Can you Imagine?

Sermon for September 3, 2017

Proper 17A – RCL Track 1

Exodus 3:1-15
Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c
Romans 12:9-21
Matthew 16:21-28

Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Just last week – and indeed just a few short verses ago Peter declared Jesus as the Messiah – the living God and Jesus in response praises Peter and declares that he is the rock on which the church will be built.  And now as Jesus is describing in a little more detail what it will mean to be the Messiah Peter is having comprehension problems! 

In a few short verses Jesus goes from declaring Peter the rock on whom the church will be built to calling him a stumbling block and Satan.  Which is why I like the disciple Peter so much.  He is so much like all of us.  In one moment he gets it and declares Jesus the Messiah and the next minute he is denying Jesus and declaring that the activities of this messiah are not what he understood. 

It is easy – perhaps too easy – to imagine that Peter thought the coming of the Messiah meant a warrior King who would throw off the yoke of oppression – defeat the Roman occupation.  Not a messiah who acknowledged that the leaders would plot to kill him – and indeed that he must go down that path to death – before resurrection and salvation could happen.

Peter could not imagine that the Romans could be overthrown with the kind of power Jesus was displaying.  It was fine that Jesus welcomed everyone – the outcasts, the sinners, the tax collectors.  But in Peter’s imagination perhaps he thought Jesus was just waiting for the right moment to launch his offensive and call in the angel army to establish God’s kingdom.

Peter could not imagine that love of God and this crazy love of neighbor – all neighbors, which even means the Romans who are occupying the land,  could lead to the kind of Kingdom Jesus came to inaugurate.  Peter could not imagine how this would look.  It was counter to everything he understood.  It was upside-down thinking.

And in our reading from Exodus we hear Moses having a similar lack of imagination.  How could he represent God and save the people from Pharaoh?  After all he was on the run from the Egyptians.  But God was calling him out of a burning bush that was not being consumed to be a deliverer to the oppressed.  And Moses was having none of it.  He even tested God and wanted to know God’s name so that he could use that as a tool to show Pharaoh that he was coming from a place of power.  Asking God’s name was pretty cheeky and was right up there with sacrilege. But being able to name God Moses felt would put him in a place of power.  And God gave him a name “I AM”  God is – period.  Not just the God of Moses’ ancestors but God is.  Always. 

And Moses still could not imagine.  In our lectionary we will skip the part where Moses still had his doubts.  Where Moses could not imagine going up against a powerful person like Pharaoh.  Where he complained that he was the wrong person because he did not speak well.  Moses could not imagine that God could use him, this simple man – recused from the Nile all these years ago – that God could indeed use Moses to set God’s people free.  And yet we know how it went.  And it was not all smooth sailing for Moses and for God’s people but ultimately they were set free.

So we can forgive Peter if he can’t imagine either.  The people are once again in bondage under the colonial rule of Rome and are suffering.  And perhaps worse it seems that some of their religious leaders are in cahoots with the Romans.  Or at least have found a way to prophet off of the imperial power so have no interest in freeing the people.

In our current political and social climate we too may have the same problem that Peter had.  We want to proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah – the son of the living God who is the great I AM.  But when we see everything happening around us we can’t imagine doing anything that will really help usher in God’s dream of Love of God and Love of neighbor. 

When we see the devastation of Hurricane Harvey we wonder if climate change is going to increase the intensity of storms out of the Atlantic Ocean as scientists are predicting.  And if so how do we, as simple people, take actions to reduce and even reverse some of the causes of climate change?

When we see on the news and in other venues the expressions of white supremacy and hate can we imagine a way forward?  When we see the violence of anti-fascist groups can we imagine loving those people – or perhaps we like Peter wonder if such anti-fascist violence is necessary to throw over the hate and violence that we see from the other side?  Can we imagine a way forward without hate that will embrace and spread God’s love for all of creation? 

When we see people hungry and thirsty on the streets of the capitol of California can we imagine a way to serve them?  California is the sixth – and I read approaching being the fifth largest economy in the world.  And yet we have many people without homes and without food.   We have many people who have no one to love them and therefore retreat into self-medication.  We have people who have mental illnesses without access to healthcare.  And this is in a state that is one of the largest economies of the world.

With all that is going can we imagine a way forward that is different?  David Lose – a preacher I follow, asks us “Can you imagine that God is at work in and through your life for the good of the world? Can you imagine that this congregation has something of value to offer its community? Can you imagine that when you befriend the lonely or encourage the frightened heaven rejoices? Can you imagine that, though afraid, when you stand up to those who spew hate God is with you? Can you imagine that even small acts of love and generosity challenge the world order and introduce a different reality? Can you imagine that God wants for us not just comfort but freedom? Can you imagine that love is more powerful than hate? Can you imagine that God raised Jesus from the dead?^[1]

Peter is not Satan but it seems he lacked the imagination that there was a way forward that was different than the world expected.  Peter could not – at that time – imagine that Love and acceptance could change the world. 

And I am sure that you have the same problem from time to time.  How are we, located in the heart of the Capitol of one of the largest economies of the world going to change the world?  After all our governments have not been able to find a way to provide housing for those priced out of the housing market.  We have not been able to find a way forward as a society to make sure that everyone has affordable and accessible health care – including mental health care and addiction treatments.

But we can imagine and we can do more than imagine.  We can advocate for affordable housing.  We can be a voice that counters something called the Nashville Statement issued this week that espouses that God only values what they call traditional households.  You know the ones – a working father and a stay at home mom with 2.3 kids and a dog and cat.  And while I am being a little facetious with that description it is not far off.

  We at St. Paul’s need to frequently say we welcome and love all families.  Families with single mothers or single fathers,  Families with two mothers or two fathers.  Families with no kids – no matter what the make up of the genders.  When we love and value our neighbors as God commanded we can make a difference

And I am frustrated at how slowly things change but I am also heartened.  I am heartened with I see folks at our mid-week service who appear to have almost nothing taking care of each other as family.  I am heartened when people who have little help to open our parish hall as an impromptu cooling center for folks in downtown.  And provide a simple meal for those getting out of the heat. 

Jesus asks us to recognize that ministry can be disruptive.  That the cross – especially at this point in Jesus ministry in a symbol of disruption as much as it will become a symbol of salvation.  Opening up our lives to those around us is likely to be disruptive.  Opening our doors to those society shuns will be disruptive. 

But keeping the doors closed to a hurting society is death.  Keeping our hearts closed off to those the rest of society shuns is death.  And when we act to shun and hate those different from us then we are stumbling blocks.  It is then we too will hear Jesus say to us to “Get behind me Satan.” 

Can you imagine?  Imagine a society that really acts out the great commandment to Love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds and with all our strength. Imagine a society that really and truly loves our neighbors as ourselves.  Can you imagine it?  If you can imagine it you can help bring it to fruition. 

It is not an accident that this church is still active.  God has work for us and I believe it is to mirror and model God’s dream.  A dream where all of God’s creation is loved and welcomed – no matter what society would say.  A dream where we can model how to turn our society right side up.  And we do that every time we open this place up to our community.  Every time we offer a sack lunch.  Every time we offer communion to those who dare walk into this building. Every time we welcome the stranger.

Can you imagine?

Amen.

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^[1] http://www.davidlose.net/2017/08/pentecost-13-a-can-you-imagine/

Why do you look for the living among the dead?

Sermon for Easter Vigil 2016

Preached at St. Paul’s

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.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”  That is the phrase that leapt of the page when I tonight’s gospel.  Why do you look for the living among the dead?  Tonight we remembered through our readings of the Hebrew Scripture God’s promise throughout the ages that God is not dead – no matter what anyone may tell you!  God’s pursuit for goodness, redemption and love for God’s creation is relentless.  The unfortunate part is that we don’t always see it. 

With all of the violence and hatred loose in our world it is easy to miss God.  It is easy to miss the beauty and love of creation and only see the destruction and cruelty of man.  It is easy in our world of instant news updates to focus on the terror of bombings by radical extremists throughout the world.  When the latest attacks in Brussels saturated our news it was easy to be led into the darkness.  To only see the death – and not the amazing things that happen to bring life to the world.  To only see the dead and not the living.

This past week we walked with Jesus towards death – just as the disciples in our Gospel reading walked with Jesus to Crucifixion.  We remembered on Thursday the commandment that to follow the Christ means to be servants and not masters.  We washed feet in remembrance of Jesus washing the Disciples feet and we heard the great commandment to Love one another as Christ Loves Us… and yet the very next moment in our liturgical drama of Holy week is death – or so it seems.  Man hung the Love that came to walk among us on a cross.

And this morning this church was empty.  The black draped cross was still at the foot of the bare altar.  All of the sacrament had been consumed.  There was an emptiness.  Yet in that empty space we remembered that Christ was busy during the three days that his earthly body lay in the tomb.  We remembered his decent to the dead.  The Harrowing of hell where Christ offered life to those who said no to life – and as tradition has it pulled up the first people – Adam and Eve – and raised them to new life.

And tonight we look at a church resplendent in her Easter finery – and she does “clean up” rather nicely.  We lit the new fire and heard proclaimed the Light of Christ.  But sometimes we don’t see that light.  We only see the tomb.  We peek into the party and wonder what they did with the body.  We still see, taste and feel death.  We can’t imagine anything else. 

(pause)

In January I had the great privilege and gift to join others on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  A place filled with conflicting messages. A place filled with ancient holy sites and also with mankind walling of other men for what they call safety - but is really more punitive.  A place where Bethlehem is in occupied territory and where our bus had to go through armed checkpoints to get to our hotel.  In the place where Jesus was born there is occupation while a stone throws away is the City of Jerusalem on the hill.  A city of holy sites for Christians, Jews and Muslims.  On one side of the wall electricity and water could cease at any moment while on the other side of the wall there is no fear of the sudden loss of power and water for no apparent reason. 

It is in this place I walked the stations of the cross and stood in the place where traditions says we Crucified Christ.  Where we hung Love on the cross.  And there too in the church of the Holy Sepulcher is the site of the empty tomb.  After walking the Stations of the Cross – starting at the archeological site of gabatha – the pavement and ending at Calgary I too could only bring myself to tentatively look into the empty tomb.  I could not shake off the sites and sounds of the Via Delarosa – the way of the cross.

Early the next morning – like the disciples in our story I went back to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and there when the Organ sprang to life for a service at the empty tomb I could hear the angel say “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”  I stayed and explored the church and the old city of Jerusalem in a new light.  Christ was not on the Cross.  Christ was not in the Tomb.  Christ was in the people I saw on the streets.  Christ was in the children of the Crèche Project in Bethlehem where the Christian church provides shelter to rape victims so that they can safely have their child.  A place where people literally dig abandoned newborns out of dumpsters and provide a space of love and safety.  

I see the living Christ here at St. Paul’s when we make and give out sack lunches to the hungry.  I see the living Christ when we invite people into the church who are afraid of the church – afraid that they might not be pure enough or clean enough, or who have been injured by the church – when we invite them into the love of Christ I see that indeed the tomb is empty.  When I see people listening to those who have no one to listen to them I see that indeed the tomb is empty because Christ is alive. 

I experienced the living Christ and the empty tomb last Thursday at St. Matthew’s.  The church is hosting winter sanctuary this month and 80 to 100 homeless people are sleeping in the sanctuary every night– including tonight.  On Thursday we offered our guests an opportunity to have their feet washed – get a fresh pair of Sock (Thank you all who provided socks) and to attend an Agape Meal that included a Eucharist. While I was doing the last minute things before the dinner – being the good acolyte and lighting the candles - I ran across a young gentleman just standing in the back of the church.  When I stopped to talk to him he said to me “You know. For some reason that I cannot explain I cried the first time I came into this space.”  I mentioned that I found various places to be thin places – where the earth we inhabit and the place of God are close together. And for me that often happens in churches where prayer has soaked into the walls for many years.   He nodded and with tear-filled eyes continued there in prayer until he joined us in our agape meal.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”  The living Christ was standing before me.  A homeless man who needs to find shelter.  A homeless man sleeping in a sanctuary.  There stood the Christ.  Crying for the dream that Love will break out in our world where hatred, sexism and xenophobia and all the other “isms” seem to be in charge.  That is why we are here this night.  To remember the empty tomb.  To remember that God will continue to pursue us in his dream of love all the way to death and beyond. 

Tonight we are reminded that in the places where we see death that God sees life.  Our God loves his creation so much that again and again God comes to us.  God offers us ways to repent form death and turn to life and Love.  There is nothing that can stop the pursuit of the Love of God.  Not even hanging that Love on the cross.  The tomb cannot contain that Love.  The dream of God is that one day we too will see that love.  That all of mankind will come to see that no matter how many times we try to kill love and lock it away in the tomb it will not stay in the tomb.  Love will continue over and over and over  again to get up out of the tomb and walk in the garden.

Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here.  He is risen.”

Alleluia!  Christ is Risen!

Jesus Wept

All Saints Sunday – Year B-RCL

 

Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9
Psalm 24
Revelation 21:1-6a
John 11:32-44

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

I have to admit that this is one of my favorite passages from the Gospel of John.  It is a place in the gospels where I can certainly relate to Jesus – it is a place in John where we get to see the incarnate Jesus at his most human.  Jesus Wept.  In John’s Gospel there is an assurance from the very beginning that Jesus is the Christ – the Son of God.  The Gospel of John starts not with the birth of Jesus in a manger but with Jesus being present at the very beginning of creation.  For John there is never a question of who Jesus is. That he is the messiah.  

It is in John’s Gospel that we read that Jesus wept.  The death of his friend Lazarus stung Jesus.  Jesus knew that he had the power to overcome death but death still stung.  It still evoked tears.  And this is a passage that gives us permission to mourn a loss.  It gives us the permission to weep.  We also hear that Jesus was greatly disturbed at the death of this friend.  Jesus reaction is one that I bet all of us have had at one time in our lives. Jesus’ reaction at the death of Lazarus gives us permission to hurt and to be angry.  It gives us permission to grieve.  Growing up in a society that taught that boys don’t cry it gives me permission to cry – which I admit is not something that is easy for me.  Jesus wept. So we can weep.

Today as we remember all the saints who have gone before us. Today we are explicitly given permission to remember.  

Death is not easy.  Even the so-called good deaths – those deaths that have given relief to suffering and pain – are not all that easy.  And some deaths seem to sting more than others.  When we are touched by the death of children or very close loved ones the hurt is strong.  No matter the death the loss always catches us up short.  There are saints in my life that I remember fondly and for no reason, after many yeares, the loss will catch me up short at the strangest times.  One of the saints in my life was a wonderful woman - Nell.  For Nell the great commandment to Love God and Love neighbor was practiced with wild abandon. She loved God’s creation in ways that I can only strive to duplicate.  She was always there for me in so many ways.  

After my Godfather died she called me every Tuesday at 6:30 AM.  She called me then because she knew it was my early day at college and that I would be up getting my day started.  She called for a year – every Tuesday – to check in and let me know that it was ok to grieve.  She is now counted as one of the saints and every so often something will remind me of her.  It might be the smell of an oak woodland in summer.  It might be the picture of her than hangs in my house.  It might be the sound of bird-song, she was a great bird watcher! It can be anything and even after all of these years a tear will come to my eye – or a smile to my face.

Today we remember all the saints – known and unknown.  We read names from the Book of Remembrance and bring photos or other things that represent those who have joined the ranks of the saints and offer them to God on an altar of remembrance.  It is a time set aside for us to remember.  It is a time to remember their earthly pilgrimage with us.  It may also be a time to weep again at our loss.  And we can be comforted in our sorrow.  We can be comforted that even the incarnate Jesus wept at the death of his friend Lazarus.

We also need to remember those Saints who have nobody to remember them.  They are surely just as much part of the host of Saints as those we hold in our hearts.  When I visited the great Abbey Church in Melk I was struck by two Unknown “crypt Saints” who are in glass coffins on two side altars.  The inscriptions said that they had no idea who these people where in life.  But in death they offered them names.  One they named Clemens and the other Friedrich.  We know nothing about their lives before they ended up in Melk but in death they are saints.  

Today is also a time to remember that God has power to destroy death.  Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb.  Even though Martha warned Jesus that Lazarus was sure to stink after being dead three days – Jesus still called his name and even in death Lazarus responds.  Jesus will do the same for us.   When we are in the depth of despair and hurt Jesus is calling our names.  Calling us out of whatever tomb we have entered.  Jesus has the power over death.  Physical death and the little deaths that we all experience in our lives.  Jesus doesn’t care that we may stink.  He will call our names anyway.  All we need to do is respond.

We don’t know what life after death looks like.  The book of Revelation promises us that we will be with God.  That death will be no more:

"See, the home of God is among mortals.

He will dwell with them as their God;

they will be his peoples,

and God himself will be with them;

he will wipe every tear from their eyes.

Death will be no more;

mourning and crying and pain will be no more,

for the first things have passed away." 

God will wipe away our tears.  That is why I am here.  The gift of the incarnate Jesus – the promise that God dwells with us.  The gift of God weeping at the death of his friend.  And the promise that in our grief it is God who wipes away our tears.  We don’t read today that we are not to grieve.  We read that even our incarnate Lord wept.  And that God will wipe away our tears.  

All we have to do is listen for our name.  And we will be called.  It doesn’t matter how much we stink or how much we think we are unlovable.  The truth is that God loves his creation so much that God dared to dwell with us.  God dared to cry with us.  And God will dare to be with us for all time.