The Rev’d Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year A (Proper 25) – October 26, 2008
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Matthew 22:34-46
It’s on Sundays like today that bring back memories of when I was little… and the priest would stand up and say what is called the “The Summary of the Law.”
Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith… “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind.” This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it, “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” On these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets…
Some of you can probably remember…
This summary of the law was recited at every communion service, right after the 10 commandments… In fact, it is still done as part of the Rite I liturgy or as part of the penitential order that can precede Rite II… and it can be wonderful thing for us to profess together this unswerving call to total love…
But, so often it becomes just another part of the liturgy and it is so mundane that it is more like going through the motions. We all stand there and kind of reel it off together and drone on - without letting it permeate, challenge, or transform us.
Then we go through the rest of the service, and out the door to our nice cars, off to our beautiful homes, and to our comfortable American lifestyles.
But I would like us to stop… and take a minute this morning and let the reality of what Jesus is saying seep in just a bit… Seep in long enough to become part of our being…
Please take notice that the word used in this text is “commandment.”
It is an imperative! It is not a choice. Thou shalt! Commandments are requirements that are not meant to be ignored. Some of you that have been in the military, or have been around the military enough to know that a command is an order. It is something that you must follow, or you or someone else gets hurt and could possibly die, or even worse.
In our everyday lives, the 10 commandments have been getting lots of press. Some of you have probably seen or heard about the plethora of signs with the Ten Commandments along our streets or on private property, especially here in the south, all in reaction to the banning of the Ten Commandments from being posted in public places.
I even saw one in Salisbury the other day on someone’s front lawn. Many of us drive past these signs every day. I always wonder what some folks are thinking… It seems to me that some folks look at these biblical “commandments” as some kind of laundry list of God’s “rules” that we must follow… Forcing us to live by some sort of “purity code”… Others claim it is the foundation of our countries greatness… our wonderful (self – perceived) “Christian” legal system to be forced on everyone.
I feel that Jesus is teaching us today in this reading that it goes much deeper than that. Doesn’t it?… it goes deep down into the fabric of our lives, and penetrates our soul, and our very source of life… Love God with all… Everything… Love God with ALL your heart, ALL your soul and ALL your mind… Everything! Everything that we are… everything that we think… and with every breath we take… Love God with your everything… all your heart, soul and mind….
And then Love your neighbor as yourself… The other that has been created by the one you love. The one you love with everything that you are… To love the ones bound to you in this common life… the ones that may or may not look like you or talk like you, but all most certainly bleed like you....
So the big 10, the 10 commandments, the LAW of God brought to the Israelites by Moses is summarized into what it really means for us to be in a right relationship. How we truly should live in order to be in right relationship with God and with one another.
How profound - What would it mean if we really tried to do that?
What affect would it have on our lives or on even our community of faith right here at Christ Church? If we were to examine our lives right here, right now, what changes would we have to make? How would we live our lives differently? I have a feeling that if it were a test we would all fail miserably.
What does loving with all your heart, soul, and mind mean? How do we love with every ounce of our being: Let’s break that down see what it entails.
Let’s start with the heart. If we are talking about loving with the Heart we are talking about the way we love. The scripture says, “Where your treasure is, there is your heart will be also.” So what are your treasures?
Here is a definition of “treasure” I would like us to wrestle with: when your mind is empty, daydreaming, when you are sitting at a stoplight, standing at the kitchen sink, or even the last thing before falling asleep, where does your mind go? That is your treasure! It is the thing that fills up your heart with worry, concern, joy, or satisfaction. It is your first priority, your interest, it is the center of your energy and attention.
Would your love of God and the strangers called “neighbors” be on top of that list? On the top of your list? So -- Where DOES your heart turn most of the time?
Soul. Otherwise called our Psyche, or Spirit. The soul is probably the most difficult to define, but it is usually seen as the deepest part of a human being – the core, the intangible, eternal essence of a human. The soul of a person cannot truly be known by another; it is always in a state of being discovered. What is at the deepest core of your being, the part no one else really knows about, but the part that holds your most profound sacred and valued essence – your divinity? Is that God within you? Does that very, very deep core essence of yourself, love God beyond all things, totally, insatiably, constantly, and fully?
And Mind. Our mind is our rational, logical self… it is the key to understanding and reason. Some argue it is the part that makes us human. It is the way we think things through, our external value system, the scale upon which we weigh life. Saint Paul speaks of “putting on the mind of Christ.” To love God with our minds means that we do not see the world around us with the eyes of culture but we see it with the eyes of God.
Our mind is not faith, but our mind seeks to grasp our faith with understanding. If we love God with all our minds, our value system is not based on materialism… And things that, as Jesus reminds us, “moth and rust consume and thieves break in and steal.” It is total abandonment of power, possession, and popularity. The mind of God places its treasures in the Kingdom of God.
And, ah, yes: the neighbor. To love our neighbor as ourselves. So, “Who is your neighbor?” asks Jesus. Our neighbor is anyone who stands beside us on this small planet, our island home. Distance is no obstacle to neighbors. A neighbor is any other human being with whom we share the image of God, which is to say, ALL human beings.
A neighbor is not based on worth, on quality of life, on intelligence or beauty, on health or sickness, on moral development or religion, on race on color or sexuality or even geography. We are ALL neighbors to one another. So what does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?
Do we want to have enough food and shelter for basic human survival? Do we want medical care? Do we want an education? Do we want our children to flourish safely and develop into all they can be?
To love our neighbor as ourselves usually requires two things in our culture: a pocketbook and a suspension of judgment. If you own a house much larger than you need, and you know there are people being evicted in your hometown… What does that mean in terms of loving your neighbor as yourself?
If your closet is full of coats, hats, and shoes, and you know there are children in town without warm clothing, what does that mean in terms loving your neighbor?
If you buy a new car when the old one is still in fair working condition and there are others who can't even buy gas… What does that mean in terms of your total love of God?
If you eat steak and or dine out in restaurants, and you know a third of the world is starving to death, what does that mean in terms of loving your neighbor?
This is a list can go on and on and on. And we, brothers and sisters, fall extremely short.
The two great commandments that Jesus presents to us are simple, but they have teeth: they are tough and costly. Basically, we don’t comply and perhaps we weren’t meant to. That is one of the beauties of God’s call to us to love; it always stretches us, forming and transforming us… pulling us from wherever we are to be more and more.
It is like the horizon, always beckoning, but never reachable. The secret is our want to live out the commandments in our lives no matter how poorly we actually do it. The secret is in our heart’s desiring. Do we really desire to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and souls and minds and to love our neighbor as ourselves? Truth be told, many – some right here in this room - may say no. We don't mind loving God or our neighbor, but forget we forget that it takes our total commitment.
If we, in our own lives, want to make a choice, a decision, to love God and our neighbor as God asks us, what changes would that require of us? The answer for us may lie the word “hang.” “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” This is the word that usually gets overlooked in the text. “Hang” can mean the way we put our clothes in the closet, as we hang up our clothes, or it could mean what we do with our hat, as a peg we hang our hat on.
But in this text, the word “hang” is the same one used for “Jesus, whom you slew and hanged upon the cross.” That one little word shifts the entire meaning of the Great Commandment, doesn’t it? To love the Lord with all our hearts and souls and minds, and to love our neighbor as ourselves is a sacrifice. It is a crucifixion. It means to completely die to ourselves.
It means to come though our baptismal waters – and be reborn to life anew... Ready to love with a love that costs us everything. Everything… It is the Great Kenosis: a total emptying. God asks no less of us. God asks for everything. God asks for all… All that we are, all that we have, all the time.
Do we even dare? Do we dare to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind… and love our neighbor as our self… And what might life on this planet look like if we did?
(some of the images in this sermon taken from a sermon by the Rev. Sister Judith Schenck)
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
RCL Year A (Proper 24) - October 19, 2008
The Rev’d Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year A – Proper 24 – October 19, 2008
Exodus 33:12-23
Psalm 99
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 22:15-22
[note: this is a transcription of a dialogue sermon that was given with the children of the parish (and the adults… some of the answers were the children’s, some were the adults]
(showing the children and congregation a quarter)
What have I got here…
A: a coin…
what is this?
A: A coin, a quarter…
Is it a quarter? Can we all agree that this is a quarter?
A: Yes…
Who’s is it? Is it mine? Who does this belong to??
Is it mine? It came out of my pocket… but, is it mine (gives to another)
A: yes
Is it yours? Who does it belong to???…
A: it belongs to God… [child’s answer]
It does? How? Tell me how it belongs to God?
A: God made it… God made the world and the world made that… ([child’s answer] I like children’s theology – they are in the right thinking, they really are…)
This is a quarter… It’s made now of nickel… (probably out of silver at one point in our lives) we pulled the silver out of the mine, right?... and we made it into a quarter, and we use it for what? And we use it to do what? What do we use money for?
A: To pay for stuff…
To pay for stuff! So, what do we use a quarter for?... (not a lot now a days) What do we use money for?
A: We buy toys and candy and stuff…
A: We buy stuff that we need
Pay for stuff… What do we use a quarter for??? (other than to buy bubble gum?)
A: Pay for things… toys, food, bills… etc…
What did we use before we had money…
A: We bartered for stuff… we traded [adult’s answer]
We bartered and traded, right? So this is what happened before we had coins, we bartered and traded for stuff… instead of exchanging money for stuff.
When Jesus was in the temple, right, that is where Jesus was teaching today, he was in the temple… what happened? Do you remember what happened in the story I just read? What happened???
The Pharisees, in the temple now, I might add… The Pharisees presented Jesus with Roman Coin, a denarius (show picture) A Roman Coin… what does that look like?… What is this??
A: A coin…
What does that have on it???
A: persons head and words…
A persons head? And words? It has a persons head and words… the head… that’s Caesar, that was the Roman Emperor, and it the Latin words said, “Caesar the Divine”
And this was in the Jewish temple… ooooo…
Do you think that things like this were allowed in the Jewish temple?
A: NO!
No way! Not a chance! Why is that?
A: Don’t know.
Caesar on the front to the coin (a man’s image on it) and with words on it “Caesar the Divine” – that was considered what? That’s idolatry – idolatry, pure and simple, claiming something else or someone else had some divine power other than God.
So, they had money changers that sat on the outside of the temple…
Do you remember the story about Jesus and the money changers sitting outside of the temple? Jesus was upset at the money changers sitting on the outside of the temple, but He wasn’t upset because they were doing their job and changing money… Jesus, he was upset because they were taking a cut for themselves and lining their pockets…
They had money changers that changed the Roman coins, the denarius that people received for doing their job (a denarius was a days wage)… into this… (show picture of Jewish Shekel) this is what they changed it into…
This is what they changed it into… what is that? Is that another coin??
That’s a Jewish coin.
This is a Jewish coin… called a shekel. A shekel was a unit of weight, before they made coins… because they used it in the barter system… they traded items back and forth and a shekel was originally a unit of weight.. so they made a coin in order to represent a shekel… and then a shekel became what something costs, instead of trading…
Look at this and tell me what’s on that?
A: a hat
No, it’s not a hat…
A: a cup…
A cup? Ever seen one of those in here – in the church? Have y’all ever seen something like that in here??? A cup?
(showed the communion chalice) What is that?
That’s a cup! Isn’t that what we put the wine in? And the other side of the coin, what’s on that, wheat? That’s wheat…. And what do we use wheat for??? To make bread…
So they took the Roman coin at the temple and converted it into the Jewish shekel that didn’t have the image of a person on it… and made it acceptable for use in the temple, because the shekel didn’t claim divinity for something else other than God. So, this is the coin they used in the temple…
But guess what… we’re not Jewish, are we?… So, when we give to God, what do we do…
A: we pray…
A: we are giving God our money…
Are you giving God “your” money? Is it “our” money? Are we giving God our money or giving something that already belongs to God??
But you know what, God knows that we need to live in this world… So God only expects us to give back 10% of what God gives us, and some folks consider that a lot... But we know it’s only a small amount considering the multitude of blessings that God provides for us in our lives.
So, how do we convert this quarter, something that we receive for doing our job, something that is used to pay our taxes, (to the adults) something that is used sometimes as a score card, or a weapon in our lives…. into something that is acceptable to God…
How do we convert this quarter into something that’s acceptable?
A: we keep it…
Do we keep it?
A: we give it away and then they give it to someone else…
I am going to take this image here, this quarter with the image of this dead president’s head… because if we ever take time to look at it, all the money in the U.S. has a dead president’s head on it… Whether it is 10 dollar bill or 100 dollar bill it all has a president’s head… and put it in here.
What have I got here? Is this an envelope? What does it say? Offering? (puts the quarter in the offering envelope) We take that and put it in the collection plate when it comes around… Then what are we doing with it?
A: We are helping other people…
What are! How is that our responsibility as Christians? How do we use it to help other people?… A: Because when we give to help other people we are helping them because they don’t have any money…
A: We helping other people see God…
When we give to the church… we are, in fact, helping others... we are helping other people see God or experience God! It is spreading the kingdom of God… So, why is it that when give to the church, we so often fall into the same mindset that Moses had in the Old Testament lesson?… when he was so bold with God, and said, "God show me your glory!" He commanded God to show him His glory.
So often when we give to the church we are saying, God, show me your glory! We want to see the immediate results of our almighty dollar being worked out…
Instead, when we give money, we should trust that we are building up the kingdom of God. Nothing else… nothing more… nothing less… We are to trust that the money that we give is used to build up the kingdom of God…
So that’s why when we, as a church, make a decision to give money to the diocese, we are spreading the kingdom of God… And when the Diocese gives to the national church, we are spreading the kingdom of God….
And then the us and the diocese and national Church can use our resources to help other people. Sometimes they combine what we give with other offerings to fund its various programs… (for Episcopal Relief and Development, and the United Thank Offering (Presiding Bishop’s Fund)), We are spreading the kingdom of God…
So – when we give money to the church… we are helping to spread the kingdom of God!
Thanks be to God! Amen!
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year A – Proper 24 – October 19, 2008
Exodus 33:12-23
Psalm 99
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 22:15-22
[note: this is a transcription of a dialogue sermon that was given with the children of the parish (and the adults… some of the answers were the children’s, some were the adults]
(showing the children and congregation a quarter)
What have I got here…
A: a coin…
what is this?
A: A coin, a quarter…
Is it a quarter? Can we all agree that this is a quarter?
A: Yes…
Who’s is it? Is it mine? Who does this belong to??
Is it mine? It came out of my pocket… but, is it mine (gives to another)
A: yes
Is it yours? Who does it belong to???…
A: it belongs to God… [child’s answer]
It does? How? Tell me how it belongs to God?
A: God made it… God made the world and the world made that… ([child’s answer] I like children’s theology – they are in the right thinking, they really are…)
This is a quarter… It’s made now of nickel… (probably out of silver at one point in our lives) we pulled the silver out of the mine, right?... and we made it into a quarter, and we use it for what? And we use it to do what? What do we use money for?
A: To pay for stuff…
To pay for stuff! So, what do we use a quarter for?... (not a lot now a days) What do we use money for?
A: We buy toys and candy and stuff…
A: We buy stuff that we need
Pay for stuff… What do we use a quarter for??? (other than to buy bubble gum?)
A: Pay for things… toys, food, bills… etc…
What did we use before we had money…
A: We bartered for stuff… we traded [adult’s answer]
We bartered and traded, right? So this is what happened before we had coins, we bartered and traded for stuff… instead of exchanging money for stuff.
When Jesus was in the temple, right, that is where Jesus was teaching today, he was in the temple… what happened? Do you remember what happened in the story I just read? What happened???
The Pharisees, in the temple now, I might add… The Pharisees presented Jesus with Roman Coin, a denarius (show picture) A Roman Coin… what does that look like?… What is this??
A: A coin…
What does that have on it???
A: persons head and words…
A persons head? And words? It has a persons head and words… the head… that’s Caesar, that was the Roman Emperor, and it the Latin words said, “Caesar the Divine”
And this was in the Jewish temple… ooooo…
Do you think that things like this were allowed in the Jewish temple?
A: NO!
No way! Not a chance! Why is that?
A: Don’t know.
Caesar on the front to the coin (a man’s image on it) and with words on it “Caesar the Divine” – that was considered what? That’s idolatry – idolatry, pure and simple, claiming something else or someone else had some divine power other than God.
So, they had money changers that sat on the outside of the temple…
Do you remember the story about Jesus and the money changers sitting outside of the temple? Jesus was upset at the money changers sitting on the outside of the temple, but He wasn’t upset because they were doing their job and changing money… Jesus, he was upset because they were taking a cut for themselves and lining their pockets…
They had money changers that changed the Roman coins, the denarius that people received for doing their job (a denarius was a days wage)… into this… (show picture of Jewish Shekel) this is what they changed it into…
This is what they changed it into… what is that? Is that another coin??
That’s a Jewish coin.
This is a Jewish coin… called a shekel. A shekel was a unit of weight, before they made coins… because they used it in the barter system… they traded items back and forth and a shekel was originally a unit of weight.. so they made a coin in order to represent a shekel… and then a shekel became what something costs, instead of trading…
Look at this and tell me what’s on that?
A: a hat
No, it’s not a hat…
A: a cup…
A cup? Ever seen one of those in here – in the church? Have y’all ever seen something like that in here??? A cup?
(showed the communion chalice) What is that?
That’s a cup! Isn’t that what we put the wine in? And the other side of the coin, what’s on that, wheat? That’s wheat…. And what do we use wheat for??? To make bread…
So they took the Roman coin at the temple and converted it into the Jewish shekel that didn’t have the image of a person on it… and made it acceptable for use in the temple, because the shekel didn’t claim divinity for something else other than God. So, this is the coin they used in the temple…
But guess what… we’re not Jewish, are we?… So, when we give to God, what do we do…
A: we pray…
A: we are giving God our money…
Are you giving God “your” money? Is it “our” money? Are we giving God our money or giving something that already belongs to God??
But you know what, God knows that we need to live in this world… So God only expects us to give back 10% of what God gives us, and some folks consider that a lot... But we know it’s only a small amount considering the multitude of blessings that God provides for us in our lives.
So, how do we convert this quarter, something that we receive for doing our job, something that is used to pay our taxes, (to the adults) something that is used sometimes as a score card, or a weapon in our lives…. into something that is acceptable to God…
How do we convert this quarter into something that’s acceptable?
A: we keep it…
Do we keep it?
A: we give it away and then they give it to someone else…
I am going to take this image here, this quarter with the image of this dead president’s head… because if we ever take time to look at it, all the money in the U.S. has a dead president’s head on it… Whether it is 10 dollar bill or 100 dollar bill it all has a president’s head… and put it in here.
What have I got here? Is this an envelope? What does it say? Offering? (puts the quarter in the offering envelope) We take that and put it in the collection plate when it comes around… Then what are we doing with it?
A: We are helping other people…
What are! How is that our responsibility as Christians? How do we use it to help other people?… A: Because when we give to help other people we are helping them because they don’t have any money…
A: We helping other people see God…
When we give to the church… we are, in fact, helping others... we are helping other people see God or experience God! It is spreading the kingdom of God… So, why is it that when give to the church, we so often fall into the same mindset that Moses had in the Old Testament lesson?… when he was so bold with God, and said, "God show me your glory!" He commanded God to show him His glory.
So often when we give to the church we are saying, God, show me your glory! We want to see the immediate results of our almighty dollar being worked out…
Instead, when we give money, we should trust that we are building up the kingdom of God. Nothing else… nothing more… nothing less… We are to trust that the money that we give is used to build up the kingdom of God…
So that’s why when we, as a church, make a decision to give money to the diocese, we are spreading the kingdom of God… And when the Diocese gives to the national church, we are spreading the kingdom of God….
And then the us and the diocese and national Church can use our resources to help other people. Sometimes they combine what we give with other offerings to fund its various programs… (for Episcopal Relief and Development, and the United Thank Offering (Presiding Bishop’s Fund)), We are spreading the kingdom of God…
So – when we give money to the church… we are helping to spread the kingdom of God!
Thanks be to God! Amen!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
RCL Year A (Proper 22) - October 12, 2008
The Rev’d Kenneth H Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year A (Proper 23) – October 12, 2008
Exodus 32:1-14
Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
Philippians 4:1-9
Matthew 22:1-14
I heard a story a few years back about a small parish that had just called a new priest to lead them. They were so happy to have the young and educated pastor to help them grow and do the Lord's work in their community.
The first week the pastor gave a fantastic sermon and everyone was so pleased. After Church they greeted each other and they told the priest how pleased they were that he accepted the call to serve their small parish.
The second week the pastor delivered the same sermon. (you know they say, that all great preachers only have one sermon…) The people were still happy that they had the new priest and they didn't mind too much that he repeated the same sermon from the previous week.
Again, on third Sunday the pastor gave the same sermon. The parish was now wondering if this guy was a complete dud, after all he delivered the same sermon three Sunday's in a row.
So, the vestry decided to talk with the priest about his lack of performance in the pulpit. On the fourth week right after the service, and after hearing the sermon four times in a row the vestry met with the priest.
They told him how wonderful it was to have him there and how they enjoyed him and his family and were so pleased that he had accepted to come to their community. However, they also said that they were a little upset… Upset that he had delivered the same sermon now four weeks in a row.
While smiling he looked at them and said, "I'll change my sermon when you start listening!"
During the past few weeks we have heard some powerful and inspiring lessons from the gospel of Matthew. And they all point towards our response to the Lord’s invitation. Through the gospel lessons we learned that we are called to be the Church and live a life of faith and obedience… We are called to react, to forgive, and to witness to others what we believe. This has been the theme that has been repeated over and over and over again during these past few Sundays.
Today we were presented with Jesus telling us the parable story of a wedding banquet which a king gave for his guests. In scripture, a wedding banquet is often used as a metaphor for the great messianic feast, the kingdom of heaven, that we all have an opportunity to be a part of.
In the Revelation of St. John the divine, we are told that at the end of times... after all the wars, tribulation, destruction, and rebellion takes place... The Lamb of God, who is Jesus the Christ, will come down from heaven, and be seated on his throne with all his angels in all his power and all his might. He will be dressed like a beautiful bridegroom who is awaiting his bride. His bride, the Church.
The bride of Christ is the Church, which is adorned in all her beauty and splendor, just like a bride is dressed on her wedding day. And that is why the Church is decorated with elegance… with beautiful vestments and sometimes gold and silver, revealing the Lord's beauty. And then the marriage feast of the Lamb will take place, the feast of feasts, and all will be invited to the supper.
However, we have to make sure that we have our wedding garment. It is our baptismal garment that becomes our wedding garment, our ticket into the kingdom of God… If we don’t have the wedding garment we will not be able to join the party. As we heard in the lesson this morning; a man that had been invited did not put on the wedding garment that had been provided and was thrown out of the banquet into the street.
At baptism we were baptized into Christ's death and then raised with him (re-born in him) in order to walk in new life. We were sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit through the anointing with Holy Chrism. In most churches we are given a white robe which is our wedding garment, and we are given a candle which is the light of Christ and a cross to remind us to follow him.
We are walked down the isle, and make our first procession into the Church as a memeber of the body of Christ, as we were welcomed into the household of God. And then we were invited to the Lord's Table to feast on the bread and wine, that spiritual nourishment for our journey which is his body and blood.
This invitation didn't just go out one time but continually goes out week after week after week, as the Lord wants us to share his hospitality. Whether we respond or not is our responsibility.
I said a few weeks ago, that what we do in response to God’s grace in our lives is up to us… God has given us a grand opportunity, to be part of a community that worships, learns, and fellowships together… But it takes more then us just showing up to the feast… It takes action… action to honor our great host by donning the wedding gown of salvation… because the wedding garment doesn't do us any good, if we don’t put it on…
I am not talking about what you wear, or don’t wear to church, I am talking about what you do in response to the invitation that you are so freely given…
Do you accept the salvation (the wedding garment) that you are offered?
And when you do, what do you do in response, Do you put it on?
Our Lord expects us to continually answer the invitation, and come an visit God at God’s house, after all, isn't the Church God's house? At God’s house we receive a foretaste of that heavenly banquet which God has prepared for us… We know that God’s house is our house and that we are always welcome! - Because we are invited back week after week after week... and the Lord means what he says when he said that he would be with us.
He wants us to come and sit at his table and feast on the food of eternal life, the food that nourishes our immortal souls… mainly his Word and His body and blood. The Lord offer us an open invitation which was given to us at baptism, and he continually invites us to come to worship, to learn, to our share faith and fellowship with one another. But, as I said, it goes further than us just showing up for the feast…
We have to be willing to put on the wedding garment, the garment of salvation… and live our lives in response to God’s love for us. We do this by witnessing to his love in the world… by living our lives in a way that testifies to his love…
St. Francis, as I talked about last Sunday afternoon at the Blessing of the Animals, said a lot of things in his ministry, but I think one of the most profound things he said was… Preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ at all times… when necessary, use words…
It is not about going out and babbling scripture at other folks… expecting them to understand and to be “converted” or “saved” from hellfire and damnation. It is about living your life in such a way, that others realize that you have something special going on... You have that something so special that it radiates forth from you... and they are interested, and they ask you about it… Then you have the open opportunity to share with them the invitation that you have received, and invite them…
It is all in how we respond… It’s all in how we live… Some people respond to this invitation and others don’t… However, as we heard in the gospel reading from Matthew, if we don't respond, God will invite other people who will respond... who "want" to respond.
Perhaps our gospel lessons for the past few weeks have been a bit repetitive on purpose. Perhaps we are not listening to what Matthew is telling us. Sometimes when we hear the scriptures read in church or anywhere else, we tend to hear what we want to hear and then forget or ignore the rest. We like to pick and choose bits and pieces of the gospel, rather than listening, hearing, and accepting the whole gospel.
Today we are once again invited to hear the gospel's call to faith, and to be the church in the world - living out our baptismal covenant by loving God, loving one another and witnessing to the truth…
Let us be constantly striving to don our baptismal garment, to live out our response to the salvation so freely given to us…
So that on that day… we will be prepared to sit at the table of the Lord, and be partakers of that heavenly banquet...
The Great Wedding feast that has been prepared for us!
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year A (Proper 23) – October 12, 2008
Exodus 32:1-14
Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
Philippians 4:1-9
Matthew 22:1-14
I heard a story a few years back about a small parish that had just called a new priest to lead them. They were so happy to have the young and educated pastor to help them grow and do the Lord's work in their community.
The first week the pastor gave a fantastic sermon and everyone was so pleased. After Church they greeted each other and they told the priest how pleased they were that he accepted the call to serve their small parish.
The second week the pastor delivered the same sermon. (you know they say, that all great preachers only have one sermon…) The people were still happy that they had the new priest and they didn't mind too much that he repeated the same sermon from the previous week.
Again, on third Sunday the pastor gave the same sermon. The parish was now wondering if this guy was a complete dud, after all he delivered the same sermon three Sunday's in a row.
So, the vestry decided to talk with the priest about his lack of performance in the pulpit. On the fourth week right after the service, and after hearing the sermon four times in a row the vestry met with the priest.
They told him how wonderful it was to have him there and how they enjoyed him and his family and were so pleased that he had accepted to come to their community. However, they also said that they were a little upset… Upset that he had delivered the same sermon now four weeks in a row.
While smiling he looked at them and said, "I'll change my sermon when you start listening!"
During the past few weeks we have heard some powerful and inspiring lessons from the gospel of Matthew. And they all point towards our response to the Lord’s invitation. Through the gospel lessons we learned that we are called to be the Church and live a life of faith and obedience… We are called to react, to forgive, and to witness to others what we believe. This has been the theme that has been repeated over and over and over again during these past few Sundays.
Today we were presented with Jesus telling us the parable story of a wedding banquet which a king gave for his guests. In scripture, a wedding banquet is often used as a metaphor for the great messianic feast, the kingdom of heaven, that we all have an opportunity to be a part of.
In the Revelation of St. John the divine, we are told that at the end of times... after all the wars, tribulation, destruction, and rebellion takes place... The Lamb of God, who is Jesus the Christ, will come down from heaven, and be seated on his throne with all his angels in all his power and all his might. He will be dressed like a beautiful bridegroom who is awaiting his bride. His bride, the Church.
The bride of Christ is the Church, which is adorned in all her beauty and splendor, just like a bride is dressed on her wedding day. And that is why the Church is decorated with elegance… with beautiful vestments and sometimes gold and silver, revealing the Lord's beauty. And then the marriage feast of the Lamb will take place, the feast of feasts, and all will be invited to the supper.
However, we have to make sure that we have our wedding garment. It is our baptismal garment that becomes our wedding garment, our ticket into the kingdom of God… If we don’t have the wedding garment we will not be able to join the party. As we heard in the lesson this morning; a man that had been invited did not put on the wedding garment that had been provided and was thrown out of the banquet into the street.
At baptism we were baptized into Christ's death and then raised with him (re-born in him) in order to walk in new life. We were sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit through the anointing with Holy Chrism. In most churches we are given a white robe which is our wedding garment, and we are given a candle which is the light of Christ and a cross to remind us to follow him.
We are walked down the isle, and make our first procession into the Church as a memeber of the body of Christ, as we were welcomed into the household of God. And then we were invited to the Lord's Table to feast on the bread and wine, that spiritual nourishment for our journey which is his body and blood.
This invitation didn't just go out one time but continually goes out week after week after week, as the Lord wants us to share his hospitality. Whether we respond or not is our responsibility.
I said a few weeks ago, that what we do in response to God’s grace in our lives is up to us… God has given us a grand opportunity, to be part of a community that worships, learns, and fellowships together… But it takes more then us just showing up to the feast… It takes action… action to honor our great host by donning the wedding gown of salvation… because the wedding garment doesn't do us any good, if we don’t put it on…
I am not talking about what you wear, or don’t wear to church, I am talking about what you do in response to the invitation that you are so freely given…
Do you accept the salvation (the wedding garment) that you are offered?
And when you do, what do you do in response, Do you put it on?
Our Lord expects us to continually answer the invitation, and come an visit God at God’s house, after all, isn't the Church God's house? At God’s house we receive a foretaste of that heavenly banquet which God has prepared for us… We know that God’s house is our house and that we are always welcome! - Because we are invited back week after week after week... and the Lord means what he says when he said that he would be with us.
He wants us to come and sit at his table and feast on the food of eternal life, the food that nourishes our immortal souls… mainly his Word and His body and blood. The Lord offer us an open invitation which was given to us at baptism, and he continually invites us to come to worship, to learn, to our share faith and fellowship with one another. But, as I said, it goes further than us just showing up for the feast…
We have to be willing to put on the wedding garment, the garment of salvation… and live our lives in response to God’s love for us. We do this by witnessing to his love in the world… by living our lives in a way that testifies to his love…
St. Francis, as I talked about last Sunday afternoon at the Blessing of the Animals, said a lot of things in his ministry, but I think one of the most profound things he said was… Preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ at all times… when necessary, use words…
It is not about going out and babbling scripture at other folks… expecting them to understand and to be “converted” or “saved” from hellfire and damnation. It is about living your life in such a way, that others realize that you have something special going on... You have that something so special that it radiates forth from you... and they are interested, and they ask you about it… Then you have the open opportunity to share with them the invitation that you have received, and invite them…
It is all in how we respond… It’s all in how we live… Some people respond to this invitation and others don’t… However, as we heard in the gospel reading from Matthew, if we don't respond, God will invite other people who will respond... who "want" to respond.
Perhaps our gospel lessons for the past few weeks have been a bit repetitive on purpose. Perhaps we are not listening to what Matthew is telling us. Sometimes when we hear the scriptures read in church or anywhere else, we tend to hear what we want to hear and then forget or ignore the rest. We like to pick and choose bits and pieces of the gospel, rather than listening, hearing, and accepting the whole gospel.
Today we are once again invited to hear the gospel's call to faith, and to be the church in the world - living out our baptismal covenant by loving God, loving one another and witnessing to the truth…
Let us be constantly striving to don our baptismal garment, to live out our response to the salvation so freely given to us…
So that on that day… we will be prepared to sit at the table of the Lord, and be partakers of that heavenly banquet...
The Great Wedding feast that has been prepared for us!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
RCL Year A (Proper 20) - September 21, 2008
The Rev’d Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year A (Proper 20) - September 21, 2008
Exodus 16:2-15
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16
The church has been grumbling for at least 7000 years… and we haven’t stopped yet… We seem to think sometimes that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence… That another way of life is better…
We sometimes act like little children and say, he or she got something that I didn’t get… they got more to eat than I did… or they got the toy they wanted and I didn’t get anything. Or worse yet… they got to do what they wanted and I didn’t get my way… or – they won’t cooperate and play the way we want them to play, so I am going to take my to take my toys and go home…
Have you ever had a job and it seemed your rate of pay was ok, until you found out what someone else was making?… If they were making more… we say, “how dare they think that they are doing as good a job or better than we are”… And if they are making less… we say, “why am I put to work side by side with such worthless people”…
Some of you may be able to identify with this… When I was a technician, I got lots of overtime for the extra hours that I worked… Each minute was accounted for as the clock was punched… but when I moved into management, and became a “professional” employee I caught myself working all the time, not punching a clock, I made a decent wage, but I always worked more hours than I was paid for... It didn’t seem fair… grumble, grumble, grumble…
And look at look at the way we live our materialistic lives… we have always got to have the best toys, the best clothes, the best homes, and the best cars… There is a popular saying that started out with a comic strip early in the 20th century, “Keeping up with the Joneses” – where one is expected to have or maintain a certain standard of living… I personally haven’t figured out who the Joneses are or why in the world we would want to keep up with them.” But for some reason, in our society we want to be considered as good as they are, and we envy what they have… And if we don’t get it, we grumble about what we don’t have. Then when we get it and we have it, we grumble about what a burden it is in our life…
What part of “thou shall not covet” don’t we understand? Don’t we realize that “he who dies with the most toys is still dead?” We grumble about what we should have gotten, or we grumble about the decisions that we should have or could have made…
Today’s lessons are about grumbling… grumbling about the should a, could a, would a’s in our lives…
The Israelites were fussing with Moses in the wilderness after being miraculously delivered from slavery in Egypt… They say… “If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you (Moses) have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Grumbling about it was their answer to starving to death…
They would rather grumble than figure out how or where to get some food… and remember – when you are grumbling, be sure that you blame the leadership. Cause we all know that it is the leader’s fault… it’s always someone else’s fault… Grumble, grumble, grumble…
They seem to think that the situation they are in now is somehow worse than living as a slave in Egypt… Yes, they were walking around in the desert, and they were hungry. But they didn’t trust God… They witnessed all the miracles that got them to the point that they are, and yet they were still grumbling… Thinking that God had forgotten them – and just left them in the dessert to die. Somehow, to them, being a slave in Egypt was somehow better than being free…
Then we come to the parable that Jesus tells us about the laborers in the vineyard… We get the image of a day-labor house, where a person like a vineyard owner (or a general contractor) can go and hire others that want to work… But this isn’t the case in Jesus’ story… these peasant workers are standing idle in the marketplace… not refusing work… but not doing the honorable thing and seeking it either…
We jump right in… and we are quick to identify with the ones that have worked all day in the scorching heat… We quickly say… “whoa… wait a minute here… we have worked hard all day – and they have only been here a little while… How come they got the same pay that we did???” Because it was expected back then, as it is now, that the folks who worked longer hours get more pay…
But what if, by chance, we were to identify with the ones that had only been on the job for a couple of hours… Would we think that we had gotten away with something? Would we think that we didn’t deserve the wage that we were given? I hesitate that any of us would say… “Hey, wait a minute, I was only here a couple of hours, yet you paid me for the whole day.”
Jesus once again turns the values system of his time on its’ head. Telling them a story like this, and then telling them, “this is what the kingdom of God is like” would completely shock his peasant audience. Shocked, because they still related what Jesus was saying to material wealth. Shocked, because like you and me, they identified immediately with the workers who had worked all day in the scorching sun, only to be given an unfair wage for their labors… Shocked, because they choose to set their minds on earthly things and things passing away, and not focus on heavenly things and things that shall endure…
The past few Sundays, we have learned a lot in the lections about living in community. Of how we are to be together… as a family, on a planned focused mission… and how to act if something goes amiss… How we are to approach our brothers and sisters in Christ, hash it out, learn from each other, pray together and remain focused…
That led up to a parable that we had last week explaining how we are to forgive, without limits, showing others the kingdom of God to others through our actions of forgiveness. We learned that forgiveness is a difficult, but regardless of how difficult it is, forgiveness is a thing that we should continuously work at… letting God be the ultimate judge.
Today we get a glimpse of the generosity of God… but not monetarily… God provides manna in the wilderness, and feeds the Israelites with the manna of the wilderness… God shows grace to God’s people, providing for them, and delivering them from their hardships as they continue on the journey that God has set them on… Jesus has used our system of thinking against us, and sheds light for us again on what the kingdom of God might look like… Not monetarily… but of the generosity of God’s grace and blessing, equal for all who turn to God and focus on things heavenly…
We have a chance this morning to experience the equality and the generosity of God. When we come down the isle, and kneel at the rail, as always, we are all equal in the eyes of God, receiving the grace and blessing that God gives to us through the spiritual food provided to us to sustain us on our spiritual journey.
What we do from there with our material lives – our time, our talent and our treasure – and how we use that life to honor God is all a response to the generosity that God has provided to us…
And we all are so very very blessed in this life… so why do we grumble so much about what we think is happening or could happen?… or about what we think we should be getting in return for our labors?? or about what we think our brothers and sisters in the community should be doing???
Our focus this morning is on things eternal – those things that endure in our life now and in our life to come, Not on things of this earth – those things that pass away… Regardless of what we feel about the equities or inequities of our life, God is always there, loving us equally, providing for us, guiding us, and blessing us…
What we do in response to the generosity of God’s grace in our lives is up to us… Thanks be to God!
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year A (Proper 20) - September 21, 2008
Exodus 16:2-15
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16
The church has been grumbling for at least 7000 years… and we haven’t stopped yet… We seem to think sometimes that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence… That another way of life is better…
We sometimes act like little children and say, he or she got something that I didn’t get… they got more to eat than I did… or they got the toy they wanted and I didn’t get anything. Or worse yet… they got to do what they wanted and I didn’t get my way… or – they won’t cooperate and play the way we want them to play, so I am going to take my to take my toys and go home…
Have you ever had a job and it seemed your rate of pay was ok, until you found out what someone else was making?… If they were making more… we say, “how dare they think that they are doing as good a job or better than we are”… And if they are making less… we say, “why am I put to work side by side with such worthless people”…
Some of you may be able to identify with this… When I was a technician, I got lots of overtime for the extra hours that I worked… Each minute was accounted for as the clock was punched… but when I moved into management, and became a “professional” employee I caught myself working all the time, not punching a clock, I made a decent wage, but I always worked more hours than I was paid for... It didn’t seem fair… grumble, grumble, grumble…
And look at look at the way we live our materialistic lives… we have always got to have the best toys, the best clothes, the best homes, and the best cars… There is a popular saying that started out with a comic strip early in the 20th century, “Keeping up with the Joneses” – where one is expected to have or maintain a certain standard of living… I personally haven’t figured out who the Joneses are or why in the world we would want to keep up with them.” But for some reason, in our society we want to be considered as good as they are, and we envy what they have… And if we don’t get it, we grumble about what we don’t have. Then when we get it and we have it, we grumble about what a burden it is in our life…
What part of “thou shall not covet” don’t we understand? Don’t we realize that “he who dies with the most toys is still dead?” We grumble about what we should have gotten, or we grumble about the decisions that we should have or could have made…
Today’s lessons are about grumbling… grumbling about the should a, could a, would a’s in our lives…
The Israelites were fussing with Moses in the wilderness after being miraculously delivered from slavery in Egypt… They say… “If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you (Moses) have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Grumbling about it was their answer to starving to death…
They would rather grumble than figure out how or where to get some food… and remember – when you are grumbling, be sure that you blame the leadership. Cause we all know that it is the leader’s fault… it’s always someone else’s fault… Grumble, grumble, grumble…
They seem to think that the situation they are in now is somehow worse than living as a slave in Egypt… Yes, they were walking around in the desert, and they were hungry. But they didn’t trust God… They witnessed all the miracles that got them to the point that they are, and yet they were still grumbling… Thinking that God had forgotten them – and just left them in the dessert to die. Somehow, to them, being a slave in Egypt was somehow better than being free…
Then we come to the parable that Jesus tells us about the laborers in the vineyard… We get the image of a day-labor house, where a person like a vineyard owner (or a general contractor) can go and hire others that want to work… But this isn’t the case in Jesus’ story… these peasant workers are standing idle in the marketplace… not refusing work… but not doing the honorable thing and seeking it either…
We jump right in… and we are quick to identify with the ones that have worked all day in the scorching heat… We quickly say… “whoa… wait a minute here… we have worked hard all day – and they have only been here a little while… How come they got the same pay that we did???” Because it was expected back then, as it is now, that the folks who worked longer hours get more pay…
But what if, by chance, we were to identify with the ones that had only been on the job for a couple of hours… Would we think that we had gotten away with something? Would we think that we didn’t deserve the wage that we were given? I hesitate that any of us would say… “Hey, wait a minute, I was only here a couple of hours, yet you paid me for the whole day.”
Jesus once again turns the values system of his time on its’ head. Telling them a story like this, and then telling them, “this is what the kingdom of God is like” would completely shock his peasant audience. Shocked, because they still related what Jesus was saying to material wealth. Shocked, because like you and me, they identified immediately with the workers who had worked all day in the scorching sun, only to be given an unfair wage for their labors… Shocked, because they choose to set their minds on earthly things and things passing away, and not focus on heavenly things and things that shall endure…
The past few Sundays, we have learned a lot in the lections about living in community. Of how we are to be together… as a family, on a planned focused mission… and how to act if something goes amiss… How we are to approach our brothers and sisters in Christ, hash it out, learn from each other, pray together and remain focused…
That led up to a parable that we had last week explaining how we are to forgive, without limits, showing others the kingdom of God to others through our actions of forgiveness. We learned that forgiveness is a difficult, but regardless of how difficult it is, forgiveness is a thing that we should continuously work at… letting God be the ultimate judge.
Today we get a glimpse of the generosity of God… but not monetarily… God provides manna in the wilderness, and feeds the Israelites with the manna of the wilderness… God shows grace to God’s people, providing for them, and delivering them from their hardships as they continue on the journey that God has set them on… Jesus has used our system of thinking against us, and sheds light for us again on what the kingdom of God might look like… Not monetarily… but of the generosity of God’s grace and blessing, equal for all who turn to God and focus on things heavenly…
We have a chance this morning to experience the equality and the generosity of God. When we come down the isle, and kneel at the rail, as always, we are all equal in the eyes of God, receiving the grace and blessing that God gives to us through the spiritual food provided to us to sustain us on our spiritual journey.
What we do from there with our material lives – our time, our talent and our treasure – and how we use that life to honor God is all a response to the generosity that God has provided to us…
And we all are so very very blessed in this life… so why do we grumble so much about what we think is happening or could happen?… or about what we think we should be getting in return for our labors?? or about what we think our brothers and sisters in the community should be doing???
Our focus this morning is on things eternal – those things that endure in our life now and in our life to come, Not on things of this earth – those things that pass away… Regardless of what we feel about the equities or inequities of our life, God is always there, loving us equally, providing for us, guiding us, and blessing us…
What we do in response to the generosity of God’s grace in our lives is up to us… Thanks be to God!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
RCL Year A (Proper 19) - September 14, 2008
The Rev’d Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year A (Proper 19) - September 14, 2008
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28
Psalm 105, 1-6, 16-22, 45b
Romans 10:5-15
Matthew 14:22-33
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 be to any of us… we know that it 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…
These are all tough things to do when you are angry… I mean really angry… with an anger so deep that it becomes the acid of hate that starts to eat right through the container of your soul…
Paul 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 the 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… now how much is 10,000 talents? Well, a denarii is a days wages… 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 the full time 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 a member of the church 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… As Christians, we are to be the bearers of the message of reconciliation…
I spent some time last week defining the Church - The Church Christ centered and mission focused… The focus of its sole mission: to restore humanity to God through Jesus Christ our Lord…
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 judges, but God also redeems 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 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, and 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 mercy 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 forgiveness…
We 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…
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year A (Proper 19) - September 14, 2008
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28
Psalm 105, 1-6, 16-22, 45b
Romans 10:5-15
Matthew 14:22-33
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 be to any of us… we know that it 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…
These are all tough things to do when you are angry… I mean really angry… with an anger so deep that it becomes the acid of hate that starts to eat right through the container of your soul…
Paul 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 the 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… now how much is 10,000 talents? Well, a denarii is a days wages… 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 the full time 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 a member of the church 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… As Christians, we are to be the bearers of the message of reconciliation…
I spent some time last week defining the Church - The Church Christ centered and mission focused… The focus of its sole mission: to restore humanity to God through Jesus Christ our Lord…
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 judges, but God also redeems 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 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, and 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 mercy 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 forgiveness…
We 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…
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