Sermon for Proper 15C- RCL August 18, 2013
Jesus
said, "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already
kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under
until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the
earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household
will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:
father against son
and son against father,
mother against
daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against
her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
He
also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you
immediately say, `It is going to rain'; and so it happens. And when you see the
south wind blowing, you say, `There will be scorching heat'; and it happens.
You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but
why do you not know how to interpret the present time?"
Celebrating 164 Years of Ministry!
Today we are commemorating
164 years of ministry as a congregation!
And what a Gospel lesson we just heard.
This is one of the hard texts to hear let alone figure out what message
it might have to say to a congregation that has been in Sacramento for 164
years! It is tempting to go straight to
the last part of our reading from the Epistle to the Hebrews and talk about the
great cloud of witness and pretend that we did not just hear Jesus say that he
came to bring “fire to the earth”! But
while that would be the easy route I don’t think it is the fair path for you or
for me. When we hear difficult passages
it does a disservice not to wrestle with them and see what they might be saying
to us today.
One thing that I like about
this passage is that it is difficult. In
the 2000 plus years since Jesus walked through Israel with his disciples we
have, for the most part, turned Jesus into some meek and mild creature. We have frequently taken the fire and passion
out of his life and ministry. Many of
the parables have lost their impact. In
this country, even as we enter what is being called a Post-Christian age, it is
not controversial to attend a Christian Church – that has not always been the
case and still is not the case in some parts of the world as we have seen in
Egypt recently. When our Gospel was
written – about 40 years or a generation after Jesus’ death – it was controversial
to be a Christian.
What does this Gospel lesson
say to us today? Does it make you squirm
in your seat? Would you rather hear
about the Jesus who came to bring peace to the earth? The Jesus who came to heal the sick and lift
up the downtrodden? We all would
probably rather think about the Jesus we see on our three Jesus windows – Jesus
knocking at the door, Jesus the shepherd carrying the cute little lamb and
Jesus standing on the cloud ascending into Heaven. Or perhaps the Jesus in our High Altar window
– the Jesus as Victor – is more to your liking.
But there is more to Jesus and his call than being sweet and lovable
people. Hopefully there is a fire – a
passion - to perform the ministries that we are called by God to live out.
It helps to put this passage
into some context. When Jesus says these
words he has already set his face towards Jerusalem. He knows that he is a controversial figure
who has upset the powers in the temple and also the Roman occupiers. He was not bringing peace but was pointing
out injustice. It was not a meek and
mild Jesus that was hung on the cross but is was a Jesus with a fire burning
for justice that was willing to confront the injustices he saw in the systems
of his day. Jesus saw and rebelled against
a system that perpetuated injustice. He
knew that he was on his final earthly journey to Jerusalem. He could read the signs and hear the
murmuring of the authorities who wanted him out of the way.
This reading also tells us
that Jesus was feeling stressed. It is
good to remember that when we are feeling stressed and cranky that God will understand. After all Jesus was stressed and cranky as we
read about in a number of places in our Gospel readings. For example, it was not a chilled-out Jesus
that turned over the tables in the Temple and drove out the moneychangers – it
was an angry stressed Jesus.
We are called to be angry and
feel stress today at the injustice of the world around us. We are not called to rest on our laurels and
become the grand parents of all Christians in Sacramento after 164 years!
Saint Paul’s has a history of
change and even of fire! The first
organizing meeting was held in a blacksmith shop in August in Sacramento – it
is hard to get any hotter than that!
In our history people left
Saint Paul’s to start other churches.
Both Trinity Cathedral and All Saints were started when people left St.
Paul’s (Or Grace Chruch as is was known when Trinity was founded). It could not have been easy to let people go
and start “rival” churches. But look at
what good has come out of the process.
Trinity Cathedral and St. Paul’s have been able to do great things as
partners that we may never have been able to do as a single church. All Saints has gone on to have a great
ministry with youth and young adults with their wonderful location near Sac
City College.
In the late 1890’s Grace
Church – as we where known at the time – was faced with a building, their
second, that was literally falling down around them and by that time in out
parish’s life many of our wealthy members had moved out of Sacramento to San Francisco. By 1903 the parish had sold the building,
acquired the lot that this building is on – reorganized as St. Paul’s and built
this building – which suffered a fire in about 1914 that destroyed the original
organ and the High Altar window – which was a Crocker memorial. But St. Paul’s still refused to close. The people saw a need for justice and
ministry on this corner and rebuilt. During the depression we witnessed St.
Paul’s and Trinity reunite in order to conserve resources.
In the 1960’s and 1970’s when St. Paul’s should have closed
– after the urban flight that saw so many people move out of our urban centers
and into the suburbs – it struggled to keep going – even after a fire destroyed
the Parish hall the people kept going. The people of St. Paul’s had a fire in
their bellies for justice and started St. Paul’s center for urban ministries –
which saw offices set up in the nave and the Altar put of wheels so it could be
moved out of the way during the week.
These ministries eventually outgrew our
facilities and became River City Food Bank and Episcopal Community Services
The first vocational Deacon in our diocese was
raised up from this congregation. The
diocesan Hispanic Ministries started in this place – and it is from them that
we have the gift of the statue of the Virgin Mary. This congregation called the first openly gay
person in a life long relationship to go before the Bishop and the Commission
on Ministry and Standing committee seeking ordained ministry – which although a
long road culminated with my ordination June 29th. St. Paul’s quite simply has persevered. But not only persevered but continually
called and calls for Justice and Love.
Sometimes our initiatives have caused some to leave and find other
spiritual homes while at the same time we have attracted others to a life where
the pursuit of Justice and Peace continue to burn in our hearts and actions.
What are we called to do
today? How are we going to sustain a
fire for justice and mercy in downtown Sacramento? We continue to be a place where people can
come for spiritual and bodily feeding.
But are we called to do more? As
part of our ongoing discernment we are participating in a program called New
Dollars New Partners. It is a program
that challenges us to see the community that we are in and to identify new
opportunities for mission and ministry.
It is a program that challenges us not to try and do it by ourselves but
to look to see if there are partners in other churches or community groups that
can help us bring God’s dream of Love and peace to the earth. And yes there will be times when we are all
stressed and angry about the injustice in the world – and we should be mad just
as Jesus was in our gospel lesson and call out those who – while they can
predict the weather – refuse to see the hand of God at work about us. We are to call out those who continue to
build structures and amass wealth and leave the weak and hungry to suffer. Calling out injustice will create tension and
will create divisions. The comfortable –
which I admit includes me – do not like being reminded that we are called to
bring justice and healing to those who our society would just a soon forget.
So how do we go forward? I think one of the keys is at the end of our
reading form the Epistle to the Hebrews.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by
so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin
that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set
before us….”
We are surrounded by a great cloud of
witnessed. We can take comfort in the
fact that those who came before us did not give up on this parish when all the
signs said we should quit. We did not
give up when we could no longer afford a full time priest and instead the
church became invigorated and looked to the ministry of all of the baptized to
continue being a church that calls for justice and love.
We can be proud that we have a history
of 164 years of ministry in Sacramento.
That we continue to be a place of healing and justice for our
community. Like our Gospel lesson we are
continually called to see and heed the call for Justice. Our call as Christians is not an easy one if
we really follow Jesus. It is a call to
turn the structures of society upside down.
It is a call to feed the hungry, cloth the naked and visit the sick and
those in prisons – both physical prisons and prisons that society puts those
not like the majority in all the time.
How do you want to see God and
Jesus? Do you want a God who is meek and
mild as expressed in our stained glass windows? Or do you want a God who can see injustice
in the world and is willing to get angry when justice and love are trampled by
society? I dare say that if history is
any indicator St. Paul’s will continue to be a place of peace but also a place
that gets angry at injustice and is willing to work to bring justice and peace
– and God’s loving reign to reality in this world.
