God's Flood of Love and Compassion

St. Paul’s Church in Bergen, Jersey City NJ

February 22, 2015

Year B: The First Sunday in Lent

Genesis 9:8-17

Psalm 25:1-9

1 Peter 3:18-22

Mark 1:9-15

God’s Flood of Love and Compassion

            Today’s reading from the Hebrew Scriptures is the tail end of one of the best-known stories in the Bible: The Flood.

            Even people who don’t know anything about the Bible, who have never stepped foot in a synagogue or church, know the story of God getting so unhappy with humanity that God decides to just flood the whole planet. But, as everybody knows, God allows a remnant to survive, commanding Noah to construct an ark and gather pairs of every living creature along with his family to weather this greatest of all storms.

            It always surprises me that this is one of the first Bible stories we often tell our children – kids love animals, right? – because the story of the Flood and Noah’s Ark is a very disturbing story.

            First of all, as ancient people understood only too well – there are lots of stories about great floods in Middle Eastern literature – floods are terrifying!

            And, in recent years many of us have experienced the terror, the destructive power, of floods as great hurricanes have swamped our area causing terrible damage right here in Jersey City, in some of our own homes.

            When Hurricane Irene hit, Sue and I were living in downtown Jersey City and I remember getting up early and going downstairs and peering into the basement only to see rapidly rising flood water making its way up the stairs

            And, I’m sure many of us still have vivid memories of watching the sickening images of Hurricane Katrina drowning a great American city.

            The story of the flood and Noah’s Ark is disturbing because floods are terrifying.

            It’s also disturbing because the idea of God getting so angry at the world is even more terrifying!

            And, it is hard to match up the God of love that we see in Jesus with the very angry God who would flood the world.

            But, it seems to me, that the most important part of the story of the Flood and Noah’s Ark is not the flood or the ark or the pairs of animals.

            No, the heart of the story is the last part – the part that we heard today.

            In the end, for God, mercy is more important than judgment.

            After the flood, after this terrifying and destructive disaster, we’re told that God makes a new covenant – God makes a new contract – not just with Noah and his sons, not just with the people of Israel, not just with all human beings, but God makes a covenant with “every living creature.”

            For God, mercy is more important than judgment.

            Instead of a flood of destruction, God pours out a flood of love and compassion.

            Jesus experienced that flood of love and compassion at his baptism when he came up out of the Jordan and heard the voice of God say, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

            And, even during the forty days of temptation in the wilderness, Jesus was kept afloat by God’s flood of love and compassion, giving him the strength to resist Satan.

            And, even when Jesus was abandoned on the cross, crying out in agony and apparent abandonment, even then, Jesus received God’s flood of love and compassion, giving him the strength to complete his mission.

            But, of course, Jesus wasn’t just kept afloat by God’s flood of love and compassion.

            Through his teaching, and healing, and mercy, and generosity – through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus was – is – God’s flood of love and compassion.

            And the same is true – or, can be true - for us.

            We are kept afloat by God’s flood of love and compassion.

            Just like Jesus, in the water of baptism we received an assurance of God’s love – that we beloved by God – and nothing we can do or not do can ever break the bond between God and us.

            Just like Jesus, in our times of temptation and trial, we are kept afloat by God’s flood of love and compassion – giving us the strength and courage we need – and offering quick and full forgiveness when we mess up and fall short.

            And, we can be part of God’s flood of love and compassion.

            Each time we pick up the phone or even type out an email or text to someone who we know is suffering, then we are part of God’s flood of love and compassion.

            Each time we bring an item for the food pantry, or sacrifice by dropping some money into our mite box, or offer prayers for our families, friends, neighbors, the suffering people here and around the world, and even prayers for our enemies, then we are part of God’s flood of love and compassion.

            Each time we say we’re sorry for the ways we mess up and each time we accept the apology of someone who has wronged us, we are part of God’s flood of love and compassion.

            And each time we stand up for the person who’s being picked on, or when we work together to resist the forces of greed and racism, we are part of God’s flood of love and compassion.

            So, today we remember the covenant - the contract – made by God not just with Noah and his sons, not just with the people of Israel, not just with all human beings, but God makes a covenant with “every living creature.”

            This new covenant, marked by a rainbow, shows that God values mercy more than judgment.

            This new covenant unleashes God’s flood of love and compassion.

            This flood kept Jesus afloat – and keeps us afloat during times of temptation and trial.

            And, like Jesus, if we are open to it, we also can wash our tired and broken world with God’s love and compassion.

            Right here at St. Paul’s, maybe especially during the holy season of Lent, we can be part of God’s great flood of love and compassion.

            Amen. 

"The Liberty of that Abundant Life"

St. Paul’s Church in Bergen, Jersey City NJ

February 8, 2015

Year B: The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

Isaiah 40:21-31

Psalm 147:1-12, 21c

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

Mark 1:29-39

“The Liberty of that Abundant Life”

            As many of you know, I took this past week off for vacation.

            After our annual meeting last Sunday, Sue drove me to the airport and I flew off to San Francisco for a few days of rest.

            I’m really grateful to Sue and to the church staff for picking up the slack while I was away.

            Now, I don’t want to rub it in for all of you who were stick here with the cold and the snow and the ice…but it was a really good week.

            The weather was close to perfect, with temperatures mostly in the high 50s and low 60s and a lot of sunshine, which as you may know is not always the case in the Bay Area.

            I didn’t do very much at all.

            I started each day early, going to an old style café where I sipped my coffee and read the paper including working on the crossword puzzle. I eavesdropped on some of the political conversations going on around me among the regulars who seemed to camp out in the café for hours.

            I took some walking tours of different neighborhoods and had dinner one evening with friends and lunch one afternoon with one of our seminarians who is studying in Berkeley.

            On Friday morning, the weather turned cloudy and some much-needed rain began to fall.

            I went to the café as usual but this time the guy making the coffee spotted me on line and had my coffee waiting for me when I got to the counter! I was about to become a regular… but it was time to come home.

            A few days of rest in a beautiful place were a powerful reminder of how out of whack my life can get and has gotten. That little break with good strong coffee was a wake up call to me to rediscover the healthy, abundant life that God wants for me and for all of us.

            And, sure enough, in today’s collect at the start of the service, we prayed:

            “Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ.”

            We all have our own various sins that keep us in bondage, that prevent us from living the kind of life that we see in Jesus.

            But, collectively, I think one of our biggest and most destructive sins that we live lives that our almost totally out of whack with the kind of life that God wants for us.

            There are lots of reasons for this “out of whackness.”

            First of all, our society and our economy are designed to keep us really, really busy.

            In our country, middle class wages have been flat for decades, meaning that we have to work harder and harder, longer and longer, just to keep up, let alone get ahead.

            And, some of us know, or have known, the incredibly hard work of being poor.

            We know the frustration of looking for work, the stress of figuring out what bills must get paid this month and what bills will have to wait, the fear of homelessness, the dread of failure.

            Individually, there’s not much we can do about this out of whackness of our society, though I’m hopeful that together churches and other people of faith and goodwill can start to have our voices heard and make change happen.

            But, we also choose to turn away from the abundant life that God wants for us.

            We fill our lives with stuff.

            We allow ourselves to get distracted by our TVs and radios always blaring.

            Our younger generations – but not just them – have become pretty much addicted to our phones, the constant chatter of text messages and Instagram and Snapchat and all the rest – leaving little time for face to face communication or much reflection or prayer.

            But, God offers us a different way.

            God has made known to us an abundant life in Jesus.

            And, what does this abundant life look like for Jesus and for us?

            I think we get a good glimpse of this abundant life in today’s gospel passage.

            If you were here last week, you may remember that we heard about the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry – what I called Jesus’ first day at work.

            Jesus went to the synagogue at Capernaum where we’re told he cast out an unclean spirit, beginning his work of healing.

            Today we pick up right where we left off with Jesus still in Capernaum where he heals Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. He heals others in the evening and then the next morning he went to a deserted place to pray.

            We see the abundant life in this rhythm of Jesus’ life.

            In the creation story, God creates the world and then rests on the seventh day, living out the Sabbath, setting aside a time of no work.

            This is the rhythm of life.

            This is the abundant, healthy life that God wants for us.

            Jesus does his work, heals Peter’s mother-in-law and others, but then carves out time for himself to rest and to pray.

            Notice that this isn’t easy even for Jesus.

            We’re told that the disciples “hunted for” Jesus. And, “everyone is searching” for Jesus.

            We also see the abundant life in the brief mention of the mother-in-law.

            We’re told that she was in bed with a fever. The family must be concerned because they tell Jesus about her right away. Jesus seems to waste no time, healing her immediately.

            Finally, there’s that last little, almost comical, detail: “Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.”

            You’d think she’d get a little more time to rest – and maybe she did – but I think Mark is making a larger point about the rhythm of our abundant lives.

            We come here week after week, for many reasons, but in part to be healed by Jesus.

            But then we’re expected to not just go out and live like everybody else.

            No, after we’re healed, we’re expected to go out and serve others.

            Through just a few words, in Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, we get a look at the kind of life God wants for us all.

            In today’s gospel lesson, through Jesus, we see the rhythm of an abundant and holy life: work, rest, and prayer.

            In today’s gospel lesson, through Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, we see the rhythm of an abundant and holy life: healing and service.

            So, yes, I had a good vacation. It was a restful time. And that good, strong coffee I drank each morning was a wake up call to rediscover the rhythm of the abundant and holy life that God wants for me - and for us all.

            Amen. 

First Day on the Job

St. Paul’s Church in Bergen, Jersey City NJ

February 1, 2015

Year B: The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Deuteronomy 18:15-20

Psalm 111

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Mark 1:21-28

First Day on the Job

            The first day at a new job is a big deal, isn’t it?

            I remember very clearly my first day of work as a teacher.

            I was 22 and had just been hired a week earlier to teach 8^th Grade at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School in Bayonne. I was completed unprepared – had never taken an Education class in college but I had needed a job, wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and thought teaching would keep me busy until I figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up.

            I think I got the job because the nun who was the principal thought I looked presentable and she really needed someone in the classroom right away – school was about to start.

            On that first day I remember being so nervous. What if the kids could tell that I was scared? What if they could smell that I lacked confidence and experience? What if they disrespected me? What if they didn’t like me?

            Even though I was young, I understood that the first day at a new job is important.            

            The first day at work can set the tone for every day that follows.

            Aside from accidentally hitting myself in the head with a window pole before the kids arrived, my first day on the job turned out OK.

            Well, in the gospel lesson I just read, we heard Mark’s account of Jesus’ first day at on the job.

            Jesus has been baptized.

            Jesus has been tested in the wilderness.

            Jesus has begun to gather his disciples.

            And, now Jesus gets to work

            And just what is the work of Jesus?

            We’re told that Jesus “taught them as one having authority, and not as one of the scribes.”

            We’re not told what that means exactly but I think back to Jesus’ baptism that we heard about just a couple of weeks ago.

            Remember, Mark tells us that as Jesus came up out of the River Jordan, out of the water of baptism, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

            And then Jesus heard a voice from heaven say, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

            A powerful, powerful experience.

             I imagine that the scribes taught like people who knew a lot about God. They knew the Scriptures backwards and forwards. They could talk about God for a long, long time. Maybe you know the type!

            But, I imagine that Jesus teaches as someone who not only knows a lot about God but as someone who loves God - and knows that he is deeply loved by God.

            How could Jesus not teach with authority?

            I’m sure nobody in the synagogue had ever seen or heard anything – anyone - like him!

            So, part of the work of Jesus is teaching. And, I’m guessing we’re all pretty comfortable with this part of Jesus’ job: Jesus the great teacher.

            But, then Mark continues, telling us that there was a man in the synagogue who had an “unclean spirit.”

            Unlike the people in the synagogue that Sabbath, the unclean spirit recognizes Jesus, saying – “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”

            And then, Jesus stuns the crowd by casting out this unclean spirit, this demon.

            Mark doesn’t use the word, but this is the first exorcism performed by Jesus in his gospel.

            Jesus gets to work, teaching with authority and casting out unclean spirits.

            And, Jesus has continued his work in and through the church, the Body of Christ in the world, including right here and now at St. Paul’s.

            We are given the sacred responsibility of teaching, of sharing the Good News of Christ with our sad and suffering world.

            And, we can only do that if we not only know a lot about God but if we experience God’s love, if we feel that we are beloved by God.

            And, we are also given the sacred responsibility of casting out the unclean spirits that poison the beautiful world that God has given us – the unclean spirits that possess us and prevent us from being the people God has always dreamed we would be.

            Out in the world we can see those unclean spirits very clearly, can’t we?

            We see the unclean spirits of hatred and greed and violence. The unclean spirits that drive terrorists to kill children, hostages and cartoonists – the unclean spirits that cause nation to take up arms against nation – the unclean spirits that cause us to treat our planet as an open sewer, sacrificing the future of our children.

            And then there are the unclean spirits in our own lives – the unclean spirits that possess us.

            For each of us they’re a little different.

            For some of us the unclean spirit might be having too high an opinion of ourselves while for others the unclean spirit might be low self-esteem.

            For some of us the unclean spirit might be putting our desires first, no matter the consequences, while for others the unclean spirit might be allowing ourselves to be treated as a doormat.

            For some of us the unclean spirit might be a ready willingness to blame others for our problems while for others the unclean spirit might be a crushing sense of guilt.

            I know the unclean spirits that do their work on me, that possess me.

            And, as a priest, I have the chance to get to know the unclean spirits that possess others.

            And, as I’ve thought about it, I think the biggest, most powerful unclean spirit of our time and place is despair.

            So many of us feel despair about our lives not turning out the way we had hoped – despair that the future is bleak – despair that none of it really matters anyway.

            There’s a lot of despair around. And, I’ll admit that sometimes I despair, too.

            But, then… I come here – here to St. Paul’s, where Jesus continues to do his work in and through us.

            You and I come here to St. Paul’s where people not only know about God but really know God, who have experienced God’s love and who love God.

            We come here where Jesus continues to do his work, casting out the unclean spirits through the words of Scripture, through our prayers and our songs.

            We come here where Jesus continues to do his work, casting out the unclean spirits as we ask and receive God’s forgiveness, as we share the peace with one another, and as we reach out our hands and receive the Body and Blood of Christ into our bodies and into our hearts.

            Here at St. Paul’s, day after day, week after week, Jesus is still on the job, still continues to work, casting out the unclean spirits of addiction and loneliness, feeding us in mind, body, and spirit.

            In today’s gospel reading, we heard the story of Jesus’ first day at work – his first day teaching with authority and casting out unclean spirits.

            And, today as we look back at 2014 and look ahead to 2015, Jesus continues to work – will continue to work – right here at St. Paul’s Church.

            Thanks be to God.

            Amen.