The Poor Man's Heaven. The Rich Man's Hell

Lazarus and the Rich Man

There is a lot of talk about religion out there.  What passes for Christianity in some quarters not only bears no resemblance to the Founder's vision of faith, it is down right immoral.

The current crop of right wing religionists in the House of Representatives deny food stamps to the poor in direct contradiction to the Founder's admonition; "Feed My Sheep". (John 21).

Now they want to deny health care to the poor and the 48 million Americans who have no health care, in direct contradiction to the Founder's admonition; "visit the sick in their distress". (Matthew 25:36)

It is fitting that the Gospel for this last Sunday would be the famous story of the rich man and Lazarus. They both died. But the rich man went into Hades (an interesting Greek concept for the afterlife) and Lazarus, the poor man went into the bosom of Abraham where he was comforted and filled with good things.

When the rich man begs Lazarus to send someone from the dead to tell us about the consequences of our behavior in this life, Lazarus explains that a great chasm separates the rich from the poor; and Heaven from Hell. And so it does. The great chasm between the rich and the poor is exceeded only by the chasm between the poor who are comforted in the bosom of Abraham and the rich who rest in torment.

Read the original if you don't believe me.

Let us pray for the rich and the poor in this country that we may find a way to close the chasm to make the salvation of all possible. Read these words carefully. If ever there were a headline for America to read today, this is it!

Religionists, please take note.

Luke 16:19-31

The Rich Man and Lazarus

 ‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.” But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.” He said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.” Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.” He said, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” ’

Reversing the Decline

Reversing the Decline

A Three Pronged Approach to Revitalization in the Church

Here is an outline of my current project. I have been invited to give the keynote address at the Diocesan Convention in Montana and then tour the Diocese go give power point presentations on the following material. The Bishop of Montana, Frank Brookhart has encouraged me to write this up. Given my experience in smaller congregations in the Episcopal Church during these past 41 years, I thought it made sense to share a conceptual framework for revitalization in the local congregation. Here is an outline of the work I am doing. I am more than half way through the project, which will be a cross between a book and a manual for church leadership. 

There are lots of book out on church growth out there. What I hope to do in all this is to participate in the conversation I believe the church needs to have as we consider the challenges facing us. 

But, what I believe is this; we must begin to think about reversing the decline we are in. Frankly, I believe we have been all too passive in accepting decline as if it were inevitable. I do not think this is necessarily so. There is also a great burst of energy "out there" within the Episcopal Church in particular and within the Progressive and Emerging Church in general for a new optimism. 

To reverse the decline we are currently experiencing, I believe we need to take stock of and strategize on how we might mobilize the local congregation around three general areas of community life.

I Community Ministry: 

Organizing the church's life around the needs of real human beings for justice and healing.

One on One conversations with communities leaders. How to organize and conduct those conversations.

Research and Demographics. The critical importance of doing your homework.

Identifying Issues: The act of identifying the issue(s) the congregation will organize its life around.

Networking: Identifying allies and those who will challenge the congregation's values.

Action Plan: Identifying what the congregation will do about any particular action.

Evaluation and making Community Ministry a continuing loop of a congregation's lead mission.

II. A Membership Drive. 

This is often called a Stewardship Drive in the Episcopal Church but I am using a word here "membership" as the "marketing" side of Stewardship. In the same way that NPR and PBS run membership drives, so too the church needs to "market" itself to the world and community it finds itself in.

Thus it builds a five step Membership Development Program as follows

1. Visibility. Every congregation needs to increase its visibility.

2. Greeting. Greeting skills need to be sharpened.

3. Orientation. Congregations need to help orient newcomers to the life of the church

4. Incorporation. The membership team needs to figure out when and how to "pop" the question of formal membership.

5. Apostolic Call. The job is not done when you have a pledge card. Only when each and every member of the congregation has the opportunity to participate in the church's ministry does our work have any sense of completeness.

Ongoing then the Membership Team will continue to "manage" the membership roster on a regular basis; no less than once a month.

III. Storytelling.

The third part of each presentation will be about the importance of sharing our faith through story. We will consider the importance of small groups; from Adult forums, group spiritual direction, reading groups all the way to altar guilds and choirs and how each group provides and opportunity to tell the story of Jesus and his love for us. The spirituality of a congregation becomes part of the ultimate appeal of a church.

The essence of mission and revitalization involves this and much more. But this conceptual framework provides a beginning.

Here then is the general outline of what I hope to present to the Diocese of Montana and within my new book. Please do let me know what you think.

Fr Paul

Holy Cross Day

The Hard Wood of the Cross

There is an old prayer that puts it well

"Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen." ~Book of Common Prayer, page 101

Not everyone can love gay folks. This is especially true in churches. Most churches want to "fix" them. Some go so far as to say they are an "abomination". Others speak of them as if they were "disordered". But in the culture wars we have been fighting for many years now, we have been struggling to love all without regard to sexual orientation, gender, race, ethnicity, class, or language. For the truth of the matter is, neither can everyone can love black folks, foreigners, poor folks, or Spanish speaking people.

For Episcopalians and for the Emerging Inclusive Church, we like, Jesus have been struggling to stretch out our arms of love on the hard wood of the cross so that everyone may come within the reach of God's saving embrace. We have now come to the point where we have opened our ministry and membership to LGBT folks as well as straight folks, women as well as men, foreigners as well as White Anglo Saxon Protestants, Spanish speaking as well as English speaking folks. It has not been easy. In fact, it has caused enormous controversy and schism. 

But it is as plain as the nose on your face. Jesus stretched out his arms of love on the hard wood of the cross so that everyone may come within the saving reach of his saving embrace. EVERYONE!!! As we seek to be obedient to Jesus we can do nothing less.

Today and everyday is a day to embrace the Holy Cross as Jesus did.

Happy Holy Cross day.

Fr Paul

All Aboard the Emerging Church!

All Aboard: Everyone is Welcome!

For my birthday, I wanted to take the Salem Ferry to Boston and have lunch at Durgin Park. My wife and I did that. It was a fun day. As we gathered at the Dock we anxiously awaited the invitation of the boat staff; "All Aboard"

When I was a child, I loved vacations with the family. I particularly loved seeing those "Episcopal Church Welcomes You" signs wherever we went. Every time I saw one, it was as though God spoke a kind word in my heart. I felt as though God actually welcomed me. I took this whole religion thing very personally. It was for me the ecclesiastical equivalent of the welcome words dockside at a ferry boat; "All Aboard!"

But then I discovered along that way that it was going to be a real battle for the church to mean what it said, and to say what it meant. I've been a priest for over 40 years now and what a struggle it has been.

There was the business of race for instance.

When I went to seminary, we had to do battle for civil rights in this country. I lived and worked in Harlem to try and understand what was wrong with the soul of this country. I discovered that the problem was not in Harlem. It was in White America. I have spent the rest of my life trying to deal with that reality within me and within my church. We are still struggling with that. One of my classmates, previous to me by two years, paid the price of the struggle with his life. Jonathan Daniels took a bullet for a young black girl in Hayneville, Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement. Now it appears that we have to fight the whole battle all over again as America's signature stain on her shoul rears back it ugliness in so many ways.

There was the business of our common worship life.

We went on to make the Liturgy more accessible to the contemporary world, and this was especially difficult in a church hide bound by tradition. Many, many folks treasured the language of our Elizabethan liturgy and rightly so. It is a treasure. But most of our contemporary world speaks a very different English. And the proof of the pudding is that most of our churches celebrate the Eucharist in the contemporary idiom, while still reserving the traditional mass for the early service in most places. It is an accommodation that makes good sense. Still we lost many to schism during this difficult period.

Then there was the business of gender.

It became clear, in fact it became obvious to most of us that there really should be no distinction between us based on gender. In fact Paul made it clear that when we are in Christ we are a new creation and that "there is no longer Jew or Greek, male or female, slave or free" ~Galatians 3:28. This notion, as obvious and clear as it now seems, was a matter of great controversy to the church and again many left for more traditional congregations and denominations. When we elected our first woman bishop, Barbara Harris, it was just the icing on the cake for many, many more, and even to this day, many in the Anglican Communion still refuse a place at the altar for women.

And now more recently there is the matter of sexual orientation.

Then on the Feast Day of Pentecost in 2003, the Diocese of New Hampshire elected Gene Robinson as bishop, the first openly gay man to serve in that position anywhere in the Lutheran, Episcopal and Roman Catholic circle of faith. Mind you, there have been many gay folks serving as bishops and priests in all three but not so openly. All hell broke loose as many of you will know. The Anglican Communion was ripped apart in controversy. People threatened to kill Bishop Robinson. In fact he had to wear a bullet proof vest at his consecration. Christians can be hot headed about these things as others can be. It is no wonder to me why so many turn away from "organized religion". But we held to our position that the church is called to be inclusive.

We believe that when Jesus was among us, he went out of his way to include folks who had been specifically excluded from the Temple Precincts.

Excluded were Prostitutes, Tax Collectors, The Blind, The Maimed, Poor Beggars, and just plain fisherfolk. Eunuchs were also specifically excluded but Jesus specifically included them. You will no doubt remember that it was exactly to this crowd that Jesus reached out his loving arms. This got Jesus into lots of trouble. 

What sealed his fate then was his "Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem". He entered the Temple Precincts, saw the moneychangers and dealers in pigeons. In a rare demonstration of rage, he overturned their tables and said "My house shall be called a House of Prayer for ALL people, but you have made it a den of robbers."

In a few short days he hung upon a cross reaching out his arms of Love upon the cross so that everyone might come within the reach of his saving embrace. 

So why is this concept so difficult for so many Christians to understand? Why do Christians erect barriers along definitions of race, ethnicity, gender, class and orientation? Obviously there is much fear still of those who differ from "us" whoever we happen to be.

But it is my birthday. I have worked a lifetime on all of the above issues. I was born into this church; the Episcopal Church, and I feel blessed on my birthday to have been born into it.

We are becoming a "House of Prayer for ALL People". I am grateful too that there is an emerging church that no longer adheres to strict denominational lines but along the lines of Christ's all encompassing love of everyone.

It makes for a very Happy Birthday indeed.

Blessings to you all,

Fr. Paul

Labor Day Manifesto

Full Employment Now!

Minimum Wage $15

Health Care

Pension

Paid Vacations

Labor Day 2013.

It is fitting that on the fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington and on Labor Day we take a moment to remember and reflect. 

We are gaining momentum. 

The "Occupy Movement is still brewing beneath our feet. 

Moral Mondays are part of our cultural fabric.

Food Service Workers demand a minimum wage of $15 per hour.

When I dreamed up this page "The New Internet Union of American Citizens", several years ago, it was on the strength of a working people's manifesto. I called it the "King's Beach Statement", because that is where I wrote that statement. You can read the statement for yourself at the referenced link above, but the long and short of it is summarized in the following statements;

1. Full Employment Now. Jobs and Job Security should be the basic plank of the social contract on which our nation is built. No one need fear loose income, loss of health care, loss of home, loss of ability to pay bills. EVERYONE WORKS. If we can bail the big financial institutions over a weekend because they are too big to fail, so then we can bail the American family when times get tough. In other words, the Unemployment Bureau should be called the Employment Bureau. Unemployment Insurance should be called Employment Insurance. Our task is to set one another at tasks that satisfy and please us and meet the needs of our fellow citizens. Our work must be honored and we must be paid according to the honor in which we hold one another.

2. Minimum Wage at least $15 per hour. Corporate greed has gotten way out of hand. The working people and middle class of this country has taken a very hard hit. Our good paying jobs have been sent overseas, leaving us with jobs primarily in the retail and service sector. Walmart and McDonalds feel as though they can exploit the worker with part-time jobs and circumvent the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). 

3. Universal Single Payer Health Care. We will settle for Obamacare for now, but we should simply extend Medicare to all American Citizens just like Senator Bernie Sanders has suggested.

4. A Moratorium on Foreclosures until all Americans who wish to work are working.

5. Three weeks paid vacation for all after two years at work. Two weeks up until then.

6. Quit picking on gay folks and other minorities. Knock off the racism, sexism and classism. We are all one country. The great American Eagle cannot fly let alone soar unless we're all pulling together.

In the meantime, let's keep up the pressure. 

The Occupy Movement is still percolating underneath our feet.

Moral Mondays are now a regular feature of our retail and food service workers.

Let's consider the occasional one day "General Strike" perhaps on Moral Mondays just to remind everyone that their cup of morning joe may cost a bit more until all of us get a share of the wealth that this country has amassed.

Lets consider a Big General Strike on Black Friday and other big shopping days.

Lets flex the muscle of the American Worker until Corporations begin to get the point. Fair wages and benefit must be built into the fabric of our common life and become the fundamental plank on which we build the social compact. 

By the way this is all happening before our very eyes. Whether spontaneously or with careful planning and organizing, it is all happening before our very eyes.

Keep up the pressure.

Happy Labor Day America.

The American Worker is regaining his/her strength.

Peace to you all,

Paul Bresnahan

An Atheist's Gift to the Church

For the Soup Kitchen

We called it Christ's Kitchen. The way it worked was that ANYONE could walk in the doors of the parish hall every morning Monday to Thursday and Saturday (that way you'll never be without a meal two days in a row. It was warm in the winter and cool in the summer. You and your whole family were welcome to come in out of the elements. Breakfast was served at 8:30am, and lunch was served at around 11:30. We closed the doors at noon.

We made special efforts for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holidays. We brought out the silver chafing dishes, and did it up right. We honored the Christ's Kitchen clientele as we would any honored dinner guest.

There was an atheist in town who came to see me in my office and told me that he wanted to give us $250,000 for our efforts in the kitchen. The money was not to be used for the church. It was to be used for "Christ's Kitchen". 

He wanted the money used not for what we said we believed.

He wanted it used for what we did.

He said what we did had more of the sound to Jesus to him than what we said in church.

I am a priest I hasten to add that what we do in church is very meaningful to me. But this gift has always struck me as especially meaningful.

There is a lesson in there for Christians, non Christians, atheists and others too.

Interestingly, Jesus said exactly the same thing.

"Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of the Father who is in heaven." 

It is as the recovery folks say; "Walk the Walk; Don't talk the talk".

Cheers,

Fr Paul

Greed and Idolatry

The following is a a sermon preached at Trinity Church, Topsfield on August 3,2013

Greed and Idolatry

Good morning all. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Paul Bresnahan. I am a native of Somerville, Massachusetts. I am married and have three grown male children two of whom live locally and one of whom lives in San Francisco. He sings for a well known musical group “Chanticleer”. I received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Glendon College, York University in Toronto, Ontario in 1967. I majored in Psychology and minored in Sociology. The behavior of human beings as individuals and in groups has turned out to be a life long fascination for me in parish ministry. That I’ve done for over 41 years now in congregations in my home Diocese of Massachusetts, the Diocese of Ohio, South Carolina, and West Virginia. Most recently I served in an interim assignment in Douglassville, PA not far from Reading. Now, I’ve been invited to consider another position in the Diocese of Bethlehem. I felt like I was getting to old for all this until a 72 year old Irish carpenter came to the house the other day to do a few small improvement projects for us. We compared notes. He likes to work for 6 months and take six months off to go to Florida. I like to do part-time interim ministry and spend a week every month being in my home by the sea off Lynn Shore Drive. There the dog and I can watch the tides come and go. This is what keeps me going; the love of the sea and the love of the work I do for God and the people of God. People like yourselves.

I attended the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, MA; now known at the Episcopal Divinity School. I majored in Scripture and graduated way back in 1972. So then I studied the words of Jesus, the Law and the Prophets with some care.

In today’s Gospel, for instance, Jesus told us to be on our guard against all kinds of greed for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. My namesake, Paul the Apostle to the Outsiders and the Outcasts, identifies greed as being idolatry itself in today's Epistle. The Prophet Hosea recounts the story of God’s love for his people, and how he feeds them and quenches their thirst, but not just of the sort that is necessary for physical survival. He nourishes them with freedom from slavery and finds for them a Promised Land and gives them a Law to live by. But the people turned away from God to worship idols and God’s fury is kindled against them. So the story goes in today's First Lesson.

So today let’s turn out attention to greed and idolatry. My step father was a wonderful man. He was the only man able to love my mother, a feisty woman if ever there was one. But H.K. as my brother and I called him; his name was Homer Kershner, had backbone and knew how to stand up to my mother.  Oh the fights they had were impressive; but as I say he loved her. Neither my mom nor H.K. were the least bit religious. Mom was married and divorced at least three times we know of. When she married the only man who could really love her, the church refused to marry them. But this was back in 1958 long before the church revised its canons to allow for remarriage. And my uncle, well, my uncle was what my grandmother called a “confirmed bachelor”. I didn’t know at the time that meant he was gay. I had to become an adult to figure that out. He was reluctant to come very far out of the closet. And the church had little interest in standing up for the likes of him. As I say, all this was way back in the 50’s and 60’s, long before we talked about any of these things. I sometimes feel like there are eyes and smiles looking down from heaven as what now emerges as a much more merciful and inclusive church. I am pleased to say that I have played a small part in all this. Even now Pope Francis is making room in the heart of the church for divorced Catholics and gay clergy. Who would have thought!

But my step father was a very practical man. He was an engineer. It was his view that there might be a God. One can hardly account for the wonder of Creation without the notion of a God. So, as it was in H.K.’s theology; we can probably allow for God’s existence. Nice of him to all God to be, I thought. But as to the matter of life and death; it was pure simplicity; when you’re dead you’re dead. He was also a practical man when it came to business. He understood the rat race. He worked in the midst of it. To him business is driven by the profit motive and ultimately all that mattered was the bottom line. Ultimately, the only worship there was in the world was the worship of the Almighty Dollar. He said as much more than once and my mother would give her “Amen” to that frequently preached homespun sermon. 

As I grew more and more into the church, you can well imagine how our values clashed. Particularly as I studied the Scriptures such as the ones we have before us to study today, I sensed a collision between Corporate America and the Biblical mandates. 

Watch out for the Greed.

Feed my sheep

I have come to bring good news to the poor

Insofar as you have done it to one of the least of these you have done it to me.

These are the words I heard from Jesus. And so I built a homeless shelter and expanded soup kitchens, food pantries, and transitional housing for battered women and their families in congregations I served. The church as I have experienced it as least when it is vital and mission driven, organizes its live around the needs of the vulnerable in our midst. And we are fearless advocates for those in need. These values clashed with my family’s values.

Yet, I loved my step father. He was a good and honorable man and as I said before he loved my mother. As they ripened in age and faced weakness that age brings and began to face into the inevitable, my mother wondered sometimes about God and heaven, my step father continued to insist on his rather self evident truth, as he proclaimed it; “When you’re dead, you’re dead.” I often smiled at H. K. and said; “For living with my mother, you’re going to go to heaven whether you want to or not!” We all got a good chuckle over that one.

Greed and idolatry are two concepts that come back to us again and again in the scripture. And so does our love for one another. These themes continue to swirl around one another in a potentially creative or destructive dynamic. In the reading from Hosea today we see God’s wrath kindled as the worship of Israel strays away from the Justice and the Law of God; a Justice and a Law that requires the faithful to be caring of the vulnerable in our midst. But we know too how the prophets like Amos warned the people; “Woe to you who grind up the poor!” Notice that what deepens the ire of God in idolatry is not just the theological and liturgical dimensions of it; it is the way the poor end up being treated.

It is interesting that the warning involves the future of the nation. For if the idolatry continues the nation puts its own survival at risk. This is obviously true in the prophetic tradition. This same theme Jesus repeated at the end of his ministry. It is so important that the great Cathedrals of France like Chartres and Notre Dame repeat the theme in impressive sculptures placed prominently over the west portals. Every king, queen and commoner must pass under the same judgment seat of Jesus. There he is separating the sheep from the goats. I went to France earlier this summer with a group of young people from my church in Douglassville, PA. We were on Pilgrimage. None of the tour guides knew the of the biblical backdrop of that sculpture. To them it was just a quaint warning from a superstitious bygone society to keep the peasants in line. But none of the commentators I read seemed to understand that the sculpture was a reference to those ultimate questions of Jesus.

When I was hungry you did or did not give me something to eat.

When I was thirsty or not thirsty you did or did not give me something to drink. 

Likewise when naked, or sick or in prison...you did or did not minister to me.

Thus the nation shall be judged. Thus shall all the nations be judged; by how well or how shabbily the poor are treated. For insomuch as you have done it to one of the least of these, you have done it to me; Jesus said more than once. The French Revolution derived a great deal of its impetus from the callous disregard of the monarchy and the church for the plight of the poor. Whether she said it or not Marie Antoinette’s word’s “Let them eat cake” cut like a knife into the soul of the nation. The violent outcome may not have been necessary if the Monarchy and the Church had more of a heart for those in need. After all it was no less a light than Winston Churchill who quipped: “I’d rather fight an enemy who has been well fed than one who is hungry”. 

Alas, nations and empires come and go and when the heart and soul of a people is fully invested in the nation its chances improve significantly. But when the rich turn their backs on those in need history teaches us again and again that such a posture endangers the entire national enterprise. You can judge for yourself how we are doing on such measures especially when we think of something as directly related to this dynamic when our food stamp program is so drastically cut. As I say, you can judge that for yourself.

Suffice it to say idolatry and greed are directly related according to the biblical material we have before us. As we consider the factors that contribute to our social policies in the nation, I hope we also keep our biblical social ethic also in mind. 

Thankfully, God is reluctant to remove his love from his people as we can see from the passage in Hosea. Just because my step father and I disagreed about our theological position with regard to the resurrection did not interfere with our love for one another. We his children must also learn to love especially those most diametrically opposed to us.

After all, the Eagle cannot fly let alone soar without both wings. If those on the right wing learned how much we need those on the left and vice versa, imagine what we can do? In the meantime we sputter and stall in gridlock and mutually nullification. Imagine what we can become the day we discover we are all on the same side.

Fr. Paul

Jesus and Food Stamps

Just For the Record

Jesus asked Peter if he loved him. Peter said, "You know that I love you."

Then, "Feed my sheep".

A second time Jesus asked Peter if he loved him. Peter said , "Yes, you know that I love you."

Then "Feed my lambs".

A third time Jesus asked Peter; "Do you love me?"

Peter was hurt. 

This was now the third time Jesus asked this question.

Jesus must have had his doubts.

Jesus must have wondered if his followers would take seriously the mandate to feed the poor.

After all it was the same Jesus who said, "I have come to bring Good News to the Poor". 

That Good News was not about words.

It was about action and deed.

Peter was hurt.

But Jesus had to make his point.

"Feed my sheep". 

For the record, you can read the story for yourself here.

I cannot help but wonder how cutting food stamps fits into this equation.

Can any "Christian" politician explain to me how this fits into the Gospel of Good News to the Poor.

Much of what is happening in budget cuts and "sequestration" sounds like very bad news for the poor. Seen from the point of view of the One who commended generosity and sacrifice to us, it is very bad news indeed. 

Explain it to me. 

How can you turn your back on the poor?

Fr Paul

A Rainbow of Forgiveness!

The following is a third in a series of sermons on Love, Reconciliation and Forgiveness. They are Gospel words. They are Gospel words, they are the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Living the Gospel III

Forgiveness

I have some news for your this morning; extraordinary news! You are forgiven. All the wrongs you have done throughout your life have all been wiped clean off the slate and are no more counted against you. All the big sins as well as all those everyday ones you still struggle with on a daily basis. They’re all gone. Your are forgiven.

We come now to the most difficult of all the great words of the Gospel. The word of course is forgiveness. I find it difficult for many reasons, beginning with me. Then there’s everybody else. How in the world is it that God would take even the first thought for the likes of me or you? Every time I read the 8th Psalm, words of amazing grace stop me in dead my tracks and take my breath away.

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, *

    the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,

What is man that you should be mindful of him? *

    the son of man that you should seek him out?

You have made him but little lower than the angels; *

    you adorn him with glory and honor”

~Psalm 8:4-6

Every time I gaze into the stars of heaven, or stop to take a thought for the magnificence of creation and the mystery of life, I wonder; God is mindful of me? God has made me but a little lower than the angels? Male and female, all humankind alike, such is the mindfulness of God?

The idea of forgiveness comes hard to me. 

That’s because the signature moment of my life early on was the death of my father at Christmas when I was eight years of age. Yes, you heard right. Just the saying of the words is harsh let alone the reality I lived with in those years. And harsh words were said of my father then by those who should have known better. Young and traumatized ears were around. But harsh words were said. The religious folks in the family even went so far as to say that my dad could not go to heaven because he did not go to church. Good God! Not only am I not to see my dad in this life again, now you’re telling me I won’t see him in the next either? This is how an eight year old child is to cry himself to sleep every night? As I say, harsh words were said. Thankfully my immediate family was not religious. They said that my dad would go to heaven sooner than that religious lot.

It was hard at church too. My grandmother sent me there hoping it might help. I said the words “Our Father”, and I sat under the crossing of St. James in North Cambridge peering into the vault that was the marvel of that church but alas I could not see my Father; either the one who died or the one who was Almighty Eternal. I confess that I was glad for the Psalms I read in church. They gave me the latitude for anger and rage I felt, if only of the biblical sort; 

Awake, O Lord! why are you sleeping? *

     Arise! do not reject us for ever.

~Psalm 44:23

How long, O LORD?

will you forget me for ever? *

    how long will you hide your face from me?

How long shall I have perplexity in my mind,

and grief in my heart, day after day? *

~Psalm 13:1,2

And my all time favorite, the one Jesus himself used when he was staring into oblivion;

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 

~Psalm 22:1

It was that way for me for over two years when one day on the way home from Church on a sunny summer’s day, I was walking along a shabby old scrawny urban hedge and pulled a leaf from one of its unkempt branches and as I pressed my finger into its green girth a sentence came to my heart. I did not hear voices as some of those characters on TV do. No, it was just a sense of things that came to me. 

And it said; “Do you not know there is room in my heart for your dad?” I stopped dead in my tracks to listen. It did not repeat itself, but my heart had heard it and I repeated it. Then I gave it voice and repeated it out loud. I ran home as fast as I could. In those days I could do such a thing. I burst into the kitchen where my grandmother stood presiding over her cast iron skillet as she was peppering up something good to eat. 

I hastened to her and tugged at her apron as I often did when I needed to ask for something.

“Ma, is there a God?”

“Of course there is” she said as if that were plain and obvious.

“Ma, is there a Heaven?” I asked more urgently.

Now with just a note of irritation she said; “Of course there is!” You could tell she was in no mood to do theology just now. There were mouths to be fed.

“Ma, is my daddy there?” This I had to ask with a note of daring authority. I knew what she thought of the Irish. I’d heard her say that they ruined Boston more than once. So I realized I was pressing my luck here.

She hesitated, I must tell you. After all the idea of spending an eternity in Heaven with an Irishman, especially with my father, must have given her pause. There was that separation and the nasty divorce to factor in to what she said next.

She knelt down then. I can’t say as I remember her ever doing that before or since. She held me close and folded my head into the nape of her neck. It is as if I can still smell her hair for this moment has stayed with me forever since and she said;

“Of course he is.”

With these words my dad was forgiven both by God and my grandmother. Yes, there is room in God’s heart for my dad! Yes Ma loves him too if only grudgingly. At least as much as to allow me to spend time with him in heaven, which is all I ask.

It was in the wake of this second signature moment in my life that I decided to become a priest. The forgiveness and grace I experienced in that one moment is the forgiveness and experience that I share with you now in this moment. And I will share it for the rest of my life with all whether they ask for it or not.

Jesus who stood on the cross and forgave those who did him violence stands with me and my dad, my grandmother and my difficult and harsh mother, somehow pouring out forgiveness over the whole world. Is there Balm in Gilead? If there is, it is a most precious balm indeed. It is a healing compound with which God salves all our wounds.

What I find astounding about forgiveness is that Jesus begins with it. He stands on the cross and forgives the sins of the whole world, pouring out his life for us. He forgives the tax collectors, the fishermen, the woman at the well, the sick, the lepers, and especially the sinners and the outcasts. This offends the religious folks. I have always found that refreshing.

Then comes repentance. I know that John and Jesus both preach a repentance for the sake of the forgiveness of our sins. But, when we read the record, he begins with forgiveness. Repentance then seems to be the fruit of forgiveness not the other way around, which had always been my assumption up until I reread the Gospel again and again for the first time. How refreshing the Gospel always seems to be.

There is, however, the matter of abuse. I must tell you that there is the matter of abuse. I faced a great deal of harshness as a child and it took everything I had within me to fight my way out of it. Many of you have had to do likewise. In fact I found the church was my refuge to tell you the truth because my home was not always so. Again the Psalmist came to my aid;

Show me your marvelous loving-kindness, *

    O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand

    from those who rise up against them.

Keep me as the apple of your eye; *

    hide me under the shadow of your wings,

From those who assault me, *

~Psalm 17:7-9

Isn’t it dreadful to know that the church has also been a source of abuse for so many?

One of the most difficult things for those who face abuse verbal as well as physical is to confuse forgiveness with victimization. To be forgiven does not mean to remain inside the grinding cycle of violence. That’s called guilt.

No, we are forgiven and the greatest marvel of forgiveness is that we are called to be nothing less than what God has created us to be; “a little lower than the angels”...that’s what God wants us to be remember. If you find yourselves in an abusive relationship then forgiveness requires you to fight for the dignity God has created you for. You must ask for help.

Remember this; God did not create junk. We have been created for “glory and honor”.

This is because we are forgiven; each and every one of us. Yes, we are forgiven.

In these three weeks we’ve have focused on three great Gospel words: Love, Reconciliation, and Forgiveness. I find it helpful to appreciate the simplicity as well as the complexity of the Gospel. I hope you have too. 

Let me leave you with these good Gospel words; “My you be filled with all the fullness of God” 

~Ephesians 3:19.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

Fr Paul.

Reconciliation as a Pathway to God

Living the Gospel II

Reconciliation

The Gospel is about reconciliation. 

All those false dichotomies of race, ethnicity, gender and orientation; they are all false. The cultural warfare over the Treyvon Martin killing in Florida, Marriage Equality, the dilemma over Abortion Rights and Freedom of Choice, Gun Control...it is all false...for all shall be reconciled in Christ Jesus our Lord.

How, you ask? I suspect it will take all of us working at it, honestly, openly, and with an open heart, ready to listen, change, and grow.

In today’s Epistle my namesake reaches what I consider to be a one of those great moments of theological insight. Paul, as we know, had his days when he seems to have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed, but in this case, he seems to have hit the theological nail right on the proverbial head; 

“For in (Jesus) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”

         ~Colossians 1:19 & 20

If, last week we began with an exploration of the first great Gospel word “Love”, and worked it toward an understanding of how it becomes the standard by which we learn to live the Gospel life, so too this week, allow me to invite you to explore with me how the great Gospel word “Reconciliation” continues to keep us “on track” if you will, in living the life God would have us live. 

This three week Gospel series is really about “Living the Gospel” or “Proclaiming it” in thought, word, and deed. I am trying to suggest here that to do so is really quite a simple and straight forward matter. These three great words sum it up, crystallize it, and simplify it. The Gospel in a three word nutshell: Love, Reconciliation, and Forgiveness.

When we were a younger family, we used to look forward to packing  ourselves up in the minivan and towing our much loved pop up tent trailer to Maine; Old Orchard Beach to be particular, Powder Horn Campground to be absolutely precise. For many years it became our “summer home”, if you will. When we arrived, there was a lot of work to be done to set things up. There was a moment though in the midst of things when Cindy would say; “Why don’t you and the kids head off to the pool”. She didn’t have to say that twice. We were off in a flash. It was probably one way of getting us out of her hair so she could have a moment or two of peace and quiet. We headed off to the pool, and there we splashed the day away and cooled off and indulged ourselves in gales of laughter. Eventually, Cindy made her way down to the pool and smiled at the way we were obviously enjoying ourselves. 

My oldest son once told Cindy; “We love you mom, bud dad is more fun!”. Such is the case in our family. Often enough it seems to work out that she gets to do the grunt work and the boys and I get to have the fun.

Such is the case too it seems with Mary and Martha. Somebody has to do the grunt work. Somebody else gets to spend quality time with Jesus. Mary sits at his feet soaking up all that wisdom, being imbued with the radiance of his Light, and drinking deeply from the fountain of eternal life in the very presence of God Incarnate.

But it begs the question; “Do you not care that I have all this work to do? Tell my sister to give me a hand.” Is Jesus that callous as to disregard Martha’s plight or is something else going on here in this Gospel? 

Folks, if we look at our lives, let me suggest to you, you’re probably a bit too busy. You may not be taking enough time for yourselves. You very likely don’t take enough time to pray, to exercise, to read, to care for and about yourself and those who really matter.  Just Friday Brother Almquist of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist gave us this word.

"In our culture at this time, I suspect that most of us need to do less rather than more. The blur of our life begins to clear as we slow down and abide with contentment in the day and the place and the life we’ve been given, which is a gift. And God intends for it to be good."

~Br. Curtis Almquist

So we come back now to the Mary, Martha, and Jesus dynamic. There are the chores of Martha, there is the learning of Mary and there is the teaching of Jesus. I suspect that the fact is in life that all three things must be; simply be. There must be the teaching and the learning. But when all that is said and done, somebody’s is going to have to get up and do the dishes.

The fact is in any household, that there are dishes to be washed, floors to be cleaned, carpets to be vacuumed, lawns to be mowed, bushes to be trimmed and the trash to be taken out. That’s obvious. But there is also the matter of our vital conversations with one another. Any marriage or family system is driven to wellness or comes to a screeching halt depending on on well we communicate, and how effectively we deal with conflict. The matter of Justice simply requires that we all give one another a hand with the chores, the joys and the fun of life. We all need all of life, and we all need to look out for one another to live it to the fullest.

The Gospel is not just about the Compassionate Father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It is not just about the repentant son. Nor is it just about the resentful older brother or even the mother who has to cook for all the folly of all that testosterone. The Gospel is about all of us as we take our places on the stage of Salvation History and live out our lives as God would have us live them, so that all becomes reconciled to God and to one another.

Remember as you read the Gospel. It is not about who is right or wrong, it is about the whole of life and how we live each part of it. The Gospel is not about whether Mary or Martha is right or wrong. It is about the reconciling love of Jesus for both. Reconciliation begins with a recognition that the two are not a choice between the one and the other, but that the two are part and parcel of a whole. This is the ministry of reconciliation. 

Paul tells us we have been given the ministry of reconciliation not only in today’s Epistle, but in yet another of his soaring passages on living the Gospel. In his second letter to the Christians in Corinth, he says; 

“For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

~2 Corinthians 5:14-20

All this is very good, but what of those who do not want to be reconciled? After all there are those marriages that die due to irreconcilable differences. And moreover there are those seemingly intractable conflicts that always simmer near the surface of our lives. I suspect that too often we forget the Gospel words Love, Reconciliation, and Forgiveness. How powerful those words are and how graceful when we live them.

As a man of Irish descent, at least in part, I can tell you that the Capulets and the Montagues are not just two families in a play but the very archetype of human and family conflict like our own Hatfields and McCoys. 

And lest we forget the ages old Protestant and Catholic conflict in Ireland that is now somewhat in abeyance since the Good Friday Agreement of April 10, 1998. It is a complex agreement but it has held the animosities in check at least for some time now.

What then of the Middle East? Will our fellow Bay Stater and countryman John Kerry, actually get the Israelis and the Palestinians to the table to talk? Talk about animosities! Anyone who dares to approach such warring madness risks the ire of the extreme of either camp. Yitzhak Rabin paid with his life the price of signing the Oslo Accords with Yassser Arafat in 1993. 

Anwar Sadat also paid with his life for signing the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty in 1979. Both men won the Nobel Peace Price. Both men gave their lives for the cause of peace.

Yes, exactly. what if there are those who do not want to be reconciled? What then shall we do? Shall we give up? Or shall we work on to that time when all God’s Children will hold their hands together and sing of the freedom God gives us in the very ministry of Christ which is to reconcile all to himself? This is not just the dream of Martin Luther King. This, in the words of Desmond Tutu is the Dream of God.

You know, when I think of Left Wingers and Right Wingers in American political life, I think too of the Eagle as a symbol of our this great nation, or at least about its potential for greatness. A bird cannot fly without both wings, duh! Neither can we without a recognition that it will take all of us pulling together to lift ourselves to the soaring heights we were designed to achieve. Alas, we have so much to learn in the infancy of our human moral development.

Jesus paid the ultimate price too for this ministry of reconciliation. I hope it doesn’t always come to that. But that’s our work: I'll grant you; an unending work. It is a good way to live our lives. A way that leads to eternal life. It is a Gospel life. 

So then there is Love.

There is the Ministry of Reconciliation.

Next week we’ll focus our energy on Forgiveness.

But every day we live the Gospel.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Gospel.

Fr Paul.