All Saints Anglican Church Sermons

Being Remade

A Homily for Septuagesima

February 9, 2020

All Saints Anglican Church, Prescott, AZ

 

Text: Matthew 5:1-12

 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

 

            When you think of humanity what comes to mind? Perhaps the great love stories, or the noble war stories, or perhaps the terror of the cruelty of man as we’ve seen in the modern age? Or perhaps you think of flesh and blood and sinew, or the beauty of your first love, or the distinct smell of you care deeply for who has now gone to their rest.

But what about of statues? As westerners this could be a rather foreign concept to us, but if we lived in the ancient Near East this description might peek our interest.

            Let me explain, perhaps you might remember the fall of Sadam Hussain about twenty years ago. I still have this vivid image of liberated Iraqis pulling down the statues that Sadam has erected in towns throughout his country. This act of ripping down the statues wasn’t just an act of rebellion, it wasn’t just an act of anger at Sadam, though those were undoubtedly a part of the motive, the action of destruction said something very poignant. It said – this man no longer rules us, this country no longer belongs to this dictator, we are removing his image from our land.

            Statues in the ancient, and not so ancient Near East act as symbols of who is in charge, symbols of who the lands belong to.

            And so when I say, do you think of humanity as being statues? This is no mistake – for when we read the wording of the creation of mankind we hear that “male and female are created in the image and likeness of God.” The early readers of Genesis 1 would have known – humanity was placed on earth as a visual and outward reminder that the earth is the Lord’s. Humanity, male and female are visual reminders, statues in the center of town, if you will, that the earth belongs to God.

            This basic fact may help us to worship God better – and to love even our enemies better. How would your perspective change if when you saw a your best friend and recalled the creative power of our Lord?

            Or what about when you saw your spouse or your child?

            Or your annoying co-work or neighbor?

            Or someone who has hurt you deeply or someone who hates you?

            How does recognizing that God created the person sitting next to you change how you approach them?

(pause)

            But then returning to creation – something terrible happened. Perhaps it was an hour or ten years – we do not know, and it does not matter, but the first statues, the first people, did what they were forbidden to do. They ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and rebelled against God, they rejected their ruler, they rejected the one whom they were created in the image of and in this act the image was not lost, but became tarnished.

            Sin entered into the world and it’s horrible grime covered and marred that image.

            And immediately God, the creator enacted his plan for the restoration of those image bearers, He enacted His plan for our restoration his plan for the salvation of humanity.

First came the Law. Moses went up into the mountain – and he was given the law from God, there he communed with God and God spelled out what he expected from His chosen people, God spelled out a pathway to restoration for them.

            But even this pathway did not free them from sin, did not free them from the dreadful and deadly tarnishing that entered with the first image bearers’ rebellion.

            But then another took on the image – took on the image, became the perfect image of God and He too went into the mountain but He did not communion with God on that mountain, but rather He was God, and He taught as one with authority, He taught as one who had the right to say what He said. And this teaching is where we pick up this morning in the story of Christ and the story of our salvation.

            When Christ goes up the mountain and teaches what we know as “the sermon on the mount” – St. Matthew uses the exact same phrase at the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible uses for when Moses ascends Mt. Sinai, inextricably linking that moment of Moses’s life and Christ’s life, and marking the difference in that Christ does not receive, nor does he need to receive from God the new ethics of the new covenant, for Christ was God incarnate.

            And now the beatitudes, as they are commonly called are the gateway into Christ’s teaching, the disposition that we are called to have as Christians, the disposition of our hearts when Christ takes them and molds them and restores them. In this molding and restoration we see the beginning of the restoration of the images of God, we see God sanctifying us, and renewing that image that was all but lost by sin.

            And Christ declares – blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

            What does it mean to be blessed? In our Christianized world perhaps we have exhausted the word “blessed,” we speak of getting a fancy new car as being a blessing, we speak of friendships, possessions and other things as blessings. We say “father, your sermon was a real blessing to me” when we like the sermon, and sometimes more tech savvy folks uses the hashtag “blessed” when they’re pleased with how things have gone. This may not be a bad thing – for our lives are rich when we see the hand of God working in them.

            But I wonder if we know what it means here. Some translations prefer “happy,” but when we get to “blessed are those who mourn,” we might make it seem as though Christ is not declaring something good and beautiful – but rather being a bit insensitive, for how could he say “happy are those who mourn!” We might think – what cruel language.

            A modern paraphrase prefers “in-luck,” and this is an interesting take and not all that farfetched – when we understand the translator’s rationale – if Christ is who he says he is – if Christ is God – then the poor, the mourning, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteous, those who are merciful, the pure of heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted, then and only then are they indeed in luck, but if he is not – then, my, how unfortunate we are, how unlucky we are. For our hope for the future rests in Christ being who he says. (And he is who he says he is).

            But, still, as I contemplate these phrases I find myself coming back to the word Happy, there’s something about “happy” that is so simple and attractive – happy if we have a right definition of it. Happy as the fulfilment of our eternal hope, happy as finally, fully having communion with God, happy as I heard it defined this past week – as that emotion when we see a friend from afar and know you will soon be with him.

            We know that feeling – our hearts jump a little bit, we become joy-filled, we think at long last my friend is here! I see him over there, we will hug, we will laugh, we will talk of our joys and sorrows, and bear each other’s burdens and delight in each other’s joys, though it is weary, my soul can rest easy now.

            Happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

            Happy are we, for we know Christ is restoring His image in us.

            But now we take note – these nine saying take on a tension of already – but not yet – they take on a tone of an end of times promise that we are to rejoice in even though they are not yet fulfilled. Notice the tension throughout the entire beatitudes – tied together by the word “shall,” when we see this here – we should think: already – but not yet. Already – the poor are happy – but it is not yet fulfilled completely. Already are you restored in Christ – but not yet fully.

            Some have hypothesized that we should read this first saying as:

 “bless in the spirit are the poor, for theirs is the king of heaven.”

This would not change our understanding of the poor, but those who are proponents for it say that it clarifies that it is God who will do the blessings, it is because of God’s incarnation that we are in-luck, it is because of God working in Christ that we are called to let our hearts skip with joy. It is God who makes the weary heart happy.

            God makes his people happy – God is the one doing the work. I think, as long as we know where our blessing, our joy, our happiness, our fortune comes from – and it comes from God – reading it as blessed are the poor in spirit, is a fine way to read it.

            But what does it mean to be poor? There is a difference between not having much, and having nothing. Not having much, your car may be crummy, you may only be able to eat beans and rice, you may have cheap clothes with holes in them, but you get by. But this is not what it means to be poor here. To be poor in this context means to be destitute – to have nothing at all.

            Plutarch a secular author who lived half a century or so after Jesus walked on the earth wrote “for the life of a beggar that you describe means existence with nothing, but that of the poor means sparse living and sticking to the job.” This distinction should help us to grasp the difference between being poor and being destitute. Without Christ we are beggars with nothing.

            I suspect that most, if not all of us have experienced some form of being poor, wondering how we’ll pay our bills or get food to eat – but few of us have ever been destitute, have ever had nothing at all.

            And with this in mind – I think here we get a hint at he first reason why some people don’t come to Christ – to come to Christ means to give up your right to everything it means becoming destitute for the sake of Christ –  to come to Christ, God must become the sovereign of your life, God asks you give him all, all your sin, all your virtue, all your shame, and all your joy – everything that makes you – you he asks for – and then to make Him your king – make Him your all, but to come to God, to inherit the kingdom of heaven – first we must become destitute, must like Christ empty ourselves, to empty ourselves of all our earth bound glory – so what we can experience His heavenly glory.

            Happy are the destitute for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

            I spent a fair amount of time breaking down the first beatitude because each will follow a similar formula. We start with the already – not yet statement of blessed, happy, in luck are the people, and then the promise of what the fulfilment of this status will look like.

            The next fortunate group is those who mourn. I cannot imagine that anyone makes it through this life without a significant number of tears, a significant number of pains – we have all experienced loss of ones we love, we have all experienced heart ache, we have all experienced so much pain, and mourn so deeply.

Perhaps my favorite modern musician Andrew Peterson summarizes this guarantee of woundedness in a ballad to his son as he sings of lost hope:

Your first kiss, your first crush

The first time you know you’re not enough

The first time there’s no one there to hold you.

           

            I know few over the age of 20 who have not experienced these things and the hurt that comes with them. For sin entered into the world and tarnished the images we were created in, mutilated the goodness that we were meant to enjoy – and so we mourn – mourn for our brokenness, mourn for our wounds, mourn for what has been lost.

            But – in Christ we are fortunate, we are happy for He is our comforted.

            I have dealt with anxiety habitually throughout my life – I don’t shout this from the roof top – but it’s not a secret to those who know me well. It can be painful at times but one place I’ve found so much comfort is the 23 Psalm – “the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want… (the Lord’s) rod and staff – they comfort me.” And what a good guide he is, exhorting me to repentance, guiding me away from pitfalls, holding me close in my fear and pain when I rest in him, the anxiety diminishes.

            My friends – in this sinful world – you will mourn, you will hurt – you will not get away from it – do not numb your pain with cheep entertainment, with shallow promises, with sinful pleasures – but lean all the more into Christ – because happy are you when you mourn because there is a savior who loves you, who wants to hold you – who will comfort you who will be a balm for you pain. Christ is restoring in you His image.

 

            Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

            The meek are the next to receive hope – we are called to not trust in ourselves. Yet we’ve seen this habitually throughout the history of salvation and of mankind. In Babble they tried to build a tower so they could get to God. Moses struck the rock and In modern times it’s the triumph of the human spirit that has lead to two world wars, to genocide, and to at least 50 million abortions since Row verses Wade. We slaughter each other because we must prove our strength.

            But happy are those who are meek – happy are the humble – happy are those who do not find their strength in themselves – for when the culmination of all things come – then the earth shall be theirs – and the image of God shall be restored in them to perfection.

 

            Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

            We live in a time and a country that places a high value on justice and here Justice and righteousness can be used interchangeable, I think but they mean different things. Yet if we are remotely astute we know that there are those who will be denied justice. This does not mean that we should be satisfied with meager justice, but cry out to God – “how long O Lord, how long until you supply us with perfect justice and righteousness.”

Like our longing for justice, until Christ returns – we will struggle with sin – we will pray St. Paul’s prayer “why do I do the thing that I know I ought not to do! While I do not do the things that I know I ought to do!” We will know this struggle – but in our desire to glorify Christ – our entire being will long – will hunger and thirst – that God’s righteousness be returned to us – and we will long for justice to be poured out when we feel to crippled.

            But we are happy – we count ourselves fortunate for we know the promise of the end – God will pour out mercy and justice – God will restore in us a heart of His righteousness – God is restoring us – and will restore his image in us and in that last day – we will be satisfied for eternity.

 

            Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

            As Christians we are called to be merciful, called to forgive, called to make our enemy list our prayer list. This can be hard – and yet God is merciful, and poured out upon us a deep mercy that we cannot but desire to pour out a mercy upon those who desire it.

            Happy are we when we are merciful – because we know the incredible mercy of God.

 

            Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

            The irony is rich here for as Christ preaches, God incarnate is opening his mouth – is asking his hearers – do you know who I am or are your hearts so corrupt, so tainted that you can’t even see that?

            For us – we pray that God would continue to restore in us His image – restore in us a purity of heart – we pray he would restore in us the desire to see him always and in everything. For me a part of this goes back to praying the 23^rd Psalm – to resting in His good guiding hand – to purify my heart – to help me see his hand in all things – so when I die – I may behold and enjoy that beatific vision – that I may see Him face to face and feel his warm embrace.

            My friends – do not be dismayed if you feel as though your heart is too dark, too grim, too dismal to ever see God – for it is not you who purifies your heart – but the Holy Spirit and so let Him purify you – let him restore in you a new heart – a pure heart – a clean heart – so we can gaze upon Christ.

            Happy are the pure in heart – because they experience God now and will know God as their Father in eternity.

 

            Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.

            One of the attractions of Anglicanism is its peaceable co-existence with other Christians – we seek to be one with many, to break bread with our brothers and sisters, and this is good. And as Christians this is our call – to restore harmony between enemies. But this can be a difficult task, but we seek that road – seek to show those who are disturbed, angry, and lost that true peace is found in Christ.

            Happy are the peacemakers, for we have been adopted by God.

 

            The last two promise us not for a peaceful life if we seek these things, if we are poor, meek, mournful, longing for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, and longing for peace – but rather that we will face turmoil – that the world will mock us and scorn us.

            We long so much for a worldly reward – that we find ourselves lost. Christ promises that we will face adversity in the here and now if we follow after Him, but this adversity will sanctify us – usher us into the kingdom of heaven – and we will behold the face of God – and our eternal reward shall be great and good.

            The cost of restoration – the cost of being sanctified – the cost of Christ wiping away the mire and dirt of sin from His image in us – is turmoil now – but joy in eternity.

            Happy are we when we face persecution.

This is Septuagesima Sunday – which means that it is 70 days before Easter, and the season of preparing our hearts and minds for Lent has come upon us. Lent is a season of praying that God would open our hearts to recognize the places we need restoration, the places we need to repent, the places we need to depend upon Him all the more. As we draw near to Lent, I am going to be challenging you all to pray that the Holy Spirit would reveal in your heart your own brokenness, so you can delve deeper into the restoration that Christ promises us.

I have included the following questions in your bulletin, and this week I want to challenge you to ask God the following – you can pick one or two and pray about them or you can go through each question each day. I realize that this can be a scary task – but I think the fruit of it, will be great and worthwhile so as we draw near to Lent, and perhaps even throughout Lent ask yourselves:

            Are you destitute outside of Christ? Is he your all in all, your everything? Or are there things that you cling to for your salvation outside of him?

            When you mourn is your only comfort found in Christ? Or are there things that you use to numb the pain? Television? Gossip? Alcohol? Food? Pornography?

            Are you meek and humble? Or are you trusting in your own strength to save yourself?

            Do you long for God’s righteousness and justice? Or do you dismay and trust in your own righteousness?

            Are you willing to be merciful to all people? Or do you hold grudges, and let bitterness persist in your heart?

            Is your heart pure? Or do you chase after sin, after strife, after the false promises of the world?

            Do you long for peace and strive to bring peace to those around you? Or does turmoil and strife rule your heart, and do you stir up dissension in the world?

            Do you rejoice in persecution? Or do we see it as a chance to grumble?

            I hope you join with me in praying through these questions – and in this you find the deep and unending joy that Christ has promised us today – that in this you see how Christ – takes our spiritual poverty and makes us inextricably rich, that you may see Christ’s hand of mercy restoring in you the image of God.

            A writing from the first or second century of the church summarizes its teaching on the Sermon on the Mount in the following: “for if you can  bear all the yoke of the Lord you shall be perfect, but if you cannot, do that which you can.” My dear Friends – do what you can and let the Holy Spirit work richly in you.

            In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

He is No Fool

A Homily for The Presentation of Christ

February 2, 2019

All Saints Anglican Church, Prescott, AZ

 

Text: Luke 2:29-32

 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

 

            On January 3, 1957 four missionaries landed their plane upon a small sand strip in the Curary River in the jungle of Ecuador, some time be for this the young men had sensed a call from the Lord to reach the Huaorani people, who were known for being a particularly violent and relatively unreached people group. They had flown over the village and made initial contact and were hoping to soon make further contact, they knew this calling was dangerous, and perhaps deadly.

            After three days a small group from the Huaorani reticently made contact with the missionaries. They took one of the young man flying on the plane, and at first all seemed peaceable. However, the leaders of the tribe became suspicious, and rightly so, because other outsiders were equally eager to make contact, but this contact was in hopes of taking away their land.

            Soon jealousy over whelmed the leaders of the Huaorani and they planned an attack on the missionaries. At 3 pm on January 8^th, the Huaorani made contact again, but this time with the intent of attacking and killing the four men. Shortly after this the missionaries were dead, and fearing retribution the Huaorani torched their village and fled. 

            One of the missionaries names was Jim Elliot – he perhaps is the most well know of the four for a number of reasons but one thing he is remembered for is a short statement he wrote in his journal: “he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Elliot and his four friends gave their lives which they knew they could not keep – in order to glorify God, and to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.   

            Perhaps to some of us this sounds absurd, but this morning we meet another man who is waiting with eager expectations to meet Christ, eager to know Christ, and to see his captive people set free. This morning we meet Simeon the prophet.

            As I was studying and thinking about this passage – I was taken away by the thought of how in Christ’s early childhood narratives, he is barely seen, he is simply an infant given to the will of his earthly parents, and as such – shepherds, magi, angels, his parents, and two prophets become the focus of the narrative. Yet – even in this Christ is glorified, and we come to a deeper understand of who he is as our savior and incarnate Lord.

            We of course know Simeon’s song well as it is sung or recited during Evening Prayer, and we refer to it as the Nunc Dimittis. The song was traditionally used by monks during their last time of prayer of the day. The words from Latin mean “now you dismiss” referring to Simeon’s prayer of “Lord now let your servant depart in peace,” which of course is Simeon saying “now I am ready to die, ready to be with you.”

            The monks use this prayer as a closing song for the day as a part of their intentional reminder to habitually lay their lives down, to habitually die to themselves, which is our calling as well. For the monks of old the end of the day was another call to repent of the sins of that past day, to die to themselves, that come the next morning, if the Lord willed it they may rise to new life.

             He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

 

            The English translations of Simeon’s song begins with an address to God, using the word “Lord.” However, this is fascinating because the word that is used is not the word typically used when Scripture refers to God the father as Lord, nor as Christ the son. Instead it is a far less common word that is used a mere ten times in the New Testament.

            In almost all other cases the ESV translates it to “master,” one other time it is translated as “Lord,” and once, when used in conjunction with the typical word for “Lord” it is translated “sovereign.” These translational choices give us a glimpse as to what Simeon is trying to say – he isn’t saying “God, let me rest now,” no, he is saying “My master, my king, my ruler, my sovereign,

dear owner of my soul,

let me lay down my head, let me rest in your sweet mercy.”

            Simeon sees God not as some distant sky fairy, not as a benevolent grandfather, for Simeon God is not far off, but He is the ruler, and possessor of him as a human being and by extension we are called to rest in God in the same way.

And this begs the first question: Are we willing to give up our entire lives for God, are we willing to say to God “our lives are in your hands”? Are we willing to trust God with every detail of our lives from the grand to the minute? Do we believe that:

            He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose?

 

            Then Simeon prays for death – “now let your servant depart in peace.” Do you find your satisfaction in Christ in the same way that Simeon did? Do we see that his coming into the world and into our lives is the culmination of all Good things that God has planned for his people? If God took our lives today – would we smile and say “my life is complete, I have done all that God has called me to do?” or would know somewhere deep down inside we had failed to glorify God, to love God with our total being, and love our neighbors as we love ourselves? Are we willing to let Christ be our everything?

            My friends – the bar for being Christian is high and you will fail to meet it. I have failed to meet it time and again, I am the chief amongst sinners, I fall down, I fail to love well, I chase false gods, my eyes wander, I doubt, I grow weary, and grumbly like the Israelites in the desert and wonder “how long o Lord?”

            Recently, I have felt the need to abide more richly in Christ, to renew my trust that He is good, and sovereign, and ruler over my life. I know of God’s sovereignty intellectually, but sometimes I grow distressed that things are not working out the way I want them to. Yet, I have seen God provide. I have never been without, I have never wanted, I have never gone hungry, I’ve always had a roof over my head, a friend to talk to. I have rarely had a lot, but the little I have is enough to get by.

            God has always faithfully provided – I have seen this throughout my life with Christ – in the tears and joys, in the anxiety and peace, in the seasons of a little and in the seasons of a lot he has been there – if he can provide in this way – surely he will provide in every other way, surely he will guide me – surely, he has proven himself a faithful and good master

 – and now I must abide.

            Beloved – we will sin, we will fail, we will feel utterly unworthy of our calling into Christ – because we are– but Christ is the father who runs out to meet the prodigal son in the field, who puts upon us the best robe in the closet, who celebrates and kills the fatted calf for us. Christ rejoices and embraces us when we’ve wandered and return home, Christ will leave the 99 for the one lost sheep, Christ will come for us, guide us, heal us, forgive us, and love us, so let us not fret for one moment.  

 

            We have not and cannot earn our salvation – and that is the point of Christ’s death for in His death and resurrection we find grace and forgiveness and in that we are called to reside in Him, we are called to trust him with every aspect of our lives, we are called to know that He is our sovereign master, we are called to abide richly in him, we are called to die to ourselves, so that he may live abundantly in us, and we may live abundantly in him.

            He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

 

            I hope we can see vividly that God calls us to obedience, calls us to give up our lives, calls us to see Him as our sovereign Lord and master, but how do we know what it is that God calls us to do?

            Simeon says that these things are according to God’s word – and we know from verse 26 that God had revealed to Simeon through the Holy Spirit that “he would not see death before had seen the Lord’s Christ.” But how do we live such spirit filled lives? For aren’t we promised that if we are in Christ we are given the Holy Spirit?

            A wise man once told me “you give the Holy Spirit words by knowing God’s word.” Of course we know that the Holy Spirit is actively drawing us closer to God, is actively re-forming our heart, is actively giving us a deeper conscious, a deeper understanding of right and wrong, we know that when the church is uniformly drawn to some purpose, it is probably the spirit moving her to do so, but how do we habitually live in submission to the Holy Spirit?

            It begins with knowing the word of God, it begins with reading it voraciously, reading it as it is the bread of life, and where we will find the living water, letting the word renew our minds. It is here that we find the pure form of the word of God, it is here that we see how he has acted for the millenniums before the coming of Christ, and how he came to die to set his captive people free, it is in God’s word that we come to know his character, of his goodness, his love, his mercy, his justice.

            Let us be devoted in the task of knowing God – not to earn anything – but that we would know Him and he would know us, and in that we would learn to be conformed to His will, that we would be better servants and children, that we would be able to pray Simeon’s prayer more faithfully, and that we would know

– that he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

 

            Perhaps Simeon is endued with some great wisdom, perhaps we knows that Christ must die a death of shame to take away our own death, sin, and shame, perhaps Simeon knows that Christ will be scorned and rejected, perhaps Simeon is wiser and more faithful than Christ’s disciples will prove to be at the crucifixion, but nothing stands to tell us this is the case. No – Simeon simply prays “my eyes have seen your salvation,” for he is endued with the Holy Spirit and simply recognizes Jesus as the Christ, simply recognizes that Jesus will be the one to bring freedom to God’s people.

            Simeon knows who this little baby is, but does not know how God will act – and that is enough for him.

We too know of God’s deliverance, we too know that we are given peace in our abiding in Christ, we too know the end of the story – but we do not know how we will get there. So when the earth trembles and nations rage, when people are evil, when they plot or when they gossip, let us not waver, let us not faulter but say “mine eyes have seen your salvation,” and persevere with faithfulness, and remember:

            He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

 

            But now Simeon says something amazing – think for a moment about the disciples – they all seemed to believe that Christ came to be the temporal king of Jerusalem and Israel, to drive the Romans out of the nation, and to reestablish the state of Israel, to sit upon his ancestor, David’s earthly throne. But Simeon seems to recognize that maybe, just maybe Jesus is more than an earthly king.

            For it is before all people that Christ is prepared – it is before all people that Christ comes to and it is Christ who will judge all people at the end of time, it is to Christ that every knee shall bow. At the coming of Christ two thousand years ago, we find the beginning of this, but not the end, we find the beginning of the end.

            And then Simeon does a double unfolding – he recognizes that Chris is light for the gentiles and the glory of God’s people, Israel.

            This day in the Christian year is commonly called Candlemas, it was the day that the church traditionally blessed their candles for the year, and people would bring their candles for their homes to be blessed as well. Nothing in the church building is there by accident or happenstance, rather everything has meaning including candles.

            We have intentionally set this building aside for one purpose – to worship God, we have set it aside to be a sacred space. Like all thing in the church, the candles have meaning. We light them as a habitual reminder of Christ’s light coming into the world to save sinners. We light a fire at the Easter vigil and carry that light into the church, proclaiming the light of Christ coming into the world, the light of Christ being resurrected, proclaiming that all hope is never lost.

The priest or deacon sings the exultet at the vigil to remind us of the importance of that light in our lives and in the world, the candles are lit from the paschal candle, and act to remind us of the light of Christ in our lives and so when you see the candles on the altar, let them trigger your memory – that Christ came into the world to enlighten you and I, that Christ came into the world to set us free from the darkness of our sin, that Christ is our light and our hope.

            But he is also the glory of His people Israel – Israel is God’s people, Israel was set aside to be a blessing to all nations – and this blessing is the coming of Christ. By bringing Christ into the world Israel glorified God, and in such Israel is glorified.

            Yesterday as I was driving home around sunset and I was thinking about the beauty of the earth. My favorite time to come up from Phoenix to Sunset point is that hour before sunset. It sparks in me such an appreciation for God’s creative power. Yesterday my thoughts wandered to how one day God will re-create the earth and when God restores all things to how they were meant to be how much more beautiful it will be.

Then, I realized – what will be truly beautiful will be to experience God’s glory – for now we see through a glass dimly – but then we will see fully, experience fully, we will not be separated from the glory of God by our sin, but will bask in his love and glory perfectly.

            This is what God does for sinful humanity in Christ Jesus, he makes us free, and makes us to know Him, and though this is out of love – more importantly it glorifies God, because another has recognized that God is the good and sovereign master of their lives. Another has recognized that he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

            I started this sermon with the story of four missionaries who died on a sandbar in the Ecuadorian jungle and you may wonder how we know so much about them? Well, a few years later two of their widows went to live with the tribe, through this several of the Huaorani people came to know Christ, came to know his freedom, and came to be faithful followers of Christ. The four families became inextricably interlinked with the Huaorani people.

            One of their sons came to be friends with one of the men who killed his father – and a reporter said to him “I understand forgiving someone who had killed your father, but how can you love him?” The man thought for awhile and then came to that old saying that perhaps we all know “hurting people hurt people,” and realized perhaps – “forgiven people forgive people” and loved people love people. We are forgiven and we are loved – and as such – we are to be forgiving and loving.

            If we are residing in Christ, if Christ is our sovereign Lord, if we have given Christ the total of our being – then we know that the words Jim Elliot scribbled in his journal nearly seventy years ago are not folly but true -  He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose, for what incredible goodness we gain when we reside in Christ!

            In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Living Water

A Homily for Epiphany 3

January 26, 2019

All Saints Anglican Church, Prescott, AZ

 

Text: John 4:1-14

 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

 

            I remember when I first moved to Arizona, how my skin and my eyes felt incredibly dry, all the time, it felt as though I could feel every single cell in my skin drying out. I remember needing to adjust and be more diligent about drinking water. We probably all still need to be more diligent about this, but coming from the humidity of North Carolina, it was a sudden change for my body to adjust to, and now when I’m in a humid place I always feel damp.

            Living in an arid climate we quickly learn the importance of water to our daily lives, our city council regularly discusses water availability and the effects various policies have on how much water is available to us at citizens. One of the most striking things I noticed when I first moved here is how quickly showers warm up compared to every other place I’ve ever lived, this of course is a wise water saving measure.

            It was striking traveling around Israel how similar the climate is to Arizona. I remember one day driving in on the bus through the area where Jesus undoubtedly traveled, and thinking how I might as well be at home, I’d have the same views driving through the desert. Keeping in mind how dry our land is, we can start to have sympathy to the story we read today. We can understand what it would be like having walked all day and being wearied from our journey. How hot the sun is and how dry the air is. Water, for the weary traveler is therefore a necessity.

            Water plays and interesting role in scripture. As I was reading about it one source noted at least three different ways it is viewed in scripture – first water is the source of chaos, second it is a source of cleansing, and finally, there is of course living water, that is water that brings life.

            I have found this idea that water is the source of chaos as the most interesting. The Israelite have never been known as seafaring people, and so it is not at all surprising that as a culture they came to the conclusion that water, in particularly the sea is a chaotic force, but this was a general view of the ancient near east as well. The gods of water were often viewed as chaotic and even evil.

            We see this portrayed most vividly in the book of Daniel when the evil nations rise out of water. Daniel is saying – these that will come serve not the living God, serve not the God of order, not the God that we gather together this morning to worship, but they serve chaos, they serve evil gods, they will serve themselves, these nations that rise out of water will serve chaos.

            But likewise, this is why it is significant in the creation narrative when God separates the water from the land – separates the chaotic from the tamable. The seas have often captured the heart of man because out of that chaos comes a great sense of adventure, a great promise of riches, a great hope of something new – but also of great danger.

            Where I grew up, many went to sea to make their riches, but not everyone came back, more than one childhood acquaintance went to sea, and never returned. We live in hubris to think that we can tame the sea, but we can just as easily be swept away by it. The sea still conjures for us an idea of chaos – and as such – we are reminded how in scripture the sea of represents that which is untamable.

Just as water can give life, so it can rob men of their lives. For these reasons, when we see Christ walk on water and calm the storms – it is significant – for we are seeing that Christ has the same authority as the father – the authority to tame chaos, to tame power, Christ is more powerful than the forces of chaos.

            But water also plays a cleansing role in scripture. Last week we talked about St. John the Baptist’s roll as a baptizer, he lead people to water to cleanse them. He baptized people to turn people away from sin. In Jewish villages throughout Galilee you can find baptismal fonts called Mikvas. 

            Don’t think baptismal fonts like what we have in the back of the church – don’t think of the little bowl in which we pour water over the head of a child or a new convert as an outward sign of the cleansing Christ does in the faithful – no, these were large enough for a grown man to walk through, to fully submerge himself in, to become totally washed clean. And not only that but the water was always moving through it, it was not a stagnant pool of water – but running water to wash away the symbolic dirtiness of the man’s sin.

            Ritual cleansing was a big deal. Though it does seem that for John the Baptist, his baptism was more than just a ritual cleansing but a marking of a new life – a marking of a turning away from one’s sin in repentance, where the mikva’s ritual cleaning had more to do with simply washing away of sins before gathering for worship.

            But this morning, we see the third type water – the most important type of water for the life of the Christian. We learn of living water.

            It is no mistake that Jesus withdraws from Judea and makes his way back to Galilee when rumors that his ministry is mimicking that of John’s. For baptism, and repentance are important for the Christian life, but St. John the Evangelist wants to show something different – he wants the reader to see that in Christ is the light and life of humanity, that all that believe in Him should not parish, but have eternal life. St. John the Evangelist wants us to know that unless we have living water springing up in us, then we are spiritually dried up, we are spiritually dead for a human being cannot live without water, nor can we be made alive without the living water of Christ.

            And so it is no mistake that Jesus meets this woman at the well. Think for a moment if we lived here 2000 years ago – if you have a hard time imagining it, take a day trip to Montezuma’s Well, this is a literal well that has an ancient small town built around it. The water here springs up from the ground and so the native Americans built their village around it, in order that they could easily have water year round.

            Having a source for water would become a primary necessity for existence. Without electricity to pump water the well became a community gathering place of sorts and in the ancient near east – it became a place for women to gather, to catch up, and sometimes even for women to meet a husband.

            But Jesus meets this woman who is a thorough outcast – in a culture where ritual purity was important, the intermingling of men and women was deeply frowned upon, furthermore, she was a Samaritan, and deep seated distrust between Jews and Samaritans existed. It seems that the prejudice existed on both sides, though the Jews seemed to hold more open distain for the Samaritans while the Samaritans were more vicious in their expression of their hatred towards the Jews. Finally, if we read on it would seem that the woman was not a woman of virtue and principles, but had known many men, and that she was now cohabiting with a man who wasn’t even her husband, and she had been married to several men before him.

            And so we see a Jewish man approaches her and asks for a drink of water. She knows not who this man is, and it would seem that she is deeply confused by her initial interaction with hm at the well.

            Some commentators hypothesize that the woman sees this interaction as flirtatious – as another opportunity to meet a new man, maybe a better man than the one she is with now. Others are appalled by even this suggestion. Surely, they say Jesus wouldn’t be flirted with, surely she would have viewed this interaction as innocent.

            I think the second suggestion is naive, for we have an internal craving to be known, to be love, and to find security.

We live in a time when the act of truly loving is dying rapidly. We find to stand up for the other, to care about those who are outcasts, to invest in people may cause an incredible amount of confusion. We see marriages breaking down because we are too afraid to love well. We see friendships as disposable. We have culturally lost the art of loving well, we have lost the art of loving people, of being communities that truly care for the souls of others.

            Certainly, compassion can become a rallying cry for liberals and conservatives alike – but when it comes to caring for those who are on the outside – those who are not like us, we find it much easier paint caricatures. When it comes to sitting with those who are hurting, and lonely, to caring for those who have created for themselves a pit of misery – we are not very good.

            We have become Job’s friends, we are happy to sit for a little bit – to say “yes, yes, I get it you’re hurting.” But when it comes to long journeys of healing, to long roads of learning to love others well we find ourselves stumbling into legalism, we would prefer to cut ourselves off, we want to have little communities of perfection where we aren’t reminded of the frailty of humanity, but Christ models for us a radical love for others.

We realize that in order to love – requires a certain amount of vulnerability – and we have trained ourselves never to be vulnerable for vulnerability is a scary act, it requires being known and knowing other’s imperfections. It requires seeing ugliness, and not pretending it isn’t ugly, but loving the other despite their brokenness.

            C.S. Lewis penned the following in his book The Four Loves:

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

To love is to be vulnerable and here Christ opens himself up to criticism, later in chapter four his disciples are scandalized by how he has interacted with a Samaritan woman, and if we were to read on we would see that even at first the woman doesn’t understand what is going on.

            So, it seems possible that the woman may be flirting with him. For she does not understand love, if we were to read on, we would see how baffled she is – she only sees men as a place of security, a place of assurance that the world will not crush her any more than it already has – but Christ has something better for her, Christ has something more fulfill, Christ offers her love – but not only love – love and life.

            When Christ offers her living water she is excited – for she thinks – ah-ha! If I have this water I won’t have to make this journey to well over and over again and even here we get a hint that perhaps she’d rather cut herself off from the natural place of community, would rather isolate herself and hide from the world around her. She imagines how much easier will my life be without thirst. How much easier it would be to not have to go to the place where she must be vulnerable, must be ridiculed by others. Not to mention that but the pure practicality of the time saving benefits of never thirsting again.

But – this is not the living water that she is offered by Christ and that we are offered.

            No, the water of life that Christ offers her is the source and sustenance of the Christian walk. The water that he offers her is eternal security, it is security in ever moment, in everything, it is life.

            Think for a moment about all that is troubling you: (Pause)

Are you worried about paying your bills? (Pause)

Are you worried about your friends? (Pause)

Are you worried about your spouse and their health? (Pause)

Are you worried about the state of the world? (Pause)

And then ask yourself: where are you finding your security in these worries? (Pause)

Are you looking for them in others or are you bringing these troubles to Christ? (Pause)

            My confession is this – too often, I find it easy to let the winds of the world push me around, to let fear grip my heart – but God calls me, God calls us to lean on Him in times of trouble and in good times. And here is the promise that Christ is offering the woman, and is offering us – If we drink of Christ, if we trust in His promise, if we pursue Him and Him alone, we will have security in the here and now, and in eternity.

            If we take time to trust completely in Christ, if we take time to trust that His words for us are good and true, if we take time to believe that Christ is our source of life, the water that keeps us alive and will cleanse and deliver us into an eternity in the heavenly kingdom – what can we possibly fear, what can we possibly be concerned about? What can possibly shake us?

            Can news of war separate us from the love of God? Can medical concerns separate us from the love of God? Can financial concerns? Can anger of the other possibly separate us from the love of God?

            Nothing can dry up the well spring of God’s love for his people! SO why do we fear?

            This is not a promise of ease, this is not a promise of getting every earthly thing we want – but this is a promise that God will be with us no matter what comes our way, a promise that God is sanctifying us, a promise that God is working all things for our good and His glory.

            Today – Christ offers a sinful woman a wellspring of life – Christ offers an outcast, a woman who has made some unfortunate choices the water of life – and likewise he does the same for us. No matter where you came from, no matter your brokenness, no matter the pain that wells in side your heart – Christ has offered you living water that you may thirst no more.

            We come to Christ broken, lost, hurting, we come to Christ with pains and sorrows, with troubles and concerns, and Christ gives us life – life in the here and now and in eternity. Christ offers to us security – Christ offers to us the peace which we so long for.

            So, my friends let us drink richly of the promises of Christ – for it is there that we find the love that we so long for, it is there that we are given the strength to love our spouse, our friends, our children, it is there that we are given the strength to love those who are like us, and those who are different from us. It is in Christ that we are given security in the face of chaos, it is there, that we find calm amidst the storm, it is there that we find the assurance, that even if we can’t see the end, that God will work out even the most messy and wildest of situations to His glory. It is there, in Christ, in His living water, that we find life, and the peace that passes all understanding.

            So let us drink deeply in the well of living water that we may have life eternal and the joy of the security that Christ alone can give us.

            IN the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

The Beginning

A Homily for Epiphany II

January 19, 2020

All Saints Anglican Church, Prescott, AZ

 

Text: Mark 1:1-11

 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

 

            Beginnings are an interesting thing, we know this fact because we’ve all started new things, probably several, maybe hundreds, we’ve all set out on new jobs, looked for new homes, moved to new apartments, made new friendships, or even moved to new places in other parts of the world. The beginning can be frightening, and overwhelming, the beginning can be exciting, and hope-filled.

            I remember when I started college, I was just a kid from rural Maine. Now, I never considered where I grew up as being rural, not compared to inland Maine, it wasn’t until I was older and had lived elsewhere and became aware, much to my surprise, that there’s a world outside of Maine, that I became aware that even living 30 minutes outside of Portland, our largest city, at 60,000 people, would be considered rural by most Americans.

            Like all good Mainers, we’d be in bed by 9 pm, and waking up at the crack of dawn, or in the winter well before the sun rose. My life in that respect was simple.

College was different – for the first time I was around people who stayed up past nine, I had the freedom to explore, I had the ability to walk around campus whenever I pleased. It was new, it was exciting and frightening all at once. Beginnings, and change have the propensity to stir in us great emotion.

            I suspect you all know what I mean by that, for we have all started something new.

            And what of St. Mark’s words “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.” Is he simply saying “I’m starting to write about Jesus,” or is his word choice more significant than that?

            The saint is saying – this is the start of something new, gather around as I tell you to story of our God who became man, who emptied himself and dwelt among us, not simply for a neat experience but in order to set the captives free and to usher in a new way, a new covenant, to open the heavens so all who would believe would be able to have fellowship with the Father, so that all who believe would be freed from their sin.

            And so – at the center of the Gospel According to St. Mark, and at the center of our gospel reading today stands this very thesis – that Christ has come into the world to enact this new covenant.

            Now, this word gospel has become common place in our Christian vocabulary. On our table sits a gospel book, that is a book with the words of the four evangelists, we know the first four books of the New Testament as the gospels, we say I’m reading the Gospel According to St. Mark right now, or I’m telling my friend the gospel. And these are all very good things, but we’ve lost the meaning of the word. I have found from time to time it sort of becomes ill-defined.

            Gospel means good news – but more than good news, it means good news about victory in war, or rather that’s how it was used in the secular context and even in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, referred to as the Septuagint. And what is this good news of victory over? It is Christ’s victory for us over sin, for even in this moment that St. Mark is describing Christ is already on his path to victory.

            We read in the Revelation of St. John that in the last great battle as Jesus rides out to war he is dressed in victory clothing. Already as Christ commences his public ministry is victory confirmed, already, even as we read this morning, he is turning his face towards calvary, already, is he read to take upon himself the pain, and anxiety, the horribleness of our sins, to die for them that we might live. Already in the beginning – his victory is being declared.

            But it is not merely at Christ’s birth or at the beginning of his public ministry that his victory is proclaimed – even as we read of the horror of the fall in Genesis 3, we read of the betrayal of Adam and Eve against God, we read of the deception of the serpent against our first parents, we read of the shame, the heartache, and already, even then – God promises one who will crush the head of the serpent, a son of Eve who will overcome this sin – already at the fall God has a plan of redemption and then this promised redemption is promised again and again in the Old Testament, and foreshadowed through the men whom God has chosen.

            St. Mark knows this and pulls not just from Isaiah as the text says but several places to point out the fact that Jesus is the fulfilment of the Old Testament, that the prophecies and foreshadowing all point to Him, and that John the Baptist is his necessary forerunner, the one who is doing the groundwork, laying the foundation – preparing the way for the coming of Christ into His public ministry. St. Mark points – that this, what we read this morning – this is the beginning of the new thing, this is the beginning of the good news being finally, fully unveiled to humanity.

            St. Mark also shows this through his description of John – his description of John echoes 2 Kings when we meet Elijah the prophet – and Elijah and John are described as “wearing a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” We are meant to understand that John was the second Elijah, who must come to prepare the way for the Christ.

            In all this John also foreshadows the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, for we cannot come to Christ on our own, we need the Holy Spirit to make straight the highway of our hearts, we need the Holy Spirit to make our hearts new, we need the Holy Spirit to draw us into Christ. So as John the Baptist preached the repentance for the forgiveness of sins, likewise the Holy Spirit prompts us to repentance both when we meet Christ for the first time, and over and over again, he calls us to die daily to ourselves that we may be forgiven of our sins, that we may rest with joy in Christ. This is the beginning of a new thing.

            But just as many went out to hear John and many were baptized we are warned in our knowledge of the life of Christ – that few stood by Christ in his death – perhaps only one disciple, his mother, and a handful of women. So, a full church does not guarantee a church full of converted hearts. Rather – each of us are called to give our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls over to the love of God, that in Christ we may be drawn nearer to him. This is a daily task – a good task – a task for life.

            To follow Christ is not a religion of work, it is not something we earn, it is our hearts being turned into new creations by the grace we find in Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit in us. The success of the church, therefore, is not measured by bodies, but by changed hearts, it is measured by those being sanctified. And so we like metrics to tell us how we are doing – but in the church we do not have this privilege.

            Instead, we as Christians are called to do the hard thing – we are called to have the hard conversations, we are called to stay up all night with the grieving, to hold the hand of the dying, to love the different, to seek to make Christ known in all times and all places.

            We don’t like this, we want things to be black and white, we want simple answers. I remember one day in a class I was taking, a tough subject in contemporary moral issues came up and the question was how to we minister well to people struggling in this area. We started to wrestle with this difficult question when, someone raised their hand and asked “is it a sin?” I think we all would have agreed that there was sin in it, and it comes out of the fall – but that wasn’t the question at hand – the question was how do we love the person who is struggling with the darkness of their own soul? We want to side step that often messy answer and put them into simple boxes like “good” and “bad,” but this doesn’t teach us to love others well and it puts up walls for us to love and nurture those who are struggling.

            No, this morning we read about the beginning of the gospel of love – not that we affirm all things but we welcome all people. We don’t accept all actions, but we know all are capable of growth in Christ and because His grace is sufficient for my sins, it is sufficient for others’ darkest sins. It is easy to ban those whom aren’t like us, or to welcome all and never call them to a change – but it is much harder to walk with someone in the dark struggle of their hearts, to help them gain freedom from their sin, and to have abundant life in Christ.

            Legalism and license are easy – but sanctification is the better way.

            Today – we see the beginning of a new way – a new covenant and a new hope in Christ. A covenant of conversion, of changed lives, of messy times – that draw us to deeper life.

            As we read on, we see John promise that there is someone greater coming, someone who will baptize not with water but with the Holy Spirit – in the Old Covenant the Holy Spirit was a rare gift, reserved for the prophets and the writers of scripture, but in the new, he is given freely to all who believe in Christ.

            Often, we hear a mischaracterization of corporate worship – that there has to be some sort of experience, but we know the verse from the hand of St. Matthew: “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there,” because we read it whenever we pray Morning or Evening Prayer – but it reminds us that even when we are struggling with depression, disappointment, or disillusionment that when we gather together to worship and pray in the name of Christ – that Christ is with us. We know that when we come to Christ, when we are baptized, when we are confirmed, when we partake in the sacraments, we have an outward reminder of the giving of the Holy Spirit.

            No, our emotions are important – and worthy of listening to – but ultimately – emotions do not always reflect the deep abounding love that God has for us, and in that they can betray and mislead us. We experience worship and sometimes it feels good, but even if we are tired in our formal times of worship – even if it feels like an off day, even if the priest stumbles through the liturgy, or the music is off, or your neighbor is smelly, or you just had a fight with your spouse – the Spirit is still with us when we do this great act. That is the blessing and joy of the New Covenant.

            The narrative then shifts its focus dramatically from John the Baptist to Jesus – no longer is John the subject but he becomes a passive actor in the drama that is about to unfold. The text marks this by describing Jesus’ baptism in passive voice. John does not baptize Jesus, but Jesus is baptized by John.

            Perhaps this seems insignificant, but John’s significant ministry becomes overshadowed by Jesus, as we read the rest of the Gospel according to St. Mark – we only see a couple of minor, almost parenthetical statements about John. This begins in Jesus’ baptism – John acts as a servant, as a tool and not as the primary person.

            But why was Jesus baptized?

            We are told John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance of sin, a turn away, a literally shifting of the mind in its perspective of the world around it, yet we confess that Jesus was without sin, was perfect, was spotless.

            Are we wrong? Are we delusional?

            Certainly not!

            Jesus was without sin, Jesus’ baptism marks something else – Jesus’ baptism marks the beginning of something new. It marks the beginning of his ministry, the beginning of the formal proclamation of Christ ushering in the new ethos, the new way, the new covenant, and opening the door for our participation in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus’ baptism marks the beginning of his formal ministry.

            The first thing that happens as he comes out of the water is that the heavens are torn open. Of the gospels, St. Mark’s words are the most aggressive in how he describes this, in fact he uses the same word that he uses for when the temple curtain is torn open at Christ’s crucifixion. He links together these two moments as being fundamentally important in Christ’s ushering in of the new ethos. He links these two moments in pointing us to the fact that in Christ we find intimacy with the Father, that now we can experience the glory of God in a way that we never could before.

            And the Holy Spirit descended upon him, and we hear the voice from heaven and here we see the Holy Trinity revealed to us – what an amazing thing this is! For God sends his incarnate Son to redeem those who would believe to Himself, he sends his spirit to direct, and guide, while he is enthroned in perfect and beautiful majesty.

            Like Jesus’ baptism we may wonder, why Christ could possibly need the Holy Spirit – but it shows us that Christ was perfectly obedient to the father – where we are rebellious Children, he is the prefect child, and in Him we may become children of the Father, in Him we may know the same fatherly love that says – you are my beloved son, in Him we become beloved children of the Father – what good news this is!  Finally – the Father tells Jesus that he is well pleased with Him – but other translations prefer – that the Father delights in Jesus – I favor this later translation as it captures something wonderful.

            I think we long so deeply to hear from others that they delight in us, that we have something wonderful and worthy of being excited about – that we can be swept away with awe that God the father Delights in God the son.

            But why does God the Father delight in Jesus Christ?

            These are some of the points that people have noted that are delightful about the son:

            His becoming a man,

            his perfect obedience,

            his fulfilment of the Law,

            his patience,

            his humility,

            his sinlessness,

            his love for the broken and the sinners,

            his defeat of the devil,

            his defeat of death, his willingness to die for his sheep, and to keep his sheep.

            This list is far from exhaustive – but perhaps no other thing – than his redemption of sinners like me delights the Father and this is ultimately what St. Mark is pointing to when he writes “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God.”       

            In Jesus Christ we have redemption, in Jesus Christ we have freedom, in Jesus Christ the New Covenant is opened up to all who would believe in Him, and we find our incredible freedom.

            Beginnings can be exciting, and scary, can be overwhelming and joy-filled – but what we read this morning is  THE beginning – the beginning of something new – the beginning that stands as the most significant new beginning – the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ and the beginning of the end of the tyranny of sin.

            In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Preach the Gospel, Die, and Be Forgotten

A Homily for Epiphany I

January 12, 2019

All Saints Anglican Church, Prescott, AZ

 

Text: Matthew 2:1-12

 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

 

            Shortly after the rise of the puritan movement in England and America, a movement known as the German Pietists arose in mainland Europe. Out of this group came what are now known as the Moravians. Like their English counter parts, the German pietists were interested in personal holiness and a robust pursuit of knowing God.

One of the leaders of the Pietists was a man named Count Nikolaus Von Zinzendorf. His adherence to holiness and the pursuit of the intimate relationship with Jesus helped the Wesley’s develop Wesleyan theology, which lead to the formation of the Methodist church. However the thing many remember him for more than anything else is the following phrase:

            Preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten.

            This little sentence is perhaps the most beautiful prescription for the Christian. We are not called to be concerned about our brand, to be concerned about the number of bodies we have in church, to be concerned about what kind of car we drive, how cool we are, or whether we have the right friends, no we are called to preach the gospel at all times and in all places. We are called to go out, to make disciples, and to bring them into the covenant of Christ through baptism.

            We are called to share with our friends, neighbors, and loved ones what Christ is doing in our lives and what he has done in our lives, we are called to share how is redeeming us from sin, drawing us away from those things that destroy our souls, how Christ has washed us clean from the sin which we were born with, how Christ has healed us from our deepest pain and giving us our deepest joy.

            We are called to unashamedly share our lives, to show the ways in which Christ has healed us and is healing us, to show the love of Christ to those in our community that so need love.

            Unless Christ returns we will all face death – now Count Zinzendorf is not saying – forget about your loved ones who have died, he is not saying you need to not remember them. Please don’t hear that. Rather – his sentiment is so wonderfully summarized by Rich Mullins, the faithful and thoroughly sincere early nineties Christian singer when he wrote:

 

If my life is motivated by my ambition to leave a legacy, what I’ll probably leave as a legacy is ambition. But if my life is motivated by the power of the Spirt in me, if I live with the awareness of the indwelling Christ, if I allow His presence to guide my actions, to guide my motives, those sort of things, That is the only time I think we really leave a great legacy.

 

            In other words: preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten.

 

Our calling is that when we go to our eternal rest – that we are forgotten, not because we are so forgettable, but because Christ became so important to us – that all else fades in our lives. Instead of being motivated the self – we are motivated by a deep desire to glorify God in all we do. Instead of being motivated by getting as much treasure in the here and now – we store our treasure in eternity – we make our concern for eternal things.

            I remember for some time “developing one’s brand” was a rather popular sentiment, most peculiarly with pastors – people wanted to show off who they were as individuals, and make sure everything was presented perfectly and painted a unique picture.

            This was troubling to say the least.

            Yesterday, as the class I was attending this past week wrapped up, I was chatting with the professor. I think it will be the last class I’ll have with him, and as we lamented this, I asked him if he would survive without me to blurt out random thoughts in the middle of his lecture. He said that he suspected someone else would fill that hole for me. It was then I remembered this great comfort – the church doesn’t need me. (but how deeply I need the church!)

            That is to say: your salvation, your spiritual growth, your sanctification does not depend upon me – but depends upon Christ and Christ alone. Yes – I am called to point you to Christ over and over again. I am called to remind you of who he is, I am called to exhort you to repentance when you have sinned, and comfort you when you’re wounded. I am called to encourage, strengthen, admonish, and direct, but the reality is Christ can use whoever he pleases to accomplish this, but I am so grateful that I get to do this for you all, but still I must remember that ultimately it is Christ who is working in you.

 

vestments

            Traditional, liturgical churches are thoughtfully designed to reorient us, and remind us of this fact. For the priest – my vestments should keep me humble. Our first layer is the cassock, as you can see it is dark black and reminds me that I am spiritual dead – that without Christ, apart from God’s grace and mercy, I have no life in me. Then I put on the surplice, which reminds me of how we are washed white in the blood of Christ,

and finally the scarf, or tippet for the daily offices, that is Morning and Evening Prayer or for communion I wear the stole. This reminds us that we are yoked to Christ, that we have authority to preach, teach, exhort, to administer the sacraments but that authority only comes from Christ.

 

            My friends – while I have authority – it is not my own, but only Christ’s, it is borrowed, and I am to use it as a servant.

            But, we are all called to live this life of self-giving, of death to self.

            We have put such an emphasis on making a mark and a difference and finding our true calling that we sometimes forget that our calling – is to let our light shine wherever God has placed us.

If you are here this morning – you are here by the grace of God, you are here because God brought you here. God does move us in and out of things, but I have spent an incredible amount of time comforting young Christians who feel lost because they can’t articulate their calling.

            Our calling, if we are followers of Christ – is to glorify him,

our calling – if we are not yet His follower is to become followers of Christ, to let Him minister to you, to let his mercy envelop you so that we may all glorify Him and love others as He loves us. Yes – he may call you to some great task that will shape the world, or he might call you to simply be a good husband, a good wife, a good brother, a good sister, a good friend, a good parent, or a good child. But let us be first concerned with loving Him and loving others as He first loved us.

            The Magi present for us such a calling. The lore and thoughts around them is seemingly unending. For example – we do not know how many of them there were. The western tradition tells us that there were three, and this is a fine number, for there were three gifts – but there could have only been two or their could have been 102, though the fact that they seemingly all went into a middle eastern house, makes an extremely large number rather unlikely. All we know is that the word Magi is plural in the text, and so there could have been many. In fact, the eastern church disagrees with the west and has settled on 12 magi to be parallel with the twelve tribes of Israel, this is as fine a number as three, but still unprovable.

            Next we know very little of who they were. Some traditions tell us that they were kings – in fact this is where those names we hear from time to time – Gaspar, Melchoir, and Balthasar come from. Each of these men were legendary kings from India, Persia, and Arabia and while they were certainly from the east, there is no evidence to suggest that these were actually the men who visited the infant Jesus or even that they were kings.   

            The term Magi is particularly interesting – and it does give us a hint into who these men were. They were probably a special class of people in the ancient near east who were interested in religion and lore and the pursuit of wisdom, who were something like the combination of a pagan priest and the local wise man, having given their life to study of the ways of the world and also given to leading local religious ceremonies. This does seem to be the most likely explanation as this would mean they would therefore be aware of the world around them, and then having seen Jesus’ star and because they knew where to look they would have known something amazing had happened.

            Ultimately, we got lost when we get anxious about who these men were. The point of the story is not that Gaspar, Melchoir, and Balthasar or for that matter Joe, Frank, and Bob took a long journey together – the point is that these men who were not Jewish recognized that God had been born among us and came to worship Him.

            Here we get a hint that the magi knew that Christ was more than a man – for they came to worship Jesus, king of the Jews.

When we confront those who deny the divinity of Christ, here is one place that they get stuck. We might say to them, “but look! The wisemen came to worship Jesus,” to which they will respond, “but they shouldn’t have.” In fact, in their mind, the wisemen are not heroes of faith, but anti-heroes. They do not believe the wisemen show us the way to life as we believe, but rather a way towards death.

            There is an error in their thought here – first scripture makes it perfectly clear that these men worshipped Christ, there is no other way to read the text. Secondly, when worship is wrongly prescribed in the Word of God, we see this in particularly with angels – the text tells us that this is a wrong thing to do, tells us do not worship Angels!

No, we worship no one but the one true God who is revealed to us in triune form – and whose second person became incarnate in Jesus Christ our Lord. No, if it was wrong for the magi  to worship Jesus, we would know. Rather – they are wise and anonymous forerunners. They tell us – it is good and right to worship Jesus as our God, and we know from later revelations in scripture to worship him as our savior.

            Now, let us compare Herod and the religious leaders of Jerusalem’s reaction to the news of the birth of Jesus with that of the Magi. Herod and all of Jerusalem with him was troubled – but the Magi “rejoiced exceedingly with great joy” when God revealed the place of the house where Jesus was to them.

            What is our reaction to new people visiting our church, what is our reaction to the to the opportunity to love upon someone destitute, to the migrant, to the one who is not like us but so desperately needs to know the love of Christ? Has it occurred to us that perhaps these people are angels, sent to give us an opportunity to ministry as the author of Hebrews tells us? That these people are images of the Christ, whom we have  the opportunity to love upon?

 

            My friends – you so often do a beautiful job of welcoming those who are unknown, but sometimes I grow distressed when I look out and I see someone new sitting alone. One day, I looked out and a man was visiting for the first time and it was as though he had the plague, he sat alone in a pew and no one was even in the pew in front of him!

            I know at other times we are amazing at welcoming strangers in amongst us, and I know you all to be profoundly loving – but let us become even better at loving the stranger, let us not be afraid of him or her – for yes, we live in scary times, yes we live in times of deep hate and distrust, but we cannot combat hate with more hate, but only with the divine love of Christ, the sacrificial love of Christ. Let us great each person who enters this building, enters into our life with this love.

            Someone posted this past year the three rules of engagement her and her husband have for when they are at church:

            First: An alone person in our gathering (that is their worship service) is an emergency.

            Second: Friends can wait.

            Third: Introduce a new comer to someone else.

            My beloved – please – if you see someone alone – even if church has started, even if it is half way through the service, and I know it is awkward, but get up, leave your friends, and quietly introduce yourself and ask if you can sit with them. I have chosen to attend churches because someone has done just that for me. I pray that the love of Christ abounds within our community, may we rejoice greatly when we see someone new.

            But here is the second question – to follow Christ is a calling to a continual dying to ourselves. Here is a place I struggle too – when Christ calls us into deeper intimacy, calls us to the death to ourselves, calls us to leave behind some idol of the heart and beckons us into something deeper and more profound with him – are we troubled like Herod, or do we explode forth with joy like the magi?

 

            When Christ calls us to live in a place of deeper faith with him may we rejoice – not be dismayed. May our hearts cry out with joy and not trouble, for how good it is to know Christ!

            For in meeting Christ, in being drawn into a relationship with him, we are called to be ill at ease with the status quo, to be ill at ease with the way the world is and anxious for the way the world will be after the great re-creation. T.S. Elliot summarizes the Christian tension we feel in a poem he wrote for Epiphany, it is written from the view of the wisemen sometime after their great journey to worship the Christ:

            All this was a long time ago, I remember,

            And I would do it again, but set down

            This set down

            This: were we led all that way for

            Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly

            We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,

            But had thought they were different; this Birth was

            Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.

            We returned to our palaces, these Kingdoms,

            But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation

            With alien people clutching their gods.

            I should be glad of another death.

Christ’s birth in our hearts calls us to shake up our lives, to shake out the old dead gods of our paganism and worldliness – calls us to live deeply profound and intimate lives with Christ and with the people of God. Our lives should not reflect the culture around us, but we should be transformed people, we should be a community that God’s love abounds in.

            The wise men, though undoubtedly deeply educated, lacked the formal training of the religious leaders of Jerusalem. In this we are reminded that we are not called to trust in our upbringing or heritage. We are called to trust in Christ alone.

            Too often as Anglicans we say “well, I was a cradle Episcopalian,” as though this brings us some status. It is so good to run the race faithfully, to have never turned our back on Christ, but we are not saved because we have attended church for our whole lives – no we are saved because we are in Christ’s covenant with us, because we have a deep and intimate relationship with Him, because every day we die to ourselves, and are born again in Him.  

            My friends – I am so thankful for the witness of those of you who have not veered from the path that Christ has laid before them, that have walked a life that glorifies God from Birth until this moment. Your witness is beautiful, but trust not in your witness but in Christ and Christ alone.

            We see in this text – that the ones who showed true faith in Christ were foreigners, were the outsiders, while the insiders schemed and were troubled by the news. So too, I am thankful for those who lived rough lives, who stumbled and fell hard, and Christ came in and radically changed their hearts.

            I remember talking to a friend who had lived a hard, rough and tumble life – and met Christ in jail. He confessed that he often felt intimidated in clergy gatherings because of his past.

Yet – he knew Christ, and His power in such a profound way, a way that many of us can barely imagine – because he knew how damaging sin was, he knew both Christ and sin so intimately. Let us rejoice when the prostitute, the criminal, and the drug-addict come to know Christ, not judging them for who they were but rejoicing exceedingly with great joy for what Christ has done. And let us not take for granted our lives because we were born into a Christian home – but take Christ’s saving grace as our own, and abide richly in that.

            The wisemen finally arrive at the house where Mary and the child are, and they worship the child and lay before him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Here again the wisemen point us to the fact that this child was more than a baby lying in the arms of his mother, an interesting child, no, my friends - he is king and God.

            Both the fact that they worshipped Him and brought these gifts – point us to this incredible truth. For gold, frankincense, and myrrh are gifts are only fit for the incarnate God. They are gifts fit for the one true God born to be amongst us.

            It is easy for us to grow popular lore around these wisemen, but in reality they call us to live a life of faith, they set for us an example of Count Zinzendorf call that we may preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten, for they saw an amazing thing happening and set out in faith, were amongst the first to worship the incarnate God, were obedient to God, and went home, and were in the sight of history forgotten.

            The great evangelical Anglican bishop J.C. Ryle summarized it perfectly when he wrote:

The conduct of the wise men described in this chapter is a splendid example of spiritual diligence. What trouble it must have cost them to travel from their homes to the house where Jesus was born! How many weary miles they must have journeyed! The fatigues of an Eastern traveler are far greater than we in England can at all understand. The time that such a journey would occupy must necessarily have been very great. The dangers to be encountered were neither few nor small. But none of these things moved them. They had set their hearts on seeing Him “that was born King of the Jews;” and they never rested till they saw Him. They proved to us the truth of the old saying, “where there is a will there is a way.

            It would be well for all professing Christians if they were more ready to follow the wise men’s example. Where is our self-denial? What pains we take about our souls? What diligence do we show about following Christ/ What does our religion cost us? These are serious questions. They deserve serious questions.

 

My beloved friends – I know that most of us are likely to be concerned with our legacy, to be concerned with the mark that we leave on the world, and I would be lying if I told you that I was not. I too care and can find myself lost in the wrong questions – am I liked? Do they want me around? Am I good enough? Am I capable of building this church? And what of my reputation?

            If we grow too consumed with worldly questions we lose this call to diligence, this call to a death to ourselves, and life in Christ.

            May instead we live as the magi, as Count Zinzendorf, as Rich Mullins, and as J.C. Ryle both lived and in doing so call us to live – may we preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten, that we leave not a legacy of self but that all might be drawn unto Christ.

            In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

 

 

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

The Obedience of Joseph

A Homily for Christmas II

January 5, 2020

All Saints Anglican Church, Prescott, AZ

 

Text: Matthew 2:19-23

 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen

 

            Some of you know about my little adventure this past week. My hope and plan had been to go for a long drive and visit a couple of places around Arizona that I am yet to see, to have some time to think, and relax a little after the busy-ness of the holiday season. I often find these drives peaceful, life giving, relaxing, and joy-filled. They give me time to listen to music and think about life. I had all these lofty and romanticized visions of my time away, to draw nearer to God, and find some quietness.

            The Lord and my car conspired to make different plans for me – and if I am honest, what I really needed to be reminded to rest in the Lord always.

            As I got close to my first stop my battery light came on, as a good millennial the first thing I did was google what this could mean and google faithfully told me that it was most likely my alternator dying. Having had more than one alternator die on me, once in inner city Chicago, I knew that this would not be the fun day I had envisioned. Being the resolutely independent person that I am, I turned around and started to drive home. As time passed more and more lights on my dashboard came on, telling me that, in all likelihood my battery was draining.

            As I got close to the 17, I decided it would be unwise for me to see what would happen if I pressed on, so I stopped and called AAA and waited. I sat in my car reading, trying to relax.

            As the time passed I started to get more panicky. “How am I going to do these things I had planned?” “Wait, alternators are expensive, yikes!” “I had such a perfect budget for this month, there goes that!”

            Somewhere in that wild train of thought, I also realized the Lord was calling me to simply trust him, trust that everything will be okay, and be vulnerable and ask my friends for help. I’d like to say that after all the ways I’ve seen God’s faithfulness in scripture and in life, I am amazing at trusting Him, and after experiencing the incredible love of this community and the friends I’ve made around town I’m better at asking for help, but I am more often than not bad at both of these things.

            Yet God calls us to depend fully upon him. So this question confronts us, we are asked, time and again – will we trust God with he little things? Will we trust God with the big things? Will we trust God with our finances? Our health? Our friendships and relationships? Will we respond if God calls us to move across the county, across the state, across the country? Across the world?

            As the new year begins – these are the good questions to ask ourselves. Sure, it is good to resolve to lose some weight, to be better with our money in 2020 than in 2019, to spend more time with family or friends, or to delight more deeply in God’s great creation, or whatever resolutions of betterment we have made – but as Christians one of the chief things we need to ask ourselves is are we faithfully trusting the Lord in all of our lives? With every aspect or are these just fanciful ideas in our mind?

            In some ways, I think it is easier to trust God to do big amazing things like moving us into other cultures or across the country or the world, but harder to trust God when we hit a little bump in the road, like a dead alternator.

            I would like to be able to tell you that I handled my little adventure with all the grace in the world, I’d like to say that as the panic swelled in me, I took a deep breath, smiled and said “yes, Lord, I know you’ve got this,” sat back and read my book while I waited for the tow truck. But instead I very much felt the sentiment of St. Theresa of Avail when she penned “Lord, if this is how you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few!”

            Theresa, wrote this pithy little statement after falling into a stream and nearly getting swept away. She complained to God and God’s response to her was “Do not complain, daughter, for it is ever thus that I treat My friends.”

            We want life to be easy, and we want sanctification, that is when our sin, our brokenness, and our struggles are removed to be without a struggle, but it rarely is, in more likelihood, as we grow, we are called all the more to step out in faith, and trust that the Lord is good in the storms, and trials we are faced with, and though he seems to be calling us into something hard, and something mysterious, he is calling us into something good, into deeper intimacy with him, into a life of joy-filled Faith. Such is the case with Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of God who was incarnate in Jesus Christ our Lord.

            In our gospel passage – Joseph the carpenter takes centerstage. We know very little about this man, and if it were not for his position, he would be an unimportant blip in scripture, but we do know that he faithfully set to raising Jesus as his own, in fact later when Christ starts his formal ministry and returns to Nazareth, everyone wonders how this son of a carpenter could presume to teach with such force, and such knowledge.

            We know from when he finds out that his fiancé is with child that he was a righteous man and most likely a kind man. We can only guess what his reaction might have been in finding out that Mary was pregnant. I do not think that it would be farfetched to assume that if he was not righteous and kind, and if the angel had not intervened he would have not only put Mary away he would have put her to public shame, but even here we are forced to hypothesize based on scant evidence from the text and what we know of the culture of the time. But scripture tells us he was righteous, and implies that he was kind.

            It has also been hypothesized that Joseph died sometime between Jesus’ birth and the commencement of Christ’s public ministry. This is because once Christ’s ministry starts we hear nothing of Joseph, though we occasionally hear of Mary, and of Jesus’ siblings.

            The final thing we know about Joseph was that he was obedient to the Lord – obedient to the Lord’s calling in his life. We see this first, when he learns of Mary’s pregnancy, and the angel of the Lord tells him to take Mary as his wife because she had conceived from the Holy Spirit.

            As we consider Joseph, we first must take care not to read the skepticism of our age into the text, but recognize that heaven and earth seemed much closer to the people of Christ’s time than to us. That is to say – miracles happened, it was natural to see God interacting with the world, and prayer worked. Skepticism is such a strong force in our current culture, that we even see it infiltrate the church, and in how we approach scripture, and all of life. We do not imagine that an angel might come to us with instructions, and just as we do not imagine that the flutter on the water is an angel flying over.

I once heard a story of when two of my undergrad professors were out golfing. One was the head of the biology department, and the other a theologian. As they walked along – they saw a ripple across pond, the scientist said, “oh, look a minnow!” I suspect with a bit of excitement. The theologian responded, “yes, perhaps, but it could have been an angel.” In our modern times, we tend to forget how deeply interlaced the world of angels and demons, of the Holy Spirit and our soul, of God and man are and so, though the world may scoff, miracles still happen, and prayers still work, just as powerfully as they did in the time of Christ.

None-the-less, in the world of Christ, the immanence of all this was much more prominent, much more real in the minds of men and women, and so to hear of Joseph’s obedience to the angel is not all that surprising. Yet, it is hard to believe that Joseph was totally calm about the situation he found himself in, for it was  not as though the Lord was calling him to something simple. Still, having experienced the angel of the Lord he faithfully stepped out and cared for Mary well, cared for her as a good husband and soon to be father would.

            Then sometime after the famous registration of the first Christmas Joseph is told to flee to Egypt, by another Angel, for the sake of the new born baby, for Herod sought to kill the child. Again, Joseph forsook his home, and presumably left behind all that he knew and fled to the foreign land as the Lord has commanded him. Again, we can only imagine the fear that he had. It is scary enough to move across country – I can’t imagine running to land with a vicious tyrant at your back who wants to murder the baby in your care.

            And now we meet him yet again. The vignette that we read today is the last time he is mentioned by name as being actively involved  in the life of Christ. Yet – Joseph sets for us a model of faithfulness, a model of trusting the Lord’s calling in our lives.

            He had taken for himself as a wife a woman who was pregnant with child, he lived by faith that as the Lord had said to him the child was conceived of the Holy Spirit and not out of immorality, he had fled to Egypt on the command of the Lord, and now he is returning. Do we have this faithfulness? Are we willing to step out and believe what the Lord has called us to?

            As we think carefully about the passage we read this morning we see that Joseph perfectly blends two amazing things – he was faithful to God’s call and was faithful to the duties that scripture set out for him. We can easily do one of two things – we can know what it means to be a good father, a good mother, a good husband, or a good wife, a good presbyter, a good man, a good woman, or a good Christian – and the spirit will never bend what this is – but we can become so ridged in this calling that we don’t do it out of love, but out of some harsh sense of duty. Or we can become so obsessed with being spirit driven that we lose site of the simple call to obedience to the word of God.

            Joseph does not lose sight of this – No, the Lord tells him to return to the land of Israel and Joseph obediently follows this command. Yet he hears that the child may still be in danger in Judea, and so he goes to where he knows it will be safe.

            We often find ourselves wanting to hear from the Lord all the time on all things, and we can over correct. We can either – become obsessed with this, needing spirit driven answers to every little question – or we can give up, never pray and never ask for the Lord’s guidance.

            A better way is the way of Joseph – know what it means to glorify God in our calling – are we good at math and numbers, then use that to the glory of God! Are we a good writer? A good thinker? Do we play music well? Do we serve our community? Then do those things to the glory of God!

            Scripture outlines perfectly clearly what a good and sound Christian life looks like, so we are called to become saturated with scripture so that we have guidance at all times. One of my favorite prayers is the prayer for Advent 2:

“blessed Lord, who has caused all holy Scripture to be written for our learning; grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.”

            In other words – dear Lord – may your word so saturate our life such that it is our life and love and total strength for us in all things, such that it is our very sustenance and food for living.

            But what of the big choices and crisis that we face in our life? We are called to start with prayer! Back to my thoughts on skepticism of our age – a simpler example of starting with prayer: if we have an ache, a pain, if we don’t feel well, so often the first thing we do is call the doctor. Friends, as Christians the first thing we should do is pray! Yes, call the doctor! Please don’t be one of those folks that forsakes modern medicine, do both! And then the doctor gives you antibiotics and you feel better, give thanks for the skill of the doctor and to the Lord for his faithfulness in healing you! It is not an either or.

            And here is the key: pray always about all things. Pray for the Lord’s guidance through the day, that the Lord would introduce you to the people you need to meet that day, that the Lord would guide you, that the Lord would show you what the day holds.

            Joseph models for us the perfect balance between being completely faithful to the prompting of the spirit and knowing what scripture says our duty is. This is what we are called to in our day in and day out.

            As the new year starts, perhaps a better place to start than the resolution to eat more vegetables, or floss more is to simply ask God to help us all become more faithful, to be more aware of when and how we fail to live in a way that glorifies him, to learn from these times to trust him all the more with every aspect of our lives.

            My friends, we live in a scary and tumultuous world, but we serve a good, and faithful God. When we hear of rumors of war, and of war, of natural disasters, and famine, and when life throws us a curve ball, when we have hardship and heartache, let us not grow despondent but trust that the Lord has all things under control.

            To end my story – I safely made it back to town, because I drive a lot, I have a fairly robust towing plan from AAA, several friends, including several of you offered to help me, and did help me, and all has worked out and on Saturday I drove my little car to Kingman without incident to visit old friends from college who were in Vegas for the weekend. In the end, despite myself, God revealed to me and reminded me of His faithfulness in all things.

            God reveals to us in scripture and throughout our lives, time and again that he is faithful, he is good, he has given us guidance on how to live, and will faithfully provide for us, even when we behave as rambunctious and faithless children. So in this coming year, may we grow to trust in His provision all the more, may we give all things to Him in prayer, may we become all the more saturated in His word, and may we walk with the faith of Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of God, Jesus Christ our Lord – in obedience to the word of God, in love for those who are in our lives, and in faithfulness to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

            In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

The Incarnation is the Reason for the Season

That Low Estate

Hope in the Coming

Rejoice In The Lord, Oh Ye Righteous

A Homily for Advent 3

December 15, 2019

All Saints Anglican Church, Prescott, AZ

 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

 

Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous.

This past week a beautiful friend of mine went to her eternal rest. I’ve been thinking a lot about her the past few days. She was like very few others I have known in this life. She radiated joy and kindness with the way in which she lived. There are few people who I remember the first time I met them, and yet, my memory of meeting her is vivid and one of my most pleasant, and laughter filled first encounters.

She saw God’s love and proclaimed it gently and kindly to her husband, her children, her family, and her friends in this world that is often wild and unkind.

            Her death, was not a surprise, in many ways it was more surprising that she lived as long as she did, perhaps, this was simply due to the fact that so many held her up in prayer. For several weeks ago she was given two weeks to live, and yet she pressed on, and loved well even in that. But, finally, that awful curse of Adam came for her, and all who loved her, and love her family wept.

Still, as well as she lived, she died equally well.

Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous.

The death of a saint is one of those odd things, for our lives are richer for having known them, their joy, their kindness, their wisdom, their peace encourages us, calls to us to run harder in the race that is in front of us, to live more boldly for Christ. So, when we finally say good-bye to them, we can’t help but to cry, but there’s a joy too, for we know they’ve been set free from their sin, set free from their bondage, from the pains of this world, and set free from their corrupted body that is breaking down, that they may look forward to the recreated, and renewed body of eternity.

My friend now rests in the glory of God, the glory of God which was lost in the fall. It is this glory that we all look forward to regaining when our race is finally over. But for now:

rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous.

            I tell you of my friend in the hopes that I may honor her one last time, for she lived a beautiful life, and left behind many whom she touched and blessed, I tell you of her because she did something so few of us are good at doing. In the face of incredible adversity – she rejoiced, for she was righteous in Christ. I know that she was not perfect but Christ resided in her life and in her his love abounded well and few who met her could deny this. I tell you of my friend, because I hope that just as she encouraged me and hundreds of others, that she may encourage you as well.

 

            This Sunday is commonly called Gaudete Sunday, or sometimes Rose Sunday, or if you feel punchy as I sometimes do, pink Sunday, but I think Gaudete is most appropriate. It is named that for the traditionally used introit, or opening Psalm, that is found in many older liturgies. The introit has mostly been replaced with an opening hymn in reformed and more modern liturgies. However, I thought it would be wise if today we read that introit for our Psalm today which starts with Gaudete – or in the English Rejoice,

Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous.

            This command to rejoice stands in sharp contrast to the opening of our gospel lesson in which we learn that John the Baptist is in prison. While there are some who read of John’s request of his disciples not as fear in the face of death, but as equipping them for the trials they will face after their death. It seems like a better reading is that he was wondering, pondering if Jesus really was the Christ.

Remember last week? When we heard of John who jumped for joy in his moth’s womb at the coming of Christ? This is the same John we read of this week as he approach his death. It is the same John who served God, and glorified him in all he did, the same John who pointed to Christ with his whole life. But, now he sends forth the question – are you, are you really him?

The reality is, we can read John’s question in a few ways but we also need to acknowledge the fact that for each of us as we approach the door of death we may have the courage and bravery of so many saints that came before us, or we could feel tremulous and fear, or it could just come for us with a blink of an eye. For me, I pray for bravery, and goodness, and that God would be glorified, just as I pray he is glorified in my life.

As I thought about my friend this week, I thought of the many saints that God has given strength and courage at the eve of their death, the martyrs who went to their death for the sake of Christ, not simply willingly, but joyfully. I thought of a story I once read of Dietrich Bonhoeffer who, it is said, dreamt of finally meeting Christ on the eve of his execution and he was emboldened before his death. And yet regardless of how this comes to us the command of this Sunday stands –

rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous.

I suspect that if Christ had responded to John the Baptist in this way – he would have been as the sad comforter such as Job’s friends. Too often when a beloved one finds themselves in pain we tend to be like Job’s friends. We offer weak sympathy or tell them to buck up.
            God created mankind to be in community with one another. One of the ways in which humanity is truly unique compared to the rest of creation is how this community is manifested in our ability to have advanced communication with one another. Our ability to communicate with syntax, emotion, and nuances is special and unique to humanity.

From time to time we hear of animals doing amazing things. Once, someone taught a primate sign language. He was able to learn a surprising number of words and phrases, yet he could not express his own unique thoughts. On the other hand a child starts to be able to uniquely express herself at a very young age. One of the most amazing things is seeing a young one start to take on their own unique personality.

 We were created to be communicators. Sometimes we do it well, and some times we do it poorly. And this encourages us to:

Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous – for God is the good creator.

Yet, this creation – this ability to communicate can be a curse when we are called to comfort, because we so desire to take away the pain of our loved ones, our beloved who struggle. So, often we want to tell them “it’ll be okay,” but maybe it won’t be okay in the way we want it to, maybe it’ll be hard, maybe it’ll be painful. In many cases, we are called to be present, called to simply listen, called to not insert our own opinions and advice, but simply be present.

There is an art to loving well, to knowing when to say words of comfort, when to give advice, and when to say nothing at all. It is often when someone is hurting the most deeply that if we do not take care we can do the most damage.

But, Christ in his divine wisdom knows exactly what to say to John and his disciples. He does not say to them “rejoice,” though it is implied, he says “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, and lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up and the poor have good news preached to them.”

And we are reminded: Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous.

Christ points to the prophets who told of His coming, and says – these things that these men had predicted would happen when I come are happening. There is a power in not simply saying what you want to communicate but telling a story.

I have a friend who is particularly good at this. When talking about struggles, he simply tells a story, and yet that story has the power to evoke thoughts in my mind, or push me to repentance. We see this with David and Nathan as well. Instead of walking into the kings chamber and yelling at him that he had sinned grievously, Nathan tells a simple story. Oh, and how it pushes the king to repentance, how the king sees his own wickedness!

Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous.

We might think, it would have been easier for Christ to have said to his beloved relative “yes! I assure you I am!” But in our tumult, how much more power is it to hear “see this evidence, now be comforted.” Christ knows the words to say and gives John and his disciples the comfort that they need in their darkest hour.

And what is that comfort?

The blind receive their sight – we read of Christ’s ability to heal the physical ailments of those who came to him. Yet – he also heals the spiritual ill. The author of amazing grace captured this when he penned that once “I was blind but now I see.” Outside of Christ, we live in blindness. The great Christmas promise is that of the Gospel according to St. John the Evangelist who wrote that “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” When we are in Christ, Christ becomes the light by which we see the world, Christ is the way in which our spiritual blindness is relieved.

Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous.

The lame walk – we are enlivened for service, not because we are intrinsically good people but because Christ has given us His spirit, because in Christ we are given the ability to walk with God. As humanity lost this privilege in Adam, so we regain it in Christ.

Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous.

Lepers are cleansed – spiritually we come to Christ tarnished and ill, and Christ cleans us of our sin, cleans us of our past, cleans us of all that has gone wrong in the world that has gone by, cleans us of that which separates us from God’s community and reunites us.

Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous.

The deaf hear – I was reading about one of the psalms some time ago, and the Psalmist asks God to help him hear his law. I read one commentary that said the word was more than simply help us to hear, but something along the lines of asking God to drill open a hole in order for us to be able to hear him. I appreciate this understanding – because often I feel as though I have a thick skull and it takes God being more aggressive with me than me simply needing a little assistance in hearing Him. Sometimes we need God to drill open holes in our ears so we can hear him better. Yet, in Christ – the spiritually deaf, like me, hear.

Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous.

The dead are raised – we know of Christ raising Lazarus, and this makes us wonder if there were others who were raised and we do not know. But, regardless, WE are spiritually raised from the dead, and we know on the last day we will enjoy the resurrection. In fact, as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, this second resurrection is what gives us hope and helps us to persevere. It is this second, final resurrection in which we can rejoice. We have been given life, and we will be given life.

Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous.

The poor have good news preached to them – we can over correct in our reading of this and make this strictly a social gospel reading or make it purely spiritual. Instead, I think it better that we make it both – that the spiritual poor are made spiritual rich in Christ, and in this they come to a place where they care for the poor of spirit and poor of material. We are called to care for both, as Christ cared for both.

Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous.

Christ testified to John the Baptist by showing him is works, the Church testifies to the world, by doing the same. We say, look at all that Christ has done for us – we were blind but now we see, we were lame, but now we walk by faith in the light of Christ, we were spiritually dirty, but Christ has cleansed us, we were deaf but now we hear God’s truth, we were dead in our transgressions but now we live, we were poor, but now we are rich beyond our wildest imaginations. This is what Christ has done for me may that reality be a living testimony.

Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous.

And blessed is the one who is not offended by Christ. We are blessed when we proclaim Christ boldly in our lives, we are blessed when we live for Christ and live in Christ. Men and women are blessed when they come to know who Christ truly is, and so we do not become offended by him, but we are called to:

Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous.

Then Jesus turns his attention to the crowds and asks them what they went into the wilderness to see – what they thought of John. We can ask the same of why you come to Church on Sunday.

Recently, I have been thinking a fair amount of the entertainment culture in which we live in, and the need for instant gratification, the need to have everything we want now.

On Monday of this past week, I was asked to make a presentation in one of my classes and a part of this – was an intentional call to myself to slow down. Too often I want to build a sky scraper and I want it to be built yesterday. I like the idea of doing grandiose things, so long as these things can be completed in a blink of an eye.

But there’s a goodness in taking time, there’s a goodness in starting a project and trusting that God will see it to the end, even if you can’t see it. Friedrich Nietzsche of all people coined the phrase: A long obedience in the same direction – yet, it succinctly captures our call to the Christian life.

So, the question can be asked – why do you come to church? For some instant comfort? To rub elbows with your friends? To be entertained?

Or to hear Christ proclaimed? To undertake that long, slow, beautiful, good process of sanctification?

We are not called to have everything done immediately, we are not called to provide a cheep comfort, but we are called to grow in Christ, to take a step forward, and when the waves of life knock us down to not be discouraged but to persevere.

We are called to: rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous.

Our reading ends with Christ affirming John the Baptist’s ministry, affirming what John did for the people – he prepared the way for Christ to come in, for Christ to come o heal, and make free those who are oppressed by the world and sin.

Rejoice in the Lord, oh ye Righteous.

The Christian life is called to be a life of Joy – not because life is easier with Christ, but because life has meaning, because Christ has freed us from so much, because Christ has done and is doing a good thing in our life and is preparing us for an eternity spent in the glory of God.

The call of Gaudete Sunday, though it feels jarring against the story of John the Baptist on the eve of his death, and against the reality of the world in which we live in, is a good calling. It is a call to rejoice because Christ has revealed to us who he is. So, let us be a people who are transformed by Christ, let us be a people not prone to grumbly but are prone to joy in the face of adversity. Let us be a people who honor the saints who have gone before us demonstrating the love and joy of Christ, by doing the same.

Let us people a people who rejoice in the Lord, because Christ’s righteousness dwells within us.

IN the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.