Listening is the fruit of love

A Sermon for February 10, 2013 (Last Epiphany, RCL C)

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for The Church of Saint Mary

Texts:             2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2; Psalm 99; Luke 9:28-36

Primary Message:              listen to Jesus, the smartest person who ever lived

Call to Action:          take up spiritual disciples, learn to love and listen

Title:               Listening is the Fruit of Love

“Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’” (Luke 9:35).

My dear friends: Who has your attention? To whose voice are you listening?

Have you noticed precisely what it is that the voice of God said at this crucial moment for Jesus and the disciples? At this moment when the full beauty and majesty of the Messiah, the Incarnate One, is on display for his friends to see, as a preparation for the very difficult days just ahead of them, what is it that the divine voice said?

Did God say, This is my Son, my Chosen; worship him? Or follow him? Or keep the commandments? Or be a good person? Or do your duty?

No. That voice emanating out of the cloud was precise and specific: listen to him.

Let’s talk about listening to Jesus. First we’ll talk about the “why”, and then we’ll move on to the “how”.

A book was published a few years ago which chronicled some of the most poignant stories of everyday, ordinary American citizens collected by the StoryCorps project (see www.storycorps.org).  

This project is still on-going, and the book is titled “Listening is an Act of Love.”

Did you hear that? Listening is an Act of Love!

Think about people in your life with whom you just enjoyed sitting and listening to them tell their stories, even if you had heard the same ones time and time again.

Listening is an act of love. From the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, the Chosen; listen to him.”

On Thursday, the Falmouth Ecumenical Clergy group met for our monthly breakfast meeting. I am still new to this group, but it seems mostly to be a social affair. A chance to talk together, to catch up with one another. As the newbie, however, I am eager to talk about new ministry ideas that we might do together. On Thursday, I asked them to consider joining me in supporting the creation of a new Young Life group here at the Falmouth High School.

For those of you who do not know, Young Life is a non-denominational, international outreach ministry to youth. It is highly effective, very specific in its goal, and it relies upon broad, ecumenical support in the community.

I am quite excited about the potential for Young Life here in Falmouth, but a few of the other clergy were not. They shared their frustration about simply trying to get teenagers to show up for confirmation meetings, or to be involved in the church, or to attend Sunday worship. Now, someone asked, are you suggesting that we try to get them out TWICE a week? Once for our own youth group, and then another time for Young Life club!

I understand the frustration, but this, my friends, is flawed thinking. This is getting the cart before the horse.

Let’s step back and reconsider: what is God’s dream for our lives? That we might love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and love all people as ourselves.  Right?

If you truly love someone, is it a struggle finding the desire to spend time with that person? When teenagers falls in love, do they or do they not want to spend all of their time together? Do I, as a parent, need to tell my son, “You know, you really should go out tonight and spend some time with your girlfriend. It’s the right thing to do.”

Is that how it works? Of course not! We all know better.

The task for us church leaders, whether we are dealing with youth or children or adults, is not to find creative ways of convincing people to attend all of our wonderful programs and small groups and worship services. It is not to cajole or manipulate or guilt people into showing up.

Our task is to help people fall in love with Jesus.

If listening is an act of love, then we might also say that listening is the fruit of love.

Who here today listens to musicians and speakers and radio stations which you enjoy? Of course you do! You love this style of music, this band, this radio host, this station – whatever it is – you love it, and so you listen.

St. Paul speaks of that fact that we, with unveiled faces, see the glory of the Lord and this leads to our transformation into that very same image.

Think about beholding. We commonly say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To behold signifies deliberate intention, purposeful choosing, a maintained and delighted gaze.

For who, I ask you, chooses to gaze upon and to behold things which they find distasteful? Who? Do we not – all of us – choose to spend our days looking at things that we love to look at?

As far as it is within our control, do we not focus our eyes upon those things which we find delightful? And do we not focus our ears, our oral attention, upon those voices which we find delightful?

So consider this, my friends: who, I ask you, will choose to gaze upon the Lord Jesus Christ, to behold him, to contemplate him regularly in the depths of the heart, if they do not love him? Who will choose to listen to him, to chew upon him words, to savor them and digest them, if they do not love him?

“This is my Son, the Chosen; listen to him.” To listen is the fruit of love.

But we need also to talk briefly about the “how” of listening to Jesus. We are not in the same position as Peter and James and John. We do not have the living and breathing Messiah right in front of us, but we can listen to him.

Now in fact is an especially proper time to discuss this. In 3 days, on Ash Wednesday, we begin our journey known as Lent. And Lent is a time of focused spiritual practice in order to prepare ourselves as a community for the great celebrations of Holy Week and our Paschal Feast.  

Over the last two millennia, a wide range of tried-and-true spiritual practices have developed within the Church which provide each one of us with clear and simple ways to listen to Jesus.

These disciplines include daily Bible reading, meditation, various forms and times of prayer, practicing silence, speaking with a spiritual guide, self-evaluations, taking retreats, fasting, regular giving to those in need, meeting weekly with a small group for support and accountability.

These and all spiritual disciplines are means by which regular Christ-followers have been able to listen to Jesus and to apply his words to their lives.

There is no great mystery here; these are well-worn paths toward spiritual growth, and the wise ones in every generation have walked upon them.

As you know, it is common for folks to think of Lent as a time to “give something up”, to abstain from something as a small act of sacrifice.

May I suggest that - this year - all of us instead consider taking up something new, trying out a spiritual discipline which will enable us to listen deeply and intently to the words of Christ.

After all, these practices are the primary ways in which we behold him, gaze upon him, and so learn to love him.  And this is the goal: in all things, to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.

“From the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, the Chosen; listen to him.’”  May we be counted among those who love and who listen. Amen.

So Shall God Rejoice Over You

A Sermon for January 20, 2013 (Epiphany 2, RCL C)

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for The Church of Saint Mary

Texts:             Isaiah 62:1-5; Psalm 36:5-10; John 2:1-11

Primary Message:  God’s will is for loyalty, fidelity, holy love in every relationship

Call to Action:          Practice holy, Christ-like love in all relationships

Title:               So Shall God Rejoice Over You

“For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you;

and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall God rejoice over you” (Isaiah 62:5).

My dear friends in Christ: each one of us is called to live faithfully as God’s covenant people.

The season of Epiphany has traditionally centered upon three stories in which the glory of our Lord Jesus was manifested in tangible ways:

-at his baptism in the river Jordan, at the transfiguration on Mount Tabor, and here, at a wedding reception in the small village of Cana.

Marriage is important in the Bible, as a way of ordering relationships and also as a metaphor for the relationship between God and the people of God.

And, as we all know, marriage is an important topic today within our society and within the church.

  

Let’s talk about marriage this morning, and let’s begin with a little research.

For most of you, I’ll bet that it’s been a number of years since you’ve been at an Episcopal wedding. So please pick up a Prayer Book. Share with your neighbor, if needed. Turn to Page 423 where we will find the liturgy called The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage.

This liturgy begins with the traditional greeting which goes as follows:

Dearly beloved: We have come together in the presence of God to witness and bless the joining together of this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony.  The bond and covenant of marriage was established by God in creation, and our Lord Jesus Christ adorned this manner of life by his presence and first miracle at a wedding in Cana of Galilee.  It signifies to us the mystery of the union between Christ and his Church, and Holy Scripture commends it to be honored among all people.

Did you catch that part in the middle about the wedding at Cana? “Our Lord Jesus Christ adorned this manner of life by his presence and first miracle at a wedding.”

At a wedding, we gather together to witness and to bless a new covenant made in love.

But what does it mean to bless such a relationship? In fact, what is it that we do when we bless anything? What does that actually mean?

My soon-to-be brother priest, Kevin Kinsey, who serves the parishes in Aroostook County, told me just the other day that St. Luke’s parish in Caribou is getting a much-needed new furnace. And so the parish is planning to gather soon in order to bless that new furnace.

Well, what does that actually mean? I’ve heard of the blessing of firetrucks and motorcycles and boats. I myself have been asked to bless horses and dogs and rosaries and Bibles and houses. And, you may remember, that there are many times when we are called on, in fact, to bless God, especially in the Psalms. “Bless the Lord, O my soul” (Psalm 104:1)

What does it mean for us to bless something, or someone, or even God? What is this act of blessing?

The Church recently published a new theological resource which seeks to answer questions such as this, and to provide some framework in which to understand the blessing of a committed relationship. (I Will Bless You and You Will Be a Blessing: Liturgical Resources 1) 

This book explains the Church’s act of blessing as a threefold-action in which we join in God’s work of blessing the world.

First, we acknowledge and give thanks for the grace of God which is already present.  You and I, the Church as a whole – we can never create God’s grace. We do not manufacture grace: we notice it, we acknowledge it, we recognize it, and we give thanks for it. The act of blessing never creates something which is not already there. 

A number of the early church fathers suggested that when Christ turned the water into wine, what he did was to recognize the grace already present in that gift of water, and to release it to attain its full potential!

So it is with us at all times. The grace of God always precedes anything that we do. The first aspect of blessing, then, is always thanksgiving and praise that God has been at work in this place, in these people, before we ever arrived.

The second movement of blessing is to ask. Jesus taught us very clearly that asking is at the core of a healthy heart and life. “Ask and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7). When we bless someone or something, we ask that this object or these persons might continue on as bearers and channels of God’s grace.

What do people ask for when they bless a new furnace? That the darn thing keeps on working, doing what it is supposed to do! What do we ask for when we bless the Lord? That God will continue to be God: pouring out goodness upon the world graciously and generously.

What do we ask for when we bless a couple uniting themselves to each other with vows of life-long faithfulness? That, through the agency of the other, each one might be enabled to attain their full potential, to be fully and completely who God has created them to be!  That together they may be more Christ-like than they ever could be alone.

The third aspect of blessing is the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to bear witness to Christ in the world. “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11). There is always an outward dimension to blessing. We receive a blessing ONLY in order that we might give a blessing to others. As disciples, we are called to bear the fruit of the Spirit. But fruit is created  to be eaten! It must be eaten in order to pass on the seed. This is how fruit is meant to work.

My friends, as we talk together about the marriage in the days to come, and we discuss the act of blessing people, I pray that we all remember what it means to bless something or someone. It is about recognizing the grace of God, asking for that grace to continue, and going out to bear the fruits of the Spirit.

Notice, please, that there are no pre-requisites to this act of blessing. 

Kevin Kinsey up in Caribou is not going to check on the type of furnace before he blesses it! I don’t only bless certain types of houses, or crosses made only of certain materials. When the priest offers the blessing from the Altar at the end of the Eucharist, it is offered to all: those who received communion, and those who chose not to do so; those who trust in Jesus Christ, and those who are not ready to do so; those with knowledge and understanding of Scripture and the ways of God, and those who are without.

When we bless a couple who are standing before God and the people of God in order to make vows of life-long faithfulness, the gender of those making such vows is irrelevant. First, we acknowledge that God has already given to these people an abundance of grace. The very fact that two people are willing to stand up and publicly make vows of mutual love and care until they are parted by death means that God has already moved in their lives with grace and power!

We recognize that, we acknowledge it as a miracle, and we ask for it to continue. 

In the year 2000, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church (General Convention website), passed a resolution which identified the following characteristics of what the Church has always, and will always, expect of couples in a committed, covenant relationship:

“fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful [and] honest communication, and the holy love that enables those in such relationships to see in each other the image of God” (Liturgical Resources 1: p.24).

A relationship that bears such godly fruit is worthy of our blessing. The challenge today for all of us here at Saint Mary’s, and in the Church as a whole, is not to defend our tradition of marriage, but to live it! To practice it! To make it a reality!

Not all of us are called to live within this kind of covenant. St. Paul famously declared his opinion that the single, celibate life is the best path in which we can serve God (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:32-35). Not all are called to live in a special covenant relationship, but we are all called to live faithfully as God’s covenant people. 

This is what matters: to love God and to love our neighbor, to trust in the free gift of grace through Jesus Christ, and to bear witness to that love in all of our thoughts, words and deeds. 

May it always be so among us here. Amen.

Bold, Courageous Risk-taking - a sermon for 28 October 2012

A Sermon for October 28, 2012 (RCL B Proper 25)

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:             Hebrews 7:23-28; Psalm 34:1-8,19-22; Mark 10:46-52

Themes:        goodbye
Title:               But He Cried Out

My dear friends: for the last four (or three) years, God has given me the privilege of speaking with you from this pulpit as I have attempted to make sense of Holy Scripture within the context in which we are living in our society today.

As I reflect upon what God has laid upon my hearts over the years, there is a wonderful serendipity with the Gospel reading appointed for this morning.

Jesus and his disciples and a large crowd are passing Jericho on their inexorable march toward the conflict in Jerusalem. Along the way, a blind beggar cries out for help.

And the Lord Jesus turns to this man and asks him an amazing question:

“What do you want me to do for you?”

Bartimaeus makes his request for the restoration of his eyesight, and Jesus replies with a line that is quite typical for him to say: “Go; your faith has made you well.”

My friends: I invite you right now to think with me for a few minutes about the fact that true faith in God is bold, courageous risk-taking.

Think about it for a minute, my friends: the Messiah, the Son of God, this very popular Rabbi surrounded by eager crowds, on his way toward the end of his life in the showdown in Jerusalem – this one stops in the road in order to offer his services to a poor, blind beggar.

“What do you want me to do for you?”

Why? Why does he act in this way toward Bartimaeus? What about the other blind beggars whom the Lord surely passed by on the road without even a notice? Why is Bartimaeus healed?

The crowd ordered the poor blind man to be quiet, but he would not. Instead he shouted out all the more.

You see, Bartimaeus took a risk. He was incredibly vulnerable. Poor, blind, sitting down in the midst of a large boisterous crowd. People were yelling at him; they could have struck him, kicked him, hurt him.     

But Bartimaeus would not be silenced. He took the risk; he called out for help.

The Lord heard and replied. “Your faith has made you well.”

It is always this way with Jesus.

He calls out the twelve. They risk everything to go and follow him.
Four friends risk much to bring their sick brother to Jesus for healing.
The syro-phonecian woman risks scorn and ridicule – and worse – by debating with Jesus for the healing of her daughter.
Here, Bartimaeus risks his personal safety in order to ask for healing.

Over and over again, those who connect with Jesus are the ones who take risks in order to be near him, who take risks for the sake of love.

Do you see it, my friends?

Everything in the life of faith depends upon taking risks.  In fact, that is the very essence of faith: bold, courageous action, the ability to take risks.

And this is seen so clearly not only here in the Gospels.

Look at all of the saints who are honored and celebrated in the church: Paul of Tarsus, Patrick, Benedict, Francis of Assisi and Clare his dear friend, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, even Mother Teresa of Calcutta of our times. On and on and on we could name them.

All of these are honored and remembered and celebrated today. WHY?

Because they took risks for the sake of God! They were bold in risking much for the sake of the Gospel.

Some of these risked physical harm, like St. Patrick when he returned to Ireland and faced those who had attacked his village and had kidnapped him.

Francis and Clare took the risk of living life entirely by faith, with no material possessions at all and no money, no possessions at all. And guess what? They lived lives filled with incredible joy and peace! Because, by the way, you do not need money to have joy and peace in your life!

Other risked social embarrassment and exclusion, like John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, as they labored to reform the church in their day and restore it to its spiritual foundations.

Countless others risked their time by devoting hours on end to prayer and meditation.

This kind of devotion offers no promise of immediate reward. It is something people do because they fall in love! They fall in love with Christ and they want to spend time in his presence. For all they know, this will be wasted time which they can never recover, with nothing to show for it. But saints have done it – over and over again, simply out of love.

And what have they gained? They have gained intimacy with God, closeness to Christ.

Amazing insight, vision, a sense of peace and trust in God which does not change even when the circumstances of life.

A number of different times, I have shared with you this quote, which is one of my favorites:

“Grace will not baptize us while we sit at home, slighting the means which God has appointed.” These were words preached by John Henry Newman more than 160 years ago, but their truth applies in all ages.

The grace of God is available today. This is transforming powerful grace. It is dynamic energy and power.

BUT – it is available to those who take risks, who step out in faith into the unknown with boldness and courage and confidence.

Now, to be clear, not all risk-taking is good. One of the primary reasons that our society finds itself in such an economic downturn is due to reckless, irresponsible risk-taking by those in the financial sector.

It is not risk-taking by itself which is inherently good, but risk-taking for the sake of love, for the sake of God. It is the willingness to lay yourself – your wants and needs, your money, your resources, your time – to lay these down in order to serve others, to serve God.

THAT is faith in action.

This past week I became acquainted with the story of Katie Davis.

As an 18 year old from Tennessee, Katie traveled to Uganda during Christmas break with her church youth group. She was immediately captivated by the people and the culture of Uganda. Her heart was touched by the graciousness of the Ugandan people, but also by their immensity of their needs.

13 months later, in January of 2008, Katie had graduated from high school and had returned to Uganda to launch a new effort at helping impoverished children here to receive a basic elementary school education and the basic food staples needed to live, and to be nurtures by a caring, Christian community. Today, Katie is a 23 year old young woman living in Uganda, and she is in fact now a mother – at 23 years old! – who has officially adopted 13 orphaned Ugandan girls. (See her story here: http://www.amazima.org/katiesstory.html).

What causes an intelligent, athletic, attractive high school graduate – the senior class president, no less! – to leave behind her home and her friends and her future career potential in order to care for poor children in Uganda?

Faith in Jesus, because true faith is bold, courageous risk-taking.

Those who step out for the sake of God are the ones who go out and change the world!

When God gives the call to you, my dear friends, how will you respond?

Remember: “Grace will not baptize us while we sit at home, slighting the means which God has appointed.”

Oh, you can sit at home and watch TV and complain about how messed-up the world is and then wonder why it’s not getting any better! Sure, you can do that.

But that is not faith! That is not active participation in God’s mission in the world!

That is not the way to experience grace in your life.

Think it through for a moment right now. Think through your life. What have you risked for the sake of love, for the sake of God?

What is true of our individual lives is true of our churches as well. What has your church risked for the sake of love, for the sake of God?

 

True faith in Jesus Christ is bold, courageous risk-taking.

 Not because we hope to gain anything from it! We have already gained everything!

Baptized into Christ, we have been forgiven and redeemed in him.

And now, because of that, we have the chance to step out in faith, to risk ourselves for the sake of him who died for us.

Christ offered himself for us, so that we might offer ourselves for him.

That, my dear sisters and brothers, is what it means to have faith in Jesus Christ.

May you never forget this, never shrink back from God’s call out of fear, never seek to protect yourselves from the pain of sacrifice. But may you always reach out in love for the sake of the Gospel, and offer yourselves so that others may live in the grace of Christ. Amen.  

 

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.

The Value of Fear and Love - A Sermon for 8/19/12

A Sermon for the Sunday after Pentecost (RCL B) 8-19-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:            1 Kings 2:10-12,3:3-14; Psalm 111; John 6:51-58

Themes:        wisdom, fear of the Lord, discernment

Title:              The Value of Fear and Love

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10).

My dear friends: What does it mean to be wise?

Think of someone you know whom you consider to be a wise person. Then consider what exactly it is about that person which earns them that title in your mind.

What does it mean to be wise? For most people in today’s world, I’ll bet that a wise person is someone with good common sense, maybe even someone who is street wise. Someone who knows how to survive, how to get by and maybe how to work a deal. Perhaps a wise person today is someone who understands money and how to maneuver it, how to manipulate it, how to multiply it.

But what does it mean to be wise in a biblical sense?

You know that Solomon is famously described in the Bible as being the wisest man who ever lived.

To be honest, that’s mostly royal propaganda! Yes, when he was young, Solomon was known to be wise. Here in this famous story, Solomon asks not for wealth nor long life nor for the demise of his enemies. Instead, Solomon asks for wisdom and discernment.

This is a nice tale, and it may have reflected some truth about Solomon when he was young.

But as a grown man, fully in touch with his royal power, he was known to all the Israelites as a tyrant, a ruthless ruler who taxed them without mercy and subjected the people to forced labor for grandiose building projects. In addition, the Bible clearly states that he paid homage to foreign gods and that he most certainly did NOT walk in the ways of his father’s God!

In fact, as soon as Solomon died, there was a revolt and the northern tribes declared their independence from the corrupt royal government based in Jerusalem.

Whatever wisdom Solomon did possess in his early years rapidly turned into narcissism – into an over-inflated sense of his own importance.

But the essence of what it means to be wise in the biblical sense is found in our Psalm appointed for today: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10).

Now I ask you: how do we square this up with the clear calling that we receive in the New Testament to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength? (cf. Matthew 22:37)

How can you simultaneously fear the Lord and love the Lord at the same time?

Is that even possible?

Yes, I say! In fact, let me suggest to you that it is not only possible to fear and love God at the same time, but that in the Bible’s vision of a full and healthy life – these two are in fact the very same thing.

We fear God and we love God when we make God the highest value in our life.

It is all about values and priorities and focus.

Some of you know that my family was blessed this summer with a new puppy. We found this puppy during our summer vacation up north.

Her name is Clare and she is a mutt – a mixed breed dog, with her mother being a pure Saint Bernard. So we can figure out pretty clearly that she is destined to be BIG!

Now, having a big puppy requires a lot of work!

You may then forgive me if my thoughts have invariably been taken up lately by thoughts of puppy training. And if any of you have ever trained a new puppy – especially a large dog, then you know the amount of work and vigilance that is required – that is, if, in fact, you intend to end up with a well-behaved and disciplined dog!

It is especially a challenge right now to walk this big puppy. She is so easily distracted!

Clare is not a good walker. Not yet! But we are taking her to puppy training classes

One of the things that we are learning about is to teach the puppy to watch us – to look at us, to pay attention to us as her owners.

Right now, she is so distracted that walking her is a major challenge!

Yesterday on a walk, she even started to chase after a few leaves that were blowing in the wind! Every car that goes by. Every dog or cat or squirrel close by. Every person. Everything distracts her and then she pulls, because she wants to check it out!

And all the while, she is not even looking at me! Not paying attention at all to what I am doing, where I am going, what my plans might be! This is a real challenge.

The goal in this training is that I will no longer have to hold her so tightly on the leash, and no longer fight with her to go for a walk.

More than that: the goal is that eventually I may even be able to walk her without any leash at all! You see, the goal is that Clare will be so attuned to me, be so in touch with me, so conscious of me as her owner and as the most important thing in her life, that a leash will no longer even be necessary!

I am sure that any serious theologian would be utterly disgusted by my attempt to draw an analogy between puppy training and our relationship with God, but it makes sense to me!

Remember: we fear God and we love God when we make God the highest value in our life.

The analogy with puppy training breaks down at some point, of course, but consider that the goal of our training in Christ – our apprenticeship, our internship with the Master – is that we can learn to be so attuned to God, so in touch with God, so conscious of God as our leader and as the most important relationship in our life, that we can move with God in a synergy of motion, as a conjoined flow of energy working – and walking! – toward a common goal!

To understand how fear and love relate to value, consider this example. I love my wife, Erin. And because I love her, I also fear her. (But no, not the way that you are thinking! Ha!)

What I mean is that if I truly love her, then I treasure her. In fact, my love for her means that I place immense value upon our relationship.

Outside of my relationship with God, my relationship with Erin is the most important of my life! And that means that she has tremendous value to me.

And how do we treat those things in our lives that have the highest value?

We are afraid to lose them, aren’t we! We humans create all kinds of security systems to protect those things which we value the most, because we are determined not to lose them!

We love those things, and so we fear what might happen if they are damaged or lost.

I love my wife Erin, and so I fear what might happen if I damage her through my words or actions, or if I lose her because of my own stupidity.

Remember what Jesus taught us: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” 

Because we become personally invested in our treasure.

We love it; we value it; we fear the loss of it.

This is how it goes with us: we fear God and we love God when we make God the highest value in our life.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”, because we allow God to become the center of our lives, the center of our hearts, the conscious focus of our energy.

We do this because we love God, and we know that there is nothing more precious and valuable than this connection with the living God, the Creator of all!

And we are afraid to do anything that might damage this relationship, severe this connection. We are afraid to do anything that might cut us off from God!

We fear the loss of God’s presence, because we know the power of God’s love.

Make sure that you do this, my friends, because there is nothing more valuable than this! Make sure that you place the highest possible value in your heart upon your relationship – your connection -  with God.

This is the beginning of wisdom, because this is the beginning of living fully into our new life in Christ. Amen.

The Works of God - A Sermon for August 5, 2012

BACK from vacation and BACK in the pulpit! Thanks be to God!

A Sermon for the 10^th Sunday after Pentecost (RCL B) 8-5-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a; Psalm 51:1-13; John 6:24-35

Themes:         David’s repentance and contrition, the works of God, individualism

Title:              The Works of God

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:11).

These words are attributed as sung by David after this fateful confrontation with the prophet Nathan., and after David’s conviction by the words of his own mouth. “I have sinned against the LORD.”

Now right there, my friends, is the understatement of the day. “I have sinned against the LORD.”

Do you think? Let’s see: in this horrendous episode with Bathsheba and Uriah, David coveted his neighbor’s wife with lust, committed adultery, raped a married woman, lied to his own loyal servants and to Joab, one of his life-long friends, and murdered an innocent and good man. What did I miss?

This is the odd paradox of King David. He is known in the scriptures as a person after God’s own heart (see 1 Samuel 13:14); one whom God could entrust with the power of the monarchy to unite the disparate tribes of Israel into one national entity.

And yet, in that horrible series of events involving Bathsheba and Uriah, we see David acting entirely without compunction, seemingly with no conscience at all. David acts with no regard for the consequences of his actions, but those consequences will be dire and severe, as we shall see.

In fact, David’s sin unleashes generations of turmoil and recklessness within his family. Brothers killing brothers, brothers raping sisters, sons covertly undermining and also overtly attacking their father.

After his horrendous act of disobedience, David’s family is never the same again.

Consistent with the worldview of the Hebrews at the time, the text states clearly that God is the one who brings these consequences about.

“Thus says the LORD: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house” (2 Sam. 12:11).

For these early peoples, God was seen as the primary agent behind every event in life, so obviously God was the one who brought these ills upon the house of David.

That is one way to look at it.

For me, I tend to see such a situation as a normal process of cause-and-effect. If you act with such wanton disregard for human life, with such complete lack of respect for human beings, then it is not that difficult to predict that this same kind of behavior will be aimed at you, perhaps even in retaliation and revenge. 

In his power, in his comfort, I suspect that David thought he could do as he wished. He was King, after all, and he held supreme power in the land.

And he could do as he wished, but not without suffering from the consequences of his actions.

Into this setting the prophet Nathan arrives with a godly message.

Now, it is common for people today to misunderstand the role of prophets in biblical times. We tend to think of them as predicting the future, giving an oracle that presages some event in the future.

But that is a gross misunderstanding.

The primary task of a prophet, my friends, is not foretelling, but forth-telling! Not predicting the future, but interpreting the present and imaging the consequences that are bound to come based upon the current reality, and then faithfully proclaiming – or telling forth – the truth of what their actions will produce.

With keen insight, Nathan confronts David with his parable and teaches him a vital lesson: what is done secretly, in private, can have enormous impacts for our future life and for the lives of those around us.

This makes me wonder: how often are you and I tempted to think in the same way as David? To think that our own private faults, our own personal failures will have no impact upon those around us?

That, my friends, is a lie.

One of the things that we learn about life from our Master Jesus is that we are all connected, and anything that we do in one sphere of life can have major impacts upon every other person in our life and perhaps upon far more even than that. What we do with the hours and days and years given to us can have an enormous impact upon the world around us – for good or for ill.

Never doubt that, my friends.

Martin Niemoller was a prominent German Lutheran bishop throughout the time of the Third Reich.

Bishop Niemoller was one who was called upon to negotiate with Hitler from time to time in order to protect the German church from being closed by the Nazis, who did not trust the preaching of the gospel coming from those pulpits.

Toward the end of his life, years after Hitler’s defeat by the Allied forces, Bishop Niemoller told of a recurring dream that plagued him. In this dream, he saw Hitler standing before the judgment seat of Christ, and then he saw the Lord Jesus come down from the throne, put his arm around Hitler and ask him: “Adolf, Adolf! Why did you do the ugly, evil things that you did? Why were you so cruel?”

In the Bishop’s dream, Hitler answered quietly with his head bent low and said, “Because nobody ever told me how much you loved me.”

It was at this point every single time that the Bishop woke up from his dream in a cold sweat, remembering that throughout the many meetings which he had had with the Fuhrer, never once did he pause to say, “By the way, Fuhrer, Jesus loves you! He loves you more than you will ever know. He loved you so much that he was willing to die for your sake. Do you know that?”  (reported in Let Me Tell You a Story by Tony Campolo, p. 108).

Consider it, my friends: would that message, faithfully delivered, have had any impact upon the heart of that man? Would it have altered the course of world events? I wonder.

I was away up in Canada when the shooting happened in Aurora, Colorado, so I have been slow to catch up on all of the news surrounding this sickening tragedy. But I have read some about James Holmes in the days since returning. And the same kind of question forms in my mind when I read about him, when I look at pictures of this young man.

Does he realize how deeply he is loved? Did anyone ever tell him about the love that God has for him? Did he ever open his heart to that love of Christ?

Don’t misunderstand me: I know that diagnosing and treating mental illnesses can be a difficult task.

And it seems clear that both Adolf Hitler and this James Holmes suffered from some form of mental illness. They must have, in order to perpetrate such atrocities with careful preparations.

But I also know that God works in people’s live with healing power and grace! I know it.

And I know that love is a powerful healing force, and I believe that there is no healing force more powerful than the love of God!

Are you with me?  Amen!

My dear sisters and brothers: like the prophet Nathan, you and I in the church today have that same prophetic calling given to us. To us!

That calling to embody and point out an alternative reality in which all of our actions are vital and important – in which nothing done in private stays “in private” – in which nothing done in Vegas stays in Vegas, as the saying goes!

Everything matters, everything is important, and we are all connected by the Spirit of God.

We’ve all seen how much harm can be done by one lost person acting in apparent isolation.

But who knows what impact you and I might have upon the world today by sharing a word of encouragement, by telling someone about the love of Christ, by giving generously to someone in need, by defending the innocent.  

This is why we are here, why we are fed with the bread of life. To do the works of God in this time and place - right here and now. Amen.