Saturday, December 30, 2017

Strength and Courage: Mary, the Mother of Us All



Brad Sullivan
4 Advent, Year B
December 24, 2017
Emmanuel, Houston
Luke 1:26-38

Strength and Courage:  Mary, the Mother of Us All

“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”  Those are some remarkably brave words from a remarkably brave young woman, Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Likely fourteen or fifteen, Mary’s life was going pretty well and pretty much according to plan, prior to the angel Gabriel’s visit.  She was betrothed to a good man with a good trade, a carpenter, so Mary’s future was looking pretty secure.  She was likely expecting to become pregnant shortly after her marriage to Joseph, to start a family, and live a good secure life as wife to her husband and mother to her children.  Life was indeed looking pretty darn good and on course for Mary, all going well according to the ways of life in her time.

Then the Angel Gabriel showed up and pretty well turned things upside down and sideways, and jumped the train of her life completely off the tracks it had been on,  The young woman, Mary, was told that she would be impregnated by the Holy Spirit prior to being married to Joseph, her betrothed.  As change of plans go, that one was pretty drastic, and risky.

What must have been going through Mary’s head when she received this news from Gabriel?  Would Joseph believe Mary when she said, “No, I didn’t cheat on you; it was the Holy Spirit that made me pregnant.”?  Uh-huh.  Joseph was a good guy and all, but he wasn’t an idiot, and such a far-fetched explanation, while true, probably wasn’t going to go over so well with her betrothed.  Was she going to be killed for being found pregnant prior to her marriage?  Very likely.  Even if she was allowed to live, life as she knew it, the security of her husband and future family, was all likely gone with the advent of Gabriel’s message.  Mary was likely facing a life of shame and rejection, living with Mom and Dad, if they would still have her, which was not certain; a life of possible prostitution just to get by; or a life of marriage to a guy who wasn’t as good a man as Joseph but was at least willing to take her on as damaged goods.  Fortunately most of us don’t view women that way anymore, but that was kinda the way things were back in those days.

Then, of course, there was the other question of, “What the heck?”  “What am I going to do with God’s baby?”  “What does that even mean that the Holy Spirit will impregnate me and the child will be holy, the Son of God?”  “Do not be afraid,” Gabriel said.  Yeah, good luck with that.  Mary must have been terrified, and I can imagine Mary being left with an almighty, “Huh?” 

In the midst of all of this questioning, and wonder, this fear and uncertainty of the total derailing of her life, Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”  Remarkably brave words from a remarkably brave young woman. 

Mary’s words bear a striking resemblance to Jesus’ words in the garden of Gethsemane.  As Jesus was facing arrest, torture, death, and the total disillusionment of his followers, he prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)  “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” 

Jesus was the Word of God, God’s eternal Son, and as such, obedience to and love of the Father was part of his nature and character.  Jesus was also a human being, however, and as such he was filled with all of the fears, doubts, and uncertainties which we all face.  As a human being, Jesus seems to have learned bravery and submission to God’s will through his mom. 

Mary was Jesus’ mom, and as Paul reminds us, we are all brothers and sisters of Jesus, with God as our Father, which means that we also share Mary as our mother.  The lesson she taught Jesus to be brave in the midst of fear, doubt, and uncertainty, is a lesson she teaches to all of us as well.  “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” 

So, in times of fear, doubt, and uncertainty, what does God’s word tell us? 

When worried about money and possessions, and will we have enough, Jesus says,
Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Luke 12:32-34)
Part of our mind says, “Are you kidding me?  How can I control what’s coming if I don’t worry and fret about it?”  Then our mother’s words come back to us, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” 

When there is too much going on, too much to do, and not enough time, God’s word says, “In returning and rest you shall be saved;  in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”  (Isaiah 30:15)  Our fears may say we are too busy to pray, but Jesus teaches that we are too busy not to pray.  “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

When enemies rise up against us, and we have contention and strife with those we know, Jesus teaches, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6:27-28)  As our hearts break, we desire vengeance, and want to defeat those we view as enemy, Paul’s words also guide us, “Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.  Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:29-32)  “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

When there is darkness in our world, and we begin to lose hope, God has told us,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:1-5) 
We can’t always see the light, but we trust in the light of Jesus, especially in times of darkness, heeding again the words of Mary, our mother, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

God’s way is not always the way we want or the way we think our life should go. There is a giving up of self, a dying to self, in order to say, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”  Those words are, however, are strength and courage.  Those words are how we truly become ourselves.  Our mother taught us that.  Mary, the remarkably brave young woman whom God chose to be the mother of Jesus, has shown us the strength of submission to God’s will and the courage to follow where God leads, despite our fears, doubts, and uncertainties.  When life does not go the way we think it should go or the way we want it to go, Mary, has shown us the strength and the courage to say, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

That Someone Greater Is Jesus, and that Something Greater is Love



Brad Sullivan
3 Advent, Year B
December 17, 2017
Emmanuel, Houston
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28

That Someone Greater Is Jesus, and that Something Greater is Love

So, John the Baptist really upset the uber religiousy folks of his time, didn’t he?  He was there, baptizing folks to testify to the Light of God, to lead people into repentance from the ways they were living that harmed themselves or others, and to prepare their hearts for the coming of God’s kingdom.  That sounds like a good thing, something folks could pretty well get behind, but the priests, the Levites, and the Pharisees, they were having none of it.  The priests and Levites were the ones with primary responsibility for the Temple worship, and the Pharisees were a group within Israel, focused on upholding the religious laws and rules of Israel. 

You might thing that such religious type folks would be glad to see someone taking their faith seriously, calling people to repentance, but not so.  The priests, Levites, and Pharisees were questioning John, basically wondering, “Who gave you the right or the authority to be out here baptizing?”  “Are you the Messiah, Elijah, the Prophet?  No?  Well then explain yourself.  What gives you the right or the authority to be out here baptizing folks?”  You can hear in their questions the fear that their power and authority might be questioned.  John wasn’t authorized by them, so there was this fear that their way of living and leading their religion was being questioned or even undermined. 

So, John responded, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”  In other words, John was saying, “This baptism that I’m doing, guys, it ain’t nothing to get your knickers in a twist over.  You wonder about my authority and the things I’m doing…oh, just you wait.  I know you guys love the way you live out our religion and that you love having authority over our religion, but this whole salvation thing, God’s grace and favor, isn’t going to be only for you few uber religious types.  Truth be told, God’s grace and favor never was reserved only for you uber religious types.  God’s grace and favor is offered to all, and if you have your knickers in a twist because I offered a baptism of repentance to those you deem unworthy, just wait till God decides to sit down and eat with them.”

Ok, so I suppose if we’re being honest and fair, the way of the priests, Levites, and Pharisees to live and lead their religion was being questioned…

…and if we’re being honest and fair, we see this played out again and again in the church as well.  There was the reformation.  That was a pretty big questioning of how the Roman Catholic hierarchy was doing things.  Even now, today, we have a change going on in our religion.  Folks who want to love God and people but aren’t really religious. Some have been pushed out of the church (big C Church, worldwide) because of various ways of life which others within the church deem unworthy of Jesus.  Some have left the church because they have a passion for loving and serving people and they see the majority of the time, energy, and money of the church going almost exclusively to worship and building which serve the church primarily and others as an afterthought.  We see folks today within the church following news practices, old practices, new ways of living out our faith with a greater emphasis on serving others than on expensive, well-rehearsed and polished corporate worship. 

These changes, this turning around, this repentance, has left some of the traditional religious types none too happy.  There has been division and splintering.  Repentance, by its very nature, causes division. 

The fact that repentance causes division is not a bad thing.  John’s baptism caused, or revealed division.  That’s not a bad thing.  Such cause for or revealing of division is necessary.  It hurts, and it is ok, so long as it is followed by something or someone greater.  Someone greater than I is coming, John said.  Something greater than repentance is coming.  That someone is Jesus, and that something is love.

In Revelation chapter 2, [and now I’ve got your attention, right? Oh my God, preacher man’s gone to Revelation!  Now things are getting real.], in Revelation chapter 2, Jesus gave this message to the church in Ephesus:
‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first (Revelation 2:2-4)
The church in Ephesus, they were working on repentance.  They were trying to stop evildoers within their church from causing harm.  They had done well, Jesus was saying.  They had stopped some of the harm by those causing harm, but their repentance had led to division, and they had lost the love they had for each other.

Repentance will almost inevitably bring division, hurt, strife.  If we leave things there, we end up with fracture, splitting, us versus them, winners and losers, permanent division.  Repentance is good.  John’s baptism was good.  After John’s baptism, however, came someone greater, Jesus.  After repentance comes something greater, love.

Even in the midst of repentance, we need to make sure that the presence of love is what drives us.  With repentance, are we making ourselves clean of others, removing others so that we look or feel better?  Are we concerned with our own righteousness before God, or are we concerned with how well we love and serve others?  Remember, our righteousness before God has been taken care of by Jesus on the cross.  We’re not going to make ourselves any more righteous before God than Jesus already has.  His love for us is greater than our repentance.  In our repentance, we’re not seeking to be righteous before God.  In our repentance, we are seeking amendment of our ways and healing of our hearts so that we may more fully love others. 

Repentance is of course, not the only thing that can cause division within a church. Sometimes division is also caused by flood waters drowning a church building, and groups of people end up divided over how they want rebuilding to happen.  With rebuilding, just like with repentance, such divisions are inevitable.  We all care deeply for our church home, for what our church home is going to be and for how we are going to get there, and surprise, surprise, we’re all different.  I think Jesus is glad we’re all so different.  The body of Christ is as varied as humanity.  I think Jesus is glad that we care so deeply.  We are a caring and loving people, and we want our building back so that we can serve others in our community.  We’re still able to worship.  It’s not exactly our home, but we’re still able to worship. 

What we don’t have is our building as a resource to serve the needs of the community around us, and so I think Jesus is inspiring all of us to want to rebuild, to want to do so well, and to want to do so in a way that will serve not just our worship and fellowship needs, but will serve the needs of the community around us.  We all have different ideas, passions, and dreams for how we are to get there, and I think Jesus is glad for that too.  Only this Jesus would have against us, if we were to let those differing desires truly divide us and if we were to abandon the love which we had at first.

Our vestry has worked hard with the diocese to get us back into our building, and they have not done so in the exact way previous vestries might have.  Might, because we’ve never had this situation before.  Our current vestry has worked not in the way previous vestries might have, but in the way this vestry has.  What I have observed of the vestry and planning workstream tasked with getting us back into our building, is that they have worked faithfully, they have worked with integrity, and they have worked well.

This post-Harvey life is a season of forced repentance for us, a prolonged season of turning around, of changing our ways, because our church building was drowned.  We will not be what we were.  We will be something new, a new people by water and the spirit.  We will have division along with way, as is inevitable with repentance, but remember, we’re not seeking righteousness before God, but the healing of our hearts so that we may love more fully.  We must not abandon the love which we had at first, for something and someone greater than repentance is here binding us together.  That someone is Jesus, and that something is love.  

Monday, December 4, 2017

A Tale of Two Households



Brad Sullivan
1 Advent, Year B
December 3, 2017
Emmanuel, Houston
Mark 13:24-27

A Tale of Two Households

When Jesus told his parable about the master of a household going away on a journey and leaving his servants in charge of the household while he was gone, telling them to keep awake and be ready for his return, Jesus was talking about how his disciples were to live once he was crucified, as they waited for him to come again at the end of time and restore all of creation.  Rather than try to tease out each drop of meaning from each detail of his parable, I thought I’d expand on the parable and see where it leads, in order to develop Jesus’ point in telling the parable.  I call this “A Tale of Two Households.”

There was a master of a large household, almost like a small kingdom, with herds of cows, flocks of sheep, chickens, a vast and productive farm, and the members of the master’s household, servants and family alike, worked together to keep all of the household going.  All who could worked hard.  Those who could not were cared for by the rest, and even they, those who could not work, cared for the others through their nurture, storytelling, kindness and compassion.  The household had an abundance of what was needed, and they shared what they had with other households when they were in need, without asking for anything in return.  Far away, there was another household which, from time to time, suffered from droughts, and they would send for help from the master’s household.  Help was again given, without grumbling, but gladly, freely, with goodwill and love. 

Then, one day, the master told his household that he would be going away for a while.  He told them all to continue on as they had when he was there, to care for each other, and provide for others out of their abundance.  “Keep awake,” he said.  For a time they did so, but then weeks turned into seasons, and seasons turned into years, and they began to fall asleep.

Some remained dutiful in their tasks while others didn’t see the point with the master no longer around.  They thought they wouldn’t receive their just reward or that the land and property should really be theirs.  Some stopped working.  Others began to elevate themselves above everyone else, claiming to be in charge and forcing some to work for them.

Others wanted to keep a remembrance of the Master and built a shrine to him.  They didn’t really follow in his ways, but they lit candles and prayed for his safe return.  Then of course, they felt the shrine needed to be kept up, and so they enlisted some of those who had stopped working to help with the upkeep of the shrine.  Others found hope in their shrine and prayers, so they brought food and other necessities to the workers of the shrine so that they could keep up their good work.

The household was no longer a place of abundance, but they still thought of themselves as such.  They remembered when others would come and receive from their abundance, and so those who had taken charge sent out people to the other nearby households to demand portions of what they had.  Eventually, the emissaries from the Master’s household began working as overseers in the other households, taking more than they needed from them, keeping some for their own enrichment and sending back more to the Master’s household.  The Master’s household became plentiful again, taking from others to feed itself. 

Then the far away household had another drought, and they sent people to seek aid. The Master’s household was no longer generous, and so rather than give to them without question, they sent another emissary to see the conditions for themselves. They worked with the household there to have better irrigation so the drought wouldn’t affect them as badly.  Being such a good benefactor, the emissary took a large portion of what they produced for himself and for his Master’s household.  After many years, the distant household was very productive, but the condition of the people in that household was worse than it had been before. 

Still, the members of the Master’s household saw themselves as good, kind, and benevolent overseers, bringing prosperity to all.  They even erected shrines to the Master in the other households, the heads of those houses having long been replaced by the emissaries from the Master’s household.  The Master’s household continued to grow and flourish and continued to call themselves a city on a hill.  There were a few who stayed awake, who kept in the Master’s ways and remained generous, encouraging others and sharing what they had, but they were largely not listened to, seen as troublemakers, or admired by some from afar.

Then, the Master returned.  He neither recognized his household, nor almost anyone in it.  Those who kept the shrine thought surely he would be grateful to them, but instead, he asked why they didn’t work at the jobs he had given them and help those around them, or at least share what they were given to help others.  The Master ejected them all from his household, save those few who had stayed awake and kept in his ways, and he invited those from the other households to come and be with him instead.

Now, there is no direct cognate between the old and the new household in the story I told.  You can’t call it Jews verses Christians, some Christians verses others, or even Americans verses Africans or Native Americans.  There is truth in this story which is told and happens over and over.  There is good news in this story and there is warning in this story. 

This story is about how we live in this life and in this world, and the warning is not that those who had fallen asleep were rejected by the master.  That is the obvious truth, the consequence of living inhumanely.  The warning is about the horrors of what happens when we fall asleep.  When we fall asleep, we begin thinking of ourselves without also thinking of others.  When we fall asleep, we worry and fear, we look on others with suspicion.  When we fall asleep, we become less generous, more self important, and can even see ourselves as better than others.  Think of conquest, death and destruction, in the name of bringing Jesus to others.  Think of looking down on others for their mistakes or lifestyles without the compassion of looking deeply to see the human being doing their best, mistakes and all.  When we fall asleep, we tend to assume we are still awake while also assuming, with contempt, that others have fallen asleep.

When we fall asleep, we tend to see ourselves as benevolent benefactors through our charity and good works, while failing to see that some of our own actions, as individuals and as a society, contribute to the need for our charity in the first place.  When we fall asleep, we tend to view God as one who is pleased by our religion and our observance of religious rituals, rather than one who wants us first and foremost to live well toward each other, our religion as merely a tool to help heal our hearts so that we can live lovingly toward ourselves and others.  When we fall asleep we end up fighting with each other over the minutia of our religion, claiming in groups and out groups, becoming obsessed with doing everything just in the right way, rather than remembering that Jesus ate with sinners and told us to share a meal together and to remember him when we did so.

The warning of Jesus’ story is what happens to us and the harm we do when we fall asleep and become the household of slumber.  The good news of Jesus’ story is the first household, the true city on a hill, the household of those who are awake.  The good news is the generosity and love we share when we are awake.  The good news is how we treat one another immediately following a hurricane and flood.  The good news is when we value people more than things, when we value others’ well being over our own absolute security. 

The good news is that Jesus cares about people more than religion, and he desires for us to do the same.  The good news is also that Jesus knows we’ll mess up and he has already forgiven us; so that we are free to love others and live out his household, his kingdom, not out of any fear, but purely out of love for others.  Finally, the good news is that Jesus does not only return in the clouds at the end of time, but he returns daily in face of anyone and everyone around us, calling us to wake up.  Wake, arise, and cast off the ways of the household of slumber, and live again in the household of those who are awake.