Who we say He is defines our family . . .

      As I was praying over the readings this week trying to discern a sermon, I was reminded about banners that hung here for several years.  I was being drawn to a thematic sermon, so it made sense after I realized what was going on.  I know, you are all confused.  Let’s start with Isaiah.

     For those of you here last week, we are jumping back into the second big section of Isaiah.  Yes, I know.  It drives me nuts, too.  Last week, I explained how Isaiah can be divided into three big sections.  In chapters 1-19, God accuses Israel of failing to keep the covenant.  Obviously, God is correct in His judgement.  Chapters 40 through 55 serves to remind God’s people that God will not be divorcing them.  Quite the contrary, He will redeem them despite their failures because of His love of Abraham.  But God is clear that they do not merit His faithfulness.  The rest of the book deals with the tension of living in that time before God has redeemed His people.  The promise is made but not yet realized.  We are very familiar at Advent with the second section.  We are Adventers and have one eye on the Incarnation and one eye on our Lord’s return, so we are very familiar with the messianic promises in Isaiah.  Good.  I see lots of nods.

     We go back into the second section this week, so we are reminded that God is promising to redeem His people.  In our section today, God is encouraging the righteous among His people.  Just to remind ourselves, righteous is a courtroom term.  It is NOT synonymous with holiness.  It means simply that one has gotten close to what God expects or commands.  In this case, if one sins, what should we do?  That’s right.  Repent.  You and I are righteous when we head to the altar rail to receive the Body & Blood of our Lord.  We confess our sins and are absolved.  We are then able to come forward to receive properly.

     Notice in verse two the examples that God names.  He tells the righteous to look to Abraham and to Sarah.  Now, this will be a bit of a trick question, in part because I remind us often that God called people into relationship with Him in Genesis 12 to be a nation of priests and lights in  the world.    God’s people are called to represent Him to those outside the family.  We would call it evangelism today, but that word has some baggage in the modern world and modern Church.  How many times, do you think, has God referenced Abraham and Sarah since Genesis, apart from the formulaic “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”?  Good guesses.  It makes sense we think it might be lots of references.  Abraham & Sarah, after all, are the patriarch and matriarch of the family chosen by God, who credits their belief in His promises as righteousness.  Amazingly, though, this is the first non-formulaic reference to Abraham and Sarah since Genesis.  I should have brought my Bible out to show you how many pages exists between Genesis and chapter 51 of Isaiah.  When you get home, check a printed Bible.  You will likely be stunned.

     God reminds His people through the prophet that He chose Abraham & Sarah.  The Lord blessed him and made them many.  In that quick note, we should be reminded of all twenty-five years of the unveiling of God’s promises to the holy couple.  And there is a lot, right?  I mean, how many of you ladies north of 70 are hoping to have a baby in your 90s?  Come on, show of hands!  How many of you guys in your 70s are looking forward to changing diapers when you turn 100?  Wow.  Nobody?!  We are laughing, like Sarah, but you get the point.  Before Sarah and Abraham get to that point in the story, there have been a lot of other issues, including Sarah & Abraham trying to help God keep His promises to them.

     God is reminding His people intentionally of the fact that He called a family.  It is the descendants of Abraham & Sarah, and those who choose the join the family, are the ones called by God to be His representatives, His ambassadors, His children reflecting His character in the world around them.  They are not Egyptian or Assyrian or Babylonian or Greek or Roman or any other nation state we think of in the ANE.  They are a family called by God their Father.  That is their identity.  That is how they are supposed to see themselves.

     Look ahead to Matthew’s Gospel.  Jesus is with His disciples and Apostles in Caesarea Philippi.  Caesarea Philippi was commission by one of the Herods, I think the Great, as a monument dedicated to Caesar, and as a “must see” destination on the eastern side of the Mediterranean.  Temples to the gods of Rome were all over the place.  In the midst of that setting, Jesus asks the disciples who people say He is.  The disciples answer that the people think Jesus is a prophet.  Some think Elijah, which tells us some of the messianic expectations growing around Jesus’ ministry, but others think He is one of the other prophets.  Then Jesus asks the pointed question, “Who do you say that I am?”  Peter, who just a couple weeks ago walked on water and the sank, responds with the answer that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.  Jesus commends Peter for his correct answer, but He instructs the Apostles and disciples that God has given them this insight.  Part of the problem is that all those gathered with Him have their expectation of how Messiah was going to work.  Jesus will defy all their expectations.  In fact, the next few verses will have Jesus predicting His betrayal, condemnation, death, and resurrection.  Peter shows his expectations by saying the Lord must forbid it from happening to Jesus.  Jesus, who just praised Peter for the correct answer and reminds everyone that Peter does not understand what he has confessed, calls Peter Satan and instructs us all that we are often focused on the human things rather than things of God.  We may talk about that next week.

     This week, we are talking about Jesus’ identity.  Who is He?  Who do we say that He is?  Is He just a hippie kind of guy who liked parties and had some wise words?  Is He a lunatic, as some thought?  Is He just some wise man who spouted some cool aphorisms?  Or is He, as Peter confesses, the Messiah and Son of the Living God?  How we answer that question forms our identity.  If He is the Messiah, it has consequence on our lives.  His pattern of holy living, that we prayed a couple weeks ago to emulate, is one of dying to self, one of recognizing the fear of death is removed, and one of citizenship in another kingdom, God’s kingdom.  If Jesus is who He said He is, and if He was truly raised from the dead and ascended to the Father, as the witnesses testified and as we experience in our Holy Spirit moments, then He is the Seed of Abraham.  Jesus is the head of the family, even though He came into the world long after Abraham & Sarah and long after David, who called Him Lord!  If Jesus is who He claims to be, He is the head of our community, God’s community.  It’s not me; it’s not you.

     No doubt some of you have already figured out the banners I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon.  For the first few years I was here, we spent intentional time trying to figure out who we were and to what kind of life to which we were called.  I forget whose idea it was, but early in my ministry here, people hung up white and purple banners that read “We are family.”  It was a part of the discernment about who God was calling us to be.  We know the competition is great in our minds.  Everyone assumes every church should be like St. George’s or Christ Church or St. Paul’s Murfreesboro.  The big churches are the Promised Land of the modern Church.  Bigger is always better, right?  They have all the dollars, all the volunteers, and everything else they need to do ministry.  But Adventers figured out that part of what made Advent Advent was the idea that we are a family.  We know each other.  Sometimes too well.  We know our hopes and dreams; we know our mournings and fears.  We know those who are competitive when it comes to Mexican Train in dominoes and those who prefer beer over wine.  We know those who can cook and eat good spicy food and those who are experts in other cuisines.  The more time we spend with each other, the more we get to know one another.  In time, I would argue, as we spend more time together in worship and praise of our Lord, at our very best we come to love and value each other in much the same way that God loves us.  I think it explains part of why non-Adventers notice that our funerals are so tender, so mournful, and so full of hope.

     The idea behind the banners in the Parish Hall caught the thematic teaching of today’s readings.  God reminds His people through the prophet Isaiah that we are a family.  We are a family whose head is Jesus Christ.  The great thing about claiming Jesus as Lord is that one is not to the concerns of the world.  I have not met an Adventer who does not love their country.  There have been many who loved their country enough to serve, risking life and limb and willing, were duty to call, to lay down their lives for the idea our country represents.  As great as our country is, and I know some of us hail from other countries they adore, none of us are now identified by God by our nationality.  We are identified as sons or daughters, part of the intimate family that God calls for His purposes.  The family unit of God transcends time and space, and it knows that this world is not its home.  To use the language of Paul this morning, we are called as a family to transformed by the renewing of our minds to discern the will of God in our lives.  We expect to discern the call of God on our lives precisely because His Son our Lord reminded us that His Ascension meant the coming of the Advocate, the Paraclete, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit.  Because Jesus was raised that third day from the dead, we know the separation of sin is removed, the fear of death is removed.  And we are free to do those things God has called us to do, knowing that if He does call us to give up our lives for those around us, He has power and will to restore those lives!

     With the Gospel, there is always even better news than we think.  You and I are called into a world that claims it has figured out how to live.  Capitalists live by comparing who has the most money; those supporting despots measure the world by the power they accumulate.  Every system has a way of keeping score and encouraging others to accept it as the way it is.  God, of course, broke in to the systems of the dark world.  He came and lived as the Light in the darkness, that we might become children born of the will of God rather than humans.  More amazingly, He demonstrated His love and power among all peoples, as our Collect reminds us this 13th Sunday after Pentecost, by laying down His life for the love of others, thereby saving us AND demonstrating the pattern of holy living that God expects of all His children.

     Make no mistake, the world fights hard to snuff out the light.  The world chooses darkness again and again.  But you and I and all Christians whom we meet in that wider world are called into a family, that our Lord might show forth His power to all peoples and nations, through our faithful living.  It is a crazy way to reach the the world around us; it is even crazier that our Lord calls people like you and me to this work.  Our Lord is as likely to use our failures as our successes as evidence of His love of us.  But such was His Will when He called Abraham and Sarah to walk with Him, just as it was His Will when He called you and He called me.  And the end promise, of course, after we have done His will here, is that wonderful family gathering He promises, the Great Wedding Feast, that amazing event where He is joined to His Bride forever!

In His Call,

Brian+

Even white chocolate lovers are invited . . .

      As much fun as I would have had preaching both the metaphor and Canaanite woman from Matthew’s Gospel today, I had to remind myself that my job is to help us grow in faith, particularly during the green season after Pentecost.  That being said, if you are new to the parish and have never heard me preach on the metaphor, let me remind you that the metaphor is incredibly graphic.  The closest we have to this in English is “diarrhea of the mouth,” though I suspect few of us actually think it through.  Those listening to Jesus could not help but be reminded that the skubala coming out of their mouths was nasty.  Of course, the sins that Jesus names are nasty, too, so it is an apt metaphor, especially for a group that largely used to be fishermen!

     The Canaanite woman serves as an antidote to the idea that God is misogynistic.  Advent women know they are created by God in His image, so we do not struggle too much with that claim about God.  Understand that there are men and women who self-identify as Christians around us in Middle Tennessee, who are fed that nonsense that Eve is responsible for sin and men have the right to rule the woman.

     If you get really bored with my sermon today, I would encourage you to turn to page 337 in the BCP in front of you and read the Prayer of Humble Access.  8 o’clockers get a healthy dose of this prayer week in and week out.  We do not at 10:30am because the SCLM, in its wisdom, decided to remove the prayer from the new Eucharist in 1979.  The woman’s banter with Jesus, and her understanding about the purposes of God, is captured in that prayer.  We are never trusting in our righteousness when we go to receive the Sacrament; we are always trusting in God’s manifold and great mercies when we approach to receive the nourishment of God.  Better still, her banter recognizes that Jesus did come to the House of Israel in completion of the promise made to Abraham.  But the House of Israel was charged with the responsibility of carrying that understanding of God’s mercy and grace into the world around them, that all the nations might turn to and trust God.

     Part of my discernment about preaching on Isaiah today was the fact that about three months ago, I had Candida include the entirety of the passage.  Often, our lectionary editors have us skip verses, and Candida has me decide a couple months in advance whether to add the omitted verses.  Obviously, as you can see from the Orders of Worship, I had.  Part of the draw this week, I think, is the fact that we spend most of our time in Isaiah thinking messianically.  There’s nothing wrong in that, to be sure, and it makes sense given our focus on Isaiah during Advent and into the season of the Incarnation.  But there is more to Isaiah than Jesus, a lot more!

     For our purposes today, I am treating Isaiah as if it is divided into three major parts.  There are other ways to read the prophet, but I have a particular lesson in mind today.  The first 39 chapters deal with God’s correct accusations that Israel is faithless and hard-hearted.  In fact, the book begins with God pointing out to the heavens and earth that the ox knows its master and the donkey knows its crib, but Israel forgets that it is the Lord God who redeemed Israel, planted Israel, defended Israel, and blessed Israel.  Basically, anything we would not want to hear God saying about us, He says in the first 39 chapters of Isaiah.

     Chapters 40-55, however, has God reminding His people that He will not abandon them despite their failures and their hearts.  This section begins with that wonderful Advent reading we read and sometime sing “Comfort, comfort O My people.”  From that point on, God is promising His people that He will not abandon or divorce them, that He will restore them to Himself despite their sin.  We know the solution is Jesus, and so that is why we focus on those passages during Advent.

     Chapters 56 and on deal with the tension.  If God’s people are truly faithless and hard-hearted and God is serious about restoring them to Him, what does that mean for today?  How does God’s people live knowing sins and God’s right judgment of them and His promise of restoration?  Much as Carola taught you during the interim period before I came here, there is this incredible tension between the already and not yet.  Good I see some surprise and nods.  Carola will be happy you remember!

     God begins this section on the tension with two well known truths and an amazing promise.  The first truth is that eunuchs were forbidden from entering the Temple and worshipping God.  On that, everyone can agree.  Deuteronomy certainly spells it out, and I would not be shocked if it was written in Leviticus.  Where the fight is in that discussion is over the why.  Why were eunuchs excluded from worship in the OT?  Some experts like to argue that physical appearance was tied to spiritual purity.  One could not be physically altered and be spiritually poor.  For some, physical deformity was a sign of some sin.  Another reason offered by experts is that eunuchs often serve idolatrous purposes or served those who engaged in the worship of idols.  In some parts of the ANE, eunuchs served as temple prostitutes.  In other parts of the ANE, they served as functionaries, making the worship of the idol possible.  In the torah, God was giving Israel strict instructions to prevent Israel from slipping back into idolatry.  In other ANE cultures, though, eunuchs were used as administrative functionaries.  Think of the Ethiopian Eunuch.  The thought among rulers was that if the servants had no families, there would be no temptation to squirrel away choice appointments or embezzle money for the family.  As a eunuch had no possibility of family, they were thought to care less about securing a future for their families.  Everybody with me so far?  Good.  Does it mostly make sense?  Good.  As I said, these are serious discussions in academia, and these are just a couple highlights.

     The other person mentioned as forbidden in the Temple is the foreigner.  Foreigners were not allowed past the Court of the Gentiles under pain of death.  In fact, by the time Rome has conquered Israel in the days of Jesus, the warning was written repeatedly in Latin, in Greek, and in Hebrew.  Those who pay close attention to the Book of Acts will remember that Paul famously is accused of leading a foreigner into the inner courts of the Temple.  The false accusation nearly causes a riot.

     Now we know why Isaiah has God saying, “Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will surely separate me from His people’ and do not let the eunuch say, ‘I am just a dry tree’” in verse 3.  The Israelites were often fastidious in the observance of some of the torah even as they were lax in other areas, much like those of us who call ourselves “Christian.”  Who is allowed in the Temple was one of those areas that guarded, pun intended, with all seriousness.  You could be a Godfearer, but you still were not really an Israelite.  And lest anyone get all anti-semitic on me, we Christians do the same thing.  We are quick to draw our boundaries of who is in and who is out of the kingdom of God, who is truly “saved.”  And far more often than many would ever notice, we Christians love to do God’s judging for Him, since He’s so busy.

     Way back around 700 years before Christ walked the earth, God had Isaiah prophesy to the eunuch and foreigner, reminding Israel of their responsibility as an adopted people of God.  To the eunuchs who claim the Lord, the Lord promises a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; to the foreigners who claim the Lord, the Lord promises to bring them to the holy mountain, to make them joyful in His house f prayer, and to accept their burnt-offerings and sacrifices on His altar.  Those of us who pay close attention to Scripture should be reminded of God’s covenant with Abraham way back in Genesis 12.  God calls Abraham into an intimate relationship with Him and declares that through the seed of Abraham, the world will be drawn into an intimate relationship with God.  The Israelites were given the torah as a description of holy living and as a way of drawing the foreigner into right relationship with God.

     Perhaps unsurprising to some of us, when Israel did a good job of keeping their end of the covenant, others flocked to them.  Sometimes their best witness was in their suffering or cutoffness of exile.  People would wonder how they could trust that their God had not been defeated in the cosmic battles of the heavens, and the Israelites would tell of God’s redemptive activity and provision.  Sometimes, say under the reign of Solomon, Israel was seen as materially blessed.  Again, people wanted what they had.  Wise Israelites could point out the promises of God to those who feared and obeyed the Lord.

     Of course, there is a big difference in inviting a foreigner into one’s community in the cities of the Assyrian or Babylonian or even Roman empire and inviting a foreigner into one’s community in Jerusalem.  We understand that.  But that is not what God commands of His people.  He reminds them over and over that nations who do not know them, and nations they do not know, will one day come to the great city to dwell with the Lord.  All who wish to dwell with Him will come, and He will accept them.  Even those considered outcasts by His people.

     The best example of this understanding, and the consequences of God’s people telling others they are excluded, happened a couple weeks ago.  If you have heard the story of the ice cream, now is a good time to turn to the Prayer of Humble Access on page 337 of your BCP.  The conversations drive me nuts and feed me.  I had a woman who called about the pantry one afternoon since I returned from vacation.  She needed food, was ashamed to admit her need, but she was desperate for her kids.  She wanted to know if the pantry was real, as she had heard about it from other people.  Then she wanted to know what she needed to get food.  Again, that’s a common expectation.  Churches are called to declare to people that there will be food purchased in God’s kingdom with no price and no money, but many of us love to create hurdles for those oppressed by hunger.  Oh, we rationalize by telling ourselves we are teaching them to be wise with their funds, but wisdom goes only so far when one is oppressed by poverty.

     When we got to the hours of the pantry, the woman had that forlorn tone in her voice.  She sounded in my ears as if I had painted this wonderful picture of protein, kids’ snacks, fresh produce, and whatever else I had said we had.  I had told her the only requirement was that she take what she and her kids would eat and leave the other stuff for other moms and kids who loved those things.  And then our schedule did not align.  I asked her when she could get here, expecting to tell her she could come Monday evenings or other times when groups use our buildings, but she answered between 4 and 4:30, depending on traffic.  I told her I had work to do and would meet her when she got here.

     She came that afternoon.  She shared her story.  In some ways it was like everyone else’s story.  Rent, gasoline, groceries, and back to school supplies were killing her.  She did not make enough to cover everything.  And some lady had told her about these nice church people who feed you with no questions asked.  So she had called.  I assured her we do.  She did not have to convert to receive food.  The things that we limit, I told her, we do so that we can reach more families.  She wanted to take a lot of chicken and beef because those are so expensive and can be kept in the freezer, and I reminded her that we try to feed as many people as we can.  I understood her need, but I told her God would have more for us to give her next time she came.

     As she shopped, she shared her story and her gratitude.  Then she spoke of her wonder.  Why do we do this?  I answered her questions.  She did not know the Bible well, so there was no understanding that we will one day buy food without price or money or that God calls us to the Wedding Feast.  She knew she was not invited because of her condition.  Christians had explained to her time and time again that struggles were the sign that God was not saving them.  I apologized for those lies and reminded her that the book of Job, besides lots of other stories in the Bible, were instructions against that understanding.  She wished it were true, but she knew better.

     She finished shopping and I asked her if she wanted ice cream for the kids.  She made that face of “you have got to be kidding me” or “my ears are not working right.”  Volunteers can tell you all kinds of stories like this.  When we get to something that is unique to the individual and offer it to them, they are blown away.  I remind them, and I remind our volunteers to remind them, that God knew they would come and wanted to make sure you knew His love for you.  At various times during her shopping, she had teared up.  But giving ice cream to the kids clearly meant a lot to them and to her.

     She thanked me repeatedly for that amazing gift and apologized for keeping me late.  I told her I had offered, so she did not make me do anything.  But we were not done.  She asked what I meant and I took her into the little kitchen freezer and asked what kind of ice cream momma needed.  Hilary and Nancy had filled that little freezer with Hagen-Daz and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.  She looked at me like I was nuts.  She asked if I had any idea how expensive those ice creams were.  I pointed to my belly and asked her if I looked like a guy who did not know the price and value of ice cream.  She laughed and covered her mouth.  Then she expressed that she couldn’t, those little ice creams cost $6, $7, and $8 each; besides, I had given her a half gallon for the kids.

     I told her I knew the cost and the value.  I was not offering that ice cream to children who did not understand it.  I was offering it to parents who did, who needed that special treat from their Father in heaven, to remind them of His love of them.  She was shocked at the choice.  We had two shelves full of those pints.  I asked her what her favorite was.  She said she just loved chocolate.  The more chocolate the better!  I laughed and went digging for her.  I did find a white chocolate one quickly and commented it was hard not to toss it.  She asked why.  I told her white chocolate was not chocolate and that I was not sure if was going to be at the dessert buffet at the Marriage Feast.  She started giggling, but she offered to eat it if I wanted to stop looking.  

      Eventually I found some Ben & Jerry’s chocolate brownie batter with chocolate syrup in chocolate ice cream pint.  That had enough chocolate for her.  I handed it to her and reminded her that God had this in the freezer for her.  He had given her ice cream to make the kids happy, but the pint was for her.  She uttered one of those phrases that drives me nuts, that she wished more Christians were like us.  I shared my agreement and frustration.

     She thanked me for everything as we carried her groceries out to her car.  She quadruple-checked to make sure she could really come back when she ran out of food.  But then she asked if I thought it true that everyone could go to that Wedding Feast.  I told her absolutely, and to be clear, if anyone can make white chocolate taste good, it was God.  She laughed and asked if even white chocolate lovers would be let in.  I told her that yes, even those with bad taste would be let in.

     You and I are reminded intentionally this day, the twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, in the middle of the growing season, of God’s mercy and desire to draw everyone to Himself.  We spent two weeks reminding ourselves that the judgement of eternal salvation is for Jesus and the angels.  Jesus does not need our help with that.  Jesus does ask us, however, those who claim Him as Lord of their lives, to be heralds of mercy and inviters.  To us has been given invitations to the great Wedding Feast.  Our only instruction is to invite others in His Name.  We are reminded intentionally that everyone is created in His image, are bearers of His breathed characteristics, and that they can learn from us the love and value with which He sees them.  Those things that we use to distinguish ourselves from others do not matter to God.  He created everyone, descendants of Abraham and citizens of Nineveh.  And He desires nothing less than all might turn to His saving embrace.  We should know this better than the world around us and those denominations who are so quick to judge the salvific state of others even as they are blinded to their own by the log in their.  We remind ourselves as Adventers that His love for each human being was such that Jesus made intimacy with God possible again, that He loved each one of us as He hung dying on that Cross, and that He promised to accept all who come to Him in Christ’s Name.  Our job, having been reminded of that in our readings and nourished through His Body and Blood, is to go back out into that world and share that message of hope, of mercy, and of promise to all whom we encounter in our daily lives.  That has been the call of God on His people since the Garden, the Flood, on Abraham & Sarah, and all who proclaim Him as Lord.  May we all be reminded of that call this day, and every day, until His return or He calls us home!

In His mercy and promise,

Brian+

On God's perspective and mercy and turtles!

      This was a great week.  I knew my sermon on Monday, and God had plenty of time to get me an illustration.  As the week wore on, I kept internally tapping my foot wondering when He was going to give it to me.  Again, God was faithful, I hope, and got it to me at about 7:08-09 this morning.  More on that in a few minutes.

     Today our reading takes place after the battle of Baal vs. Yahweh on Mt. Carmel.  It is one of those stories many Christians do not know are even in the Bible.  Why there have been no movies about it, I’ll never know.  I even introduced my brokerage buddy who produces Hallmark movies, but he has not seen fit to use it.

     The story begins with a 3-year drought.  As y’all know, that is a theological rather than meteorological commentary.  Way back in Exodus, the people and God swore a covenant.  Among the signs for which Israel needed to pay attention was a lack of rainfall.  Whenever drought hit Israel, it was a sign from God that they were not doing what they were supposed to be doing, in accordance with the Covenant.  There were other signs to be noticed before a drought, but in an arid climate like Israel one might expect a drought would be easy to notice, to figure out what they were doing wrong, and to repent and return to the Lord.  Good, I see nods.

     In this case, Israel has fully committed to idolatry.  Specifically, Jezebel and Ahab have encouraged the worship of the Baals and set up high places to worship them, and they created a state-supported priestly caste to lead Israel in worship of the Baals.  Those of us who paid attention to the Exodus might remember that God is not a fan of His people worshiping other gods.  We might say it’s one of His 10 big no-no’s.  Lol

     This drought has lasted 3 years and Israel still has not repented.  Elijah has been preaching to Israel and to the king and queen the need to repent.  This is the same Elijah who appears at the Transfiguration and the same Elijah who has been staying with the widow whose flour and oil never run out.  This is the same Elijah who prays to God to restore the life of the widow’s son.  I remind you of that because I want you to remember that Elijah has had some mountaintop experiences as a prophet of God.  In fact, I will remind us that, among those who thought Messiah would be a prophet, many thought the Messiah would be Elijah.  It makes sense.  Elijah will be taken up into heaven by the chariots of fire in a couple chapters.  Since he did not die, some believed that Elijah would return in the same way to begin the reign of Messiah.

     Immediately before our passage today, Elijah has challenged the priests of the baals to a contest.  They will build an altar to the baals, and he will build an altar to Yahweh.  Both sides will try to call down a consuming fire to prove who is really God.  The priests of the baals go first.  They do all kinds of incantations and dances and eventually drop from exhaustion.  While they are doing all their histrionics, Elijah is relaxing and making fun of them and the baals.  The Hebrew is rather earthy, but imagine the prophet teasing the priests that their gods cannot answer because they are in the bathroom and other such helpful commentaries.  When the priests finally give up, Elijah rises and orders the wooden altar to be soaked with water.  Remember, this is a 3-year drought, so everything is dry.  Once the wood is soaked, Elijah asks God to show His power.  A fireball comes down from heaven consuming both altars.  Yahweh wins!

     In the confusion and clamor, Elijah instructs the Israelite priests and prophets to kill the false priests, which they do.  Ahab and Jezebel, who should be ashamed and repenting like crazy for leading Israel from Yahweh, and maybe fearing a fireball aimed at them, are furious that Elijah has killed so many false priests.  Jezebel, in particular, sends a threatening letter to Elijah promising to do that and worse to him.  That sends Elijah fleeing to the south and gives us a great meme.  Elijah is understandably upset that much of Israel, and the king and queen, did not repent and return to the Lord as a result of the Cosmic battle between God and the baals.  He compliance bitterly to God that he is the only one zealous for God  and that they are going to kill him.  God tells Elijah to take a nap.

     When Elijah awakes from his nap, the Angel of the Lord appears to him and feeds and waters him.  That Angel of the Lord bit is the subject of some academic arguing.  Who is the Angel of the Lord?  Are not all angels of the Lord.  Do not many angels have names?  One interesting proposition is that the Angel of the Lord is a proleptic, meaning prior to the Incarnation, appearing of the the second person of the Trinity.  In other words, they like to argue that Jesus appears to some of the saints of the OT and interacts with them.  Think of the angel who wrestled with Jacob, the Burning Bush and Moses, the appearance to and charge of Gideon, and the announcement to Manoah and his wife concerning Samson.  The Angel of the Lord, whoever the angel is, has an interesting history in Scripture.  After this sustenance of food and water, Elijah takes another nap.

     Sometimes we find ourselves terribly disillusioned with our own ministries, don’t we?  We serve at Body & Soul initially expecting people to choose to follow Jesus because of our articulate words and heart for service.  We study the Bible hoping to discover some code or nugget of truth that has evaded others over the centuries.  We clergy are not immune.  Many of us Episcopal clergy hope to birth the next Trinity Tariffville, the quintessential Episcopal parish of the 70s and 80s.  Both clergy and laity often hope to work or at least see miracles.  Some hope to be given mystical experiences that confirm our faith.  When our expectations are not met, how do we respond?  Not too much unlike Elijah, I am sad to say.

     Yet in the midst of this funk, how does God treat Elijah?  Is God the Disappointed Father who is in heaven, or is He more like the Loving Father of the Prodigal Son story?  God knows Elijah’s frailty.  His instruction in the initial complaint is rather soft.  Take a nap.  When Elijah awakens, God provides nourishment in a supernatural way, perhaps through a proleptic appearance Himself.  Then, in the face of Elijah’s despondance, He has Elijah take another nap.  It is almost like He knows Elijah and Elijah’s frailty.

     When he wakes, Elijah is instructed by God to head south.  Though the journey should have taken only a week or so, Elijah is sustained by the food and water for 40 days wandering the desert.  Sound familiar?  That brings us to our lesson today.

     Elijah is still in a funk.  Despite all those mountaintop experiences we have recalled this morning, Elijah finds himself still despondent.  God asks him why is there.  Elijah responds again that he alone is zealous for the Lord and that everyone is trying to kill him.  God instructs Elijah to leave the cave in which he is sheltering.  A wind that breaks rocks blows, but God was not in the wind.  Then the earthquake happens, and God is not in the earthquake.  Lastly comes the fire, and God is not in the fire.  Make no mistake, for us there is a bit of a polemic in these descriptions.  Those who worshiped the baals were just like the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Babylonians, and every other culture that believed or believes there is a god for every single thing.  When Elijah looks at these phenomena and does not see God in them, it is a reminder to us that God created these things and is not subject to them.  They are subject to His Will.

     Once again, Elijah is asked by God why he is there.  Elijah gives the same answer that he alone is zealous for God and everyone is trying to kill him.  God commissions Elijah again, telling him to anoint Nimshi as king over Israel, Hazael as king over Aram, and Elisha as a prophet in his place.  Just as significantly, God tells Elijah that there is more judgment to come.  Hazael and Jehu will be killing lots of people, and those who escape will be killed by Elisha.  God tells Elijah that 7000 will remain at the end of this bloody mess, those who have not bowed a knee to or kissed the baals.  Were only 7000 people faithful God?  As I have told you, we get our love of math from our Arab cousins.  7000 may simply be a way for the author of 1st Kings to say the judgment is complete, like the 7 days of creation, and there are thousands.  But, there has been a drought for THREE years.  That seems like an inordinate amount of time for Israel collective not to have realized the significance.  In the end, it does not really matter.  Many will die, but a faithful remnant will be preserved.

     Again, God shows His compassion and His mercy to Elijah.  Many of us would expect God to be angry with Elijah or even to give up on him.  Perhaps that is how we were parented or how we parented.  God, though, is a loving Father, full of compassion.  He gives Elijah new orders and He reminds Elijah that Elijah is not the only faithful person in Israel.  There are at least 7000 who have remained faithful, and Elisha will literally pick up his mantle.

     You and I are reminded that it is God who gives meaning to our work and ministries.  If we do anything to which He calls us, He is the One who determines success or failure.  He is the only One who knows everything that is happening and is able to see beyond our limited eyesight.  That is why our work is often described in agrarian metaphors.  Some of us plant, some of us water, some of us manure, some of us weed, and some of us harvest.  None of that happens without the labor of others; and our own importance derives from the fact that God gives us these tasks or vocations to do in His Name.  Some of our jobs may seem pointless in our eyes; some may seem like utter failures.  But in the end, as He did with our Lord Christ, God gives the meaning and the glory.

     There is yet another lesson to be learned, if we know the story.  Does Elijah anoint Hazael and Jehu as he is instructed by God?  I see too many nods of yes.  No!  Elijah anoints only Elisha.  Elisha is the one who anoints Hazael and Jehu.  In this simple task, Elijah fails again.  Despite all of God’s ministrations to him, despite all of God’s manifestations to him, Elijah fails in this simple command.  Yet in his failure you and I are allowed to understand better our own failures, our own worth, and God’s grace and mercy.  For all of this funk in which we see Elijah during these passages, he is still Elijah the prophet in God’s eyes.  This prophet who feels like an abject failure and feels like he is alone is, nevertheless, honored by God.  Elijah becomes only the second human being not to die.  Elijah becomes the man who represents the role of the prophet to Israel.  And Elijah becomes one of those messiahs who might well be the real Messiah as salvation history continues to unfold.  For all his failures, he stands on the mountaintop before the Three Apostles, conversing with Jesus and Moses about the upcoming Cross.

     I was reminded this morning that I needed to instruct us on perspective, which brings me back to that illustration I mentioned in the beginning.  As a reminder, your focus should really be on God, not me.  It will be a story of how God used me unknowingly, but makes sense in light of life.  As I was getting ready for church this morning, I turned on the Weather Channel.  After 7am they ran a story on the return of sea turtles to the Florida coast.  The lady speaking with the morning hosts talked about how Floridians had embraced the idea that sea turtles were important to the ecology of Florida marine life.  What really excited her was that leatherback turtles had returned in recent years, and that those majestic giants had returned to the beaches after having mostly disappeared for a few decades.

     Those of you who come into my office sometimes ask about all the turtles my mother gave me.  The impetus for those gifts was that when I was sixteen, I applied for and was accepted into a research program that was looking into reports that leatherback turtles had been reported on Puerto Rican beaches.  At that time in the early 80’s, leatherback turtles were critically endangered.  In case you do not know, these are the turtles that are about 9-10 feet in length and weigh somewhere around 1000 pounds when fully grown.  They are a touch bigger than box turtles we found in the woods as kids.

     The result of the program was that the two beaches where we worked were discovered to be the second and third largest nesting sites in the Atlantic basin.  The oceanographers and herpetologist could not contain their wonder at the number of turtles we were tagging!  They were excited to learn that many mothers lay multiple clutches of eggs.  Our jobs were to tag the turtles, notice any particular distinguishing features to include with the tagsheet, carefully count the eggs (both good and decoy) after the female had finished laying them, and make sure the turtles headed back out to sea when finished.  We learned later that it was the lights from houses and buildings that disoriented these creatures and caused them to head inland away from the water, which is why coastal communities embrace “turtle lighting” along some of our southeastern coast.  Our last job, if the nest was deemed to be in the tidal zone or very close to it, was to dig a new nest further ashore and to move the nest, carefully replacing the eggs.

     Over time, other researchers and grunts took part in the effort.  Eventually, as scientists worked through the lifecycle of the turtle, an effort was made to take some those “at risk” nests in the tidal zone and to safely harvest the eggs and transport them elsewhere in the Atlantic basin.  The hope was that if more eggs were hatched around the basin, the number of these enormous turtles would increase.  The lady’s enthusiasm this morning was proof that some of our work was incredibly important back then.  Some of the Florida beaches south of Cape Canaveral had received leatherback turtle eggs years ago.  Now those former hatchlings were returning to beaches for the first time in decades and laying their own clutches.  And in the bigger picture, leatherbacks are no longer threatened with extinction.

     She also shared with the Weather Channel hosts that there were fringe benefits.  One was tourism.  People loved being at the beach and seeing turtles, including hawksbill, green, and loggerheads, nest.  But the leatherbacks were a site!  People also loved seeing nests hatch and watching the newly hatched turtles dash for the sea!  They even have fewer and fewer incidents of people harassing all turtles and disturbing their nests.  She described it as a kind of ecological tourism.  People scheduled vacations hoping to see a part of this life cycle of sea turtles

     Another benefit, she touted, was the decline in jellyfish populations and stings at the beaches.  Guess what the favorite snack food for a leatherback seems to be.  That’s right, jellyfish.  As these monthers swim offshore preparing to nest, or recovering from the last effort and preparing for the next, they enjoy eating a variety of jellyfish.  Everybody wins!  The momma turtles get food, and human beings avoid stings!

     There are other benefits, but I won’t bore you too much this morning with those.  But I want to point out one of those important lessons with which Elijah struggled, namely the idea of perspective.  Elijah had accomplished miraculous things in service of God.  That “battle” between the baals and Yahweh was certainly at the forefront of those experiences.  But despite those events, Elijah was frail and all too human.  When things did not go quite the way he hoped or expected, he became despondent.  I, I alone, am zealous for the Lord.  He knew it was not true, but it sure felt like it in those dark moments.  The widow and her son certainly appreciated Elijah’s presence and God’s favor on him.  Elijah had a cadre of priests and prophets who looked to him as their leader, God’s chosen prophet and little “m” messiah.  Even God instructed him personally that there were at least 7000 individuals who had been faithful, who had listened to God and His prophets.  In his funk, Elijah could not see past his disappointment and failures.  And this is Elijah!  This is the prophet!  Some thought he might one day return to become the Messiah!

     I love the story because it reminds us of our need to change our perspectives.  Some of us serve others in God’s Name hoping for an incredible harvest.  There’s nothing wrong in longing to harvest for the glory of God, but we need to remind ourselves that God is constantly wooing those in the world around us, constantly reaching out His hands in love to remind them who they are in His eyes.  We are just the conduit.  We can do everything perfectly.  We can say all the right words, express the welcoming attitude beautifully, meet their desperate need without a hint of condescension, and never experience a harvest for the glory of God.  Our problem is that we do not know everything that is gone on in the life of that person we serve in His Name.  But He does!  We have to learn to trust that we are simply part of the process where God is drawing someone else into His saving embrace.  We do our job as a good steward, as an adopted child seeking to honor our Father, and trust that He uses our efforts and passions to His glory.  The world’s measures, like the number of people who convert because of us, are not His measures.

     Understanding that process and perspective also helps us be on guard against pride and hubris.  If we are the ones lucky enough to harvest, we know that we owe a debt of gratitude to those who planted the seeds before us, who engaged the individual before us, who served Christ in them before we did.  We give thanks to God for the role we play in His work, but we recognize salvation is truly His work, working through others like us.

     The experience of Elijah also serves as an antidote against the idea that we need to be superheroes of the faith.  All of you here today knew some of the story of Elijah, but there were several who had never heard this one.  None of those men and women about whom we read in the Scriptures were any different than you or me.  They had moments when they felt they could conquer the world in God’s Name and moments when they failed terribly.  Their stories are recorded so that you and I might understand that it is God’s gracious will to use ordinary people like ourselves for His purposes of Salvation History.  God takes ordinary guys, ordinary gals, ordinary kids, and He makes them extraordinary in the eyes of those around them.  He makes them heralds of the Gospel.  He is able to accomplish His Will despite their and our failures; sometimes He is glorified by their and our repentance, our acknowledgement that we were not doing what He asked.  All He asks is that we trust Him, that we let Him use us as He will, that the world might be drawn to Him.

     What about our weaknesses?  What about our failures?  How does God respond to Elijah in this pericope?  If anyone should have understood God’s power and will, it was Elijah.  Does God punish Elijah for his failure?  Does God berate him for forgetting who he was, God’s chosen prophet?  No.  God meets His son in rest, in nourishment, in instruction, and in command.  The God who created Elijah understood better than Elijah what Elijah needed.  And rather than rage at Elijah, God ministers to his prophet, reminding him and us what we often forget.  Our God is a God of mercy.  Our God realizes our needs long before we often do.  Better still, God meets our needs in nourishment, sabbath rest, instruction, and new work, reminding us who were are in His Son and in His eyes.

     The last perspective we need to talk about this morning is time.  We forget far too often that time is a creation of God.  God literally made time just as He made the cosmos.  That realization helps instruct us that we are only responsible for a short time in His service.  You and I cannot possibly fathom a plan that has, thus far, taken about 4000 years to play out, and it is not yet fully completed.  Yes, Jesus conquered the fear of death in His Resurrection, but death still stalks each one of us.  All that is sad is not yet unmade.  We are right to have urgency in our work because we do not know when our Lord will return, and we do not want to be surprised by the thief in the night.  But how can we truly understand His plan of salvation in the short decades span of our lives?  16yo me had no idea how God was using me then.  I hoped our work was not in vain.  I hoped the leatherback population would bounce back.  But there was a lot of work to be done before I could watch that report on the Weather Channel, not the Turtle Channel, this morning.  

     I do not know that 16yo me would have been able to articulate a theology of Creation care, that it is all our jobs to act as stewards of God’s earth until His return.  And as God so often has to remind me, He does far more than I can ever ask or imagine.  He gave me the perfect illustration, a little too close to the deadline for my liking, to give some of you a different perspective, His perspective.  I do know that 58yo me has a better understanding, but nowhere near a perfect understanding.  Like you, I know that some days I might be frustrated, some days I might be despondent, some days I may want to throw in the towel on the work He has called me to do.  When you express those fears and frustration, I get it.  That’s part of what makes me a pastor in your life.  But let us not forget the most important aspect this morning.  God gets it better than we all do.  And yet, for reasons known only to Him, He chooses to use frail human beings like Elijah, like Peter, like you, and like me to share His Gospel, that those out there who are so much like us, may find Him and learn that He has been seeking them their whole life.

In His Perspective and Grace,

Brian+

Heralds of His tender mercies . . .

      I am really struggling internally with not being able to preach on the Old Testament.  It has been since the middle of Lent, but the call is to preach His Word not mine.  Though I will point out to us that, although Solomon asks for wisdom and God is pleased, for how long does Solomon act wisely?  Brian gets the gold star today, until he decides to marry the Egyptian princess to strengthen ties with Egypt.  Hopefully y’all remember that Israel was commanded not to take spouses from outside Israel or they would lead Israel from God into idolatry.  The king was subject to that as well, plus the reminder that, if the king was faithful to the Covenant and his responsibilities, God would protect him and Israel from foreign adversaries.

     It was easy for me to feel God’s nudge this week, though.  I have often remarked that I need to do a sermon series on the Collects.  Every now and again for the last eleven years, I have preached on them.  Some of you have expressed your surprise at how much Scripture is in our Collects, as if they are not part of the BCP.  But this idea of mercy was front in center of our life together the last couple weeks.  Besides the parables in Matthew are super easy this week, right?  Jesus is THE focus of Salvation History, right?  We know that by His Resurrection and Ascension, and all the miracles He performed.  Anybody want to argue?  Good.  That means Jesus is THE mustard seed of the first parable, THE yeast in the flour of our lives, THE treasure hidden in a field, and THE pearl of great value.  That’s how the Church has understood these parables.  Everybody with me, and do not be like the disciples and crowd that says yes when Jesus asks if they understand what He just said.  Lol.

     Now, in case it did not sink in on the teaching between the wheat and the weeds, Jesus is again reminding us and those in the crowd that angels will be responsible for separating the evil from the righteous.  Do we have any role in the judgement of salvation?  Good, no.  And just to remind ourselves, righteous is a term that does not mean holy or perfect.  Righteous means someone has been forgiven by God.  We know this, right?  What do we do we promise to do when we fall into sin every time we hear our baptismal vows?  That’s right, repent and return to the Lord.  What do we do right before the peace at the Eucharist so that we can come and receive the Eucharist without fear of profaning it or heaping condemnation upon ourselves?  That’s right, repent and hear the words of absolution.  Any questions?  Good.  Let’s get to the Collect and sermon.

     Our collect today is one of those written by Cranmer and used to be the Collect for the fifth Sunday after Pentecost (fourth after Trinity).  Cranmer took it from the Gregorian Sacramentary and translated the Latin into English, for those of us who like historical roots of our BCP.  Anglicans will sometimes get caught up in fights about whether we can lose our salvation as the Collect suggests, by getting too caught up in the temporal world that we lose our focus on Jesus.  Most of us would probably agree with Cranmer since Jesus teaches in the parable of the soils, which we read a couple ago, that we can get too caught up in the cares of the world that we fail to bear any good fruit.  Right?  I was not called to enjoying you to that fight today, however.  I do believe I was called to remind you of the antidote to that risk.  Increase and multiply upon us Thy mercy.

     God’s mercy figures prominently in our lessons and songs today.  Thy mercies, how tender!  How firm to the end! – the end of the fifth processional hymn today.  The Gospel hymn is all about mercy, even though the word is not used.  The psalmist also speaks to it, right?  We recognize on a certain level, then, that without God’s mercy in our lives, we can lose sight of the goal.  If we become so caught up in things of this world, we run the risk of losing the real treasure that we seek, namely Jesus.   The Good News, though, is that God reinforces this all the time by His acts of mercy.  When we are aware of His mercy, when we have inwardly digested His mercy is always in play in our lives as disciples, we are better able to face the challenges and temptations the world throws at us and keep our eyes focused on Great Treasure, Jesus.

     Part of the ease of this sermon was God’s mercy in our corporate life this week.  If you are visiting, we have a feeding ministry that fed about 72,000 individuals last year and distributed north of 400,000 pounds of food.  We think of it as a vibrant, if rather crazy and overwhelming ministry of the parish.  God’s mercy is always providing us with great things to distribute.  Think of your favorite food, like your ultimate comfort food, and we have likely received it and given to others who love it, too.

     Back in the ice storm, some of you might be aware we lost a freezer full of chicken,  somewhere around 300 pounds.  What makes it weird was that everything was frozen during the ice storm.  We did not get above 30 degrees here.  What made it weirder was that the freezer was down in the basement of the parish hall, which means it was at the lowest part of the campus and, theoretically at least, should have been the coldest of the air in the building, right?  When Hilary made it down there, in part because it never occurred to Sarah or me that, since the food upstairs in the freezer was staying frozen, the food downstairs in the freezer might thaw, she discovered it had thawed and made a mess of chicken juice in the freezer and the floor.  I know, yuck.  Hilary can tell you about lots of glorious work like that in this ministry.  

     We threw the chicken away because we did not know when it had thawed and whether it was safe.  We are, after all, trying to feed people, not make them sick.

     A few weeks later, Susan Abington and Mark Hunter, a deacon in the diocese, reached out to see if we had suffered any losses that impacted those whom we serve.  Apparently trees knocking down power lines did not count with ERD.  I am teasing.  Episcopal Relief & Development does great work.  Whenever there is an emergency in the country and around the world, ERD tries to work with local Episcopal or Anglican churches to get needed supplies and other help where it is needed.  If you are able, and God puts it on your heart, consider giving to them when you want our churches ministering in devastation.

     Anyway, the chicken was the only foodstuff we lost, and I was told to get an estimate of replacement cost.  ERD wanted to help us make sure no one went hungry because of the loss and the ice storm.

     I received a call last week from a lady claiming to be from ERD.  She wanted to know if it was true that we had somehow turned our lost chicken into more chicken.  It was true.  I had asked a lady at ERD between the time we applied and the time the diocese received the grant if I had to replace boneless, skinless chicken breasts with boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  The lady with whom I spoke asked why.  I told her we serve 86 people groups or so.  Different people like different parts of the chicken.  Some like dark meat.  Some like white meat.  Some like legs.  Everyone seems to love wings, right Hilary?  She, of course, said sure.  She said I could probably get other proteins if I made the case, but I told her we would stick with chicken to make it easier.

     I headed to the local butcher that helps us during Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Michael was, as you might imagine, willing to help.  I was kind of useless to him as I told him I had about $1500 to spend and was willing to accept anything he might suggest at a good price.  Kyle had moved on as store manager, and Damon, I think is his name, needed to be involved due to some changes in company policy.  We settled on how to do it, when to pay, when to pick up, and all the details.  I told them what I preferred, but I trusted Michael to get us a good deal.  We ended up with a bit over 600 pounds of different chicken.  We got some boneless, skinless breasts; we received wings and other cuts.  We had dark meat; we had white meat.  We had bones and no bones.  We ended up with about 600 pounds of chicken.  We had only lost 300.  How did we do this, the lady asked?  I told her God did it.  She gave me the “no, seriously” response that people do when they first hear about God’s crazy and merciful provision in this ministry.  I told her, “Seriously, it IS God.”  We are not smart enough or creative enough to do the things He does.  And we know, as a result that it is Him.  All of us are vaccinated against pride and despair in this work because of God’s faithful and merciful provision.  He allows us to give the food insecure a choice between HagenDas and Ben & Jerry’s. God is the one who lets our volunteers offer the food insecure lobster or tuna steaks; T-Bones or Ribeyes; Salmon or Shrimp?  

     The people we serve would be happy with whatever we offer.  Those oppressed by hunger are often convinced they deserve nothing more than noodles or rice or peanut butter.  In truth, they are shocked when we give them a choice during their initial visit.  But those crazy choices lead to those conversations where we get to remind them of God’s love of them, of His willingness to provide His Best, in Jesus and in immediate needs, to remind us all of that Truth.  And, lest we forget, God is the Creator and Maker of all things.  We of all people in the world should expect for Him to be able to provide, but especially when His Son is being glorified in our life and witness.

     As you might expect, given ERD’s mission, the lady loved the story and asked for permission to share.  I, of course, reminded her that ERD was part of that work now.  Had they not done what they did, Michael could not have done what he did, and we could not have done what we did.  I learned they may or may not be part of the story as she thought we exceeded the grant size.  That means the bishop filled in the gap instead of ERD, but ERD was willing and did for other congregations in our diocese.  A willing heart counts for an awful lot in God’s eyes.  

     I know that some of us get tired of hearing the stories about Body & Soul or Room in the Inn.  Other ministries happen; worship happens; Bible study happens; fellowship events; and who knows what else.  It is just that God is so visible in some aspects of our corporate life that even Bartimaeus would see it.  We live in an area where we are tempted to think we deserve God’s grace, where we are tempted uncritically to think that we merit the lives we live.  I mean, most of us would never expect to have to use a food pantry.  All of us live in the United States.  Most of us live in Brentwood which might be the very opposite of privation.  But God knows us.  He knows the challenges we face; He knows the traumas that have shaped us; and He knows the attitudes we have expressed and believed.  Because He knows our weaknesses He is ever in our midst proving His mercy to us, demonstrating His merciful care of all through us, that others in the world might turn to His saving embrace.  And because He loves us and He wants us to remember our need of His mercy in our lives, He makes us heralds in the lives of others, that we might keep our focus on Him, our protector, our strength, and our focus of salvation!

In His mercy!

Brian+

Trinity Sunday 2026

      Ok, I promised 8 o’clockers I would trust them and preach a bit longer.  Why do we read the first creation story today?  If you get it correct, you can head to the Parish Hall for coffee until we partake of the Eucharist.  Don’t laugh too much, the real sermon is short.  We read it, in part, because we have finished reminding ourselves about the great works of the Gospel.  We intentionally reminded ourselves that Christ has come and will come again in Advent; we celebrate the Incarnation, we remind ourselves intentional that God manifested Christ to the Gentiles during Epiphany; we remind ourselves of our need for a Savior during Lent; we remember the Passion and Death of our Lord Christ during Holy Week; we celebrate His Resurrection and its consequences on Easter; we remember the Ascension on the Thursday service everyone skips during Easter; and we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.  The rest of the year will be spent on learning what it means to grow in discipleship, what those events we intentionally remind ourselves each year mean to our lives in this world, in this place, and at this time.  It means I could skip Trinity Sunday and jump right into that, if I preferred.

     On this day, Trinity Sunday, it could be fun to preach on the promise we have that we will one glorious Day be a part of that intimate relationship that we know as the Trinity.  Part of what we celebrated on Ascension was the fact that a part of us has ascended with Jesus back to the Godhead.  Right?

     Paul shares a wonderful blessing in Second Corinthians.  Certainly it would be good for us to be mindful of those things of which he writes the Church in Corinth.

     And the Gospel lesson is Jesus’ reminder that He has been given authority over all things in heaven and on earth and that we have been sent to baptize in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  You would think there’d be little disagreement with that part, but you would be admitting you do not pay much attention to what is happening outside these walls.  Nowadays, when I have to certify that someone was baptized at Advent, I have to certify that no one used anything other than the Trinitarian formula for the baptism.  Anything else is considered invalid by the wider Church, and rightfully so.

     In truth, I knew I would be preaching on the Trinity before I picked up the readings.  I have shared how clergy often pass off preaching this day to assistants or seminarians.  The problem is that we are speaking of a Holy Mystery when we talk about the Trinity.  Often, no matter how well intended when we start, we begin quickly to drift off into anathemas or outright heresies as we try to explain the Trinity.  Worse, we can preach a wonderful doctrinal statement that goes on and on and on, but seems to have no practical purpose.  But as I worked my way through study this week, I was drawn back to a passion of one of my colleagues.  So I am plagiarizing her.  Well, I am giving her credit, so I am not really plagiarising.  But you get the idea.

     Before I begin, everyone turn in your prayer books to page 864.  Yes.  I am serious.  I am encouraging us all to turn to the historical documents.  Like I said, I have to stretch this out a bit.  At the bottom of the page is the Anathansian Creed.  Take your time and start reading it for comprehension.  I’ll be quiet for a few moments to let you get into it. . . . 

     Is anybody bored yet?  You are bored with God?  Lol  I am only teasing.  A number of our brothers and sisters will say this creed today, and a few of my colleagues will likely preach on it.  There will be wringing of hands because, gasp, it may not have been written by Athanasius.  In fact, our oldest copy is from the 6th Century, which means that one was not written by Athanasius.  Because you have a classicist for a priest and he makes you learn about obscure things like copyright and marketing in the ANE, you all understand that a disciple of Athanasius could have written the creed and attributed it to his master.  As long as Athanasius, or most of his disciples, agreed, it would be accepted as expressing the teachings of Athanasius.

     Athanasius is famous in the Church, sainted to be more precise, for His defense of the faith against Arius, who argued that there was a time when Christ was not.  Arius believed that Jesus was subordinate to the Father, that Jesus was created by the Father.  It was his teachings that caused the bishops to council to settle matters like this at Nicea.  The end result of that gathering was the Nicene Creed.  To be fair, the end result was that the Church accepted the Nicene and Apostles’ Creed as distillations of the Christians faith.  To be a Christian, one had to accept those creeds.  Interestingly, most of the Church accepts the Athanasian Creed as on equal footing with the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds.  But that is why I am not making you recite that creed today.  Principal worship is meant to be ecumenical.  Since some in our church hold that the Athanasian Creed is not on the same level as the other two creeds, we do not honor their discernment by acting as if it is.  We want to be good hosts, if other Christians are joining us for this celebration, right?

     Look again at the length of that creed.  See how long it is.  Do you have an idea how long it would take us to recite it?  Would we really comprehend everything we said, or have you found some challenging spots?  Ok, in lieu of that, I was reminded of a passionate conversation led by the Rev. Dr. Kara Slade, the head of the Anglican House at Princeton.  Most of you know Timothy Kimbrough is the head of the Anglican House at Duke, right?  Same work, different college.

     If her name tickles your mind a bit, she has been one of our colloquium lecturers since the pandemic.  In fact, the year I missed because I had COVID, she came and taught the clergy about time being a forgotten creation.  We forget that time is made by God and, so, is something we can and should offer and not be too surprised when He gives us more.  I would describe Kara as being among those esteemed clergy who believe that the Holy Spirit can give a charism of sarcasm at one’s ordination and might think she received a double measure.  Bishop John, of course, disagrees, but he did invite her to teach the clergy of the diocese.

     Kara’s charge at Princeton is to make sure that anyone in the Anglican world of denominations who graduates from Princeton, understands the theologies of Anglicanism, both the thought and the liturgical practice, much like Dean Kimbrough at Duke.  We learned some time ago that Trinity Sunday drives her nuts.  The seminarians, far too often, were called upon to preach and rightfully stressed about it.  She is their pastor in a sense, so it makes sense that it agitated her.  This is a hard enough job without people, especially clergy, setting us up to fail.  So she asked if we assigned the preaching to anyone but ourselves for this day.  Thankfully, in that very specific community, most of us did not.

     But Kara has to engage with the wider Church, not just those blessed with a love of the Gospel and a double portion of sarcasm given at their ordination.  She refused to tell us who set her off.  In fact, I think she had a disclaimer that this was not directed at anyone in particular.  But one year, on all her social media platforms, she posted the quintessential sermon for Trinity Sunday.  This was the 8am sermon, so you can write this down in the event someone questions you about the Trinity.  The identity of God is shown to us in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit!  Yes, I can repeat it.  The identity of God is shown to us in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit!  Later, when you get home, read that Athanasian Creed in your BCP and compare it against Kara’s sermon.  You will quickly see why she is a professor at Princeton.  It is an 18-word sermon.  It describes a Holy Mystery.  Does it forget anything?

     Because 8am fussed a bit, think of the Holy Spirit.  How do we know Jesus is the beloved of God, the Anointed?  Right, at His baptism the Spirit descends like a dove. Anointing Him.  How do we perceive He is the Messiah, the Christ?  That’s right, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Her short sermon picks up the instruction that the Holy Spirit is present at His Anointing and our perceiving.  It makes more sense to us Adventers because we look back to the Nativity, reminding ourselves He came down from heaven and became fully human, and we look forward to His Second Coming, when He will come to complete the task of Re-Creation.  So now you have a great sermon to share, if anyone ever asks you about the Trinity.

     Oh, I almost forgot.  Kara shared our sermon illustrations.  Again, she is making sure Anglicans graduating from Princeton can preach and teach, and we do have a reputation to uphold, right?  She ended her posts withDon’t try and explain the doctrine, just preach the ding dang Gospel!  Us being us, you know, given a double portion of sarcasm, focused hard on ding dang that week.  Most of us assumed it was a theological term that came from an ancient language that none of us knew.  Good, you know what Princeton academics are like.  I see some of you were given that same charism as some of us clergy by the Holy Spirit by your chuckling.  Remember that when Bishop John comes, especially if you hear him arguing with me that sarcasm is NOT a gift of the Holy Spirit.

     But to the depth of her sermon, think on this: Who gives you what to say?  That’s right, the Holy Spirit.  Her sermon was so spot on, so full of Good News, that she reminded you, even though you had forgotten it, that the Holy Spirit empowers you to do the work that God has given you to do.  If someone asks you about the Trinity, you are being asked to share the Gospel, not a doctrine.  You are being asked to tell how you heard the Gospel, why you chose to believe the Gospel, and the impact the Gospel has on you as you live in this world.  People are not interested in doctrine.  When people ask, they want to know why we believe.  All we have to do is answer their question and their follow-up’s.  That’s it.  Because Christ has ascended and the Holy Spirit has come, you and I are fit ambassadors of God.  And all we need do is to tell people why we believe and live as we live and believe.  The rest is, as they say, up to God, just as it always has been!

In His peace and power,

Brian+