September 7, 2007
Our reading from Colossians this morning is more hymn than theological statement. From its tremendous phrases we learn the glory of the cosmic Christ, the Lord who is Lord of all, the first and the last. And yet this is the same Jesus our first comrades in the faith knew as a fellow human, walking the dusty paths of Galilee, bringing the message of the coming Kingdom of God to the people of Israel. The Christ of faith and the Jesus of history – the same person – and so compelling, for humankind ever since. For example,…
From the website of the Nobel Foundation we learn that: "Albert Schweitzer (January 14, 1875-September 4, 1965) was born in Alsace... At the University of Strasbourg he obtained a doctorate in philosophy in 1899, and received his licentiate in theology in 1900. He began preaching at St. Nicholas Church in Strasbourg in 1899; he served in various high ranking administrative posts from 1901 to 1912 at the University of Strasbourg. In 1906 he published The Quest of the Historical Jesus, a book on which much of his fame as a theological scholar rests. Schweitzer wrote a biography of Bach in 1905... Having decided to go to Africa as a medical missionary rather than as a pastor, Schweitzer in 1905 began the study of medicine at the University of Strasbourg... In 1913, having obtained his M.D. degree, he founded his hospital at Lambaréné in French Equatorial Africa, [where except for the period from 1917 to 1924 he spent most of the rest of his life].... At Lambaréné, Schweitzer was doctor and surgeon in the hospital, pastor of a congregation, administrator of a village, superintendent of buildings and grounds, writer of scholarly books, commentator on contemporary history, musician, host to countless visitors. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1952. With the $33,000 prize money, he started the leprosarium at Lambaréné....Albert Schweitzer died on September 4, 1965, and was buried at Lambaréné." [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1952/schweitzer-bio.html]
Schweitzer’s work on the historical Jesus summed up the scholarship of the preceding two centuries, well enough indeed that it was not until California’s James Robinson (senior) initiated the new quest in the 1960s that much new ground was broken. Indeed the Westar Institute, sponsor of the Jesus Seminar, having finished its own work on the historical Jesus and looking for new worlds to conquer, followed in Schweitzer’s footsteps by turning to a study of Paul. Of course other people have followed Schweitzer’s footsteps in other ways, notably by serving to relieve poverty, suffering and disease. Even in the 1980 comedy “The Gods Must Be Crazy” a volunteer teacher en route to the bush is asked, “So, are you going to do an Albert Schweitzer in Botswana?”
Carlos Noreña, chair of the philosophy board of studies at UC Santa Cruz, once remarked on what could happen if you took philosophy too seriously. Albert Schweitzer seems to have taken his own scholarship quite seriously. While he continued to write – The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle came out in 1930 – once he had made the move to the mission field his main work, his exegesis in action, if you will, was his service to the poor. This follows quite logically from his conclusion to The Quest of the Historical Jesus:
"He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake-side, He came to those men who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: 'Follow thou me!' and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfil for our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is." [http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/schweitzer/chapter20.html]
Colossians 1:15-20
Psalm 100
Luke 5:33-39
Friday 7 September 2007, Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
What Better Day?
God, the source of our joy, you gladden our hearts as we journey toward the heavenly city. Deepen within us a desire for peace, a longing to see your justice done; that sharing a common purpose, your people may prosper and come to praise you with the songs of Zion, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Larry Dossey, author of “Prayer is Good Medicine”, an advocate of prayer for healing, once said, "If you have appendicitis, you should get an appendectomy." I endorse this advice.
What if more is needed? What if the healing must be of the spirit as well as the flesh? Then, indeed, prayer is good medicine – including our prayers for healing at eucharist - though in some cases, more may be needed: an action to restore wholeness, if like the woman in the gospel, eighteen long years of suffering have separated you from your right place in your community. Back then, any physical infirmity might be attributed to a spiritual cause. People might shy away from you, trying to keep pure and holy for worship. I mean, what if she did something to cause it? If I get too close, will it rub off on me?
Jesus will have none of that. He calls to her and he touches her and heals her -- on the Sabbath.
Following Jesus can be – embarrassing. Here he was in the synagogue, the guest lecturer, center of attention – the result, Judas might have told us, of careful planning – only to break the decorum of the holy day and work, do the work of healing.
Jesus breaks the rules. The Sabbath-day decorum is shattered. Jesus breaks the rules, but he keeps the covenant. He holds true to God’s promise.
The Sabbath is meant to be a sign, a foretaste of Shalom, of God’s reign of peace, of harmony and justice, when all shall be set to rights, and we dwell in the house of the Lord. Where better to experience that setting to rights, and what better day to find peace and wholeness established, than in the Lord’s house on the Sabbath day, the day of peace?
The officious leader of the synagogue, impatient to keep the purity-piety machinery running smoothly, hastens to object: there are six days for work, come then to be healed, and not on the Sabbath. But the rabbi Jesus rebukes him, arguing persuasively from small to great: if you would do so little a thing as unbind an animal to take it to water on the day of rest, how much more on this holy day is it right that a big thing be accomplished in the life of this poor woman, that she, having been bound by suffering for eighteen long years should be released from her misery?
Jesus restores her to her true dignity. As a daughter of Abraham she is an inheritor of the promise, the covenant of God’s faithful people. She is not, to Jesus, “the woman with the crooked back”, but a child of God.
What we have seen is, as preacher Herb O’Driscoll puts it, not just curing but healing. The physical malady is relieved, to be sure, but so is the spiritual distress that weighed down this woman’s soul, rending her unable to stand straight among her neighbors, as if it were a burden of guilt that bent her back. But Jesus – in the middle of his Sabbath teaching – stopped and laying hands on her made her well and whole and welcome as a child of God.
Looking back on our lesson from Isaiah, we see that this is only a foretaste of the coming reign of peace, of Shalom – and a meet and right thing to do on the Sabbath day, revealing as it does that God in Jesus keeps his promise to his people, restoring what was broken to wholeness, and freshening the world and his people with new life in the light of the coming of his kingdom. The examples the prophet gives are very practical: Unbind the captive, feed the hungry, and shelter the homeless.
Elsewhere he says, “Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17)
Isaiah’s vision of the promise fulfilled is tangible and alluring: you shall be like a watered garden. The legacy of the past shall be renewed and foundations for new generations shall be laid. Carrying God’s people forward from generation to generation, we inherit, develop, and pass on a living heritage of the abundance and providence God, who gives them – us – a future with hope.
As Christians we look forward to a heavenly city, a New Jerusalem not made by human hands, at the consummation of time; yet more immediately we have Jesus before us, revealing to us the kingdom of God in the freedom of the present moment. Jesus is present to the woman in the synagogue, restoring her to health and leading her into a new sense of her dignity as Abraham’s daughter – she reacts by glorifying God. Jesus is present to us now on this holy day, inviting us to loosen up a bit from our own bondages by the grace of his sacramental presence in the Eucharist and in Baptism, and to take up our full stature as children of the promise, children of Abraham – along with all who descend from him by means of putting our faith in the promise.
Jesus breaks the rules indeed – but he has brought home to us what the keeping of the law was all about: honoring the covenant with God, that we would be his people, unbinding the captive, healing and serving, and glorifying God.
That is what Sabbath is about: delighting in the Lord. Turning this day of all days from our own efforts and enterprises, amusements and ambitions, to remember that we rely on the providence of God through scarcity and abundance, and giving God the glory for all he is accomplishing according to his purpose: the establishment of peace, harmony and justice in the world he has made.
As Methodist pastor Joy Moore wrote in The Christian Century, “The lifestyle of Christians is to live the hope we speak: the Creator of the universe, the God of Abraham and Sarah, the One who raised Jesus from the dead, is reconciling the world to the original design of justice, righteousness, and peace.”
The other night I watched the 1981 movie “Chariots of Fire”, in which an Olympic athlete refuses to compete on the Sabbath – he believes Sundays are not for sport – and so must skip the race he thought he’d win. A generous teammate steps aside and allows him a chance at “another race, another day”. Before that unexpected race begins, a competitor hands Eric a note: “Mr. Liddell, it says in the old Book, ‘He that honors me, I will honor.’ Good luck – Jackson Scholz.”
It’s a movie – he wins the race. More importantly he has won the struggle within – to turn from his own pleasures to delight in the Lord. You may disagree with his practice – but honor his principle. You may have a different idea of how to keep the Sabbath; the point is to remember God’s providence in all you do, especially on the day of rest. Remember, then, that this day of peace is only a foretaste of God’s kingdom of Shalom – and everything you do today that proclaims that is your own celebration of this holy day.
Recently I received a questionnaire from another parish, which began “Describe your spirituality.” I am tempted to answer in the words of Johnny Cash: “I’m just tryin’ to be a good Christian.” There is much humble, hard-won wisdom in what he said. Being a Christian is my way of being human – and I highly recommend it. Indeed from my first real discovery, in teenage years, of what the gospel could mean, I have sought not only to understand its mysteries more deeply for myself but to share them, and their blessings, with other believers and with people outside the fellowship halls.
Liberation from the bondage of oppression, whether it is personal or corporate in impact, is a troubling message to some, if your old patterns of behavior suited their codependency. Old friends, comfortable with your old self, will resent your new freedom. And yet in Christ we find a new place in society, new relationships with family and friends, and a new home that is a very old home indeed: it is from the source of all being as well as the ultimate point of all life – that is, our dwelling in Christ.
Like the woman unbound from eighteen long years of affliction, I and others have learned in Christ our real dignity as human persons: that we are sons and daughters of Abraham, children of the promise that the peace and rest of the Sabbath are just a foretaste of a world made new that remembers its sustenance comes not from self-made striving but from the Word of God, from Jesus himself, the Alpha and Omega of existence: Christ behind us, Christ before us, Christ above us, Christ below us, Christ within us, the hope of Glory. Amen.
August 26, 2007 9am
Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento
13th Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 16C
Isaiah 58:9b-14
Luke 13:10-17
Sources
Tom Wright, Luke for Everyone (SPCK, 2001)
Herbert O'Driscoll, The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)
Chariots of Fire (Enigma Productions, 1981)
Joy J. Moore, "Living by the Word: Bearing witness", The Christian Century, August 7, 2007, Vol. 124, No. 16, p. 17.
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 16) - Year C [RCL]
Jeremiah 1:4-10 or Isaiah 58:9b-14; Psalm 71:1-6 or 103:1-8; Hebrews 12:18-29; Luke 13:10-17
By Joseph S. Pagano and Amy Richter , August 26, 2007
Episcopal Life Online (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_89268_ENG_HTM.htm)
Barbara Crafton, "An Ancient Joke" and "Learning How-To in Haiti", The Almost Daily eMo, August 24, 2007,
The Geranium Farm (http://www.geraniumfarm.org/dailyemo.cfm?Emo=874)
Richard A. Horsley and Neil Asher Silberman, The Message and the Kingdom: How Jesus and Paul Ignited a Revolution and Transformed the Ancient World (Grosset/Putnam, 1997)
Marcus J. Borg & John Dominic Crossan, The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus' Final Days in Jerusalem (HarperCollins, 2006)
Christopher Irvine, The Pilgrim's Manual (Wild Goose Publications, 1997) p. 27.
Larry Dossey, author of “Prayer is Good Medicine”, an advocate of prayer for healing, once said, "If you have appendicitis, you should get an appendectomy." I endorse this advice.
What if more is needed? What if the healing must be of the spirit as well as the flesh? Then, indeed, prayer is good medicine – including our prayers for healing at eucharist - though in some cases, more may be needed: an action to restore wholeness, if like the woman in the gospel, eighteen long years of suffering have separated you from your right place in your community. Back then, any physical infirmity might be attributed to a spiritual cause. People might shy away from you, trying to keep pure and holy for worship. I mean, what if she did something to cause it? If I get too close, will it rub off on me?
Jesus will have none of that. He calls to her and he touches her and heals her -- on the Sabbath.
Following Jesus can be – embarrassing. Here he was in the synagogue, the guest lecturer, center of attention – the result, Judas might have told us, of careful planning – only to break the decorum of the holy day and work, do the work of healing.
Jesus breaks the rules. The Sabbath-day decorum is shattered. Jesus breaks the rules, but he keeps the covenant. He holds true to God’s promise.
The Sabbath is meant to be a sign, a foretaste of Shalom, of God’s reign of peace, of harmony and justice, when all shall be set to rights, and we dwell in the house of the Lord. Where better to experience that setting to rights, and what better day to find peace and wholeness established, than in the Lord’s house on the Sabbath day, the day of peace?
The officious leader of the synagogue, impatient to keep the purity-piety machinery running smoothly, hastens to object: there are six days for work, come then to be healed, and not on the Sabbath. But the rabbi Jesus rebukes him, arguing persuasively from small to great: if you would do so little a thing as unbind an animal to take it to water on the day of rest, how much more on this holy day is it right that a big thing be accomplished in the life of this poor woman, that she, having been bound by suffering for eighteen long years should be released from her misery?
Jesus restores her to her true dignity. As a daughter of Abraham she is an inheritor of the promise, the covenant of God’s faithful people. She is not, to Jesus, “the woman with the crooked back”, but a child of God.
What we have seen is, as preacher Herb O’Driscoll puts it, not just curing but healing. The physical malady is relieved, to be sure, but so is the spiritual distress that weighed down this woman’s soul, rending her unable to stand straight among her neighbors, as if it were a burden of guilt that bent her back. But Jesus – in the middle of his Sabbath teaching – stopped and laying hands on her made her well and whole and welcome as a child of God.
Looking back on our lesson from Isaiah, we see that this is only a foretaste of the coming reign of peace, of Shalom – and a meet and right thing to do on the Sabbath day, revealing as it does that God in Jesus keeps his promise to his people, restoring what was broken to wholeness, and freshening the world and his people with new life in the light of the coming of his kingdom. The examples the prophet gives are very practical: Unbind the captive, feed the hungry, and shelter the homeless.
Elsewhere he says, “Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17)
Isaiah’s vision of the promise fulfilled is tangible and alluring: you shall be like a watered garden. The legacy of the past shall be renewed and foundations for new generations shall be laid. Carrying God’s people forward from generation to generation, we inherit, develop, and pass on a living heritage of the abundance and providence God, who gives them – us – a future with hope.
As Christians we look forward to a heavenly city, a New Jerusalem not made by human hands, at the consummation of time; yet more immediately we have Jesus before us, revealing to us the kingdom of God in the freedom of the present moment. Jesus is present to the woman in the synagogue, restoring her to health and leading her into a new sense of her dignity as Abraham’s daughter – she reacts by glorifying God. Jesus is present to us now on this holy day, inviting us to loosen up a bit from our own bondages by the grace of his sacramental presence in the Eucharist and in Baptism, and to take up our full stature as children of the promise, children of Abraham – along with all who descend from him by means of putting our faith in the promise.
Jesus breaks the rules indeed – but he has brought home to us what the keeping of the law was all about: honoring the covenant with God, that we would be his people, unbinding the captive, healing and serving, and glorifying God.
That is what Sabbath is about: delighting in the Lord. Turning this day of all days from our own efforts and enterprises, amusements and ambitions, to remember that we rely on the providence of God through scarcity and abundance, and giving God the glory for all he is accomplishing according to his purpose: the establishment of peace, harmony and justice in the world he has made.
As Methodist pastor Joy Moore wrote in The Christian Century, “The lifestyle of Christians is to live the hope we speak: the Creator of the universe, the God of Abraham and Sarah, the One who raised Jesus from the dead, is reconciling the world to the original design of justice, righteousness, and peace.”
The other night I watched the 1981 movie “Chariots of Fire”, in which an Olympic athlete refuses to compete on the Sabbath – he believes Sundays are not for sport – and so must skip the race he thought he’d win. A generous teammate steps aside and allows him a chance at “another race, another day”. Before that unexpected race begins, a competitor hands Eric a note: “Mr. Liddell, it says in the old Book, ‘He that honors me, I will honor.’ Good luck – Jackson Scholz.”
It’s a movie – he wins the race. More importantly he has won the struggle within – to turn from his own pleasures to delight in the Lord. You may disagree with his practice – but honor his principle. You may have a different idea of how to keep the Sabbath; the point is to remember God’s providence in all you do, especially on the day of rest. Remember, then, that this day of peace is only a foretaste of God’s kingdom of Shalom – and everything you do today that proclaims that is your own celebration of this holy day.
Recently I received a questionnaire from another parish, which began “Describe your spirituality.” I am tempted to answer in the words of Johnny Cash: “I’m just tryin’ to be a good Christian.” There is much humble, hard-won wisdom in what he said. Being a Christian is my way of being human – and I highly recommend it. Indeed from my first real discovery, in teenage years, of what the gospel could mean, I have sought not only to understand its mysteries more deeply for myself but to share them, and their blessings, with other believers and with people outside the fellowship halls.
Liberation from the bondage of oppression, whether it is personal or corporate in impact, is a troubling message to some, if your old patterns of behavior suited their codependency. Old friends, comfortable with your old self, will resent your new freedom. And yet in Christ we find a new place in society, new relationships with family and friends, and a new home that is a very old home indeed: it is from the source of all being as well as the ultimate point of all life – that is, our dwelling in Christ.
Like the woman unbound from eighteen long years of affliction, I and others have learned in Christ our real dignity as human persons: that we are sons and daughters of Abraham, children of the promise that the peace and rest of the Sabbath are just a foretaste of a world made new that remembers its sustenance comes not from self-made striving but from the Word of God, from Jesus himself, the Alpha and Omega of existence: Christ behind us, Christ before us, Christ above us, Christ below us, Christ within us, the hope of Glory. Amen.
August 26, 2007 9am
Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento
13th Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 16C
Isaiah 58:9b-14
Luke 13:10-17
Sources
Tom Wright, Luke for Everyone (SPCK, 2001)
Herbert O'Driscoll, The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)
Chariots of Fire (Enigma Productions, 1981)
Joy J. Moore, "Living by the Word: Bearing witness", The Christian Century, August 7, 2007, Vol. 124, No. 16, p. 17.
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 16) - Year C [RCL]
Jeremiah 1:4-10 or Isaiah 58:9b-14; Psalm 71:1-6 or 103:1-8; Hebrews 12:18-29; Luke 13:10-17
By Joseph S. Pagano and Amy Richter , August 26, 2007
Episcopal Life Online (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_89268_ENG_HTM.htm)
Barbara Crafton, "An Ancient Joke" and "Learning How-To in Haiti", The Almost Daily eMo, August 24, 2007,
The Geranium Farm (http://www.geraniumfarm.org/dailyemo.cfm?Emo=874)
Richard A. Horsley and Neil Asher Silberman, The Message and the Kingdom: How Jesus and Paul Ignited a Revolution and Transformed the Ancient World (Grosset/Putnam, 1997)
Marcus J. Borg & John Dominic Crossan, The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus' Final Days in Jerusalem (HarperCollins, 2006)
Christopher Irvine, The Pilgrim's Manual (Wild Goose Publications, 1997) p. 27.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Martha and Mary in the presence of the Lord
CProper11 BCP
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 18:1-10a(10b-14)
Psalm 15
Colossians 1:21-29
Luke 10:38-42
1. This week’s gospel, the story of Mary and Martha, is the second of two stories about the kingdom of God, about listening and not listening to the good news of what it really is, what really is, what we really are. It is also the second of two illustrations of the summary of the law: Love God, and love your neighbor.
Last week we listened in as a lawyer asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” He himself supplied the answer:
Love God, and love your neighbor. These are the first and greatest commandment, and the second, which is like unto it. “Do this, and you will live.” But then, because the lawyer wanted to secure his hold on the kingdom, he asked Jesus to clarify his terms. “But who is my neighbor?” Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, and the lawyer learned there is more to the kingdom than fulfilling his obligation under the law.
In this week’s story, of Martha and Mary, we have another chance to see what the kingdom is – and more explicitly, who Jesus is. We see a woman being reminded of the first law, the love of God: the very reason for what we do, for all that we do, is the love of God.
There are two sisters. Mary takes the place of a disciple, sitting at Jesus’ feet. Martha -- distracted and worried by many things -- objects to this.
What she is doing is fine, in a way: it is the ordinary task of an ordinary day in an ordinary household. This is, however, no ordinary day: Messiah has come and he is under our roof, at this very moment. Rabbi is teaching: what are you doing in the kitchen when you could be listening, picking up pearls as they fall from his lips?
For a woman to take the place of a disciple was NEW: it was unexpected, unheard of. Jesus’ message of the kingdom breaks down traditional barriers. The love he shares with Martha, Mary, and us is so expansive, so outrageous, and so extraordinary that it overflows. The channels of ordinary piety cannot contain the Spirit. It floods into our lives. This is no ordinary day.
Maybe that makes Martha a little nervous. Maybe that is why she is busying herself among the pots and pans. She is doing hospitality – at a moment when the one thing necessary is to wait – to wait not on tables but to wait on the Lord, to listen to what the Lord is saying. To see that this is the day when righteousness and peace embrace: the kingdom has come to our house, Martha, and it is time to rejoice.
2. Like the lawyer Martha made a good effort. She wanted to do what is right. She may even have wanted, as the lawyer who asked the question did, to inherit eternal life. What is missing is that you do not earn your way into heaven. You celebrate its arrival in the midst of you. It is present, even in an ordinary day, even in the completion of ordinary duties. But when the day comes to listen to the Lord, take off your apron, drop the duster, set down your pen, turn off your computer, hang up your cellphone, and sit at Jesus’ feet.
Our culture values the doer. We say: “Come on, let’s get going; let’s get something done.” We get up early so we can ride the elevator up to the twelfth floor with the boss. At least I have. We spend our week getting things done, and at the end lean back in satisfaction at what we have accomplished. At least I have. But then on that same Friday evening, in the very next moment, I asked myself: What was this all for? Have I lost track of the very reason for what I was doing, as I was so busy doing business? Do I need to step back, take a long look, and remember why I am here?
The lawyer meant well but he may have forgotten the relationship, to God and the neighbor, which was the reason behind the rules. Jesus breaks the rules; but he fulfills the Law. He reinstates the relationship between God and us. He reminds us why we are here. And he does it in part by overcoming judgment with mercy, by showing us the outrageous abundance and the exuberant overflowing of the kingdom of Heaven. Remember this is the Christ who, presented with the need to feed five thousand, had them sit down and share five loaves and two fish – and they all were well fed. Maybe Martha is worrying too much.
3. Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying, took a disciple’s place. Martha, on the other hand, was “distracted and anxious” about many things.
“Mary has chosen the better part” – there is that word “chosen”. As Canon Lynell Walker has pointed out, the good news is that you can choose, that your time has come, that now it is your turn to be in the presence of the Lord. The part “which will not be taken away from her” – what is that? Clearly Jesus is only there for the night but, as Dean Brian Baker has pointed out, the Word of God will remain forever. As will the Spirit.
4. By the oaks of Mamre – the scene of this morning’s Old Testament lesson – Abraham, the exemplar of faith, saw three strangers approach. He was host to the three men. Sarah, in the tent, made cakes; a servant prepared a calf; and Abraham served the men himself, standing by them under the tree while they ate. One promised to return in due season, and that Sarah should have a son. [Sarah laughed.]
This is the classic example of Middle Eastern hospitality – the welcome to strangers, preparing them food. The blessing in return, here a promise of children – and thus a future with hope – is probably characteristic too: but here it has a larger purpose. The three men represent the three persons of the Godhead, indeed icons of this scene are entitled “The Old Testament Trinity”.
So here we have the image of hospitality – and the roles of men and women – that Martha and Mary and Jesus grew up with. For Mary to break with this pattern was a surprise. Yet here she is, sitting at the feet of the Lord and listening to what he is saying: she has taken her place among the disciples. This, even though tradition would indicate that those who sit in the presence of the guest would be men – the man of the house – and that the women would like Martha concern themselves with children, church, kitchen. … leaving the men to themselves to discuss man stuff like … what?
Is the Messiah here only for men? Is the Kingdom of Heaven exclusive? No, in one situation after another we see Jesus break the rules. The kingdom of heaven is for all people. He is here to announce it, to proclaim it, to manifest it, to usher it in.
So this is not your typical guest, nor your typical meal. The occasion is extraordinary. Jesus, the Messiah, is here present now in Martha (and Mary’s) living room. What to do?
Maybe it’s all a bit upsetting. I mean, Jesus breaks the rules. Who knows what he’ll do to my life? Maybe he’ll change it all around, stretch my boundaries, and eliminate my preconceptions. Maybe he’ll call me to some new level of service of which I’m afraid.
Martha may want a bit of business, ordinary business in the household, to occupy her hands while her mind races to take it all in. What we hear from her, though, is a plea: Lord, make my sister come help me in the kitchen.
Is this what you would ask Messiah for? If he were to come to dinner today at your home, what would you say to him?
“My Lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree…”
“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”
And what will he reply to you? Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?
5. I used to read a lot of mysteries. Mysteries come in several sorts. There are puzzle mysteries, like Agatha Christie novels. There are mysteries that present problems to solve, situations to investigate, and secrets to be discovered. There are stories to be told. Some mysteries are only resolved in the telling of the story. And some mysteries are only fully revealed as they are lived. “The mystery that has been hidden through the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints,” – “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” – is one of these last. To begin to tumble to the truth, in this story, takes all your living. God, who was present to Abraham and Sarah, Mary and Martha, is present to you, now, this morning.
Your freedom to act is in the present moment. It is today not yesterday or tomorrow that you receive the divine invitation. Now it is your turn. Today you are invited to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to what the Lord is saying. This morning he has come to your tent – and he is here to share with you a meal. The cup is your salvation and the bread his presence.
Sources
Tom Wright, Luke for Everyone (SPCK, 2001)
Herbert O'Driscoll, The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)
Herbert O'Driscoll, Patrick's Well (www.herbodriscoll.com)
Barbara Crafton et al., Geranium Farm (www.geraniumfarm.org)
Arthur J. Dewey, The Word in Time (New Berlin, WI: Liturgical Publications, 1990)
Sharon H. Ringe, Luke, Westminster Bible Companion (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995)
Thomas W. Walker, Luke, Interpretation Bible Studies (Louisville, KY: Geneva Press, 2001)
Fred B. Craddock, Luke, Interpretation (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1990)
Michael F. Patella, O.S.B., The Gospel According to Luke, The new Collegeville Bible commentary, New Testament; v. 3 (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press)
Keith F. Nickle, Preaching the Gospel of Luke: Proclaiming God's Royal Rule (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000)
Common Worship (Church of England, 2000) http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/
The Book of Common Prayer (Church of England, 1662)
Oremus Bible Browser http://bible.oremus.org/
Stephanie Frey, “Living with Martha (Luke 10:38-42)”, Living by the Word, The Christian Century Magazine, July 13, 2004
Posted by John Leech at 1:41 PM 0 comments
Labels: Colossians 1:21-29, CProper11, Genesis 18:1-14, Luke 10:38-42, Martha and Mary, Mary and Martha, Psalm 15
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 18:1-10a(10b-14)
Psalm 15
Colossians 1:21-29
Luke 10:38-42
1. This week’s gospel, the story of Mary and Martha, is the second of two stories about the kingdom of God, about listening and not listening to the good news of what it really is, what really is, what we really are. It is also the second of two illustrations of the summary of the law: Love God, and love your neighbor.
Last week we listened in as a lawyer asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” He himself supplied the answer:
Love God, and love your neighbor. These are the first and greatest commandment, and the second, which is like unto it. “Do this, and you will live.” But then, because the lawyer wanted to secure his hold on the kingdom, he asked Jesus to clarify his terms. “But who is my neighbor?” Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, and the lawyer learned there is more to the kingdom than fulfilling his obligation under the law.
In this week’s story, of Martha and Mary, we have another chance to see what the kingdom is – and more explicitly, who Jesus is. We see a woman being reminded of the first law, the love of God: the very reason for what we do, for all that we do, is the love of God.
There are two sisters. Mary takes the place of a disciple, sitting at Jesus’ feet. Martha -- distracted and worried by many things -- objects to this.
What she is doing is fine, in a way: it is the ordinary task of an ordinary day in an ordinary household. This is, however, no ordinary day: Messiah has come and he is under our roof, at this very moment. Rabbi is teaching: what are you doing in the kitchen when you could be listening, picking up pearls as they fall from his lips?
For a woman to take the place of a disciple was NEW: it was unexpected, unheard of. Jesus’ message of the kingdom breaks down traditional barriers. The love he shares with Martha, Mary, and us is so expansive, so outrageous, and so extraordinary that it overflows. The channels of ordinary piety cannot contain the Spirit. It floods into our lives. This is no ordinary day.
Maybe that makes Martha a little nervous. Maybe that is why she is busying herself among the pots and pans. She is doing hospitality – at a moment when the one thing necessary is to wait – to wait not on tables but to wait on the Lord, to listen to what the Lord is saying. To see that this is the day when righteousness and peace embrace: the kingdom has come to our house, Martha, and it is time to rejoice.
2. Like the lawyer Martha made a good effort. She wanted to do what is right. She may even have wanted, as the lawyer who asked the question did, to inherit eternal life. What is missing is that you do not earn your way into heaven. You celebrate its arrival in the midst of you. It is present, even in an ordinary day, even in the completion of ordinary duties. But when the day comes to listen to the Lord, take off your apron, drop the duster, set down your pen, turn off your computer, hang up your cellphone, and sit at Jesus’ feet.
Our culture values the doer. We say: “Come on, let’s get going; let’s get something done.” We get up early so we can ride the elevator up to the twelfth floor with the boss. At least I have. We spend our week getting things done, and at the end lean back in satisfaction at what we have accomplished. At least I have. But then on that same Friday evening, in the very next moment, I asked myself: What was this all for? Have I lost track of the very reason for what I was doing, as I was so busy doing business? Do I need to step back, take a long look, and remember why I am here?
The lawyer meant well but he may have forgotten the relationship, to God and the neighbor, which was the reason behind the rules. Jesus breaks the rules; but he fulfills the Law. He reinstates the relationship between God and us. He reminds us why we are here. And he does it in part by overcoming judgment with mercy, by showing us the outrageous abundance and the exuberant overflowing of the kingdom of Heaven. Remember this is the Christ who, presented with the need to feed five thousand, had them sit down and share five loaves and two fish – and they all were well fed. Maybe Martha is worrying too much.
3. Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying, took a disciple’s place. Martha, on the other hand, was “distracted and anxious” about many things.
“Mary has chosen the better part” – there is that word “chosen”. As Canon Lynell Walker has pointed out, the good news is that you can choose, that your time has come, that now it is your turn to be in the presence of the Lord. The part “which will not be taken away from her” – what is that? Clearly Jesus is only there for the night but, as Dean Brian Baker has pointed out, the Word of God will remain forever. As will the Spirit.
4. By the oaks of Mamre – the scene of this morning’s Old Testament lesson – Abraham, the exemplar of faith, saw three strangers approach. He was host to the three men. Sarah, in the tent, made cakes; a servant prepared a calf; and Abraham served the men himself, standing by them under the tree while they ate. One promised to return in due season, and that Sarah should have a son. [Sarah laughed.]
This is the classic example of Middle Eastern hospitality – the welcome to strangers, preparing them food. The blessing in return, here a promise of children – and thus a future with hope – is probably characteristic too: but here it has a larger purpose. The three men represent the three persons of the Godhead, indeed icons of this scene are entitled “The Old Testament Trinity”.
So here we have the image of hospitality – and the roles of men and women – that Martha and Mary and Jesus grew up with. For Mary to break with this pattern was a surprise. Yet here she is, sitting at the feet of the Lord and listening to what he is saying: she has taken her place among the disciples. This, even though tradition would indicate that those who sit in the presence of the guest would be men – the man of the house – and that the women would like Martha concern themselves with children, church, kitchen. … leaving the men to themselves to discuss man stuff like … what?
Is the Messiah here only for men? Is the Kingdom of Heaven exclusive? No, in one situation after another we see Jesus break the rules. The kingdom of heaven is for all people. He is here to announce it, to proclaim it, to manifest it, to usher it in.
So this is not your typical guest, nor your typical meal. The occasion is extraordinary. Jesus, the Messiah, is here present now in Martha (and Mary’s) living room. What to do?
Maybe it’s all a bit upsetting. I mean, Jesus breaks the rules. Who knows what he’ll do to my life? Maybe he’ll change it all around, stretch my boundaries, and eliminate my preconceptions. Maybe he’ll call me to some new level of service of which I’m afraid.
Martha may want a bit of business, ordinary business in the household, to occupy her hands while her mind races to take it all in. What we hear from her, though, is a plea: Lord, make my sister come help me in the kitchen.
Is this what you would ask Messiah for? If he were to come to dinner today at your home, what would you say to him?
“My Lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree…”
“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”
And what will he reply to you? Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?
5. I used to read a lot of mysteries. Mysteries come in several sorts. There are puzzle mysteries, like Agatha Christie novels. There are mysteries that present problems to solve, situations to investigate, and secrets to be discovered. There are stories to be told. Some mysteries are only resolved in the telling of the story. And some mysteries are only fully revealed as they are lived. “The mystery that has been hidden through the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints,” – “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” – is one of these last. To begin to tumble to the truth, in this story, takes all your living. God, who was present to Abraham and Sarah, Mary and Martha, is present to you, now, this morning.
Your freedom to act is in the present moment. It is today not yesterday or tomorrow that you receive the divine invitation. Now it is your turn. Today you are invited to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to what the Lord is saying. This morning he has come to your tent – and he is here to share with you a meal. The cup is your salvation and the bread his presence.
Sources
Tom Wright, Luke for Everyone (SPCK, 2001)
Herbert O'Driscoll, The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)
Herbert O'Driscoll, Patrick's Well (www.herbodriscoll.com)
Barbara Crafton et al., Geranium Farm (www.geraniumfarm.org)
Arthur J. Dewey, The Word in Time (New Berlin, WI: Liturgical Publications, 1990)
Sharon H. Ringe, Luke, Westminster Bible Companion (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995)
Thomas W. Walker, Luke, Interpretation Bible Studies (Louisville, KY: Geneva Press, 2001)
Fred B. Craddock, Luke, Interpretation (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1990)
Michael F. Patella, O.S.B., The Gospel According to Luke, The new Collegeville Bible commentary, New Testament; v. 3 (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press)
Keith F. Nickle, Preaching the Gospel of Luke: Proclaiming God's Royal Rule (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000)
Common Worship (Church of England, 2000) http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/
The Book of Common Prayer (Church of England, 1662)
Oremus Bible Browser http://bible.oremus.org/
Stephanie Frey, “Living with Martha (Luke 10:38-42)”, Living by the Word, The Christian Century Magazine, July 13, 2004
Posted by John Leech at 1:41 PM 0 comments
Labels: Colossians 1:21-29, CProper11, Genesis 18:1-14, Luke 10:38-42, Martha and Mary, Mary and Martha, Psalm 15
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians.”
It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians.” (Acts 11:26b)
We come as witnesses to the world: witnesses of God’s power and light, of his freeing us in Christ to become the people God truly means us to be. This does not mean that the world welcomes us with open hands: as they did our teacher, sometimes the people wedded to the world reject us. But behind us backing us up is the incredible life-giving power of the Spirit.
“Christian” was initially not a complimentary term. It was a slang tag applied by non-believers to the followers of the way of Christ. But through the witness of the saints this offhand dismissive term became transformed into a symbol of the victory of the gospel: just as the shameful sign of the cross itself became the symbol of the triumph of God’s son over death itself.
No longer would sin have power over us; no longer would we be in bondage, slaves to worldly opinion, indebted, indentured, trying to pull ourselves up out of folly by our own fallacious efforts. No: in Christ’s cross came the victory that was a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks, for in its embrace we found the shelter of God’s grace. The cross, which had been meant as an engine of final humiliation, turned into the means of a new beginning for us & for the world.
In him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and among us he chose to pitch his tent, to encamp with us in this world of pilgrimage, and to lead us into the place where we can finally be at home: where God reigns.
We come as witnesses to the world: witnesses of God’s power and light, of his freeing us in Christ to become the people God truly means us to be. This does not mean that the world welcomes us with open hands: as they did our teacher, sometimes the people wedded to the world reject us. But behind us backing us up is the incredible life-giving power of the Spirit.
“Christian” was initially not a complimentary term. It was a slang tag applied by non-believers to the followers of the way of Christ. But through the witness of the saints this offhand dismissive term became transformed into a symbol of the victory of the gospel: just as the shameful sign of the cross itself became the symbol of the triumph of God’s son over death itself.
No longer would sin have power over us; no longer would we be in bondage, slaves to worldly opinion, indebted, indentured, trying to pull ourselves up out of folly by our own fallacious efforts. No: in Christ’s cross came the victory that was a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks, for in its embrace we found the shelter of God’s grace. The cross, which had been meant as an engine of final humiliation, turned into the means of a new beginning for us & for the world.
In him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and among us he chose to pitch his tent, to encamp with us in this world of pilgrimage, and to lead us into the place where we can finally be at home: where God reigns.
stranger in a strange land
“You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:19)
“A wandering Aramean was my ancestor…” (Deuteronomy 26:5).
Two or three years ago at the Bishop’s conference on borderland and immigration issues, held at St. Philip’s in the Hills, Tucson, someone asked, is there any thing in the Bible that speaks to these issues?
Imagine yourself a new widow: your husband is gone, your brother-in-law, your father-in-law. Your land is desolate, in famine. You travel. You walk, with your mother-in-law, seventy miles across the desert, seeking life, a way to live, a way to earn your bread, and you come to a town on the other side where the grain is ripe in the fields and the workers are among the crops to harvest them.
And then word comes down to you: DO NOT WORK IN AMERICA. Go, Ruth, take your mother-in-law Naomi, and go back to Moab. Let her starve. Live in grief. Do not become the great-grandmother of David. Do not let his son our Savior be born. Go back across the desert. Leave us alone. Starve. Grieve.
I don’t think so. That is not what the Bible teaches us. From the story of Ruth we learn: Do not begrudge the harvest fruits to the poor: let them glean. Take up the cause of the widow. Defend the poor and hungry (Psalm 82:3). Then, when righteousness and peace have kissed each other (Psalm 85:10), you will dwell in the land in safety.
During the week of the Fourth of July, in Tucson, a leader and elder in that community received a visit from a new member of Congress. She talked with her about immigration and our need for a new approach – not confronting each other but working together.
She held up her hands as if to push away The Other, and then moved them, turning them around to face each other and interlacing her fingers, to show that we must work together. Speaking practically, she suggested training for employment could begin across the border, so that people who live there could have a future and a hope. Remember this is God’s promise to us, to his people, fulfilled through Jesus and through Jesus’ hands in the world: our own.
“For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Serving Jesus as we serve the least of these we see around us is what we do: not just so that we can all get along, but so that we can all go forward together into God’s kingdom, where peace and righteousness embrace.
Show us your mercy, O LORD, and grant us your salvation. I will listen to what the LORD God is saying, for he is speaking peace to his faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to him. Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him: that his glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. The LORD will indeed grant prosperity, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness shall go before him, and peace shall be a pathway for his feet. (Psalm 85:7-13) AMEN.
“A wandering Aramean was my ancestor…” (Deuteronomy 26:5).
Two or three years ago at the Bishop’s conference on borderland and immigration issues, held at St. Philip’s in the Hills, Tucson, someone asked, is there any thing in the Bible that speaks to these issues?
Imagine yourself a new widow: your husband is gone, your brother-in-law, your father-in-law. Your land is desolate, in famine. You travel. You walk, with your mother-in-law, seventy miles across the desert, seeking life, a way to live, a way to earn your bread, and you come to a town on the other side where the grain is ripe in the fields and the workers are among the crops to harvest them.
And then word comes down to you: DO NOT WORK IN AMERICA. Go, Ruth, take your mother-in-law Naomi, and go back to Moab. Let her starve. Live in grief. Do not become the great-grandmother of David. Do not let his son our Savior be born. Go back across the desert. Leave us alone. Starve. Grieve.
I don’t think so. That is not what the Bible teaches us. From the story of Ruth we learn: Do not begrudge the harvest fruits to the poor: let them glean. Take up the cause of the widow. Defend the poor and hungry (Psalm 82:3). Then, when righteousness and peace have kissed each other (Psalm 85:10), you will dwell in the land in safety.
During the week of the Fourth of July, in Tucson, a leader and elder in that community received a visit from a new member of Congress. She talked with her about immigration and our need for a new approach – not confronting each other but working together.
She held up her hands as if to push away The Other, and then moved them, turning them around to face each other and interlacing her fingers, to show that we must work together. Speaking practically, she suggested training for employment could begin across the border, so that people who live there could have a future and a hope. Remember this is God’s promise to us, to his people, fulfilled through Jesus and through Jesus’ hands in the world: our own.
“For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Serving Jesus as we serve the least of these we see around us is what we do: not just so that we can all get along, but so that we can all go forward together into God’s kingdom, where peace and righteousness embrace.
Show us your mercy, O LORD, and grant us your salvation. I will listen to what the LORD God is saying, for he is speaking peace to his faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to him. Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him: that his glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. The LORD will indeed grant prosperity, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness shall go before him, and peace shall be a pathway for his feet. (Psalm 85:7-13) AMEN.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
The Man Who Fell Among Thieves
CProper10 BCP
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Deuteronomy 30:9-14
Colossians 1:1-14
Luke 10:25-37
Psalm 25 or 25:3-9
"May we ask the Lord to grant us peace, that the day will soon come, when the peoples are unified in love and when Christ is the Lord; the day that fulfils all the prayers of the holy." (Nathan Söderblom, Archbishop of Uppsala, a prayer for peace, 1914)
In high school P.E. class I heard this story – so it must be true: somebody riding his new motorcycle had a breakdown at the side of the road. Up roared a gang of bikers, who stopped, came over, and – fixed his bike. As they left, one handed him a nice white business card, with a big greasy black thumb-smudge on it, announcing, “Your emergency roadside assistance was provided by your local motorcycle club.”
The Samaritan is not who you would expect. Then, neither is the man who was robbed.
As we begin to listen to the story of the Good Samaritan and the man who fell among thieves, we hear a lawyer asking a telling question: Who is my neighbor? We might well ask him or ourselves: Who are you? Responses could include, I am an individual, a person, a human being, a child of God; – or, we are a people of God.
Augustine made the analogy: that the man who was robbed was Adam – any one of us, Augustine, you, or me; that the Samaritan – the outsider – was Jesus, and the inn, providing shelter for healing, was the home of the Holy Comforter, the Church.
What however was Jesus’ response to the lawyer, and what question did he ask in his turn? “Who was a neighbor of the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The one who showed him mercy.
We often think of ourselves in the place of the Good Samaritan, but Jesus has the lawyer put himself in the place of the man who was robbed. Before we put ourselves in the superior position, the “helping” role, first we find ourselves in need of a little traveler’s aid ourselves.
As preacher Fred Craddock points out, this is the first of two stories about the reign of God, about hearing, but not really listening, to the good news of what the reign of God means, who Jesus is, and who we are called to become. In this week’s story we learn about a lawyer who wanted to know what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Next week, we will hear about a woman named Martha who was anxious and distracted about many things, so busy doing that she forgot to be – just to sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus and listen to what he is saying.
Action – going and doing – and contemplation – sitting and listening – are both important in the life of the faithful, but either one points beyond itself to the call to conversion, the change of heart, that comes when we acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior and begin to take our place under the reign of God. To “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” is part of a process, a transformation that is a continuing action of grace throughout the whole of your life. Hearing who Jesus is and what the reign of God is, and being changed by that Good News, whether you personally need to “go and do” or to “sit and listen”, is what matters.
The lawyer wanted to ‘get it right’, but getting it right is not the point: whether we need to become clearer in what we know of God, or whether we need to become better at doing God’s will, or whether we need to learn better how just to be in God’s presence – listening with an open heart; the point is to become transformed by the Good News into the people of the kingdom of God.
The lawyer didn’t get it – he thought he could ‘justify himself’ by getting it right: by winning an argument about what God really wants. Jesus was more concerned with – the coming into being of what God really wants – the work of grace in creation, in the lawyer, in you and me. This is not a game about winning, the prize ‘eternal life’: this is reality.
God really does want you to love your neighbor as yourself. And when you begin to see with God’s eyes, when you begin to live into the kingdom of God, you see who your neighbor really is. Jesus tells the lawyer a parable, the parable of a man who fell among thieves and the stranger who rescued him, which ends with the famous admonition, “Go and do likewise.” But before we go, he has already revealed to us something uncomfortable: our condition and the condition of our neighbor are in some ways interchangeable.
Who is my neighbor? Who was neighbor to the man who was robbed? The one who showed him mercy: your neighbor is the one who shows you mercy. If we could find ourselves in the place of the man who was robbed, before we cast ourselves in the role of the Good Samaritan, we might begin to understand what the kingdom is, and what God really wants. And what it is to inherit eternal life.
As pastor Barbara Crafton teaches us, faith is not subscribing to a list of propositions: it is a living relationship with God and with the world. It is a living relationship of love. Eternal life is not something locked away that you need a key or a secret entry code to gain access to – it is freely available. It is the opportunity to love, to live as a lover of God and neighbor. “And the Christ, who lives in you, also lives in each of them.”
The opportunity to love actually is all around.
“Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away… No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe… Choose life.” (Deuteronomy 30: 11, 14, 19)
And Jesus identified himself with this: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” and he will tell them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:37-40)
When did we find you by the side of the road, naked, beaten and bleeding, and treated your wounds and carried you to a safe place where you could be healed? When did we find you wandering through the desert, abandoned and alone and dying of thirst, and give you water and a way home to the homes of men?
During the week of the Fourth of July, in Tucson, a leader and elder in that community received a visit from a new member of Congress. She talked with her about immigration and our need for a new approach – not confronting each other but working together.
She held up her hands as if to push away The Other, and then moved them, turning them around to face each other and interlacing her fingers, to show that we must work together. Speaking practically, she suggested training for employment could begin across the border, so that people who live there could have a future and a hope. Remember this is God’s promise to us, to his people, fulfilled through Jesus and through Jesus’ hands in the world: our own.
“For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Serving Jesus as we serve the least of these we see around us is what we do: not just so that we can all get along, but so that we can all go forward together into God’s kingdom, where peace and righteousness embrace.
Show us your mercy, O Lord, •
and grant us your salvation.
I will listen to what the Lord God will say, •
for he shall speak peace to his people and to the faithful,
that they turn not again to folly.
Truly, his salvation is near to those who fear him, •
that his glory may dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth are met together, •
righteousness and peace have kissed each other;
Truth shall spring up from the earth •
and righteousness look down from heaven.
The Lord will indeed give all that is good, •
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness shall go before him •
and direct his steps in the way.
Psalm 85:7-13 (Common Worship)
Sources
Nobel Foundation (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1930/soderblom-bio.html)
Uppsala Domkyrka (http://www.uppsaladomkyrka.se/setupups/local/engelsk/pdf/Ecumenism.pdf)
Luke for Everyone by Tom Wright (SPCK, 2001)
The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 by Herbert O'Driscoll (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)
"Living by the Word: Who we are" by Patrick J. Wilson, The Christian Century, Vol. 124, No. 13, June 26, 2007, p. 19. (www.christiancentury.org)
Patrick's Well (www.herbodriscoll.com) Herbert O'Driscoll
Geranium Farm (www.geraniumfarm.org) Barbara Crafton et al.
The Word in Time by Arthur J. Dewey (New Berlin, Wisconsin: Liturgical Publications, 1990)
Luke by Sharon H. Ringe (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995) Westminister Bible Companion series.
Luke by Thomas W. Walker (Louisville, Kentucky: Geneva Press, 2001) Interpretation Bible Studies series.
Luke by Fred B. Craddock (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1990) Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching.
The Gospel According to Luke by Michael F. Patella, O.S.B. (Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press) The new Collegeville Bible commentary, New Testament; v. 3.
Preaching the Gospel of Luke: Proclaiming God's Royal Rule by Keith F. Nickle (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000)
Common Worship (Church of England, 2000) http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/
The Book of Common Prayer (Church of England, 1662)
Oremus Bible Browser http://bible.oremus.org/
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Deuteronomy 30:9-14
Colossians 1:1-14
Luke 10:25-37
Psalm 25 or 25:3-9
"May we ask the Lord to grant us peace, that the day will soon come, when the peoples are unified in love and when Christ is the Lord; the day that fulfils all the prayers of the holy." (Nathan Söderblom, Archbishop of Uppsala, a prayer for peace, 1914)
In high school P.E. class I heard this story – so it must be true: somebody riding his new motorcycle had a breakdown at the side of the road. Up roared a gang of bikers, who stopped, came over, and – fixed his bike. As they left, one handed him a nice white business card, with a big greasy black thumb-smudge on it, announcing, “Your emergency roadside assistance was provided by your local motorcycle club.”
The Samaritan is not who you would expect. Then, neither is the man who was robbed.
As we begin to listen to the story of the Good Samaritan and the man who fell among thieves, we hear a lawyer asking a telling question: Who is my neighbor? We might well ask him or ourselves: Who are you? Responses could include, I am an individual, a person, a human being, a child of God; – or, we are a people of God.
Augustine made the analogy: that the man who was robbed was Adam – any one of us, Augustine, you, or me; that the Samaritan – the outsider – was Jesus, and the inn, providing shelter for healing, was the home of the Holy Comforter, the Church.
What however was Jesus’ response to the lawyer, and what question did he ask in his turn? “Who was a neighbor of the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The one who showed him mercy.
We often think of ourselves in the place of the Good Samaritan, but Jesus has the lawyer put himself in the place of the man who was robbed. Before we put ourselves in the superior position, the “helping” role, first we find ourselves in need of a little traveler’s aid ourselves.
As preacher Fred Craddock points out, this is the first of two stories about the reign of God, about hearing, but not really listening, to the good news of what the reign of God means, who Jesus is, and who we are called to become. In this week’s story we learn about a lawyer who wanted to know what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Next week, we will hear about a woman named Martha who was anxious and distracted about many things, so busy doing that she forgot to be – just to sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus and listen to what he is saying.
Action – going and doing – and contemplation – sitting and listening – are both important in the life of the faithful, but either one points beyond itself to the call to conversion, the change of heart, that comes when we acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior and begin to take our place under the reign of God. To “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” is part of a process, a transformation that is a continuing action of grace throughout the whole of your life. Hearing who Jesus is and what the reign of God is, and being changed by that Good News, whether you personally need to “go and do” or to “sit and listen”, is what matters.
The lawyer wanted to ‘get it right’, but getting it right is not the point: whether we need to become clearer in what we know of God, or whether we need to become better at doing God’s will, or whether we need to learn better how just to be in God’s presence – listening with an open heart; the point is to become transformed by the Good News into the people of the kingdom of God.
The lawyer didn’t get it – he thought he could ‘justify himself’ by getting it right: by winning an argument about what God really wants. Jesus was more concerned with – the coming into being of what God really wants – the work of grace in creation, in the lawyer, in you and me. This is not a game about winning, the prize ‘eternal life’: this is reality.
God really does want you to love your neighbor as yourself. And when you begin to see with God’s eyes, when you begin to live into the kingdom of God, you see who your neighbor really is. Jesus tells the lawyer a parable, the parable of a man who fell among thieves and the stranger who rescued him, which ends with the famous admonition, “Go and do likewise.” But before we go, he has already revealed to us something uncomfortable: our condition and the condition of our neighbor are in some ways interchangeable.
Who is my neighbor? Who was neighbor to the man who was robbed? The one who showed him mercy: your neighbor is the one who shows you mercy. If we could find ourselves in the place of the man who was robbed, before we cast ourselves in the role of the Good Samaritan, we might begin to understand what the kingdom is, and what God really wants. And what it is to inherit eternal life.
As pastor Barbara Crafton teaches us, faith is not subscribing to a list of propositions: it is a living relationship with God and with the world. It is a living relationship of love. Eternal life is not something locked away that you need a key or a secret entry code to gain access to – it is freely available. It is the opportunity to love, to live as a lover of God and neighbor. “And the Christ, who lives in you, also lives in each of them.”
The opportunity to love actually is all around.
“Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away… No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe… Choose life.” (Deuteronomy 30: 11, 14, 19)
And Jesus identified himself with this: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” and he will tell them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:37-40)
When did we find you by the side of the road, naked, beaten and bleeding, and treated your wounds and carried you to a safe place where you could be healed? When did we find you wandering through the desert, abandoned and alone and dying of thirst, and give you water and a way home to the homes of men?
During the week of the Fourth of July, in Tucson, a leader and elder in that community received a visit from a new member of Congress. She talked with her about immigration and our need for a new approach – not confronting each other but working together.
She held up her hands as if to push away The Other, and then moved them, turning them around to face each other and interlacing her fingers, to show that we must work together. Speaking practically, she suggested training for employment could begin across the border, so that people who live there could have a future and a hope. Remember this is God’s promise to us, to his people, fulfilled through Jesus and through Jesus’ hands in the world: our own.
“For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Serving Jesus as we serve the least of these we see around us is what we do: not just so that we can all get along, but so that we can all go forward together into God’s kingdom, where peace and righteousness embrace.
Show us your mercy, O Lord, •
and grant us your salvation.
I will listen to what the Lord God will say, •
for he shall speak peace to his people and to the faithful,
that they turn not again to folly.
Truly, his salvation is near to those who fear him, •
that his glory may dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth are met together, •
righteousness and peace have kissed each other;
Truth shall spring up from the earth •
and righteousness look down from heaven.
The Lord will indeed give all that is good, •
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness shall go before him •
and direct his steps in the way.
Psalm 85:7-13 (Common Worship)
Sources
Nobel Foundation (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1930/soderblom-bio.html)
Uppsala Domkyrka (http://www.uppsaladomkyrka.se/setupups/local/engelsk/pdf/Ecumenism.pdf)
Luke for Everyone by Tom Wright (SPCK, 2001)
The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 by Herbert O'Driscoll (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)
"Living by the Word: Who we are" by Patrick J. Wilson, The Christian Century, Vol. 124, No. 13, June 26, 2007, p. 19. (www.christiancentury.org)
Patrick's Well (www.herbodriscoll.com) Herbert O'Driscoll
Geranium Farm (www.geraniumfarm.org) Barbara Crafton et al.
The Word in Time by Arthur J. Dewey (New Berlin, Wisconsin: Liturgical Publications, 1990)
Luke by Sharon H. Ringe (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995) Westminister Bible Companion series.
Luke by Thomas W. Walker (Louisville, Kentucky: Geneva Press, 2001) Interpretation Bible Studies series.
Luke by Fred B. Craddock (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1990) Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching.
The Gospel According to Luke by Michael F. Patella, O.S.B. (Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press) The new Collegeville Bible commentary, New Testament; v. 3.
Preaching the Gospel of Luke: Proclaiming God's Royal Rule by Keith F. Nickle (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000)
Common Worship (Church of England, 2000) http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/
The Book of Common Prayer (Church of England, 1662)
Oremus Bible Browser http://bible.oremus.org/
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Nathan Söderblom and the Good Samaritan
Today we remember the life and work of Nathan Söderblom, architect of the ecumenical movement of the 20th century, founder of the Life and Work movement that led to the World Council of Churches, and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was Swedish, born in 1866 and living until this date in 1931. Early in his life, at the age of 24, he visited the United States, and began to form his future ecumenical work through this prayer, recorded in his diary:
"Lord, give me humility and wisdom to serve the great cause of the free unity of thy church."
Söderblom took a practical approach to ecumenical work, reasoning that in the life of the church right action was as important as right belief-hence the outward, active focus of the Life and Work group.
He had already begun to move toward intercommunion between the Swedish Church and the Church of England as early as 1909; in 1995 the Porvoo Communion formalized recognition between Anglican churches in the British Isles and Lutheran churches in Scandinavia and the Baltic states.
Söderblom was elected Archbishop of Uppsala & primate of Sweden in 1914. That year he led a prayer for peace at Uppsala Cathedral:
"May we ask the Lord to grant us peace, that the day will soon come, when the peoples are unified in love and when Christ is the Lord; the day that fulfils all the prayers of the holy."
*****
In high school P.E. class I heard this story – so it must be true: somebody riding his new motorcycle had a breakdown at the side of the road. Up roared a gang of bikers, who stopped, came over, and – fixed his bike. As they left, one handed him a nice white business card, with a big greasy black thumb-smudge on it, announcing, “Your emergency roadside assistance was provided by your local motorcycle club.”
The Samaritan is not who you would expect. Nor is the man who was robbed.
In the story of the Good Samaritan and the man who fell among thieves, we hear a lawyer asking a telling question: Who is my neighbor? We might well ask: Who are you? Responses could include, I am a person, a human being, a child of God – or, We are a people of God.
Augustine made the analogy, that the man who was robbed was like Augustine, or me, or you – the soul; that the Samaritan was like Jesus and the inn, providing shelter, was the Church.
What however was Jesus' response, and what question did he ask in his turn? “Who was a neighbor of the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The one who showed him mercy.
We often think of ourselves in the place of the good Samaritan, but Jesus has the lawyer put himself in the place of the man who was robbed. Before we put ourselves in the superior position, the “helping” role, first we find ourselves in need of a little traveler’s aid ourselves.
And Jesus identified himself with this: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” and he will tell them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:37-40)
Serving Jesus as we serve the least of these we see around us is the motivating force behind the efforts of so many ecumenical workers like Nathan Söderblom: not simply that we all might get along but that we might go forward together into God’s kingdom, where peace and righteousness embrace.
And I should point out one more current example of this. Last week in Tucson, a leader and elder in that community received a visit from a new member of Congress. She talked with her about immigration and our need for a new approach – not confronting each other but working together. She held up her hands as if to push away The Other, then moved them, turning them over and interlacing her fingers, to show that we must work together. Speaking practically, she suggested training for employment could begin across the border, so that people who live there could have a future and a hope. Remember this is God’s promise to us, to his people, fulfilled through Jesus and through Jesus’ hands in the world: our own. I will give you “a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts. Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky. The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps. (Psalm 85:8-13)
Sources
Nobel Foundation (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1930/soderblom-bio.html)
Uppsala Domkyrka (http://www.uppsaladomkyrka.se/setupups/local/engelsk/pdf/Ecumenism.pdf)
Luke for Everyone by Tom Wright (SPCK, 2001)
The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 by Herbert O'Driscoll (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)
"Living by the Word: Who we are" by Patrick J. Wilson, The Christian Century, Vol. 124, No. 13, June 26, 2007, p. 19. (www.christiancentury.org)
"Lord, give me humility and wisdom to serve the great cause of the free unity of thy church."
Söderblom took a practical approach to ecumenical work, reasoning that in the life of the church right action was as important as right belief-hence the outward, active focus of the Life and Work group.
He had already begun to move toward intercommunion between the Swedish Church and the Church of England as early as 1909; in 1995 the Porvoo Communion formalized recognition between Anglican churches in the British Isles and Lutheran churches in Scandinavia and the Baltic states.
Söderblom was elected Archbishop of Uppsala & primate of Sweden in 1914. That year he led a prayer for peace at Uppsala Cathedral:
"May we ask the Lord to grant us peace, that the day will soon come, when the peoples are unified in love and when Christ is the Lord; the day that fulfils all the prayers of the holy."
*****
In high school P.E. class I heard this story – so it must be true: somebody riding his new motorcycle had a breakdown at the side of the road. Up roared a gang of bikers, who stopped, came over, and – fixed his bike. As they left, one handed him a nice white business card, with a big greasy black thumb-smudge on it, announcing, “Your emergency roadside assistance was provided by your local motorcycle club.”
The Samaritan is not who you would expect. Nor is the man who was robbed.
In the story of the Good Samaritan and the man who fell among thieves, we hear a lawyer asking a telling question: Who is my neighbor? We might well ask: Who are you? Responses could include, I am a person, a human being, a child of God – or, We are a people of God.
Augustine made the analogy, that the man who was robbed was like Augustine, or me, or you – the soul; that the Samaritan was like Jesus and the inn, providing shelter, was the Church.
What however was Jesus' response, and what question did he ask in his turn? “Who was a neighbor of the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The one who showed him mercy.
We often think of ourselves in the place of the good Samaritan, but Jesus has the lawyer put himself in the place of the man who was robbed. Before we put ourselves in the superior position, the “helping” role, first we find ourselves in need of a little traveler’s aid ourselves.
And Jesus identified himself with this: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” and he will tell them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:37-40)
Serving Jesus as we serve the least of these we see around us is the motivating force behind the efforts of so many ecumenical workers like Nathan Söderblom: not simply that we all might get along but that we might go forward together into God’s kingdom, where peace and righteousness embrace.
And I should point out one more current example of this. Last week in Tucson, a leader and elder in that community received a visit from a new member of Congress. She talked with her about immigration and our need for a new approach – not confronting each other but working together. She held up her hands as if to push away The Other, then moved them, turning them over and interlacing her fingers, to show that we must work together. Speaking practically, she suggested training for employment could begin across the border, so that people who live there could have a future and a hope. Remember this is God’s promise to us, to his people, fulfilled through Jesus and through Jesus’ hands in the world: our own. I will give you “a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts. Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky. The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps. (Psalm 85:8-13)
Sources
Nobel Foundation (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1930/soderblom-bio.html)
Uppsala Domkyrka (http://www.uppsaladomkyrka.se/setupups/local/engelsk/pdf/Ecumenism.pdf)
Luke for Everyone by Tom Wright (SPCK, 2001)
The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 by Herbert O'Driscoll (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)
"Living by the Word: Who we are" by Patrick J. Wilson, The Christian Century, Vol. 124, No. 13, June 26, 2007, p. 19. (www.christiancentury.org)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)