we pray to God who is pure love, we can hand over our heavy baggage, our
competition, our desire to get what we want, our agendas.
The
great Spanish mystic Teresa of Avila once said, “The closer one approaches to God,
the simpler one becomes.”
People
are complicated – we’re complicated -
but God is simple, so let’s sing God a simple song. Let’s make it up as
we go along. Let’s sing like we like to sing. God loves all simple things.
For
God is the simplest of all.
For
God is the simplest of all.
Amen.
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