I came to bring fire...yikes!

Sermon for August 18, 2019 – St. Matthew’s Church

Proper 15C – RCL Track 1

Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-18
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Luke 12:49-56

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,
and daughter against mother,
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

mother against daughter

mother-in-law against her daughter-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?"

I have to be honest – I don’t like this passage from Luke!  Every time it comes up I hope that I am not the one who is assigned to preach.  This is not a feel-good passage about Jesus going after the one lost sheep.  It is not a passage that talks about radical forgiveness like the parable of the prodigal son.  This is a passage that makes me uncomfortable – and I bet it makes some of you uncomfortable too.  And that is a good thing for me and for you.  It is a good thing to wrestle with difficult passages.  It is good because they make us think.  It is good because they challenge us to look at our theology and see where it might be veering into hypocrisy or heresy.

This passage seems so out of character for Jesus…but is it really?  We find it uncharacteristic, uncomfortable, because we have largely domesticated Jesus.  We want to see the Jesus that we find in stained glass windows or in children’s Sunday School books.  We try to domesticate God so that we are comfortable.

Our presiding Bishop likes to say that if it isn’t about love it isn’t about God.  And this passage is still about love.  Because the fire Jesus yearns to ignite is the refiners fire that leads to God’s reign of Love coming into our presence.  A reign that is characterized by love of God and love of our neighbors.  A reign that welcomes those who society would cast into the fire into the very embrace of God.

The reality in Jesus time, if only the people would look, is that most people do not want that kind of society.  They don’t want to let go of their perks that have been given to them by a conquering empire.  Humans have a propensity for taking what we find comfortable and worshiping that as an idol.  We do it today. 

In Friday’s Sacramento Bee Marcus Breton had an article on homeless folk and our failure to provide housing for people.  He chronicled all the reasons that someone will likely die in the cold this winter.  And he lays it at our feet.  He points out that all the talk from our politicians about providing shelters runs into roadblock after roadblock.  Anyplace that is proposed for a low barrier shelter – one that accepts all people, complete with their needs, their pets, and their partners, someone opposes.  There are limited areas that have the space for a large 100 bed shelter.  And none of the places are right.  None are perfect – and all of them will be opposed by a set of Sacramento residents.  It will not be the same set at each location but there will be opposition.  Some of it is real and much of it is fear.  Fear that “the others” will bring crime to the neighborhood.  Fear that it will drag down the fragile improvements being made in areas that have the space and sewer and water connections needed for a large shelter.   The idea of shelters causes division.  Just a Jesus caused division in his community by eating with outcasts and declaring forgiveness to those who turn towards God.

We live in a country where division is so pervasive that we hardly even notice the headline anymore.  We only pay attention when someone dies – and then only long enough for the bodies to be buried.  This division is, in part, due to folks being fearful that if we let someone else have what they need – be that housing, asylum, medical care, a living wage, God’s love – if somehow we let someone else have something we will lose out on our privilege.  Our society – indeed much of the world – subscribes to an economy of limitations.  An economy of scarcity. And we put that economy on God.

However, God’s economy is one of abundance.  An abundance of Love.  An abundance of forgiveness.  An abundance of welcome.  And Jesus came to try and get those around him to see that economy.  To see the need for radical healing.  To see the need to change how we operate. 

Jesus called us to stop worshiping the idols that separate us from God’s creation.  And that kind of talk causes division because we don’t want to let go of our comforts.  Jesus told the people that just like noticing the weather they should notice the need for change.  And it is still just a true today.  Too many people, many who call themselves Christians, cannot see the need to change.  They continue to domesticate Jesus and God.

The good news is that there are people who advocate for the kind of radical change that Jesus calls us to make.  The good news is that there are places in our scriptures that make us uncomfortable with how our world is behaving. 

The sad part is that advocating for the kinds of change that God desires still causes division.  The sad news is that eating with those society considers outcasts and unclean still causes division. 

I invite you to continue to wrestle with the difficult parts of God’s word… because it is those parts that will call us to shake off our sins and to welcome God’s reign of love into our hearts and into our world.  And when we do it will cause division – it will cause the refiners fire to melt our hard hearts and accept a different society.  The society of love and forgiveness that is the dream of God. 

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