This Ain't All There Is

Brad Sullivan
5 Lent, Year C
Sunday, March 17, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126
Philippians 3:4b-14
John 12:1-8

Today’s scripture readings don’t really seem all that Lenty, do they?  Other than Judas, there is no focus on our shortcomings.  The passages are about praising God, the wonderful deeds God has done, and the hope we have in the resurrection of Jesus.  Forget your past deeds, great and ill…rejoice in Jesus, in the narrative of redemption, salvation, reconciliation, restoration, and re-creation that is unfolding.

Mary was rejoicing in that narrative when she anointed Jesus’ feet.  She was spending time with the Lord, rejoicing in the narrative of love and forgiveness which he gave.  Some folks say we Christians spend too much time praying and worshipping God, too much time being like Mary, that instead we should take that time to be out serving the poor.  Well, that’s what Judas said when Mary anointed Jesus’ feet.  Jesus’ response was, “you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” (John 12:8)  Jesus wasn’t saying, “don’t serve the poor.”  Jesus spent a lot of his ministry serving and healing the poor.  Jesus also spent a lot of time in prayer and worship. 

Jesus knew that our hope lies not in ourselves but in God.  Jesus knew that if we are really going to bring healing into the world, we must be rooted firmly in God, with our hope resting squarely on God.  That way, when we serve the poor, we can bring healing for the body as well as for the soul.  That healing of the soul is ultimately accomplished by God, and we have a part to play in that healing, helping to heal people in this life, and giving people hope of God’s continued healing in our lives after this life.  Today’s passages of scripture remind us we were formed as God’s people to focus on our hope for life in heaven, to bring that hope to others, and to praise God. 

Our lives unquestionably have a focus and a point right here and now, our earthly lives important in and of themselves.  Our lives are also pointing to something more, something greater beyond this life.  We’re striving for this life and for continued life after this life. 

In childhood, kids are hopefully enjoying life, living each day purely for the joy of each day.  Kids are also becoming who they are going to be.  Generally speaking, the more joyful a childhood one has, the more joyful one will be as an adult.  We’re constantly becoming who we are going to be.  Our lives and how we live our lives are important for the here and now and for continued life after this life.

Our hope for this life and the next life, however, is not placed in ourselves, but in God.  “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.  I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:18-19)  God spoke those words through Isaiah to the people of Israel when they were about to be restored after their captivity in Babylon, and God speaks those words continually to all of creation.  “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.  I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” 

“Forget your past deeds, good and ill, God is saying, for I will make all things new.  I will restore you and heal you.  I will forgive you and love you.”  This is the cornerstone of our hope in God.  As Paul wrote to the Philippians, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14)

I’ve just begun reading a book called, “Revealing Heaven” by The Rev. John Price, a priest in the diocese of Texas whom I have known since seminary.  In his book, John writes about near death experiences, about people who have died and come back to life or been resuscitated.  Over the years, John has collected over 200 stories of people who have had these experiences, and he wrote the book to describe what was revealed to these people about God, Heaven, and continued life after this life.  John writes:

God loves us and understands us.  God forgives us and redeems us.  God takes care of us, especially in our hour of greatest need.  God is always present in our lives.  We are a soul with a temporary body.  Death is only a moment in the ongoing life of a consciousness, of a person, of a soul. (John Price, Revealing Heaven, p. 17)

Those words describe some of the basic elements of our faith and our hope in God, and yet it is a faith and hope which many people, even some Christians, don’t have.  Kirk was one such person about whom John writes in his book.  He was dying of cancer, and while he was a Christian, he was terrified of death.  John met him in the hospital and shared several of the stories he’d heard about near death experiences:  meeting loved ones, seeing a person of light, experiencing peace, love, and forgiveness. 

Hearing these stories and coming to believe in Heaven changed Kirk.  He became joyful, rather than afraid of death.  John writes:

“It was clear to me that Kirk knew that no matter what happened, God would take care of him.  He had accepted in his heart God’s invitation to unconditional and eternal love, with immediate acceptance into heaven after one’s death.” (John Price, Revealing Heaven, p. 20)  Kirk died few weeks later, joyful, looking forward to his next “Great Adventure.”

Proclaiming this good news so that others like Kirk is a large part of why we were formed as God’s people.  God formed us so that people might not despair out of their fear of death, but might rejoice in the next great adventure to which death is but a doorway.  “For I give water in the wilderness,” we hear from Isaiah, “rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.” (Isaiah 43:20-21)  We were formed as a people to hope in God and to share that hope with others. 

I started today’s sermon by pointing out that today’s passages of scripture don’t seem all that Lenty, not a great focus on our sin or the need for repentance.  Today’s passages of scripture remind us why we would focus on our sins and our need for repentance.  We focus on our need for healing so that we might more fully experience God’s love, forgiveness, peace, in this life and we focus on our need for healing so that we might have even greater hope for a life of love, forgiveness, and peace in the next life.  We’re seeking God’s help so that we might see clearly our hope in heaven, rather than with darkened vision, see only this life and the challenges we all face in this life.  We’re not fixing ourselves to get into heaven.  We’re seeking God’s help to fix us so that we might unreservedly hope in heaven.  Amen.

Economies of Exchange / Grace & Love

Brad Sullivan
4 Lent, Year C
Sunday, February 24, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Joshua 5:9-12
Psalm 32
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Did you notice how similar the two sons were in the story Jesus told?  The younger son didn’t seem to care all that much for his father, he just wanted to get as much stuff as he could from his dad.  “Give me my inheritance,” he said.  The older son  seemed at first to care a bit more for his dad than the younger son, but as it turns out, their hearts were identical.  “You owe me and I want what’s mine,” the younger brother said at the beginning of the story.  Those same words, “you owe me and I want what’s mine,” were on the heart of the older brother.  His heart just wasn’t revealed until the end of the story.

The older son seemed to feel he was due a party for working so hard for his dad.  He presumably never asked for a party, nor for the dead goat he so desperately wanted.  He seemed to think his relationship with his father was one of employer and employee.  “I work, and you give me stuff.” 

I think the father in Jesus’ story might have said something like, “Well, Son, I thought you were with me all these years and working with me all these years because you had some amount of affection for me.  I didn’t know it was all so I would give you a dead goat.”  The son seemed to lack love for his father, just like his brother did. 

To be fair, the son was probably spouting off because he was a bit jealous of his brother, but still, he seemed to feel his father owed him something.  “I’ve been faithful to you, Dad, therefore you owe me.”

The Pharisees were the older brother, feeling God owed them something for being so darn religious.  They also despised those who were not as deeply religious.  They had abandoned the image of God in which they were made, the image of one who loves others, and they had replaced that image with an image of one who works for wages. I do this, and then you owe me that.  That’s basically a form of idolatry.  Remember from a couple of weeks ago, I talked about turning God into an idol, worshipping God in order to get something from God rather than out of love for God.

The tax collectors and sinners, on the other hand, having been forgiven of their sins and shown a more beautiful way of life by Jesus, loved God for the gift of love and grace he had shown them.  They had come to their senses like the younger brother in the story.  There was no tit for tat exchange going on.  There was love given by God and loved received by the tax collectors and sinners, who then gave God their love and found their loved received by God

We can look at this story and apply it to any deeply religious person who feels God owes him something for being faithful in his religious observance.  “I haven’t eaten anything all Lent, God, so you should give me something great come Easter.”  Having been faithful in religious practice and observance, some might feel that God owes them something.  We from time to time might feel the same way.  Shouldn’t we be rewarded for our faithfulness? 

“Faith, hope, and love abide, these three, and the greatest of these is love,” we’re told in 1 Corinthians 13:13.  Faith or raithfulness is good, but love is even greater.  We act kindly toward those whom we love in order to love them and be loved in return, not in order to get some reward from them or to be paid what we’re due.   Otherwise what would we say?  “I loved you really well for 45 hours this week; I’ll expect my paycheck next Monday…oh, and I’d like a raise.  You’ve been rather insufferable lately.”

Of course not!  Our relationships are based not on an economy of exchange, but on an economy of grace and love.  Life in God’s kingdom is also based not on an economy of exchange, but on an economy of grace and love.  

An economy of exchange means goods and services of equal value are exchanged.  I work, providing this service for you, and you give me money, or food, or housing, or something else in exchange for my work, basic economy of exchange.  An economy of grace and love, on the other hand, is not based on exchanging good and services of equal value. 

Rather, an economy of grace and love is based on giving and receiving freely gifts of grace simply for the sake of love of the other.  Again, we aren’t kind to those whom we love so that we can get something out of them.  We’re kind to those whom we love simply because we love them.  When we are harmed by those whom we love, as we all will be, we forgive the beloved, giving that gift of grace, simply out of love for the beloved.  There is no exchange of equally valued items.  In an economy of grace and love, there are simply gifts of grace and love given and received freely.  An economy of grace and love is the basic economy of our relationships with each other and the economy of our relationship with God.

The Father’s love in the story Jesus told was based on this economy of grace and love.  He did not love his sons based on how well they did in life or even how faithful they were to him.  The older son was faithful to him, the older was not, and he loved them both equally.  He gave the younger son the gifts of the robe, the ring, and the fatted calf and party, not because he had done anything to deserve those gifts.  The father gave the younger son those gifts simply out of the grace of forgiveness and the love he had for his son.

  So too with the older son, the father said, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.”  In other words, “Son, you are not working for me like a slave, and you’re not working for me like an employee.  I owe you no wages.  I love you, and all that I have I give to you, not because I owe you for your work, but simply because I love you.” 

“Faith, hope, and love abide, these three, and the greatest of these is love.”  The older son was faithful to his father.  The younger son hoped for his father’s forgiveness.  The Father loved his sons.  In this story, Jesus reveals to us our hears, often similar to the sons hearts, and Jesus reveals to us God’s heart, the heart of the Father who loves his children.  “Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sin is put away!”  We heard in our psalm today. “Happy are they to whom the LORD imputes no guilt, and in whose spirit there is no guile!” (Psalm 32:1-2) 

Happy are those who have accepted God’s gift of grace in the forgiveness and love he freely gives.  Happy are those who have come to their senses and no longer demand an inheritance from God, but love God for the gifts already given and seek only to dwell with God and share in his love.  Happy are those who love God and love others not with an economy of exchange but with an economy of grace and love.  Amen.

The Beauty of Living

Brad Sullivan
3 Lent, Year C
Sunday, February 24, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Exodus 3:1-15
Psalm 63:1-8
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9
 

“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2)  This was God’s response to Job’s supposed friends who gave him easy answers to the questions of why Job had suffered.  He had been bad, they said, therefore God had punished him.  Jesus was making a similar point, likely in response to the people’s conversation.  They were probably saying that the Galileans whom Herod had killed deserved to die for being wicked, otherwise, God would have protected them.  At the heart of such talk is fear that we might die suddenly like the supposed bad ones, and we feel more secure, assuring ourselves that we’re good and so we’ll be ok, unlike the bad ones. 

Jesus doesn’t let them have such easy answers.  “Do you think they were worse sinners than all others?  No, but unless you repent, you will perish just as they did.” (Luke 13:2-3 paraphrase, NURSIV)  We’ve tried simplifying that answer too.  We’re all going to die eventually, and some faithful people still die suddenly, so obviously, Jesus meant that if you repent, then you’ll be alright with God when you die (unlike the Galileans Herod killed), or if you don’t repent, then obviously, you won’t be alright with God when you die. 

Then, of course, we could really get into trouble, constantly wondering if we’re repented recently enough.  What if I mess up, in some way and then die immediately before I have a chance for repentance?  We could end up worrying all the time about when we’re going to die, hoping it doesn’t come immediately after an impure thought. 

I don’t think a life of worry, fear, and anxiety is quite what Jesus had in mind in the lesson he gave.  Neither did Jesus want us simply to dismiss his words, assuming they were meant for someone else.  The problem with overly simple answers to lessons like the one Jesus gave in today’s reading is that such simple answers tend to leave us either fine.  It’s those other people that need to repent.  Then we find ourselves falling into the same trap as Job’s friends or the people of Israel to whom Jesus was speaking in today’s lesson.

“Do you think they were worse sinners than all others?  No, but unless you repent, you will perish just as they did.” (Luke 13:2-3 paraphrase, NURSIV)  Jesus wants us to listen to his words, to take his words seriously, and to examine our lives.  Where do we need repentance in our lives?  What harmful habits do we keep which we would be better off without?   How are we living in ways which aren’t loving toward God and other people?  Are we who we truly want to be?  If we were to die suddenly, would we be happy with who we are or who we have been? 

Life’s too short, to live it full of regret, wishing you’d cleaned up your act and stopped harming yourself and others.  Life’s also too long to live in constant fear of God’s punishment.  Remember, Jesus, who told us to repent and to take seriously his call to examine our lives is the same man who told the parable of the fig tree, asking for one more year to tend the tree and help it grow.  The Jesus who told us to repent and to take seriously his call to examine our lives is the same man who loves us so much that he became human for our sake.  He lived and died and was resurrected for our sake. 

The warnings and calls to repentance are made by one who loves us more that we can imagine.  Jesus loves us enough to call us to repentance, that we might fully live a beautiful life of love and service, loving God, loving other people, and loving ourselves.  To love more deeply is the purpose of Jesus’ call to repentance.  To live a beautiful life is the purpose of Jesus’ call to repentance.

Jesus came not to bind us with fear or self-righteousness.  Jesus came to set us free, to give us freedom from the darkness of the world, freedom from sin, freedom from fear, freedom from our selfishness, freedom from the ways in which we bind ourselves to darkness rather than light.  Repent, Jesus said, and be free.  Take time to examine you lives, turn them around where they’re going in harmful directions, and live in the freedom Jesus gives to love God, to love Jesus, to love each other.  Life’s too short not to fully love, and life’s too long to live bound by sin and darkness. 

 

The Beauty of Living

words and music by Brad Sullivan

 

Cries in the dark that no one hears,
His weary soul trying to make it through another day.
Tired of war, tired of fighting, time to go his own way.
Heads out to the open plains,
Refusing to live ‘neath another man’s thumb again.
Journeys on as he makes a play for freedom.
Oh freedom.

Chorus

 ‘Cause life’s to short to live with wasted dreams,
and too long to live in fear.
Step out in faith and love,                 
And keep your vision clear.                                       
Darkness can drag you down, if you listen to its call
But the light of God and those you love will guide you when you fall,
And the beauty of livin’ will keep you going on.
The beauty of livin’ will keep you going on.
 
He steers clear of the law’s long arm,
Hauling good across the Texas plains,
And only fights with those who mean him harm.
Made friends along the way,
He’s got a partner he trusts and a hired gun he pays well enough
To keep him loyal, at least for one more day.
 
Heads to town for resupply,
His friends there ask “Are you ever going to settle down?”
“Join us here for a quiet life in town?”
He says, “Friends that just can’t be.”
“Your life, it’s not for me.”’
“Not while there’s prairie sky and freedom,
Oh freedom.”

Chorus

Amen.

Turning God into an Idol

Brad Sullivan
2 Lent, Year C
Sunday, February 24, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Psalm 27
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:31-35

Jesus knew he was going to be killed.  When the Pharisees warned him to flee because Herod was trying to kill him, he didn’t run from Herod, and he didn’t say, “No Herod won’t kill me.”  He basically said, “yes I’m going to be killed, but not yet and not outside of Jerusalem.”  That was not Jesus’ desire.  Jesus longed to gather the people of Jerusalem to be faithful to him and renew their faithfulness to God, and as he said, “[they] were not willing.” 

Jesus’ desire was not that he would be killed in Jerusalem, but that he would bring about reform and greater faithfulness to God in Jerusalem, and yet Jesus trusted God’s plan that he should be killed in Jerusalem.  Jesus trusted and loved God without agenda.

Jesus had a rather unique relationship with God as God’s son, as God himself, and that might have brought some leverage to have things go the way Jesus wanted them to go, but as we saw last week in the temptations of Jesus and as we see this week, Jesus didn’t use his relationship with God to make things go his way.  Rather, Jesus trusted in God and loved God, even when it meant things would absolutely not go his way.  Without agenda, Jesus loved and trusted in God with his whole heart.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1)  The words of Psalm 27 express this same love of and trust in God.

The Psalm expresses deep love for God.  Reading back over the psalm, we hear the heart of someone who loves and trusts God totally.  “One thing have I asked of the LORD; one thing I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life; To behold the fair beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. (Psalm 27:5-6)  There’s gotta be something particularly wonderful about God for the one thing the Psalmists wants is to dwell with God forever.  Even the prayers for safety and security that the Psalmist gives are given so that he may dwell with God.  Love of God without agenda is the first commandment of God.  You shall love the lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

Our love of people is similar.  We don’t love in order to manipulate.  We love simply to be near the beloved and to be loved in return.  Love for the purpose of control is not real love, but a form of idolatry. 

Back when people fashioned idols out of wood and clay and other materials, they made them in order to gain control of the world around them.  By making a god, people now had something powerful which they could plead with, and try to please, and use to control the world around them.  Love of the idol was not a part of the picture.  Control over the changes and chances of life was the purpose of making and worshipping idols. 

When we seek after God for the same purpose, to control the changes and chances of life, we treat God as an idol as well.  Believing in God in order to get what we want out of God, believing in God with an agenda is to turn God into an idol in our minds.  Seeking to control God or to control those around us through God is idolatry, even when our faith is in the true God who created all that is.  We may not be silly enough to say, “I made you, now do what I want,” but we may act as though we are saying “Ok, Lord, I didn’t make you, but still, do what I want.” 

Instead, of this form of idolatry, which we all might have experienced from time to time, we are called to wait patiently for the Lord and to trust in the Lord.  We don’t know if all in life will end up well.  Faith in God is not a talisman thwarting tragedy.  We are even assured that tragedy will likely come, for us as for all people.  Basically, that’s life. 

Paul wrote to the Philippians, “our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory…” (Philippians 3)  We may not expect this body of his glory in this life.  We are the Body of Christ and we seek to follow his example and live lives of love of God and neighbor, trusting in God in all we do, and yet, we are not yet fully transformed into a body of glory.  That comes later, when we don’t know, presumably after death.  We trust God with our lives and with our deaths, believing in the promises he has given us to love and care for us.

There’s a fine line, however, between trusting God and believing in his promises, on the one hand, and expecting and demanding those promises on the other.  I want to get to heaven when I die, therefore I will trust and believe in God.  That’s not love of God.  That’s the form of idolatry I spoke of earlier. 

I will trust and believe in God simply because I find God to be beautiful.  I find God to be the fulfillment of the deepest longing of my heart, the source of all goodness and love.  I love God simply because of the beauty and wonder of Who God Is, and with that love of God, I also trust in God’s promises that there is life after death, a beautiful life lived completely in him. 

We love God also not for what he will do for us, but for what he already has done for us.  God showed his great love for us by saving us from our sins, from all the ways we harm ourselves and each other.  Jesus paid the price to set us right with God, even with our flaws and faults, and Jesus showed us how we can live without sin, how we can truly love God and neighbor without agenda, loving God and others simply for the sake of loving God, and loving all those who are beloved of God. 

Jesus taught us how to live not as idolaters trying to control the world around us, but as people who love and trust God deeply.  Jesus taught us to love and trust God deeply even when we don’t particularly like what the consequences will likely be. 

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear?  The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?  One thing have I asked of the LORD; one thing I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life; To behold the fair beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.  O tarry and await the LORD'S pleasure; be strong, and he shall comfort your heart; wait patiently for the LORD. (Psalm 27:1, 5-6, 18)  Amen.

 

Promise Me We'll Be Alright

Brad Sullivan
1st Epiphany – Baptism of Jesus, Year C
Sunday, January 13, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Isaiah 43:1-7
Psalm 29
Acts 8:14-17
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

After Jesus was baptized, his life changed forever.  His old life passed away, and a new life began.  Before his baptism, Jesus was simply the son of the carpenter, Joseph.  We know almost nothing of his life before his baptism except for his birth, and an incident when, as a boy, he wandered away from his parents, and showed his wisdom and knowledge of scripture in the temple.  Beyond that, nothing is told about him, presumably because there was nothing particularly to tell.  He lived his life.

After he was baptized, however, a new life began for Jesus.  His ministry began, his teaching began, his miracles began.  He ceased to be the carpenter’s kid from Nazareth and became an itinerant preacher and healer directing people to God, and bucking the religious establishment anytime it didn’t direct people to God.  Jesus’ old life was dead after his baptism, and his new life began. 

“You are my son, the beloved,” God said at Jesus’ baptism, “with you I am well pleased.”  While always God’s son, at his baptism, Jesus ceased to live his life as Joseph’s son and began living as God’s son.  In Jesus’ baptism, there was a death of who he was and a rebirth of who he was to be.  Before his baptism, he was presumably with his family, maybe a bit different, but basically his mother and father’s son, and his brother and sisters’ brother.  After his baptism, beginning his ministry, his family seemed rather embarrassed by him, even saying they thought he was crazy.  There was a death for them as well, in Jesus’ baptism and then a rebirth in his resurrection.

For us too, we believe baptism is a death of who we were and a rebirth of who we are to be.  Now for many of us, baptized as infants, there aren’t a whole lot of ghosts in our past yet, not a whole lot of who we were to die in baptism, and yet, as Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans,

all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:3-4)

Whether we are baptized as infants or as adults, we are baptized into Jesus’ death so that we might walk in newness of life.  Part of this means eternal life, that we will continue to live on in Christ Jesus even after we die.  Walking in newness of life also means that, like with Jesus, baptism is a new start.  Something of our old life dies in baptism, that something new in us may live.

It seems that the timing of this death and rebirth might vary.  While eternal life in Christ is given to us in baptism, newness of life in this world doesn’t always come right at baptism or even at confirmation.  In Confirmation, an older child or adult can mark the death and rebirth in his or her own life and begin in earnest to live in newness of life and to step out in ministry as Jesus did, but that doesn’t always happen perfectly either.

Sometimes we stray from the path given to us in our baptisms, turning away from the life God has in mind for us, and only after turning back to the path God has in mind, do we truly realize the death and newness of life that happened in our baptism.  Sometimes this happens more than once…a day.

Every time we stray, die, turn back, and are brought to newness of life, we are baptized in a way, made clean once again.  Baptism is a continual washing away of the ghosts of our past, the pain and hurt which we have caused and which has been done to us.  Baptism is an eternal washing, an eternal gift of God’s grace to us so that every time we turn back to the path God has in mind for us, our old life dies, a new life begins, and we hear the words of God, “you are my child, my beloved, with you I am well pleased.” 

            The song, “Ghosts That We Knew” by Mumford and Sons, from their album Babel, illustrates the idea of rebirth, and letting go of the past and beginning life anew.  

"Ghosts That We Knew"

You saw my pain washed out in the rain
Broken glass, saw the blood run from my veins
But you saw no fault, no cracks in my heart
And you knelt beside my hope torn apart

But the ghosts that we knew will flicker from view
We'll live a long life
So give me hope in the darkness that I will see the light
'Cause oh they gave me such a fright
But I will hold as long as you like
Just promise me we'll be alright

So lead me back, turn south from that place
And close my eyes to my recent disgrace
'Cause you know my call
And we'll share my all
And our children come and they will hear me roar

So give me hope in the darkness that I will see the light
'Cause oh they gave me such a fright
But I will hold as long as you like
Just promise me we'll be alright

But hold me still, bury my heart on the coals
And hold me still, bury my heart next to yours

So give me hope in the darkness that I will see the light
'Cause oh they gave me such a fright
But I will hold on with all of my might
Just promise me we'll be alright

"But the ghosts that we knew made us black and all blue
But we'll live a long life”
And the ghosts that we knew will flicker from view
And we'll live a long life

-          Mumford and Sons, Ghosts That We Knew, from the album Babel

Amen.

The God of All the Tribes

Brad Sullivan
The Epiphany, Year C
Sunday, January 6, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Isaiah 60:1-6
72:1-7, 10-14
Ephesians 3:1-12
Matthew 2:1-12

We took down our Christmas tree yesterday along with the rest of our Christmas decorations…although I think the lighted Christmas Pigs that we got at the St. Mark’s Christmas party are still out in the front yard.  All of the preparation and excitement, and Christmas is now over, there usually seems to be a bit of disappointment post Christmas when it’s life as usual after the build up and excitement of Christmas.

But now we’re in the season of Epiphany, the season of the revealing of Christ, and especially if we end up having that post-Christmas let down, we really need the season of Epiphany.  We need the reminder of who Jesus is and how wonderful his birth is for us.

I think Mary and Joseph might have needed a similar reminder at about the time we hear of the wise men coming to visit them and pay homage to Jesus.  Jesus may have been about two years old at this point.  There is no time stamp given, but later in the Gospel, Herod kills all children two years old and younger, based on the time the wise men gave him, so Jesus is probably about two years old at this point. 

So, two years after the birth of Jesus, the angels’ announcements, and the shepherds coming and glorifying God, Israel is still under Roman occupation, and Mary and Joseph are raising a two year old.  Now, I know Jesus is sinless, but two year olds test their boundaries with their parents, and we’re talking about the God of the universe as a two year old testing his boundaries.  Mary and Joseph might have benefited from the reminder of who Jesus was, not  only their beloved little boy, but also the savior of the world, the long-awaited messiah.

First, the star came and rested over the home where they were staying.  This may have called to their minds Balaam’s oracle from Numbers 24:17, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near – a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.”  Now, this oracle was from centuries before, given against the land of Moab, when the people of Israel were first coming into the promised land, but Balaam’s oracle seems, over the centuries, to have become a more general messianic prophecy as well.  The star rising, leading the Wise Men, and resting over Jesus’ house would certainly have been a reminder for Mary and Joseph of who Jesus truly was.

Then, the Wise Men come, bow down to him, and bring him gifts fit for a king.  Wonderful and expensive, the wise men’s gifts were for Mary and Joseph a great reminder and confirmation of who Jesus was.  For us too, the Epiphany is a reminder and confirmation of who Jesus was, not only a cult little baby, but our savior, God with us.  We need the Epiphany, and we need many epiphanies to keep reminding us and in some cases, to give the good news of Jesus for the first time.

Paul had such an epiphany as he mentioned in his letter to the Ephesians which we heard today.  Jesus was revealed to him, and the mystery of the Gospel was made known to him so that he could then bring the Gospel of Jesus to the gentiles, to the nations, to everyone who wasn’t Israel. 

Up to that point, the God of Israel was seen by other nations as simply the God of Israel.  Nations and people’s had their own tribal gods, so to speak, and the God of Israel was understood by the gentiles simply as Israel’s tribal god.  With the coming of Jesus and the Gospel of Christ, Israel’s God came to be understood by the nations as the high God, the God over us all.  Through Jesus, the Gentiles have access to the high God known in Israel, even if they are not a part of Israel.  In Jesus, God was no longer the tribal god of Israel, but the God of all creation, available to all.

Through the Epiphany and other epiphanies and revelations, our connection to God through Jesus is continually made known.  Imagine for a minute, though, that it wasn’t made known.  Imagine if the Epiphany never happened.  No wise men were led to Jesus, shepherds weren’t told of his glory at his birth, the revelation to Paul never happened.  Imagine Jesus was God living among us as a human being, the long-awaited messiah, and that he died and was resurrected, bringing connection to God and victory over death for us all, and then imagine if no one really knew about it.  Say Jesus had just lived a quite life, died a natural death, was then resurrected, but no one really knew about it.  Say everything about salvation happened, but no one was aware.  Easter happened, but no one knew.

Well, we would be left without any hope in the Gospel.  The God of Israel, the God of all creation, would still largely be known as Israel’s tribal God.  We gentiles would not know of the access we have to God through Jesus.  We who believe in the Gospel would have no hope in our unity with God and in the resurrection of the dead.  Everything about salvation could still be true for everyone in the world, but without the Epiphany and countless other epiphanies and revelations, we would have no hope in the salvation given through Jesus.  We would have no belief in the high God over all, but simply in countless tribal gods, each nation and people having their own God.

I realize many nations and peoples still have their own gods, their own understanding of god or of multiple gods.  I realize there are many religions out there.  We still tend to fight with each other over our various religions. Whether we go to war with others and kill in the name of god, or we argue with others over god, or we simply don’t talk with others because of differing understandings of god, there is still plenty of fighting and animosity amongst humanity over tribal gods.  Our tribes, our people, are still often defined by our gods, and yet the epiphanies and revelations of Christ tell us there is not a multitude of tribal gods in the world, but one God who is the god of us all.

If that God is God of all creation, then there is really only one tribe of humanity.  Regardless of the differences in belief about God that humanity has, we believe there is one God over us all, and therefore one humanity.  We needn’t fight with others over religion because we believe in one God over all, and therefore there is only one tribe of humanity, regardless of our various religions. 

That seems to me a pretty hopeful message, and that might give a little bit different take on evangelism, on sharing the good news of Jesus, which is really what the Epiphany is all about.  The Epiphany was the good news of Jesus being shared by God with the wise men, and presumably by them to others.  Paul shared his epiphany, the revelation of Jesus he was given by God.  Paul shared the good news of our unity with God through Jesus and of the victory over death to those who had different tribal gods than the God of Israel.  Paul helped make into one people, those who were many people.  As Peter wrote in his first letter, “once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people.” (1 Peter 2:10)  Paul gave people hope in the resurrection of the dead and in their connection to God through Jesus, linking all humanity together. 

We have been given this great news, and been shown this wonderful Epiphany.  We, like Paul, can share this good news and we can live this good news that we are all of one tribe.  Even though Christmas is over, we can still have the joy of the Gospel in our hearts.  We can live at peace with each other.  We can be an epiphany for others.  We can be a reminder for those who already believe.  We can pray and live these words from Morning Prayer:

O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near:  Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh; and hasten the coming of you kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. (BCP p. 100)  Amen