Sermon for Proper 22 A - St. Francis

What follows is a transcription of a sermon I gave October 2 of 2011. We were honoring St. Francis that day and would be blessing animals immediately following the sermon. I always enjoyed sharing our worship with our animal friends. That Sunday I based the sermon on the lectionary readings for Proper 22 A and retold the parable of wicked tenants from a 21st century perspective.

Proper 22 A

Blessing of the Animals

Transcribed from a sermon given

October 2, 2011

Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church

The Rev. Valerie Ann Hart

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be always acceptable in your sight O Lord our strength and our redeemer.

Please be seated, or should I say “Sit!”

If you were reading along or singing the psalm with the choir you saw where I got that statement that I almost always use to begin my sermons. It is from that Psalm, number 19.

I would like to tell the parable that Jesus gave us today in the manner it might be told in the 21^st century. Let’s imagine that Bill Gates has discovered a new area that is very poor and a town that has absolutely nothing. So he goes there and he builds a factory. He puts in wells. He builds houses for the people who will work in the factory. He puts in a large garden so the people can be well fed. He plants fruit trees for the future and sets everything up for this town to thrive. The people of the town are so thankful, so appreciative of what they have been given. Then Mr. Gates picks out a few of the more intelligent and sophisticated of the people and says; "Now you will be the managers and you will oversee what happens.” You are to send me a certain percentage of whatever you make so I can reinvest it other places, and you are to see to it that everyone has a good life. Then he goes off to another country in another part of the world to help them out.

 Well, at first the people are so thankful to Mr. Gates for having done this and helping them out that when it comes time and they add up how much money they’ve made that year they have no trouble sending the percentage that was expected back to Mr. Gates. They have more than enough now, with enough food and housing, and so forth. Well a few years down the road the managers realize that they haven’t heard back from Mr. Gates and there is no way for Mr. Gates to know how much they are making, so why are we sending him the full percentage? We can send him less and he would never know. So each year they send a little bit of a smaller percentage of what they have made, because after all they are enjoying how they live and they want to live better. Especially the managers who want to build some new houses that are a little bigger than the other houses and they need that extra money to take care of it. Well this goes on for a few years and then comes the rumor. The rumor is, (I think they read it on the internet) the rumor is that Mr. Gates has died. Oh, well, if Mr. Gates has died then this is no longer his factory - it’s now ours. Right? So we don’t need to send him anything. We can just enjoy it, and the managers discover that they need more and more. They work harder than everybody else so they need to have more than everyone else. Some of the people are starting to be a little poor, but that’s their choice that they don’t have as much because they don’t work as hard.

Well after a couple of years Bill Gates say, “How come I haven’t gotten any money from that one town? It has been several years now. I’m going to send one of my chief aids to go and figure out what’s going on.” Well, this chief aid of Bill Gates is a little smarter than the ones in Jesus’ parable and he doesn’t go there and tell them who he is. He just tries to figure out what’s going on. Then he says that this isn’t right. This isn’t yours, this was given to you to use, to take care of and you shouldn’t be treating some people as less than. Some of the people hear and some don’t.

Then that person goes back to Mr. Gates and says, “I’m really concerned. I’m hoping they will change their ways, but there is no guarantee.” Well a few more years go by and they are still not getting their share of the profits so finally Bill Gates sends his son. And his son goes. Well when they find out that it is Bill Gates son they say, “Ah, if Bill Gates is truly dead then if we kill the son it will be ours. We’ll inherit it.”

In this version of the story Bill Gates’ son doesn’t get killed but what do you think of those people? Those people who were given a great gift. They were given a gift of new life. They were given so much opportunity, and they forgot it was a gift. They forgot it didn’t belong to them. What would happen to such a people?

What would happen to us, because after all, everything, everything we have, is a gift from God. The sunshine isn’t ours. The rain isn’t ours. The seeds that are planted and grow up to make food aren’t ours. Our bodies were created by God and are a gift from God. Our intellectual capacity is a gift from God. We didn’t make ourselves smart; we didn’t make ourselves talented. Our hands, with these wonderful opposable thumbs which means we would be able to create all this amazing technology, that was a gift from God. We didn’t will and decide that we would have all of that. It is all a gift.

Now we are celebrating St. Francis today, but I am using the readings that are normally used for this Sunday, not the readings that are for St. Francis, but they certainly fit with Francis.

Let’s begin with the Old Testament reading. It is always good to remember what those basic commandments are. And the very first one, the very first one is, “I am the Lord who brought you out of slavery in Egypt, you will have no other gods before me.” The very first commandment is a reminder that God gives us everything. Our freedom, our lives, all of it. And we are supposed to keep God as number 1. That’s the foundation. That’s the first commandment. No ifs, ands or buts. No I am number 1 except when there is a good football game on. Not I am number 1 but make as much money as you can. Not I am number 1 and if you make me number 1 then I will give you something. It is not a deal. It is not an exchange. I am number 1, period. End of that first commandment.

And when we make God number 1, when we appreciate and realize that God is the source of everything, all of our lives, how can we not live a life of thankfulness and praise. All the time. And that’s St. Francis. St. Francis praised and loved God all the time. No matter what.

He chose poverty because he knew that everything he had was God’s anyway. And he gave away all of it. He wrote some of the words we have been singing today in some of the songs about praising God. One of the last things he wrote was a wonderful ode to God, a poem of praise, which is Hymn 406. So if you look in the blue hymnal for hymn 406 you will recognize the words. “Most high omnipotent good Lord to thee be ceaseless praise outpoured, and blessing without measure. From thee alone all creatures came no one is worthy thee to name. My lord be praised by brother sun who through the skies his course doth run.” And it goes on that everything in creation should praise God. It is a joyous hymn of praise, a poem of praise.

You would expect that someone who could write that sort of praise for God was probably feeling pretty good at the time. But the truth is this was written near the end of Francis’ life. The last few years of his life he was constantly in excruciating pain. His feet were in so much pain he couldn’t walk. So when he wrote this he was in great physical pain. And he was also in emotional and spiritual pain because the order that had founded based on the idea that they would own nothing was now under the control of some of his followers and was starting to buy property. Which he was against. He could see that his order, although still doing good work, was not living up to the deepest commitment that he had. The absolute poverty of Francis was too much for even the Franciscans. And so he was in anguish about that. Imagine being in constant pain and seeing your life work going in a different direction than you’d intended it and being able to write such wonderful praise to God. That was St. Francis. That was St. Francis.

We bless animals around the time of St. Francis’ feast day because it is said that he loved animals. There is a story of him with a wolf and there are stories that he so needed to preach the love of God that if there were no people around to hear it he would preach to the birds. I sometimes try to imagine what Francis might have said to the birds. And I imagine that Francis said to the birds, “You beautiful creatures of God, creatures created by the loving God, sing God’s praise all the time.” And I imagine that if Francis was here today and saw the wonderful creatures we have here, these wonderful dogs who are being so very, very good, he would say, “Animals, you are beloved creatures of God. Created to praise him. Praise and serve God with every breath, with every pant, with every bark. Sing God’s praise.

And I think that Francis might say to us two legged creatures who are gathered here today, “You wonderful creations of God, you blessed of God, know that God loves you and praise God with every breath.”

Amen

Sermon Proper 21A

The readings for this week are all about community and relationship. The bottom line question is what does it mean to love one another.

Proper 21

Transcribed from a sermon given

September 25, 2011

Rev. Valerie A. Hart

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, Arroyo Grande CA

Philippians 2:1-13

Exodus 17:1-7

Matthew 21:23-32

There’s an old story from India about two monks that went up into the Himalayas as hermits to find God and purify themselves. They found two caves that were next to each other and each one went into their cave, taking with them nothing but some straw for a bed. They didn’t see each other for many months as each one worked on their own meditation and their own purity. Of course when the winter came they couldn’t see each other. When spring came and with the spring the sunshine each of the monks took their pile of straw and put it out in the sun because after a winter in the cave it needed to be freshened up a bit. They saw each other there, and the older monk greeted the younger monk, “How are you?” Not too many words, but acknowledging him. The younger monk said, “It was a good winter, I have now conquered my anger.” The old monk said, “That’s wonderful. That’s fantastic, that you are now free from anger.” And then the older monk went over and walked over the straw of the younger monk. At which point the younger monk yelled, “How could you do that! Don’t do that to my straw!” And the older monk said, “Ah, I see that you have conquered your anger.

It is very easy to conquer one’s anger if you are living alone. However, if you have to interact with other human beings it is much more difficult. It is fine to think about one’s spiritual journey when you are alone, but when you are in community, when you are interacting with others, ah, that’s where the real growth happens. That’s when you are confronted by your own stuff. That’s when you begin to have the grist for the mill to smooth things out.

Today we have three readings about community. In the Old Testament we have those delightful people of God that God has freed them from slavery in Egypt. He has taken them away from all of the oppression of the Egyptians. He brings them to the edge of the Red Sea at which point they go, “What? You brought us out here to die? What are you going to do about it Moses?” To which Moses says, “It’s not me, it’s God and God will find away.” Then he parts the sea, and they go across the sea, that great miracle. They get on the other side of the sea and they are free, free to have a new life.

Last week, we heard about how after they had been wandering around for a while, suddenly they were hungry. “Back in Egypt we had plenty of food, and you brought us out here to starve,” they complain to Moses. Once again Moses says, “Don’t complain to me, it’s God who is doing this.” And God provides with them meat, of birds that drop from the sky, and manna they can collect from the ground. Once more God does great wonderful things for them.

A week later in our lectionary, they are someplace with no water and they are thirsty and once again they are complaining. Like most human beings they are looking for someone to blame. So they go to Moses, “It’s your fault, you are the one that brought us out of Egypt. It’s your fault that we are thirsty - do something about it.”

Isn’t it amazing how important it is to have someone to blame. If you have ever been home and your spouse is gone and your children are gone and you are there by yourself and you can’t find your keys you discover that you don’t have anybody to blame for the fact that they are missing. So they blame Moses and Moses says, “Don’t blame me. It’s God.” And of course once again God provides for them. They had forgotten, they had so quickly forgotten about God’s provision, about God’s love, about God’s caring for them.

In the Gospel reading we have a different kind of community. It’s a family, and here we have the father that says there is some work to be done. He goes to the first son and says, “Go do it” and the first son says, “I don’t have time. I’m sorry I can’t do it.” He goes to the second son who says, “Sure Dad, no problem.” If you have raised teenagers you have probably experienced this. You go to one and say, “Go clean your room.” “Dad, I can’t possibly clean my room today, I’ve got all this homework to do and then a friend is coming over and we’ve got this video game we have to play and I haven’t checked my Facebook page for days and….” And then you go to the second son, “Clean your room.” “Oh sure Dad, no problem.” Well the sure Dad no problem, whether working in the vineyard or cleaning their room, they are out there and they see their friends. “Oh, hi, let’s go get a cup of coffee. They go to Starbucks. The friend has a new video game. He goes over and to play the video game, by the time he gets home there is no time to clean his room. He meant to clean his room; there were just other more important things that came up. While the one who had said no goes into his room, sits down to do his homework, looks around and goes, “Yeah this room is kind of a mess, I guess I should pick it up.” And cleans it up.

And Jesus asks the question, “Which one was doing the will of the father?” And of course when Jesus talks about the Father he is talking about God. We’ve all had times in our lives when we have said we are going to do something and then for one reason or another we don’t do it. And we’ve all had times in our lives when we said no I don’t think I’m going to be able to do that and then we change our minds and we realize we really should. It is a very human situation. And what Jesus is saying is that when we are talking to God it is not about our words, and what we say, it is not about whether we can say it all correctly, it is about whether we do it. Or as one might say it is not about talking the talk, it’s about walking the walk. Of living it.

And then we have this wonderful passage about community from Paul in his second letter to the Philippians. If you read Paul’s letters you realize that he had a kind of consistent experience. He would go to some town, he would set up a church, he would then go on to another town and then he would hear about how the first church he had set up was quarreling and arguing or changing the theology or doing something inappropriate. And then he would write to them and say come on guys remember what I said to you - we all have to get along, etc. This particular letter to the Philippians was probably written while he was in jail. So imagine, he’s in jail and trying to encourage his flock. And the challenges that that church had are greater then even the churches today.

We’ve all had at one time or another an experience of a church that had some disagreement. Somewhere, at some time. Imagine the Philippians. Back then there is only one church in town, so if you disagree and you have a fight there is no other church to go to. If you don’t like your minister you can’t go to the other one. If you don’t like the music you can’t go and find a better musicians. You are stuck. If you are going to stay Christian you are stuck with this community. And this community is made up of people who would never encounter each other on a day-to-day basis. They didn’t shop in the same stores, they didn’t walk down the same streets, because you had people who were Jewish, and you had people who had been Pagans - worshippers of pagan gods. You had people who spoke Greek, and people who spoke Latin, and people who spoke Hebrew. You had people who were wealthy and people who were slaves. And you had men and you had women. None of these groups would normally interact with each other. Here they are put together into a community because they have all felt called by Christ. Here Paul is writing to them, and I can’t say it any better than he did. “If there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” In other word, please, if you care about me, if you care about Christ, if your life has been touched, get along, get along. He goes on to say, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.” To me that’s what it means to love one another as Christ loved us.

I had a lot of time to think about love when I was asked to be the officiant at my son’s wedding. I wondered what I was going to say to my son and my daughter-in-law about love, about marriage? What little hopeful pearl of wisdom that they might remember could I say? As I reflected on in I concluded that love has to do with caring about the welfare of the other person.

We have a problem in English because we use the word love for so many different things. In Greek, which the New Testament was written in, there are four different words that are translated as love. But we only have one word for love and we use that same word to say I love my car, I love my spouse, I love my child, I love my dog, I love chocolate. We use the same word even thought they are very different meanings. I love chocolate but not the same way I love my children. And so it is a little hard for us sometimes to talk about love. The kind of love that a spouse has, the kind of love that a parent has, is a love in which you care about that other person’s welfare. That means that you desire for that person to be whole. You want that person to be physically whole, spiritually whole, emotionally whole. You want them to take their gifts and thrive. If you are a parent you know what it feels like when you see your child blossom, when all of a sudden you see them being generous. Or you see them discovering their gifts and finding a new thing that they can do that they are good at. You see the joy in their face. Nothing feels better than that. When you see someone you love growing into the fullness of who they can be as a human being. To me that is what love is about. It is wanting that for the other person.

So in a married couple it is a matter of wanting the partner to be whole. It doesn’t mean always giving them what they want, because sometimes giving them what they want is not good for them, but it means wanting them to be whole and to thrive. It means wanting to give up what you may want in order to have what that other one wants and needs, that will make them whole. And if in the couple both partners are that way then each one can be selfless because they know the other is not going to take advantage of their desire to give. It also means don’t let your partner be abusive or use you because it hurts the person who is the abuser as much as it does the person who is abused. It means that you set limits because that helps that person develop limits.

It is caring about the other. Or the way Paul puts it in regard to community, “Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others.” That is a Christian loving community where each person focuses less on their own interests and more on the interests of others. And that is what, I believe, Jesus meant when he said, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Love one another as I have loved you. How Christ loved us, loves us, is he wants each one of us to be whole. He wants each one of us to know love and to know God. He wants each one of us to thrive. He wants each one of us to have all our gifts be manifested. He wants each one of us to know how much we are loved. And the way he demonstrated that love was by his willingness to die on the cross. So when he was on the cross, even with the pain and the suffering and the humiliation, there was him a sense of joy because he knew that was the best way for all of us to come to know God’s love and to be the people he yearned for us to be. That was his gift to us. And he invites us to love one another as he has loved us.

Sermon Proper 20 A

When Jesus told the parable of the workers in which the workers hired late in the day were paid the same amount as those who had worked all day and am sure that his listeners had the same feeling that we have today - that isn't fair. When it comes to my relationship with God, I am thankful that it is not fair.

Proper 20 A

Matthew 20:1-16

9/19/99

The Rev. Valerie A. Hart

St. Alban’s Episcopal Church

It’s not Fair!

It’s Just Not Fair!

How many times have those of us who are parents heard that complaint?

It’s not fair, she got a bigger piece than I did!

It’s not fair, it’s my turn to sit in the front seat!

It’s not fair, you let him get away with everything!

It’s just not fair!

I work hard at my job, but that  young guy just got promoted!

It’s just not fair!

I’ve been volunteering with the PTA for years, but they elected someone else as president!

It’s just not fair!

My brother has a bigger house

My sister has smarter children

My cousin made a mint in the stock market

My uncle retired early

My nephew is already making more money than I am

My colleague went to Spain for vacation, while I just went to Reno

My neighbor’s dog comes when he calls while mine runs away

She has such wonderful curly hair while I’m stuck with the straight stuff

She has such beautiful straight hair and I just can’t do a thing with the frizzy mess

It’s just not fair!!!

None of us can claim to be immune from the disease of comparing ourselves with others. And, you’ll notice, we always seem to come out on the short side of the comparison (after all, if we compared ourselves with others and found we had more, we wouldn’t be being humble now would we?)

So we compare, and we feel pain, and we complain. We start it as soon as we can talk, and it continues until we either die or become enlightened. And people have been doing this throughout time, or at least back to when Jesus was alive, for clearly the story in today’s Gospel comes from observing behavior.

But making these kinds of comparisons is a disease - a dis ease - for it takes us away from ourselves, away from our relationship with God, and pulls us into a state of feeling that there is not enough. Instead of being thankful and joyful for what we have, we are unhappy and complaining about what we do not have.

So it is with the workers who started out in the early morning. They worked hard and got paid a fair wage - but, others who worked less got the same wage. And that’s not fair. We can all imagine how those first workers felt. We have all found ourselves complaining about what others got rather than appreciating what we have. Most of us easily identify with the early workers.

But today, let’s look at the story from the point of view of the workers hired on late in the day. Who were these people? Well, first of all, all the workers, whether hired early or late were day laborers, the not quite working poor. They were the ones who stand around the Wendy’s on Monument Blvd. in Concord, or out by the shed in the fields of Brentwood, waiting for someone to come by and hire them. They have no regular job. They have no guarantee of work, not benefits, no pension. These are the ones who get paid in cash at the end of the day with no questions asked. So the group is standing around early in the morning, waiting to see what work there is today.

Early in the day, the landowner comes by and chooses workers. He naturally chooses the young and healthy ones. Those he can be assured are hard workers and healthy enough to last through the heat of the day. Later at noon he comes by, and the best have already been hired, so he settles for those who may not have experience or can’t speak English, or are a little old or a little too young.

By three o’clock, most who haven’t been chosen have headed home, but a few souls, desperately in need of work, still hang out in hopes of some small job. These are not your prime workers, but the ones left over. From these the landowner takes all those who might be able to accomplish something in the few hours of light left.

When five o’clock comes, who is left standing there? The feeble, the injured, the ones who have no one to go home to, nothing better to do in life that stand around waiting for a job that never comes. All that’s left at five o’clock are the rejects. Imagine how they felt, when it was so late in the day that all hope of work had vanished, imagine how they felt when the landowner pulled up in a pickup and offered them a job? How do they feel as they jump in the back? They must assume that they will be paid hardly anything, yet they go in hopes of just pennies. They are willing to work, no matter what the job. They are just thankful to be chosen.

Max Lucado imagines the conversation of one of these workers on returning home. “I’d never seen this guy before. He just stopped, rolled down his window, and asked us if we wanted to work. It was already near quitting time, but he said he had some work that wouldn’t wait. I swear, Martha, I only worked one hour and he paid me for the full day.”

“No, I don’t know his name.”

“Of course, I’m gonna find out. Too good to be true, that guy.”

From the perspective of the last ones hired, it is too good to be true. Why did he pick those last ones? Clearly not because they were particularly strong, or able, or intelligent or experienced. They were the dregs, what was left over. Yet they were chosen.

Who are we in this story. Like I said, most of us identify with the ones chosen early in the day, but should we?

We have been chosen by God, not because of anything about us, not because we are particularly good, or brave, or honest , or strong, or noble. We have not been chosen because we have worked so hard. We are the ones who were standing around, and out of nowhere, due to no special gifts of ours, we were chosen by Christ. We are the ones standing around all day, with nothing to show for our time. Yet he picked us, you and I, just as God picked Jonah, who clearly was not gifted with either courage or compassion. Christ has tapped us on the shoulder and chosen us, late in the day.

Why did he pick us? Certainly not for our gifts, after all they came from God in the first place. Certainly not because we have been perfect, for none of us have been. Certainly not because we earned it, no one earns love. We were picked because he wanted to. Because he wanted us. He has grabbed us and brought us home. He has tapped us on the shoulder and said “I love you.” No matter how long we waited or how much time we wasted, we are His and he has a place for us. And no matter when we say yes, whether the first time we feel his call, or not until the last minute, late in the day, we are all offered the same great gift of love and everlasting life.

Those who were chosen last knew to be grateful. Let us always remember to be grateful for the incredible gifts we receive from God, and most of all for the freely given, unconditional love of Christ.

Remember - the last will be first and the first will be last. Let us pray to always be as thankful as one who has been chosen last and therefore knows, really knows, the infinite generosity of God.

Proper 19, sermon given on 9/11/11

Three years ago the tenth anniversary of nine eleven was on a Sunday. This is the sermon I gave that day. It focuses on the Gospel readings where Jesus tells Peter he must forgive not seven times, but seventy seven times.

Proper 19 A

September 11, 2011

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

The Rev. Valerie Hart

Exodus 14:19-31

Matthew 18:21-35

            Unlike some denominations, in the Episcopal Church the preacher does not get to choose the readings for any given day. So here we are on the tenth anniversary of September 11^th and we have the readings that are part of our regular three year lectionary. We hear about the great story of the Exodus and the people of Israel escaping from exile in Egypt. We have Paul talking about how we should not judge others who choose to live out their Christian life in a different way. And we have Jesus making it very clear that for Christians we are to forgive.

            During this past week as I thought about September 11^th and I thought about these three readings there were a lot ways to go in the sermon. Let me start with the first reading, with this great story of the Exodus. We all know it. Many of us may remember Charlton Heston standing with his rod and the sea just parting in front of him. It is the iconic story of the Jewish people. It is when God takes them out of slavery and brings them into freedom. We read it at the Easter vigil because it is pivotal in salvation history. But when I read it this week what struck me about it was not the Israelites getting across the water, but them turning around and seeing the Egyptians getting caught in the mud and great waves coming down over the chariots, the Egyptians and the horses.

            One of the ways that Jewish Rabbis work with scripture is that they’ll tell stories around it. There is a rabbinical tale that God decided to take a couple of days off and made an archangel in charge of the world. When he came back he saw everybody in heaven was rejoicing. He said,  “Why are you rejoicing?” They responded, “It’s wonderful, your people the Israelites are free from slavery.” Then God started to cry. They asked him, “Why are you crying?” and he said, “My children, the Egyptians, are dying.”

            We all know the story that you see in movies. It doesn’t matter whether it is a western, or its science fiction, or its James Bond. There are the good guys, and there are the bad guys, and at some point in time the bad guys get it. We all kind of cheer when the death star explodes and the hundreds or thousands of people on it are killed. And when James bond has done his damage and everything is blowing up all around, we cheer that the bad guys are all getting killed. It is part of our culture. It is part of what it means to be human. When the oppressors get their due, as we would say, there is something pleasing about it.

            But it looked different when I read that Exodus story this week right after reading the Gospel about where Jesus calls us to forgive, not once, not seven times, but seventy seven times. When Peter asks should I forgive seven times that, for him, was a large amount. The Jewish tradition at that point was you should forgive four times. So he said I’ll do it seven times. Also seven is a number that represents completeness. Jesus said “No, seventy seven times.” More than complete - infinite times.

            It is natural for human beings to want revenge, but not for Christians. It is normal in history, for over and over again you see it, that those who have been oppressed, when they get their freedom become oppressors. But not for Christians. It is normal when we are hurt to want to hurt back, but not for Christians. Human beings biologically, evolutionary wise, are not made for forgiveness. That’s not “natural”. You don’t see forgiveness in the natural world. Instead we are like children. If you look at a small children on the playground you’ll see that when a kid hits another, they get hit back. It’s just what we do. That’s what’s natural. But it’s not for Christians. We are biologically designed for the fight or flight response. That when we feel attacked or afraid our bodies have this whole complex thing that goes on where hormones are put out and the blood leaves the inner organs so it can be in the muscles so that we are strong in our arms if we want to fight and we have lots of energy in our legs if we need to run. And we are all set. There have been psychological studies where if you give this hormone to people and half have had that hormone and half haven’t, the ones who had that hormone, if somebody does some small thing to irritate them, get really angry because their body is ready to react. It is not a choice - our bodies do it. It’s natural to want revenge. But it is not Christian. It is not what Christ calls us to.

            When we are deeply hurt, deeply wounded, when someone we have trusted has betrayed us, when we have been abused, when we have been physically injured, when someone we love has been physically injured or killed, when a monstrous things happens and we are deeply, deeply wounded, it is more comfortable to be angry than to feel the pain of the lose and grief. You often see this in families.  When one member of the family dies, the rest are busy trying to decide whose fault was it? When my husband’s grandmother died and we were sitting around in the funeral home and going to lunch, the whole family was asking questions. Was it the doctor’s fault for not curing her from her cancer? Was it her daughter’s fault because she was living with her and she should have noticed and gotten her to the doctor sooner?” Was it the fault of some chemical; was it the fault of some company? Whose fault is it? The family wanted to be able to be angry because that is more comfortable than feeling the loss and the pain. When we can find someone to blame, when we can stay in our anger, we can be focused on doing something, we can go out there and see what we can do to try and make them hurt as much as we hurt. Anger is energizing. With anger you have something to do. When you are angry you feel power. But when you sit with the grief at the loss there is nothing to do. When you sit with the pain and the grief there is no power and energy there. You just have to be… in the pain. So in order to really forgive, this difficult, difficult and unnatural thing to do, we have to experience the pain. It is what Christians do,

            There is a story of two monks, an older monk and younger monk who were on a journey. At one point they got into a squabble about something insignificant. The younger monk got angry and slapped the older monk, and the older monk, pulled back. Then he wrote in the sand exactly what had been done to him. They walked on for a while. Later on the older monk fell in a hole and the younger monk risked his own life to get the older monk out and saved him. Then the older monk took a rock and engraved upon the rock what the young man had done. The young monk said how come when I hurt you, you wrote it in the sand, but when I helped you, you engraved it on a rock. And the older monk said, “Because the times you hurt me I want over time for it to just get blown away, but the times you help me I don’t want to ever forget.”

            Forgiveness is like that. It’s not something that we just will. It’s not something that we can do alone, especially for really significant pain. But it is something we open ourselves up to the possibility of by offering it to God and asking for God’s help, By asking God to help us in that most unnatural of things which is real forgiveness, that most difficult of things, which is to be with the pain and let it go.

            Nine eleven was a horrible experience for all of us. There was deep loss, deep pain. I am sure some of you, like me, have watched the things on TV reflecting on it. I have seen interviews with people who amazingly have taken great lose and turned it around so that it has empowered them to be instruments of positive things in the world. And I saw an interview with people who got hurt by the anger that was around after nine eleven - the judgments of people who are different than we are. I also saw interviews with people who are still struggling with the pain and the loss.             There is something in humanity that wants revenge and that day when Osama Ben Laden was killed I didn’t know how to feel. There was a sense of relief. And yet, I couldn’t celebrate the death of a human being. Somehow to see the pictures of people gathering at the white house to celebrate, that’s very human, but it’s not Christian. There are so many feelings and emotions that we struggle with, even after ten years, after something so significant and powerful. We each respond in our own way. We each find healing in our own way. And we each reach a sense of forgiveness and peace in our own way.

            So I would like to lead us in some prayers today. One of the prayers that was suggested by Bishop Mary is on page 815 in the red prayer book in your pew. It is prayer number 3, For the Human Family.

Please join me

Oh God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your son, look with compassion on the whole human family. Take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts, break down the walls that separate us, unite us in bonds of love and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth, that in your good time all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly thrown, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

And I’d like to invite you to join me in the prayer attributed to St. Francis, which is on page 833.

Lord make us instruments of your peace where there is hatred let us sow love, where there is injury, pardon, where there is discord, union, where there is doubt, faith, where there despair, hope, where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Sermon - Proper 17 A - Matthew 16:21-27

Peter did not like the suggestion that this Messiah business involved death. Can you blame him? We don’t want to die either, but to really follow Christ we must die to who we thought we were to become the servants of God that Christ calls us to be.

Proper 17A

Matthew 16:21-27

Sermon given by Rev. Valerie Hart

At St. Alban’s, Brentwood

September 1, 1996

Lord Jesus Christ, I offer myself to you, Body, Mind, Heart and Spirit,

Make me an instrument of your love.

         Last week in the Gospel reading, Jesus asked the question “Who do you say that I am.” Peter had answered with a confession inspired by the spirit that “You are the Christ. The son of the Living God.” Peter had been graced to know the truth that Jesus is the Messiah sent by God.

         In today’s gospel, which follows right after last week’s reading of Peter’s confession and Jesus naming him Peter, the rock, on which he would build his church, we find Jesus saying to Peter, “get behind me Satan,” and rather than being a rock to build on Peter is called a stumbling block. What happened?

         Well, Peter had been graced to know that Jesus was the Messiah, but Peter had his own ideas of what that meant. The Messiah was usually seen as a king for Israel, a conqueror, and a triumphant celebration. Peter did not like the suggestion that this Messiah business involved death. That wasn’t in his preconceived ideas. He liked the attention of the crowds, the thoughts of being a great hero, the love he felt being with Jesus, the peace he had found walking with him. It all felt really good to his ego. He didn’t want to hear anything about death. He didn’t want to be told that Jesus would soon be killed. He didn’t want to lose all these good feelings he was having. He was comfortable; things were going well. Why change things now?

         I think Peter also realized that if Jesus, their leader was to die, that they, his followers. also needed to be ready to die. And we all have a very strong sense of self-preservation. Perhaps Peter hoped that if he could convince Jesus not to take this dangerous road, he could protect himself as well.

         But that is not the kind of Messiah Jesus was called to be. He was called to sacrifice himself for all people. And he calls his followers also to be willing to sacrifice themselves.

         Paul uses the image of presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. Offering ourselves, rather than some animal, rather than our goods, but our very selves to God. That is the true spiritual worship. Jesus said that those who lose their life for my sake will find it. Sometimes when I read these words I feel a little like Peter. Hey, this is not the kind of savior I had in mind. I like the good feelings I get in church, I like feeling loved by God, and I enjoy the beauty of the parables and the sense that Jesus is my shepherd. I like the story of the infant baby, the joy of the resurrection, but I’m not to sure about this dying stuff, this giving our bodies as a living sacrifice. My sense of self preservation sometimes jumps in and wants to re think things.

         What does it mean to lose one’s life so that we can find it? Well think about what happens when we graft a tree. We may find an apple tree that has very sweet fruit, but the roots are not very healthy, so we cut the tree off from its roots, literally killing it, and then take it and graft it onto healthy roots, where the sapling can grow strong. The original tree is dead, but a stronger, healthier, tree has been created that can bear wonderful fruit. Like that tree, we must be cut off from the roots that hold us back, that do not nourish us, that keep us from bearing the fruit we can, and we are grafted into the strong and healthy root of God’s Son.

         I once saw an ad in one of those catalogs we get each spring for a tree that had apples, pears, and peaches. One root had had grafted onto it three different trees. Each bearing different fruit. The various trees had quite literally become one tree, no longer three separate trees.

         Paul describes the fellowship of all Christians as one body with many members. All Christians who have offered their lives as a living sacrifice become grafted to the one source, Christ, and thereby become one body. One entity. Each of us has different gifts, like apples, pears and peaches. An apple still gives apples and shouldn’t feel bad about not giving peaches. Christ needs all of our gifts to bring the kingdom of God to earth.

         Through giving up of our sense of separateness, by offering ourselves to be of service, by letting our bodies be a living sacrifice, we become so much more. But we do have to die to our old sense of who we were. We do need to cut ourselves off from that which keeps us from love and service. We do have to die. And that is not easy, and doesn’t happen all at once. Sometimes we feel that we have let go of an old habit or way in which we didn’t serve God, only to find that that root is still there, we fall back into old ways of being.

         Each day we need to offer ourselves anew. Remind ourselves of who we really are - loved servants of the Christ. I as a clergy person I need to remind myself each day more than anyone. And in my morning meditations I usually begin with a prayer something like this:

Lord Jesus Christ, I offer myself to you, Body, Mind, Heart and Spirit,

Make me an instrument of your love.

Take my head to be in your service,

Take my brain and power of reason to know what is right,

Take my eyes to see your glory surrounding me,

Take my ears to hear the cries of the poor and the whisper of your love,

Take my mouth to speak your Word,

Take my tongue to taste the gift of life,

Take my throat to sing your praise,

Take my neck and make it strong to hold my head high in your service,

Take my shoulders to bear whatever burdens you choose to give me, and help me know I never bear them alone,

Take my arms and make them strong to work for your kingdom and gentle to hug and hold and express your love,

Take my hands to take and bless and break and give, guide them in all their actions reaching out with love to others,

Take my chest for your service; with each breath let me be filled with your sweet air and your divine spirit.

Take my heart and let it be full and open, loving all in your name,

Take my backbone and make it strong, giving confidence to do your will,

Take my internal organs, those wonderful gifts that keep the body running, and make them healthy in your service,

Take my pelvic area, may all my sexuality be an expression of your love,

Take my legs and make them strong to carry me wherever you may call,

Take my feet and let them follow paths of love and service.

Oh Lord, how I long to hold, to touch, to kiss your feet, thank you for calling me to be your servant.

Lord Jesus Christ, I offer myself to you, Body, Mind, Heart and Spirit,

Make me an instrument of your love.

A man who had two sons - Luke 15:11

This week I am sharing some thoughts about the parable of the prodigal son. In particular I am exploring what it tells us about the role of Christian community in welcoming people home to a relationship with God.

‘There was a man who had two sons.” - Luke 15:11

This quote introduces one of Jesus’ most famous parables. Sometimes called the story of the Prodigal Son, I prefer to think of it as being about the extravagant father. If only this story remained of Jesus’ teachings he would still be seen as a wise spiritual leader who transformed our understanding of God and the human relationship with God. Lets take a look at the parable in some detail.

Then Jesus said, ‘There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.”

The story begins with the younger son wanting his inheritance NOW. He is not willing to wait until his father is dead. He has no concern for what need his father may have for this wealth during his lifetime, he has no concern for his elder brother and he shows no love for his father.

So he divided his property between them.

One would expect the father to be insulted by such a request and to say “absolutely not.” But this father is different. He in extraordinarily generous and gives his son freedom to do as he wishes.

A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything.

The son is a complete failure. During his time away he has wasted his inheritance and fallen to the bottom of the social ladder. He now has nothing.

But when he came to himself he said, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’ ” So he set off and went to his father.

The son has reached such a low point that he “came to himself.” He realizes the mistake he has made and is ready to go home. He does not go home a hero, but rather, humbled. There is still no indication here that he truly cares about his father. Yes, he plans a speech in which he acknowledges his guilt, but his motivation appears to be a desire for some bread and security.

But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.

The father’s motivation is clear. He is filled with compassion. He runs to his son who had insulted him and wasted his money. One should note that in the Middle East during this time period a wealthy man would never run. That was undignified. Yet this father’s extravagant love for his son compels him to such a warm greeting.

Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

The son is unable to say his entire prepared speech because the father is more interested in welcoming him home then listening to a confession. What matters to the father is the well being of his son. And by having the servants put a ring on his finger he is making it clear that he is still his son. Even though the son treated the father as dead, even though the son denied his relationship with his father, the father has always considered him his child.

This could have been the end of the parable. It is in fact all that most people know about it. The point is clear. God loves us like this extravagant father. God is waiting for us to return. When we have walked away from God’s love, at the first sign of our desire to return to a relationship with God, God comes to us.

This is a strong and powerful message. It is at the heart of Christianity, that God is anxious to forgive us and return us to our place as children of God. Many struggling souls have found solace in this story and found the courage to renew their relationship with God because of it.

But Jesus did not end the parable at this point. There is more, and the more is not about the one who has left God, but about those of who remain in relationship with the Father.

And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate.

Suddenly it is not just between the father and the son, there is an entire community to welcome the son home. When the son left, he left not just his father, but a community made up of the entire household, including his father’s servants. The return home of the son is a time of celebration for everyone. Well, almost everyone.

‘Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what was going on. He replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.” Then he became angry and refused to go in.

The elder brother is angry, and refuses to celebrate the return of the younger son. He is the “good son”. He represents those who have remained faithful to God and worked hard for the church. Let’s hear his side of the story.

His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!”

Most of us can sympathize with the elder brother. Here he has been “good” and worked hard while his brother, at least from the elder son’s perspective, was having fun. Also, since his brother already got his inheritance, where is the money for the party coming from? Shouldn’t the one who has stayed, been faithful, and worked hard be the one to receive the rewards?

I took a course in seminary on bringing biblical humor to life and we were assigned as groups to take some passage from scripture and act out an alternative approach to understanding it. One of the groups had a trial scene before a judge where the elder brother is trying to have the judge declare his father legally incompetent to handle his monetary affairs because he gave his younger brother so much of his estate and is now giving him more - even though there is every reason to believe that it too will be wasted.

But that is not Jesus’ point of view.

Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”

From the father’s perspective, from God’s perspective, a son has found his way home, so of course we celebrate. By including the story of the elder son in his parable Jesus is making an important point. Those who consider themselves to be followers of Jesus, those who would be his disciples, are the servants of God. It is their job to celebrate the return. It is the servants who bring the robe and the ring. It is the servants who put on a feast and party with music and dancing. God forgives and accepts the child who has strayed and is ready to return, but it is the members of church community, who are responsible for the celebration. They are the ones who put flesh on the extravagant love of God. The return to God is a return to a community, and it is up to the community to provide the welcome home celebration.

Think about this - when a new person walks through the door of a church, does the entire congregation celebrate as if a brother was dead and has come to life? Is there rejoicing that someone who was lost has been found? Or is the reaction a little like the elder son who resents this person coming into “my” church? Or even worse, does no one notice or care?

Half of the parable of the Extravagant Father is about the church community and how the community is to respond to a fellow child of God who is attempting to return to a relationship with God. If Christ’s primary message of God’s extravagant love is summed up in first half of this parable, then the second half of the parable sums up his message to the community of his followers - love one another (especially those who have just come home).

This is the responsibility of the community of faith - to welcome people home. It is the church's primary responsibility. It is the reason for the church’s existence - to welcome people home to God and support one another is staying in relationship with God.

Welcome Home Part 1 - The importance of being a welcoming community

This week, and for the next few weeks, I do not have a copy of a sermon that I can share on this blog. Instead I will be sharing some of the thoughts I have had about how the church can be a truly welcoming community.

Walking into a church on a Sunday morning can be quite intimidating for a new person. Approaching and entering a strange building that is filled with people who know one another takes a great deal of courage. One must be highly motivated to cross that threshold. There must be a longing of some kind, a need or a hope that drives one into the personal space of an unknown community. This is a vulnerable position heightened by a fear of doing or saying something wrong because one doesn’t know the social norms, the language or the expectations of the community. It is not unlike disembarking alone off an airplane in a country where you know no one and don’t speak the language.

After twenty years of active ministry as an Episcopal priest I am having an opportunity to experience what it feels like to be the stranger. I have begun my retirement traveling around the country visiting friends, relatives and national parks in my RV. During these months on the road I look for a church each Sunday. Wherever I am on Saturday night I take out my smart phone and search for a nearby Episcopal Church. I then go to the website or call the office of nearby churches and see which one to attend. Sometimes I get a sense to either explore or ignore a church based on its website. Usually I chose the church by location and time of services.

Even though I have been a part of the Episcopal Church in one way or another throughout my entire life, at these congregations I am a stranger. My church visiting experiences are varied. There were places where I feel a warm welcome and that I am immediately a part of the community. More often I feel ignored, tolerated or downright unwelcome. All that I have learned at church growth seminars, all that I have tried to incorporate into the worship of the churches where I have served, takes on a new meaning as I live the role of the stranger.

After some months on the road I came to have a longing for a home. Not a longing for a physical home, but for a church home. I realized that something deep in my soul longed for a spiritual community. I came to realize that when someone walks into a gathering of a spiritual community, they are consciously or unconsciously longing to come home to the divine.

From these experiences I have come to a new understanding of the great spiritual importance of the role welcome within the spiritual community. I could even say that the primary purpose of a spiritual community is to welcome the stranger home to a relationship with the divine.

My posts for the next few weeks will be exploring what that means and how a community can be truly welcoming.