"Heaven's Joy on Earth" - a sermon for July 15, 2012

A Sermon for the 7^th Sunday after Pentecost (RCL B) 7-15-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              2 Samuel 6:1-5,12b-19; Psalm 24; Mark 6:14-29

Themes:         the ark, David, dancing and singing before the Lord

Title:               Heaven’s Joy on Earth

It is impossible for most people of my generation to think about the ark of the Lord without bringing to mind one of the epic movies of my youth: “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

I know it is a great movie, because it is in the Library of Congress as “an item of social and cultural significance”!

You will remember that at the end, the Nazis decide to open the ark, because they are seeking a new source of power against their enemies! Instead, the power of God rises out of the ark and kills all of them, except for Indy and his girlfriend who wisely avert their eyes.

To those wicked Nazis seeking only military victory and political gain, the ark was the source of destruction.

But this is not at all what we see here in this original story of the ark.

Of course, there is danger involved!

You’ll notice that the lectionary jumps over part of the story in verses 6-11. That’s the part where one of the carriers of the ark reached out and touched the ark, in order to steady it, and he died right on the spot!

THAT part is skipped over today! And what we are left with is the celebration when the people bring the ark into Jerusalem for the very first time.

“David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals” (1 Samuel 6:5).

Wow! That must have been quite a spectacle.

Now, let’s hone in on that part which is most familiar to us.

No, not dancing before the Lord with all our might! Though, perhaps we ought to give that a try sometime! But, celebrating God together by singing and making music.

At all times, and in all places, when human beings celebrate, they sing! Singing is universal. Singing is ubiquitous in human society. Singing accompanies all human celebrations!

We know that music has been part-and-parcel of human life from the very beginning.

The oldest musical instruments that have been discovered by archeologists are certain flutes made out of animal bones and percussion instruments – ways to keep rhythm and time.

Some of these are dated to be perhaps 75,000 years old!

But far older than any of these is the original musical instrument of all – the human voice!

Singing is one of the most basic elements of every human society.

And yet, in our society today, it is an element that is rapidly disappearing!

Today, there are fewer and fewer opportunities for regular American folk like us to sing together in any kind of natural and normal gathering.

Think about your own experience. Think about the times when you have sung with others in the recent past – not as part of any professional organization, but just as a simple part of celebrating life!

I sent out an e-mail during the week and asked for people to briefly share recent times – outside of a church gathering – when they had sung with others.

Some of these e-mail responses that I received include the following:

·        at a campfire/hayride (Cole),

·        family reunion (mom),

·        baseball game (national anthem and 7^th inning stretch – take me out to the ballgame),

·        happy birthday for family & co-workers (Natalia’s 1^st birthday – Elizabeth, & Megan’s birthday - Alicia), in a community chorus (Dee Phillips),

·        at school programs,

·        Christmas songs at the holidays (Denis & Florence),

·        a little bit of karaoke (for those brave enough to admit it!),

·        at a 9-11 remembrance event (Andy),

·        sometimes in the car when the children sing along with a favorite song (Lori Shelton),

·        at a Broadway show (Helen Baus),

·        at a 4^th of July parade (Dawn),

·        at a wedding (assisted by the spirits, as they say – Erin Megara).  

Now, if you notice, you will see that nearly every one of these opportunities for singing occurred at a celebration! So again, let me say it: When human beings celebrate, they sing together!

And what, my dear friends, do we do when we gather together week by week by week in this place?

It says it right there on the front of your bulletin: Celebrations of the Holy Eucharist!

My sisters and brothers: I want to suggest to you that we, as the church – as the people of God who meet together in this time and place - we have a unique and special role to play in our society as THE primary place where people come together to celebrate and to sing together in harmony.

My friends: God has made us to sing!

Just look at all the singing within the Bible!

Moses and Miriam and the Israelites sang after their crossing of the Red Sea!

Of course, our Psalm appointed for today is devoid of any reference to music – of course!, but you know that nearly every other Psalm speaks of singing to the Lord a new song, praising God with music and song, shouting to God with the voice of praise!

When Jesus and the disciples had finished the Last Supper, they sang a song before going out to the Gethsemane.

Scholars think that many of the oldest texts that we have in the New Testament were songs, or parts of liturgical songs, which were sung by the first gatherings of disciples.

The apostle Paul encourages the believers to “sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts” (Ephesians 5:19).

The visions of the new Jerusalem in the Revelation to John are chocked full of singing around the throne of God!

And, of course, lest we forget, we have the example of David.

King David: the prophet, the warrior, the poet, the dancer, the musician!

With singing, with shouting, with dancing, David and the people brought up the ark of the LORD into the city of Jerusalem.

David and the Israelites sang together in celebration of God’s presence in their midst, and we are called to do the same.

The community at Taize in France has been on the forefront of creatively reimagining the role of music within Christian worship today. The brothers of Taize say this about the primary importance of the human voice:

“To open the gates of trust in God, nothing can replace the beauty of human voices united in song. This beauty can give us a glimpse of ‘heaven’s joy on earth’” (Prayer for Each Day, p.8, from Taize).

****

Now, I know that there are a number of you right now who are saying to yourself, “Yeah, but, I can’t sing.”  

Well, I’m telling you that’s rubbish! Can you talk? Then you can sing!

Can you sing like Sinatra? Like Patti LaBelle? Like Michaal Jackson? I doubt it.

But that’s not the point!

You see, I believe that those among us who do not sing are constrained by what others have told them critically in the past.

But I am telling you that there is a power that liberates, that energizes, when you sing out with all your being – without any care for what the people around you might think!

There is a saying that, when it comes to worship, we sing for an audience of one!

That may be trite, but it’s true! God is the only one who is listening and God loves to hear your voice!

So what if others don’t like it! Who cares?! If God is for your singing, who can be against it!

You see, my friends: we have a particular gift to offer to the world – the gift of human voices singing in harmony, in celebration!

Ordinary people who get together to sing, not because we are particularly good at it, but simply because we love to celebrate the goodness of God and the goodness of life, and we don’t care if we sing perfectly in tune or not! All we care about is celebrating the presence of God in our midst!

This is the true gift of symphony! In the original Greek, symphony means voices joined together.

This is what it means to be the church: to be a symphony of praise and celebration, singing together with abandon, without reservation, with joy and thanks for what God has done.

May we be known by all of those people out there in the world who think that we’re crazy for even coming to church in the first place – may we be known as those people who get together and who sing together, with every voice lifted in celebration. Amen!

If It Dies - A Sermon for the 5th Sunday in Lent

A Sermon for the 5^th Sunday in Lent (RCL B) 3-25-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:1-13; Hebrews 5:5-10; John 12:20-33              

Themes:         sacrificial love, the seed bearing fruit, the days of his flesh

Title:              If It Dies

“Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).

For centuries, this Sunday in the Church calendar was known as Passion Sunday. It is the last Sunday in Lent before we launch the dramatic events of Holy Week which begin with Palm Sunday.

And so, on this Sunday, we read of the beginning of the Lord’s Passion: his movement toward the cross.

We must remember that this death toward which Jesus walked was not an inevitable one.

We claim that is was chosen, that it was faced voluntarily solely because of love – as an act of self-sacrifice.

Some of you may have joined the rush of the crowd which has gone out to see the new The Hunger Games movie this weekend. My family and I are going out to see it this afternoon. And we are all looking forward to this, because we all listened to it together as a family on audio CD a few years ago. We all appreciated the story and have been excited about the release of this film.

In case you do not know, the star of the story is a 16 year old young woman named Katniss Everdeen.

She was not selected to be part of the Hunger Games. Two names are pulled out of the lot of names each year to go as tributes for the games. In the story, it was the name of Katniss’s younger sister, Primrose, which was selected.

But for years now, since the death of her father in an accident in a coal mine, Katniss has acted as the protector and provider for her sister and her mother. She was not about to sit back and allow her small, young sister to be taken to the Games and there to be killed.  Death is the near-certain outcome, as 23 out of the 24  children in the games each year are killed. There is only one winner.

And so, out of love for her family, out of love for her sister, Katniss offered herself as a living sacrifice to play and to die in the Hunger Games in place of her sister.

This kind of self-sacrifice is rightly to be praised and honored.

And it is right for our families to be the primary place where we share the love of God in Christ.

God has intended for our households to be most basic community where the gospel truth is proclaimed and embraced and incarnated on a daily basis. Each household is a little church; it is the primary Christian community. 

However, this kind of sacrificial love is not enough.

We know that it is instinctual for us to love and protect the members of our own families. This is not Christian morality; it is rather straightforward biology.

Scientists tell us that our common genetic material is constructed in such a way that we will nurture and care for one another within our families. This helps to ensure that our DNA is passed along to the next generation. We are wired in the most fundamental way to make sure that this transmission continues onward into the future.

So, from a Christian perspective, the care and love which we share within the family is vital and important, but it has hardly anything at all to do with the love which we see in Jesus Christ.

For a character like Katniss Everdeen to offer herself as a sacrifice so that her younger sister might live is perhaps noble and admirable, but it is not Christian love. It is simple biology. It is instinct.

By contrast, the gospel of Jesus Christ continually calls us to move against our instinctual natures. Rather than offering our sacrificial love solely on behalf of those within our own families – as good as that is - , the gospel calls us to sacrifice on behalf of those who have no biological claim upon our kindness at all.

Christ calls us to offer ourselves for the sake of those with whom we share nothing in common, except for the fact that we are members of the human family, all made in the image of God.

Our Lord calls us to sacrifice ourselves even for the sake of our enemies.

This is exactly how the apostle Paul describes the Lord’s own sacrifice in his letter to the Romans: “While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10).  

For more than 2000 years, people have been struck to the heart by the realization that this man, this One we call Jesus, willingly and freely walked forward to death on the cross.

And why? Out of love for you.

You know the words of invitation in the Prayer Book, when I hold up the consecrated bread and wine and invite everyone to the table:

“The gifts of God for the people of God. Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you.”

That Christ died for you. Remember it. Take it to heart.

That remembrance is intended to drive you to your knees in humble gratitude for the sacrifice that Jesus made for you and for me on the cross. 

  

But what comes next? Not in the liturgy, I mean, but in the course of our Christian lives.

What happens once we take this to heart, once we remember and embrace that amazing grace which Jesus gives to us? What then?

“Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also…

Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:26 & 25).

Don’t misunderstand this text. I love my life! And I hope that you love yours! Because it is a gift of grace from our Creator. But, like every gift, it is given in order that we might give it back in service.

What the Lord longs to see is a community of people who have been so touched by his grace and love that they are ready to sacrifice in service to others, even to those who are entirely different and alien.

And what is true of the individual Christian is also true for the Christian community.

Do you realize that this is also your calling as a Christian community?

Not to guard and protect the life of your parish! No! But rather to give it away in prodigal generosity so that those out there who are lost, who are hopeless, who are hungry, who are oppressed – so that they might experience the grace of God as well!

We might re-word this famous passage from John’s gospel in this way:

“Unless a congregation falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single community; but if it dies in service to others, it bears much fruit. Those congregations that love their special buildings and liturgies – they will lose all of it. But those communities who refuse to be distracted from the gospel, those gathered together in order to become broken bread and poured out wine for the sake of others - they will keep their life intact and in fact will multiply it!” 

This is the relentless missionary impulse of God. It is central to the gospel, like it or not.

Grace is given, not so that we can be at peace and feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but in order that we might give it away!  

When we leave the Table of the Lord today, we will be singing an old song, but a good song.

It’s a reminder that we must not be distracted from the solitary reason for our existence, that we might be part of the grand movement of the gospel as it spreads to touch the life of each and every human being.

It is a stirring call to service, and it goes like this: “Rise up, ye saints of God! Have done with lesser things; give heart and soul and mind and strength to serve the King of Kings.”

Will you do it, my friends? Will you follow Jesus in this path of sacrificial love?

Maybe it will mean that you open your home to a foster child who needs a safe place to live.

Maybe you will decide that you do not have to pay an extra $50 a month for HD channels on your TV, and that $50 a month is meant to go to Africa so that a child there can attend school and become educated and have a future.

Maybe it will mean that you spend a few hours a week tutoring elementary school students in Camden in basic spelling and math so that they can move on in school and maybe even graduate one day.

Maybe the sacrificial love of Jesus will inspire you to go out to eat one fewer time each month and then to use that $50 to buy mosquito nets so that we can stop the debilitating spread of malaria in tropical countries.

I do not know precisely how God’s grace will move you personally, and how this grace will inspire you as a community to give your life away, but it will move and inspire – if you open your hearts to Christ.

May it always be so among all of us who are the fruit of his sacrificial love. Amen.   

Christmas Eve Homily - 2011

I'm a little behind in my blog posting. How is it that life can be so very busy? Well, I am now trying to catch up. Here you go...

A Sermon for Christmas Eve (RCL Year B) 12-24-2011

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              Isaiah 62:6-12; Psalm 97; Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:1-20

Title:               Behold What You Are

Well, it has finally arrived, my dear friends. The sun has set on December 24, and our long Advent season of waiting has come to an end. And now our feast has begun!

Who here is excited that Christmas has arrived?

There is a nearly palpable feeling of hope and joy in the air during these days. It is a magical time of year and it feels easy to get swept up into the feeling. That is, if - of course – you are able to avoid the miles of traffic leading to the malls and the long lines at all of the cashiers in the grocery stores!

There can be no question that our Christmas celebration has been overtaken by advertisers and retailers in their frantic effort to make as much money as possible. Just watch the television commercials and anyone can see that what they are selling has nothing at all to do with the Christ Child in the manger in Bethlehem.

What began with St. Nicholas sharing some of his inheritance with poor girls in his town in order to save them from a life of shame and degradation has now blossomed into a frenzied rush of shoppers searching for the best deals and the perfect gifts.

This is unfortunate, and it is right for us in the church to distance ourselves from all of that consumerism, to hold it at arms length as we re-capture the true essence of our Christmas feast.

But it is true and right that Christmas is in fact all about gift-giving.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son.”

Tonight, we receive once again the most perfect gift of all: Emmanuel, God with us.

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, there is the Abbey of the Society of St. John the Evangelist. These Episcopal monks are commonly known as the Cowley Fathers, because their order was begun in an English town named Cowley. Oftentimes, when these men celebrate the Holy Eucharist, the consecrated Bread and Wine are presented to the gathered community as the presiding priest says, “Behold what you are!” To which all those gathered respond, “May we become what we receive.”

We will do the same tonight, and throughout the seasons of Christmas and Epiphany. The words are printed in your bulletin in the order of service, just after the Lord’s Prayer. Do you see them? Let’s practice it once together now:

            “Behold what you are!

            May we become what we receive!”

The Body of Christ was given birth by blessed Mary, and this is what we celebrate now.

But we also receive that same Body of Christ here at the Altar.
And the reason why we receive this Body is so that we might become that Body!

For by the grace of God, we are the Body of Christ! Us! Here! Can you believe it?

We are the Body of Christ active and working in the world today.

In the beginning of John’s Gospel, we hear the amazing summary of the Incarnation: “The word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

There is a trajectory in the Scriptures, a macro-movement of God’s interaction with the world, of word becoming flesh.

Once God spoke from above, a voice out of the dark cloud filled with fire and lightning.

But here we see God living among us, a baby crying and hungry and being soothed with his mother’s milk.

This is still the direction of God’s action in the world – taking the ideas, the hopes and dreams of God and making them real in flesh-and-blood human beings.

The Body of Christ here today. We embody that movement today. We are the ones who are called to take this amazing good news of Emmanuel – God with us in love and compassion and mercy – to take this news and to make it a reality in our daily lives.

Not just now, not just in December and January during this special season. But also in March and in July and in September. In every day in which the sun rises over us.

So now it’s time for us to give our gifts.

Our gift back to Jesus is to become what we receive!

After all, it is Jesus’ birthday! Give him the gift of letting his Word become flesh in you.

Give him the gift of becoming what you truly are! The Body of Christ taken, blessed, broken and given in order to love your enemies, to feed the hungry, to visit the prisoners, to set the captives free.

Trust me when I tell you that giving this gift to Jesus is also the perfect gift that you can give to your loved ones as well.

When we become the Body of Christ alive today, we become a channel of God’ grace and compassion and forgiveness and love to those around us.

Tonight, tomorrow, during these 12 days of celebration and joy, as you look into the manger, as you look to the Child who is born as the Prince of Peace, slow down and behold what you are!

And may we all become what we receive from his grace and love!

O come, let us adore him. Amen.

Happy Tessaracoste! A sermon for 1 Lent

A Sermon for the 1st Sunday in Lent (RCL A) 3-13-2011, offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Matthew 4:1-11

Happy Lent, my friends! Once again, we have circled back to this season in which we prepare ourselves for Holy Week and our celebration of Christ’s resurrection.

The original name for this season of the church calendar is Tessaracoste, which comes from the ancient greek word meaning forty. This season of 40 days has always been intended to correspond to the forty days and nights spent by Jesus out in the wilderness.

As most of you know, the name which we use, Lent, is an Old English word which means “spring.” And so Lent is not meant to be a time for dark foreboding or morbid thinking. It is meant rather to be a time when we deal head-on with reality as it is, and not as we so often want it to be.

Today, we are given two parallel stories which serve as foundations for a biblical view of life. These stories give us a framework for understanding our own lives, and indeed, the experience of all of humanity.

On the one hand, we have Adam, the first human, the proto-type of all humanity, living in a beautiful garden-like paradise where everything needed for life is provided by a gracious and creative God.

Notice, please, the original vocation of the human: placed by God in Eden to till it and to keep it. The second part of this vocation is quite odd: to keep it. The work implies protection: to keep it, to guard it, to protect it, to shelter it, to defend it.

But, protect Eden from what? There was no one else present with Adam! And the cousin animals had no malicious intent. What was the source of any possible danger?

It was, of course, himself. Adam needs to guard and defend Eden from himself, to keep it against the mis-use of his own God-given freedom and power.

In contrast, we have a story about Jesus, who is described by the apostle Paul as the second Adam, the new human being who puts back together that which the first Adam has broken.

Here we have the two sides of humanity, the two sides of every single human being: Adam, who lacked self-control and who was unwilling to accept responsibility for his own behavior.

And Jesus, the second Adam, the one who is able to control and direct himself only toward life-giving and life-serving ends, and who takes responsibility for himself, his actions and his future.

The first Adam remains strong in all of us. We human beings seem to have an infinite ability or self-deception. We are quick to hide from reality, to avert our eyes from our own shortcomings, or to lay the blame for our troubles somewhere else.

We love to play the victim, don’t we? It’s not my fault! I couldn’t help it! Or, if only she had done XXXX, then I would not have done this! If he didn’t cut me off on the road, then I wouldn’t have done that! Excuses, excuses, excuses.

At the end of the day, the only one that we can ever blame for our words and our actions and our attitudes is ourselves.

This, for me, is what Lent is all about. Facing stark reality once again. Taking stock of my life so that I can take full responsibility for myself, for my family, for my community.

You might recall how Adam and Eve responded to God’s questioning about eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam said it was Eve’s fault; Eve said it was the serpent’s fault. God knows that it is humanity’s fault.

But the second Adam, the one who was faithful when tempted by the serpent, this one has restored our original vocation: we are to till and to keep this good earth as God’s representatives on this planet.

When we gather around this Table of the Lord, and when we “do this in remembrance” of Jesus, we are giving ourselves to this work. As in any relationship, there is a give-and-take. In the blessed sacrament, Christ feeds us. We receive much in the way of grace and comfort. But we also come forward and kneel at this altar rail in order to give – to give ourselves away into this amazing task of bringing God’s light and truth and love into the places of darkness, lies and hatred.

We say that we are here because we remember what Jesus Christ has done. To remember comes from the ancient Greek word, anamnesis. It means to put back together something that has come apart.

Think about our English word “re-member”. Members of a group, or of a body, are inherent parts or aspects of the whole.

When we “re-member” Jesus here as the Body of Christ, we do this by ingesting his Word in the scriptures, and by ingesting his Life in the bread and wine.

We “re-member” Christ by putting the body of Christ back together again, by re-creating here in this time and place the true and real Body of Christ.

We are all missionaries when we are baptized into Christ. After baptism with water, each child is anointed on the head with oil. Do you remember what the title of Christ meant in the original Greek? It’s the translation of the Hebrew word, Messiah. They both mean “anointed one”. This refers to the ancient practice of anointing a ruler with oil when they took the throne of authority.

So Jesus is the Messiah because he was anointed with the Holy Spirit after being baptized by John with the water of the Jordan River. We are anointed with oil and the Holy Spirit after being baptized with water. And this is where the name of “Christian” originated. To be a “Christian” is to be a little anointed one, a little Jesus, a little Messiah. Or, if you like, a reproduction of the Messiah in this particular incarnation – in this time and place, with my name, in my family, with all of my skills and gifts and abilities, and among my unique relationships in the human community.

By his faithfulness in the wilderness, by his ability to face reality head-on and to deal with the failure of humanity, by the taking of responsibility for our sin, our Lord Jesus Christ has restored our original purpose in the world.

When you take your place within the body of Christ, you are empowered to be who God has always intended and created you to be: little Christs who bring hope and peace and healing grace into a hurting world.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

WOW! The Benefits of Sunday School!

Did you know that having children regularly engaged in worship at church and in Sunday School can have enormous positive benefits in their lives and in the lives of their parents?

The practical and measurable benefits of active church membership among our young people include the following:

• An increase in the average life expectancy of children by 8 years
• A significant decrease in a child's likelihood to use alcohol, tobacco and drugs
• A dramatically lower risk of suicide among young people
• 70% faster recovery from depression for young church-goers
• A dramatically lower risk of committing a crime
• A reduced risk of rebelliousness
• A reduced risk of binge drinking in college
• Improved odds for experiencing a "very happy" life (self-defined)
• Improved likelihood of wearing seat belts regularly
• Receiving a life-long moral compass to help in decision-making
• Inheriting an extended family environment of care and support within the congregation.
• (All statistics are readily available.)

Of course, these benefits do not even include the joy of living a life of conscious integrity (see the Forward Day by Day booklets), the immeasurable blessing of being in a vital and living relationship with Jesus, access to the great fount of wisdom that 2000 years of experience has left to the church, and the promise of an eternal kind of life with God that continues beyond the grave!

Need we say any more? Why are we so quick to ignore such a wealth of benefits and blessings that are all FREE and available to all of us? Let's spread the word to our neighbors and friends about how good it is to join in the fellowship of the saints in our local parishes!

Healing Liturgy for St. Luke's Day



Here are a few photos from our Shared Ministry healing liturgy on October 24, in honor of blessed Luke the evangelist and physician. We gathered at St. Luke's Church for a Healing Liturgy and Holy Eucharist.



our simple gospel procession



But the Word of God is not chained!

Sermon for Proper 23 C RCL 3/21/2010, offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Jeremiah 29:1,4-7; Psalm 66:1-12; 2 Timothy 2:8-15; Luke 17:11-19

Help us, O Lord, to become masters of ourselves so that we might become the servants of others. Take our minds and think throw them. Take our lips and speak through them. Take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen.

In our Gospel reading today, the Lord heals ten lepers who beg for his help. Only one returns, the one who is the foreigner. The Samaritan. You and I, who are Gentiles in the flesh – we, of course, represent the Samaritans in this gospel story. And this week, as I read this story, I wondered about how often we take for granted the amazing healing grace which we have received from the Lord. Do we even recognize it and acknowledge it? Or do we continue to go on our way, never ceasing to give our thanks and praise?

Today’s reading from the letter to Timothy speaks of St. Paul being chained in prison for the sake of the Gospel. Then he adds a remarkable little sentence after this. “But the Word of God is not chained.”

But the Word of God is not chained! Of course, the writer of this is not speaking of the Bible as we know it, but rather of “the message”, the euangelion, the proclamation of Jesus as the Master of all. The Greek quite literally says that the logos of God is not bound, restrained or hindered. Jesus is the logos, but he speaks to us today primarily through the words of scripture.

But how often do we stop and recognize this?
Do we Samaritans stop to give thanks to God for this amazing gift of the Bible? To recognize and give thanks for the healing and transforming effects of these sacred texts?

I think that we take them for granted. Oh, yeah, it’s the Bible. We are supposed to read it.

Do we remember and recognize know how many millions of people in the world are craving and praying for the privilege to read the Bible in their own language, in a way that they can understand, and yet they are not able?

The old proverb is that “familiarity breeds contempt” and in this case I believe it is true. We here in the Church – we have heard the Bible so much, and talked about it so much, that it has become almost boring. Most of us can hear it now with such nonchalance that we barely even listen any more.

But the Word of God is not chained. And this message of the Gospel has amazing power to touch people and change them forever.

Let me share with you and amazing story of the effect that the word of God can have on people. Mosab Hassan Yousef is a young man living right now in exile. The reason for this is complicated. You see, he grew up in Ramallah, in Palestine. His father is Sheik Hassan Yousef. This man is the imam, the one spiritual leader behind the founding of Hamas, the Islamic Palestinian terrorist group committed to the destruction of Israel. Mosab grew up then as a prince among his people, the first-born son of a very important and very influential (and dangerous) person.

Growing up in that place, Mosab learned the spiritual practices of Islam. He never missed a time of prayer with his father at the mosque. He loved his father and admired his father’s devotion. But, unfortunately, Mosab also learned there how to hate. And as he grew up, his list of those who were worthy of his hate grew longer and longer. When he was 18, he secretly bought a few guns so that he might attack Israeli settlers and soldiers as part of the first intifada, but he was caught and arrested by the Israelis. While being held in the large prison in the valley of Armageddon for 16 months, he watched with horror as the leaders of Hamas tortured and brutalized one another under suspicion of collaboration with the Israelis.

Mosab’s faith in and commitment to his people began to waver. If they did this to one another in the name of Islam, of what other horrors were they capable? He became confused and began searching for truth. Mosab grew unsure now of who were the bad guys and who were the good guys, who he should hate and who he should trust.

Damascus Gate in Old Jerusalem

Until one day in 1999. By this time, Mosab was free and on this day he was walking with his best friend, Jamal, past the Damascus Gate in Old Jerusalem. A man from the United Kingdom, who spoke Arabic, was there and he invited Mosab to join a group studying the New Testament at the YMCA in West Jerusalem. The invitation came at just the right point in his life, and Mosab accepted. After all, every Muslim considers Jesus to be a great prophet from God, so why not learn about what he actually did and taught?

Mosab was given a New Testament as a gift for him to take home. This was dangerous for Mosab, as conversions are not allowed and any hint of disloyalty to the cause of Hamas could cost him his life. But the giving and receiving of gifts is a vital part of Arab hospitality, and so Mosab accepted this gift and secretly he took it home.

He had no idea of how to read this Arabic New Testament, so he began in the beginning. Mosab read the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew. He found it interesting, but not terribly overwhelming. That is, until he came to the Sermon on the Mount and these specific words, which seemed directly spoken to his heart: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44).

What? Love your enemies? Pray for those who are attempting to hurt you? Instantly, Mosab felt as if he were struck by lightning! Never before had he heard a message like this. Never before. And yet he knew with an abrupt awareness that defies rational description “that this was the message [he] had been searching for all [his] life” (The Son of Hamas, p. 122).

Since that day, Mosab has become a devoted disciple of this prophet from Nazareth, the one who taught him that there is no enemy out there who we must hate and attack. Jesus taught him that his only true enemy is in fact the hatred and anger and violence that had taken hold of his heart.

But the Word of God is not chained. Just let that gospel message loose into the world and who knows what effect it might have! Let those trapped in cycles of violence hear words of truth and beauty from the Prince of Peace, and who knows how the Spirit might begin to transform them and their communities!

Do you think that you and I here remember and recognize how truly radical and revolutionary this Word of God is? How life-altering is this message of the Gospel? Let’s face it. It is not our primary instinct to love our enemies. It is not a natural reaction to never seek after revenge. It is not normal to reject all anger and hatred, to never allow a root of bitterness to grow up within our hearts.

When Paul was held in prison for the sake of the gospel, he writes letters to his friends. But does not ask for help with organizing a raid party, to organize a prison break? Never does not write to his friends to organize a secret militia to attack the prison. Never does he seek revenge by plotting to assassinate the Roman official who put him there. Never does he do this, because the logos of God has gripped and changed his heart.

This word, this message, this Gospel has power to change people, to change communities, to change the world.

Do we come back to God and give thanks for the healing and grace which we have received through this Word? Or are we like the nine others who take it for granted, and consider this gift of little value?
Let us be the ones who do not take the word of God for granted, but who continually recognize and give thanks for the amazing gift that we have received here in the message of the Gospel. Amen.

Retreat with the Little Poor Man of Assisi



"We happy few" - our small mini-retreat group!

 On Saturday, October 2, we held a "Mini-Retreat with St. Francis of Assisi" at the Wheelabrator Wildlife Refuge in Westville, NJ. Here is an outline of the life of St. Francis. He is, without question, one of the greatest followers of Christ ever to walk the earth. We have much to learn from him. 

Reading about St. Francis in the Wheelabrator Picnic Shelter

The view from Tie-Off Point due north to Center City

Outline of Francis’ Life

• 1182a.d. Birth of Francis in Assisi. The son of Pietro di Bernardone, a wealthy middle-class linen merchant, and Pica, a French woman.
• He studied at St. George’s Church School in Assisi as a youth. He was deeply influenced by the ideals of medieval chivalry and dreamed of being a brave knight.
• 1200 He joined the war between Assisi and neighboring Perugia, was captured and spent 1 year as a POW. During an illness, he received a vision urging him to serve the Lord rather than men.
• 1202 He returned to Assisi and began to help poor priests and the needy by selling his father’s goods. He also began to pray intently. He received a vision of Christ saying, “Francis, go and repair my church which, as you see, is falling into ruins.”
• 1206 Confrontation between Francis and his father over wealth given away. Francis stripped away and left everything behind him now.
• 1209 He received his “gospel way of life” and begins to gather followers (called Friars Minor, meaning “little or insignificant brothers”).
• 1210 Now as a group of 12, they wrote a short Rule of Life and received verbal and direct approval from Pope Innocent III for the Order (the Order of Friars Minor).
• 1212 Desiring to preach the Gospel to everyone, Francis traveled and tried, but failed, to reach the Muslims in North Africa, Spain, and Syria.
• 1219 Francis traveled with Crusaders to Egypt where he preached to the Sultan and attempted to forge a cease-fire agreement.
• 1220 Suffering from malaria and glaucoma, he retired as leader of his growing movement and entered a time of deep struggle and disappointment.
• 1223 Finally regaining peace, Francis created the first Nativity crèche to make the celebration of Christmas more real to the people.
• 1224 He received the Stigmata on his body while in prayer on Mount Alverna on September 14 (Holy Cross Day).
• 1226 After two more years of painful illness, Francis died peacefully in nakedness on the bare ground. He was 44 years old.
• 1228 Francis was canonized as a Saint by the church and his following continued to grow.
• 2010 Today, more than 1.5 million people around the world are vowed Franciscans. Many more are influenced by his example.

The primary source for fruitful meditation upon the life of St. Francis is the Little Flowers. Buy it, and read it often!

The Spiritual Rock

Sermon for 3 Lent C (RCL) 3/7/2010, Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9

YOUTH SUNDAY
I am so glad to be here with you this morning! Please raise your hand if you know that God loves you! God loves you very much, and God wants to teach you many things so that you can lead a good, full, and joyful life.

And do you know what? God led me to bring this rock, this stone, with me this morning. There are a lot of things that we can learn from rocks like this. But there are just 3 things today that I want to teach you today from this rock.

We just heard the words of St. Paul and the Lord Jesus in our readings today, and both of them were warning us that we need to be careful about how we live. If we’re not careful, we will make a lot of bad choices which will hurt us.

Did you know that the people in Jesus’ time were constantly fighting with the Romans? (A lot like Iraq today, where this are bombing and attacks every day and people are being killed every day.) It was a bad situation and a lot of people were killed by the Roman soldiers all the time. Well, Jesus taught them that if they don’t change and stop fighting with the Romans, then their entire nation was going to be destroyed! Jesus taught them that they need to stop being angry at the Romans and instead to pray for them!

For 2000 years now, the Church has been learning how to follow all that Jesus taught and they have left us a lot of good stories to teach us.

(This story is from The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers by Thomas Merton)

One good story from some wise Christian saints about the stupidity of acting like the people were acting in Jesus’ time. It is about St. Anthony, a very wise man who lived in the deserts of Egypt.

“Abbot (St.) Anthony taught Abbot Ammonas (his student), saying: ‘You must advance yet further in the fear of God.’ And taking him out of the cell he showed him a stone, saying: ‘Go and insult that stone, and beat it without ceasing.’ When this had been done, St. Anthony asked him if the stone answered back. ‘No’, said Ammonas (his student).”

Let’s try it ourselves, shall we? Why don’t you take turns insulting the rock? We won’t beat it or hit it, but just yell at it. “You’re stupid!” “You’re an idiot!” “You’re ugly!”

It’s really pretty stupid to do this, isn’t it? Jesus tells us that this is what we are like when we are angry and fight all the time. We can never win, we can never be happy living that way. And even more, if we keep fighting and yelling all the time, then we are the ones who are going to get hurt!

But do you know what’s even more interesting, I think? St. Anthony ended his teaching story in a very different way. Do you know what he told his student?

“Then Abbot Anthony said: ‘You too must reach the point where you no longer take offense at anything.’”

He said, you must become like this rock! So that if people say nasty things to you or try to hurt you with their words, then – just like this rock – you can continue on and not be bothered at all!

You could yell at this rock every day and you’re not going to hurt it at all! People who love Jesus and follow him become like that! People can try to hurt us every day, but they can’t really hurt us at all. Because we’re strong! And we know who we are! We know that God loves us, no matter what anyone else might think.

And do you know how you and I can become that way? Become as strong as this rock?

We can become strong like this because Jesus is the rock!

St Paul said that the Israelites all “drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Jesus Christ.” Jesus is the Rock.

There’s an old song that goes like this: “On Christ the solid rock I stand! All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.”

We need to turn to God to receive great strength. Everything that we could need is there. Grow in stillness (apatheia), which is contentment and peace.

A good way to start is by simply learning how to pray small little prayers all throughout your day, whenever you need any kind of help. “Jesus, help me.” “Jesus, guide me.” “Jesus, make me strong.” When we learn to really listen to what Jesus teaches us and ask him to help us, then we will become so strong that no one can ever really hurt us, because Jesus the Rock keeps us safe.