The Myth of Separate-ness - A sermon for April 28, 2013

A Sermon for April 28, 2013 (Pascha 5, RCL C)

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for The Church of Saint Mary

Texts:             Acts 11:1-18; Psalm 148; John 13:31-35

Primary Message:  there are no good people, and no bad people

Call to Action:          see yourself as a member of one humanity

Title:               The Myth of Separate-ness

O God, grant us continual grace to hear and receive your word, and to respond faithfully. We ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

My dear friends: this morning, I want us to consider together this morning something that I will call “the myth of separate-ness”.

You know this myth. It’s talked about commonly, and it’s been in the news quite a bit lately.

This myth of separate-ness was common in the days of those first apostles of Christ. After all, it was central to their very identity as a nation.

Now the process of unraveling that myth begins with this story about Peter’s visit with Cornelius, the Roman centurion. What did we hear there?

When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?”

In the world occupied by Jesus and his disciples, humanity was divided into two parts: us and them. Or to be a bit more clear, the men of the world were divided into two categories: us the circumcised, and them the uncircumcised.

I must say, to be frank, this mark of separateness is rather peculiar. I mean, how did the people in Jerusalem know that Peter ate with uncircumcised men?

Did Peter – or anyone else, for that matter – conduct an inspection?

You know what I mean, though I doubt that we need to speak any more about that!

As we know, it is one of the most normal, most natural things that we can do to separate the world, to divide humanity, into us and them. Right?

What about deciding who are true Mainers, and who are the ones from away?

Oh, I‘ve heard about that one plenty of times already.

It is said that the older of the two Boston bombers, Tamerlan, had protested against the idea that Muslims might celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving. He said that this belonged to the kafir, to the non-believer, and that it had no place in the lives of Muslims. 

The myth of separate-ness. Us and them. Here we see the same pattern repeated again. The world is full of such examples, and we must ask the question of ourselves as well. We are not let of the hook so easily.  

Who among us is NOT tempted to replicate this pattern? To define the “us” and the “them”?

I will give you the benefit of the doubt and thank God that you do not make such distinctions on the basis of skin color and any other such ridiculous matter.

I believe that WE are tempted  to divide people in a different way.

Who among us does not – perhaps even unconsciously – make a mental distinction between us “the good people” and them “the bad people”?

I heard an interview this week with a recovering survivor from the bombings in Boston. As this young woman lay there in the hospital bed, she said, “I don’t understand how anyone could do such a thing.”  

And I thought to myself, “Really? I understand it with no problem at all.”

Bear with me now. This may not be the most pleasant line of thinking, but I believe that it is vital for us to grasp this point.

Do you see how easily that young woman made the distinction between us and them? Between the good people like her, of course, and the bad people who do such horrid things in the world?

My friends, let’s be very clear about this. That distinction is a lie.   

I understand how angry young men like the Tsarnaev brothers, like Adam Lanza, like James Holmes, like Timothy McVeigh, and like so many thousands of others could do such horrible acts of violence, because I was an angry young man once who did a number of stupid and foolish things.

And who knows what could have happened to me if  - during those years when I felt lost and yet wanting to do something important with my life – if I was influenced by the wrong people, or brainwashed by some crazy ideology, or if I had some chemical imbalance in my brain!

There but for the grace of God go I.

I understand it with no trouble at all, but I confess that on this score, I am willing to give all of you women a pass!

99% of all horrible actions like this are done by men – by angry young men.

Women seem to be immune to that dangerous blend of anger and adrenaline and misanthropy and testosterone through which young men must swim.

But the overall point remains the same, regardless of your gender!

There is no class of good people on one side, and a class of bad people on the other.

What there is, is one humanity. Human beings in a variety of shapes and forms and colors, with varying abilities. All made in the image of God. All fallen and broken by sin. All in need of healing. All in various stages of recovery.

Thomas Merton famously discovered this spiritual reality while standing at the busy corner of Fourth and Walnut streets in downtown Louisville, Kentucky in March of 1958, in the middle of a regular business day in the shopping district.

Even though he was a monk who lived an isolated life of silence and prayer, he realized right there that there is only one humanity. As he wrote in his journal:

“I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separate-ness… [As monks], we belong to God. Yet so does everybody else belong to God…This sense of liberation…was such a relief and a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud. And I suppose my happiness could have taken form in these words: ‘Thank God, thank God that I AM like other men, that I am only a man among others.’” (Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, p. 153-154).

Like waking from a dream of separate-ness.

The first step in truly loving others as Christ commanded is to refuse to deal in illusions and falsehoods, and to recognize our common reality.

In each one of us, no matter what skincolor or gender or age or intelligence, no matter what abilities or mental competency, no matter what markings we do or do not have on our bodies – inside each one of us, there is tremendous potential – for good and for evil – potential to build and to destroy.

Do you know this truth about yourself? Do you know this truth about others?

Peter and those first disciples were being taught this lesson by the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit is still teaching us this lesson today.

“And they praised God, saying, ‘Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life’” (Acts 11:18).

Let us give our thanks and praise that God has given even to me, even to you, that repentance that leads to life. Amen.

Children’s Message

Good morning!

Let me ask you a question: who is invited to live in God’s house forever?

Am I invited? Are you invited? How do we know? Because God said we were invited!

This morning, we heard a strange story read from the Bible about a giant sheet and lots of different animals.

Did you hear it?

Saint Peter was praying and he saw a vision. Do you know what this is?

A vision is seeing something real but which is not actually there.

Peter saw a vision of a large sheet floating down out of the sky, and in that sheet were all kinds of animals. Wild animals, reptiles, birds.

And maybe it looked a little bit like this! (Acolytes unfurl sheet).

When Peter saw this, a voice told him, “Get up, Peter! Kill and eat.”

He said, No way! I’ve never eaten any food that wasn’t special, wasn’t holy.

But the voice of God told him that it was ok to eat anything.   

Now, guess what? Let me tell you a secret. This story is NOT about food at all, and it is not even about animals!

Do any of you know what it IS about?

It’s about PEOPLE! All those different kinds of animals represent different kinds of people. And all different kinds of people are invited to live in God’s house.

If they want to, they can live with God now and forever. Even you and me are invited. Everyone, no matter what they look like or what kind of abilities they have or don’t have – God has spoken, and God has invited us all to live with God forever. Now that’s good news, isn’t it? Let’s pray.  

God's Children Now! - Sermon for 3 Pascha

A Sermon for the 3^rd Sunday in Pascha (RCL B) 4-22-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              Acts 3:12-19; Psalm 4; 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36b-48

Themes:         repentance, witnessing, boldness, fearlessness
Title:               God’s Children Now

“Repent and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out” (Acts 3:19).

My dear sisters and brothers: each year during this Paschal season in which we celebrate the victory of Christ over the power of death, we read through the Acts of the Apostles in our Sunday liturgies.

And in these texts, we discover anew the amazing transformation of these ordinary working-class people into preachers and teachers who were bold enough to stand before the rulers of the world and to bear witness to the power of God at work now in Jesus the Messiah.

We know that Peter and all of them were afraid and confused at first.

Our Gospel reading today takes place after the sun has set on that first day of resurrection.

It shows them once more afraid and unsure. But then their minds were opened to understand, and not long after, the power of the Holy Spirit rested upon them.

And when that happened, everything changed! And all of their fear was gone.

This past week was the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. I’m sure you heard about this as it was all over the news media. But I doubt that many of you heard the story of John Harper, the Baptist pastor who was on board the Titanic with his daughter on that fateful night in April of 1912. 

Born in 1872, John Harper was a native of Glasgow, Scotland. He began to preach the Gospel in the streets of the city when he was only 17 years old. His education was quite limited, but no one could ever question his passion for calling people to repent and turn to Christ. When he was 24 years old, he planted a new church, which grew to have over 500 members by the time he set sail for America. 

After the iceberg ripped open enormous gashes in the side of the Titanic, and when it became clear that the ship was going to sink, Reverend Harper placed his much-beloved daughter in one of the lifeboats for women and children. He kissed her, promised her that he would see her again one day, and then turned back to the crowds of fearful humanity gathered on the decks.

When the ship began to break into two pieces, many of the passengers jumped off the decks and into the icy, dark waters below. John Harper was one of these people and he was seen swimming frantically to people in the water and leading them to Jesus before they succumbed to hypothermia or drowning. Rev. Harper swam up to one young man who had climbed up on a piece of debris, and he asked him: "Are you saved?" The young man replied that he was not, and after a brief conversation in which it became clear that this young man was not interested in God, Rev. Harper took off his life jacket and threw it to the man and said "Take this: you need it more than I do." Then Rev. Harper
swam away to others close-by.

A few minutes later, Harper saw the young man again and he succeeded in leading this young man to profess trust in Christ.

Of the 1528 people that went into the icy water that night, only six were rescued by the lifeboats.

One of them was this young man floating on the debris with Rev. Harper’s lifejacket.

Four years later, at a survivors meeting in Hamilton, Canada, this young man stood up and in tears recounted how John Harper had led him to Christ; how he had tried to swim back to help other people, yet because of the intense cold, had grown too weak to swim.

His last words before going under in the frigid waters were "Believe on the Name of the Lord Jesus and you will be saved."

Not all of us, my friends, are called to be evangelists like this John Harper. But we are ALL brought into this new life in Christ where we can live – like the apostles, like Reverend Harper – free from the shackles of fear, free from the fear of death.

AND we are ALL called to bear witness – with boldness and sacrifice – to the transforming power of the risen Lord.

What is the transformation that happens when a person is overwhelmed by the grace of God?

What we see in the apostles after the resurrection, what we see in saints like John Harper, is an ability to live without fear! To be in the moment, with no worries about the past and no anxiety about the future. To live boldly in the NOW of God, freely sharing the love of God in Christ without concern about the consequences. 

In our Epistle reading today, we heard this proclaimed in our midst:

“Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.” (1 John 3:2).

What amazing insight! We are God’s children NOW – right now. That is what our identity.

What we will be has not yet been revealed. The future remains obscure, hidden from our sight.

Now, of course, we must be practical and plan for the future as best as we are able.

It is our duty to provide for our families in the future as we can.

And yet, the truth is that you and I spend far too much time thinking anxiously about the future, and projecting our imagined fears into the years to come, rather than living boldly in the present. 

Here is another story. A very different story – not a historical one. It is a parable which also presents us with an important truth.

This is an ancient Zen Buddhist story about an old farmer living out in the country.

One day, the old farmers stallion broke through its fence and ran away. His neighbors came by to console him and they said, "Oh, we’re sorry. That's so bad!" The old farmer just shrugged and said "Maybe".

The next day, wanting to eat some of those good oats back at the farm, the stallion returned. And, it brought along three wild fillies – wild female horses. The farmer’s neighbors stopped in and said, "Wow! Such great luck!" The old farmer just shrugged and said "Maybe".

The next day, the farmer's teenage son – his only son – decided to try and break one of these new horses, so that he could ride it. The horse bucked him, and when he fell to the ground, he broke his leg. His neighbors again consoled him and said, "Oh, we’re sorry. What horrible luck!" The old farmer just shrugged and said "Maybe".

And then the next day, the Emperor’s army came through the area in order to round up all of the young men to fight in a new war, where most were likely to die. But because of his broken leg, they did not take the farmer's teenage son. His neighbors congratulated him and said, "What great luck!" The old farmer just shrugged and said "Maybe...."

Do you see, my friends? The truth is that you and I are far too eager to predict the future and to pass judgment upon how things will be because of our new circumstances.

But we project too much, and the truth is that we do not know how our present circumstances will shape our futures. We waste far too much of our precious time thinking and worrying about the future. 

“What we will be has not yet been revealed.” The future is a mystery. But what else is written there?

“Beloved, we are God’s children now!”

Right now, we are God’s children. And truly, THAT is what matters most!

Because the Lord rose from the dead, the apostles walked out of that locked room and they left their fear behind. They walked out into Jerusalem with no concern about the future, with no fear of death, and they spoke with boldness of the power of God available to all people NOW – right now- through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus!

When you and I are able to clear out the clutter in our minds, this is all that matters.

Right now, we are alive in Christ! Right now, the Holy Spirit is empowering us. Right now, God surrounds us with amazing love and grace.  

And right now, there are people in your lives, in your families, in your neighborhood, who are lost because they have no connection with God in their lives.

These are people who have never experienced the joy, the peace, the hope that comes from being connected to Jesus Christ.

May God forbid that we keep this gift to ourselves. May God send us all out to live without fear, and with boldness to bear witness to transforming power of Christ. Amen.

What GOD has made clean

Sermon for 5 Pascha C RCL 5/2/2010, Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Acts 11:1-18; Psalm 148; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35


All of you who have heard me preach before know that I stay far away from controversial issues of the political realm. There are a number of reasons for that. First of all, I frankly do not think it is the job of the church to get involved in politics. We have our hands full simply with the task of transforming ourselves and our families and our own local communities.

A wise saint was gave this advice: “Do not be angry when you cannot make others do what you want them to do. Because you cannot even make yourself do what you want to do!” So it is in the church. There is no point in legislating how others need to behave when we can barely even manage ourselves to live in accordance with the teachings of Christ.

Secondly, I do not think it is fair to subject all of you to my personal opinions and perspectives. Each one of us has our own opinions on certain matters, and talk on these matters tends only to be divisive. Therefore, it seems more appropriate to stick to the central matters of faith which the entire church holds in common, and around which we can be united in Christ.

Lastly, I am one of those odd types of people who are blessed (well, blessed or cursed, I’m not so sure!) to be able to see both sides of an issue with some degree of clarity. On most controversial matters of national debate which cause such heated rhetoric in the media, I honestly have a difficult time coming down on one side or the other. Both sides have some merit. That’s why there is a debate, after all! I personally find it to be the height of arrogance to assume that one’s side is of course in the right, while one’s opponents are obviously in the wrong (or in the left, depending on where you stand!).

However . . . . with all that being said, TODAY I feel compelled to wade into the troubled waters that surround the Church now like an angry sea in a tempest. As we all know, the troubles have arisen from our various ways of understanding human sexuality and its meaning and place within the kingdom of God.

The story of Peter, as we read it today in the Acts of the Apostles, seems to be such a clear parallel to our current predicament that the Holy Spirit would not allow me to leave this alone.

What Peter experienced, and what he participated in, there in Caesarea was mind-blowing, earth-shattering, revolutionary in every sense. We must recall that all of the first disciples were faithful Jews, loyal to their people and to their covenant with God. In their worldview, the covenant of God was with the descendants of Jacob only, and their new church was a means of reviving and restoring the Jewish people in their unique relationship with God.

But now, everything had changed. And it was God’s fault! Peter reported: “The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us.”

How could God, the Holy Spirit, tell Peter to do this? It was blasphemy!

Just imagine the struggles of these circumcised disciples who criticized Peter. For 1600 years, male circumcision had been a defining mark of the people’s unique covenant with God. Now, the actions of Peter seemed to suggest that this circumcision was all for nothing, that it was an unnecessary and useless action. If God was to send the Holy Spirit onto the uncircumcised as well as the circumcised, then what is the point of this distinguishing mark?

It is the same in these matters of orientation. For those of us who are straight, if we are honest with one another, it can be quite difficult to consider different orientations and the implications of these differences. I am convinced that a vast majority of the general conservatism in the Anglican world in this matter is a direct result of the difficulty of overcoming this inherent aversion. The majority of the resistance is not theological; it is gut-level response that has nothing at all to do with scripture. Surely, the bishops and priests who criticize the Episcopal Church today can articulate their stance in biblical and theological terms, but very few of the people in their pews can do so. They oppose the new developments in the Episcopal Church because they “know” they are wrong. They feel it in the inside. These changes are so foreign to their experience.

And now they hear the Episcopal Church saying: “What God has made clean, you must not call profane” (Acts 11:9). Or more appropriately: Those whom God has made clean in the waters of baptism, those who are fed faithfully at the Lord’s Table, those who truly love the Lord Jesus and seek to follow him, you have no right to exclude them from the full life of the Church. “What God has made clean, you have no right to call profane” (Acts 11:9).

The incredible vision that is given to us in the Book of Revelation points us clearly to the fact that God is calling us, pulling us forward, into a new future. The Church exists today as a vanguard, a forward operating post, of this new heaven and new earth that God is bringing into being. What we do in the Church is pull a bit of that glorious future into the present darkness of this world.

In this way, the Church is a bit like football practice, if you will allow the coarse analogy. The real game is coming up, and we’ve already been given the gameplan by our coach. Now we need to get everyone together to practice together on a regular basis, so that we will all learn how to work together in unison, to fulfill the coach’s vision, to be ready for action. And in that real game to come, in that new heavens and new earth, I feel pretty certain that none of these things that we are fighting about now are going to matter at all. There’s not even in the coach’s gameplan! Can any of us even imagine if sexual orientation will be part of this new heavens and new earth?

I make no claim at all to understand these matters fully, to comprehend these matters of sexual orientation among human beings and how they formed and develop within us. But I am convinced of this, just as Peter was convinced there in Caesarea: “If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”

And I am convinced that we in The Episcopal Church stand on the right side of history, that are following the coach’s gameplan. That when all is said and done, the judgment of Jesus Christ will prevail, for he is the one who said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.”

He did not say, “I give you a new commandment, that you maintain purity to the Law of Moses within the church.” He did not say that “everyone will know that you are my disciples if you maintain the ethical standards of ancient Roman society.”

What did he say? What is his standard? What is his gameplan? “Love one another.”

There is an old story about St. John the Evangelist, that as an old man in Ephesus he would preside whenever the church gathered for the Eucharist. And every week, it is said that John stood before the people to preach and, week after week, he stood, paused, looked over the gathered community and said, “My brothers, let us love one another.” Over time, the people became confused and they asked him why he never moved on to another topic in his preaching, perhaps on to something more interesting or inspiring. And the holy apostle replied and said, “Because, my friends, as soon as you master this lesson, then we will all be ready to move on to another one.”

I’m afraid that we Christians still have not mastered this most basic lesson of St. John. Perhaps we never will. But I’m not a quitter. What about you? What do you say? I say let’s keep practicing together, focused upon learning from the Lord Jesus Christ, not how to judge one another, not how to create walls of separation, but how to love one another in the way that leads to everlasting life. Now that’s a good gameplan. Amen.

Peter Felt Hurt

Sermon for 3 Pascha C RCL 4/18/2010, Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Acts 9:1-20; Psalm 30; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19

My dear friends in Christ: each one of us is here today for a reason. God is working out a purpose in our lives that is not typically easy to see and identify.

As members of the body of Christ, each one of us is on a journey of growth and progression, moving step by step into greater glory, into closer union with God, into deeper holiness of life. Through the sacrament of baptism, Mia Rose Smith begins that journey today with intention and purpose. Unfortunately, most people in the world around us undertake this journey of life by accident. They do not have a goal for their life; they do not have a path to walk along. If they learn something or grow as a person along the way, then more often than not it is not by intention, but simply by accident.

However, those of us who are baptized into the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus are walking this path of life with clarity of purpose. The life of a Christian here on earth is a process of struggle and growth, of challenge and learning and expansion.

Our life is rarely easy, but of course God never intended it to be easy! God has called us to life so that we might push and learn and struggle and grow, and so might become more than we ever could be if left to our own devices.

Today in our lessons, we see both Peter and Saul (soon to be re-named as Paul) challenged directly by Jesus so that they might grow and develop, and become more than they were before.

When the disciples had eaten breakfast with the Lord on the shore of the sea, Jesus challenged Peter’s love and devotion by testing him, in order to see if he was ready to serve as a leader in the church.

And so “Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”

Peter felt hurt.
The first parish where I served while ordained to the sacred order of the priesthood was St. George’s in Fredericksburg, Virginia. This is a grand, old colonial parish in a vibrant small city. I was blessed to have a wise mentor there in the rector who had served there for 30 years. When I came, I told him that I wanted to learn, that I was aware that I needed to grow and to be taught, that he could tell me anything, and that it would not help me at all if he coddled me or sheltered me in any way. And so, after a few months, Father Charles shared with me some of the feedback concerning me that he had received from the parish. He reported that parishioners think that I cannot sing very well at all, and the Altar Guild is offended by my body odor. To sum it up, the report was that I can’t sing and that I stink. Other than that, everyone loved me!

And right there, at that moment, God presented me with a choice: do I cower backwards with a bruised ego, sheltering my pride, allowing a root of bitterness to spring up in my heart? OR do I push forward with courage, to seek after truth alone, and embrace this as an opportunity for growth?

The Holy Spirit showed me that there was truth in these things. I had never before then had much training in music, and I had never claimed to have a good voice. Also, I have never been one who is bothered by body odor. It’s only natural after all. It’s what happens when your body is moving and active and alive, and that’s a good thing. (Besides, I attributed this problem primarily to the stifling heat and humidity of tidewater Virginia!). And so, after this meeting, I asked the music director of the parish to help me with private voice lessons. And of course I increased my deodorant usage! But most importantly of all, I refused to allow any anger or resentment to fester in me. God had used these people to give me a gift – a means to grow and develop and to improve – and for that opportunity I remain thankful.

I have said this before here in this pulpit: I am convinced that one of God’s goals for your life, for my life, (for the life of Mia Rose), is that we all grow and develop into people who are completely and utterly un-offendable.

Because if I know who I am, then I can recognize the truth about myself in whatever anyone else might say to me or about me. And if what they say is clearly false, then I can recognize that they misunderstand, or that they are afraid, or for some unknown reason, they feel the need to protect themselves. But never in any way can the words of another person pose a threat to who you are, if you know the truth about yourself.

You see: to be a Christian means that we are ruthlessly committed to the truth, whatever that might be. We are fearless in pursuing truth, because we are acutely aware of how easy it is for human beings like us to deceive ourselves.

What matters is truth, and nothing else can claim our attention.

If it is true that Jesus of Nazareth was actually – historically – put to death and raised again to life, and if he then empowered those who love and trust him to become the church that we see spread across the globe today, and if he then lives today among his people who trust in him and follow him; if all of this is true, then this is of infinitely more importance than anything else about which we human beings could think or speak. Think about it: who has ever heard of someone dying, being dead for days, and then coming back to life and being fully alive again?

But, on the other hand, if this story be false, if delusional disciples made it up to sooth their troubled minds once they say him put to death, if this resurrection story is false, then this is the greatest hoax ever played on humanity.

But what is not at all possible is for this story, this message, this baptism which we share – for all of this to be just a little bit important, or a nice tradition, or a harmless social activity.

What we are doing here together is of the utmost importance. We are receiving strength to live this challenging life, and to see in it God’s plan and purpose for us. We are learning from the Master how to live a full and complete human life. And by God’s grace, we are growing day-by-day, week-by-week as people who love Jesus more and who share his love with others.
Amen.

Paschal Sermon: Who Ate and Drank With Him

Sermon for Pascha Morning 4/4/2010, Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2,14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26; John 20:1-18

Title: Who Ate and Drank with Him

My brothers and sisters, it is so good to hear that I want us to say it again: Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

This is our feast, this is your feast. All of you are welcome to feast with the Lord today. Whether you have joined in all our services and acts of preparation during Lent and Holy Week, or whether you only enter into this house of prayer on this day and at Christmas, none of that matters today. Whether you have fasted during Lent or have lived life as normal, forget about that today. For this is your feast! Let us all celebrate and rejoice.

For this is the day when the entire creation is made new. When the true Passover lamb, sacrificed on behalf of all humanity, has himself passed over from death into new and everlasting life.

And so we sing, Alleluia!

My dear friends: Jesus is alive! God is at work today in this world, in our lives!

But, however, …it’s not always easy to see this. Often it can be quite difficult to sing Alleluia. I can understand why the cynics doubt the reality of God at work in the world today. There are so many horrible, discouraging, painful things that happen every day.

But, at the same time, like small seeds that are springing up out of the dark soil, there are so many signs of this new life and hope even in the midst of this world of suffering.

Just last week, I read about a remarkable little incident that occurred at St. Paul’s Church just up the road a bit in Camden. As heavy snow was falling back on Saturday, February 6th (do you remember all that snow, by the way?!), Father Martin received a phone call from the Vicar of St. Stephen’s Church in Mullica Hill. Her parish was scheduled to come up to St. Paul’s the next day to supply and to serve their weekly Sunday night supper for the homeless and all who wish to attend. But, due to the 28 inches of snow that was falling over the weekend, she was sorry to say that her parish would not be able to assemble for this task. So Father Martin began thinking of a back-up plan. Snow or no snow, the hungry need to be fed! However, in less than a half-hour, before he had even put down his reading and gotten out of his chair, he received another phone call. This one was from the wife of the rector at Holy Trinity Church in Collingswood. It seems that they had a funeral at Holy Trinity Church that same Saturday morning, and since the snow was falling so strongly, very few people had attended. The family of the deceased had pre-ordered a catered meal for about 90 people and now they did not know what to do with all this food! So, on Sunday afternoon, the catered food from Collingswood was brought over and it fed all 96 people who showed that night for St. Paul’s Sunday night supper.

Was this a miracle? Not exactly. It is simply the way that God has always worked, and the way that God continues to work. God is simply full of surprises.

Of course, this entire story of Jesus’ resurrection was a complete surprise! Even those closest to Jesus did not expect it: Mary Magdalene, Peter, the other beloved disciple.

What is it that Peter preaches after the resurrection?

“They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day.”

They meant it for evil; but God was able to bring good out of it. It looked like a horrible tragedy; but God turned it into the most beautiful and glorious good!

This is good news. But here is another surprise. Peter continues his preaching and says: “We are the ones who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” Think about that statement: after he rose from the dead, we got together and ate dinner and drank some wine together! What?! That doesn’t sound like some kind of ghost, at all, does it? It sounds like a real-live flesh and blood person, a real man.

And now I’ll let you in on a secret: we’re still doing this! Here is the greatest surprise yet: we continue to eat and drink with this very same living Jesus all the time. He is risen, and through the Holy Spirit, he lives in our midst today. In fact, he is the meal himself!

No one in their right mind could have ever predicted this course of history. The Word made flesh broken on the cross, but raised again and given to us so that you and I might be transformed and made new. So that we might live as his body in the world, continuing to go about doing good and healing all who are oppressed by the devil. So that we might continue his ministry in this world. This God is certainly full of surprises!

In your bulletin, it states that in just a few minutes we will say together the Nicene Creed. But that is a mistake. There will be a small change in the program. On this morning, all the entire Church throughout the world celebrates together the precious gift of our baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ. And so together, we too will renew our baptismal vows (and we will bless water for the font as a tangible sign of our baptism.)

When we enter into this house of prayer (St. Luke’s - When we come forward to this Altar), many among us will touch the water and will cross ourselves. Why do we do this? It is simply one way to remind ourselves of our true identity, to remember who we are.

Once, each one of us was baptized with water and chrismated with oil in order to mark us forever as members of Christ. Adopted forever, and unless we choose to walk away, never to be thrown out or rejected. This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.

This good news is meant for the entire world, but as Peter says, we are ones chosen by God to be witnesses to the truth. We are ones blessed to eat and drink with Christ now. We are ones who are so privileged to know him, to trust him, to love him, to live in his constant presence.

Praise be to God for the awesome power revealed on this day in the resurrection of Christ. On this day the Lord has acted; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Amen.

I Am What I Am

Sermon for 5 Epiphany C RCL 2/7/2010, offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Isaiah 6:1-13; Psalm 138; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11

God must have a sense of humor. When we look at how things work in the divine economy, how God chooses to interact with the world, there is a remarkable sense of irony in life. It’s just plain odd how things tend to work out.

Look at St. Paul. He himself states his position most clearly: “I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”

It’s remarkable that Paul was the one whom God chose to lead the explosive growth of the church among the gentiles. Paul, who was not even one of the twelve; who never met the Lord while he was still on earth; who encouraged the persecution of the disciples and the murder of the first martyr, Stephen; who was so proud of his perfect Jewish heritage.

God sent HIM to bring the good news to the gentiles? It’s quite ironic, but this seems to the way in which God works. In theological terms, we call this the divine economy: God’s ways of keeping and directing the human household.

When I was away last weekend in New Hampshire, I had a wonderful opportunity to read a book. I don’t get to do that normally, but that’s what vacation time is for! I read an excellent biography of St. Patrick and the real story of his life.

When you move beyond all of the legends and myths and tall tales about St. Patrick, you find that there is a very interesting historical figure there. Like St. Paul, Patrick had a dramatic and momentous turning point in his life. And out of this turn of events, he was given a passion for his mission which could not be quenched. God chose Patrick to accomplish a mission which seemed quite beyond his abilities and strength.

Here is Patrick speaking in his Confession, which is his letter to the Bishops in Britain who had accused him of misconduct. He writes to defend the legitimacy of his mission. “So listen to me well, all of you,…: God chose foolish little me from among all of you who seem so wise and so expert in the law and so powerful in your eloquence. He picked ignorant Patrick ahead of all of you – even though I am not worthy – he picked me to go forth with fear and reverence – and without any of you complaining at the time – to serve the Irish faithfully. The love of Christ carried me here to be a help to these people for the rest of my life, if I may be worthy, and to work for them with humility and in sincerity” (St. Patrick of Ireland, Freeman, P. 179).

A little more context is needed also, I think, to better understand the irony here. Patrick was brought up as a wealthy Roman citizen in Britain, but he was kidnapped by the Irish while still a teenager. He was sold into slavery in Ireland and for years he tended sheep for his master. Finally, after 6 long years, God led Patrick to freedom and he returned to his parents and home in Britain. But almost immediately, God spoke to Patrick in two dreams and called him to return to Ireland as a missionary. HIM?! Why would God call him to return to that dreadful place? And to serve those people who had destroyed his childhood; who had taken away his chance to be educated, his birthright to have a good career and a prosperous future among the Roman nobility?

And yet, for reasons beyond our limited human understanding, this is how God works. Our lessons today make it so very clear.

God takes Isaiah, an unclean man, one is painfully aware of his own sinfulness, and God gives him a vision of the Triune God in holiness and sends him out to speak the word of God.

God takes Paul, the least of the apostles, one who never fit the standard mold, and God sends him on a mission which accomplished far more than all of the other apostles combined!

God calls Peter, a sinful man who so often misunderstood the Lord, and God appoints him as a catcher of people, and he becomes the rock, the leader of the apostles upon whom the foundation of the church rests.

God calls Patrick, an uneducated, broken young man who was just so glad to be back home again, and God sends him away from his home, never to return again, to serve the very people who had so badly hurt him.

This is the irony of how God chooses to operate, the Lord’s modus operandi. Martin Luther famously described God’s method in this way: God rides the lame horse and carves the rotten wood.

But the crucial point is this: the lame horse that is chosen is one which WANTS to be ridden by God, which is not content with being lame but rather WANTS to be whole and strong and swift.

The point for us to take away is not that only those who first misunderstood the Lord, or who first spent time deep in notorious sins, are the ones whom God uses to spread the Gospel. That is the wrong conclusion to draw here.

The point, I believe, is that it’s extremely rare for any of God’s servants to ever feel up to the task before them.

This is the divine economy, the way that God chooses to guide and direct our lives, and indeed this entire human experiment.

There is real encouragement here for us.
St. Paul said it so well: By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. God has made us who we are, and there are times when God calls us to a specific task and duty. If you do not feel worthy or ready or adequate for this task, then know that you are in good company, in fact the best company of all.

Our job is simply to make sure that the grace of God has not been given to us in vain. Do your best, follow your conscience, ask for help, give your best effort to God, and then allow the Lord Jesus to do with it as he sees fit.

Grace is what we receive; faithfulness is what we offer. And God takes care of the rest. After all, this is God’s work, God’s mission, God’s plan. We are privileged to have some role to play in it. Amen.