Something Like Scales: Sermons

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2012-02-09T10:21:00.001-08:00

All to All - Loving God

2012-02-09T10:21:00.000-08:00

Kelsey Harmon

5th After the Epiphany, Year B

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Emmanuel, Houston

Isaiah 40:21-31

Psalm 147:1-12, 21c

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

Mark 1:29-39

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground forboasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaimthe gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of myown will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this:that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to makefull use of my rights in the gospel.

For though I am free with respect to all, I have mademyself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I becameas a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one underthe law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those underthe law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I amnot free from God's law but am under Christ's law) so that I might win thoseoutside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. Ihave become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I doit all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

I have never given a sermon before, so bear with me,and I hope you all enjoy it. I am basing my sermon after a reading from firstCorinthians, in which Paul is writing a letter to the church he created inCorinth.

Paul was told by God to go out and spread the gospel,and Paul had no problem in doing so. I believe he felt honored to do as Godtold him. Paul is now an apostle, who is writing a letter to his church toinstruct them on how he was successful in creating the church there, partlybecause they’re having concerns of whether he is an apostle or not. Paul doesn’t ask for a reward afterpreaching the gospel. Which, to me at first didn’t sound so surprising, I meanwhy would he? but that’s what madepeople question Paul’s actually being an apostle. Preaching and not to gettinga reward, people thought that was suspicious. But he was an apostle, becauseGod came to him and sent him to share and spread the gospel. I think ratherthan a physical, monetary reward, Paul felt incredible inside withself-assurance. He had a good feelinginside for doing as God told him.

God will not love us any more than anyone else if weproclaim the gospel, but he will not neglect us either. Being a Christian, a follower of God, It’snot a pyramid where we’re trying to get to the top and then become God’sfavorite. There’s no game of favoriteswith God. Following God consists of what we think of ourselves and how we feelinside. Sucking up to a teacher may get a student a good grade, but God is notthat teacher. He is a teacher, but notthat teacher. The reward Paul receives is knowing he did the right thing byobeying God.

We do things our family or friends ask of us because welove our family. I care what they thinkof me, I don’t want to disappoint them, for their sake. God cares for us. So I think of how Paulresponds to God’s request as how we relate to our families, it’s similar, weand Paul do as God would do asks us to do because it is the right thing.

The other thing Paul said in his letter is that hebecame all things to all people. I liketo think of it as not just being a part of one clique at school, but allcliques, thus, making the barriers not in existence. Numerous people arefriendly towards everyone. Therefore, they are liked by most, similar to Paul.Paul didn’t become like a Jew to make fun of the Jewish culture, not to behypocritical, but rather to embrace other people and show his respect to them.He wasn’t disguising himself by surrounding himself with so many differentkinds of people.

If my friends like country music, I’ll listen to itand like it if I wish to do so. I won’t pretend to like it. A high school student who is all to all(traverses cliques) might do so to have more friends, to be on friendly termswith more people, to have more unity among the people of the school.

Paul too, changed how he was with different people.Paul was gifted with the fact that he was open-minded enough to approach somany different kinds of people. Paulshared the Gospel’s blessings. Hethought he’d be closer to the people of God by sharing the Gospel. He’d be a happier person and so share more inthe blessings of the Gospel. He’s notdoing it for the money or for the attention. He’s doing it for God and theGospel.

Paul asked for no reward because he didn’t feel likeit’d be the right thing to do. Paul lived be two rules…LOVE God and LOVE yourneighbor. and that’s why he went out to share the gospel with all hisneighbors. I am not saying we must all go out and force God’s word ontoeveryone we encounter with bullhorns in our hands, but just to love God and ourneighbors.

Knowing God, the Gospel, God’s love and redemption ofthe world, and coming into relationship with God through the gospel wassalvation for Paul. That was Paul’sreward. That’s all he wanted. That’s whyhe was all to all, to help bring the gospel to people in order to bring them toGod. Amen.

Sabbath - Drawing Near to God

2012-02-06T11:03:00.001-08:00

Brad Sullivan
5th After the Epiphany, Year B
Sunday, February 5^th, 2012
Emmanuel, Houston
Isaiah 40:21-31
Psalm 147:1-12, 21c
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Mark 1:29-39

Did you notice how little healing Jesus did onthe sabbath? I realize there was a bitof controversy through Jesus’ ministry about his healing on the sabbath, but atleast on this particular sabbath, he only healed two people. There was the man in the synagogue we heardabout last week who had the unclean spirit, and Jesus healed him. Then, today, there was Simon’smother-in-law. Jesus didn’t heal anyoneelse until after sundown, until after the sabbath was over.

            What was he doing the rest of thesabbath? We know from last week that hetaught in the synagogue, and from today, we know he went home with Simon andAndrew. Presumably, he spent the rest ofthe time resting, keeping God’s law and observing the Sabbath.
            The point I’m making is, Jesus wouldbreak the Sabbath if there was a need right there in front of him. He’d heal on the Sabbath, but he didn’t goout looking to do so. His Sabbath goalwas Sabbath rest to honor God. Drawingnear to God was primary for Jesus, in his own life and in his teaching.
            Teaching this message of drawingnear to God was Jesus’ primary ministry. The morning after Jesus healed many in Capernaum, hid disciples wantedhim to heal others, but Jesus said, “"Let us go on to the neighboringtowns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I cameout to do." Jesus came out toproclaim the message, "the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God hascome near; repent, and believe in the good news," which we heard earlierin Mark’s gospel. (Mark 1:15)
            In last week’s lesson, the peoplewere astounded at Jesus’ teaching...even casting out the demon they called anew teaching, with authority. Jesus’message, “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent,and believe in the good news,” was Jesus’ main focus. He healed as well, out of love, but he didn’tlet that get him side tracked, away from proclaiming the message. He didn’t let the fame and adoration of thepeople stop him from proclaiming his message. “Draw near to God,” Jesus said. Not, “love me,” in an egocentric, cult of personality kind of way.
            Draw near to God was also how Jesuslived. First thing in the morning, afterteaching and doing all these healings in Capernaum, Jesus went off by himselfto have some time alone with God. Moreimportant than being healed, more important than fame or glory, at least inJesus’ mind, is drawing near to God.
            As we heard in Isaiah, fame andpower and glory are nothing. “[God]brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, andthey wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.” In other words, the great and powerful arestill just people, and they will grow old weary and die, just like everyoneelse. “The grass withers, the flowerfades; but the word of our God will stand forever. (Isaiah 40:8)
            “Even youths will faint and beweary...” Sorry to bring that up on youth service Sunday, but, as Isaiah pointsout, “Even youths will faint and be weary and the young will fall exhausted;but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength.”
            I was at a church conference someyears back and heard tell of a pastor who never took a day off. He worked 7 days a week, every week. When asked about this, he said, “Satandoesn’t take a day off, so neither will I.” Really, so you want Satan to be the model for you life? Jesus took a day off. Heck, even God took a day off.
            So, following God’s command, God’sway of life, Jesus knew he needed time to reconnect to God. Jesus knew he needed Sabbath rest. Jesus knew that being with God was thedeepest desire of his heart. Jesuslonged for God. He hungered and thirstedfor God. This was not just because Jesuswas God. Jesus longed for God because hewas human.
            “Lead me in your truth and teach me,for you are the God of my salvation; in you have I trusted all the day long.”(Psalm 25:4) “For God alone my soul insilence waits; truly my hope is in him.” (Psalm 62:6) Jesus knew and lived and taught the truth ofthese words. The truth of these wordstook primacy even to his healings and miracles. The healings and miracles showed his power and love, and they may wowus, but his message was primary.
            Repent and draw near to God, for thekingdom of God has come near. Hownear? The kingdom of God is among us andwithin us. All we must do is turnaround, over and over again, and draw near to God. Slow down. Stop. Take Sabbath time and drawnear to God. First thing in themorning. Last thing in the evening. Throughout the day. Pray. Rest. Renew your strength. That’s Jesus’ primary message. Find your true self as you reconnect to God,and then live out the life you have found. Amen.

We don't konw. We believe.

2012-01-30T10:18:00.001-08:00

Brad Sullivan

4th After the Epiphany, Year B
Sunday, January 29^th, 2012
Emmanuel, Houston
Deuteronomy 18-15-20
Psalm 111
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Mark 1:21-28

“The fear of the LORD is thebeginning of wisdom; those who act accordingly have a good understanding...”(Psalm 111:10) I always thought this meant that if you wereafraid of God, then you’d do what he tells you, and that would be the beginningof wisdom. By obeying God, you’deventually learn that God is good and you’d learn over time, not to fear somuch as to love God. The problem with that is that God’s first commandment isnot “fear me,” followed closely by “love me somewhat.” God’s first commandment is “love me.” Fear me ain’t even a part of the commandments.

The psalmist is not saying, “think of God as you would the boogeyman, for that is the beginning of wisdom.” In Hebrew, theword fear is more like awe and respect, so thinking of God with love, awe, and respect is thebeginning of wisdom, and those who act accordingly have a goodunderstanding.

The first nine verses of the Psalm give examples of thefear of the Lord. If we take fear mean abjectterror, then the last verse of the psalm makes no sense at all. “Hallelujah! I will give thanks to the LORD with my wholeheart, in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation. Great are the deeds of the LORD! They are studied by all who delight in them.”(Psalm 111:1-2) Those are the first twoverses of Psalm 111, and they show love, awe, and respect for God in the praisethey offer to God. Reading or prayingthese verses, you catch a glimpse of the heart of the psalmist, a heart so fullof love for God that it must be expressed in song.

I would think that such a heartwould be wise, for such a heart would know full well the joy and richness ofGod’s love and the joyful life that comes from following God’s way oflife. We did not hear terror or fear inthe psalmist’s words; we heard love, respect, and awe.

Interestingly, acting out of fearcan sometimes lead to the same conclusion as acting out of love, but in verydifferent ways. Look at Paul’s letter tothe Corinthians, first, viewing the text with the understanding of God as boogeyman. “I’mterrified of God, therefore I won’t eat food sacrificed to idols because if Ido, God’s gonna sneak out of my closet at night and kill me.” Ok, so we don’t eat food sacrificed to idols,but we live in abject terror of God which will eventually lead to anger, hate, rejection and resentment ofGod…not something I’d recommend.

So, let’s view Paul’s letter by treating God with love,awe, and respect as the beginning of wisdom. “I know idols are fake and so this food sacrifed to them is just fine for me to eat. It is, after all, just food. So,I can eat this food, but God taught me to love my neighbor. My neighbor doesn’t know that idols are fakeso for his sake, I won’t eat the food sacrificed to idols.” We end up with the same action, not eating food sacrificed toidols, but one is brought forth from fear, eventually leading to anger,hate, andresentment of God. The other action is brought forth fromwisdom, acting according to God’s command, acting out of love of another whichleads to greater love, peace, and joy.

“The love, awe, and respect of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; thosewho act accordingly have a good understanding...” (Psalm 111:10) The disciples found this to be true when theymet Jesus, and when they saw the miracles he performed. “They were all amazed, and theykept on asking one another, "What is this? A new teaching-- withauthority!” (Mark 1:26ish) Believing inJesus perhaps because of witnessing his miracles and power, was for thedisciples, the beginning of wisdom, followed by believing in his teachings, hisway of life, and following him, acting accordingly and having a goodunderstanding.

Now, not everyone who saw,believed. Some didn’t see Jesus to begodlike in his power, authority, and teaching, and so they didn’t believe in Jesus. Some, on the other hand needed far lessconvincing than others. Nathaniel, as weheard last week, didn’t need demons cast out, he just needed Jesus to tell himhe saw him under a fig tree, and that was enough for him…although it did takemore than simply believing his friend’s word.

In our lives, we don’t get to seeJesus casting out demons. We don’t getto hear him teach in person, or watch him heal folks, multiply food, or calm astorm with a word. We don’t have thatfirst hand experience, rather, we have the stories of those who did. We hear about and read about Jesus’ acts, andwhat we find in those stories is also the effect Jesus’ actions had on thosearound him.

Like looking into the Psalmists’heart when we read the words of Psalm 111, when we read Mark’s gospel, we seethe hearts of those who had love, awe, and respect for Jesus. We see the hearts of those for whom Jesus’divine nature was revealed in the power and love of his miracles andteaching. In hearing and reading thegospel stories, we see the hearts of folks who found the love, awe, and respectof Jesus to be the beginning of wisdom.

If only we could have beenthere. If only we knew, right? If only we had the first hand experience ofthe disciples in the ways Jesus was revealed to them. If only I could see Jesus cast out a demon,then I’d have no doubt, right? Then, I’dknow. Except, as Paul pointed out in hisletter to the Corinthians, “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” (1Corinthians 8: 2ish) We can’t know thetruth about God in any scientifically provable way. We can’t know if Jesus really is God. Even if we saw Jesus casting out demons, wewouldn’t know. We would choose tobelieve or not, based on how we chose to interpret reality. Again, remember that some who saw Jesuscasting out demons believed him to be doing so with evil.

And so, we can’t know in ascientifically provable way, the truth of Jesus. Those who saw Jesus cast out demons didn’tknow, either. They saw, and theybelieved.

So, what does it take for us tobelieve? Some of us have had our ownexperiences of God, ways in which God has revealed himself to us, orexperiences which we have interpreted as such, and so we believe. For some, belief simply makes sense.

On the other hand, some don’t havetheir own experiences of God, or haven’t recognized them as such. Some of us have only the stories andwitnesses of those who have gone before us. Sometimes these stories are from scripture. Sometimes these stories come from our familyand friends. We have the belief of thosebefore us to guide us into believing. Wehave the belief of those who have found the love, awe, and respect of the Lordto be the beginning of wisdom, and then we can let their belief guide us, untilwe have found truth there. For some, beliefhas come to make sense over time. Forsome belief came automatically.

For some of us, we may still bestruggling, hoping for an epiphany to give us enough certainty to feel ok aboutbelieving. To those, I would say “keepwrestling. Keep struggling.” If you wait until you know, in order tobelieve, then you likely never will. Sokeep acting as though you believe. Worship, pray, study scripture, listen to the stories of your family andfriends. See if, over time, the love,awe, and respect of God proves to be the beginning of wisdom for you as well.

In this season of Epiphany, of thecontinual revealing of Jesus as God, remember that none of us know. Even those with our own epiphanies don’tknow. We believe. Whether we believe because of our ownepiphanies or because of those who have gone before us, the key is that webelieve. We believe in God, and we allowthat belief to be real enough to change our lives.

We believe because we have heard thestory of God’s love for us in becoming human, God’s forgiveness and redemptionof all the world in dying, and God’s life and love which his invites us toshare in his resurrection. We hear thatstory and find it beautiful, and so we believe. We hear that story and we find it to be more compelling than any otherstory we have heard, and so we believe. Webelieve because we, like the psalmist, have found the love, awe, and respect ofGod to be the beginning of wisdom. Amen.

Seeing Jesus, Being Jesus

2011-05-25T06:20:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan

3rd Sunday of Easter
Sunday, May 8th, 2011
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17
1 Peter 1:17-23
Luke 24:13-35

I love the story of the journey of Cleopas, his companion, and risen / disguised Jesus to Emmaus. One thing I just noticed in the story is that Jesus was going on. They were turning in for the night, and Jesus was heading on. Perhaps he had somewhere he needed to be? I wonder, however, if he might have been testing Cleopas and his companion. I don't mean that in a harsh or cruel way, but they had been his disciples. They had heard him preach and teach about loving their neighbors and offering hospitality to others. I wonder if he was seeing what they would do, if they would remember, and they did. They got it. They were living out the way of life he had given them, embodying his teachings. We'll get back to that in a little bit.

As I said when I began, I love this story. It’s exciting. It’s comforting. It’s confusing. It’s beautiful. These folks had the scriptures opened up to them by some guy they met on the road, offered hospitality to him, they shared a meal, and then, suddenly, there was God, there was Jesus sitting right before them.

How did they not know that it was Jesus beforehand? We don’t exactly know. Scripture says their eyes were kept from recognizing him. Perhaps Jesus’ face changed in a similar way as it did during the transfiguration. Perhaps God put some mental block on them so that the whole time they were thinking, “who is this guy? It’s right on the tip of my tongue. He looks so familiar.” These were Jesus’ disciples, but maybe they were kinda of like proto-Episcopalians and always sat in the back whenever he preached so they just never got that good of a look at him. We don’t know exactly how this story happened, we believe that it did.

On the day Jesus was raised from the dead, he appeared to his disciples, and there was something different about him and he could appear and disappear at will (which is really pretty cool, could get you out of some awkward situations, but it was still Jesus. It was the man whom they had known and loved and followed.

Not too long after Jesus appeared to his disciples, he seemingly left. Jesus ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to be with us. We believe Jesus will come again to complete the restoration of the world and make creation new. It might seem a logical conclusion then that Jesus is gone in the mean time. We’re waiting for Jesus to return, therefore he must be gone right now. Right?

One of the great things about God is that the flipside of the coin need not always hold. God knows everything. We have free will. The flip side of each of those coins contradicts the other, and that’s where the dog is buried. Jesus left. He ascended into heaven. Jesus is still here with us. That’s where the dog is buried.

So, if Jesus is still with us, and people sometimes encounter him as they are walking along, when have you encountered Jesus? By that, I don’t mean when have you seen the risen Jesus come down from heaven and show you the marks of the nails in some pre-second coming experience? Maybe such experiences can happen; they just aren’t what I’m talking about today.

I’m talking about something a little more spiritual and mystical. When have you seen God’s will or God’s word embodied in another person?

Bishop Doyle was here for Confirmation last Wednesday, and he talked about God’s will and knowing God’s will. That seems a pretty bold statement, “I know God’s will.” Then he reminded us that we’ve heard God’s will expressed time and again in Scripture. Love God. Love people. We heard God’s will expressed in the words of Micah, telling us to be just and merciful, and to walk humbly with God.

We hear of God’s will embodied in Jesus who was just and merciful, who walked humbly with God, loving God and people. During Jesus’ life on earth, God’s will and word were embodied in the particular person of Jesus of Nazareth, and God’s will and word were still present and active in the rest of creation, including other people. John the Baptist comes to mind as one example of someone in whom God’s will and word were present and active. So God was localized in Jesus and present everywhere.

After Jesus’ death and resurrection, Jesus was still the one particular person whom he had been his whole life, the same person whom Cleopas and his companion encountered on the road to Emmaus. At the same time, after his death and resurrection, Jesus kinda went everywhere. Paul tells the Romans and the Corinthians that Jesus is in them. Jesus is in us. While still the particular person, Jesus of Nazareth, resurrected, Jesus is also within each of us. So, Jesus can be everyman or everywoman.

Jesus can be mom. That seems rather appropriate on Mother’s Day. The images of God as mother are well documented in Scripture. They are sparcely documented, but well documented. There’s one, Isaiah 49:15, which I love: “Can a woman forget her nursing-child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.”

The image of God as a nursing mother, and God giving birth to people and creation out of her womb is a beautiful image and one that’s sustained me greatly in some difficult times. So, Jesus can be mommy. Jesus can be daddy. Jesus can be everyone in the world while still being the particular person, God whom Jesus is.

So, with all of that being said, when have you encountered the risen Jesus? When have you encountered someone being just, merciful, loving, walking humbly with God? When has someone been forgiving towards you? When has someone been a light to guide you out of darkness? When have your seen someone embody the teachings of Jesus, his word and way of life? Considering that Cleopas and his companion embodied Jesus' teachings and way of life, I wonder if Jesus might have encountered himself in them.

Jesus shows up quite a lot, doesn’t he? So, for a final thought for the day, think again about your life, but turn the question back on yourself. When have you been the risen Jesus for others? Amen.

Get up, and do not be afraid.

2011-03-09T15:08:00.001-08:00

Brad Sullivan

Last Sunday after the Epiphany
Sunday, March 6th, 2011
Emmanuel, Houston
Exodus 24:12-18
Psalm 99
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9

I’ve been meeting with a Rabbi for the last five months or so; we’ve been learning from each other about our two faiths, and one thing of which I’ve been reminded through our meetings is how vast and incomprehensible God is. God is beyond all our attempts at understanding, beyond our descriptions and conceptions. This is not to say God is unknowable; it is simply to say God is greater than we can conceive. We’ve been given glimpses of God through the Law, through the prophets, through Jesus.

As a vast oversimplification, we could say that a way of life was given whereby we can learn something of God and potentially live out something of the divine life here on earth. Depending on our approach, we could also simply be following a set of rules with little of God’s life entering in. So, as a vast oversimplification, we have the prophets calling us to remember not only the law but the purpose of the law and how by faith to live faithfully to God. Then, again as an oversimplification, we have Jesus as the embodiment of the law and the prophets, living out the life called for by both, and we have Jesus as God, that to which the law and the prophets were directing us.

Is anyone else confused yet? I’m guessing that’s how Peter, James, and John felt up on the mountain, largely very confused. It was probably very nice to see Moses and Elijah up on the mountain with Jesus. They were maybe a little star struck, but I’m guessing they were also quite confused, wondering what in the world was going on.

We have some of this confusion illustrated by Peter wanting to build three dwellings, one for Moses, one for Jesus, and one for Elijah. What Peter was actually wanting to build was three tabernacles, places for the three of them to dwell with God. There are two challenges here. One, God really wants us to build tabernacles in our hearts for him to dwell, and two by building three separate dwellings for Moses, Jesus, and Elijah, however, Peter was separating Jesus from the Law and the prophets when they really belong together. Jesus fulfilled the law and the Prophets. Jesus was God, to whom the law and the prophets direct us, and Jesus followed the law and the prophets in his own life. Doing so was how he, as a human being, maintained the tabernacle in his own heart for God to dwell. I realize there is an inherent contradiction in saying “Jesus is God” and saying “Jesus made a place in his heart for God to dwell.” I’m ok with that contradiction.

As Rabbi Annie would say, “that’s where the dog is buried.” It’s a Yiddish expression meaning “there’s the rub,” or “there’s the contradiction inherent in this situation.” Our whole faith is full of contradictions. Jesus is a human being. Jesus is God.

Jesus is both revelation and example. If Jesus was only a revelation of God, then we would be lacking a human example of living a life of faithfulness to God. If Jesus were only an example for us to follow, then we would be missing something of the revelation of God. So, we say “Jesus is God” and “Jesus made a place in his heart for God to dwell.” Jesus is both revelation of God and example of human life.

By listening to Jesus, we too can make places in our hearts for God to dwell. That was God’s response to Peter wanting to make tabernacles for Moses, Jesus, and Elijah. God interrupts Peter, tells him who Jesus is, God’s beloved son, and tells them to listen to him. Perhaps the parenthetical, unspoken portion of God’s message was, “No, Peter, you’re missing the point. You needn’t build tabernacles for the three of them so that they may dwell with me. Rather, build a tabernacle in your heart so that you may dwell with me.” Instead, God simply said, “this is my beloved Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him.”

So we have in the transfiguration, a revelation of who Jesus is as God with God’s glory shining through him, and we have a revelation of who Jesus is as a human being, so familiar with the law and the prophets that he could have a conversation with Moses and Elijah just as easily as we could talk with one another right now.

So, we have this dual revelation on the last Sunday of the Epiphany, three days before we begin our Lenten journey. I find this rather helpful because Lent is a time when, more than any other time of the year, we are intentional about building tabernacles in our hearts for God to dwell. “Nearer my God to thee, nearer to thee, oh how I long to be nearer to thee.” The words of the old gospel hymn ring true at all times and especially during Lent, the purpose not being self abasement or really even self denial. The purpose of Lent is to draw nearer to God. The sacrifices we make or fasts we observe during Lent are simply ways of helping us clear out spaces in our hearts for God to dwell, that God may tabernacle in our hearts.

Clearing those places out is only one step, however, the other step being to listen to Jesus. Let’s start with the first words he said to Peter, James, and John after the transfiguration. “Get up and do not be afraid.” Those would be nice words possibly to paint on our ceilings above our beds so that we might see those words every morning when we wake. Get up and do not be afraid. We’re going to look at some other words of Jesus as well and see how they might help us build tabernacles in our hearts.

Jesus told a story, a parable of the prodigal son. The story was about a young man who basically told his father, “I wish you were dead, but since you aren’t quite dead yet, I want my inheritance now so give me my money.” The father does so, the son wastes all of the money and returns to his father to apologize and ask to be a servant in his house, but before the son even got there, the father ran out to him and threw his arms around him. The father didn’t chastise the son or seek vengeance for the hurt the son caused. Rather, he welcomed his son back with joy and love. God always loves us, even when we turn away from him, even when we hurt ourselves and others. God is always ready to welcome us back, to run towards us and wrap his arms around us. “Get up, and do not be afraid.”

Jesus taught us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, rather than seeking vengeance. We would hopefully seek justice in our world, but rather than seek vengeance, he teaches us to love our enemies and pray for those who wrong us. God is merciful and just, and sometimes we’re going to need to depend on God’s justice rather than seeking vengeance on our own. Such is the love God wants us to experience and have in the world that we might increase and add more love to the world rather than add more hurt and hate to the world. “Get up, and do not be afraid.”

Jesus tells us that he loves us and will be with us always even to the end of the ages, and although he seemingly left us by ascending into heaven, Jesus gives us an assurance that he is and will be with us always by sending us the Holy Spirit, the comforter, the Advocate to be with us, to strengthen us, to guide us, to dwell within our hearts. When everyone else seems against us, the Holy Spirit can be for us, always drawing us nearer to God. “Get up, and do not be afraid.”

Just before Jesus’ transfiguration and shortly after his transfiguration, Jesus told his disciples that he was going to suffer and die, and we see in that a reminder that as Jesus suffered and died, so must we all suffer and die. We hope not to have an overabundance of suffering when we die, but all of us, one day will eventually suffer and die. These lives will end, and yet we look not only to Jesus’ crucifixion and death but to his resurrection, showing us that life does not end with our deaths, but that the resurrection of the dead is real. Life continues on with God even after our physical lives here on earth have ended. “Get up, and do not be afraid.”

We are taught to live with faith in Jesus, with faith in Jesus in this dual revelation of Jesus in the transfiguration, to have faith in Jesus as God, as the one through whom God’s glory shown in the transfiguration, and we’re also taught to have the faithfulness of Jesus, living out lives of law and prophet as Jesus did, living out the way he lived, faith in him as God and the faithfulness of him as a human being. “Get up, and do not be afraid.”

We also remember that God is beyond our comprehension, beyond anything we can possibly imagine, greater and vaster than we can begin to conceive, and yet this same God who is beyond our imagining is the same God who desires and promises to dwell in our hearts, and we’re invited to make places within our hearts for this vast incomprehensible God to dwell. “Get up, and do not be afraid.” Amen.

Be Perfect, Everybody...

2011-02-21T07:42:00.000-08:00

Brad Sullivan

7th Sunday after the Epiphany
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Emmanuel, Houston
Leviticus 19:1-2,9-18
Psalm 119:33-40
1 Corinthians 3:10-11,16-23
Matthew 5:38-48

Be perfect, everybody, you got that. Anything short of perfection, and you’re out. Perfection is a pretty tall order although as Garrison Keeler pointed out, Jesus was preaching this sermon on a mount, and here in Houston things are pretty flat, so it might not be quite as applicable to us here. Looking more seriously at the scripture, I don’t know that Jesus was saying, “be forever without fault or defect of any kind,” when he said to be perfect.

He didn’t actually even give the absolute command, “be perfect.” He rather said, “you will be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect.” Further, the word translated as perfect can also mean “whole” and “complete”. Be whole people. Be complete people, and in that way, perfect, as your heavenly father is whole, complete, perfect.

We tend to love trying to measure up to the sinless life of Jesus and then castigating ourselves for not measuring up. That’s not the point of this passage, to set some incredibly high bar of perfection in our lives which we can never attain so that we can then spend the rest of our lives feeling badly about ourselves.

Notice that everything leading up to this statement about perfection or wholeness was a teaching about how to love others. "You have heard that it was said, `An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also…” (Matthew 5:38-39) That’s a difficult saying, to be sure, I don’t know that Jesus is telling us to sit idly by while someone beats us to a bloody pulp. I don’t believe Jesus is telling people in abusive relationships to keep taking the abuse. Jesus isn’t telling us to sit idly by while people abuse others or to ignore injustice or violence. Jesus wants us to stand up for the victims of fear, injustice, and oppression.

He’s simply commanding us to do so in love. In the example he gives, Jesus is telling us to end a cycle of violence before it really gets going. Rather than fighting back when someone strikes you on the cheek (which will lead to both people being hurt and one person likely being substantially more hurt than the other), take a bruised cheek, and offer another one. See if that will end it. We’re not talking about letting someone keep knocking our teeth out. The image Jesus gives is one of a person full of peace and love such that being struck on the cheek doesn’t incite a violent response. Such a heart doesn’t seek vengeance. Such a heart doesn’t return evil for evil. Such a heart sees with compassion, even towards one’s enemies. A heart full of peace and love is a heart that is whole, a heart that is deeply rooted in God.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu who faced terrible violence in South Africa said of his ministry, “I wouldn’t have survived without fairly substantial chunks of quiet and meditation. The demands that are made on one almost always seem to be beyond one’s natural capacities. There would be many times when the problems, the crises we were facing seemed about to overwhelm us. There’s no way in which you could have confronted these in your own strength.”

In her book The Soul of a Leader, Margaret Benefiel writes about Archbishop Tutu and gives an example of Archbishop Tutu interrupting a cycle of violence. There was a terrible occasion, when security forces killed 38 people in Sebokeng, a black township of South Africa, in 1990. When word of the massacre reached Archbishop Tutu, he was meeting with his synod of bishops. “He left the meeting to cry and pray in the chapel, and then, feeling directed by God, returned to the bishops,” and urged them to “suspend our meeting, which had never happened before, and go [to Sebokeng].” All of the bishops unanimously agreed, and the next morning they left for Sebokeng.

When they arrived, they celebrated the Eucharist in a local church and visited the injured and the bereaved. Soon thereafter, a convoy of armored police vehicles with tear gas and machine guns appeared. John Cleary of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported what he observed:

I heard the archbishop say, “Let us pray.” Then the noise of the vehicles stopped. The crowd went quiet. There was no sound from the Casspirs, no sound of tear gas canisters. So I looked around and there, behind me, were the Anglican bishops of Southern Africa—black, white, coloured, old, young—standing between the crowd and the Casspirs, with their arms outstretched. In that moment, I understood a little about what the Christian vision for a new South Africa cost people. I’d never witnessed that sort of courage before.

http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=11625

Archbishop Tutu and his fellow bishops, their hearts full of peace and love, deeply rooted in God, met violence with prayer, and ended the cycle of violence. Look again at what Jesus preached to his disciples, "You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” I doubt Archbishop Tutu had the most warm and fuzzy feelings for the men who had killed the people of Sebokeng, but he had enough love for them to give them prayer rather than violence in response to their violence.

There is no way he could have done that if his heart was full of hatred. He had every right to be hateful toward those men, his enemies, but having that hatred for them would not have brought about a peaceful resolution. Rather than be full of hate, Archbishop Tutu and his fellow bishops were made whole, complete, perfect.

Jesus was right in telling us not to hate our enemies because we can’t deal with hate. Nowhere does scripture tell us to hate our enemies. Plenty says God will hate or does hate the enemies of Israel of the enemies of justice and mercy. So perhaps people extrapolated from those verses of scripture that since God hates our enemies, we should hate them too. "You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'” The problem we find is that when we hate, love is driven from us. When we hate, even justifiably, we are diminished. We become less of who we are, hatred takes over and fills in the places that once contained us.

How can God then hate evil and those who do evil and still be whole, complete, perfect, holy? Presumably, God can do whatever God does. Even saying God hates these things, however, may be to ascribe too human a character to God. God is. In the way of life given to us by God, we find something of what God is.

The Israelites were told in Leviticus to “be holy, for [God is] holy.” Then a way of life was described in order for the people to be holy. This way of life included things like: honoring ones parents, keeping God’s Sabbaths, leaving some of one’s crop for the poor, being honest in words and actions, not stealing, making sure workers had enough wages for their daily living, looking out for the disabled, seeking justice, not hating one’s family, not taking vengeance, loving one’s neighbor.

We see in commanding this way of life not only a beautiful way for us to live, but we are also given a glimpse into the nature of God. God desires for us love, peace, honor, care for others, justice, reconciliation. Evil, injustice, malice, heartlessness, ruthlessness…these things, therefore, seem anathema to God. So, we say God hates these things. God can. God can hate those things that are anathema to God. God can do so without being destroyed. God remains whole, complete, perfect in love. We cannot. We do not. When we hate, our love is destroyed.

How then can we remain perfect, whole and complete in peace and love, without hate? Jesus tells to do so by praying. One of my seminary professors, Bishop Mark Dyer told us of a practice of prayer which he does every day. He takes out his calendar in the morning and prays for ever meeting he is going to have, ever person he knows he’s going to encounter throughout the day. He prays for those whom he is looking forward to seeing and those who, as he puts it, “get [his] Irish up.”

We’ve all got the folks who drive us a little nuts. Pray for them too. Pray for friends and family. Pray for the annoying ones. Pray for the ones we hold as enemies. Pray for a heart full of peace and love, deeply rooted in God. Such prayers and such hearts will make us whole, complete, perfect, even as God is perfect. Amen.

We've got God right where we want him

2011-01-31T12:19:00.000-08:00

Brad Sullivan

4th Sunday after the Epiphany
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Emmanuel, Houston
Micah 6:1-8
Psalm 15
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Matthew 5:1-12

I think it’s pretty safe to say that we, Christians the world over, and really people of any faith are generally searching after God. We’re seeking God to draw near to God and to be ever closer to God in our lives. At the same time, I think that we in the church (worldwide) and in other religions are sometimes maybe hunting or tracking God in order to capture him rather than merely seeking God. I picture a couple of hunters going through a forest tracking God and coming to the bush where they know God’s hiding and they say to each other, “alright we’ve got God right where we want him.” Then they pull the bush, and one of them realizes God isn’t there, while the other one is just totally clueless and picks up whatever happens to be there.

“I’ve got him. I’ve got God right here.”
“Um, dude, that’s a stick.”
“No it’s God, and you have to do what I say. Ooh, and God has to do what I say. I’m awesome.”

We see this happening in our passage from Micah. God says to the people of Israel:

"With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? …He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

We all know from Leviticus that there was animal sacrifice to make atonement for sin in ancient Israel, and Micah was referring to that sacrificial system. God is basically saying “enough already with the burnt offerings. Be kind and merciful and just to one another, otherwise your religious practice is rather false.” There wasn’t necessarily anything wrong with the religious practices of ancient Israel except for those who sought to control God through their religious practices rather than to be changed by their religious practices. If I follow the religious practice, then God must bless me and make me right with him, but that’s not going to do it for God. As Isaiah wrote, “…these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote”. (Isaiah 29:13).

Good religious practices become bad religious practices when we try to control God with them rather that be changed by them. We find this throughout the history of the church too, times when we’ve sought to control God through our religion. A great example is the selling of indulgences in the Roman Church centuries ago. People felt they could literally buy their way into heaven. The apostle Peter had been given the keys to the kingdom of heaven and if he forgave the sins of any they would be forgiven. So, as the religion progressed, the popes were understood as Peter’s successors. So if they forgave the sins of any they would be forgiven by God. Forgiveness of sin was needed to get into heaven, and it got to the point that if you gave money to the church, you could have your sins forgiven by the pope. Giving money to the church was a good thing, an act of charity, and it was seen as a sign of repentance. Having shown a sign of repentance, forgiveness was granted.

Unfortunately, the practice became a rule and so, in practice, you could literally buy your way into heaven, and God was understood to be bound by this. These were the rules we thought God had given, only God wasn’t really playing by those rules so he called on his buddy Martin and asked for a reformation. (Martin Luther, Protestant Reformation) Just when we think we’ve got God right where we want him, he escapes our clutches and leads us back into living lives of faith, mercy, justice, and love.

Paul was reminding the Corinthians of this in his letter to them. The Corinthians were divided as we’ve heard in recent weeks, and some of it seemed to be over their religious and non-religious pedigree.

“Paul baptized me.”
"Bully for you, I was baptized by Apollos, and he was much better than Paul, so much more eloquent. His recitation of the baptismal liturgy was flawless. God was obviously more pleased with my baptism than with yours.”

Paul is saying today, “hold on a second guys, if that’s the kind of thing God used in order to bless people, then none of you would have even been baptized. It’s not as though y’all were overly intelligent, or powerful, or particularly important by society’s standards. That’s not why God blessed you. God blessed you because he loves you so be grateful, and stop trying to control God. Stop quarreling about who’s better or more blessed.

This question about God’s blessing the question which Jesus was addressing in the beginning of the sermon we heard today. In Jesus’ time (and in our time) people assumed God’s blessing by prosperity, peace, large families, health, joy, a lack of tragedy or misfortune. The flip side is also true. People often assumed God’s blessing was withheld from those who weren’t healthy, and prosperous, or besought by tragedy.

Jesus says, “No, no. The ones whom we assume to be blessed by God are not the only ones who are blessed. Those who by all outward appearances, we would assume are not blessed: the poor in spirit, the meek, those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, those who mourn, they are also blessed. Blessed as well are those who may have no outward sign of being blessed: the pure in heart, the merciful, the peacemakers, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. All of these are also blessed by God. You may have your rules,” Jesus was saying, “about those whom you believe God has blessed, but God isn’t bound by your rules. God can bless whomever God wants to bless.

Of course we in the church then took Jesus’ pronouncement of God’s blessing available even to the unblessables, and we made new rules about it. If you want to be blessed by God, you better mourn. Remember, we’re Christians; we’re supposed to be downtrodden, so if you’re too happy, God won’t be. Dallas Willard points out the absurdity of turning the beatitudes into rules of blessedness in his book The Divine Conspiracy. If you’re not persecuted, you can’t be blessed. Wait, you’re not meet? You’re kind of bold and brave? Well, you can’t be blessed.

The beatitudes are not prescriptions by which God must bless us or ways in which we can manipulate God into blessing us. The beatitudes are rather descriptions of some of the ways in which God’s blessing is available to all, and our efforts at controlling God and forcing his hand are all for naught.

When we use our religions to try to force God’s hand or try to capture and control God, then our good religious practices become sticks by which we use to try to have people measure up or sometimes use to punish people for not measuring up. When that happens, God escapes our clutches leads us back once again to live as he intends us to live. God wants us to live lives of faith, justice, mercy, and love. Living lives of faith, justice, mercy, and love, we will find God. Oops, there’s another rule. Living lives of faith, justice, mercy, and love, we’re not going to capture God, we’re not going to contain God or control God, but we will be living the divine life, God’s life of love.

That’s what Micah was calling the people of Israel to do, to continue with the sacrificial system if so desired, but to live lives of faith, justice, mercy, and love. Paul was reminding the Corinthians that it didn’t matter who baptized them or how great they thought they were. He called on them to quit quarreling and to live lives of faith, justice, mercy, and love. Jesus was telling his disciples that it didn’t matter if they thought someone was bless or not, God’s blessing was available to all, so quit worrying about who is blessed and who is not. Rather, live lives of faith, justice, mercy and love. Live God’s life of love. Amen.

An angry mob with torches

2011-01-30T07:37:00.000-08:00

Brad Sullivan

5th Sunday after the Epiphany
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Emmanuel, Houston
Isaiah 58:1-9
Psalm 112:1-9
1 Corinthians 2:1-12, (13-16)
Matthew 5:13-20

If you’ve heard me preach more than a few times, you’ve likely heard me reference this passage from Isaiah or similar passages. Just last week, we heard a similar passage from Micah, the basic idea being that our religious practices can become meaningless and will not make us righteous if our religious practices don’t also lead us to live lives of faith, justice, mercy and love as I also said last week.

Hearing from Isaiah today, he’s talking about fasting, and at first glance we think, “this would be a great passage for Lent: No Fasting!” Of course that’s not Isaiah’s point. He’s not saying that we shouldn’t fast, but that we should not think that through fasting we will be made righteous and wonderful before God. If we seek God through fasting, that’s a good thing. If through our fasting we come to a greater reliance on and trust in God, that is a good thing. The way it works is, we want whatever it is we deny ourselves during our fast.

Rationally, we know we can make it, but it feels like we can’t possibly make it through. “I want the thing from which I’m fasting, and I need it right now. Life can’t possibly be ok if I don’t get this thing that I want right now.” Then, enter a prayer of trust in God. “Lord, I don’t know how life will be ok if I don’t get the thing from which I’m fasting right now, but I’ll trust you that life will be ok. I’ll trust you that I’ll be ok without this thing.”

Through fasting in such a way, we, little by little, gain greater trust in God. Trusting in God with the little things in our lives like fasts, we may then learn to trust God in the big things in our lives. Live not only for yourself, but for others as well. Seek justice and mercy and don’t worry about your life. Those seek like pretty tall orders. The practice and habit of fasting can help us trust God in those things as well.

It’s not a fool proof plan, however, as we’ve heard in the passage from Isaiah. We can fast without overly trusting in God, but simply to hold bragging rights about who’s a better faster or whose righteousness is greater than whose.

Jesus said, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” The scribes and the Pharisees kept the law, but did so in ways that did not honor God or other people. The way of life, given by God, had become for some rules to be followed and when possible navigated around. Keeping the rules in such a way does not please God.

For a modern Christian example, look at the way we do confession in the church. Jesus taught us that if we’re bringing an offering to the altar, that if we have a complaint against someone, we should first seek to be reconciled to that person and then bring our offering to the altar. Over the centuries in the Roman church that became translated to, “confess your sins to a priest, and then you can have communion.” As a way of life, that can be helpful. As a rule, it can be destructive.

A man came to be seeking to fulfill that rule one time before communion. He told me he was angry with someone and that he had to have confession or else he couldn’t receive communion. I kept telling him otherwise. “Go ahead and have communion and then seek reconciliation afterwards.” He refused, and I finally consented. The problem was he didn’t seem overly sorry, he was just angry and needed to hear that God would forgive him. I was caught short by the fact that this man seemed to want to fulfill the rule without actually seeking reconciliation.

I then found, however, that having heard the assurance of God’s forgiveness for those who repent, this man was able to forgive. In that time he was able to let go of his anger and come to communion in peace. There was a problem going on that this man felt that the rule must be followed, at the same time, the way of life intended by the rule also helped heal this man. So, we have a little of what Isaiah was preaching against and what Isaiah was preaching about both going on in this story.

What then, does any of this have to do with Jesus’ statement to his followers, “You are the salt of the earth”? What he actually said was, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.” Jesus was preaching to his disciples, a group of Jews, God’s chosen people. They were the salt of the earth because they had been given faith in God and a way of life by God in order to be a light to the world.

“Let your light shine before others,” Jesus said, “so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Fulfill the law, Jesus telling his followers, but don’t live the law the way the scribes and Pharisees do. Fulfill the law in the way Isaiah preached. Fulfill the law in such a way as to bring about justice and mercy. ‘We have a beautiful way of life, Jesus was saying, a way of life centered around faith in God love and reconciliation and justice and mercy. Much of the world doesn’t live this way, so let your light shine so that others may see and come to know God and the beautiful way of life he has given us.

Israel was created to be that light to the nations, and we in the church are part of that light. We have been given faith in God and a beautiful way of life. We too are asked to let our light shine before others that they may see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven. We’ve been formed to be a city on a hill, or a light shining in the darkness. Unfortunately in the history of the church, we have at times turned even this image of light bearer into a rule which must be followed.

There were times when the church was going to “Christianize” the world. We’ve had forced confessions and baptisms. We’ve fought wars and threatened people with eternal fires of everlasting damnation, all in the name of being a light in the darkness to lead people to God. Even today, we still have, in various parts of the church, evangelism as threats of hell, scare tactics, condemning and belittling those who do not believe. I view such times in our history and such behavior today not as a light on a hill but as people carrying torches forcing their way into people’s lives and home, burning much in their way.

We weren’t called to force our faith or way of life on anyone, but to offer to people our faith and way of life. We were called to continue in our way of life, faithful to God, seeking justice, mercy, love, and reconciliation. We were called to remain salty in our way of life, like Isaiah called Israel to be. Do fast, even during Lent. Practice your faith. Keep the way of life you’ve been given no to give yourself a pat on the back but to seek God, justice, mercy, love, and reconciliation. Then be a light to others. Let folks know about your way of life.

Thinking again about the sacrament of reconciliation, for example, many outside the church see it as confession to a priest that must be done in order to be forgiven by God. Such a view is untrue and blinds people to the beauty of being able to confess one’s sins in a safe place, to receive counsel, and to hear God’s words of forgiveness declared by a human being. It is a way of life that can bring about reconciliation. There’s no magic about it, no incantation or rule. It was a way of life that can be helpful.

Now, imagine next time we see or hear about confession as this oppressive rule, or see an image in a movie or book about the oppressive rule of confession, imagine giving an explanation of the sacrament of reconciliation as a beautiful way of life. Now that would be a light shining in the darkness. Imagine fasting come Ash Wednesday and explaining to someone why you’re not eating lunch, not as a rule to be followed, but as a way of life in which we might come to greater dependence on and trust in God. That’s being alight in the darkness. Sometimes our lights are not so much torches that we carry in an angry mob, threatening people, but a beautiful way of life that we follow, a beautiful faith that we have that we can then share with others, as a light in the darkness and a city on a hill. Amen

Jesusocalypse

2010-12-12T07:19:00.000-08:00

Brad Sullivan

Advent 3, Year A
Sunday, December 12th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Isaiah 35:1-10
Canticle 15
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11

In our letter from James today, he talks about waiting with patience for the coming of the Lord. The second coming of Jesus was something for which they were longing. Is it still? Jesus’ second coming seems often like a dreaded event. Maybe we’ve forgotten who Jesus was and is.

What happened at Jesus’ first coming? The blind received their sight and the lame walked, lepers were cleansed and the deaf heard, and the dead were raised up and the poor had good news preached to them. This in and of itself was lovely, and makes Jesus one heck of a nice guy, but there’s more to Jesus’ statement to John’s disciples than a list of the nice things Jesus was doing. Jesus was referring back to the passage from Isaiah that we heard today.

In this passage, Isaiah prophesied that the wilderness would be glad and the desert would rejoice because the redeemed were going to walk there and the ransomed of the Lord would return. Creation itself was going to rejoice because the people of Israel were going to return from captivity in Babylon. We often refer to this passage as being about the eschaton, the end of all time, when God will restore all of creation, correcting all of the harms done. At the time Isaiah preached, however, this passage was likely about the return of the exiles of Judah from Babylon.

The wilderness and the desert would see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of Israel’s God. The wilderness and the desert would see the ransomed people of Israel and therefore God’s glory and majesty at bringing the people out of bondage in Babylon and into the land of promise. Also in this passage, there was a group told to encourage the captives to take heart, that God would save them from captivity. The blind would see, the deaf hear, the mute speak. Take heart, God will make all things right, and also water would break forth in the wilderness, and the glory of Lebanon would be there.

Well, the glory of Lebanon was its cedar and cypress trees out of which the temple was built. So the desert and the wilderness were going to become a place of worship for God. God’s presence was going to dwell there and a very tangible, real way like in the temple in Jerusalem, as the people were passing through on their way back to Jerusalem. So the people of Israel are told they’re going to have something of the Temple, God’s holy presence with them as they travel through the wilderness on their promised journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. That calls to mind the tent, the Tabernacle that the people of Israel carried around with them during their wandering in the wilderness with Moses during the exodus from Egypt.

Isaiah is calling up images from the exodus to describe their new journey, this new exodus from Babylon, but he also brings new things into it. Even better than the tabernacle, they’ll have the temple with them this time. Now obviously they can’t carry the temple with them, but the presence of God will be with them as thought the temple were with them. The glory of Carmel will be there, possibly a reference to Mount Carmel where Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal. As much as God cared for the people of Israel during the exodus from Egypt, so will God be with the people of Israel in an even greater way in this new exodus from Babylon.

In this exodus, a highway will be there, the Holy Way, and the unclean won’t pass over it. It will be a protected way (by God) for his people. The redeemed will walk there. The ransomed (captives) will return (from Babylon) to Zion (to Jerusalem), and a highway will be where the haunt of jackals was. This haunt of jackals refers back to the previous chapter in which judgment was pronounced on Edom, the land which refused to let the Israelites pass through during the first exodus on their way to the land of Canaan. So, Edom would be turned into a haunt of jackals. Then, the haunt of jackals would become a swamp…and a highway would be there which is exactly what was not available to the Israelites on the first exodus.

God would make their journey far easier than the first wilderness journey after the exodus from Egypt. God’s glory would be with them as they traveled, like in the temple. God would drive everyone out of the way, and water would spring forth in the wilderness. This journey from Babylon would be familiar. It would be like the first exodus, but this second exodus would also be like nothing they had ever seen before.

So now, flash forward to Jesus. John’s disciples ask him if he is the one who is to come, and what does Jesus say? The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up and the poor have good news preached to them. This list is like the promises made in Isaiah, but it’s also an expanded list. The dead are raised and the poor have good news preached to them. Yes, Jesus was the one who was to come, and he was something new. Jesus was telling John’s disciples that he was fulfilling the passage from Isaiah but obviously in a different way than before. Rather than a prophet proclaiming what would happen or what had happened, Jesus was the embodiment of the prophet’s proclamation.

God becoming human and living among us was nothing that had been seen before, totally new, and yet God had been with the people through Torah, the Temple, the prophets, and other ways. Jesus was the human embodiment of all that had come before: the embodiment of Torah, the temple, the prophets. All that God was and is, and all the ways God had been with the people of Israel were embodied in Jesus. So Jesus, the God-man was something that had never before been seen, and yet there was something very familiar about Jesus.

So now, flash forward to the second coming of Jesus, this cosmic event which James and his readers were anticipating with excitement and joy. They were waiting patiently, wanting it to happen sooner rather than later. We hear about the second coming of Jesus and it may tend to sound a little scary. There will be a thousand years of peace and harmony, but only after a thousand year tribulation. There will be earthquakes and wars and famine, and a great beast will rise. The stars will fall and the heavens will be shaken, and Jesus is going to come down clouds in glory with angels around him and one person will be taken up and another will be left.

Ok, so that doesn’t sound overly wonderful to me, but remember, these are descriptions of something the likes of which have never been seen before. The second coming of Jesus is something totally new and yet Jesus is the one who will be coming. The same Jesus who was here the first time, the same Jesus who was the embodiment of all the ways God had been with the people of Israel before is the same Jesus who will be coming again. So the second coming is something totally new and something very familiar. Of course there is going to be some fear and trembling, there is anytime God shows up, but it’s God who is showing up, not some scary killer demon thing.

At God’s coming, the wilderness and the dry land will be glad and break forth with joy and singing. The people were told, “be strong, fear not!” at God’s coming. So wait with patience the coming of the Lord. Wait with joy, and excitement, and gladness. Be strong, fear not, for the same Lord who came before is the Lord who will come again. The Lord’s coming will be something new, but it will also be something very familiar. Amen.

Love, Forgiveness, & Invitation Woven Into Creation

2010-11-22T15:01:00.000-08:00

Brad Sullivan

Proper 29, Year C
Christ the King
Sunday, November 21st, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Canticle 16
Colossians 1:11-20
Luke 23:33-43

We’re celebrating today Christ the King Sunday, thinking about the Kingdom of God and Jesus as king over everyone and everything. So, I could talk today about Jesus being king of the Jews as the inscription read above his cross. I could talk about him fulfilling the passage from Jeremiah, being the king of David’s line who is also the righteousness of God. I could proof text those passages to make the case that Jesus really is the king of us, and the Jews, and everyone else, but I’m not gonna do that. It would be boring, it would be legalistic, it would be informative, but I don’t think anyone woke up this morning hoping to get a lecture on Jesus’ royal credentials.

Thinking of the kingdom of God makes me think of first grade, walking under the breezeway awning on the way to gym class. It was around this time of year, maybe a little earlier, and being Houston, it hadn’t exactly gotten cold yet. I always looked forward the cold weather. It meant time to snuggle up with mom and dad by the fire place (sometimes we had to turn the A.C. down to do it), but snuggle up to mom and dad nonetheless, and winter-time meant Thanksgiving and Christmas-time, and a break from school. Everything about winter seemed fresh and new and exciting and loving, and my wife, growing up in Philadelphia might disagree; winter probably just meant really, really cold, but for me winter was kind of a magic time of year.

So on a particular day in first grade, I as walking towards gym class, and the first winter breeze of the year came by. I don’t know that winter had actually happened yet. I don’t think it even got any colder with that breeze. It was probably about 65 or 70 degrees, but there was a crispness to the air. It sounded like cold air blowing through cold trees, and that crisp sounding first winter breeze carried with it me the reminder and the promise of all of the beauty and newness and love of winter.

I’d love to say that every year since that year I’ve waited with anticipation for the first winter breeze of the year. But honestly, I sometimes forget, and yet every year, without fail, I have heard the fist winter breeze of the year, and every year, without faith, that breeze has brought with it the promise of renewal and love and the deep knowledge that all is well and all is right in the world.

Now, I realize that not all is right with the world. There’s a lot that’s wrong with the world, but for the few moments of that first winter breeze, all is right, and all is well. That first winter breeze is for me the Kingdom of God breaking through and inviting me in to share in the kingdom life, and it’s inviting me to share in the kingdom life right then in that moment and in every other moment of my life.

Paul wrote in his letter to the Colossians that “[God] has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son…” Notice we’re not waiting to be transferred into God’s kingdom at some future date after our Jesus bond matures. We’re in the kingdom of God right here and now. Jesus told his disciples “the kingdom of God is among and within you.”

Sometimes we know it doesn’t feel that way. Life’s not perfect…yet. There is still darkness in the world and in our lives. Paul didn’t say the darkness is completely eradicated, but that God has rescued us from the power of darkness. We don’t have to be held captive by darkness. When we’re caught up in dark thoughts or dark actions, we don’t have to remain bound by the darkness. When we have enmity towards others and are at odds with one another, we don’t have to stay that way. When we feel weighed down our lives or the world, we don’t have to remain weighed down, because God is with us to dwell with us to strengthen us so that we might, as Paul says, “endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has enabled us [or invited us] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.” God has rescued us from the power of darkness and continually invites us to live lives of love and joy in the kingdom of God.

So what is this kingdom of God? What is it like? In short, the kingdom of God is like its king. Paul says that “in [Jesus], all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible…all things have been created through him and for him. If all things were created in and through and for Jesus, then the character and qualities and nature of Jesus were woven into the fabric of creation.
So then, what is that character, what are those qualities of Jesus that are woven into creation? Jesus was a man who, as he was dying a slow and brutally painful death, prayed to God to forgive the people who were mocking him and those who were responsible for his death. Jesus loved and forgave his tormentors.

Further, when this criminal is dying next to him, Jesus tells him, “today you will be with me in paradise.” Now we have a challenge with this part of the story, with “the thief who repented” in that we tend toward legalism in how we often read the story. The thief repented so he gets to go to heaven, and that’s the lesson we often take from this. That’s the rule. Even if we’re sinners our whole lives, if we repent just before we die, then we get to go to heaven. Some more devious among us might think, “cool, I don’t have to follow Jesus until just before I die. I can do whatever I want and still get to go to heaven so long as I apologize right at the end…yea Jesus.”

With all of that legalism, however, we miss catching another glimpse of who Jesus is in whose kingdom we live. A man is terrified as he is dying a brutal death, fearful of death, of what may lie beyond, and in the midst of his own brutal death, Jesus takes the time to comfort this man and to assure him not only that he would remember him when he went into his kingdom, but that the man would be with him in paradise.

Jesus is a man of love, forgiveness, and invitation to life in God’s kingdom. Love, forgiveness, invitation to life in God’s kingdom are qualities of Jesus woven into creation. These things are a part of our DNA. All of creation, being made by and through, and for Jesus, all of creation was made with love, forgiveness, and invitation to life in God’s kingdom woven in.

True, we often forget this fact. We overlook it. We don’t live into it, and the beauty of God’s creation, his kingdom, is that in those times, God loves us, forgives us, and invites us into his Kingdom. My wife and I found this out the other night. We had a fight the other night as couples tend to do, and then we talked through things and forgave and loved and were reconciled. I realized later, that was the kingdom of God. In that moment, we were rescued from the power of darkness and invited again to live the kingdom of God life. I also wondered, if that wasn’t a little low brow for the kingdom of God. Isn’t that just a relationship working out well? Isn’t that just repentance and forgiveness and reconciliation? Yes. That’s part of what the kingdom of God is. If the ordinary parts of our lives were not capable of or worthy of being the kingdom of God, then I doubt very seriously that God would have bothered becoming human to live an ordinary human life with us.

The kingdom of God life happens whenever and wherever people love and forgive and live joyful lives, giving thanks to God. The Kingdom of God also shows up in unexpected ways at unexpected times. God’s kingdom blows through us like the first winter breeze of the year for me or whatever way God’s kingdom comes for you. The kingdom is all around and comes with the promise of renewal, with the promise of love, forgiveness, and invitation to share in the kingdom life. Amen.

What Gospel do I live?

2010-11-22T14:56:00.000-08:00

Brad Sullivan

Proper 26, Year C
Sunday, October 31st, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Isaiah 1:10-18
Psalm 32:1-8
Romans 16
Luke 19:1-10

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

I love this passage from Isaiah, and the many similar passages throughout scripture. “Y’all are being really, really religious,” God says, “but you’re also being pretty rotten to one another; if you really my blessing in your life, then you need to go out and bless others.” Isaiah’s message sounds both harsh and full of hope and promise. God was angry with the people’s missdeeds, and he deeply wanted them to turn around and was more than ready to bless them once they did. Through Isaiah, God was seeking to save the lost.

That sounds a lot like what Jesus said about Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was basically the passage of Isaiah lived out in story form in one person’s life. To be fair, there’s a lot we don’t know about Zacchaeus. We don’t know if he did follow any of the religious practices of Israel, but we do know he was cheating people out of their money. As a chief tax collector, of a corrupt tax system, he was collecting more than he was supposed to and pocketing the extra. He was doing evil, was unjust, taking from the oppressed, the orphan, and the widow, and everyone else. Then, somehow he heard about Jesus. We don’t know how, but he went into the crowd that day and climbed the tree in order to see who Jesus was, so he had apparently heard something about him.

So then he meets Jesus, and here again, we don’t really know what happened. It’s not entirely clear if they went on to Zacchaeus’ house and had a little chat about the words of Isaiah or if this encounter took place right there before Jesus said much of anything. What is clear, however, is that Zacchaeus met Jesus and was transformed by him.

Zacchaeus had previously defrauded people…perhaps he was caught up in “me, me”, thinking that the way to be secure and well in life was to get lots of money, building up security for himself at the expense of others. When he encountered Jesus, however, he found that his money was not what he really wanted. He gave over half of it away immediately. He had found something far greater in which to put his trust, his security, and his faith, than himself and his money.

Now, put your faith in God rather than in yourself and in your riches was hardly a new message. The religious establishment at the time, however, had apparently been unsuccessful at imparting this truth to Zacchaeus. He learned the truth of putting trust and security in God rather than in ourselves through an encounter with Jesus. Sometimes even today, our religious establishments, don’t do the best job of showing Jesus to people.

Sometimes people see the religious establishment, the buildings, the ceremonies, the organization, and because that’s all they see, they don’t see the life of the Gospel. I realize that’s an interesting topic for a stewardship sermon: the shortcomings of the religious establishment. How’s that for a rallying cry? “Give to the church. It often comes up short.”

Fortunately, I don’t really feel that by contributing to our lives here at Emmanuel, that we are primarily giving to a religious establishment. The organizational structure of the Episcopal Church is part of that to which we are contributing in our financial giving, and that structure is a good thing. We’re not a lone congregation, but part of a worldwide communion, and the religious establishment, the structure of the Episcopal church helps hold our worldwide common life together.

Primarily, however, in our financial giving to our common life here at Emmanuel, we aren’t giving to huge religious establishment, but to our common life here at Emmanuel. We’re contributing to our common life here at Emmanuel as a community of people who have been or are seeking to be transformed by Jesus. We’re a part of this larger household of God, seeking and sharing a common life in the Gospel. That’s why I contribute to our life together here and so that through our common life together we can live out the gospel beyond these walls so the Zacchaeuses of the world might also need to encounter Jesus.

Our challenge is that while we are a part of the religious establishment, in our lives beyond here, we show people the life of the Gospel which is at the core of the establishment. Beyond our religious practices, where do we each tend to fall? In they way we live our lives day by day, are we showing forth the Gospel? Are we waiting for the religious establishment to show people Jesus, or are we being Jesus for others? For a lot of folks, in order to be transformed, the establishment just ain’t gonna cut it. Some folks need a personal encounter. So, our question for the week to ask ourselves is, am I helping people encounter Jesus. Put another way, “If I was the only Gospel people ever heard, what is the Gospel they would know?” Amen.

Is God's love enough?

2010-10-05T08:12:00.001-07:00

Brad Sullivan

Proper 22, Year C
Sunday, October 3rd, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4
Psalm 37:1-10
2 Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10

“Increase our faith,” the apostles say. That seems like a pretty good thing to say. They kinda commanded rather than asked for it, but we’re supposed to be people of faith, so “increase our faith,” sounds pretty good to me, and then Jesus replies “You don’t need more faith. You can do plenty with what you’ve got.” I think that’s basically the message Jesus was giving the apostles when he told them about faith size of a mustard seed. That seems rather a rather odd exchange. “Lord, we want more faith.” “No, you’re not going to get it.”

Well, just before the disciples asked for more faith, Jesus was telling them to be on guard. He was reminding them that it is very easy to stumble in our walk with God, and that it is easy to cause others to stumble. He taught them that they should forgive others, and in response, the disciples asked for more faith. It’s as if they were saying, “Um, we don’t think we can pull this off with what you’ve given us Lord. We need some more.”

So Jesus tells them, “No. You’re not getting more faith. You’ve got plenty. Go out there and use it. Don’t be afraid. Remain faithful with the faith you’ve got, and you’ll move mountains.” Paul said as much in his letter to Timothy. “…God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.” (2 Timothy 1:14) Jesus didn’t say, “go off by yourself, I’m leaving you, and I won’t be with you.” Jesus said, “go, I will be with you, and be not afraid, for the faith you have is sufficient.”

But what about when we do remain faithful with the faith we’ve got? Might we get a little prideful and feel deserving of reward because we remain faithful? Jesus certainly seems to think we will. What does Jesus tell his disciples as soon as he tells them they already have all the faith they need? He tells them, “don’t remain faithful for the sake of some reward.” He tells the story of a slave or a servant coming in from work and expecting to be waited on hand and foot by the master of the house. That certainly sounds nice. That even sounds like the kingdom of God in which the master becomes the servant. Jesus taught as much when he washed the disciples’ feet, but that’s not the lesson he’s teaching here.

Using the social structure and norms present at the time, Jesus was warning the apostles against expecting or even demanding some great reward for having remained faithful to God. Think of the story of the Prodigal Son. The prodigal son returns, they throw a party, and the brother is bothered, feeling like he was entitled to a party as well. What does the father say? “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” What is he saying but, “you have been with me and loved me and I have loved you all these years. Isn’t that enough.” The father is telling the son, “I thought you were remaining here with me because you love me, not because you wanted a party. You’ve been the recipient of my love all these years, and that is the greatest gift I can give you.”

The apostles were being asked to remain faithful to God and to let God’s love be enough for them. That doesn’t fit too well in our economy of exchange that we have here in the world. We provide goods and services for some kind of reward…money, food shelter. I do this for you, and you do this for me. That makes sense. That’s fair.

God’s economy doesn’t seem to be an economy of exchange, and economy of commerce. God’s economy seems more to be one of household. In households, by and large, we do things for one another out of love, not in order to manipulate a situation and get something for myself. In economies of exchange, we may remain faithful to the same company for 30-40 years partly because we like the company, but we’re also probably expecting some kind of pension at the end of it. Maybe not anymore, but there was a time when that happened.

In households, we remain faithful to one another simply out of love for one another. Can you imagine a 40 or 50 year old saying, “Well, Mom, Dad, I’ve been a part of this family for 50 years now, and I’m ready to call it quits, retire from the family so I’ve put together a little portfolio here, a little retirement from the family package; let’s see what we can work out.”

Looking at this on the other end of the age range, I think of children being given gifts for good behavior or for good grades. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with parents giving their children gifts, but we run into a problem when parents give their children gifts because they deserve them. “My kid made good grades, and so he deserves some great gift,” or “my kid is respectful of me and other adults, and so he deserves some great gift.” Making good grades, being respectful of adults, these are not things that are deserving of gifts. They are simply what we’re supposed to be doing.

The purpose of being in school is to learn, and good grades reflect learning. There is intrinsic value in getting an education; the learning is its own reward, and doing so is simply what one is supposed to be doing. Being respectful of ones parents is simply how children are supposed to behave. Doing so is intrinsically valuable, it helps mold a child into an adult with character. Again, it’s not deserving of reward. It’s what one is supposed to do.

For adults as well, there are many ways in which we may feel we are deserving of some reward, when we’ve really just been doing what we’re supposed to be doing. Reward for service works in an economy of exchange, but does not work so well in an economy of household. Economy of exchange is not the way God intended families to work. It’s certainly not the way God intended his household to work.

God never said to the people of Israel, “Ok, Israel, you’ve remained faithful to me for 40 years, you’re time is up. Go serve other gods.” And so with the apostles, Jesus was saying, “You’re not serving me in order to gain some great reward. You will be my people and I will be your God. You’re reward is to be part of God’s household. You get to walk with God. You get to experience God’s love and to know that you are loved by God. You’re not entitled to anything else, but isn’t God’s love enough?”

For us hearing these stories today, we’ve got the same issues as the apostles. Sometimes we feel like we wish we had more faith. Has anyone here ever felt that way? Have you ever seen someone who seems really, really faithful and certain in their faith and found yourself being a little jealous? I wish I had that faith. I know I have, and yet Jesus tells us the faith you’ve got is faith enough. Our faith might increase over time especially as we are faithful in our faith, but whatever faith we have is enough. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” Jesus says in Matthew’s gospel. They don’t have an overabundance of faith and yet the faith they have is enough for God’s kingdom to be theirs. If we feel we don’t have enough faith, God can work with what we’ve got.

Now, as to feeling like we deserve some great reward for remaining faithful, we tend to fall into that pit as well. Maybe we’ve served the church and then felt that the church didn’t do enough for us. Maybe we’ve had faith our whole lives and then had some bad thing happen to us and felt angry at God for not preventing it. “I’ve been faithful to you, God. How dare you let this happen to me?” I’m guessing we’ve all had times when we’ve felt that our faith has entitled us to something, and in these times we might have lost sight of the fact that through our faith we’ve gotten to know and experience God’s love for us, and we’ve gotten to love God right back. That’s why we’re faithful. That’s enough.

So, here’s our homework for this week. Everyone pick a day. Take some time to examine or discuss the questions, “to what do I feel entitled by God, or to what do I feel entitled by the church?” “What do I expect from God, and is God’s love enough? Can I let God’s love be enough?” Amen.

Loving God with everything we've got.

2010-09-20T13:40:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan

Proper 20, Year C
Sunday, September 5th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Amos 8:4-7
1 Timothy 2:1-7
Luke 16:1-13

“Hear O, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your Soul, and with all your might.” That’s Deuteronomy 6:4-5, and that’s really what our Gospel passage is about today. Love God with everything you’ve got. There’s nothing greater than that on earth, no higher purpose to which we are called or made. Love God with everything you’ve got. Everything else in life joyfully comes from that love of God.

When we really love God, can see our love of God expressed in concrete actions. We all know that. The more we love God, the more we want to do good to other people and love others as well. John tells us we can’t love God and hate our brother and sister. If we do so, we’re liars, and the love of God isn’t really in us. James tells us that faith without works is dead.

If we say we love God, but that love has no expression in our lives, then we’re likely just kidding ourselves that we actually love God all that much. When we love people, that love is shown in the time we spend together, the way we talk about those we love and the way we honor the ones we love. Jesus was telling his disciples in the story he told today that if we really love God, we’re going to live that love out. We’re going to put aside whatever we love more than God, and we’re going to show our love for God in the way we live.

Taking a look at the story Jesus told, there was the dishonest manager. He had no love of God. He had no love of other people. He loved money above most other things, and that’s why he was dishonest, so he could get more and more money. Then this accounting problem came up, and the rich man realized that his manager was dishonest, at which point, the manager realized he did love one thing more than money: self preservation, and he did a great job at it.

Knowing that once he was unemployed, he’d need some friends and get some folks to help support him, he showed incredible mercy to all of these people, cancelling their debts, reducing their debts. From their perspective, he was a great guy. He was a loving, generous, wonderful man who had taken their burdens and reduced them. He showed them compassion and mercy. He did exactly the kinds of things that God continually called his followers to do. Except that he did so out of selfishness rather than out of love for anyone but himself, but I bet he got a pretty good following from it. What I then wonder is, having given these seeming gifts of grace to the people, what kind of Gospel did he give them afterwards? Probably not much of one, and certainly not one in which loving God was everything. Then again, from their perspective, who cares about loving God, this dishonest manager took care of them.

That’s part of why Jesus warned against loving money more than loving God. Even those who are dishonest can gain a following and influence by acts of mercy, even selfish ones. When Christians, then, proclaim love of God and yet appear to love money or anything else more than God, why would anyone follow after Christ?

Maybe y’all are aware that to those outside of the church, we’ve got something of an image problem? We, Christians, are often called hypocritical or condemning, or just about anything but loving. Ozzy Ozborne on his most recent album has a song in which he’s wondering about God and asking the questions so many of us ask of why all this terrible stuff keeps on happening. Why don’t you do something, God? He’s got a great line in that song: “The rich, getting richer, paint you into the picture, give the poor immaculate deception.” – Ozzy Ozborne, Diggin’ Me Down

Now, from everything I’ve found, I think Ozzy is a Christian, but those lyrics are a pretty powerful statement about the perception of Christians. “The rich, getting richer, paint you into the picture, give the poor immaculate deception.” If Christians are seen as loving money more than God, then it is likely because we’ve ended up living that out in some ways in our lives. Maybe some of us, personally, have done so, maybe other Christians have, but we’ve got some work to do to restore the image of Christianity and the reality of Christianity, and our love of God lived out in the world.

What Jesus was telling his disciples was, ‘even selfish, dishonest people know how to live in God’s kingdom and to give mercy to others when it suits their needs. Can’t you, my disciples, do so out of your love for God?’ So, we’ve got some questions to ask ourselves as Jesus’ disciples. These are questions that we should continually ask ourselves to check in and see how we’re doing.

Do we love God or are there things in our lives that we end up putting in the way and loving more than God? If we love God, is that love expressed in our love for others? If our love of God is expressed in our love for others, do people also know that we love God?

By and large, I know the answers to these questions are all yes…and. Yes we love God and there things that we all maybe love a little more than God. What I’m talking about are those continual things that we know God doesn’t want us to do but it’s hard to get rid of ‘em so we keep on doing them.

Let’s take a look at football. There’s nothing wrong with football. I love football. I love playing football, I love watching football, and often when I watch football, I get angry at the other team. Heck, I get angry at my team if they when they make a bone headed play. I’ll be all upset talking to my family or to the TV. “What were you thinking that was such a stupid thing to do?” I’ll get all worked up over these 18, 20 year old young men playing a game. That’s not love of God. Love of God is nowhere in that kind of passionate, virile, angry, vicious love of football.

Loving football in that way is loving football more than God. Now if God were to ask me or any of us who love sports in a similar way, “Do you love football more than me, Brad?” “No! Of course not, I love you, God!” “Well Brad, when you act that way during football games and feel that way during football games, you show that you love football more than me.”

There’s probably nothing that if held up side by side, and presented in one moment that we would chose over God, but life isn’t usually lived by decisions we make in earth shattering, God invaded, moments of clarity. Life is lived in the little things we do, the decisions we make, and the habits we form. Do we choose love of God in every aspect of our lives?

Sometimes we’ve got to change the way we do things if we’re really going to love God. I’ve got to change the way I watch football, the way I drive, the way I get irritated at things, and yes, even the way I spend my money, if I’m really going to love God with all of my heart, soul, and might.

So, do we love God above all else? Yes we do, and we’re going to ask him to help us with those areas where we don’t. Loving God, do we let that love be shown in our actions and do we let that love be known in our words?

In his book, The Hole in Our Gospel, Richard Stearns, recounts his experiences as President of World Vision, a humanitarian organization that serves children and impoverished people worldwide. In recounting a conversation he had with a Christian pastor in Cambodia, he wrote:

“Pastor, living in a country that is more than 90 percent Buddhist, how did you come to be a Christian?” The story he told me was confirmation of the power of the whole gospel in action.

“Five hears ago,” he said, “World Vision came to our community and began to work. I was suspicious of these outsiders to our community and was convinced that they had their own hidden agenda. You see, in Cambodia, since the genocide by the Khmer Rouge, we are always distrustful of strangers. But these people from World Vision [also Cambodians] set up a TB clinic to care for those suffering from TB. They improved the schools our children attended, and they taught better agricultural methods to the farmers to improve our yields. But I was still suspicious and even angry, convinced that they were up to no good. Why would these strangers help us? I thought.

“One day I decided to confront them, and I went to the World Vision leader and demanded to know why they were here. His answer took me by surprise. He said, ‘We are followers of Jesus Christ, and we are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are here to show you that God loves you.’

“I said in response, ‘Who is this Jesus Christ that you talk about?’”

The man then brought a Bible and the two of them began talking about Christianity. Over the coming weeks, the man who had been so suspicious became a Christian and then went on to share the Gospel with his community, starting a flock of 83 people in his village.

People lived out their love of God, and they proclaimed that love when asked, and so this man became a follower of Jesus and a pastor to his community. Are we willing to profess our love of God to others? Why wouldn’t we? It’s uncomfortable. Are we choosing comfort over love of God?

People might not like it. Well we don’t have to cram anything down people’s throats.
“Do you love Jesus?”
“No.”
“Well then you’re going to hell.”

Nowhere in that exchange was love of God ever even mentioned. That’s not proclaiming love of God. When people notice, however, that we might be living our lives differently than other people they know, we simply tell them we live this way because we love God. That’s kind of a scary thing to do. Love can be a scary thing, but let’s look at it this way. I have no problem telling people I love my wife, my children, my parents, my other family and friends. Now I’m not just going to walk up to a complete stranger and say,
“Hi, I love my wife.”
“Ok, that was creepy,” they’d probably respond.

When family and friends get brought up in conversation, however, I’d have no problem telling someone I love my wife. Why would I have a problem telling people I love God?

So, here’re our assignments for the week. Here’s what to take home with you. One: pick a time to ask yourself or together as a family to discuss what you love more than God. Two: think about, pray about, discuss, how you might remove that thing so that you might love God first and foremost. Three: practice professing your love for God, and try every day this week to recite of Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “Hear O, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your Soul, and with all your might.” Amen.

Don't hate your family, despite what you may have heard...

2010-09-20T13:36:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan

Proper 18, Year C
Sunday, September 5th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Psalm 1
Philemon 1-21
Luke 14:25-33

Some time last week, I was getting ready to go to work, about to head out the door, and my two and a half year old son, Noah, looked up at a little figure of Jesus in the manger and said, “I like that Jesus guy. He’s really cool.” Kristin and I agreed. We laughed and said, “yeah, he is really cool, Noah,” thinking “that’s great, good for him,” and yet today, that story seems to stand in stark contrast to what Jesus says in the Gospel.

“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” What do I tell my son in relation to this passage? Sorry son, I know you think Jesus is really cool, but you don’t hate mommy and me, so you can’t be his disciple, you can’t really like him.

We’re told in Leviticus, everyone’s favorite book of the Bible, we’re told in Leviticus 19:17, “don’t hate your kin, your family.” We’re told in 1 John 4:20 “Those who say, ‘I love God, ‘and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have see, cannot love God whom they have seen.” We’re told by Jesus, in Luke 6:27 “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you…”

So, in light of all of this “don’t hate people” teaching, and in light of Jesus’ vast teachings about love, what are we to do with a passage in which Jesus tells us to hate our families. Well, as is often the case, we take a look at language. Jesus said, hate your family, but rather than the contemptuous detestation which we generally understand as “hate”, the word Jesus uses sometimes means that, and it sometimes means “turn away from,” “disregard,” or “be indifferent to.”

So now we hear Jesus saying “turn away from” your family, “disregard” your family, “be indifferent to” your family, if you’re going to be my disciple. That may still not be the best thing we’ve ever heard in our lives, but it certainly is a lot better than what we understand as hate.

Still, the question that lingers for me is “why?” Why do I have to disregard my family in order to follow you, Jesus? Am I now supposed to tell my son, “Sorry, Noah. I love you, I think you’re great, and I know you think that Jesus guy is really cool, but I want to be Jesus’ disciple, so I just need to be a bad father to you and ignore you, just please go away.” I tell Kristin and Rhys the same thing, and then say to Jesus, “Ok Lord, I’m a terrible father and husband, I’ve blown them all off. I’m ready.”

That doesn’t seem quite right either. Looking at the rest of what Jesus said in today’s Gospel passage, he talked about counting the cost, making sure people are willing to make the sacrifices necessary in order to be Jesus’ disciple. We make sacrifices all the time in order to do various things or be with certain people in our lives.

Those who have had kids know kids demand a lot of time and that there are some relationships you might not be able to keep as closely because of the time needed to be with kids. Those in marriages or committed one-on-one relationships know that such relationships require some level of sacrifice in other relationships. Before I was married, I had great friends. Now that I am married, I still have those great friends, but I don’t spend as much time with them as I did before I was married. I’ve had to disregard them, somewhat, in order to have time enough to give time and love to my wife and family.

The same goes for any good friendships we have, or jobs and activities we pursue with passion, going to school, learning a trade. Focusing our energy and attention on any one thing requires that we divert some energy and attention from other things in order to delve deeply into that one thing. I think of great musicians, the best of the best, who spend hours, and hours, and hours each day devoted to their instrument and their music. That doesn’t mean musicians don’t have friends, but they put in the work necessary in order to be devoted to their music. They’ve counted the cost.

The same goes for following Jesus. I knew folks in seminary who had wanted to be in the ministry for years, and initially, got some resistance from family and friends. You’re not going to make enough money. You’re not going to have weekends free. Initially some of these folks listened to the objections of family and friends, and then eventually, they had to disregard some of their family and friends, be indifferent to some of their family and friends, not regarding them as people, but they disregarded or were indifferent to the objections of their family and friends. They had counted the cost.

I’ve been reading a book called, “The Hole in Our Gospel” which is about the Gospel imperative to serve others, especially where there is poverty and injustice. The author is Richard Stearns, President of World Vision which is a Christian humanitarian organization which works worldwide with children, and families, and communities to help solve problems of poverty and injustice. Richard Stearns has been president of World Vision for 12 years now, and when the opportunity to become president of World Vision came up, he really, really, really didn’t want it.

He writes of himself as one who had committed himself during his 20s to following Christ, no matter what, and yet he was one who hadn’t entirely counted the cost. He wrote, “I was a poster boy for the successful Christian life – church every Sunday, great marriage, give attractive (and above-average) kids, a corporate CEO with a Bible on his desk, a faithful supporter of Christian causes – the whole Christian enchilada”, and yet when asked to take this new job, he found himself running for the hills. “Quitting my job, selling my house, and moving my family to serve at World Vision”, he wrote, was not in any way what he wanted to do, and yet he had said that he wanted to follow Jesus no matter what. He felt Jesus calling him to this job at World Vision, his family was supportive, and yet, he found himself initially unwilling to make the sacrifices necessary to follow Jesus’ call.

Obviously, he eventually did answer Jesus’ call and was blessed by doing so. It doesn’t sound like he ever really regretted giving up quite a lot of material things in order to follow Jesus. He wrote of his blessings in this way,

Does God bless those of us who commit our lives to following him? Of course he does. Sometimes He does bless us in material ways, with money, success, good health, and happy families, but those things are not guaranteed. Yet we are always blessed by God’s love for us and the meaning He brings to our lives, whether in hardship or prosperity. God also blesses us through our sacrifices for Him as we feel the privilege of being a tool in His hand.

Others who have heard his story over the years have asked him about serving God more directly and committing themselves ministry in some way, and he’s responded by asking questions about their preconditions. He wrote that usually the list of conditions sounds something like this:

“Well, we’re very committed to staying in the Atlanta area. All of our friends are here, and we have spent years getting our house just right. Our kids are in a very special private school, and we don’t want to move them. We waited six years to join the country club, and now we’re members. We couldn’t take too big of a pay cut and still maintain our lifestyle…But other than that, we’re wide open to serve.”

The preconditions that he mentioned, they sound pretty normal. School’s important, friends are important, and yet, as the author continues (and this is the last quote I’m going to give), “When we say we want to be [Jesus’] disciple, yet attach a list of conditions, Jesus refuses to accept our terms. His terms involve unconditional surrender.”

In order to be Jesus’ disciple, we’re asked at times to give up some of the life we have planned out for ourselves in order to live a life that he has in mind for us. For Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision, giving up some of the life he had involved a different job, a different city, a different house, a different car. He still has his family, everything that was really important to him, and he didn’t make these sacrifices on a whim simply because he felt guilty and self loathing about having too much. He made the sacrifices necessary in order to follow Jesus when Jesus called.

So, counting the cost and following Jesus doesn’t mean that tomorrow we’re all supposed to go quite our jobs and say goodbye to our family and friends and move somewhere else, just for the sake of sacrificing stuff, in order to be Jesus’ disciple. That would be like a single person who spends a lot of time with his really good friends telling them all that he can’t hang out with them any more because one day he might be married with kids and would then have to sacrifice some time that he spends with his friends, and he has to get ready. That just seems kinda silly. On the other hand, so does saying to someone, “I want a deep and fulfilling relationship with you, but I’m not going to make any sacrifices in order to have a deep and fulfilling relationship with you.” Or, “I’m going to do really well in school and make straight ‘A’s, but I’m not going to study.” “I’m going to do really well at this job and advance and move up the ladder, but I’m going to come in at noon, leave at three, and whatever I don’t get done is your problem.”

Following Jesus, counting the cost, of course these things require sacrifice on our parts. We all know that. Sometimes, after careful consideration, we even need to disregard some of the objections of our family and friends in order to be a disciple of Jesus. We get to live lives in which we work for and promote the kingdom of God, a kingdom of love and compassion. Being Jesus’ disciples requires surrender, but we’re surrendering to one who has our best interests at heart. Or, as the prophet Noah says about the one to whom we’re surrendering, “I like that Jesus guy. He’s really cool.” Amen.

Did Jesus come to tear families apart?

2010-09-20T13:32:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan

Proper 15, Year C
Sunday, August 15th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Jeremiah 23:23-29
Psalm 82
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Luke 12:49-56

So, Jesus came to tear families apart. That’s kinda what it sounds like on an initial reading of today’s Gospel. Father will be against son, mother against daughter, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, ok that last one might not be because of Jesus, but we can’t really ignore that Jesus said he came to bring division. I thought a house divided against itself couldn’t stand, and yet here’s Jesus today bringing division and fire on the earth. I thought he was supposed to be the prince of peace.

Jesus did bring a lot of peace, after all. When he healed folks, he often told them to go in peace. When his disciples went out to minister, he told them to offer their peace to those with whom they stayed. Jesus was definitely not averse to peace. Therefore, by saying today that he came to bring division, I don’t believe Jesus was saying that he came to add rancor and strife to world simply to make the world a less pleasant place to live. Jesus healed. He taught about blessedness. He told people they were beloved of God.

He also told people when they were living destructive lives, counter to how God had taught them to live. Jesus may have been the prince of peace, but that doesn’t mean he came to remain silent when he encountered problems or that he came simply to play nice.

Looking back a little way in Luke’s gospel, Jesus had been preaching against the Scribes and the Pharisees. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees,” Jesus said, “that is, their hypocrisy.” He then went on to teach about the blessedness of every human being. Do not fear because God cares about you was the basic message. Then we get to the story we heard a couple of weeks ago. A man interrupts Jesus and asks him to help him out with his family inheritance. I can see Jesus being a little annoyed at this point.

“Seriously dude, your inheritance? I was preaching to you about blessedness, and God’s love for you and how you don’t need to fear, and you want to ask me about money?” Boy that guy got more than he bargained for. Jesus went on to talk about money and the dangers of putting our faith in our money and our possessions rather than in God. “All your possessions, all your stuff, it’s gonna be gone one day. You’re gonna be gone one day, and what good is all that stuff going to do you then?”

I can see the guy who first asked the question about inheritance at this point trying quietly to extricate himself from the crowd, and his friends holding him there saying, “Way to go Steve, he was being nice being nice before you spoke up.”

To be fair, having a question about an inheritance is fine; it happens. Sometimes we have disputes and we need help settling them. Jesus seemed to notice something more in the man’s question, however, than a purely innocent request for help in settling a legal matter. I’m further guessing that the man who asked about his inheritance was simply one among many in the crowd who wasn’t so much interested in God’s kingdom as in getting what he wanted and having Jesus help him get what he wanted. “That’s nice, Jesus. God’ loves us. We should care for one another, blah blah blah, now here’s what I need.” The yeast of the Scribes and the Pharisees seems to have been taking hold in the crowd.

So, Jesus speaks today about wanting to throw fire down on the earth and bring division. Well, throwing fire down on the earth was an act of cleansing perhaps to burn away the yeast of the Scribes and the Pharisees. The fire Jesus was to throw down on the earth was like a fire of burnt offering to cleanse people, to take away their misdeeds (as they offered them up), and to remind them of who God is and to get them back to walking in God’s ways once again.

We might also note that there was no actual rain of fire that Jesus sent down (the Holy Spirit came down in tongues of fire), but I think we can safely say Jesus’ fire was kindled. His fire continues to this day, sometimes burning where there is injustice and greed, cleansing people from walking in ways that God knows are not helpful ways for us to walk. I believe I’ve been cleansed at various times by Jesus’ fire (metaphorical fire we’re talking about here). Perhaps some of y’all have experienced that as well, and if you have, then you know that being cleansed is not always the most pleasant thing in the world.

Turning back towards God, seeking his help and forgiveness, changing one’s life, stopping unhealthy practices and starting healthy ones is cleansing by Jesus’ fire and it is not necessarily a pleasant experience. The result, however, is great and well worth any discomfort along the way. Jesus came to bring fire on the earth, and thank God that he did. We need his fire to cleanse us and then to remain in us to be light to the world and to cast darkness out of the world, and if we do that. If we allow Jesus’ fire to cleanse us, and if we allow his fire to remain in us, and if we take that fire with us to help cast darkness out of the world, then we are going to cause some division.

That’s the second disturbing thing Jesus said in today’s gospel, wasn’t it. “Do you think that I have come to bring peace on the earth? N, I tell you, but rather division!” If you ask people to change, they are going to resist you. If you try to bring light where there is darkness, there will be those who don’t like the light. Consider the Scribes and the Pharisees. They had a good thing going. They had power and influence. They had money and prestige, and Jesus with his Kingdom of God preaching was wrecking the whole thing. They weren’t very good religious leaders. They weren’t caring for the people so much as for themselves. They weren’t teaching the people to care for each other so much as to care for the religion and by extension their own pockets.

Jesus brought light into that darkness, telling the poor that they were blessed too, telling the people that they were all beloved of God. Jesus taught about true blessedness which comes from loving God and loving one another rather than in the accumulation of material wealth. Even in that bit of teaching, Jesus brought division. There was division in the crowd listening to him, evidenced by the man asking for his inheritance. “I don’t like what you’re saying there Jesus. I like this blessedness bit, but it sounds like if I’m going to really follow you, I’m going to have to make some sacrifices. I don’t really want to do that.” Others in the crowd loved the idea. They caught Jesus’ fire. They believed his message about blessedness, and they wanted to make sacrifices in order to follow him, to be that light to others and to help bring some healing to a broken world.

In one afternoon of teaching, Jesus brought some division. Again, the purpose was not division for division’s sake, but the only way not to bring some division would have been not to say anything at all. Jesus could have healed people and performed some miracles, and that would have been great. It would have brought peace to those who were served by him, and if he had kept his mouth shut and not spoken up against injustice and oppression, he sure wouldn’t have brought much division, but he wouldn’t have had all that lasting of an impact. People might have called him a nice, peaceful guy, but he wouldn’t have brought with him the fire that cleanses and casts out darkness.

So yes, Jesus did come to bring division. He knew that he would cause division within families, but like I joked about earlier, we don’t really need Jesus to be divided within our families. Son against father and mother against daughter, sounds like Jesus came to turn all children into teenagers. Families will be divided sometimes when some within a family catch Jesus’ fire and others don’t. Division in families is not the goal, but a likely outcome, and something that may likely come anyway.

Division within families is hopefully not the end of people catching Jesus’ fire. Jesus didn’t say, “honor your father and your mother…unless they haven’t caught my fire, then to hell with them.” Jesus said, “uphold the commandments; honor your father and your mother.” If some within a family follow Jesus and others don’t, then so be it. Our challenge is not to stop following Jesus because some whom we love do not. For those who follow Jesus and have family or friends that don’t, we need not, however, denounce our families and friends in order to follow Jesus. We should in fact stay with our families and friends. We love them. Why in the world wouldn’t we remain with them?

God loves us and remains with us, even at a cost. Jesus knew his fire would come at a cost, but he also knew the greater cost would have been not to kindle that fire. For us, having caught Jesus’ fire, we too are the light of the world. Following Jesus, for us too will come at a cost and may bring some division. At the same time we’re working to live in God’s kingdom and to help others live in God’s kingdom. That seems worth the cost. Amen.

Demons, Oil, & Atonement

2010-06-21T07:59:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan

Proper 7, Year C
Sunday, June 20th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
1 Kings 19:1-15a
Psalm 43
Galatians 3:23-29
Luke 8:26-39

In both the old testament reading and the Gospel reading today, we have stories of spiritual warfare. In the reading from Kings, Elijah had just won a major victory for God against Jezebel and the prophets of Baal. Baal was a Canaanite deity, and Jezebel, wife of Ahab, king of Israel, Jezebel was uncompromising in her devotion to Baal. The fire and zeal she had for Baal dwarfed the devotion that the people of Israel at the time had for God.

Jezebel was killing off the prophets of the Lord, and finally, Elijah had a contest with the prophets of Ball to see whose God would win. Elijah called the people of Israel to watch the contest between God and Baal, represented by Elijah for God and 450 prophets of Baal. Baal’s prophets called repeatedly for him to come down and consume an offering by fire to absolutely no effect.

Then, Elijah called on God who immediately consumed with fire the offering, the wood, the stones and all of the water Elijah had pored on it. The people turned back to God and had the prophets of Baal killed. As a result, we get the story we heard today. Jezebel was going to have Elijah killed so Elijah fled and met God on the mountain.

The contest between God and Baal was spiritual warfare lived out physically through Elijah and the prophets of Baal. The spiritual and the physical were united in the conflict.

In the Gospel too, we have today a story of spiritual warfare. Jesus casts demons out of a man of Gerasa. This was not the first healing done by Jesus nor was it the first time he had cast out demons, but in today’s story, Jesus cast out not one demon, but many, and those many demons were called ‘Legion’. Well, a legion was a Roman military unit of several thousand soldiers. This military unit of demons had possessed a poor man from Gerasa. As far as he knew, when Jesus cast out the demons, he’d been healed. Hearing the story as told by Luke, however, we know there was more going on than a man being healed. Jesus was engaged in spiritual warfare with these demons, and like Elijah called on God in his battle with the prophets of Baal, there was no contest. The demons, even a legion of demons, had no power against Jesus.

Spiritual warfare was lived out in a very concrete and physical way in the contest between God and Baal and in the contest between Jesus and the legion of demons, and that spiritual warfare is still being lived out today. We talk about people fighting their inner demons, and we tend to mean people simply have struggles within themselves, and the stories of our faith tell us there truly are forces of darkness that assault us. An example of where I see the assaults of demons attacking humans is in the reaction of so many people to the oil leak in the Gulf.

I realize this is a touchy subject, and the fact that people are very upset is perfectly understandable. Folks are worried about jobs, worried about plant and animal life, worried about the economy. These are all justifiable concerns and worries. People’s anger and fear is totally understandable, and yet amidst all these worries and fears, there have been calls for murder. Folks have said that people from BP should kill themselves or that various politicians should kills themselves. Anger and frustration is one thing, but calls for murder and suicide, that’s something else entirely, perhaps even the influence of demons.

Demons have at times been personified as the darker aspects of humanity. That we become angry when tragedy strikes is understandable. That our anger can become so all consuming that we are blinded by it is perhaps us suffering from the attacks of demons. Perhaps at times we too, like the man from Gerasa whom Jesus healed, are assaulted by demons.

That’s part of why Jesus is our savior to drive away “Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God.” You may have noticed I was quoting from one of the renunciations in the baptismal covenant. The other two things we renounce are “the evil powers of this world” and “all sinful desires.” I would include vengeance, hatred, self-righteousness as sinful desires and evil powers.

So much of what I hear in the response to the oil leak in the Gulf is calls for vengeance. There are calls for restorative justice, for the making whole of those harmed by the oil leak, and those calls should be met, of course, but in the way so many of our calls for restoration are being made, it sounds an awful lot like we’re calling for retribution.

In the statements I’ve heard and in the way so many statements are made, it sounds as though some folks want BP to be destroyed as a company in retribution for the oil leak. Never mind the thousands of workers who would lose their jobs. Never mind everyone’s culpability in using oil. Anger, self-righteousness, hatred, vengeance seem to have blinded folks at times. These spiritual forces of wickedness seem to be taking full advantage of oil leak in the gulf so that once again, we find ourselves treating each other really terribly. Of course we need people to be accountable for their actions and to restore to wholeness when possible those harmed by their actions.

We also need forgiveness. We also need humility. We need healing from the assaults of the adversary that turn us against one another. We need to ask Jesus to fight the spiritual battle for us, to drive away Satan and the spiritual forces of wickedness so we can deal with the oil leak in the Gulf in a humane and way.

We’re not there yet. The oil leak in the Gulf is a tragic accident. Eventually, maybe, we’ll find out exactly what went wrong. In the meantime, however, it seems like as a society, we keep looking someone to blame, someone on whom to pin all of our anger. BP should have done this or the CEO should have done that. President Obama should do this or congress should have done that. People are looking for a scapegoat.

The concept of a scapegoat actually comes from Leviticus, chapter 16. According to Levitical law, every year, the people of Israel were to observe the Day of Atonement. On the day of Atonement the high priest would lay his hands on the head of a goat and lay all of the sins of the people onto that goat. Then they would release the goat into the wild, carrying away the sins of all the people. The scapegoat was the one let go to atone for the sins of the people.

So, the fact that we’re looking for a scapegoat actually makes a little bit of sense. It seems like we’re simply looking for someone to blame, but perhaps we’re looking for someone to atone for our sins. Lest any of us forget, all of us use oil. If we’ve ever been in a car, or used anything with plastic, or purchased just about anything that was shipped from one place to another, we’ve used oil.

When we first started used oil, we didn’t know it had any negative consequence for the earth. We just knew it was a great source of energy. Now, we are aware of the negative impact of petrochemicals on our environment, and yet our entire way of life is built around the use of oil. So, can we say our use of oil is sinful? Sure. Using it causes some harm to the planet. It’s unintentional sin. Again, we didn’t know the use of oil was harmful when we started using it, and now that we are aware of the harms, it’s going to take a long time to wean ourselves off or to change our way of life.

In the mean time, we’d be well served by stopping our search for a scapegoat. Whether we’re trying to lay all the blame and sins on BP, or the government, or anyone else, we need not look for a scapegoat to atone for our sins, because he already died for our sins a couple thousand years ago. Jesus is our scapegoat. He atoned for our sins in his death on the cross.

He was also raised from the dead to keep atoning for our sins, and he sent the Holy Spirit to be our advocate in the continued war against Satan, the Adversary. It’s interesting that in Jesus’ death and resurrection on the cross, the spiritual war was done. God won. Satan and the spiritual forces of wickedness lost. That doesn’t mean they don’t keep fighting. Futile as it is, the forces of darkness continue to assault us. Eventually, all will be made right. God will restore all things. God wins out over death, over sin. In the mean time, we do still see spiritual warfare going on. Whether through our reactions and the vitriol over the oil leak in the Gulf, or anything else over which we find ourselves in conflict, spiritual warfare continues to be fought in the way we treat one another.

Jesus fights the battles for us. He can drive out a legion of demons with one command. Jesus won the victory. Our response, our responsibility is to uphold the promises we make in baptism and to continue to renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God. Our joy is to continue to ask Jesus for help, to cast out the demons that assault us. Our gratitude and hope come in the atonement he made for our sins so that we can love one another, forgive one another, and stand together against the forces of darkness with him as our savior. Amen.

Healing, Death, and Trust in God

2010-06-08T06:41:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan

Proper 5, Year C
Sunday, June 6th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
1 Kings 17:8-16
Psalm 146
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17

What happens when we die? Why did Jesus heal the boy in this story? Was he showing compassion to a widow? Was he showing us his divine nature? Why don’t we still see healings like this in our world today? These are all questions that were raised for me in reading our Gospel story today. Looking first at the question about Jesus’ divine nature, then we look at the story, and if we believe Jesus was God, then his raising the boy to life in the story we heard today was in some ways no big deal. Jesus was God, of course he could raise this kid from the dead. At the time, of course, people didn’t believe Jesus was God. When he raised the boy, the people didn’t say, “look, there’s God.” They said, a “a mighty prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has looked favorably on his people!”.

I’ve often heard folks comment on the people’s lack of understanding as to who Jesus was. “How could they not know Jesus was God? Look at what he did; he raised this boy from the dead.” Jesus’ miracles were the power of God being shown forth, but they were not obvious statements of Jesus’ divinity. The people’s belief that Jesus was a prophet, and not God was not because they were dim witted or unfaithful. Even after seeing him raise the widow’s son from the dead, the people had no reason to believe Jesus was God. Both Elijah and Elisha raised people from the dead. They were both mighty prophets, and they both showed God’s favor to his people. So, the people’s response to Jesus raising the widow’s son from the dead was totally appropriate.

I find rather interesting the paradox, that the people, seeing Jesus raise the boy from the dead, were amazed and yet didn’t think Jesus was God. We, on the other hand because of our belief that Jesus was God, might find ourselves no longer amazed. This thought led me to one of my other questions, “why not now?” Why don’t we still see Jesus’ power to raise folks from the dead and to heal disease demonstrated in the world today, in the church? Didn’t Jesus give that power to the apostles? Shouldn’t it still be among us? Shouldn’t we be able to go to the healers whenever we’re sick and be healed just as readily and as surely as the boy in the story today?

If we look at the history of the prophets, and Jesus was a prophet, we find that God would show up occasionally with great power through a prophet. This was often done with the purpose of delivering his people from oppression or in order to call the people back to God. Why did the power of God manifest in the prophet not continue? Why did the miracles of Jesus not continue in an obvious way for all of his followers? Why do we still die and get sick? Why are we left feeling so powerless for so much of the time? Perhaps the power of God is a power too great for us to wield.

Imagine 12 people who were given God’s power to heal and to raise the dead. Those 12 would pass the power on, and pass it on, and pass it on. So there was always, throughout history, this group of people who had the power of God to perform miracles, to heal and raise the dead. Suppose people came to them to be healed and to raise the dead. If they said yes to everyone, then all they would do would be to heal and raise. People would clamor continuously for the miracles.

People might come to expect the miracles or demand them as a right. What if one of the healers ever refused? I can see that one being killed for the refusal. I can also see these healers being elevated as gods over the rest of us. Perhaps they would never be corrupted by this power, but we’ve seen far too many with far less power become corrupted far too often to believe that 12 people perpetually given the power of God would remain uncorrupted forever.

Further, when would the healing and life giving end? When people reached 120 years? 200? 900? Would people ever accept death as the natural end of life? Would we ever let go of life and trust in God?

Would these healers become those who determine when people live and when people die? You I’ll heal; you I won’t. You’ve lived long enough; you can keep going for a while. Might we end up hating the healers and God along with them because they didn’t bow to our every wish?

Perhaps, again, the power of God is too great a power for any human to wield for more than a very short time. We tend to want what we can’t have, dislike those who won’t give it to us, and all of this, largely due to our fear death and loss. Having healers like Jesus with us continually would not allay our fear of death and loss. It would simply put those fears off and possibly increase them over time.

Why, then, did Jesus exhibit his power over disease and death? I believe he did so, as did the prophets before him, to call the people back to God and to show the people who God is. Consider the words of today’s psalm:

“Praise the Lord…I will praise the Lord as long as I live”, and why did the psalmist want to praise the Lord? The Lord made heaven and earth. He executes justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry, sets the prisoners free, opens the eyes of the blind, lifts up those who are bowed down, loves the righteous, watches over the strangers, upholds the orphan and the widow, and the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. (Psalm 146)

By exhibiting his powers over disease and death, Jesus was telling the people that the words of the psalmist are true. Jesus was showing that the words of the prophets are true. Jesus took care of a widow. He raised the widow’s son, but the widow was the person who truly benefited from the miracle. Trusting in God, we believe the son was just fine. He was somehow, someway being cared for by God. The widow, on the other hand had no one left to care for her. By bringing her son back, Jesus was showing that the words of the psalmist were true.

God is the one in whom we can put our trust, because he is powerful and because he is good. God does not care only for the powerful on earth, those who rule over others. God cares for the lowliest among us as well. God is also the one in whom we can trust because God has power over our greatest fears, death and loss. This brings me to my last question: what happens when we die? Paul has a few things to say about this in his first letter to the Thessalonians:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord for ever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

What exactly happens when we die? We don’t know. There are conflicting accounts even in scripture. Perhaps we’re asleep, dead until the final resurrection. Perhaps we are instantly with God. Perhaps something else. The constant in the varying scriptural accounts of death is what happens when we die. The constant in the scriptural accounts of death is that God is more powerful than death, and that whatever happens when we die, we are in God’s care. When we die, we are in the care of the one who is not only powerful, but also good. When we die, we are in the care of the God praised in the psalms. When we die we are in the care of the God who was and is Jesus of Nazareth. Amen.

What is God?

2010-06-01T14:06:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan

Trinity Sunday, Year C
Sunday, May 30th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Canticle 13
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15

I glanced at an interesting article earlier this week, regarding Trinity Sunday, and this article referred to God as a thing. Rather than ask the question of who God is, the article raised the question of what God is. I find this both an interesting and a helpful question on Trinity Sunday. Today, we’re specifically celebrating God as Trinity, one God in three Persons. How can God be three and yet one? We don’t know. It’s a mystery. At the heart of the Trinity, however, is person: God as one in three persons, not one in three things. Asking the question of what is God seems rather antithetical to an understanding of God as three persons.

One essential thing the trinity tells us about God is that loving relationship is part of God’s very nature. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is this unity of persons bound together so tightly in love that they are one. So, “who is God?” seems a much more appropriate question than “what is God?”.

Even before there was ever any doctrine of God as Trinity, there was an understanding of God as person in some way. God spoke in creation, on Mount Sinai, through the prophets, and many other ways. God cared for his people like a mother or a father. In God’s interactions with our forefathers, with Israel, God seems much more like a who than a what.

Still, I find the question, “what is God?” to be a helpful question to ask from time to time. We understand God as a person and largely experience God as a person. Our doctrine tells us that God is three person united perfectly into one. We have some understanding of God based on scripture’s and our experiences of God, and yet, we don’t want our understanding of God to go unquestioned.

“What is God?” is a useful question because it helps prevent us from feeling like we know or understand God better than we do. I’ve got a pretty good grasp of the concept of the Trinity. God is three and yet one doesn’t bother me. I can deal with that. I love that understanding of God. When I consider, however, the enormous lack of understanding that I truly have of God, then what seems like a better question than who. Consider the answers to the questions.

Who is God? God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

What is God? I don’t know.

We need to keep some mystery in our understanding of God lest we become haughty in our understanding of truth. Perhaps you’ve known some people who have God all figured out, and they just can’t wait to tell you or anyone else how right they are. Perhaps some of us have been those people at times. It’s good that we have some understanding of God, but Paul tells us we are justified by faith, not by knowledge. Faith, by it’s very nature requires some uncertainty. As Paul also reminds us, “now we see in a mirror dimly…then we will see face to face.”

We aren’t going to know God fully in this life, and that’s ok. Faithful, incomplete understanding of God has been humanity’s M.O. presumably since the beginning of humanity. Perhaps we can’t or shouldn’t know or understand God entirely. Consider what God said to Moses when he was about to go to the Israelites and he asked God for his name. “I AM WHO I AM,” God said. God’s response can also be translated “I AM WHAT I AM.” So, again, we have a who and a what for God, and we have a response from God that leaves us with a lot of mystery as to who or what God is.

The next thing God said to Moses, however, was “The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.” While God did not grant Moses enormous understanding as to what he is, God did give his some answer as to who he is by way of memory. The God who called Abram and made a covenant with him, the God who continued that covenant with Abram’s sons and walked with them, that was the God who was sending Moses to the people of Israel.

The memory of God in history was more important for Moses to understand than some other transcendental knowledge of God. For us too, our understanding of God as Trinity is good. We believe the Spirit of truth has guided the church into our understanding of God. Perhaps more important, however, than our complete understanding of who or what God is, is our memory of God in history.

Why do we call God father? Because we remember the stories of God creating all that is. We remember the cries of the prophets, speaking God’s lament for his children. We remember Jesus speaking of God as father.

Why do we call God son? Because we remember, among other stories, Jesus’ baptism when the heavens were torn apart, the spirit descended on Jesus, and God said, “This is my son, my beloved.”

Why do we call God holy spirit? Because we remember, among other stories, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. We remember Jesus’ words about the spirit. We remember the spirit moving over the waters of creation and speaking through the prophets.

Like Moses and the people of Israel, we know who God is largely through his actions in history. Regarding the question, “who is God?” God is the God of our ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is the God who sent his Holy Spirit to dwell among us. We believe his Spirit has led us to understand him as Trinity, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God.

Regarding the question, “what is God?”, we simply go with the answer God had given. “I am what I am,” God told Moses. God is what God is. Amen.

That we all may be one...

2010-05-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan

7th Sunday of Easter, Year C
Sunday, May 16th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 16:16-34
Psalm 47
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John 17:20-26

“…so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Jesus’ prayer offers us a rather beatific vision of the Church. We are one. We are without conflict. We are at peace with one another, giving and receiving love to one another as freely as the air we breathe. We have something of this vision in Revelation: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.”

In John’s vision the Church is one, and at peace forever, freely drinking from the water of life. His vision of the church, like the vision we get from Jesus’ prayer is beautiful and comforting. His vision is of us as we will be and as we truly are. We look around and we don’t see such a heavenly vision. We look around and we see things looking very plain and ordinary, and this is exactly what the adversary wants.

In his book, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis writes as a demon, Screwtape, giving instruction to his nephew, Wormwood, about how best to tempt and torment a human being. Screwtape is a senior temptor, very skilled at his craft and was very disappointed to find that his nephew’s charge, an unnamed human being, had joined the church. So, he wrote to his nephew, giving instruction for how best to deal with the most unfortunate situation of this human becoming a Christian. Screwtape writes:

One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we [demons] see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans. All your patient sees is the half-finished, sham Gothic erection on the new building estate. When he goes inside, he sees the local grocer with rather an oily expression on his face bustling up to offer him one shiny little book containing a liturgy which neither of them understands, and one shabby little book containing corrupt texts of a number of religious lyrics, mostly bad, and in very small print. When he gets to his pew and looks round him he sees just that selection of his neighbours whom he has hitherto avoided. You want to lean pretty heavily on those neighbours. Make his mind flit to and fro between an expression like “the body of Christ” and the actual faces in the next pew. It matters very little, of course, what kind of people that next pew really contains. You may know one of them to be a great warrior on the Enemy’s side. No matter. Your patient, thanks to Our Father Below, is a fool. Provided that any of those neighbours sing out of tune, or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous…Work hard…on the disappointment or anticlimax which is certainly coming to the patient during his first few weeks as a churchman.
C. S. Lewis – The Screwtape Letters

Perhaps when we hear Jesus’ prayer that we all may be one, even as the Father and he are one, and we think of the beautiful vision which comes with that prayer, we too might become somewhat disappointed. On the one hand, I find Jesus’ prayer deeply comforting, the fact that he prays for us so lovingly, and yet on the other hand, I look around and notice that all too often, we certainly don’t act as though we are one. The church worldwide with our denominations, we fight with one another over who’s right. Within denominations, we struggle with each other if not over contentious issues, then over membership, competing with each other. Within each local church, we tend to struggle over any number of thing: people that upset us, our imperfections as a community, differences in our preferences about worship. We struggle over our building and property and all sorts of things. Sometimes our boots do squeak, some do sing out of tune, and these struggles are nothing new.

Thinking about the beginning of the church at Pentecost, which we’ll celebrate next week, I’m guessing there was about a fifteen minute honeymoon period before the first fighting of any kind took place within the church. We struggle over things; we’re human; it’s something we do, and I’m guessing Jesus knew how much we struggle over things when he prayed that all of his disciples through the centuries would be one.

Jesus prayed that we would be one just as the father and he are one, and even so, I’m guessing Jesus had some idea that we would still struggle with one another. Perhaps that’s part of why he prayed this prayer in the presence of the disciples. Perhaps Jesus wanted not only his Father to hear his prayer but his disciples to hear the prayer as well that even in hearing the prayer they would be one with the Father. Perhaps Jesus wanted the disciples to hear his prayer so that they would remember his prayer and continue praying themselves that we all may be one.

Perhaps Jesus knew that his disciples would still continue to struggle over things, just as they did when he was with them. Perhaps without any illusions of perfection in his disciples, Jesus prayed that they would be one. Think of what happens in weddings. We pray and even proclaim that the two people become one. Further, we say that the bond and covenant of marriage “signifies to us the mystery of the union between Christ and his Church.” In the same marriage service, we also pray, “give them grace, when they hurt each other, to recognize and acknowledge their fault, and to seek each others forgiveness and yours.”

We don’t believe that any marriage will be without conflict. We do, however, pray and believe that couples become one. In the same way, we’d be rather foolish to believe, that the unity of the Church means a church without any conflict. Of course we’re going to fight over things of greater and lesser importance. We are one with the Father, and we are human beings. As human beings, we fight with each other, and as human beings, we recognize and acknowledge our faults and seek each other’s forgiveness. As human beings, we remain as one even when we don’t necessarily want to be.

As one with the Father, we are also one, and as one with the Father, we might need to take a note from our good old uncle Screwtape. Remember what he said about he Church as the demons see us, “spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners”? As one with the Father, we are rooted in eternity. As one with the Father, we are a part of the beatific vision of the Church in Revelation. As one with the Father, we are also the collection of very ordinary people we find gathered here today.

Perhaps we need not be disillusioned we remember Jesus’ prayer that we all may be one and then see the very ordinary, human, conflict ridden church we find around us. Perhaps we simply need a change of perception. Perhaps we could remember that the very ordinary, human, conflict ridden church we find around us also is the glorious, peaceful, beautiful church spread throughout eternity. Perhaps we can realize that as each of us, imperfect as we are also one with the Father, then so too is the rest of the church, imperfect as it is, one with the Father. Therein lies the beauty of the Church. We are beloved of God with our imperfections and all of us one with each other and with God. Amen.

Disciples of Jesus? Love one another?

2010-05-03T08:18:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan
5th Sunday of Easter, Year C
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 11:1-18
Psalm 148
Revelation 21:1-6
John 13:31-35

“[In the case of Jesus,] presumed familiarity has led to unfamiliarity, unfamiliarity has led to contempt, and contempt has led to profound ignorance.” These are the words of Dallas Willard in the introductory pages of The Divine Conspiracy. He was writing about a general trend in Christianity and society in general to think that we know all there is to know about the Gospel and therefore we end up becoming ignorant of it. I believe his words might apply somewhat to our passage from John’s gospel today.

Love one another, Jesus said. By this, others will know we are Jesus’ disciples, that we love one another. That sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? How are we supposed to be Jesus’ disciples? Love one another.

I wonder if sometimes we become so familiar with Jesus’ command to love one another that become unfamiliar, contemptuous, and truly ignorant of his command. In other words, might Jesus’ command for us to love one another sound so simple that we tend to overlook it or move past the command without giving it much thought.

That’s certainly something the disciples did when Jesus first gave them the command to love one another. In the passage that follows our Gospel reading today, The first thing the disciples say is not “yes, Lord, we’ll love each other.” “How do we do that? Tell us more.” Rather, what they say is, “wait, where are you going; how do I get there?” They completely missed the command to love one another, and they focused on where Jesus was going and wanting to go with him. That’s something we tend to do in Christianity today. We’ve become so focused on where we go when we die, that we tend to forget about or at least not emphasize to nearly the same degree how we are live while we’re here. Jesus commanded, “love one another, and don’t worry about where I’m going or where you’re going; trust in me, I’ll take care of you; in the mean time, love one another.”

I bring this up not to make us all feel badly about ourselves or to have us think we’re not good enough. Rather, I’m inviting us all to hear with new ears Jesus’ command to love one another. I’m inviting us to look deeply into that command and see where it leads. So, if Jesus’ disciples are to be known by loving one another, what do Jesus’ disciples look like?

Well, Jesus’ disciples are patient and kind. If we really love one another, we don’t get envious, boastful, arrogant, or rude. As Jesus’ disciples, we don’t insist on everything going our way. We’re not irritable or resentful. We’re sorrowful at wrongdoing, and we rejoice in truth. Living lives of love, Jesus’ disciples bear all thing. We believe all things. We hope all things, and we endure all things. As Jesus’ disciples, our love has no end.

You may have noticed I was using Paul’s words from the 13th chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. It’s a passage we often here at weddings. Paul was writing, however, to the Corinthian church about how they were to be together as the Body of Christ. Paul’s passage about love was really a meditation on Jesus’ command to love. If you want to be Jesus’ disciples, Paul was saying, here’s how to do it? Here’s how to love one another as the Body of Christ.

As I mentioned earlier, the passage from First Corinthians is often used at weddings, and that is very appropriate. Marriage or any relationship is a microcosm of the larger Body of Christ. We love one another, and that love requires work and preparation on our parts. When we get married, we don’t simply say, “ok, I love you, everything’s gonna be great.” In our relationships with friends and family, too, we work at those relationships. When they are fractured we try to heal them, and we try to figure out how in the world we’re going to get along with one another when sometimes getting along with each other is pretty darn difficult.

So our individual relationships require work, preparation, and practice, just like our relationships as the Body of Christ require work, preparation, and practice. Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of talking to a couple of folks about their experiences first coming to Emmanuel, of worshipping here, and being welcomed into the community. Both of these people expressed to me how welcomed they felt, how accepted and loved they felt in coming here.

Now, I realize not everyone who comes here to worship for the first time feels as welcomed, loved, and accepted as the folks with whom I spoke earlier this week, but by and large, we live out our love for one another pretty well by welcoming folks into the community. Welcoming new worshippers is also something at which we’ve worked pretty hard. We’ve been intentional about welcoming folks who come here. We’ve done a lot of work and preparation to make sure that we are welcoming folks when they come here, and that work and preparation shows.

Love requires work and preparation. Being Jesus’ disciples, loving one another requires work and preparation both corporately and individually. The more we work at being patient and kind as individuals, the more patient and kind we will be as the larger body of Christ. The love we share together as the Body of Christ is dependant upon the love we show to one another as individuals.

So, how are we doing, individually? Ask yourself, as I have been this week, “how am I doing as one of Jesus disciples?” How loving am I being? Am I being patient and kind with people? Do I insist on things going my way, or do I get envious, boastful, arrogant, or rude? Am I irritable and resentful?

My guess is all of us answer yes to some of those questions. Irritability is one of mine. When I’m tired or stressed, I tend to get pretty irritable and can be somewhat of a grouch. My wife can testify to that fact. Again, this is not being said to be condemning, but as an opportunity to take a fresh look at our lives. “How might I live more fully as one of Jesus’ disciples?” The simple answer is “I will daily work and prepare to be a more loving person.”

Starting our days off with prayer is a great way to prepare ourselves each day to live lives of love. We can begin each morning by thanking God for the simple fact that we woke up.

The clergy of the diocese at our last clergy conference had the privilege of hearing from Brother Curtis Almquist, a monk in the Society of St. John the Divine, and he spoke to us about finding peace in our lives. He recommended beginning each day with a prayer of thanksgiving for having woken up and ending each day with a pray to commend ourselves to God. He reminded us of the children’s prayer:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
and pray the Lord my soul to keep,
and if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

Ever since my son was born, I’ve shied away from that prayer. It seemed a little morbid to me, and it is kinda morbid. “Lord, I just might die tonight, and I pray you’ll take my soul if I do,” but of course we’ll pray that prayer because the truth is we just might die in the night. What better thing to do, therefore, than to commend ourselves to God just before going to sleep, to say, “Lord, I don’t know what’s going to happen tonight; I leave myself in your hands.”

Then, when we wake up in the morning, we can do the same thing again. We commend our souls to God, we give thanks, and then we can pray for our day. We can pray for the rides we’re going to take, for the people we’re going to see. We can pray for the interactions or meetings we know we’re going to have. We can pray for the people and situations we know are going to be difficult for us. Spending even five each morning praying for the day to come invites God into our day. When we pray for other people and situations, we bring those people and situations with us into the presence of God, into the presence of love with us.

So, then, having prepared for our day and having invited God to be with us, what do we then do when we find ourselves wronged or hurt by someone. We may still find ourselves angry and resentful. How do we love, as Jesus’ disciples, when we are wronged? We seek reconciliation. Jesus said, “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.” (Matthew 18:15) Further, as Paul wrote in his letter to the Colossians,

Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. (Colossians 13:13-15)

When we’re wronged, we forgive, even if it’s undeserved, and forgiveness too requires preparation and work. Forgiveness is a huge part of loving each other, and both forgiveness and love require practice. We’re not going to get it right all of the time. Quite frankly, sometimes, we’re all going to behave as though we’re not Jesus’ disciples. We’re going to behave sometimes without love and forgiveness. In those times too, we are taught to treat one another with love and forgiveness.

Unfortunately, as Jesus’ disciples, Christians are not always seen as loving and forgiving. We’re sometimes called hypocrites because we don’t always practice what we preach. Sometimes we are hypocritical, but only when we intentionally refuse to be loving and forgiving. Other times, when we’re falling short of being loving and forgiving, we’re not necessarily being hypocritical. Sometimes we just need more practice and intentionality at being loving and forgiving. We’re all going to mess up from time to time, but the more we practice being loving and forgiving, the we will live as Jesus’ disciples.

That is the model of life we have as Jesus’ disciples. Practicing and living lives of love and forgiveness is how we make ourselves known as Jesus’ disciples to the rest of the world. Continuing from last week’s gospel from last week, we are all Jesus’ sheep because we are his disciples, we are also all shepherds of others. Bishop Doyle wrote the following as a reflection of last week’s gospel:

[As disciples of Jesus], we say we are the body of Christ in the world. What I am struggling to get to is the idea that all of us often get so caught up in being sheep we don’t realize that we are the everyday, hour by hour, shepherds sent into the world to gather in the others. We are the ones seeking the 1 in 99…We are the gates most people find when they enter community. Everyone who goes to church has the opportunity the rest of the week to take what is learned from the great shepherd of the sheep, Jesus Christ, and to engage in the practice of shepherding Christ’s flock in the world.
- Bishop Doyle’s reflections on John 10:22-30

We serve as shepherds by serving as faithful disciples. We shepherd others by loving and forgiving others. So, I encourage us all to take stock this week. How am I doing as Jesus’ disciple? Where do I find loving difficult? Am I generally irritable? Whom do I need to forgive? Write a list of names of people with whom you need to seek reconciliation. I’ve got my list, it’s very long…just kidding. Think about those people and seek reconciliation. Think about those ways you can live more fully a life of love and practice living lives of love. Then we can find some peace in our lives, commending our souls to God at the beginning and at the end of each day, asking God to be with us during each day, bringing people into the presence of God with us, and living lives of love and forgiveness as Jesus’ disciples. Amen.

Being Fully Human

2010-03-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan
4th Sunday in Lent, Year C
Sunday, March 14th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Joshua 5:9-12
Psalm 32
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

What does it mean to be fully human? During this season of Lent, our theme has been “knowing God and knowing self.” Looking at our lessons today, we certainly can find a little bit about who God is and who we are as people made by God.

To start with, we’re going to take a look at the story from Joshua. At this point in Joshua, the people of Israel were beginning to be settled in Canaan, and for the first time, the people ate the crops of the land of Canaan. The manna from God stopped appearing for the first time in years. A lazy person might think “great, now we have to work for our food; thanks God,” and yet the people of Israel were glad to be able to grow crops. They were glad to be able to work for their food. They were still cared for by God, but they also go to provide for themselves rather than only gather the food that God gave them.

There is something about being human that we tend to want to have some autonomy. We have some desire to be able to take care of ourselves, at least somewhat. Infants are entirely provided for by their parents. As they grow, they want to and learn to feed themselves. Our son, Noah, wants to do things for himself, and he gets mightily frustrated when he can’t…I love that he’s two. Part of being human is the desire to be able to in some way care for ourselves.

Looking now at the Prodigal son, we find a man who didn’t want to care for or provide for himself. “Give me what’s mine,” he said. He wanted to be given his inheritance so he could live off of it, presumably forever. He wanted to be given everything for ever. He had been cared for as child. Presumably he would have been cared for as an old man, but he wanted to skip the part where he helped care for himself. He wasn’t being fully who he was. The son’s particular sin was wasteful living and the rejection of his father, but generally speaking, the son was sinning because he was denying part of his humanity. He wasn’t living up to and into the image of God in which he was made. Now, the story doesn’t say that explicitly, but the father in the parable says, “this brother of yours was dead and has come to life.” The man’s son was dead, because he was not being truly human. Part of the sons humanity had died and then was restored and brought back to life in the end of the parable.

So looking at our own lives in this “knowing self” piece, when we sin, part of our humanity dies. When we value things over people, like the prodigal son did, or when we hate others or treat them badly, part of our humanity dies. When we turn away from God, part of our humanity dies. When we “sin”, what we’re really doing is straying from or falling short of the image of God in which we were made. For a very stark example, look at mass murderers, rapists, terrorists: we sometimes call them monsters. When we sin, we become less fully human than we were made to be.

I say this not to tear us down, but to build us up. Scripture doesn’t tell us we were terribly made or made to be mediocre. Scripture tells us we were wonderfully made by God, who is love. When we mess up, we often say, “oops, well, I’m only human.” I’ve said this many times before. The meaning, of course, is we know we’re going to make some mistakes and some bad decisions. Saying “I’m only human” is a way of offering ourselves some forgiveness. On the flip side of the coin, however, saying “I’m only human” is little by little to tear humanity down. I’m only human. No one can expect that much of me. I wasn’t made that well. These statements aren’t true. We were wonderfully made.

Of course we’re going to make some mistakes and some bad decisions, that’s part of freedom and part of learning. So, when we make mistakes and bad decisions, a better response might be, “oops, I wasn’t being fully human.” See how that raises us up? When we say, “I’m only human,” we’re really letting ourselves off the hook, which has to do with fear of punishment. John tells us in his first epistle, however, that “perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.”

We were made not to fear punishment but to love God and to love each other. So, “I wasn’t being fully human” is a more loving response to our sins. “I wasn’t being fully human” affirms how wonderful we truly are. Does God say, “ehh, forget about all those people, they’re only human?” I hope not. Scripture doesn’t seem to indicate that. God calls us to repentance and forgives us.

What did Jesus teach in the parable? After the son had repented and was returning to his father, while the son was yet a long way off, the father ran to him and threw his arms around him. We are wonderfully and lovingly made, and God calls us all to be fully and truly human as we were made to be.

Looking again at the parable of the prodigal son, we can see the father’s forgiveness contrasted with the older brother’s anger towards his younger brother. Does the father tell him, “you go right on being angry; you have every right to be?” No, the father tells the son why they should be celebrating and implicitly asks the older brother to do the same.

Remembering why Jesus told this story in the first place, he had been eating with tax collectors and sinners and the Pharisees and scribes were none too happy about it. They felt, like the older brother, that Jesus should not have been eating with the likes of those reprobates. To be sure, the tax collectors and sinners were all sinners. They were not being fully human. The scribes and the Pharisees, however, in their lack of forgiveness, we’re also being less than fully human. They weren’t living into the image of God in which they were made.

In contrast, by eating with the tax collectors and sinners, Jesus was showing us that God desires not for us to be punished or slain as monstrous beasts when we sin. Rather, God desires to lead us to repentance. God desires to lead us to live as fully human as we possibly can. That’s why Jesus taught us to much about how to live. He cares for us and wants the very best for us. He also cares for us enough, like the Prodigal son’s father, to let us go when we tell him we want to go, and he cares for us enough to run towards us and welcome us back when we desire to return. God loves and forgives us.

Part of our being human, therefore, is also to forgive and to guide to repentance. Jesus didn’t just tell the tax collectors and sinners, “Go on living exactly as you have been, you’re only human.” Jesus taught them a better way, a more life-giving way.

The scribes and the Pharisees looked with contempt on the tax collectors and sinners. Jesus welcomed them and showed them a better way. Looking at how we might do the same, I turn to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:

But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body…promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.
Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:15-16, 25-27, 29-32

We are definitely called to hold each other accountable for our actions. Forgiveness is not a simple matter of “anything goes.” Rather, we are taught to speak the truth in love. Be angry, but do not sin. Forgiveness involves calling each other to repentance. Forgiveness involves pointing out those times when we aren’t being fully human, but doing so with love.

“We are ambassadors of Christ,” having been entrusted with the message of reconciliation. As ambassadors of Christ, our message to each other, to ourselves, to the world is, be reconciled to God. The message we have from Jesus is, “you are wonderfully made. You are beloved of God. You are going to make mistakes and bad decisions, and God still loves you so rather than hate yourself when you sin, turn yourself around. Help turn others around. Be the wonderful, beautiful human being God made you to be. Keep on coming back to God, and he will run to embrace you with loving arms.” Amen.

Mini-deserts

2010-02-22T09:59:00.000-08:00

Brad Sullivan

1st Sunday in Lent, Year C
Sunday, February 21st, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13

In our reading from Deuteronomy today, Moses was preparing the Israelites for their entry into the land of Canaan. God had freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and then, for forty years, the Israelites had been largely isolated, wandering in the desert, learning how to live as God’s people, and being totally provided for by God. They were fed each day with Manna from heaven which they simply had to collect. The Manna appeared every morning, they collected it, and it was gone. The Israelites were living in the desert and were therefore very obviously dependent on God for survival. Therefore, remembering God and staying faithful to him was right there at the forefront of their thoughts. Every day just getting breakfast, they had an obvious reminder of God and their covenant with God.

Moses was speaking to them in our reading today as they were about to enter the promised land of Canaan. This was a wonderful delight for the Israelites. They were finally going to have a permanent home. They were going to be able to grow crops and work the ground, and provide for themselves. This was a good thing, something God wanted for the Israelites, and yet God knows how forgetful we can sometimes be. Once the Israelites started living on their own, without God’s obvious, daily intervention, providing for their very survival, you could bet that they might start to forget God a little bit.

Any of us who have gone on a religious or spiritual retreat for a short time may understand something of what the Israelites experienced. When we’re on retreat, we may find faith in God and focusing on God to be quite easy. Then, when we return to the daily grind with school, or work, or home life, we may find focusing on God to be somewhat more difficult. Daily life can often help us to forget God, to feel that we’re going it alone. We likely find the practices of our faith which help us to stay connected to God to be more difficult during regular life than when we’re on retreat. The more time we spend on retreat or the more time we spend intentionally searching for God in our daily lives, however, can help us to remember God and to see God more easily.

I think this is part of why Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil before truly beginning his ministry. Now, unlike the weekend retreats we may take, Jesus’ temptations in the desert likely not very easy. Jesus really was tempted by what the devil offered, and Jesus had obviously done a good amount of preparation before entering the desert. Notice that each time the devil offered something to Jesus, that Jesus countered with scripture. Jesus knew scripture backwards and forwards and so he was able to see the world through the lens of scripture. He had spent his life preparing, learning, searching after God, drawing near to God so when his temptations came in the desert, he was prepared. Even so, having prepared himself so thoroughly, Jesus still, was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to prepare even more for his ministry.

Now, I was asked a few weeks ago why 40 was such an important number in scripture. Rain pored for 40 days when Noah and his family were on the ark. Moses was on the mountain for 40 days in night. The Israelites were in the wilderness for 40 years. Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days. Why 40? What’s the significance? On the one hand, as I said a few weeks ago, I don’t know.

On the other hand, I was talking to a colleague and psychologist recently who said that for people overcoming addiction, 40 days is something of a milestone. He said that after 40 days of recovering from an addiction, something happens in the brain such that chances for continued recovery increase exponentially after that point. We don’t know why exactly, but there is something significant about 40 days in our biological makeup.

After 40 days continued recovery from addiction become much more likely. Also, after 40 days of starting some new habit, keeping that new habit becomes more likely. Why was Jesus in the wilderness 40 days? Maybe there is something mystical about the number 40, and maybe 40 days was a helpful number because Jesus was a human being with human biology. How cool is that, the mystical and the biological converging to produce the same result?

I love the idea that 40 days, in the wilderness, on the mountain, or in the ark, that 40 days is not a random number nor is it only a number of mythic or unknown Godly significance, but 40 days is also a number that God used, knowing that 40 days fits with our brain chemistry and development. This convergence of the mystical and the biological give me the feeling that God really does care for our well-being. 40 days in the wilderness is not in temptation out of punishment or meanness, rather, God has folks spend 40 days in the wilderness because God knows those people are going to have a better chance of sticking with God and continuing to see and know God in their daily lives after 40 days in the wilderness than after fewer days in the wilderness.

The Holy Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days out of love for Jesus. Notice also that the Holy Spirit did not leave Jesus alone in the wilderness. When Jesus was driven into the wilderness, he was full of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus left the wilderness, he was filled with the power of the Spirit.

There are times for us too when we seem to be in the wilderness, times when we seem to be in a desert of our lives. During these times, we might be tempted to blame to God or to be upset with God for putting us there. That’s a fairly natural thing to do. I can imagine Jesus thinking, “wait a minute, God, Father, I’ve followed you my whole life, I’ve been baptized, just to fulfill all righteousness, and now you drive me out into the wilderness? Thanks a lot!”

I’m not sure that Jesus actually thought that, but I’m guessing he was thankful at least after the fact that the Spirit had driven him into the wilderness for 40 days. We may not love and certainly may not look forward to the desert times in our lives, but if we stick with God during those times, we might look back and recognize that the Holy Spirit was with us, and we might give thanks to God for giving us that time and for helping us to grow more dependent on him and more aware of God’s presence in our lives.

There is an old worship song, probably about 30 or 40 years old which we were about to sing at a worship service at the campus ministry where I was working, years ago, and the song was addressing the idea of God strengthening us during the desert periods of our lives and us finding our dependence on God through difficulty in our lives. One part of the song went, “Brokenness, brokenness is what I long for; brokenness is what I need.” Fortunately, the priest at the campus ministry tore the music up, threw it away, and said, “we’re never singing that again; what a stupid song!”

We don’t want brokenness. We want God. We’re rather bull headed at times and so it sometimes takes brokenness for us to wake up and realize our desire for God and our need for God, but God doesn’t need for us to be broken for us draw near to him, and we certainly don’t desire brokenness, we want to be with God. Hopefully during those times of brokenness, we might be able to listen to God and he might be able to reach us through those times, but we don’t pray for brokenness. We pray for God.

When brokenness comes, as it will, we pray that God will be with us and help us through these times. We also realize that with God’s help, these desert times can help strengthen us for the rest of our lives, like during Jesus 40 days in the wilderness, and this is why I love Lent.

As I say year after year, I love Lent. It’s my favorite season of the church year, and it isn’t because I’m a masochist.

I look forward to Lent every year because rather than pray for brokenness or for a desert time in our lives, we take the 40 days of lent to create a kind of mini-desert. We fast or give something up to try to create a desert or wilderness time.

Now, giving up chocolate for 40 days, which is my fallback example of a Lenten discipline, giving up chocolate for 40 days is not a very vast, deep, arid, desolate desert, but it’s something, and it’s a safe kind of desert experience so that we might learn to become more dependent on God, so that we might come to see God as more present and active in our lives, so that at the end of these 40 days, something might shift in our brain. We create these little 40 day mini-desert times in our lives during Lent so that seeing God in our lives and being aware of his presence with us and our dependence on him might continue throughout the rest of our lives.

We also create these little mini-deserts so that when true desert periods of our lives come, we might be prepared to get through them. We observe Lent so that when true deserts come, we will have practiced, and we will know that God will remain with us, that we will have the strength to remain with God, to be aware of God’s presence with us because we’ve done so before; we’ve practiced before. We practice so that with God’s help, we will make it through the desert times of our lives.

So again, Lent is not a burdensome time or a time of self loathing. Lent is a time of when we get to be intentional about drawing near to God, practicing the desert times in our lives so that, like Jesus, we can emerge strengthened. We practice Lent so that we can gain a greater awareness of God’s presence with us, a greater dependence upon God, and like Jesus, emerge from the desert filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

God's love for us and the tie that binds us

2010-02-08T08:44:00.000-08:00

Brad Sullivan

5th Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11

For the last couple of weeks, we’ve been hearing about the Body of Christ. We heard about how there are many parts to the Body of Christ and that each part has its own gift. Paul was writing this to a church that was increasingly divided over whose gifts were better or even divided the person from whom they heard the Gospel. Paul reminded them that Jesus works through all of us. Many different gifts, and the greatest is love.

Today, Paul reminds the Corinthians again to be unified in their belief. Regardless of whether they heard the Gospel from Paul or from another apostle, Paul reminds them again of the importance of their belief in the Gospel, regardless of the one who preached that Gospel to them. Again, Paul is recalling the divisions in the Corinthian church, reminding them to be unified in their faith in Jesus as one body, rather than divided over human matters or controversies.

The focus of the Body of Christ, for Paul, was the good news that Jesus died for our sins. In Jesus’ actions, Paul was firmly convinced of God’s love for us. As he wrote in his letter to the Romans, “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) In this one sentence, we find why the Gospel really is such good news. God loves us. We’re imperfect; we’re sinful; we know this fact. God loves us.

We can see the love God has for us in the calls of Isaiah and Peter which we heard this morning. In Isaiah’s vision of God, Isaiah saw God in his full majesty in his temple. Knowing scripture like we do, we all know that Isaiah should have died from having seen the Lord. No one could see God and live. As we heard in the story, Isaiah knew this too, and was very frightened that he had seen God. “Woe is me!” He said. “I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

In other words, Isaiah was saying, “not only am I unworthy to be your prophet, Lord, but darn it, now I’m about to die.” God, of course didn’t let him die. “You think you’re so unworthy Isaiah, fine,” and God purified Isaiah with the burning coal so that he could speak for God and be his prophet.

We find a similar call narrative in Luke’s telling of the call of Peter. Jesus was teaching in Peter’s boat, he then directs Peter to have this miraculous catch of fish, and what does Peter say, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” There are obviously some differences in these call narratives. Isaiah was in the temple of God, seeing God’s very presence, in all his glory and majesty. Peter was in a boat with a bunch of fish. Isaiah saw God and was afraid for his life, knowing he was a sinful man. Peter was in the presence of a man whom he believed to be a mighty prophet of God, and Peter, like Isaiah, was struck by his own unworthy sinfulness.

Notice the similarities in the reactions of God to Isaiah and of Jesus to Peter. In both cases, these sinful men were asked to go and do service for God’s kingdom. Isaiah was asked to preach God’s word. Peter was asked to fish for people.

Whom did God chose to be his voice, his hand and feet here on earth, perfect human beings? No. God chose sinful human being, people like you and me to be his prophet, to be his disciple and apostle. Further, God not only chose sinful people, but he then helped them move beyond their sinfulness into something more, into his life of love. In these two call narratives of Isaiah and Peter, we can see once again the great love has for us.

Rob Bell is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and in a video teaching series he has called Nooma, he spoke of God’s love in the following way: “We fall short, and that’s the beautiful part. Broken, flawed, vulnerable people like you and me are invited to be the hands and feet of a Jesus who loves us exactly as we are and yet loves us way too much to let us stay that way.” (Nooma You
015 Rob Bell)

That sounds pretty good to me. That sounds like good news. God really does love us, as we are. So, having laid that foundation, I’m now going to talk briefly about Janie’s upcoming sabbatical, its implications for Emmanuel, and ways in which Janie’s sabbatical might help us hear anew God’s message of love.

As most of us know by now, Pastor Janie is going to be leaving for about 4 months. Her last Sunday before the sabbatical will be April 25th, and she’ll return to us on August 17th. Part of this time will be vacation, which as we all know is important time for Sabbath rest. The purpose the sabbatical is for her rest, and to study, and to go as Jesus often did, to a lonely place and be with God. Most of Janie’s sabbatical time, will be spent in study and in prayer so that she can be reinvigorated, re-inspired to lead us here at Emmanuel when she

Janie, and Gill, and the vestry, and I have heard nothing but positive support for Janie’s sabbatical, and that’s a wonderful gift that has been given to her. I’m guessing, however, that there is still some anxiety about her being gone for May, June, July, and half of August. To that anxiety, I would point us again to God’s love for us, expressed in Paul’s words in his letter to the Corinthians.

As I noted in the beginning of this sermon, Paul was writing to a church with division, with controversy. Paul had started the church there, and then he had left to start other churches. In Paul’s leaving, a central leader of the Corinthian community had left. It’s little wonder they had some division going on. Paul was reminding them in his letter today, that he was not the glue which bound the Corinthian church. God’s love, given to them through the Gospel of Jesus Christ was the glue which held the Corinthian church together. The person who preached to them the Gospel was not of prime importance. The Gospel itself was of prime importance. “…God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” The love of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the tie that binds us. The love of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the call we can each receive like Isaiah and Peter. The love of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the assurance that God loves us just as we are and that God loves us way too much to let us stay that way.

Janie’s sabbatical is going to change this congregation. Janie will be changed by the Sabbath rest she is going to receive, and we are going to be changed by our leader’s absence. New avenues of ministry will likely open up simply because Janie won’t be here to do some of those ministries. Janie’s sabbatical may well be a time of call for many of us here. Our life is going to be different for a while, and yet, the heart of our life together is not going to change one bit. The love of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ remains with us always.

The love of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the glue that holds us together, not any one person. The love God has for this congregation and for ever person in this congregation is expressed in Janie’s sabbatical and the change that will come to all of us from her sabbatical. “Do not be afraid,” Jesus told Peter, “from now on you will be catching people.” From that moment on, Peter was changed. From the time of Isaiah’s call, Isaiah was changed. Peter and Isaiah were changed from people whom loved God to people whom God loved, but with a new purpose, a new calling.

With Janie’s sabbatical, we all are being called, like Peter, like Isaiah to be changed from people whom God loves to people whom God loves but with new purpose and new calling. In the coming months before Janie’s sabbatical, in the months during Janie’s sabbatical, and in the months following Janie’s sabbatical, remember God’s love for each of us and God’s call to each of us. Remember that like Peter and Isaiah, none of us need to be perfect to be called by God. Remember that we are all the Body of Christ, “we [all] fall short, and that’s the beautiful part. Broken, flawed, vulnerable people like you and me are invited to be the hands and feet of a Jesus who loves us exactly as we are and yet loves us way too much to let us stay that way.” Amen.

Good News, Really?

2010-01-27T09:34:00.000-08:00

In the first chapter of Acts, we see Jesus, resurrected and with his disciples. He then ascends to heaven, the disciples spend time in prayer, and they gather together (about 120 of them) to chose a suitable replacement for Judas as one of the 12 apostles/overseers. Needing to be one who was with Jesus from the time of his baptism, they pick two folks, cast lots, and Matthias is chosen to take Judas' place as one of the twelve.

Notice who the twelve apostles/overseers were. Eleven of them abandoned Jesus, and one denied him. Jesus still loved and chose them to lead his church and spread the good news of God's kingdom.

We don't have to be perfect. We're never going to be. All too often, I hear people say "I'm not perfect, and I never will be," almost as though they're trying to excuse themselves, saying to God, don't judge me for not being perfect...only you are perfect." There seems fear in what is said, as if we're hoping to avoid hell. We know that because we're not perfect, we're destined for hell, but because we believe in Jesus, we get to escape the fires of hell despite our imperfection.

What a bunch of hooey.

God loves us. Jesus loves us. I don't know that we're loved despite our imperfections so much as we are loved with our imperfections. We're loved. Of course we're imperfect, but who cares? God loves us.

That simple fact, to me, is good news. We noticed how quickly the gospel spread in the early days. People heard good news. I doubt the message they heard was, "you are all wicked sinners, damned to eternal torment, but if you believe in Jesus then you can avoid the eternal torment and go to heaven."

That's not good news. For that to be good news, we first have to be convinced of our wretchedness. Who wants to be wretched? God doesn't think we're wretched. God loves us. The good news is that God, our creator, the one who is good and loving, the source of all that is, loves us.

Further, God desires for us to love him, to love each other, and to be with him. The good news is we do get to be with God. We get to be with God here and now in this life, and we get to be with God after our mortal lives are over. We needn't fear death because God is there with us.

The good news is also that God did not simply give us a bunch of rules and facts by which to live while sitting himself upon an ivory tower. God lived as a human being. He knows us. We can trust him because he is one of us. As such, he gave us ways of living that help us live healthier, happier, more fulfilling lives here on earth than we might choose for ourselves.

Love God. Love your neighbor.
Be generous. Help those in need.
Don't worry. Care for one another.

God has given us a great way to live not so that by doing so we might narrowly escape this horrible place called hell. God gave us a great way to live so that living might be great. In case we keep feeling (as we often do) that our shortcomings make us unworthy of God's love or unable to be with God, he even died and was resurrected in order to pay whatever penalty was needed so that we needn't feel or be separated from God by our shortcomings.

God loves us, and we are free to love God in return.

That is the Gospel. That is the good news. That is news we can share with others.

Tiger Woods: A person, not a brand...

2009-12-14T07:36:00.000-08:00

Read the article about Tiger Woods written by Gaye Jones on her blog. What an eye opener, reminding us of how we are called to repond as Christians, rather than as media hungry consumers.

Forgive the terrorists, are you serious?

2009-12-07T08:12:00.000-08:00

Brad Sullivan

2nd Sunday of Advent, Year C
Sunday, December 6th, 2009
Emmanuel, Houston
Malachi 3:1-4
Canticle 16 (Luke 1:68-79)
Philippians 1:3-11
Luke 3:1-6

John proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. By repenting, people turn their lives around and re-orient towards God. Through the forgiveness of sins, people can receive peace. Re-orienting towards God and finding peace seem like two good ways to prepare for Christmas, the arrival of Jesus, the prince of peace.

So, in order to illustrate how we might reorient ourselves towards God and find some peace, I’d like to share an email I was forwarded earlier this week. It was a joke email of a communication from a control tower to a couple of landing planes which read:

Tower: "Tower to Saudi Air 511 -- You are cleared to land eastbound on runway 9R."
Saudi Air: "Thank you Atlanta ATC. Acknowledge cleared to land on infidel's runway 9R - Allah be praised."
Tower: "Tower to Iran Air 711 --You are cleared to land westbound on runway 9R."
Iran Air: "Thank you Atlanta ATC. We are cleared to land on infidel's runway 9R. - Allah is Great."
Pause...
Saudi Air: "ATLANTA ATC - ATLANTA ATC"
Tower: "Go ahead Saudi Air 511."
Saudi Air: "You have cleared both our aircrafts for the same runway going in opposite directions. We are on a collision course…instructions please.”
Tower: "Well bless your hearts, and praise Jesus. Y'all be careful now, and tell Allah "hey" for us."

I had a pretty dim view of the email when I read it and replied, asking the person not to send me emails like that again. I didn’t find it funny, and I thought advocating murder, especially in Jesus’ name to be rather deplorable.

Fortunately, this person wrote me back and we had a really good discussion about the email and the reasons for sending it in the first place. While this person would never actually advocate violence against anyone, he is still feeling angry and afraid after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. We both assumed this person is not alone in feeling that way, angry for the attacks, afraid similar attacks might happen again, afraid for the lives of soldiers who are now fighting because of terrorists.

The killings at Fort Hood give us reasons to be angry. The increase in troop deployments gives some of us reasons to be afraid and for some, reasons to be angry. I’m guessing there are many who are living with anger and fear, if not because of 9/11, then because of something.

In light of such anger and fear, sending the email that I just read is not as horrible as I initially thought. Rather than seeking to incite violence, such an email is really a form of catharsis, of trying to let go of some anger and fear. We need outlets for our anger. We need outlets for our fear.

We even see such outlets in scripture. The last verse of Psalm 137 reads: "Happy shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!" (137:9) Psalm 137 is a lament psalm prayed during the time of Judah’s deportation to Babylon. Jerusalem had been destroyed, and we find in the beginning of the psalm that Israel’s captors were even taunting them saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 'Sing of how great Jerusalem is, being that we just destroyed it,' they said. So, in the midst of captivity, destruction, and torment, the Psalmist prayed, “Happy shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!” Like email about the planes on the runway I read earlier, this too was an expression of anger and fear. The beauty of the Psalm is that it doesn’t deny the feelings of anger and fear, rather, it offers those feelings to God (who knows we feel that way already).

Who among us can honestly say we’ve never felt anger toward someone and even had some thoughts of wanting vengeance? At our best moments, we might not actually want to exact vengeance, but we still might feel that desire. God knows we have anger and fear and desires for vengeance, so offering our anger, fear, and desire vengeance to God is the best thing we can do with them. The idea is to be able to release the anger and fear by offering them to God, rather than acting with vengeance on those feelings.

The joke about the planes crashing into each other on the runway expresses a similar sentiment as the Psalm. People still have anger over 9/11 and fear about terrorist attacks. The challenge with the email for me is that it might serve to fuel anger and fear rather than to release them. Depending on who reads the email or how they read the email, it could provoke hatred rather than catharsis.

By offering our anger and fear and even hatred to God, we leave those feelings where we know they will be safe. As we know, God answers all prayers, he just doesn’t always say “yes”. Just because we ask God for vengeance doesn’t mean he’s going to oblige, or he does, it might not be in this life. God will bring justice. Our challenge is to trust him and to live lives of love and forgiveness rather than lives of fear and anger.

In addition to offering our anger and fear to God in prayer as a way of coming to a place of forgiveness and love, we’ll also find helpful coming to a place where we can have compassion and even pity on those who have wronged us. This includes pity for the terrorists. I don't know what a person's mindset or worldview must be to think that killing innocent people ("infidels" or not) is a good thing, but I pity the person who believes such a thing and I pity the person whose understanding of God fuels such a belief. That seems a very dark and disturbed way to love, how terrible. I don’t excuse what terrorists did or do, but I do pity them.

We have seen other examples of pity, forgiveness, and love where by all rights, there should be anger and vengeance. Anne Frank comes to mind. Held and killed in Nazi concentration camps, she should have hated her captors, and yet she didn’t. The Amish Community in Lancaster Pennsylvania who suffered shooting at their school back in 2006 should have been angry and vengeful against the man who killed their children, and yet they prayed for him and forgave.

In preparing for Jesus’ coming, John taught a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Letting go of our anger and fear, giving it to God, is a form of repentance. Giving our anger to God is a way of preparing the way of the Lord, making room in our hearts for Jesus to dwell. Repentance, preparing a way for Jesus, allows us to receive God’s forgiveness. Part of receiving God’s forgiveness is not only repenting, but also forgiving others. “For if you forgive others their trespasses,” Jesus said, “your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15)

We pray this every Sunday with the Lord’s Prayer. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” That’s a rather dangerous prayer. “Lord, if we don’t forgive others, please don’t forgive us.” “Lord, if we don’t repent of our anger and fear and offer them to you, please don’t forgive us.” Even when we’re justified in our anger, we’re asked to give it over to God. God can handle our anger. God can do what is right with our anger. We just get poisoned by our anger.

So, I leave us today with two passages from scripture which deal with anger and forgives. Think on these as we prepare for Jesus’ coming and seek to make peace in our hearts and a place for him to dwell.

From Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:
Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil…Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:26-27, 29-32)

And from Paul’s letter to the Colossians:

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:12-15)

May we all offer our anger and fear to God. May we all forgive, and may the peace of Christ rule in all our hearts. Amen.

A new birth of creation still to come

2009-11-16T09:35:00.000-08:00

Brad Sullivan

Proper 28, Year B
Sunday, November 15th, 2009
Emmanuel, Houston
1 Samuel 1:4-20
1 Samuel 2:1-10
Hebrews 10:19-25
Mark 13:1-8

Last week, we heard about the poor widow who put only two copper coins into the treasury of the temple while others put in vast sums of money. Considering that part of the purpose for the treasury was to take care of the widows, I spoke of possible problem going on with the temple in the first century, that the religion itself and had possibly become too important to the people, eclipsing God. Along a similar vein, we have another discussion in the reading today arising from a comment about the temple.

In today’s Gospel reading, immediately after the story from last week, some of Jesus’ disciples point out how wonderful all the buildings are. I can’t help but think they might be saying this in response to Jesus’ lesson in the temple. “You may say, Jesus, that the widow’s offering was great,” the disciples might have been saying, “but we wouldn’t have such wonderful buildings if everyone only gave a few copper coins.”

The disciples missed one of the points of Jesus’ previous lesson. They were still looking to the temple to find God’s glory. God’s glory, however, is not found or contained in buildings. Indeed, Jesus immediately tells the disciples that the temple will be destroyed. God would of course continue after the destruction of the temple. Ultimately, Jesus was saying, the temple doesn’t matter.

This was undoubtedly a big shock to the disciples who felt Jesus was the messiah and believed that the messiah would bring peace to Israel and that because of him, all nations would flock to Jerusalem, to worship in the temple. There were many prophecies which pointed this idea of peace for Israel coming through a messiah, an anointed king, and that as a part of this peace in Israel, the nations would no longer fight with Israel but flock to Israel to join with her. We find an example of this idea in the forth chapter of Micah:

In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills. Peoples shall stream to it, and many nations shall come and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Tied to this prophecy was the temple, the Lord’s house on the highest of mountains, mount Zion in Jerusalem, where the temple stood. There is little wonder, then, that the disciples held the temple with such reverence. “Look Jesus, God’s glory is all around us, see how important all these buildings are.” No, Jesus says, the buildings are not important. They’re helpful, they’re useful, but ultimately, God will get along just fine without them. Jesus was changing the disciples’ understanding of God’s glory and of the prophecies.

The ideas of God, of his glory, and of all the nations flocking to God for instruction were so much greater and more cosmic in nature than the disciples realized. Look beyond the temple. Look beyond the present situation. Look beyond your own lives. Nation will rise against nation, there will be earthquakes, famines, false messiahs. Things are going to get really bad, and things are going to remain in some sense as they always have been. “This is but the beginning of the birth pangs,” Jesus said.

That’s always seemed like a very discouraging verse to me. All these bad things are going to happen, and it’s just the beginning of how bad things are going to get, but that’s not what Jesus says. He calls all of these painful events “birth pangs”. If these events are birth pangs, then it would seem there is a birth to follow.

Looking through the prophets for use of this image of birth pangs or of a woman in labor, I found two general uses for the image of a woman in labor. In one case, people or nations were described as being in pain like a woman in labor. The term described terrible pain through which a nation was going to go. This often signaled destruction of that nation.

Another use of use of the image of a woman in labor also signaled bad times ahead, however, it also brought with it the promise of redemption. Again, we look at Micah 4:

Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pangs have seized you like a woman in labor? Writhe and groan, O daughter Zion, like a woman in labor; for now you shall go forth from the city and camp in the open country; you shall go to Babylon. There you shall be rescued, there the LORD will redeem you from the hands of your enemies.

This particular prophecy was fulfilled when Judah was captured and the people brought to Babylon, and then indeed, the people were rescued and brought back to Jerusalem. Notice the language of Israel being like a woman in labor brings with it the promise of new birth. Bad times are coming, and it’s going to hurt, like a woman in labor, but there will be a new birth, new life which will come to you as well.

Jesus, in calling the bad times ahead “birth pangs” was also pointing to a birth, to new life. Yes, bad times are coming. Yes, bad times will continue, but a new life is coming as well, and it isn’t only for Israel or for the temple, the new life is for everyone. This new birth that is to come is cosmic in nature, involving the whole creation, and God will bring about this new birth.

Paul writes of this cosmic new birth in his letter to the Romans:

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:18-25)

We wait with patience through the birth pangs. We’ve still got wars. We’ve still got famine. We’ve still got earthquakes, and we can add tsunamis and hurricanes to the mix. The birth pangs are still going on. The new birth, the new creation, God putting everything right is still to come. Part of Jesus’ warning about the birth pangs was not to be discouraged by the birth pangs. The temple will fall, Jesus said, but don’t let that discourage you. God has not abandoned anyone just because the temple has fallen.

In our own day, we may easily be discouraged when we see violence and wars, when soldiers shoot fellow soldiers, when the economy falls apart. We may easily be discouraged when people still take advantage of each other, when terrorists still kill innocent people. We may feel discouraged when we see continued division in the church and families breaking apart. We may feel discouraged by all of these things, wondering like the people of Israel, if God has forsaken us.

God has not forsaken us. He still allows us to harm each other, but these things are just continued birth pangs. God is greater than our wars. God is greater than all of our division and strife. God is greater than all of the problems we can imagine, and he will put them right. God is also greater than all of our temples and churches. God is also greater than all of our worship, all of our beauty. The glory and beauty and greatness and goodness of God are far beyond all that we can imagine. This is our hope. All of this will pass away eventually in the birth pangs, and something far more beautiful will be born. We don’t know when and we don’t know exactly what will be born. We don’t know exactly what the redemption of creation will be, but we believe it will be beautiful, and we trust creation and ourselves to God. Amen.

Problems when religion gets in the way of God

2009-11-16T09:29:00.000-08:00

Brad Sullivan

Proper 27, Year B
Sunday, November 8th, 2009
Emmanuel, Houston
Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17
Psalm 127
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44

In our story from Ruth today, you may have noticed that there was a whole lot missing from the middle of the story, 24 verses which really explain what was going on in this story today. I assume some of y’all know the story of Ruth, but for those who don’t. Ruth was the daughter-in-law of Naomi. Naomi, her husband and her two sons were fairly well-to-do Israelites, but there was a famine so they moved away and found wives for their two sons, one of whom was Ruth.

Unfortunately, before very long, all three of the men died, and Naomi, Ruth, and Orpha, the other wife, were all widows. Orpha goes on back to her family, but Ruth seems to love her mother-in-law, Naomi, very much and clings to her. So, they return to Israel.

Now, as widows, Naomi and Ruth were in a tough spot. Back then, they couldn’t just go out and get jobs. Like it or not, by their society and culture back then, women were fairly dependent on men to provide, and so we see in the opening verses of our reading today, Naomi telling Ruth to seek some security by going to their kinsman Boaz. Ruth does so, and in the missing verses, we see a negotiation going on between Boaz and a nearer kinsman to Naomi and Ruth. The negotiation was basically about who would marry Ruth.

Naomi and Ruth had land. Like I said earlier Naomi and her family were fairly well-to-do. Now that they were widows, their nearest kinsmen could purchase the land thereby increasing his own holdings and helping to provide for the widows. The catch was, Boaz tells this nearer kinsman that if he bought the land, he would also have to marry Ruth and raise children for her. He did not want to do that because it might hurt his own financial standing, having to provide for kids, so he and Boaz agree that Boaz would acquire the land and marry Ruth, which we see at the end of our reading that he does.

Now again, we may not like women being negotiated over almost like property, not like property, but almost, however, we see in the actions of Boaz a man who was willing to take on some personal risk in order to care for the widows among them according to the rules of their society. Boaz was a righteous man, caring for the widow.

Fastforward around 900 years. In our Gospel story, today, Jesus is denouncing the scribes because they didn’t take care of the widows among them. Rather, Jesus says, the Scribes “devour widows’ houses”. What exactly that phrase means, I have not found, but here’s my speculation. Perhaps widows in Jesus’ time would sell their land and possessions in order to make ends meat. Scribes were often administrators even over financial matters so perhaps the scribes were taking a good portion of the sale for themselves and for the Temple treasury rather than leaving all of it with the widow.

We may say that even the widows should give something to the treasury, but the scribes were taking far more than they should have been. Further, part of the reason for the treasury was to take care of the widows. Every three years, a substantial part of the tithe was supposed to go to the widows to take care of them. By Jesus’ indictment, it seems that this practice may not have been happening either or at least not to the extent it should have been.

Then, we see the example of the widow giving her two copper coins. We tend to read this as an example of a widow with great faith, giving out of her extreme poverty, and then we all get to feel badly for not giving enough, even if in poverty. The story of the widow giving the coins, however, is placed right next to the indictment against the scribes for devouring widows’ houses. It seems to me that while this woman’s faith and generosity is praisworthy, she shouldn’t have been giving anything to the treasury, or at least not being asked to do so.

The administrators of the treasury should have been taking care of her, not the other way around, but they liked their honors and wealth and pretty clothes and flowing robes (and no, the irony of saying that while wearing an alb an chasuble is not lost on me). The scribes should have been acting like Boaz did when he took care of Naomi and Ruth. Instead, they placed their value on themselves and on the temple and the religion, even if it meant the people in their charge suffered.

They made big shows about how much they had and how much they gave, but they forgot that God was not glorified through money or big presentations of wealth. God would have been glorified by the people taking care of one another. God would have been glorified by the leaders of the people caring for the people as much as God cared for the people.

The widow, then, who gives the two copper coins is certainly to be praised for her generosity and faith, but rather than a figure who teaches us to give to the church until we are impoverished and then keep on giving until we have nothing, I think she is more an example of the injustice and abuse that can happen when leaders take advantage of the least among them rather than care for the least among them. The widow is an example of the injustice and abuse that can happen when the institution and the practices of a religion become more important than the people that religion is meant to shepherd or even more important than God to whom that religion is meant to guide people.

Now, we are about to make someting of a show of brining our pledges up to the altar to blessed. I don’t believe, however, that we are falling into the same error of the scribes. The purpose of our “show” of bringing our pledges to the altar to be blessed is not to show how great or generous we all are. All the pledge cards look the same; they don’t start glowing if someone gives a huge amount. No individual is going to be showing off his or her generosity or wealth in the presentation of the pledges. Rather, we’re bringing the pledges up to the altar together in order to give thanks together.

Our pledges are our thank offerings to God for all that he has given each of us. Further, we’re not giving as individuals, but as a community. We’re not giving to achieve prominence within a religion, but to give thanks as a community and to help keep this community alive and well. We’re giving as a community to nurture this community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to offer the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those beyond this community. We do not worship a God who is honored by vast sums of money given to make religion beautiful. We do worship a God who cares deeply for people. We worship a God who desires for us to care for each other, especially the least among us. We worship a God who is honored by the love we show him through loving one another, a God who is honored by us caring for each other as a community, by caring for those beyond ourselves, and by inviting others into the Gospel life of love, charity, and thanksgiving. Amen.

But Daddy, I don't want to go to bed

2009-11-16T09:26:00.000-08:00

Brad Sullivan

Proper 24, Year B
Sunday, October 18th, 2009
Emmanuel, Houston
Job 38:1-7 (34-41)
Psalm 104:1-9, 25, 37c
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45

Are y’all aware of just how much young children dislike bedtime? My son, Noah, is no exception. If he had things his way, he’d stay up each nigh playing with Kristin and me until he had a total meltdown, was completely exhausted, and inconsolable. He just doesn’t want to go to bed. He wants to play, and he wants to be with Kristin and me. Fortunately for him, Kristin and I are pretty strict on his bedtime. We have a nighttime routine to help him wind down which ends with us reading a book and singing a song to him.

He is now at the point that he requests these things. “Book,” he says once one story is finished, or once we start singing to him, he says “Sing.” He keeps wanting to put off sleep, and he doesn’t know how good sleep is for him. He is mightily disappointed many nights when we finally put him in his crib and leave the room. What he doesn’t know is how much more miserable he’d be the next day if we didn’t make him go to sleep.

By enforcing his bedtime, we’ve got a way of life for Noah that he doesn’t like and doesn’t understand, but it’s a better way of life than he would chose for himself. I bring this up as an analogy for how we humans often relate to the ways of life God has given us. We truly are like little children, with God as our loving parent. God has given us ways of life which we may not initially like or which may not make intuitive sense to us, but by trusting in God, we may just find God’s way of life to be better for us than the way we might choose on our own.

Turning to the Gospel for today, we find James and John with their own ideas for a way of life they’d like to follow. “Lord, my brother and I have been talking, and we know you have other disciples than just the two of us, but we also know we’re really a bit smarter and more capable than the rest of those guys, so we were thinking it would really be a smart move for you if, once you’ve taken over everything, if you made us the second and third most important people in the world, right behind you, of course. Does that sound ok, doable Jesus, if we’re the second and third most important people in the world?”

James and John were definitely being a little bit presumptuous when they asked Jesus if they could at his right and left hand, but I also like to think they were also simply showing there affection for Jesus. I like to think that they really loved Jesus and they really wanted him to love them back. He did of course, but I get they feeling they wanted his approval, like the less cool kid in school wanting approval from the really really cool kid in school. Maybe James and John were just plain old power hungry, but I like to give them the benefit of the doubt that their motives were a little bit out of love than merely out of desire for power.

Whatever their motives, we know that they certainly misunderstood what living in God’s kingdom really is. So Jesus, of course, took the opportunity to teach them. Living in God’s kingdom is not a life of power and domination, but a life of service and love. “You really want greatness,” Jesus said, “then serve other people.” Be meek, not great.

Jesus’ teaching about true greatness is about as counter-intuitive as it comes. Be great and mighty by being a humble servant. That just doesn’t make a whole lot of logical sense in our world of the powerful ruling over the less powerful, and so because Jesus teaching is so counter-intuitive, following that teaching takes a great deal of faith.

One type of faith could be simple obedience. Jesus said to do this so I feel I must obey. This obedience may be done somewhat out of fear. That’s ok. After all, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” but I’d like to emphasize that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, not the end of wisdom. Moving beyond that beginning with the fear of the Lord, we can come to a place of trust and love.

So, another type of faith, a faith that goes beyond obedience not only obeys but trusts. This faith says, “I trust in God. I trust in his goodnes, and I trust that the way of life he taught really is better than another way of life. If Jesus says ‘greatness comes from being a servant,’ then I will trust that he is telling the truth because I believe that he is good and has our best interests at heart when he teaches us his way.”

This faith does not require understanding. It may seek understanding, but understanding how or why the way Jesus taught us to live is better than any other way is not necessary for us to follow in Jesus’ way. This faith follows Jesus’ way out of trust.

I like to think that James and John had this trusting faith in Jesus when he told them that true greatness means being a servant. By the fact that James and John continued to be Jesus’ disciples, I think it’s safe to assume that they submitted submitted to Jesus’ teaching about true greatness. They likely didn’t understand Jesus’ teaching, and they were probably a little embarrased by his teaching. They had asked to be rulers of the world, Jesus said no, and then he taught all of the disciples that James and John were seeking the wrong thing, that true greatness means being a servant.

Despite their embarrasment, however, James and John stayed with Jesus, continued following him, and giving them the benefit of the doubt once more, I like to think they followed Jesus and submitted to his teaching not only out of fearful obedience, but out of loving trust. I like to think that while Jesus’ teaching made no sense to them, that they decided to follow Jesus’ teaching because they trusted in Jesus that his teaching was true and good and beneficial.

This brings me to the idea of stewardship; you knew it was coming. The idea of stewardship is to give some of what we have in order to live not only for ourselves alone, but to help take care of God’s kingdom here on earth. With financial stewardship, we’re asked to give to our Christian community so that we can continue to worship together, so that we can spread the Gospel, so that we can take care of one another in difficult times.

With financial stewardship, we’re being asked to have faith in Jesus and to follow in his way. Now, to be fair, Jesus didn’t say, “give 10% to the church,” but he did teach us to give generously of ourselves to care for those around us, to follow him, and to spread the Gospel. To be totally honest, we may not all particularly love this teaching of Jesus. We may be fearful that we won’t have enough if we give, or we may simply feel we shouldn’t have to and don’t want to give. To both of these objections to financial stewardship, I would say “have some faith in Jesus.” With financial stewardship, we are called to follow in God’s way like James and John, like children with a loving parent. Giving back to God part of what we have been given may not make an overabundance of sense to us. We my never understand, but we are asked to trust.

We could simply obey. “God said it, I don’t like it, but I’ll do it,” but how much more wonderful if we truly trust in God that his way of life is better than the ways we might otherwise take. Giving a portion of what we’ve been given to God, means we have to make sacrificing and re-order our lives. Our trust comes in that sacrificing something up in order to give will be better for us than keeping that thing and not giving.

Giving of ourselves to support our Church, our Christian community is ultimately an act of faith. Giving for financial stewardship is an act of trusting in God as our loving parent. How does giving up some of what we have make our lives better? How does sacrificing some of the things we want make our lives better? We may never exactly know, but we don’t have to understand. We’re being asked to trust. With financial stewardship, we’re being asked to say, “I trust in God. I trust in his goodnes, and I trust that the way of life he taught really is better than another way of life. If Jesus says ‘give of what you have to help spread the gospel and to help care for your Chrisitan community,’ then I will trust that he is telling the truth because I believe that he is good and has our best interests at heart when he teaches us his way.”

I have found my life to be better when I give. When I trust in God’s way, when I make some sacrifices, and re-order my life in order to give, I have found life to be better. I can’t tell you exactly why, but I have found following in Jesus’ way to be like Noah getting a good night sleep. He doesn’t want to go to bed, but he’s happier and healthier for it. I often want to follow my own way, but when I submit to Jesus and follow in his way I find my life to be better. So, I encourage us all to trust in Jesus and to follow in Jesus’ way with financial stewardship and with all of our lives. Amen.

Asking God for that which we need

2009-08-16T09:12:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan
Proper 15, Year B
Sunday, August 16th, 2009
Emmanuel, Houston
I Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
Psalm 111
Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58

What can we learn from Solomon? He prayed for wisdom, and that request pleased God so God granted him not only wisdom, but riches and honor as well. So, perhaps we could learn that if one wants to become rich, ask God for wisdom. Some might preach that message, but a lesson for us in this story is not how to get rich without actually trying nor is the lesson in this story really about gaining wisdom. A lesson for us in this story could be to know one’s limitations and to ask for God’s help with those limitations in order to serve God’s people: know one’s limitations, ask God’s help with those limitations in order to serve God’s people.

Ok, so maybe that’s three lessons, but in any case, looking at Solomon’s prayer for wisdom, there are several things we can see. First off, Solomon loved the Lord. That’s the first thing we were told in the lesson today, and his love of the Lord was first and foremost in Solomon’s life. Love the Lord.

There was a fairly young Jewish Rabbi a couple thousand years ago who preached that message. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30) Jesus knew and taught the primacy of loving God. That’s the place where we start. Before we lie down at night, before we rise up in the morning, do we love the Lord? If we don’t, then everything else is for naught. Now, I know we all know this already, but it’s helpful to be reminded every once in a while, and it’s a nice thing to think about.

Before anything else, before we start our day, before showers and coffee, we get to love the Lord, and at the close of our day, after the winding down and the tooth brushing, we get to love the Lord.

How we choose to love the Lord in those times is up to each of us. Maybe we’ll simply remember that fact and say, “I love you Lord.” Maybe we’ll read some scripture. Maybe we’ll get down on our knees and pray by our bedside; I know some in this parish who do so every morning and night. Maybe we’ll write out our thoughts of the day, offering them up to the Lord, giving thanks and asking for guidance and help. Maybe we’ll pray prayers from the prayer book, or do whatever brings us nearer to the Lord, and allows us to love the Lord and to rest in his love for a while.

However we choose to do so, we start our lives by getting to love the Lord. So then, what do we see next from Solomon? He was king of Israel, God told him to ask what he should give, and what does Solomon do? Well, first off, he loves the Lord a little bit more. Solomon tells the Lord how wonderful he has been to his father David and to him, and then, Solomon says, “I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or to come in.” (I Kings 3:7b)

Before asking for wisdom, Solomon recognizes his limitations. Although God has been wonderful to him, placing him on the throne of his father David, Solomon knows that he has a huge task before him, governing the people of Israel, and he knows that he is not up to the task. I love the language that Solomon used, “I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or to come in.”

Solomon was very humble before the Lord, knowing and naming his limitations. Solomon had already accomplished a good amount, stopping a couple of attempts at taking his throne, and Solomon could have easily become puffed up and prideful, thinking he was able to rule all on his own. He was king, after all, but instead, he humbled himself.

Considering the weight of the task before him, he realized his limitations and acknowledged that although a king, he was only a child.
So the lesson for us, then, is to acknowledge our limitations. Now by acknowledging our limitations, I don’t necessarily mean taking stock of anything at which we happen not to excel. I’m not very good at sports, but so far as I know, suddenly being great at sports isn’t going to help me to serve God’s people. We acknowledge our limitations in serving God’s people.

Solomon served God’s people by being king, and he realized he did have the understanding he needed to govern. How, then, do each of us serve God’s people, and what are our limitations in doing so? Some of us may teach. Some may invite others to know God. Some serve God’s people by being honest at work. Some care for children. Some care for the elderly. Some have a heart for the poor. Some have a heart for music and worship. Some simply treat other people with love and respect.

All of us have some way in which each of us serves God’s people. Most of us won’t be kings or even be in positions of prominence, but we all have our parts to play in loving God and serving God’s people. I quote from two passages of Ecclesiasticus, one in chapter 38 and the other in chapter 44:

All these [farmers, craftsmen, laborers] rely on their hands, and all are skilful in their own work. Without them no city can be inhabited, and wherever they live, they will not go hungry. Yet they are not sought out for the council of the people, nor do they attain eminence in the public assembly. They do not sit in the judge’s seat, nor do they understand the decisions of the courts; they cannot expound discipline or judgement, and they are not found among the rulers. But they maintain the fabric of the world, and their concern is for the exercise of their trade. (Ecclesiasticus 38:31-34)
Some of them have left behind a name, so that others declare their praise. But of others there is no memory; they have perished as though they had never existed; they have become as though they had never been born, they and their children after them. But these also were godly men, whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten; (Ecclesiasticus 44:8-10)

Whether prominent in human history or known only to our friends and family, we each, again, have a part to play in serving God’s people. However we all are to serve, then, we first get to love God. Then, we get to acknowledge our shortcomings and seek God’s help. We don’t have to be perfect at our tasks or even ready to serve as God intends. We, like Solomon, get to seek God’s help in serving his people.

Solomon prayed for wisdom because that’s what he needed to serve God’s people as their king. While wisdom is certainly something good for us all to have, wisdom might not be the critical thing each of us is lacking in order to serve God’s people as God wants each of us to do.
So, the questions for each of us are: how does God want me to serve his people, and what do I need in order best to serve God’s people? What am I lacking?

For me, one thing I need is peace and serenity. It’s something with which I’ve always struggled. I had a great childhood with loving parents, and yet peace is something with which I’ve always struggled. I’ve found much more peace and serenity since I’ve begun praying for them, and at the same time, I still struggle. I need to keep praying for peace and serenity. Peace and serenity are two things for which I need to pray in order to serve God’s people.

Each of us has something for which we need to pray. Each of us can take Solomon’s example and ask God to grant us those things we need in order to serve God’s people and bring his love into the world. Finally, before I finish, I’d like to leave us with the idea of resting in God’s love. That’s part of why we’re here. We’re here to worship God and to rest in his love. So take some time to meditate on God’s love for you while you’re here and when you are by yourself. Rest in God’s love, and then you’ll be able to bring that love to others. Amen.

Freedom from our Bad Decisions

2009-07-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

July 26th, 2009
Proper 12, Year B
2 Samuel 11:1-15
Ephesians 3:14-21
John 6:1-21

This is a brief typed version of the sermon I gave...I did not write out a full text.
Last week, I had the privilige of being on a mission trip with 17 of our youth. We stayed at the Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Houston and served at several organizations around Houston, largely serving Houston's homeless population. The trip was a wonderful experience for me and the youth, and each day, at least one of the youth said the place we worked was their favorite one and he or she wanted to come back.

The trip was not without conflicts, as one might expect. Several of our youth had conflicts with one another, but they all saught reconciliation (sometimes with a bit of coaxing). They admitted their faults to each other, appologized, and were reconciled to each other.

We all make poor decisions in our lives which hurt others; that is part of being human. Even in our baptismal covenant, we state that we will fall into sin and then when we do, we will repent, and return to the Lord. The first part of repentance is admitting fault, saying we did something wrong.

I've been careful not to say repentance involved admitting a mistake. In an incitful article, Leonard Pitts Jr. points out the falacy of calling our poor dicisions, "mistakes". (see article - http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard-pitts/story/1127813.html)

True admission of guilt involves owning up to the poor decisions we make. Saying, "I made a mistake", on the other hand, amounts to a denial of culpability. "The serpent made me do it," Eve said. "Eve made me do it," Adam said. "I'm sorry you thought I was insulting you," one might say. All such appologies deny our fault.

This is the problem we find with David in the reading this morning. He made an excedingly poor decision by knowingly having an affair with Bathsheba and then he denied culpability, trying to cover up his poor decision by inviting Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, home so he could be with her and think the child was his. He built up lie upon lie, finally choosing to have Uriah killed than admit his fault.

Let's say, for the sake of arguement, however, that David's ploy had worked. Let's say Uriah had been with his wife, had thought David's & Bathsheba's child was his, and they had all lived happily ever after. They would then have been livig in this false reality created by David. David would have in effect been placing himself as a god above Uriah (and everyone else). God creates the world. God creates reality. By lying, by creating a false reality in which we expect others to live, we are turning ourselves into idols, placing ourselves as gods above others.

One of my favorite bands, Metallica, states the problem with lying very will in the song "To Live is to Die". The words are:
When a man lies, he murders some part of the world.
These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives.
All this we cannot bear to witness any longer.
Cannot the kingdom of salvation take me home?

The truth of these words strike me every time I hear them. By lying, we are killing reality for those we intend to deceive. By admitting our guilt, on the other hand, we can begin the difficult but blessed process of reconciliation. The youth on the mission trip who sought reconciliation did not find the process easy. The conversations were difficult and painful. In the end, however, they found themselves freed from the guilt and anger by which they had been enslaved. The end of admitting our guilt is not pain and death, but resurrection.

We don't come to Easter Sunday randomly, but first we prepare for Easter by the 40 days of Lent. Before Christ's resurrection and our reconcilliation with God is declaired, we do the hard work of admitting our faults and seeking to turn our lives around during Lent. God's forgiveness is freely given, but our acceptance of God's forgiveness requires work on our parts.

When we repent, when we acknowledge our guilt, appologize for the harm we've done, seek to rectify the situation, and turn our lives around, then we can receive forgiveness from God and from one another. Seeking reconcilliation in our lives, admitting culpability for our poor decisions is a painful process, but one that leads to resurrection and restoration of our relationships. Amen.

Enduring in our Faith

2009-07-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan
Proper 7, Year B
Sunday, June 21st, 2009 (Father’s Day)
Emmanuel, Houston
1 Samuel 17:32-49
Psalm 9:16-20
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Mark 4:35-41

What about the Christian faith keeps you having faith in Christ? What about the Christian faith keeps you going? What soothes you when you are stressed? What calms you when you are angry? What comforts you when you are saddened or lifts you up when you are downtrodden? What brings you peace when you are frantic? What humbles you when you are proud? What brings love to your heart when you are feeling irritated or selfish? In short, what about the Christian faith helps you to endure in your faith?

Endurance seems to be something of a theme in our lessons today. Paul mentions endurance explicitly in his letter, writing about the endurance he and Timothy have in their faith through many hardships. Paul is also alluding, however, to the endurance he prays the Corinthians will have.

In various ways since Paul began the church in Corinth, the Corinthians seem to have fallen away from the faith they had been given. By reading Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, we see that some argued over who had the true Christianity, dividing over which apostle or teacher they followed. Some became arrogant. Some became lax in their morality. Some seemed to believe proper religious practice to be more important the faith signified by that religious practice.

From 2 Corinthians, we see that further divisions came in the church by some following supposed apostles who were flashier than Paul, who seemed possibly to preach a lax version of Christianity, flashy, fun, without much substance. Whatever these false apostles preached, it was enough to lead some of the Corinthians to fall away from the faith they had received from Paul.

Perhaps Christianity seemed too difficult and so some Corinthians fell away. Perhaps after the excitement of conversion had died down, Christianity seemed rather dry, dull, and lifeless to some of the Corinthians and so they fell away. Perhaps the fighting within the Corinthian church itself over who was right led some people to fall away. For whatever reason, we find in Corinth, a church divided, a church lax in its faith, it’s morals, it’s works of charity, and we hear these words of Paul encouraging them to endure, to keep or regain their faith.

There is a similar theme of endurance in the story of David and Goliath. As soon as David offers to fight Goliath, he is told that he is unable. The Israelites had been totally cowed by the size of Goliath. No one else had even offered to go fight him. They were afraid not only of losing their lives, but of giving all of Israel into the hands of the Philistines. Goliath was the Philistines’ champion, waiting on a champion from Israel, the deal being that whoever won the fight would win the entire war for their country.

So David was fighting for his life and for all of Israel, no pressure. Then, once he volunteers, the king, his brothers, Goliath himself all tell him he can’t win. Goliath was too big for David to stand a chance. It was like putting me up against Hulk Hogan, but David didn’t care about Goliath’s size. David cared about the fact that God would be fighting for him. David seemed to remember the times in the past when God fought for Israel. Israel had defeated many enemies not because of their military might, but because of their dependence on God.

From a human point of view, the Israelites drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea by Moses waiving around a stick. The city of Jericho was taken because Joshua had a box and some trumpets. When Gideon defeated the Amalekites and Midianites, he had 32,000 men with him, but God decided that was too many, so he left Gideon with only 300 men, and they won the battle with some torches and trumpets. Of course in all of these cases, God was the one fighting for the people of Israel. God was teaching the Israelites to trust in him rather than in their own might.

Fortunately for Israel, David seemed to remember this lesson when he fought Goliath. Unlike Saul and the other soldiers, David trusted in God. He endured in his faith against a seemingly unbeatable enemy.

Now look at today’s Gospel. Jesus was again teaching his disciples to endure in their faith. Now I love this story; it’s very funny to me. Just imagine being in the boat with this huge windstorm and then looking back and seeing Jesus asleep, his mouth hanging open, snoring in the back of the boat. Of course the disciples were upset, “Dude, wake up, Jesus; what are you thinking?”, and of course Jesus wasn’t bothered by the storm. He knew he could handle it. So, he got to teach the disciples again to keep their faith. “Why are you afraid?” he asked them, “Have you still no faith?” He was teaching them to endure in their faith even though they were afraid.

So in the three lessons we heard this morning, we have several calls to endure in our faith and several reason why we might not endure in our faith. Perhaps like the disciples, we are at times afraid. Perhaps like the Israelites, we sometimes forget who God is. Perhaps like the Corinthians, we spend too much time fighting over who is right. Perhaps our faith sometimes loses its luster. Perhaps we’re at times led astray by false apostles. In many different ways, we may find ourselves throughout our lives without much faith in God. The key is to endure. Keep striving after God.

When God seems remote, remember those times when he felt near. When afraid, remember that God is with you, even in death. When God seems boring, and this might be the most insidious, remember, “all that glitters is not gold.” Faith in God may not be flashy. It often isn’t. Faith in God won’t necessarily fulfill our desires for wealth or pleasure, and faith in God my certainly seem boring and slow compared to the fast pace and flashy things of our society. Many activities are more “fun” than prayer. There are many things or activities that are more instantly gratifying than prayer. There are many things or activities that are more instantly gratifying than service to others. There are many things or activities that are more instantly gratifying than following the commandments of God as a healthy and helpful way of life.

Faith in God, however, will help us endure when many other things fail us. A life of service to others will fulfill our lives vastly more than a life lived only for oneself. A life lived following God’s commandments will prove a more healthy and helpful way of life than many other ways of life which seem more instantly gratifying. Enduring in our faith in God is neither easy nor, but enduring in our faith in God will carry us well through this life.

So, looking again at each of our lives and how the texts we heard today speak to our lives, I have several questions to ask. Who is your Goliath; who or what makes you forget who God is? What’s your windstorm; what has you so afraid that you lose your trust in God? Who is your false apostle; who or what pulls you away from your faith in God and God’s way of life for you?

Now, holding those in your mind, think also to your answers to the questions with which I began today. What about the Christian faith keeps you having faith in Christ? What about the Christian faith keeps you going? What soothes you when you are stressed? What calms you when you are angry? What comforts you when you are in need? What brings you peace when you are frantic? What humbles you when you are proud? What brings love to your heart when you are feeling irritated or selfish? We may not have answers to all of those questions yet, but that’s one reason we keep striving, to find more peace, to find, more love, so that we can endure. Amen.

Resting in God, Overcoming the World

2009-05-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan
6th Sunday of Easter, Year B
Sunday, May 17th, 2009
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 10:44-48
Psalm 98
1 John 5:1-6
John 15:9-17

Abide in my love, Jesus tells us. We’ve had an ongoing theme for the last couple weeks about abiding in Jesus: abiding in Jesus as the true vine, the one from whom we gain life and are grounded and rooted in God. Today we’re told to abide in Jesus’ love. If we keep his commandments, Jesus tells us, we will abide in his love, and we will conquer the world.

Ok, Jesus didn’t say that last part, but John did in the portion of his epistle that we read this morning. John wrote:

For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:3-5)

“Abide in my love.” Conquer the world. I found this to be rather odd when I noticed it. Visions of modern day crusades flashed through my head, Christians vanquishing all of their enemies (including each other?) and taking control of the world. This didn’t seem to fit too well with “abide in my love,” so I looked around for other instances of that word, “conquer”, and I found that it could also mean overcome. For instance, in Romans 12:21 Paul writes, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” That sounds a little better, a little more like abide in my love.

So, what if John was writing something a little closer to “…for whatever is born of God overcomes the world…the victory that overcomes the world [is] our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

Now, I realize overcome and conquer are synonyms, but overcome says something to me not so much of military victory over the world, but of not being brought down by the world or not being overcome by the world ourselves.

John felt Christians were in a struggle between seeking God on the one hand and seeking the world on the other. Now, while I think even John would say that the world God created is good, he saw some of our inordinate desires for riches, for pleasure, for too much and too many things as love of the world, the things of the world drawing us away from God. In first John 2:14-17, he writes:

"I write to you, young people, because you are strong and the word of God abide in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world – the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches – comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever."

Now we can see the idea of conquering the world in a little different light than military victory. By following God’s commandments, by having faith God, faith in Christ and following him, we can keep from being overcome by “the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches,” to use John’s examples. We all face this struggle between desire for things, for whatever each one of us desires and times when those desires get in the way of loving God and loving our neighbor. Have y’all all felt that, a struggle between some of our desires, some things we may want and loving God, loving our neighbor? I see a few head nods…sinners…kidding.

I’ve got another related question. Do any of y’all ever feel anxious, tired, worn out, at the end of your rope, or like you’ve got too much to do with too little joy in what you do? Maybe that was several questions. Some of our desires, desires of the flesh, desires for riches, etc. can make us feel anxious, tired, and worn out. I think of a friend of mine who is terribly overworked, but partially by choice so that their can have enough money to do the things they want, have certain expensive things, have a certain “standard of living”, and when I see my friend so stressed out so much of the time, I think are those things really making you happy? Are those things worth the stress and anxiety of your life? What I further think is my friend has been overcome by the world. As John wrote, the desire of all these things has overcome this person. Maybe to varying degrees that sounds familiar too.

I’ve been reading a book called “Downtime” by Mark Yaconelli, a book about the need we have to spend some time resting in God. I’m going to read a couple of passages from this book, and maybe some of these ideas will hit home with you.

"We minister among young people who are trained to no longer see the presence of God in the world. We minister among budding consumers, people who have been told ‘You are your appetites.’ We minister among people who are only allowed to live within a narrow band of their humanity, people imprisoned within the material world. We minister among kids whose worth is based on what Marcus Borg calls the three ‘As’ of Western culture: Appearance, achievement, and affluence. We minister among families and communities desperate for spiritual grounding. We minister among young people whose souls are malnourished and depleted by a culture that worships, not the God of Jesus, but a God of our own making – an anxious God who condones human greed, violence, and self-absorption. We minister within a culture that is putting the souls of our young people to sleep. Consider how Hillary Hunt, a middle-aged shop steward for the AFSCME union, describes the formation of her own soul within the North American consumer culture:
'I know most of my fellow workers very well, and they are wonderful people. But many of us meet for a drink after work and talk about how dead we feel after a day in our offices. I sometimes remember what a lively little girl I was, how full of life and energy, and I wonder whatever happened to that girl. It’s almost as if growing up is ‘coming down’ from a high. Here I am now in a life where everything seems so mechanized and out of control. Sometimes I feel like I’m a zombie surrounded by zombies – everyone doing their assigned role, trying to fit in and be the way they are supposed to be, and even in the way that people talk to each other, it’s so unreal and forced.'"
Downtime: Helping Teenagers Pray
- Mark Yaconelli, p. 19-20

Perhaps there’s something familiar to you in that. Well, the author further writes:

"In a society gone made with feverish activity, perhaps the gospel, the love of God, and the freedom of Jesus Christ are best communicated by inviting young people to rest and pray like Jesus. It’s the life of prayer that will help young people resist the frantic consumption that afflicts us. It is prayer that will inspire young people to trust and follow God’s hope. It is prayerful rest that will strengthen the spirits of young people so they will no longer fear difference or weakness or suffering. An it is prayer, much more than words, that will allow young people to feel the power and freedom of God’s love."
Downtime: Helping Teenagers Pray
- Mark Yaconelli, p. 26

Think of time spent in prayer as simply resting in God. Perhaps you’ll talk to God, perhaps you won’t. Maybe you’ll read some scripture; maybe you’ll simply be silent. Maybe you’ll go for a walk or simply sit outside. Two weeks ago, I had a wonderful chance to rest in God at CREDO, the clergy conference/retreat that I was on a couple of Sundays ago. For one thing, thank you for that opportunity to go to CREDO, and for another, I want to give y’all some of what I gained while there. The really short version is, take some time to rest in God.

I had a wonderful experience there of resting in which I kinda became a contemplative for a couple of hours. I was sitting in the chapel looking out at some of the trees, and as they gently blew in the breeze, and I became very calm and peaceful. I thought of being deeply rooted in God, like the trees are deeply rooted in the earth. I thought of the demands of life sometimes pulling in all these different directions, sometimes taking me right along with them. Now the trees get pulled along a little bit by the breeze, but except in the case of hurricanes and tornados, the trees come back to where they are, and so too for us, being grounded and rooted in God, we can move and sway a little bit with the demands of our lives, but we can come back to our center, to our grounding in God.

So, take some time to ground yourself in God. Not to place yet another demand on your lives, but if you don’t already, allow yourself to take some time for holy rest. Whether the demands of life or the desire of things are overcoming you, you can overcome these things, we can overcome the world by abiding and resting in God’s love. Love God and love your neighbor, these are not only Jesus’ commandments, but the way we were made to be. The only way our lives really make sense is by loving God and loving our neighbor. So abide in God’s love. As the Father has loved Jesus so he has loved each of us; abide in his love. Amen.

Why We Believe

2009-05-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan
3rd Sunday of Easter, Year B
Sunday, April 26th, 2009
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 3:12-19
Psalm 4
1 John 3:1-7
Luke 24:36b-48

Why do we believe in the Gospel? We haven’t seen Jesus raised from the dead. We haven’t seen Jesus’ apostles heal anyone. By and large, most of us haven’t seen anything supernatural. We haven’t seen great signs; been given visions by angels, nor heard testimony from eye witnesses of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

The apostles saw Jesus after his resurrection. The first heard about his resurrection from Mary Magdalene who was told of it by the angels. They were told again about his resurrection by Cleopas and his companion who saw Jesus on the road to Emmaus, and Simon saw Jesus. The disciples even proclaimed “The Lord is risen indeed…,” and then when Jesus appeared among them, they didn’t believe. They thought he was a ghost. Then, when they saw he has flesh and bones, they still felt it was too good to be true, so Jesus ate some fish just to prove that he really was alive there among them. He wasn’t a ghost. He wasn’t a reanimated corpse, like a vampire or a zombie. He was and is Jesus, alive and well, just like he told them he would be.

I find interesting the fact that the disciples believed until the saw Jesus raised. They believed the testimony of their friends which matched what Jesus had told them would happen, but seeing him alive before them, just three days after he had been killed was too much for them. Rather than increasing their belief and joy, seeing Jesus initially increased their fear and disbelief, and I think that’s a pretty reasonable response.

Imagine being in their position. Imagine a good friend of yours, an actual good friend of yours, someone you admire, someone who maybe teaches you. Imagine that person foretelling his or her death and resurrection. Imagine seeing that person die. Imagine the grief you’d feel, and then imagine seeing that person walking around three days later. My guess is, each of us would also meet our resurrected friend with fear and disbelief.

The disciples’ reaction to seeing Jesus seems pretty reasonable. Having never seen a resurrected human before, I can guess they had a little bit of fear of the unknown. This person before them looked like Jesus, but was he really? Was he a disembodied spirit? Was he still the Jesus they knew and loved? These were all reasonable questions for the disciples to have. Notice Jesus was not angry with them for their unbelief. Rather, he greeted them with peace. He told them to touch him; he ate in front of them. Jesus showed them that he really was the same person who had been their friend and teacher for three years.

So, what then does Jesus’ resurrection appearance among his disciples say to us? For one thing, Jesus’ resurrection tells us tells us that resurrection in general is true, that death does not triumph over God. The end of God’s creation is not death, but life. What kind of life is the resurrection? That is another question answered, at least in part, by Jesus’ resurrection appearance to his disciples. In the resurrected life, we will be largely who we were.

In his resurrection appearance, Jesus showed his disciples that he was the same person he had been. He was obviously changed in some ways. He couldn’t die anymore. He could appear and disappear at will, but he was still Jesus. So for us too, in the resurrection, we will be changed, but we will still be ourselves. Our loved ones will be changed in the resurrection, but they will still be themselves. As John tells us in his epistle, “we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him…” (1 John 3:2) If the resurrected Jesus was changed and yet the same Jesus as before, then we will also be changed and yet be the same as before.

We don’t know exactly what the resurrection life will be like, so there is still some unknown, but that unknown can hopefully leave us with excitement rather than fear. One reason Jesus became human, died, and was resurrected was to “…free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.” (Hebrews 2:15)

Living in fear of death, one would hold on to all that one has with a vice grip, desperately grasping for anything to keep death at bay. Living in fear of death, one might accumulate exceedingly great wealth, things, and power, just to counter the powerlessness one feels regarding death. In today’s economic world, that one might hit home. Perhaps the folks responsible for our current economic downturn were living in fear of death and therefore accumulating too many things, driving up too much debt. The super rich aren’t the only ones who lived this way, aren’t the only ones responsible. Many Americans were living beyond their means. Many of us have too much debt. Many of us have more things than we need.

Perhaps many of us have been living with some fear of death. I include myself in this. I’ve never gone out and bought something thinking, “this will keep me alive another day,” but there have been times when I’ve felt a need or a longing for something and I’ve sated that need with a purchase of some kind. I think, on the one hand, my true longing was for God, but I also think mixed in there was fear of death and a longing for security.

Now, I usually don’t consciously fear death, but when I think of the resurrection, when I think of the next life, being at one with God, then I feel peace come upon me, and my desire for things tends to diminish. I find I have less desire for things when I think of the resurrection. So, I’m guessing I still have some unknown lingering fear of death, fear of the unknown that I sometimes try to quell with things. Maybe I’m not alone in that. Perhaps living out of our faith in Jesus can help keep us from over spending. So, our faith really can make a difference in our lives, in a tangible way by freeing us who have been held in slavery by the fear of death.

As Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians, quoting Isaiah and Hosea, “‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’” (Isaiah 25:8, Hosea 13:8, 1 Corinthians 15:54-55) One of the beauties of Easter is that death has no sting. By believing in Jesus’ resurrection and believing that we will share in his resurrection, we can live lives of hope and love without the need of material wealth and security. Further, as followers of Jesus, we can share our hope and faith and love with others so that those who do not yet have this hope might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. (2 Corinthians 5:15) We can share our faith, our hope, and our love so that those who fear death might not fear death, so that those who are longing to know God might come to know God.

Jesus told his disciples that they were witnesses of his death and resurrection, witnesses that were to share that witness with others, and I believe we also share in that witness. We get to witness to others the hope that is in us, the faith that we have been given. We get to witness as we have been witnessed to. We are not eye witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection. We’re going on the testimony of Jesus’ disciples, of the witness they gave and the witness given by so many generations after them. We get to witness so that others may believe as we believe.

I asked at the beginning of this sermon why we believe. We believe not because of what we have seen, but because of what we have heard. We believe because of what we have been told by those who did see. We believe because of God’s spirit dwelling within us, praying for us, even in times of doubt, praying for us with sighs too deep for words. (Romans 8:26)

We also believe, I think because we want to. I want to believe that death is not the end. I want to believe that there is life after death. I want to believe that the resurrection life will be a wonderful life lived with our creator. I want to believe that I have nothing to fear in death. I want to believe that I don’t need to build up security here on earth because my life is in God’s hands and this life is not the end. I want to believe that God became human in the person of Jesus, that he, lived, died, and was resurrected all out of love for us. I want to believe, and so I choose to believe.

How much do I believe? How much trust do I put in the testimony that I have heard? Well, that kind of varies. At times I trust more than others. My prayer for all of us today, the message I want to leave us with is that we would believe the testimony we have been given enough not to fear death. My prayer and message is that we would believe enough in Jesus’ resurrection to trust him and to have lives filled with hope, love, and peace. Let us pray. “May the God of hope fill [us] with all joy and peace in believing, so that [we] may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13) Amen.

Humility: The Freedom Not to Have to Be Perfect...

2009-04-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan
Palm Sunday, Year B
Sunday, April 5th, 2009
Emmanuel, Houston
John 12:12-16
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11
Mark 14:1 – 15:47

Palm Sunday, as we do every year on Palm Sunday, we get to hear the stories of Jesus’ seeming triumph as he rides into Jerusalem with throngs of people shouting his praises, and we get to hear about Jesus’ seeming defeat in his death on the cross. What I’d like to focus on today is Jesus’ humility in his life and death on the cross, and the way Jesus’ humility shows us the depth of God’s love for us.

Recently, I was having a conversation with a non-Christian about the Christian faith, and this gentleman had many questions about our faith; he was truly trying to understand what the Christian faith is. One question he raised was, why is Earth so important that God would become human to live here on Earth? With the millions of other galaxies, all of which could have millions of planets like Earth, with human beings like on earth, why would God limit himself by becoming human and living here? The whole concept seems to place more importance on us and our planet than maybe we really deserve.

The Christian faith might seem to engender some pride in ourselves, as though the God of the universe was somehow our God and that we can somehow lay claim to God because he came to live among us. So, I was wondering about this idea; do we almost believe the universe revolves around us by believing that God came to live on Earth with us? This is a valid question and a valid point, so what I’d like to address is this idea of God as God of the universe.

We don’t believe God has limits, and so while God limited himself in Jesus, living here on earth, being limited by his humanity, we don’t believe God limited himself beyond Jesus. There was no 30 year hiatus of God from the rest of the universe while God was living here on earth as Jesus.

So, while our belief does not limit our understanding of God, do we still lay a claim on God or lead us to believe that we are the only important people, the only important planet in all of the universe? Could Christian belief lead to a kind of pride, that we’re the only important ones and God is ours and no one else’s?
Think of the vastness of space, the fact that our planet, is a relatively small planet revolving around a relatively small star, in a relatively small galaxy.

Considering the whole of the universe, we could hardly be less significant. I did some research to try to find out just how small Earth is compared to the rest of the universe, and I searched around on the internet so God only knows how accurate any of these number are, but according to some of the numbers I found, the earth is somewhere around 20 quintillionths smaller than the known universe. What’s a quintillionth? Well, the numbers go: millions, billions, trillions, quadrillions, quintillions. These numbers are utterly unfathomable, so I tried to find a way of conceptualizing the size of the earth compared to the universe, and I found a possible way to conceptualize these numbers. If the earth were one penny, twenty quintillion stacked up on top of each other would be several galaxies long.

I brought all of those numbers up so that we could imagine something of the scale of God’s humility in becoming human. God’s humility in becoming human is as unfathomable to me as trying to think of the tininess of earth in relation to the universe, and yet, as Paul wrote in Philippians:
…Christ Jesus…though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5c-8)

The scale of God’s humility and love in becoming human is unimaginable. When I consider God who created and is in charge of the whole of the universe coming to live among us on earth, I am struck not by our significance but by our insignificance. We are tiny people on an infinitesimally small speck in the Universe, and yet God cares for us deeply enough to become human and live with us.

This helps me see us as significant because of our insignificance. The God of the universe didn’t just make us and leave us alone. He made us and then stuck with us, even with the whole of the universe to tend to as well. One the scale of the universe, we are insignificant, and yet we’re significant to God. We are loved by God. Our universal insignificance doesn’t seem to matter to God. God loves us because he created us. The Christian belief that God became human to live among us does not raise our significance and pride so much as show something of the depth of God’s love for us, that God would humble himself so much in order to draw us closer to him.

Now on the other side of this, what Paul said in his letter to the Philippians was, “let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…” (Philippians 2:5) Let the same humility and love that God has for us, be in us for each other.

Humility is one of those difficult things that in seeking humility, we can even become prideful of just how humbler we are. Perhaps you’ve heard someone say, “I’m one of the most humble people I know.” The heart’s in the right place, but humility is almost something for which we can’t really strive. The more we want to be humble, the more we might find ourselves taking pride in our humility because we’re that much better at being humble than everyone else.

That just doesn’t work, but what we see in Jesus is not him striving for humility, but what are we told? “He emptied himself…” In seeking to follow Christ, therefore, in seeking to be humble, we find the idea of emptying ourselves to be a fairly helpful concept.

If we begin with ourselves, trying to be humble, then we will find humility something difficult to grasp, but if we empty ourselves instead and look to others with love, look to others as beloved children of God, then we might have a chance to achieve humility.

Now humility is not the same thing as self loathing. We may find ourselves thinking, “oh, I hate myself, I’m terrible, I’m awful; it’s Holy Week and so I should think badly of myself; God doesn’t like me very much…” No, no, no. Humility is not a chance or an obligation to think badly of ourselves.

Humility is a joy. The joy of humility is the ability to see and accept God’s love for us. When we can see and accept how much God loves others, when we can empty ourselves of the need that we feel we have in this world to be great, to be successful, the need we have to achieve more and more, we can see that those are demands we place on ourselves.

God doesn’t demand greatness from us. We are next to nothing in the universe, and yet God showed his love for us through his humility. God didn’t say, “first become the greatest, most perfect, most highly exalted person you can be, and then I will find you worthy of my love.” No, God loves us simply because he made us, simply because we are his, and there is a great burden lifted in that acknowledgment.

Humility is truly allowing ourselves to accept God’s love for us, not because we are great or highly exalted above anyone else. None of us has any more intrinsic value than any other one of us. God loves and values each of us because we are his children, and in emptying ourselves of thoughts of greatness, thoughts of being above or more valuable than anyone else, we can find then find acceptance of God’s love for us. We can find ourselves to be beloved of God beyond our imagination. My prayer this Holy Week is that we will seek to have the same mind as Christ, that we will seek to empty ourselves of the need for greatness or the presumption of importance, and that we will then be able to accept God’s love and see ourselves and each other as beloved of God. Amen.

Following Jesus Takes Practice

2009-03-09T13:14:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan
2nd Sunday of Lent, Year B
Sunday, March 8th, 2009
Emmanuel, Houston
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Psalm 22:22-30
Romans 4:13-25
Mark 8:31-38

Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Follow Jesus. Imagine seeing those words advertising some company or product on the market. Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Use our product. I don’t think the advertising agency that came up with that one would be around for very long, and yet with Jesus, it kinda seemed to work. How in the world did the pitch, “deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me,” ever attract anyone? Well, for one thing, these weren’t the first words out of Jesus’ mouth. He had done a bit of teaching and healing before the command to deny oneself and take up one’s cross. Still, the cost of discipleship, the cost of truly following Jesus may seem rather high. Deny yourself, take up your implement of torture and death, and follow Jesus. Lose your life in order to gain it. Well, there are several things to note about the language of this passage. When Jesus says whoever seeks to gain their life will lose it, and whoever seeks to lose their life for his sake will gain it, he is not necessarily talking about our physical, biological lives.
The word he uses could more accurately be seen as our soul or our inner life. So, one could say that those who seek too much the protection of their own lives, those who look out for “number one” at the expense of others, will lose this inner life. Those, on the other hand who are willing to give of themselves, to sacrifice, to put others first for the sake of Jesus and the gospel will gain this inner life. In short, by being Jesus’ followers, we’re not running around begging people to kill us for Jesus’ sake. More importantly, sacrifices we make in order to follow Jesus are worth the effort.
Have you ever followed someone or followed an idea which was difficult, but which you knew would benefit you? For one example, athletes do this all the time. Practice and exercise are difficult, but they know the reward of their endurance, of the discipline will be worth the effort. Athletes could be seen as disciples of their coaches, living and training as the coaches tell them, in order to achieve a good result in their sport.
Students of any kind follow this pattern of discipleship. Look at musicians, doctors, actors, business people. Most anything we do involves discipline of some kind. Any profession requires sacrifice in order to follow a particular path, and any profession involves some level of discipleship, learning and following a particular way in order to be successful.
Jesus too, then, has a path he wants his disciples to follow, and following on that path requires sacrifice. Further, following Jesus requires that we give our lives to following Jesus, like many other fields. Ask a musician who is at the very top of his or her field what it took to get their, to be a master of the instrument, and I think that person will tell you, he gave his life to the study and practice of the instrument, gave his life to the music. To be a master of a field, to be a true disciple in a field, takes one’s life. I’m going to run with this musician analogy for a while.
I’m a dabbler in several instruments. I sing. I play some guitar. I play the didgeridoo; I used to play the trumpet. I dabble in these things, I enjoy them, but I’m not disciplined in my practice. I’m not great at any of them, and I’m ok with that. They’re fun. I enjoy them, but I haven’t devoted my life to any of these instruments.
Jesus is asking that we devote our lives to following him. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t mean we dabble in discipleship the way I dabble in music. Being a follower of Jesus means we devote our lives to following Jesus, like master musicians devote their lives to their instruments. Master musicians, by the way, can also devote their lives to following Jesus. Being a master at one thing does not mean we cannot also follow Christ.
Following Jesus does mean we need to be disciplined in following him. Musicians practice every day, a lot. Following Jesus means practicing our faith, being intentional in prayer, in reading scripture, in serving others, in talking about the joy of the Gospel. If we don’t practice our faith, we aren’t going to be very good at having faith, at being faithful followers of Jesus.
Following Jesus also means that we persevere in practicing our faith even in adversity. Top musicians do this. While the definitely love music and love their instruments, even the very best musicians get tired of their instruments. They find times when practice is difficult or seems to be pointless. They have dry spells or hit brick walls they just can’t seem to get past. The very best musicians continue practicing through those times, and they seek the help and advice of others in order to do so. The very best musicians in the world still have teachers, and their teachers also have teachers.
For us too, as followers of Jesus, we persevere through the rough patches. We keep practicing during the hard times, the brick walls. We keep practicing when our faith seems pointless, and we seek the help and advice of others. Following Jesus means we’re never done. We never arrive and suddenly get to say, “I’ve made it.” “I’m a master of following Jesus and have nothing more to learn.” Practicing our faith will always continue, and we will always need each other for support, advice, and correction.
Look for a minute back at the Gospel at what transpired just before Jesus told us how to follow him. Peter had rebuked Jesus for telling the disciples that he would be imprisoned, killed, and resurrected. Jesus then tells Peter, “Get behind me Satan, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” That’s a pretty harsh rebuke of Peter, but I would also call it support, advice, and correction.
Looking first at the harshness of Peter’s rebuke, imagine being Jesus for a second. I think Jesus might have been saying, “stop tempting me, Peter.” Satan means tempter. So, maybe there was something tempting in Peter’s rebuke of Jesus. We know from Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane that dying on the cross wasn’t really a T.G.I.F. kind of moment. So even at the point in today’s Gospel reading, perhaps Jesus had finally gotten his head around having to be crucified, finally come to terms with that fact, and then here comes Peter saying no, no, you don’t have to die by crucifixion, Jesus. That would sound really tempting. Have you ever told someone, “don’t tempt me!”? “Don’t ask me again, or I might say yes.” Jesus was likely tempted by Peter’s rebuke. How wonderful not to have to die on the cross. So, Jesus had to rebuke Peter. Get behind me Satan. Stop tempting me.
So yes, Jesus’ rebuke of Peter was harsh, but his rebuke was also support, advice, and correction. He told Peter what he was doing wrong, “setting [his] mind not on divine things but on human things.” He also gave this rebuke in private and then taught publicly the lesson about needing to lose our lives for the sake of the Gospel. Then, a week later, Jesus took Peter to the top of the mountain for the transfiguration. So, Jesus rebuked Peter, but he also continued to teach him, continued to love him, and made amends with him.
For us too then, as followers of Jesus, there will be times when we need correction, like Peter did, and there will be times when we’re the ones giving correction, like Jesus did. Sometimes our correction may need to be a little harsh, but we should always correct one anther with love and will continued relationship. “Get behind me Satan” were far from the last words Jesus spoke to Peter. Imagine if, “you’re doing it wrong” were the last words a music teacher told his or her student. That student might not keep playing. Music teachers, if they aren’t careful, can kill a love of music in their students. So too can we push people away from Jesus in our advice, and correction, if we’re not careful and supportive in how we give that correction and advice.
So, considering that we’re being called to follow Jesus, to give our lives to him as musicians do to music, I want to leave us with a few questions to think about. How’s practice going? Writing this sermon, I realized I need to get back to practice, get a better routine going. Having a son threw off my practice schedule, but it’s been over a year, and that excuse just ain’t gonna work any more. So how is your practice going? Do you need to pick up your instrument and dust it off a little bit?
Are you not quite sure how to practice? Maybe you need some lessons, some advice or correction. Talk to someone: a friend, a co-worker, clergy, someone whose walk with Jesus you notice and admire.
Maybe you’re in a dry spell and really need to push through with practice and support. Maybe your practice is going great, and you’re able to help teach others. Whatever the case, keep practicing your faith. Jesus didn’t ask us to be dabblers in following him. He asked us to give our lives to following him. I can dabble in guitar and other instruments. We can all dabble in various things, but we’ve been asked to give our lives to following Jesus. Discipleship comes with a cost, but so does anything worth doing. Like true musicians who give their lives to their music and get so much beautiful music in return for themselves and others, we’ve been asked to give our lives to Jesus, and we’ve been promised to get our lives back with so much more life for ourselves and others, so keep practicing. Amen.

Shepherding Each Other

2008-11-24T08:24:00.001-08:00

Brad Sullivan
Proper 29 (Christ the King Sunday), Year A
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
Psalm 100
Ephesians 1:15-23
Matthew 25:31-46

Yesterday, in a wonderful, and apparently rather lengthy celebration, Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schiorri, along with our bishops and many others, ordained Andy Doyle as bishop to be the next Bishop of the Diocese of Texas after Don Wimberly retires. I’m sorry to say I couldn’t be there, I was at home with a sick son, who’s doing much better. As many times as I’ve gotten to do things and Kristin hasn’t, taking care of Noah, I figured it was high time she got to go and be at the celebration of Andy’s ordination to the Episcopate (that’s the fancy word for Bishop), but I digress.

I bring up Andy’s ordination because partly because it’s a big event in our life together, ordaining a new leader for our Diocese, and I also bring up his ordination because I think who Andy is and the kind of bishop he wants to be sheds some light on who Jesus is as our King. You may have noticed today is Christ the King Sunday. We’ve got a new frontal on our altar portraying Christ the King, and in our Gospel reading today, Jesus was the king pronouncing judgment on the people of all the nations.

Now, by saying that new Bishop, Andy Doyle, sheds some light on who Christ is as King, I don’t mean to say Andy will be pronouncing judgment on those of us in the Diocese of Texas, separating us into sheep and goats. To understand what I mean, we need first to take a look at the passage from Ezekiel which is some of the foundation for our Gospel story.

You might have noticed how similar the Matthew reading was to the Ezekiel reading. Both of them described the people as sheep and the sheep as being judged largely by how they treated one another. Both described the judge as a shepherd. In Ezekiel, we heard portions of the 34th chapter of Ezekiel, and we really need to look at those other parts to get the full meaning.

Our passage began: “For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.” (Ezekiel 34:11) We heard this very comforting image of God seeking the lost sheep who had been scattered, and judging between the strong and the week sheep, giving them justice. This sounds very much like the passage from Matthew, but if we were to read the first ten verses of Ezekiel 34, we would find that this whole chapter is in part an indicitment against the leaders of the people of Israel. Ezekiel 34 begins:

The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them—to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals. (Ezekiel 34:1-5)

Ezekiel was prophesying in a time when the nation of Israel has been destroyed by the Babylonians, and the people of Israel had been scattered, many taken into captivity in Babylon. In this situation, then, God is indicting the shepherds of Israel, their religious and spiritual leaders for their abysmal leadership of the people. The leaders of Israel had sought their own well being at the expense of the people and ultimately to the destruction of the nation of Israel.

As we heard, therefore, God himself would be Israel’s shepherd, and he would be their judge. God would judge between the faithless shepherds of Israel, the fat sheep, and the people of Israel, the lean sheep. This prophecy was partly a historical prophecy which would be fulfilled in human history, as parts of the prophecy have been, and this prophecy was partly an eschatological prophecy, a prophecy concerning the end of time when everything will be put right.

We saw part of Ezekiel’s prophecy fulfilled in the life of Jesus. Jesus came for the lost sheep of Israel. He preached the good news of God’s kingdom to them. He bound up the injured and strengthened the weak. Jesus was the shepherd described in Ezekiel’s prophecy. We see the kind of king Jesus is, one who lives among his people. Rather than lording his throne over the people, he serves and guides his people, caring for the poor and injured, protecting them from harm. Jesus is a servant king, a king who cares so deeply for his people that he gave his life for them.

In Jesus’ life, therefore, we saw a fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy, and we also saw an expansion of his prophecy. While Jesus’ initial ministry was only to the lost sheep of Israel, his ministry was expanded to include the gentiles, and so we saw Jesus as king of all the nations and as shepherd of all the nations.

Then, in Matthew, we saw Jesus as judge of all the nations as well. In our passage from Matthew’s Gospel, we see the eschatological vision of Ezekiel’s prophecy fulfilled as Jesus judges between the sheep and the goats (or as Ezekiel wrote, the fat sheep and the lean sheep). The judgment, like Jesus’ ministry, was expanded to include not only the people of Israel, but all the nations. Jesus is the judge of all people, and he is also the king and shepherd of all people, who gave his life for all people.

There is comfort, therefore, when we consider the judgment at the end of time, in the fact that our judge is the one who gave his life for us. Out judge is the one who knows us intimately and continually calls us to be with him. Our judge loves us.

We can see Jesus’ love for us in the way he judges us. In our judgment, what concern does Jesus have? He is concerned with how well we served him. Like all kings, Jesus expects his subjects to serve him. Unlike most kings however, Christ wants us to serve him by serving each other, and especially by serving those who are most in need. As our King, Jesus wants us to be servants and shepherds of each other.

So finally we return to the beginning of this sermon, because a desire to serve one another and shepherd one another is the way in which our new Bishop in some ways embodies who Jesus is as our king. When Bishop Doyle preached at clergy conference, he spoke about the idea of a bishop as a shepherd. Preaching from the end of John’s Gospel, when Jesus tells Peter, “feed my sheep,” Bishop Doyle concluded his sermon by telling us that he would work to be our shepherd, and by asking us in turn to be shepherds for him.

Serving and shepherding one another is how we also get to embody Christ’s kingship. As clergy, Janie and Gill and I seek to shepherd you, and we hope to be shepherded by you. As laity, you all seek to shepherd folks beyond the church and hope to be shepherded by them, just as Christ our King shepherds us and desires to be shepherded by us.

That, my friends, is love. Christ our king desires us to serve him through love and through kind and good treatment of each other. Such is his love for us that Christ our King judges us based on how we love each other and treat each other. Christ our King loves us so much that he also shepherds us. Christ our king seeks us out, and if we will follow, leads us to green pastures where, like Ezekiel prophesied, we may lie down and rest in him. So, I’d like to conclude with a verse from Psalm 33, slightly paraphrased. As the psalmist writes, Christ our King loves righteousness and justice, and his loving-kindness fills the whole earth. (Psalm 33:5 (paraphrase)) Amen.

God's blessing, stewardship, & the Saints

2008-11-03T13:15:00.000-08:00

Brad Sullivan
All Saints’ Sunday, Year A
Sunday, November 2nd, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Revelation 7:9-17
Psalm 34:1-10, 22
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12

For the past several weeks, we’ve been talking and preaching about stewardship, how we are to live as caretakers of God’s kingdom here on earth. Today, we are also remembering all of the saints, whose lives and teachings we look to for inspiration and for examples of how we too can live lives seeking God’s kingdom and following Jesus Christ. So, I’m going to follow these two ideas of stewardship and the examples of the saints in looking at the passage from Matthew.

First, we’re going to look at today’s Gospel reading, the sermon on the mount, in the context of the prophet Isaiah. Now, the sermon on the mount was Jesus’ first big teaching moment. Just before this, he was healing, doing some teaching, he called his disciples before that, he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness before that, and just before his temptation, he was baptized by John. Remember what John said before beginning his ministry of baptism, “For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” (Matthew 3:3) That’s a passage from Isaiah 40:3. Jesus was fulfilling that passage, and really, the whole beginning of Isaiah chapter 40 frames very well Jesus’ ministry and the sermon on the mount. So, we’re going to take a look at the beginning of Isaiah chapter 40. It begins:

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins. (Revised Standard Version)

Like this passage from Isaiah, the beginning of the sermon on the mount, the beatitudes, sound to me like words of comfort. “Blessed are you…” Jesus says. There was gathered before Jesus not only his disciples, but a whole crowd of Israelites to whom Jesus was speaking these words of comfort. He was also speaking words of instruction, especially later I the sermon, but he was definitely comforting the people with the promise of blessing.

Going back to Isaiah, we then hear the verse which John quoted:
A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken." (RSV)

In Jesus, the glory of the Lord was revealed. We’re still waiting for the final time when God’s glory will be revealed, the end of all time when God’s glory will fully be revealed to us, but God’s glory was revealed and began to be revealed in Jesus. In Jesus’ teaching and in his life, we saw who God really was lived out in a human life. God’s glory was revealed in all that Jesus said and did, and what did Jesus say in the beatitudes this morning?

Looking again at Isaiah, the prophet continues:
A voice says, "Cry!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people is grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand for ever. (RSV)

“The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.” In other words, our lives are fleeting, but God is with us forever. Our joys and our pains are fleeting; they will not last forever, but the word of the Lord will stand forever. That, to me, is a comforting thought, and very much what Jesus is saying in the beatitudes. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Mourning will not last forever, but God’s word, the comfort he promises will stand forever.

The promises God gives, that the merciful will obtain mercy, that the pure in heart will see God, that the peacemakers will be called sons of God, etc. these promises will stand long after our lives or any afflictions in our lives are past. “The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.”

So, what then does this have to do with stewardship and the saints? Looking at the first and eighth blessings, those who are poor in spirit and those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, we see the same promise given. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. All of the other promises are given some time in the future. They will be comforted, they will inherit the earth, but for those who are poor in spirit and those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Jesus also said at another time that the kingdom of heaven belongs to children. What do these all have in common? They all share a dependence on God and others.

The poor, at least in Jesus’ time, I think today as well, depended on the charity, the love, of others. The poor in spirit, then, may not lack daily bread, but recognize their dependence on God. The poor in spirit know that even if they have a job and can provide for their families, all that they have is from God, and without God, they have nothing, they are nothing. The poor in spirit have the kingdom of God as stewards, as caretakers, of God’s kingdom, and living as a faithful caretaker of God’s kingdom is the life of a saint.

The saints’ recognized the fact that they were utterly dependent on God, and they rejoiced in that fact. Like children, utterly dependent on their parents, the saints realize that while they no longer have their earthly parents to take care of them, they still get to depend on God as though they were children. The saints were poor in spirit.

The saints were often also persecuted as so often happens when people stand up for what they believe in, when they say unpopular things or live a different way of life than those around them. We too if we’re open about our faith, if we don’t do certain things because of our faith, or if we miss certain activities because we’re gonna be at prayer, or in church, or serving the poor, we too might be persecuted, or at least shunned or left out, but if we are shunned, or persecuted, or left out, we’ll be comforted and satisfied, and see God, and be called children of God.

When we look to the example of Jesus and the examples of the saints, when we become poor in spirit, even with persecution, ours is the kingdom of heaven, and we are stewards of that kingdom. So, finally, how do we live as stewards of God’s kingdom?

Well first, we become poor in spirit, recognizing our dependence on God and our interdependence on each other. Then, we begin caring for God’s kingdom with love.
We comfort those who mourn. We raise up the meek. We support those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and pick each other up when we fall. We show mercy. We purify our hearts. We make peace as not only the absence of conflict, but the presence of love, and if we get shunned or persecuted, we rejoice for ours is the kingdom of God, and great is our reward from God.

Looking then, more concretely, what can we do in our communal life as members of Christ’s body here at Emmanuel? We can support the ministries of Emmanuel, and we can become ministers of Emmanuel.

We’ve talked quite a lot over the past several weeks about supporting Emmanuel’s ministries through your time, talent, and treasure, and through these gifts, you truly can help support the ministry that is going on here. There are several ladies whom I visit once a month to bring communion. They are largely homebound, so getting out to go fix houses in Galveston, or make hospital visits, or lead a Bible study here aren’t exactly things they can do, but each time I go there, they have checks ready for me, made out to Emmanuel. They are supporting the ministries here, even though they can’t be ministers here. They minister to each other as well, but they also do what they can to support the ministries of their church community here.

I know times are tough right now, and may be getting tougher. You may not be able to give a huge amount to support the ministries here. Give what you can to support the ministries.

Then, in addition to supporting the ministries of Emmanuel, you can become a minister of Emmanuel. You can be a minister in the service here on Sunday mornings as a greeter, an usher, or a minister in the service. You can take a trip to Galveston to help rebuild or help in other outreach efforts. You can join Special Projects or Social Life. You can help lead a Bible study or other small group. You can teach classes for our children and youth or help with the youth group.

In these and other ways, you can be ministers as well as support others in their ministries. You can be stewards of God’s kingdom, living out the blessings Jesus promised in the Beatitudes, and if you run into some persecution or are shunned in some way, remember that any trials we face are temporary. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God [the blessings of our God] will stand forever.” Amen.

Responding to Ike

2008-11-03T12:54:00.000-08:00

Brad Sullivan
Proper 20, Year A
Sunday, September 21st, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Exodus 16:2-15
Psalm 105: 37-45
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16

Good morning y’all. I’m glad to see you here, and hope you all faired well during the storm. We were very fortunate and had little damage to our home. I know a lot of folks are still without power, damage isn’t getting fixed as fast as we’d like, and nerves might be wearing a little thin, but I was encouraged this week watching so many people offer help to those who needed it. On my street, our neighbors offered help to each other and began working together to clean up our street. Several of us met for the first time, sharing storm stories, glad to have come through the storm ok, and again, offering help to one another. From the standpoint of people caring for each other, this has been a pretty good week.

A frightening thought occurred to me last Saturday night, however, as I began thinking about life returning to normal in the coming weeks and months. The frightening thought was that life would return to normal. What I mean by that is I was frightened by the thought that we would or that I would be seemingly unchanged by hurricane Ike.

The areas affected by the hurricane will be able to rebuild. Some have very little damage and rebuilding will be very easy, and life will be able to go on largely as if the hurricane never happened. I was frightened by the thought of, weeks from now or months from now or even years from now, going on with life as if the hurricane had never happened. I thought of some of our neighbors and me going back to our usual routine of not interacting all that much, not taking the time to see how each other is doing, to simply say ‘hi’ and chat for a minute. Maybe I just really liked meeting my neighbors, but I was caught by the idea of our ability to keep events in life from changing us for the better.

Maybe I’m just searching for meaning to a very damaging storm, I discovered that I would rather let that storm change me for the better than merely be a painful hiccup in life as usual. I don’t know what’s going to change. Maybe I won’t take certain things for granted; maybe I’ll be a little less selfish; maybe I’ll have a little more patience. I don’t really care what the change is so long as I allow myself in some way to be changed for the better. Even through something as destructive as this hurricane, I want to allow myself to be changed by God’s grace.

I realize for some, God’s grace will be hard to find. For some it will be very hard to find, but I believe God’s grace is present for all, and for all who were affected by this storm, and God’s grace can change our lives for the better if we allow it to do so.

Look at our Gospel lesson for the day. The laborers were all paid the same, regardless of how long they had worked. That just doesn’t work according to our understanding of justice and fairness. God, however, doesn’t follow our rules of justice and fairness. As one might suspect of God, he follows his own rules of justice and fairness, and God’s justice and fairness may not make a whole lot of sense to us. Some laborers worked less and got the same amount of money as those who worked more. That certainly doesn’t fit our economic system. God’s wages just aren’t right; they’re unfair to those who worked longer.

I can imagine the laborers who worked all day complaining later. “I’m not going to work a full day if I can get paid the same for working a quarter of a day.” Suddenly now we’ve got a problem in the labor force. No one is willing to work more than a quarter of a day. It’s only fair.

Again, according to our system of fairness, God’s economics don’t work. According to God’s grace, however, his economics work great. Imagine if the laborers, rather than setting their minds on our rules of fairness (which largely focus on “me”), imagine if the laborers had focused on God’s grace. “Wow,” they might say, “he’s really generous. I’m glad those other workers were able to feed their families’ today too. Maybe tomorrow, we’ll all get to work together.”

Focusing on God’s grace, and being changed by God’s grace, we find ourselves less focused on ourselves, and more focused on the good of the people around us, the good of the community. Being changed by God’s grace, our problems and complaints diminish; love of the other increases, and trust and even joy in God’s goodness and love increases.

Looking back at our lives then, not only as hurricane survivors, but as Christians, do we at times not allow our lives to be changed by God’s grace? We have all been given God’s grace. In his love for us, in the forgiveness of our sins, in the assurance of everlasting life, we have all been given God’s grace, but there are times when we don’t really receive God’s grace. There are times when we don’t allow God’s grace to change who we are for the better. There are times when we don’t allow God’s grace to make us more grateful, more giving, more cheerful, more loving people. I raise this point not to be condemning of us (pot calling the kettle black on this one), but I raise the point that we often don’t allow ourselves to be changed by God’s grace to point out what we might be missing by not receiving God’s grace, by then acting towards others out of that grace.

Look again at the laborers. They chose to stew in their anger over complaints about fairness; they chose to stay miserable, when they could have rejoiced with their fellow laborers, and given thanks for a generous, graceful landowner. We miss out on a lot of joy when we don’t receive God’s grace.

Now, as I said before, I realize that God’s grace is sometimes hard to find. The gift of God’s love, his forgiveness of our sins, the assurance of everlasting life, these gifts sometimes seem a little too ethereal, not really helping in the concrete struggles of daily life, and we sometimes wonder, where is God’s grace in this life? I know there are many who lost a great deal from the hurricane, maybe some of you, and you might be wondering where is God’s grace in all of this.

It’s ok to ask that question. It’s ok to wonder where God is and to wonder why he isn’t helping out now. I’d like you to open your prayer books to page 638 which is Psalm 39. The psalm reads:

1 I said, “I will keep watch upon my ways, * so that I do not offend with my tongue.
2 I will put a muzzle on my mouth * while the wicked are in my presence.”
3 So I held my tongue and said nothing; * I refrained from rash words; but my pain became unbearable.
4 My heart was hot within me; while I pondered, the fire burst into flame; * I spoke out with my tongue:
5 LORD, let me know my end and the number of my days, * so that I may know how short my life is.
6 You have given me a mere handful of days, and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight; * truly, even those who stand erect are but a puff of wind.
7 We walk about like a shadow, and in vain we are in turmoil; * we heap up riches and cannot tell who will gather them.
8 And now, what is my hope? * O Lord, my hope is in you.
9 Deliver me from all my transgressions * and do not make me the taunt of the fool.
10 I fell silent and did not open my mouth, * for surely it was you that did it.
11 Take your affliction from me; * I am worn down by the blows of your hand.
12 With rebukes for sin you punish us; like a moth you eat away all that is dear to us; * truly, everyone is but a puff of wind.
13 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; * hold not your peace at my tears.
14 For I am but a sojourner with you, * a wayfarer, as all my forebears were.
15 Turn your gaze from me, that I may be glad again, * before I go my way and am no more.

There’s not a happy verse in that Psalm. Verse 8 says, “O Lord, my hope is in you,” but the hope basically seems to be that God will leave the person alone. “Take your affliction from me,” verse 11, and “turn your gaze from me, that I may be glad again,” verse 15. The psalmist sounds angry in an unrelenting lament towards God.
Now, turn the page to Psalm 40:

1 I waited patiently upon the LORD; * he stooped to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the mire and clay; * he set my feet upon a high cliff and made my footing sure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; * many shall see, and stand in awe, and put their trust in the LORD.
4 Happy are they who trust in the LORD! * they do not resort to evil spirits or turn to false gods.
5 Great things are they that you have done, O LORD my God! how great your wonders and your plans for us! * there is none who can be compared with you.
6 Oh, that I could make them known and tell them! * but they are more than I can count.
7 In sacrifice and offering you take no pleasure * (you have given me ears to hear you);
8 Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required, * and so I said, “Behold, I come.
9 In the roll of the book it is written concerning me: * ‘I love to do your will, O my God; your law is deep in my heart.’”
10 I proclaimed righteousness in the great congregation; * behold, I did not restrain my lips; and that, O LORD, you know.
11 Your righteousness have I not hidden in my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your deliverance; * I have not concealed your love and faithfulness from the great congregation.
12 You are the LORD; do not withhold your compassion from me; * let your love and your faithfulness keep me safe for ever,
13 For innumerable troubles have crowded upon me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see; * they are more in number than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me.
14 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; * O LORD, make haste to help me.
15 Let them be ashamed and altogether dismayed who seek after my life to destroy it; * let them draw back and be disgraced who take pleasure in my misfortune.
16 Let those who say “Aha!” and gloat over me be confounded, * because they are ashamed.
17 Let all who seek you rejoice in you and be glad; * let those who love your salvation continually say, “Great is the LORD!”
18 Though I am poor and afflicted, * the Lord will have regard for me.
19 You are my helper and my deliverer; * do not tarry, O my God.

What a change from Psalm 39, from ‘get away from me, Lord, that my affliction may end,’ to Psalm 40, ‘I love you, Lord; you are wonderful, please draw near to me, Lord, as quickly as possible.

Don’t deny being in Psalm 39 if you’re at a time in your life when you’re in Psalm 39, when you feel as though God isn’t there or maybe you wish he weren’t there. When you’re in those Psalm 39 times of your life, though, remember to turn the page.

Having sat for a while in Psalm 39, move on to Psalm 40. Allow God’s grace to change you. If you can’t find concrete, here and now examples of his grace, then let his love change you make you more loving. Let his forgiveness of your sins make you able to forgive others. Let the assurance of everlasting life take away your fears and give you confidence in this life. Then, look for the concrete, here and now examples of God’s grace in your life. Even in the midst of hardship or tragedy, wait patiently for the Lord, let his grace change you for the better, and sing a new song of praise when you discover his grace in your life. Amen.

Everyday People

2008-11-03T12:51:00.000-08:00

Brad Sullivan
Proper 16, Year A
Sunday, August 3rd, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Exodus 1:8-2:10
Psalm 124
Romans 12:1-8
Matthew 16:13-20

I’m going to talk today about Paul’s letter to the Romans, specifically when he says “not to think of yourselves more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment…” Now, this is not going to be a sermon in which I remind us all that we’re sinners and we’re not good enough so we should think badly of ourselves in order to feel guilty enough to be better people. If you’d like to hear that, I’m sorry, but I hope to take a little more positive spin on Paul’s words.

I don’t know if any of you have ever struggled with feeling like the world isn’t going the way it should be or maybe the church isn’t going the way it should be. You might have further felt that you know how things should go, if only more people thought the way you did. If only you could convince people you were right things would be better. That’s something I’ve struggled with at various points in my life…something of a hero mentality. Such a mentality is somewhat narcissistic, but I think when people feel this hero mentality, they are also deeply concerned with the problems in the world and want to fix those problems, a worthy goal, but it’s not realistic.

Each of us can and should help soothe some of the problems in the world, but none of us are going to fix the world. None of us can. None of us really should. Taken to its furthest degree, any one person trying to fix the world would end up changing the world into his or her image. Hitler tried that, among others. No one of us can or should change or fix the world. The world doesn’t belong to anyone person; it belongs to God. We each play our part. We each have a place within the Body of Christ. We can help and be agents of change around us and in various ways, but we ought not to think too highly of ourselves, but with sober judgment.

Another nice thing about not having to play the hero is that we don’t have to play the hero. Having to be the hero is a very pressure filled existence, one which it’s awful hard to live up to. Paul reminds us we don’t have to be the hero. We don’t have to win the gold in order to have worth. Yes, I actually am using an Olympics analogy here. The Olympics provide a great example of our some people’s need to be the hero and also an example of the way in which we sometimes thrust people into the role of hero. The Olympics are an example of our exaltation of greatness, or to be more accurate, the way the media and some athletes talk about the Olympics is an example of our exaltation of greatness.

If you’ve been watching the Olympics, did you hear some of the athletes dejectedly say, “well, I was hoping for gold, but I had to settle for silver?” Had to settle for silver? You won silver! Most of the athletes I saw were thrilled with any medal, some were happy just to be there, but some of the athletes seemed truly to believe “second place is the first loser,” or “if you’re not first, you’re last.” Some athletes seemed actually to believe they had failed if they hadn’t won the gold. That’s an awful lot of pressure…gold or failure?

I realize people are there to win gold, but “I settled for silver?” Most of life has got to be really disappointing if one’s approach is gold medal or failure. Some of that pressure probably comes from within, some from coaches, some from entire countries, but you could sometimes see the pressure of athletes who felt they had to be the very best. That’s too much pressure on one person, and it tells all non-gold winners, that they are failures. Look at how highly the media exalted Michael Phelps, nothing against Michael Phelps, poor guy, poor other swimmers.

I saw an interview with another U.S. swimmer, Ryan Lochte, who won gold in the 200m backstroke, and in this interview, the interviewer said, “having won the gold in the backstroke, how did you then, only 40 minutes later, face the daunting challenge of swimming against Michael Phelps in your next race,” almost as if the interviewer was saying, “it’s great that you won the gold, but you do realize you’re still a lesser human than Michael.”

Sometimes the media ended up raising this one athlete up so high, that all others were treated as failures even when they had won the gold. At one point listening to a radio show, the people on the broadcast were jokingly saying what Michael Phelps would do after the Olympics, jokingly exalting him to even greater heights, and I thought, “I think after the Olympics, Michael should climb to the top of Mount Olympus and take his rightful place as our new god.” I say that jokingly to point out how we sometimes tend to overdo our praise of greatness so much so that anything but the absolute pinnacle of achievement is failure, again, “settling for silver.”
It’s great to have heroes. It’s great to be proud of accomplishments, but on the flip side of heroes is that we may sometimes feel there are the titanic, great, larger than life kind of people, and then the losers who really didn’t live up to their potential. The rest of us are just kind of average, pretty disappointing.

Again, think of yourself with sober judgment. No one has to be the very best in order to have worth, at least not in God’s eyes.

We have two examples of people in our other readings today that point to this fact: we don’t have to be the very best or the highest ranked person in order to have worth. I’m talking about the examples of Moses and Peter. Now Moses was a little baby in today’s story; he actually won’t know his place for some time, but we know he ends up leading the people of Israel out of Egypt.

Think of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. He was their big leader, but there were a whole bunch of other Israelites doing exactly what God wanted them to be doing…ok, there was idolatry mixed in, but there were people taking care of their families. There were average, everyday Israelites being average everyday Israelites, which is exactly what God wanted them to be.

Then in the Gospel today, Jesus calls Peter “the rock” on which he will build his church. Ok, so Peter was the rock, but do you think he was the only disciple of whom Jesus was proud. Jesus really loved Peter and the rest were kind of disappointing? I don’t think so. The other disciples had their God given place too. They weren’t less important disciples or failures because they weren’t the rock that Peter was. They were every bit as valuable to Jesus and loved by Jesus as Peter was.

Heroes are great…so are average, everyday folks. We don’t have to be “great” by Olympic gold standards for God. God loves us as we are. God loves us for who we are.
One final point on this idea of looking at ourselves with sober judgment, we don’t have to be perfect to be loved by God. I know that sounds like what I just talked about, but what I mean this time is we don’t have to be sinless. Have you ever felt that, as a Christian, you have to be sinless to be good enough or you have to be sinless not to be a hypocrite? You don’t have to be sinless. You can’t be sinless.

As Christians we strive, we do our best not to sin. We’ve been given ways of life by God which are which are the best ways of life we can live. We’ve been taught to love God. We’ve been taught to love one another. We follow Jesus, the perfect human as our Lord, our example. It may seem then, that when we do sin, we’re no longer following Jesus as our Lord, and when we sin we’re disobeying God so we’re being terrible Christians, we’re being hypocrites. Well, when we sin, we are disobeying God, and when we sin, we aren’t in that instance following Jesus as our Lord, but God doesn’t expect us to lead sinless lives. If he did, and if we actually could be sinless, then Jesus would never have had to come. God knows we’re still going to sin even though we follow Jesus as our Lord.

None of us are going to be sinless as Christians. If any of us were sinless, that person wouldn’t be a Christian, he or she’d be Christ. Oops, that was blasphemy, but so is the thought that we can be sinless. Being a Christian doesn’t mean one never sins. Being a Christian means one has accepted God’s forgiveness of sin. So again, if you feel you have to be sinless to be a Christian, think of yourself with sober judgment.

God does not expect any of us to be perfect. God does not expect any of us to be sinless. God does not expect any of us to be the hero, or the savior of the world. God already is all of those things for us. None of us should think of ourselves too highly, nor do we have to. God’s got that exalted place. Amen.

From a distance?

2008-08-03T19:46:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan
Proper 13, Year A
Sunday, August 3rd, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Genesis 32:22-31
Psalm 17:1-7, 16
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:13-21

“God is watching us from a distance.” Do you remember that song, “From a Distance”? The song said that from a distance, the earth looks peaceful, and we all look like we’re living in harmony. From a distance, it looks like there really aren’t any problems on earth. I think the idea of the song is that since “God is watching us from a distance”, he sees us as loving, beautiful people who are really wonderful to each other and so he loves us and isn’t upset with us for being rather terrible to each other because he’s watching from a distance. We look beautiful to God...from a distance....what a miserable song.
Looking at the passage from Genesis today, God doesn’t seem to be watching from a distance at all. In fact, God was right here, on earth, wrestling with Jacob. They were having a knock down, drag out fight. Jacob talked with him, held on to him, received a blessing from him, and had his hip dislocated, and none of that happened from a distance. So, we’re going to look at a couple of things from this Genesis story: one, the fact that God does not look on from a distance, and two, the idea of wresting with God like Jacob did, and how we can, do, and maybe have wrestled with God as well. In looking at these ideas, I’m going to mix my thoughts with a book I’ve been reading called Jacob’s Hip in which the author, Kerry Walters, addresses wrestling with God and with our anxiety and dealing with our own vulnerability.

So first, we’ll look at this idea of God watching us from a distance. Well if, like the song says, God really is watching from a distance then no wonder some people think God is dead. If God is watching from a distance and all he sees is harmony, then God’s a pretty darn ignorant guy. The song inadvertently turns God into something of a moron who, if he ever showed up, would be terribly shocked to find that everything in the world isn’t peace and harmony.

Thankfully, God isn’t watching from a distance. Y’all remember the incarnation, Jesus coming and living among us (we celebrate it at Christmas). Well God living among us as the person of Jesus gives us a pretty good indication that God is not far off, but is rather right here with us. The fact that God wrestled with Jacob, again, shows us that God is right here with us, and if God is truly right here with us, then his experience of us is also right here with us. That is to say, God is not detached from us. God dwells with us and feels with us; he pokes and prods us sometimes trying to nudge us in the right direction. God is not above the fray. As described in the book, Jacob’s Hip, being here with us, God is vulnerable with us. Love requires vulnerability. God is love. God is vulnerable in his love for us.

Some would say, “That’s great. God is with us. God is vulnerable. Yippeetah. Why do bad things happen, then, if God is right here with us?” God is with us, but God does not force our hand or control all of our actions. Remember the last time you did something hurtful to someone else? Did God stop you? I assume not, or you wouldn’t be able to remember a time when you did something hurtful to someone. God allows us to act contrary to his will for us. God loves us enough to give us the freedom not to love him or anyone else for that matter. We are able to be hurtful to one another because God is vulnerable in his love for us.

God could bind our wills so that we could choose to harm one another (nor then could we choose to love one another), and then God easily could watch us from a distance. If we had no choice or freedom in our lives, then there would be very little reason for God to be here with us. We obviously can, however, choose to be hurtful to one anther and loving to one another, and God chooses to live and experience those choices with us.

We live in a messy world, and God gets messy right along side us, sometimes because of us. God will wrestle with us, just like with Jacob. Taking a look at Jacob, and his wrestling match with God, Jacob was wrestling God during a time of great anxiety in his life. Jacob was fleeing from his uncle Laban having less-than-scrupulously manipulated Laban out of his best livestock, and Jacob was fleeing toward his brother Esau, who wanted to kill Jacob. Esau even had a whole army set up to do the job. So, we can imagine Jacob was fairly anxious, fearful for his life, and the well being of his family and livestock.

Jacob had really been pretty anxious his entire life. Professor Walters points out the fact that Jacob was constantly trying to build up security around him. He stole his brother’s birthright, his brother’s blessing. He swindled his uncle out of the best livestock. Jacob had a nasty habit of harming other in order to protect himself from his own vulnerability. Professor Walters calls this “safety spirituality”, seeking to build up our defenses against the world. He argues that we often seek security against our own vulnerability through material things as well as through God, trying to pray enough or in the right way, or to be righteous enough for God to protect us, and he sees Jacob as a master of this “safety spirituality”.

The problem with such safety spiritualities is that we end up seeking to control others in order to protect ourselves. Jacob sought to control his brother, his father, and his uncle to the end that he had to flee for his life twice and ended up with less security than he had to begin with. Jacob treated others as play things in his quest for security rather than as human beings to be loved and honored.

We may find in our own quests for security, a tendency to try to control others and even to control God. Again, if we can pray just right, then we can manipulate God to obey our will and protect us as we want. God is not ours, however, to manipulate and control. Other people are not ours to manipulate and control. We may gain some false senses of security, like Jacob did, through our efforts to control God and others, but such security is an illusion. By controlling others, we only end up dehumanizing them, hurting them and us. By seeking our own security by controlling others we only add suffering to the world.

By looking at God as our huge safety net from all of the dangers of the world, we forget the promises God made to us. Did Jesus say nothing bad would ever happen to us? No, he said he would always be with us. God does not prevent every bad thing from ever happening to us. Again, out of God’s love for us, he gives us the freedom to harm each other, and he gives us the freedom to harm him. God is with us in our frailty, in our vulnerability, and in our insecurity about the future.

So, in our times of great anxiety, rather than seeking false security through controlling God and others, take a note from Jacob, and wrestle with God. Maybe you won’t have a physical , WWF Smackdown kind of wrestling match with God, but wrestling with God can take many forms. In times of anxiety, talk to God. When you’re at a crossroads in your life, pour out your heart and admit your vulnerability to a God who is vulnerable with you. You don’t need high and lofty words or eloquent speeches. Like a good wrestling match, pouring out one’s heart to God is an unscripted, messy affair. We simply are with God, giving to God everything that is on our hearts and minds.

Another way in which we can wrestle with God is by taking absolutely seriously the instructions, the commandments, and teachings that God has given us. Looking again at Jacob again, he made his life vastly more difficult than it had to be by treating others so badly, by worrying so much about the future that he built up security by harming others. Now, the 10 Commandments hadn’t been given yet, Jesus hadn’t spent years teaching yet, so maybe Jacob just didn’t know any better than to treat people badly, but we do. God has taught us.

We’ve been given a wonderful gift by God in that he has taught us how to live. He’s taught us that we don’t need to be anxious about tomorrow, not because bad things will never happen to us, they still might, but we don’t need to be anxious about tomorrow because God is with us and will be with us no matter what happens to us.
We have the freedom, therefore to follow God’s commandments, to live according to God’s teaching without the need to place ourselves first for fear of the future. Now, following God’s teachings isn’t easy. Living the way God wants us to live can be like a wrestling match with God, and looking again at Jacob’s wrestling match, we might get a little bit hurt. Jacob had his hip dislocated, and that never really healed. Jacob also received a blessing from God and was forever changed from Jacob, the trickster, to Israel, the one who strove with God and man and prevailed.

If we follow God’s commandments and teachings, then we too might get hurt in some way. Change in our lives often hurts, and I’m guessing there are ways in which all of us aren’t quite following the way God has given us to live. Changing our lives in order to more completely live into God’s teachings and commandments will likely hurt a little bit, but think of how much easier our lives could be if we would simply follow God’s instructions.

In Vacation Bible School this week, we looked at five ways of life God has given us. Be kind. Be obedient. Be bold. Be forgiving. Believe. Think how much easier our lives could be if we would simply live out those five rules. Be kind to one another, even to those who aren’t kind to you. Be obedient to God; follow in his ways. Be bold in approaching God. Be forgiving; let the past be the past; let go of past wrongs. Believe in God; believe in Christ, and live out that belief.
If we live according to these rules, according to the way of life God has given us, wrestling with God in this way, we’re still gonna be hurt. Jacob’s hip got dislocated, but I have a feeling he much preferred walking with a limp to running in fear for his life. If we too wrestle with God, we might be hurt, and we’ll definitely be changed, but if we wrestle with God and don’t let go, then we will also receive God’s blessing, the blessing of a God who is here with us, loving us, and getting messy in this life with us.

God could have stayed away and seen us from a distance, but God chose to be vulnerable, to love us right here where we are. Take advantage of that vulnerable love God has for us. Wrestle with God, and be blessed. Amen.

Family Feuds

2008-07-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan
Proper 10, Year A
Sunday, July 13th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Genesis 25:19-34
Psalm 119:105-112
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

I’m going to talk today about family feuds. We’ve got a great one brewing between Jacob and Esau. Poor Esau, you sold your birthright for a bowl of soup? That’s just dumb. Were you really so hungry that you were about to die, or are you just really melodramatic? Did you actually work in the fields until you were minutes away from death by starvation? Go get some food a little sooner next time.

Jacob, give your brother some soup. We know your name means “trickster”, but you don’t have to be a jerk about it. Your brother’s hungry, give him some soup. Esau, again, you sold your birthright for a bowl of soup. Your brother was a jerk, but you sold it, you’ve got to live with that.

Of course, they eventually reconciled, but not before their feud got much worse. Jacob pretended to be Esau, stole his father’s blessing away from Esau. Esau got so mad he was going to kill Jacob and so Jacob ended up fleeing for his life. As we read on in Genesis, God began fulfilling his promise to Abraham and Isaac through Jacob as he fled and found some wives and had a bunch of kids, but did God need for that feud to happen between Jacob and Esau in order to fulfill his promise? I don’t think he did.

God was faithful to Jacob, he kept his promise of blessing even thought Jacob and Esau had this feud, but I don’t know that God needed that feud to occur. As a side note, I also like to think that God had a few lessons to teach Jacob about tricking people and being a jerk. We know Jacob’s father in law ended up tricking Jacob into marrying the wrong daughter. The trickster got tricked, and so Jacob ended up with two wives and two handmaidens, basically four wives. Good Lord! I love being married, I love my wife, but I wouldn’t want four of ‘em. God might have played a little trick on Jacob there.

God ended up fulfilling his promise of blessing despite this feud between Jacob and Esau, but for years, their family was torn apart. It took Jacob and Esau decades to be reunited, and they were reunited, and it was beautiful, but did they need decades of heartache and strife in the meantime.

These family feuds, have really stuck with us over the millennia. Some of y’all might be surprised to hear, but we even have family feuds in the church. We have fought one anther in the church for darn near 2000 years. Even in the very beginning, there was fighting over just how Jewish people needed to be in order to follow Jesus. Peter and Paul had fights over this. We’ve had fighting in the church, even murder within the church over doctrine. Is Jesus God, is he not, just how divine is Jesus, and over centuries, we’ve had the Body of Christ, Jesus’ brothers and sisters, God’s children, fighting and killing one another because we disagree. Christians have fought and killed each other over how we cross ourselves and what vestments to wear. We’ve got these family feuds that just won’t die. That’s not to say that some of our arguments aren’t important, but we’ve all been forgiven by God, can’t we do with a little forgiving of each other?

I’m conscious of the Lambeth conference starting this week. Bishops from all over the Anglican Communion will be gathering to discuss our Communion. We know there have been some pretty big family feuds going on within the Anglican Communion. As Archbishop Williams says, “Our Communion is living through very difficult times and we are bound to be aware of the divisions and conflicts that have hurt us all in recent years. But, as the Lord says (John 16:35), it is in union with him that we shall find peace.” (‘Welcome Message’ from Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, July 2008) It is also in communion with one another that we will find peace. So, be praying for the bishops of the Anglican Communion, pray for peace, pray for forgiveness, and pray that we can stop some of the feuding in the worldwide church.

Now, getting a little more local, there’s not a whole lot we can individually do to fix the global church. If a bishop or a diocese wants to split or leave the church most of us have very little influence over that. We can influence, however what happens in our own church. We have family feuds over all kinds of things. Here at Emmanuel, and in local churches everywhere, folks fight over different things. One person takes another person’s birthright. There are fights over how ministry should be done to various groups of people. Two people or groups of people will be ministering to others but doing so in different ways and then butt heads over who is right. There are fights over space and building use: “Our group should be here!” “No, our group should be here!” “This is my space!” There fights over music, what instruments we use and what songs we sing. There are fights over flowers, over ornaments, and pretty things here in our worship space.

Now, it only makes sense that we’re gonna disagree about some of these things, but when we let these things end up becoming family feuds, we end up torn apart over these things. Even individuals get torn apart or torn away because of these little feuds we have in the church. Don’t do it. Don’t let an argument over something become so volatile, so important that we tear the family apart. Jacob and Esau tore their family apart, and yes, they were reconciled years later, but think of the heartache, the decades of heartache that could have been avoided. Think of the heartache, the decades, the centuries of heartache in the worldwide church, and the years of heartache that could be avoided here if we would just be kind to one another and forgive one another. Think of the healing that could occur in people’s lives if they just wouldn’t leave when things didn’t go their way.

I realize sometimes people need to leave. Not everyone’s gonna be spiritually fed in the same community. Sometimes people need to leave to find what they really need, and to them I say, “Go, but go with the community’s blessing.” We’ve had folks leave Emmanuel and lie about it, and I don’t think we’re alone in this. Sometimes folks have just moved and found a church closer to their new home. Sometimes they’ve found that the worship and the life of this community wasn’t quite right for them and so they’ve gone to find a place that was, but there have been a couple times when folks have said they weren’t leaving when they were or lied about why they were leaving. It seemed as though they were afraid of getting in trouble, or having a priest upset at them or something (who really cares?), or like we think churches are in competition with one another? We’re not. How great if instead of people lying or just slipping out without saying a word folks told the truth, then we could say, “I’m glad you’re finding what you need; God bless you on your journey, and tell the Christians in (whatever church you’re going to) greetings from Emmanuel.” That sounds a lot like Paul in the end of many of his letters, “send my greetings to the Christians in (whichever) church.”

I’m thinking especially this week about folks who left the church, any church, over various gripes, and then come back year later. Thank God they come back, but there has been so much missed blessing in the mean time. God probably still blessed their lives; God doesn’t just withhold blessing because folks stop coming to church, but if it’s been years since someone’s been to church, then they haven’t been blessed by the church, and the church hasn’t been blessed by them. There’s often so much heartache after an absence like that. Something didn’t work out, or things weren’t going how they should have been going, or maybe things were even deeply flawed, but guess what, that’s the church; that’s our family. We are deeply flawed.

So, here’s my priestly and pastoral advice. Don’t leave the Body of Christ. Don’t leave the church. If someday you need to find a different worshipping community to be spiritually fed, then do so, but go with the blessing of the church where you are; don’t leave because you’re upset about something in the church. Don’t leave a place of blessing and turn a disagreement into a family feud.

Now, I have no illusions that as of 12:30 today after all our services here have heard this sermon, that everything in the church is going to be ok. I don’t think that there’s suddenly going to be perfect harmony no one will ever be upset again. I wish preaching was that powerful. “Yeah, as of 30 years ago my life got really better, and I’ve never had a problem since.” “What happened?” “Oh, I heard a really good sermon,” or a really bad sermon, I don’t know. I have no illusions that that actually happens, but we can still try to stop fighting. So what if we won’t succeed? Jesus knew we’d still be messed up when he died for us, and he still died for us.

Can you imagine if he had given up because he knew we’d still be flawed? There’s Jesus in Gethsemane. “Dad, look, I mean, if I do this thing, if I die for all these people, even if I take their sins upon myself when I die for all these people, they’re still not gonna get it. They’re still gonna fight and bicker. I mean humans haven’t gotten much better since Jacob and Esau or even Cain and Abel. They’re still gonna be flawed, Dad, I just, I don’t think this is gonna work.” And then God says, “Well...you’re right, Jesus, it won’t really work. I’m sorry, Son, I’m sorry I put you through this, they’re not really worth the effort.” Boy would we be in trouble.

But, God didn’t give up on us. Jesus didn’t give up on us. God knew we’d still be bickering over bowls of soup and birthrights, but he still saved us. He didn’t leave us, and he’s got a bigger gripe with us than any of us have amongst ourselves, or does anyone’s complaint measure up against God’s complaint? “Yeah, I know I offended against you, Lord, but this guy really upset me.” God’s forgiven us, so don’t leave. Don’t leave because you get upset, or because the church is imperfect, or even because the church is deeply flawed. Don’t turn a conflict into a feud. Stay, and receive the blessings of the church along with the flaws.

Lot’s of folks don’t want to stay. They’ll come back for Christmas and Easter, they’ll come back for baptisms and confirmation, weddings, or when they’re sick. Lot’s of folks want to receive the blessings of the church, but aren’t willing to accept the flaws, or just don’t want to put forth the effort, and I don’t mean this to vilify anyone. Hell, I left the church for four years during college, and I returned for Christmas and Easter. I didn’t really have a gripe, I just didn’t really feel like going. Well that was selfish and shortsighted. There were years of blessing that I could have given and could have received, but I didn’t. I was lazy. I didn’t want to go. As I said earlier of Esau, that was just dumb.

Having said that, though, let’s not start a feud or continue a feud with folks who have left and then suddenly come back. Even if someone’s sitting in “your seat” at Christmas who hasn’t been here since Easter, bless that person. It hurts when people leave, but we all hurt one another, sometimes thoughtlessly, sometimes unintentionally. When folks leave, when folks hurt the community, don’t start a feud with them or hold a grudge when they return. Offer them a blessing.

Think about feuds you’ve had in the past. Give some of those folks a call. If there’s a feud going on with someone at Emmanuel, call ‘em up, and be reconciled. Bring this family closer together. You’ve been forgiven, so forgive. Say someone you know has left the church Give ‘em a call. See how they’re doin’. Maybe they’ve found a new church, and if so, bless ‘em for it, share in their joy. Maybe they haven’t found a new church. Invite ‘em back. Offer them a blessing.

Is there someone sitting here now or maybe at one of the other services with whom you’ve got some struggle? Forgive that person. Some of y’all might be thinking, “well, I’ll forgive, but I won’t forget.” Well, you’re blessed for having a good memory, but what a bunch of hooey. “I’ll forgive, but I won’t forget?” Yeah, what we mean is, I won’t really forgive.

It’s time for us to forgive one another. It’s time for us to quit fighting. We’ve got wars going on in the world. It’s been 2000 years since Jesus died for us. It’s time for us to quit fighting. Worldwide, here, it is time for us to quit fighting, to quit these silly feuds and start living together as a family.

We’ve been fighting in the church for centuries, since Jacob and Esau and before, and God’s blessed us. We can continue to fight in the church, and God will continue to bless us, but we don’t have to keep fighting to keep getting God’s blessing. We can live in peace and still receive God’s blessing. All these feuds, all this fighting, it’s all happened before. It doesn’t have to happen again. Amen.

The Peace of Total Surrender to God

2008-07-02T08:18:00.001-07:00

Brad Sullivan
Proper 8, Year A
Sunday, June 29th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Genesis 22:1-14
Psalm 13
Romans 6:12-23
Matthew 10:40-42

The sacrifice of Isaac a kinda disturbing story when you really think about it: murder, human sacrifice, a father trying to kill his son. At seminary, I heard a lot of folks talk about their problems with the sacrifice of Isaac. Some folks just couldn’t even talk about the story, “It’s too terrible, it’s too terrible, I just can’t get past it, the murder...it’s just awful.”
Along those same lines, several months ago, I was watching an episode of the TV show, “Family Guy”, which referenced Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. For those of y’all who don’t know the show, “Family Guy”, well, you’re probably better off...but the show is a wonderfully irreverent cartoon, Sunday evenings on Fox, and in this particular episode, the dad in the show said, “Oh my God, I’m a worse father than Abraham.” Then, it cuts to a scene of Abraham and Isaac walking back down the mountain and Isaac saying, “Ok, what the hell was that all about?”
Obviously, the sacrifice of Isaac is a rather disturbing story: murder, human sacrifice, but when we take those aspects of the story out of the equation (we can address that during coffee hour) the sacrifice of Isaac is a story about total surrender to God. The one thing Abraham loved more than anything else, the one thing he couldn’t possibly give up, was his son, Isaac. God asked him to give up that one thing. Now, God didn’t want Abraham actually to kill Isaac, and Abraham got his one thing back, but he had to be willing to give it up. The assumption couldn’t be that he would get Isaac back; otherwise, he wouldn’t be surrendering to God. Abraham had to assume he was actually going to kill Isaac and never see him again.
What was going through Abraham’s mind? Did he think God had reneged on his previous promise to make him father to a multitude? Did he assume God would give him another son in order to fulfill his promise? We don’t know. All we know is Abraham totally surrendered himself to God.
Abraham trusted God in action. Not knowing how God could possibly fulfill his promise with Isaac dead, Abraham still trusted that he should do what God asked him to do.
Then, of course, we know how the story ends. In trusting God, Isaac was restored to Abraham. When we read this story, then, we learn a few things about God. For one thing, we learn that God doesn’t actually want us to kill our children so yea for that, we learn that God is worthy of our trust, and we also learn that if we truly want obtain the blessing God has in store for us, we have to be willing to surrender ourselves to God.
There’s a problem, though. Knowing that Abraham gets Isaac back, we might think, “Ok, God, I’ll surrender this to you knowing that you’re going to give it back.” We don’t know that God’s going to give back what we surrender. Maybe he would if he asked us to kill our child, but I think that was kind of a one time deal with Abraham. The thing or things which we need to surrender to God may not be something God is going to restore to us.
Say, for example, someone with a drug addiction is being asked by God to give up that drug addiction. God is not likely to say, “Thank you very much for being willing to give up your addiction to drugs. Now I know you trust me so please, keep on using drugs.” There are some things which God is asking us to give up which he won’t restore to us. Now, a drug addiction is obviously a good thing to surrender to God, but what about surrendering things which are not so obviously things which we need to surrender?
What about when God asks us to surrender our plans for the future? What if God asks us to surrender various hopes or dreams? What if God asks us to surrender a certain way of life or if God asks us to surrender a certain conviction we have? What if God asks us to surrender the one thing in our lives we cannot live without? Would we be willing to surrender that thing to God with the knowledge that we would not get it back?
That’s a difficult choice to make. “I can’t live without this God, but I’m going to surrender it to you?” God wouldn’t ask us to give something up just to be mean. If God’s asking us to give something up, he’s got something else in mind, something better in mind, Him. If we surrender to God, God fills us back up with himself.
Have you ever felt like you’re pushing against something for a long time, something that you want, and you keep trying, and you keep tying, and you keep trying, and it just isn’t working, or has there been something you want in your life or maybe something you want to accomplish and you’re miserable without it. Have you ever tried just giving it up, surrendering it to God and saying, “Ok, God, I give up, your turn. What blessing do you have in store for me?”
I saw a video on the internet, on YouTube last week called “Cardboard Testimonies.” The video was of a presentation at a church of people who had been transformed by Jesus. They held up cardboard signs stating who they were on one side, and who they became with Jesus’ help on the other side of the sign.
The cynic and pessimist in me wanted to say “come on…is your life really that great now? Are you just walking around with blinders on to the problems you’ve still got? What a bunch of bull.”
The Christ follower in me, however, said, “I want what they’ve got. How did they get to the point that they could identify exactly what Jesus had done to transform their lives?” Then, after reading over the story of the sacrifice of Isaac, I realized the people with these cardboard testimonies must have surrendered to Jesus.
There was a woman who was addicted to Meth, there were couples whose marriages were failing, there was a woman who had lived for eight years in fear that her cancer would return. She was cancer free, but she couldn’t let go of living in constant fear.
The Meth addict must have said, “Jesus, I can’t do this anymore. I can’t imagine my life without this drug, I can’t imagine how I’ll get by, but I’m miserable with it. I need to surrender this addiction to you, and trust you with the outcome.”
The couples whose marriages were failing must have said, “Jesus, our marriage isn’t good. Neither of us is willing to budge, we’re miserable together, this isn’t working so we’re surrendering it to you. Make our marriage what you want it to be. It may not be what we want, but we’re surrendering that to you. Make our marriage what you want.”
The lady who was afraid of cancer must have said, “Lord Jesus, I can’t live without this fear. It’s the only thing I’ve got. The only way my world makes sense, the only way I have the strength to keep going is through fear, but I also can’t keep living with this fear so I’m surrendering it to you. I don’t know how I’ll survive without this fear, but I’m surrendering that to you. I’ll trust you to guide me.”
This woman living with fear hits home with me particularly right now as I’m going through a similar period of surrender right now. Living with fear, with anxiety, depression, anger, all of that is something with which I’ve been struggling since I can remember. God knows where it came from. I don’t know why, but I’ve got a lot of fear, and I’ve known for a while that I take comfort in the fear and the assumption that things are gonna go wrong, but a couple of days ago, I was heading out, and we’d been talking at the youth conference I was attending about various kinds of death in our lives…not only physical death of friends and loved ones, but death of periods in our lives, or death of how we thought our lives should be, and the kids spent some time talking about how God helps bring resurrection from these various deaths.
So, as I was heading out one morning that week, I had a really dark outlook on things when I thought, “this is stupid, just assume everything’s gonna be great.” Well, I did assume everything was going to be great, and the instant I did so, I felt anxiety welling up inside, and I realized just how much I depended on fear and pessimism as a security blanket, kinda like Linus carrying around his little blue blanket. If I assumed things were going to go well, then I might be disappointed so it was safer to assume things would go badly. I wasn’t happy, but there was security in the fear.
I realized then I had to give that pessimism and fear to God. That anxiety and fear that I held on to for security, I had to give up to God, otherwise I could never find security in him. What I finally had to say was, “Ok, God, I give up. I can’t imagine living without the anger, and fear, and pessimism that I’ve held on to for so long, but rumor has it life’s gonna be better without it, the Bible seems to say life’d be better without it so I’m going to surrender it to you. Please help me to do so.”
The beauty of surrender to God is when we do surrender something to God, we find peace. For a couple days, I had this initial peace overflowing within me which was wonderful. Now, that initial peace didn’t last forever, but it was like a glimpse into the future, as if God was saying, “here’s what’s in store for you once you totally give this over to me and allow me to fill you up and you put your security in me.” So I got a glimpse into what life of total surrender to God can be like, and with his help I’m gonna keep chasing after it, because it’s like nothing else. As one of the youth described surrender at the conference where I was this week, she said life was serene.
So, my question for you this week is, is there something you need to surrender to God? Is there something you don’t have and are just miserable without it, or is there something you’ve got but that you know isn’t the right thing? Is there something in your life you just cannot live without, but you know having it is going against how God’s asking you to live or who God’s asking you to be? Try surrendering it to God. Give it up. God’s got something better in store for you. If God wants you to get rid of something, then it’s a good bet you can live without it, and it’s also a good bet you’ll be happier without it. So try it. Try experiencing the peace of surrender to God, and see what kind of life God has in store for you. Amen.

God as Trinity: Speaker, Word, and Breath

2008-05-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan
Trinity Sunday, Year A
Sunday, May 18th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Canticle 13
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20

In the story of creation which we heard this morning, we obviously heard an account of how God created the world and everything that is, but we also we heard a good deal about who God is. We heard about God speaking the world into existence. God speaks, his Word acts, and his Spirit moves over creation. We see, then, even in the first chapter of Genesis, an understanding of God as Trinity, three persons and yet one God. Now, the first chapter in Genesis was in no way trying to describe God as Trinity, that understanding of God did not yet exist, but through God speaking, we can still see the idea of God being three and yet one.
If we consider human speech, by way of analogy, there are three parts: the speaker, the word spoken, and the breath which carries the word. In speaking creation into existence, we can also see God as Speaker, Word spoken, and Breath or Spirit which carries the word. I wish I could say describing the Trinity in this way was my idea, but I actually read about it from Gregory of Nyssa, an early Father of the church and bishop in the late 300s, and I’m going to spend a few minutes describing God as Trinity using Gregory’s analogy to human speech.
So, first we have God as the speaker. Like humans, God can speak. God’s speech, however, is better than ours, elevated above ours. For other examples, as humans, we have power, and life, and wisdom. God too has power, and life, and wisdom, but perfect power, perfect life, perfect wisdom. God’s life doesn’t end; his wisdom and power are not limited and can’t be corrupted.
God’s speech then, is also unending and incorruptible. We speak, and our words are heard, but then they are no more; they cease to exist. God’s speech, however, is eternal and substantial. God’s Word has life in and of itself, or would God’s Word be lifeless? Would God create the world with a lifeless word? No. God’s Word is living and active with wisdom, power, and a will to act. “This Word, however, is different from Him whose it is.” (Nyssa, An Address on Religious Instruction, 1:6)
If there is a word spoken, there must also be a speaker. So, while seeing a difference between the speaker and the word, Gregory does not draw a distinction between the two. Our words come from our minds and as such our words are not totally different from us nor are they totally identical to us. We think the words, they come from us, and so our words are a part of us, and yet our words are distinct from us as we speak them. For God too, then, God’s Word is not something other than or alien to God, and yet we see a distinction between God as word and God as speaker. The Word both is the speaker and is different from the speaker.
Looking now at the Holy Spirit, we see from our own speech that breath or a spirit accompanies our speech. We draw breath into ourselves before we speak, and that breath accompanies our speech. God’s word, too, is accompanied by God’s spirit, or would we say God’s speech lacks a spirit, when our speech has one. Is our speech better than God’s? Of course it isn’t, so God has a spirit which accompanies his speech. This is not to say, however that God draws in breath in order to speak. Unlike with human speech, God’s spirit is not something external to God. God doesn’t use something other than himself in order to speak. Rather, God’s spirit “is not able to be separated from God in whom it exists, or from God’s Word which it accompanies.” (Nyssa, An Address on Religious Instruction, 2:3)
So, God’s Spirit, while distinct from the speaker, is not separate from God. Like the Word, God’s spirit is not totally different nor totally identical to God as speaker. Like God’s Word, God’s Spirit is living and active with wisdom, power, and a will to act.
Further, God’s Spirit works in unity and harmony with God’s Word and with God as speaker. The three are not in competition nor do they divide up tasks among each other. They always work as one. God is one, the three persons of the Trinity always in perfect unity. Whatever the Speaker did, the Word and Spirit did also. God didn’t say “Let there be light”, and there was water. The Spirit didn’t go off and make water while the Speaker and the Word were making light. They worked together. Speaker, Word, and Spirit are one, in perfect unity.
So, from the creation story, we see several things about who God is. God is a communion of persons working together in perfect unity. The persons of the trinity listen to and are at peace with one another so much so that they are one. Further, from the story of creation, we see that God is creative, bringing order out of chaos. What did we hear in first verse of Genesis? “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep…” (Genesis 1:1) The earth was a formless void, chaos, and out of the chaos, God made the earth an ordered planet full of light and life. God created the earth and created order out of chaos.
So we see God is a communion of persons who work together in perfect unity, listening to one another and at peace with one another. We see God is creative, making order out of chaos. We also see that God is fruitful. God’s efforts and work are not in vain. When God speaks, his words happen. As we hear from Isaiah:
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth,making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty,but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)
God does not fail, his Word does not return to him empty, but it accomplishes his purpose. God has a plan and an order for his creation, and God’s plan will succeed. God’s purpose will bear fruit. So again, we see God is a communion of persons who work together in perfect unity, listening to one another and at peace with one another. We see that God is creative, making order out of chaos, and we see that God is fruitful, accomplishing his purpose. We further see that we were made in the image of God.
God said, “‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness…’…So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:26a, 27) We were all made in God’s image to be people in communion with one another. We were made to live together in unity, listening to and at peace with one another. We were not made to be alone, but to find our true humanity in our relationships with one another, God living in our relationships, giving us life as we live into his image as a communion of persons. We were also made to be creative and fruitful as God is. We were made with a purpose.
We are not here merely to exist, but to live lives of relationship and communion, bearing fruit in our lives according to God’s purpose for us. We often have to search to find our purpose, but we were all made with a purpose. We are not here accidentally, but are made according to God’s Word which accomplishes God’s purpose. God meant for each one of us to be made, to live in unity and harmony with one another, to be fruitful and creative according to God’s purpose for us.
Thinking then of the image of God in which we were made, listen again to Paul’s final appeal to the Corinthians. “Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” (2 Corinthians 13:11) What is Paul saying? Live in the image of God in which you were created, and Paul reminds us that God will be with us always. The God who made each of us in his image, the God who made each of us out of love with always be with us.
Finally, then, look at Jesus’ appeal to his disciples. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
Go, Jesus says. Let people know about God in whose image they were made. Whether you call that God Speaker, Word, and Breath, or Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, let people know about a God who is a communion of persons, a God who is loving, creative, fruitful, and purposeful. Let people know about a God who made each of us to be in communion and harmony with one another, a God who made us to be creative and fruitful, and purposeful. Let people know about a God who has a plan and a purpose for all of creation. Let people know about a God who will succeed in that plan, Jesus says, and let people know about a God who will be with us always. Amen.

Share the Light: What is the hope that is in you?

2008-04-29T15:55:00.001-07:00

Brad Sullivan
Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A
Sunday, 27th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 17:22-31
Psalm 66:7-18
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21

“To an unknown god,” was the inscription on an altar which Paul found in Athens, and that inscription goes a long way to describing the human condition. As human beings, we seem to have a need to connect with God. Whether God is believed to be known or unknown, near or far, loving or angry, people seem to have an innate need to search for and connect to God. Religion, having some kind of religion is shared in almost every culture and society, worldwide. There are atheists out there, folks who don’t believe in a god for one reason or another, but by and large, humanity seems hardwired to quest after knowledge of God. Paul even said as much in his address to the Athenians:
From one ancestor [God] made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him – though indeed he is not far from each one of us.
Paul understood that God gave us all a desire for him. Paul understood that God gave us all a purpose, that we would search for him and perhaps grope for him and find him. Paul further understood something of who God is. Paul understood that God, whom the Athenians worshipped as unknown, is not an unknown, faraway deity, but God is near to each of us. We are in fact God’s offspring. We are known and loved by God who desires for us to know and love him.
This is one of the great joys of Christianity. God is not unknown. We do not follow blindly an unknown god, but we follow the light of Christ to God who has made himself known to us through Christ. What many proclaim as unknown, we can proclaim as known.
Peter invites us to proclaim God as known in his letter when he writes, “always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15) We have been charged with proclaiming as known the God and Father of Jesus Christ who knows and loves each of us.
I would add a word of caution, however, as to the manner in which we make such proclamations. By proclaiming knowledge of God, we can rather easily sound presumptuous or even become presumptuous. “I have knowledge of God which I am now going to impart to you, little one.” I’ve experienced this kind of well-intentioned yet off-putting sharing of the light several times.
Once in college, several guys from one of the campus ministries at U.T. saw me walking to my dorm and asked if they could talk to me about the Bible sometime. I said, “sure,” figuring we’d have some Bible study, and I looked forward to talking with some other Christians about our faith. When they arrived at my dorm a few days later, however, we spoke together only briefly before they began telling me that they would teach me the truth about the faith. My 18 years as a Christian meant nothing. We had nothing to share. They were going to teach me the knowledge of God that I had been somehow missing. I didn’t continue meeting with them.
My senior year in college I went on a mission trip to help build a school and a home for the teacher of the school. Midway through the trip was our day for evangelism. I was nervous, but kind of excited as well, until we began. We went door to door in a small impoverished neighborhood to talk to people about Jesus, but we weren’t actually evangelizing. We weren’t sharing any good news.
I became fed up at one house when we met a woman was searching for God in many ways including voodoo. She had heard of Jesus and figured if he could help her out, then great, but she didn’t believe in him or in the Gospel (don’t know if she’d ever heard it). So, one of our group asked her, if she were to die today, would she have any reason for God to let her into his heaven. She didn’t know, we prayed for her to accept Jesus and we left.
At no point in that visit, did we actually share the Gospel with this woman. At no point did help make known to her the unknown god for whom she was groping. Threats of hell and telling people they are wrong for their beliefs and we Christians are right don’t generally share the light of the knowledge of God through Jesus Christ. I remember talking to a Hindu classmate of mine in high school about religion and basically telling her she was wrong for worshipping multiple gods and that there was only one true God. Boy did I mess up. I think she wanted to have an actual conversation about our two faiths, and all I probably did was let her know, Brad is a jerk and so might other Christians be.
Peter tells us, on the other hand, to share the light, to make an accounting for the hope that is in us, but to do so “with gentleness and reverence.” An example of sharing the light with gentleness and reverence comes from Vincent Donovan, a Roman Catholic priest who, back in the 60s and 70s, was a missionary to the Masai tribes in East Africa. The Masai believed in tribal gods, and Fr. Donovan was telling them about the the God of the Gospel, the “High God,” who loves all the tribes. At one point he was asked, “Has your tribe found the High God? Have you known him?”
He “was about to give a glib answer” when he thought of all the fighting among Christians, the wars we fought and still fight in God’s name. He said,
No, we have not found the High God. My tribe has not known him. For us too, he is the unknown God. But we are searching for him. I have come a long, long distance to invite you to search for him with us. Let us search for him together. Maybe, together, we will find him. (Christianity Rediscovered, p. 46)
The tribe was converted to Christianity.
Fr. Donovan’s answer may seem problematic because he said God is unknown. Paul said God is known. Well, Fr. Donovan was not saying we have no knowledge of God. Rather, he was admitting to what Paul himself says about our knowledge of God. “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12) Fr. Donovan was not claiming absolute knowledge of God which he would impart to the poor little Masai. Rather, he was journeying with them in their search for God as he told them about the Gospel. He shared the light with them rather than forcing open their eyes and blinding them with the light. He shared with them the good news of God who has made himself known to us through Jesus Christ so that in groping for God, we may find him. He shared with them the good news of God who loves all people and who is not far from each one of us. He shared the light.
Sharing the light is what we’ve been asked to do as well. We’ve been asked individually to share the light. Pastor Janie has also been using that term, “share the light” in reference to getting the word out about Emmanuel to people in the area around us. We’ve been hoping to get a “Share the Light” team together to work on publications which can be given to people, to homes, and to the many apartments around us. For lack of a better term, we’ve been trying to get some marketing done for Emmanuel, but so far, we don’t have people with marketing expertise to help in this area, or I should say, no one has stepped forward who has such expertise. So, if any of you have this ability and are willing to devote some of your talent to Emmanuel, please let us know. Talk to Pastor Janie, a vestry member, or me so we can begin letting the people around us know who we are, so we can share the light.
The other way we’ve been asked to share the light, again, is by being able “to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15) So, to this end, please take out the blue insert in your bulletins. What I’d like each of you to do this week, or even today, is to take this with you and write down what is the hope that is in you.
Maybe the answer seems obvious, maybe it doesn’t, but take some time to think about what your hope truly is. Why do you come to church? Why do you have faith? You might say church just feels right, or it just feels good. I’m sorry to say, so does a cup of coffee in the morning. While church may just feel right or just feel good for a lot of us, but we need to be able to articulate what our hope is a little bit better than that. So sit with the question for a while. What is the hope that is in you? Wrestle with the question, pray about it, and write down and be able to articulate what your hope truly is. How is the Gospel good news in your life?
Then when someone asks, or it comes up in conversation, you’ll be able to tell people why you believe and what you believe with gentleness and reverence, and maybe even joy. If you are able to articulate what is the hope that is in you, then you will be able to share the light with others. Further, once you truly find out what is the hope that is in you, you might find a desire to share it with others. So, take the time to examine your faith and your hope, because folks all around us are groping for God. Many of them are groping for an unknown God, and although we can now only see in a mirror, dimly, we can still share the light of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Can we be shepherds with Jesus as the gate?

2008-04-15T15:57:00.000-07:00

Brad Sullivan
Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A
Sunday, April 13th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 23
1 Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10

There are two main points from our Gospel story which I’d like to discuss today. One is the idea of Jesus as the gate for the sheepfold, and the second is the idea of us as shepherds. Now, I might be preaching a little bit of heresy here, I’m not quite sure, but have a listen, and see what you think.
Jesus said he is the gate and only the one who enters the pasture by the gate is shepherd. I think he was referring to himself as the shepherd. Indeed, if we went on one verse farther than today’s reading, we would have read Jesus calling himself the good shepherd, but listening to the second half of the passage today, Jesus didn’t call himself the shepherd. Rather, Jesus called himself the gate.
Now, Jesus can be and is both the good shepherd and the gate, but looking only at Jesus as gate, he said “whoever enters by [him] will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture,” (John10:9) and earlier, he said the shepherd enters through the gate. Perhaps those who enter by the gate of Jesus are not only sheep, but also shepherds.
This is where the potential heresy comes in. I’m not sure about this idea of people who follow Jesus being not only sheep, but shepherds, but I want to work with the idea a little bit today. Can sheep act as shepherds? Well, in the reading we heard from Acts, the apostles were certainly acting as shepherds. Listen again to the passage:
The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)
By that last sentence, we hear of Jesus as the main shepherd, “adding to their number those who were being saved.” Jesus was in charge of the whole flock, but we also heard of the people devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship. The apostles were sheep of the Jesus, the good shepherd, and the apostles also served as shepherds, little shepherds, say, for the believers. The apostles led the believers in the abundant life that Jesus gave. “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they sold their possessions and gave to all as any had need. They spent time together in the temple and broke bread and ate with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.” That’s abundant life. Would that we had that life. That was the life Jesus had taught the apostles, and the life, therefore, the apostles continued to teach as shepherds leading fellow sheep through the gate of Jesus.
Looking then, at Jesus as the gate, and the apostles as little shepherds going in and out through the gate of Jesus, I have three points I’d like to make as this passage relates to our lives.
First, we can all be shepherds at various points in our lives. As we live and continue following Jesus as our shepherd, we will continually change from sheep to shepherd, and from shepherd to sheep. We can each act as a little shepherd to each other as God’s Spirit moves in us and as need arises among us, and every little shepherd will need to be led as a sheep by others. Even the greatest shepherd within Jesus’ flock is still a sheep of Jesus.
This brings up the second point. While we can all act as shepherds to one another, we are all Jesus’ sheep. None of us possess the flock. While we are to devote ourselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers, while we are to work for the needs of the poor and the oppressed, and while we are to devote ourselves to proclaiming by word and example the good news of God in Christ, we must remember that we will not add to our number those who are being saved. The Lord will add to our number those who are being saved.
Our responsibility is to be the best sheep we can be, hearing Jesus’ voice and following him. Our responsibility is to live as Jesus taught us to live, to live as the believers did in Acts 2. Our responsibility is to act as little shepherds to one another when the Spirit calls and the need arises. Our responsibility is not, however, for the ultimate salvation of the world. We do have responsibility to Jesus’ flock as shepherds and as sheep, but the flock is not ours to do with as we will.
The flock is not ours to control, nor will the flock live or die by any one of us. As written in 1 Corinthians, “[Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:7) None of us grows the flock. None of us controls the flock. If, as shepherds, we hold on too tightly and try to control the flock ourselves, then we begin losing our faith in Jesus, begin believing he is not actually in control of his own flock. Further, seeking to control the actions of the flock rather than guide the actions of the flock is not leading as Jesus led.
This brings me to the third point. If you are going to act as a shepherd, make sure you’ve entered through the gate of Jesus. By this, I don’t only mean Baptism. Rather, when I say make sure you’ve entered through the gate of Jesus, make sure each time you begin shepherding others that you are doing so in the same manner that Jesus did. When we lead others, we need to lead them to the same place Jesus led, teaching the same lessons, and we must also lead others as Jesus led.
Continuing the previous example, Jesus did not lead by compulsion. He did not force anyone to follow him or to listen to his teachings. Jesus allowed people to reject him. As shepherds, then, we too are to teach as Jesus taught, to offer correction to one another, to proclaim the good news of God’s kingdom, but we are not to do so through coercion or compulsion, or by vilifying those who don’t accept the story.
In other words, we are not to place ourselves above anyone else. Whenever we act as shepherds, we are to remember that we are also lowly sheep. Jesus, after all, “did not did not [even] count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.” (Philippians 2:6-7) We, then, when acting as shepherds must humble ourselves, not becoming holier than thou or lording our perceived righteousness over others. Rather, we are to offer correction to fellow sheep with meekness and humility out of love for our fellow sheep.
One might say, “but what about when I know I’m right, can I then place myself above others to force them to be right?” No, even when we know with absolute certainty that we are right, we are still not to force others to be right. We are Jesus’ sheep, and he doesn’t force us to be right. Additionally, being right does lead to a life of abundance. Entering life through the gate of Jesus leads to a life of abundance.
Jesus is the gate through which we pass from a normal existence to a life of abundance. Jesus is the gate through which we pass as sheep, following him to this life of abundance, and Jesus is the gate through which we pass when serving as little shepherds to fellow sheep. Jesus is the gate through which the apostles passed when shepherding the early church. They passed through the gate of Jesus and served as shepherds like Jesus. Think again of the life described in Acts 2, a life of abundance, of harmony, and of trust in God. We too can live that life when we pass through the gate of Jesus. Amen.