The First Day of a New World

Welcome to our service celebrating the birth of Jesus, God’s Incarnation.  It is an awe-inspiring moment each year when our families and friends gather for this festive celebration.  This is your spiritual home, a safe and sacred place where everyone is invited to worship in thanksgiving to God who is our true hope for peace and justice.  May this season be for you and for those you love one of peace, joy and happiness, and may God's grace and mercy always abide in your heart.

At Christmas we tell the story of our faith and we recount God's living and active presence in the community of faithful people.  The story of our faith begins with the birth of Jesus.  It is a narrative told by Matthew and Luke to assure their communities that the Scriptures have been fulfilled: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness -- on them light has shined."  Jesus was born.  God has become incarnate, taking the form of human flesh and blood, bringing hope for peace and salvation to all people.

The Gospel of Luke tells the story of a poor family. Mary "gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.  In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.  Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified…. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, `Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!'"

What an impressive and frightening experience this must have been.  What happened later for the early followers of Jesus, and what happens for Christians to this day is that the birth of Jesus is a mystery.  It is part of an entire mystery that cannot be understood as an isolated event.  God's incarnation is not only about the birth of Jesus but it includes Jesus' death and resurrection, and the experience people had as they looked back in history to understand how it all came to be. 

Unraveling the actual details of the birth is a complex task.  Matthew and Luke report that Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea; that his birth occurred during the reigns of Herod the Great and the Emperor Augustus; and that he grew up in Nazareth of Galilee.  Matthew tells the story from the perspective of Joseph and traces the family genealogy beginning with Abraham. Joseph and Mary live in Bethlehem.  Luke’s account begins in the town of Nazareth in Galilee and has Joseph and his family traveling to Bethlehem to be registered to comply with a decree issued by the Roman Emperor Augustus. 

The point of the story, whether from Matthew or Luke, is not the actual detail of how it happened, but its importance and meaning for people of faith.  God's grace appeared in the incarnation and redemptive action of Christ.  As faithful followers of Jesus’ teaching and ministry, we accept this revelation by living a righteous life of service to people in need.  Faith in the revelation shapes our view of life "while we wait for the blessed hope… of the glory of God."

In his Christmas message, our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry said, “This child, when He grew up, came to show us the way to live lives of love, lives of compassion, lives of goodness, lives of kindness, lives of justice. This child came to show us how to change the world.  So this Christmas, make room for him to change us.  This Christmas help us change the world.  And make a new commitment, to go out from this day, to let this Christmas Day, be the first day of a new world.”

Jesus' sacrificial suffering and death on a cross opens our eyes to behold God's presence and mercy wherever suffering, pain, rejection, and loneliness occur.  This Christmas can be “the first day of a new world” whenever and wherever we are vehicles for bestowing the mercy and grace of God on those in need.  It is the first day of a new world whenever and wherever we recognize God in the lives of others, regardless of their religious or non-religious tradition.  It is the first day of a new world whenever and wherever we share our Christian faith and hope with people who have no hope.  It is the first day of a new world when the full measure of Christmas abides in our hearts. 

We come together in this place to worship and invoke God's support and presence among us and throughout our broken and troubled world.  God becomes flesh and dwells among us in the birth of Jesus Christ.  The reality of his death and resurrection is an indescribable mystery pointing to a new day and a new world of hope, justice and peace for all people.

A savior is born. “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace.”  Alleluia!  Amen.

Emmanuel: God Is With Us

Matthew's gospel reading appointed for today begins with a direct statement, "Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way."  Joseph and Mary were engaged, "but before they lived together" she was pregnant, "found to be with child from the Holy Spirit."  The news of her pregnancy before they were married put Joseph, a carpenter, in a terrible situation. 

What should Joseph do?  What would you advise him to do?  Given the cultural standards and the law of his day, he had a couple of options.  He could "expose Mary to public disgrace," by accusing her of adultery; or he could "dismiss her quietly" by sending her off somewhere to have her baby in some distant place where she would escape public scrutiny.  Matthew tells us that Joseph had resolved to send her away, but before he had an opportunity to implement his decision, an angel appeared to him in a dream.

The angel said, "Joseph…do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit."  You will be able to give a name to the son she will bear.  You will name him Jesus.  In naming the child Joseph adopts the baby Jesus and grafts him onto his own family tree.

Matthew wrote this story fully aware of the miraculous birth stories that had been common for generations.  Our reading from the prophet Isaiah is a case in point.  "The Lord himself will give you a sign…. The young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel."  Matthew’s account reflects this prophecy: "All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 'Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,' which means, 'God is with us.'"  So, when Joseph awakened from his dream-filled sleep, he took Mary as his wife, and when she gave birth, he named the newborn child Jesus.

The Rev. Dr. Walter Brueggemann, Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary, discusses three important things to notice about this narrative at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel.

“The first thing to notice is that the whole message to Joseph happens at night when he was relaxed and his guard was down. And in the night we are told that the angel came and said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, for the child in her is from the Holy Spirit.’… The angel spoke in a dream…so the first thing to notice … is that the expectation of Jesus…is outside all of our normal categories. Our business is not to explain this text.  Our business is to be dazzled at Christmastime that something is happening beyond all of our calculations. This is a baby and a wonder and a gift that is designed to move us beyond ourselves.

“The second thing to notice… is that the baby has no father; and in this family, like every family, it is a scandal when a baby has no father…. The baby is from the Holy Spirit.… Notice that this  comes because God's Spirit stirs among us. The Bible is largely a reflection on how God's Spirit makes things new.  God's Spirit begins something new when the world is exhausted, when our imagination fails and when our lives are shut down in despair.

“The third thing to notice is that the angel gives Joseph two names for the baby.… First, the angel says, ‘You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people.’ The Hebrew name Jesus is the verb save.  Imagine on Christmas that we have a baby named Save.  Many babies in the Old Testament are named Save.  It is the word for Joshua, for Isaiah, and for Hosea.  Each of them saved Israel, and now Jesus will save. - Jesus will save from sin and guilt. - Jesus will save from death and destruction. - Jesus will save from despair and hopelessness. - Jesus will save from poverty and sickness and hunger, and in all of the stories of Jesus that the church remembers, it is Jesus who saves.

“The second name that the angel gives for the baby is Emmanuel which means, God is with us. It is the faith of the church that in Jesus God was decisively present in the world that made everything new.  In the New Testament we have evidence that wherever Jesus came he showed up where people were in need, and he saved them--lepers, the deaf, the blind, the lame, the hungry, the unclean, even the dead.  His very presence makes new life possible…. God… has come to be with us in this season of need and of joy, all through this miraculous baby.”

This story invites us to be ready to have our lives and our world contradicted by this gift from God. The very birth of Jesus, God in human form, this child from the Holy Spirit, is an unexplained miraculous event.  It is so incredible that we may rest our lives upon this new promise from the angel.  Regardless of what happens in our world we may be safe and be more fully human and generous because Christmas is coming soon.  The time of anxious watching and waiting for the birth of Christ, the coming of God’s Incarnation, is soon to be fulfilled.  God comes among us in human form to lead us in paths of righteousness, love, peace and justice for all people.  Amen.

A Profound Hope

Advent is a time for preparing for something unimaginable.  In the midst of human suffering the prophet Isaiah proclaimed, “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy….‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God….  A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; …it shall be for God's people; …they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

What a marvelous prediction.  Rabbi Abraham Heschel, a renowned Jewish theologian, said that prophets give voice to the silent agony of the poor.  They give voice to God, they think with God, they feel with God.  The prophet Isaiah is so close to the mind and heart of God that he can dare to promise in God’s name that “the desert shall rejoice and blossom,…waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;.. the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.”  “Be strong, do not fear!  Here is your God.... He will come and save you.”

Today we are living in a time in which what used to pass for normal is shattered. Our culture is in disarray; division, frustration, and anger persist everywhere.  The political divide is wide.  Some families have trouble talking to one another; and the rift between political parties is so vast that compromise is virtually impossible.  The gap between the richest members of society and the poorest citizens is wider than ever. Issues of race, class, gender and economic disparity are blatant.

How do we heal these divisions?  Is reconciliation possible or unimaginable? What does Advent have to do with it?  For three days at the beginning of this month the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University hosted an international conference about slavery and global public history. Scholars, researchers, and representatives of public initiatives made presentations, and much attention was given to the interpretation of history and programs that are focused on the legacies of slavery and enslavement. They are programs that can lead to healing and reconciliation.

The author James Baldwin, writing during the civil rights movement said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.”  Baldwin also said “Racism is so universal in this country, so widespread and so deep-seated, that it is invisible because it is so normal”

One of the case studies in public history is our own Center for Reconciliation.  The Rev. Canon Linda Grenz spoke on behalf of the Center:  “About 60% of all slaves brought to the Americas were transported on ships that were launched from Providence, Bristol and Newport. And most of our state’s economy was built on revenues generated by slavery and the slave trade…. Yet many Rhode Islanders remain unaware of our colonial history of slavery and slave trading.

“Many of the negative attitudes and assumptions about black people that were used to justify slavery continue to influence impressions about people of color today. It is the remaining impact of racism, discrimination and separation that we are called to address. We believe that connecting to our past will enable us to build a more diverse and inclusive future. And given the rise in racist and hateful incidents after the recent election, there is an urgent need to provide safe spaces where people can hear each other’s stories, build relationships and work together to build a more equitable and just future... so that our society can begin a transformative healing process.”

In our reading from Matthew’s gospel we have a glimpse of a transformative healing process.  God’s new presence in the birth of Jesus reinforced Isaiah’s expectation.  It was Matthew’s purpose to show that in Jesus, the prophecy of the Old Testament is fulfilled.  At Jesus’ touch, “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”  What a remarkable and unexpected vision!

Matthew’s gospel asked a puzzling question on behalf of the imprisoned John the Baptist: “Are you the one, or should we look for another?”  John’s preaching had condemned sinners, announced judgment, and expressed the expectation that Jesus’ ministry would be like his.  However, Jesus’ words and actions stressed compassion.  From his blessing of the poor to the naming of the ministries that identify him as Messiah, Matthew recorded deeds that show Jesus’ concern for the poor and oppressed.  Such a messiah has scriptural precedents but may not be what John and others had expected.

The evidence of Jesus’ activity was meant to convince John, his disciples, and the people that the one who is coming has already arrived but in a much deeper form than John or the people expected.  If John “was a prophet and more than a prophet,” how much more was Jesus!  Jesus embodied every promise of God, the promise of life in the wilderness and the homecoming of God’s people with all sorrow and weariness wiped away.

Advent is about waiting, watching, and noticing God’s creative action. Jesus responded to John’s disciples by pointing to the evidence: his activity on behalf of the sick, the lame, the blind, and the poor.  Psalm 146 described how God acts, “who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them; who keeps his promise for ever; who gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to those who hunger.”  The actions of God in the psalm were the very actions of Jesus.

Advent is the season of profound hope, a hope that is not only concerned with things to come but with confidence and courage in the present.  Hope gives us patience to wait with inner peace in the face of those things we cannot change.  Hope gives us confidence and courage, like the prophet, to change those things we can.  Hope counts on God’s creative action and opens our eyes and ears to attend to the abundance of life.  Hope assures us that Christ is alive and working on our behalf, and on behalf of the poor and marginalized, refugees, hungry and homeless people in our cities and towns.

You and I come close to God’s mind and heart as we work to see that the eyes of the blind are opened, the ears of the deaf are unstopped, the lame can leap like deer, and the tongue of the speechless can sing for joy. There is nothing to fear; God’s new presence is in all of creation.  Let us keep alive this hope for the glory of God.  Amen.

An Extraordinary Proclamation

Today we begin the season of Advent, a time of watching and waiting for the coming of God as a human person.  It is the time for commemorating God’s Incarnation, the Word becoming flesh, born as we are into life on earth, to live, grow, love, suffer and die just as we all do.  During these next four weeks we look forward to this Incarnation of God.  We watch, wait and hurriedly prepare for Christ's birth with a sense of joyful anticipation.

The Prophet Isaiah calls us to be prepared for something great – something extraordinary.  Isaiah predicts that people will gather from nations far and wide for something revolutionary and exciting. “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.” Peace, nonviolence, and justice will reign.

It is a surprising proclamation.  The world in the time of Isaiah and the world today is replete with divisions, secular and religious, social and economic, so that any possibility of peace and justice seems remote and unlikely.  God taking the form of a human being was and is an audacious and revolutionary claim.

Isaiah presented an ideal image of the days to come.  Days filled with hope and peace, kindness and justice, days that are indeed God's days.  Jerusalem, the city of God, is to be established not only as a mountain -- the home of a god and the place of revelation -- but as the highest mountain and therefore the home of the highest God.  All the nations are to be drawn to this mountain. They will come streaming like a river.  “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.... Let us walk in the light of the Lord.“

 

The voice of the prophet rings out from the scroll of Isaiah with an image of light and heat for the work of the morning: "As when fire kindles brushwood and causes water to boil, make your name known, O Lord."  Darkness, heat and light, endings and beginnings, fear and hope, death and rebirth, are not only reflected in the sun, the moon and the stars.  They are the rhythms of life here and now.

These rhythms of life are meant to suggest a connection with all creation.  They imply that every day is a kind of Advent, wherein we are called to become vehicles for God's healing, redemptive grace.  The Canadian priest, Herbert O'Driscoll said, "Living in our time is to walk on the beach of history after a great tide has ebbed." He felt that we must look for the great time of God and search for the signs of that incoming tide.

In the early morning during this season of Advent take a walk in your mind’s eye along the beach in the hour before dawn; drink in the darkness and confront the cold light of the fading moon and stars.  And then see, rising in the east from the ocean's limit, the sun of a new day, great and red and warming, bringing light to a world whose hope for it was all but extinguished.

Advent prepares us for the coming of the light of the world.  The Christmas story with its guiding star and angels in the night sky is an evening myth that is filled with truth.  A Medieval preacher described Advent as the "dawn of grace because it brings to light the one on whom we fix our faith, at the beginning and in the end."

We can ponder the events of this time of the year and reflect upon the source of reconciliation between God and humanity.  The possibility for reconciliation is always present, and Isaiah's time-honored instruction transcends time and space. We can hope for justice right here in Rhode Island as we allocate funds for education, health care, and the welfare of the working poor and the unemployed citizens in our midst.  We are to be ever vigilant, watchful, and continue our forward look to the days to come.

May the God of this Advent season fill us with hope, joy and peace through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Anxiety and Anticipation

Today is the last Sunday in the Christian calendar.  It is also referred to as an observance of Christ the King.  Next week we begin the season of Advent, the four weeks of preparation for the birth of Jesus.  Our readings from the Prophet Jeremiah and the gospel of Luke can enable us to imagine the anxiety and anticipation of the people of God in Israel and Palestine. 

And today, for us as citizens of the United States it is also a time of anxiety and anticipation.  Our country is divided and in need of healing and reconciliation.  Many people who count on government services like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, food stamps or shelter, and those who are immigrants seeking security and a hospitable path to citizenship are particularly anxious.

The observance of Christ the King dates to 1925 during the time of Pope Pius XI.  Following World War I he deplored the rise of class divisions and unbridled nationalism, and held that true peace can only be found under the Kingship of Christ as "Prince of Peace."  The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden, however, had a different designation; they called it the “Sunday of Doom.”  

So, here we are at the beginning of the week anticipating the celebration of Thanksgiving.  It will be a day of parades, a festival meal of turkey and an afternoon of football. The daylight hours are shorter as Christmas lights are turned on in stores across the country and holiday shoppers are backoned.  In our appointed scripture lessons we read about a time of anticipation from the prophet Jeremiah and a gospel account about the crucifixion of Jesus.  What does this day represent for you, is it a celebration of Christ the King or “Sunday of Doom”?

The prophet Jeremiah announced: “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”  The people of ancient Israel longed for a new sense of security and a place they could call home.  For a long time they had the idea that the reign of God was something very different from all the governments they had known. 

God’s reign would be characterized by total concern for the common welfare of the people.  There would be special consideration for the rights and needs of the poor and powerless, the homeless, the widows, orphans and strangers, the people who had to mortgage their lands, and those who had been sold into slavery.  God’s reign would cure every kind of oppression and mend the problems of injustice and suffering.

In the new age God will carry out his will among the people through a new person in the lineage of David.  Unlike many of the past kings of Israel and Judah, the new leader will behave in accord with God’s will.  A harmonious and responsible pattern of relationships will be created.  The king will uphold the ideals of Israelite society as set forth in the Law, but not yet realized.  The justice he administers will affect human relationships that are characterized by responsibility, peace, mutual concern, compassion and kindness.

A few hundred years later the Gospel of Luke told about the end of the life of Jesus.  Jesus and two criminals were executed.  “The people stood by, watching Jesus on the cross; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God.’...One of the criminals who were hanged [with him] ...said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’  He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’”

Luke portrayed Jesus as one who proclaimed God’s justice and righteousness.  Jesus was concerned for the poor, people who were marginalized and Gentiles, those outside the Jewish community.  The outreach of the gospel was to women and men of all nations and all conditions. 

In Luke’s account of Jesus’ death there is a deep sadness.  Jesus’ kingship, the inscription “Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews” was a betrayal of human hope.  Only a criminal, crushed, despised and executed along with Jesus, recognized in him the ultimate source of reconciliation.

Imagine a world free of all fear and tyranny, free of being victimized by the rich and powerful, free of anxiety over family and property, free of violence, free of the loss of sons and daughters to drugs, suicide, and war.  The name of a leader who will ensure this possibility according to Jeremiah is “the Lord is our righteousness.”

God is forever seeking to enter our lives with peace and reconciling love.  We are to be alert, to light our candles in the darkness, to make ready and to watch that we might respond in joy and with thankful hearts when the new day comes. 

When we present our offerings this morning we shall sing a hymn written by Walter Russell Bowie.  It speaks to the pathos of the cross and hope for a new creation.  One of the hymn’s verses says:

O awful Love, which found no room in life where sin denied thee,/ and, doomed to death, must bring to doom the powers which crucified thee,/ till not a stone was left on stone, and all those nations; pride, o'er-thrown,/ went down to dust beside thee!

As though in response to Jeremiah and Luke our epistle reading from the Letter to the Colossians provides a word of hope and encouragement for the early Christian community and for all of us: “May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light…. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”  Amen.

Passion for a New Earth

This past Tuesday night many people stayed up very late to watch the election returns.  As the night progressed it became increasingly clear that pollsters had it all wrong.  The media pundits made false assumptions and so did anyone else who made advance predictions of election results.  As votes were counted across the nation people were stunned.  About half of the voters were pleased with the results while the other half were dismayed and saddened.  What happened?  How is it that the election of a president for our country ended as it did? 

It is certainly clear that the coming months will be filled with uncertainty and a lot of soul searching in both the Republican and Democratic parties.  Polling as we have known it is no longer a viable method for predicting results.  Political parties are challenged to respond to the voters’ anger about government and the media as we have known them.  As a result of this election we do not know what will happen, how our lives will be affected, or how our fellow citizens will fare during the next four years.  All of this remains to be seen.

On Wednesday morning I turned to our Scripture readings appointed for today and found a message of hope for all of us within religious communities.  The prophet Isaiah and the Gospel of Luke tell us about how people of faith can live in the midst of anxiety and uncertainty and also maintain a sense of hope for the future.

Isaiah said, “I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.”

Then Luke, in writing his gospel, looked back to the time of Jesus and focused on the prediction that the temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed. “The days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down."  Then, in predicting an apocalyptic future he said, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.  But before all this occurs, [you will have] an opportunity to testify.” 

 

Living in times of uncertainty, anxiety and wonder about the future is not at all unusual.  The people of Israel needed a word of hope.  Jesus’ disciples and followers needed to know that their relationships were important, especially in the midst of trying circumstances.  They were to tell their stories, to testify about coping with what was happening all around them.

 

How are we to cope in our time of uncertainty, a time of transition in our national leadership when we have no clear idea about the future?  What do you do?  What story do you tell at the dinner table with your family and friends?  One of the ways for all of us who gather for worship as part of the family of God is to know that we have hope for the future in the midst of whatever happens in the present.  In Isaiah God said, “I am about to create new heavens and a new earth…. So be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating.”

 

Last Sunday we heard a story from Dan Mechnig about what All Saints’ Church has meant for him for the past 60 years that he has worshipped here. His story is a testimony to the importance of our congregation and the relationships we share.  It is also an invitation to contribute toward a  sustainable financial future.

 

And, this past Tuesday in our confirmation course we talked about Jesus and what he was passionate about.  Jesus was passionate about God, and he was passionate about the Kingdom of God.  He prayed and taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  Jesus’ passion was God’s dream of justice, non-violence, and peace centering on the transformation of the world. 

 

The meaning for us is clear.  First, we are to trust in God by loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love our neighbor as ourselves.  Second, we are to strive for a new earth where resources are shared, justice reigns. and our planet earth is maintained for future generation.

 

I asked the members of our class to think about their passions.  We know what Jesus was passionate about.  What are you passionate about?

Tell us your story.  Tell the story of your relationship with God, and tell the story about your dream, your passion for a new earth.

 

Our baptismal covenant is a good place to begin.  As Christians, members of God’s family, we are to “continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers. “  We are to “persevere in resisting evil,… to repent and return to the Lord.”  We are to “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.”  We are “to seek and serve Christ in all persons, to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.” 

 

These are not just words; they are our commitment to action as ministers of reconciliation. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.  Our mission is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. To the extent we are passionate about the covenant we made in baptism and renew every time we baptize another person, we participate in God’s creation of a new earth.  Amen.

 

 

Examples of God’s Grace

All Saints’ Sunday is a special day for all of us.  Our All Saints’ Memorial Church dates to the time of its building 144 years ago.  As we celebrate our founding it is important to note that All Saints brings to mind the size and solidarity of God’s people.  The people of God comprise a vast community that spreads beyond the boundaries of race, language, religion, and condition; beyond time and space, and across the divide of death.  In each faithful person the Christian proclamation of hope and promise for eternal life is a concrete reality. 

When we sing praise to the saints and the faithful of every age we praise God who has triumphed through them and whose bountiful grace and mercy we see in their lives.  They are examples of God’s grace.

Today’s gospel reading from Luke provides the basis of Christian ethics.  It is an ethic of God’s grace, and it is about how we are to act in relation to each other and to all the people of God.  Jesus spoke to the disciples and others in the hill country of Galilee about those who are blessed in God’s eyes, and the religious duties of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. 

“Blessed are you,” said Jesus, and then he matched each blessing with a woe, a statement of anguish or misery.  Luke stressed the need for social change and transformation.  Blessings and woes are the prophetic words intended to bring to pass the things to which they give promise or warning.

“Blessed are you who are poor” reflects God’s vindication of the poor and those in need, and the government authority that had responsibility for them.  In the time of Luke, in first century Palestine, a large class of destitute, unemployed, and landless peasants lived side by side with wealthy farmers, landed proprietors, and rich bankers. 

“Blessed are you who are hungry now” reflects God’s readiness to relieve not only physical, but spiritual, hunger.  Jesus shared meals with the disciples, he ate with sinners and tax collectors, he fed the multitudes; and in his teachings he told the story of someone who gave a great banquet, or he told of bringing a fatted calf and killing it so there could have a feast.  In these events both the spiritual and literal senses of being hungry are held together.

“Blessed are you who weep now” is a beatitude that must be seen against the actual distress of an occupied country.  Its roots are in the prophecy of Isaiah who proclaimed the promise of a new Jerusalem: “To proclaim the year of God’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.”  The meaning is inclusive and goes beyond individual or personal bereavement.

“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you.”  This beatitude reflects the suffering the disciples will have to endure.  Those who suffer and are persecuted because of their faithfulness share the kingdom of God.

These four blessings are addressed to people who are poor, hungry, miserable, and who expect to be treated harshly.  The kingdom of heaven is promised to them and it will be their happiness and satisfaction.  Both the physical and the spiritual are included in these promises; and all of them form a revolutionary proclamation.  The gospel has been called an ethic of grace.

How does this relate to us who are Christians in the 21^st century?  When I look around our state and see the vast number of food pantries, soup kitchens, and meal sites that feed thousands of people every week, I am overwhelmed by the level of poverty in Rhode Island.  Last week, writing in the New York Times (October 28, 2016), Nicholas Kristof stated, “What many Americans don’t understand about poverty is that it’s perhaps less about a lack of money than about not seeing any path out…..

“Too many American kids are set up for failure when they are born into what might be called the “broken class,” where violence, mental illness, drugs and sexual abuse infuse childhood.… As a society, we fail them long before they fail us….

“What we lack most is not means but political will.  The main public response to American poverty has been a great big national shrug — and that is why … the public and the media [need to demand] that politicians address the issue…. Struggling, despairing people sometimes compound their misfortune by self-medicating or engaging in irresponsible, self-destructive behavior..… Child poverty is an open sore on the American body politic.  It is a moral failing for our nation that one-fifth of our children live in poverty.”

The gospel ethic of grace is to “love your enemies, to do good, and to lend expecting nothing in return.... Be merciful, even as God is merciful.”  “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”  “Blessed are you” who live in this way.

The beatitudes and woes provide us with the real meaning of sainthood.  The saints are those who possess and demonstrate the love and grace of God.  We celebrate the great women and men of the Bible and all through the centuries as examples of God’s grace.  They lived and continue to live this ethic of grace because they feed the hungry, clothe the naked, build houses for the homeless, free those in prison and those who are oppressed, comfort the broken-hearted, and work for justice and peace.  As members of All Saints Memorial Church, blessed are you in everything you do by living this ethic of grace. You are also numbered among the saints.  Amen.

Bridging the Divide

It’s a familiar problem.  We all like to believe that our understanding of an issue, or whatever is happening around us, is right.  At the very least we like to think we have the right opinion or the right attitude.  Because of our disposition people who differ from us in their attitude or opinion about something are usually wrong.  We hear it all the time; I am right but you are wrong.

It is easy to fall into this trap.  We divide our selves into all kinds of categories – liberal or conservative, democrat or republican, religious or atheist, self-righteous or humble, those who are “in the know” and those who are left out. 

It was like this with the Pharisee and the tax collector as we heard in today’s gospel.  This story is found only in Luke’s gospel, and while it may be hypothetical it nevertheless makes a powerful statement.  The Pharisee was righteous; he kept the law, attended worship in the temple on a regular basis, and lived a good and lawful life.  The tax collector also went up to the temple, but he had to stand “far off” because he was an agent of the Roman occupiers and was not welcomed.  In fact, he was despised and shunned because of his position.

The Pharisee and the tax collector represent two stereotypes that were familiar to first century Jewish and early Christian communities.  They were polar opposites.  The Pharisee was a righteous person, prayerful, faithful, generous, and devout.  He was a person with whom it was difficult to find fault.  The tax collector, on the other hand, was a terrible person, hated by just about everyone.  He often extorted money from his own people.  Those who listened to Jesus telling this story likely concluded that God would ignore the tax collector.  He certainly was not worthy or devout like the Pharisee.

By anyone’s definition the tax collector was a sinner, alienated from God and his fellow citizens.  He collaborated with the enemies of his people for the sake of his own safety and gain.  However, he was aware of his situation and called out to God for mercy.  He knew his failings, and he knew he was in need of repentance.  He acknowledged that through the power of prayer change was possible.

The tax collector stood some distance away from the temple.  We are told that he did not even raise his eyes toward heaven, but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”  It was generally thought that tax collectors were on a level with robbers; they possessed no civic rights, and were shunned by all respectable people. The tax collector, by beating his breast, demonstrated an expression of the deepest contrition.  Jesus said, “I tell you, this tax collector went home justified, rather than the other.” 

This parable pits the Pharisee’s public prayer thanking God for not being like “those other people,” against the tax collector’s beating his breast and pleading for mercy. The central issue is about the kind of treatment one person gives to another.  It is about the religious qualities of kindness and virtue; it is not about discrimination and judgment.

Jesus’ point was that God decides who is justified.  God welcomes the hopeless sinner and rejects the self-righteous.  God is the God of those who despair and who truly repent.  The Pharisees repeatedly asked Jesus, “Why do you associate with this underclass, these outcasts who are shunned by all respectable people?”  Jesus told the Pharisees, “They need me, because they are truly repentant, and because they have faith and are grateful for God’s forgiveness.”

God has no favorites.  God hears the cries of the weak, the oppressed, the widow, the orphan, those who are well off and those who are poor.  God’s love is extended to everyone.  The end of the story tells us the tax collector went home “justified rather than the other.” In stark contrast the Pharisee returned to the temple to continue in his self-righteous life.

The problems we have today in bridging divisions and distributing justice in a fair and equitable manner have no easy solution.  While we do what we can to build communities of justice, equality, peace and opportunity for everyone, discrimination and prejudice continue to dominate relationships among individuals and groups.

Do we pray the way the Pharisee did, thanking God for the good and self-righteous life we enjoy, or do we ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness to guide us in changing our lives and those of others for a better and more virtuous future?  May we do as Paul said in his letter to Timothy, ask the Lord to rescue us “from every evil attack and save [us] for his heavenly kingdom.  To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Pray, and do not lose heart

Ever since the Great Recession of 2008 we have been living in a turbulent and unsettling time both in our nation and throughout the world.  In spite of the economic recovery and related improvements,  our national government is in disarray and the political climate is fixated on egregious and abhorrent behavior rather than on policies to move our country forward in a positive direction.

An article last week by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times stated, “We have too much deferred maintenance to fix, too much deferred leadership to generate and too much deferred reimagining to undertake to wait another four years to solve our biggest problems, especially in this age of accelerating technology and climate change.”  Friedman is arguing for a renewed sense of good government and a transformation that will meet the needs of all our citizens.

The biblical readings appointed for today from Jeremiah, Luke and Timothy tell us about our faith and how we can live in the midst of these anxious times.  While all that is happening is different from the ancient days of the prophet Jeremiah, the core message of his prophecy rings true.  Jeremiah said, “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt-- a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord.  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days:… I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” 

Jeremiah’s was a plea for a better future.  To apply it to our time we need a renewed commitment from our government leaders; an understanding that they are elected to serve the people – all the people of every race and creed.  The poor, immigrants, and those oppressed because of gender are equal and share in our constitutional right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

The people in Jeremiah’s time had lived in exile in Babylon.  The city of Jerusalem and the Temple had been destroyed, and the people were anxious and insecure.  But then God announced that the restoration of the city was coming.  God’s law of love and justice will be written in their hearts, and the people will be transformed; their relationship with God will be renewed.

Many years after Jeremiah’s time Jesus proclaimed God’s justice to those who pray always and do not lose heart.  He told a parable about an unjust judge who did not respect anyone but granted justice to a widow who kept bothering him.  In Jewish society at the time of Jesus a widow had no legal standing.  Widows were among those who lived on the margins of society.  So Jesus said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says.  And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

If nothing else the widow in continuing to bother the unjust judge was persistent.  She kept after him until he relented and granted her request.

What about us? How do we practice the faith we profess?  We lose heart when we feel powerless and think that whatever we do will not make a difference.  But actions matter.  How we relate to others by caring for them, loving them and working for justice in the lives of everyone makes an impact on the whole community.

What about prayer?  Our need for prayer serves as a means for reflection about ourselves and about all that happens around us.  We persist in prayer by not losing heart in our hope for a better day for all people.  Jesus said that God will grant justice to those who pray, “who cry to him day and night.”  As we heard in St. Paul’s letter to Timothy, “continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, … how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.… I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. …Always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.”

So, as we live through this difficult period in our history feeling bereft because of the political climate and all the problems around us, let us be persistent in prayer and not lose heart.  Amen.

Embracing Faith

The prophet Jeremiah sent a letter from Jerusalem to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile in Babylon. The letter said they were to seek the welfare of the city where they were in exile, and “pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”  The point of Jeremiah’s letter was that, despite the destruction of Jerusalem, the captivity of the Israelites, and all the hardship they had to endure, contributing to the welfare of Babylon would benefit them.  

I cannot help but think of all the refugees around the world who have left their homes and native lands essentially to live in exile in a strange land.  Many thousands of them are living in settlements that are rustic and primitive at best with meager amounts of food and clothing, contaminated water, and diseases like malaria, chronic diarrhea, and other debilitating conditions.

According to the New York Times, “A vast majority of the more than four million refugees want to return to Syria once the war there ends. For that reason, most have stayed in the region, often languishing for years in camps in Lebanon and Jordan, rather than migrating to Europe or attempting to enter the United States. According to estimates from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there are some 634,000 refugees still in Jordan, 1.1 million in Lebanon and 2.3 million in Turkey.”  Unless refugees are settled in hospitable environments and provided with opportunities for the basic necessities of life, there is no way they can improve the welfare of the places where they are.

Here at home we have many former refugees and immigrant people who are contributing to our common welfare and the well-being of our communities. Ours is a place of welcome and hospitality.  We can always do better, but those who come here and settle in our cities are grateful.

Gratitude is the subject of the story of the Samaritan leper who was cured by Jesus.  Lepers were outcasts who were alienated from the community.  They were like exiles or refugees in their own land.  The healing that Jesus provided for ten people who were diseased restored them to the community of God’s people.  It was a sign of salvation but only one of those who were healed, a Samaritan foreigner, offered praise to God and thanked Jesus.  Then Jesus said to the grateful person, “Get up and go your way; your faith has made you well.”  The leper was healed; his faith had brought God’s saving grace into his diseased life.

Jeremiah’s sense of well-being and justice in the cities where we are, and gratitude or thankfulness for God’s grace and love are hallmarks of our faith.  The Rev. Jay Sidebotham, an Episcopal priest and author, writes a blog in RenewalWorks titled “Monday Matters.”  This past week he shared a column from the Wall Street Journal about an interview with a teenager.  The young person said,  "I love being Episcopalian. You don't have to believe anything."  Jay wrote that it was great that this young person felt welcomed. But it made him think about what it means to believe, to trust. to give one’s heart to something? Are there things he hoped she would embrace?

Jay offered a list of things he embraces in our Christian faith.  I like what he offers but my list, although built on his, is somewhat different.  As I share my list, think of things you embrace in your faith and life.  Here are seven items:

1. God is the author and creator of all that is.  Scientific discoveries and evolution are part of the created order.  All of us live within the life of God.  Our lives are a gift and we have the freedom to think for ourselves and to act as we choose.

2. As stated in the Book of Genesis, Creation is good.  It is a gift, the work of a loving God who declares it to be blessed. Creation prompts an attitude of gratitude and wonder. The changing seasons, birds, animals, and fish; wind, earth, stars, and water are marvels of creation.

3. God is about relationships. The Spirit of God is present in all the racial, gender and ethnic diversity that comprises communities of mercy, love and forgiveness.  The goal of relationships is virtue and compassion for those in need.   

4. God listens when we pray.  Prayer is about the way we live and involves what we have done and what we have left undone, our love and concern for others, the thanks we feel and express for all we have received, and the glory and praise we offer to God.

5. We are called by the Spirit of God through Baptism to continue following the teaching of Jesus, to share his meal of thanksgiving in holy communion, to resist evil, to proclaim the Good News of God, to serve Christ in all persons by loving our neighbors, and to work for justice and peace respecting the dignity of every human being.

6. The Bible tells an epic and sacred story.  It is not a literal story, but a guide for living within the historical reality of all the people of God, past, present, and future.  In the midst of life’s uncertainties and ambiguities, the Biblical story is about doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God.

7. The sacrament of Holy Eucharist sustains us by giving us bread for the journey, nourishment for the soul, and life-giving sustenance in our ministries of service to people in need.

Within the context of what we embrace in our Christian faith, I am confident that Jeremiah’s plea to seek the welfare of the community, and the Samaritan’s thankfulness for health and wholeness are true pathways toward realizing changed and transformed lives.  Amen.