Rock or Stumbling Block*

August 30, 2020

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Proper 17

Matthew 16: 21-27

"Get behind me, Satan!"

 

This Gospel is a potent text

It is full of potent language

Language of undergoing great suffering

Language of Satan

Language of denying oneself

Language of taking up a cross

It’s heavy

And…I have so many questions!!!

 

The first question I have is
What is it, exactly, that PETER gets so very wrong?

 

The second one is 
What does it even mean to deny myself?

 

And the third one is 
What does it mean…for me…to take up my cross?

 

 

It isn’t just a matter of my being curious

I love getting into the text…investigating translation issues

Wondering about the 1st-century context

 

But my questions are more fundamental than that…today
…they aren’t just curiousness

 

This reading makes me cringe a little

 

What is it that PETER gets so very wrong?

Jesus’ strong rebuke indicates that PETER has messed up in a very big way

 

7 days ago…in last Sunday’s Gospel

we read the story of “Peter’s Confession”

 

In last Sunday’s Gospel, 
Jesus posed a question to his disciples:

“Who do you say that I am?”

 

And, “top of the class Peter”, replies

“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!”

 

And then we heard Jesus say to Peter,

“Bravo Peter! 

Blessed are you! 

Gold star! 

And for that: 

Here are the keys to the kingdom!

YOU ROCK!”

 

It has been a week of days

But, in Gospel time…all that was only three short verses ago!

 

Three short verses later 

we have today’s  STUNNING REVERSAL!

From YOU ROCK to

“Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block!”

 

(Our translation says ‘obstacle’ but that loses the original wordplay) 

 

Just a few verses ago, Peter was named ROCK

“You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church”

But now he is a different kind of ROCK

He is the kind of rock that causes others to stumble!

 

That is one lightning-fast reversal!

 

So…What DOES Peter get so wrong?

 

This movement from ROCK to Stumbling Block gives us a clue.

To be a stumbling block

You have to be out in the front

And what does Jesus say?

“Get behind me!”

 

WHAT Peter gets wrong is that

He is in the wrong place!

He decided to take the lead from Jesus

He got ahead of Jesus!!!

Being a disciple means to follow

“If you want to become my followers” the text says

If you want to ‘come behind me’

The Greek means literally “if anyone wants to come behind me…”

Well…you best stay there

That’s what it means to be a disciple

A disciple follows

If you jump ahead you will, sooner or later, become a stumbling block

 

What Peter gets wrong is 

Well he is having trouble staying ‘behind’ 

He is having trouble following

…trouble being a disciple

 

But I totally get Peter

He doesn’t want Jesus to “undergo great suffering”

He doesn’t want Jesus to die!

So, he steps out in front to give better directions!

 

I get that.

 

Question number 2

What does it mean to deny myself

 

It can’t mean to deny my being

my personhood

That would be horribly counter to the Incarnation

And good ole modern psychology;)

 

It must mean to deny something else.

 

The most central teaching in Matthews gospel is the Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount

With all its talk of being the salt of the earth

And the light of the world

And then the beatitudes

Blessed are the poor

Blessed are those who mourn

Blessed are those who seek righteousness for the sake of the Gospel

Etc.

The Sermon on the Mount is the ethical backdrop of the whole of Matthew’s Gospel

 

What we need to deny

Is whatever it is 

That hinders us

Or that acts like a stumbling block 

Whatever keeps us from the kind of living

   that Jesus lays out in the Sermon on the Mount

And here we can look to the reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans

…It has a “Sermon on the Mount” feel.

Rejoice in hope

Be patient in suffering

Persevere in prayer

Extend hospitality to strangers

Bless those who persecute you

Rejoice with those who rejoice

Weep with those who weep

Do not repay evil for evil

Feed the hungry…even hungry enemies

 

There is a Sermon on the Mount…a Beatitudes, kind of feel to Paul’s words today.

 

Denying myself must mean to deny entry…

…to deny entry into my being

of any evil that will hinder a life lived according to these ideals.

Deny entry…deny them power to define who I am

 

And Question 3
What does it mean…for me…to 

“Take up my cross” 

 

There is so much I don’t know about what this means.

But there is something that I think I know.

 

What I know is that when I get like Peter.

When I think I could do a better job as Premier Christian model to follow;)

 

A bit of a cross is about the only thing that sets me straight.

 

Peter was solely focused on survival

Later, at the crucifixion, 

when he was warming himself by the fire 

and denied Jesus three times until that cock crowed

 

He was focused on survival.

 

You can’t pick up a cross…either your own or someone else’s 

If you are focused on your own survival…

 

To follow

To stay behind

To be a disciple

Means that I will have to go where the Gospel takes me

It is to live a life of compassion…

A life focused on putting another person…or group of persons…ahead of me

Such a life says 

“You…you…are a really important person!”

or “You are a really important group of people”

 

You might say…

Cindy that sounds all nice and gospely

But…please…get practical!

 

None of us need to go looking for crosses

I have never before felt so weighed down by images and stories, and speech witnessing to senseless violence and hatred and ugliness

Right now, it is “other people’s crosses” that confront me

 

I am safe in my little cocoon

Caring for my sweet Dad

And trying to support those in my life who are trying to reboot their professions after being halted by COVID  

And I can do these things

They aren’t crosses

A couple days ago 

I walked with my Dad to a little coffee shop run by a fellow 

“Marchegiana”

Which is what you call others (female-others) who come from Marche

…My father’s home province in Italy

Her name is Catarina

And while we were there

A young girl, 

very tall, very thin, very dirty, she looked Southeast Asian

…perhaps Vietnamese, 

And she carried a plastic grocery sack of belongings

She had this blank vacant stare

 

Seeing the homeless is nothing new for me

Especially in Sarasota

But somehow it was different 

 

She came into the coffee shop

She didn’t have a mask

She didn’t really speak

 

After a minute or two 

Caterina, the owner asked her to wait outside…

There were a few people already there

The cafe is tiny

…And…well it is COVID and she had no mask.

The girl left

 

There I was 

Sitting across from my Dad

With my hot coffee and breakfast sandwich

…I was overcome with grief and sadness for her

 

But I didn’t do anything

Was I too scared?

In my mind, I quickly blamed it on being with my Dad, 

And Covid…of course.

 

But really…if I am honest…

I had survival on my mind

I only say this because I can’t get her face out of my mind

 

I realize that there are a lot of good and logical reasons why I shouldn’t have engaged this poor young woman

But the heart of the matter is that I had survival on my mind

 

After taking care of the few customers waiting and paying, 

Caterina stepped out of her shop and called to her across the street

“Are you hungry? Do you want a muffin?”

But the girl just walked away…maybe she didn’t hear

Maybe she didn’t understand.

 

Caterina said that she has seen her before 

and that all she is able to say is that she is waiting for her mother to come and get her.

 

Did she get stuck in Sarasota, or somewhere near, when all this COVID broke in?

Who is she? What will happen to her?

 

I can remember vividly such times when I failed to help carry another person’s cross

…there have been enough of them. 

And I can remember times when I have also stayed behind 

…in the disciple’s position

And reached out to put the other person first.

Like many of you…I suspect…

I can be both a rock and a stumbling block.

 

I look around

Both close to home and around the country

And see so many opportunities where “putting the other first” is in short supply

And I wonder

Where do I fit?

 

Maybe the answer to that question is a moving target.

Maybe what is being asked of me

Is to respond more like Catarina

…with a bit of boldness 

 

I pray…let me put my own comfort and survival BEHIND ME

So that I will not be a stumbling block for the Gospel

 

 

This homily sounds a bit like a Lent Homily

And in some ways…

COVID-time really is a kind of never-ending LENT;)

 

 

The thing is

I really miss you all

And I think I am struggling 

Because the physicalness of Christian Community is missing 

 

And it is such a gift

A gift AND a real necessity to living out my discipleship

 

Having the opportunity to look you in the eyes just Helps!

You. 

Help me. 

To be a better disciple.

 

Thanks for being the community that you are

In these days of longing!

And let’s just keep praying for one another

 

Lord, help each one of us

To be a bit more Rock

And little less Stumbling Block

Peace be with all of you

I miss you

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hovering*

Trinity Sunday - June 7, 2020

 (readings from the RCL)

Genesis 1:1-2; 4a

2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Matthew 28: 16-20

Let’s begin with language from Paul:

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ

The love of God

And the communion of the Holy Spirit”

Be with all of you

Today…just saying those words

Slowly and intentionally…in one breath…gives me calm

Do you feel weighed down?

I feel weighed down…and I imagine that Christian Congregations and people everywhere are 

feeling weighed down…
         by grief and anguish…fear…confusion…horror… Or all of the above?

And it causes me to wonder

Is there a WORD?
We are gathering around the Word.

Our sacred scriptures…

Is there a WORD?

I wonder and I hope

On this Trinity Sunday…

LET THERE BE A WORD

Let there be a WORD that speaks to THIS NOW?

We just read the last three verses of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians

This is the end of a very emotional letter
Throughout the letter Paul is trying to keep his passions in check

It is both stern and loving…a tricky balance to achieve 

He names the community’s vices in Ch 12

I imagine him with his finger in their faces

Quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder”

The place is torn by factions

Into this moment in the life of the Corinthian community

He speaks a challenging word of unity and love

“Put things in order”

C’mon you know what’s essential and what’s not!

“Listen to my appeal”
“Agree with one another” 

Okay…that’s sounds pie in the sky
but Paul isn’t after uniformity

He just got finished praising the diversity of gifts in the community
so its not uniformity…but rather, 

Together, my dear Corinthians, we must figure out how to speak according to Christ…that must be the goal

‘And then…all in one breath:

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ

The love of God

And the communion of the Holy Spirit

Be with all of you

Paul has a word for us today

And what about Genesis?

We learned in Old Testament class 

That there were many creation stories floating the ancient near east at the same time…

They were full of violent melodramas playing out in the heavens between many fickle deities.

Lots of violence and trickery…one god pushing the other jockeying for power

SO… what makes this creation story in Genesis 1 so radical

is that it is blatantly monotheistic

In Genesis ONE we have ONE God 

One God who presides over the chaos and intervenes

(the text is notoriously difficult to translate)

It begins in chaos 

The world was a wild chaos

It resonates doesn’t it?

Sounds like a world that could kill you

But there is more than the wild chaos

It is subtle…you could miss it if you aren’t careful

There is a breath from God

Ruach is Hebrew

Pneuma in Greek

In English we might say breath, wind or spirit

This breath…it …seems so tiny against a raging chaotic water…doesn’t it?

Some translations use the words hovering, or fluttering and evoke a gentleness

A gentle fluttering breath, 

God’s breath, moving gently atop the waters of chaos

It may be gentle 

but it is NOT weak

It is steady and committed

It is gentle breath…hovering…for the long haul

This steady breath of God, blows and pushes

In one direction toward a horizon.

What does this mean?

The chaos…the colliding currents and crashing waves 

Are hovered over
hovered over by a breath blowing gently but relentlessly in one direction

Toward a horizon 

It is the horizon that St Paul paints for us in such beautiful language…

The horizon IS:

the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,

the Love of God,

and the Communion of the Holy Spirit!”  

This week we have continued to witness many images that linger in our minds eye

Many many images of chaos

Of torture and destruction

Of grief and anger

Of threats and boisterous blaming
Of frustration

Of death

And scattered within these many many images

There are some…Though all too few

I have seen a few

A courageous few

A reconciling few

A gentle few

A fluttering few

Not a weak few

But a strong few

And I have been asking myself:

Will I give myself over to this relentless gentleness?

How will I participate in this small subtle movement directed by the breath of God?

And if I do, will I be fruitful and multiply?

If my answer is a resolved YES

I believe I will be reaching toward the place of Paul’s promise…

I will be reaching towards: 

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ

The love of God

And the communion of the Holy Spirit.

And the Gospel

I noticed something I’ve never noticed before

In our Gospel reading, traditionally called the Great Commission

I noticed that the “who” in the text… is the eleven

The eleven not the twelve because…you know JUDAS.
In the verses just before,
the risen Jesus has told Mary Magdalene and the other Mary
to go and tell the disciples to meet him as they planned.
And now they are gathered 

on a mountain 

(because everything important in Matthew’s Gospel happens on a mountaintop)

And then we have this:

When they saw him they worshipped him; but they also doubted

(Our translation says ‘some doubted’ but the consensus is that it is best read “but they also doubted”)

It makes a big difference…doesn’t it?

If it is some 

I find myself wondering am I a worshipper or a doubter

But if it is “they also doubted”

Then I can be both…and that rings true

I feel sometimes like both

The eleven are both

And they still get authority

Because the authority is supported by the final gift

A gift that belongs to all of us

“I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew’s Gospel began with the infant Jesus called Immanuel

“God with us”

And it ends the same way

“I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

These are bookends

They are heavy

They keep everything grounded and together

Jesus says:

I am with you

And HOW am I with you?

I am like a gentle but relentless breath hovering over the chaos

Where can you find me?

Wherever you catch a view of that horizon!

Wherever you glimpse

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ

The love of God

And the communion of the Holy Spirit.

That’s how I am with you

And that’s where you can find me

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ

The love of God 

And the communion of the Holy Spirit

Be with you always

Until the end of the age

The Gate, The Door*

May 3, 2020 

Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year A

Good Shepherd Sunday

Every year

On the 4^th Sunday of Easter we hear part of the what is known as

The Good Shepherd discourse in John’s Gospel 

John’s Gospel is full of SIGNS

And it is full of long DISCOURSES

Jesus performs a sign and then he talks about it

…that is the rhythm of the first half of the Gospel of John

And John does things BIG

All the signs are OVER the top…they are grace upon grace (as John puts it)
1) not just SOME water into wine 

…but Gobs and Gobs of it!

2) not just a man down with an illness

…but a man ill for his ENTIRE life---38 years!

3) not just man freshly dead

…but Lazarus 4 DAYS dead!
4) and not just a man struck by blindness

…but a man blind since birth!

And all of these are accompanied by a discourse…Jesus talking

…Jesus interpreting the sign.

If we peak back at the 4^th Sunday of Lent 

we will remember reading the long story of the Man Born Blind 

It takes up all of chapter 9

And it is followed by today’s Gospel

A section of the Good Shepherd discourse.

The discourse…or the teaching

Helps us NOT to stay focused on the sign…not matter how BIG it is!

Rather…the discourse invites us to look and see BEYOND the sign.

We are invited to ask 

What now? What next? So what?

So, we need to make a quick visit back to the story of the Man Born Blind

It is essentially a story of a man coming to life

Coming to Abundant life

Jesus and his disciples are walking

And they see this blind man begging

And they ask the master “was it his sin or the sin of his parents?”

And Jesus answers “neither…it is so that the Glory of God might be revealed…”

Jesus makes some paste out of mud 

He puts it on the man’s eyes

And commands him to go wash in the pool of Siloam

So he does.
Then there is a scene of astonishment!

All the people around him are astonished!

And they ask, What just happened here???

And the newly sighted man says

“Well it was this man, you know, the one called Jesus…he made this paste, put it on my eyes, told me to wash and, well, there you have it…now I see”

The next part is like a hearing

It has the air of a legal proceeding

The Pharisees are interrogating the healed man AND his parents

(At the time the penalty for confessing Jesus was being thrown out of the synagogue)

Slowly as the interrogation moves along
the man gains courage

And begins to wonder why the Pharisees can’t see!

After the Man has been expelled from the synagogue
Jesus enters the story again

he seeks the newly sighted man out and invites him

Jesus welcomes him into the community of the disciples.

The Pharisees are supposed to be shepherds!!!

Symbolic shepherds --- The Shepherds of Israel! 

They are supposed to CARE, PROTECT, NOURISH the flock

But as the story unfolds, we witness how they REFUSE, CONDEMN, and EXPEL

---and then the discourse follows---

The Good Shepherd discourse

The discourse reveals who the true shepherd is.

And where he leads.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd

Jesus is the Gate---or the Door

Today’s image…Jesus as the door… really speaks to me

Especially now in our current state of isolation

I tried to Imagine…or recall…when I last had a visitor

When was the last time the doorbell rang

When was the last time I heard a gentle knock

Imagine it

You have been eager to see your guest…your friend

Your reach for the door handle

And you open the door.

I long for this chain of events

I can’t wait to turn the knob and open the door 

And INVITE and WELCOME and HUG!

Come, Come inside! Let me take your coat or your umbrella!

Let me get you something to drink

Or something to nibble on

Come in---Let’s visit for a while!

Jesus fills the role abandoned by the Pharisees

He will NOT EXPEL, CONDEMN, or REFUSE

He will CARE, PROTECT, and NOURISH

He will INVITE and WELCOME

In today’s Gospel

Jesus calls us all by name

Baptism…I think of it as the sacrament of being called by name

Called by name
welcomed and invited

To ABUNDANT LIFE!

And what is this abundant life?

It is a life free from shame,

Free from resentment

Free from isolation

Full of promise

Full of right relationship

Full of fellowship 

But it isn’t magic

Because aren’t we all, at times, like the Pharisees
I know I am.
It happens when my impulse to 

PROTECT, GUARD, maybe HOARD gets tweaked

And I want to hold tight to whatever little bit of power I think I have

It creeps up on me

Especially when the atmosphere surrounding me is charged with fear.

After sitting with today’s texts, I thought

There it is!

Right there in Psalm 23

The antidote for when the creeping is gaining momentum

…a simple prayer mantra!

Shepherd me O God

Beyond my wants

Beyond my fears

From death into life

The first reading from Acts (2:42-47)*  reminds us 

It is not magic but devotion

Devotion to the teaching and the fellowship 

and to the breaking of the bread and prayer.

This devotion continually remakes us

It is also like a door
as we go through again and again

We are remade into the Body of Christ

That is what the Incarnation means

God took on flesh 

That we might become his flesh for the life of the World

St Teresa of Avila puts it this way:

Christ has no body now but yours.
No hands, no feet on earth but yours.

Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. 

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good.

Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world.

Yours are the hands

Yours are the feet

Yours are the eyes

You are his body

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

But…for me

At times

that sounds so overwhelming!

Sometimes, I need someone else to be the hands, and feet and body

But that is the mystery of 

Abundant Life

Is never about ONE

We aren’t the whole body…we are parts…we are members

Vital parts

Vital members

The mystery of Abundant Life

Is that it is a life of giving and receiving

giving and receiving

giving and receiving is the lifeblood

that keeps us in right relationship

with God 

with our families

and with our neighbors

As I do this weird video Morning Prayer

I can feel it

I have the Church directory taped up on the wall

So…I can see your faces 

And I feel the giving and receiving

And I know that together we are…right now…sharing in Abundant Life!

Shepherd Us O God!

*On this Sunday the first reading in the RCL differs from that in the Catholic lectionary