My brothers and sisters, we are preparing to celebrate Messiah’s anniversary of birth, but more deeply we are looking forward to His return.
Isaiah wrote the verses of our first reading about 740 BC; it was a time when spirits were low in Judah. His message is that God will launch a new era in which God will actually dwell on earth. The prophet describes this as a time when all peoples will make pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship God and to learn the way of virtue. In other words, the city will be the source of “instruction” in ethical living. It also will be an age of peace and plenty: warfare being a thing of the past and agriculture will prosper.
In the passages leading up to our reading today, Paul tells us that love is the one thing we Christians “owe” others (Christians and non-Christians). This sums up the obligations of the Christian in life and Christian ethics. Yet as Christians, love is part of the deal rather than an obligation, and can never be completely discharged. Love among Christians is something special: it is mutual.
Now Paul tells us another reason ethical behavior is important for Christians. We know that we are living both in an age that is after the first coming of the Messiah and before the second: an in-between time. “Let us live,” he says, as if the Day of the Lord is already here, “honorably,” not in ways that harm ourselves and our neighbors.
From Matthew we hear Jesus admonition to be Prepared! The end will come as a surprise. The situation will be like that before the Flood: people were preoccupied with earthly matters. When the Flood came, a small number “entered the ark” and were saved, but many drowned. The dawn of the new era will also be like this; some will be taken in and others will be left behind.
Our gospel today is one that many Christians have misused to support the notion of a literal disappearance of the faithful. Have you seen those bumper stickers that read “Warning - in case of rapture - this vehicle will be driver less”? As much as I loved seeing “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” last Monday, the idea that we will be magically taken up to heaven is not worthy of our belief. This literal and sensationalistic understanding of the Gospel is way off the mark. We are being called to be ready to meet our maker at any moment - not to be ready for magical transportation.
We share these readings today because we are starting a new liturgical year, or calendar. We are now in Year A of the Lectionary cycle in which we will hear mostly from the gospel of Matthew. We are also preparing for our annual celebration of the Messiah’s birth. However, we do so keeping in mind the unpredictable future in which Christ will come again.
Let us begin our preparations, begin our anticipation. Soon we will revel again in the coming of the Lord . . . still looking forward to his return. We plan for the near future, four weeks from now, but look to the long term and the Second Coming.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Homily for Proper 28 C, Nov. 14, 2010
Did you hear the latest news, there is a character who is trying to convince people that Jesus was really a Californian and not a Hebrew? There are three reasons that this scholar says makes this claim: 1, Jesus never cut his hair; 2, He went barefoot every where; 3, He started his own religion.
Seriously, all the talk in our readings today about the end of time is given us as an inspiration for us to focus on living the Gospel today. Our first reading gives us Isaiah’s image of the perfected world the Messiah will bring into reality. A world so peaceful that even predatory animals no longer kill for their food. God will completely transform the cosmos, he will forget and forgive sinfulness ushering in a time of joy. All the things that bring sorrow into the world will come to and end. Even the blessing of long life will be common and even longer than any could guess. Life will be stable and food will be plentiful. Even the conflict between animal species will cease and all creatures will live in harmony.
In our second reading, Paul calls on all Christians to earn their keep. He puts it bluntly: do not idly live off others waiting for Christ to return. The notion that Christ will return soon is a false belief.
In today’s gospel story Jesus is also talking about the end of time and his eventual return. God will change all that is known to a better (Divine) state of affairs. Do not however worry about when this will happen, you cannot know the timing and many things will come first. Simply spend you life in virtue and the work of the Kingdom so that you are always ready.
Luke’s community was trying to cope with the destruction of the Temple and the persecution of their members. Spiritual blows that would make one long for the Messiah’s return. Luke responds to this pain by recalling Jesus’ teaching in terms drawn from prophetic books like Micah, Jeremiah, Hosea and Joel. He adds “the end will not follow immediately” and then changes the conversation to issues that matter now. Instructing them on how to deal with the abusive treatment, they are experiencing and how they should respond. At the times you are suffering abuse, be yourself. The word that is translated “prepare . . . in advance”literally means practice a gesture or rehearse a dance. In other words, don’t rehearse, just be yourself and speak for what you believe.
My brothers and sisters, we need not be nervous about the future, when the rapture will come or who may be left behind. The real issue is, are you ready now. Are you contributing your efforts to the work of God now. Be about living an ethical life now. Don’t fall into the trap of sitting around waiting for some glorious end to come.
In essence, being ready for Jesus’ return means being an authentic disciple. It means being active about God’s work today. We are all called to contribute differently to that part of God’s kingdom that is St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Sierra Vista. We are all in possession of different gifts and personal resources. We are all called and expected to be of valuable use to the Kingdom according to our abilities. Rather than watching and waiting, or working, we need to simple be busy about the Kingdom of God.
Seriously, all the talk in our readings today about the end of time is given us as an inspiration for us to focus on living the Gospel today. Our first reading gives us Isaiah’s image of the perfected world the Messiah will bring into reality. A world so peaceful that even predatory animals no longer kill for their food. God will completely transform the cosmos, he will forget and forgive sinfulness ushering in a time of joy. All the things that bring sorrow into the world will come to and end. Even the blessing of long life will be common and even longer than any could guess. Life will be stable and food will be plentiful. Even the conflict between animal species will cease and all creatures will live in harmony.
In our second reading, Paul calls on all Christians to earn their keep. He puts it bluntly: do not idly live off others waiting for Christ to return. The notion that Christ will return soon is a false belief.
In today’s gospel story Jesus is also talking about the end of time and his eventual return. God will change all that is known to a better (Divine) state of affairs. Do not however worry about when this will happen, you cannot know the timing and many things will come first. Simply spend you life in virtue and the work of the Kingdom so that you are always ready.
Luke’s community was trying to cope with the destruction of the Temple and the persecution of their members. Spiritual blows that would make one long for the Messiah’s return. Luke responds to this pain by recalling Jesus’ teaching in terms drawn from prophetic books like Micah, Jeremiah, Hosea and Joel. He adds “the end will not follow immediately” and then changes the conversation to issues that matter now. Instructing them on how to deal with the abusive treatment, they are experiencing and how they should respond. At the times you are suffering abuse, be yourself. The word that is translated “prepare . . . in advance”literally means practice a gesture or rehearse a dance. In other words, don’t rehearse, just be yourself and speak for what you believe.
My brothers and sisters, we need not be nervous about the future, when the rapture will come or who may be left behind. The real issue is, are you ready now. Are you contributing your efforts to the work of God now. Be about living an ethical life now. Don’t fall into the trap of sitting around waiting for some glorious end to come.
In essence, being ready for Jesus’ return means being an authentic disciple. It means being active about God’s work today. We are all called to contribute differently to that part of God’s kingdom that is St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Sierra Vista. We are all in possession of different gifts and personal resources. We are all called and expected to be of valuable use to the Kingdom according to our abilities. Rather than watching and waiting, or working, we need to simple be busy about the Kingdom of God.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Homily for All Saints/Souls - November 7, 2010
Today we thank God for the great example of faithful Christians who lived before us.
In our first reading Daniel envisions a world that a Holy One of God will eventually control. This is the most recently written book in the Old Testament (about 165 BC). The first six chapters are stories about Daniel set at the Babylonian and Persian courts. The remainder of the book is visions about the end times. In the passages that have been clipped out of today’s reading we hear about the destruction of the four beasts and the coming of “an Achent One” who sits in judgment. Then comes the arrival of one like a “Son of Man” to whom the Achent One gives everlasting dominion. Christians from the earliest records have associated this with Jesus. The gathering of the multitude in this last scene is what pertains to the celebration of All Saints/All Souls celebration today.
In our second reading Paul gives praise and encouragement to the Ephesians. He writes to the “saints,” i.e., those faithful to Christ in Ephesus. His message is straight forward: through Christ’s birth, life, death and resurrection we are absolved of our deviations from God’s ways. Intellectually and through our experience of the Christian way we have come to know God’s plan, i.e., to “gather up” all God has created, seen and unseen, to Christ.
From Luke we heard the Beatitudes, a listing of the virtues of the holy people of God - the saints. Some words are used in ways we may not appreciate immediately. For example: the “poor” are those who acknowledge their dependence on God. Where as, the “rich” do not want to commit themselves to Jesus and the Kingdom; they are comfortable in their self-sufficiency. The “hungry” are those who hunger for the word of God, the good news and the “full” are those satisfied or filled with God’s word. When he says: “blessed are you when . . . they exclude you”; he means being socially ostracized and excluded from the synagogue and Temple.
Many scholars believe the celebration we mark with these readings to have originated in Ireland, spread from there to England, and then to the continent of Europe. That it had reached Rome and had been adopted there early in the ninth century is attested by a letter of Gregory the Fourth who was Pope around the middle of the 800s. However, the desire of Christian people to express the intercommunion of the living and the dead in the Body of Christ is much older.
Gregory the Wonder Worker, writing before the year 270, refers to the observance of a festival of all martyrs, though he does not date it. A hundred years later, Ephrem the Deacon mentions such an observance in Edessa on May 13. Finally, John Chrysostom, who died in 407, says that a festival of All Saints was observed on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Constantinople at the time he was bishop there.
One saint who has especially been a meaningful example in my life is Vincent de Paul who was added to our calendar by the 2009 General Convention (Sep. 27). He is noted for his work among the most needy and suffering people of his day. Especially for his tireless drive to go beyond helping with the necessities of life. He pushed for service to meet their spiritual needs and for education to help permanently lift them out of poverty. He worked closely with Louise de Marillac and the two of them inspired Elizabeth Ann Seton (Jan. 4) and Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
We all need the example of others to inspire and guided us through this life. Following Jesus can take a myriad of expressions. It is important that we ask ourselves: who are the exemplary persons of faith that are important to you? Who inspires you to follow Christ more closely? Whose Christian example helps you through the confusing reality of this world?
In our first reading Daniel envisions a world that a Holy One of God will eventually control. This is the most recently written book in the Old Testament (about 165 BC). The first six chapters are stories about Daniel set at the Babylonian and Persian courts. The remainder of the book is visions about the end times. In the passages that have been clipped out of today’s reading we hear about the destruction of the four beasts and the coming of “an Achent One” who sits in judgment. Then comes the arrival of one like a “Son of Man” to whom the Achent One gives everlasting dominion. Christians from the earliest records have associated this with Jesus. The gathering of the multitude in this last scene is what pertains to the celebration of All Saints/All Souls celebration today.
In our second reading Paul gives praise and encouragement to the Ephesians. He writes to the “saints,” i.e., those faithful to Christ in Ephesus. His message is straight forward: through Christ’s birth, life, death and resurrection we are absolved of our deviations from God’s ways. Intellectually and through our experience of the Christian way we have come to know God’s plan, i.e., to “gather up” all God has created, seen and unseen, to Christ.
From Luke we heard the Beatitudes, a listing of the virtues of the holy people of God - the saints. Some words are used in ways we may not appreciate immediately. For example: the “poor” are those who acknowledge their dependence on God. Where as, the “rich” do not want to commit themselves to Jesus and the Kingdom; they are comfortable in their self-sufficiency. The “hungry” are those who hunger for the word of God, the good news and the “full” are those satisfied or filled with God’s word. When he says: “blessed are you when . . . they exclude you”; he means being socially ostracized and excluded from the synagogue and Temple.
Many scholars believe the celebration we mark with these readings to have originated in Ireland, spread from there to England, and then to the continent of Europe. That it had reached Rome and had been adopted there early in the ninth century is attested by a letter of Gregory the Fourth who was Pope around the middle of the 800s. However, the desire of Christian people to express the intercommunion of the living and the dead in the Body of Christ is much older.
Gregory the Wonder Worker, writing before the year 270, refers to the observance of a festival of all martyrs, though he does not date it. A hundred years later, Ephrem the Deacon mentions such an observance in Edessa on May 13. Finally, John Chrysostom, who died in 407, says that a festival of All Saints was observed on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Constantinople at the time he was bishop there.
One saint who has especially been a meaningful example in my life is Vincent de Paul who was added to our calendar by the 2009 General Convention (Sep. 27). He is noted for his work among the most needy and suffering people of his day. Especially for his tireless drive to go beyond helping with the necessities of life. He pushed for service to meet their spiritual needs and for education to help permanently lift them out of poverty. He worked closely with Louise de Marillac and the two of them inspired Elizabeth Ann Seton (Jan. 4) and Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
We all need the example of others to inspire and guided us through this life. Following Jesus can take a myriad of expressions. It is important that we ask ourselves: who are the exemplary persons of faith that are important to you? Who inspires you to follow Christ more closely? Whose Christian example helps you through the confusing reality of this world?
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