“Eyes Raised, Hands Joined, Feet Bare”

St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD

October 20, 2024

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

Job 38:1-7

Psalm 104:1-9, 25, 37b

Hebrews 5:1-10

Mark 10:35-45

“Eyes Raised, Hands Joined, Feet Bare”

Some of you know that a week ago I made a silent retreat.

You may remember that this is something I’ve done before. But for those of you who didn’t know, yes, I can be quiet for a few days!

For this year’s retreat, I spent the week at a beautiful monastery tucked away in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia – amazingly, just a 90-minute drive from here.

Along with the Trappist monks who live, pray, and work there, about ten of us were on retreat – maintaining silence in the retreat house, taking our meals sitting side by side, not saying a word, which, I have to say, did make me self-conscious of my chewing and the little groans as my body began to digest the food.

A silent retreat gives the time, space, and, most of all, quiet to pray and to think.

And one of the things I reflected on is how I use, or misuse, my time. How much time I waste on unimportant things. How much time I waste scrolling through social media.

Often that scrolling is what they call doomscrolling, reading and looking at posts about all the terrible things going on in our country and world – the natural and human-made disasters, the wars and threats of war, and the approaching election that so many of us dread.

But, that said, sometimes you find something good or inspiring on social media.

For example, the other day, someone posted a letter that Pope Francis wrote to the men he had recently appointed as the newest cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church.

The main function of the cardinals is to elect the next pope.

But, throughout much of their history, many cardinals have wielded a lot of power, both within the church and in the secular world, too.

And often this power has been reflected and enhanced by living in great luxury, and by receiving deference from others.

And that deference may be best summed up by how cardinals have been traditionally addressed: “Your Eminence.”

So anyway, Pope Francis wrote to the newly appointed cardinals.

He called on them to have their “eyes raised, hands joined, and feet bare.”

“Eyes raised, hands joined, and feet bare.”

Eyes raised to see farther and love more deeply.

Hands joined in prayer.

And feet bare to touch the harsh realities of life, calling for them to be compassionate and merciful.

Eyes raised, hands joined, and feet bare.

I love that.

And then, here’s how the pope concluded his letter:

“I thank you for your generosity and I assure you of my prayers that the title of ‘servant’ will increasingly eclipse that of ‘eminence.’”

“That the title of ‘servant’ will increasingly eclipse that of ‘eminence.’”

Well, that sure sounds a lot like Jesus, doesn’t it?

Just now, while I was reading today’s gospel lesson, some of you regular churchgoers may have had a sense of déjà vu. 

It was just about a month ago that we heard a passage from a little earlier in the Gospel of Mark, that’s a lot like what we heard today.

In that first instance, Jesus and the disciples were walking along the road. Jesus is teaching – warning – preparing his friends that he is going to be betrayed, suffer, die, and rise again.

Meanwhile, what were the disciples talking about, arguing about?

Who among them was the greatest.

With infinite patience, Jesus taught the disciples, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”

That seems pretty clear. One would think that the disciples would’ve gotten the message.

But one would be wrong.

One would be wrong because Jesus’ message and example of servant leadership was radically countercultural in the first century, just as it’s radically countercultural today when most leaders would much rather be eminences rather than lowly servants.

And so here we are today, with the brothers James and John giving us a masterclass in not just getting it.

First, they say to Jesus: “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”

Demanding something of Jesus, that’s pretty gutsy.

And then it turns out that James and John have set their sights very high. They’re not interested in who’s the greatest here and now. No, they want the best seats, right beside Jesus, in the Kingdom.

It turns out, Jesus can’t grant that but, he warns the two bold brothers that what they’re asking is going to cost them – that following the way of Jesus – the way of loving service – is going to cost them, it will cost them everything.

The brothers say that they are able to make that sacrifice.

Not totally convincing, I have to say.

And, of course, true to form, the other ten disciples got mad at the brothers and so, yet again, with infinite patience, Jesus reminds them that for him – and for us – the way to true greatness is sacrifice, the way to true greatness is offering loving service.

It was around three years ago - after having spent a few months beginning to get to know this place, after getting to know at least some of you – it was around three years ago that I first suggested that God is calling us to be a “servant church.”

This wasn’t something that I just made up.

As I said back then, generously helping others is woven into the fabric of St. Thomas’ – long before I arrived here there was your deep commitment to Habitat for Humanity, Loaves and Fishes, and Paul’s Place – there was the Christmas Extravaganza - just to give a few examples.

But, over the last three years, what we’ve tried to do is move this beautiful truth about St. Thomas’ to the center of our lives together.

So that when we think about our church – and maybe even when people out there think of our church – one of the first things that we and they think of is that this is a church that doesn’t just serve itself, but this is a church that serves others.

And so, with “eyes raised, hands joined, and feet bare,” this servant church under the servant leadership of our Outreach co-chairs Margaret Green and Betsy Wilmerding, we’ve used our time and our gifts wisely.

We’ve welcomed and cared for new friends who’ve traveled a long and hard road from Afghanistan.

We’ve deepened our commitment and expanded our generosity to the Community Crisis Center.

And, of course, there’s “Owls First,” the new afterschool enrichment program now underway at Owings Mills Elementary School.

Plus, we’re just beginning to build a relationship with Owings Mills High School and just beginning to make friends with leaders in other neighboring faith communities – and who knows where that might lead?

We are a servant church with a lot of wonderful servant friends.

And today, on Outreach Sunday, some of those friends from the Community Crisis Center and Owings Mills Elementary and High Schools, and Hizbullah, our first and much-loved Afghan friend, will be speaking at the 10:00 service.

When you have a chance, I hope you’ll take a look at the video on our website or YouTube channel, or at least, read the descriptions of our outreach work and look at the photos right there in the center of today’s “magazine.”

Today is Outreach Sunday.

Today we celebrate the good work that God is doing in and through our servant church – the good work that God is doing among our servant friends.

“Eyes raised, hands joined, feet bare.”

Amen.

Serious Business, Abundant Mercy

St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD

October 6, 2024

Year B, Proper 22: The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Job 1:1; 2:1-10

Psalm 26

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

Mark 10:2-16

Serious Business, Abundant Mercy

Since I started serving here, a little more than three years ago, one of the biggest surprises has been the weddings.

We’ve had quite a few weddings these last few years, and there are already a few on the calendar for 2025!

In a time when so many people have either flat out rejected the church, or have simply drifted away, I think that this is a very encouraging sign.

Now, I’m sure that some of the couples have chosen to have their weddings here, in part, for the beauty of this place, or to maintain family tradition, or, maybe to keep the peace with parents and grandparents.

But, overall, I’ve found these couples to be quite serious in their preparation and quite sincere in wanting God’s blessing upon their union.

I always have several meetings with the couples, getting to know them, learning about their relationship and talking about challenges or difficulties they may have faced.

And, at our last meeting, we always talk about the service itself, reading through the words that they and I will say, reflecting on why we say these things, and what it all means.

During these conversations, the couples are often surprised when we reach the part of the service when the officiant asks the congregation – usually a lot of happy, fancily dressed people who are looking ahead to a great party – when the officiant asks the congregation a most serious question:

“If any of you can show just cause why they may not lawfully be married, speak now; or else for ever hold your peace.”

During the wedding, this often elicits a few awkward giggles or the clearing of some throats.

And then, after waiting a beat, the officiant asks the couple the same question:

“…if either of you know any reason why you may not be united in marriage lawfully, and in accordance with God’s Word, you do now confess it.”

After another moment of awkward silence, we proceed.

Maybe these questions seem archaic or even humorous, but they’re important – not because this is an ideal time to reveal some impediment  to marriage – but because they underline the importance of the promises these two people are about to make to each other – they remind us of how their relationship is about to change forever – and they point to the fact that marriage is serious business.

In today’s gospel lesson, we pick up almost exactly where we left off last week.

Last week, we heard a very common theme in the gospels: the disciples just not getting it.

You may remember that the disciples complained to Jesus that other people, not part of the “inner circle,” were casting out demons in the name of Jesus and they wanted Jesus to put a stop to that right away.

Jesus declined to do that, and he went on to highlight that our relationship with God is serious business – so serious that we should remove whatever causes to stumble, whatever causes us to sin.

Jesus says, “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off.”

And now today, we heard another recurring gospel theme: the religious authorities playing a game of “Gotcha” with Jesus.

In this case, the Pharisees ask Jesus, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

Now, we should try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but this is a very suspicious question.

I mean, as Jesus points out, the Law of Moses is quite clear that, yes, a man could divorce his wife. The only debate was about under what conditions could he do so.

But the fact that the Pharisees ask Jesus this question would seem to indicate that they’ve heard that Jesus has been teaching something different – something more restrictive than the Law – and they want to hear him say it for themselves – they want to get Jesus on the record.

And Jesus gives them what they want.

He skips right over the Law and looks all the way back to the beginning – back to God’s original intention for marriage – that the two become one, and that this union should be permanent.

“Let no man put asunder,” in the thunderous language of the King James Bible.

And then, when he was alone with his disciples, Jesus goes even further and says that any divorced person who remarries is committing adultery.

Obviously, for many reasons, this is a very challenging, even painful, teaching and I’d rather talk about almost anything else - even the Orioles getting swept in the post-season yet again – I’d rather talk about almost anything else than talk about this.

But, let’s begin with some context. 

First of all, much like the amputations Jesus had just talked about, Jesus’ hard teaching is a clear reminder that marriage is serious business.

In the words of the Prayer Book, “…marriage is not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but reverently, deliberately, and in accordance for the purposes for which it was instituted by God.”

Second, back in the first century, divorce was often very bad news for women. Men could cruelly use very trivial reasons to divorce their wives, leaving them quite vulnerable in a very harsh world.

Even with the safeguards that are in place now, that can still happen, unfortunately.

So, we can certainly hear Jesus’ teaching as a way to protect women from being discarded and abandoned. 

Finally, any time we read short excerpts of Scripture, like we do in church every week, it’s important to remember that these are just little slivers of the great sweep of God’s message to us.

And so today, I want to point to the words of our collect, our opening prayer, especially this:

“Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy.”

God is abundantly merciful.

Marriage is serious business, but God is abundantly merciful

And since God is abundantly merciful, I am sure that our merciful God does not want people to stay in marriages that are physically or emotionally abusive.

And since God is abundantly merciful, forgiveness is offered when we mess up and fall short of the very high standards that have been set for us – which is very good news since, whether we’re married or not, we all mess up on a regular basis.

So, a tough lesson today, but here’s the good news:

Yes, marriage is serious business, but God is abundantly merciful.

Amen.