On Any Given Sunday

Brad Sullivan
Proper 22, Year C
Sunday, October 6, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City, TX
Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16
1 Timothy 6:6-19
Luke 16:19-31 

There is a big difference between humility and feeling badly about oneself.  You think rather highly of yourself, realize your many gifts and talents, and still be humble, without pride, arrogance, and a sense of entitlement that often accompanies pride and arrogance.  Pride and arrogance often lead to a feeling that the world should acknowledge one’s magnificence and give them special treatment, make allowances, or bend to accommodate. 

Jesus was telling his disciples not to fall into the trap of price or arrogance with the accompanying sense of entitlement.  We are who we are as Jesus’ disciples and we don’t believe the world owes us anything for being Jesus’ disciples.

During Noah’s soccer game yesterday, another of the dads and I were discussing the soccer tournament which other teams were having this weekend, noting that the tournaments went on to Sunday for those teams which did well.  I said to the gentleman with whom I was speaking that next year, if Noah is still playing soccer, he won’t be playing on the Sunday games.  The gentleman agreed with me; we both felt our kids shouldn’t miss worshipping on Sundays for the sake of soccer. 

I realized later that there was, however, something rather disagreeable in my tone when I said Noah wouldn’t be playing soccer on Sunday.  My words were simple enough, but something in my tone implied that the coach or tournament organizer would be wrong for even thinking about having a soccer tournament on Sunday.  The soccer people should know, I felt, that Christians worship on Sunday, and the soccer people should therefore, I felt, have everything wrapped up before Sunday.  That, my friends, is prideful arrogance and an accompanying sense of entitlement.

As a disciple of Jesus, worship on Sunday is mine to uphold and protect.  Worship on Sunday is my choice to make, my faith to live out.  The soccer organization is not a church.  The responsibility of the soccer tournament organizers is to organize a soccer tournament, not to ensure that I get to worship on Sunday.

We choose to live as disciples of Jesus, and the world doesn’t owe us making our life as Jesus’ disciples easy.  For a long time, Christians kind of imposed our way on those around us.  Most people were Christian in our society, so some of the Christian way of life became the norm.  Even when I grew up, stores were largely closed on Sunday, but what began as disciples of Jesus choosing not to work on Sundays, became disciples of Jesus expecting no one to work on Sundays (except of course the NFL – they were far too entertaining not to play on Sunday).  Parts of our way of life as disciples of Jesus became the norm and therefore easy in our society, and we began to expect society to make our discipleship rather easy, to accommodate our way of life.

Nowadays, however, society largely does not accommodate our way of life.  Sunday in society at large is just another day to work or play and there certainly aren’t accommodations made by most businesses or non-church organizations to allow Christians to worship on Sundays.  Lots of our folks at St. Mark’s have to work many, if not all Sundays.  Folks can always ask, but they can’t exactly demand that their employers allow them time off to come to church.

This bothers many of us, feeling that our jobs and our non-church organizations should know better and should accommodate our schedules as disciples of Jesus, but that is the very feeling of pride and arrogance and entitlement which Jesus warned against.  We are who we are as disciples of Jesus, and the world doesn’t owe us anything for being disciples of Jesus.  Our jobs and other non-church organizations aren’t the church, and they don’t owe us accommodations for us being the church. 

Feeling animosity towards others for not making allowances so that we can worship on Sundays is not a particularly good witness to the love of God in Jesus Christ.  Worship on Sundays is only one part of our faith.  It’s an important part, but we are Christians not only on Sunday mornings, but seven full days of the week.  As disciples of Jesus, we have been taught to live out and proclaim our faith joyfully and confidently, with humility, realizing not all will believe as we believe and we are not going to force them to.  Forcing others to believe or forcing others to accommodate our belief is really a form of cowardice, spurned on by the fear that our faith or way of life will be threatened by others not sharing our faith and way of life.

“God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, [however,] but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7)  We needn’t fear others now allowing us to live as Christians, because the only ones who can stop us believing or living as Christians is we.  Others can make it difficult for us to live out some parts of our worship life, but they can’t stop us from believing, and they can’t stop us from living out our faith in our daily lives.  Prayer can be silent and can happen anytime, anywhere.  Service to others can be big things or small things and can also happen anytime, anywhere.

Loving God and loving our neighbor requires no accommodation by those around us.  Loving God and loving our neighbor requires “a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.”  Our faith is ours to live and to live joyfully.  We needn’t be resentful towards the proverbial soccer organization for scheduling things when we want to be here with our St. Mark’s family. 

It is not the job of the proverbial soccer organization to allow us to live out our lives as disciples of Jesus.  It is our job to live our lives as disciples of Jesus whenever and wherever we are.  If we are worshipping here, we live our lives as disciples of Jesus.  If we cannot be here to worship, then we worship God anyway, wherever we are and live our lives as disciples of Jesus.

As for those of us who can’t be here on Sundays, we pray for them and with them, asking them to pray for and with us, wherever they may be.  As for those who take part in other activities and choose not to be here on any given Sunday, we pray for them and with them, asking them to pray for and with us, wherever they may be.     

That is true discipleship, no feelings of hurt or animosity or resentment towards those who don’t live as disciples of Jesus.  Rather, we live out our faith with love, self-discipline, and humility.  Now there is a good witness to the love of God in Jesus Christ.  We are not owed anything.  We have done only what we ought to have done as disciples of Jesus, joyfully living out our lives with “a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.”  Amen.

Hey There Lazarus, Have a Cross!

Brad Sullivan
Proper 21, Year C
Sunday, September 29, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City, TX
Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16
1 Timothy 6:6-19
Luke 16:19-31 

For many years now, I have wanted a better guitar than the one I have.  I want a multi-thousand dollar; handmade; deep, dark, rich, solid tone-wood guitar which fits me and is as beautiful to look at as it is to listen to.  Never mind that such a guitar would be rather underutilized in my hands.  Never mind that I have a perfectly good guitar which has served me well for years.  I want something more, something better.  I am not content with what I have.

If I’m really honest, there are many such ways in which I am not or have not been content with what I have in my life.  Perhaps I am not alone in these feelings of discontentment, and in light of the Gospel of Jesus, all I can think of my feelings of discontentment is, “how silly.”

Considering the great need of the so many around us, considering the huge number of blessings in my life, how incredibly silly not to be content with and grateful for all that I have.  “There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.” (1 Timothy 6:6-8)

Many of us find ourselves discontent because life is hard or we don’t have all that we want.  As disciples of Jesus, we’ve been taught to be content with what we have.  We’ve been taught to stop believing the lie that life will be better if only we had…whatever.  We’ve been taught to stop believing the lie that the grass is greener…anywhere in particular.  We’ve been taught to stop constantly seeking self fulfillment believing that one day will will finally have enough or achieve the right things to be happy and content.  As disciples of Jesus, we know we will never arrive at happiness through more stuff; we will never achieve happiness if we are not content with life as it is.  As disciples of Jesus, we’ve been taught not continually to seek more for ourselves, but to give thanks for what we have and to share what we have been given with others.

We heard Jesus tell a story today about the consequences of not sharing what we have with others, and Jesus’ warning is pretty stark:  If we ignore the suffering of those around us, there will be hell to pay.  Now, I don’t mean Dante’s Inferno.  I don’t mean share what you’ve got or risk going to hell after you die.  The rich man in Jesus’ story feasted sumptuously every day which the poor man Lazarus sat at the rich man’s gate with nothing to eat, the dogs licking his sores.  That sounds about like hell to me.  The rich man could have helped Lazarus, had more than enough to do so, but he didn’t, and so Lazarus sat in a real world hell of hunger and sickness with dogs licking the sores on his body.  We may not be able to fix every problem for people, but when we don’t share what we have with others, there is hell to pay, here and now in this world.

Jesus’ warning about the dangers of not sharing what we have was not only, however, an individual warning about sharing material wealth and food.  His warning was also a warning to the nation of Israel as a whole about sharing their faith and way of life with those around them.  “Rich Israel,” Jesus was saying, “you have the law; you have a covenant with God; you walk and live and breathe as God’s people.  You feast sumptuously on God’s word and God’s presence among you, and yet others around you starve.  You were made to be a light to the nations, and yet you hold the gentiles and the sinners in contempt rather than share the light of God and God’s way of life with them.”

Through this story, we hear Jesus calling out today.  “My church, you are rich in faith, rich in hope, rich in love.  You are rich in eternal life, the very life of God, shared with you through me,” Jesus is saying.  “Share your faith and hope and love with a world in desperate need, a world filled with anger, hopelessness, and fear.” 

In a world of sarin gas, terrorism, mass shootings by crazed gunmen, we were created to be a light to the nations, to share our faith, hope, and love with others, and we needn’t look to headline grabbing, national and international problems to see the need for God’s eternal life given in the Gospel. 

There is poverty in Bay City.  There is hopelessness in Bay City.  There are people who turn to drugs, sex, alcohol, and violence to try to sooth their sorrow, just trying to get through the day.  There is great need right here for the hope and peace that comes from the good news that God became one of us to share with us his eternal life and to show us how we can live his eternal life here and now.  Even the simple teaching of contentment, the simple teaching that so long as we have food and clothing, we can be content with what we have, even that teaching is part of God’s eternal life. 

Be content with what you have, with the relationships you have.  See the many blessings around you, the earth, the sky, the air, your food.  Take nothing for granted, but in all things give thanks, and be content with what you have and find peace and joy in that contentment.  That is part of God’s eternal life which we have been called to live an share with those around us.  As for the hell there is to pay without such contentment?  We know that hell all too well:  the mad rush for more, bigger better things; the soothing of our sorrows in sex, drugs, alcohol in violence because we are blind to our blessings; the resentment of those who have more than we; the fear that what we have will be taken from us; the feeling that life will be better once we’ve achieved or gained…whatever.  We know the various hells of not living God’s eternal life, and we are called to live and to share God’s eternal life in the faith, hope, and love which we have been given through Jesus.

We also have material wealth in the church, perhaps great wealth, perhaps only a little, but whatever we have, is calling on us to share it with others, to use our material wealth to serve the needs of those around us.  If we don’t, there will be hell to pay.  Lazarus is out there living out hell on earth, starving, with dogs licking his sores, and we may not be able to solve his every problem, but we can help. 

Southside Abbey is an Episcopal Church in the Diocese of East Tennessee, and they collecting $700,000 to give away.  They’re calling this a Jubilee ministry, collecting almost three quarters of a million dollars just so they can give it away to help serve all of the poor Lazarus’s around them.  Southside Abbey is doing this jubilee ministry partially in response to The Crossing, another church in Chattanooga which collected $700,000 to build three giant, metal crosses, soaring 125 feet into the air on the edge of their property along the interstate.

The crosses were made to be a beacon for those driving along the interstate, to give hope to the hopeless, to be a reminder of the Gospel of Jesus, the hope of resurrection.  The crosses were made to help guide people to Jesus.  The hearts of those who erected these massive, $700,000 crosses were in the right place.  They were trying to serve those around them, and while it’s easy to point fingers, I can’t help but think that at the end of the day, they basically just accumulated more stuff. 

Here at St. Mark’s, we’ve been called to share what we have with others, to help serve the spiritual and material needs of those around us.  Sharing the Gospel, sharing our faith, hope, and love, requires surprisingly little money.  We can pretty well each share our faith, hope, and love for no money at all; it certainly doesn’t cost us $700,000.  In thinking about the possibility of eventually renovating and adding to buildings here at St. Mark’s, we’re being called by Jesus to look beyond ourselves as well, to use whatever buildings we make in the future to be a resource for the community six days a week and a resource for us when we gather here on Sunday.

If we don’t share what we have with those around us, then there will be hell to pay in the lives of those around us.  We’re being called share what we have with others and be content with what we have, even if we don’t all end up with all of the stuff that we want, share and be content.  Even without our very own proverbial multi-thousand dollar; handmade; deep, dark, rich, solid tone-wood guitars, we can be content with what we have and share our blessings and God’s eternal life with the Lazarus’s around us.  Amen.

Well, At Least He Was Dishonest

Brad Sullivan
Proper 20, Year C
Sunday, September 22, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City, TX
Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
Psalm 79:1-9
1 Timothy 2:1-7
Luke 16:1-13
 

So crooks have got to love today’s Gospel passage.  Make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth.  If you’re dishonest, you’re already halfway there.  Jesus’ story is probably a fairly unrealistic story as people and money go, but perhaps the lesson Jesus is teaching is not how to be financial wizards.  Perhaps the lesson is more about God and each other. Perhaps that God wants us to be good stewards of our relationships and good stewards of each other? 

In the story Jesus told, the master had to realize he wasn’t going to get paid the full amount by all of his debtors anyway?  The steward had mismanaged the master’s property, so the master was going to be losing money and he knew it.  The steward (or former steward) knowing also that the master was going to lose money, decided that if the master was not going to benefit from his mismanagement, then at least all of the creditors could benefit from it. 

This guy was crooked, but at least he was finally managing something well.  He didn’t manage the property well, but he managed the losses and the people pretty darn well.  Having mismanaged his master’s property, he could have been fired friendless or he could have been fired with friends in abundance.  The result was the same for the master either way; he wouldn’t get all that he should.  So, the master commended the former steward for his cleverness…at least he was managing something well at this point, relationships and people.

Perhaps, while we may be poor stewards of many things, if we are good stewards of people, good stewards of our relationships, then God will be pleased.  Perhaps if we treat each other well and respect the dignity of every human being, then God will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your master!”  (Matthew 25:23)

            That was from Matthew 25, Jesus telling the parable of the talents, and those who made more from the talents they had been given were told, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your master!”  (Matthew 25:23)  The master said well done because the servants had made more money, but remember, it is a parable.  God has no need for money.  “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,” God says in Psalm 50:12, “for the world and all that is in it is mine.”  God does not require money or food from us.  What does God require, “but to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.” (Micah 6:8)

Notice the baptismal covenant doesn’t say, “Will you be a financial wizard?” or “Will you competently manage every gift God has given you?”  The promises we make in our baptism have to do with people and how we relate to and treat other people. 

Of course, what we do with our money is tied with how we treat other people.  The parable is teaching us to use what we have for the well-being of others and to build up for ourselves treasures in heaven.  Use the gifts you have been given to help serve those around you.

In our budget at St. Mark’s, we have recently been given a great gift by the diocese.  Due to the faithful stewardship and good financial management of the diocese, we and all the churches of the diocese are going to be asked to give less to the diocese in the future than we have been.  Bishop Doyle is asking that we take the savings and we spend it out there somewhere.  Having been given a windfall, the bishop is asking that we spend it not on ourselves, but on those in need around us.  Your vestry and I, as we look to next years’ budget, will be determining what we can do with this gift we have been given. 

We know the needs of Bay City are great, and in light of the gospel, we can’t simply take these savings from the diocese and use it all to help ourselves.  We’ve got expenses coming.  We passed a deficit budget, hoping for growth in the parish over the year.  We’ve got repairs to our buildings, which we need to take care of.  We’ve got a little debt to continue paying off.  We’ve got the regular bills that come in every month:  water, electricity, insurance, salaries, etc.  We’ve got our current outreach efforts in the Friday breakfasts; in giving financially to MEHOP, Boys and Girls Club, and the Crisis Center; and other outreach efforts. 

We have all of these financial responsibilities, and we had all of them before we received this gift from the diocese.  These responsibilities are ours to bear, and our windfall from the diocese should not be used on ourselves and our current financial responsibilities, but to do something new, to serve the people of Bay City in some new way.  I don’t know what that is going to be yet.  Like I said earlier, the vestry and I will be determining that over the coming months or maybe even over next year. 

What’s on your heart?  What needs do you see in Bay City?  What’s not being done that St. Mark’s particularly could do?  Talk to your vestry members.  Give them your ideas and suggestions.  A need on your heart may be a need which St. Mark’s is particularly equipped to meet.

Of course the needs on our hearts may also be needs which each of us are particularly equipped to meet.  In light of today’s Gospel, I believe we are all being called to re-examine how we are managing all that God has given us.  Is there giving to meet the needs of those around us in our financial budgets?  Is there giving to meet the needs of those around us in our budgets of time.

There is a cost to being Jesus’ disciple, and part of that cost is spending some of our time and spending some of our money to help meet the needs of those around us.  Part of the cost of being Jesus’ disciples is using our particular talents to serve the world, striving for justice and peace among all people and respecting the dignity of every human being.

There is a cost to being Jesus’ disciples, but look at the result.  Think of the people in the story Jesus told, the ones who owed a hundred and were told, “make it fifty” and “make it eighty”.  Imagine the joy and relief of those people, having had such a burden lifted.  That’s life in the kingdom of God.  That’s the joy that comes with the cost of being Jesus’ disciple.  As Jesus pointed out in the story we heard today, even dishonest people can share with others if it is for their benefit.  How much more would we, who are disciples of Jesus, share with others purely for their benefit?  Amen.

All That Remains...

Brad Sullivan
Proper 19, Year C
Sunday, September 15, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City, TX
Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
Psalm 14
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-10

The end is coming people!  Repent or perish!  It’s the end of the world!  Such dire predictions have become rather commonplace as of late, so much so that many of us hardly listen anymore, other than to laugh and watch bad movies about the end of the world.  I wonder if it was any different for the people of Israel listening to the words of Jeremiah.  He was after all not the only prophet to predict the destruction of Israel.  “For thus says the LORD: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.” (Jeremiah 4:27)

Did the people take heed and really listen to his message?  Some probably did.  By and large, though, the people probably thought he was a little nuts.  We’re not going to be destroyed.  We’re Israel; we have kings and armies, and wasn’t there some God that looked after us?  Of course Jeremiah was right.  God wasn’t lying, and Israel was all but destroyed with only a small remnant left to carry the fire and rebuild. 

The destruction of Israel and Judah by Assyria and Babylon was really only an outward and visible sign of what had already occurred spiritually.  Israel and Judah had all but ceased to exist before the nations were destroyed by invaders.  The nations were still there, but intrinsically, the people were no longer truly who Israel and Judah were created to be.  They had stopped living and believing as God’s people so eventually, the physical nations were no more as well, and only a remnant remained to carry the fire of faith in God and in God’s way of life.

There has been in the church, for decades, a national trend of declining membership.  People have been leaving the church maybe not in droves, but church attendance is certainly shrinking.  Church membership is shrinking.  The number of people who call themselves Christian is shrinking. 

People leave for all kinds of reasons.  Some don’t feel particularly welcome or part of a parish.  Some feel the church is hypocritical or hypercritical.  Some are searching for Jesus and just can’t seem to find him in the church.  Some just have a hard time believing in Jesus.  Some don’t want to pay the cost for being Jesus’ disciple.  Some simply find their lives too busy with other things to have time to be a part of a Christian community.

            In all of these scenarios, however, we have a common thread…people not living as authentic disciples of Jesus.  Sometimes it is the people who leave that are not living as disciples of Jesus, and sometimes it is the people who remain who are not (which is why the others leave).  There are a lot of people who would claim Christianity as their religion, but who don’t really, intentionally, live as Jesus’ disciples.

            That being the case, a shrinking of the church roles is really just an outward and visible sign of the reality that was and is already present within the church.  Many Christians are kind of nominal Christians.  They believe in Jesus, but they don’t especially live as though they believe Jesus.  For many, over the years, the church became a kind of social organization, almost indistinguishable from the world around it.  They believe well enough on Sunday mornings, but their lives during the rest of the week are not transformed by the teachings of and their faith in Jesus. 

            The national trend of declining church membership may simply reflect the spiritual reality already going on.  Perhaps once the shrinking of churches is finished, what will be left will be the remnant, a much smaller church left to carry the fire of faith in Jesus and his the way of life he taught. 

            Now, lest we fall into the trap of being hypercritical or hypocritical, there are many of us who, even if having been Christian for years, aren’t that far along on the journey with Jesus.  Some of our lives may not look all that dissimilar from non-Christians’, but we’re striving to be full-time, intentional disciples.  We’re learning from Jesus and seeking to make his teachings a reality in our lives.  Like apprentices studying under a master, we make lots of mistakes and often our lives don’t look like what Jesus taught, but we are striving and we are learning as we hear Jesus’ teachings over and over again, being shaped over years as Jesus’ disciples.

To be fair, I’m guessing many of us have also at one time or another become complacent in our faith, assuming, “we got the Jesus thing down, and we’ve got forgiveness for when we don’t follow him so well, so…ah, we’re good.”  Then we get weeks like last week, with four of us here confirming the promises made in our baptisms, eight of us reaffirming our baptismal vows, and all of us joining with them in renewing our Baptismal covenant.  It was a powerful service last week with Bishop Fisher, having heard about the cost of discipleship, which Jeff preached about last week, we renewed our commitment to that cost, and the cost to which we committed ourselves is this:

-          Daily prayer, scripture reading, worship and fellowship with one another

-          Perseverance in resisting evil and when we fail, repentance and returning to God and God’s way of life

-          Intentionally seeking and serving Christ in all people, loving other people

-          Intentionally striving for justice and peace and respecting all peoples’ dignity

-          Finally, proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus in all that we do and in all that we say

There is, as Bishop Fisher pointed out, cost to such a life, and as Bishop Fisher pointed out, all such cost is well worth it. 

Today, then, we heard from Jesus, telling us that the Kingdom of God is like a shepherd who leaves the ninety nine sheep in search of the one sheep who was lost.  Living out the kingdom of God life as intentional disciples of Jesus, we all get to serve as that shepherd, seeking the lost sheep and inviting them back to the fold.  Inviting others to share in faith, or come to church or Bible study, or simply to have a conversation about beliefs is often not the easiest thing in the world to do, but there is in reality surprisingly little cost to invitation.  We may feel uncomfortable for a time in the asking, but on balance, that’s not a very high cost.  Perhaps we are afraid that the other person will say no, but that is not a cost of invitation.  That is a response over which we have no control.

Living as intentional disciples of Jesus, we are taught not to control the outcome, but to invite.  There is nothing threatening or coercive about an invitation.  Invitations to most events are welcome and seen as friendly acts.  Invitation to church or to talk about faith need be not different.

Perhaps the invitation could lead to conversation…conversation not to seal the deal, not to make the sale, but conversation to converse, to learn about and from one another and to deepen a relationship, conversation with lots of listening.  You might find that the one you feel is lost is actually part of the remnant, having left a hypocritical, or hypercritical, or not overly faithful Christian community, the person you feel is lost may have left the church in order to try to follow Jesus more authentically.  Perhaps the two of you could then share in each others’ faith, perhaps not even here, or perhaps only sometimes here to share with your friend your way of worshipping and connecting to God through our worship. 

Perhaps the person you invite is not a Christian and after conversation you realize will likely never be a Christian.  You still get to have that conversation.  You still get to share a part of you by sharing your faith and you get to deepen a relationship with a friend by hearing about his or her faith. 

As intentional disciples of Jesus, we are told to seek and invite.  We don’t control the outcome.  Perhaps even with all our seeking and inviting, the national trend of declining church membership will remain unchanged.  Perhaps even with all of our seeking and inviting, only a remnant of the church will remain.  If so, then so be it.  We will continue to carry the light of Christ.  We will continue to invite folks, to seek the lost.  We will continue to believe in and live as intentional disciples of Jesus, with the cost and the joy that such a life brings. Amen.

Ah, She's Just Jealous, It's the Beastie Boys

Brad Sullivan
Proper 17, Year C
Sunday, September 1, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City, TX
Jeremiah 2:4-13
Psalm 81:1, 10-16
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Luke 14:1, 7-14

“What have I done,” God asked, “that my people have gone so far from me?”  This was God’s question in the Jeremiah reading we heard today.  What wrong did God do that the people of Israel abandoned him?  Well, God hadn’t done any wrong.  The people forgot the joy of God, and they abandoned the disciplined life God had given them for an undisciplined, harmful, and yet highly attractive life of idolatry and shall we say loose living.  Easy sex, false gods, and living life as though there were no consequences was fun and highly attractive.  It’s still highly attractive in this day and age, always has been always will be.

A very popular song that is out now called “We Can’t Stop” expresses this idea of simply wanting to have fun and not having to worry about the consequences.   

It’s our party we can do what we want.  It’s our party we can say what we want.  It’s our party we can love who we want.  We can kiss who we want.  We can see who we want.  Red cups and sweaty bodies everywhere.  Hands in the air like we don’t care.  Cause we came to have so much fun now.  Bet somebody here might get some now.  (Miley Cyrus, We Can’t Stop)

I heard this song at an Episcopal weekend retreat for high school students, and I wasn’t overly impressed, thinking the people in the song sounded irresponsible, entitled, with no respect for themselves, each other, or their parents, and I realized, “O Lord, I just became old.”  How could these kids listen to this music with such terrible messages? 

Then I thought about a song off of my Beasty Boys cassette which my mom confiscated back in elementary school, “You’ve Got to Fight For Your Right to Party.”  It was basically the same song, and I never questioned that song.  I still don’t, because I don’t look too seriously.  I’m not going to live in the manner that the song describes, but I of course part of me wants to.  Hearing that song and enjoying that song is a way of catharsis, a way to let out some of my rebellious, irresponsible nature without actually living out my rebellious, irresponsible nature.  It’s a fun song.  It’s not necessarily particularly instructive, but it’s a fun song.  I have a feeling the high school students at the weekend retreat had a similar experience and joy listening to “We Can’t Stop” as I did listening to “You’ve Got to Fight For Your Right to Party.”

So, on the one hand there’s music which describes and even glorifies a way of life which is really rather reprehensible and irresponsible, but which is highly attractive.  On the other hand, I had some Jehovah’s Witnesses come by our house over the weekend. They knocked on the door, let some mosquitoes into the entry way as they entered and then said they had some pamphlets on prayer.  I informed them that my wife and I were Episcopal priests, and they waxed eloquent about how great that was.  Then they asked me the name of God, proceeded to tell me that I ought to pray to God as Jehovah rather than the forms of address I use for God, and find the truth.  I wasn’t persuaded. 

Nothing about their presentation was the least bit attractive from the mosquitoes on down.  They were talking at me from a memorized script rather than to me.  They were in effect berating me for praying incorrectly having an improper and even hurtful relationship with God.  There was no sharing the joy they had found in God or the joy that I had found in God for that matter.  My beliefs were irrelevant, other than as a lead in for the next part of their script.

“What have I done,” God asked, “that my people have gone so far from me?”  Maybe God didn’t do anything.  Maybe God’s people made God look so unattractive that people did start abandoning him in droves.  Now, I’m not abandoning God because of the Jehovah’s Witnesses attempt to proselytize me, but I certainly wasn’t in any way attracted to God by it.  Based on what they said to me, I wondered with Kristin last night, why anyone would want to follow God?

Look at the general view of God and of Christianity by non-Christians and the general understanding of Christianity by the culture around us.  We’re all born with an eternal hell sentence over our heads, and if we end up believing in Jesus, then we get a “get out of hell free card” and we get to be with God…the same God who gave us the eternal hell sentence in the first place.  That’s basically the popular understanding of Christianity, the understanding of Christianity by non-Christians, and that’s basically what evangelicals have been preaching for years.  Are we surprised, then, that people aren’t flocking to Jesus in droves?

Much of non-Christian culture is very attractive.  Have fun without consequence.  Even more deeply, have relationships without constant guilt.  Seek each others’ humanity, even if you have to break a couple of rules to do so. 

Much of Christian rhetoric and proselytizing, on the other hand, is not especially attractive.  Break enough rules and risk going to hell.  Don’t follow Jesus and risk going to hell.  Be good or risk going to hell.

It’s rather ironic that Jesus came to free us from the bondage of sin, and yet here we are, two thousand years later, and so much of the church seems completely enslaved to sin, our thoughts consumed by sin, our theology preoccupied with sin, our reason for even wanting to be with God, presented often as an alternative to sin.  Based on how God is often presented, sin just seems like a better alternative to a lot of folks.

“What have I done,” God asked, “that my people have gone so far from me?”  Perhaps we have forgotten our original blessedness and become preoccupied the false notion of our original sin.  When God made us, we were blessed by God.  We were declared good.  Jesus came not to make us preoccupied with sin, but to show us our original blessedness and to help us constantly draw nearer to God and to live out the kind of life which God intends for us to live, a life of love and concern for God and others. 

In our gospel today, Jesus said “when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”  You’ll also be blessed in this life, and so will they.  The purpose of inviting the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind is not to win points with God, but to bring blessing to people, to share humanity and love with those who are downtrodden and cast off.  Look beyond the poverty and the physical malady to a human being, blessed by God, and realize that we are all blessed by God.

That is the message we need to be presenting and with which we need to be inviting people…original blessedness, and if we’re going to invite anyone to share in our faith or listen to our faith and the ways we find blessing through Jesus, then unlike the Jehovah’s Witnesses who came by my house, we need to listen to how others find blessing as well. 

            There are folks who are driven by sex, folks who are driven by sports, folks who are driven by work, folks who are driven by all sorts of things, and those people are finding something they need in what they are pursuing, otherwise they would not be pursuing those things.  Many of the things they are pursuing (sports, work, etc.) aren’t bad.  We simply find that relationship with God and each other, loving God, loving our neighbors, and serving others fills us.  We have a feeling that loving God and our neighbors through faith in Jesus might fill others too.  So we need to invite them to share in and hear about the joy and fulfillment we find in Jesus.

            Where are our family and friends who are not here?  Where are the poor, the crippled, the downtrodden?  Have they been invited?  Have they been invited to share in our lives, in relationships with us?  Have they been invited to share and learn about our faith and ourselves?  Do we find Jesus and our faith in Jesus attractive, and to we express that to others?  The folks giving out their exceedingly unattractive threats of hell are doing a great job.  “What have I done,” God asked, “that my people have gone so far from me?”  What have we done to help attract God’s people back to him?  Amen.

Kindling a Fire

Brad Sullivan
Proper 15, Year C
Sunday, August 18, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City, TX
Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-18
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Luke 12:49-56

On September 15, the Diocese of Texas is encouraging all the churches in the diocese to take part in Invitation Sunday, a day on which we’re encouraged to invite people to come with us to church. These could be people who’ve never been before, people who used to be here regularly and no longer are, new acquaintances or friends, anyone we’d like to invite to come with us to church.

            I like to think of this in terms of relationship and deepening friendships, rather than in terms of trying to grow membership.  We invite people to do all sorts of things with us, things that we enjoy and want to share with others.  The idea with invitation Sunday is to invite people to share our faith with them.  Let folks see what those crazy Episcopalians do.  Let our friends and neighbors catch a glimpse into our lives, into the deep parts of who we are.  They don’t have to sign on the dotted line.  They aren’t pressured into joining.  If they want to join, then great, and if not, that’s great too.   We’re giving people an opportunity to share a part of who we are. 

            Of course that’s a little bit easier when we have readings that are slightly less fiery than our Gospel reading for today.  Jesus definitely went from preaching to meddling in today’s Gospel, didn’t he?  “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49)  Nice comforting words we heard from Jesus today.  Happy Sunday and welcome to St. Mark’s, Jesus came to burn the earth!

            For the last several weeks, we’ve heard Jesus preaching about the Kingdom of God, about life in the Kingdom of God.  Jesus preached that we shouldn’t worry about our lives because of how much God cares for us.  We needn’t hold on to our wealth and hoard it for ourselves.  Rather, in the Kingdom of God, we share what we have with others, loving God and loving our neighbors.  What a world it would be if everyone lives just by those ways of life?  Jesus preached that we ought to be ready for action, ready to serve others, ready to live out the Kingdom life of God’s love.

Today then, Jesus made a turn in his preaching.  He was still preaching about the Kingdom of God, but after having described God’s kingdom and encouraging his followers to live God’s Kingdom Life, Jesus then pointed out how far the world and his followers actually were from living the Kingdom Life.  Jesus was following the prophetic tradition of speaking of God’s anger and disappointment at how far Israel had strayed from living as he had taught Israel to live.  Jeremiah spoke for God in this way to Israel.  “I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn for ever.” (Jeremiah 15:14)  We hear many times in the psalms about God’s fire, his anger towards Israel’s unfaithfulness and harmful ways of life.  “Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of rage; a fire was kindled against Jacob, his anger mounted against Israel,” (Psalm 78:21)

In Jesus’ day, they had religious leaders teaching that they shouldn’t heal people if they asked for healing on the Sabbath.  They had religious leaders teaching that sinners, those who didn’t fulfill the law of Moses were to be shunned and ridiculed, rather than welcomed and shown a more life-giving way through the Kingdom of God way of life.  Love God and love your neighbor, many were teaching, so long as it isn’t too inconvenient and you don’t have to associate with the lowly or the sinful.  No wonder Jesus had a fire burning within him. 

Jesus was using the prophetic language of kindling a fire against the earth to help open the people’s eyes to the suffering of those around them.  Having preached about what life looks like in the Kingdom of God, Jesus was pointing out just how far away their society was from living the Kingdom of God.     

I came to bring division, Jesus said, “father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." (Luke 12)  The mother-in-law against daughter-in-law may not be that surprising, but Jesus was quoting from Micah, chapter 7 in which Micah was railing against Israel for the way they perverted justice, bribed officials, people treated each other with contempt.  Families were turned against each other.  Honor your father and your mother?  It didn’t happen.  Micah was telling the people that Israel was going to be no more if they continued living so counter to the Kingdom of God., and not long afterwards, Israel was no more when Assyria came in and destroyed them.

Jesus was saying that Israel in his day was little better than Israel in the days of the prophet Micah.  What does God require of you, Micah asked?  Not proper religious observance made meaningless by how terribly you treat one another.  What God desires if for you “to do justice and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.” (Micah 6:8)

Jesus, then, having given the people of Israel a beautiful image of what life in the kingdom of God could be, and telling them “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom,” (Luke 12:32), Jesus then points out how much work they have to do to turn around and live out God’s kingdom.  Are you ready, Jesus was asking?  Are you ready to help bring about God’s kingdom?  Are you ready to give up your fears and worries?  Are you ready to serve others?  Are you ready to open your eyes to the plights of so many around you?  Are you ready to realize just how far away our society is from the Kingdom of God, and are you ready to change and to help bring about God’s kingdom?

Are you ready to do justice?  Are you ready to love mercy?  Are you ready to walk humbly with God?  Are you ready to let Jesus’ fire burn within you as well?  Are you ready to let Jesus go from preaching to meddling?  

I know we are ready.  We have been for a long time, and still we have Jesus reminding us, helping to open our eyes once again to the injustice of the world, to the plights of the hungry, the sorrowful, those who work hard for far too little, to those whose need is far more than we can give, and to those who need a second chance.  Are you ready to trust in Jesus’ words?  “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

            Are you then ready to let Jesus kindle a fire within you and to open your eyes, to see where the worlds needs meet the fire within you, to help bring about the Kingdom of God life on earth?  Then, on September 15^th, invitation Sunday, or any other day of your life, are you ready to invite others to share in this Kingdom of God life with you?  Amen.

Argh! Where are My Tic Tacs?

Brad Sullivan
Proper 13, Year C
Sunday, July 14, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City, TX
Hosea 11:1-11
Psalm 107:1-9, 43
Colossians 3:1-11
Luke 12:13-21

    When I was in middle school, we had a project in science class dealing with the coal industry, and unfortunately there was quite a bit of misinformation given.  Now my dad worked for Exxon Coal and Minerals in charge of environmental and safety regulations, and when we told him about the project, he was rather less than pleased with what we were learning so he contacted our teacher and they talked, and Dad ended up giving a presentation to our class about the industry and coal mining.  It was a great presentation, and afterwards, one young man boldly walked up to my dad and said he had a question for him.  Dad was quite pleased that someone was interested in the presentation, and the young man asked him, “Where did you get that pointer stick thing you were using to show us stuff on the charts that you had?”  “Go away, kid, you bother me,” Dad was thinking.

We have a similar kind of utterly irrelevant question being asked of Jesus today from this unknown man in the crowd.  Jesus had been teaching the crowd about the Kingdom of God.  He was talking about not worrying about our lives for we are of such great value to God.  He was talking about the Holy Spirit giving guidance and direction when we need it.  Jesus was telling the crowd all about the beauty of life in the Kingdom of God, and some random dude shouts out, “Hey Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me!”

Really? Jesus has got to be thinking, “Kingdom of God and your asking about family inheritance; why do I try?  Why did I even come here?  Dad, can you just zap me back?”  By all rights, Jesus should have called up the guy who asked about the inheritance and then slapped him upside the head.  Jesus, though, took it as an opportunity for more teaching about the Kingdom of God. 

“Take care!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions,” Jesus said.  He then told a parable of a man who had a huge overabundance of crops, who, rather than do anything useful with them, rather than share them or even sell them, decides to store them all so he can spend his years doing nothing. 

That sounds kind of nice, but Jesus then brings the story to the ultimate end point, saying that the man in the story died that very night, and the choice to store all of his crops proved to be very wasteful.  Life in the kingdom of God says that we are to help care for each other, to think beyond ourselves, and not to worry about what tomorrow will bring, but seek first the Kingdom of God, Jesus taught.  Seek to live out the Kingdom of God life with all you have and all you do.

I’ve been teaching recently about the five act narrative of scripture:  creation, fall, judgment, redemption, and re-creation.  That is the story of the Kingdom of God.  We see this story told time and time again in scripture.  It is the overarching story of the Gospel, the overarching story from Genesis to Revelation, and the story told and retold in people’s lives. 

We saw this story told in the eleven verses we heard from Hosea this morning.  God is remembering the creation of the nation of Israel, loving Israel as a child, bringing them out of slavery in Egypt.  Almost immediately we have the fall, as Israel kept sacrificing to the Baals, worshipping idols.  As judgment, God declares that they would return to Egypt as Assyria would take them into captivity.  When, we have redemption.  “How can I give you up, Ephraim?  How can I hand you over, O Israel?...I will not execute my fierce anger…for I am God and no mortal…”  Finally, we have re-creation of Israel, “They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt…and I will return them to the homes, says the Lord.”

That is the story told and retold in the prophets.  God gives judgment to Israel for their misdeeds, but God’s judgment is given with purpose, in order to bring about redemption and re-creation. 

Life in the kingdom of God says don’t sweat the small stuff because our story does not consist of squabbling over this or that.  Our life does not consist of fighting over family inheritance, or of amassing great wealth so we can store it all up for ourselves.  Our life consists of creation, over and over again.  Our life consists of falling, messing up, and facing judgment when that happens, but judgment in the Kingdom of God which has a purpose beyond punishment.  Judgment in the Kingdom of God is given to bring about redemption, leading to re-creation.  That’s where our lives are constantly leading, beyond judgment, beyond even redemption, to re-creation, to the resurrection life, even if your jerk of a brother won’t divide the family inheritance with you.  Amen.