Sermon for Proper 8 B

This sermon was given in 1994 before the most recent changes in the lectionary. At that time the story of the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years was left out of the readings. It is a reflection upon why Mark included it in the middle of the story of the healing of Jairus' daughter.

Sermon for Proper 8 B

Given on June 16, 1994

At St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Brentwood

By Rev. Valerie Ann Hart

If the Gospel reading seemed a bit long to you today, that’s because it was. I added a bit extra. Each Sunday we are mandated to read what is in the lectionary for that week, but it is up to the discretion of the priest to add to the readings. If we followed the lectionary today we would hear only the story of Jairus’s daughter. This is a powerful story even if standing alone. Certainly much could be preached about it. Themes of faith, and resurrection, the meaning of death and of life are there to be drawn upon. But when Mark wrote the story down he chose to add in the middle of it the story of the woman who had been bleeding. By editorial prerogative he could have put that story somewhere else, or even left it out, but instead he sandwiched it in the middle of another story. The people who put together the Sunday lectionary, unlike Mark, chose to leave the story of the hemorrhaging woman out. She doesn’t show up in the readings for any other Sunday, and I feel her story is too important to ignore. In addition, I feel that Mark must have had a reason for combining these two stories together, so I read the whole thing.

Jairus is a leader of the synagogue, that would be like being a Bishop and a mayor wrapped into one. Leaders of the synagogues had religious respect and authority, and were also community leaders. He was undoubtedly also well off financially.

In contrast, the woman who is hemorrhaging doesn’t even have a name. She has spent all her money on doctors, so she must have been quite poor. She has been bleeding for twelve years, which is usually interpreted to be a menopausal problem. When a woman was bleeding in ancient Israel she was considered unclean, ritually impure. In fact a man who touched (or was touched by) a menstruating woman was considered impure and had to go through certain rituals and wait at least twenty-four hours before being considered clean again. A man who was ritually impure was not allowed to enter the temple or partake in any religious services. Imagine what it would have been like for this woman. An outcast, untouchable for twelve years. Desperate she committed an unthinkable act - she touched a rabbi - thereby making him unclean as well.

Yet Jesus responded to her with as much compassion and love as he did to the rich Jairus. She is healed, not condemned.

Then Mark describes Jesus as continuing on with Jairus, without any purity rituals, without waiting the appointed time, and bringing the little girl back to life. A great miracle is performed by a ritually impure rabbi.

I believe Mark put these two stories together to emphasize Jesus’ total acceptance of all people. The rich and powerful and the most lowly and outcast are all welcomed and loved by Christ. It is the model which Mark would have us follow - total acceptance of all. It would have been easy for Jesus to focus his ministry on the rich - he could have healed them and lived will. But he didn’t, he responded to the poor, the outcast as well. It would have been easy for Jesus to only focus on the poor, to say that the powerful were already too corrupt. But he didn’t, he healed the rich and the powerful as well.

The community which Christ began - the Church - is called to welcome all. There is never a fee to enter the church. We are not judged by the amount of money in our pockets or the power that we wield. We are all in need of Christ’s healing love, rich or poor, powerful or outcast. We are all equal in his loving eyes.

Right now I feel a little like that hemorrhaging woman. I feel a bit awkward and unsure. I need to reach our and touch your robes for the health of this church. Asking for money is difficult for me. I don’t like to focus on the needs of the church, especially in a sermon, but I don’t know any other way to do this. This church, this tiny part of the great Kingdom of God, is in financial need. Each month we spend more than we receive and our savings are being quickly consumed. If St. Alban’s is to continue as a light in the world, if Christ’s work of reconciliation and healing is to continue here, in this form, we quite frankly need more money. The work of Christ will go on regardless of what happens here. The Kingdom of God is greater than you or I or St. Alban’s, but I believe we have some unique gifts to bring to this community and if you feel so also I ask you to increase your pledge or fill out a pledge card in the back of the church.

In the letter read today Paul writes to the Corinthians about members of the church in another city saying:

During a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave accord to their means, and even beyond their means, begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints. Begging for the privilege of sharing in the ministry.

In my mind from the readings today there can be no question about the kind of life a Christian is called to live. It is a life in which all people are valued, where no one needs to be ashamed because of their lack of the ability to give and no one is to be proud because of their wealth. It is a life in which one gives all that one can. It is a life where people give out of the abundance of joy that they have experienced as Christ’s gift to them.

All of us, rich and poor alike, are like the woman who feels she is unworthy to speak to the Lord and ask for his healing, yet has faith that just to touch his hem will heal her. We come on our knees to Christ, awed by the greatness of his gift to us, knowing that there is nothing we can do that would even begin to equal it. So we offer to Christ what we have, our time, our talents, our treasure. Not out of ought, but joyfully wanting to share in the privilege of Christ’s ministry to the world.

Sermon Proper 6 B

Parables are like seeds sown in the heart where they can sprout and grow.

Proper 6 B

Sermon given on June 15, 1997

At St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Brentwood

By Rev. Valerie Ann Hart

Mark 4:26-34

A handful of wheat, five thousand years old, was found in the tomb of one of the kings of ancient Egypt. Someone planted the grains and, to the amazement of all, the grains came to life.

A parable is like a seed. No matter how long ago the story was told, when planted in the heart, in the mind, in the soul, it can come to life and grow. Each time we remember the story, each time a new event in our lives triggers a remembrance of the parable, there is a new understanding, and the seedling grows. Each time, each retelling, each rereading, each remembering the depth of understanding grows.

Jesus taught in parables, in puzzles, with stories that his hearers would remember, would think about, that would aid and nurture the spiritual growth of the hearer.

There are parables of words, and parables of action.

A sannyasi, an Indian holy man, had reached the outskirts of a village and settled down under a tree for the night when a villager came running up to him and said, "The stone! The stone! Give me the precious stone!" 

"What stone?" asked the sannyasi. 

"Last night the Lord Shiva appeared to me in a dream," said the villager, "and told me that if I went to the outskirts of the village at dusk I should find a sannyasi who would give me a precious stone that would make me rich forever.” 

The sannyasi rummaged in his bag and pulled out a stone.  "He probably meant this one, " he said, as he handed the stone over to the villager.  “I found it on a forest path some days ago.  You can certainly have it.”

The man gazed at the stone in wonder. It was a diamond; probably the largest diamond in the whole world for it was as large as a person’s head.  He took the diamond and walked away.

All night he tossed about in bed, unable to sleep. The next day at the crack of dawn he woke the sannyasi and said, "Give me the wealth that makes it possible for you to give this diamond away so easily.” 

A gift, an act of love, a touch, a statement, the telling of one’s own story can be a seed, planted in the heart, which grows to enlighten the soul. The gift given without expectation, the seed planted without knowing how, or why or if it will grow. The faith of the farmer who keeps scattering seed on the ground even though he doesn’t know why or how. Even though sometimes for days and nights he sees nothing above the ground. The seeds are scattered in faith - faith that somehow they will bear fruit.

The Samaritan woman put down her water jar and went off to the town.  She said to the people, "Come and see the man who has told me everything I ever did.  Could this be the Messiah?"

What a wonderful teacher was the Samaritan woman! She gave no answers. She only asked a question. She planted the seed of a question. It must have been tempting to give the answer because she had gotten it directly from Jesus when he said, “I am the Messiah.  I who am talking to you."  But she was content to scatter the seed of a question and let it grow.

Many more became disciples because of what they heard from his own lips. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard him ourselves, and we know that this is, indeed, the Savior of the world.  "

We too need to be like the farmer who scatters seeds. We are called to scatter seeds - seeds of our own stories - the parables of our own lives - seeds of faith, seeds of love, seeds of gifts given without expectation. We plant the seeds in those we care for, in those we meet, in our neighbors, our friends, and our children. We tell the stories, we ask the questions, we give the gifts and then we sleep and rise night and day and let the seeds sprout, and grow and rejoice that the smallest of seeds can become the greatest of all shrubs.

Sermon Proper 5 B

Here is something I wrote back in 1994 that includes some reflections on martyrdom. Who would have thought then that 20 years later the news would include information about people killed just because they are Christians.

Proper 5 - Year B

June 5, 1994

Sermon Given at St. Alban’s, Brentwood

By Rev. Valerie Ann Hart

During the past several weeks I have received in the mail two letters asking that vicars and rectors set aside this Sunday for a special purpose. The first was from the bishop of our diocese concerning the Episcopal Charities Appeal and the second was from the Ugandan AIDS project, asking that we remember the Ugandan Martyrs who appear on our calendar on June 3rd. I said something about the Episcopal Charities appeal in my newsletter and I will say more about it later, but first I’d like to talk somewhat about the Ugandan Martyrs. If you are like I was before I started Seminary, you probably never heard of the Ugandan Martyrs. Rather than try and describe them myself, I would like to read you the letter describing the background on the Ugandan Martyrs that I received

(Here I read from the letter which I no longer have)

It is hard for us who live in the United States, a country that has had total religious freedom for more than 200 years, to really comprehend martyrdom. It is hard for us who have never had to chose between life and our belief in Christ to realize that people have been systematically killed because of the belief in Christ not just centuries ago, but in 1977. It is hard for us who come to church on Sunday mornings when it is convenient, when we are not too tired, when there is nothing else we need to do on Sunday to imagine what it was like for Christians who lived under communism to meet in secret and risk losing everything in order to go to receive the Eucharist. It is hard for us who live such secular lives to realize that a religion could be that important in a person’s life.

What is it that would bring someone to a willingness to give their lives for Christ? It is not out of duty, or ought, (the primary motivators in much of American religion) but rather a response - a response to the love of God demonstrated through Jesus Christ. It is a response to the freedom we have been given through Christ’s sacrifice, the freedom from bondage to sin and guilt. The Old Testament reading today concerning Adam and Eve’s refusal to accept responsibility for their actions and the subsequent separation from God was wiped out by Christ’s loving sacrifice. All need to feel guilty and separated from God was wiped clean by the inconceivable love shown by Christ. Christ knows us, sees us, sees through us, sees all the little fears and guilts and mistakes…and…he loves us. To paraphrase Mr. Rogers, “he loves us just the way we are.” And that love transforms us, and helps us to become the people God intends for us to be.

To be willing to die for someone who gives us ourselves is not so surprising. To be willing to give up all for the one who is the source of all the we are, all that we have, is not so surprising When we realize how much we are loved, when we realize that all we have, all we are, is a loving gift from God, when we know that we belong to Christ, then we must respond.

In the Gospel reading today Jesus says:

And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Those who just say that they are related to Christ, are not acknowledged, only those who “do the will of God.” When we know that we are Christ’s, that each breath is a gift, that all we have is a gift, that every penny that passes through our hands is a gift, that the beauty of the sky and the trees are gifts, that our very lives are gifts from a loving sacrificing God, how can we not respond? How can we not try to do the will of God?

The Episcopal Charities are one way in which the will of God is done in our name by the Episcopal Diocese of California. There are people out there ministering to the homeless, the elderly, the lonely, those addicted to drugs and alcohol, mothers who are struggling to raise children alone, people dying, people diagnosed with AIDSS. These people who are doing the will of God in our name thorough these Episcopal Charities ask for our support, especially our financial support. By giving to the Episcopal Charities Appeal we do the will of God by financially supporting those who are doing the will of God throughout the diocese.

We as a church, as the St. Alban’s community, are also called to do the will of God. When you financially support the church you help this entity to do the will of God. Now we do not have enough money even to balance a very limited budget. How can we together do what our church is called by God to do in the community of Brentwood without consistent financial support?

And we are called to do the will of God as individuals. To strive to do the will of God in our work environments, to strive to do the will of God in our families, and to strive to do the will of God during our leisure time.

All that we have, all of our time, all of our talents are gifts from God and we are called to be stewards of these gifts and to in all ways and at all times consider whether our choices are consistent with the will of God. When we do this, when we feel our actions are consistent with the will of God, we experience a deep inner satisfaction and we know that we are indeed Christ’s sisters and brothers.