Words Matter: Epiphany 2: January 14, 2017

Words matter. 

Words set a tone.

Words create a lens through which we receive the world, the truth, our reality.

Words matter.

So right now, when I hear many people telling me that it isn’t important what the President says or that it is just rhetoric or that we need to assess our political leaders simply by how much money we are able to keep in our pockets, I cannot remain silent.

Oh, I would like to.  And frankly, I am not really sure how to respond and react to what is unfolding on our national scene. There have been so many words. Words spoken at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. And Words left unspoken. Words declaring that one can simply grab a woman because one is a celebrity. Words slinging horrible slurs about our neighbors in Mexico. Words continue to pour forth that malign and misrepresent our brothers and sisters and words that declare somehow we are better and more worthy simply because we are white and we are American.

All these words have left my head spinning and my heart broken. But what I feel certain about today is that to remain silent is to be complicit with the evil that has been unleashed.

Because it is evil. Words matter.  And we know from past experiences that when we remain silent in the face of evil, when we shrug it off because it doesn’t personally inhibit or impinge on my personal life, the very deep darkness of humanity rises to the top.

When Nathanael asks: What good can come out of Galilee? He is implying that Galileeans have no worth or value when it comes to the work of God, the expectations of the Messiah.  But then, because of his relationships, his connections with John the Baptist and Simon and Andrew and Philip, Nathanael encounters Jesus and Nathanael’s understanding is snapped into focus. His worldview shifts. And he believes. And then follows.

Because what comes out of Galilee is the Body of Christ.  Yeshua. Jesus who saves by establishing relationships, by being present and making connections. Jesus whose entire ministry is about building bridges between people, deeply listening, healing through restoring the marginalized back into the community. The very work we are called to do.  Called to do with all people and in all situations.

And beloved, when we do this work of connecting and building bridges between all people and in all situations---like the work that is happening here within the Beloved Community between our two churches, the work that is happening as we engage in relationship building through our Extending the Table ministry at Franciscans Downtown, the work that is happening as we invite people to come and see, as we encounter folks who need someone to listen, to care, to share their time and resources---as we hear and see God moving and join in God’s work, then the heavens are opened and the angels of God ascend and descend on the Son of Man.

This work is the light of God shining into the darkness of our world. The light that dispels evil in our midst.

Evil is any force that works against God’s truth and God’s movement. Implying that any human, Haitian, African, El Salvadoran or otherwise, that any human is somehow inherently unworthy or without value is evil. Because God’s truth is that all of Creation is very good.

This evil must be denied by the People of the Light.  White supremacy and racism have no place in God’s Kingdom. And as citizens of God’s Kingdom, as members of the Beloved Community, we are called to do more than disagree with these words. We are to do more than be bothered by them. We are to vanquish them. 

By following Jesus. And building relationships. And like Jesus, intentionally building relationships with those on the edges: economic, social, health, status and vulnerable edges.  Restoring and reconnecting all people to unity with God and one another in Christ.

For we know what comes out of Galilee. We know what comes out of Haiti, out of Africa, out of El Salvador. Our brothers and sisters. The living, breathing Body of Christ. The Beloved People of God.

Repairers of the Breach: Sunday, February 5, 2017

Isaiah 58: 1-12; Psalm 112: 1-9; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16; Matthew 5:13-20

“Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”

Jesus came to fulfill the prophet’s words, and what words of God does the Prophet have for us today?

Through Isaiah, God tells us: “Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!
Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins!
They’re busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me.
To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people—law-abiding, God-honoring.
They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ and love having me on their side.
But they also complain, ‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’

Well, here’s why: The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit. You drive your employees much too hard.
You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist.
The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground. Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black?
Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?

This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
    to break the chains of injustice,
    get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
    free the oppressed,
    cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
    sharing your food with the hungry,
    inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
    putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
    being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
    You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’

If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims,
 quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
 You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
    make the community livable again.[1]

Hear what the Living Word of God is saying to the Church, to God’s people. This is a Word spoken not to us as individuals, but to us as a community of beloved disciples.  Jesus came to free us from our sins. Sin, simply put, is misplaced love. Sin is loving ourselves more than we love our neighbor. Loving ourselves more than we love God.  Sometimes that love of self, or what we think is our love of God, is found in our religious practices. When our rituals, our worship, our practices become more about pleasing us---about serving our needs rather than thanking God, more about making us comfortable rather than making our neighbor comfortable, then we have lost our way and it is time to be reoriented, to repent and re-turn our lives, our ways, our practices around.

We are freed from our sin when we choose to live the life of sacrificial love of Jesus instead of the self-centered and self-protective love of the world. We are freed and saved by living the agape love that is centered on the welfare of our sisters and brothers---centered on the common good of the entirety of God’s people---the agape love that reveals the Kingdom of God.

In our collect, or daily prayer, this morning, we asked God to set us free from the bondage of our sins and to give us the liberty of that abundant life which God has made known to us in Jesus.  Friends, we do not pray this simply for ourselves or for those gathered here or for those we love. This isn’t a prayer which includes only Episcopalians or Christians or Americans. It is a prayer for humanity---God’s people made in God’s image.  We ask God to set all of humanity free and to be given the liberty of the abundant life God has provided.  When we pray this prayer, yes we ask it for us, and for our loved ones, but also for our enemy, for the stranger, for those in need and those with whom we disagree. We ask it for immigrants, legal and illegal, for refugees and citizens, for Syrians, Iranians, Africans, Chinese.  This is what we pray; this is for whom we pray.

We are living in a time when voices around us stir up our fear and distrust of one another. When our hearts and emotions, our self-righteousness and self-protection, are rallied by nationalistic cries to save ourselves, to put ourselves first, to circle the wagons and keep the “bad dudes” out.

Beloved, you may find yourself swayed by these cries; they may sound sensible and reasonable to you. And perhaps, in a sense, from a certain perspective, they are reasonable and sensible.  But when we look at human history, we find that isolation and nationalism leads us to deplorable places and situations.  It leads us to war, to internment camps, to massacres and to genocide. These cries may sound reasonable from a self-preservation point of view, but they do not serve us---not as individuals nor as the collective humanity.

And certainly not as the living Body of Christ in the World.  Our God tells us: Be not afraid.  Jesus tells us, and shows us, that we are One—One family in God. No matter our country of origin, our skin color, our gender identity, our socioeconomic status, our creed, our sexual orientation or our political beliefs.  We followers of Jesus are called to live out this truth—in our personal lives, in our communal lives, in our words and actions. It isn’t a Sunday thing. It isn’t “just inside the church building or at church events” thing. It is our lives.

This is an incredibly difficult mission that we are called to live. And at times we fail. But if we believe and trust in a God of abundance, then we are to trust that God gives us what is needed to be faithful in God’s mission. And let’s not forget that God places us in community---bound to one another----just as the Holy Trinity is bound together----so that we might encourage one another, strengthen one another, equip one another to be able to live this agape love that we---and the entire world----so desperately need.

The Living Word speaks to us today: urging us, imploring us to live our faith. To be Salt and Light.  Of the World. Not just of our lives or of our family or of our city or of our nation---Salt and light of the World. Jesus doesn’t say “You will be …Jesus says: You are the salt of the earth: an agent that can break up ice, preserve our sustenance, heal wounds, and bring forth flavor.  Jesus says you are Light: dispelling darkness and shadow, providing a path forward, revealing the world’s brokenness, providing warmth and hope.

Beloved: we are called, marked and anointed, to be the ones who, through our words and actions, by making room for one another amidst our differences, through holy listening, loving and serving, we are the ones who are to make the community livable again.

---

[1] The Message: Isaiah 58:1-12

Do Justice: Sunday, January 29

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

"He has told you,
O mortal,
What is good,
And what does the Lord require of you,
But to do justice,
To love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God"...

This is what the Lord requires of us. Jesus tells us today we are to be those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.  And in Scripture, it is clear that righteousness means being aligned with God. Following God’s law as God intended, this is how we are to know wholeness, how we can be filled, be satisfied, experience peace and Shalom.

 It seems to be a difficult task for humans to understand what it means to follow God’s Law. We have a hard time wrapping our heads and hearts around what this looks like.  So we were given Jesus, the One who came as a human in order to show humans how to live as God requires: to do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly with God. Jesus came to give us a model of what it looks like to do this in our human bodies, with our human lives, for the sake of humanity.

And let’s be honest. It doesn’t look much like anything else we see around us.  Because all around us, we often see the opposite of the Gospel. We hear the opposite of the Gospel. We are invited to take part in the opposite of the Gospel. The Good News of Jesus Christ compels us to move and act from our common humanity with one another rather than as a reaction to our differences.  The life and ministry of Jesus calls us to acts of compassion and mercy instead of acts of division and self-preservation.

And those of us who hunger and thirst for righteousness, we who are the church, we cannot control what the world chooses. We cannot control what our neighbor chooses. We cannot control how our governmental leaders live and move and act in the world.  But, like Jesus, as one human living among the beautiful and diverse mosaic of humanity, we can control how we live and move. We can control how we enact and manifest God’s Kingdom through our actions, our words, our choices and responses.  So when we hear and see the opposite of the Good News, as today’s prophets and ministers of the Good News, we must be willing to point to the Truth. The Word. The life-giving, life-saving love of God.

And beloved, God isn’t interested in America First or Belgium First or China First.  In fact, that nationalistic notion goes against the message of the Gospel.  God doesn’t look on this earth and see borders and boundaries. God sees a Creation designed as a home for the Kingdom---and not just any Kingdom---but God’s Kingdom, God’s dream, God’s people. Where all are equally deserving of having enough, all are equally deserving of experiencing freedom from oppression. God’s Kingdom where the alien is treated as a citizen, the hungry are fed, the homeless are sheltered and the lonely are welcomed.  As Fr. James Martin reminds us this week: “It is Christ whom we turn away when we build walls.” Whatever we do for the least of these.

And beloved, this isn’t about politics. This is the Gospel.  The Gospel should shape our politics because the Gospel, the Word, the Christ named Jesus is our exemplar. At least, this is what we confess and what we pray.  And if we truly desire to follow Jesus, then we dedicate ourselves to become those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

I see this happening here at Intercession Episcopal. Our leaders put forth a vision of moving beyond our walls in order to build connections with those who currently do not find themselves within the “borders of faith.”  We have called forth, empowered and equipped a team of missioners to go and build relationships with our neighbors, to extend God’s table of mercy, grace and fellowship out into our wider community. And they in turn, invite us—as fellow missioners---to join them as we seek to love God by loving our neighbor. Loving our neighbor by listening and hearing their stories. Seeing the face of Christ as we look into their eyes. Loving them by simply being with them, listening and loving them.  And by listening, learning what gifts our neighbors have, what riches they bring to the table, that we so desperately need.

For, as followers of the Good News, as those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, we know that when our sister or brother is strengthened, we too are strengthened. We know there is no them or they---there is only us. 

Let me tell you a story about the Warming Shelter hosted here at Intercession and run by Evergreen Community Initiatives. I was volunteering on Thanksgiving night—well early the next morning if truth be told—and one guest was having a hard time sleeping because he had a terrible cold---coughing, struggling to breath deeply, to get comfortable.  A few weeks later, one of the Evergreen staff told me there might be an ambulance coming that night because the man with the cold was refusing to go to the doctor and he was getting worse and worse.  Through a variety of events, he did end up going to the hospital that night, but not by ambulance, and not a moment too soon.  His oxygen intake was so low that they immediately intubated him. He was in the hospital for several days.  I am happy to say that he is doing much better.

I saw him last week when one of our Missioners, Jodi Otto, along with several volunteer missioners, extended our table by making and sharing breakfast with the Warming Shelter guests and volunteers last Saturday.  The man who had been so desperately ill was there and in fine spirits, enjoying the food and conversation. As I shared coffee with him, he told me he had something for me---and something for the person who organized the meal. He gave me and Jodi a box of chocolates he had bought on clearance at Walgreens. Something he had bought and put away for himself, but instead, shared it with us. The widow and her mite. An act of sacrificial love and thanksgiving.

Beloved, I also see Intercession Episcopal embracing the Good News by realizing we are called to unity with our Lutheran brothers and sisters. That by making room for one another, by striving to live together in the midst of our differences, we are becoming more of whom God calls us to be---the Living Body of Christ made up of many parts, many people, many stripes and colors—that diversity is our identifying and reinforcing characteristic, not uniformity.

We are on a tremendous journey. It is challenging, it is risky, it is demanding, but we were made for this. And that which feels as if it is beyond our capabilities, we can be assured God will provide-----provide what is needed to continue moving forward, to flourish and thrive. This is our hope. Hope is not optimism. Hope stands on the firm ground of conviction.  Our conviction is Christ and the life we see and follow in Jesus.

This is not something that can be done halfway. It is a life that must be lived wholeheartedly.  Recently, I was having a discussion with someone about a controversial topic and he said: Why do you have to bring the Church into it?  I didn't say anything in response at the time. But as I thought about it, I realized a truth that I had never really claimed for myself before: Whatever I do—whether I am discussing something with someone or serving someone or loving someone or ignoring someone or complaining about someone or being angry about something----I bring the church into it. Because I am the Church. At all times. It is my first identity; it is who I am. There is never any time I am not the Church for I am always a living member of the Body of Christ. It isn’t a set of clothes I can take off or a uniform I can hang in the closet or a door I can close and retreat to my other life, my other world. In every moment of every day, I am the Church. I am always a piece of that beautiful mosaic of Jesus.  And beloved, so are you.

So, let us rejoice!  We are on a journey of Gospel proportions, with Gospel implications, and Gospel realities. We are living the Paschal mystery of Jesus---the mystery of sacrificial love bringing freedom, the mystery of surrender providing strength, the mystery of death bringing forth new life. Let us give thanks and rejoice. We are One just as the Trinity is One. One with God, with Jesus, with the Spirit. One with our neighbor, our enemy, our friend and our stranger.

"He has told you,
O mortal,
What is good,
And what does the Lord require of you,
But to do justice,
To love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God"

Get Woke, People! A Word for the 4th Sunday of Advent

Sunday, December 18: Advent 4

Isaiah 7:10-16; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-25

I know my kids love it when I’m hip and cool. And there’s nothing hipper or cooler than a grown adult using some “urban slang”---especially when that term is no longer used very often.  So I’m going to make my kids proud today and be totally hip and cool.

In today’s Gospel reading, man, that dude Joseph is totally “woke.”  Yeah, man, the dude got woke!

In the Urban dictionary, woke means: being aware. Knowing what’s going on in the community.  And even though it may seem strange that it happened with a dream, Joseph got woke today.

The angel in the dream woke Joseph to a spiritual reality that he is being called to live, and this spiritual reality is at complete odds with the worldly reality he finds himself living day to day.  Joseph and Mary have committed themselves to one another; there seems to be a marriage contract, arranged by the parents and including a bride price, which makes this couple legally bound to one another. All that would be left to finalize this contract is a ceremony, after which Mary will move in with Joseph.  But now, Mary finds herself pregnant, and Joseph is perfectly justified to dismiss her. It would even be perfectly acceptable (and somewhat expected) to shame her, and leave her without any further regard or concern.  After all, she’s made her bed, she should just lie in it…..right?

We already know Joseph is a different kind of guy because he chooses not to do the expected.  He sees no other way except to divorce Mary, but he refuses to shame or disgrace her. This will be a quiet leaving.  This simple act of compassion tells us, tells the world, signals to the Holy Spirit----there’s a God-shaped heart here in this Joseph.

So God goes to work via one of his special messengers, and taps on that God-shaped heart to a different possibility, an alternative reality---God’s vision and dream for Joseph.  And through Joseph, for the world. And Joseph gets woke.  Woke to an entirely different path that will have a completely different outcome.

First of all, let’s recognize that in order for Joseph to be “woke” to this divine reality, a predisposition is required---that God-shaped heart has had to be formed.  A predisposition means one is susceptible to something; one has a tendency or an inclination toward something.  Joseph is susceptible to God’s movement; Joseph has a tendency, an inclination, toward God’s message.  So when the messenger arrives to tell God’s tale, Joseph can see God’s movement, can hear God’s message, and is able to believe and trust—to take action and make choices---in favor of God’s movement and message.

Beloved, like Joseph, we need to get “woke.”  “Woke” to a whole different reality---the divine reality that we call the Gospel, the Good News. This divine reality that God is continually inviting us to live and reveal to the world, and beloved, it too is in utter conflict with the world’s reality.  Like Joseph, we are faced with a choice: will we be woke to God’s vision and reality or will we stay asleep to it by pretending it cannot happen, that it’s not our work, that we need not bother?  Which reality will we be woke to day after day, hour after hour, minute by minute?

The world’s reality proclaims that due to our National concerns and security, we don’t have to worry about the human carnage happening in Aleppo and the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.  That’s not our problem; we don’t owe them anything.

But the divine reality proclaims: For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe,  who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 10)  

Other translations for the word “stranger” in this text are: alien, immigrant, refugee.  Beloved, it’s about time we get “woke” to this reality, and it is time that we commit our efforts to these our neighbors, our brothers and sisters, God’s own children for the hour is at hand.

Our worldly reality is doing its best to have us believe that some people, and their human rights, are not as worthy, as important, as others.  Swirling around us, fighting for our belief, our action, our support are the ideas that:

• ·      our environment, this fragile earth our island home, is expendable if it means bigger corporation profits

• ·      not all our children are worthy of an exceptional education

• ·      if people can’t afford healthcare, that’s their problem

• ·      we are supposed to build walls instead of bridges

• ·      women do not deserve equal pay for equal work and

• ·      our national citizenship should take priority over our citizenship in God’s Kingdom

People, it’s time to be “woke,” Woke to this Gospel we proclaim each Sunday, this Good News that we express in our liturgy, our creeds, our Lord’s Prayer week in and week out.  Time to get woke to God’s command to love God’s people as God does---sacrificially, steadfastly, without exception, and with a love that takes action; action that insures that all God’s people have enough:  water, food, shelter, healthcare, clothes, security, dignity, safety, hope, and love.  Because in this alternative reality, in this Kingdom of God’s, all are worthy of having enough….all.

This means that whatever we do (or don’t do) to the least of God’s people: near or far, stranger or refugee, citizen or immigrant----is what we do or don’t do for God.

We proclaim: God’s Kingdom come, God’s will be done---some of us daily---but are we “woke” to what we are saying, what we are praying, what we are asking?  If we truly desire God’s will is to be done, then like Joseph, we require a disposition toward God’s vision.  If God’s Kingdom is to come---the completely different outcome we hear in the Christmas declaration: Let there be Peace on Earth and good will for all humanity----then we must be susceptible, we must be inclined to be moved into action by God’s movement, by God’s message, at God’s command.

Joseph and Mary were just regular folk like you and me. Maybe they weren’t the first couple God called on to do this scandalous, remarkable thing of giving birth to God’s love into the world. Maybe they were couple number 238.  But, we know their story, this story, our story---because they said “yes.”  Through the lives they led, they were predisposed to hear God speak and move in their lives…..and they said yes.

The day is at hand, the hour is here: will we allow the messenger of God to wake us from the all too-often nightmare of the world’s reality and get woke to God’s vision?  Are we willing to be susceptible to God’s movement and message? Like Joseph and Mary, are we saying yes?  Wake up! God is tapping on our hearts.