Healing from the Inside Out - a sermon for 9/30/12

A Sermon for the 18^th Sunday after Pentecost (RCL B) 9-30-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:           James 5:13-20; Psalm 124; Mark 9:38-50

Themes:        healing, prayer, deeds of power, 

Title:             Healing from the Inside Out       

My dear friends: I have no idea why God heals some people, and why others continue to suffer.

In his typically pragmatic fashion, James finishes his letter with practical advice for the Christian community, including this famous passage about calling the elders of the church to pray for the sick and to anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.

With simple clarity, James states it as a fact: “The prayer of faith will save the sick.”

And yet…healing is not quite that simple, is it?

To repeat: there is no answer to the why question. Why do some suffer from illness and others do not? Why are some healed and others are not? I do not know.

But I DO know that the healing power of God is real. I KNOW that God desires each of us to live a full and abundant, joyful and meaningful life, and I know that sometimes God intervenes to ensure that this is so.

My friends, I believe in the healing ministry of Jesus, and I believe that the same healing power that was at work through him in Galilee so many years ago is still at work today through his Body, the people who gather together because of their faith and trust in him.

I believe this.

And yet…healing is a complicated matter.

If we allow it, God showers healing grace upon us all the time. It is an on-going, continual process, because we need healing on SO many different levels.

I remember visiting someone in the hospital who was facing a very difficult prognosis. And the first thing this person did when I came in to visit him was to breakdown and cry.

And he said, “I don’t know why this is happening. Maybe God is angry with me. Maybe I did something wrong. All I want to do is to be a grandfather – to love and spoil my grandchildren. But now I’ll probably be gone before I get to  see them. I don’t know what I’ve done to make God do this to me.”

And so I knew right away where to start!

Yes, this man was facing a terminal illness – and I would pray for his healing on this visit, but the first and primary place where he needed to be healed was in his relationship with God!

I spoke to him directly and said, “Listen to me: God is not angry with you and is not causing this illness. God loves you. God treasures you. You are precious in God’s sight, and God does not want you to suffer like this any more than you do yourself. Believe me: God wants you to be a grandparent, and to see and love your grandchildren. I don’t know why things like this happen to people like yourself, but it is not because God wants it to happen. We live in a messed up world and it’s not the way God wants it to be. But God is with you even now, and will stay with you as you face this illness.”

Do you see it, my friends? His healing needed to begin with his faulty understanding of who God is!

God does not send illness. God does not cause disease. God is against cancer.

In our Eucharistic prayer, right after we join in the song of the angels – what we call the Sanctus – we continue on as we pray together with these words:

“Holy and gracious Father: In your infinite love you made us for yourself; and, when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you, in your mercy, sent Jesus Christ…”

When we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death…

Now here is some good theology! God made us in love, and God never intended us to live with evil and illness and death. We do experience those things now because of sin, but this was never God’s will, never God’s plan.

Our collective human sin has contaminated all of creation.

And the whole story of redemption is, in fact, God’s work to undo the consequences of sin, to restore us to our intended divine wholeness, sharing in abundant, eternal life directly with God.

I think that sometimes the very request for physical healing might in fact be a sign of a deeper spiritual disease. I think that some people want to hold on to their physical health as if it were their treasured possession; as if each day was not a gift of grace, but rather as their rightful possession to be jealously guarded and protected; as if each day is their own and not given by the Creator for God’s own purpose.

And if so, then perhaps it is true that THIS attitude needs to be healed first, before physical healing can occur.

Healing occurs on many different levels, but in God’s plan it always works from the inside out.

In the years of his youth, when Francis of Assisi began to feel the call of God upon his life, he came across a leper in the road. He was out riding in the countryside, confused about what to do with his life. For as long as he could remember, Francis had abhorred lepers. He could not look at them; he would not go near the houses where they lived.

But here was a leper placed before him as if by the hand of God, and young Francis knew that he was being challenged.

He had never been afraid of going to war; but he was deathly afraid of this poor, helpless leper standing before him. And, as the story goes, his soul stopped in that moment of decision.

Then, in typical Franciscan style, he jumped down off of his horse and ran to the leper and threw his arms around him. Francis gave the leper what money coins he had in his pocket and rode on. And so his healing began. Francis faced his fear and so turned the corner.

In the truest possible sense, Francis repented. He changed his direction, and he began to be healed by the hand of God.   

Nora Gallagher writes of a time years ago when she asked a very successful business owner if he had enough money yet. The man replied, “Don’t you understand? There is never enough.” (The Sacred Meal, 2009: p.116)

That kind of man needs healing! He needs to be healed and set free from the obsessive love of money, free to be content and grateful and joyful no matter how much money he has.

But we all know, don’t we, that feeling of “never enough.” We don’t have enough money. Or we don’t have enough time. We don’t have enough friends, not enough energy, not enough support.

Women – like my wife Erin – might say that they don’t have enough romance!

Men might say that they don’t have enough respect, or enough physical intimacy.

Whatever you are thinking of right now, I’ll BET that you can fill in the blank for yourself!

“I don’t have enough …BLANK.” Whatever- you name it.

Well guess what? We need to be healed of THAT “never enough” mindset!

Because it is a lie!

You and I have EXACTLY the amount of time that we need to live this life.

In Christ, we have enough. Our healing begins on the inside, and it begins by learning to TRUST in God entirely and simply.

Now, just to be clear, because this is such a commonly misunderstood passage, let’s make sure that we all understand that the Master’s intention was NOT for us to cut off our hands or our feet or gouge out our eyes!

His ministry was one of healing, not of mutilation!

And his focus is always first and foremost upon the healing of the heart – healing of the very center of my being.

True healing from the hands of Christ comes from the inside out.

Chopping off hands and feet, and tearing out eyes, would do nothing for that.

How could hurting yourself in this way accomplish God’s goal of healing you entirely?

As Dallas Willard wrote - in a quote which I will never forget, to follow this teaching literally would do nothing, because “The mutilated stump [of a person] could still have a wicked heart” (The Divine Conspiracy, 1998: p.167).

So, my brothers and sisters, let’s continue to pray for one another; continue to ask for God’s healing grace to be at work in the bodies of those who are sick, those who have requested our prayers.

But allow God to work on healing you from the inside out. It’s rarely easy, and it won’t feel safe to allow God in that deeply into the depths of your being.

But this is the only way to experience true, eternal life – the kind of life which lasts forever. Amen.

Sweetest child's prayer ever!

From Fiona's Prayer Journal as a 10 year old!

In case you can't read it, it starts like this:

"Dear God, thank you for makeing [sic] me exist. I think that was the nicest thing anybody has ever done for me." 

This is me with Fiona, by the way, as a flower girl at a family wedding this summer:

The Home for Hypocrites - a sermon for Sept. 23, 2012

A Sermon for September 23, 2012 (RCL Proper 20 B)

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:            James 3:13-4:3,7-8a; Psalm 1; Mark 9:30-37

Themes:        the wisdom from above, selfish ambition, the grand reversal

Title:             The Home for Hypocrites

There’s a story told in Ireland that after St. Patrick had visited the village of Cong in western Ireland, the great saint went out of the village to pray in a quiet place. And after praying, he laid down to sleep, using a stone as a pillow. That stone became known as the Stone of Truth, and people never dared to lie if their hands or head were on that stone.

Many years later, a man named Kerwin lived in Cong who had no faith in God and who despised all talk of love, peace and honesty. Kerwin thought that every person ought to gain whatever wealth they could, and enjoy it. He lived faithfully by his creed, stealing and cheating at every opportunity.

One night he was returning to Cong after visiting another village, where he had stolen some gold. The night was dark and Kerwin tripped over the Stone of Truth. The gold flew out of his hand and his head came crashing down. He was left with a huge gash right across his forehead. Cursing, he ran home and bandaged the wound. But he was left with a scar – a long line across his forehead.

Sometime later, a similar thing happened. But this time, the cut on Kerwin’s forehead ran from the crown of his head down to the top of his nose. And that too left a scar, so that now he had a cross mark permanently on his forehead. The villagers all mocked him. “Ha! The one who doesn’t believe in God now has the cross of Christ on his own head!”

Kerwin hated this mockery, and he hated the Stone of Truth for disfiguring him. So he decided to bury the Stone. He dug a deep hole beside it, but the Stone was too heavy for him to push into the hole. Then he covered the Stone with dirt. But sheep grazing nearby soon scraped the dirt off with their feet.

In misery, Kerwin sat down there by the stone and wept. “O God, what can I do?” he wailed.

At that moment, a beggar dressed in rags passed by.

“Why are you crying out to God?” the beggar asked. “Perhaps I can help.”

“Go away, you fool” was Kerwin’s reply.

 

But the beggar did not go away. Instead he sat down and out of his bag took out a chunk of bread. He broke the bread in two, and handed one half to Kerwin. Without thinking, Kerwin took the bread and they both began to eat.

After a minute, the beggar said, “Well, you’ve called out to God for help, and you’ve taken bread from a beggar. So you can’t be proud. You must be a true Christian.”

And after that, the beggar got up and went on his way.

Only when the beggar left did he realize what had happened. And from that moment, he was changed. He gave up stealing and cheating, and he began to serve the needs of others.

Kerwin ended up living a long life. The folks who knew him as an evil man all died away, and the young viewed his scared forehead as a sign of his saintliness. Before he died, he talked with some young folks from the village and he told them the story of how he became a Christian. He said, “That Stone which I stumbled over saved me. And that beggar gave me my first communion” (Celtic Parables by Robert Van de Weyer, p.32-35).

My dear friends: like Kerwin in this old story, God must shatter our pride and our self-centered will if we are ever to participate in God’s full and abundant life.

How many of you have heard people complain that the church is full of hypocrites?

Yes? Me too. Many times. Typically, of course, this comes from those who do not really have any experience of the church, but sometimes it does come from those who have been deeply hurt or shocked by the behavior of church members.

I’ve heard some clergy say that they refuse to put any Christian stickers on their vehicle so that people do not judge them as hypocrites by their bad driving behavior!

That’s a real concern, is it not? If you advertise yourself as a disciple, as a student of Jesus, does that mean that you are thereby declaring to live by a higher standard than others?

How did James describe the wisdom of God which is to guide the life of the Christian community? “The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy” (James 3:17).

Without a trace of hypocrisy! Wow –that is a high and difficult standard!  

Who among us can live without a trace of hypocrisy? 

Anyone want to volunteer themselves?

I didn’t think so! Who wants to be placed under the microscope to have all of your actions analyzed and measured against that kind of standard?

Both our lesson from James for this morning and our Gospel reading do an excellent job of pointing out the root problem of humanity.

And that, my friends, is self-centeredness.

James criticizes the believers for their “selfish ambition” and for their cravings which cause conflicts and disputes in the community.

In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus criticizes the twelve for their self-centered hypocrisy, claiming to follow Jesus while continuing to focus upon securing the best possible position for themselves.

This is the problem of humanity, and it is the problem of every single human being.

How can we get outside of ourselves?

How can we live free of selfishness, free from the need to protect ourselves and to secure our own advancement at the expense of others?

The message of the Gospel in this regard is clear and simple: you cannot!

By yourself, in your own power, this can not be done!

Remember last week when James spoke about how olive trees do not produce figs and how a spring cannot produce both fresh water and salt water?

This kind of change cannot happen through your own willpower!

Please listen and understand this clearly: becoming a Christian is not about trying to be morally correct, or trying harder to not be a hypocrite!

That is always our temptation – because we like to be in control!

You see, this way, the power is still in our hands. We can exert a bit more effort, and then we can be pure and righteous in God’s sight, and God will love us and accept us.

But the Gospel tells us that we can never, ever do that.

Being a Christian is about NOT trying any more! It’s letting go, it’s resting in the Gospel truth that God has done EVERYTHING already! Our task is simply to accept this grace, and then to be changed by it.

You are a little pine tree, and God wants to turn you into a mighty oak. You cannot change yourself, but God can – if you allow God to change you from the inside out!

And I’m sorry to say it, but we are all hypocrites after all. And the right and proper place for us hypocrites is here in the church!

This is the home for hypocrites – at least for those hypocrites who know that we cannot change this basic fact about ourselves by trying harder to get it all straight within our lives.

But God can change us! God can clean up the hypocrisy of our lives. God can make us consistent and focused, pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.

Did you notice that one key phrase in there? “Willing to yield.”

Sometimes God must trip us up and break us and bring us to our knees, like Kerwin in that old Irish tale, before we will yield. Sometimes it could be a child, or a beggar, who brings us – surprisingly - into God’s presence. 

No matter what, the path forward for hypocrites like us is to yield to the grace of God.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God,” James calls to us.

This is how we begin our journey with Christ, and this is how we move forward in this journey.

Are you willing to yield, my friends?

Are you willing and able to submit yourself to God’s work in your life, to allow God to change you and transform you? To give up control and let God be in charge?

“Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you.”

When you walk forward to receive the sacrament today, let that be your time to yield, to draw near to God in humble submission, to accept and receive the grace of Christ, and then know with confidence that God has drawn near to you. And be changed. Amen.

Riot Police! The Good Side of American Individualism

The Benefits of American Individualism

Over the last few decades, there have been a growing number of voices decrying the rampant individualism of American society. And for good cause, in my opinion. I admit that I have often been found in that camp, because there are a number of obvious drawbacks for our society due to this over-emphasis upon the individual. The breakdown of family structures, apathy toward the common good and our democracy, suburban sprawl and consumerism, loneliness and a growing feeling of isolation among younger people. All of these factors contribute toward a lower quality of human life and toward the degradation of the environment. This is what happens when people lose a sense of communal identity and group-consciousness and become individual actors in the drama of their solitary lives. This is the glass-half-empty side of American individualism.

But today I confess that I am overcome with a sense of gratitude for this wonderful gift of American individualism! There is a glass-half-full side to this reality! I have been observing the reports of riots and mob violence in Afghanistan and across the Islamic world, and I have been wondering: why are riots like this so rare in the USA?

Who in this picture is using their brain?

The conclusion: American individualism! For better of for worse, we Americans are not nearly as prone to a mob mentality as people in other parts of the world. We are much more inclined to think for ourselves and not to allow some bully to control us with emotional manipulation.

Seriously, folks. I know this isn't politically correct, but how idiotic do you have to be to go kill some innocent person just because a "big man" with a loudspeaker is yelling at you and encouraging you to do so? Really?! Let's be honest: I have to wonder if people like this even have a brain, or a heart, or a SOUL, to begin with! Are they even alive and awake? How can you allow yourself to be manipulated so easily by someone with malicious intent? 
Are you even able to think for yourself? Oh, and while we're at it, let's go cut the nose and ears off of a teenage girl who disobeyed her father. Or stone to death a young girl with Down's Syndrome because she maybe was doing something that the Imam says is immoral. Yeah, that sounds like a great plan, people. Very well thought out, too.  

By contrast, these kinds of things happen rarely in America because of our rampant individualism. We are a bit more skeptical of those who yell into bullhorns. Or, at the very least, we are harder to gather together into mobs because we are all at home watching television. (Can the distraction of mass media actually produce a good moral outcome?)

There are riots here on occasion, of course. But nearly all of these in our time are induced by alcohol and they occur after sporting events. That does not excuse the actions of the idiot rioters, but it does make them a bit more understandable. Those mobs throughout the Islamic world cannot use alcohol as an excuse! They are rioting and burning things and killing people, and they are entirely sober! (At least, they claim to be.)

I wish that we had a greater sense of communal cohesion in our society. A greater consciousness of working together for the common good, and for a better world to leave to our grandchildren. Unfortunately, we do not have this in America today. We think much more, it seems, about how to maximize the HD content on our televisions. But I'll still take  American individualism over the potential for a mob mentality. Groups of men like that (and it is always men) exhibit the very darkest side of human nature. God forbid that we ever see mobs like that within this beautiful land. 

From the Same Mouth - a children's message for Sept. 16, 2012

A Children’s Message for 9-16-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:             James 3:1-12; Psalm 19; Mark 8:27-38

Themes:        the power of the tongue, our words, the words of Jesus

Title:               From the same mouth

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord my strength and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14). Amen.

I’d like to invite all of the children to come in close and to sit here around me, while all of the adults will please be seated.

A dangerous wildfire! OR a spring of refreshing water! Which one is your mouth like?

My dear friends: today let’s talk together about our words! Let’s talk about the power of words, and about how we talk to one another. Words are very powerful and we need to be very careful about how we use them.

So I’ll start with this question:

What do you think are the most powerful words that we can say to one another? What phrase do you think it is that people most like to hear?

Well, it has been said that a few years ago, a research company conducted a survey and asked a bunch of Americans this question (though I have not been able to find this survey anywhere on-line!) and the answers received were these: 

1. “I love you.”
2. “I forgive you.”
3.  “Dinner is ready.”

Do you know what I think would be a close fourth-place finisher? “Welcome home.”

Let’s try a simple little experiment.

Please close your eyes for a moment. Picture your best friend in your imagination, or perhaps your mom or your dad or your spouse or partner. Now imagine that person turning to you and saying these words, “I hate you!”

Ouch. That hurts doesn’t it! Even though it’s not real! Sorry about that. Now, close your eyes again and imagine that same person once more and imagine them turning toward you again and saying these words, “I love you!”

Wow! Doesn’t that feel so much better? Even when we simply imagine them, words have tremendous power over us.

One more little experiment: I want you to turn to the person next to you and look them in the eye and say (like you mean it), “Welcome home!” Go ahead, say it to each other.

Did you feel it? Did you notice how those words made you feel?

Words are very powerful. Speaking words is like swinging a hammer.  

I can use my hammer here to do lots of good things – to build and fix things.

OR I can use the hammer to do a lot of damage - to destroy and break things.

Words are tools just like this hammer.

One of the clearest ways that we can tell if people have been transformed by the love of God is by the words that come out of their mouths.

People talk a lot about faith, about believing in God.

That’s good, I suppose. But, to be honest, I’m not sure what that even means most of the time.

Now if this means that you have the idea in your mind that God exists, that Jesus lived and died and rose again, and if you support these ideas, then I have to say – honestly – that I don’t think God is very interested in that at all.

Far more than believing in God in that way, far more than saying a few prayers every day, far more than even attending church and receiving communion on a regular basis – do you know what it is that God is far more interested in?

The words that come out of your mouth!

What did we hear today from the Letter of James? “With our mouths we bless the Lord and Father, and with [our mouths] we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so” (James 3:9-10).

 That’s just one part. You can find references to this emphasis upon the importance of words everywhere in today’s lessons. Look at the Psalm:

“Let the words of my mouth be acceptable in your sight…”

And what about the Gospel reading? What did Jesus ask his disciples?

“Who do people say that I am? Who do you say that I am?”

And then at the end, he added a warning for “those who are ashamed of me and of my words…”

God seems very interested in words, in what comes out of our mouths, and in how those words are used – to do good or to harm.

Our lesson from James ends with a bunch of questions from the world of nature to prove the author’s point:

Can the same spring give you fresh water AND salt water at the same time?

Can a fig tree produce olives? Can an apple tree produce oranges?

It is all about consistency. 

In a redeemed life, in a heart changed with the love of God, there is a natural consistency.

The source is always the same. It’s not clean water and dirty water mixed together.

It’s only the clean water of God!

BUT … there is a catch!

Hear me, please. The last thing that I want to ask you to do today is to try a little harder. Just try a bit more to be kind with your words. That would not be a bad thing, of course, but that is not what this life in Christ is all about!

Consider: if you are an olive tree, can you simply try a bit harder and then produce some figs?

If I am a human being, can I just try a bit more and then fly like a bird?

No, of course not. We are who we are. This tree is what it is. Salt water cannot just apply a bit more effort and become fresh water! That is not how life works. 

The oak tree cannot change itself into a maple! But it can be changed by another.

Salt water cannot change itself into fresh water. But it can be changed by someone else.

Hey kids: I have something for you to help you remember our talk today.

Can a spring give you fresh water and salt water at the same time?

No! If it has any salt in it at all, then it’s no longer fresh water! It’s salt water.

So, in the same way, you cannot just try a little harder to be more careful with your words.

You need to let GOD change you on the inside, and then the words that come out of your mouth will naturally, normally be different!

Salt water cannot yield fresh water. But…it can yield salt water taffy! And I have some here to give out to all of you.

Who wants some? Good! But first, I want you to pray with me – and repeat these words after me. Everyone! Can you do that?

Lord Jesus: by your grace, change us to be springs of fresh, clean water to be a blessing to all people. Thank you for teaching us. We love you. Amen.

No Middle Class in the Kingdom of God!

A Sermon for the 15^th Sunday after Pentecost (RCL B) 9-9-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:            James 2:1-17; Psalm 125; Mark 7:24-37

Themes:        the poor and the rich, God’s family, God's vision for a new society

Title:              No Middle Class in the Kingdom of God

O Lord, make us masters of ourselves that we might become the servants of others.

Take our minds and think through them; take our lips and speak through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen.

My brothers and sisters: last week, we were introduced to this Letter of James, and we heard about how James is pre-eminently practical. This brief Letter is jammed full of calls and exhortations and encouragements for the Christian community to act in ways that are consistent with the ways of God.

Here today we see one of the primary concerns and themes of James:

God’s vision for a new society which is marked by generous sharing and by mutual love.  

James presents a scenario where a rich person and a poor person both walk into the gathered Christian community and are treated differently simply as a result of the appearance of wealth, or the lack thereof.

“My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?” (James 2:1).

That’s a fair question, and one which we need to face as well.

How do our actions match up with the teaching and the example of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, who demonstrated God’s clear preference to care for the poor?

During this presidential election season, especially during these last few weeks of the party conventions, we have been hearing a lot lately about the middle class.

Everyone seems to be thinking and speaking a lot about the middle class in America.

And in the political realm, I suppose that makes good, practical sense.

But not in the church! Not here among the people of God.

Did our glorious Lord Jesus Christ say, “Blessed are you who are middle class, for you will retire in comfort”? (That's a joke, BTW). No, he said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20).

In that famous parable of the sheep and the goats, did Jesus say, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was middle class, and you helped me get a loan for college; for I was middle class, and you supported my small business; for I was middle class, and you extended my prescription drug benefit”?

Is that how it goes? I don’t think so.

Now, someone might argue and say, “Well, of course, the Bible does not speak of the middle class, because there was no middle class at that time!”

And that is true enough. At that time, there was only the rich and the poor. No middle class. But this does nothing to lessen the overwhelming preference of God clearly expressed in scripture.

My friends, there are more than 500 verses which call us, as the people of God, to imitate God by caring for the poor. There is no way to avoid this reality, if we are going to take the Bible seriously.

So let us be clear and let us understand this well: God is on the side of the poor!

Whose side are we on?

Listen: I know that it is easy to get settled in life, to become comfortable with your circle of family and friends, your pattern of life, and then not to be concerned about those who are forced to live without the bare essentials every single day, not to think about the more than 1000 children under the age of 5 who will die during this hour of worship from preventable diseases and malnutrition.

We become numb to this reality, I think, by the normal routines of our life. 

I get it. I understand it.

But this is one of the crucial reasons why we must read and study the Bible every single day: to break through the settled patterns of our life, to allow God’s vision, God’s desires, God’s will to shake us up, to disturb our lives, to interrupt them, to change them.

This is the strategy for softening and changing the human heart.

This is the way to let the things that break the heart of God break your own heart as well.

And do you know what it is that breaks the heart of God?

The people walking by on the street right now who have no hope for the future, who find their only rest in drugs or alcohol or the pursuit of money. The families that are torn apart by poverty and drugs, so that children grow up without parents to love them. The people who go through this life with no one to visit them, no friends to care for them.

If you can leave this place this morning and drive home and not care about the children of Camden just a few miles away who are being forced to live in a dangerous, violent place with no police to keep the peace – if you can ignore this, and then go home and plop down in front of your big screen HD TV – then, my friends, you have missed the boat. You are not walking with the Lord.

Now, don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying that you will leave this place and go solve the problem of Camden. It’s a huge problem. There is no easy solution; there is no quick way to fix Camden.

But if you don’t feel it, if you don’t care, if you don’t notice because you are too absorbed in your own little problems, than your heart is not beating with the heartbeat of God.

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say that you have faith but do not have works?” (James 2:14).

My prayer for you is that you will allow God to mold and shape your inner being until you share God’s vision, God’s desires, God’s will for this world.

If you will allow that to happen, then you will act to care for those in need. You will find a way to help the children of Camden. You will reach out in concern for those in this town who are lost and without hope.  

You won’t be able to stop it, because this is the heartbeat of God which compels us to action.

But let’s not forget that this is, after all, a community letter. James speaks of what happens when certain people enter into the “assembly”. The Greek word is synagogue, and this is another reminder that the Letter is written to Jewish followers of Jesus who gather together for worship and fellowship.

Listen to what John Chrysostom, the great Bishop of Constantinople in the fourth century, spoke about the symbolism of the Eucharist in our assemblies:

“Bread and wine represent the fruits of our labor, whereby we turn the things of nature into food and drink for our sustenance. So at the Lord’s Table, we offer our labor to God, dedicating ourselves anew to his service.”

(Now here is the key part!) “Then the bread and wine are distributed equally to every member of the congregation; the poor receive the same amount as the rich. This means that God’s material blessings belong equally to everyone, to be enjoyed according to each person’s need” (On Living Simply: The Golden Voice of John Chrysostom, Robert Van de Weyer, p. 56).

Do you see it, my friends? What happens here at this sacred table is a symbol, an acting out of God’s hope for the world. Everyone shares, and everyone gets enough! 

This is how it’s meant to be! And as crazy as this might sound to you right now, this is why I believe that the local church is the hope of the world.

I believe this with every fiber of my being! The local church is the hope of the world – WHEN we act in accordance with the teachings of Christ!

Consider it: what happens when someone who is obviously off of the street walks into our assembly? How do we respond? Do you honor and respect that person as if they are the very presence of Jesus in our midst? Do we treat that person with the same honor and care which we give to the blessed sacrament?

Well, that is what Jesus said, isn’t it? In Matthew 25, he said, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:35).

I’m not making this up! This is the standard for judgment in the Bible.

We can gather here every Sunday and say the Nicene Creed until we’re blue in the face. 

But if we cannot welcome the stranger who walks into our assembly, if we cannot care for the needs of the poor, then is our faith really alive? 

So let the politicians worry about the middle class.

But let the church worry about the poor. And let us welcome the stranger and be about the works of God. And let us live and worship and learn together as a living sign, as a sacrament of the kingdom of God where all share equally in the mercy of God. Amen.

The Things That Come Out - a sermon for Sept. 2, 2012

A Sermon for Proper 17 (RCL B) 9-2-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:            James 1:17-27; Psalm 45:1-2,7-10; Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23

Themes:        the power of anger, true inner goodness, doers of the Word

Title:              The Things That Come Out

O Lord, make us masters of ourselves that we might become the servants of others.

Take our minds and think through them; take our lips and speak through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen.

“You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness” (James 1:20).

My sisters and brothers: just as the calendar has changed months, and just as this weekend symbolizes the change in seasons from summer into autumn, so we change focus in our Sunday readings from the saga of the Kings of Israel to this Letter of James.

Throughout the month of September, we will be reading key sections of this Letter.

So first, let me briefly introduce you to it.

The best scholarly wisdom suggests that James was originally written by a Jewish believer in the first generation of the church.  It claims its authority from “James a servant of God”, perhaps the brother of the Lord Jesus who led the Jerusalem church until his martyrdom in the year 62. 

This Letter is all about practical morality: how do Christians live faithfully, and – like we pray every time after communion – “with gladness and singleness of heart.”

James is focused upon action. Over and over again, it presents exhortations for living in a way that is consistent with the actions of God.

One of the primary teachings of James is about faithful speaking, and it begins today with one of my favorite verses:

“You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness” (James 1:20).

It’s a simple teaching, right? As the saying goes, this is why God gave us two ears and only one mouth! That we would listen twice as much as we speak!

But is it easy to live this way? Is it easy to listen much, to speak with reticence, to keep control over your anger?

There’s a fun story about a village in Ireland where two neighbors hated each other. Jonathan and Thomas lived next-door to each other, and every day they argued. One day, Thomas yelled at Jonathan for letting his cow reach over the fence and eat grass from his yard. Another day, Jonathan complained to Thomas that nettles from his “dirty” yard where coming over onto his lawn.

Now, the two wives of these gentlemen were close friends, and they longed for their husbands to be friends as well, or to be neighborly at the very least! Eventually, one December as Christmas approached, these two long-suffering women called both of their husbands together and pleaded with them. “It’s almost Christmas,” they said. “It’s supposed to be a season of peace and goodwill. Surely you can learn to be at peace and to let go of your anger!”

But the very next day, Thomas accused Jonathan of shoveling snow onto his land, and they argued once again.

So the wives went to ask for help from the village priest. Father Kevin was an old man, with a bald head and a long white beard. After he listened to the two wives pour out their troubles, he sat in silence for a bit, stroking his beard. Then without saying a word, he stood up and went out to see these two men.

He found Thomas and Jonathan and said, “Gentlemen, I want you to enter into a competition with me on Christmas Eve. It will provide good entertainment for the whole village. The competition is this: We will divide my barn into three equal parts. Between dawn and dusk on Christmas Eve, we will see which one of us can fill our part of the barn to the fullest, using anything that we like. If either of you win, you can take all of the fruit and vegetables which grow in my garden throughout the next year. If I win, then you must promise never to argue again, and instead learn to be friends.”

Jonathan and Thomas thought they had nothing to lose, so they agreed. At dawn on Christmas Eve, the whole village gathered to watch, and Jonathan and Thomas began rushing around the village collecting anything they could find to fill their parts of the barn – bales of straw, old buckets, sacks of potatoes, whatever they could carry. But Father Kevin was nowhere to be seen.

At lunchtime, the two men were still working to fill their parts of the barn, and also all through the afternoon. But Father Kevin was still nowhere to be seen! Finally, as the sun began to set below the western horizon, Jonathan and Thomas were frantically finishing, nearly filling their spaces up to the rafters. Just before sunset, Father Kevin came out of his cottage carrying a brand new, unlit candle. He walked into his empty section of the barn, put the candle down in the middle and spoke this verse from the first chapter of John’s gospel: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Then he lit the candle, and its light filled the whole barn, all the way up into every part of the rafters.

Everyone cheered as they realized that Father Kevin had won! Jonathan and Thomas stepped forward and, standing over the candle, shook hands. And from that Christmas on, they were firm friends. (Celtic Parables, Robert Van De Weyer, P.182-185.)

Building on the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels, James presents life as a simple choice between friendship with God or friendship with the world.

You see, if you live as a friend of the world, then you see life as a competition, as a struggle against those who oppose you and your needs and your wants. This opposition incites anger and a desire to get those people out of your way!

But, if you live as a friend of God, as one of God’s beloved, then you see life as a continual experience of the gifts of God, the one who showers good gifts upon humanity and particularly upon those who live in accordance with the word of truth.

For a friend of God, anger is out of place, because we no longer have any need to struggle to achieve our will, to get our way. For a friend of God, the Thomas or the Jonathan who is your next-door neighbor is a gift, a good one sent by God to test you, to give you an opportunity to make peace and to grow in the law of love.

The Father of lights gives birth to us through the message of Jesus so that we might live every moment of every day actively doing the will of God.

This is the law of liberty; this is the righteousness of God – which is the true inner goodness that can grow only out of love. This is the transformed human heart, out of which no longer comes evil thoughts and intentions, but which is continually seeking ways to love God and to love our neighbor.

Is it easy to live free from the power of anger? How many of you struggle with anger? 

(You mean that I'm not the only one?! Well, I live with teenagers, so at least I have a built in excuse!)

How many of you felt driven by anger within the last few days? Within the last day? Within the last few hours?

“You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness” (James 1:20).

True words indeed. But what can produce God’s righteousness? What can actively cultivate and bring forth goodness and generosity and self-sacrificial love?

It’s certainly not guilt. Maybe you’ve tried that. It doesn’t last. Guilt has no lasting power.

Nor is it as sense of duty. Any service to God based on a sense of duty will not stand up under trial, when life becomes tough and confusing.

What can produce God’s righteousness, God’s true inner goodness? What can free you from the power of anger? It can only be the power of love.

If you do not know what this is like, then ask for it. Reach for it!

When you come forward before this altar to receive the presence of Jesus Christ once again in the Blessed Sacrament, come with this request upon your lips and in your heart:

“Lord Jesus, show me how much you love me. Let your love fill my heart. And let your love be present in everything I do – every decision I make, every action I take. Fill the cup of my heart to overflowing with your love.”

My dear friends: we can live free from anger when we become those who listen, those who accept the word of God, and those who, with God’s help, put it into practice. Amen.