Who do we think we are?

Sermon for 9 August 2009

By Anne Crawford

Who Do We Think We Are?

 

 

In our Gospel reading today Jesus is back in Nazareth, the town where he grew up.  Not everyone is thrilled to see him.  Imagine if you will, a group of elderly men sitting around a table in the market square.  They’re having their morning coffee and smoking the hookah pipe.  Let’s drop in on the conversation.

           

Who does he think he is?

 

Yes, who indeed, stirring up the locals and getting quite a following too.

Dangerous if you ask me.

Yes, next thing you know there’ll be trouble for all of us.

We don’t need his type around here – going off to the desert to study and coming back with weird ideas. 

Dangerous if you ask me.

Joseph’s eldest isn’t he?

Yes, born in Bethlehem – strange stories around that at the time.  

Fancy coming back after all these years and telling everyone he’s the Bread of Life and the Son of God.

Don’t understand any of it but it sounds dangerous if you ask me.

We need to get him out of town or else it’s more trouble from the Romans.

 

Not much of a welcome home!  So what is really happening here?

 

Well, first of all, Jesus was a threat to the stability of the region as were many other itinerant preachers such as his cousin, John the Baptist.

These were volatile times with the Romans thinking nothing of putting hundreds of people to death by crucifixion.  It didn’t take much provocation to suffer that fate.

The subjugated Jewish population was scared. They knew that the least trouble they caused the better.  None of the local leaders wished to be associated with a trouble maker.

 

If we think of those occupied countries in Europe during the Second World War and the tensions, we might well be sympathetic with those who were critical of Jesus. 

His teachings were radical and were likely to cause trouble for the local population.

The leaders of the synagogue were well aware of the dangers from a political point of view.

 

Yet I sense that the deeper threat was that to the religious status quo.  Jesus was presenting new ways of living the Jewish faith.   New ways of interpreting the laws and thereby of managing the social fabric tied to them.

He was not asking for the law to be abandoned – far from it.  He upheld the law but he was pushing for reform both in thought and in action. 

He believed that women should be treated as beloved children of God rather than as chattels and that those at the bottom of the social ladder had as much right to be healed in body mind and spirit as anyone else.  Jesus wanted more emphasis put on social justice and teach people the practical ways of how to truly love their neighbours.

 

He healed on the Sabbath.  He broke the law.

He touched lepers physically to facilitate healing.  More law breaking.

These were radical actions intended to show that there was another way of interpreting the law that God had given to their ancestor Moses.

 

When he wasn’t healing, Jesus was teaching a new way of thinking about the Torah, and the prophets, and about whom God was and what God was doing in the world. 

This was revolutionary talk.  This was teaching that could lead to change and it was a change that not all were willing to embrace. 

Yes, there was resistance.

 

We don’t have to look far to see similar resistance to change in our world today.  Women in many countries still treated as chattel, child brides, honor killings, ignorance surrounding birth control and HIV/Aids.

And lest we become too smug, what about our own resistance to Ecumenicalism or to an inclusive church which treats all its members equally?  What about our resistance to the effort it takes each one of us to lower our daily carbon footprint.

 

 

Who does he think he is?

 

We take our imaginations back to Italy in the early 17^th  century and observe a group of elderly men sitting around a table in the Vatican discussing the eminent physicist and astronomer, Galileo.

Galileo is possibly the person most responsible for the birth of modern science.  Yet the church in his day condemned his ideas as ‘false and contrary to Scripture.’  He was tried by the Inquisition and spent the last ten years of his life under house arrest. 

 

Who does he think he is?

 

Charles Darwin went to Cambridge to study theology in order to become a vicar in the Church of England. He became enraptured by the history of natural selection and is today considered the father of modern evolutionary theory.  He delayed publishing his work because of a possible conflict with the teachings of that Church.  He fears were realized when the Bishop of Oxford held a public debate denouncing his findings as contrary to the Biblical account of creation.

 

There have been many throughout history who have questioned the status quo of inequality, cruelty, slavery and human rights and who have acted to make the world a better place for humankind, living creatures and even for the planet itself.

These are the people who heard the new teachings of Jesus throughout the ages, and who responded by listening to the inner voice of the Spirit and by being courageous enough to follow the message they received.

 

Take a moment to think of some of them:

 

Oscar Romero, Dorothy Day, Nelson Mandela, William Wilberforce, Charles Dickens, Martin Luther, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Saint Francis, Hildegard of Bingen, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  The list goes on.

 

The Nazarenes in our Gospel reading today had understood Jesus in an entirely literal way.  They professed to know who he was because they knew his parents.  But Jesus had spoken to them in metaphors.  He was telling them as he is telling us, that through him we can know God and we can receive that peace which the regular bread of this world cannot give.  When we are fed with the living bread of Jesus, we are able to rethink our old ways and begin to walk the way of him who guides us.

The way of Jesus is the way of truth and compassion.  It is the way of justice and shalom.  It is the way of kindness and it is the way of love.

 

Who do we think we are?

 

Do we welcome new ideas that allow us to rethink our thoughts and renew our commitments, or are we content to stick with the old routines?

Do we complain amongst one another about changes or do we encourage those who are willing to try a different way – a new way in which to open our hearts and minds to the love of God which surrounds us all each and every day. 

 

 

Let us pray:

 

Loving God

We know you in the breaking of the bread.

Open our hearts and minds to the endless possibilities

Of the New Way of seeing, believing, and doing

In Jesus’ Name we pray

Amen.

 

 

August 9. 2009

Christian Unity

SERMON for 2 August 2009

Ephesians 4: 1-16

By Sharyn Hall

This past Wednesday, we received an e-mail in the church office from a young woman who was inquiring about getting married at St. Luke’s. She has no connection to this parish, but she wants to be married in our area to be closer to her family. Presently, she and her fiancé are taking marriage classes with a Baptist Pastor, and they would like him to perform the wedding in St. Luke’s. I responded to her e-mail with a polite explanation that St. Luke’s is an Anglican church, and we only have Anglican weddings here. Since they were Baptist, perhaps she should inquire at the local Baptist parish.

Her reply was startling and somewhat offensive, and yet it made me think. She said that they are not Baptists; they are Christians and she didn’t realize that the Anglican Church was exempt from I Corinthians 1: 10-17. In this scripture passage, St. Paul urges the Christian Corinthians to be unified in the same mind, and not to be divided into quarrelling factions according to allegiance to Paul or Appollos or Cephas instead of to Christ. I think her point was that all Christians should be the same, so the Anglican Church had no right to set itself apart from other Christians. To emphasize this point, she also quoted the gospel passage we read a few weeks ago, in which Jesus tells his disciples to kick the dust off their feet, if they are not made welcome.

As much as I found her comments condescending, she drew attention to an ingrained problem of the Christian Church. We are all Christians because we believe in Jesus Christ as our Saviour and our Way to a closer relationship with God, but we seem to disagree on everything else. We argue about scripture, doctrines, theology, morality, liturgy and leadership. The Christian Church in the 21^st century is much the same as the Christian communities of the first century.

In our reading today from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he is trying to persuade the Christians in Ephesus to be unified in Christ. They may be diversified in their gifts and talents, but together they form the body of Christ. St. Paul returned to the theme of unity in Christ many times in letters to various Christian communities. It did not take long for the Christian groups in certain centres to form their own identities and fragment the Christian movement.

Over the centuries, history records the great schisms of Christianity, the separation of the Roman and Orthodox Churches, and the Reformation led by Martin Luther and John Calvin. The creation of the Church of England was another schism in the Christian Church, which was further fragmented by John Knox to form the Presbyterians, and later by John Wesley to form the Methodists. In the Anglican tradition, we have had internal groups which disagree: the Evangelical Anglicans who emphasize scripture and preaching, the Anglo-Catholic Anglicans who emphasize sacrament and ceremony, and many Anglicans whose theology and liturgy are on a continuum between the two poles of thought. In the past few years, our world-wide Anglican Communion has been preoccupied with disagreement over specific issues, but underlying tensions within Anglicanism have been present for generations. Will there be a schism in the global Anglican Communion? Time will tell; but if there is a division, it will not be the end of Anglicanism, nor will it be unusual in the Christian Church.

As Christians we cannot criticize other religions for disobeying God’s commandment to love your neighbours, when our own Christian history reveals numerous examples of Christians being cruel to Christians; and yet in recent years, Christians have reached out for greater understanding and appreciation of our diverse traditions. Christians have worked together to benefit the well-being of people, not only of differing denominations, but also of other faiths. As someone who believes in ecumenical dialogue, and works on behalf of this diocese with Lutherans and Roman Catholics to maintain such dialogue, I can be both encouraged and discouraged as we seem to take steps forward and steps backward in our struggles for Christian unity.

However, what I have learned is that Christian unity does not mean uniformity, and I cannot help but wonder if God intended that diversity should exist in religion as it does in every other aspect of human life. The problem has been our human tendency toward arrogance, prejudice and insecurity, all of which can lead to hatred, cruelty and violence. The prospects for Christian unity are good as long as we do not expect uniformity in a global world of diversity. The prospects for Christian unity also are good if we return again to the life and witness of God’s love in Jesus. Jesus recognized the diversity in the people around him. He respected that diversity, and then he tried to teach people to have respect and compassion for each other.

St. Paul is a prime example of the model Jesus set before us. St. Paul rejected God’s commandment to love your neighbour. He violently persecuted any Jew who accepted the teaching of Jesus, and who believed that Jesus was the Messiah sent by God. St Paul was arrogant, prejudiced and cruel, but Jesus dramatically challenged Paul to see that his way was not God’s way. From Paul’s writing, we get a glimpse of a stubborn, single-minded apostle, who has little patience with those who foster discord within the small Christian communities. St. Paul was struggling for uniformity of Christian beliefs and behaviour, and already the struggle was proving difficult.

There is no single answer to the centuries-old challenge of Christian unity, but St. Paul gives us clues in today’s letter to the Ephesians: we need humility, gentleness and patience; we need to bear with one another in love, and we need to make every effort to maintain the unity of Spirit in the bond of peace.  Amen.

Which Kingdom

Sermon for 26 July 2009

2 Samuel 11: 1-15

John 6: 1-21

By Sharyn Hall

The story of David and Bathsheba is a sordid story in the life of a great king. David is revered in the Hebrew scriptures as the greatest King of Israel, and yet one wonders why the scriptures include this story of his adultery with Bathsheba, and his treacherous killing of her husband, Uriah. Perhaps it was necessary to explain how Bathsheba became the wife of David, and the mother of Solomon.

Over the centuries, there have been many attempts to save David’s tarnished reputation. Sometimes Bathsheba has been portrayed as a seductress, who contrived her meeting with David. Other interpretations claim that David rescued Bathsheba from an abusive husband. In the 1985 film, entitled  ‘King David’, Uriah is portrayed as a brute.  Other versions transform this episode in David’s life into a love story. The movie, ‘David and Bathsheba’, starring Gregory Peck and Susan Hayward, portrays their love as redeeming their unlawful relationship.

In many ways, people have wanted to somehow excuse David’s behaviour, but it is more important to face the reality of David’s vulnerability to power. As king, David believed that he could have anything he desired by any means necessary. His desire to have Bathsheba seemed more for possession than for love. His greater sin was his belief that he had the right to exploit people for his own ends. The story of David and Bathsheba is less about morality, and more about the seduction of power.

The desire for power is a very human weakness. We see that desire in many forms in our present time. Sadly it is such stories, which make headlines and grab the attention of the media. Stories of sexual exploitation by people in positions of power are numerous. Economic scandals are caused by people, who believe they have the power to exploit the trust of others. Brutal dictators, who use violence and treachery to stay in power, exist in the world today.

The temptation of power is almost irresistible. Power can be dangerous in any situation where people are subject to the authority of someone else. We are all susceptible to the temptations of power, and those temptations can be subtle or obvious. The abuse of power, authority or influence can exist in any relationship. It is something we need to recognize in ourselves, and to guard against in our society.

One way to open our eyes is to see how Jesus handled the temptations to power placed before him.  In our gospel today, we read again the familiar story of Jesus creating the miracle of feeding five thousand people with five loaves of barley bread and two fish. Everyone in the crowd is amazed. Their reaction is to try to make him king. “When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.”

Jesus did not want power. He did not want to be another King David. His power was of a very different kind for a very different purpose. Often in the scriptures, we read that the Hebrew people who followed him, wanted Jesus to be king, a great warrior like David, a kingly Messiah, who would be God’s Champion to raise up the nation of Israel, but Jesus was not that kind of Messiah. To the Hebrew people, a king had unlimited power, a man beyond question, even if he was ruthless. A good king was a combination of warrior and shepherd. He would defend the people, and vanquish the enemy with courage and military skill. He also would care for the people as a shepherd, giving them security and prosperity.

David, in their eyes, was a good king, regardless of his human failings. Their image of a king was someone who had the power to raise them up out of their oppressive life. Jesus was like a shepherd because he cared for the flock of people who followed him. He gave them an abundance of food in a miraculous way. Jesus did not look like a warrior, but he had some kind of amazing power. The shepherd boy David did not look like a king, but he became a king of greatness. Perhaps the people believed that Jesus would become an even greater king.

Jesus was greater than David, but the people could not comprehend his greatness. If he was a king, his kingdom was not of land and seas, or nations and armies. His kingdom belonged to God. “Are you a king?” Pilate asked Jesus. “My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus replied. However, the image of Jesus as a king has stayed with generations of disciples and Christian followers. Some of our most popular hymns call Jesus a king: “All glory, laud and honour to thee, Redeemer King”, “At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, every tongue confess him King of glory now”, The King of Love my Shepherd is”, “King of Love, O Christ, we crown you.” In this last hymn, Jesus is called the King of love, the King of life, the King of mercy, the King triumphant, the King victorious. Can Jesus be a victorious king and the king of love at the same time?

According to our gospel today, Jesus did not want to be a king. Jesus called himself a shepherd for the lost sheep of Israel, but he resisted any notion that he had the power of military might. The Hebrew people wanted a warrior, a shepherd and a royal king rolled into one Messiah. That image did not suit Jesus then, and it does not suit Jesus today. It may be that we too want a multi-purpose Jesus to defeat our enemies, to bring us prosperity, and to elevate us into a royal people. Like the Hebrew people, we too have several demands of what Jesus can do for us, but Jesus had only two commandments for us: to love God and to love others. It is easy to set aside his commandments in favour of our own desires, but it is his commandments, which will bring us peace and the promise of God’s kingdom.  Amen.

Proper 15 B - A not nice Gospel

Mark 6: 14-29

St. Luke’s, Burlington

12 July 2009

By Stuart Pike

Every once in a while, the Revised Common Lectionary gives us a Gospel reading which might not naturally be my first choice.  Sometimes the readings don’t seem to fit the context of the particular Sunday. The preacher might be tempted to preach on one of the other readings for the Sunday, or simply pick another “nicer” Gospel reading. We know that the word, Gospel means “Good News” and we think that this means a nice story.

And so this Sunday in July, just when the weather is getting beautiful, the kids are out of school and people are getting into relaxation mode for the Summer, we are brought up short with this incredibly brutal and sordid story of the execution of John the Baptist. It’s not a “nice” story.

The story reaches inside and yanks us out of our Summer reverie and makes us sit up and listen! And then the reader says “The Gospel of Christ” that is the “Good News” of Christ. And we all respond, “Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!” What could possibly be thought of as good in this story? And why are we praising Jesus in response to this story?

This is the sad ending of John the Baptist, a cousin to Jesus himself and considered to be a great prophet among the Jews. Another interesting fact about this story is that it is the only Gospel story we have which is also recorded in the secular history of the age, written by an important Jewish historian who became the historian and advisor to three Roman Emperors. His name was Josephus. 

Josephus appears to have been a man who greatly admired John the Baptist. Perhaps this is because Josephus, as a young man spent three years – between the ages of 16 and 19 living the life of a desert hermit, much like the Essene community did in Qumran.

There are also many scholars who believe that John the Baptist might have been a member of this Desert Essene sect before he began his prophetic ministry and baptized the Jews who came out in droves to the Jordan river in order to ceremonially wash away their sins as they turned their lives around to align them with God’s way.

But John the Baptist didn’t just baptize people – he was also a great prophet. He didn’t mince words and he wasn’t afraid to even take on the powerful. John was a truth-teller. Perhaps you know the type. They are the ones who tell the truth no matter the risk. Many of the martyrs were like this. Most people just want to keep the peace. We don’t want to offend or upset the balance. It’s so much safer to keep silence. Often it seems “nicer.”

The martyrs, like John the Baptist and Jesus himself had the courage to tell the truth – even though they had to give their lives for it. The stories of the martyrs have continued down the ages even to our own time. From Stephen, the first Christian martyr all the way to Martin Luther King, the champion for racial equality in the United States and to Bishop Oscar Romeo, the voice of the voiceless poor of El Salvador.

And just like this story seems so out of place on a beautiful mid-summer day, so does the violence which continues to overtake the lives of people to this day. This violence doesn’t take a vacation. The story of great evil continues in the Sudan, in the Congo, in Afghanistan and in so much more of the world.

And closer to home, violence in our own cities, in our schools, and sometimes, within families continue today. You cannot open and newspaper or turn on the local news without finding out about some story of violence and tragedy.

What could our role be as Christians?

The most obvious thing which connects John the Baptist with our Lord, Jesus and with each one of us is the sacrament of baptism.

Baptism is a choice to follow in God’s way even when it isn’t popular. When Jesus accepted his baptism by John at the Jordan River he was accepting his own ministry which would lead to his death. He went down under the waters of baptism – it was a kind of death. He was dying to simply following his own will, and instead following his Father’s will.

Our baptism is about that too. It is a kind of death. It is realized in our lives as we live out God’s will for us. Our lives most essentially are not just about us. We have a purpose that is bigger than our own egos and selfish desires. When we understand that we come to realize that we are worth so much more. People are worth so much more than meets the eye.

Taking our baptism seriously means that we will find the courage we need to be a truth-teller, and to stand against that which opposes God’s love.

Two of the important promises which we make in our baptismal covenant are: to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbour as ourselves; and to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.

This was the way that John lived his life, and it was the way that Jesus embodied God’s love on earth. These baptismal promises are what transform our lives with purpose. It means dying to self, and living for God and it will fill our lives with meaning.

Yes, we go down with John and with Jesus under the waters of baptism. And we die to our selves. But, of all miracles, we burst back up out of the waters to a new life, raised with our Lord. This new life in Christ – it’s what we’re for.

Today we didn’t get a nice little Gospel story. We got a story about violence and courage and about death. But it’s also about life. Amen.

Proper 14 B - The Prophet's Honour

SERMON for 5 July 2009

Mark 6: 1-13

by Sharyn Hall

Today’s gospel reading is surprising and problematic. The first part of the reading, which describes how Jesus was rejected in his hometown of Nazareth, may at first surprise us; but on the other hand, we can understand how people are quick to be resentful when someone seems to place himself or herself above family and friends. Afterall, the people of Nazareth grew up with Jesus. They were ordinary folk, tradesmen and fishermen, not scribes and Pharisees. Why should Jesus be favoured by God and preach to everyone in the town? We can imagine the thoughts going through the minds of the townsfolk.

What is a little surprising is that Jesus seems surprised. Perhaps he thought that people who knew him from childhood would be pleased to have a prophet among them.            In this incident, he learned another aspect of human nature and it dismayed him. Sadly, their attitude dismayed him to the point where he could do little for them. He cured a few who came to him, but he had little power to help many. This incident re-enforces what Jesus had said to others who came to him for help and healing. ‘Your faith has made you whole.’ The faith of an individual, and in some cases, the faith of people who pleaded on behalf of someone else, enabled Jesus to call on God’s healing power. This is an important reminder to us that our healing FROM God is also dependent on our faith IN God.

This does not mean that God will always answer our prayers as we wish. Healing is not only a matter of physical health. Healing is about well-being of spirit and mind and body. Each Sunday we pray for God’s healing for people who are ill, or grieving, or fearful or in any kind of distress. They ask for our prayers because they believe in God’s power to heal and to comfort them. We pray for them and for ourselves because we have faith in God’s compassion for all people, but we are human like the people of Nazareth. Sometimes we are not willing to listen to Christ’s message of healing and wholeness if the message requires repentance and change.

After his experience in Nazareth, Jesus was more aware of the problems his disciples might encounter as he sent them out to preach and to heal in his name. People claiming to possess healing powers were common at that time. Many men and women claimed to cure illness and to cast out demons. Would people believe that his disciples were preaching his message of repentance, and healing the sick and the lame in his name? People may not believe that ordinary folk like fishermen could have miraculous powers. This may be why Jesus gave specific instructions to his disciples. Without money or extra clothing, the disciples would appear to be missionaries devoted to the work of Jesus, and in this way seem more trustworthy than someone who had a comfortable living.

Does this fit with our idea of mission work today? Do we react more willingly to people who come to us with the message of Jesus if they have few possessions and are in need of our generosity? Or do we react with suspicion of their motives? On the other hand, would we be more willing to listen to someone who is well-dressed and has credentials from a large organization? There are many kinds of people in our world today preaching the message of Jesus, and claiming to heal people in the name of Jesus. There are people who give up a comfortable way of life so that they can bring God’s love to poor and destitute people in many areas of the world. Also there are preachers who have accumulated considerable wealth for themselves and for their huge organizations.

In today’s world, what does it mean to follow the example of the disciples in our gospel story? How many of us can give up all we have, take no provisions, and go out into a hostile place to live the mission of Jesus? Taking no provisions seems foolish. Giving away all we have seems irresponsible. However, amassing a large organization of financial resources for property, assets and sophisticated communication networks does not fit the image of what Jesus had in mind for his disciples.

Fortunately there are many ways in which we can be disciples of the mission of Jesus within our own means, in our neighbourhood and in our global village. Our means of living the mission of Jesus is hampered only by our lack of will. A disciple of Jesus does not need money or possessions or even the proper clothes. The only real asset on the mission of Jesus is a companion, at least one other person who shares our belief in Jesus and our faith in God. The only real asset of Christ’s universal church is the people who have faith in God’s universal love, and have the desire to make the peaceful mission of Jesus a reality. In today’s multi-cultural, multi-faith world, that mission can be challenging and discouraging. Even Jesus was discouraged at times, particularly when he preached to people who knew him but would not listen, like the people of Nazareth. Jesus did not give up. He went to the next town, to the next challenge, and to the next opportunity to bring God’s healing and hope to any one who would believe in him and in the power of God’s faithful love.

May God strengthen our resolve to carry the mission of Jesus into our time and wherever God is calling us to go.   Amen.