A Feast of Rich Food - a sermon for the Holy Pascha (commonly known as Easter)

A Sermon for the Holy Pascha / Resurrection Sunday (RCL B) 4-8-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              Isaiah 25:6-9; Psalm 188:1-2, 12-24; Acts 10:34-43; John 20:1-18

Title:               A Feast of Rich Food

Alleluia! Christ is risen!  The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

And so we have finally come to this festival day of joy and light and hope. Our long Lenten season of discipline is over, and now the season of celebration begins!

Last night, at our wonderful and interesting Vigil liturgy which marked the turning point and the beginning of our festival, we baptized our newest sister in Christ – Chelsea Ann Baumiller. And immediately after this, just as the Church prays for every newly baptized Christian, so I offered a prayer over Chelsea which ends with this petition:

“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.”

My dear friends: if we are willing to receive them, these are the gifts that are offered to every one of us once again on this blessed morning:

·        An inquiring and discerning heart

·        The courage to will and to persevere

·        A spirit to know and to love God

·        The gift of joy and wonder in all the works of God!

For it is truly a gift to be able to find joy and to feel wonder at all the amazing things in creation.

Have you ever seen people running through a parking lot when it begins to rain?

They’re trying to get under cover as soon as possible, so that they can stay dry, right?

This feast, this celebration which we will carry with us now, this is all about stopping in the midst of the rainstorm and letting yourself become soaked!

Here is your challenge, here is your call: my friends, let yourself become soaked with God!

Do not run through life so quickly that you are dodging all of the raindrops!

Stop, and let the love and beauty and grace and majesty of God to soak you down to the bone.

No, even deeper than that. All the way down to the core of your being.

Then you will understand about the gift of joy and wonder in all the works of God!

Do you know someone like that? Someone who has that gift of joy and wonder?

There is a famous story told about St. Francis of Assisi, the little Povorello.

It is said that one night he was walking through the streets of his home city, the city of Assisi up in the hills of Umbria in Italy, when he noticed that the full moon was shining down with incredible brightness.

But what amazed St. Francis even more was that no one else in the city seemed to notice this at all! Everyone was going about their late-night chores or whatever activities demanded their attention. But no one paid any notice to this amazing moon!

So do you know what he did? It is said that St. Francis then climbed up the steeple of the large church there on the central square in Assisi. He grabbed the ropes – think of the hunchback of Notre Dame! – and he began to ring all the church bells. That got everyone’s attention!

The bells were run only to announce the start of mass or if there was a news-worthy event that needed to be announced, such as the start of a war or the death of a Pope. So the people ran out into the square, eager to hear the important news. And there was the little St. Francis, small in stature but giant in soul and bright in face, leaning out a window high up on the steeple, pointing up at the moon and saying to the people: “Look, look! The moon is incredibly brilliant tonight!”   

Lots of people thought he was mad. Crazy. But was he mad, a little bit loony? Or were they?

Let me suggest to you that we are all a bit mad and a bit loony! Every single one of us.

But, we are crazy for different things!

Some are crazy about money, and they are convinced that wealth will make them happy – even though all of the evidence shows this to be patently false.

Some are crazy about health, and they will do everything they can to stay and look young for as long as possible – even though we all know that old age and illness and death are inevitable.

Some are crazy about success, and they will spend every waking moment ensuring that they – or their children – outperform their competition – even though we know that there is always someone better or stronger or smarter than you.

Some are crazy about their country, and they live and breathe with patriotic fervor – even though we all know that no nation lasts forever, and that human societies come and go with the passing of time.

But there are some who are crazy about God, and these ones are soaked through and through with joy and wonder at the goodness of God and the beauty of God’s world.

There are some, like St. Francis, who are not blinded by the silly notions of human society.

These are the ones who notice the brilliance of the moonlight, who join with the singing of the birds, who give thanks for a simple meal with friends, who find joy in the laughter of children.

There is an ancient story from the deserts of Egypt that goes like this.

A man came to visit a wise elder named Joseph in order to ask for some advice in his relationship with God. The man said to Joseph: “Father, as much as I can I say my daily prayers, I fast a little bit, I meditate a little, I live in peace with others, and as far as I can, I try to keep my thoughts clean. What else can I do?”

Do you see? This visitor had a nice little religious life – a little bit of prayer, a little meditation, a peaceful place to live, some effort to think good thoughts.  But it wasn’t enough.

Is there any more than this?  That was his question to Joseph. Is this all there is?

The wise elder, Joseph, stood up then and stretched out his hands toward the heavens.

And his fingers became 10 flames of shooting fire.

And he said to his visitor: “If you want, you can become all flame!”

(The Sayings of the Desert Fathers by Benedicta Ward, P.103).  

There is more, my friends! There is much more. There is resurrection power.

And if you want it, then you can become a living flame!

If you want, you can become soaked with God.  

Not by doubling-down and working at it as hard as you can.

That is not the way to have your heart transformed by grace. The soul needs quiet to grow.

You become soaked with God, we become completely on fire with the love of God, only when we slow down, stop the noise around us and within us, and open ourselves to that grace.

Like the opening of a tulip flower in the warmth of the early morning sunshine.

Let your soul be like that flower as you soak up the love and mercy and grace of God that pours upon us through our Lord who lives today.

You are here this morning, and we have been invited to this feast of God.

So take a deep breath and celebrate!

If you have anything in your hands, please put it down. Stretch out those fingers. Open your palms up.

Do you know that God is good? Then let’s give God a round of applause. (Clap your hands, for real!)

Praise God, because our Lord Jesus is alive, and that same power which raised him from the dead can transform your heart and your life! If you want it.  Amen.  

Practice Makes Perfect - Sermon for 6 Epiphany, Feb 12

A Sermon for the 6^th Sunday after the Epiphany (RCL B) 2-12-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              2 Kings 5:1-14; Psalm 30; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Mark 1:40-45

Themes:         healing of leprosy, athletic training
Title:               Practice makes perfect

“Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize?”

St. Paul writes here to the disciples in the city of Corinth, where the famous Isthmian and Imperial Games had been held for hundreds of years. Athletic competitions were well known and understood by the Greeks, and Paul uses this as a metaphor for his on-going discussion about eating meat from pagan temples.

“Athletes exercise self-control in all things.” I think all of us understand this basic reality of discipline and practice. And we all know the old saying: Practice makes perfect. It’s true, of course.  

If you want to learn to speak in a new language, you have to say the words over and over again hundreds of times so that, when you are in a real conversation, you are ready to speak and the words will come naturally.

If you are a basketball player and your free-throw percentage is low (can anyone here say, Andre Iguadala of the 76ers?), if you have trouble making free throws in a game, then what do you do?

You go every day and shoot a few hundred free throws so that, when it is game time, you are ready to shoot those free throws and make them. It may take thousands and thousands of practice shots, but eventually – if you put in enough effort – then your percentage will improve.

What did St. Paul say? “Athletes exercise self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.”

If athletes and others are willing to pour so much energy into disciplining their bodies so that they can win a game, why are we generally so UN-willing to pour even MORE energy into disciplining our bodies and souls so that, when the moment of decision arrives, we are ready to practice goodness, patience, generosity, kindness, humility, love?

The great abbas and ammas (the spiritual fathers and mothers) of the Egyptian desert in the 4^th century are still the standard-bearers for the hard work of practice within the Church. They have set the bar which has never yet been surpassed in the hard work of practicing spiritual transformation.

There was once a wise man in the desert who struggled with controlling his tongue. It seems that he was one who was quick to speak and this often made him say things that he later regretted. So it was said of this Abba Agathon that for three years he walked around every day with a stone in his mouth until he learned to be silent.

Another of these wise men, Abba Ammonas, once told his friends that he had spent the last fourteen years pleading with God night and day to grant him the victory over his anger.

Now, I would never recommend that you carry a stone around in your mouth for a few days, even less for a few years! But that’s not the point. The point is this: practice makes perfect!

These men and women in the desert did not know what to do, but they knew that they had to do SOMETHING in order to change the habitual patterns of their lives. And the point is that they were willing to keep trying until their efforts and the energy of the Holy Spirit worked together to achieve true and lasting change.

What are we willing to try? How long are we willing to practice and pound on that door until it finally opens for us?

This brings us to one of the great paradoxes of our life in Christ. We all know that grace if free. We all know that God loves us no matter what. We all know that there is nothing that we can do to make God love us any more, and there is nothing we could ever do that would make God love us any less.

God’s love is complete, total, final, unwavering, unchangeable.

Our efforts toward transformation have nothing to do with earning anything from God, with achieving a different level of status in God’s judgment.

You see, our motivation for spiritual growth comes from an entirely different source.

Bear with me, please, as I continue along with the basketball analogy.

And let’s say that the calling of God placed upon you in your baptism is analogous to you being selected as a member of the United States national Olympic basketball team! And the coach of this team is none other than Michael Jordan himself!

Jordan calls you on the telephone and says that you have been carefully selected to represent your country in the Olympic games as a member of the basketball team expected to win the gold medal!

What an honor! What a privilege! And you are elated, until you realize that you really are not any good at basketball after all!

You do not want to embarrass your country! You do not want to embarrass yourself and your family and all of your friends who will be watching every game on television! And you do not want to disappoint your coach and all of those who selected you for this honor.

So what do you do? You start practicing! You pick up a basketball and practice your dribbling and passing and shooting until you fall down in exhaustion! And then you do it again the next day! And the day after that! Because you were chosen for this task! Because, more than anything else, you want to be ready, and you want to do your best!

In our baptism, you and I received that phone call from the coach! We have been selected as part of the team to represent the best, the highest good, the Lord of all, the King of the world!

I’m not just making this up. Please pick up your Prayer Book and let’s look at the Catechism together for a minute. Please turn to page 855 in the Prayer Book and look at the first question there and please respond by saying the answers in unison.

Q.        What is the mission of the Church?

A.         The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.

Further down the page, you will see this question:

Q.        What is the ministry of the laity?

A.         The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship and governance of the Church.

And it’s the same with all the other orders within the Church: bishops, presbyters, deacons. We are all called to represent Christ and his Church. We all have received that call!

But do you know what? None of us are naturally very good at this. Some have more natural talent than others. But all of us must get into the gym – the spiritual gym – and practice and practice and practice, until we are ready for prime time.

We are not trying to earn a place on the team – we’ve already got that!

But we are trying to do the best that we possibly can! And to be the best that we possibly can.

We expend a great amount of energy with prayers for healing and strength when illness strikes those close to us. This is right and good, because the abundant life which God desires for us includes our physical health. But we all know that this is only a partial good, because all physical healing is necessarily temporary.

Naaman, the Syrian commander, and the unnamed leper healed by Jesus – both of them became ill again later in life. Both of their bodies eventually broke down and decayed and ceased to function.

The healing that matters far more than any healing of the body is the healing of the soul, the transformation of our habits and our attitudes and patterns of thinking that result in a person who will not be disqualified when it’s game time.

This is what we and God get out of this training ground, this gymnasium of spiritual exercise which we call planet earth – the quality of the soul which we create together. Us and God together – creating a life of value – eternal, lasting value.

It takes a lot of work, my friends. It requires commitment and dogged persistence, a no-quit attitude.

But the reward, the gold medal at the end, is one that lasts forever. Amen.

And With All Your Mind!

Sermon for Proper 11C RCL 7-18-2010, Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Amos 8:1-12; Psalm 52; Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42

Today we are given this great story from the Gospel of Luke to ponder. Mary and Martha are presented to us as two different models of discipleship, two divergent paths by which we faithfully love and serve the Lord. Of course, Mary is the exalted one, the one highlighted as choosing the better path. But wisdom demands that we never forget the importance of labor and work which Martha represents.

Back in the 4th century, a certain man came to a monastery in the desert at Mount Sinai and he saw a busy community full of activity. He spoke to the abbot there and said, “Why do you all work for the bread that perishes? Mary has chosen the best part, namely to sit at the feet of the Lord without working!”

So the abbot called to one of his monks and said, “Give this brother a book and let him read, and put him up in an empty cell.”

By the time the ninth hour arrived (3 o’clock in the afternoon), the visitor who was reading began to look outside to see if the abbot would call him to dinner. After a while longer, he went out to find the abbot and asked him. “Did the brethren not eat today, father?”

“Oh yes, certainly,” replied the abbot. “They just had dinner.” “Well, then, why didn’t you call me?”

“You, of course, are a spiritual man,” said the abbot. “You don’t need this food which perishes. We have to work, but you have chosen the best part. You read all day, and can get along without food!”

The visitor was humbled and replied, “Forgive me, father.”

And the wise abbot replied, “Martha is necessary to Mary, for it was because Martha worked that Mary was able to be praised!” (from The Wisdom of the Desert by Thomas Merton, p. 36).

Another time among the Desert Fathers and Mothers in the 4th century, it was told that the famous Abbot called John the Dwarf once called his elder brother and told him, “I want to live in the same security as the angels have, doing no work, but serving God without intermission.” And so he stripped off all his clothes, left everything behind and walked out into the desert, unattached and free.

After only one week, John the Dwarf returned to his brother and knocked on his door. Before opening, the brother called out, “Who are you?” The reply came, “I am John.”

Then the brother answered, “John has become an angel and is no longer among men.” But John the Dwarf kept knocking and pleading to be let in. For a long time, the brother did not open the door, until finally he did so. But before he let John inside, he said to him, “If you are a man, you are going to have to start working again in order to live. But if you are an angel, why do you want to come inside?”

So John the Dwarf did penance and said, “Forgive me, brother, for I have sinned" (Ibid, p.41)

These fun, little stories from the ancient desert reflect the wisdom of the church that will not allow us to adopt an extreme position which negates the importance of either sister. Poor Martha! Her stature is humbled in this story, but we all know that her efforts are absolutely necessary after all.

So what then is the Gospel telling us through this story? We have to see this famous story of Martha and Mary as the other side of the coin along with the story of the Good Samaritan. These two are purposefully put together by Luke to give concrete expression to the summary of the law from earlier in Chapter 10: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).

In the Good Samaritan, we see the love of neighbor; in Mary and Martha, we see the love of God.

Both of these also fulfill the vision of Jesus from earlier in Luke when he said, “My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:21).

For Mary hears the word of God. It is Martha and the Samaritan who do it!

The apostle Paul stated that faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). To love the Lord our God with all our mind means that we hear Christ speak and then we have to think. God wants us to think carefully about how we live. Our task as disciples is, like Mary, to sit at the feet of the Lord, to listen carefully to his teaching, and to do our best to put this teaching into practice in our daily actions.

My friends, it’s not the easy way to live, but you and I are called to be diligent in thinking. We are promised that it is in fact the way to an abundant and full life.

For instance, my conscience will not allow me to use a gas-powered mower for our lawn. Now, I am not so vain as to stand here and say to you that Jesus told me not to do this! That would be ridiculous! But this conviction has come about as a result of thinking carefully in light of the Gospels.

Let me ask you: is it right that my vanity to have a perfectly manicured lawn, and my desire to avoid physical extertion, is a good cause for us to invade other nations to secure a good oil supply for the future? Or to drill holes in the bottom of the ocean? Because of our inability to control ourselves, we place so much of the world at great risk – both the natural world and human society! I know that we need oil for our society to function. I’m not that naïve. But the truth is that I DON’T need it for my lawn!

Jesus teaches me to weigh these two factors: concern about what my neighbors might say about my imperfect lawn (since our old-fashioned reel mower doesn’t provide as close of a cut) or the health of the world and the peace of human society. It may be easier to use a gas mower, and it may provide better results, but does that mean that it is the best option?

Truth be told, it is difficult at times to live as a Christian, to think with such vigilance about our actions. Last week, I had an appointment to have my teeth cleaned by my dentist. And during the cleaning, the hygienist asked me, “Do you use an electric toothbrush?” Of course, I couldn’t answer, with four of her fingers and a suction tube shoved in my mouth! But I shook my head no and she suggested that it really would be a good idea.

I didn’t give her my explanation when I finally had free use of my mouth again, but the truth is that we cannot do that! If all 6.85 billion people in the world used electric toothbrushes, then we would need to build more power plants just to power all of these brushes! (I actually researched this, and it would take approximately 22 Gigawatts of energy per year to power all of these toobrushes!)

No. We need to be smarter than that. When nearly one billion people today do not have access to reliable electricity at all, for me, this would be the selfish misuse of resources!

The point is this, my brothers and sisters: when we listen to what Jesus’ teaches, when we think about our lives in light of his teaching, we learn that self-interest can never be the primary measure for any of our decisions. To love my neighbor as myself means that I am willing, and able, to lay aside my own desires in order to consider the needs of others, whoever they might be. To love God with all my mind means that I am willing, and able, to consider carefully the effects of my actions upon others, whoever they might be.

So may God give us all grace to listen like Mary to the word of Christ, then to bring the practical wisdom of Martha, and the compassion of the Good Samaritan, to bear upon our decisions, so that we may think and to act as those who hear the Word of God and do it - as disciples of Christ in this world. Amen.