The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year B – 18 Pentecost (Proper 22) - October 4, 2009
Job 1:1; 2:1-10
Psalm 26
Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16
What does it mean to live in “right relationship” with God and with each other? Are we doing it? Are we even trying to do it? If we were ALL striving to live in “right relationship,” would we do anything different than what we are doing?
I want to go out on a limb here a bit, and suggest that our only purpose in this life is to practice living in “right relationship.” Right relationship with God and with each other! If you think about it for a minute, our entire life is surrounded by relationships… of course there is the obvious relationships – our relationships to our spouses or significant others, our family and extended family, our brothers and sisters, our parents and our kids, our friends and our enemies, our church, our teachers and our students, our co-workers… and the list goes on and on and on – with just the “people” in our lives!…
Then there is the not so obvious relationships – our relationship with our surroundings (the created order around us…) the plant and animals, our pets, trees, the environment, or even the relationships with our possessions or the stuff that clutters our lives… money, houses, furniture, cars, jobs, hobbies, or our passions... and THAT list goes on and on and on…
Anything and everything and everyone that comes in contact with our lives is a sort of relationship… and if we stop to think about it, we know that relationships are powerful things – good or bad, they form, inform, and transform our very lives…
The very Bible, the book of Holy Scripture… is a book about relationships. Relationships between God and us and our relationships with each other… of how good, bad, or ugly it could possibly be…
In the Hebrew Scriptures or the Old Testament, we learn about God’s relationship with Israel, (God’s chosen people)… In the Old Testament, Israel learns to rely on God’s faithfulness… God’s faithfulness that continually redeems and restores them back into “right” relationship. And in that relationship, we know of some who learn to be faithful… Faithful in following and accepting God’s presence in their lives.
In the Gospel, Jesus teaches us about relationships, both, relationships with God and with each other. In today’s lesson from Mark’s Gospel, Jesus continues the teaching that we heard about. You remember the difficult stories in latter part of the ninth chapter of Mark that the bishop taught us about last week? The stories about cutting off that which keeps you from having a “right” relationship with God. I, for one, am glad we understand the amputations that Jesus speaks about more as metaphors that are used to represent other things – I don’t think Jesus was into literal body mutations.
In our story this morning, Jesus and the disciples have traveled down the road a bit and they have reached the edge of the wilderness in Judea near the river Jordan… hmmm… doesn’t this sound familiar? We knew a man who preached there in the wilderness - John the Baptist! So, Jesus is now in back in John’s old venue and he starting to get noticed and attract attention.
A large crowd was starting to form around him and – as was his custom – Jesus begins to teach them… But the Pharisees have different ideas – The scripture says that they were going to test, and we can assume that they want to embarrass and defame Jesus…
We already know that Jesus has upset the social order in order to set “right” the relationships that had run amiss… so the Pharisees decide to test Jesus by asking him about the legalities of divorce. Jesus teaches and argues with them about the intent of the law… He explains that the only reason that the law allowing divorce was given is because Humans are “hard hearted.” That God’s intent, as He quotes Genesis, was for us to become one flesh – the “new creation” that we speak of in our marriage liturgy.
But as humans we mess up relationships, we mess up relationships because we live far from the created balance and order that God intends us to live into…
After Jesus answers the Pharisees, they go into a house… And as usual, the disciples still don’t quite understand what Jesus was teaching… So, Jesus enters a deeper conversation with His band of closest followers and teaches them about some of the consequences of divorce and human separation.
Then the unthinkable happens… little children are brought to Jesus for a blessing, but the disciples rebuke them… and think the children are disruptive. (You want to know why I am an advocate of children being in the liturgy? Read this chapter closely!)… Jesus stops the disciples and takes the opportunity to use the situation to teach them about the greatest relationship of all.
Jesus speaks to them of the restoration of the world to “right” relationship… The Kingdom of God, being one in which people have humility, openness, and the relational gift of being childlike... Childlike - where the complex issues in relationships that we all seem to get messed up in, confused about and stressed out over, all become simple, faithful, and earnest…
So, what does it mean for us to be in “right” relationship? I would like to suggest, it takes a divine balance… A divine balance that is that is sincere uncomplicated and unprofaned. A relationship where we actually seek to serve God in Christ and all do our part to help reconcile this broken world to get it back into right relationship with God…
We all made promises in our baptism (and reaffirmed them last week) to be good stewards of ALL Creation – because everything was created by God and BELONGS to God… and is put in our care… We also promised to seek to serve Christ in ALL persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves… If we just follow through with those two promises and live out our baptismal covenant, then we will start to know what it means to live into “right” relationships.
If it is - in fact - our purpose in life to practice living in “right” relationships, then we are here this morning in this community of faith, to learn how… we are here to worship and learn, and we are called to have our hearts and souls as open vessels to receive the word and the body and blood… so that through our worship and learning, we are formed and transformed… So we learn how to nurture and nourish each other and learn that it is God who nurtures and nourishes us…
God wants a “right” relationship with each and every one of us… and part of that “right” relationship with God… is living in “right” relationship with each other… here at Christ Church and in the world.
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year B – 18 Pentecost (Proper 22) - October 4, 2009
Job 1:1; 2:1-10
Psalm 26
Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16
What does it mean to live in “right relationship” with God and with each other? Are we doing it? Are we even trying to do it? If we were ALL striving to live in “right relationship,” would we do anything different than what we are doing?
I want to go out on a limb here a bit, and suggest that our only purpose in this life is to practice living in “right relationship.” Right relationship with God and with each other! If you think about it for a minute, our entire life is surrounded by relationships… of course there is the obvious relationships – our relationships to our spouses or significant others, our family and extended family, our brothers and sisters, our parents and our kids, our friends and our enemies, our church, our teachers and our students, our co-workers… and the list goes on and on and on – with just the “people” in our lives!…
Then there is the not so obvious relationships – our relationship with our surroundings (the created order around us…) the plant and animals, our pets, trees, the environment, or even the relationships with our possessions or the stuff that clutters our lives… money, houses, furniture, cars, jobs, hobbies, or our passions... and THAT list goes on and on and on…
Anything and everything and everyone that comes in contact with our lives is a sort of relationship… and if we stop to think about it, we know that relationships are powerful things – good or bad, they form, inform, and transform our very lives…
The very Bible, the book of Holy Scripture… is a book about relationships. Relationships between God and us and our relationships with each other… of how good, bad, or ugly it could possibly be…
In the Hebrew Scriptures or the Old Testament, we learn about God’s relationship with Israel, (God’s chosen people)… In the Old Testament, Israel learns to rely on God’s faithfulness… God’s faithfulness that continually redeems and restores them back into “right” relationship. And in that relationship, we know of some who learn to be faithful… Faithful in following and accepting God’s presence in their lives.
In the Gospel, Jesus teaches us about relationships, both, relationships with God and with each other. In today’s lesson from Mark’s Gospel, Jesus continues the teaching that we heard about. You remember the difficult stories in latter part of the ninth chapter of Mark that the bishop taught us about last week? The stories about cutting off that which keeps you from having a “right” relationship with God. I, for one, am glad we understand the amputations that Jesus speaks about more as metaphors that are used to represent other things – I don’t think Jesus was into literal body mutations.
In our story this morning, Jesus and the disciples have traveled down the road a bit and they have reached the edge of the wilderness in Judea near the river Jordan… hmmm… doesn’t this sound familiar? We knew a man who preached there in the wilderness - John the Baptist! So, Jesus is now in back in John’s old venue and he starting to get noticed and attract attention.
A large crowd was starting to form around him and – as was his custom – Jesus begins to teach them… But the Pharisees have different ideas – The scripture says that they were going to test, and we can assume that they want to embarrass and defame Jesus…
We already know that Jesus has upset the social order in order to set “right” the relationships that had run amiss… so the Pharisees decide to test Jesus by asking him about the legalities of divorce. Jesus teaches and argues with them about the intent of the law… He explains that the only reason that the law allowing divorce was given is because Humans are “hard hearted.” That God’s intent, as He quotes Genesis, was for us to become one flesh – the “new creation” that we speak of in our marriage liturgy.
But as humans we mess up relationships, we mess up relationships because we live far from the created balance and order that God intends us to live into…
After Jesus answers the Pharisees, they go into a house… And as usual, the disciples still don’t quite understand what Jesus was teaching… So, Jesus enters a deeper conversation with His band of closest followers and teaches them about some of the consequences of divorce and human separation.
Then the unthinkable happens… little children are brought to Jesus for a blessing, but the disciples rebuke them… and think the children are disruptive. (You want to know why I am an advocate of children being in the liturgy? Read this chapter closely!)… Jesus stops the disciples and takes the opportunity to use the situation to teach them about the greatest relationship of all.
Jesus speaks to them of the restoration of the world to “right” relationship… The Kingdom of God, being one in which people have humility, openness, and the relational gift of being childlike... Childlike - where the complex issues in relationships that we all seem to get messed up in, confused about and stressed out over, all become simple, faithful, and earnest…
So, what does it mean for us to be in “right” relationship? I would like to suggest, it takes a divine balance… A divine balance that is that is sincere uncomplicated and unprofaned. A relationship where we actually seek to serve God in Christ and all do our part to help reconcile this broken world to get it back into right relationship with God…
We all made promises in our baptism (and reaffirmed them last week) to be good stewards of ALL Creation – because everything was created by God and BELONGS to God… and is put in our care… We also promised to seek to serve Christ in ALL persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves… If we just follow through with those two promises and live out our baptismal covenant, then we will start to know what it means to live into “right” relationships.
If it is - in fact - our purpose in life to practice living in “right” relationships, then we are here this morning in this community of faith, to learn how… we are here to worship and learn, and we are called to have our hearts and souls as open vessels to receive the word and the body and blood… so that through our worship and learning, we are formed and transformed… So we learn how to nurture and nourish each other and learn that it is God who nurtures and nourishes us…
God wants a “right” relationship with each and every one of us… and part of that “right” relationship with God… is living in “right” relationship with each other… here at Christ Church and in the world.
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