Homily for Proper 11 B, July 22, 2012

My sisters and my brothers we must embrace as Christ unity.

In the first lesson we heard today Jeremiah denounces the "shepherds" who have failed to protect God’s flock; Israel.  The poetic use of the plum line is much like our sayings about “putting it up to the yard stick” to see if “it measures up.”  The point being that God has found the leaders of his people to be doing a poor job and will provide some one better to take over the role. 

In our second lesson Paul describes how the former distinction between "the people of God" and everyone else has been destroyed in Christ.  Now all can be one as citizens of God's kingdom; those not born into the kingdom (not of Jewish ancestry) are no longer aliens but welcomed through Christ.  In him all are joined together and grow into a holy temple in the Lord!

This is one of the biblical roots of our Anglican idealism; the Middle Way.  In the beginning of the Anglican Church it was about Protestant versus Catholic.  It grew to include many people, from many cultures, from many theological perspectives, united by Christ at Christ’s own table. 

In the gospel lesson, Jesus’ reputation is beginning to spread.  He and his disciples are being inundated with those seeking miraculous healing.  The demand is so heavy that we see Jesus counseling his disciples to take some time away to rest and pray.  We must notice though, that Jesus is still compassionate, even when his plans to get some rest are thwarted. 

Paul's description of the unity we have in Christ.  Gentiles and Jews in the context of Paul’s day – liberals, conservatives and everyone else in our modern-day context is timely as we mark the close of The Episcopal Church’s 77^th General Convention.  As has been the case over the last six or nine years controversial issues were addressed in convention this year and decisions made which will be good news to some and bad news to others.

One of these is the question of the Anglican covenant, you may remember more than a year ago we took some time together to reflect on this, collect our reflections and send them on to our diocese.  Internationally the covenant has proven to be controversial enough that a number of provinces around the Anglican Communion have voted it down.  It no longer has any real value except as a bone of contention between those provinces and the ones who voted in favor.  Our GC basically tabled the matter.  This is a legislative maneuver that basically tells the world we are not going to make a decision, we are not going to choose sides, were just going to let this sit.  With refusing to take sides, our GC voiced the hope of staying in conversation with both sides.  As you can guess this may or may not work very well over the long haul.

Another issue that was given a great deal of time at convention is the formal restructuring of the Episcopal Church; particularly our internal governance.  Two sets of concerns drove this conversation: one, the simple pragmatic need to economize and streamline; two, the need to reorient and refocus ourselves on the mission God calls forth from all Christians.  The decision was to form a task force that will investigate alternative ways the church could be organized and make recommendations at the next convention in 2015.  This will of-course require long and hard work before a change comes but it is far wiser than making a precipitous decision. 

Finally, there was a long and passionate discussion about the approval of a trial ritual for the blessing of same gender unions.  At the previous convention, three years ago, the standing commission on liturgy was given the task of preparing these rituals and presenting them to this year's convention.  The final vote was substantially in favor of this ritual.  It's important we understand what this vote actually means.  Congregations are not forced to take action one way or the other nor are any Bishops.  A trial, experimental, ritual has simply been approved for use with the support of the local Bishop.  Final approval of this new ritual would not take place until after this trial period which will conclude with convention and 2015. 

I believe in the broadness and idealism of the Anglican tradition, i.e., there should be room in the house of Jesus for everyone; conservative and liberal alike.  I've spoken before about Scripture passages like the one we have today from Paul which described how the Christian faith should be open to all.  We do not get to play exclusive games "everybody must think the way I do" kinds of games.  Liberals do not get to force conservatives to take part in things they are not comfortable with and conservatives cannot get to hold back liberals from doing things they believe God is calling them to do.  Does this make us complicated and sometimes confusing and an aggravating church to be a member of?  Yes. 

We must remember the family of God is not about Jew versus Gentile, as was the controversy in Paul's day, nor about protestant versus catholic as in the early era of the Anglican Church.  It is also not about liberal versus conservative as is our present day.  The Christian faith, the Christian spiritual life and Christian community is about a life shared in Christ.  It is about the blessings we receive through Christ, it is about the life we are called to live in Christ and it is about sharing these gifts with the world around us.  No one has exclusive right to interpret the Bible only their way and no one has exclusive right to the body and blood of Christ.  If we are to live our Christian faith authentically we must begin with a clear awareness that the one God revealed by Jesus Christ showers rain and sunshine (blessings and forgiveness) upon us all!  We must embrace Christ as our unity!

Dialogue on the Episcopal Café

Today (the day after mass murders were committed in Aurora Colorado) Ann Fontaine published on the blog Episcopal Café a commentary on gun ownership. Kevin Matthews and I have both challenged her about the pastoral inappropriateness of her commentary and I have republished my comments below.

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Ann, like Kevin Matthews I take exception to your post and must challenge your comments and as pastorally inappropriate.  Regardless of one's position on the issue on the ownership of firearms, using the pain and suffering of others as a sounding board is wrong.  Our focus should be on the suffering of the victims and the healing that we can share through Christ.

I have a second point on which I take exception to your post and I would like to ask everyone in the Episcopal Church who reads this thread to look closely at the latest work of Diana Butler Bass: Christianity after Religion. In this book she draws on statistical information from several studies that investigated the relationship, and tension, between the general American public and organized religion. A significantly large number of the American population, I believe the number was close to 50%, identify themselves as spiritual but not religious. When this group was surveyed about their dis-taste for major denominational churches one of the top responses was an objection to putting political agendas ahead of faith.

Ann I am very confident that you are well intended in your post but your unintended consequences are to again discredit us in the eyes of those people to whom we should be reaching out. Both those victims to whom we should be reaching out in pastoral care and those persons seeking a spiritual home, who might otherwise have seen the Episcopal Church as a faith community worthy of their membership.

Please Ann, prayerfully rethink your position and your methodology.

More on Conservative vs Liberal Christianity

I'm a little late in finding time to post this but life has been unusually busy in the last few days.  In her contribution to the Huffington Post, Diana Butler Bass brings her usual fact driven perspective to the current debate between conservative and liberal Christians.  Here is the link. 

Also, I highly recommend her books: The Practicing Congregation and Christianity After Religion.  She does not shrink from the facts of our present trends nor from the truth of their historical precedent.  I'll share some further reflection on these books as time allows. 

Homily for Proper 10 B, July 15, 2012

Let us seek, more and more to be transformed by God’s grace.

In the first reading we heard today, Amos the prophet delivers his message to the Northern Kingdom of Israel.  He is a simple man, not a priest or scribe but a herd’s man and tree trimmer.  God calls whom he chooses not necessarily the one most likely in our eyes.  The message of Amos is not be to the liking of King Jeroboam, so the priest Amaziah tries to chase him off.

In the second reading we heard today, Paul rhapsodizes about the glorious blessing we have received from God through Christ.  He speaks primarily of the invisible, internal, spiritual blessings we receive. 

In the gospel story, the beheading of John the Baptist, we see a horrific and decadent abuse of power.  But, there is an undercurrent of wonder about Jesus.  Some people think he is John the Baptist (back from the dead) working miracles.  But others see Jesus’ actions as signs of the end of the era: that he is “Elijah” who was expected to return at Judgment Day, or some other prophetic figure.  None are ready to believe the Messiah has come. 

Paul provides us with a contrast to the corruption of Jeroboam and Herod.  Paul helps us understand how we are connected to God while the two kings are running from God.  Paul reminds us of the amazing gifts we are given because God loves us.  Paul says, “Blessed be God … who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens!”  No fear here, just deep and joyful gratitude that we are empowered by God’s blessings.  Paul goes on to tell us what some of those blessings are: adoption as God’s children, redemption through the death of Jesus, forgiveness for our sins and grace lavished on us.  Truly a wonderful thought: God’s grace being lavished on us!  None of these things is a worldly gift.  They are all of a heavenly nature that we can, however, use here in our earthly lives.  These gifts give us a spiritual power that we must use to do good and to spread the Good News among our brothers and sisters. 

We live in a world that is all too full of authorities who abuse their power; much as did King Herod.  In this context we must ask ourselves: Is being gathered up into God’s love enough for us?

We have to ask that question seriously and truthfully.  What does it mean to be gathered up into God here on earth?  We too often forget that Jesus constantly talked about the kingdom of God being right here, right now.  Which means, in the midst of present day corruption and violence, we ought to be living in this abiding love right now, with everyone who will accept it. 

We might ask what the consequence would be if we could really do this.  It would certainly change our lives.  We might see the beauty in all God’s people and be willing to take their hands when solidarity for goodness and justice is needed.  We might see our churches begin to fill again because others would see our witness and want to share what we have.  We’d learn to speak about our faith in convincing and inviting ways.  If we really took God up on his grace, it would transform our lives. 

Many of you may have seen, or heard of, the "Hatchet" story done on the Episcopal Church by Jay Akasle of the Wall Street Journal; link blow.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303919504577520950409252574.html?mod=WSJ_article_comments#articleTabs%3Darticle

Our Bishop (Kirk Smith, Arizona) has posted a great rebuttal (calling Jay on his dishonesty) on his blog: http://arizonabishop.blogspot.com/2012/07/wrong-on-every-count.html?m=1

Regardless of personal options on the difficult issues addressed by TEC at our recent convention - for a professional journalist to attack us with a page full of lies is appalling. I am truly saddened to see that the once highly respected Wall Street Journal has sunk to this level of “Yellow Journalism!” Jay is certainly entitled to disagree with our discernment of God's calling to the 21st century if he wishes but making up childish lies and faults accusations only discredits his personal integrity!

Faithful Christians, as different from our denominational style as the Baptists, have spoken up in support of TEC. Here is a very different reflection from "Anglo Baptist." http://anglobaptist.org/blog/posts/in-praise-of-episcopalians/

Homily for Proper 9 B: July 8, 2012

My brothers and sisters, over the millennia some have rejected God’s messengers and messages; let us embrace them! 

In our first lesson today, Ezekiel is commissioned by God as a Prophet to “the people of Israel, to a nation”...  He will speak to them of their disrespect for God - regardless of whether they hear the message or not; and they probably won’t. 

Our second lesson is Paul’s famous irony: “whenever I am week, I am strong.”  We all have heard many sermons about Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” and taken comfort in knowing that God is truly with us in our sufferings and weaknesses.  But, there is more to the story that we usually pass by.  The Corinthians have apparently claimed superiority to him in the visions and revelations that they have been having.  Paul responds by telling of his mystical experience and that of someone else he knows.  The Corinthians are not special in their vision just in their lack of humility. 

In the Gospel lesson we just heard Jesus is rejected by the people he grew up around.  Is this not the “carpenter’s son?”  Is he not "the son of Mary, brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?  Are not his sisters here?”  No “local boy makes good” homecoming for Jesus.  Rather he is rejected for the spiritual gifts he tries to give them. 

We have all experienced some kind of rejection in our lives: turned down for a date, for a job, dropped by friends because of our views or values.  I remember grade school friends, or so I thought, disowning me because I was proscribed glasses for reading. 

The prophets of old, Paul and Jesus himself, were rejected by many of the people because God’s message challenged their biases or since of personal aggrandizement. 

These days, our established ways of doing things as a church are being challenged also.  The simple fact is that the ways we have used for the last 50 years are not effective any more.  The Episcopal Church is shrinking and we cannot be good stewards of God’s Kingdom without asking why and responding to the challenge. 

In the life experience of most of us, people generally wanted two things from Church: 1, to know about God and what God expected; 2, belonging to a warm and supportive community.  Today we are at the high end of a trend that goes back more than 50 years and created the shift we are experiencing now.  Today people still want that warm and supportive community and we have been continuing that part of our St. Stephen’s tradition.  What has changed is that people are not so interested in knowing about God but experiencing God.  That is learning to recognize God’s presence and activity in their lives and how to deepen that relationship.  In other words, Christian Spirituality.  We have been making moves in this direction and The Episcopal Church has heard a similar call at General Convention.  We could reject the message coming from insightful members of our church – God’s spokes persons today – or we can move forward as did Jesus’ first disciples. 

Please join me in praying for St. Stephen’s and the General Convention; asking God to guide us into the future God has in store for us. 

Reflections on a Unicameral General Convention for the Episcopal Church

Recently a proposal has surfaced for changing the General Convention of the Episcopal Church from its traditional bicameral nature to a unicameral.  More information can be seen at the Episcopal Cafe.  I can support this in theory as a means to both make church governance more nimble and focused on real discernment.  Pulse, it would cut the outrageous expense of GC and hopefully limit the political (non-spiritual) machinations of our present system. However I need to see certain factors very carefully balanced and protected.

The balance of power must be protected. The present proposal appears to give bishops the trump card. Bishops, clergy and laity should each have the power "voting by order" to block actions that might otherwise function as power plays.

The present proposal also seems to weight Numbers in attendance in favor of the Bishops. This is an issue because, at even though voting by order allows minorities to block bad legislation, the sheer volume of those speaking (pro or con) on an issue can Wield an undo influence. Numerical representation at convention should reflect the churches memberships as a whole.  From this perspective the greatest numerical representation would be, listed from greatest to least, thus:

1. Representatives of the laity (greatest number present)
2. Representatives of the clergy (second greatest in numbers)
3. Bishops (least greatest numbers present)

Homily for Independence Day, Celebrated July 1, 2012

Today we thank God for the blessings of life in this country and ask God to inspire us to keep it growing in the virtues of equality and justice for all!  

In our first reading, from Deuteronomy, we hear about the command to do as God does: providing justice for the week and the stranger.  This is another expression of what we know as the Golden Rule: Love God with all your being and love your neighbor (even the stranger) as you love yourself.

In our second reading Paul reminds us that it is really God’s world, we are all travelers and strangers passing through it.  Our ultimate citizenship is in Heaven.  So, as we express our gratitude for the blessings of living here in the US, we do not forget that God’s kingdom is our final goal.  

Finally, in today’s gospel, Jesus takes the Golden Rule and makes clear that the Stranger/Neighbor spoken of is all inclusive.  We are not allowed to exclude anyone from our Christian Compassion.  No one’s human dignity, or rights, can be ignored by the authentic Christian.  

I have always been impressed with the deep theological and spiritual roots shared between the founding principles expressed in the Deceleration of Independence and the Biblical teachings we heard today.  The universal respect for human dignity that Jesus demands from his followers are re-expressed in fresh terms by the Founding Fathers.  Remember with me these few and potent words from the Deceleration:

      We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

These rights are clearly drawn from the knowledge that God created us with a unique human dignity that is irrevocable!  My sisters and brothers, no matter what form it takes: cheating, exploiting, abusing or in any way miss treating other people is not acceptable.  It is both Un-American and Unchristian!  Respecting this blessed dignity requires from us nothing less than living the Golden Rule.

However imperfect the ebb and flow of American politics may be, we have our earthly citizenship in a land that tries to protect and live out these biblical values for all; even those who are not Christian.  This is a sacred legacy that we are bound to protect with our service and our vote.  It is a legacy that we are obliged to pass on from one generation to the next as best as we humanly can.  Knowing that only in God’s Kingdom will they be brought to perfection.