A Crash Landing

A Crash Landing!

Forty six years ago today I was ordained a priest of the Church at St. Luke's, Malden, alas a congregation no longer with us. It was snowing to beat the band that day. My buddy Graham drove in safely from Detroit, but the Bishop got stuck in a snow bank in Newton. Bob Legon ran out of music to play on the pipe organ so he was playing "Moonlight and Roses" by the time Bishop Burgess arrived. He was the first Black Bishop in the Episcopal Church, and I asked Kitty Rippy to sing "Precious Lord". Tony Garratt Reed was there and he and later his family were to become life long friends. And so I greet this Gaudete Sunday with Rejoicing.

No sooner do I say that but we coming crash landing into the ferocious words of John the Baptist with his “in your face” confrontational style; “You brood of vipers!” His way of calling us a bunch of snakes in the grass. Now, that’s a fine how do you do!

Compare and contrast that with the tone we hear in today’s other Scriptures. We hear of Joy as we light the Rose Candle on our Advent Wreath. This is why we call the day Gaudete Sunday…the word “Gaudete” means “Rejoice”.

The prophet Zephaniah writes of Joy;

“Rejoice and exult with all your heart,

O daughter Jerusalem!

The Lord has taken away the judgments against you”

In the Canticle we sing of Joy;

“Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy, *

for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One.”

Similarly Paul in his letter to the Christian folk in Philippi writes; 

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” 

But then the collect of the day says; “Stir up your power, and with great might come among us, and because we are sorely hindered by our sins, come speedily to deliver us.”

The Joy of Advent, the Rejoicing with which we greet this day, is in stark contrast to the reality of our sin. 

There is much suffering and sorrow still. God knows violence, injustice, and oppression are always and everywhere. So it was when John came to announce the Advent of Jesus. 

And he rightly confronted the powers of darkness within us; he knew we are sorely hindered by our sins; “You brood of vipers”; he called us. Ouch!

John uses harsh language and dire warnings to catch the attention of his listeners. We may need to be shaken up a bit out of our complacency. Then, just a jarringly, what he asks of us is really quite reasonable; all he asks of us is “be generous and honest”

If you have more clothing or food than you need, share.

Tax collectors, be fair.

Soldiers, no threats or extortion, be happy with a fair wage. 

Mind you, we are indeed sorely hindered by our sins, and we often find ourselves spinning our wheels while the world spins on in its own sinful circles. 

How do we indeed allow God’s Grace to speedily come to our aid so that we may become agents of God’s loving justice and compassion?

The first thing John reminds us of is that we cannot leave it up to God to do it all alone. We are God’s ambassadors. If there is to be peace with justice we will have to be the ones to make it so. If there is to be a cessation of violence, it will be up to us. There are still many hearts to be changed before Peace can reign supreme and secure in the human heart.

Yesterday was the sixth anniversary of the Sandy Hook shootings. That day 26 innocent children lost their lives. Many of us vowed, never again. But since that day there have been 1919 more mass shootings. (By way of reference, here is a listing of the deadliest mass shootings in modern US history. 

https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/16/us/20-deadliest-mass-shootings-in-u-s-history-fast-facts/index.html)

Like the kids in Parkland, Florida I don’t want prayer any more. What I want is to protect our children, our young people, ourselves. I want action. Congress has taken none. Many states have begun a patchwork of laws to help curb gun violence. But we alone among western democracies have yet to develop a robust regulatory regimen to stem the tide of gun violence. 

I suppose if I say too much on the subject, I may have my head handed me on a platter, much like John the Baptist did when he raised his voice at the Advent of Jesus.

In the meantime all I would ask for is the application of the Second Amendment themselves which begins with the words; “A well regulated militia…” There, that’s all I’m asking for…”a well regulated militia”. 

Alas, in our public discourse, we are not likely to engage in conversation about all this without tempers flaring. We are not a skilled people when it comes to the art of conversation. We are more adept at confrontation, much like John himself. We tend to engage in name calling. 

What makes me rejoice is the Advent of Jesus. Jesus is the One who will sit down with us first and spend hours listening. His teaching comes later. He listens first to his own inner demons in the wilderness forty days and forty nights. Then he listens to the heartache of the sick, and the poor, the bereaved, the mentally ill, and the outcast. It is with these that his love and healing touch begins. 

Only then does Jesus teach. And his sermons are filled with Blessings and Beatitudes. He proclaims a message of Peace that strikes to the heart of our deepest yearnings.

A yearning for forgiveness, love, and reconciliation. These are the most powerful words in the human heart, but they are also the most difficult to achieve. Forgiveness, love and reconciliation are experiences that only Jesus seems to master. If only we could do as Jesus does. 

All across the world, in our families, our communities, our politics, there are so many divisions, Jesus asks us; “love one another”. Race, class, nationality, gender, orientation and so on, “forgive one another”. When God sees the world there are no borders, no walls. We are all one. You’ve seen the satellite images of this fragile earth, our island home; “Be reconciled to one another”.

John may see us as a brood of vipers. But Jesus sees us as a much more lovable lot than that. He delights in us. There are no outcasts for Jesus. No poor. No sick. No Republicans or Democrats. No distinctions whatsoever.

That’s how Jesus is different. There are simply no exceptions. He is not happy until all our sins are forgiven. That’s the mystery of the cross to me. 

Today marks the 46th Anniversary of my ordination as a Parish Priest. I got to thinking about all this not so long ago. All the congregations I’ve served, all the people I’ve known and loved. All the Baptisms, Marriages, Burial; Hospital Visits, Office Visits and the way folks pour out their hearts and souls to me and to God.

And then I wrote these words:

“St. Peter,

Let me make this plain and simple.

"If there's a heaven and somehow I feel sure there's bound to be",

I'm not going into the place until you're all in there first.

Period.

All of you.

You are witnesses, today; I’m saying it right out loud in front of God and everybody.
So please...
Love one another.
Forgive one another.
Be reconciled to one another.
That's our work.
I'm not going into heaven until the work is done.

So, please don’t keep me waiting too, too long.
I love you all too much to leave anyone out.
So get busy with the work that has to be done!
There.
I said it.
In black and white.
Hold me back until everyone else is in...
Got that Peter!”

ll I’m saying to you is what Jesus said to us before me. 

“Love one another.” 

This above all else will Rejoice God’s heart.

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

Fr Paul.

Overturning Tables in The Temple

In the Name of One God; The Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity.

“Over-turning the Tables in the Temple!”

What a Sunday to begin! Somebody; if I start turning tables over at the coffee hour, remind me not to take the Bible so literally!

My son David is the Senior Warden at St. Mary’s Church in Dorchester. So last week being my last “free” Sunday for a while, we worshipped with him and later went to brunch. Naturally, I had to search out the indoor plumbing. You know you’re in Boston when you go to the “men’s room” and discover it is not the men’s room after all. Where you would typically see the universal symbol for men or women on a bathroom door, instead you see a symbol half of which is for the male of the species, and the other half, female. The sign below the curious symbol reads; “Whatevah”.

The conversation we’re having in the church and the culture around it about gender and orientation is reaping interesting and renriching ways of looking at one another. I hope we are also learning that the old pigeon holes we put each other into are beginning to disappear. 

The phenomenon is not new to us. It is as old as the Gospel. St Paul put it this way; “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” ~Galatians 3:27,28.

When Paul references “Jew and Greek” he is not merely speaking of those two racial/ethnic delineations, he is speaking of all races and ethnicities. “We are all one!”

When Paul speaks of “slave and free”, he is not only speaking of those with freedom and those without, he is speaking of all folks in every economic class; rich and poor and everyone in between. “We are all one!”

And when Paul speaks of “male and female”, the same spirit is present. I would argue that Paul speaks up for all of us in the entire rainbow of human identity, inclusive of the LGBT community, which for so long has been persecuted and marginalized inside and outside the church. Did you not notice? There it is; right at the outset, in the beginning, as it were; the Gospel proclamation; “We are ALL one!”

Jesus overturned many tables and not just those in the Temple that day. The Gospel overturns our whole way of looking at one another. The Church Jesus planted overturned the tables of all human hatred. Right here at the heart of our love for one another; Jesus places himself on the Cross. Race, class, gender, orientation; this is not how Jesus saw us. Like an old Arab woman once told us when on Pilgrimage in the Holy Land in answer to the question; “What is the color of God?”

She replied; “The color of God is the color of water!” 

Today’s story; The Cleansing of the Temple occurs in all four Gospels. In John it occurs at the outset of Jesus’ ministry in the second chapter, and sets the tone for his whole life. In the Synoptics on the other hand; Matthew, Mark and Luke the event occurs at the conclusion of Jesus ministry. The confrontation of Jesus with the money changers and the Temple Authorities seals his fate and in a few short days there is a trial, a crucifixion, a death and a glorious resurrection! Talk about turning the whole world upside down!!!

I remember when we were in Seminary we fought for civil rights. Jonathan Daniels, a senior student had been shot to death the previous year to my matriculation, for protecting a young black girl. Violence and guns have been around for a very long time and has taken a vast toll on human life. We alone among developed countries kill one another off at the alarming of rate of tens of thousands each year. When I returned from Canada to attend seminary, gun deaths there could be counted in multiples of 10. Still can. Why is that? The young people of Parkland High and our Bishops call us to action. What part of “Thou shalt not kill” do we not understand anyway? Bad enough that there are well over 300,000,000 weapons out there. Worse still that we do not execute the full measure of the Second Amendment which calls for “A well regulated militia”. Until we make sure that the Second Amendment exists under the authority of that clause, the slaughter will continue. Folks we need to join the kids from Parkland and “March for our Lives”!

During the struggle for racial equality John Burgess was elected the first Black bishop in the Episcopal Church. He ordained me a priest in the church of God more than 45 years ago. I thank God for that for so many reasons. His consecration raised many an eyebrow among lots of white folks. 

Then it fell to us to begin exploring the possibility of the ordination of women. The church had fits over the ordination of the Philadelphia eleven and the Anglican Communion has yet to get over it in many quarters.

Then there was this. My uncle was what we called then “a confirmed bachelor”. This was way back in the 1950’s. More recently two of my children broke it to me; “Dad I’m gay”. One was afraid of how Cindy and I would take the news. The other told us to take it or leave it. More recently, I officiated at the wedding of one of Cindy’s sisters and her partner is another woman and they too love one another very much! Good heavens, and I say that advisedly, I’ve been around the LGBT community all my life. If ever there were a non issue in our family, this is it. Yet, in some quarters, the Church and the culture around it have gone downright apoplectic over the idea of celebrating God’s embrace of all people. 

We’ve been over turning tables in the Temple for a very long time. By what authority do we do this? Under what authority did Jesus make his whip of cords and chase out the money changers and those who traded in pigeons and the like? 

In the synoptics, when Jesus cleansed the Temple he told them plainly; “My House shall be a House of Prayer for ALL People” (emphasis mine). Jesus did not pick that turn of phrase out of thin air. He quoted scripture to show by what authority he did these things; specifically Isaiah chapter 56. The prophet considered the question of foreigners and eunuchs in the household of God. Both the Levitical and Deuteronomic Law Code separated foreigners and eunuchs from the sacred assembly. But not Isaiah and certainly not Jesus!!! Listen to this passage from the Prophet Isaiah; 

“Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say,

   ‘God will surely separate me from his people’;

and do not let the eunuch say,

   ‘I am just a dry tree.’ 

For thus says the Holy One:

To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths,

   I will give a monument and a name

   better than sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting name

   that shall not be cut off. 

And the foreigners who join themselves to God,

   I will bring them to my holy mountain,

   and make them joyful in my house of prayer;

for my house shall be called a house of prayer

   for all peoples.”

And then in the next verse the Prophet says;  

“Thus says the Holy One,

   who gathers the outcasts of Israel,

I will gather others to them

   besides those already gathered.”

There have always been persecuted outcasts among those God loves and cares about. God requires care and love among us as well. Lots of folks don’t like foreign folks, and want to build walls to keep them out. I often wonder how high that wall needs to be since so many foreign folks get here by air. Antipathy to the “other” has a long history. My grandmother used to say that it was the Irish who ruined Boston; which tells you what she thought of my dad. And she made me promise on the family Bible, that I’d never marry an Italian. I promised. I later broke that promise. But that’s all right. Ma has all that straightened out now that she’s in heaven. “Don’t you, Ma?” 

Foreign folks have often been given the cold shoulder here and around the world: and too the “eunuch”; those who raise gender and orientation questions. Talk about cold shoulder!

To our credit the Episcopal Church has handled these matters with something approaching Grace, albeit with the notable occasional brouhaha. 

The world doesn’t get what we’re doing sometime. Neither does so much of the church. As Paul so well puts it in today’s Epistle. “The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” And “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”

The core proclamation of today’s Gospel is: “We are a House of Prayer for ALL people”. This is because when Jesus stretched out his loving arms on the hard wood of the cross he did so in order that everyone might come within the reach of his saving embrace. 

God may surprise us from time to time in delightful kinds of ways just as happened last week after I returned to the lunch table with Cindy and David. “You’ll never guess who I met in the bathroom just now!” It doesn’t matter any more. Jew or Greek, slave or free, it doesn’t even matter any more if we are male or female. Because we are all one in Christ Jesus our Lord and we shall always be “A house of prayer for ALL people”

In the Name of One God; The Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity.

The Week in Summary: Blessed are the Peacemakers

Blessed are the Peacemakers

The news in summary from Jesus as he might confront the events of this past week; I suspect be might say something like this;

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” ~Matthew 5:9

This is not the news of what did happen, it is the news of what must happen. It is Good News!

The Psalmist says; “I have seen violence and strife in the city”

~Psalm 55:10

From Bagdad to Baton Rouge, from Minnesota to Dallas, dreadful images of violence assault the senses this week. Live and in living color, indelible images of violence are etched in our memories. We are left with a sense of hopelessness and helplessness. Where shall we turn?

Jesus was confronted with violence and terror. The Parable of the Good Samaritan, by the way, I have often thought, could easily have been a biographical one for Jesus. Geographically, it would be unlikely for a Samaritan to be so far south as the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. 

But what of the road from Nazareth down to the Sea of Galilee where Jesus set up his base of operations? Had he taken this road, he would have gone through an area known as the Horns of Hittim, an area famous for its robbers. Imagine if Jesus had taken such a route. Imagine Jesus, beset by thugs and miscreants, robbed, beaten and left to die. Imagine a priest and a Levite passing by afraid to touch this unclean unfortunate. Then imagine a Samaritan who could easily have passed by the area. Geographically, that would have made more sense since Samaria was not that far away. 

Samaritans were despised by the Jews of the day, imagine him stopping and taking his time, risking his life, bandaging the wounds, and saving the life of Jesus, this most unfortunate and vulnerable of human beings. Imagine the Samaritan taking his hard earned money and providing for him during his recovery.

Imagine if this were Jesus and what an indelible and formative mark this would have left on his life and how God could have used such a moment as this to enflesh what love is and how we are all intended to live it out.

Imagine such a love as this in a violent world. 

Then and now. 

Imagine such a love as this.

A love that breaks all boundaries.

We need to come back to our senses. It is not enough for us to wring our hands as if there is nothing we can do. After all we are called to preach the Gospel and moreover we are called to live the Gospel. So then lets get on with it.

I remember it like it was yesterday. Folks it is as simple as Sunday School. We had to memorize certain portions of Scripture and this was one of the very first and favorite passages to learn by heart; The Beatitudes.

Remember them?

 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

 ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

 ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

 ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

 ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

These words satisfy something deep within the human soul. It is in the living of these words that God's kingdom is built!

Jesus goes on; 

 ‘You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

 ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

We know these words by heart. We know this way of life instinctively. Let us proclaim and live the Gospel of Jesus. The world is desperate to hear the words. The world is desperate to live them. There is no hope or salvation for us unless we live lives like this.

My English teachers used to teach us to “compare and contrast” various passages in literature.

I suggest to you; compare and contrast the words of Jesus to the words we listen to in the news, read in the papers, or hear along the campaign trail. How do they measure up to the words of Jesus?

I find it compelling that Paul begins his letters with these words; “Grace and Peace to you from God our Father”. He goes on to say that God, “has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”. May I remind you, these folks lived in a dangerous and violent time.

If ever there were a time of rescue from the darkness of violence this would be it. If ever there were a time for redemption and forgiveness, it has arrived. The time is always here and always now.

Peacemakers may be persecuted or killed outright. Dr. Martin Luther King, for instance. I came across his words this week. Timely words for us, for as Black lives matter, so do police lives. All our lives matter; Dr. King wrote;

“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

~The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Finally, God knows we need to learn how to live our lives better than we do now. Too much violence. Too much hate.

Black and white,

Arab and Jew

Shea & Sunni Muslim

Rich and poor

Gay and straight

Republican & Democrat

On and on and on it goes.

O for heaven sake, we can do better than this!

The collect for the day asks this simple prayer “grant that we may know and understand what things we ought to do and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them”

This week's news in summary; the Good News in summary this week and every week;

"Blessed are the Peacemakers".

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

Fr Paul