An Inquiring and Discerning Heart - a sermon for the Epiphany 2013

A Sermon for January 6, 2013 (The Epiphany)

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for The Church of Saint Mary

Texts:             Ephesians 3:1-12; Psalm 72:1-7,10-14; Matthew 2:1-12

Call to Action:       be ready and open for what God is bringing  

Title:               An Inquiring and Discerning Heart

My dear friends in Christ: what is next in your life?

Today, on this feast of the Epiphany, we remember the epic journey of the magi from the east. They journeyed across the desert, following a star, pursuing a vision, guided by dreams.  

These magi, these wise men, these three kings of orient, they are now a regular and familiar part of our Christmas story. After all, they are some of the brightest stars of our Christmas pageant!

But…but let’s not forget that they remain shrouded in mystery.

In our reading from his letter to the Ephesians, Paul speaks of the mystery of the Messiah which was hidden, but which now has been revealed through the apostles for all of the world to see. This much is true, but there is still plenty of mystery remaining when we consider the works of God.

Look again at these magi. A group of astrologers – we think – travel west in response to a sign which they discerned among the stars. How many were there? We have no idea. Who were they? What does the title “magi” actually mean? We really don’t know. Why exactly did they come? Why did they wish to pay homage to a new king of the Jews? And what happened to them after they left Bethlehem? They came and gave their gifts and went home. And then what happened? Did this visit have any impact upon their lives? Or was it just a fun trip, like a tourism adventure to visit an exotic land and see new things?

These magi from the east are shrouded in mystery, but their journey itself presents us with a powerful image of our own journey through life.

Traveling across the desert, persevering through the trials and struggles of life, following signs and seeking after light, pursuing hopes and visions, guided by dreams…you and I are travelers in a strange land, looking for Christ, seeking to pay him homage, even when we find him in the wrong place.

At least, my dear sisters and brothers, this is who we are called to be! This is who God wants us to be: travelers on the way, always seeking to learn more, to know more, embracing every new experience in life as a gift of God’s grace.  

I recently read the story of the first kidney transplant operation. It occurred on December 23, 1954 at Brigham Hospital in Boston (now known as Brigham and Women’s). The surgeon was Joseph Murray. He had served during the second World War using new skin grafting procedures on burned soldiers. After the war, his curiosity about what made some tissues compatible between patients urged him forward in his research. In 1954, a young man named Richard Herrick came to him in the final stages of renal failure. The crucial factor in this case was that Richard had an identical twin brother who was willing to donate one of his kidneys to his brother. Dr. Murray was convinced that this would work – that the donated kidney from his brother would not be rejected by Richard’s body. But as soon as he presented his proposal for this ground-breaking procedure, Dr. Murray was pummeled with criticism.

He was accused of a breath of ethics. To subject a healthy person to a dangerous operation such as this – referring to the removal of a healthy kidney from the healthy twin brother – this was considered by many as a breach of the Hippocratic Oath. A number of religious leaders accused Dr. Murray of “playing God”, of trying to determine who lives and who dies. Some in the media accused him of acting like Dr. Frankenstein.

Procedures like this are so routine for us today, but we must try to remember that something like this had never been done before. Dr. Murray was a devout follower of Christ. He had no desire to flout the guidance of respected faith leaders, so he organized a series of conferences with the Archbishop in Boston, and with rabbis and other bishops and pastors. When a consensus began to develop out of these meeting, the surgeries were scheduled and undertaken during the week leading up to Christmas in 1954. It worked, of course, and Joseph Murray rightly was lauded and acclaimed for his ground-breaking work.

In 1990, he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine, and he passed away just before the Thanksgiving that we recently celebrated. He often spoke of the acrimony that confronted him throughout his years of research, coming mostly from fellow Christians who distrusted his work.

“We have to avoid the arrogance,” Dr. Murray once spoke, “of person on either side of the science-religion divide who feel that they have all the answers. One truth is revealed truth; the other is scientific truth. The more we learn about creation – it just adds to the glory of God” (The Boston Globe Magazine, December 16, 2012, p.6).

To be faithful in our relationship with Christ, each of us needs to avoid that arrogance of having everything organized in our minds into neat little boxes, the error of thinking that we understand everything, while we also must maintain our sense of curiosity about the world. Exploring, learning, growing.

And so I ask you again: what is next in your life? What will you discover next on your journey?

After someone is baptized in water and sealed with the oil of chrism, we pray for each of the newly baptized in powerful words carefully chosen. We pray: “Give her an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works.”

These are keys, signs of a life being faithfully lived: an inquiring and discerning heart, joy and wonder in all the works of God.  

Because all truth is God’s truth, my friends, and it matters not if you find joy and wonder in the intricacies of human biology, or in the fine art of cooking excellent meals, or in the deep understanding of the Bible! What matters is that you pursue truth, and that you never, ever cease in that pursuit.

One of the sage desert monks of the 4^th century, Abba Palladius, spoke these words of wisdom: “The first step away from God is a distaste for learning.”

The first step away from God is a distaste for learning.  

If you ever find yourself at a point when you know no longer seek after Christ in the faces of every person you meet, when you no longer have any interest in exploring the mysteries of life and faith, when you no longer have that hunger to learn and explore the wonders of this creation, then you can be certain that you have taken a step away from God.

Don’t go down that path, my friends! There is a better way to live, and so I ask you once more: what is next in your life? Where is God leading you on your journey of discovery, on your pursuit of truth?   

Wherever the Holy Spirit is leading you, like the mysterious magi from the east, like Dr. Murray, may you always follow God’s leading with an inquiring and discerning heart, and with the gift of joy and wonder in all of God’s works. Amen.  

Leave your gift there and go!

A Sermon for the 6th Sunday after the Epiphany (RCL A) 2-13-2011
Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Deuter. 30:15-20; Psalm 119:1-8; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; Matthew 5:21-37

Title: Leave your gift there and go!

Our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who redeemed the world by his incarnation and self-offering on the cross, and who redeemed us and made us his holy people through his own blood. This Lord Jesus, our Teacher, the one who guides all people in finding the good life, this Lord Jesus loves confrontation.

Yes! You heard me right. Jesus loves confrontation!

Ah, you may be asking, but what does the word confrontation actually mean? Do we have any Latin scholars with us here today? Confront comes from the Latin words “com” and “frontem”. It means foreheads together, in the original Latin. The basic idea of confronting someone is to address them face-to-face, forehead-to-forehead. Head on, direct, clear, unambiguous.

And so I say it again: Jesus loves confrontation, because he loves it when people take the initiative to engage in face-to-face, direct, clear, unambiguous communication.

The Lord understands that conflict and tension are normal and regular parts of life. And the Lord understands that conflict avoidance is a pattern of behavior that leads to more suffering, more bitterness, more violence.

If you look in a medical dictionary, you will see a definition of confrontation which is something like this:

“a therapeutic technique constituting the act of facing or being made to face one's own attitudes and shortcomings, the way one is perceived, and the consequences of one's behavior, or of causing another to face these things.”

Being made to face one’s own attitudes and shortcomings. This, I believe, is what Jesus has in mind for us.

Listen again to these words from his best remembered teaching session, his seminar on the hillside, as we might call it today.

Here in Matthew’s Gospel, he is talking to real-life people about the conflicts that they have in their everyday lives, and he asks his listeners – and us, of course – to look deeper than the surface level. Of course, murder is wrong, but that deadly act is simply the direct product of a heart that is filled with anger and bitterness. So what are we to do? What can we do to move away from the anger that leads to violence? What does he say?

“So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against us, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23).

My friends, stop and consider what kind of action it is that Jesus is calling forth.

Of course, he is speaking of temple ritual, when the Hebrew people entered the temple in Jerusalem to offer gifts to the priests and to make sacrificial offerings to God to redeem their sin.

But think about the implications. He does not call us to seek reconciliation BEFORE we offer our worship to God, and not AFTER. Rather, he calls us to interrupt our worship of God right in the middle! The Lord says that reconciling with another is far more important than completing our ritual act! When you are in the process of worshipping God, if you remember this conflict in your life, then leave and go immediately! Reconcile, and then return and complete your act of worship.

Can you appreciate how radical this is? We tend to prefer orderliness and neat, clearly defined rituals, but how would our worship be different if we here actually and honestly took this teaching to heart?

To be honest, I’m not sure how this would work. But recently, I heard about a congregation out in Minneapolis who sometimes practice a different way to receiving Communion which seeks to respect this teaching from Christ.

In this community, when communion is ready, a number of stations are set up around the meeting space where the bread and wine are available. At each station, there are candles and flowers and an icon. Everyone is asked to examine their hearts for a few minutes in silence. Then, when each is ready, they are invited to go and to commune themselves. Sometimes families go and give communion to one another.

But if anyone in the congregation knows that they are at odds with someone else who is present, that person is asked to take the bread and wine to the one with whom they are in conflict. Take communion to someone else as a way of showing your commitment to reconciliation.

Maybe that person has already received communion? So what? There’s no rule against receiving twice. Maybe it’s embarrassing to be seen as the one who is carrying the bread and chalice to another in the congregation? So what? Humility and vulnerability are essential if we are to grow in God’s grace.

Can you see it? Can you imagine the potential for disorder and confusion which this kind of communion practice might create? But what does Christ consider to be more important: the beauty and orderliness of our ritual practice, or the possibility of reconciling with another?

True reconciliation is what Jesus is after. Now, let’s be clear about the fact that reconciliation is not easy. Sometimes you can work your hardest to reconcile with someone, but they are not open to it. Sometimes they refuse to reciprocate.

We have a neighbor on our street where we live in Moorestown who absolutely hates me. Everyone on the street calls him Uncle David. As far as I can tell, he has no family around, so I have no idea how he came by that unusual designation. He lives all alone just four houses down from us.

One summer night a few years ago, soon after we moved into our house, Erin and I were frantically trying to get the kids to the table to eat dinner together. Do you know how hard it is sometimes to get everyone together at the same time to eat when the food is hot, but the kids are all running around playing with friends? Angus, our son, was down the street at the house next to Uncle David’s. After yelling at him over and over again to come home for dinner, I marched down there in exasperation to drag him home. Erin and the girls were already sitting at the table waiting for us. But just after we turned to come back home, I heard a sharp whistle behind me. I turned around to see Uncle David in his front yard looking at me and going like this (gesturing for me to come over to him!).

So I thought, “What! Are you kidding me? Am I some kind of dog that you whistle for and to whom you bark out your commands? Forget it! We’re going home to eat dinner! If Uncle David has something important to say to me, he knows where I live!” I was thinking all of this while all I did was wave to him and march Angus back home.

Little did I know that I had sealed my fate! My refusal to obey his whistle and finger command was all he needed to write me off forever. He has never forgiven me for that. Uncle David walks his dogs by our house twice a day, but even though we always say “good morning” and “hello” to him, he always ignores us completely. Doesn’t even respond! But once, two years later, he shocked me completely by stopping in front of my house and saying to me, “You didn’t have the time to talk to me, that’s why I hate you!” I was quite flabbergasted and so I responded and said, “OK. Whatever.” Frankly, I don’t really want to be friends with him. I think he might be, like, the next Unibomber, sitting in his house all by himself every night. He’s kinda scary!

But we still say hello to Uncle David every time we see him. We give him invitations to come over to our Kentucky Derby Parties. He never even acknowledges that we exist. I think that we have tried to reconcile with him, but he refuses to even consider it.

One of the elders living out in the Egyptian desert in the 3rd century was asked to define humility and he said this: “if you forgive a brother who has injured you before he himself asks [for] pardon” (The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers, Thomas Merton, p.53).

It’s not easy to reconcile with some people. The Lord knows that. But the point is that we – we who share in the resurrection life of Jesus which is always new, always fresh – we are the ones who are always seeking to reconcile, always making the first move, always taking the initiative to reach out to confront another, not with anger and violence, but rather with genuine concern and with love.

Perhaps someone here will need to leave right now, because you know in your heart that you need to reach out to someone and offer to reconcile with them. Please do it. Listen to the Holy Spirit who speaks in your heart. Don’t worry about what the people around you might think. Wouldn’t all of our lives be so much better if we all instead worried much more about what God thinks? May it be so. Amen.

The Frosting I Deserve

Sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Lent - Year B (RCL)
Offered by Nathan Ferrell at HS, Bellmawr & St. Luke’s, Westville
Texts: Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corin. 1:18-25; John 2:13-22

Where can I get the frosting I deserve?

I love this little question from our Lenten study book which, to me, summarizes the spirit of our age. Where can I get the frosting I deserve? How can I get more stuff to fill the boredom or loneliness or uneasiness of my life? Frosting, of course, represents that which makes us feel better for a bit, before we inevitably become bewildered or frustrated again and need to dip back in and get some more of our frosting fix.

It’s getting a bit harder for many in our land to fill themselves with a constant stream of new stuff or new experiences to numb the uneasiness of life, and – God willing – our financial crisis will hopefully cause many to re-think their lives. For as you and I here in this place both know with certainty, this is what our nation needs most: not a constantly growing GDP and stock market, not more military success around the world, but a chance to stop, to re-think how we are living, and to change our moral and spiritual direction in the light of Christ.

It’s not just about money or material things. We need to re-think how we treat other people. A few weeks ago, when I was getting my hair cut, the young hair-dressers in the shop were having a conversation about one of their co-workers who was just fired. The newly unemployed girl was a negative presence in the group who complained regularly, and when she left the shop for good, she had choice words for the manager, who she called a B-I-T-C-H. My young hairdresser turned back to me and said, “Mmm, man, if that girl said that to me, she would have some big trouble!” “Why? What would you do?” I asked her. Without any hesitation at all, she declared, “I would follow her outside and make sure we were a little bit away from the shop, but trust me – she wouldn’t have any teeth left, that’s for sure!”

Amazing! To lose her honor and her dignity and, ultimately, her freedom, because of a flippant, angry comment from another. My young hairdresser has no rock to stand on, no foundation in her soul to offer her self-control and a bigger perspective on life than reacting to what is immediately before her face. And, of course, in this situation, both of these girls would see themselves as the victim.

We fool ourselves by repeating in our minds 3 myths which we like to believe about ourselves. Our author, Frederica (Matthewes-Green), explains these well, and she is right that these need to be dismantled if we are to grow closer to God. These myths are: 1. We are victims. 2. We’re nice. 3. And we’re better than a lot of other people.
Think about it, and you can see how virtually all of us think this way about ourselves. And this is where much of our spiritual trouble lies. We need to change our way of thinking.

Metanoite is the greek word used by our Lord when he preached to the people: “Repent and believe the good news.” The word means to change your thinking, to re-evaluate your situation, to alter your perspective. If we think it through, we can see how this is the fundamental task that the Gospel demands of us. Just look at our readings for today: in each situation, the recipients of the text are challenged to change their way of thinking.

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall make for yourself an idol” (Exodus 20:1-2). This commandment demanded a complete change in thinking for the Israelites! All of the people around them had golden or carved idols that were used in worship. This, and all of the commandments as well, demanded that the people change their way of thinking.

St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians has the same dynamic. To those accustomed to trusting in their own thinking and in the power of their own logic to solve all mysteries, the message of the cross arrives as a foolish story. To enter into the saving power of our Lord’s passion, the wise must change their way of thinking, embrace a new vision for the world, and find life according to an entirely different path.

Today’s Gospel reading does not use the Greek word metanoite (repentance) per se, but the prophetic call to change is written large all over this story. “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” Stop with your incessant selling and buying. Stop and worship. The temple is a house of prayer. Change your focus from looking at what you can get from others, to giving thanks for what God has given you.

Church is not a place for nice people. If there is any place at all where we can all let down our guard, throw away the masks that we create for ourselves, and take down any pretence about who we are, then Church is that place. Here, more so than anyplace else, is where we come face-to-face with the truth about ourselves and about our world.

I would rather be part of a church community full of broken people seeking healing and redemption, than a group of folks who have it all together and are polished and nice. Again, I suggest to you that the 12-step groups are a good model for us. Folks gather at these meetings because they know that they need something from outside of themselves to find the strength and healing that they need. No more playing games. Church is about getting down to business and being real.

What is more: the truth is that we are not better than other people. It’s sad how easily we miss this point, because of our faulty frame of reference. Remember this, please: the dividing line between good and evil runs through every human heart. Each one of us is a corpus permixtum, as Saint Augustine said. A mixed body all jumbled up inside with good and evil. And in a mixture like this, how can I possible separate out the evil and measure its worth? How much mold in a pot of leftover soup is enough to warrant its being thrown away? How much rot in a piece of wood renders it un-usable? How much sin in a human heart before we can call the heart sinful?

Repentance is going to the Physician for a thorough exam. It is not negative or macabre. It is seeking the truth – the truth about ourselves. But of course, the Physician’s diagnosis is not the end of the story. It is the beginning of our healing.

Way back in the deserts of Egypt, one of the desert fathers was asked by a certain soldier whether God forgives a sinner. The wise elder said to him: “Tell me, beloved, if your cloak is torn, will you throw it away?” The soldier answered: “No, I will mend it, and put it back on.” And the elder said: “If you take such good care of your cloak, will not God be merciful to you who are made in His own image?”

God longs for us to live a full and abundant life being shaped and guided by a different perspective. If we truly trust this Doctor, this Physician, then we can open ourselves completely to his loving, healing touch.

St. Augustine had this to say about our healing by the loving hand of God:

“God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple: all you who believe in Christ
and whose belief makes you love him. Real belief in Christ means love of Christ:
it is not the belief of the demons who believed without loving and therefore
despite their belief said: What do you want with us, Son of God? No; let our
belief be full of love for him we believe in, so that instead of saying: What do
you want with us, we may rather say: We belong to you, you have redeemed us.All
who believe in this way are like the living stones which go to build God’s
temple, and like the rot-proof timber used in the framework of the ark which the
flood waters could not submerge. It is in this temple, that is, in ourselves,
that prayer is addressed to God and heard by [God].” –St. Augustine,
Expositions on the Psalms

Our path of repentance during this season of Lent is taking us to the foot of the cross, to a life built upon solid rock, to a house built of rot-proof timber, to a healing that lasts forever. Let us continue to walk this path with honesty and with joy. Amen.