Drawn into God’s Mercy

Tomorrow is Memorial Day.  It is a day for remembering those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of freedom and human dignity.  It’s a coincidence that our Gospel passage today is about a relationship between Jesus and an enemy soldier, a centurion.

In considering this story about the centurion and his very sick slave, it helps to understand the character and role of a Roman centurion:

Vegetius, a 5^th century historian, wrote a book called The Epitome of Military Science.  In it, he described the qualities of a centurion in rather glowing terms:  “A centurion is chosen for great strength and tall stature, as a man who hurls spears and javelins skillfully and strongly, has expert knowledge how to fight with the sword and rotate the shield, and has learned the whole art of armature. He is alert, sober, and agile, and more ready to do the things ordered of him than speak, keeps his soldiers in training, makes them practice their arms, and sees that they are well clothed and shod, and that the arms are burnished and bright.”

The centurion in Luke’s gospel was concerned about his sick servant who was near death.  The fact that the centurion had a slave is revealing.  Slaves were considered to be less than human.  Roman owners of slaves could treat them in any way they wished. They could punish them or even put them to death since they were dispensable. The fact that this centurion cared enough about his slave to want to save him indicates that he was a compassionate person.  So when he heard Jesus was in town he went out of his way to see that his slave got the help he needed to be restored to good health.

The centurion sent some Jewish elders to ask Jesus to come and heal his slave. When they saw Jesus they said, "He [the centurion] is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue."  Then as Jesus went with them and got closer to the house, the centurion sent friends to say, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.  If you speak the word my servant will be healed.”

Jesus went out of his way to help the centurion, a soldier.  The centurion who was under Roman authority had a hundred soldiers under him.  In giving orders the soldiers under him did what they were commanded.  He must have trusted that Jesus, simply by speaking the word, would heal his servant. You can imagine how surprised Jesus must have been when an enemy soldier asked him for help.  Jesus was amazed and said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

What is telling about this story is that the Jewish elders were quick to do the centurion’s bidding. They lost no time trying to convince Jesus, a Jewish rabbi, to heal this servant, a non-Jew.  More than that he was a slave, sub-human.  The elders told Jesus that the centurion was “worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.”  

The centurion appealed to what he saw as a common bond he shared with Jesus: “For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes. And to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it” He knew how to take and to give orders and felt that he and Jesus had this in common. 

When Jesus heard this he said to the crowd, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith” The story ends by telling us, “When those had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.”

A commentator has this to say, “The elders think Jesus should heal the boy because of the generosity of the centurion. But Jesus is willing to heal the boy because of the centurion’s own personal faith and trust. The centurion shows himself to be one who trusts Jesus to heal his servant, even from a distance. The Roman officer does not feel he’s worthy of having Jesus in his home.  Actually, it’s out of deep respect for Jesus that he does not want Jesus to enter his house. The centurion knows that for Jesus, a Jew, to enter the house of a Gentile, it would mean Jesus would instantly become contaminated or unclean. For this reason Jesus says, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” Evidently, even Jesus was surprised to find such faith and compassion in an outsider like this Roman military man.”

What is our faith and compassion for those we consider enemies, outsiders, or anyone who is different from ourselves?  Jesus teaches us that all people are children of God.  Some people are compassionate and actually practice the faith they profess.  There are others who feel entitled or oppressed.  Still others are victimized and enslaved.  The point is that we all need to know that God loves and cares for all people.

The centurion story is about everyone being drawn into God’s mercy and grace, and brought into the realm of salvation in communion with God and one another.  As we said in today’s psalm, “Sing to the Lord a new song; proclaim the good news of salvation from day to day.”

As with the slave who was near death, on this Memorial Day weekend we remember those who have died and those who have been wounded in service to our country.  We must recognize that the death of anyone implicates us as it diminishes our sense of human value and worth.  All lives are created in the image of God.  Our religious history and our Christian faith remind us that God is not favorably disposed to war.  The Prophet Isaiah said, “God shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”  May we continue to work for justice and peace both at home and around the world.  Amen.

Sharing the Glory of God

It’s Trinity Sunday, the only day in the Christian calendar in which we commemorate a church doctrine.  I am sure we have all learned through the years that the Doctrine of the Trinity is to be understood as one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  It is often referred to as “one in three and three in one.” 

While acknowledging its importance, many of us can also resonate with the writer Dorothy Sayers who said, "Of all the Christian dogmas, the doctrine of the Trinity enjoys the greatest reputation for obscurity and remoteness from common experience."  So, if you like a mystery, the Trinity is about the best there is with respect to Christian teaching.

I like what one article has to say about the Trinity:  According to this central mystery there is only one God in three persons: while distinct from one another "it is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds."  In their relation with one another, they are stated to be one in all else, co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial, and "each is God, whole and entire.”  

Accordingly, the whole work of creation and grace is seen as a single operation common to all three divine persons, so that all things are "from the Father", "through the Son" and "in the Holy Spirit.”

In her book, “The Case for God,” the British theologian, Karen Armstrong discusses the doctrine of the Trinity and examines our contemporary understanding of its meaning.  She cites Basil, the bishop of Caesarea in the 4^th Century, who insisted that we could never know God’s “being” or “essence.”  But we could form an idea about the divine “energies” that have translated the ineffable God into human idiom: the incarnate Word and the immanent divine presence within us that scripture calls the Holy Spirit.

Armstrong says the whole point of the doctrine of the Trinity was to stop Christians from thinking about God in rational terms.  Trinity was mythos, mystery.  It spoke a truth that was not accessible to logos, to reason, and it made sense only when translated into practical action.  I hope this is helpful because it goes against our need to prove that something is objectively true.  Mystery is beyond our comprehension until we experience what is revealed.

In our scientific and technological time we like to have proof that something if not everything is true.  But that is not always possible.  For example, we do not know the origin of consciousness, nor do we know how many planets there actually are in the universe.  And we do not know God either fully or objectively.

David Blumenthal wrote an essay titled, Three is not Enough: Jewish Reflections on Trinitarian Thinking.  He questions, "If God's being is plural, why only Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?  Why not Ineffability, Knowability, Intuition, Grace, Judgment, Compassion, Eternity, Awe, Fecundity, and Providence -- all of which are equally integral to the divine whole?  If we, who are complex beyond three, are created in God's Image, God must be complex beyond three… God…relates in many ways and is somehow consistent in who God is.  In a universe in which we are created in God's Image, it cannot be otherwise."

A belief that limits our understanding of God as only Father, Son and Spirit, is not a fully adequate representation of God.  As a doctrine or teaching the Trinity provides us with an historical perception of God.  This is also the case with the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds.  What matters, however, is that God is beyond human limitation and understanding.  As we say in the Blessing at the end of our celebration of Holy Eucharist, “The Peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge of the love of God….” This means that God who is infinite, life-giving, and compassionate, is also mystery, beyond our understanding.  

St. Paul wrote in his Letter to the Romans, “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,…and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.… Hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

The peace of God, while beyond our understanding, is about our relationship with God.  We are in a partnership of reconciliation.  What we know and are assured of is God’s free gift of mercy and love for all people.

God's love “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” is the gift of complete oneness with God in eternal life.  Jesus, as mediator and advocate brings us into relationship with God.  This is our understanding of God, whether or not we believe in the doctrine of the Trinity.  God’s love for us is always present regardless of the circumstances of our lives.

Jesus brings this home in John’s gospel when he tells the disciples, “the Spirit of truth…will guide you into all the truth;… and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”   We live in hope, rejoicing in the mystery of God as we come to know God in our daily lives, carrying out love and compassion in ministering to those in need.  Amen.

Pouring out the Spirit

The Day of Pentecost occurs fifty days after Easter each year.  It is often referred to as the birthday of the Church and ii signifies God’s gift of the Holy Spirit to all who, as stated in the Book of Common Prayer follow “Jesus Christ as Lord and are brought into love and harmony with God, with ourselves, with our neighbors, and with all creation.”

The feast of Pentecost is also referred to as Whitsunday, especially in the United Kingdom.  In the New Testament as we heard in the lesson from the Acts of the Apostles Pentecost was the occasion of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus.

Last week I attended the ordination to the priesthood of the Rev. Linda Griggs.  Linda is the Associate Minister at St. Martin’s Church.  During ordination services we invoke God’s gift of the Holy Spirit by singing an ancient ninth century hymn. You will likely recognize a couple of verses:

Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,
and lighten with celestial fire.
Thou the anointing Spirit art,
who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart.

Teach us to know the Father, Son,
and thee, of both, to be but One,
that through the ages all along,
this may be our endless song:

Praise to thy eternal merit,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

It is an emotional and inspiring hymn that calls to mind the gift of the Holy Spirit to Jesus’ disciples.  As Luke states in the Acts of the Apostles, “when the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”

They spoke in their native tongues. We heard a number of them, “Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs.”  Imagine how amazing it was  as they were “speaking about God's deeds of power."  

Luke’s story is fascinating..  It is his own account of the Holy Spirit  and it follows the Jewish festival of Shavuot, a word that means “weeks.”  It is a holiday celebrated fifty days after Passover.  Shavuot commemorates the giving of the law to Moses on Mt. Sinai. The account in Acts says that when the disciples were gathered, “suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting…. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”

There are Christians today who accept it as a literal account, and there are others who understand it as metaphorical and prefer to focus on its meaning for us who live in the 21^st Century. What I find important about this story is that God’s gift of the Holy Spirit is for all people of every language.  It reminds me of all the different languages that are spoken here in Providence.  The coming of the Holy Spirit is God’s gift of salvation leading toward the end of time.  It is the fulfillment of Christ's promise, recorded in the fist chapter of Acts that the disciples “will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”

Peter, as part of his first sermon, quoted the prophet Joel and told them what Pentecost means, “`In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. …Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'"

This is a story about mission, it is about proclaiming the good news of God’s saving grace to people everywhere, and sharing it in languages they can understand.  The Holy Spirit is the foundation for this mission.  It means that God’s love is for all people.  People around the world of every language are filled with the Holy Spirit.  They are able to hear God’s desire for all people to be united and for his saving power to be realized throughout the world.

This past week two events happened here at All Saints which I think are evident of God’s saving spirit.  One was the City Meal Site feeding a nutritious meal last Tuesday to more than 150 hungry and homeless people.  This happens every week.  The other event was a concert presented by Community Music Works.  Young children of elementary and middle school age performed on musical instruments for their families and friends.  They are a dedicated group of musicians who played solo selections on the violin or cello. It was a privilege to hear such an enthusiastic group of budding artists.  Music is a spiritual offering of composers, musicians, and audiences who appreciate a universal language.

The Holy Spirit is life-giving and sustains the entire community.  People of every language and culture have a variety of talents and gifts.  We receive the Spirit of God when we are engaged in prayer and worship and in community service.  Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these…. If you love me you will keep my commandments.”  This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you."

On this Day of Pentecost may the Spirit of God be within you and support you in all your life, in your work and leisure, and in your relationships with family, friends, and the people you meet.  Amen.

A Story and a Prayer

Jesus was a person of prayer.  Throughout his ministry, in the midst of resisting temptations, healing the sick, driving out evil spirits, teaching in the synagogue, and dining with sinners and outcasts, Jesus took time to go off alone and to be with God in prayer.  In meditation, contemplation, or in verbal conversation with God, prayer was central for Jesus and it remains at the heart and core of Christian life.

Today’s gospel concerns one of Jesus’ prayers.  Jesus prayed for his disciples, “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.” Jesus, the risen Christ, is one with God.  We are called to join in his prayer, to be united with one another, to be one with the risen Christ who is one with God.  It is also the mission of our Church “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.”

This past Thursday the Church celebrated the feast of the Ascension, a day commemorating Jesus ascending into heaven following his resurrection.  The Rev. Suzanne Guthrie writes,  “Ascension yields the most profound fruitfulness of the interior life…. Jesus prays for humanity's overall union in love with God through him…. Christ ascends not far away beyond clouds, but into the heart of hearts to manifest within every heart.  The enthronement of Jesus takes place in deep union within us.”  So Jesus prayed, “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

A story about prayer and unity through love is the subject of today’s lesson from the Acts of the Apostles.  It is a story of conversion and sharing food as a sign of unity and peace.  In the story Paul and Silas journeyed to the Roman colony of Philippi in Macedonia.  There they visited a Jewish community that was meeting for prayer by the river.  They also met a slave girl who made a lot of money for her owners by fortune–telling.  She was also possessed by an evil spirit.  She followed Paul and Silas for many days and cried out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim a way of salvation."  Paul became annoyed by her shouting, finally turned toward her and said to the evil spirit, "I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out at that very hour.

The owners of the slave girl having seen that their hope of making money was gone, seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. They charged them with disturbing the peace, "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe."  The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods.  Then they were thrown into prison and the jailer was ordered to keep them in the innermost cell and fasten their feet in the stocks.

Around midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang songs to God. Other prisoners heard them, and suddenly a violent earthquake shook the foundation of the prison.  Doors opened and chains became unfastened.  The jailer was awakened and frightened because he thought the prisoners had escaped.  He tried to kill himself but Paul shouted, “Do not harm yourself, we are all here.”  Trembling, the jailer fell down before Paul and Silas, and then he brought them outside and asked what he had to do to be saved.  They told him to believe in Jesus and he and his household would be saved.  The jailer then washed Paul’s and Silas’s wounds.  He and his family were baptized; they all shared a meal, and everyone rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

This story has parallels to Jesus’ own experience.  An article in this week’s issue of the Christian Century Magazine says, “Paul, like Jesus before him, performs an exorcism, replacing the power of evil with that of God in Christ.  Like Jesus, Paul and Silas are arrested by the authorities and beaten. Now it is the disciples who are released from their prison of death and who preach the gospel, make disciples, and baptize. We need not wait until the end, or our end, to enter the gates of the city of God.  It is here, by the power of the Spirit, available to all the baptized.”  (Gail Ramshaw, The Christian Century, Apr 19, 2016)

Jesus made God’s name known to the disciples, to Paul, Silas, the jailer and his family. I invite you to use this story and reflect on Jesus’ prayer.  Take some time to meditate on how God’s name is made known to you in your life today.  Jesus makes God’s name known so that we and all people may be united in love.  Amen.

Gates Never To Be Shut

Later this week the Easter season moves toward the feast of the Ascension and in two weeks the Day of Pentecost.  Our scripture readings appointed for use on Sundays brings us nearer to the end of Jesus’ Easter appearances to his disciples.  Our New Testament lessons are about visions of the heavenly city, listening to God’s word, knowing his love, and receiving the Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom God will send in Jesus’ name.

In the Book of Revelation, John of Patmos had a vision of heaven.  About his vision he said, “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb….  Its gates will never be shut.”  God and the Lamb are the temple and the light.  The heavenly city as envisioned by John is a great center of unity for the world under the sovereign authority of God and the Lamb.

Can you imagine what this would be like?  What is your vision of the heavenly city?  Is it a place of unity and peace, a place where there is no violence or war, no discrimination, prejudice or bigotry?  Is it a place where all spiritual souls are loved and where compassion rules?

Jesus said to his disciples, the Father will send the Holy Spirit who “will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”  Given all the tensions around the world, violent acts of terror, the increasing number of refugees, the prevalence of gun violence, and political polarization, it would be a great gift to have a sense of God’s peace in our lives. 

Jesus spoke directly to the fears of his disciples and said they would not be alone after he left them to be with God.  He promised that an Advocate, a "helper" would come.  That helper is the Holy Spirit who would teach and remind them about all he had said.  Jesus then offered them peace, which in its root meaning is the word shalom in Hebrew, or salaam in Arabic.  It is often used as a greeting, and it means "unity" or "wholeness."  God's will is for the world to be whole, to be united, to be one just as Jesus and God are one.

The Spirit is God's gift to us.  The gift of the peace of God is not the same as the world gives.  The world's definition of peace, that on-again off-again pause in hostilities is different.  Jesus' peace arises from the depth of God’s love. 

The New Testament scholar Gail O’Day, writing in The New Interpreter's Bible states, "The peace that Jesus gives is his peace, a peace that derives from the heart of Jesus' life…. The gift of peace rests at the center of Israel's eschatological hopes and is now available in Jesus." (eschatology is about last things, the end of time.  It is like John's vision of the heavenly city).  "The promise of Jesus' peace is not an occasion for complacency …. These are not sentimental imperatives, simply telling the disciples not to worry, but [the gift of peace] calls the disciples to find strength to face the new circumstances in which Jesus' departure places them."

Our need today is to find strength both as people of God to face new circumstances here and around the world.  I am convinced that the church can be a harbinger of the heavenly city “whose gates will never be shut” as long as we have clarity about what we mean to each other.  Who we are is fundamental.  Knowing what it means to be the people of God, the children of God, a Christian family, community, the Body of Christ means having mutual respect, compassionate care, and loving relationships among all people.

Here at All Saints’ we have a newly restored building, rededicated last Sunday for our ministry and mission that in Bishop Knisely’s words “empowers” us to care for those in need.  The time is right for All Saints’ to be a harbinger of the city whose “gates will never be shut” here in Providence.  Recently our Strategic Planning Committee and our Vestry adopted a revised statement of mission: “All Saints’ Memorial Church is a welcoming multicultural Episcopal congregation that strives to grow in the love of God and respond to the spiritual and human needs of our neighboring communities.”

Our vision for our future says, “All Saints’ Memorial Church is a visible and known beacon that engages people in their spiritual journeys and nurtures their minds and souls.”

There are several ways to fulfill our mission and achieve our vision.  They include, but are not limited to, being intentional and sharing stories about our spiritual journeys as we continue to grow in the love of God; celebrating the cultural diversity that is the true hallmark of our congregation; continue providing pastoral care and support to our members and others according to their need; encouraging and nourishing our younger members through programs of spiritual formation; developing sustainable arts and music programs; continuing and increasing our relationships by partnering with groups and organizations like the City Meal Site, La Iglesia Luterana, and others; and maintaining and creating capital improvement projects for our historic church building.

We are all members of the household of God. We have this ministry as disciples and followers of Jesus in this 21^st Century, and each one of us is an active participant in living the command to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  May God create in all of us a faith that is aflame with the Holy Spirit and with the peace that arises from the depths of God’s love.  Amen.