RCL Year A - 20 Pentecost (Proper 26) - October 30, 2011

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III

Trinity Episcopal Church

Towson, MD

RCL Year A - Proper 26 - October 30, 2011

Joshua 3:7-17

Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

Matthew 23:1-12

It almost comical – when people ask me how long I have been a member of the Episcopal Church, I tell them that I am a cradle Episcopalian – To some folks, this implies that I was born into the Episcopal Church and raised by parents who were members of the Episcopal Church.  However, I quickly have to clarify it…  I consider myself a “cradle” Episcopalian, but that doesn’t meet the purest of the definitions.  I am a Cradle Episcopalian that remembers my baptism – because I was baptized when I was 4 years old.

My parents did not grow up in the Episcopal Church, and were not members of the Episcopal Church when I was born.  They were members of another branch of Christianity, a denomination that is considered much more zealous as the minister gets up in the pulpit and preaches what are referred to as hellfire and brimstone sermons.  Sermons that try scare people into believing this or that, trying to enforce a self-created religious purity code of uber-righteous living.  A standard that no member of that church or anyone else for that matter could live into.

Well, it caught up with them…  I have heard the story many times…  My mom and dad were in church one Sunday and there was the preacher, beating on the pulpit, telling the folks that if they did or didn’t do this or that they were going to hell in a hand-basket…  You can’t play cards, you can’t dance, you are not allowed to have a beer with your pizza, you weren’t allowed to read certain books or listen to your favorite band on the radio, because those things were laden with the devil.

What the gentleman that was spewing these things from the pulpit didn’t know is that he had been caught…  caught at a local establishment in the company of a young lady that wasn’t his wife, drinking and listening to the devil’s music.  Hypocrisy is a nasty thing that can destroy a community of faith. 

The story goes that my mom, not wanting to ascribe to the hypocritical rules of that community anymore – in the middle of the sermon – picks up me and the diaper bag and leans over to my father and tells him that she’ll be waiting in the car…  The rest is history…

The readings this morning are full of the same ideas, “They preach, but they do not practice.”  “They do all their deeds to be seen by others.”  These are Jesus’ indictments against the scribes and the Pharisees…  Hypocrites, that Jesus calls “blind guides” and a “brood of vipers” in other parts of scripture.  In Jesus’ time, the Pharisees were a self-righteous and pious group of people that had perverted the intent of the commandments of God to such a degree, they no longer were able to practice what they preached.

They wore phylacteries – little leather boxes that contained the words of the Shema and Torah strapped to their arms and to their foreheads – with little practice in their life or understanding of how to follow them or live into what they were wearing.  In Jesus’ eyes, they were doing it just to look important and be seen as pious individuals, showing others how religious they were.  It was common in Jesus’ time and place to accost someone in public that wasn’t practicing what they were preaching…  So that is exactly what Jesus was doing.

And so here we are today…  struggling together to learn what Jesus is trying to teach us.  Trying not to live hypocritical lives and be seen as more important than any other…   trying to be true to ourselves and help those around us the best way we know how.  It’s our Christian life, and it’s a daily struggle… 

And being the priest, the called leader in the Christian community, the struggle is even greater – because others constantly have differing high expectations, opinions and ideas of what you are supposed to do (or not supposed to do) and how (or how not) you are supposed to do it.

In fact, Bishop Porter Taylor warned our group of candidates as we were preparing for our ordination.  He warned us to be careful and stay true to yourself and who we were or we would most assuredly lose our soul.  I can attest to you that after several years of ordained ministry, he words are wise and very correct.

I have seen some folks get so tied up in who they thought they were as ordained people – that they forget “who they are” and “whose they are” as beloved children of God…   I hope and pray that I have remained true to myself and continue to remain true to myself…

Those of you that have grown to know me over the past 6 months, know that I still try to remain the first to knock myself off of any pedestal that people try to put me on – and if I ever fail to do that, I can always trust my beloved wife to step in and do it for me – because we know that hypocrisy can ruin a Christian community.

But, for us Episcopalians – it’s sometimes a very hard concept for us to get our heads around – with me as your priest, standing her in a pulpit wearing a long colored robe, bowing to the cross as I take my place of prominence in the liturgy, facing the altar to pray on behalf of the community, and empowered to break bread and bless wine so that they become for us the presence of Christ in our communion.

We have obvious pious practices that help us engage the divine and worship God with gestures and bodily motions.  So, it’s difficult to hear readings that seem to tell us not to be pious and not to call others father, rabbi, teacher, or even instructor…  when in fact, the Christian church has called the leaders of the community father since it’s foundation – mostly as a symbol of relationship of the community to the one who nurtures the community and sometimes needs to exercise discipline and make tough decisions.  Paul even refers to himself as one who relates to the community at Thessalonica as a father, urging and encouraging and pleading with his children.

Jesus’ warning here in Matthew is to the Pharisees, a group of people who thought themselves more important than others, more righteous - deserving of God’s favor…  it was an attempt to knock them off of their pedestal and have them come to their senses about who they really are and what they were really doing.  Jesus knew that the Pharisees had empty practices that didn’t do anything for them – they just wanted to be seen by others.  They flaunted their piety in order to win human approval – not approval from God.

In the life of the hypocrite, the light of self-promotion is always on and narcissism always prevails.  And in this lesson, Jesus uses the term hypocrites as a broad term when he speaks to the crowds and his disciples and focuses the attention of the crowd on those who seek human approval and praise, rather than approval from God.

And then, without us realizing it, Jesus gives us a remedy to this hypocrisy – pure divine grace.  God’s love and favor for us doesn’t need human approval…  if we accept God’s love for us and believe and intend to live a life worthy of God…  Jesus keeps on loving us and loving us, despite all of our human failings and blemishes.

Neither the problem nor the solution lies in the clothing we wear or the terms that designate our place in the community…  The point of today’s reading is clear and it is found repeatedly in the teachings of Jesus…

Jesus is telling us again that God always comes first!  Nothing else deserves first place or preference…  Nothing else gets to be placed on the pedestal, if you are truly to be called a servant of God.

RCL Year A (Proper 19) - September 11, 2011

The Rev’d Kenneth H. Saunders III                                                                     

RCL Year A (Proper 19)                                                                                                   

September 11, 2011                                                                                 

Trinity Episcopal Church                     

Towson, MD

Exodus 14:19-31           

Psalm114

Romans 14:1-12  

Matthew 18:21-35

Have you ever been so frustrated with someone that you just wanted to grab them by the throat and choke the life right out of them?  As gratifying as it may seem to any of us…  we know that it just doesn’t solve anything.  This kind of action solves nothing in our world, but only adds to the frustration and violence that caused the original situation in the first place.

We know that violence and a physical altercation like that wouldn’t solve a thing because we are intelligent people of reason and understanding, but most importantly, we know that we have a God that has forgiven us…

Last week, Jesus taught us what to do if we felt that someone in the Church wronged us…  We were to go to that person face to face and speak to them, reason with them, learn the circumstances, forgive them and pray with them…  If that didn’t work, we were to take a couple of more with us to meet with the person, letting those others help us digest the situation, reason together, learn from each other, and forgive them and pray with them…  But as we all know, these are all tough things to do when you are angry…  I mean really really angry… with an anger so deep that it becomes the acid of hate that starts eating right through the container of your soul…

We know that Peter understood anger, and we know that he understood forgiveness, but he comes to Jesus anyway and asks…  How many times do I forgive?  As many as seven?…  the amount according to Hebrew custom, that was considered extremely generous… and Jesus says no…  you should forgive them 77 times…  which was a colloquial way to say always.

So Jesus tells us a parable to explain his teaching…  The parable of the unforgiving servant…  about a King wishing to settle his accounts going to the folks that owed him money and collecting…   A servant was brought to him that owed him 10,000 talents…  and that makes us think…  how much is 10,000 talents?

Well, a denarii is a day's wage… and talent would be 15 years of wages…   so this guy owed 150,000 years of wages.  If we compare this to a person today that makes just minimum wage (a mere $13,625 a year) – He would owe about $2,043,750,000 an absolutely absurd amount in any standard of place and time… 

So the king calls him forward and demands that he liquidate everything that he has, all his possessions…  himself and even his wife and his children which were considered property back then…  to make payment…    The servant is devastated and pleads with the King for mercy and the king has pity and releases him, and then does the unheard of and forgives him his massive amount of dept… 

Wow…  this guy should be thankful, happy…  dancing on a cloud…  he owed over 2 billion dollars and his account was completely zeroed…  but what did this guy do?  Yeah…  he got real bold and full of himself,  and when he came upon someone that owed him money, in this case only 100 denarii, he grabs him by the throat and says “give me what you owe me!”  The man pleads with the servant, just as he did with the king…  but when the man couldn’t pay, the servant had him thrown in jail… 

Oooo…  This didn’t make the king happy one bit…  When the King found out, he had the servant brought before him again, to find out why the servant had not forgiven the other as he had been forgiven.  Then he handed him over to be tortured until he repaid all that he owed…

When someone else sins against me?  How many times must I forgive them?  As many as seven?  Jesus says, no -“You must forgive them always…”  Sometimes the pop-Christian perspective is to say – that’s pretty easy…  forgive and forget…  let go and let God…  this in part may be true, but the human memory can be far more durable than human will…  in being lassie-fair about it all, the act doesn’t become fully erased in our minds, despite our hearts determination to be rid of it completely.

Forgiveness is difficult and our patience runs out very quickly…  This causes our reactions to look like more of the servant, choking his fellow servant.   The root of the difficulty to me seems to be our hardness of heart… 

Jesus sets up a dichotomy of difference between the seven and seventy-seven years, the servant and the king, the 100 days and the 150,000 years…  all to show us that forgiveness is not easy, even when it seems outrageously simple on paper. 

As Christians, we should continuously work on accepting our forgiveness and start to let go of the things that aren’t worth holding onto in the first place…  As Christians, we should be bearers of the message of reconciliation…  We should work at being Christ to others…  But that forgiveness part, that’s difficult, and it doesn’t do us any good to pretend otherwise.  

I am here to tell you that forgiveness is only possible, by the Grace of God!  But it is hard work for us and in order to forgive…  We have to work at it…  To let the flakes and the layers fall off of our tough exterior shell that has become hardened and bitter by our powerful desire for vengeance.  Paul reminds us that we are not to pass judgment on others, nor or we to despise them…  because God judges rightly and with an accuracy that we cannot even claim to have.

God may judge, but God also redeems with great mercy and compassion and gives with great generosity.  We should show others this great generosity… especially the folks that we want to choke the life out of… We need to reconcile with them to show them true forgiveness…  And have them encounter in us the vision of God in Christ, the God that loves us and suffers with us to seemingly impossible degrees…  only then can the love and empathy in them spring up and grow in their hearts as it does ours.

I saw an incredible movie several years ago called “Pay it Forward.”  It is a story about the young Trevor McKinney, who got caught up by an intriguing Social Studies assignment.  The assignment was to think of something to change the world and then put it into action.

Trevor conjures the notion of paying a favor not back, but forward - repaying good deeds not with payback, but with new good deeds done to three new people.  Trevor's efforts to make good on his idea bring a revolution not only in his life but that of his family, but even in those of an ever-widening circle of people completely unknown to him.

In effect, he was changing the world…  by “paying it forward” – Even though this movie had no religious theme or undertone, for me it really summed up the just of our lesson this morning…  Pay it forward…  never letting the chain of love end with you!

Whether we are the offenders, in need of great divine mercy and forgiveness or the offended in need of divine grace and patience… we have no refuge than that of the goodness of God, made known to us in the person of Jesus Christ.  And if our hearts are open to such mercy and grace, -- out of that divine mercy and grace flows true generosity and true forgiveness…

We all have a God that has forgiven us…  all we need to do is accept it, act on it, and pay it forward…  thanks be to God!

RCL Year A (Easter 4) - May 15, 2011

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III

Trinity Episcopal Church

Towson, MD

RCL Year B (Easter 4) - May 15, 2011

Acts 4:5-12

Psalm 23

1 John 3:16-24

John 10:11-18

Today we get to leave those post resurrection appearances of Jesus for a minute… You know, those wonderful accounts of Jesus appearing to his disciples after the resurrection, showing himself to his disciples in the breaking of the bread, and revealing himself as he opens the scripture to them and eats with them.

Today we get to focus on something a little different… In today’s gospel reading, here in the middle of our celebration of the resurrection we get to learn a bit more about who Jesus is. But, like so many other bible references, theses images today seem a little strange to us and they are not very easy to understand. We don’t quite understand why Jesus refers to himself as “The Good Shepherd.”

Jesus says that He is “The Good Shepherd,” the model shepherd that lays down his life for the sheep. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know of any “sheep ranches” here in Towson. Driving around Towson, I see lots of buildings and shopping malls… and even yesterday I saw the exit for the zoo off the beltway, but no sheep ranches.

So, we’ve got to stop a minute and understand… the folks that Jesus was talking to understood what a “good” shepherd was, and how important their function is to the raising of sheep. Jesus uses the image of “shepherd” as a metaphor – a metaphor to explain who he is… By saying that he is the “Good Shepherd,” Jesus says that he is THE faithful leader, guardian, protector, healer, and loving guide of his people - US… his sheep.

Over the years, it seems that we have romanticized the image of shepherd a bit… When we think of “shepherd,” we think more of a young man (maybe in the Christmas play) with a some kind of towel on his head… standing out in the field with a crooked pole watching over a group of animals that are grazing in the grass.

But, people who know what shepherds are, know they are much more than that. Shepherds had to be tough and courageous, a bit rough around the edges, out on the fringes of refined society… they are the “other” folks, who were not always accepted… More like the kind of people that are considered the “outcasts of society” – the ones that Jesus makes it a point to be with, to eat with, and to teach.

And Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd, I know my own, and my own know me.” We are Jesus’ own. We are the sheep of his pasture… wait a minute – yes – I said sheep. We are sheep - but don’t misunderstand Jesus’ metaphor… He is not calling us simple mindless animals that eat grass all day and stand around and go baaaa…

There is a distinct difference between sheep and any other pasture animal. Sheep are interesting communal creatures… they will stay huddled together in a flock. Unlike cattle that can be rounded up and herded together from behind and pushed in a direction, sheep need to be led from the front… I understand that if you try to herd sheep and prod and push sheep from behind to try to get them to go anywhere, then they will scurry around and get behind the shepherd. Sheep need to be led… Led by a Good Shepherd.

So, sheep are not “dumb” animals. They know their shepherd, and they will listen to their shepherd’s voice as he calls them by name. You could have 3 or 4 different flocks together in a sheepfold, as is common in sheep country, all grazing on the same pasture, comingled, and when the shepherd calls them, they will follow his voice… and go where he leads them, because they trust the Good Shepherd to lead them to good pasture, and keep them safe from danger.

But there are many voices vying for the sheep’s attention. Voices that try to endanger us, the sheep. There are voices of this world today that want to lead us sheep astray. You have probably heard them – or something like them… voices like self reliance, self sufficiency, greed, and idolatry. Voices that try to make us think that we don’t need each other or a good shepherd… voices of this world that try to break up the harmony of our flock and make us start judging one another.

Being timid animals, sheep are vulnerable and are not able to protect themselves, they need the shepherd’s protection… Protection from the wolves, and other predators that may be after them. But if the sheep are as true to the shepherd, as the Good Shepherd Jesus is to the sheep, then they will listen to the Shepherd and follow where he leads, and He will look after them.

But often, at times, we aren’t good sheep. We are stubborn and we don’t go where the Good Shepherd leads. We like to think that we have it all figured out ourselves, and we like to separate ourselves from the other sheep the sheep that aren’t like us, rather than stay with the one flock, under the control of the Good Shepherd.

There are many who are out there that try to be the shepherd and lead the sheep where they think they need to go. Leading them to places that aren’t good for the sheep… Places of danger… There are even ministers out there who think that they are shepherds, possibly trying to scare the sheep into staying with a flock… Telling them that they are the only ones who know the way to the greener pastures.

As your priest, I will be the first to tell you that I am NOT a shepherd, and I will never claim to be a shepherd – Some of you have probably been taught that a minister is some sort of shepherd… I don’t think that it is the proper representation… it really shouldn’t work like that.

I am more of a sheep among the sheep of God, always trying to point the way and show the other sheep who the One true “Good Shepherd” is. It is important that I always follow the Good Shepherd too, following where the Good Shepherd leads.

I heard someone say once that the priest is more of a sheep dog, helping the Good Shepherd keep the sheep in line, and helping protect the sheep against the evil wolves of this world… but we need to remember also that even the sheep dog follows where the “Good Shepherd” leads.

In this passage, Jesus is that only ONE True Good Shepherd, protecting, guiding, loving and caring for the sheep that are His - us. Never forsaking us, always faithful to us, nourishing us, giving us hope, and saving us from ourselves. Jesus isn’t any ordinary shepherd, he is the “model shepherd” (the “Good Shepherd”) that embodies strength and power, sympathy, kindness, and mercy.

Jesus uses a figure of speech… a metaphor that the people of the ancient world in the middle east would understand – but they don’t get it either. With the shepherd / sheep imagery, he tries to teach them how to live in right relationship with Him and with each other. And here we are, gathered today 2000 years later, learning from this passage that we are his people and the sheep of his pasture…

Let us seek the Good Shepherd’s guidance and only His guidance and protection as we dare to follow where our Good Shepherd (Jesus) leads. Amen!

RCL Year A (Easter 3) - May 8, 2011

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
Trinity Episcopal Church
Towson, MD

RCL Year A (Easter 3) - May 8, 2011

Acts 2:14a,36-41
1 Peter 1:17-23
Luke 24:13-35
Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17

Have you ever noticed that many of the post-resurrection stories… those “post-easter” stories about the risen Jesus are centered around meals? We know from today’s lesson that the disciples knew the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread at Emmaus…

Jesus comes among the disciples on the road but they don’t recognize him. The disciples are sad, and are moping around on the road between Jerusalem and Emmaus, and disappointed because Jesus and his ministry didn’t quite seem to be what they expected…

He wasn’t the savior that they had hoped for. He wasn’t the one that had ridden into Jerusalem on a colt just a week prior... he wasn't the one that they expected to be the militant messiah… They felt that he was taken and crucified before he could make a difference… before he could free Israel from Roman oppression. You can feel almost feel their disappointment in the story… And then Jesus reveals to them everything that was spoken about him by the prophets… but… they still don’t know it’s him – they don’t recognize him…

They get to Emmaus, and it’s quickly becoming evening… So in an act of hospitality and welcome, that is so common in that region of the world, they invite this total stranger into their home to share some dinner and a bed… They didn’t recognize that it is Jesus. To them, this man walking along the road was just a stranger… a stranger that has now revealed the prophetic scriptures to them. They don’t recognize Jesus until he takes, blesses, breaks, and gives bread to them like he has done so many times before.

It is not a mistake – Meals are very much a central part of Jesus’ ministry. And we know that some of the dinners that he has with folks get him into all kinds of trouble… like when he eats with “sinners” and tax collectors and harlots and those outside the circle of faith. Other meals shared with Jesus feed the multitudes… like when Jesus feeds the five thousand by taking what is available and blesses it, breaks it, and distributes it until ALL are fed – Providing enough for everyone and having enough left over to fill 12 baskets.

On his last evening with this followers, Jesus shared a meal with them, during which he offered his whole self… At his last supper with his friends, Jesus takes bread, blesses it, breaks it and shares it – and tells them, this is my body – and he takes the wine and blesses it and shares it and says that this is my blood… And this offering of his WHOLE self became the act - which becomes for us the greatest celebration and expression of thanksgiving to God… that which would sustain them and continues to sustain us and feed us after he is gone.

Our eating together is always a sign of celebration… It is a celebration of our relationships being lived out. It doesn’t matter if we are feeding or being fed. Most church communities (especially Trinity) like to have meals together. They like having meals together because they like being with each other, and they like eating good food. You will also see this in most families. Those that may be gathered at Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Mother’s Day, or any other bright occasion on the calendar that may allow us the opportunity to share a meal.

But I want us to think for a minute about the many sacred and holy things that underlie a meal that we share together. Or better yet, the meals that we share with strangers who aren’t family... In communities of faith, these meals become sacramental for us… signs of risen Christ here with us and among us. They become meals that bring us all to a common table, in order to be in right relationship with God and with each other.

That is why, from the very beginning of times when Christians began to worship in their homes and in the catacombs… a meal becomes central act of our Christian life. It is a meal of nourishment for our Christian life together. For the journey of faith that we are all on. In this meal that we share, we experience the risen Christ as a community in the breaking of the bread and then we receive that spiritual nourishment of Christ’s whole self… just what we need to sustain us in our Christian lives and on our journey of faith…

At the center of the Resurrection story is this meal shared at Emmaus: the bread taken, blessed, broken, and given and the risen Jesus is recognized. Christians understand all meals in relationship to the Eucharistic feast… Haven’t you ever wondered why we pray… and give thanks to God before we eat? The Holy Communion, and in fact all meals are for us a foretaste of that heavenly banquet that we will ALL one day share as we feast with Jesus in paradise.

The disciples knew the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread… May the risen Christ be known to us today as the bread is broken and the meal is shared.

RCL Year A (Epiphany 4) - January 30, 2011

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Church
Cleveland, NC

RCL Year A (Epiphany 4) - January 30, 2011

Micah 6:1-8
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Matthew 5:1-12
Psalm 15

For most folks, the readings today are not very comfortable… In fact, they are deeply deeply challenging. We have all heard the familiar verses before, but I don’t know how much we, as a community of faith, actually understand what we were hearing or what we were reading. These are well known passages, but if we all understood the depth of what the scripture was saying to us, we might start to feel that we have come up short.

As Christians, followers of the way of Jesus Christ, as his disciples, the words in Holy Scripture consistently challenge us to live in a way that is different. A way that is healing and restoring… a way that calls us to a level of righteousness before the living God.

We must first realize that the scriptures (especially the Old Testament lessons) have a Jewish context… and the socio-economic and political environment in which it was written bears much on how we interpret the writings and try to make them relevant to today’s world.

That’s what makes it so difficult for us... that’s what makes it uncomfortable. We’re not Jewish, nor do we understand what it means to be Jewish, we are just normal everyday Christian folk. So, we don’t understand the depth of the meaning of the text from the people that actually wrote it.

We come here on Sunday and then go home and go about our day to day business – we may or may not come next Sunday or read or study scripture during the week – and we may or may not participate in a ministry beyond our Sunday worship. Somehow, being a “comfortable Christian” has become the stylish…

Now for those wiggling in their pew a bit, I would like to share with you the context from which the prophet Micah (in the Old Testament lesson), and Jesus (in the Gospel lesson) are coming from this morning. The term I would like to introduce you to is called Tikkun Olam (say it with me… Tikkun Olam) It is a phrase in Hebrew that literally means “repairing the world”…

But how do we do as Christians repair the world? How do we use what we have and how we act to fix what is wrong with society. There, for us, is the challenging part… it is the piece that calls us beyond our worship and puts our love of God into action. It calls us out of the mode of just showing up on Sunday and sitting in the pew, listening or not listening to what the priest has to say, and puts the reality of the living God to work in society – out there in the streets… It is truly being the church in the world…

That is exactly what ALL of these readings are about – the idea of “world restoration” – Tikkun Olam brought about by the way we act and its influence over others.

It starts out this morning with the prophet Micah, who is preoccupied with social justice. He is the champion of the oppressed and under-privileged of his time. Micah verbally attacks the socio-economic injustices of his day by reminding the people of Israel of God’s favor for them. The people are called by Micah to repentance and again turn their hearts to God – turn their hearts from the worship of wealth and pagan idols, and restore the world rightly to God through their actions and their influence.

After the peoples pleading of – what shall we do? How will we make it right? How will we once again get back in right relationship with God? They go down a laundry list of sacrifices… Sacrifices that they would expect worthy of the most High God… burnt offerings, rams, and calves, and oil… even the ultimate sacrifice of the first born…

But then Micah reminds them of the Tikkun Olam of their responsibility to repair the world…
the responsibility to do what is “required” by God… to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. It’s not a request or even a hint, but a requirement to repair the world by doing three things… to do justice, to love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.

The idea of Tikkun Olam even makes its way into the gospel story this morning… Words the Jewish audience of Matthew would understand. Jesus says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, Blessed are those who mourn, Blessed are the meek, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, Blessed are the merciful, Blessed are the pure in heart, Blessed are the peacemakers, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account…

Jesus’ list of those blessed, known better to us as the beatitudes, are really his way of reminding the people that he is talking to of the “Tikkun Olam” that God requires of them… of how to repair the world… He uses examples of things that are not right in society, the poor, the ones considered weak and hungry, those that would be otherwise despised for challenging the status quo… He says that they will be blessed or “happy” in the repaired and restored world – that he calls the Kingdom of God – and it’s the people’s responsibility to bring it about. Just as the prophet Micah before him, Jesus calls the crowd to the restorative action to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.

Likewise, as followers of Jesus, as his disciples, we are required by God to “Tikkun Olam” we are called to repair the world. But that’s where it gets difficult for us, those of us that do very little beyond our Sunday morning worship. Scriptural teachings are not easy to follow, and just because we have received salvation through faith in our Lord Jesus, doesn’t mean we are exempt from what our faith requires of us.

Every time we see an injustice in society, we are required as a church to help right the wrong. We are required to do what we can to repair the world’s injustice – to uplift the fallen and demand equity for ALL of God’s children, even those different from us. It is manifested through our ministries like our work with the food bank, it’s the village kids project, it’s the work with the foster children in Rowan County and it’s our work abroad saving lives with nets for life. The world’s poor, the destitute, the forgotten, and the hungry are to be remembered and restored, are to be clothed, housed, fed, and protected in our communities effort to do justice.

On top of this, we are required to be kind to one another, to put aside the hate and divisions that divide us and be reconciled and display a genuine loving kindness. This is tough! It’s not the plastic exterior notion of just “getting along” or being nice. We are called to do the hard work within ourselves – and turn to God for help in repentance and then outwardly display God’s love and kindness toward one another regardless of our differences.

Then, finally, we are required to walk humbly with our God. I think that the issue to work on here is the humility. Saying we are humble and actually being humble are two totally different things. Humility demands that we come to a realization that its not about us and we don’t have it all figured out all the time. It requires a submissive approach to our worship, prayer, and study as we listen and watch for the presence of God in our lives.

God has exercised a model of humility for us in the person of Jesus Christ. God has emptied God’s self in complete humility and became one of us and lived among us, in order to model for us what is required of us.

And if we remember the story correctly, as great a teacher and healer and prophet as Jesus was, the society rejected him, convicted him and sentenced him to die as a common criminal. So, if we are actually doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God as Jesus did; we might just get hung on our own cross.

It doesn’t surprise me that the stated mission of the Church in our teaching (the catechism) is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. Our mission as a church is not a mission of just Sunday worship – but, it’s the difficult mission of repair and restoration. A “fixing” of the world so that ALL people might be in unity with God AND each other in our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Tikkun Olam” – repair the world… do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. Amen!

RCL Year A (Epiphany 2) - January 16, 2011

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Church
Cleveland, NC

RCL Year A (Epiphany 2) - January 16, 2011

Isaiah 49:1-7
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
John 1:29-42
Psalm 40:1-12

More than any other time in the Church year, Epiphany is a season of light. It starts out with the Magi (or Wise Men) following a bright star that illuminated the night sky. It is a time designed by the church for us to reflect on coming of the dark. The dark and desolate places of our lives and coming to live out in the open (in the light of Christ.)

It is an invitation to be baptized as a believer in Christ and to participate and share in his ministry. Last week was the First Sunday after the Epiphany – The Baptism of Our Lord, and in place of the Nicene creed in the service we stood up and renewed our baptismal vows… As it is fitting and proper to do on that day, as it is during the great vigil of Easter, on the day of Pentecost, and on All saints day.

These are the major feasts are especially appropriate for baptism – but even though we didn’t baptize anyone, we took a moment to remember our own baptism… to remember WHO we are and WHOSE we are, by virtue of our baptism – our baptism by water and the holy spirit into the life, death, and resurrection, of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ own baptism illuminates our understanding of who Jesus really is… The savior that takes away our sins and offers the whole world redemption… He is the Holy anointed One, He is the Christ! Today we follow that awesome reminder with the lessons that were read.

Last week we heard the story of Jesus’ baptism from Matthew’s Gospel. But today, we hear that story a little differently from John. In John’s story, The baptizer John proclaims several times who Jesus is. John said, “look… there he is the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world… He is the one that I have been talking about… He is the Christ, he is the one that came into the world. Believe me, when I baptized him, I saw the Holy Spirit descend on him, and I heard the voice of God say that he was the one, God’s only son, with whom He is well pleased!”

Baptism is the first step of our living into the light of Christ! – and the theme that unites all the readings today is “Call.” It is the famous writer Parker Palmer who says that your “call” by God, referred to by Palmer as our true vocation, is something you can’t not do!”
I realize that his phrase is a double negative, but I think he uses this language it to make a point.

It is the deep yearning, that yearning and seeking that is deep inside us. It is something that is knit into the very fabric of our lives. – This is expressed by Isaiah who says, "the Lord called me before I was born" – before I was knit in my mother’s womb, you knew me!” The Psalmist adds, that after waiting patiently for the Lord, "he lifted me out of the...pit... and he set my feet on a high cliff..."; The epistle from "Paul, called to be an apostle," to Church in Corinth "called to be saints" and equipped with all the necessary spiritual gifts; even though they weren’t so good at it in practice.

John story, after he explains who Jesus is, is the call of the first disciples. I find that the most engaging part of this passage is Jesus' first conversation with the two disciples.

He sees them following him and asks them a question, "What is it that you are looking for?" They answer the question with a question: "Teacher, where are you staying?" Jesus says, simply, "Come and see." The question he asks them first, "What are you looking for?" is strangely enough the question that begins the service of admission to the catechumenate.

Since the ancient church, the catechumanate (from where we get the words catechuman and catechism – the learners and the teaching) has been the period of preparation for baptism. It has most recently been resurrected in the church as a preparation for confirmation: "What do you seek?" In that service, the answer is "Life in Christ!" This is essentially what the Christian faith believes that all of us are seeking.

Andrew and the other disciple don't know that – or at least the text doesn’t say it – But they do ask a question "Where are you staying?” Where are you coming from? Where are you going? Jesus' answer was simple, open, and inviting: "Come and see."

We need to realize that the Gospel is not something that we read in a book or learn from a statement; It is a life, that must be led, experienced to be understood. Jesus is inviting these two disciples, these two seekers, to “come and see” and share in His life. He doesn't set conditions, or insist on a permanent commitment, or make them “sign in.”

He simply invites them to experience what it means to live "in Christ," to live into the "kingdom life." That is at the very heart of that word that we are often afraid of as Episcopalians: “evangelism.” The way we tell the story of salvation and invite seekers to come and share in the life we have in Jesus the Christ.

In Epiphany season, we are exploring and spreading the light of Christ through the world – beginning with us. On some level, each of us is continually being invited by Christ to share more deeply in his life. We are all called by our baptism to extend the invitation to the seekers that we meet to "come and see."

The completion of the story, of course, is the irony that Andrew goes back and invites his brother, Simon – who Jesus calls by a nickname, “Peter” or “Rock” (Petros in greek means rock). Peter, as we well know will be the steadfast rock of the continuing church - the keeper of the keys. We need to stop and think for a minute: What if Andrew had not been invited by Jesus? And what if Andrew had not followed? How would Peter find the way?

We never know what plan God has that may be set in motion by us, as we invite people into the light of Christ, into the gospel, and into the community of the church! And people come and see how we acknowledge and accept who Jesus is to us by the way we act.

To follow Jesus as Lord and Savior means that we are called to live into the light of Christ and illuminate others lives… it’s something that we can’t not do! For a baptized Christian, Jesus is our source of light and life. He is our reason for being!

We all have many questions that we don’t have all the answers to, you have even heard me refer to life many times as one big mystery that we are all living into. But, we need to tune our ear this morning and hear what our Lord Jesus Christ is calling us to do.

Today – Jesus is calling us out of the darkness into the light. He is calling us to participation in the life of His Holy church… calling us to live out the gospel in our lives… And the question is: What is it that YOU seek? Follow Jesus… and come and see! You may just find what your looking for…