Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, April 27, 2008

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Year A

April 27, 2008

Acts 17:22-31 Psalm 66:7-18

I Peter 3:13-22 St. John 14:15-21

Paul was a pretty amazing preacher. He always seemed to know just the right thing to say, and was never afraid to shape his message to really catch the attention and understanding of his listeners. Paul was also a keen observer of society around him and that enabled him to preach in particularly powerful ways. As I was reading Paul’s sermon from the reading in Acts for this morning, I was wondering how Paul’s message would be different if he were preaching it today somewhere in the United States.

I think he would start off the same. How can anyone assume anything other than that our nation also seems to be extremely religious. Since we are in the middle of a presidential election, it is hard to miss the fact that most of the candidates wear their faith on their sleeve. Many religious leaders attempt to demonstrate how we are a “Christian nation” from our founding. Polls indicate that many people in the United States identify themselves as Christians. And if Paul were to wander through our cities and towns he would find many places of worship around every corner.

But Paul found fault in the religious practices of the Athenians. They practiced idolatry. He found temples with idols everywhere he looked. So Paul’s look around the United States must fall short at this point in his sermon. Surely you don’t see idols put up in places of worship around the United States. So we can safely give ourselves a pat on the back. After all, idolatry has been out of fashion in western civilization for centuries.

Alas, we are not to get off quite so easy. I have started looking at idolatry in a different light thanks to my former Bishop. For the past few years before he left Bishop Mark McDonald had been calling our attention to the sin of idolatry in our own lives. To be honest, I would had never thought of it in those terms, so I’m grateful for the clarity of thought Bp. Mark provided. Bishop Mark thoughtfully reframed idolatry for me, but taking my focus off the idea of graven images (a convenient concept since I can let myself off on that account) and placing the focus on what an idol does, namely take the place of God in our lives. Most of us understand and agree with Paul that God “does not live in shrines made by human hands”. But Bishop Mark reframed the issue in a new and challenging way for me.

And so thanks to those insights and challenges I see that there seems to be quite a parallel to our nation and the Athenians with respect to the tricky sin of idolatry. In fact, I think that we are a people in love with an idol more powerful than the Athenians could have ever imagined. Perhaps unfortunately for us, our idols are not idols of gold, silver or stone in images that make it clear that someone is worshipping them.

This makes our idols much harder to identify. They are not as something as simple as seeing a carved image on our table. But I think Paul would have seen our idols for what they are. It seems to me that the idols most worshipped in the United States consists of money, cars, over consumption, self centeredness, racism, sexism, selfishness and I’m sure the list could run pages if I really put my mind to it, but since I have a reputation for brevity in my homilies, I will end the list here.

The danger with our idols is that it is easy to dismiss them or imagine that they are not really idols. Sure we can tell ourselves that they are dangerous things to our spiritual health that must be considered, but certainly it is not idolatry. But we are faced in our nation with the most insidious form of idolatry there is. In a nutshell, all those idols add up to one theme of idolatry, and that is the idolatry of self.

We seem to live in a society that encourages, almost demands, that we place self in the center of the universe. That is idolatry plain and simple. The shrine we have made is a shrine of self.

Against this worship of self, Christians we are called to follow Jesus as the ultimate example of self-sacrifice.

It can sometimes be a tricky balance. God calls us to love God and to love our neighbor as our self. So the solution to self-centeredness and the idolatry of self is not self loathing and self contempt. We must love ourselves if we are too truly to know how to love our neighbors.

The answer to finding this balance of moderation in our lives will be different for each one of us. No answer will work for all of us. We are at different places in our lives. But the solution lies in balancing our needs and desires with what we feel God is calling us to do in the world around us.

What self centeredness does is cause us to look away from the concerns of the Gospel. We are faced with the challenge of self centeredness every time we watch the television. And while it might be the answer for some of us I’m not saying we all have to give up on television. But we do need to be much more critical to the lessons we are learning both in the programming and the commercials. We should be talking to our children about those lessons as well.

God truly does want us to live happy, fulfilling and enjoyable lives as Christians. But there is much in the world around us that would call us from following in the fullness of Christ. Paul gives a wonderful thought to what we are called to do in response to the Gospel. Paul reminded the Athenians that as a result of creation God “allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him – though indeed he is not far from each one of us”.

As a person who has struggled and sometimes failed to follow God as closely as I might have hoped, I take comfort in the picture of myself searching for God and perhaps groping for him at times, while always knowing that God indeed is not far from me. This thought gives me great hope and comfort and I continue my journey in faith.

My prayer is that it will also give you hope and comfort as well.

Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter, March 30, 2008

Second Sunday of Easter

Year A

March 30, 2008

Acts 2:14a, 22-32 Psalm 16

I Peter 1:3-9 St. John 20:19-31

Have you ever faced any doubts in your spiritual life or Christian walk? Well you are not alone in that by any stretch of the imagination. Today I would like to talk about two doubters in particular, so see what lessons we might learn from them for our own lives.

First of course is our doubter from the Gospel passage today. By his quickly spoken words, the disciple Thomas has had to live with the title of Thomas the Doubter or Doubting Thomas for centuries. I generally try to defend Thomas in this respect, because he was actually only asking for what the Gospel account today tells us the other apostles already received. The account tells us that Jesus showed the other disciples his hands and his side when Jesus first appeared to them and that is what Thomas was asking for as well, so I think sometimes that the judgment of history is rather harsh. But Thomas is the one who actually had to ask and express his doubts for all the world to see.

The other doubter is a bit more contemporary. Many of you might remember last year when much of the private correspondence of Mother Teresa was released. In it we discovered that she faced a lot of doubts for many years. Some people seemed to be scandalized. That such a towering person of faith could have struggled so long with doubts so serious is unthinkable. But Mother Teresa was not alone in her doubts.

Mother Teresa was experiencing, as St. John of the Cross described it in his life, her “dark night of the soul.” In one of her letters she expressed it like this: “I am told that God lives in me – and yet the reality of darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul.”

Many people, some famous in history and others just common and unknown, like you and I, experience moments of doubt or our own personal dark night of the soul. These moments of doubt do not make us any less a Christian, they only reveal that we are human.

Unlike Mother Teresa and Thomas most of us have the luxury of living out our doubts in a much less public way. And even so, I fear that some make a choice to struggle with their doubts privately for fear of what others or the church might say or think. These fears can be well founded. Some churches fear doubters.

But doubt is not the end of the world. God can and does respond to our doubts in many ways. God responded to the doubts of Thomas and he was able to see Jesus and that resulted in the cry of Thomas “My Lord and my God!”

God responded to the doubts of Mother Teresa through the face of lepers, children, and others in need. And in spite of her doubts and difficulties Mother Teresa remained faithful to the call of God in her life. She did not allow her doubts to destroy her or the work God had called her to do.

Just as God responded to the two doubters today, God will also respond to our doubts and fears as well. God may respond differently to each of us just as we have seen God respond differently to Thomas and Teresa. The Scriptures promise us that God will never leave us and that includes our times of doubt.

The exciting thing about studying doubters is the realization that God does not give up on them and will not give up on us. While God will respond differently, God does respond. Perhaps like Thomas we will face a fairly quick response to our questions and concerns or perhaps like Teresa God will call us to struggle and live with our doubts. But the truth is God never gives up on us. We should never feel no matter how grave or weighty our doubts that God has abandoned or given up on us.

Our doubts are the opportunities for growth and greater spiritual maturity in our life in Christ. Let us not fear them in ourselves or in others.

Homily for Easter Day, March 23, 2008

Easter Day

Year A

March 23, 2008

Acts 10:34-43 Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

Colossians 3:1-4 St. John 20:1-18

Today we celebrate a time of triumph. Those who had thought they could silence Jesus have failed. Those how thought everything had been ruined and their dreams crushed learned that their leader was alive again. As unbelievable as it seemed to them, Jesus was back.

Those who thought they could silence this Jesus and the movement around him have failed. On Friday and Saturday they were probably celebrating their ability to rid themselves of another one of the rabble-rousing troublemakers in their midst. Perhaps they would even have a few more days to self satisfaction until the word really got around. But the truth of the matter is that all their secret plans and machinations have failed.

As Clarence W. Hall said: If Easter says anything to us today, it says this:

You can put the truth in a grave,

But it won’t stay there.

You can nail it to a cross,

Wrap it in winding sheets

And shut it up in a tomb,

But it will rise!

There will always be people in the world wanting to do away with the truth of God. They will want to hide it. They will want to destroy it. And yet, if nothing else, the lesson we learn from Easter Sunday is that God’s truth will not be bound. In spite of what might seem like setbacks, the plan of God and God’s work in the world around us moves ahead. It cannot be stopped.

Sometimes when I look around at all that is going on in the world today, people killing each other, starvation, disease, people without clean water to drink, I can sometimes feel that God has lost the battle again. But then I think about the miracles I have seen and I know the truth of the power of God and the power of the resurrection.

In the midst of God’s triumph over the powers of darkness, we meet the first evangelist, Mary Magdalene. In the Eastern Orthodox Church Mary Magdalene is known as an isapostolos, one who is equal to the apostles. But Mary Magdalene is first and foremost an evangelist. And evangelist is simply someone who spreads the Good News. Mary Magdalene, as the first to see the risen Lord on that Easter morning received her commission directly from Jesus. She is told to go. And she goes.

The idea of being an evangelist or the practice of evangelism can be rather scary in the Episcopal Church. Like Moses, Jonah and other now famous prophets we don’t want to answer the call. We come up with convenient excuses why we can’t do the work God has called us to do. Mary Magdalene made no excuses although I can think of a few, perhaps I’m just a woman, or no one will believe me. But instead she answers the call of Jesus and immediately goes out to do the work God has called her to do.

As Jesus said to Mary and his other disciples that they were to go, so Jesus says to each one of us today, go. There are many ways that God can call each of us to be evangelists. Often we need to discover them for ourselves. One way to discover how God is calling you to spread the truth in the world around you is to be willing to take risks. Mary Magdalene was willing to risk ridicule and embarrassment in her willingness to serve Jesus.

Others, like Moses and Jonah have taken more convincing by God before they were willing to share the truth of God with others.

Many of you, like me, probably fall more into the Moses or Jonah mold. It is safer to just keep doing what we are doing. There are no risks then. But God calls us to take risks. It is I think in our weaknesses that God is most able to work.

God is calling each and everyone one of us here today to join in spreading the truth of God in the world today just as Jesus called on Mary Magdalene on that Easter Sunday so long ago. And like Mary, we have a choice. We can say yes Jesus and take the risk, or we can say no.

Our yes to Jesus can lead to many things. It can lead to inviting a friend to church. It can lead to sharing what God has been doing in your life. It can lead to serving on the Vestry or Altar Guild. It can lead to working in the food bank. It can lead to learning about world hunger and then doing something about it. It can lead to many different things. But in the end it leads to being a follower of Jesus. It leads to a willingness to take risks.

It may even lead to discovering that what you were willing to try was not really for you. And that is alright too. One thing about serving God and working for the spread of God’s kingdom is that there is always more to be done. When we discover something that does not work for us, it leave us open to try the next thing.

But like Mary Magdalene, and like Moses and Jonah as well, we have to eventually say yes to God first. Then we are open not only to the miracle that we see in the resurrection which we remember today, but we then also become open to the miracles God will work through us in the world around us each and every day.

Alleluia, the Lord is risen!

Sermon for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, May 20, 2007

Sermon for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, May 20, 2007

“Jesus prayed for his disciples and then he said, 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.” What does it mean when Jesus prayed that we all “may be one”?

Many people have different ideas about what it means. One is that Christians cannot have differences of opinions. They believe that we must all conform to some homogenized set of views acceptable to everyone (or more correctly, acceptable to the group requiring the conformation of others). This is not a true view of Jesus’ prayer for unity. Another idea is that denominations are wrong. Now we see from some a requirement not only to conform to the same beliefs but also to conform to the same practices of worship. This is not true of Jesus’ prayer either. This is because the prayer of Jesus is not asking for a lockstep uniformity of either doctrine or practice.

The true fellowship of the saints is found not in uniformity but in unity, a unity of spirit and purpose, which is a much different thing. Rick Warren in the book “The Purpose Driven Life” said: “God expects unity, not uniformity, and we can walk arm-in-arm without seeing eye-to-eye on every issue.” It is very similar to what Paul explained in the twelfth chapter of First Corinthians when he was likening the faith community to the human body. Not everyone in the faith community is called to the same work or responsibility. Likewise we are not all called to the same expression of our practice of our faith just as not every part of the body is called to be identical.

In fact the human body will not work if all of the parts are identical. The human body works because of its diversity. That is how the Christian Church works as well. It is in our diversity of views and practices that we can live together, accomplish ministry and mission together, and learn and grow from each other. We should be celebrating our differences. How boring and unattractive it would be for many if the only expression of the Christian faith was Episcopalian or Baptist or Lutheran or Pentecostal. Not everyone is drawn to that sort of expression of faith.

Some believe that the differences in the Christian community are a stain on the Christian witness, but “(d)iversity is not always a blemish. It is a feature of nature…” You see that not only in the human body but in many other places as well. A garden would be so boring if it required uniformity. You don’t see many gardens filled with the exact same plant. I actually have never seen one like that. Imagine a forest where all that you found was one particular type of tree. No other vegetation. It would simply seem wrong to us. God created the world in wonderful and amazing diversity. So finding diversity in Christian expression should not really surprise us. Christian unity comes through a unity of relationship, unity is not found in some kind of lockstep uniformity.

Sadly “…outward disunion is too frequently indicative in inward disunion, for unity of action is often entirely lacking. The Christian churches are not all like divisions of one great army under one head, but are often rather like contending factions.” And yet how often it is that we see Christians acting like contending factions. The constant fighting of denominations and the constant fighting inside of denominations, our own included, surely does fly in the face of Jesus prayer for unity. Perhaps some are threatened by a lack of uniformity and see trying to enforce uniformity as the only way to make their faith strong.

“When we focus on personalities, preferences, interpretations, styles, or methods, division always happen. But if we concentrate on living (with) each other and fulfilling God’s purposes, harmony results.” The seeming constant focus on division surely grieves Jesus and is the exact opposite of his prayer in this passage. Jesus is calling on us to live in harmony with one another. We are called to over look differences with a spirit of focusing on that in which we can agree and then working together for the spread of the kingdom. It is the practice of Generous Orthodoxy as advocated by Bruce McLaren. And yet it seems too often that a generosity of spirit is missing in the church world around us.

James 3:18 explains what this unity of action is that we should be striving for. The author writes: “You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.” (The Message) Respecting the dignity and worth of every person is what each of us have been called to do in baptism.

It is important to remember that “Christian unity is not formal, but spiritual, -- If we are looking for formal union, we are looking in the wrong direction, and we are looking for the wrong thing.” We are missing the point of Jesus prayer for unity. We should be rejoicing in the diversity of the Christian family. If we truly are able to do this then we will be able to work together for ministry and mission in the world around us.


What should we do to respond to the work we are called to do in the prayer of Jesus? First, we should be praying for our fellow Christians, particularly those who we think are wrong for whatever reason. But we should not be praying that God brings them around to our way of thinking. Rather we should be praying for God’s blessing on them and for opportunities to work with them to do things like feed the hungry, visit the sick and those in prison and provide shelter for the homeless. Second, we should pray that God will give each of us a true generosity of spirit in our hearts towards fellow Christians. We should be asking God to soften our hearts towards our sisters and brothers. Third, we should seek to serve God in those with whom we have disagreements. We must respect their dignity and worth as beloved children of God.

If we can accomplish these steps the prayer of Jesus may be finally answered.

Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Mary 13, 2007

Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Mary 13, 2007

Much to my dismay we continue in this Sunday’s lessons with visions. Several of the lessons for today are about visions. Today we heard the stories of Paul’s vision to go to Macedonia and the continuing vision of John of Patmos’ in the book that we call the Revelation.

I’m personally very conflicted about the idea of visions. I see them as potentially good and potentially bad. On the one hand, visions seem like they can be extraordinarily helpful. Paul certainly did not have to wonder, think about, and struggle with a decision as to whether or not he should go to Macedonia or to some other part of the then known world. He had the answer. It was quick, concrete, and undeniable. This makes life very easy. It makes me sometimes wish for a few visions like this from God as well.

When I was in the military my life was fairly easy. I never had to wonder as I moved from assignment to assignment if that was the right choice or not. Sure I always asked for jobs that interested me, but once I had my orders, I no longer had to worry about if I had made the right choice. I didn’t make the choice at all. Like the wizard of OZ hidden behind his curtain, some unknown person at Headquarters made the choice for me. But the assurance was there. There was no second guessing. And so like Paul, I didn’t have to wonder if this was where I was supposed to be, it was crystal clear. Sometimes I wish my life was still that easy.

The problem with a vision like this is that it is very hard to ignore. They force us to come face to face with what God is calling us to do and they are very hard to ignore or explain away.

Most of us don’t have the convenience of that kind of clarity. Instead we must struggle with the choices that life presents us with, trying to discern the will of God for our lives in a much less concrete way.

And while clarity has its benefits, at the same time I’m very uncomfortable with visions. I’m uncomfortable with the idea wondering if a vision might be wrong. Or if I might interpret the vision in the wrong way. What if the vision is not from God. This has always been a real concern in the Church. Some of the mystics in the early church came up against this issue in their lives. The church tends to react against mystics and those who see visions. They are seen as a disruption and a threat to the order of things. As a person who very much likes order in my life and in the church I can identify with and understand this position.

So visions are a double edged sword. They can result in very different reactions. But still, the idea of visions interests me and so I wanted to spend some time exploring it.

In spite of the fact that it may sounds like I’m a real cynic when it comes to visions, I’m really not. Because I believe that churches need to have visions to grow.

In fact, I truly believe that people right here at St. Peter’s are having visions calling them to new things. Now I do not know if they are necessarily like the visions of Paul and John, those experiences where God speaks in a specific way to us. Perhaps they are and perhaps they are not. But I think the visions they have had are powerful and transforming in their lives. We have visions for mission or ministry that come to us inspired by God. These visions or inspirations are just as powerful, transforming, and life changing as those of Paul and John.

Now I don’t want to embarrass anyone by naming names. But I am convinced that some of the new things we are doing around St. Peter’s are as a result of the visions of some individuals in our faith community.

As we see at St. Peter’s visions can be life giving to a community. And visions don’t always have to be like Paul’s or John’s. Some of us get visions in other ways. Robert Kennedy said: “There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” Those experiences of dreaming of things that never were and then dreaming about doing something about it, those are powerful visions from God.

This spirit of God, the spirit that asks not the question of why, but of why not, is a vision from God. It is the vision that makes things happen in the world.

God gives us all visions to work out in our lives. The challenging thing for us is to seek out those visions and follow them. It is hard when they are not visions like Paul’s. They are easier to ignore. The key for us is to have an open heart and open mind for God. We must quiet our hearts and our minds to the quiet voice of God inside of us.

We must answer our visions and respond in faith and joy to what God has called us to do.

Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter, Year C, April 15, 2007e

Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter, Year C, April 15, 2007

This Sunday is often called Thomas Sunday after Thomas the Apostle. I think Thomas would make an excellent patron saint for Missouri, the “show me” state. That is basically what Thomas wanted, he wanted to be shown. In the church we often refer to him as Thomas the Doubter, Doubting Thomas, or perhaps in more modern parlance, Thomas the pessimist.

Perhaps I’m just overly sensitive since I share his name, but this has always bothered me. It seems very unfair. After all in this passage it is clear that the other disciples got what Thomas was asking for. Jesus showed them his hands and his side. They may not have been brave enough to express their doubts out loud since they have been in hiding since Jesus death, but Jesus must have suspected some level of doubt as he offered them a view of this hands. Yet poor Thomas takes the rap as the doubter. Why don’t we call him Thomas the believer for his profession of “My Lord and my God” which is a whole lot more than any other apostle said so far.

The Scriptures are filled with stories of doubters. We find story after story of people who doubted that God would be able to do what God claimed. Moses was a doubter. Abraham was a doubter. We can find page upon page of doubters. And yet Thomas gets stuck with the name.

I think Thomas the Doubter resonates with us better because we live in a world often filled with doubt. People demand proof for everything.

I think the real reason that the title Doubting Thomas remains used is the fact that many of us our doubters ourselves. We can identify with Thomas the Doubter much easier than Thomas the Believer.

We are all believers but I know that I am a believer with doubts. Perhaps some of us doubt the virgin conception. Perhaps some of us doubt a bodily physical resurrection. Perhaps some of us doubt the inspiration of all of the Scriptures. But doubt is there. Sometimes doubt is transitory and we find the faith to drive the doubt away. Sometimes the doubt is pernicious and we learn to live with it throughout our lives.

Some might think that we need to start a self help group which could be called Doubters Anonymous. But I think this would be a mistake.

I believe doubt is a good thing. It is healthy. It shows that we are using the brains which God has given us.

Look at what Jesus was able to do with the doubts of Thomas and the other apostles. And just think what Jesus can do with our own doubts if we only let him. Thomas was not afraid to admit his doubts. But I think many of us are. It may be we live in a more hostile world for doubting today. Express a doubt about the Christian faith publicly today and you are liable to be immediately trashed as a heretic or a heathen.

That is an unfortunate reaction, but it is a reflection of the current polarization in the Christian church. The slightest deviation from orthodoxy must be immediately rooted out lest anyone begin that long slide down the slippery slope. This is a very sad response. It causes people to be fearful of raising their doubts, it makes them keep their doubts bottled up inside.

Bottling up doubts inside of us will never solve them. It will not help to drive them away. To deal with our doubts we need to be able to talk about them. We need to be able to explore them in a safe environment. We grow through exploring new things.

We must free ourselves to be doubters like Thomas. No one challenged Thomas. Jesus never condemned Thomas for his doubt. Instead Jesus used Thomas’ doubt for a moment of grace and healing.

But we, unlike Thomas, often try to hide our doubts from others and perhaps even ourselves. We fear the response of others to genuinely felt doubts. Perhaps Thomas would have to, but in the moment he blurted out the truth of his heart. God longs for us to express that same honesty of Thomas.

My life is filled with doubts. I spent many years in a very rigid orthodox denomination where doubts were signs of loss of faith. Now I’m free to experience and express my doubts.

Did Jesus have a physically resurrected body? I honestly don’t know. I have my doubts. But I don’t doubt the truth of the resurrection. I don’t doubt that Jesus did conquer death and return to his disciples. I can see that clearly in how the apostles reacted to their experience with the resurrected Jesus.

Some parts of the resurrection story clearly argue for a physical body, Jesus ate, Jesus touched. Other parts of the resurrection story seem to point in a less physical reality, Jesus appeared out of nowhere, Jesus walked through walls.

But in spite of my doubts about how it actually worked out, I can freely join in the Easter acclimation that Jesus is risen! I believe it. I may not believe it like everyone else. Neither may you. But that makes us neither heretics nor pagans. It makes us thinking, wondering individuals struggling with what the mystery of the incarnation and resurrection means in our lives. I pray that God will raise up more doubters in the church. Through their struggles we will all grow and learn.

Sermon for Easter Sunday, April 8, 2007

Sermon for Easter Sunday, April 8, 2007

Today is the day of resurrection. Today we celebrate new light and new life. It is evident from our very surroundings. Last night at the Great Vigil of Easter we celebrated the rekindled light representing the light of Christ. This is particularly moving as during the Tenebrae last week we slowly extinguished the lights. Now the dreary purple of Lent has given way to the dazzling white of Easter. The Paschal Candle burns bright after its lighting last night.

Today we celebrate the central event of the Christian tradition. The resurrection of Jesus provides the foundation for what we believe. If there is no resurrection then there is no Christianity.

But in addition to celebration this can be a day of reflection. It is a day we should reflect on what the death and resurrection of Jesus means to each one of us individually.

This time of the year seems to invariably bring out theological scholars who make arguments about what this most crucial events means and what it does not. This year is no different. Dean Jeffrey Johns, a theologian over in England, recently wrote an article about his view of the atonement. Atonement means a “satisfaction given for wrongdoing” or injury. Theologically atonement specifically refers to “the redeeming of mankind and the reconciliation of God with man, brought about by Jesus sufferings and death.”

Dean Johns is troubled by the traditional view of the atonement which seems to place too great an emphasis on the wrath and punishment of God making the sacrifice of Jesus necessary. It is basically a “The Passion of the Christ” view which in my own mind focused entirely too much on the passion and not nearly enough on the resurrection. There was an immediate cry raised over Dean Johns’ thoughts.

My point in this is not to defend Dean Johns, although I agree with his concerns. But I do think it important that as Christians we are not afraid to discuss these issues. The cries of immediate condemnation are unhelpful as all of us struggle to understand the meaning of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The title for the article about his comments was rather inflammatory: “Christ did not die for our sins.” This was definitely not what Dean Johns was trying to say at all. But it certainly made better press. He was trying to get people to examine the atonement in a different light.

The article states: “Mr John argues that too many Christians go through their lives failing to realise that God is about "love and truth", not "wrath and punishment". He offers an alternative interpretation, suggesting that
Christ was crucified so he could "share in the worst of grief and suffering that life can throw at us".

I actually find nothing terribly wrong with this idea. I know I have always been more interested in talking about the resurrection than the crucifixion. It is the resurrection we celebrate every Sunday. A faith fixated on the substitutionary suffering of Jesus on the cross does indeed stress too much the wrathful and vengeful nature of a God which Jesus clearly portrayed as loving.

And love is what Easter is really all about. God sent Jesus because of love. Jesus laid down his life for us because of love. John 3:16 reminds us of why God sent Jesus. It was because of love. “Because God so loved the world…” begins the verse that so many of us know by heart. The idea of a wrathful God demanding the death of his son is foreign to the Christian scriptures. It is a theology developed hundreds of years later. And yet many cling to it as “gospel”.

We must reject it as a perversion of the very nature of God. Instead, this Easter let us embrace the true image of God. God is love. Jesus taught this time after time. Jesus taught that others will recognize our faith by our love. This week we have experienced the power of God’s love as we traveled through the suffering, death and now the resurrection of Jesus.

You may think it strange that I have spoken all this time and other than mentioning the fact of the resurrection as being central to our faith, have not really spoken about resurrection at any length. What a strange way to approach an Easter sermon.

Yesterday, after the Great Vigil of Easter Ian came up with a great theological question. He wanted to know how, if Jesus was the son and God was the father, how could they be one? My years of theological training and years in the ministry had prepared me for just this moment. I knew exactly what to do. I referred him to Father Emmanuel conveniently standing nearby.

Father Emmanuel explained that in the end it is a mystery. And that is the truth. That is also the best explanation I can come up with for the resurrection as well. It is a mystery. I don’t know how it happened. I don’t know exactly how it worked out in our physical world. But I do know that it too was a product of love.

Alleluia, Jesus is risen!

Alleluia, Jesus is love.

Let us go from here and share the love of Jesus with everyone we meet.

Sermon for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, May 28, 2006

Sermon for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, May 28, 2006

In the name of the God the Creator, Jesus the Liberator, and the Holy Spirit the Sustainer. AMEN.

Left Behind. That is what happened to the disciples. They were left behind. In the gospel lesson Jesus prays for them just before he leaves them. And in the other two lessons they are writing about dealing with the after effects of being left behind.

For some of you those two words, "left behind" may be very familiar. Some of you may have read part or all (some 14 books I think now) of the series of novels by Tim LeHay called "Left Behind." This is a series devoted to the rapture and the end times. These books are a fanciful fictitional accounting of Mr. LeHay's beliefs about what will happen during the end times. The problem with these books of fiction and others like them, such as "The DaVinci Code" is that it is very difficult to separate the fact from the fiction as you get caught up in the accounts. It all soon becomes very believable as fact and we end up finding ourselves accepting a faith that comes from very fertile minds of fiction writers.

Followers of the "Left Behind" series forget that there is not much basis in the Bible for this series. They forget that Tim LeHay wrote most of his beliefs as non-fiction in the 1970's. But those books, read from our current time look ludricious at best and so Mr. LeHay has turned to a safer venue, fiction.

However this mixing of fact and fiction, or even worse the Holy Scriptures and fiction can be a dangerous thing. Once the lines are blurred that which is only in a person's own imagination starts to become cold, hard facts for all of us readers. And when we get mixed up in these fanciful fictitious accounts of what is or will be happening in the world we loose touch with what is truly important for us today.

The truth is that Jesus did leave the disciples behind. They were left behind to carry on the work of God in the world, just as we are called to do today. They were left behind with work to do. This is a much different call than that which is expressed in the series. I think they were left behind as pearls for others to find. Just like Jesus.

But pearls have a very inauspicious beginning. They start as an irritating grain of sand. Much like a small pebble in your shoe. It may be very small indeed, but try and explain that to your foot. These grains of sand irritate and bother the oyster so much that eventually it must do something about it and it does. In the end we have a very beautiful thing, much clamored for by many people for its beauty and wonder.

I think when you read the Gospels and the story of Jesus you see this same thing happening. Those around Jesus were often very irritated by him. Certainly the Pharisees and the scribes were. The all found him like a grain of sand in a pearl or a small pebble in our shoe. But I think we can also see that he often irritated his disciples as well in the ways he acted out his call in the world.

I believe that the important issue to remember is that we have also been left behind. We follow in the tradition of the first disciples in being also called to remain behind in the world. What we need to worry about is what we do. We must not allow ourselves to be distracted by trivia and fiction in responding to our call to follow Jesus. Now don’t get me wrong here, I’m not against fiction and I’m not calling for book burnings. But we need to look at things with a critical mind. I have read “The DaVinci Code” and enjoyed it, but if I take my church history from that source I’m way off the mark.

God calls us to follow Jesus. This call entails a lot of things. Faithfulness in regularly attending worship. Giving to support your church. Reading the Holy Scripture. Praying. Caring for others. Loving your neighbor as yourself. Looking out for the less fortunate and those who cannot protect themselves. Loving the unlovable. Remaining in fellowship with those you disagree with. This is not an easy list or by any means an exhaustive one, just a few of the things that came into my head while I was thinking of what it means to follow Jesus.

And sometimes it is being a grain of sand. Being that irritation that helps usher change in our community. And if we are lucky enough sometimes it means being transformed into a pearl. But following Jesus is always being true to our beliefs and careful about how we form them.

The idea for the Pearl/grain of sand idea in disciples being left in the world. (note 1)

Note 1: Sermons That Work, May 28, 2006 - Seventh Sunday of Easter - Year B [RCL]

by the Rev. James Liggett

Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter, Year B, April 23, 2006

Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter, Year B, April 23, 2006

In the name of the God the Creator, Jesus the Liberator, and the Holy Spirit the Sustainer. AMEN.

As I read all the stories of the followers of Jesus it seems you can divide them into two groups. The skeptics and the non-skeptics. The apostles always seemed to be skeptics. The women around Jesus always seemed to be non-skeptics.

Skepticism can be a good thing in moderation. It is very healthy for us to ask questions. It is one of the reasons God gave each of us a brain. When I was reading the insert for this lesson last week, I immediately became skeptical. If you happened to be reading along when the Gospel was read today, perhaps you can see why. The very first line in your insert for the Gospel reading says “When it was evening of Easter day…” I read that and immediately though that something was wrong. I thought something was wrong for two reasons. First, I didn’t believe that Easter was a term we found used in the New Testament. And second, I thought that even if I was wrong about my first belief, certainly Easter would not be a term used so soon after the Resurrection.

So I pulled out a number of different translations and sure enough, the word Easter is not in that passage. So I assume that it must be a typo from the publisher. But it is a very interesting typo. It is a word that if we are not critical fits in well with our expectations as Easter people today.

That same critical attitude appears in today’s Gospel narrative as well. In the story we find the disciples hiding away in fear and suddenly Jesus appears before them. But then something we often seem to miss happens. Rather than recording a joyful reunion the narrative immediately tells us that Jesus showed them his hands and his side and then the disciples rejoiced. Too often lone Thomas, not present at the event takes head for stating that he will not believe until he sees exactly what the other disciples have seen. They were all doubting. They were all skeptical of the idea of a resurrected Jesus until they had seen the proof.

Since I am a skeptic myself I can appreciate this. We see in the death and resurrection of Jesus a certain mixture of faith and skepticism. It was faith that kept the faithful, primarily women, at the foot of cross and it was also faith that brought them to the tomb where they had their first encounter with the risen Jesus. It was skepticism that made all of the disciples, not just Thomas, want to see the wounds of Jesus.

The best part of all of this is that God works through both. God understands our skepticism in life just as God understood the skepticism of the apostles. Jesus didn’t refuse them what they needed in their faith journey, Jesus gave it to them freely.

As we live our own lives there will be times when we are skeptics. Perhaps during times of crisis in our lives. Or perhaps just during times of questioning and growth. Most of us I’m sure hope to be like those faithful women following Jesus who never seemed to have a doubt in their minds about following Jesus and believing in Jesus. But perhaps in practice you, like me, find yourself much more in the model of the apostles. Always seeming to have questions, doubts, and fears. I’m grateful that Jesus never gave up on those men following him. I could not have faulted Jesus had he decided that perhaps the women were a better bet for loyal followers. For they proved themselves time after time. But Jesus never gave up on those questioning and skeptical men. He showed all of the disciples his hands and his side. Jesus did not abandon anyone.

For me this is great news. Because quite frankly my faith is not always perfect. Sometimes I have doubts. And for any of you who have had these experiences with me, the truth of the Gospel today is that God does not give up on us for that.