Lessons: 2 Kings 5:1-14, Psalm 30, Galatians 6: 1-16, Luke 10:1-11,16-20.
It happens at Baptism. Three forceful questions are presented that need an affirmative answer.
“Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior?” The Answer? “I do.”
“Do you put your whole trust in his grace and love?” The Answer? “I do.”
“Do your promise to follow and obey him as your lord?” The Answer? “I do.”
At the end of the ceremony, some officiant places a cross of oil on the candidate’s forehead saying, “you are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism, and marked as Christ’s own forever.”
Another name is written in heaven. Another disciple commissioned to the age old, yet holy task, “Follow me.”
Lest you accuse me of overactive, preacher’s hyperbole, I want to say, “This is really it.” This is what happens. You are marked as Christ’s own and there is no going back.
It is true that we have often seemed to make casual with this sacrament. Sometimes it is called “Christening.” This is popular in my family. Even though that could speak volumes about our association and identification with Christ, usually it sounds like a lighter concept, a simple ceremony where we get our Christian names.
Sometimes baptism serves to draw the extended family into the miracle and wonder of a new life on earth. Sometimes we move with urgency to the font, seeing baptism as a kind of protective amulet, a way to coerce God to keep this precious life save.
Yet, baptism is more. It is where we dedicate ourselves to Christ, to follow Jesus, to be Christ incarnate in this Body, the Church, with no turning back. It is ironic that most of us do not participate in this sacrament by choice. Someone else makes that choice for us. We have a chance to reaffirm the choice and many of us have done so answering the question, “Do you renew your commitment to Jesus Christ?” “I do.”
Yet this ritual somehow lacks the power of the three fold questions, accept, trust and follow.
This sermon is not a treatise on adult baptism, though I imagine this experience must be awesome for adults who enter it. For the rest of us, it works. It worked. So we can just get over it. We did not get the drama. We did get a life always lived, knowing to whom we belong. “You are marked as Christ’s own forever.”
We walk into the Gospel lesson this morning just as Jesus is sending folks out on mission trips. Reminiscent of Moses, from whose spirit God took a part and spread it on 70 elders, Jesus sent 70. Two by Two.
When he sends them, he has just finished teaching his disciples two things. (see Proper 8, Luke 5: 51-62) The first; don’t torch the Samaritans! This is an important teaching. The problem seems to be that the Samaritans did not want to receive Jesus. So the disciples wanted to call down lightening upon them. That is what, we Christians too often want to do. If you don not accept our “Big Guy,” God’s revelation in Jesus, then we somehow want to annihilate you, or at least, to relegate you to some inferior position in the human pecking order.
Jesus won’t have it. He rebukes them even as he rebukes us, if we are willing to listen.
The second thing he taught is, “Don’t look back. Follow me.” This is also important. We cannot get everything ready before we follow Jesus. His contemporaries wanted to do things like, bury the dead and say good-buy. We tend to procrastinate differently. We think things like, “I don’t have the pre-requisites. I need to learn more, prepare more. Perhaps I could start spiritual direction… and finish it first, and then I would be ready. I have a job, spouse and children. Certainly I cannot follow Jesus and serve them too!”
We want to live the prepared disciple model. We are a bit like Naaman in today’s lesson. He wanted his miracle appropriately packaged. Simple wasn’t good enough.
We too often think we need a superior finished product to offer, complete with free time and no prior commitments. To us, Jesus would say as he does to his contemporaries, “as for you, go proclaim the Kingdom of God.”
We are ready, we’ve been ready from the day we were baptized and marked. That, I think is one of the fundamental points of the story of the sending of the 70.
Why did he send them out, on foot no less, so marginally provisioned? They could have, no purse, no bag, and no sandals.
I have heard it said, he wanted them to rely on others; that others could give to them even as they, the disciples gave. Perhaps this explains it up to a point. I have heard it is a symbolic denial of materialism. While denying materialism is a good thing and we should do it more, I think Jesus had something else in mind. They went almost naked because Jesus was sending them, each person as a fully enabled ambassador of Christ himself.
Were we sent, we would want to go with tracts, or books by Marcus Borg or someone else we think speaks truth well. Perhaps we would take medical kits or meals for the hungry. While all these things may be good tools for important ministry, they (the tools) are not disciples. We, you and I, are disciples. Without fancy clothes or finely worded explanations of Christianity, you and I are equipped and ready to live and work the image of Jesus, the reflection of Christ, every day.
Lest we try to put off this service until we are freed from our responsibilities or more prepared to represent Christ in the world, know this; Jesus can use you just as you are.
Think of the example of our most recent baptism, William Modica, a very tiny baby who came into this world way too early. And yet, he survived well as did his mother. What does William Modica, that tiny little baby have to do, being a disciple, imaging Christ, and showing God’s love in the world? I think you only need to ask his family how much he images God to them, in his love. My daughter, Lean, is only six yet she knows Jesus with a casual intimacy most of us would simply envy. One might protest, “They are but children!” Yet they are marked as Christ’s own.
Everyone here knows people who live this. Not because they proclaim, “I represent Christ here,” but because they truly have the ability to bloom where they are planted, to serve people while reflecting Christ wherever they are in their lives. Others intuitively know God’s love in their presence.
My sister, Sharon, whose last sons just graduated from college, began making medical missionary trips to Guatemala a couple of years ago. That is certainly doing God’s work. Yet, while her boys were young she could still do God’s work. She was the same disciple in a different setting. I know that when I set off for Israel almost a decade ago for my sabbatical, she loaded me down with so many antibiotics for a Palestinian Children’s Hospital, that I had to jettison all my winter clothes. They came packaged on some slow boat and I waited, shivering, for them during the unusually cold fall.
We need to be a disciple today and know that we are equipped. See, Jesus doesn’t call a book or a theological doctrine; rather he calls disciples to whom he gives authority to image God on earth.
There isn’t just one model. I learned something early on in my ministry. I was being a pastor to someone in my congregation who had very severe cancer and was dying. She actually spent quite a bit of time in the hospital before she died. She had a large family. Those of you who are from large families know that often during difficult times, very difficult family dynamics begin to arise. In her case the social work department was involved and the hospital chaplain was also involved, as was I. And when she died, the day she died, I was in her room and so was the hospital chaplain.
You have to know that my style for chaplaincy of that sort is to be quietly present. I am quiet; leaving lots of room for whatever everybody else is experiencing.
As I walked into the room where she had died, the family was present, as was the hospital chaplain. He was just chirping away. (“Chirp, chirp, chirp. Talk, talk, talk. Chirp, chirp, chirp. Talk, talk, talk. A mile a minute.”) I was put off by that. I was thinking, “That is not the right way to do this. It’s such a delicate time!” But I looked at the family and no one seemed to mind. In fact, they knew him. They had been with him, a lot, over the past several weeks, and not only did they not seem to mind, he was clearly helping.
You see, God calls people, not a method, not a book, not a theological doctrine; people to serve in God’s name. So, be a disciple today. You are empowered already and called for this work. The setting you are in is the best place to serve. You might, like Shirley (Coombs), be able to find a cane for a blind man in Nigeria. Perhaps your gift will serve that special needs child in a way that will change his or her life. Perhaps your cheer as you punch the cash register will make a difference for someone today. Perhaps Jesus used you today in ways you will never realize.
It is not bad to study the Bible, to learn more about our faith, or to receive training so we may better server others. Yet, we need to remember that the real gift is ourselves, already empowered, already called, and already marked.
It might seem frightening. We, metaphorically, are so slimly clad when we face the titans of industry, the short-term gain/ sacrifice the environment, gaping maw of profit, profit, profit; or the bitterness and hatred of those who want to limit our love, or limit God’s love.
Jesus called lambs among wolves. Yet, he offered no armor or protection. He seemed to think that thinly clad, penniless people, people filled with the Spirit and love for the Kingdom were enough. We still are.
Accept, Trust, and Follow. You are marked as Christ’s own forever. Your names are written in heaven.
“As for you, go proclaim the Kingdom of God.”
Amen.
Lessons: Acts 5: 27-32, Psalm 118:14-29, Revelation 1:4-8, John 20:19-31..
It is often difficult to comprehend, much less accept grace. Throughout most of Paul’s letters, the writer struggles with this concept, trying to help people understand the incomprehensible love of God. Except for a couple places where he encourages us to trust or believe “in” Christ, he over and over stresses that our salvation comes from the faith, or trustworthiness of Christ. God, revealing God’s self in Jesus, is trustworthy. Somehow translators found this difficult, and they kept switching the translation so that our salvation, our worthiness, seemed dependent upon our own faith or faithfulness. There is a problem here. When we adopt this understanding we either feel defeated because our faith does not seem sufficient or, thinking our faith is great, we feel superior. As a result this salvation by our action of faith feeds our norms of competition and dominance.
It isn’t true. Our salvation is not dependent upon our faith, rather Christ’s faithfulness. God, who revealed God’s self in Jesus, is the founder of our universe and our faith. That God calls us ever forth to a great faith and witness, but never leaves it up to us alone to create or do.
This is so true in the misconstrued story we have today about Thomas. We even have come to know this most exuberant disciple as, “doubting Thomas.” According to the Gospel of John. Thomas misses the first appearance of Jesus to his disciples after his resurrection. To the other disciples, Jesus shows his hands and his side. Then they rejoice and he gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Thomas, minus this gift, is not sure. When Jesus comes again among his disciples, Thomas is there. The story ends with praise for those who believe without seeing. This is an important point. After the ascension, everyone will have to come to believe without physically seeing. Everyone here has done that and it is good. But we need to notice that Jesus is quite willing to have Thomas see him, and touch his wounds. Thomas has that need and Jesus answers it without hesitating. God is a God of grace. We are created worthy of participation in God’s kingdom from the beginning. We do not need to be better than we are.
In response, we are to try to be the best we can be.
Anyone who takes a glance at the world around them cannot but wonder at it. We have been given the tremendous gift of life on this planet. How can we doubt God’s beneficence when we ponder the wonder of this creation? We only need glance out this window for a glimpse of it.
This past week, Lean and I went to Arizona. There, we saw a very different part of this miracle called earth, the desert. Yet even in the dry reaches of the desert, life teems. It is full of lizards, which we saw, snakes that we did not. There are lots of birds and rabbits and a great number of coyotes that prey upon them. The birds fill the airwaves with their songs and since it is spring, the cactus plants were resplendent with flowers. It is difficult to ignore God’s wonder in the spring.
In this world, conditions existed for the development of our species, Homo sapiens. We developed minds and skills beyond other species. Since early on we needed community for survival, we developed social structures and conventions for getting along. God gave us the ability to create and to shape our environment for our own betterment and survival. We kept learning about the world, its abilities, and its gifts. We developed the arts of healing and, understanding the world better, conquered diseases and perfected surgery. We learned to harness not only fossil fuels, but also the very atom itself. Humans keep progressing, developing new technologies for the improvement of life. This is important and I believe God given.
With these great gifts for survival and cooperation, where did we stray into the notion of conquest and control? From whence comes the drive to be the biggest and most powerful? I know it is old, yet it seems so unwarranted. People who oppose globallisation warn that a few corporations will soon own and presumably try to control almost all the resources of the globe. I often wonder, when you own the whole world, what are you going to do with it? What good is all this accumulation? Aren’t living and loving and getting along and enjoying the planet and its wonders, more important than all the power and control that is possible?
Right now, we are warned that our planet, this gift of God, is in danger. Global warming unchecked will bring disaster to life, as we know it. In cascading intensity the results of melting ice caps, shrinking deserts, and loss of both phytoplankton and rainforest, will breed then next great mass extinction.
What can we do? Learn and act. Try to be the best we can be and be willing to let God help us through any changes we need to make. This Easter Season, we are concentrating on Stewardship of the Environment. In education we have a series on Global warming. In labor, we will be attending to the health of our forest. We are right now writing grants to help us purchase a new furnace that is 35% more efficient than the one we now use. We are researching solar-electric generation possibilities for our roof and daring to get prices for more energy efficient windows. And we will be learning more about what we need to do in our personal and political lives that may make a difference.
Personally, I find the challenge frightening; yet I can also glimpse the possibilities. The global crisis could pull the world together in cooperation in ways we haven’t seen before. We may finally see it isn’t world dominance that matters, rather interdependent cooperation. We may finally realize that this globe is here for everyone and for all species and we need to live in harmony. And we may find that the wonderful ingenuity of the human mind will help us find solutions that can increase the quality of life for most people while helping us live more lightly with the earth.
God loves us, yet not only us, rather this whole creation. We do not need to do anything to earn that love but we can do a great deal to respond to it through our love and respect for all people and the whole creation. So participate this Easter in our education and activities and commit yourself to becoming part of the solution to our global challenges.
May we reflect the wisdom and love of God in all we do and live lightly into the future.
Amen.
Nehemiah 8:2-3, 5-6. 8-10; Psalm 19; I Corinthian 12:12-31a; Luke 4:14-21
It was as if he walked right out of the pages, or in this case the scroll, of the prophet, Isaiah. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Jesus walked out bearing the mantle of this ancient prophet and people didn’t like it. They would like it less and less as his ministry continued and they began to realize the kind of God he revealed.
God’s intent, as presented in Jesus, was as it always had been. That is why he could claim to incarnate the message of Isaiah. The prophets Isaiah and in fact, all the prophets were first, and foremost, clarion criers for justice, for protection for the vulnerable, for integrity in all places of authority or rule. This is most clearly seen in the earliest prophets, Amos, Micah, and 1st Isaiah. The later prophets added other concerns to their cry but this one was never forsaken. God wanted justice, and protection for the weak. God hated it when the rulers or economically powerful cheated this ideal in any way. Yet these prophets also brought another picture of God with them. The God, for whom they spoke, was willing to go to great lengths to enforce this ethic. God, in fact procured the armies of enemy empires to devastate and punish God’s own wayward people. God used Assyria and later Babylon to impose carnage on the small kingdoms of Israel and Judah in an attempt, according to the prophets, to get people to turn to God and mend their ways. These were not polite armies. They developed tactics we would later see in Sherman’s march to the sea, scorched earth policy, and the population relocation mildly emulated by Stalin in our own recent history. God hired armies to damage God’s own people. That is what the prophets taught so that when the death, torture, abuse, and carnage of war swept the land, God was the pilot, the driver, and the source.
I actually believe this characterization was first developed by the early prophets who criticized the monarchies and elite citizens of both Israel and Judah. These prophets had no armies, no real coercive power to make people behave, so they characterized God as the avenging power who could punish them, if they failed to reform. In essence they tried to scare people into right behavior.
Whatever the origin of this characterization, it was the main characterization of God that came forward with the people of Judea, even in Jesus’ day. We see it even today when prominent preachers like Pat Robinson predict a devastating terrorist attack in 2007 that will kill millions in the United States. Especially when these preachers claim their predictions come from God and that God is punishing our sins.
So when Jesus walked out of the scroll of Isaiah claiming to preach good news to the poor and the release of captives, he was evoking a divine threat that scared many while it pleased others. God would bring justice and protect the vulnerable. This would be immensely popular or frightening to a people under the efficient occupation of the Roman Empire. Yet, outside a few moneychangers in the temple, Jesus never threatened anyone. Jesus, revealing God, taught of love and sacrifice. The last would be first, the first last, but all included. He extended the requirement of love beyond kinship groups and defined neighbor so broadly it included everyone. When he was taken, arrested, flogged, and crucified, neither he nor God lifted a finger in defense, nor would he let anyone else do so either. As we pondered this contrast in a recent Bible study class, one member put it rightly, I think, “So which witness do we believe, Isaiah or Luke?” She was right in putting it this way because each is a scribal witness. We like to see the Gospel stories as true stories of Jesus yet in reality they are a scribal witness very much like the written words of the prophets. They preach the same ethic, justice, defense of the powerless, and integrity. But they do not reveal the same kind of God. The prophets’ God is an enforcer who will kill and destroy the ones God is supposed to love. The Gospeler’s God is a loving God who will die, God’s self, rather that lift a sword in defense. Assuming we are following the latter God, how are we to make justice happen? How are we to protect the vulnerable without some kind of force?
This was the challenge the early disciples faced as they took the message of Jesus throughout the Ancient Near East and Asia Minor. It remains the challenge for us today. Each disciple ancient or modern is to shine with the same light with which Jesus shined, to exist in the image of the same loving God. Justice, protection for the vulnerable, integrity, and the love of God; this is the job of the Church and each member within it.
It is a high order. It is high because justice and the rest are simply hard to come by or maintain once you have them. It is high because the methods of the prophets’ God are more attractive to many of us than the hard work of peacemaking discipleship. We humans are always looking for the biggest stick or biggest gun we can find to enforce our will. Even when our will is good, this is not the Christian way to achieve it. One would scarcely know this by most of our Christian actions. We are called to this high order.
Fortunately we do not have to do it alone. As Paul teaches in his letter to the Christians in Corinth, we are all members of the same body, the body of Christ, and we have varieties of gifts. They are all equally valuable; they are for the building of the body and its witness in the world. We are to be a beacon of God’s love in the world. The world needs that.
So how are we doing as a church here at St. Aidan’s, and how are we all doing ourselves?
Actually, as I look out at our congregation, I see example after example of people who are doing this tremendously, people whose gentleness and kindness have aided loved ones in sickness and death, who have sacrificed significantly that others may live and live better. There are some people who work carefully each day to bring some joy and peace to work place or family, and others who commit their whole careers and public life to helping others. This is justice making, it is protecting the vulnerable, and it has integrity.
I think we are struggling as a church to do the same but it is difficult. Some years ago, recognizing that we were not growing, in fact the opposite, we undertook a great evaluation of ourselves and learned a great deal about church systems and our own life here. We committed ourselves to learn to be a more welcoming church, to avoid the traps of small churches that herald community even as they signal exclusive club. We have concentrated on our invitation and welcome. Yet there has been stumbling. One great stumbling was occasioned when so many significant leaders had to move away in one year a couple of years ago. We had to learn to fill in those vital roles. So new leadership geared up to cover everything from choir leadership to web page design even as we mourned the loss of great friends. We even have a small cottage industry in our collar industry that was imperiled and is now on sound footing because of new leadership. We have tried some things that seem to have failed. We ran special advertisements, with a diocesan grant, in a family magazine for a year and never had a single inquiry from that source. We put significant resources into creative programming for our children during Sunday school before the service, yet the numbers have not increased. We took our Bishop’s advice and concentrated on ourselves, separate from the Presbyterians and while we learned a great deal about ourselves, I think we are finding that our way forward cannot be separate. In fact, much of our activity and support for the future lies in our relationship with the Presbyterians. We realized, early on in our study, that this relationship was the “White Elephant” in the living room. We were living our origin story, the story of this chancy venture of two different denominational churches under one roof. This is not uncommon. We learned that some churches still see themselves as colonial churches even in the 21st century because that was their origin story. Our story of origin was not so long ago and it was chancy and exciting. I had cause recently to read the minutes of the early Bishop’s Committee meetings and the early Joint Assembly meetings that served both congregations. These minutes read like high drama. Was this relationship going to work? Could we get agreement on how to operate together, would our parent organizations go along? How about the diocese and presbytery? Then there were the early concerns about viability and what would happen to the other if we went under? I am told by oral history that early on people reported in to the clergy if they were going to miss church because each person’s presence was so vital to the whole. With a history that dynamic, no wonder we wanted to hold on to it. But it was no longer a reality. Owing to differences in our fortunes, clergy changes and probably lots of other things, we found ourselves a few years ago with only a slight relationship with the Presbyterians, yet a whole set of covenanted responsibilities. Our evaluation team realized that we could live with a different definition of our relationship. We were no longer real partners. What might we be in the future? We knew this question was imperative to ask. We needed a relationship that was authentic for our hopes and needs today and not for those of the past. So two years ago about this time we constituted an evaluation task force with three members of each church. Our members were Fran Board, Jennifer Rydman, and Len Coombs. The Presbyterians were Caroline Richardson, Ann Davis, and Pete Held. They worked diligently to find out what we wanted through surveys, discussions and interviews. What they found is that we do want to be partners and they made a long list of recommendations about what we could do to make our relationship better and our ministry together more authentic and powerful. 2006 saw the beginning work for this new covenanted relationship. Tremendous leadership from people like Elizabeth Warren and Brian Spolorich helped us make some sweeping by-law changes that should take much of the burden of leadership off too many shoulders and let our energies be freed for ministry and community. This is behind the scenes, often unheralded work. It isn’t very sensational but it will, I believe help us be more alive in our future together.
Right now I think we need to be about our ministry. We need to nurture ourselves as we grow in our discipleship and we need to serve as Christ’s disciples in the world.
I have been privileged to be involved nationally in leadership circles about small church ministry. I believe the best minds in our Church on small church ministry when they say that healthy churches are more about ministry than growth and healthy churches have their own dedicated outreach ministry, however small or big. A few years ago I challenged our vestry to develop an outreach ministry of our own. We prayed about it and set our deacon, Helen, off as a scout or researcher. We imagined it would have to do with educational support for those most in need of it in our community. It has not yet been realized. One fundamental flaw in this planning process is that our outreach ministries, as we know them today, are a function of NAM (our corporate self) not a function of St. Aidan’s alone. I still believe we need to support our own ministry. This is not at all said to diminish the value of all the activism already represented by the individuals of this congregation. When we develop this ministry, I believe we need to do it together with the Presbyterians. We also need to realize that a large amount of our ministry is generated, not by ourselves alone, but together with Northside. How we support that ministry will be the agenda of our new governance systems. This upcoming year will be crucial to our future as our new Administrative Council tries to implement more of the recommendations of our committee of 6.
I am not sure what shape our corporate ministry will take. We need to decide it together. It may reside in support of the house here at the edge of our property that Avalon Non-Profit Building Corporation has bought. Our moral support was helpful to them in seeking state and city grants. If we receive the grant we wrote for this house, the money will help as well. The residents of the house, survivors of domestic violence will have very special needs. We know we can be good neighbors, perhaps we can be more. Perhaps our corporate ministry will be involved in hunger issues that now seem to be the focus of most of our outreach work; perhaps it will be something else. There are many ways to demonstrate God’s love in justice making, protecting the vulnerable, and living with integrity.
In the meantime please let each of us commit ourselves to grow as disciples and to help each other grow. If you have a charism for invitation or publicity please make it known, if your gift is hospitality and welcome, the same. Share what gifts you have. Receive from those who have different ones. Let us listen to the Spirit of God and let it lead our lives. We too can incarnate the words of the prophet, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” We are the body of Christ, the Church, this year and every year. May God guide us, our lives, our ministries, and our light in the world.
Amen.
Sermon for Oct. 29, 2006: 21st Sunday after Pentecost
Job 42:1-6, 10-17 Psalm 34:1-8, (19-22), Hebrews 7:23-28, Mark 10:46-52
Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Heal me!
Heal my fear. Heal my materialism. Heal my greed, my selfishness, my insecurity, my pride, and my need for success. While, you are at it, please do something about this knee.
But what I really need, what I really want, is to be freely open to follow you, to listen to you, to let you guide my life and my service.
Why is it so hard?
I have a theory. This is it: Americans, or perhaps all wealthy westerners, are the most unlikely Christians because we are more impaired than most people. We are impaired in our ability to put our trust in God, to cry out to Jesus, Son of the Living God, with trust and the expectation that he will heed our cry and be there.
Like the rich man in the Gospel story two weeks ago, we have so much else, in which we can put our trust, money, skill, work, achievement, family connections and more. That it scarcely seems that we need Jesus. God could be irrelevant to our lives with the safety net we have built.
Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. The only true safety is our presence in the hands of the living and loving God. Our only true guide is that same God. And, if this is true for the individual, it is equally true for the church.
�Immediately, he regained his sight and followed him along the way. (Mark 10:52)
If only we could be healed and follow. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us!
For the past 2 weeks I have been talking about a simple model for discipleship. Receive God in our lives, grow in discipleship, and serve in God�s name. It is simple, yet it is not an entirely linear process. Perhaps if we cry out, �Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me, let me see,� the following, the discipleship, and the service will come naturally.
It is the final piece of this three-step model I want to address today. Here at Northside and St. Aidan�s we have been struggling for growth and stability. We have listened to all sorts of experts about making ourselves more welcoming and visitor friendly. We have added an elevator and made the parking lot safe. Perhaps now is the time to cry out, listen and follow.
Experts in small church ministry tell us that the congregations that are vital and growing are the ones that are focused on mission. They have a dedicated focus for their outreach mission. That focus can be large or small but it is uniquely theirs.
Will you strive for Justice and Peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? This question in our Baptismal Covenant was the focus of our diocesan convention this weekend. I kept hearing over and over the encouragement, �Risk!� The Covenant question is also reflected in the Social Ministries Fair we have today on advocacy ministries for peace and justice. Our two churches have a connection with every group represented here today. You are serving in God�s name. Yet, what are we doing together? What is our focus?
Your vestry spent some time and prayer addressing this issue. What came out of that, the prayer and a talent assessment of our congregation was some vague commitment to educational support for children who need extra help. Our deacon, Helen, engaged in research around this assessment, yet no concrete project has emerged.
So now I am going to bring up the issue of the house, the apartment building that stands at the edge of our property. To this, I want to draw your prayerful attention. So often dedicated outreach ministry is location driven. It happens with whomever is on our doorstep.
This apartment house has been looming over our campus throughout our life together. In 1975 it was on the market for $75,000.00, about the cost of our whole church. A private entrepreneur bought it.
Over the years, again and again, I have heard people moan, �if only we had bought that house, we could use it for�� Usually, this lament is ministry focused. We know someone who is a mental health consumer who has no place to live. We encounter families facing difficulties with housing when their loved ones are at Veteran�s Hospital or U of M Hospital for extended periods. We then say, �If we only had that house.� We think of low-income people, �If we only had that house.�
Since I tend toward self-righteousness anyway, I have thought, �if only my predecessors had had enough vision, we would own it mortgage free by now.� Then about a year ago, the apartment house was placed on the market. Where were we? We were two congregations with small memberships and part-time clergy struggling to pay the bills. How did I react? �Fear, Fear, how could we ever buy it now?�
For a while it seemed a savior was in sight. The Avalon Housing Corporation, which provides low cost housing to people with marginal incomes, contacted us and informed us they were considering the purchase of the house. They asked, �Would we be interested in some sort of relationship with them? Wow! They would buy it and we could share in the ministry, perhaps even education with the children who would live there. Way to be off the hook!
In the end Avalon actually bought a different building from the same owner. A sign went up for retail sale of the property. Then in January, Safe House Center, Avalon, and a number of organizations wrote a grant proposal with the house in mind to house, long term, survivors of domestic violence and their families. Both Session and Vestry gave their support (with no particular commitment) and our support letters joined the grant proposal. It did not get funded.
Twice it looked like a partner would join us in the purchase of this house. I began to hear rising interest from a number of people. �Let�s buy that house.� �I have always wanted us to have that house.� �It should be ours.� A vestry member (and chair of Evangelism) urged us to try to get a first right of refusal on the house. In August the acting chair of Property and Finance (for both churches) put it on the agenda. P and F put an old idea in motion and began to research the sale of an allegedly buildable parcel on Harbal drive. We engaged a market analysis of that lot. The chair and I met with the owner and received a verbal agreement to give us first right of refusal.
On that same day, we received a call from Michael Apple, the Executive Director of Avalon Housing, saying they are writing a new grant proposal for the house. This new proposal would again be to house low-income domestic violence survivors and their families. Since he had heard through the grapevine that we might be interested in the house, might we be willing to join with them.
At its meeting in October, Property and Finance received the market analysis of the lot on Harbal. It is very valuable. They are recommending to the trustees of Northside and St. Aidan�s, that we sell the land but, rather than buy the house by ourselves, the committee recommended that we explore joint ministry and possible ownership with Avalon Housing Corporation. Your Vestry and Northside�s Session (the trustees of the corporation) will be asked to make a decision on November 29. If they decide to sell the land and/or take any loans, you will be asked to concur at a congregational meeting.
In the meantime, pray. Is this where God is calling our witness and ministry? Are the families who would live in this house, the ones we are to serve as the focus of our witness to God�s love in the world? It is not a simple question. For one thing, we have just organized our joint structure to enable us to do some strategic planning together for our future. This ministry, if we choose to engage in it, is being driven by opportunity, not by planning. So pray. I think that God may be calling us to this ministry for all sorts of reasons, its location, the fact that it has remained on the market for over a year, the fact that it keeps coming back as a ministry opportunity, and the fact that it is not just me that is interested. I am, however, not the only interpreter of God�s grace. We all have the ability to listen to God�s spirit stir among us. If we commit to this ministry, it will be a long-term commitment. It will help shape who we are as disciples for years to come. So please pray, whether you are on Vestry or not, listen for God�s wisdom on this issue.
Let us cry out, �Heal us, our fear, our pride, our materialism. Teach us to risk. And help us listen. Is this where you are calling our service?
Call out, grow, serve and listen. It is about discipleship.
Amen.
Proper 19 RCL 2006
Isaiah 50:4-9a, Psalm 116:1-8, James 3:1-12, Mark 8:27-38
“Those who are ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Has it ever occurred to you that this may be the most important part of the powerful and dramatic sequence we just heard?
Jesus is at the sophisticated cosmopolitan city of Caesarea Philippi. Peter proclaims that he is the Messiah. He predicts his death, calls Peter Satan for trying to protect him, and then tells everyone to take up their cross, loosing their lives to save them.
This little bit about being ashamed seems like a weak add on. Yet it may be the most applicable part of the lesson for each of us, the common Christian today.
I like to think that I would, in a dramatic crisis, have the courage to really take up a cross. I would stand courageously before the principalities and powers and fight them with the same power of love that accompanied Jesus’ life and ministry. Maybe I would, maybe I would fold like the disciples. For most of us, the dramatic arena of public cross bearing will not come our way.
What if, however, the last charge about being ashamed is a metaphor in poetic parallelism with “take up your cross.”
How many of us, whether we lead this Christian life as professional leader or as a normal disciple, really so let Jesus lead us day by day that we follow all that he taught. How many of us have let our pride and self esteem go, and really apply the lessons of radical love he gave and gives us.
Can we put what we think is our selfhood aside and let God into the center of our being? One of the great things about having a revelation of God like Jesus is that he gave some very practical advice that at least gets us started on the way.
Great, intellectual, thinking people like us probably are uncomfortable with the notion of walking hand and hand with Jesus. And though that is were we need to end up, (It isn’t so bad, Jesus, being God and all is pretty smart himself.) we can start by simply trying to follow what he said.
So how are we doing? When I imagine myself in the role of the Father in the parable of the prodigal son, I realize that day-by-day, how much improvement I need. We had a pretty difficult day in our house yesterday. I have a cold and haven’t been sleeping well. My daughter was uncooperative. Where did I get the notion that yelling back when she yells at me was a helpful or Christ like response? If I really could fashion my parenting after that gracious father I think two things would happen, we would have less yelling, and perhaps I and my daughter would get to know Jesus better.
Some people are probably able to just be mystically open; giving themselves over to the Spirit of God that is in us and in all things. Would that we all could be there one day. Lots of us need to get there through practice.
I learned this many years ago in the practice of Aikido. Aikido is a martial art with a wonderful philosophy. Theoretically, one learns through physical practice to defend oneself without hurting the aggressor. My first teachers were all Americans who love this art and had both studied and read about it. The practice sessions were filled with mini lectures about the way of non-resistance, about the philosophy of empty hand, and merged energies, and spirit power. After a couple of years I had the opportunity to study with Japanese instructors who were personal students of the founder of Aikido. In their classes, we just practiced and we practiced hard. There were no mini lectures, though one might learn something philosophical over a beer after class. The point was the art itself taught the philosophy. Practicing this art with one’s body, prepared ones whole being to embrace a different way to live in the world. The transformation happens with the doing.
I think discipleship is a little bit like Aikido. While it helps to find ways to open ourselves to God’s spiritual direction through prayer and meditation, and we should do this, it is finally living as disciples, which makes us better disciples.
Here is a warning to all of us who want to call ourselves Christians. Being a little bit of a follower won’t cut it. It might be a good place to begin but when we spend years at this beginning stage we need to realize we walk right into the condemnation Jesus laid upon those who are embarrassed of him. God wants our whole heart. That is why she sent Jesus. Giving God our heart and dedicating our actions to be actions that follow Jesus not only lends transformation to ourselves, it lends transformation to others, and one hopes, to all of humankind. We have free will and can choose to reject this path. But let us be clear when we do this. Let each of us realize whenever we are embarrassed of the path Jesus would have us follow, we choose rejection.
So it lies with each of us, to examine our lives, and to ask, "Is this what Jesus taught? " Is this what Jesus commanded? I was about to list all the ways I think I have been living otherwise recently, but I don’t need to waste your time with that, rather I need to change what I do and live as he lived, obey him. We each need our own lists. More importantly we need to be aware of the ways life gives us chances to obey even the embarrassing commandments, turn the other cheek, love our enemies, look for the pearl of great price, forgive, 7 times seventy times, respond to the nagging of the poor widow etc. etc.
One of the things that was so impressive about Gene Robinson after his election as bishop of New Hampshire, was the loving presence he presented even when he was being attacked and falsely accused of wrongdoing. The president of Integrity said it beautifully at a Eucharist in Minneapolis; “You have conducted yourself with such Grace and given us such an example of Christ like behavior.”
Life gives us many chances to live, as Christ would have us live. Let us not turn away from these opportunities embarrassed or too weak in character to respond in the way we should respond.
And finally, remember we don’t have to do this alone. That is what the Collect is all about. “Without you we are not able to please you.” Not only did God send Jesus to give us example, teacher, and relationship, God continues to be present in Spirit to lend us support, energy, guidance and even grace to be disciples.
That support is there for us always. There really is no need to be just a bit of a disciple, we can, unembarrassed, be a disciple full time. I think that is what God calls us to do and forgiving our mistakes offers us more and more help as we grow in our discipleship.
Indeed, mercifully grant that you Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts, now and forever. Amen.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
1 Samuel 17: (1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49; Psalm 9:9-20; 2 Corinthian 6:1-10; Mark 4:35-41
"Peace! Be still!" Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" And they were filled with great awe and said to one another. "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
Actually their fear and awe came because they knew whom he was and they knew what it meant that the wind and sea obey him. Miracles like this only come from God.
David also knew this when he approached Goliath. The giant warrior had laughed at him, the disparity of their skill and experience was so apparent on the battlefield but David knew of another power, "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hand."
David, at least at this point in his life, had no illusions of his own power, just his trust in God. In the champion's contest that saved Israel from slavery, it was enough.
This important story is placed by the biblical writers as an archetype for the whole story of Israel. Did it happen? Probably not. Even the Bible carries a less dramatic story of Goliath's demise at the hand of one of David's mighty men. Yet, it stands as a symbol of hope, hope that God will deliver this tiny nation from the domination, destruction, and yes, slavery that could be imposed at any time by the imposing powers that surrounded it. Those powers included Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, and Rome. So, the story of Israel is set as a miracle story a story of escaping slavery to live freely in the face of the threat of new enslavement. It was such a powerful part of national identity that 2000 years later, just after the time of Jesus, when the Roman army laid a 3-year siege on the fortress of Masada during the Jewish uprising against Rome, the residents of Masada, as the Romans finally breached their defense all committed suicide, rather than be taken into slavery to Rome.
In this story, God liberates the slave, and protects the helpless from the greater power.
Did it always work? No. Yet, where the weak were protected, the enslaved liberated, the people of Israel and their descendents knew that God was at work. So Jews, and Christians too hung on to this story as they faced the giants of their times (particularly Rome) in the hope that the miracle of God, the liberation from slavery and oppression by power would also be their lot.
For Jews, even in the biblical period, the times when the giant oppressed were many. They suffered defeat and exile, return and vassal status. They were oppressed by Greece and humiliated by Rome. Finally, in the great exile, they, along with many Jewish Christians, were expelled from Jerusalem and Judea by Rome and sent to wander the earth. There, even Christians, now become powerful, persecuted them. In much of the Christian world, Jews could not own land and were given only a few possibilities for earning a living (at which they prospered). They were subject to pogroms, and unprovoked attacks that went unpunished by their Christian overlords. On the day Columbus sailed for America, Ferdinand and Isabelle of Spain expelled all the Jews who were forced to flee into the Moslem world for safety. The ultimate abuse of power by Christian nations, upon the Jews was the holocaust. Christians used biblical texts to incite their countrymen to this heinous crime. Using the self-criticism of their own prophet Jeremiah that was taught extensively in European lands, they condemned the Jews as less than human, not worthy of rights, property, or life itself. Where was David, where was God?
Well David is a hope, not an insurance policy, and the holocaust taught us more clearly than any other lesson, the danger of using the Bible as an excuse for domination, enslavement, and extermination. God still remains the holder of miracles, the liberator of the enslaved, the one who supports the powerless in the face of the powerful.
Jews, of course, are not the only ones to suffer genocide. People face this today and the moral world is slow to respond. Before the Nazi holocaust, Armenian Christians, praying for the same deliverance from this liberating God, were exterminated by the Turks. When the moral world did nothing about the annihilation of 3-4 million Armenians, Hitler knew he was safe to employ his holocaust.
Where is God when we as Christians call for help and liberation? Where is God when we as Christians play Goliath and enslave other children of God making a blaspheme of Jesus' message and the hope that is in us.
In America we did this with black slaves. Children of Ham, we reasoned, the Bible tells us they are to serve their brothers Shem and Jeptha (meaning white people). In the process, they would be Christianized. But black people, many of whom could not read, were not content with the story of Noah and its Table of Nations, instead they learned Moses, David, and the prophets. They knew that the shepherd boy could defeat the giant and free them from slavery. Hope does have is place and miracles happen. All people are in the folds of the Great Shepherd who calls them all by name.
Women too have lived the hope of the story of David. Chaining themselves to public buildings, staging hunger strikes in prison, marching where they could, working on harried husbands where necessary, fighting in streets and courts and in the court of public opinion, we too have overcome much of our slavery. In most countries women vote, can hold jobs, and have real rights. In this country we forget how recent this is. Our own church, hanging onto biblical sayings about women keeping silent in church wouldn't let women sit on vestries, much less serve as clergy until the latter part of the last century. Much of the Anglican Communion still excludes women from all levels of leadership. The Bible tells them so. Yet it has become common here. I am amused when I hear my father, who never called the professional nurses who worked in his office anything but "girls," condemn Moslem countries because they waste 1/2 of their populace when they deny rights to women. David does defeat the giant. The miracle happens in the midst of us and we often don't stop to appreciate it. God is working God's purpose out. Unfortunately, too often the very people who are to be agents of this liberation find some holy excuse to stand in God's way.
There is another group that has suffered slavery and persecution. It is harder to define because unlike Jews, they are not a separate people, they come in all races and both genders. We now call them the LGBT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered community. It is a misnomer because there is no real connected community. LGBT people and interspersed throughout all populations. Yet Christians have found them to burn and hang. Hitler tried to exterminate them along with Jews and Gypsies in his gas chambers. They have lived as illegals in most countries for most of our history and they still face death sentences in some countries of the world. Most recently with the help of the Anglican hierarchy, Nigeria has passed capital laws against homosexuality. Why have Christians participated in this persecution? They say the "Bible tells them so."
But the story of David and Goliath belongs to LGBT people too. The liberating love taught by Jesus belongs to us as well. And the church, embracing the loving Justice of Jesus cannot fulfill his hopes for us until we recognize that Justice denied to anyone is justice denied to all. I find the words of Correta Scott King comforting. She was talking about her husband, Martin Luther King, Jr., the prophet who saw the connections between race and poverty, and poverty and the slavery of the military industrial complex. He insisted on tying the war in Viet Nam to his war on poverty because he could see who was fighting that war on behalf of the rich who found deferments in colleges and seminaries and the National Guard. Many of his colleagues encouraged him to keep silent on the war, to concentrate on justice for his own people, eliminating barriers to black people in America. He insisted on making connections and many think paid for it with his life. He never taught on the subject of homosexuality but his widow ** said many years later that Martin would have supported gay rights because it too was consistent with all he stood for, Justice, holy Justice for one must be holy Justice for all.
The Episcopal Church in Convention these past two weeks did many things that shout out Justice. The deputies and bishops supported Millennium goals for developing nations and committed a great deal of our treasure toward those goals, they called on dioceses and churches to make partnerships throughout the world, sharing the justice and love of Christ, they insisted on making Children a priority. They consented to the election of the first Woman Bishop in Texas (Michigan has yet to have one). The bishops elected Katherine Jefferts Schori as the 26th Presiding Bishop and the first woman presiding bishop form the Episcopal Church. The deputies elected Bonnie Anderson, from Michigan, as the president of the House of Deputies. She is the second woman to hold that post. So right now, both houses of our church are headed by women. The shepherd boy is indeed present in our story too.
The church also passed on the last day of convention a compromise response to what is called the Windsor report. This report called for conversation between the Episcopal Church in America and the Canadian Church and other parts of the communion on issues of human sexuality. It also asked the American Church to repent of actions taken without the consultation of the whole communion. In essence, the consent to the ordination of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire. They ipso facto also asked for a moratorium on further ordinations of gay priests as bishops and on same-sex blessings. The Canadians were taken to task for going ahead of the communion in authorizing same-sex union blessings. Though our response committee drafted language that repented the pain caused by the Episcopal Churches action and even language about moratoriums in several resolutions, most of them were found out of order because we cannot call legal moratoria on things that are covered by canon. Our canons prohibit denying access to ordination based on sexual orientation. We can change canons but we cannot agree not to follow them. The house of deputies was also not willing to accept the language of repentance put forward by the committee.
The compromise that required a suspension of many rules of both houses in order to be considered, really asked for a voluntary restraint on consents given for bishops' elect whose manner of life would cause a problem to other parts of the communion.
I think this doesn't mean our bishops must be socially conscious investors, prophets of justice, or tithers to the church and God's work in the world. I think it simply means they must not be gay.
The new presiding bishop asked for its passage as a way to retain seats at the Anglican table for herself and all our bishops at the Lambeth Conference (a non-judicial meeting of Anglican bishops that will meet in 2008). The request was made to keep the conversation open with the rest of the world. 18 of the 38 primates of the world are threatening to cut off relationships with the US and Canadian churches.
This resolution passed on the last day of convention.
I spent many hours in the past few days reading on the deputies chat pages the thoughts and views of those who represented us at the convention. Michigan voted for the resolution. I was furious at first. Now after reading the notes and letters, I am less heated in my response. There was much agonizing. Apparently many of the Lesbian and Gay deputies supported the resolution, saying we can sacrifice and wait. Communication is important.
I still believe it was a mistake to pass the resolution. Support and inclusion of LGBT people in all aspects of the life of the Church is not just about the actual Lesbian and Gay members, it is about who we are as a church committed to God's justice and love in the world. Once one gets it that LGBT people are also part of the sheepfold, justice cannot be served when they are excluded. Our own bishop (who has been very supportive of LGBT inclusion) expressed his dissatisfaction at our last clergy conference that the "sexual" issue was getting in the way of many of the other important jobs of the church, like evangelism. I would reply that it is only getting in the way because we have so poorly embraced the inclusion that holy justice requires. It will stand in the way until we do that. A church cannot stand for justice for "almost everyone."
I hope the resolution will get seats at the table for our bishops. So far it looks like the same 18 primates are rejecting it as too little. Several schismatic bishops in our own church are talking separation. As painful as the resolution was for our convention to make, it isn't enough for them. They also are upset with the election of Bishop Scori.
We have denied or set aside for now an important piece of who we are. I do not really think it will buy the conversation we so want and the church needs to have.
On the other hand, how much damage will it do? It is hard to tell in terms of our LGBT members and our justice seeking members. I hope we all stay, as the president of Integrity, Susan Russell urges. She essentially said, "we are not going anywhere, we will keep the church moving until it embraces all of humanity." I don't think it will hurt us too much if we even follow this restraint for the next 3 years. After all, the church is not being presented with scores of gay bishop elects. There may be a situation or two where a particular diocese could have been best served by a particularly talented gay priest as their bishop. If that is so, the church will be poorer for this unwise move.
We are poorer for not really understanding the cost of exclusion in our overall mission. It will not be the first time. Yet the story of David and Goliath keeps coming back to give hope to those who are excluded, oppressed or enslaved. God is a God of liberation. When the church participates in oppression, it eventually sees the error of its ways and moves toward more justice, more generosity, more love.
After all, our Savior calmed the storm. That amazed people. A fully just church will do the same. It is of God.
Amen
** quoted from the public arena
Seventh Sunday of Easter 06
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26; Psalm 1; 1John 5:9-13; John 17:6-19
"Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one."
It is an awesome prayer, the resulting promise to be one with God, Jesus, and each other, is the answer to every true mystic's prayer. Yet Jesus' prayer was practically based, protect them. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. One of the ways that Jesus' followers did not belong to the world was that they were pacifists. They didn't fight or serve in armies. They would overcome evil with good, and love their enemy. This has not been a popular stance in any age. The people in Palestine wanted to overthrow Rome. The fact that they were pacifists, of course, did not make Christians like the occupation of Rome any more than anyone else. We see, in the apocalypse of John, written for Churches in Asia Minor, the yearning for the destruction of the power of Rome, which was called Babylon. Yet, it would be God and the cosmic forces of the Lamb that would cause Rome's ruin, not an earthly army.
The seed of Christianity, the Spirit of Jesus continuing in people's lives, would work a transformation of the human world in a different way, by causing transformed hearts, hearts turned to love, not self-interest, that would always be attuned to the needs of others. They would have ethics like, Paul's; all should work, so you have something to share with those in need.
Each year at this time, we pray for and honor those who have fallen in battle for our country. It is an honor, yet an awkward honor, for Christians who are not supposed to fight wars. Yet soldiers, better than anyone we know, except maybe firefighters, fit Christ's description of love, "greater love hath no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
But what are we to do about the no war part of Christianity? For the true pacifists among us, this is not such a difficult concept to understand. There have been conscientious objectors in all the wars of the last century. They were little understood in WWI and some were imprisoned. They were given alternative service in WWII, often at great peril to themselves. It was not a popular stance in that war. I learned in his later hears that Bill Hill, the man who carved our statue of St. Aidan, and was the rector of St. Paul's Lansing for 30 years, had been a conscientious objector in WWII. There certainly were many more by the time I came of age and the men of my generation were fighting the Viet Nam War. Can you imagine, a society were all Christians were pacifists. Some churches are. The church I attended for most of my childhood was a peace church. In that branch of the Church of Christ it was assumed that men would not fight. My friend Ted's older brother, Dicky, had been drafted into the Korean War but he was allowed to serve in the medical core because of his religious beliefs.
For the rest of Christians, wars and the reasons for fighting wars have provided an ethical challenge. Within the Catholic world, most of the Western world, where war seemed more normal than peace, ethicists worked hard to solve this dilemma. The Just War Theory was developed. Presented best by Thomas Aquinas, it developed several criteria that must be met for Christians to fight in wars. 1) The cause had to be just. Wars of aggression did not fit in this category, defense could. 2) It had to be declared by the proper authority, the real head of state, or in our case it would be Congress. 3) The Christian party must have the right intention. For instance, taking back conquered territory, or rescuing citizens sold in to slavery. Personal gain, or new conquest would not satisfy this rule. 4) There had to be a chance of success. Suicide missions were not allowed. 5) The end good had to be proportional to the means used and the destruction caused. This part was usually used to demand protection for non-combatants. It also makes one wonder if this Theory became obsolete as soon as aerial bombing was introduced into warfare.
This was an honest attempt to define a righteous war, yet history, would show us how often, the righteousness was defined by who wanted to bed in power.
For Anglicans who strattle the broad plain between Catholic and Protestant, the Protestant stance may be easier. War is always wrong, it is always sin, yet sometimes it is a lesser wrong and sin than the alternative, such as letting imperialist nations take over the world and oppress its entire people.
So, standing in this awkward ethical landscape, we do honor those who have fallen, rich lives lost, often before their potential in life had been realized, often leaving trails of grief abound loved ones, heart wounds that would never really heal. These people we honor.
Yet I think there is another Christian answer. It is one posed by Dorothy Sayers as the threat of German expansion loomed over Europe. We need to wage Peace just as seriously as we wage war. She blamed the lazy indifference of the free people of Europe for the rise of the Third Reich just as much as she blamed the Germans. Maybe even more. German society had become closed and highly controlled by the time German armies began invading Europe, but other European societies were not closed, people had room to move and dissent. In her opinion they simply slept on. Wage peace, she warned, or we are doomed to endless war.
I think the best way to wage peace is to work for justice and an equitable share of the riches of earth and quality of life for all people. It sounds so optimistic, Ivory tower, Pollyannaish, yet it really is the only policy that will work to really bring peace. Is it harder and more costly than war? Hunger in the world could be alleviated for a fraction of what we have spent in Iraq. Probably Halliburton's profits alone could do it. No Iraqi, American, British, and Italian people would have died, no families would have grieved, no civil war would be fought as they are now, and the world's hungry would be fed.
Wage peace, not war.
Today Helen and John Brewster are leaving on a trip that will end in Louisiana. They will drive two trucks, one 16' one 26' filled with supplies for people who are still living in camps after the hurricanes of last summer. Their witness does both brings needed supplies and bears witness that we, here in the north, have not forgotten them. While we work for justice abroad, we certainly need to do so here as well. Helen has now become the coordinator for hurricane relief for the diocese. The job is supposed to last 5 years. That should stand as a reminder to us that such devastation, whether it is a hurricane, a tsunami or and earthquake like the one that hit Indonesia this week, the need goes on and we need to still support with our dollars, our attention, and our prayers.
There are so many ways to work for peace, they include the ways we keep our own nation free, the way we change economic systems so the poor have a chance, they include direct aid, they include scientific invention that will make us live more lightly on the earth, environmental activism, and so much more. Let each of us find the ways in which we work for peace. Let us not go to sleep and expect peace to happen.
One day our highest honor will be given to those who have fallen in battle. We will be able to promise, "no one will fall again." In that, they will be well pleased.
Let us pray for and offer our future support to Helen in this vital ministry. Let us all, honoring our past dead, commit ourselves to wage peace.
Amen