The Mother-in-Law Test

Brad Sullivan
Proper 20, Year B
Sunday, September 23, 2012
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Proverbs 31:10-31
Psalm 1
James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a
Mark 9:30-37

I don’t know about you, but the disciples’ argument over who is the greatest among them is not entirely foreign to me.  There are many times when I’ve desired greatness or dreamed of being famous and winning awards for a variety of things.  I know I’ve even argued about who was better than whom, at least with my identical twin brother.  Growing up, it seemed like most things were a competition between the two of us; we were always trying to one up each other.  Now that we’re grown…not much has changed, but I get the disciples’ desire for greatness and their argument over who is the greatest. 

I’m guessing most of us get their desire to some extent or another.  Any of us who have ever played sports or been in any competition at all understand a desire to be better than others at something, and yet when I read about the disciples’ desire for greatness, there always seems something kind of ugly about it, which then tells me that there’s probably something a little bit ugly about my desires for greatness.

“But the wisdom from above,” James writes, “is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.  And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.” (James 3:17-18)  I could hear those words over and over again, and just sip on them all morning long like a hot cup of coffee.  What a wonderful way to live with the wisdom from above which James describes.

That stands in rather stark contrast to desires for greatness the way Jesus’ disciples were behaving in our Gospel this morning, arguing over who was the greatest among them.  I don’t think this means that we shouldn’t strive to be great at whatever we do.  Rather, Jesus is referring to our desires to be admired for our greatness and vaulted above everyone else.  So, Jesus tells his disciples to be servants rather than to try to be better and have a higher social standing than everyone else.  Be like a child, Jesus says, or in this context, be like someone with no social standing whatsoever.  Children, at least toddlers, are not always the most peaceable, gentle, and willing to yield…I love the terrible twos, but children don’t, at least in my experience, tend to care all that much about class and social standing. 

            Unless they’re taught to, children don’t much care about the social standing of those with whom they play. If you’re nice and fun, they’ll pretty well want to play with you.  So, be a servant, and be like a child, Jesus says.  Serve others and don’t care too much about rungs on the social ladder.

            Then we have James.  Jesus was comparatively easy on the disciples regarding their ambitions for greatness.  Be like a child, Jesus said.  James, on the other hand, wrote, “But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth.  Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.” (James 3:14-15)

            Now, it would be pretty easy as a preacher to take these readings and give a “do more, be better, try harder” sermon.  If you just try harder, you can be like a servant child or like the kind of disciple James tells us to be.  To a certain extent, yes, we could.  There isn’t a particularly lot of good news, however, in “do more, try harder, be better.”  It’s nice to know that we can, but that’s not really the Gospel message. 

            “Do more, try harder, be better” seems like it might be the Gospel message by looking at our Proverbs reading for today, or at least for all the women.  I guess the guys are off the hook.  “A capable wife, blah, blah, blah.”  Let’s put this reading into a little bit of context. 

            This was written as a mother to her son.  So, reading this as the wife’s mother-in-law saying what she wants her daughter-in-law to be like, it puts some of the hyperbolae of perfection into context.  But still, rather than read this simply as a treatise on how to be or how to find a good wife, we might benefit more if we read this passage as describing how the church should be as the bride of Christ.

            So the church, as the bride of Christ manages the affairs of the household well.  The church takes care of those in need, makes wise decisions regarding resources and finances, works hard, clothes and feeds not only the poor, but also herself and her household, i.e. the church takes care of its own.  As the bride of Christ, the church is wise, kind, strong, brave, and most importantly, faithful to God.

            Ok, so again, as the bride of Christ, we, the church, could do better.  Even of our own power, we could do better, but of our own power, we’re not going to be that perfect.  I don’t think the church ever has or ever will live up to the perfection illustrated in Proverbs.  The good news of the Gospel is that we’re not the bride of Christ all on our own.  The church, as the bride of Christ, is united to Christ, the two having been made one. 

            In the Proverbs reading, it seems as though this perfect wife acts with the husband nowhere around.  They aren’t partners, rather, she does all the work and he takes all the credit.  As the church, we don’t act on our own.  We don’t strive on our own.  Jesus helps us in our efforts.  When we try to live as Jesus taught us to live, and when we seek his help in doing so, Jesus guides us and strengthens us.  We’re never alone as we seek to live well.  As Paul said to the Athenians, God made humankind “so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him – though indeed he is not far from each one of us.  For ‘In him we live and move and have our being.’ (Acts 17:27-28)

            All that we do is done in God.  Our good deeds and our not so good deeds are all done within God’s very self.  As God’s beloved, God has united himself to us such that all of our lives are lived within him.  Little wonder, then, that we might wish to be better or try harder.

The purpose of our marriage to Christ, however, isn’t simply so that we’ll be better people.  In regular old marriage, we don’t generally marry thinking that doing so will make us better people.  We marry out of love.  With Christ too, we are joined to Christ simply out of love and then seek to do good out of love as well.  We’re not trying to be good enough for Jesus, for Jesus has already declared us good enough to be his bride.  We’re trying to love Jesus as much as we can in response to his love for us.

            How then does this tie back to the disciples’ desire and our desire for greatness.  For St. Mark’s, as part of the whole church, we would want to be an excellent bride of Christ, not to be better or get more recognition than the other churches in Bay City, as if we were in competition with them, rather, we would want to be an excellent bride of Christ out of our love of Jesus. 

            A desire for greatness or a desire to one up any of the other churches feels just as ugly for St. Mark’s as for Jesus’ disciples in our Gospel reading today.  Instead of quarreling over greatness like the disciples did today, we would be lowly and be ok with that, seeking to do good simply out of our love for Jesus.  We would seek not greatness or admiration, as we often think of it, but rather , we would seek the wisdom from above.  “[For] the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.  And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.” (James 3:17-18)  Amen.

Cleaning the Well

Brad Sullivan
Proper 19, Year B
Sunday, September 16, 2012
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Proverbs 1:20-33
Psalm 19
James 3:1-12
Mark 8:27-38
 

"Get behind me, Satan!”  Jesus told Peter.   “For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”  That’s a pretty strong rebuke.  Then again, Peter had been rebuking Jesus.  We don’t know what he said, and in Peter’s defense, it was said in response to Jesus predicting his own arrest, beating, crucifixion, and resurrection.  That’s a lot for Peter or anyone to take in, but Peter’s response is one of rebuke.  Peter responds to Jesus in an adversarial manner, and so Jesus calls Peter “Satan”.  Well, Satan is a Hebrew word which means adversary, usually referring to the adversary, the angel in the book of Job who brings accusations against people before God. 

There’s a lot of Satan in the world, a lot of adversary in the world.  Look at our political discourse, the way we talk about those with whom we disagree.  We often take an adversarial approach.  Look at the way we play sports.  Curse you, other team for playing better than my team, rather than well done other team and thank you for allowing my team to play at all. 

We can still want our team to win.  We can still believe our political or religious views are correct, and we need not be adversarial in order to do that. When we attack and lash out, our defenses get raised, and no one truly hears the other or sees the other as a human being.  When we’re acting in an adversarial manner, we tend to get angry, and when we do, we literally become kinda stupid.  The thinking part of our brain shuts down as we go into fight or flight mode.  It’s in this adversarial mode that we have the tongue acting as a “restless evil,” as James said, “full of deadly poison.”  When we’re in this adversarial mode, we are pretty well untamable. 

So, when Jesus rebuked Peter, calling him Satan, he was saying, “you’re being my adversary, and I need you to be my advocate.”  That’s what Jesus called the Holy Spirit.  The Advocate, the one who is not against us, but for us.  Jesus was saying, “Peter, I’m not particularly fond of this idea of being arrested, and beaten, and killed, and I’m even gonna pray in six chapters that if it’s God’s will that it won’t happen, but I’m pretty sure it is God’s will.  I’m pretty sure it’s gonna happen, and I need you to be for me, not against me.  I need you to be my advocate, not my adversary.  I need your words to bless me, not to curse me. 

That’s a fairly tough row to hoe, to be each others’ advocates rather than each others’ adversaries.  That’s especially tough when confronting our enemies, those with differing political views, or members of the wrong football team.  It’s tough to be filled with the Holy Spirit to be each others’ advocates.  So, how do we do that?  How do we tame the tongue?  Well, let me give an analogy.

Who here ate breakfast this morning?  Going to later?  Lunch, everyone going to eat lunch?  What about dinner?  So, for the most part, all of us are going to eat multiple meals today, and I would guess most of us do that every day.  We have to eat regularly, every day in order to stay healthy.  When we don’t, we become cranky and irritable, and eventually, if we just don’t eat, we’ll become terribly unhealthy and starve.  At that point, if we’ve been without food for days and weeks, we’ll eat just about anything.  We also know that the more healthy food we eat, the healthier are bodies are.

            Ok, so no surprises with that, healthy eating generally leads to more healthy bodies.  Can you tell I’m raising a four and a two year old?  James, in our lesson today, said,

no one can tame the tongue – a restless evil, full of deadly poison.  With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.  From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.  My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.  Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? (James 3:8-11)

Unfortunately, our mouths do pour forth both blessing and cursing from the same opening.  As James points out, this shouldn’t be so, but unfortunately it is, and the reason is we have both fresh water and brackish water inside of us.  As Jesus said in our Gospel a couple of weeks ago, the things that defile us are what come from within us, from within our hearts.  We have darkness and light in our hearts, blessing and cursing, good and evil, and so we have both coming out of us, fresh water and brackish water, blessing and cursing.

James said we can’t tame the tongue, but I believe we can make out tongues into healthier, fresher water by the food with which we choose to feed our souls.  Just like our bodies, our souls need nourishment, every day, multiple times a day.  When we don’t feed our souls, we get cranky and irritable, and eventually if we continue not to feed our souls, we become terribly unhealthy and our souls begin to starve.  At that point, our souls will eat just about anything, and they may not eat something we would generally choose for them to eat.

Have you ever noticed that the more you’re around people who complain a lot, who have a dim view of the world, the more your view of the world grows dim.  Our souls are fed by all that is around us, the healthy and the not so healthy, and the more unhealthy things feed our souls, the more cursing, brackish water comes out of us, and the less blessing, fresh water comes out of us.

So, if we really want to tame out tongues, so that they are not full of deadly poison, we would want every day, multiple times a day to feed our souls with the good food of the Gospel, the good food of Jesus, the good food of God’s word given to us in scripture, of God’s presence shared with us in prayer, of God’s beauty all around us if we would but stop for a moment and notice.  Every day, multiple times a day, if we feed our souls on those things, we might find a marked difference in how we speak. 

I don’t believe we’ll suddenly be perfect and never say a harmful thing again.  Praying, and studying scripture, and noticing the beauty of God around us is not a panacea or a silver bullet.  Peter, for example, was around Jesus all the time.  I’m guessing his soul was pretty well fed on the good food of Jesus and the Gospel, and yet he still had some brackish water in him, but the more we feed our souls with the good food of Jesus and the Gospel, filling ourselves with the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the more we will find blessing and fresh water coming out of us.  Peter ended up an apostle and a primary leader in starting the church, so his soul was pretty well fed.

Yesterday, Kathy Westmoreland, Kelsey Stuhler, and I were at a conference which the diocese held called “Forming Disciples,” and the conference addressed how we are formed as Jesus’ disciples and how we help form others as Jesus’ disciples.  There were four great speakers and workshops after that, and a common theme was filling ourselves with God in a variety of ways, so I came back from that with my soul pretty well fed on the Gospel.

Then, last night at bed time, Noah, our four year old, asked to make a pillow fort in his room so he could go to sleep in it.  He’s done this once before and he stayed in it for about three minutes and then went on back into his bed, but last night, I was tired, I had this sermon to finish, and I really didn’t want to add building a pillow fort to Noah’s bed time. 

Usually I would have simply said no, and he’d have gotten upset, and we’d but head for a while, I’d eventually win, and he’d go to bed.  We tend to butt heads over things; I have no idea where he gets it, but we tend to operate in this adversarial way.  So last night, I decided instead to be his advocate and asked him to be mine.  I told him that I didn’t want to make the pillow fort last night.  I gave him the reasons why, that I was tired and stressed, and I told him I’d be happy to build him a pillow fort the next night.  He said, “Ok Daddy” and went to bed. 

I’m quite certain this is not going to work every time, but it sure was nice operating in a Holy Spirit way, in an advocate way, rather than in an adversarial way.  Feeding our souls with prayer, with scripture, and the beauty of God all around us helps us to live in a Holy Spirit, Advocate kind of way.  We may not be able to tame the tongue, but we can clean up the springs of water within us so that they pour forth blessing and fresh water.  Amen.

Brad Sullivan

Proper 18, Year B
Sunday, September 9, 2012
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
Psalm 125
James 2:1-10 (11-13) 14-17
Mark 7:24-37
 
            “Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” (James 2:17)  I love the book of James.  He is down to earth and practical in his writing and instruction.  Rather than a heady, esoteric, theological approach to faith, the faith James describes gets into our daily lives, into our hearts and actions.  James believes in prayer, in helping those in need, trusting in God and obeying the way of life God gave in his commandments.  There are some who would likely say that what we do is not nearly as important as what we believe, but James would disagree mightily, and as Episcopalians, we’d pretty well disagree too.

            As Episcopalians, we believe that prayer shapes our belief.  What we do, how we behave, and the way we treat each other shape and reveal what we truly believe.  Many of us, by how we treat others, may believe in Jesus a whole darn lot here on Sunday morning, and then may have times during the week, when by how we behave, believe in Jesus maybe a little bit less.  Anyone else ever experience that?  Not quite living up to the peace, harmony, reconciliation, and love that we try to model here at church? 

            I’m guessing most of us have, behaved differently than our faith would dictate, and a question is, if ever we behave badly, do we reveal that we have no faith or that our faith is dead?  No, but if we pay attention to our actions, we will learn something about how strong our faith is or alive our faith is.  We’re gonna mess up.  The question is, will we learn from it?

            I can’t help but wonder if Jesus had a learning moment in the Gospel today.  While James tells us to show no partiality between one person and another, Jesus definitely was showing partiality between Jew and Gentile.  What Jesus basically told this woman from Syrophoenicia was, “I’m not going to help you, you Gentile dog.”  We know this was not the first time he had healed a Gentile, so what was going on here?  Was this woman particularly awful?  Did Jesus know something we don’t?  I’ve always heard that Jesus was testing her faith, which is interesting being that, as a Gentile, she likely had no faith in the God of Israel, but we say Jesus was testing her faith, and by her response, she proved that she had faith and so he healed her daughter.  As I read the story this week, however, I began to see their interaction differently. 

She answered Jesus, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs,” and Jesus replied, “For saying that, you may go – the demon has left your daughter.”  He never mentioned faith.  He seemed rather to be pleased with the fact that she had humbled herself to the level of a dog under the table.  “Since you have lowered yourself, and humbled yourself, and called yourself a dog, which you are, ok, I’ll help your daughter.”

Ok, so on the one hand, I think I just preached heresy, but on the other hand, I really love the idea that, although God loves all people, when God became a human being, he struggled with loving everybody, just like we do. 

Can we say that?  Is that claiming Jesus to have sinned?  Scripture tells us Jesus was like us in every way, yet without sin.  We’ve gone about with 2000 years of theology, figuring out how exactly that works, and we’ve got lots of explanations for how that works and how the whole fully human fully divine thing fits together.  Jesus was perfectly faithful in his relationship with God, but if Jesus was fully human, did he ever make mistakes?  I would assume he learned from them, but was he ever irritable or rude?

Jesus had gone to Tyre, where he met this woman, presumably because he wanted a break.  We’re told that Jesus was hoping to be alone but that he couldn’t escape notice.  Maybe in his response to this woman, Jesus was irritated at being bothered while on vacation. 

            Perhaps Jesus did know something we don’t and was calling her out for her unholy living, but my guess is that in some of our explanations of this story, we’re trying to clean things up and get Jesus off the hook for apparently being rather rude to this woman, making sure that Jesus is still without sin. 

            Perhaps in this interaction with the Syrophoenician woman, Jesus learned something about what it is to love and to truly have faith in God who commands us to love God and our neighbor.  If true, then like us, Jesus knows what it is like to be worn out and not to want to help anyone, and not to feel particularly loving at the time.  Jesus also knows what it is like to move beyond all of that and to see the human being in need, not the annoying Gentile dog. 

            If that is true, then God knows what it is like to be in those tired times when faith and love is difficult, and God is there with us in those times, having experienced them himself.  Ok, so, chock full of heresy.  I’ll likely get a call from the bishop later this week saying, “Brad, we need to talk.”

            The point of what I’m trying to say is, if faith without works is dead, and if what we do shapes and reveals what we believe, then in those times when by our actions, our faith seems to be dying, God is right there with us.  Does that mean then, that when we do the wrong thing, we should not worry about it, remember that God is with us, and just forget about it?  No. 

            When we make mistakes and make poor decisions, we realize that God is still with us in those moments and then use those moments as ways to draw nearer to God.  There is a practice of prayer called the Daily Examen, in which at the end of each day, a person reflects on the day and does some checking in.  How’d I do?  Was I loving today?  Was I faithful in prayer?  Did I see full human beings in those I encountered, or did I just see people kind of in my way?  Did I treat others with love and respect?  Did I give thanks to God for the many blessing with which I have been blessed today?  Did I complain a lot, for was I irritable or mean?  Did I actively seek to help those less fortunate than I?  Did I leave the world a better place going to bed tonight than it was when I woke up this morning? 

            If you’re like me, that’s gonna be a mixed bag of responses.  There are some days when I’d say I’m doing pretty well, and then there are days when I’m really not doing so well at all.  If I’m honest with myself, there are times in the day when I’m following Jesus as Lord, and there are times in the day when…not so much.  The point not to get down on ourselves, but to take whatever kind of day we’ve had, whatever kind of day we’ve made, and offer it to God and learn from it. 

As James would encourage, ask for God’s help in those ways in which we haven’t done so well, and give thanks for those ways we have, and foster a faith that is full of life and that gives life to others.  “Faith without works is dead,” James said.  That also means then, that though our good works, we can make our faith ever more alive.  Amen.

Brad Sullivan

Proper 17, Year B
Sunday, September 2, 2012
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10
James 1:17-27
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

            I’m very glad to be here as your new rector.  From the beginning of this search process, my wife, Kristin, and I wanted to come here.  We looked at the parish profile and agreed that St. Mark’s looked like the place for us.  Then we met with members of the search committee, and felt very comfortable with them and felt like St. Mark’s would be a great home for us.  Coming here, seeing Bay City, and meeting more folks from St. Mark’s has confirmed all of that, and we’ve felt very much at home since we’ve been here.

            This has been a big shift for us coming from the hugeness of Houston to Bay City, and we couldn’t be happier with the change.  Noah, our four year old is enjoying his days in pre-k at Holy Cross, and Rhys, our two year old is enjoying some mommy time, getting to spend the mornings alone with Kristin for once. 

            Kristin is also a priest and was working full time at Palmer for five years, then half time at Epiphany for the last two years, and she’s enjoying getting to be a full time mom for a while and still getting to do some supply work on Sunday mornings from time to time.  You’ll even get to hear her preach and celebrate here sometimes.

            We’re looking forward to many years here in Bay City and becoming a part of this wonderful family at St. Mark’s.  As I said earlier, the folks we’ve met have been so warm and loving; we’ve been overwhelmed by y’all’s generosity and love and support that we’ve been given already.

            Before we even got here, we’d heard of what great people are here at St. Mark’s, of your willingness to roll up your sleeves and work for the Gospel.  A community of love that is excited about the Gospel and lives out the Gospel life for the sake of others and for the sake of themselves, that is how I have heard St. Mark’s described, that is how I have experienced St. Mark’s, and that is the kind of community Jesus had in mind when he started his church.

            We heard some of Jesus’ thoughts on what he wanted his church to be in the passage we heard today from Mark.  I guess the short version of what Jesus wanted or to sum up what he said would be “not evil or hurtful,” no theft, murder, wickedness, but beyond a list of what Jesus would like us not to do, Jesus envisioned a community that was deeply religious and a community that remembered why it was deeply religious. 

            Quoting from Isaiah 29:13, Jesus said, “this people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.”  Much of Israel in Isaiah’s time and in Jesus’ time was deeply religious.  They followed many of the religious practices that they were supposed to follow and observed the various laws, fasts, feasts, and regulations, but much of the focus or point of those practices seems to have been lost.  As Isaiah wrote,

‘Why do we fast, but you do not see?  Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?’  Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day, and oppress all your workers...Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high…Is not this the fast that I choose:  to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? (Isaiah 58:3-6 (portions))

The point of the religious practice of Israel was not simply to make Israel righteous by doing all the correct religious things.  The point of the religious practice of Israel was to form Israel as a people who loved God and loved their neighbor.  The point of religion for Jesus too was to form his church as a people who loved God and loved their neighbors.

There was a video on YouTube which went viral last year titled, “Why I love Jesus but Hate Religion.”  The speaker was basically going on a rant against organized religion, claiming that Jesus sets us free from the oppressive rules of religion.  He claimed that Jesus hated religion, and gospel passages like the one we read today lead some to believe that Jesus did hate religion.  On the contrary, however, Jesus was deeply religious, praying constantly, observing Sabbath, observing Passover, etc.  Jesus just wasn’t overly fond of religion practiced in a way that didn’t change people’s hearts and actions to be loving toward God, others, and themselves.

The man in the YouTube video, “WhyI Love God but Hate Religion” had previously practiced a religion which didn’t change his heart.  He went to church on Sunday and played the part, but was out sleeping around and doing drugs the rest of the week.  Then, he had an encounter with Jesus, and that changed his life.  He stopped living the kind of life Jesus preached against in today’s Gospel and started living well, honoring God and those around him.  Unfortunately, he also drew some wrong conclusions, that religion is bad, rather than that he was not overly good at practicing his religion.

James today tells us that we should “be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.”  We should be “quick to listen, slow to speak, [and] slow to anger,” and James continues, “if any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.”   

            The portion of James we read is almost a commentary on the Gospel story for today.  The Pharisees were the religious elite of first century Judaism.  They knew the law of God and they kept every bit of it…at least all of the religiousy parts of the law, but their religion did not change their hearts to be more loving toward their neighbors.

            The kind of religion that Jesus envisioned gives us help from God to change our hearts, to connect to God and seek power greater than our own to heal us.  Then, our religion leads us to go and do for others what has been done for us, to heal the hurts of the world.  If our religion only makes us feel better about ourselves and doesn’t lead us to help soothe the suffering of the world, then we are deceiving our hearts.  If we’re truly going to change our hearts, we go and serve others.  As James wrote, “every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.  ^*In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. (James 1:17-18)

            As members of Jesus’ church, we are those first fruits, sent by Jesus to help heal the world.  Here at St. Mark’s there is a long history of practicing the kind of religion Jesus had in mind, a religion that connects us to God, heals us, and grants us generous acts of giving.  St. Mark’s is a place and a people for whom religion does change our hearts to love God and love our neighbors.  Thank you for inviting me to be a part of the life of this family, and I look forward to the years to come as we live out this Gospel life together.  Amen.

Dodging Bullets

Brad Sullivan
5th Sunday of Easter, Year B
Sunday, March 6^th, 2012
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 8:26-40
1 John 4:7-21
Psalm 22:24-30
John 15:1-8

Today’s gospel passage sounds pretty darn good to me.  There’s a lot of abiding in God and bearing fruit.  Jesus is the vine.  His father is the vinegrower who prunes the vine so it bears fruit.  Jesus invites us to abide in him as he abides in us so that we might bear fruit.  That’s all we have to do.  Simply abide in him, and we will bear fruit.  Even without bearing fruit, abiding in Christ sounds rather lovely, and add to it that by abiding in Christ, we will bear fruit, and I’d say we could just about pack it in for the day, but for verse seven, which is a little troubling. 

In verse seven, Jesus says, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”  That may sound great on the surface, except than I’m guessing many of us have had the unthinkable happen.  We’ve asked God for something, and God seems to have said, “no.”  So what’s going on here?  Was Jesus lying?  Was he wrong?  As followers of Christ, why don’t we get whatever we wish when we ask? 

Well for one thing, God would often have to say yes to only one of Jesus‘ followers when many are asking for something.  Take lottery tickets for example.  We may ask God that I might win, but we may be less willing to share with all the others asking God for the same thing.  The part of our prayer we don’t really hear ourselves praying is, “well if you’re going to let everyone win and I’m only going to get about 10 cents out of this thing, ah, never mind.”  We often don’t think of the full implications of our prayers and deep in our hearts, we may not want God to fulfill some of our petitions. 

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”  “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you.”  That’s a pretty substantial if.  Jesus didn’t say, “If you are one of my followers and seeking to be my disciple, ask for whatever you wish and it will be done for you.”  Jesus said, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you.”

Now, is this the part where I say that if God has ever answered “no” to your prayer, that you don’t have enough faith?  No.  That’s no what Jesus said.  Is this then, the part where we get to start feeling bad about ourselves, if God has ever said no to one of our prayers, because we aren’t good enough or Jesusy enough?  No.  This is the part where we explore what it may be like to dwell in Jesus and for his words to dwell in us.  The short version is, if we dwell in Jesus and his words dwell in us, then we will be changed.

About 14 years ago, there was a science fiction movie called “The Matrix”.  In The Matrix, the hero, Neo, trying to save humanity, fighting against bad guys called “agents.”  Now the bad guys were super human, strong enough to punch through brick walls, and fast enough to dodge bullets.  It’s science fiction.  Neo, the hero, is also very strong and fast, but nowhere near strong or fast enough to defeat the bad guys.  He’s training one day, and his mentor, Morpheus, tells him of the prophecy of The One.  The prophecy says that The One would free humanity and would be able to defeat the agents easily because The One would be able to change whatever he or she wanted to in the world.  Morpheus tells Neo that as strong and as fast as the agents are, they’ll never be as strong and as fast as he will be. 

Neo says, “so what are you saying, that I can dodge bullets.” 

"No, Neo,” Morpheus replies, “I’m saying that when you’re ready, you won’t have to.”

Neo is very gifted at this point of the movie, but he has not yet become The One.  He isn’t ready yet.  He has to believe.  He has to claim the mantle of The One, and become The One, and let The One become him.  Once he does, says the prophecy, he won’t have to dodge bullets.  Once he becomes the one, says the prophecy, whatever he wants to happen will happen.  He has to change who he is and let The One dwell within him to become who he truly is.

“Abide in me, [and let] my word abide in you,” Jesus says.  When we’re not abiding in Christ with his words are not abiding in us, we’re often not asking things to which God would possibly say yes, like “let me win the lottery.”  At the same time, I know there are often very good things for which we pray to which God also seems to say, “No.”  When our loved ones are sick and at the point of death, for example, sometimes they recover, and sometimes they don’t.   

I’ve got no easy answers.  If I did, the would come out in platitudes like “you just needed to pray harder.”  What a bunch of hooey.  Or, “well God needed your loved one.”  Really?  I didn’t think God needed a whole lot from us.  Sometimes it seems it may simply be time for our loved ones to go.  Sometimes their passing seems far too soon and not at all right.  All I really know is this.  Having spent years wrestling with questions like “why doesn’t God answer this prayer or that prayer?” and “why do some recover from illness and some don’t?”, I’ve found life to be far more beautiful and peaceful laying such questions aside and trusting in God without an agenda.

John tells us in his first letter which we heard today that as followers of Christ, our way is not to seek after God as some supernatural physican, but rather, as followers of Christ, our way is to love others, to abide in God and love each other.

John tells us to love one another.  Love God.  “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.  Love has been perfected among us in this:  that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.  There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.” (1 John 4:16b-18)

We believe in God not to have a supernatural physician or holy vending machine to call upon in our hour of need.  We believe in God that we might dwell in God for God is love, and “if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

How then do we abide in Christ?  What are we to do?  Very little, it seems at once glance.  It seems that loving one another would go a long way toward doing so.  Additionally, taking time to notice the beauty of God all around us is a way to dwell in Christ.  The more we love others and are at peace with the world around us, the more we are changed into the image of God in which we were made.  The more we love others, the less we will come to fear.  Many of our seeming needs will vanish.  Jesus didn’t have a lot, yet he was full of joy.  He had all he needed, dwelling in God, loving God and others.

As we come to dwell more fully in Christ, we’ll find that we may or may not have a lot, but we will be full of joy, dwelling in God, loving God and others.  We will find peace, dwelling in Christ.  As we dwell in Christ, we change, becoming who we truly are.  Looking again at the analogy from the Matrix, Neo asks Morpheus, “so what are you saying, that I can dodge bullets.” 

“No, Neo,” Morpheus replies, “I’m saying that when you’re ready, you won’t have to.”

So what is Jesus saying, that as we dwell more fully in Christ, God becomes a Holy Vending Machine, giving us whatever we ask?  No.  Jesus is saying that when we’re ready, dwelling more fully in him, with his words we won’t need God to be. 

When we dwell in Jesus and his words dwell in us, we change.  Our prayers change.  We still let God know our desires.  We’re encouraged to do so, and we’re also ok when God says no.  God told Jesus no, after all.  “Father, if it is your will, let this cup pass from my lips, and God said, “No, it isn’t my will.”  Jesus gave a big if with that prayer himself.  He was seeking to tell God his desire and to align his will with God’s.

When Jesus’ words dwell with us, and we dwell in him, we seek to let god know desires and seek to align our will with God’s.  When we dwell in Jesus and his words dwell within us, we may just find peace in our lives.  So, I am going to end with a prayer about dwelling in Christ which we find in the Compline service in the Book of Common Prayer.  “Be present, O merciful God, and protect us [throughout our lives], so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of the life may rest in your eternal changelessness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Amen.

Slow Down. Enjoy.

Brad Sullivan
Easter Vigil, Year B
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Emmanuel, Houston
Genesis 1:1 – 2:4a
Genesis 22:1-18
Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21
Isaiah 55:1-11
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Romans 6:3-11
Matthew 28:1-10  

 Whew.  We made it.  Lent, Holy Week, the Vigil, and now, here we are.  Easter.  Jesus is risen from the tomb.  The long-awaited messiah has triumphed, defeating death itself and allowing us to share in that victory over death.  In the resurrection, Jesus showed himself to be more powerful than death, and through his death and resurrection, Jesus gives us the gift of reconciliation with God. 

Being an overly analytical, always questioning and wondering kind of guy, I can’t help but almost immediately wonder, “how’s that work?”  How does Jesus’ death and resurrection reconcile us to God?  I’m not questioning if it does, just wondering how exactly.  A few of us were in Bible study this morning, looking at a previous passage in Romans in which Paul state three different ways Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection reconcile us to God.  So, we were discussing these different understandings of how Jesus reconciled us to God, and at some point, we started thinking, “do we have to have it all figured out?” 

Can’t our reconciliation to God through Jesus kinda just be a mystery and we accept it and be glad?  Sermons are often the time when things are explained, but I was thinking that maybe this Easter, we could just accept our reconciliation to God through Jesus’ victory over death and be glad and thankful. 

That idea got me thinking about how much we do as Christians.  We are called to do.  We are called to action as Christians.  Those about to be baptized are first going to be asked to accept the beliefs of the church and accept our reconciliation to God by Jesus’ victory over death, and then, the baptismal candidates will basically be asked so what are you going to do about that. 

Those are good questions.  How are you going to live as a piece of the new creation, the resurrection life that Jesus has given?  How are you going to make your faith embodied in your actions?  How are you going to live out the God love life?

These are good questions that we need to address, and I encourage all of us to listen closely to the questions asked, “are you going to live the God love life?”, and I encourage us to listen to the answers given.  “I will with God’s help.”  We share in Jesus’ resurrection and live that out by partnering with God.   

So, then, having listened to questions asked of the baptismal candidates and the answers given by the baptismal candidates, I encourage us not to think too hard about what we’re going to do or how we’re going to live, at least for tonight and tomorrow.  Ideally we’ve just spent all of Lent examining how we live our lives.  For this Easter, let’s just enjoy the resurrection.

We know that Matthew’s gospel ends with Jesus’ command to his disciples to go and do, but tonight, we don’t hear that command.  Tonight, we just get to hear about Jesus’ victory over death.  Enjoy it.  Share it.  Soak up God’s love for us in becoming human, living with us, dying for us, and defeating death for us.   As Paul writes in Romans, chapter 8, I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)  Rejoice, and enjoy God’s love for us in Jesus’ resurrection.  Amen.

All Shall Be Well

Brad Sullivan
Maundy Thursday, Year B
Thursday, April 5th, 2012
Emmanuel, Houston
Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14
Psalm 116:1, 10-17
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35   

(Sung)  “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

I can’t help but think that is some of what Jesus was trying to convey to his disciples during their last Passover meal together, sitting in the upper room, sharing with them the bread and the wine, his body and blood, and washing their feet, commanding them finally to love one another.  Remarkably similar to the other commandments God gave, love God and love your neighbor, Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another.

(Sung)  “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

Jesus had already told his disciples that he was going to be killed; they had to be a little anxious about that.  As much as they tried to deny it, I’m guessing they knew by this point that Jesus pretty well knew what he was talking about.  So there had to be this fear and anxiety with them.  What was going to happen to Jesus?  What was going to happen to them?  What were they supposed to do once he was gone?  So Jesus tells them.  “Love one another.”

 (Sung)  “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

I was talking with some clergy colleagues this week about Holy Week and one commented on how dark this week seemed for her.  There’s been a month of Lent and penitence, and now we basically have a whole week remembering God dying for our sake.  We have this time when we seem to focus on the fact that the world was so messed up that it took God dying to fix it.  Add to that the fact that we’re in this in between time.  The cure has begun with Jesus’ death and resurrection, and yet the final restoration of creation has yet to take place.  So talking together, this clergy colleague and I, we were getting a little down, thinking about all the bad things going on in the world.

And yet we have this hope, in Jesus’ resurrection, that despite all the bad things going on in the world, there is still a lot of good and beauty and love in the world.  The fact that God bothered dying to redeem the world tells us there is hope for the world yet.  The resurrection tells us that at least in God’s eyes,

(Sung)  “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

So, like the disciples on the night of the last supper, we’re left in an in between time.  We’re left between Jesus’ resurrection and the final restoration of creation.  On the night of the last supper, Jesus’ disciples were left between Jesus’ proclamation that he would be killed and then on the third day, rise again, and the fulfillment of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  In this in between time, Jesus didn’t tell his disciples, “cure every illness; fix every problem.”  Jesus told disciples “love one another.” 

See each other, see people as human beings, as people with needs.  Sometimes we see others as those annoying things that are interfering with my life.  Jesus said to see people with compassion.  Loving people and seeing them with compassion, serve people as you can.  We’re not going to be able to fix every problem everyone has.  Jesus didn’t command his disciples to, and he isn’t commanding us to.  Jesus’ command is that we love one another. 

In this often crazy world, in this often anxious in between time in which we live, and we wonder, “what’s going to happen” and “what are we supposed to do,” Jesus commands us to love one another.

(Sung)  “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”  Amen.