Tuesday, August 27, 2019

The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 16, 25 August 2019

Preaching at All Saint’s Church, San Francisco
The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 16
25 August 2019



“True Worship”


Jeremiah 1:4-10
Isaiah 58:9b-14
Psalm 71 and 103
Hebrews 12:18-29
St. Luke 13:10-17

INI

First Reading:

As I looked at the readings for this Sunday, and thought of All Saints’ Church in its current situation, looking into the future, asking the Spirit to lead it into mission in this part of the city, and looking for that individual who will serve as mentor and guide, I was drawn to address the whole idea of “true worship.” The idea is addressed in some manner in each of the readings for today. I couldn’t remember whether or not you use Track One or Track Two from the lectionary, so I will use the resources of both readings in forming my remarks this morning. 

In Track One, the reading is the Call of Jeremiah in the first chapter of his book. We become aware of his work as a priest in the tradition of Anathoth, and then of his call to be prophet – a messenger to his present time of the Word of the Lord. Jeremiah objects to the call. He says he is too young, not given to good speech, too fearful. God thinks otherwise, however, allowing that God has known Jeremiah from the womb. He touches Jeremiah’s mouth and says, “Now I have put my words in your mouth.”

The Track Two first reading is from Third Isaiah, in which he contrasts the behaviors and actions of the wicked and the righteous. God puts up a series of “If, then” statements to challenge the righteous. “If you remove the yoke from among you. If you offer your food to the hungry, then your light shall rise in the darkness. This is the typical message of the prophets – the honoring and caring for the widow and the orphan, the lifting up of the oppressed. Even though this is addressed to those returning from exile, in difficult circumstances themselves, the prophet none-the-less enjoins them in this work of charity. True worship is, after all, formed of the love we have for God with all our heart, soul and mind, and the love we have for our neighbor that equals the love we have for ourselves. 

So from these two readings we understand our obligations on this holy day – to speak God’s word no matter how difficult that word might be, and to serve both God and neighbor. Third Isaiah contributes a second set of “If, then” statements that deal specifically with the Sabbath Day and worship. “If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight,…if you honor it; then you shall take delight in the Lord. Delight in the Lord! What an expectation for us as we come to do our worship and make our prayers. Delight in the Lord, and concern for our neighbor, so Jeremiah and Third Isaiah would have us think and act.

Second Reading

The author of Hebrews has a different set of comparisons. Here we scenes of the holy mountain Sinai, and of the holy wilderness in which Israel wandered for forty years. In this reading, the author addresses us as pilgrims. “You have come not to something that can be touched,” and then lists ineffable things that speak of mystery – blazing fire, darkness, gloom, a tempest, the sound of a trumpet, and a voice of power and awe. This places us at Sinai and awaiting the giving of the Law, the announcement of God’s intentions for us. Is that where we worship, or is that where we wait to worship? 

Later in the passage, the author sees pilgrims coming to another destination. “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Don’t you find it fascinating that when people are asked about the places that inspire worship, they usually refer to something in nature – a lake, an ocean, a mountain, a forest. This, however, is different. We are bound to come to the city. In our day and age, the city is often thought of as a place of sin and the absence of God, and yet that is the symbol of God’s presence. Perhaps, going back to the prophetic message about God and neighbor, we realize that the city is the place in which we see most clearly the need of our neighbor, that our true worship can begin here as we aid and care for our neighbor. That is why we worship in assembly – that we gather on a frequent basis around the table and the water and become a community – a city of righteousness.

The Holy Gospel

This image is seen with a great deal of clarity in the Gospel for this morning. Here we meet a woman who has been burdened with illness for eighteen years. She meets Jesus on a significant day, a time in which his actions over against her redefine what it means to worship on the Sabbath Day. I can remember a time, when I lived in Massachusetts, where stores either would not open on Sunday, or would cover up all manner of goods that could not be sold on the Sabbath Day. Or I remember the elevator in the King’s Hotel in Jerusalem which went up and down all day long – stopping at each floor, so that one did not have to push a button to indicate which floor was your destination. 

Jesus cuts through all this to enable us to see human need. It is here that we need to recall the deep connection between worship and human need. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, just as you love your neighbor as you love yourself.” It is all bound together in a package that defines and refines our sense of worship. Here, as in the other readings, there is also a contrast. Luke contrasts the disbelief and offense taken by the synagogue leaders with the rejoicing of the people who witnessed the same actions. “And the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing. They worshipped – and their worship was not only praise but thanksgiving as well.

Worship is freedom. The woman was freed from her satanic burden or pain and disease. Likewise, we are freed from whatever it is the binds us to unhappiness and distress. That is why confession is so important. It is liberation, and perhaps its words of forgiveness pass us by too quickly. Here is what ought to make us sit up and rejoice if we have in the silence that preceded our confession deeply thought about what separates us from both God and neighbor. It is this pronouncement that out to bring both joy and freedom. “Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life.” With these words the rest of the Mass becomes a prayer of thanksgiving – a Eucharist.

Where are you going as a parish? Where are you going as a People of God? Where will you want your new Rector to take you? How will you be pilgrims? What will you true worship be like as you wait for new leadership, and then when you are given it? I hope these words will help you in your prayers as you await that time.

SDG

The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 15, 18 August 2019

Preaching at Saint Mark's Berkeley
The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 15


“Perception”


Jeremiah 23:23-29
Psalm 82
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
St. Luke 12:49-56

INI

What a struggle it was this weekend. I jumped at the opportunity when Fr. Blake offered the possibility of preaching to you this Sunday. Whenever there is a baptism I become stirred up. Baptisms are a time for both remembrance and anticipation – a time for rejoicing and a time for thought. When I decided to accept the offer to preach to you, I immediately went and looked at the Lectionary for this morning anticipating a point in at least one of the readings that would accompany us through the Baptismal Rite and into the life of all who would surround Laurence in his life with Jessica, Bryan, and the whole people of God. And when I looked there there didn’t seem to be anything. Jeremiah decries his fellow prophets who don’t speak the truth. The psalm decries the unjust actions of those who lead. The reading from Hebrews decries how those who have brought the word have been badly treated, and finally in the Gospel Jesus describes how difficult it is for us to decide to abide in the Kingdom. Happy Baptismal Day, Laurence. Yet, the Word is the Word, and here are my gleanings. Let me address several groups.

To Bryan, Jessica, and the Sponsors - God is ubiquitous and yet we must find God.

Jeremiah is upset with his fellow practitioners. They seek God, and seek to communicate God’s word and yet they have failed. His words to them are: “Let the (prophet) who has my word speak my word faithfully.” You are the prophets for this young man. In his search for God, and in your own continuing search for God, your search will become meat for him, the milk of promise, and the fruit of salvation. That is why we will give him a candle at the end of the Rite. It will serve as a reminder to him, and it will serve as a reminder to you as well. Light it on his baptismal birthday so that both he and you can remember this day and these actions. But remember that you, his sponsors and his parents are that light as well. 

There is a wonderful passage in the Track One psalm for this morning. It speaks about God and God’s actions, but it hopes, I think, to speak of us as well, of you as well. “Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock (or in your case, leading Laurence like a flock) shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim. Yes, indeed, that is my word to you, Jessica, Bryan, the sponsor, indeed to all of us – shine forth! For it is we who will be witnesses to those who come to the Font.

To all of you here this morning - God is known to us in the great cloud of witnesses.

On Fridays, when I come here to celebrate the Holy Eucharist with you, Todd so kindly puts out my chalice, but on occasion I use the pewter chalice that has always appeared in the chapel. When I look down at the paten, I see her name, Dorothea Lange. I think that is what it is. I look at her name, and although I didn’t know her, I try to remember her as a saint. I recommend a tour to you. Walk around our building and notice all the names that appear on our chancel steps, windows, walls, and sacred vessels. The author to the Hebrews reminds us, “we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” 

Those names represent to us all the women and men who were our prophets, our guides to the faith, pointing out to us the ubiquity of God, and how to find God. At baptisms, we need to give thanks for these voices and hands that accompanied us from the font and brought us out into life. I’m lucky. I have the vessel I was baptized in. I was a breach baby, and there was the real possibility that I wasn’t going to survive and so my father used a glass bowl as the font of my baptism. It’s an ordinary glass bowl – Arthur once saw it and asked if we could serve a fruit salad in it. I blanched. I had used it for my daughter’s baptism – it seemed set aside for holy purposes.

What are the things, the places, the people and the voices that connect you with your baptism? How will you be there to connect Laurence to his. We are all witnesses on this day but will continue to be witnesses every day. The ordinariness of our life will be a witness to him of our faith – of what we believe and trust in. It will make us stand out.

To the Church and to the Nation - God is a deciding point in life, requiring discernment.

Jesus doesn’t mince words in what he has to say in today’s Gospel. 

“Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:

father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

These are difficult words on this joyful and gentle day. They do, however, get at the heart of the matter. We tend to think of baptismal days in a sentimental manner – gentle things: water, burning candles, healing oil. But they are dangerous as well. Water can drown, fire can burn, oil can sear. Baptism is a dangerous thing. It separates you from your fellows. It says something about your journey in life, your search for God, your concern for your fellow humanity. Jesus knew this about the kingdom that he was announcing. Some would refuse to see and perceive it and to accept entrance into it. Families would be divided over calling him Lord and Savior.

What we have answered for Laurence will set him apart as well, and all us, set apart in our own baptisms, must be ready for this difficult task. In the psalm for this morning, God renders judgment on his fellow gods.

"How long will you judge unjustly, *
and show favor to the wicked?
 Save the weak and the orphan; *
defend the humble and needy;
Rescue the weak and the poor; *
deliver them from the power of the wicked.

There are consequences in making this decision that baptism asks. There are responsibilities that roll over us as we are submerged in the waters. Old behaviors of forgetfulness and indifference to both God and other need to be washed away and we need to separate ourselves from them. When we answer the questions in the Baptismal Liturgy, we need to answer them mindful that we are witnesses not only of Laurence’s baptism, but that we are witnesses of the Gospel to both nation, world, and, would you believe it, to the church as well, as it forgets its way.

Will you proclaim by word and example the GoodNews of God in Christ? Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, lovingyour neighbor as yourself? Will you strive for justice and peace among allpeople, and respect the dignity of every humanbeing?

Important questions, and even more important answers on our part. So, let’s do the deed, baptize this child, and then let us go out into the world serving as witnesses of God’s goodness.


SDG