Homily for Proper 7 B - June 24, 2012

My brothers & sisters, who is Jesus in your life?  It might sound like a silly question, but it's much more profound that one would think.  

In our first reading, David's fame grows and his rivalry with King Saul grows bitter.  Prior to this moment, David has stunned Goliath with a sling stone and killed him with his own sword.  Abner, the commander of the army, brings David to Saul.  As things progress Saul makes him commander of the army (because of his many military successes) but when the people sing that he is ten times superior to Saul in his accomplishments, Saul becomes very jealous.  In today’s passage, Saul attempts to kill David, but is unsuccessful.  

The side note that an evil spirit from God comes to Saul has a couple possible meanings.  One is the common belief of the day that nothing happened in the world without God’s permission.  It may also be a literary symbol for God removing his favor from King Saul and putting it on David.  

In our passage from 2 Corinthians we see Paul still defending himself against wild accusations.  Paul describes himself as authentic.  He accuses the Corinthians of being guarded or two faced in their relation with Paul.  In contrast, Paul states that he has been open and honest.  

In our selection form Mark’s gospel, we see Jesus calming the storm.  The disciples, as Mark often portrays them, don’t quite get it.  Mark frequently portrays Jesus as mysterious and the disciples as having trouble figuring him out.  Prior to this Jesus was teaching the crowds from a boat, with the crowds along the shore, he now suggests to the disciples that they “go across to the other side.”  That is, to the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.  A flotilla of boats follows, but they scatter before the storm.  As the storm builds, Jesus is “asleep”: he has complete confidence in God and in utterly unconcerned.  To ancients, the sea symbolized the powers of chaos and evil.  Jesus commands it to be still: only God can control nature.  The disciples are amazed and stunned by Jesus’ demonstration of power.  It’s all too much to believe and they simply cannot tag\ Jesus with a clear description.  

This all reminds me of a story, Nine year old Joey, was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday school.

"Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelite out of Egypt.  When he got to the Red Sea, he had his combat engineers build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely.  Then he used his Com' Link and called for air support.  They sent bombers who blow up the bridge and all the Israelite were saved."

"Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?" his mother asked.  "Well, no, Mom.  But if I told it the way the teacher did, you'd never believe it!"

Many things that are real, are hard to believe because they are just too far out of our experience.  Other things truly are incredible.  The disciples were clearly overwhelmed by their experience in this story of Jesus calming the storm.  But, at one moment or another they had to come down with a personal decision about who Jesus is.  We in our spiritual lives can benefit from asking the same question even though we are already believers.  At different points in our lives we need different things from Christ to support and encourage or even challenge us.  Sometimes we need Jesus as our refuge and sanity in the craziness of this life.  Other times, he is the mentor and guide we most trust and love.  Yet other times, he is the one who boots us back into action.  

The more we are conscious about the ways we experience Jesus, the better we can focus our efforts to grow in the fullness of our Christian lives.  

So my friends, who do you, say Jesus is?

Homily for Proper 5 B, June 10, 2012

There is a wonderfully simple quote attributed to Martin Luther King Jr. that we really need to take to hart today: “Faith is taking the first even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

This quotation puts into simple words the profound truth of what it means to be Christian people.  Wither we experience God call within our community or our individual lives, God never seems to give us the complete picture.  We are often asked to start the journey and trust God for the rest. 

In the first reading today, Samuel is asked to anoint a King for Israel; he is loath to do it.  This breaks tradition and violates, as far as he sees it, the covenant with God.  But God himself is telling him to fulfill the request.  He can’t see how this will end but he steps forward none the less. 

In our second lesson, Paul speaks about his hardships and the greater glory to be experienced in God’s Kingdom.  Even though he cannot see how it will all work out, he keeps his focus on the next life and urges his readers to do the same. 

In our gospel story today we see people having trouble putting faith in Jesus.  The miraculous things they witness (that is to say their experience of God’s presence) are simply overwhelming.  It is easier to write these things off as black magic or trickery than it is to admit that God could be doing something new.  This can often be true in our own 21st century lives.  We like to write off the mysterious as a hoax or some kind of dilution.  Or, even if a person is a believer they can deny the experience by telling themselves: “God couldn’t possibly do that...” - or be “calling me to some kind of ministry” – “I’m not good enough to teach a class” -  “serve at the altar,” or...

Our life of faith is most often inhibited by our own lack of vision or lack of willingness to be lead by God into something we cannot see or understand.  We really want to see the whole staircase and not just the next couple steps.  Yet we are rarely able to see God’s hand that far ahead of ourselves. 

But our ancestors in faith testify to us that we must take those steps just as they did.  Samuel did anoint Saul as King and begin the next era of Israel's history.  Paul did faithfully preach the gospel and found new communities to the end of his days.  And some of the people who saw and heard Jesus did accepted him for who he really was/is.  We live the life of faith because they not only believed but took action as God lead them forward.  Now it is our turn and we must also take steps forward, trusting that God will lead us safely up the staircase! 

Homily for Trinity Sunday, June 3, 2012

As abstract as it seems, today's feast of the Holy Trinity really does have practical implications for our Christian lives. 

Our first reading today is the call of the Prophet Isaiah.  He is bothered by his sinfulness but discovers that God is quick to purge him of that.  The then generously responds to God's generosity by volunteering to be God's messenger.  The year is 742 BC; Assyria is expanding its empire and has its sights set on Israel and Judah.  God accepts Isaiah's offer, and tells him that most people will reject God's message, preferring traditional (corrupt) ways.  But a small number will accept it.  Most will be destroyed, even the faithful will endure difficult times but God will be with them and bring restoration. 

In our second reading, Paul has told us how Christian experience is dominated by life in the Spirit rather than by the desires of the flesh, or self‑centeredness.  Christians are still subject to suffering, to bearing crosses and affliction, but not to eternal condemnation.  Not being condemned, we have hope.  Heeding the Spirit, we are children of God; we have a new relationship with God.  When baptized, we do not lose freedom (become salves of Christ) but are adopted by him.  As his children, we are heirs with hope for the future. 

In our Gospel story, Jesus describes the Holy Spirit to Nicodemus.  He is a prominent Pharisee and teacher and comes to Jesus to ask him questions.  He comes secretly because a man of his stature could not be seen consulting a radical like Jesus.  He has understood from Jesus' miracles (signs) that Jesus is from God.  But Jesus tells him that he has not yet understood the main point: to see the kingdom of God, spiritual rebirth is required.  Nicodemus misunderstands: he thinks Jesus is speaking of biological rebirth.  Jesus goes on to explain that being born from above requires being baptized.  Flesh and spirit were seen as constituents of life, of which spirit was the life‑giving force.  Further He explains that many things can be seen only in their effect; such is birth in the Spirit. 

My brothers and sisters, today we have readings that mention the three persons in the trinity: The Father calls Isaiah, Paul talks about the gifts we receive in the Spirit through the Son, and Jesus himself describes the mysterious character of the Spirit. 

In seeking to understand the way they experienced God in their lives, Christian thinkers covered a lot of ground in the first four centuries.  In essences, the struggle was: how do you reconcile the one true God of Judaism with the Christian experience of knowing Jesus as Divine Messiah, the Father he frequently spoke of and the Divine Spirit that filled the Christians. 

The first serious attempt to settle the matter can be seen in 325 at council of Nicea.  The creed we profess each Sunday was further refined into its final form in 381 at council of Constantinople.  

In short the classical Christian belief is that the Father, Son and Spirit are co-eternal, con-substantial and co-equal.  Co-eternal meaning that the three existed together before creation and will exist for all time.  Con-substantial, they are all made of the same God-stuff.  Co-equal, they are all equally divine. 

What does this mean for our practical, spiritual lives as 21^st century Christians?  We can realize that God is free to relate to us in any manner we need.  As a perfect Creator-parent, always ready to support and encourage.  As an older sibling (or mentor) who has been through "it" before and will help us find the way.  Or, the mysterious spirit of the Divine who breathes life into us.  From abstract to concrete, God can (and will) meet us were ever we need and guide us into being the fullness of our personal potential.