The Holy Spirit Plays Rough - Lent 1B 2.21.22

Lent I B - 2015 - Feb. 22, 2015 *  Calvary Episcopal Church

Text:  Mark 1:12-13

 

Sometimes the Holy Spirit plays rough. 

Look at what happens to the Beloved…Mark tells us in our gospel reading this morning.    Listen to the language he uses.

            At Jesus’ Baptism, immediately (Mark’s favorite word) the heavens opened, the word in Greek (schizo) means ripped open or ripped apart.  You can hear this root word in our word schizophrenic – a condition in which one’s psyche is ripped apart --  Mark goes on…. and the Spirit descended upon him like a dove...

            When I was working on this sermon, I started wondering what Mark was saying - that the Spirit descended upon him like a dove and I learned that doves can fly up to 55 mph.

For years, I've imagined this scene as peaceful, bucolic but this is not what Mark is saying -- his imagery is very strong, intense. The heavens were ripped opened and  the Spirit descended on Jesus - rapidly, with a pointed focus. Bam! This is no gentle, wafting flight - like a feather - but focused - almost instantaneous and goes right with the ripping heaven..and with what happens next -- Jesus is driven into the wilderness by the same Spirit... 

            This is not Jesus gradually sensing that he is being called into the wilderness and so he finds himself moving in that direction...nope -- the meaning of the Greek word  (ekballo) is more akin to being shot out of a cannon.  He was thrown by the Spirit into the desert.

            In Mark, the workings of  the Spirit, are not gentle, gradual movements but display a power, urgency, and intensity that we may find a little frightening if we don't understand that God works this way sometimes.

I wonder,  are we willing to let the Holy Spirit of God treat us like this?  

In a way, the experience of pandemic is like being thrown out in the desert  - we have been in the wilderness of  Lent for almost year.. like it or not…we have been  living with anxiety, fear, dread, and loss…just like God’s people in the desert, like Noah and his family floating on the endless sea….

What happened with Jesus? 

With characteristic terseness, Mark tells us -- he was there for forty days,  he was tempted by Satan, he was with the wild beasts, and angels ministered to him.

            There are some details to notice…..Think about the number forty.  Mark is squarely placing Jesus in the spiritual history of  God's people - Israel.  Noah floated over a drowned civilization, under starry skies with no land in sight for forty days and nights – have you ever felt this adrift? -  and he had to trust that the same God who had pressed him to the safety of an ark would sustain him through this time in a watery desert.  And his journey culminated in a rainbow covenant that never again would God destroy the earth…

            And God's people, after miraculously being freed from slavery in Egypt, wandered in the desert for forty years - having to learn to follow and trust the God who had freed them.  Tempted at every turn by fear  and anxiety – fear of thirst and starvation, and fear of abandonment, fear that this God who Moses kept talking about had actually led them into the desert to kill them all and they longed for the old familiar foods, places, and gods.  With great difficulty, they learned to follow the God who led them - cloud by day and fire by night -- and their journey culminated in a covenant at Mt. Sinai -- I will be your God, and you will be my people -- and they received the gift of the Torah so that they might live rightly and honor the covenant they had made with God.

And now, Jesus, throw out into the desert for forty days and nights, like Noah, like Israel, like us -- where he was tempted...

While Mark does not tell us what the temptations were he does add  that  he was with the wild beasts –and that the angels ministered to him…

I think this note is very curious -- what is Mark trying to say?  Was it that Jesus was in fear of his life from the desert predators?  Or was it, that remarkably, they left him alone or perhaps were even companions in the way that animals can be... -- remember that in Isaiah's vision of shalom, the healing and restoration of the creation (Is. 11.6) , that the lion (or the wolf) shall lie down with the lamb? This is the allusion...in that brief time in the desert, Jesus foreshadows shalom...he is at peace and dwells with them...and, then, Mark says -- angels ministered to him. My mental picture of this for a long time was that they brought him food and drink - like divine servers in a restaurant... BUT, remember that the word angel means messenger...they bore communications back and forth...sort of like a two way radio...and Jesus' communion with the Father was established and strengthened there in the wilderness... do you think  Jesus and the Father entered into a covenant?  Remember that, at the last Supper, we, God’s people – all humanity – all times - were invited into a new covenant with God – sealed with love and sacrifice. 

            Now to us,  the book I’m reading this year for Lent  is about St. Julian of Norwich who was born in 1343.  She was a mystic, was literate, had amazing visions she recorded,  and was an anchorite – which is a kind of hermit who lives in a small room usually attached to the church with a window through which people can talk to her  or him and seek advice.  They devote themselves to prayer and serving God in this way.

            She lived through the wilderness of  multiple pandemics – the bubonic plague- and wrote about it… the first came when she was just seven years old, then again when she was 19, then again, in 1375 when she was 32 and twice afterwards during her lifetime. It is thought that her parents died the first time and then her husband and children during the second pandemic.  Historians now believe the multiple pandemics of that time killed between one in two and one in three people in Europe, and like Covid, it was a global pandemic. [1]

 

            What can Julian teach us about how to navigate through these wilderness times? .. the first and most important thing she advises is to “examine our goals and intentions… to use the occasion to strip everything down to the essential questions:  Why am I here?  What/whom do I wish to serve?” [2]

            I suspect this was the wrestling Jesus was called to in the wilderness…. and this Lent, 2021,  calls us to the same questions – both as individuals and as Church..Why are we here?  Whom or what do we wish to serve?

As you know, throughout his ministry, Jesus went to the deserted places where he could be away from others and from the very real needs pressing in on him from every side,  to be still,  to hear the voice of God, and to seek direction.

Likewise, Lent invites us to go deeper… to enter more deeply into prayer and whatever spiritual practices that help us step away from distractions and all of the dependencies of our lives – and to listen, to listen deeply as we wrestle with Julian’s questions – why am I here, what or whom do I wish to serve?”  or to whatever questions the Spirit leads you to ponder.  

            If we follow Jesus into the wilderness – like him, we will surely see more clearly what is tempting us to move away from God and to do battle with it…and like Jesus we may find ourselves at peace with the wild beasts around us, and be ministered to by angels…

So, let us step into the wilderness..despite anxiety, despite fear…. for surely, in the silence and emptiness,  above all, we will meet Jesus there. He waits for us:  for you, for me. Let us go.  Amen.

---

[1] Fox, M., & Starr, M. (2020). Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a time of pandemic -- and beyond. Bloomington, IN: IUniverse.

 

[2] Ibid 

Church Chores Through June

Church Chores through June

Day----------- Refreshments -------Altar Guild----Lector -----Nursery

March 4 Lent 2	HG	AM	RK	EB
March 11 Lent 3	BK	MW	BL	DS
March 18 Lent 4	JL	BG	JF	BG
March 25 Lent 5	HCL	AD	HCL	AD
April 1 Palm Sunday/	LB	LB	RG	GG
April 5 Maundy Thursday 7:00 pm		EB	HCL
April 6 Good Friday		EB	EF
April 8 Easter Day	JM-L	PF	BB	EB
April 15 Brick Church	Set-up Team Clean-up Team	HG	RK
April 22 Easter 3	BG	JG	BB	BG
April 29 Easter 4	AD	JL	AB	AD
May 6 Easter 5	JW	DS	BL	GG
May 13 Easter 6 Mother’s Day	PF	AD	JF	EB
May 20 Easter 7	BK	HCL	HCL	DS
May 27 Day of Pentecost	JL	HG	RG	BG
Jun 3 Trinity Sunday	HCL	AM	EF	AD
Jun 10 2 Pentecost	LB	LB	BB	GG
Jun 17 3 Pentecost Father’s Day	JM-L	MW	BB	EB
Jun 24	BG	JG	AB	BG

Holy Week and Beyond - Schedule

It is hard to believe that Holy Week , Easter Day, and the Annual Brick Church service are at hand. Here are the dates of upcoming happenings.

March 31 - 9:00 am til....Clean-up Day at the Chapel (Village) & Make Palm Crosses;

6:30 pm...Teen Gathering - Supper and more (Middle and High)

April 1 - Palm/Passion Sunday& Vestry Meeting (following Church)

April 5 – Maundy Thursday Service – 7:00 pm

April 6 – Good Friday – 12 noon.

April 8 - Easter Day and Egg Hunt – 10:00 am

April 14- Clean up, set up for Brick Church Service.

April 15 – Annual Brick Church Service – 11:00 am

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Advent 4 A - St. Joseph. - A Sermon - 2019

Advent 4 A – Mt. 1.21 “…you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

We are almost, almost there..almost to Christmas Eve but we still have just a little more Advent to go…this season of waiting, longing for the light, longing for God to come and make it right..
This morning in our reading from Matthew we hear about Joseph… husband of Mary, adoptive father of Jesus.  It could easily be said of him that he is the hidden man of Christmas..
I’d like to start by talking a bit about his time.  From there to point to three things to notice about him and then to try to bring this home for us… to see what God might have to say to us today in the 21st century through this passage.

First, Joseph’s world..Judea at that time was under Roman occupation as it had been for the past 60 years…around 6 or 7 BCE, the ever increasing need of Rome for money to finance its campaigns and public works led, in Judea, to enslavement, deportation, profound harshness, high taxation, and in 4 BCE, after an uprising, the crucifixion of over 2000 so called rebels ..The major crossroads and thoroughfares were marked by cross after cross.   Part of the Roman strategy for ensuring conquered peoples stayed conquered was through taxation – systematically draining the country of its resources – and Romanization..in which they attempted to remove all of the old identity and substitute Roman identity.

How far they had fallen from the glorious times under King David .. they must have clung to the promises of Isaiah and the other prophets who pointed to a time a peace in which God would save his people… how long would they have to wait?  Now remember there had been by the time of Joseph nearly five hundred years of silence – no word of the Lord from the prophets…and all that time, they waited for God to act…so when Matthew tells us that Joseph was a righteous man, other translations say “just”, he is telling us that even in the darkness of 500 years of silence, even under the weight of Roman occupation, Joseph had kept the faith, he held to the promises and tried to live faithfully – and to honor the covenant God had made with Israel at Mt. Sinai. I marvel at his faithfulness – we are so impatient as a people we can barely stand to wait five minutes much less a lifetime for a hope which we may not see realized in our own time.

So, the first thing to notice about Joseph is this deft description of him from Matthew– he was righteous – that is, in right relationship with God, honoring God’s law, – not holier than thou which is the way we sometimes that term righteous… living by the covenant was everything to him…he lived as one who was just and embraced God’s promises… being very careful to observe God’s laws.    Now, notice how  in the next breath, Matthew tells us that Joseph, upon learning of Mary’s pregnancy and assuming adultery,  was unwilling to expose her to public shame and planned to break their marriage contract quietly… he had every legal right to make a big public stink about it – in fact, the invoking of justice and punishment on Mary, would have been considered his obligation and responsibility to the community of the faithful.  Instead, he chose mercy..and resolved to dismiss her quietly.  This was an act of social courage..but more than that – it shows us - in Joseph’s character – the perfect balance between justice and mercy.  Think about who else we see that in… think about Jesus with the woman taken in adultery,, let those who are without sin, cast the first stone.. we see the stamp of Joseph on Jesus.   Think about how often we hear about Jesus and how he was grieved at the hardness of heart those who would use the law to skirt living out the loving kindness of God.

So, the first thing to notice about  Joseph is how he holds in himself  the balance  honoring the law of God, that is, holding in balance justice, and  mercy.

The second thing to notice about Joseph is this – he listens to his dreams…Matthew tells us that he listened to his dreams not just once but three times.. if you read on into Chapter 2.  Do you listen to your dreams?  Have you ever felt like God has spoken to you in a dream?
 I heard a story this week  about listening to dreams .  This happened more than 20 years ago.  A friend has a sense that she and her husband were supposed to adopt a child from China..her husband, a priest, was not very enthusiastic about the idea.  He agreed to pray about it.. and woke her up one morning saying that he had had a dream..(she said , he never remembers his dreams).. the dream just gave him a passage in the bible – Samuel -Chapter 1 and 2.  It’s the story of Hannah praying for a child.  They read it but couldn’t understand what it was about.  My friend prayed and asked God to help her understand the message and she heard this – there is a childless woman who is praying for a child, she will become pregnant, but will be unable to keep the child, and will give it to the priest – just like Hannah did with Samuel.
By this, they felt that they were supposed to move forward and began the long process of international adoption.  They finally, after many delays, travelled to China and brought home their daughter …and her birthday was exactly forty weeks (Nine months- a full pregnancy) to the day of his dream.  My friend and her husband listened to his dream…

So the second thing to notice about Joseph is that  he listened to his dreams and was faithful to act on what he had been told…how about you?

The third thing to notice about Joseph is to consider how he responded to what surely seemed like a very unexpected move of God.  Matthew tells us that “just when he had resolved to do this-“ that is , set her aside, the angel  - the messenger of the Lord- appeared in his dream…How in the world, he must have wondered,  could Mary be pregnant?  The angel said this is of the Holy Spirit.  He had to completely change his thinking, to do a 180,   the real meaning of repentance, metanoia,  – a transformation or change of mind…turning around your mind.. most of us stay locked into our own mindsets and become pretty immovable in our convictions – not Joseph…the angel said to him—don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife…sometimes, not always, sometimes  our inability to change has roots in fear..in Joseph’s case, he had to have a lot of social courage to be willing to take on what must have looked in the public eye like a very bad situation…but he could do it because he was persuaded by his dream  that God was moving… and the angel said… You are to name him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins… and all of this is to fulfill a promise of God given through Isaiah which he would have known.. and this would have stirred hope in him that God was finally acting and coming to save his people..

So, the third thing to notice about Joseph is willingness to change in response to a move by God which probably seemed profoundly  unexpected …how about you, could you do this?


So, three things :  balancing law and mercy, listening to his dreams, and being willing to change his mind about how God is supposed to act.

Now, I want to try to bring this home a little more – the angel said to Joseph, “you are to name him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.”   Notice, the angel did not say, he’s going to get rid of the Romans.. but he will save his people from their sins.  The mission was a lot bigger than just dealing with a political situation.. the mission was and is to free us – both individually and collectively - from our sins…and, to reconcile us with God. 
At Advent, in this time of reflection, we have an opportunity to get a little clearer on what is separating us from God –If sin is missing the mark , if sin is where we fall short…… what sin do you need to be freed from? What is weighing so heavily on you?   What sin do we as a people need to be freed from?  St. Paul tells us that Jesus came so that we might know the glorious liberty of the children of God.    Jesus’ mission to save is not limited to long ago but is present, active and powerfully at work here and now. He is speaking peace to us, speaking forgiveness and healing to us, speaking life to us.  Can we hear it?

This week we will give thanks to God once again for the great love and mercy shown to us in the incarnation – that blessed event – but let’s don’t forget that even now He can enter every heart that invites him in...

And let’s remember blessed St. Joseph – and  in our own lives seek to balance God’s law and  God’s loving kindness, his mercy  as he did, to listen to our dreams as he did, and to be willing to change our minds responding in faith to God’s future as he did..
And…May you be blessed and know God’s love and power to save anew today.

Proper 19C - The Company We Keep

Proper 19 C 

Luke 15.5 – And when he has found it he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

 St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Charleston, SC. - September 15, 2019

“Daughter, it’s the company you’re keeping - that’s the problem!”  That was my father… and when I was growing up,  my daddy regularly tried to talk to me about the importance of the company we keep. He would say things like, if you want to do well in school, then, associate with the smart kids.   To my own kids I try to say – be with people who build you up not tear you down.  And, generally speaking, if you want to keep your faith strong, your marriage strong, your mind agile, stay around those who are trying to do the same… Good advice all around and it makes a lot of sense. 

 And yet, look at the company Jesus kept.  Yes, he stayed close to the twelve but then think about the criticism he got from the Pharisees and scribes in today’s reading from Luke. He  tells us, “All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus and the Pharisees and scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ “ 

          The setting probably would have been in an open public area, say, like Hampton Park,  not in the synagogue.  This also tells us that along with the tax collectors and sinners, the Pharisees and scribes were also coming out to hear Jesus.  So, the picture here is two normally separate worlds in collision and Jesus is standing in the middle.   I am seeing him seated with the twelve  and the crowd standing around.  And,  over on one side , apart, are the Pharisees and scribes..

          I  want to remind you that these were not bad guys – the Pharisees and scribes were people who were really serious about their faith and practicing it.. trying to live it.. Let’s call them the Church people of Jesus’ day[1]…. and they were horrified that Jesus was eating and hanging out with  known sinners.  The tax collectors, in particular, were really hated because they were fellow Jews who had been hired by the Romans to collect taxes, and the deal was this- they had to collect whatever was owed to the Romans – but then, if they could squeeze anything else out of the family, they could use any means necessary to do so and so they enriched themselves, basically, by extortion and stealing from their neighbors while the Romans looked the other way.  So they were hated, and yet there they were along with the other  folks who were considered sinners by the faith community in that place – for us, think about drug dealers, gang members, or haters of religion.   And, then, perhaps there are also the people who had gotten disconnected from the faith community-  or just lost and off the track in some way..And there is Jesus,  talking with them, eating with them,  laughing with them.. apparently perfectly willing to engage.

And the Church people were horrified… Let me ask you – would you be horrified if you had it on good authority  that Fr. Phil was regularly having lunch with a group of  drug dealers or crooked lawyers?  (That’s not true, lest I start a rumor) What would you think about that?  

 So, Jesus, no doubt, either observed the grumbling or had it reported to him …You can imagine, too, that this was not the first time.   He probably had encountered this more than once and, so, he responds by telling a story… and he kept on telling variations of  the same story – all  the same theme –Here’s the theme:    It brings God great joy to regain relationship with someone who had been lost – for whatever reason.

          It’s been said, too, that the 15^thChapter of Luke –from which our reading is drawn today  – is the heart of the gospel of Luke—and it has the three “Lost” parables- the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost sons also known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son.   If you are ever restless at night, can’t sleep,  and want to pick up something in the Bible to read.. turn to this 15^th chapter of Luke.

          I want to focus our attention now on one detail from the gospel reading today…. it’s this line – “When he has found it, [that is, the shepherd has found the lost sheep]  he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices.” (Luke 15.5)

          This morning when you came in, I hoped you received a small picture of a shepherd carrying a sheep on shoulders.  Hold this image in mind. …In researching  today’s sermon, I learned that a sheep that is lost eventually lies down and becomes helpless.  It  will  not move on its own even if prodded.”[2]  It just gives up.  So, the shepherd has to literally pick the sheep up and lug it  back to the fold. 

          I wonder if you have ever had times when you were lost in some way and  became immobilized – whether by fear, grief , confusion, being overwhelmed, being exhausted beyond imagination, or just giving up… I have had those times- I suspect most of us have too…

          Sometimes we are able, inwardly and through the mercy of God and the power of the Holy Spirit,  to find the  strength to get up and continue on,  but sometimes God has to come find us by sending someone to us. 

          This past week, with anniversary of 9-11, the images seemed to be everywhere – and especially those of first responders struggling to carry people out of  the wreckage of those collapsed buildings…Now that is a picture of being carried.   I also think about Harriet Tubman and her underground railroad – literally carrying people to freedom..and then, there is St. Christopher.  You know the story  - there was a man whose job it was to help people ford a river.  One night, a child came to him and asked to be taken across.  He picked the child up on his shoulders and starting making his way across the river.   Instead of the very light child he had started out with, he found  that the child was getting heavier and heavier  - almost crushing him under his weight.  Finally, reaching the other side, Christ revealed himself  and the man understood that he had been carrying Christ – who was  himself bearing the weight of the world.  And, then perhaps one of the most famous stories in the bible  about carrying another is that of the Good Samaritan… and each of us has our own stories about times when we have been carried and when God has carried someone else through us.

These are so important  for us because  they remind us that we are called, as part of the body of Christ,  to seek out and welcome those who have gotten lost in some way.. and that we are called to bear one another’s burdens.   Did you know this is what you signed up or were signed up for at Baptism?

          Jesus came to carry out the Father’s mission of reconciliation.  One really clear place we see the Father’s mission is in the Prophet Ezekiel, God – who at the time is mightily fed up with the kings and priests of Israel,  says – “See here, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.” [3] Our God comes to find us when we get lost and cannot move and sends us out to find the lost and sometimes to carry one another. 

          Now please understand, this is not easy…it will be misunderstood by those on the outside – sometimes even by those in the family of faith.  Mistakes will get made along the way.     Know this, if you ask the Lord to send  you to the lost, and to send the lost our way…  you need to be prepared.   But, also remember, remember, we do not do this in our own strength but through the power of the Holy Spirit….and  Jesus, himself,  is our yoke fellow – he says “My yoke is easy and my burden is light,”[4]

         
     No, sometimes, it’s not easy… For instance, What would you do – as a local church did – if you started a midweek family service followed with a free pizza supper and, at first, you were happy to see that the service had caught on and young families were attending.  But, then, gradually you realized that  the service and the supper were increasingly being attended by street people – unbathed, some addicts, some mentally ill and very unstable.. and the families with young children felt unsafe,  objected and finally stayed away… If you were that priest, what would you do?

It’s all well and good to say that we will seek the lost but what happens when they show up for church and it’s not so pretty?

God willing, it’s what happened when I showed up for church many years ago, lost as I could be.  I found loving care  and a way to reconnect with the love and faithfulness of God…

But beyond that, when we leave here on Sunday morning, we are the Church in the world.  Don’t let that threshold back there be an amnesia line – where once we cross on our way out,  we forget what we are about.  When we are here, we are Church gathered.  When we leave, we are the Church scattered.   If you are willing , God will begin to open your eyes to see the people who need to be connected with God.  They may not be able to connect with a Church family yet or maybe not  ever… but they can connect with you who are the Church in the world.  We don’t necessarily have to seek the lost in an environment which is far away or dangerous – but, more often, we encounter those who are lost  at work, in our own neighborhood, and, perhaps, most difficult of all, in our own families.

          The call to follow Jesus, to be the Church – to be his hands, to see with his eyes, to know his heart,  to carry out his mission.. is ours.  Sometimes, it feels like the most natural thing in the world and sometimes it’s a real challenge.. but when we go out to find the lost sheep, or turn everything upside down to find the lost coin, (the one precious to God),  when we meet the lost son or daughter or the road and welcome them home, then we are keeping company with Jesus. and, I cannot imagine any company better than that. 

Lord God, lover of souls, open our eyes and hearts to those around us who need to be reconciled to you.  Then, we pray, give us the grace to speak and the wisdom to know when.  For we ask it in the name of and for the sake of Jesus.  Amen.

---

[1]Clarence Jordan – The Cottonpatch Gospel

[2] Jeremias – Parables. P.134

[3]Ezekiel 34:11

[4]Matthew 11:30.