Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
November 29, 2009
Year C: The First Sunday of Advent
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Psalm 25:1-9
(1 Thessalonians 3:9-13)
Luke 21:25-35
The Shock of Advent
We’ve known all along that this day was coming. We’ve known all along that Advent was coming. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned in my sermon that we would be saying good-bye to the green vestments of the long season after Pentecost and putting on the blue of Advent. Last week Lauren preached on the Feast of Christ the King, the relatively modern feast we celebrate on the final Sunday of the church year. Downstairs in children’s chapel, each Sunday they’ve been moving the arrow on their church calendar, moving closer to the blue strip, representing the first Sunday of Advent, and the start of a new church year.
We’ve known all along that Advent was coming, and yet Advent still comes as a shock.
Part of the shock of Advent comes from the fact that this year everything just seems a little off, doesn’t it? I know some people around here chalk it up to Labor Day being so late, throwing us off balance and making all the autumn events seem to come up so fast.
Part of the shock of Advent comes from the fact that Grace Church been pretty busy too. Just think about the past few months, or take a look at the past couple of issues of The Messenger – the clothing sale, the auction, the blessing of Grace Hall, Halloween Concert, Costume Sunday, First Fridays, soup kitchen days, Habitat for Humanity build, acolyte festival, Far Out Fridays, the talent show, and much more…plus at least one church service every single day.
There’s been a lot going on at Grace, and for many of us there’s been a lot going on in our lives outside of church – deaths and births, illnesses and recoveries, unemployment and new work, decisions to be made and decisions made for us.
Part of the shock of Advent comes from the fact that it is completely off the calendar that the rest of America follows. Last time I preached I described us as living in an in-between time, somewhere between Halloween and Christmas, summer and winter. Well, as far as the rest of America is concerned, that in-between time has come to an end.
As far as the rest of America is concerned, once that last mouthful of pumpkin pie is eaten, and really even before that, it is Christmas. You probably remember those horrifying stories last year of people being trampled in stores on the so-called Black Friday. Instead of trying to tone down some of the craziness around the day after Thanksgiving, as I’m sure you know, some retailers simply tried to spread out the craziness by opening their stores on Thanksgiving itself.
But I think all of these reasons still don’t entirely explain the shock of Advent. Even for those of us who are regular churchgoers, part of the shock of Advent comes from the content of Advent.
Even for those of us who are regular churchgoers, we often think of Advent as simply the lead-up to Christmas. When we think of Advent, we often still have Christmas pageant images in our head, Gabriel appearing to Mary, Joseph’s dream, Mary visiting Elizabeth. And there is some of that. One side of Advent is the anticipation of Christmas – we might call that the blue side of Advent.
But there is another side of Advent – the purple side. It’s the side of Advent that calls us to look ahead to the end, rather than to look back at the birth of the Messiah. It’s the side of Advent that challenges us to listen, to prepare, to be alert for the last day.
The shock of Advent is actually the content of Advent – we are challenged to both look back to the birth of the Messiah and to look ahead to the end, to look ahead to the judgment that we will all face.
Maybe we’d rather be at the mall, after all.
But, we’re here - and look at the gospel the church offers us today. It’s taken from the Gospel of Luke and it comes from a section of the gospel in which Jesus makes prophetic predictions.
The first set of predictions which we didn’t hear today (but you may remember we did hear Mark’s version a couple of weeks ago) involved the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Luke’s gospel was almost certainly written after the Romans in fact destroyed the Temple and so the accuracy of Jesus’ prediction would have impressed the first readers and hearers of Luke.
But then there’s this second, impossible to verify, set of predictions. Jesus predicts cosmic events and events on earth that will point to the arrival of the Son of Man and the day of judgment.
And this section of the gospel concludes with Jesus warning us to “be on guard” and “to be alert” so that, unlike Advent, these cosmic and ultimate events do not come as a shock.
Taken by itself, this little snippet from the Gospel of Luke is pretty challenging and scary. I know I’d rather be talking about Christmas instead of the day of judgment. But, of course, we don’t have to take this little snippet by itself – we have the whole gospel available to us.
We have the whole story of divine love so great that God came and lived among us in Jesus of Nazareth. We have the whole story of Jesus’ life, his teaching, and his sacrifice on the Cross. Finally, we have the whole story of Easter – the story of God’s love being more powerful than death.
Just in case we found this little passage from Luke frightening, today the church also gives us a hopeful little snippet from the Prophet Jeremiah. The setting is the 6th Century BC, Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple have been destroyed, and much of the people of Israel are living in exile in Babylon. It must have seemed like everything was lost. Yet, in the midst of this fear and suffering, Jeremiah presents this promise of God’s presence and God’s love.
“The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the House of Judah.” “In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.”
And in Jesus Christ, you and I have God’s promise to be with us even to the end of time.
Advent may still come as a shock, but there doesn’t really need to be a scary side to this season.
However, Jesus’ call to “be on guard” and to “be alert” is real, serious, essential, and very difficult. All of the noise and all of the distractions of the world make it very difficult to pay attention to how God might be at work in our lives.
It’s difficult, but absolutely essential to pay attention.
The other day I was listening to the radio and I heard about the National Day of Listening. It’s sponsored by Story Corps, the organization that has set up booths around the country where people can record interviews with friends and relatives. Since 2003, more than 50,000 interviews have been recorded and stored in the Library of Congress.
On the National Day of Listening we are invited to take the time to have a deep conversation with someone else – and to really listen to what they have to say. And, I’d add, we might very well discover God at work in and through that other person.
When is the National Day of Listening? It was on Friday, on “Black Friday,” when the world was calling us to something very different than listening.
The good news is the church offers us more than a day of listening. Advent, the start of a new church year, is a time to prepare for Christmas and to look ahead to the day of judgment. But maybe the true shock of Advent is we are given this special time to pay attention, a whole season to listen for God.
Amen.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Funeral Sermon for Aida Suarez
St. Paul’s Church in Bergen, Jersey City NJ
November 25, 2009
The Funeral of Aida Suarez
Wisdom 3:1-5, 9
Psalm 23
2 Corinthians 4:16-5:9
John 14:1-6a
The Language of Love
One of my favorite parts of my job is teaching the youth confirmation class. I’m a little surprised I like it as much as I do, because, I wouldn’t have expected a class full of teenagers that meets on Sunday nights to be fun for them or for me.
Part of the fun, at least in the two years I’ve done it, comes from the fact that the kids are all over the place when it comes to their faith. Some have been involved in the church their whole lives, rarely missing a Sunday. And there are others I’ve never seen before and who, for all I know, haven’t been in church since their baptism.
Wherever they are in their faith, I try to make the class a place where, maybe for the first time, they can have an adult conversation about Christianity.
We cover a lot of ground in the class, including a couple of sessions on the Bible.
As a little exercise I hand out different English translations of the same Bible passage. We read them aloud, noting the many differences, both large and small, among the different translations.
As you might guess, discovering all of these different translations in the same language freaks these kids out. These are all in English yet they’re so different. Since they are good American schoolchildren they want to know the right answer. They’ll ask, well, which one is the right translation?
The truth is, I tell them, that I have my preferences, but I’m sure each translator could make the case for how he or she translated these verses from the First Century marketplace Greek of the New Testament.
The important thing is not to get caught up in particular translations or individual vocabulary, but instead to focus on the meaning, the essence of each particular passage.
In the passage from the Gospel of John that I just read we find Jesus with his closest friends at the meal that came to be known as the Last Supper. Jesus has already gotten down on his knees and washed the feet of his friends. Jesus has told them if they want to be his followers they must do the same – if they want to be great they must offer loving, menial service.
And now Jesus has told his friends that he will be with them just a short while longer. Jesus tells them, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
Finally, as the end draws near, Jesus tells the disciples that he is going ahead of them to prepare a place where they will once again be together.
All of this happened nearly 2000 years ago in a place far away from Cuba, Jersey City or Brick Township. Most scholars believe that Jesus spoke Aramaic and we know that the Gospel of John was first written in Greek.
And, yes, there are many different translations of this passage.
But what is the essence of this passage? The essence is that Jesus is running out of time and so he’s trying to get his message through to his friends. The essence is Jesus telling them – and telling us - to love by serving. The essence is Jesus telling them – and telling us - not to worry, it may seem like everything is lost, but in fact love is more powerful than death.
Jesus may have spoken Aramaic, the gospel was written in Greek, but what we are hearing is the language of love.
Over the course of her long life, Aida Suarez knew all about the challenges of translation. Since I’ve never lived more than 30 miles from where I was born, it’s hard to imagine the journey that was Aida’s life.
Imagine being the mother of young children in Cuba whose husband went ahead of her to America to lay the foundation for a better life in a new land. Then imagine coming to this strange new land, coming to Jersey City, unable to speak the language and yet faced with the challenge of raising a growing family so far from all that was familiar, all that was known.
Aida knew all about the challenges of translation.
But Aida was able to overcome and transcend the challenges of translation because she spoke the language of love.
Many times my wife Sue has spoken of her memories of her mother day after day working double-shifts at Colgate, then coming home exhausted and falling asleep sitting in her chair. Then getting up and doing it all over again the next day. Aida did this not because she enjoyed the work, but out of loving service for her family, out of her sense of duty to do all she could for her family.
Aida overcame and transcended the challenges of translation because Aida spoke the language of love.
I only met Aida and Rey when they were older and living down the Shore. Since my Spanish was limited to the signs I saw on PATH trains, “La via del tren es peligrosa” and “No fume” it wasn’t so easy for us to communicate, but since both Aida and Rey spoke the language of love they welcomed me into the family with warmth, laughter and pleasure when I polished off plate after plate of delicious food – and I still miss those great meals topped off with strong coffee and delicious flan.
Seeing Aida and Rey speak the language of love together was a delight and an inspiration for all of us who are married. Of course they sometimes exasperated each other, but sitting at their dining room table it was obvious they still adored each other even after so many years and such a long journey together.
And, if there were ever any doubt, Rey proved he also spoke the language of love by taking care of Aida on his own as Alzheimer’s ravaged her mind – taking care of her until just a couple of days before his death.
Jesus told his disciples, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
Aida’s last years were difficult. We are all well aware that Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease and it did its worst to Aida.
The disease took away just about everything, but not quite everything. To the end Aida never lost her essence. Right to the end Aida spoke the language of love.
For us, dealing with a person who has Alzheimer’s disease is an extraordinary experience. For people who work in nursing homes, unfortunately, it is part of the daily routine.
Yet, when it became clear that Aida’s life was drawing to a close so many of the nursing home staff were genuinely saddened that she was going to die. Over and over they came by to say good-bye, to give her a kiss, to tell the family how much they loved her. And, amazingly, some of the staff from her old nursing home across the road, where she hadn’t lived for a couple of years, also came over to say good-bye to Aida.
These good people who face so much suffering every day recognized that Aida had never lost her essence – that to the end she had spoken the language of love.
Now Aida’s long and not always easy journey has come to an end. Her essence has returned to the God who imagined her into existence. Her essence has gone to the place prepared for her, the place where love is the only language.
Aida’s journey has come to an end but for us the journey continues. When time was growing short, Jesus got on his knees and washed the feet of his friends, speaking to them in the language of love, saying this is how you are to live. Love one another as I have loved you.
In the life of Aida Suarez we see that it really is possible, no matter what happens, to speak the language of love.
Amen.
November 25, 2009
The Funeral of Aida Suarez
Wisdom 3:1-5, 9
Psalm 23
2 Corinthians 4:16-5:9
John 14:1-6a
The Language of Love
One of my favorite parts of my job is teaching the youth confirmation class. I’m a little surprised I like it as much as I do, because, I wouldn’t have expected a class full of teenagers that meets on Sunday nights to be fun for them or for me.
Part of the fun, at least in the two years I’ve done it, comes from the fact that the kids are all over the place when it comes to their faith. Some have been involved in the church their whole lives, rarely missing a Sunday. And there are others I’ve never seen before and who, for all I know, haven’t been in church since their baptism.
Wherever they are in their faith, I try to make the class a place where, maybe for the first time, they can have an adult conversation about Christianity.
We cover a lot of ground in the class, including a couple of sessions on the Bible.
As a little exercise I hand out different English translations of the same Bible passage. We read them aloud, noting the many differences, both large and small, among the different translations.
As you might guess, discovering all of these different translations in the same language freaks these kids out. These are all in English yet they’re so different. Since they are good American schoolchildren they want to know the right answer. They’ll ask, well, which one is the right translation?
The truth is, I tell them, that I have my preferences, but I’m sure each translator could make the case for how he or she translated these verses from the First Century marketplace Greek of the New Testament.
The important thing is not to get caught up in particular translations or individual vocabulary, but instead to focus on the meaning, the essence of each particular passage.
In the passage from the Gospel of John that I just read we find Jesus with his closest friends at the meal that came to be known as the Last Supper. Jesus has already gotten down on his knees and washed the feet of his friends. Jesus has told them if they want to be his followers they must do the same – if they want to be great they must offer loving, menial service.
And now Jesus has told his friends that he will be with them just a short while longer. Jesus tells them, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
Finally, as the end draws near, Jesus tells the disciples that he is going ahead of them to prepare a place where they will once again be together.
All of this happened nearly 2000 years ago in a place far away from Cuba, Jersey City or Brick Township. Most scholars believe that Jesus spoke Aramaic and we know that the Gospel of John was first written in Greek.
And, yes, there are many different translations of this passage.
But what is the essence of this passage? The essence is that Jesus is running out of time and so he’s trying to get his message through to his friends. The essence is Jesus telling them – and telling us - to love by serving. The essence is Jesus telling them – and telling us - not to worry, it may seem like everything is lost, but in fact love is more powerful than death.
Jesus may have spoken Aramaic, the gospel was written in Greek, but what we are hearing is the language of love.
Over the course of her long life, Aida Suarez knew all about the challenges of translation. Since I’ve never lived more than 30 miles from where I was born, it’s hard to imagine the journey that was Aida’s life.
Imagine being the mother of young children in Cuba whose husband went ahead of her to America to lay the foundation for a better life in a new land. Then imagine coming to this strange new land, coming to Jersey City, unable to speak the language and yet faced with the challenge of raising a growing family so far from all that was familiar, all that was known.
Aida knew all about the challenges of translation.
But Aida was able to overcome and transcend the challenges of translation because she spoke the language of love.
Many times my wife Sue has spoken of her memories of her mother day after day working double-shifts at Colgate, then coming home exhausted and falling asleep sitting in her chair. Then getting up and doing it all over again the next day. Aida did this not because she enjoyed the work, but out of loving service for her family, out of her sense of duty to do all she could for her family.
Aida overcame and transcended the challenges of translation because Aida spoke the language of love.
I only met Aida and Rey when they were older and living down the Shore. Since my Spanish was limited to the signs I saw on PATH trains, “La via del tren es peligrosa” and “No fume” it wasn’t so easy for us to communicate, but since both Aida and Rey spoke the language of love they welcomed me into the family with warmth, laughter and pleasure when I polished off plate after plate of delicious food – and I still miss those great meals topped off with strong coffee and delicious flan.
Seeing Aida and Rey speak the language of love together was a delight and an inspiration for all of us who are married. Of course they sometimes exasperated each other, but sitting at their dining room table it was obvious they still adored each other even after so many years and such a long journey together.
And, if there were ever any doubt, Rey proved he also spoke the language of love by taking care of Aida on his own as Alzheimer’s ravaged her mind – taking care of her until just a couple of days before his death.
Jesus told his disciples, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
Aida’s last years were difficult. We are all well aware that Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease and it did its worst to Aida.
The disease took away just about everything, but not quite everything. To the end Aida never lost her essence. Right to the end Aida spoke the language of love.
For us, dealing with a person who has Alzheimer’s disease is an extraordinary experience. For people who work in nursing homes, unfortunately, it is part of the daily routine.
Yet, when it became clear that Aida’s life was drawing to a close so many of the nursing home staff were genuinely saddened that she was going to die. Over and over they came by to say good-bye, to give her a kiss, to tell the family how much they loved her. And, amazingly, some of the staff from her old nursing home across the road, where she hadn’t lived for a couple of years, also came over to say good-bye to Aida.
These good people who face so much suffering every day recognized that Aida had never lost her essence – that to the end she had spoken the language of love.
Now Aida’s long and not always easy journey has come to an end. Her essence has returned to the God who imagined her into existence. Her essence has gone to the place prepared for her, the place where love is the only language.
Aida’s journey has come to an end but for us the journey continues. When time was growing short, Jesus got on his knees and washed the feet of his friends, speaking to them in the language of love, saying this is how you are to live. Love one another as I have loved you.
In the life of Aida Suarez we see that it really is possible, no matter what happens, to speak the language of love.
Amen.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
The In-Between Time
Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
November 15, 2009
The 24th Sunday after Pentecost
Year B: Proper 28
1 Samuel 1:4-20
Psalm 16
(Hebrews 10:11-25)
Mark 13:1-8
The In-Between Time
Maybe you’ve noticed that we’re living in an in-between time. If you drive or walk around you can see that some people still have their Halloween decorations up while others have put out their cornucopias and cardboard turkeys in anticipation of Thanksgiving. And, many retailers are desperately trying to get us into the spirit to buy Christmas gifts by putting up their decorations and assembling piles in their stores.
We’re living in an in-between time – a time somewhere in the middle of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Autumn is an in-between time isn’t it? Just in the past week or so some days I’ve had to scrape frost off my car in the morning and other days – and sometimes the same day – I’ve been outside in short sleeves. Here in church there have been days when it’s not clear if we need the heat or the air conditioning on.
We’re living in an in-between time – we’re living in autumn – a time between summer and winter.
Our country is going through an in-between time, too. The economic slide seems to have slowed or even stopped, yet most of us aren’t taking sighs of relief just yet as unemployment continues to rise – officially above 10 percent and in reality much higher. We’re living in the in-between time. The seemingly never-ending debate about health care reform continues to drag on. We’re in the in-between time – is it going to pass and if it does will it make things better or worse? We don’t know yet. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan grind on. Iraq seems more stable but is so fragile anything can happen. Meanwhile Afghanistan is a mess and the president is pondering a troop surge.
We’re living in an in-between time – a time between recession and recovery, a time between war and peace.
The Church is in the midst of an in-between time, too. The long season after Pentecost – this is the 24th Sunday after Pentecost! – is drawing to a close. This will be the last Sunday for a while that Lauren and I will be in green. Next week is the Christ the King and we’ll be in white. And, unbelievably, the following Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent and so we’ll be in blue for those four Sundays of preparation before Christmas.
We’re living in an in-between time – a time between church seasons – not quite Advent, but almost – an in-between time.
And, sure enough, there is an “in-betweeness” to the lesson from First Samuel and the lesson from the Gospel of Mark.
The lesson from First Samuel tells the wonderful story of Hannah’s faithfulness which leads to the birth of her son, the Prophet Samuel. And Samuel will turn out to be very much an in-between figure. Before the time of Samuel, unlike everyone else at that time, Israel had no king. It was one of their defining characteristics. God was Israel’s king.
But, during Samuels’s life the Israelite monarchy will begin, first under Saul and then under David. This was not an easy transition. Samuel lived during a difficult in-between time.
The passage I just read from Mark comes from an in-between section of that gospel.
In fact, we heard two distinct scenes today – two scenes that form the bridge between two sections of Mark’s gospel.
In the first we find Jesus and his disciples coming out of the Temple in Jerusalem. Remember, for Jews, the Temple was the holiest place on earth – the place where in a sense God lived. The disciples, sounding very much like country bumpkins on their first trip to the big city, say to Jesus, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!”
And then Jesus makes his terrifying prediction of the Temple’s destruction, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
Of course, the Romans did set fire to and destroy the Temple during their great siege of Jerusalem in the year 70, forty or so years after the earthly lifetime of Jesus. The prediction came true. Some people think that Mark wrote his gospel after the Temple’s destruction and so projected this fact back to make Jesus look more prescient than he probably was. On the other hand, lots of people in Jesus’ time were unhappy with the religious establishment and predicted the Temple’s demise.
Ultimately, the prediction is not so important. What matters is Mark placed this grim prediction at the end of the part of the gospel in which Jesus is very critical of the religious establishment and the religious establishment doesn’t like it one bit.
This section of the gospel begins with Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and then Mark tells us on the next day Jesus dramatically drives out the moneychangers and the sellers from the Temple.
Jesus’ relationship with the religious establishment goes downhill from there. The scribes and the Pharisees repeatedly question Jesus and in return he challenges their authority and criticizes their hypocrisy. Finally, we end up with what we heard last week - Jesus watching the poor widow give all she has – her two small copper coins – to this corrupt and doomed religious establishment.
So, the first scene of this little in-between section of Mark’s gospel is Jesus’ prediction of the Temple’s destruction.
The second scene marks the beginning of the next section of Mark’s gospel – a section that is often called the “Little Apocalypse.” Apocalypse comes from the Greek word meaning revelation. Apocalyptic literature – which was pretty common in Judaism before and during Jesus’ earthly lifetime – offers mysterious revelations about the supernatural world and usually is focused on the end times.
So in this second scene, Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives – which, by the way, is the place where the Prophet Zechariah had predicted God would begin to redeem the dead at the end of time. Zechariah predicted that it would be here that the new age begins.
Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives with Peter, James, John and Andrew, gazing over Jerusalem with the Temple sitting proudly in the center and he makes disturbing predictions. The “Little Apocalypse” begins.
Jesus predicts there will be false teachers and even some who will claim to be Jesus himself. He predicts wars and rumors of wars, famines and earthquakes.
Jesus warns the disciples that these events are not signs of the end, not signs of Jesus’ return.
Instead he tells them – and tells us – “this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.”
Jesus is telling his disciples, Jesus is telling the first readers of the gospel and Jesus is telling us that we are living during the in-between time – a new age is yet to be born – we’re not there yet - this is but the beginning of the birth pangs, he says. And Jesus is honest with them and us - the in-between time is not an easy time.
The first readers and hearers of Mark’s gospel knew all about the hardships of the in-between time. The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the failure of Jesus to return were deeply disturbing to these early followers of Jesus. A few years before, across the Mediterranean, the followers of Jesus were brutally scapegoated for the great fire that burned much of Rome in the year 64.
Yes, those first readers and hearers of Mark’s gospel knew all about the hardships of the in-between time. But thanks to the gospel they also knew that the in-between time was not the only time. Things might look bleak, but in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the first readers and hearers of the gospel saw that a new age was being born.
And the same is true for us. We also live in the in-between time when often things can seem pretty bleak. But thanks to the gospel we also know that the in-between time is not the only time. In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we know that a new age is being born.
And if we keep our eyes open, in this in-between time, we can catch glimpses of the birth of this new age.
This past week on November 11 here in the United States and around the world there were ceremonies honoring those who had fought and those who had sacrificed their lives in war.
We honor these brave men and women on November 11 because that was the date back in 1918 when Germany surrendered at the end of World War I.
Throughout that war the armies of France and Germany were locked in brutal and hellish trench warfare – spending years fighting over a few feet of land. I’m sure that most of those French and German soldiers must have believed that this is how it would always be, that France and Germany would be mortal enemies forever.
We know better, of course. The war and the war that followed it were not the end but part of the in-between time. Although, few could have imagined it, a new age was being born.
This year for the first time the president of France and the chancellor of Germany participated together in a ceremony marking the end of the war. The New York Times headline read, “France and Germany Use the Remembrance of a War to Promote Reconciliation.”
A new age is being born.
In his remarks, President Sarkozy said, “German orphans wept for their slain fathers in the same way as French orphans. German mothers felt the same pain as French mothers as they stood before the coffins of their fallen sons.”
In that powerful ceremony and in those beautiful words we glimpse the birth of a new age.
But, we’re not there yet. You and I are still in this in-between time. Jesus is honest with us – it’s not going to be an easy time. But like Hannah, you and I can place our trust in God who is right here with us in this in-between time. And, like the first disciples, we know that in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus a new age is being born.
Amen.
November 15, 2009
The 24th Sunday after Pentecost
Year B: Proper 28
1 Samuel 1:4-20
Psalm 16
(Hebrews 10:11-25)
Mark 13:1-8
The In-Between Time
Maybe you’ve noticed that we’re living in an in-between time. If you drive or walk around you can see that some people still have their Halloween decorations up while others have put out their cornucopias and cardboard turkeys in anticipation of Thanksgiving. And, many retailers are desperately trying to get us into the spirit to buy Christmas gifts by putting up their decorations and assembling piles in their stores.
We’re living in an in-between time – a time somewhere in the middle of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Autumn is an in-between time isn’t it? Just in the past week or so some days I’ve had to scrape frost off my car in the morning and other days – and sometimes the same day – I’ve been outside in short sleeves. Here in church there have been days when it’s not clear if we need the heat or the air conditioning on.
We’re living in an in-between time – we’re living in autumn – a time between summer and winter.
Our country is going through an in-between time, too. The economic slide seems to have slowed or even stopped, yet most of us aren’t taking sighs of relief just yet as unemployment continues to rise – officially above 10 percent and in reality much higher. We’re living in the in-between time. The seemingly never-ending debate about health care reform continues to drag on. We’re in the in-between time – is it going to pass and if it does will it make things better or worse? We don’t know yet. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan grind on. Iraq seems more stable but is so fragile anything can happen. Meanwhile Afghanistan is a mess and the president is pondering a troop surge.
We’re living in an in-between time – a time between recession and recovery, a time between war and peace.
The Church is in the midst of an in-between time, too. The long season after Pentecost – this is the 24th Sunday after Pentecost! – is drawing to a close. This will be the last Sunday for a while that Lauren and I will be in green. Next week is the Christ the King and we’ll be in white. And, unbelievably, the following Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent and so we’ll be in blue for those four Sundays of preparation before Christmas.
We’re living in an in-between time – a time between church seasons – not quite Advent, but almost – an in-between time.
And, sure enough, there is an “in-betweeness” to the lesson from First Samuel and the lesson from the Gospel of Mark.
The lesson from First Samuel tells the wonderful story of Hannah’s faithfulness which leads to the birth of her son, the Prophet Samuel. And Samuel will turn out to be very much an in-between figure. Before the time of Samuel, unlike everyone else at that time, Israel had no king. It was one of their defining characteristics. God was Israel’s king.
But, during Samuels’s life the Israelite monarchy will begin, first under Saul and then under David. This was not an easy transition. Samuel lived during a difficult in-between time.
The passage I just read from Mark comes from an in-between section of that gospel.
In fact, we heard two distinct scenes today – two scenes that form the bridge between two sections of Mark’s gospel.
In the first we find Jesus and his disciples coming out of the Temple in Jerusalem. Remember, for Jews, the Temple was the holiest place on earth – the place where in a sense God lived. The disciples, sounding very much like country bumpkins on their first trip to the big city, say to Jesus, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!”
And then Jesus makes his terrifying prediction of the Temple’s destruction, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
Of course, the Romans did set fire to and destroy the Temple during their great siege of Jerusalem in the year 70, forty or so years after the earthly lifetime of Jesus. The prediction came true. Some people think that Mark wrote his gospel after the Temple’s destruction and so projected this fact back to make Jesus look more prescient than he probably was. On the other hand, lots of people in Jesus’ time were unhappy with the religious establishment and predicted the Temple’s demise.
Ultimately, the prediction is not so important. What matters is Mark placed this grim prediction at the end of the part of the gospel in which Jesus is very critical of the religious establishment and the religious establishment doesn’t like it one bit.
This section of the gospel begins with Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and then Mark tells us on the next day Jesus dramatically drives out the moneychangers and the sellers from the Temple.
Jesus’ relationship with the religious establishment goes downhill from there. The scribes and the Pharisees repeatedly question Jesus and in return he challenges their authority and criticizes their hypocrisy. Finally, we end up with what we heard last week - Jesus watching the poor widow give all she has – her two small copper coins – to this corrupt and doomed religious establishment.
So, the first scene of this little in-between section of Mark’s gospel is Jesus’ prediction of the Temple’s destruction.
The second scene marks the beginning of the next section of Mark’s gospel – a section that is often called the “Little Apocalypse.” Apocalypse comes from the Greek word meaning revelation. Apocalyptic literature – which was pretty common in Judaism before and during Jesus’ earthly lifetime – offers mysterious revelations about the supernatural world and usually is focused on the end times.
So in this second scene, Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives – which, by the way, is the place where the Prophet Zechariah had predicted God would begin to redeem the dead at the end of time. Zechariah predicted that it would be here that the new age begins.
Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives with Peter, James, John and Andrew, gazing over Jerusalem with the Temple sitting proudly in the center and he makes disturbing predictions. The “Little Apocalypse” begins.
Jesus predicts there will be false teachers and even some who will claim to be Jesus himself. He predicts wars and rumors of wars, famines and earthquakes.
Jesus warns the disciples that these events are not signs of the end, not signs of Jesus’ return.
Instead he tells them – and tells us – “this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.”
Jesus is telling his disciples, Jesus is telling the first readers of the gospel and Jesus is telling us that we are living during the in-between time – a new age is yet to be born – we’re not there yet - this is but the beginning of the birth pangs, he says. And Jesus is honest with them and us - the in-between time is not an easy time.
The first readers and hearers of Mark’s gospel knew all about the hardships of the in-between time. The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the failure of Jesus to return were deeply disturbing to these early followers of Jesus. A few years before, across the Mediterranean, the followers of Jesus were brutally scapegoated for the great fire that burned much of Rome in the year 64.
Yes, those first readers and hearers of Mark’s gospel knew all about the hardships of the in-between time. But thanks to the gospel they also knew that the in-between time was not the only time. Things might look bleak, but in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the first readers and hearers of the gospel saw that a new age was being born.
And the same is true for us. We also live in the in-between time when often things can seem pretty bleak. But thanks to the gospel we also know that the in-between time is not the only time. In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we know that a new age is being born.
And if we keep our eyes open, in this in-between time, we can catch glimpses of the birth of this new age.
This past week on November 11 here in the United States and around the world there were ceremonies honoring those who had fought and those who had sacrificed their lives in war.
We honor these brave men and women on November 11 because that was the date back in 1918 when Germany surrendered at the end of World War I.
Throughout that war the armies of France and Germany were locked in brutal and hellish trench warfare – spending years fighting over a few feet of land. I’m sure that most of those French and German soldiers must have believed that this is how it would always be, that France and Germany would be mortal enemies forever.
We know better, of course. The war and the war that followed it were not the end but part of the in-between time. Although, few could have imagined it, a new age was being born.
This year for the first time the president of France and the chancellor of Germany participated together in a ceremony marking the end of the war. The New York Times headline read, “France and Germany Use the Remembrance of a War to Promote Reconciliation.”
A new age is being born.
In his remarks, President Sarkozy said, “German orphans wept for their slain fathers in the same way as French orphans. German mothers felt the same pain as French mothers as they stood before the coffins of their fallen sons.”
In that powerful ceremony and in those beautiful words we glimpse the birth of a new age.
But, we’re not there yet. You and I are still in this in-between time. Jesus is honest with us – it’s not going to be an easy time. But like Hannah, you and I can place our trust in God who is right here with us in this in-between time. And, like the first disciples, we know that in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus a new age is being born.
Amen.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
The Adventure of Stewardship
Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
The Messenger
November 2009
The Adventure of Stewardship
We all owe thanks to this year’s Stewardship Committee. Under Karen Koster’s able leadership, the committee has developed an informative, creative and exciting stewardship campaign. The testimonials given in church over the course of several Sundays were inspirational and challenging. The very attractively-designed printed materials clearly explain how pledging at Grace Church works and how the church pays its bills. If we haven’t already, I hope that all of us prayerfully consider our pledge for 2010 and return our pledge cards by Sunday, November 15th.
The stewardship campaign is important, but of course stewardship is much more than the once-a-year filling out of a pledge card and the periodic writing of a check to Grace Church. Just how important is stewardship? Well, stewardship is so important that a resolution approved at the 1988 General Convention of the Episcopal Church declared it to be “the main work of the Church.” The resolution also included these stirring words, “Stewardship is an adventure, an expedition into the kingdom where we find our lives through losing them for the sake of the Gospel. It is an invitation to offer our gifts for the purpose for which we were created – the only purpose that will fulfill us.”
It may seem strange to describe stewardship as an adventure. But, stop and think about it. What could be a greater adventure than committing ourselves to what really matters – to serving God by serving God’s people? If you’re not convinced, or if you think it’s not really possible to find our lives through losing them for the Gospel, the history of the Church is replete with the stories of men and women who have gone on the adventure of stewardship – who have given of themselves in truly remarkable ways. Each year on October 14 the Church honors one of the great adventurers in stewardship, Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky (1831-1906).
Schereschewsky was born to Jewish parents in Lithuania. Although he was orphaned at a young age, he was considered to be a promising young man so he received an education geared toward becoming a rabbi. While studying in Germany he came into contact with Anglican missionaries and also read a Hebrew translation of the New Testament. These experiences transformed his life, leading him to convert to Christianity, come to the United States, and prepare for ordained ministry. He began by studying at a Presbyterian seminary but after two years he joined the Episcopal Church and completed his studies at the General Theological Seminary in New York.
Schereschewsky’s adventure in stewardship was just beginning. Upon his graduation and ordination to the diaconate in 1859, he volunteered to serve the fledgling Anglican church in China. During the long voyage he taught himself how to write in Chinese. After his arrival, he was ordained a priest and began his monumental work of translating parts of the Bible and the Prayer Book into various Chinese languages. In 1877 he was elected Bishop of Shanghai where he later founded St. John’s University. He served as bishop until 1883 when he was forced to resign because of an attack of paralysis.
Although he had already lived a remarkable life, Schereschewsky’s adventure in stewardship was still not over. Despite many obstacles, he found a way to return to Asia and continue his translations. Here’s how his last years are described in the biographical sketch in Lesser Feasts and Fasts: “With heroic perseverance Schereschewsky completed his translation of the Bible, typing some 2,000 pages with the middle finger of his partially crippled hand. Four years before his death, he said, ‘I have sat in this chair for over twenty years. It seemed very hard at first. But God knew best. He kept me for the work for which I am best fitted.’”
Our adventure in stewardship may never take us out of Morris County. Nevertheless, what was true for Schereschewsky is also true for us. Each one of us has been given many gifts by God and we are called to give them all away in the service of God and our neighbors. Our current focus on stewardship provides us with an opportunity to reflect on our gifts and abilities and to look carefully for ways to serve. We may hesitate, afraid to try something new or thinking that we’re not up to the job. I’m sure there must have been many times during his long and adventurous life when Schereschewsky thought he wasn’t up to the task God had given him. Yet, each time, in the unlikeliest and most challenging situations, God’s grace gave him the strength he needed to do God’s work.
When we hesitate to use our gifts or don’t feel up to the adventure of stewardship, this sentence from the Collect for the Feast of Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky can be our prayer to God:
“Lead us, we pray, to commit our lives and talents to you, in the confidence that when you give your servants any work to do, you also supply the strength to do it.” Amen.
The Messenger
November 2009
The Adventure of Stewardship
We all owe thanks to this year’s Stewardship Committee. Under Karen Koster’s able leadership, the committee has developed an informative, creative and exciting stewardship campaign. The testimonials given in church over the course of several Sundays were inspirational and challenging. The very attractively-designed printed materials clearly explain how pledging at Grace Church works and how the church pays its bills. If we haven’t already, I hope that all of us prayerfully consider our pledge for 2010 and return our pledge cards by Sunday, November 15th.
The stewardship campaign is important, but of course stewardship is much more than the once-a-year filling out of a pledge card and the periodic writing of a check to Grace Church. Just how important is stewardship? Well, stewardship is so important that a resolution approved at the 1988 General Convention of the Episcopal Church declared it to be “the main work of the Church.” The resolution also included these stirring words, “Stewardship is an adventure, an expedition into the kingdom where we find our lives through losing them for the sake of the Gospel. It is an invitation to offer our gifts for the purpose for which we were created – the only purpose that will fulfill us.”
It may seem strange to describe stewardship as an adventure. But, stop and think about it. What could be a greater adventure than committing ourselves to what really matters – to serving God by serving God’s people? If you’re not convinced, or if you think it’s not really possible to find our lives through losing them for the Gospel, the history of the Church is replete with the stories of men and women who have gone on the adventure of stewardship – who have given of themselves in truly remarkable ways. Each year on October 14 the Church honors one of the great adventurers in stewardship, Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky (1831-1906).
Schereschewsky was born to Jewish parents in Lithuania. Although he was orphaned at a young age, he was considered to be a promising young man so he received an education geared toward becoming a rabbi. While studying in Germany he came into contact with Anglican missionaries and also read a Hebrew translation of the New Testament. These experiences transformed his life, leading him to convert to Christianity, come to the United States, and prepare for ordained ministry. He began by studying at a Presbyterian seminary but after two years he joined the Episcopal Church and completed his studies at the General Theological Seminary in New York.
Schereschewsky’s adventure in stewardship was just beginning. Upon his graduation and ordination to the diaconate in 1859, he volunteered to serve the fledgling Anglican church in China. During the long voyage he taught himself how to write in Chinese. After his arrival, he was ordained a priest and began his monumental work of translating parts of the Bible and the Prayer Book into various Chinese languages. In 1877 he was elected Bishop of Shanghai where he later founded St. John’s University. He served as bishop until 1883 when he was forced to resign because of an attack of paralysis.
Although he had already lived a remarkable life, Schereschewsky’s adventure in stewardship was still not over. Despite many obstacles, he found a way to return to Asia and continue his translations. Here’s how his last years are described in the biographical sketch in Lesser Feasts and Fasts: “With heroic perseverance Schereschewsky completed his translation of the Bible, typing some 2,000 pages with the middle finger of his partially crippled hand. Four years before his death, he said, ‘I have sat in this chair for over twenty years. It seemed very hard at first. But God knew best. He kept me for the work for which I am best fitted.’”
Our adventure in stewardship may never take us out of Morris County. Nevertheless, what was true for Schereschewsky is also true for us. Each one of us has been given many gifts by God and we are called to give them all away in the service of God and our neighbors. Our current focus on stewardship provides us with an opportunity to reflect on our gifts and abilities and to look carefully for ways to serve. We may hesitate, afraid to try something new or thinking that we’re not up to the job. I’m sure there must have been many times during his long and adventurous life when Schereschewsky thought he wasn’t up to the task God had given him. Yet, each time, in the unlikeliest and most challenging situations, God’s grace gave him the strength he needed to do God’s work.
When we hesitate to use our gifts or don’t feel up to the adventure of stewardship, this sentence from the Collect for the Feast of Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky can be our prayer to God:
“Lead us, we pray, to commit our lives and talents to you, in the confidence that when you give your servants any work to do, you also supply the strength to do it.” Amen.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Funeral Sermon for Margaret Helmers
Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
October 31, 2009
Funeral Sermon for Margaret “Peg” Helmers
Isaiah 35:1-10
Matthew 6:19-21; 25-33
John 14:1-6a
The Priority of Love
Even after two thousand years the passage I just read from the Gospel of John has lost none of its power. The setting is the Last Supper and there is a sense of urgency as Jesus says good-bye to his friends.
At the Last Supper Jesus knows he has only a short time left to teach his disciples. And what he wants to teach them is the priority of love. Jesus teaches them about the priority of love in his actions and in his words.
Jesus teaches them about the priority of love when he gets down on his knees and washes the feet of each of his disciples.
After he’s finished Jesus says to his disciples, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord – and you are right for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.”
As this lesson about the priority of love was beginning to sink in, Judas leaves to betray Jesus and then Jesus tells the disciples that he will be with them just a little while longer.
Jesus tells his friends, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Right to the end, Jesus is teaching them about the priority of love.
Of course, it’s hard for the disciples to accept that Jesus is going to die. In the midst of their sadness and fear Jesus promises them death will not break the love they have for one another. Jesus promises that he is going ahead to prepare a place for them. Jesus tells them that they know the way to the place where he is going.
In his confusion and despair Thomas says to Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
And Jesus says in reply, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”
In the Last Supper, once again Jesus teaches the disciples about the priority of love.
Not right away, but after Easter when they realized that Jesus has conquered death and after Pentecost when they received the gift of the Holy Spirit, the disciples follow Jesus’ example and go out and live lives in which love is the priority.
Peg Helmers was a person of deep faith, someone who trusted that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. Peg Helmers was a person who expressed her faith just as Jesus hoped his followers would, not so much in words but through the priority of love.
Peg died on July 29, which on the church calendar happens to be the Feast of Mary and Martha of Bethany.
That day I remember thinking that the story of Mary and Martha tells us something important about Peg and the life she lived. The story of Mary and Martha and the life of Peg Helmers tell us something important about the priority of love.
Do you remember Mary and Martha? Along with their brother Lazarus they were very close friends with Jesus. There is a famous story about the two sisters in the Gospel of Luke.
Jesus is visiting Mary and Martha. Martha is trying to be a good host, so, as Luke politely puts it, she was “Distracted by her many tasks.” Meanwhile her sister Mary sits at Jesus’ feet listening to his teaching – and not lifting a finger to help her sister.
Finally Martha can’t take it any more. She complains to Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”
Pretty reasonable request, right? But Jesus says to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Often people interpret this story as the world is divided into Marthas – the doers and Marys – the spiritual. But that can’t be right because we’re all called to be doers and to be spiritual.
This story of Mary and Martha is really about priorities – of staying centered on what’s most important in life.
It’s a story about the priority of love – love of Jesus and love for one another.
And Peg was certainly a person who understood the priority of love.
Peg’s life was centered on her faith, her family and her friends.
Many of you here today know better than I do the life of loving service she lived. You know the loving service she offered to her family, her friends and her church.
In our conversations her mind would often look to the past – growing up in Springfield, visits to grandparents in Manhattan, studying math at Rutgers, her marriage to Carl and especially raising Kristin, Carl and Peter in Florham Park.
She loved the beauty of God’s creation – and we can hear that love of nature in the lessons the family selected for today’s service. Here at Grace Church that love of beauty and nature was expressed in her longtime service as a flower arranger. And she was not just a flower arranger but also a teacher of others. So, although she is no longer here to decorate the altar, those she taught continue her tradition of service.
She loved her family dearly. Many times she expressed her gratitude that her three children had turned out so well. She missed her late brother John, an Episcopal priest. Although, she reminded me just about every time, “We called them ministers, not priests.” She cared deeply about her brother Charles and relished the weekly phone conversations with Lura down in Florida.
And Peg was a loving friend. In the little living room of her house where we usually met on the end table there were two framed photographs – one of Al Dolan and the other of Ginnie Brandt.
It was a privilege to get to know Peg in these last years of her life. They were not easy years. It was a time of illness, pain and setbacks. Some setbacks were bigger than others. It was traumatic for Peg when she could no longer drive. It was hard for her accept that she needed help to take care of herself.
But through it all she never forgot the priority of love. When I would visit we had a little routine. I’d ask how she was doing. She’d admit to being in pain or being frustrated that she couldn’t do the things she wanted to do. But then she’d look at me and smile and say, “But, I can’t complain.”
And then I’d say, no, she could complain a little.
Once that was out of the way, she would turn the attention away from herself and ask how I was doing, how things were at the church, and if I had seen Al recently.
Right to the end, Peg never forgot the priority of love.
Peg’s long journey has come to an end, and she is in the place prepared for her by Jesus, experiencing the fullness of God’s love.
For us, however, the journey continues. The life and teaching of Jesus call us to the priority of love. The life and example of Peg Helmers show us that it really is possible, here and now, to live a life in which love is the priority.
Amen.
October 31, 2009
Funeral Sermon for Margaret “Peg” Helmers
Isaiah 35:1-10
Matthew 6:19-21; 25-33
John 14:1-6a
The Priority of Love
Even after two thousand years the passage I just read from the Gospel of John has lost none of its power. The setting is the Last Supper and there is a sense of urgency as Jesus says good-bye to his friends.
At the Last Supper Jesus knows he has only a short time left to teach his disciples. And what he wants to teach them is the priority of love. Jesus teaches them about the priority of love in his actions and in his words.
Jesus teaches them about the priority of love when he gets down on his knees and washes the feet of each of his disciples.
After he’s finished Jesus says to his disciples, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord – and you are right for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.”
As this lesson about the priority of love was beginning to sink in, Judas leaves to betray Jesus and then Jesus tells the disciples that he will be with them just a little while longer.
Jesus tells his friends, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Right to the end, Jesus is teaching them about the priority of love.
Of course, it’s hard for the disciples to accept that Jesus is going to die. In the midst of their sadness and fear Jesus promises them death will not break the love they have for one another. Jesus promises that he is going ahead to prepare a place for them. Jesus tells them that they know the way to the place where he is going.
In his confusion and despair Thomas says to Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
And Jesus says in reply, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”
In the Last Supper, once again Jesus teaches the disciples about the priority of love.
Not right away, but after Easter when they realized that Jesus has conquered death and after Pentecost when they received the gift of the Holy Spirit, the disciples follow Jesus’ example and go out and live lives in which love is the priority.
Peg Helmers was a person of deep faith, someone who trusted that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. Peg Helmers was a person who expressed her faith just as Jesus hoped his followers would, not so much in words but through the priority of love.
Peg died on July 29, which on the church calendar happens to be the Feast of Mary and Martha of Bethany.
That day I remember thinking that the story of Mary and Martha tells us something important about Peg and the life she lived. The story of Mary and Martha and the life of Peg Helmers tell us something important about the priority of love.
Do you remember Mary and Martha? Along with their brother Lazarus they were very close friends with Jesus. There is a famous story about the two sisters in the Gospel of Luke.
Jesus is visiting Mary and Martha. Martha is trying to be a good host, so, as Luke politely puts it, she was “Distracted by her many tasks.” Meanwhile her sister Mary sits at Jesus’ feet listening to his teaching – and not lifting a finger to help her sister.
Finally Martha can’t take it any more. She complains to Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”
Pretty reasonable request, right? But Jesus says to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Often people interpret this story as the world is divided into Marthas – the doers and Marys – the spiritual. But that can’t be right because we’re all called to be doers and to be spiritual.
This story of Mary and Martha is really about priorities – of staying centered on what’s most important in life.
It’s a story about the priority of love – love of Jesus and love for one another.
And Peg was certainly a person who understood the priority of love.
Peg’s life was centered on her faith, her family and her friends.
Many of you here today know better than I do the life of loving service she lived. You know the loving service she offered to her family, her friends and her church.
In our conversations her mind would often look to the past – growing up in Springfield, visits to grandparents in Manhattan, studying math at Rutgers, her marriage to Carl and especially raising Kristin, Carl and Peter in Florham Park.
She loved the beauty of God’s creation – and we can hear that love of nature in the lessons the family selected for today’s service. Here at Grace Church that love of beauty and nature was expressed in her longtime service as a flower arranger. And she was not just a flower arranger but also a teacher of others. So, although she is no longer here to decorate the altar, those she taught continue her tradition of service.
She loved her family dearly. Many times she expressed her gratitude that her three children had turned out so well. She missed her late brother John, an Episcopal priest. Although, she reminded me just about every time, “We called them ministers, not priests.” She cared deeply about her brother Charles and relished the weekly phone conversations with Lura down in Florida.
And Peg was a loving friend. In the little living room of her house where we usually met on the end table there were two framed photographs – one of Al Dolan and the other of Ginnie Brandt.
It was a privilege to get to know Peg in these last years of her life. They were not easy years. It was a time of illness, pain and setbacks. Some setbacks were bigger than others. It was traumatic for Peg when she could no longer drive. It was hard for her accept that she needed help to take care of herself.
But through it all she never forgot the priority of love. When I would visit we had a little routine. I’d ask how she was doing. She’d admit to being in pain or being frustrated that she couldn’t do the things she wanted to do. But then she’d look at me and smile and say, “But, I can’t complain.”
And then I’d say, no, she could complain a little.
Once that was out of the way, she would turn the attention away from herself and ask how I was doing, how things were at the church, and if I had seen Al recently.
Right to the end, Peg never forgot the priority of love.
Peg’s long journey has come to an end, and she is in the place prepared for her by Jesus, experiencing the fullness of God’s love.
For us, however, the journey continues. The life and teaching of Jesus call us to the priority of love. The life and example of Peg Helmers show us that it really is possible, here and now, to live a life in which love is the priority.
Amen.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
What Kind of Crowd are We?
Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
October 25, 2009
The Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost
Year B: Proper 25
Job 42:1-6, 10-17
Psalm 34:1-8
(Hebrews 7:23-28)
Mark 10:46-52
What Kind of Crowd are We?
Although the Gospel of Mark is probably the earliest of the four gospels to be written, that doesn’t mean that it is a simplistic piece of work. Actually, it’s clear that the Evangelist Mark took great care in drawing from earlier traditions and stories about Jesus as he shaped his gospel. The gospel is not a random series of events. Mark offers clear themes that run through the gospel.
The central theme is the Passion of Jesus Christ. For Mark, Jesus’ identity and mission and meaning can only be understood in light of the Cross and the empty tomb.
All of other Mark’s themes are connected to Jesus’ death and resurrection. So, as we’ve seen, over and over the disciples don’t really “get” Jesus. Part of that lack of understanding is probably historical fact, but part of it, for Mark, is the truth that the disciples can’t really “get” Jesus until after his death and resurrection.
We’ve also seen the theme of the so-called “Messianic Secret.” Over and over Jesus warns his followers not to tell anyone about the miraculous things they’ve seen him do. All of this secrecy doesn’t really make sense unless Jesus – and the Evangelist Mark – recognize that only after Jesus’ death and resurrection will we be able to understand who Jesus was and what Jesus was doing.
Finally, we’ve seen the theme of faith in the Gospel of Mark. For Mark, faith is not primarily about agreeing to set of statements about Jesus. Instead, faith is described more as persistence in the face of adversity, trust in Jesus despite all the obstacles that might be in our way.
Probably the best example we’ve seen before Bartimaeus is the Syro-Phoenician woman from a few weeks ago. Remember how persistent she was in asking Jesus to heal her child – how persistent she was even after Jesus seems to spurn her? For Mark, faith is that kind of persistence and trust.
All of Mark’s big themes – the centrality of the Passion, the misunderstanding of the disciples, the Messianic Secret and faith as persistence and trust are drawn together in the wonderful and powerful story we just heard this morning.
The healing of Bartimaeus brings us just about to the end of Jesus’ journey with his disciples to Jerusalem. Mark tells us this healing of the bland man takes place in or near Jericho – which is some seventeen miles from Jerusalem. The journey is coming to an end - the shadow of the Cross is looming ever larger. Along the way Jesus has been trying – with mixed success - to teach his disciples through words and also through acts of healing.
Today’s passage picks up right where we left off last Sunday. Remember, Jesus had once again predicted his suffering, death and resurrection, and James and John – not getting it, as usual – asked if they could have special seats at Jesus’ right and left. Then Jesus tried once again to teach the disciples that the person who is truly great is the person that serves.
That’s still a tough lesson for us, but kids seem to get it. Last week in my homily in the children’s chapel I asked the kids, “What makes somebody really great?” I expected answers like someone with a lot of money, or a fancy car, or being famous. Instead, without missing a beat, one little girl shot up her hand and said, “Being great is when you help people and are nice to people.”
So much for my homily!
Anyway, unlike our kids, the disciples don’t get it. Then we pick up today when Jesus and his disciples come to Jericho. Can you imagine the scene? Notice Mark tells us there’s a large crowd around Jesus – his efforts at secrecy are either no longer working or he’s no longer trying. And then sitting on the roadside is Bartimaeus, a blind beggar. He’s a nobody in a world filled with nobodies. Even his name is not really a name. It literally means “Son of Timaeus.”
Nobody is paying any attention to this beggar, this nobody, when suddenly he shouts, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
This is a big moment – less than twenty miles from Jerusalem for the first time Jesus is publicly declared to be the royal messiah and Jesus does not rebuke Bartimaeus or tell him to keep his identity a secret.
Instead, it’s the crowd, presumably followers of Jesus, who sternly order this nobody, this blind beggar, to be quiet.
But Bartimaeus won’t be silenced. His faith is persistent. He shouts out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Mark tells us Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.”
The crowd quickly changes its tune. “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.”
Notice Jesus restores Bartimaeus’s sight without even touching him. Instead, Jesus says, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Once again Mark reminds us that faith is persistence in the face of adversity, faith is putting our trust in Jesus despite all the obstacles that might be in our way.
Although Jesus tells Bartimaeus to “go” he doesn’t go off by himself. Instead, Mark tells us that this nobody who had a persistent faith in Jesus became a disciple and follows Jesus on the way to Jerusalem and all that awaits him and the other disciples there.
It’s a rich and powerful story. But what does it have to do with us?
There are a lot of possibilities, but as I’ve thought about this story I keep getting drawn back to the crowd and the two different ways they treat Bartimaeus.
At first they dismiss him as a nobody – just another blind beggar in a world filled with suffering, desperate people. But when Jesus shows an interest in him, the crowd quickly changes its tune and treats Bartimaeus with much more respect.
I’ve wondered how I would have behaved in the crowd. I’ve wondered what kind of crowd are we?
Do we ignore the nobodies of the world? Do we turn a deaf ear to the pleas of those who are in need? Do we try to keep Jesus to ourselves and not share the Good News with people who are outside our group?
Or do we say through our words and our actions to the suffering in the world, “Take heart, get up, he is calling you.”
I think if we’re honest we have to admit that our crowd is a mix of both.
At our best, the other day we were the kind of crowd that served over 180 Bartimaeuses at the Community Soup Kitchen in Morristown. And, I might add, apparently for the first time in the history of the soup kitchen it was all men serving the food that day.
At our best, we’re the kind of crowd that spends many hours out on a truck named Bruno accepting donations and delivering furniture for the Bartimaeuses of Northern New Jersey.
At our best we’re the kind of crowd that volunteers much time and energy to the clothing sale and the auction, to strengthen our own community, help our neighbors and to raise money to continue our work.
At our best, even in a tight economy, we’re the kind of crowd that sacrifices many thousands of dollars from our church budget to offer outreach money to support so many organizations that serve the Bartimaeuses of the world.
At our best we’re the kind of crowd that reaches out to the lonely and the ill and frightened and the despairing – the people who feel like Bartimaeus, blind, off on the side of the road calling out to Jesus for mercy. At our best, we pick up the phone just to talk and tell them we care. At our best, we stop by the house or visit them in the hospital or the nursing home – places filled with Bartimaeuses.
At our best, we are the kind of crowd that says to Bartimaeus, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.”
But, if we’re honest, we have to admit that sometimes we’re the kind of crowd that ignores the nobodies, the kind of crowd that looks out only for itself, the kind of crowd that tries to keep the Good News of Jesus to itself, the kind of crowd that says “Quiet!” when the nobodies cry out for mercy.
The bottom line is we need to be like that crowd around Jesus that day so long ago. Obviously they weren’t perfect but they were following Jesus, listening to his words, and most importantly, following his example.
When Jesus heard the cry of Bartimaeus he stood still and said “Call him here.”
The crowd around Jesus followed his example, noticed the nobody, and said “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.”
What kind of crowd are we?
Amen.
October 25, 2009
The Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost
Year B: Proper 25
Job 42:1-6, 10-17
Psalm 34:1-8
(Hebrews 7:23-28)
Mark 10:46-52
What Kind of Crowd are We?
Although the Gospel of Mark is probably the earliest of the four gospels to be written, that doesn’t mean that it is a simplistic piece of work. Actually, it’s clear that the Evangelist Mark took great care in drawing from earlier traditions and stories about Jesus as he shaped his gospel. The gospel is not a random series of events. Mark offers clear themes that run through the gospel.
The central theme is the Passion of Jesus Christ. For Mark, Jesus’ identity and mission and meaning can only be understood in light of the Cross and the empty tomb.
All of other Mark’s themes are connected to Jesus’ death and resurrection. So, as we’ve seen, over and over the disciples don’t really “get” Jesus. Part of that lack of understanding is probably historical fact, but part of it, for Mark, is the truth that the disciples can’t really “get” Jesus until after his death and resurrection.
We’ve also seen the theme of the so-called “Messianic Secret.” Over and over Jesus warns his followers not to tell anyone about the miraculous things they’ve seen him do. All of this secrecy doesn’t really make sense unless Jesus – and the Evangelist Mark – recognize that only after Jesus’ death and resurrection will we be able to understand who Jesus was and what Jesus was doing.
Finally, we’ve seen the theme of faith in the Gospel of Mark. For Mark, faith is not primarily about agreeing to set of statements about Jesus. Instead, faith is described more as persistence in the face of adversity, trust in Jesus despite all the obstacles that might be in our way.
Probably the best example we’ve seen before Bartimaeus is the Syro-Phoenician woman from a few weeks ago. Remember how persistent she was in asking Jesus to heal her child – how persistent she was even after Jesus seems to spurn her? For Mark, faith is that kind of persistence and trust.
All of Mark’s big themes – the centrality of the Passion, the misunderstanding of the disciples, the Messianic Secret and faith as persistence and trust are drawn together in the wonderful and powerful story we just heard this morning.
The healing of Bartimaeus brings us just about to the end of Jesus’ journey with his disciples to Jerusalem. Mark tells us this healing of the bland man takes place in or near Jericho – which is some seventeen miles from Jerusalem. The journey is coming to an end - the shadow of the Cross is looming ever larger. Along the way Jesus has been trying – with mixed success - to teach his disciples through words and also through acts of healing.
Today’s passage picks up right where we left off last Sunday. Remember, Jesus had once again predicted his suffering, death and resurrection, and James and John – not getting it, as usual – asked if they could have special seats at Jesus’ right and left. Then Jesus tried once again to teach the disciples that the person who is truly great is the person that serves.
That’s still a tough lesson for us, but kids seem to get it. Last week in my homily in the children’s chapel I asked the kids, “What makes somebody really great?” I expected answers like someone with a lot of money, or a fancy car, or being famous. Instead, without missing a beat, one little girl shot up her hand and said, “Being great is when you help people and are nice to people.”
So much for my homily!
Anyway, unlike our kids, the disciples don’t get it. Then we pick up today when Jesus and his disciples come to Jericho. Can you imagine the scene? Notice Mark tells us there’s a large crowd around Jesus – his efforts at secrecy are either no longer working or he’s no longer trying. And then sitting on the roadside is Bartimaeus, a blind beggar. He’s a nobody in a world filled with nobodies. Even his name is not really a name. It literally means “Son of Timaeus.”
Nobody is paying any attention to this beggar, this nobody, when suddenly he shouts, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
This is a big moment – less than twenty miles from Jerusalem for the first time Jesus is publicly declared to be the royal messiah and Jesus does not rebuke Bartimaeus or tell him to keep his identity a secret.
Instead, it’s the crowd, presumably followers of Jesus, who sternly order this nobody, this blind beggar, to be quiet.
But Bartimaeus won’t be silenced. His faith is persistent. He shouts out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Mark tells us Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.”
The crowd quickly changes its tune. “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.”
Notice Jesus restores Bartimaeus’s sight without even touching him. Instead, Jesus says, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Once again Mark reminds us that faith is persistence in the face of adversity, faith is putting our trust in Jesus despite all the obstacles that might be in our way.
Although Jesus tells Bartimaeus to “go” he doesn’t go off by himself. Instead, Mark tells us that this nobody who had a persistent faith in Jesus became a disciple and follows Jesus on the way to Jerusalem and all that awaits him and the other disciples there.
It’s a rich and powerful story. But what does it have to do with us?
There are a lot of possibilities, but as I’ve thought about this story I keep getting drawn back to the crowd and the two different ways they treat Bartimaeus.
At first they dismiss him as a nobody – just another blind beggar in a world filled with suffering, desperate people. But when Jesus shows an interest in him, the crowd quickly changes its tune and treats Bartimaeus with much more respect.
I’ve wondered how I would have behaved in the crowd. I’ve wondered what kind of crowd are we?
Do we ignore the nobodies of the world? Do we turn a deaf ear to the pleas of those who are in need? Do we try to keep Jesus to ourselves and not share the Good News with people who are outside our group?
Or do we say through our words and our actions to the suffering in the world, “Take heart, get up, he is calling you.”
I think if we’re honest we have to admit that our crowd is a mix of both.
At our best, the other day we were the kind of crowd that served over 180 Bartimaeuses at the Community Soup Kitchen in Morristown. And, I might add, apparently for the first time in the history of the soup kitchen it was all men serving the food that day.
At our best, we’re the kind of crowd that spends many hours out on a truck named Bruno accepting donations and delivering furniture for the Bartimaeuses of Northern New Jersey.
At our best we’re the kind of crowd that volunteers much time and energy to the clothing sale and the auction, to strengthen our own community, help our neighbors and to raise money to continue our work.
At our best, even in a tight economy, we’re the kind of crowd that sacrifices many thousands of dollars from our church budget to offer outreach money to support so many organizations that serve the Bartimaeuses of the world.
At our best we’re the kind of crowd that reaches out to the lonely and the ill and frightened and the despairing – the people who feel like Bartimaeus, blind, off on the side of the road calling out to Jesus for mercy. At our best, we pick up the phone just to talk and tell them we care. At our best, we stop by the house or visit them in the hospital or the nursing home – places filled with Bartimaeuses.
At our best, we are the kind of crowd that says to Bartimaeus, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.”
But, if we’re honest, we have to admit that sometimes we’re the kind of crowd that ignores the nobodies, the kind of crowd that looks out only for itself, the kind of crowd that tries to keep the Good News of Jesus to itself, the kind of crowd that says “Quiet!” when the nobodies cry out for mercy.
The bottom line is we need to be like that crowd around Jesus that day so long ago. Obviously they weren’t perfect but they were following Jesus, listening to his words, and most importantly, following his example.
When Jesus heard the cry of Bartimaeus he stood still and said “Call him here.”
The crowd around Jesus followed his example, noticed the nobody, and said “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.”
What kind of crowd are we?
Amen.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Bewildered, Yet Faithful
Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
October 18, 2009
The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Year B: Proper 24
Job 38:1-7
Psalm 104:1-9, 25,37c
(Hebrews 5:1-10)
Mark 10:35-45
Bewildered, yet Faithful
To be honest, many of us are a little groggy today after last night’s amazing auction. It was a phenomenal event. And, it was also a great example of stewardship at work – people giving their time, talent and treasure to serve God, the church and others.
There’s been a whole lot of great stewardship going on here at Grace. In case you’ve forgotten, aside from all the many usual activities, we had the very successful clothing sale, the beautiful evensong and delicious potluck supper for the bishop’s blessing of Grace Hall, we had an inspiring and creative start to this year’s stewardship drive, and – who can forget - we had the blessing of the animals on St. Francis Day.
I know some people go out of their way to avoid it, but I really love the blessing of the animals. This year there were few, if any, really exotic animals but lots of beautiful dogs, cats, rabbits, as well as photos of dogs and cats, along with a fair number of stuffed animals.
Looking out at the congregation during that service, I was impressed by just how well-behaved the animals were. And, I got to wondering what must be going through their brains: This isn’t the park or the vet, what is this place I’ve been brought to? I recognize the people I live with but who are all these other people? Why are we here with all of these animals?
The smell of our hands as we blessed these pets must have bewildered these poor animals. “What is that creature that’s reaching out to me? Oh no – it’s a cat-dog-rabbit-man?!”
I guess the pets that were here did OK, but they really must have been bewildered by the whole experience.
Much of the time our lives aren’t so different, are they? Isn’t much of life bewildering? Don’t we often find ourselves wondering why things happen the way they do?
Life is filled with bewildering events – think of the people going about their lives in Samoa when suddenly a tidal wave rushed in and destroyed much of their world. Think of the person who has taken painstaking care of her health only to be told by the doctors that she faces a terminal illness. Think of the person who has always overachieved at work and yet receives word that, along with everyone else in the department, he has to clean out his desk by the end of the day.
Life is often bewildering.
But, it’s not just life itself that’s bewildering. Aren’t people themselves bewildering? Why do people sometimes act more generously and kindly than we would ever expect? On the other hand, why do people sometimes do the strange, destructive and often self-destructive things they do?
And don’t we sometimes bewilder ourselves? Why do we sometimes surprise ourselves and act more generously and kindly than we might have expected? On the other hand, why do we sometimes do the strange, destructive and often self-destructive things we do? St. Paul sums this up nicely in his letter to the Romans: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (7:15)
Life is often bewildering.
Especially for us in the “helping professions” – but really for everyone – it is very tempting to offer easy explanations or false assurance during the bewildering moments of life.
How often when we’ve heard someone tell us about some problem or tragedy have we tempted to say – or in fact said – something like, “Don’t worry, it’ll be OK. I’m sure everything will work out for the best.”
Or how often have we been tempted to say – or in fact said – something like, “It’s all part of God’s plan” or even “God must be testing you”?
Probably the hardest lesson I learned the summer I spent training as a chaplain at Christ Hospital was resisting the temptation to offer the false assurance or the easy answer. It was hard to resist the temptation to “fix” people and their bewildering problems. I was especially hard to resist that temptation especially when it seemed like that’s what people wanted.
I remember one patient who had a relatively minor physical illness but who was profoundly lonely. When she was done telling me her rather sad story she looked at me and said something like, “And now I would like you to tell me how to solve this problem.”
She was bewildered. I tried to remember that my job was not to offer easy answers or false assurances but to be a sign of God’s loving presence and to help her ask for God’s grace in the midst of her bewilderment.
Speaking of bewilderment, for the past few weeks we’ve been hearing snippets from the Book of Job. It’s an unusual book of the Bible. We know pretty much nothing about when and where it was written. But, all of that doesn’t matter so much because the Book of Job is a piece of folklore that really speaks to people in all times and places. You remember the main points of the story, right?
Satan, the accuser or the prosecutor of the heavenly council, reports to God that he has been on the prowl all over the earth, implying that there are no righteous people. God responds by insisting that Job is “a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.”
Satan doesn’t buy it and replies that Job is blameless and upright only because he has been so richly blessed by God. Take that away and Job will surely curse God to God’s face.
God agrees to the challenge as long as Job’s life is spared.
So, Job, this blameless and upright man, will suffer bewildering loss and pain.
Now, the Book of Job is frequently offered as a help with the age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” But, if you think about it, the story doesn’t really offer a satisfying answer to that question.
The character of Job is often held up as a model of patience. Maybe you know the expression, “the Patience of Job”. Again, if you read the book, you find out that’s not really true. Job is perfectly willing – and frankly justified – to complain mightily to God about what has happened to him. And in the reading we heard today, God is dismissive of Job’s complaints and is depicted as essentially unknowable and other. It’s not a very attractive view of God. But, on the other hand, God is present and despite everything God never abandons or stops caring for Job.
Job may not be patient but he remains faithful in the face of all the bewildering things that happen to him. And that’s really what this book is about. The Book of Job asks if it’s possible for us to hold on to our faith in the midst of the bewilderment of life. Despite everything is it possible for us to trust in God?
The Gospel has something to say about that, too. In today’s lesson, once again the disciples are bewildered. Mark organizes his gospel around the journey of Jesus and his disciples to Jerusalem. Along the way, Jesus is very clear with his disciples that at the end of this journey he will be betrayed, tortured, killed and then will rise again in three days.
These predictions by Jesus must have been bewildering for the disciples. It’s right after one of the predictions of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection, that James and John make their request to sit in glory beside Jesus.
Jesus has made another of his bewildering predictions and in the midst of their bewilderment these two disciples want the easy answer and false assurance from Jesus. They want Jesus to say something like, “Don’t worry, things might be tough now, but you’ll be exalted in heaven.”
Notice Jesus doesn’t fall for this. First he’s brutally honest – if you’re with me you’re going to suffer. And then he tells them that it’s not for him to give special seats in paradise.
Finally, in the midst of their bewilderment, Jesus calls James and John and all the disciples to faithfulness – a faithfulness that is best expressed by imitating the loving and sacrificial service of Jesus.
Jesus tells the disciples - and is telling us - that we express our faith in loving and sacrificial service – the giving of our time, talent and treasure. And it’s in sacrifice that true greatness is found.
So, life was bewildering for Job and for the disciples and life is often bewildering for all of us.
In the Book of Job God is depicted as kind of cold and distant, but nevertheless God is shown as present in Job’s bewilderment.
We Christians know a good bit more about God than the creators of the Book of Job. We Christians know that God loves the world so much that in Jesus he came and lived and died and rose again among us. And as St. Paul also wrote in his letter to the Romans, nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The question behind the Book of Job and the challenge for all of us is remaining faithful even in the midst of our bewilderment. And Jesus teaches us in the Gospel that our faithfulness is best expressed in loving and sacrificial service.
Fortunately, we don’t have to look very far to see that loving and sacrificial service all around us. Behind last night’s auction and all the wonderful things that happen here, there have been people offering stewardship – sacrificing their time, talent and treasure. I’m sure there were times when many of our fellow parishioners were bewildered by the large and small challenges of life. Yet, they persisted, they kept going, they remained faithful, they gave of themselves.
My prayer is that all of us may remain faithful to God and express our faith through loving service to one another – by giving our time, talent and treasure.
Amen.
October 18, 2009
The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Year B: Proper 24
Job 38:1-7
Psalm 104:1-9, 25,37c
(Hebrews 5:1-10)
Mark 10:35-45
Bewildered, yet Faithful
To be honest, many of us are a little groggy today after last night’s amazing auction. It was a phenomenal event. And, it was also a great example of stewardship at work – people giving their time, talent and treasure to serve God, the church and others.
There’s been a whole lot of great stewardship going on here at Grace. In case you’ve forgotten, aside from all the many usual activities, we had the very successful clothing sale, the beautiful evensong and delicious potluck supper for the bishop’s blessing of Grace Hall, we had an inspiring and creative start to this year’s stewardship drive, and – who can forget - we had the blessing of the animals on St. Francis Day.
I know some people go out of their way to avoid it, but I really love the blessing of the animals. This year there were few, if any, really exotic animals but lots of beautiful dogs, cats, rabbits, as well as photos of dogs and cats, along with a fair number of stuffed animals.
Looking out at the congregation during that service, I was impressed by just how well-behaved the animals were. And, I got to wondering what must be going through their brains: This isn’t the park or the vet, what is this place I’ve been brought to? I recognize the people I live with but who are all these other people? Why are we here with all of these animals?
The smell of our hands as we blessed these pets must have bewildered these poor animals. “What is that creature that’s reaching out to me? Oh no – it’s a cat-dog-rabbit-man?!”
I guess the pets that were here did OK, but they really must have been bewildered by the whole experience.
Much of the time our lives aren’t so different, are they? Isn’t much of life bewildering? Don’t we often find ourselves wondering why things happen the way they do?
Life is filled with bewildering events – think of the people going about their lives in Samoa when suddenly a tidal wave rushed in and destroyed much of their world. Think of the person who has taken painstaking care of her health only to be told by the doctors that she faces a terminal illness. Think of the person who has always overachieved at work and yet receives word that, along with everyone else in the department, he has to clean out his desk by the end of the day.
Life is often bewildering.
But, it’s not just life itself that’s bewildering. Aren’t people themselves bewildering? Why do people sometimes act more generously and kindly than we would ever expect? On the other hand, why do people sometimes do the strange, destructive and often self-destructive things they do?
And don’t we sometimes bewilder ourselves? Why do we sometimes surprise ourselves and act more generously and kindly than we might have expected? On the other hand, why do we sometimes do the strange, destructive and often self-destructive things we do? St. Paul sums this up nicely in his letter to the Romans: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (7:15)
Life is often bewildering.
Especially for us in the “helping professions” – but really for everyone – it is very tempting to offer easy explanations or false assurance during the bewildering moments of life.
How often when we’ve heard someone tell us about some problem or tragedy have we tempted to say – or in fact said – something like, “Don’t worry, it’ll be OK. I’m sure everything will work out for the best.”
Or how often have we been tempted to say – or in fact said – something like, “It’s all part of God’s plan” or even “God must be testing you”?
Probably the hardest lesson I learned the summer I spent training as a chaplain at Christ Hospital was resisting the temptation to offer the false assurance or the easy answer. It was hard to resist the temptation to “fix” people and their bewildering problems. I was especially hard to resist that temptation especially when it seemed like that’s what people wanted.
I remember one patient who had a relatively minor physical illness but who was profoundly lonely. When she was done telling me her rather sad story she looked at me and said something like, “And now I would like you to tell me how to solve this problem.”
She was bewildered. I tried to remember that my job was not to offer easy answers or false assurances but to be a sign of God’s loving presence and to help her ask for God’s grace in the midst of her bewilderment.
Speaking of bewilderment, for the past few weeks we’ve been hearing snippets from the Book of Job. It’s an unusual book of the Bible. We know pretty much nothing about when and where it was written. But, all of that doesn’t matter so much because the Book of Job is a piece of folklore that really speaks to people in all times and places. You remember the main points of the story, right?
Satan, the accuser or the prosecutor of the heavenly council, reports to God that he has been on the prowl all over the earth, implying that there are no righteous people. God responds by insisting that Job is “a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.”
Satan doesn’t buy it and replies that Job is blameless and upright only because he has been so richly blessed by God. Take that away and Job will surely curse God to God’s face.
God agrees to the challenge as long as Job’s life is spared.
So, Job, this blameless and upright man, will suffer bewildering loss and pain.
Now, the Book of Job is frequently offered as a help with the age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” But, if you think about it, the story doesn’t really offer a satisfying answer to that question.
The character of Job is often held up as a model of patience. Maybe you know the expression, “the Patience of Job”. Again, if you read the book, you find out that’s not really true. Job is perfectly willing – and frankly justified – to complain mightily to God about what has happened to him. And in the reading we heard today, God is dismissive of Job’s complaints and is depicted as essentially unknowable and other. It’s not a very attractive view of God. But, on the other hand, God is present and despite everything God never abandons or stops caring for Job.
Job may not be patient but he remains faithful in the face of all the bewildering things that happen to him. And that’s really what this book is about. The Book of Job asks if it’s possible for us to hold on to our faith in the midst of the bewilderment of life. Despite everything is it possible for us to trust in God?
The Gospel has something to say about that, too. In today’s lesson, once again the disciples are bewildered. Mark organizes his gospel around the journey of Jesus and his disciples to Jerusalem. Along the way, Jesus is very clear with his disciples that at the end of this journey he will be betrayed, tortured, killed and then will rise again in three days.
These predictions by Jesus must have been bewildering for the disciples. It’s right after one of the predictions of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection, that James and John make their request to sit in glory beside Jesus.
Jesus has made another of his bewildering predictions and in the midst of their bewilderment these two disciples want the easy answer and false assurance from Jesus. They want Jesus to say something like, “Don’t worry, things might be tough now, but you’ll be exalted in heaven.”
Notice Jesus doesn’t fall for this. First he’s brutally honest – if you’re with me you’re going to suffer. And then he tells them that it’s not for him to give special seats in paradise.
Finally, in the midst of their bewilderment, Jesus calls James and John and all the disciples to faithfulness – a faithfulness that is best expressed by imitating the loving and sacrificial service of Jesus.
Jesus tells the disciples - and is telling us - that we express our faith in loving and sacrificial service – the giving of our time, talent and treasure. And it’s in sacrifice that true greatness is found.
So, life was bewildering for Job and for the disciples and life is often bewildering for all of us.
In the Book of Job God is depicted as kind of cold and distant, but nevertheless God is shown as present in Job’s bewilderment.
We Christians know a good bit more about God than the creators of the Book of Job. We Christians know that God loves the world so much that in Jesus he came and lived and died and rose again among us. And as St. Paul also wrote in his letter to the Romans, nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The question behind the Book of Job and the challenge for all of us is remaining faithful even in the midst of our bewilderment. And Jesus teaches us in the Gospel that our faithfulness is best expressed in loving and sacrificial service.
Fortunately, we don’t have to look very far to see that loving and sacrificial service all around us. Behind last night’s auction and all the wonderful things that happen here, there have been people offering stewardship – sacrificing their time, talent and treasure. I’m sure there were times when many of our fellow parishioners were bewildered by the large and small challenges of life. Yet, they persisted, they kept going, they remained faithful, they gave of themselves.
My prayer is that all of us may remain faithful to God and express our faith through loving service to one another – by giving our time, talent and treasure.
Amen.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
The Defense of Marriage
Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
October 4, 2009
The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Year B: Proper 22
Job 1:1; 2:1-10
Psalm 26
(Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12)
Mark 10:2-16
The Defense of Marriage
Back in 1996 Congress passed and President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act. The law, which has grown ever more controversial over the past thirteen years, declares that states do not have to recognize same-sex marriages performed and recognized in other states. The law also states that the federal government defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.
I’m going out on a limb and assume that those of us here in church today hold widely different views about this law and its attempt to “defend” marriage.
However, wherever you stand on the issue, I think we can all agree that there is nothing radical about this law. In the United States back in 1996 - and to a lesser extent today - the majority of Americans defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman. So, although it raises some constitutional issues, there’s nothing at all radical about the Defense of Marriage Act – it simply wrote into law the belief of the majority.
Jesus, however, has some very radical things to say about marriage.
To understand just how radical Jesus was on marriage we need a little background on marriage and divorce in First Century Palestine.
First, contrary to what we might think, divorce was fairly common among Jews in the First Century. It was something that people simply took for granted. Jewish Law supported divorce. Here are the relevant verses from the Book of Deuteronomy:
"Suppose a man enters into marriage with a woman, but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her, and so he writes a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; she then leaves his house and goes off to become another man’s wife. Then suppose the second man dislikes her, writes her a bill of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house (or the second man who married her dies); her first husband, who sent her away, is not permitted to take her again as his wife after she has been defiled; for that would be abhorrent to the Lord, and you shall not bring guilt on the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession." (Deut 24:1-4)
Notice a couple of things about this passage. In order to divorce his wife a husband simply has to find “something objectionable” about her. The rabbis debated what might be included under “something objectionable.” Some rabbis limited it to sexual misconduct while others said it could be something as seemingly trivial as preparing a bad meal or even if the husband became fond of a more beautiful woman.
Second, notice that divorce is simply taken for granted in that passage from Deuteronomy. In fact, it’s not really concerned with divorce. Instead, the concern is the first husband remarrying his former wife. Remarriage was seen as defiling the land of Israel.
Finally, and this will be no surprise, notice that the woman is powerless and voiceless. The husband writes a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her away. And in that time and place a woman divorced by her husband was in a very dire situation.
The Jewish historian Josephus, a near-contemporary of Jesus, writes that – surprise! – only a man could divorce. He also tells us that an ex-wife could only get married again with her ex-husband’s consent. Talk about adding insult to injury!
That was the world in which Jesus lived. I’m sure that everybody, or nearly everybody, simply took it all for granted. That’s just the way it is. A man can get a divorce whenever he wants to. A woman has no say. I mean, isn’t that obvious?
And so along come the Pharisees to, as the gospel tells us, “test” Jesus. Now, as we’ve mentioned before, the Pharisees probably get a bad rap in the New Testament – in part because the early Jesus movement may have been in competition with the Pharisees. We don’t know much about them but it seems like the Pharisees were devoted to ritual practices in an effort to make everyday life holy.
Some scholars think that the Pharisees disagreed among themselves about divorce. Maybe they really wanted to know what Jesus thought about divorce! In any event, the Pharisees ask Jesus, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
In typical Jesus fashion, he bounces the ball back at them, asking, “What did Moses command you?” The Pharisees know the law and so they refer back to that passage from Deuteronomy.
It’s here that Jesus does something unexpected and radical. Jesus tells them that the law about divorce was given because of human hardness of heart.
I don’t know about you, but the instructions about divorce in Deuteronomy sound pretty hard to me. I have some trouble imagining what could be more hardhearted than to be just handed the divorce certificate and shown the door. But then again human beings are always able to come up with some kind of cruelty.
Jesus, it turns out, is not so concerned with Deuteronomy. Instead Jesus offers the ultimate defense of marriage by reaching all the way back to the beginning of the tradition – to the creation account in the Book of Genesis. Jesus says that in the Adam and Eve story we see God’s intention for marriage.
In that very familiar story God realizes it is not good for human beings to be alone and so God attempts to create for Adam a “helper as his partner.” So, first God creates the birds and the animals for man to name. But, as nice as the animals were none of them quite cut it as a helper or partner.
Obviously you know what happens next in the story. God creates woman. Adam says, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” One of my Old Testament professors in seminary translated Adam’s words as, “Now that’s more like it.”
By drawing us all the way back to Genesis and the Garden of Eden, Jesus defends marriage by reminding us what it’s all supposed to be about. Marriage is a great gift from God so that we can share our lives with another who helps to carry our burdens and share our joys – to be both helper and partner. The bond of marriage is so close that we become, as Jesus says, “one flesh.”
Jesus is pointing out to the Pharisees that marriage in their own time – and perhaps our own – has become twisted and distorted. If a man can simply toss out his wife because of a bad meal then we are a long way from sharing the joys and burdens of life – we’re a long way from being both helper and partner, we’re a long way from becoming one flesh.
Jesus is radically defending marriage by reminding the Pharisees and us what marriage is all about. It’s not about handing out certificates of divorce and tossing your wife out of the house. Marriage is also not about legalisms, pre-nuptial agreements, quickie weddings and quickie divorces in Vegas, or serial monogamy.
Jesus radically defends marriage by reminding us that marriage is about being both helper and partner.
Which brings us to the hard teaching in today’s gospel. Jesus privately tells his disciples, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
First, notice even here Jesus is radically challenging the status quo. Even suggesting that a woman could divorce her husband must have seemed bizarre to the disciples.
Hopefully the context of First Century marriage and divorce helps us to understand what Jesus is saying. But, it’s still a hard teaching and the Church has struggled with applying this hard teaching from the very beginning.
In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul writes that followers of Jesus who are married to unbelievers should stay married. But he includes an exception to that rule, writing, “But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so; in such a case the brother or sister is not bound.” (1 Cor. 7:12-16)
In the Gospel of Matthew, written after Mark, Jesus’ teaching is softened a bit. In Matthew Jesus says, as saying, “But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery.” (Matt. 5:32)
In the centuries since the Church has recognized that life – and particularly married life – is complicated and so the Church has struggled with Jesus’ teaching on divorce. Many of you know the solution of the Catholic Church known as an annulment – in which the Church declares there never was a valid marriage so there is no obstacle in remarrying.
In the Episcopal Church the canons on marriage evolved until 1973 when remarriage was allowed in the church with the bishop’s permission.
There are still some hardliners who think that Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Mark about divorce are very clear and we should simply stick to that.
But, when we put today’s gospel passage into the context of First Century Judaism and especially into the context of the whole Gospel we know that we are called to offer love and not condemnation. And if we really listen to what Jesus is saying, we recognize that Jesus isn’t primarily concerned with divorce.
Instead, Jesus is radically defending marriage by calling us back to the heart of marriage – two becoming one and serving as partners and helpers through the joys and burdens of life.
For those of us who are married, let us pray that God will give us grace to strengthen our marriages.
And may all of us always support those who are married and those who are divorced with love and compassion.
Amen.
October 4, 2009
The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Year B: Proper 22
Job 1:1; 2:1-10
Psalm 26
(Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12)
Mark 10:2-16
The Defense of Marriage
Back in 1996 Congress passed and President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act. The law, which has grown ever more controversial over the past thirteen years, declares that states do not have to recognize same-sex marriages performed and recognized in other states. The law also states that the federal government defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.
I’m going out on a limb and assume that those of us here in church today hold widely different views about this law and its attempt to “defend” marriage.
However, wherever you stand on the issue, I think we can all agree that there is nothing radical about this law. In the United States back in 1996 - and to a lesser extent today - the majority of Americans defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman. So, although it raises some constitutional issues, there’s nothing at all radical about the Defense of Marriage Act – it simply wrote into law the belief of the majority.
Jesus, however, has some very radical things to say about marriage.
To understand just how radical Jesus was on marriage we need a little background on marriage and divorce in First Century Palestine.
First, contrary to what we might think, divorce was fairly common among Jews in the First Century. It was something that people simply took for granted. Jewish Law supported divorce. Here are the relevant verses from the Book of Deuteronomy:
"Suppose a man enters into marriage with a woman, but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her, and so he writes a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; she then leaves his house and goes off to become another man’s wife. Then suppose the second man dislikes her, writes her a bill of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house (or the second man who married her dies); her first husband, who sent her away, is not permitted to take her again as his wife after she has been defiled; for that would be abhorrent to the Lord, and you shall not bring guilt on the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession." (Deut 24:1-4)
Notice a couple of things about this passage. In order to divorce his wife a husband simply has to find “something objectionable” about her. The rabbis debated what might be included under “something objectionable.” Some rabbis limited it to sexual misconduct while others said it could be something as seemingly trivial as preparing a bad meal or even if the husband became fond of a more beautiful woman.
Second, notice that divorce is simply taken for granted in that passage from Deuteronomy. In fact, it’s not really concerned with divorce. Instead, the concern is the first husband remarrying his former wife. Remarriage was seen as defiling the land of Israel.
Finally, and this will be no surprise, notice that the woman is powerless and voiceless. The husband writes a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her away. And in that time and place a woman divorced by her husband was in a very dire situation.
The Jewish historian Josephus, a near-contemporary of Jesus, writes that – surprise! – only a man could divorce. He also tells us that an ex-wife could only get married again with her ex-husband’s consent. Talk about adding insult to injury!
That was the world in which Jesus lived. I’m sure that everybody, or nearly everybody, simply took it all for granted. That’s just the way it is. A man can get a divorce whenever he wants to. A woman has no say. I mean, isn’t that obvious?
And so along come the Pharisees to, as the gospel tells us, “test” Jesus. Now, as we’ve mentioned before, the Pharisees probably get a bad rap in the New Testament – in part because the early Jesus movement may have been in competition with the Pharisees. We don’t know much about them but it seems like the Pharisees were devoted to ritual practices in an effort to make everyday life holy.
Some scholars think that the Pharisees disagreed among themselves about divorce. Maybe they really wanted to know what Jesus thought about divorce! In any event, the Pharisees ask Jesus, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
In typical Jesus fashion, he bounces the ball back at them, asking, “What did Moses command you?” The Pharisees know the law and so they refer back to that passage from Deuteronomy.
It’s here that Jesus does something unexpected and radical. Jesus tells them that the law about divorce was given because of human hardness of heart.
I don’t know about you, but the instructions about divorce in Deuteronomy sound pretty hard to me. I have some trouble imagining what could be more hardhearted than to be just handed the divorce certificate and shown the door. But then again human beings are always able to come up with some kind of cruelty.
Jesus, it turns out, is not so concerned with Deuteronomy. Instead Jesus offers the ultimate defense of marriage by reaching all the way back to the beginning of the tradition – to the creation account in the Book of Genesis. Jesus says that in the Adam and Eve story we see God’s intention for marriage.
In that very familiar story God realizes it is not good for human beings to be alone and so God attempts to create for Adam a “helper as his partner.” So, first God creates the birds and the animals for man to name. But, as nice as the animals were none of them quite cut it as a helper or partner.
Obviously you know what happens next in the story. God creates woman. Adam says, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” One of my Old Testament professors in seminary translated Adam’s words as, “Now that’s more like it.”
By drawing us all the way back to Genesis and the Garden of Eden, Jesus defends marriage by reminding us what it’s all supposed to be about. Marriage is a great gift from God so that we can share our lives with another who helps to carry our burdens and share our joys – to be both helper and partner. The bond of marriage is so close that we become, as Jesus says, “one flesh.”
Jesus is pointing out to the Pharisees that marriage in their own time – and perhaps our own – has become twisted and distorted. If a man can simply toss out his wife because of a bad meal then we are a long way from sharing the joys and burdens of life – we’re a long way from being both helper and partner, we’re a long way from becoming one flesh.
Jesus is radically defending marriage by reminding the Pharisees and us what marriage is all about. It’s not about handing out certificates of divorce and tossing your wife out of the house. Marriage is also not about legalisms, pre-nuptial agreements, quickie weddings and quickie divorces in Vegas, or serial monogamy.
Jesus radically defends marriage by reminding us that marriage is about being both helper and partner.
Which brings us to the hard teaching in today’s gospel. Jesus privately tells his disciples, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
First, notice even here Jesus is radically challenging the status quo. Even suggesting that a woman could divorce her husband must have seemed bizarre to the disciples.
Hopefully the context of First Century marriage and divorce helps us to understand what Jesus is saying. But, it’s still a hard teaching and the Church has struggled with applying this hard teaching from the very beginning.
In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul writes that followers of Jesus who are married to unbelievers should stay married. But he includes an exception to that rule, writing, “But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so; in such a case the brother or sister is not bound.” (1 Cor. 7:12-16)
In the Gospel of Matthew, written after Mark, Jesus’ teaching is softened a bit. In Matthew Jesus says, as saying, “But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery.” (Matt. 5:32)
In the centuries since the Church has recognized that life – and particularly married life – is complicated and so the Church has struggled with Jesus’ teaching on divorce. Many of you know the solution of the Catholic Church known as an annulment – in which the Church declares there never was a valid marriage so there is no obstacle in remarrying.
In the Episcopal Church the canons on marriage evolved until 1973 when remarriage was allowed in the church with the bishop’s permission.
There are still some hardliners who think that Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Mark about divorce are very clear and we should simply stick to that.
But, when we put today’s gospel passage into the context of First Century Judaism and especially into the context of the whole Gospel we know that we are called to offer love and not condemnation. And if we really listen to what Jesus is saying, we recognize that Jesus isn’t primarily concerned with divorce.
Instead, Jesus is radically defending marriage by calling us back to the heart of marriage – two becoming one and serving as partners and helpers through the joys and burdens of life.
For those of us who are married, let us pray that God will give us grace to strengthen our marriages.
And may all of us always support those who are married and those who are divorced with love and compassion.
Amen.
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Funeral Sermon for Alpheus J. Dolan
Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
October 3, 2009
Sermon for the Funeral of Alpheus J. Dolan
Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 35-38, 42-44, 53-58
John 14: 1-6
“Number 5”
The lesson I just read comes from the account of the Last Supper in the Gospel of John. Jesus is saying farewell to his friends and they are beginning to realize just what this means. Jesus is going to die. Jesus – their friend, their teacher, their Lord – will no longer be with them, at least in the way they have known.
Even two thousand years later we can still feel the urgency of Jesus as he tries to assure them that he is going ahead to prepare a place for his friends.
And all these centuries later we can still hear the sadness, fear and confusion when the Apostle Thomas says, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
And then Jesus tells his friends more than they can understand, “I am the way, and the truth and the life.”
In his own quiet and practical way, Al Dolan placed his trust in Jesus as the way, and the truth and the life. He lived a life of faithfulness and dedication. And we’ve come together here this morning to mourn the loss of this good man, to give thanks for his well-lived life and to pray for him, his family and for all of us who miss him already.
Each time I visited Al, without fail, he would ask how things were going at Grace Church. Many times he told me how proud he was of this church.
Al was, of course, interested in how the people – especially his old buddies - were doing, but, to be honest, he was at least as interested in the furnace, the wiring, the plumbing, the bell and all the other things that unfortunately I know almost nothing about.
Good thing his pal Gene Carpenter, who has forgotten more about these buildings than I’ll ever learn, would regularly update Al on all the technical aspects of life at Grace Church.
Al wanted to know about the mechanics of Grace Church because, as many of you know, he was the one who had designed, built and maintained much of what makes these old buildings go.
In today’s gospel lesson Jesus assures Thomas and the other disciples that he has gone to prepare a place for us – a place to live with God forever.
Al is surely alive in that place, in the presence of God, but Al Dolan also lives on in the wires and switches and circuits and control panels that are quietly and faithfully doing their work right now all around us.
In part because he had the mind of an engineer, a mind that was always eager to design and build, it was always interesting to talk with Al – and to follow his train of thought.
Over his last months when he couldn’t do much else, he had a lot of time to think. In our talks he told me how he was trying to fit together all the pieces of his long life. He looked back to his childhood. He reflected on life as a husband, father, and grandfather. I hear he was a particularly doting grandfather, making a daily stop with Caroline at the bagel shop on the way to school. In fact, they were such regulars that one day the bagels were on the house!
As he worked at putting together the pieces of his life, Al looked back on his professional life – his accomplishments during a long career at Westinghouse. He also reflected on his deep friendships with Peg Helmers, who died just a few months ago, and Ginnie Brandt, who’s here with us this morning.
One memorable afternoon Al and I went through his family photo album – filled with so many remarkable pictures. What a wonderful keepsake for your family!
As I turned the pages, there was Al’s mother, the lovely and rather bohemian-looking concert pianist married to Al’s father who seemed to always be the sober-looking businessman. There was Al and his brother, Court, as boys growing up in Queens. There was his beloved wife Betty and there were his children, Jack and Lu Ann. And finally there was his son-in-law Mike and his granddaughter, Caroline.
And, as we turned the pages of the album and talked, Al puzzled over his life – how did he get to this point, how did all the pieces of his life fit together?
Just the other night, a line in a novel I’m reading jumped out at me because I think it may capture what Al was feeling as he looked back over his life, trying to fit all the pieces together.
In the novel there are two old men who grew up together and have been lifelong friends. They loved to tell stories about their youth and to laugh about them, even though to others the stories seemed not particularly funny. Other people couldn’t see the joke. Here’s the line from the novel’s narrator that grabbed me:
“The joke seemed to be that once they were very young and now they were very old, and that they had been the same day after day and were somehow at the end of it all so utterly changed.”
Near the end Al found a great deal of peace. It was a great gift when Mike and Lou Ann moved in with him and an even greater gift that Lou Ann got to be with her dad at the end.
The last time I visited as usual I asked how he was doing. He pointed and told me that he spent a lot of time looking at and thinking about that locomotive. At first I didn’t know what he was talking about, but then I looked over my shoulder and on a shelf above the window there was a model of a steam locomotive.
He told me the story of “Number 5.” When he was about five years old Al had ear surgery. Al’s father gave him this model engine, Number 5, as a gift. He had kept this deeply meaningful gift for all of these years.
As Al looked up at the engine with its headlight shining forth, true to form, he patiently explained to me how a steam engine worked.
But then he said that now Number 5 didn’t have much of a power source, just enough to keep the little headlight going but not enough to actually move. Number 5 had only a little power and sat on just a bit of track.
After a long pause, I asked Al how it made him feel seeing Number 5 that way.
He said one word, “Peaceful.”
I don’t know that Al was ever able to put together all the many pieces of his long life but lying there in bed that day near the end of his life he felt the love he had received from his father so long ago – the same kind of powerful love that Al shared with so many over the course of his long life. And that love was just a hint of the divine love Al is experiencing in the presence of God right now.
Al Dolan lived a good and faithful life and now he has completed his journey back to God.
Al’s journey is over, but for us, the journey continues. Last night here at Grace Church the bishop dedicated and blessed our new building – a building Al took great interest in and lived to see in person. There is great symbolism in that timing.
Just as the life and work of Al Dolan helped to lay the foundation for our lives today, so too with God’s help the life and work of Al Dolan can serve as an inspiration for us to live the rest of our lives with his kind of dedication and faithfulness.
Amen.
October 3, 2009
Sermon for the Funeral of Alpheus J. Dolan
Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 35-38, 42-44, 53-58
John 14: 1-6
“Number 5”
The lesson I just read comes from the account of the Last Supper in the Gospel of John. Jesus is saying farewell to his friends and they are beginning to realize just what this means. Jesus is going to die. Jesus – their friend, their teacher, their Lord – will no longer be with them, at least in the way they have known.
Even two thousand years later we can still feel the urgency of Jesus as he tries to assure them that he is going ahead to prepare a place for his friends.
And all these centuries later we can still hear the sadness, fear and confusion when the Apostle Thomas says, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
And then Jesus tells his friends more than they can understand, “I am the way, and the truth and the life.”
In his own quiet and practical way, Al Dolan placed his trust in Jesus as the way, and the truth and the life. He lived a life of faithfulness and dedication. And we’ve come together here this morning to mourn the loss of this good man, to give thanks for his well-lived life and to pray for him, his family and for all of us who miss him already.
Each time I visited Al, without fail, he would ask how things were going at Grace Church. Many times he told me how proud he was of this church.
Al was, of course, interested in how the people – especially his old buddies - were doing, but, to be honest, he was at least as interested in the furnace, the wiring, the plumbing, the bell and all the other things that unfortunately I know almost nothing about.
Good thing his pal Gene Carpenter, who has forgotten more about these buildings than I’ll ever learn, would regularly update Al on all the technical aspects of life at Grace Church.
Al wanted to know about the mechanics of Grace Church because, as many of you know, he was the one who had designed, built and maintained much of what makes these old buildings go.
In today’s gospel lesson Jesus assures Thomas and the other disciples that he has gone to prepare a place for us – a place to live with God forever.
Al is surely alive in that place, in the presence of God, but Al Dolan also lives on in the wires and switches and circuits and control panels that are quietly and faithfully doing their work right now all around us.
In part because he had the mind of an engineer, a mind that was always eager to design and build, it was always interesting to talk with Al – and to follow his train of thought.
Over his last months when he couldn’t do much else, he had a lot of time to think. In our talks he told me how he was trying to fit together all the pieces of his long life. He looked back to his childhood. He reflected on life as a husband, father, and grandfather. I hear he was a particularly doting grandfather, making a daily stop with Caroline at the bagel shop on the way to school. In fact, they were such regulars that one day the bagels were on the house!
As he worked at putting together the pieces of his life, Al looked back on his professional life – his accomplishments during a long career at Westinghouse. He also reflected on his deep friendships with Peg Helmers, who died just a few months ago, and Ginnie Brandt, who’s here with us this morning.
One memorable afternoon Al and I went through his family photo album – filled with so many remarkable pictures. What a wonderful keepsake for your family!
As I turned the pages, there was Al’s mother, the lovely and rather bohemian-looking concert pianist married to Al’s father who seemed to always be the sober-looking businessman. There was Al and his brother, Court, as boys growing up in Queens. There was his beloved wife Betty and there were his children, Jack and Lu Ann. And finally there was his son-in-law Mike and his granddaughter, Caroline.
And, as we turned the pages of the album and talked, Al puzzled over his life – how did he get to this point, how did all the pieces of his life fit together?
Just the other night, a line in a novel I’m reading jumped out at me because I think it may capture what Al was feeling as he looked back over his life, trying to fit all the pieces together.
In the novel there are two old men who grew up together and have been lifelong friends. They loved to tell stories about their youth and to laugh about them, even though to others the stories seemed not particularly funny. Other people couldn’t see the joke. Here’s the line from the novel’s narrator that grabbed me:
“The joke seemed to be that once they were very young and now they were very old, and that they had been the same day after day and were somehow at the end of it all so utterly changed.”
Near the end Al found a great deal of peace. It was a great gift when Mike and Lou Ann moved in with him and an even greater gift that Lou Ann got to be with her dad at the end.
The last time I visited as usual I asked how he was doing. He pointed and told me that he spent a lot of time looking at and thinking about that locomotive. At first I didn’t know what he was talking about, but then I looked over my shoulder and on a shelf above the window there was a model of a steam locomotive.
He told me the story of “Number 5.” When he was about five years old Al had ear surgery. Al’s father gave him this model engine, Number 5, as a gift. He had kept this deeply meaningful gift for all of these years.
As Al looked up at the engine with its headlight shining forth, true to form, he patiently explained to me how a steam engine worked.
But then he said that now Number 5 didn’t have much of a power source, just enough to keep the little headlight going but not enough to actually move. Number 5 had only a little power and sat on just a bit of track.
After a long pause, I asked Al how it made him feel seeing Number 5 that way.
He said one word, “Peaceful.”
I don’t know that Al was ever able to put together all the many pieces of his long life but lying there in bed that day near the end of his life he felt the love he had received from his father so long ago – the same kind of powerful love that Al shared with so many over the course of his long life. And that love was just a hint of the divine love Al is experiencing in the presence of God right now.
Al Dolan lived a good and faithful life and now he has completed his journey back to God.
Al’s journey is over, but for us, the journey continues. Last night here at Grace Church the bishop dedicated and blessed our new building – a building Al took great interest in and lived to see in person. There is great symbolism in that timing.
Just as the life and work of Al Dolan helped to lay the foundation for our lives today, so too with God’s help the life and work of Al Dolan can serve as an inspiration for us to live the rest of our lives with his kind of dedication and faithfulness.
Amen.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Henry Hudson, Stewardship and the Midlife Crisis
Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
The Messenger
October 2009
Henry Hudson, Stewardship and the Midlife Crisis
Recently there have been a number of commemorations and exhibits both here and in the Netherlands marking the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s arrival in what would come to be known as New York Harbor and the great river bearing Hudson’s name.
I went to the Museum of the City of New York during my “staycation” in August to see one of these exhibits, “Manahatta/Manhattan: A Natural History of New York City.” I was fascinated to see how a group of natural scientists and computer wizards have created images displaying what Hudson and his crew on the Half Moon would have seen as they sailed into the wide and deep harbor, filled with hope that they had found the gateway to Asia.
The explorers sailed through waters teeming with fish and other aquatic life. Manhattan itself was covered with a lush forest while to the west the marshes of what would some day be called Hudson County undoubtedly reminded the Dutch crewmembers of home. According to the exhibit, when Hudson arrived Manhattan was home to “627 species of plants, 85 species of fish, 32 species of reptiles and amphibians, 233 species of birds and 24 species of mammals.” Observing this abundance, I am sure that Hudson and his crew thought that this land offered unlimited, inexhaustible resources. Of course, 400 years later, we know that the rich natural resources of Manhattan and the surrounding region were all too finite. No one would confuse Hudson County and the Netherlands today!
When I was young I saw my life just how Hudson and his crew must have seen this green new world. Of course, I was conscious of death but my life seemed unlimited and inexhaustible. Maybe you had the same kind of experience. But now as I make my way through my fifth decade I am becoming acutely aware that my life and the lives of those I care about are all too finite. I wouldn’t exactly call it a midlife crisis, but I am being more careful about my priorities and especially with how I spend my time. I am trying to be a better steward of the time God has given me.
Obviously, better stewardship of time will mean different changes and adjustments for each one of us. For me, it has meant virtually eliminating television from my life. There are a handful of shows that I still watch if I am feeling worn out or could use an easy laugh, but there aren’t any programs I schedule into my life. Instead, I’ve been trying to make more time for reading. I’ve set the completely unrealistic goal of reading a book a week, including some of the classics, such as Crime and Punishment and Heart of Darkness, which somehow I missed along the way.
I’ve also been trying to do a better job of tending to my relationships. Like many of you, my wife Sue and I are busy people and it’s all too easy to lose track of one another in the frenzied pace of daily life. We’ve been trying to make time so we can share the ups and downs of life – maybe over dinner or just together on the couch after full days in the classroom and at church. Reaching out to other people in my life continues to be problematic. I admit that months easily slip by without talking to friends and relatives. How many of us have been shocked to realize just how long it has been since we have talked with a good friend or a close member of the family?
Finally, and most importantly, there is my relationship with God. I remain challenged by something Bishop Beckwith said at my ordination to the diaconate. Addressing us newly minted deacons he said, “We pay you to pray.” Since I spend so much time in church it may seem odd that this is such a challenge. But since church is also my work it is remarkably easy for my own spiritual life to fall by the wayside. It’s a challenge to be a good enough steward of my time that I leave even just a little room in my life to pray and to listen for what God might be calling – or nudging – me to be and do.
By now you know that Stewardship season is just about upon us. The Stewardship Committee has been working hard to help us all to become even better stewards of our resources. Naturally, much of the focus in coming weeks will be on our essential financial support of Grace Church and its ministries. I have some thoughts about that as well, and soon you’ll be hearing from me on stewardship of our financial treasure.
Money, of course, is not the only treasure we have been given. During this time when we are thinking carefully about stewardship let’s be sure to give some attention to how we use our time. Are there time-wasters that we could - or even should - remove from our life? Can we find the time to reach out to a friend or relative – especially if we know they could use a boost? Are we carving out some time for service to those in need? Finally, and most important, are we offering even just a few minutes a day in quiet prayer?
Although for each of us the answers to these questions will be different, as we focus on stewardship it is crucial to be mindful of how we use our precious and all too finite resource of time.
The Messenger
October 2009
Henry Hudson, Stewardship and the Midlife Crisis
Recently there have been a number of commemorations and exhibits both here and in the Netherlands marking the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s arrival in what would come to be known as New York Harbor and the great river bearing Hudson’s name.
I went to the Museum of the City of New York during my “staycation” in August to see one of these exhibits, “Manahatta/Manhattan: A Natural History of New York City.” I was fascinated to see how a group of natural scientists and computer wizards have created images displaying what Hudson and his crew on the Half Moon would have seen as they sailed into the wide and deep harbor, filled with hope that they had found the gateway to Asia.
The explorers sailed through waters teeming with fish and other aquatic life. Manhattan itself was covered with a lush forest while to the west the marshes of what would some day be called Hudson County undoubtedly reminded the Dutch crewmembers of home. According to the exhibit, when Hudson arrived Manhattan was home to “627 species of plants, 85 species of fish, 32 species of reptiles and amphibians, 233 species of birds and 24 species of mammals.” Observing this abundance, I am sure that Hudson and his crew thought that this land offered unlimited, inexhaustible resources. Of course, 400 years later, we know that the rich natural resources of Manhattan and the surrounding region were all too finite. No one would confuse Hudson County and the Netherlands today!
When I was young I saw my life just how Hudson and his crew must have seen this green new world. Of course, I was conscious of death but my life seemed unlimited and inexhaustible. Maybe you had the same kind of experience. But now as I make my way through my fifth decade I am becoming acutely aware that my life and the lives of those I care about are all too finite. I wouldn’t exactly call it a midlife crisis, but I am being more careful about my priorities and especially with how I spend my time. I am trying to be a better steward of the time God has given me.
Obviously, better stewardship of time will mean different changes and adjustments for each one of us. For me, it has meant virtually eliminating television from my life. There are a handful of shows that I still watch if I am feeling worn out or could use an easy laugh, but there aren’t any programs I schedule into my life. Instead, I’ve been trying to make more time for reading. I’ve set the completely unrealistic goal of reading a book a week, including some of the classics, such as Crime and Punishment and Heart of Darkness, which somehow I missed along the way.
I’ve also been trying to do a better job of tending to my relationships. Like many of you, my wife Sue and I are busy people and it’s all too easy to lose track of one another in the frenzied pace of daily life. We’ve been trying to make time so we can share the ups and downs of life – maybe over dinner or just together on the couch after full days in the classroom and at church. Reaching out to other people in my life continues to be problematic. I admit that months easily slip by without talking to friends and relatives. How many of us have been shocked to realize just how long it has been since we have talked with a good friend or a close member of the family?
Finally, and most importantly, there is my relationship with God. I remain challenged by something Bishop Beckwith said at my ordination to the diaconate. Addressing us newly minted deacons he said, “We pay you to pray.” Since I spend so much time in church it may seem odd that this is such a challenge. But since church is also my work it is remarkably easy for my own spiritual life to fall by the wayside. It’s a challenge to be a good enough steward of my time that I leave even just a little room in my life to pray and to listen for what God might be calling – or nudging – me to be and do.
By now you know that Stewardship season is just about upon us. The Stewardship Committee has been working hard to help us all to become even better stewards of our resources. Naturally, much of the focus in coming weeks will be on our essential financial support of Grace Church and its ministries. I have some thoughts about that as well, and soon you’ll be hearing from me on stewardship of our financial treasure.
Money, of course, is not the only treasure we have been given. During this time when we are thinking carefully about stewardship let’s be sure to give some attention to how we use our time. Are there time-wasters that we could - or even should - remove from our life? Can we find the time to reach out to a friend or relative – especially if we know they could use a boost? Are we carving out some time for service to those in need? Finally, and most important, are we offering even just a few minutes a day in quiet prayer?
Although for each of us the answers to these questions will be different, as we focus on stewardship it is crucial to be mindful of how we use our precious and all too finite resource of time.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Stumbling
Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
September 27, 2009
The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
Year B: Proper 21
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
Psalm 124
(James 5:13-20)
Mark 9:38-50
Stumbling
This year on most Sundays we’ve been hearing lessons from the Gospel of Mark. For a long time, Christians didn’t pay too much attention to Mark. Since it’s the most barebones of the four gospels and shares much material with Matthew and Luke, it was seen as sort of the poor relation of the other gospels.
In more modern times, however, the Gospel of Mark has gotten a lot more attention. Most scholars have come to the conclusion that the barebones Gospel of Mark is actually the earliest of the gospels and that Matthew and Luke used Mark as their major source of material.
Most scholars date the writing of Mark’s gospel to around the year 70 - early, but still decades after the earthly lifetime and ministry of Jesus. This means that even this earliest gospel probably drew upon earlier written material about Jesus as well as oral traditions about Jesus that had been passed down over a couple of generations.
In the kind of dense section of Mark that we read today we hear an echo of that earlier oral tradition. We have a cluster of Jesus sayings that Mark seems to have drawn from the oral, memorized tradition and inserted into the Gospel. There’s a lot for the preacher to unpack in this passage but I’d like to focus on stumbling and being a stumbling block for others.
First, this passage tells us is that from the very beginnings Christians have stumbled. One of the major themes running through the gospel is that over and over the disciples don’t really get what Jesus is trying to teach them. This theme probably reflects historical reality. I mean, let’s face it, Jesus is not the kind of messiah anyone was expecting and his teachings are always challenging. And this theme of the stumbling disciples also offers comfort to us today in our own stumbling. When we stumble we can take comfort that we’re the latest in a long line of Christian stumblers stretching all the way back to the first disciples.
So, in today’s gospel lesson we see the disciples stumble once again. The Good News is that Jesus is always ready to forgive their – and our - stumbling.
This whole section of the Gospel of Mark is about Jesus making his journey to Jerusalem where he will give his life for humanity. There is urgency to the gospel as Jesus tries to get his message through the thick heads of the disciples.
Two weeks ago we heard Peter get it half-right when he recognized Jesus as the Messiah but could not accept that Jesus was going to be the Messiah who suffered and died on the Cross. Remember Jesus strongly rebukes the stumbling Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!” Time is running out for Jesus to get his message to the disciples.
Last week, we heard the disciples stumble when they argued among themselves about who was the greatest. Jesus succinctly puts his message to the disciples, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Time is running out for Jesus to get his message through to the disciples.
And now today we hear the disciples stumble again. This time the disciples are concerned because someone not part of their inner circle is casting out demons in the name of Jesus. This story echoes today’s Old Testament lesson from the Book of Numbers where Joshua, Moses’ assistant is upset that Eldad and Medad – not part of the inner circle – were prophesying. Moses’ takes it all in stride saying, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!”
There’s an extra wrinkle to the story about Jesus’ disciples, though. Just a little earlier Mark tells the story of Jesus’ disciples being not able to cast out a demon. So, imagine their frustration anger and confusion. Here we are part of the inner circle and we can’t seem to heal people and along comes this person we don’t even know and he’s able to do cast a demon. Can’t you imagine them running back to Jesus, “Jesus, do something – stop this guy – we’re the inner circle – we’re the ones who should have the power!” Jesus, however, is not too concerned about soothing the insecurities of his disciples. Can you imagine the reaction of the stumbling disciples when Jesus says, “Whoever is not against us is for us.”
Hoping to have exclusive rights to the power of Jesus, the disciples stumble once again. The good news for them and for us is that Jesus is patient with stumbling. Patience and forgiveness are always available to us.
However. There is stumbling and then there is deliberately causing others to stumble. Jesus uses very graphic language to highlight the seriousness of being a stumbling block for someone else.
“It would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.” Here today he might say something like, it would be better if you were wearing cement shoes and were thrown into the Hackensack River.
What is Jesus talking about when he warns us not to be a stumbling block for those who believe in him?
We should do nothing deliberately to cause someone else to lose their faith in Jesus.
What comes to mind when we think of stumbling blocks – of doing something that causes people to lose faith in Jesus?
Maybe we think of some of the terrible church scandals of recent years, the horrible stories of child abuse. Much of the focus has been on the Roman Catholic Church, but no denomination has been immune to it. Of course the core of the tragedy is what happens to child who is abused. But think also of the many people who lost their faith in Christianity because of the misdeeds of some.
What comes to mind when we think of stumbling blocks – of doing something that causes people to lose faith in Jesus?
Sometimes when I’m stopped at the light at Kings Road and Green Avenue I reflect on the line of churches one after the other – the Roman Catholics, the Presbyterians, the Episcopalians and the Methodists. We are all Christians who agree on the most fundamental things but disagree on quite a lot, too. And in some cases we carry the weight of some ugly and even bloody history.
How many people have thought as they looked at all these different churches, why believe in Jesus if his followers can’t even get along?
Then there’s the Episcopal Church itself. We have always had disagreements about all sorts of things from altar candles to women’s ordination but in recent years the church has been nearly consumed by battles over biblical interpretation, human sexuality, money, property and power.
Why in the world would I be a Christian if even people in one little denomination can’t seem to get along with one another?
I think these are good examples of stumbling blocks, but they’re a little abstract aren’t they? They don’t have too much to do with us personally, do they?
But, how about us? Are we ever stumbling blocks? Do we ever do anything deliberately that might cause people to turn away or to reject Jesus?
Well, when we act just like everybody else, when our faith makes no difference in how we live our lives, then we become stumbling blocks too. Then we too can cause people to turn away from Jesus or to reject Jesus.
When we pull out of the church parking lot and cut someone off then we have become a stumbling block.
When we are overly concerned with accumulating money and things then we have become a stumbling block.
When we act in an unethical or immoral way, then we have become a stumbling block.
When we ridicule those who are different than us, then we have become a stumbling block.
When we demonize those who disagree with us, then we have become a stumbling block.
When we don’t even try to love our neighbors – let alone our enemies! – then we have become a stumbling block.
When we act just like everybody else, when our baptism makes no difference in our lives, when our faith makes no difference in how we live our lives, then we become stumbling blocks too. Then we too can cause people to turn away from Jesus or to reject Jesus.
Jesus warns us that this is serious business.
In the gospels over and over we see the disciples stumble – they didn’t always get what Jesus was trying to teach them. But ultimately, those same stumbling disciples went out and proclaimed by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.
Like the first disciples, we are all stumblers.
But, are we also stumbling blocks?
Amen.
September 27, 2009
The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
Year B: Proper 21
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
Psalm 124
(James 5:13-20)
Mark 9:38-50
Stumbling
This year on most Sundays we’ve been hearing lessons from the Gospel of Mark. For a long time, Christians didn’t pay too much attention to Mark. Since it’s the most barebones of the four gospels and shares much material with Matthew and Luke, it was seen as sort of the poor relation of the other gospels.
In more modern times, however, the Gospel of Mark has gotten a lot more attention. Most scholars have come to the conclusion that the barebones Gospel of Mark is actually the earliest of the gospels and that Matthew and Luke used Mark as their major source of material.
Most scholars date the writing of Mark’s gospel to around the year 70 - early, but still decades after the earthly lifetime and ministry of Jesus. This means that even this earliest gospel probably drew upon earlier written material about Jesus as well as oral traditions about Jesus that had been passed down over a couple of generations.
In the kind of dense section of Mark that we read today we hear an echo of that earlier oral tradition. We have a cluster of Jesus sayings that Mark seems to have drawn from the oral, memorized tradition and inserted into the Gospel. There’s a lot for the preacher to unpack in this passage but I’d like to focus on stumbling and being a stumbling block for others.
First, this passage tells us is that from the very beginnings Christians have stumbled. One of the major themes running through the gospel is that over and over the disciples don’t really get what Jesus is trying to teach them. This theme probably reflects historical reality. I mean, let’s face it, Jesus is not the kind of messiah anyone was expecting and his teachings are always challenging. And this theme of the stumbling disciples also offers comfort to us today in our own stumbling. When we stumble we can take comfort that we’re the latest in a long line of Christian stumblers stretching all the way back to the first disciples.
So, in today’s gospel lesson we see the disciples stumble once again. The Good News is that Jesus is always ready to forgive their – and our - stumbling.
This whole section of the Gospel of Mark is about Jesus making his journey to Jerusalem where he will give his life for humanity. There is urgency to the gospel as Jesus tries to get his message through the thick heads of the disciples.
Two weeks ago we heard Peter get it half-right when he recognized Jesus as the Messiah but could not accept that Jesus was going to be the Messiah who suffered and died on the Cross. Remember Jesus strongly rebukes the stumbling Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!” Time is running out for Jesus to get his message to the disciples.
Last week, we heard the disciples stumble when they argued among themselves about who was the greatest. Jesus succinctly puts his message to the disciples, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Time is running out for Jesus to get his message through to the disciples.
And now today we hear the disciples stumble again. This time the disciples are concerned because someone not part of their inner circle is casting out demons in the name of Jesus. This story echoes today’s Old Testament lesson from the Book of Numbers where Joshua, Moses’ assistant is upset that Eldad and Medad – not part of the inner circle – were prophesying. Moses’ takes it all in stride saying, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!”
There’s an extra wrinkle to the story about Jesus’ disciples, though. Just a little earlier Mark tells the story of Jesus’ disciples being not able to cast out a demon. So, imagine their frustration anger and confusion. Here we are part of the inner circle and we can’t seem to heal people and along comes this person we don’t even know and he’s able to do cast a demon. Can’t you imagine them running back to Jesus, “Jesus, do something – stop this guy – we’re the inner circle – we’re the ones who should have the power!” Jesus, however, is not too concerned about soothing the insecurities of his disciples. Can you imagine the reaction of the stumbling disciples when Jesus says, “Whoever is not against us is for us.”
Hoping to have exclusive rights to the power of Jesus, the disciples stumble once again. The good news for them and for us is that Jesus is patient with stumbling. Patience and forgiveness are always available to us.
However. There is stumbling and then there is deliberately causing others to stumble. Jesus uses very graphic language to highlight the seriousness of being a stumbling block for someone else.
“It would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.” Here today he might say something like, it would be better if you were wearing cement shoes and were thrown into the Hackensack River.
What is Jesus talking about when he warns us not to be a stumbling block for those who believe in him?
We should do nothing deliberately to cause someone else to lose their faith in Jesus.
What comes to mind when we think of stumbling blocks – of doing something that causes people to lose faith in Jesus?
Maybe we think of some of the terrible church scandals of recent years, the horrible stories of child abuse. Much of the focus has been on the Roman Catholic Church, but no denomination has been immune to it. Of course the core of the tragedy is what happens to child who is abused. But think also of the many people who lost their faith in Christianity because of the misdeeds of some.
What comes to mind when we think of stumbling blocks – of doing something that causes people to lose faith in Jesus?
Sometimes when I’m stopped at the light at Kings Road and Green Avenue I reflect on the line of churches one after the other – the Roman Catholics, the Presbyterians, the Episcopalians and the Methodists. We are all Christians who agree on the most fundamental things but disagree on quite a lot, too. And in some cases we carry the weight of some ugly and even bloody history.
How many people have thought as they looked at all these different churches, why believe in Jesus if his followers can’t even get along?
Then there’s the Episcopal Church itself. We have always had disagreements about all sorts of things from altar candles to women’s ordination but in recent years the church has been nearly consumed by battles over biblical interpretation, human sexuality, money, property and power.
Why in the world would I be a Christian if even people in one little denomination can’t seem to get along with one another?
I think these are good examples of stumbling blocks, but they’re a little abstract aren’t they? They don’t have too much to do with us personally, do they?
But, how about us? Are we ever stumbling blocks? Do we ever do anything deliberately that might cause people to turn away or to reject Jesus?
Well, when we act just like everybody else, when our faith makes no difference in how we live our lives, then we become stumbling blocks too. Then we too can cause people to turn away from Jesus or to reject Jesus.
When we pull out of the church parking lot and cut someone off then we have become a stumbling block.
When we are overly concerned with accumulating money and things then we have become a stumbling block.
When we act in an unethical or immoral way, then we have become a stumbling block.
When we ridicule those who are different than us, then we have become a stumbling block.
When we demonize those who disagree with us, then we have become a stumbling block.
When we don’t even try to love our neighbors – let alone our enemies! – then we have become a stumbling block.
When we act just like everybody else, when our baptism makes no difference in our lives, when our faith makes no difference in how we live our lives, then we become stumbling blocks too. Then we too can cause people to turn away from Jesus or to reject Jesus.
Jesus warns us that this is serious business.
In the gospels over and over we see the disciples stumble – they didn’t always get what Jesus was trying to teach them. But ultimately, those same stumbling disciples went out and proclaimed by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.
Like the first disciples, we are all stumblers.
But, are we also stumbling blocks?
Amen.
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