Is Anyone Else Tired?

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
July 18, 2021

Proper 11, B

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Is Anyone Else Tired?

Is anyone else tired?

One thing people have been finding coming out of the pandemic is that they are exhausted. Part of this is that people are tired from the pandemic itself and all of the stress and extra work that has meant for so many. Another piece of this exhaustion, however, is that many folks have found that the time they spend in in rest and time they spend with family and friends is far too precious to be squandered by the endless demands of our jobs. Folks are realizing that their exhaustion has been there since before the pandemic.

Some folks are finding jobs better suited to them, jobs which are more fulfilling. Some are quitting their jobs without yet having another because they are tired of doing the work that used to be done by three people without getting a corresponding raise in pay. Some jobs just aren’t being filled because at the wages being offered, the jobs aren’t worth people’s time to do. I had an uncle-ish type guy, not family, but close friend, who was arguing that minimum wage shouldn’t go up. He said he’d hired people who weren’t worth minimum wage. What I didn’t say at the time was, “That may be true, but those same people might be worth three times minimum wage,” because minimum wage isn’t worth many people’s time.

People working tirelessly, still struggling to make ends meet. People working tirelessly with more than enough for ends to meet, but with little or no time for the people and things that matter in life. There is so much going on, and there is always more coming. 

That is the situation in which Jesus and the apostles found themselves in our Gospel story today. Jesus had been working tirelessly, and then he appointed the twelve disciples to be apostles. He sent them out to do the teaching and healing work he had been doing. I like to think Jesus took a break during that time. Then, they came back to tell Jesus about all that had done and taught, and there was so much still to do, so many people still hungry for their teaching and healing, that the couldn’t even eat, much less spend some time together resting and enjoying each other’s company. 

So, going away on a little vacation, they had some time off on their little boat ride, car trip, airplane flight journey, and once they landed, they found work had followed them there. Zoom calls, cell phones, meetings with leaders, questions from the team back home, fires to put out, the boss calling to say, “I need you to come back in.” The only real time off they had was the boat ride, and the people were all there waiting for more teaching and healing. 

One thing I noticed, however, is that once they arrived, the apostles weren’t recorded as having done much of anything at all. In the portion of the story that was cut out of our reading today, Jesus was teaching the crowds, and later, the apostles realized the huge crowd of people was hungry, and they told Jesus they didn’t have much food. Then Jesus turned their meager fare into a lot of food for over 5000 people. The apostles kinda got to sit back while Jesus did all the work. Then they went on another boat ride, a nice little nighttime pleasure cruise, and Jesus walked across the water to them. 

When they arrived on shore again, there were even more people coming for teaching and healing.  At this point, with all of this new additional work to be done, we heard about Jesus doing a lot of healing, with the apostles doing…we don’t know what. Something? Anything? Nothing?

Whatever the case for the apostles, the people just kept on coming. The needs were far too great. There was no end to the work to be done, and amidst this endless amount of work, we saw that Jesus had taken a break before our story started, asking his apostles to go and do the work he had been doing. Then, when they returned, he had his apostles take a break, one which seems to have continued even as the huge crowd was all around them.

“Rest, and let me take care of this for a while,” Jesus said.

Nowadays, whether people are working for a wage that isn’t really worth their time, working for a darn good salary but doing the work of three people for the salary of one, or working for a job that isn’t terrible but is relentless and rather soul crushing, many people can’t quit their jobs. Many can’t take time off, and most certainly can’t say, “I’m gonna take a couple weeks off or even a couple days off, but don’t worry, boss, Jesus’ll take care of this for a while.”

Even so, we see in our story today Jesus teaching us to rest. We hear Jesus say to us, “Rest, and let me take care of this for a while.” How are we to do that in our present situation of endless work, endless need?  How are we to rest and let Jesus take care of this for a while when even taking time off a job may put at risk that mighty powerful need we have to eat?  

Well, first off, something that won’t be particularly helpful, and that is resenting those with immeasurably more than they need.  I’ve seen and heard a good amount of uproar over the head of Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson, taking a flight into space in his new low orbit space plane, when, as people have been saying, he has the money to end poverty.  It is true that he and many others have immeasurably more than they need.  It is true that with his and their wealth, they could probably be doing more than they are doing to alleviate need in the world.  It is also true, however, that they are employing folks, creating jobs, and it is true that focusing on those others and shaming people with wealth and resenting those who have far more than they need isn’t going to bring about the rest that people need.  

How often have any of us resented someone who has more wealth or more time for rest and then felt more rested afterwards?  I’m guessing never.  

There are societal changes that would be helpful, and striving for those is a good thing.  Resenting those who can rest, however, is not going to give rest to anyone. Jesus didn’t resent the crowds who followed them. Rather, he had compassion on them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.

So, rather than resentment and focusing on what others have or what anyone doesn’t have, Jesus shows us to take time to rest in ways that really give rest.  He shared the load with others.  He let his apostles work while he rested, and he let them rest while he worked. Are we connected enough with our friends and neighbors to let them share our loads and for us to share their loads as well?  

Jesus took time for quiet and prayer.  He spent time outside, enjoying creation.  Do we seek and keep practices of quiet, prayer, and time outside to give rest to our minds, our souls, and our bodies?

For many of us, these times of rest will have to be short and often, and for those of us in Houston during the summer, times outside need to be particularly short, and these are still times we can take.  Especially if we can let go of resentments, we can rest more fully even in the short times we have and let Jesus say, “Rest, and let me take care of this for a while.” Bothered and harassed by so many worries about problems throughout the world, we can let go of those worries and let Jesus say, “Rest, and let me take care of this for a while.” Seeking and keeping practices of quiet, prayer, and even time outside, we can give rest to our minds, our souls, and our bodies while Jesus says, “Rest, and let me take care of this for a while.” 

Filling the Hollows of Our Lives

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
July 11, 2021
Proper 10, B
Mark 6:14-29

Filling the Hollows of Our Lives

Paul wrote in Ephesians that we have an inheritance in Christ as God’s children, God’s beloved people.  That inheritance is living God’s kingdom of love, united to God and to one another in this life and in the life to come.

Paul went on to write, that we could squander our inheritance, removing ourselves as God’s children.  “Entirely out of place”, Paul wrote, “is obscene, silly, and vulgar talk; but instead, let there be thanksgiving. Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure person, or one who is greedy (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” (Ephesians 5:4-5)

That’s what we saw with Herod when he had John the Baptist killed.  Herod was king of Israel, a puppet king propped up by Rome, but still king of Israel.  He had power and authority to build up the kingdom of God within Israel.  He could have led the people to live in love, to care for one another, to “put away…all bitterness and wrath…slander and malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another…”  (Ephesians 4:31-32) That would have been living the inheritance of the kingdom of God. Instead of living the kingdom of God and guiding the people of Israel into the same, however, Herod used his power and authority, to enrich and glorify himself.  

He had John imprisoned for speaking the truth to him about his actions, and at the same time, he was drawn to John.  He was drawn to the kingdom of God which John preached and taught people to live, but he would’t then follow John and live the kingdom of God himself.  For him, with much potentially to lose, the sacrifice was too great.  

If he didn’t continue to enrich himself, would those with wealth look at him as less powerful, less important than they?  If he chose to do the right thing, at John’s urging, would he look weak in the eyes of his courtiers and officers?  If he broke his oath after his silly and vulgar talk to his step-daughter, would he appear foolish and lose some of his credibility?  Money, power, influence: these were all Herod’s to lose, and wanting to keep those things, he executed an innocent man, a man whom he admired, a man who was leading him to the Kingdom of God.

Herod had the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Love, right there to be received and to be grown and spread to others, leading others to the same Kingdom of Love, and instead, he squandered God’s kingdom, squandered his inheritance in money, power, and influence.

Squandering his inheritance, Herod reminds me of a man in a parable Jesus taught, the parable of the prodigal son.  In the parable, a son demands his inheritance from his father, receives his inheritance, and then squanders it all in raucous and extravagant living.  Once the money is all gone, he finds himself starving and alone, feeding pigs on someone else’s land, wishing he could eat even the slop he is feeding the pigs.

Herod is like that prodigal son, having received his inheritance and then squandering it completely.  Herod had wealth, power, and influence, but the Kingdom of God was nowhere to be seen in his life.  As far as joining with God in a life of love, grace, and mercy, using what he had to bring about justice and peace among the people, Herod was as poor and alone as the prodigal son, starving and penniless, wishing he could eat even the pig slop. 

Of course, the story of the prodigal son does not end there.  The son eventually wakes up, realizing he is starving and miserable, and he returns to his father ready to work as a hired servant, knowing that at least he will have food and shelter.  Then, while he is still a ways off, his father sees him coming home and he runs out to greet him, restoring his as his beloved son, overjoyed that he is back, alive and well.  

That’s God’s way.  When we squander our inheritance and live selfish lives, unconcerned with others, leaving hurt and harm in our wake, we may eventually realize that we are starving for a life of love, grace, and mercy.  When we realize that we are starving, and we begin to return to God’s kingdom of love, God runs out to us with open arms, strengthening us and guiding us back into our inheritance, living the Kingdom of love.

The challenge for Herod was he never realized he was starving.  He had his wealth, his power, his influence.  He had his courtiers and officials all suckling up to him, and so he was able to remain blind to the damage left in his wake.  He thought he had arrived, thought he had it all, but he was hollow on the inside, a puppet, not just of Rome, but also a puppet to all of his cravings, led by his desires for money, power, and influence.  As a puppet mastered by his cravings, Herod lived outside of the Kingdom of God, squandering his inheritance.

Of course, living the Kingdom of God is rarely as simple as you either are or you aren’t.  Most of us are living our inheritance in God’s kingdom of love except when we’re not.  So, my question today is, what is keeping us from living more fully into God’s kingdom of love?  What fills the hollows of our lives, controlling us as puppets?  For some, like Herod, it may be money, power, and influence that we are afraid to risk losing.  I don’t mean to imply that any of us have people beheaded over it, but for some, money, power, and influence may master us, keeping us from decisions, actions, or beliefs which would risk our money, power, and influence for the sake of others’ well being.  

For some of us, our past hurts may be mastering us, keeping us from living more fully into God’s kingdom of love.  All of us are hurting in some way and we end up building walls and defenses just trying to be ok.  Sometimes those very defenses end up taking over, harming us and others, and we miss out on God’s kingdom of love. 

There are many things which can end up mastering us, taking over the hollows of our lives and controlling us as puppets.  God’s response is to help wake us up to realize the ways we are being mastered, like Herod.  God’s response is to help us become aware of the ways we are starving, squandering our inheritance like the prodigal son.  God’s response is then to guide us back to our inheritance, to let go our fears, and to let God guide us into his Kingdom of love.  

God’s way is to offer to fill the hollows of our lives so that we are not puppets led by our fears and desires, but are instead walking together with God and one another.  That is life in God’s kingdom, as Paul writes to, “put away…all bitterness and wrath…slander and malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven [us].”  Even when we squander our inheritance through fear and desire leaving ourselves hollow and hungry, in God’s kingdom, there is inheritance still waiting for us when we wake up and return and strive again to live in the way of love.  

A Mystery Beyond My Comprehension, and That’s Enough For Me

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
June 20, 2021
Proper 7, B
Job 38:1-11
2 Corinthians 6:1-13

Mark 4:35-41

A Mystery Beyond My Comprehension, and That’s Enough For Me

I don’t remember the first time I heard the story of Jesus sleeping through a terrible wind storm at sea and then silencing the storm with a word, but I imagine it went something like this.  I heard the story and then went, “Wow, how’d he do that?”  “Well,” I was told, “Jesus is God.”  “Oh, ok.”  See I was never all that amazed by Jesus’ miracles.  Not that his miracles weren’t amazing, but starting from a place of believing Jesus is God, it seemed totally natural that Jesus could control the weather, heal people, multiply food.  Jesus, being God made all of this, everything, “laid the foundation of the earth…when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for  joy,” so of course he could do anything at all.  So, going from that belief about Jesus and then hearing that Jesus could control the weather with a word, I figured, “Well yeah, of course he can.” 

For the disciples, on the other hand, Jesus’ controlling the weather was rather mind blowing.   “Who then is this,” they asked, “that even the wind and the sea obey him?”  Rather than starting from a place of believing Jesus to be God, they were gradually coming to know who Jesus was, and they had barely scratched the surface.  Like Job, when God said of him, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”, the disciples, though they knew Jesus well, were also realizing the enormous depths they had not even begun to plumb.

We’re like this with everyone we know.  My brother, Kevin, and I are identical twins.  We share the same DNA, and we grew up together, so we are very close and know each other very well.  Still, if we plumb the depths long enough, we get to places I don’t know and he doesn’t know.  We begin darkening counsel by words without wisdom.  We can know people our entire lives and still be surprised by them.  There are always greater depths we can plumb, new awareness and understandings of each other to discover.  

Being that that is the case for our knowledge of other human beings, we have to admit our knowledge and understanding of God is greatly limited.  God is known and has been revealed to us, and God is a mystery.  Whenever we try to define God too much, we end up with God’s response to Job, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”  We think we know God.  We sometimes construct rather tight models of God and have rules around how and who and what God is, and then something happens that we can’t fit into our God understanding box, and our tightly constructed models of God come crashing down.  Far from a disaster, what that means is we get to plumb the depths of God even more fully.  When our understandings of God prove insufficient, we get to be the disciples in the boat with Jesus, wondering, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

As I said at the beginning, as a child simply hearing, “Jesus is God,” was enough for me to say, “Oh, ok,” to the question of how Jesus could control the weather with a word.  Of course he could, he was God.  Through further decades of study and plumbing the depths, I’ve barely scratched the surface of much anything more, though I have brought about a lot of helpful questioning and come to a greater heart knowledge of who Jesus is.  God is still a vast mystery and yet I have come to experience God as goodness and love, healing and freedom. 

I believe we are called to accept and embrace the mystery of God, and to be content with what we can say we know.  God is love.  Sounds simple enough, but what force or action on earth has greater depth and mystery than love?  God is good.  We don’t always know what that means, but we can trust in God’s goodness and give up some of our need for and illusion of control at all times.

Here’s what I know personally:  when I spend time in prayer and meditation, seeking God’s will, and setting aside my efforts at control, I find peace and unity with people and within myself that I don’t otherwise find.  Who is this that brings such peace and unity to life and relationships?  God, whom I don’t fully know, and that’s enough for me.  

Accepting some knowledge of God as well as great mystery of God, I get to see God all around, in the beauty of creation:  in the earth, the skies, the trees, the wind, the water.  Seeing God everywhere in the earth brings greater awe for all that is around me, greater respect, and a desire to honor the earth in how I live.

Seeing God in others helps me to see each person’s beauty and to want to give them respect and to honor them in how I live.  We see in Jesus’ teachings and actions, that such is his desire for us.  

I don’t understand how all of that works, but I accept it as true because it is beautiful and because the fruits of that belief are greater peace, love, and honor towards others and to the earth.  Accepting some of these mysteries of God brings the very love, healing, and freedom which I believe God to be.

Looking at another mystery of God, how can Jesus be fully human and fully God?  How is it that Jesus could calm a storm with a word?  Well, on the one hand, what can’t God do?  On the other hand, how exactly does that work, God being everywhere and also that one person?  I don’t know.  I don’t need to fully understand it.  I don’t need to understand how God was specifically there in the human being, Jesus, while also being fully present as the Holy Trinity in the heavenly places, while also being in and through all creation in the known universe and beyond.  

I don’t need to fully understand how we are both here living finite, mortal lives on this earth and we are at the same time alive with God in the heavenly places fully united to one another in Christ.  Paul writes about that in his letter to the Ephesians, and I don’t know how that works.  On this Father’s Day, however, I think about my dad who died six years ago.  I still miss him, and I also have joy because I believe that like Paul wrote, I’m not only waiting here on earth to be with my Dad again; I’m already with him in the heavenly places.  Now that’s a mystery of God beyond my comprehension, but I don’t have to understand it.  I believe it, and that’s enough for me.  

How does connecting with God through prayer and meditation, connecting with God through people, connecting with God through nature, how does any of that bring love, healing, and freedom?  How are we both here and with God in the heavenly places all at the same time?  How does all that work?  How does God make all that happen?  Well, I’ve got the same answer as my parents had for me when I was a kid asking, “How did Jesus calm a storm?”  He’s God.  Then I can figure, “Oh, ok.  Goodness, love, healing, freedom, of course God can do all that.”  

"You Can't Fight In Here. This Is the War Room."

The Rev. Brad Sullivan

Emmanuel Episcopal Church

June 6, 2021

Proper 5, B

Genesis 3:8-15

Mark 3:20-35

“You Can’t Fight in Here.  This Is the War Room.”

Strange as it may sound, today’s Gospel reading made me think of a scene from the movie Dr. Strangelove, where The U.S. President, and a Russian Ambassador, and the top U.S. General are all trying to avert nuclear armageddon when the general and the Russian ambassador start fighting, and the President shouts at them, “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here!  This is the war room!”  That reminds me of our Gospel story today as I hear the scribes saying to Jesus with similar irony, “Jesus please, you can’t heal people here, we’re doing God’s work!”

How could they think healing people was bad?  How could they think casting out demons was bad? 

Well, healing and casting out demons wasn’t necessarily bad in and of itself, of course, but what if Jesus was turning people to trust in him, rather than in the religious system?  What if, even worse, Jesus was teaching something different about God than they were, and was therefore, of course, teaching something terribly, terribly wrong about God?  

That, we understand.  Think of a new pastor at a new growing congregation.  It’s not a church like the established churches are used to, and even some of those established church’s members are going to that new church.  They are on fire, they are serving within the community in ways the established churches haven’t been doing for decades, and the established churches are all threatened by this new congregation.  They don’t like the pastor.  He’s doing things wrong, the church services are weird, and they feel threatened by them doing really well and doing things differently than what they know to be the right way.  “Oh sure, they’re doing good work there, but “Yeah, you’re right…they still pray weird.”

We get that.  We understand the scribes feeling threatened by Jesus, thinking he was leading the people down a wrong path, in spite of his healing and casting out demons.  So what did they do?  They demonized Jesus, saying he was doing demonic work casting out demons.  It didn’t make much sense then either.

Jesus was fighting a spiritual battle against demons and cosmic powers, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (I grabbed that from Ephesians).  To be fair, it wasn’t much of a fight against the demons.  Jesus was like One Punch Man, but still, seeing this, the scribes chose to fight with him about it, who was right and who was wrong, and Jesus’ response was basically, “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here.  This is the war room.”  Jesus was saying, “I’m fighting a war against demons,” (which was again pretty easy for him “Get out of there, demon!”  “Ok.”) and the scribes were fighting with him about that?  That was the difficult battle, people working against healing and love because they don’t agree with the person who is doing it or the methods they use.  

That is still the difficulty we have today.  We understand how crazy it is for the scribes to fight against Jesus when he was casting out demons and healing people.  We understand how crazy it is for our church or any church to rally against another church when we see them doing good, healing ministry with the community…even if they pray weird, but when that church is ministering with the wrong kinds of people, or letting the wrong kinds of people be ministers, what then?

They’re still doing great works within the community, still healing and working with people to transform their lives, but it’s just the wrong kind of people doing the ministry?  What if it’s staunch conservatives doing the ministry?  What if it’s flaming liberals doing the ministry?  What if the ministers are people whose beliefs and ideologies not only go against my beliefs and ideologies, but go against who I am as a person?  

I don’t have a clear cut answer on this one, however, I will say this about our beliefs and ideologies.  The scribes had beliefs and ideologies which led them to discount some people as unworthy of being a full part of their community, of their world.  The scribes were concerned with purity and people being religiously correct enough to be acceptable for God.

Jesus, not so much.  Jesus was concerned with people causing actual harm to one another.  Are you being clean and pure?  Jesus didn’t seem to ask that.  Are you causing actual harm to someone else?  That’s what Jesus seemed interested in.  Are you excluding people you deem unworthy or impure?  Are you keeping for yourself far more than you need while others struggle just to have enough?    Are you so certain of your own righteousness that you tear others down, condemning them, rather than choosing to love them and take the risk of being wrong as you see God working in their lives too?  That seems the way of Jesus in his spiritual battles, in his war room.  

Yes, there is a war room, even for Jesus, but as Paul wrote in Ephesians 6, “…our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”  (Ephesians 6:10-12).  Jesus was certainly against these spiritual forces of darkness, against these spiritual forces of darkness as they manifest in people.  We don’t read too much, however, of Jesus being against people themselves.  He wasn’t out there stirring up hatred and division, shouting about the folks people should be against.  He warned his disciples privately against the teachings against some of those rather less than helpful leaders, but his focus was not to turn people against each other.  

Jesus’ focus was on healing people, bringing people together, showing love, offering grace, living forgiveness.  That was Jesus’ way.  Healing, communion, love, grace, forgiveness, that was Jesus way, even when fighting spiritual battles for and along side folks whom others felt were the wrong sorts of folks. Healing, communion, love, grace, forgiveness, that was how Jesus fought spiritual battles in his war room, and strange as it may sound, there’s no fighting in the war room.  At least there’s no fighting in Jesus’ war room.  There’s striving against spiritual forces of darkness, and those battles are fought with healing and communion, with grace, and love, and forgiveness.

Unity In the Midst of the Gods

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Emmanuel Episcopal Church

May 23, 2021

Pentecost, B

Acts 2:1-21

John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

Unity In the Midst of the Gods

About 12 or 13 years ago, I was meeting with Rabbi Annie from Temple Sinai to learn from her about Judaism and especially about first-century Judaism. While I was able to read about first-century Judaism in biblical commentaries and my Bible’s footnotes, those were all written by Christian authors, and I figured, “What do they know?”  So I called Rabbi Annie, and the two of us began to have monthly coffees to learn about each others’ faiths.  That began a great friendship which continued and strengthened when we were worshipping in Temple Sinai for over two years after Harvey flooded our previous building.  

In one of Rabbi Annie’s and my early coffees, Annie was talking about Jewish holy days, one of which was Shavuot, the holy day from which Pentecost came.  Now, Pentecost is the Greek word used for the Jewish Festival of Weeks, the harvest festival described in Leviticus 23 and Deuteronomy 16, as all of us know, being good Episcopalians who read our Bibles. The idea was that the people of Israel would bring the first of their harvest to God to give thanks and dedicate the harvest to God. I know we all know that.

So, when Rabbi Annie started talking about Shavuot, the festival of weeks, as the time when they remembered God giving the Law at Mount Sinai, I was utterly confused, saying, “Wait, no, that’s the harvest festival, the first fruits deal, right?  From Leviticus.  What does God revealing the Law have to do with it?” I was so cute showing off my biblical knowledge.

Rabbi Annie explained that after the destruction of the Temple and of the nation of Israel, the people of Israel were left without a place to bring their harvest offerings, and since much of the society was no longer agrarian, a harvest festival didn’t make an over abundance of sense anymore.  So, the rabbis discussed the idea that as the Festival of Weeks came seven weeks after the Passover feast, so did the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai come about seven weeks later.  The Festival of Weeks made sense to be the time to celebrate the giving of the Law.  

The festival of Shavuot changed from the harvest festival to a time of celebrating the revelation of God given to Moses and the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.  Both harvest and revelation.  

For us in the church, the Festival of Weeks, Pentecost, changed as well.  On that first Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection, Jews had come from all over, both within and beyond Israel, to Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Weeks.  Peter and the other apostles were also planning on celebrating the Festival of Weeks, the harvest festival, as they had so many years before, but then, something strange happened.  The Holy Spirit was revealed to them and to those gathered near them as tongues of fire, resting upon them, and those Jews who had come from all over heard the apostles speaking to them in their native languages, not just in the Hebrew language. God was connecting these people from disparate parts of the region into one people, through the Holy Spirit. Both harvest and revelation.  

The harvest was the church.  The revelation was that God was not just the god of one people, but that God truly was the God of the whole earth, indeed of the whole cosmos.  See, as Israel was being formed as a nation, there were near constant struggles with other nations.  Who was going to win?  As they would fight, God would win the victory over other nations' gods.  

So, the God of Israel was the supreme God over all others.   We read in Psalm 82:1, “God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment.”  Whether considered gods or lesser heavenly beings, they were all subservient to the God of Israel, the God of all creation.  Even so, God was often understood as a tribal god.  As with all the other tribal gods, God was seen as the God of Israel, not of all the peoples.  He was God above all, but favored that one nation.  A tribal God.  

Then, the birth of the church at Pentecost, the harvest, and the revelation that God was not the God only of one people, but the God of all peoples, as each heard in their own language the proclamation of the apostles.  Pentecost is both the harvest of the church and a revelation that God desires one people throughout the earth, unity, rather than tribalism.  

This idea had been spoken of through prophets many timed before, and Paul wrote of this idea in his letter to the Ephesians, that God is the God of all peoples and that God’s desire is for all of humanity to be united.  In Ephesians chapters 1-3, Paul writes of the mystery of God that has been revealed, namely that God would gather up all things in Jesus, all things in heaven and on earth.  Paul wrote of Jesus as sitting at the right hand of God in the heavenly places (where these other gods dwelt), and Paul wrote the church as the body of Christ, dwelling as Christ’s body with God in the heavenly places right now, so that we are both here on earth living out our mortal lives and at the same time we are in the heavenly places joined together as Jesus’ body.  

Paul went on to say that we are joined together with Jesus as part of God’s revelation, that we are in the heavenly places revealing even to the gods or heavenly beings, the the unity that God has in mind for all of humanity.  No more tribalism and no more tribal gods.  One people living in unity.  

Now, that does not mean that we are meant to convert all people to Christianity.  We’ve tried doing that for a couple millennia, sometimes even forcing conversions on others.  That’s led to lots of conflict, war, and disunity.  Forcing, coercing, and shaming conversion has not been a quest for unity, but the Church turning God into one more tribal god.  We don’t find unity through tribalism and conflict.  We find unity through love and belief that there is one God over all humanity.  Many of us call God by different names, and that’ ok.  God is big enough for all our names.  

That’s what we found when we worshipped for over two years at Temple Sinai.  While both congregations believe in the God of Israel, we believe such different things about that God, that as far as religion goes, they are very distinct.  As much as our beliefs area different, however, we also get to believe that we worship not two different tribal gods, but the same High God who is God of all the tribes, of all the nations.  Being at Temple Sinai, we found that we don't need to be right in our beliefs or for the other religion to be wrong.  We have unity and love with Temple Sinai while still worshipping with two very different faiths.   

The same is true throughout the earth.  We call God by different names, and God is big enough to answer to all of them.  God’s mission for the church is to strive for unity among the peoples of the earth.  God’s mission for the church is to live and to share God’s great love for all humanity.  God’s mission for the church is for us to be united, both here and in the heavenly places among the gods, the heavenly beings.  Our mission, our way of life, is unity with all people through love and forgiveness, and to share that unity with all of humanity both here and in the heavenly places as God gathers up all things in him, both in heaven and on earth.  

You Are Still Beloved

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
April 1, 2021
Maundy Thursday, B
Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

You Are Still Beloved

Most of us have absolutely no idea what we would do in a crisis situation.  If our lives were suddenly in eminent danger, how would we respond?  We may know what we would plan to do, just as Peter and the disciples had all planned to stay by Jesus’ side even if it meant their death.  Like Peter and the other disciples, however, our plans may not match up with reality, simply because in that life or death, high stress situation, our thinking brains tend to shut down and Lizard Brain takes over.  Any plans we made go out the window, and whatever wiring we’ve got down there tells our bodies, “Nice idea, Sparky, but here’s what you’re going to do now.”  That’s what happened with Peter, when he truly planned to die with Jesus if need be, but the fight or flight part of his brain, over which he had virtually no control, wasn’t gonna have it.  

Jesus knew this instinctual nature within his disciples was going to take over.  He knew them better than they knew themselves.  So, perhaps in Jesus’ prediction of their denial and abandonment of him, he wasn’t trying to frighten, shame, or even warn them.  Perhaps instead, Jesus was letting his disciples know ahead of time that he knew them, he knew their failures and their faults, and he sill loved them and was with them to the end.  

Perhaps Jesus was telling them of their actions ahead of time so that afterwards, as they felt guilty and apologized, Jesus could remind them, “I already knew. You were afraid and you did the best your minds would allow you to do.  I knew.  I understood.  I understand, and you are still beloved.  So peace be upon you and let your failure go.”  Peace be upon you, and let your failures go.  God already knows.  God already knew, and you are still beloved.

Broken and beaten, God has joined with the Judas dwelling in us all

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
April 4, 2021

Palm Sunday, B

The Fourth Chapter:  The Plot Against Jesus

Matthew - The plot against Jesus

Broken and beaten, God has joined with the Judas dwelling in us all

A man brought a gun into a store in Colorado and killed 10 people.  A police officer crushed a man’s neck with his knee, slowly killing him over nine minutes.  Judas betrayed his friend and Rabbi to be arrested and killed.

When we hear of such atrocities, we often say, “Who in their right mind would do such a thing?”  Well, no one.  No one in their right mind would commit such atrocities.  Fear, anger, hurt, mental illness, stress to the point of fracture are all at play in the minds of those who kill and betray.  

We like to think that given the same circumstances, we wouldn’t commit such atrocities.  Maybe not, but that may only be because of the wiring and chemical makeup in our brains…things over which we have no control.  

All are betrayers.  All are innocent.  

All perpetrate violence.  All are victims.  

Telling the story of Judas’ betrayal as simplistically as Judas (the bad guy) betrayed Jesus (the good guy) is not what Jesus taught.  “Neither do I condemn you,” is what Jesus taught.  Come, sit and eat with me, you who have been broken and beaten by others, is how Jesus lived.  “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,” is what Jesus prayed on the cross.  Rather than hate, Jesus saw people as broken and beaten.

Broken and beaten, Judas betrayed his friend.  Broken and beaten, a gunman and police officer killed the people they killed.  All are broken and beaten by all the hurt in their lives.  Broken and beaten by the harmful lessons they learned.  Broken and beaten by the wiring within their minds.  Broken and beaten even by traumatic versions of Christianity in which most people are damned and only a select few are saved.  

Broken and beaten, Judas dwells within us all.  That’s why God took those acts of betrayal and murder unto Godself.  The fear, anger, hurt, mental illness, stress to the point of fracture.  God joined with the worst of us so that even as the Judas kiss comes from our lips, we are understood, loved, and have an advocate saying, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”