The Authority of Service

St. Paul’s Church in Bergen & Church of the Incarnation, Jersey City

October 21, 2018

Year B, Proper 24: The Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost

Job 38:1-7, 34-41

Psalm 104:1-9, 25, 37b

Hebrews 5: 1-10

Mark 10:35-45

The Authority of Service

            Whenever we start a new chapter of our lives – when we start a new school year or a new job or a new relationship – when we move to a new place – or when we retire – whenever we start a new chapter of our lives, we never know exactly what it’s going to be like, right?

            Oh, we usually have some idea, for sure, but there are always things that surprise us, things that, for better or for worse, we just hadn’t considered or expected.

            For example, when I was in seminary coming through the ordination process I imagined that as a priest I would spend a lot of time teaching and preaching, celebrating the sacraments, and visiting the sick and shut-in.

            And, it’s true, I do spend a good bit of time doing those beautiful and sacred things.

            But, I really hadn’t expected that I would spend so much of my ministry, so much of my time…attending meetings.

            I go to a lot of meetings.

            And, some of them are not very good meetings.

            For example, I’ve missed the last three Stone Soup Suppers (all of which looked like they were over-the-top delicious – Trish always sends me pictures of the food, just to rub it in). I missed those great meals because I’ve attended the last three meetings of the Hudson County freeholders. I’ve been present as they’ve faced a public outcry over how they near-secretly renewed the county’s contract with ICE, allowing the county to continue to profit from the detainees held in our county jail – where, in fact, detainees now outnumber regular prisoners.

            It was fascinating and moving – and, more often, frustrating and sometimes infuriating – to watch the freeholders respond to members of the public as, one after the other, they voiced their opinions, their concerns, and sometimes their outrage.

            Some of the freeholders paid close attention, seemed to be thinking hard about these complicated and difficult issues, while others were arrogant, defensive and self-pitying, and some seemed to be hardly paying attention, checking their phones, talking among themselves.

            At the last meeting, last Thursday night, at around 11:00pm, after everything they had heard over the past three months, the freeholders finally voted to renew the contract for the next couple of years, keeping everything the same, essentially kicking the problem down the road.

            Bad meeting.

            Fortunately, most of the meetings I attend are church-related and, while I won’t say that they’re all wonderful experiences, usually when we meet we’re at least a little bit mindful of the big picture - that we are supposed to be playing our part in God’s ongoing work in the world.

            And, usually, we are reminded of what we’re supposed to be about because we start and end our meetings with prayer.

            Very often Bishop Beckwith would begin meetings by asking us to reflect on and share with the others where we had recently seen signs of God’s grace.

            That’s a worthwhile exercise, right?

            And, considering where I had seen God’s grace in my life, nearly always made me more grateful for the blessings that I receive all the time.

            Since I think most of us can agree that we are living in difficult and even frightening times, I’ll admit that I’ve been trying extra hard to look into my heart, to look around at our community, and to look out at the world, looking for signs of God’s grace.

            Especially these days, it’s not always easy, but the signs of God’s grace really are there if we take the time to look.

            In today’s Gospel lesson we hear the latest installment of our long-running series called, “The Apostles Just Don’t Get It.”

            In this episode the brother apostles James and John boldly tell Jesus, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”

            Now, if you or I were the messiah, this conversation would have ended right then and there, but Jesus allows them to proceed with their request.

They say:

            “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left.”

            OK.

So, even after everything they have seen and heard with Jesus, all the teaching and the healing, after all of that and more, these two apostles – and, actually, all twelve of Jesus’ closest friends and followers – they still don’t get it – still don’t get that it’s not about our glory but it’s all about God’s glory.

            But, rather than throwing up his arms in frustration and going off somewhere to find some new, sharper followers, Jesus uses this request as a teachable moment. Jesus says,

            “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.”

            Jesus’ vision of leadership – Jesus’ model of leadership – is the exact opposite of what we usually see in our country and in the world.

            Jesus’ vision of leadership is what the great twentieth century German theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer called, “the authority of service.”

            The authority of service.

            And, when we see the authority of service at work among us, then we also see God’s grace.

            So, we’ve already clearly established that I attend some not so good meetings but one of the best meetings I’m part of is a weekly meeting at our Triangle Park Community Center.

            Every Wednesday afternoon, a small group of us - Rev. Laurie, Belinda Stokes, Joyce Davison from Grace, Monica Shaw who coordinates the center, and me, - we meet for a couple of hours to assess how things are going at the center and to plan for the future.

            Frankly, for quite a while these meetings were a frustrating slog because we just couldn’t seem to get things going at the center – couldn’t get the right programming launched – couldn’t find the right personnel to lead the center – but now, now over the past few months those missing pieces have clicked into place and now our little storefront is humming with activity – food pantry, art show, afterschool program, arts and crafts classes, voter registration drive, and soon SAT Prep classes and North Porch.

            A few times I’ve looked around the table at this small group of leaders – especially Belinda and Joyce who aren’t earning a penny for their labor – I look at these people giving so much time and energy and persistence, creating something out of nothing at Triangle Park and I’ve been struck by their generosity – by their sacrifice.

            We’re not down there to get rich or to become famous or to use people in some way. We’re not even there to make more Episcopalians (though I’d take them, of course).

            No, we’re there simply to be of service to a long-neglected community – a community so long-neglected that at first people couldn’t quite figure us out or couldn’t believe what we told them – couldn’t get why our brand-new bishop would want to celebrate with us in the middle of their street – but now I look around and I see the “authority of service” at work and making a difference … and I see God’s grace.

            And then, last weekend, far from Triangle Park and far from Jersey City, the Roman Catholic Church made official what most people have known for some time: Oscar Romero of El Salvador is a saint.

            I hope you had the chance to see some of the celebrations or to read a little about Romero.

            For most of his ministry, Oscar Romero was a highly intelligent, sensitive, hardworking, and also rather conservative, priest and then bishop.

            When he was appointed Archbishop of San Salvador in 1977, the repressive government was pretty happy but many others were disappointed because he was not as outspoken on social justice as other leaders of the church.

            But then just a month later, Rutilio Grande, a Jesuit priest and close friend of Romero was assassinated – and this death inspired Romero to serve God and God’s people in an even deeper and more courageous way.

            Now, remember that Romero could have lived like many of his brother bishops, could have lived a comfortable and safe life, cozy with the powers that be, but instead he began speaking out against the actions of the brutal El Salvadoran government (generously supported by the US government, by the way) and Romero began speaking up loud and clear on behalf of the poor and the oppressed.

            With his calls for liberation, Romero became a hero within El Salvador and beyond – although, no surprise, not everybody admired him - and some began to plot against him.

            On March 24, 1980, Romero had just finished preaching his sermon during Mass in a hospital chapel, when a gunman opened fire and shot and killed the archbishop at the altar.

            Here’s a quote from Romero’s last sermon, which captures what he was about - and what the “authority of service” is all about:

            “…you have just heard Christ’s Gospel, that one must not love oneself so much as to avoid getting involved in the risks of life which history demands of us, that those who would avoid the danger will lose their life, while those who out of love for Christ give themselves to the service of others will live, like the grain of wheat that dies, but only apparently.”

            In the years since his murder, the story of Oscar Romero and his “authority of service,” has continued to spread, continued to inspire more people, finally leading to the huge gathering of overjoyed pilgrims at St. Peter’s Square last Sunday.

            And now, today we find ourselves living during difficult days with many leaders in our country and around the world acting like the Apostles James and John, eager to gather more power and glory for themselves, rather than giving away their lives in loving service to others.

Today, God’s grace may seem to be in short supply.

            Yet, if we take the time to look, I know that we’ll see signs of God’s grace all over the place – signs of God’s grace right here among us - signs of God’s grace in Triangle Park – signs of God’s grace in an El Salvadoran grain of wheat that only appeared to die – and, yes, even signs of God’s grace at a long and frustrating freeholder meeting! Amen.