The Mystery of Life

A Sermon for the 3^rd Sunday of Advent (RCL B) 12-11-2011

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              Isaiah 61:1-4,8-11; Canticle 15 ; 1 Thess. 5:16-24; John 1:6-8,19-28

Themes:         the Spirit of God, praying without ceasing, mystery
Title:               The Mystery of Life

Please put down whatever is in your hands, stand up and follow my lead and repeat after me:

Praise be to the Father who makes us (hands straight up, palms upward);

Praise be to the Son who saves us (hands out, like on the cross);
Praise be to the Spirit who fills us with life (hands in, pointing to the heart);
Praise be to God who calls us each by name (hands ahead, palms up and open).
Amen! Please be seated.

There once was an overly confident scientist who took a trip to New York City on a train. In his train cabin, there was also a farmer, upon whom the scientist looked down condescendingly. So, in order to pass the time, the scientist decided to play a little game with the farmer.

"I will ask you a question,” the scientist said, “and if you don’t know the answer, you have to pay me 1 dollar. You ask me a question, and if I don’t know the answer, then I’ll pay you 10 dollars! OK? You go first. Ask me any question."

The farmer thought for a while, and then said. "OK, I know. What has three legs, takes 10 hours to climb up a palm tree, and only 10 seconds to climb back down?"

The scientist was a bit confused by this. He thought long and hard about the question.

Finally, the train pulled into Penn Station. As they prepared to disembark, the scientist took out a 10 dollar bill and gave it to the farmer, and said, "Wow. You stumped me. I have no idea. What in the world has 3 legs, takes 10 hours to get up a palm tree and only 10 seconds to climb back down?"

The farmer took the 10 dollars and then gave a single dollar bill back to the scientist. And he shrugged and said, "I have no idea!"

My dear sisters and brothers in Christ: this morning, I want to encourage all of you to be wary of any hint of over-confidence, to steer clear of any temptation to feel too secure in your knowledge of life and the universe.

John the Baptizer was clothed in camel’s hair, unshaved, a wild man living in wild places. He stood before the people gathered around him and he spoke words of truth and power:

“Among you stands one whom you do not know.”

I have always loved this phrase from the mouth of John the Baptizer because of its recognition of the mystery present in the midst of our life.

Among you stands one whom you do not know. This is just as true in our own day as it was in John’s.  Among us stands those whom we do not know. Around us, and among us, are mysteries unknown, undiscerned, inscrutable. John’s words pointed to the mystery of God hidden in the life of one who appeared as an ordinary human being. Today, we are bombarded by mysteries being uncovered and discovered all around.

Just last week came another announcement from NASA concerning the discovery of a seemingly new habitable planet only 600 light years from Earth – a relatively near neighbor in terms of space travel (see http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/1205/New-earth-like-planet-discovered-by-NASA-spacecraft-Video).

Here is a planet which seems perfectly suited to support life. We do not yet know if there is life on that planet – if there are any conscious, sentient beings.

But such a discovery is inevitable. There are likely to be millions of planets out there with conditions suitable for life. Understand this: at some point, humanity WILL make contact with other life forms.  

Think about that. How does this affect your perception of God as Creator? How might this change your understanding of the meaning and purpose of human life?

Many physicists today speak not of the “universe”, but of the “multiverse”. The growing perception in this field is that our observable universe must, by definition, by only one of many universes that relate to one another in ways which we do not yet grasp. Hence, the idea is that we do not, in fact, live in the “universe” – meaning one, but in the “multiverse” – meaning many.

Other scientists speak of this growing perception as multiple dimensions of reality. Some physicists are speaking now of 11 or 12 or 13 dimensions of reality, far more than what was understood about life just a few years ago.

And what about neutrinos? Have you heard about neutrinos?

Neutrinos are produced by the nuclear fusion and decay processes of stars throughout the universe. They are a natural, normal, and abundant by-product of these nuclear reactions.

It appears that neutrinos are second only to photons in being the most common particles in the universe. Our own star, our sun, produces millions of trillions of neutrinos every second.
In fact, it is estimated that around one trillion neutrinos pass through your own body every single second of your life. They pass through other matter with unstoppable ease. They pass straight through the earth with hardly no resistance at all.
A trillion pass through your body every second, but only one or two of them will impact the cells of your body over the course of your lifetime.
Which ones? Can you feel or see these neutrinos passing through you? Do you know what they are doing inside of you?
Do any of us really know what is going on in the heavens around us every second?
One hundred years ago, people did not know about neutrinos or about the multiple dimensions of reality. They did not have satellite telescopes to observe distant planets.

But what will people know 100 years from now about which we have absolutely no clue today?

All of this new discovery and amazing knowledge leads me consistently back to one question: what does this mean for our lives? How does this knowledge of the complex and multi-faceted nature of the universe guide and shape how I live every single day?

What was it that John the Baptizer spoke? “Among you stands one whom you do not know.”

You see, at the core, I am but one small speck of dust in space. There exists around us and within us and among us mystery that we never will fully fathom or understand.

There is profound mystery in life about which we know next to nothing.

And guess what? We don’t have to know. We need only to be open, to embrace the mystery, to relish the new discoveries of science, to look forward in hope to what is yet to come.

Among us stands one whom we do not know. That one is Christ – the Incarnate Son of God who remains a mystery. How can this person be both fully human and fully divine without the one canceling out the other?

We do not claim that the Son came into this world from beyond it. That is super-naturalism and this the Church rejects.

No, Christ comes from within the world, the full flowering of consciousness, the first fruits of the end toward which all life is moving. In only 2 weeks, we will celebrate the mystery of this Incarnation – this perfect union of the divine and the human, the uncreated and the created in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

How can we understand this? No more than we can understand what happens when we follow the guidance of St. Paul and learn to “pray without ceasing.”

These things cannot be grasped with the mind, but only experienced in the soul.

Be open to the mystery, my friends! Shun the hubris that closes your mind with too much faith in your own ability to understand things. Do not be afraid to experience God standing unknown and hidden in your midst today. For Christ comes to us bringing good news that transforms all those who embrace it.  May it always be so among us. Amen.

Those Who Wear Soft Robes

A Sermon for the Third Sunday of Advent (A RCL 12/12/2010),

offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Isaiah 35:1-10; Canticle 15; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11

 

My brothers and sisters: What does it mean to be a prophet?

What is the peculiar gift, the particular calling of a prophet? During this Advent season, we are called to remember the prophets, to recall the special gift of the prophet’s voice. They are the ones we recall now as preparing the way of the Lord, making the way clear for Jesus to come into the world as the long-promised Messiah.

But what exactly is a prophet? How do we define this calling? If you consult with secular authorities, they may say that a prophet is one who predicts future events. But, within the biblical sense, a prophet rather is one who speaks who special authority from God, one who is chosen to be a dedicated mouthpiece through which God can speak to humanity. Predicting events of the future, of course, is only secondary, peripheral to the task of communicating truth, to the mission of bringing light into places of darkness.

If you ever attend a Pentecostal or charismatic worship event, then you might discover that there are people even today in these congregations who claim to speak with a prophet’s authority. I heard a story of one such woman who stood up during worship, claiming that God had given her a word of prophecy for the congregation. Everyone listened with attention as she stood in a trance-like state and then spoke with a deep, commanding voice of authority and said: “Thus says the Lord – even as Moses led the animals into the ark, even so shall I lead my people to safety, if they will trust in me!”

Then she sat down, but people in that gathered community immediately started whispering amongst themselves. “Did she say Moses? I think she said Moses!” And suddenly, after a few minutes, the supposed prophetess stood up again and, once again in her trance-like state she declared: “Thus says the Lord – it wasn’t Moses, it was Noah!”

And everyone tried as hard as possible to muffle their laughter!

But it’s not just the way they speak that defines a prophet. James points to the prophets as showing us the way of faithfulness not only with their words but also in their lives: “As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord” (James 5:10).

John the Baptist surely qualifies in that regard. Thrown into prison, he patiently waited for Jesus to reveal himself as the Messiah. But he was only human after all, and it seems that eventually even his patience began to run out!

There’s a new commercial running right now for the new Windows phone. I bet that many of you have seen it. They call it “a phone to save us from our phones”.

Windows 7 Phone commercial

The commercial shows a number of people doing ridiculous things while distracted on their phones. The things they are doing are ridiculous, but also common in the sense that we have seen others doing similar ridiculous things. And all the while in the commercial, puzzled bystanders are watching and asking the question: “Really?”

Well, this is John the Baptist’s “really?” moment. He’s in jail now. He cannot be active in his ministry any longer. And so as a puzzled bystander, he is watching and he is asking the question: “Really? Really, Jesus? Is this it? Is this what you are up to after all?”

It must have been hard for John the Baptist. After all, he is your classic Type-A personality, doing everything with precision, by the book. Don’t you get that sense when you imagine John the Baptist? Eating only locusts and wild honey, wearing very odd, rough clothing. Only sleeping out-of-doors. Never swaying from his task of bringing God’s message to the people with seriousness and sternness. If God is going to call him to be a prophet, then he’s going all out to be the best prophet possible!

But he is sent to prepare the way for Jesus, after all. And the Lord Jesus comes, and what does he do? He eats dinners with prostitutes and tax collectors! He drinks wine with Pharisees! This is not quite what John the Baptist had in mind! Can you blame him for being a bit perplexed and confused?

But there is another prophet who is brought before us today for our consideration. Another prophet who shows perhaps even more clearly an example of suffering and patience. For who can possibly exemplify patience and suffering better than a mother?

Even blessed Mary, the mother of the Lord, is a prophet, one who speaks with her life as well as her words. Today, in our responsive reading labeled in our Prayer Book as Canticle 15, Mary speaks to everyone with prophetic power and vision in her classic song of praise, the Magnificat.

I asked us to pray Mary’s song all together today, because I hope that you can feel the hope and the longing in her song which runs so deep in this text. Her song is our song. Her song is the church’s song. Her prophetic words reveal the two-edged sword of God’s word: it brings hope to those who suffer, but announces danger to those who are safe and secure. “God has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”

These two sides are always present in God’s communication with us. It is commonly said that the task of a preacher is always twofold. It is said that the task of a preacher is to comfort the afflicted, and also to afflict the comfortable.

Each person is unique, and each situation in life demands a different response. But it is possible to look at society as a whole, and to discern certain movements and attitudes which hold sway within a given human society at one time or another. And so I ask you this: from your perspective, which one of these two aspects of preaching, do you think, is most needed today, in our own time and place? To comfort the afflicted, or to afflict the comfortable? To bring a word of hope, or a word of challenge?

I’m afraid that we need a bit of affliction right now. Even in the midst of this recession, this economic downturn which has affected so many of us, even now, we as a people are very comfortable. Jesus said that “those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces” (Matthew 11:8) and in his day, this was a simple observation. But in our nation today, we all like to wear soft robes, don’t we? We don’t have royal palaces here – thank God! – but instead we all wish to live like royalty, with all the luxuries that we can get our hands on.

But what have we lost, what have we given away with our rush to acquire luxuries and soft robes and to accumulate all of the finest things in life? As a whole, we have become weak, afraid to sacrifice, unwilling to be challenged for the greater good.

Do you know that back in the early centuries of the church, in Ireland and the Celtic lands, that anyone who wished to be ordained first had to demonstrate that they had memorized the entire book of Psalms? All 150 Psalms recited from memory? By listening to the requirements today, you would think that things have gotten more difficult rather than less!

Did you also hear how the United States Army recently revised its Basic Training program for the first time in 30 years?

General Interviewed about changes

They had to change it in order to address two general problems with new recruits: lack of fitness and excessive weight. In short, this means that the average Army recruit today is not physically able to handle the Basic Training program of past generations.

Look even at our Advent observance! How quick we are to bypass the rigor of Advent’s spiritual preparation in order to jump right into the cookies and parties and celebrations of Christmas! Let’s face it: we, as a people, we have become soft and weak. And so, I believe that God calls out to us today with a challenge and a rebuke. The One who casts down the mighty from their thrones is calling us to seek the things that are above, to renew our focus upon those things that have eternal meaning and value.

May you and I be among those who are able to hear this divine challenge and respond to it with energy, enthusiasm and trust. Amen.

One Who is More Powerful

Sermon for 3 Advent RCL, Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Zephaniah 3:14-20; Isaiah 12:2-6; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18

There’s an event every summer out in the hills of Pennsylvania. It’s called the Creation Festival, and it’s run by a pastor from Medford. It’s a multi-day, long weekend Christian festival with an incredible number of Christian bands, daily worship sessions and bible studies, and lots of time for plain old fellowship as thousands of people are all camped camp out on farm fields. It’s primarily a major evangelical event, but youth groups from all kinds of churches attend and participate from all over the East Coast and Midwest.

Tony Campolo, the Baptist professor from Eastern University, of whom I’ve spoken often, has been a part of this festival many times. He tells of a Sunday during a Creation Festival a few years back when he was invited to preach at a local Lutheran church, and a number of young people from the festival followed him there to join in worship and to hear Dr. Campolo preach. Well, it happened at the beginning of the service, that the Lutheran pastor called the people to worship in his typical way, and he began saying: “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord…” and, lo and behold, one of the young folks from the festival, sitting up in the balcony responded and called out, “All right!” and they all started clapping and hooting and hollering, and, well, making a joyful noise! It never even occurred to that poor, shocked pastor, or to his congregation, when he called on the people to make a joyful noise for God, that anyone present actually would!

We need sometimes, my friends, to stretch our comfort zones. Sometimes, God pushes us to make us uncomfortable. In fact, we have to stretch and push in order to grow. John the Baptizer, along with all of the prophets, is really good for this. Endowed with the prophetic office, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, John was right up in the face of his people with holy boldness.

I want you to seriously consider this morning how we would do well, at times, to follow the lead of the prophets. There are times when God is calling YOU to stand up with holy boldness and to speak the truth. Yes, you – each and every one of you. Sometimes there is no one else to whom you can pass the buck. There are times when you see evil and wrong right there in front of you, and you need to speak with holy boldness.

There is a right and a wrong in this world, and God calls us to stand up for the right. But what is even more amazing than this is that God gives us the power to do it! What else does it mean, my friends, to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire? John the Baptizer, the prophet, speaks of the One coming after him. “I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” This is quite a claim. What do you think this means for you, in your life? Clearly, if we are a people who have been baptized with the Spirit and with fire, touched by this powerful Messiah and Lord, then there surely is no place at all for timidity among us.

2 Timothy 1:7: “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.” Or as The Message version puts it: “God does not want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.”

God desires that we act boldly with the gifts that we as the church have been given. But this begs the question: Do we truly understand the measure of the gifts that God has given to us? Do we grasp it? My friends, we have been given the gift of God’s self-revelation, the deposit of our faith, here in the Scriptures and in the apostolic teachings of the Church. This deposit is a treasure beyond comprehension. I will spend my entire life digging into this treasure-house and I will only ever be able barely to scratch the surface. And this is not even to mention all of the other gifts that we have inherited as baptized people in this place: the houses of worship for which we are caretakers, the peace and security in which we are free to worship in this country, the blessing of living in a free democracy, and the incredible wealth with which we all live.

We are a people blessed beyond measure, and yet (you know this to be true) far too often we act as though we are poor. We walk out into the streets as though we have nothing of great value to offer to the world around us, as if we act in church out of simple duty alone, carrying forward this tradition because it is nice and it makes us feel good inside.

When we strip away all of the externals, the stark reality is that what we do here together in this place is a matter of life and death. We carry, we sing about, we speak of, we touch holy things. The words we speak in the liturgy are ancient, coming directly from the days of the apostles, those first ones who were touched by the fire of Christ, baptized in the Holy Spirit coming down upon them in tongues of flame.

On a personal level, this connection to the apostles is of great importance. The reason I left the Baptist tradition, in which I was first ordained, in order to return to the Episcopal Church, who had baptized and confirmed me, is because I am convinced of the power of the apostolic tradition. To be an “Episcopal” church means to be centered upon the office of the bishop, and our bishop stands in a direct line from the apostles, from Peter and Paul and Andrew and John. Our worship was not recently created in California. We do not sing songs that some new Christian in Nashville just wrote. Our ship travels in the apostolic river, and there is tremendous power and grace and blessing in these waters. I believe in my heart that the world needs these gifts, and our neighbors long for these gifts, even if they cannot yet express it.

And how then do we act? Do we hide this light under a bushel? Are we afraid to speak the truth in love? God calls us not to be shy with these gifts, but to be bold and loving and sensible. As Paul stated hear in the Epistle for this Sunday with such sublime clarity, “The Lord is near.” And so what flows out of this? What transpires when we recognize that the Lord is near, surrounding us at all times? Therefore…”do not worry about anything.” Christ empowers you to speak with boldness and so without fear or anxiety.

Now, please understand that I recognize this is not easy. We will all go home and have to figure out what to eat for dinner, and how to pay the mortgage, and make a list of what remaining presents we need to buy for Christmas, and think about how to keep the kids from arguing so much. And I recognize that the Church is in a confusing and complex time right now which can make us uncertain about what to say to others about the Church. I understand all of this. I understand the real world, I really do.

But we need to be careful not to use these things as an excuse. We have inherited an awesome treasure which is meant to be shared with others. Life is busy and complex and confusing, but we have a responsibility and we have made a commitment. And even in these busy lives that we lead today, this much remains true: each one of us does what we want in life. Really, search your heart, reflect on your life and you will know it is true. If you look carefully, you will see that we do in fact what we want with the time that is given to us.

Once again, the apostolic wisdom of the Church speaks directly to our need to be energized for action. The Collect for today speaks truth to us: “Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us.” This is exactly what we need: to be ignited with fire by the Holy Spirit, so that worry and fear are banished from our hearts, and nothing but rejoicing and peace and boldness and confidence remain.

So may it be always among us who are so blessed by Christ to find new life in this great tradition of truth and beauty and power. Amen.