Proper 17C2
Proverbs 25: 6-7; Hebrews 13: 1-8, 15-16; Luke 14: 1, 7-14
Grace and peace indeed this morning, the holiday weekend. I know most of our kids and
families have already experienced the joys of the first day of school. I guess a few places still don’t get fired-up
until after Labor Day. But certainly a sense
of transition, even on a warm day like this.
Summer to fall. Before we know it
we’ll down at PNC Park for the fifth game of the World Series and feeling a
hint of winter chill in the air!
In the Seventh Chapter of his Rule for Monasteries St. Benedict has a sharp turn of phrase when
he talks about how Christians “climb the ladder” of spiritual life by climbing
down. To say that we ascend by
descending. That phrase or image came to
my mind as I read through the lessons appointed for us this morning. The way of humility, which is deep down the
way of the Cross, Christian discipleship, following the footsteps of
Jesus.
Ascending by descending, which is
the same kind of inversion and unexpected reversal that we hear in the
well-known prayer often associated with the spirit of St. Francis of
Assisi: “for it is in giving that we
receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life.” Seems pretty basic in terms of what we mean when we say that
someone is “acting like a Christian.”
And perhaps thinking a bit about the very interesting focus really in
all quarters on the character and behavior of Pope Francis. To say that there’s just a lot about him that
seems right.
To reflect about what it means to be a Christian not simply in terms of
the great doctrines of faith, theology, or even in those inner private realms
of what is sometimes called “spirituality,” not that any of those things aren't
important, but to say that we listen to
Jesus and to his word in scripture as a guide for living our lives. Out in the
world.
To talk about Christian faith as it is known
in Christian character. That we are
called not simply to an inner relationship and commitment to Christ, but to
conduct ourselves as Christians. In Ephesians 5 Paul doesn't just say to "love." He says, "walk in love." To talk
the talk but then also to walk the walk. To have what in the great religious tradition
is sometimes called a Rule of Life. A
pattern informed by scripture, by Jesus as we come to know him in scripture and
in prayer and in the life of the church, for organizing our hours and days, for dealing
with actual relationships, politics, possessions, money.
All driving us pretty deeply into counter-cultural waters. True whatever mini-strand of contemporary culture we happen to occupy. Contemporary/progressive, traditional/conservative. Someone said that if being a Christian hasn't
been a challenge to us, hasn't made our lives in this world more difficult,
maybe we haven’t been taking it seriously enough.
You know that word to the
pastor, “you've gone from preaching to meddling.” There are flags that we sometimes will be
willing to salute on Sunday mornings, but often we want to keep pretty distant Monday through
Friday. A social reality all around us
and within us also that is so much founded on the assertion of identity and
rights, self-expression, self-actualization, to satisfy my desires. Finding and celebrating my real self. Appetites and entertainment. The bumper sticker I mentioned a few weeks
ago: “The one who dies with the most toys wins.” The pop song from a few years ago that
captured the great adolescent assertion, “You’re not the Boss of Me.”
I often think of that simple phrase of Deitrich Bonhoeffer’s: “costly
discipleship.” The snippet from Proverbs obviously connects to the first part
of the Gospel reading from St. Luke. Familiar both in terms of our aspirations and
our anxieties. Living as we do with the
two sides of the coin, entitlement and grievance. A sense of what we deserve and a sense of
what we have been denied. Fueled by that
energy. Politics is all about this,
economics, the energy of social activity.
The dynamics that tear apart marriages and families, infidelity, lies,
the emotional undertones that pave the way to addictions and destructive
behaviors.
The reading from Hebrews touching in just a few sentences a word of
instruction about Christian character and behavior, and intended to have
application 24/7. Filling in the
background. Mutuality rather than
self-centeredness. Hospitality not just
to friends but to strangers. Serving
others not with a sense of superior station, but with a deep identification. Perhaps reminded of the title of that
wonderful book many years ago by Henri Nouwen, “The Wounded Healer.” The prisoner, the poor, the oppressed. And I've only seen about a minute or so of
the Miley Cyrus video from the MTV awards show the other night, but to see even
that much in the context of this word from scripture that upsets a lot of
apple-carts I guess these days. “Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let
the marriage bed be kept undefiled.” Episcopalians
of course don’t want to be thought of as prudish. But still.
In any case, sketched out here in all these three readings this morning:
modesty; restraint; charity; discretion; fidelity; honesty; simplicity; purity;
kindness. We hear these lists over and
over again in scripture. It is interesting to me that in several
weddings this summer none of the couples selected the very familiar section of
First Corinthians in the Thirteenth chapter.
I guess that becoming a bit too familiar. “Love is patient and kind; love is not envious
or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way.”
Instead though at least three times this summer couples selected from
the lectionary a reading from Colossians, the third chapter. Very similar word to a Christian that like the
congregation in Corinth seems to need to be reminded that in the same way that
there is an orthodoxy of belief, so there is also an orthodoxy of our way of
life. Maybe a hard thing to think about
when we’re loading up for a little “shock and awe” this time in Syria.
In my homilies at the weddings I
will sometimes talk about all the attention brides and grooms give to the
selection of wedding gowns and bridesmaids dresses and formal wear for the
groom and his attendants. And then to
hear Paul say, again the third chapter of Colossians, beginning at the 12th
verse, “as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with
compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another, and if anyone has a
complaint against another, forgive each other, just as the Lord has forgiven
you . . . . Above all, clothe yourselves
with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
Dress for success. But thinking
about success in a different way than the way we usually see it represented or
feel it ourselves. Choices every day
about what is really important for us.
Of values to cultivate with a sense of deliberation. Compelling but also very challenging words,
at least I find them challenging, appointed in scripture for us this morning
about the kind of wardrobe we select to wear as Christian people when we set
out into the world—not just when we dress up for church on Sunday, but day by
day. A costly discipleship: with one
another, in our homes, where we work, our schools, our neighborhoods. How we spend our money. How we vote.
What we set before ourselves as entertainment.
Several Sundays earlier this summer while the lectionary was walking us
through St. Paul to the Galatians I mentioned the Steven Covey quotation, and
it comes back to me again as we would read and listen carefully to the words of
scripture for us this morning: “the main thing is to keep the main thing the
main thing.” And then to hear the final
word here from the Hebrews reading: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today
and forever. Though him, then, let us
continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of lips that confess
his name.”
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