So, That Was Tuesday...

The Rev. Brad Sullivan

Emmanuel Episcopal Church

January 3, 2021

2 Christmas, B

Jeremiah 31:7-14 

Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a

Matthew 2:1-15, 19-23

So, That was Tuesday…

A couple thousand years ago, Jesus was born.  The Creator of the Universe became a human being in human flesh and walked among us, and most people had no idea.  In Australia, some guys were sitting around a campfire playing didgeridoo.  Here in not yet Texas, Native American tribes were bedding down for the night.  For most people around the world, Jesus’ birth was just a regular Tuesday or whatever day it was, meaning that the world kept on turning much as it had for a billion years before.  

I’m reminded of a Coldplay song called, “Til Kingdom Come.”  

And the wheels just keep on turning

The drummer begins to drum

I don't know which way I'm going

I don't know which way I've come

For you I'd wait 'til kingdom come

Until my day, my day is done

And say, you'll come and set me free

Just say, you'll wait, you'll wait for me

Since Jesus’ birth, the world keeps on turning, and God continues to be with us.  We often feel like we are waiting for peace on Earth, and we may get discouraged in that waiting.  Yet for that beautiful promise, we will wait till kingdom come.  God also waits for us to live out the peace we want, knowing full well that we often won’t, and yet, in the midst of that waiting, God is with us.

Now for Mary and Joseph Jesus’ birth was the end of waiting,  a fantastic event.  God had became human and was born with angel choirs singing to shepherds, who then saw Jesus and proclaimed God’s greatness; God’s prophecy to Mary was fulfilled as hope, light, and life came into the world.  So that was Tuesday, or whatever day it was, and then Wednesday came around with an exhausted Mary and Joseph waking up early to an infant crying for milk, with swaddling cloths decidedly wetter and dirtier than they had been hours before.  

Fast forward a couple thousand years, and Jesus’ birth isn’t just some other day which goes unnoticed by almost everyone on earth.  Today, Jesus’ birth is celebrated all over the world, in Israel, in Australia, in Texas.  In every corner of the Earth, people celebrate and give thanks for Jesus’ birth, for God among us, and still, the world keeps on turning.  

Jesus’ coming was supposed to be this world altering event.  The coming of messiah was said to be the inauguration of a new world of peace on Earth.  We know now that peace on Earth and an end of all strife wasn’t actually going to happen with Messiah’s birth.  

The world altering event of Jesus’ birth went on with normal life for everyone.  The daily grind, the joys of life, the struggles of life, all of that has continued on ever since Jesus’ birth.  Sadly, tragedy had continued on as well.  Even this past Christmas day, in Tennessee, a man packed his RV with explosives and became a suicide bomber, luckily killing only himself.  Killing, strife, and those with power wielding their power cruelly has continued on ever since Jesus’ birth.  

King Herod was a prime example of this.  When the Magi first came to Herod, he asked them when they had first seen the star guiding them to Jesus and based on that date, he had boys two years old and younger killed in his efforts to kill Jesus who was probably about 18 months old at that point.  That’s why the angel told Joseph to flee to Egypt.  Killing, strife, those with power wielding their power cruelly.  As we know all too well, all of those things and more have continued on ever since Jesus’ birth, human pride, greed, and brokenness have continued on even with God among us.  

Of course, that’s kind of the point of Jesus’ birth, isn’t it?  In the midst of killing, strife, and the powerful wielding their power cruelly, God is among us.  God is among us not because we’re perfect or because we’ve made life into a perfect world.  In the midst of human pride, greed, and brokenness, God is among us precisely because there isn’t peace on Earth.  God is among us precisely because we aren’t perfect and we do keep messing up.  God came among us to set us free from that over and over again.

We lose our way.  We forget the beauty of light and life all around us.  Sometimes we become so enshrouded in darkness, and our brains, our minds, and souls become so broken by darkness that we do terrible things like filling an RV with explosives and blowing ourselves up.  We lose our way and we bring about strife on Earth rather than peace on Earth.  

Even in lesser ways than suicide bombing, we lose our way and live into darkness. We get so caught up with deadlines, with worries about the future, with things not being the way they are supposed to be, that we lash out.  We try to force our way rather than follow in God’s way.  We lose sight of the beauty of God among us because after all, that was Tuesday, and Wednesday comes with a whole new set of problems, and so God keeps on giving little epiphanies, little revealings of God’s presence and way among us, to show us the light and set us free from the darkness.  

Even for Mary and Joseph, that next day after Jesus’ birth led to a whole succession of next days, and in all likelihood, they lost sight of the glory of Jesus’ birth.  From diapers, and drooling, and little sleep to chasing after a toddler, climbing on furniture and breaking things, Mary and Joseph began raising a little boy.  Again, Jesus was probably around 18 month old when the Magi came to him.  Mary and Joseph had been raising a toddler for over a year since choirs of angels sang, so they may well have lost sight of the glory of Jesus’ birth.  Once again, even Mary and Joseph may have needed to be set free.

The coming of the Magi was a new epiphany, a new revealing of God among us to the Magi, and through them to people beyond Israel.  The coming of the Magi was also, in all likelihood, a renewed epiphany, a renewed revealing of God among us to Mary and Joseph.  In the midst of raising a toddler, a caravan of strangers came.  They had treasure chests with them, which makes this seem like they were a caravan of Magi traveling together, and when they saw Jesus, they said they had been guided by a star, by some miracle of God, and they followed the star because they wanted to pay homage to and worship Mary and Joseph’s little boy named Jesus.  Then, they opened up their chests and rooted through them, and gave Jesus some of their best loot.  

How random is that?  Here Mary and Joseph are, a year and a half after shepherds and angel choirs, and a caravan of weird Magi show up at their door like some Amazon delivery guy with a package they didn’t order.  I think Mary and Joseph needed that epiphany just as much as the Magi did, just as much as we do.  In the midst of all of the days after the glory of Jesus’ birth, God came among them again to set them free.

A couple thousand years ago, Jesus was born to set us free.  The Creator of the Universe became a human being in human flesh and walked among us.  Even with that great coming of Jesus, the light of God living with us in the world, we still lose our way and get trapped by the darkness, and so into that darkness, God continues to give little epiphanies, to show us the light once again and to set us free. 

And the wheels just keep on turning

The drummer begins to drum

I don't know which way I'm going

I don't know which way I've come

For you I'd wait 'til kingdom come

Until my day, my day is done

And say, you'll come and set me free

Just say, you'll wait, you'll wait for me

“I love this plan; I’m excited to be a part of it!” - Mary, Teenager, Mother of God

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
December 20, 2020
4 Advent, B
Canticle 15 (Luke 1:46-55)
Luke 1:26-38

“I love this plan; I’m excited to be a part of it!” - Mary, Teenager, Mother of God

Christmas Card Design by Parker Fitzgerald

https://www.cleansingfire.org/.../a-contemporary.../

“Do not be afraid,” Gabriel said to Mary.  He said this in response to Mary’s rather non-plussed reaction to his initial salutation, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you,” to which Mary seems to have responded about how you might expect a young teenager to respond.  “Huh.  That’s a rather odd way of greeting me, but ok, let’s see what this guy has to say.”

“Do not be afraid,” Gabriel said to Mary, but Mary doesn’t seem to have been all that afraid.  Maybe she was a particularly brave and trusting young woman.  Maybe she particularly devout in her faith, and she does seem to have been pretty devout.  Maybe it was also a good thing that she was a teenager and still invincible like all teenagers are.  Had she been in her mid 20s, it might have been more of a cautious response.  “Ok, so what’s this gonna mean for me, and how’s this all gonna go?

“Well kiddo,” Gabriel would’ve responded, “not long from now, your ankles will swell, you’re gonna have a hard time sleeping and getting comfortable in general, you’re going to be in a lot of pain during the birth, and you’ll pee just a little bit every time you cough for the rest of your life.  Oh, and most of your family will at least initially thing you’ve cheated on Joseph and brought shame upon them, but hey this child is gonna be hugely important, so your parenting of him has to be…not perfect, but at least better than sub par.  So, hey, hey, it’s ok, don’t be afraid.”  

See, Mary didn’t seem to be afraid.  All the reasons why following God’s plan would be rather troublesome for Mary, those things didn’t get in her way.  The plan was pretty much for Joseph and her to get married and have some kids anyway, so Mary seemed rather thrilled at the whole idea.  Once Gabriel left, she sang a song about how great it was not only for her, but for all people, that the Holy Spirit was going to conceive a son in her womb.  Her response to Gabriel was not a timid, “Let it be with me according to your word,” but an enthusiastic, “Oh heck yeah, let it be with me according to your word.  This is fantastic.”  

See, teenager:  idealistic, trusting, ready to take on the world and know that is messed up, beautiful, and worth saving.  Mary understood that she was part of God’s kingdom on Earth.  She was part of God’s story of redemption, part of God’s story of restoration.  She was like Princess Leah in Star Wars, ready to take on the whole Empire, stand up to Darth Vader, and lie to his face because she believed in something greater than herself and saw herself as part of a larger story of justice, of ending oppression, of lifting up the lowly, and casting down the mighty.  

[God] has shown the strength of his arm, (Mary sang). He has scattered the proud in their conceit.  He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.  He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.  He has come to the help of his servant Israel, for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.

All of these things, God has done, Mary sang, in joy and excitement.  She knew, and trusted, and loved the God whom she served, and she couldn’t wait to be a part of God’s story and to see what God had in store for Israel and the world through her and her son.  She didn’t know exactly what was coming, but she knew redemption was coming.  She knew restoration was coming.  She knew wrongs were going to be righted.  She knew that God’s kingdom was coming.

She knew that God’s kingdom is a kingdom of love, a kingdom where God’s power is used to lift up the lowly, to feed the hungry, and to show mercy.  God’s kingdom is a kingdom of love in which our power and our wealth are used not to gain even more power and wealth for ourselves.  In God’s kingdom, our power and our wealth, whatever power and wealth we have, are used to lift up the lowly, to feed the hungry, and to show mercy.  

At Emmanuel, we are using what we have to lift up the lowly, to feed the hungry, and to show mercy.  We are helping to provide food for mothers and their children who are getting on their feet at Gracewood.  We got to help a couple of families this Advent through Angel Tree.  We are helping to provide food and shelter for people experiencing homelessness through Lord of the Streets Episcopal Church.  We’re helping children through our support of MAM’s back to school program.  We’re providing prayers and prayer quilts through the Daughters of the King and our sewing ministry.  We’re helping people recover and rebuild after disasters have destroyed people’s homes.  These are some of the many ways we get to be a part of God’s kingdom through our life at Emmanuel.  

At Emmanuel, in the year of COVID and social distancing, God is also proclaiming the good news of Jesus in twice daily online prayer, in weekly online worship, and in a live Nativity to a neighborhood who just had a new church move in.  In the crazy of the COVID, Emmanuel has chosen not to be afraid, but instead to be like the teenage Mary saying, “Oh heck yeah, let it be with me according to your word.”  

Do not be afraid, God tells us, for fear leads to turning away from God’s kingdom.  Fear keeps us small.  Fear keeps us focused on ourselves.  Fear tells us that we aren’t enough, that we don’t have enough, that we can’t do the right thing, that we won’t be ok. Now, we all have fears, and we all are afraid in various ways.  The key is not to let those fears rule our lives.  

Mary may well have had some fears of losing her family, of losing her husband, but her teenage brain saw the beauty of God’s kingdom, saw the light of God’s presence burning throughout creation and said to her fears, “Nah, it’ll be ok.”  So how do we get past our fears and keep that teenage brain gloriously excited about living God’s kingdom and saying, “Nah, it’ll be ok,” to our fears?

One way is to follow the advice of Jedi Master Yoda, to “Train [ourselves] to let go of everything [we] fear to lose.” Imagine living without those things that we fear to lose, and feel God’s presence with us even in that loss.  Jesus had the same advice for a young man who, like Mary, wanted to live God’s kingdom, but who also many possessions and was afraid to give them up.  “Go and sell all that you have, and then come, and follow me,” Jesus said, and the man walked away sad because he didn’t want to give up what he had.  His stuff, and fear of living without his stuff, kept him from living God’s kingdom.  He could not let go of that which he feared to lose, so he no longer had the teenage brain to see the beauty of God’s kingdom and say to his fears, “Nah, it’ll be ok.”

In this time of Advent, of preparation for Jesus always coming into the world, we are reminded to train ourselves to let go of everything we fear to lose.  We are reminded of Jesus’ teaching to let go of whatever is keeping us small and focused on ourselves.  We get to hear again the Angel Gabriel’s words, “Do not be afraid.”  

Do not be afraid of losing what you have in the service of others.  Do not be afraid of losing what you have in the service of God’s kingdom, for God lifts up the lowly.  Train yourself to let go of everything that keeps you from living God’s kingdom.  Spend time each day in prayer, seeking God’s will and way.  Pray over what you have and what you fear to lose, and pray that all of it may be used for God’s kingdom, whether by you or by someone else.  Talk and pray with others, your family and friends, seeking together how to follow God’s will and way, how to live God’s love, redemption, restoration, justice, and mercy.   

That is the way of God’s kingdom and the way of Mary who knew, and trusted, and loved the God whom she served and couldn’t wait to be a part of God’s story.  She saw the light of God’s fire throughout creation, loved God’s plan and was excited to be a part of it.  

“I love this plan; I’m excited to be a part of it.”  In addition to being a quote from Bill Murray in Ghostbusters, that is the response God is looking for when we catch a glimpse of God’s kingdom and our part to play in it.  Fear schmear.  “How is God calling me to be a part of God’s story of love, redemption, restoration, justice, and mercy?”  What makes my non-fearful Mary-like teenage brain say, “I love this plan; I’m excited to be a part of it,” and “Oh heck yeah, let it be with me according to your word?”

Faded Away as Grass Into Mother Earth: Where New Life and New Possibility Await

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
December 6, 2020
2 Advent, B
Isaiah 40:1-11
2 Peter 3:8-15a

Mark 1:1-8

Faded Away as Grass Into Mother Earth:

Where New Life and New Possibility Await

When I hear of John preaching a baptism of repentance, images often come to my mind of a Hollywood version of someone shouting, “repent” to unsuspecting and rather baffled passersby.  The shouting is kinda lame, usually overacted, and is basically just some forced tone-setting for the film.  As for he crazed “repent” shouter, he’s kinda ridiculous, as if people changing their ways would somehow end the alien invasion which had just begun with space ships arriving and lasers firing.  So much for Hollywood’s version of repentance.  

Now, when John was in the wilderness proclaiming a baptism for repentance, he wasn’t trying to end an alien invasion.  Israel had been invaded, more or less, by Rome, but John wasn’t trying to end invasion with his calls to repentance.  He was also far less creepy than the Hollywood guy.  Rather than frighten unsuspecting people on the streets of New York, John was out in the wilderness, and people came to see him.  They actually liked and wanted to hear what he had to say. 

Rather than ending an invasion or scaring people, John’s call for repentance was less crazy, Hollywood, weirdo guy, and more “Comfort, O comfort my people…Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term…”  John was calling people into a life freed from the worst of themselves and into a life of hope, mercy, and love.  That is what the people went out into the wilderness to hear. 

A voice says, “Cry out!”  And I said, “What shall I cry?”

All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. (Isaiah 40)

Those are words of comfort.  In the great struggle and hectic nature of our lives, striving for so much, weighed down by the great importance of all we have to do, we are reminded that we are grass.  The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it.

Our efforts and striving are important to us and to those we love.  Our lives are important, but eventually, we will all fade as the grass.  We will become one with the earth once again, and someone else, some new grass, will grow in our place.  They will take the place on the earth that we once had. 

They will do their own striving while we rest, faded away as grass into mother earth, where all kinds of new life and new possibility await with the God of hope, mercy, and love who calls, “Comfort, O comfort my people.”  That is the kind of repentance that John calls for.  Rest.  Breathe.  Trust.  Let go the weight of your struggles.  Remember that you are grass, and be at peace.  

Repentance is not a call of anger and fear.  Repentance is a call of hope, mercy, and love which helps lead us to a place of peace.  

I heard the radio show, On Being, with Krista Tippett where she interviewed Bryan Stevenson an attorney who is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama.  Mr. Stevenson began working for justice for people on death row, many of whom were incarcerated unjustly.  You may have seen the movie about him and his work called, Just Mercy, based on his book, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.

In the interview with Krista Tippett, Mr. Stevenson talked about his work for justice and his way of viewing the world with hope, and mercy, and love.  Without hope, he said, we’re trapped where we are, unable to move beyond whatever has us stuck.  Without hope, we’re unable to move beyond injustice.  Without hope, we’re unable to move beyond the worst of who we are as people and as a society.

So hope is how we can begin to move beyond the worst of ourselves.  Then we need, mercy.  With mercy then, we can understand people as being more than the bad parts of ourselves.  Mr. Stevenson says, “Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done.”  That’s the view of God towards us as well.  God offers us hope, sees us with mercy, and tells us that we are so much more than the worst thing we have ever done.  That’s the baptism of repentance to which John called people in the wilderness.  

Repentance means that with that hope and mercy, we then get to reckon with those worst parts of ourselves.  We have to reckon with the worst of ourselves because we can’t be free of those things, free of the worst parts of ourselves, if we don’t bring them with us when we come seeking mercy and redemption.  When we do bring those worst parts of ourselves with us on our journey of repentance, then we find God saying, those worst parts of you are grass.  “The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it.”  

With John’s hopeful and merciful calls to repentance, we find that we are loved and that we are lovable.  Repentance is not a scary, angry call from a lunatic.  Repentance is a call of love, calling us to turn from and let go of the ways that keep us down.  Repentance is a call of love to turn from and let go of the ways that keep us selfish (and therefore fearful).  Repentance is a call of love to turn away from and let go of the ways that keep us callous and unconcerned for others (and therefore fearful and contemptuous).  

Repentance acknowledges the fear and anger within us, and then repentance turns and lets go of that fear and anger.  Repentance frees us from the hopelessness which keeps us bound and stuck where we are, so that we then we find mercy and love from a God who does not define us by the worst things we have done.  We find instead a God who says, “Comfort, O comfort my people…” Rest.  Breathe.  Trust.  Let go the weight of your struggles.  Remember that you are grass, and be at peace.  

Then, we can live that peace.  Freed from that which binds us, freed from our shame, freed from the anxieties and fears of this life, we can look at this world through the eyes of hope.  See, there is anger, injustice, greed, exploitation, all sorts of terrible things in this world.  With hope, we can see that the world doesn’t have to stay that way, and we can see that there is so much beauty and light in the world as well.

Through repentance and hope, we can view ourselves, and others, and the world with mercy.  Mercy to see that those who do terrible, thoughtless, and callous things are also so much more than the worst things they have done.  Those we view with the most contempt need mercy and hope just like we do.

Then, with hope and mercy in our hearts, repentance leads us to love.  Having been loved by a just and merciful God, we are freed to love with justice and mercy.  We are freed to strive for justice and mercy.  Those places and people in our society in need of justice and mercy, the ones that grab our hearts and call to us, we are freed to strive for justice and mercy through God’s love.

That is the repentance to which John calls us, a repentance which allows us to strive for justice and mercy because we have been loved by a God who sees all of the crud and horribleness of our lives and deeds and says, “You are so much more than the worst things you have done.”  Through the repentance to which John calls us, we find a God who says,“Comfort, O comfort my people…”  Remember that you are grass.  “The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it.”  Rest.  Breathe.  Trust.  Let go the weight of your struggles.  Remember that you are grass, and be at peace.

The Path of the Righteous Man…

The Rev. Brad Sullivan

Emmanuel Episcopal Church

November 22, 2020

Proper 29, Christ the King, A

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

Ephesians 1:15-23

Matthew 25:31-46

The Path of the Righteous Man…

“The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.” 

That’s from the Quentin Tarantino movie, Pulp Fiction, and it was said by the character, Julius, a hit man played brilliantly by Samuel L. Jackson.  I gotta say I hear some echoes of Jesus’ story of the judgement of the nations in Samuel L. Jackson’s speech from Pulp Fiction.  To the righteous, Jesus says, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…,” whereas to the unrighteous, Jesus says, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels…”

The way of the righteous man is great and good and beloved of God.  The way of the wicked, the tyranny of evil men?  God seems rather less than pleased with that part, and I love the idea of Samuel L. Jackson’s character Julius as the king, in Jesus’ story declaring to the unrighteous, “…depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”  There’s something kinda delicious about that.

I’m not entirely convinced, however, that the image Jesus had in mind with this story was of a hitman with a 9mm scaring the daylights out of the unrighteous before they met their end.  I don’t know that Jesus told this story so that we hearers would be perpetually afraid of some almighty hitman standing over us telling us we didn’t do a good enough job of loving each other.  

Fear of doing enough good for God was actually the kind of crazy religiosity Jesus was telling this story against.  Unlike angry hitman God or a god who wants a bunch of crazy religiosity that would make us pure enough, or good enough, or religious enough for God, Jesus is showing us a God who is not concerned with our purity, sinlessness, or religiosity.  Jesus is showing us a God who cares most deeply about how we treat each other.

Now there is some fear present in the story, and it is meant to be present.  Maybe less Samuel L. Jackson as Julius the hitman and more Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu, the Jedi Master, telling us we’ve been removed from the Jedi order.  Like the Jedi who were supposed to care for others, the point of this story is that those in Jesus’ kingdom are meant to care for others.  

When we don’t, when, as we heard in Ezekiel, we push against each other; scatter each other; take those weaker ones, get what we want from them, and cast them aside, then it seems only right that the king would say, “leave my presence.”  Jesus wants us to take seriously the idea of being removed from his presence as a natural consequence of not caring one whit about each other.  

Jesus told this story in the way he did, with that element of fear in it, so that we would recognize our propensity at times not to care that much for others, and that we would also recognize the great value and importance of those around us.  Further, in telling the story the way he did, Jesus is hoping that we would hear his words and then strive to be those “who,” as Julius said, “in the name of charity and good will, shepherd the weak through the valley of darkness.”  

See, that’s the kind of king Jesus is.  As our king, Jesus wants us to see the importance of people all around us and seek to walk to the path of the righteous one, shepherding one another, caring for each other, and lifting each other up.  That’s life in God’s kingdom.  Not with God as an angry hitman, and not with God as a king who, quite apart from all of us, tells us we better be pure enough, or good enough, or religious enough for his liking.  In Jesus’ kingdom, when we don’t treat each other as we want to be treated, that’s when we are blaspheming God.

Notice that, as king, Jesus is not far away from us on some high and lofty throne but is instead always present in his kingdom among his people.  “Lord, when did we see you naked and clothe you or hungry and feed you?”  “Whenever you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.”  Jesus is always with us, walking among us.  The king of all creation is with us at all times and in all places, even during the crazy of 2020 with continued COVID-tide.

Where is Jesus, our king, during all this pandemic crisis?  Jesus is working shift after shift at the hospital, risking infection, caring for patients.  Jesus is lying in hospital beds, sometimes recovering, sometimes dying.  Jesus is working insane hours trying to teach children both online and at school.  Jesus is those children, crying amidst all the chaos and loss of play and interaction, children in desperate need of hugs and soothing baths, and words of comfort from loving adults.  

Jesus is the grocery store delivery driver working for little and risking his own health so that others can stay home and be safe.  Jesus is all those who can stay home and are staying home, going stir crazy, so that they’ll contribute as much as they can to stop the viral spread.  Jesus is the people working for a vaccine, and Jesus is the people who have lost all hope, knowing the vaccine will come far too late for them keep their livelihoods or gain back anything of the everything they’ve lost.  

Jesus is the former tenant who lost her job due to the economic downturn, couldn’t pay her rent, and then lost all of her possessions as she was evicted from the apartment with her belongings left on the curb.  

Jesus is all of the weary and downtrodden, the hungry and hopeless, the sick and suffering.  Jesus told his story so that we would see Jesus in all of these people.  Jesus told his story so that we would see the least around us and and think to ourselves, “My king,” and then treat them as such.

The Oil of Courage, Faith, Hope, and Love

 The Rev. Brad Sullivan

Emmanuel Episcopal Church

November 8, 2020

Proper 27, A

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Matthew 25:1-13

The Oil of Courage, Faith, Hope, and Love

Keep oil in your lamps; be awake and ready for God’s kingdom coming among us at any time, in any situation.  There’s the basic lesson Jesus was teaching in his parable of the bridesmaids waiting upon the bridegroom, some of whom had extra oil for their lamps and some of whom did not, so that those who didn’t weren’t actually able to make it to the wedding feast.  

I have at times seen this as a fearful parable.  What if my oil runs out?  Oh no!  That fear certainly plays well in the world today where we seem to have messages of, never don’t be afraid, and always be on the look out for some new thing to fear.  Well, fear not.  Jesus is not adding one more thing to our list of things to fear.   Rather, Jesus is giving a loving reminder for us to remain prepared.  Keep your lamps full of oil, or as a modern Houstony example, keep your car gassed up during hurricane season.  Keep a mask at hand and on your face when you are outside of your home during this time of COVID-19.  Remain ready to accept, receive, and walk in God’s kingdom at whatever moment it may show itself or show itself again in your life.  Keep close at hand oil for your lamps, the oil of courage, faith, hope, and love.  

See, far from fear, attitudes of never don’t be afraid are the exact opposite of Jesus’ message in his parable.  If we’re always living in fear, then we are likely also always living in anger, and if we’re always living in fear and anger, then we’re not living in courage, faith, hope, and love.  Our oil lamps will have run dry.

Now, we get afraid and angry in our lives, of course we do.  We often have good reasons to be afraid and angry, but living in courage, faith, hope, and love we choose not to be overcome by that fear or anger.  We choose not to be overcome by fear or anger, because when we are overcome by fear and anger, we let the oil in our lamps run out, and we miss so many beautiful times when the bridegroom walks among us.  When we are overcome by fear and anger, the oil in our lamps runs out, and we miss when God’s kingdom happens in our lives.

Some folks have been overcome with fear and anger because Joe Biden was elected president last week, and prior to that, some folks were overcome with fear and anger when Donald Trump was elected president four years ago.  In both cases, with both our president-elect and our current president, some of our fear and anger is a natural reaction to things not going the way we want them to go.  For some, however, our fear and anger get us so worked up that our oil runs dry and we become afraid that it’s all coming to an end.  By the way, this last part about the president is quoted almost exactly from the sermon I preached four years ago:  copied, pasted, and edited.  

When we have so much fear and anger, that we lose our courage, faith, hope, and love and are instead overcome by our fear and anger, then we have let the oil in our lamps run out.  While the president and vice president do give many of us courage and hope, the source of our courage, faith, hope, and love need not be the person sitting in The White House, because the source of our courage, faith, hope, and love is a loving God in whom we have our hope, and who gives us courage and faith.  When we lose sight of God as that source that source be eclipsed by the person in The White House (or any other person) we let our oil run low and our lamps go out.  

We need our lamps lit because there is darkness in the world, and there are dark times in our lives.  Being overcome by anger and fear only adds to that darkness, and we cannot see when the bridegroom come into that darkness.  So, we keep our lamps lit to see during the times of darkness, and we keep our lamps lit by keeping them filled with the oil of courage, hope, faith, and love. 

One way some of us have been keeping our lamps lit recently is through praying daily and meeting weekly together (over Zoom) to strive for justice.  This began a couple months ago with a conference on racial justice put on by the Episcopal Health Foundation.  Several of us from Emmanuel attended the conference from our homes, sitting on Zoom calls in front of our computers, and we decided to continue meeting to pray, and discuss, and learn together how we could strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being.  Part of that work is, when we see injustice, not to be overcome by fear and anger, but to keep our lamps lit with courage, faith, hope, and love.  

One of the folks in this group shared an article with me about two pastors who strive together for justice with their lamps lit.  The Reverend William Barber and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove were unlikely friends when they met:  Jonathan, a young white man from a deeply conservative church in the heart of former Klan country and William, a black preacher who strives and works for social and racial justice.  

Jonathan was 17 at the time and associated his faith with right-wing politics, and so he went to Washington to page in Senator Strom Thurmand’s office.  “When [he] came back,” he said “[he] was very disillusioned.  [He’d] been told about how people [in Washington] were representing [their] values and standing up for Christian faith, [but that was not what he found] life in a senator’s office…to really be about. It was mostly,” he said, “about lobbyists coming in and saying what their interests were, and trying to keep wealthy people happy.”

He was rather disillusioned after that, but instead of being overcome by fear and anger, he kept his lamp lit, and shortly thereafter, he heard Reverend Barber preach at an event in North Carolina.  He said he “immediately recognized someone who shared [his] faith, but who lived it out very differently than [he] had ever seen.”  So, with all of the courage and chutzpa of an enthusiastic 17 year old, he asked Reverend Barber to speak at his upcoming graduation.   

Now, Reverend Barber had no intention of speaking at this kid’s graduation in the middle of Klan country, but he said, “Ok, if I get an invitation, I’d be glad to come.”  So he got an invitation.  At that point, put up or shut up time, he could have been overcome by fear and anger, and he was afraid, but he had given his word, so he agreed to go.  His lamp was still burning with courage, faith, hope, and love.  

He spoke at their graduation, was invited over for dinner afterwards by Jonathan’s mother, and they shared some transformative time together.  Years later, they reconnected, and they began working together for social and racial justice and healing bringing people of all races and classes together.  They’ve worked to bring greater equality and justice to the people of North Carolina, and their work continues to this day.  

What if when they had met, they had been overcome with fear or anger, and their lamps had not been lit?  They would not have seen the bridegroom.  They would not have recognized the kingdom of God coming alive in those moments, and they would have missed the opportunity to become brothers and to strive together for justice and healing.  

Thankfully, their lamps were lit, and they had a good supply of the oil of courage, faith, hope, and love.  Be not afraid, that oil told them, and they found even more courage, faith, hope, and love in each other.  

See, we can and do find oil for our lamps in each other.  Our friends and family can provide that oil.  Public figures, authors, musicians, teachers, folks who are experts in their fields of study or work can all provide us with the oil of courage, faith, hope, and love.  Additionally, those who are downtrodden and oppressed and are not overcome by fear and anger can provide us with oil.  Those who strive for justice and peace can provide us with oil for our lamps.  Even presidents and vice presidents of the United States can provide us with oil for our lamps.  

None of these people, though, need to be the source of our courage, strength, hope, and love because we believe in a higher power than any of them.  We believe in God who is the source of all courage, faith, hope, and love.  We keep the oil for our lamps full by continually reaching out to God in prayer.  We keep the oil for our lamps full through service to one another and through fellowship and joy with one another.  We keep the oil for our lamps full by seeking justice and mercy in the lives of the world around us.  

With this oil in our lamps, we can continue walking in courage even when disillusioned.  We can keep hope alive, through faith in God and the resurrection of Jesus, and we can continue to give and to live love for all people.  

That is the oil which we keep in our lamps so that come what may, in dark days and in times of joy and plenty, we are still walking in the light, ready for the many times and ways that Jesus and God’s kingdom come among us to lead us with courage into even greater hope, and faith, and love.  So fear not, and do not be overcome by fear and anger.  Through God and through countless others, through prayer, fellowship, justice, and mercy, keep your lamps full of oil and walk in the light of God’s courage, faith, hope, and love.