May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 6
PROPER: 8A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: June 30,2002
This sermon is re-worked from June 27,1999 – Pn5-8A
TEXT: Matthew 10:34-42 - "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me . . . . and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me . . . . and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple - truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.
ISSUE: These Sunday readings from Matthew have been building on one another for the past several weeks. In today's passage there is (1) the call to the abandonment of family, which in the time was a startling, earth shaking, and call to near death experience. (2) It is also a call to reclaiming a spirit of hospitality to those who are of lower status. Jesus is calling for brotherhood in the family of God, not in stifled families of the world, and a call to genuine hospitality respecting the dignity of all people for whom God comes in Christ.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Today's gospel reading comes as something of a shock! Jesus has not come to bring peace, and if you love your family more than him you are not worthy of him or a place in God's kingdom or empire. Whoever does not give a cup of water to one of the disciples will lose their reward. (This last line does not shock us quite as much as the others, but it did in Jesus' time.) Over the past weeks we've been reading passages from Matthew's account of the Gospel that have had to do with Jesus selecting his disciples and training them. First, we began with the shocker that he selects a tax collect as one of his own. Then he tells them to join with him in proclaiming the good news to the last, the least, and the lost. They are to join him in a healing ministry. And in this time of great secrecy and deception he dares them to honest and forthright and what they've learned from in the evenings they are to proclaim from the rooftops. Matthew's Gospel account is portraying a very very bold Jesus, and a very daring early church.
There were, of course, some indications that the coming of the Messiah to the Jewish community would usher in a time of peace. At the time of Matthew's writing there isn't much in the way of peace. Though Isaiah wrote that the Messiah would be called "Wonderful Counselor," "Mighty God," "Eternal Father," "Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6) there is anything but peace. The temple had been destroyed, and the Jewish community in the holy land was in great turmoil and now the new movement of Jesus' followers was creating another kind of dissention. We know that Jesus was not crucified be cause he was bringing peace and quiet. His ministry was bold, daring, and often quite shocking. Matthew saw that many families were in great turmoil. Jesus is saying that a person must love him and God more than him, if they are to be faithful followers. Men were set again their fathers, and daughters against daughters and mothers-in-law against daughters-in-law. Disciples must take up the cross, lose life, before they can find real life and the peace for which they yearned.
In Jesus' time family was for most people everything. You were born into and for your family. You were raised to never leave home. The prodigal son did, and you see where it got him, nearly dead in the pigpen. You were dependent upon family for education, food, and a roof over your head. Your work and job came from your family. Your friends and business contacts came from your family. Who you were to marry was selected by family, and the person you married was usually your first cousin. You did not even marry out of the family. Your life literally depended upon your family. Family was your life. So Jesus is saying unless you lose your life, and give all that up and follow him. You do not have a real life. God, not family must come first. A relationship with Jesus Christ who leads to God is top priority.
Some churches today talk a great deal about family values. Keep in mind, however, that Jesus did not. Jesus had little to say, if anything, about family values. In another place Jesus says, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" Then he pointed to his disciples and said, "Look! Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants him to do is my brother, my sister, and my mother." (Matt. 12:49)
Jesus was very obviously challenging an ingrown world that sought stability and security from the world and the world's institutions. For Jesus we were the children, the people of God, and were to do God's will, and see God as Father, as opposed to the world. Unless you break away from that which binds you and holds you down, that obsesses you, you will not find real life, fullness of life. You have to die to the older ways and accept the cross; in order to truly live as a child of God's in the new Empire, and Family (Kingdom) of God. It is as if you find your purpose, meaning and work through God, not the world. We are inclined to let the world dictate its values, fads, and philosophies upon us. Jesus is making another turn-around, or statement of repentance.
Another part of the culture of Jesus' time was the concept of hospitality. A person who was traveling from one place to another was to be welcomed and given appropriate safety and food provisions. Persons who extended hospitality were thought to be very gained honor and status in their communities. Traveling was extremely dangerous in ancient times, so the concept of hospitality was very important. Thus, in place of the family, Jesus provides and calls upon the concept of hospitality to replace it. People who are not blood related, not family, shall become brothers and sisters of one another, and give the safety and protection that is needed in the world. God will see to it that they shall not lose their reward, and that they will be honorable in his sight. Honor from the world so far as Jesus was concerned was worthless.
It should also be noted that in this time, people of differing social standing and honor would not eat together. Jesus is teaching that giving a cup of cold water to the least of his disciples - that is, the poor, the tax collectors, the fishermen, the outcasts who join him - will be held as the truly honorable in the eyes of God. Class distinction is being challenged and all are to be seen as the brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.
All of these concepts boldly challenged the ways and the thinking of Jesus time. To follow Jesus so far as Matthew and the early church was concerned was to die, to give-up, to for go, the exclusiveness, and the traditions of the time, and to become alive again in inclusiveness, in seeing the worth and the dignity in all people. It was also a time for reclaiming God as truly one's Father, and to walk in his ways of justice and re-claiming all the outcasts, the disenfranchised, and the marginalized for God.
Now as we consider a passage such as this one today, we need to consider how it relates to our own situation and world culture. Many people today still have great respect for the importance of the family, and that is as it should be. However, we function in our family life very differently from ancient times. Ancient peoples raised their children to stay at home for the good of and for safety and security of the clan or tribe. We raise our children today to leave home. We are very committed to individuality, and to self-reliance and self-dependence. Those are the values of the American way. People who stay at home are often somewhat suspect. We commit ourselves to the hope and expensive proposition of education so that children will grow up secure and with good incomes. We are economically oriented. Being successful in the world, healthy (which comes from a commitment to some healthful sport), self-reliant and independent with a good practical education are the values our culture cherishes. These values in our American culture can supercede our religious and spiritual values, which frequently take second place. It is simply another side of the same coin: safety and security.
It might be well worth the effort to contemplate just what Jesus might say to his disciples and to the people of today along these lines. He might still say that we have to die to family, to education, to success, and good jobs if we are to truly follow him. We still have a cross to take up and way of life to abandon, to get back to the roots of being a servant faith.
Another one of the values of life and certainly of the church today is tradition. We like keeping certain things the way they are. But change challenges us. It is what keeps us alive, and keeps the church from becoming a museum as opposed to a living mission of hope for the people of this land and community, and around the world. Do we really think Jesus is impressed with our being 300 years old, possessing Queen Anne Pewter, and having a beautiful a one hundred year old stone church? Maybe it would be better in the sight of the Lord to be well known for the community church that served human need for some three hundred years, which was and is rich in hospitality and caring. There is sometimes fear in changing things, and if we do the change becomes labeled as a loss of our history. But, if our history is one of stagnancy, then it should be changed.
Jesus called upon his disciple to be truly hospitable and to share a cup of cold water, or a meal with all people, and not just those of their own class and persuasions. We are often hospitable but maybe to people like ourselves and within our own class. Keeping to our selves and within our selves is comfortable, but the Gospel is bold and challenging, encompassing, and extremely generous. We must look for opportunities to expand our horizons, to know people different from ourselves. Hospitality in our culture is guarded. If we are too hospitable we might now have enough resources for ourselves. Hospitality may make us too vulnerable. Hospitality might at times be a little too forgiving, if not frightening. Yet Jesus dared to proclaim hospitality and generosity that shocked the rigid leadership of the period that preferred to keep certain elements in their place.
A significant part of the Middle Eastern Culture was that it was fond of exaggeration. Jesus got a lot of people's attention by calling for the abandonment of family. No doubt many of disciples ended up doing that very thing. But we must be aware of what was at the heart and meaning of what Jesus proclaimed. He was re-claiming the loveliness and the compassionate love of God to be first and foremost. It was important to Jesus that the world not be exclusive where people are physically and spiritually abandoned and separated. He called for a family of God where all people are brothers and sisters to one another, and who could work interdependently with one another to be the world's force for justice and goodness. He called for a genuine hospitality where all people could sit down to meal together, and to give a cup of cold water to all people without reservation. Jesus called for an expanded sense of service and generosity, for caring and concern for one another.
Sometimes old things have to give way to new thoughts, new decisions, new sensitivities, and awareness. Is this not what Jesus was attempting to say to an exclusive and inbred world? This week a new secretary began working in the office. She immediately began by making considerable adjustments to how the office will be run, and adjustments to our computer arrangements. At first it is somewhat frightening to me, but over all these new arrangements may well expedite and bring us into the 21st Century. In the same way, we need to be alert to our past and aware of needs for the future development of our Lord’s church in the future.
We live in a world where we want to be liked. We don't want anyone to dislike us, and we're comfortable not rocking any boats. Racist jokes, American fondness for violence, and greed, unchallenged tradition in church and family become a part of our lives that we believe is either harmless or doesn't matter, or that there is little we could do about any of these things anyway. But Jesus would say hate those things that are not of God or that take God's place or become too obsessively important. Die to them. Take up the cross, and follow him into a generous and renewing dimension of life and servanthood. Dying to sin, meaning exclusiveness, alienation, separation, is for Jesus to rise to oneness with God, to genuine love, to participation in a new world, a new empire of God's making, The Kingdom of God. We look forward to the coming of God’s Kingdom in which a true brotherhood in Christian love becomes the ultimate reality.
Sunday, June 30, 2002
Sunday, June 23, 2002
Pentecost 5
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 5
PROPER: 7A
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: June 23, 2002
TEXT: Jesus said, “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
See also: Jeremiah 20:7-13 – For whenever I speak, I must cry out, I must shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.
ISSUE: Here’s another “sending” passage, another empowerment and authorization of the disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ disciples are being sent to an extraordinarily dangers and vicious time. The passage is very relevant to our time. Our country and world is in uproar. We fear the terrorism and violence that surrounds us. Our civil rights are endangered. The world is involved in a strange undeclared war that seems to have no way of telling when it is over.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Gospel account of Matthew continues with another kind of Pentecost event. It is another sending, or commissioning of the disciples, and one that pulls no punches: Jesus says, See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” Eugene Peterson translates this passage in still another way that is quite emphatic, and reveals the urgency of the sending: Stay alert. This is hazardous wok I’m assigning you. You’re going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don’t call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.” Both translations make it very clear that the mission of the church and its disciples will not be a particularly easy effort in a difficult, violent and cruel world.
Continue to be mindful that Matthew’s Gospel was written around 80-85 A.D. Whether or not it quotes Jesus exactly, it addresses a very difficult time that had significantly increased after Jesus’ departure. But the passage and the message is clearly not naïve. These were difficult times. Shortly after the time of Jesus, the Temple in Jerusalem was completely destroyed by the Romans. This destruction meant both an end to their status as a nation, their religious center of worship, their culture, and any semblance of independence. Their political structure, even though influenced by the Romans was completely destroyed along with the Temple. Many died in the insurrection of 70 A.D. The Israelites were being ruled by Roman Emperors that were not only cruel, but some were crazy egomaniacs, especially, Caligula and Nero.
For those earliest Christians separating themselves, or being excommunicated from Judaism, they were facing separation from families, and persecutions from the government. These were apocalyptic times, times of great uncertainty, anxiety. Indeed, they were sheep sent to live in a world of wolves. Their future was uncertain. As we folks today sit in our comfortable pews, we are inclined to forget what our ancestors in the faith of Jesus Christ endured, and how fortunate we really are that the Gospel of Jesus Christ endured to this time. It required and demanded very committed, extraordinarily faithful men and women to face some of the profound pain and suffering.
Linked with this passage from Matthew is the Hebrew lesson from Jeremiah the prophet. Jeremiah was not exactly your most popular of prophets. His message was to proclaim and make the people aware of the “Violence and destruction.” He came as a prophet of warning to a nation that was corrupt from within, and threatened by the Babylonians, but were too dumb to see it. They rejected Jeremiah and resented what they saw as his prophecies of doom. But Jeremiah remained faithful to his calling in a very difficult time, and faced the resistance of his time with determination. Yet he burns from within to proclaim the need for the people to change and to return in faithfulness and to keep their relationship with God and God’s justice strong.
Discipleship in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures was never suggested to be easy or without pain. Discipleship faces the facts that evil exists in the world, and that disciples have a mission and a purpose to be faithful, and to be well aware of the wolves, and to be as innocent as doves. The discipleship’s own model of that of Jesus. He was that faithful suffering servant, described in Isaiah, who accepted his crucifixion on the cross, with non-violence, and with the determination of the Godliness, the Divine, within himself that love, forgiveness, and justice should prevail.
What is particularly fascinating to me is how timeless some of the Scriptures really are. It is interesting how a passage will address so beautifully another time in history, which is like an apocalyptic age. The events of September 11th has changed the world, so it is said. Many people have been awakened to the fact that “Violence and destruction” are everywhere, even in the United States of America. This event was and certain should be clear to us that many of us were awakened to the fact of real evil in the world. Wolves do exist. And if we aren’t outraged, we just aren’t paying attention to what is going on around us.
The September 11th event, as dramatic as it was must awaken us from lethargy and complacency as God’s people in the world. There were earlier signs: the earlier bombing of The World Trade Center in the parking lot, the bombings of our embassies in Africa, the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. After September 11th came the anthrax episodes. The continuing cycle of violence and destructioin continues to devastate the Middle East. The dreadful scandals of sexual abuse in the Anglican Canadian church, the Roman Catholic Church in this country have fueled the fact of “Violence and Destruction” everywhere. But even more subtle evils infect the world whereby illicit drugs infect our whole country, cities, suburbs, and rural areas. It is not an especially happy time in our world today, and even in many of our personal lives.
Our reactions to these problems are often more vengeance, more war, more violence and destruction: payback, death penalties, and more war. And what is even as frightening is the loss of civil rights we may be giving up out of fear and the need we have for security. The undeclared war on terror is being fought, but with what criteria to tell us when it is over?
Yet out of what seems to be a dismal and hopeless situation, Jesus sends his faithful disciples. He encourages them not to be disheartened. There are packs of wolves, and plenty of them, but persist in faithfulness in God’s wisdom and act as doves. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. If the teacher is maligned and ridiculed so will the teacher’s disciples be. If the master is crucified and killed, it is likely that the disciples will face their share of suffering, anxiety, and uncertainty in a wild, crazy, and hostile world. Yet it is God through Christ that teaches justice, and what is right. It is God’s Spirit that will give the disciples utterance as it was given to the Master, Jesus. Truth will come to light, and be broadcast from the housetops. While there will be those who would kill the body, you still have nothing to fear. The hairs of your heads are numbered! You need only fear those who will try to devastate you spirit, your soul, your faithfulness, your allegiance to the love of God and to God’s justice. God’s love and non-violence will prevail.
Remember some of the images out of the past. There was that fantastic scene in the motion picture of Ghandi. Ghandi was leading the Indian people in a protest march against the British. Finally the frustrated British cavalry charged the people. Ghandi had the people to lie down in the street when they were being charged, and the horses would not trample them. Remember some of the scenes in the 60’s of the non-violent Civil Rights marches in this country, when Martin Luther King and his followers protested in the south. We saw frustrated white men trying to scare these people with high pressure fire hoses and attack dogs, burning crosses and white sheets. The images were too clear, too focused, too real, the truth about hate was being broadcast from the rooftops, rather from the television net works. It was time for an unjust country to change its course, to repent!
This age of our is not a time for complacency and lethargy, especially for the Christian Church, and the followers of Jesus Christ. There are many crazy wolves, terrorists, evil, drugs, loss of dignity among many people who are poor and old. There is still the demands for retribution, death penalties, and vengeance. The craziness and the crazies of the world still threaten us all. Yet the command comes, “I am sending you . . . “ “As the Father has sent me, so I send you . . . .” “God therefore and baptize (dip or immerse) all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them . . . .” Immerse your world in love and the call to what is just.
We must be clear that it is not the Muslims who are our enemy, but the evil ones. We must remember that it is not the Roman Catholic Church, or the Anglican church of Canada that is evil, but the evil ones, the pedophiles. We must remember that we ourselves are not perfect, but called to bear witness to a love that is non-violent, and to an assurance that we are the people of God, and that we have a mission. We have to break free from some of our own complacent and lethargic attitudes. For example: Isn’t it wonderful that we are a small rural church. Where is that based in scripture, I don’t know? What is the theological foundation for that thinking? Last week’s Gospel said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send (more) laborers into the harvest.” (Matt. 9:35f) The world is desperately in need of a bountiful discipleship to make witness with God in the world. Violence and destruction are everywhere. This age is not an age for hiding and cute petty aphorisms. We don’t like rocking our comforts or getting too involved. After all what would people think? Human need abounds, and we are called. It’s quite a challenge for the hearty and the faithful.
The world is enchanted with violence. It is a significant part of our world, our culture. Its in our sports, frequently in our religious beliefs, on television, in the movies, and in the newspapers. It’s in our schools. Christ died on the cross at the hand of violence. His death and his sacrifice is once and for all. You want violence, then eat his body and drink his blood and be changed into a new human being, and into a new way of life.
SEASON: Pentecost 5
PROPER: 7A
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: June 23, 2002
TEXT: Jesus said, “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
See also: Jeremiah 20:7-13 – For whenever I speak, I must cry out, I must shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.
ISSUE: Here’s another “sending” passage, another empowerment and authorization of the disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ disciples are being sent to an extraordinarily dangers and vicious time. The passage is very relevant to our time. Our country and world is in uproar. We fear the terrorism and violence that surrounds us. Our civil rights are endangered. The world is involved in a strange undeclared war that seems to have no way of telling when it is over.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Gospel account of Matthew continues with another kind of Pentecost event. It is another sending, or commissioning of the disciples, and one that pulls no punches: Jesus says, See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” Eugene Peterson translates this passage in still another way that is quite emphatic, and reveals the urgency of the sending: Stay alert. This is hazardous wok I’m assigning you. You’re going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don’t call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.” Both translations make it very clear that the mission of the church and its disciples will not be a particularly easy effort in a difficult, violent and cruel world.
Continue to be mindful that Matthew’s Gospel was written around 80-85 A.D. Whether or not it quotes Jesus exactly, it addresses a very difficult time that had significantly increased after Jesus’ departure. But the passage and the message is clearly not naïve. These were difficult times. Shortly after the time of Jesus, the Temple in Jerusalem was completely destroyed by the Romans. This destruction meant both an end to their status as a nation, their religious center of worship, their culture, and any semblance of independence. Their political structure, even though influenced by the Romans was completely destroyed along with the Temple. Many died in the insurrection of 70 A.D. The Israelites were being ruled by Roman Emperors that were not only cruel, but some were crazy egomaniacs, especially, Caligula and Nero.
For those earliest Christians separating themselves, or being excommunicated from Judaism, they were facing separation from families, and persecutions from the government. These were apocalyptic times, times of great uncertainty, anxiety. Indeed, they were sheep sent to live in a world of wolves. Their future was uncertain. As we folks today sit in our comfortable pews, we are inclined to forget what our ancestors in the faith of Jesus Christ endured, and how fortunate we really are that the Gospel of Jesus Christ endured to this time. It required and demanded very committed, extraordinarily faithful men and women to face some of the profound pain and suffering.
Linked with this passage from Matthew is the Hebrew lesson from Jeremiah the prophet. Jeremiah was not exactly your most popular of prophets. His message was to proclaim and make the people aware of the “Violence and destruction.” He came as a prophet of warning to a nation that was corrupt from within, and threatened by the Babylonians, but were too dumb to see it. They rejected Jeremiah and resented what they saw as his prophecies of doom. But Jeremiah remained faithful to his calling in a very difficult time, and faced the resistance of his time with determination. Yet he burns from within to proclaim the need for the people to change and to return in faithfulness and to keep their relationship with God and God’s justice strong.
Discipleship in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures was never suggested to be easy or without pain. Discipleship faces the facts that evil exists in the world, and that disciples have a mission and a purpose to be faithful, and to be well aware of the wolves, and to be as innocent as doves. The discipleship’s own model of that of Jesus. He was that faithful suffering servant, described in Isaiah, who accepted his crucifixion on the cross, with non-violence, and with the determination of the Godliness, the Divine, within himself that love, forgiveness, and justice should prevail.
What is particularly fascinating to me is how timeless some of the Scriptures really are. It is interesting how a passage will address so beautifully another time in history, which is like an apocalyptic age. The events of September 11th has changed the world, so it is said. Many people have been awakened to the fact that “Violence and destruction” are everywhere, even in the United States of America. This event was and certain should be clear to us that many of us were awakened to the fact of real evil in the world. Wolves do exist. And if we aren’t outraged, we just aren’t paying attention to what is going on around us.
The September 11th event, as dramatic as it was must awaken us from lethargy and complacency as God’s people in the world. There were earlier signs: the earlier bombing of The World Trade Center in the parking lot, the bombings of our embassies in Africa, the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. After September 11th came the anthrax episodes. The continuing cycle of violence and destructioin continues to devastate the Middle East. The dreadful scandals of sexual abuse in the Anglican Canadian church, the Roman Catholic Church in this country have fueled the fact of “Violence and Destruction” everywhere. But even more subtle evils infect the world whereby illicit drugs infect our whole country, cities, suburbs, and rural areas. It is not an especially happy time in our world today, and even in many of our personal lives.
Our reactions to these problems are often more vengeance, more war, more violence and destruction: payback, death penalties, and more war. And what is even as frightening is the loss of civil rights we may be giving up out of fear and the need we have for security. The undeclared war on terror is being fought, but with what criteria to tell us when it is over?
Yet out of what seems to be a dismal and hopeless situation, Jesus sends his faithful disciples. He encourages them not to be disheartened. There are packs of wolves, and plenty of them, but persist in faithfulness in God’s wisdom and act as doves. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. If the teacher is maligned and ridiculed so will the teacher’s disciples be. If the master is crucified and killed, it is likely that the disciples will face their share of suffering, anxiety, and uncertainty in a wild, crazy, and hostile world. Yet it is God through Christ that teaches justice, and what is right. It is God’s Spirit that will give the disciples utterance as it was given to the Master, Jesus. Truth will come to light, and be broadcast from the housetops. While there will be those who would kill the body, you still have nothing to fear. The hairs of your heads are numbered! You need only fear those who will try to devastate you spirit, your soul, your faithfulness, your allegiance to the love of God and to God’s justice. God’s love and non-violence will prevail.
Remember some of the images out of the past. There was that fantastic scene in the motion picture of Ghandi. Ghandi was leading the Indian people in a protest march against the British. Finally the frustrated British cavalry charged the people. Ghandi had the people to lie down in the street when they were being charged, and the horses would not trample them. Remember some of the scenes in the 60’s of the non-violent Civil Rights marches in this country, when Martin Luther King and his followers protested in the south. We saw frustrated white men trying to scare these people with high pressure fire hoses and attack dogs, burning crosses and white sheets. The images were too clear, too focused, too real, the truth about hate was being broadcast from the rooftops, rather from the television net works. It was time for an unjust country to change its course, to repent!
This age of our is not a time for complacency and lethargy, especially for the Christian Church, and the followers of Jesus Christ. There are many crazy wolves, terrorists, evil, drugs, loss of dignity among many people who are poor and old. There is still the demands for retribution, death penalties, and vengeance. The craziness and the crazies of the world still threaten us all. Yet the command comes, “I am sending you . . . “ “As the Father has sent me, so I send you . . . .” “God therefore and baptize (dip or immerse) all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them . . . .” Immerse your world in love and the call to what is just.
We must be clear that it is not the Muslims who are our enemy, but the evil ones. We must remember that it is not the Roman Catholic Church, or the Anglican church of Canada that is evil, but the evil ones, the pedophiles. We must remember that we ourselves are not perfect, but called to bear witness to a love that is non-violent, and to an assurance that we are the people of God, and that we have a mission. We have to break free from some of our own complacent and lethargic attitudes. For example: Isn’t it wonderful that we are a small rural church. Where is that based in scripture, I don’t know? What is the theological foundation for that thinking? Last week’s Gospel said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send (more) laborers into the harvest.” (Matt. 9:35f) The world is desperately in need of a bountiful discipleship to make witness with God in the world. Violence and destruction are everywhere. This age is not an age for hiding and cute petty aphorisms. We don’t like rocking our comforts or getting too involved. After all what would people think? Human need abounds, and we are called. It’s quite a challenge for the hearty and the faithful.
The world is enchanted with violence. It is a significant part of our world, our culture. Its in our sports, frequently in our religious beliefs, on television, in the movies, and in the newspapers. It’s in our schools. Christ died on the cross at the hand of violence. His death and his sacrifice is once and for all. You want violence, then eat his body and drink his blood and be changed into a new human being, and into a new way of life.
Sunday, June 16, 2002
Pentecost 4
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 4
PROPER: 6A – Father’s Day
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: June 16, 2002
TEXT: Matthew 9:35-10:15 – When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. . . . . . . Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.
ISSUE: Matthew’s reading is another story for Pentecost. It tells of another incident in which the disciples are authorized to carry on the good news of God. They become instruments of grace in the world that will receive them.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We are moving along in the church’s long season of Pentecost. The reading from Matthew is another kind of Pentecost story, where the disciples of Jesus are selected and authorized to accept his ministry of healing and compassion. He brings good news of the kingdom. Another way of saying that is that he bring the good news of God’s realm.
The authorization of the disciples and the fact that various people have been called upon to proclaim Good News is not limited to the Christians Scriptures. Matthew’s Gospel is based on Hebrew Scriptures, and how Jesus is another renewing presence of God’s compassion and caring that is really quite vivid. In the reading from Exodus, the Israelites under the leadership of Moses are wandering in the wilderness. Moses is called up on a mountain and God reminds Moses it was as if God had lifted them up on eagle’s wings and delivered the nation from the evil oppressive Egyptians. In their deliverance (or salvation as a nation) they are called to be a priestly nation and a holy nation. (The role of a priest is to offer sacrifice on behalf of others.) This redeemed people are to be instruments, proclaiming the glory of God for the world.
St. Paul’s writing in the Letter to the Romans is the continuation of the proclamation of Good News. The crucifixion of Christ, that is his death on the cross, was a sacrificial offering of God’s love that is freely given. Because of Christ’s complete devotion in love, that love is bestowed on all folk that were sinners, that is, people alienated from God in any way. Christ dies for sinners, before they even repent. Normally no one gives up their life for people even if they are good. But Christ intending to reveal the love God dies for sinners, and not because they have deserved or earn it. It is merely free grace. Sinners are reconciled. Turn in faith and trust so far as this message is concerned and enjoy the free love that comes from God through Christ.
Here’s the Good News for us. God seeks the redemption of his people from oppression, and in spite of sinfulness, the grace of God’s love is bestowed, upon Moses, upon Christ, and upon Christ’s disciples.
Jesus comes to the world, and sees a harassed and helpless people. “They are like sheep without a shepherd.” Incidentally, that phrase “They are like sheep without a shepherd” comes from the Hebrew Scriptures (Numbers 27:17). When Moses had brought the people of God to the boundaries of the Promised Land, and Moses knew he could no longer carry on he offers a prayer, ‘Lord, appoint a man who can lead and command. So your community will not be like sheep without a shepherd.’ Matthew’s gospel likes to make Jesus look like a new Moses, who will deliver the people of his time. Jesus ministry is seen a messianic fulfillment from Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus is a healer: the blind see; the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, and all kinds of other diseases are cured. What is happening is that people who are seen as no good, expendable, worthless sinners are restored to the love of God through the love and the compassion that Jesus extends to them. Again people are liberated from alienation, and meaninglessness. They were harassed and helpless folk who are now given new place and hope in the community of God through Jesus Christ. They haven’t had to earn it, and do good, or follow the letter of the law. Jesus simply bestows the grace of God and his ongoing dynamic ministry.
Then Jesus gathers to himself the twelve disciples. Tradition and scripture name twelve disciples that formed Jesus’ inner group. Some scholars might say that he had twelve to represent the twelve original tribes of Israel, the house of Jacob. What is important is that they become authorized to carry on the ministry of Jesus. They are to do what he himself is doing: Cast out the unclean spirits, cure every disease and sickness, and proclaim the good news, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven has come near.’ In other words, the realm of God is present. God’s redeeming, reconciling love and compassion are in your midst. In Matthew’s gospel, he doesn’t like to say Kingdom of God, because Jews were very hesitant about and avoided the name of God because of its extreme holiness. Kingdom or Realm of God, is more often stated as ‘Kingdom of Heaven.’ The disciples are now authorized to carry on Jesus’ ministry of healing and proclamation of love and liberation. Sick people are announced as not alienated or separated from God. The dispossessed and expendable people are reassured of their belonging to God. Sinners are loved and worthy of the grace of God, simply because God made a creation that was good, and says that it is good. No one or thing is condemned by the grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
The disciples are sent to the House of Israel to carry on the ministry of Jesus. There is a problem in the passage. We might well wonder why it was that Jesus supposedly tells the disciples not to go to Samaritan or Gentile territory, but to stay with and among the lost sheep of the house of Israel? Some argue that originally Christianity was a sect of Judaism and there was an attempt to maintain their purity by not association with Samaritans and Gentiles. Others think that since this authorization came early to the new disciples that it was intended to limit the playing field. We can only guess. But keep in mind that by the time Matthew’s Gospel is complete, Jesus is telling his disciples to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The base gets completely broadened in the end.
The disciples are sent out quite simply. No money or packs, simply accept the hospitality that is provided. No force or manipulation is tolerated in this ministry. Proclaim the Good News and perform the miracles where you can. Where you can’t, move on. This attitude is reminiscent of The Parable of the Sower: Spread the good word and the miracles. Where they sink-in fine. What falls on rocky ground gets eaten by the birds and tread upon, just forget it. God’s ultimate harvest will be grand. The disciples are to participate simply in the mission with Christ Jesus.
In our own baptisms, we are all also authorized to join in the ministry with Christ. “Receive the faith of Christ crucified, proclaim his resurrection, and share in his royal priesthood. Unfortunately many of us have been greatly influenced by the world’s thinking. Many people have come from background where the scripture was seen in a literal sense. We become frustrated by the gospels because we think we can’t perform miracles. We can’t heal, and we’re not good at proclamations of God’s grace or at proclamations of anything else, much less the Good News. There is also the belief that Jesus was God, Son of God, Messiah, the Anointed, and we simply can’t measure up to that standard. Still others enveloped by the science and technology of our time, see the story of Jesus Christ as a great story, but full of a by gone mysticism to which it is very hard to relate.
I really think that Jesus’ authorization of his disciples was really quite simple. Go do what you can to the best of your ability. They were only fishermen and tax collectors. They were sent totally unencumbered. They were to be themselves, and where ineffective they were to move on.
One of the truly great miracles of our time was the work that Annie Sullivan did with Helen Keller. There was no magic that Annie had. She simply persevered with a child that could not see, hear, or speak. She simply poured out love, sometimes-tough love, in handling Helen, until the day came when Helen could spell and identify “water!” It was dedication and faithful assurance that characterized the life of Annie Sullivan. She took and expendable Helen Keller: deaf, dumb, and blind, a non-thinking person and raised her up to life.
We all need to find our ministries. Some of us are good with older people, and visiting them in nursing homes, and providing a on going life giving caring. Maybe that gets limited to just family, the household of Israel, and not to others. But it takes time to grow beyond our boundaries and the callings of God.
Some may be skilled at tutoring youngsters. What a wonderful gift to provide to some children in need of additional help. I can well remember some teachers who gave extra time after school to do some tutoring with us slower kids out of genuine caring.
We must not underestimate the power of worship and the place of a spiritual life in our lives. A community of worshippers speaks to the world that doesn’t know God. It reveals another dimension that gives a sense of being a part of a grand creation, of being on a journey for peace, compassion, understanding, and non-violence. It is our witness to God. How many times in my own life have I been so grateful to my Father for his simple devoted spiritual life that led me to Jesus Christ, to God, to the ministry, to a meaningful life. It is a wonderful thing to be a strong man and father and convey love and mercy, and great compassion to our children.
To be a Christian person, a lover of God, and of Jesus Christ is to convey forgiving and loving grace. It gives hope and peace to the violence of the world. God’s power revealed in Christ has been freely given to us, in spite of ourselves, to be embraced and manifested.
SEASON: Pentecost 4
PROPER: 6A – Father’s Day
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: June 16, 2002
TEXT: Matthew 9:35-10:15 – When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. . . . . . . Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.
ISSUE: Matthew’s reading is another story for Pentecost. It tells of another incident in which the disciples are authorized to carry on the good news of God. They become instruments of grace in the world that will receive them.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We are moving along in the church’s long season of Pentecost. The reading from Matthew is another kind of Pentecost story, where the disciples of Jesus are selected and authorized to accept his ministry of healing and compassion. He brings good news of the kingdom. Another way of saying that is that he bring the good news of God’s realm.
The authorization of the disciples and the fact that various people have been called upon to proclaim Good News is not limited to the Christians Scriptures. Matthew’s Gospel is based on Hebrew Scriptures, and how Jesus is another renewing presence of God’s compassion and caring that is really quite vivid. In the reading from Exodus, the Israelites under the leadership of Moses are wandering in the wilderness. Moses is called up on a mountain and God reminds Moses it was as if God had lifted them up on eagle’s wings and delivered the nation from the evil oppressive Egyptians. In their deliverance (or salvation as a nation) they are called to be a priestly nation and a holy nation. (The role of a priest is to offer sacrifice on behalf of others.) This redeemed people are to be instruments, proclaiming the glory of God for the world.
St. Paul’s writing in the Letter to the Romans is the continuation of the proclamation of Good News. The crucifixion of Christ, that is his death on the cross, was a sacrificial offering of God’s love that is freely given. Because of Christ’s complete devotion in love, that love is bestowed on all folk that were sinners, that is, people alienated from God in any way. Christ dies for sinners, before they even repent. Normally no one gives up their life for people even if they are good. But Christ intending to reveal the love God dies for sinners, and not because they have deserved or earn it. It is merely free grace. Sinners are reconciled. Turn in faith and trust so far as this message is concerned and enjoy the free love that comes from God through Christ.
Here’s the Good News for us. God seeks the redemption of his people from oppression, and in spite of sinfulness, the grace of God’s love is bestowed, upon Moses, upon Christ, and upon Christ’s disciples.
Jesus comes to the world, and sees a harassed and helpless people. “They are like sheep without a shepherd.” Incidentally, that phrase “They are like sheep without a shepherd” comes from the Hebrew Scriptures (Numbers 27:17). When Moses had brought the people of God to the boundaries of the Promised Land, and Moses knew he could no longer carry on he offers a prayer, ‘Lord, appoint a man who can lead and command. So your community will not be like sheep without a shepherd.’ Matthew’s gospel likes to make Jesus look like a new Moses, who will deliver the people of his time. Jesus ministry is seen a messianic fulfillment from Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus is a healer: the blind see; the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, and all kinds of other diseases are cured. What is happening is that people who are seen as no good, expendable, worthless sinners are restored to the love of God through the love and the compassion that Jesus extends to them. Again people are liberated from alienation, and meaninglessness. They were harassed and helpless folk who are now given new place and hope in the community of God through Jesus Christ. They haven’t had to earn it, and do good, or follow the letter of the law. Jesus simply bestows the grace of God and his ongoing dynamic ministry.
Then Jesus gathers to himself the twelve disciples. Tradition and scripture name twelve disciples that formed Jesus’ inner group. Some scholars might say that he had twelve to represent the twelve original tribes of Israel, the house of Jacob. What is important is that they become authorized to carry on the ministry of Jesus. They are to do what he himself is doing: Cast out the unclean spirits, cure every disease and sickness, and proclaim the good news, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven has come near.’ In other words, the realm of God is present. God’s redeeming, reconciling love and compassion are in your midst. In Matthew’s gospel, he doesn’t like to say Kingdom of God, because Jews were very hesitant about and avoided the name of God because of its extreme holiness. Kingdom or Realm of God, is more often stated as ‘Kingdom of Heaven.’ The disciples are now authorized to carry on Jesus’ ministry of healing and proclamation of love and liberation. Sick people are announced as not alienated or separated from God. The dispossessed and expendable people are reassured of their belonging to God. Sinners are loved and worthy of the grace of God, simply because God made a creation that was good, and says that it is good. No one or thing is condemned by the grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
The disciples are sent to the House of Israel to carry on the ministry of Jesus. There is a problem in the passage. We might well wonder why it was that Jesus supposedly tells the disciples not to go to Samaritan or Gentile territory, but to stay with and among the lost sheep of the house of Israel? Some argue that originally Christianity was a sect of Judaism and there was an attempt to maintain their purity by not association with Samaritans and Gentiles. Others think that since this authorization came early to the new disciples that it was intended to limit the playing field. We can only guess. But keep in mind that by the time Matthew’s Gospel is complete, Jesus is telling his disciples to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The base gets completely broadened in the end.
The disciples are sent out quite simply. No money or packs, simply accept the hospitality that is provided. No force or manipulation is tolerated in this ministry. Proclaim the Good News and perform the miracles where you can. Where you can’t, move on. This attitude is reminiscent of The Parable of the Sower: Spread the good word and the miracles. Where they sink-in fine. What falls on rocky ground gets eaten by the birds and tread upon, just forget it. God’s ultimate harvest will be grand. The disciples are to participate simply in the mission with Christ Jesus.
In our own baptisms, we are all also authorized to join in the ministry with Christ. “Receive the faith of Christ crucified, proclaim his resurrection, and share in his royal priesthood. Unfortunately many of us have been greatly influenced by the world’s thinking. Many people have come from background where the scripture was seen in a literal sense. We become frustrated by the gospels because we think we can’t perform miracles. We can’t heal, and we’re not good at proclamations of God’s grace or at proclamations of anything else, much less the Good News. There is also the belief that Jesus was God, Son of God, Messiah, the Anointed, and we simply can’t measure up to that standard. Still others enveloped by the science and technology of our time, see the story of Jesus Christ as a great story, but full of a by gone mysticism to which it is very hard to relate.
I really think that Jesus’ authorization of his disciples was really quite simple. Go do what you can to the best of your ability. They were only fishermen and tax collectors. They were sent totally unencumbered. They were to be themselves, and where ineffective they were to move on.
One of the truly great miracles of our time was the work that Annie Sullivan did with Helen Keller. There was no magic that Annie had. She simply persevered with a child that could not see, hear, or speak. She simply poured out love, sometimes-tough love, in handling Helen, until the day came when Helen could spell and identify “water!” It was dedication and faithful assurance that characterized the life of Annie Sullivan. She took and expendable Helen Keller: deaf, dumb, and blind, a non-thinking person and raised her up to life.
We all need to find our ministries. Some of us are good with older people, and visiting them in nursing homes, and providing a on going life giving caring. Maybe that gets limited to just family, the household of Israel, and not to others. But it takes time to grow beyond our boundaries and the callings of God.
Some may be skilled at tutoring youngsters. What a wonderful gift to provide to some children in need of additional help. I can well remember some teachers who gave extra time after school to do some tutoring with us slower kids out of genuine caring.
We must not underestimate the power of worship and the place of a spiritual life in our lives. A community of worshippers speaks to the world that doesn’t know God. It reveals another dimension that gives a sense of being a part of a grand creation, of being on a journey for peace, compassion, understanding, and non-violence. It is our witness to God. How many times in my own life have I been so grateful to my Father for his simple devoted spiritual life that led me to Jesus Christ, to God, to the ministry, to a meaningful life. It is a wonderful thing to be a strong man and father and convey love and mercy, and great compassion to our children.
To be a Christian person, a lover of God, and of Jesus Christ is to convey forgiving and loving grace. It gives hope and peace to the violence of the world. God’s power revealed in Christ has been freely given to us, in spite of ourselves, to be embraced and manifested.
Sunday, June 9, 2002
Pentecost 3
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 3
PROPER: 5A
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: June 9, 2002
TEXT: Matthew 9:9-13 – And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
ISSUE: Jesus’ ministry had a significant relationship for the dispossessed, as indicated in this passage. He eats with tax collectors and sinners. The ministry of Jesus, while often romanticized and whitewashed, is clearly revealed as dealing with the least and lost. The righteous Pharisees are dumbfounded. Jesus’ coming to the sick was not a matter of literal sickness, but of concern for the dispossessed, those who had loss of meaning and place in the community. The passage reveals the grace of God expressed in Jesus Christ. It requires that we examine ourselves and how dispossessed we might be without the grace of God in Christ.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The picture that many people have of Jesus in their minds is often the picture of a very pure stained-glass kind of figure. We have images of Jesus that come from Sunday School that often depicts Jesus as looking down upon a sick person, or a child, and placing his hand of blessing upon them. Jesus is often portrayed in white robes, again a sign or symbol of purity. The stained glass images of Jesus as Good Shepherd makes him this very tall, well dressed, almost kingly looking in his appearance. Jesus for many is considered to be much more divine than he is human.
In sharp contrast to that image, we are given another kind of picture of Jesus in this day’s assigned lectionary reading from Matthew’s account of the Gospel. In the passage, Jesus is walking down the road and he selects another disciple named Matthew (Levi?) who is a tax collector or toll taker sitting in his booth. Jesus asks Matthew to “Follow” him. It is obvious from this clear direction that Jesus selects Matthew the tax or toll taker to be a part of his selected inner group of disciples. In the next scene, Jesus is in Matthew’s house enjoying a dinner gathering with other tax, or toll collectors, friends of Matthew, and some sinners.
We know that tax collectors were not exactly known at the time to be the more reputable types of persons. Selecting a tax collector to be a follower, might be a little bit like asking the homeless person standing at the traffic light at a busy corner who is collecting money, and who is not really homeless at all, but a scoundrel, to accept a nomination for a position on St. John’s Parish Vestry. There were different kinds of tax collectors. There were the chief tax collectors, like Zacchaeus, who hired other cronies to assist them. The majority of tax collectors were more commonly known as toll collectors. They collected tolls from people crossing boundaries, bridges, using certain roads. They were not respected by the elite, and were considered to be unclean or impure. A tax or toll collector in your house would make the house unclean. They rummaged through trade items and touched anything, making them unclean, sort of like lepers.
Tax and toll collectors were collecting tolls for the Roman Government. They were like an American Citizen collecting contributions for terrorists’ organizations. Only the most reprehensible people would take such a job. They were usually the down and out folks that couldn’t make it anywhere else, the scum of the earth. Contrary to what you might have learned in the past tax collectors really didn’t make much money, according to Social Science commentaries that have studied the period. A chief tax collector had to put up a lot of money to buy the right or get a license from the Romans to collect taxes. He had to put that money up front. Then, he had to recoup the money he had put out for the license. Sometimes they made it, and sometimes they didn’t. Especially, if the chief tax collector had to hire other scoundrels to assist him. He may well get ripped off by them, as well as having to do some cheating himself to make a profit. The whole system was given to corruption, not mention that the tax collectors and toll collectors were generally hated by the elite, and avoided by the general population. They were a hated group for what they did.
In this story, what does Jesus do but ask one of these characters, Matthew, to follow him. In the next scene, Jesus is sitting at dinner with a whole bunch of Matthew’s fellow tax collectors. I mean, who else would go to dinner with them. And you can imagine that it was probably quite a party. It is likely that there were some falling down drunks. There may have been some women, but they were likely to be flute players, erotic dancers, and prostitutes. Such a scene is not made clear in this passage, but do keep in mind that Jesus was thought to be himself a drunkard. Look at Matthew 11:19. When the Son of Man came, he ate and drank and everyone said, “Look at this man! H is a glutton and wine-drinker (drunkard), a friend of tax collectors and other outcasts!” Who do you suppose those other outcasts were? More than likely the lady flute players, erotic dancers, and prostitutes. Let’s not be too naïve. What’s going on when the woman in the Gospel account of Luke (7:36f) slips into the dinner partye and pours perfume, fragrant erotic oil on Jesus’ feet and wipes them with her hair. Come on now, folks, this dinner party with the tax collectors was no church supper!
In these days there was little that was secret. You could try, but it was a very open society. The Pharisees, the righteous community leaders they knew what was going on. They question the disciples, and remember questions were usually an attack on the honor of a person: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” It simply means your teacher has no honor or status association with the dispossessed. How do you defend our accusation?
Well Jesus does, and he does it with a proverb and a quotation from the prophet Hosea.
v The proverb: “Those who are well have no need for a physician, but those who are sick.”
v The Hosea passage: “I (God) desires mercy, not sacrifice.”
v And Jesus concludes: “For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
The proverb here does not mean that the people that Jesus is dealing with are literally sick, but that they are the dispossessed whose lives are deprived of meaning. They are hopeless lives with little or no future, and dispossessed not only from community but from a relationship with God. He has come to bring the love and compassion and the mercy of God to them. Jesus does not preach morality or even religion. He is not taken with the righteous sacrifices and religious rituals of the Pharisees. He comes to restore, reconcile is the churchy word, all that are lost from God to a right relationship. All they have to do is believe, and accept the fact that God loves them. Too good to be true? You bet!
You see what is going on here. Jesus is conveying the love and the mercy of God available to all people. Jesus is teaching that God desires a relationship of love with all people. Both the people of the time, especially the righteous seem to be measuring their relationship with God in terms of religious duties and good deeds. This fact is not exactly foreign to our own time. We often, at least on the exterior, seem to measure our honor and worth by how good we are, and how profitable we are, how religious we are, and how righteous we are in contrast to others. The others are the sinners and we are the good guys. Our problems come when we don’t measure up to what we think the standards are, and then we have to struggle to get back in the good graces of the community and with God, because we see righteous perfection, exterior goodness, or religious devotion as the standard! We are then inclined to direct people’s attention elsewhere, to the poor and the bad.
The fact of the matter is that the righteous are in as great a need as the dispossessed or the people we often look down upon. Jesus gathering with the tax collectors in his time is hardly any different than Jesus attending a Bachelor (or Bachelorette) party of our own time. Fact of the matter is that there still are many drunkards, drug abusers, thieves and connivers, abusers among the so-called righteous (i.e. the clergy) in our own midst as there are in other classes of people. We all have our ways of putting other people down, with which we have a gripe or complaint.
Hope for the world and for ourselves is in taking hold of the fact that God in Christ comes to the least of us, comes to us in our more demeaning moments, and our less honorable moments to bestow his presence and grace as Christ came to the toll takers, the lusty men and women, and the prostitutes. If God in Christ comes for the dispossessed and the least, then he has come for you and for me. He comes for the Palestinians as much as the Jews, for the Catholics and the Protestants. Once we all get that fact, and really believe that Christ is savior of us all, the sooner we will see ourselves as the children of God, and brothers and sisters of one another.
Jesus breaks into the human condition to provide a healing relationship with God the restores and gives us our honor, worth, value, esteem, and meaning. Lord have mercy upon us, and may we learn to have mercy upon one another.
SEASON: Pentecost 3
PROPER: 5A
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: June 9, 2002
TEXT: Matthew 9:9-13 – And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
ISSUE: Jesus’ ministry had a significant relationship for the dispossessed, as indicated in this passage. He eats with tax collectors and sinners. The ministry of Jesus, while often romanticized and whitewashed, is clearly revealed as dealing with the least and lost. The righteous Pharisees are dumbfounded. Jesus’ coming to the sick was not a matter of literal sickness, but of concern for the dispossessed, those who had loss of meaning and place in the community. The passage reveals the grace of God expressed in Jesus Christ. It requires that we examine ourselves and how dispossessed we might be without the grace of God in Christ.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The picture that many people have of Jesus in their minds is often the picture of a very pure stained-glass kind of figure. We have images of Jesus that come from Sunday School that often depicts Jesus as looking down upon a sick person, or a child, and placing his hand of blessing upon them. Jesus is often portrayed in white robes, again a sign or symbol of purity. The stained glass images of Jesus as Good Shepherd makes him this very tall, well dressed, almost kingly looking in his appearance. Jesus for many is considered to be much more divine than he is human.
In sharp contrast to that image, we are given another kind of picture of Jesus in this day’s assigned lectionary reading from Matthew’s account of the Gospel. In the passage, Jesus is walking down the road and he selects another disciple named Matthew (Levi?) who is a tax collector or toll taker sitting in his booth. Jesus asks Matthew to “Follow” him. It is obvious from this clear direction that Jesus selects Matthew the tax or toll taker to be a part of his selected inner group of disciples. In the next scene, Jesus is in Matthew’s house enjoying a dinner gathering with other tax, or toll collectors, friends of Matthew, and some sinners.
We know that tax collectors were not exactly known at the time to be the more reputable types of persons. Selecting a tax collector to be a follower, might be a little bit like asking the homeless person standing at the traffic light at a busy corner who is collecting money, and who is not really homeless at all, but a scoundrel, to accept a nomination for a position on St. John’s Parish Vestry. There were different kinds of tax collectors. There were the chief tax collectors, like Zacchaeus, who hired other cronies to assist them. The majority of tax collectors were more commonly known as toll collectors. They collected tolls from people crossing boundaries, bridges, using certain roads. They were not respected by the elite, and were considered to be unclean or impure. A tax or toll collector in your house would make the house unclean. They rummaged through trade items and touched anything, making them unclean, sort of like lepers.
Tax and toll collectors were collecting tolls for the Roman Government. They were like an American Citizen collecting contributions for terrorists’ organizations. Only the most reprehensible people would take such a job. They were usually the down and out folks that couldn’t make it anywhere else, the scum of the earth. Contrary to what you might have learned in the past tax collectors really didn’t make much money, according to Social Science commentaries that have studied the period. A chief tax collector had to put up a lot of money to buy the right or get a license from the Romans to collect taxes. He had to put that money up front. Then, he had to recoup the money he had put out for the license. Sometimes they made it, and sometimes they didn’t. Especially, if the chief tax collector had to hire other scoundrels to assist him. He may well get ripped off by them, as well as having to do some cheating himself to make a profit. The whole system was given to corruption, not mention that the tax collectors and toll collectors were generally hated by the elite, and avoided by the general population. They were a hated group for what they did.
In this story, what does Jesus do but ask one of these characters, Matthew, to follow him. In the next scene, Jesus is sitting at dinner with a whole bunch of Matthew’s fellow tax collectors. I mean, who else would go to dinner with them. And you can imagine that it was probably quite a party. It is likely that there were some falling down drunks. There may have been some women, but they were likely to be flute players, erotic dancers, and prostitutes. Such a scene is not made clear in this passage, but do keep in mind that Jesus was thought to be himself a drunkard. Look at Matthew 11:19. When the Son of Man came, he ate and drank and everyone said, “Look at this man! H is a glutton and wine-drinker (drunkard), a friend of tax collectors and other outcasts!” Who do you suppose those other outcasts were? More than likely the lady flute players, erotic dancers, and prostitutes. Let’s not be too naïve. What’s going on when the woman in the Gospel account of Luke (7:36f) slips into the dinner partye and pours perfume, fragrant erotic oil on Jesus’ feet and wipes them with her hair. Come on now, folks, this dinner party with the tax collectors was no church supper!
In these days there was little that was secret. You could try, but it was a very open society. The Pharisees, the righteous community leaders they knew what was going on. They question the disciples, and remember questions were usually an attack on the honor of a person: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” It simply means your teacher has no honor or status association with the dispossessed. How do you defend our accusation?
Well Jesus does, and he does it with a proverb and a quotation from the prophet Hosea.
v The proverb: “Those who are well have no need for a physician, but those who are sick.”
v The Hosea passage: “I (God) desires mercy, not sacrifice.”
v And Jesus concludes: “For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
The proverb here does not mean that the people that Jesus is dealing with are literally sick, but that they are the dispossessed whose lives are deprived of meaning. They are hopeless lives with little or no future, and dispossessed not only from community but from a relationship with God. He has come to bring the love and compassion and the mercy of God to them. Jesus does not preach morality or even religion. He is not taken with the righteous sacrifices and religious rituals of the Pharisees. He comes to restore, reconcile is the churchy word, all that are lost from God to a right relationship. All they have to do is believe, and accept the fact that God loves them. Too good to be true? You bet!
You see what is going on here. Jesus is conveying the love and the mercy of God available to all people. Jesus is teaching that God desires a relationship of love with all people. Both the people of the time, especially the righteous seem to be measuring their relationship with God in terms of religious duties and good deeds. This fact is not exactly foreign to our own time. We often, at least on the exterior, seem to measure our honor and worth by how good we are, and how profitable we are, how religious we are, and how righteous we are in contrast to others. The others are the sinners and we are the good guys. Our problems come when we don’t measure up to what we think the standards are, and then we have to struggle to get back in the good graces of the community and with God, because we see righteous perfection, exterior goodness, or religious devotion as the standard! We are then inclined to direct people’s attention elsewhere, to the poor and the bad.
The fact of the matter is that the righteous are in as great a need as the dispossessed or the people we often look down upon. Jesus gathering with the tax collectors in his time is hardly any different than Jesus attending a Bachelor (or Bachelorette) party of our own time. Fact of the matter is that there still are many drunkards, drug abusers, thieves and connivers, abusers among the so-called righteous (i.e. the clergy) in our own midst as there are in other classes of people. We all have our ways of putting other people down, with which we have a gripe or complaint.
Hope for the world and for ourselves is in taking hold of the fact that God in Christ comes to the least of us, comes to us in our more demeaning moments, and our less honorable moments to bestow his presence and grace as Christ came to the toll takers, the lusty men and women, and the prostitutes. If God in Christ comes for the dispossessed and the least, then he has come for you and for me. He comes for the Palestinians as much as the Jews, for the Catholics and the Protestants. Once we all get that fact, and really believe that Christ is savior of us all, the sooner we will see ourselves as the children of God, and brothers and sisters of one another.
Jesus breaks into the human condition to provide a healing relationship with God the restores and gives us our honor, worth, value, esteem, and meaning. Lord have mercy upon us, and may we learn to have mercy upon one another.
Sunday, June 2, 2002
Pentecost 2
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 2
PROPER: 4A
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: June 2, 2002
INSTALLATION OF THE PARISH VESTRY
AND DISCUSSION OF DIOCESAN CONVENTION 2002 ON SEXUAL ISSUES.
TEXT: Matthew 7:21-27 – “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” . . . . . . “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.”
ISSUE: The presentation deals with two issues: the installation of the new vestry along with the issues important to being a vestry member, and sexual issues that have been dealt with by the Diocese of Maryland at conventions in recent years. The issues facing the Vestry, while often thought of as maintenance issues are really spiritual issues in bringing people to the loving presence of the Lord. Convention issues have dealt with keeping the church united in the face of very different points of view. Being solid in our commitment to Christ and devoted to loving one another in a complex world is foremost in keeping the church on solid ground.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There are two issues that I want to address in my presentation this morning. The first is to speak about the importance of what it means to be on the parish vestry. Secondly, I want to say a few things about the Diocesan Convention that was held in May, regarding the Resolutions passed: On Human Sexuality and Continuing and Enhancing the Dialog Regarding Human Sexuality.
PART 1 – The Vestry and Officers
First in respect to the parish Vestry: Today we are installing our new vestry members and officers. The vestry is the governing board of the parish church. The Rector presides over the meetings of the vestry. While the titles may seem dated, and someone has said it sounds a little bit like a prison rather than a church, there are two “wardens.” (Warden actually means a guardian or high government official, and has been used in the Anglican tradition for centuries.) The Senior Warden, traditionally, is often thought of as the Rector’s Warden, who assists the Rector and has a close working relationship, and here at St. John’s has often played a significant part in dealing with financial issues facing the administration of the parish. Senior Warden also presides over the Vestry in the absence of the Rector. The Junior Warden has been known as the people’s Warden, having a special relationship with the congregation and being the overseer of the properties and grounds of the parish church. (Our wardens have a one-year term but may be elected to succeed themselves for five years.) The Vestry’s eight members, elected for staggered two-year terms act in a leadership and advisory capacity, working in a trusting relationship with the rector and the wardens for the overall good of the parish.
Vestries are often seen as being like a Board of Directors or management team. When they deal so often with financial issues, insurance issues, parish policy making, it may seem that they are a management board, but that is really only a part of what a vestry does. The vestry is really intended to be the spiritual heart of the parish. Vestry members, Rector, and officers included need to be spiritual people. They are people who need to have prayerful lives attempting to discern with one another what it is that God is calling the parish church to be and to become. They are expected to be involved not just in the tradition and maintenance of the church, but more importantly involved in the mission of the church. The church is an institution of reconciliation. Reconcile means to make friendly, to win over. The ministry of Jesus was a ministry of reconciliation. Jesus sought to renew the friendship between God and the people of God, and to call the people of God to love one another. The vestry, of course, has the concerns of the parish members at heart, but its greater calling is to make the parish a welcoming place that is open to bring new people into the fellowship of God, and be striving for justice. Sometimes a vestry has to make hard and unpopular decisions to be true to its mission in this world.
Discerning what God would have us do and be is not always easy. It requires patient prayer, regularity in worship, and a clear knowledge of the ways and teachings of Jesus, which were not always popular in Jesus’ own time. But the vestry in its spiritual relationship with God seeks out the appropriate vision for the congregation and keeps it before the congregation. Over the years, I’ve heard various vestry persons indicate their reluctance (and sometime refusal) to participate actively in the annual Stewardship campaign. However, sacrificial and regular pledged giving is an important part, a necessary part, of any congregations life if it is to be a vital mission of Christ in the world, and all vestry persons need to be involved in that effort. Vestries can be timid and afraid they will “up set” some of the congregations’ members by making or taking bold actions on certain issues. Yet true leadership is meant to be bold and avant-garde. God created the church and gave the Holy Spirit to it to carry on the mission with vitality and energy. Once again I remind you that when Jesus breathed upon his disciples, he said to them “Receive, the Holy Spirit . . .”, which can and does also mean “take hold of,” “grasp” the Holy Spirit. “As the Father has sent me, now I send you.”
To be a member of the Vestry of a Parish is a time consuming responsibility. This responsibility is hard to accept in a busy world. But to the new vestry, it is important, given the size of this congregation and its required management, we all must be diligent in our responsibility: spiritually prayerful, discerning what God is calling us to do, and being present and actively involved in regular and special meetings. Unlike any other organization, institution, club, or society, the church is of God’s making and we are given the high esteem to be called to God’s special service in the church.
PART 2 – Resolutions on Human Sexuality
Now I want to turn to the second issue. Ever since the late 1960’s, our annual Diocesan Conventions and the National Convention of the Episcopal Church, meeting tri-annually, have attempted to deal with the issues of human sexuality, in particular, the place of gay and lesbian persons and gay and lesbian sexuality within the church. The debates on these issues, some of them quite heated, have gone on and on until the present. About two years ago, Bishop Ihloff of our Diocese asked that the issue not be debated at Convention, but that an entire year be given to sacred conversations on the issue. This past year there were three all day Saturdays set aside for continuing debate among clergy, laity, and visiting theologians. At the conclusion of all this debate, many people are far better informed on these issues, but there has been no clear break through of consensus that would indicate a clear overall understanding of these issues.
People who argue from the Bible about the sinfulness of homosexuality are met with other scholars who can refute or argue that the most quoted scripture references are in fact not really talking about homosexuality. In fact it is argued that there is not even a word for homosexuality in the Bible. While the heterosexual community often condemns homosexuals as sinners, the homosexual community has not always seen the best of relationships and behavior in the heterosexual community. We are all in agreement that there have been gay and lesbian couples who have been actively and faithfully involved in the Christian Church, and in its ordained ministry and in its mission for centuries. (These relationships have simply been don’t ask, don’t tell situations.) And so the debate and heated debates go on and on, using up valuable church time, when there are other important issues being neglected.
What have we resolved up to this point? By and large our decision as a Diocese up to this point is to agree to be able to disagree. We realize there are both strong feelings and arguments on both sides of the issue. We can vote and make one or the other group losers, and thereby make them feel as though they do not belong in God’s Church, or take the alternative of dividing Christ’s Church once again into more factions. The more we divide, the more we weaken the church and its place in the world. We have therefore decided to live with one another in respect and love in spite of our differences up to this point. We resolved that the debate must and should go on, but up to this point there is no clear guidance for our church from the Holy Spirit of God. There seems to be no clear decisiveness, nor final resolution about this issue.
For the present time we affirm the Resolution (DO39) of the 73rd National Church Convention as passed in 2000. Let me summarize:
1. This church will provide a safe and just structure in which all can utilize their gifts and creative energies for mission.
2. We recognize that there are couples in the Body of Christ and in this Church living together in marriage and couples who are living in other life-long committed relationships.
3. We expect all such relationships to be characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enable them to see in each other the image of God.
4. We denounce promiscuity, exploitation and abusiveness in the relationship of any of our members.
5. We hold all members accountable to these values, and will provide prayerful support, encouragement and pastoral care necessary to live faithfully by them.
6. We recognize that some persons acting in good conscience, who disagree with the traditional teaching of the church on human sexuality, will act in contradiction to that position.
7. We affirm that those on various sides of controversial issues share a place in the Church; and we reaffirm the imperative to promote conversation between persons of differing experiences and perspectives, while acknowledging the Church’s teaching on the sanctity of marriage.
Sometimes, my good people, we have to learn to live with and love the questions and uncertainties of life over knowing all the answers. It speaks very well of this church, that its people can live together in unity, in spite of our differences. God knows we need no more division. But we shall continue, Vestry, officers, and members, to keep this Church built strong on the Rock of Christ, who prayed that we all should be one, as he and the Father are one.
For the present time we affirm the Resolution (DO39) of the 73rd National Church Convention as passed in 2000. Let me summarize:
1. This church will provide a safe and just structure in which all can utilize their gifts and creative energies for mission.
2. We recognize that there are couples in the Body of Christ and in this Church living together in marriage and couples who are living in other life-long committed relationships.
3. We expect all such relationships to be characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enable them to see in each other the image of God.
4. We denounce promiscuity, exploitation and abusiveness in the relationship of any of our members.
5. We hold all members accountable to these values, and will provide prayerful support, encouragement and pastoral care necessary to live faithfully by them.
6. We recognize that some persons acting in good conscience, who disagree with the traditional teaching of the church on human sexuality, will act in contradiction to that position.
7. We affirm that those on various sides of controversial issues share a place in the Church; and we reaffirm the imperative to promote conversation between persons of differing experiences and perspectives, while acknowledging the Church’s teaching on the sanctity of marriage.
Sometimes, my good people, we have to learn to live with and love the questions and uncertainties of life over knowing all the answers. It speaks very well of this church, that its people can live together in unity, in spite of our differences. God knows we need no more division. But we shall continue, Vestry, officers, and members, to keep this Church built strong on the Rock of Christ, who prayed that we all should be one, as he and the Father are one.
SEASON: Pentecost 2
PROPER: 4A
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: June 2, 2002
INSTALLATION OF THE PARISH VESTRY
AND DISCUSSION OF DIOCESAN CONVENTION 2002 ON SEXUAL ISSUES.
TEXT: Matthew 7:21-27 – “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” . . . . . . “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.”
ISSUE: The presentation deals with two issues: the installation of the new vestry along with the issues important to being a vestry member, and sexual issues that have been dealt with by the Diocese of Maryland at conventions in recent years. The issues facing the Vestry, while often thought of as maintenance issues are really spiritual issues in bringing people to the loving presence of the Lord. Convention issues have dealt with keeping the church united in the face of very different points of view. Being solid in our commitment to Christ and devoted to loving one another in a complex world is foremost in keeping the church on solid ground.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There are two issues that I want to address in my presentation this morning. The first is to speak about the importance of what it means to be on the parish vestry. Secondly, I want to say a few things about the Diocesan Convention that was held in May, regarding the Resolutions passed: On Human Sexuality and Continuing and Enhancing the Dialog Regarding Human Sexuality.
PART 1 – The Vestry and Officers
First in respect to the parish Vestry: Today we are installing our new vestry members and officers. The vestry is the governing board of the parish church. The Rector presides over the meetings of the vestry. While the titles may seem dated, and someone has said it sounds a little bit like a prison rather than a church, there are two “wardens.” (Warden actually means a guardian or high government official, and has been used in the Anglican tradition for centuries.) The Senior Warden, traditionally, is often thought of as the Rector’s Warden, who assists the Rector and has a close working relationship, and here at St. John’s has often played a significant part in dealing with financial issues facing the administration of the parish. Senior Warden also presides over the Vestry in the absence of the Rector. The Junior Warden has been known as the people’s Warden, having a special relationship with the congregation and being the overseer of the properties and grounds of the parish church. (Our wardens have a one-year term but may be elected to succeed themselves for five years.) The Vestry’s eight members, elected for staggered two-year terms act in a leadership and advisory capacity, working in a trusting relationship with the rector and the wardens for the overall good of the parish.
Vestries are often seen as being like a Board of Directors or management team. When they deal so often with financial issues, insurance issues, parish policy making, it may seem that they are a management board, but that is really only a part of what a vestry does. The vestry is really intended to be the spiritual heart of the parish. Vestry members, Rector, and officers included need to be spiritual people. They are people who need to have prayerful lives attempting to discern with one another what it is that God is calling the parish church to be and to become. They are expected to be involved not just in the tradition and maintenance of the church, but more importantly involved in the mission of the church. The church is an institution of reconciliation. Reconcile means to make friendly, to win over. The ministry of Jesus was a ministry of reconciliation. Jesus sought to renew the friendship between God and the people of God, and to call the people of God to love one another. The vestry, of course, has the concerns of the parish members at heart, but its greater calling is to make the parish a welcoming place that is open to bring new people into the fellowship of God, and be striving for justice. Sometimes a vestry has to make hard and unpopular decisions to be true to its mission in this world.
Discerning what God would have us do and be is not always easy. It requires patient prayer, regularity in worship, and a clear knowledge of the ways and teachings of Jesus, which were not always popular in Jesus’ own time. But the vestry in its spiritual relationship with God seeks out the appropriate vision for the congregation and keeps it before the congregation. Over the years, I’ve heard various vestry persons indicate their reluctance (and sometime refusal) to participate actively in the annual Stewardship campaign. However, sacrificial and regular pledged giving is an important part, a necessary part, of any congregations life if it is to be a vital mission of Christ in the world, and all vestry persons need to be involved in that effort. Vestries can be timid and afraid they will “up set” some of the congregations’ members by making or taking bold actions on certain issues. Yet true leadership is meant to be bold and avant-garde. God created the church and gave the Holy Spirit to it to carry on the mission with vitality and energy. Once again I remind you that when Jesus breathed upon his disciples, he said to them “Receive, the Holy Spirit . . .”, which can and does also mean “take hold of,” “grasp” the Holy Spirit. “As the Father has sent me, now I send you.”
To be a member of the Vestry of a Parish is a time consuming responsibility. This responsibility is hard to accept in a busy world. But to the new vestry, it is important, given the size of this congregation and its required management, we all must be diligent in our responsibility: spiritually prayerful, discerning what God is calling us to do, and being present and actively involved in regular and special meetings. Unlike any other organization, institution, club, or society, the church is of God’s making and we are given the high esteem to be called to God’s special service in the church.
PART 2 – Resolutions on Human Sexuality
Now I want to turn to the second issue. Ever since the late 1960’s, our annual Diocesan Conventions and the National Convention of the Episcopal Church, meeting tri-annually, have attempted to deal with the issues of human sexuality, in particular, the place of gay and lesbian persons and gay and lesbian sexuality within the church. The debates on these issues, some of them quite heated, have gone on and on until the present. About two years ago, Bishop Ihloff of our Diocese asked that the issue not be debated at Convention, but that an entire year be given to sacred conversations on the issue. This past year there were three all day Saturdays set aside for continuing debate among clergy, laity, and visiting theologians. At the conclusion of all this debate, many people are far better informed on these issues, but there has been no clear break through of consensus that would indicate a clear overall understanding of these issues.
People who argue from the Bible about the sinfulness of homosexuality are met with other scholars who can refute or argue that the most quoted scripture references are in fact not really talking about homosexuality. In fact it is argued that there is not even a word for homosexuality in the Bible. While the heterosexual community often condemns homosexuals as sinners, the homosexual community has not always seen the best of relationships and behavior in the heterosexual community. We are all in agreement that there have been gay and lesbian couples who have been actively and faithfully involved in the Christian Church, and in its ordained ministry and in its mission for centuries. (These relationships have simply been don’t ask, don’t tell situations.) And so the debate and heated debates go on and on, using up valuable church time, when there are other important issues being neglected.
What have we resolved up to this point? By and large our decision as a Diocese up to this point is to agree to be able to disagree. We realize there are both strong feelings and arguments on both sides of the issue. We can vote and make one or the other group losers, and thereby make them feel as though they do not belong in God’s Church, or take the alternative of dividing Christ’s Church once again into more factions. The more we divide, the more we weaken the church and its place in the world. We have therefore decided to live with one another in respect and love in spite of our differences up to this point. We resolved that the debate must and should go on, but up to this point there is no clear guidance for our church from the Holy Spirit of God. There seems to be no clear decisiveness, nor final resolution about this issue.
For the present time we affirm the Resolution (DO39) of the 73rd National Church Convention as passed in 2000. Let me summarize:
1. This church will provide a safe and just structure in which all can utilize their gifts and creative energies for mission.
2. We recognize that there are couples in the Body of Christ and in this Church living together in marriage and couples who are living in other life-long committed relationships.
3. We expect all such relationships to be characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enable them to see in each other the image of God.
4. We denounce promiscuity, exploitation and abusiveness in the relationship of any of our members.
5. We hold all members accountable to these values, and will provide prayerful support, encouragement and pastoral care necessary to live faithfully by them.
6. We recognize that some persons acting in good conscience, who disagree with the traditional teaching of the church on human sexuality, will act in contradiction to that position.
7. We affirm that those on various sides of controversial issues share a place in the Church; and we reaffirm the imperative to promote conversation between persons of differing experiences and perspectives, while acknowledging the Church’s teaching on the sanctity of marriage.
Sometimes, my good people, we have to learn to live with and love the questions and uncertainties of life over knowing all the answers. It speaks very well of this church, that its people can live together in unity, in spite of our differences. God knows we need no more division. But we shall continue, Vestry, officers, and members, to keep this Church built strong on the Rock of Christ, who prayed that we all should be one, as he and the Father are one.
For the present time we affirm the Resolution (DO39) of the 73rd National Church Convention as passed in 2000. Let me summarize:
1. This church will provide a safe and just structure in which all can utilize their gifts and creative energies for mission.
2. We recognize that there are couples in the Body of Christ and in this Church living together in marriage and couples who are living in other life-long committed relationships.
3. We expect all such relationships to be characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enable them to see in each other the image of God.
4. We denounce promiscuity, exploitation and abusiveness in the relationship of any of our members.
5. We hold all members accountable to these values, and will provide prayerful support, encouragement and pastoral care necessary to live faithfully by them.
6. We recognize that some persons acting in good conscience, who disagree with the traditional teaching of the church on human sexuality, will act in contradiction to that position.
7. We affirm that those on various sides of controversial issues share a place in the Church; and we reaffirm the imperative to promote conversation between persons of differing experiences and perspectives, while acknowledging the Church’s teaching on the sanctity of marriage.
Sometimes, my good people, we have to learn to live with and love the questions and uncertainties of life over knowing all the answers. It speaks very well of this church, that its people can live together in unity, in spite of our differences. God knows we need no more division. But we shall continue, Vestry, officers, and members, to keep this Church built strong on the Rock of Christ, who prayed that we all should be one, as he and the Father are one.
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