A Very Simple Message

PROPERS:         HOLY MATRIMONY           

TEXT:                 JOHN 15:9-12

PREACHED AT BLESSING OF THE MARRIAGE OF SUSAN SMITH AND DICK SMITH AT TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH, FLORENCE, ALABAMA, ON SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 2020.

ONE SENTENCE:        The message of this moment is essentially simple – love one another as God loves us.

                                    

            What a blessing and honor it is for each of us to be here today.  Susan and Dick, we celebrate with you on this day which highlights true joy.

            It is so tempting for the preacher to approach this moment and to feel compelled to say something that is profound, insightful, or deeply thought-provoking.

            That is not my task.  I promised Susan this would not be a stem-winder.  After all, no one came here to see the priest preach.

            The core message of this moment is really very simple.  We hear it in Jesus words from the gospel lesson:

 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.  If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

            These are John’s recollection of Jesus’ words.  They express something we have heard so many times that they have become all-too-familiar.  But they remind us of the sacramental nature of this moment.  In other words, this time together – the recognition and blessing of Susan and Dick’s marriage -- is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.

            First, Jesus tells us that God loves us.  This is the love of a tender and merciful God, not an angry and vengeful God.  This is God that encourages us to cobble together joy and meaning out of the most challenging of circumstances. His love is to give meaning to life – to transform the pain of the cross to the unspeakable joy of an empty tomb.

            Then, God goes one step further.  He tells us to love one another.  We are to represent God’s love in our relationships with others.  Notice – we are not to tolerate others, or to suffer fools gladly.  We are to love one another as God loves us.

            That loves reaches its apex in a moment such as this – when Susan and Dick embark on a journey of love together.  Their love is founded in the love which they experience – whether they are aware of it or not at a particular moment – in the bonds of matrimony.

            As they live into the promises they make here – with us as witnesses – they emulate the love that Jesus shows to his followers and the entire world.  By that love, they evidence a sign of hope so yearned for in this world.

Opening to the Light

PROPERS:          2 EPIPHANY, YEAR A

TEXT:                 COLLECT OF THE DAY; PSALM 40:1-12               

PREACHED AT HOLY TRINITY, PENSACOLA, ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020.

ONE SENTENCE:        The light which is characteristic of Epiphany casts                                              shadows in our lives which are to be brought into the light, offered to God, and healed.       

                                    

            In these days after Christmas, we hear much about light.

            In the gospel lesson on the First Sunday of Christmas, we heard the prologue to the Gospel according to John.  It included these words: “What has come into being is life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

            In the Feast of the Epiphany, we hear the story of the three magi being guided to the newborn savior by a star in the heavens.  And today, in the collect, we prayed, “Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world…”

            We would agree, I think, that the light is what we seek.  And that light, in general, is healing and renewing.  Light illumines. Especially, as Christians, the light of Jesus. 

            We seek to bring to light those things which fester, corrupt, or damage.  Appropriate light will help heal damaged skin.  Light is something we seek.

            But light does something else.  We hardly consider its effects, because we so want to avoid what it does.  

            Light casts shadows.

            I recall a game we used to play at my grandmother’s house in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.  She had a two-story house that her mother had ordered from Sears-Roebuck.  Yes, they used to sell houses! It was old and spooky.

            We would creep down the inside stairs at night, when all was dark.  We would reach quietly around the corner and press the button which turned the lights on in the kitchen.  Then we would giggle as the various creatures of the night would scurry for the darkness. The floor would move!

            There are events, moments, relationships in life which we seek to keep in darkness. We keep them hidden – maybe even from ourselves.  They are those things in life of which we are ashamed – or at least not proud of.

            Perhaps it is not something we are aware of.  Carl Jung, the great psychological theorist, wrote of the shadow.  It is the aspect of ourselves and our personalities that we keep in the darkness – ignored, hidden, and denied.  We may not even be conscious of it, but, rest assured, it is there for all of us.

            My dear friend, Merrill Wade, who is a retired priest in Texas, once spoke to me of the “dark, unbaptized corners of our hearts.” The light cannot reach those hidden parts – they remain unaffected by the healing powers of the light.Theologically, he was spot-on with human nature and with Carl Jung.

            We tend to ignore that aspect of ourselves.  As a result, there is a tendency to have those hidden, unhealed shadows affect our lives.  That inaccessibility of the light – the fact that the tendencies function from the darkness -- leads to behaviors or actions which separate us from our own best interests, one another, and the fullness of life for which we yearn.  The shadow affects our actions and we are not even aware – the tendency is so hidden from the light.

            But we are not helpless.  The shadow does not have to remain in the darkness.  Consider the victorious words of one who was touched by God – the author of Psalm 40:

 ¹I waited patiently upon the Lord; * 
he stooped to me and heard my cry.

² He lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the mire and clay; * 
he set my feet upon a high cliff and made my footing sure.

³ He put a new song in my mouth, 
a song of praise to our God; * 
many shall see, and stand in awe, 
and put their trust in the Lord.

⁴ Happy are they who trust in the Lord! * 
they do not resort to evil spirits or turn to false gods.

⁵ Great things are they that you have done, O Lord my God! 
how great your wonders and your plans for us! * 
there is none who can be compared with you.

⁶ Oh, that I could make them known and tell them! * 
but they are more than I can count.

            We can only theorize or speculate on what the psalmist had experienced – the precise nature of the desolate pit.  But I suspect he did not get there overnight, nor did he get out of it overnight.  Many, if not most, times, the work of the Spirit takes time.

            We may seek to do what is right, but we cannot.  The Apostle Paul puts that plaintive cry so succinctly: “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing." [Romans 7:18b-19] 

            And, so it is with the shadow – the hidden part of ourselves that is our desolate pit. To emerge from the muck and the mire that weighs us down, we need to turn inward.  We need to inspect our feelings, our motivations, our actions and then bring them to the light.

            Once we have exposed the unbaptized corners of our hearts to the light which Christ brings, we are freed from the control it lorded over us from the dark recesses of our souls.  In fact, we share in Christ’s victory over the forces of darkness and we become more whole through that healing light.

            It takes time, though – and rigorous self-examination.  We need to turn an unblinking eye within, and listen with unguarded ears to those who would help us find the light.

            And when we come to the power of the light, we will have found our Epiphany.

The Rest of the Story

PROPERS:          1 EPIPHANY: THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD         

TEXT:                 MATTHEW 3:13-17

PREACHED AT HOLY TRINITY, PENSACOLA, ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 12, 2020.

SUMMARY:       Baptism is the full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into Christ’s Body, the Church.  The bond established by God in baptism is indissoluble. 

                                    

PREACHED EXTEMPORANEOUSLY

            Today is one of the great baptismal feast days of the church year – the First Sunday after the Epiphany, also known as the Baptism of Our Lord.

            Today is a fitting day for Holy Baptism – along with the Easter Vigil, Pentecost. the Sunday after All Saints’, and any day on which the Bishop visits. It is the reason we will renew our baptismal vows in a few moments.

            Baptism did not rise ex nihilo in the early church.  It had been around for many years.  Before it became one of the dominical sacraments – that is, a sacrament instituted by Christ – it had two major threads.

            The first was Baptism of Conversion.  It was a practice used by biblical-era Jews to initiate catechumens – Gentiles studying to join the Jewish faith – into the body of faithful people.  Converts would typically study the Jewish faith and, when adequately prepared, would receive the baptism of conversion.

            Conversion into the Jewish faith – the early thread.

            Then came John the Baptism – a “wild ass of a man”, wearing a leather girdle and eating locusts and wild honey.  He lived, preached, ministered and baptized in the arid desert-like area along the Jordan River in the Judean Wilderness.

            John offered something different.  Something different from the baptism of conversion.  He offered baptism to faithful Jews – offering baptism for the repentance and forgiveness of sins.  People of the covenant community would undergo baptism to cleanse them of their sins.

            Now, of course, that raises the question of why Jesus received baptism.  And as you heard in today’s gospel, John said that he needed to be baptized by Jesus.  Jesus demurred:  We must do this to fulfill all righteousness.

            So, there you have it.  Any other questions would be met with silence – part of the divine mystery.

            So, we have two threads in baptism now – conversion into the community of faith, and for the repentance and forgiveness of sins.  But there’s more…

            We Episcopalians believe that praying shapes believing and that our beliefs can be found in our liturgy, our Book of Common Prayer.  That is certainly true in our theology of baptism.

            Turn to page 306 in the Book of Common Prayer.  There you will find one of the most beautiful and theologically-profound prayers in all the prayer book – the Thanksgiving Over the Water.  I love this prayer.  It says so much in so few words.

            Listen anew to it:

We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water.
Over it the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of creation.
Through it you led the children of Israel out of their bondage
in Egypt into the land of promise. In it your Son Jesus
received the baptism of John and was anointed by the Holy
Spirit as the Messiah, the Christ, to lead us, through his death
and resurrection, from the bondage of sin into everlasting life.

We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism. In it we are
buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his
resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore in joyful obedience to your Son, we bring into his fellowship those who come to him in faith, baptizing them in
the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

            There’s a lot of meat there – a lot of substantive imagery.  It tells us a lot about our theology of baptism.

            First, we are told about God’s movement in creation.  Then we refer to God’s saving action by bringing the people of Israel out of captivity in Egypt, through the waters of the Red Sea, into the Promised Land. And then we are reminded of Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan River.

            Then we are told of how all this matters to us.  Going down into the waters of baptism, we going down into the grave with Jesus and when we come out water, we are rising with Jesus in his resurrection.  We have died with Jesus, and we have risen with him – under the movement of the Holy Spirit..  We enter new life.

            So, in addition to the conversion aspect of baptism and the repentance and forgiveness of sins, we add other elements to our understanding of baptism.  We are made new creatures, as in God’s movement in creation.  We are delivered, as through the Red Sea.  And we share in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

            Those are remarkable and profound meanings for a simple liturgical act – a simple act which has life-long and even eternal consequences.

            Yet, there is one additional aspect to baptism that I want to emphasize today.  It is found in the rubrics on page 298 in the Book of Common Prayer – the very first paragraph:

“Holy Baptism is the full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into Christ’s Body the Church.  The bond established by God in Baptism is indissoluble.”

            Note these tenets of the Church’s teaching about Baptism:

·      It is the complete initiation into the Church; not partial.  Nothing else needs to be done to complete it.  It is the work of water and the Holy Spirit, and not something we do.

·      The bond established by God in Baptism is indissoluble.  In other words, God establishes the bond.  It is God that moves first.  It is something which God does.  And the bond which is established cannot be dissolved.  Once we have become children of God, we are always God’s child.  Nothing we do or say can separate us from that love.

            The act of Baptism seems so simple, so straightforward. It has so much meaning beyond the apparent.

            Now you know the rest of the story.

An Insight into Grace

PROPERS:          CHRISTMAS 1, YEAR A      

TEXT:                 ISAIAH 61:10 – 62:3; JOHN 1:1-18

PREACHED AT HOLY TRINITY, PENSACOLA, ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2019.

ONE SENTENCE:        The “scandal of grace” symbolized in this season                                                overcomes our common brokenness and invites the                                        forgiveness of selves.       

            Nora and I took an evening a couple of weeks ago to watch a long-anticipated movie on Netflix.  No – it was not The Irishman.  It was the splendid movie, The Two Popes.

            The movie is a speculative, fictionalized account of the non-existent-then-close relationship between two men who would become Pope – the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics around the world.

            The two men were Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who, early in the movie, is elected Pope Benedict XVI.  He had previously been head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, a noted conservative, and described by many as God’s Rottweiler.  He wanted no change in the church and, in fact, a return to earlier practices.

            The other prominent figure in the movie is Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aries, who has traveled to Rome to earnestly seek Pope Benedict’s blessing of his resignation. He is a progressive, wanting to make the church relevant in modern culture.

            They find themselves very much at cross-purposes – theologically, ecclesially, doctrinally, and in terms of plans for their individual futures.

            As Pope, Benedict rebuffs Bergoglio’s entreaties to accept his resignation. He goes even further: He shocks the South American archbishop with his own plans:  He will resign as pope – something which had not happened in more than 1,000 years.

            And he goes on: Benedict expects that Bergoglio will be elected the next Pope. The prophecy by Benedict leaves Bergoglio stunned.

            What ensues is a deeply profound and moving conversation between these two one-time rivals.  They both share their deep searching for the voice of the Lord, and acknowledge their dreadful shortcomings in the past.

            It was a scene which drew me to a personal insight – something which I had known intellectually long ago, but had chosen to forget in my service in the church.

+ + + 

            That insight can best be described in this way:  I can look out at you and see a gathering of ordinary folks who have lived ordinary lives and have no personal failures or struggles to speak of.  It makes preaching easy.  It keeps our relationships antiseptic. It causes me to keep things on a surface level with you.  There is no need to talk about the struggles of living a human life.

            I know that we have all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.  I know that we have faced struggles.  But, all that is theoretical, isn’t it?

            If I am lucky, you see me in such a one-dimensional, superficial sense, too.

+ + +

            But, such a simple, cardboard cut-out humanity is not the reason Jesus came into the world.  He came because we are broken. We have all failed – sometimes miserably.  We have made huge personal mistakes.  We have had motivations that were not in the same zip-code as admirable. We have had failed relationships. We have let others down. We have experienced bitter losses.

            Those are the reasons for Christmas.  As the prologue to the Gospel of John notes:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it…

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth… From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

            Both Benedict and the man who would become Francis acknowledged through the heart-rending conversation they shared that – even in spite of their failures (which you and I know in our own lives) – they had been touched by the grace of God.  That grace is scandalous because it wipes the slate clean for any person – including you and me… and the worst person we can think of.

            I want you to know that I see you differently.  I hope you see me differently, too.

+ + +  

            The movie of those two Popes went further.  The two men talked about recognizing the grace of God, and forgiving themselves, as well. Bergoglio, particularly, could not forgive himself for actions early in his ministry. The grace of God is one thing; to forgive oneself is another.

            You probably know that line of thought.  I certainly do.

            But recognize this: If God has forgiven – literally forgotten – what is in your past, who are you to hold a higher standard?

            A key point of Jesus’ life is that we have all been made new creations. As new creations, we put on new garments, as described by the Prophet Isaiah in today’s first lesson:

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
my whole being shall exult in my God; 

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, 

as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

            We are dressed differently.  We wear the garments of salvation, and the robe of righteousness.

            Christmas has come.  We have welcomed him into our hearts.  Now, as the New Year begins, wear the clothes with which you have been blessed as a new creation.  Let the old fade away – let go of it.  Release those burdens.  Celebrate the grace that has come into the world, and into your life.

Delaying Gratification

PROPERS:          ADVENT 3, YEAR A    

TEXT:                 JAMES 5:7-11

PREACHED AT HOLY TRINITY, PENSACOLA, ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2019.

ONE SENTENCE:        The watchword for Advent is patience.         

                                    

            Each year, the season of Advent brings to mind a story from the days I was serving a parish in Starkville, Mississippi.

            I had been marinated, soaked in, and thoroughly indoctrinated in the Episcopal approach that Advent is a season of preparation and not an early Christmas celebration.  That was – and is – my approach.

            But, perhaps, I came on a little strong.

            One Sunday I preached a sermon that chastised the practice of premature Christmas celebrations.  I said that such early observances of the blessed event, coming on December 25^th, diminished the power of the Incarnation and the dramatic message of his birth.  I suspect, also, that my condemnation included too-early Christmas trees, lights, decorations, and other typical Christmas trappings.

            The intent was correct, I think, but the conveyance of the message was too much.

            As I stood outside the nave greeting parishioners after the service, one of my favorite members came up to me to shake hands.  She looked up at me and said, “Well, bah humbug to you, too.”

            She made a good point.  She and I have laughed about it many times.

            But, while the message was too strong, the point was on-target.  As we might say, the emPHAsis was on the wrong sylLABle.

            There is another source I would cite that makes my point – and also the point of the lesson from James today.

+ + + 

            M. Scott Peck was a psychiatrist who became a very popular author.  Among others, he wrote “The Road Less Traveled” and “People of the Lie”.

            He had been an agnostic, but while writing “The Road Less Traveled”, he became a Christian and a very popular speaker at conferences.

            That book was profoundly important to me.  It was formative in my decision to enter the ordained ministry. Along with reading his book, I served as a staff member of a conference he led at Kanuga, the Episcopal conference center in the mountains of North Carolina.

            In “The Road Less Traveled”, Dr. Peck adapted many of the concepts of modern psychiatric theory to the Christian message.  One of those is especially appropriate today.

            He wrote that one of the hallmarks of psychological health is the ability to delay gratification – to see something, want something, and patiently wait for it.  A classic example he shared was eating cake:  eating the cake first, while waiting until the end to eat the icing on the cake.  I thought it was a pretty clear illustration.

            It applies to Advent, too.  We are to await the joys and delights of Christmas on the actual day, and the 12 days in the season which follow.  That is somewhat at odds with the practice of many stores to put Christmas items on the shelves in September.

+ + + 

            The concept of patience – of delaying gratification – is explicit in the lesson from James today.  And the promise which invites patience is subtly over, under, around, and through the other lessons.

            James – presumed by many scholars to be the brother of Our Lord – is very direct in his instructions (which may even predate the writings of Paul).  He tells us:

“Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.” (James 5:7-10)

            James is speaking to us and advocating for a healthy spiritual practice.  He is also encouraging us – practically – to await the joy which will come in our welcoming of the newborn savior on Christmas morning.  And, beyond that, his advice reflects sound psychological health.  That is a trifecta.

            But what are we to do in the meantime?  James has some very practical suggestions as we wait.  Those suggestions do not include waging conflict with other forces – secular or religious.  They do not include the idea of rapping the knuckles of others who have different practices or traditions.  They are suggestions which highlight the practices of our faith.

“Are any among you suffering? They should pray.  Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.  Are any of you sick? They should call the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.  The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” (James 5:13-16a)

            Yes, those words were written 2,000 years ago and half a world away, in a culture far from ours today.  But the wisdom is timeless. In preparation for Jesus’ coming – either in Christmas celebration or in an ultimate sense – we are called to catch our breath.  To slow down.  To turn inward.  To reflect. To pray. To give thanks.  To ask for guidance.  And, to reach out to those in need:  the hungry, the hurting, the lonely, the poor, the searching, and those who hunger and thirst for a kind word.

            If you are able to delay gratification and observe this season of preparation in a deeply-spiritual way, you will truly know the joys of the Lord’s coming.