Is that You Jesus?

Is that You Jesus?

This Sunday in the Church Year we often read “On the Road to Emmaus”; the story of Jesus walking with yet unbeknownst to his disciples. He asks what they are talking about. They hasten to tell him the story; “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who doesn’t know what’s been going on?”  They tell the stranger their amazing story. When they stop for supper Jesus gives thanks, breaks bread and then they realize, this is Jesus. Suddenly he vanishes. In the fullness of time an even fuller recognition dawns upon them that Christ often appears in a stranger’s presence.

Look around you, day in day out, here in this sacred space, or out there in that sacred space; at work, at school, at home and out and about running errands. If you take a moment you may recognize that Christ is present in friend and stranger alike in some extraordinary and in some very ordinary moments. 

“Be known to us in the breaking of the bread. Jesus, open the eyes of our faith!” today’s Collect invites us to pray. So too in in today’s Gospel Jesus is known to his disciples in the eating of a piece of broiled fish. Then he opened their minds to understand. 

There is symbolism in sharing a meal, as sociologists tell us. A study at UCLA shows; “In every society, food is highly symbolic, in the sense that members imbue particular kinds and qualities of food with sentimental, moral, religious, and health-related meanings.” This and other studies show that sharing a meal changes relationships qualitatively. Go to dinner with somebody you care about and the bond between you changes, deepens. Jesus knew this obviously, when he broke bread with us. 

The Eucharist then is essentially missional in nature to Jesus. As the Gospel says as they eat the Body and Blood; “Go forward and tell the whole world the good news about repentance and forgiveness, beginning right here” in Haverhill and then to all nations. The word liturgy in the ancient Graeco-Roman world means “public service” like road building or bridge building. We’ve got work to do to proclaim the Gospel right here, right now! This is our Liturgy; our Public Service.

And since the Lectionary does not tell the Emmaus story today, I’d like to tell you another story. It has a contemporary ring to it because it deals with a very current reality; the epidemic of depression. Depression is what my Spiritual Director calls; “The common cold; or the influenza outbreak of the Modern World.”

St. Francis and Brother Leo; I love the story and it goes like this;

One day Saint Francis and brother Leo were walking down the road. Noticing Leo was depressed, Francis turned and asked, “Leo, do you know what it means to be pure of heart?”

“Of course. It means to have no sins, faults or weaknesses to reproach myself for.”

“Ah,” said Francis, “now I understand why you're sad. We will always have something to reproach ourselves for.”

“Right,” said Leo. “That's why I despair of ever arriving at purity of heart.”

“Leo, listen carefully to me. Don't be so preoccupied with the purity of your heart. Turn and look at Jesus. Admire Him. Rejoice that He is who He is—your Brother, your Friend, your Lord and Savior. That, dear brother, is what it means to be pure of heart. And once you've turned to Jesus, don't turn back and look at yourself. Don't wonder where you stand with Jesus.”

“The sadness of not being perfect, the discovery that you really are sinful, is a feeling much too human, even borders on idolatry. Focus your vision outside yourself, on the beauty, graciousness and compassion of Jesus Christ. The pure of heart praise Him from sunrise to sundown.”

“Even when they feel broken, feeble, distracted, insecure and uncertain, they are able to release it into His peace. A heart like that is stripped and filled-stripped of self and filled with the fullness of God. It is enough that Jesus is Lord.”

After a long pause, Leo said, “Still, Francis, the Lord demands our effort and fidelity.”

"No doubt about that,” replied Francis. “But holiness is not a personal achievement. It's an emptiness you discover in yourself. Instead of resenting it, you accept it and it becomes the free space where Jesus can create anew. To cry out, ‘You alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord,' that is what it means to be pure of heart. And it doesn't come by your Herculean efforts and threadbare resolutions.”

“Then how?” asked Leo.

“Simply hoard nothing to yourself; sweep the house clean. Sweep out even the attic, even the nagging, painful consciousness of your past. Accept being shipwrecked. Renounce everything that is heavy, even the weight of your sins. See only the compassion, the infinite patience and the tender love of Christ. Jesus is Lord. That suffices. Your guilt and reproach disappear into the nothingness of non-attention. You are no longer aware of yourself, like the sparrow aloft and free in the azure sky. Even the desire for holiness is transformed into a pure and simple desire for Jesus.”

Leo listened gravely as he walked along beside Francis. Step by step he felt his heart grow lighter as a profound peace flooded his soul ( a story from Brennan Manning).

Yes. Exactly. Peace. 

This is what Jesus said to us in his Risen power; “Peace be with you.” Peace, the Peace that passes all understanding. It is no further away than turning to him in every fear, anxiety, and preoccupation of your life.

I will confess to you a certain agitation of spirit whenever we launch airstrikes in a foreign land. Naturally, the risk of military escalation is always present. Naturally, I am anxious and preoccupied with the prospect of further conflict. Likewise in our political life. The failure of civil discourse and loss of the art of conversation concerns me. 

I feel much like the Psalmist in today’s Psalm; 

“On that we might see better times!” 

Still, notice how the Psalmist deals with this universal lamentation as the prayer continues into the very next verse?

“Lift up the light of your countenance upon us, O Lord.

7 You have put gladness in my heart, *

more than when grain and wine and oil increase.

8 I lie down in peace; at once I fall asleep; *

for only you, Lord, make me dwell in safety.” ~Psalm 4

You see, turn to this Mighty God and find rest for your souls, “for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (From Matthew 11:28-30)

Thankfully we have one another to share our hearts concerns and love, and more thankfully still we can turn to Jesus and come to this altar rail and receive him into our eucharistic family life. Here Jesus becomes known to us in the breaking of the bread. Here we become one in our diversity of life; whoever you are, wherever and whenever you are from. Here we meet and we become one with each other and one with Jesus at this altar rail. 

Look at the extraordinary claims John makes in today’s Epistle. “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are… Beloved, we are God's children now” This is what Leo was just coming to understand. Sin is lifted away the more we live into the life that is Jesus the Risen Christ. John explains the reality of redemption in this way; “Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins”.

The sin is wiped away and so is all the guilt…but remember this is not your doing or your achievement. Jesus did all that. The love of God does all that. Live your lives there and you will be freed from the power of sin’s merciless, depressing, grasp. Like Leo…you will come to discover this deep and abiding joy; 

“Leo listened gravely as he walked along beside Francis. Step by step he felt his heart grow lighter as a profound peace flooded his soul.”

And so may it be for us all, Amen.

In the Name of God, the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen.

Fr Paul.

Bread to Dogs or Bread of God?

Bread of Dogs, Bead of God?

My dear friends, I bring you greetings from the faithful who gathered yesterday at St Paul's Cathedral, on the Boston Common, the oldest park in these United States of America. Bishop Alan Gates asked my son David about you and me, during a service of prayers for peace. And thank God there was peace in Boston yesterday as more than 40,000 gathered to provide a visible sign that hate has no place in the City of Boston. What a relief that is.

As for the President, he has done for us one thing that no one else has been able to do. He has forced us into that exquisitely uncomfortable place where we must talk about issues such as Racism. I’ve been to dozens of conferences, there have been thousands of sermons on Racism, but this one man has done something that no one else has been able to do. He has put us all on the spot as to where we stand. We are all forced to look into the mirror of our own souls and ask; “Who are we?”

I have spent a lifetime working against racism. I began my ministry in Hyde Park in Boston during the integration crisis in the 70’s. There were Nazis there too trying to egg us on into racial warfare. When Cindy and I moved to Euclid, Ohio, again we faced the integration of the public schools. When we were in West Virginia there was a cross burning. It seems a black kid took a white girl on a date. I immediately spoke with a black pastor in town and hundreds of us marched together from St Mark’s Episcopal Church to St Paul’s Missionary Baptist Church. Even the Governor of West Virginia joined our efforts to renounce this act of hatred and intimidation. We demonstrated our solidarity for racial and human harmony. 

By the way my life has been threatened several times along the way. I have found myself at the center of many struggles. There was a time when someone called Cindy to say; “We’re going to kill your husband!” Cindy had the presence of mind to say, in her best Boston accent; “Yeah, take a numbah, I want to kill him too sometimes.”

The events of this past last week have left many of us shell-shocked. Where are we headed as a country? Can you imagine a march where the message of racial superiority, anti-semitism, hatred and violence is not soundly and convincingly renounced by the chief executive officer of the nation? 

Even before yesterday’s demonstration on the Common, one Bostonian travelled to Charlottesville and proudly declared in an interview; “Hitler was right!” and “Auschwitz was a five star resort!” Others chanted “Blood and Soil” during a torchlight parade last week. The expression was popularized by the prominent Nazi theorist Richard Walther Darré in 1930. The Nazi Party embraced the expression “Blood and Soil” as one of its chief ideological slogans. I renounce such statements as utterly contrary to everything this country stands for and contrary to the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. I only wish that our chief executive leadership knew this history well enough to renounce it with equally convincing authority.

Driving an automobile into a crowd of demonstrators in Charlottesville or a van into a gathering of tourists in Barcelona are both acts of terrorism. Period. When anyone uses theology or ideology to justify acts of violence, we have no choice but to renounce such acts immediately and hold those responsible to account swiftly.

Enough of that for now. Lets look at what the Scriptures have to say to us today. Interestingly enough the assigned lectionary for the day deals with issues of racism, slavery and oppression. Isn't that interesting!

We begin with the Gospel for the day. At no time in history have we needed the Gospel more urgently than we do now. Jesus led his disciples on a walk to Tyre and Sidon. By the way, that's a walk of about 124 milesfrom Jerusalem. Quite a hike! There must have been some discussion along the way about the conflict between Jesus and the religious authorities in Jerusalem and then I suggest to you that there must have been questions about why they were heading deeper and deeper into Canaan. Was he not sent to the House of Israel? Why then did they find themselves so deep in foreign territory?

Finally a Canaanite woman confronted Jesus with a plea that he heal her daughter who was possessed by a demon. Let’s be clear, this was a Canaanite woman, a woman of a different racial and ethnic class than the Jews. She was, horrors, a Gentile, a foreigner! Jesus, playing into the disciples’ prejudice and racism, ignored her. They told Jesus to send her away. Jesus made it clear he was sent by God to the lost sheep of Israel. She knelt down before him and begged him for help. His answer to her doesn’t sound like Jesus to me two thousand years later. We know now that Jesus’ love was for all people without regard to race, gender, ethnicity, or orientation. But we did not know that then. So, reflecting their prejudice and bigotry Jesus said to her; “It is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” The woman’s response was astonishing. Instead of slinking away in dejected rejection, she said; “Yes, Lord yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.” 

In an instant the Savior’s face was transfigured by the love of God made flesh and blood in him; “O woman great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” Jesus breaks the dividing wall among us then and there. Whatever dividing wall you wish to erect, Jesus breaks it down. Racial divides, gone. All other convenient pigeon holes we wish to use to classify folk. No more. 

Thankfully, more and more we as a church are becoming a “House of Prayer for ALL People.” In our own historic context in Montana, our relationship with Native American folks also needs an honest to God reality check. As a matter of fact, I thank God for recent events. For now we all have some soul searching to do.

You know, I have a vision for us as a nation and as a people. The vision is not new to me but as old as the Republic itself. Imagine if you will the American Bald Eagle. It is a noble vision the Native American community revered deeply. Thankfully, I’m bald so it may help envision what I seek to say. The eagle has two wings. A left wing and a right wing like all birds. Ben Franklin, is reputed to have suggested the turkey as our national bird given the factious nature of the body politic. But consider the eagle. On the left wing let us postulate the possibility of Democrats, progressives, and liberals. On the right let me suggest we may find Republicans, traditionalists, and conservatives. For an eagle or any bird to get off the ground, it will need both wings, but for it to soar it will need every single feather working in concert together. 

This will mean that as responsible citizens we must reclaim the center. We must renounce the extreme. By that, I mean there must be a place where we can hold conversation with one another when we agree and when we disagree. True enough, we tend to seek out like minded people for much of our lives. But where we really soar is when we can work in concert with those who most differ from us. There is a thing called bi-partisanship and Congress. If we are to deal with matters of urgent concern such as health care, infrastructure, unemployment, poverty, the national budget and so on, we must work together. This will allow the great symbol of our national experience not only to get off the ground and fly, if we begin to act as grown ups and responsible citizens, we can soar!

As for those in the extreme where hatefulness and violence are embraced. We categorically reject that. The politics of “divide and conquer” is much in vogue these days, often has been in history. But such an approach to our common life is not reflective of our better angels. Since a boy the American credo I hold dear has been and continues to be that we are “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

As for slavery, Joseph knew first hand what that was like. In our first lesson today we read where Joseph said; “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into into slavery in Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.” God has redeemed history before. God will redeem history again as soon as we listen up to God! In the sweetness of reconciliation Joseph “fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.” That’s when their spirits soared like an eagle. 

The spirit of the Psalmist soars today with these words;

“1 Oh, how good and pleasant it is, *

when brethren live together in unity!

2 It is like fine oil upon the head *

that runs down upon the beard,

3 Upon the beard of Aaron, *

and runs down upon the collar of his robe.

4 It is like the dew of Hermon *

that falls upon the hills of Zion.

5 For there the Lord has ordained the blessing: *

life for evermore.”

   ~Psalm 133

Eternal Life folks or hatred, violence, and death? That is the choice that always stands before us. Bishop Brookhart writes of what happened in Charlottesville; “This event, which included the death of a young woman, reminds us that disciples of Jesus cannot tolerate or condone white supremacy and racism.” 

Allow me to add this from my namesake Paul in today’s Epistle; “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” Or as we read in his letter to the Christians in Ephesus; “Bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all…until all of us come to the unity of the faith…to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.” Soaring words indeed.

Yes, my spirit soars in Jesus. I pray this is how it shall always be with us. May God bless us, everyone!

In the Name of God, the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity.

Amen.