Again, if this sermon speaks to you, you owe 8 o’clockers and God a prayer of thanksgiving, especially on a day where they rolled out of bed and into church at that hour, after losing an hour of sleep last night. My sermon today is a bit “off” for Lent. I know we are called traditionally to focus on our need of the Savior for these six weeks, as we work our way to Holy Week and especially the Triduum. But sometimes the readings and experience, in light of prayer, lead us in a bit different way.
Truth be told,
there were a lot of sermons possible for us today. There was even an opportunity for me to
remind you in light of last week’s Morning Prayer ante Communion that, contrary
to the belief of some Adventers, the Bible did not copy the BCP. Yes, that’s right. The Venite, which many of you know the song
from your youth, is a lyrical composition based on Psalm 95. I know. I know. Minds are blown.
I was led, I
hope and pray, to focus on a hard understanding or two and on a common
experience in light of both the Gospel and OT lesson. Last week, had I focused on the Gospel and
Nicodemus, we would have likely spent some time considering Jesus’ instruction
to Nicodemus and its meaning.
Specifically, as our translators rendered the Greek, Jesus tells
Nicodemus of the need to be born again from above. For his part, Nicodemus is confused by the
instruction. Keep in mind, Nicodemus finds
Jesus’ instructions and works of power significant enough to risk his position
among the leadership of Jewish society.
He wants to learn more about Jesus, even though his reputation and
standing are at risk.
Of course, he
was not a stupid man. He approaches
Jesus at night. There is less chance of
someone seeing and reporting him to those whose opinions matter to him. Typical of encounters with Jesus, Nicodemus
gets far more than he planned. For His
part, Jesus warns Nicodemus that if he cannot accept the basics, how will he
ever accept the harder stuff or the heavenly things.
Born again
from above has been shortened in our culture to simply born again. And, boy, is it ever a loaded phrase
now. As good Episcopalians, I am certain
everyone of you would say that this event which causes some passionate
discussion in both the wider world and wider Church happens during baptism,
right? I’d give some of us a pass if we
argued Confirmation, that Rite when we take on the responsibilities of faith so
gladly carried by our parents and godparents, well, at least faithful parents
and godparents. The born from above part
of Jesus’ instruction reminds us that our birth comes from above, specifically,
our Father in heaven. We understand that
this birth is accomplished by our baptism into Christ’s death and Resurrection
and through the coming of the Holy Spirit.
As short of a teaching as Jesus gives Nicodemus, it is a loaded
statement.
In the
Sacrament of Baptism we proclaim that we are dying to self and asking God to
begin that long process of sanctification.
In effect, we are asking God to make us more like Him. How is that accomplished? The presence of the Holy Spirit certainly
helps. But we are called to gather in
the worship, prayers, and fellowship of believers –you know, come to church
even on days when our clocks spring forward.
We are called to study God’s Word in Scripture. We are called to serve others in His Name,
recognizing that everyone we encounter in the world around us was made in His
image and loved deeply by Him. And, of
course, perhaps most importantly in this season, when we fail or sin, we are
called to repent and go forth once again to do those things He has given us to
do. These things, as Jesus points out to
Nicodemus and us, are not of this world; they come from our Father in
heaven. Those who are baptized from
above live a life reflective of Kingdom values, of honoring our Father in
heaven.
This week, in
the well-known encounter with the Samaritan woman, Jesus makes another
statement that is not easily understood either by the woman, her
contemporaries, or us. Jesus asks the
woman for a drink of water. Putting
aside today the observations on how unlikely such a request would have been,
she and Jesus go through an exchange where Jesus instructs her that, if she
knew Who was asking her for a drink, she would ask for His living water. To further confuse all of us, Jesus tells her
that everyone who drinks from Jacob’s well will be thirsty again, but those who
drink from His living water will never thirst.
Part of the lady’s desire to drink that water is easily understood. Every day, she must go to the well and draw
water. Depending upon containers and
household need, she may have to go more than once every day. Such work gets old pretty quickly, despite
its obvious necessity. It would not be
unlike Jesus telling us that we would no longer have to load the dishwasher or
do the laundry or takes out the trash or go to work. Naturally, the lady wants it.
What Jesus
offers, though, is far from a mundane release from work. One of those deeper instructions is cultural,
and we miss it because of our culture and context. Water was incredibly important in the ANE
cultures. We live in a land surrounded
by creeks and streams and rivers. Our
faucets always work unless there is a problem with the delivery system pipes or
pumps. In the ANE, though, people had to
live near natural sources of water or dig them.
Water was so valuable that battles were fought over the control of
wells. Water was so valuable that God
instructs Israel that He will get their attention with droughts. So long as they keep the covenant, He will
send the gentle rains. But when they sin
and refuse to repent, He will withhold the rain.
For His part,
God describes Himself as living water in the Old Testament. Eden is described in Genesis as the source of
the four great rivers on earth. The
prophets remind us that the Lord is the source of living water and that turning
from Him is to embrace death and destruction.
Ezekiel, though, has even more impressive instruction about living
water. In his vision, Ezekiel sees a
creek of living water flowing out of the Temple heading Southeast from
Jerusalem across the near desert toward the Dead Sea, a sea so named because it
was not perceived as living water—the salinity killed most things around
it. As that creek heads towards the Dead
Sea, the creek gets wider and deeper. It
gets so wide that it cannot be crossed!
As you might have figured out by now, even if you have never paid
attention to Ezekiel, the living water flows into the Dead Sea and refreshes
it. All living things return to drink
from that living water. Fish will be
caught; plants will flourish!
If you ever
suffer from insomnia, browse through the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy and
pay attention to the need for living water.
Priests had to be washed in living water before performing their
intercessions and sacrifices. Those
healed from leprosy had to bathe in living water before their full restoration
to the community. And let’s not get
started with all the rules, some of God and some of rabbinic origin, regarding
the need for living water in mikvahs.
Water was important to everyone in the ANE, and God used that imagery to
reveal Himself to His people and to us.
It is so
important that we continue to use it in both our Sacraments. When we baptize someone we have the blessing
over the water and remind ourselves how God has used water for the benefit of
His people. Over it God moved in the
beginning of Creation. Through it Israel
was led from suffering and death into the blessed promises of the
Covenant. In it Jesus was anointed as
the Christ. Good, I see nods of
remembrance. In a few minutes, when we
celebrate the Sacrament, water is added to the wine. Why?
Some of us might say it was culturally common in that day when our Lord
instituted the Eucharist, and they would be correct. Some might say that water represents Christ’s
humanity even as the wine represents His divinity. Others, especially around this time of year,
may even note how water poured from His side when pierced by the spear,
representing the cleansing power of His blood and the life-giving power of His
offer in the water. Perhaps you can
think of another reason as you are hopefully engaged with the Holy Spirit in
this sermon--you know, that pesky “meditation in all our hearts” for which we
prayed a few minutes ago.
In all His
engagement with His people and humanity, God is reminding us that He is the
source of life. To live, and to live
abundantly, is to accept His loving embrace made possible through Christ’s work
on the Cross for our behalf. Some
denominations focus on the life to come or afterlife as the sole reason for
this embrace. But Jesus, in both His
teaching last week and this week, reminds us that His embrace has an effect on
us and those around us today. Those who
embrace Him, and His calls on their lives, are reborn from above, sources of
water to those around them. And though
the metaphors might be challenging to understand intellectually, we should be
able to understand them experientially.
Turn back to
Genesis. Hmmm. Look at that. Water is once again important
in God’s provision to His people. Isn’t
that odd? For those unfamiliar with the
story, Israel has been freed from slavery and Egypt and is being led to freedom
in the Promised Land. Just to remind
ourselves, God has executed the 10 plagues on Egypt causing Egypt to free
Israel. God has delivered them through
the sea with walls of water on their right and on the left. God has destroyed the chariots of Egypt with
no loss of life, even no loss of animal life, on the part of Israel. Despite God’s leading, presence, protection,
and provision, Israel does not trust Him.
For the fourth time, now, Israel doubts God. In this case, Israel complains that they may
die of thirst.
On one level,
the fear makes sense. They are wandering
in an arid land, and water is important to both human beings and their
herds. Modern folks like to doubt the
accuracy of numbers, especially in the Book of Numbers, when it comes to the
Bible, but if the author, in this case Moses, was accurate in His estimate,
Israel may number as many as 2 million plus people, in addition to the
herds. On another level, though, the fear
does not make sense to us, right? After
all, think of all the miracles they have experienced thus far, and now they do
not know whether they can trust God to keep them watered? But then we remember that we fail to trust
God, too, and we have the advantage of the Cross, Resurrection, and Ascension
in our own rear-view mirrors, and how well do we do?
Moses, for his
part, is concerned that the people are blaming him. “What shall I do? They are almost ready to stone me?” God instructs Moses to take the elders and go
ahead of the people and strike the rock with the staff and water will flow from
it. Moses almost completely obeys
God. We learn later that Moses does
something in this, maybe striking the rock twice, which results in his
exclusion from the Promised Land. But
Moses otherwise does what is commanded by God.
The elders are there to witness, record, and teach Israel what happened
and to witness, yet again, the provision of the Lord who created all things. Moses names the place Massah and Meribah,
quarreling and testing, because that’s what Israel did to the Lord, saying, “Is
the Lord among us or not?”
The question
is one that Christians still ask today, both in private and in public. Part of the question is stoked by the enemy
of God. When we hear that whisper, we
are not unlike Adam and Eve who wondered whether God really intended good
things for them. We know our Lord loved
us enough to become incarnate, live and teach among us, and eventually die for
us, despite His holiness, that we might be reconciled to God and able to share
in His kingdom. Despite that knowledge,
though, how often do we find ourselves wondering? Diseases, privations, reputational harm, and
who knows how many things, cause us to doubt whether God knows or cares about
our hurts. Yet that Cross stands clearly
as a reminder of His tender love of each one of us, of His willingness to bear
the Cross to reconcile us to Him even when we demonstrate and proclaim by word
and our acceptance of the whispered lie that He is not among us.
We gather, of
course, to worship and praise God for the redeeming work that He has done in
our lives and in the lives of others and in the world through the work and
person of Christ Jesus. But we also
gather to remind ourselves of the work He is currently doing for each one of
us. That is accomplished by sharing in
fellowship and sharing in our prayers.
You might call it the modern version of the leaders of Israel witnessing
Moses strike the rock. As a community,
we share need, hurts, pains, brokenness, praises, provisions, and everything like
a family. God, of course, uses our
sharing to help exhort, encourage, strengthen whatever is needed in the body we
call a parish. And those stories become
part of our history, part of who we are.
In one sense,
all of us gathered here should understand the Exodus story far better than we
did five years ago. I have been a bit
nostalgic with the death of Dick. Not
quite nine years ago, Dick and Dale showed up in Iowa three days after the
bishop’s call and inquiry while he was on vacation and within a week of my
Vestry discerning that maybe my time among them was drawing to a close. Dick and Dale, although they could never
agree who was the sidekick of their dynamic duo, did agree on what Advent was
and what the parish claimed it wanted to see happen, highlighting the fact that
Adventers saw themselves more members of a country club than ambassadors of
Christ in the world around them. They,
and then the Search Committee and Vestry shared their gifts, dreams, and fears.
Advent was,
and still is, made up of some talented and passionate people. Some of that talent and passion was
misplaced, Dick allowed. His explanation
was that too many believed it was their genius, their work ethic, their
creativeness, and the like that made Church of the Advent work. Both he and Dale wondered if and how a parish
could ever reclaim that essential understanding that God was truly in charge
and how individuals could ever internalize such a claim.
Fast forward
three or four challenging years, and look what happened. Rich Woolard shows up and excites members
with tales of Messiah, Pulaski’s work feeding the hungry in their midst. Bartimaeus could have seen the longing and
desire in Adventer’s eyes and voices, a fact another departed saint among us,
Ron Taylor, observed at the table in my office.
It was enough to cause me to go discuss with my bishop violating some
pastoral guidance he had given me. After
some passionate discussions, Bishop John relented and said I had a year to
produce the fruit. Leadership would need
to step up. The rest, as they say, is
now our history.
What is
amazing, though, is that each one of us gathered knows just how little plotting
and planning went in to what became Body & Soul. I started us off simply buying 1000 pounds of
groceries each month for three months.
Then I kicked it up to 2000 pounds a month. Then, Hilary and Nancy offered their CDO. Those less organized than them call it OCD,
but they are better organized than most!
The two of them had about 18 months before the pandemic started and the
calls came. Hilary and Nancy spent
almost no time planning or strategizing.
Many of you participated as you could and know there was no genius on
our part. We answered yes to every Can
you . . .? we received. Word
travelled, both among those food insecure in our midst and those who had too
much food and did not want to throw it away.
There was no “How do we get lettuce?”
No, “How do we get bread?” Our guiding principle was simply to honor God
by feeding those who were hungry. We did
not limit need to once a month or by zip code.
We did remind people that we were caring for more and more families and
limited the number of some items, but we seemed always to receive more stuff.
Even on the
foodstuffs we were not planning. Some
months we received rice, which excited certain groups to which we were
ministering. Other months, we received
lots of pasta. Then the cows showed
up. Then the baked goods showed up. Then the produce. And every one of you watch it and know those
participating. You have heard the
challenges, the blessings, the provisions, the fears—and you know that this
event has been directed by and provided for by God. And we have been blessed for our faithful
obedience. CARES became an integral part
of our life for almost two years. Thanks
to that work, the rectory basement was repaired, the rectory HVAC and water
heater were replace, another Parish Hall HVAC was replaced, and other deferred
maintenance issues addressed, with zero impact on our budget! We received so much coffee from Starbuck’s,
Pete’s, and Seattle’s best that we could not give it away to those whom we
served that we were able to bless the Insight counselors, who make sure money
is not an impediment to mental health in our community, and other non-profits
and churches with whom we partner in the world.
Heck, we even were able to use some for us! Of course, some Adventers did not want that
expensive coffee because it cost too much out there in the real world even though
it was gifted for free to us. But even
that fight was fun as we teased one another about happy coffee and sad coffee,
bougie coffee and regular coffee. Heck,
in further proof of us flying by the seat of our pants trying to keep up with
God, how many of us were able to purchase beef at crazy discounts to what was
happening in the stores. And do not
forget, because I mispriced it, and nobody here was familiar with butchering
and pricing and the like, we lost somewhere between $3-5000 dollars selling it
to Adventers and giving too much away to non-members. Still, we ended up in the black for the year! Such was God’s provision.
Now that ministry
that started with 1000 pounds of food a month usually goes through 25,000 pound
or more a month and helps care for 1500 individuals each month. None of us prepared for the logistics. None of us planned the growth. Heck, we seem always to be lagging behind on
our storage needs. That little beginning
has now spawned a mobile pantry that takes care of 90 families or 450 individuals
each month, as we learned some who are hungry could not make it to us, thanks
to our work with local schools. That
little beginning receives more financial assistance from outside the parish
than it does from us! That little
beginning is now attracting the attention of parishes around the diocese and
the country. Rightfully so, as the food
insecure are all around us everywhere.
And our Lord Christ has commanded us to feed them in His Name.
And I have
focused almost entirely on the physical side of our ministry. What of the emotional and spiritual benefit
to those whom we serve and ourselves?
How often have those who served heard you are an answered prayer,
are you sure I am allowed to take this, and my least favorite if more
Christians were like you all, I could be convinced to worship God. How many of us have seen the tears of
thankfulness for a provided feast, a feast that pales by comparison the Feast
our Lord offers all who come to Him in faith?
How many of us have been privileged to answer the question Why do you
do this, knowing I can never repay you? and realized mid-answer how your
work is but a shadowy example of the grace offered by your Father in
heaven? How many of us have learned the
truth of our Lord’s instruction that we are blessed in serving others?
Like the big
community of Israel before us, we have a deliverance in our recent
history. When we find ourselves
grumbling and quarreling and questioning whether God is among us, despite the
evidence of the Cross, we have yet another work of power to celebrate. We know ourselves. We know our ages, our aches and pains, our
talent for organization, our busy schedules.
We know that we could never have plotted and planned and gotten these
results. We know that our faithful
obedience, our desire to glorify God in our midst, resulted in His provision
and even sharing in some of that glory.
We know, because we have seen and lived it. And it will become a part of our history, a
part of our spiritual DNA, just like those stories of those who have come at
Advent before us. And when we begin to
doubt, when we begin to listen a bit too attentively to the whisper of God’s
enemy, we can look back on this deliverance, a deliverance that was as
important to the community around us as it was and is to us. The living water, the born from above of
Christ’s instruction has been demonstrated once again in our lives, that we and
those to whom we minister and those who watch might know the truth of His words
and the depth of His love for all His children.
And I get
it. Life is hard. Challenges appear. Personalities sometimes come into
conflict. Dick and Dale laugh with me
sometimes, depending on whether I credit them or blame them that I am
here. Both of them had a hunger and
thirst to glorify God in the midst of Advent, both of them saw the possibilities,
and both of them shared their hopes and dreams for years after I came. Their only complaint was the time it took to
get to this point. Could I not have done
this my first day and sped this along?
And while I suppose I could have, we would have missed out on the lessons
of the wilderness. We would have missed
out on the lessons that God needed us and wanted us to learn, that we might
give up some of those old habits and old attitudes that needed to be understood
and addressed. And, just as He always
refines and prepares His people for the work He has given them to do, He
refined and prepared us. He has, to put
it quite simply, reminded us that He is truly among us. And with that reminder comes amazing comfort,
but equally amazing responsibility. We
are called not just to mouth the words, but to live as if we believe His words. And when we sin, when we forget His
instruction or forget He is truly with us, repent and try again. And in that effort to obey Him, He is
glorified, and we become those feet of peace and grace by which the world
around us is blessed. Is the Lord
among us? We have seen with our
eyes, heard with our ears, and know it in our hearts!
In Christ’s Peace,
Brian†
