Yea, so we've got no idea how this thing works

Brad Sullivan
Proper 24, Year C
Sunday, October 20, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City, TX
Jeremiah 31:27-34
Psalm 119:97-104
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Luke 18:1-8

“No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”  These words from Jeremiah speak of a new covenant which God was going to make with Israel.  This was during the time of Israel’s captivity and deportation, this terrible low point in Israel’s history, and God was giving them words of restoration.  “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

God calls it a new covenant, and yet it really seems like a renewal of the covenant they had with God all along, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”  “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.”  The sounds a lot like Deuteronomy 6:4-6, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.^{* 5}You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. ⁶Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.”  So, Jeremiah’s prophecy gives a hopeful vision of restoration and renewal for Israel, a time when God’s covenant will live within the people, within their hearts as God had always intended. 

The words from Jeremiah also to give a hopeful yes to Jesus’ question at the end of our Gospel story this morning, “and yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”  I am always struck by this rather stark and ominous question of Jesus.  After talking to his disciples about the need to pray always and not lose heart, it almost sounds like Jesus is losing heart a bit, wondering rather despondently if there will be faith on earth.  Will his disciples pray and not lose heart?  Will his words and life be on his disciples hearts?  Is Jesus truly wondering, hoping, and partially doubting that there will continue to be faith on the earth?  Perhaps.

Perhaps the question is more for our benefit, to spur us to action.  Hearing Jesus’ question, tends to leave a feeling of personal responsibility in the heart of the listener.  If Jesus is wondering whether or not there will be faith on the earth, then we can’t leave it up to someone else to have faith.  We need to have faith ourselves, to pray continually and not lose heart.  Perhaps Jesus is asking the if there will be faith on the earth to underscore the need for his disciples to pray always and not lose heart, as if to say, “if you don’t, then there may not be faith on the earth.”

Tying our passage from Jeremiah to Jesus’ question, however, I can’t help but hear a hopeful “yes” in answer to Jesus’ question.  “Yes, when the son of man comes there will be faith on the earth, because

[God] will put [his] law within them, and [he] will write it on their hearts; and [he] will be their God, and they shall be [his] people.  No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know [God], from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for [he] will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

That hopeful vision is not only for Israel during the time of their captivity, but for us as well and for all time.  Pray always and don’t lose heart, for God will put his law within us and write it on our hearts; we will all know God and he will forgive our iniquity and remember our sin no more.  Yes, there will be faith on the earth when the Son of Man comes, so pray always and don’t lose heart.

Notice also what Jesus says about prayer, that God will quickly grant justice to his people who pray to him day and night.  Well, if it was really all that quickly, would we have time to lose heart?  Perhaps Jesus means that once God acts, that God will grant justice quickly, but there seems to be some delay expected before God acts, otherwise, why the encouragement not to lose heart? 

I tend to like to figure things out and to over think things, and this passage has been no exception.  God will quickly grant justice.  Don’t lose heart.  I wanted to find some way of explaining that so that it made nice logical sense.  I wanted to be able to explain how praying always works, but I could find no easy answers.  Often people pray for things, and they pray a lot for those things, and the things for which they pray don’t happen.  Sometimes justice seems not to happen, at least not as quickly as we’d like.  There’s no formula for how to get prayer to work.  Sometimes we may feel like prayer isn’t working. 

All I can say in response is, “pray always and don’t lose heart.”  My granddad told me on his death bed, weeks before he died, “don’t ever underestimate the power of prayer.”  He sat me down and had me pray with him and memorize the collect for purity at the beginning of the Eucharist.  “Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires, known, and from whom no secrets are hid:  Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord.  Amen.” 

Notice in that prayer, that we declare God already to know our desires, our secrets, and the innermost thoughts and dreams of our hearts.  We are absolute open books, known cover to cover by God, and we are told by Jesus to “pray always and not lose heart.”  God already knows us.  God knows our needs and desires before we ask, and yet God desires us to ask anyway.  God knows us better than we know ourselves, and yet we are told to make ourselves known to God in prayer. 

Perhaps by praying always and not losing heart, we are opening ourselves up to God, opening our hearts to God not so much that God will know us, but so that we will know God.  Perhaps by praying always and not losing heart, we are doing more than making our requests known to God.  Perhaps by praying always and not losing heart, we are partnering with God, allowing him to write his law on our hearts and allowing ourselves to know God.  Perhaps praying always and not losing heart helps fulfill Jeremiah’s prophecy.  “No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” 

Of course Jesus says rather than God will grant justice to those who pray always and don’t lose heart.  Jesus says God will be patient with us in our pestering of him and God will quickly grant us justice.  We may have to wait and not lose heart, but God will quickly grant us justice.  Hmmm?  I really don’t know how that works.  I can’t exactly explain that one.  All I can say is, “I believe it.”  I don’t know how exactly, but I believe it.  I’ll leave it to Jesus to know how exactly that all fits together.  In the mean time, all I know is I find more peace when I pray always and don’t lose heart.  I find more joy when I pray always and don’t lose heart.  I can’t say exactly why.  I simply believe Jesus’ words and find them to be true.  Pray always and don’t lose heart.  “I will put my law within them,” says the Lord, “and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”  Amen.

Jesus, Lepers, and Zombies

Brad Sullivan
Proper 23, Year C
Sunday, October 13, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City, TX
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
Psalm 66:1-11
2 Timothy 2:8-15
Luke 17:11-19
 

I’ve been watching the TV show, “The Walking Dead,” which is soon to start its fourth season, and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it.  “The Walking Dead” is your basic end of the world, zombie apocalypse drama with small groups of people struggling to survive in the wake of a zombie apocalypse.  As Kristin pointed out one night, it isn’t an overly happy show, and she wasn’t too keen on watching it because of the often rather tragic situations the survivors often found themselves.  Then after a couple of episodes she was totally hooked.

I noticed though that the level of drama, the intensity of emotion expressed by the characters was really no different than many other shows I’ve seen.  We were watching some family drama set in modern time with everyday, regular kinds of struggles, and I noticed that the characters in that show were getting just as intense in their level of emotion and drama as the people in the end of the world zombie apocalypse show (not unrealistically), and all I could think is, “y’all need to chill; it ain’t the end of the world.”

It seems that our level for drama and the intensity of our emotions can pretty well be amped up to fill whatever struggle we happen to be going through, but by and large, our struggles aren’t the end of the world. 

Ten lepers were cleansed by Jesus, and for them, their leprosy, while not the end of the world, was the end of their getting to interact with non-leprous people until their leprosy was healed.  They had to be quarantined from the rest of the people according to the laws of Israel, and once they were cured, they couldn’t re-enter society until showing themselves to the priest and being declared clean. 

Notice, though, that Jesus sent them off to see the priest before he cured them.  They were supposed to be checking in with the priest every seven days, so I assume Jesus was having them go to the priest partially to keep them walking and living as Israelites, rather than despairing and giving up entirely, not checking in with the priest feeling that there was no point.  You may be leprous, but you can still in this small way, live as faithful Jews.  Go, present yourself to the priest.

Then, on the way they were cured, and only one of them returned to thank Jesus.  To be fair, the other nine were likely doing what Jesus said, and rushing to see the priest, now so they could be declared clean and re-enter society.  The laws of Israel demanded that they go and see the priest, but couldn’t it wait.  If they didn’t get the ritual part of their religion done immediately, it’s not really the end of the world.  They were so concerned with getting back to the priest and to society, that they missed the opportunity for gratitude.

We are often so concerned with the various goings on in our lives that we too miss opportunities for gratitude, and really we’re the ones who suffer for it.  When we’re so busy trying to get things done and so worried about what we have to do that we can’t be grateful for what we have, then we often end up feeling like whatever we’re going through at the time is the end of the world, even when what we’re going through is just the regular stuff of everyday life. 

I think it’s safe to say, that so far, all of the struggles we’ve been through in our lives and even the joys and challenges of everyday life have not been the end of the world, and I don’t mean to minimize the struggles, challenges, and tragedies people face.  We struggle with life daily and sometimes we struggle with some truly terrible things.  Keeping or seeking a grateful heart, even in the face of tragedy can help us through the tragedy so that we are not overcome by darkness, but we overcome darkness with light.

For the people of Israel in our reading from Jeremiah today, life did feel like the end of the world, and God, through Jeremiah was telling the people to overcome darkness with light.  Jerusalem had been destroyed, the nations of Israel and Judah no longer existed, and God was telling the people who were being taken away captive into a land of exile to pray for the welfare of the land of exile.  Pray for the welfare of Babylon, the very land whose army just sacked Jerusalem.

Live and thrive in the land of exile.  Build houses, take wives and start families, pray for the welfare of Babylon, for in their welfare you will find your welfare.  Continue being a light to the nations, I hear God saying.  Live as Israelites in the land of exile, but don’t sequester yourselves.  Live among the people of Babylon and be a light to them, showing them the joys and beauty of the Kingdom of God. 

Your nation has been destroyed, you’re being brought captive into Babylon, and yet you are still Israelites, you are still God’s people chosen to be a light to the nations.  Jerusalem is destroyed, but it isn’t the end of the world.  Be grateful because you are still God’s people, a light to the nations.  Be grateful and let the light of your gratitude and the light of God shine in your lives for others to see. 

So too for us in all of the little apocalypses in our lives, in our daily struggles, and in our times of real tragedy, Jesus commends us to keep grateful hearts, not denying our pain or tragedy, but also seeking to be grateful for the ways in which we are blessed.

Sometimes we’re simply not going to be able to feel grateful, and I don’t know that we’re supposed to feel guilty about that.  The 9 guys in the gospel story today who were tacitly reprimanded for their lack of gratitude had just been cleansed of leprosy.  Jesus didn’t tell people in the midst of tragedy, “shame on you for being sad and despondent, you should be grateful for…well I don’t know for what but you should be grateful.” 

We are allowed to be sad, and we seek gratitude.  We seek to keep grateful hearts, realizing that so many of our challenges really aren’t the end of the world.  When tragedy does strike, we keep our hope in Jesus, realizing the words of Psalm 62, “for God alone my soul in silence waits; from him comes my salvation.  He alone is my rock and my stronghold so that I shall not be greatly shaken.” 

We keep our hope and confidence in God, realizing that even the actual end of the world is going to be redeemed.  We can keep gratitude in our hearts as we look forward to the restoration and re-creation of all things in the resurrection which will fortunately look nothing at all like a zombie apocalypse.  Amen.

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.