Easter 7- Year A

Here is my sermon for the seventh Sunday of Easter on May 24, 2020.  The readings for this sermon are Acts 1:6-14; 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

May the meditations of my mind and all our hearts be pleasing to you, God, our rock, and our foundation. Amen

Taking scripture out of context and applying it how we want always works out well for everyone... Right?  Of course not, but if you will indulge me, that’s kinda what I am going to do...

Today’s epistle is a piece of scripture that is often used out of context.  The idea of rejoicing in your suffering has been used to keep people suffering for thousands of years.  I know that the kind of suffering we are all experiencing now is not what Peter was talking about.  He was not addressing COVID-19 or any other kind of global pandemic.  However, when I read this lesson and reflected on it, parts of it really jumped out at me in a way that I needed to hear and reflect on.  One thing I have learned in my journey of discernment is not to ignore the signs of the spirit, so let me share with you those parts and my reflections on them.

“do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you”

·       Maybe because something strange IS happening to us!  This is unlike anything that has ever happened to any of us.  There is no textbook or training for all of this. Sure, it could have been handled better, but even the Spanish Flu and other similar situations are vastly different than what we are experiencing

“So that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is

revealed”

·       For me, this was about much more than the shouts of “Hooray!  It’s all over!”  I have seen a lot of discussion that suggests using this time in which our schedules are mostly cleared of all of our extracurricular activities as a time to evaluate which of these activities we resume when this is all over.  Similarly, these words also give me hope that all this tragedy & hardship will help me to recognize the blessings in my life and live life fuller and more richly when the new normal is here.

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he

may exalt you in due time.”

·       Through the lens of this COVID-19 world we are all in, Is Peter telling us to put the needs of others ahead of our own desire and stay at home going out only if we must so all this must end?  I’m going with YES!

“Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.”

o   Yes, this is the goal, but it is so much easier said than done.  We have all heard this sentiment in various forms, “Let go and let God,” “God will provide,” and, to be honest, taken at face value this sentiment has always been a bit of a challenge for me.  I need to be doing something.  I need to help.  I need to feel useful.  I can’t just sit here but I don’t believe that God wants us to just sit and wait for him.  It’s important to give our worries up to God so we can recognize what he is providing.  But God does not provide groceries... Peapod is not going to just show up at my door with an order that is not mine.  HOWEVER, God does provide opportunities for us to take action.

“Discipline yourselves, keep alert”

·       These are two different instructions.  Not only must we pay attention to ourselves, but we must check in with each other and be willing to throw a lifeline when the tide sweeps up our brothers and sisters.

“Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.”

·       This line immediately made me think of my father once saying someone, probably me, was “eaten up with anxiety.”  Therefore, we must trust God and take life one day at a time.  I know that is another good one from the “easier said than done” list, I have anxiety issues, I get it but it’s when we give into our anxiety and go down that rabbit hole to a dark place, that we are most vulnerable to the roaring lion.

“And after you have suffered for a little while... Christ will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.”

·       This was a reminder to me that this is temporary!  We will get through this...  this too shall pass.

Until it does pass, we continue to look to God for help and guidance during troubled times, but sometimes we need our gaze adjusted.

In today’s first reading, the disciples watch as Jesus ascends to heaven on a cloud.  As they are standing there, angels ask what they are doing.  They ask, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”  Talk about confusing... we’re looking up to heaven... where Jesus just went... and you’re asking us why we’re looking up there because that’s where he’s coming back from??

One of the things I do when I stumble onto a scripture passage that I am struggling with, is turn to other translations.  Not a lot of help with this one... until I opened Eugene Peterson’s The Message.  In Peterson, verse 11 says “This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly- and mysteriously- as he left.”  “and mysteriously” That is helpful.  Next, I turned to another source I have grown quite fond of when it comes to the New Testament.  The textbook An Introduction to the New Testament (creative title, I know).  In it, M. Eugene Boring... yeah... I can’t help but think he would probably sell more books if the spine of the book didn’t say BORING in large bold capital letters...  Anyway, Boring says, “Jesus’ followers are not to be continually peering upward into the heavens awaiting his return.  The gaze of Jesus’ followers is shifted ninety degrees, reoriented outwards to ‘the ends of the earth’ where they have a job to do.”

So, should we not look to God during this global pandemic?  I am not saying that.  Absolutely we pray for guidance.  We pray for a cure.  We pray for those who have been affected by this virus in all the ways they have been affected.  However, in a time such as this, we should not be looking up to find Jesus, we should be looking out.  We need to find Jesus in others, and that is no easy task!  Where is Jesus in the murderer?  Where is he in the active shooter?  I don’t know...

Where I see Jesus during this pandemic is not JUST in the essential workers.  I certainly do see Jesus in these brave workers... In the nurses, doctors and first responders.  I see Jesus in the grocers keeping the stores open, the delivery people brining us food from our local restaurants who so desperately need our business, the truck drivers making sure that what we need when we shop from home gets to us, and the teachers working to adapt to our current environment in a way to keep our kids engaged and learning.  Thank you to these and all essential workers.  You are heroes and you deserve so much more than the title of “hero,” a cape and a fly over by the Blue Angels.  What you deserve is a living wage... but that’s a different soapbox for another sermon.

So where else can we find Jesus?  When I look at the world in quarantine, the Jesus I see is Jesus at one of the moments of his purest and most raw humanity.  I see Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane crying out to his father.  Begging God to “remove this cup.”  Jesus was fully divine and fully human, and what can be more human than fear?

What do I see in this world?  I see God’s children scared of what is to come.  Scared of what will happen to their jobs, or if they will find another one.  Scared and trying to figure out how to put food on the table for their kids.  Scared of what life on the other side of COVID-19 will look like.  We are all scared, but we must adjust our gaze and look to each other and look out for each other.

Stranger God by Richard Beck is a book about “meeting Jesus in disguise.”  The book focuses on finding Jesus in the marginalized, the oppressed, the refugee, the homeless, the prisoner.  But we can also take Beck's challenge to find Jesus in disguise in those who don’t fit into these categories.

From what I can tell, fear is the root of just about everyone’s reaction to this pandemic, even if we don’t agree with those reactions, or understand them.  I can understand that when a loved one lashes out that it is out of stress... anxiety... frustration... fear.  But we must remember that people are afraid of change.  Change is hard, but change is inevitable.  Change is scary.  And so is uncertainty.  So frightening that they rush to return to normalcy.  They are quick to make decisions which, personally, I believe are rash, careless and dangerous.  They gather in large groups at the beach.  They protest social distancing and put pressure on the law makers to open their state.  But they do this because they are scared.  They want things to be as they were before.

Yeah... So, do I!  But things will never be as they were before.  And no matter what the “new normal” looks like, we will adapt.

To be clear:  I am not condoning the actions that I have mentioned.  I believe that this pandemic is serious and that we need to listen to the experts.  I believe that reopening too much too soon is careless and selfish.  Trust me, I long for things to be reopened... to go back to work... to go see a play... to be standing in the nave with all of you worshiping or in the parish hall having coffee.  But at what price?

My prayer for you this Sunday... for US this Sunday, is that we all TRY to remember that it is not just those sheltering at home or going to work on the frontlines who are scared.  I pray that we recognize that we all are scared, and, even though it may not seem so, we are all suffering together.  I pray that we are able to recognize Jesus in everyone during this global pandemic, even those we don’t agree with.  Those are the people in whom we need to find him the most.

In the name of one God, creator, redeemer, and sustainer.  Amen.

Lent 4- Year A

Here is the sermon I would have delivered at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Burke, VA had plans not changed due to COVID-19.

-Jess

The readings for the day can be found at https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=27

May the meditations of my mind and all our hearts be pleasing to you, God, our rock and our foundation. Amen

We all walk on a pilgrimage to a meaningful relationship with God, but what needs our focus is not the goal, it’s the journey.  The journey can be clear at times and dangerous at others.  Sometimes simple and sometimes difficult to face.  The journey also has many steps we do not understand and many surprises.  Regardless, Jesus walks with us, not because he needs to, but because wants that relationship with us.

This morning the lectionary gives us stories of light and dark.  Specifically, stories of God calling into the light... and there is a lot to preach on in that vein.  We could talk about being children of the light and who is in the light and who is in the darkness in our Gospel.  Instead I want to focus on the journeys of two heroes in our stories. 

These are journeys of seeking truth and trying to understand what God has in store for these men and those around them: Samuel is trying to discern which of Jesse’s sons is chosen by God and the Pharisees are trying to figure out why Jesus would give sight to the blind sinner.  Both stories also end with an element of surprise.

In the first reading we hear the story of God sending Samuel on a journey to find the one He has chosen to replace Saul as king.  That shouldn’t be that dangerous, right??  Wrong!  King Saul is alive and well and quite happy as King, even if God is not happy with him as king.  If he finds out what Samuel is doing, he will kill him!

So, Samuel embarks on a dangerous journey with the faith that God will protect him… He will guide him “along pathways for his Name’s sake.”  He ventures to the house of Jesse risking his life.  Jesse parades his sons in front of Samuel so Samuel can declare which one the Lord has chosen.  This scene has always reminded me of Cinderella when the sisters are being paraded around to try on the slipper.  I’m not calling Jesse the wicked stepmother, but the parent parading their children to be chosen for a great honor...  what's more, we come to find out that the chosen one is not even in the line up!  Surprise!  It’s the boy out sitting with the Sheep!

Also like a fairy tale, we have a moral in this story.  “for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”  This is a wonderful moral and something we all try to teach our children.

“Don't judge a book by its cover”

“It's what’s on the inside that counts”

Of course, then God’s chosen one comes out and we find out he looks like Zac Effron with his “ruddy” and “handsome” looks...  but that is beside the point.  Luckily, God saw that David’s heart and soul were as beautiful as his eyes.

In our gospel reading we see Jesus heal a blind man, who, along with his family, is interrogated about it over and over.

Now a quick disclaimer… I am going to admit that there is a lot of Boring in the rest of this sermon.  Having just finished a class on the New Testament, it was bound to have some Boring.  You see, in preparation for the official beginning of my formation leading to, God willing and the people consenting, to my ordination to the vocational diaconate, I decided to get a head start on my academic work.  I took an online class through Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkley.  Starting with just one class at a time, I chose An Introduction to the New Testament.  The textbook was Boring.  No.  Literally.  The text was An Introduction to the New Testament by M. Eugene Boring!  Right here on the spine of the book… BORING… An Introduction to the New Testament.  Now, I have to say that if I were a textbook author and, one would assume, a lecturer in my own right, I might choose a pseudonym to write and teach under!

That said, I found the Boring to be anything but, so it was the first place I turned after reading the lessons for today.  Two things in Boring’s text jumped out at me as I read the section on John, Chapter 9.

The first is that the man was blind from birth.  John makes sure we are aware of this.  In the course of the story, it is mentioned seven times.  In preparing a role in a musical theatre piece, directors often remind performers that if a lyric is repeated, there is a reason… don’t just repeat it. I have always found scripture to be the same way.  So why is it repeated?  Boring tells us that this is to point out something different from the other times Jesus has healed people.  Since he was born blind, his sight was not restored, it was given.  “Jesus’ life giving power does not only restore what is lost” (p691); He gives us what we never had to begin with.  “What Jesus does for the blind man, is what God does for the world in the Christ event”. It is through Christ’s death and resurrection that we are given everlasting life.

The second thing in Boring that caught my attention was the journey of this blind man.  This man goes from being a blind beggar to a sighted disciple of Jesus in a matter of hours and believe it or not, this journey has lots of steppingstones.

1.    He was a blind beggar who was suddenly given sight by a passerby.  There is nothing in the text to indicate that he had even heard of Jesus.  Possibly he had heard rumblings of what was going on, but its important to note that this man did not ask Jesus to be healed.  It is just offered and given.  Frankly, if we take the text at face value, he was minding his own business when a man spits on the ground, rubs this mud in his eyes and tells him to go wash in the pool… Now here is where I think it is not unreasonable to think that he might have known who Jesus was… HE DOES IT!  He goes and washes in the pool with the faith that he will be healed.  THAT is an amazing act of faith for someone who is not already a disciple!

2.    Now he is quizzed about what happened and who does he say did it? “The man called Jesus”

3.    Next, he is interrogated by the Pharisees who are already upset with Jesus because he has been healing on the Sabbath, which we know from Mathew, Mark and Luke, they find to be against the law of Moses.  Now, when asked by the Pharisees about it, the man formerly known as the blind man, refers to Jesus, who was “the man” the first time now as “a prophet.”  The Pharisees try to piece together who Jesus is, what he is doing and why he would choose a blind sinner to be the recipient of such a gift of salvation.

4.    Now his parents are called into questioning.  They confirm he was born blind and then essentially say, “what happened?? He’s a grown man… go ask him!”  Again, this phrase is repeated.  Its repeated after the explanation of how dangerous this line of questioning is.  Just like Samuel’s journey to Jesse’s house, there is a lot at stake here!  This time when we hear “he is of age, ask him” it resonates with the gravity of the situation.

5.    Now when the formerly blind man is questioned… again, “I have told you already and you would not listen.” (Here, in my opinion, he starts to get a little sassy, and I love it!)  “Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”  You keep asking me about him… do you want an application??  The man understands that they have already made up their mind and nothing he says will convince them.  However, here we witness the next step in this man’s journey.  He identifies Jesus as being “from God.”

6.    The Pharisees did not enjoy his sassiness as much as I do, as they excommunicate the man, which is no real surprise.  Because the man was born blind, he was deemed a sinner since birth… or even before his birth.  It would not be uncommon for people to have believed that he was blind because his mother sinned while he was in the womb.  Even the disciples believe this to be true and ask Jesus about it at the beginning of the gospel. 

7.    Now the formerly blind man finds Jesus who reveals to him that he is the Son of Man, to which our friend says, “Lord, I believe.”  His relationship with Jesus is now solid and the man begins his new journey as a follower of Christ.

8.    Finally, Jesus schools the Pharisees on who is ACTUALLY blind.  SURPRISE!  It’s them, not the man!

The blind man understands Jesus’ true identity gradually through the story.  Jesus goes from “man” to “prophet” to “man from God” and, finally, “Lord.”

This man’s journey and relationship with Christ reminds me of my own journey, and I am willing to bet, is also very similar to many of yours.

Our earliest memories of Jesus are what?  Bible stories we hear in Sunday School.  We are told these fantastical stories about a man who can control the weather, walk on water, heal people and who rises from the dead.  We hear the stories and we enjoy them, and what kid wouldn’t??  They have all the things that adventure stories are made of.  We are told that Jesus loves us, but its not until later that we even start to understand what all of this means.

Then as you get older you learn more about the teachings of Jesus and you start to develop a relationship with Christ.  The more you learn, the more you recognize Christ’s work in your life.  The Franciscan theologian Richard Rohr points out that, in our Gospel story, “Belief in and love of Jesus come after the fact, subsequent to the healing.  Perfect faith or motivation is not always a prerequisite for God’s action.”  We grow closer to Jesus as we recognize his work in our lives… Jesus does not work in our lives because of our love and devotion.  As Rohr says, “God does things for God’s own purposes.”

Finally, we say, “Lord, I believe!”  We see God’s work in our lives, and we decide to deepen our relationship.  We find a faith community with whom to worship.  Perhaps we join a Bible study, pray the daily office, get more involved at church… volunteer to be an acolyte…  To riff on Lao Tzu for a moment, we take steps, one by one to travel a journey of a thousand miles.

For me, one of those steps was over a year ago when I heard the Holy Spirit calling me to a life in the church as a vocational deacon.  For me, now, my next step continues in June when I officially begin St. Phoebe’s School for Deacons.

As St. Andrews, our next step will begin in the next few months as we welcome a new Priest-in-Charge and start the next chapter in our communal journey of faith.

My prayer for you as we hit the halfway point of Lent, is to spend some time in reflection to discern what your next step will be in your relationship with Jesus.  What is the Holy Spirit calling you to do?  Be it anything from teaching Sunday School, reading the Bible with your children… Acolyting… or maybe it’s as simple as saying good morning to that person in the office who you really don’t care for… maybe its praying for those who cut you off in traffic rather than some other choice words you might usually have.  No matter what it is, take some time to listen to what the Spirit is telling you and take your relationship with Jesus to its next level.

In the name of one God, creator, redeemer and sustainer.  Amen.

Evelyn Michaud Memorial

Has everyone had a good time tonight?? Excellent! I did too.

Let’s give another round of applause to our special guests, our friends at the Bird in the Hand conservancy, and our Webelos Den who worked so hard to put this together.

Raise your hand if you have read any of the Harry Potter books… Keep them up… now raise your hand if you have seen any of the Harry Potter movies… Okay, you can put your hands down now.

Now… raise your hand… Who do you think is the best looking character in Harry Potter?? (nope… nope… it’s Hagrid, of course!!)

Who do you think is the bravest character in Harry Potter?

Who do you think is the smartest character in Harry Potter? Probably Hermione

Who do you think is the wisest?

We started the night with some wise words from Harry’s godfather, who told him, “But know this; the ones that love us, never really leave us.” Now, I want to share with you some words from the wisest of all, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. These words have come to mind quite a bit in the past few weeks.

In the first book, Dumbledore says, “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that." In book three, he says, ”Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." Why do you think I have been thinking about these quotes?

When I first heard about Ms. Michaud’s passing, I wondered if we should postpone this event. I thought about not doing the Bear Carnival before Pinewood derby. Then I thought about what Ms. Michaud would say if I did this… She would have some words for me, I think. Cub Scouting was important to her… and it is important to her family. She believed very strongly in our program and what Pack 1683 does. Professor Dumbledore says, “It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.” Like the rest of the adults in this room, Ms. Michaud believed that Scouting is important to prepare young people to be the best person they can be by instilling in you the Scout Oath and Law. Ms. Michaud would want you Scouts to continue with all the exciting and valuable things we have planned.

Does that mean that we cannot stop and grieve? Absolutely not.

Does that mean its not okay to be sad? Heck no!

It is okay to miss her…. Its okay to be sad… its okay to cry… but I want you to remember something that Dumbledore said to Harry when he was missing his parents, “You think the dead we loved ever truly leave us? You think that we don’t recall them more clearly than ever in times of great trouble? Your father is alive in you, Harry, and shows himself plainly when you have need of him.” Ms. Michaud is here with us today because she loves us and we love her. And, “to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever.” She will continue Scouting with you for the rest of your lives. When you earn your Bear, she will be there. When you earn your Arrow of Light… she will be there. And when you stand in front of your friends and family and are presented with your Eagle medal, she will be beaming with pride.

So, from here, we move on to the next adventure, and we have many adventures ahead of us. As does Ms. Michaud… “After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure!”

Now please stand and make the Scout Sign as we close out this celebration, I pray that our dearly missed Bear Den Leader and the Great Cubmaster of all Scouts remain in our hearts until we meet again, and beyond. Good night Scouts.