“How much Land Does a Man Need?” That is the title of a story by the nineteenth-century writer Leo Tolstoy. In the story a peasant makes a deal. He can buy all the land he can circle on foot in one day for only 1,000 rubles. However, if he doesn’t return to his starting place by sunset, he gets no land – and he loses his money. The greedy peasant frantically races the sun as he tries to cover as wide a circle as he can. Just short of his starting point, he drops dead of exhaustion. He is buried in an ordinary grave, only six feet long. In his death, Tolstoy thus gives us the ironic answer to the question posed in the title of the story.
How much is enough? What do we, as Jesus’ followers, truly need? What do we, as people called to seek the “things that are above,” truly require? Be warned: I am about to cross a great taboo. No, I’m not about to preach about sex or politics! I am about to talk about money, in the church – and maybe more than once between now and All Saints Day. We in the church are so reluctant to talk about money! Like most Americans, we think of our use of money as strictly our own affair – not something a preacher should be addressing. Many of us might even secretly agree with Gordon Gekko, the corporate raider in Oliver Stone’s film “Wall Street,” who told a group of stockholders that greed is good. Alan Greenspan, the billionaire Koch brothers, and other influential business and political leaders openly follow the philosophy of author Ayn Rand, who titled one of her books The Virtue of Selfishness. You may not be a follower of Rand. Even so, Jesus’ talk about money might still make you uncomfortable, especially his decided preference for the poor in Luke’s Gospel. But we’d better listen to Jesus, because our use of our money is at least as much an expression of our faith as anything else we do. Show me your checkbook, and I’ll know what you really believe!
Indeed, our lessons today offer sobering perspectives on wealth and possessions. In our gospel reading, Jesus minces no words as he explicitly inveighs against greed and the stockpiling of possessions. “Be on your guard,” he thunders, “against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he tells the neat parable of the rich fool. Does the rich man in the parable remind you of anyone you know? Make no mistake: Jesus reminds us that, because death strips us of all our possessions, we must instead be “rich toward God.”
The writer of the letter to the Christians at Colossae couldn’t agree more. Here too we hear a caution against greed – as well as other behaviors that attach us to this world. I wonder. As you heard the catalogue of sins, did you also hear that greed is idolatry? And did you remember that idolatry – worship of false gods – is just what the Israelites were doing to anger God in our reading from Hosea? What is more important, the writer to the Colossians reminds us that, as Jesus’ disciples, as people who have been dressed in the new clothes of baptism, we are to live a new and different kind of life from that which we lived previously. We are to direct our lives toward God, and we are to “seek the things that are above, where Christ is….”
How are we to do this? What does it mean to be “rich toward God,” or to set our minds on “things that are above?” The reading from Hosea reminds us of God’s great love and compassion for us, but offers us no alternative to a life of idolatry and fleeting pursuits. Jesus, in our Gospel reading, implicitly condemns the rich man for his self-centered intent to build bigger barns and live a life of ease. However, Jesus does not tell us what the rich man should have done instead, nor does he tell us what being “rich toward God” means. The writer to the Colossians lists the bad habits we need to give up. However, other than suggesting that Christ has overcome all ethnic divisions, he does not tell us what habits and virtues we need to cultivate. How shall we give up our attachment to earthly things and seek the “things that are above?”
Beginning in the fourth century, women and men sought to follow Jesus’ teachings about possessions by withdrawing from society and living in isolated communities. In Egypt and North Africa, communities sprang up in the desert, dedicated to the simple life. In the sixth century, Benedict of Nursia wrote his famous Rule for monastic communities that stressed living the simple life in common, forsaking most pleasures of the flesh, respecting the needs of others, and committing oneself to remaining in community. Benedict’s Rule proved to be so influential that it still provides the template for the rule of almost every Roman Catholic and Anglican vowed community. Most of us are not prepared to join monastic communities. Even so, there are ways to create a “monastery of the heart,” to use the phrase of Benedictine sister Joan Chittister. And as her commentary on Benedict’s Rule so insightfully suggests, it is possible for Benedict to guide even us secular twenty-first century followers of Jesus.
What are some ways we might begin becoming “rich toward God” and seeking “things that are above?” For starters, we can be honest about the source of our wealth. The rich man in Jesus’ parable behaved as if he alone were responsible for the abundant produce of the land. In truth, it was the fertile soil, good weather, hard work of his farmhands, and domestic support of his womenfolk that produced the abundance. The same is true for us – all of us. None of us is self-made. If you are sitting here, you have been gifted – even if you received no inheritance from your parents, even if you struggled to finish school with scholarships and loans, even if you’ve worked hard every day of your life. Many of us were fortunate to have had supportive families, enough food, and an education provided by other people’s taxes. Our parents took us to the doctor and dentist. We’ve had roads, and street lights, police and fire protection, hospitals and churches. We’ve been fortunate to live in a web – a village if you will – that has helped make us what we are and enabled us to enjoy much good fortune and comparative wealth. None of us lives on the streets, and all of us have a good idea of where our next meal is coming from. Understanding that it is by good fortune that we have our houses, clothing, food, Kindles, Ipads, and whatever, and that we are alive and able to do God’s work, is the first step towards being “rich towards God.”
Second, we can look at our checkbook. Where are we actually using our resources? Do we have a balanced life? Or are we tied down by possessions? Can we simplify our lives? In her commentary on the Benedictine Rule, Chittister reminds us that our possessions tie us to the earth. “They clutter our space; they crimp our hearts; they sour our souls. Benedict says that the answer is that we not allow ourselves to have anything beyond life’s simple staples….” What areas of our lives can we declutter and simplify? What are we no longer using that we can give to others?
And then we need to actively consider how we might share our wealth with others. In the first half of life, that may mean especially providing for the needs of our own families. However, in the second half of life, sharing our wealth should mean considering the needs of others outside our families. In both halves of life, we need to be intentional in our use of our resources. We need to be intentional in our gifts to the church, as well as to other institutions that we support. John Wesley is reported to have admonished his followers, “Do you not know that God entrusted you with that money (all above what buys necessities for your families) to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to help the stranger, the widow, the fatherless; and, indeed, as far as it will go, to relieve the wants of all mankind? How can you, how dare you, defraud the Lord, by applying it to any other purpose?” Ultimately, being “rich toward God” and using our wealth to seek the “things that are above” mean using our resources to benefit others. If we want to leave a lasting legacy, if we want to ensure that our lives are more than “vanity,” then we must have a plan for how that is to be done – a will. The Book of Common explicitly directs me to instruct you to make wills, younger people to ensure that their dependents are properly provided for, and older people to ensure that their legacy honors God.
Finally, we need to remember that concern for possessions – of any kind – makes it difficult, perhaps impossible, to be open to God. Ultimately, we are all naked and empty-handed before God. We begin our lives naked and empty-handed, and we end them that way. In between our birth and death we thank God for God’s great love and compassion. We seek to learn how we can become rich toward God. We ask God to help us to travel light, to help us to let go of all that gets in between ourselves and God. Then we pray to know how to intentionally use our possessions to further God’s agenda in the world. Truly blessed are those who can say, “All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.”
Showing posts with label Pentecost 11. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pentecost 11. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Present Your Bodies as a Living Sacrifice
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Hear the echo of Paul’s exhortation to the Roman Christians in the Great Thanksgiving of Rite I in the Book of Common Prayer: “And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee….” From the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and Greek and Latin histories we know that the ancient Israelites, the Jews of Jesus’ time, and the Greeks and Romans all sacrificed animals in their worship. But what is a “living sacrifice,” and how do we present our bodies as a “living sacrifice?”
Paul’s letter to the Romans is the first letter in the New Testament. That’s because it’s the longest, and the Epistles are arranged in order of descending length. Actually, Paul’s letter to the Romans was his last, written about 60 AD. It was addressed to mixed community of Jews and Gentiles, which he hoped to visit on his way to Spain. In the chapters preceding today’s reading, Paul has struggled with the refusal of most Jews to accept Jesus as God’s anointed one. Since he is himself a Jew of the highest rank, Paul concludes his argument with the assurance that God’s covenant with the Jews will stand forever, but that now, by virtue of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, God’s covenant also embraces the Gentiles.
Paul then turns to the issue of how a community of Jesus’ followers, who come from different social classes and ethnic groups, can actually live and work together. By exhorting his hearers to be a “living sacrifice,” in contrast to the sacrificial animals with which they were so familiar, Paul begins by reminding them that their commitment to Jesus goes well beyond intellectual assent. Their commitment to Jesus also goes beyond muttering “Jesus is Lord” or some other confession of faith, even if it is God’s grace that enables a person to make such a confession. Rather, Paul exhorts his hearers to live a life that reflects their commitment to Jesus. Such a lifestyle may involve doing with the body actions that may be at odds with their culture, and may even earn them the disapproval or hatred of their neighbors.
In asking the Roman Christians to intentionally live out their commitment to Jesus, Paul was indeed asking them to live in ways that would set them apart from their neighbors. They were to dress modestly. After a suitable period of instruction they were to be baptized in front of the entire Christian community. While Jews normally gathered for worship on Saturday, and Greeks and Romans gathered on days dedicated to the various gods, Christians were to gather for worship on Sunday, i.e., on a normal working day. They were to continue to grow in their knowledge of Scripture. Gentiles were to forego the civic clubs that combined worship with socializing. They were especially expected to avoid the drunken orgies that celebrated Bacchus and Dionysus. They were also to stay away from the rituals that venerated the Roman emperors, and they were not to eat meat sacrificed to the gods. In their communities, they were to disregard social rank and gender, and were to regard all as equals in God’s eyes and as needed and valued. Through all these practices Christians distanced themselves from their neighbors. In some cases, they were ostracized, and periodically they were persecuted. For most, it was truly a sacrifice to follow Jesus – and it was certainly not good for business!
Fast forward to today. How do we “present our bodies as a living sacrifice?” Like the hearers of Paul’s letter, we too must do more than mutter “I believe in Jesus Christ.” If we want to honor our commitment to Jesus, we too must do more than simply recite the Creeds. We too are called to live out our commitment to Jesus with our bodies. How do we do that in concrete terms? What does a Christian lifestyle look like in the twenty-first century?
A generation or two ago, it might have been easier to answer that question. Episcopal parishes regularly observed major feasts, even those not falling on Sunday. Feasts such as the Presentation, February 2nd, the Annunciation, March 25th, the Transfiguration, August 6th, and All Saints, November 1st, would regularly have found the parish gathered for worship. Worshippers would have flocked to churches on Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday. Few people would attend or give “Christmas” parties in Advent. Most would fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, would “give up” something for Lent, and would take on other devotions. Most people would tithe and also respond to special offerings. Well before the 1960s, men and women would have been moved by their commitment to Jesus to support movements for better working conditions, votes for women, better housing for the poor, and civil rights.
So what now? What’s a “living sacrifice” for us? Perhaps Paul’s words and the practices of our forebears in the faith are more relevant than we might think. Indeed, we might all be stronger spiritually if we were to re-adopt some of those earlier practices. However, more than anything, Paul exhorts us to take our commitment to Jesus seriously, to be intentional about our membership in this – or any – faith community. The spiritual life is not icing on the cake of a well-lived life. It is a commitment to a new and different way of being in the world, a lifestyle that lets others know that our highest allegiance to is someone who calls us to a way of living focused on the needs of others. Such a commitment calls us to continually grow in our relationship with God and in our ability to follow through on the promises we made at our baptisms. For most of us – and how appropriate this reminder is when we celebrate the beginning of a new school year – this means regularly engaging in some form of Christian formation. Our commitment also calls us to engage in regular individual prayer – even if it’s only five minutes stolen from your lunch hour – and in regular Sunday worship.
Our commitment to Jesus also calls us to grow together in community. Within this group of Jesus’ followers, we are to neither overvalue nor undervalue our place. As we work together to bring God’s realm closer, we are to understand that we all have gifts. Every one of you here – and even those not here – has a gift needed by God and by this community. No one can say, “Not me,” or “I’m too busy,” or “I’m too young,” even “I’m too old.” Just as in Paul’s time, this Christian community needs people who can proclaim God’s word. It doesn’t take a collar to share your experiences of how God has been working in your life. It doesn’t take a collar to speak out on issues of peace and justice, or to use social media to inform your friends of your views. This Christian community needs those who can teach. We need teachers for children, for youth, and for adults. It doesn’t take a collar to lead a group reflecting regularly on Scripture. This community needs people to engage in outreach to those in need. Now by God’s grace we have a deacon among us, who is especially ordained to lead us into areas of ministry beyond the red doors. She needs people to follow her out. This Christian community needs people to provide financial support. If you have the means, Jesus expects you to give generously to support the parish – tithing, or at least giving intentionally is still expected of us -- and to support other ministries and charities.
Brother James Koester, a member of the Episcopal Society of St. John the Evangelist, tells the story of one of his Methodist forebears.1 In 1790, at the age of twenty, Matthew Evan, the brother of his great great great great grandfather, was “convicted of the necessity of being born again” by the preaching of an itinerant Methodist pastor. What fascinates Br. James about Matthew Evan and others like him is that they “weren’t simply interested in warm spiritual fuzzies, because as passionate as they were about the conversion of their souls, they were also intent on the reformation of society. This same Matthew Evan was one of the first members of the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor of the Midland District [of Ontario] founded in 1819 in order to “to prevent the increase of pauperism and to furnish relief and assistance to the indigent, destitute and sick.” The Anglo-Catholic founders of the SSJE shared a similar ethic. While committed to beautiful and dignified worship, they also developed a Rule that commits the brothers to stewardship of the earth and real solidarity with the poor. For Br. James, both the Canadian Methodists and the SSJE founders clearly remind us that, “if we are serious about what we say, then we need to be just as serious about what we do. If we are truly believe we have been called, justified and glorified by God, and that through baptism we share the life and work of God then not only what we believe matters, but what we do matters as well.”
With all your heart, and mind, and strength, be a living sacrifice, offering back to God what God has given you. Heed Br. James’ call: “Go out and change and convert and reform the world. Do it, do it now, do it today. Do it because what you believe really does matter. Do it, because what you do matters even more.”
1. “You are Christ’s Hands.” http://ssje.org/ssje/2011/07/24/you-are-christs-hands-br-james-koester/ .
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
All Things Come of Thee
“How much Land Does a Man Need?” In Leo Tolstoy’s famous story a peasant makes a deal: he can buy all the land he can circle on foot in one day for only 1,000 rubles. However, if he doesn’t return to his starting place by sunset, he gets no land – and he loses his money. Frantically racing the sun, the greedy peasant tries to cover as wide a circle as he can. Just short of his starting point, he drops dead of exhaustion. He is buried in an ordinary grave, only six feet long, thus offering an ironic answer to the question posed in the title of the story.
How much is enough? What do we, as Jesus’ followers, truly need? What do we, as people called to seek the “things that are above,” truly require? Be warned: I am about to cross a great taboo. No, I’m not about to talk about Fifty Shades of Grey! I am about to talk about money in the church – and not only today but several times between now and All Saints Day. We in the church are so reluctant to talk about money! Like most Americans, we think of our use of money as strictly our own affair – not something a preacher should be addressing. Many of us might even secretly agree with Gordon Gekko, the corporate raider in Oliver Stone’s film “Wall Street,” who told a group of stockholders that greed is good. Alan Greenspan, Paul Ryan, and other influential political leaders openly follow the philosophy of author Ayn Rand, who titled one of her books The Virtue of Selfishness. You may not be a follower of Rand. Even so, Jesus’ talk about money might still make you uncomfortable, especially his decided preference for the poor in Luke’s Gospel. But we’d better listen to Jesus, because our use of our money is at least as much an expression of our faith as anything else we do. Show me your checkbook, and I’ll know what you really believe!
Indeed, our lessons today offer sobering perspectives on wealth and possessions. In our first reading, the Teacher, “Qoheleth,” in Hebrew, offers a very somber view of human existence. All of us face death, leaving behind all the achievements for which we worked so hard, and all the possessions we so strenuously sought to acquire. Our shroud has no pockets, and no U-Haul will follow our hearse! Consequently, ultimately all human endeavor is meaningless. “… vanity of vanities. All is vanity,” i.e., all human endeavor is fleeting, futile, unsubstantial, empty, and ephemeral. Our psalm similarly reminds us that all of us, whether we are wise or whether we are dull and stupid, similarly perish, leaving our wealth “to those who come after.”
Echoing Qoheleth, Jesus explicitly inveighs against greed and the stockpiling of possessions. “Be on your guard,” he thunders, “against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Again echoing Qoheleth with the neat parable of the rich fool, Jesus reminds us that, because death strips us of all our possessions, we must instead be
“rich toward God.” The writer of the letter to the Christians at Colossae follows suit. Here too we hear a caution against greed – as well as other behaviors that attach us to this world. What is more important, we are reminded that, as Jesus’ disciples, as people who have been dressed in the new clothes of baptism, we are to live a new and different kind of life from that which we lived previously. Directing our lives toward God, we are to “seek the things that are above, where Christ is….”
How are we to do this? What does it mean to be “rich toward God,” or to set our minds on “things that are above?” Qoheleth offers us no alternative to a life of vain and fleeting pursuits. Jesus, in our Gospel reading, implicitly condemns the rich man for his self-centered intent to build bigger barns and live a life of ease. However, Jesus does not tell us what the rich man should have done, nor does he tell us what being “rich toward God” means. The writer to the Colossians tells us all the bad habits we need to give up. However, other than suggesting that Christ has overcome all ethnic divisions, he does not tell us what habits and virtues we need to cultivate. How shall we give up our attachment to earthly things and seek the “things that are above?”
Beginning in the fourth century, women and men sought to follow Jesus’ teachings by withdrawing from society and living in isolated communities. In Egypt and North Africa, communities sprang up in the desert, dedicated to the simple life. In the sixth century, Benedict of Nursia wrote his famous Rule for monastic communities that stressed living the simple life in common, forsaking most pleasures of the flesh, respecting for the needs of others, and committing oneself to remaining in community. Benedict’s Rule proved to be so influential that, in one form or another, it still provides the template for the rule of almost every Roman Catholic and Anglican vowed community. Most of us are not prepared to join monastic communities. Even so, there are ways to create a “monastery of the heart,” and, as Joan Chittester’s commentary on the Rule so insightfully suggests, to let Benedict guide even us secular twenty-first century followers of Jesus.
What are some ways we might begin becoming “rich toward God” and seeking “things that are above?” For starters, we can recognize the source of our wealth. The rich man in Jesus’ parable behaved as if he alone were responsible for the abundant produce of the land. In truth, it was the fertile soil, good weather, hard work of his farmhands, and domestic support of his womenfolk that produced the abundance. The same is true for us – all of us. None of us is self-made. If you are sitting here, you have been gifted by God – even if you received no inheritance from your parents, even if you struggled to finish school with scholarships and loans, even if you’ve worked hard every day of your life. Most of us have had supportive families, enough food, and an education provided by other people’s taxes. Our parents took us to the doctor and dentist. We’ve had roads, and street lights, police and fire protection, hospitals and churches. We’ve been fortunate to live in a web – a village if you will – that has helped make us what we are and enabled us to enjoy much good fortune and comparative wealth. None of us lives on the streets, and all of us have a good idea of where our next meal is coming from. Understanding that it is by God’s gift that we have our houses, clothing, food, Kindles, ipods, and whatever, and that we are alive and able to do God’s work is the first step in being “rich towards God.”
Second, we can look at our checkbook. Where are we actually using our resources? Do we have a balanced life? Are we tied down by possessions? Can we simplify our lives? In her commentary on the Benedictine Rule, Chittister reminds us that our possessions tie us to the earth. “They clutter our space; they crimp our hearts; they sour our souls. Benedict says that the answer is that we not allow ourselves to have anything beyond life’s simple staples….” What areas of our lives can we declutter and simplify?
Finally, we need to actively consider how we might share our wealth with others. In the first half of life, that may mean especially providing for the needs of our own families. However, in the second half of life, sharing our wealth should mean considering the needs of others outside our families. In both halves of life, we need to be intentional in our use of oue resources. We need to be intentional in our gifts to the church, as well as to other institutions that we support. John Wesley is reported to have admonished his followers, “Do you not know that God entrusted you with that money (all above what buys necessities for your families) to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to help the stranger, the widow, the fatherless; and, indeed, as far as it will go, to relieve the wants of all mankind? How can you, how dare you, defraud the Lord, by applying it to any other purpose?” Ultimately, being “rich toward God” and using our wealth to seek the “things that are above” mean using our resources to benefit others. If we want to leave a lasting legacy, if we want to ensure that our lives are more than “vanity,” then we must have a plan for how that is to be done – a will. The Book of Common Prayer reminds us all to make wills, younger people to ensure that their dependents are properly provided for, and older people to ensure that their legacy honors God.
How can we, as perishable mortals, be rich toward God? By recognizing God as the source of all that we have and by prayerfully and intentionally using God’s gifts to further God’s agenda in the world. By truly saying and believing that, “All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.”
How much is enough? What do we, as Jesus’ followers, truly need? What do we, as people called to seek the “things that are above,” truly require? Be warned: I am about to cross a great taboo. No, I’m not about to talk about Fifty Shades of Grey! I am about to talk about money in the church – and not only today but several times between now and All Saints Day. We in the church are so reluctant to talk about money! Like most Americans, we think of our use of money as strictly our own affair – not something a preacher should be addressing. Many of us might even secretly agree with Gordon Gekko, the corporate raider in Oliver Stone’s film “Wall Street,” who told a group of stockholders that greed is good. Alan Greenspan, Paul Ryan, and other influential political leaders openly follow the philosophy of author Ayn Rand, who titled one of her books The Virtue of Selfishness. You may not be a follower of Rand. Even so, Jesus’ talk about money might still make you uncomfortable, especially his decided preference for the poor in Luke’s Gospel. But we’d better listen to Jesus, because our use of our money is at least as much an expression of our faith as anything else we do. Show me your checkbook, and I’ll know what you really believe!
Indeed, our lessons today offer sobering perspectives on wealth and possessions. In our first reading, the Teacher, “Qoheleth,” in Hebrew, offers a very somber view of human existence. All of us face death, leaving behind all the achievements for which we worked so hard, and all the possessions we so strenuously sought to acquire. Our shroud has no pockets, and no U-Haul will follow our hearse! Consequently, ultimately all human endeavor is meaningless. “… vanity of vanities. All is vanity,” i.e., all human endeavor is fleeting, futile, unsubstantial, empty, and ephemeral. Our psalm similarly reminds us that all of us, whether we are wise or whether we are dull and stupid, similarly perish, leaving our wealth “to those who come after.”
Echoing Qoheleth, Jesus explicitly inveighs against greed and the stockpiling of possessions. “Be on your guard,” he thunders, “against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Again echoing Qoheleth with the neat parable of the rich fool, Jesus reminds us that, because death strips us of all our possessions, we must instead be
“rich toward God.” The writer of the letter to the Christians at Colossae follows suit. Here too we hear a caution against greed – as well as other behaviors that attach us to this world. What is more important, we are reminded that, as Jesus’ disciples, as people who have been dressed in the new clothes of baptism, we are to live a new and different kind of life from that which we lived previously. Directing our lives toward God, we are to “seek the things that are above, where Christ is….”
How are we to do this? What does it mean to be “rich toward God,” or to set our minds on “things that are above?” Qoheleth offers us no alternative to a life of vain and fleeting pursuits. Jesus, in our Gospel reading, implicitly condemns the rich man for his self-centered intent to build bigger barns and live a life of ease. However, Jesus does not tell us what the rich man should have done, nor does he tell us what being “rich toward God” means. The writer to the Colossians tells us all the bad habits we need to give up. However, other than suggesting that Christ has overcome all ethnic divisions, he does not tell us what habits and virtues we need to cultivate. How shall we give up our attachment to earthly things and seek the “things that are above?”
Beginning in the fourth century, women and men sought to follow Jesus’ teachings by withdrawing from society and living in isolated communities. In Egypt and North Africa, communities sprang up in the desert, dedicated to the simple life. In the sixth century, Benedict of Nursia wrote his famous Rule for monastic communities that stressed living the simple life in common, forsaking most pleasures of the flesh, respecting for the needs of others, and committing oneself to remaining in community. Benedict’s Rule proved to be so influential that, in one form or another, it still provides the template for the rule of almost every Roman Catholic and Anglican vowed community. Most of us are not prepared to join monastic communities. Even so, there are ways to create a “monastery of the heart,” and, as Joan Chittester’s commentary on the Rule so insightfully suggests, to let Benedict guide even us secular twenty-first century followers of Jesus.
What are some ways we might begin becoming “rich toward God” and seeking “things that are above?” For starters, we can recognize the source of our wealth. The rich man in Jesus’ parable behaved as if he alone were responsible for the abundant produce of the land. In truth, it was the fertile soil, good weather, hard work of his farmhands, and domestic support of his womenfolk that produced the abundance. The same is true for us – all of us. None of us is self-made. If you are sitting here, you have been gifted by God – even if you received no inheritance from your parents, even if you struggled to finish school with scholarships and loans, even if you’ve worked hard every day of your life. Most of us have had supportive families, enough food, and an education provided by other people’s taxes. Our parents took us to the doctor and dentist. We’ve had roads, and street lights, police and fire protection, hospitals and churches. We’ve been fortunate to live in a web – a village if you will – that has helped make us what we are and enabled us to enjoy much good fortune and comparative wealth. None of us lives on the streets, and all of us have a good idea of where our next meal is coming from. Understanding that it is by God’s gift that we have our houses, clothing, food, Kindles, ipods, and whatever, and that we are alive and able to do God’s work is the first step in being “rich towards God.”
Second, we can look at our checkbook. Where are we actually using our resources? Do we have a balanced life? Are we tied down by possessions? Can we simplify our lives? In her commentary on the Benedictine Rule, Chittister reminds us that our possessions tie us to the earth. “They clutter our space; they crimp our hearts; they sour our souls. Benedict says that the answer is that we not allow ourselves to have anything beyond life’s simple staples….” What areas of our lives can we declutter and simplify?
Finally, we need to actively consider how we might share our wealth with others. In the first half of life, that may mean especially providing for the needs of our own families. However, in the second half of life, sharing our wealth should mean considering the needs of others outside our families. In both halves of life, we need to be intentional in our use of oue resources. We need to be intentional in our gifts to the church, as well as to other institutions that we support. John Wesley is reported to have admonished his followers, “Do you not know that God entrusted you with that money (all above what buys necessities for your families) to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to help the stranger, the widow, the fatherless; and, indeed, as far as it will go, to relieve the wants of all mankind? How can you, how dare you, defraud the Lord, by applying it to any other purpose?” Ultimately, being “rich toward God” and using our wealth to seek the “things that are above” mean using our resources to benefit others. If we want to leave a lasting legacy, if we want to ensure that our lives are more than “vanity,” then we must have a plan for how that is to be done – a will. The Book of Common Prayer reminds us all to make wills, younger people to ensure that their dependents are properly provided for, and older people to ensure that their legacy honors God.
How can we, as perishable mortals, be rich toward God? By recognizing God as the source of all that we have and by prayerfully and intentionally using God’s gifts to further God’s agenda in the world. By truly saying and believing that, “All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.”
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Follow Me
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Or we might say, “If you want to be on my team, stay close behind me, and be ready to pick up and go wherever I go. If necessary, be ready to move!” Uh oh. Maybe it’s not as easy as it looked last week to confess Jesus as the Messiah and follow God’s call.
The prophet Jeremiah, whose lament we just heard, could certainly relate to those words. He’d been a relatively young man, probably having a young man’s good time, when he first heard God’s call to him. “I’ve known you from even before you were born,” God told him, “and I’ve appointed you as a ‘prophet to the nations.’” “But, Lord,” replied Jeremiah, “I’m too young, I don’t know anything about speaking well.” “Never mind,” God said, “I’ll tell you what to say. You just come along, and I’ll be with you the whole time.”
Did Jeremiah know what he was getting himself into and where he would be expected to go, when he agreed to speak for God? I don’t think so. Of course, in the beginning, God’s words, as he tells us, “became to me a joy, and the delight of my heart.” But then God called Jeremiah to try to persuade the king not to enter into a fruitless alliance with other nations, in an attempt to stave off the Babylonians. The religious and political leadership, the other prophets, and even the king himself, loudly derided and scorned Jeremiah for not supporting the king. He was put under house arrest, and even briefly thrown into a well. Unfortunately, his prophecies were right on the mark. The Babylonians conquered Israel, destroyed the temple and much of Jerusalem, and forced the ruling classes and artisans into exile. Jeremiah himself ended up in Egypt with a portion of the exiles. No wonder he was disillusioned with God! No wonder he complains to God that his pain is “unceasing,” and his wound “incurable.” No wonder he accuses God of being “like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail.” Like Jesus’ disciples, like so many of us, Jeremiah had discovered that, while the joy of following God’s call is initially sweet, God often takes us out of our places of comfort and leads us into hardships beyond our imagining.
Yet God did not leave Jeremiah mired in his bitterness and disillusionment. Did you catch God speaking in the second half of our reading this morning? God calls Jeremiah to repentance and promises Jeremiah that, “If you utter what is precious … you shall serve as my mouth. It is they who will turn to you, not you who will turn to them.” In other words, “Don’t lose heart, Jeremiah. Keep testifying, focus on my mission. And people will believe you. You won’t have an easy time, but I am with you forever.” As part of the exile community, Jeremiah was forced to leave his home. He died in Egypt without ever returning to Jerusalem, but, reassured by God’s promises, he continued to speak God’s word for the rest of his life.
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Jesus is on the move again. With this morning’s reading, we are at a transition point in Matthew’s Gospel story. Jesus is ready to leave northern Israel behind. He has set his face towards Jerusalem and the events that are to transpire there. “It’s settled,” he tells his disciples, “this is God’s plan.” Like Jeremiah, Peter protests. He draws Jesus aside and tries to persuade Jesus to turn back. Still perhaps looking for a military messiah, a mighty king who would throw the Romans out of Israel, Peter can scarcely understand what Jesus is talking about. Jesus dying? Jesus, executed like a criminal? Unthinkable! And can’t we sympathize with Peter? He may not have understood what he was saying when he confessed Jesus as the Messiah, but he is rightly terrified at the prospect of his beloved rabbi dying. As are we, when we’re honest with ourselves. The Cross is always scandalous, so much so that many churches, St. Peter’s included, have no crucifix anywhere – not even in an icon!
Jesus, of course, rebukes Peter in the harshest possible terms. Jesus is on the move. He must go to Jerusalem, and he expects his disciples to leave the comforts of Galilee and follow him there. And, just to make sure that all the disciples understand that he meant what he said about dying a criminal’s death, he tells them that they can expect not only to leave their own places of comfort, but also to experience hardship as his followers, as a part of the community devoted to him. In no uncertain terms he reminds them, “If you want to be on my team, stay close behind me, be prepared to move, but don’t expect an easy time.” But just as God reassured Jeremiah that he would eventually be vindicated, Jesus also reassures his disciples of their greater life in him: “For … those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Following Jesus won’t be easy, following Jesus won’t necessarily bring them what they want or expect, following Jesus may take them out of their comfort zones, but if they follow along behind him and with their fellow disciples, they have Jesus’ promise that wherever he leads them he will be with us.
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” The sisters of the Community of the Holy Spirit can also relate to Jesus’ command. They know well where following behind Jesus can lead one. The community was founded in the early 1950s in New York City. All of its sisters, including today’s sisters, gave up other lives to join the community. Originally focused on elementary education, the community occupied a comfortable converted brownstone on 113th Street, not too far from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. However, in 1961, some of the sisters answered Jesus’ call to establish a second school and community in Brewster, NY, about fifty miles from Manhattan. As part of their work in Brewster, in 2004 the sisters were called to establish Bluestone Farm as an example of sustainable living and farming. There the sisters now plant, harvest, and store their own food and weave their own textiles. The farm has attracted resident companions, interns, and volunteers who have expanded its work. Meanwhile, in Manhattan, the sisters felt called to gradually turn the ministry of elementary education over to others, and develop new ministries in education about living sustainably, spiritual direction, retreat leadership, and guest hospitality. In 2009, they heard another call: to leave their comfortable old convent and build a new green convent. Through a land swap with Columbia University, the community received a parcel of land on the edge of Harlem. Despite the reservations of some of their well-wishers about locating in a mixed-ethnic neighborhood, the sisters embarked on building a thoroughly “green” convent near 150th street. Complete with roof-top garden, the new St. Hilda’s house now stands as an urban experiment in living in closer community with the earth. Needless to say, none of these moves and developments have been easy. The move from the old Manhattan convent to the new one in late 2010 was particularly difficult for some of the older sisters. Yet even they know that Jesus is with them and their community, wherever he may lead them. Sr. Élise, who at 90 is the oldest member of the community, described the prospect of leaving the old convent. She said, “I really don’t have my roots set down here in this house – I’ll be happy to live anywhere. I already have a reservation in another place.” Or as Meredith Kadet, a recent Bluestone Farm intern, reminded us in a meditation on her own prospect of moving, Christians are a pilgrim people, always on the move with Jesus, always following where God leads them. “We’re on the move, then, together,” she tell us. “We’re on the move because we’re part of a community, part of a universe, part of a body of God that’s on the move toward a promise.”
We’re on the move with Jesus. We’re a pilgrim people, following behind a leader whom we know will eventually lead us to Jerusalem and to the Cross. We may have hardships, we may have to leave our comfort zone, we may have to go to new and unexpected, perhaps even dangerous places. Yet we have Jesus’ promise to be with us, wherever he takes us. And Jesus’ promise is as true for us as God’s promise was to Jeremiah, as Jesus’ promise was to his disciples, and as Jesus’ promise is for the sisters of the Community of the Holy Spirit. Here at St. Peter’s, to say nothing of the rest of our lives, we too may have to leave behind beloved old structures, beloved ministries, beloved ways of doing things. We may have to begin developing ministries in places where we hadn’t expected to be. But we can do all that and more, because we have heard Jesus’ call: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
Meredith Kadet closed her reflection with the verse of an old song. Perhaps the song is appropriate for us too.
I open my mouth to the Lord
And I won’t turn back
I will go, I shall go
To see what the end gonna be.
God willing, we will all faithfully follow behind him.
The prophet Jeremiah, whose lament we just heard, could certainly relate to those words. He’d been a relatively young man, probably having a young man’s good time, when he first heard God’s call to him. “I’ve known you from even before you were born,” God told him, “and I’ve appointed you as a ‘prophet to the nations.’” “But, Lord,” replied Jeremiah, “I’m too young, I don’t know anything about speaking well.” “Never mind,” God said, “I’ll tell you what to say. You just come along, and I’ll be with you the whole time.”
Did Jeremiah know what he was getting himself into and where he would be expected to go, when he agreed to speak for God? I don’t think so. Of course, in the beginning, God’s words, as he tells us, “became to me a joy, and the delight of my heart.” But then God called Jeremiah to try to persuade the king not to enter into a fruitless alliance with other nations, in an attempt to stave off the Babylonians. The religious and political leadership, the other prophets, and even the king himself, loudly derided and scorned Jeremiah for not supporting the king. He was put under house arrest, and even briefly thrown into a well. Unfortunately, his prophecies were right on the mark. The Babylonians conquered Israel, destroyed the temple and much of Jerusalem, and forced the ruling classes and artisans into exile. Jeremiah himself ended up in Egypt with a portion of the exiles. No wonder he was disillusioned with God! No wonder he complains to God that his pain is “unceasing,” and his wound “incurable.” No wonder he accuses God of being “like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail.” Like Jesus’ disciples, like so many of us, Jeremiah had discovered that, while the joy of following God’s call is initially sweet, God often takes us out of our places of comfort and leads us into hardships beyond our imagining.
Yet God did not leave Jeremiah mired in his bitterness and disillusionment. Did you catch God speaking in the second half of our reading this morning? God calls Jeremiah to repentance and promises Jeremiah that, “If you utter what is precious … you shall serve as my mouth. It is they who will turn to you, not you who will turn to them.” In other words, “Don’t lose heart, Jeremiah. Keep testifying, focus on my mission. And people will believe you. You won’t have an easy time, but I am with you forever.” As part of the exile community, Jeremiah was forced to leave his home. He died in Egypt without ever returning to Jerusalem, but, reassured by God’s promises, he continued to speak God’s word for the rest of his life.
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Jesus is on the move again. With this morning’s reading, we are at a transition point in Matthew’s Gospel story. Jesus is ready to leave northern Israel behind. He has set his face towards Jerusalem and the events that are to transpire there. “It’s settled,” he tells his disciples, “this is God’s plan.” Like Jeremiah, Peter protests. He draws Jesus aside and tries to persuade Jesus to turn back. Still perhaps looking for a military messiah, a mighty king who would throw the Romans out of Israel, Peter can scarcely understand what Jesus is talking about. Jesus dying? Jesus, executed like a criminal? Unthinkable! And can’t we sympathize with Peter? He may not have understood what he was saying when he confessed Jesus as the Messiah, but he is rightly terrified at the prospect of his beloved rabbi dying. As are we, when we’re honest with ourselves. The Cross is always scandalous, so much so that many churches, St. Peter’s included, have no crucifix anywhere – not even in an icon!
Jesus, of course, rebukes Peter in the harshest possible terms. Jesus is on the move. He must go to Jerusalem, and he expects his disciples to leave the comforts of Galilee and follow him there. And, just to make sure that all the disciples understand that he meant what he said about dying a criminal’s death, he tells them that they can expect not only to leave their own places of comfort, but also to experience hardship as his followers, as a part of the community devoted to him. In no uncertain terms he reminds them, “If you want to be on my team, stay close behind me, be prepared to move, but don’t expect an easy time.” But just as God reassured Jeremiah that he would eventually be vindicated, Jesus also reassures his disciples of their greater life in him: “For … those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Following Jesus won’t be easy, following Jesus won’t necessarily bring them what they want or expect, following Jesus may take them out of their comfort zones, but if they follow along behind him and with their fellow disciples, they have Jesus’ promise that wherever he leads them he will be with us.
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” The sisters of the Community of the Holy Spirit can also relate to Jesus’ command. They know well where following behind Jesus can lead one. The community was founded in the early 1950s in New York City. All of its sisters, including today’s sisters, gave up other lives to join the community. Originally focused on elementary education, the community occupied a comfortable converted brownstone on 113th Street, not too far from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. However, in 1961, some of the sisters answered Jesus’ call to establish a second school and community in Brewster, NY, about fifty miles from Manhattan. As part of their work in Brewster, in 2004 the sisters were called to establish Bluestone Farm as an example of sustainable living and farming. There the sisters now plant, harvest, and store their own food and weave their own textiles. The farm has attracted resident companions, interns, and volunteers who have expanded its work. Meanwhile, in Manhattan, the sisters felt called to gradually turn the ministry of elementary education over to others, and develop new ministries in education about living sustainably, spiritual direction, retreat leadership, and guest hospitality. In 2009, they heard another call: to leave their comfortable old convent and build a new green convent. Through a land swap with Columbia University, the community received a parcel of land on the edge of Harlem. Despite the reservations of some of their well-wishers about locating in a mixed-ethnic neighborhood, the sisters embarked on building a thoroughly “green” convent near 150th street. Complete with roof-top garden, the new St. Hilda’s house now stands as an urban experiment in living in closer community with the earth. Needless to say, none of these moves and developments have been easy. The move from the old Manhattan convent to the new one in late 2010 was particularly difficult for some of the older sisters. Yet even they know that Jesus is with them and their community, wherever he may lead them. Sr. Élise, who at 90 is the oldest member of the community, described the prospect of leaving the old convent. She said, “I really don’t have my roots set down here in this house – I’ll be happy to live anywhere. I already have a reservation in another place.” Or as Meredith Kadet, a recent Bluestone Farm intern, reminded us in a meditation on her own prospect of moving, Christians are a pilgrim people, always on the move with Jesus, always following where God leads them. “We’re on the move, then, together,” she tell us. “We’re on the move because we’re part of a community, part of a universe, part of a body of God that’s on the move toward a promise.”
We’re on the move with Jesus. We’re a pilgrim people, following behind a leader whom we know will eventually lead us to Jerusalem and to the Cross. We may have hardships, we may have to leave our comfort zone, we may have to go to new and unexpected, perhaps even dangerous places. Yet we have Jesus’ promise to be with us, wherever he takes us. And Jesus’ promise is as true for us as God’s promise was to Jeremiah, as Jesus’ promise was to his disciples, and as Jesus’ promise is for the sisters of the Community of the Holy Spirit. Here at St. Peter’s, to say nothing of the rest of our lives, we too may have to leave behind beloved old structures, beloved ministries, beloved ways of doing things. We may have to begin developing ministries in places where we hadn’t expected to be. But we can do all that and more, because we have heard Jesus’ call: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
Meredith Kadet closed her reflection with the verse of an old song. Perhaps the song is appropriate for us too.
I open my mouth to the Lord
And I won’t turn back
I will go, I shall go
To see what the end gonna be.
God willing, we will all faithfully follow behind him.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Awake, Alert, Dressed for Action
“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return….”
Have many of you have ever been part of a trauma team? Probably there isn’t a person in this parish who hasn’t spent some time in an emergency room. But have any of you ever been part of the group of people in the ER who stand ready to treat traumatic cases when they come in? I have. As part of my chaplaincy internship at Children’s Hospital in Columbus, I had to be on 24-hour call in the Emergency Department. When my pager went off – often with only minutes to spare – with the rest of the trauma team I sprang into action, ready to meet the ambulance the minute it arrived. Everyone in the trauma room was dressed and ready for action. The physicians, EMTs, and nurses were in their scrubs, their stethoscopes around their necks. The pharmacist was already wheeling in a trolley of drugs. The operating room nurse was standing by ready to alert the surgical suite, the X-ray technicians were ready to prepare for a CRT or other test. The social worker and I, in my blue chaplain’s coat, stood ready to do our jobs. Between patients all of us might relax a little, chat, or get a drink, but we remained dressed and alert, ready to reassemble and spring into action the minute our pagers went off.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus warns his disciples to be like the Children’s Hospital trauma team: on the alert, ready, “dressed for action,” with “lamps lit.” All summer in Luke’s account, we have been on the road with Jesus. We have been hearing Jesus instruct his friends, the rest of the crowd, and us, about the demands of discipleship. What have we learned so far? We have learned that our commitment to Jesus is to be total, that we are to proclaim the nearness of the Kingdom of God, that we are to pray daily for even our most basic needs, and that we must put our commitment to God first in our lives. Now, Jesus shifts gears slightly. He continues his instruction by suggesting that we also must always be on the alert, “dressed for action,” ready for the “master’s return.” He uses two parables here to make his point. In the first he alludes to slaves being ready to greet their master when he comes home from a wedding banquet. In the other he warns us to guard against sudden theft. Both parables underscore the need to be on the alert. Perhaps Jesus is referring here to the final coming of God, what we call the parousia, or Second Coming, when God will finally bring in God’s Kingdom. We have no idea when that event might occur, but both parables suggest that we need to be ready for that moment when Christ will return.
One of the ways we prepare for that moment is by having faith that Christ actually will return, and that God will bring in God’s Kingdom. Our reading from the Epistle to the Hebrews suggests what such faith might look like. The passage holds up the figure of Abraham as the supreme model of faith. You remember that, although Abraham had no heir, God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars, and that Abraham and Sarah trusted God’s promises. Although Abraham and the others mentioned in today’s passage, could not actually see the fulfillment of God’s promises, nevertheless they trusted God and pressed on along the road marked out for them by God. So believing in God, trusting in God’s promises, seeing the Kingdom, if only from afar, is one of the ways that we await the Second Coming, one of the ways that we stand “dressed for action.”
But I think there is also another way. As the spiritual writer Barbara Crafton reminds us, Jesus’ coming is not just a future event. Jesus comes to us even in this middle time, this time between his Incarnation and his Second Coming. As Crafton tell us, “it could also be that Christ is coming into my life today. That Christ constantly comes into my life, steadily inhabiting every moment and every chance, consistently stands ready to fill the random things of my random life with meaning. It could be that Christ is in my life and I haven't noticed….” Indeed, Christ comes to us all the time, every day, throughout the day. We deepen our relationship with Christ and become more alert to Christ’s presence with us by cultivating disciplined practices of prayer and Scripture reading. We let Christ nourish us with his Body and Blood in the Eucharist. More importantly, we also let Christ come to us in our ethical choices and in our outreach to others. As he warns us, sometimes Christ comes when we least expect him. Sometimes Christ comes to help and support us, and sometimes Christ comes to urge us on to fuller participation in the bringing in of God’s Kingdom. However and whenever Christ comes to us, if we are living faithful, disciplined spiritual lives, we will be dressed and ready to let his grace change our lives.
Make no mistake. In commanding us to remain dressed for action, Jesus also suggests that when he comes into our lives he will call us to serve him. When the master finally arrives, the slaves leap up. When the ambulance arrives in the trauma bay, the team springs into action. When we hear Christ’s call, we too must be ready to do whatever he asks of us. And he may ask us to do something difficult or scary. He may even ask us to follow him all the way to the Cross, as he did Jonathan Myrick Daniels, whom the Church remembers this week. Daniels was a native of Keene, NH, the son of a Congregationalist physician. He became an Episcopalian during his high school years and began to sense a call to the priesthood. However, after graduating in 1961 at the top of his class from the Virginia Military Institute, he entered Harvard University with a fellowship to study English Literature. On Easter Day 1962 he had a profound conversion experience at the Church of the Advent in Boston. Hearing again, now strongly, the call to ordination, he entered the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Cambridge in 1963, expecting to graduate in 1966.
In March 1965, Christ called to Daniels. Martin Luther King, Jr. appealed to people to come to Selma to assist in a voting rights drive. Daniels went to Selma under the sponsorship of the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity. He wrote of the moment of clarity about his decision that came to him during Evening Prayer at the chapel:
“…as usual I was singing the Magnificat with the special love and reverence that I have always felt for Mary’s glad song…. I found myself peculiarly alert…. Then it came. ‘He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the hungry with good things.’ I knew then that I must go to Selma.”
Following a brief return to ETS in May, Daniels returned to Alabama to work with legal aid agencies. He was arrested with three other people on August 13 as part of group picketing local businesses. Shortly after their unexplained release from jail six days later, the four went to a local store to buy a soda. As one of them, Ruby Sales, a sixteen-year old African American girl, came up to the entrance, a deputy sheriff aimed a shotgun at her and cursed her. Daniels pushed her to the ground, saving her life. The shotgun blast killed Daniels instantly. Another of his companions, a Roman Catholic priest, was badly wounded. When Martin Luther King heard of Daniels’s death, he said, “One of the most heroic Christian deeds of which I have heard in my entire ministry was performed by Jonathan Daniels.”
Jonathan Myrick Daniels was alert and dressed for action. When Christ came to him that night at Evening Prayer, he was ready to carry out Christ’s command. What about us? Are we asleep or awake? Are we dressed in our scrubs or our pajamas? Is our pager turned on? Are we ready to receive Christ, ready to hear his call, ready to follow his bidding? Christ may not ask us to make the ultimate witness that he asked of Jonathan Daniels, but Christ does expect us to be ready to do our parts to help bring in God’s Kingdom. Are you willing to let him into your life? Are you willing to make space in your life for him? My friends, the good news is that Christ continually calls to us. Christ is continually present to us. If we remain alert, if we are “dressed for action,” he will transform us. He will give us the grace and strength to follow his commands and partner with him in the bringing in of his Kingdom.
Have many of you have ever been part of a trauma team? Probably there isn’t a person in this parish who hasn’t spent some time in an emergency room. But have any of you ever been part of the group of people in the ER who stand ready to treat traumatic cases when they come in? I have. As part of my chaplaincy internship at Children’s Hospital in Columbus, I had to be on 24-hour call in the Emergency Department. When my pager went off – often with only minutes to spare – with the rest of the trauma team I sprang into action, ready to meet the ambulance the minute it arrived. Everyone in the trauma room was dressed and ready for action. The physicians, EMTs, and nurses were in their scrubs, their stethoscopes around their necks. The pharmacist was already wheeling in a trolley of drugs. The operating room nurse was standing by ready to alert the surgical suite, the X-ray technicians were ready to prepare for a CRT or other test. The social worker and I, in my blue chaplain’s coat, stood ready to do our jobs. Between patients all of us might relax a little, chat, or get a drink, but we remained dressed and alert, ready to reassemble and spring into action the minute our pagers went off.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus warns his disciples to be like the Children’s Hospital trauma team: on the alert, ready, “dressed for action,” with “lamps lit.” All summer in Luke’s account, we have been on the road with Jesus. We have been hearing Jesus instruct his friends, the rest of the crowd, and us, about the demands of discipleship. What have we learned so far? We have learned that our commitment to Jesus is to be total, that we are to proclaim the nearness of the Kingdom of God, that we are to pray daily for even our most basic needs, and that we must put our commitment to God first in our lives. Now, Jesus shifts gears slightly. He continues his instruction by suggesting that we also must always be on the alert, “dressed for action,” ready for the “master’s return.” He uses two parables here to make his point. In the first he alludes to slaves being ready to greet their master when he comes home from a wedding banquet. In the other he warns us to guard against sudden theft. Both parables underscore the need to be on the alert. Perhaps Jesus is referring here to the final coming of God, what we call the parousia, or Second Coming, when God will finally bring in God’s Kingdom. We have no idea when that event might occur, but both parables suggest that we need to be ready for that moment when Christ will return.
One of the ways we prepare for that moment is by having faith that Christ actually will return, and that God will bring in God’s Kingdom. Our reading from the Epistle to the Hebrews suggests what such faith might look like. The passage holds up the figure of Abraham as the supreme model of faith. You remember that, although Abraham had no heir, God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars, and that Abraham and Sarah trusted God’s promises. Although Abraham and the others mentioned in today’s passage, could not actually see the fulfillment of God’s promises, nevertheless they trusted God and pressed on along the road marked out for them by God. So believing in God, trusting in God’s promises, seeing the Kingdom, if only from afar, is one of the ways that we await the Second Coming, one of the ways that we stand “dressed for action.”
But I think there is also another way. As the spiritual writer Barbara Crafton reminds us, Jesus’ coming is not just a future event. Jesus comes to us even in this middle time, this time between his Incarnation and his Second Coming. As Crafton tell us, “it could also be that Christ is coming into my life today. That Christ constantly comes into my life, steadily inhabiting every moment and every chance, consistently stands ready to fill the random things of my random life with meaning. It could be that Christ is in my life and I haven't noticed….” Indeed, Christ comes to us all the time, every day, throughout the day. We deepen our relationship with Christ and become more alert to Christ’s presence with us by cultivating disciplined practices of prayer and Scripture reading. We let Christ nourish us with his Body and Blood in the Eucharist. More importantly, we also let Christ come to us in our ethical choices and in our outreach to others. As he warns us, sometimes Christ comes when we least expect him. Sometimes Christ comes to help and support us, and sometimes Christ comes to urge us on to fuller participation in the bringing in of God’s Kingdom. However and whenever Christ comes to us, if we are living faithful, disciplined spiritual lives, we will be dressed and ready to let his grace change our lives.
Make no mistake. In commanding us to remain dressed for action, Jesus also suggests that when he comes into our lives he will call us to serve him. When the master finally arrives, the slaves leap up. When the ambulance arrives in the trauma bay, the team springs into action. When we hear Christ’s call, we too must be ready to do whatever he asks of us. And he may ask us to do something difficult or scary. He may even ask us to follow him all the way to the Cross, as he did Jonathan Myrick Daniels, whom the Church remembers this week. Daniels was a native of Keene, NH, the son of a Congregationalist physician. He became an Episcopalian during his high school years and began to sense a call to the priesthood. However, after graduating in 1961 at the top of his class from the Virginia Military Institute, he entered Harvard University with a fellowship to study English Literature. On Easter Day 1962 he had a profound conversion experience at the Church of the Advent in Boston. Hearing again, now strongly, the call to ordination, he entered the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Cambridge in 1963, expecting to graduate in 1966.
In March 1965, Christ called to Daniels. Martin Luther King, Jr. appealed to people to come to Selma to assist in a voting rights drive. Daniels went to Selma under the sponsorship of the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity. He wrote of the moment of clarity about his decision that came to him during Evening Prayer at the chapel:
“…as usual I was singing the Magnificat with the special love and reverence that I have always felt for Mary’s glad song…. I found myself peculiarly alert…. Then it came. ‘He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the hungry with good things.’ I knew then that I must go to Selma.”
Following a brief return to ETS in May, Daniels returned to Alabama to work with legal aid agencies. He was arrested with three other people on August 13 as part of group picketing local businesses. Shortly after their unexplained release from jail six days later, the four went to a local store to buy a soda. As one of them, Ruby Sales, a sixteen-year old African American girl, came up to the entrance, a deputy sheriff aimed a shotgun at her and cursed her. Daniels pushed her to the ground, saving her life. The shotgun blast killed Daniels instantly. Another of his companions, a Roman Catholic priest, was badly wounded. When Martin Luther King heard of Daniels’s death, he said, “One of the most heroic Christian deeds of which I have heard in my entire ministry was performed by Jonathan Daniels.”
Jonathan Myrick Daniels was alert and dressed for action. When Christ came to him that night at Evening Prayer, he was ready to carry out Christ’s command. What about us? Are we asleep or awake? Are we dressed in our scrubs or our pajamas? Is our pager turned on? Are we ready to receive Christ, ready to hear his call, ready to follow his bidding? Christ may not ask us to make the ultimate witness that he asked of Jonathan Daniels, but Christ does expect us to be ready to do our parts to help bring in God’s Kingdom. Are you willing to let him into your life? Are you willing to make space in your life for him? My friends, the good news is that Christ continually calls to us. Christ is continually present to us. If we remain alert, if we are “dressed for action,” he will transform us. He will give us the grace and strength to follow his commands and partner with him in the bringing in of his Kingdom.
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