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.

Our Way of Life - Sermon for 4 Lent

A Sermon for the 4^th Sunday in Lent (RCL B) 3-18-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3,17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21

Themes:         complaining, nostalgia, sin, gifts of grace
Title:               Our Way of Life

“You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world” (Ephesians 2:1).

This, as the great apostle Paul and all of the Bible tells us, is the story of all of us – all human beings.

Dead. Lost. All of us are like the people of Israel in this very old – and very strange! – story from the Book of Numbers.

We like to complaint, don’t we? Here the people complained against God and against Moses because they missed the food of Egypt. They missed their old life in Egypt! Do you believe that?

Well, that’s how nostalgia works, don’t you know. Our minds only remember certain details from the past and it can become quite easy to gloss over some other inconvenient ones. Such as the dreadful labor demands under which the people suffered. But, hey, at least they had food back in Egypt!

This pattern has been going on for as long as human beings have been around.

Raise your hand if you have ever heard someone older than you talk about how much better things used to be back in the good old days!

Oh yes, this is quite normal. We like to complain, don’t we?

But St. Paul declares that this normal state of life is more than just business as usual.

Just as the complaining people were dying from the bites of the poisonous serpents, so this path of ingratitude and negative complaining which is normal in this world leads us to a state of spiritual death. 

In contrast to that state of spiritual lifelessness, consider the alternative: a new life that is saved by grace.

A life filled with the knowledge that God loves us and saves us from our own blindness and selfishness and foolishness.

This is what we heard read in our midst just a few minutes ago:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what God has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” (Ephesians 2:9-10). 

Loved and redeemed and saved so that we might live a life of good works, a life of service to others.

I can talk about my son, Angus, this morning, because he is not here! Angus is a 16 year old young man who is obsessed with the size of his muscles. He is convinced that he must work out in the gym every single day in order to get as big as possible. It’s a competition, you know. He has to keep up with all of his friends, and his wrestling team-mates. 

Of course, I know that this is a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder. But I believe that it will fade in time. And there certainly are worse things about which one can become obsessed, right?!

The one thing that I am trying to continually explain to him, as a way to re-focus his priorities somewhat, is that his strength is a gift of grace, and that with such a gift comes responsibility.

How is it that he was not born with a physical defect or with a disability that would not allow him to exercise like he can now?

Why was he not born into a community like Afghanistan embroiled in war and violence so that he could not work out like he does, but would rather just focus on survival?

The fact of the matter is that he has been given a gift. Every gift that we receive also requires our best efforts. We work cooperatively with God’s grace in order to reach our potential.

But these gifts are always given for one primary purpose: “to do good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”

The gift of strength is given in order to serve and protect others, not for the sake of vanity and pride.

We’ve already established the fact that we all generally love to complain. But the truth of the matter is that every one of us here this morning has been given gift upon gift upon gift – all by the grace of God. We have been blessed beyond measure.

If you doubt this, let’s consider together for a minute simply the material facts of our lives as Americans. You probably heard the Occupy movements over the last 6 months speak out about the growing contrast between the wealthy 1% and the 99% of the rest of us who are being left behind as they continue to amass more and more of our nation’s wealth in their own hands.

Well, guess what. On a global level, on the only level of comparison which actually matters – which includes all humanity – when considered on that level, every one of us here is part of the wealthy 1%.

If you live in a household with an annual income of at least $47,500, or at least $913 a week, then you, my friends, are part of the very elite of humanity. The upper echelon of wealth and privilege. The wealthiest 1% of humanity! (BTW, you can look this up for yourself at www.globalrichlist.com ).

Congratulations! That is what you are. That is the truth.

Now, I can complain about my lot in life with the best of you. It comes quite naturally, you know.

But, by the grace of God, when I am able to step back from my own selfishness and foolishness and then look at my place in humanity, then I remember and I know that I am truly blessed.

“For we are what God has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”

You and I, my friends, are wealthy and blessed. Materially blessed indeed.

And even more, if we have come to the Lord Jesus with trust and confidence in his saving love, then we have come into the light, and we have come into a beautiful new life together with Christ – a life which overflows with gratitude for the gifts of God and which puts those gifts to use in the service of others.

 And in case you did not know it, that is the very core of the life story of St. Patrick.

(You didn’t think I could let this weekend pass by without mentioning St. Patrick, did you?)

He was captured by Irish raiders and enslaved by them far from his home. But he trusted in Christ and he prayed and by the grace of God he was delivered from his slavery and allowed to go home.

And how then did St. Patrick use this gift? What did he do with this gift of freedom?

He did not use it for his own selfish ends, but he chose to make himself a servant to the very people who had enslaved him!

Patrick went back to Ireland as a free man, but as one compelled by the love of God to serve the people of Ireland, to bring to them the same freedom and joy and hope which he knew and felt in Jesus Christ.

St. Patrick recognized the gifts that God had given him, and this inspired him to share those gifts with those who needed them the most.

What about you, my friends?

Can you see and recognize and acknowledge how many gifts the Lord has given you?

Does your heart then overflow with praise to God?

Are you then committed to a life of good works, a life of service to others out of gratitude for all that you have received?

May it be so among all of us who have received the gift of eternal life through trust in the Son of God. Amen.

The blessing of St. Patrick’s day upon you!

Beannachta na Faile Padraig oraibh!
(Ban-ock-tee’ na fay’-lah paw’-rig ur’-iv!)

For the healing of the world - A Sermon for 1 Lent

A Sermon for the 1^st Sunday in Lent (RCL B) 2-26-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              Genesis 9:8-17; Psalm 25:1-9; Mark 1:9-15

Themes:         the great litany, the rainbow covenant, the desert fast
Title:               For the healing of the world

Welcome to the season of Lent, my friends! If you were not able to join us on Ash Wednesday, well then I say to you: Welcome!

Lent may not be your favorite season of the Christian year. But I hope that doesn’t lead you to under-value it’s importance. Lent is vital for us, if for no other reason than because it forces us to face – once again – the reality and the consequences of sin.

I’m going to venture a guess and say that I am like most of you, in that I would much rather spend all of my time basking in the celebrations of the Lord’s nativity and his rising from the dead. In those times when we can sing out that now-forbidden “A” word!

But this is not how life works. Before the feast comes the hard work of preparation. Before we can rejoice once more in the glory of the new life that we receive because of Christ’s rising from the dead, we have to prepare by going through this process called the Lenten fast.

And we begin today by considering together the far-reaching consequences of sin.

Surely most of you have heard of the scientific principle commonly known as “the butterfly effect”. This principle states that complex processes can lead to vastly different results when the starting conditions vary even in the slightest measure.

It means that, in a dynamic system with many moving parts, any number of different factors might impact the course of events. Since this principle was developed by a meteorologist from MIT, his thesis was that the flapping of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil may change the atmospheric conditions just enough to allow a deadly tornado to develop in Texas.

My friends: this is how I think of the effects of sin, and this is what our lessons teach us today.

You and I typically think of sin as some personal thought or action that we each have done.

Sin is personal, and it affects us personally. But how often do we think about how our sins – our negative choices – affect the course of events in the lives of those around us, and even in the entire world.  

We are prone to think of sin simply as what goes on inside of me. It is that, of course, but it is not limited there. Our choices have a profound effect upon the entire world, even if we are not able to quite perceive and understand that effect.

Mark’s Gospel states that, after his baptism by John, the Spirit immediately drove our Lord out into the wilderness for forty days where a number of things happened. He was confronted by Satan. He was apparently befriended by wild animals. And he was attended by angels.

Satan. Wildlife. And angels. That’s quite a trinity of dynamic forces at work – both visible and invisible forces! And I have to say, as an aside, that I am quite jealous about the wild animals bit. I love the wilderness and wild animals, but they always seem to stay far away from me, even when I am actively trying to seek them out!

Now, most commentators have seen the presence of the wild beasts as a sign of danger. The Lord is thrust out into the wilderness where he is exposed to the dangerous attacks of Satan and the wild beasts.

So they say. But that’s not the only way to read this, and it’s certainly not how I read it.

 The wilderness here in Mark’s gospel is not at all a wasteland of danger and peril. First, John the Baptizer appeared “in the wilderness” proclaiming his message of baptism and repentance. Here the Lord goes out into the wilderness for his time of struggle against Satan. Later, the Lord retreats to “a deserted place” in order to pray. Further along, he feeds the five thousand out in “a deserted place.” The Greek word in every instance is the same: Eremos. The desert. The wilderness.

Far from being the place of danger and demonic forces, the wilderness is in fact the place where Jesus goes to more deeply connect with the one he calls Abba and where some of his most powerful ministry occurs.  

Why then are the wild beasts with him? Why did Mark’s Gospel alone feel compelled to include the animals? It is a sign of the healing of creation. The animals sense that here is one who seeks to do them no harm, but who upholds and completes the covenant of the rainbow.

The covenant story told here in Genesis takes place soon after the great flood recedes and the ark comes to rest. If you go back and read the story in its entirety, you will notice some interesting features, like God holding each animal accountable for its life. That’s a different way of thinking about judgment day, isn’t it?

But the most important fact is that this covenant, as the text states, is between God and the earth and all living creatures of the earth – human and animals alike. “All flesh that is on the earth.”

But why did the entire earth need to be swept clean in the first place? Because of the consequences of human sin. Our sin has global, even cosmic consequences – consequences that affect all of the living creatures of the earth. But so does God’s work to reverse the effects of our sin. So does Christ’s work of healing.    

There’s an old story told about St. Kevin of Glendalough, one of the great celtic saints of Ireland.

St. Kevin took Lent pretty seriously. He would spend all 40 days in a little hut in the woods sleeping on a large gray flagstone, eating no food, drinking only water. Once, while Kevin was lying on that flagstone with his hands stretched out, a blackbird came and hopped into his hand and began to build a nest there. Kevin decided to stay still and to not move at all throughout Lent so that this blackbird could lay her eggs and hatch her brood. It was so taxing that even the angels came and begged Kevin to give up his arduous Lenten discipline, but he was determined to let the blackbird finish her breeding. (Wisdom of the Celtic Saints by Edward Sellner, P. 161).

What do we see here? Just as our sins have consequences that might affect all of creation in ways which we cannot quite understand, so it is true that the saving health of new life which Jesus brings to us also has consequences which affect all of the earth.

Our Lord “was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.”

Like him, we do not live isolated from the rest of the world, whether from human society or the company of all the living things of the earth or from the company of angels.

Even when you sit at home all alone – perhaps in the evening, and even when it feels as if you are isolated and disconnected, it is never true.

There is more than meets the eye. We live all of our lives in a web of interconnectedness. Our daily actions, our daily choices – for good or for bad – have important consequences for our sisters and brothers around the world and for all living creatures. To remember this, and to take it to heart, is why our Lenten journey is so very important.

May God give us grace always to pay attention, to be aware, and to make choices for good and for the healing of the world. Amen.