The Only Constant

The Only Constant

The Collect of the Day uses the turn of phrase; "that among the swift and varied changes of this life, our hearts may be surely fixed where true joys are to be found." If ever there were a fact of life that would be it! Life goes by so quickly. As my grandmother always said the older we get, the faster time goes by. That's why we stop today to notice something that doesn't change, that place in our hearts and souls where true joys are indeed to be found.

For Christians the world over the signature moment down through the ages is the moment we celebrate week in and week out: it is the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist is a living reminder that the Risen Christ is always among us. It is a reminder of that moment when Jesus and his disciples gathered in the upper room and broke bread together and after supper shared in the drinking of the common cup. Here we are two thousand years later doing the exact same thing as Jesus and his disciples often did and most particularly on that night before he died for us.

Something happened that caught our attention in the person and life of Jesus. Who, I wonder is this Jesus of Nazareth, for you, for me and for us? At the very least, he is the healer, the teacher, the one who goes to the outcast. He is the one who suffers and dies that others may live.

For Mary, Jesus was the one who touched her life and made her understand how much God loved her. God touched her life again the day he raised Lazarus from the dead. And here in today's Gospel Mary touches Jesus' life when she anoints his feet with very costly perfumes. 

The fact that Jesus allows this to happen seems somewhat over the top for the one who went out among the poor and the outcast, Mary herself being one of those questionable sorts Jesus reached out to. Such was her love and affection for Jesus that she extravagantly and intimately expressed that devotion by washing his feet with her hair. She offended Judas we're told. He thought that the money could have been spent among the poor. Mind you, the Gospeller notes parenthetically that he really didn't care about the poor. In fact there were questions about how honestly he handled the common purse which he held on behalf of the disciples.

We are told that the Passover was approaching. They were at the home of Lazarus; the one Jesus raised from the dead. Good Lord, here he is throwing a dinner party for Jesus in Bethany just a stone's throw from Jerusalem. Jesus told these people that he was going up to Jerusalem where he would be killed by the religious and  state authorities. They didn't really want to face the facts. For them the swift and varied changes of this life were very much upon them. So preoccupied were they with their lives that they really could not notice that the love of God as fixed in Jesus was the only true constant joy in their lives. The love of God and his power over sin and death was about to be revealed. But they were too busy to notice. I suspect the same is true for us much of the time. After all, the stresses and strains of modern life are very much upon us.

Such were the swift and varied events leading up to the cross; that they were hardly able to notice that the one thing that remains unchanged and unchanging is his love, his enduring, forgiving and reconciling love. I suspect that Mary had an inkling into this enduring truth. It was because of what Mary saw in Jesus that she washed his feet with her hair. She wanted Jesus to know how much she loved him. 

The Holy Eucharist is a sign of this love. It is a love that goes both ways; God's love made known to us in Jesus and our love made known to Jesus and to one another in the breaking of the bread. 

You will notice that the breaking of the bread takes a prominent place in the Eucharistic drama. The breaking of the bread is the liturgical act in the Eucharist that recognizes that we are all broken in one way or another and yet we are all healed as well by the ever fixed, constant and eternal love of Jesus Christ our Lord. Our relationships with God are broken as are our relationships with one another.

The breaking of this bread allows us share in the love of God even in the midst of all the swift and varied changes of our history. The breaking of this bread allows us all to "forget what lies behind and to strain forward to what lies ahead, as we all press on toward the prize of the heavenly call of God that we have heard in Jesus Christ our Lord". That's how Paul puts it in today's Epistle. And that's why we break this bread. That's why we drink this cup. The grace of this Eucharist gives us the wherewithal to press on.

Jesus becomes present to us in this meal, as does his love for us. Here we can come to the altar rail and pour out our hearts. We can share our fears and ourworries with God. We can share our gratitude and our thanksgiving. We can express our hopes and our joys. We can offer ourselves to God for the purposes of God in our lives. We can kneel there and ask God, what do you have in mind for me next? God know's I ask that question at this altar in these last few weeks I have with you here at St. John's. Here at this altar rail we can be reconciled to God and to one another.

The breaking of this bread reminds us too that we are all one family on this day, whatever else anyone can say, today we are one family under God. And we can thank Julia Caroline Whte for making this day possible. It's not just your family that is gathered here. It is all of God's family. You are very special to us today. This is a very special day for you but not you alone. This is a special day for all of us. Sorry for centering you out Julia, but it is you who make this day so very special indeed. Thank you.

We admit you this day to the Eucharistic Fellowship of the Church. This is the one fixed unchanged and unchanging fact of our life. You will have heard it said time and again: 

"Christ has died. 

Christ is Risen.

  Christ will come again." 

That's it! This is the very core of our faith. The unchanged and unchanging fact of faith. And our very lives remain fixed on this one fact. Empires come and empires go, but the Risen Christ remains true and fixed in our hearts. It is there with the Risen Christ that true joys are to be found. Fix your hearts there. Nothing can ever change that one fact, because nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Yes, the Apostle Paul said that too. 

I want to extend a special welcome to your family gathered here today, and welcome back everyone in the family to this very special moment in your life and in the life of this congregation. We welcome you all because we believe that God is about to do something new here. God is about to touch Julia's heart in a whole new way. Do you not perceive it? 

In today's first lesson the prophet Isaiah insists;

"Do not remember the former things,

or consider the things of old.

I am about to do a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?"

As that applies to me, so too it applies to us all.

Do you not perceive it? At every moment of our lives, God is about to do something new.

Julia, as you come to the altar rail today with your family, may God's spirit touch you in a very special kind of way.

I feel so privileged that you have asked me to do this particular thing today for you and your family. It pleases me to know that such is the bond of affection that we share that we can also share this moment.

Ah but something else is about to happen within a few short weeks. I wish I could be part of it. But alas God wants me to move on to something else. I'm not at all sure what that something else is right now but I do know God wants something more out of me. God is nowhere near done with me yet. I will take a few weeks off to watch the tide come in and go out from my perch on my porch in Lynn. But as sure as there are varied and swift changes afoot in life at large, so too there are swift and varied changes afoot in my life as well and it is the Living God who is stirring within me, and not just me but all of us.

I hasten to add that I will not be able to come back when I leave. Just ask Fr McGin about that one. When your new rector comes he will be your new rector. Fr Paul and Fr John will both be part of your history. And that's just the way it is. If you want, you can come and visit me in Lynn, or meet me in Boston and we can have a bite to eat for lunch or I can take you on my nickel tour of the city. But we cannot talk St John's church business. We can only talk about our friendship and our shared journey in Christ. That's where our true joys are to be found and we can always talk about that.

That's just one of the facts of life in all the swift and varied changes that come and go. There are many joys and God knows some sadness, and pain in all this too.

But for today, we celebrate this moment, this one joyous, unforgettable and glorious moment. Julia we admit you to the fellowship of this Holy Eucharist here and for all times and in all places. The one universal constant source of joy in all our lives: 

Christ has died.

Christ is risen.

Christ will come again.

In the Name of God, the most holy, undivided and eternal Trinity.

Amen.

Fr Paul

The Image of God

The Image of God

Christ is my constant companion. 

So are the people of God

And the people without God

That's why I love God.

Something within calls me to 

Love 

Forgive

Reconcile

It is a never ending cycle.

It is not so much that I believe in God

It is that God believes in me.

There are many to love

The poor

The outcast

The sick

The lame

Gay folks

Endless love

This is my image of God

In the people God wants me to

Love

Forgive 

Reconcile

Why do I love God?

Why do I love God's people?

It is the greatest joy of life to love God

And to love God's people

How do I know there is a God?

Deep in my heart, I know

God is not "up there"

God is "in here"

In the truth that comes through

Love 

Forgiveness

Reconciliation

In the journey deep within

I discover my heart of hearts

I discover God's heart within me

Asking me to look at you with

Love 

Forgiveness

Reconciliation

It is all that is true,

All that is noble

All that is pure

All that is holy

This is the Image of God

Fr Paul

Bring the Outcasts Here!

“Gather the Blind, the Lame

And those with Child”

~Jeremiah 31

Bartimeaus, the blind beggar comes to Jesus today and calls out; “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!” Bartimeaus was maimed, unclean, and if he were to get too close to Jesus or to the disciples he could make them unclean as well. The Law was clear about such things, and so he was ordered sternly to “hush up” and “be quiet”. The admonition fell on deaf ears for the blind man, and with that he called out all the more loudly, now I daresay, creating a scene; “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!”

At that point, Jesus stood still, perfectly still and commanded the commotion to stop, and he said; “Call him here.”

They viewed Jesus as the Master, and called him so, even though he often surprised them by his teaching. Jesus often confronts the Law with contradiction.

There is a difference between how Leviticus looks at those with blemishes and imperfections and how the prophetic tradition looks at the blind, the lame and those with child. Jesus often tilts to the side of the prophets when human suffering and imperfection comes to the fore.

In fact, the theological view within the Torah is based on the notion that we should be holy as God is holy. There’s nothing wrong with that. Obviously we should all strive for the holiness that God intends for us. 

But if it is the case that it is only those without blemish who may make an offering to God, then what of the rest of us? What of Bartimeaus, the blind beggar?

According to the Law, the blind, the lame, the blemished, the lepers, the sinners and so forth are not welcome to make an offering in the Temple. Because they are blemished, so too are their gifts blemished. And the logic of the Law tells them they may not approach the Throne Room of God. The holy of holies is reserved only for the High Priest, and for him, even, only once a year.

To be fair, the Law also requires us not to put a stumbling block in the way of the blind or the maimed. We are certainly not to revile or insult anyone who is maimed in any way. The Law is clear about that. We are called to remember God’s holiness and to offer nothing but our purest selves to God and to respect every human being.

But the problem is that there is much that is maimed and blind, there are many, many sinners, and for far too many of us, achieving this level of purity is beyond our reach. 

In the heat of an election year, even the word “retarded” is bandied about in a rather casual and uncharitable way. But then in an election season, there are many uncharitable words bandied about. Given the nature of politics, we’re likely to characterize our opponents uncharitably. This too is a part of human nature, and falls somewhat short of God’s intention for us.

But now we take the case of Bartimaeus, the blind beggar in today’s Gospel reading. The fact that he is maimed, supports the admonition that he hold his peace and not approach Jesus. More and more, Jesus is being viewed as the Holy one of God.

But then he often challenges the old ways of looking at things, even if it requires contradiction of the Law. 

So he says; “Tell him to come here”.

Bartimaeus throws off his cloak. Can you imagine the reaction in the crowd? This behavior is scandalous!

He blindly stumbles toward Jesus, Jesus may have had to say, “Over here, Bartimaeus” a time or two as he looked around with his hands.

The Master says; “What do you want me to do for you?”

“Help me see again”, 

Again! Really. Are we talking about seeing, or perceiving, or understanding? Or are we talking about all the above?

Our faith is often wanting. Our blindness and deafness assaults the senses not only in physical ways but in metaphorical ways as well.

Jesus often says; “If you have eyes to see, then look. If you have ears to hear then listen.”

So now, perhaps we are talking about faith. True, blindness is a dreadful condition but I once had a parishioner who was a legally blind teenager who could read the scripture by committing the words to memory and to heart. She brought a much enlarged text with her to help coach her to reading aloud. She is an inspiration. And she loved to read the scripture. It brought her faith.

There are those who are blind, deaf, retarded, lame, and maimed in all sorts of ways in every congregation I’ve served. But they were not so to Jesus. Their gift was precious to him. 

And this became a teaching so important to Jesus, that he spent the majority of his time in healing the sin sick souls of those who followed him. 

For to Jesus, being holy as God is holy, as important as that is, was superseded only by the notion that we are to be compassionate as God is compassionate.

In the Greek, the word compassion is the same as the word gut, or womb. The love that Jesus felt for Bartimaeus and the rest of us, was so deep and so profound, that it paralleled the love of a mother for her child.

So when the prophet says, “gather the blind, the lame, those with child and those in labor”, he may seemingly be contradicting the holiness code. But Jesus came to fulfill the Law, and does so with the compassion of God. 

To Jesus there was nothing unclean, spotted, or blemished about sinners like you and me. Instead it was entirely in keeping with Jesus’ notion of compassion, that he too, like the prophet, would gather the blind, the lame, those with child and those in labor into his circle of friends.

“What would you have me do for you?” It is the question Jesus asks as he stands knocking at the door of every human heart. 

Perhaps you may ask; “Let me see again.”

Or you may say; “Let me perceive and understand again. Let me believe again. Let me give my gift to you.”

As Jesus said to Bartimaeus, so he says to you; “Go your faith has made you well.”

And immediately we go on The Way, the Jesus Way. We have received our sight once again!