Run the Race before us: Sunday, August 14

Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-18
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Luke 12:49-56

Have you ever tried to distill the Good News down to one sentence?  If someone asked you, “Just what exactly is the Good News of Christianity?” what would you say?  I’ve been thinking about it this week, and this is what I have come up with for my answer for now:

Jesus shows us a new way to live that transforms us, allowing us to live a life of wholeness, love and deep satisfaction, connected to all people and all communities.

It is hard to distill the Gospel down to a sound-bite. And that sound-bite would need a lot more explanation and lived experience to go with it, but it is a necessary part of our lives as Christians to be able to define the Good News as we know and understand it.  And while it is good to get a handle on being able to express the Good News in a receivable format---it doesn’t make it any easier to live.

Just think about the words in my own current definition: new way to live (code for change): transforms us  (code for change); to all people and all communities (code for getting along with others).  And frankly, even the word “change” is a code word.  Change means loss; change means death; change means sacrifice and compromise.

And yet, we still often think of church as being a place we go to in order to be comforted and a place where we always know what to expect and where there are not any surprises. A place where people have their acts together and will treat me and all others the way we want to be treated. 

Sounds like a great place, I guess, if you are perfect just as you are and you don’t need any transformation in your heart, your mind, or your behavior.  A great place if you are satisfied with the status of the world, its communities and nations, and your relationships are wholly knit together just as they should be. 

Does this describe anyone’s current reality?  NO?  It doesn’t describe mine.  So, I don’t expect simply church to be “heaven on earth.” I also expect church---this gathering of people who worship, study, grow, and serve---to be more of a “boot camp” instead of a garden party at Downton Abbey.

Church is the community that stretches us, challenges us, and empowers and equips us for the ministry God has given us, which is the ongoing ministry of Jesus in the world: healing the sick, befriending the lonely, turning unjust systems upside down, and being living examples of mercy, compassion and forgiveness---even to our enemies, even to the outcast, the annoying, the leper, the hateful.

Today Jesus makes it clear that this discipleship thing is no garden party. Jesus says: I came to bring fire to the earth….to bring division. Not really comfort food for us to partake today.  But, it shouldn’t be surprising to us---not really---not if we are clear on what exactly the Good News is and what is our part in being agents of this Good News.

In the military, they have a method of scorching the earth that is used to completely remove an enemy from a geographical area by burning the houses, the food sources, and other resources that can be used to sustain the enemy. For Jesus, this cleansing fire is meant to burn out all the things we use, other than God, to give us security.  The fire of baptism Jesus provides is meant to eliminate our tendency to find our security in possessions, in wealth, in power, in status-----leaving us to understand that what sustains us and provides our need is nothing other than God.

Burning the earth is used in agriculture as well---farmers burn fields in order to provide for new growth---lush, green, verdant growth that can strengthen and replenish a depleted field.  The fire wipes out weeds and other plants that threaten the ability of the field to produce abundant growth, and makes room for new plants to take hold and flourish.  This method reminds me of the need for the fire of Jesus to burn all the “religiosity” within us, and in our churchspeak, that points to the illusion that we can guarantee our own salvation if we simply do all the right things, and follow all the right rules, and make certain to point out and call out those who are not living “right,” like us.  We need this type of religiosity burned from us because this understanding of Christianity puts us firmly in the driver’s seat and not God.  It keeps us in control---just the way we like it----but certainly not the way of Jesus.  Jesus’s way is the way of surrender---complete and utter surrender with the entirety of our lives---Not my will, but Yours, O God.

As theologians and preachers, Eugene Boring and Fred Craddock write in the People’s Commentary: “the peace of God is not an anesthetic that makes one numb to the conflicts of the world; indeed it may sharpen them. As Christ contemplates the cross he will endure in God’s service, he is not peaceful, but under stress and turmoil.  The road to God’s peace is not a detour around the cross but goes straight through it.” (pg. 230)

Pretty daunting, isn’t it, when we stand back and fully appreciate just what God is asking us---and empowering us---to do as Christians?  Here at Intercession, we are descended from a great cloud of witnesses.  A cloud of witnesses who ran the race set before them and who have handed the baton on to us now.  In 1848, General Albert Ellis invited others to join him in his home here in Stevens Point to worship as Episcopalians.  

About four years later, they moved to a schoolhouse on the north side of Clark Street and officially became a church on December 6, 1852.  The church built its first building in 1853 on the corner of Clark and Church St. with the Rev. Thomas Greene serving as its first rector.  They expanded and added a parochial school in 1875 (and an organ---the church existed for 23 years without an organ for goodness’ sake!) when the Rev. Ebenezier Thompson was its rector.

In March of 1880, with the Rev. William Henry Walter at the helm, the Sunday School expanded and a small building was added to the back of the church building to serve as a guild hall (what we call a Parish Hall).  Ten years later, the Rev. Reginald Weller had a rectory constructed on the south side of Clark St. between Church and Pine streets.  And then, the church realized it had the opposite problem that we have today.  Their church was too big for their building (whereas our building is too big for our church).  Rev. Weller and the church decided to build a new building, on the corners of Church and Ellis Streets, laying the cornerstore in 1892 and finishing the building in 1894 at the cost of $35,000 .  Today’s equivalent is closer to $900,000.  The first service was held in this building on January 2, 1894 with a congregation of 400.

In 1915, there was a fire which destroyed the guild hall and damaged the interior of the church building.  A time for reassessment.  The leaders of the church took this time as an opportunity to cast a new vision and they repaired the damage in the church and rebuilt the Parish Hall---the one we now use—so it could serve the entire community with a gym, a stage, and a bowling alley.  Proms, dances, dinners, and meetings were held here.

We live in a time and place that our ancestors did not know---a time when many people do not find the church relevant; they do not see us as having any particular Good News for them or their lives; they ask themselves: Why Church?

In response to this reality, our leadership, like the generations before them, have cast a new vision for us as we seek to be a flourishing and vital faith community in this Post-Christian world.  Leadership is reading the signs of the time and have determined that it is time to make a change that will enable new growth and fruitfulness.  While many of us are like Peter at the Transfiguration who simply want to build a place which would enable us to stay right where we are and sit in God’s presence, Jesus says no. Jesus says our role is to go down the mountain---into the world---head toward Jerusalem and the cross.  To carry the weight of what it means to live in God’s way, not the world’s way. 

And Jesus makes it clear: living this way brings division.  Not because Christianity demands division, but because we as people—in response to Jesus’ radical call to sacrificial love---often divide ourselves.  As we live this way of Jesus, people will call us crazy---even people we know and love; people won’t understand; people won’t believe it is possible; people will think we are wasting our time.  But we are choosing to live by faith---belief put into action---like the great crowd of witnesses before us.  We too have a choice to make: is it time to leave these buildings or are we prepared and equipped to put the time, energy and effort it will require for us to stay here?  Which path will lead to fruitfulness for our Vision and God’s mission to restore and redeem all people and all of Creation? 

Many of our Intercession family members have been working and struggling with this question, meeting, learning, talking, and researching to find out what are our best options.  These people have been carrying the weight for us in many ways.  But now we are arriving at a time when we, like the generations before us, must make a decision.  In September, our options will be explained and presented.  In early October, as a parish family, we will discuss and discern the gains and losses, the possibilities and challenges of each option.  After prayer and reflection, we will provide the Vestry, our leadership team, with our input which will equip the Vestry to make a decision.  A decision as to how we will run the race that has been set before us, at this time and place, how we will live and move as a great cloud of witnesses for the next generation---how we will respond to God’s call to restore all people to unity to God and each other in Christ.

The Gospel—when we let if fully enter our bloodstream and flood our heartspace---the Gospel changes everything.  How we see the world, how we see others, and how we see ourselves.  The Gospel changes how we live and move and have our being, so that we longer align with the world’s ways---instead we align with Jesus.

Joan Chittister writes: “The whole purpose of wrestling with God is to be transformed into the self we are meant to become, to step out of the confines of our false securities and allow our creating God to go on creating.  In us.”

In us, through us, with us, and for us.  We are living in an exciting time of Intercession’s history.  Trusting in God, we need not be afraid—in fact, Scripture tells us to be not afraid more than anything else.  So, like today’s Psalmist, let us sing out in prayer: “Restore us, O LORD God of hosts; show the light of your countenance and we shall be saved.”

July 17: the Power of Particularity

Sunday, July 17: Proper 11

Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42

Each July as summer school ended, our kids and I would pack up the car and head to Yogi Bear Jellystone Park in Fremont, leaving Murray to some peace and quiet as we enjoyed the sun, the pool, and campfires.  We have many stories from those trips: the week when the kid in the Boo Boo costume had a thing for Meghan; when Noah caught his first “all by himself” fish; when Abe walked hand in hand with Yogi after the lowering of the flag; and how our oldest, Zach, easily beat Mom in mini-golf.  Many moments—each particular in our memory.

This past week, Murray and I took our two grandkids, with Noah and Jess their mom and dad, to make some more memories.  And I was quickly reminded what I loved about this place---this week apart was always a time when I was present in the moment.  The rat race of day in and day out was left behind.  The routine of everyday life was nowhere to be found. And without those distractions, I was able to be present in each moment with the kids.  The power of particularity.

Particularity is defined as:

1.  being present to the particular as distinguished from universal 

2.   attentiveness to detail :

3.  What makes someone or something unique or special.

So, what makes Mary particular in today’s Gospel lesson? Why does Jesus say she has chosen the better part? While there are many possible understandings of this Gospel passage, this week I was struck by the power of particularity Mary displays.  Martha is not doing anything wrong: she is being welcoming and practicing hospitality.  In fact, she is acting exactly how society, culture, and custom expect her---a woman—to act.  Mary, on the other hand, is being fairly radical---taking on the male role of listening, learning, and sitting at the feet of the teacher, the rabbi.

Mary is particular in her attention; she is focused on Jesus.  This is not an everyday dinner and this is no regular guest at their table; this is the Christ.  So Mary acts completely against gender, taking advantage of the particularity of the moment, and sees the Body of Christ in front of her. She not only sees, she listens.  Perhaps she realizes that this chance will not come again.  Somehow, she is given the gift of recognizing the gift, the Jesus, right in front of her and she responds to the moment—and in the moment---soaking up every second of this spectacular opportunity.  Not distracted by many things---even those things that are good and expected---instead, she is able to focus on the particular that will transform her life, and she makes herself completely present to Jesus. I think this power of particularity is a gift that Jesus means for us to receive as we live the way and life of a disciple. 

Let’s consider how Jesus uses the power of particularity. As Jesus lived and moved and acted in this world, Jesus responded in each moment to the particular rather than the universal.  But unlike most people, it isn’t particular achievements or worldly visions of success and prowess to which Jesus responds.  Jesus responds to particular need.  Jesus focuses on whoever is struggling, whoever is outcast, whoever is suffering---and then Jesus acts.  Jesus walks with them; Jesus listens to them, talks with them, touches them, heals them, forgives them, breaks bread with them, drinks wine with them.  Jesus’ redemption is universal, but Jesus’ ministry is particular.  The power of particularity that Jesus displays is seeing the one in need and choosing to meet that need.  Like the Father in the Prodigal Son parable---it’s not about one son being more loved than the other.  It’s about meeting the need of the one who is suffering, the one who is struggling---healing the wound and repairing the separation. For Jesus, working with the particular is how Creation is redeemed---one person, one situation, one system, at a time.

Currently, there is a movement in America that is grounded in this power of particularity: Black Lives Matter.  It is a movement that many seem to resent, responding to “Black Lives Matter” with “All Lives Matter.” And, of course, all lives do matter.  But let’s stop, take a breath, and look at Jesus’ actions in order to weigh the validity of this movement: 

In last week’s Gospel story of the Good Samaritan, even though the system supported the priest’s and the Levite’s actions---what they did was considered legal and moral by society--- Jesus points out the injustice of their treatment and declares: Samaritans matter. 

In the story of the ten lepers, even though society shunned them, Jesus heals them and declares: Lepers Matter.

When the Syro-Phoenician woman begs for mercy, even though she is not of the House of Israel, Jesus agrees to her request and declares: Gentiles Matter.

When the disciples wanted to send away the children because children occupied the lowest rung on society’s ladder (not to mention that they can be loud and distracting), Jesus says :“let the little children come unto me” because Children Matter.

When the townspeople want to stone the “sinful” woman, and the woman at the well is outcast in her own village, and the bleeding woman is left unrestored for twelve years, Jesus sees them, responds to them and declares: Women matter.

In the Good News, over and over again, Jesus acts and speaks in particular for the ones for whom the systems and policies are unjust. As the prophets Isaiah and John the Baptist foretold:

Every valley shall be lifted up,
    and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
    and the rough places a plain.

Jesus means to even the playing fields of humanity by disregarding and overturning the systems and policies that keep any person, or group of people, in an inferior position. 

It is time for us to be honest with ourselves. Many of the systems and structures we have created in our society contain injustice and prejudice. Within these systems, some lives matter less than others.  Some lives are more privileged than others. As disciples who take Jesus and the Gospel seriously, we are called to see the injustice, the discrimination, the hatred and the separation within our systems and customs and ways of being, and we are to overturn and abandon these ways, refusing to engage in these unjust practices and demanding their abolishment.

Recently an article was written about a speech given on the senate floor by one of the Republican Senators from South Carolina. Some of his experiences as the only black senator in the Republican conference, and as one of just two black senators, were shared. “In the course of one year as an elected official, Senator Tim Scott was pulled over seven times by law enforcement. Another time, a Capitol Police officer demanded that Scott show him his ID because the special pin on Scott’s suit jacket ― a pin assigned only to United States senators ― evidently wasn’t enough. Scott said: “There is absolutely nothing more frustrating, more damaging to your soul than when you know you’re following the rules and being treated like you are not. ”

As our own Bishop Matthew Gunter wrote in response to this article: “Those of us of a lighter hue, to whom this kind of thing does not happen, need to come to terms with the fact that it is a too common reality for many. This is not a matter of conservative vs. progressive. It is a matter of justice and reverence for one another. It is a question of whether we are truly willing to see one another and extend dignity and respect to everyone, but particularly to those to whom dignity and respect have too often been denied.”

Jesus came to empower us to live differently.  Part of this different way of living requires that we be willing to look long and hard at ourselves and our systems in order to make sure we dismantle any and every injustice inherent in our systems, our policies and practices.  For some of us, we do not feel the injustice.  We do not experience it.  Or perhaps our experience of it has been overcome.  But, Jesus’ power of particularity demands that we do not ignore it.  If we continue to see our harvest as a basket of summer fruit but the LORD sees the injustices and systems which allowed that fruit to be harvested for the benefit of only a few, the LORD makes it clear what the consequences are:

Songs become wailing;

darkness overcomes the light;

feasts turn into mourning and lamentation,

Famines, thirst and fruitless seeking overtake God’s people.

Oh, Beloved, we can no longer ignore the consequences: the wailing from Baton Rouge reaches our ears; the darkness of downtown Dallas fills our screens; the lamentation from the deaths of Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile fills the air; people are walking the streets in protest, blocking the highways, signing petitions seeking justice in this famine of righteousness.  

Brothers and sisters, it is time to take our promises of respecting every human being, seeking and serving Christ in all others, striving for justice and peace among all people as our main purpose, our core identity.  These baptismal vows are how we live out the proclamation that Jesus is our primacy.  Like Mary, this is how we sit at the feet of the One we call Lord, no longer distracted by what custom or gender or society demands we give the most importance, but instead focusing on the situations to which our presence and gifts are called, to the moment of particularity before us right here and right now---in our everyday lives and in our lives as citizens of this city, this nation and of this world. 

You know sometimes being a preacher is a hard gig.  There are weeks when I wish the Holy Spirit would whisper something else in my ear because there are weeks when I know the message may be hard or uncomfortable to hear.  

Proclaiming Black Lives Matter doesn’t mean I condone acts of violence in response to injustice.  The only things to overcome hatred and violence are love, compassion and forgiveness, not more hatred and violence.  Saying Black Lives Matter doesn’t mean I am anti-Law Enforcement.  I give great thanks for our brothers and sisters who devote their lives for the public safety.  But, I cannot condone systems and policies that allow destructive and unjust acts—even if only enacted by a few---to continue to exist. We dare not allow them to become commonplace.

Let us choose the better part.  Let us remain focused on the lessons we receive from Jesus and the power of particularity. It is far too easy for us to be distracted and live in ways that keep us separated from the struggles of our brothers and sisters, but the Gospel truth demands that each person’s struggle is the Body of Christ’s struggle.  Each act of injustice is an act against the whole.  Because, Beloved, All lives matter only when each life matters.  

July 3: We are the Seventy

Pentecost 7: 2 Kings 5: 1-4; Psalm 30; Galatians 6:7-16; Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Many people today do not believe in God. Even more people do not believe that being connected to a faith community, even if one does believe in God, is necessary or helpful.  In fact in 2010, the Association of  Religion Data Archives found that 41.5 % of people in Stevens Point are not connected to any faith community. As someone whose relationship with God is foundational, I spend a lot of time wondering what this 41.5% know that I do not know or what I have experienced that they have not experienced.  This is something the Church, not just Intercession Episcopal, but all of the Institutional church needs to understand, and be willing to wrestle with, if we believe that we still have good news of God’s love to share.

If you haven’t seen it yet, leadership has put out a draft of a three-year Vision for this community of Intercession Episcopal.  This Vision maps out a different way for us to be the church, with hopes that we will be more effective in achieving God’s mission: to restore all people to unity to God and each other in Christ (page 855 in the BCP---memorize it).  If you have seen the Vision and you are wondering where the ideas in it come from, you need look no further than today’s Gospel reading.  Let’s see what God is up to in Luke, chapter 10.

First, Jesus chooses 70 apostles to go out two by two. Other Gospels tell of this sending out of apostles, but Luke is the only evangelist to choose the number 70, and it’s a very interesting one to choose.  In the tenth chapter of Genesis (just after the flood), we are given a list of the nations; there are 70. The number 70 represents all of humanity.

So, what is God doing with these 70---these apostles?

• ·      appointing them and sending them.  And in this appointing and sending, each apostle is given the same authority as Jesus to reveal God’s Kingdom in word, in example, in healing, and in sharing God’s peace. They are to go where Jesus intends to go (to all of humanity—throughout all of Creation) empowered by the same authority as Jesus. These apostles are extensions of Jesus—extending Jesus’ ministry out to whomever will listen, whomever they meet, with whomever they cross paths.
• ·      Jesus says they are sent as lambs amidst wolves.  This sending is risky, a bit dangerous; there is real evil in the world.  This sending requires vulnerability. This vulnerability is not a weakness---it’s not the equivalent of rolling over and exposing your underbelly.  This vulnerability is a strength that comes from believing that your authentic whole self is exactly what is needed and trusting that you are enough.
• ·      Jesus instructs the apostles to carry no purse, no bag, no sandals.  Sounds like bad planning to me; what is this “travel lightly” bit all about? First of all, with no purse, there’s no shopping; this journey isn’t about accumulation for one’s personal gain. Secondly, traveling lightly also means the apostle must be reliant upon the hospitality of those they meet; it obliges the apostle to be dependent upon others. This requires great humility. Traveling lightly, then, requires the recognition that this mission isn’t first and foremost about individuals; it is about a communion, the people of God and the Body of Christ. Traveling lightly shakes the apostles out of their self-centered way of being and requires them to become other-focused. Traveling lightly means that they are not mere benefactors because those to whom they are going have items, ideas, beliefs and resources they will need. 
• Jesus tells them it will be important to eat and drink with the people.  This mission is all about creating relationships with those to whom they are going.  And in these relationships, the apostles are to let people know—by action and word---that God’s Kingdom is near; it’s right here. Share the peace, Jesus, says: share the peace you know. And, if God’s peace is not wanted or accepted, Jesus says, just shake the dust off your sandals and move on.  Let it go, Jesus says, move on. 

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Beloved, we are these apostles being sent out.  For it is in our baptisms that we too are given the same authority as Jesus---the authority and mission to go out to God’s people as an extension of Jesus’ redeeming and healing love.  We are sent out to share God’s peace, to heal, to forgive, to love, to show compassion and mercy---seeking and serving Christ in all persons, respecting the dignity of every human being, striving for justice and peace for all people, proclaiming by word and action the good news of Jesus, resisting evil and returning to the LORD.

Yes, like the apostles at the end of today’s reading, we return to the LORD each week to give thanks and remember who we are and whose we are----our names written on God’s heart and carved into the tree of life.

This is a New Exodus God sends us on. Moses gathered 70 elders to join him as agents of God’s work in the first great Exodus, and Jesus gathers 70 apostles as agents of Gods’ work, and so it goes.  A New Exodus of leading God’s people to know and experience God’s love which frees each of us from the constrictions, restrictions, and binding powers of fear, anxiety, uncertainty and darkness. Faith isn’t believing without proof.  Faith is trusting without reservation.  And as we trust God more and more deeply, we are freed from no longer being the center of the universe, and instead recognizing we are a member of the Universe and the good of the Universe is my good, and my wholeness only comes as a result of my brothers and sisters’ wholeness.

God is inviting us to consider that the way those 41.5% of our neighbors will “come to church” isn’t by walking into our buildings on a Sunday morning---but by crossing paths with us---the Church---and experiencing God’s grace through us.  Perhaps it is a very brief connection. Perhaps it is a short-term connection.  Perhaps it’s a bit longer.  

But Jesus doesn’t send out 70 apostles to get more butts in the pews.  Jesus sends out 70 apostles so that more and more people can experience and taste God’s love right where they are.  Taste and see that the Kingdom of God is near. What happens next? We do not know. Scripture doesn’t tell us any more about those who experienced God’s love through those apostles.  All we know is that the church grew, and 2000+ years later, here we are.  Still here.

Jesus is sending us out---asking us to shun the ways of self-centeredness, exploitation, and personal gain---and to live a new way, as lambs amidst wolves. Yes, it is risky, dangerous, vulnerable.  But the fruits are peace, shalom, living in gracious relationship with one another---even among all our differences and variances---creating a beautiful mosaic---incarnation—God made flesh in humanity.

Let us not grow weary of doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time—the gathering of all people and all of Creation into God’s Kingdom---let us work for the good of all.  Beloved, we are being sent, and the Kingdom of God draws near.