May 29, 2022 - Ascension Sunday

Ascension 2022 – May 29, 2022 Acts 1:1-11, Psalm 47

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Bon Air Ephesians 1:15-23

The Very Rev. Dr. Jeunée Godsey Luke 24:44-53

Today we celebrate the feast of the Ascension, when Jesus, 40 days after his resurrection rose up into heaven. The ascension calls us to look Upward. To lift our eyes to heaven, and to stand with the disciples in wonder as Jesus rises to glory to sit at the right hand of God. We “Look Up,” knowing that someday, we too will join Jesus and all the company of heaven. 

By contrast. a few months ago, there was a movie that came out on Netflix called “Don’t Look Up.” Now, this movie had nothing to do with the Ascension of our Lord. 

But it did have Leonardo DiCaprio and Meryl Streep in it, so, I liked it! It was about 2 astronomers who discovered that a planet-destroying comet was heading straight toward earth. But for political reasons, the president played it down and they couldn’t get anyone to take them seriously. Even after leaking the information to the press, they found that political appointees denied or downplayed their findings in order to promote their own agenda. 

Finally, when the president does alert the world to the imminent threat, [because she wants to detract the media’s attention from a personal scandal,] she still wheels and deals with corporate giants who are more concerned about mining the comet’s precious metals than protecting human life. Meanwhile, the world is divided in its opinions about how dangerous this comet is, if the potential of mining it could help the economy, and those who even doubt it’s existence. 

The film is basically a satire about the lack of serious response at all levels to the environmental crisis, but it the satire and critique work or other big issues this world faces as well. It how maddening it is that people can’t just drop their personal or political agendas to focus on the common good, rather than “what’s in it for me.”  

Finally, in the film, the astronomers start a “Just Look Up” campaign on Social Media, because, the comet was beginning to be visible in the night sky as the date of impact approached. If people would “Just Look Up” they would see the truth. In response, the president launches a “Don’t Look Up” campaign, wanting the public just to believe what the political and corporate leaders were telling them, and to deny the facts. I don’t want to blow the ending for those who haven’t seen it, but the film was both satirically funny and alarmingly accurate in how it portrays how our news and public opinions are often shaped by those seeking power or money, and how our political system is often too paralyzed or too timid to effectively address difficult topics. 

As Jesus’ disciples are looking up, watching Jesus ascend into heaven, two angels appear and tell them, “Don’t look up.” Or rather, they say, “Why are you looking up?” Jesus will come back again in the same way. Instead, the disciples are to “Look Around.” Jesus tells them that after they receive Power from on high, they will be Jesus’ witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and in the rest of the world. 

Jesus’ disciples then, and we as disciples today, are called not just to Look Up, but to Look Around, and see with Jesus’ eyes the needs of the world, and then to witness to the Good News of God’s love to address those needs – Spiritual, Physical, and Emotional needs. 

It takes both. We must look Up. And we must Look Around. 

We need to look Up to see the truth of who Jesus is. Jesus is our Saviour, our friend, our companion. Jesus is the one who overcomes evil and death and sin. When we look up to heaven, when we lift our eyes and hearts in prayer, we can experience God’s presence with us and come to know, at least in part, the peace that passes all understanding. We can discover that God is good, that God loves us, and God has plans for us to thrive in this life. 

But we can’t just stand on the hillside looking up. We need to also look around. 

And not just look, but Go…. 

…to start in our Jerusalems, the places and relationships closest to us, and then move outward, to Judea- to our familiar communities, to Samaria – to the outsiders and marginalized, and to the ends of the world. 

Because in this world of pain, God’s goodness and love is so needed. Jesus has now ascended into heaven, and so we are the ones left, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to be Christ’s hands and feet in the world. 

This last two weeks have seen two horrific shootings, one in Buffalo, NY and the other at Uvalde Texas. In a predominantly black neighborhood in Buffalo, Ten people killed as they went about their business just shopping for groceries – targeted by the 18 year old white supremacist, because of the color of their skin. 

And this week, the same day my 18-year-old step-son graduated High School, another 18 year old, a high-school drop-out, killed 19 4th graders and two of their teachers. 

It’s absolutely unthinkable… and yet, way, way too common. Such things shouldn’t happen anywhere, at any time, but they happen way too often. I saw a list of school shootings since Columbine in 1999 and it was much longer than I ever knew. Many of the incidents never made it to national news. Gun violence is epidemic in this country, but like the Movie, “Don’t Look Up,” those who might have the authority and power to do something to help are often too concerned about their own re-elections, or corporate bottom lines to try to work together for the common good. They aren’t looking Up or Around… they are looking in…. What’s in it for me.

Now, I’m not going to turn this into a sermon about gun control. I’m not smart enough to have the answer to gun violence. And I’m not against gun ownership. My grandfather and uncle were police officers. My grandfather and brother are both gun collectors and hunters. I learned how to shoot as a teenager, and have gone to a range for sport as an adult. But it seems ridiculous to me that you have to pass knowledge and vision tests, and complete over 40 hours of practice driving with a licensed driver, and pass a behind the wheel test before you get a drivers’ license, but we can’t seem to put in place sensible, consistent, nation-wide safeguards for licensing gun ownership and use.  

And the issue isn’t just the guns, it’s these desperate, mentally-ill, angry young men –mostly men, who now have a tried and true example of how to show their desperation and inflict pain on the world. Some come from homes where they were not loved or they lacked basic necessities, others never have received the mental health support they needed, others were bullied or abused. In their mental state, some are radicalized to extreme ideologies. The state of mental health support in our country is deeply lacking, especially for those who don’t have the means or ability to advocate for themselves.  These desperate people decide to move to action and so look around and see that a mass shooting is the way you make yourself known. 

It's kind of like when I took part in a homeless challenge several years ago when I was leading the Episcopal campus ministry at Longwood. We were told that as part of our 48 hours on the street in Washington, DC we needed to beg or panhandle at least once. How was I going to do that? I looked around, and it seemed like everyone else had a cardboard sign asking for money, so I made myself one too. A cardboard sign must be the way you express this kind of desperation.  I think something like that is what is happening in this society around mass shootings. It’s become the way angry, painful, desperation is expressed in way too many cases. 

And we as a society seem to be stuck, unable to negotiate different political agendas to find ways to help our hurting world. I’ve seen signs that have the phrase “Thoughts and prayers” crossed out, and instead have written “Policy and Change.”  But that’s a false dichotomy. Thoughts and Prayers exhibit compassion. Policy and Change channel passion. 

We need to Look Up to Jesus with our thoughts and prayers. We need to express our thoughts and prayers towards others. God alone is unchangeable and true. Jesus is our source for overcoming evil in this world. Prayer does make a difference. In us and in the world. 

But we also need to Look Around, and waiting for Spirit-led guidance, work for Policy and Change to help alleviate the ills of this world… 

And even more that inward and vertical thoughts and prayers, and outward, but arms-distanced policy change, you and I are called to Go and Be Jesus’ witnesses in the world. We are called to reach out our arms in love. Starting in our own families and neighborhoods and moving outward. 

Never underestimate the power we have to bring Christ’s healing and love to others through everyday actions that share Good news. 

The 4th grader you mentor in reading today, can be the successful 18-year-old who graduates tomorrow.  The mother who you help to feed her children, or to learn a marketable skill helps break cycles of poverty and desperation. The wayward teen who doesn’t feel like she or he fits in his family or in the world may just need your non-judgemental presence and mentorship. The communities we serve on mission trips, or the money we send to hospitals in Palestine help bring God’s hope and love to the recipients in tangible ways. And some of you have the skills and the connections to work with those who can make effective policy change for issues that matter. All of us have the power to make our voices heard. 

But we need to keep looking up, at Jesus, because he is our source of strength. 

And we need to keep looking around, at the world, to go where Jesus wants us to go. 

I’ll end today with the encouragement and exhortation we heard earlier from the apostle Paul as he wrote the believers in Ephesus, because, in our world today, we need this encouragement and exhortation as well. 

Paul writes, “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you,… and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion…And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” 

Lord, let us look up to you, so in your power, we can look out and act out in your love. Amen. 

April 10, 2022 - Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday 2022C – April 10, 2022

It seems like such a senseless death, doesn’t it? 

Jesus had healed people. Fed them. Taught them about God. 

But Jesus also taught about a kingdom, God’s Kingdom, where real Freedom and equity and justice could reign.  He taught about how this Kingdom was breaking into this world, and was indeed in the world, and inside those who followed him, even now. 

So this kingdom was perceived as a threat to the kingdoms of this world, whose power was based on might, manipulation of the system, coercion, fear and scarcity. So the rulers of those kingdoms and systems – Rome and the religious authorities – had to stop it. Had to stop HIM in order to maintain their control. 

It didn’t ultimately work. It never does. 

Love is stronger than evil. God ultimately conquers death. But not yet. 

For now, there’s grief, sadness, disappointment and disbelief. 

I think that in most deaths we encounter, we experience at least some of these emotions. Grief, sadness, disappointment, disbelief. Depending on the circumstances, we might add anger, betrayal, guilt, or even relief. These are only some of the emotional ingredients in the cocktail of grief. There are many more. 

And death continues to be all around us. 

Thousands have been killed in Ukraine – both civilian and miliary. 

Over 6 million people have died from the pandemic. 

Of course, death is not always so far away. For some of us, those global numbers have personal connections… People you know who have died, or who are suffering. 

And of course, death come close to each of us. Last week I spent a several days with my mother in Ohio. Wednesday morning she and I went to say our farewells to her best friend who was dying of cancer and was in hospice. My mom grew up with Kay in Fayetteville, West Virginia and had known her since elementary school. I’ve known Kay and her family my whole life. She’s the reason we ended up in Ohio.  Kay was past the point of being able to talk with us, but we were able to be with her, talk to her, and pray with her and the family. She died later that night. I felt gratitude that we could be there; regret that I had not visited with her more often, and sadness for Kay’s family and my mother’s loss. 

Later that same Wednesday, I got the from Fred Hall’s family, that he was in the emergency room very close to death. It was somewhat unexpected, probably an aneurism, but they put me on speaker phone so I could pray with him and the family. A few hours later he died, surrounded by the touch and love and support of his family. There was sadness, of course, and some sense of peace at being together. 

These are just the deaths that are impacting me the most right now…. There were 159 other obituaries published last week in the Richmond Times Dispatch. Maybe someone close to you was among them.  

Deaths deserve our notice – not only to honor those who have died, but to notice the emotions that are stirred up in us as well, and then helping us process them and integrating them as part of our lives that continue. Any emotions you feel around death– from grief, to guilt, to gratitude - are acceptable. They just are what they are. It’s how we process and incorporate them that matters. And that takes time, and sometimes outside help. It takes companions who can let us process all those feelings about death – the deaths of those around the world, and the deaths of those in our inner circle. 

Jesus entered this world as a human being to live and die as one of us. At his death, those around him felt the full gamut of emotions. They didn’t know that he would be resurrected. 

But we do. We’re not there yet, but we know the end of the story. 

And knowing the end of the story brings us hope. Jesus’ triumph over death means death does not have the final word. Evil does not have the final word. God has the final word. But we have to live into the depths of our sorrow and grief before we can experience the fullness and power of Jesus’ resurrection. 

In a moment, we are going to observe a time of silence. Just 2 minutes of silence. 

In that silence, I invite you to contemplate where God might be in the deaths that are most on your heart this morning. What feelings come up in you, and can you sense God’s presence with you, along with those feelings. 

Perhaps you will focus on the death of Jesus, and the story we just heard. How would you have felt to be near Jesus those last hours?…. What feelings have come up in you now as you have just re-lived that story? 

Perhaps in these minutes of silence you will focus on the death of someone close to you. What do you notice inside yourself? Can you lift up the mix of emotions you have been feeling to God?

Maybe your heart goes to those who are dying elsewhere in the world where you feel you have no direct impact other than prayer. How can your thoughts, feelings and prayers form a bond of solidarity with them? 

Perhaps your own death is what comes most to mind… perhaps unexpectedly, even if you are relatively young and healthy now. Can you notice and name your feelings? Can you offer them to Jesus? Does the story of Jesus’ passion offer you some compassion from him as you contemplate?

Remember, you are not alone. 

So, for the next few minutes, just listen to yourself and God. 

[2 minutes. ]

Before we close in prayer, let me say two things. One - You may need to take more time for this exercise. We don’t always give ourselves permission to contemplate death or feel the complicated feelings surrounding it. But our feelings are a gift from God. Exploring our feelings on the darker side of the spectrum opens us up to experiencing the lighter feelings more deeply as well. More joy. Deeper love. 

Secondly, if your brief time of contemplation stirred up more in you than you feel you can process on your own, there’s no need to walk that road alone. You can share your thoughts and feeling with someone else, with our grief group, with me, with a counselor or trusted friend.  

Let us pray: 

Almighty God, meet us where our grief encounters your presence. And be with those we love, but see no longer: Grant them your peace; let light perpetual shine upon
them; and, in your loving wisdom and almighty power, work in them, and in us, the good purpose of your perfect will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

September 5, 2021 - Be Opened

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church

The Rev. Dr. Jeunée Godsey

Proper 18B – Sept 5, 2021

Holy Baptism

Isaiah 35:4-7a;  Psalm 146;  James 2:1-10, [11-13], 14-17;  Mark 7:24-37

Ephphatha! Be Opened! 

I’d like that to be the theme for this message today.  

Jesus pronounces this word in Aramaic as he heals the deaf and mute man. … 

Be opened, ears, to hear. Be opened, mouth, to speak!  

Be opened to new experiences of understanding. 

I believe that command from Jesus not only applies to the story we heard in the second part of our Gospel reading. I also see how it about the applies to the other passages we heard today, and to the occasion of the Baptism we are about to celebrate of little Hunna Gross. I even see how it applies to the first story we heard in Mark’s Gospel, that very uncomfortable story of where Jesus calls the Syrophoenician woman and her daughter “dogs.” 

Let’s start there. As you heard the Gospel being read, some of you were probably taken aback. Did Jesus just call that woman a dog? The short answer is, well, yes. And yes, being called a dog back in Jesus’ day was no better than being called a dog today.  This doesn’t sound like the Jesus we are used to. 

There are lots of scholars that have tried to soften the blow of his harsh language. The word dog  used here literally means “little dogs”, so maybe he was calling them “puppies” and being playful, delivering the words with a twinkle in his eye. Maybe like puppies and dogs in our own context, we see them as members of the family, just not as important as the humans. This is an interpretation that, in the past, I’ve even wanted to use myself. But if you look at the context, that really can’t be right. 

Jesus is traveling in gentile territory. There has been tension between the Gentiles and the Jews for centuries. There are at least 12 places in the Hebrew scriptures that the gentiles are referred to as “dogs.” It seems it’s one of the main slurs Jews used toward gentiles. No doubt the gentiles had their favorite slurs to use against Jews. Jews did not have dogs as house pets. Dogs were scavengers, and therefore unclean, so they didn’t come inside. So, these gentiles are “other” outside his culture and context, and not regarded as clean. 

Jesus understands his mission is to the lost sheep of Israel – a focused mission – and doesn’t want to get sidetracked and dilute that mission by casting his pearls before swine, or in this case, dogs. Outsiders. 

But this woman does what any desperate mother would do. She fiercely pursues what she needs to find help for her daughter. She had burst into the house where Jesus is staying and had boldly asked for what she wanted. When Jesus refused her at first, she doesn’t try to argue that she should have a place inside Israel. Yes, their cultures are different. Here, in this gentile region, where the cultured Greeks eat at tables and have house pets, children do what children have continued to do for thousands of years… feed the dog under the table. 

And this woman knows, in the center of her being, that even a crumb of what Jesus is feeding the children of Israel, just a morsel of the healing power that he has exhibited in his ministry, is more than sufficient to heal her daughter. “Fine, you all don’t feed dogs, but here, dogs are part of the household. And the leftovers from the table are just fine.” Fine, go to the household of Israel first, but there’s enough for us too. 

Jesus has been caught off guard and shown a bigger truth about God’s expansive love and power by this outsider. Here’s where I think Jesus may have begun to get a twinkle in his eye, because his eyes have been opened. This woman has changed his mind. He gives her exactly what she has asked for immediately.

The idea of the expansiveness of God’s inclusivity has been evident in places throughout scripture, and becomes more explicit in Jesus’ ministry, and then in the early church as the Holy Spirit continues to break down walls. 

In our Epistle reading, James is reminding the church not to show partiality, especially partiality having to do with class or wealth, rich or poor. He reminds the followers of Jesus that they can’t just say they have faith without putting that faith into action and actually helping those who are in need. 

James reminds us, don’t show partiality and treat some people better than others – especially in the community of faith. This is pretty radical when the traditional custom would have had people seated at a fancy dinner table by rank or importance. 

We, as human beings, are natural wall-builders. Who is in, and who is out. We make teams or tribes for any number of reasons. Boys against girls. Washington verses Dallas. Part of our evolution has made us wary of the outsider, to fear what is different. That may have helped our earliest ancestors survive, but today, we don’t have to rely on those instincts. We can use our minds and overcome the prejudices we have that make us reflexively think that differences are bad, and keep us away from those who are not “our kind of people.” We need to be opened. 

I believe that is why the story about the deaf and mute man follows directly after the story of the Syrophoenician woman in Mark’s Gospel. Jesus travels to another primarily Gentile area, the Decapolis, and heals a man is deaf and mute. His command, “Ephphatha” Be Opened, heals the man… and opens his ears to hear and his loosens his tongue to speak. 

Be Opened is the command Jesus gives to us as well. Be opened to new understanding. Be opened to receive God’s healing. Be opened to the outsider. Open your ears to hear new things and use your tongue to share how God has touched you. 

These last words of the Gospel reading echo directly the passage from Isaiah we heard earlier. 

The people’s assessment, "he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak" alludes to Isaiah 35:5-6a: "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy."  

It is a promise of God’s healing and wholeness, a promise of joy and salvation. 

We are to be opened up to receive that joy and to accept God’s wholeness and salvation.

That is essentially what the promises of baptism are. They are meant to open our eyes and unstop our ears to be able to see and hear what God is up to in the world and in our lives, and then to loosen our tongues to proclaim the Good News to others. 

“For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;

the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;”

Isaiah’s image of life-giving water reminds us of the life-giving water of baptism. Just as springs of water make the desert into an oasis, the waters of baptism bring new life and vitality. Our prayer for Hunna this morning is that as she is washed in the waters of baptism – ok, sprinkled – it will nourish in her a vital life in Christ. 

The prayers we will pray for Hunna are prayers that she be Opened to God’s Spirit working in her and through her. 

For Hunna, and for all of us, we can hold onto Jesus’ words – Ephphatha. Be opened. Be opened to the inclusive, healing power of God, that can break down walls of separation. Be opened to hearing and seeing things in a new light, with a lens looking for God’s purposes. Be opened to new life springing from the living water of our baptisms. Be open to the leaping joy God desires for all his children. 

Amen. 

August 15, 2021 - Ephesians 6: Where the Light Shines Through

Take our eyes and see through them. Take our ears and hear through them. Take our lips and speak through them. Take our hearts and fill them with your fire. Amen. 

We are now in week 5 of our “Excursions through Ephesians” if you can believe it! In case you’ve missed the previous sermons, they are all available on our church website. Week 1 was titled “Discovering Who We Are In Christ”, Week 2: “Built Together in Christ”, Week 3: “Ask and Imagine -- God’s Power Working in Us”, and Week 4: “Gifted by God”. This week, I will focus on where the light of God shines through in our lives. 

The word light comes from the Greek word phos meaning to shine or make manifest. A search for the word light in the New Revised Standard Version brings up 335 results throughout the Bible, clearly an important concept. In their most basic meanings, light is often likened to good things and darkness to bad things.  

One of the greatest secular stories of light versus darkness comes from the Star Wars saga, especially surrounding the relationship between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. In this portion of the timeline, “...two noble knights from an order called the Jedi discover a boy destined to be a powerful wielder of the mystical energy that connects the universe, called the force. One of them dies protecting him from the Jedi’s evil counterparts, the Sith aka the Dark Side, but the other -- Obi-Wan Kenobi -- [tries] to train the boy, Anakin Skywalker, to fight on the side of good (Wired).” 

“It doesn’t take…Jedi aren’t supposed to succumb to emotion or form attachments -- [whereas] the Dark Side of the Force, which the Sith worship…[relies] on ‘negative’ emotions like anger and fear…

[Eventually], Obi-Wan [meets and] defeats Anakin in battle after he turned to the Dark Side, wounding him so badly that he requires a mechanical suit to keep him alive. He becomes known as Darth Vader, [one of the most feared Sith Lords in the galaxy]” (Wired). 

Obi Wan does not enter the battle without expressing his dismay regarding Anakin turning to the Dark Side of the Force. Before their battle, he says: “I have failed you Anakin. I have failed you. You were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness! You were my brother Anakin! I loved you!”

They had presumably spent many years training together before they came to this battle, thus his exclamation that he considered Anakin to be like a brother. Even though Anakin was in such a dark place, Obi-Wan knew the light, the Force, was still inside of him that he had developed during their training. 

But, unfortunately, Anakin gave into the fear, anger, and darkness more than he wanted to embrace the Force and Jedi Order. It was going to take many more years before he reached the level of authority in the pecking order of the Jedi he sought and he was not satisfied with that trajectory.

It is interesting to note, though, that fear in the Bible is understood in a different way than it is in the Star Wars saga and the Dark Side of the Force. One commentary points out that “the fear of the Lord” is mentioned four times in the central section of Psalm 34, a portion of which we hear today. I have always had a hard time with this concept of “fear of the Lord” as it seems to go contrary to someone I strive to have a close, personal relationship with in my life. 

However, this commentary goes on to remind us that Biblical words have a range of meanings connected to the contexts in which they are found just like the Jedis had different understandings of the Force. “‘Fear’ can be associated with terror, respect, or worship depending upon the setting. In the Psalms, when the Lord is the object of this fear, the meaning of worship pervades.” 

If you replace the word “fear” with “worship” in verse 9 of Psalm 34, you get: Worship the Lord, you that are his saints, for those who worship him lack nothing.” 

This is why it is so critical that we come together each week for worship. Because when we worship God and spend time with Him, we lack nothing. In the Episcopal Church, we are blessed with additional resources like the daily office morning, noon, evening, and compline services, to give us ample opportunities to keep worship at the center of our relationships with God. We worship God because it brings us to a deeper understanding of who God is and thereby who we are as beings made in God’s image. 

We see the centrality of worship echoed once again in our reading from Ephesians today through Paul’s discussion about how we live. He says to “be careful...how you live, not as unwise people but as wise...do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

This is the type of life and posture that God wants to make manifest and shine through in our hearts. I don’t think this passage is trying to say that you will never do bad things or that not drinking wine is the only thing on that list. Rather, I think it indicates we have a choice to make each and every day to strive to follow the will of God in all we do. 

His will for our lives is made clearer when we listen to the Holy Spirit individually and then in the life of our parish. In other words, living wisely means that the light of Christ permeates everything we do and everything we are.  

Anakin and Obi Wan both followed their own paths because they believed and worshipped the ideals that they thought would fulfill them. Their respective ideals were supposed to bring them to a place where they lacked nothing. 

God wants the same for us and like Obi Wan will continue to leave his imprints to show us the path he has laid out for us. Even when it might seem like we are too far from redemption, like I think Anakin felt, God is always seeking to draw us back to Him.  

We must keep in mind that God shines his light through the good and the bad of our lives, the mountaintops and the valleys. Oftentimes, I have found the journey back to the right from the wrong to be a more powerful testament to the power of God than anything else. Because it shows that God does not give up on us the moment we have gone against his will for our lives.  

Today, I want to leave you with the lyrics from a song called “Where the Light Shines Through” by one of my favorite bands Switchfoot. As you listen to these lyrics, think about something you have done or may be struggling with that you want God’s light to shine through and help you with today.

Cause your scars shine like dark stars

Yeah, your wounds are where the light shines through

So let's go there, to that place where

We sing these broken prayers where the light shines through--

The wound is where the light shines through

I was reminded of something my parents used to say to me as a kid on Instagram today through a friend’s post: “Instagram is not as happy as you’d think, so be kind to people.” We never know what someone else is going through. Not unlike Anakin and Obi Wan, where they only realized something was wrong when it was too late. So let’s lift each other up in our prayers and songs we sing today and remember that God is with us every step of the way, even when it might seem like there is no clear path ahead. As the beginning of our Ephesians passage reminds us today, when we are in the Lord we are light. So let your light shine brightly to those around you today and every day. Amen. 

August 1, 2021 — Ephesians 4: Gifted by God

“Lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”

That’s a powerful exhortation we hear from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians this morning. 

Can I lead a life “worthy” of the calling to which I have been called?  I see that phrase as a moral and spiritual “High Bar,” one I’m not sure I can attain… Certainly not on my own, I can’t!

As continue in our sermon series on Ephesians: Discovering Who we are in Christ, and we explore the first half of Chapter 4 this morning, I hope that each of us will discover how it is we can live a life worthy of God’s calling, and do that in a way that brings joy and openness to our lives, not a sense of oughts or shoulds or guilt. 

Today we begin the second half of Paul’s letter. Here in Chapter 4, which we will explore this week and next, we have made a turn from the author’s description of the glorious truth of the mystery of the Gospel - namely that God’s love and salvation is available all people through Christ no matter ethnicity or background – to Paul’s description of the calling and purpose we have as followers of Christ. The riches of this letter expound on the glorious nature of the whole Church – the gathered people of God - as well as our individual roles in relationship to God and one another. 

This letter, as we talked about in our first week, was written to the church, probably several house churches, gathered in Epheses, but was most likely also intended to be a circular letter, one that would be read by one house church, then carried on to other gatherings near and far and read aloud to the community. 

This week we heard the word read that we hear at every baptism in our church, and that remind us of who we are in God: 

There is one Body and one Spirit

There is one hope in God’s Call to us

One Lord, One Faith, on Baptism

One God and Father of All

Through our baptism, we have been brought together as one Body in Christ. This means we are brothers and sisters with every other baptized Christian on this planet – whether they are Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, or any other stripe of Christian. It means we are brothers and sisters with those who find themselves to the right and to the left of us politically and theologically. It means we are brothers and sisters with the youngest, the oldest, the richest, the poorest, the most athletic, and the most physically challenged Christians we could meet. It is the Holy Spirit which ties us all together. 

The beginning of this 4th chapter of Ephesians shows us what is required to be the Church, the Body of Christ, both in the Global sense and also in the particular – 

Namely, 

We are shown our desired Outlook

How we’re Outfitted

And the expected Outcome of living in Christ. 

Outlook, Outfit, Outcome. 

So, What Outlook or Attitude does Paul point us toward? 

“Lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” 

In other words, our life in this world should be marked by the Way of Love. There is no way any of us can be always patient, always loving, always bearing with one another, but this is our prayer and our hope, these qualities exemplify the way Christians intend to live. Paul’s list here reminds me of the list he gives in his letter to the Galatians, Chapter 5. He says the Fruit of the Spirit of Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. This fruit is born by each believer as they live a Spirit-filled life. 

Unlike the Gifts of the Spirit, which we’ll discuss in a minute, and which differ for each person, The Fruit of the Spirit is meant to be born out in the lives of everyone who calls themselves a follower of Jesus. It’s not like I can just enjoy the Love, Joy and Peace, and let you take up the Patience, Kindness, and Self-control.  In fact, it’s not as if we “do” these fruit, but rather, by being intentional in our spiritual lives, walking as disciples of Jesus, our lives will just naturally “Bear” this fruit. We can often see this fruit born out in the lives of good non-Christians as well. I believe that it is evidence of God’s omniscient presence and spirit working to draw all people to himself. 

So our Outlook on life and our intention is meant to live a life Worthy of the calling we have as Jesus’ followers and marked by the Fruit of the Spirit. 

I think I’ve shared the story before of a parishioner at another church who, during a newcomers class, declared “I could never put one of those fish on the back of my car…. My driving isn’t worthy to be called Christian. I don’t drive like a Christian. I don’t want people judging the faith based on my actions behind the wheel.” 

We all laughed at this, but there’s a kernel of truth there…. We want our outward lives to reflect the nature of the Holy Spirit living within us, right? 

So if God wants us to have this Outlook toward living in the spirit, how does God outfit us? 

We are outfitted with Gifts of the Spirit. Paul says here, “We are one Body…Each of us was given grace (gifts) according to the measure of Christ's gift…. The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.” 

This is just one list of Spiritual Gifts found in the bible. Fuller lists are found in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12 and elsewhere. They include such gifts as Giving, Healing, Mercy, Speaking and Interpretting various tongues, Helping, Music, Craftsmanship, Leadership, and so on. 

Unlike spiritual fruit, all nine of which every follower should exhibit, the Spiritual gifts are doled out by God in unique packages for each person. No one has all of them, everyone has at least one. And they vary in strength and effectiveness depending on what is needed based on your situation, and the extent to which you truly take out, unwrap, and use your gifts, building up your strength in those areas. 

That said, it is also important to know that the life of faith is not measured on your production or work. We are all part of the body of Christ. As Paul says elsewhere, sometimes the stronger parts need to take extra care of weaker members of the body or those in need of healing. Sometimes you may need to exercise the gift of Faith that God will provide for you as others in the body exercise their gifts. Your gift may allow others an experience in God in simply being with or serving you. 

But there are so many Spiritual gifts that go undiscovered and unused in their purpose of building up the body of Christ. It is a waste. Indeed, I believe even a sin, in that it is something that takes you away from the presence of God.

I’ve shared this story with some of you before, but I think it’s a wonderful one to illustrate why we need to use the gifts God has given us. 

John Ortberg tells this story about his wife’s family. 

His wife, Nancy's, grandmother had passed away a few months before, and her father was going through her things in the attic.  He found some old boxes of dishes and called Nancy to ask if she wanted them. 

"What kind of dishes?" she asked. "They're pretty, with blue, and since you like blue, I thought you might want them." Well, when Nancy came over to the house to look through the boxes, want she found both delighted and shocked her. The boxes were filled with china of exquisite quality. She had never known her Grandmother to use the china, and her father didn't seem to have any idea about where it had come from. Nancy did a little more investigation. Apparently, according to a great aunt, her grandmother had received some of the china as a wedding present back in the 1920's and had been collecting that china as anniversary gifts and birthday presents years afterwards. 

It was delicate and hand-painted. It had been made in a workshop in Germany that later was destroyed by a bomb in WWII, so the china was literally irreplaceable and invaluable. 

Her grandmother had been saving it for a special occasion. 

But no occasion seemed special enough. 

The most precious earthly treasure she had never made it out of the box. 

The Spiritual Gifts God gives us are equally as precious. But if we leave those gifts unwrapped and unused, no one can enjoy them, and they serve no purpose.  

Jon's wife Nancy took home those boxes of China, and as Jon puts it, “Nancy uses those dishes promiscuously!” 

The Good News is that, unlike fine china, we don’t risk breaking or wasting our spiritual gifts when we use them. Just the opposite in fact. When we use our spiritual gifts and practice them, they actually get better in time; just like when we practice using a foreign language, we are able to communicate more effectively. 

Another wonderful thing about Spiritual Gifts is that just like manna in the desert, God provides each gathered community of Christians the mix of Spirirual gifts they need to do the work and ministry God has appointed us to do. So there should be no comparison. We shouldn’t complain if we don’t have as many gifted musicians or healers as some other church, but we need to pay attention to the gifts God has given us at St. Michael’s to help us determine the ministries God has called us to.  

We are called to a Spirit-Filled Outlook, and Outfitted with Spiritual Gifts, which leads us to a wonderful Outcome

‘The gifts he gave were given… to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ…. 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 knit 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.’

This is the work of Spiritual growth and maturity… a life-long mission. As the church, we can live with the Outlook of humbly living into our Spirit-filled calling, bearing Spiritual Fruit in our lives. We can grow in understanding how each of us and all of us have been Outfitted for ministry through our Spiritual gifts. As we do so, we can expect more and more the Outcome of growing into the full measure of Christ, more fully knit together as one body in one spirit. Amen.

July 25, 2021 — Ephesians 3: Ask and Imagine- God’s Power working in Us

Ephesians 3:7 Of this gospel I have become a servant according to the gift of God's grace that was given me by the working of his power. 8 Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, 9 and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; 10 so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him. 13 I pray therefore that you may not lose heart over my sufferings for you; they are your glory. 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. 16 I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

What do you most want to ask God for? 

What do you most want to ask God for? 

If that one thing didn’t just pop into your head, I’d like you to take a moment to figure that out in your heart. What do you most want to ask God for? 

Maybe it’s for an answer or resolution to a problem or issue you’ve been struggling with.

Maybe it’s for healing for yourself or a loved one. A miraculous cure, perhaps, or an emotional and spiritual healing that brings wholeness and peace. 

Maybe it’s for your kids or grandkids.

Maybe you most want to ask God for something beyond yourself or your loved ones. Maybe your petition is for a group in the wider community, for the environment, or for the nation. 

There’s no right answer. Just take a moment…. 

Formulate that prayer…. And Pray it now, silently, to God.…

Paul tells us through the letter to the Ephesians that we have a God who will do abundantly more than we can ask for or imagine. 

We have all just imagined and asked. Now we await God’s answers in expectation. 

With today’s reading of Ephesians, we’ve hit a turning point in this letter. We are at a hinge between the first three chapters which talk about the wonderful mystery of what God has done in Christ, and the last three chapters which instruct us how we ought to respond. 

So far Paul’s talked about how God has blessed us with spiritual blessings, and is gathering up all things together in Christ who has redeemed us from our sin. Paul spoke about how that in Christ, the dividing walls are broken down and the divisions between gentile and Jew have been erased and so we are being built together into a temple for God’s Spirit. Christ has brought peace to those near and those who have been far. 

Paul speaks of this good news of the radical inclusion of all people as a mystery. It wasn’t fully understood or known before Jesus. In fact, it wasn’t even fully understood by the twelve original apostles. Elements of it were there, but the dividing walls still existed. God was revealing the fullness this mystery to Paul and Paul has been able to communicate it to those he writes to.

For this reason, Paul begins chapter 3, For this reason, he is a prisoner for Christ Jesus. Paul, writing while under arrest in Rome, understands that his imprisonment may be being carried out by the government, but it is because he is doing God’s will in spreading the good news of this Gospel. We are all now one family in Christ. Forgiven and Free. None of us deserve the gift of salvation. Paul said that he was the least of all the saints because he used to persecute and kill Jesus’ followers. This ability to be in unhindered relationship with God is a free giftavailable to all, and Paul’s goal is that the church, the gathered followers of Jesus, would be the ones to make this wonderful mystery known to all the world, therefore Paul is willing to suffer himself to help make this happen. 

The last three chapters of this letter will talk about how we are to live as people who have received this gift.  The first verse in chapter four will begin, “I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” 

So right here, at the hinge of this letter, Paul prays a prayer, a beautiful prayer on behalf of his readers, for us, for the church. 

“For this reason (all the reasons we just talked about) I bow my knees before the father from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.” 

Paul says, 
“I pray that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” 

That Christ may dwell in your hearts. How is Christ dwelling in your hearts? 

Last fall, in the height of COVID, my 30 year old daughter decided she didn’t want to be holed up in her Chicago apartment for the winter with three other roommates and no where to go. So she moved here to Richmond for about six months. I was kind of hoping she would want to live with us but she said, “Mom. You live in the suburbs.”  And since she didn’t have her own car, that made sense. She found a place to live in the city, but she spent her first two weeks quarantining with us in our new home. 

When you have a guest for a few days, you give them the nice guest room, offer hospitality, mind your manners, and enjoy their company. But when someone moves in for longer, it takes some adjustment in the household. My daughter does things differently than we do. She loads the dishwasher differently. Her workflow was different, and of course, we were all mostly working from home still. She eats some weird foods. And I couldn’t believe that the guest room could get so messy so quickly. We all adjusted. I told her how I like the dishwasher loaded. I closed the guest room door. It was great having her around, but after the couple weeks, it was also nice to have my house back the way I’m use to it. 

Well, when Jesus dwells in our hearts, he’s moving in for keeps. 

We want to welcome Jesus into our hearts with open arms. We’re so glad he’s come. But I think we sometimes unconsciously relegate him to the guest room, where we hope he’ll just work behind closed doors. 

Instead, Jesus is at every meal, and wants to insert himself in every conversation. He opens all of your closets and starts showing you things you need to get rid of. He rearranges the furniture. He wants to hang out in the living room of our lives, and begins showing US better ways to load the dishwasher, metaphorically speaking. Don’t get me wrong. It’s WONDERFUL, but having Jesus dwell in your heart changes the dynamic of your whole life, especially if you let him in past the foyer, or let him out of the little guest room you’ve made up for him for Sunday morning visits. 

And it is that kind of life changing intimacy with God that Paul is praying for us. Paul prays that we may be strengthened in our inner being with power through Jesus’ Spirit. It is this power that helps us know Jesus and to comprehend the incomprehensible… to know what is the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ, that is beyond what we can know. So that we can be filled with the fullness of God. 

I can just imagine Jesus, our housemate - our heartmate - standing in our kitchen trying to explain this to us… gesturing largely… 

The Breadth, the length, the height, the depth of God’s love. 

The breadth of his love encompasses every human being, from all nations and tribes and language. The breadth of his love surrounds all our diversities and differences, even ones we don’tfully understand. 

The length of God’s love means that no matter how far we run from God, there is no length he won’t go to find us and show us his love. We can never move beyond where he will go. 

His love is so high it can lift us into visions of God’s Kingdom,and possibilities for our future.

And his love is so deep that it goes to the very darkest center of our being, loving us even in those places where we feel the most unlovable. 

It is this kind of love that fills us with the fullness of God. There’s a church saying that says some people will miss heaven by 18”. That’s the distance between the head and the heart. What’s meant by that is that some people know in their head that God is real, they believe intellectually that what Jesus did on the cross saves them from their sins, and they have patterned their behavior ethically, but they haven’t ever really felt the Love from God or towards God. They don’t have a relationship with Jesus. They’re missing heaven by 18” – at least they are missing the heaven-on-earth that is knowing the fullness of God in their lives. 

Few people can live in that fullness all the time. We lock ourselves into our predictable routines, often forgetting we are Spirit-filled beings and heirs of God’s Kingdom. But if you have never felt that fulness, or known the deep love of God for you, you might want to put that at the top of your prayer list for what you most want to ask God for. God loves to answer that prayer in the affirmative. 

Paul ends his prayer with these words, “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” 

Remember your prayer at the beginning of the sermon? What do you most want to ask God for? 

Paul’s doxology at the end of this prayer, his words that give glory and praise to God, states a beautiful promise. God, whose power is working inside of us, can accomplish abundantly far more that we can even imagine to ask for. God’s power can do things we can’t even begin to fathom. Like feed 5000 people with just 5 loaves and 2 fish. Or walking on water. Or calming the storm. The disciples weren’t even going to ask for a miracle like that. 

Some of you know how God does more than you can imagine. You pray for one thing. You think you know how it should work out. If you were God, you’d do it that way… but in the end, sometimes after quite a few twists and turns, you see how God’s power was at work in the situation, bringing you to a place that was beyond your imagination. God’s ways are higher than our ways. 

Sometimes God uses his power working In us and Through us to answer our own prayers, or the prayers of others. Who knows, you might be part of the answer to a prayer someone in the pew next to you prayed this morning. You might find growing inside of you the fullness of the love of God which could answer your prayer for healing and wholeness. God’s power working in you and in the church, can do far more than we can ask for or imagine. 

The waiting part can be the hard part… not knowing how God will answer our prayers, but it can also be the exciting part, to see how he will do more than we can ask for or imagine. In all of it, we can know that God’s love for us exceeds the breadth, length, heights and depths we can fathom. 

So, let us make this prayer in Ephesians our prayer, bowing our knees because of God’s unfathomable love, and glorifying God in the church for all generations. Amen.

July 18, 2021 Sermon

Built together in Christ 

“Let us be built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.” 

Today we continue with part 2 of our 7 part sermon series in Ephesians: Discovering who we are  in Christ. As I suggested last week, feel free to follow along in your bibles, or the bulletin  leaflet, or in the Ephesians parallel text booklet we made as a handout.  

Let’s start today, as we explore most of Chapter 2, by taking the title of our series, “Discovering  who we are in Christ,” and look at the passage we just read from Ephesians to answer that  question. What do we discover about ourselves from this passage? What do we discover about  Christ Jesus?  

As we quickly look through our passage, these are things I see:  

We have been saved through faith, we didn’t have to earn it.  

We are created in Christ Jesus for good works 

We who have been far away from God have been brought near to God by Jesus’ blood.  We are one humanity in Christ.  

Because Jesus is our Peace.  

We are not strangers or foreigners to God or each other, we are citizens of God’s kingdom and  family members in God’s household.  

Because Jesus breaks down the dividing wall between us.  

We are being built as a holy temple for God’s spirit,  

We have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit. 

And We have God dwelling inside us.  

So we are saved, created for good, a unified family, built together into a temple for God. Christ is our unifier, our peace, our “wall-knocker-downer,” our “temple-builder-upper”, and the  Spirit who dwells within us.  

Those are pretty powerful affirmations. Amen? Amen!  

But let’s unpack those a bit more, because there’s quite a bit of what I like to call “Christianese”  language in this text, which is not always clear to our contemporary ears. As some of you know,  I used to be a high school French and English teacher, and having a grasp of the vocabulary is  central to learning how to be fluent. So it is with our faith. We will explore some of the key  words and concepts Paul uses or implies here, and then seek to apply them to our own lives.  

Let’s start with the words Grace and Salvation. Verses 8-10 talk about our salvation through  grace. I added these verses to the appointed lectionary text because they are some of the most  powerful verses in scripture.

Verses 8-9 essentially say, “By grace you have been saved through faith. It’s a gift, not the  results of works.” 

Grace is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot, especially in the bible. People are  sometimes fuzzy in its meaning. Grace, especially God’s Grace, can simply be defined as  undeserved favor, or an unmerited free gift. Paul is saying to the Ephesians, and us, that the  salvation we have received in Jesus Christ is a gift from God, not something we earned through  our own work. We receive this gift simply by having faith in Jesus. When we say that someone  gave us some grace, it means they accepted us, or what we did with good-will, more than we  deserve. Grace means divine kindness, goodwill, gift, mercy.  

So we are saved by grace. So there’s another Christianese word – Salvation. What does it mean  to be saved. We say things like, “Jesus saves. Have you been saved?” 

What does it mean to have salvation?  

By grace we have been saved… saved from what?  

Quite a bit actually!  

We are saved from the consequences of our sin. Sin being defined as whatever separates us from  God, those things done and left undone that divide us from God and one another.  We are saved from the spiritual death that comes from that broken relationship with God. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are also saved from our own death… We will die  physically, but we are assured eternal life with God.  

The word “to save” in Greek is the same word, or same root word as the word as to Heal, or be  made whole.  

So beyond being rescued or redeemed, like being saved from drowning with a life-saver, we are  saved, and make whole, and healed emotionally and spiritually by our relationship with God in  Christ.  

I like the phrase that is often used about the different “tenses” of salvation.  I have been saved…… I am being saved….. I will be saved. 

Past tense - I have been saved by what Jesus did on the Cross 2000 years ago. By his death and  resurrection, I can be forgiven of my sin.  

This is Justification – being made right with God.  

Present tense - I am being saved by God’s ongoing work in my life, making me more and more  Christlike, and bringing wholeness and health to places where I may be still in need of healing  and fixing. We all know we are on a journey. We are not perfected yet. We still have work to do.  

This is Sanctification – being made Holy. We do not receive our salvation through works,  but good works are part of how we exhibit our sanctification.  

And finally, Future tense - I will be saved and someday join all the saints around the heavenly  throne when my days on earth are done. At that point, I will be beyond the struggles of earthly  life.  

This is Glorification – being completely reunited with God enjoying the bliss of heaven.  

I have been saved – justification.  

I am being saved – sanctification.  

I will be saved – glorification.  

We’re getting quite the vocabulary lesson today, aren’t we?  

Our passage then moves into using terms that aren’t really Christianese, it’s just that we don’t  tend to use in our normal conversations.  

Paul contrasts the circumcised and the uncircumcised.  

TMI Paul! Too much information! Why should we care what a man’s “nether regions” look like?  These are not categories that we typically use to divide ourselves today. Besides, it leaves a  whole half of the population, us women, out of the picture.  

But of course, culturally, in 1st century Palestine, it was a big deal. The sign of circumcision was  an outward sign that the Jews had set themselves aside for God… marked as a holy people.  Greeks, or gentiles were not typically circumcised. Besides this physical manifestation there  were other differences that distinguished Jews and Gentiles. Jews kept themselves apart sharing  meals or visiting homes of Gentiles because of religious beliefs, food restrictions, and other  practices that that divided the ritually clean from the ritually unclean.  

Paul’s point here and for the rest of this chapter is that what had once been separated by culture and even the precepts of Jewish law is now brought together in Christ. Even those who had once  been enemies and adversaries can come together in God. Everyone has been far from God because of sin, but through the blood of Christ, all are brought near to God and to each other.  Jesus is the one who brings this peace because he died for all of humanity, not just the Jews. We  may divide ourselves by Gentile and Jew as much any longer, but we still live in a world where  there are too many divisions. But despite our differences we can find unity in Christ.  

In the rest of this passage, Paul uses some wonderful building imagery. It’s like a home  reconstruction project. Jesus tears down walls of division and builds instead a temple, a big open  space concept where all can be together.  

The Message version translates verses 19-22 this way: “God is building a home. He’s using us  all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets  for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ  Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a  holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.” 

I see this tearing down and building up process part of that “Sanctification” phase of our  salvation. We are being saved as we tear down walls that divide us, and find ways to build an  expansive space in our lives where we can meet God and connect with others, even others who  might be very different from us.  

We’ve talked about a lot of Christian-ese words today as part of this passage of Ephesians.  Salvation, Grace, Justification, Sanctification, Glorification, Unification, Edification!

When I used to be a language teacher and I would have my students learn a whole list of  vocabulary words, I often gave them the homework of putting these words into their own  sentences. So maybe I will leave us with homework along those lines. You don’t actually have to  write your own sentences using those words, but maybe you can think about your own answers  to these questions using these concepts.  

Have you received the grace, the gift, of salvation through Jesus?  

Have you really accepted that you no longer have to be far from God?  

Do you know that there’s nothing you’ve done so bad that can keep you away,  and there’s no good deed you can do that will earn you a place?  

You just need to accept that Jesus has done it for you. You belong to God.  

Once you have received salvation through grace,  

How is Jesus saving you now?  

Where do you most want to pray for Christ’s healing and wholeness for yourself  and for our world?  

How might Jesus want to sanctify you… make you more holy, and more Christ like? 

You might need to explore what dividing walls have built up between yourself and any other  person or group. You might have placed those walls there, or they may be there simply because  of cultural bias and upbringing.  

How might Jesus want to bring Peace to those places of hostility or enmity in your life,  or in the wider world?  

How is God using you to build his Holy Temple?  

How are you joining with others to build on the foundation of our ancestors in Christ to help  make space in this world where the spirit of God’s peace and the power of God’s presence can be  experienced by yourself and others.  

In short, what is your place in building the church, the community of God?  

I know…I know… If had been a student in one of my language classes you’d be complaining right now that I haven’t asked you to do simple vocabulary sentences for homework, but rather  lengthy essay questions!  

But don’t worry, it’s not a test, it’s more like a prayer journal. And just like our education  continues beyond our school days, the building of God’s temple in us and through us continues  beyond our baptism. 

Let us embrace our ongoing salvation as we continue to be built together spiritually into a  dwelling place for God. Amen.

July 11, 2021 Sermon

Excursions in Ephesians: Discovering who we are in Christ

Part One

Here we are, smack dab in the middle of summer. With things opening up somewhat, people are

starting to travel again or at least to take little excursions for the weekend.

Well we’re about to embark on an excursion this morning, theologically speaking, and it’s one

you don’t have to leave home for. This Sunday, and for the next six Sundays, we’re going to take

An Excursion through Ephesians – Discovering who we are in Christ.

Now, I want to be up front, studying Ephesians is not going to be a “beach book read.” It’s not

light and fluffy and predictable. Our excursion is going to require that you exercise more brain

power because we are dealing with precepts and theology as outlined by the apostle Paul, as

opposed to entering the narrative world of stories that we often find in the Gospels. In the Gospel

stories these same weeks, we will hear about John the Baptist and Herod and stories from both

the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John about Jesus’ multiplying loaves and fishes and what

it means that Jesus is the Bread of Life. Good stuff, and maybe a little easier to comprehend and

apply its meaning. Heck, I imagine the story of John the Baptist we just heard, with some extra

details, could be easily expanded into a beach book.

On the other hand, I know Paul’s writing is not always the easiest to dissect, but there is good

reason to do so.

Our lectionary doesn’t always give us 7 weeks to talk about a short 6 chapter book of the bible,

but that’s what we have this summer, so let’s take advantage of that and dig in a bit, while giving

ourselves bit of a structure and sense of anticipation from week to week during these summer

days.

But a much better reason to take on this intellectually stimulating and spiritually fulfilling

excursion, is because Ephesians is a wonderful book expounding God’s person and purpose, and

who we are as God’s Chosen ones. Paul outlines the important role of the Church in

accomplishing God’s purposes. It’s a high and lofty view that helps us Celebrate God’s Beauty.

As I heard one preacher say, “It’s like the Grand Canyon of the Bible... it can make you gasp

with wonder when you finally take in the view.”

Our mission here at St. Michael’s is to “Celebrate God’s Beauty, Love God’s People, and Serve

God’s World,” and Paul’s letter to the people and the church he started in Ephesus can help us

see even more clearly how our mission fits within God’s bigger mission, and how each of us has

a part of God’s larger purposes.

So, for our series, I’m going to invite you to do something we Episcopalians rarely do – Bring

your bibles to church and take notes. You may wish to follow along in your own bible, see how

your translation adds nuance and meaning. I suggest you read the book of Ephesians at home...

first, all at once for an overall picture, and then one chapter each week before Sunday. In my

bible, the whole book is only 10 pages. We’ve even made a little gift for you by printing the

Letter to the Ephesians into its own little booklet, using the New Revised Common Version in

the left-hand column, the translation we use in church, along with the Message Translation of

The Message in the right hand column. The Message is actually a contemporary paraphrase, but

it is based on solid scholarship of the original languages and brings a fresh and accessible

meaning to the text.

All right, let’s get started. Here are the first 2 verses of the book, that are left out of our reading

today.

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus and are

faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

That’s a pretty typical opening for one of Paul’s letters. You see, Paul, travelled around the

Mediterranean essentially starting new churches, and then later, would write letters to the people

there, to encourage them in their walk, or to correct them when he heard that they had gotten off

track. Then these letters were circulated among other Christian communities and eventually

gathered together to make up a large part of what we call the New Testament today.

You can read about how Paul started the church in Ephesus, a city in current day Turkey, in the

book of Acts, Chapter 19. He was there for over 2 years, between the years 50 – 52, and he

dedicated a lot of time to teaching those who were interested in the way of Jesus.

There is some scholarly argument that Paul, himself, may not have been the actual author of this

letter, but rather, a leader in the Pauline community after him, who, per the custom of the time,

would have used the founder’s name to carry on his work. Essentially it doesn’t matter. This

letter has held authority in the church since it was first written, and is included in the very first

lists of New Testament scripture we have dating back to about the year 130.

But for argument’s sake, I’ll be referring to Paul as the author, since certainly those who

followed him would know Paul’s connection to this area well. It was likely written around the

year 62 of the common era, and if by Paul, while he was in prison in Rome.

Paul cared a lot for the Ephesians. You see, Ephesus, like many big cities of our day, was a city

brimming with many cultures and religious philosophies. The Temple to the Greek Goddess

Artimus, or Diana, was a major religious site in the town. In fact, there were many people who

made their living off the cult of Artimus... selling gold or silver statues, selling sacrifices, and so

on. It was a port city at the time, and the excellent road system connected it to many other places

in the Roman empire. It was strategic for Paul to spend time teaching these Christians, because

they were likely to be in contact with people from all over the known world and through

interactions with these folk the Gospel of Jesus spread quickly along the Roman road system into

urban areas across the Roman empire.

He wrote, not to correct any division or heresy, but to continue his teaching and to encourage

them. This letter was likely meant not only for the Ephesians, but meant as a circular letter, that

would have been copied and read aloud in the other Christian communities and house churches

wherever Christians met together. And well, here we are today, the latest Christians to have this

letter read in our assembly.

So what does Paul say? He says a lot in this first chapter that we won’t have time to get into in

the short amount of time I have left for our message this morning, but it’s all good stuff.

Basically, in Chapter One, Paul is saying, that

We, the church, are a planned people.

People with a purpose.

People given power.

First of all, Paul is very excited and enthusiastic. In the Greek, the passage we read today, verses

3-14, are all One Sentence! One Run on Sentence full of excitement and praise to God.

So, let’s savor this exuberant praise. I’ll read from The Message version, stopping to expound

myself here and there, and you can follow along in that little booklet, or in your bulletin for the

NRSV version. There’s even New International Version translations of the bibles at the end of

each pew. which itself does a good job of expounding what Paul says,

3-6 How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ,

and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations,

he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his

love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure

he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by

the hand of his beloved Son.”

In other words. We are a planned people. None of us is here by mistake. Humanity is God’s plan,

a people God created out of love, for love. More than that, God plans that all should be adopted

into his family through the life and sacrifice of Jesus. God took great pleasure in gifting us with

the opportunity to be his children. You know how sometimes you can be so delighted to give a

special gift to someone? You delight in their smile or surprise. I know this happens a lot to us

parents. Even more so with God. It is through Jesus that we can come before God as blameless

innocent children. The next verses go on to explain...

7-10 “Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're

a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just

barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could

possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us

in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in

him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.”

You see, everything in history is moving to a time when all things will be brought together in

Christ, where heaven and earth will be reconciled once again together. Jesus, through his life,

death and resurrection, overcame the power of death – death on many different levels... physical

death, meaning that even though our bodies die, someday in a renewed world, we will get

resurrection bodies – what that will be like, I have no clue. Even more important is the Jesus

overcame our Spiritual death, so that even though our bodies go into the ground, our souls live

forever with God, knowing and enjoying Jesus’ presence. And Jesus resurrection has power over

the smaller spiritual deaths we experience on this side of life. All the places where we wound our

souls through sin, all the hurts we absorb from other people, all the negative, accusatory words

lied into our hearts by the enemy... all those can be dealt with by knowing who we are in Christ.

Jesus has made us free, brought us out of debt, which prepares us to take part in the Cosmic plan

God has in store for us. We go on to verse 11.

11-12 “It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first

heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living,

part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.”

We are a planned people and God has plans for us. In other words, We are a people with a

purpose.

I read a simple summary of this section of Ephesians this week that went “I am Blessed, Chosen,

Adopted, Accepted, Redeemed and Forgiven.”

I once attended a baby shower for a young couple. At one point in the evening, the mother to

be’s brothers and friends lit Asian Prayer laterns, Asian Prayer laterns, paper balloons with a

small flame inside that rises up into the sky, symbolizing the prayers and good wishes the people

gathered had for this new life God is bringing into the world. That little baby, yet unborn, had so

much potential. At that point no one knew what life would hold for her. But it is a beautiful thing

to realize that she, and every other person in the world, already has a purpose.... To be a child of

God, to be part of god’s family through Jesus, let the love of God that is given to her, flow

through her to help her take her place in reconciling to world to God.

God has a purpose for us, but that purpose of being one with God can be lived out in so many

ways.... God reveals our particular purpose to us as we discover our gifts and live into our lives,

fully enjoying our inheritance as God’s children.

Paul concludes his long sentence in verses 13-14:

13-14 “It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your

salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This

signet from God is the first installment on what's coming, a reminder that we'll get everything

God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.”

The rest of Chapter 1 expounds on this work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that gives us the

Power to live into the plans and purposes God has for us as a people. The Holy Spirit, which

came at Pentecost, and fills each believer, is like a deposit, a down payment, on the fullness of

the spirit that we will someday experience with God.

We are a planned people. People with a purpose. People given power by the Spirit.

Paul goes on to pray for the believers in Ephesus, that they have wisdom and can see what God is

calling them to do. Paul prays that the Ephesians, and we, understand the greatness of God’s

power which rules everything, including the church.

In the last verses of Chapter 1, Paul explains that Christ rules all, including being head of his

body here on earth, the church. We, the body of Christ, are to be the primary agents through

which God wishes to act to bring all of creation into a loving reconciled relationship with God.

That’s what we at St. Michael’s are to be about. That was God’s plan from the beginning. That is

God’s purpose for us now. And God has given us the power through his Spirit, both individually,

and corporately as his church, to engage this great destiny. What a wonderful excursion this will

be, as, over the next few weeks, we discover more fully the plans, purposes and power God has

for us, and how we, practically, can experience them in our own place and time. Amen.

July 4, 2021 Sermon

You won’t believe the news I have to tell you! That itinerant Rabbi, Jesus, Saved my daughter! 

Some of you don’t know me. I’m Jairus, one of the synagogue leaders in Capernaum, that’s kind of like being the senior and junior warden of one of your vestries. I make sure the place is kept in shape and our finances are in order. I tell you what, though. Ever since Jesus moved to town about a year ago, this place has been crazy. 

Not so easy having Jesus in your home congregation. 

As soon as he moved here from Nazareth, he started casting out demons and healing people, and crowds have been following him everywhere ever since. His first time in the synagogue, He cast a demon out of a man and caused quite an uproar. And that evening, he healed Peter’s mother in law, a woman I’ve known for years, from a fever. Whenever he’s in town, people flock to him, and he seems to heal them.

To be honest, until last week, I really didn’t know what to think. Was this from God? or was this man somehow in league with demons? Or did he just have some mesmerizing charisma that fooled people into feeling better somehow? It all seemed so strange. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. Most of the other visiting rabbis and Jewish leaders I’ve overheard have been very suspicious. So I’d been keeping my distance. You know, people judge you by the company you keep. 

That was until our own little girl got sick. She is our only child, and oh, she looks just like her beautiful mother! What a delight she has been raising up. Smart, obedient, and at 12, almost a woman. But she’ll always be my darling little girl.  

But last week, she got very, very sick. We don’t know what it was. She’d not been herself for over a month, but last week, she had a fever and stopped eating. She just started wasting away in front of us. I was so afraid. I felt so powerless. No doctor had been able to help. This child was all we had. She was the love of our life. And she was slipping from us. I prayed and prayed. 

Then, of course, I thought of Jesus. He’d done it for others. Would he heal my little girl for me? Even if he didn’t really know me. Even though I had kept so distant? I had to try. But Jesus wasn’t in town. He’d left in a boat and was across the other side of the Lake. Who knew when he’d be back? I sent out my servant, telling him to find out whatever they could. But no one was sure, at first, when he’d return. 

Meanwhile, my little girl kept getting worse and worse. We thought we’d lose her Wednesday night. Her breath was shallow. She had no color. Other family and friends were beginning to gather at the house to keep vigil. I didn’t think she’d make it another day. 

Then early the next morning, my servant said they’d seen Jesus and his companions in a boat, returning to shore. I ran. I ran as fast as I could. When I got near the shore, oh my, so many people! I couldn’t even see the man!

I tore my way through the crowd and found Jesus, and just fell at his feet. Dignity be damned. I didn’t care who saw me. I didn’t care what anyone thought except him. I’d do anything to save my little girl. 

“Please, please, please!” I begged. My darling daughter is dying! Please come lay your hands on her so that she will be healed and live!”

He lifted me from the ground. “Of course” he said, his dark eyes piercing my soul, reading my fear and anguish. I felt a glimmer of hope. 

But there were so many people, it was torturously slow to move anywhere. 

Suddenly Jesus stopped. He looked around and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” I was baffled. Why would he ask such a question? We were all so close, jostling together as we entered the narrow streets of the town. His disciples even laughed. “What do you mean, who touched you? Look around!” But Jesus wouldn’t move. He scanned the crowd, and a saw a woman coming forward falling at his feet. She began to cry out her story. 

I knew her. She was pretty much an outcast in the town, Poor thing. Couldn’t touch anyone or engage in normal life. She had been ritually unclean since the year my daughter was born because her bleeding never stopped. She’d spent everything on doctors.  

But Why was Jesus taking so long to talk to her. My baby was dying! Come on! 

But Jesus stood there, listening as this woman was telling Jesus her story. He acted as if he had all the time in the world. She said how afraid she had been. She said that just by touching Jesus’ robe, she’d been healed.  Jesus said he knew the power had come out of him. 

“Come on!” I breathed. 

Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Your faith has saved you.” 

And it hit me. Jesus could see this woman, an outcast, as his daughter. And his eyes showed me that he loved her as much as I loved my own little girl. Something inside me melted. 

Just then, someone from my house broke through the crowd and found me. “Your daughter is dead. It’s too late. Don’t bother the teacher any more.” I felt my knees begin to sink as a mix of horrid emotions began to rise within me. 

Jesus took my arm, and whispered his strength. “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

My jaw set, my teeth clenched, we made our way to the house. He made most of the crowd stay behind. Only Peter, James and John came with us. 

Already the mourners were crooning and sad instruments were playing as my wife and our neighbors were wailing. 

“Why all this commotion?” Jesus asked. “She is not dead, she is only sleeping.” And they laughed at him, at us. What fools we were to think that Jesus could overcome death itself. But Jesus made everyone leave, and he only took my wife and me, and the three disciples in with him. 

He simply held her hand, and said, “Talitha Cum”, which is what my wife had said to our daughter every morning of her life as she had wakened her for the day. “Little girl, get up!”

And she did!

She just got up out of bed. No fever. No pain. Color back in her cheeks. Stong enough to start walking around the room. 

“Just give her something to eat,” Jesus said. “And don’t tell anyone.” 

Well, we were able to obey the first command. I brought my little girl fruit and cheese and later we had fish and leeks and bread for dinner. 

But I couldn’t keep this news to myself. Jesus saved my little girl! She is completely healed! I’m telling everyone. Only God can work such miracles, and I think this man, Jesus, is sent directly from God. He has the power of God himself. 

Yesterday, on the Sabbath, I talked to the woman who had been bleeding all those years. She was worshipping with us for the first time in 12 years. She told me how afraid she had been. Both from the desperation of her illness, and then the risk of breaking the taboo of her affliction and touching Jesus. 

I told her about my fear too. Fear that I would lose my little girl. Fear that it was almost too late. But Jesus took away those fears, and he brought healing. 

If he can bring healing to a woman who has bled for 12 years, and heal a 12 year old girl, he can heal everything that we, the 12 tribes of Israel, God’s people, are suffering with. 

Just don’t be afraid. Don’t try to do it on your own. Don’t be too proud to fall at Jesus’ feet. Whatever you need to have healed in your life, just reach out to Jesus. Reach out and touch him. Jesus will save. It may happen immediately, like it did for the woman. You may have to wait, while Jesus seems to tarry. It may even seem like there is no hope. But don’t be afraid. Just believe, and Jesus will bring you the healing you need. He did it for the woman. He did it for my little daughter. He does it everywhere he goes. He’ll do it for you, too. 

June 27, 2021 Sermon

You won’t believe the news I have to tell you! That itinerant Rabbi, Jesus, Saved my daughter! 

Some of you don’t know me. I’m Jairus, one of the synagogue leaders in Capernaum, that’s kind of like being the senior and junior warden of one of your vestries. I make sure the place is kept in shape and our finances are in order. I tell you what, though. Ever since Jesus moved to town about a year ago, this place has been crazy. 

Not so easy having Jesus in your home congregation. 

As soon as he moved here from Nazareth, he started casting out demons and healing people, and crowds have been following him everywhere ever since. His first time in the synagogue, He cast a demon out of a man and caused quite an uproar. And that evening, he healed Peter’s mother in law, a woman I’ve known for years, from a fever. Whenever he’s in town, people flock to him, and he seems to heal them. 

To be honest, until last week, I really didn’t know what to think. Was this from God? or was this man somehow in league with demons? Or did he just have some mesmerizing charisma that fooled people into feeling better somehow? It all seemed so strange. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. Most of the other visiting rabbis and Jewish leaders I’ve overheard have been very suspicious. So I’d been keeping my distance. You know, people judge you by the company you keep. 

That was until our own little girl got sick. She is our only child, and oh, she looks just like her beautiful mother! What a delight she has been raising up. Smart, obedient, and at 12, almost a woman. But she’ll always be my darling little girl.  

But last week, she got very, very sick. We don’t know what it was. She’d not been herself for over a month, but last week, she had a fever and stopped eating. She just started wasting away in front of us. I was so afraid. I felt so powerless. No doctor had been able to help. This child was all we had. She was the love of our life. And she was slipping from us. I prayed and prayed. 

Then, of course, I thought of Jesus. He’d done it for others. Would he heal my little girl for me? Even if he didn’t really know me. Even though I had kept so distant? I had to try. But Jesus wasn’t in town. He’d left in a boat and was across the other side of the Lake. Who knew when he’d be back? I sent out my servant, telling him to find out whatever they could. But no one was sure, at first, when he’d return. 

Meanwhile, my little girl kept getting worse and worse. We thought we’d lose her Wednesday night. Her breath was shallow. She had no color. Other family and friends were beginning to gather at the house to keep vigil. I didn’t think she’d make it another day. 

Then early the next morning, my servant said they’d seen Jesus and his companions in a boat, returning to shore. I ran. I ran as fast as I could. When I got near the shore, oh my, so many people! I couldn’t even see the man!

I tore my way through the crowd and found Jesus, and just fell at his feet. Dignity be damned. I didn’t care who saw me. I didn’t care what anyone thought except him. I’d do anything to save my little girl. 

“Please, please, please!” I begged. My darling daughter is dying! Please come lay your hands on her so that she will be healed and live!”

He lifted me from the ground. “Of course” he said, his dark eyes piercing my soul, reading my fear and anguish. I felt a glimmer of hope. 

But there were so many people, it was torturously slow to move anywhere. 

Suddenly Jesus stopped. He looked around and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” I was baffled. Why would he ask such a question? We were all so close, jostling together as we entered the narrow streets of the town. His disciples even laughed. “What do you mean, who touched you? Look around!” But Jesus wouldn’t move. He scanned the crowd, and a saw a woman coming forward falling at his feet. She began to cry out her story. 

I knew her. She was pretty much an outcast in the town, Poor thing. Couldn’t touch anyone or engage in normal life. She had been ritually unclean since the year my daughter was born because her bleeding never stopped. She’d spent everything on doctors.  

But Why was Jesus taking so long to talk to her. My baby was dying! Come on! 

But Jesus stood there, listening as this woman was telling Jesus her story. He acted as if he had all the time in the world. She said how afraid she had been. She said that just by touching Jesus’ robe, she’d been healed.  Jesus said he knew the power had come out of him. 

“Come on!” I breathed. 

Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Your faith has saved you.” 

And it hit me. Jesus could see this woman, an outcast, as his daughter. And his eyes showed me that he loved her as much as I loved my own little girl. Something inside me melted. 

Just then, someone from my house broke through the crowd and found me. “Your daughter is dead. It’s too late. Don’t bother the teacher any more.” I felt my knees begin to sink as a mix of horrid emotions began to rise within me. 

Jesus took my arm, and whispered his strength. “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

My jaw set, my teeth clenched, we made our way to the house. He made most of the crowd stay behind. Only Peter, James and John came with us. 

Already the mourners were crooning and sad instruments were playing as my wife and our neighbors were wailing. 

“Why all this commotion?” Jesus asked. “She is not dead, she is only sleeping.” And they laughed at him, at us. What fools we were to think that Jesus could overcome death itself. But Jesus made everyone leave, and he only took my wife and me, and the three disciples in with him. 

He simply held her hand, and said, “Talitha Cum”, which is what my wife had said to our daughter every morning of her life as she had wakened her for the day. “Little girl, get up!”

And she did!

She just got up out of bed. No fever. No pain. Color back in her cheeks. Stong enough to start walking around the room. 

“Just give her something to eat,” Jesus said. “And don’t tell anyone.” 

Well, we were able to obey the first command. I brought my little girl fruit and cheese and later we had fish and leeks and bread for dinner. 

But I couldn’t keep this news to myself. Jesus saved my little girl! She is completely healed! I’m telling everyone. Only God can work such miracles, and I think this man, Jesus, is sent directly from God. He has the power of God himself. 

Yesterday, on the Sabbath, I talked to the woman who had been bleeding all those years. She was worshipping with us for the first time in 12 years. She told me how afraid she had been. Both from the desperation of her illness, and then the risk of breaking the taboo of her affliction and touching Jesus. 

I told her about my fear too. Fear that I would lose my little girl. Fear that it was almost too late. But Jesus took away those fears, and he brought healing. 

If he can bring healing to a woman who has bled for 12 years, and heal a 12 year old girl, he can heal everything that we, the 12 tribes of Israel, God’s people, are suffering with. 

Just don’t be afraid. Don’t try to do it on your own. Don’t be too proud to fall at Jesus’ feet. Whatever you need to have healed in your life, just reach out to Jesus. Reach out and touch him. Jesus will save. It may happen immediately, like it did for the woman. You may have to wait, while Jesus seems to tarry. It may even seem like there is no hope. But don’t be afraid. Just believe, and Jesus will bring you the healing you need. He did it for the woman. He did it for my little daughter. He does it everywhere he goes. He’ll do it for you, too. 

Proper 7B (June 20, 2021) — “Jesus’ Peace in the Storms”

Our Psalm this morning proclaims:

 They cried to the Lord in their trouble, *
and he delivered them from their distress.

He stilled the storm to a whisper *
and quieted the waves of the sea.

Then were they glad because of the calm, *
and he brought them to the harbor they were bound for.

 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his mercy *
and the wonders he does for his children.

I imagine that once the disciples who had been in the boat with Jesus during the storm finally got to dry land, and had a chance to reflect on their experience, I’ll bet psalm 107 came to mind. 

Jesus had calmed the storm with a word and quieted the waves of the sea. They God thanks for his mercy and wonders he does for his children. 

In fact, the words of the psalm point to the answer to the question the disciples ask at the end of Jesus miracle: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” It is none other than God himself. 

I’m thinking, though, that the disciples weren’t thinking that Jesus was acting like the omnipotent God the psalmist describes when Jesus was sleeping in the boat. Jesus was exhausted, as I’m sure the disciples were after a long day of teaching the crowds by the Sea of Galilee. Jesus and his disciples, in several boats, began to cross the Sea of Galilee over to the region of the Garasenes. That’s the place where, in the passage after this passage, Jesus encounters a man with an evil Spirit living among the tombs. This is the demon-possessed man, who, when Jesus asked the Demon’s name, he responded, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” And Jesus cast out those demons into a herd of 2000 pigs that ran down the bank and drowned themselves in the lake. Most of you know that story. 

But right at that moment, when the storm first hit, Jesus wasn’tcasting out demons or calming the sea, he was sleeping. The disciples’ reaction to Jesus sleeping was “Don’t you care that we are perishing?” 

Isn’t that the question that so many of us ask when we are facing the storms in our lives? “Don’t you care that we are perishing, Lord? Why don’t you wake up?” 

The storms in our lives have all different causes. Storms can rage against us from the outside, like the wind and the waves in today’s story, or they can rage against us from the inside, like the tormented and oppressed man Jesus will soon encounter across the sea. 

Sometimes we find ourselves in a storm because of the consequences of our own sinful or wrong choices… For example, if you choose to have an affair, and you may find yourself in the storm of divorce and losing your family. Choose to embezzle from the office, and you’ll likely experience the storm of life behind bars. 

Sometimes the storms we face are the result of others’ sinful or wrong choices. We celebrate Father’s day today, but some of the fathers among you know how a wayward child’s actions can wreak havoc on family life, causing a tempestuous storm for all, and some of you know the pain that absent fathers can cause in their own families. Another example might be how the newfederal holiday of Juneteenth we celebrated yesterday reminds us of the often stormy ride through rough seas on the way to freedom caused by those who would seek to oppress. 

Many storms, however, aren’t of our own or others’ making. They are simply the “weather” life has dealt us. The Pandemic has been such a storm. There are plenty of others: The loss of a job. A challenging health diagnosis for yourself or a loved one. A home fire or natural disaster that can wipe out everything in a flash. 

Our Gospel story today show us such troubles. The disciples are being assaulted by a fierce storm that threatens to capsize their boat. They will survive this storm and will arrive on the other side of the lake to see a poor man so held captive by demonic forces that he is outcast and forced to live among the tombs. 

In these stories, we see people battered from without and from within. Neither of these struggles results from something these people did, or anything that someone did to them. 

Think about the struggles of this life that you and I battle against. Think about the storms that hit us from without and from within. I’m sure you could add to the ones I named earlier. 

What gail forces have pushed against your life boat recently? What about the storms and trouble you experience from within? You may not be literally oppressed by demons, but there are demons that can haunt us. Chronic depression or self-doubt. All-consuming Anger or Rage, a sense of worthlessness or self-destruction, mental illness or addiction, and fear… a whole gamut of fear and anxiety. 

You didn’t do anything to deserve this inner struggle. Sometimes the cause for these problems can be traced to an external influence, but not always. There is a storm raging inside you, or someone you love, and it threatens to keep you tortured, in a place of decay, among the tombs of this world. 

When we experience the storms of this life – those that hit us from without or from within, we often cry out to God with the words the disciples used to Jesus:

“Don’t you Care that we’re perishing?!?”  

You see, we have this cause and effect view of God. If I’m good, God will protect me, but if I’m bad, God will get me. So when I see the “bad guys” getting all the good breaks, and the “good guys” suffering, I cry out, “Not Fair!” We ask why God would allow such a thing to even happen.

Our first reading today is from the Book of Job. Job, as you may know, is the man who was righteous in God’s sight, but who was tested by the devil and lost everything – children, land, health, and even his friends. He has lived a righteous life, and even though he never curses God, he doesn’t understand his sufferings. 

Earlier Job had lamented, “Did I not weep for those whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the poor?” “But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came.” (Job 29: 25-26)

The passage we heard this morning is God’s response to that plea of “why?” And basically, all God says is that there is a lot we cannot know. We do not have God’s mind. We cannot understand suffering, just as we cannot comprehend God’s action in the creation of the world.  

But that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t care about our suffering. 

Some have the misconceived view of the Christian life is that it means being delivered from all adversity. But it actually, being a Christian means being delivered in adversity.

Jesus is with us in our struggles. He doesn’t abandon us in them. Jesus was in the boat with the disciples. He was not sleeping because he didn’t care. His rest meant that he was at peace and without anxiety. When we realize that Jesus is “in the boat” with us during our struggles, he can help calm the storm and anxiety that rages in us. Maybe if the disciples had truly had faithknowing that Jesus was in their boat, maybe they might have been able to take a nap in the middle of the storm as well. In the middle of storms we cannot control, we can have inner peace, knowing God is with us. It is Jesus’ words of Peace and Calm that can calm the outer storms and our inner storms. 

In the Bible, James wrote, “My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4) 

Notice that James said, “whenever” you face trials, not “if” you ever face trials. And James adds the curious phrase, “Consider it nothing but joy.” Count it all joy that you face struggles because those struggles can bring you closer to God. That was certainly Paul’s experience as he wrote our passage in Corinthians. They endured many storms:  afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger… but while others thought them as poor and having nothing, they knew they were rich, possessing everything. They had Jesus in their boat.  

We often lose sight of the fact that our very sufferings and struggles make us stronger people and better witnesses of God’s power, especially when we lean into God for strength.

That’s a lesson good fathers and mothers are always trying to teach their children. No, we don’t make you do chores or finish your merit badges or practice your piano or study algebra because we want to make your life miserable. No, we do it to build up your strength and skill in the face of “adversity” so that you can deal with the much bigger issues you will face in life. And when you as parents help your children know that Jesus is their constant companion in the midst of all that, even in theserious storms, they can know true peace.  

God does indeed care about us in our struggles, and Jesus can bring us Peace. Sometimes that means that the outer storms of our life are dissipated. Othertimes we will know God’s Inner Peace, that allows us to remain without anxiety in a boat being tossed by the waves of life, because we know Jesus is with us in the boat with us. 

So when we find ourselves in times of storm, our faithful response is to turn to Christ and his Body, the church, for support and strength. There we can find true Peace. 

Perhaps this hymn text by Annie Johnson Flint can sum up God’s promises for us:

God hath not promised Skies always blue,

Flower-strewn pathways All our lives through;

 ​God hath not promised Sun without rain,

Joy without sorrow, Peace without pain.

​God hath not promised smooth roads and wide, 

Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;

​Never a mountain rocky and steep,

Never a river turbid and deep.

 ​But God hath promised Strength for the day,

Rest for the labor, Light for the way,

 ​Grace for the trials, Help from above,

Unfailing sympathy, Undying love. Amen.

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