RCL Year B (Proper 12) - July 26, 2009

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III

Christ Episcopal Church

Cleveland, NC

RCL Year B (Proper 12) - July 26, 2009

2 Samuel 11:1-15

Psalm 14
Ephesians 3:14-21
John 6:1-21

“As this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and then, when gathered, became one loaf, so may your church be gathered from the ends of the earth into your kingdom.” (Eucharistic Prayer in the Didache aka The Apostolic Teaching)

There was this little boy whose mother packed him lunch every day of school for 7 years! Every evening, she methodically put it all together… And he could usually count on about the same thing day after day / week after week… A bologna and cheese sandwich on white bread… (sometimes peanut butter and jelly) Some kind of fruit… A bag of some kind of chips… And some kind of dessert.

Ok… This was well balanced nutrition for the 70s…. And this little boy was me… I would go off and do my school thing during the day, not worrying too much about what I would get for lunch, because I knew that I had brought it with me and that it was mine! My mom made it!

A little boy and his lunch!....

Things haven’t changed too much… We are not quite sure how old the little boy in our Gospel Lesson was… But we do know that possibly it was his mom that packed him a lunch so he could go to the outskirts of town and hear a wonderful teacher.

We know that the areas outside villages and cities in the Mediterranean region were places of chaos… Meals did not normally take place there. In the first-century, people in this part of the world did not go on “picnics.” Proper care had to be taken when preparing food to insure its ritual purity. But there on the outskirts of town assembled 5,000…

The Gospel mentions men, but does not to mention the women and children. (women and children were not included in the count) This would have been larger than the population of most urban settlements in that area. AND That was a bunch of people!

To give you an idea of how large this crowd could have possibly been, I did some checking. As of 2008 – Cleveland, NC had a population of 838. That divides up into about 410 males and 428 females. That just wasn’t nearly enough so I went wider… and found out that if you take the entire population of 5,484 folks living in the 27013 zipcode and the folks down the street in Woodleaf (the 2,646 folks) living in the 27054 zipcode and you gathered them ALL together in some remote location, you still probably wouldn’t have the magnitude of the crowd that the scripture is talking about.

Now we have all these people together…

And Jesus asks Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” I don’t think that the question to Philip was searching for information… This was the way Jesus taught his disciples. The Gospel says that “He said this to test him…” I think we can all relate to Philip and his short speech on the economic situation before them… Philip was the logical choice for Jesus to ask. He was from Bethsaida, which was the nearest town. Philip would know the local resources. So, Philip gives Jesus a very logical answer. He tries to rationally figure out how much money he would need to buy enough bread for each to have a little taste. The price that comes to his mind is 200 denarii – (a denarii being a days wage for a working man) this would be about 6.5 months wages. This amount would appear ENORMOUS to man like Philip.

But Philip could have gone much further… He could have pointed out to Jesus all the logistical problems associated with obtaining and transporting such a large quantity of bread. Even if they took up an offering and were able to come up with enough money to go buy bread, where would they go and find that much bread already prepared (enough to feed these thousands and thousands of people) How many ovens would be required? How many bakers? How much flour? How long would it take for the dough to rise? And to bake? And how would they transport thousands of loaves of bread? And what about water… you can’t eat bread without something to wash it down with…

Philips answer was very logical… but not very faithful…

And then Andrew come along and tries to offer a frail solution… He offers Jesus the 5 barley loaves and 2 fish… Just a little boy’s lunch! but then joins Philip in his doubt – “What are they among so many.” This wasn’t even the good bread. This was barley bread. This was an inferior bread usually eaten by poor people. And the fish were probably small, meant to be a side dish for the bread which was after all the main course.

what if the boy were unwilling to share his lunch? What if he were to say, “I need this to take care of myself!” or – “my little bit won’t make a difference, So I am going to keep it!” The story might have been much different.

But - In a gesture, much larger than that little boy, the lunch is offered to Jesus upon request. Then Jesus had the disciples make the people sit down on the grass.

Jesus didn’t jump up and proclaim, “I AM GOD” and then make manna rain down from heaven… He didn’t make palm-trees spring up in the middle of the desert and feed the people with a grand banquet.

In a very bold gesture for a man with so many mouths to feed and so little food… He “took” what was given to him, He “blessed it,” He “broke it,” and He “gave it” to all the people who were seated on the hillside in the wilderness… He gave it until they were satisfied.

However, that isn’t the entire story… Unlike some conjuror, who would say I can do this again, and again… Jesus takes care of what is given to him and instructs the disciples to “Gather up the fragments left over… So that nothing may be lost.” And they filled up 12 baskets…

This was a little boy’s lunch! His lunch was not much, But it was ALL he had to offer. Jesus transformed that little bit into plenty for thousands.

Jesus Christ needs what we can bring him. We may not have much to bring, but he needs what we have. Bring Jesus what you have and he will multiply the quantity.

Regardless if you say, “I need this for myself!” or “my little bit won’t make any difference,” Jesus takes what we offer and it somehow becomes enough. But not just enough, it becomes overflowing.

We live out a little taste of that wonderful story today, just like we do each and every Sunday. Jesus takes what we offer and uses it to feed all of us. Every Sunday is our turn to sit down on the mountainside in the grass and join that great crowd. What happened there, happens here! Don’t ever forget that the bread we share this morning comes directly from one of those 12 baskets, as Jesus continues to feed us and provide for us…

Come to the table and be satisfied!! There is always enough!!

RCL Year B (Proper 10) - July 12, 2009

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

RCL Year B (Proper 10) - July 12, 2009

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19

Psalm 24
Ephesians 1:3-14

Mark 6:14-29

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer and say “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven” do we really mean it? Do we really mean for God’s WILL to be done? Or is it just some random prayer that we make? We say it, because we have always said it… but do we really really mean it?

If we look deeply into this week’s difficult and challenging lessons, we can see that they are about a clash… A clash of the will of the Kingdom’s of this world, and God’s divine will for us to have hope in Christ.

In our Old Testament lesson, David, the King of Israel was moving the Ark of the Covenant… The Ark that contained the laws given to Moses by the living God. This was the symbol of God’s divine presence among them, and David was moving it to the capital city. Now this was a grand procession with dancing and trumpets and castanets and cymbals. The scripture says that he was going from the house of Abinadab to the city of David, the Capital City.

What the portion of the lectionary reading left out, is that when they arrived at the threshing floor at a place called Nacon… probably the most level place that they had been… an oxen, who was pulling the cart, shook the cart and the ark began to fall. Uzzah, the son of Abinadab, was driving the cart and he reached out and touched the ark to steady it. Uzzah was immediately was struck down dead.

This scared David. And David feared God and was unwilling to bring the ark into the city of David, so he took the Ark to the house of Obed-edom, the Gittite. The scripture says that the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months; And the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household. David got word of the blessing of Obed-edom’s household and decided to take the Ark back and bring it into the city of David.

God’s will was not convenient for David, and David was scared and upset. After this incident, King David feared God and didn’t trust God after he saw Uzzah die. David put God on hold, and didn’t continue on with the grand procession… David knew that God told the people to offer sacrifices, but the people thought the sacrifices were the most important thing. They would rather offer sacrifice than nurture a relationship with God. As long as they got that done, they thought that it didn’t matter so much what else they did. And people do the same thing today.

People think just as long as they confess their sins and do penance periodically that all will be well. There are even members of the church that act in a similar fashion. They think, as long as they come to church on Sunday and get their card punched, it doesn’t matter what else they do throughout the week… It was only after he heard that Obed-edoms house was blessed, and it was safe, that David continued on with his praise and sacrifices to God.

In our Gospel lesson, Herod follows his own will also. King Herod, (a puppet of the Roman Emperor), had John the Baptist arrested because he spoke out against Herod’s unlawful marriage to Herodias, his brother Phillip’s wife. But the scripture also says that while his was locked up, Herod protected John, because Herod thought John was a righteous and holy man. His wife, Herodias, on the other hand, feared John and wanted him dead.

King Herod’s stepdaughter (and niece) Salome, unnamed in the Gospel, was the daughter of Herodias, and danced for Herod on his birthday. King Herod was so pleased with her that he granted her whatever she asked for. He even said that she could even have ½ of his kingdom.

Salome didn’t know what to ask for, so she went to her mother, Herodias, – who seized the opportunity to ask for the head of John the Baptist. Salome went back and told Herod… and Herod was deeply grieved, but didn't want to appear weak, so he granted her wish.

He didn’t have the guts to say, NO, there is no reason to kill this man. For Herod, this was the beginning of the end… Trying not to appear weak, he followed his own will, and what he did what inevitably made him weak. This started the whole process that brought him down.

These stories are about the Kings of this world doing what they think suits them best, and the consequences of doing just that… However, they are also a stories about how these Kings used others to further their own agendas. David used the house of Obed-edom as a place to stash the Ark of the God he feared, until he found out that the house of Obed-edom was blessed. Then David wanted the Ark back to continue with the original plan and bring the Ark it into the city of David.

And then we have the tangled web of the tragedy in the Gospel story where Herod used Herodias to further his own political agenda. And Herodias using Salome to bring about the death of John the Baptist, and Salome using John to please her mother. But make no mistake about it, the blame lies not with Herodias or Salome but with Herod. Herod was certainly hesitant and deeply grieved about what he was asked to do, because he was protecting John and thought him to be holy and righteous, but instead of having to face embarrassment, he took an innocent life.

Are we not all like David sometimes, when we are fearful of what we don’t understand, and decide to do something that isn’t in the larger plan, because we consider it to be more safe? Then only to take the risk after we see what profit is to be gained!…

And Are we not all like Herod sometimes, when we do something to save face, and make a decision that profits us even thought it’s not right or fair to others? Or, as one of my colleagues suggested to me, perhaps one question to ask ourselves is, "whose head do we call for?"

St. Paul says to the Church in Ephesus, “In Christ we have obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.”

We are believers in Jesus Christ, and in Christ we have been redeemed and sealed as God’s own people. We are members of Christ body, and subjects in God’s divine kingdom. When we pray, “Thy will be done,” God shows us and others the way to salvation in Christ Jesus. We use the good gifts that God has given us to build up God’s kingdom and to follow God’s will…, because it is God’s divine will is to gather all things in heaven and on Earth unto God.

But being faithful to God’s will for us is difficult… We struggle every day against the forces of this world that do not want us to live a holy and righteous life. But we need to be assured that what we are doing makes a difference not only in our lives, but in the lives of others.

So, like John, if we suffer or die for being faithful to God’s will, the kingdoms and principalities of this world do not have the last word. Our hope is in Jesus Christ, and our just reward will be eternal life with the God of our salvation. The important thing that we have to remember is… regardless of how difficult it is, we need to be faithful and follow God’s will for our life… Herod may have taken John's head, but he couldn't take his life.

Thank you to the Rev. Doris Westfall, the Rev. Don McCann, the Rev. Fred Clarkson, the Rev. Susan Bane, and the Rev. John Milholland, friends and colleagues, who helped me struggle with this difficult text.

RCL Year B (Proper 9) - July 5, 2009

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III

Christ Episcopal Church

Cleveland, NC

RCL Year B (Proper 9) - July 5, 2009

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10

Psalm 48
2 Corinthians 12:2-10

Mark 6:1-13

Happy Birthday America!

This is the weekend in which we celebrate this country becoming a sovereign nation, happening some 233 years ago, on July 4, 1776. What is interesting is that the actual legal date of separation from British Rule in America was July 2, 1776 when the Continental Congress voted to accept the “resolution” of independence. After this resolution was debated and revised, it was writ in a declaration on July 4th.

I have talked a bit in our Christian Education class about the closeness and interrelatedness of the foundation of government in this country and the foundation of our beloved Episcopal Church in America; independent from, but now in full communion with the Church of England.

It was interesting, and a bit ironic, that on my trip to my parent’s home recently, I was able to attend “The Lost Colony” on Roanoke Island, in Manteo, NC. I don’t know if you have ever seen it, but it is an outdoor production reenacting the early English settlement chartered by Elizabeth I to Sir Walter Raleigh on Roanoke Island in 1584.

Anyhow… It was amazing to me how much “church” there was throughout the play, up to and including the priest, Fr. Martin, who accompanied them on the voyage, baptized Virginia Dare (who was the first Christian baptism in North America), and suffered with them through the hardships that led to their mysterious disappearance.

It must have been amazing to be that mission minded, and focused on bringing not only civilization to a unknown foreign land, but to also bring their church with them. Though the play didn’t cover it, we also know that the native American ally of the colony, Chief Manteo, was also baptized there with Virginia Dare.

What courageous missionaries they must have been for what they were willing to do in order to share their belief in Jesus Christ as Lord with a much different culture than theirs.

Today’s Gospel lesson is about mission and about Jesus words of urgent preparation to his disciples to go out into the nearby towns and villages and proclaim the good news to repent – that the kingdom of God has come near. But, In today’s Gospel lesson, things aren’t exactly what they seem to be; especially to those folks whom Jesus has come home to see.

Jesus has gone with his disciples to the synagogue in Galilee. And he begins to teach. Now, when Jesus lived in Galilee, the people knew him there as the carpenter, Son of Mary and Joseph, oldest brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon, and his sisters. But, Jesus has now returned as a wise prophet of the living God, and they reacted like we probably would (given the circumstances) “where did this guy get all this?” “who does he think he is?” “isn’t he the carpenter?”

They are all caught up in their perception of what they “expect” Jesus to be, rather than what he has come to do. He has come to prepare them and teach them how to make way for the kingdom of God. He has been on both sides of the Sea of Galilee, and in the middle, preaching, teaching and performing great miracles and acts of the living God. But, now he has returned home - home to the place where he was raised, to astound and possibly bewilder the crowd with his teaching, only for them not to believe in him. The scripture says that he was made powerless there, other than laying hands on a few sick people and healing them.

Then, after it seems that his own hometown has rejected him, he uses the incident as an opportunity to prepare his disciples for the work they must do to build up the body of believers. For their “mission” among the villages and towns. The “hard” work. The hard work that will not be received by everyone, especially in their hometowns… Hard work that will be the source of ridicule and laughter to some, and the way to salvation for others, but ALL must be reached.

It’s all Mission. Mission framed in the sense of urgency to Go Out! Don’t stop to pack a bunch of stuff! You don’t need anything for your journey… just a staff. You don’t need any money, or food, or even a change of clothes. You just basically need to put on your shoes, grab your staff and go!

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I go somewhere, there is usually some serious packing involved… at least an overnight bag, provisions for food or shelter, and definitely my computer and book-bag (I am not going anywhere without that!) After all, what would I do if I couldn’t check my e-mail? Kyle and I went camping last week for only 4 nights in the mountains and it seemed that we had our van loaded down.

So I had to think long and hard about what this passage was trying to tell us…

I felt that this was Jesus teaching us how mission is to be done… Not relying on ourselves, but trusting in God to provide what is needed for what must be done. Focus on God’s providence in the face of challenge and rejection. Mission done with urgency and complete trust in what God provides.

How come when it comes to modern mission in the church, we don’t follow that biblical example? We would rather complain about our scarce resources than trust in God’s providence and love for us. We focus on our sensitive nature and how we may feel when the negative rejections come, rather than rejoicing in the many blessings that God has provided for us. We would rather be sure of our own security than to risk it boldly spreading the Gospel.

Jesus sent them out, and gave them instructions, to spread a message of repentance to everyone, knowing that some will refuse them and some will listen. The scripture tells us that they went out and casted out demons and anointed many with oil and cured them.

Jesus wants no less from us…

Jesus wants us to be bold. Bold and daring to be the church in the world. Bold enough to proclaim that the kingdom of God has come near, and is hear with us in the living body of Christ, the church. The Church… the community where we worship, engage in dialogue, learn and challenge each other. The community where we hold each other up, support each other, and reach out into the world around us bringing us all closer to the kingdom of God.

We can learn a lot from our history…

The history of this country is ingrained and entrenched with the missionary efforts of those Christians, both lay and ordained, that have gone on before us, spreading and building up the kingdom of God as they went.

We are here today in this Christian Community because the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, (an English Missionary Society), saw fit to bring the church to the western part of North Carolina in 1754. And in 1821, our Community became part of the newly formed diocese of North Carolina that reached from the coast to where we are today.

We share that wonderful legacy of foundation and mission, and we have the responsibility to continue to build up the kingdom of God right here in Rowan County. And we have the opportunity each and every day…

Every time we walk down the street, or see our neighbor in the yard, or talk to a friend in the grocery store; we have the opportunity to share with them the terrific and life giving presence that we know in our lives, because of our relationship with Jesus Christ. And we have an opportunity to ask them to be a part of that fellowship in mission and come and worship with us.

Not forcing them or scaring them into believing, but inviting them to be a part of us and nurturing their souls with what we have to offer.

We can only imagine the hardships that the first missionaries in this area faced, but they trusted that God’s provision and grace would give them exactly what they would need at the time that they would need it. As a result, Christ Church, this very church, when it was admitted to the diocese as a parish had on record some 250 families and was the second largest parish in the diocese.

Our forbearers knew something about mission and providence! They may have not known where their next meal was coming from, but they built this simple beautiful worship space in 1827 out of locally harvested heart pine.

Since its missionary inception, this church has survived 250 years of wars, suppression, depression, economic calamity, and even ritual and liturgical change. And we keep going. We will continue to be formed, informed, and transformed by the living presence of Jesus Christ in our lives, as we celebrate Him and worship Him.

Bishop Curry challenged us in this diocese to vision itself as a missionary diocese, a re-creation, something he called “a new Church.” Our challenge is to go forth from this place envisioning that “new church,” using that Biblical lesson of urgency and providence, trusting that God will be there with us as we reach out to others and invite them to become part of us, thriving and vital, focused and engaging… A steadiness in this unsteady and ever changing world around us.

We are each responsible, we each are responsible for our own faithfulness. We are not responsible for the response we may receive when we offer our ministries in Christ’s name, but we are each only responsible for being faithful stewards ourselves… responsible for our own faithfulness to what we are doing.

The only thing that we are assured of. Our only sure and certain hope is in the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is with that assurance, and only with that assurance, that we can go out and proclaim the Gospel in this world both boldly and faithfully.