Good morning. It is good to be here among you this Sunday morning. As most of you have already figured out by my last name, I am Nathan’s father and George’s son. So, before we get started, on behalf of my wife and me, I would like to thank you for your kind acceptance of Nathan among you and your tolerance of his passionate ideas. We’ve known him his whole life and know firsthand the cross that God has called you to bear inviting him into your worshipping community! On behalf of professional Christians, though, thank you for not smothering him or treating him like a seal pup among great white sharks. In tight knit communities such as St. Mark’s, I know how excited people are to have visitors, let alone young visitors. You seem to walk that line of being attentive but not smothering, inviting but not capturing! So thank you for that, too.
By way of
introduction to those of you who do not know Nathan or my dad, I am Brian
McVey. I am the rector of the historic
Church of the Advent in Nashville. I am
married to Karen. Together we have seven
children, five of whom are worshipping here today. The advantage of so many kids for a priest is
obvious to you this morning. Nathan is
serving as the Chalice Bearer, and Joshua is serving as our acolyte. We are on our return trip to Nashville after
two weeks of vacation on the southern coast of Maine. Nathan volunteered me to do a Eucharist,
since I was going to be in the neighborhood.
You are laughing, but if you know Nathan. . . On a serious note, Nathan
also understands I understand how starved people are in our Episcopal
communities for the Eucharist. I have
served on the Board of Directors in two different dioceses, and I am often
appalled at the infrequency by which we make the Eucharist available in the
best of times. Since much of that work
is done by those retired in our dioceses, and they are of a certain maturity,
the pandemic has made that feeding even more challenging. All that is to say that Nathan volunteered me
knowing it was not much of an ask. One
cannot gripe about problems and not be willing to be part of the solution,
right?
Of course,
with introductions aside and a bit of humor injected to relax us, I have to
confess I was not thrilled about the readings this week. When Michelle checked in on Monday to see if
I needed anything, see sounded very relaxed that she would not be
preaching. I know that sigh of
relief. So, I opened the
lectionary. My preference when visiting
congregations is to preach the Gospel from the Old Testament. Most folks never hear sermons on the OT, so
they enjoy the newness of such sermons. It
makes people think I am a unique preacher, even though we all know in our heads
that the OT served as the preaching and teaching material for Jesus. For my part, I understand that sermons are
meant to be illustrated by experiences and events common to the gathered
community. Since I have not been among
you, my concerns might not be your concerns.
My worries, might not be your worries.
But our readings from both Amos and the Psalm were sort of “meh.” Who would really challenge God for those
words? Plus, Nathan assures me that
there are none among you arguing with God’s words that we should be tending the
sick, caring for the poor, feeding the hungry, and the like . . . at least not openly.
Of course,
the Gospel lesson from Luke was about the so-called “Unjust Steward,” which is
the real reason Michelle was excited not to preach this week, right? Michelle is in great company wrestling with
this lesson. Most experts will agree
that this is Jesus’ most controversial parable in all the Gospels. Heck, the name of the parable in most circles
is the Unjust Steward. Jesus seems to be
praising a guy for stealing from his employer and commending Christians to do
the same. Many of us get all up in knots
trying to worm our way out of a perceived conundrum. I do not want to encourage my flock to steal
or do unjust things, but Jesus seems to make the steward the hero of the
story. In the Episcopal church, where we
often do not like to be challenged or educated, there’s only so much that can
be done in less than ten minutes of preaching.
As it nears the onset of the Stewardship season in many of our churches,
some of our brothers and sisters will be hearing a sermon that says something
along the lines of “get wealth however, just make sure to give God His.” I see some nods. You have heard that sermon.
Events in
the world, of course, made it plain even to Bartimaeus that this was where we
needed to spend our time together today.
But before I comment on the news and social media posts on that event, I
need to give a bit more of my background.
I promise you, I am about to offend all of you, no matter your political
party affiliation. While I was serving a
small parish in Iowa, I was named an Episcopal Church Fellow for my work
fighting human trafficking. To make a
long story very short, back in the days when you thought slavery was something
decided in the Civil War, we had discovered an evil in our midst. Human beings were being sold, at far cheaper
prices than in the 19th century I might add, in our midst. American human beings as well as
foreigners. So, in our infinite trust in
God, we undertook to do what we could. I
was honored as the point man for the work, but the parish was named a Jubilee
Parish by the national church. It was a
glorious failure. As you all know,
slavery still has not been eliminated, but now I spend none of my time trying
to convince normal people that it still exists among us.
In that
work, I was tasked in the beginning of convincing people in the pews and world
that this problem was real. I had seen
it. I had met slaves. I had me slavers. Of course, others were doing great work
elsewhere, but we were nowhere near united in our efforts nor our
understandings. Among those I had to
convince of the seriousness of the problem were politicians. In many cases, I had to convince Senators and
members of the House of Delegates, you know—federal politicians, of the
existence of the evil and what should be done to fight it. To free up our time today, let’s just say I
was incredibly disappointed to encounter men and women of both parties who
expected money in exchange for their willingness to fight the evil of slavery
in our midst. Some might accuse me of
cynicism today. I’m not sure it’s being
cynical when the reality of the hands out is so real. But, to be fair to their concerns, I have
adapted that joke that was told three decades ago when my father was in law
school in Morgantown. What do you
call a busload of lawyers going off a cliff?
A good start! Ah, I see some
of you have met lawyers. Did you know
that most of our politicians are lawyers?
Yes, yes, I know. Charles is a member
of this parish and my dad’s partner. I
can poke a bit of fun but remind us all of the reality in which we find
ourselves. Few politicians genuinely
care about us. Nearly all care about the
next election rather than governing well.
That point was
driven home this week when the planeload of undocumented immigrants arrived in
Martha’s Vineyard. Two governors, both
of whom seem to be gunning for the Presidency, seem to be getting the blame or
praise, depending upon one’s political affiliation, for sending undocumented
immigrants to one of the more privileged enclaves in our country. Most of us think it a stunt. If we are closely aligned with the governors’
party, we think it a brilliant move designed to draw attention to failed
immigration policies. If we are more
closely aligned to the politics of Martha’s Vineyard, we think it a cynical
move and a waste of precious resources.
Too many on both sides have zero regard for the human beings
involved. I know our brothers and
sisters at the local Episcopal Church stepped up to feed and provide beds for
the pawns of our politicians, and we should pat them on the back for their hard
work. But in those same interviews,
people expressed the need to send the immigrants elsewhere to get the services
they need, as if Martha’s Vineyard does not have access to whatever the people
want there. Ask yourself now, in light
of the reading from Luke, were the governors’ actions shrewd and worthy of
Christ’s praise? And should Christians
pawn off their calls to serve on others?
If you are squirming, you know the answer.
Tough
questions, are they not? No matter our
personal politics, we see the difficulty of this parable playing out in the
world around us. Part of our problem is
the reality of the problem and the hearts of those involved. Is our immigration system in need of
repair? You bet! My father’s mother spent more than a decade
fighting through the system, I guess because she was part of some advanced
Canadian reconnoiter force for when Canada finally attacks and conquers us? You are laughing, but have you any experience
with our immigration system at all? To
say our system is in need of repair is an understatement, but to say our
politicians like it that way is truth.
Both parties have controlled the Executive and Legislative Branches of
our Federal government at various times over the last three decades. What changes did they make when they had
pwoer? What work did they do to align
the system more with the values they proclaim?
That squirm you feel, I call it a spiritual wedgie. It’s like the Holy Spirit gave you an
uncomfortable wedgie like you used to get in the halls of school. When we begin to realize that our own party
is more interested in the next election than in governing according to the
principles for which we elect them, it makes us uncomfortable. It makes us realize that maybe Jesus is speaking
about us when He instructs His disciples that the children of light, you and me
and all the disciples of Christ, are less shrewd in dealing with our generation
than the children of the age!
We should
not be too surprised to hear this criticism by Jesus, though. How many people do we know that are sincerely
convinced Jesus would be a Republican or a Democrat, were He walking the earth
today? And do we want to talk about
those people who think they are glorifying God when they demand America is the
new Israel or that we need a Christian theocracy to fix everything wrong with
America? Know any Christians who think
God is capricious and sends evil with good to teach us lessons? Ever been told while you were mourning the
death of a loved one that God needed another angel? Our list can go on and on because our Lord
was absolutely correct! We are not the
most shrewd people ever to walk the earth.
In fact, we seem to tend toward one extreme or another. We do zero planning or we try to schedule God,
as if He needs our help staying on a timeline.
Again, you are laughing, but it is because you know people like both
sides.
The parable
today really hinges on a word. My church
is used to me because I have been among them for almost eight years now. They know my job is to make them better
imitators of Christ rather than rabid Democrats or rabid Republicans. You all will just be forced to play catch up. The word that Jesus uses in this passage that
we often translate as shrewd is phronesis.
Phronesis is a word with some significant cultural history in the
Ancient Near East. As you all know, I
was on vacation and did not bring my commentaries or other resources, so this
will be more from memory. Phronesis is a
word that best describes the practical experience of applying a goal to reach a
defines end. I was first exposed to it
as a freshman in college reading Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics. Some folks will take away from their reading
of the ethics that there is a big difference between theory and practice. I see agreement, but it does not appear that
many of you have read Aristotle. While
it is true that ethics must be applied in real life, there is a correct way to
apply those things we have learned. To
do so correctly, one must have a correct goal in mind and an understanding of
the principles involved. That
application of principles to reach a particular goal is summed up by the word
that Luke puts in the mouth of Jesus.
I see I
have confused some of you. Let’s try
this. What is our primary goal as
imitators of Christ? To glorify God in
our lives, right? How do we best do
that? We apply the instructions and
commandments He gave us and we inwardly digest from the Scriptures, to use one
Collect you will hear in a couple months.
We use Jesus as a pattern of holy living, to use the words of a Collect
you heard a few weeks ago. Applying the
principles properly in service of a goal is phronesis. So, when we live according to God’s teachings
or examples, and we glorify Him in our lives, we are living shrewdly, or
according to phronesis. I’ll give you
two good examples as a counterpoint to our Martha’s Vineyard example. As part of my work educating the world about
and fighting human trafficking, I was named to the Rome Consultation by the
Holy Father and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
You will get to see Justin preaching tomorrow at the queen’s funeral, if
you do not know much about him. Most of
you think you know who Francis is. You
don’t. Francis is far more able to apply
principles in the accomplishment of a goal than most of us, which is a long was
of saying he is shrewd.
A few years
ago, there appeared in the newspaper in Rome an interview with a cardinal. The reporter was interviewing the cardinal about
the new Pope. The cardinal complained
that the Holy Father expected the princes of the Church to give up their
castles and fancy cars and to eat with the homeless. This latter exhortation particularly
disturbed the cardinal in question. He
passed off the trappings of wealth and power and prestige as Francis’
Franciscan views, easily understood and dismissed. But expecting the cardinals and bishops to
eat with the homeless? That was
crazy! On top of everything else, they
smell bad because they cannot bathe.
Shortly
after that interview in the paper, the reporter was invited to interview the
Holy Father. Naturally, the reporter
showed up to ask questions of the Pope about settling into his new role. During the course of the interview, the reporter
asked the Pope about the public showers being constructed in St. Peter’s
Square. The Pope, for his part, said he
had read with interest the complaint of his brother bishop in the earlier
article. It dawned on him, as he read
the article, that his brother bishop had a point. He imagined that the homeless people were
declining the dinner invitations of his brother bishops because they knew they
smelled bad. He was certain the homeless
did not want to offend his brother bishops’ sensibilities with bad smells. I mean, Jesus clearly cleaned everyone before
He fed them in the Gospels, right?
Do you see
what Francis did there? In modern
parlance we would say the Pope pawned the cardinal. Unlike the governors, though, the Pope’s
primary goal was to glorify God. Could
he have called the cardinal names?
Sure. Could he have retired
him? Of course. But look at what Francis did. He used the Roman Church’s resource to
provide more basic services to those on the margins of society. Now, there are public showers available to those
who would like to be clean. St. Mark’s
serves those food insecure in her midst her in Morgan County. Have you served anyone whom you know needs
more than food? Good, you know. By framing it the way he did, Pope Francis accomplished
a couple things. He reminded the princes
of the Roman Church that they are called to the very ministry of Jesus. Of all imitators of Christ, they should be
among the best in the world. We would
say Francis pastored or discipled his cardinals and bishops. He reminded them of their responsibility to
be a servant among the people. But he
also disciplined a cardinal in need of accounting. In eschewing Christ’s ministry in the world,
the cardinal was dishonoring God. Much
as our US Senators each think they can be the next President, Roman cardinals
think they can be the next Pope. By
disciplining this cardinal in this way, the Pope has forced one of two
things. Either the cardinal would start
inviting and dining with the homeless, or he would prove himself to his brother
cardinals that he was unfit to lead the Roman church upon the untimely death of
Francis. That, my friends, is
phronesis. Pope Francis applied many
principles of discipleship to glorify God in his midst and did so rather spectacularly!
One closer
to home to you will be my own modest efforts these last couple weeks. I will start by declaring I am a miserable
sinner. I get it. But, I married into Maine. My wife and her family have been going to the
southern coast of Maine for generations.
You live close enough to Baltimore and other Atlantic locations to think
seafood is normal. Let’s just say that
in the western part of the state where I grew up, seafood was not something
frequently on our diet. My wife
introduced me to clam chowder and fried clam strips! Her father showed me how to crack and pick a
lobster, which is, as I learned, basically a butter delivery device. All that is to say I enjoy Maine for the
food. Give me clam strips and chowder
and chuckerberry chip ice cream, and I am tasting the appetizers of our Lord’s
Great Marriage Feast!
Anyway,
there is a seasonal parish on Cape Neddick outside York, Maine called St.
Peter’s by the Sea. Guess why it is
called that? Anyway, they are open for
services only during the vacation season.
I have been trying for sixteen years to be able to serve there during
the summer. In exchange for sacramental
work, the priest and family get to live in the beautiful NE rectory for
free! You see where this is going,
right? Year in and year out, we go to
church there. My first bishop required
that we wear collars when we are in church as a way to identify us to other
clergy and the people among us. That’s
how I have ended up celebrating a lot of unexpected Eucharists. But, no luck.
This year,
though, I took a different approach. My
bishop had been encouraging me, all of the clergy really, to take some serious
sabbath time. I am bad about time
off. My parish probably owes me 26 weeks
or so of vacation after only seven years among them. But, the pandemic has worn me out, as it has
most clergy. So I was just going to
worship among the people anonymously.
That’s not to say, though, that I still was not hoping and praying. When I found out that Bishop Gary, the
retired bishop of W TX was going to be there during my time, I asked my bishop
for good blackmail. Bishop Gary manages
the parish on behalf of the Maine diocesan.
My thought was that blackmail might work better than praying for the
death of a colleague – once you get these gigs, it’s only death that separates
one from them! Lol Yes, my bishop properly chastised me that
neither praying for death or blackmailing a respected colleague was a good
solution. He told me to go and enjoy the
break with my family. Which I did.
Of course,
we serve a God who does His own thing in His own time, right? Wouldn’t you know it, but Bishop Gary met
Nathan at the early service that first Sunday.
Nathan needed his Rite 1 fix, as so many of his age seem to need. When we showed up at the second service,
Bishop Gary already knew a bit about us.
Before the coffee hour was over, Joshua had volunteered to acolyte the
next week. Much as you appreciate
acolytes, so do they! Last week, all the
members kept thanking Joshua for his work.
For his part, Joshua kept telling them he was willing even to bring
robes, if they would let his dad celebrate four weeks in the summer! Before last Sunday was over, we had name
tags! All of us. Even Nathan and Amanda and Robbie, none of
who were with us that second week! Now,
you are likely to join my family in that prayer, right? I mean, his son goes here, and he has to pass
through town to go to Maine to see George.
If Brian gets that gig, we get two more Eucharists! See, I hear the gears in your head spinning. I and you learned another valuable lesson
about phronesis. If we trust God and
trust His willingness to do what’s best for us, He usually does. And in the end, He always does. Maybe He knows my need for vacation better
than I? Maybe the timing just was not
right? But imitators of Christ know to
trust in their Father in heaven, who can do all things, even arrange for cool
vacations for so large a family or to feed, by means of His Body and Blood, a
remote outpost in His Church!
Back to our
Martha’s Vineyard example, and pretty much any political example we might
choose—were the politicians in questions motivated to glorify God in their
midst? Really, only they can answer that
question truthfully. But we can
observe. Are they known for glorifying
God in all that they do, including governing?
Maybe the phronesis that they applied was good politics, but it was not
at all in imitation of our Lord. What of
those called to serve the immigrants where ever they ended up? Again, only they can truly answer their heart
attitude to God, but we can observe. Do
they seem really to want what is best for those placed among them? Or do they want “those people” to be the
problem for those on the border because we like margins more than we like to
admit? And what of us? What is our heart attitude to God? Do we really trust Him? Do we really believe that He wants us to
glorify Him in our midst? Or do we,
instead, think He is lucky we chose to serve Him, that we are THAT important to
the working out of His plan of salvation in our midst?
The
wonderful thing about serving God is His desire, His longing really, for us to
glorify Him in our midst. So much does
He desire that that He has promised to redeem even our mistakes. What others mean for evil, He can
redeem? What others used in order to
depend upon our willingness to dehumanize, He can use to remind us of the image
in which they and we stamped. And what
we try to apply properly, even if errantly, He can use not just to glorify
Himself in the world around us, but in our own hearts and in our own minds. When we begin to internalize the
understanding that all He truly requires is an obedient heart, then we are on
the path to true service and true imitation!
It is a life that is challenging, to be sure. It is a life that requires
cross-bearing. But in the end, my
brothers and sisters, it is the only life that matters. You and I are called by our Lord to die to
self and seek Him in all that we do. We
are called to apply that understanding and goal in all that we do, that the
world might know and come to understand that we are not gullible, we are not
foolish, that we are the ones who have inwardly digested shrewdness, phronesis,
that we are the ones trying to live as He calls each one of us, that the world
around us might be drawn into His saving embrace!
In His Peace,
Brian†
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