...Then Were We Like Those Who Dream...

Brad Sullivan

Proper 28, Year B

November 18, 2018

Emmanuel, Houston

Mark 13:1-8

…Then Were We Like Those Who Dream…

“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then were we like those who dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.” (Psalm 126:1-2)  That’ Psalm 126 verses 1-2, and whether in those words or in other words, that idea is a recurring theme through the history of Israel.  “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then were we like those who dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.”  God restores Israel.  God restores his people.  God restores creation and covenant.

Before God restored the fortune of Zion, well obviously Zion’s fortunes weren’t doing so well.  Babylonian captivity and the near total destruction of the nation of Israel.  The capturing of the Ark of the Covenant by the Philistines, God’s very presence seemingly taken from Israel.  40 years of wandering in the desert after the Israelites lost faith in God that he could bring them into the land that he had promised them.  God’s anger and rejection of the people of Israel after they formed a Golden Calf to replace God almost immediately after God saved Israel from slavery in Egypt.  In each of these cases, after Israel’s fortunes weren’t doing all that great, God restored the fortunes of Zion, and then were the people of Israel like those who dream, then was their mouth filled with laughter and their tongue with shouts of joy.

That portion of Psalm 126 seems to me the unspoken promise within Jesus’ prophecy of the destruction of the temple.  His warning / prophecy sounds pretty ominous, doesn’t it.  Not only will the temple be destroyed, there will be wars, rumors of wars, nation against nation, earthquakes, famines, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.  “This is but the beginning of the birthpangs,” Jesus said. 

All that stuff I just described, it’s gonna get worse after that.  The birthpangs, they begin, and then there’s full blown labor, and it’s gonna hurt, cause labor tends to do that, and sorry guys, there’s no epidural for this one, no nerve block.  The best you can do is that breathing thing.  Labor is coming, guys, and it’s gonna hurt, Jesus was saying, but let’s put a different emphasis on what he said.  Rather than, “This is but the beginning of the birthpangs,” let’s say, “This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.” 

Well, after birthpangs and labor comes a baby.  So, what you’re saying, Jesus, is that after the destruction of the temple and all that other bad stuff happens, something fantastically wonderful is coming?  Oh!  Well that’s great!  “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then were we like those who dream.”  That’s what’s coming.

Now, what came was not the rebuilding of the temple, nor even the restoration of the nation of Israel, at least not for about 1900 years.  What happened was the people of Israel were dispersed and scattered without a nation, and the people of Israel survived, and even thrived.  Rather than ceasing to be a people, they became even more fully a people, God’s chosen people spread throughout the world.   The Temple was not restored in Jerusalem, and the religion changed at that point, but synagogues spread throughout the land.  A people with one temple became a people with countless temples where folks could come and dwell and become God’s people. 

I would say Emmanuel had a fairly decent dose of birthpangs back in August of 2017.  I could say that Harvey and Emmanuel’s flooding, and all that has happened since “is but the beginning of the birthpangs.” To be faith think we’re still in labor, but guys, all that has happened, the flooding, the work, the fear, the discord, the coming together and the work to be done is but the beginning of the birthpangs. 

A baby is coming.  New life is coming.  What’s that gonna look like?  What does it mean for us to be a post-Harvey Emmanuel, a new creation by water and the word?  I think we’re starting to find that out as we go, as we receive hospitality, as we continue to be Emmanuel even without our home, as we learn to be adaptive, gracious and flexible, practicing gratitude as life comes our way. 

Ultimately, I think a post-Harvey Emmanuel, a new creation by water and the word, looks like a spiritual oasis in West Houston in which we are a spiritual oasis because you are a spiritual oasis, and you are a spiritual oasis, and you, and you, and all of y’all, and I are all spiritual oases.  The Emmanuel being born is an Emmanuel in which the community is a spiritual oasis as we are all spiritual oases.

That’s the disperse nation of Israel after the destruction of the temple, bringing the light of God not in one place, but in countless places throughout the world.  Emmanuel as each of us being a spiritual oasis in which God’s presence, peace, and nurture is present wherever any one of us is present, deeply rooted in prayer and scripture, deeply rooted in Jesus, always acting in love for others, with compassion, mercy, and peace. 

That’s what I see in a post-Harvey Emmanuel.  We gather as a spiritual oasis, and we leave as spiritual oases where the weary, the sin-sick, and the burdened come to be refreshed by the love and peace of Jesus present in each one of us.  As spiritual oases, we each continually refresh ourselves through daily prayer, almost monastic in our practice of the four daily prayers of the Episcopal church.  We continually refresh ourselves with daily reading of scripture, dwelling in God’s presence throughout history in the sacred stories of our faith.  We continually refresh ourselves through other practices through which we remember and become aware of God’s presence, and love, and peace all around us. 

No ain’t none of us gonna get it right all the time, and sometimes the best we’re gonna do is to reach out to someone else when our well has run dry and we need refreshment from them as a spiritual oasis.  That too is what Emmanuel is becoming, this new baby being born, the new creation by water and the word.  All the turmoil and strife has been but the beginning of the birthpangs.  Emmanuel is becoming what we have been striving to be, a spiritual oasis in west Houston, by each one of us continually refreshing ourselves in God’s presence, and love, and peace.  Emmanuel is becoming a spiritual oasis in west Houston by each one of us becoming a spiritual oasis.  Emmanuel is becoming a spiritual oasis as our hearts are filled with God’s promise of restoration.  “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then were we like those who dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.”

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.  

Our Pre-Harvey Lives Are Dead and In the Tomb

Brad Sullivan

Proper 16, Year A

August 27, 2017

Emmanuel, Houston

Exodus 12:1-14

Romans 13:8-14

Matthew 18:15-20

Our Pre-Harvey Lives Are Dead and In the Tomb

Last Friday, I was volunteering over at FamilyPoint Resources, a little ways down Memorial from here.  Family Point has after school programs for children in this area along with other services for children and families.  With school not yet in session last week, FamilyPoint opened up to have some hang out time for the neighborhood kids, and I was there to help with that.  I spent a little bit of time on the soccer field, but mostly built LEGOs with a group kids.  It’s great getting to see what they come up with and how excited they are to show off their creations. There was the occasional dispute over, ‘that piece is mine,’ but mostly we just built together and admired each others’ creations. 

Afterwards, I was talking with the executive director, Stephanie Hruzek, about Family Point and the needs of the neighborhood.  They need folks to come help with after school, of course, and they’re also assembling teams to help muck out houses.  All are welcome to join in those efforts, by the way.  One thing that was so heartening and wonderful in Stephanie’s and my conversation  was the seeming role reversal of families that Family Point is used to serving, coming out to help serve others, be it through mucking houses, helping at Family Point, or just helping out a neighbor in any way they need.  The humanity that she has seen in the wake of Hurricane Harvey has far surpassed the damage done.  Fear of the other and fear of the unknown seem to be down right now, and our shared humanity is coming to the fore.  Stephanie shared her joy at this recognition of, this living into our shared humanity, and our hope and prayer is that this seeking out and reaching out for the other continues.

Reaching out for one another and recognizing our shared humanity feels like pre-Harvey burdens have been lifted off our shoulders, burdens we were not even all that aware of:  burdens of fearing others or ignoring others.  Amidst these burdens which we often carry, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Jesus’ yoke is his teaching, his way.  As much as our religion has at times tried to make Jesus’ way difficult and heavy, the way of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus are easy, and light.  The way of Jesus takes other burdens off our shoulders and lightens our loads as we walk this life together.  Helping others with our post-Harvey, newfound common humanity has felt lighter than before.  This is the way and the teaching of Jesus.  Post-Harvey, we’ve been walking in the way of love, and we’ve been less encumbered by the burden of fearing the other, less encumbered by the burden of ignoring the other, less encumbered by the burden of enmity towards the other.

Friends and family who have had estrangement growing over differing political and religious beliefs have found that such differences don’t matter in the wake of Harvey.  Our petty differences and even our important differences do keep us…different, but they don’t need to divide us.  If we need to be divided, God will sort that out later on.  In all seriousness, Jesus taught on several occasions that any sorting out of the people, any dividing of humanity that needs to happen will be done by God at the end of the ages.  In the mean time, Jesus taught that we are to live with each other, sometimes to put up with each other, but above all to love each other and to live out our common humanity. 

Paul told the church in Rome to “owe no one anything except to love one another.”  The burden of fear keeps us from loving one another, and there are few heavier burdens than fear - except perhaps a desire for vengeance.  Before Paul wrote to owe no one anything except to love one another, Paul wrote, “Repay no one evil for evil…never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God…” (Romans 12:17-19)  Desire for vengeance may seem justified, but it is a heavy burden, and Jesus’ yoke, his teaching, seeks to lighten that burden.

 “If another member of the church sins against you,” Jesus taught, “go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”

Ok, so if we’re being honest, going up to the person who has hurt you and going to them with your heart in your hand letting them know that they hurt you is not an easy task.  Doing so requires courage and vulnerability.  You might just get hurt again.  Going to someone and seeking reconciliation, however, is so much easier and lighter than carrying around the burden of hurt forever.  The weight of carrying that pain around is hard and heavy, carrying the accompanying fear and mistrust takes are hearts of flesh and turns them into hearts of stone, weighing us down even further.  We trust less and less and fear more and more, when we don’t seek reconciliation, and then we end up with our pre-Harvey burdens of fearing the other, ignoring the other, and holding enmity for the other.  Seeking reconciliation is a far easier and lighter burden than the burden of carrying fear, mistrust, and enmity.    

Even if you can’t be reconciled, Jesus taught that you still don’t carry the enmity around.  You drop it.  You let it go.  If you can’ t be reconciled, then let that person be to you as a gentile and a tax collector.  On the one hand, you’re considering that person to be outside of your life, apart from you.  On the other hand, what grudge would you hold against someone who is not a part of you?  Let the grudge go, let the person go, and wipe the slate clean.  It would be up to the other person at that point to rebuild the relationship.  At the same time, gentiles and tax collectors were a part of Jesus’ and the early church’s mission field, so there is a writing off and a starting over in Jesus’ teaching about when reconciliation doesn’t occur.  Death and resurrection.  Such is the way of Jesus.  Such is his easy yoke and his light burden.

Our shared humanity, seeking out the other without fear, forgiving and actively seeking reconciliation:  these are ways of Jesus that we absolutely need in our post-Harvey lives, and what we need in our post-Harvey life as Emmanuel.  We need each other.  We always did, but pre-Harvey, we felt secure enough in other things not to realize our need for each other quite so acutely.

Our pre-Harvey lives are dead and in the tomb.   Our post-Harvey lives and post-Harvey life as Emmanuel is emerging from the tomb.  Post-Harvey, we have been woken from sleep, and we realize just how much we need each other.  More than a building, more than programs, we need each other.  Emmanuel Episcopal Church & School is a new creation by water and the Word.

We need to stay joined together, and we need to discover new ways to join together as well.  In our post-Harvey, resurrected life, we need to keep reaching out into our community.  We are a church, a people, without a building right now, and this is a challenge for us, and it is also a wonderful opportunity to live into our common humanity.  Without our building to gather in and serve from, we get to gather and serve in other people’s buildings.  We get to gather and serve in other people’s homes.  We get to join with our neighbors as they gather and serve us. 

With prayer and reconciliation, we get to continue in this resurrected life, sharing in our common humanity as a new creation by water and the Word, following in the easy way and light burden of Jesus.