Sermon for Aug 16, 2020: The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

The Rev'd Tommy A. Thompson

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, West Vincent

WATCH THE HOMILY ON VIDEO HERE

In the Name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.  Amen. 

In the Epistle Lesson appointed for today, St. Paul diagnosed the problem not only in the early Roman church but in so many parishes that have come after - they / we were puffed up with pride rather than living life in awe of God.  Paul’s words to the Romans and to the church of all time:  “Do not become proud, but stand in awe.”

Think about the last time you were in awe.  Just think for a moment.  Where were you?  What happened to inspire such a raw and organic emotion?

A recent example in my own life was just a couple of weeks ago in Moosehead Lake, Maine. We were driving with our tour guide when I saw a Moose in the woods beside the road.  I asked the guide to stop.  And when he did the Moose didn’t move but stood right beside us only a few feet away.  The guide believed that this cow’s calf was on the other side of the road.  He strongly recommended we all stay in the car and not do anything to threaten her or the young moose.  We stared at one another for a few minutes, and then, when mama moose became more comfortable with us, she slowly walked into the road, right behind our vehicle and just stopped and stared at us for a few seconds before finally going to the other side of the road and slowly disappearing in the woods.  

What a creature and what a moment.  I was in awe. 

I recall our vacation to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon.  I remember stepping out of the tour bus wondering when we would finally get to see the canyon.  I remember the reverence in Leslie’s voice as she said, “Tommy! Look!”  A tear was pulled from my eye as I looked up and saw the reality that photographs so desperately attempt to capture -- or maybe even moreso, later in the day when my son and i sat and prayed as the sun began to set as we gazed down on the Colorado River.  I was in awe.  

Think about the times in your life when you found yourself in awe.  

I was in awe when i saw my bride walk down the isle to become my wife. 

...when i witnessed the birth of my children

… when my children reached certain milestones or rites of passages, or when God worked miracles in their lives...i was in awe

… when i got up earlier than i care to get up to see the sunrise over the ocean

… when i got to see a humpback whale breach from the water … i was in awe.  

… when i saw the Niagara falls

… when i visited the land of the Holy One, i was in awe 

… i could go on and on and on.  

When was the last time you stood in awe? 

This week i’ve been thinking alot about what it means to live life in awe.  As I considered what that means, I was taken to Isaiah 6 when Isaiah was in the temple offering “routine” worship to God and the veil was lifted and heaven and earth clashed together as they do in worship.  Isaiah’s response:  “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”  Isaiah was in awe…

Just recently we celebrated the Feast of the Transfiguration.  Imagine what it was like for those three disciples on that mountain as their Lord was transfigured before their eyes.  The glory was blinding.  They were knocked down to their knees in the midst of the majesty of God.  Peter wanted to build tabernacles.  They were in awe….

And just yesterday we celebrated the Feast of the Holy Mother of God - the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary’s entire life could be summed up with one word - awe. 

She was in awe when the angel visited her and announced that she was blessed among all women and would be the holy mother of God -- that through her flesh, God would put on flesh.  Mary was in awe. 

She was in awe and “treasured these things in her heart” after giving birth to her Creator.  She was in awe when her twelve year old boy taught teachers in the temple...she was in awe in Cana when her boy turned water into the finest of wine...she was in awe when the fruit of her womb was poured out on the cross in love for the redemption of the world.  

The Mother of God lived her life, not puffed up with pride, not self-centered, but in awe of the presence of God in her midst. 

I ask you, when was the last time you stood in awe of the presence of God!?

Paul is right on - the biggest problem the church faces is that too many of us have lost our sense of awe and wonder in this world.  We begin to take ourselves so seriously that we take for granted the presence of God with us in the so-called mundane existence of our everyday lives. 

I’ve learned that sometimes the best way to define a word is to look at it’s antithesis.  When you do a simple google search for the opposite of awe, you get these words: fearlessness, contempt, disrespect, familiarity, irreverence.  I asked a colleague this week what he thought was the opposite of awe.  He said, “Complacency.” 

You know what’s the most destructive to the local parish and what will divert God’s people from fulfilling their God-given mission in the world?  

Fearlessness, contempt, disrespect, familiarity, irreverence -- all summed up in his word - complacency.  

You know what words are synonymous with awe?  

Wonderstruck, amazed, astonished, open-mouthed, reverential. 

When was the last time you stood in awe of God?

When we stand in awe, we are emptied of ourselves.  Part of what it means to be in awe is to be reminded in a moment as you gaze into the eyes of another human being, or are struck by the majesty of creation, is that we are small and not as big and as important as we might have thought we were in the scheme of things.  

In the presence of God, we realize how small we are and are thus overwhelmed that God loves me, even me, that God took on our flesh, that God lived our life for us, that God died for us and rose from the grave to unite us once and for all to his majestic life.  When we have the ultimate awe-inspiring experience of standing in the presence of the one who loves us and died for us, we can no longer live life puffed up with pride, indifferent, irreverent, disrespectful of all that points to the Creator.  

Today S. Paul invites us to repent of a life that is ego-centric and puffed up and to stand in awe of the God who is always in our midst.  

One of my favorite passages in all of Scripture is Acts 2:42-47. There is a debate among scholars concerning whether the content of these verses were ever truly realized in the first century or whether it’s purely idealistic.  To me it doesn’t really matter either way.  The first century church, at the very least, aspired to these marks, and it should be the goal of every parish on earth. Here are just a couple verses from this pericope: 

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon everyone...And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

When was the last time you were in awe of God?   

In the Name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.  Amen. 

Homily for Easter 6: Rogation Sunday 2020

In the Name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Today is the Sixth Sunday of Easter – the day that has been traditionally marked in the church’s calendar as “Rogation Sunday.”  Traditionally today would be the beginning of Rogationtide and it would last through Wednesday of this coming week.  The three days that precede the Feast of the Ascension (Mon – Wed of this week) are known to us as Rogation days.

What do you think of when you hear the word “Rogation?” 

Some of us think about crops and the blessing of gardens.  Those who are in or from England may think about the traditional practice of the beating of the bounds of the parish throughout the village or town reminding everyone who lives in the village or town that this particular area is the territory of Christ’s church.   Others of us remember being part of beautiful rogation processions and the singing of the litany. 

And all these things are certainly part of Rogationtide, but the actual meaning of Rogation comes to us from the Latin word – rogare.  It simply means “to ask.”  Most specifically to ask for God’s mercy and for God’s blessing and protection.  Before it is anything else, Rogation is a time of intentional prayer and fasting.  It originated near the end of the fifth century as the Roman Empire was coming to an end.  In the face of natural disasters, fires, and utter chaos, the church was called to an intentional time of prayer and fasting, begging for God’s mercy, protection, and the blessing of crops to sustain God’s people in a difficult time. The church carried the banner of our Lord’s victory (the cross) in procession singing the litany of the saints and begging God’s mercy and protection even as she reminded the powers that be in the world that God has already won victory over all that seeks to corrupt and destroy the creatures of God. 

Brothers and sisters, if there was ever a time for us to take Rogation seriously – maybe even to reclaim rogation as part of our way of keeping sacred time – I believe it is now.  Faced with the uncertainties thrown at us in this fallen world, prayer should be the first and obvious response of the Christian.  St. John Chrysostom said it beautifully when he said “Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness.”

But sometimes we get distracted by life and need a reminder of how powerful prayer is – so we are called to enter into intentional times of fasting and prayer.  Now is one of those opportunities.  Time to zero in the scope of life on the adoration of our Creator and Redeemer. 

As we discussed last Sunday, the portion of John’s Gospel in which we find ourselves both last week and this week is known as the “Farewell Discourse.”  It is like having the opportunity to hear from a loved one what they want most from us as they are close to death and prepare to enter the next phase of the journey towards heaven.  Except Jesus is not preparing his disciples for his death and absence from them but for the new reality of his presence with them in a new and abiding way after he dies, is raised from the dead, and ascends to the Father. 

And, so, nothing Jesus says in his farewell discourse is fluff.  This is not small talk.  What Jesus has to say to his disciples before ascending to the Father is not trite.  And so when he says to us, “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it,” he means what he says.  He wants us to pay attention to these words.  If we didn’t hear anything else, he hopes we will hear this.  And it is his invitation to prayer – to let prayer be the to the soul what breathing is to the body. 

What a perfect invitation just as we begin this Rogation Journey.  As we live in the midst of this coronavirus pandemic, Jesus invites us to ask, in his name, for whatever we need, and he will give it to us. 

How much time are we spending on our knees during this difficult and unpredictable time? 

What is it that hinders us from a life of deeper prayer?  Is it fear?  Are we afraid our request will not be granted?  Are we afraid that what we want and what God wills won’t align?  Have we ceased to believe that God answers prayer? 

As a priest, I’m reminded often of God’s faithfulness.  For example, we have been praying for a young lady in Tennessee.  It wasn’t looking good for her at all, but we prayed all the more.   And now she’s miraculously recovered and back to work. And there are so many testimonies to God’s faithfulness just like hers.  So many of us could share them (and we should share them).

But then there are other prayers that do not seem to be answered.  And we struggle with that.  I, too, struggle with that. 

But what I must remember is that I am a mere mortal and I cannot begin to fathom the way of God.  Often, I focus only on the temporal and not on the eternal.  Thus, I must daily surrender to God’s sovereignty and trust that God knows what is best for us and for this world and that God will accomplish that for which he purposes. 

I think the “Prayer of St. Chrysostom” which we offer every day in our Daily Office says it best when we pray: “Fulfill now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.”

And God does know what is best for us, and God gives us what is best for us.  Which is why as Jesus continues in today’s Gospel, he promises us that he will ask the Father and the Father will give us another Advocate – the Holy Spirit.  And this is the ultimate gift of God – the gift of himself.  No matter what life throws at us, if we have the gift of God’s Spirit, then we have the pledge of our inheritance as God’s sons and daughters in Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit, as S. Augustine teaches us, is the bond of love between the Father and the Son.  As we partake in the life of God’s Spirit, we partake in the very life of the Triune God.  The Gift of God’s Holy Spirit guarantees us that God’s best for us has already been accomplished and empowers us to live as citizens of the new age even in this world that is passing away. 

You see the ultimate prayer request is a request we did not know how to pray, but Jesus has asked on our behalf and God the Father has poured out his life-giving Holy Spirit.  And the Holy Spirit is the healing power of God and the bond of love who

Leads us into all truth

Begins a life-long process of healing our sin-diseased nature and

Makes us a new creation – those who are the image and likeness of God in the world. 

If none of my prayer requests are ever answered, and I have the gift of the Holy Spirit, I have everything I have ever needed.  Because being filled with God’s Spirit means that I am living into the realities opened to me through the faithfulness of God in Jesus Christ.  He lived, died, rose, and ascended that I might go back home to my true dwelling place – to live in trustful receptivity of God’s gifts in the triune life of God.  There is no greater gift. 

We may never know why some prayers seem to be answered and some seem not to be answered, but what we do know is that Jesus has asked for the greatest gift on our behalf, and that gift – the gift of the Spirit – puts us in communion with the Father and the Son so that in the name of Jesus we can ask for whatever we need.  And like a loving parent, God will listen to us and God will grant us what we truly need even if sometimes it doesn’t come to fruition just as we might have planned or hoped. 

So pray, pray, and then pray some more.  Because prayer is how we nurture the new life in Christ by the power of God’s Spirit.  Listen to these words from S. Faustina: “A soul arms itself by prayer for all kinds of combat. In whatever state the soul may be, it ought to pray. A soul which is pure and beautiful must pray, or else it will lose its beauty; a soul which is striving after this purity must pray, or else it will never attain it; a soul which is newly converted must pray, or else it will fall again; a sinful soul, plunged in sins, must pray so that it might rise again. There is no soul which is not bound to pray, for every single grace comes to the soul through prayer.”

And so let us deepen our prayer life as we enter into Rogationtide.  I invite you to join me in a fast from Sunday at sundown through Wednesday at Sundown and to increase our prayer time asking God to heal our world in the midst of this pandemic. One way you will have the opportunity to deepen your prayer life is through the praying of the Great Litany for each of the Rogation days Monday through Wednesday.  We will sing the Litany on Monday at 5pm. Following the Litany I will offer the Holy Eucharist for Rogation Monday.  Then on Tuesday and Wednesday, during evening prayer, we will pray the Great Litany along with the rogation collects. 

As I close and as we prepare for this time of heightened prayer, may we all take to heart S. John Chrysostom’s words: “Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, and a protection against sadness.”

In the Name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

Homily for The Fifth Sunday in Easter May 10, 2020

In the Name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In the Gospel Lesson for this Fifth Sunday in Eastertide, Jesus says to his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 

Many of us, when we hear this passage from the NRSV, something sounds off.  We are used to hearing the King James Version which reads, “In my Father’s house are many mansions.”  And while I tend to prefer the Authorized or King James Version most of the time, this is one of those times where I believe the modern translations are more than necessary. 

So many have heard this text as a promise for a life full of material wealth, and they’ve equated such a promise with heaven.  This is demonstrated through many old gospel songs such as “Mansion over the hilltop.”

“I'm satisfied with just a cottage below

A little silver and a little gold

But in that city where the ransomed will shine

I want a gold one that's silver lined

I've got a mansion just over the hilltop

In that bright land where we'll never grow old

And some day yonder we will never more wander

But walk on streets that are purest gold.”

The end of John 13 – John 17 is known as “the Farewell Discourse” in John’s Gospel. It is different from other farewell discourses, of course, because Jesus isn’t preparing his disciples for his absence from them so much as he is preparing them for a new way of being present with them after his death, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father.  He knows they will need his words to re-assure them that he has not abandoned them, but rather, has enabled them to be closer to him than ever before. 

And in this farewell discourse, where Jesus chooses his words very carefully so that his disciples might recall them after he has ascended into heaven, why in the world would Jesus comfort his disciples by saying, “Times will be tough, you won’t have much…but don’t worry – one day I’m going to give you a mansion!” 

Yeah – he wouldn’t.  That doesn’t sound at all consistent with what we’ve read in John’s Gospel or any of the Gospels for that matter.  You see that word “mansion” is one of those carry overs from Latin which had more in common with the Greek word used in John’s Gospel than it does with the modern word itself.  When we hear mansion today, we think of a grand and luxurious house that only the richest of the richest inhabit.  But that’s not the meaning of the Greek word monē that we find here in John!  This Greek word means, “a temporary dwelling place” – kind of like a hotel room. A place to stay while on a journey.  When the New Testament was translated into Latin, the word they used to translate the Greek word monē was mansionem which had multiple meanings, one primary meaning being “a stopping place or halting place along a journey. A station.”

You see over time, in the English language, that Latin word became our English word mansion, and, over time, it came to mean something completely different. 

So, what Jesus is promising his disciples is not that though they are poor now, one day they will be materially rich.  What Jesus promises them and promises his church of all time is that as his disciples journey the way in the truth revealed in Jesus towards everlasting life, they will never travel alone.  Jesus will always come and tabernacle with them just as God tabernacled with his people following the Exodus.  The Exodus is a type of that which was to come, and its fulfilment occurred as Jesus passed over from death to life through his death, resurrection and ascension.  Just as Moses comforted the people in Deuteronomy 1:26-33 exclaiming to them that they need not be afraid, because the Lord God goes before them to prepare a place for them that will be the promised land, so Jesus comforts his disciples by saying, “Do not be afraid; I will go before you and prepare a way for you.”  This way he prepares will lead to life everlasting. And as we journey this way in the truth of our Lord’s revelation to us, he promises to pitch tent with us – to be present with us – until that day he returns to take us to himself once and for all so that where is, there we may be also. 

If you came today hoping for a mansion, I’m sorry – that’s not likely to happen.  But I hope that when you leave today you will be comforted in knowing God has prepared for us our true dwelling place – eternal life in the life of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  I promise you that when Jesus re-appears and takes us to himself so that we might be fully where he is – in perfect relationship with the Father in the Holy Spirit – you will know contentment like never before and a mansion will seem to be a shack in comparison to what God has in store for us.  Silver and Gold will not matter.  Because as St. Augustine said, “our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee.” 

And until that day, be comforted in knowing that no place you go along the way will ever be traveled alone.  After the Exodus, God’s people built for him a tabernacle so that as they journeyed, God would pitch tent / or tabernacle with them.  Now, after the ultimate Exodus event of our Lord’s death, resurrection, and ascension, God promises to tabernacle/pitch tent with us along the way.  He will never abandon us.  He is with us most especially in the darkest, scariest, and loneliest of times of our lives.

Brothers and sisters, don’t put your trust in earthly things that will pass away; trust in Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no once comes to the Father – our ultimate dwelling place – except through him. 

In the Name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.  

Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Easter May 3, 2020

In the Name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

This past Friday, May 1, besides being the feast of Ss. Philip and James, the church also celebrated a newer feast – St. Joseph the Worker.  It is a day when the church reminds the faithful all over the world of the holiness of our work in and for this world, participating in the creative work of God for the life of the world.  We’re reminded that our well-being depends on the productive labor of all people and that when we all keep in mind the sanctity and dignity of our labor, the world is better for it. 

The feast day of S. Joseph the Worker always gets me reflecting on God’s call.  Did you know that God has a call for your life?  So many people assume that God only calls people to the diaconate or the priesthood, and everyone else is supposed to just figure it out for themselves.  But what if I told you that God has a very special purpose for each and every one of us today?  That’s right - everyone watching or listening to this homily – that includes you.  God has a special purpose for your life. 

And this is the difference between a job or even a career and a vocation.  A job is a job. It is a means to make money.  Most of the time it is a more temporary situation.  A job might come before you get on your career path; it might lead to your career path, and it might even be alongside of your career or a temporary situation while a career is suspended.  Many are experiencing this right now as they’re picking up odd jobs like uber eats or grub hub or what not to make it through during this difficult time as many have been laid off during this pandemic. 

A career is more than a job. It is a path that you find yourself on for the majority of your life as your primary source of income and usually with opportunities for advancement.  You think of someone on a career path as a banker.  They usually start out as a teller and climb the ranks through the years to a more lucrative position. 

So if that is the basic difference between a job and a career, what does it mean to have a vocation? 

Rowan Williams told an old Hebrew story about a great Rabbi that reveals the difference beautifully.  In that story, the Rabbi dreams he is in heaven and he asks the keeper of the gate “Is my name written in the Book of Life so that I may enter into the glory of the lord?” The keeper of the gate turns to the book of those who have died that day and begins to read.  As he reads, the Rabbi hears all manner of names of all sorts of tongues and many he has never heard of before. 

The Rabbi then says “Am I welcome into the glory of God?”  The gate keeper says “Everyone is welcome, but to enter one must hear one’s true name spoken. I read your name, but you did not recognize it.  That is why you wait here, outside the gate for a time.  When you are able to hear someone speak your true name or, when by listening very closely you can even hear God speak it, then you will enter.”  The Rabbi awoke from his dream and fell on his knees and begged God “Father, let me hear my name called once by my brothers.”[1]

 In the Gospel lesson for this fourth Sunday in Easter, a Sunday we like to call “Good Shepherd Sunday,” Jesus is revealed as the Shepherd who knows his sheep’s names, who calls their names, and hearing and knowing the voice of their Shepherd, they follow him who then leads them out into the world to find pasture.

The story of the Good Shepherd is many wonderful things, but among them, it is a story about vocation.  It is about hearing your true name spoken by your Creator and Redeemer and following the Good Shepherd to rich pasture – to abundant life – to a life filled with purpose and meaning. 

In his book Let Your Life Speak, Parker Palmer writes: “Vocation does not come from willfulness. It comes from listening. I must listen to my life and try to understand what it is truly about – quite apart from what I would like it to be about – or my life will never represent anything real in the world, no matter how earnest my intentions. That insight is hidden in the word vocation itself, which is rooted in the Latin for ‘voice.’ Vocation does not mean a goal that I pursue. It means a calling that I hear.”

Frederick Buechner said “Vocation is the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.”  It is the place where the gifts and graces with which God has equipped you collides with the great needs of God’s world he came to save. 

Vocation, for the Christian, is participating in the creative work of God towards resurrection and new creation.  It means working now for the future kingdom that is marked by the ethos presented in Jesus’ sermon on the mount. 

And this is not a call reserved only for the clergy.  God has a call – a deep purpose –for each and every person in this world.  The Good Shepherd is calling your name.  Have you heard his voice?  Do you try and tune it out?  Do you fight it?  If you have heard it, are you, like Eli, helping the Samuels of the world to hear their true name spoken by the Good Shepherd?  Because we live in a time where most people make no connection between their life’s work and the greater purposes of God for the world. 

Professor Nora Tubbs Tisdale of Yale Divinity School revealed this problem in an article she wrote for a campus magazine called “Reflections”:

While serving on a large staff of a New York City parish, she attended a gathering of young adults where the topic was on vocation. “The facilitator asked the fifty adults to get up out of their chairs and position themselves across the room in response to particular statements about work and our relationship to it. The first statement was: “I feel completely fulfilled and satisfied in my job.” In response, a few people went to one side of the room, indicating great satisfaction with their jobs. A few people went to the opposite side of the room … signaling their complete dissatisfaction with their work. The majority positioned themselves somewhere on a continuum across the room, suggesting relative happiness or unhappiness with their employment.

The second statement was: “The job I have now is close to what I feel is my ultimate vocation – my dream job.” Again, responses varied. Some indicated “yes,” they were in their dream jobs. Some declared “no,” they absolutely were not. Quite a few remained in the middle.

Then came the third statement: “I feel close to God in my job; my daily work fulfills me spiritually.” When all the movement finally ceased, Professor Tisdale remarked, I realized there was only one person in the entire room who was standing on the side that indicated complete agreement with that statement. And that one person was me! Sadly, she noted, the vast majority of those young adults located themselves somewhere on the opposite side of the room. Some commented that the question itself had caught them off guard: work and spirituality were not something they ordinarily thought of putting together.”[2]

How would you answer that question? Do you feel close to God in your work? Does your daily work fulfill you spiritually?  If you say yes, maybe God is calling you to help others identify where their hearts gladness collides with the world’s deep need. If your answer is no, that’s okay.  The Good Shepherd is gentle, patient, and always calling your name.  Spend some time in prayer and discernment. It is never too late to follow Jesus with intention in your daily life and work. 

No matter where you are in life or what you are doing in life, God intends your work to be used for the greater purposes of God. I know business owners, bar keepers, farmers, construction workers, nurses, doctors, retail workers, and the list goes on and on who have heard the Shepherd’s voice and follow him into their work places each and every day working for the future kingdom even while working for the world in which we live and who continue that vocation after hours in their daily lives. 

What matters most, especially for those of you who are in high school and college right now – is to ask these deeper questions and listen, listen, listen.  The Good Shepherd wants to lead you to rich pasture – to abundant life – to a life with deep purpose and mission.  My prayer for you and for all of us is that you will hear your name spoken by our Lord and that you will participate in his creative and redemptive work in and for this world. God is bringing about a brand-new world in and through the death and resurrection of our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, and he invites you to have a hand in that everlasting work. 

In the Name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.  Amen. 

---

[1]   Williams, Rowan, A Ray of Darkness, Page 150

[2] https://reflections.yale.edu/article/seize-day-vocation-calling-work/job-and-vocation-discerning-difference

Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter April 26, 2020

In the Name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

On this Third Sunday in Eastertide, we get the most well-developed account of all of the post-resurrection appearances of our Lord – the story of The Lord being made known to two of his disciples on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  

Luke’s Gospel is the most complex of the four gospels – I remember in seminary, people were afraid to take a NT Greek class in Luke-Acts and would rather study John or maybe Matthew or Mark, because Luke’s Greek is the closest to classical Greek and therefore much more difficult to translate.  Luke is a sophisticated Gospel grounded not only in the classical language but also employing the literary devices of classic literature as well.  Luke is a literary masterpiece, and we’ll want to keep this in mind as we journey through this story. 

On the day that Jesus rose from the grave, two of his disciples (one whose name we know is Cleopas, the other unknown) were walking on a road from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  While they were walking, Jesus appeared and walked with them, but the text says, their eyes were kept from recognizing him.  Was it their grief?  disappointment?  Did he look that different in his post-resurrection body?  We don’t know.  All we know is something kept them from recognizing him when Jesus appeared and walked alongside these two of his disciples.  As they walked, Jesus asked them what they were discussing. They were shocked at his inquiry.  Are you only a stranger in Jerusalem and, therefore, somehow missed all that has taken place these past few days!?  And then they began to tell them all about Jesus – and what he meant to them – not knowing that it was Jesus to whom they were speaking.  And it is here we learn that these are two sad, confused, and disappointed disciples.  They had hoped that Jesus was the one to redeem Israel – that he was the Messiah of Israel.  But for them, the fact that he was crucified as a criminal outside the city nullified that hope.  Now they’re trying to make sense of the meaning of Jesus’ life and ministry and the affect it had on their lives.  

So, what we have are two disciples, journeying to Emmaus from Jerusalem grieving, confused, and disappointed.  They thought they knew Jesus but it turns out, they did not know him after all.  They had their hopes up, but once again, they’ve been disappointed. 

We’ve been around the cross for so long, we obviously do not see it this way, but in the first century world, a cross meant shame and reproach.  It was reserved for the worst of the worst.  It was a scandal, not a throne. 

And resurrection?  As we said the last couple of weeks, no one expected resurrection to happen to one person in the middle of history.  The Jewish expectation was that resurrection would happen to all people at the end of history.  So no one was looking for this to happen.

So, then, we can see why these two disciples are so distraught.  Their hopes and dreams, as far as they can see, have been shattered.  They must now look elsewhere for the Messiah.  And how often have we felt the same way?  We just knew we finally found that person…that job...finally overcome that disease…and then disappointment smacks us across the face.  This is the common human experience isn’t it.  We are people who so often get our hopes up only to have them shattered.  After a while, we close up, we become cold, we don’t get our hopes up because, we’ve been there and we’ve done that – thank you very much.

Isn’t it beautiful that it is to these who have had their hopes shattered – to these who are sad in grief – to these who walk with their heads hung low that Jesus appears to on the road?  Isn’t that just like our Lord.  He shows up.  He showed up to Mary in the midst of her sadness, and at first Mary didn’t recognize Jesus through her grief heavy tear-filled eyes, but when he said her name, he came into focus for her and she recognized him.  And now, here on the road from Jerusalem (the place of shattered dreams) to Emmaus (a place no one can seem to find today) – so from the place of shattered dreams to who-knows-where – Jesus shows up.  Isn’t that where Jesus always seems to show up in people’s lives?  On the journey from shattered dreams to who-knows-where?!  And he begins to open up the Scriptures for them, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, and interprets to them the things about himself in all of Scripture. 

And I love what happens next.  When they finally came to the village – Jesus walked ahead as if he were going on.  Because that is exactly what Jesus does in the Gospels.  He doesn’t force on himself on anyone.  He moves on…always focused on the mission.  Never staying too long in one place, but just long enough to be the Gospel there and affect belief and faith before moving and continuing to change lives and the world we live in.  But the disciples will not let him go.  And we’ve all felt this way before – like Jacob wrestling the angel in the night before facing his brother in the morning. They will not let him go.  They urge him strongly:  You can’t go – it is almost night – stay with us. 

And so Jesus stays, and here is where it happens.  Remember – we started by noting that Luke’s gospel is more developed including more classical Greek and employing literary devices from classical literature.  Scholars believe that what we have here in Luke’s gospel is a classic example of anangnoresis, which in classic literature, according to Aristotle, is a moment of “recognition of someone to whose identity one was previously blind” (Culpepper, 479).  Anangnoresis is the change from ignorance to knowledge of the true identity of a major character in the plot.  Aristotle says, such recognition “may be based on visible signs, memory, or reasoning, but the best kind is ‘that which arises from the actions alone.’” Such recognition leads to what Aristotle called peripeteia – a reversal of circumstances or a turning point in the plot due to such recognition. 

Is that not exactly what we have here in this post-resurrection story?  Two disciples thought they knew Jesus – this one who they knew as “a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people…who was, yet, condemned to death and crucified.”  And then they did not recognize him for who he truly was when he stood before them and journeyed with them to who-knows-where. 

By the way this story is told, it begs for anangnoresis which will lead to peripeteia.  It begs for a moment of recognition of the true identity of this unknown stranger who is causing their hearts to burn within them which will then change the course and destination of their lives. 

And is it not the most beautiful thing the way that recognition occurs!?  According to Aristotle, it happened in the best possible of ways – through action.  All this time they’ve been listening to Jesus – their hearts burning within them. They would not let him go but urged him to stay with them.  And it is then, at their invitation, that the guest becomes the host.  And “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed, and broke it and gave it to them.  Then their eyes were opened.  Then they recognized him. 

He “took, blessed, broke, and gave.”  These four verbs are Jesus’ signature verbs.  Where these verbs occur, Jesus is made known.  Immediately they’re taken back to the feeding of the multitudes and most especially on the night before he died for us when he instituted the blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.  It is through this liturgical action that the recognition takes place.  And it is through this liturgical action that Jesus will make himself known to a many confused, doubting, and disappointed disciples who journey the road from shattered dreams to who-knows-where.

Brothers and sisters, when we gather at this table, Jesus comes into focus like nowhere else. It is here that he is made most clearly known to us as his holy and life-giving sacrifice is re-presented for our sake and for the sake of the whole world.  We might feel like weary disappointed travelers – maybe now more than ever before, but when he takes the bread we offer him and blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to us as his body and blood, then we, like the two Emmaus travelers experience change of heart and we no longer travel the road from shattered dreams to who-knows-where but now filled with faith, hope, and love, we go into the world with intention – to join all those who have recognized him in the breaking of the bread to witness death and resurrection of Jesus and all it means for the world he came to save. 

And I want to re-assure you that the Jesus made known at this altar is made known in your hearts in the breaking of the bread as you so long and desire to take him into your being.  Right now you are doing everything you can do while you’re at home.  You’re joining the livestream with all the body of Christ scattered and shut in throughout the world.  You’re journeying with Jesus as he opens the Scripture to us, and as he makes himself known through his signature verbs, he is being made known to you.  Feed on him in your hearts by faith and with thanksgiving and long for the day when you hear the words “the body of Christ, sustain your soul unto everlasting life.”  And each time he is made known to us, may we then make him known to others as we see is the natural response of the disciples in these post-resurrection appearances.

In the Name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

Homily for the Second Sunday of Easter, April 19, 2020

In the Name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Greetings to you in the name of our Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  

Today is Low Sunday.  And today “Low” takes on whole new meaning as I look out into an empty nave and into the lens of my iPhones camera yet again. “Low” seems truly appropriate this year, doesn’t it?  “Low” truly describes the way many of us feel right now.  In a little over a month, the death toll due to COVID 19 is now around 35,000 people in this country alone – not to mention around 700,000 confirmed cases and so many in critical condition. We live each day anxious about the spread of this disease, what it will do to the medical system in this country, what it has already done to the economy and many people’s jobs and investments and the list goes on.  “Low” isn’t such a bad word to describe the way many of us feel on this Sunday where we should still be on an Easter high as we close out the octave of Easter. 

And this is why I find the lesson from the Epistle of First Peter to be so appropriate for us today.  First Peter is unlike other letters in the New Testament as it is not written to one small parish but to a variety of churches scattered throughout a wide geographical area but with one thing in common – all of them have been born anew through baptism – dying with Christ and rising to new life with him by the power of his resurrection.  Yet all of these Christians find themselves in a perishing, corrupt, and fading world.  As Christians in the late first century Roman world, they’re persecuted and experience much suffering. 

It is in the midst of their persecution and suffering that Peter reminds them what is most important and what will keep them faithful even in the midst of the uncertainties of this failing world.  And that is the hope that Christians have through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. You see Jesus’ resurrection wasn’t for his own benefit.  God did not need to be raised to a new life of holiness.  God put on our flesh in Jesus Christ and overcome the evil powers of this world so that he might raise us from death to everlasting life. 

There are so many things this world offers us in the midst of suffering.  So many self help books, so many bottles, so many pills, so many needles, so many things that will take our mind off of it all, so many pacifiers…so many things to fill the void that is only meant to be filled with the loving presence of God.  But Peter offers none of these things. 

Rather, he reminds the church of God’s mercy – of God’s faithfulness to be the God who keeps his promises.  So Peter tells the church then and the church now – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the time of fulfillment.”

Brothers and sisters, our hope in Jesus Christ that engenders joy and faithfulness in the midst of what we are going through in the present moment cannot be taken away from us. You see, we have an inheritance.  And that inheritance is imperishable, and it is undefiled, and it is unfading”:  Imperishable meaning freedom from death and decay, undefiled meaning freedom from uncleanness/moral impurity, and unfading meaning freedom from the natural ravages of time. 

The death and decay…the moral impurity around us…the natural ravages of time…all that we experience day in and day out in this fallen world cannot rid us of the rich hope we have in Jesus Christ – because that inheritance – God promises us –is kept in heaven for us ready to be revealed when Christ shall return.

What Peter says here is reminiscent of Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:19-20, from Jesus’ sermon on the mount, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust deface and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust defaces and where thieves do not break in and steal.” 

The living hope we have is not in or of this world that is passing away. If it were, that hope would pass away with this world like money invested in the stock market.  Rather, our hope – the hope of everlasting life – of resurrection – new life in an incorruptible and imperishable body in the new creation that will know no corruption and will not fade away – this hope is reserved for us by God in heaven.

I love that in the Greek, the word for “reserved for us” is a passive participle.  This great hope that we have that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading is continually being reserved for us by God in heaven.  That means that there is nothing we can do to reserve it for ourselves and that there is no circumstance whatsoever in which find ourselves that can make it null and void.  Our hope rests solely on the mercy or covenant faithfulness of God to make good on the promise he has given us through the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

In this, brothers and sisters, we rejoice. Even now – while we have to suffer various trials and tribulations. Rejoice and be faithful, Peter says, so that the genuineness of our faith – our trust in and faithfulness to God, which is more precious to God than gold, may result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus is revealed at the last day. 

In the Gospel Lesson, when Jesus revealed himself to Thomas and Thomas touched the nail prints in Jesus’ hands and the wound in his side, Thomas expressed belief by crying, “My Lord and my God.” Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."  Thus Peter says to the churches, “Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faithfulness, the salvation of your souls.”

So, even as we suffer many trials, brothers and sisters, let us rejoice. COVID19, the stock market, our employment status, our being separated from those we love and miss the most – while scary, difficult, uncertain, unpredictable, and sad, cannot change who and who’s we are and what God has in store for us.  So let us be faithful – because faithfulness in the toughest times is what produces character, and as St. Paul says, character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint.

In the Name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Easter Sunday 2020

Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, this one was video recorded.

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