The Good News!: September 2018

The Good News!

Sunday, September 23, 2018

Year B - Proper 20 - September 23, 2018

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III

St. James Episcopal Church

Greeneville, TN

www.StJamesGreenEville.org

Year B - Proper 20 - September 23, 2018

You have to MAKE it to the top in life to be successful! You must be strong to survive! Just “claw your way to the top!” Don’t let your co-worker stop you… just use them as a stepping stone! Go ahead and get to the Top, that way you will look good!

So… take on that extra responsibility! If offered the chance, move into that corner office with a view! It doesn’t matter what peon you had to step on to get there. Make more money, get a bigger house (with a bigger mortgage)! Buy that new car! Get that extra credit card!

At this point, you are saying to yourselves… Wait a minute, Ken has totally lost it!

It’s scary, I tell you, but that’s the attitude in our society… You’ve heard it… It shows up on our television and in our mailboxes… Those attitudes in our society are REAL…. And they are very scary!

There is so much pressure in this world! And it causes us ALL kinds of anxiety! So… This morning - the question is… what causes you anxiety? What ARE the disputes among YOU? Where do they come from? Family? Work?, Church?, School?, Money? (or lack of money), Power? (or lack of power)…

You want something and cannot have it… You covet something and cannot obtain it… Our modern society puts so much emphasis on obtaining positions of false power and authority…I even heard a young mother just the other day say to her child, “when you grow up, one day you could be president!” I even think that MY mom used that one on me!… It may be ok for a kindergartener, but what happens if that level of aspiration is forced?

You’ve got to BE this or that… you’ve got to be a Doctor… You’ve got BE a Lawyer… You’ve got to Be Somebody!… Don’t get me wrong… There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with having a successful life, or even aspirations for success accomplished through hard work, but too many folks see it as a “zero sum game.” If you're not a “winner”… Or you will be considered the “loser.” Therefore, we are encouraged to do everything we can to “Claw” our way to that top position of power sometimes at the expense of others… and as the peak of the Mountain gets smaller and smaller on the way to the top there is less and less room for us to stand, but one finally the one emerges… victorious! What crazy anxiety that produces… It is no wonder that one in ten young people in the United States today have a diagnosed anxiety disorder. This isn’t completely unlike what is going on in our readings today.

We were very carefully warned at the beginning of the service, as the collect so plainly tells us… “not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly!” Anxious? – about earthly things?? Who us??? NOW… that statement even makes me anxious! I'm getting anxious about being anxious!

Anxiety and Society are friends… And our Society LOVES Anxiety!!! Anxiety is created in all types of situations… How will I get that job and a corner office with a view??? I have been a faithful employee for YEARS!... I deserve more responsibility – AND – MORE MONEY!

Or even better yet… Lord, who will sit at your right hand in the place of honor? Lord, you said you were going to have to die… do you think when you are gone, I can be in charge? Lord, don’t you like me better than you like him?

Can you imagine the anxiety level of the disciples? In their society, that is what they know… They lived in a world where honor and status held extreme value… Their obsession with positions of power rendered them totally incapable of understanding, or even accepting what Jesus is trying to teach them.

Even though Mark’s account of this incident says that they were silent when they hit Capernaum, (on their way to Jerusalem) Jesus knew something was going on… Jesus tried to teach them along the way, as he told them over and over – That “the Son of Man is to be betrayed, killed, and then risen in three days…

But the scripture says that they continued to not understand… and they were anxious about the things to come…They were all caught up within the struggles for power and position in this world, arguing with one another about who was the “greatest" and who would sit at Jesus’ right hand…

Jesus, like so often before, uses the opportunity to try to teach them more… He tells them,“Whoever wants to be first… must be last of all and servant of all?”

I can only imagine the responses…but Lord, I left my job and my life and followed you… I have listened to your teachings… I believe that you are the ONE that has been sent by GOD into the world… You ARE the Messiah, the Christ!

We can only imagine…

I can handle that new account…Put ME in coach… I am ready to play! The disciples were anxious… and yet they still did not understand… and at this point… they seem to be getting more and more anxious… So… In the midst of their anxiety and them not understanding… Jesus goes a step further…

Jesus takes a little child in his arms… A little child, who was considered to be the weakest and most vulnerable member of their society… A little child, with little or no status and the least among those within the community or family… And Jesus said to his followers…“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name, welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

In one phrase, Jesus collapses the whole power structure that his disciples were trying to climb and disarms their understanding of the way things work in society. They learn quickly that they need to put it back together and reassess things in their heads and in their manner of life VERY differently.

They must welcome the child… Because when they welcome the child… they welcome GOD! They must come off of their “high horse,” forget about their quest for personal greatness, and completely HUMBLE themselves... Completely Humble themselves and show a radical hospitality to even the weakest member of their society… And this is a very difficult thing for them to put into practice. This is very difficult for ANYONE to put into practice.

St. Benedict, the abbot of Monte Cassino, lived in the 6th century. He wrote a famous “rule” that governs Monastic life. Part of that rule included 10 steps of humility… After listing all the steps, he says, “after ascending all these steps of humility, the monk will quickly arrive at that perfect love of God which casts out fear. Through this love, all that he once performed with dread, he will now begin to observe without effort, as though naturally, from habit…”

Now - We are NOT Monks in the 6th Century. However, we must show welcome like Jesus says, but, not just to each other… We need to welcome the lowest of the low… we must cast down our personal delusions of power, and redefine in our lives what it means to be “great.”

We must HUMBLE ourselves… and through our acts of personal humility and welcome, God will casts out our fears, and remove our anxieties…

In our gospel story, Jesus will not be among his disciples for much longer…

He has told them that he will die, and they are scared… and they are anxious… because they don’t understand. But, we have had 2000 years to figure it out… We know the rest of the story… We can look beyond the cross to the glorious resurrection…We know that the saving act of Jesus has been done… And even though we are told not to, we are still anxious about earthly things…

So, as we approach the table this morning, let us humble ourselves… let us put aside our personal power, and our rank and status, and let us get rid of our personal feelings and realize that we are NOT any better than anyone or anything that happens to kneel next to us… Let us understand that we don’t have to be “successful” by the world’s standards to inherit the kingdom of heaven… let us not be anxious… Don’t be anxious about earthly things, but love things heavenly…

Sunday, September 16, 2018

Year B - Proper 19 - September 16, 2018

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

Year B - Proper 19 - September 16, 2018

Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 116:1-8
James 3:1-12
Mark 8:27-38

There are times when we just don’t know who we are… I know personally how tough it was when I changed careers in my late 30s. I went through an identity crisis of sorts. Maybe some of you have been through the same feeling… The feeling when you get when you reached a point and said, who in the world am I?

Maybe it was because you were so wrapped up in what you were doing... wrapped up so much that people came to know you as “that guy or gal that does that” … Oh, yeah, I know that Ken fella, he’s the one that created the concept of Maximum Home Value, offering complete development packages for scattered lot construction projects with modular box homes. He’s the one you need on the team if you want to get your business profitable again… And now, possibly… oh yeah, Ken’s the one that is working on a Human Resources manual for the Episcopal Church. Or… Ken, yes… he’s a skilled liturgist… or he’s that fabulous preacher and teacher 😁…

So, who are you? who do people say that you are? What do people say about you? Have you ever had an identity crisis? Have you ever wondered or questioned who you were??

I don’t think that Jesus is having an identity crisis, but I do think he IS trying to assess the situation. So, he asks his closest companions “What are people saying about me?” “Who do people say that I am?” The disciples answer back immediately, oh… they say… you're John the Baptizer, or maybe one of the prophets… like Elijah, Isaiah, Moses, Habakkuk, or possibly Ezekiel…

This is very unlike today, in our very entitled and individualistic society. It is important to realize that in the ancient Mediterranean world, a person got his/her identity through their associations. This is called “collective personality.” Typically, one would be known by the company they kept, the family they were born into, or their place of origin. So, we have names like ‘James, Son of Zebedee’ or ‘John of Damascus.’

However, Jesus has left his family and his hometown. He has left behind all his associations and is now running around the countryside with a rag-tag caravan of followers... several fishermen, tradesmen, and even a tax collector.

His behavior is “very different” from what was expected. So, Jesus’ question “who do people say that I am” was a way for Jesus to assess his status among the public and among his closest followers. He was also trying to figure out if is his closest followers had learned anything about living into the life that he was trying to teach them.

Things are starting to get real… Jesus has been going about northward along the coast of the Mediterranean in the lands of Tyre and Sidon (where we saw him last week), teaching and healing. Now, he and his close band of disciples start to turn south and are now just North East of the Sea of Galilee in an area called Caesarea Philippi. It is from here, he will start to make his journey south to Jerusalem… And so he asks his followers questions trying to get his bearings.

The disciples had seen Jesus do many great things cast out demons, heal the sick, feed the thousands on the hillside, so they obviously, by seeing him in action, they see the people associate him with the great prophets and teachers of old.

Then Jesus asks them the pointed question “who do YOU say that I am?” And Peter is quick to jump up and say “You are the Messiah – the Christ – the one who we are waiting for” – and Jesus tells them “sternly” not to say anything to anyone…

It’s obvious that Jesus and his followers have a different idea of what it means to be the anointed one of God – (the Messiah or Christ). Jesus taught them that the Son of Man (the human one) must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

This was not in the disciple’s plans…

For his disciples, being the Messiah meant that Jesus would be a militaristic leader, able to finally free the people of Israel from Roman oppression... able to restore the rightful reign of God’s People over the land that was promised to them by God. This was going to take lots of violent action and much Roman bloodshed. So, they were on two different pages. They had different ideas of who Jesus was.

Peter was obviously upset at Jesus and takes him aside and scolds him. But Jesus will have none of it, and he calls Peter out in front of the disciples and tells Peter that he is more concerned with what Peter wants rather than with what God wants. That Peter and the rest of them need to understand what he is trying to teach them if he wants to be a true disciple. In order to be a disciple, to be a real student, they must learn how to follow the teacher’s lead. They must get behind the teacher (so to speak).

After the spat with his close followers, Jesus calls the whole crowd together and begins to teach them about who he is and what he’s about… Jesus begins to try to iron out any misunderstandings of his identity that may exist…

He tells them, that in order to follow him, it doesn’t mean you’re joining an Army in order to overthrow the Romans… That in order to follow him, you need to deny yourself… that the cost of following him might mean that you will lose your life. But not to worry, in losing your life, you will gain life.

He tells them that by gaining life, it’s much different from gaining stuff or regaining governance over some territory. That those are the things that this world worries about. It’s not the stuff that he’s worried about or the stuff that God’s worried about.

In his lesson, we get to understand the identity of Jesus a little better, not as the Messiah, or Christ, but as the human one – the person Jesus, who is so aligned with the will of God, that he is able to exercise authority and proclaim the kingdom of God.

As followers of Jesus, as his disciples (as students of the great teacher), we are asked daily to deny ourselves and take up our cross with all the risk and sacrifice that implies. But, carrying our cross, is not just some burden we must bear, it is a likeness we must become.

If we are to take up the cross of Christ, we must let go of our own selfish ambitions or agendas and take on the will of God. If we are to become true disciples, we must not formulate plans for God, but rather, let God’s plans and dreams become ours.

When we were baptized, we made covenantal promises to seek to serve Christ... Serve Christ in all persons and love our neighbor as our self. With our baptism, we took on a Holy association with other believers and in that association, we gained a new identity as we became followers of the way of Jesus. It should be part of who we are, it’s in our DNA.

The question for us today is… With our life and our actions, who do we say Jesus is? How we answer that question will tell everyone who we really are.

Sunday, September 9, 2018

Year B - Proper 18 - September 2, 2018

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

Year B - Proper 18 - September 2, 2018

Today we kind of get bombarded from all directions! The scripture readings bring us full circle, calling us to a self-awareness, generosity, good works, humility, and dignity as God’s redeemed people.

The lesson from James is a sermon in itself; therefore, I am not going to preach that one again. It is something that we should probably meditate on. It is as direct as it gets with a call to action for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And how appropriate is it to hear this lesson of a call to action on the weekend we honor those who labor.

But this morning, I want to focus on the healing miracles that we just heard about in the Gospel reading. Jesus is going (somewhat haphazardly) from town to town, trying not to be noticed too much, for fear of drawing a large crowd and calling too much attention to himself… at this stage he has found himself as a stranger in a strange land, depending on the hospitality of strangers in order for him and his rag-tag caravan of followers to survive.

His mission at this point is to preach repentance and redemption to the children of Israel. They have found themselves in the region of Tyre and Sidon. This is pretty far north of their normal stomping grounds around the sea of Galilee. This was up near Mt. Lebanon, along the sea coast of the Mediterranean. This was most definitely Gentile territory. Not a good place for a good Jewish boy to roam.

You would have thought they had telephones or the internet because word had obviously spread in the region about all the wonderful things that Jesus was doing… the healing & the casting out of demons… He was developing quite a reputation. Jesus shows up, and all of a sudden all things are being made well. He comes for a visit and suddenly the mute are speaking, the crippled are walking, and the blind are seeing.

No wonder he can’t get a moments peace! We have to remember that this is ancient Palestine... In a time when there were no hospitals, no ambulances, and no pharmaceuticals – Compared to what we are accustomed to, this is an extremely harsh world with sickness and pain and death. That is… until Jesus shows up!

The grapevine of communication is quick, and a Syrophoenician woman immediately hears of the great healer that has come to town. She has a daughter who has an unclean spirit, so she goes to Jesus… and in an act of complete humility, this non-Jewish woman, bows down at Jesus’ feet and begs Jesus to help heal her daughter.

Not surprisingly, Jesus tries to dismiss her. He actually seems rude and insults her, insinuating that she was no more than a dog (which was pretty common for a Jew to say to a gentile – most of the time it was much worse)… Jesus’ words were, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

Ooooo… you can almost feel the tension in the air, as this woman (who should have never addressed a man in public), claims her dignity and get’s very bold. She doesn’t return the derogatory remark, but remains humble and respectful in her dignity… She answers, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Jesus acknowledges her and tells her that because of her statement, she can go – that her daughter had been made well.

It is amazing that we get the images of humility, dignity, and restoration all in the same short story of an encounter with Jesus. It almost seems that we have heard it before? Maybe we have?

One of the things I miss most about the Rite I liturgy in the Episcopal Church is the prayer that was usually said after the Agnus Dei, before the bidding to the table called the Prayer of Humble Access… If you will indulge me for a moment and open your Prayer Books to page 337 – find that prayer at the bottom of the page and let us read it together… slowly.

And, if you have never done it before, this is the time to pay attention and think about the words…

"We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen."

Does it seem familiar? This prayer is older than we could probably possibly imagine… it was taken from the Old Latin Sarum Liturgy (13th Century) and was translated to English from Latin by Thomas Cranmer for the first Book of Common Prayer published in 1549.

It is a way of approach… A way to approach Jesus, who is present with us in the bread and wine of the blessed sacrament. Suddenly, in this prayer, we are brought to a mindset of complete humility, putting ourselves behind the place of even the Syrophoenician woman in the Gospel lesson, by claiming that we are not even worthy to gather up the crumbs under thy table.

But the prayer also claims our dignity, the dignity that we receive in our baptism as followers of Christ, as we are admitted to the table to feast on Jesus... to eat and drink the body and blood and be nourished, restored, and ready to go out and proclaim the risen Christ!

But hold on!

That’s where we need the second part of the Gospel lesson that we heard… We now know how to approach Jesus (in complete humility), but what do we do when we get there?

A deaf man with a speech problem was brought to Jesus. Jesus takes him away from the crowd and then in the crudeness of form, puts his fingers in his ears and spits and touches his tongue and says the Aramaic word “Ephphatha” or “Be Opened” – Opening his ears and loosening his tongue… So that he can hear and speak plainly.

Jesus meets us, right where we are in the crudeness of our humanity. He is present with us and wants our ears to be open, being able to hear to his holy word, and he wants our tongue to be loosened so that we can proclaim it to the world.

We approach in humility, and we are restored to dignity then we go forward into the world and proclaim what we have heard…

These two stories of healing are very real to us in our own journey of faith… we come to Jesus from different places, through different circumstances, and Jesus meets us all right where we are. We experience his real presence in our lives through the Eucharist, and then we leave in dignity, forgiven and restored, ready to proclaim the gospel to others… And we are also ready to do all those good works that James is talking about!

So take this with you this morning… humble yourself and come to the table, receive the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ… Take in His “real” presence in the Eucharistic elements and let your souls and your bodies be healed and nourished.

Be restored to that perfect wholeness that only Jesus can give and then go forth into the world to proclaim the gospel with your life and do the good works that Jesus has given us to do… Amen!