Confess the Faith

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

August 27, 2017

Year A, Proper 16: The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

Isaiah 51:1-6

Psalm 138

Romans 12:1-8

Matthew 16:13-20

Confess the Faith

            If you’ve been in church lately, you know that we’ve been hearing a lot about the flawed but lovable Apostle Peter.

            A couple of weeks ago, we heard the story of the Transfiguration when Peter, James, and John witness Jesus transformed on the mountain, getting to see Moses and Elijah, getting a glimpse of heaven, and, if that wasn’t enough, getting to hear the voice of God!

            Appropriately enough, Peter wanted to memorialize this event by building three booths right there on the mountain, but it was not to be.

            Instead, Jesus and his friends had to come down off the mountain and face their destiny.

            And then we heard the story of Peter and the other disciples on a boat, at sea during a terrible storm - a storm that sounded like it was scary even for an experienced fisherman like Peter.

            And then in the morning, Jesus appeared – and appeared to be walking on the water – which made no sense, right? So, an understandably frightened and confused Peter says, “Lord, if it is you command me to come to you on the water.”

            Jesus says, “Come.”

            And, Peter takes a few bold steps out onto the water before he loses confidence, loses faith, and reaching out to Jesus for help.

            And, now, today, Jesus asks his disciples those famous and profound questions:

            First: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

            And, in reply, the disciples rattle off the usual suspects.

            And then, Jesus asks a more pointed, more personal question:

            “But, who do you say that I am?”

            And, of all people, it’s the uneducated fisherman Peter, the one who so often got it wrong and who will continue to mess up in ways both large and small, it’s Peter who gets the answer right:

            “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

            In the Church, this incident is called the “confession” of St. Peter – and it’s considered such a big deal that every January we celebrate it as a major feast.

            But, it’s sort of an unusual use of the word “confession,” right?

            Usually when we think of “confession” we think of admitting wrongdoing and asking for forgiveness. In church we make a confession of sin and some Roman Catholic and Episcopal churches have confessionals where confessions take place, in private.

            But, there is another, in fact older, meaning of “confession” – to admit what’s in our hearts, to declare what we believe to be true.

            So, yes, Peter confesses what he, by God’s grace, has come to believe and know – the truth that he will give away his life sharing with others:

            Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

            And, you know, especially today, in our time and place, we desperately need to recover this sense of “confession.”

            We all need to be “confessors.”

            I believe I’ve mentioned to you that just about my favorite priestly thing to do is to baptize. And, I also enjoy preparing people for Baptism – either their own or the Baptism of their child.

            As part of that preparation, we always go over the Baptismal Covenant, spending a little extra time on the promise to “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.”

            And, when we talk about that I always say how, at first glance, it would seem that the “example” is more difficult than the “word,” right?

            After all, we’ve all heard and know that talk is cheap.

            Maybe some of us have heard the quote attributed to St. Francis:

“Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.”

            That sounds right, or sounds like it should be right, but actually it’s not right at all.

            First of all, St. Francis never said it – and, in fact, he spent plenty of time preaching with words – even, we’re told, preaching to the animals!

            Second, in my time here at St. Paul’s, I’ve come to know that most, if not all, of us do our best to live good and decent lives, trying to raise good children and grandchildren, trying to be good friends and neighbors, trying to do our part to make the world a better place.

            And, while that’s certainly not easy, I think for most of us living that way comes pretty naturally.

            But, it’s not enough.

            Unfortunately, in our time and place, the loudest and most influential “Christian” voices are usually the most intolerant, most ignorant, most hypocritical, and most hateful. And, I’m sorry to say it, but many people out there think that’s who we are, that’s what we believe, that’s what a Christian looks and sounds like.

So, whether we like it or not, we need to actually say who we are and what we believe.

            As Paul asks in his letter to the Romans, “…how are they to believe in one whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?”

            Like Peter, we need to confess our faith boldly.

            So, what might that look and sound like?

            Well, I don’t think it necessarily means we grab a Bible or a prayer book and go stand at Journal Square confessing our faith to commuters as they make their way to and from work – though, who knows, maybe for some of us that’s exactly the ministry we’re called to.

            But, I think all of us are called to confess our faith in those everyday, seemingly ordinary, moments of interaction and conversation.

            So, let’s imagine: it’s Monday morning at work or school or even just in your neighborhood or building, and a co-worker or another student or a neighbor asks, “So, whatcha do over the weekend?”

            There it is, right? A moment of decision. An opportunity to confess our faith  – or not.

            Do you mention that you gave up a chunk of time on Sunday and went to church? Do you say this knowing that it might make your friend look at you kind of funny, like you’re a “holy roller” or some kind of religious fanatic?

            Do you admit that this wasn’t some one shot deal, either, that actually, you’re in church most Sundays and that you come here because it’s meaningful and important to you?

            Do you confess that, yes, although you sometimes doubt and waver like everybody else, you try to put your faith in Jesus, that you believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God?

            Confession.

            It sounds kind of funny, sort of counter-intuitive, but we are meant to not just walk the walk but also talk the talk.

            Like imperfect Peter, each in our own way, we’re called to confess our faith, to actually tell people the Good News – the Good News that they so desperately need to hear.

            As we say to brand-new Christians at the end of every Baptism, “Confess the faith of Christ crucified, proclaim his resurrection, and share with us in his eternal priesthood.”

            May we have the grace and courage to confess our faith.

            Amen.

            

What a Wonderful But Broken World

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

August 20, 2017

Year A, Proper 15: The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Isaiah 56:1, 6-8

Psalm 67

Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32

Matthew 15:10-28

What a Wonderful But Broken World

            Well, that was quite a week, huh?

            For me, it was very much a week of contrasts.

On the one hand, as you all know, our country was caught up in the aftermath of last week’s violent white supremacist protests and the counter-protests in Charlottesville – including the response, or responses, of the president.

 Meanwhile, overseas there was yet another terror attack, this time in Barcelona, and catastrophic mudslides in Sierra Leone.

But, on the other hand, while all of that and more terrible stuff was going on, a few of our St. Paul’s adults and I spent much of last week over at Old Bergen Church, participating in a “summer peace project” called, “Building a Neighborhood Together.”

            We couldn’t have known this months ago when we started planning, but this super-positive event with its beautifully diverse group of kids and adults arrived right on time.

            While our country seemed to be tearing itself apart, we sang and danced and meditated and played and talked about peace and shared ideas about what a peaceful neighborhood might look like – and, using their own imaginations and creativity, the kids built a cardboard city that included the “Peace International Airport” and “The Peaceful Apartments” and, maybe inevitably, a McDonald’s, one that even had a, hopefully peaceful, drive-thru!

            Led by our own Gail, over the course of the program the kids learned a repertoire of several different songs, but for me the most beautiful, the most touching, and the most timely was “What a Wonderful World,” a song made famous by Louis Armstrong, that I’m sure many of you know:

            “I hear babies cry. I watch them grow. They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know. And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.”

            Amen.

            We live in a wonderful, but very broken world.

There are armed-to-the-teeth Nazis on the march, with their ugly and hateful words and symbols, with their rage and violence, defiling our streets and airwaves and even, if we let them, defiling our own hearts.

Last weekend in Charlottesville, they attacked the counter-protesters and even killed one, the courageous Heather Heyer.

            There is violence and the threat of violence on our own Jersey City streets – last week we suffered our fourteenth homicide of the year, but it seems that barely anyone even noticed.

There is poverty that leaves so many with groaning stomachs, poverty that forces people out of their homes and onto the streets.

            There are our own personal troubles and fears. There’s our own brokenness, our own stinginess when it comes to love. There is our own tendency - even here in the church - to divide people into our kind of folks and not our kind of people. There is our own reluctance to share our blessings.

We live in a wonderful, but broken world. So, God invites us to make our world more wonderful, to heal what’s broken, by setting aside our own fears and prejudices and by being even more loving and generous.

            And, I’m sticking my theological neck out here a little bit, but, I think that’s what’s going on in today’s gospel lesson:

            God invites God’s Son to heal what’s broken, by being even more loving and more generous.

            If you’re not familiar with today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus’ encounter with the persistent and bold Canaanite woman, well, then, this story may come as a bit of a shock, because in it we find a very human Jesus behaving in such a seemingly un-Jesus-like way.

            Maybe it’s because Jesus was out of his comfort zone: he’s in or at least near a place called Tyre and Sidon, a non-Jewish land, where a desperate woman, a Canaanite, a non-Jew, approaches him, begging him to help her tormented daughter.

            Apparently, she’s been annoying the disciples, which sounds about right, since they so often didn’t get what following Jesus was all about.

But, even if you’ve only been paying half-attention in church, you know how this should go down:  Jesus will heal the girl, let the disciples have it for their hard hearts and little faith and then move on to the next teaching or healing.

            Routine work for Jesus, right?

Just another day at the office for the Messiah!

            But, instead, in this case, Jesus flatly and, it sounds to me, coldly rejects this non-Jew, this Canaanite woman and her desperate plea, saying, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

            But, remarkably, she doesn’t give up, though. Instead, she kneels before Jesus, begging, “Lord, help me.”

            And then Jesus says his most un-Jesus-like words of all, saying to this poor and desperate woman, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

            Now, if I were insulted by Jesus, I’m pretty sure I’d just slink away, devastated and ashamed, but instead this incredible woman replies, pointedly and boldly, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

            And, you know, the way I read this exchange, this amazing and really kind of shocking scene, it seems to me that in this moment our brother Jesus hears the call to heal what’s broken and make the world even more wonderful – maybe in this moment he realizes that God’s love is bigger than even he, the Son of God, had realized – that God loves both Jews and Canaanites – that God’s love is for absolutely everybody.

            Jesus says to the persistent and bold Canaanite, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”

            And, her daughter was healed instantly.

We live in a wonderful, but broken world. And God invites us to make our world more wonderful, to heal what’s broken, by setting aside our own fears and prejudices and being even more loving and generous.

I never thought I’d be preaching about Nazis, but this is where we find ourselves.

            But, actually, for a long time now, I’ve been interested in how the institutional Church behaved in Nazi Germany.

            A handful of brave and bold ministers and priests resisted the Nazis and paid high price for their courage and integrity. But, the tragic reality is that most of the clergy either kept their heads down and minded their own business, or they wholeheartedly supported Hitler’s twisted and evil ideology.

            I’ve long wondered what I might do – and what the American Church might do – if a similar situation arose here in our country.

            Well, I don’t have to wonder so much anymore because, last week in Charlottesville, clergy from many different religions and denominations, many wearing their distinctive clothing, stood with the peaceful counter-protesters, risking something big for something good, offering love and solidarity in the face of hate and division.

            And, I’m convinced that my clergy colleagues and I would do the same thing if white supremacists should ever make the unwise decision to march here in Jersey City.

            Finally, there is Heather Heyer, the seemingly ordinary 32 year-old paralegal who couldn’t and wouldn’t stand by when hate came to town and sacrificed her life for love and peace when a driver drove murderously through the crowd.

            In the days that followed we learned that it seems Heather was who she was because of the family that raised her.

            Her father Mark Heyer, said, “I’m proud of her. I’m proud of her standing up. She had more courage than I did. She had a stubborn backbone, that if she thought she was right she would stand there and defy you. If I understand her, she wanted to do it peacefully and with a fierceness of heart that comes with her conviction.”

            Most remarkable of all, Heather’s father offered forgiveness to her killer. He said, “I just think what the Lord said on the cross. Lord forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”

            And then there was Heather’s formidable mother, Susan Bro, who displayed an almost supernatural calm when she spoke at the funeral. She said, “They tried to kill my child to shut her up. Well, guess what – you just magnified her.”

            So, yes, it’s been quite a week, a week of contrasts.

It was a week when we were powerfully reminded that we live in a wonderful, but broken world.

As Jesus recognized long ago, thanks to the bold and persistent Canaanite woman, we are called to heal what’s broken, by being even more loving and more generous.

We are called to follow the example of Jesus and also those who stand up to hate, and even those who offer forgiveness in the midst of terrible suffering and loss.

And, if we’re sincerely willing to work with God to heal our wonderful but broken world, then I am convinced that the words of the beautiful song sung by our kids last week will be even more real, more true:

“The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky, are also on the faces of people going by. I see friends shaking hands, saying, ‘How do you do?’ They’re really saying, ‘I love you.’”

Amen.

           

           

            

To Boldly Go...

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

Church of the Incarnation, Jersey City NJ

August 13, 2017

Year A, Proper 14: The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

1 Kings 19:9-18

Psalm 85:8-13

Romans 10:5-15

Matthew 14:22-33

To Boldly Go…

            Since I talk about it often enough, most of you know that, before I was a priest, I was a teacher – and my last teaching job before hanging up my chalk and going to seminary was at my alma mater, St. Peter’s Prep.

            I think about those days a lot. Like any kind of work, it had its ups and downs, but for the most part it was a wonderful and meaningful way to spend my life – and get paid doing it!

            One of the traditions at Prep, both then and now, is the “Senior-Faculty Dinner,” which is exactly what it sounds like: near the end of the school year the members of the senior class and the faculty have dinner together and celebrate four years of teaching and learning.

            The seniors put on skits, poking (usually gentle and good-natured) fun at some of us teachers.

            And, each year one teacher is invited to address the seniors.

            Well, one year they asked me to give this speech.

            To be honest, I felt a lot of pressure and nervousness. It was kind of intimidating to speak in front of most of the senior class, plus many of my colleagues.

            On top of that, since I had the reputation of being funny (or, at least, I thought I had the reputation of being funny!), I felt some pressure to get some laughs.

            But, I didn’t want it to be all about amusing the audience. I really wanted to use this opportunity to say something meaningful. So, I thought back to when I was a high school senior and wondered what I would say to my eighteen year-old self if I had the chance.

            As I thought back to those days, I remembered and realized how cautious I had been.

            For whatever reason – and I’m honestly not sure what it was, maybe it was all those ego-shattering math classes that I just barely survived – by the end of high school I had lost faith in myself and, I suppose, I had lost faith in God, too.

And so, lacking faith in myself and in God, I decided to play life as safe as I could, choosing to go to college very close to home, not really challenging myself, not doing the big things that I had thought about doing, like studying abroad or joining the Peace Corps.

Unlike my TV hero Captain Kirk, I chose to not boldly go much of anywhere at all.

And, so that day, all those years later, standing up in front of the senior class in the Prep cafeteria, with some embarrassment, I told them my story and I urged them not to make my mistakes, but, instead, to take good chances, to, as our bishop likes to say, risk something big for something good.

I told those young men “to boldly go.”

If you were here last week you may remember that we celebrated the Feast of the Transfiguration, we remembered that mysterious mountaintop experience when Peter, James, and John witness Jesus transformed and they overhear his conversation with Moses and Elijah and, if that weren’t enough, they even get to hear the voice of God.

I love the Apostle Peter because, like us, he so often doesn’t really get it, so often fails spectacularly – but, you know, on the mountain he did OK.

He realized that he and the others had witnessed something spectacular, so he wanted to build shrines right there on the mountain, wanted to memorialize that most amazing experience.

Not a bad idea, but instead, Jesus and his friends go boldly down the mountain and continued the holy work of teaching and healing, of speaking truth to power and paying a high price for doing so.

And now, in today’s gospel lesson, in yet another mysterious scene, Peter takes center stage once again.

Jesus had just fed the multitudes with miraculous loaves and fishes, and then, we’re told, that he “dismissed the crowds.”

That night, the disciples were caught in a big storm which sounds like it was scary even for experienced  fishermen – and then they were even more alarmed when Jesus appeared to them walking on the water.

As he so often does, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.”

Easier said than done, so, no surprise, the disciples remained afraid.

But, lovable Peter, who so often got it wrong, gets it right this time, too, putting his trust in Jesus, and boldly going out of the boat, stepping out onto the sea, able to take a few miraculous steps before fear got the better of him and he called out to Jesus, who was right there, ready and quick to save.

Back at the Senior-Faculty Dinner, I spoke very personally – more personally than I normally did at school – but, of course, I didn’t tell them everything.

I didn’t tell them that now my faith in myself and my faith in God were stronger than when I was eighteen and, in fact, I was getting ready to hang up my chalk and step out into an unknown, a little frightening, but mostly exciting future, to boldly go to seminary and prepare to become an Episcopal priest.

Since making that big move, there have been times when I’ve felt like Peter, felt like I was sinking – times when things weren’t going as well as I had hoped or when I kicked myself because I wasn’t as sensitive or caring as I should have been or even times when I wondered if I had made a big mistake – there have been times when my faith has faltered and I’ve felt like I was sinking, but each time I’ve discovered Jesus to be right there, right here, ready and quick to save me.

The truth is that we are called to risk something big for something good, “to boldly go” out there, out onto the sea, not alone like Peter, but together, holding hands – knowing that we can reach out for help when we get ourselves in trouble, when the current seems to be pulling us down, when it seems we have little or, even no faith.

And, when I look around, I see St. Paul’s and Incarnation – I see the Episcopal Church in Jersey City – “boldly going” in new directions, venturing to new places, taking on new ministries.

Last week I was so pleased and proud when Glenda and Patricia got up and told us about their experience at the weeklong choir camp in Camp May.

I know that they had been nervous about going – it’s a long way for two kids from Jersey City – a long way to go and be with a bunch of strangers. But, they overcame their fear and had the most wonderful experience and sang the offertory anthem with newfound confidence, skill, and joy.

To boldly go.

And, we’re just a couple of weeks away from launching the new Triangle Park Community Center, risking money, energy, time, and, yes, even the possibility of failure, risking some big things for something good, the possibility of serving and working with our neighbors in Greenville – a community where we have longed to be for more than twenty-five years.

To boldly go.

And, as you know, we’re beginning conversations about uniting St. Paul’s and Incarnation. We are neighbors with not always the best history but over the past few years we have become truly friends, brothers and sisters, and, by God’s grace, someday soon, we will become one – become an even stronger and bolder church, more able and willing to serve our community.

To boldly go.

Obviously, we are living in stormy days and even the most experienced among us may be frightened or even terrified.

 With the flippant threats of nuclear war, with Nazis – Nazis in 2017! – brazenly showing their faces and their hatred, carrying torches marching through the streets of Charlottesville, chanting their vile slogans, injuring and even killing peaceful and, yes, very bold counter-protesters, with a President unwilling to condemn this disgusting racism, with all of the storms in the world and in our country - plus our own personal storms - it would be easy to lose faith in God and ourselves, easy to get scared and become cautious.

But just like he called out to Peter and the other disciples, Jesus calls out to us here today, saying, “Do not be afraid.”

Jesus calls us out of the boat, to boldly go onto the water, and into our future, together.

Amen.

           

           

Remember

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

Church of the Incarnation, Jersey City NJ

August 6, 2017

The Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Exodus 34:29-35

Psalm 99

2 Peter 1:13-21

Luke 9:28-36

Remember

            It’s a little hard for me to believe, but, I’ve been a priest for almost ten years and so, by now, after having celebrated the Eucharist many hundreds of times, quite a few of the words of the service are etched pretty deeply in my memory.

            Like, for example, the words of absolution I say after we make our confession of sin.

            “Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ…”

            But, a couple of months ago at our 10:00 service, something unusual and a little unnerving happened.

            Maybe some of you who were here noticed it.

            After we had knelt and made our confession, I stood up as I always do and began to say those familiar words, “Almighty God…”

            But then my memory failed me and I completely forgot the rest of the words. It all just flew out of my head.

            In my confusion, I managed to string together a few sort of similar words that I trust got the job done – God’s going to forgive us no matter what I say or don’t say – but, it really bothered me that I had forgotten something that I thought I had known so well.

            I think I was probably just tired or distracted and, fortunately, I haven’t noticed any other memory problems, but in that moment I had just a small, confusing taste of what it’s like to really forget, to lose one’s memory.

Of course, like probably all of us, I’ve known people, including some people I’ve loved very much, who as they aged grew forgetful or confused, and some who developed full-blown dementia.

            It’s a terrifying and deeply sad thing, right?

            It’s terrifying and sad for lots of reasons but one of the big ones is that, to a large extent, it’s our memory that makes us who we are.

            Thanks to our memory, we know who we are and whose we are.

            Thanks to our memory, we know who we love and who loves us.         

            But, the truth is, even if we’re in perfect health, it’s sometimes hard to remember these most important things, especially when the going gets tough, especially when there are so many distractions, so many pressures, and so many fears, especially during times of (as today’s collect says), “disquietude.”

            Today we celebrate, we remember, the Feast of the Transfiguration.

We remember this mysterious mountaintop experience - a preview of Easter, a glimpse of heaven - when Peter, James, and John see Jesus transformed before their eyes, and witness the appearance of two of the greatest biblical figures, Moses and Elijah.

These three disciples get to overhear a conversation between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah – a conversation about Jesus’ “departure.”

            Even the often-dense Peter realizes that he has witnessed something remarkable, so he wants to memorialize this experience by building three shrines, one each for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.

            No sooner does Peter get this perfectly reasonable suggestion out of his mouth, than the experience becomes even more awesome when they – and we – get to hear the voice of God say:

            “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”

            And, then… it’s over.

            This powerful, mysterious, literally awesome experience - a preview of Easter, a glimpse of heaven - lives on only in memory.

            Jesus and his disciples came down from the mountain, and continued the ministry of teaching and healing, this holy work that will be so very threatening to the religious and political leaders that they’ll plot against Jesus, arrest him, torture him, and finally kill him.

            Jesus will “depart.”

            During those hard days it must have been so difficult to remember the preview of Easter that Jesus and his friends had glimpsed on the mountain – hard for his disciples to remember and maybe even hard for Jesus himself to remember.

            And even after the empty tomb, even after Easter, even after the Ascension when Jesus “departed” again, back when the Church was so small and struggling for survival, during those days of “disquietude,” it must have been hard for the first followers of Jesus to remember all of those amazing experiences, all of the puzzling sayings and miraculous healings, even hard to remember the mountaintop experience with Moses and Elijah and even the voice of God.

            But, they did remember – just like the Jews, they remembered by coming together to tell their stories over and over again and eventually writing them down and reading them and copying them and spreading them around so that even when individual memories faded and failed, the stories – the Story – would never be forgotten.

            As an example, today’s second lesson comes from what we call the Second Letter of Peter, and was probably written around the year 100, maybe even later than that, written long after the Apostle Peter was dead, written by a faithful Christian who heard, remembered and wrote down the story of the Transfiguration, which has been passed down to us.

            Thanks to our memory, we know who we are and whose we are.

            Thanks to our memory, we know whom we love and who loves us.

            The Church is a community of memory.

            And, I don’t know about you, but in our time with all of its distractions, pressures, and fears – in our time of so much fast-paced change and so much noise and oh so big challenges, in the midst of all this “disquietude,” sometimes I feel like I’m in danger of forgetting more than just the words of absolution.

            Sometimes, even as a “professional Christian,” I feel like I’m in danger of forgetting the big stuff, forgetting the stories, forgetting the Story.

            So, we gather here in church week after to week is to have our own little mountaintop experience, to get a preview of Easter, a glimpse of heaven.

We come here as a community of memory to remember – to remember the old but somehow always new stories – and, especially, to remember who we are and whose we are – to remember who we love and who loves us.

            Amen.