tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36615831782915970742024-03-13T16:53:36.485-04:00The Rector's PageSermons, prayers, and occasional commentary of the Rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Highland Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.comBlogger857125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-66447430589861542072018-03-13T15:34:00.000-04:002018-03-13T15:34:41.956-04:00Fourth in Lent, Laetare, 2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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John 3: 14-21<o:p></o:p></div>
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Good Morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fourth Sunday in
Lent, with the traditional name<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Laetare</i>
to connect to t<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">he first
words in the old Latin Mass Introit for this day, from the 66<sup>th</sup> chapter
of Isaiah. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Laetare ierusalem</i>.
In some Anglo-Catholic parishes the paraments change from purple to Rose, or as
a Facebook Friend wrote the other day, a “hot pink” Sunday in the middle of
Lent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A day when we are allowed and even
encouraged to relax our Lenten disciplines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(I mean, not to go crazy—but if you’ve been off chocolate for Lent, feel
free to have a Thin Mint or two at Coffee Hour this morning!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Latin <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Laetare</i>
an imperative usually translated “rejoice.”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Echoing
choirs singing over the centuries, to lift the hearts of God’s Chosen People as
they stand up straight and begin to recover as the heavy weight of their exile
begins to be lifted from their shoulders: <i>Rejoice, O Jerusalem:
and come together all you that love her: rejoice with joy, you that have been
in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled . . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The
Lenten journey toward Good Friday would seem to be a “way of sorrow.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But something like the assurance of the 23<sup>rd</sup>
Psalm for Christian people never goes away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We are never truly far from Easter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i>Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil, for thou art with me.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
the end of the Burial Office we say, “even at the grave we make our song.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So on this 4<sup>th</sup> Sunday-- even in exile,
even at the grave--in deepest Lent we make our song, <i>Rejoice, O Jerusalem</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jerusalem the Golden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The earthly city, above which our Lord and
Savior is about to be lifted up and glorified, the heavenly city where he
rules, in which there is no pain or grief, but life eternal. <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Just
right as background music for our readings this morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The heavenly choir singing in the distance—<i>Amazing
Grace, how sweet the sound.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Something
like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See what the Lord has done
for me, for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the purpose I think of
these three readings from John’s gospel in the three middle weeks of Lent to prepare
us for Good Friday and Easter. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
refresh in us, to help us see and know and feel again just what it means, that
Jesus has saved us on the Cross—the Atonement--to understand how that empty tomb
is a sign of his victory for us, that he has defeated our enemy, the Last Enemy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Last
week we read in John 2--Jesus in his death and resurrection establishing <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with his New Body a new Temple and a perfect
sacrifice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next week in John 12 we will
hear Jesus as he turns to the last leg of his journey to old Jerusalem share a
vision of his own death and resurrection as the foundation again in his Resurrection
Body of the Heavenly City,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New
Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And today <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on the Mid-Lent Sunday we are invited to lift
our eyes up from all the busyness and distractions of our lives and to look at
him, really to look at him, as he is <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>lifted
up on the Cross, the One who is the only Medicine and perfect cure for the poison
of sin that would sicken us and lead us down into an eternal death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus on the Cross: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in
every way the author and the only author of our healing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At
the beginning of Chapter 3 just before our reading today Nicodemus is very
curious about this Jesus—so much so that he isn’t content simply to read
reports or to hear what others are saying about him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>needs to find out for himself, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nicodemus comes in the dark of night and asks, “what kind of program are
you selling, Jesus? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What are you really about?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What are you trying to accomplish?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Jesus replies, “well, Nicodemus, it’s
actually pretty straightforward: I’m talking about a total and thoroughgoing transformation
of who <i>you</i> are, of your identity, your character, your person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s all about you <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>becoming a new creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About you being reborn completely in and
through God’s Holy Spirit.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nicodemus is
taken aback. “I’m too old for that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How
can a man be born again?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A new religious
reform program, maybe I could get behind that. A new political party, a revised
social agenda—no problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But a whole
new identity? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Comprehensive, head-to-toe personal
transformation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s just over the
top, too much for an old man like me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
life is too settled, I have too much invested in things as they are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;">But Jesus says, “don’t worry,
Nicodemus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Spirit is going to take
care of all this for you, God’s got this all worked out, and you won’t have to
lift a finger. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a hint of what
Christians will come to know as the doctrine of grace. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God so loved the world that while we were
entirely and irrevocably lost in our sin, while we were unable to do anything
at all, he gave his only Son.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that gets us into our reading this morning
as we might picture Nicodemus just stuck there on overload, trying to take it
all in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then Jesus reminds him of
this story from the Book of Numbers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
defining episode in the sacred account, when terror and death had entered the
Hebrew camp out there in the Wilderness in the form of all those poisonous
snakes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(When I preached on the text
from Numbers a few years ago at the Church of the Redeemer during the Lenten
midweek series I brought in a handful of plastic snakes that I had picked up at
a toy store, and I talked about a movie that had just been released.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe you remember, “Snakes on a Plane.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A feeble attempt to come into the reading
sidewise with a smile, but at the same time we know that these snakes are no
laughing matter, no joke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each one of directly
descended from the Serpent in the Garden, the one who sank his fangs into Adam
and Eve so long ago and hasn’t let go yet-- infecting them and their
descendants with the dark poison of sin and death.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the people out in the desert of the Sinai
are dying everywhere , and everybody turns to Moses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With agitation, frustration, fear, anger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What are you going to do about this, Moses?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You led us out here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re in charge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fix
it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fix us!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Make it right!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Find some antidote, some potion, some herbal
cure or surgical intervention. Do Something!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But Moses is helpless. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sort of
like how Nicodemus felt, I guess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are all helpless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are
all of us helpless as this deadly venom courses through our veins. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no antidote, no potion, no cure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No wellness program, surgery, fitness
regime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then God speaks to Moses and
says-- you don’t need to solve this problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Serpent is my department, and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I will take care of him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You lift
up that bronze image of a dead and defeated Serpent, Moses, in obedience to me,
lift it up high, as a sign of my presence, as a sign of my Victory, my <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>promise first to your ancestors and now to
you, exiles from the garden, descendants of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>the First Parents, the taste of that Apple still in your mouth, lift up
that brazen serpent--and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>those who in
turn will lift up their heads and look upon it—they, then, I will restore to
health.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be saved not by their efforts, but by
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By Amazing Grace alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just let them know, look to me, and live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Talk about Old Testament foreshadowing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Passion Gospel in the Wilderness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Old Testament story <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of course is familiar to Nicodemus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of those parts of the Wilderness story
that shaped the identity and self-understanding of God’s Chosen People.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the verse that opens our reading this
morning and makes the connection to our Lenten journey and reflection on the
Cross, as we see this powerful anticipation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jesus to Nicodemus: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That’s
where the poison of sin will be rendered powerless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s where new birth and new life begin. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we look up and see him there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good Friday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And as Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him—whoever believes in him--may have eternal life.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Healing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>From death to life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From old
creation to new creation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If dying
from a poisonous snake bite in the wilderness sounds like it might be a good
metaphor for where we are in our lives this Lent of 2018.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we’ve finally drilled down deep enough
until we’ve hit something that our money and retail therapy and education and
political candidates and the latest technology and social skills and every
other resource we know about to try to fix our problems can’t seem to help us
with, the big questions, the biggest questions, the ones that don’t go away
when we close our eyes and count to ten--then this word of Jesus to Nicodemus is
for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not to be looking in the wrong
places of the world for the answers and solutions and cures and promises that
the world cannot give.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But to look to
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus on Good Friday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How the Easter hymn goes: Death is conquered,
we are free, Christ has won the victory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
Cross as the Medicine of the World, the healing of the Nations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And our healing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God so loved the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every
snakebit one of us—the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve since the beginning
of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fourth Sunday in
Lent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look here, look to Jesus, put your
faith in him, and be made well. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Rejoice
with joy, you that have been in sorrow, that you may exult and be filled.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Walk
in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and a
sacrifice to God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-65467469705333585032018-03-13T15:21:00.001-04:002018-03-13T15:21:32.612-04:00Third in Lent 2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In the middle<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>weeks of Lent this
year we step back briefly from St. Mark’s Gospel and have three readings three
weeks in a row from St. John: this morning in the second chapter, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the account of the Cleansing of the Temple;
next week in the third chapter, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the last
part of the conversation with Nicodemus; and then on March 18 in the twelfth
chapter, the conclusion of Jesus’s public ministry and the hour of his turn
toward Jerusalem. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What these have in
common, as we get ready for Holy Week and Easter, is that they each give us a
way of picturing or thinking about what in the formal language of theology is
called the “Doctrine of the Atonement--the Church’s formal teaching about the
“work of Christ.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everybody knows and
pretty much agrees on the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus
came to Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was arrested,
tried, and executed—dead and buried on a Friday afternoon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then on Sunday morning the tomb was empty
and his disciples proclaimed that they had seen him again, alive, but in a new
and transformed way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The journalist’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">who, what, where, and when</i> .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">why</i>”
of the story still needs to be addressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To what end, for what purpose?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s what is covered by this word, Atonement.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The reading today, the “Cleansing of the Temple,” is one of those parts
of the Jesus story that is included in all four gospel s—John 2, Matthew 21,
Mark 11, Luke 19.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Matthew, Mark, and
Luke place the event in Holy Week, right after the Palm Sunday entry into
Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John seems to organize his
gospel thematically rather than chronologically, and he tells the story near
the beginning , right after the story of Jesus and his first miracle at the
Wedding Feast at Cana.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As though he were
saying that we won’t really be able to understand the story he is about to
tell, unless we’re hearing it with this story in mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In all
four gospels <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the event happens <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at the Passover, which is the defining celebration
of the great Covenant between God and his Chosen People, remembering the Bible
story of their being rescued from slavery in Egypt and delivered to the land
God had promised to their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we might call the central narrative
symbol of the Old Covenant, the heart of the Old Testament, the story that
tells the Chosen People that they are indeed chosen, and who it is who chose
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in all four accounts Jesus at
this Passover <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>turns over the tables in
the Temple and announces that things have gone horribly wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Temple is the great visible sign of God’s
continuing presence with his people, his House, his earthly Throne Room, the
place where the priestly representatives of the Chosen People come into his
presence and offer sacrifice as a prayer for forgiveness of sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And through neglect and misconduct those
charged with the care and stewardship have failed to do their job. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though we don’t need to be too hard
particularly on these priests and officials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Their failures really just stand for our sinfulness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s all a sign of something deeper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of us would be of sufficient purity and
righteousness to maintain this holy place in the perfect way that it needs to
be maintained. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perfect Spirit and
perfect truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All have sinned and fallen short of God’s
glory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if the Temple were being
operated perfectly this whole system of ceremony and sacrifice is just a dog
chasing his own tail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all work and
work, struggle and sacrifice, try to make things right by our own huge and
heroic efforts, but no matter how much we do, how hard we work, we wake up the
next morning and the whole rat race just starts up all over again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was an instrument God allowed for a season
to maintain the Covenant relationship, but it was always going to be imperfect
and provisional.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And now, now, we hear and read and come to understand: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a new day is here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The old is being swept away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The new has come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John
describes the scene: Jesus charges into the outer section of the Temple complex,
where those selling animals for people to offer as sacrifice are keeping their
oxen and sheep and birds and where pilgrims <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>can exchange their Roman coins for Temple
Coins to present in offerings, and he makes a whip to drive out the animals and
he boisterously overturns the Moneychangers’ tables.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This whole crazy effort to turn our
relationship with God into some kind of transaction where we can somehow earn
or purchase our right relationship to him simply has to come to an end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A system given to God’s people as a kind of place-holder,
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>until the appointed day and hour when
the price could be paid once and for all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The sudden burst of holy energy in Jesus makes the disciples remember <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Psalm 69, a Psalm associated with the
expectation of the Messiah:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Zeal for
thy house will consume me.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I find my
own associations also rolling back to the scene in Luke chapter 2, when the
young boy Jesus has been separated from Mary and Joseph while they are in
Jerusalem on an earlier Passover pilgrimage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Recall how they finally find him in this very Temple engaged in a
precocious discussion with the elders and teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When they begin to scold him he says, “Did
you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why was Jesus born?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What did his life and death and resurrection
accomplish?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The answer is in this, deep
down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I must be in my Father’s house.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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And then there is this deep level shift as Jesus speaks to the
authorities with amazing boldness. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will
raise it up.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They think he’s talking
about the building and scoff, but John tells the story even here right at the
beginning of the Gospel with the Cross and the Empty Tomb clearly in mind, and
he knows better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reference is not to
this physical structure, this building, but to the “Temple of his Body,” he
tells us--and we just note as well John’s statement that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">this</i> was the moment that the disciples immediately thought of later
on, when they began to try to make sense of their encounter with Jesus in his
Resurrection Body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of all the things
that they may have thought about as they tried to get their heads around what
it meant to know for a fact that Jesus was executed on the Cross and then on
Sunday to see him alive again, this was what came to their minds first:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will
raise it up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This soaring edifice of
stone only a foretaste, a hint, of the perfect Temple God was about to
establish and make of himself in the midst of his people.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So for the Third Sunday in Lent, on our way to Holy Week, this is a way
of thinking about Atonement, about the Work of Christ, about the “why”-- what
the Cross of Jesus accomplished.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
commend to our contemplation, prayer, imagination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
old Temple is no more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where do we go
now to find our peace in God?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where is
the Temple now, where is the place of sacrifice, where you and I can find
forgiveness, restoration, holiness, life eternal?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Perhaps on Good Friday we will connect the story to the account in
Matthew, how at the end of the Third Hour Jesus breathes his last, and how at
that very instant at the Temple the great curtain separating the Holy of Holies
was torn in two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through his death and
resurrection Jesus tears down and then rebuilds, restores, renews the Temple,
the Father’s House, in his own Body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
place now—if we can think of the Resurrection Body of Jesus as a place, with
dimensions that are spiritual instead of material—a place of true and radiant holiness--for
God to have a home again with his people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Lord God almighty, renewed and purified, lifted up, again seated on
the Throne of Israel—no longer hidden somehow behind walls and curtains, but
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And everywhere, all at once.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus fulfilling in himself, in his own
flesh, the promise of God in the Scriptures that he would be with his Chosen
People always as their one true priest and king. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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We might say that it’s a great association here on a Sunday as we
celebrate a baptism, a renewal here for young Graham Frankle and for all of us of
the New Covenant, as we are built into the one perfect Holy Temple of his
crucified and risen Body. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Advent we
heard about how in his dream Joseph heard the Angel<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>tell<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>of the coming birth of Jesus by quoting from the Prophet Isaiah, “’. . .
his name shall be called Emmanuel,’ which means,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God with us.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is what the Jerusalem Temple meant for
God’s Chosen People.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God with us.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And through the Cross, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God with us</i> not in a building and human institution made with
stones and stained glass and massive altars and priestly offices and rituals of
sacrifice offered again and again and again—but with us in the true Temple of
his own Body, where now God’s life and the life of his people will intersect,
in one communion, where pure offerings may be lifted up, and true and perfect
worship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where his one oblation of
himself, once offered,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a true and
perfect sacrifice, is accomplished once and for all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what we say to and for and with Graham
today: Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, come into his courts with
praise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mystery of the Cross, the
mystery of his Church. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God with us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the disciples started in their amazement
and confusion to try to make sense of it all, the Cross and the Empty Tomb and
their first encounter with his Resurrection Body, his true and living presence,
they remembered this moment at the Temple, and something clicked, fit together,
made sense in a deep and spiritual logic. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pray that he would open up our hearts and
minds in this Lent to see what they saw when they looked up at the Cross, when
he revealed himself to them in the radiance of his resurrection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To know what they knew—that the strife is
over, the labor done, and the victory won.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Lord is in his holy Temple, let all the earth keep silent before
him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-82332493588994764302018-03-13T15:18:00.004-04:002018-03-13T15:18:50.699-04:00First in Lent<br />
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Mark 1: 9-15; Psalm 25: 1-9<o:p></o:p></div>
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Last Sunday as we observed the turning of the Church Year toward Lent I
was reminded of the verses from the Old Testament Book of the Lamentations of
Jeremiah—chapter 3 verses 22-23, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“the steadfast
love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new
every morning; great is thy faithfulness.”</i> For those survivors of the fall
of Jerusalem back in the Sixth Century before Christ, those who were carted
away from those smoldering ruins in a kind of anticipation of our Ash
Wednesday, covered in dust and ashes, to begin their exile in refugee camps and
ghettos in distant foreign lands and with nothing more than the clothes on
their backs, as their homes and properties were expropriated by the victorious
soldiers, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>bereft and in grief and
impoverished—to them, Jeremiah says, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">this</i>
is what you need to know, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">this</i> is
what you need to hold in your heart as the one sure thing, to sing by memory as
you rock your children to sleep far from home:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“the steadfast love of the Lord
never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning;
great is thy faithfulness</i>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The words seemed counterintuitive then, as they do now, almost
ironic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But resonant of the deepest truth
that would be revealed through all this suffering and loss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I would continue to share the thought
that we might hold on to these words as maybe a kind of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>background music, for all that we continue to
do in response to the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>invitation in the
Ash Wednesday service: “I invite you therefore, in the name of the Church, to
the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer,
fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However we set apart this time on our way to
Holy Week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To have that playing in the
background: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the steadfast love of the
Lord never ceases . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>great is thy
faithfulness.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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So the first Sunday in Lent – and perhaps in Lent of 2018 we feel some
kinship with Jeremiah and the people of old Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A sense of the world falling apart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Feels that way to me sometimes anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This horrible school shooting, another one,
down in Florida, not too far from where our daughter lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Endless wars in Afghanistan and Syria, to
name just two of a long list of wars and rumors of war, ethnic conflict and religious
violence and persecution in Africa and Asia and sometimes closer to home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This kind of electric tension and
polarization in our social and political lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Seems like everybody is mad, all the time, about something, or about
nothing, or about everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even in
the Church, where some people might have thought there could be a quiet haven,
a space of rest and refreshment, currents of anxiety and negativity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Definitely Lent. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Definitely Lent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in this context, the First Sunday, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would just pause for a moment with our
gospel reading from the first chapter of Mark, centering on the story we read
every year on this Sunday, immediately following the Baptism of Jesus by John
in the Jordan River: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The Temptation in
the Wilderness.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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We notice first that Mark is the most succinct of the Evangelists in
telling the story, really all of it in one efficient sentence, chapter 1 verse
13, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“And he was in the wilderness forty
days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels
ministered to him.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Mark, none of
the familiar dialogue and back and forth between Jesus and the Tempter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We hear all that in other years of our
Lectionary, in Matthew chapter 3 as we read on this First Sunday in Lent last
year, and next year in Luke chapter 4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
this morning Mark’s very economical shorthand--a few key evocative words and
phrases. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First to highlight, the word “wilderness”
of course not just a geographical description.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The wilderness a reminder of the Exodus, of the place of testing and
transformation of God’s Chosen People in their journey from slavery in Egypt to
the Land Promised to their Ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the foundational narratives and
symbols of the Holy Story of the Bible and the People of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>40 Days an echo of their 40 years of nomadic
life, testing and formation--and of the 40 days Moses spent on Mount Sinai
communing with God, the place where God reveals himself and establishes the
great Covenant of the Law, and farther back in the story of the 40 Days of the
Great Flood in Genesis 7, as God sustained Noah and his family and the remnant
of the created order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That flood and
that wilderness journey a symbolic template for our 40 days in the Wilderness
of Lent, our 40 Days in the Ark, our 40 Days on the Mountain, as we hear in
many of our hymns and Lenten readings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then for Mark to say simply, so simply, that there in the wilderness in
those 40 Days, the place of Israel’s testing and formation, Jesus was “tempted
by Satan” is to reference by simple title the vast, cosmic, supernatural
rebellion against God that Sin brought into the world back in the third chapter
of Genesis. Beginning with Adam and Eve and the Serpent in the Garden. In our
baptismal covenant each new Christian definitively renounces “Satan and all the
spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus
now stands at the head of the line to take the force of the attack, the brunt
of the battle, our shield and protector.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And then next Mark mentions the “wild beasts.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually an interesting detail that Matthew
and Luke skip over. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I picture scorpions
and snakes in the desert wilderness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Psalms and the Prophets often refer to hungry lions in the wild places, wild
dogs, dangerous bears.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not just
supernatural forces that cause us to struggle in this life, that push against
our efforts to live faithfully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s
the fallen world around us, and even our own bodies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes the place we see those wild beasts
is when we look in the mirror in the morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In Romans 7 St. Paul talks about the “war within” our own members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A war that all of us find ourselves engaged
in pretty much every day of our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Perhaps a bit of the practice of a moderate fasting on days like Ash
Wednesday and the Fridays in Lent call that to mind for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our aches and pains and diseases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our unmanageable emotions, and how we are
hungry and thirsty for so much that we know is not good for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wild beasts out there and wild beasts within.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And then finally in Mark’s one sentence, there are those angels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They “ministered to him.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some supernatural nourishment and
encouragement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We may think that that
happens in the Wilderness for Jesus, but it doesn’t have anything to do with
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But maybe we just aren’t looking up
to see what is going on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps for us a reminder that those practices
of prayer, fasting, reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word might just be his
gifts, how he might come to us to feed us in our wilderness with manna from
heaven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Lenten practices and disciplines
not intended as deprivation, but instead to be for us his instruments of blessing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we turn our eyes toward Jerusalem and his
Cross, our Heavenly Father sends his angels in his Word and Sacraments, and in
the quiet prayers and contemplative spaces of our hearts—he sends his angels
also to minister to us, just as they did for Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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A time in the wilderness, Lent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Where perhaps for a few weeks we exchange the momentary intoxicating
pleasure of the glass of wine at dinner to experience even more deeply the
intoxicating refreshment and renewal that comes when we open our hearts and
minds to his presence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we forgo the
sweetness of the cookie at lunch or the slice of pie after dinner in order to
know more intensely the sweetness of prayer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we take time in the morning before
heading off to work to read a few Bible verses and to consider the reflections
in the Lenten Devotional booklets linked on the St. Andrew’s website.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Each of us finding our own way, we follow Jesus into his Lenten
Wilderness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having before us his victory
over the Prince of Darkness, having before us the hope in his Resurrection Body
of our transformation in him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A dark and
confusing time in the wide world. But also this Lent, if we look up, opening
our eyes and minds and hearts, angels, all around us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ministers of mercy and grace and peace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jeremiah 3, verses 22 and 23:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The steadfast
love of the Lord never ceases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
mercies never come to an end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are
new every morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Great is thy
faithfulness.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-1572162010743618652018-03-13T15:17:00.001-04:002018-03-13T15:17:27.703-04:00Ash Wednesday 2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ash Wednesday 2018<o:p></o:p></div>
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Blow the trumpet!
Sound the alarm! The reading from
the Old Testament prophet Joel certainly catches the abrupt and urgent moment
that we experience in Ash Wednesday. If
we have been sailing along since Christmas on autopilot, this Ash Wednesday
catches us up short, takes us by the shoulder with a good shake. Wake up!
The enemy is at the gates. It’s
time to face the music.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In the 23<sup>rd</sup> chapter of Matthew Jesus calls the
Pharisees and Rabbi’s who have been debating him “whitewashed sepulchers.” Painted tombs. Bright and colorful and attractive on the
outside, but filled with corruption and darkness and death on the inside. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And it is a compelling image. So much of life about putting up a good
front. Maintaining appearances. Pretending to be fine, in great shape, when
deep down we know the truth. The truth
anyway of what the Bible has to say about our condition and nature and
character as human beings. Which is to
say that what Jesus said about those Pharisees and Rabbi’s is in reality true
for all of us. A paper thin veneer where
we pretend to be what we aren’t. Where
we live in denial.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So today, Ash Wednesday we make that turn on the journey of
the Holy Story, the road ahead of us moving directly to Jerusalem. Holy Week.
Good Friday. The Cross. And the realization that the right way for us
to travel this road, this spiritual journey, the only way actually to get to
where we need to be six weeks from now, is to take every step, one step after
another, on our knees. Emptying
ourselves of the illusion, the delusion, that somehow we deserve to ride in
style. The only way to get to the place
we need to be at the foot of the cross, to scrape off the false front. Give it a power wash. Sandpaper and steel wool if that’s what it
takes. To a fresh understanding of the
truth that gives the cross its meaning.
That we are dust and ashes.
Nothing pretty about us, deep down.
Nothing lovable. Nothing worth
paying attention to. Nothing worth
saving. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And that it is for dust and ashes, for this heap of nothing,
with nothing to commend it, with no value of its own, that he came down from
heaven. For dust and ashes, he gave
himself up for us. Nothing in it for him
except the perfection of his grace and peace and love. His nature. The great Good Friday hymn “Ah, Holy Jesus”
ends this way. “Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee, I do adore
thee, and will ever pray thee, think on thy pity and thy love unswerving, not
my deserving.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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When the ashes come at this service, it’s not so much as if
something is being placed upon us, as though we are being marked or
disfigured. It’s more that what we
really are is being exposed to the light.
For just a moment or two. Again,
at the beginning of Lent. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So, blow the trumpet, sound the alarm. Again, it is simply my prayer that in the
weeks ahead we may walk the road to Jerusalem and Holy Week faithfully
together, and that as we come to the cross we may be refreshed in the knowledge
of his grace and love. As St. Paul says,
“that while we were yet sinners,” he died for us.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-62202398655759676852018-02-13T14:54:00.000-05:002018-02-13T14:54:10.530-05:00Quinquagesima 2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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II Kings 2: 1-15<o:p></o:p></div>
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Mark 9: 2-9</div>
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Again, good morning. As we see
on the leaflet, <i>Quinquagesima</i> on the
old Calendar, the third of the Three Sundays of what we used to call the “Pre-Lenten
Season,” and on the new calendar <i>the</i> <i>Last Sunday after the Epiphany.</i> In the
church year a major point of transition.
The last hint of the Silent Night of Bethlehem disappearing from the
rear view mirror. We stand with Jesus
and his disciples in this holy moment on the Mount of the Transfiguration, and
we can begin to make out the glow on the horizon of the Holy City, Jerusalem, crowds
of pilgrims already beginning to arrive for the great Passover Festival-- and
as we come down from that mountaintop and are stepping toward Ash Wednesday
this week we will begin to prepare ourselves for what will soon be here in Holy
Week: Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday.
We’ve spent the last couple of months talking about what happened at
Christmas, and now we turn to the next question: why did it happen? The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, so
that: Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday.
The two great doctrinal centers of Christian faith, Incarnation and
Atonement, inextricably linked, bound together, and connected here today. Stepping across the continental divide into a
new watershed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In the Address that follows the sermon on Ash Wednesday the formal
opening is announced in these words: <i>“I
invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy
Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial;
and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” </i>When we commend each other to a “good
Lent, a holy Lent” these are the categories we work in. In all the busyness of our day to day life
Holy Week still seems a long way off, but the message for us this week is that
it will all be here before we know it. So if this Lent is going to do us any good,
there’s no time to waste. As our last
hymn will remind us once again this year, we put aside our singing of joyful
alleluia’s for a season now, to enter into a quiet time of personal austerity
and spiritual contemplation. The front
page of our St. Andrew’s website will have links to a couple of resources for
daily reading and reflection in Lent. We
can follow that on our phones while we’re waiting for the coffee to drip in the
morning. That great Old Testament
reading from the second chapter of the Book of the Prophet Joel always catches
my attention. I know for me it is always
something dramatic as our first reading at that early 7:15 a.m. service on Ash
Wednesday morning: “Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy
mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the
land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near . . . .”<o:p></o:p></div>
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So here, right at this pivot, a moment of transition, turning the page,
and so interesting that in our Old Testament reading we have what is also one
of the great transitions in the Holy Story.
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The Prophet Elijah has for a generation been God’s great man in a
troubled world. He has spoken truth to
power, an army of one, facing down the mighty armies of King Ahab and Queen
Jezebel, a solitary, bold prophetic voice, boldly proclaiming the power and
holiness of the Lord God of Israel in the face of an apostate religious
establishment given over to the worship of false gods. Alongside Elijah perhaps only Abraham, Moses,
and David would stand in stature among God’s Chosen People.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But Elijah’s days are coming to an end, and there is a great anxiety. Change is always a little scary, and here
this big change is coming, on its way soon.
With Elijah there, we all know where we stand, we faithful can fall in
behind him, unite our voices to his voice.
But as we think of his departure from us, there are all these doubts,
fears. What will we say now to the
rulers of this world? How will we defend
ourselves against the powers that seek to destroy us and to ruin the great plan
that God has for his people? We will be
like sheep without a shepherd, lost, unable to find our way.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So we come to the end of the story in the reading this morning, and we
see Elijah riding the circuit through the land on this symbolic pilgrimage, a
kind of farewell tour, enacting the pilgrim story of the people, their ancient journey
through the great wilderness, crossing the Jordan. Alongside Elijah, his reluctant disciple
Elisha, who wasn’t sure at first that he even wanted to begin this journey with
the Master and for sure didn’t want to leave home and family and the comforts
of his settled life and his wonderful farm—who has no idea what his role is going
to be, why he has been chosen to come along, what God intends to do. He asks the Prophet to pray that he will be
up to the task, whatever the task is going to be, because he doesn’t see how he
can possibly rise to the occasion in his own right. I’m going to need a double dose of the Holy
Spirit to be even half the leader you have been, Elijah, and I just don’t know
how that is going to happen.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Then we get the dramatic conclusion.
Elijah is lifted off into heaven, the chariot of fire, the horses of
fire! One of the most dramatic and even
cinematic moments in all of the Bible. And
in that moment, something happens. A
pause. And Elisha leans over, picks up
the mantle Elijah dropped as he entered the chariot, and wraps it around himself. And in our mind’s eye and imagination we see
something happen to him, in him. One of
those Holy Spirit moments, no question about it. Where before he was anxious, full of doubt,
now he strides to the Jordan, strikes the edge of the stream with the cloth,
and miraculously again the waters part, just as they had for Elijah. And when the prophets of the nearby village
see him coming they know right away, right away, what is going on. They can see it with their own eyes! They sing out in joy and wonder and relief, “The
spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And
from this day forward Elisha sets out in Israel on a prophetic career of
miraculous power and testimony. A
different vocabulary from that of Elijah, what we would call a different style
of public ministry. But with absolute
confidence that the God who spoke to his people through the mighty words and miraculous
acts of power of Elijah had not gone anywhere, but would continue to lead them
and guide them, continue to call them to himself.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The moral of the story really summarized in the words the Prophet
Jeremiah would one day sing in his Lamentation over the fall of Jerusalem,
which is the lesson the Children of Israel and all of us seem to need to learn
again and again and again, in the Biblical story and in our stories, whenever
we wake up in the night fearful about an unknown future. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy
faithfulness.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Change is always difficult, of course.
Scary. The kids are always growing and changing, our
marriages and families, what’s happening at work, in the world around us. The changes of our own physical bodies from
health to sickness, from youth to age. Are things changing in those places in our
lives this year, this Lent? Maybe we all
can fill in our own blanks there. And
looking around for Elijah’s mantle, I suppose.
The outward and visible, sacramental sign of God’s presence. Sort of what those practices of Lent might
be. Prayer, fasting, self-denial—reading
and meditating on God’s holy Word. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The point in Lent: taking that seriously even for just six weeks or so,
and to see what might happen, in us and around us. And we’ll see how it unfolds for us this
year. I would just invite you to join me.
Figuring out in our own particular
context how this Ash Wednesday and Lent and the unfolding story of our lives,
one chapter, one page, one sentence at a time, can be connected in new ways and
even powerful ways to God’s story.
Prayer, fasting, self-denial—reading and meditating on God’s holy Word. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Everybody, and Elisha especially, was worried about what would happen
without Elijah around. But it turned out
they really had nothing to fear. That
God had a plan better than the best plan any of us could ever have come up with
on our own. It’s a prefiguring of the
mystery of the Cross, as we enter this Lent.
At our weakest point, broken and defeated, lost, not able even to lift a
finger in our own defense, we can leave it all in his hands. He’s got this. And in him, better things than we could ever
ask for or imagine. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end. They
are new every morning, new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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So blessings, as we turn now to the Lent of 2018, to see what God has
in store for us this year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering
and a sacrifice to God. <o:p></o:p></div>
Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-83909299895107775872017-12-25T12:21:00.002-05:002018-02-13T14:56:20.400-05:00A Poem for ChristmasThis piece by the English poet Jude Simpson is one that I return to in this season year after year.<br />
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<b>BROKEN OPEN<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b> BY JUDE SIMPSON<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If your heart yearns for a more it
doesn’t know,<br />
if you’ve suffered blow after blow<br />
and can barely dare to lift your head,<br />
if you’ve ever wished you’d rather been -<br />
if you’ve bled, or tried to bind a wound<br />
if you’ve cried then tied a knot to choke<br />
the flow of hope before it can open up<br />
a way to disappoint again<br />
and leave you broken<br />
then this is for you.<br />
If you’ve longed, if you’ve wronged,<br />
if you choke on the words to your favourite song,<br />
if you need a Doctor,<br />
or you’re beyond<br />
medical help<br />
then come.<br />
If you’re cracked, if you’re splintered,<br />
if your Winter is just too long,<br />
if this Winter is just too long,<br />
(but the thought of Spring is terrifying,)<br />
then come.<br />
Because Jesus came<br />
for the broken brother and sister,<br />
the ache, the pain and the blister,<br />
the wrong decision,<br />
the open wound<br />
the blurred vision<br />
the won’t-ever-hope-again.<br />
Jesus came<br />
for the insane, the unfulfilled, the searching<br />
the street child, the tramp and the urchin,<br />
the poor little rich girl snorting coke and<br />
cursing, and the man who sold it to her.<br />
Jesus came for those nursing a need,<br />
nursing a drink<br />
out of control,<br />
on the blink,<br />
on the brink,<br />
falling overboard, and about to -<br />
sobbing at the kitchen sink.<br />
Jesus came for those the world drives mad,<br />
for the bad, yes the bad,<br />
Jesus came for the bad,<br />
so if that’s never been you,<br />
then fine, just go, because<br />
Jesus didn’t come for the well, the swell,<br />
“the hell – I’ve got everything I need”<br />
the nothing’s-lacking, the non-cracking up.<br />
He’s not interested in courting the sorted<br />
he came to fill the cup of the thirsty,<br />
the worst, the broken, the burst open,<br />
Jesus came for the sick.<br />
the cracked-up, the packed-up,<br />
the smashed, hopes dashed, and the picked-on,<br />
the meek, the weak, the stuttering,<br />
those who blush when they speak<br />
and the walked-out-on.<br />
Jesus came for those left behind,<br />
for the cheats and the cheated,<br />
the ones who crossed the line<br />
and the ones who still don’t know where to begin.<br />
Jesus came for the people who know how it feels<br />
when you say “sin”<br />
for the broken to open,<br />
to break for those who choke,<br />
for the people who don’t have everything we need,<br />
for the ones who know we need hope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;">© Jude Simpson 2007<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-66567285850484902322017-12-25T12:17:00.001-05:002017-12-25T12:17:23.873-05:00Christmas EveDecember 24, 11 p.m.<br />
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In the name of the One who is Emmanuel, God with us, the child whose birth
we remember so richly this night, who sits enthroned at the Right Hand of the
Father, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns now and
forever. Amen.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Friends, grace and peace, and always, always to wish you a Merry
Christmas. Much merriment and warm hospitality, tender
memories. May this Holy Night, and the birth
of our Savior,be a sign for us of all joy, healing, renewal of life: turning a
corner, a new page, fresh beginning. He
was born for us as perfect gift. Of the
Father’s love begotten. The gift of his
own person, God from God, Light from Light, very God from very God. He
lived for us. He died for us. His one
oblation of himself, once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice,
oblation and satisfaction. In his victory over sin and death, in his
resurrection life, there is the one and only victory of our lives. Chosen by him, names inscribed in the Book of
Life from before time and forever. Living in him, dying in him to the old world
of sin, setting aside the rebellion of our hearts, lifted by him from the realm
of the Prince of Darkness and raised in him to new and everlasting life. In him, grace and peace, forgiveness, and
the sanctifying gift of his Holy Spirit.
To strengthen us in all goodness, to prepare us in heart and mind for
the life of the world to come. A world
where Christmas is no longer simply a day on the calendar, but a present and everlasting
reality and state of being, around the throne of the King. Where it is always Christmas.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In our reading from the Old Testament, Isaiah the Prophet. Standing in a moment of crisis and conflict,
looking forward to a certain immediate future of defeat, devastation,
exile. Enemies from beyond the borders
pressing down with relentless and overwhelming ferocity. And a
corruption eating away from within. Just
as bad as it can get. The ancient
heritage of God’s chosen people, the memories and values and loyalties of the
Patriarchs, of Moses and Joshua, of Samuel and David, all passing away. Greed, deceit, false-dealing, in the highest
places, and an insidious disease and rebellion in the hearts and minds of men
and women of every station of life. Every
false god. Moral failure. Loss of faith. Sin is a condition, but it is also a choice,
and with consequences, and those consequences now about to cascade upon
them. A massive implosion. The falling of the House of David and the
ruin of Jerusalem not simply a geo-political disaster, though it is that, a
national catastrophe, defeat, the brutal destiny of slavery and exile. But a
catastrophe for thousands upon thousands, home by home, family by family. The end of every hope and plan and
dream. The Holy City in flames. All in ruins.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And yet even as this horrible darkness gathers, for Isaiah, looking far
ahead with confidence in God’s goodness and God’s faithfulness, there is
hope. So the vision of the prophet. Beyond the catastrophe. <i>How beautiful
upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who
brings good news, who announces salvation</i>.
Even as the darkness gathers, he can see them. The early Sentinels, the dawn of the new day
and the Dayspring from on High, the return of the Lord to Zion. God himself entering his throne room. Ascending in glory. Restoring the ruins of
Jerusalem, raising them to a new magnificence.
And not just that Holy City. All
creation. Time and space. Eternity itself.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And this is where it happened. Returning
to the source, to the place of beginning.
The great convergence, every holy promise and prophesy. This holy night. And Bethlehem. Where the ancient Prophet Samuel saw the hand
of the Lord rest upon a shepherd boy, and where God’s Chosen, David, was
anointed to serve and lead God’s people.
Here: Mary and Joseph. Shepherds abiding in the fields. Angels singing. A Savior who is Christ the Lord<i>. The
King shall come when morning dawns and light triumphant breaks; when beauty
gilds the eastern hills and life to joy awakes.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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And here he is. As Isaiah said, foretelling. Tonight.
In majesty. Ruling heaven and
earth from his manger throne. For his royal court, the rustic
shepherds. For his palace a stable. Don’t let appearances deceive you even for a
minute this evening. He is turning
upside down and inside out all our expectations. Power
in weakness. To win victory by forgiveness. Whose
absolute power is known as perfect mercy.
To rule by blessing. To govern in
love.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Law and the Prophets in grand procession, all shown this night to
be true and reliable and given for us, for our encouragement and our benefit. The word to Eve in the Garden. The promise to Abraham. That through his seed all nations would be
blessed. In fact, every word of
Scripture pointing us to this hour. In
all truth. To guide our lives and to
fill our vision. When darkness gathers,
hope. Fulfilled on this bed of straw. Wrapped in swaddling cloth. The ancient story not distant anymore, but
now perfectly present. Not about people
long ago and far away, but about us, about the world we live in. Who came for us, to die on the Cross, taking
in himself our brokenness, our sin, and then to rise from death. In the mystery of this midnight hour of
Christmas, the fullness of Easter. For
us, for our salvation, he came down from heaven.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, St. John: He was in the world, and the world was made through him,
yet the world knew him not. He came to
his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in
his name, he gave power to come children of God . . . .<o:p></o:p></div>
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This is not a children’s story, though it is the story of a child. Encountering and mastering every hard
reality of our lives and of our world.
Bending back the darkness, overcoming the force of evil that rides so
high in the world around us and in the secret corners of our hearts. Forgiving sin, as we return to him in faith;
bringing peace and reconciliation. Come: bow down and bend the knee and kneel
before the Lord our Maker. Like the
Shepherds. For we are the people of his
pasture and the sheep of his hand.
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Let the whole earth stand in
awe of him.<o:p></o:p></div>
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To know that this story is our story--not because we try through some
act of will to make it true, to convince ourselves, but because his Spirit has
prepared us, come to dwell in us, cleared a space for this gospel good news to
be planted and to take root. To know who
we are by knowing first whose we are. Is
there a place prepared in you, ready to receive him now?<o:p></o:p></div>
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An invitation. If we’ve never
heard it before, perhaps we will hear it now.
There is a right time to receive this gift, a providential moment. And perhaps tonight, as we listen
carefully. Scripture and song and the
ancient prayers of his holy Church. What
do you hear? What is the news? For to
us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his
shoulder, and his name will be called “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Of
the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the
throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with
justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Blessings this night. Peace in Bethlehem
and in all the world. Let this
invitation be fresh and new for each of us this evening. Listen carefully, as the angels sing. He comes to us so that we might come to
him. Christ the Lord, the Newborn King.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-86288420603153393212017-12-25T12:16:00.000-05:002017-12-25T12:16:07.206-05:00Fourth AdventDecember 24, 2017, 10 a.m.<br />
Luke 1: 26-38<br />
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And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me
according to your word.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Let us pray: <i>Almighty and eternal
God, so draw our hearts to thee, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so
control our wills, that we maybe wholly thine, utterly dedicated unto thee; and
then use us, we pray thee, as thou wilt, and always to thy glory and the
welfare of thy people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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There are these fork-in-the road moments that happen in our lives on
occasion, the big decision events. Maybe
not quite as huge on the cosmic stage of eternity as the choice that Mary has
in front of her. But big at least in our
world here and now. We have a choice to
make, and we are aware with some clarity that what we decide will have a
significant impact on our lives. Of
course, sometimes the little decisions we make, even without thinking much
about them, turn out to have huge consequences.
That happens all the time too. I
decide to go to the grocery store today rather than tomorrow, and then while
I’m stopped at the light I get rear ended by an uninsured driver. Small decisions, but larger consequences. But I’m thinking here this morning of the
kinds of questions we sometimes have before us when we know with clarity right
away that we’re standing at a cross-roads moment. An eighteen year old high school senior
weighs acceptance letters from several top choice colleges. A mid-career executive has a job she likes,
but almost out of the blue she has another offer that looks really attractive,
a big step up--but that would involve picking up the family and moving across
country. A young man has been dating a
young lady for a year or so now, and the relationship seems to be moving in a
serious direction. But, is it time yet
to buy the ring? To pop the question? And if he does pop the question, then the
ball of course is in her court. Big
decisions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We can all imagine moments in our own lives like that. Some more dramatic than others, but something
that we know right away is going to be really important, even if it’s true, as
it is always true, that we can’t really predict what all the consequences of
our decisions might actually be. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So what to do? For Christian
people there is either spoken or unspoken the thought that “I’m going to need to pray about
this.” A time of reflection, where we
put the decision to be made, and ourselves, and all those who would be affected
by the decision before us, those we know about and those who will be affected
whom we may not know, at least directly—where we put it all for a moment in
God’s hands. Perhaps to ask for
clarity. Perhaps to ask for protection. For wisdom in discernment. For peace.
Some folks make this a regular practice even when the smaller decisions
are on the table. But for sure when we
really think there’s a lot at stake, it’s key.
Susy and I are making our way through the second season of the
television series, The Crown, and it’s notable that we see the young Queen
Elizabeth kneeling in prayer at her bedside each night. Which I understand has been her practice
since early childhood and continuing to this day. When you have a sense of responsibility, of
duty, of the importance not just to yourself but to others, that you get things
right. As the old hymn says, “take it to
the Lord in prayer.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sometimes we might think particularly of looking to Scripture for
guidance in this reflection. Probably
the most significant act within prayer for any of us. Which is what Mary says in response to the
Angel. Mary, who is in some sense lifted up in St.
Luke’s gospel and in the long course of Christian history the model and
example, the first Christian. “Let it be
to me according to your word.” God
speaks. God’s Word given as this gift,
to shape our minds and hearts and wills.
For Mary, the word of the Angel calling up the whole great story of
Israel, the Law and the Prophets, all streaming together to this point, and the
whole created world waiting breathlessly for her response, her assent. <o:p></o:p></div>
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What <span class="text"><span style="background: white;">the Psalmist
wrote in Psalm 119: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my
path.” Of course, we don’t all have the benefit of a radiant Angelic Being
standing before us. But we do have God’s
Word, which is the key thing. “Let it be
to me according to your word.” Sometimes
it seems to take some effort and care to hear the word, or to discern its
meaning in our lives. </span></span>Perhaps in some cases there are pretty direct connections
and applications. Thinking about a
specific word in the Ten Commandments.
Thou shalt not steal. Something
like that. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not commit adultery. I know sometimes we try to make it
complicated, with nuance and levels of definition and meaning, and sometimes it
is complicated. But when I run too far
in that direction I find it sometimes necessary to take a look in the mirror to
say, “Methinks thou dost protest too much.”
Is it really so complicated, or am I just stalling because what God is
saying and what I am wanting him to be saying turn out to be different
things? Of course, sometimes the word
seems to come indirectly. It’s less
about some specific instruction, and more about character, value, heart and
spirit--something at a deeper level. I
find for me sometimes in those crossroads moments maybe there’s a story from
Scripture that might come to mind. A character, a situation, an image of
poetry. The time when Joseph has in his
power to bless or to destroy the brothers who so long ago sold him into
slavery. The time when Ruth chose to
follow Naomi instead of returning to her own family. The time Elijah was called to stand in
solitary witness against the murderous apostasy of King Ahab and his Queen
Jezebel. The time in the wilderness when
a little boy came forward in the midst of a hungry and restless multitude to
offer his simple lunch bag to Jesus, with truly no idea what would happen next.<span style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The story may not give us a specific direction. Thou shalt not do this. Thou shalt do
that. But the pattern of the story, even
just a word, an image, begins to shed some
light on the question I am asking about our lives, about what we do next. There is something so powerful about Mary’s decision. I guess partly because as we stand at the
edge of the scene and overhear her word of acceptance and agreement, we know so
much more of the story than she knew. Just
because we’ve prayed about it, opened our ears and our hearts to his Word,
sought his guidance—that doesn’t necessarily mean joy and peace and success as
outcomes. Jeremiah found himself at the
bottom of a well. And on the journey
from this moment, Mary would find herself very soon, very soon, at the foot of the Cross. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But this is about trust.
Faith. The last moment for us in
Advent, almost literally here on this 4<sup>th</sup> Sunday, with Christmas Eve
about to happen as soon as this service is over and Penny and the Altar Guild
can begin to change the paraments to white for this afternoon’s services. The last word of Advent, which has been a
season about what we are expecting, what we are hoping for. The Birth of the Christ Child, the Second
Coming of the King in his glorious majesty.
And in and with those, all the expectations and hopes of our particular
lives. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In some 19<sup>th</sup> century illustrations the Angel Gabriel comes
to Mary as she is hanging laundry on the line in the backyard of her Nazareth
home, transforming the scene with his radiant presence. Most
of the time the decisions we have come in less dramatic ways. But the prayer for us is that we would in all
our decisions and all our lives tune our ears and our hearts to recognize the
Father’s voice. To seek his wisdom and
guidance by placing ourselves in the care of his Word, through all the Advent
of our lives. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Almighty and eternal God, so draw
our hearts to thee, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control
our wills, that we maybe wholly thine, utterly dedicated unto thee; and then
use us, we pray thee, as thou wilt, and always to thy glory and the welfare of
thy people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-19660546363668033252017-12-10T13:05:00.001-05:002017-12-10T13:07:21.811-05:00Second Advent, 2017II Peter 3: 8-15<br />
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I don’t know if you’ve had the chance yet to read <a href="http://www.episcopalpgh.org/opening-the-door-practicing-the-season-of-waiting/" target="_blank">Bishop McConnell’srecent meditation on “Waiting in Advent.”</a> I thought it was really quite
insightful—and of course from him, always beautifully written. I’ve shared it with the St. Andrew’s Facebook
page and sent a link also to our E-mail distribution list. And by the way if you haven’t seen it yet
because you haven’t “liked” the St. Andrew’s Facebook page or because your
e-mail isn’t on our distribution list, please let me know and we can get you
connected. For those who don’t want to
work via the digital technologies, there are paper copies as well on the
credenza in Brooks Hall. A very nice
resource to add to our Advent.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Again, about all this <i>waiting</i>,
and this morning, from 2 Peter 3<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>The Lord is not slow about his
promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that
any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a
thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements
will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will
be burned up. Since all these things are
to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading
lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the
Day of God?</i> <i>Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to
be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish, and regard the patience of
our Lord as salvation.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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I think a lot of what gives Advent its richness and resonance is the elegant
way in which it holds in tension, in balance, the anticipation of Christmas, which
is of course all around us--the annual re-telling of the story of the Birth of
Jesus, with all the liturgical and cultural and social and commercial
expressions built around that re-telling—and what we might call the <i>gestational</i> anticipation that all
Christians have of the Great Day, the Great Day, when we shall see and know and
experience his <i>Second</i> <i>Advent</i>, in power and great glory, to judge all peoples
according to his righteousness. To set
things right once and for all. It’s not
like we choose one Advent or the other.
We hold them both at the same time.
<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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These two Advents--across the range of holy time, past and future--and
so profoundly connected that in some sense neither can be true and fully known
without being seen clearly in reference to the other. We remember, and as we remember we at the
same time lean forward in hope, in expectation.
Insofar as we celebrate the
Savior’s Birth, a time of warmth and joy.
I heard someone say the other day, “God is crazy about you. That’s the meaning of Christmas. God is crazy about you. And then at the same time as we look toward
the East for his arrival on the clouds to bring judgment and justice, a time of
sober penitence, prayer and fasting. Our
patient preparation, in the space of God’s patience, while we come around to
him, while the Holy Spirit works in us. He
is crazy about us, he loves us so much that he will give us this space of time
as the Spirit works in us, so that we will be ready when he comes. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And so we go on living our lives.
Days, weeks, years, decades, and it turns out centuries. Generations. The fullness of the Kingdom, the Manger, the
Empty Tomb, the promise of his return: <i>already,
but not yet. </i>And to think about how
we live in Advent, these weeks in December that we as Christians set aside in a
special observance, as a way of thinking about how we live our lives. What the theologians call an “interim
ethic.” Those reborn in Christ, baptized into his death, joined to his
resurrection, are gradually over the course of our lives prepared here in this
world for the life of the world to come.
What will he find in us, when he comes?
Every once in a while someone will say that we Christians are called to
be “Easter People,” and of course the victory of his resurrection is the lens
through which the whole story must be read.
But in another way, and I think in a richer way, it is right to say that
we are called to be “Advent People.” In
this middle ground. Where we don’t get
it perfectly, not on this side of the Kingdom, but where we somehow do what we
can to make progress, if we make progress, just a little at a time. The Holy Spirit working in us. But nourished by Word and Sacrament to live
and to serve him in newness of life. Just
to find an hour a day to pray, to read his Word. Or five minutes . . . . So our Advent is to describe how we get ready
for Christmas, and this second Advent—how we get ready for the fullness of his
Kingdom, when he comes again.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Like the servant who doesn’t know when his master will return. Who has to get things ready and to keep
things ready, so that all will be in order when he arrives. Like the well-prepared virgin bridesmaids, whose
lamps were filled with oil. Like the Steward who can give a good account to his
Master of the Talents left in his care. <o:p></o:p></div>
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How do we live in the meantime? What
sort of people are we to be, as Peter sets the question before us this
morning. John the Baptist seems to have
a pretty clear idea, in his preaching out there by the Jordan River. Especially in our modern lectionaries he
rises up as a defining character of Advent.
Preaching baptism for repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths
straight. What kind of person should I be? How do I live
in the meantime. To be engaged, to
enjoy. To tend my garden, care for my
family, complete the work here that he has given me to do, with creativity and
enthusiasm as best I can, but without trying to hold on to the things that are
passing away. What kind of church are we
supposed to be? A good question to ask
and think about. As a lot of us
are. What’s going on around St. Andrew’s
right now? What kind of direction and
correction and repentance and renewal are we being called to? Why we need Advent. Just as the Hebrews needed those 40 years of
Wilderness life to be cleansed of the vestiges of their Egyptian slavery, to be
prepared to take possession of the Land of Promise. Just as the ancient Jews needed their decades
of exile in Babylon and Egypt and Persia, to come to terms with their
unfaithfulness, to re-orient their lives in relationship to God. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So, this Advent, for us. Peter
says that this space, this interval, this wilderness, this life we share,
December 2017, all of it, is for us the patience of God, he’s holding back, not
turning the page quite yet for the next chapter of the story, while the Spirit
works in us to sort things out. The
First Advent in one hand, the Second in the other. And certainly in the meantime to cultivate
this Advent quality in our own lives. At
church, at home, at work. Patient with
one another. Patient with
ourselves. The Eastern Orthodox call
Advent a “Little Lent,” and it is a space for us like the days of Lent, remembering the call to observance on Ash
Wednesday, to the observance of a holy season, “by self examination and repentance;
by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s
holy Word.” A reminder to make good use
of the time we have.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>The Lord is not slow about his
promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that
any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a
thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements
will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will
be burned up. Since all these things are
to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading
lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the
Day of God?</i> <i>Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to
be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish, and regard the patience of
our Lord as salvation.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Blessings again in this Advent, this New Year of our lives. While we still have time, in this Advent, walk
in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and a
sacrifice to God.<o:p></o:p></div>
Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-9269633763465028242017-12-03T13:19:00.001-05:002017-12-10T13:06:03.625-05:00Advent Sunday, 2017Dan Isadore's sermon this morning. Isaiah 64: 1-9<br />
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<br />Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-42051804522270496572017-11-26T13:38:00.002-05:002017-11-30T11:28:51.551-05:00Last after Pentecost, Next before Advent, Christ the KingMatthew 25: 31-46<br />
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So this is a Sunday of transition in the Church Year, a day with something
of an “identity crisis,” with several titles, as you see on the cover of the
leaflet. First, and this is the official
name of the day on our Episcopal Church calendar, simply the “last Sunday” of
the Church Year, this long season of Ordinary Time after Pentecost and Trinity
Sunday. Next Sunday, December 3, is
Advent, a new year, and our annual retelling of the Holy Story will begin again
with the ancient Prophets. So the last page of the book, the final scene
of the play. Winding things up.<o:p></o:p></div>
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On the other hand, in the Church Calendar of the Anglican world, ours
also in the Episcopal Church until the 1979 Calendar revision, this Sunday is and was set aside not as an
ending, but as a prelude. Not the last
page of the old book, but the preface of new, not the final scene, but the
overture—that moment when we lean forward with anticipation, as the curtain is
about to come up for the story to begin.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Book of Common Prayer Collect for this <i>Sunday next before Advent</i>, was “Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord,
the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing fort the
fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded.” The Collect to remind us in prayer that we
are capable of no good work, until God stirs up the capacity for, the desire
for good within us, and that we deserve nothing, that we have earned ourselves
no reward, except for the reward that he gives to those who call upon his
Name. What the theologians call
“prevenient grace.” That we love him
only because first he loves us. That
we desire the good only because he first plants that desire in our hearts and
minds and imaginations. “Stir up, we
beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people.” So the day is “Stir up Sunday”—though I
didn’t have Michelle put that title on the leaflet also. As a footnote, in Victorian times the custom
began to have this “Stir up Sunday” mark the beginnings of preparation of the
Christmas Pudding. Which needed to be
stirred in a big bowl. I guess we might
think of it as something like the Christmas fruitcake.<span style="color: #464646; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #464646; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We also have in the deeper texture of this Sunday—and actually
also for the last two Sundays--the earlier practice in the Church of the Middle
Ages that was called St. Martin’s Lent. </span> November 11 is the feast day for St. Martin of
Tours, and the three Sundays then before what we now call Advent and the four
Advent Sundays were a season of penitential prayer and fasting parallel to the
40 days of Lent from Ash Wednesday through Easter. If we’ve been listening to the epistle and especially
the gospel readings for the past couple of Sundays we have been alerted to this
with the increasing focus on “getting ready for the end, for the final
accounting”—all of that to set the table for us as we prepare to encounter the
four great themes traditionally associated with Advent, the “Four Last Things:”
Death and Judgment, Heaven and Hell. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The wide world outside the
Church of course prefers a somewhat different focus for the Holiday
Season. But in the church along with the
gentler customs of Advent and our preparation for the annual celebration of the
Birth in Bethlehem, we pause perhaps not with the fasting of St. Martin’s Lent,
but even so on the Sunday next before Advent, to remind ourselves that the
reason Jesus was born for us is that we who are lost, we who are condemned, we who
are without any grounds for appeal or to request mitigation of sentence—we
really do need a savior. That’s the
foundation of Christianity, the theological convergence of theology and
anthropology. That’s what Advent is
supposed to remind us, and in a way that would simultaneously wake us up and
flood our hearts with gratitude. Christmas
and Good Friday and Easter are essentially meaningless unless we begin
here. So the Pre-Advent Little Lent of
St. Martin. <i>We really do need a savior.</i><span style="color: #464646; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #464646; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In any event, finally, the third title for this morning, the
Feast of Christ the King, is not actually on the Episcopal Church calendar,
although it obviously informs the Collect of the Day. The feast was first put on the Roman Catholic
liturgical calendar at the last Sunday of October in 1925, particularly as a
counterpoint to the rising tide of state-sponsored atheism in the new Soviet
Union--and later when the new post-Vatican II calendar was published in 1970 it
was moved to the Last Sunday in Ordinary Time.
The pre-Advent focus on Last Things is of course still very strong in
our readings, and especially in this Parable of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25
this morning, but it is framed for us at the same time in the Collect and the
hymns and anthems of the day by the acknowledgment and acclamation of the eternal
Lordship of Christ, the One above all others, King of kings and Lord of lords.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #464646; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Just briefly: the Parable of the Last Judgment, the Sheep and
the Goats, is the third and last in the sequence of the Parables of the Kingdom
in Matthew 25. Two weeks ago we heard
the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Maidens.
The contrast between those who kept their lamps full and at the ready
for the Bridegroom’s return and those who slept thoughtlessly and were caught
unprepared. Then last week the gospel
reading was the Parable of the Five Talents.
The contrast between the three Stewards, the two who took the resources
the Master had left for them to manage and fearlessly invested them for the
Master’s benefit, and the one who was more concerned about his own skin than
about the Master’s welfare, who fearfully hid in the ground what the Master had
put in his care. And this morning the
Sheep and the Goats. Those who were so
deeply attuned in their faith that even when they didn’t see Jesus directly with
their eyes, still served him day by day, in every encounter and opportunity, and
those who were so caught up in
themselves that they didn’t notice Jesus as he made himself known to them in
the lives of the hungry, the naked, those in prison. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #464646; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In this context I love the Thursday Collect in the 1979 Prayer
Book service of Evening Prayer. There’s
an evocation of the Easter Evening story of the Disciples and Jesus on the Road
to Emmaus, which seems just right for us as a prayer at the end of the year, as
we gather ourselves to prepare to kneel once again in just a few weeks at his
manger throne: “Lord Jesus, stay with
us, for evening is at hand and the day is past; be our companion in the way,
kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know thee as thou art revealed
in Scripture and the breaking of bread.” A prayer to see Jesus, to know him. At the end of the old year, leaning forward to
welcome the new year, to honor Christ
our King. In the Word and the Breaking of Bread. In the face of the poor, the suffering, the
lost. That we might see you, Jesus, where
you choose to be, even when those places may not be the ones where we expected
to find you. Kindle our hearts, and
awaken hope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for
us, an offering and a sacrifice to God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-11732744612347430152017-11-19T13:30:00.001-05:002017-11-19T13:30:26.713-05:00St. Andrew's Day 2017Matthew 4: 18-22<br />
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Good morning fellow St. Andreans-- family, neighbors, and friends. Our festival day! Always so much fun—family from near and far,
old friends, new friends. A special welcome
and word of thanks, as for so many years, to our friends of the Syria Highlanders. We are reminded by your presence to include
in our prayers the important ministry and work of the Shriners’ Hospitals for
Children, which you all continue to serve as your fundraising mission. It’s a great pleasure for us to have the opportunity
in this small way to share in that with you.
Thank you for that opportunity.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This year again St. Andrew’s Day, was circled on the calendar by our
Vestry as the official conclusion of our stewardship campaign for 2018--and the
idea is that St. Andrew’s Day would be a good and really fitting occasion to
share a prayer of dedication of our offerings of time, talent, and treasure. (In reality we continue to receive pledges of
financial commitment for 2018 through the end of the year and sometimes with a
last few to be received at the beginning of the new year, so if you haven’t
gotten your cards in yet, there’s still time!) <o:p></o:p></div>
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But today we dedicate all that in
our prayers, expressing our gratitude to God for his grace and mercy in all
ways, and above all for the gift of his Son and his work at the Cross, for forgiveness
and restoration, for our new life in him, and in a very particular way for the
privilege of sharing that life together, with one another, here at St.
Andrew’s. And in that context I want to pause once again
this year over a phrase in our gospel for St. Andrew’s Day that is at the thematic
and theological heart of what Matthew wants us to understand about Christian life,
Christian discipleship, Christian stewardship.
Jesus calls to Andrew and Peter: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers
of men,” the beginning of a new chapter of the holy story, the first
evangelistic invitation to join in the life and work of the Church of God, the
Body of Christ. And then, Matthew tells
us, <i>“immediately they left their nets and
followed him</i>.” And to shine a light
on those four key words: <i>“they left their nets.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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I’ve shared with you before the experience of I guess—<i>insight</i>--that I had many years ago, one
afternoon back in the 1970’s, when I was pretty new in my adult Christian walk
and was looking for something in the parish library of St. Mark’s Church in
Berkeley. I happened upon a newsletter
with the title, “Acts 29.” You’ll remember
that later that evening when I was back in my apartment I had this moment of
curiosity and opened my Bible to see what Acts 29 was all about. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The book begins with Jesus and the Disciples at the Mount of the
Ascension and then traces the work of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and then
flowing through the life of the rapidly expanding Christian community and
expansion of the Gospel from Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of
the earth. So: Acts 29. And I opened the Bible only to find that the
Book of Acts comes to an end at chapter 28, with Paul preaching and teaching
under a kind of house arrest in Rome. There
is no Acts, chapter 29. A pause, and
then the lightbulb over my head. Acts
29: what comes after Acts 28. As Paul
Harvey used to say on the radio, “the rest of the story.” The part of the story that comes next. The part with us in it. The work of the Holy Spirit, the expansive
reach of the Gospel message to every tribe, people, and nation, and in every
generation. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The point here may seem fairly obvious.
But I’ll try to draw it out anyway.
Andrew and Peter were fishermen, a role and a way of life passed down
from father to son generation after generation.
Their nets were their livelihood, the tools of their trade. Those nets were what made it possible for
them to be fishermen, and so to take care of themselves and their
families. The sign of their place in
the community, their station of life, the source of their paycheck and their
pension. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And so, what this gesture represents-- this <i>putting down of their nets</i>:
from this point on, say Andrew and Peter, we’re not going to be relying
on <i>our</i> skills and resources, we’re
not going to be trusting in <i>our</i>
knowledge and experience and professional expertise. We’re not going to be known mainly as
“fishermen” any more. That’s behind us
now. It doesn’t mean we’ll never fish
again. But when we do, that will be just
what we do, <i>not who we are.</i> A new identification, if you will. We’re putting our lives, our future into your
hands, Jesus. Who we are going to be,
what we are going to be about, from now on.
We’re going to take what you have
to give, and be o.k. with that-- even if what you have to give turns out to be
different from what we thought before that we wanted. From this point on, we’re going to be all
about this one thing: following you,
Jesus. Not fishermen anymore, but disciples. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This is exactly the difference in the gospels between those who are in
the crowds, who come to see and hear Jesus, and then go home, back to their
ordinary lives, and those who become disciples.
The disciples are the ones who <i>put
down their nets</i>. Who stopped being
what they were, and became something new.
It’s one of those resonating
metaphors. They put down their nets--which
had given them their identity, security, self-sufficiency-- in order to say
that from that moment on, Christ would be sufficient for them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Following Jesus wasn’t going to be
a hobby, a special interest, something to attend to in their spare time, after
work, on weekends, on the side. What
Matthew is communicating in this small narrative detail, that <i>they put down their nets</i>, is that now and
from now on, everything is different for them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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They don’t seem really to think this over strategically. They just set the nets down and go with him. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It probably doesn’t take any of us very much time in reflection to figure
out what <i>our</i> nets are--and how this
story of the calling of our patron Andrew and the beginning of his Christian
life can speak into our lives and have something meaningful to say to us on St.
Andrew’s Day and Stewardship Sunday. About
how entangled we get sometimes in the nets of our lives. About how our work and study and family roles
and community activities somehow become not what we do, but who we are. We can each of us preach that sermon for
ourselves and to ourselves. Thinking
about that old hymn, singing it softly to ourselves in the course of our day,
“take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.” It’s all Acts chapter 29 from this point
forward. The challenge and invitation
every year, as St. Andrew joins us in our festival day. It’s
usually not about dropping out, quitting our jobs and heading off to distant
lands. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But it is always, whether we travel around the globe or never get more
than a few miles from the place where we were born, about how we think about ourselves, about why
we do what we do, simply and centrally—and just deep down, about who we’re
following. <o:p></o:p></div>
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If we would know that, if we know him, we would know everything we need
to know. And he comes to us this morning
as he came to Andrew. Present in his
Word, and as we break bread together and share the cup. And the truth of the matter is that if in our
hearts and minds we’re singing “take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord,
to thee,<i>” </i>then our 2018 Stewardship
Campaign will have been a rousing success, no matter how much money is raised
and how many ministries happened to be supported with new participation. That’s what Peter and our patron Andrew and
James and John are singing this morning.
And we are invited in our hearts and minds, in our imaginations, in our
souls and bodies, in all our lives, to sing along with them all in the next
chapter and chapters of the holy story. Acts
29. Whatever he may have in mind for us.
And of course for us this
morning, all with soaring bagpipes and rolling drums!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Blessings, friends of St. Andrew’s, on this St. Andrew’s Day, here in our
church, and in our homes and families, our circles of friends, our
neighborhoods, the places we work and study and play. Here we are, in our section of Acts 29. The
part where we, you and I, go fishing with Jesus.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-17034929797998246882017-11-17T11:47:00.001-05:002017-11-17T11:47:10.734-05:00Twenty-Third after PentecostSermon by Pastoral Associate the Rev. Dean Byrom on Sunday, November 12 (Proper 27A2). The audio is posted to the St. Andrew's website, <a href="http://www.standrewspgh.org/sermons.html" target="_blank">click here for sermon audio.</a><br />
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I Thessalonians 4: 13-18<br />
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<div dir="ltr" id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3519" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3556" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;"> <wbr></wbr> “We Grieve, But with Hope” </b></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3271" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 23px; text-align: center;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3272" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3273"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3274" /></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3275" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3276" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3277"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3278" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>“We do not grieve as those who have no hope,”</b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3279" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3280" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3281">writes Paul to the Thessalonians. Yet we still grieve. Elsewhere, Paul calls death “the final enemy.” And when that enemy touches your life - snatching from your loving grasp those whom you love - you grieve. Grief is normal. Grief is natural.</b></span></div>
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<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3283" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3284"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3285" /></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3286" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3287" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3288"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3289" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>Randy Jones, my Clinical Pastoral Education supervisor, used to teach us often about “Grief work”. And having myself engaged in over an hour of grief work with a member of another church just recently, I affirm that for griever and pastor, that is just how it feels. It is hard, tough work.</b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3290" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 23px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3291" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3292"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3293" /></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3294" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3295" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3296"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3297" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>“The hour of lead” is how Emily Dickinson named grief.</b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3298" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 23px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3299" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3300"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3301" /></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3302" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3303" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3304"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3305" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>PAUSE</b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3306" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 23px; text-align: center;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3307" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3308"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3309" /></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3310" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3311" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3312"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3313" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>And it isn’t just in the few days afterward. Grief goes on. The way I figure it, in our congregation, on any given <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_425442564" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span>, over 80% of us are in grief over someone. That’s why we weep at the funerals of near strangers. That’s why we avoid funeral homes. Grief keeps coming back at odd times, grabbing us from behind, and throwing us into deep sadness.</b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3314" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3315" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3316"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3317" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></b></span><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3318" style="font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3319">page 2</b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3320" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 23px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3321" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3322"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3323" /></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3324" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3325" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3326"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3327" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>Loss has so many tentacles that hold us in their grip. Personally, any time that I read in the paper, see a television show or movies that includes the suffering or death of a young child I am frequently moved to tears which harkens back to the death from cancer of my three year old daughter, Melanie.</b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3328" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 23px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3329" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3330"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3331" /></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3332" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3333" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3334">PAUSE</b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3335" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 23px; text-align: center;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3336" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3337"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3338" /></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3339" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3340" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3341"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3342" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>Paul says that we grieve. Yet, we do not grieve “as those who have no hope.” Hope for what”</b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3343" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 23px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3344" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3345"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3346" /></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3347" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3348" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3349"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3350" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>Here’s what Christians hope. We hope that the same God who raised Jesus from the dead, shall raise us as well. We hope that just as Christ ventured forth from the realm of death into life, so shall He take us along with Him.</b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3351" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 23px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3352" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3353"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3354" /></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3355" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3356" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3357"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3358" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>Our hope is not unfounded, not wishful thinking. Our hope for the future is based upon what we know of Christ Jesus in the present. In “Romans” 8, Paul says that nothing will separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. If our experience with Christ Jesus has taught us one thing, it is that our God longs to be with us, will do almost anything to be near us, will go to any lengths to have us.</b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3359" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3360" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3361"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3362" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></b></span><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3363" style="font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3364">page 3</b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3365" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 23px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3366" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3367"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3368" /></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3369" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3370" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3371"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3372" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>That is the story that we recite and celebrate every <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_425442565" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> here at St. Andrew’s. In the ancient Hebrew Scriptures, the prophets, the Law, the Commandments, the psalms; in Jesus’ birth, life, teaching, death and resurrection, God sought us.</b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3373" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 23px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3374" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3375"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3376" /></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3377" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3378" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3379"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3380" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>When Jesus was resurrected, what did He do, first thing after He was raised? He came back to us, to His disciples who had betrayed Him. </b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3381" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 23px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3382" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3383"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3384" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3385" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3386" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3387"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3388" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>That is the basis of our hope. We are confident that the God who has gone to such extraordinary lengths to be close to us in life, shall not cease those efforts in death. Therefore, we do not grieve as those who have no hope.</b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3389" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 23px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3390" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3391"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3392" /></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3393" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3394" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3395"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3396" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>We believe that the same God who so pursued us, and reached out to us, and sought us all the days of our lives shall not cease to pursue us, reach out to us and seek us even in death. </b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3397" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 23px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3398" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3399"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3400" /></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3401" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3402" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3403"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3404" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>Our hope is not in some vague and wishful immortality of the soul, or the expectation of some eternal spark that just goes on and on, or in reincarnation, or any other assumption that we possess within ourselves immortality.</b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3405" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3406" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3407"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3408" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></b></span><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3409" style="font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3410">page 4</b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3411" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 23px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3412" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3413"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3414" /></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3415" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3416" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3417"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3418" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>Our hope is that the love of God is stronger than the devastation of death; that ultimately, nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. God, having gone to such great lengths to save us and have us in life, will continue to demand us even in death. That is why we do not grieve as those who have no hope.</b></span></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3419" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 23px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3420" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3421"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3422" /></div>
<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3423" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3424" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3425"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3426" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>This is the hope that we experience <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_425442566" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Sunday</span></span> here in worship at St. Andrew’s. Having experienced, on so many Sundays, Jesus’ coming to us, being really present to us in Word and Sacrament, we hope for and count on His presence with us forever.</b></span></div>
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<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3428" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3429"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3430" /></div>
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<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3432" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3433"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3434" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>Our hope is not that we are immortal, not that some eternal spark lives on in us, surviving death. Our hope is that we will, by the work and will of God, be with Jesus forever. Death, the final enemy has been defeated.</b></span></div>
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<div id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3439" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3440" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3441"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3442" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>So think of Sundays as dress rehearsals for eternal life. Think of our experiences of <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_425442567" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> worship as our way of loving Jesus now, so that we might love Him forever, and praise God for all eternity.</b></span></div>
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<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3448" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3449">PAUSE</b></span></div>
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<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3451" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3452"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3453" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></b></span><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3454" style="font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3455">page 5</b></span></div>
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<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3457" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3458"></b></span><br id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3459" /></div>
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<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3461" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3462"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3463" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>“Because I live, you shall live,” Christ Jesus tells His followers in the Gospel according to John. That’s why we have hope. Encourage one another with these words.</b></span></div>
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<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3465" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3466"><span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3467" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span> </b></span></div>
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<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3469" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3470"> PAUSE</b></span></div>
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<span id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3476" style="font-kerning: none;"><b id="m_-6341038250048071581yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510685413918_3477">In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.</b></span></div>
Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-26247472385904220792017-11-07T11:32:00.002-05:002017-11-07T11:32:40.832-05:00All Saints<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Matthew 5: 1-12;
Revelation 7: 9-17<o:p></o:p></div>
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The unending hymn of that
multitude beyond number, from every nation, all tribes and people and tongues,
before the Throne and before the Lamb, and the hymn of our hearts and voices.<i> Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and
thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God for</i> <i>ever and ever! Amen.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Good morning and always such a beautiful day and a meaningful day here
at St. Andrew’s. With special thanks to
our Choir and Orchestra, Pete Luley, Tom Octave—and Tom, so very nice to have
you with us this year to lead our Music Memorial. The music welling up in our hearts and
overflowing. And a word of thanks as
well to all who have contributed to our congregational offering of memorial flowers
this morning. Remembering the saints and
heroes of ages past, and in our memories and our hearts as well the names and
faces of those we have loved but see no longer in this life. On the calendar of the Episcopal Church this
“Sunday after All Saints Day” brings together the two traditional observances,
All Saints Day on November 1<sup>st</sup>, and All Faithful Departed, All
Souls, on November 2<sup>nd</sup>. A
high moment of worship. For remembrance
and reflection, for inspiration, and we might also say of motivation. To hear in the remembrance of all the saints
and holy people of God an invitation to a closer walk with Christ, lifting our
sights higher, encouraging us to renewed joyful commitment, the common life of
the whole company of faithful people. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We speak of the “two states” of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic
Church. The Church Militant, and the
Church Triumphant. The two sides of the
stream, yet continuing one Body, a Cloud of Witness, All who in the gracious
mercy of God are redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, who are
justified and brought into relationship to God the Father through faith, who
are sanctified by the Holy Spirit, to walk in newness of life, ransomed,
healed, restored, forgiven. Apostles and
evangelists, martyrs, faithful witnesses in every generation. And remembering in our own day the
heartbreaking faithful witness of martyrs in places from Egypt to Iraq and
Syria, Kenya and Nigeria—it seems almost daily stories of oppression,
persecution, and execution for those who will identify themselves as
Christian. Figuring out how to live
faithful lives is a challenge in any context, for sure. But when I hear these stories it does just
lead me to a time of reflection and to wondering about how I, how we, live,
about witness, courage, all those big questions. Peter and Andrew, James and John, and their
line continues. Those who stood near
Jesus on the Mountain as a preached to the crowd, who heard him with their own
ears, and all of us since. <i>“Blessed are you when men revile you and
persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my
account. Rejoice and be glad, for your
reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before
you.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Saints and heroes. In the 1979
Prayer Book lectionary, before the Episcopal Church adopted the Revised Common Lectionary
a few years ago, we had for All Saints the reading from Ecclesiasticus, which perhaps
you’ll remember. “Let us now praise
famous men, and our fathers in their generations.” The introduction first of the celebrities of
the sanctoral calendar, those with calendar days and stained glass windows, bishops
and kings, martyrs and miracle workers--but then also this, that “there are
some who have no memorial, who have perished as though they had not lived; they
have become as though they had not been born, and so have their children after
them. But these were men of mercy, whose
righteous deeds have not been forgotten; their prosperity will remain with
their descendants, and their inheritance to their children’s children.” Moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas,
neighbors, friends, teachers, maybe even a preacher or two. A reflection in the memorials in our prayers
this morning. Whose faith and character
and love in Christ—tenderness, kindness, generosity, will shape our lives in so
many meaningful ways. The images in the
stained glass windows of our hearts. I
can’t help but think this morning of our dear friend Dorothy Graham, who died
last Sunday and was buried from St. Andrew’s Thursday morning. In her 91<sup>st</sup> year—she and her
husband Albert lived and raised their family in a little house down on the 700
block of North St. Clair, just a few blocks from here. Dorothy and Bert’s kids came to St. Andrew’s
Sunday School, went to Fulton School and
all the rest, Peabody High, off to college, grew up, married, moved away, had
families of their own. Six
great-grandchildren. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Dorothy for many decades a bright and delightful member of the Altar
Guild, best known probably as the one who would every year on the Saturday
before Palm Sunday show all the rest of the Guild how to fold the most
beautiful and elaborate Palm Crosses. She
always made a dozen or so especially fancy ones for me, asking me to carry them
to our shut-in or hospitalized parishioners. The best ones, really special, so that they
would know we were thinking of them. She was shut in herself pretty much for most
of the last 20 years, first in her little apartment over in Aspinwall, then
when even that was too difficult to manage, in a nursing home out in Wexford
near her daughter’s house. But always
with this great warmth and smile. No
matter what her health was at any particular moment, just a sense of being
delighted to be there with you. She
loved to brag on her kids and grandkids.
And there was a lot about them to brag about. She loved hearing the news of the church,
what special events were happening, what was going on in the neighborhood--
receiving communion, praying together, and she always prayed for St. Andrew’s
and especially for the children of the parish.
Such a pleasure and such a
privilege. Anyway, just one story. A bit of memory, reflection. I could go on all day. The Church Triumphant, and the Church
Militant too, as we would look around old St. Andrew’s this morning. Just look around. Who are these like stars appearing? For all thy saints. As the children’s hymn goes, “you can meet
them in school or in lanes or at sea, in church or in trains, or in shops, or
at tea, for the saints of God are just folk like me . . . and I mean to be one
too.” And so we sing on.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and
thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God for</i> <i>ever and ever! Amen</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-40091803220175114232017-10-24T15:04:00.003-04:002017-10-24T15:04:46.209-04:00Fall Retreat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AxE43Rnh2Ts/UHVo9aoYzRI/AAAAAAAAAiU/dwregrigWLk/s1600/Abbey+Church.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AxE43Rnh2Ts/UHVo9aoYzRI/AAAAAAAAAiU/dwregrigWLk/s320/Abbey+Church.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I'll be away from the parish Wednesday, October 25, through Monday, October 30, on my annual fall retreat at St. Gregory's Abbey, Three Rivers, Michigan. With thanks for your prayers.<br />
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<br />Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-71782092827678657192017-10-24T15:01:00.002-04:002017-10-24T15:01:21.020-04:00Twentieth after PentecostMatthew 22: 15-22<br />
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<br />Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-22989170118941885602017-10-17T15:20:00.005-04:002017-10-17T15:20:42.335-04:00Nineteenth after PentecostMatthew 22: 1-14 (Proper 23A2): Dress for Success!<br />
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<br />Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-11026066730800086992017-10-08T13:37:00.001-04:002017-10-08T13:37:42.133-04:00Eighteenth after PentecostProper 22A2 Matthew 21: 33-46<br />
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It’s Monday of Holy Week—that’s the setting of our New Testament
reading, Matthew 21. The time left is very
short. The storm is gathering. Jesus at the Temple, the rabbi from backwater
Galilee on center stage at last. It
doesn’t get any more prime time than this.
His last extended public teaching, in debate with the preeminent
religious scholars and leaders of the nation and with a large crowd of Jewish
pilgrims in attendance, as they have come from every corner of the world to
observe the Passover in Jerusalem. Jesus
begins to speak with two parables, two short, symbolic, allegorical stories
that share in common a concern for, a focus on, a Vineyard: The parable
we had as our gospel reading last Sunday, the Parable of the Two Sons, who are
called by their Father to work with him in the Vineyard, and as we heard this morning the Parable of
the Unruly Tenants , who abuse the privilege of their stewardship of the
Vineyard. Jesus is being poetic, I guess
we could say, but not obscure. Everybody
listening understands, and our Old Testament reading of course reminds us, that
the vineyard is a deep and rich Biblical symbol. Israel as the Vineyard of the Lord. God’s Nation, God’s Kingdom.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So a father calls his two sons to come work along with him in the
Vineyard. The first son seems to react
impulsively in the negative: he says
“no, father, I’ve got better things to do,” but then comes to himself,
reconsiders, repents, rolls up his
sleeves, and goes out to join his father.
A pattern that might remind us of the other “Parable of the Two Sons,
that we usually call the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The Son who gets lost, but who finds his way
home. The second Son this morning on the
other hand gives a positive answer right off the bat, says all the right words,
very enthusiastic, everything you’d expect from a “good son.” Perhaps we remember the other Son in the
Prodigal Son parable as well. A similar
profile. But in any event, when the
appointed hour comes, the Second Son flakes out, goes back on his word, decides
he’d rather spend the day at the mall. He
never shows up as he promised, to work with his Father in the Vineyard. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Jesus asks, “Now, which of these did the will of the Father?” And the Priests and Pharisees there in the
Temple hear how Jesus words the question and concede the obvious point: “the First son, of course.” The Second Son was the one who gave the right
answer when the Father called, but that’s really beside the point. Certainly better to say the wrong thing but
then to change direction and do the right thing, than to go in the other
direction. What you <i>do</i> in fact matters more in the end than
what you say you’re <i>going</i> to do.” Lots of people know how to “talk a good
game.” But actions speak louder than
words. Kind of reminds me of that sad
quotation, that “everybody talks a lot about Christianity; somebody should give
it a try.” The allegory of the parable
isn’t hard for anybody in the crowd.
When you want to know who actually is working with the Father in the
Vineyard, who is tending God’s people, you don’t go by who was talking a good
game, or by superficial markers, like offices and titles and credentials. You
don’t listen to promises and formal declarations. We see
politicians all the time after all, even here lately in Western Pennsylvania,
who talk the talk and say they stand for something—but when the newspaper gets
hold of text messages and e-mails show themselves to be living in another world
altogether. It’s sad to see always, but
not really much of a surprise. You get
the feeling that people will say whatever they think they need to say to get
ahead, no matter what they really think or intend to do in their real lives. Which son does the will of the Father? You look at what actually happens, who
actually gets there, who rolls up his sleeves and comes alongside the Father in
the heat of the day. That’s what counts.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The second Vineyard parable follows, our reading this morning, and it pretty
much traces the same pattern, though it
gets drawn out a little farther. Not
just about being all talk and no action-- but here about outright, wild,
no-holds-barred, active, hostile rebellion.
This parable contrasts not two
sons but two groups of tenants. The
first Tenants sign the lease and agree to all the terms of their relationship with
the Owner of the Vineyard. They enter
into solemn covenant with him and move onto the property. But then (just like
that second Son in the first parable) they break their word and ignore the
terms of their agreement and promise—and they go even further here, way further, and
resist even in the most extreme and violent and murderous ways every urgent and
sincere effort by the Owner to restore the covenanted relationship. I love their traditional name, the “unruly”
tenants. Seems kind of an understated
term. Seizing the Landlord’s
property. Attacking and murdering the
landlord’s servants when they come to collect the rent. Even then killing his son. I
guess that’s “unruly.” They cross every
possible line of good relationship in absolute, resolute defiance. Jesus
asks, “What will the Owner of the Vineyard do?”
What are the inevitable consequences of this kind of willful disobedience
and rebellion? The priests and elders of
the Temple fill in the rest of the story here also with the obvious reply. “He
will put those wretches to a miserable death, and let out the vineyard to other
tenants who will give him the fruits in their season.” The Landlord will take the Vineyard from
those who have abused his trust, and present it to new Tenants, good and
faithful tenants, who will live in right relationship with him. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Jesus isn’t exactly being subtle here, obviously. What happens when those who are supposed to
be God’s chosen ones, his stewards, caring for his Vineyard Israel—when they turn
away from him, even become his enemies? Thinking
about this setting here in the Temple, really a breathtaking moment-- the
language of the Vineyard, the verbal sparring with the religious authorities,
the cheering of the crowds, who were probably pretty much the same folks who
had welcomed Jesus the day before with palm branches and cries of “Hosanna to
the Son of David.” Crisis and
confrontation. And so, verse 45: “When
the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he
was talking about them.” Who are the sons who go through the motions
of obedience, who dress the part and mouth the words, but who in their heart
choose to walk their own way rather than in the way of the Father? Who are the Tenants, betraying their covenant of stewardship and
taking what was not theirs to serve their own desires? If such people imagine in their profound
denial of reality that they are going to be able to get away with this, if they
think the Father is asleep, if they think he won’t act to set things
right—well, they’d better think again.
“When the chief priests and the Pharisees head his parables, they
perceive that he was talking about them.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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The scene hangs there in Holy Week, as the clouds gather, tensions
rise.<o:p></o:p></div>
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To stand near Jesus is always and inevitably to enter a space where
things that have been hidden are made plain.
Our prayer every time we come near him in the Holy Communion: “to whom
all hearts are open, all desires known, from whom no secrets are hid.” It may be possible to skate along in denial
for a season. It may be possible to
pretend that God doesn’t see us, doesn’t know what’s in our hearts. But to stand in the presence of the Son, in
the face of his Cross, is to come to a place of inevitable clarity. The lights
come on. A place where costumes and scripts and outward
show are all stripped away, and where we are able to see for ourselves what is
true. About ourselves and about the
world around us. What is going to last,
what is passing away. <o:p></o:p></div>
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That was true on Monday in Holy Week, as it became pretty easy to tell
who the friends of Jesus really were. And who would stand with his enemies. We
know that story more or less by heart. People
were going to be showing their true colors.
A lot of the folks in the crowd here at the Temple are cheering Jesus,
the great hero whom they greeted with Palm Branches and cries of “Hosanna”
yesterday. But by the end of the week
they’re going to be shouting “Crucify him, crucify him.” And in reality it is I suppose always true, in
any time, in any generation, to figure out where we are in relationship to him.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Back in the 15<sup>th</sup> chapter of Matthew, before this last
journey had begun-- when some Scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem had
journeyed out to the Galilee in an effort to discredit him—perhaps some of the
same people who are at the Temple with him in this scene--Jesus challenged them
by quoting Isaiah 29, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts
are far from me.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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And it is our heart that he cares about, first, last, and always. First
Century, or Twenty-first Century. That
really is the point of these two Holy Week parables. And
it’s what’s on the line this morning.
That makes us uncomfortable, but pretty much we knew what we were
getting into when we came in through those doors on Hampton Street this
morning. In the 18<sup>th</sup> chapter
of Luke Jesus asks, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the
earth?” The question Jesus is asking in
these parables. It’s about the relationship—about seeing in, past the curated
surface, the right words—about where our hearts are, whose our hearts are. Where we are in our relationship to him. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>O God our Father, open our eyes
and our ears, by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may hear you when
you call us each by name, that we may hear your call and invitation to come
beside you in your Vineyard, as your children, your sons and daughters, and that
we may answer with all our heart and
mind and strength, not only with our lips but in our lives--and that we may as worthy
tenants and good stewards of your bounty attend to your word and know and
welcome with joy and love the One you send to us, your own son our savior Jesus
Christ. Amen.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering
and a sacrifice to God.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-59260175314611558452017-10-02T11:16:00.001-04:002017-10-02T11:16:34.707-04:00Seventeenth after PentecostDan Isadore, on Philippians 2: 1-13<br />
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<br />Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-40168593562172865542017-09-24T13:37:00.000-04:002017-10-02T11:15:58.417-04:00Sixteenth after Pentecost<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Proper 20A2 Matthew 20: 1-16<o:p></o:p></div>
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Since the death of John the Baptist crowds and controversy have been
pressing in on every side, and now Jesus and his disciples are heading straight
into the storm--traveling from the Galilee toward Jerusalem to spend the
Passover there with the thousands of Jewish pilgrims who will gather for the
festival from around the known world. Along
the way Jesus seems quite clear in his teaching that his remaining time with his
disciples is growing short—although they have a hard time understanding or
accepting that. As they pass Caesarea Philippi
after Peter’s Confession of faith Jesus
promises his disciples that he will make something new out of them, that he
will make them his church, a supernatural body of spiritual character and power
so strong that even the Gates of Hell would fall before it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We recall in our readings from the last couple of weeks that Jesus
spends a lot of this time talking with the disciples about their way of
relating to each other, speaking to them about a new way of “life in community.” That long section on dealing with differences
and conflict resolution within the fellowship that we heard a couple of weeks
ago. And then last week the discussion about
forgiveness. About how the abundance of
forgiveness, the sense of being a fellowship built on a spirit of humility,
mutual deference, interdependence, overflowing mercy, was to be of the very essence
of this church. The Gospel of God’s
Grace, the Good News of the Cross, forgiveness of sin, not “times 7” but “70
times 7,” the triumph over the powers of evil and death, to be presented not
simply through theological concepts and words on a page, but most importantly through
the visible culture and character of his Church. How they live with each other. Repentance,
forgiveness, amendment of life, mercy and peace and confidence in God’s victory
to be so visible in how this new converted, redeemed, justified, sanctified
people of God live together that the world will stand amazed. There will be nobody like you anywhere! You will be a living sermon. What difference does Jesus make in peoples’
lives? Why should I listen to what these
Christians are saying? You don’t have to
read a book to figure it out. Just look
at his church. How they live
together. In their families. In their congregations. As they worship and pray and work and play
together. “See these Christians, how
they live together, how they love one another.
These Christians, the gospel proclaimed not only with their lips, but in
their lives. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of their world?<o:p></o:p></div>
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To step back for a moment: I like to say that our daughter Linnea is
not the only member of our family to have spent time in Mongolia. She of course lived there for a couple of
years, as many of you will remember. But
one Tuesday morning before she left on that adventure she and I took a long drive
down to Washington D.C., parked the car in what would ordinarily have been an
exceptionally expensive parking spot a block or two from Georgetown University,
and stepped onto the grounds of the Mongolian embassy. She had some paperwork to take care of
related to her student visa and work permit.
I simply sat in the lobby, chatted with the Mongolian receptionist, and enjoyed a little interval of rest in my
global travel. The embassy is of course
just this very interesting concept. At
once here in the United States, just down the block from a great little
Pizzaria Uno, where we would have lunch--but also at the same time in a legal
and conceptual sense truly another country.
The reason the parking space would ordinarily have been exceptionally
expensive, but was free for us on that particular day, was that it was October
11, and in Washington, D.C. -- Columbus Day. A federal holiday. But the visa office in the embassy was open,
because Columbus Day isn’t a holiday in Mongolia . . . . And that’s where we were. Not Washington D.C., but Mongolia.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So something like this is what Jesus was talking about when he said he
was building his church. An
analogy. The frame for us to think about
as we consider what it means to be members of the Church. The Kingdom of God not yet realized in its
fullness, for sure—but with an embassy here already, an outpost in this world
dedicated as a real presence here and now and a foretaste of the life of the
world to come. Operating according to
the Kingdom calendar, not the calendar of this world. And that was going to be and continues to be the
challenge for the church, for his disciples.
To be living supernaturally, as the Kingdom, even as we for a season
continue in a world that was and would be foreign territory, even at times
truly hostile territory. A world that
operates by different rules. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So as they travel one of the things Jesus does is tell these stories,
paint these pictures, the “Parables of the Kingdom.” Which is to say, parables about what God is
going to do in the future, and at the same time about what is already happening,
we might say, on the grounds of his embassy.
Images, situations, to engage
their thoughts, their imaginations, to guide his disciples in their thinking
and their feeling, to stretch them in their assumptions, in their emerging and
transforming identities and relationships, with ways to provoke questions about
values and meanings, about how to get their heads around the idea that they are
to be really and truly in Mongolia while still also in Washington D.C., about
how to <i>be God’s Kingdom</i> and to <i>communicate God’s kingdom message</i> here
and now-- in Jerusalem and Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So here at Matthew 20, a Parable of the Kingdom. The Householder has a lot of work to be done
in his vineyard. He hires a crew in the
morning, adds new workers midmorning, more at noon, then again late in the
afternoon, and finally just a few minutes before the end of the day. And when the sun sets and the laborers gather
to receive their pay envelopes they all receive the standard wage for a full
day’s work. Confusion follows. We certainly might imagine that the workers
who got hired on at 4:45 and then who collected their pay at 5 were surprised
and delighted at the unexpected generosity of their employer. A
whole day’s wage! And we see and we
understand and sympathize, that those who actually put in the full day in the
vineyard suddenly feel aggrieved. While
it’s true they are receiving the wage they agreed would be fair and appropriate
at the beginning of the day, it somehow seems unfair now in light of the
exceptional generosity that has been shown by the Householder to those who
worked fewer hours. What kind of a
world is this, that this makes sense? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Hard for us Bible readers not to connect back to the Book of Job here,
the great Old Testament essay of wisdom on the topic of the contrast between
our human ideas of how God should act and God’s free and supernatural
sovereignty. There God’s answer to Job’s question of “why
bad things happen to good people” goes like this: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of
the earth? Tell me, if you have
understanding.” Or as the Householder of
Matthew 20 says to the perplexed Laborers, simply, “Am I not allowed to do what
I choose with what belongs to me?”<o:p></o:p></div>
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The theme and message of God’s sovereignty is the persistent note of
the Bible, of course, but we still take a breath and shake our heads in
amazement. The first and most important
thing to remember when we think about the life in the Kingdom of God is that in
the Kingdom of God, God is King, and we aren’t.
We have our priorities and plans, our agendas, our ways of making our
way through life, but in the Kingdom of God, God is in charge, not us. And when he is in charge, things are going to
be different. “My ways are not your ways, says the Lord, nor
my thoughts your thoughts.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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Yesterday at our annual Fall Vestry Day I was reminded of this
again. And in a good way. Really a great way. The agenda ahead of time looked pretty
serious. Conversations about parish
culture, patterns of attendance and participation, which have been kind of a
struggle for us lately on a number of fronts--the inevitable concern and
conversation about how to gather and deploy financial resources to do
everything or even most of what we have been doing around this place. But I’m just going to say here without
getting down into the weeds that I was surprised a little, and wonderfully
surprised, that the spirit of the day shifted pretty quickly from questions
about management and programs and administration to a really energetic and
sincere time of sharing about discerning God’s hand, God’s will, God’s
presence-- learning to listen for his voice, seeking together a space for
growing faith and maturity and for affectionate and meaningful Christian life together. So not
just business as usual, not just an effort to shore up the status quo for
another year and then go home. But I
think the beginning of a conversation to cultivate openness and with humility
to seeing what God may really and truly be doing in our lives here at St.
Andrew’s. No tidy answers at the end of
the afternoon, which would actually be a bad sign: but a commitment to having open eyes and open
ears, to ask questions, and to expect the unexpected. To take the word “should” out of our
vocabularies for a while. What we think
“should happen,” how we think things “should be.” God has
his own ways, and if we think we know for sure from the start what that’s
supposed to look like, we most of the time have another “think” coming. “Am I not allowed to do what I choose to what
belongs to me?” So we just remember that
he is. He is. And we remember that this place, and all of
us, this is his place, and we are his. It’s
not about him getting on board with our program, but about our figuring out how
to get board with his. Take a look at
the list of the vestry members on the back of the leaflet, if you want, and
maybe over a cup of coffee ask them for their take on the day. If you’re not sure about the names, their
snapshots are on the bulletin board right inside the Parish House
entrance. One of the things we did take
away from the table was to say that it would be good to open wide the
conversation, to keep it going, to expand the circle, to listen to each
other. Informally, wherever coffee is
served—but formally as well, as we invite over the next few months some
opportunities to talk together, and more importantly to listen together. Who knows what we might find? Thinking about those workers who came late in
the day, which is really all of us, and then to say with confidence, as they
opened their pay envelopes, that he has
better things in mind for all of us than we can ask for or imagine.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Walk in love, as Christ
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Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-71346221581175323752017-09-10T13:47:00.001-04:002017-09-10T13:47:21.951-04:00Fourteenth after PentecostProper 18A2 Matthew 18: 15-20<br />
<i>Scroll down for audio.</i><br />
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Good morning. Wonderful to see
you—always a fun day. I’ve been enjoying
your Facebook updates and Instagram snapshots all summer, from Maine to
California, Canada to Florida, even England and Europe and beyond. St. Andrew’s always kind of a “free-range”
congregation, wandering hither and yon over the global landscape. But especially so in summer. Now that vacations are mostly past and the
kids in school things seem to settle down a little, and the routine patterns of
our more ordinary life give us a chance to settle in. Time to “Round Up” the herd. Len
Wiegand gave me this hat to wear at my first “Round up” back in 1994, and every
year when I put it on now there’s a very tender association of memory both with
him and with all the St. Andreans we have known over the years who are joining
us this morning on another shore, in the heavenly picnic grounds. Our extended family, you might say. As I just
said as well, our Vestry has also designated this Round Up Sunday as something
of a “soft opening” kick-off for our 2018 stewardship Campaign, and with an
invitation this year for us to respond with gratitude for all the ways this
particular congregation and parish family has been and continues to be a
blessing in our lives. An overarching
theme of gratitude, that’s the key word, and actually perfect for our gospel
reading this morning. In any case I do hope it has been a good summer for
you, whether you were galavanting around the world or simply sipping an iced
tea and reading a novel on the porch. And
it’s great to be here today.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In this section of Matthew’s gospel, as Jesus and his disciples are
drawing near to Jerusalem, Jesus is thinking about the future, talking to his
disciples about his church-- how they are to live together in the new reality
that is about to dawn upon them after Holy Week and Easter and Pentecost and in
years and centuries to come. A lot here
to think about appropriately as we think about our own church family on a
Stewardship Kick Off and Round Up Sunday .
How to be “the Church.” “His
Church.” We remember just a couple of
weeks ago at Caesarea Philippi with the Confession of Peter Jesus had declared,
“on this rock I will build my church.” That’s
what Jesus is doing here. Jesus knows and has promised that through the gift
of the Holy Spirit he would never be far away.
But even so he wants to plant seeds now, so that in the days to come
they and we will find the resources to live faithfully and to await with a
confident eagerness his triumphant
return. Jesus with care and love accomplishing that
work, to build a church of supernatural character and strength. Beginning with as motley an assortment of unlikely
characters as you’ll see anywhere. Reminds
me of what I like to say about St. Andrew’s.
If you’re trying to find your way here from across town for the first
time, just follow the signs to the Zoo! <o:p></o:p></div>
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So the passage this morning has two connected parts. First, some straightforward practical
pastoral directions for how to manage conflict in the congregation. How to deal with the kinds of stresses and
strains that will inevitably arise and still maintain a wholesome common life
capable of witnessing to the gospel. And
the second a reminder of the spiritual character and spiritual authority that
is and will be truly present in the church that Jesus is building, to
accomplish this--to bring about true communion and fellowship, securely rooted
in the knowledge and love of Christ. To
know that this is no ordinary human society, but something more, something
higher.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So to begin in verse 15 this morning, with the practical and pastoral
note, (page 9 of the leaflet) --“If your brother sins against you, go and tell
him his fault, between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” This seems to be the simplest thing, perhaps
we even think it seems obvious, to go without saying--yet I think it shows
actually extraordinary care both for the dignity of the individual and for the
care of the larger community. All too
easy at times to think about occasions when an offense has been given, and when
the first response of the person offended has been to broadcast the news far
and wide. Sometimes at high volume. Or maybe the response, to whisper in a dark
corner. Either way. “Do you know what she said to me? Can you imagine anyone doing what he did to
me?” “I hate the way he did that.” And on and on. A kind
of gossip. Bellowing a grievance, or
subversive backchannel murmuring. What
someone has called the “parking lot” conversation. We don’t have a parking lot at St. Andrew’s,
of course, so this sort of thing could never happen here. But I’m sure at least hypothetically someone
could figure out some alternative venue at one time or another for the after
service or after meeting conclave. And the
fact that Jesus didn’t mention e-mail and Facebook here doesn’t mean they don’t
fit in. I’m not a psychologist, but I
suppose when I do this it’s some kind of an effort to reward myself and ease my
own pain by garnering sympathy, or perhaps to recruit an ally, create some
spin, find somebody who will take my side, see things from my point of view, in
whatever the difference or dispute may be. An
opportunity to build myself up at the expense of another. Wherever that comes from. And it also can be somewhere on the range of
sociopathology: to hit back, to hurt the
other, to damage her reputation, to shame him in front of others. To score points. It raises the stakes anyway, insists that
there will need to be both a winner and a loser. A line in the sand: allies and enemies. “You’re
on my side, right?” And the point is, of course, that no matter
who is in the right or who is in the wrong, however those would be measured,
the result is a stain in the fabric of the common life of the community, the
fellowship. All this toxic business about “taking
sides.” When it gets to be something
about winners and losers, ultimately everybody ends up losing, at least in the
big picture. Sometimes a stain that will
take a long time to fade away, and sometimes an indelible mark. <o:p></o:p></div>
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When a lot of this stuff goes on in a business office or a PTA meeting
or for sure in church newcomers can usually pick it up about 30 seconds after
they enter, even if nobody says anything to them about it. Body language, maybe, or just a kind of
shadowy atmosphere. It will be in the
air. This is just what Jesus is talking
about. If you are offended, Jesus says,
if you have a problem with someone in the fellowship, a disagreement, a
grievance—don’t take it to Twitter or Facebook or the coffee klatch. Instead, first
go quietly, privately, before saying anything to anybody else, and make every
effort to see if you can’t work it out between just the two you. To say
that reconciliation is important, that it is of high importance that both of us
continue to live and flourish in a good way in our relationship with each
other, and that we both will be able to contribute together, together, to the good life of the congregation. Let’s not start off by forcing others to
choose between us or have their focus and lives and ministries disrupted by our
disagreement. Even small cracks like
that in the pavement over time can become huge and dangerous fissures of
division. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But then, Pastor Jesus says, if that initial one-to-one initiative
doesn’t bring peace and reconciliation and a renewal of friendship, the next
step is to bring in a small circle of respected fellow church members, and
offer to submit yourself with the one who has offended you to their judgment
and discipline. Not to bring in your allies to gang up on the other, but we might
say to say in modern judicial terminology, to submit your concern to third
party binding arbitration. You can
explain what has gone wrong, from your point of view, and the other then can
explain in full his or her perspective.
And then, without reservation, you agree to accept whatever judgment
these “arbitrators” provide. No matter
how certain I am that I am in the right, if these witnesses tell me that I am
on the wrong track, I agree in advance to set the grievance aside forever.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And only then, finally, if your grievance is with one who will not
settle things with you one-on-one, and who will not submit him or herself to
the discernment of the neutral witnesses—then and only then open the issue to
the congregation. Jesus doesn’t give us
a specific mechanism for this, but it is clearly to be the case that none of us
are free to continue to hold a grievance privately or secretly, or to attempt
some kind of “retaliation” of our own design.
We must find a way to speak it honestly and with clarity, transparently,
and then to let it go freely into the church.
The church will decide in its common mind and common life, guided by the
Holy Spirit, and then the consequences of the offense will be up to the church
as a body to determine. I don’t get to
decide those consequences. Maybe I’ll be
happy with the result, or maybe not. It’s not about me anymore. Because at this point the offense has become
one that is shared by the whole body, and now must be responded to by the whole
body.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So theses first few verses, a specific set of instructions about
conflict resolution and interpersonal relationships, framed by the overriding
value of care for the well-being of the whole body. If I win, but the congregation is harmed,
then I really don’t win anything at all but instead bring dishonor and discord
to everyone, dishonor to Christ himself.
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Then briefly, in the second part of this reading, Jesus steps back and
reminds his disciples that as his living body, the church, the spiritual gift
of discernment , the authority of divine justice and divine mercy, rests in
them together. The binding and loosing of sins. We heard before in scripture that only God
could forgive sins, but now in this miraculous new life, Jesus shares this
sacred ministry of judgment and mercy and grace with those who are to be his
new Body. This church isn’t just a
random collection of people who happen to share some common space for an hour
or two a week. You may have 100 people
in a movie theater to see the latest Hollywood feature, or gathered at the
Giant Eagle in the Waterworks to buy groceries, but that’s not what the church
is like. A bunch of people in the same place at the same time. The church instead is a sacramental and supernatural and precious
mystery, in which many different individuals, different sizes and shapes and
ages and backgrounds, every breed of cat in the zoo, are drawn together through the proclamation of
the word and the sharing of the sacraments to be one Body, Christ’s body. Even a little group like the first 12, even a
little place like St. Andrew’s Highland Park: a precious mystery. Jesus cared enough for this Body the church,
to go to the cross for it, for us. To
pay the highest price that could be paid for our redemption, that through his
life we might have life. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Be very careful with this church, Jesus is telling his disciples. Take care of it. That’s the Stewardship Sunday, Round Up
Sunday take-away. There’s nothing else
that we have—not the porcelain vase grandfather brought back from China, not heirloom
jewelry, not anything else in all creation that is more valuable than this
precious Body. Even a little place in an
out of the way neighborhood like St. Andrew’s.
For all our eccentricities.
Treasure it. Love it with all our
heart. Because in loving it, we are
loving him. And be thankful for it every
day. Overflowing gratitude.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, again—Blessings on the day, friends here. Something about the spirit of gratitude that
our vestry is inviting us to reflect on in the fall campaign. Whether this is our first Round Up, or
whether we’ve been around so long we’ve begun to feel like somebody might post
a historical plaque on the front of our shirt.
Just enjoy the service, the music, hear our choir now sing this
wonderful Vaughan Williams setting of the 84<sup>th</sup> psalm, reflecting together on the Word of life, and
have fun watching the kids play out on the lawn at the picnic, and consider for
a minute along the way how much Jesus loves this place, you and me and all of
us together, so precious to him—each of us individually, all of us together,
with his prayer, his prayer, that we would never for a minute take any of it
for granted.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering
and a sacrifice to God.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-11851750431908427192017-08-20T11:53:00.000-04:002017-08-20T11:56:45.137-04:00Eleventh after Pentecost (Proper 15A-2)<br />
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Matthew 15: 1-28<o:p></o:p></div>
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Good morning. Our long gospel reading is from Matthew 15 has three
closely related sections--but for context I want to back up for a moment to
remember even a bit more, that at the beginning of the 14<sup>th</sup> chapter
Matthew described the death of John the
Baptist, his arrest, imprisonment, and beheading at the behest of Herodias, the
controversial wife of King Herod, scandalously the former wife of Herod’s
brother, and Herodias’s famous daughter
Salome, who danced so seductively at her step-father’s banquet. The news of John’s death exploded like a
bombshell across the world of Jerusalem and Judea. John was a headline character in the social
and religious and political world of Roman Palestine and beyond, with a large, passionately
loyal following. <o:p></o:p></div>
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One of the immediate consequences of John’s execution was that John’s
followers began to turn to Jesus in great numbers. Larger crowds began to gather around him, filled
with the same kinds of anti-establishment, revolutionary expectations that had
been stirred up by John, and as that was happening Jesus suddenly appeared as a
bright flashing light on the radar of the authorities. John had been a huge problem for them as he
led this revivalist, “Back to the Bible” movement among the common people and
attacked the Jewish leaders for their secularizing and accommodationist practices. And now they have this Jesus to deal with. No longer just a marginal, unschooled but charismatic
rabbi from the hinterlands. Someone who with
all these new followers seems to pose at least potentially a new threat. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So that’s context as we roll into chapter 15 (see page xx of your
leaflet), and the first part of our reading.
Jesus has been preaching to these
growing crowds and demonstrating spiritual power with healings and other
miraculous works. The wave is building. And
now a party of religious officials, Scribes and Pharisees, priests and rabbis, representing
the Jewish religious and we might say political establishment, travel with
urgency from Jerusalem to the Galilee. Their
strategy is to confront Jesus in public about his reputation as someone who
disregards traditional religious practice. They hope to discredit him in front of these
devout John the Baptist followers, to show that he’s not someone observant Jews
should be tempted to follow. But Jesus
pushes right back, very much in John the Baptist fashion, quickly turning the
tables, accusing them in turn of being not so much experts in the sacred Law,
as their titles and offices would suggest, but as experts instead we might say
in <i>loopholes</i> in the Law. Calling them out in front of the crowd and
shaming them just as they had tried to shame him, accusing them with the clear
implication that they personally have abused their offices, their sacred
responsibilities, and have enriched themselves and gained power and prestige
while maintaining only a façade of piety. Jesus calls these officials “Hypocrites,” –a
hot word, and that will certainly set the crowd buzzing and be perfect for the
headline in the tomorrow’s newspaper-- and he turns the Bible right back on
them as he says in verse 7, “well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said,
‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.’” If things were moving toward a crisis before,
now even more. And this word from Isaiah
becomes the template for understanding what comes next. <o:p></o:p></div>
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At that point, in verse 10 of chapter 15, Matthew shifts to a new
paragraph, the second section of today’s reading. The Jerusalem officials hurry
back to the city to plan their next move.
They had wanted to nip this Jesus thing in the bud, but their
confrontation has had exactly the opposite result. As they scuttle away Jesus addresses the
crowd with this pointed line: “It’s not
what goes into the mouth of a man that defiles a man, but what comes out.” Jesus
isn’t arguing against faithful observance of the Law, in this case the Biblical
dietary laws that his critics have just accused him of flagrantly disobeying, but
his saying is certainly intended to contrast the outward observance of the kind
of formal public show of obedience associated with these Scribes and Pharisees,
with the wholesome and pure and truly sincere character of a holy life. True and meaningful obedience, authentic
faithfulness to God, isn’t simply a
matter of outward rule-keeping, but is instead what comes from within, from
your <i>heart</i>, with all your <i>heart</i>, use the word Jesus quoted from
Isaiah. Obedience to God’s Law is the language of love spoken by God’s chosen
and redeemed people, as they learn to grow in grace, in a spirit of humility,
and with a sincere desire to live life in a godly way. It’s not about scoring “holiness points” in
some kind of political contest. “These so-called religious leaders and all
their public posturing--they may make a big deal of declining even a taste of a
meal if it hasn’t been prepared in a kosher kitchen--but when it comes to, say,
and I love this list-- “evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft,
false witness, slander” – well, you can read about the latest episode in the
Jerusalem Inquirer any day of the week.
Look at how they rationalized Herod’s marriage to Herodias. Look at how they remained silent when John
was arrested. They follow God’s Law when
it suits their purposes, but when it doesn’t they’re nowhere to be found. They stand up front and lead the prayers with
loud voices in church on Sunday morning, but when Monday comes the costumes
come off, and we see for ourselves who they really are. Quite a moment. John the Baptist and his followers would have
been shouting “drain the swamp,” and here Jesus doesn’t seem to be too far
behind . . . . Just to get a hint of the
gathering storm.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So we get the idea of this contrast of ideas, the establishment
authorities with an emphasis on external conformity and rule-keeping, and Jesus
on the other hand calling out the hypocrisy of this kind of formalism and lifting
up a vision of a more authentic foundation for faithful life, an obedience that
begins in the heart. And the table is
set for the third section of the reading today in verses 21-28 for this very
familiar story of Jesus and the Canaanite woman. A case
study on what that true, heart-centered obedience looks like. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Jesus and his disciples leave the Galilee and head out into the Gentile
territory of the north. They cross the
modern border into Lebanon and pass by this out of the way village, and of all
people, a foreigner, a Gentile woman, immediately rushes out to greet him. That she is called a <i>Canaanite</i> is especially noteworthy—it really sticks out--the only
time in the New Testament that the term is used. Not just any old generic kind of gentile. The Canaanites--the ancient people,
worshippers of Ba’al the sky god and Astarte the goddess of fertility, in fact
from the very beginning the entrenched enemies of Israel’s God, those Canaanites
displaced by the Israelites back in the days of Joshua and the Conquest in a
long war that evolved not just over years but generations, as God’s Chosen
People came into possession of the Promised Land. Just to say, in the greater story of Holy
Scripture, this lady is as much of an outsider as you can get. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This <i>Canaanite</i> woman has
apparently heard something about this Jewish teacher and holy man and his
remarkable powers to heal and to cast out demons--and so when she discovers
that he’s passing through town she is herself we might say suddenly “possessed”
with an unexpected urgency. She leaves
her home and rushes out to Jesus in the street with her appeal, an appeal from
the heart, we would say, to echo the Isaiah language Jesus quoted earlier--that
he would bring spiritual healing to her daughter, who has been possessed by an
evil spirit and is being tormented to the point of death. As his disciples look on, Jesus builds on
what we might call a “teachable moment.”
Again, a case study, and what a contrast with those Scribes and
Pharisees we just read about, who would hardly think of her as a human being. He draws out with emphasis just how outside
the world of those Scribes and Pharisees the woman is. Not an observer of the Law, not a part of
Israel’s chosen race. She’s not
“kosher.” The complete opposite. The daughter of an ancient enemy. She can make no claim of any right even to
speak to him, or certainly to receive the gift that she is asking for. Jesus even tests her on the point: what makes
you think you can speak with me? What have you done that gives you that right? <o:p></o:p></div>
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In this moment of her greatest need, without an ounce of pride or sense
of entitlement, this Canaanite woman, without hesitation or reservation, places
herself entirely in the hands of Jesus.
She doesn’t tell Jesus that he should do what she asks because she has
kept all the rules in the past or that she will in the future. She doesn’t bargain with him. She doesn’t renounce her heritage or promise
to go through the formal rituals of conversion to Judaism, to go to synagogue
every Saturday or to pay offerings to the Jerusalem Temple or to volunteer at
the homeless shelter or to avoid shellfish, pork, and cheeseburgers from now
on. Those are the strategies of the
Scribes and Pharisees. She just kneels
at his feet. <i>Lord, help me.</i> She lets go
of the trapeze in full awareness that there is no net below. Only Jesus.
She depends in this moment entirely on his mercy, on his generosity, on
Jesus only. He is her one hope. And it is in that hope, in her faith, and not
somehow in her reputation or her ancestry or her past life experience or her public
worship or her good works, that the blessing and mercy and healing that Jesus
has for her becomes a reality. How does
she know that? How does she know to
trust him? How do any of us ever know
that? The Law of God written not simply
in the pages of a book, but as the Holy Spirit has written in her heart. And then the dramatic words of power: “O
woman, great is your faith! Be it done
for you as you desire.” And her daughter
was healed instantly. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Those establishment officials, who you might say from a religious point
of view had everything going for them, went back to Jerusalem turned in on themselves
with that strange mix of arrogance and self-centered insecurity that would lead
them before long directly to Holy Week--and to commit the greatest crime and
offense against God and against humanity that the world has ever known. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The Canaanite woman—we never hear her name, but we know beyond the shadow
of a doubt that that name has been written for all eternity in the Book of
Life. And we know that every time she hears her
daughter’s laughter as she plays with her friends out on the front porch—every
time she passes that spot in the road just outside the village, where she met
Jesus, she will remember him. And there
will be worship as true as any worship in the Temple in Jerusalem or in any
soaring cathedral. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Will she on any morning for the rest of her life wake up and see the
first light and know anything but gratitude and love? Her heart will be in it, without any hesitation. All her life will be thanksgiving, all her
life from now on, in the knowledge of the Lord.
Which is all he truly wants from any of us. (That’s the personal application of this
morning’s reading. The word for us, all
these centuries later.) She’s the role
model Jesus is pointing to. She’s the
key to the gospel message. Her faith. True, authentic, from the heart. She, who at the critical moment of her life had
no cards to play, had nothing to say for herself. She, who was so far as any outward measure
could determine as far beyond the frame of the sacred Covenant as you could get,
a stranger to God’s people--she turned to Jesus and knelt at his feet and held
on for dear life, knowing him as the one who had first known and called her, trusting
in that moment only in him-- and for her there was and would be forever, because of that, life and grace and joy and
blessing. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-36688478326518165622017-07-23T11:57:00.002-04:002017-07-23T11:57:51.256-04:00Seventh after PentecostProper 11 A-2 Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43<br />
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If you were in church a little over a year ago, on
Sunday, June 26, 2016, you will certainly remember with crystal clarity the
gospel reading and of course the rector’s inspirational sermon that morning on the text
from the ninth chapter of St. Luke’s gospel. To refresh our memory: after their experience on the Mount of the Transfiguration
Jesus and his disciples began their great journey toward Jerusalem to observe
the Passover. In Luke’s story a long and
increasingly dramatic procession to Holy Week.
The road from the Galilee to the Holy City passed first through the
region of Samaria, the home of people of a mixed Jewish and non-Jewish
ethnicity whose religious beliefs were different from those of orthodox Judaism. Between
Jews and Samaritans a kind of deep and persistent hostility over generations
and centuries, and Jewish religious pilgrims would be to say the least
unwelcome in Samaritan neighborhoods. And
so as we heard on June 26<sup>th</sup>,
2016, Luke chapter 9 verses 52-56: “<i>And he </i>[that is, Jesus] <i> sent
messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to
make ready for him; but the people would not receive him, because his face was
set toward Jerusalem. </i>[all the local
hotels and motels and Air bnb proprietors see them coming and hang “no vacancy
“ signs in the windows] <i>And when his disciples James and John saw
it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and
consume them?’ But he turned and rebuked them.
And they went on to another village.”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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The disciples must have wondered why Jesus was hesitant to act more
decisively in response to this disrespectful opposition. But in the depth of the mind and heart of
Jesus there was a different knowledge.
And as you will recall from my sermon just a little over a year ago this
episode in Samaria to what we will later hear in the eighth chapter of Acts,
after the arrest and stoning of St. Stephen, when the little Church of
Jerusalem is attacked and dispersed.
Beginning at Acts Chapter 8, verse 4: <i>“Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to a city of Samaria, and
proclaimed to them the Christ. Then the multitudes with one accord gave heed to
what was said by Philip, and saw the signs which he did. For unclean spirits came out of many who were
possessed, crying with a loud voice; and many who were paralyzed or lame were
healed. So there was much joy in that
city.”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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For James and John in Luke 9, all they could see was what was right in
front of them in the present, and they were ready to pull the trigger--but
Jesus knew that among these Samaritans were those he came to save. We might
say: the first rich foreign mission field.
These Samaritans who would soon, very soon, hear the gospel from Philip and
respond with joy, when the time was right.
Just wait, James and John. There
is more going on than you can see or know in this moment. <i>Be
patient. </i>Which is what I am thinking
about as we approach the gospel reading this morning. God’s patience.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I remember my friend our retired dean George Werner used to say that
the challenge for Moses and Joshua was that they were to lead the whole people
into the Promised Land, not just the Commandos.
The weak and the wayward, the very old, the very young. Everybody.
Not just the strong. And that
takes time, and it’s a messy process. The
Good Shepherd is not going to allow even one of his sheep to be lost. Not even the last and the least. It may take a long while sometimes for the
fruit to ripen on the vine, to shift this evolving metaphor. The point is, not to be so quick to judge, to
leap to conclusions. Not to be in such a
hurry. Wait and see, give space for the
full work of the Spirit to be made known in God’s way, in God’s own time. My ways are not your ways, says the Lord. Jesus already knew his own among these
Samaritans. He knew them long before
they knew him. He knew them already and
loved them. People of his pasture,
sheep of his hand. And in the
generosity of his heart he was going to give them all the time they needed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anyhow, as I said, that was a year ago, Luke9. But it came to mind for me as we would turn
this morning to this gospel reading taken from Matthew 13, the Parable of the
Wheat and the Tares. The
same concern and emphasis, on the patience of God. His thoughts not our thoughts, nor his ways
our ways. Which we would hear this morning as good news,
and something we can be and should be very thankful for. For his patience with us.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in
his field.” Once again as in the
Parable of the Sower and the Five Kinds of Soil that we read last Sunday: the sowing of the good seed, which Jesus tells his disciples
has to do with the proclamation of the kingdom, the preaching of the Good
News. In the first parable the issue was
that the seed fell on all different kinds of soil. Dry, or hard, places where the birds can get
at it, or ground already covered with thistles.
Here in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares the seed is all sown in
the one field, in good soil. But even
so, there are complications. An enemy comes in secretly, while the farmer and his servants
are sleeping, and scatters another kind of seed in the same field. Not the good seed of the kingdom, not the
gospel, but something that doesn’t
belong. When time passes the farmer and
his servants see that as the good growth is taking place in the field, so also
the weeds are growing. The servants are
upset and agitated and want to do something right away, to get in there and
clean things up. Don’t just stand there,
do something! Like James and John in the
Samaritan village. But the farmer tells them to be patient. When the growth is young it’s just not always
possible to tell which sprout is of the good seed, and which is a weed. They are just simply to be patient-- to let
all grow together, the good plants and the bad.
Until the harvest, when the truth will be known. <o:p></o:p></div>
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A bit later in verses 36-40 Jesus explains the parable. We see that the Sower is Christ himself, who
is and who fulfills and who proclaims the Word.
The seed, Jesus says, stands for the “Sons of the Kingdom,” what grows
from the Word, the harvest, the names inscribed in the Book of Life. The enemy is the Evil One, God’s enemy, and
the Weeds that grow alongside the good plants are <i>his</i> offspring. The two live
side by side in this world, they look very much alike, they occupy the same
space, they grow together, flourish together.
They seem as near as anyone could tell by observation to share an
equally bright future. But this is simply
on account of God’s<i> patience</i>. In order to avoid even the slightest
possibility of collateral damage, so that <i>not
one </i>good plant is endangered, the Children of Light and the Children of
Darkness are left to grow together for a season. But on the Last Day, at the Harvest, the
discernment is to be made with a thoroughgoing precision. All the “causes of sin” and those whose lives
are allied to evil are pulled out by the roots and cast into the fiery furnace,
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. While the “righteous will shine like the sun
in the kingdom of their Father.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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In part this parable directs us to recurring questions about why evil
exists in the world and in our own lives and so often tragically in our own
hearts and minds. Why the eternal Son of
the Father isn’t recognized by everyone right away, when he has come into the
world. Why bad things keep happening to
good people, why even in us, after we
have put our faith in Christ alone, we feel resistance and temptation and
disobedience both externally and internally, in the world, in our own hearts and
minds—all the rest. It doesn’t make any
sense! Why doesn’t God just act? Let’s
call down fire from heaven and destroy these Samaritans! Pull up the weeds right now by the roots, to
purify the field. Let’s get the job
done!<o:p></o:p></div>
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But then, catching a breath, perhaps we think of the story of our own
lives. How messy we all are. Faithful and rebellious. Brave and fearful. So much of the time two steps forward and
then one back. Or even one step forward
and then two back. Seeking to hold onto
Christ and trust in him alone, but so reluctant to let go of the gods and
goddesses of this world. So, gains and
losses. A lot of moments along the way
when anybody looking at me would think, “now that’s a weed for sure.” And maybe sometimes I look at myself in the
mirror and see nothing but a weed myself.
We can be so swift to judge others and so swift to judge ourselves. So again, a word about being thankful from
the bottom of my heart that God is as patient as he is with me, as I do my best
to sort things out. And certainly as I
seek to be one of his disciples and ministers, and we are here this morning all
of us with those disciples, the ones Jesus sends on ahead of him to proclaim
the news, to seek to find in my own mind and heart as well a space for
patience. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The Lord is patient. That’s the
key and the take-away. And it is his
will that those who would live in him would share that patience. To
say, “Those folks over at St. Andrew’s, my goodness: how patient they are with
one another. You don’t hear them praying
God to send down “fire from heaven” whenever they find themselves in difficult
situations. They have their opinions,
for sure, their personal preferences and inclination. They have their goals and priorities, their hopes
and dreams and programs and plans. But
they know also that it’s God’s timing that matters, that he rules over days and
seasons and generations. And so there is
this sense of graciousness.
Forebearance. Generosity.<o:p></o:p></div>
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To be clear, this doesn’t deny the reality of evil, and it doesn’t
undermine the absolute righteousness of God’s justice. In the words of the hymn, “God is working his
purpose out.” No question about that. The
Scripture is clear that God hates sin, and that’s not too strong a word: that he is unalterably opposed to every evil,
and that his patience isn’t an everlasting patience. But those are <i>his</i> judgments, and we can come to know what they are and what they
will be as we read his Word and seek in our hearts and minds and lives to follow
the direction of his word and the pattern of the life and death and
resurrection of Jesus. For this hour we
are to take a deep breath, and remember that he’s in charge, and we
aren’t. Trusting him to care for the
whole field of the kingdom, even the weediest looking sprout in the garden,
treating even the weediest weed as though it might eventually in this growing
season show itself to be not to have been a weed at all, but good growth--trusting
that in God’s own good time every last precious plant grown from the seed of
the Gospel will be seen and known and brought safe to his storehouse.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-3284113667034775562017-07-19T10:59:00.005-04:002017-07-19T10:59:43.876-04:00Sixth after PentecostProper 10 A2 Matthew 13: 1-23<br />
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<br />Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661583178291597074.post-85080326745192387172017-06-25T12:43:00.003-04:002017-06-25T12:43:47.617-04:00Third after PentecostProper 7: Matthew 10: 24-39<br />
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<br />Bruce Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00193701138386039942noreply@blogger.com0