Facing the Darkness

Sermon for August 5th
Preached at St. John's Lancaster

The Lion of the Tribe of Judah

And Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride upon King David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon. And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon. (I Kings 1: 38-39)

It was an auspicious day, for a new king had been anointed in Zion. It was the latest verification of that promise which had been given by God through the patriarch Joseph, “Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be…” (Genesis 49:8-10) The prophet Zechariah understood the prophetic nature of these utterances about the house of Judah and of David when he proclaimed “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, o daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” (Zechariah 9:9) His understanding was vindicated and the prophecy fulfilled on that day “when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.” (St. Matthew 21:1-9)

The Jewish people suffered much in the thirteen or fourteen centuries which contained these prophetic events. There were wars and rumors of wars, slavery and deportations, famines and earthquakes and fire and flood. Invasion and economic ruin were never far over the horizon. For much of that time we might apply Churchill’s description of life in Iron Age Britain that “Life is brutal and short, and then you die.” But God’s promise prevailed, and among the people, even in the darkest of hours, that hope flickered that God would remember his chosen, and that the “scepter would not depart from Judah until Shiloh come.”

And now, by virtue of our response to God, we too are numbered among His chosen people. Because ‘we have confessed our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ (I John 1:9 sic) Because ‘we have confessed with our mouth the Lord Jesus, and believed in our heart that God hath raised him from the dead, we shall be saved.’ (Romans 10:9 sic) Because ‘we have been born of the water and of the Spirit, we can enter into the kingdom of God.’ (John 3:5 sic) Because we ‘eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, we have life in us…and we dwell in him and he in us, and he shall raise us up at the last day.’ (St. John 6:53-56 sic)

Like patriarchs and prophets and kings before us, like those who are ‘unremembered…who were men of loyalty and good deeds…, whose lives led their children to stay within the covenant of God.’ (cf Ecclesiasticus 44:9-12) we find in our lives those times of dryness and disappointment, those times of difficulty and unexpected disorder, those times of darkness. But the promises of God are true. During the years when Jerusalem was in ruins and God’s faithful people wept by the waters of Babylon, they remembered the promises (cf. Psalm 137). In the most difficult of times, when they cried “Out of the depths” (Psalm 130:1), the people of God affirmed their faith that “he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.” (Psalm 130:8) Blessed Job in the midst of his infirmities and misfortunes cried out in faith “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” (Job 19:25-26)

And so should we, when life’s vicissitudes and uncertainties and unpleasantries confront us, place our hope in God, who is “our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake at the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.” (Psalm 46:1)

As war descended across Europe in the closing years of 1939, King George VI addressed the people of the Empire and of the world. He quoted from a poem by Minnie Louise Harkins and said “I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown, and he replied. Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way! So I went forth and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.”

Whatever darkness my threaten you this day. Whatever sorrow you have known or whatever difficulties you face. I bid you this day to put your hand into the hand of God in the knowledge that Shiloh is come into the world and that the prophesies are fulfilled. Jesus Christ, who bid his disciples “be not afraid” on so many occasions, gives to us the same admonition today. Praised be God, who has not allowed the scepter to depart from the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and who in his mercy and grace has named you and me to be the heirs of the Kingdom of God. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN.

A Very Difficult Day

Where it all began

I fell in love with The Book of Common Prayer while attending a regimental Chapel in the early 1970's.  By the middle of that decade, I was a regular attender at Christ Church Lexington where The Rev'd Father Moultrie McIntosh inspired me to seek God's will for my life.  The music, the liturgy, and the architecture were inspiring to say the least.  It was another 15 years before Rebecca and I decided to be confirmed at Trinity Church in Columbus, Ohio.  I knew where the church seemed to be headed, but hoped against hope that either God would send a revival or that at least things wouldn't go completely south on my watch.  I really did know better, but I have always been a bit of a niave optimist.  I suppose it has something to do with my desire to avoid conflict as much as I can (and more than is healthy.)  And now here we are.

This morning, when I read Canon Jim Lewis' letter on the Diocese of South Carolina's website http://www.diosc.com/sys/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=435:bishop-lawrence-meets-with-clergy-of-the-diocese-of-south-carolina-following-general-convention&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=75, I had a gnawing sense that my world was falling apart around me.  Somehow, knowing that South Carolina was there and ever so orthodox has long been a source of comfort to me.  It seemed to confirm that my decision to stay in the church was right and true.  I am still here and so are they, but somehow the sensation of finality seemed and still seems to cover me like a shadow. 

I've spent a lot of time today thinking about what might have been.  Generally that is a very bad thing to do, but as a part of my grieving process, I decided to indulge myself a bit today.  During my musings, I came across the following analysis in The Beauty of Holiness: The Caroline Divines and their Writings, by Benjamin Guyer.  "James VI and I proactively sought peace with his European neighbors and also sought to pave the way towards an ecumenical council.  The king cultivated relations with groups as diverse as the Greek Orthodox and Dutch Reformed churches, and sought to use the French Protestant Synod of Tonneins as the basis for reconciliation between the Lutheran and Reformed churches.  He also sent a small delegation to the reformed Synod of Dordrecht (Dort) in 1618-19.  Royal involvement in each of these was due to the king's conciliarism."  Here was a good man with lots of issues and situations (King James) doing his best to do what he believed was right.  Almost none of it worked out in the long run, but he did the best of things in some of the worst of times. 

I have found real comfort in his example today.  I do hope I can do as well in being faithful to my vows as a priest as he was to his as a king.  Many years ago, I had the following exchange with Bishop Thompson:
The Bishop says to the ordinand
Will you be loyal to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of
Christ as this Church has received them? And will you, in
accordance with the canons of this Church, obey your bishop
and other ministers who may have authority over you and
your work?
Answer
I am willing and ready to do so; and I solemnly declare that I
do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments
to be the Word of God, and to contain all things necessary to
salvation; and I do solemnly engage to conform to the doctrine,
discipline, and worship of The Episcopal Church.
Things have changed a great deal since that day.  Things changed a great deal today.  I would argue that the General Convention of the Episcopal Church has indeed "Walked Apart" and would agree with Bishop Lawrence that it would be wrong for me to act as if everything were "business as usual."  But my promise to Bishop Thompson, who stood in the place of Jesus Christ, still stands.  It is still as valid and binding as my marriage vows to Rebecca and as my vow to "Uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic." 

And so at the end of this day, I do not know what the future holds, but I know that I will be true to my vows.  I will pray for Bishop Lawrence as Canon Lewis requests.  I will be faithful to Jesus Christ and to these people among whom he has been pleased to place me.  As Martin Luther said, "Here I stand, I can do no other.  God help me."

Dealing with Disappointment

Proper 6B, Third Sunday After Pentecost, Second Sunday After Trinity
Preached at St. John’s Lancaster 17 June, 2012

I Samuel 15:34-16:13
Psalm 92
II Corinthians 5:6-17
Mark 4:26-34

Disappointment, and the grief it produces, can be a terrible thing. Samuel was not the only one to experience that reality. Saul had been everything anyone could want in a king, and Samuel had been especially blessed to have had a role in his call and in his training. The young monarch was good looking, strong, well spoken, and brave. And in the end those things made him trust in himself more than he trusted in God. The results were predictable: pride, followed by arrogation of power both spiritually and personally, followed by jealousy, followed by paranoia, followed by violence, followed by rejection from office by God, followed by death. Along the way, Samuel remembered the good days before all of those things started to happen, and he grieved for Saul, and he grieved, and he grieved. Have you been there? Are you there? The loss of a loved one, bad health, or difficult relationships all have the potential to rob us of joy and preoccupy us with grief over our loss and our changed situation.

I believe today’s lessons provide us with some important guidelines for dealing with the kind of grief that consumes us when we experience some great loss, and I hope you will walk through the Bible Propers with me today with an open heart, that we all might begin to receive that healing God wishes for his people.

First- we must all remember that grief is a normal response to loss. Jesus wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus. It is also an appropriate response to the immanence of a changing situation, one of those things which will change the way we have lived. Jesus, you remember, sweat great drops of blood as he prayed in the garden on that night before he was crucified. You may remember that Jesus also cried out over the city of Jerusalem, and expressed his grief over the coming destruction of the inhabitants of that city. There is nothing wrong with expressing those dreadful feelings that sometimes assail us all. Certainly we are allowed to address our emotions, and sometimes the intensity of our emotions prevents us from healing in a short period of time. I’m not a psychologist, but in one of the dark periods of my life, one told me that human emotional pain can take up to a couple of years to heal, and sometimes our lives can be dominated by grief and sorrow for weeks or even months before we begin to heal and return to some semblance of balance and joy.
With that said, how do we begin the process of returning to some semblance of normalcy after a great loss in our lives? Samuel got a good start when God reminded him that the new reality was here to stay. Saul was rejected- and that was not going to change. Sometimes I really wish I could talk with my dad again, but he is dead and I will not see him until we rise together to meet Jesus in the air. All of the wishing and crying in the world will not bring him back. I did both of those things for a while, and that was normal and ok, but in due time I had to let him go. It is the way of nature- it is the way of God. Sometimes Mom asks me why he had to die. My answer is simple. He was ninety years old and he had cancer and he died. There are many things in this sinful world that I might like to change, but I am not God. (Some of you are probably thinking that that is a good thing- I agree with you.) Reality is something that we can’t really change, and it behooves us to come to terms with it.
After calling the Prophet to a reality check, God gave him a mission. Samuel had several questions about it. He was afraid, and rightly so, because Saul was still the king and would probably see the mission as an act of treason. And Samuel really didn’t know what he was looking for in this brave new world. But God gave him something to do. There comes a time in our grieving process that we must get up and get active. It is not easy, not for Samuel and not for us. But if we sit and mope we become morbid and the willingness to live goes out of us. In the old days, there were set times for mourning where family members wore black and limited their social contacts. At the end of the period of mourning, they changed their clothes and resumed their customary activities. It was not such a bad custom, because it provided a known framework for re-entering regular human activity after setting aside time for seriously mourning the loss of a loved one. Today, we do not have formal guidelines for when we should be getting back in the saddle after a time of grief, but I am told by my friends who claim to know about such things that by the end of three of four months we should be out and active again, even though we realize that things will not be as they were.

And so lets review:
It is normal to grieve when there is a big change in our lives.
After an appropriate time of grieving, we need to come to terms with the reality that our reality has changed. That takes a bit of time, several weeks at the least.
In order to experience a return to wholeness, we should get busy in some purposeful way after an appropriate time of sorrow. While everything will not be back to business as usual, by month four, we should be beginning to return to some sense of productive purpose in our new reality.

But, grieving and facing reality and being purposely busy are not nearly enough to overcome the hurt that accompanies the significant changes in our lives. You know that and so do I. Our second lesson, the one from Second Corinthians, gives us the real secret to moving on with our new reality. It calls us to a renewed faith that God is in control and that he has a plan for each and every one of us. “We are always confident…for we walk by faith, and not by sight…for the love of Christ urges us on…he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” It is not after all about just bucking up and staying busy. That is a very shallow way to deal with grief. Those things had their place in Samuel’s life, and they have a place in ours, but the reason that methodology worked is because Samuel, like Paul, believed that God holds us all in the palm of his hand. He believed that God “keeps us as the apple of his eye and hides us under the shadow of his wing.” His faith and his experience worked together to convince him that God does love us, and that because of his love we are new creatures. In God’s love, we are able to view life with a sense of forward looking optimism which enables us to keep the events of our lives in perspective. We value the past, and we treasure much about it, but because Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, we know that the death and sorrow and hurt of our past is redeemed as is his own death and sorrow and hurt. He bore our sorrows on the cross, and brought to us healing and forgiveness and hope, and therefore we live for him. We no longer see people and events in the same light. We see them in a new and blessed light, because “the old has passed away- everything has become new.”

It sounds good, but on a bad day it still hurts so bad. And that is why Jesus said in today’s Gospel that it only takes a tiny amount of faith to begin to walk into this new creation of God. Even faith as small as a single mustard seed is capable of growing into a much larger and more peace giving faith. Jesus loves you, and he wants you to be healthy and functioning, not bound by never-ending grief or morbid inactivity. He does not demand that you get your house in order to receive his gift. He merely says to believe a little, like the mustard seed. Don’t worry about what you don’t have, rather bring what you do have. You believe that Jesus died for you and was raised from the dead. And so now you can live above that human point of view that perhaps has characterized your life. You can accept his gift of new creation. There will still be days when you remember the past with fondness and some sense of sadness, because your disappointment and loss, like that of Samuel, was great. But by God’s gift and grace, you will find a spiritual peace which will enable you to experience that new creation where purpose, and future focus, and peace are the norm. And as you experience this new creation which comes from believing in Jesus, you will sing with the Psalmist our Psalm appointed for today:

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy Name, O most High:

To show forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,

Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.

For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.

O Lord, how great are thy works!

Might God do a work in our hearts today that will make each of us abundantly aware that we are a part of his new creation in Jesus Christ. And might each of us heed the practical examples of today’s lessons and respond to his grace
By honestly experiencing our grief
By acknowledging our reality
And by living lives of purposeful activity.

In the Name of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Peace Amidst the Unexpected

This is not a picture of innocence
Rumbling Thunder, aka "Squirt" as a four year old

There are two rules that country folks take for granted:
1. Good fences make good neighbors.
2. Always close the gate.

As Rebecca and I have developed Briarwood (our home) over the last fifteen or so years, we have tried to be very careful about fencing, but even the best fences cannot do their job if you leave gates open.  Earlier this week, I opened the back gate to the main production plot on the west side of the barn to water the tomatoes, spinach, turnips, potatoes, horseradish, sunflowers, cucumbers, squash, and beans planted there.  From there, I pulled the hose to another location and hooked it into a drip irrigation system and went back to the house. 

When I got home from Columbus later that evening, I noticed that the gate was jammed open against the end of the chicken coop.  I had given her an inch and she had taken a mile.  Squirt had wedged herself between the rail fence and the edge of the barn, managed to make the turn into the production patch in spite of the closeness of the chicken coop to the gate, and proceeded to eat about a third of a row of beans.  She must not have liked them, because then she reversed her location and left without trampling anything else, and when I got home was waiting to come back into the barn for her evening ration of oats and sweet feed. 

When I was a younger man, I probably would have gotten mad, but now I am old, and so I just laughed, replanted the beans, and gave my lovely old pony her grain, along with a bit of a curry.  After all, the mistake was mine.  She was only doing what instinct and curiosity and lack of supervision dictated that she do. 

Very few things in this life are as important as I thought they were when I was younger.  I want to bring a bit of beauty to this place where God has put me.  I want to encourage people to experience the wonders of liberty responsibly and in a manner which is pleasing to God.  I want to live in a way which will encourage my children and grandchildren to want to follow Jesus and get to heaven.  I want to spend every day God gives us with my wife. 

From time to time, other ponies break into the garden of my life and make a bit of a mess of things.  I've found it best just to find the humor in it all, make the necessary corrections that I can control, and move on to do what needs to be done.  It is a formulae for contentment in life.

And next time, I'll remember to close the gate!

This Sunday's Sermon: Pentecost II, AD MMIX

With Thanks to Christy for her encouragement to post this lesson, here it is!

Pentecost II Proper 6 14 June 2009
I Samuel 15:34-16:13

May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts, be alway acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer. AMEN.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PLANS GO ARWY?

Samuel the prophet had a problem. When he was a young man, the people of Israel had come to him and asked him to anoint a king over Israel, one like the other nations had. He had warned them that a king would draft their children and raise their taxes. When God told him to give the people what they wanted, his heart was broken because of the people’s rebellious attitudes towards the Lord.

In keeping with the faith and practice of the Hebrews, a king was chosen by drawing lots. Saul was strong, tall, handsome and athletic; and seemed to be a humble and devout man. But as time went on, this king whom Samuel had anointed grew prideful and dictatorial. He finally shook his fist at God by arrogating to himself the office of the Priesthood. The king begged for forgiveness, but he had gone too far. God rejected him as unfit for kingship “and Samuel never saw Saul again to his dying day, but he grieved for him, because the Lord had repented of having made him King over Israel.”

Have you ever had such a loss? I daresay most of us have. After so much hard work and happy dreaming, our plans are dashed on the rocks of unforseen occurrences. Today’s Old Testament lesson is an historic account of how the Lord called Samuel to proceed with the business of the Kingdom after the devastating rejection of King Saul. I believe that in it, God gives us a model for dealing with the disappointments in our own lives.

God said to the Prophet Samuel, “I am sending you” to:
1. overcome your inaction, to get up and move!
2. overcome your fear, to develop a plan!
3. overcome your prejudice, see it God’s way!
4. overcome your impatience, and persevere!

It is foundational that Samuel starts with a faith that God is acting in his life; that God is ultimately calling the shots. Whether we recognize it or not, that is as true in all of our lives as it was in Samuel’s. God is even working through the bad things in our lives to accomplish his purpose for mankind and to prepare us for heaven.

And so we start with faith, the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. With that faith we approach the numbing and debilitating inactivity that so often accompanies grief and disappointment. The Lord tells Samuel “fill your horn of oil and take it with you, because I am sending you out to do my work!” All of the work we do is God’s work; from the honest godly toil of the laborer to the ministrations of the priest at the altar, from the classroom to household chores, it is all God’s work, and you and I are called to get up and do it to God’s glory.

Samuel points out that there is significant risk involved. “If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” God then dictates the outline of a plan, which if properly executed, will minimize the risk and ensure the success of the mission. A good plan takes every contingency into consideration. It exercises our minds and calls for bold and flexible execution, and like the action called for in step one, it helps to keep our minds off of a past we would prefer to forget.

Saul had been a mighty king and a giant of a man. Samuel could hardly be expected to anticipate any other type of candidate for the office. But God called him beyond his expectations and his prejudices and his experiences. “Pay no attention to his outward appearance and stature…the Lord does not see as a mortal sees; mortals see only appearances, but the Lord sees into the heart.” Are you willing to see beyond the ghosts of the past in order to find deliverance and knowledge of the blessings of God? Along with faithful action and a good plan that addresses our fears, it is the third step of God’s way to see beyond our own expectations.

Finally, after Jesse had brought all of his boys for the prophet to see, Samuel asked, ”are these all the sons you have?” Had the prophet taken a shortcut in his impatience, David would not have been anointed King of Israel that day. Sometimes we are tempted to take a shorter path, but in God’s economy, we are called to perseverance as we wait for the blessing.

In the life of Samuel the Prophet, God gives us a way to approach the very real disappointments in our own lives:
1. He calls us to have faith that he has a plan for each of us, and he expects us to put some muscle into the accomplishment of that plan.
2. He calls us to think through the implications of our actions or lack thereof, and to develop a good plan for pushing through our fears.
3. He calls us to broaden our vision to see the possibilities of his grace, and never to be held back by the terrifying, or the comforting ghosts and memories of the past.
4. He calls us to persevere in the face of every difficulty, in the sure knowledge that whoever endures to the end shall be saved.

So may it be among all the people of God. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN.