On sheep and Adventers and splinters . . .

     Why does God use the image of shepherd to describe His relationship with us?  I suppose, when people really ask that question, they want to know why God is insulting them by calling them a sheep.  But it is a question which has come up in a number of Advent locales the last month.  It’s been a subject in Sunday morning Bible study led by Larry.  It’s come up in our Monday morning and Tuesday evening Bible studies.  It even served as a discussion on social media in light of language and Prayer Revision proposals at General Convention.

     I have to confess I have never really thought of sheep language as insulting or misogynistic or separating us from God.  I have been told that because I am a white aging male heterosexual in the church, I wouldn’t.  Sheep language speaks to patriarchy and misogyny and the oppression of minorities in Scripture, at least according to some.  Like you, I am scratching my head at that one.  I did not give it much thought, truth be told.  I assumed that those who tended sheep in Israel were, well, Jews.  If people tended sheep in Egypt, I would assume that they were Egyptians.  If folks tended sheep in Midian, I assumed they were Midianites.  Quite frankly, thanks to Moses’ wife, I don’t really even think of being a shepherd in the ANE as an exclusively male occupation, though I do recognize that men mostly did it.  But women seem to have been capable of doing the job in Scripture, or at least in the movies about Scripture!

     The other problem, of course, is that we believe Scripture is God breathed.  That means God is involved in the writing, the editing, the collecting, and every other part that goes into His people’s decision discerning that a writing belongs in Scripture.  God does not seem to be too big on insulting or shaming us.  God is all about confronting us with the truth, but He is not a parent who works by shaming.  If calling us sheep were somehow oppressive, I figure the Holy Spirit would have helped remove those references in Scripture over time.  The fact that they remain tells us there is something important in the use of that imagery.

     It’s also helped by the fact that one of my seminary professors was a bi-vocational priest early in his ordained life.  Many of you read the article that Leander wrote for The Living Church looking to the future life of our church, now that GC has made its decisions.  More than one of you have remarked to me or on social media how gentle his article was.  Leander, I am sure, would credit some of his softness to those lessons he learned early in his pastoral life.  FYI—Leander is the one who told the story “Away to me” and the priest who once lost a body.  Well, he did not lose it technically.  He started out performing a traditional funeral in a church cemetery that ended with an unexpected burial at sea.  We are, as he taught from time to time in class, very much like sheep.  In fact, our real problem is that we are removed from an agrarian society.  We assume we know about farm life; when, in fact, most of us would starve were we to use our “knowledge” to feed ourselves and those whom we love.

     For example, how many of us think sheep are stupid?  Go ahead, raise your hands.  Of those of you with hands upraised, how many of you have spent significant time with sheep?  Whoa!  Those went down quick.  Why, then, do you think they are stupid?  Ah, don’t watch where they are going?  Good.  Can’t tell wolves from other sheep, good.  You’ve been told they eat things that are bad, if not poisonous, for them, good.  I’ll actually cover those qualities in a second, but let’s talk about their supposed stupidity first.  They are not stupid animals at all.  Talk to a sheep farmer and you will quickly learn that sheep are fantastic at finding a hole.  If there is a hole in the fence, every one of them will find it and escape.  It’s almost like they don’t want to be penned in.

     How do they find the holes or broken spots in fences?  Some shepherds wonder that, too.  You see, sheep have great vision from about 12-18 inches in front of their face.  Think how their bodies are shaped and they heads work.  Their vision is perfect for seeing what’s in front of them.  But, seeing some distance ahead or some distance behind is nigh impossible.  That frustrates the shepherds because they find the damn holes so easily! 

     That eyesight, too, contributes to predators’ ability to sneak up on them.  They are, as you’ve now been reminded, great at seeing what’s right in front of them.  If a wolf or other predator approaches from the side or behind and, more importantly, from downwind, they have no way of telling who or what is there.  When the dogs herd them, they are responding more to the barking, the noise, than to any real fear of the size or appearance of the dog.  And, if the dog is a good nipper, then pretty much any dog can be used to herd the sheep.

     One other characteristic stands out about sheep: they are incredibly stubborn!  Once a sheep gets an idea into its head, it seems to stay there.  Leander, just to remind you, famously talked about sheep with an incredible urge and drive to start swimming for Portugal from their island pastures off the coasts of New Brunswick and Maine.  In case you did not know it, wool does not make the best floatation device.  And, it’s a long swim from the NE coast of North America to Portugal!  Yet, sheep will work hard to get where they think they want to be.

     Sheep are also evolutionarily weak.  They are really dependent upon others and upon their human shepherds for survival.  Many animals have an instinct for things that are dangerous or poisonous to them.  Sheep have no such quality.  Their method seems to be “if it’s green, I’ll eat it.  If it moves, it must be another sheep.”  Leander would share stories of how shepherds would go looking for their flocks, across a hill or ravine, only to find the flock decimated by a noxious plant or predator.  They simply did not recognize the danger, even after the danger began preying upon others in the flock.

     I could go on, but hopefully you have begun to see why God uses the image of sheep to describe us.  Many of us are pretty stubborn, often to the point of being stiff-necked.  We are often narrowly focused.  We know what we want, and we want it now!  We are often oblivious to dangers.  Why do you think so many of us get hooked on drugs or alcohol or engage in unsafe sex?  Why do you think so many of us eat too much or exercise too little, knowing the long term consequences of such behavior?  We are easily blinded.  If left to our own devices, we can often find ourselves entangled, wounded, or injured.  Although we do not recognize it, we are highly dependent upon someone caring for us.  We tend to follow the herd unless we get a new idea in our head that causes that stubborn streak to rear its head.  One might argue that part of the discord facing our country is the increase in the number of voices willing to shepherd us.  Many of those offered voices do not have our best interests at heart.  I hear and see the rueful laughter and expressions on your faces.  You get that metaphor a bit better.

     There’s another image at play, too, when God is describing us as sheep and either Himself or Jesus as the Good Shepherd.  Kings in the ANE described themselves as shepherds.  The idea was that the people needed someone to care for them, like sheep.  They needed someone to protect, to feed, to tell them what was best for them.  The problem, of course, was that too many kings were intent on their own self-interest rather than the good of their people, much like those “entertainment” and “wisdom” voices offered today in our own time.  God, of course, is the only One truly concerned about what is best for His people.  But we Americans chafe at the idea of kingship.  The idea that one person could tell us what is best for us is an abomination or four letter word.  We can figure out what we need.  We can take care of ourselves.  And so we reject this image because we really reject the idea of bending the knee. 

     Think I am kidding?  Look at the recent GC discussions over the idea of LORD as being too masculine and misogynistic.  How many of us are willing to go along with God, so long as His ideas don’t impinge on our freedom, our knowledge, or our opinions?  How many of us try hard to recreate God and claim ownership of Him?  My God would never . . . My God does not require me to go to church.  My God does not expect me to carry a cross that hurts.  My God understands I need to make sure the Vestry is spending my gifts, my tithes, and my offerings on the right things.  Oooh.  That caused some squirming.  Did I hit to close to the truth in our hearts?

     That understanding, of course, serves as background for one of the central points of our lesson.  He had compassion for them, because they were sheep without a shepherd.  When does Jesus’ compassion, God’s compassion, finally wear thin?  When, in Scripture, are you and I ever taught that God does not have compassion for us and our plights, no matter whether are plights are our own making or the making of someone or something else?  Good answer.  If you did not hear, there was a cry of Judgement Day.  Certainly the parable of the workers in the vineyard speaks to that.  All who get in to work before the whistle blows get the days’ wages.  Time and time and time again, how does God respond to the short-sightedness, the stubbornness, the sin of His people?  Compassionately.  How do we?  How do we who claim Him as Lord and who claim to be His heralds, His ambassadors, how do we respond to the needs of those around us?  Is there a limit to our response?  Is there a point at which we have decided we have helped enough, that we have given them all that He requires of us?

     I have been reminded of the need for Sabbath rest by some Adventers these last few weeks.  It has dawned on some that we do not get away enough.  In truth, I think I have only used three or four weeks of vacation since I arrived at Advent, and all but one of those was the first summer, the last being Amanda’s graduation.  So, in the lead up to this sermon, I knew this would be the classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.  If I stood in the pulpit and chewed us out for not taking our Sabbath, I ran the risk of some Adventers preaching my own sermon back at me later in the week.  Rightfully so.

     Sabbaths are vitally important to us and our life with God, and we may get to that in a moment.  The are needed, vital, for us to tune out the noise of the world and to focus on the still, small voice of God.  I am more concerned right now, though, with the limits of our compassion.  How do we respond to others in need?  Where do we limit our response?  When is enough enough?  These are clearly challenging questions, right?  Jesus leads His disciples away to rest and eat.  But the crowd hunts them down.  As tired as He is and the disciples are, though, Jesus does not send them away.  He sees they are like sheep without a shepherd and begins to teach them.  Heck, we skip over it until next week, but He eventually feeds them, after challenging the disciples about the food!

     As important as Sabbaths are, God values compassion even more.  After all, you and I are called by Him to represent Him to the world.  That means we are required to be open to the need that is around us at all times and to respond as He calls us to respond.  How we respond to those in need, of course, testifies to our belief in God as our Lord, our Shepherd, often in ways we never consider.

     Giving is an easy measure and testimony.  Many of us are happy to give when it is convenient or we have plenty.  But what about those times that it gets in the way?  Say, maybe when you are out to dinner or a movie?  Perhaps when you cross the street or avoid someone because you know the ask is coming?  If God is the Creator of all that is, seen and unseen, if He is truly limitless and cares for us, should there be a limit to our giving?  I am not talking about the needs we do not know or the needs that we do not have.  I am talking about those needs we know, those needs we have, and that we guiltily avoid or excuse.  Why kind of testimony are we offering the potential receiver?  What kind of testimony are we offering those around us?  And how do we respond when things, be they money, time, emotions or other, are stretched thin or frayed?  Do we respond as does our Lord, or do we turn miserly?  Selfishly?

     Jesus has the same need for a break in His Incarnated form.  Yet how does He respond?  It’s easy to excuse our shortcomings, right?  I am not God.  Maybe the stories are embellished.  We are quick to think up excuses which justify our actions and decisions rather than to do the best we can to follow our Lord and Savior.  If I helped every bum I encountered, I’d be a bum myself!  If I gave to ever cause God put on my heart, I’d have no money for me!  If I wasted time on all these people, I’d never have time for me.  Squirming again, huh?

     I do not speak this as one condemning, I am right there in the midst of it with you.  Some of you are really good about calling me or visiting me on Fridays.  In my mind, there are 150-200 Adventers whom I know God has given into my cure.  In the minds of Adventers, there may be as many as 600 or so.  Can you imagine the temptation I have not to answer the phone on Fridays?  How many 10-15 minute conversations would it take you for you to let the calls go to voicemail?  Or how many times would it take for an individual to call you on your Sabbath about something non-emergent to let them go to voicemail?  Yet, as the professional disciple around here, what should be my response?  Should it be the response of the world, or should it mimic the response of God?  Of course, we are all disciples of God when it comes right down to it, why should your response to need be any different than what you expect of me?  Yes, time away for rest and refresh is important, but you and I minister among sheep in the wilderness.  Their needs do not always correspond to what is easy for us.  In fact, Jesus would say quite the opposite.  We are, are we not, called to bear crosses, not signs of relaxation.

     In the end, the real teaching of this section for us this season is that we are insufficient to meet the need of those around us.  If left to our own devices, our own resources, we would fail.  We know this, even though we don’t really know this.  Thankfully, mercifully, compassionately, we are not.  We are called by God, equipped by God, supplied by God, taught by God that He is the Good Shepherd, that He is the only One who can meet needs.  It is only He that truly has the best interests of me and you and everyone we encounter in the world at heart.  The best you and I can do is serve as signposts, as pointers, to Him.  Sometimes, that work is best done when we are out of patience, when we are out of supplies, when we are out of resources, because then you and I are reminded of our insufficiency and of His complete sufficiency to meet whatever need.  It is in those frustrating moment of our impotence that His power is best evidenced to us.  What’s the verse, His power is made perfect in weakness?

     Too often, you and I like to think that it is we who are making a difference in the lives of others.  I do not wish to downplay His desire that you and I respond as He asks, but we often inflate our standing in His kingdom in our own eyes, both to our own spiritual danger and to the detriment of others.  Were it not for the Holy Spirit giving us eyes to see, would we see that beggar soon enough to cross a street to avoid him or her and their need?  Were it not for the Holy Spirit giving us ears to hear, would we be able to hear the need that is so often behind the expressed want or need?  How otherwise do we even think to ask the probing question or questions?  Were it not for the Holy Spirit giving us hearts to understand the needs of those with whom we are in particular relationships, would we know to let them go to voicemail or to let the call for help go unanswered?  And were it not for God blessing us, would we have anything, anything at all that might allow us to show compassion in His name?

     Our focus these last couple weeks have been on baptism.  Beginning next week we will begin the shift to the Eucharist.  It’s how the lectionary divided the readings and not Brian’s grand plan.  I do recognize, however, that there has been a real tension in the lives to which we are called and the lives in which we live.  A couple weeks ago, I reminded us all that God, by virtue of our baptisms, has sworn a covenant with us not dissimilar to the one He swore with David.  As a result, we should be mindful of the fact that God is with us, no matter what we face or experience in life and no matter the testimony of the world.  I have also reminded us all these last few weeks that, although God desires each and every one of us to choose to serve Him, He is not “lucky that we chose Him” or His side.  That kind of pride can lead to all kinds of spiritual dangers and even damnation.  The difficulty is reminding ourselves to Whom we are bound.

     If we mistakenly believe that this, all this and the associated ministries here at Advent, are the doings of you and me, we will ultimately fail.  This parish will wither and die.  I’m not bad as far as professional clergy go.  I’m fairly smart, pretty well-educated.  I think I’m attractive.  Wait, why are y’all laughing like I just told a joke?  I can read balance sheets and budgets.  I can speak effectively to the working poor in our community and the Vandy-educated.  But nobody has ever accused me of walking on water, of feeding 5000 men besides women and children, of casting out demons, of healing the sick, of freeing a slave, or anything else of my own power.  Those miracles have clearly been of God.  In fact the stories y’all enjoy the most are the ones in which we, both you and I, marvel at God’s redemptive power, God’s omnipotence, and God’s compassion.  Similarly, nobody in the wildnernesses in which y’all serve should have any suggestion that you are little messiahs.  That role has been filled by the only One who could fill it.  What makes us significant, what makes our work truly valuable, is the One for Whom you and I are called to work.  And it is only through His instruction, His callings, His provision, and even His judgment that you and I are valued.  To put it in biblical language, His image is stamped on us, not the other way around.

     Brothers and sisters, for some months I have allowed to lie dormant the idea of a corporate ministry.  It is not because I have given up or because I do not think we are called to one.  Rather the converse.  I have come to realize, though, that few of us are truly attuned to God, few of us strive to hear the voice of our Shepherd.  Some of us show up for worship most Sundays.  Far fewer really study God’s Word.  Fewer still are engaged in various ministries.  And we have the gall to question, to wonder, why it is so hard for us to hear His voice and to wonder why He is not blessing us in the way that we think we deserve.  Our readings these last few weeks have been challenging, I get that.  We have spoken of the comfort and the fear that should come from knowing He is with us.  But these readings are also full of great and wonderful news.  God wants to use you!  God wants you to commit to Him!  But, to do that, we must commit on His terms, not our own.  And it’s there, perhaps, that we find the most splinters from the cross He asks each of us to bear.  The path that He has staked out to glory for all His children, all His adopted sons and daughters, is one that leads through failure, through pain, through privation, and eventually even through death.  But even our death is not the last word if we are His beloved children, if we have committed to Him, if we have determined to trust Him with everything we have!  Such is the covenant that He is made with each one of us at our baptisms that He would be besmirched, He would be dishonored, were He unable to keep His promises to us and for us.  And so, all those evils through which He allows us to pass is none other than the path that leads to glory.  Not a fleeting glory like the world’s 15 minutes of fame.  But an eternal peace, an eternal joy, of THE job well done, of a sheep that is beside still waters.

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†

A nuking and and a big promise . . . on the occasion of Riley's baptism!

     I shared last week how I really wished last week’s readings had been the one assigned for this week, the day when we baptized Riley into the Body of Christ, the Church.  I lamented that the reminder of that wonderful blessing we are promised, the Lord be with you, is conferred upon us in this act.  In a bit, I will mark Riley’s head following the baptism with oil and proclaim that she is sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever.  You all will affirm that promise and remind yourselves that the same promise and anointing was made over you in your response of “Amen.”  By virtue of that sacramental act and anointing, you and I and all who are baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit are adopted into the family of God.  In ways we do not really understand fully on this side of the grave, we become princesses and princes in God’s kingdom.  As I shared last week, we are very much like David.  Hopefully, and by God’s grace, we will have a heart like God’s; and, more importantly given our human nature, we will repent when we do evil and try to follow God again.  It’s a complex relationship, very much like God’s relationship with David.

     I dreaded heading into the sermon for this week.  For one, Carol reminded me I needed to have a great sermon for her granddaughter.  Now, Carol knows me well enough to tease me a bit.  She has been known to approach me on the bicycle at the Y and in a voice a bit more NJ or Philly-filled that her normal voice today, ask me some ridiculous theological question that, until I turn around to see who is posing the question, causes me that moment of “you have got to be kidding.”  Then she strolls off to her next machine or treadmill giggling.  Plus, much of my week has been spent in pastoral conversations with folks about General Convention . . . again.  Baptisms run the risk of being perceived as a local event only, but the sacrament has, presumably, been undertaken by all our deputies at GC, even if their language and ideas are sometimes at odds with our own.  That means, in a real and mystical sense, we are family.  Little Riley is getting baptized into this “Episcopal branch of the Jesus movement.”  That means she is part of this family, even as she is part of the wider family of God.  Luckily for her, this particular branch of the family of God that we call Advent tries hard to put the fun in dysfunction.  And, while bigger events seem at play in the world that might cause us to question whether God is with us or has abandoned us, I recognize that, for many Adventers, life has gone on this week.  Folks have had accidents and illnesses, some potentially serious.  There are some smaller family issues playing out as well, issues that have little fun in them.  And so, the task this week seemed a bit more weighty than usual. . . and I had not yet gotten to the readings!

     Now, take a second before I get going and look at the readings.  Keep in mind I have learned that some Adventers actually keep my sermons for the child I have baptized.  So look at my choices.  Do I, hmmmm, preach on the decapitation of John the Baptizer on the occasion of Riley’s baptism?  It would have the advantage of being gruesome and memorable, plus, it reminds us that we bear a cross and are dead to ourselves and sin.  But it might make mom and dad and grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles normal human beings cringe a bit!  Well, at least the reading from 2 Samuel just has Uzzah getting zapped!  It does not come with the gore that we probably imagine in the description of John’s death.  In fact, we are not told if there was anything more than a pile of ash left where Uzzah was standing—we are sort of left to our own imaginations to figure out what God does to Uzzah.  The letter to the Ephesians and the Psalm were better readings for such an occasion if it took place absent the cares and concerns of us as individuals, the parish, the diocese, the church, the state, the nation, and the wider Church.  But you all get an idea of what preachers go through on a week in and week out basis.

     Against my better judgment, though, I found myself again drawn to the story of David.  Thankfully, poor Riley is too young to understand what’s happening today.  But in the event she one day hears that her baptism sermon was all about the nuking of Uzzah, let me remind her that I think the readings and her baptism serve as a bit of a counterpoint to our readings and my sermon last week.  Last week, we focused rightly on the promise that God is with us.  We know that, even though life’s circumstances sometimes make us wonder or even doubt.  If she is raised in the Episcopal Church, as grandma especially hopes, little Riley will be reminded of the reality of that blessing all the time in our “The Lord be with you.  And also with you” asks and responses.

     The danger that comes from remembering that God is with us, His immanence to use theological speak, is that we sometimes forget is wholly and holy Other, or transcendent to use the fancy language of the theologians.  The low fruit of this danger is probably best exemplified by those Christians who anoint our current President as a modern David.  There is a particular branch of the Jesus movement, to use PB Michael’s language, that now finds itself with a larger voice than it has ever had before in American politics.  What has it done in the estimation of many of its brothers and sisters?  It has re-created God in its own image.  Secular politics can certainly support tough policies against immigrants, but does God?  Secular politics can certainly support fewer safety nets for those without means of support, but does God?  Secular politics can certainly point to material blessings as an infallible sign of God’s grace, but does God share that same enthusiasm?

     And, lest the political conservatives among us this day feel like they are the ones being picked on, let’s look at how we do things in our own branch of God’s people.  We have a well-earned reputation for being socially progressive when compared to the wider country and the other churches in our country.  But are we really listening to God?  Never mind the hot button issues of GC these last couple weeks.  Anybody speaking against BCP Revision the last ten days has been portrayed as what?  Fearful.  The discordant message that seems to have been struck was that no one could have a logical opposition to BCP Revision.  The essential message is “you are afraid and should have more faith in me and my ability to do this for you.”  Read the FB comments, read the Twitter streams.  There’s a real condescension flowing from our Baby Boomer leaders to our Millenial leaders.  Both groups are deputies; presumably both are baptized.  But the disdain is palpable.  If that hits too close to home, let’s talk clergy discernment.  I have learned the last couple years I am a rare breed in the church.  I’m 50 with almost 15 years of experience!  I serve in and you all attend a church that seems to specialize in second career clergy.  There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but at what cost to our younger members and at what cost to our continuity from generation to generation in our church?  Some Adventers have served on CoM’s and B &C’s and heard those in the 20’s called “kids” and told “go get some life experience and then come back so God can use you.”  Somewhere along the line, we assumed second career clergy were the only folks God could use to grow His kingdom.  And then we have the audacity to wonder why “young folk” don’t want to be a part of us, even though every major survey among faithful under 40’s presents a desire for Truth and a desire for the mystical!  Put in our language, those in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s are seeking the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Sacrament!  And yet we insist on doing things our way, recreating God in our image, and shrinking our numbers and our work.  And how have we grown?  Ouch!  I know.  That’s a hard one.

     My conversations these last three years with you have taught me that many of us at Advent recreate God in our own image.  Some of us are very concerned about the sins of others in the world out there, but we are quick to excuse our own sins as “understandable, given our circumstances.”  Most are not blatant in their excuses, but they are there.  Deep worries about “those people” have been expressed to me, and others, regarding potential corporate ministries, as if “those people” are loved less than us by God and have a more tenuous grasp of His grace.  And while we are not here to hammer ourselves today, let’s not forget, during your search process, Adventers self-described as a country club.  When pressed about the privileges of membership, few had answers, but many acknowledged it was attitude that arose naturally from the Brentwood Bubble.  Think of your response to my invitation to Luis about immigration and refugee work.  Were you excited about the possibility that Advent could reclaim its historic role as a defender of those attacked in our midst, much like we advocated for the poor and freed slaves in the 19^th century, and encourage those around us to enter into meaningful dialogue?  Or were you, are you, worried that I had or have some secret agenda?  I could go on and on with examples, but I see the agitation.  Good.  Our hearts are not unlike those of ancient Israel in the days of King David.  We have reshaped God in our image; we have forgotten the chasm that exists between us and God because of our sin.

     Look back at the lesson from 2 Samuel.  I’m guessing that many of us do not know the story.  Saul used the ark of the covenant as a good luck charm.  A thought arose in Israel that God would have to protect the ark in battle.  After all, it was over the ark where God appeared to Moses in the Tent of Meeting that travelled with Israel during the Exodus.  The ark was in the tent of meeting and kept in the very center of the people during the Exodus.  We understand that “good luck charm” aspect of our faith pretty well.  How many of us mistakenly believe that the United States is God’s chosen country?  How many of us truly believe that God will protect us against all enemies because He has to, because He needs us to accomplish His plan of salvation in the world?  It’s ok; you are not alone.  The Jews thought Rome could never destroy the Temple because it was God’s home.  Prior to that destruction, their ancestors said the same thing about the First Temple.  We know how well that worked out, or at least we should.

     Saul determined to battle the Philistines even though the prophet said no.  What’s a king to do when he wants to fight and God’s prophet says don’t?  Saul thought Take the ark.  The ANE believed that what happened on earth mirrored what happened in the heavens and vice versa.  Yahweh could not allow His ark to be defeated in battle, so He would have to fight for Saul.  Big mistake.  Huge.  Guess who won the battle?  That’s right, the Philistines.  They captured the ark and took it back home with themselves.  It was their way of showing their god’s superiority over the God of Israel.

     Of course, God refused to cooperate with the Philistines.  They, their flocks, and even their idols began to break out in painful boils.  At some point, they wondered whether the God of Israel was doing this to them, so they had a couple oxen pull a cart with the ark out of their territory.  Eventually, the oxen stopped near the house of Abinadab, but, more importantly to the Philistines, the painful boils stopped.  They put two and two together, figured out that God was not diminished by their victory over His people, and wisely decided to let the ark stay right where it was.

     Flash forward in history.  David is now king of all Israel and ruling from Jerusalem.  He decides to bring the ark to the new capital.  So he gathers with 30,000 men to transport the ark to Jerusalem.  While we might understand David’s familiarity with God—after all, David has had more than 20 years of walking with Yahweh as His anointed—those of us who study the Bible must cringe at this decision.  You see, God gave specific instructions describing how to transport the ark and who should do it.  David, though, just decides to transport it like the Philistines did.

     Not unsurprisingly, we skip this passage in our readings this week.  As the oxen are pulling the cart, one stumbles, threatening to overturn and drop the ark from the cart behind.  What does Uzzah, the son of Abinadab—the guy at whose house the ark has been residing since it left the Philistines, mind you—do?  He reaches up to steady the ark.  And God zaps him.  David is furious and terrified about God.  David is mad because God just killed a member of his retinue for doing something reasonable.  My guess is that Uzzah thought he was motivated by piety; he did not want to see the ark fall!  Who would?  So he reached out reflexively to steady it and the cart.  In the adage of “no good deed goes unpunished,” this might be the worst.  For his seeming good deed, Uzzah is zapped by God.  In fact, Scripture says that God’s anger burns toward Uzzah because of his irreverent act of reaching out to steady the ark.  David, for his part, is so angry and scared that he leaves the ark where it is, near the house of Obed-edom.  David, the 30,000 men, and the rest of Israel present go home.

     We learn that the ark stays with the house of Obed-edom for three months.  For three months, David wrestles with God and with what went wrong.  Presumably, this wrestling eventually involves studying the torah.  We learn in Exodus and it is reiterated in the torah that there is a specific way in which the ark is to be moved.  One family is allowed to pass poles through the rings of the ark and carry it.  No one else is allowed to touch it.  No one!  To further complicate matters, sacrifices of thanksgiving and blood offerings are to be made.  It is an exacting task, the moving of the ark.  Presumably, God’s grace was on the Philistines because they knew no better.  But David has no such excuse.  He has a twenty year journey with God under his belt at this point.  He is the king chosen by God.  He knows he is supposed to teach the people to keep the torah.  Though Scripture does not mention it, I imagine that David somewhere in his wrestling with God realizes that he is the one ultimately responsible for Uzzah’s death.  Had David done his duty correctly, Uzzah would not have been put in that position.  I don’t think it too far a criticism to say that David failed as a shepherd of God’s people.

     Now, that is not to say that Uzzah has no guilt.  Scripture calls his behavior irreverent.  We would say that Uzzah was deficient in his respect or veneration of God.  How?  He presumed to need to hold up God’s ark.  Uzzah forgot Whose ark it was and that He needs no help from us.  Of course, the buck stops at the top.  David was not doing his job.  It was his responsibility to remind people what God expected of His people.  I get David had a lot of other responsibilities, but his chief concern should have been to make sure that the people were obeying God’s instruction.  Once David determined to move the ark, and had the prophet’s blessing that such was the will of God, he should have scoured the torah to see how to move the ark.  It would have been a great idea to check with the prophet, too, to make sure God was ok with the way the Philistines moved it.  Whenever the king was unsure of God’s will, to whom was he expected to listen?  The prophet.

     One can well imagine this wrestling match.  In the beginning, David is likely vacillating between fear and anger.  Then, after emotions have cooled off, he realizes his culpability, his guilt, in Uzzah’s death.  To make things a bit more challenging for David’s internal debates, God, we are told, blessed Obed-edom the Gittite and his entire household because he takes the ark into his care.  David has this incredible blessing available to him, but it must be handled just as God instructed.  To use the language of Narnia: Aslan is like God.  He is good, but He is not tame!

     Our story ends with David going up to the house of Obed-edom with all the house of Israel.  The ark is transported in the way that God instructed His people.  There is celebration via shouting and music and even dancing!  The ark makes it safely to its new destination.  There David finishes offering the appointed offerings.  David blesses the people in the name of the Lord, and he distributes food to all the people of Israel.  Everyone gets bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins.  And then they return to their homes.

     What is the lesson for us today?  Where is the Gospel in a message that involves the zapping of a man whose actions we are tempted to excuse?  How might this passage help us understand God better as we renew our baptismal vows and, to use a bit of a metaphor, serve as a launching point for little Riley as she officially begins her relationship with God this day?

     I have already pointed out how this passage serves as a counterpoint or balance to the reminder last week that God who is with us by reminding us that God is not at all like us.  When we begin to describe God, we begin with His easier-to-understand attributes, at least what we think are easier-to-understand, when tend to describe Him anthropomorphically.  Heck, in that use of a pronoun, I have tried to make the God beyond our understanding into a “guy” of sorts, the Father, really, but you get the idea.  Each of those descriptors we use about God makes Him more and more like us.  We start with the attributes that we love (God is love; God is justice, God is merciful; God is soooo big—for those inclined toward a Monty Python theology), and then we move to those characteristics about God that make us uncomfortable.  Who likes to think of God as King in America?  How about Judge?  How about Right Hand or Warrior?

     The truth is that the descriptors of God leave you and I a bit too comfortable with God.  We choose words we like, we think we understand.  And then we begin to think that God is just like us.  At our sinful worst, when our pride is a bit puffed up, we think God is fortunate that we have chosen to be on His side, to have taken up His cause.  He should feel special that we have chosen Him when the reverse is what is true.

     CS Lewis, perhaps, in his books on Narnia captured God best in his descriptions of Aslan to little Lucy.  He is a good lion, but he is not a tame lion.  God is a good God, but He is by no means domesticated or tame.

     What does that have to do with our story today?  What does Uzzah do?  Uzzah was irreverent in that act of trying to hold up the ark.  It may seem a simple thing to you and me, that Uzzah was well meaning, but Uzzah is living out, incarnating if you will allow the term, the inner belief that he needs to support God.  Whether Uzzah’s understanding came from too much time with the ark or was simply misplaced, the result is the same.  In believing that he was necessary to support God, Uzzah forgot himself and his position before the God of the ark of the covenant.  He forgot the “otherly” nature of God.  He presumed.  He was irreverent, to use our translation today.

     Sitting there, you may wonder whether Uzzah really knew these things.  If he did not, he should have.  Could Moses enter the Tent of Meeting when the shekinah of God was present?  No.  Sinful humans could not be in the presence of God unless He made provision, unless He made it possible.  Continuing with Moses for just a second, remember how the people responded to Moses’ face reflecting that glory of God.  Moses, we need you to wear this veil because His glory radiating from your face terrifies us.  How do the people respond to the voice of God at Sinai?  Moses, you go listen to Him and then tell us and we will listen to you because His voice scares us to death.  Heck, even if Uzzah ignored history and the torah, he still had the recent experience of the Philistines and Israel.  God’s ark terrified the Philistines to the point that they sent the ark away rather than keeping it as a spoil of their most recent victory over Israel.  And, I know few of us remember this, that act of returning the ark caused some in Israel to be careless, irreverent, toward God in the ark.  When the ark made it to Beth-shemesh, just over 50,000 men were killed for looking into the ark.  Shocking, I know.  You had no idea that Indiana Jones might have portrayed the ark correctly.

     We live in a world that tries hard to domesticate God, just as it did 2700 years ago.  So many in the world want to believe that Jesus was just a wise sage who had some good teachings.  But they want to say that He was no different, in the end, than other thinkers or other religious leaders.  It’s a nice thought; it may even be understandable.  But you and I are called to reflect upon whether such notions are really true.  This day, we remind Riley and ourselves both that God is with us and that God is WITH us.  Yes, God is all those wonderful adjectives that we like to use to domesticate Him in our minds.  But He is also a God who takes righteousness and holiness and sin seriously.  He takes those negative behaviors so seriously, in fact, that only He could provide a way to overcome the sin nature in us and reconcile us to Him.  He takes our sin nature so seriously that He had to bridge the chasm that existed between us; we could not build that bridge ourselves.  And that we might know just how much He hated sin, He came down from heaven and, by force of will, hung on that Cross for you and for me and for little Riley, knowing how we would sin against Him, repeatedly, despite knowing His will for us.

     It is a truly miraculous event we proclaim this day when we baptize Riley and remind ourselves of our own baptism.  God loves and loved us enough to die for us; God loved us enough to bridge the chasm that existed between us because of our sin.  In that relationship that is sealed today for Riley and reminded for each of us witnessing, we are promised that just as we share in His death we share in His Resurrection!  Whatever needs we have, He will meet.  He may not meet them in the way that we want, but He will meet them in the way that we need.  In return, of course, we offer that new life in thankful service of Him and to Him.  In His Name we feed the hungry.  In His Name we clothe the poor.  In His Name we proclaim freedom to the captives and the enslaved.  In His Name we proclaim and live forgiveness to those who sin against us!

     And we even agree to be treated by Him as a beloved daughter or son.  When the world hears us claim we are sons or daughters or princes or princesses, it hears privilege.  You and I, of course, know better.  We serve a God who loves to redeem suffering.  We serve a God whose Son died on a Cross before entering into glory; and so we agree to serve, to be adopted, knowing that God will redeem the suffering that lies in our path.  Make no mistake, what was offered to each of us gathered here today on our baptismal day and what is offered to Riley this day is not a privilege in the way that the world understands.  There will be times when God’s grace will be evident to her and our eyes and protecting her from all kinds of evil and consequences of her sins.  Similarly, though, there will times when neither Riley nor us will see His grace present, where she and we will wonder if He is still there, if He is, in fact, with her.  And, unless our Lord comes again before He calls her home, she will one day, like our Lord, die.  It’s not exactly a great sales pitch, is it?

     But, by virtue of this sacrament, by virtue of this water, this oil, and the Holy Spirit, we and she will know herself to be sealed as Christ’s own forever.  In ways neither she nor we can ever explain fully, she and we are now covenantally bound to God and He to us.  Just as she is bound to represent Him to the world around her and we are bound to represent Him to the world around us, He promises to be with her and with us and to redeem her and us and to vindicate her and us for choosing Him.  It is a glorious relationship and promise, one made possible only through the love and mercy and grace of her and our loving Father in heaven, and through the death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Christ.  And in a real but mystical way, we understand now that the locus of His throne is shifted from the mercy seat of the ark and into her and our hearts.  But make no mistake, it is we who needed Him!  He invites, He woos; but He wins whether we accept or reject Him on His terms.

     One last note.  Our reading ends today with David making a fool of himself in the eyes of the daughter of Saul’s eyes.  That in itself would be a great sermon for Episcopalians.  We have a reputation for being stuffy and “the frozen chosen” when it comes to worship.  I have reminded us all this morning of the covenant that God makes with us in our baptism.  If I have done my job acceptably, all of us gathered have been reminded of the otherness, the transcendence of God, and our standing before Him through His response to Uzzah.  I have shared the weight and responsibility and, I hope, the promise and the hope we have in Him.  Notice, though, that God does not desire us to live in terrified fear or anger or  . . .  the overly seriousness with which so many serve Him.  Serving God is serious hard work; but is also glorious and joyful.  In a few short verses this morning, David goes from a bit . . . petulant or fearful and refusing to bring the seat of God into his city and his presence to a man who famously dances and sings and shouts for joy to the Lord in front of all the people he rules or shepherds.  It is a scene so undignified that it causes one of his wives to despise him in heart.

     But who better than David understands what God has offered?  Who better knows his sins and his weaknesses and his need for God?  In the coming weeks we will remind ourselves of his, at best adultery and at worst rape, of Bathsheba.  We will remind ourselves of his murder of Uriah.  Those who study the Psalms here on Monday will get immersed into any number of David’s thoughts, feelings, and actions.  By the world’s standards, he probably is not the guy whom God should have made a covenant.  Surely someone out there was less of an adulterer or less of a murderer or less of whatever sin of David you’d like to consider.   Hopefully, you and I know our sins, our weaknesses, and our need for His mercy and grace.  Knowing that He has sworn a covenant with us similar to the one with which he swore with David, how can we be any less joyful?!  You and I know the chasm that existed between us and God.  You and I know all the things that separated us from Him because we committed the sins.  Yet, despite ourselves, despite our stubborn wills, still He redeemed us!  Despite each one of us deserving God’s response to Uzzah, we get something unfathomably hopeful and promising!  The relationship which we remember this day and pronounce every time we come to the Table ought to cause in us a thankful joy, a joy becoming of ones redeemed!

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†

The Lord be with you . . .

     Weekends like this convince me that we ought to do Bible studies on the cut out passages.  Truly, given attendance at most churches to Bible studies, we should really just do a sermon series from the pulpits on those cut out passages.  I don’t know how attentive you are to what is cut out, but I am always amazed at how important the cutout passages are to understanding the passage selected by our lectionary editors.  As rector, of course, I have the right to include what’s cut out from the readings in our Order of Worship.  Often, I do.  But this week was super busy and my schedule was thrown for a loop.  Tina was off Thursday and Friday to spend time with Grace.  Wednesday was the Fourth of July.  That meant worship work had to be completed before I had discerned a sermon.  A great deal of work was done around here on Monday and Tuesday—basically, five days’ worth of work.  Of course, Tuesday saw the beginning of General Convention and all the accompanying social media blasts and blog posts.  That meant my work took a dramatic shift to the pastoral.  As a result, you did not get the skipped verses in your reading.

     Before I go any further, let me clarify some statements from earlier in the week.  I’m glad that some people like to sit around in meetings and talk and argue.  If it feeds them, I am glad they get to do something that energizes, that feeds them.  My problem with it is that they share their fights.  Every leadership group around here could not figure out a way for me to calm people down before the storm hit.  Some mistakenly thought there would be no storm.  Then came the calls, the e-mails, the texts, the drop-in’s, and not just from Adventers.  Add to that the headlines from mainstream media and my subsequent conversations at the Y and other places and I get. . . well, frustrated.  For the last month Adventers have been trying to use conversations with friends and co-workers regarding the Royal Wedding to invite people to Advent.  That’s awesome work!  I’ll do that any time.  My conversations at the Y and other places around town have been the same.  It has been refreshing to have positive publicity for a change.

     Then the headlines about GC changing the gender of God hit, and those conversations switched dramatically.  It is church growth suicide.  And before anybody gets to upset, I don’t care too much about expanding the language with which we speak of God.  I think I do a good job of reminding you that God is not misogynistic.  Given the matriarchs around here who, I think, would hardly shy from calling me out if I did not do a good job, I think I am safe in that self-evaluation.  God created women in His image, just as He created men.  It is incredibly hard, I think, to argue violence against women as a “godly” behavior.  It is incredibly hard, I think, to argue that women are not co-equal stewards with men.  Now, I recognize you and I live among some who go to churches who do just that.  I think we need to be reminded that God was the God of Sarah, Rachel, Rebecca, Hannah, Mary, just as He was the God of the men that often get listed.  And I think it important for us to pay attention to how Jesus ministered to women, such as we did last week in the healing and restoration of the bleeding woman.  We preachers need to be educating you how to engage with those in the world around you in a thoughtful, graceful, biblical way. 

     Of course, as much as I don’t mind expansive language, I am also mindful of Scripture and of historic, orthodox Christianity.  It is one thing to speak of God as a brooding hen or nursing mother or other image.  It is quite another to baptize in the name of the mother, the daughter, and the Holy Spirit or some of the other nonsense coming out of General Convention as reported by a press that wants to sensationalize everything.  Jesus gave us the Dominical Sacraments.  It was He who ordered baptism and the Eucharist.  We mess with those images at our peril.  But that’s a discussion to be held away from Advent.

     On top of that mess came the headlines that the Prayer Book needed to be Revised.  I learned quickly that the 1979 BCP, for all its faults, is as well loved by people today as the 1928 BCP was back in its day.  I have to laugh.  People are actually thinking about starting 79 Prayer Book Preservation groups!  Those of you who lived through those fights: Could you ever envision THAT!  All that, of course, reinforced what I thought God wanted us to hear today.  Who knows, maybe Tina is right?  Maybe others will read and calm down a bit.

     Before we get to that message, though, turn to the passage from Second Samuel.  To remind you where we are, to put it in context, as the hip theologians like to say, we are at the transition point between the peoples’ choice for a king, Saul, and God’s choice for a king, David.  You remember, no doubt, a few weeks ago or twenty years before our passage today, that David was anointed king of Israel by Samuel.  Samuel had instructed Jesse the Bethlehemite to bring his youngest, ruddy-faced son to the sacrifice.  That was whom God had chosen to be king/shepherd over His people Israel.

     That’s not to say the transition was easy.  We learn today that David had to wait nearly twenty years before he inherited the throne.  That twenty years included a lot of challenges.  A couple weeks ago, we read that one challenge was name Goliath.  We skipped over that bigger challenge, Saul.  Those who study Scripture may understand that Saul tried to kill David on several occasions.  Last week, I reminded you of that truth during David’s mourning for Saul, but it bears repeating for those who were absent.  It’s also not as if the people of Israel said “Hey, Saul is dead; now David is king.”  People are people.  We like to think that the divisions between the norther and southern kingdoms did not happen until after the death of Solomon.  The truth is a bit more complex.  After the death of Saul, those in power, particularly in the northern part of the kingdom, wanted to stay in power.  If kingship passed from Saul to David, who knew what David might do?  Who knew what their standing would be in the new administration?

     So, after a period of some political unrest and not-quite-civil war, all the elders approached David at Hebron.  Some of us may be cynical and think that they are simply trying to butter David up, but there is also a discerned truth.  Verse 1, We are your bone and flesh.  It is true.  They are all among the tribes of Israel.  Every single one of them could claim to be sons of Abraham and Sarah, that were part of the covenant lineage.  Is it a ploy not to be killed by a king mad over some battles?  Possibly.  But chiefly it is a public proclamation that they are a big family.

     Verse 2, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in.  Again, are the leaders merely flattering David?  No doubt some were sycophants.  But there is truth in their statements.  One of those discussions about David that infuriated Saul to the point that the latter would want to kill the former was that David was far more successful in battle.  Saul had killed his thousands, but David had killed 10,000’s.  What could be going on is a serious period of discernment on the part of the leaders of the northern tribes.  The skirmishes likely have not gone well in this internal battle.  No doubt some wiser heads began toput two and two together.  You know, while Saul was king David won the battles.  Maybe God is with David?  Such fruits would clearly cause some in the northern kingdom to accept the claim that the prophet Samuel had anointed David king.

     Whether the claims of the norther leaders were cynical or sincere, whether the statements were meant to flatter David and soften his stance against them or were, again, sincere, the fact remains that all of Israel acknowledges that David is God’s chosen king.  In the ANE, a king was a shepherd of his people.  And so Israel and David swear a covenant with each other.  David will pastor them according to God; they will support him according to God’s commands.

     Almost as interesting, of course, is David’s next move.  The people of Israel are coming off a period of great division.  There is some competition between the tribes of the north and the tribes of the south.  So, what does David do?  He conquers the Jebusites by means of some brilliant strategy involving the water or sewer and takes their city, Jerusalem, as his capital.  No one had conquered the Jebusites in recent memory, and some, including the Jebusites, thought the city impregnable.  Think of the situation in Israel as not dissimilar to our selection of our nation’s capital.  DC does not belong to any state.  It’s not part of Maryland; it’s not part of Virginia.  It is unique.  Similarly, Jerusalem did not belong to any tribe.  And, it does not hurt that it was sort of in middle ground.  Now, David has a capital city that neither the north nor the south has a particular claim.  It belongs to all of Israel.

     Our lectionary editors also kept in some interesting facts.  We learn thanks to the author that David finally ascended to throne in the eyes of human beings at the age of 30 and that his reign lasted over 40 years, 7 ½ years in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem.  Given all we learn in Sunday School as children, it is probably hard to believe that David accomplished all that he did before age 30.  We lose the bit about how David took the city; and we skip the part about how the lame and the blind are not welcome in his house.  But we get the significant point that I think we all need to be taught or reminded this morning.

     What causes those of Israel fighting David’s ascension to sue for peace and accept David’s rule?  Most of us would quickly assume that David won some important battles or cut off some important supply lines.  But what, or more importantly, who is behind David’s brilliant tactics?  God.  What causes those elders gathered to acknowledge finally David’s anointing?  We can be cynical and say they were buttering him up, but their reflection and evaluation is spot on.  When Saul was king, it was David who won the victories.  Even as a ruddy faced child, it is David, not Saul, who strides forth to battle Goliath.  Saul is there.  Saul hears the excitement and confidence of the young boy, yet all Saul does is offer David his armor.  When God gives Saul over to madness or an unclean spirit, whose singing soothes the king?  David’s.  Now, in a battle against a previously unconquerable people, David wins.

     At no point are we taught that David is the reason for David’s success.  Standing beside David, looming over David, protecting David, guiding David is the Lord.  It is the Lord who has steered David to this point.  It is the Lord who has protected David against Saul’s attempts to kill him.  It is the Lord who has given the Jebusites over to David.  It is the Lord who has caused Israel to see that it is the Lord behind all this.  Look at the last verse: David became greater and greater because the Lord, the God of hosts was with him.

     Why is this an important message for us today?  How many of us long to know that God is with us?  Everybody ought to be nodding or raising their hands.  We are all good Episcopalians, right?  What is the first thing we say to each other?  Ok, too tough for a stormy Sunday morning.  What’s the thing I say and you respond when we start a meeting or given directions in a loud space?  The Lord be with you.  And also with you.  Of all the blessings that we can have or ask on behalf of another, what is the most significant?  The Lord be with you.  Why?  Why do we value that knowledge that God is with us so much?

     At a core level that some of us might not be able to articulate, we fear separation, we fear apartness from God.  Human beings will disappoint us—we learn that lesson early and often.  Family members may love us, but they will sin against us.  Tempers get lost and hurtful words fly.  Sometimes, abuse even follows.  The idea that the Creator of that there is, seen and unseen, loves us dearly, is thus more greatly to be desired.  Sure, people chase money and power, people chase drugs and alcohol and sex, people chase all kinds of idols in attempt to fill that void we instinctually know is there.  But at are deepest, most fundamental level, we want to know that we are loved, that we are valued, that someone thinks us special.

     That kind of love in a God could not come from reason; comprehension could only come from revelation.  It’s part of what made the euangelion truly Good News in a world that thought the gods capricious and little more than super strong human beings.  Think back to your favorite stories of the Old Testament.  Can you go long before you begin to think of God with His people?  Adam & Eve?  Abraham and Sarah?  Jacob?  Ruth?  Elijah?  What is God’s promise to the prophets?  You will be My people, and I will dwell among you.  The Incarnation, of course, fulfilled that promise in ways unimagined by the prophets and teachers and saints of the Old Testament.  God really dwelling among us?!  And after His work on earth, what is one of the big fears addressed by the Apostles?  Have we been abandoned?  Does God care?  Like Ancient Israel during the Exile, we wonder at times whether God has forgotten us.  Abandoned us.  Surely, we’ve each earned that response from God.

     That question looms larger in the world today than it has in the past.  We live in an economically blessed community in an economically blessed country of the world; yet how many in our neighborhoods are one buy out of their employer, one major illness, one major terror away from unemployment and the loss of all they value.  Perhaps some of you share that anxiety.

     At least we can depend on our country to do things right, right?  One of the great blessings of General Convention for me has been the almost virtual ceasing of political commentary on my Facebook feed.  I have had to read only a couple posts declaring our current President the new Hitler or the anti-Christ and a couple remarking that the current President was a better choice than the alternative.  Few are working to change or influence policies with which they disagree; we seem to have gotten lazy and decided to lob grenades at one another across a virtual fence.

     Speaking of virtual fences, at least we have our neighborhoods.  At least we know we share connections with people who live near us, right?  I’m guessing by the rueful laughing that you don’t hang out on the porch drinking tea or adult beverages with your neighbors any more.

     Well, at least we can depend on our church to provide us with good relationships and rocky steady dependence, right?  That’s ok, that does deserve a big belly laugh.  I have to admit I have been both bemused and annoyed by the rantings of some deputies and others who seem totally surprised by the pushback against BCP Revision.  Given the uncertainty in geo-political forces, the uncertainty in our interpersonal relationships, is it any wonder that people do not want upheaval in their religious life?  Is it any small wonder that people have pushed back hard against the idea of change?  And, make no mistake, I am not against change as such.  One of the geniuses of the Prayer Book is that it can evolve with language, which itself is always evolving.  I am, as a pastor though, very much aware that some, if not most, of those involved should not be entrusted with that evolution.  PB Michael made the wonderful observation this week that if those deputies and those in charge of revising are not doing the Daily Office and encountering Jesus day in and day out through the current Prayer Book, they had no right to expect to be able to discern God’s voice in this process.  It feel on deaf ears in the House of Deputies, clearly, but PB Michael was simply expressing in another way that connection with God for which we all long.  For many of us, the offices and rites and sacraments in that red book in your pews represents the timeless and changeless love of God.  When so many other things are in upheaval, why mess with it?  Why add anxiety to what’s already on people minds?

     The truth is, of course, that you and I should expect uncertainty from the world and should know that God is with us in the midst of any uncertainty.  He’s in the midst of us when we think we have certainty, but we do not often go looking for Him then.  But we know that Episcopal blessing is true.  The Lord is with us when we are seeking to do His will in the world around us.  How do we know this?  The central sacrament or teaching of that BCP that so many hated in 1979 that so many of you are loathe to consider changing is baptism.  It is in that sacrament that we are reminded that we are dying to self, that we will bear a cross to His glory, and that we will, one Day in the future, share eternally in His glorious Resurrection.  We are, in a real sense, given our marching orders.  We are to reach out to those in the world around us and draw them into His saving embrace.  And when we fail, as He knows we will and do, we are simply to repent and return to Him.

     And that Sacrament is not a private affair.  We do that in community to remind ourselves again and again of His claim on our life and our promises we made to Him.  Will you continue in the Apostles’ teaching, in the Breaking of Bread, and in the prayers?  Will you persevere in resisting evil?  Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?  Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?  Will you respect the dignity of every human being?  You know the questions.  You know the answer.  We will, with God’s help.

     It is in that Sacrament, though, that you and I are reminded that the void is filled.  We are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.  It may seem insignificant compared to the teaching about water or the instruction regarding our vows, but that sealing is a promise that God will be with us always.  When we sin, He is there to mitigate the evil we risk through His grace and power.  When we do His will, He is even more visibly present sharing with us the glory we intended for Him.  In all times and all places, the baptized should have an understanding that God is, indeed, with them.  And if the Lord, the God of hosts is with us, who can stand against us?

     Brothers and sisters, I know the event in the world around us seem crazy and disjointed.  Perhaps your friends wonder where this God of yours is in the midst of craziness, of brutality, of fake news, of armed domestic and foreign threats, of thin skin and short temper.  Who would not wonder?  Though Scripture does not tell us much of David’s internal debates, can you imagine what ran through his mind for 20 years?  When Saul tried to kill him repeatedly?  When the Jebusites taunted him from the wall of their city?  When he found himself seeking sanctuary among his sworn enemies, the Philistines?  When he found himself later in life sinning against Uriah and then killing him?  When he found himself on the run yet again, as his own son rose up against him?  Yet, through it all, God kept his promise to be with David, just as He keeps His promise always to be with you and with me.

     That promise, brothers and sisters fills the void we all fill and is the longing to which we are all attuned.  It is a promise of both encouragement and of mercy.  It is, in a real sense, a vocalization of Christ’s work on the Cross.  We know, because He is with us, that we can accomplish that to which He calls us.  We can attack any evil in His name because we know His heart desires it and that His power is such that our feeble failing can be redeemed.  And even if to human eyes it appears our failure is complete because of our death, we know, we absolutely know that one day, like Lazarus or Jairus’ daughter, He will command us to rise.  And rise we will!  To be vindicated for our trust in Him and to share in His glory.

     It is also, of course, a promise of mercy.  So often, you and I are worried that if somebody figures us out, if somebody realizes who we really are, they’d lose respect or love for us.  In God, of course, we know He knows every secret part of us.  Just like David’s great sins, He knows our own great sins.  And still He chooses to be with us despite ourselves!  To walk us through the consequences of our sins as any good Father would, let alone our heavenly Father!  And, ultimately, to redeem us from the consequences from those sins.

     Those words and that promise were the gift of life to David, just as they are the gift of life to you and to me!

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†