Brad Sullivan
Trinity Sunday, Year A
Sunday, May 18th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Canticle 13
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20
In the story of creation which we heard this morning, we obviously heard an account of how God created the world and everything that is, but we also we heard a good deal about who God is. We heard about God speaking the world into existence. God speaks, his Word acts, and his Spirit moves over creation. We see, then, even in the first chapter of Genesis, an understanding of God as Trinity, three persons and yet one God. Now, the first chapter in Genesis was in no way trying to describe God as Trinity, that understanding of God did not yet exist, but through God speaking, we can still see the idea of God being three and yet one.
If we consider human speech, by way of analogy, there are three parts: the speaker, the word spoken, and the breath which carries the word. In speaking creation into existence, we can also see God as Speaker, Word spoken, and Breath or Spirit which carries the word. I wish I could say describing the Trinity in this way was my idea, but I actually read about it from Gregory of Nyssa, an early Father of the church and bishop in the late 300s, and I’m going to spend a few minutes describing God as Trinity using Gregory’s analogy to human speech.
So, first we have God as the speaker. Like humans, God can speak. God’s speech, however, is better than ours, elevated above ours. For other examples, as humans, we have power, and life, and wisdom. God too has power, and life, and wisdom, but perfect power, perfect life, perfect wisdom. God’s life doesn’t end; his wisdom and power are not limited and can’t be corrupted.
God’s speech then, is also unending and incorruptible. We speak, and our words are heard, but then they are no more; they cease to exist. God’s speech, however, is eternal and substantial. God’s Word has life in and of itself, or would God’s Word be lifeless? Would God create the world with a lifeless word? No. God’s Word is living and active with wisdom, power, and a will to act. “This Word, however, is different from Him whose it is.” (Nyssa, An Address on Religious Instruction, 1:6)
If there is a word spoken, there must also be a speaker. So, while seeing a difference between the speaker and the word, Gregory does not draw a distinction between the two. Our words come from our minds and as such our words are not totally different from us nor are they totally identical to us. We think the words, they come from us, and so our words are a part of us, and yet our words are distinct from us as we speak them. For God too, then, God’s Word is not something other than or alien to God, and yet we see a distinction between God as word and God as speaker. The Word both is the speaker and is different from the speaker.
Looking now at the Holy Spirit, we see from our own speech that breath or a spirit accompanies our speech. We draw breath into ourselves before we speak, and that breath accompanies our speech. God’s word, too, is accompanied by God’s spirit, or would we say God’s speech lacks a spirit, when our speech has one. Is our speech better than God’s? Of course it isn’t, so God has a spirit which accompanies his speech. This is not to say, however that God draws in breath in order to speak. Unlike with human speech, God’s spirit is not something external to God. God doesn’t use something other than himself in order to speak. Rather, God’s spirit “is not able to be separated from God in whom it exists, or from God’s Word which it accompanies.” (Nyssa, An Address on Religious Instruction, 2:3)
So, God’s Spirit, while distinct from the speaker, is not separate from God. Like the Word, God’s spirit is not totally different nor totally identical to God as speaker. Like God’s Word, God’s Spirit is living and active with wisdom, power, and a will to act.
Further, God’s Spirit works in unity and harmony with God’s Word and with God as speaker. The three are not in competition nor do they divide up tasks among each other. They always work as one. God is one, the three persons of the Trinity always in perfect unity. Whatever the Speaker did, the Word and Spirit did also. God didn’t say “Let there be light”, and there was water. The Spirit didn’t go off and make water while the Speaker and the Word were making light. They worked together. Speaker, Word, and Spirit are one, in perfect unity.
So, from the creation story, we see several things about who God is. God is a communion of persons working together in perfect unity. The persons of the trinity listen to and are at peace with one another so much so that they are one. Further, from the story of creation, we see that God is creative, bringing order out of chaos. What did we hear in first verse of Genesis? “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep…” (Genesis 1:1) The earth was a formless void, chaos, and out of the chaos, God made the earth an ordered planet full of light and life. God created the earth and created order out of chaos.
So we see God is a communion of persons who work together in perfect unity, listening to one another and at peace with one another. We see God is creative, making order out of chaos. We also see that God is fruitful. God’s efforts and work are not in vain. When God speaks, his words happen. As we hear from Isaiah:
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth,making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty,but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)
God does not fail, his Word does not return to him empty, but it accomplishes his purpose. God has a plan and an order for his creation, and God’s plan will succeed. God’s purpose will bear fruit. So again, we see God is a communion of persons who work together in perfect unity, listening to one another and at peace with one another. We see that God is creative, making order out of chaos, and we see that God is fruitful, accomplishing his purpose. We further see that we were made in the image of God.
God said, “‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness…’…So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:26a, 27) We were all made in God’s image to be people in communion with one another. We were made to live together in unity, listening to and at peace with one another. We were not made to be alone, but to find our true humanity in our relationships with one another, God living in our relationships, giving us life as we live into his image as a communion of persons. We were also made to be creative and fruitful as God is. We were made with a purpose.
We are not here merely to exist, but to live lives of relationship and communion, bearing fruit in our lives according to God’s purpose for us. We often have to search to find our purpose, but we were all made with a purpose. We are not here accidentally, but are made according to God’s Word which accomplishes God’s purpose. God meant for each one of us to be made, to live in unity and harmony with one another, to be fruitful and creative according to God’s purpose for us.
Thinking then of the image of God in which we were made, listen again to Paul’s final appeal to the Corinthians. “Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” (2 Corinthians 13:11) What is Paul saying? Live in the image of God in which you were created, and Paul reminds us that God will be with us always. The God who made each of us in his image, the God who made each of us out of love with always be with us.
Finally, then, look at Jesus’ appeal to his disciples. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
Go, Jesus says. Let people know about God in whose image they were made. Whether you call that God Speaker, Word, and Breath, or Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, let people know about a God who is a communion of persons, a God who is loving, creative, fruitful, and purposeful. Let people know about a God who made each of us to be in communion and harmony with one another, a God who made us to be creative and fruitful, and purposeful. Let people know about a God who has a plan and a purpose for all of creation. Let people know about a God who will succeed in that plan, Jesus says, and let people know about a God who will be with us always. Amen.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Share the Light: What is the hope that is in you?
Brad Sullivan
Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A
Sunday, 27th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 17:22-31
Psalm 66:7-18
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21
“To an unknown god,” was the inscription on an altar which Paul found in Athens, and that inscription goes a long way to describing the human condition. As human beings, we seem to have a need to connect with God. Whether God is believed to be known or unknown, near or far, loving or angry, people seem to have an innate need to search for and connect to God. Religion, having some kind of religion is shared in almost every culture and society, worldwide. There are atheists out there, folks who don’t believe in a god for one reason or another, but by and large, humanity seems hardwired to quest after knowledge of God. Paul even said as much in his address to the Athenians:
From one ancestor [God] made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him – though indeed he is not far from each one of us.
Paul understood that God gave us all a desire for him. Paul understood that God gave us all a purpose, that we would search for him and perhaps grope for him and find him. Paul further understood something of who God is. Paul understood that God, whom the Athenians worshipped as unknown, is not an unknown, faraway deity, but God is near to each of us. We are in fact God’s offspring. We are known and loved by God who desires for us to know and love him.
This is one of the great joys of Christianity. God is not unknown. We do not follow blindly an unknown god, but we follow the light of Christ to God who has made himself known to us through Christ. What many proclaim as unknown, we can proclaim as known.
Peter invites us to proclaim God as known in his letter when he writes, “always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15) We have been charged with proclaiming as known the God and Father of Jesus Christ who knows and loves each of us.
I would add a word of caution, however, as to the manner in which we make such proclamations. By proclaiming knowledge of God, we can rather easily sound presumptuous or even become presumptuous. “I have knowledge of God which I am now going to impart to you, little one.” I’ve experienced this kind of well-intentioned yet off-putting sharing of the light several times.
Once in college, several guys from one of the campus ministries at U.T. saw me walking to my dorm and asked if they could talk to me about the Bible sometime. I said, “sure,” figuring we’d have some Bible study, and I looked forward to talking with some other Christians about our faith. When they arrived at my dorm a few days later, however, we spoke together only briefly before they began telling me that they would teach me the truth about the faith. My 18 years as a Christian meant nothing. We had nothing to share. They were going to teach me the knowledge of God that I had been somehow missing. I didn’t continue meeting with them.
My senior year in college I went on a mission trip to help build a school and a home for the teacher of the school. Midway through the trip was our day for evangelism. I was nervous, but kind of excited as well, until we began. We went door to door in a small impoverished neighborhood to talk to people about Jesus, but we weren’t actually evangelizing. We weren’t sharing any good news.
I became fed up at one house when we met a woman was searching for God in many ways including voodoo. She had heard of Jesus and figured if he could help her out, then great, but she didn’t believe in him or in the Gospel (don’t know if she’d ever heard it). So, one of our group asked her, if she were to die today, would she have any reason for God to let her into his heaven. She didn’t know, we prayed for her to accept Jesus and we left.
At no point in that visit, did we actually share the Gospel with this woman. At no point did help make known to her the unknown god for whom she was groping. Threats of hell and telling people they are wrong for their beliefs and we Christians are right don’t generally share the light of the knowledge of God through Jesus Christ. I remember talking to a Hindu classmate of mine in high school about religion and basically telling her she was wrong for worshipping multiple gods and that there was only one true God. Boy did I mess up. I think she wanted to have an actual conversation about our two faiths, and all I probably did was let her know, Brad is a jerk and so might other Christians be.
Peter tells us, on the other hand, to share the light, to make an accounting for the hope that is in us, but to do so “with gentleness and reverence.” An example of sharing the light with gentleness and reverence comes from Vincent Donovan, a Roman Catholic priest who, back in the 60s and 70s, was a missionary to the Masai tribes in East Africa. The Masai believed in tribal gods, and Fr. Donovan was telling them about the the God of the Gospel, the “High God,” who loves all the tribes. At one point he was asked, “Has your tribe found the High God? Have you known him?”
He “was about to give a glib answer” when he thought of all the fighting among Christians, the wars we fought and still fight in God’s name. He said,
No, we have not found the High God. My tribe has not known him. For us too, he is the unknown God. But we are searching for him. I have come a long, long distance to invite you to search for him with us. Let us search for him together. Maybe, together, we will find him. (Christianity Rediscovered, p. 46)
The tribe was converted to Christianity.
Fr. Donovan’s answer may seem problematic because he said God is unknown. Paul said God is known. Well, Fr. Donovan was not saying we have no knowledge of God. Rather, he was admitting to what Paul himself says about our knowledge of God. “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12) Fr. Donovan was not claiming absolute knowledge of God which he would impart to the poor little Masai. Rather, he was journeying with them in their search for God as he told them about the Gospel. He shared the light with them rather than forcing open their eyes and blinding them with the light. He shared with them the good news of God who has made himself known to us through Jesus Christ so that in groping for God, we may find him. He shared with them the good news of God who loves all people and who is not far from each one of us. He shared the light.
Sharing the light is what we’ve been asked to do as well. We’ve been asked individually to share the light. Pastor Janie has also been using that term, “share the light” in reference to getting the word out about Emmanuel to people in the area around us. We’ve been hoping to get a “Share the Light” team together to work on publications which can be given to people, to homes, and to the many apartments around us. For lack of a better term, we’ve been trying to get some marketing done for Emmanuel, but so far, we don’t have people with marketing expertise to help in this area, or I should say, no one has stepped forward who has such expertise. So, if any of you have this ability and are willing to devote some of your talent to Emmanuel, please let us know. Talk to Pastor Janie, a vestry member, or me so we can begin letting the people around us know who we are, so we can share the light.
The other way we’ve been asked to share the light, again, is by being able “to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15) So, to this end, please take out the blue insert in your bulletins. What I’d like each of you to do this week, or even today, is to take this with you and write down what is the hope that is in you.
Maybe the answer seems obvious, maybe it doesn’t, but take some time to think about what your hope truly is. Why do you come to church? Why do you have faith? You might say church just feels right, or it just feels good. I’m sorry to say, so does a cup of coffee in the morning. While church may just feel right or just feel good for a lot of us, but we need to be able to articulate what our hope is a little bit better than that. So sit with the question for a while. What is the hope that is in you? Wrestle with the question, pray about it, and write down and be able to articulate what your hope truly is. How is the Gospel good news in your life?
Then when someone asks, or it comes up in conversation, you’ll be able to tell people why you believe and what you believe with gentleness and reverence, and maybe even joy. If you are able to articulate what is the hope that is in you, then you will be able to share the light with others. Further, once you truly find out what is the hope that is in you, you might find a desire to share it with others. So, take the time to examine your faith and your hope, because folks all around us are groping for God. Many of them are groping for an unknown God, and although we can now only see in a mirror, dimly, we can still share the light of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A
Sunday, 27th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 17:22-31
Psalm 66:7-18
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21
“To an unknown god,” was the inscription on an altar which Paul found in Athens, and that inscription goes a long way to describing the human condition. As human beings, we seem to have a need to connect with God. Whether God is believed to be known or unknown, near or far, loving or angry, people seem to have an innate need to search for and connect to God. Religion, having some kind of religion is shared in almost every culture and society, worldwide. There are atheists out there, folks who don’t believe in a god for one reason or another, but by and large, humanity seems hardwired to quest after knowledge of God. Paul even said as much in his address to the Athenians:
From one ancestor [God] made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him – though indeed he is not far from each one of us.
Paul understood that God gave us all a desire for him. Paul understood that God gave us all a purpose, that we would search for him and perhaps grope for him and find him. Paul further understood something of who God is. Paul understood that God, whom the Athenians worshipped as unknown, is not an unknown, faraway deity, but God is near to each of us. We are in fact God’s offspring. We are known and loved by God who desires for us to know and love him.
This is one of the great joys of Christianity. God is not unknown. We do not follow blindly an unknown god, but we follow the light of Christ to God who has made himself known to us through Christ. What many proclaim as unknown, we can proclaim as known.
Peter invites us to proclaim God as known in his letter when he writes, “always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15) We have been charged with proclaiming as known the God and Father of Jesus Christ who knows and loves each of us.
I would add a word of caution, however, as to the manner in which we make such proclamations. By proclaiming knowledge of God, we can rather easily sound presumptuous or even become presumptuous. “I have knowledge of God which I am now going to impart to you, little one.” I’ve experienced this kind of well-intentioned yet off-putting sharing of the light several times.
Once in college, several guys from one of the campus ministries at U.T. saw me walking to my dorm and asked if they could talk to me about the Bible sometime. I said, “sure,” figuring we’d have some Bible study, and I looked forward to talking with some other Christians about our faith. When they arrived at my dorm a few days later, however, we spoke together only briefly before they began telling me that they would teach me the truth about the faith. My 18 years as a Christian meant nothing. We had nothing to share. They were going to teach me the knowledge of God that I had been somehow missing. I didn’t continue meeting with them.
My senior year in college I went on a mission trip to help build a school and a home for the teacher of the school. Midway through the trip was our day for evangelism. I was nervous, but kind of excited as well, until we began. We went door to door in a small impoverished neighborhood to talk to people about Jesus, but we weren’t actually evangelizing. We weren’t sharing any good news.
I became fed up at one house when we met a woman was searching for God in many ways including voodoo. She had heard of Jesus and figured if he could help her out, then great, but she didn’t believe in him or in the Gospel (don’t know if she’d ever heard it). So, one of our group asked her, if she were to die today, would she have any reason for God to let her into his heaven. She didn’t know, we prayed for her to accept Jesus and we left.
At no point in that visit, did we actually share the Gospel with this woman. At no point did help make known to her the unknown god for whom she was groping. Threats of hell and telling people they are wrong for their beliefs and we Christians are right don’t generally share the light of the knowledge of God through Jesus Christ. I remember talking to a Hindu classmate of mine in high school about religion and basically telling her she was wrong for worshipping multiple gods and that there was only one true God. Boy did I mess up. I think she wanted to have an actual conversation about our two faiths, and all I probably did was let her know, Brad is a jerk and so might other Christians be.
Peter tells us, on the other hand, to share the light, to make an accounting for the hope that is in us, but to do so “with gentleness and reverence.” An example of sharing the light with gentleness and reverence comes from Vincent Donovan, a Roman Catholic priest who, back in the 60s and 70s, was a missionary to the Masai tribes in East Africa. The Masai believed in tribal gods, and Fr. Donovan was telling them about the the God of the Gospel, the “High God,” who loves all the tribes. At one point he was asked, “Has your tribe found the High God? Have you known him?”
He “was about to give a glib answer” when he thought of all the fighting among Christians, the wars we fought and still fight in God’s name. He said,
No, we have not found the High God. My tribe has not known him. For us too, he is the unknown God. But we are searching for him. I have come a long, long distance to invite you to search for him with us. Let us search for him together. Maybe, together, we will find him. (Christianity Rediscovered, p. 46)
The tribe was converted to Christianity.
Fr. Donovan’s answer may seem problematic because he said God is unknown. Paul said God is known. Well, Fr. Donovan was not saying we have no knowledge of God. Rather, he was admitting to what Paul himself says about our knowledge of God. “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12) Fr. Donovan was not claiming absolute knowledge of God which he would impart to the poor little Masai. Rather, he was journeying with them in their search for God as he told them about the Gospel. He shared the light with them rather than forcing open their eyes and blinding them with the light. He shared with them the good news of God who has made himself known to us through Jesus Christ so that in groping for God, we may find him. He shared with them the good news of God who loves all people and who is not far from each one of us. He shared the light.
Sharing the light is what we’ve been asked to do as well. We’ve been asked individually to share the light. Pastor Janie has also been using that term, “share the light” in reference to getting the word out about Emmanuel to people in the area around us. We’ve been hoping to get a “Share the Light” team together to work on publications which can be given to people, to homes, and to the many apartments around us. For lack of a better term, we’ve been trying to get some marketing done for Emmanuel, but so far, we don’t have people with marketing expertise to help in this area, or I should say, no one has stepped forward who has such expertise. So, if any of you have this ability and are willing to devote some of your talent to Emmanuel, please let us know. Talk to Pastor Janie, a vestry member, or me so we can begin letting the people around us know who we are, so we can share the light.
The other way we’ve been asked to share the light, again, is by being able “to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15) So, to this end, please take out the blue insert in your bulletins. What I’d like each of you to do this week, or even today, is to take this with you and write down what is the hope that is in you.
Maybe the answer seems obvious, maybe it doesn’t, but take some time to think about what your hope truly is. Why do you come to church? Why do you have faith? You might say church just feels right, or it just feels good. I’m sorry to say, so does a cup of coffee in the morning. While church may just feel right or just feel good for a lot of us, but we need to be able to articulate what our hope is a little bit better than that. So sit with the question for a while. What is the hope that is in you? Wrestle with the question, pray about it, and write down and be able to articulate what your hope truly is. How is the Gospel good news in your life?
Then when someone asks, or it comes up in conversation, you’ll be able to tell people why you believe and what you believe with gentleness and reverence, and maybe even joy. If you are able to articulate what is the hope that is in you, then you will be able to share the light with others. Further, once you truly find out what is the hope that is in you, you might find a desire to share it with others. So, take the time to examine your faith and your hope, because folks all around us are groping for God. Many of them are groping for an unknown God, and although we can now only see in a mirror, dimly, we can still share the light of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Can we be shepherds with Jesus as the gate?
Brad Sullivan
Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A
Sunday, April 13th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 23
1 Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10
There are two main points from our Gospel story which I’d like to discuss today. One is the idea of Jesus as the gate for the sheepfold, and the second is the idea of us as shepherds. Now, I might be preaching a little bit of heresy here, I’m not quite sure, but have a listen, and see what you think.
Jesus said he is the gate and only the one who enters the pasture by the gate is shepherd. I think he was referring to himself as the shepherd. Indeed, if we went on one verse farther than today’s reading, we would have read Jesus calling himself the good shepherd, but listening to the second half of the passage today, Jesus didn’t call himself the shepherd. Rather, Jesus called himself the gate.
Now, Jesus can be and is both the good shepherd and the gate, but looking only at Jesus as gate, he said “whoever enters by [him] will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture,” (John10:9) and earlier, he said the shepherd enters through the gate. Perhaps those who enter by the gate of Jesus are not only sheep, but also shepherds.
This is where the potential heresy comes in. I’m not sure about this idea of people who follow Jesus being not only sheep, but shepherds, but I want to work with the idea a little bit today. Can sheep act as shepherds? Well, in the reading we heard from Acts, the apostles were certainly acting as shepherds. Listen again to the passage:
The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)
By that last sentence, we hear of Jesus as the main shepherd, “adding to their number those who were being saved.” Jesus was in charge of the whole flock, but we also heard of the people devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship. The apostles were sheep of the Jesus, the good shepherd, and the apostles also served as shepherds, little shepherds, say, for the believers. The apostles led the believers in the abundant life that Jesus gave. “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they sold their possessions and gave to all as any had need. They spent time together in the temple and broke bread and ate with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.” That’s abundant life. Would that we had that life. That was the life Jesus had taught the apostles, and the life, therefore, the apostles continued to teach as shepherds leading fellow sheep through the gate of Jesus.
Looking then, at Jesus as the gate, and the apostles as little shepherds going in and out through the gate of Jesus, I have three points I’d like to make as this passage relates to our lives.
First, we can all be shepherds at various points in our lives. As we live and continue following Jesus as our shepherd, we will continually change from sheep to shepherd, and from shepherd to sheep. We can each act as a little shepherd to each other as God’s Spirit moves in us and as need arises among us, and every little shepherd will need to be led as a sheep by others. Even the greatest shepherd within Jesus’ flock is still a sheep of Jesus.
This brings up the second point. While we can all act as shepherds to one another, we are all Jesus’ sheep. None of us possess the flock. While we are to devote ourselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers, while we are to work for the needs of the poor and the oppressed, and while we are to devote ourselves to proclaiming by word and example the good news of God in Christ, we must remember that we will not add to our number those who are being saved. The Lord will add to our number those who are being saved.
Our responsibility is to be the best sheep we can be, hearing Jesus’ voice and following him. Our responsibility is to live as Jesus taught us to live, to live as the believers did in Acts 2. Our responsibility is to act as little shepherds to one another when the Spirit calls and the need arises. Our responsibility is not, however, for the ultimate salvation of the world. We do have responsibility to Jesus’ flock as shepherds and as sheep, but the flock is not ours to do with as we will.
The flock is not ours to control, nor will the flock live or die by any one of us. As written in 1 Corinthians, “[Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:7) None of us grows the flock. None of us controls the flock. If, as shepherds, we hold on too tightly and try to control the flock ourselves, then we begin losing our faith in Jesus, begin believing he is not actually in control of his own flock. Further, seeking to control the actions of the flock rather than guide the actions of the flock is not leading as Jesus led.
This brings me to the third point. If you are going to act as a shepherd, make sure you’ve entered through the gate of Jesus. By this, I don’t only mean Baptism. Rather, when I say make sure you’ve entered through the gate of Jesus, make sure each time you begin shepherding others that you are doing so in the same manner that Jesus did. When we lead others, we need to lead them to the same place Jesus led, teaching the same lessons, and we must also lead others as Jesus led.
Continuing the previous example, Jesus did not lead by compulsion. He did not force anyone to follow him or to listen to his teachings. Jesus allowed people to reject him. As shepherds, then, we too are to teach as Jesus taught, to offer correction to one another, to proclaim the good news of God’s kingdom, but we are not to do so through coercion or compulsion, or by vilifying those who don’t accept the story.
In other words, we are not to place ourselves above anyone else. Whenever we act as shepherds, we are to remember that we are also lowly sheep. Jesus, after all, “did not did not [even] count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.” (Philippians 2:6-7) We, then, when acting as shepherds must humble ourselves, not becoming holier than thou or lording our perceived righteousness over others. Rather, we are to offer correction to fellow sheep with meekness and humility out of love for our fellow sheep.
One might say, “but what about when I know I’m right, can I then place myself above others to force them to be right?” No, even when we know with absolute certainty that we are right, we are still not to force others to be right. We are Jesus’ sheep, and he doesn’t force us to be right. Additionally, being right does lead to a life of abundance. Entering life through the gate of Jesus leads to a life of abundance.
Jesus is the gate through which we pass from a normal existence to a life of abundance. Jesus is the gate through which we pass as sheep, following him to this life of abundance, and Jesus is the gate through which we pass when serving as little shepherds to fellow sheep. Jesus is the gate through which the apostles passed when shepherding the early church. They passed through the gate of Jesus and served as shepherds like Jesus. Think again of the life described in Acts 2, a life of abundance, of harmony, and of trust in God. We too can live that life when we pass through the gate of Jesus. Amen.
Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A
Sunday, April 13th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 23
1 Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10
There are two main points from our Gospel story which I’d like to discuss today. One is the idea of Jesus as the gate for the sheepfold, and the second is the idea of us as shepherds. Now, I might be preaching a little bit of heresy here, I’m not quite sure, but have a listen, and see what you think.
Jesus said he is the gate and only the one who enters the pasture by the gate is shepherd. I think he was referring to himself as the shepherd. Indeed, if we went on one verse farther than today’s reading, we would have read Jesus calling himself the good shepherd, but listening to the second half of the passage today, Jesus didn’t call himself the shepherd. Rather, Jesus called himself the gate.
Now, Jesus can be and is both the good shepherd and the gate, but looking only at Jesus as gate, he said “whoever enters by [him] will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture,” (John10:9) and earlier, he said the shepherd enters through the gate. Perhaps those who enter by the gate of Jesus are not only sheep, but also shepherds.
This is where the potential heresy comes in. I’m not sure about this idea of people who follow Jesus being not only sheep, but shepherds, but I want to work with the idea a little bit today. Can sheep act as shepherds? Well, in the reading we heard from Acts, the apostles were certainly acting as shepherds. Listen again to the passage:
The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)
By that last sentence, we hear of Jesus as the main shepherd, “adding to their number those who were being saved.” Jesus was in charge of the whole flock, but we also heard of the people devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship. The apostles were sheep of the Jesus, the good shepherd, and the apostles also served as shepherds, little shepherds, say, for the believers. The apostles led the believers in the abundant life that Jesus gave. “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they sold their possessions and gave to all as any had need. They spent time together in the temple and broke bread and ate with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.” That’s abundant life. Would that we had that life. That was the life Jesus had taught the apostles, and the life, therefore, the apostles continued to teach as shepherds leading fellow sheep through the gate of Jesus.
Looking then, at Jesus as the gate, and the apostles as little shepherds going in and out through the gate of Jesus, I have three points I’d like to make as this passage relates to our lives.
First, we can all be shepherds at various points in our lives. As we live and continue following Jesus as our shepherd, we will continually change from sheep to shepherd, and from shepherd to sheep. We can each act as a little shepherd to each other as God’s Spirit moves in us and as need arises among us, and every little shepherd will need to be led as a sheep by others. Even the greatest shepherd within Jesus’ flock is still a sheep of Jesus.
This brings up the second point. While we can all act as shepherds to one another, we are all Jesus’ sheep. None of us possess the flock. While we are to devote ourselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers, while we are to work for the needs of the poor and the oppressed, and while we are to devote ourselves to proclaiming by word and example the good news of God in Christ, we must remember that we will not add to our number those who are being saved. The Lord will add to our number those who are being saved.
Our responsibility is to be the best sheep we can be, hearing Jesus’ voice and following him. Our responsibility is to live as Jesus taught us to live, to live as the believers did in Acts 2. Our responsibility is to act as little shepherds to one another when the Spirit calls and the need arises. Our responsibility is not, however, for the ultimate salvation of the world. We do have responsibility to Jesus’ flock as shepherds and as sheep, but the flock is not ours to do with as we will.
The flock is not ours to control, nor will the flock live or die by any one of us. As written in 1 Corinthians, “[Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:7) None of us grows the flock. None of us controls the flock. If, as shepherds, we hold on too tightly and try to control the flock ourselves, then we begin losing our faith in Jesus, begin believing he is not actually in control of his own flock. Further, seeking to control the actions of the flock rather than guide the actions of the flock is not leading as Jesus led.
This brings me to the third point. If you are going to act as a shepherd, make sure you’ve entered through the gate of Jesus. By this, I don’t only mean Baptism. Rather, when I say make sure you’ve entered through the gate of Jesus, make sure each time you begin shepherding others that you are doing so in the same manner that Jesus did. When we lead others, we need to lead them to the same place Jesus led, teaching the same lessons, and we must also lead others as Jesus led.
Continuing the previous example, Jesus did not lead by compulsion. He did not force anyone to follow him or to listen to his teachings. Jesus allowed people to reject him. As shepherds, then, we too are to teach as Jesus taught, to offer correction to one another, to proclaim the good news of God’s kingdom, but we are not to do so through coercion or compulsion, or by vilifying those who don’t accept the story.
In other words, we are not to place ourselves above anyone else. Whenever we act as shepherds, we are to remember that we are also lowly sheep. Jesus, after all, “did not did not [even] count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.” (Philippians 2:6-7) We, then, when acting as shepherds must humble ourselves, not becoming holier than thou or lording our perceived righteousness over others. Rather, we are to offer correction to fellow sheep with meekness and humility out of love for our fellow sheep.
One might say, “but what about when I know I’m right, can I then place myself above others to force them to be right?” No, even when we know with absolute certainty that we are right, we are still not to force others to be right. We are Jesus’ sheep, and he doesn’t force us to be right. Additionally, being right does lead to a life of abundance. Entering life through the gate of Jesus leads to a life of abundance.
Jesus is the gate through which we pass from a normal existence to a life of abundance. Jesus is the gate through which we pass as sheep, following him to this life of abundance, and Jesus is the gate through which we pass when serving as little shepherds to fellow sheep. Jesus is the gate through which the apostles passed when shepherding the early church. They passed through the gate of Jesus and served as shepherds like Jesus. Think again of the life described in Acts 2, a life of abundance, of harmony, and of trust in God. We too can live that life when we pass through the gate of Jesus. Amen.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Love as Jesus Loved: Obey, Serve, Teach, Forgive
Brad Sullivan
Maundy Thursday, Year A
Thursday, March 20th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Exodus 12:1-4(5-10)11-14 (not 5-10 at our service)
Psalm 116:1, 10-17
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35 (only 13:1-15, 34-35 at our service)
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” (John 13:34) “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” (John 13:8b) These two statements of Jesus are tied together, the command to love is tied to the act of service.
Jesus’ command to love seems fairly straightforward. “Love one another.” Ideally, our response is equally straightforward. “Yes Lord, we will love one another.” Immediately after giving the command to love one another, however, Jesus adds an addendum to the command. “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Now, our response should still be, “yes Lord, we will love one another as you have loved us,” but Jesus’ command also leads us to the question, “how has Jesus loved us?”
Well, as seen in the act of washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus loved by serving, but before Jesus loved or served, he was first loved himself. Jesus gave love, having first received love from the Father. Jesus has been and is loved by God the Father, and therefore Jesus gave and gives that love to us. If we are to love as Jesus loved us, then we are to love one another having first been loved by Jesus. We must receive Christ’s love before we can give Christ’s love. This is how the command to love is tied to Jesus’ statement to Peter, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” (John 13:8b)
Jesus was serving his disciples in the act of washing their feet. He was giving them the gift of his service and love. If they had not let him wash their feet, then they would have been rejecting his gift. Notice two things Jesus said to Peter. “One who has bathed does not need to wash,” and “unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” (John 13:10a, 8b) Peter wanted Jesus to give him a full bath, and Jesus was telling him, “No Peter, you’re missing the point. I’m not bathing you to clean you off; I’m washing your feet in order to serve you.”
The purpose of the foot washing was not cleanliness. The purpose of the foot washing was for the disciples to allow Jesus to serve them. Unless they allowed Jesus to serve them, they had no part in him. Unless we allow Jesus to serve us, we have no part in him. If we reject Christ’s service to us, we reject Christ’s love of us. If we don’t accept Christ’s love, then we don’t have Christ’s love to give. We only give as much as we are willing to receive. Love one another as I have love you, Jesus says. Receive my love, that you may love one another.
We love as Christ loved us first and foremost by being willing to be served and loved by Jesus. As we hear from the first letter of John, “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) So, letting Jesus love us is the fist step in loving each other as he loves us. Doing so may not be that easy. Letting go of our ego, acknowledging the fact that we need to be loved by Jesus can sometimes be difficult. Accepting the fact that Jesus loves us, that we are worth Jesus’ love, can be a difficult thing. Love one another as I have loved you. Accept my love, Jesus tells us. The questions then remains, how are we to love and serve others? How did Jesus love and serve others?
He served in many ways, only a few of which I will mention now. First and foremost, Jesus loved and served others by obeying God’s commandments. As we hear in fist John, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments.” (1 John 5:2-3) Jesus kept his relationship with God the Father strong, seeking first to do God’s will, loving God first, and then loving others.
Jesus also served people by teaching them. He taught people to people to obey God as he obeyed God. He taught people about God, about God’s kingdom. He taught people how to live in God’s kingdom, and he let people know when they were living counter to God’s kingdom. He loved people enough to guide them into proper living, to their relationship with God and others. Jesus loved people enough not to sit idly by and let people continue moving in the wrong direction. When Jesus saw folks living counter to God’s kingdom and commandment, he lovingly pointed them toward God and showed them how to live according to God’s commandments.
Jesus served others also by forgiving them, taking away the burden that is held when people are unforgiven. He forgave individuals of their sins during his life, and he forgave all of us of our sins through his death.
Jesus served others by healing them and praying for them. He had time for people, and he gave of himself to people in need.
If we then, want to love and serve others as Jesus loved and served us, we too, will obey God’s commandments. We will seek first and foremost to love and obey God. Then we can serve others by helping to guide people in their lives, offering correction with love. We can serve by meeting needs when they are expressed as we have ability.
Loving and serving others as Christ loved and served others may seem a monumental task, but remember, we love because he first loved us. Allow Christ to wash you, to serve you. Accept Christ’s love and service so that you will have love and service to give. Finally, listen to Paul’s words in his letter to the Colossians in thinking of how we are to love one another and serve one another.
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:12-17) Amen.
Maundy Thursday, Year A
Thursday, March 20th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Exodus 12:1-4(5-10)11-14 (not 5-10 at our service)
Psalm 116:1, 10-17
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35 (only 13:1-15, 34-35 at our service)
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” (John 13:34) “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” (John 13:8b) These two statements of Jesus are tied together, the command to love is tied to the act of service.
Jesus’ command to love seems fairly straightforward. “Love one another.” Ideally, our response is equally straightforward. “Yes Lord, we will love one another.” Immediately after giving the command to love one another, however, Jesus adds an addendum to the command. “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Now, our response should still be, “yes Lord, we will love one another as you have loved us,” but Jesus’ command also leads us to the question, “how has Jesus loved us?”
Well, as seen in the act of washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus loved by serving, but before Jesus loved or served, he was first loved himself. Jesus gave love, having first received love from the Father. Jesus has been and is loved by God the Father, and therefore Jesus gave and gives that love to us. If we are to love as Jesus loved us, then we are to love one another having first been loved by Jesus. We must receive Christ’s love before we can give Christ’s love. This is how the command to love is tied to Jesus’ statement to Peter, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” (John 13:8b)
Jesus was serving his disciples in the act of washing their feet. He was giving them the gift of his service and love. If they had not let him wash their feet, then they would have been rejecting his gift. Notice two things Jesus said to Peter. “One who has bathed does not need to wash,” and “unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” (John 13:10a, 8b) Peter wanted Jesus to give him a full bath, and Jesus was telling him, “No Peter, you’re missing the point. I’m not bathing you to clean you off; I’m washing your feet in order to serve you.”
The purpose of the foot washing was not cleanliness. The purpose of the foot washing was for the disciples to allow Jesus to serve them. Unless they allowed Jesus to serve them, they had no part in him. Unless we allow Jesus to serve us, we have no part in him. If we reject Christ’s service to us, we reject Christ’s love of us. If we don’t accept Christ’s love, then we don’t have Christ’s love to give. We only give as much as we are willing to receive. Love one another as I have love you, Jesus says. Receive my love, that you may love one another.
We love as Christ loved us first and foremost by being willing to be served and loved by Jesus. As we hear from the first letter of John, “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) So, letting Jesus love us is the fist step in loving each other as he loves us. Doing so may not be that easy. Letting go of our ego, acknowledging the fact that we need to be loved by Jesus can sometimes be difficult. Accepting the fact that Jesus loves us, that we are worth Jesus’ love, can be a difficult thing. Love one another as I have loved you. Accept my love, Jesus tells us. The questions then remains, how are we to love and serve others? How did Jesus love and serve others?
He served in many ways, only a few of which I will mention now. First and foremost, Jesus loved and served others by obeying God’s commandments. As we hear in fist John, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments.” (1 John 5:2-3) Jesus kept his relationship with God the Father strong, seeking first to do God’s will, loving God first, and then loving others.
Jesus also served people by teaching them. He taught people to people to obey God as he obeyed God. He taught people about God, about God’s kingdom. He taught people how to live in God’s kingdom, and he let people know when they were living counter to God’s kingdom. He loved people enough to guide them into proper living, to their relationship with God and others. Jesus loved people enough not to sit idly by and let people continue moving in the wrong direction. When Jesus saw folks living counter to God’s kingdom and commandment, he lovingly pointed them toward God and showed them how to live according to God’s commandments.
Jesus served others also by forgiving them, taking away the burden that is held when people are unforgiven. He forgave individuals of their sins during his life, and he forgave all of us of our sins through his death.
Jesus served others by healing them and praying for them. He had time for people, and he gave of himself to people in need.
If we then, want to love and serve others as Jesus loved and served us, we too, will obey God’s commandments. We will seek first and foremost to love and obey God. Then we can serve others by helping to guide people in their lives, offering correction with love. We can serve by meeting needs when they are expressed as we have ability.
Loving and serving others as Christ loved and served others may seem a monumental task, but remember, we love because he first loved us. Allow Christ to wash you, to serve you. Accept Christ’s love and service so that you will have love and service to give. Finally, listen to Paul’s words in his letter to the Colossians in thinking of how we are to love one another and serve one another.
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:12-17) Amen.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Faith Made Alive Through Action
Brad Sullivan
Second Sunday in Lent, Year A
Sunday, February 17th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Genesis 12:1-4a
Psalm 121
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
John 3:1-17
Today in our Genesis reading, we have an example of faith in action. The last verse of the passage reads, “so Abram went, as the Lord had told him…” God had promised great things to Abram. God said he would bless him, that others would bless him, that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed, and Abram believed God. As Paul tells us, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Abram was made righteous through his faith in God, but remember what I said Abram’s faith is an example of faith in action.
He didn’t just hear God’s promise of blessing, say, “ok, God, that sounds great!”, and then do nothing. Abram acted on his faith. He listened to God’s message, and followed the guidance God gave him. Granted, God promised great things to Abram, blessings upon blessings, but Abram still had faith to believe God’s promise of blessing, and still followed the guidance given in order to attain that blessing. Faith, for Abram, was more than a moment, more than that one moment with God promising blessing.
Abram might have had an easy time believing God in that moment. When God was revealed to Abram and spoke to him, Abram must have been…well, probably a little scared, but enraptured, completely taken by the experience of God. The encounter was probably a big spiritual highlight in Abram’s life, a glorious moment of a clear encounter with God. As wonderful as that experience was, however, Abram did not stay in that moment. He moved on. He probably treasured the encounter with God in his heart, but he did not become stuck in the moment, trying to recreate it over and over. He accepted the gift and the blessings God gave him and then he did what God asked him to do. Abram’s encounter with God was made alive in his life by him living out the encounter with God. Abram’s obedient action kept his faith alive.
We can view our lives of faith in a similar fashion. We are saved through our faith in Christ, but our faith in Christ does not leave us staring forever at the cross. Our faith in Christ leads us to action, to bringing our faith with us, forming the rest of our lives. Looking at our Gospel reading today, Jesus said, “just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes I him may have eternal life.”
Jesus was referring to a time when the Israelites were in the desert after the exodus complaining that God wasn’t taking good enough care of them, so God sent serpents which would bite them, and many of the people of Israel died, but when the people repented, God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole so whenever someone was bitten, they would look at the bronze serpent and live. By telling this story, Jesus was saying look to me and live. Like the people of Israel obeying God, looking to the bronze serpent and living, by turning to Jesus and putting our faith in him, God gives us eternal life.
Our faith in Jesus, however, involves more than staring at the cross. Just as Abram’s faith was made alive by his not only believing but obeying God, so our faith in Jesus is made alive not only by believing in Jesus but by obeying him. Just as Abram did not get stuck in the moment of his encounter with God so do our lives in Christ involve more than being stuck moments of encounters with Christ. We hopefully have moments of encountering Christ in our lives, but when we do, we don’t just say, “yay, thank you so much Jesus,” and then stay there trying to recreate the event forever. When we have encounters with Christ, we thank him for the gift and blessing, and then we take those moments with us as go and do what Christ has asked us to do.
Now, we all may have many different personal encounters with Christ, but for examples of these encounters with Christ to which we can all relate, I’m going to address the sacraments of the Church, the tangible ways which we have been given to encounter Christ in our life together.
Going in reverse of how the sacraments are usually presented, think about Unction, anointing the sick with oil and praying for healing. Healing can come in that instant, but healing is also a process. Spiritual, emotional, and physical healing all take time. When we are healed, even if it is instantly, our lives don’t stop at the moment we are healed. We go on living as healed people. We are changed, and live in that new life.
Considering the sacrament of Reconciliation, the penitent doesn’t stay stuck in the moment of reconciliation, forever at the altar rail or in the priest’s office, but continues on seeking amendment of life having been reconciled to God. The sacrament of Reconciliation marks a new beginning in a person’s life.
Looking at marriage, the sacramental moment is the wedding, but the one event, the wedding, will not sustain a marriage for very long. Long after the wedding, the marriage continues. The sacrament continues in the life of the couple lived together. Ordination and confirmation, like marriage, are more than a moment, more than the moment of a bishop laying hands on the heads of ordinands and confirmands. Ordination and confirmation are sacraments lived out in lives of mission and service. Otherwise, bishops, priests, and deacons would only be bishops, priests, and deacons so long as the bishop’s hands are touching them. People would only be confirmed during the moment of being touched by the bishop’s hands. People often act that way with confirmation, they get their card stamped and then never think much about their lives in Christ again until Christmas and Easter, but in reality, confirmation is not a moment, but an invitation follow Christ in mission.
We encounter Christ in the Eucharist. We have a meal together, remembering the last meal he had with his disciples, but more than a remembrance, Christ is present with us in the Eucharist, and we take him into ourselves. Our souls and bodies are nourished by Jesus himself, and then we leave this place to take that sacrament with us, to nourish those whom we encounter.
Finally, Baptism is the sacrament which begins our lives in Christ. Our sins are forgiven by God through the waters of Baptism. We are made members of the Body of Christ through the waters of Baptism, and in our Baptism, we ask the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. Baptism too is more than a moment. The moments of each of our baptisms are great moments. We commemorate the day with certificates, maybe special clothes, parties, gifts, and the day or moment of our baptisms are great and great things to remember, but our baptisms are not moments in which to get stuck. Remember Jesus’ baptism after which he is immediately driven out into the wilderness. Even the moment of Jesus’ baptism, with the heavens being ripped open, the spirit descending like a dove, and the voice of God speaking to everyone there, even that moment was not one in which to remain, but one which Jesus took with him as he began his ministry.
Our baptisms too are not moments in which to stay. If we believe our baptisms simply to be one moment, then we fall into what Dallas Willard, in his book The Divine Conspiracy, calls “Bar-Code Faith”, something he believes to be grossly inadequate in describing our Christians lives. According to Mr. Willard, the idea of bar-code faith is as follows:
…there is something about the Christian that works like the bar code. Some ritual, some belief, or some association with a group affects God the way the bar code affects the scanner. Perhaps there has occurred a moment of mental assent to a creed, or an association entered into with a church. God ‘scans’ it, and forgiveness floods forth. An appropriate amount of righteousness is shifted from Christ’s account to our account in the bank of heaven, and all our debts are paid. We are, accordingly, ‘saved.’ Our guilt is erased. How could we not be Christians? For some Christian groups the ‘account’ has to be appropriately serviced to keep the debts paid up, because we really are not perfect. For others…every debt past, present, and future is paid for at the initial scan. But the essential thing in either case is the forgiveness of sins. And the payoff for having faith and being ‘scanned’ comes at death and after. Life now being lived has no necessary connection with being a Christian as long as the ‘bar code’ does its job. (P. 37)
According to bar-code theology, baptism really is just a moment. We’re scanned, we have faith, and we’ve got our ticket to heaven. Bar code faith, however, doesn’t match the faith that Abram had. Baptism, or any sacrament, as a moment doesn’t match the faith that Abram had. In our baptism, in that moment, we are forgiven, but like God’s call to Abram, our baptisms are also a beginning. Like Jesus’ baptism, we don’t stay in the water. Our baptisms remain active in our lives as we obey Christ, seek his guidance, and follow him. True belief, true faith involves action. True faith in God involves seeking guidance from God and following that guidance. Our faith is made alive in our lives not only by the big moments when we encounter Christ, but by taking those moments with us and living out our encounters with Christ. Amen.
Second Sunday in Lent, Year A
Sunday, February 17th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Genesis 12:1-4a
Psalm 121
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
John 3:1-17
Today in our Genesis reading, we have an example of faith in action. The last verse of the passage reads, “so Abram went, as the Lord had told him…” God had promised great things to Abram. God said he would bless him, that others would bless him, that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed, and Abram believed God. As Paul tells us, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Abram was made righteous through his faith in God, but remember what I said Abram’s faith is an example of faith in action.
He didn’t just hear God’s promise of blessing, say, “ok, God, that sounds great!”, and then do nothing. Abram acted on his faith. He listened to God’s message, and followed the guidance God gave him. Granted, God promised great things to Abram, blessings upon blessings, but Abram still had faith to believe God’s promise of blessing, and still followed the guidance given in order to attain that blessing. Faith, for Abram, was more than a moment, more than that one moment with God promising blessing.
Abram might have had an easy time believing God in that moment. When God was revealed to Abram and spoke to him, Abram must have been…well, probably a little scared, but enraptured, completely taken by the experience of God. The encounter was probably a big spiritual highlight in Abram’s life, a glorious moment of a clear encounter with God. As wonderful as that experience was, however, Abram did not stay in that moment. He moved on. He probably treasured the encounter with God in his heart, but he did not become stuck in the moment, trying to recreate it over and over. He accepted the gift and the blessings God gave him and then he did what God asked him to do. Abram’s encounter with God was made alive in his life by him living out the encounter with God. Abram’s obedient action kept his faith alive.
We can view our lives of faith in a similar fashion. We are saved through our faith in Christ, but our faith in Christ does not leave us staring forever at the cross. Our faith in Christ leads us to action, to bringing our faith with us, forming the rest of our lives. Looking at our Gospel reading today, Jesus said, “just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes I him may have eternal life.”
Jesus was referring to a time when the Israelites were in the desert after the exodus complaining that God wasn’t taking good enough care of them, so God sent serpents which would bite them, and many of the people of Israel died, but when the people repented, God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole so whenever someone was bitten, they would look at the bronze serpent and live. By telling this story, Jesus was saying look to me and live. Like the people of Israel obeying God, looking to the bronze serpent and living, by turning to Jesus and putting our faith in him, God gives us eternal life.
Our faith in Jesus, however, involves more than staring at the cross. Just as Abram’s faith was made alive by his not only believing but obeying God, so our faith in Jesus is made alive not only by believing in Jesus but by obeying him. Just as Abram did not get stuck in the moment of his encounter with God so do our lives in Christ involve more than being stuck moments of encounters with Christ. We hopefully have moments of encountering Christ in our lives, but when we do, we don’t just say, “yay, thank you so much Jesus,” and then stay there trying to recreate the event forever. When we have encounters with Christ, we thank him for the gift and blessing, and then we take those moments with us as go and do what Christ has asked us to do.
Now, we all may have many different personal encounters with Christ, but for examples of these encounters with Christ to which we can all relate, I’m going to address the sacraments of the Church, the tangible ways which we have been given to encounter Christ in our life together.
Going in reverse of how the sacraments are usually presented, think about Unction, anointing the sick with oil and praying for healing. Healing can come in that instant, but healing is also a process. Spiritual, emotional, and physical healing all take time. When we are healed, even if it is instantly, our lives don’t stop at the moment we are healed. We go on living as healed people. We are changed, and live in that new life.
Considering the sacrament of Reconciliation, the penitent doesn’t stay stuck in the moment of reconciliation, forever at the altar rail or in the priest’s office, but continues on seeking amendment of life having been reconciled to God. The sacrament of Reconciliation marks a new beginning in a person’s life.
Looking at marriage, the sacramental moment is the wedding, but the one event, the wedding, will not sustain a marriage for very long. Long after the wedding, the marriage continues. The sacrament continues in the life of the couple lived together. Ordination and confirmation, like marriage, are more than a moment, more than the moment of a bishop laying hands on the heads of ordinands and confirmands. Ordination and confirmation are sacraments lived out in lives of mission and service. Otherwise, bishops, priests, and deacons would only be bishops, priests, and deacons so long as the bishop’s hands are touching them. People would only be confirmed during the moment of being touched by the bishop’s hands. People often act that way with confirmation, they get their card stamped and then never think much about their lives in Christ again until Christmas and Easter, but in reality, confirmation is not a moment, but an invitation follow Christ in mission.
We encounter Christ in the Eucharist. We have a meal together, remembering the last meal he had with his disciples, but more than a remembrance, Christ is present with us in the Eucharist, and we take him into ourselves. Our souls and bodies are nourished by Jesus himself, and then we leave this place to take that sacrament with us, to nourish those whom we encounter.
Finally, Baptism is the sacrament which begins our lives in Christ. Our sins are forgiven by God through the waters of Baptism. We are made members of the Body of Christ through the waters of Baptism, and in our Baptism, we ask the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. Baptism too is more than a moment. The moments of each of our baptisms are great moments. We commemorate the day with certificates, maybe special clothes, parties, gifts, and the day or moment of our baptisms are great and great things to remember, but our baptisms are not moments in which to get stuck. Remember Jesus’ baptism after which he is immediately driven out into the wilderness. Even the moment of Jesus’ baptism, with the heavens being ripped open, the spirit descending like a dove, and the voice of God speaking to everyone there, even that moment was not one in which to remain, but one which Jesus took with him as he began his ministry.
Our baptisms too are not moments in which to stay. If we believe our baptisms simply to be one moment, then we fall into what Dallas Willard, in his book The Divine Conspiracy, calls “Bar-Code Faith”, something he believes to be grossly inadequate in describing our Christians lives. According to Mr. Willard, the idea of bar-code faith is as follows:
…there is something about the Christian that works like the bar code. Some ritual, some belief, or some association with a group affects God the way the bar code affects the scanner. Perhaps there has occurred a moment of mental assent to a creed, or an association entered into with a church. God ‘scans’ it, and forgiveness floods forth. An appropriate amount of righteousness is shifted from Christ’s account to our account in the bank of heaven, and all our debts are paid. We are, accordingly, ‘saved.’ Our guilt is erased. How could we not be Christians? For some Christian groups the ‘account’ has to be appropriately serviced to keep the debts paid up, because we really are not perfect. For others…every debt past, present, and future is paid for at the initial scan. But the essential thing in either case is the forgiveness of sins. And the payoff for having faith and being ‘scanned’ comes at death and after. Life now being lived has no necessary connection with being a Christian as long as the ‘bar code’ does its job. (P. 37)
According to bar-code theology, baptism really is just a moment. We’re scanned, we have faith, and we’ve got our ticket to heaven. Bar code faith, however, doesn’t match the faith that Abram had. Baptism, or any sacrament, as a moment doesn’t match the faith that Abram had. In our baptism, in that moment, we are forgiven, but like God’s call to Abram, our baptisms are also a beginning. Like Jesus’ baptism, we don’t stay in the water. Our baptisms remain active in our lives as we obey Christ, seek his guidance, and follow him. True belief, true faith involves action. True faith in God involves seeking guidance from God and following that guidance. Our faith is made alive in our lives not only by the big moments when we encounter Christ, but by taking those moments with us and living out our encounters with Christ. Amen.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
We're in this together
Brad Sullivan
Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year A
Sunday, March 9th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalm 130
Romans 8:6-11
John 11:1-45 (only reading 11:17-45)
In our Gospel story today and in the passage from Ezekiel, we have two different stories of people being raised from the dead. In Ezekiel, we heard about the entire nation of Israel being raised from the dead, and then in John, we heard about the individual, Lazarus, being raised from the dead. The story from Ezekiel was a corporate story of the dead being raised, and the story from John was a seemingly individual story of the dead being raised. These two stories together, then, speak to the nature of our lives both as the corporate body of God’s people and as individual followers of God.
In the first story, Ezekiel was taken in God’s spirit and given a vision of the whole nation of Israel reduced to nothing more than brittle, dry bones. There was no life left in Israel. God’s chosen people by whom the nations of the world would be blessed were gone. God’s blessing then, it seems, was gone from the earth. His people had utterly perished, but then, God gave them new life. God restored them, gave them new flesh and a new spirit. God would not let his people utterly perish. God would not abandon the people of Israel to the grave, to this valley of dry bones.
Now, as we know, through their history with God, the people of Israel continually abandoned God though worshipping idols, through disobeying his commands, but in thinking of the nation of Israel abandoning God, realize the nation abandoned God through the actions of individuals. The people abandoned individually as a part of the corporate body of Israel. One person abandoning God affects the whole body of people. Individual action is tied to corporate action. Individual obedience is tied to corporate obedience as is individual disobedience tied to corporate disobedience.
Now, if one person out of one million people disobeys, can the whole body of people be said to disobey…maybe not, but also, maybe so? How does a nation abandon God? On the one hand, if only one person abandons God, then the rest of the people are still faithful and can help bring that one back to God. With just one person abandoning God, certainly the nation, the people as a whole would still be considered faithful. The faith and obedience of the people would help support the one person who has turned away.
On the other hand, however, if everyone has abandoned God except for one person can the nation still be said to be faithful to God? Presumably not, if we look at the history of the people of Israel. The prophets, for example, were part of the Israel, were faithful to God, and yet were often preaching to a people who were not faithful God. So, do 50% of the people or more have to disobey before the whole nation can be said to disobey? Well, God was never that specific, but the point is our corporate faithfulness to God is tied to each of our individual faithfulness to God.
Each one of us affects the Body of Christ for good or for ill, helping the church to remain faithful to God or helping the church to abandon God. Our thoughts, our actions, our faithfulness, and our unfaithfulness have ramifications beyond ourselves. As with the people of Israel, God’s covenant is with us as a people, not just with us as individuals.
On the flip side of that coin, we see God’s action towards individuals affects more than each individual person. Whereas in Ezekiel we heard about God raising the whole nation of Israel from the dead, in John, we heard of Jesus raising just one man, Lazarus, from the dead. While Jesus’ immediate action was toward an individual, the effects of Jesus’ action reached many, for as John tells us, many of the Jews believed in Jesus because they had seen him raise Lazarus from the dead. (John 11:45 – paraphrase) Lazarus was physically raised from the dead, while many others, it seems, were spiritually raised. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life,” and then he proved it. He gave faith to those who witnessed the raising of Lazarus, and by doing so, he gave them life.
After all, Jesus came not to help one man or one family, but for the salvation of all. Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead was far more than one man being healed. Notice, however, what happened in verse 35 of the passage, “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35) God’s covenant is with a people, not just with individuals. Jesus came for all, not just for individuals, and yet when this one person died and his family was crying, Jesus wept. Jesus came for the salvation of all and yet still cares for us individually. God made a covenant with us all and yet still cares for us individually. God is heartbroken with his people as a whole turn away from him, and he is also heartbroken when individuals turn away from him.
God grieves when individuals turn away from him because, as we have already discussed, individuals can turn the whole body away from God, but God also grieves for the sake of the individual. We are each important to God as the specific persons God made us to be and as members of the Body of Christ.
Looking then at our life together, I am briefly going to address our prayer life which is, of course, the topic of our adult class today. Just as God cares for us individually and corporately as his people, we also pray individually and corporately. I spoke earlier about individual faithfulness helping keep the Church faithful, and individual unfaithfulness leading the church away from God. Prayer works the same way. When we pray as individuals, we pray not only for ourselves, but for the whole body. The act of individual prayer is a corporate act.
If as individuals we rarely pray, then obviously our individual relationships with God suffer, but the whole church suffers as well. If we, as individuals, find ourselves setting our minds more and more on the flesh and less and less on the spirit, then we become a church whose mind is set on the flesh and not on the spirit. When we neglect our individual prayer lives, the church suffers for it. Sorry to be so gloomy, but…it is Lent.
On the other hand, the fact that we’re not Christians as individuals is also a joyous thing. We have a responsibility to each other, but we also have each other to lean on and to depend on. There will be times when individuals find faith very difficult to have, when prayer doesn’t easily or at all, when God seems distant, if not completely gone. In those times, the individuals have the rest of the Body of Christ to lean on. The rest of the church can pray for those aren’t able to pray. The rest of the church can have faith when some find faith difficult. Then, those individuals who were finding faith difficult, having been carried through those times by the faith of the rest of the church, can then help carry other people through when they are having a difficult time with faith.
When some of us find faith and prayer difficult, we have the rest of the church to have faith and to pray for us. When some of us are weak, the rest of us can remain strong and so we can carry each other in times of weakness. In this way, no one of us has to be perfect in our faith because we have each other. Together, we remain faithful, faithful to a God who will never abandon us. We remain faithful to a God who loves his people as one body and will never abandon them, and we remain faithful to a God who also loves each individual person and will never abandon any of us. Amen.
Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year A
Sunday, March 9th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalm 130
Romans 8:6-11
John 11:1-45 (only reading 11:17-45)
In our Gospel story today and in the passage from Ezekiel, we have two different stories of people being raised from the dead. In Ezekiel, we heard about the entire nation of Israel being raised from the dead, and then in John, we heard about the individual, Lazarus, being raised from the dead. The story from Ezekiel was a corporate story of the dead being raised, and the story from John was a seemingly individual story of the dead being raised. These two stories together, then, speak to the nature of our lives both as the corporate body of God’s people and as individual followers of God.
In the first story, Ezekiel was taken in God’s spirit and given a vision of the whole nation of Israel reduced to nothing more than brittle, dry bones. There was no life left in Israel. God’s chosen people by whom the nations of the world would be blessed were gone. God’s blessing then, it seems, was gone from the earth. His people had utterly perished, but then, God gave them new life. God restored them, gave them new flesh and a new spirit. God would not let his people utterly perish. God would not abandon the people of Israel to the grave, to this valley of dry bones.
Now, as we know, through their history with God, the people of Israel continually abandoned God though worshipping idols, through disobeying his commands, but in thinking of the nation of Israel abandoning God, realize the nation abandoned God through the actions of individuals. The people abandoned individually as a part of the corporate body of Israel. One person abandoning God affects the whole body of people. Individual action is tied to corporate action. Individual obedience is tied to corporate obedience as is individual disobedience tied to corporate disobedience.
Now, if one person out of one million people disobeys, can the whole body of people be said to disobey…maybe not, but also, maybe so? How does a nation abandon God? On the one hand, if only one person abandons God, then the rest of the people are still faithful and can help bring that one back to God. With just one person abandoning God, certainly the nation, the people as a whole would still be considered faithful. The faith and obedience of the people would help support the one person who has turned away.
On the other hand, however, if everyone has abandoned God except for one person can the nation still be said to be faithful to God? Presumably not, if we look at the history of the people of Israel. The prophets, for example, were part of the Israel, were faithful to God, and yet were often preaching to a people who were not faithful God. So, do 50% of the people or more have to disobey before the whole nation can be said to disobey? Well, God was never that specific, but the point is our corporate faithfulness to God is tied to each of our individual faithfulness to God.
Each one of us affects the Body of Christ for good or for ill, helping the church to remain faithful to God or helping the church to abandon God. Our thoughts, our actions, our faithfulness, and our unfaithfulness have ramifications beyond ourselves. As with the people of Israel, God’s covenant is with us as a people, not just with us as individuals.
On the flip side of that coin, we see God’s action towards individuals affects more than each individual person. Whereas in Ezekiel we heard about God raising the whole nation of Israel from the dead, in John, we heard of Jesus raising just one man, Lazarus, from the dead. While Jesus’ immediate action was toward an individual, the effects of Jesus’ action reached many, for as John tells us, many of the Jews believed in Jesus because they had seen him raise Lazarus from the dead. (John 11:45 – paraphrase) Lazarus was physically raised from the dead, while many others, it seems, were spiritually raised. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life,” and then he proved it. He gave faith to those who witnessed the raising of Lazarus, and by doing so, he gave them life.
After all, Jesus came not to help one man or one family, but for the salvation of all. Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead was far more than one man being healed. Notice, however, what happened in verse 35 of the passage, “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35) God’s covenant is with a people, not just with individuals. Jesus came for all, not just for individuals, and yet when this one person died and his family was crying, Jesus wept. Jesus came for the salvation of all and yet still cares for us individually. God made a covenant with us all and yet still cares for us individually. God is heartbroken with his people as a whole turn away from him, and he is also heartbroken when individuals turn away from him.
God grieves when individuals turn away from him because, as we have already discussed, individuals can turn the whole body away from God, but God also grieves for the sake of the individual. We are each important to God as the specific persons God made us to be and as members of the Body of Christ.
Looking then at our life together, I am briefly going to address our prayer life which is, of course, the topic of our adult class today. Just as God cares for us individually and corporately as his people, we also pray individually and corporately. I spoke earlier about individual faithfulness helping keep the Church faithful, and individual unfaithfulness leading the church away from God. Prayer works the same way. When we pray as individuals, we pray not only for ourselves, but for the whole body. The act of individual prayer is a corporate act.
If as individuals we rarely pray, then obviously our individual relationships with God suffer, but the whole church suffers as well. If we, as individuals, find ourselves setting our minds more and more on the flesh and less and less on the spirit, then we become a church whose mind is set on the flesh and not on the spirit. When we neglect our individual prayer lives, the church suffers for it. Sorry to be so gloomy, but…it is Lent.
On the other hand, the fact that we’re not Christians as individuals is also a joyous thing. We have a responsibility to each other, but we also have each other to lean on and to depend on. There will be times when individuals find faith very difficult to have, when prayer doesn’t easily or at all, when God seems distant, if not completely gone. In those times, the individuals have the rest of the Body of Christ to lean on. The rest of the church can pray for those aren’t able to pray. The rest of the church can have faith when some find faith difficult. Then, those individuals who were finding faith difficult, having been carried through those times by the faith of the rest of the church, can then help carry other people through when they are having a difficult time with faith.
When some of us find faith and prayer difficult, we have the rest of the church to have faith and to pray for us. When some of us are weak, the rest of us can remain strong and so we can carry each other in times of weakness. In this way, no one of us has to be perfect in our faith because we have each other. Together, we remain faithful, faithful to a God who will never abandon us. We remain faithful to a God who loves his people as one body and will never abandon them, and we remain faithful to a God who also loves each individual person and will never abandon any of us. Amen.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Finding God through Practicing our Faith
Brad Sullivan
Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year A
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Exodus 3:1-15 (not read)
Psalm 23
Ephesians 5:5-14
John 9:1-41
In the Gospel story today, we heard of Jesus giving sight to a man who was born blind, and we heard of people’s unbelief that Jesus had healed him. “This man is not from God,” some Pharisees said, “for he does not observe the sabbath.” The Pharisees refused to believe that Jesus could be a man of God. They refused to believe that Jesus could heal, because he healed on the sabbath, thereby breaking one of the ten laws of Moses, one of the Ten Commandments, you’re not supposed to work on the sabbath.
Healing someone was considered work, and so by healing the blind man on the sabbath, Jesus had broken God’s commandment not to work on the sabbath. By healing the blind man on the sabbath, Jesus had rebelled against God, in the eyes of the Pharisees, and by a strict understanding of the Jewish religion, Jesus had broken God’s commandment. Healing could be considered work.
The blind man, after all, could have just as easily received his sight the day after the sabbath. Jesus could have obeyed God’s commandment and still given sight to the blind man, because as much as giving sight to the blind man was a good thing, there is no greater task, aim, or goal in our lives than to honor and obey God. One cannot be said to obey God if one disobeys God’s basic commandments. What was more important for Jesus to do, heal a man, or obey God? Clearly obedience to God should take priority, and yet there Jesus was, healing the man on the sabbath.
Jesus would not have disobeyed God even in order to heal, and I don’t think God said, “Ok Jesus, you’ve got a lot to do, so the ten commandments are optional for you.” Rather, today’s Gospel story shows that Jesus healing on the sabbath was not contrary to God’s Commandment not to work on the sabbath. So, healing doesn’t equal work. Lesson learned. End of sermon. Thank you much. There are a few slightly more enlightening lessons, however, which can be learned from Jesus’ healing of the blind man than simply healing isn’t work. I’m not even sure “healing isn’t work” is an accurate statement.
Remember what the commandment about the sabbath actually said?
“Remember the sabbath, day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work…for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.” (Exodus 20:8-10a, 11)
The commandment concerning the sabbath day was more than a proscription against work. The sabbath was a day to remember God, a day of rest dedicated to God. The sabbath was to be a holy day, a day set aside from the rest of the week, intentionally different, a day in which work was not done so people could rest and in resting, remember God. Isaiah speaks of this idea of rest and remembrance in the (hopefully) familiar words of our evening devotional, “O God, you will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are fixed on you; for in returning and rest we shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be our strength.” (BCP 138; Isaiah 26:3, 30:15)
Thinking about the sabbath in terms of quietness and trust of God, finding peace by fixing our minds on God, we can see that merely doing no work will not necessarily fulfill God’s commandment concerning the sabbath. One could do no technical work while also not fixing one’s mind on God. One could abstain from any labor while not returning to God for rest. Such a person would seem, by all outward appearances, to be observing the sabbath; the person is doing no work, but again, at the heart of the sabbath is rest, returning to God, and finding our true rest in him.
When the sabbath becomes simply another rule we must follow, then we have stripped the sabbath of its purpose. God didn’t just think, “here’s something bothersome I’ll make people do; I’ll forbid them to work one day a week.” God did not give the law for the law’s sake, but for our sake. God knows we need rest, and God knows we will find our true rest in him. The Pharisees seem to have forgotten that part of the law. Following the rules seems to have become the means and the end to the Pharisees. Work on the sabbath, and you commit sin. Sin, and you are not from God. The Pharisees kept the rules, but by holding the rules for the rules’ sake, they had missed the presence of God. By holding on to the rules too tightly, they seem to have put their faith and trust in the rules rather than in God.
By their rules, the Pharisees knew God and knew how God worked among them. They knew the correct ways to worship God and to live as God had commanded. They lived an ordered, disciplined life according to rules given by God, but unfortunately, they seem to have bound God (or bound their understanding of God) by the rules given by God.
Now, living a life of discipline according to a set of rules can be a good thing. All this Lent, we have been encouraging lives of discipline in order to know God more, continually returning to God to find rest and peace in him. We have not, however, attempted to bind God’s presence or activity in our lives by the order and discipline we have established. The purpose of rules, of order and discipline is not to bind God’s presence and activity in our lives. Rather, the purpose of rules, the purpose of order and discipline is to free us to be able to encounter and experience the presence of God in unexpected ways. We don’t pray four times a day so that God will have four opportunities to talk with us. We pray four times a day to open ourselves to God’s presence in our lives, to open our eyes and hearts to God’s presence in the world. We follow rules and order our lives so that when God does act or reveal himself, we might witness the revelation.
The Pharisees followed the rules, but then blinded themselves to the revelation and presence of God in Jesus and in the healing of the blind man. They were so convinced they were doing everything right, so convinced they could see, that they were blinded to their own blindness. The pride they felt towards their discipline and devotion blinded them to God and stripped the Pharisees’ devotion and rules of their purpose.
There is a multitude of ways in which we too can follow rules and yet be blinded to God’s presence, ways in which pride for living religiously can turn to sin and blindness. Religion itself, if it becomes an end in and of itself, can become a barrier to God. If the rules and structure of our faith life become things we have to do in order to be righteous or to be appropriately religious, then the rules and structure of our faith lose a lot of their meaning. If we begin to feel other forms of worship or ways of practicing Christianity are wrong simply because they are different from how we practice Christianity, then we run into the same problem the Pharisees had, religion for religion’s sake.
There are many practices and ways of life which we can hold on to so tightly that they become impediments in our walks with God. Our prayer life, our morality, even our worship can become rules which limit our ability to experience God’s presence. What are some rules or practices which might have become ends rather than means in your life? We’re going to address our worship during our 10:15 class today, looking at the symbols we use and the words we pray, seeking a deeper understanding of our worship. Whether you can come to this class or not, however, think about how we worship, what we do and why. Realize our way of worshipping is only one way of worshipping. With your spiritual practices, with your prayer life, even with your morality, with your ethical code for Christian living, take care not to substitute rules and practices for faith in God. Rather, allow the rules of your life and the practices of your life to open your eyes and your hearts to God’s presence.
Practice your faith and follow God’s commandments not in order to be righteous, but because doing so will help you find God in the unexpected places of your life. Practicing your faith and following God’s commandments will help you rest in God and find true peace in his presence. Amen.
Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year A
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Exodus 3:1-15 (not read)
Psalm 23
Ephesians 5:5-14
John 9:1-41
In the Gospel story today, we heard of Jesus giving sight to a man who was born blind, and we heard of people’s unbelief that Jesus had healed him. “This man is not from God,” some Pharisees said, “for he does not observe the sabbath.” The Pharisees refused to believe that Jesus could be a man of God. They refused to believe that Jesus could heal, because he healed on the sabbath, thereby breaking one of the ten laws of Moses, one of the Ten Commandments, you’re not supposed to work on the sabbath.
Healing someone was considered work, and so by healing the blind man on the sabbath, Jesus had broken God’s commandment not to work on the sabbath. By healing the blind man on the sabbath, Jesus had rebelled against God, in the eyes of the Pharisees, and by a strict understanding of the Jewish religion, Jesus had broken God’s commandment. Healing could be considered work.
The blind man, after all, could have just as easily received his sight the day after the sabbath. Jesus could have obeyed God’s commandment and still given sight to the blind man, because as much as giving sight to the blind man was a good thing, there is no greater task, aim, or goal in our lives than to honor and obey God. One cannot be said to obey God if one disobeys God’s basic commandments. What was more important for Jesus to do, heal a man, or obey God? Clearly obedience to God should take priority, and yet there Jesus was, healing the man on the sabbath.
Jesus would not have disobeyed God even in order to heal, and I don’t think God said, “Ok Jesus, you’ve got a lot to do, so the ten commandments are optional for you.” Rather, today’s Gospel story shows that Jesus healing on the sabbath was not contrary to God’s Commandment not to work on the sabbath. So, healing doesn’t equal work. Lesson learned. End of sermon. Thank you much. There are a few slightly more enlightening lessons, however, which can be learned from Jesus’ healing of the blind man than simply healing isn’t work. I’m not even sure “healing isn’t work” is an accurate statement.
Remember what the commandment about the sabbath actually said?
“Remember the sabbath, day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work…for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.” (Exodus 20:8-10a, 11)
The commandment concerning the sabbath day was more than a proscription against work. The sabbath was a day to remember God, a day of rest dedicated to God. The sabbath was to be a holy day, a day set aside from the rest of the week, intentionally different, a day in which work was not done so people could rest and in resting, remember God. Isaiah speaks of this idea of rest and remembrance in the (hopefully) familiar words of our evening devotional, “O God, you will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are fixed on you; for in returning and rest we shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be our strength.” (BCP 138; Isaiah 26:3, 30:15)
Thinking about the sabbath in terms of quietness and trust of God, finding peace by fixing our minds on God, we can see that merely doing no work will not necessarily fulfill God’s commandment concerning the sabbath. One could do no technical work while also not fixing one’s mind on God. One could abstain from any labor while not returning to God for rest. Such a person would seem, by all outward appearances, to be observing the sabbath; the person is doing no work, but again, at the heart of the sabbath is rest, returning to God, and finding our true rest in him.
When the sabbath becomes simply another rule we must follow, then we have stripped the sabbath of its purpose. God didn’t just think, “here’s something bothersome I’ll make people do; I’ll forbid them to work one day a week.” God did not give the law for the law’s sake, but for our sake. God knows we need rest, and God knows we will find our true rest in him. The Pharisees seem to have forgotten that part of the law. Following the rules seems to have become the means and the end to the Pharisees. Work on the sabbath, and you commit sin. Sin, and you are not from God. The Pharisees kept the rules, but by holding the rules for the rules’ sake, they had missed the presence of God. By holding on to the rules too tightly, they seem to have put their faith and trust in the rules rather than in God.
By their rules, the Pharisees knew God and knew how God worked among them. They knew the correct ways to worship God and to live as God had commanded. They lived an ordered, disciplined life according to rules given by God, but unfortunately, they seem to have bound God (or bound their understanding of God) by the rules given by God.
Now, living a life of discipline according to a set of rules can be a good thing. All this Lent, we have been encouraging lives of discipline in order to know God more, continually returning to God to find rest and peace in him. We have not, however, attempted to bind God’s presence or activity in our lives by the order and discipline we have established. The purpose of rules, of order and discipline is not to bind God’s presence and activity in our lives. Rather, the purpose of rules, the purpose of order and discipline is to free us to be able to encounter and experience the presence of God in unexpected ways. We don’t pray four times a day so that God will have four opportunities to talk with us. We pray four times a day to open ourselves to God’s presence in our lives, to open our eyes and hearts to God’s presence in the world. We follow rules and order our lives so that when God does act or reveal himself, we might witness the revelation.
The Pharisees followed the rules, but then blinded themselves to the revelation and presence of God in Jesus and in the healing of the blind man. They were so convinced they were doing everything right, so convinced they could see, that they were blinded to their own blindness. The pride they felt towards their discipline and devotion blinded them to God and stripped the Pharisees’ devotion and rules of their purpose.
There is a multitude of ways in which we too can follow rules and yet be blinded to God’s presence, ways in which pride for living religiously can turn to sin and blindness. Religion itself, if it becomes an end in and of itself, can become a barrier to God. If the rules and structure of our faith life become things we have to do in order to be righteous or to be appropriately religious, then the rules and structure of our faith lose a lot of their meaning. If we begin to feel other forms of worship or ways of practicing Christianity are wrong simply because they are different from how we practice Christianity, then we run into the same problem the Pharisees had, religion for religion’s sake.
There are many practices and ways of life which we can hold on to so tightly that they become impediments in our walks with God. Our prayer life, our morality, even our worship can become rules which limit our ability to experience God’s presence. What are some rules or practices which might have become ends rather than means in your life? We’re going to address our worship during our 10:15 class today, looking at the symbols we use and the words we pray, seeking a deeper understanding of our worship. Whether you can come to this class or not, however, think about how we worship, what we do and why. Realize our way of worshipping is only one way of worshipping. With your spiritual practices, with your prayer life, even with your morality, with your ethical code for Christian living, take care not to substitute rules and practices for faith in God. Rather, allow the rules of your life and the practices of your life to open your eyes and your hearts to God’s presence.
Practice your faith and follow God’s commandments not in order to be righteous, but because doing so will help you find God in the unexpected places of your life. Practicing your faith and following God’s commandments will help you rest in God and find true peace in his presence. Amen.
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