May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: PENTECOST
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: June 24, 2001
TEXT: Zechariah 12:8-10, 13:1 – On that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.
See also: Galatians 3:23-29 – But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.
ISSUE: Zechariah brings a message of hope to a people who think that the future is grim, if not hopeless. Their lives have been very hard, and it has seemed as if God may have abandoned them in their hopes of rebuilding their lives and land. The prophet looks forward to a fountain that shall refresh them. It is the fountain of grace revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord. Who do you say that I am? . . . You are the fountain for life!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Last week we wrestled with the story of King David and noted some of his great weakness. Yet in spite of those weaknesses, by God’s grace, the shepherd boy became a strong leader and builder of a small nation that stood tall among the other nations of the time. He was seen as a great messianic figure even with his weaknesses. However the greatness of David’s Kingdom did not last. Eventually the nation divided in two again, and Judah and Israel were controlled by other greater nations. Probably one of the most devastating things that happen was the conquering of God’s people by the Babylonians. The nation’s leadership was destroyed and the Jewish people were sent into exile, forced to live in foreign nations. After the fall of the Babylonian Empire, the people were allowed to return to their homeland, and would hopefully rebuild the land and the Temple. Under the leadership of their Governor, Zerrubbabel, an all out effort was begun to restore the nation. It wasn’t easy. Re-organization was hard. There were droughts that caused new crops to fail. There was privation and insecurity. A long extended period of time went by and only the foundations of the new Temple were finished. You might well imagine what it would be like to have been evacuated caused by a nuclear accident, or even a house fire, to have to start all over again. For the Jewish people returning from exile it may well have seemed overwhelming.
To a people in great distress, the prophet Zechariah speaks. In this passage this morning, he is hardly a prophet of doom. He sees a day when Israel shall be raised up again like the house of old King David. Even though they shall mourn for the one who was pierced and taken from them, probably Zerrubabbel, they will know hope. On the day of the Lord, the age to come, a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and impurity. Remember that the people of this period perceived misfortune to be a result of sin, of unfaithfulness. But hope is given, a fountain of cleansing renewal and hope shall come and the nation will be restored. While we Christians are often inclined to think of the many of the Hebrew Scripture prophets to be prophets of gloom and doom, that belief is not accurate. Here is Zechariah is the glorious hope of a new day of the Lord. Such prophecies tell of the continuing presence of God with his people in compassion. God’s redeeming grace is present, and the people of God are called to renew their covenant of faith.
While in our own time, we Americans have not experienced being taken away in exile, yet we have often been exiled from a state of real and genuine peace. We’ve lived under many threats. World War II, it was thought, was the war to end all wars. Yet shortly thereafter came the cold war with the nuclear threat with Russia. We fought in the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam. We live today with a threat that is hard to handle, the threat of terrorism. There are significant concerns about American safety around the world and at home from terrorist bombs and biological threats. We also live with the war frequently called the war on drugs, which has had devastating effects on many people and families in this country. I would presume that all of us gathered here this morning are aware of people whose lives have been destroyed by the drug culture. It is a hard war to fight. While we may not have been removed from our homeland, we have been exiles from world peace. We struggle and battle with the ecological issues and global warming issues among nations and politics. And we might ask, can there ever be hope for peace. Hopelessness is for some folk a reality: “Peace, peace, when there is no peace!” (Jer.6:4, 8:14)
Within our personal lives we know the battles of doing what is right, when we lean more heavily to doing what is convenient or easy but wrong. Even St. Paul wrote he often knew what he should do, but was far more likely to do the opposite. We live with our own failures in relationships and in marriages. We lose loved ones, which can have a depressing and anger producing effect on our lives. All the hopes and dreams we had for one of the children doesn’t work out. What of the tragedy inflicted on so many by Timothy McVeigh, or of a mother who drowns her five children? The human condition is frightening. Sometimes our hopes and dreams simply do not come into reality, through the uncontrollable circumstances of our lives, or through our own inability or apathy at pushing forward.
I suppose that there is a sense of being in exile, when we lose sight of, or feel alienated from the Realm of God. We are truly alone and without hope. So unable to be in control of others, and more frequently ourselves and change the human condition where do we find hope? Where is Zechariah’s fountain that cleanses and renews the world? Where is the opening to the Realm and Kingdom of God?
Hope is linked to God’s grace. Zechariah’s message to a hopeless and discouraged people is the fountain. God will provide refreshment that purifies and renews, and his people will carry on. For the Christian Community, the fountain of hope and renewed life in the midst of despair and discouragement has been and always will be Jesus Christ. The life and the ministry of Jesus Christ was a giving of undeserved refreshment. To the 5,000 who followed him to a green hill, there was more than enough nourishment. To the wedding feast where the wine gave out, there was water changed to wine. To disciples uncertain about the future he poured out water and washed their feet. To the lepers and the sick and the dying, to the alienated, disenfranchised, the hopeless expendable folk, came a refreshing forgiveness and restoration. To so many who came to him with despair, discouraged, hopelessness came an unmerited, undeserved, unwarranted refreshing love and forgiveness. Even at the cross, comes the words to a thief, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
For Zechariah, there is a trust, a confidence, and an unwavering loyalty that God will not leave God’s people in despair and overwhelmed. Jesus raised the question among his disciples, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” They answer that some of the people say that he is Elijah the prophet come back to life again, or John the Baptist raised to life again., or one the ancient prophets risen again. These are all highly honorable suggestions. When specifically asked, Peter claims that Jesus is The Messiah of God. “Who Jesus is” is a question that all of us have to answer in our lives and in our world. Perhaps, he is the fountain of life, the visible expression of God’s love and forgiveness. He is the gracious fountain and the grace and hope we need in our despair, discouragements, and dismal moments. To find the peace we long for, to find the encouragement we need in life, to find meaningful lives we look to him and join with him taking up with him the cross and prevailing in trust and loyalty with confidence that the day of the Lord is coming. The hope of the world has come and continues. We trust that in Christ and through Christ the world will come to know peace, and that we will know encouragement always.
Sunday, June 24, 2001
Sunday, June 17, 2001
PENTECOST
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: PENTECOST
PROPER: 6C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: June 17,2001
TEXT: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:10,13-15 – Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah, and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. What have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?”
See also: Luke 7:36-50 – In response to the woman’s faith and devotion to our lord, “Then, he (Jesus) said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
ISSUE: The David and Nathan story reveals David’s injustice for his lack of concern for Uriah the Hittite, and the dispossessed. In the same manner Jesus is condemned for his association with the dispossessed sinful woman. These stories tell of God’s forgiveness, but at the same time the David Story reveals that there are consequences for sinfulness and injustices, symbolized by the death of Bathsheba’s child.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In both the Hebrew Scripture story from 2 Samuel concerning King David and his prophet Nathan, and the story of Jesus at the Pharisees Dinner Party are rich challenging stories. My concern is primarily this day with the David and Nathan story as it addresses a primary issue of justice in an unjust world and its consequences.
Here’s some background information. David had been a mere young shepherd boy, the last and least of Jesse’s sons. He was selected by Samuel the prophet as last and least, which was somewhat shocking, to become the King of Israel and Judah, replacing the now crazy King Saul. David was a complex figure in the Hebrew Scriptures but he does become by the grace of God the one most significant of all of Israel’s kings. He united Judah and Israel into one nation. He brought prosperity and respect to these nations. Both David and the nation stood tall among the nations of the world at that time, @ 1000 – 961 B.C. David inherited the wealth of former King Saul, according to the story. King David saw from the balcony of his Palace in Jerusalem the attractive woman Bathsheba and fell in love or was at least infatuated with her. Bathsheba was a married woman, married to one of David’s soldiers who was at the front fighting in a war. David summoned the woman to the palace and had a relationship with her, and she became pregnant. To cover what he had done, David sends for Uriah the Hittite, and a man in the socially dispossessed class, to return home, thinking that he would cohabit with his wife, and the child would be thought to be Uriah’s child. Uriah responds to the King’s call to return home but following a military code of ethics, refuses, even when intoxicated by King David’s manipulation from, having relations with Bathsheba. David then sends Uriah back to the front, orders him to the frontlines where he is sure that Uriah will be killed, and he is. Court intrigues, like Presidential ones, have a way of becoming leaked.
Nathan the prophet in David’s court, and a figure something like a prime minister or secretary of state confronts King David with the parable in the lesson today. Nathan tells the story of a poor man who has a lamb that he and his family adore as a cherished pet. A rich man comes on the scene and planning a dinner party refuses to slay a lamb from his own flock, and orders the taking and slaying of the poor man’s cherished lamb. On hearing this story that Nathan tells, King David is outraged and says that the evil rich man deserves to die, and that he should restore the lamb fourfold for having such little compassion for the poor man. Nathan’s reply to David is famous; “You are the man!” David has been given so much by God, and yet he has taken something that did not belong to him from the poor and the disposed Uriah the Hittite. He stands condemned. While we are inclined to dwell on the sexual sin here, it is really the cleverly arranged murder of Uriah that is the greater sin. At the same time there is also a clear implication that David has no sense of pity, compassion, justice for God’s own.
David confesses, and of course now that he’s caught what else can he do? However, David’s confession, “I have sinned against the Lord,” is met with a gracious forgiveness. However, we still have the problematic issue of the death of Bathsheba’s child as a resulting punishment, which makes us uncomfortable. We don’t like to think that there are punishments of this kind. Keep in mind that in this period, it was believed that God controlled everything which would include the unfortunate death of Bathsheba’s child, as a result of her and David’s adultery.
What seems to be at the heart of this story is the misuse of power, and a lack of compassion. King David has risen to the position of power, and uses it indiscriminately for his own purpose and pleasure. He loses sight of the fact that he is himself called to be a shepherd of his people, and not an exploiter of his people. He is as a charismatic figure to be a man sensitive of compassion. Actually in the story it is clear as David responds to Nathan’s parable that he has the capacity to be compassionate, but has lost sight of that as it relates to his own life.
Even in recent years we have seen the misuse of authority and power, the discompassionate, and the greed among some prominent religious leaders both TV Evangelists and clergy in our own denomination. People in positions of power, religious leaders, politicians-presidents, school authorities, policemen, have the inclination to be so enamored with their position as to become possessed or obsessed by the power over others and to lose the inner spiritual sense of compassion for others. It is often easy to forget where we came from ourselves, and how we have achieved position by the grace of God.
As a nation, we Americans have accumulated enormous wealth and power. We must be careful always, and prayerful always as a nation as to how we deal with other nations in the world of lesser power. We must have compassionate awareness and concern, and use the powers we have with great concern for what is fair and just. We are inclined to enjoy the cheaper labors of other nations without appropriate concerns of fair reimbursement and justice concerns. We have to be concerned for the amounts of resources we consume as powerful and wealthy Americans as it affects smaller and less powerful nations in the world. We all must be sensitive as to what our country does in the Middle East as the more powerful American supported nation of Israel deals with the poorer and far less powerful Palestinians.
We must also be constantly aware of the prejudices that so many of us learned as children and carry around with us, even today, regarding folk of other races, and I might add of people from other social classes. God calls us to respecting the dignity of all people. Yet, we still have strong feelings in our hearts about people of other races and classes that tends to keep them in lesser positions in work and fair salary standards. We think of these persons with less respect than we think of ourselves.
Even within our own parish, those of us who have been around for awhile are inclined to have assumed certain positions of power within the community. Letting new people in, and allowing them to become a part of the inner group without some effort on our part keeps people apart and without a sense of genuine belonging. Being a fair and just, welcoming, and a community open to the respect of others and their new ideas and ways doesn’t always come easy. King David only reached out for what satisfied his own needs, without a compassionate concern for others.
How we conduct ourselves even as parents of children calls for a sensitivity to sorting out what is right and good for our children, and what is a result of our own needs. Considerable parental hostility can be used against our children as our scapegoats. The recent tragic child abuse of the starved eight year old child of twenty five pounds is an extreme example. At the recent Diocesan Convention it was legislated that in addition to the Prevention of Sexual Abuse Courses for Children and Adults, clergy in this Diocese will also have to be trained in recognition of and prevention of and appropriate dealing with Spousal Abuse, because it has become such a problem in our society.
Nathan’s parable awakens David to his need for repentance and his need to change his use of God given power. In the Jesus story today, Jesus is invited to the home of a powerful Pharisee. But Jesus is seen as polluting the home, and being himself impure for his allowing the woman to anoint him with oil and for association with this least and last worthy specimen. But at the heart of the Gospel is not a retreating Christ, but one who stands firm in his use of power as a servanthood that forgives and respects.
I know we are left concerned with the child of Bathsheba and David that die, presumably as a kind of punishment for their sexual sin. Again, keep in mind that in the Hebrew Scriptures God is seen as responsible for everything. We as Christians do not believe that God would will the death of a child under these circumstances. But what is important to understand, and what I think is the issue in this story is that “sin has consequences.” Indeed, we can be forgiven and restored. God revealed in Jesus Christ extends his grace. But we too must be responsible people. The misuse and irresponsible possession of handguns in our city streets leaves dead children. Extreme force among Jews and Palestinians leaves many dead children in the aftermath of violence and terrorism leaves may dead children. Powers of the world that consume more than their share and who have no pity can leave children starving in third world countries. Fathers and Mothers who walk out on their families to satisfy their own needs can leave many disheveled confused children.
We indeed rejoice in the grace and the love that comes from God, and the bounty of God’s restoration and forgiveness. However, we must not forget, nor leave behind the understanding that our sins and misuse of power have consequences. We who are in the Spirit of God’s love must be constantly aware that we have choices and decisions to make. We in our human don’t always make the right ones and there are consequences. Pray for wisdom, for justice, for compassion. Nathan said to David, “You are the One!” Pray for repentance, that is, to be regularly changed.
SEASON: PENTECOST
PROPER: 6C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: June 17,2001
TEXT: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:10,13-15 – Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah, and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. What have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?”
See also: Luke 7:36-50 – In response to the woman’s faith and devotion to our lord, “Then, he (Jesus) said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
ISSUE: The David and Nathan story reveals David’s injustice for his lack of concern for Uriah the Hittite, and the dispossessed. In the same manner Jesus is condemned for his association with the dispossessed sinful woman. These stories tell of God’s forgiveness, but at the same time the David Story reveals that there are consequences for sinfulness and injustices, symbolized by the death of Bathsheba’s child.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In both the Hebrew Scripture story from 2 Samuel concerning King David and his prophet Nathan, and the story of Jesus at the Pharisees Dinner Party are rich challenging stories. My concern is primarily this day with the David and Nathan story as it addresses a primary issue of justice in an unjust world and its consequences.
Here’s some background information. David had been a mere young shepherd boy, the last and least of Jesse’s sons. He was selected by Samuel the prophet as last and least, which was somewhat shocking, to become the King of Israel and Judah, replacing the now crazy King Saul. David was a complex figure in the Hebrew Scriptures but he does become by the grace of God the one most significant of all of Israel’s kings. He united Judah and Israel into one nation. He brought prosperity and respect to these nations. Both David and the nation stood tall among the nations of the world at that time, @ 1000 – 961 B.C. David inherited the wealth of former King Saul, according to the story. King David saw from the balcony of his Palace in Jerusalem the attractive woman Bathsheba and fell in love or was at least infatuated with her. Bathsheba was a married woman, married to one of David’s soldiers who was at the front fighting in a war. David summoned the woman to the palace and had a relationship with her, and she became pregnant. To cover what he had done, David sends for Uriah the Hittite, and a man in the socially dispossessed class, to return home, thinking that he would cohabit with his wife, and the child would be thought to be Uriah’s child. Uriah responds to the King’s call to return home but following a military code of ethics, refuses, even when intoxicated by King David’s manipulation from, having relations with Bathsheba. David then sends Uriah back to the front, orders him to the frontlines where he is sure that Uriah will be killed, and he is. Court intrigues, like Presidential ones, have a way of becoming leaked.
Nathan the prophet in David’s court, and a figure something like a prime minister or secretary of state confronts King David with the parable in the lesson today. Nathan tells the story of a poor man who has a lamb that he and his family adore as a cherished pet. A rich man comes on the scene and planning a dinner party refuses to slay a lamb from his own flock, and orders the taking and slaying of the poor man’s cherished lamb. On hearing this story that Nathan tells, King David is outraged and says that the evil rich man deserves to die, and that he should restore the lamb fourfold for having such little compassion for the poor man. Nathan’s reply to David is famous; “You are the man!” David has been given so much by God, and yet he has taken something that did not belong to him from the poor and the disposed Uriah the Hittite. He stands condemned. While we are inclined to dwell on the sexual sin here, it is really the cleverly arranged murder of Uriah that is the greater sin. At the same time there is also a clear implication that David has no sense of pity, compassion, justice for God’s own.
David confesses, and of course now that he’s caught what else can he do? However, David’s confession, “I have sinned against the Lord,” is met with a gracious forgiveness. However, we still have the problematic issue of the death of Bathsheba’s child as a resulting punishment, which makes us uncomfortable. We don’t like to think that there are punishments of this kind. Keep in mind that in this period, it was believed that God controlled everything which would include the unfortunate death of Bathsheba’s child, as a result of her and David’s adultery.
What seems to be at the heart of this story is the misuse of power, and a lack of compassion. King David has risen to the position of power, and uses it indiscriminately for his own purpose and pleasure. He loses sight of the fact that he is himself called to be a shepherd of his people, and not an exploiter of his people. He is as a charismatic figure to be a man sensitive of compassion. Actually in the story it is clear as David responds to Nathan’s parable that he has the capacity to be compassionate, but has lost sight of that as it relates to his own life.
Even in recent years we have seen the misuse of authority and power, the discompassionate, and the greed among some prominent religious leaders both TV Evangelists and clergy in our own denomination. People in positions of power, religious leaders, politicians-presidents, school authorities, policemen, have the inclination to be so enamored with their position as to become possessed or obsessed by the power over others and to lose the inner spiritual sense of compassion for others. It is often easy to forget where we came from ourselves, and how we have achieved position by the grace of God.
As a nation, we Americans have accumulated enormous wealth and power. We must be careful always, and prayerful always as a nation as to how we deal with other nations in the world of lesser power. We must have compassionate awareness and concern, and use the powers we have with great concern for what is fair and just. We are inclined to enjoy the cheaper labors of other nations without appropriate concerns of fair reimbursement and justice concerns. We have to be concerned for the amounts of resources we consume as powerful and wealthy Americans as it affects smaller and less powerful nations in the world. We all must be sensitive as to what our country does in the Middle East as the more powerful American supported nation of Israel deals with the poorer and far less powerful Palestinians.
We must also be constantly aware of the prejudices that so many of us learned as children and carry around with us, even today, regarding folk of other races, and I might add of people from other social classes. God calls us to respecting the dignity of all people. Yet, we still have strong feelings in our hearts about people of other races and classes that tends to keep them in lesser positions in work and fair salary standards. We think of these persons with less respect than we think of ourselves.
Even within our own parish, those of us who have been around for awhile are inclined to have assumed certain positions of power within the community. Letting new people in, and allowing them to become a part of the inner group without some effort on our part keeps people apart and without a sense of genuine belonging. Being a fair and just, welcoming, and a community open to the respect of others and their new ideas and ways doesn’t always come easy. King David only reached out for what satisfied his own needs, without a compassionate concern for others.
How we conduct ourselves even as parents of children calls for a sensitivity to sorting out what is right and good for our children, and what is a result of our own needs. Considerable parental hostility can be used against our children as our scapegoats. The recent tragic child abuse of the starved eight year old child of twenty five pounds is an extreme example. At the recent Diocesan Convention it was legislated that in addition to the Prevention of Sexual Abuse Courses for Children and Adults, clergy in this Diocese will also have to be trained in recognition of and prevention of and appropriate dealing with Spousal Abuse, because it has become such a problem in our society.
Nathan’s parable awakens David to his need for repentance and his need to change his use of God given power. In the Jesus story today, Jesus is invited to the home of a powerful Pharisee. But Jesus is seen as polluting the home, and being himself impure for his allowing the woman to anoint him with oil and for association with this least and last worthy specimen. But at the heart of the Gospel is not a retreating Christ, but one who stands firm in his use of power as a servanthood that forgives and respects.
I know we are left concerned with the child of Bathsheba and David that die, presumably as a kind of punishment for their sexual sin. Again, keep in mind that in the Hebrew Scriptures God is seen as responsible for everything. We as Christians do not believe that God would will the death of a child under these circumstances. But what is important to understand, and what I think is the issue in this story is that “sin has consequences.” Indeed, we can be forgiven and restored. God revealed in Jesus Christ extends his grace. But we too must be responsible people. The misuse and irresponsible possession of handguns in our city streets leaves dead children. Extreme force among Jews and Palestinians leaves many dead children in the aftermath of violence and terrorism leaves may dead children. Powers of the world that consume more than their share and who have no pity can leave children starving in third world countries. Fathers and Mothers who walk out on their families to satisfy their own needs can leave many disheveled confused children.
We indeed rejoice in the grace and the love that comes from God, and the bounty of God’s restoration and forgiveness. However, we must not forget, nor leave behind the understanding that our sins and misuse of power have consequences. We who are in the Spirit of God’s love must be constantly aware that we have choices and decisions to make. We in our human don’t always make the right ones and there are consequences. Pray for wisdom, for justice, for compassion. Nathan said to David, “You are the One!” Pray for repentance, that is, to be regularly changed.
Sunday, June 10, 2001
TRINITY SUNDAY
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: TRINITY SUNDAY
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: June 10, 2001
TEXT: John 16:5-15 – When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak in his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
ISSUE: The church celebrates today the doctrine of the Trinity. It is the expression of our Christian understanding of the fullness of God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. While the teaching may not be the most exciting aspect of our faith, it does attempt to define what we believe about God. What we believe about God affects the way in which we live our lives. It provides us with mission and purpose of living in love and caring compassionately and sacrificially for one another.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I thought that this morning I might talk about something a little different from what we normally hear in sermons, at least mine. I thought this morning I might talk about God. Mostly we speak of Jesus, his teachings, life and parables. We spoke last week of the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Church, but we really don’t talk too much about God.
This Sunday that follows the Feast of the Pentecost has been known as Trinity Sunday for many years in the life of the church. The Doctrine of the Trinity is intended to define the Christian understanding of God in all of God’s fullness: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I know that many of you have been waiting all week with baited breath for me to talk with you this Sunday about the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity. We have all heard some of the examples that attempt to explain the Holy Trinity. It is like the sun: It is radiation, light, and warm; all three but still one sun. The trinity is like water: steam, liquid, and ice, but still water. So, there is God who is likened to a loving creative Father, like the loving forgiving Son, and life giving continually sustaining Holy Spirit. All of this concludes with the saying, “But of course you can’t understand it; it’s a mystery.”
Like it or not, I suppose that the idea of understanding God has some importance, and at the same time we do have to live with the paradox of trying to understand something beyond our human comprehension. For all intents and purposes, having some idea of what God is or is like has its effect on how we live our lives. Coming up with a concept of God in the modern world is not easy. There was a time when God was pictured as the compassionate, and sometime judgmental old man in heaven with a beard served its purpose. At the time there was the basic concept of the three story universe. The place of the dead was under the earth, and a place of dark shadows. We lived on the second story, and God was above on the third floor able to look down and seeing everything going on. More simplistic folk thought you had to follow the rule, and the good folk might make it to the third floor, and the bad were sent to the cellar. In our age since man has gone to the moon, and to even greater distances by sending TV cameras into space and with the remarkable ability of the Hubble space telescope to look deep into the past, and to the beginnings of the creation of the universe. Concepts of the expanding universe that expands through eternity challenges our comprehension or even our ability to state with any certainty that there is a God at all. The Big Bang concept, which indicates that the universe at the beginning was the size of a basketball, raises the issue of who lit the fuse to create the universe, and where did God stand or was it as some might believe cause by spontaneous combustion?
We have probably all thought of God being somewhat mysterious, but the mysteries of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Black Holes in space, quantum physics are every bit as awesome as the concept of God and the creation. We may be inclined, if we can still believe in God at all, think of God as some kind of force, or energy that brought all of our being into existence, and the universe goes on expanding into infinity until such time that it simply burns itself out like a fire works display on the 4th of July.
Yet from the purely mysterious scientific point of view, it’s hard to come up with God as personal and interactive. People today are very locked into scientific and technological models about most everything. Some are hinting at the idea of what we say, think, and do, may well be merely the result of our brain chemistry make-up. If this is so, then our ability to be really free thinkers and responsible people is considerably diminished. What is right and wrong (our ethics and morals), what is beautiful or ugly (our aesthetic sense), is very much at loose ends, up for grabs. Without a place for God, we seem to be a meaningless conglomeration of particles expanding into . . .(what?) . . . no where? A purely scientific universe without God seems to be meaningless.
We are left with the question what is the truth?
Down through the ages, there have been those who have had visions. In this age and particularly in our culture we are very suspicious of people with visions and so-called mystical insights. We read about one such insight in the Book of Isaiah (6:1-8). Isaiah a holy man has a vision of the Throne of God. His vision contains seraphs or angel adoring the Holy of all Holy Beings. Isaiah is dazzled by the vision seeing himself as an unworthy creature of such a vision: “Woe is me! I am lost for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” A seraph flies to him, and cleans him, and calls him to bear witness. Isaiah is called into relationship with the Holy. There is a break through of the Holy into the mundane, the ordinary, to give purpose and meaning to the life of the prophet. The prophet has an experience of God.
The Book of the Revelation of John is another mystical expression from the Scriptures. John was living in a difficult and hateful world. But he has a vision of God breaking through and into that world bringing hope and a vision of ultimate victory in a deceitful and hateful world. God and goodness shall prevail.
Jesus called upon his disciples to look for the Spirit of Truth. Jesus lived at a time where the most important thing in the world was a person’s honor, or the family’s honor. They lied and cheated to maintain their status in the community. It was hard to believe anybody. Thus, you hear Jesus saying time and again: “Truly, Truly, I say to you. Verily, Verily. Amen, Amen.” I bring to you a truth about what God is like. The God he reveals is the God of Love and forgiveness, and the God who will make all things new. He call upon his followers to believe, to trust, to be loyal to the God of love. For that belief is what gives purpose and meaning to human life, to be in a loving, forgiving, renewing relationship with one another is the hope of the world that breaks through bondage, human humiliation, degradation, and lifts up the human condition into God’s presence.
In the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, what we are given to see is a metaphorical expression of God’s likeness. God is one. Yet God is in relationship with the Son. Between them is the bonding and binding relationship and Spirit of Love. Furthermore, Jesus Christ, Son of God becomes the outstretched hand of God that holds onto and embraces the creation with the loving Holy Spirit.
These concepts are not based on science, or upon proofs as the world understands proof. They are based on the human need for meaning and purpose, relationships of love, respect. Through God we have a concept of what is right and wrong; what is lovely and beautiful. We find our meaning in caring for one another and being in relationship with one another. What we come to believe and trust in as the holy, as the mysterious, as God, is what guides us in our living meaningful purposeful lives. If God is seen as hateful and completely judgmental, that’s the way we are inclined to live. If God is non-existent, then there is little hope or no hope for the future, no reason for being. If God is remote and like a clock maker who winds his clock and goes away, then the universe becomes mindless, soulless. What we believe is so important to the way we conduct and live our lives.
As strange as the Doctrine of the Trinity may seem, it has its purpose. God is indeed an incomprehensible mystery. If you can figure God out, then that is not God, but a human creation. No, we don’t know where God stands. But we know we are alive, in relationship, and that loving relationships give meaning to life. We know that watermelons, steamed crabs, corn on the cob, and fireflies, dogs, and butterflies are curious mysterious creations, but they are good, lovely, in a world of simple wonders. We share in the marvelous mystery and miracle of life whenever a child is born, and we baptize our children. All of these things bespeak of something truly unique and beyond our comprehension that we call God.
SEASON: TRINITY SUNDAY
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: June 10, 2001
TEXT: John 16:5-15 – When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak in his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
ISSUE: The church celebrates today the doctrine of the Trinity. It is the expression of our Christian understanding of the fullness of God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. While the teaching may not be the most exciting aspect of our faith, it does attempt to define what we believe about God. What we believe about God affects the way in which we live our lives. It provides us with mission and purpose of living in love and caring compassionately and sacrificially for one another.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I thought that this morning I might talk about something a little different from what we normally hear in sermons, at least mine. I thought this morning I might talk about God. Mostly we speak of Jesus, his teachings, life and parables. We spoke last week of the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Church, but we really don’t talk too much about God.
This Sunday that follows the Feast of the Pentecost has been known as Trinity Sunday for many years in the life of the church. The Doctrine of the Trinity is intended to define the Christian understanding of God in all of God’s fullness: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I know that many of you have been waiting all week with baited breath for me to talk with you this Sunday about the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity. We have all heard some of the examples that attempt to explain the Holy Trinity. It is like the sun: It is radiation, light, and warm; all three but still one sun. The trinity is like water: steam, liquid, and ice, but still water. So, there is God who is likened to a loving creative Father, like the loving forgiving Son, and life giving continually sustaining Holy Spirit. All of this concludes with the saying, “But of course you can’t understand it; it’s a mystery.”
Like it or not, I suppose that the idea of understanding God has some importance, and at the same time we do have to live with the paradox of trying to understand something beyond our human comprehension. For all intents and purposes, having some idea of what God is or is like has its effect on how we live our lives. Coming up with a concept of God in the modern world is not easy. There was a time when God was pictured as the compassionate, and sometime judgmental old man in heaven with a beard served its purpose. At the time there was the basic concept of the three story universe. The place of the dead was under the earth, and a place of dark shadows. We lived on the second story, and God was above on the third floor able to look down and seeing everything going on. More simplistic folk thought you had to follow the rule, and the good folk might make it to the third floor, and the bad were sent to the cellar. In our age since man has gone to the moon, and to even greater distances by sending TV cameras into space and with the remarkable ability of the Hubble space telescope to look deep into the past, and to the beginnings of the creation of the universe. Concepts of the expanding universe that expands through eternity challenges our comprehension or even our ability to state with any certainty that there is a God at all. The Big Bang concept, which indicates that the universe at the beginning was the size of a basketball, raises the issue of who lit the fuse to create the universe, and where did God stand or was it as some might believe cause by spontaneous combustion?
We have probably all thought of God being somewhat mysterious, but the mysteries of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Black Holes in space, quantum physics are every bit as awesome as the concept of God and the creation. We may be inclined, if we can still believe in God at all, think of God as some kind of force, or energy that brought all of our being into existence, and the universe goes on expanding into infinity until such time that it simply burns itself out like a fire works display on the 4th of July.
Yet from the purely mysterious scientific point of view, it’s hard to come up with God as personal and interactive. People today are very locked into scientific and technological models about most everything. Some are hinting at the idea of what we say, think, and do, may well be merely the result of our brain chemistry make-up. If this is so, then our ability to be really free thinkers and responsible people is considerably diminished. What is right and wrong (our ethics and morals), what is beautiful or ugly (our aesthetic sense), is very much at loose ends, up for grabs. Without a place for God, we seem to be a meaningless conglomeration of particles expanding into . . .(what?) . . . no where? A purely scientific universe without God seems to be meaningless.
We are left with the question what is the truth?
Down through the ages, there have been those who have had visions. In this age and particularly in our culture we are very suspicious of people with visions and so-called mystical insights. We read about one such insight in the Book of Isaiah (6:1-8). Isaiah a holy man has a vision of the Throne of God. His vision contains seraphs or angel adoring the Holy of all Holy Beings. Isaiah is dazzled by the vision seeing himself as an unworthy creature of such a vision: “Woe is me! I am lost for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” A seraph flies to him, and cleans him, and calls him to bear witness. Isaiah is called into relationship with the Holy. There is a break through of the Holy into the mundane, the ordinary, to give purpose and meaning to the life of the prophet. The prophet has an experience of God.
The Book of the Revelation of John is another mystical expression from the Scriptures. John was living in a difficult and hateful world. But he has a vision of God breaking through and into that world bringing hope and a vision of ultimate victory in a deceitful and hateful world. God and goodness shall prevail.
Jesus called upon his disciples to look for the Spirit of Truth. Jesus lived at a time where the most important thing in the world was a person’s honor, or the family’s honor. They lied and cheated to maintain their status in the community. It was hard to believe anybody. Thus, you hear Jesus saying time and again: “Truly, Truly, I say to you. Verily, Verily. Amen, Amen.” I bring to you a truth about what God is like. The God he reveals is the God of Love and forgiveness, and the God who will make all things new. He call upon his followers to believe, to trust, to be loyal to the God of love. For that belief is what gives purpose and meaning to human life, to be in a loving, forgiving, renewing relationship with one another is the hope of the world that breaks through bondage, human humiliation, degradation, and lifts up the human condition into God’s presence.
In the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, what we are given to see is a metaphorical expression of God’s likeness. God is one. Yet God is in relationship with the Son. Between them is the bonding and binding relationship and Spirit of Love. Furthermore, Jesus Christ, Son of God becomes the outstretched hand of God that holds onto and embraces the creation with the loving Holy Spirit.
These concepts are not based on science, or upon proofs as the world understands proof. They are based on the human need for meaning and purpose, relationships of love, respect. Through God we have a concept of what is right and wrong; what is lovely and beautiful. We find our meaning in caring for one another and being in relationship with one another. What we come to believe and trust in as the holy, as the mysterious, as God, is what guides us in our living meaningful purposeful lives. If God is seen as hateful and completely judgmental, that’s the way we are inclined to live. If God is non-existent, then there is little hope or no hope for the future, no reason for being. If God is remote and like a clock maker who winds his clock and goes away, then the universe becomes mindless, soulless. What we believe is so important to the way we conduct and live our lives.
As strange as the Doctrine of the Trinity may seem, it has its purpose. God is indeed an incomprehensible mystery. If you can figure God out, then that is not God, but a human creation. No, we don’t know where God stands. But we know we are alive, in relationship, and that loving relationships give meaning to life. We know that watermelons, steamed crabs, corn on the cob, and fireflies, dogs, and butterflies are curious mysterious creations, but they are good, lovely, in a world of simple wonders. We share in the marvelous mystery and miracle of life whenever a child is born, and we baptize our children. All of these things bespeak of something truly unique and beyond our comprehension that we call God.
Sunday, June 3, 2001
FEAST OF PENTECOST
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: FEAST OF PENTECOST
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: June 3, 2001
TEXT: John 20:19-23 – Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them . . .
Acts 2:1-11 – And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
I Corinthians 12:4-13 – For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free– and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
ISSUE: The scripture readings for this festive Sunday of the Pentecost make it clear that the disciples, and those who are part of the Christian Community have a calling, a mission. They are sent as Christ was sent to the world to work for the common good as his body in the world. For those being baptized we must keep them focused on their partnership and incorporation into the body of Jesus Christ, to embrace the Holy Spirit. For those of us who have been in the body of Christ, we need to reclaim the Spirit of God over mere apathy, haphazard participation in Christ’s Church, and reclaim our mission.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This Feast of Pentecost is a pretty exciting day in the life of the Church of Jesus Christ. It marks the birthday of the Church. It is a unique day for Holy Baptism and Confirmation. In the Anglican-Episcopal traditions, this day was called Whitsunday, or White Sunday, because Baptism and Confirmation candidates wore white on this Sunday. The liturgical color is red highlighting the passion involved with this Sunday and the cloven tongues of fire that came upon the heads of the disciples at Jerusalem. The scripture readings themselves have real energy in them, which Jesus commissions his disciples and the violent wind and fire come upon them at Jerusalem.
The church really has two accounts of the Pentecost experience. In the Gospel of John, the Pentecostal experience occurs on Easter. Late in the evening when some of the disciples are all locked in a room fearing for their lives, Jesus appears to them. He calms their fears saying, “Peace be with you.” He shows them his hands and feet, then he strangely breathes on them, saying to them “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Then he sends them out having received the Holy Spirit, having received the breath of God to begin carrying on of Christ’s ministry restoring people to God’s love.
Notice here in this story it is a birthing experience. In the room, it is as if they are in the womb, and they are born to be God’s unique people in the world with a significant purpose and meaning to convey the healing, the love, the forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ. They are “born again.” They are the first fruits of God’s harvest. Pentecost was actually a celebration by the Jews of the renewal of the Temple and thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth in spring. The disciples are a new creation with purpose to participate in bringing a new spiritual food to the world.
In the Lukan account of the Pentecost experience takes place fifty days after Passover (or Easter) when the disciples are gathered together in Jerusalem. Suddenly, mystically, spiritually, they become empowered with the Spirit of God. Notice the images or metaphors. They are emblazoned set afire by the Holy Spirit. A violent mighty rushing wind comes upon them. Fire, water, wind are all very powerful images. Recent movies have conveyed the power in storms like The Perfect Storm and Tornado. There is great uncontrollable power in water, wind, and fire. Receiving this empowerment the disciples lose all sense of fear and begin to proclaim, tell, speak to the nations of the world of the mighty acts of God to heal, redeem, and love his people, as Jesus revealed in his healing ministry and his sacrificial devotion to God revealing the profoundest kind of love in his crucifixion. He died an awful death, a dishonorable death, but was fully honored by God in his joyful resurrection, giving the spirit of hope and renewal to the world. But mind you, the disciples were ordained and called to proclaim the Good News of God in Christ. The church then had its mission and its purpose to continue the loving revelation of God in Jesus Christ.
Church! What is church? People say that the church is a place you go to. You go and say your prayers, and make your requests of God, get baptized, married, and buried. It is a special place for being in the presence of God, and learning about God. Maybe so. Maybe to some extent that is or has some truth to it. No! No that’s all wrong! The basic premise is all wrong. You and I, We don’t go to church. We are the church. Wherever we are, we are the church. If we have been ordained as Christians, that is, baptized into the Holy Spirit of God, then we are the church and the ambassadors of Jesus Christ wherever we may be. We don’t go to church, we are the church that goes to the world! We have a mission.
Of course, we do come as a community into the church building to be strengthened for service in the sacraments. We come to church to learn and keep learning about God so that we know what we are talking about in the world. We come to this place we call the church building to be a part of a supportive community of people, who help to support us in being the church in the world. Unfortunately, we sometimes lose our focus as to who we are, and what we are to be doing. We are good at fellowship and learning (sometimes), and some are faithful worshippers, but we forget about or minimize our empowerment from the Spirit to be disciples, to be missionaries, to be evangelists in the world. We have to relearn how to stop going to church, and be the church going to the world! For that very reason we gather here for renewed empowerment to be the church in the world, renewed in the Spirit of God, in Jesus Christ, with discipleship, mission, and evangelistic efforts. St. Paul made it quite clear that the church was not a building or a Temple, but a body of people. The Church is headed by Jesus Christ and we are the body of Christ in the world. We are the members, the arms, the legs, the risen living presence of Jesus Christ in the world today. What’s that saying? Each one of us may be the only Gospel of love that some people will ever read.
Today, we are gathered here as a church community, the church is gathered, and in a little while we are going to be sent to the world. We have not come for solace only, for pardon only, but for renewal of God’s Spirit to empower us for ministry and discipleship. And God has given us all varieties of talents and abilities to serve in the world.
We are also gathered here to ordain lay persons for ministry. They are all today very little lay persons or ministers or ambassadors of Jesus, but they are being consecrated, set apart, for discipleship and ministry, along with the rest of us. Like us they need spiritual food that comes from God and the church community. They need to learn the story of the mighty acts of God in worship and Sunday School. They need the support and the witness of the Christian Community around them. But the Body of Christ, those folk gathered here today in this congregation, the parents of these children, the selected God parents, sponsors must be witness, must be an example for these children that we are Christian people with a purpose to proclaim, tell, reveal, the love of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Christian Faith is not self-centered. It is not for us to simply gain what spiritual satisfaction and blessings that we can get from it. It is for the purpose of spreading the blessings and revealing the spiritual satisfactions of Christ’s love to the rest of the world. There is much violence, poverty, loneliness, sickness, grief, heartache in the world. There is much to be done and the laborers are sometimes few. The world needs the infusion and hope of God’s Holy Spirit, which begins with a life of training from one another.
The disciples of Jesus were afraid, hiding, grieving their loss and reminiscing about the past. But, The Spirit came upon them empowering them for service. The disciples left that small room and went to the world and began to heal and proclaim, to restore, to love, to raise up those who were fallen and lost. They told them of God and invited their participation in the body of Christ. Some and many responded; some did not. Some receive and respond; some do not. But there is no way that we the body of Christ called to go to the world can escape that great calling and mission for which we have been and are gifted and empowered by the Holy Spirit of God. Embrace the empowerment and the renewal of your calling.
SEASON: FEAST OF PENTECOST
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: June 3, 2001
TEXT: John 20:19-23 – Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them . . .
Acts 2:1-11 – And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
I Corinthians 12:4-13 – For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free– and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
ISSUE: The scripture readings for this festive Sunday of the Pentecost make it clear that the disciples, and those who are part of the Christian Community have a calling, a mission. They are sent as Christ was sent to the world to work for the common good as his body in the world. For those being baptized we must keep them focused on their partnership and incorporation into the body of Jesus Christ, to embrace the Holy Spirit. For those of us who have been in the body of Christ, we need to reclaim the Spirit of God over mere apathy, haphazard participation in Christ’s Church, and reclaim our mission.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This Feast of Pentecost is a pretty exciting day in the life of the Church of Jesus Christ. It marks the birthday of the Church. It is a unique day for Holy Baptism and Confirmation. In the Anglican-Episcopal traditions, this day was called Whitsunday, or White Sunday, because Baptism and Confirmation candidates wore white on this Sunday. The liturgical color is red highlighting the passion involved with this Sunday and the cloven tongues of fire that came upon the heads of the disciples at Jerusalem. The scripture readings themselves have real energy in them, which Jesus commissions his disciples and the violent wind and fire come upon them at Jerusalem.
The church really has two accounts of the Pentecost experience. In the Gospel of John, the Pentecostal experience occurs on Easter. Late in the evening when some of the disciples are all locked in a room fearing for their lives, Jesus appears to them. He calms their fears saying, “Peace be with you.” He shows them his hands and feet, then he strangely breathes on them, saying to them “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Then he sends them out having received the Holy Spirit, having received the breath of God to begin carrying on of Christ’s ministry restoring people to God’s love.
Notice here in this story it is a birthing experience. In the room, it is as if they are in the womb, and they are born to be God’s unique people in the world with a significant purpose and meaning to convey the healing, the love, the forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ. They are “born again.” They are the first fruits of God’s harvest. Pentecost was actually a celebration by the Jews of the renewal of the Temple and thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth in spring. The disciples are a new creation with purpose to participate in bringing a new spiritual food to the world.
In the Lukan account of the Pentecost experience takes place fifty days after Passover (or Easter) when the disciples are gathered together in Jerusalem. Suddenly, mystically, spiritually, they become empowered with the Spirit of God. Notice the images or metaphors. They are emblazoned set afire by the Holy Spirit. A violent mighty rushing wind comes upon them. Fire, water, wind are all very powerful images. Recent movies have conveyed the power in storms like The Perfect Storm and Tornado. There is great uncontrollable power in water, wind, and fire. Receiving this empowerment the disciples lose all sense of fear and begin to proclaim, tell, speak to the nations of the world of the mighty acts of God to heal, redeem, and love his people, as Jesus revealed in his healing ministry and his sacrificial devotion to God revealing the profoundest kind of love in his crucifixion. He died an awful death, a dishonorable death, but was fully honored by God in his joyful resurrection, giving the spirit of hope and renewal to the world. But mind you, the disciples were ordained and called to proclaim the Good News of God in Christ. The church then had its mission and its purpose to continue the loving revelation of God in Jesus Christ.
Church! What is church? People say that the church is a place you go to. You go and say your prayers, and make your requests of God, get baptized, married, and buried. It is a special place for being in the presence of God, and learning about God. Maybe so. Maybe to some extent that is or has some truth to it. No! No that’s all wrong! The basic premise is all wrong. You and I, We don’t go to church. We are the church. Wherever we are, we are the church. If we have been ordained as Christians, that is, baptized into the Holy Spirit of God, then we are the church and the ambassadors of Jesus Christ wherever we may be. We don’t go to church, we are the church that goes to the world! We have a mission.
Of course, we do come as a community into the church building to be strengthened for service in the sacraments. We come to church to learn and keep learning about God so that we know what we are talking about in the world. We come to this place we call the church building to be a part of a supportive community of people, who help to support us in being the church in the world. Unfortunately, we sometimes lose our focus as to who we are, and what we are to be doing. We are good at fellowship and learning (sometimes), and some are faithful worshippers, but we forget about or minimize our empowerment from the Spirit to be disciples, to be missionaries, to be evangelists in the world. We have to relearn how to stop going to church, and be the church going to the world! For that very reason we gather here for renewed empowerment to be the church in the world, renewed in the Spirit of God, in Jesus Christ, with discipleship, mission, and evangelistic efforts. St. Paul made it quite clear that the church was not a building or a Temple, but a body of people. The Church is headed by Jesus Christ and we are the body of Christ in the world. We are the members, the arms, the legs, the risen living presence of Jesus Christ in the world today. What’s that saying? Each one of us may be the only Gospel of love that some people will ever read.
Today, we are gathered here as a church community, the church is gathered, and in a little while we are going to be sent to the world. We have not come for solace only, for pardon only, but for renewal of God’s Spirit to empower us for ministry and discipleship. And God has given us all varieties of talents and abilities to serve in the world.
We are also gathered here to ordain lay persons for ministry. They are all today very little lay persons or ministers or ambassadors of Jesus, but they are being consecrated, set apart, for discipleship and ministry, along with the rest of us. Like us they need spiritual food that comes from God and the church community. They need to learn the story of the mighty acts of God in worship and Sunday School. They need the support and the witness of the Christian Community around them. But the Body of Christ, those folk gathered here today in this congregation, the parents of these children, the selected God parents, sponsors must be witness, must be an example for these children that we are Christian people with a purpose to proclaim, tell, reveal, the love of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Christian Faith is not self-centered. It is not for us to simply gain what spiritual satisfaction and blessings that we can get from it. It is for the purpose of spreading the blessings and revealing the spiritual satisfactions of Christ’s love to the rest of the world. There is much violence, poverty, loneliness, sickness, grief, heartache in the world. There is much to be done and the laborers are sometimes few. The world needs the infusion and hope of God’s Holy Spirit, which begins with a life of training from one another.
The disciples of Jesus were afraid, hiding, grieving their loss and reminiscing about the past. But, The Spirit came upon them empowering them for service. The disciples left that small room and went to the world and began to heal and proclaim, to restore, to love, to raise up those who were fallen and lost. They told them of God and invited their participation in the body of Christ. Some and many responded; some did not. Some receive and respond; some do not. But there is no way that we the body of Christ called to go to the world can escape that great calling and mission for which we have been and are gifted and empowered by the Holy Spirit of God. Embrace the empowerment and the renewal of your calling.
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