Sunday, May 31, 2015

The Darkness of Unknowing

Trinity Sunday, Year B
May 31, 2015
Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX
Romans 8:12-17
John 3:1-17

I thought for Trinity Sunday I’d preach about God as a frosted Do-nut, with God as the dough part, Jesus as the frosting, and the Holy Spirit as the hole, where you’re thinking, “what is it; it’s hard to define, but it isn’t a do-nut without it.”  Then I thought that would be a terrible idea, and decided against it.

We just heard about Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night to question him, not like the Pharisees who questioned him during the day, trying to prove him wrong and make him look bad in front of everybody.  Nicodemus came to Jesus and questioned him because he was genuinely curious and drawn to Jesus.  Something about Jesus challenged or inspired Nicodemus, and he was led, I believe by the Holy Spirit to seek Jesus out and learn about him and from him.   So he went under the cover of darkness to question Jesus.

Nicodemus was a man who was very secure in his religion.  He had all the right knowledge about God, all the right answers, and all the right religious practices.  I would say he was over-familiar with his faith, and so when he heard Jesus speak, he began to feel something was missing.  What he had would no longer hold or sustain him.  So he walked toward the light of Jesus, but into the darkness of unknowing. 

That’s what happens when we follow the Holy Spirit.  We move from the light of what we know and into the darkness of unknowing and uncertainty, trusting only in the light of Jesus.

In the Episcopal Church today, like in all denominations, a lot of people are not moving toward the light of Jesus.  When checking a religious preference box on a survey, they no longer check “Christian,” and instead check “none.” 

Some check the “none” box because they’ve grown contemptuous of the Christian faith.  Dallas Willard described this problem as coming from over-familiarity, people who think they know all there is to know about Christianity, find it lacking, and turn away from the faith.  Over-familiarity breeds unfamiliarity, which leads to contempt.  Folks in this camp tend to feel that the Christian faith is about little more than avoiding a place called “Hell” when you die and that the Christian life is nothing more than spending an hour a week at worship in a church building. 

It is easy cast stones at those who feel this way and are leaving the church, but if folks really believe that those two things are all Christianity is, avoiding a place called hell and spending an hour a week in worship, I can understand them not finding that faith fulfilling and sustaining.  Over-familiarity led to unfamiliarity, which led to contempt.

I should also note that many of the folks who are leaving the church also say that they are very spiritual, just not religious.  Folks are seeking God, seeking the mystery of God, and they sometimes find that they aren’t allowed that mystery in the church that they have known.  Like Nicodemus, they are searching for something more. 

We were called together by Jesus and anointed by the Holy Spirit not to avoid a place called “Hell” or to spend an hour a week in worship.  We were called to believe in and follow Jesus and live as his disciples.  We were anointed to live out God’s kingdom here on earth and to spread God’s kingdom to others.  We were called by Jesus to show people the way of Jesus by how we live.  We were called to teach people the way of Jesus by how we live and by what we say.  We were commissioned by Jesus to lead others to be Jesus’ disciples as well, that they too might live out God’s kingdom here on earth. 

Our time here in worship is not a minimum requirement to avoid a place called hell.  Indeed, our entire way of life in following and believing in Jesus is not done to avoid a place called hell.  We believe in and follow Jesus in order to know God, to love God and love other people as fully as possible. 

We are called today to reverse this trend of people turning away from Jesus and leaving the church.  There are a couple of things we must do in order to reverse this trend.  The first is that we need to live our faith deeply and intentionally.  We gather for worship to join together with God and one another sustain and guide us as we live our faith the rest of the week.  We need to live and take seriously the practices of our faith:  corporate worship and our sacramental life, daily prayer, reading scripture, loving our neighbors, seeing and treating others with dignity, practicing forgiveness and reconciliation. 

The other thing we need to do in order to reverse the trend of people leaving the church is to live into the mystery of the Holy Spirit.  Sustained by our faith and the practices of our faith, we need to have the courage of Nicodemus to be led into the darkness of unknowing.  This means while keeping and cherishing our worship together, we also need to explore new ways of worship in order to reach those whose experience of church has led them away from Jesus rather than into an ever deeper relationship with him. 

We must have courage as the church to proclaim our faith and way of life, and we must have courage as the church to listen deeply to the stories of those who don’t share our faith and way of life.  We must be willing to step out into the darkness of unknowing in order to reach those who are there, and guide them to the light of Jesus. 

We need to live into the hole of the do-nut, the indefinable, hard to grasp, Holy Spirit, which leads us places we’re not always comfortable going , but without which we cannot truly live the life of God, the life of the Trinity, the life of Jesus.  Amen.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Far Cry

7 Easter, Year B
May 17, 2015
Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX
John 17:6-19

I was in Austin last night at a Rush concert with my brother.  It was a great show, their 40th year as a band, and the 40 years of Rush tour.  During one song from their Couterparts album, I turned to Kevin and said, “we first saw the concert for this album 21 years ago.”  “No,” he said, and then realized, “oh my gosh it was 21 years.”  Then we realized it was actually 23.  It was a joyful moment remembering those times together and thinking about my brother’s and my love for each other over the past 23 years and the 14 before that.

I’ve had similar experiences of nostalgia and remembering life with joy when reading Scripture as well.  Often, reading scripture brings me back to high school, when I first started reading scripture, and I remember the words of Jesus as I understood them then, when life seemed a bit simpler.  Hearing and remembering Jesus’ words brings me joy.

I believe Jesus disciples also found joy when remembering Jesus’ words and prayer for them.  I can imagine them, years after Jesus’ resurrection, facing hard times, persecution, rejection by some, and finding joy in remembering the words Jesus spoke to them in the prayer he prayed which we heard today in John’s Gospel.  I don’t imagine Jesus’ disciples were overly happy when they were rejected, beaten, ridiculed, or generally hated by the world, but I can imagine them being joyful. 

Jesus prayed that they would have joy.  This is different from happiness.  Happiness is good, but fleeting, and generally depends on the situation.  We can’t be happy when we are sad, but we can be joyful. 

So what is joy? For me, joy comes from knowing that I am staying true to Jesus’ way, staying true to my values, even when life is going rather less well than I would have hoped.  Joy comes from the hope of the resurrection.  Joy comes in being with my family.   Joy comes in remembering Jesus’ prayer that we would be one with him, one with each other, and one with God.  Joy comes in remembering Jesus’ prayer that God would protect us from the evil one and help us to walk and be sanctified in Jesus’ ways and in the truth of his word. 

Joy comes in living out Jesus’ teachings and ways.  One example recently was when I got a crack in my windshield.  I had purchased some lumber, and the young man who was helping me load it into my car accidentally cracked my windshield with it.  The look on his face said all I needed to hear.  He was scared and wondering if he would lose his job and wondering how he was going to pay for it.  As he asked for my number to make arrangements to pay for it, I told him not to worry about it.  We haggled a bit, “no, let me fix it,” “no, it’s ok,” and we finally agreed that I appreciated his help and did not ask him to fix the windshield. 

That brought me joy.  I wasn’t overly happy about having a cracked windshield, but I was joyful about giving this young man grace and mercy.  I don’t know what his wages are, but I think it’s safe to assume I am making more money than he is.  I could afford this more than he could.  So, I followed in what I believe to be the way of Jesus, and offered this man grace and mercy.  That brought me much joy. 


Jesus prayed that his joy would be complete in us.  So, my question is, what about Jesus or your faith brings you joy?  Hold on to those things.  Life will not always be happy, but you can have joy, even in the difficult times, as Jesus prayed, that his joy in you would be complete.  Amen.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Conquering Our Schools

6 Easter, Year B
May 10, 2015
Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX
1 John 5:1-6
John 15:9-17

Last year I spent some time teaching a leadership class in the middle school and a couple of elementary schools here, and one of the biggest challenges I found was that the kids had no idea how to show respect for their teachers.  Sit up straight, look at the teacher when there’re talking to you, wait to speak until you’re called on…some of these basic things, they just didn’t know. 

Some didn’t care, but many didn’t want to be disrespecting their teachers, they just had no idea that’s what they were doing.  They needed to be taught how to show respect.

Jesus said to his disciples, “I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”   We need to be taught how to love others, just like the students needed to be taught how to show respect.  If we are faithful to Jesus, we end up loving one another.

Did you notice, however, that John said that through our faith, we get to conquer the world?  “And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.”
John was talking about a struggle between the faith of Jesus’ disciples, and “the world’s hatred.”  Jesus warned his disciples that the world would hate them because they were Jesus’ disciples.  John was exhorting his community to remain faithful despite any hatred they might encounter. 

Despite opposition you may encounter:
Love God by obeying his commandments, and if you do, you’ll conquer the world.

Well, the first part of that makes sense.  Kids, if you want to give your moms a great Mothers’ Day present, do what they say immediately and without complaint.  That’s how you can show your moms that you love them.
“Abide in my love,” Jesus says, along with, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.”  That could sound rather Machiavellian.  “Obey me to show that you love me.”  But obedience to Jesus is what, that we love one another. 
Jesus gave other teachings, all to the end that we would love one another and by doing so, love God. 

Remain faithful, Jesus is saying.  Remain faithful to Jesus’ teachings.  Remain faithful to his way.  Remain faithful to him, and if we do, Jesus says we’ll be loving one another and loving God. 

John tells us, on the other hand, that if we’re faithful, we’ll conquer the world. 

Some see this as promise of military-like subjugation of all non-Christians under a throne of Christianity.  Well, unlike ISIS, we don’t conquer through subjugation.  Jesus conquered by letting the world kill him.  It was the most loving thing he could do.  He loved the world and gave his life in order to care for and protect the world.

That was God’s command to humanity through Adam an d Eve.  Have dominion over the earth and subdue it, God said.  Care for all of the earth and pacify it.  You are caretakers over all the earth.  Have dominion or conquer the world by loving the world and taking good care of it.

That is how we conquer the world, by lovingly caring for the world.  Doing so fulfills God’s first commandment to the man and woman he created in his image.  “Be fruitful.” 

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

I Am Because You Are

5 Easter, Year B 
May 3, 2015
Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX
1 John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8

I’m going to talk today about a concept called “Ubuntu”.  Ubuntu comes from the Bantu language in southern Africa, and roughly translates as “humanity toward others”.  Ubuntu is also a concept of our interconnectedness as people, the basic idea being, “I am because you are.”   We are not human beings by ourselves, and we cannot be truly human without others.

Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the first black archbishop of Cape Town South Africa, spoke often of the concept of Ubuntu in his and a major voice in ending apartheid there.  He preached peace and reconciliation

Of Ubunto, he said:
Ubuntu is a concept that we have in our Bantu languages at home.  Ubuntu is the essence of being a person. It means that we are people through other people. We can’t be fully human alone. We are made for interdependence, we are made for family. Indeed, my humanity is caught up in your humanity, and when your humanity is enhanced mine is enhanced as well. Likewise, when you are dehumanized, inexorably, I am dehumanized as well. As an individual, when you have Ubuntu, you embrace others. You are generous, compassionate.

As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached,
In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.  Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.

This doesn’t exactly square with rugged American individualism, but Ubuntu does square with Jesus’ teachings. 

Ubuntu is the essence of Jesus’ teaching about the vine.  Jesus is the vine.  His Father is the vinegrower.  We are the branches.  We are connected to one another, even when we feel that we are disconnected.  These feelings of disconnection were made clear again last week with the riots and looting in Baltimore, following the death of a man while in police custody. 

Folks seemed to feel they were on different vines than each other.  I doubt if one of the looters saw his best friends’ store, that he would harm it.  Seeing a strangers’ store, however, it seemed like something on a different vine.  I’m not defending the looting.  It was wrong.  It highlights, however, that people feel very disconnected from each other, even as if on two different vines which attack each other then in contact. 

In reality, we all belong to one another, and none of us can grow as we should when some of us are not growing as we should.