"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen."

Sermon for the Great Vigil of Easter 2019St. Paul’s Sacramento

Genesis 1:1-2:4a [The Story of Creation] 
Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21 [Israel's deliverance at the Red Sea] 
Isaiah 55:1-11 [Salvation offered freely to all] 
Ezekiel 37:1-14 [The valley of dry bones] 
At The Eucharist

Romans 6:3-11 
Psalm 114
Luke 24:1-12

On the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

We gather this evening to celebrate the breaking of our Lenten fast.  We gather to marvel in the new Easter fire, the singing of the Exultet, and listening to stories of our creation and salvation history.  Tonight is a long night of remembering and celebration, and unlike Easter day, it is mostly a service attended by church members.  One of my fondest memories of being a transitional Deacon was singing the Exultet here at the Great Vigil of Easter. 

This service is an odd service for many.  We read a whole bunch from the Hebrew Scriptures before we ever get to the main act!  We first read about creation and the pronouncement from our God that creation is Good – indeed God found creation to be very good.  Then we read about God working over and over again in the history of humanity to get us to see that creation as Good.  And over and over again in our history we have had to turn back and return to the good.  Over and over again God has offered God’s grace and forgiveness to God’s creation.  Over and over again the prophets tried to get humanity to turn from destruction to the work of loving God’s and loving God’s good creation.

And the work of our salvation history and God’s dream of a creation that is very good is still a work in progress.  All it takes is to read any newspaper, watch any news program, or read any social media platform to see that there is much work to do to bring about God’s dream of salvation and love for God’s creation.  It is easy to give up on God’s dream.  It is easy to say that it was a nice idea – loving God and loving our neighbor – but after all these years it is impossible. That dream is dead.

But here we are – celebrating something that does not make any sense.  Celebrating that God’s love that came down on Christmas and walked among us was hung on a cross to die.  We are celebrating because there is something bigger than what we can understand.  There is something bigger in God that we don’t always understand.  Something that we struggle to accept.  We are celebrating that Jesus showed us that Love would not die.

With all that is going on in our world.  With the hyper partisanship, the unacceptable crises of people being treated as less than beloved children of God.  With the humanitarian crises of a lack of housing in our communities we can be ready to call it quits.  We can be ready to retreat into our own cocoons and accept defeat.  Like the women we can be ready to take the dream of God’s salvation, the dream of Love, and anoint it with spices, wrap it in a shroud and bury it.  Because by all outward appearances that dream is dead.

However, when just when we are ready to bury God’s dream the amazing happens.  We here the angels whispering in our ears – and occasionally shouting from the pinnacles "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”  Even in times of distress we will find that God’s dream of a good creation, God’s walking among us offering grace upon grace, offering salvation, is still here.  The good news of Easter is that the Love that came down on Christmas would not die.  That Love is so powerful that nothing we can do will kill that love.

All we have to do it to look among the living.  If we look at the living, we will see a hunger for God’s love.  In the dreadful fire at the Cathedral of Notre Dame the images of people praying for our lady of Paris was both heartbreaking and heartwarming.  Seeing people praying the rosary while the firefighters worked to contain the fire.  Listening to spontaneous groups of people singing Ave Maria in the streets was amazing.  It was an outpouring of love that brought be to tears.

I saw the hunger for the love that did not die but is still walking among us on Ash Wednesday.  I saw it in the amazing numbers of people wanting to be reminded that God loves all of Gods creation and hungers to turn around.  People who hunger to turn around society and create a place of love.  Over 200 people stopped at this corner to have prayer and imposition of ashes – people hungry for a new beginning – so hungry that they came out even in rain that was literally blowing sideways in the early morning. 

I saw that love on Maundy Thursday at St. Matthew’s where that small community – one that by any rational measure of success should have ceased functioning years ago.  I saw it as they gathered for the washing of feet.  I saw it in a four-year-old boy gently and reverently washing his mother’s feet.  I saw it in the sharing of the meal.  I saw the love of God in the sharing of the meal and the fellowship of the gathered. And I especially saw that hunger and love in the stripping of the altar.  When the gathered congregation took turns rubbing the oil into the wood.  Anointing an altar of love as if for burial – the scent of the unction was a powerful reminder that the love of God that we celebrated on Thursday would not die – the scent that hung in the room was not one of death but was the scent of love.

I see God’s love all the time.  And when I have my dark moments – moments when it seems that we have managed to finally do what Good Friday and the crucifixion failed to do.  In those moments I hear the Holy Spirit whisper "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”  In those moments I again see the Love that is all around us.  In those moments am taken aback by the incredible generosity of the people who gather around this table.  The incredible generosity and love of people who have little yet make this place a haven and sanctuary where God’s love is alive.  A people who work to spread God’s dream of love to out in our world.

And just like the reaction that the disciples had to the women’s amazing story that Christ is risen our society rolls their collective eyes and considers this resurrection, this love of God and love of Creation as just an “idle tale”.  An idle tale that is not based in reality.  The good news is that while many will see this Dream of God as a dream that died there are still the women who remind us that the tomb is empty, there are still the Peter’s who run to see the empty tomb and to remember that the Love is not dead. 

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”  I invite you this Easter season to look for God’s love.  The love that God has for each and every one of us – the love that God has for God’s good creation.  The love that is not in the cold tomb but is very much alive and walking among us at this very moment. 

Jesus is Calling us to do the Unexpected!

Sermon for Lent 5C – RCL April 7, 2019St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Sacramento

 Isaiah 43:16-21

Psalm 126

Philippians 3:4b-14

John 12:1-8

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

The gospel lesson for today is full of the unexpected.  The gospel lesson is shattering societal norms – then and now.  It is also a gospel lesson that has been misused – or used, as an excuse for prioritizing our spiritual life over caring for those in need.  This lesson takes place six days before Passover.  Six days before John will relate the story of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples and giving them a new commandment – to love one another.  In our liturgical cycle today is the last Sunday before we start Holy Week.  Next week is palm Sunday with the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, followed by Maundy Thursday, good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter.  Our Lenten journey will pick up speed and the events of Jesus ministry leading to his death are before us.  Today we find Jesus at table with his friends at the home of Mary and Lazarus.  And we find the unexpected.

Can you imagine being at table when suddenly someone is being anointed with expensive perfume?  To be in a house where a woman let down her hair – which was simply not done in polite society.  And anointed a man.  Anointing as a king for burial. Unexpected.  When Judas complains Jesus tells the gathered that Mary saved the perfume to anoint him at his death – and here she is anointing Jesus.  The perfume must have permeated the room.  And suddenly – with Jesus words it is the perfume of death.  It is the perfume of crucifixion.  Jesus, on his journey to Jerusalem has been telling his disciples that he will be killed and now they have the scent.  Jesus is being anointed for his coming burial.  The evening events are unexpected.

Perhaps we can even understand Judas’ complaint – even if the Gospel tells us it was insincere.  He cannot imagine such expensive perfume being used so extravagantly.  300 denarii is a huge sum of money.  If you google the current values of 300 denarii you we learn that it is the equivalent of a years wages for a common laborer.  In today’s dollars it is the equivalent of $20 thousand dollars or more.  Mary is extravagantly anointing Jesus with a year’s worth of wages. 

Unexpected extravagance that leads to Jesus saying the unexpected in response to Judas’ complaint:  “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."  This seems so out of character with the Jesus.  The Jesus that has been gathering in at table with outcasts and sinners. The Jesus that we hear in the Gospel of Matthew telling the gathered people that at the end of times God would sort the sheep from the goats.  And the sheep – those who would enter into the kingdom of God, are those that took care of Jesus by taking care of those who needed food and clothing.  By visiting those who are sick and in prison.  Can Jesus really be telling us that our relationship with the our spiritual side is more important than taking care of those who are in need?  Our use of expensive oils to anoint Jesus are more important than taking care of those in need?

It is unfortunate that this one phrase has been used by people to justify inaction.  It has been used to justify systems that keep people unhomed.  It has been used to justify a kind of faith that does not reach out to the poor.  It has been used to justify a faith that stays out of the public square – a faith that does not work to bring about a just society. It frankly has been used in ways that are contrary to the rest of the gospel reading where Jesus reaches out to those that society has cast off. 

Lindsey Trozzo, from Princton Theological seminary said. “If Jesus says, “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me,” -- so the argument goes -- we should attend to spiritual needs over, above, or instead of tangible needs. “Just a closer walk with Thee” instead of a march on Washington; thoughts and prayers as opposed to votes and legislation. Even at its best, this perspective promotes only individual acts of kindness but keeps the church out of the realm of policy making and community activism. …”  Lindsey continues with to say that we may be mistranslating the original Greek.  That there is an ambiguity in the original that could be translated as “Have the poor with you always. Or Keep the poor among you always.”… Perhaps this statement, which has been used to justify disregard for the poor is actually a direct command to always have Jesus’ mission for and among the poor at the forefront of our thoughts and actions. Keep the poor among you always.”^[1]

This alternate reading of the text changes how we respond.  It is a message that we cannot separate our spirituality – our relationship with Jesus, from our work to take care of those that society wants to discard.  It calls us to use our resources to feed, clothe and house those that are in need.  To work for policies that respect the dignity of all of God’s beloved children instead of accepting laws and policies that criminalize the un-homed.  Policies that make it criminal to sleep in public, policies that exclude access to bathrooms.  Policies that ignore the underlying issues that we simply do not have enough affordable housing for people.  If you don’t believe me just open todays Sacramento Bee!  There is a front-page story about the increasing criminalization of the unhomed.[2]  People getting tickets for having a cart on the American River Parkway – not camping but just having a cart with their belongings on the Parkway. 

This reading calls us to do the unexpected.  And the Episcopal church is doing the unexpected.  At  St. Matthew’s Center, which this congregation has supported, and where I am now on the diocesan governing committee, is doing the unexpected.  The largest building on the campus is no longer the worship center but is now part of River City Food Bank.  An unexpected ministry to feed those in need that was actually started as a food closet by this congregation. 

The small congregation of St. Matthew’s did the unexpected and acted to house the un-homed for a week this winter.  One Sunday after the bilingual service the congregation moved all of the furniture in the worship hall – the former parish hall where they now worship, to accommodate sleeping cots.  The congregation worked with Carmichael Homeless Assistance Resource Team or Carmichael HART to provide shelter.  And for a week 25 people were fed a nutritious home cooked dinner and offered a safe, warm place to sleep.  A place to sleep with access to bathroom facilities. 

Anyone looking in would recognize that this was disruptive to the worship space.  The Sunday after our hosting Carmichael Hart’s winter shelter the worship hall was not ready for worship.  The furniture and altar were still inaccessible.  So, we worshiped around the tables.  It took a lot of work to house people for a week.  It took the work of multiple congregations including people from St. Paul’s, St. Michael’s as well as St. Matthew’s to make it happen.  It was an unexpected action by a very small congregation in conjunction with community support to house people – if only for a week.

Jesus is calling us in this gospel lesson to the unexpected.  He is calling us to a ministry that does not call us to choose between action and spirituality.  It is a lesson that calls us to action rooted in Jesus.  It calls us to take unexpected actions to welcome people who are hungry.  It calls us to take unexpected action to work for just policies that will house people.

What unexpected actions are we being called to do here at St. Paul’s?  In the midst of the construction mess that is around us – and is only going to get worse over the next year – what are we called to do?  Could this congregation offer shelter during the winter?  We do not have the facilities to house large groups but could we, like St. Matthew, work with other congregations to house 25-30 people for a week or two during the winter?  I know our facilities are limited but I have seen that it is possible – with only two bathrooms and limited kitchen facilities to provide 25-30 people a place to sleep for a week.  A place to find medical care, a place to connect with resources that can provide options for more permanent housing.  There are several other HART organizations in Sacramento and I know there is interest in starting a downtown HART.  Is St. Paul’s called to be part of that organization? 

Are there are ways that this congregations is being called by God to do the unexpected.  The expected is to have Sunday services and otherwise to act as a museum for what many people consider a dying faith.  We already do some unexpected things.  We provide sack lunches to the hungry and we are open during the week at noon as a place of worship and sanctuary.  Are we being called to do more?

This week an article from the Episcopal News Service had a story about a congregation that used $15,000 leftover from a capital building campaign to partner with an organization that eliminated $4 million in medical debt.  Emmanuel Memorial Episcopal Church in Champaign, Illinois, used an enexpected surplus to do something unexpected.  To partner with an organization that buys medical debt for pennies on the dollar – like collection agencies do, but instead of collecting the debt it is forgiven.  No strings attached.  No membership requirements.  Just crushing medical debt released.^[3]

There is a hunger for a faith-based response in our society.  I saw it here on Ash Wednesday where we had Ashes to Go outside the J Street doors.  I saw the hunger in the over 200 people who came up wanting more.  Wanting a prayer that called them to action.  Wanted the reminder that we are called by God to remember that we are all equal – that in the mark of ash on our foreheads that we are all called to remember that we are created by a loving god and to that loving god we will return.

Our loving God is calling us in the Gospel to act differently than our society would expect.  In the coming week we will remember that our God acted differently than expected for a messiah.  Instead of entering Jerusalem with an army to overthrow the Roman Occupiers he will enter on a colt with a rag tag group of disciples -  who are certainly not an army.  A band of fisherfolk, tax collectors, and women.  We will witness a messiah that instead of demanding worship will don a towel and wash his disciples’ feet.  We will witness a messiah give a commandment that we are to love one another – to love all of God’s beloved creation just as much a God loves us.  We will witness a messiah who instead of overthrowing the occupying force is crucified.  And ultimately on Easter we will remember that the love that was crucified on Good Friday could not be killed.  We will witness the empty tomb.  An Empty tomb that calls us to the unexpected.  An empty tomb that continues to call us out – out to do the unexpected. Out to show that we love God and we love all of God’s beloved children. 

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^[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3993 accessed April 5, 2019

[2] https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/homeless/article228738554.html  accessed April 7, 2019

^[3] https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/04/03/illinois-congregations-modest-gift-helps-3617-families-eliminate-4-million-in-medical-debt/ accessed April 5, 2019