St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
January 28, 2024
Year B: The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Deuteronomy 17:15-20
Psalm 111
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Mark 1:21-28
Faithfulness, Patience, Tenacity
I’ve mentioned to you before that one of the highlights of my week is our Service of Holy Communion with Anointing, followed by Bible Study – every Wednesday at noon, over in the Old School Building.
We really have a wonderful little community – to which you are all invited!
I especially enjoy when we celebrate one of the so-called “Lesser Feasts,” one of the days when the Church remembers a holy person of the past.
I love learning and talking about these people, telling their stories of faith and sacrifice, drawing inspiration from their example, and trying to make connections from their time to how we live today.
Once a history teacher, always a history teacher, I guess!
This past Wednesday, we celebrated the Feast of Florence Li Tim-Oi, who was the first woman ordained a priest in the Anglican Communion, that family of churches descended from the Church of England, the worldwide community to which we Episcopalians belong.
Florence Li Tim-Oi was born in Hong Kong in 1907 and was baptized while she was a student, taking the name of Florence in honor of Florence Nightingale.
Unusually for a woman of her time and place, she studied theology and, in 1941, she was ordained a deaconess – an order of ministry for women that no longer exists but maybe some of you remember.
As a deaconess, she served refugees in Macao, a Portuguese colony on the Chinese coast.
Portugal remained neutral in World War II, so Macao was spared the worst. But the war prevented Anglican priests from getting there to provide the sacraments and pastoral care to the people.
So, Florence Li Tim-Oi was ordained a deacon in 1941 and given special permission to celebrate the Eucharist in Macao.
Finally, although he was not in favor of women’s ordination, but choosing the spiritual needs of the people over church rules, the Bishop of Hong Kong ordained Florence Li Tim-Oi a priest.
The date was January 25, 1944 – eighty years ago.
While the war raged, people had way more pressing things to deal with than a woman priest but once peace was achieved, attention turned to this unique ordination and there was, as you’d guess, great opposition.
Recognizing and respecting the view of the Church, Florence Li Tim-Oi stopped exercising her priestly ministry, but she never renounced her ordination.
Life for Chinese Christians became more difficult after the Communist Revolution in 1949 and became nearly impossible when Mao unleashed the Cultural Revolution in 1958 and all churches in China were closed.
Like other educated people, Florence Li Tim-Oi was forced to work in a factory and on a farm. Later, the Communists grew suspicious of her and sent her to a reeducation camp.
Through all of this oppression and suffering, she was able to hold onto her faith, finding time as best she could to pray.
The Chinese churches were reopened in 1979 and Florence Li Tim-Oi resumed her ministry, eventually settling in Canada where she served as a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada.
She died in Canada in 1992.
I think you’ll agree that even if she weren’t the first woman to be ordained, she would still be worthy of honor.
And her life of faith and courage offer us an example and inspiration in our time.
In the words of the prayer for her feast day, “Grant that we, following the example of Florence Li Tim-Oi, chosen priest in your church, may with faithfulness, patience, and tenacity, proclaim your holy gospel to all the nations…”
Faithfulness, patience, and tenacity.
Faithfulness, patience, and tenacity.
In today’s gospel lesson, we hear the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, as told in the Gospel of Mark.
It’s the Sabbath and Jesus the faithful Jew is in the synagogue in the seaside town of Capernaum.
Although Mark doesn’t tell us the content of Jesus’ teaching, we are told that everybody is “astounded” by what he has to say.
Nobody has ever heard anyone teach like this before.
But Jesus is just getting started.
Suddenly, a man tormented by an “unclean spirit” appears and begins crying out.
It’s always interesting that in the gospels most people, including his closest disciples, have a hard time figuring out who Jesus is, but not the unclean spirits, not the demons.
They always know exactly who he is.
This unclean spirit says, “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”
Well, in a dramatic display of power, Jesus casts out the spirit, and everybody in the synagogue is even more amazed, and we’re told that the word about Jesus spread far and wide.
I bet it did!
Well, if you’re feeling a little uncomfortable right now, I don’t blame you.
For people of our time and place, talk of unclean spirits and demons may sound kind of ignorant or superstitious.
After all, we know way more about physical and mental illness than people did two thousand years ago.
On the other hand, all you have to do is turn on the news to know that unclean spirits and demons continue to roam the earth, some cleverly disguised while others are pretty much out in the open – they’re out there causing chaos and so much suffering.
It’s noteworthy that in the story we heard today, the man possessed by the unclean spirit goes to the synagogue, enters a holy place.
I’m not sure what to make of that – it could be a bold move to find help and get relief – or maybe it was a brazen attack.
But it got me thinking about the unclean spirits of our time, the unclean spirits that can enter the Church – not just our church here, but the “big Church.”
And as I’ve thought about this, it seems to me that the un-cleanest and most dangerous spirit of our time is fear.
There is certainly a lot to be afraid of.
Our democracy and even our union are looking pretty fragile.
Horrific wars are raging in Ukraine and Gaza and elsewhere, risking wider and even more destructive conflicts.
Lots of people are having a hard time paying their bills.
We know the climate is changing with all sorts of dire consequences. I mean, just last week the temperature here zoomed from a bone-chilling 10 degrees to a balmy 72 degrees!
And we all have our own stuff to deal with – our own particular fears for ourselves and the people we care about the most.
It is perfectly understandable to be afraid. But getting stuck in fear is very dangerous.
In his remarkable new book about American evangelical Christians, Tim Alberta, a writer for The Atlantic magazine, who is an evangelical himself, writes this:
“There is a reason that scripture warns so often and so forcefully against fear: it is just as powerful as faith.”
That’s quite a statement, isn’t it?
Fear is just as powerful as faith.
Fear clouds our judgment and causes us to ignore, or even toss away, our moral compass – to blame “somebody” for all our troubles - to do whatever it takes to ease our fears.
Fear is just as powerful as faith.
And so, with God’s help, we need to make a conscious choice to be not afraid.
I’m not talking about sticking our heads in the sand.
We should certainly be aware of the threats we face.
But, with God’s help, especially in these difficult times, we need to choose faith over fear.
After all, Jesus was way more powerful than the unclean spirit on that long ago Sabbath – and Jesus is still way more powerful than the unclean spirits of our time.
Florence Li Tim-Oi knew that.
Throughout the many challenges and hardships she faced, I’m sure that she was sometimes frightened.
How could she not be?
But she did not give into those fears.
Instead, during very hard times, she persevered, proclaiming the Good News with faithfulness, patience, and tenacity.
And, with God’s help, we can do the same.
Faithfulness, patience, and tenacity.
Amen.
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