Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Year B Passion Sunday WEDNESDAY 2024 And Judas, Too

 Year B Passion Sunday WEDNESDAY, 27 March 2024

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“And Judas, Too”


Collect: Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


John 13:21-32

At supper with his friends, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, "Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me." The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples-- the one whom Jesus loved-- was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "Do quickly what you are going to do." Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the festival"; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once."


So we are here already. Lent is almost over. We are on the cusp of the Triduum, the morning of Wednesday in Holy Week, and we have the reading of Jesus with his disciples having their Last Supper together. We have come to the end, where Jesus is sending out the one to betray him and hand him over to the Jewish authorities.


I have spoken in years past about the dipping of the matzah into the dish Jesus mentions. The final dish of the meal could very well be the Maror, the bitter herb. Often in the States we use the biggest chunk of horseradish. The taste was to remind us of the bitterness of slavery, often eaten with parsley or romaine lettuce. Was this what was on Judas’ tongue as he was sent out? Or did Jesus use the Charoset, the mixture of apples and wine, the sweet taste of freedom, even then offering and extending Grace to his betrayer?


When I hear people saying that God hates anybody, I remember this moment.


When I hear people talk about who should be excluded from the church or from the altar of Christ, I remember the moment.


When I hear people do anything other than extend enthusiastic welcome to God’s Children, I think of this moment.

I cannot reconcile these thoughts in my mind. If Jesus welcomed, washed, fed, and loved Judas, who are we to take the privilege of excluding anybody?


If Jesus can wash Judas’ feet, who should we exclude? Who is more despicable?


If Jesus can serve the meal to him, who is not welcome? Ever?


We come to receive Grace not to celebrate our Grace.


We come to get a taste of Freedom, this meal being a foretaste and promise of the True Freedom we will one day receive.


That Judas was able to remain with the 12, without shame or scorn or rejection by Christ says so much about who he was and how we should be, too.


Jesus’ sending Judas out with the words, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” haunts me. It haunts me because Jesus and Judas were resolved to go to the point of no return. And even knowing what he was about to do, Jesus welcomed, washed, fed, and loved Judas.


When we are not the people we should be, Jesus does the same for us. Welcomed, washed, fed, and loved, we are called home however far we roam, however deep into sin we have delved.


Jesus is all about transformation. Satan is about corruption. Satan working in Judas takes a kiss, a sign of intimacy and love, and transforms it into betrayal. Corruption at its utmost. Jesus takes a sign of death, the cross, and transforms it into the way of Life. Could it be any more clear? As Rachel Held Evans reminded us: “The apostles remembered what many modern Christians tend to forget– that what makes the gospel offensive isn’t who it keeps out but who it lets in.”


When you are feeling down on yourself, or on something you have done, that is not the voice of Christ. Walk away from that voice. Listen for the one who gives life and loves you. If you are not feeling God with you, pray for awareness. God has not, will not, will never leave you. As Jesus promised, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen


Sunday, March 24, 2024

Year B Passion Sunday 2024 Extravagance

 Year B Passion Sunday, 24 March 2024

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Extravagance”


Collect: Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


Mark 14:1-15:47

It was two days before the Passover and the festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him; for they said, “Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.”

While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”

Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?” So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” So the disciples set out and went to the city, and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.

When it was evening, he came with the twelve. And when they had taken their places and were eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” They began to be distressed and to say to him one after another, “Surely, not I?” He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the bowl with me. For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.”

While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, “You will all become deserters; for it is written,

‘I will strike the shepherd,

and the sheep will be scattered.’

But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter said to him, “Even though all become deserters, I will not.” Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.” But he said vehemently, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And all of them said the same.


We have stopped the narrative of the day. It has become a tradition around here, halting before Gethsemane. We start with the readings for the Passion Week, but we are still in the story. We stop it because this is where we are in our service today. Somewhere between preaching/learning, and remembering Jesus’ last supper.


Do not worry, before we go out this day we will finish the readings from Mark that go through Golgotha. We do that as we go out into the week that was, our week that will be…


We embrace the details of this most holy week each and every year. And every year we see them differently, because, I trust, you are different. Water has gone under the bridge. You are older. Are you better? Am I? We will see. And as we have changed the view of these very familiar events change as well.


This year, the thought of Extravagance was what kept echoing in my brain. Over and over again, extravagance is given.


The woman, in Mark unnamed, performs an act of unswerving beauty and unimagined extravagance. Her bottle of perfume, in today’s hourly minimum wage is looking at about $36,000 for a few moments of unimagined Grace.


I like to think that no matter how horrible the events are that come about the rest of this week, Jesus did have this one thing lingering with him. The scent of this gift showered on him would not go away. Even in the cell at Caiaphas’ house, the perfume would remain. A gift amidst so much horror.


We also see the Seder meal that celebrated that night, where Jesus takes the simple elements of reminding God’s people of redemption, and transforms them to symbols of Salvation and Grace.


Jesus taught the disciples, and us, this:

While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”


Friends, we may not be able to comprehend the meaning, purposes, or outcomes of these elements on us and for our lives, but we cannot argue this. If Jesus is who we say he is, and the bread is his body, and the wine his blood, metaphorically, symbolically, or literally, could there be anything more Extravagant than that?


That the Son of God, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, says that this is his body and blood, taken, broken, blessed, and given for each and every one of us, what could be more extravagant than that? I cannot think of a thing.


When we come to the Altar, Christ’s table for all of us, think on that. The simple bread, the sip of wine, is costly, and precious, and good. This extravagance would be for you if you were the only person who ever lived. Sometimes with the children, who are often confused by the body and blood language, and maybe even scared, I sometimes say, “This is just for you.” That’s Gospel. That’s Extravagance. That’s Grace.


But not all the extravagances of that night were of any value. Jesus made a prediction of what was to come in the wee hours of that night. He was forthright. But the disciples with Peter as the Ring Leader said ‘“Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And all of them said the same.’ Extravagant promises, promises unfulfilled. They all walked away. They all let it happen.


Jesus knew it would. He knew they would let him stand alone. He does not condemn them for it. He says it plainly and matter-of-fact-ly. Their extravagance came to mean nothing. But even then, EVEN THEN, his forgiveness and grace extended to them even at this lowest moment of his life. Alone. Scared. Forlorn. And still his loved flowed. 


There is a reason why we call this the Passion. Only love could do this. Only Jesus could do this. For God so loved the world that God gave his only Son that whoever of us believes in him won’t be condemned but shall live forever. Jesus came into this world, not to condemn us, but that each and every one of us could be saved in him, through him, and for him.


Extravagance, friends. From Gethsemane to Golgotha, from Canterbury to 815(hq for the Episcopal Church), from St. James the Less to your Home. The love flows out. While shrouded in heartbreak and bad intentions, God’s love will win out. It always has, and it always will.


Extravagance! Amen 

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Year B Lent 4 WED 2024 Wherever He Goes

 Year B Lent 4 WEDNESDAY, 13 March 2024

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Wherever He Goes”


Collect: O Lord our God, you sustained your ancient people in the wilderness with bread from heaven: Feed now your pilgrim flock with the food that endures to everlasting life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


John 5:19–29

Jesus said to the Jews, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life. 

“Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”


I saw a cute little collection of videos the other day. It was toddlers mimicking older folks getting out of chairs and other things where the aches and pains require a response. And the toddlers did as they saw. Monkey see, monkey do. It was rather cute.


Jesus is saying that he is following God’s lead. As the Father, so the Son. 


So often we want to think there was the age of miracle and prophecy. God never stopped being at work in the world. Ever. Then and now.


We all hear rumors that the Church is dead, or the Episcopal Church is doomed. There will never be none. Some of us are just too stubborn to go anywhere else. Or for me, it took me so long and we went so far to find what we found in the Episcopal Church that I cannot imagine ever not being here.


I came because I heard the call of God and the insistence of God. I had thought about it two serious times before, but it was not worth the price. But when we were really ready, it came quickly and joyfully. When people ask why we came into the Episcopal Church there are reasons, many of them. But the “Why?” is that God called us.


God is still at work, and the best thing that we can do is to be open and ready, and when we hear God call “Jump!”, we do.


The old phrase rings so true. The Most Important Things In Life We Cannot See. That Bread of Heaven is still what feeds my soul. Eucharist, God’s Word, those still quiet moments in the Daily Office. This is when and how God feeds me. He does not feed me for ONLY my nourishment, I have been fed so I can feed. I have been blessed to be a blessing. If I am following God I cannot go wrong. 


When Jesus goes on to speak of the Dead hearing his voice, it can get confusing. Are these the dead here? Or these the Dead waiting in Sheol or Hades, the waiting place of the souls of the departed.


We tend to explore this more on Holy Saturday, we often can get bogged down focusing too much on the metaphysics. So I will spend my energies on the things I can know. 


God is at work.


He invites each and every one of us to follow his lead, and be at the work at hand, just like Jesus did.


He gives us life after this life so that life, and our service of God, does not end.


The adventure of what comes next is not something that we as God’s Children need fear. From life to life. From love to love. From Now to Then, seamless and beautiful. 


Amen

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Year B Lent 3 2024 Things Real and Unreal

 Year B Lent 3, 3 March 2024

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Things Real and Unreal”


Collect: Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


John 2:13-22

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The[ Jewish Leaders] then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The [ Jewish Leaders]  then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.



“You cannot serve God and mammon.” That is how you may have first learned this idea. It is the King James Version, and its old sounding words were intentional when it came out. The New Revised Standard Version, the version we use here in church, puts the whole verse this way:

‘No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.’ Matthew 6:24


This is Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Wealth and money are a tool, but they are not the end, the “be all, end all.” Far from it.


While this verse is not in today’s readings, it does set up Jesus’ view of money, and money is one of the topics that Jesus talked about most. This construct we have is even one step removed from the money used in Jesus’ day. At least then the coins had the value of the metal used. Our paper money is a construct of a construct. 


And for us to get these constructs straight, you may be asking yourself, “Rock, what do you mean by construct?”


It is when we give something power or meaning beyond what it has on its own, and we mutually agree that this construct, which we made up, we will treat as if it is real. 


Imagine this: If I started pulling out $100 bills and lighting them on fire, one of you would run up here and stop me. Maybe because I should not be lighting fires in the church, but more so because I they are $100 bills. While printed on nice linen paper, it is still paper which we have together agreed has value. I can trade that piece of paper and several of us could go and have a meal together. What I can do with this thing is real, while the construct is not. National borders are the same way. We agree that there is a line where there is no actual, physical, visible line. People fight and die over those constructs. While make-believe, they are treated as real.


For many, God is a construct. They have not been introduced to a God that made sense to them or they have not had a profoundly personal interaction with the Almighty. I have said this before, when someone says around me that they are an atheist they often look to see if I react. I don’t. That is theirs and their experience. If I am able and they seem open I do ask them to describe the God they do not believe in. The times when people have taken me up on it, their construct of what “God” is supposed to be is a monster. Cruel. Harsh. Judgmental. Vindictive. I have always been able to say that I would not and do not believe in that God either. Really, it is their construct of a God that I could not fathom. But this is the one that someone, somewhere presented to them, and they rejected it. I would have as well.


And so that is where Jesus comes in, presenting a loving, relational, personal God. A God of Grace. A God of Forgiveness. A God like the Prodigal Son’s Dad. A God who weeps with us and welcomes us home.


With this in mind, we need to hear what Jesus is saying. ‘You cannot serve God and wealth.’


Don’t trade God who you know for some unknowable construct. Don’t trade love for power. Don’t give up things eternal for things whose meaning can disappear in a snap.


For Jesus, it is all about relationship, with God, with one another. At the end of the day, our relationships are the only things that are real. Some are new. Some are life-long. Some are hurting. Some are blooming.


This story about Jesus seems out of character, unless you filter it through that idea. That idea that relationships for Jesus are the be-all, end-all.


In recent years a joke has been made about this story. We all have probably seen the WWJD bracelets, and hats, and t-shirts, etc. 30 years ago they were everywhere. Since memes have become so huge on social media, I have heard “Next time you are asked, ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ Remind them that flipping over tables and chasing people with a whip is within the realm of possibilities.” While funny, he was making a huge point.



Jesus’ rage over the activities going on in the Temple was understandable. Prayer. Prayer was the reason for the Temple, not commerce. The booths were established for a reason, but then they became a means to an end.


The Temple put up with it because it got its cut. Dirty Roman money with a graven image on it, Caesar’s head, could not be used to pay the Temple tax. Good Jewish money with a menorah or other Jewish symbol on it could be used. So the moneychangers were there to exchange foreign currencies to the one and only place where it could be used, here at the Temple.


The sheep and cattle being sold were for sacrifices. Pure, unblemished. If bought there you did not have to bring one from far away over so many miles. While astronomically expensive, for many it saved so much headache and they were guaranteed to be taken as acceptable. It was worth the cost if you could afford it.


For Jesus, the commerce taking place had ceased to be a practical or even honoring thing. It was all being done for money. Money had become the reason for the Temple to be there instead of prayer.


Slight pause here, Prayer is the foundation of our relationship with God. Scripture is another. But the Temple was to be a house of Prayer first and foremost, so it was to be a place of relating to and with God. The stench of the animal pens that one had to go through to worship seemed out of place, and rightly so.


There are some tables we need to flip over in our lives, and maybe in our church. When we put outcomes and bottom lines above relationships and our faithfulness, yeah, we need to flip the tables. If someone took our building away, our church would still be here. If someone took Ashland away, we would still have a mission to spread God’s relationships and grow in ours with God. When this world is taken away, the one thing remaining will be your relationship with God. Alpha, Omega, Beginning, and End.


Today we gather(ed) for our Annual Meeting as a parish. We were able to see what took place in the previous year. We are in a time of high anxiety, and whenever we go through a period like the one we find ourselves in, people are cautious with the money. It is only natural. Because of that, we have had to have several monetary conversations. Every time we do I am reminded of today’s readings. 


Being reflective, I have to ask, are we gathering, or sending out this letter, or mentioning money in a sermon to further relationships or to be transparent in relationships? Or am I like the Temple leadership who were happy to take their cut of the marketplace’s income? We are very cautious around these topics.


But like you all, the church has bills. We have a wonderful space with which we are very generous. We have been and we aim to be in the future. We have these facilities to sponsor ministries or to further relationships. Like the money needed to keep them up, the facilities as nice as they are are merely a tool for the work God has given us to do.


We gather at the Annual Meeting to remind ourselves, no matter how often we attend, no matter which service we go to, no matter how long we have called this fellowship our spiritual home, we remind ourselves that we are the Church Family of St. James the Less. 


As a family we learn and grow from these truths.

Don’t trade God who you know for some unknowable construct. Don’t trade love for power. Don’t give up things eternal for things whose meaning can disappear in a snap.


We are a twig on the diocesan limb of the Episcopal branch of the Jesus movement. As we care for our family on each of these levels, God will be glorified and make Godself at home with us. As Revelation closes we hear God speak these words:

“See, the home of God is among mortals.

He will dwell with them;

they will be his peoples,

and God himself will be with them and be their God. (21:3) 


That is the relationship God wants with us and for us. Everything else is nothing. Amen


Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Year B Ash Wednesday 2024 If You Could Not Fail

 Year B Ash Wednesday, 14 February 2024

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“If You Could Not Fail”

Collect: Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Matthew 6:1-6,16-21

Jesus said, "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

"So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."


Tonight, we come to begin a season of penitence, contrition, and self-discipline. This is a good thing. It is good, and right, and true.

We mark the season as we mark ourselves, with the sign of the cross so that we can know that we are sitting ducks with our faith. We are declaring, or better yet, proclaiming that we are of Christ, in Christ, and for Christ. We identify with him, and as he turned his face to Jerusalem, so do we. We could not be more profound in what we do here today. We know the outcome of this journey. But in promise, we also know the Triumph of Easter.

Saturday we laid to rest a dear woman of God. Some funerals are easier to do than others. Susan Chambers was kind through and through. I am sure I will see her in the Resurrection. Of her I have no doubts. But in the service we are promised the Hope of Easter, and no matter when we have a funeral, in penitential times like Advent or Lent, it is always a joyous celebration with the Alleluias included. As the rubric for the funeral rite says: 

The liturgy for the dead is an Easter liturgy. It finds all meaning in the
resurrection. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we too, shall be
raised.
The liturgy, therefore, is characterized by joy, in the certainty that
"neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else
in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ
Jesus our Lord."

As we celebrated the life she lived, we are also reminded that this was not the end. Susan is singing and celebrating and living and serving God still and with no doubts or questions like we have on this side of the veil of death. The early church embraced this and lived like there is a forever tomorrow, and this foundational belief changed the world.

We have lost the sense of the early church in that we are unstoppable. There is a phrase that is bandied around, often as a motivator for people. 

What would you do if you weren’t afraid?

Another way to say it is also heard…

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Great questions. There have been several movies of late where people seemingly die, and then magically or technologically they zap back to where they were with no ill effect. It is done in the comedy Groundhog Day, and the sci-fi movie Edge of Tomorrow, and with superheros in Dr. Strange. They all are fulfilling that fantasy of what we would do if we knew we could not fail. And in Hollywood they say fail, and what they really mean is DIE. As followers of Christ, we are promised that death is not the end, and a victory as follow Christ. As St. Paul said, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)

So, what would you do if you knew you would not die?

That is a very different question. It is the driving force in the early church when they voluntarily went to serve lepers in leper colonies, or sang praises to God while being fed to Lions. The early church knew something that shook the moral fabric of the Roman Empire to its core. And somehow martyrdom and love conquered the Roman Empire.

These people were not afraid of death, some even willingly and joyfully embraced it. 2nd Century Theologian Tertullian said, “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.” Graphic, but history does not negate his thought. 

Today, we come. We come to be reminded of our mortality. We come to be reminded that we know the outcome of the path, whichever way it may lead. We come to acknowledge that we are dust and to dust we shall return. Like when Jesus was asked about paying taxes, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” When we meet our ending, give back to the earth what is earth, and give unto God what is God’s. And that is what made you YOU, anyway. You and your soul are made in the image of God, and it will return home.

One of the great founders of the modern missionary movements is William Carey. He said in a sermon, “Expect great things for God. Attempt great things for God.” And knowing the outcome of the game makes us taking bets with our finances, our families, our very lives, much easier.

That is why Jesus can instruct us when we pray, or fast, or give alms, do it for the God at work in you, and not for the recognition here on earth. We keep our disciplines secret, we keep them safe. We entrust them to the one for whom they are done.

When we treasure what God treasures, we are well on the way to the maturity that Christ calls us to. And we are storing up those treasures where they can never be taken away.

As you enter into this season, know that Christ is our Lord, but also our brother. He walks with us. He encourages us. He has walked this way before and we can trust his promptings to enrich and enhance our path.

And when we fall or fail, Christ will pick us up, dust us off, and invite us to begin again.

What would you do if you could not die?

You answered this in your baptism. You died to sin and death, and were raised into newness of life, but even more ETERNAL LIFE!

In closing today, I want to share a prayer from the prayer book, A Prayer for Young Persons (BCP, p. 829). And since we are all children of God, it fits all of us too, the young, and the youthfully challenged. I find it alarmingly appropriate as we begin the journey of Lent. It has been modified to the first person. Let us pray:

God our Father, you see us your children growing up in an unsteady and confusing world: Show us that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, and that following you is better than chasing after selfish goals. Help us to take failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chance for a new start. Give us strength to hold our faith in you, and to keep alive our joy in your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


Sunday, February 11, 2024

Year B Last Epiphany 2024 I Don't Know

Year B Last Sunday After Epiphany, 11 February 2024 St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA “I Don’t Know” Collect: O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Mark 9:2-9 Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. I get the opportunity every year to preach on the Transfiguration the Last Sunday of Epiphany. Year A from Matthew, Year B (like this year) from Mark, and Year C from Luke. And John, who would seem to be really into something like the Transfiguration does not even mention. And then Peter brings up the event in his letter which we call 2 Peter.

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. (2 Peter 1:16-18)

And you all will probably nod and smile while I talk about all this. You have heard this story before, maybe yearly, and you know it is part of something we do. But the hard part is, when it comes to this story about Jesus, most of us cannot even picture it in our minds, and if we can, it is vague and unclear. Hazy at best, I am guessing. We can picture Jesus healing people. We have been sick and we have seen people get better. We can wrap our minds around that. We can picture feeding 5,000 even, as we all eat and have probably been in an embarrassing situation we could not see our ways out of at all. But this, this prayer meeting on top of a mountain where the holiest of ancestors come and God speaks audibly. This is a whole different category for most of us. Epiphany is about the unveiling of Jesus as the second person in the Trinity. From the Wise Men to the Apostles, and at the Transfiguration all hiddenness is removed and we see Jesus for who he is. And that only makes for more confusion and questions. In our limited capacity, in our finitude, in our corporality, we are trapped. We are not all-knowing, eternal, or transmutable. We are mortal, caught in time, and trapped in bodies. Once we get into the omni-whatevers we are on shaky ground. And this event, as described, means that Jesus is all these things: omniscient, immortal, and extra-corporeal. And Beloved to boot. Explaining this is a tall order. We use that word, Mystery, an awful lot, and we don’t want to overdo it. So as we unpack the Transfiguration today, can I just start saying, “I don’t know.”? I know that might be troublesome for some, but it would help me feel more honest. That is the thing about faith. Once you start in the process, the things I cannot explain become easier. I let go of being anxious, and I just lean back into the “not knowing and just trusting.” It is a place that is becoming more and more comfortable the older I get. It is relearning the lesson children get so early. Mom calls you for dinner, and you get to the table. You prepare by washing your hands and acknowledging that you heard her. But you show up, and it is all there ready for you. You can trust Mom. And more and more we have to learn that we can trust God, too. Unless we have the faith of a child we can never enter the Kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3) Not having an answer does not come easy to me. I want to have an answer. I want to instill trust and faith into all our hearts, and repeatedly you all let me know that my vulnerability is better than an unsure answer. So here we are, when it comes to this event, I don’t know. I believe it. I teach it. I preach it. I speculate on it. But at the end of the day, I have to take it on faith. Like everything else. The part that I find beautiful about this Transfiguration event is not the goose-pimple raising sense of holy awe, but the comfort of the voice from heaven. While the idea of a Vox Dei (the voice of God) is often intimidating, God spoke for the disciples much more than for Jesus. You were communing fully with God, when the Voice came bellowing out: “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Ho Agapetos, THE BELOVED. These words were for the disciples, Peter, James, and John. Or maybe Moses and Elijah, but I doubt that. I feel pretty BELOVED that God the Father would let us know that Jesus is THE Beloved. That means, in letting us in on this info, that we are pretty beloved, too. Thank you, God! And I love that God says we should listen to Jesus. I should do that more and more. I think we all can say that. Maybe I should just say that. I don’t know about the How or Why of all of this. It is. It happened. Thanks be to God for letting us in on this knowledge of Jesus beyond our comprehension and beyond our belief. Maybe as I mature I am becoming more and more like Mark Twain. A line he said stuck with me. "It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand." The loving of enemies. Turning the other cheek stuff. That is pretty clear and straight, and much harder to do. I have a much harder time with those. So maybe as I sit in the mystery, I can rest easy in Christ’s words and encourage others to do that, too. I can see why Peter got confused and thought that this was the pinnacle of the story. That the show was over, and it was time for the after party. It seems pretty climactic. But this was the preview of coming attractions. The amuse bouche on the way to Jerusalem. Tabernacles and sites of remembrance are not needed. We need not come here for this is merely a waystation on the destination. We get so easily distracted. I think that is why Jesus told his closest comrades to keep quiet about this. Peter, who was there, could not get straight what had happened and what to do about it. How do they explain to the others who were not there what happened, why they weren’t invited, and what it all means? It was a lot, and Jesus knew, until they had the whole picture, including the resurrection, they just would not get it. Just like us. So still I left wondering, what do I say to you all on this last Sunday of the Epiphany, as we turn our face to Jerusalem? Hold on to your horses, we have just gotten started? Or, more soberly, let us prepare for the road ahead, wherever it may lead? So, dear people of God, the Transfiguration. Yeah, I don’t know. But listen to Jesus and you’ll be okay. God said so. Get ready, the road ahead is not an easy one, but God is with us now, and will be all along the way. Amen


Sunday, February 4, 2024

Year B 5th Epiphany 2024 Getting The Word Out

 Year B 5th Sunday after Epiphany, 4 February 2024

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Getting the Word Out”


Collect: Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.


1 Corinthians 9:16-23

If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.

For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.


Mark 1:29-39

After Jesus and his disciples left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.


We are coming to the end of the football season, and some people care passionately, and some could care less. One of the things about the fall, when it comes to football, anyway, is that some people are easily identifiable as being for one team or another. It stands out. And in this coming week some of your friends may wear a 49ers jersey or some other swag, and others will be sporting the Chiefs gear. Loudly, proudly, and with great joy emanating from them. The rest of us may show up, if for nothing other than the commercials. But for those in the thralls of team passion, enjoy it while it lasts.


Seeing what side we are on, is often not as obvious as the team gear I just mentioned. And like with the Big Game next week, there are those that care, and a whole spectrum of those who stretch across the vast center. Not cold or hot, just kinda there. One thing about the team swag, especially the jerseys, is that it gets your message out there early and readily identifiable. Not all messages are that easy.


Jesus, in our Gospel reading today, is still on the front end of getting the word out that he was here, he was actively doing ministry, and starting a process to take over the hearts and minds of all God’s Children one at a time. It would be long and slow, and it would be hard. He knew he only had a few years to make it visible to his disciples so that he could carry on the work he begins here.


We see him healing Peter’s mother-in-law, and silencing demons who want to undermine his work by loudly proclaiming his work and ministry before Jesus was able to lay the necessary good foundation. And he knew the level of self-care that this would require to accomplish this divine conspiracy to take over the world with love.


I do not think that it is accidental that Jesus models for us, even in the FIRST chapter of Mark, that for him to do what he came to do he has to continually revive and renew by getting away with God. He is not doing under his own power and strength as an individual, but rather, he is relying on God and making that relationship his first priority. He does this so he CAN get the word out. He cannot do the self-care later, he has to do it all along the way.


In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”


He did not come to set up a station for ministry, what we would probably call a church, that would make him important in a single place, he knew he had to keep on the move to ensure that the message was spread far and wide “FOR THAT IS WHAT I CAME OUT TO DO.” He did not mince any words.


Paul, likewise, is very clear. His heart is set on the Message, and getting the word out as far and wide as he possibly could. He rode his Roman citizenship so that whether free or arrested and being transported, he preached and shared and got up and did it again the next day. He says he was commissioned by Jesus and made an apostle (that is one sent out) to share this message, and he is obliged by this calling to make it so.


And he knows about communication. Very rare is the message that is “One Size Fits All.” The art of communication is often the art of sales. You have to speak the language of the person you want to receive the message. That is part of the job. Paul’s description may sound divisive and harsh to our ears, but it is clear and what the job required to share the Message. He put it this way…

For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak.


To all he found the slant that they needed to hear. Being a “slave” to the message is requisite. The Message is the Master, and finding the necessary slant is the job of the Communicator. While we shudder (rightly) at the word “slave” here, it is the Greek word given. Many translations use “servant” here to appeal to our sensibilities. But the word diakonos, the foundation of our word deacon, is servant or waiter. Dawn+, our deacon, serves at the table we come to today. Diakonos. But Paul uses the word Doulos, slave, as he is possessed with the Gospel and by the Gospel. His self-identification as such is all the more powerful. We still use this word in one who cares for the mother in childbirth, doula. It is still a powerful image.


So as a Doula, slave, Paul slants the Message to Jewish ears, and to Law-abiding, and to  the Lawless, and to the Weak. He finds a way to connect with the one hearing so that he can share this thing that possesses and consumes him. There is nothing higher in his life for Paul, this News so Good that he cannot help himself. He is so transformed that he changes his name from Saul to Paul, from the name of the first King of Israel who thought pretty highly of himself to a name of Latin origin meaning small or humble. In this new life, for Paul, was this message he was commissioned to carry to the known world. 


Today, we have numbed our ears to how radical and life-changing Jesus’ message is. It is an oxymoron to say that it is Old News, but probably we have watered it down so much that it is meaningless to too many.


Communication specialists tell us that the common person needs to have 6-8 interactions with something for the information to stick. And about 14 times for us to take action on it. Kasey and I have to laugh sometimes or we would cry when someone says we did not announce something when we did, repeatedly. But that is the nature of getting a message out. We say it. We say it again. We say it again and again. And even then it may not stick or no action is taken. That is hard.


And for my sanity, and Kasey’s, too, when you feel like we did not say something or get the word out, maybe phrase it, “I did not get that word.” instead of the far more accusatory, “You never said it.” We tossed the ball, really. It just was not caught.


In the coming days you are going to hear us try and get a message out, and we need everyone to hear it. We have had many “helpers'' turning the thermostats warmer. And I get it. We have had some very cold days in recent months. The problem is that the helpers make spaces warmer and then do not turn the thermostat back down. We came into a large space last week and someone had made it 80 degrees and then left it run that warm all night on a particularly cold night. That cost us a pretty penny. Last month’s electric bill was more than double the norm. So please, if you make it warmer you must turn it back down to the programmed temperature before leaving. We check when we walk by, but we cannot go to every thermostat in the building when we leave at the end of every day. 


Now in that paragraph I have tried in many ways to get the message out, don’t touch the thermostats or if you do, turn them back to the programmed settings. We even added little notes to them repeating this message. We have to do this. Electricity is expensive, and we can use those funds for so much more important things, like sharing the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ.


And as already shared, no communication is 100% effective. None. Even Paul says as much as he concludes in today’s reading. 

I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.

All things to all people to save some. Some. Not 100%. But Paul recognizes that we must try every tack we can take to see if one will work. And every group, every person, has their own peculiar slant. We have to find their slant and tack the message to let it have every possible means of being heard.


The other thing as we do what we can to share Christ’s Message is to trust the Holy Spirit to do the Holy Spirit’s job. Even Jesus knew his sticking around was not called for in Capernaum. He shared the world. People saw miraculous signs, and then after he recharged, he moved on. His job was to preach it, and then like a seed planted in the ground, it takes root in ways that we cannot imagine, and if God blesses it something miraculous can come to fruition.


Friends, from Jesus, to Paul, to your parents and Sunday School teachers, and maybe an occasional preacher planted the seed of faith that took root in your heart. And if not yet, I have faith. God can work miracles, and still does. e might not have jerseys to identify who team we play for, but maybe it is better that way. Scripture promises they will know we are Christians by our love, and that is better for the Message anyway.  Amen