Finding The Rejoicing Worthy*

Third Sunday of Advent - December 16, 2018

Zephaniah 3:14-20

Psalm Isaiah 12:2-6

Philippians 4:4-7

Luke 3:7-18

(homily given among the community of St Stephen's Episcopal Church, New Harmony, IN)

A little congregational participation;)

Let’s find the New Testament Reading for today

Those 4 beautiful verses from Paul’s Letter to his beloved Philippians

Let ‘s proclaim slowly and together:

Rejoice in the Lord always;

Again I will say Rejoice.

Let your gentleness be known to everyone.

The Lord is near.

Do not worry about anything,

But in everything 

By prayer and supplication

With thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God

And the peace of God,

Which surpasses all understanding

Will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Dr Beth mentioned in her sermon last week 

about Paul being in prison when he wrote this letter 

…His beloved Philippians have fallen into petty squabbling and divisive bickering

…Paul reminds them and us that ‘in Christ’ we are free from that

…it is a matter of remembering

Thinking of Paul in prison sending this challenging love-letter 

Or this love-letter that challenges

Reminds me of the Lutheran Pastor, theologian and martyr

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich spent two Christmases in a Nazi prison

Where the inmates were underfed and abused

Frequently the warden refused to turn the lights on

Which added to the depressive spirit and isolation

37 year old Bonhoeffer was surrounded by prisoners awaiting execution

The anxiety of these unsettled, condemned men filled the air

But it was in this suffocating imprisonment 

that Bonhoeffer experienced Christmas in a new and profound way

He writes to his parents on December 17, 1943.  

In his letter he reminds them of the gift of so many beautiful Christmases past.  And he promises that it is those memories,

that will provide his feast.  

And then he writes:

Viewed from a Christian Perspective

Christmas in a prison cell can

Of course

Hardly be considered particularly problematic.

Most likely, many of those here in this building

Will celebrate a more meaningful and authentic Christmas

Than in places where it is celebrated in name only. 

The misery, sorrow, poverty, loneliness, helplessness, and guilt 

mean something quite different in the eyes of God 

than according to human judgement;

ThatGod turns toward 

the very places from which humans turn away;

ThatChrist was born in a stable because there was no room for him in the inn --- a prisoner grasps this better than others,

And for him this is truly good news.

St. Paul and

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Propose for us this mystery

Have we…any of us…

…ever experienced unexpected joy and peace in moments of trial?

It happened this past week

I can see it now in retrospect

I can see that very same mystery unfolding

Since before Thanksgiving

My mother has been riding an Emphysema roller coaster

She can’t breathe

She has less than a third of her lungs working to draw in air

scary hospitalization

trying to get her symptoms under control

discharging my Mom to a long-term rehab unit

It has been six weeks of building anxiety

Of not knowing

…And Sometimes

not even understanding

and so much fear

And finally

On Wednesday of last week

To borrow Bonhoeffer’s words:

God, in the form of Dr Reddy,

Turned toward the place humans tend to recoil from

And with great tenderness

And patience

She offered my mother hospice care

She explained carefully

She allowed Mom time to reflect and process

She waited in the silence

And eventually Mom heard the truth of it

And she responded…with remarkable gusto really

She will probably have a prolonged rally

Now that the fog has cleared 

Now that there is a plan 

It seems a kind of freedom

And for me after 5 anxious weeks

Rejoicing comes easier than I had thought possible

Rejoicing…for honesty

…And for warm speech and unrushed nurses and doctors

…And for supportive (and maybe a little lonely) husbands

This is…Gaudete Sunday…The Sunday of Rejoicing

Zephaniah gives us rejoicing, Isaiah gives us rejoicing, Paul gives us rejoicing

But from John the Baptist in Luke’s Gospel we get:

You Brood of VIPERS!

It takes a little sleuthing

But there is something very rejoicing-worthy 

In today’s Gospel 

1.    Standard prophetic fare…
but notice who is listening…
not Pharisees and Sadducess…but the CROWDS
…and they must be curious and responsive to his style
and his prophesy…
THEY don’t turn around and leave! 
John is attractive to this crowd! 
the way they are living isn’t working for them anymore
His call to repentance meets a longing in their hearts…
they are seeking…aren’t they? 

2.   And the crowds ask a very simple and practical question: 
“What then shall we do?” 
What kind of response do you think they expected? 
Given the fiery first paragraph…I think this was a VERY brave question!

Now if I keep John the Baptist in the box labeled
Crazy, half-naked, locust-eating, hellfire and damnation prophet of old…
I will miss the rejoicing-worthy part! 

The crowds…in general…ask first,
then specifically the tax-collectors,
and then the soldiers.
The answers he gives are so tame! 
to the crowds: Share.  Be kind.
sounds like a middleschool anti-bullying campaign

He’s saying:
SEE each other…SEE each other’s needs

To the tax collectors: STOP IT!
Stop with the hidden fees!
It doesn’t matter if ‘everyone is doing it’
don’t be greedy, do the right thingAND GUESS WHAT?
Greediness will be transformed into generosity!

To the soldiers: Go Home!
Stop using your power to intimidate and oppress
It doesn’t matter if you are frustrated and unhappy
stop taking it out on other people
GO HOME…
and instead of threats and violence, be satisfied with what you have

in essence, John says
GO back to your lives
Back to your homes
And work
And communities
but not as offspring of snakes…not as a brood of Vipers!
No! Go back as Children of God 

Imagine that! 
People inhabiting their own lives
and transforming the world from there

I LOVE how non-heroicthat is!

What then shall we do?

Rejoice!

Rejoice!

Because being a child of God
is doable!  We can do this!

GO HOME
Take the love of God

And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
that seeps into your mind, and heart, and bones

In this place

Among these witnesses
through word and sacrament

Take it all with you

It is a virus…

Its nature is to be very contagious

so Rejoice
we don’t have to be heroes

we just have to go home…back to our lives

and get close enough 

so that the virus catches

And as we do 

We join Paul in singing:

Rejoice in the Lord always!

Again I say rejoice!

Suffering and Hope…Hope and Suffering*

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Proper 28

Daniel 12:1-3 

Psalm 16 

Keep me safe, O God, 

You are my hope, 

You are my Hope, O God

Mark 13:1-8

 

Chapter 13 of the Gospel of Mark is known as the “Little Apocalypse”

With the “Greater Apocalypse” being the Book of Revelation

Apocalyptic literature…

I confess it is not my favorite preaching material

it sounds just weird and confusing to modern ears 

But it was familiar to the biblical world of the Ancient Near East

It was familiar to the first hearers of Mark’s Gospel
And in the Hebrew Scriptures the Book of Daniel is the prime example

It is CRISIS literature

Written in times of great oppression and suffering

The Book of Daniel grew out of the terrifying conquest of 

Antiochus IV Epiphanes…around 150 BCE

The people are trying to hold fast to their tradition 

in a time when it was a capital offense 

to read from the Torah, 

or to circumcise your son, 

or keep the Sabbath, 

or gather for prayer and worship

The identity of a people was being systematically erased

So Daniel writes

To comfort, guide, strengthen, and encourage

At the time Mark’s Gospel is being written

Around the year 70

The first Jewish uprising against Roman occupation was in full swing

And even though the Romans were beaten back for a while 

Eventually the full force of the Empire strikes back with unbeatable force

…again a time of great crisis 

Wars and rumors of wars

Chaos and death

And the great Temple…a Temple surely too big to fail

destroyed

Judaism…the life and practice of the people of God… 

as they have known it will never be the same

So like Daniel…Mark writes

To comfort, guide, strengthen, and encourage

Funny how when we moderns read this kind of writing 

we tend to focus on the future predictions… 

But the purpose is clear

To comfort, guide, strengthen, and encourage

IN THE PRESENT

Suffering and Hope

Held together

The Gospel says that the current suffering is ‘Birthpangs’

Birthpangs
digging into that metaphor 

I picture one of our nice hospital birthing rooms

There is a soon to be mother

And it hurts like----…it crazy hurts

No epidural…no pain medication…this is a 1^stcentury type birth

But on the horizon

Is what is hoped for

Hope for a new life

Calling to mind those four words:

I notice…

those are words descriptive of a midwife

The midwife (just like these strange texts) is there to 

comfort, guide, strengthen, and encourage 

this suffering woman in her birthpangs

Mark is comforting his community

His people who are suffering at the hands of their oppressors

He reminds them that there is something hoped for

These are birthpangs

And what is to be born is not frightening

We are participants in

…birthing the kingdom of God

…in birthing the love of God 

…in birthing peace

Today is our last Sunday reading from Mark’s Gospel

Year B is closing out

I’m really going to miss Mark’s story

And the earthiness of the Markan Jesus 

And I’m going to miss those fumbling Gomer Pyle-like disciples

Looking up at the Temple and saying G-O-O-O-L-Y

I feel oddly comforted by these guys

Discipleship in Mark is no cake walk

It was hard then and it still is

But these are just birthpangs

Hold fast

I have a friend who 25 years ago

Re-married

She and her husband both had young families

And she tells stories…

Stories of how hard those first years were 

Trying to blend their two families

With middle school, and hormone fed teen-age resistance around every corner

She tells it now and it sounds funny…but not so then

She says that there was only one thing that saved them 

We never BOTH wanted to leave at the same time!

When she was in the birthpangs

Her husband played midwife

And when he was in the birthpangs

It was her turn to be midwife

That is the beauty of community

It has been hard this week not to be consumed

By the devastation that continues to unfold in California

The sheer ferocity of the fires

The magnitude of acreage 

I simply can’t fathom the power and reach of these fires

Like the audience of Daniels writing

And the community of Mark’s gospel

What these communities are facing is literally ‘earth shattering’

I go back to that birthing room

Many people…and whole communities…are clearly in the birthpangs

Death, grief, loss, terror

And then there are the midwives
all those firefighters and aid workers of all kinds

From all over

Fighting alongside one another

Putting their own lives at risk…there as midwives

To comfort, guide, strengthen, and encourage

The ones in the birthpangs…And the midwives

But there is more

Some take the role of Daniel and Mark

They get to hold the beautiful baby

They get to shine with wonder and awe

They are the ones who tell the world of the hero stories

Stories of ordinary people 

Doing extraordinary things

…yesterday I just googled ‘hero stories from California fires

And I found a very long list…stories from small local newspapers

Ordinary people doing extraordinary things…

The suffering are still suffering

The crisis is still a crisis

But Hope and Suffering go together

For the Christian, suffering can never be the WHOLE story

Like the disciples in Mark’s gospel

We too get hung up on timing 

We swear it is because we just want to make sure we are ready and all

But that is not our calling

Our calling is to live NOW

To be ready ALL the time

And that sounds really hard 

Really hard until we remember about all the characters in our birthing suite

We are called to live on the lookout

Not for stuff to be afraid of

But for glimpses of the kingdom

Living on the lookout

Is living looking for God’s activity here and now

Looking for those in birthpangs

And midwives attending to them

And others telling their stories of hope and resurrection

Maybe that’s my simple question for this week

Each night

As I crawl into bed

I will ask

Where and among whom did I see the promises of God today?

And I feel certain

that by the end of the week

after a week of

Really looking…

I’ll get better at seeing

And the number in my nightly accounting log

will be increasing

When will this happen?

NOW

What will be the sign?

People being Jesus-like

Kindness

Outreach

Working together

Listening

Feeding

Touching

Healing 

Right here

Right now

Promises to Believe In!*

ALL SAINTS’ DAY - YEAR B 
Isaiah 25:6-9

Psalm 24
Revelation 21:1-6a
John 11:32-44
(homily given at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, New Harmony, IN)

Today

The feast of All Saints

Came just at the right time this year

I need to be reminded that ours is a God of Life

I need to remember that the God Jesus came to reveal 

Is… just…bubbling over with LIFE

The readings are so rich in imagery

Imagery of Promises

Isaiah… 

Now that is an image worthy of the food channel!

Rich food…dusty wine bottles perfectly aged
and bone marrow…all the rage I hear

I like that promise

And from Revelation

Another glorious image

not at all the LEFT BEHIND sort

no…it goes in the opposite direction
“I saw the Holy City…

coming down…”

God…tenting…with us

Setting up camp with us

Everyone welcome and safe

And echoing Isaiah…tears, sadness…gone 

Again…What a promise

How believable are these promises?  

How are we able to believe in such promises?

The only way…

It seems to me that the only way

Is that we have experienced...
a foretaste

Think of all those meals

…Large family ones

…Intimate romantic ones

…eating McDonalds in the car with a distraught child

…Ones in hospital rooms

NOT to mention the Eucharist

In all these meals

We have surely tasted…a foretaste…a nibble…

            of the richness, the intimacy, the safety, the comfort

            that Isaiah is painting for us

Yes…I believe we have…

            

And tears wiped away for ever?

How can we believe such a promise?

Haven’t we had a foretaste of that as well?

At one time or another

…someone has reached out a thumb

…so small…so simple

Or at times we have been the one on the wiping side

            gently picking up that tear 

It didn’t stop the sadness

But it communicates so much 

So much with no words at all

…It is when we remember those foretastes

that we find that we can believe

Some days,

Are harder than others

And those foretastes give us words:

“That is a PROMISE I can believe in…

         not just because I want to 

but because I have…in fact…tasted it”

My friends this is not ONLY a festival 

which paints for us 

glorious images of a glorious future

It is, in fact more importantly, a promise for our present.

John’s gospel loves the present tense

…remember all those present tense

            I AM statements…things are happening NOW

Just before we pick up the story today

Jesus tells Martha 

I AM the resurrection and the life…here…now…

Mary’s very real grief…is NOW
“if only…if only…

How many times have we shared in that?

“If only…

And Jesus weeps…now

And then there is Lazarus

Four days dead…really really dead

Jesus calls his name

“Lazarus come out”

And Lazarus hears his name being called

            …the really really dead guy hears his name!

But it isn’t just about Lazarus…is it??

Jesus isn’t done yet

He turns to the bystanders…

He gives them very clear instructions:  

“Unbind him and let him go”

Resurrection…the biggest promise of all!

Have we had a foretaste of that!??

I think we have…some of us more intensley than others

But haven’t we?

Some of us have felt four days dead

…deader than dead

…In the tomb…big stone…no light

And something happened

Something happened

…Jesus called us by name and we heard

He called us to life

…and we stood up and walked out of that tomb

And some of us have…at times
found ourselves standing around the tomb

Standing there…Not sure what to do

And WE heard our names 

“Cindy, Rose, Charlie, unbind him

Go on…unbind him”
and again something happened

…Jesus called us by name and we heard

He called us to life

…and we took to unbinding our neighbor

My friends we have tasted Resurrection

On this Festival day

We don’t deny the reality of loss, grief and sadness

But we boldly proclaim

The promise of God revealed in Jesus Christ

That the world is being made new

We believe because 

We have tasted the promise 

We didn’t come here by accident

We came because believing is hard 

Because death, like junk food, leaves a stubborn taste in the mouth;)

…and weirdly…sometimes… I find myself liking it 

A teacher of mine once said  

That church…what we do here…the liturgy

Is the place we come to get in the mood

To get in the mood to become a saint

That just sounds smart

That’s a mood I’d like to be in more often!

In a moment we will read our list of names

This is our tradition for All Saints Day

But we don’t just read them

We pray them

And as we do 

As we read lets keep the promise...right here…in our mind’s eye

Let. 

Us. 

Pray.