Easter Sermon MMXIII: St. John's Lancaster

The Lord is risen indeed!

Another Easter is upon us, and the message remains as true as ever.  The tomb is empty and Jesus has triumphed over our greatest enemy- death.  It sounds distant and rather empty to many of us moderns, because we have insulated ourselves from at least the outward trappings of death.  We speak of "passing on" and "going to a better place."  We often shield our children from funerals and even from the odd visit to the nursing home or hospice center with the well intentioned desire that they remember great grandma "as she was."  Many times, we don't even bury our own dogs and cats anymore, preferring to "let the vet take care of it."  And so in many ways, death does not produce that immediate gut wrenching terror that it did for our grandparents or great grandparents. 

And yet death is still with us.  We try to convince ourselves that it is just a part of living, and that it is a part of the natural order.  But the Scriptures teach us that it is a terrible thing, and a departure from God's initial plan for us in creation.  It was because of sin, that is, choosing our way instead of God's, that death entered the world, and when Christ returns the next time, it will be done away with for ever and ever.  You see, God's original intent was for us to live in the garden with him forever, and to walk in perfect harmony and health.  Imagine such a place, where all creatures live together in harmony and peace, and where no one has less than they need.  It sounds a bit like heaven doesn't it, and it should, because heaven is merely the restoration of what God initially intended for us in creation.

And so understood in light of creation, death becomes that thing which brings us ill-health, dis-harmony, non-peace, want, strife, and extermination.  It is not our friend that releases us from suffering.  It is rather the enemy of all of the good gifts that God the Father intended for you and me when he put our ancestors in that beautiful garden.  And that is the wonder of Easter.  God's love for us on that first Sunday after the death of Jesus was so absolute, so complete, so powerful, that it overcame death itself and enabled Jesus to take up his life again. 

Imagine what that means.  The Resurrection of Jesus proves that God's love overcomes all of your ill-health, all of the dis-harmony and non-peace in your life.  It overcomes want, and strife, and extermination.  It allows us to realize that although Satan has been given power to walk about in this world for a time wrecking what he will, God's love has overcome his ravages, the ravages of sin and death, just as surely as Jesus overcame him when the Devil tempted him in the wilderness.  Jesus has become the first fruits of the triumph of God in this world.  His healings are the first fruits of what we can expect, and his provision for the spiritual and physical needs of people in ancient Roman Palistina show us what is just around the corner for all of us. We have every right to expect that ultimately, we will share in the completeness of His victory.

That is why it is so important for us to say "I believe in the resurrection of the body."  If it was only some sort of mythic continuation or perceived continuing influence of the spirit of Jesus' teaching, it ceases to be the proof that God's love has and can overcome the greatest and most destructive force that the world, the flesh, and the Devil can launch in our direction.  But if he really was dead, and descended into hell, leading captivity captive, and then triumphed by coming back to life, then the Resurrection of Jesus demonstrates for all time that God's love can overcome anything that might threaten to destroy you or me.  That is why our Holy Mother the Church has always insisted that the coming back to life of Jesus is actual, and physical, and true.

What is death accomplishing in your life today?  Are you estranged from someone you loved?  Has some dread disease invaded your body?  Does guilt or shame over some act past or present rob you of joy and prevent you from being friends with someone you value deeply?  Does some long standing habit or addiction shackle you?  Jesus Christ has overcome our enemy death, and all that it can do in this world.  For a short time, the enemy of our souls stalks about like a raging lion, seeking whom he may devour.  But our victory is assured, because Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy and Blessed Trinity was sent to earth by God the Father to demonstrate the full meaning of true love.  Jesus overcame death with the ill-health, dis-harmony, and non-peace that it brings.  Jesus overcame death with the want, strife, and extermination which travels in its train.  The days of death's dominion on this Earth are numbered.  As the poet said, "Death be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so...Death, thou shalt die!" 

The Resurrection of Jesus the Messiah is the proof that God 's love has won the day.  Today, we, living in the power of the Holy Spirit, are called to look beyond the realities of death's destruction with the certain hope that a new day is coming.  And we are called to live in such a way that as our lives promote peace, and reconciliation, and relief of suffering, and the banishment of aloneness, all people might see the change that Jesus has made in us, and through us in this world.  And armed with this realization, they will understand anew the love of God to all people, and be drawn to embrace him as Saviour and Lord, as Brother and Friend.

On this blessed Easter, I call on you, the people of God, to name those ravages of death in your lives.  Call them what they are, and determine boldly to confront and resist them in the Name of Jesus Christ, who has overcome death.  Bear with courage and grace those last savage assaults of our enemy the Devil, fortified with the knowledge that God's love has carried the day, this day and every day, and all the days to come.  Know that as we are faithful, God's love which raised Christ from the dead will inspire us to bear our burdens even as he bore his, and that we will rise triumphant with him at the last.  And know that by your courage, and the example of your firm reliance on him, others for whom he died will find strength to walk the path to heaven and to restoration with us and with him.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  AMEN.

Sermon for Good Friday MMXIII

Sermon: Good Friday MMXIII
Preached at St. John’s Lancaster (God willing)

Isaiah 53
Psalm 22
Hebrews 4:14-5:10
John 18:1-19:42

“Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” Grand-daughter Margaret told Mamma Monday night that “he died of our sickness.” She was more right than she could know at the age of four. It was the disease of our race, our sin, which killed him. “All we have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” There is a wonderful line in the movie “National Treasure” where the FBI agent in charge of investigating the theft of the Declaration of independence says to the protagonist, “Someone has to go to jail Ben.” As it is in the movie, so it is in real life. We have taken advantage of each other. We have killed and abused the innocent, knowingly and unknowingly. We have turned a deaf ear to the suffering of others. We have broken the sanctity of marriage as the sacrament which shows the world the nature of Christ’s love and plan for his Church by our sexual depravity as individuals and as a species. We have treated individuals made in the image of God as objects to be possessed or to be used up like commodities. We have stolen the fruits of honest labor and justified our theft by our words, attitudes, and institutions. We have scorned our role as stewards of the resources of creation and the image of God in each of us. We have in our selfishness disrespected God and each other. The list goes on and on, and all of us could add our own embellishments to it. Sin is a disease which grows out of selfishness, and immaturity, and the belief that all the world really does revolve around me. It is based in deception, and in our willingness to be deceived. All of us from Eve forward have been infected, and all of us had a hand in killing Jesus.

But it wasn’t just that we killed him. He laid down his life to pay the price for our ever so varied sins of rebellion against God. He didn’t have to, but he chose to. Somebody had to go to jail if the demands of justice were to be met. Jesus said, “I’ll go for them.” In prison and jail lingo he would have said, “I’ll catch their case- I’ll do their time.” That is the evidence of his love for you and for me. But it doesn’t end there. That same love that sent him to the cross to pay the penalty for my sins and for yours was so remarkable, so efficacious, so powerful, that it overcame the forces of rebellion and hell and death itself. All of the forces of “the world, the flesh, and the Devil” were put to flight by the reality of the love that Jesus Christ showed for us when he willingly hung on the Cross, died, and finally rose again from the dead.

That is why we call this Good Friday. There was nothing good about the execution of a good man on a hill outside Jerusalem. It was yet another example of the inevitable outcome of human sin, the sickness which infects us all. It is “good” because it was the beginning of the end of sin’s dominion in our lives. It was the beginning of the event through which God’s love brought us healing, and the ability to live into the likeness of Jesus the Messiah and to experience anew what it means to have the image of God “renewed” in each of our lives. It marks the opportunity for our habits to change, for our motives to partake in his motives, for the walls which separate us to be torn down, and for us to rise above the shame and remorse that for so long accompanied our less than godly decisions.

Let us on this sacred day remember that it was our choices and our rebellion which killed Jesus. But let us also give humble thanks for the love that led him to take upon himself all of the punishment that we deserved. Let us acknowledge in our hearts and in our actions that by his love, we have been given the opportunity to live lives of righteous obedience and justice which are pleasing to God the Father. Let us purpose in our hearts to consider anew the wonder of it all, as we anticipate the celebration of a joyous Easter Day. AMEN.

Maundy Thursday Sermon MMXIII

Maundy Thursday MMXIII
Preached at St. John’s Lancaster (God willing)

Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper"

Exodus 12:1-14
Psalm 116
I Corinthians 11:17-34
Luke 22: 1-34

Do you remember that time in your life when you finally realized what you needed to do- and how much it was going to cost you? Do you remember the uncertainty, and that inner compulsion that drove you in spite of the uncertainty? Do you remember that sense of purposeful dread as the thought died away that you wished another option was open to you, and you decided to get on to the business at hand? It must have been something like that for the disciples that night in the upper room. They had started the week with such high hopes as Jesus entered the city in fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah. And now as the week entered it’s climactic phase, they began to realize what Jesus had known from the beginning. The Passover meal was not just a family or tribal commemoration of some past defining event. It was all about sacrifice, and transformation, and God’s grace manifest in the most terrible of times. Now they began to understand that enigmatic passage from the Psalms about the death of God’s saints being blessed in his eyes.

God’s deliverance of the people from Egypt was the defining event in the life of the Jewish people. It was the common experience that bound them together and gave meaning and direction to their tribal existence. They were different from other people, not because they were better, or prettier, or could run faster or make more money or jump higher, but because God had called them and set them apart for a special mission. They were to preserve a special understanding of God’s love and grace. In what they ate and the way they dressed and how they lived and worshipped, they were the people who were designated by God to bear the Messiah, the Saviour, to all the peoples of the earth. The Passover meal was the reminder of that stark and demanding reality. It was the mechanism by which they taught their children about this special mission, and the day of remembrance which called them each year to remember that they had been chosen for this special mission. They had not chosen God. Rather he had chosen them. And even when they forgot, his commission remained valid and his demands on them were not lessened. The Passover was the reminder of how his grace came upon them that night when the death angel passed over them to demonstrate to all mankind that his favor rested upon these people who were called to do his bidding.

On that Thursday before he was crucified, Jesus ate the Passover, the last supper, with those whom he had chosen to bear the good news that the kingdom of God had come, and that Messiah had broken into history in fulfillment of all the prophesies that all people might know the love and salvation of God. No more were the promises some hope remaining in the distant future. Now they were realized as Jesus the Christ, known to his neighbors as Jesus Bar Joseph, became the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. No longer would animal sacrifices be required, for his atoning death paid the price once and for all, and by God’s faithful and gracious decree, all who name Jesus as Lord and testify that God has raised him from the dead will be saved from sin and death forever. As Jesus broke the bread and shared the cup that night, he fulfilled the symbolism of the Passover Seder for all time, and proclaimed its completion as he said “This is my body, this is my blood, whenever you come together, do this in remembrance of me.”

And so we gather tonight in obedience to his command, with thanksgiving in our hearts. We gather to face the uncertainty of our lives in the knowledge that he has saved us from sin and death, and given us a message to carry to all the nations. None of us knows yet what it will ultimately cost us, but we know that as he laid down his life for us, we are called to dedicate ours to sharing the good news with everyone we meet that Jesus lives, and that in him we can be transformed and enabled to overcome our sinful ways. The habits and weaknesses of the past can be brought under his sway and we can live as his people: victorious in this life and immortal in the next. In him we can find purpose and healing and strength for the difficulties and uncertainties of this life, and hope for the next.

Tonight, as we come to this holy place to receive this holy meal, let us remember the price of our salvation, and the seriousness of our calling. As he gave himself for us, might we follow him in faithful obedience and commit to give ourselves that all people might know the joy and peace we have found, whatever the cost. This is a night for most serious reflection. It is a night for counting the cost. It is a night for renewing our choice to love him who loved us so much that he laid down his life so that we might be forgiven and live forever. Enter with me into this time of remembrance and rededication. Stand with me and renew your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as we say together the Nicene Creed, found on page 358 of the Book of Common Prayer.

Favorite Spring Saints

Rector’s Rambling: April 2013

As I sit down to write during Holy Week, snow swirls outside my door. But the sprouting and blooming bulbs tell me that spring is just around the corner. With it comes some of my favorite Saint’s Days, and I am pleased to commend them to you.

March 31^st, John Donne, Priest and Poet

Holy Sonnet XIV

Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

April 21^st, Anselm, Abbot of LeBec, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher of the Faith

 

From his Proslogion

 

God of truth,
I ask that I may receive
So that my joy may be full.
Meanwhile let my mind meditate on it,
Let my tongue speak of it,
Let my heart love it,
Let my mouth preach it,
Let my soul hunger for it,
My flesh thirst for it,
And my whole being desire it,
Until I enter into the joy of my Lord,
Who is God one and triune, blessed for ever. Amen.


April 23d, George, Martyr and Patron of England

 

From a sermon by Peter Damien

Saint George, whom we commemorate today, moved from one kind of military service to another, exchanging the earthly office of tribune for the ranks of the army of Christ. Like a well disciplined soldier he first jettisoned the burden of his earthly possessions by giving all he had to the poor. Once free and unencumbered, and wearing the breastplate of faith, he was able to advance into the thick of the battle like a valiant soldier of Christ. From this we learn a clear lesson, that we cannot fight properly and boldly for the faith if we are frightened of losing our earthly possessions.

April 24^th, Mellitus, Bishop of London, first Bishop at St. Paul’s

From Bede’s A History of the English Church and People

In the year of our Lord 604, Augustine, Archbishop of Britain, consecrated two bishops, Mellitus and Justus. Mellitus was appointed to preach in the province of the East Saxons… When this province too had received the faith through the preaching of Mellitus, King Ethelbert built a church dedicated to the Holy Apostle Paul in the city of London, which he appointed the Episcopal see of Mellitus and his successors.

All selections are taken from Celebrating the Saints, compiled by Robert Atwell. SCM Press 2004.

Oh yes, I would be amiss if I did not include one more Christian Gentleman with the coming of Spring.  I believe a couple of pictures from Winchester Cathederal's "Great Fishy Window" and a few quotes will suffice.

The hero is of course Izaak Walton, author of "The Compleat Angler, or The Contemplative Man's Recreation"
"God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling."
"I  have laid aside business, and gone a'fishing."
"Angling may be said to be so like the mathematics that it can never be fully learned."
"As no man is born an artist, so no man is born an angler."
"God has two dwellings; one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart."

Walton's quotes are drawn from: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/i/izaak_walton.html#TrFirMH2eLKuDEKH.99

 

Thoughts on the Eve of Palm Sunday

Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion,
 and turneth the shadow of death into the morning,and maketh the day dark with night;
 that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth:
The Lord is his name... Amos 5:8

Tonight, after dinner and a movie with Rebecca, I walked up to the barn with the terriers to take care of the evening chores.  High and off to the south shone my good friend Orion, the hunter.  Since we acquired this property, he has been my constant reminder that some things, the important things, never really change.  When I was a boy, my nights were filled with dippers and bears and pole stars.  We watched meteor showers and even got out our telescopes to view the occasional passing spacecraft.  There were fewer lights then, and we saw and knew so much more about the rhythms of the night.  Now, sandwiched between the lights of Lancaster and Columbus, much of my boyhood heritage has passed from sight.  But Orion is still there, defiantly resisting the waste and congestion of modern urban evening illumination, and reminding me that in spite of all which has passed, those things which really do matter are constant in my life.

When Tristan went to Afghanistan, I would look up and remember those days when we looked together at the great Hunter.  When Ashley moved away to start her own family, I found great consolation in the fact that the Hunter was still there, with his great club raised and his shield in position to stop the ravages of lion and dragon.  I still see Orion's presence as God's gift to me, ever telling forth the permanence of those things which are eternal.

So much has changed.  The Republic to which I dedicated my life is not the same place I so gladly served.  The Church into which I was ordained is scarcely recognizable on most days.  But Orion is there, reminding me that God is still in control, and that all the forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil will never triumph against Him or his Holy Church.  Kingdoms may rise and fall.  Economies may prosper or languish.  Ecclesial bodies may serve faithfully or lose sight of their calling.  But through it all I remain an incurable, if sometimes rather jaded and cynical optimist, for God reigns and my salvation is secure in Jesus Christ.  Orion helps me to remember these great truths, and to recall a simpler time when being in touch with the rhythms that God has established in creation was perhaps a bit easier, at least for me. 

And so in closing, may God bless my wife and children and grandchildren.  May he bless St. John's and his faithful people throughout the world.  May he bless the idea that America has been and still struggles to be.  May he bless those deployed and those who wait for them.  And may he bring peace to Jerusalem, and to all the world.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  AMEN.

My Public Declaration Against Ignorance, Tyranny, and Coercion

Zerubbabel: by Guillaume Rouille

Some years ago, I assumed the dramatic personae of Zerubbabel, a prince of the house of Judah.  In that noble character, I was invested with a sword, to remind me "to deal justly by all men."  As I write tonight, that sword rests in the corner next to our family altar.  It still reminds me that all men are created in the image of God, and that I ought to respect that image in them, even when they obscure it by bad choices and worse actions.

Over the past few years, I have noticed a growing trend in the world to coerce people to behave in certain ways, and even to adopt certain opinions.  It occurs all across the political spectrum, and is especially noticeable in religion.  People observe others who do not share their opinions or ways of doing things, and withdraw from them.  Then they believe things about them which may have a grain of truth, but are largely built on unfounded suppositions and untested data.  Then they slander them publicly without ever speaking to the objects of their scorn or mistrust about their motives or actions.  They ridicule or question the faith or goodwill of any who will not join in the boycott of their perceived enemies.  They reinforce their mistrust by talking amongst themselves and reproduce their hateful attitudes in their children and ideological disciples.

Great institutions crumble as one ideological party excludes all others, and as opinions become increasingly extreme.  Control is determined to be the only way to security.  Security is valued to such a degree that liberty is curtailed in the name of safety.  And one day we all awake to discover that Orwell and Huxley were the true prophets of the last century.  We find ourselves slaves, who when asked by those in control "What is the sum of two and two?" sullenly reply, "Whatever you want it to be."

Across the centuries, many good men have assumed the character of Zerubbabel, and of Constans, and Hiram, and others.  Those men have included George Washington, Benito Juarez, Simon Bolivar, Aleksandr Kerenski, Emilio Aguinaldo, and Guiseppe Garibaldi.  They came from widely differing backgrounds, but they all believed in liberty and in the dignity of the individual human being.  They were willing to take a chance that good people working together could do great things without being forced or bullied.  I am glad to stand today in their train, and to publicly decry the growth of despotism around the world.  I am glad to publicly disassociate myself from the common practice which seeks security at the cost of liberty.  And I am glad to publicly reaffirm with them the belief that all people are worthy of respect because they are made in God's image. 

Even if a person is wrong, even if he is dangerous, our common humanity demands that we respect him for who he might become and what he might be if he lived into his creator's image.  This is not to say that the evil and the destructive should not be resisted and made responsible when they are a credible and present danger to others.  But it is to say that even the worst of us are made in God's image, and ought to have the opportunity to live into our potential via the responsible exercise of freedom, which is liberty, the birthright of us all.

This is the reminder of my sword, the sword of an Irish Knight Mason.  It is at the very heart of Freemasonry, my fraternity and that of my father.  Today, we masons are under attack by many well meaning people in the name of religion.  They repeat conspiratorial half truths, and in some instances outright lies about us.  In their fear and search for certainty and stability, they blame the Craft, or the Jewish bankers, or the opposing political party, or the foreign menace, or some alien religion or culture.  Although I count many such folks as my friends, very few of them have ever asked me to explain why I am a Mason or what we teach and believe.  I imagine my experience is not that different from that of others in many groups which have been singled out for marginalization or exclusion by members of some other group.

"The School of Athens"
by Raphael
Where the study of truth and honest inquiry led to wisdom.
An example for all of us.

In closing, I would issue a challenge to everyone who reads this posting.  Find a person who is identified as a member of a group you say bad things about.  Engage them in a spirit of honest inquiry.  Learn what they really believe and what they are really like.  Then refrain from spreading falsehoods and half truths about them.  I predict that if we all do this thing, it will be a better world, and we will learn to respect each other again.  While our differences will remain, we will not be so quick to hate or devalue each other.

What is Truth?

We are again at that time of year when the Gospel lessons remind us of Pilate's famous question, "What is truth?"  It came up last week in our youth meeting at Nick's Pizza, and I've been thinking about how to explain it to the young people of our parish in a less confusing manner.  I thought it might be helpful to share some of my as yet unorganized thoughts here as we all prepare to engage a culture where everyone seems to believe that one truth is just as good as another.

I begin by positing that "truth is a reflection of the Character of God."

• Sometimes this comes through the book of creation, which we often call "nature," or "science."
• Sometimes it comes through direct revelation in the person of Jesus, or in the Bible, which is the record of his person and work which the Holy Spirit inspired and verified through the canonization process of the Jews and the Christians.

Truth is different from "opinion."

• Truth is factual, like math or physics, or the law of gravity or of thermodynamics.
• Opinion may be possible, and on rare occasions may even be probable, but because it is based on our personal experience, perspective, and feelings (there is that awful word again!), it is unlikely to be demonstrably factual.
• Truth is the same yesterday, today, and forever- and it is binding on all men in all places.
• Opinions change with our situations and vary from culture to culture.
• The form of truth tends to follow function and actuality, while opinion tends to be of a more ideological or theoretical nature.

A few observations.

• Some day, given my family history and lifestyle, I will probably face some sort of heart surgery or angioplasty.  When I do, I want the best doctors with the best available science.  I do not intend to tell the doctor what I feel might be helpful based on my layman's understanding or based on what I think might be fair or what might make me feel the most comfortable.
• Many years ago, when my beloved in-laws used to occasionally disagree with my wife-to-be about her choice of clothes, her mother would say, "Rebecca, if everyone else were lined up waiting to jump off of Mount Pleasant, would you get in line too?"  The statement was based on the shared community experience (sometimes called scientific method) that everyone who had ever jumped or fallen off of Mount Pleasant had messed themselves up pretty badly.  Truth is often in a very real sense rather "self-evident" to steal a phrase from Thomas Jefferson.
• If I am so sure about what constitutes predictable and logical outcomes in terms of medical or other scientific truth, then why am I willing to completely change my way of understanding what constitutes truth when I consider metaphysics or religion?  Either the creeds are true and Jesus is the resurrected Son of God or he is not.  If they are, and if he is, then I ought to accept his teachings and their logical implications and act accordingly.  (If they are true, then having premarital sex or aborting a baby because it has Downs Syndrome or stealing from my employer or underpaying my employee is something akin to jumping off of Mount Pleasant!)  If they are not, then I really should just chuck this entire thing we call religion and traditional morality as a charade designed by old white men to enslave people around the world and throughout history.  By staying in the Church when I consciously reject the verity her basic teaching, I am living a lie and allowing the detractors of the Church to have a real reason to say she is filled with hypocrites.
• A word about feelings: While they are very real, and impact us in ways that are most serious, they often seem to be the personification of illogic.  What seems "fair" or "right" to me, when it grows out of my own feelings, experiences, or relationships, has in my experience led to increasingly difficult complications and eventually to bad decisions which seek to re-define the clear expectations of God revealed in Nature and Scripture, and ultimately elevate my own ego and understanding to the place of God.  In the end it becomes the idolatry of self-worship.  I can easily imagine that my friend or relative who engages in theft, murder, sexual immorality, or gluttony is different than all of those others, because his or her education or experience is tragic and relieves him or her of personal responsibility.  But such rationalization does nothing but enable more tragedy and more brokenness within our family circle.  To ignore God's revelation in science or in Christ Jesus, whether it involves jumping off Mount Pleasant or receiving sexual partners to obtain drugs, is always destructive of who and what our loving heavenly Father made us to be.

I'm out of time, and must go, but I hope this little rant helps you to frame your Holy Week considerations as it has helped me.

Mount Pleasant from the fourth turn of the Fairfield County Ohio Fairgrounds
To jump or not to jump? The choice is ours! The consequences are eternal.

Uncle Tristan! Uncle Tristan!

Last week while home on spring break, Tristan spent a couple of days with his sister and her family at their farm outside Newark.  Here he is with George, the newest addition to our family.  I thank God that all of our children and grandchildren are back here in Ohio, serving God and working hard every day.  May God bless them richly as only he can do.

For those who are interested, here are a few more shots of the Canters at home.

Pappa and George after a hard day in the oil and gas fields

the girls and Pappa at his birthday party

a tractor ride at the top of the big pasture

Lenten Meditation

The lights of Lancaster reflect on the slate gray clouds of this rainy evening,
   And the dark tracery of the trees stands like a rood screen in some great cathederal of old.
The curling smoke of Dominican tobacco curls seductively like incense,
   While Irish whiskey fortifies me against the cold of a late winter's night.

Terriers, ever faithful, walk the bounds as if rogation day is upon us,
   like choristers in a simpler time, they follow those instincts which come only from God.
And the rain falls gently, ever so gently, to bring new life to garden and copse,
   Simple reminders that the grace of a loving heavenly Father is with us still.

The father of lies savages church and kingdom, and things are not as they were,
   But here, in this hallowed place, evidence abounds that God reigns, patient and triumphant,
Ever blessing, ever blest, seerene and at peace with all he has made,
   Waiting that we might have ample time to repent and be reconciled to him through Christ our Lord.

The quiet of the night is broken only by the sound of the rain,
   And the problems of the morrow are buried in the night.

A Godly Man and True: Daniel Martins

Bishop Martins of Springfield

For some time, I've been following the thought provoking blog of one of the Communion Partner Bishops, The Right Reverend Daniel Martins of Springfield, Illinois.  He first came to my notice at the recommendation of Fr. David Halt, a priest in the Diocese of Springfield and an old Army buddy.  

Over the last few years, it has been increasingly difficult to function with integrity as a traditionalist in mainline American protestantism.  Creedal Faith is almost regularly redefined and often the authority of Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition is rejected outright in favor of personal feelings and "individual evolving truth" (whatever that means.)    For many of us in the Communion Partner Movement http://www.communionpartners.org/, Bishop Martins is proving a real inspiration and source of leadership, especially in light of the departure of the Diocese of South Carolina from the Episcopal Church.

A few months back, Title IV disciplinary charges were brought against Bishop Martins and several other bishops after they expressed theological opinions about the nature of the church in civil court cases outside their dioceses.  In the past few days, the results of the "conciliation process" were released http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=17294.

Many have criticised Bishop Martins for signing the conciliation document.  It is easy to condemn a brother in the first flush of anger, but I believe that he, and the others charged, have prayerfully done what they believe is the best for their dioceses and for the ministry to which they are called.  Bishop Martins' response to his critics can be found at http://cariocaconfessions.blogspot.com/ in his March 10th, 2013 posting, entitled "Conciliation."

Daniel, Right Reverend Father in God, know that one dinosaur here in Southern Ohio appreciates the difficulty of your situation, and your faithfulness to God in the midst of that situation. May God bless you, and give you wisdom and strength to keep the faith received.

Sincerely,
Bill Pursley+
Communion Partner Rector 

PS: You can follow the Bishop's thoughts at http://cariocaconfessions.blogspot.com/ and at http://movingdiagonally.blogspot.com/.

Sermon: The Prodigal Son (or Sons); Luke 15:11-32

Sermon for Lent IV C, Revised Common Lectionary
Preached at St. John’s Lancaster on 10 March, MMXIII
Luke 15:11-32

A Tale of Two Brothers

Today’s Gospel lesson is part of a larger series of parables Jesus told to illustrate the effusive and incredible scope of God’s love for us. He spoke to a mixed audience, which included both observant Jews and shall we say, those who were not so observant. The question arose during the discourse about Jesus’ habit of mingling with “sinners” who were certainly included among those who were less than observant. What we usually call “the parable of the prodigal son” constitutes the bulk of our Lord’s answer to those assembled that day. But when we focus on “the prodigal” son who fell into rebellion and sin, we miss a good half of the parable. In the second part of the story, we see the rather justified if hard hearted response of “big brother” to “little brother’s” return. It is in the combination of these two men that we more perfectly know God’s love and expectation for those who call upon his Name. And the lesson is just as true for us as it was for them two millennia ago.

As we start our consideration of the text, it is essential to note that the Father, who doubtless represents God in this passage, calls both boys his sons. This is important, because there is a tendency to treat this parable as two, and to look only at the half which makes our point, which is often as political as it is religious in nature. It is essential for us as Christians to consider the whole of God’s teaching if we are to follow him as he would have us to do.

One school of Christian thought, I will call those who adhere to it “the responsibility and order crowd,” considers primarily the first part of the parable. It maintains that all of those undisciplined, lazy, irresponsible, rebellious, and selfish people who walk apart from God need to admit that they are wrong, humble themselves, ask forgiveness, and change their ways. All of that is true. The second school of thought, which I will call “the sensitive, caring, peace and justice crowd,” considers the second half of the parable. It maintains that the older brother, the one who goes to temple and synagogue, keeps the holiness portion of the law, and does not gamble, smoke, drink, or kiss girls who do; has missed the whole point of the law by being hard hearted and mean spirited. He needs to admit that he is wrong, humble himself, ask forgiveness, and change his ways. All of that is true. The problem with the two schools of thought is that they only read what supports their own political outlook and social agenda. The first despises the poor and the second hates the rich. God on the other hand loves all people, and calls us all to worry about the beams in our own eyes before we move on to the speck of dust in the eye of our neighbor. I think it is especially important that we look at the reality of the fact that God’s word is for all people today, and that Jesus doesn’t single out the rich or the poor, the haves or the have not’s, in his teaching about God’s love, or about loving each other if we are to love him. If you are in the fabled “one percent” today (or aspire to be) and bear the Name of Jesus Christ, you are called by Jesus to love and understand the 47% who the politicians of your ilk say would never vote to your liking. If your heart is cast with those whom you believe have been marginalized by oppressive policies and institutions, or if you believe yourself to be among the marginalized, and if you bear the Name of Jesus Christ, you are called to reject the call to denounce and abhor what demagogues call the 1% and those whom you believe mistakenly support their unjust and oppressive practices and institutions.

God does not give us the option of loving one class of people and rejecting another. He does not allow us the indulgence of lionizing one group and demonizing another. That Jesus has the Father calling both brothers “his sons” calls you and me to realize that no one is beyond The Father’s love, and that we all have some changing to do. But what is the nature of that change? It is after all still Lent.

First, if you have a tendency to be like little brother, that is, you are the life of the party and never met a stranger, but you play loose and free with chastity, or taking care of your body, or being responsible with money or property or power entrusted to you, or with your broader responsibility to your family, or your employer, or nation, then learn from little brother in the story. Like someone in a good twelve step program, he realized that he was trapped in sin, saw he couldn’t fix it himself, came home, said he was sorry, exhibited true humility and stated his intent to not do again what he had done before. That is the expectation that God the Father has for us all. We call it the Expectation of Holiness, or Obedience.

But if you are more like big brother, that is you are always responsible, and in church, and you coach or volunteer at the school, and your bills are always paid on time, and you mow your grass to maintain property values in the neighborhood; but you are unforgiving, and judgmental, and unwilling to give a person another chance, then learn from what the story has to say about big brother. Learn to color your responsibility with mercy and start passing on to others a bit of the grace that God gave to you. Come down off of your high horse and admit in humility that Jesus died that we all might be saved, and start acting a bit more like Jesus in your relations with other people. That is the expectation of God the Father for us all. We call it the Expectation of Love, or Grace.

That’s about it for today. It doesn’t take a lot of thought or introspection for most of us to know what we need to work on. Actually, most of us probably have a bit of both brothers in us. While the Bible doesn’t say, I’ve always hoped that both boys grew up to be more like their father. Because that has always been God’s desire, that we would be more like him, living lives characterized by Love and by Holiness, by Obedience and by Grace.

Let us pray. “Heavenly Father, enable us to move beyond our presuppositions and agendas, beyond politics and philosophy, to consider the whole counsel of God. Make us ever to be humble and obedient, loving and gracious, and let us demonstrate to all the world what your love is like by how we love each other, and how we live in responsible obedience to your commands. Through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. AMEN.

Sermon for Lent IIIC, I Corinthians 10:1-13

The Third Sunday in Lent, Year C Revised Common Lectionary
I Corinthians 10:1-13
Preached at St. John's Lancaster 3 March, 2013


Our Master, Saviour, Brother, and Friend

Jesus who saves us, whatever our situation, whoever's fault it is

I hope everyone has been reading their Bibles as a part of this year’s Lenten devotion. Indeed, I hope that regular Bible reading is a habit that we all cultivate in our lives. Today’s second lesson from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians explains why reading and understanding the Bible is so important to us. He points out that the accounts we read in the Old Testament are there because God wants to give us examples of how we can receive his blessings, and he wants to give us warnings of how we can arrange for things to go terribly wrong in our lives if we choose that option.

The Children of Israel were much like all people in every age. There were very difficult times in their lives- they were slaves in Egypt. God delivered them in a mighty way, that is, he gave them a wonderful experience which would define who they were as a people and which was so memorable that they would pass the memory of it on to their children. I suppose you could call it a “conversion” of sorts. Through the plagues against Pharaoh’s Egypt, and by the miraculous passage through the Red Sea, which delivered them from their persecutors, God came into their lives in a way that no observant person could ever attribute to coincidence, or luck, or to their own wisdom or hard work. Many of us here have been in such a situation. Things had not gone so well in our lives. Problems at work, problems at home, and problems larger than our ability to cope were all around us. Some of them we could not help- a mean spirited boss, a shift in the markets or in demand for the products we sold, or some illness that seemed to come out of the blue. Other things were easier to understand, because we were participants in and witnesses to our enslavement to drink, or to money, or to illicit sexual encounters in person or on-line. Perhaps the slavery which marred our time in our own Egypt had more to do with those ongoing marginal decisions we had made thoughtlessly over the years to ignore our children or to take our spouse for granted. Perhaps we convinced ourselves that we needed a lifestyle we could not afford, and our enslavement to luxury or status led us to a worship of mammon that called us to be less than honest with our business associates and customers, and plunged us deeper and deeper into debt. But whatever the nature of our enslavement, and regardless of the degree to which it was self-inflicted, God came to us in our need. You recognized your hopeless situation and cried out with countless millions through the ages, “Lord’ have mercy on me, a sinner.” You freely acknowledged to God the mess you were in and your own part in it. And then Jesus came to you. Like that woman with the issue of blood, you reached out to touch the hem of his garment. You cried out from the depths of your heart, “Jesus! I believe that you are the Christ, the anointed one, the long awaited one, and that God raised you from the dead!” And in that moment you knew that he had heard you, and as the blood of the Everlasting Covenant washed over you, you knew that Jesus Christ had saved you from your sins, and that you were a new creature. You had crossed the Red Sea, and while many temptations and hardships remained, there was no doubt in your mind that you were bound for the promised land.

And so here we are today, on this Third Sunday of Lent in the Year of Our Redemption 2013. Like the children of Israel, we have been delivered from that sin “which so easily beset us” in former times. We are new creatures in Jesus Christ. “Old things are passed away and all things are become new.” “We can do all things in Christ who strengthens us.” But like the Children of Israel in the wilderness, sometimes our faith grows weak. Sometimes our minds wander. And sometimes we find ourselves in the middle of that mess which God calls sin, that is, the missing of the mark of God’s will. It is an archery term which is most unforgiving. It means to miss the bull’s eye. And even to the most sincere and devoted of us, “it lurks like a ravening lion, seeking whom it may devour.” The sins to which the Children of Israel succumbed in the wilderness are pretty much the same ones which tempt us today, because people are people in every age. We may have different technology and wear different clothes, but people are people. Some of them were idolaters, and their golden calf is hardly different from the desire for money or power or security which drives so many of us today. Some of them committed sexual sin, which the Bible defines as an intimate physical relationship or the lead up to the same with any person other than our spouse within the traditional understanding of marriage. They, along with all those who prayed to and danced before the golden calf were killed by the spear and sword. Some of them despised God’s provision of manna and water and flesh and reviled Moses the prophet. They were bitten by poisonous snakes, but the survivors were shown his mercy and called to repentance.

As the Scriptures today tell us, “There hath no temptation taken you but such is common to man.” You see, they were not that different from us. They worshipped money, power, entertainment, sex, good food, security and control. They thought someone else owed them something. They did not appreciate what others did. They were complainers with a noticeable set toward negativity. Again I say, they were not so different from any of us on a bad day. St. Paul says that their histories were recorded that we might have an example of how their sins brought about their downfall, and that we might see how God comes in the darkest moment to offer us deliverance and healing and a new start. The Apostle continues, “Let the person who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” It is a sobering thought, and we all know it to be true. How many times have you found the greatest temptation assaulting you when you seemed the most comfortable and perhaps even the closest to God? But all is not lost. These temptations which we face are the common lot of our species. Because the devil knows us and he knows his work, and he seeks to destroy us and our relationships with God. Life is hard and temptation is real, but St. Paul goes on to give us hope. “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” And in the midst of our temptations, in the difficulty of your own personal wilderness temptation, God will come to you and never leave you without a way to cope, and to escape the threat to your soul. It may not be an easy way. It probably will not be. But God provides a way, and he says to you as he said to so many, “your faith has made you whole. Go and sin no more.” Note that he does not say “It’s ok, you did your best,” or “I understand that it has been really hard for you, and you didn’t fall quite as hard as you did before.” He forgives, and he strengthens, and he expects our cooperative response to his saving and enabling grace. Sometimes we may fall into sin, but it is never ok. We are called to live as new creatures, and when we do fail- when we “miss the bull’s eye" - our hearts ought to be broken with remorse because we failed him who loved us and named us as his own. We ought to ask his forgiveness and work on developing those understandings and skills and disciplines which will make it likely that we will avoid that same fall in the future. And we must always remember: where God calls- he enables.

I find it very interesting that in the passage of scripture which follows today’s second lesson immediately, the Apostle to the Gentiles talks about Holy Communion. It seems that in Corinth, and in Greek society in general, there were certain economic links between pagan religion and the food supply, a sort of “Kosher in reverse” if you will. There were also real divisions between the more well off and the less well off in the local pot lucks which often accompanied services of Holy Communion. Paul employs these realities to point out to the church that when we come to communion, our hearts must be pure, a “living sacrifice” as it were, “dedicated wholly unto God.” We dare not come to Communion while harboring the sorts of sins that our common human temptations cause us to commit. He bluntly says, “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.” (I Cor 10:21) You can’t have it both ways. If you have sin in your life, for instance actions and attitudes brought on by love of money, power, entertainment, sex, good food, control, security, by a sense of entitlement, or an unappreciative spirit, or a negative demeanor, or any of those other things which are common to our race, and if you are unwilling to be sorry for them and stop doing them, then you shouldn’t come to communion today, because you can’t have it both ways. You are either God’s child, or you are not God’s child. Now I can assure you that he want’s you to come today. He wants you to receive his grace and be in fellowship with him, but to play both sides against the middle, to receive the blessed body and blood of Jesus now, with the full intent that you will continue to sin after you leave this holy place, is an affront to God. So, whatever sin plagues and tempts you today; however you struggle to “hit the bull’s eye" of God’s will for your life, determine this day to appropriate God’s grace for your specific circumstance. Tell him you are very sorry for your past failures. Tell him that with his help, the help which he promised, you fully intend not to do the same thing again. Acclaim Jesus as your Lord, and believe that God the Father has raised him from the dead. And come to this altar today to receive the precious sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Revel in the fact that you are an adopted child of God the Father, a very sibling of Jesus Christ, and that now you live in the power of the Holy Spirit. Take this knowledge with you into the world. Your faith has made you whole. Go and sin no more. AMEN.