My sermon on mission from The Fifth Sunday after Trinity

Sermon for Sunday, June 17 2012 “Father’s Day”

!Hazte presente! !Hazte presente, oh Jesús, nuestro gran Sumo Sacerdote, así como te hiciste presente con tus discípulos, y muéstrate a nosotros en la fracción de la lectura y del Pan; tu que vives y reinas con el Padre y el Espíritu Santo, ahora y por siempre. Amen.

Before I begin I want to thank Dr. Smith for asking me to preach today and Reverenda, and all of you, for giving us such a warm welcome. Our small group of seminarians from the United States, Tina Heidmann, Betty Jerez, Jordan Haynie, Mikael Salovaara and I have been in Colón for only a week. You have made us feel at home.

We’ve been struck by the immense beauty of Panamá. Canticle 5, el Cantico de la Creación, has been on my mind since the first day I woke up in Panamá. It could have been written here in Colon: 

Bendigan al Señor, lluvias todas y roció,

          vientos todos, fuego y calor.

          Inviernos y veranos, bedigan al Señor,

                   alábenle y exáltenle sobre todo para siempre.

Bendiga la tierra al Señor,

          alábele y exáltele sobre todo para siempre.

          Montes y Colinas y cuanto germina en la tierra,

                                         bendigan al Señor,

          alábenle y exáltenle sobre todo para siempre.

 Bendigan al Señor, manantiales y fuentes, mares y ríos,

                   cetáceos y cuanto se mueve en las aguas.

Aves del cielo, bendigan al Señor,

          alábenle y exáltenle sobre todo para siempre.

          Bendigan al Señor, bestias silvestres,

                y todos los rebaños y ganados.

          Hombres y mujeres de todos lugares, bendigan al Señor,

          alábenle y exáltenle sobre todo para siempre.

 

You can feel the weather in Panama. The warmth of the day in Colón is broken by cool rains and are accompanied by loud drumming thunder. Your blessed mountains and hills, seas, mighty rivers, and diversity of birds, fish and fowl, wild creatures great and small, from the Panamanian sloth we saw on one of our first nights crawling slowly across the parking lot at the Diocesan Center in Panama City, to the fast moving ñeco that refuses to let me take a photo, to the tiny ants that build towering homes and the tiny geko that visits each night thankfully eating any bugs that comes too close my bed, all cause joy and wonder at the brilliance of God’s good creation.

Above all, I thank God for the example of your hospitality, your kindness and patience (especialmente con mi español), and for the good work you do as the Body of Christ in this place.

We share a rich heritage in faith in God the Father of us all. We share hope and the promise of salvation. We share a common destination – the Kingdom of God.

In chapter four of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus gives us four important teachings:

1.    The parable of the Sower

2.    The parable of the Lamp Under a Bushel

3.    The Growing Seed, and

4.    The Mustard Seed

Three of the four parables contain images of sown seed and growth. Today’s Gospel reading opens with the parable of the Growing Seed. This parable in only found in Mark’s Gospel and has something important to tell us. Jesus said that “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.”

A story about small seeds may not sound like an exciting way for Jesus to begin a sermon but Jesus sees beyond outward appearances. The reading for today from 1 Samuel reminds us that, “The Lord does not see as mortals see; we tend to look at outward appearances, but the Lord looks in the heart.”

In the heart of a seed there is potential for life and growth. Seeds are also more powerful than we think. They can grow almost anywhere, especially in Panamá. When it sprouts its roots are strong enough to crack rocks. Plants make animal and human life possible. The growth itself may not be noticed on a day to day basis, but over time a miracle takes place. Suddenly, where we had not noticed growth there is now a bush or a tree.

We do not know how it happens. We play our small part and God does the rest. It is not necessarily about us at all, but about the “work of the seed” and the God who sustains it.

The kingdom of God is a lot like the sown seed… it comes with slow, steady, sometimes imperceptible growth. We are invited to participate as witnesses of God’s life-giving presence. It is God who nurtures and sustains the growth. In the kingdom of God we are both God’s seeds and sowers. I think that is part of what we celebrate on Father’s Day.

We celebrate our heavenly Father that causes us to grow. We also celebrate our earthly fathers who do their best to nurture and sustain that growth. Mr. Branch reminded me that some of us lost our father at an early age, or some people never knew their father, but we may have people in our lives that stood in the gap for us. There are people who have made strong impressions on our lives and help to mold us.

I’m excited by the fact that God encourages all of us to sow seed and grow the kingdom of God. We all have something to contribute. We all have something to do. We all have some gift to share for the building up of God’s kingdom.

I have a question for you. What seeds are you sowing? How do you sow them?

I’ve been blessed with many mentors in my life. Dr. Richardson and Father Stuart are two men who have taught me to give my best even when I’m afraid of failure. I learned from what they said and what they did. They in turn have taught me how to plant.

The Apostle Paul points out in 1 Corinthians that all of us want to please God; we will all appear before Christ and answer for our actions and inaction. Unfortunately I am not always sowing good seed. I make mistakes and am sometimes slow to apologize.

We can either sow seeds for the flesh or for the spirit. The work of the flesh is obvious and includes impurity, jealousy, anger,  envy, drunkenness, and things like these. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

When I notice that I’m jealous, angry, or envious I can do something about it. I can go to God in prayer. I can ask for pardon, take up my cross again. This is part of what it means to repent – to change direction and move towards God. I can ask for the Holy Spirit to inspire me to plant seeds, to mentor someone, to offer what I have in love.

Is this impossible? Is God asking us to do something without supplying what we need to do it? Never! God is always faithful. God is always with us. God is preparing an unimaginable harvest. We have the honor of lending our hands and our feet.

Are you willing to renew your efforts? Church, I said, “Are you willing?”

Gloria a Dios, cuyo poder, actuando en nosotros, puede realizer todas las cosas infinitamente mejor de lo que podemos pedir o pensar: Gloria a él en la Iglesia de generación en generación, y en Christo Jesús por los siglos de los siglos. Amen.

I say the darndest things to my friends

We may not always reach as high as our ultimate potential, but we can learn to reach higher than our fears!

Washington bishop welcomes Obama’s change of heart

I recently came accross this blogpost in the ENS by Bishop Budde of Washington. It is a simple statement and, yet, profound, because it presents a healthy counter to voices that say the people of God should oppose equal rights and recognition of same-sex couples. - Steve

Washington bishop welcomes Obama’s change of heart

"The Avowal" from Denise Levertove's Oblique Prayers

 As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
... and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.

My good friend Irene pointed the way to this poem. I love the image of freefalling into the Creator's deep embrace. I believe I have experienced that. It is wonderful and affirming. Have you?

Rogation Sunday, 13 May 2012

She was sick for three days. On the fourth night her friends called the priest. She had lost feeling from the waist down and felt she was dying. Her priest came in the room, came to her side and asked how she was doing. She could no longer speak. Knowing she was near death, as was the custom in those days, he took out a small cross, lifted it up before her eyes, and said, “I have brought you the image of your Maker and Savior. Look upon it and be comforted.”

As she tried to focus her eyes on the crucifix the room grew dark. Though she knew the room was crowded with friends, but all she could see was the Jesus upon the cross. Jesus’ passion for her, his love for her from the cross filled her imagination.

Julian had lived in Norwich all her life. That’s all she knew. Now, believing she had died, she was ready to travel to heaven. That night her pain subsided and Dame Julian of Norwich had a series of intense mystical visions or as she called them, “showings”. She wrote them down. The rest of her life she spent pondering their meaning - sharing insights with anyone who would listen. Almost twenty years later she wrote out an extended account of her visions – calling them Revelations of Divine Love (ca. 1393). This, this gift, the fruit of her life, was to become the first book written in the English language by a woman.

Over the last couple weeks the church’s calendar has been crowded with a number of powerful women saints, Catherine of Siena, Monica, the mother of Augustine, and Dame Julian of Norwich. These women of faith have something important to tell us, something important in common. They all desired earnestly to follow Jesus. They asked God to help them become disciples and devoted themselves to prayer, worship, and service to those in need.

 Today is Rogation Sunday. Rogation comes from the Latin “rogatio” which means “to ask”. It’s found near the end of the Gospel reading for today where Jesus says to his followers, “You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.” Whatever you ask, “rogare”, in my name.

There are three things I’d like us to keep in mind about following Jesus.

1) Jesus chose us.

Jesus said, “You did not choose me but I chose you.” Earlier in the Gospel of John Jesus begins calling disciples. In the first chapter it says, “The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”” (Jn. 1:43)

In the original Greek it says “on the next day Jesus θέλω willed and purposed to go to Galilee. It also contains shades of “Jesus desired, took delight and pleasure in the thought of going to Galilee. He εὑρίσκω searched for Philip and said, “ἀκολουθέω μοι,” which means “Follow me”; it also contains the idea “I’ll go ahead of you and look out for you, join me, become my disciple.” In other words, Jesus had a plan before leaving for Galilee, he was taking delight in choosing his followers, he knew where Philip was, went to him, and said, “I’ve been looking for you. Follow me, stay close.”

He also chose Nathanael and the others even before they knew him. Psalm 139 says that God searches for us and knows us, we are known and loved even before we are born. Jesus delights in making disciples out of very ordinary people.

After Jesus rose from the dead, he said to Peter, “If you love me, follow me and tend to those in need.” (Jn. 21:19) Don’t worry about what others do or don’t do, “Follow me, stay close.” Jesus delights in choosing us to become his disciples.

2) Jesus appoints us to bear lasting fruit.

“And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.”

What does he mean by saying, “I have appointed you,” but that you, me, all of us, are called by Jesus to do something. The Gospel reading today comes from a longer discourse where Jesus describes himself as the “true vine” and calls us to “abide” in his love, to follow his example, abide in loving action, to be “fruitful.”

“Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.” (John 15:4-5)

In Twelve Step Recovery programs they say “you cannot give what you do not have.” How can I offer the love of Christ if I am not regularly abiding in the source of love?

For years I’ve thought about what it means to be a disciple: to follow God’s call on my life. I was, as Kierkegaard called it, merely an ‘admirer of Jesus’. Jesus calls us to something deeper; he calls to friendship, to develop an intimate relationship, one of deep trust. Jesus says, I do not call you servants any longer, but I have called you friends, if you obey my commands. (Jn. 15:15)

The command to “go and bear fruit, fruit that will last” signifies a fruitful relationship with the one who is the source of all good desires and all good actions.  

And 3) If we ask, God will make us disciples.

“I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.”

In the original Greek “to ask” is αἰτέω,v

1) to ask, beg, crave, desire

 Julian of Norwich asked God, begged God, to help her understand the Passion of Jesus, the depth of God’s love and compassion. God gave her the words, the Divine Revelations; she said she merely conveyed to others what God impressed upon her as she abided in God’s love.

Monica prayed without ceasing for her husband and son. She wanted, deeply desired them to know Christ’s love. Her perseverance in love and prayer helped open the door to their faith. Her son Augustine eventually became an important leader of the early church in Hippo. Her fruit had a lasting effect.

Catherine of Sienna devoted herself to prayer and meditation even though her family tried to discourage. She took her call seriously. She became a nurse and cared for those rejected by society. She also visited prisoners condemned to death and worked for the unity of the church. Her life and writings have had a lasting effect on the church.

For a long time I’ve been feeling the need to deepen my relationship with Jesus, no longer just an admirer, I want to be his friend: to follow his call on my life. I had thought about it and thought about it. I had dabbled in a few committees at church, helped out at our church’s the homeless breakfast on occasion, and wondered what God might have me do.

Then I did something I was never really ready to do before, I asked God about it. I asked God for guidance and grace to follow him where ever he wants me to go. I listened to the deep stirrings of my heart and asked God to help me discern his will for me.

It’s a daily struggle to take up our cross and follow Jesus. This is impossible to maintain on our own will power. Besides, once in a while, we let something get in the way. We forget to abide in the source of our strength and power.

What keeps us from discipleship? What do you let get in the way? Jesus has already chosen us. Remember what Jesus said to the disciples, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus will make us into disciples if we abide, if we but ask God for help. What is impossible with us is possible with God.

Yet, discipleship may still seem daunting. Someone will say, “The disciples were great men and women of faith. I can’t be a disciple; I’m not like them.” Jesus chose ordinary men and women, some fishermen, some with little education. John, the disciple that wrote the book of Revelation, was poorly educated, he was a poor writer and would have failed spelling and grammar, but his book is included in the New Testament canon.

Knowing that many of them would deny him, turn their backs on him, fail miserably, Jesus still entrusted them with the Gospel, knowing that they would eventually turn out alright.

If they continued to pray, to worship the living God, to seek and serve the outcasts and poor, if they continued to practice abiding in LOVE, they would turn out just fine. You see God trusts us. God believes in us. God would not call us to discipleship without provide the means to do it. If we ask God for help we will not be denied. If we crave and desire to follow Jesus closely and ask for grace, we will be given the strength we need. Jesus feeds us, like a mother, with milk of the word, and when we’re ready to digest it, the bread of life and cup of salvation, strength for our journey.

As we leave this meditation on what it means to follow Christ, it is important to remember that 1) Jesus chose us and delights in us 2) We are appointed to bear lasting fruit. Abiding in Jesus the “true vine” will keep us supple, sappy, and fruitful. And 3) If we ask, God will make us disciples. It is not up to us, all we need is the willingness to ask for help and abiding faith in God who will not let us down.

And God said to Julian, “I can make all things well; I will make all things well; I shall make all things well; and thou canst see for thyself that all manner of things shall be well.”

Additional Background on Rogation Sunday

Rogation comes from the Latin “rogatio” which means “to ask”. It’s found near the end of the Gospel reading for today. Jesus says to his followers, “You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.

In the original Greek it is αἰτέω,v \{ahee-teh'-o}

1) to ask, beg, call for, crave, desire

In the 5^th century Christians began to set aside certain days to fast and pray for the welfare of their communities. Some prayed for a fruitful harvest, others, living close to a volcano, prayed for protection from eruptions and other calamities. Days of Rogation were popular among Anglicans until they were suppressed during the early English reformations. Elizabeth I reintroduced the practice.

The priest of the parish with the churchwardens and the local officials headed a crowd of boys who, armed with green branches, usually birch or willow, beat the parish boundary markers with them. Local parish communities would beat the bounds or boundaries of their community and ask God for blessings on their fields and livestock, and the general welfare of all inhabitants.

Maps were rare in those days so one of the benefits of making a formal visit around the parish boundaries helped hand down the knowledge for future generations – being within the bounds meant that you were liable to contribute to the repair and upkeep of the church, you had a right to be buried within the churchyard, and to voice your opinion in the local courts.

Maundy Thursday 2012

              Tonight, in John’s Gospel, we find the two strands of our Christian DNA. Two important concepts mark us as Disciples of Christ. They show us what it means to be “in” Christ and where to look for heaven.  

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

He loved them to the end. Love is mentioned only six times in the first 12 chapters of John’s Gospel, but love is mentioned 31 times in the next five chapters, beginning right here in verse one. Jesus loved them to the end. Here we begin to see the full extent of Jesus’ love. Extravagant acts of love that can at times bewilder us. Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. Peter was shocked:

“Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

That’s a good question and I don’t blame Peter for asking it. It is shocking. Think about it. The Angels must have been stunned. The glorious Son of God, through whom all things were made, grabbed a basin of water and washed the feet of his followers.

            “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

 I love Peter, he may be a slow learner (like me), but he helps highlight the conundrum. What does it mean to have Jesus wash our feet?  This is more than just a lesson in leadership.  Jesus links service to participating in God’s love. We are commanded in verse 34 to love others with this same kind of outrageous, extravagant love.

This is called Maunday Thursday. Maundy comes from the Latin word “mandatum”, meaning "commandment," Maundy refers to Jesus’ command at the Last supper to love with abandon and humility. Jesus’ command has multiple layers of meaning. This menial task, foot washing, shows the extent God will go to care for us, assure us that we are loved. This is no easy love. It knows no limits, no boundaries. It is intimate and incarnate. It finds us where ever we are and reaches out to us, bathes us, reassures us that we are worthy of God’s love, not for anything we have done, but because we were made to be loved. That’s what God does… God is found in the action of love.

Jesus’ command calls all of us who have experienced this love to reach out in turn to others. Jesus calls out to us in a broken and hurting world:

“Are you going to wash my feet?”

Love is best understood in action. The Bible has been called the “Book of Love”, but most people have trouble understanding it. We live in an age of cynicism. The word “love” is easy to say. This is represented in a song by Peter Gabriel. The song begins with suspicion and doubt:

The book of love is long and boring

 No one can lift [the damn thing] it

 It's full of charts and facts and figures and instructions for dancing

 But I

 I love it when you read to me

 And you

 You can read me anything

The cynic is not moved by written words, but persuaded by someone willing to read them out loud, live them out loud, who lessens their loneliness with conversation, who turns pages for them at the Fifth Avenue Healthcare Center and sings to them of God’s love, who helps make the holidays bearable by providing children with gift, who plays dominoes with prisoners, and helps them ponder the Gospel message.

The book of love has music in it

 In fact that's where music comes from

 Some of it is just transcendental

 Some of it is just really dumb

 But I

 I love it when you sing to me

 And you

 You can sing me anything

Polls tell us that many call themselves “spiritual, but not religious” and are not interested in Christian dogma. Only the action of our service inspired by God’s love can cut through walls thick with disbelief, cynicism and pain.

In the Gospel reading the active love of God overflows the pages, into our lives, and through us, into the world. Let’s look at verses 34 and 35:

            I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples.

The mark of discipleship then is service. It is one of two commands Jesus gives us tonight. The second command is alluded to in John’s Gospel. Before we discuss the second command, there’s something I want to point out. Peter asks Jesus another good question in verse 36:

“Lord, where are you going?”

The answer is found in the second part of verse 3. Jesus had come from God and was going to God.  We believe that he came from heaven “for us and for our salvation” and that he returned to heaven.

Traditionally, heaven has been understood to be somewhere up in the clouds… floating somewhere above us. Here’s another way to look at it. Heaven is located in God. To be in God’s presence is to experience heaven. When we see God in all God’s glory, when we are filled with God, when every cell is penetrated with God’s loving presence, then we will be “in” heaven. We will know eternal joy. According to one theologian, “The hope of heaven and eternal life is meant for all the living, so that in the future world the creation that groans under transience will also be delivered, because there will be no more death.” Salvation extends in ever-widening circles to the entire cosmos so that all will be filled with the fullness of God.

Jesus said:

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.  

Look again at what Jesus promises:

I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.

Heaven, however, is not just a future promise. Jesus proclaimed the in-breaking God and God’s kingdom. We can begin to know Jesus now and experience some of heaven. In fact, we are commanded to do this. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians we are reminded that our relationship with God is fed and strengthened through Communion. Tonight at this table we are invited to a heavenly banquet. In these holy mysteries God is present in Jesus Christ and gives us a pledge of eternal life. The bread that is blessed and broken is the bread of heaven. The wine is the cup of our salvation. And we pray, “Be present, be present, O Jesus, our great High Priest, as you were present with your disciples, and be known to us in the breaking of the bread.”

Two commands are made: on of service and one of communion with God and the family of Christ. Both of them lead us deeper into the mystery of God’s presence. In the action of loving someone in need God is mightily present. At this table we taste and see that the Lord is good and near to us. In God’s presence we find our heavenly hope and hope for the entire cosmos.  Heaven is a love song composed of God.

I love it when you read to me

And you

You can read me anything

The book of love has music in it

In fact that's where music comes from.